The second I got out to my car I second-guessed myself. With so many people inside the house, they’d surely hear me strike up my vehicle. So, with my piece hooked to my hip and my shit on my back, I started down the road. If I could get out of the neighborhood, I was one good flag away from catching a cab. Then, they wouldn’t even be able to track my damned car since it would still be sitting in their fucking driveway.
So, I started toward the road.
I hated my sister for pulling me into this mess. I hated my sister for never being able to make decent decisions with her life. I was able to turn my bullshit life around after I fucked things up. Why the fuck couldn’t she? I mean, did she not have a blessed mind in that thick skull of hers? Did she honestly think this was the best thing for Cheyenne?
I didn’t even want to consider the answer as I picked up the pace.
“Come on, just a bit further,” I murmured.
The wrought iron gates were in sight. My feet went from walking to jogging as my bags slapped against my back. This neighborhood was a hell of a lot darker than I thought it was. And even though it was a gated community, being by myself in the dark put me slightly on edge. I pulled air through my nose and readied myself to grab my weapon just in case someone thought they could assault me in the middle of the night.
And when I heard footsteps sprinting up behind me, that’s exactly what I did.
“Hold it right there!” I exclaimed.
I whipped around with my gun in my hand and watched Finn pause within ten feet of me.
“Are you fucking serious right now?” he asked.
I cocked my gun. “Hands up. Now.”
He snickered. “You wouldn’t dare.”
I pointed the gun at his feet and popped off a shot, sending him dancing as the silencer on my gun muted the cracking sound so the pretentious neighborhood I had found myself in didn’t actually call the damn cops on us. The last thing I needed was the cops finding me shacked up with a crew they are actively investigating. I sure as hell wasn’t going back to that house.
“Are you insane?” he growled.
“Hands in the air. Now,” I commanded.
He slowly slipped them into the air. “There. Satisfied?”
My eyes slowly trickled down his body. “You reach for your gun or any of those knives, and you’ll bleed out on this pavement. Understood?”
He blinked. “You’re a real freak of nature, you know that?”
I tilted my head. “Just damn good at my job. That’s all.”
When he took a step toward me, I shot again at his feet, and as he danced for me, I saw the anger blossoming behind his eyes.
“If you continue to come toward me, I’ll shoot you without a second thought. I’m a police officer, and you and your crew are actively being investigated by the local department. I have the right to protect myself if you force me back to that house, so stay put.”
He scoffed. “All of you guys have an entitled fucking attitude.”
I didn’t know what he meant, and I didn’t care. “Back up and go home.”
He lowered his hands. “Or, you can calm the fuck down and talk to me.”
My gun fell to his chest. “And why should I calm down? Please, enlighten me, biker dude.”
He held out his arms. “Look around, Sloane. Just because you’re in some richy-ass part of Santa Cruz doesn’t mean you’re safer than anyone else walking around on the street at this time of the night.”
I shrugged. “I’m not a fragile little bitch, so I’ll be just fine.”
“No one thinks you’re fragile.”
“Really? Because you’re sure as hell treating me like I am.”
He took a small step toward me. “Just come back with me, and if you really want to leave in the morning I’ll escort you to a hotel.”
I shook my head. “No can do. I can handle myself if something happens, so you don’t need to worry your precious little head about it.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. But, at least wait until morning. Your sister’s gonna have my ass if I let you go in the middle of the night like this.”
I licked my lips. “You know, I did some digging on you guys.”
He blinked. “And?”
I grinned. “And… I now know everything about you that the cops do. Including Melody.”
The second I said her name, his face darkened. His eyes grew black as night, and he seemed to grow three feet above my head. His fists clenched at his sides, and he kept taking steps toward me, completely forgetting the fact that I had my finger on the trigger-point of my gun.
And he didn’t stop until he loomed over me with his teeth gnashed together.
“What the fuck did you just say?” he growled.
I jammed my gun into his chest. “I said, I know about Melody. I know about juvie. I know about all of it. So, if you don’t want your shit blabbed to your entire crew, you better let me go right now.”
Tears formed in his eyes, and I wondered if they were real or not. “I had nothing to do with her death. Absolutely nothing, you slimy little bitch.”
“That’s what they all say.”
His head fell off to the side. “You know, I don’t have to fucking explain it to you. But I dropped her off earlier in the evening after I took her out for a little drive to clear her head after she had a fight with her stepfather, and then she turned up dead. That’s what happened.”
