Chapter 10

Meredith cursed the heavy traffic the entire trip to West Garfield Park. She hated summer storms. Leaving her car on an empty side street, she jumped out and braved the pouring rain. It was a warm day, and even though she was soaking wet, her body felt clammy from the humidity. She ran up a set of rotting wooden steps that led onto a slanted porch, and rang the doorbell. As soon as the door opened, she stepped inside.

“Took you long enough.”

Meredith kicked her feet out of her soaked flats. “I swear, no one in this city knows how to drive in the rain.”

Colton sighed. “Babe, tell me you didn’t drive your shiny Beamer here.”

She disliked that he called her babe, but at least he didn’t call her baby—that, she wouldn’t be able to stomach. “It’s the only car I own so, yeah, I kind of did.”

“Don’t complain if it gets stolen.”

She looked down at her bare feet with a mix of weariness and yearning. “Do you have hot chocolate?” she asked, abruptly.

“What?”

“Hot chocolate, you know, hot milk mixed with chocolate.”

“No, I don’t. And it’s June. Why would you want that?” Colton reached out and closed his arms around her. “I know a much better way to warm you up. Can’t wait to make your pussy as wet as the rest of you.”

She smiled up at him. “Who says it isn’t already?”

“You’re all fired up. I love it,” he said, peeling her wet hair away from her neck.

As soon as he pressed his lips to hers, Meredith intensified the kiss, coiling her tongue around his. Her sexual encounters with Colton were crude, forthright, and devoid of sensual eroticism. The primitiveness of it all helped her stay connected to her emotions. She needed the pleasure Colton gave her.

Colton backed Meredith up the stairs, toward his bedroom. But that wasn’t what Meredith wanted. She lowered herself on the carpeted steps, pulling him down on top of her. Sliding her hands under Colton’s t-shirt, she pressed her nails into the skin of his upper chest. She scratched him all the way to his stomach. He grunted against her mouth.

“Fuck! That hurt. You’re so fucking crazy, babe. So fucking crazy.” He took hold of her hands and pinning them over her head against the steps.

“Right here. I want it right here,” she replied, arching her back. “On the stairs.”

“You really make it hard for a guy to treat you right.”

“You treat me right when you give me what I want.”

“And what’s that? My cock pounding your ass? Me coming all over your face? Me choking you? Biting you?”

“C’mon, don’t say you don’t want it, too.”

“Of course I want it, babe. I love it.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” With her hands still pinned over her head she rubbed her crotch against his, feeling his erection. “If you wait any longer you’ll come in your pants.”

Colton licked her collarbone. He let go of her wrists and, flipping her around, unzipped her jeans. He pulled them down—along with her underwear—to her ankles. With both knees spread wide on one of the steps, Meredith pressed her torso against the carpet. She felt him rub her from front to back, coating her with her own arousal. His finger entered her but he stopped at the first knuckle.

“I need to get a condom.”

“No. Just stick it in my ass.”

She glanced at him over her shoulder and saw that Colton had one hand on her and the other gripping his erection. She opened her legs wider and leaned back, bringing her body closer toward him.

“Spit on your cock.”

Colton grinned. “Damn babe, how much porn do you watch?”

“I’m just classy like that.”

Meredith pressed her forehead to the edge of the step. With his thighs under hers, she felt him entering her. “Make it hurt,” she whispered.

She closed her eyes tightly and bit her lower lip. Just as she had requested, he didn’t take any time for her comfort and, before she could catch her breath, he was all the way inside of her.

With his arm around her waist, he pressed her back tightly against his chest and his fingers started to stroke her. “Jesus, babe, your ass. Fuck!” he shouted.

They were both panting and, between the pain and the pleasure, she became aware of Colton sucking the flesh of her neck between his lips. He kept his mouth on the spot for a long time and, at some point, she felt his teeth joining his lips on her neck. He had marked her, and that only aroused Meredith more.

“Come for me, babe. C’mon, your ass clamping down on my cock. C’mon. I know you’re close.” His laborious breathing almost drowned his words.

He no longer touched her with his fingers and she was moaning, her whole body pulsating with pleasure and pain.

“Can you feel that?” He punctuated his question with a powerful jab of his hips. She cried out. “Can you feel my balls slapping your pussy as I shove my cock deep in your ass?”

“Yes,” she replied, clawing the carpet.

“I don’t fucking hear you.”

Colton moved once more and Meredith whimpered. “Yes! I can feel you!”

His body tensed up and shuddered against hers. There wasn’t much more she could do than just feel his orgasm roll through him. She wasn’t going anywhere until he pulled out.

“Jesus, babe.” He sounded breathless.

Meredith winced when he left her body. She was about to move when his hand closed on her hip. “Stay like that. I want to watch it drip out of you.”

She did as she was told. When Colton was done getting an eyeful of her with her legs spread wide, jeans and underwear tangled around her ankles, bent over the steps of his staircase, she got dressed and followed him to the kitchen.

Colton got a beer from the fridge. “You want one?”

“I’m good.”

He leaned against the kitchen counter, beer in hand. “I’ll pick up hot chocolate next time I’m at the grocery store.”

