Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
HAYES
Ihit the kitchen and came to a stop. Crossing my arms over my chest, I leaned my shoulder against the jamb and watched the show Tempie was putting on, humming and dancing as she flipped pancakes on the griddle.
It had been easy to live in a bubble, just the two of us, for the past thirty-six hours, but that kind of good couldn’t last forever.
I was headed back to the station later this morning, however, being able to walk into the kitchen and see my woman dancing around with my ring on her finger provided the kind of sweet that went a long goddamn way in helping stave off that bitter Trick had been talking about.
Some days the job was complete shit. Some days a case pushed me to question my decision to go into this line of work. But knowing I’d have this to come home to every night and wake up to every morning made days like these a hell of a lot more tolerable.
As if sensing my presence, Tempie turned and shot me a wink over her shoulder. “You just gonna stand there and watch or actually come in and eat this breakfast I’ve been slaving away at?”
Pushing off the wall with a deep chuckle, I hung my blazer over the back of one of the barstools and put my gun, shoulder holster, and badge on the island before coming up behind her. She leaned back into me when I propped my chin on her shoulder and looped my arms around her waist.
“Baby, I told you you didn’t have to wake up early to cook for me. No reason for you to get up at dawn when your day doesn’t start for another couple of hours.”
She looked back with a quick grin before turning to the stove once again.
“Don’t get too used to it. I’m still riding the high of getting engaged to you.
” She lifted her left hand and gave her fingers a little wiggle, making the diamond catch the light.
“The shine will eventually wear off and I’ll be back to telling you off when you try and wake me for a goodbye kiss. ”
Damn, but my woman was funny. “Good to know.”
“And be warned. Once we’re married, it’s all downhill from there.
I’m talking unshaved legs and sloppy sweats.
Better appreciate all this while it lasts.
” She waved a hand down her side, indicating the mint-green nightie with ivory lace on the bodice and short hem she was wearing beneath one of my unbuttoned flannels. “This is all for show, buddy.”
My head fell back on a loud laugh and I squeezed her in my arms before I let her go in order to grab some coffee. Pouring myself a mug, I propped my hip against the counter beside her and took a drink. “We had a good run, I guess. Fairy tales don’t last forever, right?”
Her mouth scrunched up in a crooked grin. “At least we’re on the same page. Bodes well for when we’re sleeping in twin beds three feet apart every night.”
I took another slug of my coffee, my lips twitching with humor. “Is it too late for me to back out of this arrangement?”
She gave me a pitying look before flipping off the burners and sliding the pancakes onto two plates. “Sorry, pal, a deal’s a deal. You entered into a verbal contract, so there’s no going back now.”
“Well, consider this a lesson learned,” I said with a shrug.
Tempie giggled and stepped closer, setting one of the plates on the island in front of me and then diving into her own. I did the same, standing across from her.
I’d just bitten off half a strip of bacon when the mood in the room changed all of a sudden. Giving my attention back to Tempie, I saw her eyes had gone serious. “You’re heading back into work,” she stated.
I gave her an incredulous look. “Well yeah. Gotta pay the bills somehow, angel.”
Her gaze dropped down to her pancakes and she started dragging her fork through the syrup, making random patterns on the plate. “No, I know. I’m just… well, with that case….”
Suddenly I understood why the vibe had shifted. Putting my fork down, I closed the gap between us and rested my hands on her hips, forcing her to face me. “I’ll be all right, angel.”
Those baby blues went cloudy with worry. “You say that now, but—”
“Tempie, the captain took me off the case. Leo and Micah are the ones workin’ Harley’s murder. Trick and I are just consulting.”
“He did what?” she snapped, going from worried to downright pissed in one second flat.
“Jesus, baby.” I gave her a shake, humor lacing through my words. “You gotta slow down. I’m getting whiplash tryin’ to keep up with your mood swings.”
