“Seriously, Rissa? It was before we were ever an item, and you are just going to have to let it go.”
“I don’t have to do a damn thing except finish this Scotch.” She slurred her words, and Harley headed back for the stairs. He didn’t have time for this shit, he needed to be there for Norah, not stuck in the middle of a conflict over an old ex.
He turned back to Gerry. “You tell her, Gerry. She deserves to know.”
“I will.”
Harley pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number he had for Zach. Hopefully he hadn’t changed it in the last two years.
“Murphy.”
“It’s Harley.”
“It’s late.” Zach sighed, and Harley
heard some rustling. “You get Norah?”
“Yeah, we got her.”
“She responsible for those two men at the hotel?”
Harley took a deep breath. He had to believe they could trust Zach. If they couldn’t, then they could cross that bridge when they came to it, he supposed. “Yeah, they attacked her.”
“Legally I can’t say this, but I suppose legally I shouldn’t even be talking to you. But good for her. She’s got some balls, it seems. They weren’t small men.”
“There’s more.”
“What is it?”
“She spoke to Matthews. He told her that he was planning on marrying her and that he wanted her to bring her bracelet.”
“Why would he ask for her bracelet?” And this was why Harley had always liked Zach. He didn’t miss a damn thing.
“My thoughts exactly. We got it and are laying low.”
“Don’t tell me where. Pretty positive my line’s not bugged, but it’s better to be safe.”
“I wasn’t going to. I was a cop once upon a time too, Zach.”
“Yeah, yeah. That all?”
“There’s a body in Norah’s apartment. A woman. Norah didn’t see her face, but based on the description she gave me, it sounds like it’s her friend Reagan.”
“Know who did it?”
“Do you even have to ask?”
“Guess not.”
“The same two men attacked her at her apartment the day after the shooting. They kept asking her where ‘it’ was, although then she didn’t know what they were talking about. It wasn’t until Matthews asked her about it that she put it together. My guess is that they were hoping her friend would know where it was.”
Zach grunted in agreement. “Listen, I’ll send some units over to the apartment for a welfare check. They will find the body and we can start an investigation. You track them on your end and I’ll do what I can to keep any extra heat off you. We will need to meet, though. I need to know what you know, and it needs to be done in person.”
“I’ll give you a call as soon as we figure out the bracelet. We can meet then.”
“Sounds good. Tell Norah I’m sorry about her friend.”
“Thanks, Zach.”
“Yeah, and Harley?”
“Yeah?”
“My jaw hurts like hell.”
Harley laughed slightly. “You said to make it look good,” he reminded Zach.
“Well, you did. Talk to you soon.”
The line went dead, and Harley lowered the phone. He could start figuring everything out tomorrow. Tonight he needed sleep.
15
Norah woke slowly and stretched, her body aching from the events of the day before. She wished like hell everything had just been a bad dream. But when she looked at Harley sleeping next to her and saw the stitches on his forehead, she couldn’t let herself believe it hadn’t happened. Not even for a moment.
Reagan was dead.
She had killed two men.
Clayton hadn’t died that night at the banquet.
There was no way of getting around any of those facts. As much as she hated it, the thing that bothered her the most was the last one. Clayton was alive and he was going to be coming for her. Why had he wanted her bracelet? The fact that he had asked for it personally meant that it mattered in some way. Was it simply because it was expensive?
“Hey.”
Norah turned to see Harley’s sleep-
filled eyes watching her.
“Hey.” Her voice didn’t even sound normal to her, and by the look of worry on his face, Harley had recognized it also.
“How are you?”
“I’m okay.” She offered him a slight smile. “Achy from the accident.”
“Maybe we should get you checked out. You didn’t get the amazing hospital trip I got,” He joked.
“Nah, I’m fine, Harley. The impact wasn’t on my side, and I feel fine other than some achy muscles. Believe it or not, that wasn’t my first car crash.”
“Oh yeah?”
“When I first started driving, a drunk driver pushed me off the road and into a ditch. Totaled my car, but after a few stitches and a cast on my wrist I was fine.”
As she talked, Norah stared at the blinds of the closed window. She could hear the cars driving on the street below, people headed to work and their daily routines. Why couldn’t she be one of them? “Did you get my bracelet?” she wondered.
“We did. Gerry has it; he and Marissa are taking a look at it.”
Norah’s eyes filled with tears. “We have to tell someone about Reagan. She can’t sit and rot in my laundry room.”
“Already taken care of, Norah.” His arms came around her, and she let herself be pulled back against his chest.
“Thank you,” she said as a single tear rolled down her cheek. “I’m glad you found me. I didn’t know where else to go. I know it was stupid to go back there, but I didn’t know where else to go. I had to wash his blood off me. I guess it was good, since we found—” Her throat choked up. The lump grew, and more tears threatened at the thought of her friend.
“I’m glad you went back there, Norah. When Marissa got word of the men in the hotel room, I thought the worst—” Harley choked back his own tears.
What he had thought had nearly driven him to a level of rage he had never reached before. “What happened to her isn’t your fault, Norah.” Harley released her and turned her to face him. He brushed a strand of hair from her face. “None of this is.”
“Harley, she begged me to leave him. Her ex had been abusive, so she noticed all of the signs. She told me I deserved better and that I shouldn’t feel trapped by him. Do you know that I hadn’t even talked to her in almost six months?” Tears filled her eyes and began to spill town her cheeks again. “She was my best friend and I shut her out because Clayton told me he didn’t like the way I acted around her. Now she’s dead and I can never tell her how sorry I am that I didn’t listen.”
Norah held her face in her hands, and Harley wrapped his arms around her. He knew nothing he could say would ease the ache in her heart for Reagan.
She pulled away and wiped her cheeks. “What if I’m just as bad as he is, Harley? I stayed with him even when he hit me. I had to know on some level the type of person he was, and I stayed. Then I killed two men yesterday. And you know what’s bad? I don’t feel guilty about killing them anymore.” Anger pushed through her tears. “I don’t feel bad because they probably killed Reagan and would have killed me.”