Bless The Beauty

chapter Ten




The plane skidded across the runway. I glanced to my phone once again—ten missed calls, four texts, all between the hours of one and three, and all clearly displayed Mike’s frustrations.

“I didn’t even hear the phone at all.” I said to Chase.

He chuckled and his brow arched up sultry. “Wonder why that would be?”

I leaned up, took his lips in a soft butterfly kiss. “Hmm, I was a little preoccupied.”

When I backed away from Chase’s mouth, Kellen stretched his legs out in front of him. “A damn fine preoccupation it was.” I grinned as I leaned away from Chase. I felt like a woman who been taken to cloud nine and back again. When I settled back in my seat, I glanced down and dreaded the phone call ahead of me. “Better just get this over with.”

Just as I started tapping the keys, Chase put his hand over mine. “Let me.”

My gaze connected with his and I saw a very amused smile planted on his face. Of course, he would enjoy this. I wasn’t opposed to him taking the wheel here. The conversation with Mike wasn’t going to be a pleasant one.

Chase reached into his pocket, grabbed his phone to look at it, then grinned at me.

“Ten here too.” He dialled and raised the phone to his ear.

It only took two rings before Mike’s enrage voice blared through the speaker.

“Where the f*ck are you?”

“I was helping Hadley and Kellen investigate the mental hospitals,” Chase answered, calm and collected. “Why? Have you been trying to reach us?”

“I have been trying to reach you both for two f*cking hours,” Mike roared. Even without my super vamp hearing I’d still be able to hear him. The yelling might have had something to do with that.

Chase smiled wide at me, but his voice showed no hint of amusement. “Really? The reception must have been down.”

Mike grumbled something incoherent that sounded like a curse word. “Just get back to the station.” After a slight pause, he finished, “Now.”

“Ten-four.” Chase lowered the phone from his ear and ended the call.

“Ooohh, I’ve never heard him so pissed.” I laughed.

“Obviously, something’s up,” Chase agreed. “Well, other than the fact that two women are missing.”

Shame landed hard. I’d been so happy, so wrapped up in all this personal stuff, I forgot why we were all together in the first place. What had I been thinking? We were off gallivanting when we held the lives of two women in our hands. The reminder put a damper on my good mood and settled me into guilt.

Kellen sighed as the plane’s engine cut, quieting the hum in the air. “Hadley, you have nothing to feel guilty about. This had to be done.”

I stood immediately and followed Kellen out of the plane with Chase right on my heels. Of course, Kellen would sense my mood immediately. I said nothing in response. I did feel guilt and deservedly so.

“I hope you enjoyed your flight,” the pilot smiled at me as I stepped out of the cabin door.

I nodded.

Before I could say anything, Kellen interjected. “You went for a leisurely flight to test the speed of your jet.” The pilot’s eyes glazed over as he stared at Kellen. “You were thrilled with this mighty machine you have spent your life savings on.”

The pilot nodded. “Need for speed.”

“That is truly f*cking incredible.” Chase snorted. He placed his hand on my lower back and ushered me toward Kellen’s waiting car. Once there, he opened the back door for me and I snuck into the backseat as he climbed into the front beside Kellen.

Guess the two were getting on very well now. I suppose seeing each other naked could settle any remaining hostility between them. They shared and shared well. Maybe camaraderie had been born.

Suddenly distracting me from my thoughts, a beep came from my phone, quickly followed by another. I glanced to my phone. “You’re not f*cking here yet,” the message read. I laughed, as did Chase. “He’s going to rip us a new one when he sees us.”

“I’m sure you can put a stop to that,” Chase offered. “Now that I know you can do such a thing—that just might come in handy.”

I raised my gaze from my phone to give him a stern look while I shook my finger at him. “No abusing it.”

He shrugged my words away as if my thoughts were meaningless. “If you got it, use it.”

Kellen nodded firmly as he put the car in drive and headed out of the driveway. “My sentiments exactly.”

“Men,” I grumbled with a shake of my head. Looking back to my phone, I typed away quickly to let Mike know we were on the way. “He’s got a right to be angry. Who knows what’s up and we were busy—well—getting busy.”

Kellen and Chase laughed.

The sound of their laughter warmed me. I looked at them and just marvelled for a moment, in awe this had all worked out. Kellen was happy, Chase was happy, and I was bursting out of myself with joy. Not only was Chase all right with it all, he and Kellen were getting along. I might have everything I’d ever dreamed of and more—something I wondered if I’d ever have. Now that I did, I would never let of any of it go. I had a great life, a job I loved and two men who adored me. They were mine to love, enjoy and savour. Kellen for all eternity and Chase for as long as time would allow.

