“Hey, Hawks! I heard you went out with my sister last night.”
The voice belonged to Storm Kelly, and it didn’t sound like he was too happy about Levi dating his kid sister. He turned around to face him, wondering if he was going to have to go toe to toe with the more volatile of Marina’s two brothers. He glanced anxiously around the detective’s bullpen as Storm approached him wearing a serious expression.
“Yeah,” he nodded, looking him in the eye. “I took Marina to dinner. We had a nice time.”
Storm nodded his head. “Cool. Did you tell her the truth?” he asked.
Levi lowered his head with a heavy sigh. Storm had obviously been talking to Frankie. “I had planned to tell her at the end of the night, but then one thing led to another, and well … then we fell asleep and …”
“Whoa, whoa! Time out,” Storm said, making an unpleasant face. “I don’t need to hear about my sister’s sex life, all right? I just don’t want you dicking her around. And I like you, Hawks, but I’m not Frankie. Either you tell her today, or I will.”
Levi nodded his head at him again. “I understand.”
“What are you smiling at?” Storm asked with a frown.
“I just appreciate where you’re coming from. It’s nice. The way you’re all so close,” he said.
“Well, you and that clone of yours are just as close from what I hear,” Storm said, still frowning, and Levi laughed.
“Yeah, we are. I always wondered what it would be like to have a sister, though,” he said. “I’d be threatening to kick my ass too right now if I were you.”
Storm laughed at him. “I didn’t threaten to kick your ass, man. I just threatened to expose it.”
“Good enough,” Levi chuckled. “And I will tell her. You have my word.”
“all right, man,” Storm smiled, swatting him in the arm. Then he turned to walk away.
“Hey, Storm,” Levi called after him. “I never said congratulations, man.”
“Thanks,” Storm smiled.
“How’s the transition going?”
“Not too bad,” Storm shrugged. “I’m loving the actual investigative work. The hardest part for me, believe it or not, is just getting used to working days. I know most people can’t stand the power shift, but I loved it.”
“Well, welcome to the detective section, man. Let me know if you need anything,” Levi said.
He got back to work then, but he couldn’t get Storm’s words out of his head the rest of the day. He needed to tell Marina the truth, and soon, before her brother did it for him.
He had wanted to tell her that morning, but they neglected to set an alarm before they’d drifted off to sleep. As a result, they had woken up much later than either of them had intended and they were both late for work. Needless to say, he didn’t get the chance to come clean to her as they were both rushing around trying to get out of the house. They had made tentative plans for the following night though. Marina invited him over for dinner at her place, and now Levi found himself really hoping that she would still want to keep that date after he told her the truth.
He wasn’t certain what time the barkery closed, but as soon as his shift ended, he headed straight there. And as he got out of his car and walked toward the store, he could see that the place seemed to be even busier than usual. He stepped inside and looked around, easily spotting her behind the counter. But before he could move toward her, Bear was at his side.
“Hey, buddy,” Levi smiled, petting the dog’s head. And when he looked Marina’s way again, she was smiling at him. He returned her smile as he started toward her, but she motioned for him to stay put. And once she finished with her customer she made her way over to him.
“Hi,” she said brightly as he leaned down to lightly kiss her lips.
“Hi yourself,” he replied. “Man, you guys are really hopping tonight.”
“Yeah, it’s always like this the last Friday of the month,” she explained. “The local Kennel Club likes to hold their officer’s meetings here. And for some reason it’s always a popular night for the dog park goers to come in, so it’s an interesting mix of people and dogs!”
“I can see that,” Levi said, looking around at the crowd. This was obviously not the time or the place to have this discussion.
“So, what are you up to?” she asked, smiling at him.
“Well, I … just wanted to see you,” he smiled. “I couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing you again until tomorrow night. But it’s obviously going to be a long night for you.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. I typically do stay until close when the Kennel Club is here. It’s just good for business and networking and stuff,” she said apologetically.
“No, no. I understand,” he said, glancing around once more. Then he smiled at her again and took her hand. “I um … I have something that I need to talk to you about though. I won’t bother you with it right now because you’re clearly very busy, but … tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Marina smiled, frowning slightly at him. “You sure it’ll keep?”
