“So the results are conclusive?” Sabrina asked.
“Yes, but we’ll schedule you for an ultrasound to determine the probable due date. Do you know when conception might possibly have occurred?” the nurse asked, in an efficient yet brisk manner. Sabrina swore she heard a ballpoint pen clicking in the background phone noise as the nurse waited for an answer to her possible conception date. Too bad. Sabrina needed a moment to think and she didn’t care at the moment if the nurse was in a hurry.
She was pregnant. Oh God. Could it really be true?
Sabrina knew exactly when she’d gotten that way, too. She put a hand to her forehead and smiled at the memory. Wouldn’t Jake be surprised that the first time he’d ever failed to use a condom, he’d gotten a girl pregnant?
Jake. She wanted to run to him. She needed to tell him.
Sabrina heard the nurse take a deep breath, but she responded first, “Maybe. Listen. I need to go. Can I call later and set something up?”
“Yes, of course, but don’t wait too long. Pre-natal care is imperative.”
“Right,” Sabrina murmured and hung up.
* * * *
Sabrina danced around her house for a few minutes smiling and crying tears of joy. She let her girly emotional side loose to enjoy the moment. Then she headed over to Jake’s fire station as if pulled there magnetically. She’d had the address for weeks, but had never felt like she should bother him at work.
Crossing that threshold would be like admitting a relationship existed between them. Like she was chasing him…and she was. She was an idiot if she didn’t realize everyone knew there was something going on. Duh, she’d been living with him for weeks.
Now that she was carrying his child it seemed like she would be unable to ignore a permanent relationship with him any longer. The cold-hearted bitch even stayed quiet during her dance fest. Ding-dong the bitch was dead. Long live the girly emotional side, she thought as she drove her car to Jake’s fire station.
Sabrina couldn’t stop her smile as she parked and entered the big bay where two big fire trucks were parked facing outward ready to go. She heard voices inside and headed in that direction.
“But Jake, we were so good together,” Sabrina heard a whiney female voice say from behind the truck she was next to. Sabrina halted in mid-stride and sidled up to the truck and flattened herself against it to listen. The elevated sound of the conversation was happening just around the corner of the truck.
“Candy, we weren’t that good together.” Sabrina heard Jake’s honey-smooth voice in supreme exasperation. Sabrina suppressed a giggle at his tone. Candy did sound like a simpering female.
“I’ve thought it over, Jake and I have decided that once we get married,” the voice paused as if for dramatic effect and said, “I’ll let you be a fireman.”
“You’ll let me…” Jake sounded totally incredulous, but she missed the rest of what he said. Sabrina turned just as someone came out of the office to her right. It was Jake’s friend Matt. She held up a finger to her lips and winked. Matt also sidled up next to her and listened.
“…I’m involved with someone else, Candy,” she heard Jake say with utter pride in his voice.
Matt put a hand to his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. He whispered in her ear that Candy was Jake’s ex and he was never so glad to get rid of her. “You should go save him,” Matt whispered.
Sabrina nodded. She braced herself and stepped quickly around the corner as she noticed other firefighters seeping out from doors all around the bay to watch the show.
“James Daniel Donovan. What do you think you are doing?” Sabrina said in a clear strong voice. She took in his stance. God, he looked great. Hands on hips and an exasperated expression covering his face. Jake’s eyes widened noticeably as he saw her. His gaze then shifted to Matt when he came around the corner behind her. Jake smiled at Sabrina in a positively primitive and totally possessive manner.
Candy moved closer to Jake when she saw Sabrina. She put her hand on his arm as if she knew all was now lost, but was going to make one last Alamo-type stand.
Candy was a classically beautiful girl. She had it all, beautiful face, clear skin, gorgeous figure. Not to mention that she was taller than Sabrina by a couple of inches, impeccably dressed, and not a brunette hair out of place. Her long tanned legs went on forever, and the strappy little sandals she wore matched her tiny little purse. Great. Jake’s ex was wearing a micro mini skirt and short-sleeved crop shirt that bared her perfect flat tanned stomach. Sabrina groaned internally at the competition, but toughened up when she saw Jake ignoring Candy and staring at her like he could eat her whole.
