Lifeline

by Christy Barritt

  What would it be like if he were able to go up to her now and wrap his arms around her? What would it be like for this house to become a home, filled with warm family dinners and the patter of little feet?

  It didn’t matter. He couldn’t do that. Even if he allowed himself, Julianne had made it clear that she had no interest.

  She looked up. “I hope you don’t mind. I decided to make some zucchini soup and some sandwiches.”

  “Zucchini soup?”

  She tapped the wooden spoon on the side of the pot. “It’s delicious. You’ll love it. Guaranteed. My mom used to always make it for me growing up.”

  He smiled. “You didn’t have to cook. We could have ordered in.”

  “I need to keep busy or I’ll go crazy.”

  He sat down just in time for Julianne to set a steaming bowl before him, along with a thick sandwich piled high with lunch meat and veggies. A moment later, she sat across from him with her own food.

  “Julianne, I have to admit that I didn’t know what to make of your allegations when you showed up, but now I can’t deny that something sinister’s going on. I also can’t deny that it somehow concerns me, as well. Truth is, I was connected to all this before you came around...but I just didn’t know it.”

  Julianne’s somber expression foreshadowed the words to come. “My fiancé wasn’t a nice man, Bradley.”

  He set his spoon back down on his plate. He didn’t want to bring the subject up, but he had to. “He gave you that scar, didn’t he?”

  She hesitated, her eyes focused on the soup bowl, before finally looking up and nodding. “I’d tried to break up with him and he flew into a mad rage. He showed up at my apartment a few hours later, acting like he was going to apologize and going into a long soliloquy about how he was going to change. That was typical of him. He always had the most convincing reasons for his tirades. Sadly, I believed him.” She shook her head. “But not that day. I’d believed him too many times already at that point.”

  “What happened next?”

  Lips quivering, she released a deep, tremulous breath. “When I refused to accept his apology, he pulled out a bottle. I thought there was water inside. The next thing I knew, he unscrewed the top and threw the liquid at me. I moved right as he splashed me. Otherwise, the liquid would have hit my face.”

  He could see the strain on her features, from her tense shoulders to her watery eyes. “You don’t need to finish.”

  “No...I want to.” She furrowed her brows and then nodded as if deep in thought. “The contents of the bottle hit my shoulder. At first, it felt cold, like ice water. Then I felt the burning. It was searing, intense. I almost passed out from the pain. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. I could hear the sizzle on my skin. He’d thrown acid on me.”

  Bradley’s eyes closed in disgust of what Darrell had done. His SEAL team had seen acid burnings while over in Afghanistan. They’d seen women disfigured by their husbands. Some had lost eyesight, others dignity. Some were so scarred that they committed suicide rather than face reality. Was that where Darrell had gotten the idea?

  “Darrell meant the acid for my face. He wanted to disfigure me so that no one else would ever want me. He almost got his wish.” She shuddered at the memory. “I had second-degree burns in most spots on my shoulder. A few areas had third-degree burns. The physical scars will be with me forever, but I’m determined that my emotional scars will heal one day.”

  Anger boiled beneath the surface. No one should ever be treated like that. No one. “Did you report him?”

  Tears glimmered in her eyes. “He was leaving the next week for training. He threatened that if I told anyone, he’d come back and wouldn’t miss next time. He even took me to the hospital. I told them I was trying to unclog a drain and spilled the acid on myself. No one seemed to question it. I decided to wait until he was gone to report him, because it would give me the space I needed to get away. I went to the police, but he was already dead.”

  He stared at her, desperate to see beyond her words to the unbearable hurt that had obviously changed her. “What happened after you went to the hospital, Julianne?”

  She shrugged. “After that he was on his best behavior for the next few days. Then he was sent to Arizona for the training. I knew that was my opportunity to get away. I was going to move, to not be there when he got back.” She paused, turning toward him with an unwavering gaze. “I didn’t have to do that, though. You showed up at my door.”

  “I can’t imagine, Julianne. I’m sorry.”

  “I always thought I was stronger than all of that. But I wasn’t. You get sucked in, one emotion at a time and before you know it, you’re buried. Darrell was a great manipulator, and I fell for him.” A hint of sorrow lingered in her eyes. “I’ve been getting counseling for the past year, trying to separate myself from the incident. I’ve been making progress. Until my counselor died, at least.”

  “Why were you so certain your counselor’s death wasn’t an accident?”

  She shook her head and looked off in the distance. “Alan was such a safe person. He didn’t take risks. And we were close. I mean, we didn’t date, but we were friends. I think he would have liked for us to have been romantically involved, if things had been different, you know.”

  “And that was enough for you to think that Darrell did it?” He desperately wanted to figure out where her thought pattern had come from, especially now that her story seemed to have merit.

  “I’d been receiving some weird phone calls. And I constantly felt like I was being watched. I even thought I saw Darrell once, but then I dismissed it, thought I was going crazy. When I saw the chip wrapper and energy drink, that’s when I really got frightened.” She spread out her hands. “And now all of this.... I thought I’d pulled you into this mess. It turns out, you were already there. I’m so sorry, Bradley.”

