“You were great at our relationship right up to the moment you left,” Luke reassured me.
“It doesn’t have to be hard, Riley. We had a lot of fun. We were great friends in addition to being great partners. We got it pretty perfect.”
“We were,” I agreed. “That’s part of what scared me. I’d never had a relationship like that before. I’d never met someone that I could just be myself with, and he still loved me so unconditionally. I guess I left before you could leave me. I thought it would hurt less that way.”
“Did it?”
“No,” I admitted truthfully.
“I would have never left you. Ever,” Luke said, stressing the last word. “Where do we go from here? Are you going to stay?”
“I’ve been thinking about it. My business is slow up in New York. I need a change. I can’t promise I can be the woman you need,” I responded nervously.
“Let me decide what kind of woman I need. Do you love me, Riley?”
I could almost hear him holding his breath waiting for my response.
I turned my body so I could look into his eyes. He looked deep into mine, and I kissed him. “Yes. I always have. I never stopped. I might have gone away, but I loved you every minute of every day I was away. I love you still.”
“You’re beautiful. You know that?” Luke said, planting a kiss on the bridge of my nose.
“Do you still love me, even after what I did?” I asked. A part of me knew the answer, but that part of me that had been so hurt still wasn’t healed yet. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. It didn’t.
“You never have to question it. I love you and will always love you.”
We kissed more passionately this time and when we finally broke apart Luke looked at me and broke into a broad grin, “You know what, I’m not so tired tonight.”
He led me up to my bed and left the hall light on so we could still see each other. Luke gently took off each article of my clothing kissing my naked flesh as he went. I stood enjoying every single kiss. I’ve never been self-conscious with him. I knew he loved every inch of me, every flaw and curve on me.
When we were both naked, he laid me down on the bed, kissed me passionately again and started a trail of kisses down my body. I was impatient though. It had been too long. I wanted to feel him inside me. We’d have time for everything else he was so spectacular at later. I nudged his shoulder and gave him a look he knew all too well. Luke grinned at me, rested his cheek against my belly and laughed at my impatience.
When he finally entered me, he looked deep into my eyes and whispered, “This has always felt like coming home.”
I couldn’t have said it better or agreed more.
CHAPTER 73
LATER, AFTER WE WERE BOTH SATED, my head resting against Luke’s chest, my fingers trailing softly over him, I finally asked what I had been wanting to since the first body was found.
“Are you doing okay with this case? I know it brings up old memories about your sister.”
Luke had first told me about his sister’s murder two months after we started seeing one another. It was in this very bed one night after making love much like tonight. I could hear in his voice how painful it was for him to talk about and how disappointed he was in himself for not solving her murder yet, even though it wasn’t his job.
The Fayetteville detectives still working on the case couldn’t solve it. Luke though felt he should be better than them and bring his sister’s killer to justice. I agreed wholeheartedly that justice should be served. But unlike Luke, I didn’t think he was solely responsible or a failure for not making it happen.
“I’m okay. It’s hard. I can’t let another case go unsolved. Other families will suffer the same way mine does,” Luke said. “But that’s not really my only stress. Norwalk is gunning for my job and out to make me look like an idiot. More women keep dying. I just can’t catch a break.”
I could hear his frustration.
“We’re getting close I can feel it. I think it’s only a matter of time. I think you’ve made some progress in the last few days. It’s just come at you so quickly. I don’t think anyone expects you to solve a case like this overnight. Think about how long it took to solve other cases like this. The Atlanta Child murders. The Green River Killer. Luke, some cases like this go a long time unsolved. You’re doing a great job. Don’t put more pressure on yourself than what is already there,” I explained, trying to reassure him.
“My parents called the other night. You should have heard my mother. I know she loves me, but she always sounds disappointed in me.”
Luke’s parents lived in Hillcrest about ten minutes from me and about five minutes from him. I knew Luke had Sunday dinner with them every week if work allowed. He was also at their place several times during the week. He had a great relationship with them. I knew what he was saying wasn’t true.
I’d met his parents, and they adore him. His parents were more disappointed he hadn’t found a nice girl to settle down with and give them grandchildren than they were about him not solving his sister’s murder. His parents placed no expectation on him to do that. In fact, they had cautioned him to accept the loss and let it go. The disappointment Luke felt was his own. I told him so.
“Your mother is disappointed that you haven’t given her grandchildren yet. I’ve met your mother, Luke. She loves you,” I scolded him, slapping his belly for emphasis.
“You know she loves you, too. She is the one that kept me hoping you’d come to your senses,” Luke teased me back. “Maybe we can give her some grandbabies right now.”
Luke pulled me up so I was straddling him, looking down into his face.
“Don’t say that. I’m not cut out to be a mom, you know that. I can’t keep plants alive,” I said only half meaning it. Truth is though, I really couldn’t keep plants alive. I even broke a ceramic cactus once.
Looking down into his eyes I said seriously, “Come on, really, are you okay? I’m worried about you.”
“As long as I have you, I’ll always be okay. I won’t lie, it was unbearable without you. If you’re back, all will be right in my life,” Luke said sincerely.
