Page 20 of Devil's Hour

Sawyer scoffed. “I wasn’t going to say…much.”

Royce scowled at him. “Asshole.” He was never going to live this incident down.

“Congratulations, Sarge,” Sawyer said, tapping his bottle of beer against Royce’s.

“Thanks, partner.” Royce tipped the bottle back and took a long drink. His first day back had been colorful as hell—a promotion, vigilante arsonists, and a foot chase ending in near disaster.

Royce and Sawyer had tracked down every lead, including Hector Rodriguez, the carrier who filled in for Dusty. Hector hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary on his route, and as Dusty had said, he seemed like a good egg. Another avenue closed.

Nada. Zip. Zilch. That’s what Royce had to go on.

They’d found nothing to point them toward a specific person or direction. Royce would’ve been happy with a general vicinity instead of looking through the proverbial haystack. The only thing left was to examine the letters and listen to the voicemails on the flash drive they had picked up from Ryan Tedrick after the Goodwin neighborhood canvass went tits up. Royce had felt slightly dejected when he met with Chief Rigby at the end of the day because he’d hoped to have more.

“We won’t always find our perp holding a smoking gun, or match in this case,” she had replied. Royce knew that, of course, but he’d still wanted to impress the woman who always seemed willing to take a risk on him. “The three fires your team discovered are promising, and maybe the flash drive will give you new leads tomorrow.”

“I can start on the flash drive tonight, Chief.”

She’d shaken her head. “Right now, all we have is vague threats. Save your eagerness to stay late for when we have credible leads to run down.” Royce had wanted to point out the flash drive could be just that, but Rigby’s tone said it wasn’t up for debate. He decided to make a copy of the flash drive to take with him. Royce never knew when his nightmares would strike. If one of his restless nights were to occur, he would put the time to good use. “Get out of here and go celebrate your promotion with the team. I would join you at Joe’s if I didn’t have prior commitments.”

Royce was relieved the chief hadn’t been as disappointed as he was about his progress and pleased she genuinely seemed bummed she couldn’t attend his celebration. But if she had joined them, Royce wouldn’t have felt as bold as he did when tucked away in a dark corner of Joe’s with Blue, Zeke, and Holly, who he’d finally managed to track down. Want and need pulsed through him, and he couldn’t resist Sawyer’s pull another damn second. Royce placed his hand on Sawyer’s knee under the tiny table they were crammed around. It wasn’t much, but the touch would get him through the last few hours before they could be alone together. Against the ice-cold bottle, his mouth twitched when Sawyer’s muscles bunched in surprise, then relaxed as his legs parted slightly, giving Royce more access.Did he dare?Fuck, he wanted to but decided not to push his luck, then Sawyer covered his hand and slowly moved it to where they both wanted it—right between Sawyer’s legs. Royce was dying to feel the heft of Sawyer’s bare cock in his hand but settled for a firm squeeze before pulling his hand away. Chances were, they wouldn’t be able to hide in the corner all night, and he wasn’t about to walk around the bar with an erection straining his pants. They’d only been at Joe’s for twenty minutes, and Royce was ready to get the hell out of there and start their private celebration. Unfortunately, he had to bring everyone up to speed, and by some miracle, Royce managed to keep the desire out of his voice while doing it. Luckily, only a few other members from their unit had arrived already, and like their group, they gathered around a table to eat juicy burgers and steak fries and drink a beer, so they were left pretty much uninterrupted.

“I haven’t heard anything on the street about a group of firebugs wanting to purify the city,” Holly told them. “Doesn’t mean they’re not real, but my sources are either unaware of the threat or aren’t taking them seriously. Seems to me that the criminal elements would be super chatty about some vigilante group wanting to clean up the streets.”

“Any chatter about recent house fires at drug dens or meth labs?” Zeke asked. “If a manufacturer’s shops are getting destroyed, it would get some attention if a pattern was recognized.”

“Not that I’ve heard, but then again, I’m currently undercover at The Alley Cat,” Holly told them, earning lecherous whistles from all the guys. “Fuck all of you. I hate every single minute of it.”

Hearing the name of the strip club where Marcus had met his girlfriend was a punch to the gut because it was the last place Marcus was seen alive, and recalling what Crystal said about that night made him want to puke.

