Love Under Two Detectives

by Cara Covington

  “Well, I’ve never handled curiosity well, Anthony. So if you don’t mind, step on it. I’m eager to know what the hell is going on.”

  Chapter Five

  Mary adjusted the angle of her laptop slightly, just a minor change. She’d never once in her career to date brought her writing outside. It would have been impossible for her to do in her New York apartment. But this small house in this quiet town had a beautiful garden, and this wrought-iron table provided a wonderfully flat surface. Her ass nestled comfortably in the padded, matching chair, and the umbrella shaded her from the sun just enough.

  Most important at the moment, this tidy back yard felt peaceful, and after that meeting of the Town Trust so recently past, peaceful was exactly what she needed. Because she was worrying, and distracted, she took a minute to open a new document on her computer.

  She recorded what worried her, and then she listed what was being done about it. Aunt Samantha had assured her that her family back in New York State was being apprised of the situation. Everyone would be in the loop, and really, at this point in time, knowledge was the greatest weapon they had. With knowledge came meaningful action. She read over the page she’d just created and felt her tension begin to ease.

  Then, because her mind still raced and her belly still churned, she opened another document and just wrote it all out.

  Who could have imagined such a thing? Well, actually, I sincerely hope that the people who can do the most to defeat this disease not only imagined it. I hope they’ve planned for it and have sufficient contingency plans to handle any resulting problem that arises. But I don’t know them. I do know this family. I’m not a selfish person, but I need to focus on the here and now and on me and mine, for just this moment. Because I am worrying about things that are truly out of my control. So let me focus on the here and the now and what I can control.

  Everything that needs to be done is being done. There is nothing at this moment for me to do about the approaching storm. The best thing I can do is to set it all aside and keep writing. In the days to come, people are going to need distraction. I’m not a doctor, and I’m not a scientist. I’m not, thank God, a politician. I have means, so I will send whatever dollars I can to the places that will do the most good, once I know what they are. In the meantime, I’ll continue to do my job. If one person can catch a break from whatever may be happening to them through my words…well, maybe that will be something, at least.

  Mary reread what she’d just keyed, fixing the grammar, changing a word here and there. The stream of consciousness and first-person point of view were not devices she ever used in her fiction. Well, when she used to keep a regular diary, she had. But cousin Christopher’s theft and reading of same aloud to his brothers and hers when she’d been twelve had stopped her from having such a vulnerability as a diary laying around after that.

  The story of my life.

  Mary set her own self aside and seamlessly morphed into MJ Kendall. She saved her most recent mental meanderings and brought up her work in progress. Her heroine, Skye Falcon, was stealthily following Dirk Pritchard, so-called pillar of the community. But her lover, Eddie Coulter, a detective with the Canfield PD, suspected Pritchard of being involved in his latest case—the murder of a teenaged runaway. Skye was determined to do all she could to help Eddie—before Pritchard reached his slimy fingers into the CPD and ruined her lover’s career, or worse.

  Mary found the zone. Everything else fell away, and she was in the world of her own creation, weaving a story that included elements she hadn’t planned on including. As her fingers flew across the keyboard, a part of her mind acknowledged her characters would likely tell her what that little bit had been all about, when they were good and ready to do so.

  Her bubble popped as two handsome police detectives sauntered around the corner of her house and headed straight for her.

  “When you didn’t answer our knock, we wondered if you might be back here.” Toby’s gait seemed predatory as he approached her. She had just enough time to save her document before he lifted her clear out of her chair.

  “Hey!”

  “Hey, yourself, New York.”

  The intense look in his eyes was her only warning. He brought her even closer, and Mary had one second to wrap her arms around his neck.

  His mouth covered hers, and he plundered.

  Mary thought she’d learned, over the last two nights, what it was to be kissed. Now she knew those samples had barely skimmed the surface.

  She gulped him down just as greedily as he did her. Time and place evaporated. When she felt heat at her back, when she sensed Anthony pressed close, his deep sensual murmurs of approval and encouragement fueled her libido. Mary’s hunger exploded, and nothing mattered but this.

  The hot, moist swirl of tongues and the hedonistic suction of mouths became the vehicle shooting her arousal straight up to the stratosphere. Her nipples hardened, and her pelvic muscles contracted in anticipation of caressing cock.

  She whimpered when Toby ended their kiss. He held her back from him just slightly and then turned her. Anthony took her from his best friend and pulled her into his arms and brought her close. She wound her arms around his neck as she’d done with Toby.

  “Are either of you fine men going to let my feet touch the ground?” Not that she particularly minded being held aloft. It was an interesting and new experience.

  “Maybe.” Anthony’s expression was somber, and she couldn’t have that. That decision gave her a clue. She held that clue close as she laid her lips on his.

  The roller coaster of arousal and comfort, excitement and coziness began again, and Mary gave over. Her tongue danced with Anthony’s, and as he suckled her mouth, as she felt the press of his erection against her, she enveloped him by wrapping her legs around him. She thought she might come right then and there when he placed one hand on her ass and thrust his hips against her.

