A dangerous Love by Linda Louise RIgsbee

Prolog

Officer Quint unfolded his body and wiped vomit from his lips with a handkerchief.  Lightening flashed in the east and thunder rumbled a posthumous threat. In the ensuing darkness, red and blue lights flashed his shadow on the wet grass. As he turned, the lights of a silent ambulance bounced across the long stretch of pasture between the highway and the mangled car. There was no need to rush. They could do nothing for the occupants.

The night was alive with flashing lights and cameras. Rain still fell at a steady rate, but not like the earlier downpour driven by wind. The train crouched silent on the tracks in a feline pose, as if hovering over a kill. Behind it, sixteen cars were jammed together all the way back to the highway. Headlights were backed up as far as the eye could see, waiting impatiently for someone to direct them away from the gridlock. As bad as the wreck was, it could have been worse. The train didn't derail . . . and she wasn't in the car.

Officer Lathum met him half way to the car and lifted a bushy gray brow. "I'm going to jump to the conclusion that this is either your first fatality, or you know these people." His tone hung somewhere between sarcastic and annoyed. His reputation for being rough on rookies was well earned. It must have worked, because his trainees were some of the best officers.

Quint dropped his head. "I know them."

Lathum's tone lost some of the edge. "I'm sorry about that, boy. Do you want a replacement?"

"No" Quint straightened and lifted his chin. "I can handle it . . . now."

Lathum walked beside him to their patrol car and picked up a tablet. "Give me some information. What were their names and where do they live. Do they have relatives close?"

"Their last name is Anderson. The driver's name is John - he's the father, and the mother's name is Marie."

Lathum scribbled on the pad, confirming as he wrote. "Driver John Anderson, passenger side wife, Marie Anderson?"

"Yes. The girl is Angela and the boy is Nick . . . Nicholas."

"How old is the girl?"

"Thirteen, I think. The boy just turned six."

"Next of kin?"

"Their oldest daughter, Lisa."

Lathum's pale blue gaze lifted from the tablet and searched Quint's. "How old?"

"Nineteen."

"Girlfriend?"

"I dated her a few times, but she was way out of my league."

Lathum returned his attention to the tablet and snorted. "I doubt that. Not if you judge by the car and their clothes."

Quint knew he should quell the ire that surged up and pounded in his neck. He barely recognized his cold voice as the retort forced its way out. "Well sir, I don't judge people by the clothes on their backs and the cars they drive."

Lathum glanced up sharply, his expression unreadable. For one horrible long moment he was silent. Finally he shrugged. "Fair enough. So why did you think she was out of your league?"

Quint slowly let out his breath. "Well, for starters, I'd have had to compete with every other guy in school. I graduated two years ahead of her and didn't keep in touch. I'm nothing special. Not like her." It was hard to explain how her beauty was different than so many others, but it was. She could have been a model. The soft curves on that tall slender body and those long legs were the talk of the locker room when he was a senior.

She was two years younger then. That wide-eyed innocent look and those full lips reminded him of a fairytale princess. Even the way she wore her hair, with those braids wrapped around the top of her head like a crown and the long shiny blond curls falling around her shoulders and down her back - she wasn't simply beautiful. She was exquisite. Now she had matured into an even more beautiful woman. Her voice was soft and full of music.

Lathum interrupted his thoughts. "But Mertz was good enough for her? Why, because he is the son of a prominent family doctor? Yet he was arrested last week for selling drugs to kids like little Nicholas over there?" His thumb jerked back to acknowledge Nick for the first time. "I thought you didn't judge people by their pocketbooks."

Quint felt the warmth flow into his face. "She didn't know anything about what he was doing."

Lathum dismissed the subject with a shrug. "Any idea where she is tonight?"

"Maybe at home. I heard she was pretty humiliated when she found out."

"Well, she's got something to take her mind off it now." His voice was terse. "What's she like? Will she get hysterical when you tell her?"

"Me?" The idea of talking to her again was unsettling enough, but to tell her something like this? "I don't know her that well."

Lathum eyed him with poorly veiled amusement. "Good, that should make this easier." He started to turn and then stopped, his expression sober. "Better stop by and get Howard Spencer. Take him along just in case. 

From what I've heard, he and Miss Anderson are more than friends."

Spencer and Lisa? Since when? Quint nodded and turned to the patrol car. Howard was the brother of her best friend, Connie. According to Lisa, they were the closest thing to a family that she had other than her parents and siblings. Spencer was nearly ten years older than her, but maybe she liked older men. Some women did. He was a lawyer with a growing reputation and she did work at his law firm last summer.

He reached for the door, doubt twisting his guts. One thing about Lathum, he had an uncanny way of being right about people. If Lisa was involved with both Spencer and Mertz, maybe she was an informant for Spenser. On the other hand, maybe Mertz figured she'd make a great decoy. She wouldn't ha ve any trouble distracting a man, that's for sure. Of course, there was always the possibility that she had come up with the idea of distracting Spenser, but he found that hard to believe. It was totally out of character for her . . . or was it? A person could change a lot in a few years, especially when they were that young. Maybe Lathum had a point.

