Bad Cop (Entangled Covet) (8 page)

Chapter Eleven

Having Ian drop her off at the VLO might have been a bad idea. Alice couldn’t concentrate on work. After struggling through yet another dry addendum, she finally tossed the file aside. She should have forced herself to read them all, but it was a lost cause when she had to reread each page over and over again. Graham’s time was running out.

If he’d been turned as a
Dominus
, she’d have more leeway. But no such luck. He was Legion, and that gave him absolutely no protection. The dual-caste system wasn’t very kind in some ways.

Ian was a Legion, and he didn’t seem to mind the way things were. Then again, she’d never brought up the issue. How did he feel about being a second-class citizen in his world? Maybe being a Tracker put him on a different level. It certainly appeared that way. Once he’d popped into her mind, she couldn’t shake him.

What was he doing now in his last hour before dawn? If he’d found something, he would have called her.

Most likely.
Okay, maybe not. She’d been rather abrupt with him after shooting him down. Condescending even, lumping him in with all of the other cops she’d ever met. He wasn’t exactly like them, though. On one level, she understood that. When he did things his way, made his own rules, it wasn’t for his personal gain, but for justice, and that alone set him apart.

Even with that motivation, it didn’t make his methods right, only reckless. Eventually, he’d make a mistake that would cost a life or harm an innocent. If only he would go after his cases within the realm of the law. That night at Ander’s, he hadn’t even made an attempt. He’d jumped in the deep end and dragged her along with him without thinking of the consequences.

Murders happened, and bad guys got away with it all the time. It was the way the world worked. Some people never found justice. People like Zach. And she’d tried. Oh, she’d tried.

After locking her office, she headed to the lobby. She hadn’t been able to catch Campbell, but Denton had given her a ring. Again, no witnesses. There’d been no sign of any bites, only a clean slash across the throat. No signs of struggle. Either the kill had been quick, or the victims had known the murderers.

There had to be some connection with Ander. It was more than coincidence he was tied to the victims. She was dying to get her hands on the records from the Infancy cases. There had to be links there, too. She pulled out her cell phone to call Ian, but hesitated.

He wouldn’t have forgotten. If he hadn’t sent the files over, it was because he was occupied. Maybe feeding.

Holy cow, that didn’t feel good, knowing another woman might be writhing against him in ecstasy. He could be thrusting inside the donor with something other than his fingers.

Arggg
. She’d rejected him. Even for a hot, meaningless fling.

Idiot.

But it was the right thing to do. An
Immortalis
of his age wouldn’t blink an eye at the rejection anyway. He could have countless women at his feet with that barely there Irish lilt, boyish grin, and sex-on-speed body.

What was he doing hitting on someone like her, a mousy, reclusive, glorified secretary who suffered from depression and a meager bank account?

She reached her shabby little apartment. Alone. Again. Throwing her purse on the chipped, leaning-tower of a coffee table, she ambled toward the bedroom. The cold, silent stillness sank into her, making her shiver. A hot shower might be in order. Or some comfort food.

Damn. She never did get to eat that luscious cheesecake in her fridge.

Outside the spare room, she rested her hand against the closed door. Zach was in there. She could feel his presence like a living thing. Not his body, of course. That was resting comfortably at the care home, but he was with her in spirit. The football trophies, Hot Wheels, his collection of NFL sweatshirts—all waiting for him.

Football had been his life, and he could have gone pro. Had his full-ride scholarship to Washington State already in the bag when his dreams had cut short with a careless shot from a gun.

God, why did she torture herself like this? Keeping the signs of his life bordered on creepy hoarding. Even with the temporary pay increase, she couldn’t afford a two-bedroom apartment much longer. Eventually, she’d have to go through his things, but clearing it all out meant Zach wouldn’t return. It meant giving up.

Ditching the shower idea, she blew out a sigh and headed to bed. She was exhuming things again that she didn’t want dug up. All right, she’d clear the room out. Tomorrow. Maybe she could get a Valium or three from Piper later to get her through that wringer.

Only, she couldn’t sleep once she’d slid under the covers. Every time she closed her eyes, Ian’s face hovered. His eyes had blazed a hot red when he’d hungered for her.

Was that fire for her? Did he touch the other women he bit the way he had her?

She’d had a few regular boyfriends and some amazing sex, but none lit her up the way he had. Sizzling. Might have been about his fangs, the aphrodisiac emitted from the pores at the back of them.

