Stolen Lives: A Detective Mystery Series SuperBoxset (62 page)

Flashlight beams penetrated the alleyways and pavements Cooper sprinted across, doing her best to stay one step ahead of the officers in pursuit. “There she is!”

One of the beams caught her foot, and Cooper felt the rush of adrenaline pulse through her body as the growls grew ominously louder. She fought the urge to turn around and continued her beeline sprint east, knowing her destination was close.

More flashlights were added to the chase, and she felt sweat and blood drip from her hands. She balled them into fists, feeling the grime squish between her fingers. She cut a hard right, veering around the corner of another factory, and when she did she saw the river.

But the brief moment of hope was cut short by the sharp tear at her calf, and she smacked the pavement. The beast snarled savagely, and the pain from the bite traveled all the way up the left side of her body. She kicked the dog’s face with her right foot, and he released her, snapping viciously at the leg meant to harm him.

Blood dripped from the K-9’s fangs, and Cooper reached for the pistol at her side, the lights from the officers growing closer and the dog circling her, flinging saliva from its mouth with every snap of its jaws. She fired just to the dog’s left before it lunged once more, and the noise was enough to push the beast backward, but the gunshot triggered the officers to pull their weapons, thinking she was firing at them. Cooper hobbled toward the river, screams and barks echoing between the thunder of gunfire.

Bullets ricocheted off the pavement. Cooper’s calf felt like there was a knife stabbing her, but she pushed through the pain, forcing her gait into an open sprint. The water drew nearer, and the end of the concrete path was close.

“Stop! Freeze!” the officers shouted, but Cooper was too close. She planted her foot on the edge of the concrete, the river’s water ten feet below. More gunfire sounded, and nearly instantly she felt the splash of the rushing waters.

Cooper kicked and flailed her arms under water, disoriented in the icy river. She gasped for air upon breaching the water’s surface and saw that the current had already carried her downstream from the officers and dogs. The brief surge in adrenaline numbed the pain in her calf, but when she started kicking, attempting to swim to the other side of the river, the pain returned.

The sirens and gunshots had ended by the time she reached the other side of the riverbank, and Cooper half crawled, half stumbled out of the water, dragging the duffle bag whose strap was clung tight to her chest, and collapsed on land. She puked the bellyful of river water that she’d swallowed during her swim and flopped to her back.

The thump of helicopter blades in the air triggered the needed clarity to push herself from the riverbank mud and stumble up toward the row of houses that lined the river. She placed her hand over her heart, once again trying to clutch the badge that was no longer there. She wasn’t a cop anymore. She was a fugitive, wanted for murder. And the only way to enact her vengeance was to bring justice to a man that had been untouchable in this state for the past twenty years.

Chapter 5

A trail of muddy footprints stretched from the bank of the river all the way to the rundown neighborhood that ran along the east bank until they finally disappeared in the grass between two one-story homes. Cooper limped forward, keeping low under the windows as she passed. She needed to change, and quickly. Her wet clothes weren’t the most inconspicuous look for staying below the radar.

Clothes hung out to dry on a line flapped gently in the breeze, and Cooper checked the tags, looking for anything close to her size, then yanked items off the clothesline. She peeled off her clothes as she moved, dropping articles one after another as she maneuvered deeper into the neighborhood. She checked the sky, looking for the chopper’s spotlight.

Nothing put officers in a frenzy like the loss of one of their own. They would hunt her down with the scent of blood in their nostrils. The moment she found herself in someone’s crosshairs, she was dead. There wouldn’t be any hesitation in pulling the trigger. Not for her.

With her hair still sopping wet, she twisted it up in a bun, doing what she could to keep it from soaking the dry clothes she had stolen. Every few hundred feet she was forced to stop, the pain in her calf reaching a crescendo. The makeshift tourniquet she’d wrapped around the bite marks had stopped the bleeding, but it did little to ease the pain. Every flex of her foot was excruciating. Hospitals and doctors’ offices were off the table, but there was one person she could turn to—at least, she thought she could trust him. The wail of police sirens in the night combined with the pain in her leg overrode her skepticism, and she walked north, reciting Hart’s address in her mind.

