by J. M. Madden
“I knew Cage would get it done.” Jaymee smiled at him, her hand still clutching Mutt’s paw. “As soon as I caught sight of him in the window, I knew we’d be all right. How was the trip through the old tunnel?”
“Nasty,” Cage said. “But one hell of an attraction. You really ought to open that side of the house up, Jay. Let the past be in the past.”
She glanced at Nick, who shook his head. “That’s up to you. It’s your history.”
Jaymee kissed Mutt’s nose. The dog licked her face, wagging his tail again. “Maybe you’re right. I’ll think about it.”
Cage blinked and nearly forgot to open his eyes. “Shit, I’m tired.”
“And you still need stitches,” Dani said.
“It’s probably too late for that.”
She cocked her head, her strawberry blond hair falling forward into her eyes. “You will go to the hospital. No arguments.”
“Not yet.” Jaymee finally eased away from Mutt’s side to stand in front of Cage. She still didn’t look much different than the twelve year old who’d nearly ended his chance to have kids. “Thank you. Both of you. Because I know Cage didn’t figure out the cellar clue without you.”
Dani laughed. “Of course not.”
Jaymee nodded, one corner of her mouth tight. She shrugged her shoulders, looking between Cage and Dani.
Cage nodded. “We hear you, Jay.”
He followed Dani to the car, feeling bad at her lugging the heavy carrier. He didn’t understand why scientists couldn’t invent a feather-light safety seat for a baby. If NASA could send a rover to Mars, why couldn’t it make parenthood a little easier?
“Hey.” He pulled her close to him after she’d secured Emma and shut the car door. “Thanks for believing in me tonight. I don’t think I could have kept going if I didn’t know you had my back.”
Dani slipped her arms around his waist, looking up at him with the blue eyes that always made him feel a little feverish. “I’ll always have your back.”
He couldn’t stop the grin or the childish remark. “What about the front? I think you mentioned that earlier.”
She burst out laughing. “Hospital first.”
“That’ll take all night.”
“You’re a cop. They’ll rush you through.” Dani’s hands traveled up his chest, her tongue trailing over her parted lips. Clearly she hadn’t forgotten how to torment him. “And then I promise, I’ll nurse you back to health. You might even get a sponge bath if you’re a good patient.” She let her hand drift down his stomach to the zipper on his jeans.
Cage groaned, heat rising from the deepest pit of his belly. He knew whatever Dani had planned would be well worth the wait. He wrapped his arms around her waist, enjoying the curves of her post-pregnancy body. All the things he could do to that beautiful, soft body …
He brushed his lips over hers. “I’ll be incredibly patient if you keep touching me like that.”
Dani gave him a final, lingering squeeze, and then stepped away, leaving him feeling cold and abandoned. She pulled open the passenger door. “Let’s go then.”
Cage didn’t argue, moving gingerly so he didn’t aggravate his injury. “Do you still have that nurse’s uniform from Halloween?”
She grinned, her blue eyes dancing. “Yes, I do.”
He leaned back into the leather seat. “Then I’ll be as patient as you want.”
Laughing, Dani pulled back onto the highway, and Cage allowed his eyes to close. He’d need his rest for later.
CONNECT WITH ME
Sign up for Stacy’s mailing list to be notified of new releases and exclusives!
The Delta Crossroads Trilogy
Tin God
Jaymee Ballard is running out of time to find the daughter she believes was stolen from her. When a murder investigation changes everything, Jaymee discovers a family secret, but the truth may destroy everyone she loves.
Skeleton’s Key
The discovery of a body beneath the basement of an antebellum home puts Cage Foster in the crosshairs of a murder investigation. Even worse, he can’t stop thinking about Dani Evans, the Yankee determined to clear his name.
Ashes and Bone
When Nick disappears during a brutal storm, his friends mount a frantic search. Jaymee and Dani discover a trail leading to the Dixie mafic, dark local history, and a shameful town secret someone will kill to protect.
The Delta Detectives/Cage Foster Series
Living Victim
When a hoarder is found dead in his bathtub, Cage Foster believes he’s dealing with a natural death. But a perimeter search reveals a hidden horror, and Cage races to save the living victim.
Dead Wrong
A nightmare begins for Cage Foster when a woman is found dead. The main suspect is Cage’s mother, whose advancing Alzheimer’s may have caused her to lose control. Cage is determined to prove her innocence, but is he dead wrong?
Night Terror
When a woman is found raped and murdered in her home, Criminal Investigator Cage Foster believes she is a victim of a serial rapist who is stalking Adams County. But why did the woman’s attacker dial 911?
Last Words
A teenaged girl’s tragic death appears to be an accident until Cage Foster discovers evidence of a hit and run. With his unborn daughter’s life hanging in the balance, Cage must decide between his family and finding justice for an innocent victim.
Like your thrills even darker? Try ALL GOOD DEEDS!
