Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Steff stood back from the table as Ox carefully lifted the note out and placed it into a large, clear plastic bag.
Was there anything written on it?
To her it had looked like a blank piece of paper, but she’d only glanced at it before Dalton shifted it closer to him.
He hadn’t said anything either, and if there was something on it, he would’ve told her.
Ox hadn’t turned the paper over, so maybe it was blank and this whole thing was a big joke. A joke that made no sense to her.
“Now you can look at it.” Ox held out the bag to her, and she took it.
Dalton was beside her, and a second later, the light pressure of his hand on her lower back registered.
She loved these little touches he was giving her. They weren’t intrusive, but comforting. The silent support she needed.
Quickly, she turned the bag over, and there were three words written on them in pink ink, as if that would ease the impact of them.
It’s not over!
“It’s not over,” Dalton said the words aloud for everyone, as she didn’t seem able to speak.
“What’s not over?” Deal asked, stating the obvious, really.
“I don’t know.” She finally found her voice, and was pleased that there was only a hint of a quiver in it.
“Let me take it to my office. I’ve got some fingerprint powder I can run over it to see if whoever wrote this left one behind.” Cass held out her hand and Steff gave it to her.
Irish and Angel followed the other woman out of the room. Steff sat down again, needing the stability of the chair, as she wasn’t sure how much longer her legs were going to keep her upright.
“This makes no sense. Why send it in a big box? Why not an envelope?” Dalton asked the questions that were curling through her mind.
He grabbed the box as if he could find something else in there. By the way he tossed it back on the table, she knew he hadn’t been successful.
“All we can hope for is whoever wrote it to have left a print on it somewhere.” Fox gave Dalton’s shoulder a squeeze, and Steff could see he was doing it to calm Jag, who looked as if he wanted to pummel someone.
The combined look of annoyance and anger didn’t scare her. None of the emotion was directed at her, and Dalton would never hurt her. He’d rather hurt himself than do harm to her.
It was an assumption someone who didn’t know the man, would think she was silly for making, but with everything that Dalton had shown her over the last couple of weeks she knew she was right.
“We should’ve done that with the box before we opened it,” Dalton ground out. “The fucker was holding it without gloves. His prints would be all over it. Now it’s got mine, Angel’s, and Hound’s as well.”
“You’re right, we should’ve done that,” Ox said, his voice firm. “And we still can. You know we have the ability to isolate yours, Hound’s, and Angel’s prints. All might not be lost.”
Steff hadn’t even thought about trying to get fingerprints from the box.
The more pressing thing was what the note said, and the implications it elicited.
“I don’t get any of this. I haven’t started something and not finished it.
I’m not working, so it’s not like it’s from an employer, but it’ ridiculous they would go to that extreme. ”
What she was saying made no sense, because it didn’t to her. She was just saying the first things that came to her mind.
“We could get it solved quickly if Cass comes back with a print. Not to mention the ID of the guy who delivered it. We won’t stop looking until we’ve found an answer for you.”
Could she believe what Ox was saying?
He ran Alliez Security, he had to have good knowledge of what they could and couldn’t do, but there was nothing much to go on as far as Steff could tell.
The car was a bust because of the plates being stolen. As much as she hoped and believed they could get a print from the box and letter, she wasn’t putting all her eggs in that basket.
“What’s going on here?” A deep voice sounded behind her.
“Isaac, good that you could make it. How’s Marie?” Ox smiled at the newcomer.
He took a seat opposite Steff. She recognized him from Teresa’s place, but she didn’t know how he fit into the group. She hadn’t been paying much attention to anything, or anyone, apart from Dalton.
He looked older than everyone, as if he’d seen a lot in his life. He was ruggedly handsome, with silver sprinkled through his dark hair. He had a large smile on his face, which had appeared at Ox’s question.
“She’s good. At home sleeping, as she came off a night shift.” He looked at Steff and smiled. “My wife’s an ER doctor. And I’m Isaac Warner.”
“Steff Price.”
“I know.” He said the two words quietly, so she couldn’t be sure if that was what he’d said. His smile dropped a fraction.
Had he been one of the men who’d rescued her that night? She hadn’t asked Dalton to tell her which of the men he worked with, were there with him. She assumed it was his closest friends and teammates. But perhaps all of the men in this room had been there.
“What’s happening here?” he asked again. “Anything I can help with?”