He thought briefly about Storm’s threat of telling Marina himself if Levi didn’t do it soon enough. “Yeah, it’ll keep,” he smiled. “You have a good night, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay,” she smiled.
He kissed her again, this time letting his tongue play with hers for a brief moment. “Goodnight, Marina.”
“Goodnight.”
He left the shop then, feeling a mixture of emotions as he walked back to his car. He was so into this girl, and he knew already that she could be the one. But he was terrified that she would be so angry once he told her the truth that she wouldn’t want to see him again. He hated to think about it, but he knew that he had to because it was a very real possibility.
He went home, grabbing a burger on the way. And his troubled mind thought about Marina, and the possibility of losing her, the rest of the evening.
For Marina, the night was a long one. The barkery stayed busy until well after official closing time. But she couldn’t complain because Kennel Club nights were always great for business. But she was exhausted by the time she and Bear finally made it home.
She took a quick shower and got into some comfy pajamas. And then she grabbed her cellphone and took a selfie of her and Bear sitting on her bed, and sent it to Levi. Then she went out to her kitchen and grabbed a cup of blueberry yogurt from the fridge as her phone chirped at her, indicating she had a text. It was from Levi, and it read: “Totally jealous of Woolly Bear right now!”
She smiled as she put her phone away, crawled into bed and turned on the news as she ate her yogurt. And when it was over, so was she. She turned off the TV and the lights and went to sleep.
Four hours later the ringing phone shattered the stillness of the night. And each of them, in their separate homes, reached clumsily for their phones.
“Hello?”
The word was uttered from both their lips as they each struggled to clear the sleepy fog and pay attention to what the caller was saying.
“What?” Marina said, suddenly wide awake as she sat up and turned on the light. “Oh, my God. Yes, I’m on my way right now.”
“Where did this happen?” Levi asked, rubbing his eyes. And then he sat straight up in the bed. “I’ll be right there.”
Marina dressed quickly, throwing on a pair of sweats and her sneakers. She quickly washed her face and ran a brush through her hair. Then she grabbed her purse and sprinted for the front door. Her heart was racing. This had never happened to her before. The barkery had been in business for just over two years now, and in that time there had never been the first robbery attempt. But that phone call had been from the Eastwood Police Department informing her that the alarm was going off at the barkery and that they had found evidence of a break in. She couldn’t believe it.
As she drove, she realized that her shoulders were up around her ears. She was tense and shaken up. And more than a little scared. What if the store was completely trashed? Oh, God. What would her insurance cover? There were so many thoughts running through her head as she pulled into the parking lot in front of the store. She spotted two police cruisers with their lights flashing, and as she parked right outside the door of the shop and got out of her car, she could see her cousin Spencer Kelly walking toward her.
“Spence? What’s happened?”
“Hey, Cuz,” he said, kissing her on the cheek. “I’m real sorry about all this.”
“What’s going on?” she asked again, staring up at him.
“The alarm company called and alerted dispatch that the alarm was going off here at the barkery. And I was dispatched to come check it out.”
“I was told you found evidence of a real break in,” Marina said. “I half expected the front glass to be smashed or something.”
“Well, I did find evidence of a break in, which is why I had dispatch call and get you down here,” Spencer replied. “But whoever this was didn’t go through the front. Come with me.”
He walked her around to the back of the store, where Marina expected to see the back door of the place standing open. But the sight that greeted her rendered her utterly speechless for several unbelievable seconds as her mind tried to comprehend it. There was a hole in the back wall of her shop! An actual hole in the concrete, about two feet in diameter, just large enough for a grown man to fit through. There was debris and rubble all over the ground. Evidence that someone had actually tunneled their way in.
“I don’t believe this,” she said as she looked at the scene.
“I need you to open up the door so we can get inside and assess the situation,” Spencer said. Spence was the baby of the family. Her Uncle Mitch’s youngest son. He was also still considered a rookie, having only been on the Eastwood Police force for less than a year.
“Do you think they could still be in there?” Marina asked, wide-eyed.
