03_Cornered Coyote (3 page)

Slade looked down at her moist lips and covered her mouth with his. He parted her lips with his tongue as her body melted into him. Her tongue eagerly met his. He pulled her even closer and knew she was aware of the effect she was having on him. The bulge in his pants gave him away. He ran his hands over her soft, rounded buttocks, and rubbed his erection against her.

She didn’t back away, but continued to explore his mouth as she slid her hand under his shirt and ran her fingers across his hairy chest. He brought his hand around and unbuttoned the top button of her blouse, his mouth tracing a line from her neck to the top of her right breast. She was on fire. She moaned as his hand slowly made circles on her hard nipples. They edged toward the large couch near the window. Both of them knew what would happen when they got to the couch, yet neither felt in any hurry to get there, so intent were they on the emotions they were experiencing. When they reached the couch, they stretched out on it and began to do the dance that is as old as mankind itself, but they were suddenly interrupted by a knock on the front door.

* * * * *

They heard a key being inserted in the lock on the door and Lou’s unmistakeable raspy voice saying, “Miss R, Slade, I’m back. I’m going to my room. See you later. There was some big office Christmas party at the restaurant and it was jammed. It would have been an hour before I’d even gotten a table. If I’m hungry later on, I’ll grab something from the frig.” They listened to him walk down the hall to his bedroom.

Darya sat up and buttoned her blouse. “Slade, I want you to know that the last few minutes had nothing to do with Maria or my wanting your help.”

“Ya’ made your point, Doll. I’ll get back to ya’ tomorrow or the next day. I need to make a coupla calls. Let me see what I can do. Give me their full names.”

“Maria Brooks and Jordan Kramer. Slade, what happened tonight is not something I normally do. I…”

“Don’t say nuthin’ else, Doll. I got a nice memory. I’ll let myself out. No promises about the case, I need to clear my head and think it through.” He took the leather jacket from the chair where he’d tossed it when he’d come in and held it in front of him, trying to hide his arousal, and headed for the front door.

After he left, Darya stood for a moment leaning heavily on the large couch that moments before was about to be used for something entirely different than sitting down and looking out the window at the ocean. She took a deep breath and tried to slow her racing heart. Her legs felt rubbery.

I wonder what would have happened if Lou hadn’t come back. I’ve never experienced pure animal lust before, but that must be what I felt. Whatever it was, it was the most incredible thing that’s ever happened to me!

She walked through the arched doorway and looked at herself in the hall mirror which reflected a woman with hard nipples clearly visible beneath the silk blouse, swollen lips, and a whisker burn on her cheeks.
Damn,
she thought
, I wish the restaurant hadn’t been so busy.

CHAPTER 4

Although the drive back to his condominium was short, Slade had never been more uncomfortable in his life. He kept replaying the last few minutes he’d spent with Darya in his mind, wondering what would have happened if Lou hadn’t returned early. Kissing Darya and feeling her warm body pressed against his was even better than he’d dreamed it would be. His body was on fire and he was still hard. He knew he could call up a couple of women, but after having been with Darya they didn't interest him. He might not be able to have filet mignon, but he had no interest in a hamburger.

Slade stepped into his large walk-in closet, took off his clothes, and threw them on the chair. He slipped on a dark brown velour robe and headed towards the kitchen to make some coffee. At the last minute he changed his mind and walked over to the bar. Maker’s Mark bourbon always worked wonders to soothe his frayed senses. He was being pulled in a direction he didn’t want to go, and was not happy with the situation he’d gotten himself into. He'd sworn never to get emotionally involved again, but Darya was the most sensuous and interesting woman he'd ever met.

I don’t know how far I want to go with this situation. I’ll make a couple of calls to set things in motion and if I decide I don’t want to do anything else, I can still walk away from it. On the other hand, if I decide to go ahead with it, at least I will have made the calls. Maria needs representation and someone to make bail right now. That can’t wait.

Slade called Brad. “I know it’s late, but I need you to go to the Naughty Gentlemen’s Club located out in the Valley. See if you can find a chick in her late ‘30’ with a good body and attractive face. Need a classy lookin’ one who has some smarts. Club’s expensive as hell so eat beforehand and stick to beer. It’ll be cheaper. See what you can find out and put it on my desk.”

