Sweet Seduction Shield (16 page)

Again I wasn't
sure how to react to Pierce's behaviour. He'd used his body to
protect me in the crash. He'd sat with me, singing to Daisy, as I
recovered. He was taking crap from his friends and colleagues,
because of me, in the kitchen right now. And he'd made sure my
daughter had her mother, even if her mother was out cold, at great
professional and legal risk to himself.

I wanted to
not feel anything other than gratitude for Pierce. But I'd be lying
if I didn't admit to feeling more.

"Ready?" Kelly
said, once I was dressed.

"Can I check
on Daisy first?"

"Of course.
Eva's with her," Gen announced.

"Eva?" Where
did all these people come from?

"Nick's
fiancée. My sister-in-law to be," Gen explained.

"Who's Nick
again?" I asked, frowning to myself as I followed them out the
door.

"Owns and runs
ASI," Kelly supplied, making the puzzle pieces begin to fall into
place.

We found Daisy
and Eva in the penguin room. The mural was almost complete, I'd say
just a few more touches and it would be done. Three penguins
huddled together at one end, a floating behemoth iceberg and storm
tossed sea in the centre, and the 'King' of King Penguins standing
alone at the other end of the wall. It was quite simply
fantastic.

Daisy and Eva
both sat on canvas deck chairs, in the middle of the barren room.
Daisy was in clothes from home, which Abi had obviously washed.
Listening to a cowgirl singing while she strummed a guitar. The
scene was so unexpected I stood stock still just inside the room
and watched. Eva had noticed I'd walked in, but finished her
Country song off with a flourish, before getting Daisy's attention,
by nodding towards me.

At the sight
of the beautiful beaming smile that met me, the tears fell. Silent
and sweet. She launched herself out of her chair and flew into my
outstretched arms. Her grip was so tight I felt it in every ache
and bruise all over my body. But there was no way I'd ever let her
know. I held her for a long, long time. Eyes closed, nose buried in
her hair, two hearts beating in tandem.

"Daisy," I
whispered, eventually.

Then she
launched into an excited description of her past day. Which
included painting, baking, watching TV and singing Country music
with Eva; her new best friend. I offered a smile to the cowgirl,
who tipped her hat and smiled back, absently strumming a few chords
on her guitar.

"You all
better now, Mummy?" Daisy asked, looking up at me with big
eyes.

I stroked her
cheek with a finger and nodded my head. "Fighting fit,
Daisy-girl."

"Deetetiv
Pierce said you'd wake up. I believed him," she announced
proudly.

"Of course I
was going to wake up, baby. I'd never leave you for long." Wow, was
that a promise a mother should never make.

"He sang to you too," Daisy pointed out. It seemed that
everyone wanted me to know this little fact, as though reinforcing
how much of a good guy the detective was would make me be
nicer
. I'm sure that was Daisy's intention
anyway.

"Yes, I
heard," I replied smiling, despite myself.

"You did? He
said you might," she said excitedly. Had Pierce known I could hear
him while I was out cold? Did he do it knowing I'd remember his
voice in my dreams?

"I'll have to
thank him, then," I offered, wanting my daughter to know I was
behaving myself, even if my mind kept spewing up doubts about this
man.

"That would be
the right thing to do, Mummy," she advised, as though she was the
parent and I was the five year old child.

"When did you
grow up to be so big and clever?" I asked, giving her one more bone
crunching hug.

"I always been
clever, Mummy. I take after you. Deetetiv Pierce said that."

A huff of a
laugh left me, as a genuine smile graced my lips. Well, that
settled it, didn't it? I had to go offer the 'deetetiv' some
support, after all. It was the least I could do having just heard
that.

I kissed Daisy on the forehead and left her to her Country
music concert in her penguin painted room, and followed behind an
amused Gen and Kelly towards the kitchen.

Voices could
be heard before we'd walked too much farther down the hall. Raised,
agitated, and clambering over each other for attention.

"Well, I still
don't see what was so all-fired important that you had to take that
kind of risk?" Abi insisted.

"We weren't to
know there would be another person in play," a stranger's voice
replied.

