by Terri Reid
“Brooke, honey,” her mother called from the other side of the door. “May I come in?”
“Of course,” Brooke said, hurrying to the door to open it.
Her mother carried a silver tea tray with the rest of her sandwich, a cup of tea and a small platter of dainty cookies. “I didn’t know if you’d even have an appetite,” she said sympathetically. “But I wanted you to have a choice of things to eat.”
“Thank you, Mom,” Brooke replied. “That was so sweet of you.”
“Why don’t you climb into bed and let me tuck you in,” Amy offered. “Then you can sip your tea, and we can have a nice chat.”
Brooke obediently climbed under the covers and leaned back against the pile of pillows at the head of the bed. Once she was settled, her mother handed her a cup of tea, pulled the chair from Brooke’s desk next to the bed and sat down. “I’m so sorry about Niki,” her mother began. “Is she going to be okay?”
“Yes,” Brooke said, sipping at her tea. “She’s at the hospital overnight for observation…” Her hand started shaking, and she placed the tea down on her nightstand. She took a deep breath and continued. “She’s really bruised up from the beating she took. But, yes, she’s going to be okay.”
Placing her hand on her daughter’s, Amy leaned forward. “How about you?” she asked. “Are you going to be okay? With everything that’s happened in the past few days? What have you decided to do?”
Brooke thought about her answer for a moment. Should she let her mother know about the house she was going to buy? About the murder investigation? About the files? About the break-in? Would it cause her mother to worry more or less?
“Actually, Mom, I’ve decided to take my time finding a job, maybe take a while to just figure things out,” she said, deciding that was part of the truth at least. “Niki and I are going to find a place to stay for a few weeks. She’s pretty freaked about going back to her place, and my apartment isn’t going to work for me now that Robbins knows where I live.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea, dear,” Amy said, squeezing Brooke’s hand encouragingly. “You and Niki should go on a nice vacation somewhere.”
Brooke smiled and nodded. “That’s a great idea, Mom,” she said. “And thank you for the money from the trust fund. I think I would have gone crazy today if I didn’t know my financial future was intact.”
Her mother smiled at her. “Well, I’m glad I could help,” she said. “Actually, it’s more like a gift from your father, I suppose. His way of making sure you were taken care of.”
“I wish I could have known him better,” Brooke said.
“Well, I know this for sure,” Amy said. “He would be very proud of the woman you’ve become.” She patted Brooke’s hand. “And I also know that he would want you to take care of yourself and not worry about him. He’d want you to be happy.”
Not quite sure what her mom was trying to say, Brooke shook her head. “Happy?” she asked.
“You know, he wouldn’t want you to do something silly like investigate his death or try to remember what happened,” Amy said. “He wouldn’t want you to risk your own life.”
Brooke sat up her the bed and turned to her mother. “Have you been talking to Reece about this?” she asked.
Amy shrugged. “Well, he might have mentioned it,” she offered. She stood, leaned over the bed and hugged her daughter. “No matter what you think, he loves you. And we both want you to be safe.”
Brooke felt a flash of unease grow in her stomach as she wrapped her arms around her mother and hugged her back. When it came right down to it, whose side would her mother be on?
“You’re right, Mom,” she said, trying to find the right tone in her voice. “I’m mean, he’s been dead for over twenty-five years, and if the police department couldn’t find who killed him, how would I be able to do anything?”
“Exactly,” Amy said, sitting on the edge of the bed and nodding. “And you’re a young woman with so much to do.” She waved her hands above her head as she spoke. “The world’s at your feet Brookie. You should take that money and have a great time. Both you and Niki.”
The unease grew to disappointment and sadness. “You’re right,” Brooke said. “I can’t change the past. I can only live in the present and look forward to the future.”
Amy nodded happily. “Yes. You should think about going to Tuscany,” Amy suggested. “That’s always been my favorite place to visit when I want sunshine and beaches. And there are museums and good food. Yes. You have to go to Tuscany.”
“Why don’t I just go to Europe,” Brooke muttered.
“Excuse me dear?” Amy asked.
Brooke smiled at her Mom. “That’s my favorite place in Europe,” Brooke lied. “I’ll talk to Niki about it in the morning. I could use a little lying in the sun time.” Then she yawned widely. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”
“Well, you must be exhausted,” Amy said, getting up from the bed. She bent over and kissed her daughter on her forehead. “You get some sleep, and I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Okay, thanks, Mom,” Brooke replied.
