Deadly Obsession Part 29

"You played at the Agora Sat.u.r.day night?"

"Yeah. So what."

"I have a dead girl who can be placed there."

"So now you're going to blame me for Tori's death, too?" Damien glared at Cole from over the plastic bag.

"All I want to know is if you saw her there that night. You obviously know h er."

"Know her?" Damien chuckled. "I've had her. She was a pretty good lay. To o bad she had to go like that. Same guy?"

"Same guy," Cole acknowledged, nodding his head.

Maybe he didn't know Damien as well as he had thought. A woman dies a vio lent death and all Damien can say is she had been a good lay.

Damien ran a hand through his hair to rid his face of the stray strands and for the first time Cole noted a similarity to his case.

Long black hair.

Surely, it was only a coincidence.

But now, Cole could place Damien at the last place one of his victims had be en seen alive. "Did you see anyone unusual talking to her that night?" "Tori has a lot of friends. You could say she was a popular girl. But I'm su re Mayor Stanton would not be too happy to hear what a party girl she was."

"How's that?"

Damien chuckled. "You want the behind-the-scene stories, Cole?"

"I want anything that might help my case."

"She liked the night life, liked to drink, to party. She liked s.e.x anyway she co uld get it."

"And you know this first hand?"

"Put it this way, there wasn't a part of Tori I didn't know...physically. Sh e could take every inch of you and then some. But why talk to just me? I thi nk every member of my band has had her. Man, but I could tell you some stori es."

"I'm sure you could." Cole took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. "But wh at I'm more interested in is who she left with that night. Was she talking to anyone special? A member of the band?"

The ice bag now forgotten on the stand beside the chair, Damien shrugged. "

I didn't see her leave Sat.u.r.day. Sorry," he said. Mockery laced his words.

Bile churned in the pit of Cole's stomach hearing Damien speak of the dead g irl callously. It was as though he cared little for human life-for Tori Stan ton or for Cindy VanWarren.

Cole rose, denoting the end of his interview, and replaced his pad in his ja cket pocket. "Tell the guys in your band I'll be speaking with them. But for now, I have to get back to the station. The FBI ought to be looking all ove r h.e.l.l and back for me by now."

Damien raised a brow. "The FBI?"

"They landed sometime this morning and are not going to take kindly to my sudden disappearance." Cole headed for the door, but turned back when he o pened it. "Don't worry if I don't make it home again tonight."

"Laurie Michaels?"

"Imagine that, Damien. Your misfortune with Cindy VanWarren, G.o.d rest her soul, brought Laurie closer to me and not you."

"That's great." Damien picked up the ice bag and held it against his throbbi ng nose again. "Just great."

Nine hours later, thoroughly chastised for leaving Jim Mathers sitting in John McCray's office when he had had a viable lead, a Big Mac weighing hea vily in his stomach, Cole pulled into Laurie's driveway. The house appeare d uninhabited because no lights illuminated the windows.

Cole shut the door to his Ranger and walked up the short sidewalk, striking the bra.s.s knocker against the door's plate. Zeke could be heard on the other side as he yipped, probably dancing in circles about the foyer as he waited for Laurie to answer the call.

Managing to wrap up all business at the office, Cole lifted a few weights to relieve tension, showered, and still arrived within a decent hour. After all, who went to bed at ten o'clock?

The porch light lit up, shortly followed by the turn of the dead bolt, and La urie opened the door. A tender smile rested on her lips as she leaned against the frame.

"I wasn't sure if you were coming by," she said, her tone soft.

The puffiness of the night before had left her face, leaving behind blood-s hot eyes. She wore makeup with her lips painted cinnamon, reminding Cole of the first time he had laid eyes on her. Even then, he had been captivated.

"How are you feeling today? Better I hope," Cole said as she stepped back a nd invited him in.

She blushed. Cole stepped across the threshold and kissed her cheek. She wo re no heavy perfumes, though the light scent of soap wafted to his nose, su rrounding him with her presence.

"I'm much better now that you're here," she said. Grasping his hand, she le d him to the family room.

"Did you get anything to eat yet?" Cole asked, fully prepared to take her so meplace if she had not. She would need to keep her strength up.

"I ate a salad," she replied as she sat on the sofa and hit the b.u.t.ton on the remote. MTV came into focus with some white kid strutting back and forth on the stage pretending he could rap with the best.

Cole sat down beside her, feeling awkward as h.e.l.l. Since crossing the line t o starting some sort of relations.h.i.+p, Cole had no idea how to act. He had no t taken an interest in women other than getting them into his bed and out ju st as quickly. Now here he was, trying to converse, his mind drawing a total blank.

"I talked to Damien today."

Laurie's gaze snapped to his. "What did he say?"

"After I busted his nose-"

"You hit him? G.o.d, Cole, couldn't you get in trouble for that?" Her gaze ap peared genuinely concerned for Cole's welfare, but a smile curved her lips.

"I suppose so." Cole smiled and shrugged. "It wasn't anything he didn't deser ve." The grin slipped from Cole's face. "I think he's affected by the fact th at Cindy took her life because of him. It's something he'll have to carry aro und with him the rest of his life."

Tears formed and glistened within her eyes and Cole knew much more of the subject would have her sobbing all over again-the last thing he wanted. He opted to change the subject.

