by Tl Reeve
“Excuse me, ma’am, but is there a problem here?” he asked, showing her his badge. Squaring her shoulders, the woman stuffed the recorder back down into her pocket.
“No, officer. My friend lives here and is on vacation for the week. I was just checking on the house.” She smiled brightly at him, as if daring him to prove otherwise.
Jonas stood there for a moment and contemplated his next move. He knew what she’d been doing, but without solid proof, there wasn’t a whole lot he could do. “I have to tell you ma’am, your activity is a little suspect. Its broad daylight and you’re standing outside with a recorder staring into a window of a nice home.”
“Yes officer, I completely agree.” The smile fled as she lowered her head shaking it. “I wish I had my phone on me. I would call my friend and she could explain.”
“I think it would have been a little hard anyway if she is on vacation.” Jonas narrowed his eyes.
A light nervous laughter passed her lips. “You could be right. Her and James haven’t had time away without the kids in years,” she giggled, covering her mouth.
With nothing more than a suspicion, Jonas took his hand off of her shoulder. “I have one more request and you are free to go.” He pointed to her pocket. “Could I hear what is on the recorder?”
Slowly Mrs. Kapinsky pulled the slim recorder out of her pocket and placed it in his hand. There had only been thirty-five seconds of recording. Rewinding before hitting play he listened as her voice filled the air. Ida, nothing is out of place, the house is secure and set. Nothing seems to be tampered with. Hope you’re having a good time.
Shit. It’s in code. Unless they had someone in the station that could break it, there wasn’t anything he could do about what she was saying to him. “Thank you, ma’am. Have a nice day.”
“You too, officer,” she yelled as he walked back to his unmarked car.
*****
Hannah pulled into the office parking lot and got out of her truck. She spotted Rena’s little black coup sitting in its normal space as she made her way to the door. Since she hadn’t been at the shack, Hannah knew she was inside waiting for her.
Opening the door to the office she steadied herself. No use in getting pissed off before the day stated. With a quick wave to the three technicians, she made her way toward Jude’s office. As she suspected, Rena sat in Jude’s high back leather chair. Her body relaxed. Her features neutral as she waited.
“Well, look what the cat drug in. Good morning, Hannah.” Rena smirk, sitting forward in her chair.
“Yeah, yeah, good morning, Rena. Now can we get the fuck up out of here and go shopping or some shit.”
Rena narrowed her eyes. “Sit, we’re going to play twenty questions first. If I like your answers, we’ll go shopping.”
“And if you don’t like my answers, then what?” Hannah questioned, plopping down in the chair across from Rena.
“I let Jude and the guys know you’re a fraud and have been pulling their chains all these years.” She arched a brow daring Hannah to force her hand.
“What makes you think they’ll believe you? Or did you forget, I grew up with them? There isn’t anything about me they don’t already know.” If Rena thought she was going to blackmail her, she had another thing coming. The guys knew just as much about her as she did. Rena held her stare. “Fine, what do you want to know?”
“How long have you known the guys?”
Hadn’t she been over this with her? Hadn’t she told her since she was sixteen? “I told you the answer to this question a long time ago. I have known Jackson and Jude since I was sixteen.”
“I know. I was just pulling your leg, that’s not my first question,” she chuckled. “What happened to you to make you so, scared?”
Scared? She wasn’t scared, she wasn’t even afraid of anything, “I’m not scared. What do I have to be afraid of Rena?”
“White girl, you’re trying my patience here,” she snapped at Hannah. “Look, obviously you must be afraid of something, because you wouldn’t be clinging to the guys like a lifeline.”
“I don’t cling to them, Rena. They’re all I know. I have no memory of my life before them.”
“Uh, huh, so you’re expecting me to believe you can’t remember being a kid or growing up?” Rena eyed her speculatively.
