“Wonderful. If it’s okay I’d like to stay until then, help keep him calm.”
“Your help in that would be greatly appreciated,” Mark told him. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Casey just kept his eyes down on the table. Mark had no idea how much the young man had heard of what they’d been saying, if anything. He wasn’t rocking and moaning like he had been in the house, but something about his posture made him seem even farther away than he had been then.
I’ll have to ask Cindy and Jeremiah to say a prayer for him, he thought as he left the room.
~
After Jeremiah had dropped Mark off at the mechanic he had driven back to the synagogue. The day was nearly over and he struggled with a desire to return to the hospital and question Rebecca more about what she and the police officers had discovered in her shop.
He kept telling himself it wasn’t his job and if he asked at this point it would just be prying. He countered his own arguments by telling himself that all the prying and meddling in the world was worth it if it helped out his friends, particularly Mark.
He kept praying for Liam and for Mark. The former to be alright and the latter to let go of the pain and fear he was carrying. The past could creep up on a person and haunt them in unexpected ways. That was clearly happening to Mark. Liam was a completely different person than Paul and his situation was also different. Mark, though, wasn’t seeing the differences but only the similarities such as they were.
When Jeremiah pulled into the parking lot at the synagogue he glanced over at the church parking lot from long habit and felt the familiar sinking feeling when he didn’t see Cindy’s car.
I hate this, he thought to himself as he parked and slowly got out of his car. He was close to the hedge that separated the two parking lots. As he started walking toward his office a man emerged from the church and waved at him.
Jeremiah waved back when he recognized the church’s youth pastor, Dave “Wildman” Wyman. He expected to see the other man head to his car, but instead Dave changed direction and made a beeline for him. Jeremiah stopped, wondering what Wildman wanted from him.
He better not even think about asking me to chaperone an event or be a camp counselor again, Jeremiah thought. To date the other man hadn’t, but Jeremiah still cringed inwardly whenever he saw him.
Wildman cut through a path in the hedge and came to a stop in front of him. “Hey, how’s it going?” he asked.
It was an odd opener. They knew each other, but didn’t tend to interact much beyond the passing wave.
“I’m tired of not sharing adjacent work places with Cindy,” he said before he could stop himself.
Wildman nodded. “A lot of people at the church are unhappy and want her back.”
“I’m betting the pastor isn’t one of them,” Jeremiah said, unable to hide his sarcasm.
Wildman grimaced, but didn’t say anything.
Jeremiah took a deep breath. “What can I do for you?”
“I’d like to schedule an appointment to talk with you.”
“Okay, about what?” Jeremiah asked, puzzled.
“I’d rather wait until we talk to tell you what about,” Wildman said.
“Okay, should I be worried or intrigued?”
“Neither, both, I don’t know,” the youth pastor admitted, looking intensely uncomfortable.
“And now I’m both,” Jeremiah said with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Sometimes he could get that look just right and people seemed to relax. Other times, especially the last several months, he got it wrong and just set people further on edge.
He knew that was because he still hadn’t gotten used to being just a civilian again. He himself was on edge more than he had been before. He didn’t like that he wasn’t as good at hiding it as he should be, but he had to remind himself that the man he was trying to be in this community, the rabbi, wouldn’t be able to hide his emotions as well as the man he used to be.
“Is that okay?” Wildman asked hesitantly.
“That’s fine, Dave. When would you like to meet?”
“Not this week, I’m slammed.”
“We could meet after work.”
“No! I mean, I’d prefer to do this during business hours.”
“Is it business related?” Jeremiah asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No, it’s not,” the other man admitted.
“Okay, well, let me know when works for you and we can make it happen,” Jeremiah said.
“Thanks, I appreciate that.”
“Anytime.”
The youth pastor reached out and quickly shook his hand before turning and hurrying to his car.
Okay, that was weird, Jeremiah thought as he watched the other man get in his vehicle and drive away.
It was like he was surrounded by weird at the moment. He glanced around, wondering if anyone else had seen the exchange. He wouldn’t put it past the head pastor at the church to accuse him of trying to poach his staff, corrupt them in some way.
Wouldn’t that be hilarious if Wildman wanted to convert to Judaism, he thought. He actually laughed out loud. He didn’t know exactly why, but the thought amused him.
His phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket. He frowned when he saw that Rebecca was calling on the phone he’d given her.
“Rebecca?” he asked as he answered.
There was a long pause on the other end and then he heard a low, raspy voice say, “No.”
“Who is this?”
There was another long pause then the voice whispered again, “Get over here right now or else.”
11
“Who is this?” Jeremiah demanded.
“No cops,” the voice hissed. The call ended abruptly.
Jeremiah spun around and was back in his car and peeling out of the parking lot seconds later. He wanted to call Mark, to have him meet him at the hospital. The man on the other end of the line had been clear about that, though, and Jeremiah had to assume he had the ability to know if Jeremiah tried to bring some with him. Another time he might have chanced it, but the detective was too tired to be sneaky and subtle and try to make it to Liam’s room without being found out.
