by Tara Thomas
CHAPTER SIX
Alyssa called her four times on the drive to Brent’s house. After the fourth, Janie took her phone and shoved it to very bottom of her purse. Brent looked at her sideways. “You sure you’re okay? You actually looked better before you entered the police station.”
She didn’t know what to say. Did she tell him she’d just been placed on leave from her job? Or that she felt like her best friend was keeping something from her? But neither of those explanations would work, not without revealing what she really did for a living.
“I know,” she managed to get out. “I’ll feel better once I’ve had a shower.” She bit her lip and turned her head to look out the window, telling herself she was not going to cry again.
“Hey.” He pulled into his driveway and stopped the car. “Look at me.”
His touch was gentle on her shoulder and she risked a glance at him. “I don’t know where to start,” she said with a sniffle.
“Stay here for a second.”
He hurried out of the car and crossed in front to get to her side and open the door. The way he gathered her in his arms brought back memories of how safe she had felt in his embrace just hours before. She felt herself relax.
He kept his arm around her as he unlocked the house and got her safely inside. “Now, do you want food, shower, bed, or wine?”
Much as she’d like wine and bed, she felt grimy. “I need a shower.”
No sooner had the words left her mouth did she realize she didn’t have anything else to wear. Damn it. Had she been thinking, she would have had Brent stop by her house to pick up some things. That was her problem lately, she wasn’t thinking.
“But I don’t have any clean clothes,” she said, half in exasperation, half in resignation.
“Not to worry.” Brent walked toward one of the spare bedrooms. “I’m pretty sure Bea left a few things here. Let me see if I can find something. Why don’t you go ahead and get in the shower? I’ll put what I find on the bed. Take your time.”
She loved that he was taking charge and looking after her. How long had it been since someone—anyone—did that? Certainly, not one of her exes ever came close. She turned the water on and let it get as hot as she could stand and then proceeded to stay in, just letting the water wash over her until her fingertips grew wrinkly.
The house sounded unnaturally quiet when she turned the water off. So much so that it freaked her out for a minute. She told herself to stop being silly—it was the middle of the night, what did she expect? Surely, Brent hadn’t gone to bed yet. She’d hoped they could talk a little before turning in. Though she should be exhausted, the emotions of the day hadn’t quite hit her yet.
She tiptoed out of the bathroom and found a soft tee and cotton shorts waiting on the bed. From the picture she’d seen, Brent’s sister was taller than she was, but the clothes still fit.
Feeling much more human, she peeked into the hallway and saw a light coming from the kitchen. Brent was still up. She scurried down the hall, ready for the glass of wine he’d brought up. Maybe after she had some, she’d tell him about her job. It was time to come clean once and for all. Especially if she wanted a future with Brent. Which she did.
But when she stepped into the kitchen, she knew the wine would have to wait. Brent sat at the kitchen table. In front of him was her gun.
He looked up as she entered. “I don’t mind you having secrets, but I believe I have a right to know why you’re bringing a firearm into my house.” She wanted to know why he felt entitled enough to go through her purse, but before she could ask, he held up her phone. “First, though, I suggest you call your friend Alyssa. She gave me an earful when I answered your phone. Damn fool thing wouldn’t stop ringing.”
“I don’t want to talk to her,” she said, feeling like a child as soon as she spoke the words.
“It’s either talk to her, she said, or she’s coming over.”
Janie nodded. “She can see me later today. Right now I need to tell you a few things.”
“Would you at least text her?” He gave her a half smile. “Because if I hear that ringtone one more time…”
She appreciated his attempt at humor. Quickly she typed a text to Alyssa. Exhausted. Going to bed. Come by after 11.
There. That should take care of one thing on her to-do list. She looked toward Brent and took a seat beside him. Now for the most important thing.
“I’m not really a bartender,” she said.
“Could have fooled me.” He leaned back in his chair, looking much too good at such an ungodly hour in the morning. “I’m very sure you were tending bar when we met.”
She took a deep breath. “I was undercover, working on the disappearances of several women.”
He sat up straighter. “You’re a cop?”
She nodded. “That’s why I have a firearm in my purse. I always carry, even when I’m off duty.”
He didn’t say anything for a few long seconds that felt more like hours. Finally, he broke the silence. “Are you supposed to tell me? I thought that was secret?”
“As of an hour and a half ago, I’ve been taken off the case.”
“Oh, Janie. I’m so sorry.” His face contorted with understanding. “Wait … the shooter tonight?”
She nodded. “Was probably after me.”
“But why? And how did he know you were here?”
“I don’t know. I have those same questions.” Suddenly, she remembered something. “The knock on the window.”
Understanding flashed in his eyes. “I have a security system, with cameras.” He stood up. “Let me pull the footage and see if it caught anything.”
She jumped up. She tried not to get her hopes up as he motioned for her to follow him down the hall and into a small office, but it was pointless. Part of her couldn’t help but think that she could solve the case tonight. Her body buzzed with excitement.
