Chapter 27
Picking up Clues
Carter
“I want a lawyer.”
Tye shrugged, leaning back in his chair. “It’s your right, Barry. You can get yourself a lawyer. Or you can get smart.”
The skinny man with rotten teeth and a matching breath across from us scoffed.
“I’m not playing your game, Reacher clone.”
“We have evidence that places you at the crime scene,” I said, leafing through the folder in front of me. “You have no alibi. You have…” I pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose. “Nothing, actually.”
“Oh, I get it!” Barry “The Blade” Kiely exclaimed. “You’re a good cop. The mountain next to you is a bad cop.”
Tye chuckled. “They never guess, do they?”
I shook my head, smirking. “Nope.”
Courtesy of John Smith, we finally had a new lead on our killer. A strand of hair, picked at Roxie’s crime scene, led us to the guy sitting in front of us—Barry “The Blade” Kiely, a small-time hustler who liked to play with knives. The physical evidence incriminated him, but did he do it? My gut said no.
“I like to fuck whores, so what?” Barry said, rubbing his wrist, which was handcuffed to the desk. “Yes, Roxie was my favorite, and yes, I fucked her, but that’s it. I’m not your guy.”
“When exactly did you leave her apartment on the day she died?” I asked him, taking off my glasses.
“Around four o’clock. In the afternoon.”
Tye laughed. “So, you were with her on the day she died? Although you said that you weren’t five minutes ago?”
Barry whined, realizing that I’d tricked him.
“Why did you lie to us, Barry?” I asked him a legitimate question.
“What was I supposed to do?” Barry growled. “Hello, detectives. I fucked Roxie on the same day some psycho killer cut her to pieces. Good day to you, too.”
Tye looked at me, pointing his chin at the door. “I think we’re done here, yeah?”
I nodded, standing up and picking up the folder with Barry’s rich criminal history.
“See you later, Barry.”
“Wait. What does it mean? Can I go?”
“We’ll let you know.”
When we left the interrogation room, Chief Bibb approached us.
“So? Did he do it?”
I shook my head, looking at Tye, who nodded in confirmation. “He’s not our guy, Chief. He’s too clumsy and too stupid to pull off something like that.”
“Any prior offenses we can charge him with?”
“Nope, but he just came out of jail, so he probably didn’t have the time,” Tye replied, making me laugh.
When our eyes met, something flashed through his baby blues that had nothing to do with work. Before Chief Bibb could pick up on it, I headed toward the hall, nodding at Ruth, who passed by me with a flirty smile.
The thing was, I hadn’t seen Tye since the night we spent together, and I didn’t know how to act around him. I had to leave for Grangetown to serve as a witness in a court case, so I was away for a few days. I returned only this morning, just in time to read Barry his rights.
To summarize things, I finally got laid, and I did it with a man. Not just any man. The man who attracted me and intrigued me, who made me laugh and question myself, and who ultimately made me feel alive again. The sex bit was… Jesus Christ, eye-opening. I had no idea how much pleasure you could get from sex until I felt his dick inside me. I didn’t know how much a kiss could mean until he kissed me. And I wanted to do it again and again and again. Kiss him. Hug him. Fuck him.
But I couldn’t. Why? We were friends, and I didn’t want to fuck it up. We were partners, too, and good partners at that, and I didn’t want to fuck that up either. The entanglements at work were frowned upon, but since this was the LD, it didn’t even matter. Still, there would be consequences. The chief would separate us, maybe even transfer one of us, and I would rather lose a piece of my soul than Tye. Also, the thought of everyone knowing about us, most of all Adam, didn’t sit well with me. And I wasn’t the type of guy to hide in the corner. Tye, even less so.
So, I thought, maybe we should make it a one-time thing. An experiment of sorts. It would require squashing that attraction between us, and I still had to find a way to do that. Only, the look in his eyes told me his thoughts were on the opposite end of the spectrum... somewhere between a distasteful eighties erotic flick and a straight-out porno.
I wasn’t any better because my thoughts kept returning to the night we spent together. It was all I could think about while I was away and missing him like crazy. I never thought that having trouble sitting would make me happy, but I grinned every time I saw a chair. Yeah, his dick did a number on me that night, but I asked for it, and I loved every second of it. But it wasn’t just sex. Our entire date was awesome, making me realize that I never felt happiness in my life up to that point. I never clicked like that with anyone, and no one ever made my heart so full until him. In fact, Tye felt like my soulmate, and it scared the shit out of me because I never imagined my soulmate would have a dick. But to keep it platonic? Could I even do that?
In any case, easier said than done, and I realized it soon enough.
“Chief Bibb sends this,” Tye said, stopping by my desk and handing me a piece of paper. When his fingers brushed against mine, I felt goosebumps breaking out across my arm. I looked around to check if anyone noticed me acting funny, but everyone seemed busy.
“How was Grangetown?” he asked me, sitting in his chair, and since his desk was behind mine, it was difficult to ignore him. Not that I would.