“No. We don’t think so. Frankie and Bo did a track that led from here straight out to the back lot and dead-ended,” he said.
“Meaning that whoever did this got into a car and drove off,” she said. She had listened to Frankie and John talk about tracking suspects enough to know that.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
Marina took a deep breath and pulled out her keys. And when she got the door opened, Spencer gently took her by the arm, preventing her from walking in first.
“If it’s okay with you, I’d rather not have Uncle Mike and the rest of the family tear my ass apart for letting you get killed,” he smiled. “Just stay here for a minute and let me check the place out.”
“You said whoever did this isn’t here anymore,” Marina protested.
“I said we don’t think so,” he corrected. “Stay put!”
“Fine,” she said, folding her arms across her chest as Spencer disappeared into her store. She couldn’t believe this was really happening. Who in the world would want to get into her little doggie bakery so badly they would tunnel their way in? She shook her head at the notion as she stood at the back entrance of her store, waiting.
“Marina, hey.”
It was her sister, leading an evidence technician to the debris.
“Frankie.”
“I’m so sorry about all this,” she said, giving her a sad smile and a hug.
“I just don’t understand who would do this,” Marina said.
“I know. It’s definitely one of the more unique B&Es I’ve seen,” Frankie conceded.
The back door opened, and Spencer stuck his head out. “Come on in.”
They followed him inside, through the store room and out into the dining area. And the first thing Marina noticed was that both of the registers were on the floor, and the drawers of them had been pried open. One of the glass display cases where the baked treats were kept had been smashed and glass was everywhere. A large hand-painted sign that read “Dogs welcome, but children must be on a leash,” was sticking out of the case, as if someone had used it to break the glass. Some of the framed pictures had been ripped from the walls, and a few decorations smashed. There were a few things missing, like a small ceramic dog that used to sit on the counter, and of course lots of dog treats.
“I'm afraid the kitchen is in pretty much the same shape,” Spencer said. And Marina just wanted to cry as she looked around at the mess.
“What have we got?”
The voice was warm and familiar somehow, and Marina frowned to herself as she tried to place it. Turning slowly she saw Levi enter through the store room as he looked around and assessed the damage.
“Spencer was the first one on the scene. Bo and I were dispatched to run a track,” Frankie said.
“What’d you find?” Levi asked her, his tone of voice all business as he casually donned a pair of blue latex gloves. His eyes glanced over at Marina as he spoke with her sister, and Marina looked curiously at him.
“Picked up a scent immediately right at the point of entry,” Frankie answered. “It ran straight out to the back lot about fifty yards or so, and stopped.”
“Where they got into a car and drove off,” he said with a nod. “I hate tracks that end that way, Kelly.”
“You and me both,” she stated.
He took a deep breath and then turned toward Marina, who was still eyeing him with a confused frown marring her beautiful face.
“Hey,” he said softly as he stepped toward her.
“I don’t understand,” she said, looking him in the eye. “What are you doing here? There is no dead body here?”
“Oh, my God,” Frankie said softly. “You still haven’t told her?”
“Told me what?” Marina asked, looking from her sister to her potential new boyfriend.
“I tried to tell her earlier, but this place was so busy,” Levi said, answering Frankie’s question as his eyes never left Marina.
“Tell me what?” Marina repeated forcefully.
Levi glanced briefly at the ground. This was not how he wanted her to find out. “Marina … I don’t work for the coroner’s office,” he said quietly, looking up and meeting her gaze. “I’m a burglary detective for the Eastwood PD.”
“What?”
“I’m a police detective,” he repeated.
“I heard you the first time,” she snapped, glaring at him angrily. She folded her arms across her chest once more in a protective fashion. “Well, Detective … are you going to do your job or are you just going to stand there and stare at me?”
He stared at her with sorrow in his eyes. She was clearly pissed at him, and she had every right to be. However innocently this thing had begun, and however good his reasons, he had lied to her.
“Marina, I didn’t want to lie to you,” he said softly, taking a step closer to her.
“My store was just broken into. I think we have more important things to talk about,” she said, stepping away from him.
