Chapter 12

"The family is like a diamond, with a rock solidity and divine splendor, held by love."

–Skender Nitaj

Rayne

The day had had the potential to be the best day of my life, but then I'd seen that email when I'd gone into my office in the morning. My workout with Jameson had settled me some at lunch, but then I'd gotten the call about the disturbance at the bar.

What had Declan been doing at the bar that early anyway? The place was scheduled to be open in about an hour, but Evelyn and Declan had been the only ones there. Why?

When I arrived, Owen and Abe, another beat officer, were trying to get into the building.

"We had complaints of a loud argument inside, followed by screams," Owen said.

"They don't open for another hour," I said. "What's the issue?"

Both men nodded to the building. I heard it then. Something inside broke followed by a shout and then another scream.

Pulling out my service weapon, I banged on the door. "Police. Open up," I shouted.

"We tried that," Owen said. "We were just about to go in."

Without hesitating, I broke the glass with the butt of my gun and pushed through the door.

Declan O'Malley was kneeling over the unconscious body of Evelyn Hart. I shouted for him to get his hands up as the other two officers held weapons on the man.

Then I watched Declan's arm jerk back as if he prepared to hit Evelyn and something deep inside me snapped. I flew across the room and jumped on the man, taking him with me to the ground.

We scuffled for a few seconds, during which time I made sure my elbow connected to his gut and groin before rolling him over and slapping my cuffs on him.

I prayed that the man would continue to fight me. Thankfully, he did. Two quick moves and he was pinned like a pig under my knees.

"Call an ambulance," I said when Evelyn coughed up blood.

"I didn't do nothing," Declan screamed. "It's not me. I didn't do nothing," he said again. "Someone else did that to her."

"Well now," I said leaning right next to his ear, "this time she doesn't have to file charges since you just had three officers witness the whole thing."

Declan bucked, trying to get free from my hold. I shoved my knee deeper into his back and heard him grunt.

"I'm playing nice," I warned him. "You know the drill. This time, you're not getting off so easily."

Then Declan started screaming. "You'll pay, bitch."

Seeing the man hauled away and locked in the back of a patrol car had to be the highlight of my afternoon.

Seeing Evelyn being taken away in the back of an ambulance dulled that moment of justice for me.

"We can handle this from now," Abe said to me.

"This is mine," I told him, meaning it. I wanted to see this one through. It mattered to me. Evelyn mattered.

I'd spoken to the woman a handful of times in the past week. Warned her about Declan. Talked to her about her six-year-old son, Tristan.

From the amount of blood coating the floor and her clothes, she'd be lucky to survive the night. Her head and face were so swollen that the only way I knew it was her was by the color of her hair and the clothes that she was wearing.

Jesus, this job sometimes made me think.

After talking to witnesses, and making sure the crime scene photographers took enough photos of the mess, I headed back to my office to work on the paperwork to keep Declan locked behind bars.

When I finally saw the text from Jameson, I had just sent my report over to my captain.

"Heard you had a productive afternoon. I've got to call tonight off since I have work now that Declan's busy. Rain check for tomorrow?"

Well, shit. There went my evening. I had been looking forward to a repeat of the night before. Still, I knew I'd probably be better off catching up on my sleep.

"Sounds good. See you then. Sorry I didn't tell you. I've been kinda busy," I responded.

"Understood. Night," he texted back almost immediately.

Glancing at my watch, I sighed and rolled my shoulders as I leaned back in my chair.

I watched Quincy walk into the bullpen. He eyed me and made a beeline towards me. Shit.

I should have faked being busy. Instead, I waited until he walked in and shut the door.

"Rayne," he said, sitting down across from me.

"Quincy." I mimicked his tone.

At one point, I had fallen for the man's charms. We hadn't gone out for a long, two short months. The sex had been good, not as knock-your-socks-off good as it was with Jameson. Still. I respected the man. What I didn't respect was him hiding things from me. Not little things either. Days would go by and he'd lie to me about being somewhere when I knew for damned sure he wasn't.

