An Officer and a Gentle Woman Read online

  She reached up to smooth the raven hair back from his brow, and he turned his head to kiss her palm. Her throat closed with emotion and she flung her arms around his neck. He moaned as he felt her bare torso against his, pressing his lips to the back of her neck as she dropped her head to his shoulder. He ran his hands down her spine and then slipped them under her to lift her down to the floor again. She leaned into the cradle of his hips and felt him, ready, against her thighs.

  “Where?” he said hoarsely, looking around the room.

  It was the first word he’d spoken since he kissed her.

  Alicia lifted her head to direct him to the study next to the kitchen, then froze in his arms as they both heard a sound in the front hall.

  Lafferty released Alicia immediately. He reacted faster than Alicia, bending down and retrieving her blouse and handing it to her. Alicia slipped into the top, buttoning it with shaking fingers, while Lafferty picked up his own shirt from the floor and fumbled into it. Seconds later Claire stood in the doorway staring at them, wide-eyed with surprise, barefoot and silent in her nightgown.

  “Darling!” Alicia said, her voice sounding hollow in her own ears. “Did you want something?”

  “I came down to get a glass of milk.”

  “I’ll get it for you,” Alicia said quickly, turning toward the refrigerator.

  “I don’t want it anymore.”

  “Is there something else you’d like?” Alicia asked, defeated.

  “What is that policeman doing here again? I know he’s been here before, I saw him from my window.”

  Alicia glanced at Lafferty, who was strapping his holster on again.

  “And I know what that is,” Claire added waspishly, nodding to the revolver.

  “Claire,” Alicia said evenly, striving for calm, “you can’t possibly understand...”

  “I understand that you’re here with this cop in the middle of the night in my own house!”

  “That’s enough.”

  “How could you?” Claire demanded, as if her mother had not spoken. “Maybe you did kill daddy after all!” Claire whirled and raced down the hall and up the stairs.

  Both adults stood flat-footed and listened to her door slam in the distant reaches of the house.

  Alicia put the back of her hand to her mouth as her eyes filled with tears.

  “I don’t know what to say,” she whispered.

  “You don’t have to say anything.”

  “I just told the children yesterday that I was accused of their father’s murder. It was one thing for them to know that Joe was dead, but another to realize that the authorities thought I had killed him. Claire has taken it hard. She’s old enough to have few illusions about Joe, but she has always leaned on me and looked to me, and she expects me to be perfect...”

  “Don’t explain. I understand.” Lafferty brushed past her and into the hall, picking up his coat and tie.

  “I should go,” he said gruffly.

  Alicia nodded numbly. “I’m so sorry,” she said to him quietly, her expression miserable.

  “No need for an apology. The kid did us both a favor. I never should have started something I had no business starting.”

  “You weren’t alone.”

  Lafferty’s hot blue gaze met hers, and for an instant she was pulled toward him again, despite the incident in the kitchen. She closed her eyes, amazed at herself.

  How could she still want him so badly in the face of what had just happened?

  “I should go to Claire,” Alicia said in a neutral tone, opening her eyes again.

  He nodded.

  “Good night,” she said.

  “Good night.”

  He went through the door.

  Alicia closed it behind him, and then ran upstairs to her daughter.

  Chapter 5

  Lafferty slid into the driver’s seat of the unmarked car and let his head rest against the seat. He closed his eyes and folded his still-shaking hands around the rim of the steering wheel.

  Well, this was just great. He had never made a bigger fool of himself in his life, and that was saying something. No past humiliating experience compared to what he felt seeing the stunned look on that kid’s face when she spotted him with her mother in the kitchen of her own home.

  Lafferty sighed. What a mess. It was his job to help the district attorney convict Alicia Walker, and every time he saw her all he wanted to do was get her into bed. He had to put a stop to it, yet he felt helpless and unable to control what was happening, as if he were trapped in the path of an oncoming train. And worse than his personal interest in the murder suspect was his overwhelming desire to help her, which was going to make him about as popular with his superiors as a lion at a lamb picnic. This was all wrong in every way. He knew that, but he had to force himself to stay where he was and not run back into the house to pick up where he’d left off.

  He opened his eyes, and the small spotlights along the drive to the Walker mansion blurred as he looked at them. He blinked and glanced away. He didn’t think Alicia was guilty, but the facts of the case militated against his gut instinct, and as a police officer he was forced to go with the evidence. He should ask to be taken off the case. The captain would not be pleased, but he would be a lot more unhappy if this situation escalated and one of his detectives wound up sleeping with a murder suspect.

  Lafferty sat up, peered out the windshield into the darkness and turned the key in the ignition. It was the darkest part of the night, just before the blackness would begin to lighten into dawn. He steered the car into the street and headed back to the city.

  He knew what he had to do.