Who was she kidding? Before he’d even grazed her neck, she’d wanted him. The lust was sharper because of her attraction to him. No matter how strong it tugged at her, ignoring the attraction was a necessity for survival. From how he viewed the world, to his actions, he was too different.

Not to mention he was a centuries-old vampire. She could apply for transformation, but there were no guarantees of approval.

If she turned, someone would have to bite her, someone decidedly not Ian since he wasn’t an adjuvant. That held not one bit of appeal to her. Would she drink from him or would she have to feed from a donor? Would she miss the sunlight? She rarely enjoyed the sun as it was. Between working and taking care of her parents’ house, she rarely went into it anyway. She’d never been antivampire like Val, and had even considered working for a donor service when she’d been particularly desperate with the finances. In the end, it had felt too much like whoring herself out. Now that she’d experienced a feeding…

Stop it.

Why was she even traveling down this road? He’d mentioned a date or a casual affair, not a lifetime commitment, and she had way too many misgivings where his Tracker duties were concerned.

She had the urge to commiserate with Piper, but her friend was a complete bitch in the mornings. Must be all that weight sitting on her chest overnight. Alice glanced down with dismay at her undervalued womanly assets. They were enough for Ian. There’d definitely been some fondling going on there the other night while she’d been preoccupied with his other hand.

Aaaaaand, there she went again, obsessing. She would never get to sleep at this rate.

Sitting up, she turned on her laptop. It was four years old and weighed as much as a small child, but it still worked. Pulling up her electronic records, she pored over the agreements for a few more hours until exhaustion dragged at her eyelids. She’d just about given up when one little clause grabbed her attention. And it was a perfect little shiny gem. A long shot, but it was an opening nonetheless.

Apparently Trackers were held to a different level and had to be turned over to the Legion for subsequent discipline, regardless of the crime committed. Graham hadn’t committed murder, but he had conspired to kill the
Immortalis
prince, though she highly questioned the charges against him. Would the Legion execute him? That was the question. Actually, no. The question was how does one become a Tracker? Only one man she knew could answer that question. And by God, he’d better give her the answer she needed, or she’d make his Irish hick life hell.

Chapter Twelve

Dammit
. Alice was late again. At least losing her job wasn’t a concern, but Ian would be worried when she didn’t meet him at her office. The sun had dipped below the horizon before she’d even called a cab to get to the VLO from the auto shop. She hated her rust bucket of a car, but getting rid of it would be like losing her left arm—a girl needed her independence. Too bad that
independence
was sitting at the shop again, coughing up its last lung.

As predicted, the sun had been long gone by the time she reached the office to find Ian waiting not so patiently at her office door. Practically edible in thigh-hugging black jeans and a hunter-green, ab-loving T-shirt, he stopped midprowl when she approached. Expression thunderous, his eyebrows lowered in a scowl until they nearly touched and a frown pulled at the corners of his lips.

“How have you been getting into the building? We have security, you know.” She pushed past him, unlocking her door and tossing her coat and purse across her desk. He was a breath behind her.

“Never mind how I got in. You didn’t answer your phone. Where’ve you been?”

She whirled on him. “
You
are not my boss. You don’t set my hours, and you don’t get to be all huffy because you had to wait a few minutes.”

He got right in her face, his minty breath brushing her skin and raising goose bumps. “It was an hour. In case you forgot, we have murders to solve.”

“In case you forgot, an hour isn’t going to bring them back to life. Get. Off. My. Ass.”

Eyes widening, he laughed. “Who pissed in your Cheerios?”

“It was Lucky Charms.” She grinned.

His head tilted in a way that totally did not appeal to her feminine, I-want-you-to-rip-my-panties-off side.
No, it did not
. “Thinking of me when you went for those?”

Actually, she had been, but he didn’t need to know that. “Why are your pants on fire?”
God, don’t think about his pants. Don’t check them out.
She focused on his T-shirt with the words Vampires Suck across his broad chest. Nope, that didn’t help one bit.

“Got a lead, a huge one.” His grin widened, deepening the dimples she wanted to lick. “There was a journal from the Infancy case in our evidence lockup. Now, it’s missing.”

“Someone stole it from your vault?”

“Not someone.” His smile fled, replaced by a growl. “A Tracker.”

“A Legion? That’s going to cause trouble.” Before her mind connected to her body, she smoothed a hand over the worried crease on his brow, and then she pulled away with a jerk. “Uhm. Can you find out who took it?”

