A fierce look entered his eyes, “Every thug within a five mile radius, knew if you messed with Gina, you messed with my boys or the Donovans. And Connor didn’t tolerate anyone messing with Gina if he knew about it.”
He gave a humorless chuckle, “I know Ol’ Hunt went to her a lot over the years growing up; he was real fond of the old bat. Even before your mama and him got together.” His small smile faded at his next words, “I know of one guy that really had it out for your old man and he was always bragging about knowing someone that could take you out if the price was right. Name was Charlie. Charlie Sanders.”
Chapter Eight
Alex pulled the car into the parking lot of the grocery store and opened the car door. She loved her motorcycle, but on grocery runs it wasn’t very practical. As she pulled the driver seat up and Luke got out of the backseat, she thought of another reason why it was impractical. The few times she let Luke on the bike with her, Jane just about had a heart attack.
She walked them to the store front, getting a buggy as they walked in. “Alright which way, you walking or get in the buggy?” His eye roll and arched brow, was a trait she had seen on Jane far too many times as a kid; like you were crazy for suggesting it.
Alex shook her head and led them to the produce aisle, “Right. What I was thinking? You’re a big boy.” The sarcasm went right over his head and he gave her a proud smile, “Yes I am!”
And walked over to the stand displaying oranges and pulled several off the cart and proceeded to put them in the little plastic bag in his hand. Unfortunately he couldn’t hold both and oranges went rolling across the store floor. She saw him run to catch the round fruit before it got too far away from him. She shook her head when he gave a triumphant cheer and came rushing back to the buggy. Grocery shopping was never dull with Luke.
Jane sighed, running a frustrated hand through her hair, giving her a wild look. She leaned back in her desk chair, looking over the files on her desk. Gina’s case had hit a roadblock, Charlie Sanders had died in prison three years ago and the search for any of his known associates back then had til yet surfaced. The phone ringing jarred her from her thoughts and a second ring made her realize the ringing was coming from her desk phone.
“Detective Hunter, Cold Cases.”
The line was silent, “Hello, can I help you?” A voice that sounded altered came over the line, “The past is buried for a reason. Let it lay. Leave the Brown case alone.” Click.
Jane held the phone in her hand, staring at it. Dazedly, she hung up the phone. It clicked then when she was looking down at her notes. A few weeks ago she put out feelers for other cases in the surrounding counties that had unsolved cases that were similar to Gina and Alice’s. She had gotten some feedback but nothing official yet. Now she gets a call to back off the case a week after she got a note saying the same thing. A bemused smile briefly curled her lips; maybe she was on the right track after all.
Jane was thinking about her and Peter’s relationship; their friendship had picked up where they had left off. And while she was happy to have him back, she couldn’t help but think she wished there could be more. She knew through if she wanted things go past being friends, she would have to tell him everything, including why she gave him the brush-off.
A hand waved in front of her face, startling her from her thoughts, “Earth to Jane!” She looked up to see Alex sitting there with a big smirk on her face, “Where were you just a minute ago? Thinking about Peter?” Jane didn’t bother to hide the sappy smile on her face, “Maybe,” she drawled. Alex nudged the foot propped up on the coffee table, “So tell. What’s going on between you two?” She wiggled her eyebrows, “Is he still as good in bed as he was last time? Or was it a fluke?” Jane suddenly found the movie they were watching, very interesting. Alex started chuckling, then giggling before flat-out laughing, “You mean you guys have been dating for weeks now and still haven’t slept together?!”
She gestured for her to be quiet, “Shh!” She motioned to the stairs, “Luke is asleep, I really don’t want him to come down here and be hearing this. And we’re not dating. We’re friends.”
Alex gave her a speculative look, “Uh-huh. Friends. A friend you slept with, have been in love with for years and were annoyingly depressed over when you broke things off. Yeah, that the definition of friends.”
Seeing Jane’s face, she changed the subject, “How does Luke seem to be taking to Pete?”
