Defending Sophie

by P. J. Fiala

  The brick hallway was still so old world and pretty. She'd always loved this part of the old building and admired how his family had restored it and all of the others they owned. It was their signature to refurbish older buildings in a downtown area and settle their business there. And they did it well.

  She squeezed Gaige's hand as they neared the doorway that led out to the main store area. They'd passed several closed doors along the hallway, which she knew were cutting rooms and storage areas. One was a break room for the employees. The old, heavy, wooden door squeaked as she pushed it open and JJ, who stood behind a glass jewelry counter, turned to see her. It only took a split second for him to recognize her and the smile that lit his face made her heart beat a bit faster, but not like Gaige did, more like she hoped this would go well.

  Then his eyes moved passed her and to Gaige and his smile faded away. "Hi, JJ, how are you?"

  He cleared his throat, and stood a bit taller before responding. "Sophie, it's great to see you. I'm well. And you look fantastic."

  He walked the few steps to stand before her, his arms outstretched for a hug. She stepped into his hug, briefly wrapped her arms around him and quickly stepped back. Taking Gaige's hand in hers once again, she introduced them. "JJ, I'd like you to meet Gaige Vickers. Gaige, this is JJ Crowne. His family owns this store."

  The two men shook hands. She'd always thought JJ was handsome. He had that California male look you saw in the magazines. Tall, though not as tall as Gaige, he stood around six feet tall. He was slim, and his sandy brown hair and blue eyes were classic and attractive. Though looking at the two men side by side, he'd never match up to Gaige. Not in a million years. Gaige was tall at around six foot six, broad shouldered, muscular, thick, and manly. Not a metrosexual in any sense of the imagination and never would be. It was part of the attraction, he was all male. Gruff when he needed to be but gentle with her in all ways that counted.

  "Ah, the famous Gaige Vickers. I've always wondered about you. Sophie talked about you often. Too often for my taste. And now here you are together."

  Gaige chuckled. "Nice to meet you as well." He left it at that, no need to explain that he'd only just heard about JJ fifteen minutes ago. The fact that JJ was jealous and made his snarky comment was enough.

  JJ clapped his hands together. "So what brings you here to Crowne Jewelers, getting engaged and need to see my finest diamonds?"

  Sophie opened her mouth to say something, but Gaige beat her to it. "Not yet. We're cleaning up some loose ends first. Then, no offense, but I’ve always thought a Cartier would look simply spectacular on her finger. Don't you?"

  Her mouth instantly dried out. Had he actually thought that? And tying up loose ends was probably just his way of being snarky in return and Cartier? Holy crap. She couldn't let her head think like that, he was just posturing and staking his claim, no matter how temporary it might be.

  Clearing her throat, she decided they'd played their male posturing games long enough. "JJ, I actually had hoped you'd be able to help us figure out what kind of stone this is and what type of setting it would be set in or had been set in."

  She held open her hand and the ruby colored stone lay in her palm. Always the jeweler, JJ looked at the stone and slowly picked it from her palm. Stepping to the glass counter, he pulled a felt pad from the back counter with the Crowne logo on it, lay it on the glass and gently set the ruby colored stone on it. Quickly pulling out his jeweler's eye from a drawer on the back counter, he set it up to his right eye and looked at the stone, turning it from side to side.

  Her heart fluttered as she waited and her stomach knotted. She clasped her hands together in front of her and watched his face, looking for any expression.

  After he'd examined the stone, he pulled his jeweler's eye away from his face, tucked it in its case in the drawer, and turned to look at her. "This is a ruby of fine quality. Few inclusions and the two I could find were minute and almost nonexistent though the stone is of a darker hue, keeping the value down some. Of course, a trained eye can see them, you probably couldn't. No offense."

  Gaige responded. "None taken. Can you tell it's worth and the setting it would have been in?"

