Roll the Dice (Vegas Series) Read online

  Add to that, the wink he’d shot her way and the small grin that hovered over his surprisingly full lips made her smile in return, then cough and turn away before Cory caught them. It reminded her of times when Debbie had connected with her thoughts—not needing words to express what they both knew.

  It felt surprisingly good to be allied with someone she could trust to know what she was thinking—and vice-versa. Maybe working with this dude wouldn’t be the trial she’d imagined.

  Chapter Five

  The next morning Aurora had a fight on her hands. "Why are you being so frigging obstinate? Cory wants you to stay home at least a couple of days." Debbie, pregnant and sassy, meant business. Anyone who'd worked with her for as long as Aurora knew the signs.

  Still, she had to argue her cause. "Forget it! I've got work to do and…"

  "And it's getting done. You know Rhondo. The prick's gone underground and he won't surface anytime soon." Hatred glared from Debbie's eyes before she shuttered them with thick, mascara-coated eyelashes.

  Sharing the feeling and understanding the reason, Aurora answered. "Yeah and in the meantime I have that business card I need to follow up on. Also, I'll check every known associate; put the word out to the informants…"

  "No, you won't You'll let the rest of the team work the preliminary investigation, gather evidence, and when you're healed, they'll bring you up to speed. No one's jumping your case and you know it. They're taking care of the legwork until you're okay to return to the job. Now sit back down, put your feet up and stop looking at your damn Mickey Mouse watch every two seconds. Relax!"

  "I have no doubt in a previous life you were Attila the Hun. I've never known anyone bossier. As a friend I feel it my duty to tell you. It's not at all feminine. Nor is it a particularly nice trait for a lady."

  "Hey! Are trying to piss me off. Call me a lady once more and you'll see how ladylike I am with my foot up your ass." The old joke they'd shared since their first few days together on the job settled the tension and both girls ended up giggling and remembering the woman who they’d just mimicked.

  "That old girl was something else wasn't she? I still miss her." Nostalgia made Aurora smile.

  "Yeah! Maddie could crack me up no matter how bad a mood I'd be in…just her morning routine of answering everyone's good mornings with "what's so damn good about it" would set me up for the day. Too bad they forced the old girl to retire."

  "Damn shame."

  "I know. I miss her too. Who would of figured her to be seventy-three. She'd BS'ed her age for over eight years and got away with it. Then they throw her a bye-bye party, give her a package and a month later she drops dead with a heart attack. Just isn't right."

  "I know. Resting is bad for one’s health. Which is why I have this burning need to get back to work."

  Laughing, Debbie shook her head, blonde curls dancing, and waved a finger back and forth. "I wasn't born yesterday, my friend. You're going to relax if I have to sit on you."

  Pretending fear, Aurora lifted both hands and backed into the couch cushions. "Sure! Pull out the big guns. Terrify me! I'll be good, already."

  "Serious Rory, we haven't…"

  "Don't call me that, I hate nicknames."

  "I've always call you that." Debbie grinned.

  "And I've always told you not to. And you always ignore me like I'm talking to air." Sparks shot from Aurora's eyes, but they didn't cover the humour and she knew it! The familiar sparring gave her a feeling of happiness missing since her former partner had taken maternity leave, and then up and married the boss.

  "We haven't had any time to catch up on anything since the wedding. It's been crazy hectic, and now with your new partner in the picture, who knows when I'll get to see much of you."

  Bristling like a wet cat, Aurora clamped down on a retort she knew would rattle Debbie's antennae. The woman had a unique talent for picking up even the slightest female interest Aurora had ever had in any male. Over the years they worked together, she'd never been able to hide her few attractions because Debbie had always known. Better to say nothing. She pretended a nonchalance and hoped being pregnant might have lessened Debbie's skill.

  Then she remembered what always worked in the past. Turn the tables on her. Get her to talk about her own stuff and she'll lay off you.

  "So, you haven't told me yet how you like married life? Does Cory still stutter when you two are alone?"