“Boring,” I replied, turning around along with my chair. Just like that, I stepped into the proverbial blue trap. Azure blue. Like the Mediterranean Sea, only prettier.
He looked at the pencil in his hand he was playing with before returning his gaze to mine.
“Are you alright?”
My face warmed. Goddammit. What was I? A fifteen-year-old girl?
“Yeah, I’m good.”
He smiled widely as if my answer surprised him. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” I replied, taking off my glasses.
He grinned. “You look sexy in those.”
“Shut up,” I murmured, looking around. “Someone will hear.”
“What will they hear?”
“You, talking gibberish.”
“It’s not gibberish.”
Change the subject.
“How are you?” I asked him, sizing him up. Don’t ogle him. “How are things on your end?”
Fuck it, ogle him. He looks amazing.
“They’re looking up now that you’re back,” he replied brazenly, tilting his chin in a way that left no room for doubt.
“Don’t tell me you missed me,” I said, hoping it would sound mocking when it was more my need to know.
“I did,” he deadpanned. “Did you miss me?”
I lowered my gaze and nodded because I didn’t want to lie.
“Yeah?” Tye said, and I could hear him smile.
When I wouldn’t look at him, he hooked his ankle around my chair and pulled me toward him.
“Stop that,” I growled, lowering my gaze when we got some unwanted attention.
He chuckled and leaned toward me, bringing heat with him.
“Will I see you tonight?”
Flashes of the night we spent together almost rendered me speechless, so I pushed them away.
“Dunno,” I muttered, fiddling with my glasses so I wouldn’t have to look at him.
“You do know,” he countered.
When I remained silent, he bit his lip and looked at me under his lashes.
“I can’t stop thinking about that night.”
My dick twitched at the mere mention of that night.
When Shelly called him, he left, while I thanked my lucky stars.
Squash that attraction into nonexistence.
I had a bigger chance of shooting myself in the back.
Thorsen
I missed the fucker. I really did. A few days ago, when he told me he was leaving for Grangetown, I thought he was running away. I knew it was a possibility after what had happened the night before, and what happened was the best sex I ever had. But it turned out that he really had to go to Grangetown, so I told myself I was panicking for no good reason. Also, I was in love with him. If I doubted it once, now I was sure of it since I couldn’t eat, sleep, or think because he was always on my mind. At work, Shelly caught me staring into the distance dreamily a few times and teased me mercilessly about it. I slept with his T-shirt that I stole from him when I was at his place, and which still carried his scent. Basically, I had all the signs of the affliction called love.
Still, I could sense a reservation in him after his return. Some sort of… tension. And not just of a good, sexual kind, which was always there between us, even in the beginning when we just argued. Was I surprised by it? Not really. I knew he was probably confused and needed time to process things. Judging by the looks he kept throwing my way, he still wanted me, but was he ready for more? I wasn’t so sure about that. And I was growing impatient. I wanted to kiss him. Hug him. Open my heart to him. And I had a feeling it wasn’t the right time. Shelly all but confirmed it to me when she called me for a quick chat.
“What’s wrong with him?” she said, pointing her chin at Carter. “He looks constipated.”
“Oh, just the usual brooding mode,” I joked.
She frowned. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“And you two are okay?”
“Yeah, of course.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Hmm… I can sense a weird vibe between you.”
I hoped others were worse detectives than her, and since this was the LD, my odds looked good.
“Nah. We’re fine.”
Sadly, she wasn’t as easily discouraged.
“It feels as if you two have gotten into a fight again, but I can’t see fresh bruises on you. Or as if you argued or…” She giggled. “Shagged.”
I couldn’t see my face, which I thought was impassive, but whatever she saw there made her eyes widen. In fact, they looked like big brown saucers.
“Shut up!” she exclaimed, a touch too loud.
“Shh,” I shushed her, looking around. “It’s not what you think.”
“The hell it’s not!”
“Shel, be quiet,” I mumbled in a low voice, feigning a smile on behalf of a few looks that came our way.
She stood on her tiptoes to whisper in my ear, “You bottomed, right?”
I scratched my head, wondering how to answer that, when her eyes widened in disbelief.
“No fucking way! No fucking way he let you up his ass… choo!” She pretended to sneeze when every head in the room turned toward us.
“Bless you,” I muttered, running my fingers through my hair.
She pointed a finger at me.
“You will tell me everything!”
“Okay,” I agreed in a low voice. “Just be quiet.”
“Drinks after work,” she said. No, ordered.
“Did someone say drinks?” Bruce said, biting into his hot dog. “Count me in.”
Jordan looked at Adam, who yawned and added, “Me too.”
Just perfect. Who else?
“Me, too,” Jordan squeaked, earning Adam’s scowl.
“Maybe the chief would like to come too,” I said ironically. “Why don’t we ask him?”
“With you losers?” Chief Bibb said, passing by my desk in his usual ninja style. “No way. Besides, Missus and I have been invited to a game of canasta tonight.”
“Carter?” Shelly said with a sigh of defeat.
“I can’t.”
“You’re going,” she grumbled. “Everyone is going, so you’re going, too. End of discussion.”