ToServeAndProtect (31 page)

“Technically,” he closed the door behind them, “no one
knows were back yet.” He bumped her against the kitchen wall and covered her
mouth with his. The blade of his tongue sliced across her bottom lip, parted
her mouth and stole inside. Heat unfurled in her core. She twined her arms
around his neck and pressed closer. Tingles tightened her nipples as his
erection nudged her tummy.

“You don’t seem tired now.” She angled her head, and
his tongue trailed to her collarbone.

“I’ve been stiff since the plane landed, and the
situation has only grown harder the closer we drove to your house.” He pressed
his hips against hers, grinding his arousal into her heated mound. “Let me in,
Mickey.” He breathed against her neck. “Right now.”

He pulled the snap of her jeans and lowered the
zipper.

“Hurry.” She wriggled out of her jeans. Dustin tore
her panties off, lifted her onto the counter and spread her thighs. His lips
found hers again as he parted her hot folds and slipped his finger deep into
her wet core. While kissing her mouth, penetrating and touching with one hand,
he worked the fly of his slacks open with his other hand.

“Hi, guys, we’re glad you’re home.” Tyson walked into
the kitchen and froze.

“Fuck!” Dustin quickly zipped his fly. “Fuck!” he
cried again when he snagged a pubic hair in his haste. “What in the hell are
you doing here?” He tried to shield McKenna, but there was no way to hide the
fact that she was naked from the waist down.

Dawn peered around Tyson and started to laugh. “That’s
my girl,” she said, stepping into the room.

“Could you give us a minute?” Dustin snarled.

“How about ten? Come on, baby,” she said and pulled on
Tyson’s arm.

Dustin handed McKenna her jeans. “What in the hell are
they doing here?”

She jumped from the counter and pulled on her jeans.

“We’re parked in front of the house,” Tyson yelled
from the hall. “It’s not like we snuck in.”

“Well, you can go now. Thanks for the welcome home.”
His condescending tone dripped with sarcasm.

“We are going to finish this,” he whispered to
McKenna. “Are you okay?” He pulled her into his arms.

“Your partner just walked in on us. No, I’m not okay.
Dawn’s the exhibitionist, not me.” She spoke into his chest, muffling her
voice, as he held her and ran his hand down the ladder of her back.
Embarrassment heated her cheeks and her pulse raced.

“Don’t get pissy,” Dawn called. “You’re going to be
very nice to us when you see what we’ve found. So are you decent?”

“Yes,” McKenna answered and walked to the fridge. She
took two beers and handed one to Dustin. “We need a drink, and I don’t care
that it’s before noon.”

“Beer?” Dawn asked with raised eyebrows.

It didn’t feel like morning because they hadn’t been
to bed. McKenna tipped the bottle and drank.

“You won’t believe this shit,” Tyson said, following
Dawn into the room.

Dustin tipped the bottle back and guzzled. “I already
don’t believe this shit.”

“What did you find?” McKenna asked.

“Elliot wasn’t murdered,” Dawn blurted out. “Tell her,
Tyson.”

“I think you did.” He smiled. “Elliot wasn’t
murdered.” Tyson leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.

“Suicide? Some of those initial emails we found from
Roslyn could’ve implied a pact.”

“Elliot Porter didn’t die in that room.”

McKenna didn’t understand what Tyson implied. “If he
didn’t die in his room, then where is his body?”

“Did you find him?” Dustin asked.

“Yes and no. Let me show you.” He disappeared down the
hall and came back with a brown paper bag. “I thought since we were breaking
all the rules on this one, it wouldn’t hurt to hold off on calling in
forensics.”

Dawn moved to stand next to McKenna and put her arm
around her waist. “Wait until you see what we’ve found.”

“You’re scaring me,” McKenna said, setting her beer on
the counter before she dropped it. “Tell me you didn’t find a body part.”

“Well, sort of, but not what you’re thinking. It’ll be
okay.” Dawn soothed McKenna’s nerves as she had done at the onset of this
nightmare. “Mickey, everything makes sense now. Tyson figured it out.” Dawn
turned adoring eyes to him. “He’s amazing.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that about him.”

