Checkmate (Caitlin Calloway Mystery Book 2) (24 page)

“She’s not nice.”

“I can be.”

Stevie looked at the two of them sitting there with their arms folded against their chest. Both women were doing everything they could to act and look tough. If the situation weren’t so serious, Stevie would have been thoroughly amused. She watched the two of them stewing while trying to out-butch one another.

“Keep it up, and you’re both getting a time out,” Stevie sternly threatened. “Why did you try to hit Deputy Brown?”

“Because she suggested something ludicrous.”

“It isn’t,” Val said. “I know it isn’t something you’re going to be comfortable with.”

“Okay? What is your plan, Deputy?”

“Val,” she said eagerly.

CC glared at her. “Don’t do that.”

“Val.” Stevie fought against the urge to flick her sister. “You call it a case, but this is our family. Start at the beginning, and, Caitlin, I swear to God if you interrupt I’ll smack you myself.”

“Fine.”

“I mean it.”

“I said fine.”

“Val, go on.”

“I know this isn’t easy for you,” Val said. “Your… I mean Beaumont, is here for a reason. We don’t know why, but it appears that someone is using him. Putting him in our sights just long enough to keep us chasing after him.”

“Someone wants us to be looking for him? Why?”

“I have no idea. What I’m thinking is to be a tad more visible. Draw him out, and maybe after we get him locked up, we can find out who’s funding his life as a stalker.”

“Put my family in danger?” CC shouted and waved her arms around like a lunatic. “Use them as bait? I don’t think so!”

“Ssh, remember Emma.” Stevie’s heart was racing as she fully digested the situation. “Now I understand why Caitlin tried to smack you. I’m a little tempted to myself.”

“I understand,” Val said. “You mentioned earlier that Emma was upset about Halloween. Why?”

“Because, with everything going on, I feel it’s too dangerous for her to go out. Caitlin’s partner and another officer offered to escort her. I still don’t feel comfortable with her going out, and Brad, her father, agrees.”

“So you’ve talked about taking her out with an escort?”

“And decided against it,” Stevie said.

“What if, in addition to the police, we add me and more marshals?”

“Again, I know this all part of your job.” Stevie fought her anger. “Just another tactical mission. But for me, this is my daughter. The answer is no.”

“I understand.”

“Oh, now you understand?” CC said in a bitter tone.

“Caitlin, behave,” Stevie warned her once again. “Val here is going to come up with another plan. In the meantime, go back next door and play chess with Emma.”

“Stevie?”

“I swear, if you say I’m not the boss of you, I’m calling Jamie.”

“Fine.” CC huffed before getting up to leave. “Oh, and, you” she pointed to Val. “don’t sit so close to my sister.”

“Caitlin! Go play with your niece.”

Stevie blew out a terse breath when her sister finally stomped out of the room. She glanced over at Val, who looked like she had just been to hell and back.

“Val, I appreciate that you’re trying to do your job. There was a time when my sister had a normal childhood. I’m a little jealous of that. I only had her. My parents were distant. I never understood why, until the night when I had my one and only sleepover. I was about Emma’s age, and some of the kids from my Brownie Troop were sleeping over. Everything was fun until Daddy tried to tuck us in.”

“Jesus! Did he?”

“No, but he tried. Caitlin had taught me what to do if anyone, and she stressed ‘anyone’ tried to do something like that. She never said it might be my father.”

“What happened?”

“I beat the crap out of him with Caitlin’s baseball bat. Kind of broke up the party. I never really had a normal childhood after that. Not until I was a teenager and living with my sister. Our family is everything to us. Don’t try and mess with that. My daughter is enjoying a happy, albeit unconventional, childhood. I will move heaven and earth to keep that intact. Having Bert back, knowing that he’s so close to my child, scares the hell out of me. Now you’re saying that someone put him up to it. You said my mother is in town. Could she be a part of this?”

“Doubtful. We’ve checked her out, and we’re keeping a watch on her. She lives in Waltham.”

“Makes sense.” Stevie bristled slightly. “Caitlin’s father and our brother are buried in the Waltham cemetery. The two people she loved most in this world.”

“You don’ know,”

“I do.” Stevie felt the tears building. “After Donny and her first husband died, Caitlin said she changed. Before that, she was a regular mom. She baked cookies and played games and did all the mom things. After losing them, she shut down. Then my father came along.”

