The doctor had found a way to avoid Esterman’s wrath, after all.
* * *
Rachel gasped when she saw the body and quickly turned her head away. She wasn’t quick enough. In that glimpse, she saw what remained of Dr. Sheridan. She clamped her teeth over her bottom lip to stop herself from screaming.
Jared motioned for her to stay put, but he walked closer and checked for a pulse in Sheridan’s wrist. “I guess he decided against protective custody...”
When he didn’t finish, Rachel followed his gaze. Sheridan’s phone. It was off the hook, lying on the desk. Jared put his ear closer, listened and then cursed.
“Captain Thornton?” Jared said. “Sheridan called you?”
Rachel couldn’t hear the captain’s response, but it couldn’t have been pleasant. Nor was it short. The woman seemed to be explaining something. Or rather, ordering Jared to do something. Jared’s eyes narrowed, and he aimed that narrowed glare at her.
Oh God. Not this. Not now. Rachel definitely wanted to put off this particular confrontation, but from Jared’s glare, she could see that wasn’t possible.
Jared didn’t pick up the phone, but instead he used the end of his key to press the speaker button—perhaps so he wouldn’t mar any possible evidence; this was now essentially a crime scene. Still cursing under his breath, he went to the window, lifted the blinds a fraction and peered out.
“Well?” the woman on the phone asked. That one word hung in air for a while. “Cat got your tongue, or are you just wasting my time?”
Rachel recognized the voice. It was definitely Captain Elizabeth Thornton. Jared’s boss.
“Sheridan said he was about to kill himself,” the captain continued when Jared didn’t respond. “He made it clear that Rachel and you weren’t responsible. Now, while I’m relieved about that, I’m not pleased with the rest of your actions, Lieutenant Dillard.”
“I know. And I don’t have time to explain things. A baby’s life is at stake—”
“So the doctor mentioned. Drive to headquarters, and we’ll discuss it in detail. By the way, in case you missed the subtle nuance in my tone, that was an order.”
Rachel braced herself. An order. This was no doubt why Jared hadn’t wanted to speak to his boss. He knew he would have to disobey her.
“I can’t go to headquarters,” Jared answered. Rachel didn’t miss the nuance there. The words were strained. His voice, tight. It matched his expression. “Not until this is finished.” And with that, he reached over and clicked off the phone.
Even though Jared didn’t say it aloud, there was a bottom line to all of this, and it could cost him his badge.
“Wanta save some time?” Jared asked.
Since Rachel was pretty sure where this was leading, she stalled. “That depends.”
“That comment’s not my idea of saving time, Rachel.” He tossed her one quick, icy glare before he turned his attention back to the window. “Why did you call the captain this morning and tell her that it was your idea to escape? Jesus H. Christ!” It took him a moment to regain his composure. “You told her that you held me at gunpoint and forced me to go with you.”
“Oh, that.” Rachel quickly ran through her options, only to realize she didn’t have any. Jared wasn’t about to let go of something like this. His pit bull instincts had already kicked in. “Okay, but I warn you, this is like the proverbial Pandora’s box. Once opened, you might not like what you find inside.”
“Try me.”
She tried him, all right. Rachel didn’t pull any punches. “I didn’t want you to lose your badge. Not because of this. I know you’re doing this for me.”
“I’m doing it for us. For our son. And I don’t need you to defend my reputation or whatever the hell you thought you were doing, got that? You could have accidentally said something to Thornton to give us away. She could have found us through that phone call.”
“But she didn’t.” Rachel had already geared up to add more, much more, but Jared put his finger to his lips in a be-quiet gesture.
“Hell. It’s Sergeant Meredith,” Jared grumbled. “Just what we don’t need right now.”
She froze. Which was a good thing. It saved her from panicking. “Where is he?”
“I see him on the roof. He’s got a rifle.”
Forcing herself to move, Rachel made her way past the doctor’s body and across the room, but Jared kept her back when she tried to look out the window.
“Are we trapped?” she asked, frightened of the answer. It wasn’t just because of Meredith. This was costing them valuable time.
“I’m not sure. Let’s give Tanner a couple of minutes to lead Meredith away from here, and then we’ll try to get out.”
Good. She didn’t want to stand around in a room with a dead body any longer than necessary. She was so close to a panic attack that she could taste it.
“Why don’t you think of our first kiss?” Jared said, his voice anything but romantic. A moment later, she knew why. “Or else you can think about how I’m going to yell at you for calling the captain.”
Well, that was a sure-fire way to stave off a panic attack. Rachel decided to wait to panic, or defend herself.
Jared lifted his head slightly and turned back toward the window. “Listen,” he whispered.
But she didn’t have to listen hard. She heard the sound immediately. A siren. It wasn’t close, but she was positive it was headed their way.
“Captain Thornton must have sent out a unit,” Jared explained.
Yet more bad news. It might scare off Meredith, but it put them in danger of being found.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Together they sprinted down the hallway. He didn’t stop when they got to the door. Jared shoved it open, scanned the parking lot and gave her the go-ahead.
