Dani’s alarm went off three hours after she’d hit the sheets, when she’d been too exhausted to the see the extent of what Hawk had done. Now she was showered, dressed, and getting her first good look at the place. Her scruffy couch and assorted small tables had been fine for her tiny apartment. They should have looked out of place and overwhelmed by the size of this elegant setting. Instead, someone had gone to a lot of trouble to furnish around her meager pieces, adding a funky combination of new, old, and odd. The whole place had a shabby chic look that was exactly what she would have wanted for herself. That just fucking pissed her off.
When she opened the door to Tolley’s room to give him hell, she found it furnished and unpacked but without a Tolley to be found anywhere. It could only mean one thing. He was in on it!
“Tolley, wake up, you bastard,” she hissed into the phone when he answered his cell with a sleepy hello.
“Dani? What’s wrong?” he asked, coming instantly awake.
“What’s wrong? You and Hawk moved my shit, and I want it put back today!” she demanded.
“Wait a minute, Dani. I had nothing to do with that. You need to take this up with Hawk. Or…hold on. Did you hurt him? Is he still alive?”
“Ha ha, very funny. I can’t decide if I want to wake his sorry ass up with a good dousing of cold water or just handcuff him to his bed and come back and kick his ass later when I have more time.”
“Oh God,” Tolley moaned, his voice low and throaty. “Dani, I’ll be your slave for life if you let me watch. No, wait! I know…handcuff Hawk to me, then you can kick both our asses.”
“Idiot! Okay, look, Tolley, I need you or I
would
kick your ass, and you know I can. So here’s the deal. I’ll be at the station in an hour. I’ve got some evidence I need handled by you, only you. I’m talking murder weapon and clothes with blood spatter. Can you be there?”
Suddenly all business, Tolley asked a few questions, took some notes, and agreed to meet her in an hour at the lab.
Dani ended the connection then walked through the apartment once more. She knew she was running on an empty tank. Less than three hours of sleep two nights running had her feeling less than her best, completely out of sorts. But this thing with Hawk was out of hand and needed to stop now.
This level of interference was exactly what she’d been worried about. It was why she’d changed her mind about moving in.
Goddamn Hawk!
He just thought he could take over her life. No doubt about it, he was a Charbonnet through and through. Thought he could just run over a Delacroiux anytime he wanted! No respect for her boundaries, for her as a person.
She was nearing full-blown rage by the time she pushed her way through to his penthouse. She stopped, stunned by the opulent surroundings. God! It had been beautiful unfurnished, but furnished? It was spectacular. Heaven only knew how much he’d paid to have both places furnished and decorated in a single day. He’d likely paid for it with dirty money, she thought sourly, and kept moving.
Hell, how big was this place? She couldn’t even find his bedroom. She stopped and considered. It would be a corner, and she’d already seen three of them, so by process of elimination, she headed down the hall to the northeast corner of the building. She flung the door open and found Hawk. Sound asleep, on his back, and displaying a very healthy morning erection.
Damn!
Wait, no…damn,
she repeated to herself. The sight of his golden body, all laid out like a morning treat almost made her forget her fury at the overbearing pompous ass.
Turning away, she went into the bathroom and filled a pitcher with water. The first thing she needed to do was help him get rid of his enormous hard-on. Then she needed him to put on some clothes. She had things to say and she wasn’t sure she could keep her focus if he was naked.
Dani stalked right to the edge of the bed, amazed he could sleep through the noise she’d made coming in. With one last, and very fond look at the beautiful, straining example of manhood he was sporting, Dani poured the cold water over his cock. Then she had the dubious satisfaction of watching it shrivel, while Hawk sputtered and gasped his way to consciousness.
“What in the fucking hell do you think you’re doing?” he shouted, jumping from the wet sheets. “Are you out of your fucking mind?” He stood, panting, eyes wide with shock, hair standing on end. And still naked.
“Yeah, Hawk. It sucks when someone fucks with your world and you’re not expecting it, doesn’t it? You better be glad my name’s not Lorena and I didn’t cut your goddamn dick off while you were sleeping.
