Before he went down to collect Bell, he went to the ICU. Why, he wondered, did it feel colder in here? And sadder? “Cindy Bates?” he asked a nurse at the desk.
“Room eight.”
He passed several rooms before finding it. The second he walked in, he regretted coming. She lay so still. The only thing moving was her chest, up and down, as the tube taped to her mouth pumped oxygen into her lifeless body. Her head was wrapped with bandages. Her skin looked gray, except for the black eyes and swollen nose.
A dark-haired nurse walked in and stopped short, as if surprised to see him. “Look, Cindy, you have company.” She spoke as if the unconscious woman might just answer back.
Even knowing the impossibility of it, he waited and hoped. He finally glanced up. “How is she?” His words came out a mere whisper.
“She’s better. Her blood pressure is back to normal. I think she’ll be waking up soon.” She patted the too-still woman’s arm. “Right, Cindy?”
Cindy still didn’t respond.
Juan motioned for the nurse to step outside the room. Once there, he asked, “How is she really?”
“Just like I said. Her vitals are better. They’re doing another MRI later to see if there’s still swelling in the brain. Are you family?”
“No, I’m Detective Acosta. I’m working her case. Is the brain swelling the reason she’s unconscious?”
“It could be. Is she in trouble?” the nurse asked.
“No, she’s not under arrest or anything. She’s a witness. I thought I’d check in on her.”
The nurse glanced back through the door at Cindy. “It’s sad when they don’t have anyone. I didn’t realize there were so many people who are completely alone until I became a nurse.”
“Yeah.” As Juan walked away, he thought about how much he’d been isolating himself since Angie’s death. How alone he’d been.
When he got to the lunchroom, Mildred and Bell had company. Mark sat with them.
Juan was instantly hit with the debate whether to tell his partners about Ni— Vicki. But his gut said that before he dragged them into this, he needed more information.
“And here he is,” Mark said to Bell.
Scooting off a chair, Bell ran over and hugged him.
“She was getting worried,” Mildred said.
Bell looked up. “You talked to my mama a long time. Can I see her now?”
“Sure.” He focused on Mildred. “Thank you so much.”
Mark stood up, meeting Mildred’s gaze. “Can you give me a few minutes with Juan?”
“Sure.” Mildred motioned Bell back to the table.
“You get anything on the Bates case?” Juan asked as they stepped a few tables away.
“They’re still going over the car the shooter used. I finally got to talk to the waitress who said a customer mentioned the Cheng Liu case being connected to our looking for Bates.”
“And?”
“It’s like you said. She doesn’t remember anything else and I don’t think she’s lying.” Mark frowned. “How’s Bates doing?”
“Still unconscious.”
“Is everything okay…with you?” Mark asked.
“Yeah. I’ll come to work tomorrow after I drop Bell off at school. I’ll have to leave early to pick her up. But I’ll work at home.”
“I wasn’t asking because of work. I meant how are things with your neighbor? Are you okay getting stuck with her kid?”
Stuck? He’d felt incompetent, not stuck. “Yeah, it’s fine.” Or would be when he got to the bottom of everything.
“Seriously?” Mark asked. “Why did you bring Mildred up—”
“I needed to ask her about any other family. And there isn’t any.” The lie tasted bitter.
“I guess taking it slow is kind of off the table, huh?” Mark’s question rolled over raw nerves.
“What was I supposed to do? Not take her to the hospital?” His question came with ire.
Mark lifted a brow. “I’m just concerned.”
“Well, don’t be. Last I checked, I’m of age.”
Mark held up a hand. “Sorry, didn’t mean to intrude.”
The apology took Juan down a few notches. “No, I’m sorry. I’m tired. But I got this.” He felt Bell watching him. “Let’s walk her up to her mom’s room and we can talk in the hall.”
They moved back to Bell and Mildred. “I got it from here,” he told Mildred. “Thanks again.”
“Anytime. She’s a sweetheart.” Mildred hugged Bell. “I hope we can play again soon.”
“You could come over to Juan’s house,” Bell said. “We could play with Sweetie, too.”
“That sounds like a great idea.” She stood and handed Bell the tote bag. “Why don’t you take this and do some more pictures and a few of the puzzles.”
“Thank you.” Bell looked up at him. “Will you do them with me?”
“Sure.” They started for the elevator. Bell kept peeking up at Mark as if nervous. And it made the little action of her slipping her hand into Juan’s feel somehow precious. He gave the tiny hand a squeeze as they entered the elevator. “Mark works with me. He’s a good guy.”
Bell nodded.
Mark smiled down at Bell. “Looks like you and Juan are friends, too.”
Bell gazed up at his partner. “Yes. He’s my mom’s friend, too. Not her boyfriend, even though he kissed her.”
“Is that so?” Mark bit back a smile as they stepped out of the elevator. “I’ll wait right here.” Mark motioned to the family room.
Nikki’s door was closed. Juan knocked. No one answered. He eased open the door. The bed was empty. Something about the silent room bothered him.
Walking to the bathroom door, he gave it a tap. “You in there?”
No answer.