  Then Anthony surprised her. He broke their kiss and buried his face on her left shoulder. His arms that were banded around her held her tighter. Understanding, she gave him what he needed. She comforted him, stroking his back and giving them both a bit of time to hold on and just be.

  Toby joined them, his hand on her back above Anthony’s arms, his head pressed close to her right shoulder. Their combined heat and their combined scent became her new favorite thing in the entire world.

  When Anthony sighed and lifted his head, she met his gaze.

  “I needed that, Mary. Thank you.” He gently set her down so that her feet finally touched the ground. The solemn look on his face ate at her. It was a look that reflected the feelings she’d endured earlier.

  “Me, too. I’m really glad you’re both here.” Her smile must have encouraged Anthony’s, because it slowly emerged. She turned to smile at Toby and was rewarded with a similar response.

  “Have you eaten supper yet, Mary?” Toby asked.

  “No. I just came straight home and…”

  “Your stomach was too twisted in knots to eat. How is it now?” Anthony asked.

  “Better. I could eat. Can either of you guys cook?”

  “I’ve been on my own for years. I can cook,” Anthony said.

  “Me, too.” Toby smiled at her. They were no longer kissing, but the intimacy still pulsed between her and each of these dynamic men.

  “Well, that makes three of us, then. Let’s see what we can make out of what I have on hand.”

  Anthony sent her a mock leer, and she laughed. She really did feel so much better than she had when she’d first come home from the community center, where the meeting of the full Lusty Town Trust had been held.

  Mary hadn’t known until then that the Town Trust included every single member of the families living in Lusty.

  The next half-hour or so was spent in deciding on their menu and then preparing it. She had a couple of different meat selections on hand, as she’d gone to the small grocery in town on Saturday. It was no contest, as they were all in the mood for ste
ak. Since she’d shopped with just herself in mind, they needed more than just that large hunk of meat split between the three of them. She had potatoes, which she scrubbed and poked and then popped into the oven. She loved them baked, and by leaving the foil off, the skins became a bit crunchy and when scooped out made perfect little bowls for a dollop of butter or sour cream. Yum, yum.

  Anthony showed he had quite the hand at biscuit making, and Toby amassed the fresh veggies she had on hand to put together a large salad.

  Since they all more or less liked their steak cooked the same way, medium well, they grilled it as a single entity and then divided it once it was ready.

  “I’m glad we decided to do this instead of going out,” Mary said. She liked how it felt, having these two men with her, sitting between them. She felt safe and secure. She no longer felt alone, and maybe just that was the biggest plus of all.

  “We would have been here sooner,” Toby said. “But Grandma Kate asked us to stay behind.”

  Mary nodded. That was exactly what she’d thought had happened. “She and Aunt Samantha likely want you to help a bit in the planning of what comes next,” Mary said.

  “You’ve got a first-class mind, cupcake,” Anthony said. “That’s exactly what they wanted. In fact, she had made a formal request to our chief of police earlier today. For the next couple of weeks, we’re to help here where we can.”

  “Did you bring your overnight bags?”

  “Not without talking to you first.” Anthony set his fork down and picked up her hand.

  “We can book a couple of rooms at the B&B. In fact, we were offered that.” Toby met her gaze. Then he picked up her other hand. “We told Aunt Samantha we’d let her know later tonight whether or not we needed them.”

  “We haven’t talked.” Anthony rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. “We don’t want you to feel pressured. This afternoon…” He sighed. “That meeting was an emotional gut-punch, for all of us.”

  “I’m not feeling pressured. My only concern is that you might think I’m using you as a means of my making myself feel safer, and more secure, because I’m scared.”

  “Oh, please, use us.” Toby’s smartass had just poked its head out of its gopher hole. His quick grin felt…normal.

  Both men chuckled. She smiled.

  “Men are different from women,” Anthony said. “Which you well know. If we go and get our things and come back here, we’d be moving our schedule up—not doing something we hadn’t already tacitly agreed to last night.”

  “You’re right. That was what we’d tacitly agreed to last night. While you go get your things, perhaps I should stock us up on supplies.”

  “We have a better idea,” Anthony said.

  “Come with us, and we’ll do it all together. Go to Waco, grab our stuff, and then get some food and whatever else we’ll need.”

  “I like the sound of together. Let’s clear up these dishes and head out.”

  “It bodes well for all of us that we’ve each, apparently, been bitten by the neat-freak bug.” Anthony looked downright pleased by that. Mary could definitely understand that attitude.

  Then, because she was Mary, she tilted her head and sent them what she felt was a sexy look. “I am a neat freak when it comes to my living space, but there is at least one area where I like things to be good and messy.”

  “I think I speak for us both,” Toby said, “when I say, we can hardly wait to find that out.”

  * * * *

  He looked at his watch. He’d have to make a note that on Monday, February 3, 2020, pure shit luck officially joined his side of the battle.

  About damn well time. His life had been fucking destroyed because of someone else’s good luck. It was only right that, now, it was his turn.

  He pulled his car to the curb across the road from the apartment building. He’d been driving the streets of Waco, Texas, spinning his wheels for nearly a week. He’d put out feelers, as much as he could, considering he came to town a stranger. He’d known he was close but had no idea where, exactly, he should be looking.