Luke’s hands were resting on my hips. He slid them down, grabbing my backside. He squeezed me playfully. I laughed, squirming around under his caress.
Then he got serious again.
“Have you called your mom to tell her I’m back in Little Rock?” I asked.
“I did. She wanted me to bring you by for dinner. I wanted to wait until we had talked and figured out what we we’re doing. Are we going to make this official?”
“I guess so, Lucas Morgan, but we have a ton of work to do before we get to really enjoy each other. Someone’s got to break it to my mother that I’m moving back to Little Rock.”
“That is all you, kid,” Luke teased, tickling me. Then he added seriously, “Your mother scares me, and I haven’t even met her. I would like to be a fly on the wall when you tell her you are moving back to Little Rock.”
CHAPTER 74
LUKE FELT THOROUGHLY EXHAUSTED, but he couldn’t be happier. His body hadn’t ached this much since Riley had left town. They may have had bumps in their relationship, but the sex they never got wrong. It was more than that though. He hated to sound like a girl, but what he really enjoyed the most was just being close to her. He hated to leave her bed earlier that morning. He had work to do though, and finally, some he was really going to enjoy.
Luke, Captain Meadows and Tyler were finally going to confront Norwalk. Luke couldn’t wait to see his smug face crumble. The man deserved everything he got. Cap wasn’t taking any chances though. He wanted to hear Norwalk’s side before they suspended him.
They had a strict rule about side investigative work, and blackmail was not something he wanted associated with the police force. Cap was willing to let Norwalk either incriminate himself or set the record straight.
“What do you want? Let’s get this over with so I can go back to enjoying my Sunday,�
�� Norwalk spat as he walked through the conference room door to join the others.
Luke took a seat between Cap and Tyler, directly across from Norwalk. Luke arranged the papers in front of him and asked, “What can you tell me about Dean Beaumont?”
Norwalk didn’t even flinch. He looked to the captain and asked, “What is this?”
“Answer the question,” Captain Meadows said in a tone that meant all business.
“Nothing. He’s connected to Maime LaRue Brewer, right?” Norwalk asked, slumping down in his seat and resting his arm across the seat next to him. It was clear to Luke that even now, Norwalk thought he was untouchable.
Luke pulled out one of Cooper’s photos that showed Norwalk heading into Dean’s house. He slid it over to Norwalk, tapping the picture and said only one word, “Explain.”
Norwalk looked down, but his expression never changed. He pushed the photo back towards Luke. “This is crap. I don’t have to answer your questions. I haven’t done anything wrong. I’m leaving,” Norwalk said angrily and then started to get up.
“Sit,” Luke demanded. “Dean Beaumont gave us a statement that said you were hired to do surveillance on Maime regarding her possible drug use. Instead of turning over that evidence, you caught evidence of their affair and blackmailed him.”
Before Norwalk could answer, Captain Meadows interrupted and said evenly but sternly, “Before you answer, you should probably know we are only giving you one shot to save yourself. You can either help us with what we need to know or not. Either way, we have enough evidence to suspend you. The outcome is up to you.”
“Suspend me then,” Norwalk grunted angrily. “I’m not telling you a thing. You think I’m dumb enough to incriminate myself?”
Tyler spoke up. “No, I thought you might be smart enough to save yourself and provide us with valuable evidence that might help this investigation. If what Dean said is true, you could have evidence of who Maime was with when she bought the drugs.”
Norwalk sat for several moments. Luke was sure he was probably mulling over whether to tell them what he knew or not. Norwalk finally said, “If I did this, and I’m not saying I did, I never saw her buy drugs.”
Then he slid his chair away from the table, scrapping the legs against the tile floor. He stood as if ready to leave.
“Sit back down. We aren’t done,” Luke commanded.
Norwalk stood still, but he didn’t sit.
“Do you know this woman?” Luke said, sliding a picture of Lisa Cramer across the table to Norwalk.
“Yeah the last body you found. So?” Norwalk asked.
“You were one of the last people to see her alive. Care to explain your relationship with her?”
“Wait a minute,” Norwalk said, slamming his fists into the table. “That’s what this is about? You can’t make a case stick on George so you’re pointing the finger at me? I don’t have to stand around and answer any more of this. Suspend me. I don’t care.”
Norwalk turned and walked out of the conference room. He slammed the door behind him.
Norwalk had played right into their hands. It was the exact response they had been anticipating. Nobody actually thought Norwalk was going to calmly sit and answer their questions.
Luke picked up the phone and placed a call. When Cooper answered, Luke said, “He’s leaving the station. Keep us updated as to where he goes.”
Earlier that morning, Luke had been excitedly telling Riley about confronting Norwalk. In their conversation, it occurred to both of them at practically the same time that if Norwalk was dumb enough to blackmail Dean, maybe he was also blackmailing the other guy. If both George and Dean really didn’t buy Maime’s drugs, and on the slight chance both were telling the truth, that left some mystery guy out there. There was an off chance Norwalk would know who that was. He could be the lead that could break this case wide open.
Riley had suggested that maybe Cooper could find someone else to handle his surveillance case and continue to tail Norwalk since he had already done it so well. Luke agreed. When he asked Cooper to do it, he was all too eager to help.
