Sheltering Dunes (31 page)

He snugged her close with an arm around her shoulders. “More like a wife.”

“She good with this?”

“If she thought I was seriously trying to make it with you, she’d cut off my nuts.”

Mica laughed and rested her head against Mitch’s shoulder. “I like her.”

“You would, I think.”

“What does she do?”

“She’s a cop.”

“Huh. I guess she’d have to be.”

“She wasn’t always.”

“Yeah?” Mica pointed up the street. “That’s my place. So what was she? Your girl.”

Mitch didn’t usually talk about Sandy when he was on the job, even though she’d been undercover with him a time or two. Maybe hearing about Sandy would settle Mica down. She’d been jumpy and wired since they’d left the Piper. Not that he could blame her, but he needed her thinking. They’d both need to be sharp if they were going to pull this off. “When I met her, she was working the streets.”

“Really.”

“Yeah.” He didn’t tell many people that, but he thought Mica would get it. Where you came from didn’t define who you were. “She’s tough. Strong. A lot like you.”

“Sounds like she might be smarter than me. Was some pimp running her?”

Mitch tightened inside but he didn’t let anything show. “No. She was independent.”

“That’s hard to do. I couldn’t manage it.”

“The two of you came from different places, but you both survived, right? She got out. So did you.”

“I’m not out yet.” Mica stopped, turned into him, and kissed him. She said against his mouth, “This is my place. Are you going to get me out, cop?”

“Yeah,” Mitch said. “I am.”

“Then I guess you better come up and sleep on my couch.”

She took his hand and pulled him up the walk. Once inside, she led him up a couple of flights of stairs and down a hall. She slowed and pointed to a door with chipped brown paint, a tarnished number 4 hanging askew, and a sliver of light edging out underneath. “That’s it, and I didn’t leave a light on.”

“Get behind me.” Mitch pulled Mica against the wall and inched up to the door. “Sounds quiet. Unlock it, but don’t open it.”

Mica nodded, slid her key silently into the lock, and slowly turned the tumblers. After Mica unlocked the door, Mitch motioned for her to back up, slid his weapon from the holster at his back, and turned the knob. He went in low, weapon first.

Flynn Edwards sat on the sofa across the room, a bottle of beer in her hand and her feet up on the coffee table. She didn’t look surprised.

“Damn it, Flynn,” Mica snapped, crowding into the small apartment behind Mitch. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“This is where I belong. You’re here.” Flynn stood and held out her hand. “I’m Mica’s girlfriend. She tells me you’re a cop.”

Mitch checked the windows and noted the shades were pulled. Flynn was smart, for someone who didn’t know much about what she was up against. She returned the handshake. “I’m Mitch. I don’t know if you know about what’s going on here, but—”

Flynn moved over next to Mica. “I gather you’re waiting for whoever is after Mica to come back. You think you can keep her safe?”

“I know I can,” Mitch said. “But you’re kind of a complicating factor.”

“I’m not going to get in the way,” Flynn said, “but I’m not going to wait on the sidelines while you put Mica’s life in danger either.”

Mica jammed her hands on her hips. “Did you think maybe you should ask me about any of this, Flynn?”

“Like you asked me?” Flynn’s eyes sparked. “Did you consider I might have a stake in this? What it would do to me if something happened to you?”

For the first time since Mitch had met her, Mica looked as if she didn’t quite know how to play things. She touched Flynn’s face with incredible tenderness.

“I never know what to do about you,” Mica whispered.

Flynn smiled and kissed her as if she were spun from glass. “Haven’t you figured out I need you yet?”

Mica stepped into her, wrapped her arms around Flynn’s waist, and rested her head against Flynn’s chest. “I don’t think so. But that’s okay. I’m working on it.”

Mitch turned away, giving them privacy. Some things were too personal to witness. He said, “Okay. Well, if you’re staying, here are the rules—” His cell rang and he fished it out of his back pocket. No one had that number except the other officers. “Mitchell.”

“This is Conlon. Where are you?”

“At Mica’s.”

“We just picked up the suspect who attacked Mica and Flynn the other night. I ran his prints. His name is José Ramirez. You know him?”

“Yeah. He’s one of Hector’s musclemen. Works out of Jersey.”

“We’ll need Flynn and Mica to ID him as the assailant, but looks like we may have what you need.”

“Definitely,” Mitch said. “He must have stayed around to finish the job. Dumb of him. Where did you pick him up?”

Reese laughed, a sharp, dangerous laugh. “The idiot was stupid enough to go to my wife’s clinic. Tory called me.”

“Any trouble?”

“Nope.” Reese sounded hard as stone.

“He’s lucky he gave in quietly.”

“Very lucky.”

“When do you want to run the lineup?”

“Let us interrogate him for a few hours, soften him up overnight. Come morning we can have Flynn and Mica ID him. That will give us more ammunition to go another round when we’ve worn him down some.”

“Are you pulling off the detail on Mica?”

“What do you think?”

“I’d feel better if we keep up the surveillance. Maybe Ramirez isn’t alone.”

“Then whoever is with him will know we’ve picked him up,” Reese said. “If they see us pull off, they may get overconfident.”

“Anybody who’s watching knows I’m up here,” Mitch said.

“If they see you leave, that could work for us.”

“I’ll go out the front, head to my place, and circle back.”

“Sounds good,” Reese said.

“Where do you want me?”

“Bri is in the cruiser and Smith is outside across the street. Take the back. Check in with Smith when you’re in position.”

“Okay.” Mitch glanced at Flynn’s protective, possessive expression as she kept Mica tucked against her. “I’ll fill them in.”

“Them?”

“Flynn is here with Mica.”

Reese laughed. “Read her in on the plan, then.”

“I don’t think I have much choice about that.”