  JJ pulled a catalogue from a drawer at the far end of the counter and brought it back to the end where they stood. He opened it to a section, color coded on the edges of the catalogue, and thumbed through the pages until he found what he was looking for. Turning the large book to them he pointed to a man's ring, that looked similar to a class ring, with imprinting in the sides of different military symbols.

  "I'd say it had been set in a ring such as this." Picking up the stone he turned on a light mounted on the glass jewelry case and held the stone under it. "If you look along this very edge, you can see marks in the stone where the setting had dug into its surface and some of the stone has been worn away on this end, allowing it to slip from the setting. Though probably because it caught on something and then pulled free of the setting. And I'd say it was somewhere in the twelve-thousand-dollar figure."

  Pointing to the end of the stone where now she could see it was a different height than the other end, she had to admit, he was very good at this.

  "Wait here a moment. I have a setting such as this in the back that came in for repairs about a month ago."

  He walked to one of the back rooms they'd passed as they entered the building and she looked into Gaige's eyes. He smiled at her, seemingly more relaxed now that the initial meeting and sizing up was over. His right hand reached up and he ran the backs of his fingers along her jaw, then slid his fingers behind her nape and brought her face to his. "So beautiful." His lips touched hers, softly but still possessively and her nipples puckered as the wetness gathered between her legs. He simply did it for her.

  JJ came out of the hallway and snorted lightly. She pulled away from Gaige, though not far, stared into his eyes, then whispered back to him, "So handsome." Before turning to JJ.

  He cleared his throat and showed them the setting he had. "As you can see, when I set the stone into this setting..." He pushed it into the setting from the back, using a fair amount of pressure to set the stone as it should be. "You can see that the stone on this end is worn away allowing something small to catch the gold at the edge and pull the stone from its setting."

  JJ stopped talking and looked closer at the ring. Taking his jeweler's eye from the drawer once again, he looked at the ring through the glass. His brows furrowed and his jaw slackened, as if not believing what he was seeing. She glanced at Gaige and saw that he was at attention, watching every move.

  Gaige asked, "What are you seeing, JJ?"

  Pulling the jeweler's glass from his eye, he looked at them both, then said, "It's almost as if this was the ring this stone came from. When this ring came into the store, it had a tear in the gold right here." He pointed to an area at the end of the stone where the stone was worn away and you could see the lip created leaving room for the gold to catch on something.

  Gaige looked JJ in the eye. "Do you take photos of broken jewelry when they come in to show the before and after to the owners?"

  "Yes. We do." He turned to the computer station behind him, and typed his password into their program, then scrolled and typed until he found the file he was looking for. Turning his monitor to them he waved them behind the counter for a closer look. "This is the before. You can see the gold had caught on something and pulled open which would have allowed a stone to fall from it."

  Gaige stared at the screen and so did she. The oval stone fit in the middle of a gold setting, with United States Army around the stone. Unbelievable, but then again, not. There weren't many jewelry stores in Riverton and this was the finest. Whoever wore this ring, paid money for it, so they'd come here for repairs.

  "JJ, I know this is a breach of confidentiality, but the man who owns this ring may have killed Kate. Please, will you tell us who that is?"

  She placed a hand on his forearm and squeezed. Not openly flirting, but if she had t
oo, she sure would for this information.

  "Sophie, you know my father would kill me if I pissed off a client."

  "He might be a rapist and a murderer. Do you want rapists and murderers as clients?"

  He looked into her eyes and she tried appealing to him with just a look. Please God, let him give her the information.

  Chapter 35

  Exiting the jewelry store from the backdoor once again, Gaige opened the passenger door for Sophie, and helped her inside. Closing the door, he walked around the front of the SUV to get into the driver's side. The backdoor opened and JJ said, "Gaige."

  Halting and staring at JJ, he waited a beat, but only that long before walking toward him. It didn't escape his eyes that JJ glanced into the truck at Sophie and swallowed. It also didn't go unnoticed that JJ didn't have on a wedding ring, but had a slight demarcation where one used to be.