Kellen drove with rapid speed as he manoeuvred the flashy car with ease through the streets of Milwaukee. Fast enough that within only ten minutes, the station appeared just ahead.

Chase groaned when we drew closer. “Here we go.”

It didn’t take much to understand what he was talking about. When we pulled into the parking lot, Mike waited at the front with his arms crossed on his chest and a scowl planted firm on his face.

Kellen sped into a parking spot then slammed on the breaks.

When the car stopped, I jumped out as a little grumble escaped my mouth. “Uh oh.” I planted an ashamed expression on my face, which wasn’t all that hard, I did feel guilty.

“Damn cell phones,” I muttered and gave the thing a shake in my hand.

Mike’s expression didn’t falter. “While you have been off doing God knows what, a discovery has been made.”

I stopped midstride as confusion raked me. “What discovery?”

“Kelly Lewis’ body was discovered an hour ago,” Mike answered in a curt tone.

Then, he stepped past me, heading toward a rented truck. “Get the f*ck in. Nick is waiting at the scene for us.” He glanced back, glaring at both Chase and I. “I came back trying to locate you f*ckers.”

Now I felt rotten. While we were getting down and dirty, the young woman, Kelly, had died. If we hadn’t gone to the Mistresses’ we could have gone to the see the doctor and discovered what we needed for me to interrogate him. Our hesitation had just cost this woman her life. Nothing about that felt good. I glanced at Chase. He smiled softly, however, guilt lived in his eyes too.

Kellen, of course, was just Kellen. Completely at ease with what had happened. But why would he care, mortals meant nothing to him. If this was a vampire and she’d been killed for no reason, Kellen would raise hell.

I sighed away the remorse as I got into the truck and situated myself beside Kellen in the backseat. What was done was done. Maybe Kelly had been dead for days. Therefore, my guilt was pointless. I’d wait to hear details before I punished myself. “Where was her body located?”

Mike’s tension still radiated off him as he started the ignition of the truck. His fists were clenched around the steering wheel as his pissed off gaze met mine in the rear-view mirror. “At the market.”

Chase’s gaze snapped to Mike from the front seat. Surprise filled his face. “Right out in the open?”

Mike took a deep breath, obviously in an attempt to regain himself. “The market is closed during the week, only open on Sunday. A security guard found her body under one of the vendors fruit stands.”

Okay, well that eased my guilt a little. It sounded like she’d been there a while. “So, she has been dead a few days then?”

Mike shook his head. My guilt returned. “I’m not sure until we get there. As I said, I was waiting to find you all.” His gaze met mine in the rear-view mirror and gave me another stern glance before he focused back on the road.

Another couple miles clicked away on the odometer. Up ahead, flashing lights lit up the sky.

“Game faces on,” Mike exhaled as he drove past the group of people held back by the police.

A uniformed police officer waved us over and held up his hand in an indication for us to stop.

Mike rolled down his window. “FBI, Criminal Investigations Department.” He flashed his badge.

The cop nodded. “Go right through.” He lifted the yellow tape and waved us in.

Mike pulled in slowly then parked the car. “Let’s go see what we got.” Then, he opened his door and was out in a flash.

As I exited the car, I bit my lip in anticipation of what I was about to see.

Just cause I was a vampire didn’t mean I didn’t have a heart. Seeing dead young women was never a part of the job I enjoyed and could happily live without.

In only a few shorts steps, Kelly Lewis appeared on the pavement. Her face was angled toward me. Pretty woman—mid-twenties, blonde, blue-eyed and I suspected when she was alive those lovely eyes had been filled with happy memories. Now though, her eyes were empty—cold. She appeared done up, which aligned with McKinney’s MO.

The makeup along her skin made her look so alive, but her blue skin clearly indicated that she was not.

She stared, almost looking straight through me. The blue depths held in those eyes was a unique kindness that still showed through even though her life was lost.

“About time you got here,” Nick’s curt voice came beside next to me.

I tore my gaze away from Kelly to look at him. “Sorry, we were…uh…checking out the hospitals in the area.”

Nick nodded gave a forgiving smile, clearly he barely believed my story. “From what the M.E.’s reported, Ms. Lewis has been here for two days.”

It was like a damn roller coaster with my guilt. Luckily, with those few words said, it evaporated.

I kept it close. Until Sabrina was found I wouldn’t feel better about this situation.

