Killing Roses

1__Catching bandits

Monday

18/08 (12 years later)

09:15

“s**t!”

Valerie snatched at her scarf as it fell from her overloaded arms. She was late again and this time, Janice would have her for breakfast. With a huff, she carefully bent over and picked it up, ignoring the ringlets of hair that fell over her brow. Damn hair. She loved it and it was possibly the only good thing she’d inherited from her mother, but that made it no less annoying. She looked around at what had been her workplace for the past month. The office was alive with the cheerful noises of printing court orders and telephones shrieking with calls from vengeful abusive parents. Being a social worker was fun. Right?

“Quinn!”

Valerie straightened as Janice Holloway appeared in the hallway like a drill sergeant. Her greying brown hair was pulled back in a viciously tight bun, giving her that elementary school principal appearance. She was the Manager and head social worker of their Department of Social Services in Manhattan. She wasn’t paid that much more than the rest of them, but acted like she was the Commissioner of human resources.

“Uh… good morning, Janice!” Valerie chirped, injecting as much cheerfulness into her voice as possible. The older woman wasn’t fooled.

“What do you think you’re doing coming to work at this hour, Quinn? This isn’t your father’s factory.”

Valerie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She was only fifteen minutes late. Also, it wasn’t a factory her father owned, it was diamond jewelry stores. Nearly fifty of them. In different countries.

“Quinn!”

She blinked. “Yes, Janice. I’m so sorry, traffic was gruesome, Starbucks queues were dragging and it just started raining! It won’t happen again.”

The older woman hardly managed to hide her sneer, brown eyes darkening. “That right? Starbucks? What? Our office coffee not good enough for ya?” 

Valerie bit her tongue and looked away. Damn right, it wasn’t. That coffee offered to even a donkey would be the ultimate cruelty, but she didn’t say that. Instead, Valerie rocked back on her heels, waiting for the usual morning drill sergeant talk to be over.

“Not as good as the premium stuff you get back at your rich daddy’s, is it?” continued Janice.

Valerie barely stifled her sigh. “I’m sorry, Janice, excuse me, but I have work to do, I’ll get going then.”

She made her way around the woman and headed to her office. Or what was supposed to be her office. Reaching the door to the tiny space, she pushed it open with her elbow and glanced into the room where the file cabinets and her chair and desk were crammed, leaving her with the generous space of about four feet square open to draw a breath.

With a sigh, Valerie shuffled in and carefully set her Starbucks vanilla latte down before dumping the rest of her stuff on her office chair.

“I smell rich girl privilege,” drawled a sultry voice from her doorway. Valerie looked up as her co-worker, Valentina Gomez strolled in.

Valerie sighed. “Hey, Tina.”

The Latina quirked up an eyebrow. “You want to get on Crank’s good side, you really think bringing in a fancy coffee is gonna do that?”

Valerie made a face as she slipped a black plastic headband on to hold her hair back, trying to not picture Janice’s drill sergeant sneer again. “I’m not trying to get on her good side.”

Valentina stapled her documents and set the stapler back down. “Seriously? Well, maybe you should try. You don’t get past this new rich girl title, she’ll never stop hitting you with the shitty cases, Val.”

A sigh escaped her as Valerie watched Valentina walk back to her own office. She glanced at the stacks of brown folders that littered her office desk and clenched her jaw as she grabbed them. This wasn’t about Janice or Valerie’s family. It was about Valerie. About her and all those children who she could help as a social worker.

Sure, it did start off as a genius plan to piss her father the hell off, but halfway through her degrees in social work and psychology, Valerie discovered that she was drawn into it. For her whole childhood, she was exposed to classy and pricey and every child she’d known had the same. The best private school, all the clothes she wanted, a huge allowance.

She never lacked a thing. Well, obviously her parents work every single day, flying around the world, but that’s what the big allowance was for, wasn’t it? To replace parental care. Duh.

Then Valerie came across social work and it opened up a whole new world for her. For the first time, she realized that not every child had the life she had. Some children were living in a hell they couldn’t escape, tortured by toxic monsters who called themselves parents. That’s why she’d stuck to social work.

The original plan had been, start studying social work, piss dad off enough to get him to give her her shares in the company, plus a new apartment right now and then, with mission accomplished, drop the social work issue. Yeah, that didn’t work out.