She expected Ox to tell Isaac what was going on, but he deferred to Dalton, who told the newcomer the events of the morning so far.
Isaac leaned back in his chair, looking thoughtful. Was he running through everything to see if he could see a connection that all the other’s had missed?
There was a certain aura around him, as if he’d seen and done a lot.
“What are you thinking?” Dalton asked.
Isaac flicked his gaze to her before looking back at Dalton.
What was that look all about?
Did he know something?
“Can I see a picture of the delivery guy?” Not what she’d been expecting Isaac to ask. She thought for sure he was going to come out with something profound that would solve the mystery.
“Sure.” Ox handed him a tablet.
“Do you want something to drink?” Steff startled at Dalton’s question. She’d been so focused on Isaac that she hadn’t seen or felt Dalton moving closer to her.
He was so close his lips almost brushed her ear. An unexpected shaft of desire settled low in her belly.
“I-uh. Yes, please.” Somehow she got the words out while trying not let on how much his closeness affected her.
Whatever was growing between her and Dalton, it wasn’t freaking her out, and she didn’t understand why.
After everything she’d gone through, she believed she would never feel anything like desire, want, or need again. She believed it had been taken away from her the first night when two men shoved her into that dark room and took privileges they had no right taking.
Yet here she was, her body coming alive, and she wasn’t consumed with fear.
“Are you okay? Do you need some space? I can take you out of here?” Dalton fired the questions at her.
Why was she not surprised that he’d picked up on her confusion?
This was the reason why she had no fear being around him. Dalton saw her. Not as a victim, but as a woman. Someone he wanted to spend time with.
It would be totally the wrong thing to do, to grab him and haul him close so that she could kiss him, but that was what she wanted to do.
“With you, I’m good.” She hoped he understood what she was saying without saying it in front of his work colleagues.
A slow smile curved his lips until his eyes brightened, and the worry disappeared.
He got it.
He understood.
“Me too,” he responded, and a lightness filled her.
“About that drink,” she said after seconds of them gazing at each other and ignoring everything else going on around them.
“What would you like? We have nearly everything here.”
“Sparkling water?” she queried.
“Coming right up.” And in front of everyone, Dalton kissed her on the lips. The kiss was short, but meaningful.
“Right.” Ox cleared his throat, and heat stole into her cheeks. She knew, without having to look into a mirror, they would be pink.
She ducked her head, willing her embarrassment to go away, but she also embraced it, because this was another step to reclaiming her life. “Sorry,” she muttered.
“Hey, we’ve got nothing to be sorry about.” Dalton touched her shoulder. “You should see what this lot do with their wives.” He waved a hand around the room.
Everyone chuckled, and Steff felt a little better. There was definitely a camaraderie amongst the group where they were all happy to tease each other, but also be true to themselves and not ashamed to show affection to those they cared about.
“How about we get back to the issue at hand,” Ox suggested, and the lightheartedness disappeared.
Dalton returned with her glass of water, and she grabbed it, taking a long sip. The bubbles danced on her tongue.
Cass and the others returned to the room, and from their grim expressions, she didn’t need to be told that they hadn’t found anything. “You didn’t have any luck, did you?” she asked, hoping that her assumption had been wrong.
“It’s clear whoever wrote this used gloves. I picked up fine trace elements of the powder that is used in some latex gloves.” Cass sat where she’d been before.
“What about the box? We should’ve got you to take that at the same time,” Dalton queried from his position behind her.
“Unlikely we’ll get anything substantial, even with the isolation we can do, but I’ll definitely run it after.”
“Anything with regards to the delivery guy?” Deal asked.
“Not yet, I wanted to work a bit longer on it, see if I can make the image crisper before I start putting it through all the databases I can access,” Cass answered. “Do you recognize him, Isaac?”
“He doesn’t look familiar. Sorry.” He almost looked upset that he hadn’t been able to figure it out for them. “But if you can show me after you’ve worked your magic, I’ll see if I recognize him.”
Conversation flowed around her, and she withdrew into herself a little. It seemed unbelievable that all the people in the room were working hard to help her. It was unexpected, but she was grateful for them.
She was effectively a stranger, yet it didn’t matter.
Again, she wondered what would’ve happened if she’d been alone? More than likely, she would’ve fallen into a panic attack, and it would’ve taken her a long time to pull herself out of it.
In all likelihood, it would’ve sent her over the cliff, and she would’ve never left her apartment again.