“Yes, I do. The only part of my life I remember, before now, was being in that dreadful orphanage in Scotland.” The memories of being beat and assaulted flashed through her mind. She remembered clearly the first time Leann threw her down the concrete steps of the church. She remembered hearing the snap of bone and the burst of the most excruciating pain she’d ever felt. Lucky her, it wouldn’t be the last time either.
“What happened to your parents?” Rena pressed on, her voice soft and caring.
Hannah shrugged. “I’ve been told they were killed in an accident. I was the only one to survive.”
“But don’t you have any other family?” The disbelief and pain in Rena’s voice had Hannah wincing.
“The constables said I didn’t have any family so I went into foster care, a few months later I met the guys. They saw potential in me and started training me. They became my family.” Hannah glanced up at Rena. She felt raw, exposed, something she promised herself never to feel again. She stood, having had enough of the pain and torture that remembering caused her. She only wanted to go shopping. If she’d been smart, she would have called Nisey and asked her to go shopping.
“Sit down, white girl. We’re not done here.” Rena’s voice was firm but not demanding. Hannah debated walking out or sitting down after a moment she sat back down with a huff. “One more question and we can go shopping. Do you love Jackson?”
Do I love Jackson? What the hell? Hannah squared her shoulders and sat up a little straighter. “Yes I do. I love Jude too. But, if you are asking if I am in love with Jackson, no, I am in love with Jonas.”
“Okay white girl, let’s go shopping.” Rena stood up and walked around the desk heading for the door. “Well don’t just sit there, come on, we’ve got to furnish your house.”
Hannah quirked her brow not sure she heard Rena correctly. “Excuse me? That’s it?”
“Well, yeah. You answered my questions. You gave me honest answers. It’s all I’ve ever wanted from you.” For the first Hannah actually saw Rena smile.
“You should smile more often, Rena. It makes you more presentable.” Hannah smirked as she passed Rena and headed out of the office.
“Bite me, white girl.”
“Sorry to disappoint you Rena, that’s more Jackson’s thing.” She laughed.
*****
Walking into the station, frustration bit at Jonas’s gut. He knew who the old woman was, he knew what she was doing but couldn’t prove it. Earlier that morning he’d called Jude to have Hannah’s house wired for the same security system Kapinsky was able to trip. On his way back to work, he stopped briefly to make sure the guys had showed and were installing the system. Mordecai and Juan were hard at work. They were running the final diagnostic check of it and then were going to set it.
“Did you hear about the break-in over on Davenport?” Kapinsky asked, clasping Jonas on the shoulder.
He had only left the house thirty minutes ago. “No I hadn’t, what happened?” He had to play it cool. Jonas couldn’t go off half-cocked. He wanted to make sure he had Kapinsky and his mom, dead to rights.
“Looks like someone broke in and stole some jewelry and a few electronics. That’s not the worst part though. They were using Larson Security to monitor their property. I guess he’ll lose another contract now. The poor SOB.”
Jonas clenched his fists. The need to bash the man’s head against the wall coursed through him. “Really? I wonder what’s up with his systems.”
“Don’t know, but they’re some of the shittest I have ever seen,” Kapinsky laughed. “These people pay good money for the service. His men still hadn’t shown up when I left there.”
�
��Shit, that is some messed up service. I guess I should call my friend and tell her not to use Larson after all,” Jonas said nonchalantly.
“I would, man. Don’t want her losing all her stuff,” he chuckled walking away.
Fucking bastard! He hit speed dial for Jude and waited. The phone rang once and Jude’s gruff, irritated voice filled the line, “This better be good I am in no mood to fuck around, Jonas.”
“I had her, Jude. I knew she was casing the house. I just couldn’t do anything about it. I had no proof.” Jonas scrubbed his face with his free hand.
“We’ll get them. I promise you, Jonas. The fucker is good, but not that good. I found a bug when I ran the diagnostic.” Jude mumbled as the voices behind him grew faint. “The bastard is attaching a blocker to my system and then by-passing it somehow. Once I know how he is doing it, I can catch the asshole.”
