by LK Shaw
I couldn’t think when she was this close. My brain short-circuited, and my cock began making my decision for me. I stepped back and took a deep breath to try and regain control of my emotions.
“I’m a police officer, and you’re a witness to a crime, Katie. I’m already walking a tightrope with my career and this—” my hands motioned back and forth between us— “could be what knocks me down and completely ruins everything I’ve been working toward since I entered the academy.”
A look of hurt crossed Katie’s face, my words cutting her deep. Then, her spine stiffened, and her expression hardened. She turned away from me to open her apartment door before turning back to glare at me. “I see. Well, thank you for seeing me home, Detective. I don’t want to keep you from your important work. Go. Do what you need to do to make yourself feel better. Just remember your agreement to keep me in the loop with whatever you find. See you around, Webber.”
Without another word, Katie closed the door in my face. I sighed in frustration. Fuck. I stood there a moment before the snick of the deadbolt sounded on the other side.
Chapter 6
I knew I was being unfair to Daniel, but I’d lost control of my emotions the minute I realized Emmett was dead. He had grounded me. When I was six years old, my mother disappeared for two weeks. She’d been on one of her benders and dropped off the face of the earth. It wasn’t the first time I’d been left alone, but it was certainly the longest. I’d done my best to find myself food to eat, but we barely had anything to scrape by. After the second day without anything to eat, I’d been sitting on the front stoop crying in hunger, when the man who lived next door walked over and sat down next to me.
I’d seen him once in a while when I came home from school, but he kept to himself, except for those few times I’d heard him arguing with my mother about taking better care of me. He always smiled at me whenever I saw him. It was a smile that seemed sad and always made me want to do something to make him happy again. He never spoke directly to me, and I didn’t know what his name was, but he seemed nice.
After sitting down, he introduced himself and asked me what was wrong. I was so lost, and even though my mother had always told me that our lives were no one’s business, I was scared, hungry, and alone. An expression that had me scooting away from him in fear crossed his face when I told him I didn’t know where my mother was, and I didn’t have anything to eat. He quickly wiped the expression off his face, and I relaxed. He told me not to move and he’d be right back.
He disappeared in his house but returned a short time later. In his hands was a bowl of macaroni and cheese. Not really understanding that I shouldn’t take food from strangers, I dug into the meal and quickly devoured it. Every day until my mother returned, I was invited to Emmett’s house where he fed me and helped me get ready for school. Emmett was my refuge.
When I was old enough to understand, I asked him why he’d never called children’s services on my mother every time she took off. He told me about how his wife and daughter had been killed in a car accident before I’d been born, and I reminded him of his own daughter if she’d lived. He said he knew that if children’s services were called in, I’d most likely be sent to live in a foster home, and he’d heard too many horror stories about what happened to kids in foster care that he didn’t want to subject me to that.
So, he did the best he could to take care of me and made sure I had everything I needed. He was the one who helped me through the days I thought I was dying, when in reality, I’d only hit puberty. He went to my track meets and the father-daughter dance at school. He was at my graduation and co-signed the loan for me to buy my first car. He did everything a father should do for his daughter. There was no one I loved more than Emmett.
Just the thought of Emmett’s body lying in that alley had me in tears again. I had to find his killer. I owed it to Emmett. My mind drifted back to Daniel, and I took a few minutes to examine my feelings. Things were so jumbled in my head; it was hard to make heads or tails of anything. One thing I did know though was that Daniel Webber had grabbed a hold of me in a way no man ever had before.
From what I’d learned about him in the short time I’d known him was that he had a strong sense of right and wrong. He saw things in black and white with minimal shades of gray. His dedication to his career and making sure justice was served was evident, but his rigid view of the world was skewed. Not everything was cut and dry. There were times when desperate measures needed to be taken. This was one of them.
Just knowing that somewhere out there was Emmett’s killer had me raging against how unfair life was. Emmett had been there for me when no one else was. There was nothing I wouldn’t do for him. I needed to try and get some rest tonight, because tomorrow, I planned on looking for Emmett’s killer.
