PENITENCE: An Andi Comstock Supernatural Mystery, Book 2 (95,893 words)

by Ann Simas

  “What blanket?”

  “The one I had on me when you started pounding on my door. I lost my hold on it, then I tripped over it and fell. I hit my head on the coffee table.”

  His stormy eyes widened at her accusatory tone. “You’re blaming your fall on me?”

  Andi ignored the fact that he sounded hurt rather than angry. “I’d blame it on the postman, but he doesn’t deliver to my door.”

  “I’m sorry. I sure as hell didn’t mean to startle you into tripping.” His entire demeanor reeked of sincerity.

  Andi felt compelled to exonerate him. After all, he wasn’t responsible because she was born clumsy. “It wasn’t really your fault. I should have gathered the darned thing off the floor before I moved.”

  “Still….”

  “Jack, it’s okay. Really. The blame is on me, not you.”

  He studied her for a few more silent moments. “Do you have a thermometer?”

  She told him where it was and moved the ice pack, hoping to make it more comfortable.

  Jack brought back the digital stick and inserted the tip into one of the thin plastic sleeves she’d bought to keep it sterile. “Open up.”

  Andi complied, closing her lips around the device to keep it in place. When it beeped, Jack removed it, giving a whistle when he read the result.

  “What is it?”

  “One hundred-point-nine.” He removed the plastic and tossed it into the wastebasket. “What are your other symptoms?”

  Andi had to think about it. So much had happened in the past twenty-four hours, she’d just thought she was exhausted. She hadn’t considered she was coming down with something. “Achiness, exhaustion, chills, headache.”

  “Sounds like a flu bug.”

  “I got a flu shot.”

  “Maybe a cold then.”

  “No sneezing or runny nose.” She swallowed several times. “My throat is a little sore, too.” She opened her mouth in case he wanted to look inside and verify what she was saying.

  He planted his hands on his hips. “You do know I’m not a doctor, right?”

  She gave him a droll look. “You did ask what my symptoms are.”

  He went on, as if she hadn’t spoken. “But you have a sister who is. Want me to call and ask her to stop by?”

  Andi almost said no, but then she realized she didn’t have time to be sick. If she had something that an antibiotic could take care of, the sooner she started taking it, the better, and Natalie made house calls. “I guess.”

  He shook his head again, but didn’t comment on her surly reply. “I’ll use your phone, since I’m guessing her number’s programmed in. Where is it?”

  “On the dining table.”

  “I’ll be back shortly. Don’t go to sleep.”

  “Okay.” Andi laid back and closed her eyes, wondering why he’d say such a thing. She turned her head slightly and released her hold on the ice pack, easing the pressure against the bump. She sighed with relief and felt the tension in her body begin to ebb.

  In spite of Jack’s warning, she realized she could easily fall asleep. She tried to open her eyes, but they were glued shut.

  Oh, well.

  Jack was gone so long, she thought he’d taken a side trip to the moon.

  He was anything but quiet when he returned.

  Andi worked her eyelids up.

  His expression was grim.

  So much for the caring, concerned Jack. He’d been supplanted once more by the angry Jack.

  She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to look at him, but unfortunately, she couldn’t close her ears.

  “What’s that stuff on the table, Andi?”

  Her eyes flew open again. How had she forgotten the squished Bug? The threatening note? Hadn’t she just told him minutes ago that someone wanted her dead? Or was it hours ago? Had the injury to her head caused some kind of mental debilitation and memory loss already? “Someone left it on my doorstep this afternoon. I was going to call you, but I got so cold, I wanted to warm up before I bearded the lion in his den.”

  He regarded her with a mix of consternation and anger.

  “Honest.”

  “It’s not that I don’t believe you, but will you lay off the smart-ass remarks for a while?” He opened the contact list on her phone and located Natalie’s cell phone number. He hit SEND and said to Andi, “To be continued after I talk to your sister.”

