Between Midnight and Dawn (5 page)

Dark memories soon pushed aside the happy ones. The day his mom failed to pick him up from school Kyle had worried something bad happened. But his young mind couldn’t have contemplated the tragedy that soon engulfed his world. Destroyed his father. Leaving Kyle alone to claw his way through years of rage at the monster who’d stolen his parents from him in such a cruel way. As the years passed, he’d managed to tame his rage and make a life for himself. Although fury still simmered just under the surface of his control.

He’d finished high school without getting into too much trouble, thanks mostly to Rob and his folks. He’d chosen to become a cop so he could go after the bad guys. Not only to protect other families from the same tragedies, although that was part of it, but also hoping one day to solve his mother’s murder and make the killer pay.

Finally, Kyle felt like he was close to reaching his objective. And Nicole Chambers was the key.

He scanned the area for any signs of Barber, not seeing him. Exiting the vehicle, he walked up the sidewalk to her shop, but before he reached the front door, it opened and Nicole came out.

Her face lit up and she gave him a quick wave as she headed his way. Desire tightened his chest, and other parts of his anatomy. Like a bright beam of sunshine, her smile warmed him all over, making him feel all kinds of unwanted emotions. Her expressive caramel eyes watched him with total trust shining from their depths, and he knew she believed every lying word he’d told her.

His steps slowed at the knowledge he wasn’t being honest with her. No, like a selfish prick he was using her to lure Barber in, putting her in further danger.

“Hi,” she said, reaching him.

“Hi,” he returned, staring into her eyes and feeling like the biggest lowlife on earth.
No other choice.

Her purse sang out a piano tune, and she reached inside and retrieved a gold and pink bling covered cell phone.
Cute.
Everything about her sucked him in. From her enticing body, to her auburn curls and pretty brown eyes. The confident way she carried herself, although she seemed to be unaware of her own appeal. The sexy way she dressed and moved. Everything about her was damn near perfect.

She pressed a button on the phone. A frown marred her lovely features as she listened to the caller. “Okay. Day after’s fine.” She ended the call and tossed it back into her purse.

He waited for her to look at him before he spoke. “Everything okay?”

Nicole nodded. “Just one of my suppliers letting me know the shipment I was expecting tomorrow is going to be late. She shook her head, soft curls bouncing. “Not a big deal.” She glanced past him, toward the Focus. “Did you get all your stuff?”

“Yes. I moved everything in already.”

“Great.” She held out her hand, smiling. “I’m driving.”

Kyle handed over the keys, then followed her over to the car and opened the driver’s door for her. He kept his eyes averted as she slid inside, afraid she’d be able to read his guilt if she looked too closely. Not only had he moved all his stuff into the cottage, he was eavesdropping on her inside her home, and had video surveillance on the outside with a camera covering every possible entrance. There was no way Barber would get inside undetected.

He reminded himself that he was a cop, and she wasn’t the first civilian to be used as bait to catch a criminal. That thought did little to relieve the guilt eating a hole right through him as she pulled away from the shop.

Chapter 5

Rob took a swallow of his Starbucks coffee as he studied the photos push pinned to his home-office wall. Fourteen young women who’d gone missing since Kyle’s mom was murdered.

The women silently stared back at him, forever young. Smiling at the camera, believing they had their whole lives in front of them . . . Love. Marriage. Children.

All similar in description to eleven unsolved murders within the same time period, covering a two-hundred-mile radius around Detroit.

They’d been raped and tortured before being taken to a rural location and their throats slit. Their nude bodies were found lying in ditches, their arms and legs still bound, eyes wide open. Rob figured the sick bastard stood over them, enjoying their suffering as they slowly bled out.

Given the bruising on the bodies, they’d determined each of the women had been held for up to a week. Time of death was hard to pinpoint. The coroner’s best estimate, taking into consideration the condition of the bodies and crime scene evidence, was the women had been transported to the rural areas and killed sometime between midnight and dawn.

Studying the pictures, Rob felt a little sick. Slim and petite, with dark hair and big brown eyes, they all came from good families, and held decent jobs. Not the type of women who put themselves at risk. They’d been cut down in life far too soon, in the cruelest way.

Best friends since they were eight, he still remembered the devastation caused by Kyle’s mother’s death. His stomach knotted. More than twenty years later and the man was still out there, walking around a free man. Still destroying families.

And if Kyle was right, stalking his next victim.

Nicole Chambers
.

Unless they stopped him.

Rob’s eyes narrowed and his mouth pressed into a firm line as he forced himself to remain detached, going over the facts of the case. But it wasn’t easy, as images of his younger sister flashed in his mind. If anything ever happened to Sara, his family would be wrecked, the heartbreak too great to ever come back from.

Determination set his jaw.

C.H.K.’s last known murder had been four years earlier. A young woman’s body discovered by a cross-country bicyclist, about seventy-five miles north of Detroit, in a remote area. The details similar enough to the body found this week to indicate C.H.K. was still out there. Still killing.