Jane gave a shy smile, “He seems to like him, which is kinda of a surprise since he adores Cole and normally doesn’t warm up to men much.”
Both women smiled at the mention of their little brother. Before Kate, Cole’s late wife, died they had Luke over all the time and Cole loved him like a son. Jane smiled as she remembered some of the memories of Luke following Cole around and trying to mimic him.
Alex seemed to know where her thoughts were, a sad smile on her face, “I wonder if Cole will feel up to his and Luke’s annual camping trip this year?”
Tears glistened in her blue eyes, “I miss Kate, God it doesn’t seem real she’s been gone almost six months.”
Jane pulled her to her, a tear made its way down Jane’s cheek, “I know, I miss her too. I keep waiting for it to be a bad dream or something and she’s still here.”
They sat there, heads bent together as they thought back on their lost sister-in-law and their memoires of the shy woman that held their family’s heart.
***
It was a couple of weeks after she got the first phone call; Jane realized the caller’s subtle threat was very real. The letters continued and became more ominous. The phone calls were becoming more frequent. Then things started getting real; her tires had been slashed. And it wasn’t her cop car, but her personal car. At the time she had been investigating a cold case about a local gang member, she put it down to a rival gang or someone in the gang wanting to scare her off.
Then the case closed and the letters and threats continued. Then the threats began to escalate, her car windows had been smashed on both her regulation car and personal car. Her mailbox had been smashed, and the large tree in her yard had been toilet-papered.
Last night though was when she realized the mysterious caller was not playing games…
Peter leaned back on the sofa as Jane came back downstairs, he yawned, “Luke, asleep?” She softly laughed, “Yeah, you really tired him out playing soccer with him today.” She plopped down next to him, cuddling up to his side. He brushed a hair from her face, “Yeah he’s a pretty great kid.” Jane couldn’t help the smile gracing her face; she loved the fact not only did Luke and Peter liked one another, but also got along so well. Luke had been lonely without Cole here and knew having another guy around had helped ease the transition of moving to a new place.
She was broken from her thoughts by a calloused hand running over her side where her shirt rode up touching the bare skin of her waist, running up and down the side, teasing her. She decided to even things up and leaned up, nuzzling his neck. Nibbling as she went, tracing a path up to his jaw, trailing kisses to his chin, and ending with a soft teasing kiss on his mouth. His breathing had picked up by the time her lips met his, his hand went from teasing her side, to creeping up her side to her chest, tracing the outline of her bra. His hand fell back to her side, his other grasping her other side, pulling her until she straddled his lap. She inhaled sharply as she felt the evidence of her teasing him, looking up at his face his eyes dark with desire. Gently, reverently, his hands trailed a path up her sides, briefly stopping at her breasts, before continuing with his hands ending in her loose hair, cupping the sides of her face in his large hands. Pulling her face down to his, taking her mouth in a long kiss. Her hands crept up where they landing on his stomach, to land on his shoulders giving her better leverage as the kiss became more passionate. His hands crept her sides, her shirt pushed up as his hands began an assault on her warm skin, making her moan and rock against him. He had begun to unclasp her bra when a light made an unwel
comed intrusion to her eyes; they opened a fraction to discover the light then they opened wide as she saw flames outside her front window.
“OH GOD!” She leaped off Peter’s lap, running to the front door yelling as she slung it open, “Call 911! There’s a fire!” Peter was right behind her as they ran off the porch at the same time Alex’s front door slammed open, with Alex and Simone running out, Simone on the phone to the fire department as Jane and Alex ran to their water hoses, Peter right behind them turning the water on and unraveling the hoses and worked to keep the fire under control and away from the house. Within minutes of Simone’s 911 call the fire truck arrived and the fire fighters had it under control.
