“I love you too. I don’t get it. How has this happened so fast? I mean, we haven’t even known each other a week, but―”
He pressed a finger to her lips. “My mother always told me when it was right, I’d know it, and I’d know it immediately. I knew when I saw you at the wedding that you were the one. And then, of course, I thought I was losing my mind.” He grinned. “Turned out to be the sanest thought I’ve ever had.”
She kissed his chin and then snuggled under it. “I wanted to do it again, but I have this feeling I’m going to be really sore tomorrow.”
“I have a feeling you will be too. Let’s get cleaned up and get some rest. Morning will come early for you, and I’ve got a horse to brush down.”
“Is it wrong that I don’t want you to pull out of me?” she asked, her voice a little on the whiny side.
He laughed loudly. “Nope. And I don’t want to. But I don’t think we can get to the bathroom locked together like this.”
She snickered. “Yeah, probably not.”
“Okay. Meet you back here in a minute?”
She nodded and smiled. “You know it!”
Amos grabbed his tee and lounging pants and headed to the hall bathroom. After knotting the condom and throwing it away, he cleaned himself up and wandered back to the kitchen. When he stepped back into the bedroom, she was slipping into bed. He handed her a bottle of water. “Here ya go.”
“Thank you.” As she twisted the lid off, she said, “If I’m your warrior princess, I guess you’re my knight in shining armor.”
Amos set his bottle on the nightstand and turned off the lamp on his side of the bed before slipping down under the covers and reaching for her. “I’ll be whatever you want me to be, beautiful, as long as you’ll let me be yours.”
When the alarm went off at five, Amos refused to turn loose of Daesha. “I’ve got to get up!” she said, giggling.
“I don’t want you to get up. I want you to stay here with me. Does that make me sound whiny and pathetic?”
“Yes!” That made her laugh. “But I like it! Begging becomes you!”
“Ah, begging. I’ll beg if I have to.”
“Won’t do you any good. I’ve got to get up. What time do you have to be at the office?”
He kissed her, then released her from his grasp and stretched. “I’m salaried. As long as I get results, nobody cares where I am. But I try to get there most mornings by eight thirty.” He rolled over and watched her as she got up and pulled on her robe. God, she was beautiful! “I can’t believe I’m not going to see you tonight.”
“I know, but we made the rehearsal rule and I have to stick to it, especially since it was my idea.”
She was pulling underwear, a bra, and socks from the dresser drawers, and he was stunned when she opened the closet. Half of it was her regular clothes, but there were at least twenty sets of scrubs in there. “Whoa! That’s a lot of scrubs!”
“When I go in, I take an extra set with me. You wouldn’t believe all the times I’ve had to change in the middle of the day when a patient bled on me, or accidentally peed on me, or even worse.”
“Worse?” She nodded. “Wow. Why would they―”
“Some of them are paraplegics. They come to us fresh from their injuries, and they don’t have any control. And it winds up being a problem, at least for us if we don’t have extra clothes. I kept having to borrow scrubs from Garrick, and he’s over six and a half feet tall and weighs almost three hundred pounds. Just keeping the pants up was a challenge, so I learned to bring more.”
“Well, I can certainly see that.”
“Did you bring work clothes with you?” Amos nodded. “So here.” She reached into the top dresser drawer and held out her hand, then waited until his upturned palm was under it. “You can have it.” Her hand opened and something fell into his.
Amos was startled. “Am I to assume that―”
“Yes. And the code for my security system is seven nine eight nine. Say it with me―seven nine eight nine.”
“Seven nine eight nine. Got it.” He palmed the key and smiled up at her. “I’ll get you one to my place.”
“Works for me. See you in a minute.” Swinging away on her crutches, she disappeared into the bathroom and he heard the water start.
Amos got up, started a pot of coffee, and went back to the bedroom to change into his running clothes. Then he stuck his head into the bathroom. “What do you usually eat for breakfast?”
“Whatever I can find,” she answered.
“Well, okay then.” Amos found bread in the kitchen and started some toast. At least she’d have that. He’d thought she would at least sit down and have coffee with him, but getting dressed just led to hustling around, gathering things up, and getting ready to leave. “Can’t you at least have some coffee?”
“No, but I can take it with me.” He watched as she poured it into a huge travel mug, added a little white Stevia powder, and then poured a dollop of half and half into it. “I’m sorry, babe, really, but traffic is so horrible going into the city that I need to get a move on. Want me to call you this evening when I leave rehearsal?”
“Yeah. Please.” Amos walked her to the door and when she turned back to him, he swept her up in his arms and kissed her. “Guess that’ll have to hold you until Friday, huh?”
“You coming to the bar?”
“You’ll have to tell me where.”
“I’ll find out tonight. Bye, babe.”
“Bye, sweetie. I love you.” He watched as she got in her car, and he yelled, “Oh, by the way, how do I get my Jeep out of the garage?”
“Control’s by the door there,” she said and pointed. “And the code is the same for the garage door as the alarm system. And Amos?”
“Yeah?”
She grinned. “I love you too. Do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
“Be here tonight when I get home?”
