Fire at Sea by Nancy Holder

Author:Nancy Holder
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Titan
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

When Tess heard Heather’s voicemail pick up yet again, she hung up the handset and glared at her office’s landline.

No Heather.

No call back.

It wasn’t like her.

Through the window of her office door she could see the chaos of the squad room; uniforms and plain clothes, everyone seemed to be in motion, but it barely registered in her brain.

Maybe like JT had said, Heather was off somewhere with that new boyfriend neither of them had met. But every time she had housesat for Cat before and was going to be away from the apartment, she had left word where she was headed and when she thought she’d be back. Heather could be impulsive, and she was always apologetic after she’d leapt the wrong way, but she was never distant or secretive. Dealing with Cat’s little sister was frustrating at times but Tess couldn’t ever stay mad for long. Heather brought out protective, maternal feelings.

Tess winced, remembering the pee test she still hadn’t taken, then pushed it to the back of her mind.

Why hadn’t Heather returned her calls?

She was usually compulsive about that, along with texting and tweeting—a chatty person. Tess checked her cell again. No texts. No tweets. She realized that her attitude had gone from not at all concerned to irritated to more worried by the quarter hour. If something happened to Cat’s sister on her watch she knew she would never forgive herself.

Tess looked at the piles of paperwork stacked on her desk, glanced over at the wall clock, and heaved a sigh. Nine p.m. She had already put in a thirteen-hour day with lunch—an apple and reheated coffee—at her desk. A captain’s job was never done, and she was on duty twenty-four seven. She decided the paperwork wasn’t going anywhere and could wait until tomorrow.

Tess took her weapon and badge from the desk drawer, grabbed her coat, purse and Cat’s spare key, and headed out the door. She thought about calling JT back to tell him where she was going, but she didn’t want to hear him tell her she was “just being silly.”

She drove to VinCat’s building in an unmarked “company car.” As soon as she stepped inside the darkened apartment, a gross, piney odor hit her and made every muscle in her body tense. It reeked like someone had spilled a whole bottle of disinfectant.

“Heather?” she called as she flicked on the light.

No answer.

She immediately drew her weapon, quickly chambered the first round, and dropped the safety.

“Heather, it’s Tess. Are you okay?” She advanced with the department issue automatic lowered, holding it in a two-handed defensive position that she could switch to gun-aimed and-blazing in a heartbeat.

When she reached the living room and hit the light switch, Tess froze. She saw the signs of a struggle… and worse. Someone had splashed disinfectant all over the couch, but the darker blotches on the seat cushion and backrest looked like blood. And a lot of it. The sheer size of the stains told her that someone had most certainly died in Cat and Vincent’s living room.

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