Read Chapter 1 of Snared
Chapter 1
Shae
Shae’s lips chapped against Cam’s stubble, but she didn’t want to stop kissing him. The windows had steamed up around them as they made good use of the Explorer’s roomy backseat after moving Cam’s dry cleaning.
Having sex with him at the roadside park, which thankfully didn’t get any traffic, wasn’t a plan to convince him to keep her on the case, but she wouldn’t be disappointed if it helped.
As if he could read her mind, Cam stopped kissing and thrusting long enough to look into her eyes. “You want this, don’t you? I mean, for us to be a thing. It’s not just for the case?”
“I should be insulted,” she said.
Cam cupped her face and met her eyes. “I’m sorry. I just need to know where you stand. What this is about.”
She had deprived her heart for a long time, and although she didn’t trust him not to stomp it, she wasn’t going to hold back any longer. “I do want it, but it’s hard to put myself out there, you know?”
He glanced down to where he entered her body, grinding slowly as she bucked her hips upward to accept him. “It doesn’t look like you’re having much trouble at the moment.”
“I just wonder how you’re going to handle our situation. I know you have a duty to arrest me.”
Cam brushed her hair from her face. “That doesn’t matter right now. All that matters is you want this as much as I do. We’ll figure the rest out.”
“Then why did you stop?” She gave him a hungry look and pushed her hips upward.
He pounded her hard, relieving the sweet anticipation, and it wasn’t long after that she orgasmed. A few strokes more, and he was right behind her.
Once they both stilled, he eased back against the seat and watched as Shae righted her clothes. It had been a spur of the moment, around-the-clothes quickie, but it still had her head spinning. Cam had always been a good lover, and she realized at that moment what she’d been missing for so long.
But she hadn’t let her heart chase him. She hadn’t let it chase anything. Or have anything.
“I can’t believe we just had sex in my car.” Cam wiped his forehead. “It’s been years since I’ve done anything like this.”
Shae couldn’t relate. “I’ve never done anything like this.” She hadn’t done too much of anything with anyone.
He gave her a look like he couldn’t believe it. “You mean to tell me you’ve never gone out parking?”
“No,” she said, laughing. “I haven’t been with many people. I guess that might surprise you.”
“It’s a nice surprise, not that I ever thought too much about who you were with other than me.” Cam got a smug look. “So I’m special, right?”
“Don’t let it go to your head.” She pushed him away as he went in for another kiss, and she crawled over the seats to the passenger side. “Well, aren’t you going to take me home, or are you going to sit there with your dick out?”
Cam pulled up his pants and got out of the car to get into the front. “Mack is probably worried.”
“No, she’s probably rolling her eyes at us.” She fastened her seatbelt and wiped the fog from the window beside her.
Cam started the car and put down the windows. “Do you mind if I shower at your place? I’d like to clean up a little before we head to work.”
“We? Are you going to let me go to the office with you? And not in handcuffs?”
“No—damn, I forgot I had handcuffs in here.” He looked at the console. “Maybe another time?”
“Don’t push your luck.” She hadn’t done that either but maybe she’d trust him enough.
“Fine. We best get back. We’ve got a lot to do.”
“Starting with?” asked Shae. She wondered what had come down the line in the way of leads.
He started the car and raked his hair back from his face. “I have no idea. But I know I’m not going to put you in cuffs unless it’s to get kinky, so you can relax about that. I should arrest you, but then again, if I were going to play this completely by the book, I should resign from the case and turn it over to the Feds.”
“I’m shocked. I really thought that was your way of getting in one last nut before you have to apply for conjugal visits.”
“That’s one way to get you to marry me,” he said with a grin. Shae’s heart fluttered at the comment, but he continued on as if the idea of marriage was no big deal. “But back to business. You never did answer me before. Do you have the evidence? The case files?”
“It was my personal case file. It had all my information. It didn’t have anything else really. I took copies of a few others, but the only one I needed to disappear was mine.”
“I can understand that,” he said. “You had to look out for yourself.”
“Yeah, no one else was. Franks, who was on the verge of retiring, didn’t keep good records, and he was barely hanging onto the cases he had as it was. After him, they had Phillips come in to take over. And when I arrived, even the officer who helped Franks wasn’t around anymore. He died shortly after my case. Franks didn’t even remember me from the accident. And since Phillips didn’t know me either, I used that to my advantage and went in and took any record of me off the books when I had a chance. I knew if I wanted near the case, near Leah, I had to.”
“And the physical evidence?” Cam gave her a pointed look. “I know there was some. That’s why you had the red tape in the bottom of that box. You took it off of something.”
“There wasn’t much really. There were mostly photographs of the scene in the file. But there were a few things taken, a rubber glove with my blood—the syringe. Leah drugged me, and the doctors said it was what saved me. It slowed my bleeding. But there wasn’t much else. I think a tarp. That’s what they found me on. I guess she ditched her plans to wrap me up and dump me in a shallow grave. I bet now she wishes she did.”
Shae’s mind drifted back to the night. “She left me there to die instead. She took my baby and ran. And since the department didn’t have any similar victims, they didn’t know what they were dealing with. They thought it could have been a black-market job, but a woman? I knew pretty quickly they weren’t going to be able to find her. My case would be forgotten with countless others, like I didn’t even matter. So I decided I had to make sure I didn’t let another girl feel like she didn’t matter. I got into the case and obsessed over the cold cases, collecting others that were similar until I realized that she was back at it again. And maybe she hadn’t ever stopped.”
