Marking Time (WeHo Series Book 4) Read online

  Marking Time

  Sherryl D. Hancock

  Copyright © 2017 Sherryl D. Hancock

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 1542700752

  ISBN-13: 978-1542700757

  DEDICATION

  To the love of my life, Tirzah, who’s made it possible to share these books with all of you. It was Tirzah’s refusal to give up on getting my books published that got these books out there. Thank you my love!

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thank you to all law enforcement in all areas for all that you do and for laying your lives on the line to protect us all. With the utmost respect and appreciation. Thank you!

  CHAPTER 1

  “Come on in,” Catalina Roche′ said to the young woman standing at her office door.

  Raine Mason did her best to tamp down on her nervousness. She’d heard that the SAS wanted to talk to her, she wondered if they were sending her back to the Sheriff’s office. She’d observed the new Special Agent Supervisor, all morning. Catalina Roche′ was not what Raine had been expecting. She was far from tough looking like the last SAS had been, the man had been a tank with legs. Catalina was about an inch shorter than Raine was at 5’7”, and she had long straight honey blonde hair. She was very feminine looking, but the nasty looking gun she wore on her hip, as well as her badge, spoiled that effect a bit.

  Raine had heard music coming from the office all morning, one of the guys on the team had told her to get used to it, with a grin. Raine didn’t mind at all, in fact a lot of the music she’d heard she really liked; it was rhythmic, much like the music Raine herself listened to all the time. She’d also seen another woman in Catalina’s office, she and Catalina had been talking and moving things around in the office. She’d heard a lot of laughing going on, and assumed that this woman was a friend of Catalina’s and not another employee.

  Looking at the woman now, Raine saw that she had dark wavy hair worn long with gold colored eyes which seemed to glow against her tan skin.

  “You wanted to see me, ma’am?” Raine asked, her eyes on Cat who was seated behind the desk.

  “Yes,” Cat said, grinning over at the other woman, “Deputy Mason, this is Jovina Azcevedo, she’s my girlfriend.”

  “Nice to meet you ma’am,” Raine said, her tone formal.

  “Oh my, it’s nice to meet you too.” Jovina responded, looking over at Cat widening her eyes slightly. “I’m gonna go, babe,” she said then, moving to stand and leaning in to kiss Catalina.

  “Okay, see you later,” Cat said, smiling at Jovina.

  Jovina left, and Cat looked back at Raine, her sky blue eyes bright, “Relax, Deputy, this isn’t an inquisition.” She said, with a grin, “And have a seat, you’re making my neck hurt.”

  Raine sat down, still nervous despite Cat’s assurances.

  Cat sat back in her chair, her eyes on Raine, her look assessing. The girl had dark auburn hair that was pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck, and the lightest blue eyes Cat had ever seen. The girl was very conservative looking; the only show of any kind of wild side was the multiple earrings in either ear. Cat thought there was likely at least five in each ear. None of the earrings she wore were particularly stand out, but the fact that she had them didn’t jibe with the rest of her appearance, so it was notable.

  “I’ve read your file,” she told Raine “But why don’t you tell me a little about yourself.”

  “About myself?” Raine asked, “In terms of what, ma’am?”

  “Call me Cat,” Catalina said, “And in terms of how you came to be here, how you got into law enforcement, maybe why you got into it. That kind of thing.”

  Raine nodded, slowly, her look uncertain.

  “I grew up in Spanish Harlem in New York, I used to be a dancer, but then I came to California and decided to go into law enforcement, so I applied, got into the academy and started working for the SO. I got the chance to join this task force and grabbed it.” Raine rattled it off so quickly Cat had to pause long enough to assimilate all the girl had said.

  Shaking her head, Cat said, “From dancer to cop,” she said, “That doesn’t equate.”

  Raine shrugged, “Dancers don’t make much money, you definitely can’t live on it in California.”

  “Okay,” Cat said, feeling like there was more to that story than she was hearing, but willing to let it go at this point. “Now tell me about your time here.”