The stupidest being on the planet was someone who lied to a damned good detective and thought they'd get away with it. When I found out he'd been spotted at the bar with another girl's tongue down his throat, well, I simply don't tolerate having a relationship with a cheater.

He leaned forward, his eyes running over my face. "I think we need to talk."

"About?" I asked, arching my brows.

He cleared his throat and shifted as if he was uncomfortable.

"You aren't pregnant, are you?" I tried to joke.

Instead of laughing, he sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"There are things, people, you should be careful about associating with," he said slowly.

My temper grew. "Such as?" I asked just as slowly.

"You don't like games, so I'll just say it. There's a rumor going around town that you and Jameson Lorenzo are… tangled."

I chuckled. "Since when do you care about rumors?" I asked dryly.

Quincy's eyes narrowed. "The Reapers are no joke."

"I'm not laughing." I waited, wondering just what his game was. Was he concerned for my well-being or was he just trying to win me back? He'd tried for the first few weeks after I'd broken things off with him. Tried and failed miserably.

"There are holes too deep even for you to crawl out of," Quincy said as he stood up and walked out of my office.

Shit. Now I was in a piss-poor mood. I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Aria. "What are you doing tonight?"

Her response was almost immediate.

"Whatever you want. You can come in for a trim and girl time? My last appointment leaves in about half an hour."

"Perfect," I added.

"I'll have the wine ready," she sent back to me.

"See if Charlotte can hang and make it margaritas. I need some hard liquor."

"Woohoo! Fun times. I'll have her run next door and get what we need. See you when you get here."

I smiled as I tucked my phone away.

I was very lucky to have friends who were available when I needed them. Friends that I would drop everything for in return.

Since I had time, I opened the email I'd quickly closed earlier that morning and tried to figure out who had sent it.

The email address was a long line of numbers and, after a quick search, I found out that the account was closed.

I scanned the attached image and tried to mentally figure out where the photographer would have been to get the shot. My answer was somewhere in the woods that surrounded the cabin. Which meant they could have been there, watching us, all night.

Thankfully, the bedroom windows had thick curtains covering them.

There was no text with the image. No threatening words. The image was meant to do that job. That morning, I had been pissed off, not scared. Now, however, I started wondering if it was one of the Reapers or someone else. After all, they weren't hiding the fact that they were watching me.

I chuckled as I shut my computer down. Then again, maybe they thought they were doing a great job of being inconspicuous.

Stepping out of my office, I passed by Owen, who was on the phone.

"Have a good night," I said to a few people.

"You off tomorrow?" Abe asked as I passed his desk.

"For the next two days," I added with a nod. "Night."

The man turned back to his computer.

Quincy stood at the break area watching me as I knocked on Randy's door.

"Yeah," he called out and I opened the door. "Hey, sweetie." He stood up and stretched. "Heading out?"

I nodded. "I'm heading over to hang at Arias for a while."

His smile was quick. "Girls' night?"

I nodded. "How's Mom doing?"

His smile grew bigger. "She loves the new do." I watched his eyes and saw them turn slightly sad. "It's given her a second wind. She'll need it for this next round."

"That starts in a week?" I asked, trying to remember the schedule he'd sent me earlier.

"Yeah. Her friend Carolyn is going to be with her for the first bit. She's flying in from Florida." He smiled. "I know you're working the big one, so we called in a favor."

"I could have…" I started, but Randy held up his hand.

"Do your job. We'll take good care of her until you solve this one. Speaking of which?" He motioned for me to shut the door. I did and leaned against it. "Updates?" he asked.

"I'm working a couple of leads." I moved closer and lowered my voice. "Something stinks about the whole corruption and embezzling angle."

"I talked to the state attorney's office. They're going to shoot you what information they can. But obviously, the case is dead as far as prosecuting Sharon Taylor."

"Did they mention anyone else on their radar?" I asked.

