AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He left her side then, and she wanted to call out for him to come back, but in under ten seconds, he’d undressed, flicked out the light and slid into the bed beside her, spooning his body protectively against hers. The shock of his warm skin on hers was a welcome one, and she snuggled back into his chest. They lay together for many long moments, and she exhaled, letting go of some of the anger and fear that’d threatened to overwhelm her over the past few hours.
This, she thought.This is what love is. Such a deep connection that Nico knew what she needed even before she did. It wasn’t all about the hot sex and the romantic gestures. Sometimes love was about the simple things. Like holding her until her distress evaporated. God, she loved this man.
But then her mind got thinking about the other ways she loved him and circled back to the hot sex. Wiggling her butt into his groin, she gave a secretive smile when she felt his erection growing. He might be trying to give her chaste comfort, but Nico was still a man first and foremost. A virile man, who couldn’t hide his desire for her. Which was also a good thing. She didn’t want to worry about Linc lying in that hospital bed anymore. Didn’t want to think about those poor women who’d lost their lives to some sick, twisted madman. Didn’t want to wonder how they were going to catch the criminal. All she wanted was to feel Nico. To get lost in him.
She slid a hand in between their bodies and stroked his erection through the fabric of his boxer shorts. He groaned reflexively as she caressed him, and her stomach twitched at the thought of him deep inside her. Long and hard. Suddenly, she wanted him. Needed him. Turning over so she faced him, she tugged the waistband of his boxers down to give her greater access, and began to stroke with purpose. She loved the contrast of the silken layer of skin over the hard, pulsing eagerness of his cock.
She lifted her lips to his, and he kissed her, his mouth hot and demanding on hers. But all of a sudden, he drew back. “Are you sure?” he queried. “This wasn’t what I intended. I just wanted—”
She covered his mouth with hers once more, loving him even more for giving her an out. But she didn’t need it. Yes, she was sure. She wanted to revel in the fact they were both alive and healthy and able to make love whenever and however they wanted to.
Without letting go of his mouth, she maneuvered her panties down over her hips with one hand. Then she rolled on top, sitting astride him and levering up so she could look down on him. Enough moonlight filtered through the half-closed curtains for her to make out Nico’s features as he lay on his back below her. Longish hair that fell over his forehead, almost reaching down to his shoulders, square jawline with a hint of stubble, full lips, sharp slash of his nose that hooked ever so slightly to the left, the scar on his cheek, and his piercing blue eyes. She couldn’t see the color in the dim light, but she knew them off by heart. The way they changed with his mood, sometimes deep and fathomless like the ocean, sometimes bright and clear like the indigo sky right after a sunset. Those deep creases that appeared between his eyes whenever he frowned. The tiny lines around the edges that helped her gauge just when a laugh was about to erupt from deep in his belly.
Tracing the line of his jaw with her finger, she inscribed his face into her memory, wanting always to remember it. His erection thrummed beneath, distracting her from her focus.
One of the best parts about having a long-term relationship was no longer needing to use a condom. She was on the pill now, and they both knew they were safe from disease, and the feel of his naked cock as it slid inside her was one of the best things in the world.
Afterward, they both fell into an exhausted, dreamless sleep.
* * *
Lacey slipped into one of the last remaining chairs at the back of the operations room. She’d made it with seconds to spare before the morning briefing started. Nico glanced up from where he stood in front of the whiteboard, his expression not changing, but she knew he’d seen her come in. She gave him a quick thumbs-up, indicating all was well.
Lacey had just returned from the hospital, where she’d stopped in to visit Linc before her shift started. Tyrell was already there, but he’d just received good news from the doctor, and she could see some of the strain had left his face. If Linc kept improving, they were going to bring him out of the induced coma this afternoon. Lacey had spontaneously hugged Tyrell when he’d told her, not caring that he was a senior officer. After a second’s hesitation, Tyrell had accepted the hug, clearly happy to have someone with which to share the news.
Now she knew that Linc was on the mend—he wasn’t out of danger yet, but the signs were good—she could begin to concentrate on the task at hand, finding the person who’d done this to him. And finding the murderer who’d taken two innocent girls’ lives. They were most likely one and the same person, which would make Lacey’s job all that much easier.
Nico cleared his throat at the front of the room and everyone stopped talking, fixing him with attentive gazes. Nico had a big team assembled, especially considering the size of the police station. He must’ve been given permission to purloin officers from other cases, Shadbolt deciding this double murder was more important than anything else at the moment. Sally-Ann sat near the front shuffling piles of paper. Nico had probably promoted her to his second-in-command while Tyrell was preoccupied watching over Linc. Hickey and Gorman were there, as was the female constable from yesterday, Dawn Lawson, and a few other constables from the station she was less familiar with. But there were two faces she didn’t recognize sitting at the front with Sally-Ann.
“Morning, everyone, thank you all for attending. I’ll catch you up on what we know so far,” Nico cleared his throat before he continued. Lacey knew that was a sign of nervousness—even after nine years in the job, Nico still hated talking to a roomful of people. But to everyone else it would’ve looked as if he were gathering his thoughts.