“No need. Tell me, what’s going on with the investigation?”

While she no longer planned to publish the article, she needed to uncover who had murdered both Lena and Sofia and, for that, she had to stay on top of any new developments.

“Fuck, babe, if your stepmom finds out—”

“She won’t. How many times do I have to tell you that you can trust me? Pam doesn’t give a fuck about you or your career. But I can help you make sense of this case and get recognized for it. What do you have to lose?”

“My career.”

“I won’t let that happen.”

“Sung has me following Reeve. She doesn’t want anyone to know that. She asked me to keep my mouth shut. If she were to find out that I’m with you and not keeping an eye on him she’d have my ass.”

“Does she have someone following me as well?”

“Not that I know of.”

She had both expected and wanted him to answer yes. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

Meredith cursed under her breath. “Did she say why she doesn’t want anyone at the station to know you’re following Julian?”

“Something about the need to protect the case. But she must think I’m stupid if she believes, even for a second, that I buy that. Who would she be protecting the case from, anyway? There has to be another reason.”

“Maybe she doesn’t want anyone to know because she shouldn’t be having you follow him. She’s trying to protect herself, not the case.”

“Does Reeve know where Tatiana Thompson is?” Colton asked. “Your stepmom’s hoping he’ll take us to her.”

“That’s bullshit. Do you really think Tatiana is still in Chicago? I bet she’s far away by now.”

Colton reached toward the folder on the counter and slid it toward Meredith. “Here is the file on Lena Rusu and photos from Sofia’s crime scene. You still haven’t told me why you wanted to look at it.”

Meredith didn’t waste time going through the folder. A photograph of Lena against faded floral sheets jumped at her. She put it aside as she searched for Sofia’s photograph. When she came across it, her breath caught in her chest. She laid it beside Lena’s. “Lena was found naked on the bed, right?” She tapped the photograph with her nail. “Look at how she’s lying down.”

Colton’s face inched closer to it. “Okay…”

“Now look at Sofia.” She pointed at the photograph. “What do you see?”

Colton frowned. Shortly after, he raised his eyes to Meredith. “Why are they in the same position?”

“Exactly. It can’t be a coincidence.”

“Are you saying these two deaths are related? Lena’s was ruled an accidental overdose.”

“It wasn’t accidental. She was murdered.” Meredith had no doubt.

“Did you suspect this? If you did, why and how?”

Meredith recalled the conversation she had overheard while Pam was on the phone, how she had recognized The Raven Room’s scent on the file folder that Pam—after working Lena’s crime scene—had given her. To reveal to Colton the existence of the club seemed unwise.

“I remember you mentioning Lena had been found naked on her bed,” she replied. “Then there were the photos of Sofia from the crime scene, the ones Pam showed me the morning you both came to Julian’s condo. Made me think I needed to have a look at Lena’s photos as well. Also, both Lena and Sofia have an Eastern European background and similar body types.” Meredith held both photographs in her hand. “You can’t deny that we have something here. Has Sofia’s toxicology report come back yet?” Meredith needed to know if Sofia had any drugs in her system when she was killed.

“I haven’t looked at it. Gave it to Sung.”

“What do you mean, you gave it to my stepmother? You gave it to her without looking at the results first?”

“I was in a rush. I’ll look at it tomorrow.”

Meredith stopped herself from cursing. She would make a better detective than Colton.

“There were no signs of drugs in Sofia’s hotel room,” he added.

“Were there any in Lena’s apartment?”

“I don’t think so. Not that I remember.”

“Lena didn’t shoot up heroin somewhere else, manage to get to her apartment, undress, and get into bed,” Meredith said. “It makes no sense. She was either killed in her apartment or she died somewhere else and someone brought her body back to her place, removed her clothes, and displayed her like that on the bed.”

“We had no reason to believe that Lena’s death was a homicide. And Sofia died from a blow to the head.”

“Let’s go over what we know so far,” Meredith said, resolve in her voice. “Sofia was in her room at the New Jackson Hotel. Someone knocked on the door. If I was Sofia, I’d only open the door to someone I knew. Not a stranger.”

“We don’t know if the door was locked.”

“Was there sign of forced entry?”

“No.”

“Sofia would lock her door,” Meredith added. “It’s the New Jackson we’re talking about.”

“She had bruises on her arms.”

Meredith pondered this. “So she opened the door, got into an argument, struggled and, somehow, got a hit to the head that killed her.”

“There was a suitcase in the middle of the room, toppled over a few feet in front of the nightstand. The edge of the nightstand is cheap, compressed wood, and along the edge of it there was a dent. This is how I imagine it: she was pushed back, tripped over the suitcase, and hit her head on the nightstand.” Colton snapped his fingers. “Bang. She’s dead.”

“Did she die immediately?”

“According to the autopsy. But whoever killed her undressed her and put her on the bed.” He glanced at Lena’s photograph. “And laid her out the same way as that one. If their deaths are linked, finding Tatiana Thompson might give us answers about both murders. She must know what happened. That’s probably why she’s hiding. Maybe whoever killed Sofia beat Tatiana up.”

“Steven Thompson was the one who beat Tatiana.”