“Hey now, has Dustin been telling my secrets?”

“No, I haven’t said a thing.” Dustin pointed at
McKenna. “Don’t rat on me. Until I’m back on duty, we’re still partners. And
partners watch each other’s backs.”

McKenna smiled. “He hasn’t said anything. Now what in
the hell’s in the bag?”

“Oh, no, she’s resorted to foul language,” Dawn
teased. “Hurry, Tyson.”

“This isn’t the time for jokes.” McKenna hands balled
into fists.

Dawn chuckled then gave McKenna a squeeze. “Okay, no
more teasing. Tell her, Tyson.”

“Let me enlighten you.” He dumped the contents onto
the counter.

“I’ll be damned.” Dustin picked up the clear evidence
bag. “Son of a bitch! Where’d you find it?”

“In the deep freeze wrapped in butcher paper.”

“I don’t understand,” McKenna said. Dustin tossed the
evidence bag in front of her. She hesitantly picked it up. Dark red and thick
liquid coated the blood bag.

Dustin hopped up to sit on the counter. “You expect to
find certain pieces of evidence at a crime scene. Blood splatter, trace
evidence, something to tell us what happened.”

“That was our problem with your bloody bedroom,” Tyson
said.

“We couldn’t find anything that should’ve been there,”
Dustin continued.

Tyson grabbed the bag and tossed it from one hand to
the other. “With the exception of the good old doctor’s juice.”

“Even the blood evidence didn’t answer many
questions,” Dustin said. “Blood established D.N.A. but left us puzzled.”

Tyson handed the bag to Dustin. “We don’t have a
murder weapon. Without Dr. Porter’s body, we didn’t know what to look for.”

“Gunshot was ruled out because there wasn’t stippling
anywhere in the house.” Tyson went to the fridge. “Why would anyone risk
bringing him back to his room just to let him bleed out?” He popped the top of
a soda. “Left us thinking that we either had a ritual killing or perhaps a
professional hit.”

“Ritual killings are rare,” Dustin said. “Therefore we
leaned toward a professional hit.” He arched an eyebrow. “Enter the Marinos.”

“It was our best lead.” Tyson leaned against the wall,
and Dawn stepped into his arms.

“Then we’re back at the beginning. The Marinos are
criminals, but they didn’t kill my father.”

Dustin picked up the evidence bag and flipped it in
his hand. “We don’t have a murder. We have a missing person.”

Chapter
Nineteen

McKenna’s knuckles turned white as she gripped the
edge of the counter. “I need to sit down.”

“Are you going to pass out again?” He jumped from the
counter.

McKenna shook her head. Her throat tightened and
pressure weighted on her chest. “Elliot. How could he?” Breath swooshed from
her lungs.

“Are you sick?” Tyson asked. “Because you look pale.”

“She always looks pale.” Dawn lightly punched Tyson in
the stomach. “But hell, next to you everyone looks pale.”

“She’s not sick.” Dustin held a chair for her then
pulled one over so he could sit next to her. “She finally understands.”

McKenna stared into Dustin’s face. Tears burned behind
her eyes, but she wasn’t going to cry…not here in front of Tyson, Dawn and
Dustin…and not for Elliot. “I know what you want to ask me, and the answer is
yes. Elliot could’ve planned the whole thing.” She pointed to her beer. “I need
a drink.”

“You need something stronger than this,” Tyson said,
handing her the bottle of beer.

“Tell us about Dr. Porter.” Dustin took her hand in
his. “Not your dad, not Elliot, but the doctor.”

She slipped her hand out of his and combed her hair
out of her eyes with her fingers. “
Dr. Porter’s
passion was research. He
had several degrees, and yes, he had a doctorate in medicine.” She looked at
the bag of blood on the counter. “He could’ve drawn his own blood.”

Dustin’s hand slapped the table. “Fuck! It was all
staged. Mickey goes to yoga. Elliot sees his opportunity and takes it.”

