The Rogue Reviewer (Primrose, Minnesota Book 3) (9 page)

“At the station.” He pressed a hand to the
small of her back and nudged her to walk the short distance to the
car.

“How did you even know we were here?”

“Lucky guess.” He opened the back door and
glanced at Marnie.

“You owe me big time, Dara,” her friend
growled as she climbed into the car and slid across the seat to the
opposite side. “Hey, Jackson.”

Jackson grinned. “Buckle up.”

“Okay, in,” Mace told Dara as he gestured at
the open door. “Watch your head.”

“You’re seriously going to make me ride back
here like one of your suspects?”

“Seriously.” He leaned one arm against the
open door and glared while she sat and buckled her seatbelt. “You
are a suspect.”

“Of what?”

“You have the right to remain silent.” He
simply gave her an arrogant grin and closed the door.

Dara rode with her knees almost glued to her
breasts on a hard, plastic bench behind a steel cage attached to
both sides of the car while Mace drove in silence.
Lovely
.
She could almost feel the germs lined up ready to attack her.

“Please don’t let anyone see me,” Marnie
groaned beside her.

Dara rolled her eyes. “Like you said earlier,
it’s dark.”

Jackson cleared his throat.

She leaned forward and spoke through the iron
holes in the divider. “What about my car?”

“What about it?” Mace glanced at her in the
rearview mirror.

“We’ll need to get home once we’re
sprung.”

“What makes you think you’ll get out anytime
soon?”

She gave him a taunting smirk. “Alex won’t
waste time – you’re bothering her in the middle of the night. For
the
second
time.”

Jackson mumbled and she could’ve sworn it
sounded something like
idiot
.

“I’ll drive you home once you post bail.”

“Not in this contraption you won’t.”

He answered with another cocky chuckle and
she felt like kicking the back of his seat.

Marnie scooted down low in the seat.
“Jackson, please don’t let him drive down Main Street.”

“He won’t.” Jackson gave his partner a hard
stare. “And he’ll take the alley to the unloading dock.”

Dara took one look at her best friend, now
almost curled into a ball, and almost laughed out loud. “Marnie,
the windows are tinted so no one can see inside. That’s why they
don’t load prisoners until the officer can sit inside with
them.”

“Research?” Mace’s deep, taunting tone made
her want to stuff his handcuffs in a very strategic place.

“As a matter of fact, yes. Your captain was
full of information.”

“You know Captain Bradley?” Jackson cut his
eyes at Mace as he steered into the covered garage that housed the
booking area.

“Personally.” She glanced at Marnie. “You can
sit up now, we’re here.”

“Nice, Turner,” Jackson mumbled.

An hour later, Dara dialed the lone telephone
just outside the jail cell. “Alex, it’s Dara.”

“Are you drunk? It’s two o’clock a.m.”

“Not exactly. We’re in jail.”

“We?”

“Marnie’s with me.”

“Are you together?”

“Yes. We’re sharing a lovely steel box with
several thousand germs at the moment.”

“Are you okay?”

“Of course.” She gave a half smile to a woman
in the corner whose tank top worked overtime to restrain her ample
breasts. “In fact, I’m doing some extensive research on the night
life in Primrose.” She winced at the tortured groan that left
Marnie’s throat.

“What was that noise?”

“Marnie.”

“I’ll be right there. Do me a favor and keep
your research on the downlow.”

Dara disconnected the call, hung up the
receiver, and then grinned at Mace. “Alex is on her way.”

She bit her lip as Jackson’s face turned a
pale shade of green. It was almost unfair for him to suffer Alex’s
wrath as well, but it served him right for following alongside
Mace.

Mace opened the cell and gestured her and
Marnie inside. “I’ll let you know when she gets here.”

She and Marnie took a seat on an empty bench
on the opposite side of the cell from the others.

“Not much business tonight,” Marnie
mumbled.

“Can you believe he actually arrested
us?”

“Yes.” Marnie answered so quickly that Dara
got the impression she waited for the opportunity. “He didn’t have
a choice.”

“Huh? Of course he had a choice! We weren’t
even inside the house. The front porch wasn’t part of the crime
scene.”

