Pierced: Pierced Trilogy Boxed Set (112 page)

“I hear ya!”

I grab myself a plate, and sit shooting the breeze with Turner and some of the guys. As I’m eating a burger, Dave Conner wanders over carrying his little girl in his arms and shakes my hand.

“How have you been, Conner?”

“I’m good, old man! How about yourself?”

“I can’t complain,” I tell him, smiling up at the doll in his arms. She can’t be much older than one now. “And how are you, little one?” She sticks her fingers in her mouth and lays her head on her daddy’s shoulder.

“Can you tell Mr. Parson hello, honey?” Conner coos to his daughter, and she shakes her head, hiding her eyes. “No?”

I laugh at that response and Conner shrugs his shoulders. “Where’s Lindy?”

“Oh, she’s over talking with some of the wives,” he says, pointing to a nearby table. As I’m glancing over at the table, a young man walks up and greets Dave. He introduces him to me as Morgan, a rookie who’s apparently only been on the job for a few months and has aspirations of becoming a detective someday. He excuses himself to go grab a beer and Dave starts telling me all about him. From what I can gather, he’s been following Dave around like a puppy, sucking up and trying to become his new best friend.

“Oh, man, would you look at that. That’s a Porsche! Those things run close to $170 grand,” the rookie says as he returns with his beer. He’s looking off toward the parking lot, and Dave and I both look to see what he’s talking about. “What is it with that guy? Who the heck does he think he is; flaunting his money in everybody’s faces like he thinks he’s better than the rest of us. You know, I’ve seen him around the station, who is he anyway?”

Turning, I see Guy pull his dark blue metallic, Porsche Cayenne Turbo S into a parking space near the picnic area. The SUV was a Father’s Day gift from Samantha two years ago. And as I watch he and Sam climb out of the car and go about getting the twins out of the back seat, my anger toward the rookie who just put his foot in his mouth instantly spikes.

“Aw, shit,” Conner mumbles as I turn back and glare up at the rookie. And as I stand, I can see Conner trying to move the asshole back with one hand while holding his daughter in his other arm.

“That, you no good, piece of shit, wannabe, is one of the few officers worth his salt on the whole damn police force!” My voice is low and menacing, rising slightly as I continue, poking my finger in junior’s chest to make my point. “The most decorated, highly revered officer you will ever meet. He’s paid his dues in ways you can’t even begin to imagine, and he’s forgotten more about the job than you will ever hope to know. He’s also the Lieutenant over the Detective section that you want to be in so badly, hot shot! And he just happens to be my kid! Now you got something else you want to say, junior?”

The kid looks pale and scared shitless as I glare at him, and he starts to stammer. “Um … I’m … I’m, I’m really sorry, sir. I didn’t know that he was your son. I didn’t…”

“No, you don’t know shit! So when you don’t know shit, just keep your fucking mouth shut. And stay away from me, you got it!”

“Y-yes … yes, sir!”

I watch as he slinks off with his tail between his legs, his face turning beet red as he goes. Dave smirks and chuckles at me and I roll my eyes at him. “Fucking newbies,” I mutter. Then I turn to look back over at Guy and I see the twins running toward me on their little legs.

“Grandpa!”

*****

“So how was the birthday celebration the other night?” Lee asks as we watch Leo playing in the sandbox. I smile at his question, remembering the sexy night Sam and I just spent for my 35
^th
birthday with an intimate picnic by the fireplace in our bedroom, followed by an even more intimate dip in the Jacuzzi on the private deck. I can’t believe four years has passed by so quickly.

“It was nice,” I tell him, feeling slightly embarrassed at my carnal thoughts.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t want a party; 35 is a milestone,” Lee says.

“I just wanted a nice, quiet evening with my girl,” I explain, and he smiles at me. “Mom kept the kids overnight so we could have a little alone time.”

“How is Olivia?”

“She’s doing real good,” I answer, keeping an eye on Leo as he fills his little dump truck with sand. And I smile because I know already, at only three and a half, that he’s a gearhead just like me. Samantha and I cannot separate him from his favorite toy cars. He carries at least one of them with him everywhere he goes. He even sleeps with them! But he is such a good-natured boy, always happy and confident. I think he gets that from Sam but, she says it comes from me, along with everything else about him. And I have to admit, he does look an awful lot like my baby pictures. Mom says he’s a little carbon copy of me, except he has Sam’s emerald green eyes.

