Carolina Rain (13 page)

“And I would never go back on that promise—”

“But you need us to go to Wilmington, right?” asked Sophie.

“I didn’t make that same promise to the rest of you so
,
yeah, we’re going back. We’re better as a complete team
, and even
I get that
some things are more important,” said Josh.

Manny scanned the faces in the circle
—
minus Jen, who had already climbed behind the wheel
—
and felt his excitement grow. This is what he did. Who he was. He
belonged
in the middle of crimes like this. Besides, the doctors said he’d be
as
good as new in a week or so. “When are you leaving?” he asked.

“It doesn’t matter, man
. W
e’ll not be going, do ya hear me?” said Chloe
, her voice rising
. “You got to get better.”

Bowing his head, Josh suddenly looked up and set his jaw.

“You’re right, Chloe. He
has
got to get better. But even if he were one hundred percent and ready to go, it would be only him going. You’re no longer part of the BAU.”

CHAPTER-17

“Lily! Get your limping-ass moving. I got three orders up here,” hollered
J.R.
“For the love of God, you’d think you were out all night.”

She hurried to the food window and snatched the first two orders from the shelf, the smell of eggs, hash browns
,
and bacon
making
her stomach rumble. She’d not eaten since late yesterday afternoon and even
J.R.
’s greasy cuisine made her mouth water.
T
hat was all right
. S
he had other appetites to feed and last night was the best so far
. S
he had the videos to prove it. The grin was unstoppable.

“What the hell y'all grinning at?”
J.R.
asked, sliding another order on the crowded counter.

“I was just thinking about what you said, you know, about being out all night. At least one of
us
could get a date, ya know?” she mimicked the best smartass
J.R. voice
she could muster.

Playing the
‘normal’
game
with J.R.
was still something that she couldn’t ignore, at least for now. And she’d had a lot of practice
lately. W
orking in her very own hunting grounds
was
exhilarating
.

“You sayin’ I ain’t g
ot sex appeal?”

Lily balanced the third order on her other arm, the glove
-
covered one.

“Out of the mouths of old men
. .
.”

She then turned to deliver the steaming hot platters to the fine people of Kure Beach, careful not to rush. Her leg was growing stronger every day
. Still, it
couldn’t be
completely
trusted, at least for this kind of action.

“Old? Damn whelp. You’re lucky I feel sorry f
or ya,” he called after her.
She could hear something
unveiled
in her boss’s voice.
Affection? Fondness?
She hadn’t heard that since her
father, her misguided father, had spoken to her that way.
She guessed
that meant she was getting on his good side. That never hurt. There were a million nuances to this next step in her evolution and playing the helpless, struggling waitress was just something else to file away
until
needed. Not to mention
,
playing on
a man’s
perception of
the whole
saving the damsel in distress
myth
. Fools.
Men
seldom knew when they were being played, except for the bright ones, but they were
so
busy thinking of how to work the small head that the one between their ears didn’t always
function
. That simply meant more good times for her.

Two more
quick
trips had all of the
food
platters
in front of anxious customers
. Five minutes later, she’d filled all the coffee cups and delivered more ketchup to the table in the corner, occupied by a younger man with long black hair and thick glasses masking his thin face. If she’d had an opinion on creepy, he might have fit the bill. Twice she caught him glancing h
er
way. Her pulse began to rise. Maybe he wanted her like three or four of the others eating at
J.R.
’s this very moment. She felt more than saw their leering side glances directed her way whenever she bent
over
to bus a table or pick some
thing
up from the floor. She’d hesitate just long enough to turn up the dial on their individual imaginations. She could practically hear the blood rushing to their crotches. Amazing what predators learned about prey. But
she tore away from the potential
dates
because
she needed to address
one situation at a time.

Grabbing another pot of black coffee, she moved to the table
occupied by the scarecrow in ma
n’s clothing.

“More coffee, baby?”

The man slowly raised his gaze from the table, lips quivering and anxiety flashing in his beady eyes.

“Ye-yes, please.”

She bent over, pouring slowly, showing
generous
cleavage
. She
felt his eyes go there, then dart away.

“Anything else I can do you for?” she said softly.

Damn. She was getting good at this.

Still looking down, his head began to nod. “I think so, but first, I think there’s something I can do for you.”

His voice had changed in a
n
anosecond. Interesting. He was far from nervous now and
,
she had to admit, she didn’t care for the tone. It made her uneasy.

“Well. I have to ask; just what would that be?”

