“You shouldn’t believe that I’d lie to you about a girlfriend.” His voice took on a sharp tone. “That’s for sure.”
Doused in defeat, Rio closed her eyes. So this is what it felt like—buying into a man’s lies.
He offered a lame excuse, and her heart, mind and soul accepted it because she wanted to believe its plausibility.
Nuts. Absolutely nuts.
She had to figure out how to get the sane Rio back—the one who wasn’t overcome with this fantastic fascination for her partner.
CHAPTER 13
RIO awoke to darkness and a pounding inside her head that she recalled having only one other time in her life—the day after high school graduation.
She moaned and a distinct drumming echoed in her ears, adding fuel to the fire.
“You probably shouldn’t move too much.” Eddie’s suggestion came from somewhere within the darkness. “Or talk,” he added with a clever bite that stung Rio’s already wounded psyche.
She ignored him and rolled onto her stomach. “Oh, God...please make it stop.”
A clanging noise, sounding a lot like a spoon against the side of a glass, echoed through the night. Rio dragged a pillow over her head.
“Here,” he sounded closer. “Drink this.”
Images of her childish behavior—getting drunk because of some guy—stalked through her mind.
She peeked out from under the pillow.
Why was he still there after that horrid display?
Probably trying to kill me, I’ll bet
. She fancied knowing him better than he did.
“Take it,” he said, more forceful this time.
Her stomach turned at the thought of drinking anything—alcoholic or not. “What is it?”
“A taste of the hair of the dog that bit you.” A soft laugh accompanied his response.
Rio mustered every ounce of courage she’d ever thought of possessing and pushed herself to sit up. A tall order, considering that once in an upright position the spinning was bound to get worse. She leaned against the headboard and closed her eyes, hoping it would help. It didn’t.
“Open your eyes,” he said, his tone softer now.
The bed moved, like he was sitting down. She did as instructed. His silhouetted figure sat in the shadows beside her, offering her a glass of something that looked an awful lot like what she’d been drinking earlier—white and cloudy.
The whole world was reeling right along with her stomach. Another moan escaped her lips. Feeling trapped inside a crazy mental bubble, her confidence waned and she clutched the edge of the bedcovers up toward her chin.
“Trust me.” He offered her the small glass filled halfway with his proposed cure—or poison.
“Nuh-uh...” she murmured, shaking her head at a snail’s pace.
“What do I gotta do?” he asked helplessly. “What’s it going to take for me to get you to trust me?”
A lot more than what you’re doing
.
I’ll tell you that
. She grabbed the glass and raised it to her lips. Eyes closed, she swallowed knowing she had a fifty-fifty chance of keeping it down. Well, maybe forty-sixty...possibly thirty-seventy.
“It won’t take long now.” His tone suggested he had much more confidence in his concoction than Rio did.
Still harboring ill-feelings, she snapped at him. “For what? Dying?”
Oddly enough, the pounding subsided and the drumming in her ears dissipated.
“Feeling better already, I see.” The amusement in his tone complemented his dry sense of humor.
“For the record—” She gained a measure of confidence as the clouds cleared. “—you can’t play the trust card every time you want me to do something that I don’t want to do. It’s not going to work.”
“Why can’t you trust me, Laraquette?” he asked, standing. “I told you things I’ve never told anybody.” Eddie paced the length of the bed. “Not even my mother.” He stopped and she sensed his glare, even in the darkness. “I showed you the tears that reside in my soul for my sister.”
“Oh, I do trust you. I trust you with my life. Believe that.”
“I hope you mean that.” He sat back down in the chair by the bed.
“And I hope I don’t end up with my faith being misplaced.” She wasn’t forgetting that Eddie LaCall was up to something, and she still didn’t know what.
“You need to get some rest. You had a lot to drink tonight,” he said, turning the conversation in a different direction. She didn’t miss that.
“I only had three shots.”
“Three shots of Ouzo—are you nuts?”
“Apparently so.” Feeling lightheaded, she rested her forehead in her palm.
“Okay, I want you to get undressed and get into bed.”
“Huh?” Awkwardly, she cleared her throat. He wanted her to get undressed? Seriously?
