Fast and Easy (8 page)

She jumped with surprise at a noisy rapping on her door. “Yes. Come in.”

“Hey, Captain.” Detective Bill Gentry stood tall and self-assured in the doorway. “There’s a standoff down at the Saigon Food Mart.”

Damn. The second basket case that afternoon
.

Carmen rose and clipped her weapon to the waistband of her slacks. She grabbed her light uniform jacket, shrugging into it while contacting the field Sergeant on the scene.

The night was going to be hell. While she was getting her equipment, her computer ticked off news of a major crash near the casino. There were several fatalities. She couldn’t be both places at once, no matter how badly she wanted to.

“I’m on my way, Thomas.” The patrolman described the situation as critical. The doped up guy causing all the hell was armed and wanted for murder. “Shots have been fired, and the kid held hostage is twelve.”

Twelve. The boy must be terrified
.

Gentry’s ever present grin vanished. “Let’s roll.”

“I’ll take my car.” At his look of surprise, she offered a good reason for her decision. “If this is cleaned up quickly, I’m heading out to the emergency on 291.”

He nodded. “Good call.” He got in his car and took the lead toward the Market district.

Carmen followed him out of the parking lot, hitting the lights and rehashing in her mind all the training she’d had in hostage situations.

No all out assault would do in this instance. A boy’s life hung in the balance, and she couldn’t even go in after the bastard holding him. That was left to the patrolman. Damn. This job wasn’t anything more than being a room mother. She didn’t like it.

The dash computer lit up, and several messages tracked across the monitor. More news on the six car pileup on 291. She was needed there too. Message two described a male in black sagging shorts and a black hockey shirt prowling back alleys in the River Quay area.

Carmen’s heart turned upside down in her chest.

That was the area where her mother lived.

Don’t go down there, Carmen. They won’t let you go in.

She couldn’t help herself. Using her quick call list on her cell phone, she broke all the rules once again.

She warmed at his soft greeting. “Are you in the River Quay area?”

“Just pulled up in front of your momma’s house.”

Carmen heard the door of his cruiser open and close. “How’s it look around there?” He didn’t respond and she panicked. “Genonese?”

He answered at last. “The dogs found him, Carm. A ten-year-old picking up beer cans to trade for cash.”

She could hardly breathe, wanted to tell him how much she loved him right then and there, but that bullshit was over between them.

“Thanks, Genonese.” She gripped the steering wheel to hold back the sweet sentiment drumming on her tongue. “I’m on my way to the hostage situation downtown. Are there enough officers handling the 291 pile up?”

His rich voice came back with a soft laugh. “I’m heading there now.”

Why the hell was she holding the cell phone open? They were through talking. Weren’t they? “Thanks again.”

“Same here, Genonese.”

She heard his cruiser door slam and the siren broke the silence. He was going one direction, and she was going another. That was how it would be from now on.

Reality smacked her hard in the face. It hurt.

You wanted it this way. Didn’t you
?

Flashing lights and barking dogs at the standoff scene snapped Carmen out of her thoughts of Don into a professional desire to resolve the situation with no one getting hurt.

She jumped out of her car and ran to the group of patrolmen near the market’s entrance. She located Patrolman Thomas.

“Has anyone talked with the perp? What’s his beef?”

The young cop pointed to a thin woman wringing her hands and weeping uncontrollably. “That’s his girlfriend. She says she broke it off with him after he choked her this morning.”

“He wants her back?” Carmen’s back hurt from the tensing of her muscles. She couldn’t stop the ugly memories that crept into her thoughts. She knew too much about psycho men in love. “Have you given her a bull horn to settle him down with some sweet talk?”

“Not yet, ma’am.”

“Well, do it. Now.” She walked toward the line of men guarding the building front. “Is the boy a relative of his?”

Gentry appeared at her side and read his notes from a small tablet. “The kid’s a bus boy in the restaurant. No kin. Just unlucky.”

The frightened woman pleaded with her ex-boyfriend to release the boy and come out. The bull horn was heavy and it wobbled as she held it in both hands.

