In the Shadow of the Shield (Secret Lives Series Book 2)

by Carolyn LaRoche

  Diana: It’s okay. I won’t hold it against you. LOL

  Cyndi: I’m glad. *hugs* I’m going to head to bed now. I’m glad we had a chance to talk.

  Diana: Me too. Guess I’ll call it a night too.

  Cyndi: Love you, girl. Take care.

  Diana: Right back at you.

  Diana turned off her computer and headed to bed. As she passed Jackson’s room, she could hear the television on. Pausing, she almost knocked on his door, but thought better of it. She didn’t need to apologize to her son for being an adult. He would have to learn to live with the fact that his mother was entitled to a life too.

  As it turned out, her son had plans for the day, so he left around noon with the promise to be home by dinnertime. By two, Diana was pacing the house, anxious to do something. She was full of nervous energy, and she could only think of one way she wanted to burn it off. If only Carter would hurry up and get there.

  When she almost couldn’t stand it anymore, there was a knock at the door. Carter never seemed to use the doorbell. She would have to ask him why sometime.

  Dressed in her favorite jeans and a deep burgundy v-neck tee, Diana was ready for anything Carter had to offer. She pulled the door open with a huge smile.

  “Grab your coat. I got a text from Lookie Louie a few minutes ago.” Okay, well almost anything. She definitely wasn’t prepared for that.

  “Hang on.” She ran to the closet, grabbed a heavy jacket and her purse, and ran back to the door. Carter was halfway down the steps as she locked the front door and ran after him.

  She didn’t speak as he backed the truck out of the drive and raced toward the interstate, a million ideas filling her mind. “What did Louie want?”

  “He found something he thought we might be interested in.”

  “Did he say what it was?” Carter’s cryptic behavior was starting to get annoying.

  “Nope. But he said we would really, really want to see it, and he wasn’t comfortable sending a picture just in case.”

  “Just in case, what?”

  “Someone found out it was him.”

  She had no response to that, and Carter had all his focus on driving as fast as he could on the interstate without breaking every single law on the books, so she watched out the window, contemplating Louie’s big discovery. Five minutes later, Carter parked the truck on the same side street as before. Louie was standing at the corner smoking. When he saw Carter, he quickly dropped it on the ground, rubbed it out, and kicked it into a storm drain.

  “Seriously, Louie? You gonna stand here and smoke a joint while you’re waiting for a cop? How many brain cells you got left anyway?”

  Louie stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked at an imaginary rock. “I got a medical condition.”

  “You got epilepsy? Cancer?”

  “Uh-uh.”

  “Then you ain’t got a legal medical condition.” Carter stuck his hand out. “Give me the rest of your stash.”

  “That was it. Just the one. I’m all out.”

  “You and I both know that’s a load of crap. Give me your stash, or I will be forced to look for it.” Carter rested his hand on the butt of the pistol slung on his hip.

  Louie pulled his hands from his pockets and raised them in mock surrender. One hand was closed in a fist. “All right, man. No need to get all nasty.” He tossed a little plastic bundle to Carter. Carter opened the bag and dumped the contents down into the same storm drain Louie had tossed his joint.

  “You’re killin’ me, man.” Louie clutched his chest in a mock heart attack. “Why’d you have to go and do that? Such a waste of good, homegrown product.”

  “You’d prefer I arrest you and take you in?”

  “No.” Louie shook his head emphatically.

  “Then shut the hell up.”

  “Fine. Okay. Sorry, man.” To Diana he said, “Why’s your man being such a weenie today?”

  Diana shrugged and hid a smile. Carter could totally be a weenie sometimes. It was part of what made him so endearing to her.

  “So, why are we here?” Carter asked Louie.

  “Oh, yeah, right. Follow me. You won’t believe it, man. I’m telling you, it’s some crazy shit.”

  Louie shuffled along, babbling about something she couldn’t really follow. By the time they were at the house, she couldn’t stand it anymore. “Louie, would you please stop talking and show us what you found?”