They all sat on Alex’s porch as they waited for the firemen to have it contained; Jane held a shaking Luke as he watched with wide eyes as they shifted threw the wreck that had been the gazebo that morning he was playing in. Jane brushed a kiss over her son’s head, hugging him to her. She felt an arm wrap around her shoulder and looked up to see Peter looking down at her with concerned eyes. She gave a wan smile before turning her attention back to the firemen, as they weaved in and out of the scene she caught a glimpse of someone across the street. At first she thought it was a neighbor, until she saw the person in the crowd that wasn’t in sweats or pajamas like many of their curious neighbors that were standing on the other side of the street. She couldn’t make out any disguising features about the person, except it was a man, and he was acting strangely for a bystander. She couldn’t help but feel he was there for more than a curious onlooker……
Chapter Nine
Alex groaned as she sat up on the hard floor she slept on last night. She heard Simone grumbling as she got up as well from the floor, cursing under breath. The hard floor had been no match for the thin air mattress they shared last night. Simone stood, stretching as she did making Alex wince when she heard her back pop.
“Ugh, why don’t I remember a floor being so uncomfortable when we were kids and having sleepovers in one another’s rooms?”
A female voice answered, “Probably Simmi, cause we were a whole lot younger then so we didn’t notice.”
Jane came from the kitchen, holding a tray of steaming mugs, “Here Ali, you look like you could use it.”
Alex made a face but accepted the mug, taking sip of the hot dark liquid.
Simone accepted a mug and smirked at her honorary-big sister, “Well I’m the youngest of our group so what does that make you two,” she gestured between the other two. Jane and Alex looked at one another then back at Simone, “Smarter,” they said in unison making them laugh.
The next few days were a whirlwind of work, the fire investigator looking over the property and the site where the gazebo had stood. It was what had led to Alex outside with Luke, helping her pull up the trampled and burnt bushes that had surrounded the gazebo. Both her and Jane had agreed for the moment, not to rebuild the gazebo, but had decided to go ahead and clear the area of the dead plants. Luke paused in pulling the plant he was holding and looked up at her, “Aunt Ali, why did someone set the gazebo on fire?”
Alex paused in the act of throwing a burnt branch in the wheelbarrow by her, she thought a moment before telling him the truth, “I don’t know, buddy. It could have been someone just being mean, they didn’t want it here,” she shrugged.
“I can’t really say,” he nodded before continuing pulling plants again. He hesitated as he stood to threw them in the wheelbarrow, “Aunt Ali,” she looked up, her face shaded from the wide-brimmed hat she had on, “Yeah, buddy?” He bit his lower lip in uncertainty.
“Did they set the gazebo on fire cause of what Mama does?” Alex looked up at him in shock before pulling him down to look him in the eye.
“Luke, why do you think that?”
He shrugged, “Mama says that sometimes her job is dangerous, that’s why she’s so careful with me.”
Alex debated on how to answer him in a way he’d understand, “Luke, your mama is right. Sometimes her job is dangerous, that’s why she’s always so protective of you, and she doesn’t want you to get hurt. But it’s no different than what Uncle Cole and Aunt Simmi used to do in the military. Remember sometimes they’d be gone for a long while before they came back?”
He nodded, “Well, the job they used to do was very dangerous, that was why they were so careful with all us, and they didn’t want us to get hurt by what they did. But sometimes their jobs have nothing to do with it.”
Her eyes went distant for a moment, “Sometimes…people are just plain mean and doing something like this is how they show their meanness.”
She looked back at him, “You understand?” He thought for a few minutes before he nodded, earning him a hug. “Good, now let’s finish this up and we’ll go to the farmer’s market after we hit the garden store.”
His eyes lit up, “Do you think the ice cream lady will already be there?” Alex smiled, and tapped his nose, “I think so, she did promise to hold some raspberry ripple back for you this time.”
Luke giggled and made a show of wiping the dirt off his nose before going back to his task with renewed vigor.
The next day Jane is stopped off at the front desk, filing the report for the fire when the precinct clerk stops her, “I heard about the fire, is everyone okay? Was there any damage to the house or was it just to the gazebo?”