  The half grin Debbie couldn't hide spoke more than if she'd babbled all day. Love made her eyes luminescent, and Aurora's envy burst out and grabbed hold before she knew it would happen. She'd never be jealous of a person she loved cause that was just sick. But wishing it was her belly that was full of a baby, and her life being shared with someone she adored as much as Debbie adored Cory couldn't be helped. Deep down in a tiny secret place she'd never share with anyone, having a precious family of her own would be the ultimate.

  Since she'd never in her life admit to those tender wishes, and no one would ever suspect her of having them, she felt pretty safe. She knew her hard-assed personality covered up the real Aurora Morelli. Very few people were ever allowed to see the soft side she hid so well, but she really didn’t know how else to protect that vulnerability. Over her growing up years, there’d been many harsh lessons—to be sensitive and loving was to get kicked in the heart.

  Cory and Debbie were probably her closest friends and they had no idea that buried deep inside the cranky cop was a scared little girl who wanted to grow up and be a mom—unlike the bitch who raised her.

  Debbie broke in and Aurora slammed the door on her earlier soul searching. "You sure you can handle me gushing."

  "Hey, what are friends for? I can give you one minute to a…gush and then I'll have to stick a sock in it to shut you up. So go for it." She checked her watch and felt shock that so little time had passed since she'd snuck her last peek.

  "Being married is pretty darn great. I love knowing he'll be there every night to share the evening and cuddle in bed. Sometimes we start talking and it's like we have so much to say. Other nights we cook dinner and then cuddle to watch programs on TV and… Hey I can see your eyes glazing over."

  Aurora took the hint and pretended to be snoring. A quick glance told her that Debbie was enjoying herself immensely and gladness shoved aside the frustration that ate at her insides.

  "How does my buddy Cory feel about being a daddy? Is he excited…? What? What did I say? Hey, don't turn away from me. What the hell is wrong?"

  Small parcels of fear began to form inside her and Aurora felt a sick feeling invade. Debbie had turned pasty white and sat huddled at the other end of the forest green leather sofa. She covered her face with her long fingers and Aurora saw her friend had gotten false nails. First time for everything and when a person's nails were bitten to the quick…

  She thought back and recognized it was never a habit her partner had before the attack. Guess if a woman's assaulted and almost raped in her own home by a sick madman such as Earl Rhondo, then it's to be expected that she might form some weird new habits.

  And then she knew. She just…knew.

  "You said I'd gotten there in time. He hadn't raped—"

  "I lied." A sob broke loose and tears dripped from between fingers still hiding her eyes. "I was so ashamed. I'm a cop and the son-of-a-bitch caught me in my own home. He overpowered me, Aurora. I've never been so terrified in my whole life. I swear, if I could have killed him, I would have. But he was strong and mean and…and he loved every minute he had me under him. He got off on my terror and my pleading." She looked up and caught Aurora's shock. "I never thought I'd ever beg—either. But a person does when they know they're going to die."

  "It's okay, Deb. It's okay."

  "No. It isn't. You wouldn't have begged."

  "How can you say that? No one knows what they might do in similar circumstances."

  "You would have let him kill you first." The blunt statement echoed in the room as she struggled up, and like and
old woman plodded into the kitchen. One hand covered her dripping face and the other holding her belly. After a few seconds, she returned with a box of tissues under her arm—some held to her nose.

  Aurora hadn't moved. Thoughts roared through her mind as if she were clicking pages on her computer screen. She regressed back to the night.

  It had happened on their "junk and drunk" date—eating junk and getting drunk—which they'd planned after closing the case they'd been working for months. Since it had been her turn to pay, she'd picked up the pizza and wine and had headed over to Debbie's apartment, only to be stopped at the door by a blood-curdling scream.

  She'd burst in with her purse gun cocked and ready, only to find her partner on the floor partially naked, clothes ripped and hanging open. Cuts and bruises decorated her face and naked chest. One eye was already partially closed and her jaw raw from being battered.

  Thoughts raced at double time and one caught hold and wouldn't shake loose. A mental image of how Debbie lay twisted in a foetal position; bruises on legs pressed together—shaking.

