Chapter 5
T hirty minutes later , Pauley set her phone down on her desk in the police station and dropped her head into her hands. This whole incident had left her badly shaken. Had they planned to kill Luca? Or was it just a warning? Granted, the damages could have been worse, but if he’d actually been in the room, he could have been seriously injured or even, God forbid, killed.
Cringing at the memory of losing her membership in the patient mother’s club by grabbing the front of Luca’s shirt and shaking him senseless, she tried to think. He still wasn’t talking, and frankly, she was still angry with him.
She hadn’t been at her best anyway when he’d come down the stairs with a sullen face and refused to reveal anything about what he was doing when he’d been running from Tommie Ruskag. When the room above the stairs had suddenly exploded, they’d run out of the house to seek safety. When Mica had responded along with the fire department, blind fury and fear had taken over when Luca refused to answer Mica’s questions once again, and she’d assaulted her own son.
Not her finest moment.
Mica had separated them and whispered how he understood that the kid needed a good thrashing, but it would be better to do it in private. She’d been so embarrassed.
One good thing had come out of it, though. Luca had agreed to go to Heaven’s Gate and work there for a while. With a sigh, she ran her palms down her face, feeling the crusty stickiness of dried tears. She must look like hell.
“I’m sorry, Mum.”
She looked over at Luca sitting beside her desk. “I’m still angry, Luca, but mostly because ye scared me half to death. I just don’t understand why ye won’t talk about what ye are into. How can I help ye if ye won’t trust me?”
Luca hesitated, his puppy dog eyes staring at her. “It’s not that I don’t trust ye, Mum. I-It’s complicated, and it’s not my secret to tell.”
She stared at him, her mind ticking over possibilities. “If it’s a secret that’s putting ye in danger, ye need to tell someone. Whoever ye are covering for isn’t being fair to ye.”
His face closed over again. “I shouldn’t have said that, never mind.”
Pauley studied him a moment and silently cursed the fact that he was every bit as stubborn as she was. He’d come by it honestly. With a heavy sigh, she stood up. “All right then, let’s go. I’m taking ye to Neamh where I think ye’ll be safe for now.”
Mica saw them stand up and came over. “Are ye ready?”
She nodded. “Aye, Mica, thank ye.”
“Luca, ye come with me,” Mica instructed.
“I’ll meet ye outside,” Pauley said.” She picked up her cell phone and dialed Jamie’s number.
“Hello?” His buttery, smooth voice came across the line, very pleasing in her ear.
“Jamie, we are headed out of the police station now,” she said as she walked towards the door.
“I’ll tell Darro, lass. Be careful.”
His concern caused a pool of warmth in her breast. She had called Peter to tell him about the house and he’d raged for five minutes about her job causing his son to be in danger until she’d finally hung up on him. Not one offer to come by the police station, or even to see his son. Of course, that could change tomorrow because she could tell he’d been drinking heavily.
Pauley hadn’t called her parents because they didn’t like her job either, and she figured it would be more of the same complaints she’d gotten from Peter. Sometimes she felt like she was swimming upstream while everyone else was content to lie in the shallows and gripe that the current was too difficult to navigate.
She was proud of her job, and really enjoyed helping people. It hadn’t been easy to rise to a detective superintendent status with senior privileges at most crime scenes. Especially when no one else in her life seemed to care. Except for the male constables who were jealous or disapproving of her success. Sometimes life was a real rat race for a woman.
Once in the car, Pauley felt a little safer as she hit the door locks.
Unless her car were to blow up. She shuddered at the incongruous thought.
Mica was in the police car behind her with Luca sitting beside him as they drove through town and then turned onto High Meadow Road, which would lead into the upper highlands and to Heaven’s Gate. No one appeared to be following them. Mica went around her and pulled into a small stand of trees about a quarter mile up, and she pulled in beside him. They both got out and Luca got into Pauley’s car to wait for her.
“Did ye see anything suspicious, Mica?” Pauley asked, smoothing a lock of hair behind her ear as she joined him on the edge of the road away from the trees. The lights of Inverness didn’t reach the shadows of the area they were in, the darkness of the countryside lightened only by the glow of a three-quarter moon. The nip of fall was certainly in the air. The mountains behind them already had fresh snow on their peaks.
Mica shook his head while he pulled his duster collar up around his ears. It was chilly enough that his breath was actually leaving wisps in the air. “Nay, I didn’t notice anything unusual, Pauley. But then they may be lying low after the fire bomb tonight. Whoever they are anyway.” He looked her way. “I did find out something from my CI today, though.”
“What’s that?”
“He’s heard that someone new is trying to get a foot hold with a protection racket in the Dunlaven Market area.”
