Hunt and Prey (Kelsey's Burden Series Book 8) by Kaylie Hunter (novels to read for beginners txt) 📕

I never did figure out where Wild Card was stationed. Knowing him, he'd wandered toward the beach, following bikinis.

So, no, Lydia couldn’t have spotted them. She was either hiding from me or someone prevented her from meeting me. I had a bad feeling as I climbed the stairs to the precinct. I held the door open for Beast. The desk officer buzzed the inner door and hit the automatic door opener. I followed Beast into the main room, where he was greeted with ear scratches and good mornings by officers as he made his way to the stairs. I stopped at the last desk and asked one of the rookies to put out a BOLO on Lydia. Turning back to the stairs, Beast sat waiting for me. Grinning, I ran at the stairs, racing up them as fast as I could. Beast barked twice before chasing after me. He beat me by one stupid step.

Unlike Beast, I was winded and put my hand on the wall to catch my breath.

“That’s her!” a man yelled. I looked up and saw Danny Rickers standing next to Detective Ford’s desk. “That’s the woman who cut off my fingers!”

All the detectives froze in their tracks, turning to look at me.

“What?” I asked, looking around before walking toward the back of the room.

Ford sighed. “Did you cut this man’s fingers off?” he asked loud enough for everyone to hear.

I snorted. “No.”

I continued toward the far end of the room, stopping at my desk. It was piled high with files. I grabbed a nearby empty box, set it on my chair, and skim read the contents of the files before dropping them inside the box. Ignoring the chaos on the other side of the room, I was halfway through the pile before Quille walked over.

“You’ve been back on the job one day. One day! And you’re already facing an I.A. investigation. That has to be a record.”

“Quit worrying,” I said, dropping another file into the box. “It’s not good for the old ticker.”

“Are you telling me you’re innocent? Because somehow I doubt that.”

I turned to face Quille. “I did not cut that man’s fingers off.”

It was the truth. I had chopped, not cut, the tips of his fingers off. I had every confidence that I could pass a lie detector test using that logic. Quille knew me well enough to know he wasn’t getting the whole truth. He also knew he didn’t want to know the truth.

“What’s the worst-case scenario on this?” Quille asked, thumbing over his shoulder at Danny.

I glanced across the room. “Internal Affairs will get all excited when they hear my name, but in the end, it will get filed away with their other fizzled attempts at taking my badge. Danny’s a scumbag wife beater. No jury will ever buy his victim act.”

“He could sue you.”

“He could try,” I said, laughing. “I keep a lawyer on retainer who’d jam him up for years.”

“Someday you’ll make a mistake and get caught,” Quille said, placing fisted hands on his hips. “Then what?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said, slapping a file against his chest. “That’s the ME report on Roseline. Notice anything odd?”

While he read the file, I texted Bones and warned him that Danny Rickers was leaving the building via the stairs and to make sure he and Wild Card weren’t spotted. Bones replied a thumbs up.

I slid the phone into my back pocket as Quille looked up from his reading. “The bruise on Roseline’s neck?”

“Bingo. Pauly had the same bruise. The question is, why? What’s the connection?”

“Hopefully you’re about to enlighten me, because I got no damn idea.”

“No such luck. I’m all out of enlightenment today. This case is nothing but a pile of questions.”

I spotted Maggie stepping off the elevator and was about to wave when I saw two men in black suits follow behind her. Bones and Wild Card casually followed the suits. How they’d managed to pass Danny without being seen, I wasn’t sure.

Maggie spotted me and led the group my way. She didn’t look happy. Whatever was happening was big enough to disrupt her plans of lying poolside until her flight.

“Sorry, Quille.”

“For what?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder.

“I don’t know yet. Just thought I’d apologize now to save time later.” I walked over and opened the conference room door. I asked for the two researchers and the detectives to clear the room. As they left, Quille, Maggie, the two black suits, Bones and Wild Card entered.

“Who are they?” Quille asked, pointing toward Bones and Wild Card.

“Bodyguards.”

Quille looked down at Beast and frowned. “You’re not getting rid of the dog, are you?”

“Eventually. But not today.” I walked around the table but didn’t sit. I leaned against the wall, crossing my arms over my chest. “What’s going on?” I asked Maggie.

“Seems our friends in the DOJ have an issue with you investigating Roseline’s murder.”

“Tough shit,” I said, turning a glare to the suits. “My town. My murder investigation.”

The shorter of the suits reached out with a business card. “I’m Deputy Byron with the U.S. Marsh—”

“I don’t care who you are,” I said, interrupting him.

“Behave, Kid,” Quille warned, taking the card and shaking the man’s hand as they went through the formalities of introductions. I listened as I pretended to ignore them. The other Marshal introduced himself as Deputy Wright. I looked over at Wild Card and rolled my eyes.

He laughed as he pulled a chair out and sat, leaning back and stretching his legs. Bones stood stiff as a board, guarding the only exit.

“I’m afraid your investigation is interfering with our federal case,” Deputy Byron said to Quille. “We’ll need to take over from here.”

“And I’m afraid that just doesn’t work for me,” I said, stepping