by Lori Ryan
“How do you feel about Chinese?”
“Love it.” She smiled at him and he felt like he’d won the lottery.
They had dinner and talked about where they’d grown up, siblings, school, all that. His large family was very different from hers. She’d grown up with just her mom and her, and her mother’s father until he passed away. She had an aunt and uncle and a couple of cousins, but they were scattered around the country and she didn’t see them often.
By contrast, he was close to his brothers, and even though his family had moved constantly based on where his father’s post was, he and his brothers had often spent summers with their cousins. There had been endless months of running wild on his uncle’s farm in Indiana. Stripping down to underwear to jump in the river or swinging from tire swings they’d rigged that might or might not hold their weight.
She told him about the jobs she’d worked to put herself through college. The list ranged from overnight clerk at an all-night photo development place, for the short stint the place was open, to bartender at a downtown Hartford dive. Apparently, there’s not enough business to sustain an all-night photo development store, but she saw some pretty interesting pictures while she was there.
She laughed as she described some of her favorites. “This one guy came in with pictures of himself playing tennis in nothing but boxers and hiking boots.”
“What?” Jax couldn’t picture it. Hell, he wasn’t sure he wanted to, but he also couldn’t stop smiling as her eyes lit and she laughed.
“Yup. And then he asked us which one we thought was the best one to post on his online dating profile.”
Jax didn’t have a response for that.
Forty-five minutes later, he looked across the table at her. “I thought you said you love Chinese?”
“I do!”
“You hardly ate a thing,” he said pulling the bowl of fried rice toward him for his third helping. The woman had eaten a small spoonful from each of the three entrees they’d ordered to split and a little scoop of the fried rice.
She laughed. “I’m not nearly your size, Jax. I can’t eat a truckload of lo mein and top it off with three egg rolls, an order of General Tsao’s chicken and two beers.”
He shrugged and grinned at her. “I run a lot. It makes me hungry.”
“I can’t imagine your poor mom trying to cook for you and your brothers.”
“She didn’t.”
“What?”
He laughed. “She’s a horrible cook. I guess when we were little she cooked more, but when we were teens, we did a lot of the cooking. My brothers and I became masters of the grill.”
“That’s so funny. I had this picture in my head of your mom as this, I don’t know, Susie Homemaker or something. Taking care of her big burly men.”
He put down his fork and rested a hand on his now-full stomach. “She was, in a lot of ways. She was always there shuffling us from one sports practice to the next. And she was really active on whatever base we were stationed on at the time. She kind of held all the wives together when the stress of not knowing when your husband was coming home, or sometimes even where he was deployed, got to them. My mom was there for them. Always.”
He took Mia’s hand in his. “She just can’t cook and has zero interest in learning. She was so bad at it that when my dad would come home, he’d tell her how much he wanted her to cook for him, but he didn’t want to hurt our feelings by telling us not to barbecue. He played it up like it was this big deal to let his sons show him their grilling skills. She knew what he was doing, but everyone played along.”
He laughed looking back and remembering his dad trying not to tell his mom he hated her cooking. “What about your mom? Does she cook?”
Mia smiled. “Yes. I don’t know how she kept it all together. She’d work such crazy long hours, but she’d come home and make the best meals. Heavy stuff. I look back now and can’t believe I didn’t weigh a million pounds. Pasta, fried chicken. She makes this amazing macaroni with hard boiled eggs and cheese. It sounds kind of gross, but it’s so good. I still ask her for that one sometimes.”
“I’m hungry just listening to that.”
She was incredulous. “You’re crazy. I don’t know how you can think about eating after the meal you just ate.”
He grinned back at her as the waitress handed him the check. He glanced at the bill and placed a credit card on it before placing it on the edge of the table. “Give me half an hour, I’ll be ready to eat again.”
Chapter 20
Jarrod looked over the top of his computer at Cal, who’d just walked back into the precinct with coffee for both of them. They’d developed a bad habit of going down the street to buy coffee from the Dunkin Donuts at Union Station. It was just so much better than the tar that was brewed in the station house that it made the walk worth it if they could afford the time to slip away.
Not to mention it got at least one of them up off their ass for a few minutes every few hours. Some days, the chance to get away from their desks was gold. Other days, they’d kill for the chance to sit down. A detective’s day could vary drastically depending on their active cases.
Cal handed him one of the matching large cups of black coffee. The trip always took a few minutes longer when Cal was the one to take it. The man wouldn’t leave the station house without putting on sunscreen unless it was a flat out, sirens blaring emergency.
“Thanks,” Jarrod said. “I’ve got interesting news.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“Carlos couldn’t be the guy our witness saw at Leo Kent’s place. Vice had him under surveillance the entire day. They’ve been watching him for a while now. Apparently, he’s upped his game and they’re interested in taking him out.”
Cal bit out a curse. “Well, that blows that theory out of the water.”
“Yeah, it does, but take a look at this.” He turned the monitor so Cal could see the report he’d pulled up.
Cal grunted, but Jarrod had no trouble translating the sound.
