Неизвестный - 2. Beyond The Breakwater

“Yep.” Bri grinned. “Red hair, green eyes, late twenties. Female.”

“Thorough, isn’t she?”

“Would you say that’s SOP for an insurance claim?” Bri asked.

“No, I wouldn’t.” Reese regarded her dinner absently. Something was off, and the fact that it involved something as dangerous as the possibility of arson bothered her a good deal. “It looks like we need to pay a visit to Ms. Walker.”

“Fortunately,” Bri said, patting her chest pocket, “I have all her numbers.”

“When you give report to the night shift, make sure you give them the addresses of these places and remind them to do a pass-by several times during the shift.”

“Got it.” Bri felt a sudden let-down as she realized that her time with Reese was coming to an end. It was five minutes to midnight, and they were on their way back to the Sheriff’s department to sign out. In another few minutes, Reese would go home and she would be alone. It was Saturday night, she had just finished an exciting shift at work, and she had no one to share it with.

She could go home with Reese, but the small spare bedroom with its single bed seemed too lonely to contemplate. Carre would be out somewhere with friends, probably having a glass of wine and talking about school, or a film she had just seen, or some project she was involved in. Bri’s heart ached as she wondered if Carre would be thinking about her. I should call her. But she said not to—that she would call me when she was ready. She said she wanted a little time to think. Think about what? Think about whether she still loves me? Think about whether she still wants to be with me? Think—

“Bri?”

Bri jumped. They were sitting in front of the Sheriff’s department. The engine was off and the night was very quiet. She had no idea how long she had been staring unseeing through the windshield.

“Yeah?” she said hoarsely.

“You okay?”

Bri nodded and swallowed hard. “Yeah. Fine.”

“I saw Caroline this morning.”

Bri closed her eyes.

“Have you straightened things out with her?” Reese asked gently.

“Not yet.” Bri didn’t want to talk about it. Just thinking about it made her hurt so much inside she was afraid she would cry. She especially didn’t want to discuss what had happened with Reese. She had a sudden sick feeling in her stomach. Christ, does she know about Allie?

Thankfully it was too dark in the car for Reese to see her shamed blush. The thought of Reese knowing about the way she had fucked up was almost as bad as Carre’s tears. She felt like dying.

“You need to do that, Bri,” Reese said evenly as she opened the door of the cruiser.

“Yeah, I know,” Bri replied softly, all the while wondering how to even begin.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

When Reese and Bri walked into the office, Lewis, one of the summer recruits who had been hired to work the swing shift, looked up from the dispatch counter and nodded perfunctorily. “There are messages for both of you on the spindle.”

Bri looked surprised, and Reese frowned as she asked, “From whom?”

The ruddy-complected, sandy-haired officer shrugged his heavy set shoulders. “The names are on the slips there. Yours just says call home.”

“God damn it,” Reese swore swiftly in a tone that made both Bri and Lewis jump. “If you ever get a call from my partner or anything remotely connected to her again, you call me ASAP.”

He stared at her open-mouthed as she grabbed the nearest phone and punched in her home number. Her body vibrated with tension.

“Tor?” She worked to sound calm. “Are you all right?”

As she listened, her body relaxed, and she settled her hip onto the corner of the nearest desk. A smile slowly eclipsed the worry that had suffused her face. “You’re kidding, right?…I thought that was an old wive’s tale…well, I don’t know that many…no! I’ll do it…I’ll be home soon.”

Still grinning, she hung up the receiver. When she glanced up, Bri was watching her intently. “She’s fine.”

Bri relaxed her tight stance too. “Good.”

“I don’t suppose you know Spiritus’ number off hand, do you?” Reese asked.

“You’re kidding, right? Pizza?”

“That’s what I said, too.” Reese shook her head. “She’s hungry, and pretty cranky about it, too.”

While Reese got the number and called in the pizza order, Bri pulled the pink message slips from the spindle on the counter. There were two for her. Both messages were exactly the same, with one minor difference. Each said call me followed by a phone number. They were signed Ashley and Allie, respectively.

“Everything okay, Bri?” Reese asked as she noted the confused expression on Bri’s face.

Blushing, Bri rapidly stuffed the notes into her pants pocket. “Sure. Perfect.”

“Oh, thank God,” Tory said vehemently as Reese walked in the house. “Hurry.”

Reese grinned at her lover, who was curled up on the sofa in a shapeless, button-up pajama top and what appeared to be striped boxers. “You know, I can remember a time when you only said that in bed.”

“Shut up, Conlon, and give me my pizza.”

Laughing outright, Reese put the box down on the coffee table in front of Tory and walked through to the kitchen for plates and napkins. As she worked, she called, “Is Bri here?”

“No,” Tory said around a mouthful of pizza. After a second, she added, “She came in, changed her clothes, and went right back out again.”

“At this hour?” Reese frowned as she carried a bottle of beer for herself tucked against her side, a glass of seltzer for Tory in one hand, and plates, silverware, and napkins in the other. She carefully set them all down, settled on the sofa, and slid a slice of pizza onto a plate. “What is she doing out?”

