Hard Days Knight: Under-Cover Knights, Book 1 (9 page)

“
G
ot
the results on the tires,” Jed said. Delilah leaned against the glass window of the hospital lobby rubbing her eyes tiredly.

“They were slashed?” she asked.

“Not just slashed. Our man showed me where chunks of rubber were missing from the tires. Apparently whoever slashed them wasn’t all that strong and didn’t accomplish it very easily. The perp, or perps, may have even had wounds much like in stabbing a human. No blood trace of course.”

“So, it could have been kids, or a woman, or just someone who was really, really mad.”

“That’s about the size of it. There were too many prints on the car to run them all. Maybe if we come up with a suspect we can run based on that.”

“Did you sweep the roof?” Delilah sat in one of the overstuffed chairs and closed her eyes briefly. She could use a power nap.

“Now, there we might have gotten lucky. I told you that area’s been used by teens and probably vagrants for various activities—necking, sleeping, spying, whatever. But it hasn’t been cleaned in years. And no one’s planted flowers in a decade.”

“Is that good?”

“Turns out it is. We had some fresh marks from the vicinity of the cornerstones at the top of the roof and by the spot where the planter ‘fell’. We got a cast of a footprint and I found a piece of thread from someone’s clothing. In a shade we should be able to match if we can find it.”

Delilah blew out a breath. “Well, that’s better than nothing. What do you plan to do next?”

“I figured I’d hang around up there or put a man across from the roof to see who frequents it in the next couple days.”

“Good idea. I’m thinking maybe we should talk to some of the teens. I was going to say leave that to me, but I mentioned you when I talked to the kids Saturday. I told them my partner was named “Jed” so if you run across any of them this evening, look for Monette or Tia. They’ll break the ice for you.”

“Where are you going to be?” It wasn’t said with rancor or sarcasm, just partnerly interest.

“I’ll be at Luc’s. The doctor said he needed someone around today and I knew you’d handle the investigation, so I called in some leave time. If you come up with anything else, text me and I’ll go outside and call you back so I don’t wake the patient up.”

“How’s he doing?” asked Jed.

“Concussion, possible fracture of his clavicle, definitely deep bruising and swelling of the muscles around it. He’s got to have—”

“Ice packs, I know. I broke my shoulder once in college. Trying to take down someone about twice my size.”

“Football?”

“Quarterback, ASU. I’d planned to transfer to LSU but that ended my football dreams.”

“Partner, you’re always surprising me.”

“Hey, I’m an open book.” Jed promised to call later and hung up.

Del sat for a minute wondering what other leads they could pursue.

D
elilah returned
from the restroom as Luc’s door opened and the specialist walked out, giving instructions to his assistant. He nodded as she passed.

In Luc’s room the nurse was fitting him with another ice pack to reduce swelling. His lips were a white grimace. Samantha explained that the doctor had probed the area reawakening the nerves and tissues to the trauma they’d endured.

“The good news, though I’m sure Luc doesn’t feel any better for it right now, is that it’s not broken. It’s a severe muscle contusion but because of the hematoma at the sight of impact, he can’t tell if there might have been a crack somewhere on the clavicle or the joint. Luc will have to come back tomorrow or Friday when the swelling goes down for another MRI.”

She looked over at Luc who had his right arm draped over his eyes. “Meantime, it’s rest, alternating ice packs, compression—that’s keeping it wrapped well, and keeping his shoulder elevated like it is now. No lying flat for a while. The doctor said if he has someone to watch him, he can go home this afternoon.”

“I don’t need anyone to watch me.”

Samantha and Del just looked at each other.

“Grumpy lion is back,” said Del. “I can stay with him this afternoon. Then we’ll see.”

“Thanks, Del. If he doesn’t behave let me know, and I’ll call Attila.” A strangled gurgle sounded from the bed.

“I have a 2:00 appointment but if you need me just call,” Samantha said and handed Delilah her card. “I’ll touch base with you later okay?”

Samantha picked up Luc’s arm and stared him down. “Hey, you. Behave. Love you.” She pecked him on the lips.

“Are you scared yet?” Luc asked.

