One Taste of Crazy (A One Taste Novel Book 3) Read online

  Sauer shrugged. “She was a stripper. Not to mention, she left home when she was sixteen. Seems to me they already mourned the death of their daughter when she didn’t follow their wishes to be the perfect daughter.”

  “Yeah, they were pretty judgmental. I blame the money. They have plenty of it.”

  Sauer was silent the rest of the drive. There wasn’t much else to talk about concerning her parents. They were furious when she ran away from home at sixteen. At twenty-one, she became a stripper. That’s when they officially disowned her. Her father was a doctor and her mother was an assistant principal for one of the local schools. Having a daughter in such a profession ruined their image.

  He couldn’t imagine not having a relationship with his parents. Sometimes, especially when he was younger, they smothered him a little too much. They didn’t want to see their only child being bullied. Who would? He didn’t like to talk about that stuff, or tell on the kids who picked on him. Hence, the smothering, when they found out. They wanted to make sure he was okay. He was. As much as kids bugged him, he always tried to let it go. Coping as an adult was much easier, but he survived.

  Newman pulled up to a two-story brick house with the landscaping looking immaculate even in the cold, brutal winter months in Minnesota. There was a light layer of snow from a week ago, but it all looked so organized and perfectly done. It was snow. Just shovel it to the side and be done. Not this yard.

  They waited on the porch as the loud ringing of the doorbell echoed throughout the house. The door opened to a young man dressed in a fancy suit, not a wrinkle in place.

  “Vince Colton?” Newman asked.

  People tended to think because he didn’t always do most of the talking that he was the good cop in the typical good-cop bad-cop routine. Definitely not true. He was the bad cop. A very silent and deadly one when upset. The cocky look on this guy’s face made him want to bring out the bad cop immediately.

  “Yes.”

  Newman flashed his badge, as did he. “Detective Newman, and this is my partner—”

  “Look, I haven’t spoken to my sister in over two years. I can’t say I’m heartbroken or anything. I decided after the millionth time her begging me for more money that she wasn’t worth my time anymore. That’s all I was to her—a bank.” Vince looked bored, yet annoyed they were bothering him with something he considered inconsequential.

  Sauer held himself in check, making sure to keep his fists unclenched. Vince reminded him of the worst kind of bully.

  “Where were you around midnight Sunday night?”

  Vince’s brow rose, as if he couldn’t believe they were questioning him.

  “At home with my wife. We had a Super Bowl party. I didn’t kill my sister, if that’s what you’re insinuating. She was useless. I don’t even think about her.”

  Sauer grinned. “That’s pretty harsh. We’ll need to speak with your wife, as well as the guests that were at the party.”

  Vince smirked, the cockiest smirk yet. “Sure, Detective. Anything to help out two hardworking men like yourself.”

  Without removing his grin, and his hands still hanging loose by his side, he nodded. “Great. I’d ask if you knew anyone who would hurt your sister, but I’m going to guess and say you have no idea.”

  “Like I said, I haven’t talked to her in over two years.”

  Vince left them standing on the front porch, closing the door without inviting them in while they waited for him to write down a list of names and numbers so they could verify his alibi.

  “What an asshat,” Newman muttered under his breath, just to make sure Vince couldn’t hear him.

  “The worst kind. He seems a little too indifferent to kill his sister. Almost like he’d hate to waste any time thinking about her, let alone killing her.”

  “I know. Who does that leave us with?”

  These were the cases he couldn’t stand. The ones that made him scratch his head. Too many possibilities. Too many suspects. No evidence. It made for many sleepless nights. At least for him. As far as he knew, Newman always slept like a baby. But him, when they had trouble solving a case, he rarely slept. Add in the situation with Dee and sleep was nonexistent.

  Scratch that. Dee wasn’t a concern anymore. She had a boyfriend. Damn, if that didn’t suck.

  ♡

  The drawer slammed.

  “Everything okay, Deena?”

  Dee turned around to Mr. Young, her boss and owner of the company, and smiled. “Yep.”