“Really? I hadn’t heard that yet,” Pauley replied thoughtfully, sticking her hands in her sweater pockets. “The Dunlaven Market shops aren’t all that far from the Hope Barks Animal Shelter,” she added. “I wonder if there’s a connection to Luca in some way?”
“Cripes, Pauley. Ye think yer kid might be working for a ganger?”
She shot him a death glare. “Luca isn’t working for a ganger, Mica,” she hissed. “But maybe he saw something and someone’s worried about it.”
“Then why wouldn’t he just say so?”
Pauley bit her lip. “That I can’t answer.” She prayed she was right about Luca not working for a ganger, instead of gangster, as Mica put it. The man was fond of shortening words to a smaller version of themselves.
“Well, whatever the lad is doing, he’s pretty scared. He’s not saying much, but I can tell killing Ruskag has him pretty shook up. He might need some counseling once all this is over and reaction sets in.”
Pauley nodded. “Aye, I know. Even trained constables have a hard time dealing with it.”
“I think I see some headlights on the upper road.” Mica pointed towards two sets of headlights coming along the side of the slope that would circle around and reach them in just a few minutes.
“That’s probably the trucks from Neamh that Darro said he would be sending,” she replied, brushing her hair out of the wind’s playful fingers once again. “It’s only about twenty minutes from Inverness to Heavens’ Gate if there’s no sheep or anything on the roads.”
Mica frowned. “Ye need to be careful, Pauley, even if Luca isn’t here in town. They could target ye as well as Luca. Or any member of yer family if they are desperate enough. Do ye have a place to stay tonight?”
Pauley shifted uneasily. She knew he was right. “I told Natalie I’d probably come over there. She’s been hyperventilating, her and Elliot both.”
He shot her a side eye. “Ye know, Quinn wants me to partner up with ye during this time, Pauley.”
Pauley shrugged. “I know he’s been looking for another partner for me since Brodie was transferred a year ago, but I’m fine with grabbing a constable when I need one.”
“Ye know it’s not policy to work alone, not in our department.”
“Detectives are hard to come by, Mica,” she drawled. “It takes time to train them and to pass the boards to become one. What about Florence though?”
He frowned. “It’s nae working out very well, and I’m happy to make the switch if ye are.”
“Ye mean Quinn thinks ye are the only one I’ll tolerate,” she responded with a wry grin. “Well, he’s right.”
Mica snorted, a half tolerant laugh, half impatient growl. “Ye are just too blinking independent, Pauley.”
She threw him a glare. “Nay. I just insist on being respected for what I can do. Is that a crime? Police work, especially senior detective inspectors, have been majorly men, historically speaking, and a woman has to fight for every inch of territory.”
Mica didn’t answer, but stepped out of the cover of the trees and held up his arm.
The two pickup trucks were slowing as they neared the city and Pauley knew they were watching for her. She stepped out too, and they put on their blinkers to pull into the copse. When the first pickup pulled in, it was driven by two men she didn’t recognize. The second pickup followed and then stopped inside the copse just past her and the passenger door opened. Her breath caught when she realized it was Jamie. She hadn’t expected him to be with them, but the warm ball in her chest grew and she had to fight down a sudden clog in her throat.
He closed the door and grabbed her hands in his big warm palms. “How are ye doing, lass?”
Mica’s eyebrows crawled skyward but Pauley ignored him. “I’m doing fine, Jamie, ye needn’t worry about me. It’s Luca I’m concerned about.”
“That’s an understatement, Pauley,” Mica drawled, stepping up from behind her and holding out his hand to Jamie. “I’m Mica Peterson, Pauley’s new partner.”
Jamie reached out and shook his hand. “I’m Jamie MacNamara and I’m glad to hear she isn’t working alone,” he replied with a quick smile. “Did ye see anything on yer way out?” He glanced back down at Pauley but it was Mica who answered.
“Nay,” he replied with a negative shake of his head.
Another man walked up from behind Jamie and then gawped at Pauley. “Ye are the lad’s mother?”
Pauley’s eyebrow arched. The young man was very handsome with a devilish smile that told her he found her attractive. With his blond waves of unruly hair over a darker, almost shaved look above his ears, and a killer smile, she was sure the young man was an unrepentant flirt. “Aye, I’m Pauley MacBride.”
He grinned lazily, eyeing her up and down. “I’m Dal MacIntosh. Luca will be working with me while he’s at Neamh.”
Pauley let her gaze drag up and down Dal’s lithe frame with a pointed question in her eyes. “And who’s going to watch ye while ye are watching my son?” she mocked.
Dal flushed and his gaze slid to Jamie who was glaring at him with disapproval. “Oh...um...sorry if I gave the wrong impression,” he hastily apologized. “I’ll take good care of Luca,” he stuttered, withering under Jamie’s frown.