  Alicia closed the door to Claire’s room, hoping that the sleeping child would stay asleep. She went into the hall bathroom and splashed cold water on her tear-stained face, glancing at herself in the mirror and wondering briefly what Lafferty could possibly have found attractive about her on this occasion. She looked as if she hadn’t slept in a week, and if things went on this way she might never sleep again. She knew she should be exhausted but she felt alert and wired, too anxious to rest. She glanced at the clock on the wall outside the bathroom and then headed for the phone in her bedroom. It was an ungodly hour to call anybody, but she was too needy to consider politeness. She sprawled on her bed and punched the buttons for Helen’s number.

  It rang several times before Helen’s foggy voice mumbled, “H’lo?”

  “Helen, it’s Alicia.”

  It took a few seconds for that to register. Then, hoarsely, “Do you know what time it is?”

  “I know what time it is,” Alicia said calmly.

  “Is something wrong? Are you okay?”

  “I am okay, sort of.”

  There was a crash, followed by fumbling sounds.

  Helen had dropped the phone.

  “Helen, are you there?” Alicia asked, smiling in spite of her distressed state. Helen never woke up well, or easily.

  “I’m here, I’m here,” Helen said irritably. “If you are okay, can you tell me why you are calling me at this time? Have you been arrested again, has war been declared, is there a new world order?”

  “I’m in trouble.”

  There was a heavy sigh from Helen’s end of the phone line. “I know I’m half-asleep, sweetie, but didn’t you just say that you were all right?”

  “Lafferty was here tonight at the house. He stayed for a while after he brought me back from the benefit.”

  “Ah, the delicious detective,” Helen said, and Alicia could tell that the mention of the policeman’s name had improved Helen’s attention span immediately.

  “Yes, and something happened.”

  “Something? Animal, vegetable, mineral?”

  Animal, Alicia thought, before saying, “Do you think you could come over here?”

  “Now?” Helen asked.

  “Well...”

  “Can’t it wait until morning?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Just what went
on there tonight, Alicia?”

  “Lafferty and I came close to...well, we were in a somewhat compromising position when Claire interrupted us. We heard her coming toward the kitchen or it would have been much worse. And if she had not arrived when she did...” Alicia left the sentence hanging.

  There was a moment of stunned silence and then Helen said, “Wow.”

  “Exactly.”

  “I guess the man of steel really knows how to unwind when the mood strikes him.”

  “Helen, I am very upset and I don’t want to be alone. It took me an hour to get Claire back to sleep and during that time I endured the most difficult conversation I have ever had with another human being. If I wake up Maizie and tell her this story she will just give me another lecture. You are the only person who won’t be judgmental about it and who is capable of giving me objective advice. I know I should have waited until morning to call but I will be climbing the walls by then. Can you come over here now?”

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Helen said briskly, and hung up the phone.

  Alicia replaced the receiver and rolled over on her bed, a sense of calm stealing over her as she realized that her friend would soon be with her. One part of her felt guilty for imposing on Helen this way and for being unable to handle this latest trauma on her own. But she was near the end of her rope—in a short time she had learned her husband was dead, then had been accused of his murder and now was dangerously attracted to the policeman who had arrested her. All this, following years of an unhappy marriage and the strain of acting the role of a devoted wife to a man who had privately ignored her, had left her depleted and without resources. She was simply unable to resist Lafferty’s concern, not to mention his considerable attractiveness and low-key charm. She had no doubt about what would have happened if Claire had stayed asleep in her room, and the memory of the near lovemaking in the kitchen made her face grow warm.

  Alicia got up and went into her closet to change clothes. Her blouse was rumpled, a reminder of the haste with which she had donned it, and the reason for that haste. She closed her eyes and sat dejectedly on a footstool. It was difficult to imagine how her life could be any more disastrous. If something happened to one of her children that would complete the nightmare, which was why she was so protective of them. No matter how this situation was resolved for her, the children must emerge from it as little damaged as possible. And so the image of Claire’s blank face that night refused to fade from her mind. The child was calm now, and asleep; it was her mother who was agitated and awake.

  Mike Lafferty leaned against the wall outside Captain Cramer’s office, his arms folded, his expression grim. What he was about to say to his boss would not be easy.

  “Back so soon?” Cramer said, balancing a foam coffee cup as he unlocked his office door. “How did the escort duty go?”

  “Not so hot,” Lafferty replied flatly. “Got a minute?”

  Cramer glanced at him and then at his watch. He had twenty minutes before his first meeting, time he had planned to use to catch up on phone messages, but Lafferty had never needed individualized chitchats before this week. He was clearly troubled by the Walker case, and giving one of his best cops a little more reassurance would be time well spent.

  “Come on in, Mike,” he said.

  Lafferty followed him into the office as the captain switched on the lights and said, “Sit down. Shelly will be here in a few minutes, and she’ll make coffee.”

  “No coffee, thanks.” Lafferty sat.

  “So what’s on your mind?” Cramer said, pushing a stack of papers aside on his desk.

  “I want off the Walker case,” Laffery said.

  Cramer stared at him for a few seconds, then nodded. “Did you have a tiff with the lady last night?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Then what, Mike? Don’t you think this request is a little drastic?”

  “If I’m not excused then I’ll wind up being suspended for misconduct.”

