by Imogene Nix
Steve breathed heavily, and she was sure he was fighting to contain his rage, then he looked at her. “No, but I’d say it’s time we found out who he is and what part he played in this game.”
Steve pulled out his phone and called Dave while working to control the shaking of his hands. “Dave? We found some information you’re going to need to see. Can you organize for Fiona to take over looking after Lola now?”
He waited, listened as Dave called Fiona on the home phone and she agreed to head straight over to his place. Steve felt grateful to have such good friends who could help him solve the crime and ensure Lola’s safety.
After ringing off, he sat down next to Jenny on the bed. She was gazing at the wall, and he shivered, hoping she wasn’t going to somehow find a way to believe it was all her fault. She was hurt, as was he, but he remembered the white marks on her wrists. Faded slash marks. He wouldn’t let her backslide after this revelation.
The thought of her bleeding on the floor and thinking it was the only way to deal with the situation terrorized him. How could he live without her now? In a short period of time, she’d become essential to him in ways he couldn’t even explain.
What he’d felt for Cara was a dim and faded version of the depths of his need for Jenny. It wasn’t just sexual. No, this was the need of a man for a woman, the one he needed by his side forever. This was love.
Whatever it was he’d felt for Cara was lust and fascination, but the depth was all on his part. Even then, it was shallow compared to what he now felt for Jenny. He would have never believed that before, not until he met this woman beside him.
He sighed and slid his arm around her. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. What about you?” She turned sad eyes in his direction, and it filled him with a mix of both sadness and wonder.
He pushed back an errant black curl from her face. “I’ll be fine. We’ll all be fine once this is done.”
The idea that Cara had duped them in the cruelest manner made him want to smash a fist into the wall. He felt dirty, used, and most of all, deeply betrayed by her, which was silly, because it occurred to him she’d targeted him the moment she’d laid eyes on him.
He couldn’t sit still, so he rose and wrenched the doors of the wardrobe open, taking in Lola’s clothes. “I can’t...”
Jenny rose and headed for Cara’s room without a word, and he followed her. Behind the doors of the wardrobe, hung an array of skirts, dresses, pants, and blouses, along with several pieces of his own clothes. Suddenly he needed to see them, to remind himself of the woman who’d brought them to their knees. Cara had played them for fools, laughing at them. Then she’d left them to grieve, and even left that letter with Jenny. In hindsight, it made so much sense. Of course she’d wanted to be here with them. She’d wanted to feed on their emotions like some emotional vampire!
He caught sight of the few items he’d left here, but it felt as if they mocked him. Steve grabbed the hangers and threw his clothes to the floor.
He stood still, looking at them before reality intruded. He picked the clothes up and replaced them on the hangers. Dave would want to check everything out before he allowed them to recommence searching.
Jenny’s hands stilled his actions. “Maybe I should do this. You can go check the kitchen or lounge if it helps.” Her quiet voice calmed him.
“I can’t believe...” His words hitched.
“You can’t believe she duped us? She duped me for years.” He felt the whisper of her breath at his shoulder. “We see what we want to because it makes us feel good.” She laughed, but the sound carried no mirth. “And being a psychologist, I should have picked it up, but I didn’t, because I desperately wanted her to be my friend. I wanted to believe the times she told me that she didn’t care I was fat, that I had issues...that I wanted to die.”
His heart stuttered in his chest at hearing the words and knowing she had felt that way. He turned and saw the deep pain in her eyes.
“Jenny...” He reached up, framed her face with shaking fingers. “You are beautiful...and I love you.”
Her eyes widened, and then she smiled—a genuine smile that lit her eyes. “You know what? I want to believe you. I really do, but...” The grin melted away, and he waited. “I’m not a good judge of character right now. I want to believe you. Give me time.” Her eyes conveyed the plea he heard in her voice.
He nodded, a stiff, short movement.