“Yeah, weird, huh?”
“Go back a year.” Cal gestured at the screen.
Jarrod resubmitted the form, plugging in all the same variables but taking it back another year in time.
Now both men grunted as they looked at the screen.
“Yeah. You show anyone this yet?”
“No. Figured we’d go talk to the captain when you got back.” He grinned, knowing Cal wouldn’t appreciate the fact he’d waited for him. Who wanted to bring something like this to the captain?
“You’re a freaking prince.”
Jarrod laughed and headed to the printer to pull the sheets he’d just printed. It looked like Jax Cutter had stumbled onto something after all.
* * *
“You were right.”
Jax looked at the phone. Jarrod. He’d answered on autopilot and now had to orient himself. Mia’s slight figure on top of him felt good. Damned good.
He and Mia had fallen asleep on her couch after watching a movie. Her hair tickled his nose as she sat up and he felt the warmth of her body leaving his. He looked at Mia, who blinked up at him. “Sorry,” he said, and sat up, feeling her eyes on him.
“Hang on, Jarrod. I’m not awake yet. Just give me a second.”
Mia walked into her kitchen and grabbed two bottles of water, handing one to him before walking back out of the room. Jax took a drink, then spoke into the phone. “Sorry. Go.”
“You were right about the clinic. Something’s up. Cal and I did some digging and we found a gradual uptick in the number of heart attacks where the victim died either in the shelter or clinic in the last four months. These last two months there were six.”
“So six in two months counting Leo? That seems high,” Jax said. He squinted at the clock on Mia’s DVD player. Seven thirty in the morning.
“Well, that’s the thing. It is and it isn’t. No one thought much of it because on the whole, homeless people have a much higher rate of death in general, inc
luding deaths as a result of heart attack. Among homeless men, the rate of death from heart disease is nearly twice that for people who have housing.”
“You’re kidding. Jesus, that’s crazy.” The irony struck Jax. Leo had just gotten into a house, yet he’d still fallen victim to the shocking statistic.
“Yeah, I hadn’t really expected those numbers. The thing is, we looked back at this shelter in particular, and it seems like this number of deaths in such a small time frame so closely linked to that one clinic is a bit odd. They average anywhere between zero and two heart attacks per month. The last two months there were six, and the month before that, four. It’s not enough that we can open an official investigation, but enough that my captain said we could take a peek into it off the books and see if it’s something we need to look into.”
“Were you able to tell anything from that pill bottle?” Jax asked, keeping his voice low.
“Not sure yet. The lab swabbed it to see if they could find any residue and identify what was inside, but I doubt they’ll find anything. As for fingerprints, there’s nothing really useable. It’s filled with smeared and partial prints that I suspect would only come up as Darla’s. I don’t know how long she was hanging onto that bottle, but it seems like she was using it as sort of a touchstone. Maybe to her, it was a connection to Jimmy,” Jarrod said.
“So what next?”
“We’ll talk to the ME about the other deaths. See what we can find out or if there was anything suspicious about them.”
“The medical examiner?” asked Jax. “I don’t think Leo’s body even went to the city. The funeral home picked him up from the hospital morgue for cremation.”
As he said it, he realized the enormity of that statement. Leo had been cremated. Any evidence would likely be gone.
Jarrod seemed to follow his train of thought. “Yeah. So, the way this works is if a person dies under the care of a physician and there’s no evidence of foul play, as in the case of a heart attack, the doctor signs the death certificate and the ME doesn’t take jurisdiction. If a body is found, though, then the ME takes jurisdiction and will, at the very least, perform a routine exam to determine cause of death. We’ll try to find out what the circumstances were surrounding those deaths and see if the bodies have been claimed or what.”
“You’ll let me know?” Jax asked, wishing there was more he could do.
“As much as I can, yes. If the ME took possession of any of these bodies, she would have performed an autopsy and kept tissue and blood samples. We need permission to test those, though.”
“I’m not sure if Darla was Jimmy’s legal wife or if they were just together, or what,” Jax said, his thoughts on next of kin.
“I’ll see if I can find out.”
Jarrod hung up and Jax stared at the closed kitchen door.
Jax didn’t know how much he should tell Mia about her dad and the medicine and the fact that he was having Jarrod look into whatever it was that was going on. Part of him knew she had a right to know what was going on, but he also didn’t want to mess with what was happening between them. He had a feeling telling her about all of this would only add to her confusion where her dad was concerned.
He opened the door to the kitchen to find her sitting at the island waiting for him. It was clear from the look on her face, she knew something was up.
“I need to tell you some things that have been happening since your dad died.”
Her guard went up right away. He could see it in her face, in the way she tensed her shoulders.
“Okay.”
“Your dad’s apartment was broken into shortly after he died. The only thing missing was his medicine.”
“Why is that a big deal?”
“Well, it might not be. It’s just that the doctor that was treating him seems a little fishy. He got real squirrelly when a friend of a friend on the police force went to talk to him—”
“Wait.” She held up her hand. “You had the police go see his doctor? What for?”