He glanced at the contact list on his cell phone, found the name he wanted, and pushed in some numbers. It was answered on the first ring.

"This is Brian Meeks,” the well-respected attorney said in a voice that sounded as smooth as a well-aged whiskey.

"It's Slade Kelly. Been awhile since we last talked. Got a client for ya’."

"Slade, maybe you haven’t heard that I'm semi-retired now and rarely take on new clients."

"Trust me, Brian. You'll get some major ink outta this one."

"At this stage of my life, I really don’t need major ink, but I’m listening," he said, sighing. Slade told him about Maria's arrest and what he knew. He left out the part about Darya and the pills.

"Brian, she needs an attorney and needs to post bail, like right now. I unnerstand she's a real looker. I'm callin’ in some chits to see if I can get her into a high profile cell where she won't have to mingle with the general population. There's a lot of 'em in there who’d jes’ love to have her as their bitch. Couple of them guards ain’t gonna miss a chance at getting’ some good-looking ‘tang either."

"Does she have the funds to post bail?"

"My unnerstandin’ is yes. If she can’t, I have a friend who can. I'm gonna call the jail now. I know the deputy who’s in charge of the jail operations kinda personally. I'll talk to Maria’s boyfriend and tell him you'll be handlin’ the case and seein' to a bail bondsman."

"Slade, I don't recall agreeing to take the case."

"Brian, Brian, my friend, have you forgotten about that little incident with Carmela? You remember her, don’t you? She was the one with the big tits and a pussy so tight she could snap the top off a coke bottle. You were pokin’ her every Friday afternoon before you went home to yer’ lovin’ wife and the waitin’ pot roast dinner.”

“Slade, you son-of-a-bitch! That was a long time ago. I’m a reformed man.”

“I’m sure ya’ are. That experience would be enough to reform any man. Anyway, thanks. I'll tell Maria’s boyfriend to have her call ya’ when she gets home. She'll probably be arraigned day after tomorrow, so ya’ could meet with her tomorrow." He hung up knowing that Brian would do anything to keep his wife from finding out about the incident with Carmela.

He found the next number he wanted. The phone was answered on the first ring. "Robert Presley Detention Center. How may I direct your call?"

"I want to speak with Deputy Sheriff Letz. Tell him Slade Kelly's on the phone."

Within a minute a deep voice on the other end said, "Greetings Slade, long time, no hear. What are you up to these days?"

"Well, Jimmie, got me a little problem. Hear ya’ got a new female prisoner there by the name of Maria Brooks. She was arrested for the murder of her husband. Happened several months ago. She landed at LAX earlier today after bein’ out of the country for a few months. Seems like your boys were waitin’ for her and slapped the cuffs on her as soon as she cleared immigration. Know anything about her?"

"Yeah, the file just crossed my desk. She's been here for a few hours. They're finishing the work-up on her now. What do you want?"

"Coupla things. Unnerstand her boyfriend’s there at the jail right now. I jes’ arranged for a lawyer and a bail bondsman for her. Need to let her boyfriend know about ‘em. That's the first thing."

"Sure. What's the second thing?"

"Before I get to that, what are the chances of her stayin’ outta jail until her trial?"

"From what I see in the file, slim or none and slim just left town. Looks like she's going to be arraigned by Judge Adams and he never grants bail in murder cases. If bail’s posted right away she can get out tonight, but after the arraignment she'll be brought back here until her trial.”

"By the way, how's your son doin’? Any more problems with them guys runnin’ the extortion ring?"

"Nah. He's fine. Whatever you did to those guys worked. He hasn't had any problems since then. So Slade, I know this isn't a social call and you could find out about Mrs. Brooks from somebody else. What do you really want from me?"

"Jimmie, I need a favor. Got a friend who wants to make sure nothin’ happens to Maria Brooks while she's in jail. I know you've got the power to put her in an isolation cell. Sure would appreciate you seein' to it while she's in jail."