Rio hadn’t seen that coming. The one and only time they’d had sex, she’d practically thrown herself at him. Sure, she’d thought about doing it again, but geez, not like this...come on.
* * *
Eddie flicked on the lamp at the bedside table. Rio looked like a scared, wounded animal that’d been backed into a corner—and she was ready to defend herself even if she wasn’t capable.
“You need to get some rest.” Eddie didn’t know if he was amused or offended by her unspoken allegation. “And taking advantage of an inebriated woman is not my style.” His tone was as jagged and painful as the implication.
Her stature relaxed instantly. A smile almost curled at the corners of her mouth just before she said, “Turn around, please.”
Eddie pushed himself up and turned his back to her, smug delight fueling his movements. She was trying to hide it but she was drawn to him—powerfully.
She may’ve had a hard time ignoring the heat, but he had to find a way to stop her from shutting him out. At least until he got what he’d come for.
“At the risk of offending you,” she said. “Do you think Naomi could be responsible for slashing my tires?” Her tone was much too calm for what she was suggesting.
“I’ve considered it,” he admitted. “But no, I don’t think she has it in her.”
“She knows we slept together,” Rio said. “And she’s devastated about that.”
How
...? Before the inquiry fell off his lips he remembered how easily Bradley had seen it. Naomi had probably picked up on it just as easily.
“Maybe so.” Eddie shook it off, not really caring if Naomi knew what he and Rio had done. If she did, so be it. Maybe that’d give her just cause to move on. He had. But still, he didn’t think it was enough to send her over the edge. “Naomi’s never been one to put a lot of effort into anything. And it seems to me that it would take a lot of thought and effort to do something like that.” He may not consider his ex-girlfriend capable of stalking Rio, but the fact remained—somebody was. And Eddie had to fix that before he could even think about doing anything else.
* * *
The next morning the fog in Rio’s brain had cleared completely by the time she and Eddie sat down in the casino’s coffee shop.
They started a conversation over breakfast, about everything and nothing. Fearing that Eddie might say something about her weak performance last night, she opened Dickie’s cell phone and laid it on the table between them. The chances of this chat contributing to anything the department needed to overhear was unlikely.
“House or apartment?” she asked, going back to their expository exchange. She dabbed a bite of crepes into the blueberry compote first and then the whipped cream.
“House.” He cut into his southwestern omelet. “Although, your loft, as you like to refer to it, does have its charms,” he added with a dangerously sexy chuckle.
Rio swallowed hard. “I’ve always thought so,” she said, but not nearly as unmoved as she’d hoped.
“So, Laraquette...” Silence fell between them long enough for him to search out her gaze. “What do you want to do with your life?”
“I’m doing it.” She looked at him, trying to figure out what he was thinking. Frustration crept up her neck like a heat wave.
“Do you see yourself doing anything other than...what you currently do?” He’d caught himself before fingering her as an undercover cop. For that, she was grateful.
“Well...” She hesitated, taking into account the obligations of her father’s company that she’d one day inherit. “Right now, I can’t imagine doing anything else.” She liked being a cop. She liked making a difference. She liked emanating her godfather, the only constant during her childhood. Rio let her gaze creep up to meet Eddie’s. “And you...?” she asked.“If you could do anything, anything in this world...what would it be?”
Chris Bradley stumbled into their table, knocked the salt and pepper shakers over and looked incredibly drunk as he tried to resituate them. Mumbling apologies, he staggered away after leaving something behind.
A folded note.
Eddie looked at Rio as if he needed confirmation, maybe even permission, to touch the paper Bradley had left on the table. She nodded her head and cut her eyes toward it. If he needed her consent, fine.
* * *
With one finger, Eddie slid the note across the table and inched closer to Rio. He opened it and tipped it so they could both see it.
It read, ‘
Emergency meeting in 15
’. Nothing more.
Where...and why?
“It could be any number of things. It could be the tournament, my shadow...who knows,” she said, as if she’d partially read the thoughts inside his mind.
“Where though?”
“The Federal Complex.”
Hmmm
. When would he learn to pick up on the FVC Unit’s quirky hidden clues?
He thought about it in silence, along with all the things they’d talked about over breakfast.
She’d started him thinking about a purpose in life.
