“I really don’t know. I know Rick is a no-sugar type of guy. He cares about his appearance a lot so he’s always eating salad and drinking kale smoothies. However, he doesn’t bake. He doesn’t do dessert. It’s as if for every clue that points to him, there’s a fact that says it isn’t him.”
Nabi cleared his throat and drew their attention back to him. “I know it’s not my investigation, but regardless of who it is, these incidences are escalating. Text messages to arson to attempted murder of a pet. You all know what that means.”
Jace nodded as his lips pursed together. “That Stella’s life in now in imminent danger.”
Stella’s whole body stiffened and Jace felt the shiver of fear that suddenly wracked her as he held her against his side. “It’s okay. I’ve got you,” Jace whispered against her ear before placing a kiss on her head.
“I don’t understand. Who would do this to me and why?” Stella’s voice grew louder as it cracked with panic and a trace of anger. “I’ve never done anything to purposefully hurt anyone.”
Katelyn came up beside her and wrapped Stella in a hug. Jace felt the loss of her instantly, but Stella needed some motherly support right now.
Katelyn ran her hand over Stella’s hair, trying to calm her as she held Stella in her arms. “Shh. It’ll be okay. We will track him down and cut off his balls. Don’t you worry.”
Stella pulled away and looked at Katelyn with confusion. “Did you say that you’d—”
“Neuter him. Nabi can hide a body better than almost anyone.”
Nabi bowed his head slightly. “Not as well as Ahmed, but I’m getting there.”
Stella looked over her shoulder at Jace with a “are they for real” look. Jace shrugged. They probably were for real.
“Now,” Katelyn said, bringing Stella’s attention back to her, “why don’t you go back to Jace’s apartment and get some rest? I’ll stay here with Jimmy for a while and I’ll call you after I do his morning blood work. Sound okay to you?”
Jace took the opportunity to put his arm around Stella again. The need to protect her was overwhelming. “Come on. Aunt Katelyn will take excellent care of Jimmy. Let’s get some rest. In the morning we can come up with a list of anyone who would be capable of these acts.”
“I’ll swing by before I get off duty,” Andy told them.
“Thank you, deputies, Dr. Davies, and Mr. Nabi. You’ve gone above and beyond to try to catch this person. It just seems so strange. I’m not a person to inspire such passion, neither love nor hatred. I’m just an ordinary woman.”
“You’re wrong about that,” Jace told her, not even caring that everyone was listening. “You inspire love, caring, nurturing, and kindness. But I agree I can’t think of any reason for you to inspire hatred.”
Andy frowned as if thinking and then turned to Jace. “Can you go start the car and give Faith her physical? I have just a couple of quick questions for Stella.”
“Sure.” Jace didn’t like leaving her side, but Stella gave him a nod to tell him it was okay. “I’ll be within shouting distance if you need me.”
* * *
Stella watched Jace walk through the maze of the back of the clinic and out into the lobby. Andy and Luke had been talking with their heads together as Jace left. Stella shook with nerves and Katelyn wrapped her a motherly embrace.
“I can leave if you want,” Katelyn offered.
Stella shook her head. Right now she needed the support Katelyn was giving her. “What is it?” Stella asked Andy and Luke.
“We can’t stop thinking about the timing,” Luke told her. “Two things happened that were out of the norm for you when these threats started.”
“One, you started spending time with Jace.” Andy held up one finger and then another. “Two, you started a new business.”
Stella’s mind forced aside her emotions to focus on what they were saying. “Since we can’t think of anyone who wants to hurt me for personal reasons, we should look at who wants to ruin my business?”
“That’s certainly a new option we are considering,” Andy told her. Stella’s mind felt like a Rolodex spinning as she thought of all her competitors.
“I’ll think on it, but I still can’t think of anyone. I’ve never had a rival of any sorts.”