"Slade, you know I'd do anything for you after you took care of my boy. Here's the deal. At my discretion, in special circumstances, and I can make it sound like this is a special circumstance, I can isolate someone for two weeks. The problem is only child molesters get isolation the whole time they’re in jail and from a quick read of her file, she doesn’t fit into that category. If it's over two weeks, I'd have to get permission from my boss, Sheriff Henderson. It's an election year and he's not going to budge.”

"Tell you what, Jimmie. What if I make a generous contribution to the sheriff's campaign fund? Ackshully, I'll mail you a check tomorrow morning and you can give it to the sheriff. Jes' tell him you convinced a friend of yours that he should be re-elected. After you give him the check, course you want to ask for a third week for Maria to be in isolation. I’m thinkin' he's gonna like that money enough to make sure her ass is safe for those three weeks. I'll have to come up with somethin' else for the rest of the time she's in jail. Why don't you have your guard get Maria's boyfriend, the guy who's cooling his heels in the waiting area, and let me talk to him?"

"As always, Slade, nice doing business with you. I'll have her boyfriend call you. I'll make sure she's okay. See to it myself."

“Thanks, Jimmie. You tell your son that Slade says hi and if he needs anything, he can count on me. Check’ll be in the mail tomorrow." Two minutes later Slade's cell phone rang. "Slade Kelly. Is this Jordan Kramer?"

"Yes. Deputy Letz told me to call you. What’s this about?"

"I'm a friend of Darya Rahimi's. She asked me to help Maria. Here's what I've done. I’ve talked to an attorney by the name of Brian Meeks who’s agreed to take Maria’s case. He's the best lawyer money can buy. Don't take many cases these days, but he agreed to represent Maria.”

“I don’t know who you are, but you must be somebody important to get Brian Meeks to take a case. I’m a detective, LAPD, and he’s a legend around headquarters. How did you get him to take the case?”

“Trade secret, my friend. Let's jes’ say we go back a ways. Anyways, he's got a bail bondsman he works with who'll see that she's out of jail in record time. Looks like the judge who's gonna be arraignin’ her never grants bail. She's gonna spend the time before her trial in jail. The head of jail operations, Deputy Letz, is an old friend of mine and I twisted his arm a little. Talked him into makin' sure she's in isolation so them people who’d like to make her their bitch can't get their hands on her. He's doin' me a special favor for three weeks. Need to come up with sumpin' after that. Here's the lawyer's number. Ya’ got a piece of paper on ya’? Maria needs to talk to him tomorrow. Any questions?"

"Why are you helping Maria?"

"I'm just an ol' gumshoe who's done a little work for Darya Rahimi. She called and asked me to help Maria. Talk to ya' later."  He didn't tell Jordan he'd do everything in his power to help Maria if it meant a repeat of the last ten minutes he'd spent with Darya earlier that evening.

CHAPTER 5

After Slade got off the phone with Jordan, he started pacing the length of the great room in his condominium. Darya was affecting his ability to think straight. This assignment had nothing to do with detective work. And were the risks involved worth it? He wasn’t doing it for the money. It was one of the few times in his life he didn’t know what to do. He needed some help and guidance. He wished he had someone to talk to, someone who could advise him and tell him if he should do more than he’d done tonight, or make up some excuse why he shouldn’t take this any farther. He slipped into a deep whiskey induced sleep with one dream following another.

 When he woke up the next morning the only thing he could remember from his elusive dreams was seeing Tucker. Just thinking of Tucker made Slade smile. Where was that little fucker? He needed to find him quickly. Tucker would have the answers he needed, at least some vital clues. He knew from past experiences that finding Tucker wasn’t always easy. Slade had a feeling this was going to be one of those times, but Tucker had to be found, whatever it took.

Slade called his cell phone and promptly heard the message, "This number has been switched off. Please try again later." That was so like Tucker. He didn’t live like normal people. Slade got dressed and backed his car out of the garage. The only person who knew where Tucker would be lived so close to skid row that on any other occasion he would have thought twice before approaching her. Today he didn’t have a choice. He needed to talk to Tucker, the sooner the better.

He spotted the gas station where a person could get gas and just about anything else, provided one had the resources. As soon as he walked through the door, Shannon greeted him, her large breasts spilling over the low cut T-shirt she wore. "Well, well, look who's here. If it ain't the famous detective himself."