  “I started with LA IMPACT a year ago. Six months into my time here, there was an explosion at a meth lab and I got hurt. I’ve been out since then.” Again, Raine ran through the explanation so quickly Cat had to struggle to keep up.

  Cat narrowed her eyes at the young woman sitting across from her, “Is that a New York thing?”She asked.

  “What ma’am?” Raine asked.

  “Talking a mile a minute,” Cat said, grinning.

  Raine pressed her lips together, looking contrite, “I guess so,” she said, trying to make a point of talking slower.

  Cat nodded, but she also noticed that Raine’s foot was bouncing constantly.

  “Are you nervous?” Cat asked.

  “Yes ma’am,” Raine answered honestly.

  “What are you afraid of?” Cat asked.

  “That you’re going to send me back to the SO,” Raine replied, her speech quickening again.

  “I’m not,” Cat said simply.

  Raine looked back at her for a long moment, blinking a couple of times. Then she visibly relaxed as she nodded.

  “What I do want to talk to you about, though,” Cat said, “Was whether or not you might be coming back too soon.”

  “I’m not ma’am,” Raine said, her tone sure.

  Cat narrowed her eyes slightly, “I don’t have clearance from your doctor at this point.”

  Raine’s lips twitched, “I know ma’am, he’s being a pain in the–” She stopped short, grimacing, “Sorry ma’am.”

  Cat sighed, “Where you should be sorry,” she said, her eyes sparkling with subdued humor “Is the part where you missed me telling you to call me Cat, and to stop calling me ‘ma’am’.”

  Raine’s eyes widened, “But you’re my supervisor,” she said.

  “And I’m thirty two friggin’ years old, and while that may seem old to kids like you, it’s not old enough to be a ‘ma’am’ yet.” Cat railed, then she grinned, “See my issues?” She asked with a self-castigating grin.

  “Yes, ma– Cat,” Raine said, correcting herself mid-sentence.

  “Very good,” Cat said, smiling. “So what is your doctor saying is his concern?”

  Raine sighed, “He said that he doesn’t like my pulmonary function, he says that my levels are off during a stress test.”

  Cat nodded, “So what is he recommending?”

  “He wants me to do more cardio training, and he wants me to stay out of work for another month.”

  “And you don’t want to do that why?” Cat asked.

  Cat knew that the Department was paying her full salary while she was out, since she was injured on the job, so she knew money wasn’t the factor.

  “I can’t sit at home anymore.” Raine said, shrugging.

  Cat nodded, “Okay, that I understand.” She said with a grin, “Well, I can’t let you be in the field until he releases you,” she said, “Jericho’ll have my head if I do that. But,” she said, when Raine looked like she was going to argue, “You can work on cases here in the office.”

  Raine nodded, looking pleased by that option.

  “So what do you do for cardio?” Cat asked.

  Raine shrugged, “Run, mostly.”

  Cat nodded, “Well, you mentioned the dancing thing, which is why I ask
ed. Jovi and I go to a Cardio Dance class at the gym we belong to…” She gave Raine a sidelong look, “Maybe you could check it out? It might be a little more interesting than running.”

  Raine smiled, “It sounds like it could be.”

  “Well, let me know if you’re interested, I’ll give you the address.” Cat said, “Now, my next question,” she said, narrowing her eyes again, “Have you gone to any counseling about the accident?”

  Raine instantly looked chagrinned.

  “And that answers that question.” Cat said, nodding, “Do you at least have family to talk to about what happened?”

  “No, I don’t have any family,” Raine said.

  Cat looked back at her, curious about the way she’d said it.

  “No family?” Cat asked.

  “None,” Raine answered.

  “Friends?” Cat asked then.

  “Well, I have you know the team,” Raine said.

  “Uh…” Cat stammered, “But no other friends?” Cat asked, “Like non-cop friends? Or even other cop friends?”

