Chapter EIGHTEEN
“WHY THE HELL would Rafael send you a dead chicken?” Luis asked Leah.
“It wasn’t a whole chicken.” Which made it worse. Leah closed her eyes. Why had he done it? To scare her. To remind her that he or his dear friend Cruz had killed her cat. But more important was why this had all started. What did Rafael want with Luis?
“What have you done, Luis?” She gripped the phone.
“I haven’t done shit,” Luis answered.
“You saw Cruz. Why did you see him?”
“I told you I accidentally ran into him,” Luis barked. “Jeezus, Sis, get off your high horse, would ya?”
“I’m not on my high horse.”
“The hell you’re not. What if I was accusing you of something you didn’t do? How would you feel?”
“There has to be a reason this is happening, and it has to do with you seeing Cruz.”
“I admit your house getting broken into and you getting dead chickens is weird, especially after Rafael called you. But I swear I’m telling the truth. I saw the guy on the street and spent less than three minutes talking. But what I don’t understand is why you hate that guy so much.”
“Because he nearly raped me! Because—” Damn, she wanted to pull those words back into her mouth.
“He did what?” Luis’s tone turned dead serious.
Leah dropped her chin on her chest. She’d never told Luis. Why should she? He’d been too young and… she’d wanted to shelter him from… from more ugliness. He hardly even remembered their mom. And when he got old enough to ask about their father, she’d told him he’d died right after he was born. Sure, when Rafael showed up in all his glory, a few months after she’d seen her dad’s obituary, Luis learned Leah had lied to him.
He’d been eleven and pissed that she’d robbed him of a chance to meet his dad. Leah hadn’t held back then. It was the only time Leah remembered really losing her temper with her brother. He didn’t want us, Luis. Why would you want him?
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Her mother’s words vibrated through her head. It had been seven years since her mother’s death, and her father hadn’t bothered to come to see them. Absence didn’t make the heart grow fonder; people chose to be absent when they didn’t care.
“When did Cruz do this?” Luis asked, dragging her from the past.
Leah took a deep breath. “A long time ago. Forget about it.”
“Like you’ve forgotten.”
Actually, his killing Snowball had been his most unforgettable crime. She hadn’t told Luis that, either. He’d loved that cat.
“Luis, I’m worried about you. If you’re into something illegal, you have to stop.”
“Illegal? Give me some goddamn credit. Once. Just once I almost did something, but I didn’t even do it. And right now the only illegal thing I want to do is beat the shit out of Cruz. I friggin’ can’t believe you didn’t tell me this.”
“Luis, what happened isn’t important. I’m worried about you now. Promise me you won’t go to your place for a while?”
“I can’t crash at Cassandra’s place much longer. She’s gonna think I’m mooching off of her.”
“If it’s a problem, I’ll send you a couple hundred dollars and you can get one of those weekly hotels.”
“No, I can stay here,” he muttered.
She paused and her brother’s earlier words repeated in her head. “So it’s a girl you’re staying with? You didn’t tell me it was a girl.”
“I didn’t tell you? Oh, crap, how could I not tell you? Oh, I know, it’s because I take after my damn sister, who freaking doesn’t tell me shit! Like about some a*shole raping you.”
“I said he tried to rape me. He didn’t do it. And you were too young. And I’m telling you everything now,” she said.
“I swear to God, Leah, if I see Cruz again I’m knocking his teeth down his throat.” Even though he was angry, she heard the brotherly love in his voice.
“Look, I appreciate you wanting to defend me. But that happened years ago, so leave it alone.” There was a pause. Deciding to change the subject she asked, “Are you coming up Sunday?” He usually came up every other weekend. It wasn’t enough for her, but it seemed plenty of family time for him.
“I don’t know, if I don’t have too much make-up work,” he said.
I told you that you shouldn’t have skipped classes. She bit her tongue to keep from reprimanding him. “Are you going to bring your girlfriend… Cassandra?”
“The last time I introduced you to a girlfriend, you asked her if she was on the pill.”
