Page 40 of White Raven (Nevermore Duet #2)

brEAD CRUMBS

“You’re taking on too much, Gloves,” Foley reminded her, organizing condiments for the coffee in the break room while she refilled her tumbler. “How are you gonna juggle this many cases at once?”

“Same way I always do. And please don’t assume that I can’t handle it. I’d rather juggle than leave these cases to someone else. The less hands in the pot, the better.” She snapped the lid on the cup and shoved her straw through it, taking a mean swallow before turning towards him. “I don’t have—”

“Hey,” Brandon cut in, leaning in the doorway.

When she met eyes with him, she tried her best not to let on that their personal situation didn’t bother her.

If Foley was right about one thing, it was that taking on all these leads to a web of cases that didn’t quite connect, would leave little time to tend to the matter of what was going on between her and the man she loved.

And she wanted that more than anything else. “We’ve got a situation out here.”

“What’s the problem?” Foley asked, pushing off the counter and nearly losing the stirrer in his coffee cup.

“There’s some girl here looking for Detective Sykes.”

Every hair on Rhaena’s body stood at attention.

All her instincts buzzed, and her muscles stiffened.

If somebody was here looking for Ryan Sykes, then it was another possible lead to where she might be.

Or this person was part of the game and was playing their hand.

Her heart skipped and she moved towards the door.

“Who is it?” she asked, standing close enough to Brandon to smell his cologne, and causing her heart to skip for completely different reasons. Foley tried not to smirk.

“Don’t know. I’ve never seen her before.

” His stare lingered a little too long, and he glanced at her mouth before turning away and leaving the break room to head towards her desk.

The off-kilter beating of her heart turned to a slow sink edged with pain, and she followed him, noticing a head of pink hair near her desk.

She’d seen this woman before. But where?

The girl was tattooed and pierced nearly everywhere.

Her green eyes popped when she turned her attention to Rhaena, and a smile etched across her mouth in surprise.

“Detective Northwood!” she grinned, sliding her thigh off the corner of the desk. “I didn’t know you worked here.”

That was it…Wren’s old job. She was the one behind the counter. But what was her name?

“I—I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name,” Rhaena apologized, approaching her. Brandon and Foley both looked on in confusion, obviously trying to figure out how the hell they’d know one another. “You worked with Wren, didn’t you?”

She nodded. “Yeah! I’m Leigh Erickson. We met that day you told off Dom at the shop. Had dreams about you ever since,” she laughed.

“What an odd thing to say…” Brandon added, looking suggestively at Rhaena.

“What can I do for you, Leigh?” Rhaena dismissed his curiosity, focusing her attention on the young woman.

“My partner says you’re looking for Detective Sykes?

” One thing settled in her mind after putting a couple of pieces together.

If she knew Sykes…and used to work with Wren…

then Sarah and Athan weren’t the only ones Sykes was looking into. And that notion didn’t sit well at all.

“Yeah, she said she had just started working here, and she hasn’t answered any of my calls. Kinda disappointed.” Leigh shrugged a shoulder and frowned.

“How do you know her?” Foley asked, intrigued. “She no longer works at this precinct.”

“She doesn’t?” Her frown deepened and her body slumped in disappointment. “Well…that sucks ass. Makes sense though. I guess she went back home.”

“Back home?” Rhaena perked up, hopeful that this girl might have some information as to where Sykes was headed. “Is she a new acquaintance, Leigh?”

“Yeah, she came in and got a piercing. We hit it off and went out a couple times. She stayed over a few nights. We—” she paused looking between all the intrigued faces and her cheeks flushed. “Well…we were screwing.”

Christ…

“Now it makes sense,” Brandon smiled, shaking his head. Foley turned his face away trying not to laugh. Men…

“When was the last time you heard from her?” Rhaena asked, clearly the only one inclined to be professional today.

“We had an amazing night almost two weeks ago, and she called the day after, but that was the last time I heard from her. I’ve been trying her ever since.

I figured maybe she was trying to let me down easy, but I’ve never been much for that kind of shit.

I came to make her do it face-to-face. She did mention a few times that she wouldn’t be here long, but I at least thought she’d have the decency to say goodbye. ”

“Did she say where she was going?” Brandon asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Leigh scratched her forehead, fidgeting with the hoop in her eyebrow. “She said something about Portland a couple times. I think that’s where she lives, I dunno.”

