FORBIDDEN LOVE (3 page)

Dani risked a glance in the rearview mirror and saw Hawk touch the tip of his fingers to his lips as he watched her drive away. A little laugh bubbled out and the smile carried her all the way back to her apartment. Then reality smacked the smile off her face. Her apartment. Shit, she’d almost forgotten.

Even though it was on the minuscule side of small and in need of some serious sprucing, it had been a good place for her to live. Near the station, with a covered parking space, and most importantly, cheap. Everything a girl could want. Except the lease was now coming to an end. The owner wanted Dani to sign a new lease at double the current rent. It was a damned shame she couldn’t arrest the bastard for highway robbery.

She pushed the thought away. She had a month; she’d find something else. She walked up the three flights and fantasized about a place with an elevator, air-conditioning in the summer, and a laundry room. She’d swoon if it had a view. Not likely on a cop’s salary.

Her landline was ringing as she came through the door.

“Delacroiux,” she clipped.

“Detective Delacroiux, this is dispatch. We have another body for you. A floater, pier-side. Detective LeAnn Delacroiux is on scene, and asked that you be notified.”

“All right, I’m on my way. Why didn’t you call my cell?”

“We did. Detective Delacroiux radioed in after she couldn’t reach you.”

Dani’s hand flew to her pocket and found the little phone holster empty. Shit. “All right,” she said. “I’ll be on radio in five, and on scene in fifteen. Notify the officers on scene.”

Dani was glad it was her aunt that caught the body. Not just because she was a good detective. LeAnn was also a connoisseur of fine asses. Dani couldn’t wait to tell her about the new one in town.

****

Several hours later, LeAnn and Dani sat surrounded by cracked red vinyl, elbows on the warped Formica tabletop and sipped shitty coffee.
Ah,
nothing like an all-night diner.

“So, am I right? Do you think there’s a connection?” Dani asked.

“Yes, you nailed it when you asked to be informed about any bodies found near the river,” LeAnn said. “Now, it’s really early in the investigation—so let’s just do some off the record speculating without locking ourselves in. Crease was one of the characters that everyone along the waterfront recognized, but no one
knew
. He rarely saw a sober morning and didn’t own more than a shopping cart could hold. Why kill him? Who benefits?”

“Exactly,” Dani said. She watched as LeAnn added two more heaping spoonful of sugar to her already sweetened coffee. “That’s not going to help, you know.”

LeAnn sipped then screwed up her face as she set the cup down with a clatter. “Okay, that was bad. All right, enough of that,” she said, pushing the cup away with a shudder. “Back to shameless speculation. The first thing that comes to mind—maybe because it’s wishful thinking—is Crease might have been killed to keep him from talking about something he saw. Now that Beaker has bobbed to the top, wouldn’t it make sense—timeline wise—if his murder is what Crease witnessed? Speculation, I know—but run with it for a minute.”

Dani closed her eyes for a moment and pictured the skinny redhead the way he looked the last time she’d seen him. “Yeah, I could see that. Jesus…Beaker.” She snorted. “He always wore that damn lab coat. For God’s sake, what kind of drug dealer calls attention to himself that way?”

“I know. Beaker wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box, but he liked looking like that character from
The Muppet Show
. With his bush of red hair and squeaky voice…” LeAnn trailed off, her eyes unfocused.

Dani nodded and began to outline her points. “Okay, so here’s what I figure. The timeline works if we assume Beaker was nailed early yesterday afternoon, weighted down, and tossed over the side of the pier. The murderer then realizes Crease saw something and draws him to the Mona Lisa. The killer probably figured Beaker would stay under longer. It would have been a lot harder for us to connect the two deaths if Beaker’d stayed submerged another week.”

“Yep,” LeAnn agreed. “Obviously, we’ll still look at everything, but I like the way this feels. We can work the cases together since they appear to have some connection, but we won’t make a big deal out of it—no sense getting the press excited over something we don’t actually know.”

“The press or Uncle Beau?” Dani laughed and waggled her eyebrows.

“What the Chief of Detectives doesn’t know won’t hurt him. I’ll pull the security video from the street, see if I can identify any of the vehicles in the area. I’ve got the names of a couple of folks seen around the Pier, but I’m not anywhere near the whole story yet.

