I drag my feet through the halls toward my office the next morning. I’m exhausted. I’m tired. I’m sore. My eye is now swollen and black. Thanks, Terry. I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night due to the fact that I had Raide on my mind and a throbbing headache. I’m trying to figure out my best plan of action that allows me to prove my point and keep this case. Keeping this case means bringing Raide in. Which means any emotion I may have needs to go. I have to stay professional.
My plan was a bust—that’s clear.
Now I have to go to plan B … except I don’t have a plan B.
“Morning, Gracie Lou,” Vance calls as I trudge past his office.
“Hey,” I mutter.
“Hey!” he yells, getting up and rushing out after me. “What’s up?”
I turn without thinking and stare up at him. His eyes widen and his mouth drops open. “Jesus, Gracie, what the hell happened?”
“Ah—” I press my fingers to my eye and wince. “—Terry did that.”
“Shit, it looks bad. You look bad.”
“Thanks, Vance.”
He narrows his eyes. “You need to talk?”
I sigh and drop my head. “I think I do.”
He takes my arm and leads me into his office. He shuts the door and I flop down onto the chair beside his desk. He sits down and wheels his chair over to me, stopping when our knees bump. “What’s going on?”
“The seducing thing … it, ah, it was a bad idea.”
He narrows his eyes. “How so?”
“It just was,” I lie. “It’s taking too long and I don’t think it’s the right plan.”
He nods. “So what are you going to do?”
“I need this case, Vance. It’s everything to me. I think my only option is to try to bring him down with help. Taser him, maybe.”
He rubs a hand over his chin. “You know we’re supposed to use the Tasers only if we need to. Are you sure you can’t bring him in without it?”
“He’s huge, Vance.” I sigh, dropping my head into my hands. “It won’t be that easy. He’ll know what I’m doing the minute I get close, and he’ll run. I can pull a gun on him, but both he and I know I won’t use it, so the Taser seems like my best bet.”
“Well, I’ll help you.”
I snap my head up and glare at him. “I’m trying to prove I can do this without help.”
“Gracie,” he says, reaching over and taking my hand. “Don’t you think we all need help sometimes? Shit, there are times I’ve had to take Julio on a case. It doesn’t make you weak.”
“This is my first big case,” I say. “This is my chance to prove I don’t need to have someone with me. I know there are times when help is needed—I get that. But this one … this is it for me. This is my chance to prove myself.”
He nods, and I know he understands. “Well, then you’re just going to have to get more creative. You do the work enough to get him to the front door, and let us take it from there—that’s still you bringing him in. Hell, you could even get him to your place or his and call it in. We do it all the time, Grace. You don’t have to crash-tackle him to the floor for it to be considered a successful job.”
That’s true.
“How do you suppose I do that?”
He shrugs. “You’ve been working the seduction angle, but why not try the victim path?”
I tilt my head to the side. “Victim?”
“Yeah, you could ask for his help or pretend you’re in danger. If that’s too much, you could do something as simple as follow him to a bar and act drunk, stumble about, make a scene, see if he’ll help you. Find a way back to his place with him. Anything to get him away from people. Then you call it in and let the cops ambush him. Done.”
It’s not a bad idea. In fact, I’m kicking myself I didn’t think of it earlier. I don’t need the guys to help me bring him in, I just need to take him to a place where I can hold him long enough to bring the cops to him.
“You’re a legend, Vance.”
He grins at me. “Don’t I know it.”
I go to answer but am cut off by the sounds of someone knocking. We both turn and see Don standing at the door. Vance gets up and opens it, letting him in.
“Jesus, Gracie, what happened to your eye?”
“Terry.”
His jaw ticks, he never likes us getting hurt. Unfortunately, like police officers or any officers of the law, that’s a risk we take. “You okay?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“How’s the big case going?”
“Good.”
“That’s good. I have another small one for you, if you’re up for it. Julio and Vance are full.”
“Yeah, send it over.”
“Good.” He turns to the door. “I’m out for the remainder of the week. I want progress reports from the both of you when I return.”
“On it,” we both say.
When he’s gone, I turn back to Vance. “I should go and get some work done.”
He flashes me a smile. “Meet me for lunch?”
“It’s a date.”
Turns out my day isn’t going as bad as I first thought.
* * *
By the end of my workday, my head is pounding again and I’m ready for bed. Lunch with Vance was great, as always. We found a Mexican shop nearby and ordered tacos, then we got ice cream on our way home. It was nice to have a break, to take a moment to think about something different. Now it’s home time. I pack up my desk with enthusiasm, thinking of my bath and how good it’ll feel to sink back into it.
I rush my good-byes as I charge out the door to my car. The entire drive home, I think about anything but Raide. I have to do my job. I have to prove myself. I can’t think about how amazing it felt to have his mouth on mine. I can’t imagine it happening again. I’ve worked most of my teenage life as well as long into my twenties for this job, I can’t let something as minor as a crush ruin that.
Raide is a bad man. I can’t forget that.
I arrive home in record time. I find a parking spot down the street and rush up to my front door, grateful to have finally made it. The next two hours are spent eating Chinese food and lounging back in a hot, soapy bath. Then the next two after that are spent talking to Kady on the phone. She’s on board with my drunken-woman-in-distress plan and thinks that this weekend is the time to do it. But I can’t proceed with an ugly black eye.
“I don’t know if I’m up for it this weekend,” I admit. “I’m so tired and it means following him to try and pinpoint his location.”
“Don’t be a slacker,” she cries. “Come on, Gracie.”
“Let’s go out Friday night, just for fun. We’ll think about him Saturday. Please, Kady?”
She sighs. “Okay, fine, you’ve got me. Come here first, and I’ll do your hair and makeup, we’ll hit Jackson’s Bar and order some dinner, then we’ll hit the clubs.”
“Sounds awesome, but I’ll do my own makeup.”
“Hey!” she snaps. “I am very good at hair and makeup.”
“Kady, honey, last time you did my makeup, I got confused for a cross-dresser.”
She giggles. “That was the chunky black boots you wore—you can’t blame me for that.”
Laughing, I lounge back into my sofa and sigh. “I need this break, but after it, I hope I can finally bring him in. I’m not sure how much more of Raide I can take.”
“Is he that intense? Tell me, tell me,” she breathes.
“He’s that intense. Did I tell you he was at my house last night?”
Silence. Then, “Say what?”
“It’s not like that. He knew where I lived and wanted to, ah—” Well, shit, I can’t tell her he wanted to see me again because we kissed. “—to see if I was okay. He saw me with Terry at a bar.” Well done, the perfect lie.
“How did he know where you lived?” she questions.
“He, ah, followed me home.”
“Oh my God, Gracie, that’s dangerous.”
I snort. “It is not. He’ll go to jail when I catch him.”
“Yeah, he will, but then he’ll get out of jail—”
“You’re thinking too much about it, it’s fine.”
“It’s not fine. Maybe he’s a psycho killer and he’ll want revenge.”
“He’s not a killer,” I scoff.
“Isn’t that what he’s being charged with?”
I sigh and drop my head back. “Kady, can we talk about something else?”
I can nearly see the look on her face. Disgust. Horror. Disappointment. Whatever, she’s not the one doing the job. I am.
“Fine, but when they find your chopped-up corpse, don’t blame me.”
I laugh softly. “I can hardly blame you if I’m a chopped-up corpse.”
“Not funny.”
I bite back another laugh. “I’m going to bed, call me tomorrow.”
“I will, keep your windows locked.”
Rolling my eyes I hang up.
But deep down, I wonder if she’s right. How much danger am I in?