“It’s Saturday night, Reese.”

“So?” Reese regarded her with a raised eyebrow.

“Try to remember Saturday night when you were twenty.”

“I remember perfectly well, and I was either studying, or more likely asleep.”

“I forgot.” Tory ran her hand affectionately up the inside of Reese’s thigh. “You were a most unusual twenty-year-old, sweetheart.”

Reese slipped her arm around her lover’s shoulder. “You think Bri and Caroline are going to be okay?”

“I think they can be,” Tory said quietly, “if they come back together soon, and don’t do anything more to add to the pain.”

“Do you think I should go look for Bri before she gets herself into more trouble?”

“Let’s give her a chance to find her own way.” Tory felt Reese stiffen. “She needs to come to her own realization of what she wants and needs.”

“I just don’t want either of them to suffer any more,” Reese said with a sigh. “You didn’t see Bri today. She’s…lost.”

Tory tilted her chin and pressed her lips to Reese’s neck, then reached a hand back to curl her fingers into the thick, black hair. Tugging gently, she pulled Reese down for a proper kiss. When she lifted her mouth away, Tory whispered huskily, “You’re going to make the most wonderful parent.”

By the time Bri rode back to the center of town and parked her bike, most of the stores were closed and the bars were beginning to empty. As was often the case, Commercial Street between the Pied, one of the popular lesbian bars, and Spiritus pizza was crowded with men and women who were not yet ready to end their Saturday night revelry.

As she approached the gathering throng, she remembered Reese coming upon her and Carre in the narrow alley between the ramshackle restaurant and the adjoining storefront one night when they’d been seventeen. They’d been making out in the shadows when Reese had walked up on them, her flashlight beam illuminating them in the midst of passion. Bri’s chest ached just remembering how sweet those first few months had been, and how desperate the last. I miss you so much, babe.

“Unless I’m wrong,” a deep melodious voice announced very close to Bri’s ear, “I believe you’re looking for me.”

Jesus Christ. I’m walking around not paying attention to a damn thing I’m doing. Some cop.

Hoping that her involuntary flinch hadn’t been noticeable, Bri turned to the woman by her side as they continued navigating slowly through the wall-to-wall people. “You did say to meet you here.”

Ashley Walker was wearing a sleeveless black T-shirt tucked into figure-hugging black leather pants and black ankle-high riding boots. Her crimson hair was down and glinted like fire as she casually brushed it back with one hand. “I didn’t think you’d call me.”

“I’m working the same case you are,” Bri reminded her. “You said you might have some information for me.”

Ashley slowed and nodded toward the Pied. “We can probably still make last call.”

“No thanks,” Bri replied.

“All right, then.” Ashley sighed and pretended to look disappointed, but her slightly lopsided grin gave her away. “So I’m guilty of mixing business with pleasure. We can do both.”

Bri blushed. Work. Keep the conversation on business. “Have you been conducting interviews with the neighbors around the Moorings?”

“Yes, I’ve been asking around a bit.” Ashley acknowledged what Bri already knew. “I thought maybe we could pool our resources.”

“Share information, you mean?” Bri followed as Ashley turned down one of the sandy access paths to the beach, and, once there, the two of them settled onto a pile of sun-bleached, wind-weathered pilings that had once been part of a fishing pier. Ashley drew one knee up, wrapped both arms around it, and leaned a bare shoulder lightly against the outside of Bri’s arm. Bri moved an inch away. The touch of skin on her own was unexpectedly warm. “Did you find out anything?”

“Not so fast, hotshot,” Ashley advised, laughing softly. The young officer looked even better out of uniform than she did in one, and that was pretty damn good. The white T-shirt hugged her torso, doing little to hide the swell of her breasts and hint of hard nipples, and the low-riding jeans seemed designed to invite a hand inside. “I’ll show you mine if you agree to show me yours.”

Bri turned until she could search Ashley’s face. Up close, moonlight danced in her eyes. “I don’t think it works that way. See, I’m the law and you’re private. So I don’t have to share what I know with you. But you’re not supposed to keep secrets.”

“Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you, Officer?” Ashley stood and dusted off the rear of her leather pants, then slid both hands into her back pockets and looked down at Bri. She tilted one hip and stretched, the thin shirt outlining her high breasts and taut nipples. “Want to take a walk on the beach?”

Bri regarded her steadily, then stood. “Sure.”

Reese turned over in bed, awakened by the low rumble of the motorcycle in the driveway. The bedside clock read 3:45 a.m. For a moment, she contemplated getting up.

“Go back to sleep, sweetheart,” Tory whispered as she rolled toward Reese and slipped an arm around her waist. Curling against her lover’s back, she nuzzled into the soft warmth of Reese’s neck and kissed her softly. “She’s okay.”

Reese sighed and laced her fingers through Tory’s, where they lay against her breast. “I hope so.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

At five minutes to seven, Reese knelt to one side of the forty by fifty-foot room with her eyes closed, her hands resting palm up on her thighs. Tory and four students ranging in age from fourteen to twenty-five lined up on the tatami mats in a single line, barely an inch separating them.