Unauthorized Obsession (Unauthorized Series Book 3) (18 page)

Kara pushed open the door to her house and turned to her right as the door swung shut behind her, placing her gun carefully in the gun safe. “Duke!” she called wearily, wanting to rub his puppy ears and smell his puppy breath. It always made her feel better.

She heard a noise behind her and before she could turn around to see what it was, blinding pain erupted on her neck. Her neck snapped to the right and she fell to the ground, but the pain followed her. She tried to fight but her very thoughts were being fried. She could smell burning hair and skin.
Tazed.
She was being tazed. She remembered this pain well from police recruit class. Blackness curled around the edges of her vision and finally the pain stopped. She heard a thick ripping sound and tried to open her eyes as something wrapped around her wrists.

She was being attacked in her own home! Seth? She couldn’t see well, but she started kicking out, as hard as she could at the person she sensed nearby. Adrenaline shot through her system, lending her strength but scrambling her thoughts even more.

A voice spoke roughly, “Quit kicking or you’ll get the taser again.”

Kara kicked anyway, harder, at the voice, trying to connect with anything, hopefully a skull. She had her heavy work boots on and if she could just daze him long enough to stand … She felt her boots connect with something but it wasn’t hard enough to be a skull. Something clattered to the ground and she kept kicking, trying to make contact again.

The taser came down again on her right cheek this time. Her skin danced hotly and she screamed, dropping her legs to the floor. She wasn’t giving up though. The taser was pulled away again and Kara blinked her eyes, trying to see.

“Sit up,” the voice commanded and shoved her shoulder roughly. “Sit up and take those fucking boots off, now, or you get the taser in your eye socket.”

Kara recognized Seth’s voice and anger coursed through her. She wondered if Sgt. Gale would think to look for him here. She wondered how long it would take for someone to come and find her. She wondered if he knew that they had discovered his secret. She hoped not, it seemed like surprise was the only chance she had right now.
He'd gotten to her so easily.

Kara sat up slowly and fumbled her hands to her left boot. Her eyes finally started to work again and she could see that her hands were duct taped together. Out of her peripheral vision, she saw Seth standing over her, taser in hand. She wondered how she could get out of this. Seth was bigger and stronger than her and had the same training as she did. She had a few more years of street experience under her belt, but he’d been a prison guard. He probably knew every dirty trick in the book. With the pain abating, she could finally think well enough to realize that she had precious few options. She dug at the knot on her boot and pondered screaming. But her closest neighbor, Bea, wasn’t home, or at least her car wasn’t in the driveway. She wondered if anyone else would hear her scream. Probably not. The house across the street was empty and no one else was close enough to hear anything.

She managed to get her left boot off and started working on her right. Her mind whirled with things to say. Was there anything that she could say to Seth to get him to stop this? They hadn’t ever become close while working together, but she had thought that would come in time. Now she realized Seth wasn't able to get close to anyone. Not in a real sense. He was a monster. A psychopath.

As soon as her right boot slipped off, Seth stepped closer and poised the Taser. “Now lay down, and if you utter one sound or kick out at me even once, you’re going to regret it," he said as he lowered the Taser to her face. Kara squeezed her eyes tightly shut and reacted in the only way she could in this situation. She fought.

She rolled so the taser slipped off her eyes and to the back of her head. As she rolled, she grabbed Seth’s upper arms with her hands and pulled him off balance. She tried desperately to head butt him as he fell on top of her but the back of her head met nothing but soft shoulder. She scrambled and pushed out from underneath him, swearing madly at him, and started to stand. She meant to grab for her gun, but Seth already had his balance back. He kicked out at her ankles and brought her crashing down to the floor, then tased her again. The current ran through her body until all the fight was electrified out of her. She could only lay there, shaking, as he wrapped the duct tape around her ankles. He ripped off one more piece and slapped it over her mouth, then stood over her, panting heavily.

He walked two steps away and picked something up off the floor. Completely worn out, her mind and body limp, she still followed him with her eyes to see what he had. It was a phone. He inspected it and tried to turn it on, then swore under his breath. Kara felt fierce gladness course through her that she had managed to mess up at least one little part of his plan. But then fear replaced it, as he turned to her, murder written on his face.

Zane sat in the cell block, his head in his hands. All around him, criminals prodded at each other and yelled to be let out or talk to their lawyers. All he could think about was two things, and they chased each other in his mind endlessly. The first was what had happened to make Kara pull her gun on him. He’d been told he was arrested for murder, and his mug shot had been taken, but no one had been in to speak to him for over twelve hours now. Murder of whom? And how? And did this have anything to do with the man who was stalking Kara? And if so, what had made her side against him so quickly?

He looked again at the clock on the wall. The second thing he couldn’t stop thinking about was his court date. The one that had happened today at 2:00. The one he had missed because he had been in jail for murder. Had he lost his parental rights for good? Had the fake note combined with the fact that he didn’t show up for court pushed the judge to make a harsh decision, one that affected Zane for the rest of his life. Could you get something like that reversed? He didn’t know. He thought of the sweet little girl in the picture and felt a hole open deep inside him in a place he never knew existed. How much longer would he have to be here and why hadn’t anybody told him anything yet?

A door opened into the large room, the one they had brought him through when they put him in here. He looked up automatically, not really caring who it was this time. Cops had been walking in and out of that door all day and night. But it was the blonde sergeant with the harsh tone. He stood up immediately and hurried to the bars. “Sergeant, can you please tell me what’s going on? Don't I get a phone call?”

The sergeant flicked him a steely glance. “Calm down Mr. Rowe, I’ve come to answer all your questions and to release you.”

Confusion flickered across Zane's face. “Am I getting bailed out?”