“I can’t—” A puff of air blew past her lips. “You’re a great cop,” she spit vehemently. “No offense to Micah and Leo, but what was that moron thinking, pulling you off a murder investigation?”
“It’s okay—”
“The hell it is!”
“Okay, stop,” I commanded before she could go completely off the rails.
One thing I knew about my girl was that once she got on a roll, it was damn near impossible to get her off the tracks.
Lifting my hands, I rested my palms on either side of her neck and brushed my thumbs along her jaw.
“Listen, I love that you have my back, but there’s no need getting worked up about this.
I was pissed when it first happened, but I get it now.
When we catch this asshole, the whole case could be fucked if the defense found out I’d slept with Harley. ”
Understanding dawned on her beautiful face. “Oh.” She flinched at the reminder. Her eyes began to shutter, and I could see that wall beginning to come down, threatening to close me out.
“No,” I ordered, forcing her chin back up when she tried to lower it. “No, we don’t do that, baby. We don’t shut each other out. You’re the one who told me that, remember?”
Her chest rose on a deep inhale as those shutters lifted. “Sorry, I know. It’s not right being jealous, especially now.”
“It’s okay.”
“God,” she grumbled, dropping her forehead against my chest. “I’m a terrible person. Harley’s dead. She was killed by a psychopath, and I’m jealous.”
“Sweetheart,” I coaxed. “You have to quit beating yourself up. It’s okay. You’re entitled to your feelings.”
I held on to her as she silently summoned her strength. Finally getting control of herself, she lifted her head and looked up at me. “Yeah. Okay. You’re right.”
Slipping my hands beneath the flannel, I gave her another second, brushing my fingers along the cool silk of her nightie before asking, “You good?”
“Yep.” Tempie nodded. “I’m good.” She wasn’t, not completely anyway. But she’d get there. “Now finish your breakfast and get your ass to work. The extravagant wedding I have planned isn’t gonna pay for itself.”
At that, I threw my head back and roared with laughter.
I hadn’t been looking forward to going into the station, but just like always, my Tempie made everything better.
My boots hit the bullpen and Trick’s head came up, giving me a chin tilt in greeting.
I returned the gesture as I hit my desk, spotting the paper coffee cup with the Muffin Top logo stamped across the side.
Trick and I had been partners for years, and we’d made a deal a long time ago that we’d switch off coffee duty every morning.
I tipped my head toward the coffee. “Fuck, man. Totally forgot today was my day for caffeine pickup.”
“Figured you would, so I went ahead and hit up the bakery before headin’ in this morning since rumors have been flyin’ all over town the past twenty-four hours.”
“Rumors?”
His lips quirked up. “Yeah. Tempie’s posse’s been busy. Word’s spreadin’ like wildfire. Figured you’d have other shit on your mind now that you got your ring on your woman’s finger, so I took today’s run. You can get tomorrow.”
I couldn’t help the smug grin that took over my face as I sat at my desk and lifted the coffee cup to my lips, all the while thinking of just how... enthusiastic Tempie had been the past couple days. “Appreciate you lookin’ out, brother.”
“Congratulations, man. Happy for you both.”
“Thanks.” I booted up my computer and grabbed the mail that was sitting in the basket on the corner of my desk. Sorting through the memos and documents that had been delivered earlier that morning, I paused when I reached the thick file folder near the bottom of the stack.
Five years back, the department had gone digital, but seeing as it was a small town and we weren’t a big operation, the process of converting all the old case files was slowgoing, so I’d had to put in a request to get this file from archives.
That had been over a week and a half ago, and with Harley’s murder taking precedence, it had been pushed to the back of my mind.
“What do you have there?”
“It’s the file on Tempie’s parents.”
The energy coming off Trick suddenly changed as he got up, rounded our desks, and came to a stop beside me. “You had the file on their murders pulled? Jesus, Hayes. Why?”
“Gut instinct,” I muttered. “I’m just prayin’ I’m wrong.”