  Cramer eyed him thoughtfully, then sighed. “That bad?” he said.

  “I almost slept with Alicia Walker last night. I won’t be able to do an effective job in aiding the prosecution. I’m too involved with her.”

  Cramer exhaled. “Kind of sudden, isn’t it?”

  “No,” Lafferty said.

  Cramer stared.

  “I felt it from the moment I met her, at her arrest. I felt drawn to her, didn’t want her to be guilty. I did my job, but it got worse as time went on and the DA moved closer to a grand jury proceeding. Last night it crossed the line.”

  “Well, I can take you off the case and assign you to something else, but you will still have to answer a subpoena as the arresting and investigating officer, appear in court and give evidence.”

  “I know that. But I am not just asking for reassignment. I want to take a leave of absence, starting today.”

  Cramer said nothing.

  “I know it will leave you shorthanded,” Lafferty said hastily, “but it’s not just a matter of getting off the case and no longer pursuing her as a suspect. I want to help her prove her innocence, which will be actively working against the interests of the department. Alicia is the prime suspect in a high-profile murder case, and as it stands now her conviction is likely. If I help her evade that conviction, the police department who mistakenly arrested her and the DA who prosecuted her will both look bad. I am trying to save you the embarrassment of explaining why the arresting officer is continuing to investigate the case, when the DA has already decided that he has enough evidence to take to a grand jury.”

  Cramer pursed his lips thoughtfully. “And that is what you plan to do?”

  “Yes.”

  “I can’t dissuade you?”

  “No.”

  “Mike, I have to say this. This woman is in a tough spot, as you just said. Are you sure she isn’t using you, leading you on to get you to help her? She’s beautiful, quite capable of turning any man’s head, and if she comes out of this all right she’ll be Walker’s legitimate heir, a widow worth a fortune.”

  “So you’re asking if I am in cahoots with her? Whether she has promised to share the wealth if I put a monkey wrench in the prosecution and turn traitor to the department?”

  Cramer’s face reddened but his gaze did not waver. “Yes,” Cramer said.

  “Would I be here talking to you if that were true? Wouldn’t I just stay on the Walker case and covertly do everything I possibly could to sabotage it?”

  Cramer sighed and looked away.

  Lafferty got up and began to pace before Cramer’s desk. “Look, Captain. She has never said a word to me about helping her or offered me a thing. As far as she knows I escorted her last night and she won’t see me again until I appear to give evidence against her in court. All of this is my doing. I feel in my gut that she is innocent, and I can’t go forward and help to convict her.”

  “You realize that if you do dig up evidence that helps her you won’t be presenting it as a police officer on the case but as a private citizen?”

  “I realize that.”

  Cramer shook his head. “I don’t like it, Mike. If I give you leave I have to justify it to the commissioner. What am I going to say, you have the hots for the suspect so it’s all off, you aren’t prepared to do your job anymore?”

  “I think you will find a way to put it more delicately than that,” Lafferty said dryly.

  “Why should I?”

  “Because I think it’s necessary. I’m not naive, Captain, I’ve been around—you know that. It isn’t just a sexual thing, I wouldn’t turn my life upside down just to get this woman into bed. I feel more for her than I have felt for any woman I’ve ever known, including my ex-wife. I don’t know why. I don’t know what it means. I need time to figure it all out, and I can’t be trying to put Alicia Walker behind bars while I’m pondering it. I only know that my reaction to her isn’t passing or trivial, and it’s a matter of conscience as well as emotions. I need time away from the jo
b to sort through it and to help Alicia the way I want to, for myself as well as for her. That’s all I can say.”

  Cramer sighed. “And what about your future? I have to tell you, this is a real career staller. Even after you return, that’s if you return, the question about this leave is going to come up at every promotion hearing.”

  “Well, you just told me that my girlfriend is loaded,” Lafferty said flatly. “If she avoids a conviction she should be able to set me up for life.”

  Cramer put his fingers to the bridge of his nose and rubbed. “All right. I guess I deserved that. I am just trying to make sure you understand that this is not a step to be taken lightly.”

  “I understand. I have been up all night thinking about it, and I don’t know what else to do. I can’t continue aiding the prosecution when I think Alicia Walker is innocent, and I won’t sabotage the department’s case by working at cross purposes to it while continuing in the role of detective. So this is the only thing I can do.”

  Cramer shrugged and folded his hands on his blotter. “I’ll put the paperwork in today.”

  Lafferty stood. “Thanks, Captain. I owe you.”

  Cramer waved his hand dismissively. “You’ve given 110 percent to the department all the time you’ve worked here, and you’ve never asked for any special treatment, not so much as an extra coffee break. If this woman has such an effect on you, there may be something to what you say regarding her innocence. I haven’t seen any evidence to support your feelings, but that doesn’t mean you’re wrong. As long as you know what you’re risking by taking this walk, I’ll go along with it.”

  Lafferty was silent.

  “I’ll assign Delgado to do the post work on the Walker case with Chandler, and Hanson is due back from that forensics course at the university next week so he can take over for you.”