Simone's Midnight Call (Mississippi Series Book 2)

by Brooke Miller

  Simone clicked the hammer backing into place, flicked the safety on, before tucking it back in the small of her back. Jane cleared her throat, breaking the staring contest between the two.

  “Pete just left, Jesse.”

  He nodded, “I know. He texted me on his way to drop Luke off. He said you were awake. I came to see how you were doing.” His steely-gray gaze met Simone’s green one, “And to offer my help with your case.” Simone arched a brow at him, “Really? Cause last night you threw me out on my ear. Why the change of heart?”

  She narrowed her eyes at him, “How much of our conversation did you hear?”

  He heard all of it but wasn’t about to tell her that.

  “I know from Pete, you’re a Private Eye and working Jimmy Petersson’s case, so that means either Tommy or Gunn Petersson hired you.” She grudgingly admitted, “I’m not hired. Gunn Petersson and I go back; I came here to help as a favor to him.”

  He nodded, figuring as much. He knew from Peter, the man had nearly worn himself into the ground, looking for Jimmy.

  “Jimmy hung around with those boys you were talking to last night.”

  The ones she was thrown out over.

  “I heard one of them talking after you left about Gunn and Jimmy getting into an argument about a girl he was starting to see.”

  Simone was aware of the fight. After the first three weeks she took the case, she finally called Gunn on his evasions, and he told her about the fight between them and what it was about. It turned out Jimmy’s crush was Maxine Donovan, Colt’s youngest girl, and Jimmy’s step-cousin. She still grimaced when she thought of that little development.

  She was drawn from her thoughts by Jane speaking.

  “I talked to Gunn Petersson; he didn’t say anything about him and his son getting into it over a girl.” He stepped closer to the porch, “That’s where I come in. I’ve known these boys for forever; they’ll talk to me where they wouldn’t outsiders.”

  Simone shot him a look, “Thanks, but I prefer to work alone.” He shrugged, “Alright, thought I’d offer.” He turned to leave, and then turned back to her, a smirk teasing at the edge of his lips, “Good luck, Ms. Brandon. I think you’ll need it.”

  A few days later, she was wondering if the bastard had jinxed her.

  Every time she approached someone about Jimmy’s case, they clammed up. It was also one of the few times that bribing didn’t work. Nobody was talking, and the few leads she had were drying up quick. This led her to the bar and grill. Standing outside, she thought to herself, ‘Time to swallow my pride,’ as she opened the door. Taking her sunglasses off, her eyes adjusting to the dim light as she scanned the place for the bartender.

  It was early, the bar area was empty, and a couple of servers were out cleaning and re-stocking the tables. However, there were no tall, good-looking bartenders in sight. A server spotted her and came over, “I’m sorry, we’re not opened yet. If you can come back in an hour, we’ll be open for lunch.” Simone gave her a polite smile, “Thanks, but I’m here to talk to Jesse Fletcher. Is he in yet?” The waitress didn’t realize she was the same woman Jesse threw out a few nights ago.

  Gone were the long brown wig and contacts, and her revealing black and red bar clothes. In its place was cropped red hair, dark jeans, and a worn but fitted concert t-shirt.

  “Jesse’s not in right now.”

  The other waitress came over, a smile on her face, that didn’t meet her eyes.

  “But we’ll let him know you came by.”

  The other woman shot her a look, “Actually he’s back in the office, I’ll go tell him he has someone to see him.” With that she left, leaving Simone and the other woman, Jamie her nametag read, alone. Jamie noisily snapped her gun, “So are you seeing Jesse? Cause we kind of got a thing going on.”

  Simone’s eyebrows went into her hairline at the woman’s bold lie. She had seen how Jesse shot her down at the bar a few nights ago. She shook her head, “My interest in Jesse is business. I really don’t care if you screw him over his desk, so long he’s still able to think.”

  Jesse paused just inside the doorway at Simone’s words. He couldn’t help but twinge at her words. If he had anyone over his desk, it would be the hot redhead over Jamie any day.

