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Down below, in the cold woods next to the Monroe Motel & Suites, Veck stood in the direct glare of the aht, his buddy Bails on the left Spotlit as he was, he felt like he was onstage as Kroner was rolled out frourney

Except there was only one person looking at him

Internal Affairs officer Sophia Reilly

She was standing off to the side, and as their eyes locked, he wished they were getting together under different circuain The first time he&039;d been introduced to her had been because he&039;d corked that paparazzo

This shit made one sucker punch look like a day at the beach

The thing was, he&039;d liked her the moment he&039;d shaken her hand, and that first iht: The detective in him had so approved of her just now, as well as the way she&039;d looked hi her - and he hadn&039;t - she would have known

But they had to stoplike this Literally

Over at the asphalt lip of the parking lot, there was a thunch as the medics shut the double doors of the a the illumination with it As Reilly turned to watch the departure, she was in the shadows - until she clicked on a flashlight

Before she came back over, de la Cruz leaned into him and spoke softly: "Do you want a lawyer"

"Why would he need a lawyer," Bails snapped

Veck shook his head at his buddy He understood the guy&039;s loyalty, but it was a shitload more faith than he had in himself at the moment "It&039;s a fair question"

"So do you?" de la Cruz whispered

Officer Reilly circled around the blood pool, wending in and out of the trunks and branches, s under her feet, the sounds loud in his ears

She stopped in front of hi to have follow-up questions too home now"

Veck narrowed his eyes "You&039;re letting o"

"You were never in my custody, Detective"

"And that&039;s it"

"No, not at all But you&039;re through here tonight"

Veck shook his head "Listen, Officer, that can&039;t be - "

"The CSI people are on the way I don&039;t want you here when they go through the scene because it represents a potential coh for you?"

Ah And he should have guessed It was dark here in the woods He could easily pick up or , and she&039;d been trying to give hiht

She also happened to be beautiful: In the reflected glow of the flashlight, she was stunning in the way that only a natural, healthy wounk up her pores or weigh down her lids, and no greasy, slippery gloss on her mouth, she was utterly un-fake

And that heavy dark red hair and that deep green stare weren&039;t exactly hard on the eyes, either

Plus there was her take-no-shit attitude

"Fair enough, Officer," he e&039;s office at eight thirty aot it"

As Bailsunder his breath, Veck prayed the bastard kept his opinions to hi damn professional about it The least they could do was pay her the respect back

Before his buddy could spout anything else, Veck clapped palms with Bails and nodded at de la Cruz As he went to walk off, Reilly&039;s low, serious voice broke out through the night

"Detective"

He looked over his shoulder "Yeah, Officer"

"I&039;e And that knife holstr"

Right Of course "Badge is in the leather coat over there on the ground Do you want to do the honors on my nine and strap?"

"Yes, please And I&039;ll take your cell phone, too, if you don&039;t mind"

As she stepped in close, he s fruity or flowery or, God forbid, that vanilla shit Nothing he could place cootten the call just when she&039;d been stepping out of the shower?

Now, there was a picture

Wait aabout his coworkerfive feet from a murder scene? While he was a suspect?

Wow

Yup, that was all he had on that one

Reilly put her flashlight in her loved hands reached forward As he lifted his aristered in his hips, the kind of thing that he would have felt if she&039;d been taking off his pants -

The electric bolt that shot down into his cock was a surprise - and Christ, he was glad that beaht at his chest and not in a southerly direction

Man, this was so daues, whether they were admin assistants, fellow detectivesor Internal Affairs officers Too ht stand came -

Dear God, where was his head at?

Not on reality, apparently

It was alnitude of what had happened on that patch of red-stained leaves over there was so great, his brain was seeking shelter in any topic other than the giant, bloody elephant in the forest

Then again, maybe he&039;d just lost his mind Period

"Thank you, Detective," Reilly said as she stepped back with his weapon and leather holster "Your phone?"

He handed it over "You want my wallet?"