  “No,” Raine said, shrugging, “I just haven’t really had time.”

  Cat canted her head, “Explain that.”

  Raine drew in a breath, “When I joined the SO I found out that you could go farther faster if you had a degree, so I went back to school to get my Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. I just finished it before I came to the task force.”

  “You got a bachelor’s degree in three years?” Cat asked, surprised.

  “Well, two actually,” Raine said, her tone hesitant now, “But I already had my general education out of the way, so I just had to take the major specific classes.”

  “How did you have the general ed out of the way?” Cat asked, sensing an underlying current to Raine’s answers now.

  Raine hesitated, and Cat knew she hadn’t been wrong about the current. Cat narrowed her eyes at the younger woman when she didn’t answer. Raine saw the look, and knew she needed to just say it and get it over with.

  “Because I completed my Bachelors of Fine Arts at Julliard in New York,” she rushed through the explanation, hoping against hope that Cat didn’t ask any more than that.

  It was obvious from the look on Cat’s face that she wanted to ask questions about that, but Raine was relieved to note that she wasn’t asking them. When Cat nodded, Raine closed her eyes for a moment, thanking Fate for whatever hand it had just played in Cat’s decision not to ask.

  Cat was thinking that this girl was a whole mess of contradictions and mysteries. The girl was young, but she had not one but two degrees? Cat wasn’t sure if she’d ever get the whole story out of her, but she could see that the last thing Raine Mason wanted right now was for her to ask questions about what she’d just said. Cat decided to leave those questions for another time and place.

  “Well, like I said, if you want to check out this Cardio Dance class, just let me know, the girl that teaches it is a former dancer, so it’s pretty good.”

  “I think I’d really like to check it out,” Raine said, nodding.

  “Great,” Cat said, scribbling an address on the pad in front of her and tearing off the sheet to hand to Raine, “Her classes are every weeknight at six-thirty and on the weekends at ten AM.”

  “So there’s one every week night?” Raine asked.

  “Yep,” Cat said, nodding, “Jovi and I go most nights, so if you want to meet us there some night, we can get you a guest pass to check out the class.”

  “That would be great,” Raine said, smiling.

  In Sacramento, California, Kashena Wind-Walker Marshal sat smoking in her backyard. Her mind was going a mile a minute, she knew there was a lot of things to consider with what she’d heard today. She heard the back door open, and glanced over her shoulder. She grinned.

  “LA huh?” She asked.

  Sierra Youngblood-Marshal rolled her eyes.

  “Yes, I can’t believe this!” She said, sounding flabbergasted.

  Midnight Chevalier, the dynamic California Attorney General had come to Sacramento to meet with Sierra, who was the Chief Deputy Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division. The meeting had been about the Los Angeles Attorney General’s office, Midnight’s statement was that the office was ‘a mess’, she’d asked Sierra if she would be willing to relocate to the Los Angeles area, at least temporarily, to take charge of the LA office for Midnight.

  “Midnight wouldn’t ask you to do it if she didn’t need you there, right?” Kashena said, her deep blue eyes sparkling in amusement.

  “I know,” Sierra said, shaking her head, her long dark hair falling to her waist, shifting it out of the way as she sat down in the chair next to Kashena’s.

  Kashena looked over at her wife of a year, “She trusts you,” she told her.

  “I know,” Sierra said, “How are you feeling about this though?”

  Kashena shrugged, “When I was down there, Jericho offered me a job, so…”

  “She did?” Sierra asked, not completely surprised.

  Kashena had recently been key to a case involving Jericho Tehrani, the Director of the Division of Law Enforcement, earning her the gratitude of not only the director, but also even more from the Attorney General. Kashena was half Ojibwa Indian and had inherited her grandmother’s gift of premonitions, “the sight” as it was referred to by her people. It had been that particular gift that had helped not only the director, but almost two years before, the Attorney General herself. She’d been an integral part of saving the Attorney General’s life.

