Shadows of Doubt (31 page)

“Come on!” she stiffened her spine and growled at him.

He didn’t resist but instead let her drag him around to the other side of the pro shop keeping the scowl on his face intact.

“What the hell are you doing here? And don’t even try to be evasive or witty, I want answers!” She stood with her hands on her hips glaring up at him.

Instinctively he raised his hand and gently brushed his fingertips over the black and blue on her cheek. “What the hell happened?” He demanded, ignoring her question.

“I fell.” She said, swatting his hand away and blushing with embarrassment. “Now don’t change the subject! I want answers! You were at the morgue for Talbott and the other crime scene because of Winslow. Now you’re here for this one. I want to know why and what you know, dammit!”

He simply couldn’t help himself and grinned as he stood there and watched his feisty detective, her demanding posture and that adorable glare complete with her lower lip jutting out. That lip that he wanted nothing more than to kiss at that very moment.

“Hello? Anyone in there? Stop looking at me like that and talk!” The way he was looking at her was disconcerting and made her remember that she hadn’t been able to brush her teeth. She stepped back and put her hand over her mouth then winced when she bumped her loose tooth.

He bent down and cupped her face gently with both hands and looked at her like no one had ever looked at her before. “What? What is it? Are you alright?” His voice was fraught with panic.

Again she swatted his hands away and took another step back. “Would you stop that! I’m fine! I just knocked my tooth loose is all. Stop changing the subject!”

“You need a dentist right away.” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and started to dial.

She yanked it out of his hand and looked at him like he had two heads. “I have an appointment later. Now would you stop fussing with me and talk to me, dammit!” She slapped the phone back into his hand and glared at him.

“You’re right. We indeed need to talk. I’ll have a car pick you up in front of the station at four. Lost Hills?” He looked at her intently.

For a moment she had a mind to slap cuffs on him and force him to talk down at the station, but there were complications going that route. The least of which being that she might not make it to the station with him since he looked yummy beyond belief today in his heathered taupe suite that fit him like no suit should fit a man, and be legal.

“I have plans tonight.” She said defiantly but he only smirked at her response.

“I know but this takes precedence. We’ll talk then.” He took another moment to gently cup her battered cheek in his hand, scowling at the injury. “Take care until then, please.” He turned and headed back toward the street, then disappeared into the crowd.

She had marched back up to the crime scene both annoyed and bewildered. Didn’t he understand the implications of what she was saying to him? Why in the hell had he been far more concerned about her injuries? It was baffling but she tried to put it out of her head so she could do her job. When the coroner team was finished and Ms. Purrs was being taken away in her body-bag, Caroline approached Lou while snapping off her gloves carefully as her right hand appeared to be bandaged.

“You two make a cute couple.” Caroline grinned at her and pulled on a pair of knitted mittens.

Lou snorted. “Oh yeah, real cute. Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Suspect and me with my hamburger face, nice toothed dragon breath disaster walking!”

Her friend snorted then focused. “Lets get the formalities out of the way. Let me tell you what I told Vinny. Time of death was between seven and ten last night with preliminary cause being exsanguination from the severing of the femoral artery of the left thigh. The surface lacerations appear to be inflicted over a good bit of time but I can’t be certain until we get her back to the shop.”

“Can you make a guestimate?” Lou was pretty sure she knew but wanted Caroline’s take.

“I don’t like to do that but I would say that whoever did the fishnet work started at least three days ago.” Caroline knew exactly where Lou’s head was going with all this but kept her mouth shut.

“So he probably grabbed her right after he dumped Winslow. Dammit.” Lou clenched her teeth but winced at the pain from her tooth.

“Lou, we can’t be sure this is our guy. It could have been some sort of porn star rage or retaliation or some psycho spurned fan. Let’s wait and see what we get after the autopsy.” Caroline needed to try and stall Lou on the rogue track. This new murder really was putting a wrench in her plan and she needed to try and keep things going the way they had mapped it out.