Randy shook his head. "They wouldn't say. I was lucky to get what information I did. It seems their case is pretty hush-hush at this point."

"Right," I nodded, understanding that when you're working a case this big, you held your cards tight to your chest.

"What about Jameson? How's that going?" he asked.

"The Reapers are doing a shit job of tagging us. Jameson says they want him to use me to see how I'm dancing around the Taylor murder."

Randy frowned. "Why do the Reapers give a shit?"

"That's a very good question," I added with a smile as I glanced down at my watch. "But look, I'm officially off duty."

He chuckled. "Have fun tonight." He sat back down in his chair.

"Aren't you heading out?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I've got a new report from my lead detective in my inbox I have to look over."

I laughed. "Lance auto-sent that to you?"

"You know it." He laughed.

"Why did you make him captain?" I asked.

Randy rolled his eyes. "Because you wouldn't take the job."

I laughed and walked out of his office.

I was in a better mood as I headed towards Jazzed Up. The moment I stepped inside, Charlotte handed me a drink, and I laughed.

"Bad day?" she and Aria asked at the same time.

"No, not really," I said after taking a sip of the salty delight. "I got to kick Declan's ass."

"We heard," Charlotte said as I moved over to sit in Aria's chair.

I sank into the plush salon chair, reveling in the smell of chemicals and lotions, and listening to the soothing jazz music that filled the room. Jazzed Up always felt like a sanctuary, especially when accompanied by my two favorite troublemakers.

Aria today had hot green highlights amongst her platinum blonde locks. She flashed me a mischievous grin as she mixed up whatever gunk she was going to put in my hair.

"So, are you ready for your next transformation?" she joked. "Ready for something wild? How about bright red?"

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Yeah, right. Just don't make me look like a walking highlighter pen like you."

Aria laughed. "Your standard caramel color is already mixed." She showed me.

Charlotte, the queen of sass, chimed in from her chair as she sipped her drink. "Hey, if anyone can pull off red highlights, it's you, Rayne. Someday you'll let your wild side shine through."

I mock-glared at her, taking a sip of the margarita that Aria had given me. "Thanks, but for now, I'll keep my wild side saved up for kicking assholes' butts."

While my friend got to work adding my standard caramel highlights to my hair, I told my two friends everything that had happened to me since that morning.

"How is Evelyn doing?" Charlotte asked.

"Stable. She's not awake yet. I called the hospital before I came over here. A broken arm and two loose teeth."

"Tell me you busted his balls?" Charlotte said.

I laughed. "Twice. His voice was so high-pitched when they loaded him into the back of the patrol car, I doubt it'll drop for weeks."

Aria laughed as she worked her magic by expertly applying the foils with precision.

Over an hour later, my head looked like a huge aluminum antenna as I sat under the heater.

"All right, while we wait for this to set, how about a little pampering? Charlotte, why don't you do Rayne's nails and then a facial when she's done under the heater?" Aria said as she disappeared into the back to clean her equipment.

Charlotte smirked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. "Oh, this is going to be fun. Get ready to glow, Rayne."

I settled back in my chair, letting the stress of the week melt away as Charlotte worked her magic with my fingernails. She applied a soft pink color and even did the same on my toes.

When I was done under the heater and Aria had washed my hair and applied some other gunk that had to sit on it for a while, Charlotte started my facial.

"Ah, this is the life. Who needs therapy when you have margaritas and facials with your best friends?" I said as I closed my eyes and Charlotte yanked the wax strip off my eyebrows.

Once my face felt so clean it almost burned, Aria finished rinsing my hair out. We moved back over to her chair and she got to work trimming all those split ends I had before blow-drying and styling my hair in ways I could never mimic.

I admired the new highlights in the mirror, feeling like a brand-new woman.

"You've outdone yourself. I feel like a million bucks," I told them as I swung my chair and held the mirror.

