December Frost (A Southern Romance Monthly) (6 page)

"I don't get it. Is this Thomas Carr's house?"
 

"I think it is. But I want to find something in this house that proves the good looking guy in lock up is this Thomas Carr. Then I think I can move forward and get to his car before anybody else. He told me where he parked it."
 

"Okay so… pictures. There has to be pictures somewhere."
 

"Which is why I was looking in here." Cecelia turned to the fridge. "Most people leave pictures on their refrigerator. But there's nothing here."
 

"Bedroom?"

The two of them went upstairs. There were two bedrooms. Deb took the spare and Cecelia took the master. She looked through the night stands, under the bed, in the drawers—but the only thing she found was that who ever lived here was a total neat freak. Everything was folded.
 

Even his socks!
 

And he had expensive tastes. She went into his closet and looked at the evenly spaced suits. Nice suits. Exactly like the one he'd been wearing. She put her nose to one of them and inhaled.
 

It smelled like him!
 

Oh no…when had she noticed his smell?
 

She inhaled the next one, and then the next one, until she was at the back of the closet. Cecelia was intoxicated from his scent and felt the old familiar warmth starting between her legs.
Damn girl… get a hold of yourself. A smell doesn't prove a thing!

She leaned against the back and looked up at the shelf along the top. Several shoe boxes were stacked above her so she pulled them down and carried them to the bed.
 

They were full of pictures.
 

And everyone of
 
them had her Phantom in them. There were older photos of him much younger, with a brunette. Even more of him later on with a blonde.
 

In fact, it looked like Mr. Carr—as she felt she could call him that now—had been with a variety of babes through the years.

Figures.
 

The guy was a hottie.
 

Deb came in and looked at the photos. "Huh…I guess this means he was telling the truth?"
 

"Yep. This is his house."
 

"So now you need to get to that car."
 

A noise downstairs made Deb squeak and Cecelia jump off the bed. She had her gun in her hands as she mouthed for Deb to hide. Deb did as she was told and Cecelia went to the door and listened.
 

A door slammed shut. She had a good shot of the front door so it had to be the back door. She stood at the top of the stairs and listened as someone made noises in the kitchen and then there was a strange noise—like a moan—then nothing.
 

Cecelia held her gun out in front of her as she descended the steps quickly. She whipped around to her left and then looked past the steps to the kitchen just visible past the living room.
 

Someone lay on the floor of the kitchen, and from the look of the shirt and the blood on it, she knew it was "Thomas!"
 

She was beside him before she could blink. He was on his stomach and blood covered his back. There was so much of it his shirt was sticking to him. She pressed her fingers to his neck and felt a pulse.
 

"Oh no…" Deb said as she came down the stairs. "I'll call an ambulance."
 

"No don't…" Cecelia didn't know why she said that. She just felt like he was in danger. They were all in danger.
 

"But he needs medical help. It looks like he's been shot."

"You're medical help. You look at him and tell me what to do." Her phone rang and she pulled it out of her pocket as she stood. It was the Captain. "Inzmann."
 

"Cece, I need you back in here. I know you're tired from last night, but I could use you."
 

"What's wrong?"
 

"The Phantom escaped, and it looks like he shot someone to do it."
 

CHAPTER TEN

Thomas came to slowly as he swam through images he wasn't sure were real or memories or something he'd seen on TV.
 

He could see her…the woman of his dreams. She was bending over him and her hair fell around her face. She was so…lovely…

"Thomas?"
 

Other images were of someone in a white mask. The mask came off the floor and covered his face. He could feel it sticking to his skin, becoming a part of him. And there was laughter. A lot of laughter.
 

"Thomas…I need you to look at me if you can hear me."
 

He heard a woman's voice through the laughter and focused on it. When he moved past the mask and the images of his dream woman, dressed in a little black dress with a gun in her hand, he opened his eyes.
 

But what he saw wasn't his dream woman. He did recognize her though. He cleared his throat. "You're the woman in blue."
 

"I beg your pardon?"
 

"You were wearing blue last night. You were with the angel in black."
 

The blue woman smirked. It was a cute look. Then she shined something in his eyes. "I need you to look straight ahead."
 

"Ow."
 

"Now the other one….good. You're stabilizing, Mr. Carr. So I need you to remain still for now, okay? You lost a lot of blood."
 

Mr. Carr. He watched her turn her attention to something just out of sight. He also recognized the ceiling in his bedroom. "I'm home…and you called me Carr."
 

"Yes. Apparently Cecelia's gut was right—this is your house and you are Thomas Carr. Finger prints don't lie. Especially when I do them myself."
 

He refocused on her. "You do them?" He started to move but she put a hand firm hand on his chest. "Ow…again."
 

"You were shot through your shoulder. Bullet went through you. Looks like it nicked your collar bone and tore a lot of muscle on the way out. Close range?"
 

"You could say that."
 

"You see who shot you?"

"He was wearing a white mask."
 

"Kinky." She held up a syringe and pushed some of the clear liquid up through the needle. When she pointed it at him, he protested. "Sshh, ya big baby. It's just tetanus. I was able to access your medical records." She slipped the needle in.
 

Thomas didn't feel a thing. Awesome? "What are you?"
 

"Medical Examiner. Dekalb County."
 

He took stock of his condition as he raised his head—only as high as he could without pain. He was in his bed like he thought. He was also nude beneath the sheets and his right shoulder was bandaged and his right arm was strapped to his side. This was going to make shooting difficult. "Did you take my clothes off?"

"No." She stuck her tongue out at him. "Cecelia did."
 