Now the hard part – all they could do was wait.
CHAPTER 75
SUNDAY NIGHT WAS COLD even for November. I sat on my couch with a fire roaring in the fireplace. I sipped a glass of hot tea. Luke was out running down leads. My hands were tied at this point. I was waiting for my next task. I tried going through the cellphone records some more, but my eyes were tired. I laid my head back and closed my eyes for a few minutes, resting, thinking about a way out of this case, of this mess I’d landed in, sadly of my own doing.
I missed my dog. I even missed my mom and sister. This was my home, but right now I felt really far away from everyone and everything that felt safe. The lock turning in my front door jolted me out of my peaceful solitude. It was Luke.
I stood to greet him with a hug and kiss, but he brushed past me. No hug, no kiss, no warmth. He was so different from the previous night. I tried not to take it personally. I could tell he was stressed. “We need to talk. Cooper will be here in a few minutes.”
“Okay, what’s going on?” I asked, sitting back down in the chair opposite the couch.
Luke folded the blanket I had thrown over me before he arrived. He sat forward on the couch with his arms resting on his knees, hands folded in front of him.
“We need to get a handle on this case. I didn’t make any headway today. All dead ends.”
I nodded but stayed silent. I didn’t disagree, but wasn’t sure what he had in mind. We were doing all I thought we could be doing, given the circumstances.
Luke went on, “There’s something we’re missing. I’m just not sure what. I need you to put every feeling you’ve ever had for George aside. I need you clearheaded.”
I was about to take offense. I thought we were past this, but just then, Cooper pulled his truck into my driveway and came into the house. He sat next to Luke on the couch. I offered them both something to drink and eat. They declined.
Luke turned to Cooper and started to explain the impromptu meeting. “I was just telling Riley, she needs to get her head in the game. Put all emotion for George aside and look at this thing logically and rationally. There is something we are missing. I think Riley holds the key to solving this.”
“I don’t know any more than I’m telling you. I thought we had gotten past this,” I said disappointed. I wanted to shout and tell him he was a fool, but I didn’t think arguing would get us anywhere. I wanted to defend myself that my feelings for George weren’t getting in the way. I was worried a little though that maybe Luke was right.
“I don’t think I understand either. What do you mean Riley knows how to solve these cases?” Cooper asked Luke.
“Maybe I said it wrong,” Luke admitted.
Then he sat silently with a look on his face like he was searching for the right words so we’d understand. After a few moments, Luke explained, “I just think Riley knows George better than anyone. If she can look at this without the emotion, but still use everything she knows, maybe it will spark something. If we can get inside his head, maybe we can find what we’re missing.”
Cooper nodded in agreement. “That’s assuming George is our guy.”
Luke shook his head yes.
Cooper looked at me and asked calmly, “Can you do that? Forget how you feel about George? What you think you know about him?”
“I can certainly try. What do you want to know?” I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I was definitely feeling on the spot.
Luke started, “Think back over your relationship with him. What was he like when you first met? Did anything ever strike you as odd or strange behavior?”
I thought for several moments about when I first met George in Boston and over the course of our relationship. Then I thought about the times here Little Rock and how he grabbed me. I didn’t want to tell Luke, but other than that, I wasn’t really coming up with anything unusual. Nothing too out of the ordinary for a
man cheating on his girlfriend and then one that gets caught.
Getting caught. I rolled those thoughts around in my head some more, something was catching. I didn’t know if it was important.
“This may mean nothing, but George was always a runner. He ran away from confrontation and discord. He asked me a few times if I wanted to run away with him. I always thought he was kidding, but he might not have been.”
Luke look at me thoughtfully, “Go where?”
“That’s just it. I don’t know. He never said. He would just get real stressed and ask me to leave everything behind and go with him. I always laughed it off. Once I asked him where and all he said was he had a place. When I pressed him, he never said, just smiled and said it was his secret. He said he’d only tell me if I said yes. I never thought he was serious.”
“What else?” Luke asked.
“George was just never confrontational with women. The times we disagreed, he’d just distance himself for a while and then come back like nothing ever happened. I would try to talk about it, but he’d just shut down. Even when he ended it, he dumped me over the phone. Just told me to never call him again, and I didn’t. He was the one who initiated contact later but acted like nothing had happened.”
“Is that really so unusual given the circumstances?” Cooper asked. He got up and started to move around the room.
“No, I guess not, but to just never speak of it again. It’s like cementing a volcano, eventually it will blow.”
“Keep going,” Luke said, prodding me. “Did you ever hear him fight with Maime?”
“No.” I answered quickly, but then thought about it. I remembered something I hadn’t in a long time.
“Wait. Yes, I did, once. I had sent him an email when he was traveling for work. Just a flirty sweet message like we had always done. But he responded back strangely asking for my phone number. I thought he was kidding so I didn’t respond. About an hour later, my phone rings, and it’s a woman. A friend of Maime’s telling me that George was involved with someone. He was engaged. They called me like twenty times that day. I never spoke to them. I let all the calls go to voicemail. It was all very immature.
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