Chapter 11

The shrill scream of the phone woke her and she reached for it without opening her eyes. She managed to pick it up, fumbled it for a second and then held it to her ear.

"Yeah?" she croaked, managing to put in one word her anger that all her longing for sleep, peace and quiet was going down the tubes.

"Deputy Parsons?"

Oh, shit. She knew that voice. She sat straight up and then gathered the sheet back up over her breasts.

"Yes, Sheriff, what can I do for you?" She heard a groan of disbelief from beside her and wished she could slide under the bed.

"I'm looking for your partner. We have another dead body." He paused briefly to let that news sink in, like it was her fault and if not hers, definitely Nick's. "Do you have any idea where he is, Deputy Parsons?"

"I can probably find him, sir." She stared at the ceiling, refusing to even look at Nick, slapping away his hand when he tried to pull the sheet out of her fingers.

"Do that and tell him I want to see him. Immediately" He hung up before she could even think of an answer for him. She sat looking at the receiver as the broken connection buzzed at her.

Nick reached out and took the phone from her and hung it up. He curled up his pillow under his head and reached out his hand to play with her hair.

She smacked his hand away again and got up, reaching for her bathrobe. She turned and glanced at the clock. They had been asleep for less than an hour. She didn't want to look at him, refused to look at the picture he made. There he was laying in her bed, under her sheets, looking way too damn sexy for her own good. He was all male, with bare chest and mussed hair encamped in her flowered sheets like he belonged there. She pushed her hair back out of her face and started looking for clean clothes.

"We got another dead body."

Nick heaved a huge sigh. What a lousy ending to a pretty remarkable evening. He laid back with a grunt, covering his eyes with his hands, preparing to hear the worst.

"Where?"

"I didn't get an address, he hung up too quickly." She opened a drawer and pulled out some sexy lingerie that had Nick's mouth going dry. He moaned at the thought of the picture she made in his head dressed in what she held. She glared at him, burying the sexy black lace thong in the pile of clothes she held in her hand.

Nick reached for the phone and dialed the number to the station. He spoke on the phone for a minute, then looked at Michelle, motioning for a piece of paper and something to write with. He scowled into the phone at something that was said and hung up, writing the address down, muttering something that sounded like Minnie Mouse on speed.

He threw the covers back, sitting on the side of the bed, smiling when he saw Michelle turn her back on him and retreat into her bathroom to dress. She hadn't been so shy about seeing him naked an hour ago. She'd had him flat on his back begging for mercy not too long after he carried her in here. His smile got brighter when he thought of the things she had done to him with her mouth, the sounds that she had wrung from him as she had tormented his poor deprived body. She'd been his match in bed, giving as much if not more than she got.

The woman was a sexual phenomenon. And now her face was red. He chuckled softly.

Nick got up and grabbed his pants, pulling them on as he went into the living room. His shirt was still on top of the lamp and he pulled it off and shook it out. His smile got even bigger as he looked at the damage they had done to it.

She came into the living room and saw him standing there, chest and feet bare, pants zipped but not buttoned. Desire hit her fast, weakening her knees as she remembered what his mouth had done to her body. And the things he did in bed... and on the couch... and the floor next to her bed when they had rolled off the mattress. Uh huh. Oh, no way was that what she should be thinking about right now. She shook her head to try to clear the pictures from her mind, no more successful at that then stopping the need he made her feel.

"Guess you're going to need to head home first." Her voice was a little huskier than usual but didn't sound too bad to her ears.

"Nah, I keep extra clothes in the car." He grinned as he saw the anger come into her eyes. "You know, for when I have to go to a really bad body. The smell never comes out of the material. I just learned to keep new clothes handy."

He walked by her to grab his socks and shoes out of her room, handing her the shirt in passing. "Sweetie, you should really get your mind out of the gutter."

She wanted to scream at him. Gutter minded? She was gutter minded? He was the one that... she wasn't going there. She shook out the shirt and looked at the damage they had done to it, most of the buttons missing, the material ripped. She had to fight the urge to bring the material up to her face, to see if it smelled like him. Instead, she walked into her kitchen and shoved it into one of the cupboards, not questioning why she didn't just throw it away.

The screen door to her apartment slammed shut and she jumped. She hurried out the door to yell down at him before he left without her. He would do that without a second thought, her eyes narrowed as she glared at him.

"Hey, you gonna give me that address?" She tried not to be too loud. It was almost three in the morning, her neighbors had their windows open to combat the heat of midsummer.

He motioned for her to come down, nodding when she held up a finger. She raced back into her apartment, grabbing her shoulder harness and pulling it on over the rose colored tank top she wore over a pair of faded denim jeans. She grabbed her boots, pulling them on quickly and snatched up her keys, phone and light jean jacket she kept close to the door for just such an occasion. She was out the door, pulling it closed and checking the lock in less time then it took him to open his trunk and pull out a slightly wrinkled dress shirt.