“Well, the question seemed appropriate since you were barely eighteen and I walked in and found you two screwing on my sofa.” Leah snatched her stress ball from her desk and squeezed.
“You weren’t supposed to be home until a day later. Besides, I thought you should have been happy we didn’t use your bed.”
“Seriously?” she asked. “The bed had sheets and I could have changed those. I couldn’t sit on that sofa for a month.”
He moaned, reminding her of the disgruntled teenager he’d been not so long ago. “Look, I need to run. I’ll call later about this weekend. And for God’s sake, be careful. If you see hide or hair of Cruz or Rafael, call the police. Then call me. I swear to God, Sis, I won’t let either of them lay a hand on you. I’ll kill ’em.”
“You’re not going to kill anyone!” she said. “But I love you for wanting to protect me.”
They hung up, and she must have heard or felt something. She turned and saw the door slightly ajar.
Austin Brookshire stood there. Frowning.
Friggin’ great. How much of her conversation had he been privy to?
Austin took a deep breath, hoping to come off calm, but calm was the last thing he felt. Someone had tried to rape her and she thought this was the same person breaking into her apartment and sending her bloody packages, and she wasn’t calling the police?
She wasn’t doing shit but waiting for him to strike again? And she hadn’t even told him.
He stepped inside the office and closed the door. The click of the door shutting seemed too loud. She stood from her chair and again he noticed how small she looked. Vulnerable. Fragile, almost. And damn if he didn’t want to volunteer to take care of her.
“Didn’t anyone ever teach you that eavesdropping is rude?” she said with bravado. But the courage in her voice was all bluff. Odd how he could read her so well.
He stepped closer. “I didn’t exactly have the proper upbringing, remember?”
The words no longer slid off his tongue when he realized this was the first time he could remember making light of his past. And for some reason that seemed important.
“Well, someone should have enlightened you.” She wasn’t backing off.
He shifted his gaze. The office was small. Feminine and filled with cat paraphernalia. Her scent of waffle cones hung in the air. He inched forward another step. With her standing less than a foot from him, he could see the fear in her eyes.
“What’s going on, Leah?”
She had to tilt her chin to look him in the eyes.
She opened her mouth, and he saw in her expression that she was going to lie to him.
“The truth,” he insisted.
She closed her mouth almost as if reconsidering. “It’s complicated.”
Slowly, he reached out and put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her against him.
He felt her give, and she rested her forehead on the center of his chest. She needed someone to lean on, and damn was he glad he’d come here.
He dropped his chin down and buried his face into her soft brown hair and wrapped his arms around her back. Inhaling her scent, he held her for several seconds. Then he inched back and with one hand gently raised her chin to look at him.
“Let me help uncomplicate it,” he said. “I’m good at that.”
As if realizing how close they stood, she pulled back. Her eyes had a watery sheen to them.
“Are you sure?” she asked. “Because I’ve only known you a few days and”—she waved a hand between them—“this feels complicated.”
Damn if he didn’t agree with her. This, whatever this was, felt complicated. But now wasn’t the time to consider that. “Who’s Cruz?”
“This is something I have to deal with.”
“Why?”
Her shoulders slumped. “He’s someone I knew a long time ago. And he’s not a nice person. My brother ran into him, and since then everything’s gone crazy.”
“Ran into him where? San Antonio, isn’t that where you said he was?”
She shook her head as if his questions were unimportant, but the more information Austin could get the better he’d be.
“No. He ran into him in Austin, where he lives.”
“But he’s in San Antonio?” For some reason that seemed to be important, as if it mattered, but he couldn’t put his finger on the reason.
Leah brushed a strand of her hair back. “He’s back now.”
She was telling the truth, but only part of it. “Is Cruz this a*shole’s last name?”
She frowned. “It’s not important.”
That pushed his button and his gut clenched. “He tried to rape you and you say it’s not important.”
“That was years ago.”