Andy looked over his shoulder and then stepped forward. “Are you sure you don’t want to do this next part alone? It’s private.” When Stella shook her head, Andy took a deep breath as if to steel himself. “We’ve talked about Rick and about your previous boyfriend, but is there anyone else that you might not have mentioned. A one-night stand. An affair. Are you part of any underground culture?”
“Andy, are you asking if she’s slept with a married man, had sex with a stranger, or belongs to a BDSM or swingers club?” Katelyn asked with a roll of her eyes.
“That’s what ‘underground culture’ means?” Stella whispered to her.
“Yes, among other possibilities.” Andy was doing his professional best to maintain an impassive expression on his face. “I’m asking about all the embarrassing, potentially taboo things that you might not want to answer with Jace around.”
“I can’t think of what you would mean. I’m pretty boring apparently.” Stella couldn’t look at Katelyn who was trying her best not to laugh.
“Do you dress up as a furry? Do you have orgies? Do you have a fake dating profile to have sex with strangers? Do you vandalize buildings at night? Have you slashed someone’s tire? Anything you would normally never tell anyone about?” Andy apparently decided to hold nothing back this time.
“She’s the quietest, sweetest woman, Andy,” Katelyn defended. “Not that orgies are wrong, dear. More power to you for well, doing any of the things on the list, well, not the criminal parts,” she added quickly.
“It’s always the quiet ones with the most secrets,” Andy said knowingly.
Katelyn chuckled with amusement. “Andy, you’re the quiet . . . oh.”
Now both Stella and Katelyn were staring at him and his skin blushed so deeply it matched his red hair. “You were the mascot in high school. Not a big jump to being a furry,” Katelyn said thoughtfully.
“What’s a furry?” Stella whispered to Katelyn as Andy rolled his eyes.
“I’m not a furry. And furries are misunderstood. It’s people dressing up in animal costumes with human-like features. For many, it’s a fandom or cosplay. For others, it’s sexual. Now, I wanted to give you a chance to tell us anything you don’t want Jace to know. We won’t judge you at all. We just want to keep you safe.”
“I stole a candy bar in the fourth grade. I called Stacy Milano a bitch in high school. One time in college I turned in a paper thirty minutes late but didn’t tell my professor. I didn’t know what a furry was. I’ve never had an orgy or a threesome. I did have fuzzy handcuffs put on once by a boyfriend. Does that count as BDSM?” Stella felt her heart racing as she went into full confession mode. “I once gave April a cookie when her mom told me not to. The only clubbing I’ve done was on spring break and somewhere there’s an embarrassing picture of me dancing on the bar top. But I kept my clothes on. I never cheated on anyone. I’ve never been a part of an affair. I secretly love true crime shows so I’d like to think I would know if the person I was dating was a serial killer.”
“Okay, okay,” Andy said, holding up his hand. “I think we have all we need. There’s no other part of your life that would give us leads except business rivals.”
Stella took a deep breath as Katelyn rubbed her back. “I’ll think about it and let you know what I come up with.”
“We’ll meet tomorrow to see what you’ve got.” Andy paused and looked her over. “What’s wrong?”
Stella looked up from the floor and stopped biting her lip. “N-n-nothing.”
Luke and Andy had on almost identical cop faces, but Andy, bless his heart, she could only imagine dressed up in an animal costume.
“What is it?” Luke asked when she didn’t answer.
/> “I’m boring. Even I’m bored with the list of bad things I’ve done.”
“Dear,” Katelyn said sympathetically. “You can’t be that boring. Someone’s trying to hurt you.”
Stella blinked and then laughed. “Maybe they’ll run in fear if I dress up as a furry and tie Jace up on the front lawn to lick him.”
Luke choked and covered it up with a cough. Andy’s face was flaming again and Katelyn’s shoulders shook as she tried not to laugh out loud.
“Oh, Tammy got lucky with you.”
“Don’t you mean Jace?” Stella asked Katelyn, who shook her head.
“Nope. I mean Tammy. A funny daughter-in-law is a gift.”
“I have plenty of ropes, chains, and other bindings if you ever want some.”