He hesitated, wanting nothing more than to pull her into his arms. Then he nodded and turned toward one of the registers that were on the floor. He knelt down to get a closer look at the pry marks on the drawer.
“Do you keep cash in these registers at night?” he asked, trying to concentrate on his job.
“No. I empty the drawers each evening. The take goes home with me and then I make the deposit first thing in the morning when the bank opens,” she said. And Levi couldn’t miss the frosty chill in her voice.
“Who closed the store this evening?” he asked.
“I did,” she said with an attitude. “I told you that earlier.”
“Was there anyone here with you?”
“Just Liz.”
“The kid who works for you?” he asked.
“Liz is not a kid, she’s a college student. And yes,” Marina answered.
“Do you keep a safe or anything on the premises?” Levi asked, trying not to let his growing agitation with her attitude show in his voice as he stood up.
“Yes. I keep a small safe in my office.”
“Do you keep cash in it?”
“Yes,” she sighed. “Petty cash. Ready cash to replenish the drawers. Payroll checks.”
“Have you checked it?” he asked.
Fear suddenly chipped its way through her anger, and Marina turned on her heel and walked quickly to her office and flipped on the light as Levi and Frankie followed after her. The safe was still right where it should be, and her office didn’t appear to have been touched. Still, she went to it, kneeling down to open the combination lock. And relief washed over her when she opened it.
“It hasn’t been touched. It’s all still here,” she said.
“None of this makes any sense to me,” Frankie stated, turning to watch as the evidence technician got to work photographing the smashed display case.
“It makes a certain sense,” Levi said, standing in the office doorway as he followed her gaze and watched Spencer Kelly taking notes for his report. “They broke in expecting to find overflowing cash registers. It’s probably not a coincidence that this happened after a night the Kennel Club meets here. You told me those nights are always your busiest,” he said, looking at Marina. “Someone else has obviously been paying attention to that. But after they went through the trouble of coming through the wall only to find those registers empty, they got pissed and smashed up the place.
Marina didn’t respond, but as she listened to his theory she knew that it made perfect sense. He was probably right.
“But why go through the wall?” Frankie asked with a shrug. “That seems like a lot of effort when they could have simply smashed the glass door at the front.”
“Well, going through the back would draw much less attention. Plus, they probably figured correctly that either door would immediately set off the alarm, alerting us that much quicker. In their minds, going through the wall would buy them a few more precious minutes. Only they didn’t figure on motion detectors once they were inside. Not for a small operation like the barkery,” Levi said.
He and Frankie were silent for a few seconds. Then they both turned to look at Marina, who was still standing in her office. And each of them were painfully aware of the angry vibe rolling off of her as she avoided speaking to them, or even looking either of them in the eye.
“Marina,” Frankie began. But her sister was in no mood to talk.
“Are you done with me?” she asked Levi.
“I beg your pardon?” he asked.
“Are we done here? Am I free to go?”
He stared at her for a long moment. “Marina, we need to talk.”
“And we need to talk,” Frankie chimed in.
“Well, I’m sorry. But I’m sure you’ll both understand when I say that I don’t exactly give a damn what either of you need right now,” Marina told them. “I need to get away from you.”
She moved to step past them and was taken by surprise when her sister grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back into the office. Frankie was her best friend in the whole world; they didn’t often argue or fight. But Marina could tell that right now, her sister meant business.
“Okay, I get that you’re upset with us. And believe me, I know that you have every right to be,” Frankie stated. “But you are not leaving here until you at least hear me out.”
“And why would I want to hear anything you have to say, Frankie? You lied to me! You sat in that restaurant and listened to me go on and on about Levi and our upcoming date. You listened to me gush about how much I liked him and how happy I was that he wasn’t a cop! And you said nothing. Nothing!”
She was yelling now, but she couldn’t help herself. She was angry. And humiliated. It was bad enough that Levi had lied to her. But Frankie going along with it felt like a betrayal.
“Don’t take this out on Frankie, Marina,” Levi said, stepping into the small office with them. “None of this was her fault or her idea. She wanted to tell you the other day in the restaurant, and she should have.”