“They’re pretty formidable.” Del sat on the edge of the bed making sure not to jostle Luc. “But in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not a meek kitten myself.”

“No.” His eyes opened. “You could give the swarm competition, my protective little lioness.” He licked his lips. “Thank you. For everything. And I’m sorry you’ve been inconvenienced on my account. It’s really not necessary for you to take off this afternoon.”

“Doctor’s orders, Mr. Larue. Just resign yourself to a couple days of R&R. Get out your mental checklist and yours truly will slave to make your requests come true. DVDs? Junk food? Even—yuck—cover model snacks. What’s your pleasure?”

A sly upturn to his lips had her backing up, “Except that.” She waved the doctor’s instructions at him. “The sheet says R.I.C.E. Rest, ice, compression and elevation. I don’t see an “S” on the list.”

“I can see you’re going to fit in perfectly with the other women in my life.”

“What—”

“I said that wrong. The only other women in my life are my family, Delilah.”

Delilah was quiet. “Luc—”

“No, Del. The tire slashing had to be the work of kids. There are no other women, lovers, ex-wives or girlfriends.”

“What about someone you worked with in one of your businesses or at the gym? Have any problems with any of the kids or their associates?”

“You’re on the wrong track. Why—”

“Luc someone knocked a thirty pound concrete planter off the roof. And I don’t think it was a coincidence that you were standing directly under it.”

Luc’s eyes went wide with surprise.

“You don’t remember.”

“No. That’s weird. I haven’t even thought about why I was here.” He frowned.

“Well, I guess the important thing is you still remember your name and your family and me, so it’s not any kind of extensive amnesia. I was kind of hoping you’d looked up and saw whoever pushed the planter off the roof. I guess that’s a bust.”

“Where were you?” He closed his eyes. She waited. When his eyes opened he said, “I was going to meet you for coffee.”

“And if I’d waited at the gym—”

“Hey, was there really anything you could have done?” Luc laid his hand on hers.

“We’ll never know will we?”

“Well, better me than you,” he said.

She sighed and leaned over to rub her cheek against his. “Do you always have to be such a hero?”

“I’ll be your hero anytime, babe.” She smiled against his skin. “So where were you?” he asked again.

“I was sitting across the street. I started to leave but something made me linger. I looked over my shoulder and saw something fall and hit you. When I saw you lying there…” her voice caught.

His good arm came up and he stroked her hair. “I’m okay, honey. What happened then?”

“You started coming around, I called 911 and Jed. Then I rode in the ambulance with you to the hospital. Tom was here. You know the rest.”

“You’ve been here ever since?”

She nodded.

“Ridge arranged for his orthopedic surgeon instead of what my VA insurance pays for.”

“He’s a good friend. I like him. So, you ready to get out of here?”

“I can’t tell you how ready.”

A
t noon
, an aide showed up to get Luc’s signature, and then they were on their way, with Luc rolled out the front door in a wheel chair. Sitting outside was a Knights Production, Inc. limo. Ridge stepped out and shook Luc’s hand. “It’s good to see you upright, my man. Thought you might enjoy a soft ride home.” Ridge and Del got Luc installed onto the comfortable forward facing seat and Del promised to meet them at Luc’s townhouse after she made a stop at her apartment and the grocery store to get Luc’s wish list.

Luc had been too macho to let on that he was in pain around Ridge so when Delilah arrived the malcontent lion was back. He was propped up on his huge double recliner. A cold Diet Coke sat on the table near him, and the TV was tuned to ESPN though the sound was muted. “Got a headache?”

“Perpetually,” was his answer.

She shook out his medications and handed them to him. He didn’t quibble. “Why don’t you try to get some rest before we have to do the ice treatment again? If you feel better when you wake up, I’ll fix salad, or one of your other requests.”

“Mm-hm.” He put his head back against the navy leather and closed his eyes.

To keep from making any noise, Delilah decided to catch up on some of her paper work online. She got her laptop out of her bag and opened it, wondering if she’d be able to jump on Luc’s Wi-Fi. It turned out to be locked but looking under the router she discovered his password and logged on quickly.