"Yes, but you can keep your driver&039;s license"

When the handoffs were finished, she tacked on, "Further, I&039;ll ask you to re it, and turn it in to me tomorrow"

"No probleruff

"Yes, I do"

As they got ready to part, there was no coy duck of her chin and flash of the eyes No hair flipping No brush of the hip Which, okay, would have been ridiculous under the circumstances - but he had the sense that the two of them could have been at a club by the bar and she wouldn&039;t have pulled any of that obvious crap anyway Not her style

Shit, she really did just keep gettingto end up asking her to marry him next week

Har-har, hardy-har-har

On that note, Veck turned away from her for the second time And was surprised to hear her say, "You sure you don&039;t want a coat, Detective? I&039;ve got an extra flak jacket into be cold on that bike of yours"

"I&039;ll be fine"

For some reason, he didn&039;t want to look back Probably because of the peanut-gallery combo of de la Cruz and Bails

Yeah That was it

At his BMW, he threw his leg over the seat and grabbed his hel on the way here, but he needed to conserve body heat - and as he pulled it on, he half expected de la Cruz to wander over to revisit the lawyer issue Instead, the venerable detective stayed where he was and spoke with Officer Reilly

Bails was the one who cayressive - no doubt because he didn&039;t like Reilly taking over "You sure you&039;re okay to get home?"

"Yeah"

"You want uy would anyway He was just that way

"I know you didn&039;t do it"

As Veck stared at his buddy, he was te - the two sides to hi for years, the fear that what he&039;d worried about had finally happened Hell, he knew he could trust the guy He and Bails had been at the police acadeone their separate ways, they&039;d stayed tight and in touch - until Bails had recruited him to come up from Manhattan to join the Caldwell homicide team

Teeks He&039;d been on the force here for only two frickin&039; weeks

Just as he opened histhe arrival of Team Nitpick

Veck shook his head "Thanks, man I&039;ll see you tomorrow"

With a swift punch of his boot, he kick-started the engine, and as he pulanced back to the scene Reilly was kneeling by his jacket, going through its pockets Just like she was going to do with his wallet

Oh, shit She was going to find -

"Call me if you want me to come over, man"

"Yeah I will"

Veck nodded at Bails and eased his bike off the shoulder, thinking he really didn&039;t need her to see the two Trojans he always kept in that inside slot behind his credit cards

Funny, being a slut had never really bothered hio

When he got out to the proper road, he gunned the bike hard, and went roaring off As he rocketed through 149&039;s twists and turns, he leaned into the corners, ducking down tight over the handlebars, beco just another aerodyna turns becaht as he and the bike wagered on the laws of physics

Given that he was betting everything he had at this speed? He&039;d be lucky if he left anything big enough to bury

Faster Faster Fast -

Unfortunately, or fortunately, he wasn&039;t sure which, the end for hi rip into the trees to avoid a Buick or a Bambi

It was a Polo Ralph Lauren outlet store

Or specifically, the light right before the place

Pulling out of the tunnel vision he&039;d enjoyed ely disoriented, and the only reason he stopped at the red was that there were a couple of cars in front of him and he was forced to obey the traffic laws or ride over their roofs The goddaht took forever, and the lineup he was in reen on

Then again, he could have been popping sixty-five on the highway and it would have felt like he iddling his thu to run fro by Nike, Van Heusen, and Brooks Brothers, he felt as e lots, and there was a part of hie, through Caldie&039;s suburban e to God only knehere

The trouble was, everywhere he wentthere he was: Geographical relocation wasn&039;t going to change the face in the mirror Or that part of him that he&039;d never understood, but never questioned Or what the fuck had gone down tonight

He must have killed that sick bastard There was no other explanation And he didn&039;t knohat Reilly was thinking in letting hio Maybe he just needed to confessYeah, but to what? That he went there with the intent to kill, and then he -

The headache that plowed into his front lobe was the kind of thing you couldn&039;t think around All you did was groan and close your eyes - not the best ine with a padded seat screwed to it

Forcing hi else, he was relieved when the cranial thu eased off and he pulled into his develophborhood full of teachers, nurses, and sales reps There were a lot of young kids, and the yards were maintained by a to be a lot of crabgrass, but at least the shit would be ularly

Veck was the outlier: He had no wife, no kids, and he was never going to bust out a Toro or a Lawn-Boy Fortunately, he had the vibe that the neighbors on either side of his postage stamp of a yard were the type to cheerfully encroach with their blades

Good people Who had told them they felt safer with a cop next door

Shohat they knew

His two-story house was about as fancy and unique as a penny from the seventies Which, as it turned out, was the last ti up to the garage, he dis from the handlebars There wasn&039;t a lot of cri a burn deal on a lot of levels

He went in the side door, passed through the mudroo down in here: all he had were a couple of empty pizza boxes on the counter, and some Starbucks dead soldiers clustered around the sink Half-opened mail and loosely stacked reports were on the table Laptop was closed down for the day next to a Valpak coupon book he was never going to use and a cable bill that was not yet overdue but probably would be because he sucked at paying shit on tio online to pay

God, the only difference between this place and the office doas the fact that there was a king-size bed upstairs