Drained (Edgars Family #6) - Suzanne Ferrell Page 0,101
partner and someone he wanted to protect.
If asked, she wouldn’t admit it, but privately she liked that he did both. It made her feel like his equal and special at the same time.
Stepping back, she put the phone up to her ear as if she were making a call. With the phone focusing on the far left edge of the crowd beyond the crime scene tape and barrios, she filmed, counting to thirty before adjusting her stance to move the camera a mere centimeter. By the time Aaron walked over to where she stood, she was staring out at the Cleveland Port parking lot and Lake Erie just beyond.
“How’s it going?” he asked, stopping near, but not too close, the way a superior officer would.
She pulled her phone down, hit the off button. “I think I got the entire crowd, but I really couldn’t see. I guess we’ll find out when we get back to the safehouse.”
He looked at his watch. Another thing she liked about him. No one she knew still wore a wristwatch. Aaron did.
“It’s not yet ten,” he said, as Jaylon joined them. “We need to talk to Dandridge’s family before this hits the nightly news.”
Jaylon took out his phone and typed in something. Aaron’s phone pinged.
“That’s his parents address,” the younger detective said. “Want me to come with?”
Aaron shook his head as he looked at the address. “No, it’s near where I’m staying right now, so I’ll do the notification on my way there. How about you head back to the station and find out what you can on his life since he dropped out of football.”
“Social media, arrest records, etc. Got it.” Jaylon nodded to them both and strode off in the direction of his car.
“Jaylon hates doing death notifications,” Aaron said as they went in the opposite direction to where they’d left his car parked. A lot of the media was breaking up, since Investigator Ramos and her team had taken the body to the morgue.
“Having to do it twice this week, I can very much understand,” she said as they climbed in his SUV. “I have no idea how you do it so frequently.”
He stared out the window, watching the crowd thin to a few stragglers and one lone cruiser. The two officers pulling down the crime scene tape and moving the last gawkers on their way.
“It’s the worst part of my job,” he said and Brianna laid her hand over his on the console between them. “If I could put it off on someone else I would. But I can’t. And these people are about to get the worse news of their lives. If it were me, I’d want to hear it in person, not over the phone or on TV. The families deserve the same respect.”
Finally, his jaw set with the steely determination she’d begun to associate with Aaron, he put the car in gear. “No use putting it off. I’ll tell the Dandridge’s of their son’s murder and do the only thing I can to give them a little comfort.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Promise them we’re going to catch the son-of-a-bitch who killed Kyle.”
“How’s she doing?” Matt asked Katie when she came out of Paula’s room and joined him on the leather sofa.
“She’s getting stronger and breathing easier,” his wife said, snuggling against him, shoulder to shoulder. She laughed a little. “I don’t know if it’s the breathing treatments, the antibiotics or Nana’s chicken and dumplings that’s healing her.”
Matt leaned in to nuzzle her neck, inhaling her lemon scented soap. Katie always made clean and citrusy smell sexy. “Mmm, I think it might be her excellent nursing care.”
She giggled and his ego did a high-five that he was the one who brought that sound from her. Before they’d met he didn’t think she’d ever laughed. These days he made it his life mission to bring smiles and laughter to her days.
“You might be just a little bit prejudiced,” she said. “Anyways, she’s asleep now with Stanley curled up beside her. Reminded me of Russell when he’s finally gone down and hugs his stuffed bear close. Completely at peace with no worries. Safe.”
The wistful sadness in her voice touched him deep. “She is safe and so is our son. I talked with my mother while you were seeing to your patient. She says he’s been busy, and she wonders how she ever kept up with my brothers, sister, and me at that age.”