24. Keycard

TWENTY-FOUR

Keycard

That evening, Rus was back on the balcony with his bourbon.

McGill had the stranger danger website address, which also catered to a variety of other unusual or intense fetishes, and the FBI would get names, particularly of the dominatrix that accompanied Ezra on their assignment.

Rus had called Thea in, interviewed her again, but just as he suspected, although she knew these options were out there, she didn’t know much about them, and she definitely didn’t know any Domme who was into that kind of shit.

And although she wasn’t a person to vilify what any individual might need sexually, she was infuriated to know anyone’s hard limits were ignored.

She agreed with Rus, even if he didn’t share names or details, but with what he had given her, Thea declared it was not a service rendered consensually.

It was rape.

However, even upon explaining this, Shannon refused to press charges or name the boys who started this nightmare for her in the first place, which was unfortunately what many women in her situation decided to do.

She wouldn’t even name names so Moran would know who he had in his town capable of that shit.

She might look eighteen, but they found out she was twenty-three.

Polly took her away to talk to her about victim’s assistance and finding other support she needed.

In the meantime, in the mix of all the comms coming in from people who had hints and tips and information about the motel murder and Ezra Corbin (and Moran hadn’t asked for any of this, but Moran told him the phone never stopped ringing), the sheriff’s office got a viable call.

Therefore, Rus spent the early afternoon with his gun in his hand, his other gun in its shoulder holster, moving through the woods on a rental cabin they’d gotten word had activity it shouldn’t have.

They thought they had Ezra.

Rus thought there was an outside chance maybe they had CK.

They found no one, except evidence likely high schoolers had picked that place to hang and party.

They contacted the rental company, who contacted the owners, and big win for the day: the party place would be shut down.

The last thing they got was, Brittanie’s ex-boyfriend came in.

He had an alibi. He was gone for the weekend, camping with his new girlfriend, and he was with her last Wednesday night when Brittanie was killed.

He also was broken up Brittanie was dead. They didn’t last long, but the break wasn’t bad, so he was destroyed to come home and learn she was gone.

However, this was one more strikeout of a name, which further highlighted Ezra’s.

But with Ezra in the wind, until their warrants came through to compel the people behind the website to give names and details of who they sent out on Shannon’s job, they had dick.

So he’d spent the afternoon antsy and wanting to be out there, knocking on doors and scouring woods, even in the remotest chance of finding Ezra Corbin, dragging him in, and ripping into him in an interrogation room, just as he knew Moran felt the same.

But instead, both of them holed up in Moran’s office with Bohannan, talking about how to flush out CK.

They came up with the stellar idea to wait until the next night to see if he, or someone who seemed to be wearing a disguise, or someone who didn’t but looked like one of the disguises he’d worn before, showed up at the town council meeting.

Moran would handle getting Brad there so he could make the ID.

From there, well, obviously, they’d take him down and bring him in for questioning.

Rus did not hold a lot of hope for this, since all the men agreed CK knew that Rus knew he was in MP, and he wouldn’t make it that easy, or easy at all.

But it was all they had, and all the bandwidth left in their heads for now, especially Rus and Moran, who’d listened to what Shannon shared, and it shook them at the same time pissed them off, because she then tied their hands.

There was nothing they could do for her except hope whatever Polly said got through, and she found some help.

Since crime was still happening in Misted Pines, the Seattle division sent a couple of agents to assist in the door-knocking/woods-scouring part of the investigation with the local deputies.

And Rus was left with hoping the go-ahead would come that he could call his buddy Eric, and he, or some of his team, could come up and add trained eyes and ears in the hunt for Ezra or the lookout for CK.

However, he commandeered Karen, one of Moran’s deputies, gave her the picture of the crystal found on Brittanie, and told her he didn’t care how many New Age shops she had to visit in her jurisdiction, out of it, into Idaho, down to Oregon, or up to fucking Alaska, he wanted to know where that crystal was bought, and he wanted it linked to Ezra or the Domme.

It was probably a wild-goose chase, everything was bought online these days. But the deputy was all in because she wanted to do something for Brittanie, and she practically tore out of the station.

He’d ended up at the Double D for dinner with Moran, and the waitress with the nametag of Heidi gave them a wide berth after they stared at the patty melts she served like they wanted to incinerate them.

Incidentally, the Double D was one hundred percent stuck in the fifties.

Needless to say, he was in no mood when he got back to the hotel, but he wasn’t stupid enough to run it off in the dark on a lonely trail in the woods with a serial killer on the loose, no matter how much the guy might like him.

So he changed into his gear and ran five miles on the treadmill in the hotel gym before he realized how hard he’d been running.

He went back upstairs, showered and put on the lounge pants he kept in his go-bag at his daughter’s insistence, but never had time to wear. He just liked the idea of her thinking he did. He threw on a thermal.

And he went, barefoot with hair wet, out to the balcony with his bourbon.

He was not feeling the cold, because he was deep in a very satisfying revenge fantasy of what he’d do to a pack of faceless boys who gang raped a young girl who committed the unforgiveable crime of liking one of them, when his phone in his front pocket buzzed against his thigh.

He pulled it out and saw a text from Lucinda.

He put his glass on the railing and checked it.

You’ll forgive me, Thea called. I know people. As such, I’ve obtained a keycard to your room. I’m coming in in three, two…

He turned around and saw her walking in.

Christ, she was something.

Ivory this time.