He was about to call Cindy when he realized he couldn’t do that to her. He couldn’t panic her with time still left on her first day at the new job. He needed to know what this was before he brought in the others.
Above all, he was worrying about Liam and Rebecca. What had happened that someone else had the phone he’d given her? And if something was happening to her, who was watching Liam? He had no way of knowing if the police guard Mark had intended to establish had gone into effect yet.
There were days when he couldn’t help but wonder why the universe wasn’t content to leave him alone. Most people lived their lives without ever being involved in police investigations. How he managed to get swept up in so many of them was beyond comprehension. G-d had a strange sense of humor. That was all he could figure some days.
Then again, maybe it was his ability to spot trouble that was different. Perhaps many people encountered crimes, murders, even, and just walked on by because they didn’t pay attention to what was going on around them.
It was a chilling thought.
Then again sometimes even if you did pay attention to what was happening around you it didn’t do any good. The trial Cindy had recently been a juror for was a good example. The woman had noticed when her neighbors fought, had worried for the wife, but ultimately the wife had been murdered and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She was even having trouble helping put the husband in jail for it. He couldn’t help but wonder when and where the trial would next take place.
Hopefully the next time they’d make it all the way through the trial without incident and convict the husband. Cindy had been sure the man was guilty and Jeremiah trusted her instincts in the matter.
It was nearing the end of the work day and traffic was getting
heavier. He sped past cars, weaving in and out of lanes even as his mind raced ahead. He had spent enough time walking around the hospital in the last couple of years that he knew it pretty well. He could approach the room from an unexpected direction and have a better chance of catching whoever had the phone unaware. Hopefully nothing would have happened to Liam and Rebecca before he could get there.
~
Mark’s vision was getting blurry as he struggled to fill out some paperwork at his desk. Everything was all arranged for Ruth to come and get her brother and take him to her apartment. Nothing left to worry about there. At least, not for the evening.
He tossed his pen on his desk and rubbed his temples. He could feel a headache coming on. He glanced at the clock. It was getting close to five. He should call it a day. He was no good to anyone here in the shape he was in.
He just wanted to go home, kiss Traci and the kids, and fall into bed. Even the thought of trying to choke down some dinner sounded too exhausting.
Of course, what he should do is head straight for the hospital to check on Liam and Rebecca. That was the right thing to do. What a good partner would do.
Partner.
His guts clenched at the word. Traci was right. He was worried about losing another one.
It had been nine weeks since he’d gone to Sacramento and retrieved the file on Paul from the dead attorney’s private safe. In all that time he’d only looked at the papers twice. They were written in some sort of code but he hadn’t had the time to try and crack it.
That’s not true, a little voice seemed to whisper deep inside. He grit his teeth. Maybe he didn’t want to know and that’s why he hadn’t managed to look at the papers more than twice in that time.
Was he really finding closure, content with what he did know about his old partner and the nightmare that must have been his childhood? No, no he wasn’t.
So what was wrong with him then? If he was overwhelmed by the challenge of trying to crack the code he could have asked Jeremiah to help. The rabbi was likely far more experienced with such things. Or, he at least might know someone who was.
When it came right down to it Mark had to admit that he was afraid. Of what, he wasn’t quite sure. Maybe he was afraid that when the mystery was one hundred percent solved that Paul would well and truly be gone for good. Or maybe he was afraid of finding out even worse things about his former partner.
Some things once known can’t be unknown.
Just like some things couldn’t be unseen.
The image of Casey sitting on the floor, rocking and holding that bloody bat was going to stick with him a long time. The image would stick with Taylor all his life.
Mark’s heart went out to the officer. It wasn’t an easy thing to live with, making a mistake. Taylor was lucky, though. He hadn’t actually made the mistake. He hadn’t fired his gun at the kid. He had gone up to the precipice and pulled back just in time.
The thing was, though, he’d had a good long look into the dark and he might not ever be the same. He might not be capable of being a cop anymore. Mark hoped that wasn’t true. Taylor was a good man and they needed more like him on the force.
He’d check up on Taylor tomorrow, make sure that he was going to take the time off that Mark had suggested. He’d check up on Liam and Rebecca in a couple of hours.
First he needed to go home and kiss Traci and the kids.
And pull out a file that he’d kept locked away in a drawer in his desk. Not so that someone else couldn’t steal it, but so that he couldn’t accidentally come upon it.
He stood with a weary sigh. Traci was right. He needed to be done with Paul.
~
Cindy quickly rifled through the remaining drawers in the desk after Beau left. She wanted to find all of Rose’s things so she could hand the box off to Mr. Cartwright and be done with that part of things.
That would just leave the formidable task of figuring out how to file all the stacks and stacks of loose papers that decorated the desk and filled the drawers. Rose might have been great at throwing parties, but she clearly knew nothing about filing papers.
