Stark Raving Mad (Chicago's Finest Book 2)

by Vanessa Knight

  “I know him. We went up against each other a few years ago.”

  “Did he win?”

  Brooklyn smiled and tossed her hair back. “Why don’t you ask him?”

  “Ah-hah. I’ll take that as a no.” He offered his palm and Brook slapped it. “Way to go. Knock that arrogant jerk down a few pegs.”

  Talk about the pot calling the kettle…Joe huffed and walked to his desk. “Hey.”

  “Stitches. What’s up?” Lopez inched closer to Brook.

  “Get off my desk.” Joe sat down at his desk, pushing his chair out and blocking Lopez from getting near Brook again. “What are you doing here?”

  “Getting to know my partner’s almost sister-in-law.” Lopez sat in Shay’s chair and twirled a pen. “I have some stories about Adam if you need some ammunition.”

  “Partner’s almost sister-in-law? We’re practically related.” Brook laughed and shook her head.

  “I wouldn’t go that far.” Lopez flashed his perfect teeth. “My sisters don’t look half as good as you do in that skirt.”

  Damn Lopez. He could flirt with any woman in the world, why couldn’t he leave this one alone? ”Don’t you have work to do?”

  “Nah, Adam’s out with his woman, so I’m technically off for the night.”

  “Well, shouldn’t you be heading home?” Joe pushed papers around on his desk. Not that he cared that Lopez was hanging around. He was worried about Brook. She had a rough day, and didn’t need this second-string seducer sniffing around her silhouette.

  “Hitting the gym first.”

  “Then go.” Joe stared at the other detective, his eyes stuck on the encroacher.

  Lopez smiled at Brook. “Great meeting you.” He walked over to his desk and started digging through one of his drawers.

  “So, if Adam is out with Allison, is Shay taking me home?” Brook asked. “Shay already left.”

  “Oh.”

  “Do you need a ride?” Lopez came back to Joe’s desk. WTF? Why wouldn’t he just go away?

  “That would be great.” Brook gathered her purse and briefcase and stood up. “That’s okay.” Joe stood up. “I can take you home.”

  “What about qualifications?”

  Damn qualifications. He couldn’t leave no matter how much he wanted to, no matter how much he hated that asshole being near Brook. “Aren’t you heading to the gym?”

  “I can go tomorrow.” Lopez lifted an arm to show her the way and Brook started walking away from Joe’s desk. His mouth turned up in a smile as he reached for Brook’s briefcase. “I can carry that for you.”

  “What a gentleman. Thank you.” She smiled as their hands touched.

  Joe blood boiled as he watched them walk toward the door. “Lopez, drop her at Shay’s and keep your eyes open. You can’t leave her alone.”

  Brook kept walking as Lopez stopped and turned around. “I have no intention of leaving her alone.”

  “I’ll be there in an hour.” Joe crossed the room and laid a hand on Lopez’ arm. “Don’t leave her by herself, but you better leave her the fuck alone. Any part of you that gets near any part of her, that part will not remain attached to your body,” Joe whispered before letting Lopez go.

  “What was that about?” Brook asked as Lopez caught up with her. “Special instructions.” Lopez laughed. “Let’s get you home.”

  Joe went back to desk, yanking his gun and extra magazines from the bottom drawer. He was heading to the range. Now. He’d do whatever it took to get this done so he could rescue Brook from that good-looking Latino.

  Who was he kidding? He was rescuing Lopez, not Brook. Because Joe wasn’t kidding when he’d explained the repercussions of any part of Lopez getting anywhere near Brook. Just the thought had Joe’s feet moving faster. He’d call in any favor he could to get out of there in the next twenty minutes.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Brook sat in the passenger seat of the stud mobile. The black sports car had racing stripes, and the inside was bathed in cologne. Soft R&B sped them along the road. It was a regular woo-mobile. Too bad she wasn’t in the mood to be wooed.

  The sun was sinking into the horizon, orange streaming through the mature trees of the Chicago streets. A beautiful night. Brook would have loved to sit outside and enjoy the cool night air, the hint of spring. But there was still someone out to get her, or so they thought. No way she’d shake her babysitters long enough to just relax.