Firstly, her father had threatened to cut her off immediately if she didn’t go into business and commerce as he’d ordered and then, secondly… he did. Well, damn. The one time she’d decided to be a bit of a rebel and it blew up in her face.

Luckily, she loved it. She probably wouldn’t be as okay with it if it wasn’t for her growing personal investments in real estate.

Yeah, if Valerie had been flat broke, there’s no saying she wouldn’t have run right back to her father. But she was making it work, so if Janice wanted to hand her the shitty cases, so be it! She was going to be the new Wonder Woman in New York for those kids.

She turned on her computer and got to work, reviewing cases and creating to-do lists for every outstanding thing.

Her eyes narrowed in interest when she saw that in a week she would have to become involved in the readjustment of a child’s life back with her parents. s**t.

Pushing away from her desk, she dashed out of her office to find out what Valentina could tell her about the child’s parents and nearly collided into Tina. She huffed as she shoved past Valerie.

“Woah!” Valerie nearly toppled in her heels, barely managing to grab the wall. “What’s the matter with you?”

Valentina spun around, a hand resting on her curvy hip.

“I am tired of these little punks messing with my car!” she yelled, pushing her hair back.

Valerie made a face. “The tire slashers? They’re back?”

“Yes! I almost caught one just now. A blonde headed little devil! I saw him with my own eyes, playing around my driver’s door! Little creeps!”

Tina’s anger was justified. A group of boys had started a habit of wandering the department’s parking lots and slashing the tires of cars at random. A car was even stolen in one case and that was when everyone panicked. The police urged the cheapskate commissioner of Social services to put good CCTV in the lots, but obviously Cheapskate hadn’t.

Valerie bit her lip. “s**t. That means none of our cars are safe.” Thoughts of her Chevy came to mind and Valerie gasped. “My baby! I have to move my car to a safer spot, I can’t risk it!”

“Are you kidding me? You’re a Quinn, you can afford a hundred Chevrolets. And if not, any man out there will beg to drive you to work with your sexy body and that delicious caramel gold skin!”

Valerie made a face. “Firstly, I’m a disowned child, I can’t afford anything except breathing for now. Secondly, men… ew.”

Ignoring Tina’s challenge for her to try getting laid then say “Ew”, Valerie dashed out to the back parking lot where she’d left her precious car.

She rolled her eyes. She had tried getting laid. In college. Safe to say… it wasn’t all that.

The click-clack of her heels sounded through the silent lot as she approached her car. It was at the end of a row of about fifteen cars and Valerie sighed in relief when she saw it.

It shone a pretty cherry red making her smile as she raised her arm to unlock it, but Valerie quickly froze.

A hooded figure was ducking behind her car.

The breath turned to cold air stuck in Valerie’s throat as she stared at the skulking figure.

“Oh, no…” she squeaked. The tire slashers. One of them was trying to steal her car!

A trembling hand silently fumbled inside her jacket as Valerie reached for her phone in the pocket and dialed 911. She wasn’t letting him get away. She was going to have his tire slashing, red Chevy stealing ass locked up!

"911, what's your emergency?"

Valerie’s fingers tightened on her phone as she whispered. “Some bandit’s trying to steal my car!!”

******

09:33

Officer Roman Parker had gotten the call from dispatch a minute ago and was currently heading towards the Social services department. Apparently a little old social worker’s car was getting picked up by a “bandit”.

Whizzing through the morning Manhattan traffic, he flexed his neck feeling energy course through him. It was his first day back on the job since his two week paid leave after getting slashed open by a bullet in his side from a case that had had nothing to do with him. It had been just a scratch, but one deep enough to get Roman his first leave in the seven years he’d been an officer. Roman was grateful it hadn’t hit, Nancy had been beside herself with worry over that scratch. God knows how she would have felt if he’d been dead-on shot.

Pulling his cruiser into the Department property, Roman slipped his seatbelt off.

His grey eyes scanned the area as he went around the brown brick building, following the signs that led to the back parking lot where dispatch said the victim was located.

Roman stalked confidently around the building, knowing very well that with his height of six foot three inches and the gun at his side, not to mention his unusual grey eyes, he was likely to startle the bad guys more than they would him.

He made a sharp turn at the corner of the building and came to a quick halt when, appearing out of nowhere, a girl shrieked and fell down in front of him.