“Mostly because I just felt like something was off. I just wanted to know why someone would break in and only take medicine.”
Her jaw was tense as she replied. “So, what did the police think?”
He hesitated. He didn’t want to give her the police’s theory, but he had no choice now. “That your dad might have been selling his meds and that whoever he was selling them to broke in to get the last of the stash. I think they’re wrong.”
She raised a brow and he continued. “I went down to the clinic thinking I might talk to your dad’s doctor myself. I ended up talking to a woman named Darla. Your dad had introduced me to her a few times. She told me her friend or her husband—I’m not really sure what their relationship was, but Jimmy, that’s his name. Anyway, he had also died of a heart attack. She gave me an empty pill bottle and said he’d been given some medicine by the doctor but he died anyway. She wasn’t really clear, but things just don’t seem right. She made it sound like he’d gotten the meds as part of a drug trial.”
“I don’t understand, Jax. What are you saying?”
He took a deep breath and plowed on. No sense stopping now. “I don’t think your dad’s death was an accident.”
“Are you kidding me?” She stood now and he could see the confusion and disbelief in her eyes. He could also see her walls going up. He didn’t blame her. It was the first time he’d said what he’d been thinking out loud and he was shocked to hear it, even though it had been brewing in his mind for some time.
She turned away from him looking out the window.
Shit. He knew this was a bad idea. “I’m sorry, Mia. I didn’t mean to upset you. I just felt like you should know what was going on.”
She turned to him with hurt eyes. “I just—for once, I want things to be simple where my dad is concerned. Just for once.” She closed her eyes and turned away again and Jax waited, not sure what else to say.
He walked to her, circling his arms around her and pulling her back to lean against him.
“I’m sorry.” He didn’t know how to express what he was thinking to her. He wished things could be easy with her dad, too. That Leo had somehow never left or had gotten his shit together in time to go back to his daughter and wife. To have a relationship with them.
Then again, if Leo had done that, he and Jax wouldn’t have met and maybe he and Mia wouldn’t be standing here together. The thought was a selfish one, but he couldn’t deny the feeling once it hit. He wanted her in his life.
She didn’t turn back to face him when she spoke. “Is that why you took me out to dinner, Jax? Do you need me to sign off on tests or ask the police to open an investigation? What do you need?”
“No. God no.” The suggestion hit him in the gut. He couldn’t believe she would think he’d had any kind of motive in taking her out. He turned her to face him and kept his arms around her, not wanting to break the connection. “I took you to dinner because I like you and I want to be with you, to get to know more of you. I can’t stop thinking about you when I’m not with you. Can’t keep my hands off you when I am.”
She studied his face as if looking for answers. He waited, letting out a breath when she gave a small nod.
“What now?”
He didn’t know if she was asking about her dad’s case or about things between them so he went with her dad’s case.
“A detective with the New Haven PD is looking into it. He’s a friend of someone I work with. A good guy. He’ll call as soon as he hears anything.”
She frowned. “I feel like we should do something. I don’t think I want to just wait and see.”
She looked up at him and he knew just what she was feeling. He wasn’t really happy about just sitting and waiting for Jarrod to do his thing, either.
“Maybe we can go talk to Darla, see if she knows who the other people are who died. We can try to talk to people they knew. I doubt these guys will talk to Jarrod, but they know me. They might talk to me.”
She did
n’t answer. Just grabbed her purse and keys and headed for the door. He was right behind her.
Chapter 21
Jax was quiet as he drove around the streets of New Haven adjacent to the homeless shelter. They’d filled the drive from Hartford with easy talk, and Mia had been relieved that things hadn’t been awkward between them after falling asleep on the couch together the night before. For having spent the night on the couch, she felt remarkably good.
She studied Jax’s profile as he looked intently through the glass of the windshield. Everything about him was intense and focused, and she wondered if this was what he’d been like when he was a Corpsman overseas. She knew he could laugh and have fun just as easily, though, and she liked seeing both sides of him. It was an appealing combination that had her fascinated.
“There she is,” Jax said, nodding toward a small group of people sitting on a concrete ledge near the train tracks. He pulled past the group to an open parking spot on the next block and turned to Mia. “Ready?”
“You bet,” she said and pulled the door handle, taking a deep breath. It seemed surreal. What on earth were they doing investigating her father’s death?
Before she could think much of it, Jax had joined her, putting one hand on her back and steering her toward the group. She could feel the eyes of Darla and the three men with her turn toward her and Jax, but within seconds, the faces broke out in smiles of recognition.
There were murmured greetings before Jax introduced her. “This is Mia, Leo Kent’s daughter.” The words sounded strange to her ears, and a pang of wistfulness hit her. She was startled by it. She’d longed to have her father in her life as a child, but she’d largely given up that dream as an adult. The introduction reminded her of the abandoned hope. “Mia, this is Darla, Moses, DJ, and Acorn.”
“Leo was a good man,” Moses said, and Darla nodded. DJ and Acorn wandered away as Moses continued. Jax couldn’t remember ever hearing the two men talk. “Saved my sweet ass once.”
