Shattered Souls (23 page)

“I will if you promise to take me to Frank.”

The starch in the old woman’s voice softened and cracked. She loved her husband. Cait melted beneath the woman’s teary blue eyes. “I promise. When this is over, I’ll find you and take you to Frank. What’s his last name?”

“Digby.” Her mouth slid into a wide smile. “If you like, I’ll keep an eye on your friend, too. If the wraith comes around, I’ll make sure old Miz Klein makes a ruckus.”

The sound of booted feet approached, and she glanced back to see a uniform walk closer, a small spiral pad in his hand. She straightened.

“Looks like the law’s after you, girl.” She gave Cait a wink and rolled her tank into Celeste’s room.

Muffling a groan, Cait didn’t need to give herself a pep talk to stiffen her backbone and get ready to tell another batch of lies. She had years of experience lying to police. But first she searched the gaze of the officer, looking for any hint of glowing or overlarge pupils. He seemed human enough to just be a pain in her neck.

“Ma’am, I understand you were with Ms. Glapion when the EMTs got there?”

Cait gave a curt nod. “I was.”

His gaze rose from his notepad. “You told them she fell into a freezer.”

“I did.”

He cleared his throat and his eyebrows rose. “The only freezer in her store was part of a fridge and not big enough for her to fit inside.”

Cait shrugged. “Must have fainted and fell into the doorway.”

He arched an eyebrow. “And the plate-glass window? It was broken from the inside.”

“Guess I got a little carried away, trying to get someone’s attention on the street.”

“That someone Detective Pierce?”

“It was.” That statement wasn’t a lie.

“I understand the door wasn’t locked. Wasn’t blocked in any way.”

This guy was getting on every last one of her nerves. She gave him a dead-eye glare. “Your point?”

His chest rose, nostrils flaring. “Just tryin’ to get the facts, ma’am.”

“That’s OK, officer. I’ll take it from here.” Sam’s large hand skimmed her back and came to rest on her hip.

Sam couldn’t have been more obvious that she was his business if he’d peed on her. Her breath caught in her throat.

The officer eyed them both but gave Sam a crisp nod. “I’ll make a note that you’re adding to the report, sir.”

“Do that.”

As the officer walked away, she snuggled against Sam’s chest, her hands coming up under his jacket. “Not packing?” she asked, feeling no holster straps.

“Beg to differ,
hon
,” he growled.

Her lips twitched at the innuendo. “Shhh. Not now. You’re on the job.”

Sam pulled her hips tighter into his. “Turned in my badge and gun. For now.”

“What?” Shock shot through her, and she leaned back to stare into his face.

“Leland wanted you off the case. We had a difference of opinion. You and I are going it alone from here on out.”

“That list of officers who touched Donnelly?”

“We’ll have to do without.” He shrugged. “Leland stopped all inquiries except those directly involved with finding the girls.”

“Damn.” Her throat tightened. She knew how much being a cop meant to him. “What about you, though? This going to bite you in the ass?”

“He wanted to move me to another case altogether. Looking at this from his standpoint, I get why he’s so pissed. We had the guy. Henry’s murder’s neatly solved. He doesn’t want anyone else looking too closely at Donnelly now. Director wants it closed. Dead cop killer makes it nice and neat.”

“You didn’t figure out who was watching the street outside Celeste’s?”

He shook his head. “Didn’t have time before he pulled the plug.”

Her shoulders slumped. “Don’t know why that guy’s always gunning for me.”

Sam snorted.

At the sound, she couldn’t help but smile herself. She arched a brow and shrugged. Leland and she had a history. All of it bad.

“Going to stay and guard Celeste?”

She shook her head, then leaned around him to peek into the room. Miss Daisy gave her a wink. “Celeste has angels watching over her. She’ll be fine.”

Cait, Sam, and Jason congregated at the agency to share what they knew up to that point.

Jason opened his notebook. “No deliveries. No valid address in anyone’s customer database. Donnelly was a ghost.”

Cait certainly hoped he wasn’t, at least not now. And then she wondered whether ghosts retained their odors. She shrugged. “We need his bank information.”

They turned to Sam, who shook his head. “I’ll try to get with Grady Lawson. He was working on it. If Leland left him any bandwidth, he’ll give us what he can.”

“Gotta say, you two have certainly had more fun with this investigation,” Jason said, loosening his tie. “Never thought I’d have my fill of flaky coeds.”

“Wanna trade?” Cait drawled.

“Not if I’m gonna be the one bouncin’ on ceilings.”

Sam cleared his throat. “We’re stuck until we can piece together where Donnelly stayed.”

Cait nodded. “I have one more thing for you to run down, Jason.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Since you’re the lead, just tell me what you need.”

“It’s a pro bono thing, unrelated to the case.” Anticipating his reaction, she grimaced.

“We have time for this?”

“We have to make it. I promised someone I’d find her husband.”

Jason looked at her from under lowered eyebrows. “Do I want to ask?”

“Not if you want to sleep tonight.”

He grunted. “Hit me.”

“Name’s Frank Digby. An elderly guy whose wife died at Methodist Hospital.”

Both eyebrows rose, catching the bit about searching for a
dead
woman’s husband. “When?”

“I forgot to ask her. But it can’t have been that long ago.”

Jason’s gaze narrowed. “That’s new…talkin’ to ghosts.”

Cait shrugged. “It is what it is.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “So, if we’re done for the night…”

A glint of challenge shone in Jason’s gaze. “Not hittin’ O’Malley’s?”

“Since I’m not looking for a drink—no!” Her gaze slammed into Sam’s. “Seems you’re free too.”

“I’ll be right behind you, babe.”

“You always are,” she purred.

“TMI, guys,” Jason groaned.