Mica snickered and tried to smother a laugh.
“I’m sure ye will, Dal, and I thank ye,” Pauley replied, her eyes dancing at Dal’s discomfort. At least the kid had manners when reproached. He seemed a decent and sincere young man, even if flirting appeared to come as natural as breathing to him.
Jamie turned to Pauley. “If ye want, ye and Luca can ride with us and then I’ll follow ye back to yer car when ye are ready to leave. That way ye don’t have to drive the unfamiliar roads at night alone.”
Pauley hesitated until Mica jumped in. “That’s a good idea, Pauley. I’ll just head back to the station and finish some paperwork before I wrap it up for the night. Ye go on ahead. I’ll feel better if ye aren’t driving alone, at least for right now.”
Feeling like she was being organized without her permission, Pauley frowned. Then Jamie took her hand. “I’d feel better about it too.” He squeezed her fingers. “Ye have been through quite a shock tonight. Ye never know when reaction could set in. In fact, if Mica agrees, maybe he could have one of yer constables move yer car to yer house. I have an extra bedroom and ye can stay with me.”
Pauley definitely felt like she was being organized, but then Mica joined him.
“That is a right smart idea, sir,” he enthused in deference to Jamie’s probably ten-year gap on him. Then he shot Pauley a beaming, innocent smile as his eyes darted between her and Jamie. “If ye leave yer car as bait to see if they try anything, then we’ll have a heads up that they are willing to come after ye too. Great idea, Mr. MacNamara.”
“Just call me Jamie.”
Feeling outnumbered but not wanting to seem churlish after Jamie’s offer to help Luca, she finally nodded. “Aye, I can do that.” She wasn’t sure about spending the night though. She would discuss that in private with the smooth-talking fox. She had boundaries.
“I need to get our bags out of the car,” Pauley replied as she handed her keys to Mica. “I’ll lock it.”
Mica opened the door for Luca to get out, then pointed him in the direction of his mother and Jamie. Pauley popped the boot and Jamie took two bags out of the boot, then closed it. She locked the car as Luca walked up.
“What are we doing, Mum?” Luca asked, looking around.
“We are going to ride with Jamie and Dal, then Jamie will bring me back. This is Jamie MacNamara. His daughter is married to Lord MacCandish of Heaven’s Gate. Ye have him to thank for yer new job,” she pointed out.
***
J AMIE COULD SEE THE guarded look on Luca’s face as Pauley reminded her son of his manners. “I’m pleased to meet ye, Luca,” he said easily, nodding to the lad. He was surprised when Luca offered his hand, the red creeping up his neck in the moonlight.
“Thank ye for getting me into Neamh, Mr. MacNamara.” Luca’s tones were a mixture of obeying his mother and sullen because he didn’t really want to come, but was afraid not to.
Jamie studied him for a moment as they shook hands. He and Rhonda had never been blessed with a son. They had both wanted one, but the good Lord hadn’t seen fit to bless them with more than Lucerne in their lives, and they’d been very thankful for her. He’d been a lad once though, and although it was a few years behind him, he could remember the angst of youth and being uncertain of what you wanted to do with your life.
“Yer Mum tells me ye like animals,” he remarked, avoiding the awkwardness of Luca’s implied shortcomings. “Dal is training to be a vet, so ye can learn a lot from him if that interests ye.”
“Aye, I do like animals,” Luca admitted.
Jamie led them to the truck and opened the front door. Then he motioned to Luca. “In ye go, I’ll let ye and Dal introduce yerselves.”
“Hi, Luca. I’m Dal.” Dal grinned curiously over at Luca while Luca mumbled something back as he folded his tall frame into the front seat and closed the door.
Jamie went to the back door, opened it and set the bags in on the seat as far as he could reach across. Then he motioned to Pauley. “Yer son has shotgun so we’ll make do with the rear.” He grinned at her.
Pauley climbed into the tall truck and Jamie was more than interested in the shape of her cute bottom in the snug jeans when she bent over. His pulse rate shot up a notch until he saw her shudder. “Ye must be cold from standing out there on the side of the road,” he remarked as he got in. He scooted closer to her and put his arm around her shoulders, half expecting her to object.
“Aye, it was chilly in the wind,” she agreed, but she didn’t try to move away. She seemed to enjoy his warmth.
In the front seat, Dal was plying Luca with questions about his job at the shelter and the two young men seemed to be hitting it off like a house on fire. Bad analogy, but he had to give Dal credit. The lad had an easy camaraderie with people that drew them in, even when he was being the rascal Angus accused him of. He could see why the kid had a reputation for always having one girlfriend on hand and shopping for a new one at the same time.
