by Traci Hall
Chapter Thirteen
Hands fisted, Joe turned to her with a look of pure fury that for a moment frightened her. Then he lowered his hands, deliberately unclenching them as he splayed his fingers. “Damn it. I’m sorry, K. I put you in danger.”
That was his concern? Someone was trying to shoot him, and he was worried about her? K exhaled and moved toward him, putting her arms around him for a hug. “You didn’t know. But he broke into your garage. What if he’s been in your house? It isn’t safe here. You have to transfer again.”
Joe said, “I told you I’m tired of running. I’m going to stay here. Stand my ground. It’s as good of a place as any. Better, even. Paradise.”
She let go of him, realizing he couldn’t be in lover mode at the same time as self-protect. “You should go to work. Drop me off at Rita’s, but when you get off work tonight? After telling your chief that this stalker was in the house? Then come over. Rita’s building is a fortress.”
“I’m not hiding either,” he said, heading inside the house. He closed the garage behind them and locked the door once they were in.
“You said that you live to serve and protect. Well, my ass needs protecting, Officer Porter. I’ll call all night until you come over.”
He made a grumbling noise in his throat as he walked down the hall to his room, with K two steps behind.
“I’ll even make you breakfast.”
“I have to shower,” he said. “No promises.”
“I can be persistent.” No way was Joe facing this bad guy one on one.
She heard the sound of the shower turn on and headed back to the kitchen to clean up the dinner mess. It was all done by the time Officer Porter emerged from the back.
She whistled. “You are one sexy cop. I bet you have women falling all over you. Jaywalking just to get a ticket.”
He shifted from one foot to the other, self-conscious now in his uniform. “No, ma’am. Around these parts, women are real respectful of a man with a badge.”
Laughing, K took his hat and plopped it on her head. “That would be a fun game,” she said. “Are the handcuffs real?”
“No more cuffs. We use the plastic ties. Easier. Less expensive, and you don’t have to worry about a key.”
“I bet scarves would be softer, anyway.” She tapped her finger against her lower lip as if in deep thought.
He stomped across the room and picked her up, setting her down on the counter so that he stood between her legs. Her dress hitched up to her thighs, but K didn’t mind at all. “I knew you were trouble as soon as I saw you.”
“You probably should have run the other direction.”
“I had to save you from drowning.”
K sighed, staring at his delectable lower lip. “I just really, really want you to spend the night with me at Rita’s, okay?” She leaned forward to kiss him, real slow and soft.
After a minute, he pulled free. “Fine.”
She didn’t gloat, but she did push him back and hop off the counter. “All right, Officer Joe. Let’s go.”
K made sure the drive back to Rita’s was lighthearted. She wanted him to come to her when he was through with work. She didn’t want him worried about anything other than finding the stalker.
He dropped her off with a lingering kiss. “I’ll probably be in my cop car when I come tonight,” he said.
“Ooh, official business?”
“I bet the guys at the department are going to want to keep my car for any clues.”
“Thank you for treating this seriously.” She blew him a kiss from the door as she got out. “See you later, Joe.” Be very, very careful, Joe.
“Hi Luis,” she called as she walked into the building. “I guess I’ll be staying a week, but then Rita will be home.”
“Ms. Hartley’s in the hospital for a week?”
“Just a few days more,” she hedged. “But when she comes back she will be in glowing health. Nothing to worry about.”
He nodded with relief. “Thanks for that. It’s a pleasure to have you here. Do you want me to walk Princey?”
“I’ll do it, unless you want to…”
“We kind of have our routine,” Luis admitted.
So Rita didn’t really take the dog out. That made more sense to K. “I don’t want to interrupt the routine,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll feed him now, then come on up.”
She took the elevator and got off, hearing her phone ding from the depths of her purse. Probably Joe, she thought as she opened the door to the apartment. She let Princey out, this time wisely holding the door between them as he clambered excitedly from the room. He barked a greeting and ran around the living area and kitchen with pure, unabashed joy.
“You are something else, Princey. Dinner?”
“Pretty bird, pretty bird,” she heard from the balcony.
Having pets was a pain in the butt. Who had time for them?
She got Princey’s dinner out, then Lucky’s, and then put the darling shoes back in the magical closet. She changed into her pajama pants and tank top and pulled out her phone.
Jamal.
When are you coming home? It freaking blows that the court date was changed. Did you do it? Cause you don’t wanna come home?
K curled her toes around the edge of the coffee table and texted back. Princey joined her on the couch while Lucky tossed his food all over the cage.
I did not change the date. The judge had a family emergency. It will be fine.
She knew how hard he’d been trying to overcome drinking, drugs and the stress of school, and the court appearance could either send him to jail or give him kudos for being on the right track. K had found a judge sympathetic to kids on the street who tried for a better life.
Whatever
Keep up the good work, Jamal. I promise I will be back in time. Client emergency here. Stuck by the beach.
Lucky!
Why did everyone think this was so great? Night Jamal. Don’t forget your math!
He sent her a smiley face.
