She pleaded with her eyes for Master Jace not to leave, but he didn’t know her well enough to decipher the panic slithering under her skin. With a throng of people keeping Damien from getting a close-up look at her, she couldn’t rely on him to come forward until Jim tried to usher her outside.
“My pleasure. I didn’t know you were waiting for someone, Penny.” The censure in Jace’s voice didn’t hurt her as much as the prick that broke her skin, the sharp pain enough, she knew, to draw a bead of blood.
“She likes to push my buttons. I’ll take her in hand for that discrepancy.” Jim shifted in front of her, keeping his arm around her waist and the handle of the small knife hidden in his palm as he held her tightly against him.
His nearness caused nausea to churn in her gut, but Penny refused to look away from his disguised face, his features distorted enough she wouldn’t have recognized him in the dim lighting, at least not right away. He’d dyed his brown hair black, wore brown contacts to alter his green eyes and had done some creative makeup around his nose and chin. But there was no mistaking the cruel twist to his lips or the coldness in those eyes. Her mind whirling, she thought back over the last year, recalling when Troy mentioned the date of the first attack. Guilt stabbed at her chest as she put two and two together.
“It was you. You hurt those women, and me,” she accused in a rush of blind disbelief. “How did you manage it, living in South Carolina?”
Jim tried to sway with her to the slow song but she refused to step in tune with him, holding herself rigid despite his scowl. “It was easy enough once they gave me my own office and left me answerable to no one. You know most investigative work can be done through computer research, but not all. It was easy to take off for a few days here and there on the pretext of hunting down leads. But I have no intention of discussing this here, or now. Come with me, sweetheart. We have a lot of catching up to do, starting with your nerve in returning here. Apparently, I didn’t hurt you bad enough to keep you from whoring yourself again.”
Anger coiled like a snake hissing, ready to let loose with a strike, replacing her fear as she let Jim maneuver her off the dance floor and toward the exit. Once he’d ushered her out from the mass of gyrating bodies, she caught Damien’s eye, and all it took was one look at her face to have him straightening with an expression that scared even her. And then all hell broke loose.
Damien kept his pace slow and measured as he approached them, but Troy and Trevor beat him to the rescue when they came up behind them, freeing her from Jim’s tight hold by catching him by surprise. Penny stumbled when his arm fell away followed by Jim’s sharp cry of pain. She pivoted and saw Troy holding Jim’s arm twisted behind his back, the cop’s gaze zeroing in on her.
“Penny? Is he…”
“Yes, he’s the one. He’s also my ex, Jim Bates.” She shook from the inside out as she stared at the man she’d wasted a year of her life on before drawing her arm back and slapping his face with as much force as she could muster.
Damien grabbed her arm before she could swing again and didn’t hesitate to deliver a double-fisted punch that took Jim to his knees despite Troy’s hold on his arm. Paige sidled around Trevor, adding to Jim’s woes by snapping, “You fucking asshattery twatwaddle!” before sending a well-aimed knee into his crotch as Troy hauled him up.
Trevor crossed his arms, a small smile kicking up the corners of his mouth, his eyes hard as he stared at Jim and murmured, “That’s our girl.”
“It looks like you and I get to leave here and go have a nice chat.” Troy cuffed Jim, ignoring his blustering threats of reporting police brutality as he ushered him toward the exit. “You guys need to follow me so I can get Penny’s statement,” he tossed out in passing.
Penny grinned when Trevor snatched Paige and kissed her before he asked Damien, “Would you mind taking Paige home, then driving Penny to the precinct so I can accompany Troy? I plan to prosecute and want to watch the interrogation from the start.”
Damien nodded, his arm going around Penny and pulling her close. “We’ll be along shortly. I need to get someone to close for me.” Penny had never appreciated his tight hold as much and leaned against him while her heartbeat took its time returning to a normal rhythm.
“Damn, that felt good.” Paige smiled when Trevor released her to catch up with Troy. “Are you all right?” she asked Penny, looking her over carefully.
“I am now, but maybe you can check my back where he…” Penny gasped when Damien whipped up her top with a curse.
“You’re bleeding. Come on. I’ve got a first-aid kit in my office.”
