17
Unwanted Discoveries
Driving from the scene to Annabelle’s, the Crime Scene Technicians words echoed around Lucas’s head. ‘The projectile indicates a person no taller than 5’6”. Cooper then decided that Annabelle was looking even better as a suspect. Lucas dread filled his chest as thoughts swirled through his mind. She couldn’t be. They must be missing a different suspect. It could be a short man, another woman, but not Annabelle. She was at work. At least that’s what she told him but it could’ve been a ruse. He didn’t want to believe it but all his instincts screamed differently. He couldn’t ignore a hunch.
This shooting was different from the others. The killer appeared to have been standing as opposed to sitting as was the case with the other victims. This gave them extra evidence, more details about their suspect. Unfortunately it pointed more towards Annabelle than any other suspect on their list. Regardless Lucas didn’t want to believe it despite what his gut told him. This would mean he allowed a killer into his bed. The thought of this made him more than just uneasy. There had to be someone else. At the scene Cooper had tried calling Annabelle again to set up an interview and told Lucas they must proceed with caution. If she was responsible for the murders, he didn’t want to give her a heads-up and have her do a runner.
“We have to make it appear we are doing a routine follow-up only,” Cooper had said.
Much to Lucas’ relief she hadn’t answered the phone so Cooper had called it a day. Lucas dropped him home and then drove towards Annabelle’s. He knew she would be home within the hour as she was awaiting his arrival, which further added to his guilt. More information he couldn’t share with his partner. As he drove up her street towards her house he questioned again his stupidity. What the hell was he doing? She was their number one suspect and he was about to turn up alone and unprepared. He should go home but something compelled him to walk to her front door.
When she opened the door wearing only sexy black lingerie, his clothes fell to the floor with his composure. Without thought he lifted her up, wrapped her legs around his waist, pushed her up against the wall and plunged inside her. He pounded out his frustration until they both moaned in pleasure. When it was over his guilt and uneasiness returned. Where was the steadfast, hardworking detective? Instead of doing the right thing and avoiding her and walking away, he’d given in to lust.
“Wow,” she said between panting breaths. “What was that about? Not that I’m complaining.”
Her contented expression and familiarity of her eased his concerns a little. One thing he knew for sure. They had to find out quickly if she really was the murderer or find the killer before he became even further entangled by his mistakes. He cursed his lack of control and desire.
“I missed you,” he said instead of the things he should be saying.
“I missed you too.”
With as much as haste as possible he lowered her to the floor and sought out his clothes.
“You don’t need those,” she said taking his hand and leading him towards her bedroom.
Heavy limbs and uncertainty followed him as he followed her, and before he could regain control of his senses, she teased him with her mouth until he was ready again. His only thoughts were of lust. All the sensible notions had flowed from his mind and rested between his legs.
As they lay side by side breathless and satisfied his rationale began to return. He needed to get out of here, and fast. The first thing on his mind was calling Cooper and confessing his sins. Now he needed to find a tactful way of taking his leave without raising her suspicion. When she spoke, he almost couldn’t answer.
“How’s your case going?”
Digging deep, he found his resolve and keep his expression blank. “Not very well actually.”
“Oh, that’s no good for you. I must say though I hope you don’t find him. The more dead drug dealers the better.”
The edge to her voice raised his suspicions and encouraged his hunch. Thoughts of their conversations filled his mind and with dread he realised that no matter how much he tried to tell himself it couldn’t be her, there was no denying what could be the truth.
“I must say I’m not sorry to see scum like this dead, but no-one can take the law into their own hands.”
“Of course,” she said with a shrug and the edge to her voice seemed to have dissipated. “I’m just going to go shower. Don’t go anywhere. I might want to have my way with you again later.”
“I’ll be right here.”
Once he heard the shower running, his thoughts wandered to Cooper’s words at the scene, along with the evidence at hand. Her hatred for drug dealers and need for justice outweighed any doubts he had about her innocence. Just because she seemed like a sweet girl who was dynamite in the sack, didn’t mean she wasn’t capable of redemption.
He’d let the wrong head do the thinking and the anger he felt towards his stupidity and lack of judgement weighed heavily on him now. His life was the job and he’d let an infatuation stand in the way of doing it properly. Well he wasn’t going to let that happen again. The only thing he could do now was redeem himself and the best way to do that was find the evidence that would tie her directly to the murders and end this once and for all. With his resolve now firmly in place, Lucas decided to take a look around while he was waiting. What did he really know about her besides every inch of her body?
He opened a few drawers here and there, not sure what it was he was exactly looking for. While poking around in her cupboard, he found just what he hadn’t anticipated and definitely hadn’t wanted to find.