Devil’s in the Details (46 page)

I opened my mouth to curse at her, but was hung up on in the middle of her obnoxious laughter. Throwing my phone into the console, I left the coffee shop and raced home. My gut was all over the map, mainly pointing in the direction that Dani was right. Scarlett was probably being rerouted by one of our inside guys. Trying to clean up the mistakes they made when the evidence didn't disappear with the case file after it was closed a year ago. But deep down, something nagged at me. In particular, the vague connection she had to the Colonel, the internship and to one of his favorite fronts he had used to recruit Dani and I almost ten years ago.

The only thing that kept me at ease was the fact that I had successfully thrown Scarlett off of me. I could see it in her eyes and the way she felt she needed to buy my coffee. I had succeeded in giving her the impression that I was nothing more than what I presented at that table. Not the killer she was looking for, the woman who eliminated four men without breaking a sweat.

When I arrived back at my house, I couldn't help but smile seeing Alex's car parked at a crooked angle in the driveway. My heart starting to race as I couldn't wait to see her, more as I got out of the car and could hear her voice mixed with Mary and Dale's as they laughed, talking about flowers and shrubs.

Inside, I tossed my keys on the side table right inside the door and went for the back patio, when I glanced at the den and remembered what Dani had said about the blue envelope. Taking a quick detour, I moved to my desk and snatched the thick blue envelope. I already knew what was inside, the date and the time, things that never changed from year to year. Dani and I would always meet on the same last Thursday in June at exactly one p.m. exactly, and spend exactly one hour receiving our yearly performance review. I would always receive some sort of pay increase, Dani would be given an action plan and a promise of possible promotion within the next year. Dani and I would then leave the office at exactly two p.m. She would gripe and bitch as I took her to lunch at the diner down the street. We would then go our separate ways and not speak unless it was for a new job.

I rolled my eyes as I ran up the stairs to my bedroom, for a black ops organization, Voltaire had some strange issues about consistency and organization. They were far too predictable and it made me wonder how they survived so long in the shadows.

Shoving open my closet doors, I opened the small safe that was bolted to the floor and tossed the blue envelope in with the others I still had to destroy from the last few months. Stacks of receipt of payments and cashier checks I had yet to cash. Slamming the safe closed, I stood up, moving my hanging clothes back in their places when I caught the edge of the white dress male officer's cap I had traded with one of my classmates for on graduation day.

I smirked and snatched it off the shelf. After closing the closet doors, I went back downstairs to the kitchen. I could see Alex, Dale, and Mary on their respective sides of the fence. My pitiful tulip garden was now full of small bushes and a few transplants of lilies, daisies and Dale's prize tulips. I grinned looking at the new addition as well as Alex with smudges of dirt on her cheeks, charming the pants off my neighbors.

I bit my bottom lip at how adorable Alex was, standing there in my backyard handing over borrowed flower print gardening gloves. I opened the back door, drawing the attention of the three. Dale winked and saluted me, Mary waved her gloves and Alex's face lit up like a spotlight. As her eyes landed on mine, I felt the fabled butterflies in my stomach twirl a bit harder.

I went to say something to my landscapers, when Dale placed a hand on his wife's shoulder, "Hey Victoria, you're all set with the yard. Make sure to water it in the morning and it will bloom like wildfire by summer." He motioned to Alex, "Your girl here has a natural green thumb. I told her to come over tomorrow afternoon and I'll show her how to plant seedlings."

Mary shook her head, grabbing his hand, "Never mind him, you two are on vacation, enjoy it." She shooed Dale away, moving to follow him when she called after her shoulder, "But this coming Monday, you girls are invited over for BBQ. Dale and I are heading up to West Virginia to pick up some steaks from his cousin the cattle farmer." She pointed at me with a gloved finger, "You are responsible for dessert."

I grinned, hanging my head down, "Of course. I will make the peach cobbler you love."

Mary smirked at me, "Sounds good, Victoria." She looked at Alex, "Lovely to get to know you Alex."

Alex blushed and smiled, turning to me as my neighbors went inside. She let out a breath and started to take a few steps towards me, "How did the meeting go?"

I shrugged, moving my hand with the hat from behind my back, "It went as expected. I am a boring history Professor, nothing more." I grabbed the hat with both hands holding it up so Alex could see it, "But I did happen to find this in my closet."

I watched as the flush crept up Alex's neck, slowly hitting her cheeks at the same time she bit her bottom lip to hold back from the whimper I knew was on the verge of escaping, "Is that?"

I nodded, "A white Navy dress hat. A man's white Navy dress hat." I placed it on my head on an angle, looking back at Alex as she was now moving quickly towards me, "I think you mentioned something about wanting to see one of these up close?"

Alex gave me a heated look and practically pushed me back from the doorway, slamming the door closed as she attacked me. Grabbing my face as her mouth smashed into mine with an almost guttural growled out yes.

Chapter 14

I kept looking at the intern, the shitheads still standing in the far corner of the station, leering at me. I kept staring forward at the empty tracks. Maybe if ignored them they would leave me alone.