“And you’re sticking to that story it, I take it.”
His eye twitched. “You don’t know shit about me.”
I holstered my gun and shoved him away with my hand. “And you don’t know shit about me, either. Everyone had an alibi for the timeframe she was murdered except you. Everyone had alibis that checked out and had multiple witnesses in the process putting them elsewhere except you. And you expect me to believe that some punk-ass biker with a record didn’t do it? Is that really what you’re trying to convince me of?”
His face darkened a bit and the tears disappeared. “You know, your sister told me you were different. She told me you’d work every angle, that you’d search under every rock for the actual truth. But, if you honestly believe the bullshit in that file, then you’re just as worthless as every other cop I’ve ever come across.”
I expected him to rush me. I fully and completely expected him to fight me tooth and nail to try and drag me back to the house. But instead, he left those words hanging heavily between us as he turned his back to me. He stalked off down the road, making his way back toward the house that was two blocks behind us, and as I stood there watching him walk away his words slapped me across the face.
I sure as hell wasn’t worthless.
Nor was I dirty.
He clearly has an issue with her death.
Yeah, he’s guilty as fuck. That’s the issue.
But the way he reacted? What if I was reading the file wrong?
I grumbled to myself before I drew in a deep breath. I hated it when my gut overrode what my mind was telling me. But, my gut had never once steered me wrong. In my entire detective career with the Santa Barbara police, my gut had always been the winning factor in all of my cases. And while some people accused me of fabricating evidence or even planting it, my superiors knew better.
They knew what my gut could do when put to the test.
“Why wouldn’t I understand?” I called after him.
He stopped walking, but he didn’t turn to face me. “You’re too busy jumping to conclusions instead of actually looking into shit, so why the hell should I talk to you about anything?”
Trust is the most important factor in any open case.
My mentor’s words rumbled through my mind, and they almost made me sick. At the end of the day, I had agreed to help my sister, which meant I had agreed to help these guys. I had promised my sister I’d give this case a good, thorough look despite my prejudices and my emotions toward the issue at hand. And here I was, running away because I didn’t agree with what was being said to me.
Just like I had run away from my parents the second I could when I turned eighteen.
Damn it. “Wait up!”
Finn didn’t listen, though. He kept his back turned to me and kept heading toward the house as if he hadn’t heard me yelling behind him. I let out a frustrated sigh as I rushed to catch up with him, but he certainly didn’t make it easy on me. The man had long legs despite the fact that he only had about five or so inches on me, and as I settled into a rhythm beside him we made our way back to the house together.
“Change your mind that easily, huh?” Finn asked as we stepped into the driveway.
I scoffed. “Over my dead body. All I’m saying is that you’re right. I can’t head out on foot at this time of the evening. Plus, it’ll be easier to find a place to stay at in the morning.”
He’s more than just a bad boy, and you know it.
“So, I’ll be escorting you to a hotel after breakfast?” he asked.
He turned to face me and my heart fell to my toes. The pain rushing behind his eyes was unmistakable. The way his body shook with fury caused my heart to stop in my chest. That name had triggered an emotion within him, and it certainly wasn’t guilt. Guilty men didn’t look the way he looked. But, I knew that look. I’d seen it many times throughout my career before I took on cases that other police officers deemed impossible.
It was the look of a man that knew justice hadn’t been served.
There’s something deeper there, and you know it.
“How about this,” I said as I dropped my things to the ground, “if you go with me to find a decent hotel tomorrow morning, I’ll get you a room so you can fulfill your promise to your guys and I’ll listen to your side of the story with Melody.”
His eyes fell down my body before he turned and headed for the front door. And when those words fell from his lips, I knew I had sealed my fate.
I knew I wouldn’t be leaving Santa Cruz until I had everything figured out.
“You have yourself a deal, Detective.”
As I laid in bed down in the basement staring up at the ceiling, I couldn’t get my altercation with Finn out of my head. And the more I thought about it, the truth started to become clearer. The truth was that Finn most certainly didn’t kill Melody.
How did I know? Well, I’ve interviewed killers, that’s how I knew, and this man didn’t react the way killers usually did whenever I mentioned the victim.
“What I need is proof,” I whispered.
I read through the file. I saw the evidence from the crime scene. I saw the pictures on the beach of that poor girl, beaten and battered and face down in the fucking sand. I saw the autopsy report. I knew exactly how many hands had been in this investigation. And if it was a cover-up to protect some bullshit, abusive cop, then there were a lot of hands that were dirty in this.