“But it was yesterday that your apartment was broken into, and less than an hour ago someone sent you a pack of chicken guts. And it doesn’t sound like this is the first time you’ve gotten a less than desirable delivery, either.”
A knock sounded at the door. Leah took a step back, then called out, “Come in.”
Evelyn poked her head in. “Our appointments are showing up.”
Leah nodded. “Just put them in rooms, I’ll be right out.”
Evelyn hesitated. “Are we calling the police?”
“No.” Leah said. “No one was hurt. And I don’t want to scare off business.”
Evelyn frowned at him. “And I thought you had enough charm to make her see reason.”
“She’s not so easy to charm,” he said.
Leah huffed and walked out.
Evelyn walked in and leaned closer. “Can I trust you to look after her?”
He nodded.
She let go of another sigh. “Do you not find it suspicious that she doesn’t want to call the police? First with her place and then this?”
Yeah, I do. “Some people don’t trust them,” he said. But there was usually a reason. And he needed to figure out why.
He checked to see if Leah was out of earshot. “Where’s the package?”
She quirked an eyebrow. “It’s up front behind the counter. Why?”
“Can I… take it with me? And the note, if it’s still up there.”
She studied him. “You know, Jamie’s right. You act like a cop.”
“Not a cop,” he said. “But I know a few.”
She tightened her brows, still looking slightly suspicious. “Well, I was going to make giblet gravy with it,” she teased, “but sure, take it.”
“Evelyn!” Jamie screamed out.
“What the hell is it this time?” the older woman snapped, and they both took off toward the front.
Jamie stood behind the counter, a disgusted look on her face and pointing downward. He and Evelyn moved closer.
“Stop him,” Austin snapped, when he spotted the big orange and white cat, even bigger than Leah’s Big Orange. The cat had his face buried in the shoe box on the floor, eating the evidence.
“That’s just gross!” Jamie said.
Roberto went back to work, but he kept thinking about Brad. What was the guy up to? Then Roberto thought about his promise to Brad: to call Sandy. Roberto really didn’t want to do that, but he was going to… just as soon as he decided what to tell her. She was going to be pissed. The message from Brad would bring on more questions than answers. And he didn’t have answers.
When he wasn’t worrying about that, he was thinking about Sara and that damn romance novel. It had pulled him in about as quickly as Sara had. The author had used suspense, some humor, and lots of steamy parts to keep the reader turning pages. And while he’d been turning pages, he wasn’t dwelling on his own problems.
Not that reading was as good as talking to Sara. But it was less complicated. When he finished a book, it was finished. Every time he spoke with Sara, he felt as if he owed her something. A promise of them getting together, or an excuse of why he couldn’t.
He didn’t need to be in debt to anyone. He sure as hell didn’t need anyone counting on him.
After about an hour of taping Sheetrock, he decided to take the rest of the day off. Considering he had to meet Cruz at midnight, he could claim he needed time to get his shit ready.
He packed up and started out. One of Cruz’s overseers saw him walk out. “Where you think you’re going?”
“I’m taking the afternoon off. I’m doing some overtime work for Cruz tonight.”
“Whatcha doing for him?” the guy asked.
“Whatever Cruz needs me to do.” He walked off.
He climbed on his bike, but instead of heading back to his apartment, he headed toward Brad’s home. He might as well get this over with.
Holding the box carefully in one spot, so as not to disturb any prints, he placed it on the floorboard. Once he crawled back behind the wheel, he dialed Tyler.
“I got something else I want checked out for prints. Can you send Nance back this way?”
“Another gun?” Tyler asked.
“No. A shoe box with chicken parts, or it had chicken parts in it.”
Silence crawled into the line, and he realized how crazy that sounded.
Tyler spoke up. “Why is it that I’m not nearly as shocked as I should be? I swear, you are always getting yourself into more shit.”
“What shit?” Dallas’s voice echoed in the background.
“Let me put you on speaker; Dallas just walked in and he has to hear this one from you. Oh, by the way, who was it that really gave you the black eye, the blonde or Leah Reece?” Tyler laughed. “Sounds like things are really getting interesting there.”