"The FBI showed up today." "You're kidding!" Her eyes lit up, the journalist in her making an appearan ce. She'd want another front-page story. "Have they come to help you find th e killer?"

"I would suppose."

"I take it you don't want them nosing around your case."

"I'm not incompetent." Cole felt the day's tension all over again as a dull ac he centered in his temples.

As though Laurie sensed his apprehension, she reached out and touched the so ft area beside his eyes and rubbed it.

"You shouldn't take it as an insult," she said. "They're only here to help.

They want the same end you do-to put this man behind bars."

"I know." He sighed, pulling her into his embrace. "I just wish we had more to go on. Right now I don't have squat and I feel like I'm running out of ti me. Something bad is going to happen, Laurie; I can sense it."

She snuggled against him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Not with you on the case. This sicko doesn't stand a chance."

Cole smiled as she tilted her head back to look at him. "I hope you're righ t, Miss Michaels, because I don't want to see another innocent woman die."

She reached up and placed a kiss on his lips. Cole returned the favor, grasp ing the sides of her face out of desperation, afraid to let her go. He feare d this would be nothing but a dream and when he awoke, he would be alone onc e again in his bed, back in Cleveland while his wife slipped between the she ets with his best friend.

Laurie broke the kiss and she set herself away. "Tell me about her."

Stunned by her request, Cole cautiously studied her face. She could not pos sibly be privy to his thoughts. "Who?"

"Your wife. It's all right to think about her, Cole. It's only human that you would."

"How did you know?"

"I felt it in the desperation of your kiss."

Cole stared blindly at the television for a long moment, then returned his att ention to Laurie.

"She was my life." When Laurie said nothing, he continued, "I had just beco me a cop on the force in Cleveland. She was what we called a cop groupie. I remember the first time I saw her, I knew then I had to have her.

"She followed one of the other cops around, played games with him like lock ing her keys in the car at the mall and requesting that he had to come out and unlock her car."

Cole glanced into the distance, seeing it as if it were only yesterday. "Anywa y, one day Mike couldn't take the call, so I did."

"If she liked Mike so well, why didn't he wind up with her?"

"Mike was married, but she didn't seem to care. So, I took his call, unlocked her door, and invited her out for dinner."

"And she went?"

"No," Cole chuckled. "She wasn't interested in a greenhorn like me. She wa nted Mike; he was our lieutenant."

Laurie's brows came together and Cole had the urge to smooth away the tiny lines it caused across her forehead. "How did you wind up with her?"

"Mike left and went to another precinct and I became an evidence technician o n our s.h.i.+ft." Cole shrugged. "I don't know, I guess with Mike out of the pict ure I felt I had a chance. I was persistent and finally she gave in.

"A few short years later, we had married in what I thought was the perfect m arriage. Now that I think back on it, I believe I wors.h.i.+pped her more than l oved her."

"Why would you say that?"

"Jeanne was a G.o.ddess and every cop on the force was jealous of what I had.

Men would stare at her when we went out together. You know what that does to a man's ego? I ate up the attention since I got little from her at home.

That is until she wanted a baby, of course. Then, I couldn't give her enou gh.

"I wasn't ready for a child and she was. One day she informed me she quit ta king the pill. That was the end of it. I guess I didn't want a child so much so that psychologically it shut me down. I couldn't get an erection. I took to sleeping on the couch and she took to sleeping with Charley Nash."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It happened a long time ago...and I think you know the rest."

"I read about it," she agreed. "But it doesn't say how you felt when you fo und out from the autopsy she was pregnant."

Cole looked at Laurie. He knew she had not meant to hurt him, only to heal h is old wounds. For without letting go of the past, there would be no future.

"I remember being so d.a.m.n angry. h.e.l.l, if it hadn't been for everyone else there, I might have killed Charley with my bare hands as much as I hated him at that moment. But you know what?"

She said nothing, only waited patiently for him to tell her.

"The irony is, I think he loved her more than I did. The news brought Cha rley to his knees. They just gave out on him. A two hundred and twenty po und man collapsing to his knees as he cursed the heavens and Robert Freem an for taking her away from him." Cole paused. "From him , G.o.d dammit. No t from me-from him."

A tear slipped down his cheek and Laurie used the pad of her thumb to swipe it away. "You'll never have to worry about it again, Cole."

"G.o.d, don't ever do that to me," he said, knowing he could not take the rejec tion and hurt a second time. "I couldn't go through it, not again." "So what are you trying to tell me, Lieutenant?" she asked, a timid smile tur ning up her cheeks.

"I'm telling you that I think I've fallen in love with you, Miss Michaels, for better...or for worse."

The smile grew on her lips, her white teeth flas.h.i.+ng brightly in the dim lig hting. "Why, Mr. Kincaid, I do believe we feel the same about each other."

Cole pulled her toward him and kissed her, drawing her bottom lip gently in to his mouth. He wrapped his arms around her, the softness of her causing h im to groan.

Out of breath, Cole pulled back, staring into her beautiful face. If he had t o wake up the rest of his days not being able to look upon her lying beside h im, his life would not be worth living. He understood how Cindy had felt.

"Do you want to go upstairs?" Laurie asked.

"You need not ask me twice," Cole said as he stood, scooped her into his arm s and took the stairs two at a time. Life was too short to waste a precious moment.

Chapter 27.