Divorced, Desperate, and Delicious

Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

  

His lips almost brushed against hers. Lacy pulled back. The clank of her handcuffs broke the silence. She blinked.

“Can I . . . can I go to the bathroom now?”

Chase drew back, feeling almost dizzy, and nodded. Drawing in a breath, he dug the key from his back pocket. “Sure.”

When the cuff fell open, she rubbed her wrist. He found himself wanting to take her hand in his, to soothe away any of the pain that he’d caused.

“Sorry.”

She walked into the bathroom without acknowledging his apology, leaving Chase feeling emotionally baffled. Something flashed across the TV screen, drawing his attention. He looked up and saw the reporter was back on; the scene showed her standing in front of the lake.

He dug around in the blankets on the bed until he found the remote and turned up the volume. “Officers still aren’t saying exactly what Kelly has done to raise their suspicions, but we do know that a rather large amount of drugs was found at his home. And we’re told that Kelly worked undercover in several known drug busts. One case is still being reviewed by Internal Affairs due to some missing drugs.”

The reporter turned her head away from the camera. “Detective Dodd?” She hurried from one spot to another just in time to catch Jason, who was attempting to get into his car. “Can you tell us any more about this case? Were you not partners with Kelly for a while?” She shoved the mike in front of Jason’s face. Chase leaned closer to the screen. “Can you tell us about it?”

“There’s nothing to tell. Nothing has been proven yet. I believe the rule is that a person is innocent until proven guilty,” Jason said, his tone accusing. Then he left the woman stupidly holding up the microphone.

Something warm stirred inside Chase’s gut, something he hadn’t felt in a long time. Jason wasn’t buying Zeke’s lies. Even after everything Chase had put the man through this last year, Jason still believed in him. It occurred to Chase that this was the first time that he’d taken any blame for the fallout between them. And something told him that if he gave the issue more thought, he’d find that all the blame lay on his side of the fence.

He cupped his hands over his knees, fighting the emotional upheaval that made him weak. At least now he knew who he would be contacting.

As Lacy walked out of the bathroom, Chase glanced up and then back at the television. She stepped closer and watched the screen. The reporter was saying:

“Well, there you have it. Right now all we know is that Detective Chase Kelly is suspected to be dead, shot we’re told by a longtime member of the force, Zeke Duncan. According to Sergeant Brown, Duncan is having a hard time dealing with the fact that he was forced to shoot his partner and fellow officer.”

“Heartbroken, I bet,” Chase bit out. From the corner of his vision, he saw Lacy watching him. A second later, she sat down on the other side of the bed.

“Meanwhile, Officer Brian Stokes is still in critical condition, but doctors are hopeful that he will pull through.” The screen flashed back to the originally scheduled program.

Chase jumped up as the words replayed in his head. “He’s alive!” He grabbed Lacy by the shoulders, pulled her off the bed and kissed her on the lips. When he realized what he was doing, he jerked a way.

“Stokes is alive,” he said, still grinning in spite of the fact that he knew kissing her had been a mistake. A big mistake, because he could see the shock in her eyes. A mistake because he wanted to do it again in spite of that shock—in spite of the crazy warning buzzing inside his head.