"No?" Abi
again. "You didn't think once, that McLaren's thug would call on
contacts and lay a trap? At the only place Marie could have gone
other than her work? What do they teach you in Police college?"

"Red," Ben
warned.

"No! Don't
give me that, Ben. You were hurt and it didn't need to happen.
Admit it, Pierce. You wanted something at Marie's, and it had
nothing to do with her clothing."

I sucked in a
breath and held out my arm to the two women with me, preventing
them from walking further and announcing our presence. I needed to
hear Pierce's reply to this.

"Abi's got a
point," Ben offered quietly. "Just what was so damn important that
you'd make a rookie mistake?"

Silence.

"Pierce?"
Another male voice I didn't recognise, but wasn't the stranger's of
before. "You compromised one of my men, I'd sure as hell like to
know why?"

More
silence.

"You can stand
there all fuckin' day and scowl at us, but you will answer this god
damned question." Ben again, and he sounded really pissed off
now.

"It's clear
there's something between you two." Adam this time. "We've seen it
before," he offered. "A bloke making stupid fucked-in-the-head
mistakes all because of a woman. Is that what this is all
about?"

A few
disgruntled, but also understanding grunts sounded out around the
room.

Someone made a
frustrated growl. I was picking it was Pierce. I could just picture
him running a hand over his goatee as he glared at every one in the
room.

"It was a
calculated move, nothing more," Pierce said, the words sounding
like they were forced out between gritted teeth.

I stopped
breathing.

"Calculated?"
Abi asked. I couldn't tell if she was still pissed off, or
incredulous, or just wary.

"Yeah," Pierce
replied, and this time sounded defeated. "She's got something on
McLaren. I took a chance it was in her home and that she'd use the
opportunity to retrieve it."

I fell back
against the wall, and just breathed. Kelly let out a snort of
disgust, as Gen gently stroked my upper arm in support.

"You son of a bitch," Abi said on an exhaled breath of air.
"You fucking used her, compromised my man, all for the sake of
your
fucking
investigation."

"You fuckin'
bastard, Pierce," Ben said in support of his woman. "Always the
fuckin' investigation. Never the fuckin' victim."

"That's bullshit!" Pierce exclaimed, just as someone else
said, "Well, did you at least get this
thing
she's meant to have?"

Silence again,
only broken by the thudding of my heart in my chest.

"There was
nothing in her bag other than clothes, books and toys."

Oh, hell
no.

I pushed off
the wall and stormed into the room, Gen and Kelly hot on my
heels.

"You fucking
arsehole!" I shouted, crossing the space as soon as I spotted him,
and lifting my hand up to slap his cheek.

Steel arms
banded about my waist, and before my palm could connect with flesh
I was hauled backwards.

"Easy," Ben
said in my ear. "He's feelin' bad enough as it is."

I shook my
head, my eyes boring into Pierce's shocked and sad ones, and then
let out a frustrated scream.

Everyone
jumped. Pierce took a step towards me.

And I twisted
free of Ben's grasp and stormed out the back door.

I couldn't
look at him. I couldn't contain my anger. I could hardly
breathe.

He'd used me.
A means to an end.
That was all I was to him.

And all he'd
ever get from me.

I sat on the
swing, under the flowering Cherry Tree, and tried to still my
breathing. Unclench my fists. Slow my heart.

I was so
fucking incensed.

But what had I
expected? He'd even warned me.

"This is what
I do, Marie. This is my job."

I took a
shuddering deep breath in, and then another. And another. Until I
was finally able to see a few feet in front of me, instead of the
haze of red that had coated my vision just now.

Standing
there, arms crossed over black t-shirt, was Ben.

I huffed out a
semi-snort of surprise. I'd expected one of the women, if not all
of them. I'd even contemplated Pierce following me out here to
offer up excuses or just tell me how it is in the big, bad world of
Detective Pierce.

But Ben?

That just took
all the wind right out of my sails.

"I'd offer you
a seat, but there's only one swing," I said with a small,
embarrassed smile. He'd had to intervene before I assaulted a cop,
after all.

"I'm good," he
replied. "Are you?"

"What do you
think?"