“I’m sorry.” Val moved slightly closer.

Stevie didn’t stop to think; she moved closer as well. Before she could process what was happening, she found herself in Val’s arms. It was too much. All of a sudden, their nice quiet lives detoured back into the turmoil that she had felt certain they had escaped.
We’ll never be free!
her mind screamed. She gave in to the warmth that Val’s embrace provided. Strong confident arms tightly held her. Stevie nuzzled closer, finally letting go and not pretending to be brave so Emma wouldn’t know.

Comforting caresses began to circle her back. She knew she shouldn’t be doing what she was doing. It felt damn good to just surrender. She couldn’t remember the last time a woman held her. Val’s touch bordered on intoxicating. She gazed up and saw dark eyes studying her. She reached up and cupped Val’s face with her hand.

Her heart skipped a beat when Val tilted her head. The small distance between them evaporated. Stevie hungrily assaulted Val’s lips. She was surprised by how soft Val’s kiss was. Given the deputy’s stoic demeanor, she expected her to be rough and demanding. Instead, she found gentleness.

She moaned softly and allowed Val’s tongue to slip past her lips. Her thoughts vanished as she gave into the seductive teasing. She ran her hands along the firm body pressed against her own. Her kisses turned hungry, fueled on by the feel of a hand gliding up and under the hem of her dress. Stevie leaned back, inviting Val to explore her body. Her breathing turned labored. She gasped when the buttons at the top of her dress were released. Every part of her felt alive. Her hands continued their own explorations. Suddenly, her hands stilled when her fingers brushed against cold steel.

“We can’t,” she heard Val gasp.

“I might agree,” she desperately needed to give her body over to this woman. “If your hands weren’t inside my dress.”

“This is unprofessional.” Val made a lame attempt at protesting.

Stevie might have conceded if Val’s hands hadn’t slipped deeper inside her garments. Her bra was released just before Val captured her in a hungry kiss. Stevie eagerly kissed her back while pulling Val’s body down on top of her own.

“Get off my sister!”

Stevie shrank back. The booming voice was unmistakable. “Really?” She cringed, watching in horror as her sister turned away. She heard Caitlin’s voice turn tender. “Your mommy needs to clean up a mess that she’s made.”

“Oh, she’s a riot,” Val said with a grunt while she fought to free her hand.

“She’s talking to my daughter.” Stevie groaned and pushed Val off of her.

They stumbled off of the sofa, and Stevie felt a fleeting moment of panic when she caught the murderous look in her over- protective sister’s eyes. An old tarnished image flashed through her mind. She was seventeen, caught messing around with her half- naked girlfriend. Her sister was supposed to be working a late shift; instead, she opted to come home early for some quality time with her baby sister.

“Stay with Auntie Caitlin just a moment longer,” Stevie called out in a pleading tone while trying to adjust her clothing. “Sorry,” she said to Val who was trying to distance herself from the situation.

“You better run.” She heard Caitlin snarl the order at Val as she reentered the room. “You, fix your dress,” she said to Stevie.

“I’m an adult,” Stevie snapped, unable to control her temper. She checked her dress one last time while she fought against the strange feeling of being embarrassed at being caught in the act by her sister. “You can bring Emma in now.” She tried to sound in control. Knowing that her face was flushed didn’t help her cause.

“Keep your grubby hands to yourself,” Caitlin whispered and cast one last warning look to the poor deputy who was cowering by the front doorway. “Emma, come on in. Mama’s done cleaning up her mess.”

Stevie was torn between feeling ashamed and being extremely angered by Caitlin’s digs. “Very mature.” Not a clever comeback, but it was the best she could come up with. She understood her sister’s need to protect her. Still, at her age, it was annoying.

“Emma,” she said, “wash up for dinner, your father will be here soon.” She did her level best to sound and act as normal as possible. It was hard to maintain her demeanor with Val cowering by one doorway and Caitlin firmly planted by another. “Val, would you like to join us for dinner?” Her seemingly innocent question was greeted with mixed emotions. Val gaped at her while her sister growled. “Oh, for the love of…” She shook her head, annoyed with both women. “Caitlin, will you be joining us?”

“No, thank you. I need to get back to the station.”

