Keeper Under Cover: Chapter 3

This is book 7 in the Graveyard Guardians Series. If you have not read the previous books, they are available on Amazon and are in Kindle Unlimited.

LANA

Juggling the groceries in her arms, Lana attempted to find the correct key out of the many that hung from her key ring. Dammit, she chastised herself, and not for the first time. Why couldn’t she remember to put the key for her condo on a separate ring. Finally, after trying yet another one, she felt the lock give way.

“Thank god.” She murmured as she twisted the knob and gave the door a push. She steamrolled forward leaving the door hanging open behind her, she wanted absolutely nothing more than to drop the heavy bags on the counter and take off her heels.

In fact, she did both before going back for the door.

The moment her feet were out of the black leather torture devices, she breathed out a sigh that only other women would understand. Wiggling her freed toes, she backtracked through the condo and shut the front door.

Her next order of business was putting the groceries away and a big glass of wine. It had been one hell of a day and that bottle of red had her name written all over it.

After pouring a hefty amount into one of her large wine glasses, she went to work on the contents of the paper bags. As she put the food away, she couldn’t help but think how she’d had every intention of cooking herself a good meal while she was shopping, but now she wasn’t even hungry.

Even though her appetite was gone, she knew she still had to eat something, so after the groceries were taken care of, she made herself a little plate of cheese and grapes to snack on. She took both the wine and food into her minimalistic living room and set them down on the coffee table in front of the couch.

When she sat down, ready to finally relax, she realized that she was still in her work clothes, slacks, tank and a fitted blazer, and that there was no way she would be curling up on the couch in that outfit. Quickly, she changed into a pair of lounge pants and a cozy tank top, then returned to her spot on the couch.

It had been a long day out in the field and she really just wanted to decompress before she had to do it all over again the next day. She was working a murder, it was pretty clear cut that the suspect they had in custody was the killer, especially after the evidence she found today. That psycho was going to be locked up for a very long time. He wouldn’t be able to hurt another young woman ever again.

She used the remote to find one of her favorite reality shows where they dress up in costumes and sing, and people have to guess who they are. It was a mindless show that she could watch and enjoy, but still have space to think when work took over her brain, like it always did.

Sometimes she wished she had gone into another field. Not often, but sometimes. She would have been a great bookstore owner in a sleepy little town, or even a full-time author. She had about six full novels just sitting there, gathering virtual dust inside her laptop. Heaven knew how she found time to write in the first place though, she was always so busy. But that was what made her feel at peace, so she continued to do it.

At twenty-five, she was quite young for having made detective already, but that had always been the goal and she worked damn hard for it. She graduated high school at seventeen and had taken college credits from the time she was a freshman. By the time she was done with high school, she’d only needed one year to receive her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. After the academy, there was two years in the field as a police office, her superiors knew from the get go that her goal was to be a detective and that she would stop at nothing to get there. Now, here she was, straight up detective, finding all the clues and getting the bad guys.