As I walked into La Scala, Emmett’s restaurant, early the next morning, my eyes were gritty and my nose stuffy from crying all night. I’d barely slept from the nightmares. Emmett’s body falling to the ground was playing on repeat throughout my mind, and I couldn’t shut it off. I stepped through the door of the up-scale Italian restaurant and was assaulted with the familiar smells of garlic, basil, and tomatoes as well as the sounds of pots and pans clanging around in the kitchen as the staff prepped for the day. They were sounds and smells I’d grown up on as I’d been coming to work with Emmett since I was ten. My eyes teared up again, but I pushed the wetness away. Crying wouldn’t bring Emmett back.
I headed back to the kitchen, weaving through the maze of square tables peppered throughout the restaurant, the white tablecloths bright and crisply pressed. It seemed like the world kept turning even though Emmett was no longer part of it. Clattering pots quieted when the staff saw me enter the room.
Erin, one of the sous chefs, rushed over. Everyone else resumed their duties, but I could tell they were all trying to eavesdrop.
“Oh my god, Katie, are you okay? I’m so sorry about Emmett. I can’t believe he’s dead.”
When I didn’t tear up, I realized I was all cried out. At least for now. There was no doubt that grief would continue to hound me at unexpected times.
“Thank you, Erin. I was just heading to Emmett’s office. To take care of things, you know.”
Erin only nodded. It wasn’t strange for me to pop into his office and look things over. Emmett had been grooming me to take over the restaurant for the last two years. I’d been learning the ins and out of the business since Emmett decided to make me a partner not long ago, and I wanted to look over the books to see what I was going to need to keep things running now with Emmett gone.
In order to avoid going into more detail, I excused myself and moved through the kitchen back to Emmett’s office. I closed the door behind me in hopes of avoiding any interruptions. My shoulders slumped the minute no one’s eyes were on me. My gaze scanned the small office, stopping to look at various items scattered around, including the picture of me at my college graduation sitting on the edge of the desk. Emmett had been the proud papa that day. He’d invited everyone he knew to La Scala for a huge graduation party. The place had been packed. Everybody loved Emmett.
I plopped down in the chair behind the desk and took a few deep breaths, trying to gather my fortitude to dig into my least favorite aspect of the business. I hated math, and accounting gave me hives just thinking about it. Once I gauged I was as ready as I was going to get, I unlocked the desk drawer and pulled out the ledger. For two hours I read through every entry in that damned book until my eyes crossed. My brow creased and a headache had started behind my right eye. Something wasn’t adding up. Emmett had only skimmed over the basics of his accounting so far, but he’d promised in the next few months he would sit down and let me take a closer look. I needed to take a mental break so I headed out to the kitchen before the lunch crowd started trickling in and grabbed a quick bite to eat. Then, I headed back in to the office.
Another thirty minutes looking over the numbers didn’t make them any clearer. I needed to have the
m reviewed by an actual accountant. A sharp knock interrupted my thoughts, and I groaned in frustration. I needed to make it clearer next time that I wanted to be left alone. When I opened the door to the intrusion, I was surprised to see Daniel on the other side.
Chapter 7
My cock instantly hardened the minute I saw Katie’s face. Everything about this woman turned me on, even though I knew she was trouble, and I needed to keep my dick in check. Her glare spoke volumes about what she thought of me popping in unannounced.
“What are you doing here?”
“I stopped in to ask some questions of the staff. I spoke with my Captain and asked to be put on the case. I’m not the lead detective, but he’s letting me be a part of the investigation. I knew I needed access to the details if I was going to help you.”
She appeared shocked at my statement. As though she was surprised I would go to such lengths, especially after our argument the night before. I had never been more serious as I was when I told her that nothing would harm her while I was around. Which meant I needed to be around. And getting involved in the investigation was the only way I could do that. Captain Peters seemed reluctant to let me in, but I’d been working hard on keeping my nose clean and earning back my reputation as a good cop. Although, for some reason, keeping the cufflink strictly between Connor and me seemed imperative. Just something my gut was telling me.