  Carter grinned at her. “You want a job as a cop? You got that attitude down!”

  “No, thank you. I’m just freezing to death here, while this guy babbles on about his lost pot or whatever.”

  “No, ma’am, this ain’t no vegetation I’m babblin’ about,” Louie cut in as he led the way to the back of the house and headed toward the detached garage. As they got closer to the building, Diana could see a heavy padlock attached to the old style barn doors. The two windows on the west side were covered in something black, blocking their view of the inside. Louie continued to the back of the building, and stopped in front of another window covered in black. “You got a flashlight?” he asked Carter.

  “You didn’t say I needed one,” Carter replied, obviously annoyed. “There’s three in my truck.”

  “Wait, I have one,” Diana said, digging around in her bag.

  “Is there anything you don’t have in there?” Carter asked her.

  “I’m like a Boy Scout—always prepared.” She pulled out a flashlight and handed it to Louie. “Okay, show us.”

  Louie pushed up on the window until it was open all the way. Pushing the black curtain out of the way and shining the flashlight into the building, he gave them a smug look. “See?”

  “Holy crap.” Carter let out a long, low whistle.

  “What?” Diana asked.

  “Here, take a look.” He handed her the flashlight and she stepped in front of the window to peer inside. “What is all that stuff?”

  Two long tables were set up side by side. On one table was a large roll of plastic wrap on a stand that contained a very large cutting edge. The other table had several dozen rectangular, plastic wrapped packages. A fine, whitish powder coated the floors and tables.

  “Meth. A whole shit loada’ meth,” Louie blurted.

  “Shhh!” Carter smacked the back of Louie’s head. “Don’t call attention to us.”

  “Sorry, man,” Louie whispered.

  “Where did it all come from?” Diana asked.

  “Someone has been, or was, very busy cooking something.”

  “Recently?”

  “I don’t know, Di. I can’t imagine they were doing it last night. This sort of haul would take a long time to make. And we didn’t smell anything the other day.”

  “Can I say something now?” Louie asked.

  “Of course,” Carter replied.

  “This ain’t been cooked recently. I was crashin’ there pretty often, and until the other night, I ain’t heard or seen no one for a good long while.”

  “Could it have something to do with Donnie’s death?” Diana asked, not sure she really wanted to know.

  “It would support the theory that his death wasn’t an accident.”

  “What if someone he knew was involved in this and they found out he knew?”

  “That’s what I’m thinking.” Carter handed her the flashlight and closed up the window. “I’ve got to figure out where to go from here. I could call it in, but then we might lose any chance we have of finding out if Donnie’s death was a murder.”

  Louie had wandered toward the front of the building, but now turned and ran back toward them. “They’re here!”

  “Who?” Carter demanded.

  “Shhh! They’ll hear you!” Louie whispered, panic all over his face.

  “Who will hear me?”

  Instead of answering, Louie grabbed Carter and Diana and shoved them behind a stand of hedges.

  “I saw that little pothead hanging around here earlier.” A man’s voice carried through the branches.<
br />
  “You think he found our stash?” a second man asked. The voice sounded vaguely familiar to Diana.

  “Nah. I think he was sniffing out a place to crash.”

  “Can he get in?” the second man asked.

  “I got it locked down, but we need to start thinking about a place to move our stuff. We’re working on borrowed time. Especially since Ryan has been poking around too.”

  Diana shot Carter a glance, but he held a finger to his lips and a palm to his ear. He wanted to hear everything the men said.

  “I know. I let Schmidt know. We’re moving it tonight, after dark. Schmidt says he found a place.”

  She sucked in a breath. Schmidt. She knew that name. Donnie had worked with Mark Schmidt most of his career. Damn. There really were dirty cops. A tiny little piece of her died in that moment, knowing her husband possibly lost her life because of it.

  “Look, Wilkins, this place better be a good one. I don’t see why we can’t just sell the stuff. Schmidt said he had a couple of buyers lined up.”

