Property Of (11 page)

Get the embarrassing picture?

“Are we done playing “intimidate the cop”? I want to go home and forget this night,” I fumed at the two idiots.

Dallas and his nephew, along with other kids from the birthday party, were standing on the opposite side of the room peeling off their laser tag vests as I chewed on my childish brothers. Bo and Finn were smiling at me as I ranted because, clearly, they had a death wish.

“I’m changing my locks tomorrow,” I informed them. “You are officially off my invited guest list.”

“How are we supposed to build that bookshelf you want if you lock us out?” Bo laughed.

Oy, he had a point, and they owed me big time for this.

“Ok, after you build the bookshelf you are officially
off
my invited guest list.”

“What about the other list of things you need repaired in the house?”

“I’ll hire someone,” I threatened.

They inhaled sharply and it felt as if the air had been sucked from the room. I knew better than to threaten them with a competitor, ‘cause idiot brothers or not, they were the best in town. But I was pissed and had to make a point. I had to deal with Dallas (wishful thinking) because of his partner and I didn’t need the hassle he was sure to give me for their childish behavior.

“No one touches that house but us, and you know it. We didn’t spend a year remodeling it to have some amateur fuck something up,” Bo growled as we made our way out of the laser tag room.

“It’s not your problem anymore,” I explained in anger. I had to stick to my guns with these two or they’d walk all over me.

“Jesus, Nicola, we were only testing the guy to see if he was worthy of you, you don’t have to go off half-cocked.”

“Worthy of . . . worthy of me!” I shouted. “I have to deal with that man for my book and now you’ve put me in an embarrassing position. He wasn’t giving me a “look” other than one of hatred, for God’s sake.”

Bo was grinning at a point over my shoulder, which irritated me to no end that he wasn’t listening to me, so I turned around to see what he was looking at and saw Dallas marching toward us with a phone pressed to his ear.

He barked out, “Keep everyone out until forensics are on the scene, I’ll be there in twenty.” He swiped his phone off as he stopped in front of us and I forgot to breathe. He glared at my brothers for a moment while I stepped back and out of the way of the fireworks I figured were coming. Instead of fireworks, he stunned me beyond comprehension.

“This shit you just pulled all evening, I get it. But just so you know, if I wanted her, you wouldn’t have stopped me. Are we clear?”

The twins had been grinning at Dallas as he started to speak and when he was done, they were full-on smiling. When he was through with my brothers, Dallas turned, ignoring them both, and walked right up to me. I held my breath for what came next and he didn’t make me wait long. He leaned in, pinned me with those honey-colored eyes, and growled, “You aren’t goin’ on a ride-along with anyone but me do you hear me?” Before I could answer, he reached up, grabbed my neck, and jerked me forward, slamming his mouth over mine. The kiss was hard, brief, but had the desired effect—it left me speechless.

When he pulled back, he added with a gentle voice, “And just so
you
know, you won’t be able to stop me either.” Then he winked, grinned, and tugged my ponytail before he turned on his heels and left me standing in a state of shock.

“That’s the look,” Finn chuckled as he walked up next to me and threw an arm around my shoulders.

***

Death had a smell beyond that of rotting flesh. You could smell the victims’ fear right before they took their last breath. That was running through Dallas Vaughn’s mind as he stared at the mutilated body of Melissa Webster. She lay on the floor of her living room, dressed as if she’d just returned home from work when she was attacked. Her eyes were still open, staring lifelessly at the ceiling, and even though her face had softened with her untimely death, Dallas could still see the terror in her eyes.

Dallas had arrived on the scene before his partner and surveyed the body with rookie Sian Davis. Davis had been assigned to his department three weeks earlier and was wet behind the ears when it came to dealing with the sights and smells of a brutal murder.

“There's so much blood,” she whispered to no one particular.

“If you’re gonna get sick, take it outside so you don’t contaminate the crime scene,” Dallas relayed gently.

Shaking her head, but not taking her eyes off the victim, Davis sucked in a deep breath to ward off the nausea.

The crime scene had been photographed and forensics was dusting for fingerprints. Dallas turned when he heard Reed enter the two-bedroom house that belonged to the victim and waited for him to approach.

“Jesus, Joseph, and Mary,” Reed mumbled as he looked at the victim while making the sign of the cross.