“Yes,” he said, studying her a little too closely for comfort. “I thought you’d want to come to headquarters with me to check the videos. We do periodic inventories, and it was recorded at the last one. We can start from there.”

“You’d get me inside?” As far as she knew, no one had ever been allowed inside the Tracker’s headquarters.

“Yes,” he said. “But, Alice, this could take all night and then some.”

“Okay.”

His lips twitched. “Sure you want to spend that much time alone with me?”

“Ugh. Males.” She grabbed her purse and jacket again, but then her cell rang.
Please, not another murder
. Her hands shook as she answered.

“Oh, God.” She gripped the phone until her fingers hurt. “What happened?”

She listened for a minute before responding to her caller. “I’ll be right there.”

When she stood motionless like a zombie, staring at her phone, Ian grasped her shoulders. “Alice? What is it?”

“My brother.” She stepped out of the comfort of his touch and walked out the door with him following close behind. “He had a heart attack this evening. I have to go. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you tonight.”

He ducked into the elevator with her before she could escape him. Dammit, she just wanted to be left alone. At least he didn’t bombard her with questions, leaving her in blessed silence as they rode down to the lobby. She’d raced through the doors and onto the sidewalk before he spoke.

“Alice.”

Her step faltered, but it wasn’t because of him. With a groan, she threw her hands out. That stupid car. Her worthless, piece-of-crap rust bucket. “Dammit!”

“Alice,” he said softly. He pulled her to face him. “Let me help you. Tell me what I can do, and I’ll do it.”

Oh, that did it. Her breath stuttered in her chest as she fought off the sobs locked inside. Her vision blurred, and a whimper escaped her. A hopeless frustration beat against her chest, and a dizzy spell threatened to drop her to her knees.

“Hell and damnation,” he whispered. He pulled her into his arms, squeezing almost too tightly. “I’ll fix whatever it is. Anything. Just don’t cry.”

“I’m not crying,” she sobbed into his chest. Well, the sobbing and drenching his T-shirt sort of gave it away, but denying it felt better.

“No, of course not.” He smoothed the length of her back and nestled her head against his shoulder.

“My c-car’s in the sh-shop.”

“Tell me where he is, and I’ll take you.”

“B-bellevue.”

“Okay. Take some deep breaths.”

She did, and it helped get her back under her own control. With a giant, trembling sigh, she slumped against him. “Thank you.”

He set her upright, resting his hands on her shoulders to keep the weight of her world off them. Dark cherry eyes met hers.

“I’d do anything for you,” he said. And then before another
moment
happened, his lips curved a little. “Frustrating wench.”

She managed a somewhat blubbery laugh. “What about the journal?”

“Fuck the journal.” He led her toward the end of the block. “Didn’t want to sit in a vault watching videos that didn’t include hot, sweaty sex all night anyway, thank you very much. Dec can handle it. He’s wearing big-boy pants now.”

They crossed the street toward a sleek, somewhat bullet-shaped black car with maroon accents.

“What is that, a time machine?”

He sent her an offended grimace as he opened the door. “
This
is a Veyron.” When she shrugged, he huffed. “A Bugatti. This baby has 1200 horsepower.” Loping around the time machine, he slid in, a frown on his face. “All right, so she doesn’t know cars. No biggie.”

“You talk to yourself often?”

He pulled from the curb and darted to the end of the block before she’d drawn enough breath to emit a cry.

“Ah, and now she appreciates the machine.” His smug expression sobered, but she didn’t want it gone. She needed the distraction of him tonight more than ever.

“You were parked legally.”

His lips took a wry twist. “Well, someone smarter than me showed me the error of my ways.”

A soft chuckle escaped her. People could change. Then again, she hadn’t known him long. He was probably being a smart-ass.

“Tell me about him.”

She groaned inwardly. The one time she wanted him to keep on being a smart-ass, he had to be all sweet and tender and…gooey.

He glanced at her, taking a good guess on her mood. “Start simple. What’s his name?”

“Zach.” She sighed, resigned to her fate. “He’s my twin.”

“You mean there are two of you on this earth?” His eyebrows rose in mock horror. She would have giggled if the situation weren’t so heart wrenching. He and Zach would have been a pair. They had the kind of humor that could drag a person from the pits of hell. Kind of like what Ian was doing now.

“When we were nineteen, a cop shot him in the head. The story was Zach was dealing drugs when the cop caught him. There was a chase, but when Zach got cornered, he fired on the cop. The cop justifiably returned fire.”