“Did she tell you that?”

“Yes, before she took off. The fucker is abusive. Can you find out if Thompson was in town around the time Lena was killed?”

“Sure, that’s not a problem. Do you think it was him?”

“It doesn’t hurt to look into it.”

“Did you know that two years ago Tatiana disappeared? Thompson filed a missing person’s report but then, out of nowhere, two months later she reappeared. They called it a misunderstanding. You say her husband was the one who beat her that night. I’d bet money it wasn’t the first time and, two years ago, when he filed the missing person’s report, she had run away from him. But for Thompson to involve the police means he must have been sure she wouldn’t open her mouth. Or, that even if she did, the police wouldn’t touch him.” Colton appeared pleased with himself for coming up with a credible answer. “It would explain why your stepmom, when it comes this investigation, is putting all the heat on Reeve. Maybe she can’t touch Thompson.”

Meredith gave Colton a concerned look.

“If I’m right about Sung and Thompson, we’ll never get him for beating up his wife,” Colton continued. “And we’d better hope he had nothing to do with her sister’s death because he’ll probably get away with that, too.”

Meredith didn’t want to agree with Colton, but he might be right. Pam hadn’t wanted Meredith to write the piece on the club, and throughout the investigation she had yet to officially bring up The Raven Room. The thought that Pam might be protecting someone like Thompson, or the club itself, scared Meredith.

“Also, it’s been almost a month since Sofia’s murder.”

“So?” she asked.

“Listen, I want to make an arrest. I’m sick and tired of having your stepmom look at me like I’m an idiot. She’s all over this case and if I can get a leg up on her I’ll be seen as her equal partner. I hate to say it, but Sofia’s case has gone cold. What do we have?” Colton threw the empty bottle in the garbage bin. “Useless fucking theories that won’t mean shit. I heard they’re going to finally shut down the New Jackson. Soon, the place will be a boutique hotel or condos for rich people. No one will care or want to hear about anything that happened there.”

“The police might not be able to prove who killed Sofia, but I need to know who did it. At least that.”

“Knowing who killed her, without seeing them brought to justice? That’ll drive you crazy. Why would you want that?”

Because I’ll know that Julian is innocent, Meredith admitted to herself. To her, the certainty that Julian hadn’t harmed either Sofia or Lena was as important as the police arresting the killer.

“Still no footage from the security cameras at the hotel?” she asked.

“They weren’t working, so we won’t be getting anything.”

“How about the shops nearby? Maybe their security cameras will show who walked by, who entered the hotel.”

“Are you sure Reeve was with you all night? He never left the condo?” Colton lit a cigarette. Without asking, he gave Meredith one and passed her the lighter.

Both Colton and Pam had asked her that question right after Sofia’s death. She had lied to the police then and would continue to do so. Admitting to deception now would not benefit her or Julian.

“Yes, we were together all night,” she replied, cigarette in hand.

“What were you guys doing?”

“Fucking. What else?”

“And you’re OK with that?”

She raised an eyebrow.

“Being with a guy that just wants to fuck you?” he clarified.

Meredith remained impassive but the disapproval in Colton’s voice made it hard for her not to react. At that moment, as she stood in Colton’s kitchen, wearing damp clothes and smoking a cigarette that failed to mollify her, she wanted to walk out of his home and never speak to him again. But she couldn’t. She needed him.

“I love it. I get off on it,” she replied. “And that scares you.”

“It confuses me.”

Meredith threw her head back and blew a cloud of cigarette smoke toward the ceiling. “That’s your problem, not mine.”

“Your stepmom said something that got me thinking, Reeve’s lifestyle. How can he afford it? And please don’t tell me he works hard. It means shit. Hard work doesn’t make you rich.”

“So now you’re looking at his bank account too?”

“Everything. Him and Thompson are two motherfuckers cut from the same cloth.”

At least she and Colton agreed on something. “I don’t like Thompson either.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist. Meredith continued to hold her burning cigarette.

“Stay the night. I want to make you come again and again, babe, just like you did on the stairs.”

She hadn’t had an orgasm, but she didn’t want him to know that. It wasn’t that she hadn’t enjoyed it—she had. But what had taken place on the stairs had not been about pleasure. It had been about her making sure Colton would never say no to her.

• • •

Colton stepped out of the pitch-black bedroom and Meredith heard the water running in the bathroom. She grabbed her phone from the nightstand and called Julian. He answered at the second ring.

“Hey. Listen, I can’t talk long. The police have someone following you.” Meredith pressed her face against the mattress, waiting for his reply.

“Where are you?” he asked, his voice as low as hers.

“At some guy’s place…in his bed. But he’s coming back, so I should hang up.”

Another pause. Meredith was about to end the call when Julian spoke. “Are you going back to sleep?”

“No…”

“Don’t hang up.”

Meredith waited for him to continue.

“I want to hear you.”

With Colton approaching the bedroom, she placed the phone face down on the nightstand, closer to the bed this time.

Colton joined her in bed and started to caress her body. While she held on to him, kissed his skin and moaned against his lips, he wasn’t the man she thought of as she experienced the pleasure that had eluded her all night long.