I didn’t actually know what he did during the day. Whatever it was, it was probably not good. He seemed to be able to match my schedule, though, which was nice. The majority of other men I had dated were not on a crazy nocturnal work schedule, and he seemed pretty happy to accommodate my needs when it came to my day-to-day routine.
I was thinking about that when the phone rang. It was Jody.
I picked it up, almost immediately. My heart still fluttered in my chest every time I saw his name come up on my phone screen. “Hello?”
“Hey,” he said. “Are you busy?”
“No, but I have work in a little while, so I wanted to catch some sleep before.”
“How about I bring you some dessert?”
“What makes you think I want dessert?”
“No, you misunderstood me,” he said. “I want dessert. I wanted to know if you also wanted dessert, but if you don’t, that’s no skin off my nose.”
“Fine,” I replied. “Bring me some dessert, but you can only stay for a bit. I really do need to sleep.”
“I know a few ways I can put you to sleep,” he replied.
“You’re underselling yourself,” I said.
He laughed. “What do you prefer, chocolate, strawberry or vanilla?”
“Oh,” I said. “I don’t know. Surprise me.”
“Okay. I’ll be there in a bit. Stay up and wait for me, okay?”
“If you hurry.”
He laughed. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I will be right there.”
I walked over to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. He had seen me when I wasn’t looking my best, and I didn’t mind that, but there was something that made me feel so sexy about the way he looked at me even when he just approached the door. I brushed my hair out of the ponytail and curled my eyelashes. I didn’t want to do much more than that, because all we were going to do was eat dessert together and hang out for a bit.
I smiled at myself. Despite everything that had happened between us, the truth was that I was enjoying myself. It seemed like he had changed, like he was a different, better person, and it was clear to me that I was falling for him and that I was enjoying it.
I liked Jody.
I could feel myself falling for him, starting to more than just like him, and that scared me a little bit. I didn’t really have time for a relationship and my schedule was all over the place, but Jody seemed to be happy to adapt to my needs, which was wonderful, and I was excited about it.
I was nervous, but nerves aside, I was reveling in the feeling of having a crush again, and thinking about Jody made me feel like a teenager. It made my knees wobbly and it made my heartbeat speed up. My entire body got hot when I thought about him for too long, and I felt like giggling even when I was by myself.
I was a full-grown woman, but I felt like a kid around him, a kid who was falling in love. I was smiling when I heard the door ring. I furrowed my brow as I walked toward it, wondering how close he had been when he had gotten dessert, since I knew his apartment was practically on the other side of the city and it was going to take at least thirty minutes to get to my place, even if there was absolutely no traffic.
I walked over to the door, didn’t look through the peephole, and opened the door with what felt like a flourish. I looked over at where he was supposed to be standing, and set my gaze, instead, on a tall, burly man and a small wiry woman, both of whom were wearing suits and were immediately recognizable as police officers even without showing me their badges.
I blinked, my heart dropping to my stomach. “Is… is everything okay?”
“Miss Meyer?” the tall one asked. “Do you have a second to talk to us?”
“Dr. Meyer,” I said, slipping out of my house and closing the door behind me. “What is this about?”
“Dr. Meyer,” he corrected himself, and I could see that he was resisting the urge to roll his eyes. “We are investigating a crime that occurred on the seventeenth of April. Do you remember where you were?”
“I—no,” I said. “Sorry. Which day was that?”
“Saturday,” the woman replied, then got closer to me. She dropped her voice to a whisper before she continued. “Dr. Meyer, I don’t want to tell you what to do, but your neighbor will notice us speaking to you in the hallway. It might be in your best interest to invite us in.”
Her partner nodded. “We won’t take too much of your time,” he said.
“What are your names?” I asked, my gaze darting between them.
“I’m Detective Bryson,” she said.
He nodded. “I’m Detective Moss,” he said.
When they saw that didn’t satisfy me, they both raffled off their ID numbers. That did a little bit to make me feel better, but I still couldn’t help but feel a little suspicious.
“Okay,” I said. “Come in. But I have visitors coming soon, and I won’t have much time to entertain you.”
Bryson smiled, her eyes shining. “I promise you; you don’t need to entertain us.”
I opened the door, moving away from them. “Okay, go ahead, come on in.”
They looked at each other for a second, and I could tell this was a victory for them. I had a sinking suspicion that the visit from the officers had something to do with Jody, so I excused myself to go to the bathroom. I thought about texting him, then I wondered if that was going to get me in trouble. I decided it was better if I didn’t tell him anything, maybe I was just overthinking things, maybe this didn’t have anything to do with him.
After washing my face, I walked outside, to the living room, where they were still standing. “You can sit down.”
“We won’t take long,” Detective Scott said. “We just have to ask you a few questions. So do you remember where you were on Saturday, the seventeenth of April?”
I thought for a second. “I was at work. I’m usually at work on Saturday. I mean, during the day, I was sleeping. Then I was working, during the night.”