He shrugged it on, buttoning half the buttons and tucking it in without paying much attention to what he was doing. She had left her hair down and the lights in the parking lot made it look like a halo around her beautiful face. He felt a lurch in his chest in the region of his heart but ruthlessly pushed it away.

Nick went to the passenger door of his car, unlocked it and held it open.

"No. I'll drive myself. I'd like to get there alive." Her chin went up and she stood ready to argue with him if necessary. Okay, yes it was an excuse. It was also true, he drove like a maniac. But she could just imagine the speculation it would cause if both of them were to arrive in the same vehicle at this early hour of the morning. No way was she putting herself through that.

He slammed the door shut, maybe a little harder than was necessary, and handed her the slip of paper with the address written on it.

"Okay, I'll meet you there. Since you don't seem to want anyone knowing that we were together, I'll go the back way." He saw her open her mouth to argue, and quickly interrupted. "You're not as smooth as you think you are hotshot." He tried not to let the disappointment he felt be heard in his voice but didn't think he quite pulled it off. He walked around his car, got in and sped off, the big back wheels of the sports car spinning up gravel as he pulled onto the road.

She stood watching him, knowing that she had just hurt him somehow. But knowing also that if she didn't do it now, she was just going to be hurting herself worse later on. She rubbed a hand across her forehead, trying to get rid of the lines she knew were there. Why, she wondered, if she thought it was going to be so bad later did it hurt so bad right now?

She got in her car, a Neon that she had bought and paid for herself while working for her mother. It didn't have the flash and dash that his car had, but it was a symbol to her of her independence. And that made it all the more important. Having a police officer, no, he was a cop, she corrected herself, for a father made growing up difficult on a girl. Her dates were interrogated at the door, and after a few first dates, most of the guys at the school learned what it was like to go out with her.

She would have led the life of a sequestered nun if her father had had his way.

Thank God for her mother and a little stealth. If her father had any idea of the things she had gotten away with in high school, things that even her brother didn't know about, he would have a stroke first and then a heart attack when he came after her.

She drove out of the lot and turned right, heading south of town towards the newest crime scene, yet another abandoned house and another dead girl left like so much trash.

The scene wasn't hard to spot, lights lit up the area like some kind of outdoor rave, all that was missing was the music and the drugs. She pulled in close, ducking under the crime scene tape and heading for the door. She had to flash her badge at the cop at the door, a city cop. The sheriff was pulling out all the stops.

The newsies had already gotten their teeth into this one and were yelling questions at her the entire long walk to the house, held back only by determined uniformed officers. She ignored them all. She walked in the open door, expecting to get hit in the face by the smell of death as she had at the other scene. It wasn't there.

Nick's car hadn't been outside, and she didn't spot him amid all the uniforms. She saw a familiar face and headed over.

"Jimmy," she nodded as she got close enough to be heard over the rumble of male voices and police radios. "What's up?"

"Sheriff's in with the body. He's been waiting for you two to show up. I hope you managed to track down your partner. The man's out for blood tonight, kiddo, and I don't think he's in the mood to discriminate between yours and Nicky's." He craned his neck to look down her shapely backside. "Better watch that fine ass of yours."

"I leave that for you to do, Jimmy. You pig," she added as an afterthought, knowing that he expected it. "I wonder who called the sheriff in?" She swallowed the lump that was her heart out of her throat. "Where's he at?"

He nodded towards a room at the back of the old farm house patted her on the fanny as she walked past him. She didn't even have it in her to give him her usual smart ass comeback. She walked through the rubbish, wondering how anyone managed to live in places like this. And she tried not to notice how everyone quieted down as she walked past until the room was as silent as, well, as death. She felt as if they were expecting some grand statement from her and thought of turning and saluting them with something like; for those of us about to die, we salute you.

She crossed the open threshold and instantly caught the smell, death mixed with stale cigar smoke, garlic and cheap cologne. The death smell was easily placed, the girl lay face down, her pale body nude and posed, legs spread wide with an envelop taped over her exposed genitals. The cigar smoke and garlic came from the sheriff, along with a healthy dose of cologne that almost made her sneeze. She was getting bad when death didn't even cause her to wrinkle her nose, but cologne, in that abundance made her want to retch.

"Good morning Sheriff, well, maybe not so good at that, hmmm?" She thought she sounded in control. It would take a miracle considering the night she had plus this.

"Where is Saint?" Short, clipped and concise.

Okay, he was pissed. She took a second look at his face. More than pissed, much more.