A nurse escorted Parker past the crowd in the waiting room, but as he and Heather approached the treatment area, he heard a familiar voice cry out.
“Rick!”
It was Rachel, his ex-wife. She ran towards him in her white nurse’s uniform and winced when she saw his injuries.
“Hello Rachel,”
“Hello? What the hell happened to you?”
“I was shot, but it’s not serious.”
Rachel looked him over with a worried gaze; she then turned to the other nurse and told her that she would take over Parker’s case and that the other nurse could tend to the man with the broken arm. She also told her to tell the doctor to hurry. As the other woman walked away, Rachel noticed Heather.
“Who are you?”
“She’s a friend of mine, and also a witness to the shooting.”
Heather held out her hand and introduced herself.
Rachel ignored the offered hand and gave her a hard look.
“I’m Rick’s wife, well, ex-wife, and I’m sorry, but you won’t be able to follow him into the treatment room.”
Heather noticed the chill in the air and pointed to a row of nearby seats.
“I’ll just sit here and wait for him.”
“I’d prefer it if you went out into the waiting room.” Rachel said.
“No.” Parker said. “She’ll wait here for me; this shouldn’t take too long.”
Rachel sighed.
“Very well, and here comes the doctor now.”
Parker received several stitches on his shoulder, and the cuts on his chest and arm were also treated. All of the pellets that struck, dealt him a sideways blow that left deep wounds like scratches, with most of the tiny pellets embedding themselves in his vest. The wounds to his arm hurt worse than the ones on his shoulder even though they were minor. The wounds on his chest were all where the edge of his vest had been, but the vest took most of the spray from the shotgun blast.
When the doctor finished treating him he left to tend to others, and Parker looked up to see Heather enter the small treatment room. He was seated atop an exam table and shirtless.
She studied his bare chest for a moment and then gave a sour look as she ran her fingers lightly over his wounds and bruises. She then spotted something that made her wince; it was a white, puckered mark over Parker’s ribs on the left side of his body.
Heather touched it. “What’s this?”
“That’s an old wound from a 9mm; I was shot there during a drug raid when I worked in Philly.”
“That looks bad.”
“It was; much worse than today.”
“Poor baby,” Heather said, and leaned in to kiss him.
“That was actually how we met.” Rachel said in a loud voice, startling Heather, who straightened up and backed away a step.
Parker glared at his ex. “Yes, you seem to always be involved whenever I suffer a grave wound.” He hopped off the table and grabbed his shirt, then discovered that he had trouble getting his right arm back into it; the force sustained during the blast from the shotgun had left his arm numb.
Heather gave him a hand getting into the shirt, and then stood looking up at him as she buttoned it. There was something intimate about the act and she and Parker smiled at each other.
Rachel held up a package. “The doctor asked me to help you into this sling; he said you should wear it for a few days to help your shoulder.” She then spoke to Heather. “Please wait out in the hall while I put this on him.”
Heather began to protest, but decided against it and spoke to Parker instead.
“I’ll be waiting.”
“Good, I’ll be right there.”
As soon as Heather left, Rachel shut the door.
“Who the hell is that, Rick?”
“Heather works at Taggart’s; my partner and I are working a case there.”
“So why is she following you around?”
“She was worried about me and came along in the ambulance.”
Rachel finished placing his wounded arm in the sling and leaned closer.
“I guess you’ve heard that Tim and I are seeing each other again, hmm?”
“No, I hadn’t heard, and it’s none of my business.”
As he headed for the door, Rachel grabbed his good arm.
“Tim and I, we’re not exclusive... if you want I can stop by tonight... I can even stay all night.”
Parker stared at her in disbelief.
“I’m not the sharing type; I thought you knew that by now.”
Rachel crossed her arms over her chest, even as her face grew cold.
“You’re going to be with her aren’t you, that child out there? What is she, twenty, twenty-one? You’re too old for her; you know that, don’t you?”
Parker paused with his hand on the doorknob and looked back at her.
“Yeah Rachel, actually, I do know that, now you have a nice day, hmm?”
And with those words, he went out to join Heather.
Chapter 16
The next day, Parker was in the Chief’s office with Jo as they talked about the case.
Chief Gabe Howard sat behind his desk and tapped a file laying on top of it.
“Despite their size, all three of those kids you captured yesterday were under the age of eighteen, but they all have juvie records and belong to a gang called, Muerte Soldado, that means Death Soldiers or some such crap.”
“I assume the shotgun was stolen?” Parker said.
“You assume right, and lucky for you that the homeowner it was stolen from loaded it with birdshot, if you’d been hit with double-ought, vest or not, things would have gone much worst.”
Jo reached over and gave Parker’s arm a squeeze.
“My partner’s a hero, by taking that blast he saved a citizen, Heather Jones.”