His
purpose in life. Did he not have a cause that he would willingly champion?
Olivia. He’d always wanted her to live on, somehow. But how was he, a regular nine-to-fiver Joe, supposed to find the means to immortalize his sister?
CHAPTER 14
FIFTEEN minutes later, Rio gazed around the table in the conference room on the second floor of the Federal Complex. Eddie, Chris, Dickie, Paul, Blake and Gabe were all there. Silence lingered over the room for what seemed an eternity.
“Okay, somebody cried emergency. What’s the deal?” Rio’s insistent tone rattled the composure of more than one face around the table.
“Can somebody explain to me why the two of you were without your devices this morning?” Gabe’s intimidating voice grumbled across the room. A clear indication he was worried.
He’d started looking at her and Eddie as a joint force. He’d never liked being left in the dark. This was his bid for details.
There were some things that neither Rio’s godfather nor her boss needed to know.
“Because we were having a private conversation and it had nothing to do with the cases we’re involved in.” Rio’s tone was icy enough to chill the room by at least ten degrees.
“Perhaps I was misled when I accepted this position.” Eddie paused, as if pondering that decision. “Private issues between Laraquette and me are nobody’s business but ours.” His cold glare settled on Blake with daring implications. “Least of all any of you.”
“I shouldn’t have to remind you of the importance of this investigation.” Gabe looked at Rio with a reprimanding eye. “Limit your personal conversations to your hotel rooms. When you’re outside those rooms, I expect to eavesdrop on your conversation.”
“You just remember you said that.” Rio gave Gabe a smile that made him wince.
He cleared his throat and flashed her an authoritative glance before pushing himself up from the table. Gabe headed out of the room. The meeting was officially over.
The roundtable disbursed and Chris Bradley approached Eddie. “Can I talk to you?” he asked so quietly that Rio barely heard him. “In private.”
“Sure,” Eddie said and turned to Rio. “You want to wait for me upstairs?”
“I’ll meet you at the casino,” she said. “I’d like to drop by and see my Dad.”
“Nah, that’s not going to happen.” Eddie shook his head. “You’re not going anywhere without me.”
“Before you go, Laraquette,” Dickie said, dismissing Eddie’s bid for control. “Drop by my place downstairs. I’ve got a couple new trinkets for you.” He flashed her an enticing look.
“Ooh...wait up.” She chased after Dickie. “I’ll go with you,” she added, following him into the corridor.
* * *
Chris chuckled inside. The mention of jewelry had reeled Rio in, but that was no surprise. Girls loved to adorn themselves. It was a natural fact, encoded in their genes.
“So what’s up?” LaCall drew Chris’s attention as the conference room cleared.
“I wanted to talk to you about Naomi,” Chris said, treading lightly.
“What about her?” LaCall shot him a troubled expression. “She didn’t come back, did she?”
“No.” Chris hesitated. An ex was always a touchy subject at best. Hopefully, LaCall wouldn’t take his solicitude the wrong way. “I’m just a little concerned about her.” He put it out there and waited to see LaCall’s reaction.
“Like how?” LaCall asked, giving nothing about his thoughts away.
“She ever done anything...in the heat of the moment?” Chris pushed the discussion in the direction he’d been targeting all along.
LaCall stared at Chris with a blank expression. Something Chris figured didn’t happen to LaCall every day. He sensed the scenarios filling LaCall’s head. Chris knew in an instant when the right one landed there.
Eddie’s face lit up with shock. With each passing thought, his face stiffened. “No...why?”
“I don’t know, man.” Chris shook his head. “There was something in her eyes last night that freaked me out. She was either really pissed off...or really hurt.”
“If she’s hurt,” Eddie said with an easy defiance, “I’m sorry.” His shrug suggested that he had no sympathy to give. “I cannot make it better for her.”
“I hear you.” Chris nodded and tried to tamp down the nagging feeling congealing in his gut. “I’m just trying to figure the odds of Naomi going off the deep end.”
* * *
God, Eddie hoped not. He didn’t want the responsibility for placing Rio’s life in danger.