“Just because you’re a Charbonnet doesn’t mean you get to do whatever you want. You came into my home and dismantled my entire world! It was
my
place,
my
things,
my life
! You just fucking thought you would make it all better for me just because I’m not as uptown as you. Well, fuck you!”
Hawk reached for her arm, and she used his momentum to toss him over her shoulder. He landed with a thud on his ass, looking up at her.
“You keep your hands to yourself. You might have caught me by surprise yesterday, but you’re not going to get me now.
“You’re nothing but a common criminal. You acted true to your Charbonnet heritage yesterday. See something you want? Take it. Don’t work for it, don’t earn it. Just break in and steal it, because Charbonnet might makes right. I may not have as much money as you, but at least I can say I earned every penny of it honestly.”
“Goddamn it, Danielle, it wasn’t like that. I didn’t mean for it to be like that. Listen to me, will you?” Hawk made a move toward her. Without thinking, she reacted and kicked at his hand.
Hawk swiped back and caught her foot, throwing her off balance for just a second before she recovered, catlike in her agility.
She snarled. “I know Tolley warned you. I’m warning you too. You want me to kick your ass? Just keep it coming, because I will. Don’t try me, Hawk,” Dani backed up a step, centered her balance, and waited for Hawk to make the next move.
****
Hawk weighed his options. Danielle was every bit as angry as Tolley said she’d be, but he wasn’t worried. He towered over her by a foot, and like Tolley, he had a good hundred pounds more mass. Tolley’s story had been funny, if a bit of an exaggeration. She might take a few swings, but once he captured her arms, she’d be helpless to struggle against him. Hawk knew the real danger came from hurting her accidentally.
Of course, that was half the problem. If he overpowered her completely, she would feel even more justified in her rage against him. She might have excellent points, but she needed to understand it hadn’t been that way for him. He’d really just wanted to have her near him.
God, she got into his every thought, every dream. He needed her. Damn it! She just needed to calm down and listen to him. She needed a damn good spanking, that was what she needed.
He was awake enough now to really look at her. She wore a pair of loose-fitting slacks over bare feet. Something low in his belly clenched at the sight of her naked feet with the tiny pink toenails. His gaze scanned upward, and his mouth watered at the knit top that hugged her perfect breasts. Breasts that were heaving with the strength of her emotions.
Christ.
The aqua blue of her top was the perfect shade to highlight her beautiful eyes. Then he noticed the dark smudges under her eyes, and it tore at his insides.
“Christ, Danielle, you look exhausted. It’s six in the morning. What kind of sane person gets up and dressed at six in the morning?”
Danielle growled at him, then her words cut through him with the precision of a scalpel. “The kind of person who is on the right side of the law. The kind of person who spent her day and night yesterday tracking down evidence to keep
your
ass out of jail. The kind who didn’t need to have an arrogant prick like
you
think it was no big deal to fuck with her in the middle of a murder investigation. The kind of person who is going to catch a killer. Now stay out of my way!” She said it all in a calm, quiet voice that raised the hair on the back of his neck.
He couldn’t let her leave, not like this. Without thinking of the consequences, Hawk lunged, grabbed her around the knees, and brought her down to the floor. She fell, already rolling and twisted free of his grasp. Her foot caught him on the side of the head and he saw stars. He realized he was in the undignified position of being naked, on the floor, having just had his clock rung. He’d had enough of this game.
Hawk swung his feet out and used a sweeping kick of his long legs to connect and knocked her feet out from under her. Using his momentum, he snapped to standing and immediately assumed a crouched, defensive position. His goal was to restrain her arms and kiss her into submission. He saw Danielle’s spinning kick too late.
His head snapped back, and the world exploded. He staggered and she used his unsteadiness to her advantage. She moved in tight and with a quick one-two punch, she nailed him in the solar plexus and the stomach. Hawk hunched forward, and her knee connected with his jaw, then someone turned out the lights.
Having finally gained access to the clinic, Dani hugged Del and noticed he looked haggard. In fact, he looked a lot like she felt. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said, without meeting her eyes.
“Del, look at me. No matter what happened, I’m going to take care of you. I appreciate your clearing the way past your lawyers, but I want to make sure you understand—not even family can cover some things. Are you absolutely sure you want to talk with me without your lawyers present?”
