True Colors (34 page)
“Looks like the alderwoman and the senator struggled over a gun, and the senator took a bullet.” Gale jerked a thumb over his shoulder toward the back of the house. “The alderwoman is in the kitchen with the EMTs. She’s pretty traumatized.”
“When did this happen?” Logan asked. “We’ve been with Justin for hours, and you guys didn’t get here until after I called in a request for backup.”
“Late last night or early this morning. The first officer on the scene found the alderwoman sitting on the floor in the living room with the gun still in her hand. She was in shock.”
“Is it okay if I go talk to her?” Alex asked. “We know each other.”
“Sure, but she’s completely zoned out,” Gale said. “Seeing a friend might snap her out of it so we can get a statement.”
Logan watched Alex go, his muscles twitching to follow her. As much as he knew logically that Butch McGee wouldn’t come near a house swarming with cops to get at her, he still didn’t like letting her out of his sight.
“So, you and Alex, huh?” Gale said. “I’ve watched her grow from a spunky little thing. You break her heart, and you’re going to have to leave town.”
Logan laughed under his breath, not all that amused. “What makes you think I’d break her heart?”
“I’m just saying. I wouldn’t be the only one wanting to kick your ass. You don’t realize it, but you work with a long line of guys hoping you mess up so they can get their chance with her.”
Logan bristled, whether with jealousy that other men coveted her or annoyance that they expected him to be an asshole to her, he didn’t know, maybe both. Either way, he decided it best to steer the conversation back to the case. “What’s your take here? Self-defense or premeditated?”
“Self-defense all the way. She’s got the bruises to prove it.”
“Bruises? The senator beat her up?”
“My guess is he almost killed her knocking her around and trying to strangle her before she got the gun and shot him. She’s lucky to be—hey, where are you going?”
Logan’s vision narrowed down to one thing. He found the kitchen. It had a bright and airy breakfast nook surrounded by more glass doors that opened onto a terra-cotta patio and a private beach. A salty Gulf breeze stirred through bamboo curtains.
Alex sat in a chair, facing the hunch-shouldered Toni Wells, who sobbed quietly into a wad of Kleenex. Alex had a hand clamped on the woman’s sweater-covered shoulder.
Logan winced at the sight of the bruises on the other woman, especially the dark, finger-sized ring around her throat. A white bandage was taped to her temple, and her nose bore the signs of a recent blood fountain. She held a cold pack to the back of her head.
“I don’t really remember what happened,” Toni was saying, breath hitching and tears streaming. “I just remember Preston hitting Justin and yelling at him, and the next thing I knew, Preston was dead on the living room floor. They keep asking me questions I can’t answer. I . . . It’s just all a blur.” She looked up and stared into Alex’s eyes. “I need to find Justin. He’s been gone for weeks. Preston said he was wanted by the cops for dealing drugs. I . . . I didn’t want to report him missing and get him into more trouble until . . . Oh, Lord, I should have known that wasn’t true, should have suspected. But I didn’t . . . I couldn’t . . .” She bowed her head and started to weep in earnest. “I’m a horrible mother, and they’re going to arrest me now and send me to prison, and my baby won’t have a mother.”
A tear traced a path down Alex’s pale cheek, and Logan swallowed. She felt other people’s pain like her own, would do anything to try to ease a friend’s despair, and his heart ached with love for this woman. How did he get so damn lucky? And when had he gotten so damn stupid that he’d risk losing her because he was too stubborn to open his mind to supernatural possibilities?
“I wish I could remember,” Toni said between hiccups. “It had to be self-defense, right? I wouldn’t kill even a cruel animal of a man, not in cold blood. I mean, I wanted to kill him. When he hurt poor Justin, that bastard. But I wouldn’t actually do it.” She turned pleading, drenched eyes on Alex. “Would I?”
A determined expression took over Alex’s features, and her jaw clenched. She straightened in her chair, the hand on Toni’s shoulder tightening.
Logan got what she intended to do just as she removed the hand from Toni’s shoulder and shifted. He reached her in two long strides and caught her wrist before she could place it on the back of the alderwoman’s hand.