  Half-dressed, Rhondo had fled the scene through the window onto the fire escape and Debbie who'd pulled herself to a sitting position had urged Aurora to go after him. In fact she'd pleaded for her to get the prick. Now it was clear why. She'd wanted that time to get herself cleaned up so the rape wouldn't have been obvious. A cop knows how the procedures work. Who better to twist the story and fix the evidence?

  "Why lie? Deb. You didn't do anything wrong?"

  "I'm a cop. I didn't want the rest of the department to assume I couldn't handle myself. All I could think of was to wash him out of me. To rid myself of anything to do with that dirty…." Another sob escaped and she stopped. Aurora had her arms around her before the next tear fell.

  Once both girls had finished grieving and their faces were washed, they sat huddled together while Aurora drank strong coffee and Debbie her weak herbal tea.

  Aurora took a sip and decisively put the cup down on the glass-topped coffee table in front of her. "You have to tell Cory. You know that, don't you?"

  "No! I can't and I won't. He never has to know because everything in me believes this is his baby."

  A happy thought struck. "Did you take a Morning After pill?" Hope sprung in Aurora's heart. She knew her optimism had been premature when Debbie wouldn't look at her.

  "No. I'd just finished my period a week before and figured I'd be safe. Then a few nights later when Cory returned to town, he’d come to see if I was all right and, as you know, one thing led to another. It would have been the perfect time for me to conceive. So I know it's Cory's baby. I know!"

  "Will you promise to get a paternity test done after he's born? If you say yes, and you're proven right, then I'll agree that you won't ever have to say anything. But, if it turns out the other way—"

  “How do you know it’s a he?” Debbie used old tactics to change the subject, but it had never worked with Aurora and it certainly wasn’t going to cut it now.

  First Debbie answered grudgingly. "It won't." Then she tried to stare Aurora down and failed. "Fine! I promise."

  Chapter Six

  Aurora couldn’t wait to pursue the only lead they’d found at the scene—the business card for the clinic downtown. Aware they'd be closed, no treatment centre other than a hospital would be opened on a Sunday, Aurora agreed to stay. Debbie had been hard to dupe, but eventually after resting one day, Aurora had whined and coaxed until the other woman couldn’t take any more.

  “Oh for pity’s sakes, leave already. I can’t stand watching you pace. You’re wearing down my hardwood. I know you want to follow your lead, and I’d go with you if I could. But Cory would kill me. Look, I want to know what you find out.”

  Shaking her head didn’t stop the blonde from making her point. “I’d do it for you Aurora. You know I would. We’re still partners and I need to know what’s going on with this guy. I need it! Tell me you of all people understand.”

  Flagging, her sympathy for what she now knew her partner had suffered eating away her resistance, Aurora nodded once and didn't bother speaking the words. It was enough.

  Debbie thrust a pharmacy bag into her hands. “Here’s the pills you need to keep with you. Take them if the pain gets bad. And look after yourself.”

  With that bit of encouragement and a hug Debbie forced on her, Aurora had high-tailed it to the office only to stop at the sight of Kai working diligently at his laptop.

  “What the hell are you doing here? You should be in hospital.”

  His eyes lit up when she stepped into their crowded office, and for a very few seconds she wondered if he might be glad to see her. He shot that down pretty darn fast.

  “Hey you’re here. I was just trying to find your cell number. Do you have the stuff that Rhondo dropped from his backpack? I couldn’t find it on the board or with the other evidence.”

  “I have it here. She pulled out the business card enclosed in a plastic bag and put it in his outstretched hand.”

  “That’s it? That’s all you found?” His disbelief was palpable.

  Bristling, her temper riled and close to erupting, Aurora let her distain cover her face.

  “Hey, we searched everywhere around that desk and other than garbage in the waste basket, this is all we found. You think I’m holding out on you?”

  “No, I don’t think you’re holding out on me.” He wiggled his head like a modern teen as he reiterated her words. It was so annoying she wanted to slap him silly.

