Renewed Faith (CSA Case Files 3 / Military Romance) (5 page)

“Yeah, I heard you knocking on his door at some ungodly hour of the morning.” Connor made no attempt to reach inside Kevin’s coat, which was draped over Ethan’s chair. Probably not the smartest place to put it. “Let me just say that Lauren was not happy.”

“Emily’s always up at that hour,” Kevin answered with a shrug. “I swear Jax gives us a play by play of her piss schedule.”

Connor threw his head back and laughed. Kevin heard Jax mumble something from his cubicle, but couldn’t make it out. Whatever he said had Connor laughing even harder. Kevin wished he could join in but the thought of Elle on the street, asking questions that would only put her in danger pissed him the fuck off.

“No worries about Lauren,” Connor said, his blue eyes hinting on what he was about to say. “She was happy when I left.”

“I’m glad to hear that all is well with your sex life, Connor,” Crest said with a deadpan voice as he walked up behind him. Jax’s laughter rang out over the partition loud and clear. “It’ll make it easier to send you to Switzerland and check out the lead that Taryn has on Ryland.”

“Wait. If Lauren gets pregnant, do I get a free pass like Jax does?”

“Fuck you, boyo.” Jax’s muffled voice carried over the cubicle. “You have to marry her first.”

“That’s not the order you did it in,” Connor called out.

“When Lauren is in that state, we’ll talk about it.” Crest slid one hand into his trouser pocket while the other had his suit jacket slung over his shoulder. It was obvious that he was heading out of the office. “For now, Jessie’s making your travel arrangements.”

“I’ve already made them.” Jessie seemed to materialize between Crest and Connor with her usual cheerful smile in place. She was technically Crest’s personal assistant, but she aided them all when needed. For such a young sprite, she was the most efficient person that Kevin ever had the privilege of working with and she had certainly saved his bacon a time or two. If she weren’t the type to worry about breaking a nail, she would have been great to have on the farm. “And it’s not called a state. A state is Minnesota. Pregnancy is much more than that and you should be careful. We seem to be gaining in numbers around here.”

Crest gave her a sideways look, but didn’t speak. That was probably the route to go, considering it was a no-win situation. Jessie was obviously referring the word
we
to
women
. Jax mentioned months ago that the men seemed to be dropping like flies when it came to relationships. Jessie said it was the way the stars were aligned and no one was inclined to argue. She was always right and would hammer the topic into the ground just to prove a point. Kevin really wanted to state the obvious in the fact that his stars must have not gotten the memo, but it wasn’t worth the hassle of dealing with her answer.

“Did you send Kevin’s case files to Fallon?” Crest asked as he stepped to the side to shrug into his suit jacket. It fell over his holster with ease and his weapon disappeared from view as he secured one of the buttons. “She’s in between cases right now, so time is of the essence.”

“Nice way to sidestep that conversation,” Connor muttered as he brought the mug up to his mouth. The look that Crest shot Connor was just as efficient as if he’d given him the bird. “I’m going, I’m going.”

Connor backtracked out of the cubicle, leaving only Crest and Jessie in the opening. Kevin felt a little uncomfortable as those two stared at each other longer than what was necessary. This sexual tension that covered the office wasn’t good for morale. Everyone knew that Jessie had a thing for Crest while it was obvious he did anything he could to keep her at a distance. Connor mentioned that it was the age difference, but Kevin wasn’t so sure. Whatever the reason, he felt a kinship to Jessie. They both wanted what they couldn’t have. Kevin was relieved when Connor’s voice could be heard.

“Jax, tell Emily she’s not allowed to have Junior while Uncle Connor is out of the country.”

That seemed to cut into whatever the hell was going on in Kevin’s cubicle and he couldn’t be happier. He still wanted time to go over the case, head home for a few hours of sleep, and then hit the streets later tonight. It did cross his mind that since Connor didn’t take the key to the club that paying another visit to Elle might be a good idea, just to make sure she was minding her own business.

“I did get the files emailed over to her,” Jessie said, bringing the conversation back around. “Kevin, Fallon replied that she would like the photos of today’s crime scene as well.”

“I’ll scan them to you before I leave the office.”

“Great.” Jessie’s focus turned to Crest. “Gavin, I need to speak with you before you leave for your appointment.”

The only being on the face of the planet that Crest allowed to call him by his first name was Jessie. At least as far as Kevin knew. None of them had the honor of meeting Crest’s parents. Hearing his first name always brought a smile to Kevin’s lips, although it was obvious it had a totally different effect on Crest.

“I’ve got three minutes.”

“I’ll only need two,” Jessie replied, her tone indicating that she would take his challenge.

Kevin turned his chair back around, leaving those two to walk back to Crest’s office and have whatever duel they were going to have. The day was going by faster than anticipated and Kevin needed to get his ass in gear. He opened the file, but instead of grabbing the pictures he needed to scan, a sentence in Taggart’s report caught his attention.

Three weeks. Three months. Six months.

Kevin started looking around on his desk for a calendar, but couldn’t locate one quick enough for his liking. He resorted to using his computer and pulled up a yearly calendar. Using the mouse to backtrack to the first date in question, he began calculating and came up with their first solid lead.

Oorah.