“I’ll walk out first,” he instructed. “If all goes well, follow me. Pay particular attention to that ‘if all goes well’ part, Rachel. Don’t go out there if anyone, including me, is shooting. Got that?”
She nodded and braced herself for the run to the car. Tanner might have distracted Meredith so they could escape, but that didn’t mean Meredith hadn’t doubled back to come after them. Fortunately, she didn’t get a chance to dwell on that theory because the phone rang.
“Answer it,” Jared insisted. “It’ll be Tanner.”
Yes. And perhaps with news that he’d lost Meredith.
But it wasn’t Tanner.
“A mutual acquaintance got this number for me,” she heard the man say. “No easy accomplishment, I can tell you. The lieutenant obviously values his privacy.”
The voice made her blood turn to ice.
“Esterman.” Just saying his name took the breath out of her. Rachel had to pause a second. Beside her, she heard Jared ask for the phone, but she ignored him.
She covered the mouthpiece. “Concentrate on getting us out of here,” she whispered to Jared. “I’ll take care of this.”
Jared objected. As she knew he would. But Rachel disregarded him.
“What do you want?” she asked Esterman.
“Let’s see—what do I want?” he repeated, his tone cold. “I want you to do as you’ve been told.”
Rachel didn’t back down. “And I want my son.”
“Yes. I can only imagine. Your own flesh and blood, and yet you’ve never even seen the little fellow. He has good healthy lungs, from what I understand.”
God, he would use something like that—the suggestion that her son was crying. It tore at her heart—just as Esterman had known that it would. It didn’t break her, though. Too much was at stake for her to let him do that.
“I want to see him.” Rachel silently applauded herself. Her voice sounded calm and steady. Beneath all that calmness, however, her entire body was one raw nerve. “Where is he?”
�
��In due time. You should be thanking me, you know. After all, this was my plan. I’m the one who’s responsible for that child being born. Without me, you wouldn’t have your son. The son you’ve always wanted.”
“A son you’ve threatened to kill,” she reminded him.
“Only if you don’t cooperate. The choice has been yours all along. But what have you done with that choice? You allowed your ex to sway you in a seriously bad direction. How many more people must die before you do what’s necessary? You are responsible for this.”
“Wrong. You’re responsible.”
“Each second you waste is putting your child in greater danger. So far, I’ve shown compassion. Don’t expect that compassion to continue.”
And with that, he hung up.
“What did he say?” Jared asked immediately.
She took a moment to gather her breath. “Nothing that we didn’t already know. Our son is in danger, and Esterman is the one responsible.”
“That really was Esterman on the phone?”
Rachel nodded. Just nodded. It seemed the best response while she kept hold of the emotions that threatened to break free.
“What the hell did he want?” Jared demanded.
“The impossible.” Rachel closed her eyes for a second and fought to hold herself steady. “Now, let’s get out of here and find our son.”
Chapter 16
Rachel paced across the hotel room while Jared finished his conversation with Tanner. A conversation that had been going on since their return from Sheridan’s office.
From Jared’s reaction, it seemed things weren’t going as well as they’d hoped. Apparently, Tanner’s people were having trouble coming up with an address for Agnes McCullough. Not that Rachel had expected it to be easy. If Agnes did indeed have the child with her, Esterman had no doubt made certain that she was hidden away.
So Rachel kept on pacing. It didn’t help. There was so much explosive energy inside her that she was about to scream. No amount of pacing—or organizing—would help that. She’d already organized any and everything in the tiny hotel room.
With both the doctor and Aaron Merkens dead, Esterman seemed to be a little farther out of her reach. And yet in some ways, that mattered less than it probably should have. All Rachel could think about was finding Agnes and the baby. Only then would she be able to concentrate on Esterman getting what he deserved.
“They’re still looking,” Jared informed her when he got off the phone. “So is the patrol unit that Captain Thornton sent to the doctor’s office. We have to lie low until Tanner can arrange for us to see Agnes McCullough.”
“Yes. Lie low. Wait.” She drummed her fingers against her crossed arms. “Since you didn’t mention screaming, I guess that’s out?”
He smiled, but the smile quickly faded. “Unless you can manage to scream without attracting attention. We already have enough attention as it is.” He propped his hands on his hips. “But you could use this time to explain why you called Captain Thornton and lied about kidnapping me.”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “Sheesh. Of all the subjects we could disagree about, you would pick that one? There are bigger and meaner fish to fry, Jared.”
But that wasn’t entirely true. Just lately, she and Jared hadn’t disagreed about much. In fact, that particular phone call to the captain and his me-Tarzan approach to her safety were the only subjects that had put them at odds.
Interesting.
In the past day and a half, they’d gone through hell together and had somehow mended a few rifts along the way. Here, they’d been separated for over a year, and she’d miraculously found the secret to putting her marriage back together. Too bad it’d taken a crisis of huge proportions to do it. And too bad it might be too late for anything, short of a miracle.
