Reckless

Chapter Six - Reckless

Reyna’s POV

We arrived at the house, correction, mansion. Of course, it was a rich guy who deemed himself untouchable. There were two types of people who got themselves involved with the wrong business—the first, making friends with the wrong people expecting their money or luck to save them. The second were people so desperate to get something or consumed with addiction they made a deal with the wrong person. Each situation was horrible, and I wished each situation could be avoided entirely.

The cast-iron gates slowly opened, allowing us to enter. We slowly drove up the long driveway. Perfectly trimmed shrubs were wrapped, ready for the winter weather. Tall lamp posts lined the side, opening up to a large water fountain that had also been wrapped in preparations for the long winter we were about to endure. The bright red-bricked mansion stood proud, light shining through the large windows.

That was one thing I could never understand why when you had everything, did you have to try and get more. Greed was a disgusting disease, and it made no sense to me, and maybe me not fully understanding it was a blessing.

We pulled to a complete stop before I opened the doors and stepped out of the undercover police car. I pulled my jacket into myself as the harsh winter wind whipped around us. Shoving my hands in my pockets, giving Piper a quick nod. The other two police cars pulled in behind us. We walk up to the large etched glass doors. I reached forward and pushed the doorbell. A loud chime that sounded like church bells rang louder than necessary. A heartbeat later, a maid opened the door stepping aside to allow us to enter.

“Mrs. Bringer is waiting for you in the sitting room.” The woman said. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a tight bun. She had a thick French accent. She plastered a fake smile on her lips, but her chocolate-coloured eyes told another story. She was shaken from what she most likely discovered today. But, then again, who wouldn’t be greatly disturbed by being mailed a severed head?

We followed her through the giant entranceway. Two winding staircases led up to the top floor. Our shoes clicking on the hardwood floor as we followed her. The floors shined so brightly, reflecting the light from the chandlers that hung directly above us. I did my best to ignore the tinge of jealousy that pricked at my skin.

As we entered the large sitting room, my eyes roamed over the elegant pieces of leather furniture. I followed the shape of the curtains as they hung in front of the twelve-foot tall windows. As I took in the large marbled fireplace and the fake flames that danced behind the glass, my eyes settled on a young woman. She looked a little older than me. Her copper hair was perfectly curled. Her eyes were red and puffy, her nose rubbed raw, but somehow her makeup remained in place.

I hated this part of the job, the part where we had to see any remaining hope of seeing a loved one disappear from their eyes. Though this time, it was different. We weren’t here to tell her we found his body. We were here because she was gifted that horrible nightmare instead. I cleared my throat, gaining her full attention.

“Mrs. Bringer, I’m detective Killian, and this is my partner Detective Sullivan. A few officers will need to take a look at the package you received earlier today. Then, I’m going to need to ask you a few questions if that’s okay?” Mrs.Bringer nodded mindlessly, shock still digging its claws into her. The maid stepped forward and led two of the officers toward what I could only assume was the kitchen.

“How long has your husband been missing?” She shook her head, her lower lip trembling as she let out a long breath.

“He said he had a meeting in Niagara Falls. Said he would be back Friday. He was looking to expand his business said he had a couple of buyers interested up there. I should have known he was in trouble. He has been clean for five years.”

“Clean for five years? Was he an addict?” Piper asked. Mrs.Bringer nodded.

“He had a gambling addiction. Tom attended meetings. He was doing good, or so I thought. But he must have gotten mixed up with the wrong people. I should have known, I should ha-“ she broke off, bursting into tears again. I reached for the tissue box on the table, handing it to her. She ripped out a couple of tissues and blew her nose hard.

“Sorry.” I shook my head.

“No need to apologize. If you don’t mind me asking. If he was just starting a business and had a gambling problem, how could he afford all of this.” I asked, gesturing to the room. She let out another heavy sigh.

“My family comes from old money. I think that’s what attracted Tom to me at first. I was another way to feed his addiction. But after a year of dating, we fell in love. All of this is in my name.” She gave a weak smile.

“He was given a weekly allowance to stop the itch to gamble it away, and when he wanted to start a small coffee business, I helped him do that. He was good at it too. He had gotten beans imported from around the world. And we even travelled to different places to test and find the best products available.” I nodded as Sullivan and I both jotted everything down.

“Would we be able to have a look at his study, see if we can find any potential leads that might show us who he was dealing with?” She nodded, standing up, tucking the tissue into her pants pocket.

