Nemesis (Southern Comfort) (24 page)

Another detective strode by, dark-haired,
maybe a little older than her and quite attractive, despite the fact that his once-over was a bit too pointed for her taste.   He failed to watch where he was going and blundered into the corner of Miller’s desk.

“Oops,” he said as the stack of files shuddered, then toppled.  They both scrambled to avert disaster, and only a couple of the folders hit the floor.

“Sorry,” he grinned sheepishly, dark eyes crinkling as he picked up the mess.  If she didn’t have a hard and fast rule about dating other cops the crinkling would have really gotten her.  Laugh lines were like her own personal kryptonite. 

“I could claim clumsiness or some other handy excuse, but the fact is I was checking out your legs.”

And okay, rules were meant to be broken.  If that weren’t the case they’d both be out of a job.

She laughed as she handed him an affidavit that had fallen out of the folder in his hands.

Long fingers, free of any obvious matrimonial hardware.  Well-tended nails.

Nice shoulders beneath the straps of his holster.

It had been ages since she’d been crinkled at, so she figured what the hell.  It wasn’t like she had to work with him, anyway.  “The legs are even better tucked beneath a table for two at Magnolia’s.”

This time he was the one to chuckle.  “Makes it kind of tough for me to stumble over things while ogling them.”

“Exactly.”  She let the invitation stand in her eyes.

The dark
chocolate of his turned liquid.  “I’m finished up here at six.”

“I could call, get a reservation for seven.”

The mixture of surprise and delight on his face was an extremely attractive combination.  “This is the easiest date I’ve ever arranged.”

“Maybe you should try the straightforward thing more often.”

He grinned and tucked the affidavit in the folder, sat it on Miller’s desk.  “Most women would have kicked me with one of those very fine legs I was ogling.”

“Lucky for you, I’m not most women.”

“No, you certainly are not.  I’m Anthony Corelli, by the way.”

A good Italian
name.  But the drawl was pure Charleston.  The smile, purely male.

“Kathleen
Murphy.” 

He juggled his own file folders to reach over and accept her handshake. 

A crime scene photo fluttered down.

Kathleen was able to snatch it with her free hand, her other going limp in his grip.

She recognized the victim whose lifeless body sprawled behind a dumpster.

The wise-ass kid whom she’d seen last, changing the locks at Sadie’s.

“Problem?” Anthony asked, cop senses alerted.

Kathleen glanced up into
his now-serious dark eyes.  “We might have to take a rain check on dinner.”

Because her itch had broken out into an uncomfortable case of hives.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

SADIE
cast a worried glance in Declan’s direction before looking up at the looming Doug.  He was wet and faintly winded from trekking through the rain-dampened woods.  Medium height, medium build, medium skin glistening against the slick darkness of his hair, he looked as perfectly harmless as always.  But the friendly smile, the hint of yokel he seemed to deliberately add to his voice, no longer disarmed her, now that she’d seen him for what he was. 

His brother Billy, that muscle-bound bundle of charm, was nudging Dec with his work boot.

Declan had dropped back to the floor as soon as they heard the men coming.

Sadie knew
him well enough to know his playing possum was a ruse.  His flaws might be legion, but pure cowardice wasn’t among them.   

Which was why, knowing the way his mind worked, Sadie suspected he was going to attempt to present the least threat imaginable, so that he could bide his time and try to catch one or the other of their captors off guard.

Admirable, if he wasn’t already weakened by the previous injury to his head.  Not to mention the fact that he was handcuffed to a pipe.

And at least one of the men possessed a gun.

And both of them were crazy.

Given those odds, she hoped he knew better than to try something foolish and end up getting shot.  She didn’t think she could survive that.  Having him pistol whipped in front of her – beneath her, t
echnically – had been bad enough.

Thankfully he didn’t move,
not even when Billy nudged the boot a little harder.

But Sadie couldn’t stop herself from protesting.  “Leave him alone,” she snarled, indignation swelling
in her chest. 