“You don't need bail,” the woman said and motioned for the cell block guard to open the door and let Zane out.

Zane stepped out gratefully and hurried to follow the woman as she motioned him towards a door on the other side of the room. She spoke to him over her shoulder as she walked. “We finished the investigation at your house and determined that the body in your shed had been moved there within the last few days. We combined that information with new evidence Officer Price uncovered and have come to the conclusion that you were not responsible for the murder. We will be erasing all charges against you.”

Emotions swirled through Zane. Relief first, then gratitude, then a hard and fast anger that this had ever happened in the first place. He replayed everything she had said. “Wait, body in my shed?”

“I will tell you everything as soon as we get into an office,” the female sergeant said and strode farther down the hall, gazing into rooms as they passed. Finally she picked one and motioned him inside. She followed him and sat on the other side of the desk, then motioned for him to take a seat in the only other chair.

She slid a business card across the desk to him. “My name is Sgt. Gale and I will be your contact for this incident. First let me apologize for the unfortunate nature of your arrest. We had no choice, someone leveled an accusation against you and a body was found in your shed, so we had to arrest you.”

Zane shook his head, understanding filling him slowly. He could almost see why Kara had acted the way she had, but it still hurt.

Sgt. Gale slid several pieces of paper across the desk to him. "I would appreciate your signature on these." She explained what each piece of paper was and then sat back watching him as he signed. He finished and looked up at her, waiting for the next item of business. At this point, all he wanted was to get home and work on forgetting that this had ever happened. Too bad he didn’t have a time machine to go back and actually make it to his court date though.

The sergeant stared at him for a few minutes until Zane actually started to get uncomfortable. She seemed to be trying to think of what to say to him. Finally, she spit it out. “It’s probably none of my business, but I just want you to know that Officer Price is extremely sorry for what happened at your house. She’s worried that you are going to hold it against her.”

Several smart ass remarks rose to Zane's lips.
You’re right it is none of your business. Damn straight I'm going to hold it against her.
He bit them back and tried to level with the sergeant in the same way she seemed to be trying to level with him. “I won’t lie and say I’m not upset.”

Sgt. Gale nodded, her eyes dark. She leaned forward. “Look, you understand who planted that body in your shed, don't you?”

Zane shook his head slowly. He hadn’t even thought of that yet. He was still trying to process the being arrested for murder part and then being set free all of a sudden.

“Probably the same guy who put that bomb under your seat. He wanted you out Kara’s life, one way or the other.”

Zane grunted. It made sense, but so what?

“I don't know how much Kara has shared with you about the investigation, but basically it came together to indicate that if the body was in your shed, you were the stalker.”

Zane felt the tightness in his chest unravel a little. That explained things a little better. The intense emotional charge that Kara had displayed and her inability to do anything but react.

Sgt. Gale kept talking. “Shortly after I had you put in the patrol car, she calmed down enough to realize there was a good chance that evidence had been planted there. She tried to convince me she had made a mistake by believing it was you. I told her it didn’t matter, we still had to investigate it with the assumption that you were guilty. Courts operate under the assumption that people are innocent until proven guilty. Cops do the opposite. We have to assume you are guilty until proven innocent. Otherwise we can’t do our job.” Sgt. Gale brushed a lock of blonde hair out of her eyes and went on. “She wanted to talk to you but I wouldn’t let her. It would have contaminated your interview. She took care of your dogs, you knew that, but what you didn’t know was she spent all night last night trying to find a break in the case and all day today interviewing people who could tell her who the real perpetrator was. She turned up evidence that left no chance it could have been you.
That’s
why you’re getting out of here.”

Zane nodded, glad to hear it. She was trying to make up for what she had done.
Not that she had made up for it yet.
A small part of him reacted loudly, as if to say,
get over it
!
She made a mistake. A perfectly understandable one.
But he ignored it. He was still hurt and upset.

Sgt. Gale read his eyes perfectly and tried one more time. “She felt horrible about everything and she still feels horrible. Do you think you can find it in your heart to forgive her?”

Zane grunted. “I can’t see how that’s any of your business,” he said grumpily.

Sgt. Gale’s eyes hardened instantly. “Fair enough. We’re done here. I’ll take you to the desk sergeant.” She stood up quickly and pushed the door open.

Zane felt taken aback at how quickly she had dismissed him. But at the same time he didn’t care. Not yet.

He followed her to the receiving desk where he got back all of his personal items. The first thing he did was check his phone. The battery blinked red at him, telling him he had only minutes until it died. He had fourteen messages from work. They could wait until morning. And a text from Kensi? He checked it quickly, wondering what in the world she would message him about now. Gloating maybe, that he had lost any small chance he had ever had?

Want to meet us at Northwood Mall on Monday? Zaina has a tumbling tots class. You could hang out and buy her ice cream after or something. Sorry about my dad. You know how he is.

Zane pulled his head back and looked around the room. Was this a joke? Suddenly she wanted to offer him a chance to see Zaina?

He shook his head in confusion and saw that his lawyer had called. He punched the button to listen to the voice message. “Zane, this is David Phillips. The police officer you sent over here was quite convincing and the judge granted you a new trial date. Call me tomorrow and we’ll talk about it. If you are in a relationship with that woman, she should come to the next one too. It can only help you to be involved with a police officer.”

Zane sat and listened to the message play over several times, as his voice mail tried to get him to save or delete it. Kara had gone to court for him? She was the only police officer it could be, right? She remembered he had court today and made it there to convince the judge to give him a new date? The computerized voice cut off in his ear mid sentence as his battery died.

He walked outside the police station, into the cool night air, still feeling dazed, but no longer upset. He looked around and realized he had no way to get anywhere. He walked back inside and asked the desk sergeant to call him a cab, still trying to decide where he would have it take him.