I’m not a killer. Or a savior. I’m just one person trying to repair the broken scales of justice once jagged crack at a time. – Lucy Kendall
UNCERTAIN BLUE
AN UNCERTAIN NOVELLA
By
Jamie Lee Scott
UNCERTAIN BLUE
Copyright © 2015 by Jamie Lee Scott
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, LBB Company, 1106 Hwy 69 N, Forest City, IA 50436.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Scott, Jamie Lee, 8-15-15. UNCERTAIN BLUE. LBB Company. eBook Edition.
DEDICATION
For Gracie
You made my world brighter for thirteen and a half years.
You’ll be missed more than you’ll ever know.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’m lucky to have some wonderful friends on the police force, who help me with the details of being a cop. Thanks so much to Officer Rebecca Shaver, and Chief Scott Silverii of the Thibodaux Police Department, for answering all of my crazy questions. To my cousin Ann, who provided me with information that made this story real, like the S.A.F.E program. I can’t leave out my husband, who puts up with it all, and lets me be me. Thank you Scot for being you, and still loving me, even though I think you got a lot more than you bargained for, and not in a good way.
NEWSLETTER CALL
GET THE JAMIE LEE SCOTT NEWSLETTER
Click here to get the newsletter!
ONE
Even though I practically grew up in Uncertain, it was weird to be back and calling it home. My uncle, Isaac Chaveau, had run Ruby’s Diner for as long as I could remember, and he also had the coolest house on Fiddler’s Lake. Maybe not the biggest house, and maybe not the coolest now, but when I was a kid, it was heaven.
We stayed in Uncertain from Memorial Day weekend until the week before school started, and my uncle was so much fun. Little did I know, back then, that my mom was getting rid of us for the summer. To us, me and my little sister, she was sending us to summer camp. Every da
y was a picnic, a BBQ, boating, tubing, skiing. It was my home away from home.
Now here I was, Officer Dane Briggs, working in the lake town of my childhood. It was kinda cool.
Isaac walked into the kitchen, home for his afternoon break, while I was preparing a pot of coffee. “How’s it going so far?”
I was already in my Uncertain Police Department uniform, duty belt on, and all. “It’s okay. I feel sorta stupid right now, but I’m learning.”
Uncle Isaac looked just like my mom. And I looked like her too, well mostly. At fifteen, I was already taller than her, and at twenty-four, I was six-one and tipping two hundred pounds. My mom was barely five feet tall, and a waif of a woman, and my dad, well, he was a jockey at Golden Gate Fields, so you know how big he was. I was built like Uncle Isaac, without the belly. Yet.
“You have your own car yet?” He pulled the pot out of the machine before all of the coffee had brewed.
“Isaac, now mine is going to be like brown water with no flavor.”
He looked up at me through his bushy brows. “Who bought the damn coffee?”
He had me there. I was just staying with him until my apartment was ready, eating his food, drinking his beer, and his coffee.
“I have to ride with a seasoned officer for sixty days before I’m on my own.” I poured the lighter coffee into my cup and tried to be tough and drink it black. Or brown as the case may be.
“Then what the hell did you go to the Police Academy for?” He twisted the wire tie off a loaf of bread and pulled two slices from the bag. As he popped them into the toaster he said, “I thought they taught you everything you needed to know.”
I’d explained it to him a dozen times, maybe more, so I just said, “There’s always more to learn.”
I put the lid on my travel mug and headed out the door. “Maybe I can talk Harper into eating at Ruby’s tonight. And shouldn’t you be there already?”
Isaac grunted as a response.
Living on the lake was different now. I didn’t enjoy it as much. No time for boating or fishing. When I wasn’t working patrol, I was studying or helping at the diner. I wanted to be the best cop, and make my uncle proud that I’d come to work in his beloved town.
I sipped the black coffee as I drove across Newcastle Canal and over to Highway 69. I’d left early, as I wanted to be at the station before Harper Leigh arrived. She was my training officer, and she had been at the station every day that week before I was. I didn’t want her to think I was a slacker, even though I’d never been later than fifteen minutes early.
I parked in the lot, and low and behold, Harper’s Expedition was already there. Damn, it was like she knew. But at least that morning she was still in her car. She was texting someone when I walked up to the passenger side and tapped on the window.
She jumped like she’d been hit with a Taser, then flipped the switch to unlock the door. “Damn, you trying to kill me before the week is even over?”
I climbed into the seat and sat next to her. Harper was gorgeous. Her long brown hair had blonde highlights, and when it wasn’t pinned in a bun at the nape of her neck, it hung in curly waves. Everything about her screamed beauty, from her creamy skin to her curves. Even with that damned vest on, I could tell she was hot.
But she was my co-worker, and a lot older than me, and her ex-husband was my sergeant. Sergeant Burke never said anything, but the way he looked at her when she wasn’t watching, it was the way every woman longed to be looked at. To be loved. Only Harper wasn’t looking because she had moved on.
“I’m ready for my week to be over. You’re a task master.”
With this, Harper laughed, and put her phone away. “You’re too funny. Try riding with Burke for a few days, you’ll be begging to have me back.”
She was right. Much nicer to look at than old, bald Burke.
“What’s on the agenda for today?” I leaned back in the seat.
“Don’t get too comfy, we’ve got a meeting with Richardson before we get started.” She unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car.