It would take an autopsy to determine the cause of death, or, more to the point, which knife wound caused her death. From the amount of stab wounds in her abdomen, Dallas figured close to twenty; his guess was exsanguination

“She was a looker, that one,” Reed observed.

“And blonde,” Dallas pointed out the obvious.

“Not the same MO, Vaughn, he doesn’t rip them apart with a knife; he asphyxiates them.”

“He could be escalating or maybe he couldn’t get away with her so he stabbed her to keep her quiet.”

“That’s all conjecture at this point and you know it. Let forensics clear the scene, then we’ll see what we’ve got. Not every blonde in the city who’s murdered is a victim of The Shallow Grave Killer,” Reed advised.

Reed knew his partner had a hard on for the sonofabitch, but he needed him to focus on the evidence before jumping to conclusions. Not to mention that even if this was a Shallow Grave murder, they’d be handing it over to the FBI to investigate. That is, until they realized they were barking up the wrong tree, Reed thought with pent-up anger. It was just like the feds to stroll in and take charge. If they decided the Shallow Grave murders were the same sick fuck, then he and Dallas would be lucky if they were invited to sit on the task force. After Vaughn’s pissing match the day before he doubted Agent Parker would let him fetch his coffee, let alone sit in on their investigation.

As the partners talked, Davis suddenly threw her hand over her mouth before she turned
and ran outside to empty her stomach.

“Do you remember your first bloody crime scene?” Reed asked motioning toward the door Davis had ducked out.

“I remember them all,” Dallas bit out, his eyes on the front door as well.

“She’ll get her sea legs,” Reed mumbled and moved on. “They find the weapon yet?”

“Yep, on the floor next to the body.”

Reed turned from the body and took in his partner, ready to ask him if they’d found any other evidence, when he noted the front of his shirt covered in what looked like food.

“Jesus, Vaughn, did you have a food fight with those kids of your sisters?”

“Nope, I ran into Sandra Dee,” he grinned.

“Did ya now? You know, if you ignore all the signs, it’s bad luck, my sweet mama always used to say.”

“What signs would those be, that she’s a danger to my wardrobe?” Dallas chuckled.

“Fate, Vaughn, fate. There aren’t many women is this world who look like that and are as sweet as a newborn baby. You need to get in there before someone beats you to the punch.”

“Jesus, you’re a romantic,” Dallas smiled.

“You gotta make time for what matters most in life, son. You think we bust our asses hunting these sons a bitches’ so we can go home to an empty bed?”

“You forget I tried that once and it didn’t work out,” Dallas reminded him, not about to tell him he’d already put Nicola on notice. He’d never hear the end of it either way, but figured, until he’d had time to explain how it was gonna be with Nicola, he’d keep his partner in the dark.

“You chose the wrong woman, Dallas. You take my June, for example. Sure, she’s hell on wheels, but she keeps me in line and makes life exciting. Makes it worth gettin’ up each day to fight the good fight and when she thinks no one is lookin’ she’s as sweet as a kitten. That, my friend, makes what we’re standin’ here viewing tolerable. I know when I leave here I’ve got warm and sweet waitin’ for me when I walk through the door.”

“You do know if June caught you callin’ her sweet she’d castrate you.”

“It’s the only thing that keeps me from callin’ her my sweet June to her face,” Reed chuckled. “Are you gonna listen to me and take Ms. Romance Novelist out for a drink?”

Dallas stared back at his partner and grinned.

“Nope, I’m gonna take her on a ride-along.”

“Christ, I gotta teach you about the art of—”

“Detectives?” a uniformed officer called from the hallway.

Reed turned, and Dallas followed suit, heading toward the officer.

“Did you find something?” Reed asked.

“In the bathroom on the mirror,” he responded.

Dallas brushed past the officer and pushed open the door to the small bathroom sandwiched in between the two bedrooms. The house wasn’t more than twelve hundred square feet like many of the homes in the small neighborhood that were built after World War II. Dallas scanned the room and noted it was in disarray unlike the rest of the tidy house. Dallas looked at the mirror, but didn’t see anything at first glance.

“Move to the other side of the room and look back toward the mirror at an angle,” Officer Rodriguez instructed.