Rob spun away from the wall of photos, and flung his half-full Styrofoam cup across the room, painting the opposite wall with black coffee as fury ate a hole through him the size of the Grand Canyon.

He wanted this guy. Badly.

He’d been working on putting together a timeline since he’d spoken with Kyle earlier that week. Rob was pissed it’d only taken a couple searches to discover a connection between the missing women and the murdered women. Why it’d been missed before was a mystery.

Although at first blush nothing had popped up on his query, almost as if someone had tried to hide the similarities behind a firewall, but a little digging had been all it took to flush the information out.

How many women died due to sloppy police work? Or a cover-up?

Now, it wasn’t only the need to help Kyle driving him, but the suspicion that the evidence had been tampered with, and someone had been covering their tracks from the inside all this time. Which meant they were probably looking for a cop. Maybe Barber, maybe not. But it was possible Kyle had been right all along.

Rob raked his fingers through his hair, and a low growl rumbled from his chest.
What kind of best friend am I?

A crappy one, that’s what.

Well, he was listening now, and one way or another, Rob was determined to connect all the dots, find the scumbag murdering these women and put him away for the rest of his miserable life so he’d couldn’t hurt anyone, ever again.

He glanced back at the wall of photos and managed to wrestle his emotions under control. Anger wasn’t going to help these girls get justice, or bring their families closure. Only solid police work would accomplish that.

He needed to trace Barber’s movements over the last twenty years to see if they matched up with the killings.

Even if it cost him his career he
would
close this case. The memory of the day Kyle lost his mother, still vivid in his mind. The grief and rage he’d seen in his childhood friend had never fully gone away. It’d become a part of Kyle, like breathing. He’d just gotten better at hiding it from most people. But Rob wasn’t most people, and he knew Kyle as if he were his own brother.

He hoped he’d be able to keep his friend from going to jail. Because Rob wasn’t convinced Kyle wouldn’t take Barber out, regardless of the repercussions, if he believed Barber was the man who’d raped and murdered his mother.

After a crappy night’s sleep, Nicole stifled a yawn as she flicked on the kitchen light. Retrieving the super-sized, ceramic mug she’d designed herself, wrapped with the colors of the sunset, she poured herself a steaming cup of coffee, having set it for brewing the night before.

Heading into the living room, she grabbed the remote off the coffee table and located the local station with the morning news, cranking up the volume. But she wasn’t really listening, her thoughts straying to the good-looking guy renting the cottage in her backyard.

It’d been almost a week, and every morning Kyle showed up at her door and talked her into going to breakfast with him. He’d insisted on taking his own car, though, and she’d taken pity on him and agreed.

Nicole glanced at the wall clock over her fireplace, taking a contented sip of her sweet hazelnut coffee. On the days she needed to work, he’d drop her off at her pottery shop, and picked her back up at closing time. She’d tried to insist on driving in herself and meeting him at the restaurant, but he’d convinced her it’d made more sense for them to drive in together.

Kyle could be extremely charming, and she’d found herself surrendering every time.

But it was time she put her foot down, because her budget couldn’t afford to continue eating out, and she refused to let him keep buying her breakfast. Besides, she wasn’t as sore now, and needed to get back into her exercise routine if she wanted to keep off that extra five pounds that was only a few handfuls of chocolate-covered cherries away. Her one sweet indulgence. The stepper in the basement worked in a pinch, but wasn’t as good as a full-body workout.

So, today, she was making them breakfast. Nothing fancy. Pancakes and bacon.

She checked the time, and counted down the seconds, her pulse racing at the thought of seeing him again. Just like clockwork, the loud buzzing of her new doorbell sounded at seven sharp. Smiling to herself, she made her way to the door and opened it.

Their eyes met. Her pulse raced. To hell with food, she thought, Kyle Wade looked good enough to eat. Something told her he could become habit-forming, if she weren’t careful.

“Ready?” His warm hazel eyes slid down her body and back up again, causing her pulse to quicken even further.

“No.” She shook her head.

“No?” One sexy brow lifted. “You look ready.”

At the suggestive implication of his words, matched with the heat in his eyes, her breath caught. “I, um, I’m making us breakfast today.” She was also driving herself to work, but she’d tell him later.

A slow grin spread across his oh-so-handsome face. “You’re cooking me breakfast?” Leaning closer, he peered around her shoulder, the scent of freshly showered male and musky aftershave invading her senses.

Down, girl.

She laughed softly, hoping he didn’t notice her nipples pebbling under her top, and swung the door wider, waving him inside. “Yes. Apple-pecan pancakes.”

“Cool. Sounds delicious.”

Nicole had never been much of a cook, except for breakfast, which was her favorite meal of the day. “Do you like bacon?”

He smirked at her. “Who doesn’t like bacon?”

Amusement bubbled up inside her. “Yeah, right?”

Heading into the kitchen where she had everything mixed and ready to go, she twisted the burner knobs to heat the pans. Kyle touched her shoulder. She glanced back at him, picking up the ladle to scoop up the batter.

