JUDE: Book 2 The Justice Brothers Series (10 page)

Jared laughed, “As real as it gets, bro. I’ve seen some spectacular cars in my life but that baby of hers sets a height you and I have never scaled. Hell, it gets to two hundred miles per hour without breathing hard. Before you get any ideas, bro, the sticker price of Sky’s loaded piece of throbbing testosterone heaven starts at three hundred big ones. One more thing, buddy, it has a black and red leather interior.”

So bowled over by Jared’s calm announcement, Jude almost forgot his anger at the way his and Skylar’s evening had ended. That lasted all of three seconds until Sky came into the conference room. His gut clenched at the sight of her. Damn, she was small, and so fucking vulnerable looking. And this morning she looked pale, tired. Christ, no wonder his brother was pissed. He couldn’t imagine what she looked like when she got home last night. Knowing she was hurt made the anger he’d felt since Jerri had invaded their special moment flare anew.

He started to reach out to her, when Solly came up to him.

“Jude, can I talk to you for a minute? Doc Evans called. He expects the results from the lab shortly. Said there are a few surprises in the preliminaries. Should I ask him to send them over or do you want to see them firsthand?”

“No, Solly. I definitely want to discuss them with the doc. Tell him to let us know when he has the full report and we’ll meet him in his office.”

He turned back to talk to Skylar, but she was already sitting at the table next to Jared. Seeing Jared’s protective arm over the back of her chair, Jude shoved at his annoyance. Nothing like his brother rubbing it in his face how he’d screwed up last night. As if he didn’t already know. Seeing the three
doughnuts on her plate he almost said something, but swallowed the smart-assed remark. Hell, remembering her to-go box in the trash, he knew that she probably hadn’t had a damn thing to eat since her doughnuts yesterday. Shoving at a hard sigh, he moved to the table to begin the briefing.

Sky congratulated herself for showing up to the early morning briefing, and made it past Jude’s questioning frown without cowering. Thank God for Jared. He’d been there when she got home last night, and while he’d insisted that she tell him what was wrong, he’d let her off the hook after her three-sentence response, clear she was done talking. God, how could she tell him what a fool she’d made of herself with his brother? The memory of all the ridiculous things she’d done spewed a gush of bile up in her throat, making it impossible to do anything but stare at the maple-frosted doughnuts on her plate.

She wondered if she could plead sick and go hide in her office. She certainly felt sick. All she had to do was remember how she’d confessed to Jude that she wished she were Susan Storm and his obvious confusion as to what the hell she was talking about. And did she really have to order her usual dinner? He had to have been as horrified as that catty bitch Jerri Ross was. Although at least unlike Jerri, he’d pretended that she wasn’t a freak and even ordered the same thing. She promised herself that she would never eat another double-bacon cheeseburger as long as she lived. Or
eat another doughnut. She felt her stomach heave at the sight of the sugary mounds on her plate.

She rubbed at her eyes. God, she hated feeling like this. Tired, confused. She longed to get back to the case. Her mind was teeming with ideas and what she knew were important clues. But instead of working on them, she was remembering Jude insist that she take off her glasses, staring into her eyes. He’d even felt the need to tell her that her eyes were beautiful and that her glasses hid them. Confirming that like her father, Jude thought it was his business to tell her what she should wear or not wear, right down to her psyche-protecting glasses.

Sky didn’t know when she realized that no one was speaking and worse, that all the men around the table were looking at her. Jared’s tug at her arm confirmed what Jude didn’t have to say. His frown said it all. She swallowed hard and met his gaze, “Excuse me, were you talking to me?”

When Jude merely nodded, Sky took a chance that he was going around the table asking all the team members to report in. Jared was kind enough to help her out.

“Yeah, Sky, the Big Guy wants to hear from all of us how we’ve broken the case. Given that you’re the only one who might even be close, elucidate us.”

Seeing Jude glare at his brother, Sky did her best to ignore Jude’s rigid jaw and deepening frown. She was determined not to let him intimidate her. Instead, she turned to Jared.

“I wish I could say that I’ve broken the case, Jared. I haven’t. But I did have a three-hour conversation with the Parker’s accounting firm, and reviewed the corporation’s last five years of tax filings.”

Jared laughed and said, “Only the last
five
years? You slacking off, short stuff?”