Thank God for Ryan Sykes and her slinging twat.

Now they had something. Even better, this situation with Brent meant that Sarah and Athan weren’t wandering around Seattle looking for answers that weren’t there.

Leave it to casual sex to reveal shit people might usually overlook.

While it never seemed to work out in Rhaena’s favor, at least this time it was.

Leigh glanced down at Rhaena’s left hand that was resting around her cup.

“Thank you so much, Leigh. You have no idea how helpful this is.” Rhaena smiled at her sweetly and sipped from her straw.

“Is she in some kind of trouble?” Leigh asked, staring at the straw, and then Rhaena’s eyes. It made her a little uncomfortable, and she sat the cup on her desk.

“Not yet. She didn’t mention anything about Wren, did she?”

Leigh shook her head. “Wren? No…why?”

“All I can really tell you is that she’s a person of interest in a case we’re working on. I just want to make sure that Wren isn’t involved in any way.”

“I don’t even think she knows Wren exists,” Leigh shrugged, tugging her lip ring with her teeth as she eyed Rhaena’s top two buttons on her shirt—buttons that she never closed.

“Anyway, if you talk to Ryan…tell her she’s an asshole for ghosting me.

And if I can help in any other way…” The corner of her mouth tilted upward, and Brandon shifted on his feet beside her.

“I’m more than happy to accommodate. Appears I’m single now, and apparently have a taste for uniforms.”

Foley cleared his throat, stirring his coffee the whole way back to his office, and Brandon’s mouth parted, seemingly firing off a thousand scenarios in his manly head while he darted his eyes back and forth between her and the cotton candy-haired woman.

Rhaena relaxed her shoulders, straightening her spine.

“That’s sweet of you. Maybe I’ll take you up on that,” Rhaena winked, earning a beaming smile from Leigh, and a truly shocked expression from her lover, who was rendered speechless by her response.

Good…that’s exactly the reaction she’d hoped for.

“Sick,” Leigh grinned, squeezing her body between them and making her way to the elevator. “Wren’s got my number. Looking forward to it, detective.” She left, and Brandon turned to face her, his mouth still dropped open.

“Am I missing something?” he asked. Rhaena smirked, turning away and rolling out her chair as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and sat down.

“Nope,” Rhaena chirped, sliding open her recent calls.

“Since when do you bat for both teams?”

She dialed Athan, smiling to herself. “Since I might have gotten a lead on where to find Ryan Sykes. We’ll talk later.”

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Busy?”

“Busy failing at salvaging another one of Sarah’s expensive pans.” There was a banging noise, and Rhaena could hear Sarah snickering on the other end. “This should not be this fucking difficult.”

Rhaena smiled. “Well, I might be able to brighten your day. I just had an unexpected visitor with some curious information.”

“I’m putting you on speaker…go ahead.”

“Sarah, how well do you know Leigh Erickson?”

“Leigh? From the tattoo shop? Turn the heat down, Athan…that’s why it’s fucking burning.”

Bless him…he’d never learn how to cook. She was going to buy the poor fucker an air fryer. “Yes. Pink hair…forward personality.”

“I don’t know her well. Just in passing, mostly. I bought some weed from her recently.”

“Ah…makes sense. Did you or Wren have any idea that she was sleeping with Ryan Sykes?”

“What?!” Athan and Sarah both said in unison.

“Yeah, she just came up here looking for Sykes. Said they’d been sleeping together, and that she mentioned going back to Portland…not Seattle.”

“Portland is like a two and a half hour drive from Seattle. I thought Sykes said that was where she was from?” Sarah asked, confused. “Unless she just wanted us to think that,” Athan added.

“Can somebody try Wren? I’ve been calling her, but she hasn’t answered. After this, I definitely want to talk to her. See what she can add to this.”

“Ah…” Sarah drew out the interruption, and Rhaena could hear the smile in her voice. “Could we—will you leave that to me?”

“Something wrong?” Rhaena asked.

“Nope,” Sarah started, Athan cutting her off. “Sarah sent her to Stratford’s.”

Ohh…damn. Was this finally happening? “Oh, God. So, they’re…um…you know what? Never mind. I’ll let you take care of that. Just hit me up when you talk to her, yeah?”

“Thanks, Rhaena,” Athan said, another loud banging and a bitten curse sounding on the other end, followed by Sarah’s howling laughter. “I gotta go. Fuck.”

Call ended.