I took in a slow breath, clenching the can of pepper spray tighter, chancing another glance at the intern when I felt a shoulder brush up against mine. I felt my jaw tighten as the overwhelming smell of piss, cigarettes, bad cologne and unbrushed teeth attacked all of my senses, making me want to gag. I took one step closer to the tracks, I willing the train to come bursting out of the tunnel and be my silent rescuer from what I knew was about to happen.

Then it was as if the world fell into slow motion. The touch of a dirty hand to my cheek, his filthy come on hissed through yellowed teeth. The literal knee jerk reaction I had from his touch, thrusting my knee up into his groin.

Then the inevitable, "Fuck her up boys." An order issued out of hurt pride and swollen testicles.

Falling to the ground away from the punches and kicks, I fell through the tile floor and came to land on my feet outside of myself. Watching in confusion as the attacking junkies faded into the shadows, leaving only a blonde stranger standing where I was sure I had fallen after the first fist to the stomach.

This blonde stranger reached out to me with an open hand and I felt a wave of relief replace all of my fear and confusion. This had to be my guardian angel, and as she looked up, I smiled looking in Victoria's slate grey eyes as she moved closer to rescue me.

Suddenly, Victoria's forehead split open with a large gash. Blood pouring forth like a faucet, down over her eyes, covering her cheeks and eventually sliding off her chin in large red drops.

The slate grey eyes that were so clear and determine, clouded over and became devoid of any emotion at all.

She just looked at me with a cold dead stare.

I was locked on those dead eyes and missed the glint of metal, only feeling the knife as it plunged into my stomach as Victoria lunged forward. Sinking the knife in to the hilt just below my sternum.

I shot up in the bed, gasping from the nightmare. I was sweating and could feel the tears on my cheeks. Leaning forward on my knees, I took in deep breaths in the darkness trying to calm my racing heart and shake out the shivers that filled my body. It was a nightmare I had almost every night after the attack, and then once in a while if I was extremely tired or had seen injuries in the ER that made me remember. I knew that having the detective back in my life and poking around in Victoria's, was shoving unresolved issues to the forefront of my mind. But the part with a bloodied and maniac Victoria was different, and it scared the hell out of me.

Blinking a few times, I felt the bed shift, drawing my still hazy eyes to focus on the body next to me, and almost leapt out of the bed until my night vision kicked in. Helping me to discern that the body next to me was just Victoria lying on her stomach, sleeping undisturbed.

I stared at the shadowed curves of her body as I forced my body, heart and mind to calm down. Finally lying back down on my side when the sweat receded and my heart found its normal rhythm, I held onto the image of Victoria's peaceful face with her arms stretched out under the pillow.

The tank top she threw on an hour ago did very little to keep her covered, and I smiled at the sight, reaching out to run my hand over her shoulder. I suddenly needed to feel she was real after the nightmare left me with a gory, bloodied version of the woman who only murmured at the sensation of my warm hand gliding over her skin. She never opened an eye, even as she moved her arm from under the pillow and wrapped fingers around my bicep.

Moving closer to her warmth, I sighed, cursing my hyperactive imagination. There was no way that the sleeping woman next to me would ever be the monster I had seen in my dreams. She was nothing more than what she told that detective. A boring history Professor who happened to be a war veteran and hero.

I continued to smile as I lifted her hand away from my arm and snuck underneath it, curling up into her completely. Sighing contently when Victoria took the cue and pulled me into her.

The bed was empty when I rolled over twice, desperately searching out the warm body I had grown accustomed to over the last few days. Frowning I peeled my eyes open to see that I was definitely alone in the bed and the morning light was discreetly poking its way through the curtains and blinds of Victoria's bedroom. I sat up in the bed, leaning against the headboard and collecting my wild hair up as I looked around the room.

I frowned deeper when there were no signs of Victoria. I had gotten far too co-dependent and used to waking up to her next to me, or somewhere in the bedroom that it made me mildly grumpy not to have the instant gratification of seeing her the second my eyes opened.

I shook my head, I was definitely smitten and love struck.

Fighting a yawn back, I scooted to the edge of the bed to grab the pair of shorts I might have worn maybe once in the last thirty six hours. My yawn turned into a smirk thinking back over the last thirty six hours.

Victoria and I had not really left the bed or the house. Only jogging down to the kitchen or front door to grab whatever carry out we ordered, then try to eat it over polite conversation or a movie, that would then turn flirty, and that would then turn into dirty banter and take us back to the bedroom. Victoria had shown me a few more things, dominating the bedroom and guiding me as I fumbled a bit here and there. I was not as confident as I had been that first night without any booze to lower my inhibitions. I would try to top her, but found it easier to submit and enjoy the ride so to speak. I was still able to melt the woman to a pile of blubbering nonsense a few times, but I knew I had a way to go in my education of Ms. Bancroft.

My fingers latched on to the waist of the linen shorts when the smell of fresh coffee swarmed around me.