When the Dead Speak, Bailey Bradford [new ebook reader .TXT] 📗

two men watching him. “You’re not going to try to find him, are you? You’re going to call for backup or whatever it is you do, right?”

A weary sigh drifted through the phone. “We don’t have any proof, Sev, just Rich’s gut feeling and some…things that have happened that seem like more than coincidences. Those aren’t things we can turn in as evidence.”

“What things have happened? What is it that you don’t want to tell me?”

“Sev, you don’t need to know the sick things this guy has been doing—”

Sev squeezed the phone so hard he was surprised it didn’t break. “You listen to me, Laine. I am not your little woman! I don’t need to be protected or coddled or any of that shit! If you think that son of a bitch is here, then you better tell me what’s going on, or I will walk out of this house and—” Sev jerked the phone away from his ear, smiling as he did so. Laine could roar like a damn lion all he wanted, and cuss until he was blue in the face, but Sev wasn’t giving, not on this. Zeke started to grab for the phone but Sev spun away and pointed a finger at him.

“You touch this phone before I’m done, and you will regret it, Zeke.” Sev kept his finger aimed at Zeke until he took two steps back, then he brought the phone back to his ear. “Are you done throwing a fit now? Ready to act like an adult?”

“Sev, I swear, if you don’t stop goading me…”

“What? You’ll yell some more? Keep it up and I’ll yell back, and then we’ll be in a hell of a mess, won’t we?”

Sev could hear Laine whispering to someone else, heard a muffled reply before Laine spoke to the other man again. Guess he had to get the okay from his partner to speak. The idea pissed Sev off.

“Did you get permission to speak?” Sev practically purred the question, feeling provoked and hurt that Laine didn’t trust him. Maybe he was the only one who felt like this was more between them, that this was it. The Big One. The Only One. Maybe he hadn’t seen what he’d thought he had in Laine’s eyes, felt it in his touch—

“I wasn’t getting permission, I was getting my ass chewed for being a—”

“Boneheaded dipshit.”

Sev could make out the words clearly. Laine’s former partner had a very sexy voice that carried well, and he enunciated the words with a dramatic flair that made Sev smile despite his pique.

“Yeah. That. What Rich said.” Laine’s amusement died as fast as it flared. “There have been four murders in Houston, gay men that Rich says resemble me enough that they could be related. He—and I agree—doesn’t think it’s a coincidence, and neither is the fact that one of the police officers I worked with in Houston, the first to arrive on the scene of Conner’s death, took emergency leave right after I called Rich.”

Sev felt like he’d swallowed dry ice, his body chilled and burning at the same time. “A cop? You think the killer is a cop?” He couldn’t say why that scared him so much more than if the guy were just some clerk or janitor, but it did. “Maybe he really did have a family emergency. Maybe his grandma died or—”

“Sev. No. It fits, okay? The guy used to watch me all the time, but I thought he was suspicious about my…me being gay. The fact that he took off after I called Rich fits, too, and when you add in all the times Conner’s sent my star into a spinning frenzy… He was trying to tell me all along.”

“Jesus Christ.” It did fit, all of it. Sev could feel it in his bones as surely as he felt that he and Laine fit. The comparison was too close to a bastardisation of what Sev knew was in his heart for Laine, and he pushed it away. “I see it. What are you going to do?”

“Matt—Deputy Nixon—is going to finish up the report from yesterday, then he’ll meet Rich and me at the scene from yesterday. We’re going to walk it, try to figure out exactly how McAlister managed to get away, then see where to go from there. We might not learn anything new, but it’ll be good for Rich to get a look at the crime scene. I also told Matt to fax a picture of McAlister over to Zeke so y’all would know what he looks like. I want you to study that picture until you’re sure you would know him no matter how he might try to disguise himself, okay?”

Sev had never been so afraid in his life, but he buried it, unwilling to add to Laine’s burdens. “I will, I promise. And tonight, when you get back, I’m going to—”

A strangled sound from across the room shut Sev up. Ears burning with the heat of his embarrassment, he found Brendon and Zeke both smirking at him. Brendon started making gestures, bringing his hand to his mouth repeatedly like he was—

“You’re going to what?” Laine’s voice was barely a whisper, but Sev had no desire to entertain Zeke, Brendon, or Rich. What he had to say was for Laine’s ears alone.

“I, ah, forgot I had an audience,” Sev admitted, smiling despite himself when Laine laughed. “I think one of said audience wants you to bring Rich—”

Brendon bobbed his head and held up three fingers. Sev looked at him with his best ‘what the hell’ expression.

“Matt. Tell him to bring Deputy Nixon, too,” Brendon clarified. Sev made a note not to ever play charades with the man—he sucked at nonverbal messages—well, except for the sexual ones.

“And Deputy Nixon. He wants to invite them over for dinner.” And then I’ll get you alone and tell you how I’m going to rock your world, baby. Sev’s dick was all for that idea, trying to fill up and embarrass him even