“Great. Can you just confirm where you work for us?” Bryson said.
“I work at the emergency room at South Regional. I’m an attending there.”
“Do you remember an incident which occurred around three, maybe four in the morning?”
I looked at the detectives, wondering what they were getting at. “It’s an emergency room,” I replied. “Everything is an incident.”
Detective Scott chuckled. “That’s fair. We’re talking about a group of three men who came into the ER. They were all white, and we believe they were involved in a crime syndicate. We are currently investigating a series of burglaries that occurred in the Hightown District and we believe that the patients that came into your hospital that day might have been involved.”
I nodded. I crossed my arms over my chest before I spoke, sitting down on the sofa in front of them. “Shouldn’t you be speaking to them?”
“We are attempting to speak to them,” Detective Scott said. “They were both checked out of the hospital before we could, and we have been unable to track them down.”
“Okay…”
Detective Bryson smiled. “We understand that you probably don’t have any information regarding the suspects, but we do need to follow up on every lead. Did you know one of them? Outside of being your patient?”
I nodded. “Yes. He was my high school boyfriend.”
They looked at each other, then Detective Bryson smiled again. “That must have been awkward for you.”
I licked my teeth before I answered. “Yes. It was awkward, but I got over it. He was hurt, and I have a duty of care to my patients. Just like the EMTs do,” I said. “No crime was being committed at the time, so there was absolutely no need for us to call the police. Everything was well in hand.”
“We don’t doubt that. Do you happen to have his information?”
I waited for a second. “What information?”
“Jody Banks’ information,” Detective Bryson said, her smile never quite leaving her face. “We only want to speak to h
im. I understand that you might feel protective, but you don’t have to worry.”
I bit down on my lower lip. “I don’t feel protective,” I said, and wondered if they could tell it was a lie. “I can give you his phone number, but I don’t have anything else.”
That was sort of true. I didn’t know what his address was, though I did know where he lived.
“That will be helpful, if you want to give that to us,” Detective Scott said. “Then we’ll get out of your hair.”
“Great,” I said. “Let me just get my phone, it’s on charge in the bedroom.”
With my heart beating so fast I thought I might actually faint; I made my way towards the bedroom. I was trying my best to pretend that I wasn’t affected by this visit, and overall, I was pretty good in a crisis. However, I hadn’t expected any of this. Once again, I thought about warning him, but it felt risky to do so when the detectives were speaking in hushed tones in my living room.
I didn’t want to risk it. I grabbed my phone from my nightstand, gripping it so tightly in my hands I was sure it was going to leave marks, and walked over to the living room again. After I rattled off his number, they both thanked me and told me that they might be in touch again. They left me a card with their phone numbers and their rank and their IDs, which was helpful, but also a little scary.
They walked outside my house, and as soon as I heard their footsteps receding, I called Jody. “Where are you?”
“I’m just leaving the bakery,” he said. “I couldn’t decide on a flavor, so it looks like we are stocked for days, we have mint, bacon, vanilla strawberry—wait, you’re not a vegetarian, are—”
“Jody, stop,” I said.
He stopped. “Is everything okay?”
“No. Yes, I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Okay, well, you sound very certain…”
“The police were just here. I gave them your phone number. You should probably wait, at least a few minutes before you come around.”
“Okay,” he said, and I could hear him take a deep breath before he spoke again. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. A little shaken.”
“Okay. Well, if they have left, I can wait about another half an hour. If you won’t be sleeping.”
“They were asking about some burglaries or something. Do you know anything about that?”
He sighed. “I would rather not say.”
“I deserve to know,” I said. “It would be fine if it was just your life, but the police are knocking on my door, not yours. So I need you to tell me the truth, Jody, even if you don’t want to.”
He thought for a second. “Fine,” he said. “Okay. Give me about thirty minutes, and then I’ll be on my way.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
2019
He hadn’t been joking about the number of cupcakes that he had bought. We had a lot of dessert, to the point where it was excessive, and we had a few Styrofoam containers piled up on the coffee table in the living room.
Neither one of us had touched them.
I was staring at him, waiting for him to say something, anything, which would make the visit from the detectives not feel quite as terrible as it had felt. He was quiet, far too quiet, and he looked like he had lost the light, breezy approach he normally had. I was a little worried about him, but I was too angry and scared to console him, and I stayed on the other side of the sofa as he gathered his thoughts.
I didn’t know how long it was going to take him to open up, but even if it took all night, I was going nowhere until he explained himself. I stared at him, unsure of what I was supposed to say, how I was supposed to get him to talk about it.
He sighed before he sunk into the sofa, and looked up at the ceiling, his head on the back of the couch. He looked so pale, and I felt a little bad for him, but not bad enough to help him. Cops had never showed up at my door before and I didn’t want them to do that again. It didn’t make me feel particularly comfortable, and regardless of how much I liked him, I didn’t know if it was going to be worth it to keep seeing him if he brought with him this huge amount of baggage.