“Holy shit,” he muttered. She watched the scenery fly past the window. Funny how the ride was so smooth, she couldn’t even tell Ian was driving like a madman escaping the ward.

“Only it was a lie.” Her voice went cold and flat, vibrating with fury. Saying it brought the rage right back to the surface. “He would never mess with drugs. He had a full scholarship to WSU. He volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club. They never found a weapon on him. I knew him, Ian. He was a part of me—is a part of me.”

He held her hand, unfolding her fingers from her clenched fist. “So, a dirty cop. Anything happen to him?”

“Got suspended pending investigation, but that didn’t last long. He was back on the streets in less than a month. Cleared of wrongdoing. Free to move on with his life.” She played idly with his fingers. “My brother…he’s not doing well. He’s been in a coma for six years, but a few days ago, they put him on a respirator.”

He squeezed her hand and, thankfully, didn’t ask any more questions. She directed him to the long-term care home, a peaceful, cozy-looking place with sprawling, manicured lawns, as if that would matter to the occupants.

Ian opened her door for her and then led her to the building’s entrance. His soothing touch never left her. God help her, he was amazing.

“You don’t have to stay. I’ll be fine. Dec could probably use your help.”

“Dec could probably use a lobotomy. Doesn’t mean he’s going to get one.” He framed her face, his thumbs caressing her cheeks. “I’m staying. Whether you want me or not.”

And didn’t that have multiple interpretations. And…she did want him. She wanted him here with her, holding her up. She wanted him to make her laugh. She wanted him to take her to bed. She just wanted him.

He’d rendered her speechless, so she settled for a nod. When they entered, the night nurse, Brenda, explained the situation, that Zach’s heart was beating but he’d lost signs of impulses from the brain.

She choked back a sob. “I don’t understand. If he’s brain-dead, why is his heart beating?”

Brenda gestured for them to sit while she settled across from them. “The heart can continue for a short time following an end to electrical impulses from the brain. Tomorrow, the doctor will confirm the diagnosis, and then another doctor will verify. Zach may be sent to the hospital for an EEG and some blood tests. What you need to understand is, when this is finished, Zach will no longer be considered comatose. He’ll be pronounced legally dead.”

If Ian hadn’t had his arm around her, Alice would have slipped from her chair. Each word was a sledgehammer against her heart. “No, no, no, no, no.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss.” And Brenda truly seemed saddened, but it didn’t help. Nothing helped. Anguish cut her, bled her out inside until she could barely draw breath.

“Maybe you’re wrong. Maybe they’ll find something on the EEG.”

“He’s gone cold, Alice. I’ve been here too long and seen too much. The on-duty doctor wasn’t mistaken.”

“Gone cold?”

“Without the brain, the body can’t regulate temperature. Hormones are no longer produced. His organs will shut down one by one. There’s no other way to tell you this, but you need to prepare for tomorrow. You need to decide whether to donate his organs. After that, they’ll remove his life support. His heart will cease, and a death certificate will be issued.”

“You’ll kill him,” she whispered.

“No. We’re here to save lives.” She covered Alice’s frigid hands. “If you want to fight this, I wouldn’t blame you. You’ve struggled so hard to bring him back. But the policy is clear on this process. If there was any way I could help, I would. But there just isn’t. I’m sorry.”

And like that, her world would end. Everything she’d done, the jobs she’d worked, the sacrifices she’d made, the dumpy apartments she’d endured, the pain she’d lived with, had been for Zach.

None of that mattered now. It hadn’t saved him.

“Can I see him?”

“Yes, as long as you’d like. All night, if you’d like. I’m sorry, Alice.”

She barely noticed Brenda slip out the door. Keeping her head down, she avoided Ian’s sympathy. Because that would be unbearable. She needed to be alone with her brother.

“You can go, Ian.”

“I’ll stay with you.”

“I need to be with my brother. Alone.”

“I’ll wait.”

“Don’t. I need you to keep working on the case while I’m here.” He didn’t move. “Please, Ian.”

The plea seemed to work. He took a step away, but came back. A slim set of keys dangled in front of her. She jerked her gaze to his face. Not sympathy. Heartbroken. He was utterly heartbroken.

Dear God, she’d underestimated him.

“You’d let me drive your car?”

“I’d do anything for you, Alice.”

With those precious words echoing, he set the keys in her outstretched hand and walked out. A well of loneliness engulfed her. Such a short time had passed since she’d met him, but he was everything she’d dreamed of in a man, and he’d do anything for her. Except tell her the truth.