  “Then why the hell are you questioning me with such a pissy attitude.”

  “Because I’m disappointed!” This time his voice had risen and his hands tried to brush through hair that wasn’t there anymore. Instead they rubbed a bald surface. “I could have sworn I saw papers and a small book fall out.”

  “You did. See the papers. They were contracting advertisements torn out of the newspaper.”

  “Like building contractors?"

  She nodded.

  "What was on the other side?”

  “Crazy stuff like birth announcements and obituaries for animals. The only other item we found was this business card for a medical clinic downtown. Ham got me a list…”

  Kai’s eyes questioned.

  You know Hampton, the Irish cop, tall, bushy eyebrows, likes to make jokes.”

  “Right, the one who warned me you were a ball-buster.”

  “He didn’t!”

  “He did.”

  “Idiot!” She turned away and hid her grin. “Anyway, he compiled a list of all the doctors who work out of the building. I’d decided to pay them a visit today. See if I could shake anything loose. Gotta start somewhere.”

  “Fine but I’d like to start at Rhondo’s apartment and take another look around.”

  “If it’ll make you feel better.” Aurora had no intentions of talking the man down because she herself had followed hunches in the past that had paid off. If he wanted to go back to the scene where he’d been shot, then that’s what they’d do.

  ***

  Driving up to the same building pulled her back to the night of the incident. She remembered the lobby and scaring the bejesus out of the poor older couple in an apartment on the second floor. Maybe she should stop by and apologize—see if the department had fixed them up with a new door.

  The manager, who was outside clipping the hedges, let them in. They slowly walked up the stairs to the second-floor hallway where the yellow police tape still blocked off the crime scene.

  A youngster came towards them. His face wreathed in smiles as he stuck his hand out. Once Kai grabbed it, he forced an inside shoulder hug and beamed when Kai allowed it.

  “Glad you’re here man. I wanted to thank you for saving my ass the other night. Hell, if it wasn’t for your quick reflexes, that creep woulda plugged me instead of you.”

  “Yeah, no problem. Have a few questions for you though if you don’t mind.”

  What the hell was the kid talking about? Auro
ra had a few questions of her own, but obviously they’d have to wait. She zoomed in to pick up their conversation.

  Kai had taken out his small notepad and a pen. “First I need your name and age.”

  “Wayne Kupa, I’m fifteen and I live here in apartment 207.”

  Did you know Rhonda? Talk with him at all?”

  “The creep who shot ya? Yeah! He’s been trying to come onta my older sister Darlene who’s eighteen. She's scared silly of the dude. We’d decided to move cause the prick wouldn’t stop. I caught him one night playing with the door handle and told him to bugger off or I’d call the cops.” The kid acted brave now, and who wouldn’t once the danger had passed.

  “Thanks Wayne. If you think of something else that might help us find him, I’ll give you my card. Call anytime.” Kai leaned to the left and tugged one out from his tight jean’s pocket to hand over.

  The kid strutted toward the stairs, his back straight, walking tall.

  “So what’s this about you saving his ass?” Aurora had a mental picture and wanted collaboration. She figured he owed her since she hadn’t told Cory that the injury she’d gotten the other night was a bullet wound from her own partner and not a cut from Rhondo’s knife. She’d saved them both a visit with SIU so it had worked in her favour as well.

  When Cory had questioned her that night, she’d told him Kai had shot his weapon toward the criminal in her defence, and she’d wrenched away from his hold only to get cut. One of the ambulance attendants had looked curious at the time but shrugged and said nothing.

  Kai, not being too stupid, had used his own injury as a reason that he'd forgotten a lot of what had gone down that night. Or so Cory later told her.

  She still waited in front of her partner as he loomed over her. Arms crossed and foot tapping, she hoped he recognized she wasn’t about to let him pass without an answer.

  He cleared his throat and looked up the hall before letting his gaze settle on her face. Then his eyebrows rose, those full lips quirked upwards, and his mouth twisted in a sexy way to the side before he spoke.