YES! “I will be. Most definitely. Have a good day at work.”
“You too. Bye.”
Amos stood and watched her back out. She honked before the garage door rolled down, and he hoped she saw his wave.
Finishing his coffee, he opened the front door, then locked it back with the key, which he slipped into the little pocket in his running shorts. He did some stretching on the front steps before he took off down the road.
Well, fuck me, he thought when he saw Matt come out the front door of the house two doors down. “Hey, Fletcher! Fancy seeing you here!”
“Hey, Matt.” Amos kept running.
“Hey,” Matt called again.
Amos turned around and jogged in place. “Yeah?”
Hands fisted, Matt pumped them forward and back while thrusting his hips. “You gettin’ some?”
“Fuck you.” Amos flipped him off and turned to run.
“Aww, come on, man! Dish!” Matt yelled.
Amos turned and ran backwards as he yelled back, “I think I know why your girlfriend moves in and out so much, Matt.” He didn’t wait to hear what else Matt would say. The guy could be a tool sometimes, but he and Jack were friends and coworkers, so running across the yards and punching him was out, unfortunately.
When he was finished running, Amos ran back to the house, past it, and straight to the barn. He went through the little storage room and found a curry comb, then headed to Ivory’s stall. The horse nickered in greeting as Amos clipped a lead to her halter and led her out into the covered front area of the barn.
And he realized his mistake almost immediately. He was sweaty, and in less than five minutes, he was covered with dust and hair. It took him forever, but when he was finished, he led the horse to the back pasture, opened the gate, and turned her loose, then checked to make sure the trough by the gate had water in it. The hose came in handy anyway―he took off his shoes and hosed himself off.
Stepping up onto the deck, he peeled off his wet running clothes down to his boxer briefs and unlocked the door. Thirty minutes later, he was
shaved, showered, and had everything gathered up to head to work. He was thankful he worked in the field office in Elizabethtown and not in Louisville. Driving there sucked.
It took him all morning, but he finally got everything set up for the forensic audit. He was pretty sure people were going to lose their jobs when that audit was completed, and some might even lose them during, but they should’ve kept their noses clean. The afternoon was spent on emails and messages, returning some calls, and generally wrapping things up.
Having no one to eat dinner with, Amos drove down the street, picked up some Chinese takeout, and went back to the office. He figured he’d go through the files on Dorinda and look a little closer at a few things he’d been curious about. The lounge had a table and chairs, so he sat in there and ate. He was almost finished when he thought he heard the back door open and close. “Hello?”
Jesse’s face appeared in the doorway. “Hey! Thought that was your Jeep out there.”
“Yeah. Nobody to eat dinner with, so I thought I’d come back and look at the files. What are you up to?”
“My kid had baseball tryouts, so I left him and thought I’d come back over here. I saw something earlier and I want to look at it again.”
“Anything I should know about?” Amos asked through a mouthful of noodles.
“Maybe. Get finished. I’ll be in the conference room.” With that, Jesse disappeared.
Amos finished his food and threw away the containers before he wandered down the hallway. He found Jesse sitting there, staring at something. “Whatcha got?”
“This picture. Something about it bothered me, and I was still thinking about it while I was driving him to the ball field. And then it hit me, and I wanted to look at it. See anything weird here?” He handed Amos a picture.
Amos scrutinized it. It was Dorinda’s body, and it was enough of a mess that he wished he hadn’t eaten Chinese food before looking at the photo. He started with the top of her head and worked his way down, but he didn’t see anything that looked odd. “No. I’m obviously not seeing what you’re seeing.”
“Try looking at her limbs and extremities.”
Amos started with her left arm and worked his way from her shoulder down to her hand, then looked at each finger. Nothing there. Then he focused on her right shoulder and worked his way down that one, a fraction of an inch at a time, wondering what he was looking for. When he got to her hand, he stared from her wrist down to her fingertips, her nails bloodied and ragged. And that was when he saw it. “Am I looking at this right? It looks like the blood on her right ring finger is, I dunno, pulled downward?”
“Yeah. Like something had been taken off that finger.”
Amos turned the picture a couple of different directions. Jesse was right. The blood on that particular finger looked like it had been dragged down toward her fingertip. “Wonder where the ring is?”
“I’d say whoever killed her took it, or one of the emergency responders lifted it. Or maybe her husband took it. But regardless, we do need to account for it. It could be a crucial piece of evidence.”
“By now, any tissue stuck in its design would be deteriorated and useless,” Amos pointed out.
“Yeah, but what if it was fibers? Or hair? We could use that.”
“True,” Amos nodded in agreement. “Okay, I’ll ask Daesha about a ring on that finger. Maybe she’ll know.”
“I hope so. Gotta go pick up my kid. See you in the morning.”
“Yeah. See you in the morning,” Amos answered, but he really wasn’t paying attention to Jesse. He was staring at that finger.
Someone had taken something off of it, and he wanted to know what. But the bigger question was more important.
Why?