“Don’t you see?” Her friend actually giggled.
“There’s a major power struggle between you two. He had to do
something to gain control.”

She grinned, impressed by Marnie’s response.
“You’d make a pretty good head doctor.”

“I learned from the best.”

“Thanks, Marnie.”

“I meant Bri, but you’re not so bad
yourself.”

Dara shook her head at Marnie’s teasing,
relieved the other woman wasn’t still panicked about being
arrested. And really, she wasn’t either. If arresting her gave
Detective Turner a false sense of security, more power to him –
locking her up wouldn’t stop her from picking up the case right
where she left off.

Minutes felt like hours while she waited for
Hurricane Alex to blow in the jail, but Dara practiced patience.
She knew from experience Alex would be the one in control –
Detective Turner would have no choice in the matter. She glanced at
the clock on the wall and frowned. Alex would have to get to the
jail first.

Just about the time she was ready to admit
Alex had chosen sleep over her friends, Mace approached and opened
the cell door

“Your attorney’s in the interrogation room.”
He gestured for her and Marnie to exit and then re-locked the door.
They followed him a short distance down the hallway and then he
opened another door and gestured with one hand for them to enter.
Jackson was already inside, pressed into the corner as if he wanted
to hide.

Once Dara saw Alex propped on one hip against
a metal table, she fought the urge to give her friend a high-five.
Alex was here, armor in place. Let the games begin.

“Okay, why did you arrest them?”

“Obstruction of justice.”

Dara lifted an eyebrow. “For attempting to
break into my own house?”

Mace nodded. “It’s still a crime scene.”

“Why did you break in?” Alex frowned. “You
and Marnie both have a key.”

“Someone changed the locks.”

“For your own protection.” Mace crossed his
arms across his now wrinkled pale blue dress shirt, open at the
collar, unbuttoned to the third button. She licked her lips at the
sight of the smooth, tan skin beneath.

“Yoo-hoo, Dara!” Alex waved a hand in front
of her face. “Why didn’t you just call Griffin?”

“It was late.” She swallowed hard. “I had no
idea I couldn’t get inside.”

Alex gave her a
you-need-severe-help
stare before turning to address the detectives. “Did you charge
them?”

Jackson cleared his throat and Mace grinned.
“No.”

Dara’s eyes cramped from her wide stare.
“What? You left me in that cell for two hours and I’m not even
under arrest?”

“Oh, I arrested you.” Mace shifted his weight
to his opposite hip. “I just didn’t book you.”

“I’m so billing you double, Dara,” Alex
mumbled.

“Let’s just go home,” Marnie pleaded. “To my
apartment.”

Mace stepped forward and moved a wayward curl
back from her forehead. “No more, Sherlock Holmes.”

“Fine,” she mumbled.

“Promise.”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake!” Alex shrieked. “She
swears on her first born child, Detective Turner!”

Obviously stunned by the outburst, both men
stood silent and still, as if one false move would render them one
testicle short of a pair.

Jackson moved slowly next to Alex and grasped
her elbow. “C’mon, Counselor. I know exactly what you need.”

Dara raised both eyebrows and glanced at
Marnie, who released an obnoxious giggle. Although she was relieved
her friend wasn’t totally traumatized, Dara couldn’t stop the
thought that Alex might just change her mind about bail. Thank God
they hadn’t really been charged.

“There’s a twenty-four hour coffee house
around the corner.” Jackson guided an amazingly silent Alex to the
door. “Detective Turner will see you two home.”

Dara only nodded as the door closed behind
them.

“I’ll bet you twenty bucks they don’t go for
coffee,” Marnie said beside her.

Mace reached into his pants pocket and handed
Marnie a twenty dollar bill. “I know they won’t.”

Dara rolled her eyes. “And you accuse me of
sex on the brain.”

She knew the moment those words left her
mouth she invited trouble. No way would her best friend let that
opportunity pass.

“You do.” The smile that creased Marnie’s
lips could have been archived in the sneaky villain’s hall of fame.
“Now if you’d put all those naughty thoughts in motion, you’d have
awesome research opportunity.”

