Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ruby kneeled on the ground. Her mind spun from the chaos of the last few minutes. Paramedics and police had flooded the room, and Decker moaned on the floor.
But Chase was okay. Thank goodness. He lowered his arms, standing up.
She couldn’t even put into words how frightened she’d been for him.
“You must be Ruby.” An LAPD officer walked toward her, holding out his hand. He wore a windbreaker and a necklace badge. “I’m Detective Sean Holt, LAPD Gang and Narcotics.”
“Noah called you?” Ruby took his hand, and he helped her up.
“Yeah, I’m a friend of his. Though I’m starting to regret that decision.”
“Nah, you love me.” Noah clapped him on the back. “I bet you were having a boring night until this.”
“Are you hurt?” she asked Chase.
“I’m okay.” He pulled Ruby into a hug. “What were you thinking? I can’t believe you hit Decker over the head with a trash can.”
“What about you? I knew you’d do something risky. That’s why I had to come back to find you.”
“You have to trust me to do my job.”
“Last I checked, you weren’t on duty tonight.” But Ruby knew what he really meant. That he also considered it his job to take care of her and risk his life for her.
In many ways, that protectiveness annoyed her.
But was it twisted that she also found it really sexy?
“Well, this is a nice clusterfuck you’ve got here,” Sean said to them.
“I’ve been wanting to bust this fight club for a while, so I guess I should be grateful for the excuse.
But it would help if the three of you could tell me what the hell just happened.
Who’s the guy the paramedics are giving oxygen? ”
“Conrad Decker,” Chase supplied. “He attacked first.”
Ruby hooked her arm around his. “Chase was defending himself.”
Sean laughed. “From the size of that guy, I’d believe it.” He stepped away, telling some of the officers to hold Decker for questioning. When he returned, he said, “Time to start filling in the details.”
The men nodded at Ruby to go first. “I went to find Noah. I knew Chase had signaled him that there was an emergency. But I didn’t know that Noah had a different signal that connected to the LAPD.”
“You didn’t expect me to show up without my own contingency plan, did you?” Noah asked.
“Might have been nice to know that,” Chase said.
Noah shrugged. “Wanted to give you some deniability. You’re already outside your jurisdiction.”
“Keep going,” Sean prompted Noah.
“Well, I told Ruby to head outside and stay out of the way until you guys arrived.”
Chase’s eyes slid to hers. “But she didn’t listen?”
“Of course I didn’t listen.” Ruby hadn’t intended to wait around.
She’d run ahead to find Chase. When she’d seen Decker attacking him, she’d acted without thinking. Ruby had distracted Decker enough to give Chase the upper hand. But then? Chase had turned absolutely vicious.
She’d never seen him like that before.
Sean rubbed his chin. “And that’s when I showed up. The picture’s a little clearer. Did you get anything useful for all this trouble? Noah told me you’re investigating a murder in West Oaks.”
“I heard Decker discussing the murder of Mickey Waverley with Adrian Peele,” Chase explained. “Decker wanted money to skip town. He knew Ruby’s lawyer had been asking questions about the circuit, and Decker was afraid Mickey’s murder would get traced back to him and Peele.”
“Are you serious?” Ruby whispered.
Holt whistled. “Adrian Peele, huh? Would be nice to get charges to stick against that slippery fucker. Peele has important friends, if you catch my drift.”
“Just tell me you can hold Decker,” Chase said. “I’m going to talk to West Oaks PD about getting a search warrant based on what I overheard. It’s not much, but it could lead to stronger evidence that would nail Decker and maybe even Peele for Waverley’s murder.”
So the investigation was still up in the air. But this was the biggest lead they’d had. Ruby couldn’t wait to tell Jane.
“I think Decker’s good for assaulting a police officer, at the very least. We’ll hold him, and I’ll make sure he doesn’t get to ask the court for bail for a few days.
But as for this murder, that’s West Oaks PD’s business.
I need to start sorting out the rest of this mess.
The moment we stepped in the building, people started panicking and running.
I think I already hear the news choppers circling.
” Sean pointed at them. “None of you go anywhere without giving a statement.”
Sean walked a few feet away, conferring with Noah.
Ruby tugged off her wig and shook out her hair. “What about Nora? Peele and Decker didn’t mention her name?”
“Not once. I didn’t see her.”
Hopefully, the LAPD raid had helped deflect attention from Nora, rather than making the situation any worse for her.
Then Ruby realized what this could mean. “If you’re testifying against Adrian Peele, he could try to go after you. You’ll be in danger.”
“Do you know how often I testify as a witness? All the damn time. It’s just part of my job.”
Her instinct was to argue. But she’d seen tonight that Chase could take care of himself.
Chase studied her. “Nothing to say to that?”
“Nope. I’m going to trust that you can handle it.”
He narrowed his eyes. “This is Ruby Whitestone talking?”
She’d watched Mickey fight in the ring dozens of times, and he’d never looked as bloodthirsty as Chase had when he’d taken down Conrad Decker.
Chase would’ve kicked Mickey’s ass.
Which was a very inappropriate and cruel thought to be having, since Mickey had been murdered, but Ruby’s rebellious brain didn’t always care what was appropriate.
She’d witnessed Chase’s gentle side more often than she could count. But wow, was he hot when he was dangerous.
They spent the next two hours giving statements and answering questions. Sean and his team had set up a base of operations right there in the warehouse.
Ruby was sitting in a chair in a corner, nodding off, when Chase came over. “Hey, you ready to head back to West Oaks?”
She snapped back to awareness. “Did you hear anything about the search warrants?”
Chase grinned. “Detective Murphy wasn’t happy, but she’s working on my affidavit now. We’re going to present the warrant to a judge first thing in the morning. And LAPD has Decker in custody for assault. He’s not going anywhere.”
“Peele?”
“It’ll take more time to build a case against him, but for the moment he’s got his hands full dealing with LAPD and tonight’s raid.
When West Oaks executes the search warrant, Peele won’t even see it coming.
With some luck, it’s only a matter of time until we have the proof we need that you’re innocent. ”
This was the best news she’d heard in a while. Ruby stood up and hugged him.
“You must be exhausted,” he said. “Let’s go home and get some rest.”