He glanced around her kitchen. “Is there anything I can do?”

She nodded toward the pantry. “You could dig out the syrup.” Nicole swung back to the stove and placed five strips of bacon into one pan before pouring a decent amount of batter into the other. She didn’t do little pancakes, and one nearly filled the pan. “The butter’s in the refrigerator door.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Kyle retrieve the butter. He was a big guy, and made her tiny kitchen seem even smaller. Nicole found she liked having him there, his closeness filling her with a sense of contentment. She’d grown very fond of him, and was acutely aware of his presence in the cozy space with her.

Her girly parts tingled as all kinds of inappropriate thoughts swirled in her mind, wondering what it’d feel like to have his very capable hands all over her body. A sensual ache grew between her thighs. She frowned, and directed her attention back to the pancake, flipping it.
Mind out of the gutter, Nicole.

It didn’t take long to have a nice stack of pancakes done. The bacon would take a few minutes longer. She placed the plate of cakes on the table. Returning to the counter to cover a plate with paper towels for the bacon to drain on, she reminded herself why she couldn’t get involved with him romantically. She’d sworn off men.
All men.
And besides, he was renting her cottage, so there was probably something unethical about that in the landlord-tenant rules somewhere.

That thought didn’t stop her heart from accelerating when Kyle peered over her shoulder to check her progress. His face near enough, she could feel his fresh minty breath on her cheek. Nicole blew out a soft breath, her legs somewhat shaky.

Kyle turned his head slightly to look into her eyes. She froze, caught by the heat of his stare. A muscle ticked at the side of his strong, square jaw. He lifted his hand and slid it under her hair, wrapping warm fingers around the base of her neck. Then ever so slowly, excruciatingly, painfully slow, as her anticipation grew, he lowered his head to kiss her.

Giving her plenty of time to move away . . .

But she didn’t.

His lips were soft, but firm as they pressed against hers, and she melted against him, totally breaking every one of her newly set ‘guy rules.’ With a throaty groan, Kyle tugged her closer, deepening the kiss, sliding his tongue into her mouth and entwining with hers in a tender, searching caress. His other hand made feather-light passes up and down her back.

She moaned as her body heated, and she imagined Kyle making love to her right there on the kitchen counter. Her core clenched as she returned his kiss with every fiber of her being. He tasted minty, mixed with strong black coffee . . . all potent male. A heady combination that made her dizzy, unable to think clearly.

The scent of burning bacon hit her, just as Kyle lifted those yummy lips from hers. She blinked, trying to clear her muddled mind. But she was too slow, and Kyle took the spatula from her limp fingers and shifted toward the stove, saving the bacon and plopping it on the plate, before shutting off the burner.

His back to her, he stood silently for a long moment while she tried to gather her senses and get her walls back up. She shouldn’t have let that happen. But knowing it was a mistake didn’t stop her from wishing he’d come back and finish what he’d started. Every molecule in her body was on fire. Nicole couldn’t ever remember being this turned on before. With just one kiss, Kyle had blown everything she thought she knew about men and desire right out of the water.

When he finally faced her, his face was expressionless, as though he hadn’t mere moments ago, kissed her so sweetly and rocked the foundation under her feet. Disappointment slid through her.

She gave herself a mental shake. It was for the best.
Have some self-control.
No-man rule, remember . . .

Before he had a chance to open his mouth and apologize, or tell her he wasn’t interested in her that way, and never should have kissed her, she plastered on a fake smile. “Well. That was nice.”

She attempted to remain casual. Reaching beyond him, she picked up the plate of bacon, avoiding his eyes and pretending everything was peachy-keen. When in reality, her insides were quivering with awareness. “But I’m not interested in a relationship right now.”

Liar!
her inner voice mocked. She was more than interested in this man.

Nicole carried the plate to the table and placed it next to the pancakes, before glancing back at Kyle. He hadn’t moved.

His intense gaze locked on her with laser focus, but she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Then with a subtle nod, he retrieved the bottle of syrup and strode over to the table.

Ignoring what had happened, she took a seat. The air was thick with tension as Kyle sat across from her and poured a generous amount of syrup onto his pancakes. Nicole wanted to get through breakfast as quickly as she could, then go to work and forget Kyle Wade had ever kissed her. Somehow convince herself she didn’t want him to kiss her again. But she knew that’d be a lie, too.

Picking up a fork, he asked, “What time do you get off today?”

Relieved he wasn’t going to talk about the kiss, some of her tension eased. “I’m only going in for a few hours to create some new pieces for the shelves.”

“I’d like to pick you up around two, if that works for you?”

She brushed her bangs back, glancing down at her plate. “I thought I’d drive myself today. There’s really no reason for you to be inconvenienced. I’m a big girl.”

After a short pause, she lifted her eyes back to his. She knew he’d been patiently waiting for her to look back up. It was irritating as hell being hard of hearing, and she couldn’t wait for her hearing to get back to normal.