But the idea that Naomi was to blame was ludicrous. Absolutely crazy. She was not the culprit. Quite frankly, she didn’t have the tenacity or the forethought it’d take to pull off something like this. Naomi was a fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants kind of girl. Her mind never settled on one thing long enough to consider such a devious plot.
Even though Eddie didn’t consider Naomi a serious suspect, his defenses stirred and he had a sudden urge to see if he could catch up with Rio before she left the premises.
Eddie bid his coworker adieu and headed downstairs to Dickie’s lab. With any luck, he’d find Laraquette there.
Luck was not on his side. She’d already left.
He went to the elevator and waited for the doors to open. A sinister feeling of impending doom crawled up his back and knocked at the base of his skull.
Something was wrong. Rio was in trouble.
His cell jingled and he checked the caller ID. Laraquette. Good. “Where are you?” he said into the phone.
“Standing beside my car.” She sounded annoyed. “Do you have my keys?”
Eddie fingered the front pocket of his Levi’s and felt the metal bulge. “Yes, I do. I’ll be right there.” He ended the call, feeling better now that he’d succeeded in catching up to her.
As long as he was with Rio, he could protect her.
* * *
Rio leaned against her car and waited for Eddie’s arrival. She’d known it was a bad idea to let him drive the Vette in the first place. Now she didn’t have control of even her keys.
Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” poured out from her cell. “Yeah...” She grabbed the phone. “I hear you, Aretha.” She glanced at the display.
Digger. She answered and waited to see what her friend had to say.
“Hey, I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record,” Digger’s worrisome tone traveled across the airwaves and tangled Rio in doubt. “But I cannot shake this thing I’m feeling.”
“Like...” Rio let the word trail off. She didn’t care for the tension knotting in her gut. It wailed trouble.
“I wish I knew specifics.” Digger’s frustration poured out in her tone. “I’m seeing a rattle.”
“A rattle?”
“Yeah, you know,” Digger said. “Like a baby’s rattle.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Trepidation clouded Rio’s thoughts. There’d better not be a baby in her future. That was a whole different kind of threat. “I’m not in danger of getting knocked up, am I?” The words shuddered out.
Digger’s roaring laughter rippled through the earpiece. “That’s rich, Rio. Thanks for the laugh.” The amusement faded from her voice and her tone turned somber. “Only you would make a joke out of danger.”
“Come on, Dig,” Rio said. “Give me something to go on here.”
“Wish I had more for you,” Digger’s antsy voice flowed through the phone. “I just know there’s trouble looming all around you. And it has something to do with a rattle.”
I better not be pregnant
! A dark feeling coated the base of Rio’s stomach. “I don’t feel so good.”
“Look, just keep an eye out.” Her tone tried to offer comfort but the words prevented it. “Trouble can come from where you least expect it.”
“Will do. Thanks.” Rio turned around and propped her elbows on the top of her car.
“Rio,” Digger said.
“Yeah.”
“Keep in touch, okay?”
“Sure thing,” she said and disconnected the call.
She said a silent prayer that there was no baby in her immediate future. A chill whipped past her. She checked the vicinity and saw nothing unusual or out of the ordinary. She widened her comfort zone and looked out across the street. Fixing her gaze on the construction site across Central, a side street, she contemplated the secrets it could be shielding. A new building, not quite finished and still vacant, anyone could be hiding there.
Like a stalker.
A wave of distress pushed her to go back inside and look for Eddie. She spun around and crashed into the arms of Blake Switzer.
A choppy gasp, the only thing she could muster, somehow stopped the scream clawing up her throat. “Damn it, Blake!” Rio sucked in a breath, trying to soothe her racing heartbeat. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“Sorry.” A worrisome laugh shuddered out with his response. A glimpse of concern projected from his eyes. “What’s up? You get another letter?”
“No,” her tone softened as she gained control of her panic. “I’ve just got the willies, that’s all.” She looked around for Eddie, goose bumps shivering up her arms.
Where are you, LaCall
?
Off in the distance he appeared around the corner. She sighed and rushed toward him in a speed-walking gait.
“Thank God,” she whispered and slowed her pace to match his.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, studying her face. “What happened?” His troubled expression showed he sensed something was wrong.
