Setting the handset back on its cradle, Brian stood. “Let’s go, partner. The day just went to hell.”
“Go study for your finals. I’ll clean up.” Tess stood and picked up the paper plates they’d used for their pizza dinner. So much for making a home-cooked meal. By the time they left the SBI district office, she’d been in no mood to go food shopping and told Andy to call in an order to their favorite pizzeria on the way home.
It didn’t take long to restore order to the kitchen in the three-bedroom home they grew up in. Without their folks, the place was big for them, but neither sibling could bring themselves to agree to sell it and move somewhere else. Between Tess’s salary and dividends from their investments, they were able to cover the mortgage and bills. Tess hoped someday one of them would raise a family in the home, but the way her nonexistent love life was going, her sixteen-year-old brother would probably be married with kids before she was.
The last time she went out with a guy had been months ago—a blind date a friend had set her up on that was boring as hell. Why Nikki had thought Tess would be compatible with a guy who couldn’t stay off his phone for more than five minutes wasbeyond comprehension. Then the jerk had gotten offended when she declined a second date. Tess wasn’t even sure they could classify that night as a first date. Even the waitress at the restaurant had rolled her eyes and shaken her head when she noticed the guy was more interested in updating his social media accounts than talking to Tess.
When he went to the restrooms, taking his phone with him, the waitress asked if Tess needed help getting out of the date. She’d been willing to spill something in his lap—accidentally. Tess laughed but told the woman she’d be fine. As soon as the bill came, Tess paid her half, then dryly thanked her date for a good time, but said she didn’t think they had anything in common to see each other again. He couldn’t understand why and went on an obnoxious rant about her to Nikki the next day. Tess’s friend had already gotten the scoop by that point, apologized to her, and agreed never to set her up on any more blind dates.
After pouring herself a half glass of the Merlot she favored on occasion, then grabbing her e-reader from the kitchen counter, Tess sat on the couch in the family room and turned on the news. The anchorwoman was in the middle of a report about a fatal accident on Highway 344, which also resulted in a large drug bust. Tess stared as the picture switched to a live video at the scene. She winced at the sight of the crumpled sedan in the background, partially covered by a large blue tarp and surrounded by emergency personnel. Threepeople had been killed—two women were pronounced dead at the scene, while a third victim, a woman in her twenties, died at the hospital. Their names hadn’t been released yet, pending proper identification and notification to the next of kin.
The camera panned left to show an SUV with heavy front-end damage being dragged onto the tow truck’s bed. Debris was scattered across the roadway as police detoured traffic around the scene and kept bystanders from getting in the way of the accident investigation team. Tess’s eyebrows shot up when she saw Special Agents Malone and Montoya placing a handcuffed man—probably the drug dealer—into the back of a marked patrol car in a clip that stated it was recorded earlier. They must have gotten the call shortly after Tess and Andy left the SBI office. Both men’s mouths were flat, and their body language was stoic. She knew it was common for police officers to blank their expressions when escorting suspects when cameras were present. They weren’t supposed to smile, laugh, appear enraged, or express any other emotion. It was considered unprofessional, and many police departments had rules about it in their protocols.
The picture switched back to the on-scene reporter who wrapped up the story with a promise to update it after a scheduled police department press conference the next morning. Well, it was obvious the three victims would be on the autopsy schedule tomorrow. Hopefully, by then, they would already beidentified by family members. It was the one part of her job she hated more than anything—that moment when a family member lost hope there might have been a mistake, and it wasn’t their loved one lying under a white sheet. Some people quietly sobbed, others shook their heads in disbelief, stood completely still, or turned away. The worst, though, was when wails of grief echoed off the walls, and Tess could hear them clearly through the plexiglass separating her and the deceased from the family members and their police escort.
Tess’s thoughts returned to Brian Malone. If he and Rafe made the arrest, they would probably be at the morgue in the morning. The two agents might not sit in on all three autopsies but would want to be there for the preliminaries and ask the medical examiners a few questions. They would need some information to pass on to the district attorney assigned to the case for the initial charges.
For the first time, a little giddiness coursed through her at the thought of seeing Brian. She’d always thought he and Rafe were handsome and nice—they even flirted with her a bit, but she knew it was all innocent fun. Neither of them had ever been crude to her or any of the other women they interacted with at the ME’s office. Tess had never been bothered by their joking and teasing, since a lot of the cops flirted with her. However, some of them had come a tad too close to crossing the line intounprofessionalism. She had no problem putting those jackasses in their place.
The first time it happened, not long after she’d been hired, Dr. Hansen almost stepped in to intervene, but Tess gave the young rookie a verbal dressing-down that led him to apologize for his behavior. Hansen had given her a wink and a thumbs-up from inside a dead man’s chest. She’d been surprised the next day when the officer returned with a bouquet of flowers. He repeated his apology and said he deserved to have his ass handed to him. Tess hadn’t experienced a problem with him since. In fact, she’d learned that he'd recently gotten engaged to a lovely woman.
