by Lori Ryan
The task force stacked along the side of the wall outside Kevin’s apartment. Eve felt the tap on her shoulder and her heart rate sped up as she went through the steps she’d taken dozens of times before. Somehow, no matter how many times she did it, tension still swept through her each time. The officers at the front of the stack breached the door with the ram.
As she readied to move, Cal wedged in front of her, purposely keeping her out of the fatal funnel—the path leading into the apartment where they’d be most vulnerable to anyone defending the apartment on the inside. Eve also knew his move wasn’t lost on several of the other members of the team.
She shook off the anger and focused on what was to come. She would deal with Cal later, but right now she needed her head in the game. Her safety and the safety of all members of the team depended on every one of them being focused.
“Police, police.” The call went out as she moved, going low and moving quickly to the right when she entered the room. Her eyes scanned the surroundings, and she called out “clear” before moving into the room to the right. She saw others proceed forward into the apartment, and felt Cal come up on her side.
She caught sight of Williams as he dove behind a stuffed armchair, and she didn’t take a chance on what he might come up with.
“Hands where I can see them! Let me see your hands, Williams!” Her finger moved from the slide of her weapon to the trigger.
“Hands, Williams. Now!” Cal practically growled beside her and she felt him step closer.
Her heart sped up as time slowed and the sounds around her seemed to echo in her head. And then it was over. Williams came out from behind the chair, hands in the air.
Ten minutes later they had cleared the apartment, taken Williams into custody, and pulled two rifles from the apartment that could have been used for the shootings. Williams was cursing up a blue streak, but they’d let him sit in a room for a while before questioning him. With any luck, they might have the case closed today.
Now Eve had to deal with Cal’s punk ass move back there. No way could she work with guys who treated her with kid gloves. And honestly, she’d been hoping for more than working with Cal. Right now, all she wanted was one swift hard kick to the balls.
She mentally shrugged. It was a low blow and she’d never really do it, but picturing it felt kind of good.
Of course, she always had to go through this with each new team of men she’d worked with. Had to prove herself again and again. Had to train meathead men to see her as an agent, not as a woman. But she hadn’t thought Cal was going to pull this shit. He’d seemed to be pretty okay with working with a woman. Sure, he’d mentioned he hated her out there talking to the press, but he hadn’t gone completely caveman on her. Until now.
She bit her tongue through the ride back to the precinct. Jepsen and Mullen rode with them and Jepsen continued to prove what an ass he was the whole ride back. Everyone was hyped up on adrenaline after a raid like that, but Jepsen handled it more poorly than others.
He bounced in his seat in the back. “Did you see the look on that fucker’s face? Maaaaan, he was pissed.” He said this last as though each word was a sentence of its own. He. Was. Pissed.
He was right. Williams had been pissed. Particularly when Eve had been the one to cuff him. In Eve’s experience, a lot of perps let her handle them more easily than they’d let a guy handle them. She’d asked one guy about it after an arrest. He’d had several warrants out on him and no one else was looking forward to pulling him in. Apparently, he had a reputation and a mean streak a mile wide. But she’d walked up and asked if he wouldn’t mind turning around and putting his hands behind his back for her. To everyone’s surprise but her own, he’d done it.
She’d seen the phenomenon before, but hadn’t asked anyone, so she asked this guy why he’d let her cuff him so easily. He’d looked at her, ducked his head, and said his momma hadn’t raised him to hit no ladies. Unfortunately, there were also men whose mommas hadn’t taught the lesson as well, and she’d taken more than a few hits. It could go either way, so she was always ready, no matter what.
She wished Jepsen’s momma had raised him to shut his mouth. He didn’t let it go. “I mean, really, did y’all see him?” He wasn’t from the south but he seemed to love saying y’all. “He was pissed!”
“We got it Jep. He was pissed.” Mullen said, the words coming out as a grumble. Eve didn’t know how Mullen handled Jepsen all day.