So Nance was running his mouth. “Look, I’m not joking. This is serious,” Austin bit out. The line clicked and he knew he was on speaker.
“What do you have this time?” Dallas asked.
“Leah was delivered a bloody shoe box with chicken parts in it and a threatening note. But a cat ate the parts.” He shuddered remembering, too.
“Voodoo?” Dallas asked.
“No, just a threat. She thinks it’s from a guy who almost raped her a while back. All the name I could get from her was Cruz. I don’t know if that’s a nickname or a last name. Oh, and she thinks it has something to do with her brother meeting up with this guy.”
“So she knows you’re looking for her brother?” Dallas questioned.
“Not DeLuna, her younger brother.” Austin started his truck, giving Leah’s vet office one last look. “And do me a favor, Tyler, do a good check into Luis Reece. I want to know everything.”
“Will do,” Tyler said.
“Austin,” Dallas said, and then paused. “Just so I’m clear. Do you think this… the break-in and now this bloody package has anything to do with DeLuna?”
“I was about to ask the same question,” Tyler replied.
Austin realized the problem his partners were having. His interest in Leah had gone beyond his need to get DeLuna. And it was a real problem his conscience said, but his conscience could just go to hell. Keeping Leah safe was his main concern.
“It could be,” Austin said. “Someone at Leah’s office saw the guy dropping off the shoe box. Latin, not quite six feet, dark hair, medium build, light olive skin. You know who that sounds like?”
“Me and about fifty percent of the Latin population,” Tyler said. “That’s not enough to—”
“Fine, it’s a long shot. But we could send someone up here and show her a photo lineup.”
Dallas spoke up. “I’ll look into it.”
But his tone said he thought Austin was getting carried away.
“Just do it!” But damn, his feelings for Leah were nothing more than him being a man and her being a woman. A decent woman who stirred up his protect-and-serve gene that had landed him as a cop.
So what if he wasn’t a hundred percent about DeLuna being involved.
Wanting to help someone didn’t mean anything. Maybe it was just about him being a decent human being and not wanting something bad to happen to someone who didn’t deserve it. Wasn’t that part of what Dallas had set out to do in the first place with opening the detective agency? To help people?
“Look, Austin,” Dallas stated. “I just—”
“I shouldn’t have to explain myself. I want Nance to come pick this up and have it checked. And don’t just send it to Tony. Send it to Logan at Lab, Inc. I heard he’s doing some initial fingerprinting for a couple of the detectives in Houston. If he gets a print, then send it to Tony and beg him to run it. But I don’t want it to get lost in their backlogged cases.”
“Logan charges an arm and a leg to check for prints. Blood is his specialty,” Dallas said.
“Damn it, have I questioned how you guys want to run a case? If it’s a friggin’ problem, I’ll pay for it myself. Just do it.”
His outburst warranted him nothing but silence from his two partners. And he knew the reason for it, too. This wasn’t like him. He was a damn good detective, and part of the reason he was good was because he always kept his perspective, never let things get under his skin. It was a job. The only case that got under his skin was finding DeLuna. Part of him felt as if he was holding his breath waiting to prove to the doubters that he hadn’t followed in his parents’ footsteps.
Realizing he was having a mental conversation with himself while his two partners waited, he said, “Have Nance call me and let me know exactly when he’ll arrive. I’ve got some things I have to do.”
“Okay,” Dallas said. “And, Austin, don’t get in too deep.”
Tyler broke in, “If you don’t know exactly what Dallas means by that, he’s saying don’t sleep with her.”
“I’m not sleeping with her!”
“Tell me you haven’t even thought about sleeping with her and I’ll feel a hell of a lot better,” Tyler said.
“Tell Nance to call me.” Austin hung up. Then remembering something he wanted to pick up for Leah, he turned his truck toward Main Street.
Leah with her I-don’t-like-gifts attitude was probably going to get pissed, but she’d just have to get over it.