“You think her folks’ death is tied in with Martin’s and Harley’s?”
I flipped the file over and started thumbing through the crime scene photos.
“That’s what I’m tryin’ to find out.” The images of Bob and Yvette Levine lying dead in pools of their own blood created a sour knot in my gut.
I’d never seen these photos. Their case had long since gone cold before I joined the force, and considering there hadn’t been another murder in more than twenty years, it had been chalked up to a robbery gone wrong.
But knowing what I knew now, I was beginning to question everything.
Trick went back to his desk to finish up some paperwork, and I started scouring the file.
Reading through Tempie’s statement left me wrecked.
For the first time, I got her account of that awful night, and I knew I was never going to be the same.
No wonder she’d been plagued with nightmares most of her goddamn life.
Her strength after witnessing something like that blew me away. I was in awe of not only how she picked herself back up, but how she proceeded to build a life for herself. Something like that would have damaged most people beyond repair, but my woman was a force to be reckoned with.
An hour later, my instincts were proven right, and my stomach sank like a rock.
“Fuck me,” I breathed, reading and rereading the words on the page.
Trick looked across the desk, his expression serious as he asked, “What did you find?”
I passed him the page I’d just read, watching his eyes as they scanned the lines on it. “Goddamn it.”
“How the fuck have we all missed this the entire goddamn time?”
Cops had suspected a burglar had broken into the Levine house through a side window in the middle of the night and was interrupted by one or both of Tempie’s parents.
The assumption was that he killed them both in a fit of panic, then ran before he had a chance to loot the place, taking only two items with him.
Bob’s and Yvette’s wedding rings.
I flipped through the photos, turning one to face Trick and jabbing it with my finger. “That’s a fuckin’ Rolex on Bob Levine’s left wrist,” I snarled. “The son of a bitch took a gold band that couldn’t have been worth more than a couple hundred bucks and left a fuckin’ Rolex.”
I went back through the file, digging around until I located the medical examiner’s report. Then I compared it to the one from the Henderson murder.
“Christ,” I grunted, shooting from my chair so fast it went flying backward. “Leo,” I barked as I crossed the bullpen with Trick on my heels. “You got the ME report back on Harley’s murder yet?”
“Yeah, just came in this morning. Why?”
“What was she done with?”
I caught movement from the corner of my eye and saw Micah flipping a folder open. “Looks like it was an eight-and-a-half-inch hunting knife with a serrated edge.”
Laying the pages down side by side on Leo’s desk, I pointed to the weapon used in Martin Henderson’s murder.
“Martin Henderson was killed with a serrated knife roughly eight to eight and a half inches long, and according to his daughter, the only thing reported missing from that scene was a picture of him and his wife that he kept in his wallet. Harley Madison was killed with the same weapon and was missing one earring.” Then I pointed to the other page.
“This is the report from Bob and Yvette Levine’s murder twenty-one years ago.
Wanna guess what they were killed with?”
“You’ve gotta be fuckin’ shitting me,” Micah muttered, his and Leo’s eyes both going wide.
“And in a so-called robbery gone wrong, the killer only took the couple’s wedding rings, bypassing the Rolex on the husband’s wrist, as well as at least half a dozen valuables between them and the window he went in and out of. ”
“Fuckin’ shit,” Leo hissed, his eyes darting between the papers on his desk.
“We need to talk to Linc,” I stated, pulling their attention back to me. “I put him on something a few days ago, and if I’m right about this, we’re lookin’ for a goddamn serial killer who’s rackin’ up bodies from here to Chicago.”
Micah looked at me incredulously. “Why Chicago?”
“Because that’s where Tempie lived,” I admitted, bile rising in my throat as I said, “And this fucker’s got my woman in his sights.”
That was when it dawned on them. “Jesus Christ,” Leo rumbled. “You don’t think—”
“Not sure yet,” I interrupted. “But you need to find every fuckin’ thing you can on Perry Frasier, and you need to do it now.”