“Trying,” I got out, and thought maybe if I opened my eyes it would help me stay awake. “I need to see you.”
I didn’t really hear what she said, all I knew was that she was right in front of me, holding my face gently. I needed to touch her, so I slowly moved my arm up to put my hand on her cheek. My arm felt heavy, but I was determined to know that she was real and not just another one of my fantasies.
Our eyes locked as my hand came to her face. “Jacquelyn, I knew I would see you again.” Her eyes were so beautiful and so full of concern. I wanted to tell her I was fine and to stop worrying about me, but it was hard to put the words together.
The last time I saw her, she’d been fierce with no fear as she faced down a gunman. Now, as she lay beside me, fear clouded her features just because I had been in an accident. It felt surreal.
When I heard her say, “Yeah, well, I never thought I would see you again.” I had the urge to laugh, but I could barely get a smile on my face before a stabbing pain lanced through my head. She never moved her hands from the side of my face. She held it tightly, and I concentrated on the soft melody of her voice and the feel of her warm palms against my cold skin.
I managed to open my eyes again. “Why didn’t you call me?” I asked her. She was so close, and her breath washed over me in a quick sigh. She smelled like a candy cane. I wanted so much to be able to close the space and feel her lips on mine, taste them to see if they were covered in the sweet candy. She stared back at me, never answering.
Her eyes flicked back and forth, and then she looked away for good. When she did, I found I couldn’t keep my eyes open so I closed them as she spoke to someone behind her. My mind tried to shut down again, and I fought to keep it in the here and now. She spoke to someone about me, I heard my name, but I wasn’t listening to the words; only listening to the cadence of her voice. My body began to shake, although I didn’t particularly feel cold, not with her warm hands on my face.
I heard other voices and then felt someone wrapping something around my neck. It was cold and hard and her hands let go. My eyes opened quickly. “Don’t let go,” I practically begged. I kept staring at her, so she made sure to keep her hands on me. Although they were no longer holding my neck, she kept one on my face. Her fingers gently brushed my cheekbone while her other hand came down to hold mine. She stayed like that while the unbelievably loud tools ripped the car apart. With each loud creak, my body shook harder, and my head pounded.
They pulled me out of the car, and slid me onto a hard board. The strap was tight over my aching shoulder and Jacquelyn let me go so that they could move me. As soon as I was on the stretcher, she was back at my side and walked with us to the ambulance. I didn’t have my eyes open; but I didn’t need to, I felt her right there.
I heard someone say something about her being hurt, and I began to panic, thinking she had been hurt because of me. She didn’t seem concerned about it, but they made her get inside the ambulance with me, for which I was grateful. I didn’t want to be alone.
She told me she needed to call someone to let them know about what happened, so I asked her to call Troy. Won’t he be shocked when he gets this phone call from her?
I was in and out of consciousness on the way to the hospital, but each time I came around, I listened to her voice as she sat and quietly talked to the other two men in the ambulance with us.
As the paramedics lifted me from the ambulance, panic rose within me. I gripped her hand tighter.
“Ryan, you need to let go of my hand now. They need to take you to get medical attention.”
“Stay with me,” I pleaded. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want her to disappear without seeing her again.
“Ryan, I’ll be here. I promise I won’t leave without saying goodbye.” She squeezed my hand, and I squeezed it back. I let her hand go as they wheeled me away.
They put me through a battery of tests, CT scans, and X-rays. I was so relieved when they took the collar off my neck and told me my spine looked good.
They explained that I had a nice concussion, and that was why I couldn’t open my eyes for very long; it’d be easier if I just kept them shut. I found that if I tried to open them under the florescent lights, I instantly felt sick from the rapid blinking of the lights, so I kept them closed as they wheeled me through the hospital.
The aide told me to relax, and the doctor would be in to see me soon. He moved my bed into a sitting position now that they knew my spine was all right. Troy was talking in the hallway, and then I heard footsteps enter the room.
I was surprised when I noticed the lights dimmed. I gingerly opened my eyes. It took me a few seconds to get them to focus, but when they did, they went right to her.
She stood near the doorway, and we both inspected each other cautiously. She was even more beautiful than I remembered. My breath caught in my chest as I stared into her face and saw the concern.
“You really were there. I thought I dreamed you.” I wanted her to come closer, but she stayed where she was. I saw the edge of her lips move up into the semblance of a smile.
“I would think with the way we keep meeting it would be more like a nightmare.” She smiled wider after she spoke and shifted her feet.
I patted the bed next to me. “Come here,” I said simply. She hesitated, and then glanced at the floor. When she finally lifted her head, she walked to the side of the bed.
“I guess your neck and back are all right if they took the collar off.” Her soft voice floated to my ears. I wanted her to sit down, but I was happy enough to have her standing this close.
“Yeah, there is nothing wrong with them. Looks like I have a nice concussion, but other than that, I’m fine.” I smiled at her. “How is your back?”
She shrugged. “A couple of stitches, no big deal.” I waited to see if she would say more, but she just kept gazing at me.
“You never answered my question,” I said and watched confusion cross over her features.