  Not that she needed to shake Marco. He was a nice guy. Which helped. She needed a little nice after her conversation with Joe. She didn’t need any more judgment. She had enough blame inside of her, she didn’t need it from Joe as well. He’d said all the right things, but there was just something off. Maybe it was the way he couldn’t wait to be rid of her. Nothing said, “I don’t think you’re guilty” like pushing you away into another man’s babe-magnet car.

  Jerk.

  It was better she found out he couldn’t live with her past now, rather than later.

  Yeah. Maybe if she kept telling herself that, she’d start to believe it.

  The woo-mobile pulled up to Shay’s quiet house. Lights off, darkness circling.

  She angled out of the car and headed to the front stoop. On the top step sat a long narrow box. Flowers.

  She leaned down, her hand skimming the box.

  “Wait!” Marco slid his gun from the holster at his back and turned her around. He guided her to his car, pushing her inside. He pulled another gun from the glove box and laid it in her hands. “Wait here.” He slammed the door and ran toward the house.

  The gun was cold and heavy. She slid the metal between her hands as she watched him duck around the back of the house. She waited. Her eyes darted between the rear view mirror and the windshield. The street was quiet, except for a man and woman strolling behind a baby carriage. Every movement made her jump. She wanted to raise the gun, but she was afraid she might accidentally shoot the damn thing.

  She must have forgotten to sign up for the Lawyers With Handguns seminar. She had no idea what to do with this damn thing. Please, no one approach the car. Please, evildoers, stay away.

  The door flew open, and Brook went airborne before she could lift the weapon. Her lungs seized. Her muscles seized. The gun fell to the floor. Time stood still as she landed on the seat and her eyes refocused.

  Marco stood in the open car door. “Hey, are you okay? You jumped like twenty feet.”

  “I’m fine.” The words came out of her mouth, but she couldn’t vouch for them being intelligible.

  “Do you have the keys for the house?”

  She dropped Shay’s keys in his hand. Her hand shook as she picked up the gun and brought it to her lap. She could do this.

  She was an officer of the law. So she didn’t have experience with a gun. She’d watched Law and Order: SVU a million times.

  How hard could it be?

  She turned around in the seat. The Stepford family had passed her and was heading away. Quiet had descended on the street. She looked as a light went on inside Shay’s house. One by one, the lights flickered on until the house became a giant spotlight. Darkness abandoned the yard as a floodlight blazed. A shadow moved from inside the house. Brook lifted the steel in her hands as the shadow moved closer and closer to the front door. The shadow filled out the front door.

  Marco.

  He took the note off the box and laughed. He looked up and waved her over to the stoop. “This is from lover boy.” He handed her the card.

  I’m sorry. I was an asshole.—Joe

  Marco grinned. “So what did he do?”

  She didn’t answer. She couldn’t decide if she should be happy or not. When did he send this? Could he have sent this tonight? After her revelation. Probably not. Not even Joe could get a florist to deliver that fast.

  Maybe after their fight the other night. That seemed more likely. He would’ve needed time to order and have the flowers delivered.

  Marco took the box from her and they walked i
nto the kitchen. “I will say that he got one thing right. He is an asshole.” Marco roamed the first floor looking out the windows before he closed the blinds.

  She opened the box and familiar reddish-black liquid stained the tissue paper. “This isn’t from Joe.” She pinched the tissue paper, exposing a blue-sequined lump splashed with the black of crusted blood. Her eyes watered as nausea flipped her stomach and all its contents. A gag stuck in her throat.

  How could this happen again?

  “What is this?” He stared inside at the blue sequins peeking out from the blood-covered fabric.

  “My bridesmaid dress. How? How did they get it?”

  “Don’t touch it. Don’t’ touch anything.” He was dialing his phone as he spoke. “Where was it?”

  “Here. In this house.”

  Marco’s eyes went wide. “Perretti. Stark knows where she is. There’s another package and he might have been in the house.” A pause, and Brook nodded at Marco. “Yeah he’s definitely been in the house.”