  Well, there was the obvious, of course, but he wanted to stay away from the local cop shop.

  He used the binoculars he’d picked up at the pawnshop. Tonight, his quarry was no longer just that one cursed person. There were three of them, together, and this was the second stop they’d made since they’d passed him and he’d seen the face he’d been looking for…forever, it seemed. He’d kept his eyes on that gray Lincoln and had pulled a U-turn, right there in broad daylight. He considered all three of them to be his targets, now. They appeared to be more than casual acquaintances. They’d been sitting close in the car, and they’d walked close going into that apartment building. For the sake of expediency, and the ease of planning—his planning—they were interchangeable now. One target in particular might prove to be the right one. He’d have to wait and see.

  That could work even better to his advantage, if he played it right. Of course I’m going to play it right.

  He was patient, because they all went in together, and the guy who’d had the suitcase coming out of the first place they’d stopped had clearly left it in the car. They’d likely be back, and sooner rather than later.

  The moment that the three of them disappeared inside, he opened the small black bag sitting on the passenger seat. It looks just like the kind of small bag a spy might carry. That was the job he should have set his sights on—when you worked for one of those three letter agencies, you could do whatever the fuck you pleased.

  He wanted that life, where he could do whatever the fuck he pleased. And he was claiming that life, because he was taking his first solid steps toward what he wanted most right now—revenge.

  I’ll show them. I’ll show them all.

  He pulled his cap down low and put his sunglasses on. Taking the small disc from his black bag, he left his car and made his way across the street. Dude had parked the car right there, in the visitors’ lot.

  Clearly has no sense of security. Anyone could do practically anything to a car left out in the open that way. The irony of that thought put a smile on his face. Some people aren’t as smart as they like to think they are.

  He made as if he was going between two other cars, turning in at a red SUV, then ducked down and worked his way behind the vehicles to the gray Lincoln. It took him only moments to place the device on the undercarriage of the car. Then he made his way back to the red SUV—what a horrible color for a car—and then ambled back the way he’d come as if he had all the time in the world.

  Once behind the wheel again it took him only a moment to turn on the tracking display. The tiny blinking dot on the map assured him the device he’d just placed was working.

  He sat back, kept the brim of his hat down, and waited.

  His reward came about ten minutes later, when the “three amigos” came out of the building. Another suitcase joined the first in the trunk, and in barely a minute, the Lincoln was back on the road, this time headed west.

  He hung back some distance, giving his quarry room. Confused, he kept driving when the Lincoln left Waco behind, still heading west. He was nearly a half-mile back when the Lincoln turned left, now heading south.

  Nothing out here but fucking fields and cow turds. Still, the tracker was working, so he followed. He passed a roadhouse that seemed to be doing a good business, but that dot kept heading south and so he did, too. He frowned when he came upon a wooden sign that announced a place called Lusty. He was close enough now to see the Lincoln up ahead as it turned onto a street and pulled to a stop in front of the tiniest house he’d ever seen.

  His three targets emerged from the Lincoln, taking themselves and the two suitcases inside. He drove another few blocks and saw the town was ending. The tracker still blinked but showed no movement, so he hadn’t even driven out of range.

  Turning his car around, he drove back through the small town. Just ahead, the Lincoln pulled out, drove two whole blocks, and stopped at what appe
ared to be a small grocery store.

  This place must be home, then. “Weird name for a town, Lusty. Weird, but easy to remember.”

  Now that he knew where his quarry was based, he could head back to his motel and plan. There wasn’t much to this Lusty. He was a smart man and sure as hell knew how to plan an op—something that in his opinion was an overrated skill. Who couldn’t figure out the best way to get what you wanted?

  He would watch, and he would wait. He might come in the middle of the night and see if he could get eyes and ears in that tiny house. That might be interesting. And how hard could it be? He’d check out the pawnshops and see what they had in electronic surveillance equipment. He’d only brought a couple of trackers with him.

  Yes, he would plan it all out very carefully. And when he was ready, he would strike.

  He aimed his car back toward Waco. He’d passed a motel not far from the turn he’d taken off the state highway. He’d get his stuff from the city and move to that motel and use it as his base so he could be closer to his target’s home.

  Everything was finally coming together for him.

  “Assholes won’t see it coming, but they sure as hell are gonna know it’s been there.” He laughed at his own joke then drove back to the Texan city that, for the last couple of weeks, had been his new home.

  Chapter Six

  “This place is amazing.” Mary felt as if she was in one of those big box stores—except for the absence of a line of cash registers. It was so huge she felt tiny. And having heard the tales her cousins-in-law shared on the way over, she also felt humbled.

  She thought she’d understood how different Lusty was before she moved here. Now she knew it wasn’t just different, it was special.

  “It’s been one of our more successful ventures,” Samantha Kendall said. “Our first iteration of a storage place for things that others might use was a barn at the original site of Adam, Warren, and Amanda’s first farm—the one Warren lived at when he first came to the area from Philadelphia.”