With a sigh, Del raised his tired eyes and met her gaze. “I’m sure, Dani. Go ahead.”
Dani deliberately didn’t read Del his rights before she began. It was the least she could do.
“Tell me what happened, Del.”
“God, Dani, I am so fucked. I was working at the shelter. I’ve been going down there a lot lately. You know, talking to the other addicts, going to the twelve-step meetings. I parked in the lot on Market Street that day. Everything near the shelter was full, and I didn’t mind the walk. Anyway, I didn’t stay long, because I wanted to beat Nicolette home. She’d been getting suspicious about me being gone so much.
“Dani, I haven’t been using, I swear! I’ve been down there talking to others, helping keep my own head straight.”
“I believe you, Del,” she said. “What do you remember?”
“Well, when I was done, I walked along the waterfront. I guess I must have been daydreaming a bit, and I saw a bat on the ground, up next to some of the old wooden crates. You know, near the spot where we used to fish, before everything got so run down.
“Anyway, I saw the bat, and it looked exactly one that’d just got taken from my car. It pissed me off. Of all days, I park in the regular city lot, and a bat gets stolen right out of the backseat. Anyway, I grabbed it, you know, to see if it was mine. Then I realized there was blood on it. Blood and—” he broke off, looking sick.
“Okay, skip over that part for now. What happened next?”
“Someone pushed me from behind. I hadn’t seen anyone there, and it startled me. I was on the ground with a knee on my head, and I felt a stick in my neck.
“Oh, God, Dani, the pleasure exploded, went right to my head. It was like the sunshine flooded me and I was floating. My heart was hammering like I’d had an…” He shook his head, changed directions. “I couldn’t move because I didn’t want to, I was just filled. There was no more struggle. I was home and the smack filled me again. God, I miss it so much.”
Del started to rock, arms wrapped around his middle. She watched helplessly as his throat worked against the emotions. Shame brought an ugly flush up his neck and spread to his cheeks.
“At first, I wanted more, but I couldn’t look around. I couldn’t make sense of what was happening. I know I lost track of things for a while. There was definitely someone else there, someone who knocked me down and stuck me. I landed on the bat, and whoever it was seemed pissed about that, but left the bat where it was. When I could finally move again, I picked up the bat and I went home. Does that help you any?”
“Yeah, Del, it does. It helps a lot. Just a few more questions, okay?”
“Sure, Dani. I’m not going anywhere.” He smiled for the first time, and Dani’s heart swelled with love and with pity.
****
Dani sat at under the flickering glare of the precinct’s fluorescents, all the files spread on her desk in front of her, knowing the answer was close. She just needed a few more pieces to this puzzle and she would have it. She grabbed her phone.
“Talk to me, Tolley.”
“Damn, Dani, you must have ESP; I was just about to call you. There are two sets of prints on the bat. Del’s prints are clear; the others are under his, partials, and pretty smeared. I’m running them though the database now. If the partials are from the killer and our boy has a record, he should pop.”
“Okay, that’s great, Tolley. Anything else?”
“Yeah, come by later and I’ll show you, but for now, imagine you’re holding a bat, getting ready to take a swing at some mope.”
“Mope? Have you been reading detective stories again?”
Tolley laughed. “Guilty. Just finished a classic Philip Marlowe. So anyway, pick up your pencil and pretend you’re holding it like you’re ready to swing.”
“Okay, got it.”
“See how your hands are placed? You would expect to get great prints from anyone holding a bat that way. Now drop your bat…er, pencil. Walk around your desk and pick up the same end but without turning it over.
“Notice how your thumb’s now at the end of the bat? The first way you’re holding it for a swing and your thumbs point toward the barrel of the bat. The second way it points toward the knob.
“The partials point toward the barrel and are covered by Del’s prints. His prints point toward the base.”
“Del didn’t do it. He didn’t swing the bat!” Dani said.
“Not holding it like that, he didn’t. And there is a lot of blood and brain matter on his clothes, but it’s not spatter. He didn’t get it from swinging the bat. It looks more like he was rolling on it.”