  Yelling came through the phone as Marco pulled her into the first floor bathroom. “Don’t move.” He slammed the door shut, but Brook cracked it open. Another damn man trying to lock her in a bathroom. He was lucky she wasn’t in the mood to fight, but she wasn’t going to sit here in a box without being able to see what was going on.

  Whoever was doing this came into the house. Walked into the kitchen and stole her dress. Spilled god-only-knew what type of blood on her dress.

  What if she had been home? What if Shay’s Gran had been home? Or Shawn?

  The whole thing was getting too real. Too close to those she cared about. Gran and Shawn could’ve been hurt. This wasn’t just about her anymore. She couldn’t stay. Not here. Not anymore.

  From the sounds, Marco was flying around the house locking doors and sliding shades closed. He shoved his phone in his pocket as he walked into the bathroom. “Joe’s on his way. We need to pack a bag.”

  “Wait. What?”

  “Joe wants you to pack a bag, and we need to move fast.”

  “But…”

  “Please. Adam’s my boss. Just pack. You can fight with him and Joe on whether or not you want to or need to, but for now help me out.”

  “Fine.” She flew up the stairs with the detective on her heels. She wasn’t going to fight him on this, not at all. She needed to go, for Gran’s and Shawn’s sakes— but she wanted a say in where she was going. She wasn’t putting anyone else in danger. She’d go back home before she put anyone else she loved in the path of this wacko. Even Joe.

  She needed to do this alone. Hide where no one could find her. She couldn’t live with herself if anyone else was hurt.

  Now she just had to convince Adam and Joe that this was the best course of action. Easy. All she needed was a pinch of magic fairy dust and her wizarding wand to make it happen.

  Too bad she left them in her other jacket.

  * * *

  Joe leaned against his truck and ran a hand through his hair. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Brook. She sat in an ambulance, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The shaking had stopped. That was an improvement.

  Her eyes had shrunk to a normal size. Always a good thing. If it wasn’t for the fear behind every fake smile she threw, he’d swear she was fine.

  A car with Arizona plates arrived on the scene. Adam. He still hadn’t switched his plates yet. Too busy planning trips to Hawaii and now a wedding. Poor bastard. “Brook!” Allison flew out of the car. “Brook!” She ran up to Joe, eyes wide, frantically searching the area. Her face paled as she approached him. “Where is she?”

  “Relax, she’s okay. She’s getting checked out.” Joe pointed to the ambulance, where Brook was waving at her sister.

  “Oh, thank God.” Allison turned to Adam and kissed him. “Thanks for the creative driving. I owe you one.”

  “Go. I’ll think of a way for you to pay me back, once we know Brook is safe.” Adam ran a hand along her cheek, a smile pasted on his face.

  Poor bastard? Hah. If Joe could find someone to make him that happy… Allison ran to the ambulance and climbed inside.

  She leaned over her sister and barked orders at the EMTs. Now those were the poor bastards, dealing with the mother hen.

  Adam walked up to Joe. “What happened?”

  “Bridesmaid’s dress is trashed.” Joe found the picture on his phone. “It’s on Shay’s counter if you want an up close and personal look.”

  “Is there a note?”

  “Yeah, it was supposedly from me.” Joe swiped the screen and the note popped up.

  Adam took the phone, and grunted as he scanned the images. “Well, we can narrow it down to someone who knows you’re an asshole. Oh wait, that’s everyone.” Adam handed back the phone.

  “And someone who has the balls to break into a cop’s house and take the dress.”

  “I don’t like it. What’s our next move?” Shay walked onto the scene. “Where’s Gran?”

  “Gran and Shawn are spending the night at my ex-husband’s.”

  “The ex-husband. That drop-off must have been fun.” Joe offered her his phone.

  “Don’t start.” She swiped through the pictures. “Crap. This is on my kitchen counter.”

  “Yeah, uh sorry.” Adam said, but most of his attention seemed to be on Allison and Brook.

  “Great. Now, I only have to burn my countertop and maybe my kitchen. All because of a couple dresses.” She dropped the phone in Joe’s outstretched hand.

