Touch Like Breathing

By Theda Black and Sonja Triebel

Facing life and death situations as cops shouldn't be easier than facing each other … should it?

Will and Tyler lost each other after Anna's death, but they’re determined to save their friendship and partnership on the force. Good thing they’re determined—it's going to take everything they've got as the pressure mounts and denial, anger and pain drives one of them to do something he’ll never forgive himself for. Luckily his best friend has enough forgiveness for both of them—at least until he disappears, leaving behind a grieving partner who’ll do absolutely anything to save him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Feb 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781452499413

Book preview

~oOo~

Chapter One

A TALL MAN IN his late thirties approached the motel door and fished for a key, inserted it in the lock above the DO NOT DISTURB sign and swung it open. Tyler and Will came out of the door across the hall and in two long strides Tyler reached out, roughly jerking the man’s arm back. The man’s head whipped around and he stared at Tyler, eyes going wide, wider, breathing fast, faster, going through the roof. Will slid past them to the door, pushing it open and banging it against the wall behind.

She was inside, trussed on the bed, hair hanging in lank ropes over her face. Will stopped breathing for a moment when she first raised dead eyes to him. Dark, puffy rings stamped the tender skin beneath. She was naked, her skin white and defenseless, bruises scattered over her body like smudged watermarks.

Will heard her mother’s soft, halting voice in his head. So afraid for her thirteen year-old daughter. So right to be afraid.

Andrea went missing three days before, taken by the man Tyler held in the hallway, Andrew Myers. Will and Tyler had almost caught up to them yesterday after a tip had been called in. But almost didn’t count, and they were afraid of how desperate the near-miss might have made Myers, assuming he knew they’d almost caught him— it was hard to imagine that he might have escaped by sheer luck. They’d been so close.

Will walked through the door of the motel room and the girl whined, high-pitched and terrified.

Andrea, it’s over. His voice was as soft as he could make it. I won’t hurt you. Nobody’s going to hurt you anymore, I promise. I promise, okay? I’m going to get that gag off you, okay, that’s all. I’m gonna help you, I won’t hurt you.

Outside the room, Myers started yelling and crying, hysterical, angry. Andrea whined again, nearly keening, eyes wide and dark. Will strode to the door, looking out and making an angry motion. Ty nodded, dragging Myers down the hallway. People opened their doors and looked out. Will ignored them, stepping back to the bed and crouching down beside Andrea. He reassured her, repeating himself, low and soft—it’s okay, I won’t let him hurt you, it’s over. He kept at it until little by little she quieted. Will reached slowly around the back of her head and pulled the gag off. Her mouth worked, her lips dry and cracked. Her eyes were wide and blank, but she met his gaze and held it for the first time.

I just want to help, okay? I’m going to untie you now, is that okay? He worked on the knotted rope, careful to make all his movements slow and easy. Her hands were freed and she immediately wrapped them around herself, clutching and rocking. He untied her feet next and she rolled on her side, huddling into herself. Will pulled a dingy blanket from the closet across from the bed and crouched down next to her saying, Tell me what I can do to help, Andrea. I promise he won’t ever touch you again, I promise, until Andrea took the blanket from him and asked for her mother in a cracked, childish voice.

Chapter Two

THE PRE-DAWN AIR was cool but still rode close over the skin, like most humid spring-just-turned-summer mornings in the South. The streetlights glittered over the asphalt beneath his feet and the air smelled rich and green, courtesy of the recent rains.

Will walked. He didn’t know how long he’d been at it. He walked a lot lately, trying to outpace things he didn’t want to think about but couldn’t stop thinking about. He didn’t know if walking even helped, but anything was better than sitting at home feeling restless and trapped.

He concentrated on even steps, even breaths, blanking his mind, feeling the stretch of muscle, the trickle of sweat on his body. He saw a woman in her yard, wearing a robe over her pajamas and yawning sleepily as she waited for her dog to do its business. She spotted Will and took a long look at him as he approached. Her mouth snapped shut and she tugged hastily at the dog’s leash, urging him back inside. Will suddenly remembered how he must look, face bruised and beaten like a drunk on a bender. He didn’t really care.

The past week had been rough. First chasing down Andrea’s kidnapper, hoping and praying they’d find her in time, working hard to make sure it happened and finally succeeding. Then last night’s drama, a helluva work shift. Tyler and Will were on the south side of town and caught what was supposed to be a domestic dispute call.

Some dispute. By the time they arrived the wife was dead.

He remembered how the front door stood open, light spilling out of the doorway and over the porch steps to the lawn. Snapshot memories of the living room: jagged white and blue porcelain pieces from a shattered vase scattered over the floor, an overturned lamp, a coffee table on its side, blood on the floor. No one there.

He and Ty headed for the bedroom and saw the woman’s body on the floor, limbs arranged neatly, like a funeral home had already been at her. A man rushed from beside the doorway, crying, and flung something at them, his whole hulking miserable weight behind it, damn drunk with a star pitcher’s aim. Will tried to duck but a large, heavily engraved copy of The Holy Bible caught him on the left side of the face and knocked him staggering against the bedroom door. Tyler handcuffed the man with more difficulty than he’d have liked to admit and they hauled his ass into the back of the car and down to the station. He cursed and cried the whole way, snot and tears rolling down his face as he ranted about his lying cheating slut-bitch of a wife.

Will didn’t know why the whole thing hung on in his head or bothered him more than any of the other stuff they dealt with on a regular basis. Maybe just the fact that they’d been unable to change the outcome of too many calls they’d responded to lately. Too much of the bad shit in a short space of time hit him hard, took too long to lie down and rest in his mind. So Will tried to walk it out.

And too, there were other things circling around in his head that didn’t want to roll over and lie down like they fucking should.

Will looked around, noting the sky lightening almost imperceptibly. He heard the faint sound of an engine turning a block or two away and then a car horn blaring from far off on the highway, breaking the quiet and reminding him of the morning they’d found Andrea.

A car had stopped at the throughway of the motel, driver waiting impatiently for someone inside, blowing his horn just as the paramedics emerged carrying Andrea down the steps on a stretcher. Andrea had jerked at the sound, looking wildly all around. There was too much noise, the daylight too bright, too many things overwhelming her after having been tied up and helpless for days. Will had stepped up beside her and said her name quietly. Her gaze had flown to his face and held there as if he’d keep everything she feared away. He’d ended up riding in the ambulance with her, enfolding her small, cold hands in his, warming them on the way to the hospital.

Andrea’s stepfather had gone off the deep end when he’d found out his wife planned to divorce him. He’d kidnapped Andrea in the middle of the day from her home, then beaten and raped her repeatedly. Punishment for his soon-to-be ex-wife and Andrea’s mother, Patricia.

Will remembered the seedy little one-story motel downtown where they’d almost caught up with Myers. He remembered the dread sinking into the pit of his stomach when he and