He craned his neck to look at me and sighed, closing his eyes tightly, his hands becoming tight fists on top of his legs. He looked shaken, and for a second, I was worried about him. Not worried enough to change my stance or to say anything to him.
With my arms firmly crossed over my chest, I waited.
He sighed again, closing his eyes. “How much do you really want to know?”
“As much as I have to,” I said. “You kept saying that it was better if I didn’t know what you were doing, that it was better to keep me in the dark. But you can’t keep me in the dark anymore. It’s not fair.”
He blinked, sitting up slightly. “I never lied to you.”
I stared at him. “I didn’t say that you lied,” I said. “But you weren’t exactly being forthcoming, were you?”
“I told you—”
“I know,” I said. “You wanted to protect me. But the best way to protect me now is by telling me the truth, so please, tell me the truth.”
He thought for a second. “Where do you want me to start?”
“The beginning would be good,” I replied.
“I don’t know where—okay, so I told you, after my parents got divorced, I got into petty crime, right?”
I nodded.
“It was just a way to make ends meet,” he said. “I never intended to make it a lifestyle or anything, but things didn’t work out like that. I was doing things like shoplifting and then selling the things I’d bought, you know. Standard credit card fraud. I didn’t mind, I was good at it, until I was flagged and caught in a supermarket. Maybe I wasn’t as good at it as I thought.”
I stared at him, saying nothing. I wanted for him to say everything to me, and I didn’t want to interrupt, I didn’t want to make him feel like I was leading him on, I just wanted him to say what he needed to say without leading him into it.
“But anyway, I got caught. I got arrested and I was lucky enough to get a defense attorney who was, actually, pretty good,” I said. “Considering he was free and everything. He got me off on probation and community service. I got lucky, because I’m white, come from a good family, and didn’t have a criminal record.”
I blinked. “Right.”
“My community service was picking up trash from the side of the road. Parks too, that kind of place,” he said. “It was actually not too hard. To be honest, I kind of liked it. But even if I had wanted to get a job doing something like that, I wouldn’t have been able to. I had a record; it wasn’t going to be easy for me to get a job. No matter how entry level the job was. And I was really good at picking up trash, trust me.”
I nodded, not saying anything.
“While I was there, I met some people. They also couldn’t get traditional jobs, and they wanted an assistant. I still needed to make money, so I offered my services. It was actually really simple, I would drive the getaway car, or I would stake out a place, because I didn’t look quite as suspicious as they did, so it was unlikely that I would get the police called on me.”
I shook my head. “Sorry, I’m a bit confused. Are you saying that they used you because you didn’t look like a criminal?”
“Yes. That is exactly what I’m saying.”
“Okay…” I said, trailing off, unsure what to say. I supposed that he didn’t look like a criminal. He looked a bit like a bad boy, with the leather jacket and the tattoo, but he looked like an actor playing at being a criminal rather than an actual criminal. I didn’t know how much of that could be chalked up to vanity, but I thought it was probably quite a lot.
He sighed again and sunk into the sofa’s cushion even more, looking away from me as he continued speaking. “You can’t just drive the getaway car forever. At some point, you’re going to have to get your hands dirty.”
“What does that mean?”
“I went with them. I staked out places, and then I would go inside, take the most v
aluable things, like the jewelry, the electronics, instruments, anything that would make us a pretty penny,” he said. “I befriended the rich owners by pretending that my parents were thinking about buying a house in that neighborhood, and I learned their schedules by stalking them online.”
“Who did you target?”
“Whoever looked like they had enough money that they wouldn’t be upset about it. I mean, there was no way for me to know, but I never targeted families with young children or single men or women. That would’ve felt unfair.”
I shook my head. “Stealing is unfair.”
“Yeah. I know. I knew it while I was doing it, but by then, I couldn’t stop. I had been doing it for so long, and I was good at it, and I was worried that people I was working with were going to turn against me if I tried to get out.”
I stared at him. I looked up and down, saw how upset he was, and inched a little closer to him on the sofa. “Did you try?”
“I did. Over the years, I began talking about it. I sort of joked about it, trying to gauge the reaction. They were always lukewarm about it. It was a little strange, but I didn’t mind. After all, I was basically just taking their temperature. I was trying to see when they would be okay with me leaving.”
“How long were you talking about it?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Years.”
“And they never got more receptive?”
“No. They never did,” he said. He was playing with the fabric of the throw blanket now, the one that was between us, and I could tell that he was getting progressively more nervous. I didn’t want to make him nervous, but I wanted to know the truth. I needed to. I stared at him, waiting for him to continue.
When he didn’t, I cleared my throat. “Okay,” I said. “And then what happened?”
“I was talking to my boss one day. We were at his house, sort of shooting the shit. We were friends, we had always been friends, though I would have never considered us close. He was actually a pretty good boss all things considered. He always divided our earnings equally, and he did the heavy lifting of selling everything afterward the job was done.”
All Grown Up Page 9