  Andi listened in subdued silence as her boyfriend communicated with Nat about both her ailment and the knot on her head. Even though she worked to keep her eyes open, they had a mind of their own. All she wanted to do was sleep.

  The next thing she knew, Natalie was shaking her awake.

  Andi didn’t respond. Couldn’t Nat tell how tired she was?

  “Andi, wake up!”

  She tried to open her eyes, but they wouldn’t cooperate. Nat raised her eyelids, one at a time, shining a horrible bright light in each one. It hurt. “You were a lot more gentle when you pretended to be a doctor as a kid,” Andi grumbled.

  “And you were a lot more cooperative when you were a kid,” Nat responded with a laugh. “Now roll over and be quiet, so I can listen to your lungs.” Her sister placed the diaphragm against Andi’s back, moving it several times with the instruction, “Deep breaths in.” After several of those, Nat said, “Okay, roll onto your back again so I can listen from the front.”

  Andi finally got her eyes open.

  Jack loomed over her. Caring Jack. She smiled at him, hoping to ease his obvious concern.

  “That’s good enough,” her sister said a moment later.

  “What do you think?” Jack asked when Nat had finished.

  “I think she may have viral pneumonia.”

  “Can you treat it?”

  “Not with antibiotics, but she can still take ibuprofen for fever and pain and she’ll need to drink lots of fluids and get plenty of rest.”

  “What about knot on her head?”

  “That could be problematic because of the chance of a hematoma forming.” Natalie dropped her stethoscope back into her medical bag. “She should have someone monitoring her tonight, just in case. Are you up for it?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Good.” She snapped her med bag closed, then sat on the bed beside her sister. “Are you talking to another dead person in serious need of help, Andi?”

  Wide awake now, or as wide awake as a head-injured person with a temperature of over one hundred degrees could be, Andi grappled with an answer.

  “A simple yes or no will suffice,” Nat said, her own response laconic.

  “Yes,” Jack answered, as if he were her ventriloquist.

  Natalie gave a quick nod. “I thought something was up at dinner Sunday night. Andi was just too darned quiet.”

  “Because I was starting to get sick,” Andi mumbled on her own behalf.

  “Maybe, but I think it’s more likely because you’re embroiled in another brouhaha like the one with Sherry.” She glanced at Jack. “Or worse.”

  “Hard to say,” he said, noncommittally.

  “I get it,” Natalie said, rising. “MYOB, right?” She looked down at Andi. “I’ll check on you tomorrow. Want me to bring you a strawberry milkshake?”

  Andi nodded. There wasn’t anything she liked more when she was under the weather.

  “You want one now?” Jack asked. “I’ll run out and get it while Natalie’s still here.”

  “That actually sounds good. Better grab something for yourself to eat while you’re out. My cupboards are kind of bare.”

  Jack’s head swung in Nat’s direction. “You mind?”

  “Nope. I’ll take one, too, since you’re buying.” She flashed him a grin, which he returned with good humor.

  “Be right back.”

  “From DQ,” Andi said. “Theirs are the best.”

  “Aye, aye, cap’n.” And then he was gone.

  “No lectures,” Andi said to her sister.

  “Do I look lik
e I’m gearing up to lecture you?”

  “Yes.”

  Natalie sat back down on the bed. “Look, I won’t offer a lecture about communicating with the dead, but I will lecture you about taking care of yourself while you’re doing it. You need less stress in your life, not more. Get plenty of rest, don’t skip meals, eat right, drink lots of fluids, try not to worry, and when you get to feeling better, get out and exercise your legs.”

  “I can do pretty much all of that but I can’t skip worrying, Nat. Not when someone’s life is at risk.”

  “I was afraid you were going to say that. Anyone I know?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “That’s a relief.” She fiddled with the edge of the blanket Jack had thrown over Andi. “Vaughn called today and asked if he could transfer all his kids to our practice.”

