Bailey: Independence #1 (25 page)

This time it was his turn to gulp for air. She used her tongue to stroke the thick vein at the very bottom, suckling and slowly letting the air around them touch the trail of moisture she’d left on his skin.

She liked his touch. Liked the way his fingers probed and jumped when he brought some of the damp heat to the untried rosebud of her anus. Breathing with his cock in her mouth was only a problem until she remembered to breathe through her nose. His finger probed where the plug had been, teasing circles that made her groan and vibrate his flesh deep in her mouth.

Gabriel withdrew his finger at the same time the loudest shrill alarm ripped through their peace.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Bailey felt every ounce of passion vanish, her hands moving to the surface of the bed and shoving, rolling her up and sitting. She stared at him, watching him push his legs into his slacks.

Gabriel grabbed a blanket and threw it around her. His hands went to her shoulders and lifted.

“It’s the external alarms,” he said quickly. “You go into the bathroom and lock the door until you hear from me. Clear?”

Bailey started to open her mouth but closed it and nodded. Before she knew it, she was set on her feet and given a swat on her behind to head her to the bathroom. She turned at the door in time to see him pulling a gun from a small cabinet in the closet. His hands worked over the weapon with movements she’d only seen in television shows and movies.

“Move, Bailey!”

She went inside, turned the light on and locked the door. She sunk to the floor with the blanket held tightly around her. She didn’t want to be in here. She might be helpful. She listened at the door, pressing her ear against it and cautiously sliding the lock back.

He hadn’t turned the lights out so she could see around and the bedroom was empty. She moved quickly, dropping the blanket and pulling on the shirt she had worn earlier, hastily buttoning it over her. She tugged on the hem, wishing he hadn’t destroyed her panties. Not that they covered all that much, but it still felt better to be wearing them.

She moved into the walk-in closet, looking for something, anything to use as a weapon and found a black duffle bag. It looked like the kind sports equipment was carried in so she opened the zipper and breathed a sigh of relief. She lifted the baseball bat that looked like it had several good seasons behind it. This she knew how to handle.

Her uncles hadn’t only taught her to handle her alcohol.

Bailey hefted the bat, wrapping both hands firmly around the tape bound end and let it lean on her shoulder. She moved on quiet, bare feet down the hardwood flooring in the hall. She’d heard the door slam a few minutes ago and headed toward the front of the house. She slipped her feet into the heels that had come off when they entered the house and bent to absently collect her dress and purse, laying them both on one of the chairs before reaching for the doorknob.

When she opened it just a little, she could hear Gabriel talking but it was completely one sided.

“Yes, get the police out here immediately. Ask for Lieutenant Templeton,” Gabriel snarled angrily, pacing over the cold concrete without shoes.

Bailey could see the butt of the gun sticking out of the back of his slacks in the hollow of his back. One hand was up raking and occasionally pulling at his hair as he paced, listened and talked.

“Yes, I’m fucking sure she’s dead. Thanks,” he snapped the phone closed in time to hear the tiny whimper. He spun to find Bailey staring at the blonde sprawled across the driveway, her head twisted and facing the house, eyes wide open and a trickle of blood leaving the corner of her mouth. Gabriel swore loudly, the bat Bailey had on her shoulder falling to the concrete and ignored when she took a step forward, her palm over her mouth. “Bailey, I told you to stay in the bathroom!”

“She…she might be…” red curls shook slightly, her chest rising and falling erratically. She took a few determined steps forward, ready to go down on one knee and check for a pulse when she was swept from the ground.

“Inside, Bailey or I swear you won’t be able to sit all next week.” He pushed the words through his teeth at the same time the sirens began at the end of the drive. He set her on the concrete, his hands on her shoulders.

“She’s dead,” Bailey breathed raggedly. “She was just at the party. She was alive…she…”

Before Gabriel could comment she folded against him, the whites of her eyes the last thing he saw before catching her up against him. A long string of expletives broke free when the hostile detective was the first to arrive from the head vehicle, the lieutenant’s car coming up behind her but not nearly in time.