Alex flinched and glanced up at him in shock.
“You don’t need to solve this mystery,” he said softly. “That’s someone else’s job.”
Her eyes, so tired they appeared bruised underneath, widened. Unable to stand the exhaustion shadowing her face, he took her elbow and urged her to her feet.
“I’m so sorry to interrupt,” he said to the alderwoman, “but I need to steal Alex away. I promise you that your son is safe, and you’ll see him very soon. Now, if you’ll please excuse us, Alex is late for an important appointment.”
He tugged Alex toward the door that led back to the living room, but she resisted. “What are you doing?”
“I’m getting you out of here before you do something stupid,” he all but snarled under his breath.
She jerked her arm out of his grasp and stopped. “Stupid?
Stupid?
”
Stupid?
”
He faced her, determined not to waver despite the fury in her eyes, just as determined to keep his voice low and between them. “You were going to touch her, weren’t you? To see what happened to her. To
experience
it firsthand. Well, isn’t it pretty damn fucking obvious what happened to her? That son of a bitch almost killed her. And you were going to relive it. Why? It’s not necessary. My fellow detective—Gale Culver, remember him?—he knows how to do his job, and he does it well. He doesn’t need you to figure things out for him.”
experience
it firsthand. Well, isn’t it pretty damn fucking obvious what happened to her? That son of a bitch almost killed her. And you were going to relive it. Why? It’s not necessary. My fellow detective—Gale Culver, remember him?—he knows how to do his job, and he does it well. He doesn’t need you to figure things out for him.”
“I can help her, Logan. She doesn’t—”
“It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t remember. There’s no mistaking what happened here. No one’s going to try to send her away for something that was clearly self-defense. Justin’s story supports hers, so—”
His ringing cell phone cut him off, and he swore at the intrusion. “Damn it.” He whipped it out and checked the caller ID. “It’s Don. I need to take this.” He gave her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry.”
Alex turned and walked out of the house without another word. He followed a few steps behind, not taking his gaze off her while he answered the detective’s call. She didn’t quite walk a straight line, and worry hammered at him. He hated that his buttheadedness had added to her stress.
“Don, hi. What have you got?”
“Listen, I think Butch McGee broke into Alex’s house.”
“Shit, did he—”
“Everything’s cool, don’t worry. The dogs must have chased him away.”
“And they’re okay?” Logan couldn’t imagine Alex’s devastation if anything happened to any of her mutts.
“They’re all fine, but they barked up a storm. Neighbor called the police. We’ve got a squad car sitting out front for now.”
“Good, that’s good.”
“We can’t keep one there indefinitely, though. If we had the staff, we would have staked out her place and your place.”
“Yeah, I know the deal. There’s only so much the department can handle. So did anyone see McGee at Alex’s?”
“Nope. But we found footprints outside a bedroom window that match the plaster we took of the prints at the storage facility. He got in and looked around but didn’t disturb anything other than busting the frame on the window to get in.”
“So he’s not lying low.”
“Nope. I’ve got officers checking the lodging in the area, but as you know, there are a lot of hotel rooms.”
“He’s probably using an alias now that he knows we’re onto him,” Logan said. “He’s no moron, considering how long he’s avoided getting caught.”
Alex opening the passenger door of his pickup and climbing into the truck commanded his attention. Without glancing his way, she leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. Exhaustion radiated off her like waves of heat.
“Logan, you listening?” Don said.
“Yeah. What was that last thing?”
“Two FBI agents are flying in tonight. Flight from Washington lands around eight. They’re going to want to talk to Alex first thing.”
“I figured as much. Let me know when and where.”
“Sure thing.”
Logan disconnected the call as Gale joined him on the sidewalk.
“Bitch of a day,” the other detective said.
Logan nodded. He couldn’t agree more. “Are you transporting the alderwoman downtown?”
“She’s going to the ER first,” Gale said. “I’ll get her full statement there.”
“I’ll have a friend bring Justin to the ER then, if that’s cool.”
“Maybe it’ll clear her mind if she sees with her own eyes that her son is okay.”