“Caroline, you and I both know this is our guy. No blood! None in her. None at the scene. She’s a woman of dubious reputation just like the others. But I understand where you are coming from and you’re right. I need to keep my emotions out of it and work this one by the book and on it’s own merits.”

Lou took a few minutes to tell Caroline about the captain benching her because of her continuing to investigate the cases that were turned over to LAPD. Caroline seized the opportunity to toss in a few utterances about stupid bureaucracy and ridiculous jurisdictional issues. They were perfect seeds to plant for the plan to work.

“Hey listen...” Lou paused and moved closer to Caroline. “...about tonight, I need to make the dentist then something popped up that I have to deal with so I’ll call you later okay?”

Caroline was a little nervous that her plan was going to shit with Lou backing out on meeting up with her later, but she had to go with the flow or it would raise a flag to Lou. “No problem. Just call me if you can get free.” She gave her friend a reassuring smile. “Take care of that tooth soon.”

Lou chuckled then let Caroline take off to deal with Ms. Purrs. It would be at least noon before they were finished at the scene so that worked out okay with the time her mother had been able to get her in to see the dentist. It was just a matter of conning Vinny into swinging her by there before they went to the station. She figured a caramel macchiato and a double cheeseburger while he waited would be a fair bribe.

The dentist put
a thin bar on the back of her teeth to brace the loose tooth to the good ones. He said it would take a few months for the root to strengthen but after that she would be good to go and they could remove the bar. You couldn’t see anything, but she spent the entire ride to the station completely ignoring the black and blue that dominated the right side of her face and obsessing over whether or not the tiny wire that was behind her teeth, covered with enamel colored bonding agent, made her look funny. Even as they walked to the communal desks at Lost Hills, she stopped him for the hundredth time.

“You sure it doesn’t look funny?” She asked, as he nearly walked right into her.

Vinny threw up his hands. “Lou, for Christ’s sake you look like a blueberry with perfect teeth. How’s that?”

She closed her mouth and pouted. “Well, there’s no need to get nasty about it!”

As they rounded the bend they were met by Gabriel Lincoln, the Watch Commander in charge for the shift. He gave them an eyeball and directed them to an unoccupied office.

“What’s up, Gabe?” Lou asked, knowing the man very well, as did Vinny.

“Look guys, this really sucks but I got a call from your captain over at Homicide Bureau about ten minutes ago.” He sighed and looked really uncomfortable with the situation. “Lou, he wants you back at the Bureau since you’re on desk duty unless I can give you busy work here.”

“Are you shitting me?!” Lou could feel the hot molten lava of blood flood into her brain.

“No, I wish I were. Vinny, you’re supposed to grab one of the guys here to assist you but Lou is prohibited from working the case with you due to her recent reprimand. But I’m going to lunch and will be gone at least an hour and a half so this conversation will not have taken place until at least three. Follow me?

Lou couldn’t speak. The anger was swirling around her so fast that she couldn’t find a solid word to grab on to.

“Thanks Gabe, we appreciate it.” Vinny shook the Watch Commander’s hand then turned Lou toward the door so they could utilize the time wisely. “Get your ass moving, kiddo.”

By quarter after three they had been able to compile a list of known acquaintances to question, addresses, last known place of business and current residence as well as a rough preliminary time line before her captain called her directly at the desk. She had tried to get a word in edgewise but only managed to say ‘sir’ about four times through the entire conversation. He flat didn’t care and wasn’t budging. By the time he hung up on her she was so livid that her head was pounding due to her blood pressure being through the roof, which only made her face throb more.

“He’s not letting up is he?” Vinny asked as she slammed the phone back into it’s cradle.

“Freaking protocol and departmental procedure.” She huffed as she leaned back in the rickety chair. “This whole crap about my damaging interdepartmental relationships and lack of regard for politics is going to make me vomit!”

“Look kiddo, you know I am going to keep you in the loop on this regardless. So don’t sweat it!” He tried tossing a bone to console her.