At the general laughter from around the table Sky felt her cheeks heat. It took seeing the twinkle in Jared’s eyes to realize that he was teasing her. Not wanting to let on that she’d thought he was criticizing her, she added gamely, “Well, they gave me the ten years of filings that I requested, but I wanted to finish interviewing Mr. Larson before he left for what he said was an important meeting.”

A knock on the door interrupted the good-natured laughter around the table. Bernice Denton, Jude’s desk sergeant, stood in the doorway.

“Sorry to interrupt, Detective, but Doc Evans called. The lab reports have arrived and he’s eager to show them to you.”

Jude guffawed. “I think the only person who would be more surprised than me at our uptight coroner being eager would be the long-suffering Mrs. Evans.”

At the hoots of laughter from the squad and Bernice wagging a “shame on you” finger at him, Jude grinned. “Okay Bernice, I’ll behave. I’m more than eager to look at the lab reports.” He glanced at his phone. “Let’s reconvene after lunch, men. If the reports are as interesting as I hope they’ll be, it’s gonna take the morning to digest them.”

He nodded to Solly and Jared. “I want you two to come with me.” Casting a glance at Skylar, he added, “You too, Skylar.”

Surprised that he’d called her by her name, Sky recovered enough to demur. She shook her head and said softly, “If you don’t mind, Detective Justice, I’d rather not. I have to review—”

Jude stopped her in mid-sentence. “Ah, but I
do
mind. That wasn’t a request, Squirt. I want you at that meeting. With me.”

Chapter 11

Trying to figure out what Jude had done and said that caused her stomach to flip in a gravity-defying loop, sending unwelcome shivers to her groin, Sky sucked in a gulp of air trying to breathe. She needn’t have bothered. Apparently, her lungs were as worthless as her rubbery legs. Neither seemed able to complete their autonomic assignments, the ones that allowed her to breathe and walk without thinking about it. The rush of heat she’d felt when Jude had ordered her to answer him when he asked her a question swamped her again. When Jude reached for her arm and pulled her up next to him, his quirky smile confirmed that he’d felt her near collapse and knew the effect his order had on her.

Still holding her arm, he turned to his brother. “Jared, I have my car. I’ll take the Squirt with me. You and Solly meet us at the ME’s office.”

Jared frowned. “You sure about that, bro? My car is out front and it seats four. We can all ride over together.”

Jude gave a mirthless chuckle. “Yeah, little brother, I’m more than sure about it. Skylar and I are going to have lunch after we meet with Doc Evans. We have some debriefing to do.”

When they got to the parking lot, Jude opened the passenger door for her, apparently to make sure that she got in. Closing her door, he rounded the sleek automobile and eased his long body into the custom leather seat. When he strapped himself in and punched the keyless start button, releasing a surge of mechanical might, Sky put her hand on his arm, stopping him.

Her voice was as firm as she could make it, given her trembling body. “I don’t want to ride with you, Jude. And I don’t want to have lunch with you.”

Jude heaved an audible sigh and shot her a narrow gaze. “Sorry, Skylar. Both of those don’t wants
fall in the category of ‘that’s too damn bad’.” He revved up the engine, backed out of his parking space, and headed for the road. Watching for an opening in the oncoming traffic he continued, “Because as you can see, Squirt, you
are
riding with me, in the same way that you’ll be eating lunch with me.”

As he powered down the road, masterfully darting from lane to lane, he said without taking his eyes off the road, “Look, Skylar, I’m sorry as hell about what happened last night. I tried to catch up with you but you’d hightailed it out of there before I could catch you. And for Christ’s sake, tell me, did you honest to God take the bus? If you say yes, does that mean that Jared wasn’t blowing smoke up my ass and that you actually do have a 458 Spider?” He shook his head in mock dismay. “Jesus, woman, talk about holding out on a guy…”

Skylar didn’t answer. Rather, she closed her eyes, shocked at the moisture she felt building behind her lids. Determined to get control of her ricocheting emotions, she forced herself to take deep calming breaths. Before she knew it Jude had pulled up in front of the ME’s office. When she started to open the door, he reached over and pulled her back. “Uh-uh, Skylar. It appears that your eidetic memory has its limits. As I recall, just yesterday I told you that when I ask you a question, I expect an answer.”

