Red Red Rose (8 page)

“Yes.
Em and I went and had the background checks and everything done like you said.”

“Good.
You should get a small handgun, and even consider having it on you at work. At
the very least when you’re coming and going from work. You can always keep it
locked in your safe if you’re not comfortable having it on you all day.”

I
cringed at the thought, even though I knew it was smart. I told him I’d think
about it, which seemed to satisfy him for now. I said goodnight and left him to
the end of his program. By the time my head hit my pillow once I’d readied for
bed, it was no time at all before I was out, and I slept soundly through the
night.

~~~~

Anger
churned in my stomach. He wasn’t supposed to be there. I clenched my fists
tightly and imagined slipping from the dark and crushing his skull in with the
hammer that rested on the workbench beside me. I wasn’t stupid though. There
was enough light from the moon and streetlamps that I saw the glint of metal in
his hand as he circled around the house, making sure it was safe. He couldn’t
see me, and I doubted he would think to check the locked garage. He wouldn’t
suspect I had a key. Not even Nora realized I had it, that I could slip inside
whenever I wanted.

I
would have last night too, but I made a mistake coming over the fence behind
her house. That damn hellhound heard me sneaking through the yard. I hadn’t
expected her nosy neighbor to turn him loose in the middle of the night. I’d
already slipped over the fence and had my hand on the doorknob when the beast
cleared that fence. I’d had no choice but to run, because no doubt his master
was sure to be right behind him.

I
wanted in that house. I needed in there. And I needed the cover of darkness to
shield me from the prying eyes in this neighborhood. I should have taken what I
needed that first night I’d visited, but I’d gotten so distracted. I’d just
wanted to see her, to look in on her while she slept a while. She was so
peaceful while she slept. So vulnerable and unaware that I stood over her bed.
That I could reach out take her if I wanted. The power. The rush. I’d almost
done it. Right then, but she stirred and I had to flee because it wasn’t part
of the plan. I couldn’t change the plan.

Last
night was supposed to be my chance to get what I hadn’t been able to that night.
Tonight, I’d watched her go back inside the shop, planned to follow her home
and wait for her to fall asleep. She was all alone on the street when she came
out. Again so vulnerable. Or at least she should have been.

Fucking
asshole getting in the way, trying to ruin everything. And now this one. My
anger burned hotter as I watched the one searching the yard slip back inside.
Where I should have been. Did he think he was protecting her from me?

I
smiled.

No
one could.

Just
like no one could protect dear Emily.

I
unlocked Emily’s car and left my gift on the backseat. Last night I’d left here
angry. I did something impulsive.

How
long would it be before she discovered it?

I
smiled and slid silently from the garage into the shadows and through the
trees, letting them cover my escape as I made my way over another fence and
through the back yard of the house next door and to my waiting car.

“Goodnight,
Nora. Sweet dreams,” I whispered.

From
my seat in the corner, my eyes were drawn to him the moment he entered the shop.
I followed his movements and watched him scan behind the counter as he
approached. Was he searching for me? A hint of a smile tugged at my lips.

“Friend
of yours?” My attention was pulled back to James who sat across from me,
eyebrows raised, smirk on his lips.

“Not
really.” Involuntarily, my gaze drifted back to where Nina was taking his
order. I had the rare chance to observe him while he was unaware. Nina’s cheeks
were covered in a blush as he spoke to her. Poor girl. I knew how intoxicating
the low, rough timbre of his voice could be, and when he turned those eyes on
you . . . well it was a good thing his order was so simple, because I don’t
think she was paying much attention to it. He leaned forward on the counter and
I saw her blink a few times. Now he was just tormenting the poor girl, but I
took a moment to appreciate the view his current position offered. Faded black
denim hugged and molded itself to his sculpted backside so enticingly, all the
way down to where it bunched up around his black, scuffed boots.

 “Mmhmm.
Right.” James was still smirking when I averted my gaze. Then his eyes flicked
in the direction I’d been staring and I watched as his face became passive. Another
glance that way revealed that Shaw had spotted us. His back was to the counter,
his hands gripping the edge and his eyes were on our table. A grey henley
stretched across his broad shoulders. He had the sleeves tugged up to expose
his forearms, and a fair bit of ink peeked beneath them. He and James were
doing some macho man, sizing each other up thing.

I
looked between the two until James turned a perplexed frown on me. “Did my
sister ever date that guy?”

“No,
why?”

“I
don’t know, he just looks familiar or something. He’s the same one you were
with when I came in yesterday, right?”

I
looked back at Shaw who was still watching us. “Yes, and as far as I know, your
sister’s never met him.  His name is Shaw”

Something
changed on his face, but he was quick to mask his expression. “How long have
you known him?”

