Mutual Possession (Nine Tenths of the Law #1)

24. Spencer

Chapter twenty-four

Spencer

There are twelve Jacks that work for the TV studio that produces the soap opera that Veronica worked for. Twelve. “I didn’t know this name was so popular.” It’s not the most interesting name that I can think of.

“Statistically, every name is popular,” Kendrick murmurs, not looking up from the papers he’s flicking through while leaning back in his chair at his desk. He looks relaxed, but I know he isn’t. “There are over twenty-five million people in Australia and over eight billion people in the world; chances are, there are more than a few people with the same name.”

“That all work in the same place?”

He shrugs nonchalantly.

He’s been like this all day. Distant. Weird . I nudge his thigh with my foot. “Are you gonna look at me at all today or…?”

He tenses. Still doesn’t look up. For fuck’s sake. “Is this about yesterday?”

He does look up then. That’s something, at least, I guess. “Is what about yesterday?”

“Why you’re ignoring me.”

“We’re literally having a conversation right now,” he points out.

Not really. Not in a way that matters. He’s closed himself off from me, and I want to know why. “Did I do it wrong?” Why couldn’t he have told me that during, so that I could fix it at the time?

Kendrick pinches the bridge of his nose and drops the papers on his desk. “Of course not.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, Spence.”

“You’re lying.” I hate when he does that and keeps things from me. We don’t get to do that, not about anything.

“What do you want from me?”

“Why don’t we start with the truth?” I suggest, irritation prickling at me.

He hooks a foot around my chair and drags me closer before gripping my hips and tugging me into his arms. I relax against him, heart unclenching. At least enough to breathe a little easier. If he’s touching me, then this can’t be that bad, can it?

He brushes his knuckles over my cheek and then nudges the glasses that I’m wearing up my nose. He spent a whole hour earlier convincing me to wear them. I like the way he looks at me when I have them on, so I don’t mind so much anymore. That doesn’t mean he has to know that.

“I’m not looking at you, because I can’t, not if I want to get any work done.”

I tilt my head in confusion. “O… kay?” That doesn’t make any sense.

He skims his lips over mine. “I can’t concentrate when I look at you. All I can hear are the sounds you make when I’m inside you, the way your face looks when you come apart in my arms. I look at you, and I want you all over again. I want to touch you and have you closer. If I thought I needed you before, it’s nothing compared to how I feel now.”

Oh. Well, that definitely makes me feel better. It means I didn’t do it wrong, and he doesn’t hate me. Double win.

“You wanna make out?” I ask slyly.

“Baby, you don’t even have to ask that.”

Perfect answer. Slanting my lips over his, I give in to the need I have for him. Fucking hell, I’ll never get over being able to do this with him whenever I want. So many wasted years I could have had him on the tip of my tongue, his taste and scent inside me.

We swap lazy, languid kisses for a long time until my lips are buzzing and swollen. One of his hands grips the nape of my neck to hold me in place, the other travelling up and down my back, sending shivers through me. He makes me feel precious. Like he’ll never let the world hurt me. There are some things out of our control, especially considering our job, but this part will never change. Us.

I tug his arm in front so that I can fiddle with his fingers. I trace around his ring finger and pull back to look at his gorgeous hazel-green eyes. He takes my breath away. He always has. Running a hand through his curls, my fingers catching on some of the tighter ones, I tilt his head back. “There’s a jeweller not far from here. We should go at lunch and get some rings sized.”

“We can grab some food on our way back.”

Perfect. I don’t want to wait any longer; I need to see a ring on his finger. I don’t care what the order is supposed to be. Do we have to wait until the ceremony to wear them? The second we get them, he’s putting it on.

“Alright.” Kendrick twists his head and kisses my wrist.

A knock on the wall has us turning to where Six is leaning against the doorframe. He holds up a USB stick. “Got that information you wanted about Jack Ferguson. I’m heading out now, but give me a call if you need anything.” He tosses the small device over, and I catch it one-handed.

“Anything interesting?”

“He’s ex-military. Special forces soldier, dishonourably discharged. Watch your back.”

Mother fucker . No wonder he’s got a bead on us, and we haven’t seen a peep out of him. “I think we have our main suspect.”

“Sounds like it,” Kendrick agrees. “We should go pay him a visit and do our own stakeout.”

“Have fun,” Six sings. He raps his knuckles on the doorframe and then disappears.

Kendrick absently strokes my hip and plucks the USB from my hand, stretching forward to stick it into the computer. “His motivation’s pretty easy to work out.”

“Wants better things for his daughter, so he removes the competition. The old woman, Irene… how does she fit into it?”

“Maybe he used her? She lives right next door to the woman he wants to kill. Gets cozy with her, helps her out a bit around the house and compliments her tea, and then manipulates her until she becomes an accomplice. Then we got too close, so he cleans house?”

“Stops her from telling us anything.”

“He may have been worried she already did when we visited her. He’s been watching us. It explains why he was able to figure out the cameras and disable them when he killed Veronica.”

It annoys the fuck out of me that we haven’t even noticed him. Being able to move around undetected makes him dangerous. Having that kind of military training only makes that worse. He’s good; we need to be better. “What about Reed?”

“Convenient scapegoat? The gossip she spread about him and his jealousy means people are easily convinced that he went over the deep end and killed her. It’s not like it’s an uncommon occurrence. More plausible than the father of a random cast member.”

“We need to find a way to connect him to Irene’s murder, and Leah Anderson, so we can put him away. Now that Irene is an official case under Greer, we can’t just make him disappear.” A real fucking shame. He’s killed three people already. People like that don’t stop just because they got what they wanted. They get a taste for it, and then they need more, like a drug. Each kill feeds them; we should know, the boss is close friends with an entire family organisation that frequently kills. They’re a grey area but enough on this side of the “law” that we don’t hunt them. Besides, despite how far away they are, they’re useful in a tight space.

“Another break and enter, then?” Kendrick smiles lightly.

“I do love snooping in people’s shit.” So many dirty secrets hiding in their sanctuary. Nothing ever stays buried forever. “What if there’s nothing to be found, though?”

“We need to find some proof that he’s who we’re looking for, and we’ll find it. If we can’t use the information legally, then we’ll make him disappear, official case or not. He won’t get away with it.”

Good. “What about his daughter? She’s gained a lot from her father’s actions. You think she’s in on it?”

“Can’t rule it out.” Kendrick shifts us so he can reach the mouse and opens Six’s files. “He was in the military for twelve years. Special Forces for six. Specialised in covert espionage and a fair few classified operations. Received a bunch of medals over years of his service that were all stripped from him when he was dishonourably discharged.” Kendrick whistled. “That’s one hell of a record. Unfortunately, that happened ten years ago, so no one we know currently enlisted, or otherwise, would have possibly known him.”

“They might know of him. Getting discharged that way isn’t so common that they wouldn’t have heard about it.”

“I doubt they’ll be able to give us any useful information, but if we run into a dead end, we can speak to them.”

No use wasting time going down avenues we know won’t lead anywhere. At least not yet. Those are last resorts, when everything else runs dry. “Stop by the jewellers, grab some grub, and then head to his place?”

“He should be working right now,” Kendrick says playfully, leaning forward to kiss me briefly. “What fortuitous timing.”

“It’s like he wants us to come over and invite ourselves inside.”