Free No Chance in Hell by Jerrie Alexander

flash of heat rolling up her arm.
    “Wayne can stay with me.” Marcus scowled down at her, spreading that heat through her blood. Maybe it was a good idea for them to be apart for a few hours. “Really. You’ll be here tonight. Go get a change of clothes.”
    Marcus’s eyebrows pulled together. “I’ll swing by the office and pick up everything Kay has dug up. I’m due a shower and that change of clothes, but I won’t be gone long.” He pressed on. “If you’d feel safer not sleeping here, we can move. All it takes is a phone call to the office.”
    “I’ll do what you think is best,” she conceded. No way could she ask him to sleep on her couch. Not with his long legs. The image of him stretched out on her bed flashed vividly in her mind. Her face burned. “If I’m not staying here, should I cancel the security system upgrade?”
    “No,” Marcus answered quickly. “A woman living alone should take precautions.”
    “I’ll be packed when you get back.”
    Wayne walked Tomas and Marcus out to their cars, leaving her to dig something out for supper. Cold cuts would have to do. The door behind her opened and closed. The snick of the lock told her they were alone.
    “Anything I can do to help?” With Wayne’s drawl, the three-letter word “can” had stretched into two syllables.  
    “Grab that bread. Our gourmet dish for tonight is turkey sandwiches.”
    “Sounds good to me.”
    They fixed their plates in silence. “Have a seat anywhere at the table. I have a few bottles of water or I can brew a pot of coffee.”
    “Water works for me.” Wayne moved to the far side of the table, placing his back to the wall and keeping the front and back doors in his line of sight. “So how long have you known Marcus?”
    “Since yesterday.” He’d asked the question she’d wanted to ask. “You?”
    “We crossed swords last year when Nate’s wife had a little trouble. Between Nate, Ty, and Marcus, they pushed the boundaries a little.” Wayne was quiet for a minute. “I’ll just say they tend to take matters into their own hands and leave it at that.”
    “Yet you work with them.”  
    “In the end, they’re helping people. Besides, Tomas and I go way back with Kay. We worked a few cases with her when she was with Child Protective Services.”
    “She and Nate are so outgoing. Much more so than Marcus.”
    “He’s pretty tight-lipped. Nate says he’s been that way since his wife was killed in a car wreck.”
    Her heart clenched. “That explains why he’s all business. He talks, just not about himself.”
    Wayne finished his sandwich and washed down his last chip with a swallow of water. “Let’s see what we can find on television.”
    Chris took that as his way of ending the conversation.  
    ****
    DaVinci drained his drink without blinking. He grabbed the bottle and sloshed another couple of fingers of whiskey into his glass. He turned away from the feed on his laptop for fear he’d hurl the damn thing across the room. Did she think he was stupid? Surrounding herself with men would result only in somebody getting hurt. Judging by the unmarked car, she’d involved the police.
    She was alone with one of them. What were they doing? Plotting ways to catch him? The thought was laughable. He had street sense and was savvy to the ways of survival. She’d never been homeless and desperate. Never gone hungry. Never been afraid to go to sleep for fear of being molested. Well, she’d know fear before this was over.  
    He rubbed his eyes in an effort to clear his head. He moved to his media room and turned on the TV. He grabbed the channel selector, looking for anything to take his mind off Christine.
    A local newscaster’s lead-in story about a mysterious shooting held no interest. His finger was poised over the button when the camera panned across a parking lot.  
    The whiskey in his stomach soured. He turned up the volume on the television. Christine slowed long enough to brush off the reporter,