But she didn’t just want out of that car to get away from Jepsen. She wanted out so she could quit stewing and confront Cal. She wasn’t one to stew. She’d rather just confront an issue head on, then let it go.
“Hey, you hear Reynolds’ niece made it into Dartmouth?” Mullen asked.
“Is that good?” Jepsen sounded pretty clueless, but then again, she guessed a lot of people wouldn’t necessarily know a good school from a bad one.
“Ivy league,” Eve said, turning around to face the officers. She was grateful for the distraction, both for herself and for Jepsen. “That’s great. Is Reynolds close to her?”
Mullen stopped shaking his head at his partner and looked at Eve. “Yeah. It’s his sister’s kid, but his brother, Luke, raised her with a lot of help from Zach.”
Eve had a feeling that couldn’t be a good story.
“Luke and Zach lost their mom, their sister, and her husband in a car accident,” Cal said quietly. Even Jepsen was quiet now.
“How old was the girl?” Eve asked Mullen.
“Eight at the time.”
Eve let out a breath, and they were quiet the rest of the way back. She almost wished Jepsen would start his asinine ranting again.
Cal pulled the SUV into the lot at the precinct and they filed out and into the building. One of the other cars had driven in ahead of them to bring Kevin Williams in. If she were leading the questioning, she’d have him wait a while, just to stew. She had a feeling Cal would, too.
Eve grabbed Cal’s arm the minute they got to one of the interrogation rooms and pulled him inside. She could see in his face he knew he had fucked up the minute he turned to her. She went hands on hips, determined not to let her mad go. She didn’t want to accept an apology and drop it. She wanted to have her say. He’d purposefully cut in front of her to protect her when they’d begun that raid. She’d seen men do it when they were jockeying for position, but there was no way that’s what Cal had been doing. He’d been trying to protect her.
“What the hell do you think that was? You undermined me in front of the whole team out there. You just sent a message to all of them that I’m the weak link in this team. That I can’t be trusted to pull my weight.”
He nodded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t handle that well.”
“No!” She said and punched him on the shoulder. Hard. “Hell, no.”
“No what?” He looked up. “What was that for? I said I’m sorry.”
“You don’t get to say you’re sorry right away and ruin my mad. What the hell is that?” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared.
He looked a little shaken at that. Not threatened in the sense he was afraid of her. More stunned and off balance like he had no idea which way to run to steer clear of her rampage. Good. It served him right.
“Umm, so I need to argue with you?” he asked.
“Maybe.” When he said it like that it sounded a little foolish. But dammit, he’d pissed her off and now he was pissing her off more by taking the wind out of the whole damned argument before it got off the ground. Which was weird.
She wasn’t one of those chicks who thrived on arguments and conflict. She didn’t like to fight just to have makeup sex. If she wanted good sex, she’d just have it. She didn’t need the fight part to make the sex worthwhile. And she wasn’t a drama queen.
He stepped into her and grinned the kind of cocky grin that said he was going to kiss her. She wanted to push him away and storm off but her body didn’t get on board with the plan. He moved in, slung a hand low on her
hip and tugged. She melted into him. It didn’t matter that they were still partnered together and shouldn’t be anywhere near each other’s mouths. That they were on the job and in a room anyone could walk into at any moment.
Her body reacted before she could get her brain to kick into gear and lay down the law.
God, this man could kiss. He was soft and hard all at once, and when his tongue found hers, it sent heat racing through her. In an instant, she forgot where she was and that mad she was so set on keeping had flown the coop. Which was just as good, really. The man had apologized after all.
He pulled back. If he hadn’t ended the kiss, she wasn’t sure she could have. Her mind seemed to have gone to mush.
She let out a slow breath as he grinned that damned cocky grin at her again.
“Well, just so long as we understand each other.” With that, she turned on her heel and walked out.
Chapter Twenty-Three
They let Williams stew another thirty minutes before heading in to question him. This time around, it would be about getting him to lock in on his story, then tear it apart.