“If you’ll excuse me.” She abruptly stood and hurried
from the room. They might be excited to solve the case, but this was worse than
believing he’d been murdered by the Marinos.

“Mickey.” Dawn scrambled after her, but Tyson snaked
out a hand and caught her before she could follow.

“Dawn, let her go.” Dustin clasped his hands between
his widespread knees. “She realizes the implication of what this means.”

“What?” Dawn asked.

“Elliot framed her for the murder by leaving the note.
He knew we’d look at her for a possible suspect. Without the note, she probably
would’ve been taken off the list right away. He set her up as surely as he set
the stage for his murder.”

Dawn let out a breath and sat down. “That is why he
signed the note dad, instead of just Elliot.”

“He needed a murder. A missing person would go
unsolved, and he wanted to disappear—permanently.” Dustin paced across the
floor then slammed his fist against the counter, startling Dawn. “Damn him.”

“He won’t get away with it,” Dawn said. “Now that you
know the truth, find him, arrest him, and make him pay for what he’s done to
Mickey.”

“The case won’t be ours anymore. He’s left the
country. The feds will take it over.” Dustin tipped his beer, took a sip, then
paused. “What on earth possessed you to look in the freezer?” He glanced at
Tyson. “How’d you know the blood bag was wrapped in butcher paper?”

Dawn started to laugh. “He was hungry. I suggested we
take out a couple steaks to grill tonight. The wrapper wasn’t labeled.”

Dustin picked up the bag of blood. “Take it to
forensics. If it matches the blood found at the scene, we’ve solved our
murder.”

“And got ourselves a missing person.” Tyson took the
evidence and put it back in the paper bag. “You ready?” he asked Dawn.

“Yeah, I think Mickey could use some time alone. Do
you want to come with us?” she asked Dustin.

He shook his head. “I’m staying put.” He waited until
he heard the front door close and then climbed the stairs to find McKenna.

McKenna stood in Elliot’s bedroom and tried to imagine
him setting the gruesome scene. It wasn’t just that he’d been a bad father
because he’d known all along that she wasn’t his biological daughter. He’d
hated her. What other explanation could there be?

“Are you okay?” Dustin stood in the doorway.

“I never did anything to deserve this.” She hadn’t
been aware that she was crying until tears slipped down her cheeks and dripped
from her chin. “What does this prove?” She threw her hands wide. “You win,” she
screamed to the ceiling. “So you hated me because I look like my mother.” She
turned to Dustin. “I’m sorry she hurt him. But I was a child and he hurt me.”
She spun around in a circle and clawed her scalp with her nails. “He set me up!
How could his hatred run so deep that he’d want to see me suffer and punished
for murder?”

Dustin leaned against the doorjamb. “I don’t know.”

“I won’t let him or what he did define who I am…who I
want to become.” They stood several feet apart. Taking a deep breath, she blurted,
“I’m in love with you.”

He took a step toward her. “I love you, too.”

She briefly closed her eyes then opened them again.
“Oh, god.” She couldn’t turn away, couldn’t
not
accept his comfort. She
needed him.

“Mickey.”

Hearing her name, softly spoken in his deep seductive
timber, shattered the last her false show of strength. She stepped into his
arms, wrapped her arms around his waist and clung to him.

“I’m so sorry.” He kissed her temple, and stroked her
hair.

“Don’t be sorry.” She leaned back and looked into his
eyes. “Call Janie. Tell her you want to see her, want to be a part of her life.”

“Don’t worry about me and Janie. My situation is nothing
like yours and Elliot’s. I’m always there when she needs me.” He stepped away
from McKenna. “Trish is remarried. Janie has a little brother. She doesn’t need
me coming around and rearranging her schedule…interfering in her life.”

“I’m not telling you what to do, but I think you’re
making a mistake.” She walked to the French doors and looked past the balcony
to the city stretching into the horizon.

Dustin came up behind her and put his hands on her
shoulders. “What is this really about, Mickey?”