by Jae
The creepy feeling of being watched accompanied her as she crossed the parking level.
Kade gripped the strap of her briefcase tighter and clenched her fist around her car keys. She strode toward her BMW as fast as her skirt and elegant pumps would allow.
A sound echoed through the garage, and she whirled around.
Nothing. The garage was still empty.
"You're becoming paranoid, Kadence Matheson," she murmured. This wasn't the first time she had felt as if somebody was watching her, but whenever she glanced over her shoulder, no one was there.
Reaching her car, she settled into the driver's seat with a sigh of relief. She stared down at the car keys that were still in her hand and remembered a very similar situation that had happened in the same underground garage.
Five months ago...
The underground garage was almost empty.
After another long day in court and an even longer evening pouring over witness statements, crime scene reports, and evidence lists, Kade left the office long after everyone else.
A sound echoed through the underground garage behind her. Kade turned around, expecting to see one of the DA's interns hurrying after her with just one more document she had to review before tomorrow.
Nobody was there.
Kade shivered and lengthened her stride. Leaving the office on her own, walking to her car alone in the darkness had never been a problem for her. Even after working with the sex crimes unit for two years, she was not one to be particularly afraid of being attacked. She had always felt safe, knowing that her Matheson confidence and the pepper spray in her purse would chase away almost every attacker.
But during the last few weeks, that feeling of safety had somehow vanished. There had been no threats – at least not more than usual – and she couldn't put her finger on it, but when she was alone, leaving the office at night or going for her morning run, she felt as if she was being watched lately.
Maybe it's just the trial. Since the beginning of the trial last week, Kade had put herself under a lot of pressure. It wasn't just her usual determination to win. Aiden seemed to have a somewhat personal connection to one of the victims, Dawn Kinsley, and that put Kade under even more pressure to win the trial.
A steel door banged shut somewhere behind Kade. She fished for her car keys, not only to be able to make a quick escape into her car should it become necessary, but also to have some kind of weapon in her hand. She pressed the small button on her car key.
The flash of the BMW's blinkers revealed a dark figure lurking right next to her car.
Kade froze in fear.
The tall person circled around the back of the car and stepped closer, the face still shrouded in darkness.
There was no time for thinking as Kade's fight-or-flight reflexes took over. Her Matheson genes weren't much for running away, so she thrust her keys into the attacker's side and used the seconds while he was cradling his hurting ribs to duck under his arm and grab the BMW's door handle.
But her attacker was faster. A long-fingered hand prevented her from opening the door on the driver's side. "Is that how you usually say hello, Counselor?"
Kade whirled around to face her attacker. The voice was distorted with pain but definitely female. In the grayish light in the underground garage, she could make out the features of a tall Latina woman. She seemed a little familiar, but Kade was sure they had never been introduced. Still, the woman seemed to know her. "Who are you?" Kade demanded to know, bravely trying to keep her voice from trembling.
The tall woman reached into the pocket of her jacket but stopped when she saw Kade's hand reach into her purse, probably anticipating her to pull out a weapon of some kind. "Don't worry. I'm a cop. I just want to show you my badge."
Kade hesitantly let go of her pepper spray that she'd pulled halfway out of her purse. The rest of her fear and tension vanished as she stared down at the gold shield and ID that identified her "attacker" as Lieutenant Delicia Vasquez Montero. Instead, anger stirred. "The police usually make an appointment through my assistant and visit my office when they want to meet with me. They don't usually ambush me in dark and lonely places," she said curtly.
Lieutenant Vasquez gave her a sheepish grin. "Not the best way to introduce myself," she admitted, "and usually I'm a lot smoother, but there's something I have to discuss with you, and Detective Carlisle told me that I'd probably still find you in your office. I didn't want to miss you in case you'd already left your office and were on the way home, so..."
"So you decided to lurk behind my car," Kade finished her sentence.
"I'm sorry if I scared you," Lieutenant Vasquez said.
Kade put her car keys away. "You didn't scare me," she insisted.
"Of course not," Lieutenant Vasquez readily agreed. "Listen, can we talk?"
Kade still didn't know what to make of this strange meeting. She had no intention of talking to this ambushing lieutenant before she had a chance to regain her composure. "Of course," she said in a businesslike tone of voice, "if you'd be so kind as to make an appointment with my assistant, we can talk all you want."
Lieutenant Vasquez didn't remove her hand from the door of Kade's car. "There's no time to make an official appointment. You're already in the middle of the trial that I need to talk about."