I followed. Harper made it easy. She talked, a lot. And she kept me abreast of how things worked in Uncertain. Every department had rules in addition to what’s taught at the academy, and some of them were best learned by doing.
Harper turned around and tossed me the keys. “You’re driving today, Rookie.”
I caught the keys, but just barely, as she tossed them a bit short. I grinned wide. I’d been waiting all week to drive, and she kept putting it off.
There had been terrible turmoil in the department recently, and Chief Richardson was happy to have new blood. They’d lost a couple of officers, a chief, and I couldn’t remember who else, but when I interviewed with the assistant chief, Esmeralda Oliverez, she didn’t seem nearly as happy to have a new officer as Richardson was. I wondered if it was because I was white. Hiring me wasn’t part of their Equal Opportunity Employer quota.
“Been a quiet week, so far. But this is Thursday night. Even in summer, the college kids get a little rowdy.”
We were working the night shift. Six at night to six in the morning, and I had to admit, nights seemed like a lot more fun than days. Harper explained that it was nice because administrative personnel got off work at five, and there was less bullshit. No old ladies calling dispatch to complain that the mailman didn’t shut the door on her mailbox, or that the neighbor was mowing at seven in the morning and disturbing her morning coffee. The old men were worse.
“I thought the chief was administrative. You know, working nine to five.” I had yet to see him when I clocked in at six.
“The chief works when he needs to, be it nine to five, or nine to nine. Whatever. So be prepared.”
Now I nearly crapped my pants. Had I done something wrong?
TWO
“You know, that was a pretty shitty thing to do.” Harper and I walked back out to her vehicle to start our shift.
She just smiled.
“Suddenly at a loss for words?” I teased.
“I couldn’t exactly tell you it was something good. That wouldn’t have been any fun.” She walked around to the passenger seat. “This is going to feel weird.”
“Thanks anyway, and I appreciate your kind words.” I unlocked the car and opened my door.
“Don’t go all mushy on me now. We’re going to have a long night ahead, and I’m not good at mushy.”
The lieutenant had given us our goals for the evening. That was after Chief Richardson pulled me into his office, with Harper, and we had a review of my first week. It was only Thursday, but the way the schedule worked, it was my last day of the week. After the night, I had three days off. Oddly, I wasn’t looking forward to it.
As I drove out of the parking lot and headed back toward the lake, the town seemed different. It was somehow magnified and smaller at the same time. I was driving, answering the radio, and making the decisions. With Harper’s approval, of course.
“Moved into your apartment yet?” she asked.
“Oh sure, in my spare time.” I looked at her for a moment. “I’m moving in next weekend. I think my uncle will be happy to have his house back to himself.”
“I’ll bet he loves having you there. We’ll have to stop by the diner for dinner tonight. I’ll bet he beams with pride at seeing you in uniform.” Harper looked out the passenger window, scanning the streets.
“Not sure he wanted this for me. And my mom is definitely not happy. But I’ve always wanted to be a cop.”
We hadn’t been on the streets an hour when we got our first call. Alcohol, hot sun, and the lake tended to bring out the worst in some people. The dispatcher radioed in a domestic dispute.
I grabbed the mic, saying, “129 responding.”
Several other cars responded too. We’d been taught at the academy that domestic disputes were some of the most dangerous calls we’d respond to. The situations were volatile, tempers flared, alcohol was many times involved, and extreme caution recommended. S
everal deaths of brothers in arms had been on domestic calls. It had been a rough year for our boys in blue.
“To protect and to serve, whether you want to or not,” Harper said, as we went Code 3 with lights and siren.
I’ll admit, it was a rush to be behind the wheel and have the sea of cars split and let me through. Not a single asshole blocked our way as I sped to our destination on the other side of the lake.
“Okay, Dane, we’ve talked about this. I lead the way. There will be several cars and probably an ambulance at the scene. Even the paramedics will be in danger if this is a nasty one. Be alert, and be cool.”
Harper and I stayed behind the vehicles already on the scene.
My boss, Sergeant Wyatt Burke, was already on the scene when we arrived. As we approached, he said, “Officer Briggs. Leigh.”
Another cop was talking to a woman on the porch, and a man of about sixty, sat on the lawn, his hands cuffed behind his back. I heard Burke explaining, no matter if she wanted to press charges or not, someone was going to jail. They just needed to get both sides of the story.
Burke pointed to the man in cuffs. “I want you and Briggs to talk to his guy. I’m going to take the woman and put her in the back of my car. There are two other officers on the other side of the house talking to the guests at this little gathering.”
“What’s the deal?” Harper asked.
“Apparently these two have had too much to drink, and someone landed in the fire.” He pointed to the bonfire next to the lake.
“Alcohol involved. Hard to believe.” Harper rolled her eyes.
“Let Briggs ask the questions. I want you only to observe.”
I walked to the man fidgeting on the lawn. “Hello, sir. Would you mind telling me what happened here tonight?”
He looked up at me, promptly projectile vomited, then rolled over on his side and passed out.
Harper giggled and said, “You have quite a unique method of getting your guy to talk.”