Brent pulled a second chair up to his desk so she could see the computer screen, too. He typed in a few words and within seconds, the outside of his house came into view as recorded by four cameras.
“Wow, paranoid much?” she asked, mostly kidding.
“I know it looks obsessive, but I like to be safe.”
“In this case, I’m glad you are.”
“Okay, this is about fifteen minutes before we arrived this afternoon. Or yesterday afternoon, more accurately.” He hit a few more keys and the view pulled back, showing more of the yard.
They watched a squirrel scamper along the yard and two kids run after a wayward kick ball.
“Next-door neighbor’s grandkids are in town,” he explained. “That’s who I thought it was.”
Brent’s car pulled into the screen. Hers was parked along the street and just out of the camera’s view. She watched as she walked up the drive and joined Brent. On the screen, he settled his arm along her lower back and they disappeared into the house.
“I think we heard the first knock maybe about thirty minutes later,” he said.
She wasn’t sure either one of them breathed as they sat glued to the screen, watching and waiting for anyone or anything out of the ordinary.
“Oh my god,” she said as a hooded figure came into view. They watched in silence as he approached the front window. It had to be man she was after, it had to be. Chills traveled down her spine. He had been so close to her and she’d been making out with Brent on the couch.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” she said as the figure walked around the house to another window.
She looked up at Brent. His face was stony, showing no expression, but she felt the anger radiating off him.
“Who is he?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“Quite possibly the man we think is responsible for the disappearance and possible murder of several local women. From the case I’m on,” she said, then added with a whisper, “… was on.”
He cursed under his breath. “I wish you would have told me.”
“I couldn’t.”
>
“This whole time, I never knew who you were. Is Janie even your real name?”
It appeared all her secrets were catching up with her. It’d finally sunk into him that she’d deceived him about who she was, what she did for a living, and now she’d led a criminal to his house. She wanted to tell him she was sorry, but she couldn’t. If she had to do it all over again, she knew she would go about it the same way. Her responsibility, first and foremost, was to the hunted women.
Brent had turned his attention back to the computer screen. The only emotion visible on his face was the vein on the right side of his temple that pulsed.
“He kept his head down and his hood on.” He turned the computer off. “This is worthless. Maybe tomorrow you can ask my neighbors if they’ll hand over any footage they have.”
“I’ve been suspended and I’m off the case. I have no authority.”
“In that case, I’ll ask them.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes and she wondered if it was forced. “I think it’s time we called it a night and got some rest.”
Was he still upset? He was so hard to read, she couldn’t tell, and it made her uneasy. “Sounds good. Where do I … I mean, do you want…” Damn, it shouldn’t be this hard to ask where he wanted her to sleep. Not with everything that had happened between them in the last twenty-four hours.
“I’d like you in my bed. I know you said you didn’t want to be alone.”
They were silent as they got ready for bed. Janie felt like she should say something, but every time she opened her mouth, nothing came out. They crawled into bed and there in the darkened silence it felt like there was an ocean between them. Tears filled her eyes because only a few short hours ago, they’d been making love on this very bed.
She sniffled and felt the bed move as he rolled toward her.
“Hey.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been such a wreck, keeping who I am a secret from you. I keep feeling like I should apologize for not telling you I was a cop, but I was undercover and the truth is, I couldn’t tell you. I couldn’t compromise the case. Then I feel I should apologize for sleeping with you this afternoon, but it was incredible. I refuse to degrade it by acting like it was a mistake because it wasn’t and if I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t change anything.”
He pulled her into his arms and she burrowed into the warmth of his embrace, sighing when he kissed her forehead.
“I’ll admit I was a bit taken aback,” he said. “But I know you did what you had to do. You couldn’t very well tell me the first time we met that you were undercover.”
“I had made up my mind to tell you after I was suspended. But then you went and found my purse.”
“I probably shouldn’t have gone in your purse, but that ringtone…”
“I keep it annoying to make me answer it.”
“It worked.” His arms tightened around her briefly. “Go to sleep now. I have you, everything else can wait for a few hours.”
* * *
Brent drove her to her house around ten. He told her numerous times that she could stay with him, but she refused. She told him she was not only an adult, but also a police officer and she could take care of herself. But that was only partially true. She needed time alone to think and to try to make sense out of the last few days.
Once she was home, she checked in with the department about picking her car up. Still on edge after the night before, she walked through her house, checking all the doors and windows, making sure the locks were working and secure. She double-checked her weapon and ammunition. And yet, she still jumped when her doorbell rang.
A quick glance at the clock told her it was time for Alyssa to stop by, but she verified it was her before opening the door.
Alyssa didn’t look as if she’d gotten any more sleep than Janie had. At least Janie wasn’t the only one.
Janie motioned to her living room, but Alyssa shook her head. “I won’t be long. I just wanted to stop by to make sure you’re okay and to tell you…” She bit her bottom lip.
“This is why you couldn’t look at me last night?”