Eve took the chair across from Williams while Cal leaned against the far wall.
“What the hell is this?” Williams said, starting the conversation for them. Apparently, he was going with the belligerent angle.
“Your friends weren’t quite able to alibi you out, Kevin.” Eve spoke quietly, leaving the statement hanging.
Williams shrugged and leaned back, letting his cuffed hands fall to his lap. “S’not my fucking problem. You got nothing on me. You’re gonna test my weapons and find out none of them match. I’m not your shooter.”
He seemed awfully confident for someone who was looking at murder one charges. But Eve had seen people try to argue away worse evidence than this before. It didn’t mean he was innocent.
“Tell me about your mom’s apartment building, Kevin.” Eve saw the surprise on his face, even though he covered it seconds later.
“What about it? She lives in a shit-ass dump. I help her out all I can but I haven’t been working much lately.”
“Watch your language in front of the lady.”
Eve turned to give Cal a look, earning her a grin and a shrug, before turning back to Kevin. “Why is that?”
“I don’t handle authority well.”
Cal snorted. “You were in the military. Clean record, honorable discharge. You expect us to believe you have authority issues.”
This got them another shrug, which seemed to be Kevin’s main form of communication.
“So, here’s the thing. Your mom’s building? That’s the building our sniper used for the first shot.” Eve watched as Kevin seemed to run the scenario in his head.
He sat up now. “That’s gotta be close to a mile out. Holy shit.”
“Language,” Cal said.
Eve chose to ignore him and focus on Kevin. “Yeah, it’s close. Not quite a mile, but it was a long shot. It would take someone with skill. From what we’ve seen of your record, you’ve got that skill.”
They were back to the shrug.
“So, it’s nothing more than a coincidence your mom lives in that building?”
“Stranger things have happened.”
Eve looked at him and waited for more.
“Look, lady, I don’t know what to tell you. Run my weapons. They won’t match. I wasn’t anywhere near that building that day. Like I told you before, I was with friends working on a buddy’s car. I got nothing more for you.” His crossed arms and closed mouth told her they weren’t going to get more from him. At least not without more evidence.
She and Cal left the room. They could hold him for twenty-four hours.
Cal climbed the steps to Joy’s house and knocked, balancing two coffee cups in his hand. He wouldn’t be able to stay long, but he wanted to make sure she was doing all right. He normally picked her up every other Sunday to go to their mom’s house for dinner, but he hadn’t been able to make it this past week.
“Hey, Cal.” Joy pushed the door open, then stepped back, letting him in. “Oh, perfect. I was just thinking I either need coffee or a nap.” A large yawn proved her point.
“You working on something?” He knew her well enough to know if she was in this condition, it likely meant she’d gotten lost in a project and hadn’t bothered to sleep the night before.
“Come see.” She took one of the coffee cups and padded through the house into her painting space.
“Wow. That’s incredible, Joy.” It was different. Not the usual landscape or castle or landmark from around the world. This time, she’d painted the face of a young boy. “Where’s he from?” He assumed she must have seen a picture of him or taken it from someone’s website. Maybe someone had commissioned the painting from her, providing the photo. All her paintings came from photos, but he’d never seen her paint any children.
Now that he thought of it, she’d never painted people before at all. Surely, she’d been asked to in the past, since she did take commissions. They’d just never spoken about it.
“I’ve been dreaming about him lately.” She frowned as she spoke, and he didn’t know what to say.
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
She lifted her hands. “Who knows.” Linking her arm into his, she pulled him into the living room and curled up on the sofa, dragging him down next to her. “Tell me about your special agent.”
He couldn’t stop his bark of laughter at that. Joy had that effect on him. “My special agent?”
“Sure.” The grin she gave him was impish. “She came with you so she’s yours.”
“That’s all it takes, huh?”