Cindy caught herself. She was thinking of Rose in the past tense. She had no proof that anything bad had happened to her despite her own misgivings and Beau’s parting words to her.
She pulled a roll of packing tape out of the center drawer and taped up the box. Then she picked it up and carried it to Mr. Cartwright’s office with the intention of leaving it in there for him. When she got there, though, the door was locked. Irritated, she turned around and made it back to her cubicle where she shoved it under her desk.
Next to her Leo was turning off his computer monitor.
“Time to call it a day,” he said with forced cheerfulness.
She glanced at the clock on the wall. It was five ‘til five. She sat down at her computer and logged off before she, too, turned off her monitor.
“See you in the morning,” Leo said as he headed for the elevator.
“See you,” Cindy said.
She grabbed her purse and stood up slowly, wanting to make sure she’d given her full eight hours, silly as that seemed. All she’d accomplished for the day was cleaning out Rose’s stuff and sending out a memo about people cheating the broken time clock. She probably should have asked Mr. Cartwright if she needed a timecard. It seemed like everyone else had one. She grimaced as she imagined him staring at it, trying to find a single minute that she had somehow clocked in late or clocked out early.
She shook her head. Stuff like that couldn’t be good for company morale. She couldn’t imagine the memo he had her send out was going to be too popular. At least it wasn’t her name on it.
At exactly five o’clock she hit the call button for the elevator. Once she made it downstairs she headed for her car as swiftly as possible.
Driving out of the parking lot her mind shifted gears from the weirdness at her new job to the fact that Liam had been attacked. She hoped that they’d already caught the guy who did it and that Liam would be okay. Concern for Liam, though, wasn’t what caused her to hit the accelerator a little harder than she should as she turned onto the next street. Rather it was the thought of being able to see Jeremiah shortly.
~
Jeremiah glided down the hospital hallway like a ghost, moving swiftly but taking in everything around him. He had easily passed through areas restricted to hospital staff. Security around the place really was a joke. He should have Mark suggest some upgrades.
Of course, the only time security ever seemed to be an issue was when someone he knew was involved. At that point there wasn’t a security system in the world that would actually satisfy him. If he could beat it, so could others. If he couldn’t beat it, he’d worry about needing to.
Become a rabbi. That’s what you planned to do before. You’ll love it. It will be relaxing, like a constant vacation.
In his mind he played back phrases that he’d been told when he was being retired. His handlers clearly had not anticipated the life he’d actually end up with. Then again, how could they? Not a lot of guys lived long enough to retire from his line of work and those that did usually didn’t have a need for a whole new career.
A nurse came out of Liam’s room. She was walking calmly. That was a good sign. It was likely safe to enter. He hadn’t seen anyone suspicious yet inside the hospital. Presumably whoever had called him was waiting in Liam’s room. If they were their presence wasn’t enough to upset the nursing staff.
He moved forward swiftly, ears straining to pick up any sounds from inside the room. He didn’t hear any voices. He paused just shy of the doorway and gathered himself, focusing. He could feel the pressure of his gun against the small of his back. A knife was strapped to his right calf. He could reach either of them in a second.
Jeremiah stepped into the room. Liam was in the bed, eyes closed. Jeremiah glanced around, wondering where Rebecca was. He was a bit surprised that no one was there waiting fo
r his arrival.
He stepped closer to Liam’s bed. He could see his chest rising and falling gently. The younger man’s eyelids flickered and a moment later he was looking up at Jeremiah. His lips began to move and Jeremiah stepped closer to better hear him.
The detective’s voice was barely a whisper. “You have to help her.”
“Rebecca?” Jeremiah asked.
Liam gave the barest of nods.
“What’s wrong?”
“Someone is stalking her.”
12
The hair on the back of Jeremiah’s neck stood on end. “Someone used her phone to call me,” he said.
“I did,” Liam said. “She left it on the food tray.”
He opened his hand to reveal the phone.
“You could have identified yourself so I didn’t panic,” Jeremiah said, struggling with relief and a touch of anger.
“Sorry, talking is hard. Needed you here before she got back.”
“Where has she gone?”
“Food.”
“Downstairs in the cafeteria?” Jeremiah guessed.
“Yes,” Liam said. His voice was weaker than it had been just seconds before. His eyes closed.
“Liam, what do you want me to do?” Jeremiah asked.
Liam’s eyes opened a slit. It was clear he was falling asleep and trying to fight it. “Told nurse not to...”
He drifted off as his eyes closed again.
Jeremiah stood there, hands clenched into fists at his side, as he tried to decide what to do next. A noise at the door caused him to twist around, ready to strike.
He forced himself to relax as a nurse bustled in. He moved out of her way as she grabbed Liam’s chart from the foot of the bed. She glanced at it then up at Liam.
“Poor dear’s finally asleep. That’s good,” she clucked.
Comfort Me Page 9
