Chapter 24
Reese
“Thank you for stopping for clothes. For buying them. For caring about me.” I barely remembered going into Marshalls, needing his help to find something appropriate to wear.
What did one choose when heading to see if your sister had been murdered in cold blood?
I had no idea. The skirt and top were fine. I guess.
Without a doubt, I was a mess, incapable of thinking clearly.
All I knew was that he’d had to come into the dressing room with me, helping me put on clothes. Like I was a child incapable of doing so.
“Of course I care about you, Reese. Very much.”
Darkness swirled all around me even as the bright lights of the city streets created flashing waves in vivid colors across the dashboard.
I’d heard all about the stages of grief from disbelief to anger. I’d already experienced every one of them before Kendrick had all but carried me to his car.
Now I was numb. Not hot. Not cold.
I felt nothing, as if my entire being had dropped into a haunted abyss where I’d free float for eternity.
With my head lolled against the headrest, an array of past events in my life paraded in front of me, taunting me into remembering my sweet sister. Meanwhile, a constant ticking sound tickled my eardrums, as if hands of a clock were counting down time.
Until what I wasn’t certain.
“What lengths would you go to in order to provide justice?” I asked quietly. We’d been in the car for over ten minutes, the silence churning my mind into shattered pieces of myself.
“What lengths?”
“Yes. Is there a line you won’t cross if necessary?”
Exhaling, Kendrick rubbed his finger across his lips. “No.”
A single word. A definitive word.
“Even murder?”
“Even murder.”
He wasn’t lying. I could feel it in my bones, sense it in every synapse of my brain. Some might call him a monster like the others if he was willing to take another life. In my mind, he was the very hero that he refused to accept.
Brave and honest. Caring and wise. Yet refusing to allow criminals to win.
My respect for the man continued to grow.
So did a deeper, more intense set of feelings that I wasn’t capable of rationalizing. At least not right now. Not with what we were facing.
Death.
I hadn’t really thought about what it meant up until now. Yes, I’d lost both sets of grandparents over the years, but all four had lived incredible lives. This was entirely different.
I’d never experienced such hopelessness, the sadness overwhelming. While there was a chance the body in the morgue didn’t belong to my sister, I’d mentally prepared myself for the worst.
What other choice did I have?
The rumble of the car’s engine added to the extreme nausea. My brain remained foggy, still trying to accept there were such horrible people in this world.
“How are you holding up?” Kendrick’s voice was as soothing as it had been when he’d shared the news. After that, I hadn’t heard a word for at least thirty minutes, sobbing uncontrollably the entire time.
“I’m fine.” A lie. A big, bad, bold lie. I was lost, the deep ache leaving bile in my throat and a huge crater in my heart. “What if it’s her?”
“Then we double down on our efforts.”
“What if you can’t catch them?”
“We will, baby. We will. Are you certain you want to do this?”
“I have to, Kendrick. My mother and father won’t be able to handle it. Briana is my sister. You should have heard Daddy on the phone. He was so anxious.”
“I confirmed that they arrived at the safehouse.”
Exhaling, I nodded. “Thank God. Will they be safe there?”
“Nothing a couple strapping Marines can’t handle. Ruger is already working with your father. With any luck, they’ll hack the system.”
“Then what? Is this about identities or something else?”
I’d be damned if his grin wasn’t positively evil. “It’s also about freezing their accounts.”
“And just what do you do with all that money?” I asked.
His shrug was just as full of mischief as the look on his face. “Rob from the rich to pay the poor?”
He swung his head in my direction while making a turn.
“That’s a little too Robin Hood, but perhaps something similar.” While my statement was true, I was curious as to his intentions.
“Like I said, I’m no real hero.”
Since Franklin, I’d suffered in silence for what I’d endured.
Even though my father had eventually learned of our indiscretion through use of blackmail, the subject had been off limits.
That had kept me in a small vacuum of my own, pretending that I no longer needed a man in my life or hungered for the roughest edges of sex.
The cravings had defied the good girl inside of me.
Somehow, I’d managed to shove aside the dark yearning, finding fulfillment in vibrators and kinky stories instead.
Only in the last few days had I been forced to understand my intentions at avoiding the very sinful intimacy had been a shallow attempt at satisfaction.
The moment Kendrick had touched me, the intensity of my longing had been brought to the surface.