“I’m sorry I was so bitchy last night. I know you’re trying to help.”
“Don’t give it another thought. I know how important finding Emmett’s killer is to you. Do you mind if I take a look around?”
She shook her head, opened the door to let me in, and then closed it behind us. Probably not a good idea since I couldn’t seem to keep my hands to myself when we were alone, but I refrained from saying anything. I needed to ignore this pull between us. Nothing more could happen. I’d already been playing with fire as it was. My focus needed to remain on finding the killer and making sure that, in the meantime, Katie was protected in case she’d been seen. So far, I’d been doing a piss-poor job of it. I’d left her alone two nights in a row. Anything could have happened during that time.
“What were you doing when I got here?”
“I was going over the ledgers and seeing what needed to be taken care of soon, like ordering food supplies, payroll, and other mind-numbing accounting things. But, I keep running across a mismatch of funds, and I can’t figure out where it’s coming from.” A confused look appeared on Katie’s face, as though finding an error was the last thing she’d expected.
“What kind of mismatch?”
“Well, there’s a deduction of funds, but there isn’t any note as to where they went. No vendor was listed, and even though the subtracted funds seem to be larger than the amount the restaurant brought in, the final sum still leaves the restaurant in the black. And this has been happening for several years. Up until a couple of months ago, at least. Then, suddenly, it stopped. According to the numbers I’m seeing, the restaurant should be in the red, but based on the bottom line shown, it’s the exact opposite. The final numbers show a profit, but the math shows a major loss. In fact, I’m not even sure how La Scala is still open. It just doesn’t make sense.”
I walked over to where she’d moved as she explained the ledger numbers and now stood beside her. “May I?” I nodded at the books on the desk.
She pushed the book closer to me, and I picked it up to get a closer look. She leaned in until her shoulder brushed mine as she pointed at the numbers on the page. I froze at the contact. Her head turned slightly, and our eyes met. Her cheeks flushed, and she hastily took a step back. I scanned the page in front of me, making a note of the numbers she’d been referring to. I did some quick calculations in my head and realized she was right. Nothing was adding up.
“Do you have Emmett’s banking information? Statements of any kind?”
Katie nodded and then started rummaging through a file cabinet against the wall. She pulled out a manila folder and handed it to me. It was filled with bank statements. I quickly flipped through a few of them. I couldn't make heads or tails out of any of this. The loud ringing of Katie’s phone interrupted my concentration. She picked it up off the desk and swiped across the screen.
“Hello?”
Katie’s face drained of color, and a terrified light entered her eyes, instantly putting me on high alert.
“What do you want?” Her voice came out shaky, and her whole body trembled.
Not caring about anything but finding out who was scaring the shit out of her, I grabbed the phone out of her hands.
“Who the fuck is this?” I barked at the unknown person on the other end of the line.
A deep chuckle sounded, which only fueled my anger.
“Well, hello, Detective Webber. It’s nice of you to join the party.”
My grip tightened on the phone so much that I wouldn’t have been surprised if it snapped in half. “Don’t make me ask you again. Who is this?”
“Don’t take that tone with me, Detective. I can make your life extremely miserable if you piss me off. I recommend you show me a little more respect.”
“Fuck you. I don’t know who you are, and I don’t give a shit. Don’t threaten me again, because you have no idea how miserable I can make your life.”
The silence was heavy after my outburst. Then, clapping broke the silence.
“Bravo. What a good show. You sounded just like a knight willing to put his life on the line for his damsel. I applaud your spirit. However, that lapse in showing me the proper regard will cost you. I’ll be in touch soon.”
A bellow of rage burst from deep inside me when the line went dead.