“I told him about Hannah going with Larson Security, hopefully he’ll come after her next.
“We can only hope so. Speaking of Hannah, I did some more digging like you asked. It seems she has family in Butte, Montana. Para-military though. I think her mother and father were actually the ones that ran it. It explains why she was such a natural. The name of the compound is Sons of the Fallen.”
“How is it no one ever found this out? For God sakes Jude, she’s been without a family, right or wrong.” Anger bubbled just under the surface. She had a family.
“It would never have popped if I hadn’t read an article about a family losing their life in Scotland. The article from the Butte Register showed a picture of a younger Hannah and her parents. I just went from there.”
A jumping spot. After everything was settled with Kapinsky, he’d take her home to her family. No matter their background, they still had the right to know Hannah lived and she had the right to know she had family too. “Email me the info on her family, and I will make contact soon.”
“You’ll have it when you get to the office. I have about a half hour here with the police department and the customers who want my balls on a platter. I swear Jonas, when I get my hands on the mother fucker, I am going to ring his neck.” Irritation had become full on rage as the sound of people chattering grew loud again.
“Just deal with them there. I’ll handle everything on my side. I’ll see you at the office.” Hitting end, he went back toward the locker room. He knew Kapinsky had to be around there somewhere.
Chapter Twelve
“What do you think about this one, Hannah?” Rena asked, pointing to a beautiful suede camel colored couch.
Hannah looked up from the iron four poster bed she’d been drooling over and smiled. “It’s amazing. Do you think it will go with the recliner we already picked out, or should we change that now?” The overstuffed recliner was a deep burgundy. The minute Hannah sat in it she knew she had to have it.
“I think it will match just fine, you can offset each of the colors by throwing in accents of both in the living room. Maybe a couple of burgundy pillows for the couch or a burgundy throw along the back of it.”
Hannah nodded, “Sounds like a plan. Can you look at a bed with me? I’ve been drooling over this wrought iron bedroom set and I need your opinion.” Since they’d left the office, the tension between them had disappeared. If anyone saw them together, they’d think the women were best of friends.
“White girl, you are going to drive your Master insane with that bed. The possibilities are endless to what he could do to you on it.” Hannah walked around it one more time, listening to Rena as she spoke.
“I agree. It’s why I want it.” She could imagine Jonas tying her to the head board, her ankles cuffed and chained to the foot board. He’d sit between her legs, a crop in one hand, those devilish Ben Wa balls in the other. Yes, she needed this damn bed. “Earth to Hannah, come in Hannah,” Rena laughed. “Girl, you got it bad for him, don’t you?” She shook her head.
“Yes, I do. He does things I never knew were possible.” A goofy smile passed her lips before she cleared her throat. “So we have the living room and my bedroom settled up, all I need is a kitchen table and we should be good to go,” she said, changing the subject. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything else but Jonas.
“Are you sure you can afford everything you picked out here, Hannah? I mean this is more than a year’s salary for me.” She’d never told Rena about her money situation. She’d learned early on to never discuss money.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it. I can handle what we’re getting.” She pointed toward the tables and chairs, let’s go look at those.” Hannah went through the maze of furniture and stood by a long rectangle table. Small enough that it wouldn’t dominate the dining area, but big enough to seat everyone if they decided to come for dinner. The color complemented the rest of the house. “Whatcha think, too much?”
Walking around the table like she had with the bed, Rena touched the lip of one of the chairs and ran her fingertip along its edge as she moved. “I like it.”
She didn’t have to say anything more than that. Hannah could see by the way her finger moved against the varnished wood that she liked it. “Well how about we go pay for this stuff and I take you to lunch as a thank you?”
“I get lunch too? Damn, white girl. You’re going spoil me,” she chuckled.