“Oh, my God! What the hell?!” she panted, resting her hand on her forehead. “You’re a cop, thank God!”

He should have been helping her up, asking her if she was okay and such, he knew it. But at that moment, he could do little more than stare. Was this the little old social worker? Roman raised a brow. Neither the worry in her eyes nor the tension on her face could disguise her beauty. She was bloody stunning.

She struggled on the floor trying to get up, but not managing to do so in the mummified state her skirt put her in. Blinking, Roman jerked himself into focus as he reached out to keep her down with one hand on her shoulder and swung out his weapon with the other in one swift move.

“Stay down! Are you hurt?” She squeaked out a ‘no’. “I’m Officer Parker. I need you to remain here while I scan the area, understand?”

Valerie grimaced under the cop’s powerful hold and struggled to peek up at him.

“What? No… hey, let me up!”

His hand disappeared from her shoulder as he brought it up to support his gun, eyes thoroughly scanning the area.

Val looked over her shoulder at the man as he went further into the lot, gun and all. She sighed and reached out for the wall, helping herself off the floor.

Her eyes followed his head over the cars and she did a thorough job of cleaning herself up before he returned. God, he’d given her the fright of her life! And she’d gone tumbling to the floor like a witless ninny! How embarrassing.

Valerie was determined to be the picture of class and poise when the officer returned, she couldn’t allow herself to be embarrassed twice in the space of an hour.

Soon his powerful footsteps could be heard behind her and Val straightened, clearing her throat like she was back at her high school vocal training classes.

“Ma’am. The area’s clear. Are you alright?”

Val prepared a dazzling smile as she whirled around to salvage her dignity and for the second time that morning, turned into an ice sculpture.

What. On. Earth. Was he?

Valerie stared as he approached, his hand on the weapon at his belt. The uniform turned to sin on this man’s body and Valerie found herself gulping. His legs were long and muscled, eating up the ground in long strides as he closed the distance between them. He reached her and said something, but to her, it sounded drowned out. She watched his sensual mouth move and heard not a damn thing.

His skin glowed a beautiful brown under the sun and his eyes twinkled a strong grey. Damn. What was Valentina’s challenge again?

“Fuck.”

The cop’s brows rose. “Pardon?”

Valerie blinked once then twice.

“Oh! Uhm…” she began, fingers patting at her unruly hair. Her hair was probably a mess! “I’m sorry, Officer, I…” Valerie trailed off, shaking her head wordlessly. What in the hell was wrong with her? She felt herself shrink back as the man stare grew even more intense. His sharp gaze seemed to penetrate right through to the depth of her soul and she felt as though he was easily seeing all her deepest secrets.

The Officer reached back and pulled out a small notebook.

“You sure you’re alright, miss? You should sit, you might be in shock.”

Valerie almost laughed out loud. Who the hell wouldn’t be in shock if a whole Adonis just strolled up to them in a cop’s uniform giving off deep-toned sound-waves from his throat?! Even his voice was dangerous. Maybe if all men looked like this, she wouldn’t mind wasting time on one of them.

She cleared her throat. “I mean… slight shock, but yeah. I’m alright.”

He gave her a quizzical frown, but didn’t press the matter. Valerie wouldn’t have minded. He could press the matter if he wanted. He could press her if he wanted.

“You’re Valerie Quinn, right? And can you tell me what happened before and after you made the 911 call?” he questioned.

Valerie nodded. “Yeah, uhm… I’m Valerie. Valerie Quinn.”

She saw no reaction on his face to her name as he jotted something down on his notebook. Gosh, his face. Valerie wondered if she should check him for a Da Vinci signature. It was so rare to see someone with such aristocratic features these days, so she stared, committing every detail to memory. His brows were dark and arched beautifully over his long-lashed grey eyes. Gosh, was he mixed with Arabian or what?

Valerie wondered where he got his grey eyes from, they were hypnotizing.

“Valerie Quinn,” he repeated quietly. She could tell that he was a New Yorker, born and bred. Valerie waited for him to look up and mention the jewelry chain stores. He never did.

“Explain the events that took place, please,” he said, looking at his book.

Valerie blinked. “Well… there was a, uh… a man and he was like, hiding by my car. It was the tire slashers. I’m sure of it.”

