Page 27 of Royal
Chapter 8
Gray
“The feds are on their way,” Lieutenant Anderson shared with us first thing that morning. He was a head shorter than me but behaved like he was the tallest man in the room. Self-assured, proud, and a little on the grouchy side. “I know having bigshot agents come in and take over the case isn’t what any of us want, but I didn’t have a choice in the matter. Turns out, they think our perp is the one they’ve been tracking across state lines for the past year.”
I was already in a bad mood. News that the feds were about to swoop in, take the case that we’d worked our asses off on for the past week, and start bossing all of us around didn’t sit well with me and made my mood even worse.
“No disrespect meant, sir,” I said, massaging the side of my head where an ache was forming. “But we don’t need their help. We can handle it.”
“Swallow your pride, Riley,” he countered. “I’m not happy about it, either, but we’re in way over our heads with this one. These agents are trained to study criminal behavior and already have a profile on this guy. Pride serves no purpose when innocent lives are on the line.”
“Yes, sir.”
Once he dismissed us, I went over to my desk and braced my hands on it, staring down at the folder I’d started on the murders.
Over the years, I’d had to learn how to be a team player, so I was no stranger to working with other people. I’d had partners ever since I joined the force, back from my police days and continuing into my career as a detective.
Working with the entitled federal agents, though, left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I’d met their kind before. Nothing but a bunch of arrogant assholes who believed themselves above the law. Above everyone else.
“You okay?” Ruby asked, placing a cup of coffee on my desk. “I know it sucks, but you can at leasttrynot to look like you’re going to kill everyone in the office.”
“Sorry.” I straightened up and grabbed the coffee. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. I thought the Hello Kitty cup suited you.”
“Huh?” I looked down and groaned. “You do that shit on purpose, just to get a rise out of me.”
“Yep.” She took a drink from her Captain America cup, her blue eyes sparkling with mischief. “Don’t break that cup or my wife will be pissed.”
Her wife, Yuna, was one of the sweetest women I’d ever met. She was petite like Ruby, soft-spoken, and funny. The few times I’d gone over to Ruby’s house, Yuna had made a feast and piled food on my plate, even after I’d said I was full. It’d been too delicious, and I’d eaten every bite, full or not. It was a miracle Ruby was so thin being married to a hell of a cook like that.
As I drank from the Hello Kitty cup, letting the cheap coffee awaken my senses, I worked on calming my bubbling anger.
Truth be told, the FBI agents would probably be a lot of help. We’d done the grunt work, tracking down and interviewing witnesses; doing research on the two victims and searching for any connections between them; and checking out the people in their lives and then cross-referencing them with each other to see if anyone from their circles came up twice.
Yet, we had no leads.
Beth Monroe and Jeffrey Holland hadn’t known each other. The victimology on both crimes was different. Beth, a twenty-nine-year-old female, had grown up in Addersfield and lived there her whole life. Jeffrey, a twenty-three-year-old male, had been born in Michigan, moved to New York when he was nineteen, and had traveled all over the world. Nothing connected them other than them being killed in the same fashion.
So, as much as I detested the thought of working with the feds, I would swallow my pride as Lieutenant Anderson had ordered and try not to punch anyone.
The real reason for my crappy mood was because of what happened with Royal.
When I went over to his house the night before, I told myself it’d been to give him an update on the case. Such a lie. It had only been an excuse to see him. While hehadneeded to know about it, mainly so he could stop stressing as I knew he’d been doing, I could’ve told him about the new findings over the phone, as he’d pointed out to me.
Truth was…I’d wanted to see him. Nothing else had mattered. Not the barrier between us because of my stupid past mistake, not the fact he was part of a murder investigation—one I could very well be removed from if the lieutenant decided to pursue Royal again as a potential suspect.
Reason had flown out the window, and my feelings had pushed me to get in my car and head to his neighborhood instead of mine.
The day before had been brutal, and after spending hours inspecting a crime scene and looking at some kid’s dead body, I’d wanted an escape. Someone to take away the horrors I’d seen.
Royal had grounded me when we were younger. Anytime I’d started getting worked up over something, he’d helped calm me down.
Love and affection were emotions I had trouble expressing. But anger? Anger was the one emotion I had nailed down all too well. I turned to it when life got hard, instead of dealing with the pain. And I’d been angry after seeing Jeffrey Holland’s body, pissed at the sick sonofabitch who’d taken two innocent lives and would probably take more before we could catch him.
I’d needed Royal to help bring me down from that ledge. In the process, I’d hurt him again. Confused him by showing up unannounced.