Before Logan got into the truck, he quickly called Noah and arranged for him to reunite Justin with his mother at the hospital. Then he slid behind the wheel. Alex said nothing as he fired up the engine, her hands clasped between her knees.
He wanted to reach out and touch her, soothe her. But he hesitated. What if she saw inside his head? What if she flashed on the part of him he found it almost impossible to live with? And that just made him angry with himself. He couldn’t just hurt her with his pigheadedness. He also had to be an absolute fucking coward when she needed comfort.
Alex would touch a hurting friend, as she’d tried to touch Toni Wells, knowing the action could thrust her into a life-threatening situation. And he couldn’t bring himself to risk letting her see his darkest side. He told himself it was because he didn’t want to stress her more, but he also wanted to never have to tell, or show, anyone what he’d done, the innocence he’d taken.
“Logan?”
He glanced sideways at her, concerned all over again by the tremor of fatigue in her voice. She looked back at him with equal concern, and he had to glance away. He’d never felt so ashamed. He’d doubted the one person he trusted more than he trusted even himself. He’d feared
he
would be exposed, and he’d made her pay for it.
he
would be exposed, and he’d made her pay for it.
“I’m sorry,” he said, the apology rushing out. “I’m so, so sorry.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
A
lex rubbed at her temples. Her brain felt thick and slow, as though she’d swallowed double the dosage of Benadryl. She didn’t know why Logan was apologizing, but she was smart enough by now not to assume it meant what she hoped it meant. He’d certainly
seemed
to accept her empathy when he’d intervened before she could touch Toni, but who knew? He had a much stronger sense of denial than anyone she’d ever known.
lex rubbed at her temples. Her brain felt thick and slow, as though she’d swallowed double the dosage of Benadryl. She didn’t know why Logan was apologizing, but she was smart enough by now not to assume it meant what she hoped it meant. He’d certainly
seemed
to accept her empathy when he’d intervened before she could touch Toni, but who knew? He had a much stronger sense of denial than anyone she’d ever known.
“I’m sorry, Alex,” he repeated. “For everything. I’ve been an ass.”
She arched an eyebrow when he swallowed and looked away.
“I
do
trust you,” he went on. “I always have. And this empathy thing . . . I believe you. Of course, I believe you. None of this has been about you or my lack of faith in you. It’s me. It’s all me, and I just—”
do
trust you,” he went on. “I always have. And this empathy thing . . . I believe you. Of course, I believe you. None of this has been about you or my lack of faith in you. It’s me. It’s all me, and I just—”
She released a frustrated huff of breath. Damn him anyway. “It’s not me, it’s you? Is that what you’re saying? You’re going to write us off that easily? After everything we’ve—”
She broke off as a choked sob caught her off guard, and she buried her face in her hands. Oh, God, she couldn’t take it. She was frazzled beyond belief, couldn’t think, couldn’t feel, and now he was going to leave her. She’d have to deal with everything,
everything
, alone.
everything
, alone.
“Alex, God, no. I’m—” He twisted in his seat and grasped her wrists to pull her hands away from her face. “Look at me, honey. Look at me.”
She did so reluctantly, emotion hitching in her chest. This was what it felt like to lose hope. She didn’t think she could cope with her empathic life without her anchor, the one thing that kept her centered.
“I’m not leaving you,” he said, his fingers gripped hard around her wrists. “I swear. I love you.”
She narrowed her eyes, not sure she could believe him.
He must have seen her uncertainty, because he leaned forward and kissed her, gently at first, his lips warm against hers, and then more urgently, one hand releasing her wrist to curl around her nape and draw her closer.
Pleasure and the absolute rightness of his embrace swirled together through her, chasing some of the leaden cold from her bones.
When he ended the kiss, too soon in her opinion, he rested his forehead against hers and mingled their exhalations. “We’re going to get through this, Alex. I promise. Whatever it takes.”
She wanted to believe him. God, she wanted to believe him. But she wondered how much of what he said was Logan being honest and how much was Logan saying what he thought she needed to hear.
Silence again reigned as he drove to Charlie’s and parked in the driveway. No one else was home, and Alex was glad. She needed a nap, stat.
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