“So I heard, it was very brave of you Rick, and oh yeah, you’ve a meeting with the shooting review board when we’re through here.”
“I didn’t know we had a shooting review board.”
The chief grinned.
“It consists of me, the mayor, and a member of the town council, but I can tell you right now that it’s being deemed a good shoot. All of the witnesses say that you probably saved lives.”
“It’s all part of the job, speaking of which, when can I come back onto active duty?”
“Tomorrow, or you can take some time if you need to?”
“No, we have to find this man, Nico, and put a stop to things before they escalate even more. Jo told me that the gang members refused to talk, but we all know that Nico Umbria was behind this attack.”
“He’s a hard man to find,” Jo said. “He apparently doesn’t own or rent and there’s no record of him at the DMV. He doesn’t even have a credit card or cell phone in his name.”
“His arrest took place in Freehold; check with the cops there and see if they know where to find him.” Parker said.
Jo nodded. “Good idea, and I think I’ll start with the cop who arrested him.”
After Parker had his meeting with the Review Board, Jo walked him out to his car.
“You’re sure you want to come back tomorrow? I can handle things here if you need more time.” Jo said.
“No, I need to get right back at this case. If we’re right, Umbria already killed one man, and now he’s escalating the violence against Patrick Taggart’s customers in order to get him to sell.”
“So where are you going now, home?”
“I actually thought I would go have lunch someplace.”
Jo grinned. “Let me guess, you’re going to Taggart’s to see Heather Jones.”
“I have to eat somewhere.”
“Hey, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you. What did you mean the other day when you said that it would be worse if Heather said yes rather than no when you asked her out?”
Parker sighed.
“I... I have feelings for her. They remind me of what I felt for my ex when we first met.”<
br />
“So, that’s a good thing, right?”
Parker leaned back against his car.
“Losing Rachel hurt more than I let on, not just her betrayal, but losing her. I thought that she and I would be together forever and I... I can’t go through that again.”
“Heather’s not Rachel, you two just might make it work,”
Parker shook his head.
“Not with our age difference, and hell, the woman will be a heart surgeon someday, while I’ll still be just a cop, an old, broken down cop at that. If we get together, it’ll only be a matter of time until she tires of me, one way or another.”
“You can’t think like that, Rick, if you do, you’ll never be happy again.”
He shrugged. “Just facing facts,” He climbed into the car and lowered the window. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Are you still going by Taggart’s to see Heather?”
“Yeah,”
“Why, when you’re so pessimistic about the two of you?”
Parker sighed again.
“I can’t help myself.”
Parker arrived at Taggart’s and found the parking lot nearly empty. Before going inside, he stopped and spoke to the two cops sitting in their patrol car, keeping watch on the place.
They were a man and a woman, both rookies, the man was white while the woman was Hispanic. They were so fresh-faced that they looked even younger than Heather.
“I see that yesterday’s trouble has had an effect on business.” Parker said, after greeting them.
“Yes sir,” the man said.
“Call me Rick, guys, and you’re Ed and Sierra, right?”
They both nodded, pleased that Parker knew their names, his heroism of the day before had made him a bit of a star in the department.
“It’s been real quiet,” Sierra said. “But we’re ready if trouble comes.”
“When do you get relieved?”
“Chief said we could stay until closing, which is good, I could use the overtime.” Ed said.
Parker slapped the car’s roof. “Stay safe guys, and keep aware,”
“We’ll do both, Rick,” Ed told him.
On his way into the bar, Parker saw a beautiful blond sitting in the passenger seat of a black Lexus. After looking him over, she sent him a smile and he sent her one in return.
When Parker entered the bar, Heather and the rest of the staff crowded around and thanked him for his actions of the previous day. He was still wearing the sling, although the numbness had left his arm, but he found that it helped with the wounds to his shoulder.
Heather had to take care of a customer, and so Parker went into the back to speak with Patrick Taggart, but when he entered the small office, he saw that Taggart already had a visitor. It was the man his ex-wife had her affair with, Timothy Hearn.
“Detective Parker, I’m told that you’re quite the hero now.”
“What are you doing here, Hearn?”
“Pat and I were discussing business if you must know.”
“What sort of business?”
“The type of business that is none of your business, but we’re finished now anyway. Pat, think over my offer, that number will only go lower now that I’ve seen how few customers you have.”
“This drop-off in business is temporary, and you know that my grandfather will never sell.”
“Yes, that’s why I’m dealing with you and not him, goodbye gentlemen,”
Parker called to him as he walked out of the room.
“Hearn, that black Lexus out there, is that yours?”
Hearn smiled. “It is, along with the blonde in it.”
“I thought that you and Rachel were dating?”
“That’s also true,”
“I see.”
“Yes Detective, I bet you do.”
After Hearn left, Parker asked Taggart why he was there.
“He wants to buy the bar.”
