Night Is Darkest (21 page)

“Yeah, yeah.” Jerome leaned forward, planting his elbows on the table hard enough to make it creak. “One more thing.”

Mason raised an eyebrow.

“You and your hunky sidekick hurt her and
you’ll
have to answer to
me
.”

Mason threw back his head and laughed. Jerome didn’t.

“I promise, hurting her is the last thing on my mind.”

Lacey squirmed from Tyler’s hold as the two men made their way out the interrogation room door. She flung herself at the mountain of a man while the rest of the men studied their shoes. “I knew it wasn’t you.”

“You got that right, Lacemeister.” His diner-plate sized hand patted her back. “Who else is going to dish with me about the fine young specialists roaming the halls of St. Ann’s? Though, I have a feeling you’ll be less interested in the selection of Grade A beef than you once were.”

Mason growled, “Don’t push your luck, Jerome.”

They parted ways at a fork in the labyrinthine corridors when Tyler guided them farther into the bowels of the station rather than toward the front desk. “I want to check in with the tech guys. The decoding of your emails should get bumped to high priority now. Make sure to smile and bat your lashes a lot, these geeks will do anything for a pretty lady.”

“Like you wouldn’t?” Lacey wrinkled her nose. She’d seen some crazy and inventive ploys by women hoping to get Ty’s attention over the years.

Mason laughed. “She’s got you there.”

The closer they got to the labs, the more drastically the atmosphere changed. By the time they’d made a handful of turns, shoulder-length hair replaced buzz cuts as the style of choice while an array of ripped or faded T-shirts advertised a plethora of heavy metal bands. She ducked her head to conceal a tiny smirk when Mason greeted a techie with a clap on the back that resulted in a dislodged pocket protector.

The way the male dominant culture of the station dealt with Rob’s death struck her as polar opposite from the nurses’ reaction to her return. Not one person mentioned the tragedy but several gave brusque nods in the partners’ direction that communicated respect all the same. She supposed they had to compartmentalize their work from the personal in order to survive. Not that different from working on a family member at the hospital, she supposed. Hopefully, she’d never have to find out for sure.

With light pressure from the fingers resting on her elbow, Mason nudged her into a bustling hive of activity. Cubicles lined the outside walls of the cramped room while long conference style workstations allowed for collaborative pursuits. Tyler scanned the chaos for a second then took off for the far corner.

A monitor angled away from the action for the maximum privacy afforded by the communal space. As they neared, she realized a familiar face huddled behind it. The neat man with classic Roman features felt so out of place in the mishmash of wires, data ports and social ineptitude that she had forgotten he belonged to the cyber crimes division. Lacey had always found her brother’s friend attractive. He’d even taken her out to dinner a few times and to the movies once but the chemistry between them hadn’t transcended the platonic phase.

“What’s taking so damn long, JRad?” Mason never beat around the bush.

Lost in his work, Jeremy Radisson blinked several times but didn’t even look up from the screen. Tyler whapped the mesh back of the ergonomic chair cradling the young computer whiz, who disengaged the miniscule, state-of-the-art earphones none of them had realized he wore.

“Hey guys. Lacey.” He flashed her a sad smile. “Sorry, it gets kind of crazy in here. If I don’t tune it out I’d never get anything accomplished.”

“Have you been able to descramble the email yet?” Tyler usually had more patience than Mason but today it looked like they were both fresh out.

Jeremy frowned. “I made some significant progress here in the last ten minutes or so. I wanted to clean up the artifacts a tad before I called you guys in.”

“Yeah, well, we need to put a rush on the job.” Mason bordered on rude.

She covered his fist with hers, prying his fingers open until she could slip her hand into his palm.

Jeremy glanced up from his station for a closer look at the three of them. “Shit, Lacey, what happened to your face? What aren’t you guys telling me?”

“Some piece of shit made her a Harmytal cocktail. It’s a bad idea to drink and drive.”