Kevin felt satisfaction roll through his veins as the whiteboard confirmed his suspicions. What was that saying? Measure twice, cut once. Sure enough, the second rape happened exactly three months to the day. The first murder happened three months to the day, according to time of death. The victim this morning was killed sometime last night, placing her homicide exactly six months to the day. Either they were missing a victim three months ago or their killer had a timetable he was observing.

“Now all we have to do is figure out which one,” Kevin muttered as he reached for his office phone. He dialed Taggart. As he waited for the detective to answer, Kevin couldn’t help but wonder where Elle was right now. Had she heeded his advice and stayed home or was she at the shelter, putting her nose in where it didn’t belong? “Taggart, I’ve got something. Are you at the station?”

Chapter Four

“W
hat are
you
doing here at this time of the morning?”

Elle looked up from taking her coat off to see Cam Bennett stepping into the kitchen of the shelter at Reformation. Coffee and what smelled like cinnamon rolls saturated the air. A few pans and dishes sat in the sink. The kitchen table was a little cluttered with hand towels that had yet to be folded and sections of the newspaper were scattered about, looking to have been well read. It was unlike Cam to leave the kitchen in such disarray, as he was meticulous in making sure that everyone pulled their own weight.

Cam was no taller than she and had short, red, perfectly styled hair with a close-cropped full beard. He wasn’t what anyone would call handsome, yet his immaculate appearance and perfect smile carried the day for him. He had a heart of pure twenty-four karat gold, which made every woman who crossed the doors of this shelter feel quite comfortable. It was as if he was their long lost older brother who only wanted to protect them. It might have to do with the fact that he was a way over the top overt homosexual, but in the end these women didn’t feel judged by Cam. In return, they didn’t feel the need to judge him or question his motives. They felt safe here.

“Morning, Cam,” Elle replied, removing her scarf and laying it on one of the kitchen chairs. She then proceeded to drape her jacket over the back. “I just wanted to check on the girls. Did you hear about the murder this morning?”

“Rachel showed up here a few hours ago with the news. It’s horrible. I gave her the back room for as long as she needs it.” Anguish and concern crossed Cam’s features as he turned to the counter and made himself busy by pouring her a cup of coffee. One of Cam’s many talents was remembering exactly how every single woman whom had ever passed through his door had taken their coffee. Only his regulars knew these little secrets. “Maybe this will scare her enough to return home.”

“Did Rachel know the girl that was killed?” Elle asked, taking the proffered drink. Lord knew she needed it to keep herself going.

“Apparently. The girl’s name was Francie and she was strangled in the same way that Daisy was.” Cam pulled out a chair but didn’t sit, motioning for her to find a perch as he indulged his OCD cleaning fetish, picking up this and that. “Rachel went to the scene with Clarisse when word got out there was another murder.”

“Who was she?”

Elle sank in the chair diagonally from Cam’s unused seat and pushed away the feeling of satisfaction that she was finding out information that Kevin hadn’t known. It wasn’t the time nor did the situation call for it and sometimes Elle had to wonder if she hadn’t lost all compassion.

“A new girl that wanted in on the action, I guess.” Cam reached for one of the hand towels and started to fold it. It was such a mundane task, but it seemed to balance the horror of the conversation. Sometimes normalcy was all they had. “After some detective gave them a description, Rachel knew who it was. She and Clarisse admitted that they’d only seen her once. Apparently, Bee tried to get Francie to work for him, but she wouldn’t go for it. He went on to explain who owned what part of town and that was the last they saw of her.”

“What about Larry? Did she end up working for him?” Elle was well aware that Bee ran the south side of Minneapolis and Larry the Limey kept to the north, as well as having territory in St. Paul. The girls’ paths would sometimes cross, but the lines were clearly marked to make sure there wasn’t any confusion. “This Francie could have also worked in St. Paul.”

“I’m sure the police will figure it out.” Cam had stacked three towels on top of each other and was working on the fourth. “In the meantime, Eric said something this morning that had me in agreement…and you know that rarely happens.”

Elle smiled over her cup, knowing full well that Cam and his brother Eric didn’t see eye to eye on many things. If one of them wanted the kitchen blue, the other wanted it yellow. It was a constant battle that entertained the women who sought help within these walls. For all she knew, the brothers kept up the ruse on purpose to keep the atmosphere lighthearted.

Eric was the total opposite of Cam, all the way down to their sexual preferences. Eric stood a good six inches taller than Cam, as well as having blonde hair, although only on his head. The minute Cam had facial hair was the same day Eric kept himself clean-shaven at all times. Cam drove a car, so Eric drove an SUV.

“And what did the oh-so-insightful Eric have to say?” Elle asked, trying to keep her sarcasm on the down low. She and Eric had their issues, but as long he stayed out of her way, she stayed out of his.

“Just that in the midst of all this horror there is a silver lining. The girls might realize how dangerous the streets are and turn their lives around.”

“Cam, I know that you and Eric don’t want to hear this,” Elle said, pausing long enough to formulate the words, “but some of these women prefer this life. It’s what they know and all they’ll ever know. They don’t want to change.”

Cam looked at her with sorrow and Elle’s heart ached for him. She didn’t know anything about his or Eric’s past, but whatever led them to open this shelter and lobby for funding at every fork in the road had to have been fundamental. She reached over and squeezed Cam’s hand, which now rested on one of the hand towels that he’d given up folding.

“What are you always telling me?” Elle asked, encouraging him to see the brighter side.