  “Dresses? There was only one dress.” Joe scrolled over the photos again. He’d scrutinized the damn things, not that he was getting any information from them. How had someone gotten inside the house?

  “One dress? But Brook’s and my dress were hanging from the same knob. How did they know which dress was hers?”

  “Maybe because he saw her in it.” Joe shoved the phone in his pocket. “Stark saw her in the dress at the dress shop.” That asshole saw her in that dress. He didn’t deserve to see her in any dress. The sleaze ball didn’t deserve to breathe the same air, let alone share space.

  Joe had to get her away from here. Away from him—Stark.

  “We need to get Brook out of here.”

  “Dyer won’t like us moving her.” Adam ranhis hand through his hair. “This is still his case.”

  “Too damn bad. I’m not putting Brook in danger so Dyer has bait for this psychopath. We need to get her away. That’s two times too many he’s had a chance at her. It’s not happening again.”

  “Where should we take her? A hotel?” Shay asked.

  “What about my mom’s?” Adam suggested. “She’s always considered Brook family, and she has plenty of room in that huge house.”

  Joe shook his head. “Exactly—it’s too easy to track her to you and your family.

  She needs to be further away. Somewhere that’s untraceable.” “My mom still has that condo in Vegas.” Adam said.

  “In her name?” Adam nodded.

  “Then, no.” Joe sifted through the contacts on his phone. There had to be somewhere he could take her. He paused when he pulled up his aunt’s name in contacts. He’d never got around to deleting the information, mostly because his mother inherited her sister’s house and they’d just sat on the damn thing for the past year and a half.His mom visited over the summer, but no one had been back since.

  “My family has a house in Wisconsin,” he told Adam and Shay. “It’s rustic, but it should serve the purpose. It’s in my mother’s maiden name, so it would be pretty hard to track it to me.”

  Head-nodding and silence signaled their agreement. He was taking Brook to Wisconsin until they could find this guy. Part of him couldn’t wait to get her alone. Another part wanted to find the prick himself and beat the hell out of him.

  “We should get her home.” Allison joined them next to Joe’s truck, her arm around Brook’s shoulders.

  “Home?” Joe asked. Whose home?

  “She’s coming home with Ada
m and me.” Allison drew her sister closer. “That’s not a good idea.”

  Joe pushed away from the truck. They had a plan now, he just needed to get her sister on the same page.

  “Why not? She’s my sister. We’ll take care of her.”

  “Stark found her here. How hard do you think it will be for him to find her at your house—her sister’s house—another cop’s house?” Joe needed her to see there was only one option. “We need to get her somewhere safe. Some place that can’t be traced back to any one of us.”

  “Do you have a place in mind?” Allison’s free hand was on her hip. It was his turn to deal with the mother hen.

  “My mother owns a house in Wisconsin. It can’t be traced back to my family easily. It’s in her maiden name.”

  “But…”

  “This is the best thing for her.” Adam reached for his fiancée. “He’s getting too close. We need her away from here, so we can deal with this. We might not be so lucky next time. There can’t be a next time.”

  “Fine.” Mother Hen was so not fine with this, no matter what she said.

  “We should go.” Joe motioned to the backseat of the truck. “I have that bag you packed.”

  “Wait. What? You’re leaving now?” Allison wasn’t letting go.

  “We need to make our move now, before he comes back.”

  “It’ll be okay.” Brook wrapped her in a hug. “The sooner I leave, the sooner I can come back.” She kissed her sister’s forehead and gave Adam a hug.

  “Call if you need anything, Crook,” Adam said. “’Kay M’Adam.”

  “I thought we changed that to BIL.” Adam drew away and wrapped an arm around Allison.

  Brook smiled and headed to the truck. “I’m waiting till you walk down that aisle.” She slid into the passenger side of the truck.

  “Ready?” Joe asked. “As ready as I can be.”

  And that’s all he could ask for, given the wacko nipping at her heels.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Brook stared out the window of Joe’s truck, Bruno sleeping on her lap. She was glad they’d picked up the dog before heading up to Wisconsin. He was just one more familiar friend to help keep her calm as they drove, and drove, and drove. Not to mention he’d keep Joe company on the way back.