Chapter 5
It bothered him that he had no idea where she rehearsed, but she’d been doing it for a long time without his knowledge, so he guessed he’d just have to keep those obsessive thoughts to himself. After gathering up all the photos of the crime scene in the files, he went home, dropped off clothes, picked up more, then drove toward her house, stopping at a grocery to buy a bouquet of flowers and a little surprise.
By the time he got to her house, she had already come home, changed, and gone. There was an empty ramen noodle container in the trash and a note.
I miss you already. Hoping we’ll get done about nine. I’ll call when I’m on my way. Mwah!
That made him smile. After he put the flowers in a vase he found in the living room and filled it with water, he shot back a text.
I’m at your place. Have a great rehearsal and I’ll see you when you get home.
He got back a text that was short and sweet.
I<3U
So he sent back his own.
I<3U2
That got him a smiley face blowing kisses, and he figured that was enough mushy texting for at least a little while.
He turned on the news and watched it, then turned it off and turned on the stereo system. To his surprise, the satellite radio station she’d been listening to was smooth jazz, and he smiled. She was just full of surprises.
By eight thirty, he’d checked on the animals, taken out the trash, and changed into lounging pants and a tank. At eight forty-five, she sent a text and said she’d be home in about thirty minutes, so Amos got out the frozen pie he’d bought, stuck it in the oven, and started the coffee pot.
When the garage door opened, Amos heard it and took a look at the pie. It was bubbling, and he pulled it out and set it on a burner. The coffeemaker was already finished too. He heard the back door open and she called out, “What’s that delicious smell?”
Amos was grinning when she stepped into the kitchen. “I baked a pie and made some coffee.”
She hiked up one eyebrow. “You baked a pie?”
“While it’s true that it was a frozen pie, technically, I did bake it, so … I baked a pie,” he said, grinning like he was twelve.
“What kind?”
Uh-oh, he heard that inner child mumble. “Peach?”
“I love peach! How did you know?” she asked as she dropped her bag on one of the chairs. “Is it ready?”
“Oh, yeah, and the coffee is too.”
“If I drink coffee now, I won’t be able to sleep for three hours,” she said, sounding exhausted.
Amos laughed. “That’s what I’m counting on!” He picked up the plates he’d laid out beside the stove. “Come on and eat some pie and have some coffee. And tell me about your day.”
Thirty minutes later, they’d eaten their pie and were sitting on the big sofa, laughing and talking. Everything about being with her was easy, and Amos felt … blessed. She was happy to see him, and she had no idea how happy he was to see her. “So am I still coming tomorrow night?”
“Yeah, but I have to warn you, this is different. We’re going to a place that wants eighties and nineties music, so it’s not what we normally do.” She took a sip of coffee and sat there with her hands wrapped around the mug. “I think it’ll be fine, but that’s a new thing for us, and since that’s what their management asked for, I have no idea what kind of crowd to expect. Older, maybe? I have no clue.”
“I’m sure whatever it is, you’ll do great.” After taking her mug out of her hand and setting it on the coffee table, Amos picked up a folder lying there and opened it. “Listen, we noticed something today on the photos from the crime scene, and I wanted to ask you about them.”
“Oh, god, I’ve got to look at those again? I was hoping you’d take care of this and I’d never have to see them again,” Daesha moaned.
“I know, I know. I’m sorry. But this is important. Look at this one. Look at her right ring finger. What do you see?”
“I dunno. Blood. Broken nails.”
“But look at the way the blood is lying there on her skin.” He waited and watched as she turned the photo around and around, looking at it from other angles as he had. “Do you see it?”
“It looks like …” She pulled it closer to her face
and stared at it. “It looks like a ring was taken off of it because the blood is drawn down toward her fingertip.”
“That’s what we thought too. So what ring did she wear on that hand?”
Daesha shrugged and dropped the picture on the coffee table. “Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t remember her wearing one.”
“Think, babe.”
He watched her face as she closed her eyes, and he knew she was trying to see her sister in her mind. After a couple of minutes, she shook her head. “Nope. I’m not getting anything.”
“Do you have some pictures of her from around that time period? I mean, other than the crime scene photos?”
She shrugged again. “I dunno. Maybe. I can look.”
“I think that’s a clue we can’t afford to drop.”
“Hang on.” She disappeared into the guest bedroom and in a minute or so, she reappeared with a photo box. “These would be around that time. Here.” A handful of photos passed to his hand from hers. “You look through those and I’ll look through these.”
Amos pored over the photos. They either didn’t show her right arm and hand, or there was nothing on that finger in the pictures. They’d been looking for about ten minutes when Daesha blurted out, “Wait!” She held up a picture and turned it around so Amos could see it.
In the photo were Daesha, a woman he assumed was their mother, and Dorinda. There, on Dorinda’s finger, was a ring, and it was a pretty large one at that. He couldn’t really make it out, but it seemed to have some sort of logo on it. “Do you know what that is?”
“No. I remember seeing it a couple of times, but I have no idea what that was. I meant to ask her about it one time, but I guess we started talking about something else and I forgot. I just figured it was something she got on vacation, or at a boutique, or something.”
“Was it in with her personal effects after she was killed?”
Daesha shook her head. “No. I never saw it again. Do you think they took it?”
Justice for Daesha Page 9