Chapter Eighteen

Sam parked his sedan sideways in her parking lot, not sure how he got there because he’d only just slammed his car door and now he was here. The minutes flew by without him noticing, because he was already imagining every way he wanted to have her before they went their separate ways. Maybe if he screwed her every which way and sideways he’d get her out of his system at last. But he knew that was just bluster on his part. He couldn’t imagine ever getting his fill.

Somehow, she’d beaten him to her place. Cait stood in the doorway, gave him a glance over her shoulder, and walked inside, already stripping. He hurried out of the car, sure she’d be nude and the whole world would get an eyeful because she sure as hell didn’t look like she gave a damn.

Stepping through the door, he slammed it closed behind him and followed the trail of her clothes into the living room.

She sat on the edge of the couch, just inside, her chest bare. Her pretty rosy-brown nipples were flushed a deeper shade, and the tips were hard and jutting.

Sam’s mouth watered. Feeling as though a fist closed around his balls, his hands got clumsy as he rushed to catch up. He barely restrained the urge to rip off his shirt because he knew he’d have to wear something going out the door later, but the little buttons frustrated him.

Cait must have sensed his desperation because she laughed and stood to wriggle sexily out of her tight jeans.

Groaning, he swore under his breath, which only made her laugh harder. He’d been hanging by a thread ever since he’d charged inside the store to see her prone, Celeste’s cold body in her arms. For just a moment he’d thought the wraith had her too, and his whole world had stopped turning.

A wake-up call for sure, and another sign he was sinking deep. His face and chest tightened as he remembered; his hands dropped to his sides. Good Lord, he still loved her. Heart and soul. If they went their separate ways when this was over, that stark, scary fact would never change.

Cait’s smile dimmed. Her stubborn chin rose. “Don’t want to hear that it’s not good for us.”

Sam drew a deep breath, readying to argue, but what did he want to say?
Cait, I’ll love your forever, but I can’t stay?

With her gaze darkening, she shrugged, pretending nonchalance although he could tell from the way the corners of her mouth turned down she was disappointed. Her mouth opened, no doubt to deliver a caustic reply, but she closed it again.

“Yeah, let’s not talk.” Safer that way for both of them. He grasped her hand in his and led her into the bedroom.

For them, silence was rare. And he knew this was just an interlude, a calm before the next storm. They needed to be together, to work off some steam and maybe renew a little trust before they faced Worthen’s demon again. They needed to make themselves stronger, not cut each other down, which inevitably happened when they said careless things.

Beside the bed, he cupped her breasts with his large hands, then leaned toward her and pulled a rosy-brown nipple into his mouth, soothing it with the flat of his tongue while he drew on it. Her fingers clutched his hair, tips digging into his scalp. She moved closer, then bent away, using her weight to take him to the bed.

Sam rolled with her, scooting her up the mattress with his hands and knees until she was beneath him, his body completely blanketing hers. He released her nipple, plucked the other to a hard peak, and then moved up again and kissed her.

“Tell me what you need,” he said, his voice rasping like gravel. His body was taut with need, his cock fully engorged and aching to be freed.

“You. Inside me. Fast,” she whispered.

He leaned back, stroked open his belt, unzipped his trousers, and then pushed them and his boxers just far enough to free himself. Her hands reached between them, centered him, and he drove forward, sliding through her creamy depths until fully sheathed.

Sam paused, breathing deeply, taking in her sweet, clean scent while getting control of his need.

She framed his face with her hands, forefingers looping over his ears to tug down his face. “Fast, I said.”

“Don’t want this over before it begins.”

“Don’t play nice on account of me.”

“Who said I was worried about you?”

Her lips twitched. “Asshole.”

Sam arched a brow. “Baby, you’re all sweet talk.” He lowered himself, thrust his hands beneath her to cup her bottom, and rolled.

Once on top, Cait snuggled her knees beside his hips and began to move.

For Sam, nothing was sexier than watching Cait doing him.

Using both hands, she groped his chest for handholds and then shoved up and down, nothing tentative or gentle about her movements. With her mouth set in a firm line, he knew she was all about the O.

Her breasts shivered with each hard downward glide. Her belly undulated, rocking forward and back. She lifted and fell, driving down and inward to take every sweet inch he had to give her.

“Not a race,” he muttered, not because he wasn’t pleased with the pace, but because he loved to watch her changing expressions.

The lustful tension screwing up her features slid into a dark scowl. “Don’t like the pace? Tough,” she said, breath gusting on a harder, deeper downward thrust.

Sam cupped the corners of her hips and held her locked against him. “Want it faster?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice wavering, tension crimping her mouth.

He shoved her off. “Get on your knees, baby.”

She tucked her hair behind one ear, gave him a backward glance, and settled on her hands and knees.

Sam loved having sex this way, because he controlled everything—the depth, the speed, even her own movements with the pressure of his hands. He massaged her round ass, grabbing handfuls as he kneed her legs wider apart. He tilted her up, thrust his fingers inside her, just a swirl to stir the moisture, then fit the tip of his cock against her entrance and slowly fed it inside.

She wriggled, encouraging him to come faster, but he resisted, giving her shallow pumps that teased.

Her breaths deepened, gasping in sync with his motions. The familiar pattern of their lovemaking suddenly made him pause.

Damned if he’d give her what she wanted that quickly. For once, he really did want to surprise her, find out if he had what it took to resist her sexy siren’s call.

Slowly, he pulled out, his dick so hard and aching he cussed under his breath.

“Forget something?” she muttered over an expelled breath. “
Like me?
”

“No, just remembering. I haven’t been a few places in a while.”

“Dammit, Sam,” she groaned. “I was right there.”

He chuckled, although the effort to make the sound seem casual nearly killed him. “Not everything’s about you, baby.”

Sam’s hard hands turned her again until she lay on her back, and he hovered above.