He grunted,
and stared off into the distance.

"Is it safe
out here?" I asked, not entirely sure if I cared right then.

"Yeah. ASI is
monitoring, and Koki and Brook are on perimeter checks."

I shook my
head. Pierce was putting a lot into keeping me and my daughter
safe.

That fucking
ledger. He didn't even know what I had, but he sure as hell wanted
it too.

Ben remained
silent. Just stood there. Like a sentry or personal guard. But I
didn't get the feeling he was here to guard me. I think he was here
in support. Silent support, but support anyway.

I swung the
seat of the swing slowly and took a good look at him. He had a
bandage on the side and back of his head, some shadows beneath his
eyes, but otherwise he looked OK. I bet he had a headache. I did
and I hadn't even been knocked on the head. Or had I?

I reached up
absently and ran fingers through my hair, against my scalp. There
were a few raised nicks, probably from the glass shattering, but no
sore spots that I could detect.

"The docs
reckoned your brain was bruised from the sudden deceleration of the
car," Ben offered, eyes still on the horizon, but clearly having
seen my self assessment. "And then the lateral movement as the
vehicle rolled compounded the concussion. No fractured skull, all
internal damage, but minor. Good to see you up and about," he
finished.

"Good to see
you up and about, too," I supplied, and meant it.

He shrugged.
"I was only out for twenty or so minutes. Long enough for you guys
to cause mayhem on Auckland city streets. It was all over by the
time Jason woke me up."

"Twenty
minutes," I said absently. "It felt much longer."

"It always
does."

Silence hung
like thick fog between us. He didn’t look at me, and I didn't look
at him. We might as well have been mired in haze; only two feet
apart and we couldn't see the other.

"I'm sorry," I
finally said, finding the courage to say what I'd wanted to say
from the moment I'd heard that he was hurt.

"It's my job,"
he said, and I think it was automatic to say it, but it fired up
that anger inside my stomach all over again.

"No it's not,"
I argued, stopping the swing with my feet thumping onto solid
ground. "That's not part of the job. Being hurt, possibly killed.
You don't go to work and think, OK I might die today, but I'm going
anyway. You go thinking you'll be all right, you'll live to see
another day, despite what might be thrown at you. Otherwise how do
you get out of bed?"

Ben was
looking at me now, staring right into my eyes. His arms were still
crossed over his chest, making the Tiki tattoo poking out from
under his sleeve, seem bigger than usual. Uglier than usual.
Fiercer than usual. Just like the man.

"What do think
Pierce thinks when he goes to work each day?" he asked, stunning
the ever loving crap out of me. How had we segued to Pierce?

"I have no
idea," I shot back, the first thing to come to my mind.

"Do you
think," Ben asked, "that he says to himself, I'll use someone to
get what I need on this criminal I'm investigating, hurt them in
the process, just so I can close my case?"

My jaw
clicked, from where I was gritting my teeth so firmly.

"Nah," Ben
offered. "The prick is focused, I'll give him that. But in all
honesty, I don't think he plans it. I think it just happens."

"You mean
right circumstance, right time?" I asked, a note of derision in my
tone.

"I mean," Ben
said steadily, "he has a job to do, people to protect, and
sometimes he has to make a bad call, to get the right outcome.
Sometimes he has do things he doesn't want to do, to save more than
just one person in the end."

"The greater
good," I said, starting the swing in motion again. "Fuck the
greater good. This is my daughter and my lives we're talking about.
Your life. Abi having to go on living without you coming home at
night. The greater fucking good is an excuse for all the shit cops
do in the name of the law."

"Law ain't got
nothin' to do with it, Marie. Justice has."

I sighed.
There was that word again.

"Justice is
not the law. They are two different things entirely."

I wanted to
remain angry at Pierce. I was still angry. I am still angry. But I
was also beginning to see things from his point of view. This
wasn't going to stop. Now more so than ever, I was aware of that
fact. They'd been talking about an accomplice in the kitchen just
now, a contact that McLaren’s goon had roped into the trap at our
flat. Another player. There were people who would help the drug
lord, even though he was still behind bars. People who owed him
something.