She’d told him Marcus had spent the night at her apartment. Crystal had been excited because overnight stays were rare since he had a wife and three children—a fact that hadn’t bothered her because they were in love and had been seeing one another for three years.Three goddamned years.

“With his wife and kids out of the way, we were able to fuck all night long. The next morning, I made him pancakes and bacon before he went home and…”

Crystal had burst into tears for the umpteenth time during the impromptu interrogation that had cost him hundreds of dollars for time alone in a private room and ended with him getting the shit kicked out of him by the club owner. He had busted through the door and found his stripper sobbing in the corner of a small loveseat in the room. What the fucker had thought Royce could’ve done to her with his hands cuffed to the chair was beyond him. Asshole must’ve decided to spy on them through a hidden camera or peephole after they’d been in the room for so long. Fuckface didn’t give a damn about the stripper’s safety; he only wanted to find out why his top earner was taking up so much time with one guy.

Beneath the table, Sawyer squeezed his hand. Of course, he knew where Royce’s mind had gone. Both Sawyer and Holly had read Royce’s notes and added their own as they’d searched in vain for the truth about Marcus for the past seven weeks. Was he a dirty cop or just a lousy husband?Maybe he was both, Royce thought sadly.

“Yeah, but are you any good at working the pole, Holls?” he teased, jumping back into the conversation.

“Best they have,” she said smugly. “I’ve been taking lessons for years as part of my normal workout routine. People can say what they want, but it’s excellent exercise.” Royce raised his brow in surprise. He’d known the woman for more than two decades and still learned new things about her.

“How are the tips?” Blue countered.

Holly shuddered. “I hate that part the most. The tips are excellent, but I hate their filthy hands touching me when they slide the money in my G-string. I made a thousand dollars the last few weeks, but I’ve given it all to organizations that help victims of domestic violence.”

“You’re good people, Holls,” Royce said affectionately.

“I appreciate you saying so, Ro, but I want to wrap up this investigation because bathing in bleach isn’t good for my skin.” When the guys grimaced, she chuckled. “I’m not really doing that, but I feel like scrubbing my skin raw to get clean afterward.”

“You’re not forced to give private dances, are you?” Royce asked. He knew that’s where the money was, and the sleazebag owner would want to get the biggest bang for his buck with Holly, who was an absolute stunner.

“Nah. I wasn’t overplaying my skills. I wear extravagant costumes, wigs, and makeup or masks to avoid recognition from the customers. Word has gotten around about my shows, and I’ve started to draw a big crowd on the nights I’m there. I have to say, as slimy as Savage is, there’s no evidence so far that his club is a front for illegal prostitution. Most of the dancers seem like decent people.” Savage’s real name was Allen McGraw, and Royce had zero doubts the scumbag was up to something illegal. He trusted Holly to find the evidence SPD needed to bring the man down.

Royce had so many questions he wanted to ask her. Having Holly on the inside meant they might finally get some answers about Marcus. He’d made zero headway into his friend’s activities before his death other than tracing him to the strip club through low-level drug runners who’d said Marcus was a regular client there. In his heart, Royce knew the club was the epicenter of it all. Maybe Marcus had started sneaking off to the club for cheap thrills that turned into an affair, or perhaps he went there for another purpose. Either way, his relationship with Crystal stemmed from whatever drove him there.Fuck!Just thinking about Marcus and Crystal infuriated him and broke his heart all over again.

As desperate as he was for answers, his inquiry would need to wait until they were alone. Royce trusted Blue with his life, which meant he trusted his judgment about Zeke, but he wasn’t willing to risk Candi and the kids’ future. Holly caught his gaze and winked. She knew exactly what he’d been thinking, and it was her way of saying “I got your back.”

The rest of the MCU finally arrived, some brought their significant others while some, noticeably Ashcroft, came stag. Then again, Ashcroft always came alone, and a few of the detectives joked he’d made his wife up. The ring he wore on his left hand never stopped him from flirting with the ladies, not that they reciprocated his attention. Ashcroft really did resemble Andy Sipowicz, and while the TV character landed a sexy wife, real life wasn’t as kind to Ashcroft. Or so Royce guessed since he’d never met Mindy Ashcroft.