“I know
—
”

At that moment, the door burst open and one of the regulars, a friend of Carl
and Ginny
Krantz
,
and a Kure Beach cop
, rushed in.
Moving straight to the kitchen, he motioned frantically to
J.R
.
Her boss moved from out of the kitchen and stood close as the messenger whispered into his hairy ear.

She saw
J.R.
’
s
face
immediately
drain of color, and was fascinated.
The cop must have told him about old Carl’s unfortunate demise
. . . w
ell, unfortunate for him.

She knew
J.R.
and Carl had played golf together
.
However,
she
had no idea his death would affect
her boss
like this. She found herself more than interested
by
his reaction
and w
hat it could teach her.
Scho
o
l ne
ver seemed to be out of session. S
he absorbed
this new
knowledge like a
proverbial
sponge.

“Hold that thought, sugar
.
I’ll be right back,” she said to her strange customer and walked over to her boss.

“
J.R.
, what’s the matter?”

He
didn’t speak
. I
nstead
, he
motioned to the man who had rushed through the door
, encouraging him to
repeat the news
.

“Carl’s dead. One of Ginny’s people at the police station said he was killed in his bed last night. I hear it weren’t purty
n
either,”
the messenger
said, breathing hard.
He
steadied himself and continued. “She said he was cut up, like that Morgan kid was, and had a corkscrew twisted into his chest. That’s all I know.”

Doing her best impression of a shocked waitress, she put her hand on
J.R.
’s hairy arm. “Oh shit. That’s awful. I’m so sorry. Do you want me to clear out the diner?”

“No. Hell no. We still have a business to run,” he answered
,
attempting
to hide the strain in his voice
but
not pulling it off.

This was delicious. She searched his eyes, feeding like a succubus on his
ravaged
emotion.

“You sure you don’t want to close?”

The small shake of his head accompanied by a brief closing of his eyes said no
again.
He spun on his good leg and limped back to the kitchen, pulling the door closed behind him.

The messenger turned to Lily and shrugged
, but not before he got an eyeful of cleavage
. “I thought I’d let him know because they were good golf buddies. The others in here can find out on the news.”

Then he exited the restaurant.

Taking in a deep breath, Lily
was consumed by
that
“
feeling
”
she
’d
had when she was getting intimate with her dates. It was beyond
alluring
how
killing Carl Krantz
could affect
J.R. like this
. She’d never focused
on that before, but damn, it gave her a new high
.
The
side-benefits
of her dating habits wasn’t really the thing here, but it sure as hell didn’t hurt.

She
glanced in the direction J.R had gone
,
then
turned back to potential
D
ate
N
umber
F
our and poured more coffee.

“So you were saying?”

Looking up
, his grin showed a few missing teeth and pale yellow
remainders.
“I suppose that was about old Carl, right?”

That uneasiness had returned. “How did you know about that?”

He sipped his coffee
, staring at her chest
. “You are a good lookin’ one. I see how you could get a man in a heap of shit.”

“Thank you, but answer the question.”

Turning the coffee cup
in his long fingers,
he
stared directly into her eyes.

“I watched what you did to
old
Carl last night.”

CHAPTER-18

“You’re going, aren’t you?”

Chloe put her hand on Manny’s bare chest, careful not to touch the incision. Then thought about it
and
slowly r
an
her finger along the fresh scar. It was such a small
thing
, this scar,
to accomplish what it had
:
saving her husband’s life, and hers,
in its wake
.
No question that she would have never survived if Manny
had checked out and left her alone
. She may
have
wandered through the rest of her natural
existence
,
but her life would have
been truly
over.

Putting his strong arm around her waist, he pulled her closer so that her ear was
next
to his mouth. She felt his warm breath and thought she might faint. Good God
,
she loved this man. She’d never felt more safe than when they were together like this, in their bed, even at
one o’clock
in the afternoon.
T
hat was
a
side benefit
about being booted from the BAU. Josh hadn’t gotten her assigned to another
department just
yet
. S
he was sure he was delaying it as long as possible. He could be a
class “A”
butt
,
but he understood what she and Manny needed
,
and he was giving them just that
—time
together
, a
t least a couple of days. Right now
,
she wanted to concentrate on that
; t
hey’d talk about the new assignment later. I
f
truth
was
told, she was a little relieved. Being par
t of the BAU
had been
a great
avenue to see Manny more often
and the
friends she’d made
there
were now her extended family
,
but she was getting a little tired of the sickos they
chased after
. Maybe more than a little.
She didn’t know how Manny had done it for
so long
. But he was special, wasn’t he?