She nodded confidently, but the cop barely raised his head.

“Are you completely certain of this? I checked your car. Red Chevrolet?” She nodded. “There was no sign of attempted forced entry or any damage. So, are you certain?”

Valerie nodded again. “I am. W-when I made the phone call, he heard me and leaped out from behind the car! He tried to wrestle the phone away from me and it fell, then he ran away as I picked it up. That’s when I ran away from there as fast as I could and you popped up out of nowhere.”

“May I see your cell phone?”

She held up her palm, holding her phone for him to see so he picked it up for a better look. A line appeared between his perfect brows and Valerie stared at it.

“There’s not a scratch.”

“Hm?” She hadn’t heard what he’d said again, staring at his handsome face.

The cop sighed in frustration. “There isn’t a single scratch on your phone. You said it fell while you and the suspect fought over it.”

Valerie swallowed. “Well,” she shrugged. “I got lucky! Ha-ha!”

Roman wasn’t amused. He stared at her as she smiled and tilted her head to the side. A curl bounced against her flawless skin and he couldn’t help but sweep his gaze over her face. What was she hiding? She’s the one who made the call so why was she suddenly changing her story?

“Please describe the suspect.” He said.

She blinked her big brown eyes. “Hm?”

Roman remained silent, staring at her with poorly concealed annoyance.

“Oh,” Valerie said, staring at him. “Uhm, he was… tall. Very, very tall…about six foot two. Like a demi-God from the Avengers with… chocolate brown skin… a strong, chiseled jaw and… he had these eyes that were gr—”

“Ma’am, you realize that it’s a crime to lie to a police officer, don’t you?”

Valerie went cold. “Oh, my God, are you trying to say I’ll go to jail?!”

She took a step back and he closed his notepad and put it away. “Well, are you lying?”

“Uh… no?”

Roman clenched his jaw when she giggled nervously and accepted that he was wasting his time.

“Have a good day, ma’am.”

Valerie watched as the cop stepped carefully around her and disappeared around the corner of the office building.

The breath she’d been holding escaped her in a giant whoosh of air. She rubbed both hands over her goose-fleshed arms. That man had a presence so strong, she’d almost told him the truth.

The truth which was that, yes, she had in fact lied. Well, she certainly hadn’t intended for the description of her suspect to turn into a mental portrait of the Officer, but well, that happened.

She hadn’t meant to lie, actually, she’d meant to tell the truth, but Valerie had then pictured his face. The “suspect”.

The moment she’d hung up the phone, he’d come out from behind her car with his hands raised. Nearly scared the s**t right out of her, he had. Valerie had instinctively shot out the hand holding her phone like it was a weapon of defense.

The young man had then taken off his hood and Valerie found herself gasping. He was so cute! And definitely a teenager. Her social worker’s empathy had awoken and she’d lowered her arm.

He’d inched slowly away from her car and said, “I wasn’t tryna steal it. I swear! I just wanted to find something I lost here.”

Valerie had stared at him warily, uncertain as to whether she should trust him or not.

“What could you possibly be trying to find in my car? And what were you doing there to have lost something in the first place?” she’d questioned him.

The kid opened his mouth to respond, but froze when he heard the sound of a police siren in the distance. His eyes opened wide in panic and he begged Valerie to not sell him out.

She’d watched as he retreated, running and pleading desperately until he turned around and raced out of the back parking lot and disappeared around a corner at the far end.

The lot now suddenly carried an eerie feeling in the air and Valerie turned and quickly escaped herself, feeling guilty for some reason and not entirely comfortable with the situation. What if the kid came back and hurt her for calling the cops?

The Officer’s car was nowhere to be seen. Valerie felt slightly embarrassed remembering how irritated he’d looked with her. Like she was an i***t who was wasting his time and he preferred to be doing something else like further perfecting his sexiness.

She sighed as she headed back to the office. Well, she didn’t blame him. Officer Parker. An absolute hunk-a-hunk of an Officer thought she was a halfwit.

It couldn’t be helped. She couldn’t have told on that kid, there was just something about him. The way he’d looked at her, it had been far too sincere, far too frightened for it to be false. The look in his eyes…

Valerie stopped.

His eyes.

Damn, she hadn’t realized it before but… that young man had the most beautiful grey eyes.o