“What question?”
I reached out and took her hand. She let me, and I felt her gently squeeze mine as I pulled her closer to the bed.
“Sit down.” She looked at the bed then back up at me. She studied me for a few seconds and then carefully sat on the edge. I kept hold of her hand as she did. Her skin was so soft. I ran my thumb over it before I finally asked her, “Why didn’t you call me?”
She swallowed and gave a small shrug, but her eyes never left mine. “There was no reason to.” Her words stung as they reached my heart.
“What do you mean there was no reason to?” My head throbbed, and I wished the pain medicine they gave me would work faster.
“Ryan…” She broke eye contact and glanced down at her lap. I squeezed her hand when she didn’t look back up at me. “Look, I know you’re thankful. I didn’t need to hear you say it, there was no reason to.”
“Did you ever think that there might be another reason why I wanted you to call me?” I asked her. Her eyebrows came together in confusion.
“What other reason could there be?”
I explored the soft features of her face and the gentle waves of her hair as it framed her cheeks. I let go of her hand and reached up to touch her cheek. Her eyes widened, she started to pull back.
“Because maybe I wanted to get to know you,” I answered honestly.
Her lips parted, and I had the urge to pull her closer to me. I could have easily slipped my hand behind her neck and brought her down to me, but I didn’t.
She bit down on her bottom lip and pulled away from me. Standing up, she stepped back out of my reach. “Ryan, there is nothing to know.” She looked over her shoulder at Troy who stood silently near the door. “Look, I’m glad you’re all right, but I have to go.” She stepped back again.
“Wait, Quen—” I started to say.
“My name is Jacquelyn. Please don’t call me Quen.” Pain crossed her face when I had called her that, and I wondered why. I knew another woman named Jacquelyn, and she used
Quen as a nickname all the time. “I need to go.” She turned all the way around and then stopped and looked at me over her shoulder. “I tried very hard to keep your identity as quiet as I could at the accident tonight. I would like to request that you keep the fact that I was there between us. I don’t want the media badgering me or my department again.” She turned back around and moved to the door.
“Jacquelyn, wait. Please don’t go yet. I want to talk to you.” She stopped with her hand on the door handle, but didn’t turn around.
“Jacquelyn, how can I thank you if you won’t let me talk to you?”
“You just did Ryan. You’re welcome. Now please, leave me alone.” She gave Troy a curt nod and walked out of the room.
The door closed slowly, I rested my head back against the pillow. I had a hell of a headache, but the medicine they gave me was finally kicking in. I closed my eyes.
“I said she was rare before, but now I’m thinking she’s more than rare. She’s one of a kind, man.” Troy spoke from where he stood on the other side of the room, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his wide chest.
“I’m going to get that woman to talk to me if it’s the last thing I do,” I said from my bed.
“You better be careful about saying that. You always seem to be in a life or death situation when you run into her.” He chuckled.
I couldn’t help but laugh with him because his comment was pretty dead on.
Chapter 6
April – Jacquelyn
“Hey, Brad,” I yelled as I walked out of the garage door. “Would you have Matt or Steve go back inside and grab the rest of the evidence bags off the table?”
“Yeah, sure, detective.” My hands were full with several evidence bags from our latest homicide. This one should be an easy one. It was actually a murder-suicide, or at least that’s what it looked like at the moment. I guess no murder was actually easy. We still had to analyze the evidence and do quite a few interviews before we officially called it that.
I made my way over to my patrol car, an unmarked white Crown Vic. Just as I opened up the back door, the Nextel on my belt chirped. I put all my bags inside and unclipped the phone to look at my screen. It was my Chief. He probably wanted an update.
“Chief,” I responded simply into the microphone on the Nextel as I pushed down the side button.
“Jack, are you almost done out there? I need you back at the station.” While he’d made this statement to me many times over the years, the way he said it raised the fine hairs on the back of my neck.
“What’s going on, Chief?” Instinct told me something was up.
It was a few seconds before he answered me back. “Nothing, I need to talk to you.”
I could still tell something was up. His voice didn’t sound like his normal calm voice; it was overly tense. “I’ll be back in about twenty minutes. I’m just loading up the evidence now, and then I’ll be clearing the scene.” I stood back from the door as Steve walked over with another load of evidence bags and put them in the backseat.
“Fine, come see me as soon as you’re back,” he replied quickly. I raised my eyebrows when Steve looked over at me.
“Something happen while I was working this? Chief seems pretty intense,” I said.
He shook his head. “No, as far as I know, he’s been in meetings all morning. I tried to get in to see him earlier, but Susan said he was tied up.”
After doing a final walk through of the scene, I cleared it and drove back to the station. I was carrying some of the evidence into the station when the Chief walked into the lab.
“Jackie, I told you to come see me as soon as you got back,” he practically growled, which was very unusual. What the hell was going on?
“Chief, I did just get back, but I need to secure the evidence I gathered. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” I turned to walk back out the door.
“Jack, in my office. Now.” I spun around and stared at him. What the hell was his problem? Did I do something wrong? I saw him turn and yell down the hall, “Jimmy!”
