She stunned Anne who let her go quickly and staggered back to sink to her knees.
Chloe raced from the room and out the front door, half-blinded by tears, heart pounding in her ears, and into a pair of strong arms.
Chloe screamed, the arms that came around her like a vice. She shoved and struggled to get free of the taller figure.
“Let me go,” she shouted. “Let me go!”
“Chloe,” Ace snapped and gave her a little shake. “It’s me.”
She sank against her, crying. “Ace,” she sobbed. “It was a trick. They tried to kill me.”
Chapter Four
This had to be done just right, Collier mused, as he paced a short distance away from the two cops. The evening closed around them as they stood at the construction site. The workers were all gone home for the day which made this the perfect place to talk.
“I’m not going to be able to do this,” Elton said. “They’re already blaming us and all we did was follow orders.”
Collier chuckled darkly as he stopped and faced the shorter man down. Elton was classically handsome and women fell quickly for him, but he was no saint by any means.
“Do you really think the public will believe I had anything to do with this, let alone Walker?” he asked. “The mayor called me herself to tell me to get this mess wrapped up ASAP.
The other cop sighed harshly. “I can’t go to jail.” He shook his head.
He wasn’t as tough as Elton and wouldn’t last long.
“Then, I suggest you two come up with something that works because you will be going down for this.”
Elton glared at him. “You’re a sneaky asshole,” he screamed, pointing at Collier. “I know what you’ve been doing.”
“What are you talking about?” the other cop asked carefully and Collier glimpsed the concern in the other man’s eyes.
He wasn’t as quick as Elton and would be easier to handle.
“He’s been going around telling everyone we did this to get his own bacon out of the fire, but I’m not going down for this.”
“What other suspects do you have?” Collier asked. “Anyone just out on parole?”
“You’re not pinning this on us, right?” the other cop burst out. “You’ve got someone in mind you want us to set up.”
Elton laughed. “I am so out of here,” he said coldly. “If I were you, man, I’d put some distance between me and him. He played us and like the worst kind of dupes we fell right into his trap.” He smacked his hands together. “He’s going to make sure we get the needle for this.”
“Elton, calm down.” The other cop grabbed him, but Elton shook him off.
“No!” He backed away. “Just no.” He put his hand on the butt of the gun in his holster as he retreated to his car.
Collier watched him with narrowed eyes. He was going to become a problem. Both men were because they were partners on the beat and they would stick together.
“I suggest you get yourself a lawyer,” he said.
“Elton’s right,” he replied. “I will get that lawyer, though. I’m going to get out in front of this before you both hang me out to dry.”
“You do that,” Collier muttered as the cop turned to walk away.
Collier watched him go, but didn’t hurry to his own car. As soon as he was out of sight, he removed his cell phone from his pants pocket. He input a number and waited for an answer.
“Hello?”
“I think I’ll take you up on that help you offered. What’s the name of that guy?”
“Paul Freeling. They do good work, fast, efficient, and it’ll never be traced back to you.”
“Set it up,” Collier ordered. “I need something handled tonight.”
****
“Going home?” Zyra asked, peeking into Darice’s office that evening.
“I need to finish this,” she said eyes on the books. “How is Abrielle working out?”
“Okay. I’m surprised you haven’t hovered like a nervous mother bird,” Zyra teased.
“Haven’t had time,” Darice replied. “I’ve got a full plate with the new accounts I’ve taken on.”
“You work too much, girl. Chloe is going to leave you if you don’t take your ass home.”
“This is for our future,” she said, but sighed and hit save. Zyra was right. The future wouldn’t be nearly as fun without Chloe to go home to. “But she is working late tonight, too, getting some stories finished.”
“Then get out of here and go make her dinner, man.”
“I’m going to pick something up. I’m too tired to cook.”
Zyra chuckled. “Why don’t you guys come over?”
“No.” Darice rose and stretched before rubbing her neck. “Chloe might not be in the mood, and Simone’s been more than her share of grouchy lately.”
“The insemination didn’t take, and she thinks something’s wrong with her,” Zyra confessed. “I told her we could try again in a few months, but she’s taking it hard because she really wants to have kids and not just adopt.”
“You should try to make her see that there are dozens of kids out there who could use a mother’s love.”
“I’ve tried, but she’s dead set on having at least one of our own.” Zyra shook her head. “It’s killing her and that breaks my heart.”
Darice went to hug her, and Zyra held on tight for a long time, tears dampening Darice’s shirt. She didn’t know what to say that would ease her friend’s pain, so she said nothing.
“Sorry.” Zyra straightened. She wiped away a tear. “I better go.”
“Hey.” She caught Zyra’s hand. “It’s going to be okay, somehow.”
Zyra nodded and headed out. Darice grabbed her bag. It contained her tablet and backup hard drive.
****
When she got home, Ace’s car was in the driveway, so she pulled up alongside it with a frown and quickly climbed out. Darice was inside within seconds, wondering why Ace hadn’t just waited for her call.
Ace met her in the entry of the single-story ranch she’d bought for Chloe.