“No offense, Hawks, but this is between me and my sister,” Frankie said, glancing back at him over her shoulder. Then she turned back to Marina. “You’re right. I didn’t say anything. I let Levi deceive you. And I hate myself for it. But I did it because I care about you!”
“Oh. You lied to me for my own good?” Marina said sarcastically. “Well, this ought to be interesting.”
“Yeah, actually it is an interesting story,” Frankie said, ignoring Marina’s snarky comment. “I didn’t say anything because I think that Levi Hawks is a great guy, okay? And I believe that he is completely crazy about you! And I happen to believe that he would be perfect for you. He is exactly the man that I would choose for my sister. My best friend. And I knew that you would not give him a chance if you knew that he was a cop. So, even though I hated lying to you, I said nothing.”
“Thanks, Kelly,” Levi smiled.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Frankie said, turning on him. “This is not about you. This is about my sister. I’m still angry with you myself for putting me in this position in the first place!”
Levi nodded, looking down at the floor. “I understand.”
They were all silent for a moment as Marina took in her sister’s words, her eyes darting between Frankie and Levi. She didn’t know what to think anymore.
“You think he’s perfect for me?” she asked Frankie.
“Yes. I do,” Frankie said honestly, looking her sister in the eye.
“You think he’s crazy about me?”
Frankie snorted softly. “Yes.”
Marina looked at him. “Why did you lie?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” he replied. “Marina … from your point of view, we only met a few days ago. But the first time I ever saw you was almost a month ago. You were in Jake’s Bar with your brothers and Frankie, and you were laughing. And you had the most beautiful smile I had ever seen. Since that day, I have not been able to stop thinking about you. Jeremiah says that I’ve been semi-stalking you for the past three weeks. He’s probably right, but … I had to find out about you. I had to get to know you. But Frankie told me that you refused to go out with cops, and I was a desperate man. So, that day in the restaurant, when she was about to tell you how she and I knew each other, I panicked. I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind.”
“Coroner’s investigator?” she asked.
“It’s Jerry’s job,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
She shook her head as she thought about their tale. Maybe they’d each had their own reasons. Their own good intentions. But how was she supposed to get past the fact that they had conspired against her?
“Frankie … I get that you thought you were helping me, okay? That you thought you were looking out for me. I can forgive that,” she said softly. And Frankie reached out and took her hand with a relieved smile.
“I am sorry,” she said.
“It’s okay,” Marina answered. Then she took a deep breath and looked at Levi. “You.”
“Me,” he repeated looking at her sadly. “I get the feeling you’re not as inclined to forgive me.”
“You deliberately lied to me.”
“It wasn’t deliberate,” he said, trying to defend himself.
“Before I’d even agreed to go out with you. Before you even asked … you lied,” she said looking him in the eye.
“Would you have gone out with me if I hadn’t?” he asked. “If I had said nothing that day and let Frankie tell you that I was a cop … would you have gone out with me, or would our flirtation have ended right there?”
Marina didn’t answer him.
“I just wanted you to give me a fair shot, Marina. I like you so much. I just wanted you to give yourself the chance to get to know me. And you did. You felt the connection between us just as strongly as I did. I know it! You can’t deny that you felt something for me.”
He was right. She couldn’t deny it. The chemistry between them had been off the charts, and Marina was completely smitten with him. But she didn’t want to be.
“I don’t date cops! And I told you that,” she all but yelled at him. “Male chauvinistic, control freaks. My father. My brothers. My cousins. None of them are exempt. And I refuse to spend my time worrying about whether or not my male chauvinist control freak is going to make it home at night without being shot or killed!”
Without another word, Levi stepped toward her, taking her face in his hands as he kissed her, long and deep and passionate. And when he felt Marina melt into him, his arms encircled her, holding her close.
“Why did you do that?” she asked breathlessly as she looked up into his eyes.
“Because you called me your male chauvinist control freak,” he answered softly, smiling at her. “And I like the thought of being yours.”
Marina smiled reluctantly at him. “I cannot believe I’ve fallen for a cop,” she said, rolling her eyes at the thought as he kissed her again.
The End.