“Perhaps we should check every pocket, every shoe?” She took a backward step and looked around. “She used to love hiding stuff. She was always secretive. It was like a game with her, but it’ll be hidden in plain sight. That was her favorite trick.”
Jenny reached out to move the clothing aside and he stopped her, speaking quietly. “Not yet, wait for Dave. He won’t be far away.”
She sighed and walked to the dressing table. “Okay, I’ll start here when he arrives. Will you be able to help me with this room, or would you prefer somewhere else?” She looked at him over her shoulder, and he melted.
Here she was, his Jenny, devastated by the level of betrayal, yet worrying about him. She was right, it did hurt, but he needed to do this. Cara had betrayed them both, so he needed to be strong, for all their sakes. Look in the place where they had been intimate and where he’d professed his love. God, she must have been laughing at me the whole damned time!
Now he knew the truth—she hadn’t loved him, and what he’d felt was little more than a façade, while his soul waited for Jenny.
“I can do this. We can do this together.” He looked at her, and she smiled once more.
He knew the instant the unspoken vow in his words hit home. Her mouth formed a small O.
The doorbell intercom buzzed, and he pinned her with a look. “Stay here, out of sight, until I know it’s safe.”
She nodded silently.
He padded to the lounge, pressed the video button, and saw Dave and some officers in uniform appear on the screen. “Hang on, and I’ll buzz you up.”
Within minutes a knock came at the door. Steve looked through the peephole. A knot of people fronted by Dave stood on the other side. He released the air in his lungs, unlatched the chain, and opened the door.
They trooped in and Dave gave him a searching look. “What did you find?”
His stomach curdled for a moment at the thought that Dave would know he’d been taken for a ride. Then he inwardly shrugged his shoulders. It was the only way to catch Jarvis, and he wanted that more badly than anything he had ever wanted before. The only thing he wanted more was to keep Lola and Jenny with him. Forever. The word became a refrain, reminding him of just what was at stake.
“Jenny found it.” He motioned for them to follow.
Jenny stood beside the dressing table, watching while he indicated the book on the bed. He picked it up, feeling a shiver of distaste wrack his body.
“Are you okay, man?”
He nodded back to Dave, acknowledging the concern. He opened the book, flicking to the page Jenny had shown him. He watched as Dave read it, his face stony and cold.
“Holy shit!”
Steve smiled, unable to contain his reaction to Dave’s epithet. “Yeah, it’s a cracker, isn’t it?”
Dave turned to Jenny. “Show me where you found it.”
She pointed to the open bedside drawer.
“There? Why would she leave it in a bedside table? That doesn’t make any sense.” Dave had reverted to interrogation mode, and Steve felt the need to protect Jenny, but she smiled. “Because that’s what she did. She liked to hide things in plain sight. It was a game with her. One she played even as a child.” Jenny took a step forward. “There’s more in the journal— lots more. You’ll need to read it, but right now, I can tell you she was instrumental in her parents’ deaths.”
Dave flicked through the book, reading the entries Jenny had marked. “If she was, we’ll find the evidence. And this Jarvis...we’ll find him and nail him to the wall.”
Jenny pulled a pale blue dress from the hanger. It was the one Cara had worn in the photo on the bedside table where she was hanging off Steve’s arm.
She slumped to the bed, the dress scrunched in her grasp as she gazed at the image on the small table. He was smiling with an enigmatic Lola at his side. Unable to contain herself, Jenny traced her finger over the two of them.
He loved her...or so he believed. She knew he’d been telling the truth as he saw it right now, but she feared it was a reaction to finding out about Cara. God knew she wanted to believe him, because the cold around the region of her heart had warmed when he’d spoken those words.
Did she love him? A flicker in her belly told her there was something, a strong emotion wanting to break free. It could be love, but she’d held herself aloof for so long, any knowledge of that kind of depth now scared her.
“I love Lola.” That was easy. The little girl had stolen her heart early on. Steve? That was harder to quantify.