Amy turned off the light and closed the door. Brooke listened for her mother’s footsteps to reach the staircase, and then she slipped out of bed and locked her bedroom door. She climbed back into bed, her head reeling. Reece had somehow convinced her mother that nothing was wrong. There was no way Brooke could protect her until she discovered the truth. Only then would Reece be revealed for who and what he was.
She snuggled into the pillows and exhaled slowly, looking up at the ceiling in her bedroom. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt so all alone before in my life,” she whispered.
Her phone buzzed, and she picked it up, looking at the texts.
“Just wanted to wish you pleasant dreams. Art”
A lone tear slid down her cheek, and she smiled. “Thank you” she typed back. “You, too.”
She put the phone back on the nightstand, lay back down in the pillows and promptly fell asleep.
Chapter Forty-five
After having an early breakfast with her parents the next morning where she talked about going to Tuscany, Brooke drove directly to the hospital to see Niki. They had moved her room upstairs to the third floor, and Brooke was slightly concerned when she found she could walk straight from the elevator to Niki’s room with no one stopping her or asking for identification.
When she got to the room, she found the door slightly ajar. Peeking in, she was a little surprised to see that both Sam and Art had already arrived. Her heart gave a little flutter when she looked at Art, and she decided avoiding him would be the smartest thing she could do that day. Plotting out the path to Niki, without getting close to Art, she slipped into the room.
“Wow, you must be some very important person to have two of Chicago’s finest watching over you,” Brooke teased as she moved along the wall.
“Hey, Brooke,” Niki said. “They just showed up, unannounced.”
“Actually, we were called in to help the staff deal with her,” Sam teased. “She is not a patient patient.”
“So, how are you feeling?” Brooke asked, finally making it to the hospital bed. Brooke thought Niki looked much better than she had the day before.
Niki smiled. “I woke up to two good-looking men standing in my bedroom this morning,” she replied. “How do you think I feel?”
Laughing, Brooke nodded. “Yeah, you have a point.”
“So, how are you doing today?” Art asked Brooke.
She quickly glanced in his direction and nodded. “I’m great,” she replied politely. “Thanks.”
His narrow-eyed stare back at her gave her the distinct impression he wasn’t pleased with her response. But, right now, she really didn’t care. She had enough on her plate, and a relationship with Art O’Reilly just didn’t fit.
“So, when are we packing you up and moving you out of here?” she asked Niki.
“Do you want the good news or the bad news?” Niki asked her.
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“Good news,” Brooke replied.
“I don’t have a concussion, and my nose isn’t broken.” Niki said.
Brooke winced just thinking about the beating Niki went through. “Oh, honey, I know that’s good news,” she said, “but ouch.”
“Yeah,” Niki said. “Don’t I know it? Now, the bad news. The nurse told me that they think I have a broken rib, and it might be in danger of puncturing my lung, if it hasn’t already.”
“What are they going to do about it?” Brooke asked.
As if on cue, there was a sharp knock on the door.
“Come in,” Niki called.
A physician in scrubs came into the room with a tablet in his hand. “Miss Jhang?” he asked.
Niki nodded. “That’s me.”
“I’d like to talk to you about your condition,” he said, glancing around at Brooke, Sam and Art. “Would you like your friends to leave the room?”
She shook her head. “No, they can all stay,” she said. “They’re family.”
He nodded. “The x-ray confirmed that your rib is broken,” he explained. “But we will want to do a CT scan in order to see if any of the soft tissue around that rib has been damaged.”
“Like my lung?” Niki asked.
“Exactly,” he said. “We want to be sure that there’s no chance of further injury.”
“But I thought you just let ribs heal on their own,” Sam said, coming over to stand protectively next to Niki.
“That used to be the case,” the physician explained. “But now there’s a new procedure that’s fairly non-invasive where we can attach contoured, low-profile titanium plates to the broken rib and stabilize it.”
“Like a splint on a rib?” Niki asked.
“Well, unlike a splint, it will be attached permanently,” he explained.
“So I’m going to light up the machines at the airport?” she asked.
The doctor smiled at her. “I don’t think the amount of titanium we’re going to use will cause you any trouble,” he said. “If we have to use it. That’s yet to be determined. But I would like to schedule you for a CT this afternoon.”
“This afternoon?” Niki asked. “So, when can I leave?”
“Tomorrow at the earliest,” he said. “We’ll have to have radiology review the scan and then get back to us with their findings. If we need to do surgery, we can schedule that by tomorrow and have you out of here by the day after.”
Niki shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she said. “But I have a business to run. I can’t be in the hospital for three days.”
“Well, see if you can convince your rib of that fact, and we’ll be just fine,” the physician replied with a smile. “I’ll see you this afternoon, Miss Jhang.”
