Against Me (Cedar Tree Book 3) by Freya Barker Read Free Book Online Page A

her."
    When I pull open the door, he’s standing right there in the hallway, all six foot five inches of him. His normally calm hazel eyes are looking wild, and Gus is standing just steps away with his hands up defensively. Oh boy. Not sure what I just stepped into, but let's calm this sucker down.
    "Caleb," I call out to him, "in here."
    Two steps it takes for him to reach me. Two steps and his hands are on my face, his eyes scanning every inch of me.
    "You okay? You all right? What happened?"
    I grab his wrists to still him.
    "Come with me."
    In the small bathroom, I close the door on us and turn to face him.
    "I'm sorry I smell like the morning after a frat party gone bad, but I'm trying to clean up."
    "Don't care," Caleb mutters as he sinks on his knees in front of me and buries his face in my neck. It doesn't take a minute for him to pull back with a chuckle, "Okay, I give. You do smell. Let's clean you up."
    Without another word, he strips my shirt off and moves to take off my soiled yoga pants as well when I stop him.
    "Erm, excuse me, but I can handle this, Caleb. Ever since about three years old, and I've been quite good at it."
    He looks at me confused, and then slightly embarrassed when he clues in.
    "Right. Want me to wait outside?"
    "I promise I won't be long," I assure him.
    I need a few minutes to process what just happened. At the best of times, Caleb is intense, but having all that intensity directed squarely at me was, well, rather overwhelming.
    I didn't totally mind it, though.
    Flanked by Gus and Caleb this time, I find myself back in the same room I started in, except someone thankfully cleaned up the mess I made and put out some coffee. Thank the Lord. I was ready for some caffeine, some details, and then for this day to be over, and in that order.
    Detective DiRoberto, accompanied by his boss, Sergeant Teva, a short buxom and fierce black woman who clearly wasn’t impressed with her department's handling of the matter thus far, as witnessed by her repeated apologies to me and scathing sideways glances at DiRoberto, who sat squirming in his seat across from me.
    "It appears my detective here received a phone call this morning from one of his regular informants with a tip about a body in the dumpster at the Larchwood Inns and your name was mentioned as a person of interest, Ms. Acker-"
    "Katie, please," I interrupt.
    "Very well. Katie. Upon arrival at the home, DiRoberto and his assigned officer discovered the deceased body of Ms. Susan Conklin, an employee. He secured the scene, called in the appropriate enforcements and proceeded to contact Larchwood's director, Mr. Holman, who met with our officers in the lobby. With Mr. Holman's assistance, they obtained security footage of the previous night to see if Ms. Conklin's movements could be traced. After observing an interaction between yourself and the victim in the dining room and the victim leaving in an apparent agitated state, Detective DiRoberto felt that was sufficient evidence, combined with the telephone tip, to haul you into the precinct for some hard-core GJPD hospitality. Isn't that right, DiRoberto?"
    The venom in the small woman's voice, combined with the sheepish look on the detective's face, was enough to draw a chuckle from Gus.
    "Now we've had a few developments since then that have convinced even Detective DiRoberto here, that perhaps his conclusions may have been a tad hasty."
    "What kind of developments? I'm not even sure what’s happening in the first place," I put out there carefully, keeping my thoughts to myself for now.
    "Your neighbor, a Juan Duarte, has gone missing sometime this morning."
    "Juan?"
    "Duarte?" This from Gus and Caleb almost simultaneously.
    We all exchange looks before Sergeant Teva takes the lead again.
    "I get the feeling we'll be here a while. DiRoberto, do you want to order up some sandwiches?"

CHAPTER SIX
    "W hy am I going to Cedar Tree?"
    Ever since the clusterfuck of major proportions unfolded in the