Stella almost jumped. She’d thought Nabi had gone down the hall but he’d been standing outside the open door.
“Call if you need anything. You’ll probably have to call Aniyah for the fuzzy handcuffs, though.” Nabi turned around and walked away as silently as he’d appeared.
“Go on home, dear. I’ll let you know how Jimmy’s doing in the morning and drop off this book Aniyah has that I think you’ll like. It’s about a vampire and the things he does . . . well, I won’t ruin it for you. See you in the morning.”
Stella hugged the woman and thanked her. “You think we can keep my vanilla sex life private?”
“I wouldn’t want to lie, dear.” Katelyn walked out and Stella turned to see both Luke and Andy on their phones.
“Don’t tell me this was live-streamed or something?”
Andy’s head shot up. “Oh no. Totally confidential. Well, except for what Dr. K just did.”
“What did she do?” Stella was almost panicked. She’d trusted the woman.
“She raised her bet on the app to a hundred dollars. We have to get in on this,” Andy told her.
“What bet?”
“You survived the infamous Davies family dinner and Dr. K’s raised her bet on you and Jace getting married. It has the town in a betting frenzy,” Andy explained as he finally looked up from his phone.
* * *
“You okay?” Jace asked a moment later as Stella walked into the lobby in a state of suspended disbelief.
“This is a very strange town.”
Jace’s eyes shot to Luke and Andy. Andy shrugged. “We are. But come on, I had to get in on the bet when I could.”
“I noticed,” Jace said dryly. “My phone hasn’t stopped buzzing with notifications.”
Stella noticed Nabi and Faith were gone as Jace put his arm around her. “Ready to go home?”
Stella nodded and it wasn’t until she was seated in his car and they were driving toward his apartment that she realized the word home didn’t conjure up images of her own house or even Jace’s apartment. They conjured up images of them snuggled up on the couch. Them laughing together. Them . . . oh goodness. All the talk of vampires and handcuffs was invading her subconscious because the image of Jace tying her to the bed and nibbling his way down to her—
“I bet you can’t wait to get into bed.”
“Yes, no. What?” Had she been describing her fantasy out loud?
Jace looked at her curiously before turning back to the road. “It’s been a long day and a very stressful night. I assumed you were tired.”
“Yes. So tired.” Stella faked a yawn. Tired was the last feeling she had after that short sexy daydream. Now, how to act cool when she clearly wasn’t? Plus, how to figure out who wanted to hurt her so she could focus on living out some of these fantasies that were pushing their way to the front of her mind.
18
Stella and Jace walked upstairs in silence. He didn’t know what Stella was thinking, but she looked as if a million things were racing through her mind. Jace knew the same was true for him, too.
The idea of someone wanting to hurt someone Stella loved—and maybe even Stella herself—brought forth an anger he hadn’t felt since the last time he’d been forced to pick up a gun.
“I’m going to take a quick shower,” Stella murmured when he unlocked the door. He nodded, but his mind was still in Africa.
* * *
It had been the middle of the night when a small hand had shaken him awake. “Mr. Jace, they’re coming.”
Jace had reached under his pillow and pulled the gun his Uncle Cy had somehow gotten delivered to him. There was no need to ask the five-year-old who was coming. There was a group of rebels invading small, defenseless villages all through the country. They killed the men, raped the women, and stole the children, who went on to become one of three things: a child fighter, a factory slave, or dead.
The small town Jace spent his college summers in had been prepared. They had sentries posted around town with runners to get back to the village before the rebels could sneak up on everyone.
When Jace made his way out of his small room, he saw something that turned his blood to ice. Women and girls were running for the forest. About two hundred yards into the thick trees was a hiding spot Jace had helped them build. It was like a tornado or bomb shelter. The women were to run and hide. The men on the other hand . . .
Jace looked down at the little boy who had woken him and saw he was holding a gun in his hand. It changed Jace’s whole world in that one second.