In the next two hours, Delilah made surprising headway on the stack of paperwork, which had accumulated over the last week. Then she turned her attention to browsing the KPI site and their business in the area; actors, production staff, owners, their specialties. Sure enough, Ridge and Lana Calloway-Romano were listed in the corporate records as the owners of Knights.

Del nodded her head. Now she remembered. Lana Calloway had been the darling of the teen runway, winning Miss Louisiana when she was nineteen. The photographs of associated models were extensive, with some doing cover shots and working as actors in trailers, and others doing commercials. KPI was linked with several video producers as well.

Luc slept the sleep of the
drugged
at first then it was interrupted by some grunts and he’d have been embarrassed to know—moans. She woke him twice to re-dose him then when her sleep came down on her as well, she grabbed a pillow from the office and settled in for the rest of the early morning hours at the other end of the recliner, watching him sleep until she nodded off.

L
uc’s eyes
weren’t open but awareness was seeping through the muddled medication induced fog and the returning pain in his head and shoulder. Time for a redo. He reached over to the coffee table with his right hand to grab the bottle Delilah had left in easy reach.

“Just one, Luc.” She’d asked him several times if he heard her. He probably owed her an apology for his indelicate answer.

She’d left for work after that. So what was that sound? Alarm clock? She wouldn’t have been that mean. One of his sisters might have. He looked around—no horde.

The buzzer sounded again. Insistent, no, continual. Somebody was leaning on his door bell. “Go away.” He pulled the pillow over his head but the increased throbbing was joined by someone pounding at the front door. “Shit.”

“All right. I’m coming.” His voice didn’t sound very loud but he really didn’t care if whoever it was left so he didn’t repeat it. He looked down to make sure he wasn’t naked and sleepwalked to the door, unlocking it and intending to ease it open and tell whoever was there to take a hike, but the door hit him in his bad shoulder, and Mercy pushed past him into his foyer, closing the door behind her and glaring at him.

He hissed through his teeth as he leaned against the wall trying to get the stars and red haze of pain to a manageable level. He closed his eyes and wished her away but when he opened them again, she was still standing there, looking
mad
, dressed in tight jeans and a low cut red tank, holding what looked like a deep dish of dessert in one hand. “What do you want, Mercy?”

“That’s a fine way to talk to a concerned friend who spent the evening baking you her blue-ribbon dewberry cobbler. I heard about what happened and wanted to see if you were okay.”

She walked through the living room taking in his bedding and the paraphernalia on his recliner, satisfying her curiosity.

“Thanks for the cobbler. As you can see I’m fine. I’m trying to rest so if you’ll put the cobbler on the counter over there in the kitchen, I’ll tend to it later.”

“Luc,” she drawled. “You can’t expect me to leave you here alone. Why you were gasping in pain when I got here—”

“Only because you slammed the door into my shoulder. Now, I hate to be ruder than you, but please, go. I have to get ready for my doctor’s appointment,” he lied.

“Who’s going to take you? You certainly can’t drive in that condition.”

Luc leaned his head back against the wall and bit his tongue. His first inclination was to just answer, but he didn’t want her knowing anything about his business or his friends, especially not Delilah.

“Ridge should be here in about ten minutes. And I need to be ready so, thanks for the cobbler and I’ll see you…when I see you. Monday, most likely.”

Mercy was immobile, her brain circling, calculating some way of circumventing the constraints of his time so she could force the issue, but in the end she gave up. She moved to hug him and he sidestepped toward the door, opening it. “I’ll call if I need anything,” he said holding the door wide so she wouldn’t misunderstand.

Nose in the air she walked through the entrance and turned toward the street. He closed the door, locked it and went in search of some water to take a painkiller. She was nothing if not persistent. If he was lucky, she wouldn’t find out Ridge wasn’t on his way. His appointment wasn’t until mid-afternoon and by then he’d be able to drive himself.

He popped two pills in his mouth, stretched out on the recliner and dreamed of a Mercy-headed witch cooking over a cauldron; spooning up a serving of cobbler only to roll out several small dead bodies covered in purple sticky goo. When he awoke an hour later, he decided he could deal with the pain better than he could nightmares of Mercy Love. He rolled off the recliner and made his way to the kitchen tossing the “blue-ribbon nightmare” into the trash.