She didn’t answer. Cal sighed, having the feeling he was being set up. “Special Agent Sands is just fine.”
“Please don’t tell me you call her Special Agent Sands.”
“I call her Eve. Now tell me what you’re getting at.”
“I’m not getting at anything.” She played this off with one of those who me looks she was so good at, but Cal wasn’t buying it. “I’m simply asking how working with Eve is going.”
“It’s great.” He realized he meant it. Usually working with someone new meant a lot of adjustment, but he and Eve clicked better than he would have expected. “She’s smart, she’s damned good at her job.” She’s got guts he thought, but didn’t say it. He was always careful not to say anything in front of Joy that might hurt her feelings. He would never judge Joy for shutting herself away from the world after what had happened. It wasn’t something he had the right to judge. What she’d been through—hell, it wasn’t even something he could imagine.
“She’s pretty,” Joy added.
“And we’re done.” Call made the statement with a laugh, but he hoped Joy would accept it. She didn’t.
“She’s strong, too. You can feel it from her, you know. Without even seeing her in action.”
Cal nodded. He did know what she meant.
“She answers a hole you have.”
Cal sighed. There was no stopping her now.
“I mean it. You have mom and me, and let’s face it, we lean on you not the other way around. It’s what we do.”
“Joy, I never—”
She waved away his protest. “I know. You don’t mind. You’re here for us. You always will be. That’s what makes you so good. So strong. You’re always here for the people who love you. That’s why being with a woman like Eve is so important. You need someone like her. Someone who stands on her own, who even holds you up sometimes.”
Cal reached out and tugged her in, kissing her on the temple. “You hold me up plenty, Joy.” He meant it. She did. She just didn’t know it.
She stayed tucked into his side as she sipped her coffee, then looked up at him. “How is Jarrod?”
“Healing well. Should be back soon. I’m sure Carrie is spoiling him rotten, and knowing him, he’s lapping it up.”
“And how are you holding up?” There was always this unspoken thing be
tween them. She never had to spell out what she was asking. She was asking him how it felt to have another one of his partners hurt.
He shook his head. He didn’t have an answer for that, so he went with the easy answer. “I’m fine.”
She snorted. “Ray Lansing has been writing about the case a lot.”
“You’re reading Ray Lansing’s shit blog?”
She nodded. “He has some good articles. I admit, he’s not treating you guys well right now, but he raises fair points sometimes about the city and our country.”
“Such as?” He had a feeling he didn’t want to hear this.
“He had a great piece today about incarceration in the U.S. We’re behind a lot of other nations in terms of rehabilitation and our system of mass incarceration isn’t working. Don’t you ever think about that as a cop?”
“Hell no. I mean, yeah, if someone I know is guilty gets off after I know I built a good case, then yeah, I think about it. But it’s not my job to decide what happens after I arrest them. I do my part, then it’s up to the judges, the prosecutor. They deal in that side of things.”
“There are a lot of nations that focus on rehabilitation, on treatment of mental health issues and addiction, and their outcomes are arguably better.”
Cal sat up and looked at her. “You mean to tell me you’d want the guys who attacked you to get treatment and rehab instead of jail time?” She flinched and he immediately regretted his words. What the hell was wrong with him?
She seemed to rally right away, though, and he had to say, she seemed to be different lately. Stronger somehow. “No. The men who raped me should be in prison. You and I both know that. But there are a lot of people in prison who didn’t rape someone or commit a cold-blooded murder. They’re serving long sentences a lot of times, and even if they were serving light sentences, what they need are services to help them get on the right track, not jail.”
Cal sat back and chewed on what she’d said for a minute. If he were honest, he’d probably seen everything through the lens of Joy’s attack for a long time. Sure, on the one hand, he did see a difference between burglary and rape. But he’d always just been focused on tracking down bad guys. Whoever they were, he identified them and arrested them. The rest was up to someone else. “Yeah, well our system isn’t perfect, but I focus on my end of things.”