“What are you doing here?” Darice demanded. “You were to wait for my call.”
“This isn’t about that,” she said quietly. “Jas called me this morning saying Chloe had gotten a mysterious note that bothered her.”
“She didn’t call me.” Anger rose in her and the jagged energy of she kept tightly bottled flared to life.
“She said she knew you had a busy day and didn’t want to worry you,” Ace replied. “Long and short, she’s got a stalker or two. They attacked her today.”
“Son of a bitch,” Darice muttered and clamped down on the darkness inside her, burning beneath her skin as it threatened to break free. “You should have called me. Is she okay?”
“Yeah. I asked her to postpone until I could get a body on her. She was gone before I had the chance to tell her I’d go. Sabrina told me where she was going, and I got over there.”
“Did you see who did this?”
“No.” She shook her head. “They got out a side entrance, but Chloe got a good look. I already sat her down with an artist. We’ve got sketches, and I took her to the police.”
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Darice said tonelessly.
“I know you’re going hunting, but we needed the record in case they come here. You need to be able to have something to prove there was an eminent threat.”
“Did you get anything I can use to start my search?”
“She said one of them, a woman, called her a simpering rat,” Ace said.
“I’m not a simpering little rat,” she retorted in a hard tone.
Marie’s words of six months ago came rushing back to Darice and almost knocked her off her feet.
“This was just a trick to get her over there,” Ace said. “I’ve already started checking out this Anne Collins. So far, she doesn’t exist. So that’s probably not her real name.”
“If that bitch is behind this, I’m going to kill her flun
kies, and then cut her head off,” Darice said in a low tone, fist clenching.
“You think you know who she is?” Ace demanded.
“Marie St. Claire.” Marie had made an overt play for Darice, but she’d turned her down. For the brush off, Marie had hired someone to attack Chloe and attempt to convince her to leave Darice.
Darice had merely gotten some dirt on Marie and used it to make Marie back-off, but all bets were off this time.
“I’ll start tracking her myself,” Ace told her firmly. “I’ve got an operative named Slate here now. In the morning, Slate will go with Chloe to work.”
“I don’t need her here tonight,” Darice insisted. “I can take care of my own woman, damn it.”
“Darice, is that you?”
“By the way, what did you want to talk to me about?”
“Darice?”
“I’m coming, sweetheart,” she said. “Go to the den and wait for me there. I need to talk to Ace a minute.”
“You want me to do this?” Ace asked. “Devin can take over my case.”
“No.” Darice shook her head. “I just want the intel on these assholes and if you decide to pick them up, don’t do anything without me.”
Ace gave her arm a squeeze. “Gotcha.” She nodded grimly. “I just wanted to ask how things were going. Now, I want to know if I can get a copy of that recording Cat said you played for her today.”
“Sure.”
“I can’t believe they were that careless, talking with someone so close.”
“They thought I was on the phone, minding my own business,” Darice said irritably.
“Right. Well, Cat followed the police chief, and he met with two of the cops. She got close enough to learn they’re worried, but Collier didn’t incriminate himself.”
“What about the beat cops?”
“Collier put it off on them, but one’s not good with that. We might be able to play them against each other or get one to tell a soft woman all his dirty secrets.”
Darice snorted. “We’ll see.”
“I’ll have Cat keep you informed,” Ace said. “Later.”
Darice saw her out before heading into the den where Chloe was curled up on the couch. The colors all melded together in a blend of harmonic blues, accented with pale pink. The flat screen was mounted on the wall and was bigger than Chloe had wanted.
There was a bruise on Chloe’s cheek, her creamy skin pale. Her soft chocolate eyes were a little weary, and Darice’s gut clenched. She fought the rage building inside her.
Pushing it back into a box that would say hidden for now, Darice went to her.
“Why didn’t you call me?” Darice demanded, sitting down next to Chloe. “I would have been there in a heartbeat.”
“I know. I just didn’t want to bother you. I know you had meetings today and one was with a big company.”
“No company’s that big,” she insisted cupping Chloe’s face.
The meeting with Andrews was one she’d told Chloe about. She wanted the contract because it was potentially a big one. However, she hadn’t been set on taking it considering the possibility of being associated with a company that hired child pornographers.
Even if she had been set on securing it, the account wasn’t nearly as important as Chloe.
Chloe leaned into her. “I was so scared.”
Darice closed her arms around her, jaw clenching.
“My gut told me not to go, but I thought I was just being silly,” she said.
“Follow your instincts from now on,” Darice ordered. “Your first mind will never lead you wrong.”
Chloe looked up at her. “You’d think I’d have learned that by now,” Chloe said with a self-deprecating laugh. “I just thought after those flowers, but—”
“What flowers?”
“I thought you’d sent them. They came with a note. The guy said he’d been watching me, and I saw someone in the parking lot that morning and at the restaurant the other night. He winked at me, but I brushed it off.”
“You should have called me,” Darice told her. “I should give you ten lashes for keeping something so important from me.”
“I’m a grown-up, Dari, not a child,” Chloe protested, tone rife with anger. “I made a decision.”