Sabrina took sudden offense at anyone, especially a hot looking girl, touching Jake. “Candy, get your hands off my boyfriend, or I won’t be responsible for my actions.”
Candy’s eyes widened but she only stepped closer to Jake. Her tanned thigh was way too close to Jake’s leg. Mirroring the other woman’s facial expressions, Sabrina widened her eyes for effect and looked pointedly at the area of their legs.
Jake forcibly removed Candy’s hand from his arm and stepped away from her. He walked three steps over to Sabrina and grabbed her up to him in a bone-crushing embrace. His lips found hers and he didn’t so much as kiss her as he devoured her like a starving man at a feast. Their first kiss after being separated for a few days was always like this, and she loved it. Sabrina wrapped her arms around Jake’s big wide shoulders and devoured him back. The man made her melt.
Sabrina heard hoots and whistles all around her as the entire company had come out to watch the soap opera of the moment. Jake released her lips, but held her fast to him and turned to Candy.
“Candy, this is Sabrina. Sabrina, meet Candy. She was just leaving.”
“You’ll be sorry, Jake. I won’t wait for you.” Candy turned quickly to make her exit, head held high, strappy sandals clicking a rhythm out of the station.
Still holding on to her, Jake told Sabrina, “Thank God, you saved me just in the nick of time. Not that I’m complaining at all, but what are you doing here?”
“Is there somewhere more private we could talk?” Sabrina asked, looking around at their audience.
“Well, I could pull you into that closet over there, but I don’t trust myself alone with you. The whole company would soon figure out why you were screaming.”
“I just wanted to talk to you for a minute, Jake.” Her face warmed at the thought of going into that closet alone with him while the others watched them disappear. She shook her head. Focus. Big news to impart.
“What’s up, babe?” Jake asked, looking deeply into her eyes. His intense gaze seemed to search out her soul as if for solace while his honey-smooth voice caressed her.
“I wanted to tell you…” she started, but her phone rang. Sabrina groaned out loud and looked at the display. Suzanne again? No, Murphy this time.
“It’s Murphy.” She glanced at her watch. “I should talk to him, I’m a little late for work.” Sabrina took the call, which delayed her big announcement.
I’m late in another way too, Jake, she thought smiling inwardly. The late that meant she was pregnant.
Sabrina wished that she had waited to tell Jake this monumental news. She wanted to tell him when they were alone not with a bunch of firefighters standing around watching. They wouldn’t be able to have any privacy.
“Where are you?” Murphy’s impatient voice came over her cell line.
“I’m on my way. I stopped to talk to Jake a minute.”
“You don’t have time for a quickie. I called Raquel to see how long it would be. She said the records would be ready in fifteen or twenty minutes.”
“I’ll be there in a minute. Jeez.”
Sabrina hung up and heard Matt say, “We should erect a statue to you, Jake… ‘The man who tamed the Blonde Bomber.’”
“I don’t care how tall you are, I can still kick your ass, Matt.”
“Jake, save me,” Matt said in a hig
h girly voice. Jake rolled his eyes at the antics of his friend then turned back and smiled at her.
“Don’t mind them, it’s the inactivity, we haven’t been out. Last night was a false alarm.”
“I wanted to tell you…” she began again only to hear her phone ring yet again. “For the love of God and all that is holy!” she exclaimed. Now it was Suzanne!
“You sure you don’t want to hide in the closet, Babe?” Jake asked, smiling at her impatience.
“Hold that thought.”
“Hello,” she said briskly.
“Sabrina, please don’t hang up.” Suzanne’s strained tone of voice gave her pause. Was she simply a good actress or was she truly distressed?