She looks up from the report she’s filling out, surprised by the concern on the woman’s face. Shaking her head, she replied, “Everyone is fine, thanks for asking and no; we got lucky to spot it early on. We had it under control when the fire trucks showed up.”
She finished the report and handed back to the clerk, “Can you file these with the guys upstairs?”
She took the folder from her, “I’ll get right on it, and you have a good day, Jane.”
She said the same and walked up the flight of stairs to her department, opening the door as she went. After greeting her Captain as she passed him, she made it to her desk, putting her bag and jacket up, she sat down and began going over her notes and reports for other cases. She didn’t know how long she had been reviewing them when the mail cart arrived. “Jane,” she looked up at her name being called and the mail deliverer handed her a stack of mail.
“You got a few letters from other precincts in the area, a letter from the California police department and…” the man gave a puzzled frown, “hmm, no return address.” He shrugged, “Don’t know who it was from.”
Jane gingerly took the manila envelope from the man and set aside from the rest of her mail.
“Thanks, Paul. I’ll check this one out.” He nodded and went on with the rest of his delivery.
She reached into her desk and pulled out a set of latex gloves, after gloving up she carefully prodded the envelope. After thoroughly checking it she turned it over, it was the same anonymous sender that had sent the rest. Same type font used and manila envelope like the rest. She gave it one more look over to see if there was something new and cautiously opened it.
What was inside looked to be a surveillance photo, as she flipped it right-side up, she felt her stomach do the same. It was a surveillance photo; only instead of it being of a crime going on-it was of Alex and Luke.
She recognized it as being taken yesterday; it was of them at the local farmer’s market. Alex was carrying a cloth bag in one hand and Luke’s hand in the other. In the photo her innocent little boy was eating an ice cream cone. In a corner of the photo a sticky note was attached. In big red letters it said, ‘DON’T MAKE THEM PART OF THE PAST.’ Jane dropped the picture like it was on fire, backing away from her desk. The sight of her son, her innocent little boy eating his ice cream, was enough to make her sick.
And furious. This bastard had threatened her for the last time.
***
That night when she came for Luke who had spent the afternoon at Alex’s, she had a request for her sister-cousin. “Alex, I need you to do something, without asking me why.”
Alex arched a
brow at her, “What do you need?”
Jane inwardly let out a sigh of relief that was one of the things she loved about her cousin, if you needed her in a pinch; she didn’t ask questions she just did them.
“I know you’re on leave from the department, but I need you to start carrying your gun again.”
Alex stilled in the middle of picking up the dessert plates, “Jane has one of your cases become dangerous?” Jane bit her lip, “It may have,” she said quietly.
Alex set the dishes in the sink and went back to where Jane sat, “Janie, you know you can come to us for anything, right? We are always in your corner.”
Jane stood and embraced the taller woman, “I know, Ali. And I love you for that.”
That night she sent Cole a text, asking him to come out a couple of days early to visit before he took Luke back for their yearly camping trip. To her relief, he texted back that he was thinking about doing just that, ‘Great minds think alike, cousin. I’m bringing Della out with me so Mama is gonna met me in Atlanta to take Della with her on one of her antique trips while we drive on to the camp site.’
Despite her worry over the situation, she smiled at her cousin’s words. One of the things that Alex and she both agreed on about the move was how far away it was from the rest of the family. Having Simone out here the last few weeks was nice, but she looked forward to Cole’s visit. She texted him back, ‘Sounds great, one thing we’ve discovered we didn’t like about the move was the distance from everyone.’ She finished the text and spent the remainder of the night getting Luke settled in for the night and some housework done before getting ready for bed.
Shortly before laying down for the night she got another text from Cole, ‘Yeah, that’s one thing we’ve hated about the move too. Aunt Jo is asking if you want her to pack anything, are you still good from her last batch of strawberry and blackberry preserves.’
Letters to Jane (Mississippi Book 1) Page 6
