Perfect answer. Slanting my lips over his, I give in to the need I have for him. Fucking hell, I’ll never get over being able to do this with him whenever I want. So many wasted years I could have had him on the tip of my tongue, his taste and scent inside me.
We swap lazy, languid kisses for a long time until my lips are buzzing and swollen. One of his hands grips the nape of my neck to hold me in place, the other travelling up and down my back, sending shivers through me. He makes me feel precious. Like he’ll never let the world hurt me. There are some things out of our control, especially considering our job, but this part will never change. Us.
I tug his arm in front so that I can fiddle with his fingers. I trace around his ring finger and pull back to look at his gorgeous hazel-green eyes. He takes my breath away. He always has. Running a hand through his curls, my fingers catching on some of the tighter ones, I tilt his head back. “There’s a jeweller not far from here. We should go at lunch and get some rings sized.”
“We can grab some food on our way back.”
Perfect. I don’t want to wait any longer; I need to see a ring on his finger. I don’t care what the order is supposed to be. Do we have to wait until the ceremony to wear them? The second we get them, he’s putting it on.
“Alright.” Kendrick twists his head and kisses my wrist.
A knock on the wall has us turning to where Six is leaning against the doorframe. He holds up a USB stick. “Got that information you wanted about Jack Ferguson. I’m heading out now, but give me a call if you need anything.” He tosses the small device over, and I catch it one-handed.
“Anything interesting?”
“He’s ex-military. Special forces soldier, dishonourably discharged. Watch your back.”
Motherfucker. No wonder he’s got a bead on us, and we haven’t seen a peep out of him. “I think we have our main suspect.”
“Sounds like it,” Kendrick agrees. “We should go pay him a visit and do our own stakeout.”
“Have fun,” Six sings. He raps his knuckles on the doorframe and then disappears.
Kendrick absently strokes my hip and plucks the USB from my hand, stretching forward to stick it into the computer. “His motivation’s pretty easy to work out.”
“Wants better things for his daughter, so he removes the competition. The old woman, Irene… how does she fit into it?”
“Maybe he used her? She lives right next door to the woman he wants to kill. Gets cozy with her, helps her out a bit around the house and compliments her tea, and then manipulates her until she becomes an accomplice. Then we got too close, so he cleans house?”
“Stops her from telling us anything.”
“He may have been worried she already did when we visited her. He’s been watching us. It explains why he was able to figure out the cameras and disable them when he killed Veronica.”
It annoys the fuck out of me that we haven’t even noticed him. Being able to move around undetected makes him dangerous. Having that kind of military training only makes that worse. He’s good; we need to be better. “What about Reed?”
“Convenient scapegoat? The gossip she spread about him and his jealousy means people are easily convinced that he went over the deep end and killed her. It’s not like it’s an uncommon occurrence. More plausible than the father of a random cast member.”
“We need to find a way to connect him to Irene’s murder, and Leah Anderson, so we can put him away. Now that Irene is an official case under Greer, we can’t just make him disappear.” A real fucking shame. He’s killed three people already. People like that don’t stop just because they got what they wanted. They get a taste for it, and then they need more, like a drug. Each kill feeds them; we should know, the boss is close friends with an entire family organisation that frequently kills. They’re a grey area but enough on this side of the “law” that we don’t hunt them. Besides, despite how far away they are, they’re useful in a tight space.
“Another break and enter, then?” Kendrick smiles lightly.
“I do love snooping in people’s shit.” So many dirty secrets hiding in their sanctuary. Nothing ever stays buried forever. “What if there’s nothing to be found, though?”
“We need to find some proof that he’s who we’re looking for, and we’ll find it. If we can’t use the information legally, then we’ll make him disappear, official case or not. He won’t get away with it.”
Good. “What about his daughter? She’s gained a lot from her father’s actions. You think she’s in on it?”
“Can’t rule it out.” Kendrick shifts us so he can reach the mouse and opens Six’s files. “He was in the military for twelve years. Special Forces for six. Specialised in covert espionage and a fair few classified operations. Received a bunch of medals over years of his service that were all stripped from him when he was dishonourably discharged.” Kendrick whistled. “That’s one hell of a record. Unfortunately, that happened ten years ago, sono one we know currently enlisted, or otherwise, would have possibly known him.”
“They might knowofhim. Getting discharged that way isn’t so common that they wouldn’t have heard about it.”
“I doubt they’ll be able to give us any useful information, but if we run into a dead end, we can speak to them.”
No use wasting time going down avenues we know won’t lead anywhere. At least not yet. Those are last resorts, when everything else runs dry. “Stop by the jewellers, grab some grub, and then head to his place?”
“He should be working right now,” Kendrick says playfully, leaning forward to kiss me briefly. “What fortuitous timing.”
“It’s like he wants us to come over and invite ourselves inside.”
