by Lori Ryan
Coleman ground his teeth together. How on earth could this man have falsified the logs at Simms?
Of course he could. The man was mad, but he was also well-connected. He could likely make anything happen if he set his mind to it.
Suddenly it all made sense. The connection to Warrick, the resentment and history between the two men. This wasn’t about the drug at all.
Coleman swallowed and hedged, trying to figure out where this was all headed. “Why on earth would the police think Warrick was involved?”
Warrick Staunton was a good man. He and Coleman had gone to undergrad together and shared a house their third and fourth years together with a couple of other guys. Coleman couldn’t let this fall in his lap. “The police have no reason to think Warrick is involved.”
As he said the words he realized they weren’t true. Evidence could be planted far too easily. His stomach sank. He was so far into this shit, he would never get out.
“Jesus, are you testing the Simms drug that failed? People died during those trials!” Coleman couldn’t believe this guy could be that crazy, but there wasn’t any other explanation. He had to have known this would kill people before they’d even begun. “You can’t possibly think you can bring it to market.”
“Get yourself together and get your head back in the game, Dr. Coleman, or your friend Warrick will be left holding the bag.” He sounded almost cheerful.
The call ended as Coleman sank into his desk chair again. The same question repeated in his head again and again.
How the hell had he gotten here?
Chapter 15
“Hold up, Jax.” Jax looked to his left as Chad approached.
The two fell into step together as they walked toward the conference room at the end of the hall for the weekly tech and sci guy meeting. Logan’s wife, Samantha, had deemed Jax’s group at Sutton the tech and sci guys, and everything they did now was labeled that way. Including the weekly meetings.
“Was Jarrod able to help you out?” Chad asked, holding the conference room door for Jax. Kaeden was already sitting at the table, coffee and laptop arranged in front of him. Kaeden was always the first to get to their meetings.
“Yeah. Well, nothing came of it, but he looked into it for me.” Jax turned toward the coffee setup at the side of the room and walked that way. Not that he needed the fix, but he wanted to tell Chad what Jarrod suspected quietly. It still killed him to think of Leo selling meds.
Chad followed and helped himself to a cup of coffee as well. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” Jax glanced over his shoulder, but Kaeden was in his own world, analyzing something intently on his computer screen. “He went and saw the doctor to see what Leo might have had in the apartment. Turns out the doctor had given him some sleeping pills. He was also on pain meds for his leg. I’d taught him mirror therapy and that was working well for him, so I’m not sure why he would need pain meds.”
“Mirror therapy?”
“It’s a pretty new thing for amputees. If you have an amputated leg, you put a mirror between your legs, facing the intact leg. You do exercises and massage with it and watch in the mirror. I don’t know how the hell it does it, but somehow your brain seems to process it as the other leg doing the exercises. Cuts down on the pain a ton.”
“No shit?”
Jax nodded. Mirror therapy had been a Godsend for him when he’d first lost his limb. “Jarrod thinks he might have been selling the pills and whoever he was selling them to broke in to grab the rest of his stash after he died.”
Chad shook his head. “I’m sorry, man.”
Jax nodded, mouth tight. He hated the feeling of bitter disappointment he felt. What right did he have to judge Leo? Leo had his reasons for doing what he did.
In fact, if Leo was selling medications the doctor had given him, it wasn’t lost on Jax that he might have been part of Leo’s reasons for doing what he’d done.
Jax had pressured Leo into accepting money from him to rent that apartment. Maybe Leo didn’t want to feel like he was in debt to Jax forever. Maybe he’d just been trying to get out from under that debt, even though Jax hadn’t ever intended that Leo pay him back.
Chad clapped him on the shoulder as the room began to fill with the others on their team. Sara Blackwell and Samantha walked in together and all talk turned to the new prosthesis on Sara’s arm. The two had been inventing detachable tools for prosthetic arms using Sara as the guinea pig.
Being at work sucked lately. He’d liked his job and had been starting to feel closer to this group, in particular. Most of the people in the room were either former military or spouses of former military. They worked well together.
Lately, though, nothing seemed to work as far as Jax was concerned. It had been over a week since he’d dropped Mia off at the hotel the day after Leo’s funeral, and all he thought about was either her or the fact that things still didn’t sit right with him as far as Leo was concerned.
Jax and Chad wandered over to join the group as Sara grinned and showed off the newest tool she and Sam had come up with. She had a socket style prosthesis base with several attachments she was putting in and out to show the group. She’d just plugged a whisk in to demo.
“It’s our kitchen set,” she said with a laugh. She and Samantha had been putting together camping sets, an arts and crafts set, a set for a tattoo artist. They were talking to a jeweler who wanted to have some specially made tools.
Jax picked up one of the attachments. It was a six-inch chef’s knife. “What happens when your kid comes in the room and startles you when you’re using this?”
“How’s that any different from a kid startling their mom who’s holding a knife?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s not.”
He sat back, fidgeting with the handle of his coffee cup as he waited for the meeting to start, but his mind wandered again. He wondered if Mia was having trouble settling in at work, or if her father’s death was plaguing her. Of course, she still didn’t know about the break in or the medicines. Jax had zero interest in telling her now that he knew what Leo was likely doing for money.