Then, my thoughts shifted. The more I thought about Finn, the more I thought about that pouty lower lip of his. The more I thought about how it felt like he towered over me sometimes and, oddly enough, how good that felt. I thought about his voice and how it gave me shivers. I even thought about how wonderful and comforting his body heat radiating toward me had felt against my bare skin. I closed my eyes and imagined his face coming closer; his lips slowly gravitating toward mine.
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to push thoughts of Finn off to the side. He wasn’t someone I could get involved with for multiple reasons. One, my job. Two, my sister. Three, my current living situation. Four, my sanity.
I counted all of the reasons why Finn and I wouldn’t work as I finally slipped off into an effortless slumber.
And because my brain hated me, I dreamt about him all night.
Nevertheless, when my eyes ripped open the next morning I swung my feet off the bed. I packed up my shit, ignored my sister as I made my way out to my car, and watched as Finn prepared his motorcycle to follow me. His eyes caught mine, and I could see the anger that still lingered under the surface. I tried to ignore his broodiness as I got in my car and started the engine.
As I drove out of the driveway, I breathed a slight sigh of relief. At least in a hotel room, I’d be able to have some space.
But, I had to make a pit-stop first.
“Finn?” I asked.
His voice came through the speakers of my car since I had my phone plugged into the auxiliary input. “Yeah?”
I turned on my left-hand signal. “I need to run by the police station really quickly. I’ve got some files I need to put up, but I also need special permissions to access a couple of things.”
He grumbled. “Fair enough. We’ll zoom by there. In the meantime, I’ll look up hotels in the area.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. There’s this cute hotel over by the ocean that has a few open hotel suites. I got us a side-by-side, with a door we can lock that leads straight into each other’s little living areas.”
“Ok. How long do you think you’ll be in the station?”
I pulled into a parking space. “Uh, I’d say at least thirty minutes. Possibly an hour? I want to ask around about a couple of things that came to mind about the Black Flags last night before I fell asleep. So, maybe you could go get us coffee? Or some groceries to take up to our hotel rooms?”
He eased into the parking spot behind mine on the other side of the lot. “I can’t leave you. You know that.”
I sighed. “Finn, you have my absolute word that I’m not going anywhere, and if I’m going to show you that I can be trusted then you have to give me the space to be trustworthy.”
He paused. “I see why your sister hates arguing with you.”
I grinned. “Did she really say that?”
He revved his engine. “More times than I can count.”
I snorted. “Well, just give this to me, yeah? Get some supplies from the store–you know, sandwich meant, sodas, coffee, the basics–and I’ll meet you back out here in about an hour.”
He eased back out of the parking space. “If you run, I will find you. I hope you know that.”
His voice shivered me to my core. “Go. I’ll be fine and here when you get back.”
And with a nod of his head that I saw in my rearview mirror, he made his way for the road.
When he fell off into the horizon, I unbuckled myself and took my cell phone inside. I made my way up to the front desk and returned the paperback files I didn’t need any longer, then I made my way to the chief’s office. I knocked softly on his door and he ripped it open, but held up his finger and asked for one more second.
He was barking at someone over his office phone and I wondered what had fallen into his lap today.
Nevertheless, I sat patiently and waited for him to hang up. And when he did, I had some very pointed questions I wanted to ask him.
“I take it you’ve got something for me?” he asked.
I sat down in the chair in front of his desk. “Actually, I was hoping to speak with you about those local girls from the strip club that came in with that girl named Summer?”
He perched on the side of his desk. “Ah, yes. Those girls. Sure, I can tell you what I know. What’s up?”
I crossed my leg over my knee. “I need to know if any of those girls still work for the club.”
He blinked. “You’re kidding, right?”
I shook my head. “No. As of right now, no one has enough information to take this case from circumstantial to proven. I need someone on the inside, preferably someone you’ve already worked with. Do you know of any girl that came in that was maybe snatched back up? As terrible as that sounds.”
His eyes searched mine. “Why?”
An odd question. “So I can run a small op, that’s why.”
He didn’t speak for a long time. But when he did, he started spouting off a plan.” “You’re going to be better off finding one of the bottom feeder girls in a place like that. Someone so inconspicuous that the guys don’t even give her the time of day. None of those kinds of girls will be girls we’ve come into contact with, but that’s your next best bet.”
