Sherry Lewis - Count on a Cop

by Her Secret Family

  Thea’s gaze roamed Jolene’s face again, and a tiny smile curved her lips. “I can see the ancestors in your face. The shape of your eyes. Your nose.” Her smile grew big and warmth filled her eyes. “Your uncles will be so happy to meet you. And so will your cousins.”

  Instinctively, Jolene pulled back from the thought of a large extended family. But withdrawing into herself hadn’t made her life a bed of roses so far. Even with issues and problems, her life seemed more full and interesting for having Mason and Debra in it. Opening the door to the rest of her family might enrich it even more.

  “How many are there?”

  “Two uncles. Ten…no, nine cousins. And you.”

  Thea’s voice was so kind, Jolene’s fear began to melt away. “Tell me about them?”

  “About your uncles?”

  She nodded, surprised at how shy she felt. “About my uncles. My cousins.” She took another deep breath. “But mostly about my father.”

  Thea settled back with a satisfied smile and began to speak. And Jolene, with tears in her eyes, curled into her chair to listen.

  AT A LITTLE AFTER TEN, Jolene waved at Thea on the front porch and climbed into the cab at the curb. She was worn-out emotionally and physically, exhausted from the hours of laughing and crying, taking in everything her grandmother had told her, and the shock of recognition she’d felt when she’d looked at Thea’s small collection of photographs. For the first time in weeks, she knew everything was going to be all right.

  She leaned her head against the backseat and closed her eyes. The wound on her leg was beginning to throb and her arm ached, and the only thing she wanted now was to go home, climb into bed and spend some time processing everything she’d learned today.

  Before the cab had gone even a mile, her cell phone rang. She dug it from her pocket, checked the caller ID and flipped it open. “What’s up, Ry?”

  “We got him.”

  “Got who?”

  “Red. Couple of patrol officers spotted him three blocks from the GemCrest Toys warehouse. I’m going to talk to him in a few minutes. Thought maybe you’d like to come for the party.”

  Suddenly awake, Jolene sat upright. “Give me ten minutes, and save me a party hat.”

  She made it in nine and found Ryan talking to a couple of uniformed officers she didn’t recognize in the windowless corridor that separated the holding cells from the interrogation rooms.

  He glanced up at the sound of her hurried footsteps and grinned. “That was quick.”

  “I was already in a cab. What’s going on?”

  “I haven’t talked to him yet, but I was just about to. You want to watch?”

  “Watch? No. I want to talk to him.”

  “Captain Eisley’s not going to go for that and you know it. You’re not on active duty.”

  “But this is my case.”

  “It’s our case, Jo, and I probably shouldn’t even let you be here. Give me a break, okay? Take what I can give you.”

  Biting back her objections, she gave a crisp nod and slipped into the small, dark observation room.

  Red was already in the interrogation room sitting in front of a long, narrow table, head bent, eyes downcast. He was still wearing the clothes Jolene had seen him in the other day, and she swore she could actually smell the body odor through the two-way mirror separating them. An armed guard stood in the corner, unobtrusive and almost invisible, there only to step in if things got out of hand.

  Naomi Beck’s careworn face flashed into her mind, and Jolene wondered how someone like Russell Beck could go from a home with every advantage to this, while someone like Mason could begin life with nothing and become a productive, useful member of society. Was it just a crapshoot? She’d probably never know.

  The door to the interrogation room opened and Ryan, wearing a dour expression, swaggered inside. He carried a thick file folder and everything from his posture to the look on his face said “Don’t mess with me.”

  Red’s head popped up when he heard the door open. He took one look at Ryan and tried to stand. “Hey, man, what the hell? Why’d those idiots bring me in here? I haven’t done anything.”

  The armed guard stepped forward and pressed Red back into his seat. With a gesture that Jolene knew was deliberately casual, Ryan tossed the folder onto the desk. “You know, Red, I was about to ask you the same question. What the hell? What are you doing attacking police officers? Don’t you know that can get a guy into a lot of trouble?”

