HANDS OFF
“What the hell, MacKenzie?”
I watch her as she turns her gaze away from Officer Suckface. She blinks a few times, attempting to figure out who just said those four little words. “Sam?”
I’m standing at the bottom of her steps. I take three long strides until I’m directly in front of her. “MacKenzie. I asked you a question. What’s going on?” I now stare daggers at Sawyer, whose hand is still resting on my woman’s shoulder. If he isn’t afraid of my expression, he should be.
Sawyer clears his throat. “Sam. How you doin’?”
“Not good,” I growl.
“I’ll go check on Martinez. MacKenzie?” he asks, turning to her. “Keep looking around and let me know if you see anything else out of the ordinary.”
“I will,” she says, smiling sweetly at that douchebag.
I place my hand on her shoulders, turning her to face me. “MacKenzie? What happened?”
She looks up into my eyes, and I watch as a lone tear falls down her cheek. She tells me about the robe, the towel, and the magnets and then, as more tears fall, she tells me about the medals.
“Shh, sweetheart,” I whisper, pulling her into my chest. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
She wraps her arms around my waist, sinking into me. “Thank goodness you’re here,” she whispers. “Wait. You’re here? How did…? How did you know?”
“Police scanner.”
She nods like she thinks it makes sense. “Oh. Well, I’m glad you’re here. I was a little freaked out about the knife.”
I tense up. “Knife?”
“Oh, crap. I left the knife out of my story. Um, yeah, there was a knife sticking in my bed.”
I pull away from her and stomp into her bedroom. I see Martinez, a decent cop, talking quietly to Sawyer, an asshat. “What’s going on here?” I say a little too loudly.
“Sam, we got a call. She noticed some things that didn’t add up,” explains Martinez.
“What’ve you got?”
“We’re not sure, but it’s not good. We think he was here for a while. There are things he did that took some time.”
“Like?” I ask impatiently.
“Looks like he jacked off into her towel. We haven’t seen that anywhere else. Yet,” adds Sawyer.
I do not want to hear from that guy. The last time we worked together, he had a waitress up against the wall instead of working one my details. Sometimes I use off-duty cops if I need more manpower. He’s worthless.
“What’d your cameras pick up?” asks Martinez.
“How do you figure they’re mine?”
He looks me squarely in the face. “She your woman?”
“Yeah.”
“Then they’re yours.”
I sigh and nod. “They picked up someone moving around the lawn. Perp was wearing all black. Couldn’t get a shot of the face.We only have eyes from the street. We’ll get a camera on that back wall today, though.”
“Too bad. I’d like to catch this asshole.”