Alyssa nodded. “Yes, and there’s no good way to tell you, so I’ll just say it. Charlie was found stabbed to death at the shelter.”
Janie grabbed the back of the chair in front of her so she wouldn’t fall to the floor. An ache shot through her chest. “Charlie? Why? He didn’t do anything.” Another thought hit her. “Oh my god. It’s my fault. I took him there. I told him he’d be safe.”
Alyssa walked toward her. “It’s not your fault, Janie. You didn’t do this to him.”
She reached out to touch her, but Janie jerked away. Her life was falling apart around her. She’d been suspended from work, Charlie had been killed, and Alyssa …
“I should have driven him straight to the office. If I’d done that, he’d still be alive.”
Alyssa shook her head. “Don’t play the should have game. Even if you had, he’d still have had a target on his back.”
She appreciated Alyssa trying to make her feel better, but she knew the guilt would follow her for a long time. “I feel like we’re getting close,” she said, wanting to shift the conversation away from Charlie. “Damn it, we have to be.” She couldn’t stand it otherwise. Couldn’t stand the thought of more death.
“He’s escalating. He’s going to slip and make a mistake. We’ll get him,” Alyssa said, when Janie finished.
“I’d like to get him before he has a chance to make a mistake.” Maybe she’d ask around at the bar tonight, see if anyone had witnessed anything out of the ordinary after dark in the alleys and streets. Then it hit her. No, she wouldn’t. She’d been suspended. “Who’s going to be working the bar?”
“I don’t think anyone is. At least, not right now.”
“Are you serious?” Janie couldn’t believe it. “If the guy we’re looking for is the same guy who killed Charlie”—damn, it hurt to say the words—“then the bar is the one place he’s tied to.”
“If the guy I’m looking for,” Alyssa said gently. “You were suspended. It’s no longer your case.”
It pained Janie to hear those words, but she was right.
Yes, officially, she was off the case. Unofficially? That remained to be seen. This was her case. She’d been the one to put together the initial evidence. She was the one who worked the bar for hours, listening and watching. And she was going to be the one who solved it.
* * *
Brent met her for lunch later that afternoon and surprised her by bringing a picnic. He said they should eat by the waterfront and enjoy the light breeze. She appreciated the gesture, but it didn’t take her mind off the fact that a killer was after her. She spent half of lunch looking over her shoulder.
Brent didn’t appear to be in a hurry to get back to work after they finished. She knew he had to be busy with the potential move to Washington facing him.
“Heard anything new about the case?” he asked. “Or Charlie?”
She shook her head, trying to keep the tears for the kind old man at bay, but unable to do so. Brent scooted over and took her in his arms. She’d told him about Charlie when he called to ask her to lunch. She’d cried then, too.
“Did you have a chance to talk with your neighbors about security footage?” she asked when she’d stopped crying.
He frowned and traced her knuckles with his finger. “I did. One of them didn’t have their cameras on and the other one didn’t capture anything.”
It was disappointing, but the truth was, she didn’t expect there to be any footage of the guy. He was entirely too smart to be caught by a security camera.
“We’re right back where we started,” she said. “Except now I don’t have a job.”
“But now you have me,” he replied softly.
It was surprising how much he’d come to mean to her in such a short amount of time. She should pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. To make sure she was really sittin
g with Brent Taylor.
She took her free hand and brushed back the long blond hair that had fallen in his eyes. “You’re right, and that is no small thing. I can’t imagine it any other way.”
She tried not to think about him moving away or how they would work it once he did. Assuming he even wanted to try a long-distance relationship. Sitting here with him like this, it was hard to imagine him not being nearby. He lifted her hand to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on the top. The touch of his lips sent shivers of anticipation down her spine and she decided not to think about him leaving again. At least not when he was with her.
“I think I feel like going to a bar tonight. How about you?” he asked with just a hint of mischief.
“I don’t know. If my boss finds out, he won’t like it.” Won’t like it was an understatement. He would be furious that she’d disobeyed him.
“It’s a public establishment, right?” Brent asked. “He can’t stop you from going there. All he can do is pull you from the case, and he’s already done that.”
She thought about it. “It’ll depend on which manager is working. The one who doesn’t like me may cause problems, but if it’s the other one, it shouldn’t be a big deal.” She couldn’t remember who was scheduled to work tonight. “It’ll be nice to see Tilly, too. I never got to tell her good-bye.”
“Is Tilly a waitress? I don’t know her.” He wrinkled his forehead in thought.
“Yes, and she’s really sweet. She’s goes to school during the day and works at night.”
“I think what happened was a certain bartender caught my eye and blinded me to everyone else.”
She leaned over and, much to his surprise, gave him a kiss.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“For being there that night when the creepy guy showed up. And for being here, now.”
That night at eleven, Janie had Brent pull his car up to the entrance of the club. There was a line to get in, and the security guard working didn’t like her. She turned him down when he asked her out the first week she worked at the bar. She wasn’t sure if word would have trickled down to him that she no longer worked there.