“Oh, man. You guys aren’t going to like this, then.” Jeremy rubbed the lower half of his face. His dove grey eyes flicked to her then away.

“Whatever you have to say to them, you can say in front of me.” She propped her hands on her hips. They wouldn’t dare send her away now. Would they?

He sighed. “The email looks like it was from some guy named Jackson. I tracked the header info back to a mail server at Rocky Forge Penitentiary. From there it was a breeze to secure the IP address of the terminal it was sent from.”

Jeremy paused instead of blurting out his findings. She appreciated the opportunity he provided for her to come clean before he filled in the details. Though unnecessary, his thoughtfulness improved her high regard for the conservative officer.

“We already know about what that bastard did to Lacey.”

He wouldn’t meet her gaze when he said, “I did some research to figure out why some slimeball in lockup would be contacting her. I, uh, secured a copy of the state’s report on the incident four years ago as well as this jerk’s records. Now, you can’t use any of this in an official capacity yet—the request hasn’t come through the proper channels—but it looks like he’s up for parole in a few weeks, if he can convince the state he’s a reformed man. The subject of his email pretty much sums it up. The gist is that he wanted to talk to Lacey in an attempt to convince her that his time in jail had made him see what a fuck-up he was. I haven’t decoded all the lines of the message yet but I deciphered enough that my program can fill in most words with possible alternates. From that, it seems like he was asking for her to attend the trial and plead on his behalf or, at the very least, to not show up at all.”

“I didn’t know they let people smoke crack in jail.” Tyler shook his head.

“No kidding.” Jeremy shrugged. “But here’s the weird part. Like we talked about when you called this in to me, Ty, the message was clean. There was no virus in it. I mean the dude wanted Lacey to read it. Trashing her computer would be counterproductive.”

“So you’re saying someone else didn’t want me to talk to Jackson?”

Tyler rubbed her tense shoulders.

“Yeah.” Jeremy hesitated.

“Tell us the rest, JRad,” Mason rumbled through clenched teeth.

“The virus was introduced through the USB ports on Lacey’s computer.”

“Fuck!” Mason pounded a fist into the workstation. The commotion of the room paused for a second or two while nearby technophiles stopped to stare.

“Does that mean what I think?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, Lacey. Unless your computer has left your house before this trip downtown, someone’s been inside.”

She had to sit before she fell. She pulled out a chair then collapsed into it, ignoring the concerned stare the three men exchanged. “It’s been on that same desk since I got it two years ago.”

Jeremy attempted to relieve her. “If the guys hadn’t called this in I might have thought it was one of them trying to protect you in their Neanderthal way. Could Rob have done this to keep you from talking to this jerk ever again?”

“I-I guess it’s possible.” Her mind spun. “But it doesn’t seem like something he’d do. He was a straightforward kind of guy. After this happened, we promised never to keep secrets from each other. I think he trusted me more than this.”

“I agree.” Tyler had always been a good judge of character. “It doesn’t feel like the way Rob would approach a problem.”

“Then someone else had access. Could you assemble a list of who’s been over to visit?” Jeremy thought aloud.

“Jesus Christ. There must have been two hundred people who showed up to the going away party after the funeral.” Mason paced back and forth behind her chair as he realized the magnitude of possibilities. “Even you were there, JRad.”

“Can you pinpoint the time of infection?” Tyler asked.

“I can try. I just haven’t gotten that far yet. I need more time.”

“One thing doesn’t make sense to me.” Lacey interrupted before Mason could hammer Jeremy for more information. “All those calls and messages…the voice was a woman. And not one I know. Believe me, even if Jackson tried to disguise his voice I would remember. I hear it enough in my nightmares.”

Tyler’s grip tightened until she winced and shrugged off his hand.

“I can check the call logs from the jail. That should be easy enough to verify. But I doubt it was him. I already started a run on the calls into the landline but since they came in before the call tracker, it’s taking longer to trace through the phone company. Paperwork and all that nonsense…”

“Thanks, Jeremy.” Ty heaved a sigh. “I’m not sure there’s much else we can do at this point.”