  The sincerity in her voice made his heart fill with some strange emotion. “Don’t blame yourself. You’re just as much a victim as anyone here.”

  “I just don’t understand the connection, though. Why would Darrell kill your fiancée? I can’t make sense of it.”

  His mouth flattened into a hard line. “I can’t, either. But I’ll get to the bottom of it. Even if it takes me years.”

  “We may not have years. I don’t think he’s going to back off until someone else dies.” Her words held an edge of truth and reason.

  And he knew Julianne was correct. They didn’t have years. They may not even have days, because around every turn, someone was determined to send a clear message of “I want you dead.”

  * * *

  An hour later, Julianne and Bradley cruised down the road. He’d informed her that they were paying a visit to Tommy Sanders. Since getting out of the military, he worked at a local firehouse. Bradley had called to make sure he was on duty today, and he was.

  Julianne had always felt a bit weird around Tommy. Once when she and Darrell had been dating, Tommy had shown up at her apartment. He reeked of alcohol as he told her she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met and that she should leave Darrell and date him instead. Of course, she’d dismissed him and sent him home. They’d never spoken about it since then.

  They pulled to a stop in front of the modest building, and Bradley led her to the door. They stepped inside the truck bay where three fire engines were housed, and Julianne was relieved that Bradley was with her. He seemed to fill the space with confidence and ease and settle her nerves.

  A man in work pants and a white T-shirt wandered over to them, and Bradley asked to see Tommy. A moment later, the former SEAL stepped into the room. He walked with the same cocky gait that he always had.

  Bradley extended his hand to him. “Tommy Sanders. It’s been a long time.”

  Tommy grinned. “It sure has.” He shifted his gaze to Julianne. “Julianne
, fancy seeing you again. To what do I owe the honor of this visit?”

  “Is there a place where we could talk?” Bradley asked.

  Tommy motioned for them to follow him into a small, sparse kitchen with an oak table at the center. They all took a seat around it. Julianne waited for Bradley’s lead.

  “Tommy, some strange things have been happening lately, and they all seem to go back to Darrell. We were hoping you might answer a few questions for us.”

  He shrugged, but the action was so faint, it almost looked like a twitch. His arms rested on the table, and Julianne stared at his watch for a moment. It was a Luxor. She only knew that because she’d seen them on a TV show that had mentioned that the pieces cost twenty thousand dollars each. How did a firefighter afford that? “Sure thing. What can I tell you?”

  “Has anyone claiming to be Darrell contacted you recently?”

  Tommy’s eyes widened. “Someone claiming to be Darrell?”

  “I know it sounds strange, but it’s like someone trying to bring him back to life, per se.” Julianne pleaded with him, “Please, anything would help.”

  He looked from side to side as if contemplating what he might say. “I can’t think of anything...”

  Julianne swiveled closer. “Tommy, that day I ran into you at the restaurant, you seemed uncomfortable. Why was that?”

  He raised his hands, as if he were being attacked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Your body language says you do.” Bradley stared at him from across the table.

  Tommy shook his head before drawing in a deep breath. “It’s like this. I was on a date with one of the ex-girlfriends of a guy here. I was trying to keep everything on the down low. If I acted strange, it had nothing to do with Darrell.”

  Julianne watched him a moment. His gaze remained steady, and he didn’t show any nervous twitches. He was probably telling the truth, she realized.

  Bradley leaned forward, that piercing gaze still present in his eyes. “Did you get a letter from Dawn Turner recently?”

  “Dawn Turner? Holden’s wife? No. Why?”

  “Just wondering.”

  Julianne’s mind raced. Why had Bradley asked that? And why hadn’t Tommy received the same letter? She shoved those questions aside, knowing she needed to deal with them later.

  Tommy licked his lips. “Listen, since you’re here...I wasn’t going to mention this because I thought my eyes were just playing tricks on me. The other day, I was at the mall. I could have sworn I saw Darrell in the crowd. I looked for him again, but he was gone. That’s crazy, right? Darrell is dead.”

  Bradley and Julianne glanced at each other.

  The web surrounding Darrell was getting stickier and more tangled by the minute.

  TEN

  “What did you think of our conversation with Tommy?” Julianne asked as they left the fire station and cruised down the road.

  “I think he’s telling the truth about Darrell. But I also think he’s hiding something.”

  “Did you see his watch? It was a Luxor. It cost more than I make in six months of work.”

  Bradley’s eyebrows shot up. “Interesting. I wonder where he got that kind of money.”

  “I wonder that also. And why would you wear it to work if you were a fireman? If he’s called to a fire, it could get ruined.”

  Bradley pulled to a stop in front of a warehouse. “Excellent question.”

  Before he couldn’t change the subject, Julianne dove into her next question. “Bradley, why did you ask about that letter from Dawn Turner?”

  He shrugged. “Just a hunch.”

  “A hunch?”

  “It just seems odd that she would send that letter. I haven’t heard anything from her in months. I didn’t get the letter, and neither did Tommy.”