“First of all, please welcome Detective Jay Pederson, and Senior Detective Tasmin Saito, who have been seconded from Launceston to give us a hand with the case.”
Lacey hid a grimace. Nico wouldn’t be happy about having two detectives foisted upon him. But he could be a team player when it was required, and they probably needed as much help as they could get, she conceded. And he was still lead on the case; nothing could take that away from him.
The male detective had darker skin and a deep frown that never seemed to leave his face. She guessed by his looks that he was indigenous and silently congratulated him. It took a lot of courage and determination to become an indigenous police officer, and she could only imagine some of the hardships, racist comments, and lack of respect from other people in his culture that he’d had to endure on his journey to forging his career.
With a name like Saito, Lacey guessed the female detective was perhaps of Japanese descent. Petite to the point of being almost childlike, she had long dark hair pulled back in a severe bun and a smooth complexion that made it hard for Lacey to pinpoint her age. An interesting duo, and she looked forward to watching this pair work together.
“Let me recap the facts as we know them so far.” Lacey abandoned her study of the two detectives and tuned back in to what Nico was saying. “Two days ago, the body of a young woman was found by civilian hikers floating in the Emu River near the Platypus Reserve picnic area. We have an approximate time of death of around three days before she was found. We immediately closed off the reserve and searched the area. Yesterday, a second body was found in a swimming hole three miles farther up the river. This body showed more decomposition, and we believe she could’ve been in the water for up to two weeks. Cause of death is yet to be confirmed on both victims, as we’re still waiting for the results of the autopsies, but the likelihood is they died by asphyxiation due to hanging. I hope to have the final results of at least the first body by this afternoon. But it’s looking more and more likely that both young women were drugged to make them compliant, then tied up and transported to the place they were killed.”
None of this information was new to Lacey; she’d been involved in both discoveries. She hoped Nico might have some new details to share.
“One of our officers was attacked at the second crime scene. He’s still in intensive care, but we’re hopeful of a full recovery.” There were a few unhappy murmurs at this. Nico stopped talking and looked up to meet Lacey’s gaze. “We think he was attacked because he found something on the ground and stopped to pick it up.” Nico gestured to Sally-Ann, and she leapt up and handed out a document to everyone with an image of the bracelet charm found beneath Linc’s body.
“We think the criminal dropped this clue and was desperate to get it back. I believe this charm is linked to the two murders. And I’m hoping it is a vital clue that might help us all solve this case.”
“It could also be a red herring.” Lacey craned her neck to see who had spoken. Detective Pederson was drumming his fingers on the tabletop. “A mere coincidence, nothing more.” Pederson kept his face impassive. Hmm, he was already challenging Nico’s assumptions. Which was a good thing in relation to keeping everyone open to all ideas, but she hoped it wouldn’t put Nico offside.
Nico studied the man for a second, before admitting, “You’re correct. This could be mere coincidence.” Lacey let out a quiet gust of air. Nico wasn’t taking this as a direct challenge. Yet. “The person who hit Senior Constable Jackson over the head could well be a random stranger. Someone who has a particular hatred for cops. Not the killer trying to stop us from discovering a vital clue. And the fact we found the charm directly underneath his body doesn’t mean it’s related to the crime either. That charm could’ve been dropped days, weeks, or months ago.” Nico let his words hang in the air. Now that he said it like that, Lacey even began to doubt her own opinions on the subject. But she knew his hunch was right. She knew that charm was a critical clue in this crime, even if other people didn’t want to believe it.
Some people might put Nico down for always following his famous hunches. But that gut instinct was usually based on hard facts, the way he put puzzle pieces together and saw the full picture that other people couldn’t see, rather than just individual pieces most other officers worked with.
“But it’s more logical if the charm is a clue and the killer came back to retrieve it. A random attack just doesn’t make sense,” Hickey piped up from his seat just in front of Lacey. “Why would the killer put themselves in that position otherwise? Why come back to the crime scene and risk being caught? And why take the chance of attacking a policeman in broad daylight?” Hickey questioned. “If it wasn’t to retrieve something that could identify them?”
“Killers are sometimes known to return to the scene of their crimes,” Pederson swiveled so he could turn his deadpan stare at Hickey. “For all manner of reasons. Voyeurism. To relive the crime. To get off on the power of taking someone’s life. To watch the police do their thing.” Pederson shrugged and returned to face the front, and Lacey decided then that Pederson was not going to make many friends at the station with an attitude like that. Saito, on the other hand, sat and watched everything with bright, almost birdlike attentiveness, but kept her mouth shut.
“Moving on,” Nico said, pointing to the picture of the first girl they’d found. “We finally have some good news. We have identified one of the victims.” Lacey sat up taller at Nico’s words. They hadn’t discussed much about the case last night after they got home, but Lacey was sure Nico would’ve told her if he had a positive ID. So the verification must’ve only come in this morning. “She isZoya Kibel, a twenty-one-year-old local woman. Her mother reported her missing yesterday and came in this morning to positively ID her body.” Nico wrote her name beneath the photo of the body, then added another photo of a pretty young woman who was very much alive, smiling for the camera.