  “Attack—? Who, me?” Red did his best to look outraged and innocent. “You’ve got the wrong guy. I never attacked anybody.”

  “Yeah? Well I think you did, and my partner—” Ryan perched on one corner of the table and jerked his head toward the mirror “—she thinks you did, too. But maybe you’re just too high to remember.”

  Red’s eyes—the only thing his beard didn’t cover—flashed toward the mirror. “She’s in there watching us?”

  “Got the cast on her arm and everything. She’d really rather be in here talking to you.”

  That was an understatement. Jolene leaned in close to the speaker, straining to hear every word.

  “What’s that,” Red asked. “Some kind of threat?”

  Ryan laughed. “Just a statement of fact, buddy. I have to tell you, my partner’s tough. She’s real tough. Shoving her off those stairs was a mistake.”

  Red sank back in his chair and stared into Ryan’s eyes. “And I told you, you’re talking to the wrong guy.”

  “She can ID you if we need her to.” Ryan leaned forward, lowering his voice so Jolene had trouble hearing him. “The sad part of it is, we were trying to help you. My partner had this idea that you were in some kind of trouble. She thought maybe you knew something about Zika and his boys that had you worried. But I don’t know what to tell you now. It’s hard to work up enthusiasm for helping out somebody who shoves you off a flight of stairs and breaks your arm.”

  “I never shoved anybody off any stairs,” Red repeated. “I haven’t seen you or her in weeks.”

  “Well, like I said, maybe you’re just too high to remember.”

  “I don’t get high.”

  “No?” Ryan glanced amused at the mirror and shrugged. “Well, we’ll find out. Maybe I’m wrong. So like I said, Red, we’ve been looking for you for a while. Ever since the night Raoul Zika was supposed to move that drug shipment. Remember that?”

  Red shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You’ve got a real short memory, don’t you? I’ve heard that drugs can do that to a guy. Let me refresh it. April fourteenth. It was a Friday night. The night before you wiped out your mother’s checking account and disappeared with all her money. Ring any bells?”

  “I never disappeared. I’ve been around this whole time.”

  “You have?”

  “I have.”

  “You’re not hiding from Zika and his goons?”

  “No.”

  Jolene ground her teeth in frustration. Could she make a difference if she were in there? Probably not. Ryan was good at this. He knew how to do his job. But the waiting was driving her crazy.

  “Sorry. My mistake.” Ryan stood and started toward the door. “I ran into a couple of Zika’s guys the other day. They were asking about you. I’ll just let them know you’re here. Maybe they can swing by and pick you up when we let you go.”

  Red snorted and tried to look unconcerned. “You’re going to call Zika? Get real, Detective Fielding. You won’t give me up, and we both know it.”

  “Won’t I? Far as I know, Raoul Zika and his boys are just concerned members of society. No reason not to let them know their buddy’s been found, is there? They seemed real worried.”

  Red shifted his weight in his chair. “Raoul Zika’s no friend of mine, and neither is anybody who works for him.”

  “Then why are they looking for you?”

  “You’d have to ask them.”

  “I can do that,” Ryan said wi
th a shrug. “Not a problem. Maybe I’ll bring them in right now. It’ll be easier to get the story when you’re all together.”

  For the first time, uncertainty crossed Red’s face, and Jolene felt a surge of anticipation.

  “You’re going to bring them in here? Now?”

  “Sure. Unless you can give me a good reason not to.”

  Red’s eyes darted around the room, from the mirror to Ryan’s face, to the guard and back again. “If I tell you what I know,” he bargained, “will you reduce the charges on the assaulting an officer thing?”

  Ryan’s expression didn’t change, but Jolene knew he was elated. “I’ll see what we can do. No promises.”

  “And those other charges—the possession ones. Can we still work on those?”