“Another one, huh Garrett?” Derisive eyes took in the redhead lying unconscious in his arms. “She next on your list?”

“Don’t piss me off more, Detective,” he turned and started toward the door when a voice called out to him.

“Gabe!” Tre Thorne walked beside Natalie Templeton, his palm settled possessively at her waist. They had been having a quiet Saturday at home when the call came in and he’d chosen to come with her.

“Tre,” Gabriel looked from the man to the woman. “Congratulations. Come inside. I have to get Bailey wrapped in something warm and see about…”

“I can help with that,” Tre turned and went back to the SUV, pulling his black bag from the special compartment in the back and jogging to join Gabe. “I’ll be inside, Natalie.”

“You’re friends?” She looked at her husband and scowled at her new partner. She didn’t like the woman’s attitude and hadn’t been able to find an explanation for it other than the man’s lifestyle bothered her.

“For more than a few years,” Tre stopped and met her gaze. “He’s not a killer, Natalie. He might make different choices than we do, but that’s not a crime.”

“Are you one of them, too?” The detective looked her partner’s husband up and down.

“I’m going to help Gabe with his friend,” Tre didn’t respond to her taunt, just shook his head and walked away, the door closing firmly behind him.

Natalie did what she did best: she worked the crime scene, the back of her mind making a note to do some background checking on her new partner. Something was definitely off. Objective didn’t seem to be a word in her vocabulary, at least not as far as Gabriel Garrett was concerned.

Gabe paced the floor, both hands up and pulling on dark hair long ago disheveled.

“She just fainted, Gabe, relax,” Tre chuckled and tucked the blanket around her shoulders. “What happened?”

“That’s my question,” Natalie walked in, the detective close behind. She had been warned to keep her thoughts to herself and Natalie was prepared for a battle if she ignored the advice. “Is she alright?”

“She was supposed to stay in the bathroom,” Gabriel said firmly, frustrated. “The external alarms went off and I went to check. I told her to lock herself in the bathroom and stay there until I came for her. She ignored me, obviously, found my baseball equipment in the closet and came outside armed to do battle. She didn’t scream, I’ll give her that. She was going to check for a pulse when I stopped her and…I told her she was dead. Then I saw her eyes roll back and she went down. I caught her first and was about to bring her inside when your detective peeled up my driveway.”

“You didn’t touch anything?” Natalie asked, somehow knowing he hadn’t. But it was procedure.

“Not a thing. I didn’t need to touch her to know she was dead,” he said flatly, the soft groan from the sofa sending him to sit on the edge, his palm running over her face. “Welcome back. We need to work on your listening skills, Bailey.”

“She’s dead,” came the whisper seconds before she launched herself against him, arms clinging tightly to his throat. “Why is this happening?”

“Do you know her?” The detective demanded, scowling at her lieutenant for not moving forward.

“I know her. I knew her,” he corrected himself. “I haven’t seen her in over ten years,” Gabe settled back on the sofa, easily holding Bailey on his lap. “Her name is Belinda Blake. We were married all of three months when I was twenty-two. We parted on decent enough terms and like I said, I hadn’t seen her since then.”

“Where were you tonight, Mr. Garrett?”

“Lieutenant, I think it’s safe for you to call me Gabriel. We left the house about five-thirty for a friend’s anniversary party out in Gig Harbor,” Gabe recited the names and address. “Emma and Jeremy have been together now four years and they threw a party. While we were there, however, Belinda put in an appearance. She wasn’t invited and…”

“She caused a scene,” Bailey said simply, dragging in a rough breath and pushing to sit up. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember ever fainting before,” she looked around, blinking at the man watching her.

“Dr. Thorne. I tried telling him you were okay, but he worried.” Tre snapped his bag closed and went to Natalie. “I’ll wait in the car for you.”