Ivory overcoat with tall collar.

Ivory dress that fit like a glove.

Though the high heeled boots were a shiny taupe.

She walked across the room like she owned it and came out on the balcony.

Rus was glad it was dark because he was growing hard.

“Hey,” he greeted.

“Tough day?” she asked.

“Less tough than some, tougher than others.”

“Stop it,” she whispered.

Yeah.

He liked her.

She got it.

And she was there.

He took a shot and held out an arm.

For once that day, he got a win.

She walked into him, rested her cheek on his shoulder, and wrapped her arms around him.

He wrapped both his around her.

As expected, she felt good. Add to that, she smelled good.

And she was warm.

“You shouldn’t be outside in the cold with wet hair and bare feet,” she admonished.

“It was all good. I was in the middle of a revenge fantasy.”

She tipped her head back. “Do those guard against colds and flus?”

He smiled and shook his head.

“Can I take you inside?”

He kept smiling and nodded his head.

She smiled back, twisted, got his drink, took his hand, and walked him in.

She closed the door behind them.

She gave him his glass before he went to the fireplace to turn it on.

She shrugged off her purse and coat, threw the purse on the table, her coat over a chair, and they met on the couch.

“Want a drink?” he asked. “Apparently, you’re buying.”

Her lips quirked. “I’ll get it in a second.”

“I’ll get it. I gotta get some socks. My feet are freezing.”

Her eyeballs rolled up.

This meant Rus was grinning as he pulled himself back out of the couch, sauntered to his room, tugged on some heavy socks, went back, got her order of a glass of wine from a full bottle that was in the mini-fridge, and then he came back to her.

“Thea shouldn’t be talking to you,” he shared.

“She was worried about you. She said you weren’t in a good way. She didn’t tell me why. She just told me she doesn’t know the whole thing, but it’s bad and maybe you might need some company.”

“What about the club?”

“Kleo is my second.”

“Kleo?”

She looked surprised. “You’ve met her. You met her before you met me.”

“Ah,” he said. “Security Sue.”

That was when he got what he’d wanted from her since he first met her.

Or at least part of it.

She busted out laughing.

Finally, he could see it as well as hear it, and it was just like it sounded over the phone.

Amazing.

She took a sip of her wine when she was done laughing and said, “I won’t tell her you call her that.”

“She scares me,” he teased.

“Good,” she replied. “That’s her job. She also stands in for me when I’m not there. It runs well on its own, regardless. But I have a nanny because I have a daughter. I still don’t tend to stay deep into the night because I like to be home with her, not to mention, Hillary gets off at midnight.”

The explanation of why she disappeared the night he spent in her club.

“You have a nanny?”

“Nighttime nanny. I do all the mom things, to and from school, after school, etc. But when I have to go to work, Hillary is there.”

“When did Brittanie watch her?”

“Nights when she was off and…other times.”

Goddamn.

She just kept getting better.

“Times you made up so you had a reason to pay her because she needed money, and Madden would have time with her,” he deduced.

She hid that eyeroll behind a sip of her wine.

Yeah.

“Something to know about Brittanie,” he said gently. “She had a nicely decorated apartment and maybe a designer bag or two. But she also had three family members who had their hands out often, and she might have hated her mom, but she looked after her dad and brother. This being something you already know about Brittanie, she was loyal and loving to those she cared about.”

Lucinda buried her reaction in another sip of wine, but he saw the bright hit her eyes before she did it.

This was only part of the reason why Rus reached out slowly, and when she didn’t pull away, he wrapped his fingers around her neck and stroked the soft skin there with his thumb when he said, “As for you coming to my rescue, this is part of the job. I hear shitty things. I deal with shitty people. And I deal with the people who the shitty ones hurt. I’m okay.”

“Are you more okay with me being here?”

“Yes,” he said, no hesitation.

“Then we’re done with that topic.”

“Bossy,” he muttered.

“Not always,” she said into her wineglass.

Yep.

That stirred his dick too.

So she heard he had a crap day and drove all the way through her forest to get to him.

This, what was going on with them, was something.

And since it was, right now, it couldn’t be about his dick.

It had to be about her, them, and where they needed to go.

Transparency.

“I have something to tell you.”

“Hmm?” she asked, raising her eyebrows, making it casual, but those amber eyes were focused penetratingly on him.

“I need to explain why I was called to Misted Pines.”

She rested her wineglass to her leg and shifted so she was more fully facing him.

But he noticed she did this with care so she didn’t lose his hand at her neck.

Nice.

“It’s going to be upsetting,” he warned.

“I figured that,” she said softly.

“And maybe frightening.”

Her eyes widened.

“I’m lead on the hunt for the Crystal Killer,” he announced.

Her response was both anticlimactic and easing.

This being, her brows drew down in confusion, and she asked, “Sorry?”

“The Crystal Killer, he’s a serial killer.”

“Oh,” she said offhandedly. “I don’t really keep up with those kinds of things.”

Thank Christ.

“Wait, is Ezra this Crystal Killer?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No, but extenuating circumstances kept me here.”

“All right.”

“Make me a promise?” he requested.

“Maybe,” she hedged.

“Don’t look it up until this is all over.”

“Oh shit,” she whispered.

He moved closer to her. “I have something else to share.”

She nodded.

“He’s not Ezra. But he might be here, in Misted Pines.”

She nodded again.

“And that would be, he’s here…for me.”

It was only then her eyes got huge.