  “You don’t think I made it up, do you?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

  He shook his head. “No, but I am going to dig a little deeper. Something’s not sitting right with me about the whole letter thing.” He gestured toward the building beside them. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve got to run inside and pick up something. Come with me. Please.”

  She nodded, having no desire to stay in the car by herself. Not with everything that had been happening lately, at least. She quickly caught up with him, her gaze roaming the area as they hurried inside. Would there ever be a time when she didn’t feel as if she had to watch behind her? She stepped closer to Bradley, tension strapped across her back.

  They slipped inside an industrial-looking building where Bradley chatted with a man in a suit. He then picked up a box, signed it out and stuck it in the trunk. Ten minutes later, they were cruising down the road again.

  She’d overheard snippets of the conversation while inside the warehouse and was more curious than ever about what was going on. “Am I being too nosy if I asked what we just picked up?”

  “It’s a prototype of a new explosive we’re developing.” He stared straight ahead, his gaze never leaving the road.

  Julianne leaned back into the seat. A prototype. It must be pretty important if Bradley picked it up himself instead of sending someone else. She bit her lip, trying to think for a moment about something other than the person trying to kill her. “What exactly do you do, Bradley?”

  “I develop new technology that we sell to the Department of Defense.”

  “Interesting.”

  “My uncle was a brilliant man. Truly. He had all of these ideas for equipment that the military could use. He even developed some new camouflage for the troops that would help them remain unseen. He had a few of his ideas developed before he died. I’m working to finish developing the rest of them.”

  “Tell me more.”

  “He died three years ago from cancer. I knew as soon as my term ended with the military that I wanted to get out and finish his work. Jack asked me to come on at Eyes.”

  “Wouldn’t you make more money if you did it on your own?” she asked.

  He nodded. “I would, but it isn’t about money. It’s about saving lives. Besides, Eyes provides the overhead I need to really develop the projects.”

  “It must pay well for you to have the house you do.” It was none of her business. She knew that. But curiosity got the best of her.

  “My uncle actually left that to me. The camo he developed made him some big money. The house was his parting gift.”

  Julianne couldn’t imagine having that kind of money. She’d always lived a modest life. “Did your uncle have a lot of other ideas he was developing?”

  “A filing cabinet full.”

  “I bet you keep that under lock and key,” she mused.

  “You better believe it.”

  She leaned back into the seat again, trying to relax and feel normal. She doubted either of those would be her reality for a long time, though. “So what exactly did we pick up today?”

  “Two things. The first is some new bulletproof clothing that’s a lot more flexible and comfortable to wear and quite a bit more effective than everything else out there on the market. The second is a new device we’re developing for explosive breaching, actually.”

  Surprise washed over her. “Explosive breaching? Really?”

  He glanced over at her and nodded. “After Darrell died, I knew this was the next project I wanted to work on. I wanted to make it safer for our guys.”

  She turned toward him in the car. “Bradley, could you walk me through what happened that day that Darrell died? I mean, is there any possibility he is alive?”

  “I don’t see how he could have survived, Julianne. I really don’t. He would have had to have a body double hiding at the training facility and he’d have only seconds to swap it out. Planning something like that, he’d have to be meticulous.”
/>   “He was meticulous.”

  He glanced at her again. “I was on the scene not even two minutes later.”

  “Two minutes would have been long enough for him to drag another body over, right?”

  He hesitated.

  Julianne could sense there was something he wasn’t saying. “What?”

  “There was about ten seconds where the video feed went down. It was right before Darrell set off the explosives.” He glanced at her before looking back at the road. “I was watching the operations from a control room. It always bothered me that the feed went down, but sometimes with technology you just never know what’s going to happen.”

  “Ten seconds? That was enough time, Bradley. He could have dragged a body double over—someone who was homeless or who wouldn’t be missed—and then set off the explosion.”

  “There was an autopsy.”

  “Darrell was a smart man, Bradley. Too smart for his own good.” She rested a hand on his arm as they pulled up to the beach house. “I know his death—or supposed death—still haunts you.”

  Mutual understanding passed between them. “Come here. Let me show you something.” He opened the car door, gesturing for Julianne to follow him out. Then he popped the trunk open and pulled out one of the prototypes from the box. It looked like a thick, black plastic bag, and wasn’t any bigger than her hand. “This is what we’ve developed. You stick this bag on the door handle, light this fuse and you have five seconds to get away before it ignites.”

  “That sounds amazing.”

  “I have a great team that’s helping me to develop these projects. I just want to keep our troops out of harm’s way.”

  Julianne smiled softly. “Sounds like a noble calling, Bradley. It really does.”

  Despite her heart’s resistance, she was starting to understand why so many people looked up to the man she’d once thought of as a stoic, stone-cold statue.

  * * *

  That evening, Julianne flipped through TV stations while Bradley sat in another chair reviewing some papers for his upcoming project. She’d spent the rest of the afternoon cooking and cleaning and doing anything else that she could to occupy herself. Soon, she’d have to go down to her own apartment and get some sleep, but, for now, she treasured the security of being around Bradley.