I nodded. “Maybe you could help put me in touch with one of them, then. It would be the best way to infiltrate their operation, in my opinion.”
He sighed. “How many of my men will you need for this operation?”
I shook my head. “No one.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “No one?”
I shook my head. “I’ll handle the other women, recruit the girls to help, and handle all of the business and intake of information. All I need is a shoe-in. All I need is someone that knows someone else in there that can communicate that I’m the good guy.”
He licked his lips. “There is someone, actually. A girl that we’ve been trying to help, but she’s also a stubborn girl that won’t take our help when we present it. Her name’s Beth, and she’s the head prostitute for the Black Flags. She works on Barron Street. Weirdly enough, the call her the ‘bottom girl.’”
I rolled my eyes. “How ironic.”
He snickered. “You’re telling me. Anyway, do you have permission from your own captain to run an op like this?”
I nodded. “Already talked to her this morning.”
He stood to his feet. “Then, all there is to do is inform my captain of what’s happening. He’ll be the one to approve any and all additional officers and support, should you need it.”
I stood with him. “Thank you. I really appreciate the vote of confidence.”
He chuckled. “It’s not a vote of confidence. I did my fair share of calling around about you after you waltzed into my office the other day. Turns out, you come highly recommended by not only your boss and your peers, but other stations as well. Is it true that you really help precincts root out dirty cops?”
I grinned. “It’s the pride and joy of my work.”
His eyes searched mine. “I’ll keep that in the back of my mind for now, if you get my drift.”
Shivers tingled up my spine, and not in a good way. “Yes, sir. You do that.”
After exchanging glances for a little longer than I was used to, I followed behind him straight to his captain’s office. And Captain Tyrant–which is the only name this individual shall be given–quickly informed us that there was absolutely no budget to send any additional officers on a “frivolous case with no base.”
I now saw why the chief eyed me down like he did.
However, that didn’t stop me. I reassured the chief behind closed doors that if I needed any sort of help, I’d call him directly. I mean, the captain couldn’t do anything about what people did on their own schedule, so what the fuck did he care of the chief volunteered his time to help out?
Honestly, another good cop on my side was all I needed for something like this.
“Just promise me you’ll call,” he said as we walked out of the station.
I turned and shook his hand. “You have my word that if anything happens, I’ll reach out immediately.”
He nodded. “Good. I know our captain’s a hardass with bottom lines, but he doesn’t get to dictate our free time.”
“Our, sir?”
He grinned. “Let’s just say I got a few favors with my men I could call in if things get really hairy.”
I heard Finn’s bike off in the distance. “Good to know, and thank you. I will be placing a call if I need it.”
Thankfully, the chief walked inside just as Finn pulled into the parking lot, and I made a break for my car. He fell behind me on the road as we made our way to the hotel I had booked for us, but I wondered if this was a good idea. I mean, Finn had some great points. If I stayed at the house, not only was I closer to other men who could protect me but I’d also be closer to my sister in case something happened with her. But, on the other hand, if this precinct caught wind that I was shacking up with a crew they were actively investigating, my operation could go up in smoke.
So, we checked into our respective hotel rooms and started unloading groceries.
“You feeding an army over there?” I asked.
Finn walked into his suite and talked through the wall. “I am the army as of right now. I’m the only line of defense you’ve got if shit goes down, so yes, I’m feeding myself well.”
I giggled as I unloaded the stuff he got for me. “Thanks for this, by the way. I just need some space between myself and everyone else.”
“Not used to living with other people?”
I snickered. “Not one damn bit.”
As I continued unloading groceries in silence, I wondered if I should tell Finn what I knew. On the one hand, the more space we had between us, the better. I knew how to take care of myself if anything came up. From beating down an intruder to getting out of an abduction situation to shaking a tail, I knew how to do it all, and I knew how to do it all with grace. But, it was comforting to have Finn right next door in case something happened.
I still wasn’t sure if I could handle being physically close to him again, though.
I heard a doorknob jiggle off to my right and looked over to see the locked door that separated our suites wiggling slightly. I heard Finn flipping the lock back and forth before he knocked on the door and my heart stopped in my chest. Did I let him in? Did I let him have free reign over my domain?
“Come on, Sloane. Open up,” he said.
He kept knocking as I put up the last of my groceries, but when I walked over to the door I didn’t flip the lock for him.
“Finn?”
He paused. “Yeah?”
I leaned against the door. “Is it too much to ask for a bit of privacy?”