“Jax … Jax? You still with us?” Sam’s voice cut in.
“Huh? Oh yeah, sorry. Zoned out. What did you say?”
Chad looked at him sideways. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Just tired.” Jax brushed off the question and pulled out his tablet. He was supposed to be updating the group on some of the figures from a company they’d been vetting over the last month.
“I asked if you wanted to play basketball tonight. We’re meeting up after work and Jack can’t make it. The kids are sick.”
Jax raised his brows, but Chad waved a hand “Nothing major. Stomach bug. Not fun for him or Kelly, but the kids will probably be bouncing off the wall again by morning. So, can you make it? We’re short one.”
“Sorry. I’m meeting with the super to give him back Leo’s keys and get the security back and all that.”
“That sucks. Hey, Kaeden, you interested?”
As the conversation moved on around him, Jax thought about the medals he had from Leo’s apartment back at his place. He needed to pack them up and send them up to Mia’s mom.
Or maybe he’d just drive them up to Mia’s office and drop them off in person.
Idiot. He was a complete idiot. He needed to forget about Mia Kent and get on with his life.
Chapter 16
Jax looked around the area surrounding the homeless shelter and clinic. Between the two buildings was a courtyard with quiet benches and a surprisingly serene garden. A plaque in one corner read:
Victoria Tyvek Staunton
Loving Daughter
Taken Too Soon
1980-2013
Across the street from the shelter, things were less tranquil. A parking lot and overpass created an area ripe for the shelter’s overflow to stay.
When he’d first met Leo, the place had been a lot more crowded th
an it was now. The initiatives happening in Connecticut with the homeless were really making a difference in the lives of a lot of people. Now, the shelter saw a lot of business for job training and counseling, and the clinic was still swamped, but they had less use of their emergency beds.
The streets weren’t entirely empty, though. There were still men and women of all ages sitting on stoops or standing in the parking lot adjacent to the building. He guessed the people who slept at the shelter didn’t always have somewhere to go during the day. Or they might be waiting for appointments at the shelter itself in job training and support services offered during daytime hours.
Jax walked toward the overpass across the street, where he’d spent time with Leo and some of the other veterans who lived on New Haven’s streets. He hadn’t been down here since Leo had moved into the apartment and it struck Jax that he should have kept up his visits. He could be doing more to help other people who were on the streets.
He spotted a woman in a shadowed corner of the area, her heavy coat covering what seemed to be layers of clothing. Darla always wore layers and he wondered for a minute if she was sweating her ass off, but he knew the struggle. If she got rid of layers now, she’d have to find a safe place to stash them or risk losing them when it turned cold. She’d rather keep the layers on than be stuck out in the cold without.
“Hey Darla,” he said quietly, keeping his distance. Most of the time she was in the mood to talk, but he’d seen her when she wasn’t. He could respect that. He had been a little surprised not to see her and Jimmy at the funeral.
The older woman turned wary eyes to him, but brightened when she saw him. “Leo’s boy.”
The men and women he’d met from Leo’s life all called him Leo’s boy, as if he’d been his son. Now that he knew Mia existed it made him a little uncomfortable. He knew it had to suck for her to know Jax and Leo had had the relationship she’d craved all her life.
“Jax,” he said, smiling. “Do you mind if I sit?” He gestured to the concrete next to her and she nodded her assent.
He looked around. “Where’s Jimmy?”
“Gone,” she sniffed, and Jax realized her eyes were tearing up. “He died just over a month back.”
“I’m so sorry, Darla. I hadn’t heard.” He wondered if Leo had known. If he had, he hadn’t mentioned it to Jax.
He didn’t know if Darla and Jimmy had been married or just long time partners, or friends or what. But he hadn’t ever seen one without the other.
“Same as Leo. Heart attack.” She turned and looked at him fiercely. “It was those meds.”
She dug into the pocket of her coat and pulled out an empty pill bottle. It was the plastic amber kind you’d get in any pharmacy across the country but there was no label, and no evidence there’d ever been one. “Damned pills.”
She looked at the bottled and Jax could see the agony of her loss. He wished he was better at this. That he could think of something to say to take away her ache.
Jax realized one of Leo’s pill bottles hadn’t had a label. He hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but it sure as hell got his attention now. “What were the pills for?”
She looked at him, and for a minute she looked like she’d forgotten he was there. Then she seemed to remember, and answered him. “The clinic. They said he had to take those pills for them, but then he got sick, and they wouldn’t help him.”
“He was taking the pills for the clinic?” Jax wondered if she was talking about a drug trial.
“Right up until he died. Heart attack, they said.” She shook her head and hissed. “That’s what they say, but he was strong as an ox, my Jimmy. No heart attack gonna take him from me. It was those pills.”
Jax looked at the empty bottle. “Do you mean a drug trial, Darla?”
She nodded. “Yes. For the drug trials. That’s it.”