  Before he could say anything, JJ handed him a piece of paper, ripped from a small spiral notebook with a name written on it. Chet Forest. In smaller print below Chet's name, was a notation – not the owner.

  "He's the one who brought the ring in. Said it wasn't his but he was bringing it in for a friend and that the friend would be around to select a new stone for the ring in a couple of weeks. That's why we still have it, Chet hasn't returned our calls and no one has come in to claim the ring."

  Fisting the piece of paper in his left hand, he reached out his right hand to shake JJ's hand. "If the owner of that ring does come in, we'd appreciate it if you'd give me a call." He pulled his phone from his pocket. "What's your phone number, JJ? I'll text you and you'll have my number."

  "I'm not even supposed to give you this much information."

  "Let me tell you a bit about what we're up against, JJ. Chet Forest is dead and the killer just may be the owner of this ring. He's also likely the person who killed Kate. And, now he’s after Sophie. Her life may very well depend on us finding this guy before he finds her. Not only that, Sophie is being framed for Chet's murder."

  JJ swiped his hand through his brown hair and mumbled, "Holy Fuck."

  Quickly giving Gaige his phone number, Gaige held out his right hand once again and firmly shook JJ's. "Thanks, JJ, I'll let Soph know what you've done." Then he had another thought. "Was that ring purchased here in the first place?"

  "I'm afraid not. It's Army issue. It's called the Freedom Ring. They sell them on base and are purchased directly through Balfreed."

  JJ turned and slipped into the back of the jewelry store and Gaige walked the few steps to the SUV, feeling better about the progress they'd made today.

  Climbing into the driver's seat, he swiftly pulled his seatbelt across his body, clicked it into place, started the truck, and turned to Sophie. "Glad he had a change of heart."

  Handing her the piece of paper he watched her face as she unfolded the paper. Her right hand flew to cover her mouth as soon as she read the name on the paper.

  "Oh my God, I told Chet that I was looking for the autopsy report and that I could prove Kate was murdered. He knew all along who killed her. Probably helped him for all we know."

  Leaning on the console, he softly replied, "But you didn't know that then."

  Putting the vehicle in reverse, he eased out of their parking spot and turned out onto the street. Sophie composed herself then cleared her throat. "At least we have a bit of a lead. Sort of." Her shoulders slumped. "We really don't have anything more than we did before."

  "I told JJ that Chet was dead and that you’ve been framed for the murder. He didn't look like that made him happy. I sent him my number and asked him to call if someone comes by looking for it."

  "That could be never."

  "Right, but JJ said that Chet told him the owner of the ring would pick it up because he wanted to select a new stone. JJ also told me those rings are purchased directly through Balfreed and we have a computer whiz at our disposal." He tapped his phone and said, "Call The Whiz." He smiled as he told his phone to call Jared – The Whiz was his code name in Gaige’s phone. Genius.

  "Yep." Short and sweet. Jared wasn't a chatter. The fewer words said to him, the better in Jared's world.

  "Gaige Vickers."

  "Yeah. I got the numbers, most of them and most of the pictures from that phone you wanted me to hack into. You have a new phone you want me to download them on?"

  "I will in an hour. I'll call you with the number. In the meantime, I need you to hack into Balfreed’s purchase records and focus on names you've been previously given in this investigation. Reed Killian. Chet Forest. Tommy Taylor, Jeff Taylor. For starters. If you don't find those names, we'll try another avenue."

  "On it. Anything more?"

  "Nope. I'll call you with a phone number soon."

  "Out."

  A click was heard and the line went dead. At least he never had to worry about Jared taking up too much time.

  "We need to get you a new phone, Soph. The Whiz has some of your numbers and pictures. Tell me where there is a cell phone store. Nowhere near base."

  "Why don't we head back to Canyon Creek and find a store there."

  He chuckled. "Sounds good. Glad you're thinking, ‘cause right now, I'd like to get back to Gigi's, take a shower, and touch you. Everywhere."

