Duncan (The Protectors #3)(4)
Putting her foot in Nicole’s cupped hands, Tessa grabbed the windowsill and slid the window open. With one heave, Tessa was half in and half out of the window, her ass flashing out into the parking lot. Thank God, the window was above the sink. Placing both hands down on the counter, Tessa shimmied her way in, but ran out of counter space and fell the rest of the way through the window, landing on the kitchen floor in a clumsy heap.
Nicole hopped through the window with ease, landing with grace. “You okay?” Nicole whispered, reaching down to help Tessa up.
“Well, that was graceful. Yeah, I’m good.” Brushing off her pants, Tessa frowned. “Some days I guess it pays to be a vampire.”
“Yeah, it does come in handy.” Nicole grinned, handing Tessa a mini flashlight. Being a vampire, she could see perfectly at night. “Come on, let’s get busy.”
“What exactly are we looking for?” Tessa kept her voice low, testing the flashlight, but keeping it from shining toward the windows.
“A syringe vial.” Nicole headed out of the small kitchen. “I’ll check the bedroom. You check the bathroom.”
“That sounds familiar.” Tessa rolled her eyes. A syringe vial is pretty much what brought Tessa and Jared together.
“It does. I forgot about that,” Nicole snorted. “So I guess you don’t need a description.”
Tessa followed Nicole, stopping at the bathroom door. “Why didn’t you tell the guys that Pam contacted you?” Tessa herself had just found out before Jared had interrupted them in the kitchen.
Stopping, Nicole turned to look at Tessa, her face lined with worry and stress. “Actually, I was going to tell them, even though I promised her I wouldn’t, but Damon and Duncan were too busy beating the crap out of each other.” Nicole shrugged her shoulders. “I know I should have, but they pissed me off fighting, and the more I thought about it, I have never broken a promise to Pam. She said she isn’t in any danger, but was dealing with something and needed this vial if I could find it.”
Tessa nodded in understanding, wanting to help Pam as much as Nicole did. “Well then, let’s find that vial.” Tessa ducked into the bathroom and started rummaging through drawers and cabinets.
Nicole walked into the bedroom and stopped. The scent of old blood hit her highly-sensitive nose as soon as she walked in the room. Looking around, her eyes zeroed in on the bed. Making her way closer, she spotted two chains locked onto the head post. Her stomach clenched.
The bed was a mess of covers and a few clothes, Pam’s clothes. Grasping the edge of the cover, not really wanting to see what the cover hid, and even knowing exactly what is was, she flipped the sheet back. Her eyes welled up at the sight of old brown blood stains that told the horror of what happened in this room. “Oh my God.” Nicole felt the room closing around her. She had to get out of here.
“Don’t move.” A man’s voice and the click of a gun echoed in the silent room.
*****
“If you knew they were up to something, why the hell did you leave them alone?” Damon slammed into the Cincinnati Police Department with Jared hot on his heels.
“I didn’t leave them alone,” Jared defended himself as he passed Damon. “I caught them talking in the kitchen, and they looked guilty as hell. Nicole left and then…”
Damon stopped, a suspicious frown forming on his lips. “And then what?”
Jared thought about the ‘then what,’ which was Tessa’s sweet mouth.
“Wipe that goofy-ass look off your face and come on.” Damon gave him a disgusted look before heading to the front desk.
“Oh, like Nicole hasn’t turned your brain to mush with her sexy little…” Jared chuckled when Damon flipped him off over his shoulder.
Stopping, Damon loomed over the counter, glaring at the officer who was unlucky enough to be the one on shift.
“Can I help you?” he asked, looking back and forth between the two huge Warriors.
“Buzz them through,” Officer Pete Rosen ordered before Damon could answer.
Damon and Jared passed through the door. “Where are they, Pete?”
Frowning, Pete tilted his head for them to follow him. Stepping into a room, he closed the door. Pete Rosen had been on the Cincinnati police force since he was twenty-one years old. He was six months from retiring at the age of fifty-five. He had seen a lot of shit during his years on the force, but nothing had prepared him for working with vampires. To his surprise, he had enjoyed his short time working with the Warriors and respected them deeply. So when he saw Nicole come in handcuffed with another woman he didn’t know, he had called Damon right away. Nicole was well known around the police station, and he always had a soft spot for her; she was the best when it came to the kids she worked with. She was always hitting up the police department for charities.
Pete leaned against the closed door and sighed. “Detective Ferguson is interrogating them.”
“Who the f*ck is that, and why is he interrogating my wife?” Damon growled taking a step toward the door.
“What the hell did they do?” Jared crossed his arms, not sure he wanted to hear the answer to that question. The only thing that Pete had told them over the phone was that they had Nicole and another woman in custody, which Jared assumed was Tessa.
“They broke into Pam Braxton’s apartment,” Pete replied. “And Tom Ferguson is lead detective on Sheriff Bowman’s murder.”