As the news switched over to the weather report, Tess’s cell phone rang, and she answered it after glancing at the screen. “Hi, Patty.”
“Hi, sweetie. I’m just calling to make sure everything is all right with Andy.”
Tess grabbed the remote, lowered the TV volume, and then settled deeper into the couch’s cushions. “Yes, he’s fine. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Agent Malone released him to me after asking a bunch of questions about a street gang.”
“Street gang? What made that hunky agent think Andy was in a street gang?”
She smiled at the defensive tone coupled with the “hunky” description. “Like I said, wrong place, wrong time. He was heading to check out some new game that came out at the computer shop he likes. As he walkedby some gang members, one of them stopped him to ask a question. Andy was just about to move on when the agents approached because a few of them had warrants. He panicked and ran when the others did. The agents didn’t know who he was, so he got swept up in the arrests, but they didn’t charge him with anything. Agent Malone said he believed Andy when he said he didn’t hang out with them. He’s in his room now, studying for his finals, and I’m having a well-deserved glass of Merlot.”
“Good for you. Before you go to bed, though, make sure your windows are shut and your patio umbrella is down. They’re predicting thunderstorms with high winds and possibly hail heading our way. They’ve already done quite a bit of damage southwest of us.”
Tess glanced at the muted TV as the weatherman showed a graphic of the large, approaching storm. Dare County was right in the middle of its path. Great.
After chatting with Patty for a few more minutes, Tess disconnected the call, stood, and strode into the kitchen. Peeking out the back door, she surveyed the patio. The chairs and table were heavy enough not to be tossed about, and the umbrella was down and tied in place. When she checked the front of the house, she noticed the recycling bins were still at the end of the drive. Instead of asking Andy to do the chore, Tess ran out and returned the bins to the garage. Once back in the house, she turned on the AC, then went around from room to room, shutting all the windows. It wascool enough inside with the evening air coming in, but it wouldn’t take long for the house to heat up with the windows closed.
Returning to the family room, she got comfortable again, picked up her glass of wine, and powered up her e-reader. As she read about the hot, alpha hero and strong, independent heroine in author Riley Edwards’s new release, Tess’s mind began to replace the main male character with a certain handsome special agent and herself as the woman he eventually falls in love with.
What the hell is up with that?
Chapter 4
Four hours later, an explosion jolted Tess awake in her bed, her heart thumping wildly as if trying to escape her chest. The deafening crash had come from the other side of the house. Throwing off her covers, she jumped up, confused and scared, and tried to turn on her bedside lamp to no avail. The power was out, but she found her cell phone on her nightstand, brought the screen out of sleep mode, and turned on its flashlight so she could see. Seconds later, Andy burst into her room, his eyes wide in alarm. “Holy shit, Tess! What was that? Are you okay?”
With a shaky hand, she reached for her bathrobe. Lightning flashed outside her window, moments before thunder roared overhead. The heavy rain came down in sheets as the wind rattled the windows. “I—I’m fine. What the hell happened?”
“I don’t know,” her brother responded as he spun around and hurried out into the hall with Tess following. It didn’t take long for them to figure out what, in fact, had happened. Andy stopped short at the entrance to the family room—or what had once been the family room. A large elm tree that had stood in the backyard for longer than Tess was alive had crashed through the roof and the back of the house, landing right where she’d been relaxing on the couch earlier. The downpour whipped in through the massive hole, and more lightning crackled through the air, followed almost immediately by booming thunder.
A pounding on the front door was accompanied by their next-door neighbor, Al Reynolds, shouting, “Andy! Tess! Are you okay? Open the door! Andy? Tess?”
Andy hurried over and unlocked the door, letting the middle-aged, soaking-wet volunteer fireman in. Relief flashed in his eyes. “Thank God. I just got back from a call out... was in the house for maybe two or three minutes, then heard the tree cracking, followed by the crash.” He held up his cell phone. “I’ll call it in.”
Tess’s body trembled from the drop in adrenaline and the shock. The family room was destroyed, and outside, the storm still raged. Their neighbors across the street, Frank and Amelia Carbone, were the next ones through the still unlocked front door. They wore raincoats over their pajamas, not that the outer garments did much to protect against the ongoingdeluge. The couple had lived in the neighborhood for as long as the Bingham family, and Tess went to school with their twin daughters.
While Frank eyed the damage and let out a low whistle, Amelia rushed over to the siblings. “Oh, my God, Tess, Andy, are you okay?”
Somehow, Tess managed to pull her attention from the wreckage and nodded. “Yes, Mrs. Carbone. W-we were both in bed.”