  He nodded and walked back into his office. Typical. If she seemed upset in the slightest way, he made sure whatever was upsetting her was fixed. He knew she was invaluable and didn’t want to lose her. She’d never leave, of course. She loved her job. The freedom she had, and a little bit of power at her fingertips. Sure, she was just Mr. Young’s secretary, but she was the best damn one in the office. She got shit done without batting an eye.

  Her job was the only thing in her life that was right. That was perfect. That made sense. Everything else, well, just call it a complete cluster. Her dating life—laughable. Her family life—she wasn’t even going to think about it. Her friends—all married and happy. She was all alone. She never felt more alone, almost to the point she wanted to hate Zoe and Rina for finding great men and leaving her so alone.

  After that thought rolled in, she banished it just as quickly. They were her best friends for a reason. She would never hate them. They were the only happy thing in her life, besides—

  No. She wasn’t thinking about Sauer. How could she even think that? He wasn’t in her life. Seeing him at a party and running into him today did not constitute being in her life. Pure coincidence she saw him today. Something she had to avoid from now on.

  Her life was a mess. She wasn’t going to drag a good man like Sauer into it. As much as she wanted a good man and a happily ever after like Zoe and Rina, she knew it would never happen.

  Deena O’Malley. Nothing but a slut. Just like her mother. At least, that’s what everyone always told her when she was younger. Instead of disputing the fact, she made it true. She slept with guys without having a relationship. What else could everyone call her other than a slut?

  “Dee, everything okay?”

  She looked up from her computer. Rina stood next to her with a worried expression. Why did everyone keep asking her that? Did she look that bad?

  “I’m fine.”

  “You don’t look fine.”

  “What’s up, Rina? I have tons of stuff I need to do.”

  Rina sighed softly. “I was walking by to drop off some reports to Donaho and—are you sure you’re okay?”

  Pushing a few curly strands of hair out of her eyes, she tried not to huff in indignation. “You worry too much.”

  “Zoe’s looking into some tickets to the Twins opener. Are you in?”

  Just like that, Rina changed the subject. Dee was surprised she pressed the point as she did. Rina always let things go when she knew it was upsetting the other person. Maybe she did look terrible to make Rina so concerned.

  “Yeah, sure.”

  Rina started to fiddle with her fingers as she shifted on her feet. “Well, Ben’s coming with. Of course, Zoe and Zeke are going. So…”

  “So I’m the fifth wheel, basically.”

  Rina bit her bottom lip. “Not exactly. We thought you could ask someone to go with you. This way it would be even.”

  “And who am I supposed to ask? That’s still, like, two months away.” She couldn’t resist rolling her eyes. “Just scratch me off the list.”

  Rina looked appalled. “No. We’d never do that. You’re coming with.” Her voice was firm, yet soft, in that vicious way that said she wouldn’t be arguing with her. Rina was the only person she knew who could do that so effectively and not raise one part of her voice. She’d never tell Rina, but it scared her sometimes. Generally, nothing scared her.

  “Who are you expecting me to ask?”

  “Sauer.”

  Dee slumped bac
k into her chair as she groaned in dismay. What were Rina and Zoe trying to do? Didn’t they know a relationship between her and Sauer would never work?

  “You don’t like that idea? You really don’t like him?”

  Pumping her hair a little, she shrugged. “It’s not that I don’t like him, it’s just…it’s a bad idea. I have tons of stuff to do. Can we talk about this later?”

  A beautiful, sweet smile crossed her face. “Of course.” Then her brows dipped. “And we will talk. You can’t keep avoiding the issue, whatever it is. We’re your friends. Talk to us. My secrets ate away at me. Don’t ruin this potential relationship because you’re afraid to talk about it. I almost ruined it. Now I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”

  Dee watched as Rina walked away. Talk to them about her secrets? Not likely. Although, Rina looked serious. It wouldn’t do well to tempt her anger. Maybe she would be spilling her guts.

  Chapter 4

  He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temple as his head throbbed with pain.

  “You okay, man? You don’t look so hot.”