“Of course, anything that could help.” We followed her back out into the entranceway and up the set of winding stairs. I made sure to step to the side of the runner to avoid scuffing the rug with my dirtied shoes. The stairs widened into a hallway. She led us past two doors before stopping at the third. She pulled a key from her pocket and stuck it into the lock. With a click, the door opened. A large oak desk and a wall of books welcomed us. We walked in, and Sullivan immediately went to the computer, waking it up.

“Do you know the password?”

“No, unfortunately, he never let anyone have it.” Piper nodded, pursing her lips.

“That’s okay. I will have one of our IT guys look into it. We will have to take this and any files he has here back with us to the station.”

“Of course. I will leave you to it. I have family members to call, and I’m sure the media will have a field day with this.”

“And Mrs. Bringer-“

“You can call me a Stacey.” She urged. I nodded.

“Stacey, we will try our best to track down the person who did this.”

“Thank you,” Stacey whispered before leaving the room. I turned to Piper, who was just getting off of the phone.

“Vitto is going to have the IT guys ready for when we get there. We should probably head back and start going through all these files.” She sighed.

“Thai or Chinese. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night.” She gave me a smirk, her blue eyes bright and her brow arched.

“Do you even have to ask, Rey?” She teased.

No, I didn’t, Thai was always her go-to, and I honestly like it better than Chinese food too. We never seemed to tire from eating the same thing during our long nights.

***

We sat in the debriefing room, the fluorescent lights giving me a headache as I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my eyes. I grabbed my box of pad Thai, shoving the last of it into my mouth. It was cold and soggy now, but I didn’t care.

We had burned the midnight oil and, after the last of the files were dropped off. Sullivan worked with Vitto and IT to break into Tom's computer. As the sun began to crest the night sky, I had a small report drawn up for Captain Kurt.

I got up and headed to the coffee machine for the tenth time tonight, or today I didn’t know anymore. My eyes were blurry from squinting at the small words written in the logbooks and typed out in the never-ending folders all night. I really needed to remember to grab my glasses when I left the house or invest in another pair to leave on my desk.

I grabbed the report and headed to the Captain's office. I looked at the time. It was five in the morning. He wouldn’t be here for another hour. I walked into his Trophy room and placed the report on his desk. I made a sound of disgust as I looked at the picture he had framed of himself on the wall.

Guy had an ego bigger than most celebrities, and that was saying something. I really couldn’t wait for the asshat to retire. As I turned to leave, I noticed a file with my name on it lying in front of his computer. I knew I shouldn’t, but no one was around, and it was technically my business, considering my name was on it.

I reached forward, picking it up and opening it. At first, it was just information about me and my academy scores: my background checks and family history. The next page was a list of cases I had still unsolved. It heavily outweighed the cases I had solved, but the page would be almost empty if I solved this case. I flipped over to the next page, my jaw clenched as I read what it said.

“It’s with great disappointment that I have decided to relieve Detective Reyna Killian of her position in the fifty-second division. Her constant need to step on others and take the lead on cases she isn’t involved in has turned this division upside down. As we like to condone friendly competitions between officers, her excessive need to take in more than she can handle is beginning to show in our overall station ranking. As you can see in my report, she has few solved cases compared to her unsolved cases. It’s with this evidence I encourage you to approve my request to have her removed from this unit immediately.”

“That bastard.” I sneered as I slammed the file back down. I knew he had it out for me more than the others, but this was downright stupid. If that’s what he wanted, he was greatly mistaken if he wanted me to bow down and take it with a grain of salt. I was going to fight tooth and nail to make sure that fucker didn’t get what he wanted. I stormed out of his office, my report in hand as I called the news. I would set up a conference meeting myself and address the new leads we had in the case.

“What are you doing?” Piper asked as I fell into my chair and began dialling the number to the news reporters.

“Getting a head start on this before the media does.” My voice is sharp. She sat in her chair and let out a low whistle.

“Captains gonna have your head.” I looked up at her, my eyes full of fire.

“Let him.”

***

“Detective Killian, what do you have to say about the other bodies found recently? Are they linked to the murder of Tom Bringer?” I let out a low breath, keeping a serious look on my face. I wasn't about to get suspended for stepping over Kurt’s head like this, only because it would make him look bad. But he was going to be furious and wish he could suspend me, and I honestly couldn't give to shits about it. He wanted to screw me over because I worked hard and was a damn good detective. So I was gonna prove exactly why he didn’t deserve to be our Captain anymore.

“As of right now, we don’t have any more information. But I can say that we are working hard to find any leads to capture this monster. So I ask again if anyone has any leads, video surveillance, even believed they witnessed a body being dumped or seen suspicious activity. We urge you to come forward. That is all we have at the moment. I thank you for all coming out.” I stepped away from the podium as the reporters shouted in unison. Piper pulled up beside me, giving me a wide grin.