While Luis took Princey out, K checked the tea jar. A wad of hundreds was rubber-banded together. “Holy shit.” This was her mad money? As in spending money?
From the way it was all wadded in there, she probably wouldn’t notice if some of it was gone. K shook her head and put the jar back. At least if she had to buy a ticket home, she could, and then deduct it from Rita’s 30,000 dollar bill.
“So not my life,” she said. Wasn’t the woman afraid of theft?
K went back and shoved the tea container to the very rear of the shelf. She and Rita were going to have serious talk when she came home. Self-love, and banking.
K went around the kitchen and cleaned up, washing the few dishes and wiping the counters. She went to search for a plastic garbage bag beneath the sink, and discovered a Macy’s shopping bag tucked near the end. She pulled it forward.
Inside were hundreds of empty pill bottles.
Stunned, K sat back on her heels. Then she started looking at the dates. The oldest was from ten years ago, the newest last week. Why did she keep them? Prescriptions for antidepressants, pain killers, muscle relaxers.
K heard Princey coming and quickly put Rita’s secret bag away. What the hell?
She ran to the door, but Luis was already in the elevator going down. K put her hands on her hips and stared at Princey, who stared right back.
“All right dog. What is up with your mistress?”
K walked the apartment with eagle eyes. Rita had money. She had wine. Alcohol. Pills. A closet full of great shoes and clothes. A bird. A gigantic dog. Was she lonely?
K worked long hours. All the time. When she didn’t work, she worked out. Running, light weights. And when that hadn’t been enough to keep the demons at bay, she started volunteering at the Foster Center with Jamal.
She came back to the couch and sat down, not even minding when Princey put his head in her lap and drooled. She booted up her computer and got to work. It wasn’t quite so bad with
company.
*****
Joe listened to his chief rail at him for a half hour, taking it with his mouth shut. He was in the back office of the department standing in front of Chief Gamble’s desk. There was a small window that looked out over a hibiscus bush, and a chair that Joe hadn’t been asked to sit in.
After another five minutes, his boss wound down. “You want to transfer?” The chief sat back in his chair, shaking his head.
“The next transfer I want is when I’m released for undercover work again.” This was the first opportunity Joe had to speak, so he wanted to make sure he was understood.
“Are you stupid?” Chief Gamble asked. “I read your charts, I talk to your therapist. You barely made it, son. It’s time to hang up the hero’s cape and get happy wearing a badge.” The chief gestured toward the window. “Sunny most of the year, never have to shovel. This is a good place.”
“I don’t have a hero complex,” Joe said, crossing his arms behind his back. “I don’t like being passed around like the red-headed stepchild. What? I’m supposed to spend the next six years going from city to city until someday we catch whose hunting me?”
“I can make a few phone calls…”
Joe braced his feet. “No. I’m done running.”
“Couldn’t you have decided to take a stand at the last place you were at?” The chief read Joe’s chart. “Milwaukee?”
“This is the first time they’ve gotten so close. I don’t know how they’re finding me.”
“Keeping a secret is difficult when a bribe to a crooked court clerk can get you anything you want.”
“I have an idea,” Joe said.
“I’m listening.” Chief Gamble closed his eyes and steepled his fingers on his belly. “Shoot.”
“Let’s set a trap. They want me? I can be visible as hell. I’d need some back-up.”
The chief cracked open an eye. “Damn straight.”
Joe exhaled, doing his best to be a team player. To remember that not everybody had the same goals. He had to make the chief want to catch the bad guy too.
“I was thinking we could set up a sting.”
“I’m all for it. But we don’t know anything about these guys. How many are there?”
“I don’t know. Could be one guy in a Lincoln with a gun, could be a gang. The windows were tinted.”
“I appreciate your willingness to be visible, to be a target, but what about innocent bystanders? I won’t have the people in this town put in harm’s way.”
“I understand that. I don’t want anybody else hurt either. But damn it, chief, if I don’t defend myself, if I don’t capture these guys who want me dead, I won’t have a life. And I’ve learned so much living here, by the sea, that I think I’m ready.”
Chief Gamble sat up, the chair creaking. “For what?
“To live.”
Chapter Fourteen
K woke up from her spot on the couch with dog hair mashed against her cheek from using Princey as a pillow.
A hint of dawn beckoned from the window, though the view was mostly gray with a few shimmering flicks of light. The outline of the ocean blended with the horizon into one merged clump of nothingness.
K got up and stretched while Princey continued to snooze. Her phone read five in the morning. She realized with a burst of worry that Joe should be off work.
She had a text from him around three, saying he wasn’t getting off ‘til late, four, and that he was going home to shower and sleep.
In the drowsy place of just awakening, K wished she’d heard his message, but she’d been out cold.
She quickly texted him.
Sorry I missed you Joe. I hope work went okay. Did you lock the door? Do you want to borrow Princey?
He didn’t answer, and she didn’t want to send another volley of texts in case he’d just gone to sleep.
Used to only six hours of sleep a night, K’s body was starting to get in alignment with her brain now that she’d gotten more. She made a cup of tea and sat on the balcony. A lighter shade of gray was inching up the horizon.