I felt good. My skin felt like it glowed thanks to the facial Charlotte had given me. I loved the soft pink on my nails. It wasn't too bright or flashy.

It was strange to look at my reflection and see the changes they had made to me in such a short time. I looked… like a woman. Felt like one too. Not that I didn't normally, but now I felt girlie.

"I love my job. Now, who's ready for another round of margaritas?" Aria laughed.

Almost two hours later, the three of us stumbled to Tobias' truck and climbed in.

"Thanks for the lift," Aria said as she leaned over and planted a long heated kiss on his lips.

"It looks like you ladies had a blast. I like the new highlights," he said, glancing back at me.

"Thanks!" I pretty much shouted my response, then fell into a fit of laughter against Charlotte.

Tobias dropped his sister off first since her apartment was only a few blocks from the salon. I was next. My home was in the opposite direction as Aria and Tobias's place and, after Charlotte was gone, the drive seemed to drag on.

When the car finally came to a stop, I jerked awake.

"Want me to walk you in?" Tobias asked.

"No, I got it. Thanks." I started to get out and then realized that I'd left my purse in the seat and had to reach across the seat for it. "Night. Thanks for the new me," I told Aria, who smiled and waved funny at me.

Tobias kept the truck lights on my front door area as I unlocked it and stumbled inside. I waved to the bright lights and shut the door as I heard him drive off.

Leaning against the door, I sighed and thought about falling into my bed as I was. Instead, I felt my body sliding down the door, and I laughed when my butt hit the ground.

How long had it been since I'd allowed myself to let go? A year? Two?

I never drank this much. Sure, I'd have a few beers on the occasional girl's night or my fake birthday, but nothing like tonight.

I suppose I felt there was a reason to celebrate. I'd not only locked up one of the worst scumballs in town, but I'd had great sex the night before.

Since the world was spinning, I started crawling across the thick rug runner that I'd purchased a few months ago.

In the past three years, I'd transformed the little wooden home with its wraparound porch. It was just the right size for my needs with two bedrooms, two baths, and the smaller front office. I glanced over at my desk and smiled as I crawled past it.

The kitchen was the only thing that I had spent real money on. When I'd moved in, it had been seriously outdated. Now, I had all new appliances, cabinets, and countertops.

Off the back of the house, where my bedroom sat, I had a massive deck that overlooked a small pond area. Since the property had come with five acres, I was secluded enough that I didn't have to deal with any neighbors.

Not that I didn't like people. I just didn't want to wave at them over a fence or hear them arguing next door. Smell their cookouts. Hear their dogs barking. Those types of things.

I liked being alone. Well, at least I had.

My mind turned towards Jameson. God, I had been looking forward to spending the night with him. Feeling his hard, toned body against mine. Just the way he moved had my mind going to mush. How had the man done that to me so quickly?

It wasn't just his body that I craved.

I daydreamed about spending time with him. Laughing and joking with him.

I had made it halfway across the living room rug when my front window shattered along with a glass vase that had been full of wildflowers that Randy and Edith had given me for my birthday. It exploded, sending glass and water spraying all over me.

Even in my inebriated state, I knew a gunshot when I heard it. I spread my body out flat on the rug as a barrage of bullets flew through my shattered front window, hitting my sofa and chair and embedding in the wall separating the living space from my kitchen.

I had my gun in my hand and my cell in the other. As I dialed 911 and rattled off my address, I kept my eyes and weapon trained on the window and my front door.

Seconds ticked off as the spray continued. Pain filled my mind for a split second then dulled.

When the spray of bullets finally died down, I counted my breaths and cursed the alcohol in my veins causing my eyes to blur. Blinking the water from the flowers out of my eyes, I wondered why it was red.

When I finally saw the flashing lights from a patrol car out my window, I relaxed as someone called my name. Was that Randy?

I blinked and then he was there, standing over me.

"Shit," he said, kneeling next to me. A look of sheer terror filled his eyes. "Shit," he said again, just as everything went blank.