“Thanks, Tolley! You’re the best.”
“I know, now you’ll owe me again.”
Dani winced. “Actually, I was wondering if you’d do me another favor. Could you go over to Hawk’s penthouse and um…check on him for me?”
There was a long pause before Tolley asked, “What did you do, Dani?”
“Nothing he didn’t have coming. But maybe you could take your handcuff keys with you.”
*
Usually you found a killer by learning all about the victim. Dani had been through every bit of Beaker’s life, and although he was an asshole drug dealer, he was small time enough that no one would have bothered with him. It wasn’t a deal gone bad because he still had his drugs in his pockets. Any addict or dealer would have taken them and not bothered to hide the body. No, if she was right, Beaker as the victim wasn’t particularly important to the killer. He’d just wanted a body.
Crease may have been in the vicinity, but again, the victim wasn’t the crucial factor. Setting Del up had been a distraction, nothing more. Same as setting Hawk up. All of them had been like chess pieces, pawns in a much bigger game. So who was the real target? Or maybe the question was
what
was the real target?
Dani picked at the case as she ate her salad, oblivious to the noise that surrounded her at the Delacroiux Pub. She needed to figure out why the first murder had been in the Pier District, because that was ground zero for this investigation.
Hiding the body…That was something else that was off. Beaker had a few stones in his pockets, not enough to weigh him down for long, but maybe enough to tuck him up under the boardwalk for a few days. It would have caused a literal and a figurative stink. It would have brought cops, reporters, and probably another round of speeches about cleaning up the area.
In fact, that’s exactly what did happen when the news reported on the murder. What was the purpose in drawing the negative attention down there? Did the killer have an interest in the Pier District? Maybe the discovery of the murder happened sooner than the killer had wanted.
Hawk’s Renaissance Tower was set to be unveiled along with his plans to renovate the waterfront. Had the killer hoped the body would be discovered at the same time? The publicity might hurt Hawk’s project, but she didn’t think so, because he was working at cleaning up the area. In fact, some negative publicity might boost his reputation and sales.
Steering away from following Hawk down that unsavory path, she wondered who had access to the information about the owner of Renaissance Tower. Could someone else be trying to interfere with the opening?
What about property values? Surely, the new construction over the past year must have raised them. Who owned all those abandoned warehouses? The renovation plans for the area might have been secret, but the ten-story luxury building wasn’t, and property values and prices would have skyrocketed. Who had wanted in? Or had wanted to cause trouble for those already in?
Shit. She sure could make a case against Hawk in just about every scenario she came up with. Well, right or wrong, she’d chosen to believe Hawk. That meant she would work assuming he was innocent. For now.
Unfortunately, she would need to talk to him to find out which other waterfront properties down he’d purchased and whether there’d been any competition.
“What are you thinking so hard over, Dani?” LeAnn asked as she joined Dani at the table.
“LeAnn.” Dani smiled.
“Where’ve you been? I haven’t seen you around the last couple of days. I guess the murders are keeping you busy. Need any help?” LeAnn asked.
“You bet I do. Do you have time for some computer drudgery?”
LeAnn grinned, gave a quick order to the server, then took up the conversation with Dani again. “Sure, I’ve got a couple of hours this afternoon. What do you need?”
Dani explained her theory, and asked LeAnn to run a search of city records and see if any zoning requests were on file.
“Mémé!” Dani said as Lina Delacroiux brought LeAnn’s food to the table along with an enormous order of fries neither woman would have dared order. Dani stood to help Lina set the food on the table then gave the older woman a hug.
“Got one of those for me, too, sweetheart?” the smooth Texas drawl crooned from behind her.
Before she had time to think, Hawk twisted her around and took her in his arms. With one hand splayed across her lower back, he slid the other hand under her hair and twisted a handful into a painful fist, out of sight of everyone else. He gave a sharp yank, turning her face up to his. She had one moment to see the hard glitter of his eyes, and then his mouth was on hers.