She sighed as she glanced around the room. Steve hadn’t yet re-joined her, and she knew he wouldn’t press her for a declaration just yet. She bit her lip, knowing she should start going through everything, but the act scared her. The journal had been such a blow. What else would she find?
Jenny rose to hunt through pockets, checking for anything that might contain a clue to where they could find Jarvis.
Dave had asked her to search Cara’s bag and she’d done so. They found her phone, turned it on, and scanned the contacts list, but nothing out of the ordinary was in it. They turned it off and bagged it as evidence.
His terse request for her to start on the clothes, to check through everything for cards, SIM cards, or even another phone had been unsurprising. Once he had assured himself she wasn’t involved, he’d directed her like the rest of his team to search the apartment. Dave’s superior had also made an appearance.
“Detective Skinner, you have new evidence?”
“Yes, sir.” Dave handed the captain the journal and indicated the pages to be read.
When he closed the book with a bang, he stared pointedly at Steve.
Jenny wanted to speak out then, but Steve held her still and shook his head as he answered the unspoken question. “No, Captain. At no time did I have even the slightest inkling this was the case.”
“Fine. The child?”
“Is safe, with Dave’s girlfriend, Fiona, looking after her.”
“Good. When we’re done, there will be more questions. Stay available.” Then the captain had left.
Once more Jenny was angered and sickened by Cara’s disregard for human life and emotions.
As Jenny scanned the clothes, she folded them, making neat piles on the bed. Heaven knew what was going to happen to them, but she kept going. A skirt was next, the blue matching the dress that went before. Jenny knew Cara had been proud of her highly organized wardrobe. She’d complained endlessly when her mother had hung things in the wrong place.
After a while, Jenny felt sure there was nothing to be found there. Where could the link be? A spurt of frustration caught her up and she wanted to scream, but she soothed the emotion. She stepped back and scanned the wardrobe, groaning as she realized she’d barely made a dent.
“How’s it going?” Steve laid his hands on her shoulders, and she leaned back into his embrace.
“She had a lot of clothes, and this is taking quite a while.”
“Yes, she loved shopping.” He rubbed lightly, and she felt the muscles in her shoulders relax. “And she always made a show of buying things for Lola and me.”
Sounds from the other room filtered through the open doorway as they stood together in a brief moment of silence.
“I can’t believe...” He stopped, silent, and she knew what he was feeling. She felt it too. Jenny turned in his embrace, raising her fingers to his cheeks, needing the intimate touch to reassure them both that what they had wasn’t the false emotion Cara had invoked in them for such a long time.
“It was a game. We have to remember that...” She stopped as a thought intruded.
He gazed at her, and she felt the shift in his stance. “What is it?” His demand filled the room.
“She liked to buy things for others. Slip stuff into pockets and bags.”
He nodded, and understanding dawned across his features.
Jenny turned back to the wardrobe. “Help me get all your things out.” She gripped the plastic hangers, tearing at the clothing. “Check to see if anything in the waistbands or cuffs seems off.”
Her fingers plunged into a pocket of the jeans she had in her hands. She wiggled her fingers in the soft denim, and there it was—a tiny item hidden where no one would look.
“I think I’ve found something.” She trembled.
“Let me see.”
Jenny withdrew her hand from the pocket, the small article gripped in her fingers. It was a SIM card for a phone. “Do you think...”
“It could be.” He nodded, not touching it. “Dave! We’ve found something.”
Dave barreled into the room. “What’ve you got?” His gruff voice demanded an instant answer, and other people crowded the doorway.
Jenny handed him the card. “It was in the jeans in the wardrobe. In Steve’s jeans.” Dave eyed her, and she glared back. She knew what he was thinking. It was too easy. “She liked to play games, hide stuff in plain sight, particularly when she bought things for someone else.”
