Page 24

CHAPTER 23

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Shayne grumbled as Tristan pointedly ignored him and focused on the woman sitting across from him.

Was he smiling like an idiot? Probably. But he just didn’t care. For the first time in his life, he was happy, and it was all thanks to the woman trying to work as she tried even harder not to smile back. He watched as she worried her bottom lip between her teeth, clearly trying to hold back a beautiful smile. He wondered if she was as happy as he was.

Probably not.

For years, he’d been living in his own personal hell as he struggled to stay away from her. Every day was worse than the last and if he caught a glimpse of her, it was like having his heart ripped to shreds all over again. Now, that was all over. She was his and he planned on doing whatever it took to keep it that way. Now that he knew what it felt like to make love to her, hold her, and simply be with her, he wasn’t about to let her go.

The other aspect of his existence was going to be a slight problem, but he was done letting it rule his life. She was his life now. She was all he ever wanted, ever hoped for and he refused to live without her. Now that she was his, he couldn’t help but regret all those years he’d wasted. They could be married with a family of their own, but he’d pushed her away.

He would never do that again.

“Stop,” Marty said, her lips tugging up into a pleased smile even as she did her best to focus on her work.

“Stop what?” Tristan asked, unable to help but smile as he watched her.

“Making me gag, lad,” Shayne offered helpfully, but Tristan ignored him as he continued to look at Marty.

“Watching me work,” Marty said with a mock glare that had him chuckling as he forced himself to focus back on his work, but not before he glanced at his watch.

They’d been working all morning and he still had a ton of shit to do, but they needed to take a lunch break soon if he wanted a chance to look into a few things since he’d promised Hank that this investigation into the disappearances wouldn’t interfere with his other cases. If he was going to get anything done, he was going to have to do it during his lunch breaks and after work. He’d bring Marty with him if she wanted to tag along.

“Do you feel like joining me on a working lunch?” Tristan asked, glancing up to find Marty watching him as she thought it over.

“Will there be an actual lunch during this working lunch?” she asked teasingly.

“I think I can manage that,” Tristan drawled as he shot her a wink.

“Then, it’s a date,” Marty said with a warm smile that had him rethinking his plan to work through lunch. Perhaps he should take her back to his place for a quick-

A hard knock on their office door interrupted that rather intriguing thought, but that was fine since he knew that they had tonight, and if he had a say about it, every night after that.

“Yes?” Tristan said as he glanced back down at the file he was working on.

“Detective Black?” Jonathan, a seasoned patrolman, said, drawing his attention to find the older man standing in the doorway, holding a folder in his hands. “I have an arrest that you might want to take a look at,” Jonathan said, reminding Tristan that he needed to focus when he was at work and keep his mind off of all the things that he wanted to do to Marty.

Tristan stood up and took the folder from Jonathan. “What do you have for me?” he asked as he opened the folder and looked it over.

“Twenty-year-old kid got kicked out of college, came home, and decided that he was going to raise a little hell,” Jonathan explained as he folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the doorframe.

“Looks like he had a hell of a night,” Tristan murmured as he looked over the list of complaints against the kid, vandalism, assault, resisting arrest, trespassing, possession of a narcotic, and sexual assault on a young woman.

“His mother wants to talk to you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Tristan said, not really caring as he looked over the kid’s past arrests, DUI, assault, and theft.

“She’s claiming that this was all a big misunderstanding. She’s already managed to talk Ralph out of pressing charges for the damage the kid did to the bar as long as the kid pays for all the repairs and never sets foot in there again,” Jonathan explained.

“Is she harassing the young woman as well?” Tristan asked, his mood turning sour at the thought of the young woman that had been sexually assaulted being harassed by the perp’s mother.

Jonathan let out a snort of disgust. “She tried, but I placed the girl in McGill’s office along with her parents.”

“Good,” Tristan murmured as he continued to look over the kid’s file. He wasn’t surprised to see that the kid managed to get out of most of his past charges, no doubt with his mother’s help. Justin Erickson had been ordered to do a total of forty hours of community service and to cover the damages for his last bout of vandalism. Whoever this kid’s mother was, she was definitely working her ass off to keep him out of prison.

She probably thought that she was doing Justin a favor. She wasn’t. If anything, she was making it worse for everyone and setting herself up for heartache when the kid went too far and even she couldn’t help him.

“Has he lawyered up yet?” Tristan asked, taking another quick look at the list of charges.

“No, I don’t think the mom can afford it,” Jonathan said. “The kid doesn’t have a job and she’s supporting him on a secretary’s salary.”

“He ask us to provide him with a lawyer yet?” Tristan asked as he handed Marty the file, already knowing that she was eager to see what they had.

