AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He peered closer at the figure and pulled off the ski mask. Blonde hair spilled out, and he gasped. “This is a woman, not a man.” He pressed his fingers against the woman’s neck. “She’s dead. She charged at me with a knife.” Lucas pointed to the weapon in the woman’s hand. “I need to call this in. Stay with Noah just in case.” He moved down the hall to contact the police.
Her grandmother’s door flew open, and Gram stumbled out in her flowing bright blue robe. “What’s happening?”
Carly was so used to seeing her grandmother strong and in control that Gram’s quivering chin and fearful mouth filled her with sympathy. She rushed to embrace her grandmother. “It’s okay, Gram. There was an intruder, but Lucas came as soon as I called.”
Gram pulled away and looked at the body on the floor. “W-were there shots? Is she dead?”
Lucas put his phone away. “She’s dead, Mary. Everyone okay?”
“We’re fine,” Carly said. “I’m going to check on Noah and make sure he’s not awake and frightened.” He wasn’t crying, though, and nothing much awakened him, so she wasn’t surprised to find the baby still sleeping.
She touched his warm little hand, then went back to the hall and pulled the door shut behind her. “He’s still asleep. Who is that woman?”
“No idea yet. I can’t touch the body any more until help arrives. They’ll need to do an investigation since I discharged my weapon. I may be on leave for a bit.”
“That’s not fair! You were responding to a home invasion.”
“Standard protocol. It will be fine.”
The thin wail of a siren came from outside. Help had arrived, but the only help they’d really needed stood calmly in the hallway, looking like a superhero in jogging shorts.
***
It had taken over an hour for Lucas’s adrenaline-driven heart rate to return to normal. The lingering stench of blood wafted down the stairs to where he stood waiting to hear of any evidence. Mary’s house swarmed with forensic investigators and detectives, but after discharging his firearm, he had to turn his gun over to his boss and let others gather evidence.
The coroner, Peppi Perez, came down the stairs to whereLucas stood. In her forties, she was tall and angular with perpetually pursed lips that made her look like she’d caught a whiff of a foul odor. She was good at her job, and Lucas had always respected her.
He nodded. “Peppi.” He shouldn’t be talking to her until he was cleared, but the scene was chaotic, and he thought he could get away with it.
She bobbed her head in return. “Lucas. She’s dead of course, but you knew that. We’ll get her out of here to the morgue shortly, and I can perform an autopsy.” She patted his arm as she passed. “I know it’s hard, but it sounds like you had no choice.”
Discovering the intruder was a woman had been a shock, but it had been dark, and she’d worn a ski mask. It was only when he pulled it off and the woman’s blonde hair spilled out that he’d realized he’d killed a woman. The realization had rocked him back on his heels.
He’d fired his weapon in the line of duty only one previous time, and he’d regretted it. A young man in his early twenties had charged at him while waving a gun. Looking back, Lucas wished he’d tackled the guy and tried to wrestle the gun away. Instead he wounded the man. It had been his first experience with the investigation following an altercation like that. He had never wanted to have another. Yet here he was. He’d caught the glint of the knife in her hand and known he had to fire.
Peppi exited the area, and he wandered into the living room, where Carly sat holding her baby. Mary was in the kitchen making coffee and tea as if it were a social occasion. Still, the officers would appreciate some caffeine at two in themorning. He felt awkward in his jogging shorts and tee with no shoes. He’d sprung into action the second he got Carly’s call.
Little Noah’s delicate eyelids fluttered as he slept, and he smiled as if he dreamed of puppies or something fun. “He doesn’t appear to be traumatized.”
Carly smiled and shook her head. “He slept right through all the commotion.”
She’d gotten dressed before she came downstairs, and she wore yoga pants and a tee that readRADAR. The womanreallyliked palindromes.
Her gaze went past him, and her smile faded. Lucas turned at the sound of footsteps from the foyer. Vincent Steadman, bald head gleaming in the overhead light, stepped into the living room. Lucas and Vince had been partners for five years, and Lucas trusted him like a brother.
“Any ID on the woman?” Lucas asked.
“Yeah, we found her pickup with her driver’s license in the glove box. Name on the license was Debby Drust.”
A Debby ought to be nice and friendly, a next-door neighbor or a woman in the next pew over in church—not someone who would break into a house with two defenseless women and a baby inside.
Lucas nodded. “We know anything about her yet?”
“Registration came back to Dimitri Smirnov, same address in New York as the one on the deceased’s license. The interesting thing about Dimitri is he’s connected.”
“Russian mob?”
“You got it.”