Kade glanced at her through narrowed eyes. "You're not with the Sexual Assault Detail." It was a statement, not a question. She knew every detective who worked sex crimes in Portland.
"No. I'm with the homicide unit."
"The case I'm trying is not a homicide," Kade said with growing irritation. But this could very well become one if you continue to waylay me!
"I know. My connection to the case is not a professional one." Dark eyes looked right into Kade's, sending a silent message of urgency.
Kade tilted her head, a bit irritated that she had to look up at the older woman. "What's that supposed to mean, Lieutenant?"
"It means my connection to the case is a personal one – one I don't want to discuss in the middle of a parking garage. Have you had dinner yet?" Del Vasquez asked.
Dinner? Kade suppressed an unladylike snort. She hadn't even had lunch today. She shook her had. "Not yet, no."
"Then let's go to that little Italian place right around the corner," Del Vasquez said. "We can grab a bite to eat, and I can tell you what was so important that I decided to 'lurk behind your car.'"
That sounded sensible enough, and Kade wanted to know what connection this stranger could possibly have to her case. She hated to be surprised in open court. She locked her car and followed Del Vasquez out of the parking garage.
* * *
Del Vasquez nodded a thank-you at the waiter when he set down a spicy pasta dish in front of her. Kade noticed that Del skeptically eyed the mixed salad with slices of chicken she had ordered. She waited for a comment, but Del said nothing.
"So?" Kade said without even having tasted her food.
"Well, with what I'm about to tell you, I think I should start with a proper introduction," Del said with a friendly smile. "I'm Lieutenant Del Vasquez with the North Precinct." She offered her hand across the table.
Kade gripped the offered hand in a firm handshake and returned Del's gaze with confidence. For a moment, she could see the surprise in Del's dark brown eyes. What, you thought because I'm picking at a salad while you're devouring a three-thousand-calorie meal, I'd have a limp, timid handshake? It wasn't the first time someone had made wrong assumptions about her based on her appearance or her family. "So, what is this connection to the case you've been mentioning?" Kade asked. She didn't want to waste any more time exchanging pleasantries.
Del set down her fork with a sigh. "I went to the club with Dawn Kinsley on the night she was raped. I want you to call me to the stand so I can testify that she never spoke to Garret Ballard."
Kade took a moment to unfold her napkin and put it on her lap. So she's gay, Kade thought, but then reminded herself, Not every woman who sets
foot into a gay bar is necessarily gay. She studied the woman across from her. With her sturdy, athletic build, the angular features, and short, casually finger-combed hair Del Vasquez wasn't exactly the picture of the feminine, heterosexual woman. Don't stereotype, Kade admonished.
"You can just ask," Del said calmly.
"What?" Kade stared at her.
Del grinned. "You're wondering if I'm a lesbian. If you want to know, you can just ask me instead of wasting time speculating about it."
Kade wasn't used to so much openness. Polite silence and speculations behind other people's back was the normal modus operandi in her circles. She quickly recovered and pierced Del with a direct gaze. "Okay," she said, forcing herself to keep eye contact. "Did you visit the gay bar with Dawn Kinsley because you are gay?"
"I went to the gay bar because I wanted to spend some time with Dawn," Del answered without any hesitation. "But, yes, I am a lesbian."
Kade felt a brief flash of admiration for Del's casual frankness but quickly forced her thoughts back to the case. "My detectives tell me that Dr. Kinsley is currently not in a relationship, so what's your connection to her?"
"Why is that important?" Del asked, obviously much more reluctant to reveal information about Dawn than about herself.
Kade leaned forward. "Let me be frank, Lieutenant. I don't like to be surprised by information that comes up during the examination or cross-examination of a witness. If I call you to the stand, chances are that opposing counsel will dig into Dr. Kinsley's love life – and into your own. Are you prepared for that?"
Del squared her shoulders. "I'll do whatever is necessary to put that bastard behind bars," she answered. "And no, I'm not Dawn's lover if that's what you're asking in your lawyerly politically correct way. I'm an old friend of her family. Her father was my partner on the force before he died."
"So if you're an old friend and want to help put Ballard away, why didn't you offer to testify before?" Kade asked.
"I offered to testify a hundred times before," Del said, running a hand through short, black hair. "Dawn always refused. She didn't want to drag me into this messy trial, and I respected her wishes."
"So why come to me now?" Kade asked.
"Well, with the way the trial is going... No offense, I think you're doing a great job as a prosecutor, but still... Too much rests on Dawn's testimony for my comfort." The dark eyes looked at Kade without hiding anything.
Kade accepted the explanation with a nod. "You visited the club with Dr. Kinsley on a regular basis?" she asked.
