by Amber Crewes
“Your wish is my command,” Lawrence told Meghan. He gathered the three dogs together and shepherded them into the back of his squad car. “You can sit up front,” he told Meghan, helping her to open the door of the front passenger seat. “Let me help you.”
Meghan’s legs quivered as she bent down to sit in the police car. Lawrence gently held her hand as she climbed in, careful to avoid touching the bruises and scrapes. “We’ll have someone come clean you up when we get to the station,” he assured Meghan. “I’m sure we have some spare clothes around, too. Your jeans look like they’ve seen their last day.”
Meghan looked down at her legs, embarrassed that the blood from her knee was dripping onto Lawrence’s seat. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I’m so gross right now.”
“Shhhhh,” Lawrence said as he buckled his seatbelt and turned on the engine. “I’m just glad that you are safe right now. Gross is better than dead, Meghan.”
At the station, Lawrence escorted Meghan to Jack’s office. “I’ll have Chief Nunan interview you in here,” he told her. “It’s kind of like home turf for you, isn’t it?”
Meghan nodded. “Thank you, Lawrence,” she whispered.
Lawrence smiled at Meghan and tipped his hat as he left. Five minutes later, Chief Nunan entered Jack’s office, her face dark.
“Meghan,” Chief Nunan began. “I’m so sorry to hear that you were mugged.”
“Well, it was an attempted mugging,” Meghan said as she held up her purse. “He didn’t get away with my things.”
Chief Nunan nodded. “Do you mind if I sit down? I need to take some notes.”
Meghan gestured at the chair beside her. “Please,” she said. “Let’s just begin. All I want now is to get home to my dogs. Lawrence said another officer is going to drop them off at my place?”
Chief Nunan nodded. “Yes, they are on the way to your place,” she confirmed. “And we will have an officer stationed outside of your place until Jack gets home. It’s the least we can do. Anyway, let me hear from you just exactly what happened.”
Meghan dove into her story, telling the Chief about her walk home, hearing the mugger’s footsteps, and how he ran away after Dash bit him in the leg. “I think I could have made it without Dash,” Meghan said. “The man didn’t seem too intimidating; I was just scared.”
“Duly noted,” Chief Nunan said. “Tell me what else happened.”
She told the Chief that the mugger dropped a silver bracelet, and she pulled the trinket out of her pocket to show the Chief. “He dropped this, too. Jack told me to bring it in.”
“May I see?” asked the Chief.
Meghan gave her the bracelet. “I’m going to have this sent off to the lab to collect DNA, if possible,” the Chief told Meghan. “Do you have any more details regarding the attack that you would like to be noted, Meghan?”
Meghan shook her head. “No, that’s all I remember,” she said.
The Chief nodded. “It sounds like this is the same guy who has been committing the other muggings,” she informed Meghan, her blue eyes dark with concern. “Your description of the attack, as well as your interaction with the attacker, makes me wonder if this guy also has something to do with Cathy Thomas’ death.”
“I wondered that myself,” Meghan admitted. “The attacker seemed so cold and heartless, and I could just imagine him attacking poor Cathy.”
Chief Nunan tucked a stray blonde hair back into her sleek bun. “Well, thank you for sharing your information,” she told Meghan. “I am going to see to it that you are well protected. Now, let me drive you home.”
In Chief Nunan’s squad car, Meghan leaned against the seat, exhausted by the events of the evening.
“You doing okay?” Chief Nunan asked.
“Just tired,” Meghan replied. “If I’m exhausted, you must be so tired, Chief. This is just a single incident for me, but this is your entire job.”
Chief Nunan laughed. “It’s my life,” she agreed. “I love this field. Has Jack ever mentioned to you how I got into the force to begin with?”
Meghan shook her head. “No, he hasn’t.”
“When I was a young woman,” Chief Nunan began. “I was in school to become an engineer. I always liked numbers and science, and it seemed like a perfect fit for me. I was doing well in my classes, too. I was at the top of my class at Stanford, and I had been accepted to a graduate program to specialize in industrial engineering.”
Meghan’s jaw dropped. “You were going to be an engineer? I can’t imagine you sitting behind a desk.”
Chief Nunan shrugged as she guided the car toward Meghan’s apartment. “It seemed like the right fit at the time. Anyway, one night, as I was walking home from my advisor’s office at Stanford, I was mugged. Two men stole my purse. It was pretty ugly. I was torn up about it.”
Meghan shook her head. “That sounds so scary,” she said.
Chief Nunan frowned. “It was scary, but the worse part was that they took my purse, and in my purse was a photograph of my dad. He passed away in the war when I was a baby, and I carried his picture in my purse for luck.”
Meghan felt the tears brim in her dark eyes. “That’s terrible,” she whispered.
“They took my purse, but they left me with two things,” Chief Nunan declared. “The first thing they left me with was this scar.” Chief Nunan pulled back her hat to reveal a long, thin white scar on her neck.
“Chief Nunan,” Meghan shrieked. “They did that to you?”