I was still staring at the Chief when Jimmy, our other detective, stuck his head out of his office. “Yeah, Chief?”
“Jimmy, pull the evidence out of Jack’s car and secure it. I need to talk to her.” He walked away while Jimmy and I shared a confused look, both our eyebrows high with surprise.
“Now, Detective Liveon!” he shouted from down the hallway. Jimmy and I exchanged another look before I headed after the Chief.
When I walked in, there was another man seated in the office. I had never seen him before, but I nodded politely and walked to the other chair in front of the Chief’s desk. I sat down and waited for one of them to speak.
I heard the door close behind us. Susan must have pulled it closed after I walked in. The Chief sat down heavily and looked at the man seated next to me.
“Chief, is there a problem?” I didn’t like the silence, and every muscle in my body was tense and alert.
“Detective Liveon, this is Robert Smallwood; he’s an attorney.” Oh, crap…that’s never good. I glanced sideways to look at the attorney.
“Am I getting sued for something?” I asked the Chief, glancing at the attorney again. I kept my voice level even though my heart was beating rapidly.
He shook his head. “No, you’re not getting sued. You’re going undercover on a special assignment.” The Chief studied me with frustration in his eyes.
My eyebrows shot up. “What special assignment?” I turned to look at the man beside me. He was watching the Chief, his hands casually placed in his lap.
“Well, it seems that the township decided to loan you out for a few months.” He sat back in his chair, pushing away from his desk. Chief Wheeler was a strong man in his late forties. To me, he was attractive in that rough, aggressive kind of way. But today, he just looked tired and pissed off.
“Loaned me out? What does that even mean?” I shook my head in confusion. I watched the Chief, but I still kept my eyes on the lawyer next to me.
The Chief sighed and put his hands behind his head. A body language sign that says, I know what I’m talking about and don’t question me because I am better then you. Yeah, that’s what it means. Shit.
“You will be working undercover on a very sensitive case. A lot of people are going to know what you do for a living, but they have an alibi for you.” He considered the lawyer for a moment, a muscle in his jaw vibrated through his skin.
I shook my head and looked down at his desk. “What am I going to be doing?” I asked him when I finally lifted my head back up.
He glanced over to the guy sitting next to me and then made direct eye contact with me. “You’re going to be working on a movie production to assist the head of security.”
“Excuse me?” My eyebrows went up under my bangs.
“Mr. Smallwood here will take you somewhere to explain all of the details,” he told me and lowered his hands to rest them across his stomach as he leaned back in his chair.
I turned to Mr. Smallwood and saw that he was still staring at the Chief. He looked uncomfortable, but he didn’t say anything and didn’t look directly at me.
“With all due respect, Chief, I don’t think I’m interested in working as a security guard for a movie.” Was he crazy?
“Detective Liveon, you have no choice in this matter.” He cleared his throat. “The township has already approved it, and it’s done. My hands are tied on this.” He sounded angry, and I began to share that emotion with him.
“Why the hell would the township approve this? I’ve got over forty active cases I’m working on right now. I don’t have time to go off playing around on some movie set. Why would they even need someone like me to be a security guard?”
He put his hands on his desk and sat up straight. “It was approved because the movie company donated one million dollars to the township and offered to pay you three times your salary for up to six months.”
My jaw dropped. I had just been sold o
ut for a million dollars. “I don’t want three times my salary. I want to do my job, Chief,” I said when I could finally speak again.
“You will be doing it, just not here. You’re to go with Mr. Smallwood now, he’ll fill you in on all of the details.” He shrugged, “He’s taking you someplace so that you can meet the people you will be working for. They will fill you in on anything additional you need to know.”
I shook my head. “What the hell is going on? Chief, I’ve got a murder-suicide case to investigate. I can’t just go run off to play on a movie set. You’ve got to be kidding me!” I was pissed off now. “Why can’t they use someone else?”
“Jimmy will take your cases. You can come back later and turn them all over to him,” he said as he stared me down, his nostrils flared. “As far as anyone else is concerned, you just went on a leave of absence.”
“What! Why the hell do they want me?” I knew I was whining, but this was ridiculous. A freaking movie production? You have got to be kidding me! After everything I’d gone through the last six months, the last thing I wanted to do was be near a movie set.
“Because they want the best” he said simply as he picked up a pen that was lying on this desk and tapped it on the surface.
I grabbed the arms of the chair I was sitting in, gripping it tightly so that I wouldn’t lose my composure. “This is all a joke, right?”
“Detective Liveon,” the attorney next to me finally looked at me and spoke. “I can assure you this is no joke. We need your services, but it needs to be a secret. That is why we have hired you under the pretense that you are working security.”
I glared at him. His brown eyes looked tired and frustrated. I shook my head and stared up at the ceiling.
“I can’t get out of this, can I?” I faced the Chief again.
He shook his head. “Sorry, Jackie, but my hands are tied. Go do whatever it is that they need you to do and get back here. They wanted the best; they got the best.” He shrugged. I knew that was supposed to be a compliment, but it just didn’t feel like it at the moment.
Spring Into Love Page 71