  Sauer dropped his hand as he met Newman’s gaze. “My head’s pounding. I feel a little stuffy as well. We’ve been on this case for the past two days like crazy, working late nights. I don’t know if it’s starting to get to me or what.”

  Newman chuckled. “I think it’s or what. When we interviewed Doug Grayson, Vanessa’s neighbor, he had a cold. He even sneezed. Maybe he passed that lovely virus to you. Go home, dude. You look like shit and I don’t want it.”

  The idea was sounding great. Everything he felt indicated a cold was coming on. Why him? Why now? The case wasn’t going anywhere. Doug didn’t have anything pertinent to add other than Vanessa didn’t have many visitors besides her boyfriend. Which several neighbors corroborated. So the idea she was bringing men home from the club went out the window.

  They still couldn’t locate Marvin. Tony from the club hadn’t called either, which meant Marvin hadn’t shown up yet.

  No helpful evidence at the crime scene. No witnesses. No good suspects, unless they wanted to count Marvin since he was being difficult to track down. They had nothing to go on. Sometimes, the sad reality was, cases went cold. It was looking like Vanessa’s case was going cold.

  And he was getting a cold.

  “I think I am going to go home. This case…”

  Newman nodded, knowing what he was saying. They had run into a dead end until they could talk to Marvin. The strip club was looking like the best place for their suspect. Everyone in her family had a solid alibi. Which didn’t surprise Sauer. They had written her out of their lives years ago. To them, she had been dead for a long time.

  Sauer left work. He took some cold medicine when he got home, grabbed a warm washcloth and laid down on the couch, placing the cloth over his forehead. He fussed around on the couch for a while trying to find a good position. The pain in his head made that a difficult task. Eventually, he fell into a semi-decent sleep.

  The ringing of the doorbell ricocheted around his head. The dull throbbing pain behind his eyes had just started to recede and someone had to visit him.

  Flinging the now cold washcloth that had been resting on his forehead onto the coffee table, he rolled off the couch in a very ungraceful manner. Not that he cared. He didn’t care about anything at the moment except for the couch and closing his eyes and making the pain go away.

  Two feet from the door, the doorbell rang again.

  “Stop. It hurts my—” His throat went instantly dry. Why did he open the door? He should’ve just pretended he wasn’t home.

  “Wow, Sauer, you look like shit. I brought soup.” Dee lifted a small clear container filled with something colorful in one hand, then flicked her other hand at him. “Back up. I don’t want what you have.”

  Too stunned, and a little surprised to see Dee, he stepped back automatically. Her smile almost made him forget his head pounded like a bunch of tiny elves were driving nails everywhere. Almost, but not quite.

  “Go lie down, Sauer. You seriously look horrible. I’ll heat up this soup for you.”

  She walked away. Although his head was killing him, his curiosity took over. He followed her to the kitchen where she started to open and close cupboards. Not gently either. He couldn’t hide a wince every time she slammed a door closed.

  “What are you doing?”

  Brow rising in the delicious way she did, she wiggled her finger. “Nope. You go lie down. No asking questions like you like to do.”

  “How did you—”

  Her lips stretched into a tight line. “Stop asking questions. But to answer that one, Newman told Zeke you weren’t feeling well, who told Zoe, who told Rina, who then told me.” She jerked her finger toward the living room. “Now go.”

  He couldn’t stop it. The way his head felt, the small pinpricks of pain echoing everywhere, nothing should’ve made him smile. But her thoughtfulness did.

  “Why are you grinning like that? And why aren’t you listening to me?”

  Don’t say it. Don’t do it. Just walk away. “I just never pictured you making soup.” His smile grew, then slowly melted into a frown. “Wait. You did make it yourself, didn’t you?” God, please say yes.

  The thought of Dee slaving over the stove cooking soup for him made his heart beat double time. Made him a little hopeful she might actually like him.

  “Are you implying I’m not domesticated enough to make soup?”

  Like always, he screwed up. He never did or said anything right when it came to women. “No.” He didn’t know what else to say. Since he already failed miserably at speaking, it seemed better to say as little as possible.