Making her way up to the counter she handed the girl her black card and waited. She had received a text from Jonas earlier letting her know the house would be ready for her to move in by mid-day. She’d been pumped about staying in her own place, but let down at the same time. She liked staying with Jonas and hoped he would end up staying with her sometimes. Taking the receipt from the girl behind the counter, along with her card, she hooked arms with Rena and walked out.
“Anywhere in particular you’d like to go for lunch?”
“Nope, you’re paying, you’re picking. I figured you’d be broke by the time you got done paying for the store.”
Hannah dropped Rena off at the office when they were done with lunch and went back to her house. A welcome hanger from Jude was hooked to the handle of the door sat. Chuckling softly, she opened the door and went inside. Everything she’d picked out at the furniture store was now placed neatly in her house. A card on the counter had been the only evidence Jonas had been there to oversee the delivery. Smiling she read the it and grabbed a drink from the fridge.
The conversation she’d had earlier with Rena still played on repeat in her head. Moving back into the living room, she sat down on the couch Rena picked out and sighed. The plush cushions enveloped her body, cradling it just right. The big over stuffed back pillows rose up to meet her head, making her so comfortable she instantly fell asleep.
* * * * *
Jonas made his way through the police department. After checking in the locker room, he made his way to the only other spot Kapinsky could be. Hannah’s house sat in the heart of all the break-ins. It would only be a matter of time before he’d hit her house. Maybe with a push in the right direction, it would be sooner rather than later. Turning the corner, he pushed open the door to the lunchroom. The fat, greasy cop sat at one of the tables. He held a burger in one hand as fries were being stuffed into his mouth with the other. Jonas wrinkled nose. His stomach turned in disgust. Kapinsky looked up at him; ketchup and mayo clung to his mustache making it almost unbearable for Jonas to keep his focus on the other man.
Swallowing his revulsion, Jonas made his way over to him. “Hey Kapinsky. I told my friend what you said, and she’s pretty set on keeping Larson’s Security.” An exasperated sigh passed his lips. “Would you mind doing a drive-by every once in a while, just to make sure she’s taken care of?”
Kapinsky put the burger down for a moment and nodded. “Stupid broads, huh.” A piece of fry flew from his mouth and landed on the table in front of Jonas. “Sure I can do that for you. What’s her address?”
“Thanks man.” Jonas pulled a piece of paper with Hannah’s address out of his pocket and handed it
to him. He milked the relief for all he could. “I’d feel awful if something happened to her. She’s like a kid sister to me.”
“No problem. Women aren’t the smartest sex. I’m sure the only time they would believe us men is if we were talking about makeup. Even then, I am not sure they’d believe us.” He laughed taking another bite of his burger.
If you only knew. Jonas snorted. Dumb ass. “I agree. It seems I can’t tell her anything without some retort back about how I don’t know what I am talking about. It’s frustrating.” It was the truth. Hannah was stubborn and set in her ways. Telling her something which might change her perspective would be like telling a mule his daddy is a donkey. They wouldn’t believe it, even if you introduced them. “You could be right.”
“I’ve got to take this.” His alarm went off just as he’d set it. “Thanks for the help, Kapinsky.” He waved his good-bye and walked away. As he got into his car, he called Jude back. “The trap is set. The bastard ate it up.” Turning on the car, he pulled out of his space and headed back to Hannah’s place.
“Good, now all we have to do is sit and wait.” Jude’s voice filled the line.
The creak from the front door startled Hannah out of her sleep. A blurry figure walked toward her and she leaped up, stubbing her toe on the hard wood coffee table. “Son of a bitch!” She screamed falling back on the couch.
“There’s the Hannah I know and love.” Jonas’s rich voice filled the room.
“You’re so damn lucky I didn’t have my fucking gun. I’d have shot your ass,” she said rubbing her aching foot earnestly, trying to ease some of the pain radiating up her leg.
“Yes, yes I know. You’re a hard ass bitch. Could kill a man at fifty, no make that a hundred paces.” Jonas scooped her up off the couch and carried her down the hall.