“I thought you were taking the rest of the day off.”

“I was.” The answer was slightly more subdued. “I have an identification and a toxicology report to deal with. Deputy, may I have a moment?”

Stevie cringed. On the surface, the request sounded polite. If it weren’t for the look of pure hatred that clouded her sister’s eyes, she might have relaxed. “Sis…”

“I just need a moment with my colleague.”

“Right.”

“It’s all right.” Val meekly crept across the room. “She has the right—”

“No, she doesn’t.”

“Stevie.” Again, CC kept her tone on a polite level. “This is business. Deputy, why don’t you join me on the other side?”

“Nice knowing you.” Stevie shivered as she watched Val haplessly follow after Caitlin.

*   *  *

CC fought to control her breathing. She had picked up on the vibes Stevie and Deputy Brown had been exchanging since day one. The last thing she expected was to walk in on them messing around. She took a calming breath.

“This day sucks,” she muttered, running her fingers through her hair in an effort to collect her thoughts. “I don’t know what makes me want to kill you more. Wanting to use my niece as bait or catching you with your hands up my sister’s dress.”

“I wasn’t suggesting using Emma as bait.”

“Oh, so you have a very short operative that you can use in her place?”

“No, she’d be heavily guarded. We need to draw him out. She’d be completely safe.”

“No, she wouldn’t,” CC somehow managed to say without exploding. “And even if she was, what about all of the other little girls in the neighborhood? The thirty-some six to eleven-year-olds that fit Bert’s predilection. You got enough manpower to cover them?”

CC didn’t feel any sense of relief when Val’s shoulders slumped. “Didn’t think that far in advance? I like that your main focus is on Emma,” she said. “Life is hard enough without everyone knowing Emma’s grandfather is a sick pervert. You’re right. He’s playing a game with us. Find another way to draw him out.”

“He’s not playing a game.” Val’s angry look troubled CC. “Someone else is pulling the strings, and we have no way to track them. He’ll keep showing up for just a moment, then he’ll be in the wind again. It’s like a carnival fun house. All smoke and mirrors. We keep chasing him, and they do whatever it is they want to do to you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you.”

“Why are you so certain this isn’t about you?” CC couldn’t help challenging her, but she wasn’t dismissing the possibility that she was the focus.

“Because, I’m not supposed to be here.”

“This wasn’t your case?”

“No, I’m not even with the Connecticut office. I’m with the Capital Area Task Force.” Val’s voice was strained. “Truth be told, I’m supposed to be on vacation.”

“Hell of a way to spend your downtime.” CC once again ran her fingers through her hair. “So, what brings you so far from DC?”

“It was pure happenstance that I’m even here,” Val said. “Good thing, too. I don’t know what Deputy Finn’s malfunction is, but if I hadn’t bullied my way in, you’d just be finding out about this mess now. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why this guy didn’t even want to look for Beaumont. On paper, he should have been an easy catch.”

“Mark Finn?”

“Yeah. You know the guy?”

“You could say that.” CC groaned as some of the pieces fell into place. “About seventeen years ago, he caught me with his ex-wife doing what you were trying to do with my sister. Oh, and before you say it, she was most definitely his ex at the time. The divorce was finalized that day. I was Cathy’s celebration. Needless to say, I’m his malfunction. That doesn’t let you off the hook for any of this. You’re still on my list, Deputy Happy Pants.”

“I swear, crossing the line was not my intention.” Val sounded remorseful. CC almost felt bad for her. Almost. “I’ve never done that before. I mean, I’ve done that…”

“I get it.” CC held up her hand in order to silence her. She had seen more than enough, adding more details to the encounter was not topping her list of things to do.

“I’m a professional, and what happened was against procedure, protocol, and completely out of order.” Val was bordering on babbling. “I don’t know what happened. We were talking, and she was so overwrought, and the next thing I knew I was holding her.”

“Telling me that you pounced on my sister while she was vulnerable isn’t helping you.”

“You’re right.”

CC was pleased to hear the resolution in her voice.

“As for Finn,” Val said, “it wouldn’t have mattered if he did go by the book instead of sweeping this under the rug. All the tips were too little too late.”

“I hate having my chain yanked, and I hate people yanking my sister’s chain. Have I made myself clear?”