“He’s
been coming in here for a few weeks.”

“That
all he’s been doing?” he arched one brow.

“Careful
James, or I might think you sound jealous,” I teased.

He
brushed it off with a laugh and raised his coffee cup to his lips.

“I’ll
be right back.” I stood and followed the pull across the shop. Shaw
straightened up from the counter as I drew nearer.

“Here
you go.” Nina set his coffee down, but he didn’t turn or reach for it.

“Don’t
worry, Nina, I’ll make sure he pays,” I told her, coming to stand directly in
front of him

Behind
his back, her eyes widened and she started pointing wildly at him and mouthed,
“Is this him?”

Caught
in Shaw’s gaze, I could do nothing but shoot her a subtle warning with my eyes
and then attempt casual as I gave him my full attention.

“I
forgot to ask you what you were doing in this neighborhood last night,” I
started. “Should I thank chance that you just happened to be in the vicinity
when I needed a rescuer?”

“I
suppose you could thank Arthur Guinness.”

I
titled my head in confusion, and one side of his mouth curled up.

“I
was at the Alehouse down the street having a Guinness and discussing work. Saw
you when I was leaving.”

At
that moment another customer came in the door and approached the counter. Shaw
grabbed his coffee and we stepped out of the way.

“You
take my advice and get a man in your bed?” He nodded his head toward James.

I
glanced over my shoulder and saw James’ perceptive eyes on us. “Not that it’s
any of your business, but no. That’s Emily’s brother.” His expression didn’t
register any change with that bit of information. “He is staying with me
though, so I do have someone to handle anymore unwanted visits or prowlers.”

“How
long were you with your ex?”

“Too
long,” I admitted.

“How
did you and a guy like that hook up?”

I
don’t know why, but I found myself opening up to him.

“He
and some of his college buddies were skiing at Mount Baker. They stopped in
town and in here just after I opened. I pegged them right away as typical rich,
entitled douchebags. Hit on my baristas, thought they could slip a little
something extra in their coffees from flasks they brought in with them. I had
to kick them out. But then Nathan came back the next weekend by himself, and
the weekend after that, and somehow I agreed to a date and then I don’t know. We
just sort of happened.”

The
ringing of the shop phone interrupted story time. “Just a second,” I told Shaw.
“I probably have to get that.”

He
nodded and lifted his coffee to his lips. Oh to be that cup.

“I’ll
get it in my office,” I told Nina and then hurried to the back.

I
grabbed the receiver from my desk. “Urban Grind, this is Nora.”

“Miss
Scott, this is Detective Parker. Is there any chance you can come to the
station this afternoon and answer a few questions?” I’d only spoken to the man
one other time, and that was when he took my official statement for Emily’s
missing persons report. He was the detective assigned to her case, not that I
believed he’d done much detectiving up to this point.

“What
is this about?”

“We
can talk about it when you come down.”

“Umm,”
I hesitated. “I get off work at three today, I can come in after that.”

“That
would be great. I’ll see you then.” A click told me he’d already disconnected
the call.

My
brain was turning over possibilities when I returned to the front of the shop.
James must have seen something on my face, because he rose from his seat and
walked over to me.

“What’s
up? You look unsettled?”

Shaw
and James side by side was almost too much to handle. I looked between the both
of them and then back to James. “That was the detective on Emily’s case. He
asked me to go down to the station after work and answer a few questions, but
he wouldn’t say what it’s about.”

“You
shouldn’t answer any questions alone,” Shaw was the first to speak up.

“You
think I might be in trouble?” I stammered.

“I’m
sure if you were, you wouldn’t have gotten a polite call. Still, any time the
police have questions, it’s good to have someone there with you. Keep them from
trying to jerk you around.”

“I’ll
go with you,” James offered. “I was planning on stopping by and speaking with
the good detective anyway.” I nodded, grateful.

“I’m
going to check with Mom and Dad. See if they got a call as well.” He retreated
to a quiet corner of the shop back by the restrooms to make his call, leaving
me alone with Shaw to fret over the call.

“Every
time the police show up or call, I’m afraid it’s going to be bad news,” I
admitted solemnly. “Nathan told me last night that the FBI is being brought in
on the strangler case and they’re looking into a connection to Emily. When she
first disappeared and the police insisted there was no reason to believe the
strangler had come to Bellingham, I was so mad that they weren’t taking it
seriously. Now, all I want is for them to tell me that psycho didn’t take her.”

“Hey,”
he breathed softly, gently tipping my chin up with his forefinger. “Head up.
Believing the worst right now doesn’t do anyone any good. Not you, not her
parents or her brother. And the FBI coming in can only be a good thing.”

