Read Online The Blood Detail (Vigil) by Arvin Loudermilk - Free Book Online Page A

incredibly relaxed and wanted to partake, but I knew I needed my wits about me, for any number of reasons. It was best to wait. The most I could allow myself was a few swallows with dinner, and that was it.
    Before our chitchat could continue, the waiter zoomed up behind me with a hand-pushed dinner cart. I told him I had the Marsala, but neither he nor my ‘date’ laughed. I thought it was a fairly decent joke, but I seemed to be in the minority on that one. The waiter gave us both our meals and made himself scarce, declaring that he would be back in a moment, in case there was something else we needed.
    I dug right in. So did Mac. The name conversation was dropped, and I attempted to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. This wasn’t the strangest way a man had ever tried to tell me he was attracted to me. The truth was, most men were too afraid of me to even broach the subject. Mac may not have been thinking things through, but he did have some balls on him, which I counted as one of his better qualities. I also liked that his light blue eyes glistened every time he looked at me, and that his smile seemed so genuine. The guy was just incredibly fucking handsome, but I was not about to say that out loud.
    We finished our meals, doing next to no talking in the process. I think both our minds were elsewhere. He paid the bill and asked me what I wanted to do next. I suggested we go back to my place and make it look like someone was getting lucky. He didn’t argue. While we were in his car, I looked around for a radio so I could call in for an update. He said there wasn’t one. Updates would have to wait until we were safely inside the house.
    We pulled in front of my condo. He got out, opened my door, and held my hand as we strolled up the walkway.
    “You do realize,” I said. “There is absolutely no chance that I’m going to fuck you. I’m only taking this act so far.”
    “And I wouldn’t want you to. Not yet. Not with all those cameras in your place.” He leaned in super close to me, pressing his waist against mine. “But I don’t want this to be the only time we go out.” After a long and mutual gaze, he kissed me, his fingers grazing the small of my back and sliding downward until he had completely cupped my ass. You can say what you will about my professionalism, but the guy had my head spinning. It had been months, and apparently, I was more hard up than I realized.
    “I need you to unlock the door,” he whispered. “We only have to give him so much of a show. That is, unless you like putting on a show?”
    I dug out my house key from my purse and slipped it into the upper lock. I went through the doorway first, his hand still grasping at my hip. It must have been the whole ‘on the job’ thing. Because right there and then, I’d never wanted a man more in my life.

On Patrol
    We had dinner again the next night, and went to see a movie the night after that. Each of the operations went smoothly, with no trouble, no sex, and absolutely no sign of Jessup.
    Getting me back into a squad car, phase three of our ever-evolving plan, was moved up with little fanfare to night eight. Beth Ganna would continue to play my partner, outfitting herself into an actual uniform for the first time in years. Personally, I was feeling loads better. My bad wrist was actually usable again. A twinge of pain remained, but it was nothing I couldn’t manage.
    When I arrived at the building early that afternoon, my old squad car appeared to be waiting for me in a front parking spot. I wandered over to check the clunker out. Upon closer inspection, I figured out that it wasn’t the same vehicle. The license plate matched, but there were no dents on the driver’s side door or chips in the front windshield. It couldn’t be the one Angie and I normally used, not with how slow Maintenance was about fixing things. A squad car was still a squad car, however—and it would certainly fool the general public.
    We endured a full