The noise around her would do nothing to settle the problem. The guy probably thought he would be shot if he stuck his head out.

Carmen moved away to yell at the K-9 cops. “Quiet your dogs but stay close. We may need to send them in for a search if this guy decides to hide.”

“Affirmative, Captain.” The Sergeant led his dog to his patrol car.

She worked her way to the front line where a mop of red hair caught Carmen’s attention.

Stella Wells stood with her hand on the butt of her revolver, gaze fastened on the market entrance. She didn’t look like a smart ass strumpet now, just a cop on full alert.

The radio on Carmen’s shoulder buzzed crazily for a second before Thomas’s calm voice came through.

“He’s let the juvenile go but he isn’t coming out.”

She waited a split second before making her decision. “Get the dogs in there.” She quickly added more instruction. “Double the uniforms in the back.”

Sending men and dogs after someone was a last resort. The officers were in danger, and the dogs wouldn’t quit until they found the man. She could hear the animals barking as they headed for the entrance, but they stopped the moment they were inside the building.

The boy had run out into the arms of Wells. The scene was touching. Stella gave him bottled water and talked to the boy as if she knew him.

Carmen walked around the line of officers to speak with the wide- eyed boy and the woman still holding the bull horn. “Are you okay?” He nodded and stared up at the second floor windows. “Officer Wells will ask you some questions about what happened and contact your parents. Are you up to it?”

Some of the fright had gone from his face, but his voice shook as he spoke. “He said he didn’t want to hurt me, just use me to get his woman here.”

What went through Carmen’s mind wasn’t fit for the boy to hear. The fool was going to leave the outcome to whatever the woman did. From where Carmen stood, she could see dark purple underling the woman’s eyes and marks on her arms that looked suspiciously like cigarette burns.

Listening to the woman’s pleas for her brutish boyfriend to come out irked Carmen. She swallowed her hot resentment and picked her words. “You’re parents are coming this way. You can stand with them if you want to.”

He ran off before Carmen could say more. A tiny twist of yearning to run away from the scene bothered her. That feeling vanished when the sound of gunfire echoed from inside the building.

Pulse racing and body tense, Carmen hurried to where the sergeant had taken cover near the entrance. “What the hell happened?” She couldn’t keep the anger from her words. “Give me your radio.”

He unclipped the small radio from his collar and handed it to her. “We’re not sure who fired the shots, ma’am.” She didn’t care that he was forced to follow her like a dog on a leash as she moved for a better view of the door. “What’s the K-9 officer’s name?”

Wincing as she tugged him forward, the sergeant answered quickly. “Patrolman Jenkins, ma’am.”

Carmen gripped the radio in her clenched fingers. “Officer Jenkins, who fired those weapons?” She scowled at the delay of his response. “Jenkins.”

The crackle of Jenkins radio was music in her ear. “I fired the weapon, Captain. The guy threw down on me and I had no choice.”

“Is he alive?” Carmen tugged the sergeant several more steps. “The EMTs are coming up.”

“He’s alive and still screaming for his woman.”

Carmen heard the dogs raising hell and the yowling demands from the wounded man.

She’d never been nearer vomiting on the job than at that moment. Stress dried her mouth out and twisted her gut into knots.

Hell and damnation. What happened to people when the weather got hot and sultry?

Something was wrong with her. She actual felt relief when Bill Gentry came to stand beside her. His grin was a little crooked as he wrote in his notebook.

“Damn good job of handling things, Redstone.” He dropped the notebook in his jacket pocket. “I’d ride with you anytime.”

“Thanks, Gentry.”

She appreciated his comment, but she still had the unquenchable yearning to be out in the night with Don Genonese.

Chapter Ten

Sunday night, lonelier than she’d ever been, Carmen dressed in an ankle-length red floral silk skirt topped with a scoop neck white Tee-shirt.

She wasn’t going for glamour. September was setting records for heat, and she was only interested in comfort.

Going to a bar where cops hung out said a lot about her life. She didn’t have one. Not really. At least no one would give her shit there, and she didn’t need some clown trying to pick her up.

She laughed under her breath. No one wanted to mess with the girl who’d shot Genonese in the ass.

