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THE DETECTIVE 78
Pressure clamped down on her chest and she quickly shook her head. She had been doing so well. Now wasn’t the time to break down. She placed her purse on the desk when someone knocked and the door to her office opened. It was her assistant, Ruby. "There's a Mr Harper here to see you, Mrs Spencer. Should I send him in?" Vanessa's heart skipped a beat, and she almost ran out the door to see him, but she stopped herself. What use would it be? She'd already left. There was no going back now, so she shook her head, "No," she replied, "Please tell him I'm not available," Ruby left, and Vanessa stood, staring at the door. She knew Alaric well enough to know that if he insisted on coming into her office, no one would be able to stop him. Fifteen minutes later, no one came in and she knew that he'd gone. She should be relieved, but she felt more miserable than ever. —-----Everything should be okay.Her apartment had been virtually restored. The rental insurance had kicked in and the new f
THE DETECTIVE 79
Stunned by what he said, all she could do was sit there, and when she didn’t say anything, Alaric cursed under his breath again. “I’ve told you that I don’t mind the chase, and I have no fucking problem chasing after you, but I refuse to run after a ghost. And that’s what you are if you can’t let go of your past with your mom. I won’t chase a ghost.”Then he spun, his long legs quickly eating up the distance between her and the door. And then…then he was gone, the door slamming shut behind him.The moment Alaric left, she knew, without a doubt, that she had made the biggest mistake of her life. It was right there, smacking her face. Everything he had said was right.She was a coward. And the best damn thing to ever happen to her had just walked out the door.……… Her heart was like a hummingbird in her chest by the time she climbed out of her newly returned car and stared up at Alaric's house.A thousand things could go wrong with this. He might not be home. He could be and he could h
THE DETECTIVE 80
He laughed, dropping his forehead to hers. “I was thinking you wanted to tell me something else.”She reached up, spreading her palm against his cheek. The words were surprisingly easier to say than she could’ve ever imagined. “I love you.”His eyes fell shut as he sucked in a deep breath. “I’m glad we don’t need to fight again for you to admit that.”“Me, too,” she whispered, stretching up and kissing him softly. “Don’t you have something you want to say?”“Remember my fantasy?” His lashes lifted. “The one I told you about?”Paul cleared his throat behind them, but it went largely ignored.That wasn’t what she was looking for, but she would go with this. “Yes. I remember.”“And look at you. Your hair pulled back, wearing one of those god-awful suits. I think you did that on purpose.”A smile teased her lips. “I might have.”“Hmm,” he murmured as he reached around, gently unwrapping the bun and letting her hair fall down her back. “And why did you do that?”“I thought it might help my
THE DETECTIVE 1
Vanessa Spencer angrily slammed the front door of her apartment shut, threw her handbag onto a nearby chair and headed into her bedroom. Her fingers tightened around her phone which was held up to her ear, "I'm tired of waiting, Christopher!" she yelled, "It's been four fucking weeks already. When are you going to sign those damn papers?" She heard Christopher laugh softly, and got even angrier. Sometimes, she wondered how she'd managed to stay married to him all those years. He was the most infuriating man she'd ever met in her life. Vanessa had married Christopher at the young age of twenty one, and now at the age of twenty eight, she often wondered what the hell she'd been thinking when she had made such a horrible decision. She'd been young and stupid and she'd honestly thought that she loved him… Or the man she thought he was, but six months after their wedding she'd painfully realized that Christopher wasn't the man she thought he was. He was a liar and a cheat, and Vanessa bl
THE DETECTIVE 2
Detective Alaric Harper was a thirty four year old who had been in the force for eight years, and he was very good at his job. He was a tall man. Larger than life as some people would describe, handsome as sin, he looked every bit the stereotypical biker, except for the fact that he’d cut shorter his dark hair.When he and his partner arrived at the crime scene, Christopher Wesley was already dead; shot right in the head. His personal security had also been taken out. There was blood all over his home office where the murder had occurred, and the murder weapon had been missing. But they did recover something which pointed at his wife, Vanessa Spencer as the prime suspect—At least the only suspect they had at the moment. His phone. A quick search through his phone records, and they'd discovered that she was the last person he'd spoken to before he died. After listening to the recording of the call, Detective Alaric knew he'd have to bring her in for questioning. Vanessa Spencer was
THE DETECTIVE 3
"I have no idea," Vanessa replied, "He didn't say. Look, if you think that I killed him because he wouldn't sign the papers, then you're very wrong indeed. I was pissed that he was delaying things, but I knew he'd have signed it eventually. I wasn't going to kill him for it or kill anyone for that matter,""You could hire someone to do the job for you…." Alaric cut in, "I've seen people hire other people to do the job for them," It took a lot of self control for Vanessa's not to give in and scream like she actually wanted to. An emotional reaction in this situation wasn't going to do her any good, so she kept her cool and remained in her chair. "Are you insane?" she asked, "I would never do such a thing," He continued like she hadn't spoken, "I see that you had different surnames too. You never changed yours after you got married. You guys have been married for years and you don't have any kids. You've been separated for a year. You even moved out and rented an apartment. From what
THE DETECTIVE 4
Her phone rang again. It was Christopher's parents. She’d felt horrible that they’d learned about their son’s murder on the news, but she didn't have time to tell them first since she'd been at that damn station. She’d been in shock, so much so that it hadn’t occurred to her to call anyone. When she returned home from the police station, it was then that she had reluctantly dialed their number. The overwhelming relief she’d felt when she’d gone straight to voicemail had made her feel guilty, on top of everything else.Despite that, too exhausted to deal with anything else, she let their call go to voicemail. They’d left three messages already. What was one more? She’d phone them back once she’d made all the funeral arrangements. That way, they couldn’t take over. She knew if they did, the ceremony would be the antithesis of Christopher.While his parents were super religious, Christopher had often claimed he had no use for such “nonsense.” And while they’d never actually discussed his
THE DETECTIVE 5
Though Jeremy kept his tone respectful, his firm reply told her he meant business. “Perhaps you’d like to contact your bank and verify?”“Of course.” Hands shaking, she fumbled with her phone, looking up the bank’s number and calling it. Once she had an account representative on the line, she identified herself.“Mrs. Spencer, we’re so sorry for your loss,” the woman exclaimed. “What can I do to assist you?”After taking a deep breath, she asked to check the balance in the checking account, since she was also listed as an account holder in addition to Christopher for that account. “Certainly. Just one moment.”Vanessa gripped the phone, listening while the bank representative typed in the information. “Let me see here,” the woman said. “I show a balance of one thousand, six hundred and forty-seven dollars and seventy-eight cents.”“What?” Vanessa swallowed, again trying to comprehend. “The checkbook ledger shows seventy-two thousand dollars and change.”“That would have been before M