Shortcake*

Chapter 23: Dexhart

Link ran his hands through his hair and put them back behind his head as he watched Cleo walk over to her suitcase and go into the bathroom, shutting the door with a soft click. God, that had been hot; he didn't think he'd ever cum so hard from a handjob, not even the first time he'd gotten one from a girlfriend as a horny teenager. Closing his eyes, he smiled. That was what he was enjoying about their relationship and the way it was progressing. It reminded him of his first girlfriend at sixteen, the excitement of exploring a girl's body for the first time and the slow progression from making out to eventually losing each other's virginity; each new step forward was incredible because of the build-up to it.

His thoughts turned back to Cleo. He hadn't been able to hold back at all when she used her wetness to make her hand feel better for him. Watching her reach between her legs and soak her hand in the wetness that he'd created... damn, his brain had blanked out for a second. And when she dipped her head and licked his cum from his stomach, he'd almost cum a second time. She wasn't as innocent and naive when it came to sex as he'd thought - which he had known on one level was the case. She'd been married for ten years, and despite his belief that her husband was gay and in denial, she'd said they'd had sex. It was Anthony's attitude after they had sex that had made her not want to date and gave her issues about it all.

When Cleo came back, now dressed in a pair of pyjama pants and a matching tank top with Bugs Bunny on them and sat on the bed to french braid her hair, he couldn't help the grin that crossed his face. She was absolutely adorable. He got up, kissed her cheek and went to shower quickly. When he came back out, she was in bed, propped up on the pillows, watching an old movie on TV. When he came out and put on a pair of boxers to sleep in, she turned down the volume and put the sleep timer on so the TV would shut off in a set amount of time. Link smiled at her as he climbed in next to her, and she immediately cuddled in.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"About what?" Cleo rolled so she was on her stomach and propped her head up on her hand.

Link paused. "Okay, fair. Do you want to talk about earlier or your feelings about being here? Or would you rather go to sleep?" He ran his hand up and down her spine and watched as she considered his question.

"They might be intertwined." She admitted after a moment. "And I don't want to bring down the mood, but I'm glad we made an amazing new memory in Albany." She grinned at him. "We can talk about everything in the morning."

"If that's what you want to do, I'm good with it." Link nodded and reached up to turn off the lamp. "As long as there's no regrets or negative feelings about what happened, it can wait."

"No regrets or negative feelings." Cleo smiled and adjusted so she was comfortable against him. She was asleep within minutes. It took Link a little longer; the nap had messed with his sleep schedule, but he must have drifted off because the next thing he knew was Cleo shaking his shoulder.

"You need to get up if you want to eat before we meet with Dexhart."

"Yeah, yeah." Link opened his eyes and saw she was dressed and ready to go. "How long have you been awake?" He sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed as he yawned and stretched,

"Um, a couple of hours?" She passed him a mug of coffee and one of the breakfast sandwiches she had made before they left the cabin.

Link took them both and eyed her suspiciously. "How did you sleep last night?"

"Okay, I guess." She shrugged. "Eat and get dressed." Link nodded, wanting to voice his concerns about how she'd been sleeping since she learned about everything but not wanting to push her. He ate, then stood up, kissing her temple as he passed her to dig out clothes for the day.

"Thanks for breakfast, Shortcake."

At the police station in South Bethlehem, they were led by the receptionist to an office where Deputy Chief Dexhart was waiting for them. When they walked in, he stood up, and Link studied him as he shook his hand. Tall and rail thin, with straw blonde hair in a military-style haircut, Link's first impression was that this man took his job very seriously.

"Mr. Hart, I'm Deputy Chief Richie Dexhart."

"Link, please." Link nodded politely.

"And Chloe, it's good to see you again." He held out his hand to her, and she shook it.

"Cleo. I don't use Chloe anymore." She corrected him.

"Cleo, sorry. I always call you Chloe in my head." He nodded. "Congratulations on your movie success; the wife dragged me to Siren's Song; it was a decent watch." He released her hand and gestured to the chairs in front of his desk.

"Thanks." Cleo and Link sat down, and noticing Cleo's hands trembling slightly, Link reached out and covered them with his, squeezing lightly.

"Since I heard from your... Manager? I guess?" He looked at them quizzically.

"My publicist." Link answered. "Will Morgan."

"Yes, Will Morgan. Asking about your parent's death and my opinion on it, I'm guessing you're here to ask more questions."

Cleo looked at Link, and he nodded, indicating he would take the lead. "Yeah, but first, I'll explain why we're here looking for information. We've both received packages. One of them makes it sound like Cleo has a stalker who had been watching her for a while and suggests her parents and husband's deaths weren't accidents, but were murders that her stalker committed." Link watched as Dexhart leaned forward with a slight frown and folded his hands in front of him. "The other package was all my dirty laundry, sent to Cleo in what we can only assume was an attempt to get her to leave me."

"Which obviously didn't work." Dexhart's eyes flickered to where Cleo's hands were covered by Link's.

"No, when we decided we wanted to be together, I told her everything." Link smiled at her. "I didn't want her to find out from someone else and have it become an issue later on." He looked back at Dexhart and was a little surprised by the blatant curiosity in his gaze. "Anyway, Will was saying you doubted whether Cleo's parents' deaths were an accident?"

"Yeah. I do." He leaned down, pulled out a box and glanced at Cleo. "You okay with hearing all this again?" Cleo nodded, and Link felt her hand turn so their palms were together  and she could intertwine their fingers. "Margaret and Peter Julian had their hot water tank replaced on April 5, 2013. On May 26, Peter didn't show up for the church services, so my Dad, Calvin Dexhart and another friend, Davis Graham, went to their house to check on them when they didn't answer their calls and found them both in the living room, TV still on, they were both sitting up, but kind of slumped over like they'd fallen asleep. Dad noticed they had "cherry-skin," a condition that happens when people have carbon monoxide poisoning. It means you have high levels of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood. Dad was a police officer for years, so he immediately recognized it. They opened the windows, called an ambulance and got out of there."

"I was assigned to the case. I go in with my partner, and we start looking for the source of the leak." He opened the box and pulled out an evidence baggie. "We found out the source was a pipe that had come loose from the hot water tank." He hesitated and passed it over to Link, who picked it up and looked at the pipe through the bag. After a moment, he looked up at Dexhart.

"The guy who did the installation used the old lines?"