“Nothing.” She paused, trying to diminish her own doubts. “I’m just spooked.” She moved closer to Eddie. “Maybe it’s Switzer. He gives me the creeps.” A nervous chuckle shuddered through her.
It was easier to blame the man she’d rejected than admit something else might be going on. There was no easy way to start the conversation, “
Hey, you knocked me up
.”
Eddie stopped. “What did he do to you?”
She looked at him curiously, having lost that train of thought. Oh, Switzer. “Nothing.” She shook her head. “Me and my overactive imagination, is all. The fact that he creeps me out is just an added bonus.”
* * *
Blake Switzer couldn’t hear a thing but their whispers. He’d give anything to be privy to their conversation. Actually, he’d give anything if Rio would give him half the attention she showered on the new guy.
Seeing her schmoozing it up with LaCall fanned the flames of Blake’s anger. It was mostly the lie she’d told him that fed his resentment. She’d said she didn’t date anyone from work.
Well, obviously, that was not entirely accurate. Anybody with eyes could see that LaCall had already had his way with her. Blake’s cheeks felt fiery.
His anger was tempered by the sight of LaCall charging at him like a bull.
“You stay away from her.” LaCall’s eyes lit up with his own hatred.
He was too invidious. LaCall considered Blake a rival. Good. “Easy there, LittleFeet.” Blake’s mockery seemed to anger LaCall further. Oh, well. “I’m in charge of the investigation revolving around her.” As far as Blake was concerned that gave him carte blanche.
“In the future—” LaCall stared at him with such open animosity. “Any contact that you need to make with her,” he said, and pointed at Rio. “You’ll do through me.” A long silence filled the space between them. LaCall’s glare encased Blake in a hard shell and wouldn’t allow him to relax. “Are we clear?”
“Crystal.” Blake countered Eddie’s fury with a stare down. He held it and didn’t think about walking away until he’d hit the count of five.
Jerk
. Blake backed away and headed for the elevator. If Rio had favored him with a fraction of the attention she so freely bestowed upon LaCall, he’d probably react the same way.
Blake figured they’d head back to her place or the hotel where LaCall would have his way with her again. That thought scorched the deepest corners of his soul.
It was bad enough that LaCall was driving her car everywhere they went. That salted Blake’s already wounded ego since everybody knew she thought of that car like it was her kid or something.
Rio Laraquette, the object of Blake’s affection, had relinquished everything, including herself, to the new guy. But, she’d have a change of heart once he, Blake Switzer, saved her from the menacing stalker.
* * *
Eddie kept his eye zeroed in on Switzer until the guy disappeared around the corner. Satisfied that he was gone, for now, Eddie looked at Rio and pulled her keys from his front pocket. He held her gaze while opening the car door.
“You’re scared,” he said. His protective streak returned. “Want me to go with you?”
“I’ll be fine.” She dropped into the driver’s seat but kept her feet on the pavement outside the car.
The rattle was soft and barely audible, but Eddie heard it. His adrenaline dove into overdrive. He dropped to the concrete and inspected the space beneath the car.
Nothing.
He jumped to his feet and looked inside the car, checking the floorboard beneath the steering wheel.
Nothing.
It must be under the seat.
“Rio,” he said just above a whisper. “I’ve got to get you out of the car. Slowly lift your hands and grab hold of me.” He’d managed to keep his tone incredibly calm, even while his heart hammered against his chest.
“What? What is it?” she murmured the trembling words just under her breath.
“Just grab hold of my arm.” He let a measure of insistence enter his voice. The snake peeked out from under the driver’s seat. Fear shuddered through Eddie. “Do it now!”
She latched onto his arm, and with the force of a tidal wave he yanked her from the car.
The snake shot out from under the seat and settled into a predatory stance at the pedals and began striking at the edge of the driver’s seat.
Eddie slammed the car door shut, trapping the danger inside.
She fell into his arms, clearly frightened. “What was that, Eddie?” Her panic-stricken voice evoked his sympathy.
He draped his arms around her. “It’s a rattlesnake.”
“What?” She melded her body against his. “How the hell did a snake get in my car?”
“It didn’t get there all on its own.”
Enough was enough. It was time to get to the bottom of this stalking business. Right here. Right now. Before Rio got hurt—or worse.