Bell looked up through big scared eyes. “Where’s my mama?”
“I don’t know.” His heart knocked around in his chest as if it had come loose.
A nurse walked in. “Where’s our patient?”
Juan swallowed when he saw fear filling Bell’s eyes. “I was going to ask you that.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
I’m here.” Vicki stepped into the room from the hall, pulling her IV pole. Bell ran and wrapped her arms around Vicki’s leg. “I got orders to walk.”
Vicki’s chest tightened when she saw the tears in her niece’s eyes.
“I thought you died!” Bell sniffled.
Vicki lifted her niece’s chin. “Do I look like I’m dead?”
“No.”
Vicki glanced up at Juan and knew Bell wasn’t the only one worried. Did he think she’d bailed and left her niece? Considering she’d lied to him, she couldn’t judge him for not trusting her, but it still stung.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said with all sincerity.
“Right.” Juan’s shoulders relaxed. Was that an apology in his eyes?
She felt her knees give a little and reached out for the bedside table to steady herself.
“Let me help you.” He moved in before the nurse and put his hand around her waist. Through the thin hospital gown, she felt the warmth of his palm. The strength in his touch. The need to let someone catch her. Butterflies she didn’t think she should feel less than a day after almost dying fluttered inside her.
Now that he knew the truth, they could explore whatever this was between them. Could she take her mother’s advice and learn to trust? Or was she destined to hide her heart away for fear that trust and love was the pathway to becoming someone’s victim? Hadn’t that been the route of both her mom and sister?
* * *
Juan paid the delivery guy and brought the pizza inside. It was two o’clock. Because he hadn’t been hungry, he’d forgotten to feed Bell. What kind of babysitter was he? He felt better knowing Mildred had bought her some milk and cookies.
“Pizza’s here,” Juan said.
“Good.” She stared at a phone in her hand.
“What are you doing?” She’d b
een coloring earlier.
“Playing games. It’s my mom’s old phone, it only works for games.”
“Are you winning?”
“I’m not that good.” She made a face.
Juan dished up a slice of pepperoni pizza and took it and a glass of milk to her in the living room, where she sat on the floor. They’d left Nikki, or Vicki, with the promise to come back this afternoon. Funny how he’d already started thinking of her as Vicki.
“Here you go.” He set the plate and milk down.
Bell looked up. “Where’s the salad?”
“I didn’t know you wanted a salad.” He frowned.
Bell made a face. “I don’t. I hate vegetables. Well, I like peas and corn. But nothing else.”
Juan smiled. “I’m not a big fan of vegetables, either.”
“Mama makes me eat two bites of vegetables with lunch and dinner. For my bones.”
“Let’s make a deal. I won’t make you eat any right now, but we won’t tell her.”
“Like me eating all Frosted Flakes and not healthy ones?”
“Yeah.”
Bell grinned. Then her smile faded. “I’m still worried about my mom.”
Vicki had told Bell that Juan knew the truth about their past. On the ride to the house, she’d told Juan about her mom dying after getting hit by a car.
Before he could respond, she continued, “You know what I’m scared of?”
“What?” His grip on the wheel had tightened, thinking she was going to say her father.
“That I’ll forget. I don’t want to forget my mama.” Through his rearview mirror he’d watched her big brown eyes tear up.
Juan told her he knew how she felt, that he’d lost his mom, too. “You won’t forget her. I haven’t forgotten mine. You don’t forget people you love.” He knew that was true.
Bell picked up her pizza. “I know she’s just my aunt, but I still want to call her mama.”
“You should. She takes care of you like a mom.”
“She loves me a lot.” Bell took a bite of pizza, then returned to the game on her phone.
The child’s confidence in Vicki’s affection came off so matter-of-factly, so honest, that it touched him. “I can tell.”
“Are you going to finish coloring?” She set down the phone and pointed to the half-colored picture he’d done earlier.
“Well, I need to make an important call. Can you eat and watch TV?” He needed to find out what was in that safety deposit box.
She nodded. “Do you want me to finish coloring your dog?”
“Yeah.” His gaze shifted to the breakfast table, where he’d brought in Bates’s notebook as well as the poems Mrs. Noel had delivered. His gut said he was missing something. But his gut wasn’t being specific.
Hell, his gut was torn between thinking about this case and everything he’d learned about Vicki.
“Do you want me to turn the TV to the kids’ channel?” he asked.
She nodded and hugged Sweetie. Juan changed the channel, grabbed his phone to call Jody in L.A., and walked into the extra bedroom he used as an office. Calling her wasn’t easy, and not just because of the wild story he had to tell about Vicki. Jody was another friend he’d pulled away from since Angie’s death.
She’d sent him a sympathy card when Angie died. And she’d called and left a message and even emailed several times. He hadn’t replied. Didn’t want to hear someone else say he needed to move on.
Picking up the phone, he dialed.
“What the heck,” Jody said in lieu of hello. “Are you a mind reader? I was about to call you.”
“Really?”
“Your name came up on an investigation that’s connected to one we’re working.”
“What investigation?”
“The Liu case. Drug dealer who had some Colombian ties. He was murdered five years ago.”
