What Echoes Render Read online

In silence, they showered, dried off, then climbed beneath the sheets where she curled up against him. His arm came around her, pulling her close, and against her bare skin she felt his heart beat beating strong and steady.

  “Do you want to tell me what happened?” she asked in the quiet of the darkness.

  He took a few breaths before speaking. “Did I hurt you?”

  She shook her head against his chest and waited, letting him decide when he was ready. After several minutes, he spoke.

  “It was just supposed to be a single-house fire. Of course, we always worry about people inside, so we were sweeping the structure as best we could. Then we found the first body. We got the fire out pretty quickly and were hopeful that we’d only lost the one. One is bad enough. And the fire hadn’t done as much damage to the rest of the house as it had to the room where we found her.”

  He paused in his story as he rubbed his eyes with his free hand. “But it was a smoky fire. Some fires are just like that, depending on the materials that are burning. When we got in to search the rest of the house, we noticed a chair up against a closet door. The door had some fire damage, but was still intact. When we opened it—” His voice cracked and he took another break. After a few deep breaths, he seemed to get his voice back under control and continued.

  “When we opened the door, there were two kids inside. A brother and a sister, holding each other. The little boy was eighteen months old and his sister was three. They died of smoke inhalation.”

  Jesse felt her own tears fall for the two young victims. Babies. Locked in a closet and left to die.

  “Who . . . ?” She managed to ask.

  “We think their father. We don’t know for certain, but the police are looking for him. His wife, the first body we found, was stabbed to death. We think she might have hidden the kids there when he arrived. And that he knew they were in the closet when he set the place on fire. We think he’s probably the one that locked them in.”

  What could she say to something like that? Jesse was speechless at such a horror and words would never make it better or easier to understand. She had no doubt that everyone at the station would feel this loss, this anger. But those who were parents, like David, would feel it more. And while she would never understand the actions of a person who could do what that father had allegedly done, she now understood him better. She wished there was more she could do for him, more she could do to ease his pain. All she could do was be there for him.

  “I’m so sorry, David.”

  His arm tightened its hold on her and he leaned down and brushed a kiss across the top of her head. “I know, Jesse.”

  ***

  David wrung out the wet rag and wiped it over the controls of the big red truck. He’d left Jesse that morning, sleeping sated in bed, and come in to work to start his report. He wasn’t technically on duty, but he wanted to make sure that everything that could possibly be done to bring justice to whoever was responsible for the deaths of those two little kids was being done. Everything. Including his small piece of the puzzle.

  He was still furious about what had happened, but after his night with Jesse, he felt more focused and certain of his role in bringing justice. He no longer felt the blind rage and fury he’d felt when he’d arrived at her place. Being with her had soothed him. Which was ironic because very little of what they had done had been soothing. Thinking back on the night before, it was possible there were things he should feel bad about, but try as he might, he couldn’t regret the way he’d needed her, the way he’d taken what he’d needed. And the way she’d given it to him.

  And she had given—her trust, her control, her body, and her soul. As if just being with her wasn’t enough to take the edge off, her complete submission to him—if only for a few hours—was enough to humble him, to bring him back to some sort of balance that allowed him to face what he had to face.

  “Yo, Hathaway. You gonna shine that chrome right off or you just wishing you were rubbing something else?” Dominic shouted.

  David had only come by to write the report, but the guys were taking advantage of the sunshine and lack of calls to wash one of the trucks and he’d felt compelled to join in. Classic rock was playing loudly in the background, and the sun was doing its best to take away some of the darkness they’d all experienced the night before.

  “Go fuck yourself, Dominic,” David shouted back, tossing the rag in the bucket.

  “It would be more action than you’re getting, I bet,” Dominic responded with a laugh.

  “Not hard,” Kurt joined in, emerging from the cab. “Didn’t you just tell me you thought he was a monk?”

  David laughed, thinking of what he’d been up to just twelve hours ago.

  “Nah,” Dominic said, tossing his rag in the bucket. “I said he wants us to think he’s a monk.”

  “One of those ‘still waters run deep’ kind of things?” Kurt asked. David was just about to cut them off when the rumbling of an engine caught the attention of all three of them. They watched in appreciative silence as a classic Shelby convertible, with its top up, pulled into the guest lot. The sun glistened on the shiny black paint and chrome trim. The car rumbled to a stop, and even though the music was still playing, when the driver killed the engine it seemed suddenly so quiet.

  Dominic whistled. “Nice.”

  “The woman or the car?” Kurt asked, clearly thinking both deserved the compliment. David said nothing as he watched the driver’s door swing open and a single, bare leg, ending in a four-inch heeled stiletto, hit the pavement. With one leg out of the car and one leg in, the woman’s dress rode high up her thigh, and when she turned to pick something up from the passenger seat all three men got a good long look at her backside. Sitting upright again, with her long blonde hair swinging in a ponytail behind her, the woman held a phone to her ear. She paused in that position for a moment, and minus the cell phone, she looked like a pinup girl from the fifties.

  “Holy shit,” Dominic breathed.

  Holy shit indeed. David grinned and jogged over to the car.