Dara glanced at Mace, expecting some sort of
snappy come-back. Instead, he raised one eyebrow and tilted his
head to one side, almost daring her to say the words lined up on
the tip of her tongue.

“Maybe I will.” Her gaze never left his as
she answered and she caught the sparkle in the depths of his deep,
dark eyes.

“No doubt in my mind,” Marnie grumbled. “Can
we go now?”

Mace pushed off the wall with one hip and
moved to open the door. “After you, ladies.”

***

Parked outside of the Primrose Police
Department, he plastered himself against the car seat, hoping to
make himself invisible to the naked eye while he waited to see what
would happen next. Turner enjoyed using his badge as intimidation.
It was bad enough he tossed Dara out of her own home, but his
sources revealed that the dumb ass cop had arrested her and locked
her in a filthy jail cell. She hated germs. He would be punished
for that.

He’d waited going on two hours and his
patience wore thin. If he didn’t see her soon, he would go in after
her. His spine tingled in anticipation when she and Marnie finally
exited the station, Detective Turner behind. Now she was free –
free to be his. His anticipation became excitement until all three
of them climbed into Turner’s truck. Dara scooted to the middle,
pressed against Turner.

He clenched the steering wheel until his
knuckles hurt and his hands shook. Cocky bastard.

As soon as Turner pulled out of the parking
lot and onto the street, he started the car, shifted into gear, and
followed at a safe distance. He had to be extra careful, tailing a
cop. Turner was trained to notice things like that. He soon
recognized Marnie’s neighborhood and fell back, drove around the
block, and then parked. He had to do something to make her notice
him. But what? He scooted down in the seat and pulled the brim of
his baseball cap over his eyes. This would take some thought.

Huddled around a squad room table, Mace
raised an eyebrow at Jake and Ryker when Jackson entered, just over
an hour late. “You look like hell.”

Jackson answered with a scowl.

He glanced at his partner and cautiously
continued. “Long night?”

“Not long enough.”

Jake snickered. “You get lucky?”

“No comment,” Jackson growled. “Did you ask
Mace? He took two ladies home.”

“Really?” Ryker leaned forward, obviously
impressed by the numbers.

He chuckled, purposely ignoring Ryker’s
inquiry, then leaned back in his chair and braided his fingers
behind his head. “Screw you.”

“Yeah. So, anything new?” Jackson grabbed an
empty chair, turned it around backwards, and then sat.

“No, damn it. What are we missing?”

“Evidence,” Jake said around a long sigh.
“Too many suspects with motive and not enough evidence to point to
any one of them.”

Mace totally agreed with the other
detective’s analysis. “At least we’ve ruled out Dara and her DRAMA
friends.”

Jackson stared without saying a word.

“What?”

His partner shook his head. “Nothing. Have
you told her she can go home yet?”

“No.”

“Any particular reason why?” Jackson flipped
through the pile of reports in front of him.

“I don’t feel comfortable with her being
there alone. End of discussion.” He stood and paced. Although he
knew he couldn’t disguise his feelings for Dara from any man seated
at the table, he wouldn’t confirm anything either. The case was too
important; he didn’t trust anyone else to protect her.

Jackson tapped the top page of the stack.
“The reports on all the tenants.”

Mace raised both eyebrows. “Anything?”

“A couple of speeding tickets and a DUI.”

“Another dead end.” He ran a hand down his
jaw. “We’ve only eliminated thirteen reviewed authors, a couple of
whom more have interesting backgrounds.” He split the stack into
thirds and distributed one to each detective. “See what you guys
think.”

As Ryker, Jake and Jackson thumbed through
the pages, Mace drummed both thumbs against the edge of the metal
table, desperate to hear one of them say he’d missed something,
hell, anything. The whole scenario was still just one big question
mark. Did the perp leave the corpse to frame Dara? Or did he have
some other sick sense of reasoning behind his action? More
importantly, how in the hell did he enter the house? And that
million dollar question stopped him in mid-thought and caused a
chill to travel his spine. She really needed information he had. He
gave the table one last forceful tap and then pulled his cell phone
from his pocket.

“Take her somewhere nice.”

Jackson’s suggestion forced him to glance up
to see three mischievous grins directed right at him. “I’m not a
total idiot.”