“I won’t. What do you want?” She couldn’t help that her voice sounded flat with accusation. Then again she was the one who’d slipped out this morning without asking for an explanation. Suzanne hadn’t had a chance to defend or explain anything. Yet.
“I need you to come to where I work, Sabrina. Right now.”
“Why?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Why didn’t you tell us about the letter you got from Margaret Linden?” Sabrina found herself asking.
“See, I told you you weren’t pregnant,” Suzanne said in a critical superior tone. What? Sabrina scrunched her face in confusion.
“That’s not what I asked…” she began again but Suzanne cut her off.
“You had nothing to worry about. I told you the test was accurate. Forget that now. I need you to come to where I work. I need to show you something and I need you to hurry.”
Sabrina was flabbergasted. Her mind worked overtime. Suzanne was obviously in trouble. Or was she pretending to be in trouble? It occurred to Sabrina that nothing had ever happened to Suzanne’s house. She’d never been threatened or harassed through out this ordeal. The mad bomber hadn’t broken in and butchered up her sister’s belongings. Sabrina started to ask another question, but the line went dead. She tried to redial, but it just rang and rang. She hung up.
Sabrina looked at Jake.
He looked at her expectantly.
“I have to go.”
“Okay, what did you want to tell me?” Jake’s intense gaze seared her with a look that took her breath away. Now just wasn’t the right time. She wanted Jake all to herself when she told him this incredible news.
“I…nothing. It was silly. Suzanne and I had a little um…disagreement. I’m going to go talk to her now.”
“Okay. I love you, Sabrina,” he said, as he took her hands in his.
Sabrina’s eyes welled up with uncontrolled tears from the myriad of emotions she was feeling. “I love you too, Jake.” Throwing her arms around his neck, she kissed him right below the ear, just like the first time they’d met. Not exactly her style.
Jake seemed very surprised, but smiled when she pulled back. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, but didn’t get a chance to wait for her response.
The fire alarm sounded, making her jump. Jake kissed her quickly again before chaos reigned and the fire trucks got ready to take off.
“Be safe, Jake,” she called out, which was unheard in the din. He waved at her as they pulled out. “By the way, I’m pregnant,” she said under her breath, watching as the fire truck sped away, sirens blaring.
Sabrina dialed her phone to call Murphy. “I’m going to be delayed again.”
“So when are you due?” Murphy asked, his tone sounding like I-know-something-you-don’t-think-I-know.
“What do you mean?”
“You heard me. I told you all about practicing safe sex, but did you listen…noooo.”
“What do you think you know?” she asked warily. “And Brian better not be listening.”
“He’s not in yet. I followed you yesterday when you snuck off at lunch. Leah goes to that women’s center.”
“I hate you.”
“Maybe, but you’re still going to make me the godfather, right?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about, Murphy and I especially don’t know what you’re talking about before I get a chance to tell Jake, so keep your mouth shut.”
“Got it. Jeez, how long does it take to say ‘knocked up?’”
“Well, the damn phone has to stop ringing and other firefighters have to be absent and the siren can’t go off sending him out on a call as I am about to utter words I thought I’d never say in my lifetime. I guess I was foolishly looking for the first quiet moment in the chaos.”
Murphy laughed. “Quit whining and get to work.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said. “I have to go talk to Suzanne first.” Sabrina briefly filled Murphy in on what she’d found last night and the strange call she’d just received. “I’m going to try and get her to come back with me…to explain. I’ll see if she has the letter from the diary. I have a feeling it will be important to our investigation. See you in a few minutes.”
* * * *
Sabrina made it to the kindergarten where Suzanne worked in a few minutes and stepped from her car. The building, a single story rectangular brick structure, was situated on a corner lot a block from the entrance to a new housing development. There was a large fenced off area attached to the building, with pea gravel littered with brightly colored little kid gymnasium equipment. All of it empty, and so eerily quiet. Spooky. Sabrina shook off a bad feeling and got out of her car.