Doug chuckled and made a quelling motion with his fingers.  Like a well-trained but temperamental dog, Billy almost immediately desisted, but he did shoot a sulky
look at his brother’s back.

There seemed to be some tension between the brothers. 
Over what, she didn’t know, but maybe she could use that to her advantage, given the right opportunity.

Sensing Doug’s gaze on her, Sadie tore her eyes away from Declan.  The gleam in Doug’s eyes had her praying for the right opportunity.

She got the unnerving feeling he was enjoying this a little too much.

“Gumption,” he said
, echoing his twisted compliment from before.  “Damned if I don’t like you, Sadie Rose.”

The familiar for
m of address had loathing rising like bile.  It was pure mockery on his part, and she couldn’t abide his amusement.  She wasn’t stupid enough to tell him exactly what she thought of his approval, so she let her expression do the talking, lacing it with a heavy dose of
up yours
.

He grinned and looked her over.

“You look like a half-drowned mouse.  One of those fancy little white ones they sell at the pet stores.  You remember that mouse you used to have, Wilson?”

From behind him, the larger man grunted.

“Sure enough was a cute little thing.” 

Doug
stooped in front of her, pushed her ruined shirt aside, and stroked a finger across her injured breast.  Sadie struggled to remain calm, and barely stopped herself from jerking away.

“I like you,” he mouthed, for her eyes only.

Fear so primal she couldn’t begin to control it tore the whimper right out of her throat.

“
That had to hurt.” He fingered her scratched nipple.  “Your titties might be little, but they sure are pretty to look at.  I’ve a mind to let Billy cut the other one, just so they’re a matched pair.”

Satisfaction burned bright in his dark eyes
at the commotion that kicked up behind him.

“Well, well, well.  Seems lover boy’s awake, after all.”

Her free hand flew to cover her breast as her gaze winged back to Declan.  Enraged over Doug’s theatrics, he rose up like a holy avenger.  His foot shot out toward Billy’s knees and sent him stumbling backwards.  Billy crashed into the table, the rotted wood splintering.  He swore as he fell through it to the floor, got tangled up in the debris.

Declan peeled his eyes away from the havoc he’d wrought, furious g
aze homing in on Sadie.

“Did he hurt you?” he asked, seemingly oblivious to Billy’s cursing and Doug’s laughter.

Sadie shook her head, heartbeat racing as the ungainly Billy finally found his feet.

She screamed when he went after Declan.

DECLAN
felt the steel-lined toe of the bastard’s boot connect with his ribs, and pain exploded into fiery shards of pure agony.  It stole his breath and roiled his stomach until he had to roll onto his knees and wretch.

“Stop it!
STOP IT!”
Sadie screamed as Dec felt the crunch of the boot again.  The sound of bones cracking was audible, even in the ruckus. The pain in his ribs coupled with that in his head was worse than any he’d ever experienced.  White lights detonated behind his eyes. He had to struggle to remain conscious.  He could not, would not, pass out and leave Sadie to the mercy of these idiots.

Not that he was doing her much good in this pathetic state, but he gave it the old college try.

Marshaling whatever strength he had left in his arms, he grabbed onto Billy’s boot when it came at him again.  Through years of scrapping with Rogan, he’d learned how to take a man down.  He twisted the boot inward.  Had the satisfaction of watching the asshole lose his balance.  His technique was sloppy, however, given the limitations imposed by the handcuffs.  Billy crashed into the sink behind him but unfortunately did not fall.

“That’s enough,” Doug said to his brother when Sadie began to cry in earnest.  But Billy had the adrenaline of the fight in his veins and ground the heel of his boot into Declan’s hand.

Which – sweet Jesus – hurt like a mother.

Having his ass kicked would have been bad enough, but hearing Sadie crying was a spike through the heart. 

He shot out his foot one more time and managed to clip Billy in his sadistic balls.

“Enough!” Doug thundered when his brother howled and bent over double.  The look Billy discharged at Dec out of narrowed eyes promised pain-filled retribution. But Dec
lan figured he was already in enough physical agony that a little more wouldn’t be that noticeable.