The truth was that I’d hungered for acts of roughness, embarrassed given what I’d experienced with Franklin.
The yin and yang of being with Kendrick wasn’t conventional, the two sides of him both forced by circumstances and by an awakening of his own.
How cathartic and perhaps a telling statement of the darkness residing in me that I found him even more attractive because of what he was willing to do.
For me.
For other victims.
For justice.
When he reached for my hand, I almost broke down.
He had a way of getting to me without saying a single word.
And I was a freaking mess. “But I will tell you this. If my sister was murdered, there isn’t a single person on this earth who can stop me from bringing her and the other women justice. Even you. Do you hear me? Do you?”
If the man believed he was going to control me, he was out of his freaking mind. My glare was harsher than necessary, but the humming vibrations coursing through every muscle as well as the sheer volume of adrenaline had me swaying on a sharp, steep precipice.
As he pulled into a parking lot, he swung a quick look in my direction. “I hear you, Reese. I won’t stop you. But I will be by your side. Every. Single. Step.”
His words offered hope, providing me with the courage I needed to get through this. After taking a deep breath, I stepped from the car, immediately noticing a woman standing near the entrance to the building.
Even before Kendrick removed the keys, he bristled.
He took his time walking around the front of the vehicle and joining me. The woman made no attempt to move, standing in the quiet twilight of the sweltering early evening studying us. “Who is she?”
“The detective who brought me the case. Jackie Abbott. While she and I have butted heads, I always believed she was on the up and up.”
“Not any longer. Right? You don’t trust her.” While he’d shared most of the conversations he’d had throughout the day, I knew him well enough to realize he was holding certain details from me. Likely to keep my stress level down.
Not possible any longer.
Not only was I a nervous wreck, but the anger had also increased. I’d asked myself the same question about how far I was willing to go. The answer had been easy, no hesitation whatsoever. I’d do anything to protect those I loved.
“There are very few people I can trust any longer. The answer is no, I don’t. However, she could have reasons beyond her control. Don’t offer any details of who we are or what we’re doing. As far as she knows, I’m a prosecutor with a desire to bring criminals to their knees.”
“But you’re planning on doing more.”
His laugh would always drive me to the point of desire. “I will do what’s necessary as I’ve told you. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
“How are you going to explain my presence?”
He put his arm around me, pressing his hand against the small of my back.
“I don’t plan on offering her anything other than what’s necessary.
If she’s playing on the wrong team, she’ll warn them.
If not, her alliance will prove helpful.
I think she knows better than to ask but so many questions.
We’ve worked together long enough she came to realize long ago that I’m a loner. ”
“And a powerful man willing to do what it takes.”
Shrugging, he pushed us forward. There was clear recognition in her eyes. “Maybe so. Jackie. Reese Murphy.”
“Ms. Murphy. I’m very glad that you’re alright and so sorry that we met under these circumstances.”
“How was… the girl found?” My question was little more than a whisper. By God, I couldn’t bring myself to accept that the poor girl lying dead could be my sister. Plus, the pleasantries I couldn’t stomach. We certainly weren’t going to be friends.
Jackie shifted her gaze toward Kendrick. “She washed up on the shore. From the preliminary results, the medical examiner mentioned she drowned.”
“What else?” Kendrick pushed, his voice little more than a low growl.
The detective was obviously uncomfortable. “She was wearing a cocktail dress and it appears she’d been in a physical confrontation. She’s bruised and beaten. The girl put up a fight.”
“A cocktail dress. That’s entirely possible. They make certain the girls are stunning. Makeup. Hair. Clothes. All for selling purposes.” I barely recognized my voice any longer.
“Are you willing to give a statement on what you endured?” she asked.
“We’re not going there, Jackie,” Kendrick intervened. “That’s not what this is about.”
“That just means you’re not ready to come clean with me.”
I could clearly tell the detective’s push annoyed Kendrick. “As I said. That’s not what this is about.”
“I need to see her,” I insisted. “I need to know.”
Jackie hesitated, once again turning her attention to Kendrick. “I understand. Just know she’s in rough shape.”
“I don’t care!” After my outburst, I pressed my hand to my face. “I’m sorry. This is very upsetting.”
“I can imagine, Ms. Murphy, and I’d like to help you if you’ll allow me.”