“Why is he talking to you if you don’t own it?”
“I don’t, but I will someday when my grandfather dies, and well, the man is nearly a hundred.”
“Ah, so he wants you to give him an option to buy, which will come into play after you inherit?”
“Essentially, yes,”
“Interesting,” Parker said.
“Have you had any luck in finding Nico?”
“Not yet,”
“I was going to call you; my grandfather wants to meet you at our home.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow morning, say eight o’clock? My grandfather is an early riser.”
“Fine, my partner and I will be there then.”
Patrick made a face.
“My grandfather is... not liberal minded. He won’t be happy that your partner is a woman, or black, for that matter. Would it be possible for you to come alone?”
“This case is as much Detective Knight’s as it is mine, or have you forgotten that she risked her life here yesterday the same as I did?”
“You misunderstand, I have no problem with women or minorities, but my grandfather is set in his ways.”
“I don’t care what your grandfather likes or doesn’t like. We’ll come by at eight, if he wants to talk, fine, if not, that’s fine too.”
Patrick nodded. “All right, and I meant no offense,”
“None taken, as you said, it’s your grandfather’s prejudice, not yours,”
Parker returned to the front and sat at the bar, but Heather pointed at an empty booth in her section, and then told him that she had a break coming up.
He ordered a sandwich to go with his drink before taking out his phone to call Jo.
“What’s up?” She asked.
“Mr. Taggart, grandfather Taggart, wants a meeting at his home tomorrow morning at eight, I accepted.”
“Okay, but what’s it about?”
“I don’t know, but maybe we’ll learn something that could help.”
“Why don’t we meet there since it’s so early?”
“Do you know where the house is?”
“Yeah, that big house just the other side of the lake; I’ll meet you at the gates.”
“Good, oh and just so you know, the old man might have a problem with you being there.”
“Because I’m a woman or because I’m black?”
“Both, according to his grandson,”
“Don’t sweat it; it’s nothing I haven’t faced before.”
“I hear you, but listen, there’s something I need you to check out.”
“You’ve got a lead?”
“Maybe, now here’s what I’m thinking...”
As Parker hung up from talking with Jo, Heather placed a tray of food on the table and then slid across from him in the booth.
“I’m taking my lunch and break together, so we can take our time.”
“Good,” Parker said, and then he just stared at her.
“What?”
“You’re so beautiful that it takes my breath away sometimes.”
Heather laughed.
“You’re a charmer, Rick,”
“It’s not a line; it’s the truth,”
“You give me goose bumps too. It must mean we have chemistry.”
Parker looked around and counted only eleven other patrons, at a time when the bar is usually nearly full.
“The trouble we had here yesterday seems to have scared off the customers.”
“Not just the customers; two of the other girls called out, and so I’m working until closing, but I expect the tips to be light.”
“Don’t you need time to study?”
“I did that this morning; I’ve been up since five.”
“Are you always an early riser?”
“Only if I have something to do, and that’s true about four days a week, but my travel time for school has been cut down. Starting next week I’ll be taking classes at the new hospital, which is also a teaching hospital.”
“And you live at home, right?”
“Yeah, but it’s just me and my mom. My dad passed away a few years ago, a heart attack.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thanks, but where do you live?”
“On Maple, close to the new mall,”
“Maple is all single-family homes, you own a home?”
“The bank owns it; I just get to put my name on the mailbox. I was going to sell it after the divorce, but I like the place a lot, and so I used a chunk of my savings to give my ex her share of the equity.”
“Your ex, Rachel? I noticed she seems to still have a thing for you.”
“It’s too bad she didn’t have it while we were married.”
“Do you still love her?”
“I... don’t know,”
“I see.”
“She cheated on me twice, Heather. If she didn’t kill my love, she certainly destroyed my trust.”
“I understand; trust means a lot to me too.”
As they ate, Parker asked her more about her schooling to become a doctor, while she asked him about being a cop. He was surprised to find that they had things in common, despite the difference in their ages. However, he had come to a decision the night before, and he knew that the sooner he acted on it, the better it would be.
“Heather,”
“Yes?”
“I obviously like you, but despite what I might have said in the past... I don’t think we should ever date.”
“Why?”
“I think we’re just too far apart in age.”
She stared at him for a moment, and then looked as though she suddenly understood something.
“You, you’re not getting back together with your ex-wife, are you?”
“No.”
“No, then what is it?”
“Like I said, it’s our age difference,”
Heather shook her head.
“No, that bothers you a little, but there’s something else, isn’t there?”
Parker sat back in his seat and looked down at the table.
“You’re right, despite the age difference I think we would be good together, but I’m not looking for a one-night stand or a fling, and I don’t think that we could go the distance. I think it would be just a matter of time before you dumped me, and I... I can’t go through that again. I can’t.”
Parker & Knight Page 9
