He rolled his eyes.
I examined the crime scene again. There was a simple elegance to the placement of the paper on the body, and I went closer, almost laughing when I saw the story of the hit-and-run incident.
“Well, this little girl is finally getting justice.”
Paxton’s mouth twisted. “I remember when that happened.” He didn’t disagree with me, and that had relief running through my veins. If Paxton wasn’t motivated to run after a murderer who had killed another murderer—even worse, a child killer—then no one else would be, either. A lot of people in the NGPD were just counting down the days until they retired and doing all they could not to get shot—nothing more, nothing less.
“Fuck,” Paxton snapped, glancing all around the messy room. He accidentally nudged a jug of water with his foot and frowned at it, brows furrowing. I would need to ask about that later. I had a feeling Ari had brought it in here.
“What do you think happened?” I could envision the scene in my mind: Ari, beautiful and vengeful, ripping the life from the vile man on the bed.
“I don’t know.” Paxton sighed and swiped his hat off his head, using it to fan his face. Sweat ran down his temples. “Want to call it in?” He glanced at me while his Adam’s apple bobbed. I knew he would do it if I said no, but he seemed to need a minute.
“Sure. Monahan will have fits about this, on top of the truck stop murder. We’ll all be working extra hours.”
“I know,” he grumbled.
We walked out into the living room together, and I pulled my radio out of my utility belt. “We got a stiff at 13 Millgrove Road. Send the CSI team, the coroner, the works.”
“Repeat the address?”
I did as asked, then put my radio away when I got a “ten-four” back from dispatch.
“Come on, I can’t stand the smell,” Paxton said, and together we went outside to wait. Not long later the lawn was a parking lot for city vehicles as everyone arrived and crammed onto it, searching for a spot. I smiled at the thought of telling Ari how much chaos he’d managed to cause. His one kill had resulted in other murders and destruction—which wasn’t necessarily good but solidified the fact that Wengrow was a bad person to begin with. Bad people created a stream of bad luck that brought other people to gory ends, and Ari had put a permanent stop to the line of evil stemming from Wengrow.
“You’re in a good mood,” Paxton said as he came over to stand beside me and stare at the ambulance nearby. I wasn’t sure why it was here because we’d reported a corpse, but with the entire city in shambles it was hard to say what wires had gotten crossed.
“Oh, I have a date. I’m going to take him to an art class, maybe paint with him.”
Paxton blinked at me. “Good for you.” He gave me a real smile. “Anyone I know?”
“Nah. I’ll let you know how it goes.”
He winked. “Good luck. I’m going to pick up some extra hours here, so if you want to take the cruiser back to the station, be my guest. Don’t keephimwaiting.”
I lifted a hand in his direction, and he tossed me the keys. I left the crime scene with a spring in my step. I settled in the cruiser and turned on the air-conditioning, then pulled out my phone. A quick google of A Home for the Heart brought up news articles about fundraisers, and I found Donny quickly enough. His name was Donald Metcalf, and he looked like a sleaze. A second search brought me his address, and while I knew I shouldn’t be doing this from my phone, I also didn’t think I would get caught, either. Who would ever link me with this asshole?
Once I was back at the station, I avoided the locker room and decided not to waste the time to change. They were still trying to ID all the victims from the shoe store mess, and I got out of there before someone tried to put me back to work. It took all my skills to sneak away without getting locked into a conversation with a reporter, but the hubbub had me grinning. After a short wait to get out of the parking lot, which involved honking at a news van, I took my truck directly to Donny’s house—a small bungalow on the southeast side of New Gothenburg, which was more suburbia than city. I waited in the driveway, and there was even a convenient hedge for me to park my truck behind so the neighbors wouldn’t easily be able to see me.
It was nearly dark by the time a car pulled into the driveway, and Donny immediately spotted my truck, but I didn’t mind. I got out and smiled at him, and he was quick to flash a grin in return before hopping out of his car. He walked over to me with his hand out and we shook.
“Do you have something you wanted to donate to the shelter?” he asked, doing a good job at pretending to be a helpful soul. He smoothed a hand over his styled hair. “I’ve told my aunt to stop sending people to my house. She never listens. It’ll be easier if you take it directly there.”
“Oh, would you mind checking if it’s something that can be used?” I asked, hooking my thumb toward the rear of the truck. A bolt of white-hot lightning streaked through my body.
He shrugged. “Sure.” Together we walked to the back of the truck, and he frowned as he peeked in at the empty bed. “There’s nothing here?”
I grabbed his head and slammed it against the side of the truck, then did it again. He staggered and pushed me, and I dropped back a step, but I cracked his skull against the ledge of the truck bed, a thick, hollowthudringing out. I dragged my cuffs out of my pocket, the ones I used for work, and hooked them around his wrists. He strained against me as I opened the back door of my truck and shoved him inside, and then I tossed him on the floor and used my backup cuffs on his ankles.
“What the fuck?” he asked, but the words were garbled, and I was fairly sure his nose was broken. I crawled in and punched him in the face, then kept doing it until he was silent. I flexed my hand and got out of the truck, the aches in my knuckles worth seeing his face a mess. I took the time to check around the property but didn’t find any surveillance equipment, and it was no wonder, because it didn’t seem like there would be anything worth stealing. I returned to the truck and closed the back door, and when I hopped in again, I checked to make sure my guest was still out cold.
It would be fun to spend the night with Ari working on him. First, I would watch Ari kill this asshole, and then I would fuck him until all he could do was whimper my name—Master.
8
ARI
I stretchedout on the bed, arms above my head, with a stupid smile on my face. Was this what it truly felt like to be satisfied? Jules hadn’t even kissed me, yet I felt as if I was walking on air. I’d showered in his bathroom, grabbed some of his clothes, and wore them around his house the entire day. I hadn’t snooped, like he’d ordered, and I was proud of myself. I’d been tempted, wanting to go through his belongings to understand what kind of man he was, but I’d forced back the urge. If I wanted Jules to fuck me,trust me, I needed to play by his rules.