“Can I take that?” He pointed to the pill bottle and she drew it back away from him, cradling it to her. He raised his hands. “I just thought I could take it to a friend of mine. He’s a detective with the NHPD. I could ask him to look into this. It might help if he had the bottle.”
Jax had no clue if the bottle would be helpful to Jarrod but he wanted to get as much information as he could. Who knew. Maybe they could swab the inside of the bottle and see what it had held. His gut wasn’t going to stop screaming until they had answers.
Maybe the doctor was telling the truth, and Leo had been selling drugs. But Darla’s story had him wondering just how much of their current theory was bullshit.
She nodded slowly and turned over the bottle. He pocketed it. “Thank you. Can I find you down here again if I need to Darla, or is there some way I can get ahold of you?”
“I’ll be here. I’m always here.” She began to stand but he stopped her. “Here, Darla. Get some lunch, okay?”
He handed her a lot more than a lunch’s worth of cash, and she smiled but there was deep sorrow engraved in the lines of her face. He wondered how long she would last without Jimmy and hoped she had other people she could lean on out here. He’d need to see if he could talk to someone at the shelter about her. Maybe help get her into an apartment.
It made him sad to think that she was living on the streets with no support. People shouldn’t have to grow old out here. If his mom was out here alone—Jesus, the thought killed him. Darla could be someone’s mom, too. Was there someone out there worrying about her? Wondering where she was and if she was alive?
Jax thought again of what she’d just told him. He didn’t know much about drug trials, but he would guess there was no way in hell they should be giving out unmarked bottles of pills to anyone. If Leo wasn’t the only one to have had a heart attack, maybe Jax wasn’t making more out of this than there really was. Either way, he needed to find out. He owed Leo.
Chapter 17
Mia curled her feet up under her and sipped the lemonade her mom had put in front of her. The back porch of her mom’s house was one of her favorite places to be. They had a tradition of sitting on the back porch swing sipping lemonade as they talked in the evenings. It was where they’d always ended up for all of the important talks in Mia’s life. The breakups, fights with girlfriends, decisions about where to go to college.
“So,” her mother said, and Mia had a feeling she’d been lured here this evening for something other than lemonade and a light chat. “Have you seen Jax again?”
Mia nearly choked on her lemonade as her cheeks flushed. “Jax? Mom, I told you. It wasn’t like that when I spent the night.”
Her mom shrugged. “But there’s no reason it couldn’t be.”
At times, her mom could seem more like a friend than her mom, but she suspected that came from being an only girl raised by a single mom. Her father’s parents had blamed her mother when their son slipped off the grid. She hadn’t known them at all as a child or an adult.
Her mother’s mom had died when her mom was a teen. Her grandfather on her mom’s side had been part of Mia’s life until she was ten, but then he’d passed away. It struck Mia sometimes, how alone in the world she and her mom were.
Mia narrowed her eyes at her mom. “Of course there’s a reason there can’t be anything between Jax and me.” She wasn’t about to admit to her mom that she’d thought about Jax every day since the funeral.
“What’s the problem? He’s a handsome man with a good job.”
There were so many problems, Mia didn’t know where to begin. Jax was tied to her father in Mia’s mind and her emotions were all over the map as far as that went. She resented him for having been able to know her dad in a way she hadn’t. She resented the fact that he seemed to think her dad could do no wrong, when in fact, he’d done a lot of wrong. Leo had walked away from her and her mom. There was no more wrong a man could do, as far as she was concerned.
“Have you forgotten about Nick?” She frowned at her mom. “I’m already dating someone, who also happens to be a handsome man with a good job.”
Her mom ma
de a dismissive noise and waved her hand.
“Mom!” Mia couldn’t believe her mom. “I thought you liked Nick.”
“I do like him. But I’m surprised I need to point out to you that you and Nick are really nothing more than friends who kiss sometimes.”
“What! What on earth does that mean, mom?”
“It means it’s heading nowhere. I know you. You’re hiding out with Nick.”
Her mom wrapped an arm around her and squeezed. I know what happened with Gary scared you. It scared me.” Mia’s mom had been there with her when Gary began stalking her, becoming possessive and jealous. Dangerous.
“What happened with your dad, what happened with Gary. I think both of those things have combined to make you want to hide, whether you realize you’re doing it or not. Nick is safe, but neither of you feels any passion for each other.”
Mia blushed. Discussing the level of passion in her relationship was not at all something she wanted to do with her mom. Unfortunately, her mom seemed to have no qualms about it and plowed on forward.
“I’m not even sure you’re really good friends. You’re a good friend to him, but where was he during your father’s funeral?”
Mia shifted in her seat. “I didn’t ask him to come.” In the past, he’d somehow been this safety net for her. Like an old sweatshirt that was familiar with its torn holes at the sleeves and elbows. But now she was starting to see that things weren’t what they should be. Maybe her mom was right. Maybe he’d been more of a hideout than a safety net.
“He should have been there without being asked.” Her mom didn’t stop. “Jax was there for you that night.”
“Shouldn’t you want me to stay away from veterans?” The minute the words were out of Mia’s mouth, she wanted to take them back.