  Slowly, Ryan closed the door and returned to the table. “Well, now, that’s going to depend on what you give us. Why don’t you start at the beginning?”

  Red didn’t speak for a long time. Long enough to make perspiration snake down Jolene’s back. Just when she thought Red had changed his mind, he started to talk. “I can give you Zika for murder,” Red said, his eyes locked on Ryan’s, “but only if you promise to protect me.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT, Jolene used the spare key her parents kept hidden for her use and Trevor’s, and let herself into the house. All the lights were out, and she was afraid she might worry them, but they always seemed to know when one of their children was in the house.

  Yawning, she climbed the stairs toward their bedroom.

  She’d grown up with two loving parents who’d given her everything a child could ever want. She’d been showered with love and attention. They’d met every physical need she’d ever had, and they’d provided far more of the nonessentials than many parents were able to, but still there’d been an emptiness inside. An uncertainty that Jolene had never completely understood, but one, she saw now, that had affected every aspect of her life.

  The blame she’d wanted to heap upon her parents had disappeared in the course of the evening, and though part of her still wanted to cling to her outrage, she knew Thea was right. She would only hurt herself if she did, just as Mason had all these years.

  Outside her parents bedroom, she paused. As she had so many nights as a little girl, she put her ear to the door and listened for their voices. But except for the rhythmic sound of her father’s snoring, the room was silent.

  Quickly, before she could change her mind, she knocked and turned the knob. “Mom? Dad? Can I come in for a minute?”

  “Jolene?” Her mother’s sleepy voice floated out of the darkness. “What is it, honey? Is something wrong?”

  “No. Everything’s fine. I just need to talk to you.”

  Sheets rustled as her mother sat up and turned on her bedside lamp. The floral scent of her mother’s night cream filled the room. “What is it, sweet pea?”

  There would be no recriminations, Jolene realized with relief. In spite of everything she’d said, and the anger she’d poured out on them, her parents had just been waiting for her to get her act together and come home. Was that a special skill, a gene some people were born with, or could anyone learn how to love so unconditionally?

  Her father grunted and rolled onto his side. Jolene smiled. Even in sleep, he still had that uncanny ability to remain focused on his task.

  Strangely nervous, Jolene moved to the bed and sat at her mother’s feet. This, too, was an old ritual. She’d sat this way many nights after dates in high school or outings with friends, and her mother had always listened, eager to share whatever Jolene wanted to talk about.

  Her eyes blurred softly and her throat tightened with emotion. “I thought you should know, I just came from Thea’s.”

  Her mother’s worry turned to fear in a heartbeat. “Oh?”

  Jolene couldn’t bear to see her mother frightened, so she reached for her hand. “She’d like to see you again.”

  Margaret pulled back slightly. Without makeup she looked tired, and smaller than usual. “Is she mad at me?”

  “No. She misses you. She’d like to meet Dad, too.”

  Tears fell to Margaret’s cheeks. “After everything I’ve done?”

  “What did you do, Mom? You gave her a granddaughter, and you loved and protected me. Thea seems more interested in the future than the past.”

  With a sniff, Margaret reached for a tissue on the nightstand. “That sounds like Thea.”

  Jolene gave her mother’s hand a squeeze. It felt tiny in hers, like the delicate wing of a bird. “I think I’m going to be okay. I think we are going to be okay.”

  “Oh, thank God.” Margaret’s free hand fluttered in Jolene’s and her eyes closed in relief. “I’m so sorry, honey. I never meant to hurt you.”

  “I know, Mom. I know.” There were so many things they needed to talk about, but Jolene was too tired and emotionally drained to begin, and her mother deserved time to process this new development.

  Wiping tears away with the back of her hand, she leaned in to kiss her mother’s cheek. “It’s going to be okay, Mom. I’m going to spend the night and we can talk in the morning, okay?”

  Working through tough issues together was what families were for. Jolene knew that. She’d always known it, but she’d lost it somewhere along the way. How odd that it took someone like Mason—someone with no real experience in a family—to bring that lesson home to her again.