Del shook her head. "Neither of us is a regular. Some friends of hers talked her into going that night, and I went with them to make sure they wouldn't abandon Dawn for some hotties with beer."
"And?" Kade leaned forward, fully concentrated on Del and her answer. "Did they?"
"No. I did." Del took a healthy gulp of wine as if she was trying to wash away a bitter taste in her mouth.
Kade could sense that Del had beaten herself up over this for the last month. "What do you mean?" Her voice now had the same tone she used to coax a reluctant witness into talking.
"I left the club before Dawn did because all that smoke and the flashing lights were getting on my nerves." Del emptied her wineglass with jerky movements.
"Even if you had personally seen Dr. Kinsley home, it wouldn't have changed a thing," Kade said, giving in to the sudden urge to comfort Del.
Del stabbed at her pasta. "I know." She sighed. "But at least I could have told the jury that Dawn never talked to Ballard the whole time she was in the club. Now I can't attest to that."
"We can work around that," Kade said. "A witness who can testify that Dr. Kinsley never talked to Ballard when she entered the club is better than nothing. And if you are an old friend of the family, you can also testify to the fact that Dr. Kinsley identifies as a lesbian and would never consider a one-night stand with a man." Kade paused. "If you're willing to testify, knowing that it will probably out you to judge, jury, and all the people in the gallery, that is."
Del nodded without hesitation.
"All right." Kade put away her still untouched plate and laid down a legal pad in its place. "Then let's go over the questions I'll ask you on the stand."
When they left the restaurant an hour later, Del insisted on seeing Kade to her car.
Kade settled into the driver's seat and gave her a nod before reaching out to close the door.
"Oh, Counselor?" Del waited until Kade looked up. "Next time," she said, pointing to Kade's car keys that dangled from the ignition, "aim for the eyes."
*
A light tap on the driver's side window brought Kade back to the present. She jumped, almost hitting her head, and clenched her fingers around the car keys that were still in her hand as she whirled around.
A security guard stood in front of her car. He gestured for her to roll down her window. "Everything okay, ma'am?" He studied her. "I saw you sitting there without moving and –"
"I'm fine," Kade interrupted, a little embarrassed at having been caught daydreaming.
"All right." The security guard took a step back. "I just wanted to make sure."
Kade gave him a friendlier nod. "I appreciate it. Goodnight." She rolled her window back up and shoved the key in the ignition. "There'll be no next time, Del Vasquez," she grumbled and started the car.
CHAPTER 3
DAWN OPENED THE door to the office's small kitchen, where she found Janet McNamara, her colleague and friend, digging into a piece of cheesecake with almost orgasmic delight. She entered and rummaged through the cupboard in search of tea. "Tough case?" she asked over her shoulder.
"Aren't they all?" Janet answered around a forkful of cake.
Dawn shrugged and sat down at the table while she waited for the water to boil.
"So, what's got you smiling all morning?" Janet asked when she had eaten every last crumb.
An uninterrupted Sunday in bed with the incredible Aiden Carlisle, Dawn thought with a grin. Aiden and her colleagues still hadn't caught the serial rapist they had wanted to arrest on Saturday. By the time they had arrived at his apartment, he had disappeared, but there was an arrest warrant out on him, and Lieutenant Swenson had sent her detectives home, knowing there was nothing else they could do at the moment. They had spent a lazy Sunday with each other, the first uninterrupted date in weeks. "What, I'm not allowed to smile on a Monday morning? Is that an unwritten rule in this office you failed to tell me about when I agreed to work with you back in December?"
Janet threatened her with her fork. "Don't try that with me."
Dawn schooled her features into the innocent expression she had seen on her niece every time the girl had pulled one of her stunts. "Try what?"
"Answering questions with questions," Janet said. "I don't let my patients get away with these cop-outs, and I certainly won't let you get away with it."
Dawn spooned sugar into her tea. "No professional courtesy, huh?"
"Nope." Janet flashed a grin at her. "So tell me, who's the new guy?"
Dawn froze, the cup of tea halfway to her mouth. "New guy?" she echoed lamely. "What makes you think there's someone new in my life?"
Janet shrugged. "Maybe not necessarily new, but there's someone who puts that smile on your face. And don't think I didn't notice that you answered my question with a question again. So?"
Oh, boy. Dawn had gotten back in touch with her old friend from college only four months ago, and she still hadn't told her that she had discovered her romantic interests lay with women, not with men. The last time the topic of relationships had come up in a conversation with Janet, Dawn had still been married.