“A bad one,” Darice snapped. “You could have been killed.”
“I know that,” she screamed, pulling away from Darice. “I was the one on that floor getting kicked and strangled.” She broke off, tears filling her eyes. “I don’t know how this happened. I checked everything out.”
“That’s okay, Coe,” she crooned. “I’ll take care of it, sweetheart. Did the doctor have to give you pain meds or anything?”
“Nothing’s broken. I’m just sore. I took over the counter painkillers,” she said, and her eyes watered again.
Darice kissed her softly and the tears fell onto her skin as her fingers tingled with electric pulses trying to shoot from her skin.
“I swear whoever is behind this won’t live to regret causing you pain,” Darice promised, in a tight tone.
“Let the police handle it,” Chloe begged.
“I’ll call out for pizza,” Darice said quietly. “Is there anything I can do?” Because she wasn’t letting this go.
“Hold me.”
****
“Have you gotten any hits off the sketches?” Ace asked Cattail later that evening. Jasmia sat on her lap in her home office with her arm around her neck.
“I put the sketch out there with a reward, and a woman called in to say she recognizes the woman, or rather, she recognizes the handiwork.”
“What do you mean?” Jasmia asked with a frown.
“I just got back from the meet,” Cattail told her. “I paid her a thou with a promise of another two if this pans out. The face isn’t a face. It’s a mask. A woman makes them for a local playhouse group called the Off Broadway Playhouse.”
“Did you go to the playhouse or just talk to the woman?”
“Both. Chick was hot, and she was into me. So it was easy to make it happen,” Cattail told them with a smirk, and Jasmia snorted. Cattail snapped her teeth at her. “Anyway, she took me over, and we watched rehearsal. She introduced me to the FX artist who creates the masks for them.”
“I bet you got some pictures,” Ace said, hope resounding in her.
“Naturally. How can we kick ass if we don’t have a face for the target,” she asked, making a face. “I have someone following the woman, to get pictures of anyone she meets up with. I’ve got shots of her tat, too, and a sample of her voice.”
“You recorded the encounter? Isn’t that illegal?” Jasmia asked with raised brows.
“Awe, honey. That’s so cute,” Cattail mocked. “I’ll send Darice what I’ve got.”
“Good idea. What’s the woman’s name?” Ace asked.
“Anne Spiral,” Cattail told her. “The office they had Chloe meet them at was a rental. They paid in cash.”
“Thanks. Anything new on the case?”
“Darice asked me to check something out. She thinks the girl might have been pregnant and possibly raped by two guys.”
“I’ll call the client,” Ace said. “She did mention there was possibly another man involved, but that might have been consensual until his buddy showed up.”
“Wait. The girl was doing it with one guy, and he forced her to do his friend, too?” Jasmia demanded “What a douche.”
“This whole thing was screwed up,” Ace retorted.
“I need our contact in the PD to get me a copy of the police report.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Ace murmured. “Darice used to have a nose for things. Let’s see if she’s still got it.”
“What things?” Jasmia asked curiously.
“Bullshit stories,” Ace replied. “She just has a gift. I mean, we all have it, but she’s got something extra that our cat senses don’t.”
“I hope it doesn’t make this into a mole hill,” Jasmia said. “Maybe tha
t girl’s sister is wrong. The girl was pissed because she had a one-nighter with two guys and ended up pregnant, and they told her to get an abortion.”
“That still makes him a dog,” Cattail muttered. “And it gives weight to Darice’s suspicion that the chief killed her, not those cops who stopped her.”
Chapter Five
Chloe looked up when Darice returned with their dinner. She was so stunningly gorgeous, it was always hard to look away. Her lean lithe body was perfectly muscled with a few curves where curves should be.
Her eyes were beautiful, and she wore her hair a little longer these days, the curls luxurious s-curls that were neatly combed back from her face. Her long legs were bare as she’d donned only a pair of shorts with a t-shirt after her shower.
“I got you a salad, too,” Darice said and set tray of food on the table. “I’ll be right back. Beer or soda?”
“Soda will be fine. Thanks, babe.”
Darice winked at her and vanished only to return with the drinks and her cell phone. She groaned inwardly. Clients sometimes called her at home lately as if their questions couldn’t wait until the next day.
“The new client?” she asked, accepting the bottle Darice held out to her.
“Actually, it was Cattail. She has something she wants us to look at. One of your attackers might be on here. She also sent me a recording of her voice.”
“Oh. The police didn’t seem too optimistic.”
“You want to wait until after?” Darice asked as she dropped down next to her.
“No.” She shook her head, and Darice started a video before helping herself to a slice.
Chloe suspended her fear with Darice so close and watched the footage. Darice didn’t look like she was paying that much attention, and Chloe was glad. She hoped whatever was on her mind prevented Darice from doing anything crazy.
She’d learned the love of her life was an ex-assassin. While that didn’t bother her overmuch, Chloe was concerned that Darice might take things into her own hands.
“I recognize her voice and the tattoo,” Chloe said quietly. “She’s the woman who choked and kicked me.”
Blood for Her Page 3
