Another Life (Book 3)

Chapter 7

NSFW content ahead. It gets kind of....spicy.

Right on Halloween, Isabelle gave birth to a baby girl named Klai. I haven't seen her yet because Isabelle warned me. She resembles Leia and I need a little time to come to terms with that. Fuck genetics.

Later, we went trick or treating. We went as the Power Puff girls; Grace as Buttercup, Sierra as Bubbles, and me as Blossom. Steph tagged along as the professor and Irelee as Mojo because she's a little fucking monkey. Molly came with us. She went as Batwoman and Sammy was her little Robin.

It was fun. I haven't gone trick or treating in a while and the rediscovery of it through my daughter's eyes was just the best. As we were walking home Molly pull me at my hand and I slowed my pace, falling into step beside her. She points her chin at Sloane. "Anything going on there?"

Fuck.

"Uhm, she's Gracie's friend," I said, unbelievably calm. The conviction in my voice to convince anyone. Damn, my job is good for something, after all.

Molly nods and we left that at that. As we circled onto Molly's Street, we pass a large group of dogs in somebody's front yard. They were contained in a yard and gate but as we pass, they hopped the wall one by one to tail us. I pick Lee up because she got scared and was about to sprint the hell away from there. "Stay calm and just walk."

"These are some big fricking dogs." Steph worries.

She keeps manoeuvring through the group so a dog wasn't near her at any time. As she checked her left, one huge Rottweiler passes on her right, brushing against her hand. Her attention snapped to it and a heart attack almost committed her. Reflexively, she ran away from it into the street. Molly had to catch her with a hand around her waist.

I shouldn't have laughed, but it was funny. She looked so petrified. When I look back at them, she's gripping Molly's hand, holding the hand Molly had around her and using the police as a human body shield. I growled throatily and all the dog's ears stand at attention. Some whimpered, while others just stopped in their tracks, stared, and turned back to go the way they came.

When I look at Steph again, she looked relieved, but I wasn't relieved to see her and Molly stay the way they were. I frowned.

The week passed unbearably slowly. Steph was busy at work so she hadn't had another chance to come over, but we talked on the phone every day. We started planning the wedding too—vaguely. We still didn't know how we were going to pull this off with Steph now. I sigh from behind the computer in my office. The screen is filled with images I'm supposed to look at for a top-priority case, but I can't tell you how long I've been staring at these and not knowing what the fuck I'm looking at.

"Hey," Gracie says from beside me. I didn't even hear her come in. She leans against the edge of my desk, facing me. "I'm worried about you."

I give her a faint smile, swivelling my chair around and pulling her between my legs. My hands rest on her hips. "You are? Why?"

"You're stressed." She fingers my hair until it falls out of its ponytail. I shake it out and it falls down the back of the chair.

"It's just work." I tell her. "Just when we finally find the rat who's been leaking all our intel, which by the way, was that new bitch Vanessa Peutherer like I thought. Did you know she was the one who told Angie how to bring Henderson back?"

"I know now. You killed her didn't you?"

"Of course! Captain wanted to put her in jail but I'm not taking any chances."

She massages my shoulder. "Good, because if you didn't I would've."

I smiled at that. "Anyway, now we have a rise in murder cases. I feel like I just cannot get a break. Over twenty deaths these past few weeks from this one specific weapon. Local authorities can't figure it out and they have no idea who the killer is. The president thinks it might be a terrorist."