He clutched the wet door handle, the click of the latch bringing his mind back to the present. He turned back to Lathum. "Sir, if I take the car, how are you . . ."

Lathum waved a hand in dismissal, his mind already firmly entrenched in another project. "I'll ride with the last ambulance. Right now we have to do something about this traffic." He walked away with his clipboard in hand, barking some orders at another officer.

Quint dropped into the seat and started the engine. He felt sick to his stomach again. It wasn't jealousy that troubled him. It was the idea of being deceived. But then, all he'd seen in the last few weeks had certainly burned a hole in his confidence about knowing people. Being around Lathum had opened his eyes to the number of people who deceive and are deceived.

He turned the car toward the Spencer home. Right now he was wondering if he had chosen the right occupation. He'd like to believe in good and the happy-ever-after, but that innocence could never be retrieved.

A Dangerous Love (CInta yang Berbahaya)

Prolog

 Petugas Quint membuka bajunya dan menyeka muntahan di bibirnya dengan saputangan.Cahaya melintas di timur dan guntur bergemuruh sebuah ancaman untuk nantinya. Di kegelapan berikutnya, cahaya biru dan merah melintasi bayangannya di rumput yang basah. Saat ia berbalik, Lampu-lampu ambulan yang diam melambung melintasi bentangan panjang padang rumput antara jalan raya dan mobil yang hancur. Tidak perlu untuk terburu. Mereka tidak bisa melakukan apa-apa untuk para penghuni.

Malam masih hidup  dengan kedipan lampu dan kamera. Hujan masih turun pada tingkat yang stabil, tapi tidak seperti sebelumnya yang didorong oleh angin. Kereta api  berjongkok diam di trek dalam pose kucing, seolah-olah menunggu mangsa. Dibalik itu, enam belas mobil terjebak macet bersamaan sepanjang kembali ke jalan raya. Lampu-lampu mobil digerakkan mundur sejauh mata bisa melihat, menunggu seseorang dengan tidak sabar untuk mengarahkan mereka dari kemacetan. Seburuk kecelakaan itu, itu bisa saja lebih buruk. Kereta itu tidak keluar dari rel...dan dia tidak di dalam mobil. 

Petugas Lathum menemuinya setengah jalan ke arah mobil dan mengangkat alis abu-abunya yang lebat. "Aku akan mengambil sebuah kesimpulan kalau hal ini adalah baik korban pertamamu, atau kau tahu orang-orang ini." Nadanya menggantung antara sarkastik dan kesal. Reputasinya yang kasar pada para pemula baik diterima. Ini pasti telah berjalan sejak dulu, karena  orang-orang yang dilatihnya adalah beberapa petugas yang terbaik. 

Quint menundukkan kepalanya. "Aku tahu mereka."

Suara Lathum hilang beberapa tepi. "Aku minta maaf tentang itu, boy. Apa kau ingin penggantian?"

"Tidak" Quint menegakkan dan mengangkat dagunya.  "Aku bisa mengatasinya..sekarang"

Lathum berjalan disampingnya menuju ke mobil patroli mereka  dan mengambil sebuah tablet. "Berikan padaku beberapa informasi. Apa nama mereka dan dimana mereka tinggal. Apakah mereka mempunyai kerabat dekat?"

"Nama belakang mereka Anderson. Pengemudinya John-dia adalah sang ayah, dan nama sang ibu Marie."

Lathum menulis di pad nya, menegaskan selagi dia menulis. "Pengemudi John Anderson, penumpang sampingnya Marie Anderson?"

"Ya. Si anak perempuan Angela dan si anak laki-laki Nick...Nicholas."

"Berapa umur si anak perempuan ini?"

"Tiga belas, aku pikir.  Si anak laki-laki baru saja berumur enam tahun."

"Kerabat berikutnya?"

"Anak tertua mereka, Lisa."

 Tatapan biru pucat Lathum terangkat dari tablet mencari tatapan Quint. "Berapa umurnya?"

"Sembilan belas"

"Pacar?"

"Aku berkencan dengannya beberapa kali, tapi dia keluar dari ikatanku."

Lathum mengembalikan perhatiannya pada tabletnya dan mendengus. "Aku meragukan itu. Tidak jika kau menilai dari mobil dan pakaian mereka."

Quint tahu dia seharusnya mengakhiri gejolak itu dan pukulan  di lehernya. Dia baru saja mengakui suara dinginnya sebagai sangkalan memaksa jalan keluarnya. "Well Pak, Aku tidak menilai orang dari pakaian di punggung mereka dan mobil yang mereka kendarai."

Lathum melirik dengan tajam, ekspresinya tak terbaca. Untuk satu momen mengerikan yang panjang dia diam. Akhirnya dia mengangkat bahu. "Cukup adil, jadi mengapa kau pikir dia keluar dari ikatanmu?"