  “Yeah, so I guess that’s what I’ll be doing.” Kashena said.

  “What do you want to do about the house?” Sierra asked.

  “Up to you,” Kashena said, “It’s your house, babe.”

  Sierra gave her a sour look, “It’s our house.” She said.

  “Uh-huh,” Kashena murmured, not looking convinced.

  “You’re helping make the payment,” Sierra said, putting her hands on her hips.

  Kashena grinned, noting the gesture.

  “Stop that,” Sierra said, narrowing her eyes at her wife.

  This only caused Kashena to start laughing.

  “Kashena Wind-Walker Marshal, if you don’t stop I’m not going to talk to you anymore,” Sierra said, grinning now herself.

  “Ohhh mom move, pulling out the whole name,” Kashena said, grinning again.

  Sierra grimaced, “How do you think this is going to affect Colby?” She asked.

  Kashena looked serious then, leaning back to take a long drag off her cigarette.

  “I don’t think it’s going to be easy,” she said, “But he is just getting ready to start high school so if any time is going to be good, this may be it.”

  Colby, Sierra’s son through her previous marriage had turned 13 six months before and was due to start high school in a month.

  “That’s true,” Sierra said, nodding, then sighed, “I hate to take him away from his friends though.”

  “It can’t be helped babe,” Kashena said, reaching over to touch Sierra’s hand, “He’s a smart kid, and outgoing, he won’t have any problem making new friends.”

  Sierra nodded, “I know you’re right,” she said, then sighed again.

  Kashena smiled fondly at her wife. Sierra was a good mother, having been through so much with her divorce from Colby’s father it was like she was always trying to make up for the fact that his father wasn’t there anymore.

  Jason, a Marine, had been verbally abusive to his wife for years. Unfortunately, he’d become physically abusive when he’d sensed that he was losing control over his usually docile wife when Kashena had come into the picture. He hadn’t known that Sierra had known Kashena from many years before in college, and that Kashena had been the woman that had made Sierra realize she was attracted to women. Sierra and Kashena had met again when Kashena had been assigned as Sierra’s bodyguard, they’d been unable to resist the pull that drew them together.

  Jason had returned f
rom an overseas deployment with an over active sexual appetite that had driven him to actually rape his wife when she wouldn’t give him sex whenever he wanted it. That had been the final straw for Sierra who’d been staying with him for their son’s sake. Jason had become enraged when Sierra had decided to divorce him and was leaving him, even striking Sierra in front of Kashena, which had gotten him arrested. He’d been in prison since that time since he’d also assaulted Kashena when she’d subdued him.

  Fortunately, Colby had taken to Kashena right away when Sierra and he and moved in with Kashena that night after the incident with Jason. He’d learned the first night there that Kashena was had also been a Marine, like his father, and that Kashena would protect his mother with her life if necessary. It had been that knowledge that had earned Kashena a ten year old boy’s respect, it had been her treatment of him since that time that had earned her his love.

  “It’ll be okay,” Kashena told Sierra, reaching up to touch her cheek.

  Sierra smiled, softly, hoping Kashena was right.

  Later that night she found out, when they talked to Colby about it during dinner.

  “Los Angeles?” Colby asked, in response to Sierra’s statement, his look shocked.

  “Yes,” Sierra said, nodding, looking over at Kashena worriedly.

  “It’s not your mom’s choice,” Kashena said, “The AG has asked her to do it.”

  Colby looked over at Kashena, then looked back at his mother.

  “Well, this totally sucks,” Colby said, his tone angry.

  “I know, honey, but–” Sierra began.

  “No you don’t know, mom, you don’t get it at all!” Colby said, interrupting Sierra.

  “Colby…” Kashena said, her tone cautionary.

  Colby immediately looked contrite, “I’m sorry, mom.” He said, lowering his eyes.

  “Honey, I know this sucks, okay? I do. I just really don’t have a choice right now,” Sierra said.

  “Okay,” Colby said, sounding supremely unhappy.