“Get to your places,” the elders ordered. Men were scaling trees, some hiding behind buildings, and the boys were at the school. Jace saw their young faces at each window and knew they were armed to save themselves, save their friends, and save their families. They would do anything, even kill, to protect their loved ones.
“Mr. Jace, here.”
Jace heard the rebels coming as he ran for the school. Gunfire erupted from the trees about twenty yards from the village as he placed himself at the door to the school. “Stay down. Don’t let them see you unless they kill me. Then don’t let a single man in this school.”
Thirty little heads nodded. They ranged from five years old to ten. By ten, you were considered grown and out with the men holding second- or third-hand rifles, ready to fight.
The shots came in earnest as Jace heard the screaming. The boys huddled in their positions as Jace guarded the door. Then they came. They rushed the village and the snipers in the trees began to take them out. Jace saw the leader stride into town as if he were bulletproof. Their eyes connected and he ordered the men to attack the school.
“You’re too late,” Jace called out, keeping the gun out of sight since most aid workers and doctors weren’t armed. “I sent the children away.”
Shrieks came from the forest as three men came back dragging a woman who was now nude and a child who wasn’t more than two.
“It appears I found some. Tell me where the others are or I’ll kill them slowly,” the rebel leader called out as he grabbed the child.
The rebel leader placed a gun to the head of the child and smiled victoriously. The mother screamed and there was no need to translate the fear and panic she felt. It was a mother’s universal cry as she did everything she could to save her child.
There was no choice to make. No time to think about how he’d feel later. No time to weigh the responsibility of taking a life. Jace raised his arm and fired. The child the rebel leader had been pressing the gun to screamed as the dead leader fell beside him. The mother dropped to the ground and yelled for her baby to run, he took off straight for Jace as the other rebel fighters looked around nervously.
Faces appeared at the windows of the school as his children stared at him in disbelief. The men of the village opened fire. Without their leader and under heavy fire, the rebels were left with no choice but to retreat.
* * *
The buzzing sound snapped Jace from his memory. His hands were clenched where they hung by his side. His heart was beating hard and he realized that the thought of Stella in danger had triggered the memory of that terrible scene, but had also given him strength. He’d protected the innocents then and he’d protect her
now.
The faces of the kids he still wrote to flashed through his mind. They’d been willing to do anything to save their village and he was willing to do anything to save Stella.
The person pressed the buzzer again and Jace felt for his gun at the small of his back before jogging down the stairs. He took a deep breath and placed his hand on his gun at the small of his back. Jace opened the door and stood, shocked. “What’s going on?”
Faces filled the back lot.
“Well, are you going to let us in or are you going to stare like a fish out of water?” Miss Lily asked.
Jace blinked and then shook his head. His village had arrived.
* * *
“What’s going on?” Stella asked, coming out of his room with wet hair and wearing cute pajamas that clung to every delectable curve. The apartment had been quiet and then suddenly it sounded as if there’d been an invasion.
“We heard about poor Jimmy.” Aniyah dabbed at a tear before turning fierce. “Whoever the coward was who did this deserves to be taken out back and shot.”
“Baby, you’re in the state legislature now. You can’t be shooting people,” her husband, DeAndre, said with a long-suffering sigh.
“But I can. Only the lowest gutter rat would hurt an animal. If anyone touched my Nemi, I would tear them limb from limb. No, I’d start with the fingers first and work my way through every single joint.”
Stella’s eyes went wide as everyone nodded in agreement.
“So, when we find the person behind this, turn him over to Ahmed,” Marshall ordered.
“Katelyn told you what happened?” Stella asked Katelyn’s husband, who nodded.
“It’s one thing to go after you or one of us. We can defend ourselves. But to go after your dog? Whoever it is has crossed a line and we will take them out,” Jace’s Uncle Miles said fiercely a second before Stella broke down in tears. She couldn’t help it. She’d felt so alone tonight even when surrounded by people. Then they’d all come. They all felt her frustration and her anger. They understood, and they were there for her. She was beyond touched.
Forever Saved Page 14