“That’s not the point!” She was literally pouting.

“Listen...” He sighed, not liking what he was going to say. “I don’t mean to salt the wound but I’m going to have to arrange for a uniform to get you home.”

Lou’s anger was tamped instantly remembering that Max said he was going to have a car waiting for her. She looked at her watch and realized it was almost four already. “Don’t worry about it. I have a ride.” In a moment that made Vinny wonder if Lou was bi-polar she sat up and smiled at him wide. “Are you sure it doesn’t look funny?” She said through her teeth.

The black town
car had been waiting as promised and the apparently mute driver had taken her to the hotel without uttering a single word the entire ride. Lou had instantly recognized the man that was waiting for her in the lobby as the same man who had been with Max on the morgue security tape. He wasn’t nearly as tall as Max and a bit overbuilt for Lou’s tastes which made him feel even more mean despite his extremely jovial and warm greeting. He had introduced himself as Frank Sullivan and was more than happy to meet her as he carefully herded her into the elevator and pushed the button to take them to the penthouse floor. When the lift doors opened she noted the doors to all the suites on the floor were propped open. The elevator was flanked by two enormous men who were dressed in black suits and were obviously armed to the teeth. Lou was apprehensive about getting out of the car until she saw Abby peek her head out one of the doors down the hall and wave at her with a huge smile. This was really odd but curiosity won out over caution.

Frank directed her down the hall to the opened door across from the room Abby was in. When she stepped in, four more hulking men were seated all around the living area reading papers, working on their laptops or other such busy things. All four of them paused and looked up at her, then each flashed a brilliant smile with hi’s and hello’s followed by ‘Detective Donovan’. It was more than odd, it was flat weird and Lou had no idea what to make of it. There was equipment spread out that made the living area of the suite look like an FBI of Secret Service operation. When that thought occurred to her, Lou’s eyes went wide with the possibilities. Frank escorted her out onto the terrace where she barely felt the cold due to all the patio heaters that were set up sporadically. When she spotted Max and Caroline, of all people, seated at the round garden table, she nearly fell over.

“What the hell is going on?!” She charged up and glared accusingly at both of them.

“Can I get you a drink, Detective?” Frank asked from behind her and she simply scowled at him. “Right. Maybe later then.”

“No, get her a drink Frankie...” Caroline told him. “...something like a mojito. She’s going to need it. Maybe a pitcher even? Please?” She batted her eyelashes at the man and he grinned at her before he went inside to accommodate the request.

“Frankie?!” She gawked at Caroline. “What the hell? What the hell?!”

Max rose and pulled out a chair for Lou, trying to contain his grin. “Please sit Detective.” He gestured with his hand in a gentlemanly manner but she only gawked at him too. “Sit? Or would you prefer to stand there gaping for an hour or so?”

This was the Max she had had so much fun bantering back and forth with on the golf course two days ago and despite the fact that she was livid and in shock over everything, she couldn’t help but notice her heart flutter as he continued grinning at her in that smugly adorable way that he did. She sat with a ‘humph’.

Caroline knew Lou so well that she could practically hear what was going on in her head and had to stifle a giggle. The chemistry between Max and Lou was intensely palpable and Caroline knew there was no way Lou would be able to walk away from this.

“Alright Caroline, this is your show, so let’s get it on the road.” Max sat back down next to Lou.

“Can’t we wait for the cocktails? Loosen things up a bit first?” She tried batting her eyelashes like she had with Frank and to Lou’s surprise, it annoyed her when she tried it with Max.

“No, we cannot.” He scolded her. “Time is of the essence here and you know it. Besides, Joe is probably talking to Shevaun as we speak so lets get on with it.”

“Wait a minute here!” Lou wanted to get out of her chair and stomp. “Joe is talking to my mother about what?” She nearly got whiplash looking from Caroline to Max and back again. Max placed his hand over hers in a calming gesture which she normally would have ripped away and quite possibly popped him in the nose, but she didn’t.