  She closed her parents’ door behind her and walked softly down the hall toward her childhood bedroom, but the comparisons between her life and her mother’s raced through her head with every step. The past month had been one of the most painful of her life, and she was almost certain it ranked right up there for her mother. Through it all, her father had been there, a solid, steady strength for her mother to lean on. It wasn’t a one-sided relationship either. Jolene could have cited half a dozen times when her mother had been the strong one. That’s what families were for.

  She sat for about two minutes on the foot of her bed before the full impact of her decision to leave Mason’s hit her. When it did, she was off the bed like a shot and knocking on her parents’ door.

  “Mom?” she said as she inched the door open again. “I’ve got to go.”

  “What? Now? Is it work?”

  “No. It’s something better. Would it be okay if I came back for dinner tomorrow night? And could I bring a couple of friends along?”

  “Friends?” Her mother sat upright and Jolene could almost see the delight on her face. “Anyone special?”

  “Yeah. He is,” she said. “And so’s his daughter. I hope you get a chance to find out just how special.”

  IT WAS ONE O’CLOCK in the morning when Jolene pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex and drove slowly past Mason’s building. To her surprise, his lights were still on, and she wondered if he was having as much trouble settling down as she was.

  Her heart jumped into her throat at the thought of facing him, but if she didn’t talk to him now, she might lose her nerve. Now that she knew what she wanted for the rest of her life, she wanted forever to begin immediately. But that didn’t stop her hands from growing clammy as she slowly climbed the stairs to his door.

  She knocked softly so she wouldn’t wake Debra and chewed the corner of her lip as she heard his footsteps coming. When she saw his shadow through the window, her courage nearly failed her.

  The door opened and he stood there, framed by the light. His broad shoulders and shaggy hair made her heart pound. The look in his eyes when he realized who she was made her weak in the knees. “Jolene? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I just need to talk to you.”

  He stepped aside to let her enter, and she breathed in his scent as she walked through the door. She’d worked so hard to become a strong, self-reliant woman. Yes, she could make it through this life alone. But she didn’t want to.

  He looked as if he wanted to scoop her up in his arms, but Jolene could tell
he was holding himself back. “I just came from my mother’s house,” she said. “We’re going to be okay.”

  “I’m glad.”

  “I saw Thea, too. Earlier. You were right, you know. My big problem was that I didn’t know what to do with two families. It seems kind of silly, actually.”

  “When something hurts, we react. It’s human nature.”

  “I was going to stay at my parents’ house tonight, but I wanted to share what happened today.” How could opening her heart to someone be more frightening than working the beat? She wished he’d say or do something to let her know what he was feeling, but he was still waiting for her. “I need to share it with you. This is all new territory to me, and I’m afraid I’m not negotiating it very well.”

  The light that flickered in Mason’s eyes made her warm all over. “You seem to be doing just fine.”

  “Apparently, I told you the other night that it would be easy to fall in love with you. I was pretty out of it at the time, so I need you to know I feel the same way when I’m all here.”

  Mason moved closer and trailed his fingers along her shoulders, gently at first, then applying more pressure and massaging away the tension. “I meant what I said, too. Falling in love with you wouldn’t be difficult.” He leaned his forehead against her cheek and whispered, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not perfect, either. We’re both going to have to work at this.”

  She searched his face, surprised by how familiar it had become to her in just a few weeks. Excitement fluttered low in her belly, but with Debra in the next room she couldn’t let it overwhelm her. She slid her good arm around his neck and leaned up to kiss him. “As long as you’re patient with me when I stumble.”

  “I think I can handle that.” He caught her bottom lip with his teeth and nipped it lightly, then trailed kisses along her throat to the pulse point in her neck. He kissed her gently, then suckled the skin while the fingers of one hand worked to release the buttons on her blouse. She wanted to stop him. She didn’t want to stop him, but Debra…