Quint dengan perlahan melepas nafasnya. "well, untuk pemula, Aku harus bersaing dengan setiap laki-laki di sekolah. Aku lulus dua tahun lebih dulu darinya dan tidak tetap berhubungan dengannya. Aku tidak istimewa. Tidak sepertinya." Itu sulit untuk menjelaskan bagaiamana kecantikannya berbeda dengan kebanyakan orang, tapi itu benar. Dia bisa saja menjadi seorang model. Bentuk lembut pada badannya yang tinggi ramping dan kaki-kaki panjangnya yang panjang menjadi pembicaraan di ruang ganti saat dia masih sma. Dia lebih muda dua tahun. Mata lebar yang polos dan bibir penuh itu mengingatkannya akan putri di dongeng. Bahkan cara dia menata rambutnya, kepang itu melilit atas kepalanya seperti mahkota dan ikal panjang bercahaya jatuh di sekitar bahu dan punggungnya-dia tidak hanya cantik. Dia sangat cantik. Sekarang dia telah dewasa menjadi wanita yang bahkan lebih cantik. Suaranya lembut dan penuh dengan musik.

Lathum memecahkan lamunannya. "Tapi Mertz cukup baik untuknya?kenapa, karena dia adalah anak seorang dokter terkemuka?Namun dia ditangkap minggu lalu karena menjual narkoba pada anak-anak seperti Nicholas kecil sebelah sana?" Jempolnya tersentak kembali mengakui Nick untuk yang pertama kali. "Aku pikir kau tidak menilai orang dari keuangan mereka."

Quint merasakan aliran kehangatan ke mukanya. "Dia tidak tahu apapun tentang apa yang dia lakukan."

Lathum mengabaikan subjek dengan mengangkat bahu. "Ada ide dimana dia malam ini?"

"Mungkin di rumah. Aku dengar dia cukup dipermalukan ketika dia tahu."

"Well,dia telah mendapat sesuatu untuk melepaskan pikirannya sekarang." Suaranya tegas. "Dia seperti apa? Akankah dia akan histeris ketika kau memberitahunya?"

"Aku?" Ide untuk memberitahunya lagi cukup mengganggu, tapi untuk memberitahunya sesuatu seperti ini? "Aku tidak tahu dia begitu baik."

Lathum menatapanya dengan buruk terselubung kesenangan."Bagus, itu seharusnya membuat lebih mudah." Dia mulai berbalik dan kemudian berhenti, eskpresinya tenang."Lebih baik singgah dan mendapatkan Howard Spencer. Bawa dia sepanjang dalam kasus ini. Dari apa yang telah aku dengar, dia dan Miss Anderson lebih dari teman."

Spencer dan Lisa? Sejak kapan? Quint mengangguk dan balik ke mobil patroli. Howard adalah saudara teman baiknya,Connie. Menurut Lisa, mereka adalah hal yang paling dekat pada keluarga bahwa dia memiliki selain orang tua dan saudaranya. Spencer mendekati sepuluh tahun lebih tua daripada dia, tapi mungkin dia suka laki-laki yang lebih tua. Beberapa wanita begitu. Dia adalah seorang pengacara dengan reputasi yang sedang tumbuh dan dia bekerja di firma hukumnya musim panas lalu.

Dia meraih pintu,  ragu memutar isi perutnya. Satu hal tentang Lathum, dia memilik cara yang luar biasa menjadi benar tentang orang-orang. Jika Lisa terlibat dengan baik Spencer dan mertz, mungkin dia adalah informan bagi Spencer. Di sisi lain, mungkin Mertz pikir dian akan membuat umpan yang besar. Dia tidak akan mempunyai masalah mengganggu seorang pria, itu pasti. Tentu saja, selalu ada kemungkinan kalau dia telah muncul dengan ide menggangu Spencer, tapi dia menepukan itu sulit untuk dipercaya. Itu benar-benar keluar dari karakternya...atau itu benar? Seseorang bisa berubah banyak dalam beberapa tahun, terutama ketika mereka muda. Mungkin Lathum mempunyai sebuah titik.

Dia mencengkram pegangan pintu yang basah, bunyi klik pegangan membawa pikirannya kembali ke masa kini. Dia berbalik ke Lathum. "Sir, jika aku membawa mobilnya, bagaimana anda.."

Lathum melambaikan tangan untuk penolakan, pikirannya sudah berakar pada proyek lain. "Aku akan mengandarai ambulan yang terakhir. Sekarang juga kita harus melakukan sesuatu tentang lalu lintas ini." Dia pergi dengan clipboard di tangannya, membentak beberapa perintah pada petugas yang lain.

Quint jatuh ke tempat duduk dan menyalakan mesin. Dia merasa sakit perut lagi. Bukan kecemburuan yang mengganggunya. Karena ide menjadi tertipu. Tapi kemudian, semua yang telah dia lihat dalam beberapa minggu telah jelas membakar lubang dalam keyakinannya tentang mengetahui orang-orang.Berada di sekitar Lathum telah membuka matanya terhadap jumlah orang yang menipu dan ditipu.

 Dia memutar mobil ke arah rumah Spencer. Sekarang dia ingin tahu kalau dia telah memilih pekerjaan yang tepat. Dia ingin percaya pada kebaikan dan bahagia selamanya, tapi kepolosan itu tidak akan pernah bisa diambil.