Chief Nunan nodded. “They did. They left me with a scar, but they also left me with a dream. The mugging incident inspired me to leave Stanford and become a police officer. I wanted to protect people--especially young women. I wanted to feel empowered to protect myself and to protect others. I wanted to fight for justice, and I wanted to use my experience to help others.”
A single tear fell from Meghan’s eyes. “That is so beautiful,” she told the Chief as they pulled up to Meghan’s apartment. “Thank you for sharing your story with me.”
“Of course,” Chief Nunan said. “I want you to know that you are not alone. It can be terrifying to be a young woman in this world, but I am here for you if you ever need anything.”
“Thank you,” Meghan murmured.
“I am going to personally see to it that this mugger is caught,” the Chief declared. “I can’t say for certain yet if the murder and the muggings are connected, but I will be looking into that as well. Sometimes, those freelance muggers can become desperate, but I feel like this was planned. The blow to her head was on the back, and it looked like she didn’t expect it. But, I will continue to investigate. You just hang in there, Meghan. Take good care of yourself.”
“I will,” Meghan told the Chief as she hoisted herself out of the police car, wondering if the mugger would come back for her. “I will.”
10
The next afternoon, Meghan was still shaken from the attack. Her hands were jittery, her heart pounded when she heard footsteps, and she could not shake the tight, stifling grip of anxiety on her heart. She didn’t want to go to work; with her quivering hands and nervous breath, Meghan could hardly tie her apron around her neck as she prepared to start her day.
“You look like you need a rest, Meghan,” Trudy firmly told her as she entered the kitchen, the dark circles under her eyes evident to all who saw her. “Pamela and I can take care of things today. You went through something terrible last night. Let us do the work around here, Meghan.”
Meghan shook her head. “I have to be strong,” she told Trudy. “If I let a mugger ruin my day or affect my business, then I am letting him win,” she declared, her voice shaky, but sure. “I need to hold my head high and go about my day. I don’t want anyone to think that a mugger got the best of Meghan Truman.”
Trudy rolled her eyes. “That’s a nice speech,” she told Meghan. “But my dear, sometimes, in order to best take care of yourself, you have to take a step back. If you keep barreling on with work and your life as though no
thing happened, you could break down. And breaking down is how you let him win, Meghan. You have to take care of yourself.”
Meghan shrugged. She crossed her arms defensively in front of her chest, and then, she realized that one of her newly-done nails had broken. “Ugh,” she groaned as she looked at her fingers. “The mugger must have broken one of my nails.”
“That’s it,” Trudy announced. “Meghan, I am going to step in and be the boss for a minute. You are going to work until noon today, and then, you are going to march yourself over to Jackie’s salon and get that nail taken care of. After you leave, I don’t want to see your face until tomorrow morning. You need some time to yourself. Do you understand?”
Meghan’s heart swelled as Trudy’s maternal side came out, and she reached to hug her. “Thank you,” Meghan whispered into Trudy’s ear. “I will give Jackie a call in a bit to see if she can squeeze me in for an appointment.”
“And if she can’t, I will just send you upstairs to your apartment for some rest and relaxation,” Trudy decided. “You need to take care of yourself.”
Seeing a group of well-dressed women enter the bakery, Meghan straightened her back and plastered a smile on her face. “Good morning, ladies,” she called out to the group, eying their expensive handbags, perfectly-positioned highlights, and knee-high leather boots. “Welcome to Truly Sweet.”
One of the young women approached Meghan at the counter. She was strikingly beautiful, with long raven hair, bright green eyes, and the highest cheekbones Meghan had ever seen. “Meghan Truman? Do you remember us? We were at Mariah Cooper’s little soiree.”
Meghan smiled. “Yes, I thought you all looked familiar,” she told the woman. “I’m glad to see you. I hope you are all doing okay; the loss of Cathy following the party was such a shock.”
The raven-haired woman nodded earnestly. “It was horrible,” she whispered to Meghan. “Tia, my friend over there, found a gray hair the morning after. A gray hair! The stress is getting to all of us, clearly.”
Meghan frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she said. “I hope we can make your day a bit sweeter. What brings you ladies in today?”
The raven-haired woman batted her eyelashes. “We usually don’t do this,” she confessed to Meghan, leaning in. “But with the news of that mugger, as well as Cathy’s death, we decided to have a little cheat day.”
“A cheat day?” Meghan asked in confusion.
“A cheat day,” the woman confirmed. “We usually have healthy diets; I myself only eat organic chicken breast, spinach, and fresh raspberries. Today, though, the girls and I decided that we need some comfort food. We want to indulge a little, and Tia, my friend, remembered your treats from the event at the hotel.”
“Well, this is certainly a place to indulge,” Meghan said, gesturing to the many desserts in the display case. “We have some delightful German chocolate cake that was made fresh this morning, or some macaroons that will be out of the oven in only minutes. What do you think?”
The woman wrinkled her nose. “Those sound nice,” she said. “But one of the girls took a teensy bite of your King Cake at the event, and that’s all she has been talking about. Can we split one?”