“So, he put her here just before he was arrested?” Chase asked.

Nick nodded. “Manner of death is suffocation, but like buried alive kind of suffocation.”

My stomach clenched, a wave of sickness washed over me. “He buried these poor women alive?”

Nick sighed, glancing down to Kelly Lewis. “The M.E. found dirt in Ms. Lewis’

mouth and nose. He said he wouldn’t know more until the autopsy, but did note the findings of dirt lining her nostrils and down into her throat.”

“F*ck,” I exhaled. “So, he buries them, then digs them up and places them in places they’ll be found.”

“I’d say that is a likely assumption.”

I was about to ask more, but a thought presented itself that we hadn’t really dug into yet. It was what struck me first when I looked at the pictures of these dead women and what ran through my thoughts moments ago. I glanced over to Mike. “Have you discovered why he does this to them?” I waved my hand across my face. “You know, makes them so beautiful looking.”

There had to be more to it—something sick, I was sure of that. But my thoughts definitely kept bringing me back to this and that usually said something. Normally it meant I was on the right track.

Mike gave Chase a curious glance. “You’ve spent this much time with her and haven’t filled her in on what we have discovered thus far?”

Chase showed no moment of hesitation in answering him. “We were busy focusing on her end of the investigation—it just hadn’t come up yet.”

Mike gave a displeased look, but said nothing more on the matter, then glanced to me. “They’ve gotten jack shit out of him—the kid is insane. All he’ll admit to is that he has the other women hidden—keeping her safe, as he calls it.”

Nick let out a long sigh. “I’m going to stand in on the autopsy.” He looked over his shoulder as the M.E. pulled the gurney out of the white cube van. “I’ll call if they discover anything.”

Mike nodded, as Nick headed off toward the van. He looked back to Kelly Lewis, gave her a final glance before he started to walk back toward his car. “If they didn’t have the evidence they do, I wouldn’t believe they had the right man.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked, following in behind.

He glanced over his shoulder at me, signs of frustration sat hard in his jaw. “He is as sweet as apple pie.” He looked ahead of him again and picked up his stride.

This didn’t surprise me. I’d witnessed this very same thing a dozen times over through the years as an interrogator. “Why do the crazy ones always have to be so damn nice?”

Kellen smacked my ass. “That’s how you know it—no one sane is ever that nice.”

I jumped forward from the hit and banged into Mike’s back. “Oops, sorry,” I said, peeling myself off his back.

Mike peeked over his shoulder and gave me a chastising look. “Focus please.”

I grinned shamefully. “Sorry.” Then snapped my gaze back to glare at Kellen and whispered, “Do you mind?”

Kellen shook his head completely unashamed. “Don’t mind at all.”

Chase’s grin came quick as he took a step forward and said in a low deep tone,

“Actually, don’t mind if I do.” Then he walloped my ass—hard.

I gasped and shot forward again landing right into Mike’s back again. He spun around, glowering. “Hadley, pull it together.”

“I’m sorry,” I retorted, rubbing my butt. Chase’s hit hurt. I took a glance around to make sure no one had seen it, which they hadn’t. I should have known that Chase wouldn’t have taken such a risk as to expose himself. I met his amused gaze. “Stop that.”

I looked to Kellen. “The both of you.” They just grinned at me in return. I might be annoyed, but it was hard to watch them both grin at me like that and not respond to it. I finally resigned and grinned back. “Just save it for later.”

Their grins grew with all types of sultry promise.

Up ahead, Mike stopped at the truck, held open his door, but didn’t get in. “What did you find out at the hospital?” he asked me.

“Oh…um…” Shit, I hated being put on the spot and lying. I never did it well like Chase could. “We ah…located the hospital Chad was in.” Okay, I was about to feed him a ton of bullshit but it would make our delay more believable. “We went there and spoke with the nurse. The, umm, the doctor wasn’t in, but is going to meet with us now.”

Mike looked solemnly. “Not much good it would have done anyway, we didn’t have a warrant. I doubt he would have talked to you. Luckily, I just got the warrant from the judge. It’s in the glove compartment.” He gestured for Chase to get into the driver’s seat.

“Go on then. Get what you need and meet us at the station then Hadley can interrogate this McKinney. I’ll catch a ride with the Chief. Let’s just hope that Sabrina Stopforth is in better shape than this young lady.”

If I had a heartbeat, it would’ve started pounding. This was the part of the job I loved. The adrenaline that I was sure I’d been feeling now, if I could.

We started a race that I was ready to win.