  He would be lying if he said he wasn’t attracted to the tall, curvy redhead. But he also admired her for dropping everything to come look for a boy she had never met, which is why he was doing this.

  He walked out and pasted on a smile that had many a girl at his side over the years. Jamie straightened up and looked up at him with adoring eyes. Simone seemed the opposite, coolly aloof.

  “Hello, Simone. Just follow me; we’ll talk in my office.”

  She nodded and followed him to his office door, and he held the door open after he walked in. He gestured, “Please take a seat.” She sat down in one of the mismatched chairs, as he sat down opposite of her. She took that moment to collect her thoughts. She let out an irritated sigh, “Well, you can guess why I’m here?” He nodded, “I had an idea.”

  She shook her head, “I’m running out of leads, and no one is talking. If the offer to help is up for grabs, I’ll take it.”

  ***

  When Simone asked Jesse for help, this wasn’t what she had in mind.

  She could hear Jane snickering from the bathroom doorway as she took in her appearance. A tight pair of dark jeans covered her legs with black converse and a form-fitting blue t-shirt with ‘Fletcher’s bar and grill’ blazed across the chest in big bold white letters.

  She growled, “Why did I ask Jesse for help?”

  His big idea to help was working undercover as a server. His thoughts were a lot of people were loose-lipped around booze, add a pretty girl in and they told you everything you wanted to know, and some you didn’t want to know.

  She hated this plan already.

  She was a waitress back in New Orleans and Anderson as a young teen, she hated it then too. Jane’s voice broke her from her thoughts, “Come on, Sim. This isn’t the worst undercover work you’ve done for a case. For God’s sake, you worked as a pole dancer for two weeks when you handled that cheater case!”

  Simone had no intention of telling her she still took the class she did to prep for the case. Kate, Cole’s late wife, had gone with her for support and ended up loving it. Shaking her thoughts from the depressing path she started on; if she had any other leads, she’d tell Jesse where to stick this idea, but she didn’t.

  Jimmy had officially been missing since the early summer, and she and Gunn’s last contact with him had been right before school started back. Fall was coming in fast, and the clock was ticking.

  Jesse wasn’t so sure this was a good idea now, as he took in the tight jeans that hugged Simone’s round, plump bottom, and curvy hips.

  He wasn’t even going to talk about those magnificent breasts straining the top she wore. Never had his last name looked so good.

  He heard a throat clear and saw his dad further down the bar, grinning at him. “How’s the new girl working out?” He shrugged, “Fine, better than I thought she would.” He actually was surprised at that. Watching her walk the room, he could tell she had waitressed before. Danny arched a brow, “Really? Cause the way you were staring at her, I thought different.” He looked over his son’s shoulder to the curvy redhead, “You stared any harder her shirt’s gonna disappear and wouldn’t that be a tragedy.” Jesse didn’t agree, seeing her without her shirt would be great. Seeing her without it and her bra, and her close enough for him to touch, that would be fan-fucking-tastic.

  Simone hated to admit it, but Jesse had been right. She had heard more than she thought; she grimaced as she remembered some of what the more stupid drunks had said. ‘If that fool thought he’d impress me by whipping out his ‘gun,' he’d piss himself if he saw mine,' she thought, thinking of the Glock holstered to her shoulder under the thick jacket she wore.

  She opened the front door as she thought back over tonight. Jes
se had been spot-on; at one table, she had overheard a couple of men talking about the Petersson family. This had not been the first time Jimmy had run away. He had run away another time, staying a few days at their Uncle Tommy’s, then came home once he cooled down.

  This time though, he spent two weeks camping out on various friends’ couches. A week later, Jimmy came back home and then they had their worst fight yet. It ended with Jimmy busting Gunn’s lip and running out of the house. One of them heard from his son, a friend of Jimmy’s that he had been asking how much a bus ticket to Oklahoma cost. She had been able to confirm with their cousin Drew, that Jimmy was coming out there to stay with him for the remainder of the summer. But Jimmy never showed up and was seen around the area up to a week-and-half after his father reported him missing.