Livvie, on the other hand, is a little spark plug, just like her mother. Our little artist, always drawing on inappropriate surfaces, like the living room wall, and the kitchen floor, and Daddy’s iPad! She’s so adorable though, it’s almost impossible for me to get angry at her when she misbehaves. And she’s already learned that I’m a pushover for the cute. She looks up at me with her bright blue eyes, so much like mine – the spitting image of Samantha except for that one feature – and I am putty in her chubby little fingers. And as I think about it, I can’t help but laugh to myself.

“What’s so funny?” Lee asks, looking at me with a smile.

“Nothing. I’m just thinking about the twins,” I tell him.

“Fatherhood agrees with you, kid,” Lee says quietly. “So does happiness. It’s very rewarding for me to watch you and Samantha together. Obviously in love, wrangling those two little ones. It’s nice to see.”

“Oh yeah? Well, since you’re feeling so sentimental, I’ll let you in on a little secret.”

“What’s that?”

“Sam’s pregnant.”

He stares at me in wonder for a second. “That’s great, kid! That is great, isn’t it? I mean, you guys are happy about it?”

“Yeah, we’re thrilled. We talked about it for months before we decided to try for another one.”

He slaps me soundly on the back, grinning from ear to ear. “That is great news, son! I am so happy for you! Twins again?

I laugh out loud. “Uh, I don’t know about that; the stick just turned blue this morning. We don’t see the doctor until Tuesday. I’ll keep you posted though.”

We sit and watch Leo play for a while longer and I look over to my right, at a picnic table situated a few yards away, to see the most beautiful girl in the world watching me. I wink at her and she smiles at me and blows me a kiss. Then she bends down to Livvie and whispers in her ear and points over to me. Livvie nods her head and takes off running, coming straight toward me, and I open my arms wide and catch her, bringing her up to sit on my knee.

“You having fun, Princess?” I ask and she nods at me, looking over at her brother. “You want to go play with Leo in the sand?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

“Okay, go on. Be careful,” I say, setting her on her feet, and she runs over to the sandbox. I glance back at Samantha at the picnic table and she smiles and mouths a silent ‘thank you’ to me, and I smile at her.

We’ve made a good team these last four years, raising two happy toddlers and building our respective careers. Samantha’s really made a name for herself, both as an artist and as a philanthropist. Her foundation, Works of Heart, that she started shortly after we got married, raises millions of dollars each year to fund various art and music programs geared toward children and young adults, and supports several of the area’s performing and visual arts organizations, as well as various charities that deal with battered women and children. It’s a cause that’s come to mean a lot to her. She seems to have really found her niche and I am so proud of her. I’m constantly in awe of the way she effortlessly juggles the foundation and motherhood and me. But she does it all with seeming ease; she is just amazing.

“So, how’s the new position working out, Guy?” Lee’s voice pulls me back to the here and now. “What is it, going on five months now?”

“Closer to six. And I’m finally starting to feel like I’ve hit my stride, you know? Like I know the ins and outs of the game,” I tell him. “Like I know what the hell it is I’m supposed to be doing,” I laugh, and he laughs with me.

“Well, I talked to Marcos a few days ago and he says you’re doing a hell of a job so far,” Lee says. This news takes me by surprise.

“Really? He said that?”

“He did. Said there couldn’t have been a better man to take over the Detective section. He’s real proud of you.”

His words make me smile. Means a lot knowing that Captain Marcos is behind me. Then I frown slightly, wondering if this is a good time to run something past him. I glance anxiously off to my right once more and note that Samantha is deep in conversation with Lindy Conner. They’ve become close friends over the last four years, and she and I hang out with the Conners often. I know that this is indeed the perfect time to talk to Lee while she’s occupied.

“Listen, Lee,” I begin, taking a deep, anxious breath, “one of the reasons I wanted you to meet us here this afternoon is because I wanted to show you something. Get your opinion on this.” Slowly, I pull a small envelope from the back pocket of my jeans, and hand it to him, glancing Sam’s way once more. Lee takes the envelope from my hand with a slight puzzled frown, and begins to slowly turn it over in his hands, examining it.