***

Cooper had collapsed into a thicket of bushes just outside Hart’s home, which she had watched for the past hour. She thought the police would come directly to him, but so far there hadn’t been a single drive-by. If he hadn’t been told, then there was still a chance to tell him her side of the story, what had really happened.
But would he even believe me?
With her leg still bleeding and nowhere else to run, she didn’t have a choice.

Cooper crept toward the side door, past the two cars in the driveway, and knocked gently. She adjusted the duffle bag strap on her shoulder and made sure to tuck the revolver under her shirt and into her waistband. It was the only weapon she had left; her service pistol was somewhere at the bottom of the river, and while she hoped she wouldn’t need a gun, she wasn’t going to take any chances.

The door rattled from her pounding, and after a few seconds, the light above her flicked on and Hart peered through the crack in the door. “Cooper?” He opened it wider, and she saw he was dressed in a thin shirt and shorts with slippers on. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I don’t have a lot of time, but you should know that the moment I walk through this door I can’t guarantee they won’t hold you as an accomplice.”

Hart raised his eyebrows, his eyes scanning her until they stopped on her wounded calf. He kept the door open and stepped aside. “Then you should get in before one of my neighbors sees you.”

The side door led to the kitchen, and Cooper sat on the first chair she could reach at the table. Hart locked the door behind him and flicked on one of the lights, retrieving a glass that he filled from the tap. Cooper downed half the glass in one gulp, the water wetting her chapped lips and parched tongue.

“What happened?” Hart asked, taking a seat next to her at the table.

“Farnes is dead.” Cooper took another swig and drained the rest of the glass. “I found evidence linking him, Marks, and McKaffee together, and I thought that since Marks had been used by the killer, Farnes was involved somehow. But he wasn’t.”

“Christ, Cooper. You didn’t—”

“No. But it was made to look like I did.” Cooper pushed the glass away toward the center of the table. “I almost did it.” She dove into the memories of rage and anger that had filled her senses only a few hours ago. The white-hot flash of vengeance that had coursed through her veins like lightning. “I kidnapped him, tied him up, beat his face to a pulp.” She curled her fingers into fists. “The bastard deserved to die.”
And I should have been the one to do it.

“Cooper.” Hart took hold of her hand, snapping her back to the moment. “You said the captain was involved with something, but it wasn’t the killer.”

Cooper pulled her hand away, nodding. “You know the drug house we raided that was linked to the killer’s bank account we traced? Farnes and some other officers have been involved in making sure those meth labs stay off police radar.”

“They’re turning a blind eye?” Hart asked.

Cooper reached for her calf, wincing. “And getting paid for it. Farnes and a few others make sure no one comes snooping around, and the drug dealers get to spread their product to a growing customer base.”

Hart reached down and examined Cooper’s calf. “We need to get that stitched up. My wife’s bag should be—”

“Jason?” A light flicked on, and Hart’s wife, her belly bursting with child, stepped barefoot into the kitchen. Her eyes immediately fell to the scene of her husband cradling Cooper’s leg, and the unintentional intimacy caused Cooper to pull her leg away.

“Katie,” Hart said, standing up, rushing to his wife’s side. “You should go back to bed.”

But she peered around Hart’s body, her eyes falling on Cooper. “You must be Adila.” She offered a smile, and the restless pregnant nights crinkled the lines next to her eyes. She had a fragile face and a pixie haircut. By any standards, she was beautiful—and young, barely out of college by the look of her. She took the seat Hart had occupied and examined the leg. “You’ll definitely need some stitches.”

“Katie, you don’t—”

“Whatever happened, I don’t need to know,” she said, turning around to Hart. “My nursing bag is in the bathroom. Go and grab it for me.” Without a word Hart nodded and disappeared, leaving the two of them in the kitchen.

Cooper caught herself staring at Katie’s stomach, and she looked away. “Sorry. I know I hated it when people stared.”

Katie smiled, rubbing her belly. “It’s all right. I didn’t know you had any. Hart never mentioned it.”

Cooper blushed, suddenly realizing she hadn’t spoken about her pregnancy to anyone in years. “I don’t. I’m sorry.” She kept her head down. “I don’t know why I mentioned it.”

“Oh,” Katie said, biting her lower lip. “I didn’t realize… I’m sorry for your loss.”