It was the emotional distress that was killing him.

Ignoring Billy, whose assault was tempered for now, Dec pried his heavy eyelids up and turned his head toward Sadie.  If he had to lie here ineffectually while those bastards did nasty shit to her…

Hell.  It would be better if they just shot them both right now.

Her gaze latched onto his like a lifeline.  What he saw in those big wounded eyes made him feel like he’d been scraped raw inside.

SADIE
thought that if she had to see Declan hurt again, she would go quickly out of her mind.

Something.  There had to be something she could do to put a stop to it.

She turned her attention to Doug.

“You’re pathetic,” she told him, disdain dripping
from the words.  Maybe she could incite him, get his attention focused on her. It was psychology 101, but it was the only weapon at her disposal.  He’d commented several times on her supposed store of “gumption” so maybe she could use that somehow to her advantage.  Not that there was a whole lot of advantage to be gained.

But anything was better than sitting by powerless to help Declan. 

She sneered at him, disgusted.  “Easy enough to beat on a chained man, let alone have your brother do your dirty work.”              

Doug’s roar of laughter was both welcome and obscene.  “I swear, you’re about the most entertaining little thing it’s ever been my pleasure to
meet.”  He held out his hand, into which his brother tossed the knife.  Doug flicked open the blade, using it to cut the remaining half of her bra. 

And g
rinned from ear to ear when she tensed but refused to cower. 

Then he leaned in so close that his warm breath made her shudder.

“Don’t worry. There are some things I enjoy taking care of personally.  And with you it’s going to be very personal, indeed.”

Gaining his feet, he turned with
an expression of ire toward his brother.  Sadie tried not to quiver helplessly in boneless, heartfelt relief.

Her shoulders sagged, her throat clogged and she cast a worried gaze over Declan. He looked like he’d been substituted for the sandbag at the gym.  And despite the fact that it had to cause him god-awful pain, he shook his head in disapproval of what she was doing.

There was a downside, sometimes, to knowing each other so well.

Then her attention was snagged by something
else flying through the air, to land in Doug’s outstretched hand.

“… lucky you didn’t break it,” Doug chastised Billy, “with all that stumbling around.”  Sadie realized that the brothers had been carrying on a conversation to which she hadn’t paid attention.  Definitely not good.  She needed all her faculties about her if there was any hope of avoiding a bullet.

Or worse
. But she was determined not to dwell on that.

The object
partially concealed in Doug’s hand was a cell phone, which he was studying intently.

“Four missed calls,” he told her as he scrolled through the incoming call log.  “Rick,” he said without interest, reading the name that appeared with the first number.  “Rick again.”  Sadie’s heart gave a little kick.  “Somebody from the elementary school and… ah, yes.” He smiled and it became clear that the phone he held was indeed Sadie’s. He’d obviously charged her battery. “The one that we’ve been waiting for – everybody’s favorite cop.”

He looked at Sadie with purpose.

“
Voicemail password, please.”

She wavered for just a moment.  Until Billy moved a step closer to Declan.  Then she blurted out the number.

After punching the buttons to retrieve what Sadie assumed was a message from Kathleen, he pressed the phone to his ear.

“Detective Murphy isn’t sure whether or not you’ve had a chance to talk to Declan,” the creep relayed in a theatrical aside.  “And she hopes she’s not interrupting, given his plans to drop by your house, but she really needs to see you as soon as you’re available.  Definitely today.  God, what a bossy bitch.  She says she’s with a Mount Pleasant detective who needs to ask you a few questions.”  At that information he looked less pleased with himself, dark brows beetling on his forehead.  “
She hopes the job interview went well.  Call her back ASAP.”

He pushed the button to save the message and then exited her voice mailbox.

When he returned his gaze to her he was frowning, something dark and unpleasant in his eyes.

“Declan, I presume.” He ran his eyes over the man in question.  “Unless I’m sadly mistaken, Ms. Mayhew, I heard you refer to this man as Rogan.”