  Jesse was just finishing her call when he stopped beside her open door. Without a word, he pulled her up from her seat, slid a hand under her ponytail, tilted her head back, and claimed a deep, intimate kiss. He thought he should probably stop—at least it crossed his mind that he might want to consider it—but when he noticed that she’d risen up on her toes to meet him and then felt her nails dig into his biceps, he slanted his head and deepened the kiss even more.

  Just on the brink of backing her up against the car, David forced himself to pull back. With deliberate care, he ended the kiss. He opened his eyes and looked down at her; she met his gaze from beneath her lashes and a small smile played on her lips. A breeze lifted her hair, tickling his hand, and he smiled back.

  A moment went by before he spoke. “Uh, not that I’m not happy to see you—”

  “Hmm, I noticed,” she cut him off, pressing herself against his obvious arousal.

  “But, what are you doing here?” For the first time, he realized she held something in her hand. His phone.

  “I found it this morning,” she said, handing it to him. “It kept buzzing and Miranda’s name was on the screen. I thought it might be important so I wanted to get it to you ASAP.”

  He looked at the phone, two messages from his daughter. He was pretty sure he knew what it was about—his signatures on her loan documents—and it wasn’t an emergency, but it was nice of Jesse to worry.

  “Where did I leave it?” he asked.

  Jesse tilted a brow. “You didn’t leave it anywhere. I found it under the fridge. It must have fallen out when, well, you know.”

  He traced her bottom lip with his thumb. “Yes, I know.” He smiled.

  “That’s a very self-satisfied smile if I ever saw one.” She nipped his thumb and he felt it everywhere.

  He reached for her hand and brought her palm to his lips then kissed each of her fingers. “Believe me, there was nothing self-satisfying a
bout last night, at all.”

  Her head tilted back as she laughed. He caught a glimpse of his two teammates, neither of whom was being discreet in their attention.

  “Has our cover been blown? Again?” she asked with a small gesture in their direction.

  He wagged his head. It was bound to happen sooner or later. He found he really didn’t care all that much and told her so. He offered to introduce her to them, but she declined for the moment. She looked worried by her decision, like he might be offended that she didn’t want to meet his teammates, but he knew she had some errands to run and that she might want a little more notice before taking that step. At this point in time, it didn’t matter to him—if she wanted to meet them, great. If not, he was more than happy to continue to keep the relationship private—well, as private as they could, anyway.

  He kissed her again—this time gently but quickly—and helped her into her car, promising to head back to her place as soon as he finished at the station. Shutting the door, he stood by as she revved the engine, gave him a saucy smile, and waved good-bye. He watched her drive off, then turned and jogged back toward the station. Only to be hit square in the face with a blast of cold water.

  “What the hell?” He sputtered to a stop—his face dripping with water, his shirt plastered to his chest. Kurt and Dominic stood there staring at him, Kurt holding a hose. Both men were wearing flat, pissed-off expressions.

  “We thought you might need a little cooling off after all that,” Kurt said.

  Uh-oh, they were pissed.

  “Look guys, it’s nothing.”

  “Oh, sure, it’s ‘nothing,’” Dominic threw up his hands, mocking David. “Did that look like ‘nothing’ to you, Kurt?”

  “Definitely didn’t look like ‘nothing’ to me.” His teammates crossed their arms over their chests. David was starting to dislike their attitudes. Or, maybe he was feeling a little guilty for having kept Jesse a secret. But really it wasn’t any of their business and he told them so.

  “Oh, it’s none of our business. I see.” Kurt said, then turned to Dominic. “Does that work for you?”

  Dominic shook his head. “Hell no.”

  “Me neither. What the fuck, Hathaway?”

  “Hathaway!” Saved by the chief calling from inside the station. With a last look at his teammates, David turned and walked away. In silence, he followed his boss upstairs to his office.

  “What the fuck was that?” the chief demanded with a gesture toward his window once he’d shut his office door. His window that looked out onto the guest parking lot. Nice, everyone and their mother knew now. Served him right for losing his head for a moment. And Chief Perotti wasn’t one to let things go. He was a small man, not more than five foot six, with a slim frame and thinning dark hair. But he was tenacious as a bulldog. Something David tended to appreciate since usually the chief was fighting for his men. This was the first time that Chief Perotti had turned the full force of his personality on him.

  “That was a woman I’ve been seeing for several months,” David answered.

  “Thank god.” The chief’s voice was heavy with sarcasm. “I’d hate to think she was someone you met last night with a display like that and all. Your teammates are going to be pissed you didn’t tell them.”

  “It’s not their concern.”

  In response, Chief Perotti simply stared at him, his tiny, dark eyes unwavering in their disapproval. David let out a sigh. It wasn’t their business, but in the same way, it wasn’t his mother’s business either. He knew that in some ways they had a right to be pissed. They all but lived together three or four days a week. They knew each others’ strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, and they knew when their teammates were having problems, in their relationships or otherwise. Partly, it was the fact of this closeness, their being together so much, but it was also a safety issue. If someone had something going on that was taking their mind from the game, their teammates needed to know.

  “I’ll fill them in,” he acquiesced.