Paige followed them down a short hall and into Damien’s office, still shaking from the scare Penny had given her. Thank God the guys had taken one look at her face and moved fast. Jim never heard them come up behind him, and when Troy noticed the knife point, he hadn’t hesitated to act. Now, looking at the beaded blood drops on her sister’s back, the fear and anger came swooping back. She sucked in a deep breath, reining in both emotions, neither of which would help Penny now.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked again, needing the reassurance as she watched Damien dab an antibiotic ointment on the cut.
“Yes, just a little shaky,” Penny replied, sinking onto the small sofa across from Damien’s desk. “I still can’t believe it. It was him, Paige. Jim hurt those girls, and it’s tearing me up inside with guilt. I should have—”
“Stop right there,” Damien snapped, towering over her and holding her face up to meet the displeasure snapping in his eyes. “He’s a sick fuck who took his anger out on helpless women, that’s all there was to it. If it hadn’t been your break-up, it would’ve been something else that set him off, or, he would’ve done a lot worse to you. Not another word.”
Penny clammed up, her eyes softening with relief. For the first time, Paige didn’t feel uneasy or put out about their relationship. Damien truly cared about her sister, and in light of everything else, she now felt nothing but happiness for her. She still couldn’t reconcile with Troy and Trevor’s willingness to give a relationship a try, but she’d just witnessed another reminder life was too short to pass up a chance to explore what might be.
Her phone beeped, distracting her from her thoughts, and she pulled it from her purse to read a text from Mel. After replying, she sent a message to the guys then said, “If you don’t need me, Mel’s in a bind and asked me to come in. I’ll catch a cab to the bar. Troy and Trevor can pick me up when they’re done at the station.”
“You go on, sis. There’s nothing for you to do now, but thank you, for everything.”
“Hey, that’s what sisters are for.” Paige narrowed her eyes at Damien. “You take care of her.”
“Go, before I turn you over my knees myself,” Damien retaliated, his cool tone belying the grin tugging at his lips.
* * *
“Let’s try this again,” Troy stated with exaggerated patience. Jim Bates, aka Don Meddleson and several other aliases, sat cuffed to the chair across the table from him, denying the attacks. “We have Penny’s testimony you admitted to her attack, we have your disguise, and I’ve already contacted Savannah PD to search your residence and office. We can keep up this dance routine, or you can save yourself a lot of trouble and come clean.”
“Fuck you. I want a lawyer. No stupid cunt is going to take me down,” he sneered.
“No, but a smart woman will. I’ll be adding the threats you left for Paige to the charges. I imagine once our handwriting expert matches the writing on those notes you wrote, that’ll just be icing on our cake.”
Jim frowned in confusion. “What the hell are you talking about? I haven’t been near that bitch, let alone threatened her.”
Troy’s gaze jerked to the two-way mirror, and he wished he could read Trevor’s impression. As a DA, he was an expert at seeing through lies. Bates’ confusion appeared genuine to him, which had him shifting in his seat with unease. Pulling the two notes from his folder, he slid them across
the table. “Are you denying you wrote these and left them on Paige Wilcox’s windshield?”
“That’s right, asshole, I am.” Jim shoved the bagged notes back over to Troy. “I wanted nothing to do with Penny’s sister when we were together, and I sure as hell didn’t change my mind after we split. Want a sample of my handwriting now? I don’t need a lawyer to give you that.”
Both Troy and Trevor had received Paige’s text about going to the bar to work a few hours. He knew she was safe now, even more so surrounded by cops, so why couldn’t he shake the cold knot of fear cramping his abdomen? Pushing back from the table, he grabbed the case folder, saying, “Wait here. Someone will escort you to make your call and then to your cell.” Ignoring Jim’s foul rebuttal, he sped out of the interrogation room where Trevor was waiting for him with a concerned look.
“Something’s not adding up, I feel it too. Let’s go.”
* * *
“Take it up with Mel when he gets back, Detective.” Paige turned away from Evans’ angry, inebriated glower. He had already reached the belligerent, drunk stage when she’d arrived at The Precinct. She’d done her best to ignore him after serving him a drink that Mel stated would be the last for the night before he’d left to run his nephew home. God, she hoped her boss got back here soon. She wasn’t in the mood to put up with this shit.
Evans leaned over the bar and tried to grab her arm, but this time she was too fast for him. “You fucking bitch, who do you think you are to dictate to me?” He slammed his glass on the bar top. “I said pour me another.” Several heads turned their way, but, as usual, none of the cops stepped up to interfere. That pissed Paige off as much as Evans’ attitude.