  She made a face as she wrote out what she learned tonight. Shaking her head, “Ahh, my teen years. Wouldn’t repeat them for all the money in the world!” Specifically her teens.

  Simone finished her notes and went on to the shower, hopeful for more leads tomorrow.

  Jesse laid in his bed that night, thinking about how the night had gone. He would have to say, Simone surprised him. Not just tonight as a server, but earlier when she came to him.

  ‘She slapped a file down on his desk and said, “I start my first shift tonight.” Then she left. Curiosity got the better of him, and he opened the file and was stunned. She had somehow hacked his records and in the file was all the information about his time as a narcotics officer in Western Tennessee. His training at the academy, his partner’s name and his arresting record. Everything, including his last case and why he quit. The photo of the boy he couldn’t save was staring back at him, making him slam the file shut. He scrubbed his hands over his face, trying to shake the old memories from his thoughts. He had to admit, he was impressed. His records were supposed to be locked up tight, and no one outside of his parents and Victor Marcus were aware of his former profession. Yet, Simone had somehow got ahold of them.

  That night, before she left; Jesse pulled her aside and asked her how she found that out. She arched a brow at him, “If I want to know something, computer records are no challenge to find.” She snorted, “Plus, I know most police databases are not as safe as they let on.” She gave him a steady look, “I have copies of those records in various locations. This is a little insurance for both of us.” Then she walked away. He couldn’t help the impressed feeling as he watched her walk away. She just let him know she had an ace in her hand, one she wasn’t afraid to play if necessary.

  In an abandoned warehouse, a boy hung limply from his restraints, every part of him ached. As he began to black out, he dimly thought of his family. He hoped that the sister he had never met but spoke to, was as good at finding people as he hoped.

  Chapter Three

  Jesse blearily looked up from his coffee mug, only to find the reason for his lack of sleep coming through the door.

  She was again in jeans, boots, and a…damn, he thought as she took her jacket off. She was in a tank top that clung to the tucked-in curve of her waist and her chest that made him want to say “to hell with it” and drag her back to his office.

  As she leaned down to fix her boot, he nearly swallowed his tongue as he saw the generous cleavage straining against her top. He turned back to the coffee maker when he thought he saw a hint of purple lace peeking out of her tank top.

  He ran a hand over his face as he waited for the coffee maker to finished percolating. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all.

  Simone looked out at the busy crowd that night and saw mostly the teen crowd was out tonight. After two weeks as a waitress and aspiring bartender, it finally was paying off. Last night, she was able to confirm that Jimmy was still alive, someone had seen him in a bar a week ago, about two-hundred miles Northwest of Nadirem. After that, there was very little seen of him.

  Simone was drawn from her thought by the sound of gum popping loudly. She turned slightly to see Jamie looking at her as she chewed her gum loudly and annoyingly.

  She was aware the blonde had a crush on Jesse, but couldn’t seem to get the annoying fool to realize she didn’t want him. She learned a long time ago mixing business with pleasure rarely ended well. So, no she was ignoring her growing attraction to him and keeping him at arm’s length.

  But as she looked over at the bar and saw him lifting a crate of glasses onto a top shelf, she saw his snug shirt pull even tighter across his muscled back and shoulders. And as he straightened, she saw yet another thing that drew her damned attraction.

  His height.

  At six foot, she barely made it into the max requirement for the Army, but she also towered over most men, with or without heels.

  As if he could sense her gaze, he looked up from the stack of glasses he was drying and met her gaze. A slow, charming smile lit his already handsome features, enhancing them. Then it seemed to change into what she could only call a ‘panty-dropping smile.' If she was a different kind of woman, hers would be long gone.

  Jesse looked through the crowded bar tonight. The bar and grill was hopping with servers bringing out both laden-down trays of drinks and food. He saw Jamie bringing a group of older men a tray of drinks when no moves were made, his eyes roamed over the crowd.