“You three should head out until we know more. I’m going to fill in Lieutenant Graves. Even though he’s the lead detective on the case, I’m guessing he’ll bring you guys in to question this asshole up at the correctional facility tomorrow but it’ll take time to bust through the red tape. There’s no use in hanging around.” Jeremy stared pointedly at Mason.

“I got you. People expect us to be here. You were our last stop. After this, I think we’ll head back to our apartment. Call us as soon as you know anything else.”

“Of course.” Jeremy trailed a finger over Lacey’s cheekbone, which sported one of the darker bruises she hadn’t had time to cover with makeup before their dash to the station. “Stay out of trouble, huh?”

“I’ll try.” She leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you.”

Lacey zoned on the ride home. Sitting between the two guys on the bench seat of Mason’s truck reminded her of their happy summer days even though the cloudy grey weather did not. She snuggled into Ty’s good side and tried to ignore the tension in his thighs. Both men were strung tight, checking the rear and side view mirrors every few seconds to guarantee no one tailed them.

When they pulled up in front of her house, the guys exited the cab with their guns drawn. Before they’d let her go in to pack an overnight bag, they checked every inch of the exterior then the interior. She’d never felt unsafe in her own home before. When she shivered, Mason patted her on the ass.

“Go ahead, doll. Grab a few changes of clothes. Enough for two or three days, I’d say.”

Tyler said, “I have my duffle already, I’m going to raid the pantry. You should be able to borrow some of Rob’s clothes.”

“I thought we were going to your apartment?”

“No, little one. It’s the first place someone who knows you would look after here. Mason just said that back at the station in case anyone was listening.”

“You guys think someone we know did this? And Rob? Was it another cop that killed him?” She tried to swallow the hysteria threatening to bubble up.

“We just don’t know right now, Lacey. Anything’s possible. We’re not going to risk your safety.” Mason laid things on the line.

“It’s not as bad as it seems, little one. We’re probably going to have to take a ride up to Rocky Forge tomorrow or the next day anyway. Just think of this as a head start. There’s a sweet mountain resort about a hundred miles from the penitentiary. I’ve always wanted to check it out. We’ll make a vacation of it.” Tyler stepped over his luggage to surround her in his embrace then he whispered, “I’m going to call right now and see if they have a cabin with a Jacuzzi.”

She recognized his ploy to distract her but, sadly, that didn’t make it any less effective. Fantasies of Tyler and Mason’s hard, wet bodies next to her in refreshing, bubbly water flooded her mind. “Mmm.”

Ty laughed then tossed her a wink. “No need to pack your bikini, though.”

On that note, she dashed up the stairs as fast as she could without reinstating her dizziness. She collected essential items, like the naughty nightwear her friends had given her for her twenty-first birthday. She tried to cling onto arousal to ward off the fear, violation and guilt also swirling inside her. At least her headache had vanished. She checked the bedside clock when she realized she’d lost all sense of time. It read close to ten o’clock. How could nearly an entire day have gone by since the accident?

On impulse, she fished under the pile of pillows they’d left in their wake earlier. She snagged Rob’s gun then tossed it on top of her other sundry items. The rich scent of sex wafted up from the sheets, causing a flash of desire to spread as she remembered the beautiful display of Mason and Tyler’s passion.

“Are you ready, Lace?” Mason leaned one hip against the jamb. He had a backpack slung over one shoulder. His arms folded across his chest, legs crossed in his usual pose. Her heart skipped a beat.

Oh, yeah
.

“Uh. Yes. I’m good.” She stumbled while trying not to swallow her tongue.

He met her halfway across the room to take her medium-sized bag in one hand. When he bent toward her, she put a restraining hand on his chest then swooped in for a ferocious kiss. From far away she heard their suitcases hit the floor as she lost herself in the hot depths of his mouth.