Sabrina thought it strange that the combination kindergarten and daycare would be so silent. She expected children screaming and playing and the like, but what did she know? Nothing. And what would she need to know. Everything. Her hand once again slipped to her stomach unbidden. I will to read a lot and learn everything I need to know little tiny person inside me, Sabrina vowed silently. I won’t let you down.
I promise.
The trilling of her pager made her jump. Damn. Now what? Sabrina looked at the display and was surprised to see Hennessey’s number. Alongside it was the code for another bomb. Today was about to suck, Sabrina thought as she dialed her boss’s number.
“Where are you?” Hennessy asked with a huge amount of agitation in his voice.
“On my way to work,” she lied.
“Well, turn around and head to this address.” Sabrina stared dumbly at the building in front of her as Hennessey read it off to her. The address matched exactly the glass doors she was staring at. “It’s a daycare, Sabrina. We think all the kids are still inside.” She was already at the address he gave her. Oh no.
“The mad bomber called. Get this, he went through Councilman Peters’ office to deliver this message. He wants you and only you inside the building where he says he has planted a bomb. He says he’ll be watching. Don’t go inside until we get there. How far are away are you?”
“Sorry, I’m here already, Captain. If he is watching he’s already seen me. I got a call from Suzanne. She works here. She’s either in a lot of trouble or helping the bomber. Either way I need to get in there and face it. I’m going in.” Sabrina began to fire herself up. She was sick of the ‘mad bomber’ and his insane little games. Crazy people didn’t understand logic and it was a waste of time to use it on them.
“What? No. Stay put. Wait for backup. At least wait to be wired. I need to tell you something…”
“I can’t wait. I have to go in,” Sabrina cut him off. She needed to get in and assess Suzanne’s connection.
“Damn it, Sabrina…” was the only part she heard before she hung up on him. Then she turned off the pager. She wasn’t living in fear any longer. This ended now. One way or another. There were tiny helpless people involved now and she needed to protect them.
The bitch was back and without the façade. This time Sabrina had more to lose and she wasn’t going to let fear drive her any longer. The mad bomber wasn’t as smart as he thought he was. Unless he had roped Suzanne in. Sabrina sincerely hoped not. Sabrina put on her game face, grabbed her pack from her trunk, and walked quickly inside the building.
The
first thing she registered when she entered the office, was Suzanne sitting in a chair behind a desk. Her wrists and forearms were tied to the arms of the chair. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying. Rivulets of tears still streamed down her face. Her lip was split and bleeding. She looked like the genuine victim. Sabrina looked around for the mad bomber, hoping she wasn’t staring at her.
“I’m so sorry, Sabrina,” Suzanne sobbed.
“So is today a holiday?” Sabrina asked benignly, looking all around the room for clues to where the bomb might be.
Suzanne shook her head.
“Where is everyone?” Sabrina asked quietly.
“I was told to lock them all inside the audiovisual room where the computers are located in the back.” Her misery was clear from the tone of her voice.
“Why didn’t you tell us about the letter from Margaret Linden?”
“I was so stupid.” She sniffed a couple of times. “I wanted to find a history of me for my child. I was trying to protect my possible past. I didn’t think the letter would be important early on and then later I was afraid because I knew I should have turned it in already.”
“Are you involved in the bombings, Suzanne?”
“No! How could you say that?” She looked genuinely crushed at the thought of any deception on her part.
Sabrina’s gut said Suzanne was telling the truth, but she kept her thoughts to herself. “Because I don’t know if I can trust you or not. How long have you known about the Lindens?”
“Today is the first time I was sure. I swear. I just wrote a letter asking Margaret Linden about the possibility of a family connection before I met you. I got the letter of response from her yesterday saying she would look into it. That’s why I was so quiet last night. I was just disappointed at the lack of information. I didn’t know until today that our mother, Maggie Morgan, was Elise Linden.” Suzanne’s frightened glance darted behind Sabrina, then returned.
Blonde Bomb Tech Page 31