Her mouth opened on a protest of pain and his tongue slipped inside and he swallowed her moan. He thrust, ruthlessly taking possession of her mouth, opening her to the demands of his tongue. Dani couldn’t breathe except to drag in his breath, his scent. Her body pressed against his and her mouth relaxed into the hunger of his kiss, ready to make her own demands. With a painful nip at her lower lip, Hawk brought her back to reality and pulled away.
He smiled at her, whispered for her ear alone, “You’re supposed to be getting close to me, remember?” Then he planted a gentle kiss on her forehead, turned her shakily toward her chair, and put on a charming smile for Lina.
“I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Hawk Charbonnet and you must be the lovely Lina Delacroiux. Danielle speaks of you often. I can see where she gets her beauty.”
While Lina stood there frowning, Hawk pulled a chair over close to Dani’s, sat, and wrapped a possessive arm around her shoulder. Only she was aware of the tight squeeze of his hand.
“Sorry I’m late, Danielle. I was a bit tied up all morning. I’ve got another meeting in a little bit, so I hope you won’t mind if I don’t order. I’ll just pick off yours, shall I? You never seem to finish what you start. Too much on your plate, sugar?”
He popped a fry into his mouth before he continued into the stunned silence. “Nice to see you again, LeAnn. Sorry for interrupting. Danielle, sugar, did you already tell them the good news? That you’ve agreed to take the extra penthouse apartment at Renaissance Tower?” He turned to Lina. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am to have the woman I love so close and somewhere a bit safer than her last place.”
Dani was glad to see she wasn’t the only Delacroiux woman with her mouth hanging open and speechless.
Damn him.
He’d said the L-word just to get a rise out of her. He’d neatly trapped her into staying at the penthouse apartment. Hawk was a sneaky bastard, but she’d find a way to get back at him.
The way she figured it, her ass-whupping and handcuffs might still have her ahead by a point or two.
Shit.
She really was trapped into silence, at least for the short term—she was supposed to be faking a relationship.
All those thoughts passed through her mind in an instant, as did her plan to make him pay. He wanted to use the L-word, then by God she’d make him choke on it.
“Hawk, honey,” she said sweetly, “since you spilled the beans, I’m going to leave you with my mémé Lina and aunt LeAnn to answer their questions. I’m sure they have a ton. I have an interview with Nicolette, and she just came in. I’ll see you later. At home, sweetheart?” She lowered her face to his and claimed another of his mind-melting kisses.
Oh, yes, this game was going to be fun.
****
“Um, wow! Who’s your new stud muffin, Dani?” Nicolette asked.
Dani eyed her former rival, and then remembered two important points. First, Nicolette was in love with Del, and second, Dani was only acting with Hawk. So the little swirl of green that passed over her and tried to tangle with her heart needed to keep on moving.
“Hawk Charbonnet, and believe me, he is yummy,” she said, keeping up the charade.
“Ah, the youngest Charbonnet. Constantine had a meeting with him the other night.” Nic’s eyes admired then dismissed Hawk as she turned back to Dani. “I got the tape, just like you asked. Costa was easy. How’d you know?”
“Christ, Nicolette, you used to know stuff like that better than anybody. Being with Del’s made you soft.” Then she smiled. “I’m glad. He really loves you.”
Nicolette flushed. “I love him, too. Did he look okay? I still can’t get in to see him.”
Dani thought back to the tired eyes, the desperation in Del’s voice when he’d talked about his awakened desire for the drug that had held him captive for over three years. She looked into Nicolette’s hopeful face and lied. “He looked all right. I know he misses you more than anything.”
Nicolette smiled. “I goaded Costa, just like you said. Told him Del and I were getting married when he came back from South America and said if Del had wanted Costa to know where he was, then he’d have told him. I said some pretty ugly things on there, Dani. I guess nothing you haven’t heard from me before.
“Anyway, I kept picking and poking until Costa finally told me he wasn’t behind the killing but thought it had been a good job. If he’d thought Del was using again and buying from that little shit, Costa would have killed him, but he didn’t. I got a look at the financials he keeps at the house, took some pictures for you. I don’t know how it will help, but I got them. It looks like he was outbid on a couple of those old warehouses down there. Maybe that new Renaissance Tower is stirring up the old man’s blood.”