Free My Soul to Keep by Carolyn McCray Page B

Nicole would let her keep that one. No reason to burst the woman’s ego.
    “ Yes, Ruben, I’m here.”
    “ Was starting to worry something was wrong.”
    Most women would appreciate that a man was worried for them. That he cared and wanted to be there. To Nicole , though, it just annoyed her. Made her feel boxed in. That Ruben didn’t trust that she could take care of herself. For better or worse, Kent didn’t check in on her. He trusted that if she needed help, she would reach out.
    “ I’m fine, Ruben. What’s up?”
    “ We’ve got a weird one. I am texting you the address.”
    The phone vibrated in her hand while a thin strip at the top o f the screen showed the text. The address wasn’t far from the gym.
    “ I’ll be there in twenty.”
    While the address was close, everyone would appreciate it if she took a shower first.
    “And are you arriving solo or…?”
    Nicole rolled her eyes. Ruben was never very subtle when it came to the subject of Kent. “Solo. He’s not back yet.” There was no reason to clarify who the “he” was in that sentence.
    An audible sigh of relief came from the other end of the line.
    “See you in a few,” Nicole said as she clicked off the connection. At the same time, the treadmill beeped, indicating that she was done with her workout.
    She looked over to the woman , who had moved on to the bicep bar. Nicole nodded to her phone then shrugged, tilting her head to the locker room, indicating that she had to leave.
    The woman , unfortunately, took that as an invitation. She got up from the weight machine and trotted over.
    “ Let me join you,” the blond said.
    Crap, what had she gotten herself into?
    * * *
    Ruben walked around the mass of techs in Roxy ’s room and headed for the hallway. Nicole should be here any second. He’d been at the crime scene for over an hour, yet he would have little to tell her.
    Beyond the fact that Roxy was missing and an unidentified girl was found dead in her bed. He hated the weird ones, whereas his partner quickened to them. Would she be so eager for this one without the help of Kent? Maybe, if they could solve this case without the profiling prodigy, she would realize that good old-fashioned police work was still effective. Maybe Ruben could help break the spell she was under.
    Even Ruben knew, though, that he could never get her back. Once you fell in love with that amount of crazy, you seldom went back to a sane, stable relationship, but Ruben still cared for Nicole and wanted to see her free of the danger Kent represented to her career and even to her life.
    “ Ruben!” Nicole shouted from the bottom of the stairs. She couldn’t get up, with the EMTs, CSIs and uniformed police loitering around.
    “ Hey!” Ruben shouted. “Make way for the detective.”
    The crowd parted and Nicole trotted up the steps. He noticed her wet hair was pulled back into a pony tail. More than likely, she’d just come from the gym. There was a time when they would have gone together. When they did everything together. They were so simpatico until, of course, Kent had arrived on the scene. Effer.
    But Ruben let none of that show on his face as Nicole joined him at Roxy’s bedroom door.
    “ So the parents have no idea who the girl is?”
    “ None.”
    Nicole frowned. “Did I hear right, that this girl used their daughter’s toothbrush and even dressed in her nightgown?”
    “ Like I said, weird .”
    “ No missing persons report?” Nicole asked.
    “ No, but it may be too soon. We may have to wait a full forty-eight hours for an official report.”
    Nicole stepped up to the bed and looked down at the girl ’s face. “She was so pretty.”
    One of the female CSIs nodded. “We’re calling her ‘Sleeping Beauty.’”
    “ Which is inappropriate,” Ruben countered. They did their best not to sensationalize crime in their department. If this was a murder, and how could it not be, they didn’t want to give the killer any press if they could avoid