Sky gasped, knowing her cheeks had to be bright red and there wasn’t a chance that he couldn’t hear her heart banging against her chest. To her surprise, he reached over and lightly pinched her cheek.

Ignoring her startled reaction, Jude grinned. “C’mon Squirt. Out with it! Last time. Do you truly have a fucking Ferrari 458 Spider coupe, with a red and black leather interior, no less?”

Skylar wasn’t sure how she managed to do it, but she met his gaze and said coolly, “Yes, Detective Justice, it so happens that I do have a 458 Spider. And, just so you know, on the roadway? My Spider and I would leave this shiny phallic symbol of yours
and
you choking on my dust.”

Jude threw back his head and roared with laughter. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her next to him. “You would, huh? We’ll see about that.”

As he walked her into the office building, Jude said, “A point of clarification, Specs. Penis cars, or as you so nicely put it, ‘phallic symbols’, are cars that men with small cocks buy to make up for their unsubstantial dicks. Not to overstate the obvious, but that ain’t my problem, Squirt. And to prove it, I also have a Ford F-450, 440 horsepower truck nestled in my garage.”

Skylar hadn’t known how good it would feel until she finally stopped laughing and realized that this was the first time she’d taken a full breath since that bitch Jerri Ross had turned what could have been one of the best nights of her life into a pile of dogshit.

***

“If I’m hearing you correctly, Doc, what seems most surprising about your findings is that there isn’t much that is surprising.”

“That’s correct, Jude, with some very interesting exceptions.”

When the wizened doctor paused again, Jude prodded. “And those exceptions are, Doc?”

“Well, Jude, we weren’t surprised to find drugs in the victims’ bodies. We know that the Parkers have frequent parties and we expected to find traces of alcohol. Which we did. Because there was cocaine scattered around the room we thought we might find evidence of it in the victims. We did not. What did surprise us was that in both victims we found a combination of LSD and MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, in dosages that I’ve never seen before.”

As he spoke, Dr. Evans pointed to the description of the findings on the monitor.

Jared spoke first. “What the hell, Doc. I thought E was a date rape drug. You know, what devious assholes slip in the drinks of unsuspecting women to lessen their inhibitions. Make them easy prey for unscrupulous men. Are you telling us that the perps wanted the Parkers to
enjoy
the violent sex? That the murders were the result of a sex-laced party gone bad?”

Skylar interrupted. “If I may, Dr. Evans, given the dosages, can we surmise that the Parkers didn’t take the drugs willingly, rather that they were forced on them?”

When Dr. Evans nodded in agreement, Jared pressed, “Why is that important, Sky? It seems to me that with ecstasy, the more the better, at least as far as making the victims uninhibited sexually.”

Sky shook her head and explained, “You are partially correct, Jared. Most recreational drugs heighten sensations, giving the user a high that can enhance sex. But if used to excess the same drugs can deaden sensations, and if used in too high dosages, can cause extreme reactions.” She paused thoughtfully then continued, “There are two factors that changed the effect of the drugs on our victims. The first is the mixture of LSD and MDMA. The second is the extremely high dosages, as Dr. Evans found. The combination of those two factors would make sensations almost unbearable. Instead of enhancing sex, the combination of those two factors would make it excruciatingly frightening and intense.”

Doc Evans nodded in agreement. “You are exactly right Ms. Hughes. Your father would be proud of you.”

Sky murmured, “That’s unlikely.” then continued pointing at the analysis on the screen. “More to the point. You need to understand. The amount of MDMA and LSD in the victims’ bloodstreams confirms that every vicious thing that was done to them was agonizingly painful, unimaginably intense. In the dosages they were administered, another side effect of the drugs is panic attacks that would further exacerbate the trauma the victims endured.”

Doc Evans agreed. “Again, Ms. Hughes is exactly right. I am assuming that neither of the victims used MDMA, what’s known as ecstasy. And even if they did, it is highly unlikely that they combined it with LSD. What we found in both victims was MDMA and LSD in dosages so high that it is a wonder that the victims didn’t scream themselves to death.”

Jude wasn’t surprised when silence settled over the room. He rose to his feet and began pacing from one side of the room to the other, imagining the horror the Parkers had endured.