  Carter balled up his fists. She could see he was getting angry.

  “Not yet. Not with Ryan and Massey’s wife poking around. We need to sit on it long enough to get them to back off.”

  Now she knew why that voice was so familiar. The phone call. She tapped Carter’s arm, but he shook his head. She pulled out her cell phone and tapped out a text.

  Diana: One of those men is the one who called me!

  Holding out the phone to him, Diana tugged on Carter’s sleeve and showed him the screen.

  His eyes opened wide, and he mouthed the words are you sure? She nodded. The men passed in front of them on the other side of the hedge. Diana held her breath, praying the intruders wouldn’t find the three of them crouched there. Even Louie seemed to quit breathing for a second or two.

  “Place seems secure. What time we moving out tonight?”

  “I’m borrowing my cousin’s truck around ten. So, meet back here, say, ten thirty?”

  “You give Schmidt the time?”

  “All arranged. Like I said, he’s got the key to the storage locker.”

  “That’s your big plan? A storage locker? Those places are crawling with cameras!”

  “At least I have a plan. What did you want us to do?”

  “I don’t know. I thought you had something better.”

  “Let’s get the hell outta here, before a neighbor sees us.”

  They heard a rustle on the other side of the hedges as the two men left. Not one of them moved until they heard the sounds of engines turning over.

  “Aw, man! Aw, did you hear that? They are moving this stuff tonight!” Louie was so excited, he was practically jumping up and down.

  “Will you relax, Louie?” Carter demanded. “I was standing right here. I heard everything you did.” Carter pulled out his wallet and removed a hundred dollar bill. “Here, go get a room with room service tonight. You did good, Louie.”

  “No way in hell! I want in on things tonight. I deserve it! I got you here. I want to see it to the end.”

  “Louie.” Carter’s voice held a warning. “These are not the kind of guys you want to mess with. They are fire—they will burn you. And enjoy doing it.”

  “I just want to help.”

  “Maybe we should let him come along,” Diana said.

  “What?” Louie and Carter tuned to look at her, disbelief mirrored on their faces.

  “He’s the only one that has seen all three of them. Maybe he will be—I don’t know—useful somehow.”

  “Yeah. I can be useful. I won’t get in the way, I promise.”

  “You want this money or not?” Carter dangled the cash in front of Louie. Louie was a junkie. Of course he wanted the money.

  “Yes.” He grabbed for it, but Carter yanked it away. “Then get the hell out of here, and don’t come back.”

  “Man! I got you the goods, and now you doin’ me wrong.” Louie grabbed the bill, stuffed the crumpled money in his pocket, and took off down the street. She doubted he would use it for the motel room, but maybe he would get a big pizza after he got good and high. And a Snickers and a Mountain Dew, of course.

  “Why did you send him away?” she asked.

  “He’s a liability. The guys said they saw him hanging around. I don’t want them to connect Louie with us, or he is a sitting duck.”

  “I didn’t think of that.”

  “Come on, let’s get out of here. I need to think.”

  Carter took her hand and started making his way back to the street. They cut through several backyards, and emerged down the block at the intersection where Carter had left his truck. Once they were in the truck, Diana hugged herself. “Damn, it sure is cold today. What happened to beach weather?”

  The truck roared to life when Carter turned the key. Even the vehicle was protesting the cold. “That’s the most common misconception. People think if you live by the ocean, there is no way it ever gets cold. The ocean has nothing to do with it. It’s proximity to the equator.”

  “So sorry, Professor Ryan. I had no idea.” Diana giggled as a shiver overtook her entire body.

  “You really are cold,” Carter stated with some surprise. “Come here.” She slid across the seat and let Carter wrap his arms around her. “I’ll share some of my body heat until the truck warms up.”

  “I can work with that.” She snuggled in close, loving the feel of his strength as much as his warmth. “So, what do we do now?”