Dallas moved across the small space, then turned around and looked at the mirror. It was faint, but you could see a word on the mirror, as if it had been written when the mirror was steamed over.

“Does that say master?”

“That’s what I was thinking as well,” Rodriguez agreed.

Dallas motioned Reed in and moved out of the way so his partner could get a look. Reed moved his head back and forth to catch the light coming in from the window and then paused.

“Sonofabitch,” Reed mumbled. “What the hell does he mean by that?”

“Hell if I know, but we’ll figure it out,” Dallas vowed before he turned to the officer and ordered, “Tell Jenkins with the crime lab about this. He needs to dust the mirror for prints and to pull the drain for hair and blood. If that bastard washed his hands to get rid of evidence, I want it.”

When Rodriguez nodded and turned to leave, Dallas halted him. “Rodriguez, nice catch. If you ever wanna make a move from patrol to homicide, let me know. I’ll put in a good word for you after you’ve taken your exam.” Rodriguez gave Vaughn a nod in acknowledgment before he turned to find Jenkins.

Dallas felt a headache forming as he turned back to Reed. All he had wanted was one day off from the ugliness of his job, a day to enjoy being with his family. He’d gotten neither.

“We need to canvas the neighborhood and contact her family,” Dallas reminded Reed as he rubbed his neck with the flat of his hand, exhausted at the thought. “Christ, the family. Whose turn is it to break someone’s heart?”

“It’s mine,” Reed answered. “Go home, Vaughn, I’ll handle this one. This shit’ll be waiting for us on Monday either way.”

“Home? To do what, exactly, pace the floor while I work the case in my mind?”

“Have a drink, hell, have a bottle. But get some fuckin’ sleep for once. Dream about blonde hair and green eyes, for Christ’s sake. It’s not that hard: you lay down on a bed and close your eyes.”

Dallas sighed at his partner’s dramatics then grabbed him by the shoulder, giving him a shove. “Jesus, enough hen-pecking already. You’re like an old woman when you get like this.”

Reed shrugged at his outburst and then answered with a grin. “I learned from the best.”

Seven

Best friends are the people you turn to when your life is going down the toilet, when you need a shoulder to cry on, and who support you unconditionally. They don’t judge you, they hold your hair up when you’ve had too much to drink, and they always make a pitcher of margaritas when they show up at your house to listen to you bitch about men on a Saturday afternoon. One call was all it took and the girls came running. I’d called them first thing when I woke up after Dallas Vaughn had rocked my world the night before with his arrogant belief he could snap his fingers, and I’d come running.

Sure, I was attracted to him, and I’d imagined several love scenes with him for “Property Of,” starring me in the leading role. However, imagining it is one thing, being told I couldn’t resist him if he were so inclined to grace my world with his tight ass and firm muscles, was a completely different story. So mind-bogglingly different, it took ten minutes after he kissed me to come up with a retort; such was my astonishment that he was that arrogant. Though, I’m quite certain if I’d uttered, “When pigs fly,” he’d have laughed at me.

The whole thing reminded me of high school when the star quarterback deigned to talk to a girl who wasn’t in the “in” crowd. Then he’d ask her out like, “Friday, you and me, babe. I’ll pick you up at seven.” As if the notion she would say no never occurred to him even though he knew she had twin brothers that would beat the shit out of him for some much as looking at her. Only this time, her twin brothers had high-fived themselves after the quarterback insulted their sister.

I’d come home and told Snape and Simi all about it, and they’d agreed wholeheartedly with me that Mr. Dallas Vaughn had some nerve thinking he could woo me so easily. I’m not some naive girl who can’t say no for Christ’s sake. I can control my hormones long enough to keep him at arm’s length if I was so inclined. And after his arrogant belief he was
so
irresistible I couldn’t stop him, I
was
so inclined.

Now I was sitting in my living room surrounded by my best friends explaining the whole sordid night.

“Let me get this straight . . . Bo and Finn tested him all night to see if he’d what? Back down?” Kasey asked.

“Apparently it was some kind of bro code. You know, see if they could intimidate him and if they couldn’t, then he was worthy of wooing me. Can you believe that shit? As if I’m some prize and the spoils would go to the victor,” I explained. ”It was ridiculous and embarrassing.”