“Yeah, but it happened in Anniston. Why are you working on it?”
“I’m not really working it. We made a drug bust and one of our perps wants to give up Liu’s murderer for a deal. Our guy used to live in Texas and was part of Guzman’s gang. We did some homework and found out you’re working on a Noel case that everyone thinks is connected.”
Her words had him sitting straighter. “You got a suspect? That’d be great.”
“Not so great. It’s iffy.”
“Why?”
“He’s blaming a cop. A dead cop. But the perp says the cop’s not really dead.”
Juan’s head spun in a slow circle. “You aren’t talking about Pablo Valado, are you?”
“How did you know?”
“Shit. This is crazy.” He ran a hand down his face.
“What’s crazy?”
“I was calling about him.”
“What? Are you looking at him for this, too?”
“Uh, can what I tell you stay between us…for now?”
“I don’t see why not. What’s going on?”
He told her about Vicki and the abused women’s organization that was protecting her.
“I know of the organization,” she said. “They do good work. They helped the wife of a drug dealer who testified against him last year. It wasn’t a big enough case to get her in the witness protection program. But they gave her a fresh start. How does this involve our dead cop?”
He filled her in about the book Vicki’s sister said was proof Valado was dirty, then the safety deposit box, and even about the murder of Marisol Willis.
“Damn,” Jody said. “That’s quite a story.”
“I know, but…I believe her.” And he did. Any doubt he’d had just got washed away. “Especially with what you just told me.”
“It does add validity to her story. I’ll look into it.”
“Do you know what’s in this book?”
“No. Only what I told you.”
“She has the safety deposit key?”
“Yeah. I can send it.”
“Actually, if I get her to sign something I could probably get a warrant quicker.”
“Yeah, send the forms.”
“I’ll get it to you in a couple of hours. Same email?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“So you really were just ignoring me.”
“Sorry. I just needed to work on things myself.”
“Have you worked through them?” she asked.
“I’m making headway.” But he didn’t care to talk about that. “Have you looked into the possibility of Valado being alive?”
“Only enough to know we can’t rule it out,” she said. “The body was never found.”
There was another truth Vicki had told him.
“And considering he was a suspect in his wife’s death, it’s suspicious.”
“Seriously? I never read that in my research,” Juan replied.
“Yeah, it was buried deep in some files. You know how cops are. They never want to convict one of their own.”
“True.” Another truth hit. With Valado alive, Vicki and Bell could really be in danger. Juan’s shoulder blades drew together. He told himself the man didn’t know where they were, but it didn’t help.
“I’ll look into things on my end,” Jody said. “Do you know anything else about the Willis murder?”
“Just what I told you. I haven’t had a chance to even look online.” The call ended. But having a few minutes, he Googled the name Marisol Willis. When he read that Willis had been tortured and killed while her babies were in the house, he slammed his laptop closed. What kind of monster did that? The answer came quickly. The kind who’d put a lit cigar to his daughter.
Trying to push away the ugliness, he went to check on Bell. Barely in the hall, he heard Angie’s voice. “I don’t love him just because he’s a hottie. The day…”
When he stepped into the living room he saw the video playing. He drew his shoulder blades together. Bell had the remote in her hands.
He moved in and cut off the TV.
She frowned. “I was trying to ch
ange channels.”
“Yeah.”
“Who was that?” Bell’s big brown eyes looked up at him.
“My late wife.” He hoped the truth would end the conversation.
“Oh.” She picked up a crayon and started coloring, then looked up. “What was she late for?”
An unexpected chuckle slipped off his lips, but he pulled it in. “No. That means…she passed away.”
She blinked. “She died?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you miss her like I miss my…late mom?”
He nodded.
She pursed her lips as if thinking. “Is that why Vicki, my new mom, isn’t your girlfriend?”
Her question kicked him in his gut. “You finished with your pizza?”
She nodded. He moved to the table and picked up her plate.
“My mom does that, too,” Bell said.
“Does what?”
She continued to color. “Asks a question instead of answering one.”
He hadn’t thought he could be put on the spot by a five-year-old. “It’s just…a hard question to answer.”
Her big brown eyes lifted. “Because you still love your wife?”
An ache swelled in his chest. “Yeah.”
“I still love my real mom, but I love Aunt Vicki like a mom, too. Is it different with girlfriend kind of love than it is with mom love?”
He wondered if kindergartners could tell when an adult was squirming. Not seeing any other way out of the conversation, he asked, “You need more milk?”
* * *
After an hour of mulling over what he’d learned, he decided to call Vicki. Knowing he couldn’t talk about this with Bell in the room, Juan went back into his office and called her. She’d been shocked Pablo was connected to one of his cases.
Vicki expressed concern about her name being leaked and Pablo finding her. He assured her that Jody wouldn’t do that.
“Besides, I’m not going to let him get anywhere close to you.”
“Thank you.” She hesitated before speaking again. “So you believe me now?”
“Yeah.” He almost apologized for doubting her, but could she really blame him when she’d lied to him?
“Is Bell behaving?” Vicki asked.
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