“You’re
right,” I breathed out and then drew in a fortifying breath reaching for my
brave face. “I need to stay strong.”

A
soft smile touched his lips, but didn’t quite reach his eyes. “It’s okay to be
afraid. You don’t have to pretend for anyone. Just don’t let go of hope. That’s
true strength.”

Whatever
words I might have said, caught in my throat, and before I could force them
out, James was finished with his phone call.

Shaw
lightly traced his thumb just under my bottom lip, tempting my lips to part.
They did and he slowly drew his hand back. My tongue darted out to wet my
bottom lip and my teeth scraped over it. James was oblivious to the moment, but
he quickly picked up that something was passing between us when he reappeared
at my side.

Having
thoroughly muddled my brain, Shaw took the opportunity to make his exit.
Casting the weight of his gaze over me a final time, he shifted on his feet. “I
better get going. I’ll see you later, Nora.” He spared James a brief glance
before making his way out of the shop. I don’t think he was comfortable having
James’ scrutiny on him or the two of us together.

“Tell
me again there’s nothing there,” James tried to goad me once Shaw was gone.

I
ignored him and pressed about the phone call to his parents. He hadn’t learned
anything significant except that they weren’t contacted by Parker today. A bit
of relief came from that. If something truly bad or consequential had happened,
they would be the first ones the police would contact.

James
hung around the shop until three and then drove us over to Grand Avenue and
pulled his father’s truck into a visitor’s spot outside the station. When we
went in, we were met by Detective Parker and another man in an even fancier
suit.

“Miss
Scott, we appreciate you coming down here. This is Agent Monroe with the FBI.
I’m sure you’ve heard, as it’s been all over today’s news, that Seattle brought
the Bureau in on this strangler case.” I hadn’t watched the news today, but
Nathan had provided my heads up.

“We’d
like to ask you a few questions, if you’ll just follow us.”

“Is
this about my sister?” James cut in and both men took in his presence at my
side.

“This
is Emily’s older brother, James. He’s home on leave while you guys look for
Emily,” I explained.

“Well,
if you’ll both just follow us, like I said we have some questions and we can
better explain what’s going on,” Parker assured us.

We
had no choice but to follow them back to a quiet room that looked a lot like
every interrogation room I’d ever seen on TV, complete with what had to be
one-way glass. James and I were directed to take seats at the small table.
Agent Monroe sat across from us, setting a file folder in front of him, and
Detective Parker stood at the door after closing it behind us.

“I’ll
let you take it from here, Agent,” Parker spoke, and I gave my attention to the
man from the FBI, whose eyes were on me.

“Is
it safe to assume you’re familiar with the strangler case?”

“Isn’t
everyone in the state? I mean, I’ve only seen what’s on the news, but I don’t
see how anyone could not know what’s been going on.”

He
nodded. “And you’re aware that the most recent victim was found on Whatcom Lake?”

“I
heard that.” Whatcom Lake wasn’t far from Bellingham at all.

“We’ve
confirmed that it was Laney Benson, the fourth girl we know of to have been
taken.”

“Okay
. . .” I said, still not seeing how any of this was relevant or pertained to
Emily yet.

“Did
you know or had you ever met Laney?”

“No,”
I answered, even more confused.

“As
I’m sure you’re aware from the media, Laney was slightly older than the
previous victims.” The first three were freshman and sophomores in college, but
if I was remembering facts right, Laney was closer to my age which put her a
couple years past college. She’d been living in Oregon, but was taken near
Seattle Pacific University, where she’d been visiting her younger sister. Similar
to each of the girls before her, who’d been in party environments, she’d last
been seen leaving a club. You’d think girls would be smarter than to walk alone
at night, but they’d all been out in public and close enough to their campuses,
they probably had a false sense of security.

“What
you may not be aware of is that Laney attended Western at the same time you and
Miss Raynes were students there.”

That
I had not known. “I didn’t know that.”

He
pulled a picture from his file, the same one that had been flashed on the news
several times while authorities were still searching for Laney. It was a
close-up of the pretty red head, taken somewhere outdoors. In it she had a
bright smile on her face.

“Are
you sure you never met her before?”

I
stared harder at the picture, trying to rack my memory. “I’m sorry. There are
thousands of students at the university. If I ever met her, I don’t remember
it.  The only place I recognize her from is the news.”

“Is
it possible Miss Raynes knew her?”

 “Emily
and I were roommates our freshman year and we became close. I would have known
if they were friends, but I can’t say whether or not Emily knew her. They might
have had a class together. I might have even had a class with her and don’t
remember. I just don’t know for sure.”