“Beaker has been dealing drugs down there off and on for a few years, right?” LeAnn continued. “We’ll have to check with Vice to see if they have a line on who he worked for. On the surface, it looks like a straight drug deal gone south and an unfortunate witness. I don’t know, though. Something about the whole thing feels off to me.”

Dani thought a minute. “Who is that other weasel down there all the time? I think he informs for Beau. Miskit, Merkit…”

“Maskot,” LeAnn supplied. “Yeah, he did quite a bit of informing for Beau at one time. Used to be the guy in the costume at the football games until his junior year, that’s where the handle came from. Then he got messed up on crack. Switched to heroin, started selling to support his habit. I think he’s pretty far gone now. I’ll ask Beau.”

Apparently forgetting her earlier distaste, LeAnn reached for her cup and took another sip of coffee, made a face, and reached for the sugar again. “Who are you talking to? Any good leads?”

Dani responded with a question of her own. “Do you think the Généreux PD has a leak?”

“Why? What have you heard?” LeAnn asked, her hand tightening on the spoon she held.

“I was talking to someone tonight who said that anything I put in an official report would be known within a few hours. Is that true?”

“Shit!” LeAnn hissed and leaned across the table, even though there was no one sitting near them in the diner. “Is your source reliable? Will he talk to me?”

“LeAnn? Is there something going on that you’re not telling me?” Dani whispered.

LeAnn scanned the restaurant once more, her eyes flat, face set. Dani knew whatever was bothering LeAnn must be big. She waited patiently.

“Dani, I’m not kidding, you can’t breathe a word of this to anyone,” LeAnn said. “We know there’s a leak, and it’s my job to plug it. We’re moving slow so we don’t tip anyone off. It doesn’t happen with any regularity, which is what’s making it so hard to pinpoint. Any guesses as to who it ties to?”

Dani knew. “Julian Charbonnet.”

LeAnn nodded slowly. “So what do you think? Will your source talk to me?”

“Let’s go back to the murders for a second,” Dani said slowly. “You asked about other leads. So far, not much of one, but I only got it a few hours ago. After I cleared the scene, I went to the Pier and found Constantine holding a private meeting with some cowboy. Both of them were spewing macho bullshit, and it turned out the stranger was an attorney who made noises about his rights.

“So I pulled out my
right
to question anyone near the vicinity of a crime, which was pretty lame, since the murder took place at the Mona Lisa. He gives a nod and hands me his ID, no more trouble. I give it a quick glance, and lo and behold, I’d just met Mr. Hawk Charbonnet, prodigal son of Julian.

“Hawk didn’t want to talk there on the Pier, so he invited me to Charbonnet Hall. I showed him pictures of Crease and the crime scene, but didn’t give him any details. No surprise that he denied any knowledge. No one knows anything, right?”

LeAnn’s face was intent, a little furrow between her eyebrows as she concentrated on what her niece was saying. Dani weighed her options and decided she needed to tell it all. She filled LeAnn in about the matching tie and handkerchief, about dinner, the late-night trip to the mansion, and Hawk’s claim of being framed.

“He asked me not to put some of this information in the official report until absolutely necessary. Said it would be in Julian’s hands within a few hours if I did.”

“Do you believe him?” LeAnn asked.

Dani stared at her hands and thought it over. Meeting LeAnn’s gaze, she said, “About that? Yeah, I do. There’s no reason for him to lie to me about that.”

“What are you hedging on, Dani?”

“I’m not sure
why
he told me. He said he was distancing himself from his father’s business interests and needed more time.”

“But you think it might be something else?”

“He wanted to have dinner with me,” Dani said. “Later, Julian nearly caught us sneaking out of Hawk’s room, so we kissed to throw the old man off track. It should have been easy to pretend we were making out, but all of a sudden, I’m not sure we were. It got real hot, real quick.

“Part of me wonders if he’s just softening me up, trying to get closer. Given the history between my mom and Julian, between our two families, it’s not much of a stretch to think there might be some hidden agenda.”

These days, Dani’s mother, Clare Cortland, was a prominent psychologist and local radio talk show personality. She and Julian had played cat and mouse for years—long before Dani was born. Clare never referenced her past and claimed no knowledge of the reason for Julian’s obsession.