That was probably a good thing, since she wasn’t in the mood to explain to a masher she was already taken.

She fastened the single braid she’d made of her long hair and sighed with disgust. So much for looking entrancing for the boys. Eight o’clock and the bar should be filled with people looking for a place to unwind. She was one of them.

Several blocks from her apartment, Carmen thought about turning her car around and going home.

No, you have to stop holing up like a hermit
.

She considered going to one of the downtown movie theaters, but scoffed at the idea. In her opinion, there hadn’t been a good movie made in years. She wouldn’t waste the money.

Before she could change her mind, she reached the bar.

As expected, The Shot was packed, and she had to park a block away.

A wolf whistle from a passing car was lost on her. Carmen hurried, giving the pair of men leaving the establishment a wide berth. They gave her appreciative smiles, the youngest stopping to attempt conversation.

“Hey, slim.” He pointed to his companion. “Me and Greg would love to buy you a drink.”

He rocked back on his heels.

“I’m meeting someone.” Carmen hurried on, glad to find the doors of The Shot standing open. The place must have lost its air conditioning for the owner to do that. Just great.

The lights were low, and she practically had to feel her way to the end of the old-fashioned oak bar.

“What can I get you, Redstone?” The bartenders smiling greeting gave her a sense of belonging. She’d frequented the place a lot in the beginning of her so-called career. It had been the place to go, until she’d partnered up with Genonese. After the incident, she stopped going. Damn, that man had always been a boil on her ass.

She glanced at the bottles behind the bar, trying to think of something that wasn’t too deadly. “Vodka and orange juice with lots of ice.”

Music from the jukebox played too loudly, and several couples moved toward the small dance floor. Carmen paid for her drink and sipped slowly, leaning against the bar to check out the crowd.

She didn’t look up when someone moved into the space beside her. It was crazy, but the scent of a special aftershave overcame the dozen different smells drifting around her.

There was no mistaking the voice that melted her heart.

“Come here often, pretty lady?”

Carmen sipped her drink, praying her legs would hold her up. “Not often.” She worked her tongue in her mouth, fearing the thing had frozen solid. “How about you?”

Don made her weak with emotions too wild to keep at bay, reducing her to a quivering idiot. He took a long drink of the beer he’d ordered.

He stood so near his arm brushed hers. His voice was low as he delivered a bullet to her soul. “Not since I lost my girl.”

Damn the tear that threatened to spill down her cheek. She knew him well enough to note the bullshit in his words. But, god she wanted to believe him.

“So, what did you do to lose your girl?”

“I don’t really know.” He curled his fingers around her braid, moving his hand down to her waist. “I want her back.”

What was he saying? That he wanted her for tonight or forever?

He wasn’t smiling his sexy, come-on-baby smile. His gaze held hers in soft seduction.

Taking her hand to swing it gently, he placed her arm around his waist.

The music changed from rock to a love song. She followed him to the dance floor, going into his arms without resistance. What could it hurt?

More than you can handle if you don’t freeze him out
.

They didn’t dance, but clung to each other, the beat of their hearts one sweet rhythm. Her blood sang with joy at being in his arms with the warmth of his body pressed to hers.

She loved him so much it hurt.

“Carm.” He whispered against her burning ear. “You’re pretty. I get hot just thinking about you.”

She pressed her cheek to his broad chest and smiled at his comment. “I had to pull a forty-five on you to hear that the first time.”

“No need for that, Carmen.” His lips touched the corner of her mouth. “I miss being with you. Life’s gone to hell since we’ve been apart.”

The thing she’d avoided happened without summoning it from its hiding place. Desire overtook her mind and body. She lifted her arms to encircle his neck and pressed her lips to the fast beating pulse under his ear.

She melted into him, drinking in his clean scent, reacquainting her senses to the hard frame of his body. Carmen knew it would never be enough.

Just like the first time, she had no resistance and she didn’t care.

She’d found heaven and couldn’t tear herself away.

Being bumped by another couple didn’t bother her. She didn’t want to ever leave, not until Don broke the misty spell.