  And he did. After spending the day with her, watching her compose herself time and again, continue to be tough and smart and gorgeous as she did it all, he did just want to lay in bed with her in his arms. Smell her hair and skin and feel her soft curves pushed up against him. His cock thickened just thinking about it.

  "Gawd, that sounds like a little piece of heaven."

  Glancing at her, he was met with the shiny, deep brown eyes he'd fallen for twenty-ish years ago. Gut punch. That's what it was like. In the best possible way.

  Chapter 36

  Before exiting the shared bathroom with Gaige and Hawk, Sophie unlocked the door leading to Gaige and Hawk's, actually it seemed, Hawk's room so he could get in if he needed to, then slid the door open to her bedroom. There was Gaige, laying on her bed, leaning against the headboard, no shirt on, only boxer briefs covering his man parts, and his laptop on his lap. He looked delicious.

  "Hey." He picked up her new phone, which was plugged into his laptop, looked at the screen then lay it back on the bed, “only about fifty-three percent finished downloading. It'll likely be after dinner before it's finished."

  Laying her dirty clothes in the basket for that purpose, she smiled when she saw Gaige's dirty clothes already in there from today. Crawling across his legs to lay next to him, her long hair still wet, the tank top she wore dampening from where it absorbed the water from her hair and the denim shorts Gigi had given her on, she sidled up to see what he was working on.

  "What are you working on?"

  He kissed her lips, stared at her for a few moments then inhaled. "Reading the autopsy report and Candace’s notes, Hawk sent over. He'll be here in about a half hour, he just called. It's all as he said earlier."

  She nodded ‘cause it choked her up a bit talking about Kate's autopsy report. But, rather than becoming morose again, she kissed Gaige, then whispered. "I'm going to go help Gigi with dinner. She shouldn't have to wait on us like this."

  His left hand reached behind her head, and pulled her in for a deep kiss. She felt the moan come from deep in her chest, her head felt light and swirly, as if the world faded away and no one was left in it but her and Gaige.

  A phone ringing broke the beautiful spell and she ended their kiss with a light peck. "Get your phone, I'll go help with dinner."

  Scooting off the end of the bed, she looked back at him once, to see he was still looking at her. Tapping his phone his voice was a bit gruff when he said, "Vickers."

  Walking through the living room she marveled at the light colors of greens and faded orange on the walls which gave the home a comfortable feeling while still feeling larger than it was.

  "Shower feel good?" Gigi stood at the stove, stirring something that smelled amazing.


  "It sure did. That smells fantastic."

  She stopped at the counter across from Gigi and watched her for a moment. "I hope you like it. It's my grandmother's Boeuf Bourguignon. It'll stick to those men's ribs and keep them full all night. How was your day?"

  Giggling at Gigi's quick change of the subject. "It was as good as it could be under the circumstances. We got a couple of leads, but we're still waiting on results. I did, however, replace my phone. For some strange reason, it makes me feel like a complete person again. I've felt so out of touch and lost since my phone's been gone. I guess because I have to rely on everyone else to tell me what's going on."

  "I get that. We've come to rely on them so much, haven't we?"

  "Yes. Tell me what I can do to help, please. And don't say nothing, I need to do something."

  Gigi pulled a cutting board from under the counter, lay a knife across it, and pushed a bag of potatoes toward her. "Leave the peelings on but cut these up in large chunks, I've already washed them."

  She looked at her new friend for a longtime before saying anything, not really sure how to broach the subject. "Gigi?"

  Her friend turned to her but said nothing.

  "Thank you for not saying anything to those soldiers in the bakery today asking about me."

  "Ah, you did hear. I wondered." She tapped her wooden spoon on the side of the pan and picked up a bowl of cut up carrots. "I'd never turn you in. I don't know the severity of what you're up against. And, I've been trying my best to keep my nose out of it, ‘cause I can tell you've got enough going on right now, but I'll help you in any way I can, Sophie."