  “Well, I mean, it’s a little cold in here, but if you want…”

  She slugged him with an icy fist. “I didn’t mean that!”

  He laughed. “I know you didn’t. I’m feeling a little cheated today, that’s all. Your boy walked in at the wrong time last night.”

  “He has a real penchant for doing that, doesn’t he?”

  Carter shrugged. “It’s okay. I mean, it’s not, because I really liked where things were going, but I would rather wait for the right time than rush through one single moment with you.”

  That was about the sweetest thing any man had ever said to her, including Donnie. Her first time with her husband had been in the bed of an old Ford Explorer, during half time at a high school football game. A little romance this time around had a certain appeal. There was just one thing she needed to clear up first.

  “Does this mean my job doesn’t bother you?”

  “Well, now, I didn’t say that. But, I did realize at some point that maybe the issue is more mine than with your job. I’m still holding out hope that you will fall head over heels for me at some point, and spend all your time talking dirty only to me.”

  Diana couldn’t help but laugh at the hopeful look he gave her. Did that mean he was falling for her? She wasn’t sure how to quantitate her own feelings, let alone his, but she really wanted to explore them all. “I’m great at multi-tasking, you know.” She toyed with the zipper on his coat. “I don’t see why I can’t have my cake, and eat it too.”

  “You want cake? I can give you cake.” His lips took hers before she had the chance to respond. In seconds, she was ready to give him whatever he wanted, even quit her job, if it meant he would kiss her like that every single day for the rest of her life. When he pulled back, she actually whimpered a little at the instant sense of loss. He smiled and touched her cheek with one fingertip. “Not here, Diana. It’s broad daylight, and I do still have a badge to respect.”

  She slid back over to her side of the truck. “You need to stop doing that to me then.”

  “Do you mean that?” he asked as he turned the heat on full blast. The cab was instantly bathed in toasty air.

  “You know I don’t.”

  “Yeah, I know. But I thought I’d ask anyway. I’m a little insecure, you know.”

  Diana lost it then. She laughed so hard, she nearly cried. “Insecure? You’ve been nothing but cocky and confident since we met!”

  He reached over and took her hand as he steered the truck onto the road with the o
ther. “It only looks that way, Diana. It only looks that way.”

  They were quiet the rest of the way back to her side of town. About a mile from her neighborhood, Diana’s stomach let out a loud growl. “I think I’m hungry.”

  “Me too.” Carter did a u-turn in the center of the street. “How about we hit the diner up again? They have great open-faced roast beef sandwiches.”

  “Mmm…sounds good.”

  “Hold on to your hat, kid. One hot roast beef sandwich coming your way.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ten minutes later, they were sitting in the same corner booth they had been in the last time they were there together. She caught sight of their reflection in the glass of the door, and couldn’t help but think they looked good together. Her face had healed nicely. What was left of the bruising she had covered with make-up so that it was hardly noticeable anymore.

  Carter ordered lunch for both of them, and the waitress poured her a cup of hot water for tea. Diana shivered as she clasped the warm mug, waiting for the tea bag to work its magic. “I miss summer.”

  “Yeah, me too. It would make it a lot easier to do a stakeout tonight.”

  “Stakeout?”

  He smiled. “You up for it? Gonna be a cold one.”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. So, what’s the plan?”

  “Still working out the details.”

  The waitress brought their meals. Diana breathed in the smell of the rich brown gravy. Steam rose from the plate, and she held her fingers over it, absorbing the warmth. “I haven’t had this in so long. It’s got to be so unhealthy.”

  “I didn’t take you for a health nut,” Carter said around a big mouthful of gravy and beef.

  “I’m not, really. A girl’s gotta watch her figure, though. Especially a single gal like me.” She helped herself to a healthy bite and moaned. It tasted so good.

  “I think your figure is perfect the way it is.” He winked and smiled. “Don’t much care for bony women myself.”

  “Bony, I’m not. Believe me. This food is so good. I can’t believe I’ve never had this here before.” She took another big forkful and moaned again.