Cooper wasn’t sure if it was the word or the way she said it, but something about it struck a nerve, the same nerve the killer had plucked when he brought up the miscarriage. It was all just more of her past flooding back to punish her for a life she was never meant to live. But instead of burying it, she forced herself to hold it. “Thank you.” She smiled, looking back to Katie’s bump. “How far along are you?”

“Almost ten months,” Katie said, exhausted. “I can’t wait for this lady to join us.”

“It’s a girl?”

Katie pressed her finger to her lips. “Jason doesn’t know. I wanted to keep it a surprise.” The glow of pregnancy radiated from her face. Cooper saw why Hart had married her. The girl had an innocence, a peaceful presence that made Cooper feel at ease. “Look, whatever this is, whatever kind of trouble you’re in, Jason will help. He doesn’t tell me much about his workday, but he’s said nothing but good things about you. He thinks you’re a great detective.”

Was a great detective.
But Cooper kept that thought to herself. “Thank you.”

Hart returned from the bathroom with the two bags and placed them on the table for Katie to pull what she needed. With a limited supply, it was all Katie could do to clean and dress the wound, but Cooper was glad to have at least that.

Once done, Katie packed up her supplies and pushed herself up from the chair. “You’ll need to go to a doctor to get that stitched up properly. And you’ll also need a round of tetanus and rabies shots if it was from a dog.”

“Thank you.” Cooper smiled, and Katie kissed Hart on the cheek and disappeared back down the hallway. Once it was just the two of them again, Hart kept his distance, leaning up against the kitchen counter, while Cooper rolled down her pant leg. “You never told me you married a saint.”

Hart offered a half smile. “I never thought she’d say yes.” He looked back down the empty hallway where she’d gone. “I never thought I’d be a dad.” He sounded frightened when he spoke and tucked his arms tight around his chest.

Cooper remembered feeling the same way when she was pregnant. And once the father had disappeared, she felt the same fear that her mother had felt. Alone, broke, and a baby on the way. She didn’t want her child to grow up like her, never knowing her father, never having that presence in her life.
Her.
“It was a girl.”

Hart perked up. “What?”

Cooper picked the dirt from under her nails, keeping her head down, feeling lightheaded from the events of the night. “The miscarriage I had. The one the killer talked about in the note used for the daycare. It was a girl.” Hart remained quiet, and Cooper could tell she’d made him uncomfortable. “I’m sorry.” She rubbed her eyes, hoping he couldn’t see the tears rolling down her face. She wiped her nose, changing the subject. “Look, Hart, I shouldn’t have come here. You’ve got too much happening in your life. I’m toxic. You’re not.”

“Cooper, I—”

“No, you’ve done enough.” Cooper pushed herself to her feet. “I’ll figure it out—” And that’s when she saw the twist of his wedding ring, the same nervous tic he pulled whenever something was wrong. His face grew pale when they made eye contact.

“I’m sorry, Cooper,” Hart said. “With the baby on the way,” he stuttered, “I needed the money.”

Motion outside the front window caught Cooper’s attention, and she noticed a squad car on the street. Shock, pain, anger, and despair filled her all at the same time. She instinctively reached for the revolver in her waistband, and both she and Hart drew their weapons at the same time.

“Put the gun down, Cooper.” Hart’s hand was steady, the wiry muscles along his forearm taut. “It’s over.”

Cooper glanced between Hart and the converging units surrounding the house. She didn’t have much time. “How much did they give you?” She crept backward toward the door, and Hart followed, never letting the distance between them grow farther than what it already was.

“Farnes just wanted me to keep an eye on you. That was it.” Sweat beaded on Hart’s forehead, and though his hand was steady, his voice trembled. “You just should have let the FBI do what they needed to get done. That’s all you had to do, Cooper. It didn’t have to be like this.”

Two more cars stopped in front of the house, and Cooper’s eyes caught the flash of car keys on the counter to her right. “It still doesn’t. Think about your kid, Hart. Think about your wife.”

“What the fuck did you think I was doing in the first place?” Hart snarled, and the steadiness in his hand wavered as his finger trembled over the trigger. “I needed to make sure my family had enough money so we wouldn’t get sucked into poverty. Nice neighborhood, nice schools, safety, it all costs money, Cooper. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Tears formed in his eyes, and one rolled down his left cheek. “Just put the gun down, Cooper. Please.” He clenched his teeth. “Don’t make me do this.”