Beside him, Jamie could feel Pauley relaxing. The stiffness was leaving her slender body, although the pulse rate beneath his fingers on her wrist was fast. Was it his closeness? Or the near miss from the fire bomb of her house? He hoped it was him because he was certainly aware of her body tucked against his. He laced his fingers through her hand and squeezed gently. She didn’t respond, but she didn’t pull away either.
Good.
With the two young men talking in the front seat, Jamie was content to just hold Pauley close. She didn’t speak and neither did he, but it wasn’t an awkward silence. It just felt right.
***
B RODIE MACALISTER WATCHED through night vision binoculars from his vantage point near the head of Meadow Ridge Road. He hadn’t dared to follow MacBride and Peterson out of the city because he would be too visible, but he figured they were trying to hide the kid away. Lucky for him, he’d put a tracker on MacBride’s car a long time ago in case he might need it. And on the kid’s truck too. He also had a tracking program loaded on the kid’s burner phone. There was no way he could hide from him unless he turned the phone off, and he was under strict instructions never to do that.
He and MacBride had never gotten along—she was an uppity bitch. Being partnered up with her had never set well with him and Tannock knew it. With the chief flat out refusing to split them up, he’d finally escalated his personal goals and left the department. Bile still rose in his throat when he dwelled on it though.
As he watched them pull into a copse and park, his vengeful thoughts were all he had to occupy him because he couldn’t see a damned thing through the trees.
He’d been the senior partner in their duo, but that hadn’t mattered to MacBride. The bitch had been like a bulldog with a chokehold on his neck. Always questioning his methods when it was none of her business, and pointing out the law he knew better than she did. He did things the way he wanted to, and if that meant shades of gray between the legal and nonlegal side of things, then so be it. It was for the greater good after all, it got the results he thought were necessary.
Pulling his jacket up around his ears, he pulled a package out of his pocket and popped a ball of bubble gum in his mouth. Chewing gum helped him think. The bitch hadn’t liked that either, and he’d taken great delight in popping bubbles during stakeouts because he knew it annoyed her. She thought she was too good for him from the very beginning.
Trying to be friends with benefits with her hadn’t worked. She’d brushed him off like yesterday’s stale t-shirt from the very beginning. Because of her, he’d left the police station in his rear-view mirror before he really wanted to, but he still came out ahead of her. Aberdeen station and the drug task force had taken him right in.
The lights on the upper road caught his attention, and he figured whoever it was must be coming to meet her and Peterson. Florence Hoppner, Peterson’s old partner, had told him earlier today that Mica was being reassigned to Pauley, which had suited her fine. Florence hadn’t liked Peterson any more than he’d liked MacBride.
Of course, she didn’t like her new partner either, Detective Anier. He could care less about that, Anier was an idiot. He doubted even Florence could make him into a decent detective. Still, she was a good source inside the Inverness Police Station when he needed scuttlebutt that no one else would pass on. Plus, they thought a lot alike with regards to seeing justice served to the low-lifers.
When two pickup trucks finally turned into the copse, he could see the familiar green pine tree emblem and read the name on the doors through the powerful binoculars. They were from Heaven’s Gate Estates. That meant they worked for Darro MacCandish at Neamh. The man didn’t do things by halves. Still, two pick-ups, and he was sure the men inside were armed, were overkill as far as he was concerned. His lips curved downward. Neamh was difficult to get into, but not impossible. Not for someone like him anyway.
His thoughts turned to Ruskag. Who would have thought the kid would be able to take out Tommie like that? Ruskag must have gotten really careless and over confident. No big loss, the man was a pimple on the butt of humanity anyway. He’d deserved to get popped.
The faint sound of engines on the wind had him raising his binoculars again to see the trucks leaving. They turned to the right out of the copse, and Peterson’s squad car behind them turned left. Peterson flew past the brush and saplings he was ensconced in, headed towards the lights of the city.
Smirking silently to himself at his own pun about Ruskag, Brodie put his binoculars back into his backpack and made his way back to his motorcycle hidden in the shadows.
Satisfied with his night’s work, he straddled his sleek Ducati Streetfighter V4 motorcycle and started the engine. With 1,103cc V4, 208HP, and 6 Speed manual power, his baby was powerful, superfast on the streets, and worth every pound he’d spent on her. She purred between his thighs like a hungry woman and he caressed the seat in front of him.
“Ye are my black beauty, aren’t ye, honey? Always waiting for me, ready to go at a moment’s notice, and no backtalk.”
With a low growling rumble, they slipped away into the night. Tomorrow would be soon enough to make contact with the kid. Right now, he had an appointment with the idiot who had fire-bombed MacBride’s house. He had a little reward for him.