  He saw her then, at six foot and red hair, Simone was hard to miss, and picked her out easily as she carried a tray of beers and burgers to a booth off to the bar’s dance floor. Through the dancing crowd, he saw as one man tried to pinch her curvy behind, only to have his hand smacked soundly, if him holding it was any indication.

  If his paling features were to go by, she was letting him know what would happen if he tried again.

  He couldn’t help the smirk gracing his face; he and his dad had a policy and posted a warning. If you got handsy with the girls and they said no, they were allowed to jack you up any way they saw fit.

  The night wore on, and as Sim filled orders, she kept her ears open for any tidbits that could come back to Jimmy. Some could be of use to the case; others didn’t seem to at all. However, she noted all of it and mentally filed it away to check on later.

  Like Simone, Jesse was listening with one ear for orders and the other with anything that could be of use to Simone’s case. As the night wore on, Sim realized this night had become a bust.

  She mentally sighed; Jimmy was too much like her for his own good. He knew to stay from high-traffic areas, use cash, no credit cards, and the likes. She couldn’t help but worry even more after her talk with Gunn last night. Not only was Jimmy a preemie baby, but he also had a heart condition.

  It was managed with medication, but without his regular doses, it could get bad. Sim had been keeping an eye on pharmacies within a two-hundred-mile radius that filled that prescription. So far, nothing and Jimmy was due for a new prescription in the next two weeks.

  That night, as she was leaving the bar and going to her bike, someone came at her with a bat. She ducked and squatted down, kicking the man’s legs out from under him. She flipped out of the way of the second man coming at her, but couldn’t avoid the third man that shoved her face-first into the side of the building.

  ***

  With the breath knocked out of her, she felt a man press against her back, pushing her front into the rough brick of the wall.

  “I know you’ve been asking a lot of questions about ol’ Jimmy boy. I’m telling you now, the questions stop or I won’t be so nice next time.”

  He pulled back, and when he did, she struck. She kicked her leg back, satisfaction running through her as he howled and bone snapped, as he went down. When he did, she grabbed his head and brought her knee up, and blood spurted as she broke his nose. Just then a car screeched up, and someone called out and ran to the other man’s side. Or would have, it not for the sound of a hammer clicking. But it wasn’t the gun in Simone’s hands that made the sound.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jesse and Danny in the exit doorway. Jesse was armed wit
h a small handgun and Danny had a shotgun in his hands, aimed at the car while Jesse was on the men on the ground. The usually jovial man’s face could have been carved from stone; the fury in his eyes was something to see.

  “You sumbitches have ten seconds to get the hell off my property before I lit you up like a damn tree.”

  When the other man went to help his friend up standing, they apparently weren’t moving fast enough for Danny’s liking.

  “I said go!” he barked.

  Danny fired a warning shot at their feet. That got them moving, and they went tearing off to the car, tires screeching as they tore out of the parking lot, but not before Simone got the license plate number and make of the car.

  ***

  Jesse was having a hard time keeping his temper as Danny pulled the first aid kit out from the bar to Simone. Her lip was bleeding and had several scratches and abrasion on one side of her face. A sick feeling was in his stomach as he got a good look at her face. A woman as beautiful as Simone should never have such injuries to her. That was what made his next action not so surprising.

  He stepped between his dad and Simone, “I’ll take care of her, Dad. Why don’t you see if that Detective is on his way?”

  Danny arched a brow, but agreed.

  “I’ll go see if he got my texts yet,” and walked back to his office, leaving them alone in the bar.

  He walked around the bar to Sim’s side, bringing the kit with him; she eyed him as he opened it and pulled out an antiseptic wipe.

  “Shouldn’t we wait for the detective and person he’s bringing to process me first?” He arched a brow that she returned, “Just checking if you remember the procedures, Fletcher.”

  He smiled, “Not many people have a best friend whose grandfather is Police Chief. He was also my mentor.” Sim’s eyes widened then, an amused smirk came over her face.