It’s a nondescript, plain white envelope with the words ‘Detective & Mrs. Pierce’ scrawled on the front in bad penmanship. Lee looks up at me, his eyes asking a silent question, and I nod slightly, indicating I want him to open it and check out its contents. I watch as he opens the envelope and pulls out the single slip of paper and unfolds it. Silently, he reads the note, and his puzzled frown grows deeper. He turns the note over in his hands, quickly assessing there’s nothing else written on the back, then he looks up at me.

“That’s it?” he asks, still frowning, and I nod my head.

“Yep.”

“Where did you get this?”

“It was in my unit box yesterday.”

His frown morphs into a look of shock. “This was in your unit box at the PD?”

Silently, I nod once more, looking him in the eye. He knows as well as I do that, even though they’re meant to be an in-house mail system of sorts, any Tom, Dick or Harry who ventures into the station has ready access to those unit boxes. He breaks our eye contact and looks off toward the sandbox where the kids are still playing, and I can see his mind working. He looks down at the note once more.

“Game delayed. But not over,” he reads aloud. Then his eyes narrow as he studies it. He looks up at me suddenly. “Does that statement mean anything to you? Maybe a running joke with one of the guys or one of your bandmates?”

“Nope. Means nothing.”

“Could they maybe be referring to our monthly poker game?” Lee asks. And I know that he’s just thinking out loud. Running all the possibilities and eliminating the unlikely. The starting point for any good detective.

“No. If it was from one of those guys, they would have signed it. And they wouldn’t have written it this way,” I reason as I point to the note still in his hand. “All caps to make the handwriting harder to trace. And I dusted it and the envelope for prints but, of course, they’re clean.”

Lee raises an eyebrow at me. “You have a theory about where this came from,” he says. And it’s more of a statement of fact than a question.

I hesitate a beat before I answer, nodding slowly. “I saw a similar note once, about four years ago. But that one wasn’t meant for me. It was addressed to Samantha.”

Lee’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise, and he slowly shakes his head at me. “Son, you know that can’t be possible. He is still behind bars, serving his time.”

“I know,” I say quietly. “I even made a couple of calls after this thing showed up yesterday, to confirm that.”

“And?”

“And … Echols is still sitting in Walla Walla,” I say with a quiet, worried sigh, referring to the Washington State Penitentiary.

“Well, there you go, Guy. And once his time’s served, he moves on to the next state to do it all over again. He can’t get to you or your family.” Lee’s voice is brimming with overconfidence, and I wonder if he’s trying to assure me or himself.

I nod silently again as I take the note and place it back into its envelope, then stuff it back into my pocket.

“Is this a private conversation, gentlemen?” Her sweet voice instantly turns my insides to molten lava. She is so damn sexy, and I look up into those gorgeous green eyes that sparkle at me. But I can’t help the small ripple of anxiety that runs through me, and I glance quickly at Lee, who understands instantly that Sam knows nothing about the note I just showed him.

“Actually, it’s the end of a conversation, my dear,” Lee says as he stands. “I’m going over to the sandbox to say goodbye to my grand-babies and then I’ve got a few errands to run before I head over to Ann’s house,” he says, referring to his oldest daughter. “She feels she needs entertain me and feed me dinner when her mother’s away so, I let her. Besides, more grand-babies to visit!”

Samantha giggles at him, and I stand to shake his hand as he gives her a hug. He gives me a knowing glance before he heads over to the sandbox, and I know that we’ll resume our conversation about the mysterious note later.

As he moves over to the children, I pull Samantha into my arms as I stand behind her, and we watch as Leo and Livvie run into his arms and give him kisses and hugs as he tells them he’s leaving. Sometimes I still can’t get over how he dotes on them, treating them as if they are his real grandchildren.
Why not, Pierce? He’s always treated you like it’s his blood flowing through your veins.
I smile at that thought.

“Bye bye, grandpa,” they shout as he waves to us and walks off toward the parking lot.

The twins turn back to their sand projects as Sam and I stand in our embrace, watching them. And I can’t help but think about the note again. I don’t know what I would do if anything ever happened to them. Or to Sam. And I slowly let my hands drift down toward her belly, caressing her nonexistent baby bump.