"She—" his eyes widened. "She did?"

The blue woman Medical Examiner smiled down at him. "You like her."
 

"That obvious, huh?"
 

"Yeah. But before you put any moves on her, you'd better help her solve this. Cause she's putting a lot on the line."
 

Thomas tried again to struggle into a sitting position. This time she helped him. But of course, he got a little dizzy. "Whoa."

"Blood loss. Happens." She pursed her lips. "So did you shoot Officer Maddox?"
 

"Officer…" then he remembered the uniformed cop. "Oh no…no. The Phantom did."
 

"So it was the Phantom that shot him, and you."
 

"Yes."

"And you got out."
 

"Yes. I followed the Phantom. There's a…small access conduit in the back of the lockup. It was tight…but I got into it and then sort of slid down to the bottom." He winced with memory. "Abrupt stop."
 

"Explains the bump on your head."

"Is Maddox all right?"

The blue woman Medical Examiner stood up. She was dressed in a nice pants suit with a pass key and ID on a lanyard around her neck. "Yes. He'll be okay. He was lucky. This Phantom actually split ribs, missed the back bone. No vital organs but one hell of a recovery period."
 

"Good, good." He narrowed his eyes at the badge. "Deborah Proctor. Nice to meet you."
 

"Hold up the friendly till Cecelia gets back." She turned and started cleaning up the nightstand.
 

He recognized his First Aid kit next to a black bag. "You come prepared?"

"Always. Cecelia's my best friend. And she's always getting hurt. Hates hospitals." She laughed. "Last time she was put in one was after she was shot. She woke up and they caught her outside trying to get a taxi—in her hospital gown—exposing her ass to the world."
 

Thomas laughed and then tried not too—
oh man that hurt
. Why would laughter hurt his shoulder? But the question was replaced with the vision of Cecelia Inzmann in anything backless.
 

Oh, bad thought. All that did was make a pup-tent.
 

Deb noticed it and snickered. "You really do have a hard on for her—literally."
 

Thomas grabbed a pillow and put it on his crotch. "Where is she?"

"Precinct. They called her in after you escaped. She and I were proving that this was your address and she was going to go see who would have access to change the picture of you in the database. Those kinds of things can be traced pretty easy."
 

"Did she find my car?"

"Not yet. That was our next move until you fell into the kitchen." She had her bag packed and picked it up. "I'll leave you to get dressed."
 

Before she left the room the front door opened and Cecelia called out. "Hey!"
 

"I'm coming down!" Deb said and then looked around. "I think I left my coat in your spare bedroom. Excuse me." She left the room and closed the door.
 

Thomas slid over to the side of the bed with one arm—and not the arm he usually used—and swung his legs over. He put the pillow away and looked down at his betrayer.
 

Betrayer
.
 

He'd just stood up when the door burst open and Cecelia Inzmann, dressed in her short jacket, jeans and boots, stepped in. They both stopped and stared at the other.
 

Thomas wasn't sure what to do. If he covered his erection, it would just look stupid. But standing there, bare ass naked with a hard dick sticking up, had to look even more…ridiculous.
 

And once he laid his eyes on her, he became even more aroused. Then he noticed something in her hair. White specs that were disappearing. "Sn-snow?" He pointed at her with his free hand.
 

But Cecelia wasn't looking at his hand. And he liked the slow smile that curled her mouth to the side. He put his hand on his hip. "You could knock."
 

"And you could…hang a towel…" she didn't finish because she blushed a profuse red, turned and left the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
 

Thomas stood beside his bed and sighed. "Women."
 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Cecelia stood outside the bedroom, her back pressed against the door, her eyes closed, breathing heavily, trying to suppress the heat rising from her thighs. How…was it possible…someone could be that good looking? Even naked?
 

Wasn't possible. She'd have to wait for the other shoe to drop. There had to be something wrong.

"Got a good look, did ya?"
 

She jumped at Deb's voice. Her best friend came out of the spare with her coat in her hand. Cecelia cleared her throat. "It's…snowing."
 

"I told it would. So…what's the word?"

"Not sure yet." She stepped out from the door and glanced back at it.
 

"I mean with the case? Do they still think he's this Phantom?"
 

"No… well yeah but not really." She waved at Deb in a dismissive manner. "Just come downstairs with me. We need to go find his car."
 

"Not without me!" he shouted through the door.
 

Cecelia shot the door another hateful look and then stomped back down the stairs. She be-lined it to the kitchen and retrieved a Coke from the fridge. One twist, a swallow, and then a satisfying burp.
 

"That's attractive."
 

Cecelia held the soda out to Deb who took it and sipped it. "The Captain doesn't know we're here. And as long as the database photo doesn't show him as him, no one should show up here."
 

Deb leaned her head to the right. "What?"

"What what?"

"What else?"
 

"They found the bullet that went through Thomas, and they found his hand prints smeared in blood down the duct leading out of the lockup. The gun that shot both of them was left at the scene. And we have Maddox's gun here."
 

Deb waited.
 

"It's all kind of a mess right now. I think the Captain agrees with me that someone came in that lock up and shot the two of them. What confused them was why Maddox's gun was fired and why it wasn't there."
 

"Did you tell them?"

"Didn't have too. One of your team showed up in record time and pointed out the larger caliber bullets were fired from a prone position. So either Maddox fired it from the floor—"
 

"Or I did."
 

Both of them turned to see Thomas step into the kitchen. Cecelia felt her breath catch. He looked drawn and pale. Dark circles hung under his eyes and he had to hold himself up by bracing against the sink.