  “I’m not surprised,” Andi said. “You’re a great pediatrician.”

  “He asked if there was any special medical equipment I needed for the office that my budget wouldn’t handle.”

  “He’s a generous man,” Andi said. “What did you tell him?”

  “That I appreciated the offer, but I have good credit and if I need anything, I can buy it myself.”

  “Ouch.”

  “I know,” Natalie said, her tone glum, “but at least I remembered to say ‘thank you’ for the offer.”

  . . .

  Andi woke twice during the night, once to use the bathroom and once to get a glass of ice water because she felt completely parched. Jack trailed after her, chastising her because she hadn’t woken him to get it for her. Andi snuggled up against him, secure in his embrace, even though she was shivering again. “Must have been the ice water,” she said.

  “Or the virus. Back to bed with you.”

  When she woke again at eight, Jack was asleep beside her bed in the chair he’d dragged in from the living room. Andi stretched, feeling like she’d slept curled into a tight ball all night long, though she knew that wasn’t the case.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Too soon to tell, but I’m guessing I’ll live.”

  With a serious expression on his handsome features, he said, “I certainly hope so.”

  “Thanks for sitting watch over me.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I know you’re pissed at me because of the Helen MacLeary thing.”

  His eyebrows dipped in an ominous frown. “So, I shouldn’t care if you’re sick because I’m ticked about you butting into my interview with her?” He shook his head in disgust. “What kind of man do you think I am, Andi, that I can’t separate our personal relationship from our work relationship?”

  Andi stared at him, a little dumbfounded.

  He continued before she could respond. “Just so you know, if you ever pull a stunt like that again, we’re going to have some major trouble. I still can’t believe how you went after her.”

  “Too much?” Andi ventured.

  Jack smirked. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re the mistress of understatement?”

  Maybe, but Andi would be damned if she’d admit it. “Did you get anything viable from what she said, at least?”

  “You mean other than the fact that she’s a liar? No.”

  Andi’s expectations deflated. “I was hoping she’d dispense some pearl that would….” Now that she thought about it, she couldn’t really remember why it had seemed so urgent that she be involved in that interview, or that she redirect it to suit her own needs. “I’m sorry, Jack. Next time, I’ll ask you directly.”

  “Don’t bother, because we already know you don’t pay attention when I say no. If ever even the smidgen of such a thought enters your mind again, kick it to the curb, because whether you ask me or go to the LT behind my back again, there ain’t gonna be a next time.”

  “I said I was sorry.”

  “I know, and I appreciate the apology, but I wish to God the whole fiasco had never happened.”

  Andi didn’t agree. If not for her questions to Helen, she might not have learned that Davis MacLeary’s wife was related to Clem, although how that fit in to anything concerning the hitman Clem had hired to kill Denise, she had no idea. She considered offering a third apology, but decided against it.

  Jack, however, apparently wasn’t ready to let the issue drop. “Things might have worked out okay if you hadn’t started giving her the Andi Inquisition about Clem. Why’d you do that, anyway?”

  Andi thought about it for a moment. “Honestly, I’m not sure. It was like the devil made me do it or something.”

  He aimed his frowny face at her again. “Really? You can’t just accept culpability?”

  Suddenly feeling miserable about her actions, Andi said, “I do accept responsibility for what I did, but really, I don’t know what came over me. I felt compelled to ask her those things, so I did.”

  “You made me look like an idiot.”

  As soon as she realized he was dead serious, she said, “I didn’t mean to, Jack. I never gave a thought to how she might perceive you as an officer of the law if I butted in with my questions.”

  “That was obvious.”

  “How many times do I have to say I’m sorry? What can I do to make it up to you?”

  “Promise you’ll never do it again.”

  Andi couldn’t make that kind of promise, except with a caveat. “I’ll try.”

  “You’d better do more than that, Andi.”

  “I’ll try super hard.”

  He stared at her a few moments longer, then grunted.