Lucky looked at her with a beady eye, but he kept quiet. Guess he’s not a morning bird, K thought as she sat on the upholstered couch. Princey joined her, keeping her warm. The end of October was perfect weather for the locals, Rita had told her.
Rita. Poor Rita.
She checked her emails, noting one night owl had already gotten back to her with a request for pictures regarding a cheating spouse. This guy was a piece of work. He’d fooled everybody in his family into believing he traveled for his job.
Dude had another entire family one town over.
Sure, her client right now wanted the truth. But would she, like Rita, decide in the end that she loved the man anyway?
She saw some really awful things in these divorce cases. She’d started out in this field thinking she’d right wrongs, but somehow it all got so ugly. Rita’s desire for vengeance had come from a vast well of pain she’d been hiding from everybody.
Maybe even from herself.
Jamal’s face popped up on her phone.
Don’t be mad
K’s stomach coiled and balled into a knot.
About what
I was just blowin off a little steam
She could only imagine what that meant at five, well, six on a Sunday morning. She’d pulled some strings to get him into the Foster Center.
Tell me
His face disappeared from her phone as he disconnected.
It started to ring, and she answered quickly. “Jamal, I swear I will hang you up by your shoelaces if you did anything stupid!”
“It’s me. Joe.”
She closed her eyes and exhaled, allowing the sound of his deep voice to calm her. “Great. Now you can tell me ‘I told you so’, and lecture me about trust.”
“Actually, I was hoping you’d join me on the beach for coffee. I stopped at Rhinos. Grabbed donuts too. Blueberry. Want one?”
“Sorry,” she said, genuinely contrite. “Jamal just texted me.”
“It’s okay. I’m sorry too. My work makes me see things in a harsh light sometimes. I should learn to sugar-coat better.”
“No, Joe. I like that you tell it the way it is. From your perspective.”
“What happened?”
“Why don’t you come up?” she asked, snug in her warm corner of the outside couch with Princey on her feet.
“I want to show you one of my favorite spots to watch the sun come up.”
She might be a little on the hard side, but how could she say no to that? “Where are you?”
“Parked in the front.”
“I’m in my jammies.”
“Don’t worry about getting dressed. But grab a jacket or sweatshirt.”
“See you in a minute.”
She put Princey in his room, shut the glass doors, and grabbed her only jacket—the tailored suit jacket she’d worn on the plane. It looked funky over plaid pajama bottoms, but it was all she had.
She slipped out the front door without having to talk to anybody, her head down. Joe, in a cop car complete with lights on the top, waited with the car running. She got in.
“Nice ride. Any sign of the Lincoln?”
“No. We put out an APB, but my guess is they ditched the car after I saw it.”
“Nothing else happened?”
“No, K, it was a nice and boring night.”
“Good. Where are we going?”
“By the pier.”
“I don’t have shoes.”
“You won’t need them.”
She hoped that meant they’d stay in the nice, warm car to watch the sun come up.
But no. Joe lucked out with a great parking spot close to the beach and grabbed a giant wool blanket from the back. “Not a lot of people at o’dark thirty,” she said with a shiver. She got out of the car and waited for him on the curb.
Joe took a thicker fleece jacket from the trunk and handed it to her. “This will keep you warm. How
do you survive Chicago winters with such thin blood?”
“They make really nice thermal underwear. Lace and everything.” She donned the jacket with a happy sigh. “Much better.”
He shook his head. “It will be worth it.”
“I’m counting on it, Officer Joe.”
“For the view, but the blueberry donut too.”
Joe held out his hand as if unsure whether she would take it. Where did they stand after such a tumultuous afternoon, and then an evening apart? In a way, it was like starting over.
K slipped her hand in his and squeezed. Her mind had already skipped ahead to many different ways this could play out—none of them requiring forever.
“I missed you,” she said.
He looked at her and smiled, pleased. “Yeah?”
“Yes. I worked until I literally fell asleep on my laptop, with Princey cushioning my fall.”
“Lucky dog.” Joe said, sending her a smile that took away the chill.
“He’s a sweetheart,” she agreed. “I wonder why Rita has him.”
“Oh, Luis told me that she saved him from being put down. I wondered too.” Joe steered her over a crack in the sidewalk, his hand on her back. “They seem like an odd match. Giant Saint Bernard, frail little old lady.”
“Rita weighs half of Princey.” K sighed. “That was really cool of her to take him in. I think that despite the clubs and committees she was lonely.”
“Agreed.” Joe led her beneath a covered space with benches that overlooked the water. “This way.” Beyond the area was the beach.
Her feet curled as they hit they cold sand. “Brrr.” She said it out of reflex but there was something oddly comforting about the texture beneath her soles.
Joe walked next to a large pier, finding a spot that broke the wind on one side. He fanned out the wool blanket. “There you are. Front row seat to the best show in town.”
She carried the coffee and donuts, and sat down in the center. “I haven’t been on the beach to watch the sunrise in a very long time.” It used to be her favorite time of day, and her mother, if awake, liked to have breakfast in a secluded area by the bay.