“You killed it, but you are so fucked when you get back inside. The Captain is fuming.” She warned as we walked back into the station. All the officers eyed me with caution as I made my way up to the second floor. I hadn’t even made it through the elevator doors when the Captain's voice bellowed through the office.

“Killian, my office now.” He shouted, anger lacing each word like venom.

“I’ll be preparing your funeral when you finish.” Piper teased as she shot me a wink and headed to her desk. I rolled my eyes and prepared myself for the lashing I was about to receive.

“What’s up, Captain?” I chimed as I entered. If I was already going to hell may as well make it worth my time. He let out a low growl of annoyance. His beady eyes narrowed, his left eye twitching in annoyance.

“What you did was an embarrassment to our divisions, Killian. I should have you suspended without pay for it.” He shouted, spit spraying the air. I was thankful I hadn’t left the entranceway. I was far enough away from the spray zone. He was foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog, anger consuming him.

Was I a sadist for the fact that seeing him this pissed off made me giddy on the inside? He should have me suspended, but now that I put myself out in the media as the lead on this case, suspending me would raise questions and make him look really bad. I had him cornered.

“You should,” I muttered. Keeping my expression neutral.

“You damn well know I can’t. I swear to god I will have your ass for this if you don’t come out with a suspect in the next week. You’ve crossed a line, Detective, and there is no coming back from that.” He hissed.

“I guarantee I will have something by the end of the week, sir.” I chimed in. Internally kicking myself for making up a damn timeline. Now I really needed to get this figured out. I could hear him grind his teeth as he shot daggers at me.

“Get out of my sight. You look like shit and smell even worse. Go home and take a shower. Maybe that’ll knock some sense into and prevent you from making any more stupid decisions that could jeopardize this division any more than you already have.” He snapped.

“Of course, Sir.” I paused, looking at his desk and then back at him. He had already dismissed me, returning his attention to his computer.

“Maybe you could add reckless behaviour and has the tendency to prove her Captain wrong to that report of yours.” I snapped, leaving before he could say anything else.

I stormed over to my desk and grabbed my jacket and keys.

“No funeral to plan yet,  but that might change by the end of the week.” Piper arched her brow.

“Apparently, I don’t know how to keep my mouth shut.” I laughed. She rolled her eyes, letting out a laugh.

“What’s new?” I shrugged my shoulders.

“Either way, I have the rest of the day off. If you get any leads, call to fill me in. I’m going home to have a long shower and get some sleep before this shit storm of a case costs me my job.” She waved her hand as I left the office. The drive felt like hours as I drove through the city. The grey sky’s making the relentless traffic seem slower.

I finally made my way into the familiar parking lot. Walking out to the old brick building. My key card buzzed as I opened the door and entered my building. The elevator creaked as it made its way up to the fourth floor. As I locked my door behind me, I took in the mess of my apartment.

Letting out a sigh of annoyance, I took off my jacket and boots and headed to the freezer pulling out a TV dinner, a wine glass and flicking on the Television. Instantly the news popped up my interview on replay as the news reporters talked about it, asking anyone with information to come forward. I poured myself some wine as the microwave beeped to let me know my food was ready. I plopped down on the couch and switched the channel until I found a decent show.

Time seemed to move slowly as I finished my shower and headed for my bed. The clock said three in the afternoon, but it felt like it was already ten. I had spent the day cleaning up my disastrous apartment, my brain too busy to sleep, and now that I was done that, I couldn’t find anything else to keep me busy.

I let my towel drop to the floor as I grabbed a nightshirt and a pair of underwear.

“Guess I should try to get some sleep.” I groaned as I drew the curtains. I lay in bed, placing my phone in the charger. I don’t know when or how I fell asleep, but the annoying ringing of my phone woke me up. The morning sun just beginning to rise as I squinted my eyes.

“Killian,” I answered.

“Get here now. You’re not going to believe who just showed up requesting to speak with you.”Piper's voice was a mere whisper.

“Why me?” I muttered.

“Apparently, he only wants the lead on the case to view some potential evidence he has for the Tom Bringer case.” That grabbed my attention as I sat up fast.

“Be there in twenty.” I practically shouted as I shot out of bed and threw on some clothes from the dresser, quickly pulling my hair into a messy bun, racing out the door. I couldn’t help but have mixed feelings about this new turn of events.

Everything about this seemed too easy. How was it that the first major lead we got in the last five years also brought us another big lead? My mother would tell me it was dumb luck, but only an idiot would believe in that shit when it came to working with murderers.

But whatever was happening, I just hoped it was about to give me the break of a lifetime.