“Sloane, I have to have access to you, and without a key to your room I can’t get inside.”
I closed my eyes. “What if I gave you a key, then?”
“What?”
I snickered. “If I gave you a key, do you promise only to use it in emergencies? A girl’s gotta have her privacy, you know.”
He pondered my question for a while before he answered. “Are you sure about this?”
I rushed over to where the billfold of keys was and slipped the extra one I had out of the small brochure I was given. I walked back over to the door and slid the key beneath it, answering his question with my actions. He groaned before I heard him snatch the key up and I could tell that he wasn’t happy.
He also didn’t fight me on it, though, which was a nice improvement.
“If I think anything is wrong at all,” he glowered.
“I know, I know,” I said breathlessly, “and if you think something is wrong, feel free to use it.”
I wanted to tell him about what the hell was going on, I really did. But, the smallest part of me still wasn’t sure that I could trust him. Plus, the protocols that came with an operation like this had to be adhered to by the strictest standards if we were all going to get out of this with the Black Flags in handcuffs. And in that right, I couldn’t imagine talking to him about the details of an active and ongoing investigation.
Plus, he was still part of a fucking gang.
“Shit,” I whispered.
“What was that?” Finn asked.
I shook my head as I walked over to the coffee maker. “Just me cursing beneath my breath.”
“Why?” he asked quickly.
“Uh, because I’m a grownup and that’s what we do?”
When he didn’t respond, my thoughts quickly turned to all of those underage girls and how this guy named Chops and his little misfit crew or whatever were using them. It made me sick to think about. The one thing I knew for certain, however, was that I needed to get Summer the hell out of this place and take her and Cheyenne far, far away until this entire case was settled.
The only issue was Tanner.
Because I knew damned good and well he wouldn’t abandon his crew to go with them.
Maybe if I bust Chops, I can somehow take them down, too.
Seeing Tanner behind bars for the shady shit he had done with this crew brought a smile to my face. If Summer didn’t want to save herself, then I could go about this another way. But, that required a very long and harsh talk with my sister. I slid my cell phone out of my pocket and made my way into the master suite where I flopped onto the bed and calmed myself with the ebbing of the ocean waves just beyond the sliding patio glass.
Then, I called my sister and attempted to do my worst.
“Sloane! When the hell are you and Finn getting back? We need to talk,” she said.
I shot upright and lowered my voice, not wanting to startle the man in the room next to me. “Talk? What’s wrong? Has something happened?”
She sighed heavily. “The guys are talking about you and Finn staying in a hotel. Is that true?”
I closed my eyes. “There are just some things that have come up, and for many reasons I feel like it’s better if Finn and I are separated from you guys. That’s all.”
She paused. “This is me you’re talking to, Sloane. I know when you’re lying and I know when something’s up. You know something about this case, don’t you?”
I stood and walked over to the patio door. “I can’t talk about a case I’m working on. You know this.”
“Oh, cut the bullshit, you idiot. I brought you here so you could keep us filled in and you know that.”
I shrugged. “Not my problem that you underestimated how dedicated I was to doing this right.”
“You tell me what you know so that me and this crew can protect ourselves, or so help me God–.”
My voice grew harsh. “Summer, do you know what happens if a judge somewhere has figured out that I was talking about this case to a fucking rival crew? Huh? Do you know what they do to that kind of shit in court?”
I didn’t give her time to answer before anger flew from my lips.
“They throw them out, that’s what. Which means that the shit you’re putting yourself through, and me, and you’re fucking goddamn daughter–.”
“You leave Cheyenne out of this,” she growled.”
“No,” I said as my voice raised, “for once, you listen to me. You might be big sister and all that shit, but I’m the only cop for hours that believes you when it comes to the Black Flags. I’m your last line of defense. Your last line of hope. And I’m not doing anything to compromise this investigation or it’s integrity because you chose to stand on the wrong side of the line.”
She scoffed. “The wrong side of–do you even hear yourself!?”
I chewed on the inside of my lip. “Now you know how I feel about you every time I sit down and talk myself through the situation you’ve gotten yourself into. And my niece.”
“Keep Cheyenne out of your mouth.”
I growled at her. “When you start taking her safety into consideration, I will.”
She hissed at me. “And if you want any sort of a relationship with her after this is all said and done, you better start talking now.”
So, against my better judgment, I broke down and told Summer everything I knew, including the operation I wanted to run.
Which sparked yet another fight.