  She took that for acquiescence, and from her perspective, decided it was time to let the issue drop. At least for now. “Thanks for staying the night with me. It couldn’t have been comfortable for you, sleeping in the chair. You should have climbed into bed with me.”

  “It wasn’t that bad.” He stood and leaned over her, gently pushing her hair aside so he could examine the knot near her temple. “Icing it must have helped. The bump is diminished considerably.”

  Andi raised tentative fingers to examine it. “It does feel smaller.”

  “Are you hungry?”

  “I don’t know yet, but I am thirsty and my body is screaming for more ibuprofen.”

  “I’ll get you some. You want to stay in bed or move into the living room?”

  She thought about it for a minute. “Since you’re giving me options, I’d like to get up.” Things were still left unfinished between them and the conversation might fare better from an upright position.

  Five minutes later, he had her situated on the sofa with the blanket tucked around her. “I can scramble some eggs or make pancakes.”

  “You go ahead and eat. I might have something later.”

  “Remember what the doctor ordered.”

  “I will, but I’m not hungry right now.”

  “How about a glass of OJ, at least?”

  “I can probably handle that.”

  Jack fixed his breakfast and ate sitting on the floor on the other side of the coffee table.

  Andi said, “Don’t you need to go to work?”

  “I called in a sick day.”

  “But you’re not sick.”

  “True, and since the LT knows the situation, she authorized me to look after you.”

  “What situation?”

  He froze with his fork halfway to his mouth. “The present from whoever it is that hates your guts enough to maybe want you dead.”

  His frank appraisal of that situation had the effect of dousing her with cold water.

  “For a moment, I’d forgotten about it.” Andi rearranged herself into a sitting position. “Before we dig into that, do you mind if I clear the air a little more about yesterday?”

  “Be my guest,” he said, his eyes steely again.

  “I went to EPD yesterday morning to ask about a note on my police report concerning a witness to my car crash who hadn’t yet given a statement. Helen MacLeary, FYI, but then you already know that now.”

 
He let out a sigh.

  Andi took it as a sign to hurry her explanation along. “I happened to run into Stacy while I was talking to Officer Stark. She informed him that she’d have you talk to Helen. Off the cuff, I asked if I could accompany you, given that I’m the one who’s been conversing with dead people these days.” He opened his mouth to speak, but she put up her had to forestall him. “It never occurred to me to track you down and ask you again.”

  “You weren’t thinking, that’s why.”

  “It was a spur of the moment idea, Jack. I repeat, I was not circumventing you.”

  “Actually, you were.” He clenched his jaw a couple of times, then scooped up the last of his eggs.

  Andi conceded the point with a nod. Deep down, she had known better.

  Jack remained silent and finished his toast.

  “Is that all you don’t have to say?”

  He used his napkin, crumpled it, and tossed it onto his plate. “No. I realize I was a butt to you yesterday, but you have to understand this from my perspective. I’m a cop. I don’t take civilians along with me when I’m talking to witnesses or perpetrators. Because I didn’t know the full story, I may have overreacted and for that, I apologize, but, Andi, in the future, you absolutely can’t tag along while I’m working.”

  “Okay.”

  “That’s it? Just okay?”

  “I’ve already said I’m sorry about a gazillion times, and for the record, I don’t like it when we’re not getting along.”

  “I don’t, either.”

  “But we should be able to compromise somehow.”

  “Agreed, although at the moment, I don’t see how that’s going to be possible, since I will never agree to you riding shotgun with me while I’m working.”

  She took hope from the fact that he was injecting humor into the conversation again. “We can start by discussing things ahead of time.”

  He shot her an incredulous look. “You mean you asking me once and me saying no wasn’t having a discussion ahead of time?”

  Andi managed not to squirm, though she knew darn good and well that she was the guilty party on the discussion issue. “Do you want me to pinky swear that I won’t do it again?”

  He shook his head, fighting a grin. “Like that would do any good.”