“You never let Detective Phillips know about your case at all?” he asked.
“No, I took the files and evidence long before he even had a look at it. When Leah reared her ugly head again, I was already in place to make her pay. I worked tirelessly on it, through all of Phillips’s personal problems, his health, his divorces. And I was so close to catching her. Well, so close that she shot me.”
“They thought you were obsessed and had suspended you before that. And so you took it on yourself to continue. You’re pretty brave. Or crazy. I’m not sure which.”
“Thanks,” she said, giving him a sideward look. “They weren’t wrong about the obsession part, but Phillips’s beef wasn’t about that. He just didn’t want me to take any credit for anything. He wanted to keep a glowing record, and having someone like me steal the light wasn’t going to work for him. I was just another nuisance, a girl cop who wanted to be a detective. Someone who wanted his job. And he knew he wasn’t going to last much longer. Not at the rate he was going. And that’s why they suspended me, not for getting too close to the case but to his job. It was all politics, and it all came at the worst time. But I couldn’t let that stop me. Even though I was shaken, I had to go after her. And when she shot me, I resigned and left altogether. I couldn’t let them know what happened. It took a lot of work to get things where they were. I wasn’t going to just quit. I was prepared to stop her at all costs. Even my freedom.”
“Well, I’m not letting that happen. But they do know there are files missing, so I assume you didn’t take them out of the log?”
“No, I couldn’t get to it, but it doesn’t state anything important about what it is, just that there are numbers missing. I should have known that would come back to bite me in the ass.” Shae caught her breath and closed her eyes. “So what are you going to do with all that? I’ve told you everything.”
“Well, I can’t just say, ‘Here you go, men, take this stolen evidence back,’ without you getting arrested.” He gave her a hard look that told her he resented the place she’d put him in.
She figured he’d still want to do the right thing, no matter what. “I won’t do well in jail.” Shae had done her best to stay out of the place all along, knowing that going to prison for Leah’s murder was a likely scenario. “Do your absolute best to get me a deal, okay?” She didn’t really think it was going to be as bad as all that, but it was a serious offence.
“Yeah, and I really won’t do well with you in jail, either.” Cam slowed the car and turned in the driveway. When he came to a stop, he turned and cupped her face. “Don’t worry about it, okay? I’ve got a few cards up my sleeve, and once I figure out how to play them, I think it will be fine. But I need you to promise me.” He paused to give her a pointed look. “Promise me, Shaelyn, that you are going to follow my lead from here on out and that you won’t go off on a tear to do something else criminal, like kill this woman.”
“I said I wouldn’t kill her unless it’s absolutely necessary. Self-defense. Protecting you. I can’t make you any promises. So what if it’s serving two purposes?” Shae gave him a sweet smile and tried to lighten the mood.
Cam sighed and dropped his hand from her cheek. “Baby, this isn’t you. You’re not the bad guy. Don’t be the bad guy.”
She nodded. “I won’t. Relax.” She looked up at the house to see Mackenzie peeking out the front window. “Do you want to stay for lunch?”
“As long as you don’t mind me making a few phone calls at the dinner table, then sure. It sounds good, and I was serious about the shower. I need to get cleaned up. I have a change of clothes in the back—if we didn’t wrinkle my clothes before I remembered to move them.”
“We didn’t wrinkle them,”’ said Shae. “And don’t blame me if they are. It was your idea to get naked. You instigated the whole thing.”
“Well, it was a good idea, and I don’t think you’ll disagree with me. But if I am going to play those cards that I was telling you about, I should at least look good doing it.”
They got out and went inside the house, where Mack was quietly giving them looks of suspicion. “Where have you two been?”
“Down the road. We had to talk.”
“Talk?” she asked with a laugh. “Oh, I think not. For your information, I’ve been paying a lot closer attention to things lately. I figure if I’m going to be a detective, I should start training now.”
“Is that right?” asked Cam with a tone of amusement. “Maybe I’ll let you intern with me someday. I can show you how things are supposed to work.”
And how they’re not supposed to, thought Shae.
“I’d like that,” Mack said. She turned to Shae. “By the looks of your hair and his wrinkled pants, I’d say you were doing a whole lot more than talking, Ms. Sawyer.”
“She’s good,” said Cam, earning a hard look from Shae.
“And since there are no grass stains on either of you, I think you stayed in the car. The backseat, perhaps?”
“You can’t ground her for talking, can you?” asked Cam.
“No.” Shae gave him an apologetic look. “I wish. She’s more of a roommate, and you know how it is with emancipated minors. She’s fifteen going on fifty.”
Mack cleared her throat. “I’m right here. And I’m not wrong. My first case is solved. And if I might say so, I think the two of you make a beautiful couple. You look better together than apart.”
“And on that note, I’ll go and have that shower.” Cam left the room to go back out to the car for his clothes.
Mackenzie looked up from Charlie. “We could go visit Mrs. Bell if you’re about to get into round two.”
Shae had heard enough. “Could you please take it easy? You’re making this incredibly weird.”
Mackenzie laughed. “Then my work here is done.” She glanced down at little Charlie, who cooed. “Yes, it is,” she repeated to him in a much sweeter voice.
Shae wasn’t sure what she was going to do with any of them.
