CHAPTER FOUR
HUNTER
The two of us surf what remains of the door down to the bottom of the stairs. This guy’s big, but I manage to swing myself on top of him, pin his neck down with my knee while I get the cuffs on. My shoulder smarts, but it’s nothing a beer and bag of frozen peas won’t fix later.
I see Pauly and another cop running over, but Grace puts her hand up. “We’ve got this.”
I get low. “That was no way to treat a lady, was it?”
The perp sees Grace approaching. “You,” he spits.
She crouches in front of him. “Chris, nice to see you again.”
It’s like this girl knows everyone in New York.
She runs her teeth across her top lip. “Can’t say I’m surprised, but murder? If this place wasn’t swarming in Blue I’d take you back inside and carefully feed you your balls.”
Chris tries to get up, his eyes wide. “Murder? What the fuck are you talking about?”
Grace looks to me, but I don’t know what she wants, how to play this. I’m not used to having a partner.
“Rachel,” she continues. “All cut up. I guess you know nothing about that.”
A gash above his right eye is starting to bleed, dripping from his face. “Rachel? What about her?”
“She’s dead, Chris. Stabbed to death in the alley there. You’re honestly going to tell me you know nothing about that?”
I haul him to his feet. “It’s in your best interests to cooperate, son.”
“Shit,” he says. “Do I need a lawyer?”
One look at Grace tells me this was far from the best way to reply to the news someone you know was just murdered.
She gets right into his face just like she did to me last night at the bar, loose strands of hair hanging free. “Your girlfriend was stabbed to death, multiple times, and you’re worried about lawyering up? You fucking piece of shit.”
“It wasn’t me,” he pleads. “I swear to God.”
If there’s one thing I learnt in LA, even on the field back at Abbotsleigh, it was how to read people. It kept me out of a body bag more than once.
“Yeah?” Grace continues. “If you had nothing to do with it, why did we find you inside just now less than ten feet from her body? Why did you run?”
“I thought you were coming to bust my ass again.”
Again? I look to Grace but she’s not giving anything away. She knows a lot more than what she’s letting on here.
“Should I?” asks Grace. “Admit it, admit you killed her and I’ll make sure you at least get to keep one of your limbs.”
“I’m telling you. I didn’t do it.”
Pauly is approaching. Grace sees it, looking to me. “Get him into the car. We’re taking this back to the precinct.”
I shove the perp into the back of the cruiser and shut the door.
“Who’s that?” asks Pauly.
“He just tried to assault an officer. We’re taking him in.”
Pauly shrugs and wanders off. “All yours.”
Grace pulls me aside when we’re alone. “Hunter, right?”
God, she smells amazing—lemongrass mixed with cinnamon and something I can’t quite place, maybe the city itself. “That’s right. “Hunter Beckett.”
“Okay, Beckett. What do you make of it?”
“You know this guy, I presume?”
It occurs to me how striking her russet eyes are, the way her hair shimmers in the dappled sunlight. James warned me to stay away, but what’s the harm window shopping?
“Rachel, the deceased, called me late last night. We were friends in high school. I hadn’t spoken to her in years, but here she is calling me out of the blue. I get here and this prick, Chris, is trying to bust the bathroom door down to get to her. I kicked him out, took his keys and told Rachel to lock the door.”
“You left her here?”
She jumps back in offense. “Hey, I told her to come stay with me, but she was adamant she wanted to stay. Guess her boyfriend was going to get in one way or another.”
“But your friend, Pauly, said she was probably killed somewhere else.”
Grace rolls her eyes. “Does it matter? Guy’s guilty. He was wrecked out of his mind last night, probably smack knowing the area, chased her down the street, stabbed her and dragged her back here because it was familiar.”
“It doesn’t make sense.” I don’t want to argue, but it’s true.
Grace puts her hands on her shapely hips. “What doesn’t? The Captain said he wanted this tied up fast, cleanly. I mean, you can’t honestly think this Chris scumbag’s telling the truth.”
“I do.”
“And what makes you think you’re the world’s foremost expert on lying, huh?”
“I know how to read people, that’s all.”
“Like you read me last night? That really worked out for you, didn’t it?”
I put my hands up in defense. “Hey, you were the one who started attacking me.”
She backs away from it, probably doesn’t even remember our encounter she was so blind. She waves her hand dismissively. “Forget it. What are we going to do about this guy? I’m serious. If it’s him, I’m going to go Ramsey Bolton on his ass.”
“Okay.” I nod. “We take him back to the precinct, see what he’s got to say, let these guys look for the murder weapon.”
She takes a step to the side and I swear for a sliver of a moment her eyes give me the once-over. “Lead the way, Human Lie Detector.”