Now that he’d decided that he was going to keep her in his life, he had to admit that he liked having her around the department. He just hoped that she’d be willing to overlook the fact that he was an asshole.

“No,” Jonathan said, shaking his head. “But he also isn’t talking. I think he’s expecting his mother to get him out of this.”

“Probably,” Tristan agreed, sighing heavily as he grabbed a legal pad and a pen off his desk and resigned himself to taking a look at those restaurant supply stores tonight since it looked like he was going to end up working through lunch.

“I’ll move him to room five, Detective,” Jonathan said, sending Marty a nod before he left.

“Guess you’ll be sending me out to pick up lunch,” Marty said, noticeably fighting back a yawn.

“Looks that way,” Tristan murmured as he reached over to push a loose strand of hair behind her ear. He opened his mouth to ask her about going with him tonight, but she looked so damn tired.

“Do you mind if I grab a cup of coffee before I join you?” Marty asked as she grabbed a notebook and stood up.

“No, that’s fine, baby. Take your time,” Tristan said, leaning down and brushed his lips against hers simply because he could.

“Give me two minutes,” Marty said, handing the file back to him and headed for the door, leaving him standing there, watching her go and-

“Excuse me, Detective?” a vaguely familiar woman in her late forties, who looked tired but was trying not to show it, said as she stepped into the doorway.

“Can I help you?” Tristan asked, wondering where he knew her from.

“Yes,” she said, looking oddly relieved. “My name is Julie Erickson. I believe there’s been a misunderstanding involving my son Justin,” she said, sounding hopeful even as Tristan noted that her hands were shaking.

Tristan nearly groaned when he realized that this woman was his suspect’s mother. He already had too much shit to work on today and didn’t need to add this woman’s bullshit attempts to get her son out of trouble added to the list.

“If you could have a seat in the waiting area, I’ll be happy to speak with you as soon as I get a chance,” Tristan said as he stepped out of his office and closed the door behind him, giving her no other choice but to back up as he gestured towards the small sitting area by the doors.

“If you could just give me five minutes of your time, Detective, I’m sure that I can help clear this up,” Mrs. Erickson said, almost desperately and he couldn’t help but feel bad for her. That is until she turned slightly to the right and the sunlight streaming in from the windows hit her in just the right way.

It felt like a physical blow as recognition slammed into him. For a moment, he could only stare at the woman standing in front of him. There were a few strands of grey hair highlighting her blonde hair now and the blue eyes he used to remember as vivid and bright were now dull and tired, but it was her.

“Detective?” she said after a slight hesitation, making him realize that he was staring at her.

“Why don’t we speak in my office?” Tristan said, gesturing for her to join him.

With a grateful smile, she did just that. Tristan was just about to close the door when he spotted Marty with a large coffee mug in her hand, heading towards the back rooms. For a moment, he considered letting her go, but then he realized that he needed her, probably more than ever.

“Marty, could you join us?” Tristan asked just as she was about to make her way to the interrogation rooms in the back.

“Of course,” Marty said with a polite smile when she spotted Mrs. Erickson waiting in the doorway. He waited until Marty walked into the room before he closed the door and took a deep breath, praying that he was able to get through this without losing his fucking mind.

“You wanted to speak with me?” Tristan asked as he forced himself to join them.

“Why don’t you tell him what the little bastard did to your arm?” a man wearing an old Red Sox tee-shirt and jeans that he didn’t recognize demanded as he stepped through the wall. Tristan watched as he joined the woman that Tristan would happily walk away from.

“Ever since his father died, Justin has been struggling,” Mrs. Erickson explained as the man that Tristan was assuming was Justin’s father shot the woman a look of disbelief.

“Are you fucking kidding me with this?” Mr. Erickson demanded, leaning down to get in the woman’s face, but, of course, she couldn’t see him. “I’ve been dead for ten goddamn years! And before that, he was a spoiled little brat!”

“Does he have a juvenile record?” Tristan asked, wondering just how far she would go to save her son.

Her husband stood up with a snort of disgust as the woman’s eyes shifted away from him. “Nothing serious,” she mumbled.

“Nothing serious?” the man repeated in disbelief. “Are you fucking kidding me? He attacked his teacher and set her house on fire!”

Mrs. Erickson licked her lips nervously as she sat forward and sent him an imploring look. “You have to understand. It’s been really hard for Justin. He had a tough childhood.”

“Tough childhood? You do everything for the little bastard!” Mr. Erickson snapped, throwing his hands up in disgust as he walked away and began pacing the room, walking back and forth through the small coffee table.

“Do you have any other children, Mrs. Erickson?” Tristan asked, unable to help himself.

She looked right at him as she said, “No, he’s an only child.”