Christi Daugherty - A Beautiful Corpse

‘No, no, no ,’ he kept screaming hoarsely. ‘It wasn’t me. Why won’t you listen ?’

The cops weren’t in any mood to do what he wanted. They were concentrating on that gun. Shouting constant commands in a kind of hyperactive, almost hypnotic wall of sound.

Harper wondered how long their patience would last.

Not long, as it turned out.

A shadow moved, low and slow, in the darkness to the left of the pickup’s front tire.

She touched Miles lightly on the arm, pointing.

Turning the camera, he zoomed in.

Glancing up at her, he whispered, ‘SWAT team.’

They both crouched low.

It happened quickly.

Two shadowy figures leaped onto Shepherd’s back with machine-perfect timing, knocking the gun loose, and sending him sprawling.

Harper was close enough to hear the sickening slap of his face hitting the pavement.

A uniformed officer kicked the gun away. Then the others descended on him.

With four adrenaline-fueled cops on top of him twisting his hands behind his back, Shepherd was done.

Through it all, though, he repeated the same words over and over like a mantra. Sobbing them into the ground.

‘I didn’t do it. I didn’t do it.’

Miles jumped to his feet. ‘Let’s get closer.’

But the two of them had taken only a few steps from the sheltering trees when a cop, large and sweaty, wired from the excitement of the arrest, moved in on them.

‘Get back,’ he ordered.

Harper didn’t like the look of him. Cops get itchy whenever they’ve had to pull their weapons.

This one’s hand was dangerously close to his holster.

She and Miles took an automatic step back into the glow of the headlights.

To her surprise, the cop’s demeanor changed abruptly.

‘Oh, hey, Miles,’ he said. ‘I didn’t recognize you in the dark. How’s it going?’

‘I’m great, Bob,’ Miles said, keeping his hands clearly in view nonetheless. ‘Trying to get the front-page picture for tomorrow’s paper.’

‘You go ahead.’ Bob waved him on. ‘Try to stay out of their way.’

‘I’ll keep my distance,’ Miles promised.

‘Be sure and get my good side,’ Bob joked, turning sideways.

Laughing politely, Miles moved past him toward the crowd of cops who were now lifting Shepherd to his feet.

When Harper started to follow, though, Bob’s pleasant demeanor evaporated.

‘I didn’t say you could get closer.’ The warmth left his voice. ‘Traitors stay at the edge. In fact …’ He pointed behind the row of parked patrol cars. ‘Why don’t you go over there?’

‘Come on,’ Harper pleaded. ‘I won’t get in the way. Can’t you give me a break?’

Bob’s face hardened.

‘I don’t have to do a thing for you,’ he said. ‘And right now, you’re trespassing on a crime scene and failing to obey an officer. Actually, you got some ID? I’m writing you up for disorderly conduct.’

‘ What? ’ Harper couldn’t believe it. The cops always harassed her these days, but they didn’t go this far.

She squared up to him. ‘You can’t do that. I’m a member of the press. I have a right to be here. This is a public highway.’

His face reddened. He reached behind him to where his handcuffs hung from his utility belt.

‘That’s it. Turn around.’

Before she realized what he was planning, he grabbed her by the shoulder, spinning her around and shoving her roughly against the nearest car.

Harper struggled, but he was twice her size. She never had a chance. Her face was pressed hard against the glass.

‘Goddamn it,’ she said, her voice muffled. ‘Let me go, you dickhead.’

Suddenly, another voice spoke over her.

‘What’s going on, Bob? Caught yourself another suspect?’

This voice was cool and steady. It was saying all the right things, but with an underlay of threat that indicated the speaker didn’t like Bob very much.

With her face still pressed against the car, Harper couldn’t see anything.

But she knew that voice.

‘Well, Detective.’ Bob sounded defensive. ‘This reporter’s trespassing on the crime scene and refusing to obey orders. I’m arresting her for disorderly conduct.’

‘You are fully within your rights to do that, Bob,’ the other voice said. ‘She’s a handful, all right. But I gotta say the chief won’t like it. Her publisher will give him a hard time. They could sue the force for illegal arrest.’

‘She ignored an order.’ Bob sounded less confident now.

‘I hear you, but if you ask me, it’s not worth the hassle,’ the voice said. ‘Tell you what. Why don’t you let her go. I’ll keep an eye on her. If she causes any trouble, I’ll take her in myself. Save you the paperwork. We got a deal?’

Harper twisted her neck, trying to see what was happening, but Bob’s meaty hand still held her head against the patrol car.

‘I guess so.’ Bob gave in reluctantly. ‘You want me to cuff her?’

‘No,’ the detective said, a hint of ice in his voice now. ‘I think I can handle her.’

‘If you say so.’

Slowly, Bob relinquished his hold on Harper’s head and hands.

Freed, she spun around, and looked straight into the calm blue eyes of Detective Luke Walker.

‘Thanks, Bob,’ Luke said, his eyes still on Harper. ‘You can get back to work now.’

Seeing that his game was over, Bob trundled away with slow reluctance.

Pinioned in Luke’s gaze, Harper was so flustered she couldn’t think of anything to say.

It had been nearly a year since the two of them last spoke. And more than a year since the last time they slept together.

‘What an idiot,’ she managed to sputter, finally.

‘I think it’s fair to say nobody’s ever accused Bob Kowalski of being smart,’ Luke agreed.

He looked annoyingly good.

His hair was cropped short, and his chiseled jaw clean-shaven. Only the suit was wrong. She’d rarely seen him in anything but jeans before.

And he’d just seen her nearly arrested.

All she could think of to do, was to fume.

‘Well, he’s gone too far,’ she said. ‘He had no right to do that. I’m filing a complaint this time. This has got to stop.’

Luke didn’t reply. Instead, he studied her, a faint smile on his face.

‘What?’ she asked, touching her face self-consciously.

‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘Seeing you like this – so pissed off. I just thought … Some things never change.’

Harper didn’t know how to reply to that.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. They were supposed to meet when her makeup and hair were perfect, and she was wearing a carefully chosen outfit. They’d go out for coffee and he’d be sorry he dumped her.

That was how she’d imagined this moment for the last year.

In Harper’s dream meeting, they talked easily. Forgave each other for the sins of the past. And agreed to try again.

But then, nothing about their relationship had ever been dreamlike.