Since Jared still seemed to be waiting for an answer about Captain Thornton, Rachel stopped pacing and faced him. “All right. Here goes. I lied when I said that I called her only to save your badge. That was part of it, but it was just the tip of the iceberg. I did it because I still care about you, and I didn’t want you hurt. Especially since you were doing the right thing when you got me out of that safe house.”
He paused a moment. “That’s admirable, but you risked getting yourself hurt. Kidnapping is a felony, Rachel. Add to that, I’m a cop—it’s a wonder that Thornton didn’t call in the FBI to come after you.”
She shrugged. When she’d started all of this, she hadn’t expected to pour out her heart to him. Still, it didn’t make sense to hold back now. Somehow, they’d manage to sift through everything and had reached ground zero. “Well, that just goes to show you the depths of my feelings, huh?”
He just stood there and stared at her. Rachel did the same thing. Not necessarily a good idea. With him that close, she had no problem seeing every emotion on his troubled face.
His ruggedly handsome face.
Which reminded her of lots of other things.
Even with that reminder, she didn’t move. She didn’t back away. The idea that drifted through her mind took hold, and suddenly it was the only thing that made sense.
“I could probably talk myself out of doing this,” she warned. “But I figure I’ll explode. You’ll make a good substitute for a scream.”
It was more than that, of course. Much more. Part of her wanted to say that to him, to bare her soul even more than she already had. Best not to complicate things, though. This might be a hard sell to Jared as it was. After all, he was trying to keep some distance between them.
Rachel latched onto the front of his shirt, pulled him to her and kissed him. She kept it short and sweet, but it sure as heck wasn’t some lustless peck. And then she let go of him. Satisfied that she’d convinced him she didn’t want to argue, or scream, or even bare her soul, she backed up so he could have a chance to escape.
She made it a step.
Just one.
Before he grabbed her wrist and stopped her.
Rachel turned toward him, her shoulder brushing his. He looked into her eyes. She didn’t need to ask his intentions. She could see it. And feel it. She might have been the one to start this, but Jared was more than willing to finish it.
“I don’t want to be a substitute for anything,” he said.
Rachel nodded. “Believe me, you’re not.”
That was it—all it took to complete the mutual invitation. He nodded in return and dragged her closer, pulling her into a searing kiss.
His mouth pleasured and coaxed. Teased. Ignited the spark into a full flame. Rachel felt her heartbeat race. Her body grew warm and golden, and she found herself wrapping her arms around him so she could have more.
“Yes,” she whispered against his mouth. “Now, this is what I need.”
Jared moved her hair out of the way so he could go after her neck. He took that clever mouth to the sensitive little spot just below her ear. “It’s the adrenaline that’s got you so wired.”
“You think so?” She touched her mouth to his jaw and had the pleasure of feeling a muscle jump there. “If you use that line on every woman you kiss, I’ll bet it puts a real damper on foreplay.”
He didn’t stop the assault on her neck. Or her ear. But he made himself crystal clear. “I wouldn’t know. You’re the only woman I’ve been foreplaying with for years.”
She pulled back and looked at him. “Is that true?” But Rachel immediately shook her head. “Never mind. I don’t want to hear the answer to that.”
“Sure you do.” He met her gaze head-on. “Go for it, Rachel. Ask. You might be surprised at what I have in my version of Pandora’s box.”
Maybe. But she didn’t want to risk it. There were a lot of things she could handle, but hearing about Jared’s sexual escapades wasn’t one of them. Rachel went after his zipper, instead.
“Boxes aside,” she insisted. Now, it was her turn to
kiss his neck. “I think I’d rather just pleasure you. You know, the way you did me.”
Jared pressed his hand over hers to stop her. “As wonderful as that sounds—and, believe me, it does—what I have in mind is good old-fashioned sex. Something mindless and mutually satisfying. We’ll see how far we get before Tanner calls. But first, I want you to ask the question that’s obviously been on your mind.”
She studied his eyes, and his expression. Nope, he wasn’t about to back down on this, either. If she wanted things to progress beyond the zipper-lowering stage, she had to ask what she really didn’t want to know.
“All right. Have you been with anyone else?”
“No.”
No hesitation. No doubt. That was it. Just that one firmly spoken denial.
It was, well, touching. And a little confusing. Fourteen months was a long time, especially for a man who hadn’t been able to keep his hands off her when they were married.
His answer might have soothed her ego if Jared had given it a chance.
He didn’t.
What he did was take the first step to fulfilling his promise of something mindless and mutually satisfying. Just as on that night outside her college dorm, she reached for him. Jared was faster. He hauled her against him and kissed her.
* * *
This would not be a long leisurely afternoon of lovemaking, but Jared was sure neither of them cared about that.
Those were about the only totally coherent thoughts that made it into Jared’s head. This wasn’t the time for coherency, anyway. This was about Rachel, and him, and about how much they needed each other.
She fought with his shirt and won. Rachel managed to get it over his head and send it sailing across the room.
“Take me now,” she insisted.
To prove she was serious, Rachel went after his zipper again. She wasn’t careful about what she touched along the way. She slid her hand down the length of him.
And repeated the move.
Sinister Intentions & Confiscated Conception Page 32