“Thanks, Tre.” Gabriel watched him leave, the eyes of the police on him. “We play on the same men’s baseball team. We’ve been friends for over six years. I didn’t know he had married.”

“You’re just surrounded by coincidence,” the detective muttered flatly. “Did you speak to the woman at the party?” She asked, stepping closer to Bailey and studying her. “No clothing?”

“We were in bed,” Bailey said with a shove from his lap. She stood up and threw the blanket to the sofa. She took the few steps toward the detective in glaring defiance and anger. “We came home from the party and were in bed when the alarms sounded. Gabriel told me to hide and I didn’t listen because I was worried about him. Do you have someone in your life you worry about, detective? Do you know what it’s like to care about someone enough to fight for them? Or are you lonely and spiteful so you take it out on innocent people? We’ve been together since Friday evening, aside from bathroom breaks,” she added with a shake of her head.

“You were never out of one another’s sight the whole evening?”

“Gabriel and I were together all night,” Bailey repeated firmly. “It was a nice party. Emma is…she’s happy and fun. Having that woman show up wasn’t pleasant, but Jeremy and Gabriel escorted her to the car she came in. I guess the driver took her back…to wherever she was staying, I guess.”

“She had a driver?” Natalie rubbed the back of her neck.

“She had a driver,” Gabriel answered. “I told her to leave. I escorted her, very much alive, since she screamed loud enough to piss off the neighbors, to her car and told the driver to return her. I returned to the party with Jeremy and we left there a little over an hour ago. We came straight home and got ready for bed.”

“You live here with him?” The detective looked Bailey up and down derisively.

“What exactly is wrong with you? Are you this annoying with all people or do you just hate us?” Bailey wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe the frustration had been building because of the murders. Maybe the woman just managed to get on her last nerve. She took a step forward only to find a strong, solid arm around her waist, lifting her to the side with a masculine laugh.

“Much as I’d love to see you take her on, you don’t need to be arrested for assaulting an officer,” Gabriel turned his back on the detective, his head down and touching hers. “Don’t let her get to you, Bailey.”

“My detective will wait outside while I finish this interview,” Natalie ground the words between her teeth, violet eyes flashing with anger. “Now.”

The woman stomped and slammed the door behind her.

“I don’t know what her problem is with you but I intend to find out. Have you turned up anything to explain why you’ve been targeted?” Natalie Templeton asked with a hopeful expression that fell at the look on his face.

“I wish I had. I didn’t have any animosity against Belinda,” Gabriel pressed Bailey into the sofa and covered her with the blanket. She’d been shivering. “Like I said, I haven’t had anything to do with her or her family in a very long time.”

“Do you know where her next of kin might be?”

“Her family lives outside Napa. They have a ranch next to my father’s vineyard. I don’t know their numbers, I’m sorry. I know her sister is here in Seattle, but I don’t know where. She came to me at the office on Thursday and I went to dinner with her because she said she had something important to discuss with me.” Gabriel ran one hand through his hair, rubbing his neck. He shook his head. “She didn’t. She wanted me to meet with Belinda because she claimed her sister was still in love with me. I told her I wasn’t interested. I told her I’d moved forward.”

He met Bailey’s eyes without backing down, the tint of color in her cheeks making him smile.

“Thank you for your help and for co-operating, Mr.…Gabriel. I know you aren’t responsible for the deaths,” Natalie said thoughtfully. “I hate making reports. Good night,” she sighed and left the house.

Gabriel dropped to his heels in front of Bailey, his palm beneath her chin.

“We’ll talk about how well you handle instructions tomorrow. I’m going outside and make sure things are cleaned up, then I’ll reset the gates. Get undressed and get into bed. I think we need some sleep,” he leaned in and kissed the silent lips, his thumb brushing the tear off her cheek. “I should have asked Tre if he had some sleeping pills for you.”

“I’m alright, thank you.” She slipped to the side and climbed to her feet. The blanket trailed behind her down the hall and into the bedroom.