  She turned around, opening another cupboard. “I made the soup myself.”

  He watched as she continued to open and slam cupboard doors. Each time the door connected with the frame of the cupboard his head pounded with it. The picture in front of him—he loved it. He didn’t care he was in so much pain from the nasty cold that came out of nowhere. She was so beautiful. And fussing over him. He never thought he’d see the day.

  “You’re beautiful.”

  Oh, man, he just said that out loud. Her hand stalled on the last cupboard door that finally held the bowls she had apparently been looking for.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so beautiful and—”

  “Go lie down—”

  “I really want—”

  “Before I seriously—”

  “To kiss you.”

  Silence.

  He said it. Just blurted out he wanted to kiss her. She still looked gorgeous as hell staring at him dumbfounded.

  “You’re sick. I don’t want to get sick.”

  “So when I’m not sick…” He stopped before he made things worse. “I forgot. I’m sorry. You have a boyfriend.”

  Her hand wobbled as she pulled a bowl down from the cupboard. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

  “The guy at the café the other day…”

  She rolled her eyes. “Just a guy.”

  Soup slopped into the bowl, looking strangely like chicken noodle soup. He loved chicken noodle soup. Did she know that? Or a lucky guess?

  “I don’t do boyfriends, Sauer. I just sleep with guys. That’s all you’ll ever get from me, so just stop. Go lie down and I’ll heat up your soup.”

  Maybe it was the sickness. Maybe it was the pain overriding his common sense. Maybe it was the honesty surrounding them.

  “I have a feeling I’m going to get more than that from you. You made me soup when you normally don’t do that. Admit it. When have you ever made soup for a guy, a guy you never even slept with? I think I will lie down now. My head’s killing me.”

  He walked out of the kitchen with her jaw hanging down in surprise. For once, he got the last word in. He probably wouldn’t get any other words in for the rest of his life. Where did that bravery come from? His sickness? The medicine? Complete delirium?

  As he laid down on the couc
h, his head started to feel oddly better.

  Dee came to his home. To take care of him. And she didn’t have a boyfriend. That had to mean something good for him, right?

  ♡

  Dee stood frozen in the kitchen as she tried to process Sauer’s words. She wanted more with him. For the first time in her life, she wanted more than just sex from a guy. Problem was she didn’t know how to do relationships. Her longest relationship, if one could call it that, lasted four months. It wasn’t anything she’d ever brag about. The sex was great. Probably why it lasted so long.

  Shoving the soup into the microwave, she then leaned against the counter. Why did she come here again? Since Rina put the thought in her head to ask Sauer to go to the baseball game, she couldn’t stop thinking about him. Who was she kidding? She couldn’t stop thinking about him since the adorable way he asked her out.

  Even now, he was still adorable as hell.

  She should learn to stop messing with him. The way his face jerked in surprise when she asked if she didn’t seem domesticated enough was too damn cute, and somewhat insensitive of her. She was only kidding. With Sauer, she needed to remember to be less abrasive. He was sensitive. Well, okay, maybe not sensitive.

  Shy. Yeah, he was shy. He probably wasn’t comfortable with a woman like her. Because, like an idiot, she was making him uncomfortable with everything she said.

  Nearly dropping the bowl as she grabbed it from the microwave, the sides incredibly hot to the touch, she wondered why she was here again. What could she offer Sauer? What kind of girlfriend would she make? A horrible one. They had nothing in common. They were wrong for each other.

  When, or if, she found a man, he’d need to be more alpha-like for her tastes. That’s what kind of guy she wanted. Not the shy, quiet kind.

  Placing the bowl onto a plate with a spoon on the side, she walked to the living room to give Sauer his soup. Then she was leaving. She came to a decision.

  No more pursuing Sauer, if that’s what she even wanted to call this. She wanted more from a guy, and Sauer didn’t live up to what she wanted. He was a nice guy, so she wouldn’t lead him on.

  “I’m not sleeping with you. Nothing is ever going to happen between us. We’re just friends.” She almost slammed the soup down on the table to make sure she got her point across.