Page 61 of White Raven
Every hair on Rhaena’s body stood at attention. All her instincts buzzed, and her muscles stiffened. If somebody was here looking for Ryan Sykes, then it was another possible lead to where she might be. Or this person was part of the game and was playing their hand. Her heart skipped and she moved towards the door.
“Who is it?” she asked, standing close enough to Brandon to smell his cologne, and causing her heart to skip for completely different reasons. Foley tried not to smirk.
“Don’t know. I’ve never seen her before.” His stare lingered a little too long, and he glanced at her mouth before turning away and leaving the break room to head towards her desk. The off-kilter beating of her heart turned to a slow sink edged with pain, and she followed him, noticing a head of pink hair near her desk. She’d seen this woman before. But where? The girl was tattooed and pierced nearly everywhere. Her green eyes popped when she turned her attention to Rhaena, and a smile etched across her mouth in surprise.
“Detective Northwood!” she grinned, sliding her thigh off the corner of the desk. “I didn’t know you worked here.”
That was it…Wren’s old job. She was the one behind the counter. But what was her name?
“I—I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name,” Rhaena apologized, approaching her. Brandon and Foley both looked on in confusion, obviously trying to figure out how the hell they’d know one another. “You worked with Wren, didn’t you?”
She nodded. “Yeah! I’m Leigh Erickson. We met that day you told off Dom at the shop. Had dreams about you ever since,” she laughed.
“What an odd thing to say…” Brandon added, looking suggestively at Rhaena.
“What can I do for you, Leigh?” Rhaena dismissed his curiosity, focusing her attention on the young woman. “My partner says you’re looking for Detective Sykes?” One thing settled in her mind after putting a couple of pieces together. If she knew Sykes…and used to work with Wren…then Sarah and Athan weren’t the only ones Sykes was looking into. And that notion didn’t sit well at all.
“Yeah, she said she had just started working here, and she hasn’t answered any of my calls. Kinda disappointed.” Leigh shrugged a shoulder and frowned.
“How do you know her?” Foley asked, intrigued. “She no longer works at this precinct.”
“She doesn’t?” Her frown deepened and her body slumped in disappointment. “Well…that sucks ass. Makes sense though. I guess she went back home.”
“Back home?” Rhaena perked up, hopeful that this girl might have some information as to where Sykes was headed. “Is she a new acquaintance, Leigh?”
“Yeah, she came in and got a piercing. We hit it off and went out a couple times. She stayed over a few nights. We—” she paused looking between all the intrigued faces and her cheeks flushed. “Well…we were screwing.”
Christ…
“Now it makes sense,” Brandon smiled, shaking his head. Foley turned his face away trying not to laugh. Men…
“When was the last time you heard from her?” Rhaena asked, clearly the only one inclined to be professional today.
“We had an amazing night almost two weeks ago, and she called the day after, but that was the last time I heard from her. I’ve been trying her ever since. I figured maybe she was trying to let me down easy, but I’ve never been much for that kind of shit. I came to make her do it face-to-face. She did mention a few times that she wouldn’t be here long, but I at least thought she’d have the decency to say goodbye.”
“Did she say where she was going?” Brandon asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Leigh scratched her forehead, fidgeting with the hoop in her eyebrow. “She said something about Portland a couple times. I think that’s where she lives, I dunno.”
Thank God for Ryan Sykes and her slinging twat. Now they had something. Even better, this situation with Brent meant that Sarah and Athan weren’t wandering around Seattle looking for answers that weren’t there. Leave it to casual sex to reveal shit people might usually overlook. While it never seemed to work out in Rhaena’s favor, at least this time it was. Leigh glanced down at Rhaena’s left hand that was resting around her cup.
“Thank you so much, Leigh. You have no idea how helpful this is.” Rhaena smiled at her sweetly and sipped from her straw.
“Is she in some kind of trouble?” Leigh asked, staring at the straw, and then Rhaena’s eyes. It made her a little uncomfortable, and she sat the cup on her desk.
“Not yet. She didn’t mention anything about Wren, did she?”
Leigh shook her head. “Wren? No…why?”
“All I can really tell you is that she’s a person of interest in a case we’re working on. I just want to make sure that Wren isn’t involved in any way.”
“I don’t even think she knows Wren exists,” Leigh shrugged, tugging her lip ring with her teeth as she eyed Rhaena’s top two buttons on her shirt—buttons that she never closed. “Anyway, if you talk to Ryan…tell her she’s an asshole for ghosting me. And if I can help in any other way…” The corner of her mouth tilted upward, and Brandon shifted on his feet beside her. “I’m more than happy to accommodate. Appears I’m single now, and apparently have a taste for uniforms.”
Foley cleared his throat, stirring his coffee the whole way back to his office, and Brandon’s mouth parted, seemingly firing off a thousand scenarios in his manly head while he darted his eyes back and forth between her and the cotton candy-haired woman. Rhaena relaxed her shoulders, straightening her spine.
“That’s sweet of you. Maybe I’ll take you up on that,” Rhaena winked, earning a beaming smile from Leigh, and a truly shocked expression from her lover, who was rendered speechless by her response.
Good…that’s exactly the reaction she’d hoped for.
