Chapter~9~Penny for your thoughts.

Harley~

Hot tears blur my vision as I pull out of my apartment's parking lot, heading to the docks. Even worse than the hurt I caused Ben is the fact that he thinks I was only using him. Being with him was indeed selfish, though I never meant to hurt him. As they say, hindsight is 20/20, but I assumed he was in the same place that I was. Guess that's what I get for thinking!

Rae butts into my thoughts. 'Don't be so hard on yourself, Harley. It was bound to happen. A clean break is for the best.'

'You didn't help the situation, Rae. What if Ben had seen you before you ripped his chest open?!'

'Harley, I would not have hurt him, and I had to teach you a lesson; it doesn't matter anymore, anyway. Now maybe we can find our proper mate!'

'Shut it, Rae!' We pulled into the crime scene.

Sirens and police radio chatter fill the air as I flash my badge and pass the barrier, searching for my ME. Belinda is waiting and finds me.

"What did you find, Belinda?" I asked, putting on examination gloves as we walked to the water's edge.

"Your number eleven just floated in, and it gets worse; the stalker is developing."

I couldn't imagine my brows arching in curiosity. "How so?"

"I will know more once I get him on the table, but it would seem our stalker is now into torturing before the bullet meets the back of the head." We kneel beside the body.

"See these wounds here on the abdomen and shoulder?" Belinda showed the jagged yet round holes with a gloved finger, and I nodded. "Notice the burned skin around the holes. Something electrical was used to make them, I am sure of it, like a cattle prod, for instance. Also, there are ligature marks around his wrists and neck." She lifted his chin, and the air went stagnant. "The stalker, I believe, hogtied him and stabbed him with a live one."

'Ew, he stinks!' Rae said when she picked up the scent, and I shushed her.

"How long do you think the stalker had him?"

"Lividity and water-logging tell me he hasn't been in the bay for long, and the clotting around the wounds suggests he sustained them within the last few days."

"Detective," Officer Scott said, heading our way.

"So he had this guy held up while he was killing the one from last night," I asked, and Belinda nodded.

"What do you have, Scott?" I stood and faced him.

"We found this floating in the waves; it could be the stalkers' DNA." He holds up a latex glove.

Not putting too much stock in it, I raised my eyebrows, pinched the glove out of his hand, and held it up for Belinda to spray it with Luminol. The glove lit up like a Christmas tree. We have DNA, so Belinda grabbed an evidence bag and held it up while I slipped the glove inside.

"Good work, Scott." The three of us head back up the beach.

Rae thrashed about in my head. 'Harley, he's here!'

'Stop that, Belinda will hear you! Who is here?'

'This stalker person or your dead dude is one hell of an actor. I can smell the same blood from the glove, only it's fresh. He's close, and I think he's watching you.'

Rae's instincts have never led me wrong before; it doesn't draw attention since it's my job to scan in all directions, but I see nothing or anyone out of place.

"I will let you know when I have anything more," Belinda said, taking the bagged glove from me and heading towards the coroner's van.

"Keep searching the shoreline, Scott, and let me know first if you find anything more."

"Yes, detective," Scott said with a nod and headed back down the beach.

The captain was right about the media feeding frenzy; they are out in full force. Rae doesn't like it when they shine their camera lights in our eyes. Thankfully, Mitch is getting ready to address them as we walk up. By the look on his face, they are already testing his patience. He raised his hand to silence their overlapping voices and high-tailed it in the other direction.

Fellow detective Sheila Graves came at me from out of nowhere, and I gasped. "You want to go to McGilleys?"

Rae is upfront in an instant. 'Please, Harley, let's go!'

'No, Rae!'

'I promise to behave.'

"Sure, why not?" With a deep sigh, I gave in.

McGilleys is busy tonight, and the parking lot is also getting crowded with local solicitors, also known as lot lizards, who spot us before we get out of our cars. Shelia and I approach them and remind them that L.A. still has a law against prostitution before we make our way inside the house. The band is playing a cover of 'Brown-Eyed Girl'; personally, I think Morrison did it better.

The bar breaks in a united "Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-tee-da" as we hop up on stools at the bar.

"Evening, Detectives," Mac, the bartender, greets us. "The usual tonight, ladies?"

We both nod, and after a few moments, he returns with a tequila sunrise for me and a Jack and Coke for Sheila. "Here you go."

Another three rounds go down before Ben finds me, and Sheila quickly excuses herself.

"Did you like the flowers?" He asked.

"They are beautiful, Ben, but you shouldn't have."

"Look at me, Harley!"

No way in hell was that happening. I don't because I can't.

"So this is it? The last eight months mean nothing to you?"

"No, not as much as they have to you."

He pushes up from the bar and leans into me. "You're going to regret this, Harley; no one will ever love you as I do. " He said with a hiss before stalking off.

I downed the last of my sunrise, and Mac brought me another; I need to slow down. Fuck it, I took a big sip.

'Harley, there is another wolf here!'

'Rae, you're drunk.'

'Maybe a little, but I still know a wolf when I smell one, and this one is all alpha male.' She purrs at his scent.

'Stop that!' A moment later, I understand as the scent of suede and argon oil fills my senses, urging me to find its source.

I look around, scanning the crowd for a face I haven't seen, when I find it's strange that the stranger locks his eyes with mine; Rae flashed our eyes, and his momentarily went black in response as he made his way to the bar.