Meghan nodded. “I have a fresh King Cake in the back,” she told her. “If you ladies want to seat yourselves, I’ll have someone bring tea and coffee out, and I will warm the cake for you.”
“Excellent,” the woman grinned. “We’ll sit right over there.”
Meghan sent Pamela over to serve the ladies, and when she returned to their table with a platter of King cake, their faces grew bright. “It looks even better than I remember!” Tia exclaimed.
“Let’s dig in, girls,” the raven-haired woman declared.
The women devoured the cake, and Meghan was thrilled when they left her a hefty tip at the end of their visit. “We’ll be back on our next cheat day,” the raven-haired woman assured Meghan. “Your cake was to die for.”
As the women left, Trudy intercepted Meghan. “It’s time for you to leave,” she told her. “It’s past noon, and you need to go get your nails done.”
“I haven’t had the chance to call Jackie yet,” Meghan protested. “And we have customers in the middle of eating. I can’t just leave.”
“Yes, you can,” Trudy insisted. “Go upstairs, change out of your work clothes, and call Jackie.”
Meghan obeyed Trudy, slipping her dirty apron over her head and trudging up the stairs. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed Jackie’s number.
“I was just about to call you,” Jackie said in a hushed voice. “Meghan, I made a fool of myself.”
Meghan wrinkled her nose. “What do you mean, Jackie?”
“Chief Nunan called me to let me know that she was sending an officer over to the salon to interview me about the murder. She said that they had some questions about my whereabouts the night of the death, and they wanted to find out more about why I was at the hotel.”
“That sounds about right,” Meghan told Jackie. “They look at everyone’s whereabouts and stories when they deal with a murder. It sounds like Chief Nunan had some pretty standard questions. What did you say to her?”
“That’s the problem,” Jackie croaked. “She sent Lawrence, that hunk of an officer, out to talk to me. Meghan, he is gorgeous. I want to run my hands through those dark curls of his. And that jawline? He is a babe.”
Meghan laughed. “I’ll have to tell Jack you said that. Maybe we can set you two up and double date?”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Jackie moaned. “I didn’t expect such a cutie pie to show up at my door, and I acted like a fool, Meghan. I could hardly speak. When he looked at me, I lost all ability to speak. I sounded like such a loser.”
“I’m sure that isn’t true. The police are used to people feeling awkward and tense in interviews. It probably went better than you thought.”
“I hope you’re right,” Jackie said. “Anyway, what did you call me for? What’s up?”
“One of my nails broke last night,” Meghan told Jackie.
“Oh no. How did that happen?” Jackie asked.
“It’s….a long story,” Meghan murmured, not wanting to recount the mugging. “I have some time right now. Could I run over and have the nail fixed?”
“Yeah, it’s quiet around here today,” Jackie said. “Why don’t you come on over?”
“Awesome. I’ll see you in a few.”
When Meghan arrived at the salon, she was pleasantly surprised to find that there were no customers. She wasn’t in the mood to make small talk, and Meghan was happy to relax and spend time with her friend.
“Thank you for squeezing me in,” Meghan told Jackie as Jackie greeted her.
“No problem,” Jackie said. “I’m happy to see you.”
Meghan settled into the chair at one of the manicure stations, feeling luxurious as she sank into the leather seat. Jackie examined her hands. “How did this nail come off?” she asked as she looked at Meghan’s pointer finger, the nail torn and the skin jagged. “Meghan? This didn’t happen while you were baking, did it?”
Meghan sighed. “I didn’t want to tell you,” she began. “But I was mugged last night as I walked home from your house.”
Jackie gasped. “You were mugged? Were you hurt? Did they take anything? Oh Meghan, I am so sorry. Are you okay?”
Meghan felt tears brim in her dark eyes, and she took a long breath. “It was terrifying,” she told Jackie. “He came out of nowhere, and he tried to take my purse. Dash bit him in the leg, and he ran off, but I’m pretty upset.”
“I’m sure,” Jackie said. “What an awful thing to go through. I’m so glad you are safe, Meghan.”
“Me too,” Meghan murmured.
“Hey,” a cool voice greeted Meghan and Jackie. They turned to see Rosie Jakes march into the salon.
“Rosie,” Jackie said. “It’s nice to see you today. Are you here to drop off the remaining balance for the salon day?�
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Rosie nodded. “Yes,” she said. “Here’s the check.”
Jackie beamed. “Thank you for such a wonderful opportunity,” she told Rosie as she opened the envelope. “It didn’t end the way we hoped, but I’m glad that we were able to partner together to create such a fun, relaxing day for Mariah and her friends.”
“Our friends,” Rosie corrected.
“Of course,” Jackie apologized as she looked down at the check. She frowned. “Rosie, this is not the amount we agreed on,” she said. “Will there be another check?”
“No,” Rosie told her. “We agreed on an amount that was meant to compensate you for two days of service. You only worked for one day.”