*

Reese hung up and observed the rest of Allie’s interview of José Ramirez on the video feed. Allie hinted they had enough to put him away and hadn’t offered him any deals, although he clearly had expected one. He hadn’t lawyered up, which was good, but he probably would once they began to squeeze him for information about Hector. The plan was to keep him in the dark as long as they could before pushing him to roll on Hector in exchange for a safe place beyond Hector’s reach.

“Good job,” Reese said when Allie came into her office. “You’ve got him wondering what we have on him, but he’s not running scared. He thinks he can wait us out and we’ll let him go.”

“Thanks,” Allie said, rolling the kinks out of her shoulders. “It’s a lot harder than I thought. I really wanted to jump to the chase.”

“I know. But I think you’re pacing things well.”

“Should we get him dinner, do you think?”

Reese looked at her watch. Ten thirty. “It’s not that late. Give it another hour or so.”

“Should I go another round tonight?”

“What’s your take?”

“I was thinking it would be better not to.”

“I agree. Let him sit.” Reese rose. “I’m heading home. You should too.”

“Okay.” Allie went to the door, then turned. “Thanks for letting me handle the questioning.”

“You did a good job.”

“You sure you don’t need me on surveillance—”

“No, we’re covered. Mitchell is outside now.”

“I thought Mitch was staying with Mica tonight.”

Reese nodded. “Now that we have Ramirez, we’re pretending to back off in case anyone else is watching her. Flynn is with Mica.”

“Oh.”

“You okay with the way things are playing out with Flynn?”

Allie stiffened. “You mean with Mica?”

Reese nodded.

“Yeah,” Allie said. “Mica really stepped up. The rest is Flynn’s business.”

“Okay, then. See you in the morning.”

“Thanks, Sheriff. I’ll be ready.”

Reese left a few minutes later, stopped to get pizza, and got home a little before eleven. Tory reclined on the couch, her feet up and a medical journal propped open on her chest.

“Is the baby asleep?” Reese stowed her gun belt on the top shelf in the closet and put the pizza on the counter separating the kitchen from the dining area.

“I just heard her talking to her rabbit a few minutes ago. If you want to see her, she’s probably still awake.”

Reese edged the journal out of the way with one finger and kissed Tory. “Hi.”

Tory slid her hand around Reese’s neck and kissed her back. “Hi. Are you all right?”

Reese sat on the coffee table. “Yeah. You?”

Tory sat up, dropped the journal on the floor, and eased her legs across Reese’s lap. Reese automatically cupped the ball of her foot and rubbed her arch.

“Mmm, that feels so good.” Tory sighed. “Are you very angry with me about this afternoon?”

“You mean about you completely disregarding the instructions of a law officer in the performance of her duty?” Reese switched to massaging Tory’s heel.

“Yes. That.”

“I’m enormously pissed off,” Reese said.

“Why are you so calm?”

“I’m angry at my wife for putting herself in danger. I understand why the doctor wanted to protect an office full of patients. I’m between a rock and a hard place and I don’t know what to do about it.” Reese took Tory’s hand and rubbed Tory’s knuckles against her cheek. “If he’d so much as blinked in your direction, I would have killed him.”

“I know, and I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to put you in that position, darling, but I didn’t have any choice.”

Reese couldn’t argue. “I guess that’s how you feel when I do things that put me at risk. I don’t think I ever really appreciated how that must make you feel.”

“Scared.”

“Yeah.” Reese remembered the icy flood of terror that gripped her before her training kicked in and everything went cold and silent and she just did what she had to do.

“Would you have really killed him?”

“Without a second’s hesitation.”

“I understand that too. I’d do the same to anyone who threatened you.”

Reese stood and pulled Tory up into her arms. She kissed her, harder than usual, a little deeper, a little rougher. “Don’t do anything like that again.”

Tory clenched her hand in Reese’s hair. “I can’t promise—not if you’re in danger. You’re mine to protect.”

“I love you.”

“I love everything about the way you love me.” Tory crushed her mouth to Reese’s. Her kiss was a claiming that banished the fear from Reese’s soul. “I want you to make love to me. I want to feel you everywhere. I want to know you’re safe.”

Reese lifted Tory into her arms. “Remember the first time I carried you? I was shaking so much I was afraid I was going to drop you.”

“I remember you made me wet the second you picked me up.”

Reese skimmed her mouth over Tory’s and headed for the stairs. “Are you wet now?”

“Enormously.” Tory wrapped her arms around Reese’s neck. “This is better than the first time. Now take me to bed.”

The door closed behind Mitch, and Mica turned to Flynn. “You know, José Ramirez might not be the only one.”

Flynn rose and took Mica’s hand. “Let’s go to bed.”

Mica sighed but followed Flynn into the tiny bedroom that barely fit a double bed and the boxes where she kept her clothes. Standing at the foot of the bed, she had trouble concentrating on anything other than Flynn, just inches away. Her brain said she needed to prepare for Hector’s next move, but all she wanted, all she needed, was Flynn. She wanted to kiss her, more and more with every passing second. When she tried to step back so she could think, Flynn gripped her hand more firmly. Exasperated with herself for being so easily distracted by Flynn’s smile and the teasing glint in her eyes, she said, “Ignoring what’s going on isn’t going to change anything.”

“I’m not ignoring anything.” Flynn framed Mica’s face and kissed her. “I know you’re right. Someone else might come looking for you. Maybe tonight. Maybe next week. Maybe a year from now.”

“Then you know this is crazy, right?”

“You’ve been saying that to me since the first day we met.” Flynn rubbed her thumb over a faint bruise on Mica’s jaw. “This is the best crazy I’ve ever known. I know something else too. We can’t predict the future. We can only live the life we have, and the only life I want is the one with you in it. I love you.”