Hunting (27 page)

“
I don’t know. Anything
other than serial killers, PAVAD, three-year-olds. Hell, even my
sister. Just you and me, someplace quiet.”

“
For what purpose? Do you
want to…foamicate again?”

She looked up at him and he
burst out laughing, seeing the spark of humor in her eyes directed
at him. It was reminiscent of the Julia he’d seen in the video
Georgia had shown him months ago. It was…beautiful.
She
was
beautiful. Did she even realize that?

“
Heard that, did
you?”

 ”
Sure did. About
peed my pants. You handled it better than I would have.”

He sobered. “I think I spit
toast at the wall at that question. Poor kid, Byrum probably
expounded on ‘thou shalt not fornicate’ every night at dinner. No
wonder that was her first question.”

“
No more. She’ll have a
happy, somewhat normal childhood. I’ll see to it.”

“
I know you will,
sweetheart.” And if he had anything to do with it, he’d be right
there beside her to help. With Ruthie.  And with any other
child they had.

Because once he made his
mind up about something, he wouldn’t stop until he had accomplished
what he’d set out to do. She didn’t stand a chance.

***

Jules actually trembled
when he looked at her. He was up to something, and she knew for a
fact she wasn’t going to like it. His hand burned where it rested
on her spine. Why hadn’t he dropped his hand? Why was he still
touching her? What in the hell was he planning? Jerk. He
liked
having her off-center.

Yes, she’d heard what
Ruthie had asked him. And it had embarrassed her, to some extent.
But it was just one of those questions kids asked.

“
I don’t think that would
be a good idea. Nothing would come of it. We both know that. Wasn’t
that something we’d agreed on?” Did she hear a bit of fear in her
own voice? Why? Would he catch it? “Last night was just another
slip.”

He was a damned mind
reader, how would he
miss
it?

“
Was it? Maybe, I’ve had
time to rethink what we decided. Maybe I think we can both agree
that there is something worth acting on. Unless…you’re too afraid?”
He leaned closer, then reached around her and pushed the down
button on the elevator. No one else was in the parking garage yet,
and she felt that isolation now. “What are you afraid of,
Julia?”

“
Just…just leave me
alone.” Her words broke, and that annoyed her. “I’m not interested
in permanency. Does that bruise your ego a bit?”

“
Fight it all you want. We
both
know your pulse is racing, your breath is backing up in
your throat, and you’re feeling a bit warm in places. Because you
are just as attracted to me as I am to you. Why deny it? I was
there last night, too. We are both human beings, and human beings
need that type of connection. Can you deny it? For once, don’t lie
to yourself.” He guided her into the elevator before she realized
his intentions. He backed her up against the panel by the floor
buttons. Jules slipped her hands flat against his chest. Against
the soft pale blue cotton that made his eyes look that much deeper.
Damn him.

And damn
her.
What
was she doing?

“
I won’t hurt you. I’d cut
off my right arm to avoid doing that, don’t you know?” He whispered
the words against her ear. Jules’ eyes closed and she forced
herself to take shallow breaths. Why did he do this to her? Just
when she’d come to a decision about him, he touched her and every
rational thought flew out of her head. “Don’t you?”

She felt herself nod before
she even realized she’d moved. “Malachi…”

“
Shh. We’ve got less than
thirty seconds until we reach your floor. Just give me those
seconds. Then I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the day. I
promise. Unless you’re too frightened? Think you can’t resist
me?”

She
knew
what he was
doing. Damn him. But it didn’t matter. Even him challenging her,
daring her, to fight the heat that he was causing wasn’t enough to
have her stepping away from him. Was it just because she’d slept in
his bed, with his scent all around her that her defenses were down?
Or was it because he’d looked so…well, so cute and flustered when
faced with Ruthie this morning?

Or was it just because he
was catching her in a moment of total weakness?
“Bastard.”

“
Scared?”

“
No. Practical.
Realistic.”

“
Uh huh. Tell you what,
next time you get the urge to
foamicate
with someone,
remember this.” He kissed her—long, hot and deep. Just like he had
in South Dakota. Just like he had last night. Now she had so little
resistance it was pathetic.

Had they been at his house
in that moment, she’d have already given in. Again.

And that was what was the
most pathetic of all.

He pulled back, and she
smacked his chest. “Back off, Neanderthal.”

“
I’ll pick you up at six.
We’ll get Ruthie and then head home. How about that? Maybe we can
watch a princess movie, and eat cookies.”

He grinned at her, that
irrepressible, arrogant, egotistical
Mr. Perfect
grin that
drove her three directions up the wall. The elevator door popped
open as if he’d commanded it, and he stepped out. Jules stayed
where she was, staring at him.

She wanted to hit him
again. She wanted to run. Hell, she wanted to kiss him again. Damn
him.

Jules did the only thing
she could think of as the door’s slid closed. She shot him a
one-finger gesture. He blew her a kiss. “Later!”

His laughter echoed around
the elevator the entire way down to her floor.

Damn him, damn him, damn
him.

He really was pretty darned
close to perfect. At least, to her.

And that ruined
everything.

Oh, damn him…

Her office was booming when
she arrived. More than half a dozen techs were waiting in her
office. Mia held court in the midst of them.

Jules hung up her coat and
stowed her bag in her desk drawer. “Mia? What’s going
on?”

“
Violent Acts team. A
multi-fatality shooting here in the city.”

“
And we get them.” It was
the largest amount of fatalities her team had faced since her
assignment to PAVAD.