Dave’s eyes flickered uncertainly toward Steve. He nodded his answer, the lines around his mouth white as he ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah, she was big on games. Remember the gift she got Fiona at Christmas? She shoved a gift certificate into the oil burner.”
Jenny wanted to sigh. That was a vintage Cara action. She waited for Dave’s reaction.
“Right...Simmons?” Dave said to a young female officer who nodded and stepped forward. “Get me her phone.”
The woman turned and left the room to return quickly with a bag held between two fingers. “This is what you wanted?”
He nodded, grabbed it, and opened the zipper closure. Fishing out the phone, he sat on the bed and pulled the back and battery from the slim unit. He carefully withdrew the existing SIM and replaced it with the one Jenny had found in the pocket. The room was silent as they all watched Dave replace the battery and back before turning it over.
He glanced up at Steve and then turned it on. The jingle filled the air and the atmosphere in the room was thick. Jenny waited, feeling the turmoil herself. Could this be the beginning of the end? The phone glowed and beeped as messages showed on the machine.
Dave scanned the messages and whooped. “Well done, boys and girls. Jarvis sent her copious messages, with details we can use.”
Jenny’s legs felt like jelly, and Steve moved in behind her, offering support. Something she hadn’t felt so keenly in a long time.
“Dave, I want to collect Lola’s stuff and take it home.” The rumble of Steve’s voice flowed through her system and she shivered. “And I think Jenny and I have done all we can for now.”
Dave nodded absently from the bed. “Yeah, grab her stuff. Just...if you find anything, let me know?”
Steve stepped away and she turned, seeing his hand held out to her. She took it, feeling the support and love he radiated. The other police parted to make way for them as they left the room and walked to Lola’s.
Considering what they knew, Jenny wondered about the clothes and books. If it were her, she wouldn’t want anything tainted by association to Cara, but this was Steve’s call.
“Do you really think she’ll want all this?” Jenny asked.
Steve stopped. “You’re right. Let’s leave it all here, except for her photos. We’ll take them.” He snatched the photos from the pin board opposite the bed.
“Maybe you can arrange for it to be packed up, and when she’s ready, she can let you know what she wants to keep.”
Steve nodded before he pulled her from the room.
“Dave? We’re leaving.”
Dave emerged from Cara’s room. “Going home?”
Steve looked at his watch. “We’ll go grab a meal first then head home. Let Fiona know, okay?”
Dave looked at them, as if he were weighing and judging what he saw. Her stomach quivered with nerves, and she bit her lip.
The tension grew thick, and he glanced at Steve then gave a short nod. “Just be careful, okay?”
Jenny grabbed her bag and Steve his keys from the bench where they had left them, then he opened the door and they stepped out of the apartment.
Chapter 17
Settled into the car, they merged with traffic.
“Jenny, would you answer some questions?” He needed to know more, to find out what drove this woman at his side.
“Sure, ask away.”
Her eyes were closed. He was sure it was the most relaxed she had been since arriving, apart from in their bed. He grinned at that thought. Their bed.
“Why did you go to Melbourne?”
She sighed, and his stomach knotted. “Ah...that’s simple. There was a residency program I was able to participate in.” She turned and opened her eyes, looking at him. He wrenched his gaze back to the road. “After...” She raised both arms. “After this, not many programs would take me. You have to undergo a psych assessment for the ones I wanted to be involved in. But this one in Melbourne had a special program for those with real-life experience in mental trauma. I fit the bill and was picked from the thirty candidates. So I went.”
“What about your family? You never talk about them.”
“Oh. They never understood that I couldn’t cope as a teenager. It’s hard enough being a teen without being...large. I struggled at school and Cara...was my only friend. But looking back, I wonder if it wasn’t because she cut me out of the group. I’ll have to think about that. But she always seemed to make me feel like I was special. Different, but special. Anyway, once I did this, my parents couldn’t cope with my emotional mess. They didn’t throw me out, but they just couldn’t understand. I wasn’t supposed to have problems.”