  The chief gave a sharp nod. “Now, since that didn’t look like a fly-by-night kind of thing—”

  “I’ve already added her to my paperwork, sir,” David cut him off. His paperwork, the names and contact information of those who would be notified if anything happened to him. Miranda and his parents were always on the list. Two months ago, he’d added Jesse.

  “Good. Now tell me about the investigation,” Chief Perotti switched topics.

  “My report’s been filed. The lab is still looking at the evidence.”

  Again, his boss nodded. “I just got a call from the lead detective. The husband was caught early this morning and confessed to everything. His confession aligns with your findings.”

  “Which should be corroborated by the evidence.” David finished and let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. Whatever justice befell the father of those two kids wouldn’t ever be enough to pay for what he’d done, but knowing he would pay in some way had to be enough for now.

  “You did good work last night,” the chief said grudgingly.

  “I wish I hadn’t had to.”

  The chief inclined his head in agreement. “Me, too. But since we do have to do that kind of work sometimes, I’m glad you’re around.”

  Chief Perotti wasn’t a mean guy, but he also wasn’t free with his compliments, especially to relative newcomers to the force. David muttered a thank you.

  “Now, go explain her to the guys,” the chief said with a vague gesture toward the parking lot, “before they go and do some dumb-ass shit to get back at you.”

  David grinned at the dismissal and jogged back downstairs. Dominic and Kurt were picking up the cleaning materials when he stepped outside. They both stopped and eyed him. He closed the space between them and stood before them.

  “Look, I’m sorry. Her name is Jesse Baker. She’s the hospital administrator at Riverside Hospital. I met her when I was investigating that single-house fire in Windsor a few months ago.”

  “Three months ago,” Kurt clarified.

  “Yes,” he conceded. “Three months ago. We’ve had our reasons for keeping things just between the two of us, and up until a few days ago, no one knew at all.”

  “And what happened a few days ago?” Dominic asked, not masking the fact he still wasn’t happy.

  David pursed his lips. He thought about not telling them everything, but the looks on their faces convinced him otherwise and he went ahead and spilled it all. His friends took a moment to absorb what he’d told them.

  “So your ‘friend’ that was almost run off the road?” Dominic pressed.

  “Jesse.”

  “And the slashed tires?” Kurt interjected.

  “Also Jesse.”

  “Hey.” Kurt was snapping his fingers, the way someone does when they’re recalling something. “Wasn’t that the last name of the professor who was killed in that fire? The one you requested the schematics for?”

  He nodded. He didn’t want to drag his friends into this, but it didn’t look like they were going to give him any choice. “It was Jesse’s husband. We can’t think of any reason why someone would be after her, so it made me wonder if it has something to do with him.”

  “Does she know you’re looking into that fire?” Dominic asked.

  David shook his head. “And she won’t, unless I find something.”

  He fixed each man with a pointed look. No way did he want Jesse to know he was beginning to wonder if there was more to Mark’s death than an accidental fire. She and the boys should go on thinking it was an accident until he had absolute proof otherwise—if he had proof otherwise. At this point, he had nothing but curiosity and intuition.

  Dominic threw up his hands. “Hey, don’t look at us. It’s not like we’ve ever talked to her. Not like we’d ever have a chance to slip up and tell her or anything like that.” His rebuke was tempered and David knew then that he and his teammates were okay. It probably helped that he’d let them in on a sec
ret.

  “Why don’t we go look at those schematics Ralene dropped by yesterday?” Kurt suggested.

  David looked at his watch. “Nice as that sounds, Jesse and I only have two more days together before life, work, and the like gets back in the way. I think I’d rather spend the afternoon with her.”

  “Yeah?” Kurt laughed. “No shit. I never would have guessed by the way you shoved your tongue down her throat. We should all be glad the back seat of that sweet car isn’t big enough for the two of you or we would have seen a lot more than us young ’uns should. I think I’d have to bleach my eyes after that.”

  David rolled his eyes and offered an alternative suggestion to the two of them that made them laugh as he headed out the door.

  “Hathaway?” Dominic called as he walked across the lot toward his truck. David turned back to see both men watching him from the doorway. “Name the time and place and we’ll be there.”

  He didn’t need to ask what Dominic meant. They’d meet Jesse when and where he decided. He gave them a salute and turned to head to Windsor.

  CHAPTER 17

  DAVID HADN’T REALLY GIVEN MUCH THOUGHT to Jesse’s growing desire to have a dog. In general, he thought it was a good idea. But as he shut off the water in her outdoor shower, where he was rinsing off after a quick, early afternoon run along her property’s perimeter, he heard voices and realized just how handy a dog might be. The shower had drowned out the sounds of the car coming up the drive. It never would have drowned out the noise a dog would have made barking at the car. And now he had to face whoever had arrived in that car. Wearing only a towel.

  “Whose car do you think that is?” he heard a woman ask. The voice sounded vaguely familiar but he couldn’t place it.

  He heard a man chuckle and say, “This ought to be interesting.” That voice he knew.

  “Do you know something I don’t know, Ian?”

  “Hello, Dr. DeMarco,” David said, stepping out from the shower. Her hand flew to her chest and he felt a little guilty for startling her, but really, there was no other way around it.