“
Don’t know why.” Mia
looked frazzled and stressed. “Just know that we do. Fifteen. All
GSWs. Some kids.”

“
Ok. We’ll split down the
middle. You take Tomas and Frank. I’ll take Leah and James.” The
rest of the techs in her office she recognized as pathology interns
from the neighboring St. Louis field office. Mia had most likely
requested their assistance. “Split the interns, too. Give me the
files you have there.” She took the stack of intake forms Mia held
out and counted out eight for her team. “Let’s get to
work.”

Fifteen autopsies would
take at least three days of ten hour shifts. She and Mia were going
to be very busy for a long time to come. She probably wouldn’t get
home to Ruthie until closer to eight o’clock. Just in time to put
her to bed. Dammit. She’d have to call Meredith and let her
know.

***

By the time she’d finished
three of the autopsies on her docket, Jules was exhausted and
absolutely sick at what she’d seen. Two of the victims on her
schedule were just children, a boy and girl around the ages of ten
or twelve. Hit in the crossfire. Thankfully, they’d died almost
instantly and hadn’t suffered too much. There was at least the
knowledge that they probably hadn’t known what was happening to
them, or been aware enough to feel the pain.

If that could be considered
a blessing for their parents.

She always hated when it
was children on her table, and she’d never met another pathologist
who didn’t echo those sentiments.

Mia had been lucky; her
schedule hadn’t included the kids. But she looked just as strained
as Jules knew
she
felt. It was ten minutes before they were
to leave for the evening—two hours later than normal, and it was
the first time they’d stopped working all day. Jules knew they
could
stay and finish the other half of the autopsies, but
as exhausted as they were, something important could be missed. And
that was not something she—or Ed Dennis—would tolerate.

“
Go home, Mia. Rest and
try to forget about this for a while.”

“
Sometimes easier said
than done.”

“
I know. I’ll finish up
the preliminary paperwork, and then I’m going myself.” She dropped
her files onto her desk and began rifling through the mail the
runner had delivered. It had the stamp of inspection that had been
instituted by Ed two months ago after someone had used a special
delivery service to deliver explosive chemicals unlike anything
ever seen to the forensics lab, disguised in colored smoke bombs. A
twenty-two-year-old lab tech had died, leaving behind a fiancé and
eight-month-old. Now, every delivery was doubly screened before
being ferried to the receiving department.

A small box sat on one
corner of her new mail pile. Jules grabbed it as Mia went into her
own small office. She peeled the tape back and pulled out the
bubble-wrap.

She cursed when a wooden
object fell into her hand.

She grabbed her desk phone
and dialed the CCU.

***

Malachi opened the
pathology lab doors and rushed inside, worried. Julia had just said
to get down there—she hadn’t given him any details. He’d been in
the elevator when she’d called, and signal had been
poor.

But he’d had no difficulty
hearing the strain and slight edge of fear in her voice, though her
words had broken from the reception issues. She waited just inside
her office door. Malachi wrapped a hand around her shoulder and
pulled her closer. “What is it, sweetheart?”

“
This came today. I just
found it. I thought you’d want it for your collection.” She handed
him a small package, encased in a plastic evidence bag.

He looked at the package
more closely.  A wooden chess piece. Another pawn.

He cursed. “This came
directly to
you
?”

Her pretty eyes were
worried when she looked up at him. “Yes.”

She was so pale and there
were dark circles under her eyes. She looked pitiful. Nothing at
all like she’d looked when he’d left her that morning.

“
Honey, do you feel ok?”
He wanted to hold her, but resisted. Now wasn’t the time to push
her.

“
I’m fine. Don’t call me
honey. I just had a full docket today, we’re two hours past end of
shift, and still have five more scheduled for tomorrow and Friday,
plus anything else that comes in between now and then.”

“
Where’s Mia?”

“
Has nearly as much. And
with Forley retiring on me last month, I don’t have a full staff at
the moment.”

“
I’m sorry. Let’s go get
Ruthie. I’ll make dinner for all of us, and we can talk about what
we’re going to do.” He’d feed her and do what he could to help her
forget the damned chess pieces. They’d tuck Ruthie into bed, then
he’d see to it that Ruthie’s mother got some rest tonight,
too.

“
Will she be safe? He
won’t try to hurt her, will he? Promise me that.”

“
No, I don’t think so. He
seems to have little regard for children—none of his victims were
children. Just be aware at all times. And…whether anyone likes it
or not, from here on out,
I
will be at your side every damn
second of the day.”

***

His mother had dinner
waiting on them when they arrived to pick up Ruthie. Mal was half
relieved. Julia needed to eat. He could easily sense that Julia
needed the distraction, and it was obvious she actually
liked
his parents.

That would make things so
much easier for them in the long run. A daughter-in-law like Julia
would please both his parents. Ruthie would just be icing on the
cake for them.

He coughed when the train
of his thoughts sunk in. He was thinking marriage. To Julia. When
had that happened? He’d thought a
relationship
would be a
great place to start. When had it switched to something more
permanent, even in his most private thoughts?

Because he’d always known
it would be that way when he found his woman.

Malachi wasn’t one to have
just simple relationships with women. He’d had a few casual
relationships when he was younger; relationships built around
physical needs and fun. But not for the past five or six years. No,
he’d reached the point where he’d known he was wasting his time
with those types of ties. He’d been waiting for a woman he could
be with
on a more permanent basis.

Was Julia that
woman?

A part of him certainly
thought so.