A wealthy man with a shadowy past, Clare seemed to be his only weakness. And although thin on admissible evidence, the Généreux Police Department’s file on Charbonnet showed probable connections to loan sharking, prostitution, black market oil, and if rumors could be added to the mix, murder. Her mother was in a position to help gather evidence but was steadfast in her refusal. Whatever the reason, Dani was positive her father, also known as Captain Richard Delacroiux had his suspicions. Or maybe Dad was the reason behind it all. What in the hell was the reason for such a long-standing feud?

As to why she’d refused to testify against him when Julian had kidnapped her several years earlier, Clare had again remained quiet. If pressed, she used the questions as an opportunity to educate the public about the sometimes-random nature of a stalker. Clare excelled at playing the long-suffering victim. Shaking off thoughts of her mother and Julian, Dani looked at the woman across from her.

LeAnn raised a brow and studied Dani before she answered. “Could be. I know I don’t need to warn you to stay away from the Charbonnet family. Whatever you do, don’t let Beau know you kissed a Charbonnet. He’d either lock you up or kill Hawk. Maybe both.” She looked at Dani, concern all over her face. “Was kissing him hideous?”

Dani struggled to keep her tone serious. “Oh my God, LeAnn, you have no idea.” She shuddered, but then broke into a laugh. “Actually, I’m kidding, he’s gorgeous and he knows it. Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you. Wait’ll you get a load of his ass. It’s downright bitable.”

Both women laughed as they paid and left.

****

Later that night, Dani stepped from the shower, grateful to finally have this day behind her. She resolutely put thoughts of murder and conspiracy out of her mind and let more pleasant memories fill it. Like Hawk’s kiss. That had been an unexpected bonus. She was just starting to brush out the tangled mass of wet hair when she heard a soft knock at her door. Dropping her brush, she tucked her towel firmly around herself. Reflexively she grabbed her gun then looked through the peephole.

Hawk Charbonnet stood there with a boyish grin on his face, holding her phone up and looking absolutely delicious.

He raised his hand to knock again, and Dani unlatched the chain and pulled him in, hissing, “What are you doing here? You’ll wake my neighbors!” She closed the door and prayed Mrs. Wiscowski hadn’t heard him. She was the world’s biggest gossip and delighted in telling everyone Dani’s business.

Hawk closed the door, leaned back, and crossed his arms. He looked first at her towel-covered body then switched his gaze to the gun in her hand.

“I thought you might need your phone. That’s a very provocative look, sugar. I didn’t realize you’d be waiting for me,” he said with a half smile that looked suspiciously like a smirk.

“Oh, get over yourself. Just put the phone down there.” She indicated the coffee table with her chin. “Thanks. Now, can you please be quiet when you leave? I have a nosy neighbor, and it’s really late.”

“Thanks, sugar. I’d love a glass of wine,” he said and headed to her small kitchen. He began to rummage around, finding glasses and a bottle of wine, and started looking for the corkscrew.

Dani raced after him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Getting my reward for returning your phone. I think a glass of wine is a small price to pay, don’t you?”

“I’m not giving you a glass of wine—” she broke off as he stepped closer, backing her against the counter and forcing her to look up to meet his gaze. Way up.

“If you had something else in mind to show your appreciation…” he trailed off.

Dani actually growled. She slipped out from between him and the counter and headed for her room. “I’m getting dressed, and if you’re still here, I’m coming back with my gun.” She tried not to scurry, but it was hard to walk with her back to a man like Hawk, knowing he was watching every inch of you.

****

She quite simply took his breath away. He’d nearly thrown himself at her feet and wept at her beauty when she’d opened the door wearing nothing but a scrap of white terry cloth twisted about her. Water dripped from her hair and rolled down the creamy white skin to where her full, round breasts were barely hidden beneath the towel. He wanted to follow the wet trails with his tongue.

He should leave, but he knew he wouldn’t. Not yet. Not after going to the trouble of getting here. It had been child’s play to distract her and take her phone. Nice to know he hadn’t lost those basic childhood skills. Getting into the records and finding her home address had been a bit trickier, but not much. He would need to talk with her about her personal security. She needed to make it harder for criminals to track her down.