“Fuck.” I checked myself when I almost threw Katie’s phone against the opposing wall. Instead, I slapped it none too gently on the desk. Instantly, my gaze searched out Katie’s. She remained pale, although some color had returned to her face. But, her whole body still shook with slight tremors. Without conscious thought, I pulled her into my embrace, holding her tight and trying to relieve her shaking. Eventually her chills eased, but she remained in my arms.
“What did he say to you?” I needed to know what had caused her initial reaction.
She spoke so softly I had to strain to hear her. “He said I was going to wind up like Emmett if I didn’t give him what he wanted. You snatched the phone before he could tell me exactly what that was.”
Damn it. Things had just escalated, especially with the threat to Katie. And the caller clearly knew who I was. I needed to talk to Connor and get some answers. In the meantime, I needed to keep Katie safe. Which meant keeping her close.
“You’re coming home with me.”
Chapter 8
Hearing that voice tell me he was going kill me, even if he hadn’t used those exact words, had sent chills running through my body. I was scared shitless. I wanted to be pissed off that someone would threaten me, but nothing in my life prepared me for this. Even other cokeheads and my mom’s drug dealer popping in and out of the house at all hours of the night when I was growing up hadn’t left me as terrified as I was right now. In fact, I would normally balk at Daniel’s, at anyone’s, command, but right now, I didn’t want to be alone.
What the hell kind of mess had Emmett gotten himself, and now me, into? I hadn’t even realized I’d been shaking until Daniel had taken me in his arms. I grabbed onto him and held tight. Something about him soothed me. I felt more safe and protected with him than I had with even Emmett. After a few minutes, my tremors abated. I reluctantly pulled myself out of Daniel’s embrace. I never realized how nice it was to lean on someone else. I’d had a few boyfriends over the years, but in actually, they were boys. Daniel was all man.
“All right.” I could tell I’d stunned him with my easy acquiescence. It was understandable since I’d gone off half-cocked last night and headed back to the alley alone to talk to Skeeter. My mind finally comprehended how much danger I was in; it was clear now that whoever killed Emmett
had seen me. Although, I didn’t understand why he hadn’t come after me in the alley that night. Maybe something else had scared him off. Or maybe he needed me for something. Either way, I was going to trust Daniel.
He shook off his surprise. “Okay. Let’s finish up here. Bring the ledgers with you, so I can have them looked at by a friend of mine. Then, we’re going to stop at your house, and you’re going to pack whatever it is you think you’ll need for the next week. I’ll have someone drive your car back to your place.”
I gathered up everything I thought was important, locked up the office, and said my goodbyes to the staff, letting them know I was going to take a few more days off. I let them know that Maurizio, one of the restaurant’s managers, was in charge while I was gone, and if they needed anything, he’d get a hold of me.
Daniel led me out of the restaurant and out to the car. I waved distractedly to some of the lunch regulars who were starting to trickle in. We took off down the road with my eyes scanning in front of and behind us, trying to see if I could tell if any one was following us. I was suddenly extremely paranoid.
“Hey, are you doing okay?” A light touch landed on my thigh, and I looked down to see Daniel’s hand.
My sob was disguised as a laugh. “I’m doing as well as I can be considering someone just threatened to kill me. Honestly, right now, I’m holding on by a thread. I’m pretty sure any second I’m gonna completely freak, out and then you’re going to have a hysterical woman on your hands. You’re going to have no idea what to do with me, and then you’re going to freak out. Then things are going to get really bad, and I totally know I’m babbling right now, but I’m scared shitless. I’m trying to cope by talking and not thinking about what could possibly happen to me.”
My mouth snapped closed, and I started breathing fast as though I was starting to hyperventilate. Black spots danced in my eyes, and my head was spinning. Abruptly, my breath was taken away in a different way when Daniel’s mouth slammed down on mine. His fingers fisted in my hair and tugged slightly as he slanted my head to get better access to my mouth. Every thought left my brain when his tongue coaxed its way between my lips and tangled with mine. He tasted of mint and coffee, and I never wanted the kiss to end. I lost all track of time and space as the kiss went on.