He nodded to the rest of the people in the room and then hurried out the door.
“Well, I guess he told you,” Brooke said with a grin. “So, what do you need from your place in order to not go crazy for the next few days?”?”
“Just pick up some of my clothes and my toiletries,” she said. “But for the rest of the stuff, you’re going to need a list.”
“A list for what?” Brooke asked.
“My computer equipment,” Niki replied. “I’m going to have to set up a remote site from my hospital room.”
By the time she finished her list, Brooke was shaking her head. “You’re going to need a bigger room,” she said.
“Hell, she’s going to need her own floor,” Sam inserted.
“It’s all small stuff,” Niki replied. “It should all fit in one corner.” She looked around the room. “Over there. Oh, and bring one of the equipment trolleys I have at the office. That will hold everything.”
Brooke nodded. “Okay, your wish is my command,” she replied. “I’ll get going.”
“Wait, no,” Niki said. “You’re not going to do this all by yourself.”
“It’s no big deal,” Brooke argued. “I’ll get one of your geeks to help me.”
After watching from side of the room, Art stepped forward. “I’ll go, too,” he said without asking Brooke’s permission. “Where are the keys?”
Sam dug them out of his pocket and tossed them to Art. “Here’s the extra set I had yesterday,” he said. “I’ll stay here and keep an eye on Niki.”
Brooke looked from Art to Sam to Niki. “Wait, don’t I get any say in this?” she asked.
“No,” Niki said with a smile. “I guess you don’t.”
Chapter Forty-six
Brooke waited for Art right outside the hospital room. He had stopped to speak with Sam for a moment after she’d said her good-byes to Niki and Sam. She waited until he stepped out and closed the door before she spoke. “Okay, you can give me the keys now,” she said.
He smiled and stuck the keys snuggly in his jeans pocket. “I don’t think so,” he replied, moving past her and walking toward the elevator.
She hurried up alongside him. “Listen, I really don’t need you along,” she said. “I can get Niki’s things and bring them back here, and you can do…” She waved her hands in the air. “Whatever it is you do.”
He stopped in front of the elevator and turned to her. “I’m sorry,” he said sincerely.
She froze. Wait? What?
“You’re sorry?” she repeated, confused.
“I acted like an idiot last night,” he said. “And I can only hope that you can forgive me.”
The elevator door opened before Brooke had a chance to respond, and Art stepped inside with Brooke immediately following. There were two other people in the elevator, riding down to the first floor with them, so it wasn’t a good time for the follow-up question that was burning in her mind.
She waited until they reached the first floor, walked down the hall and out into the parking lot. “Before or after?” she finally blurted out.
Art paused and turned to her. “I’m sorry, what?” he asked, and then he proceeded to walk towards his car.
“Before or after?” Brooke demanded, jogging alongside him in her heels. “Before or after?”
He stopped next to his car, cocked his head to the side and studied her for a long moment. “Before or after what?” he finally asked.
She took a deep breath and then blurted out, “When did you act like an idiot, before or after the kiss?”
He didn’t laugh. Brooke would have been mortified if he had laughed. He turned to her and cupped the side of her face in his hand, stroking it lightly. “After,” he said softly. “Kissing you was the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”
Don’t swoon, Brook. You’ll look like a loser, she shouted at herself.
Stepping back, she nodded at him. “Thank you for the apology,” she murmured. “I accept it.”
He walked around the passenger side of his car and opened the door. “May I help you gather Niki’s things?” he asked.
“Is that what this was all about?” she asked suspiciously.
Shaking his head, he offered another smile. “No, the apology was real,” he said. “But I know I was heavy-handed in there, and I want to be sure you don’t mind if I help.”
“I could do it on my own,” she countered.
“I know,” he said. “But with Jacarius still on the loose and who knows what your father has planned, I’d feel better staying close by.”
Well, damn, I kind of forgot about Jacarius, she thought.
“You’re right,” she agreed, climbing into the car. “It makes sense.”
He closed her door and hurried over to the other side. He climbed in and turned the car on. “And you can fill me in on how it went with your parents last night,” he said as he pulled out of the parking lot. “Do you think you changed his mind?”
“I don’t know,” she replied with a sigh. “But I got the feeling he was able to change my mother’s mind. All she wanted to do was tell me how much he loves me and how much neither of them want me to be hurt. Oh, and she also suggested I take some time off and go to Tuscany.”
“
Tuscany?” he asked with a smile. “What’s in Tuscany?”
“Everything not connected to my father’s murder,” she sighed.
Chapter Forty-seven
Amy Callahan walked across the hall from her small, very feminine home office to her husband’s larger and definitely masculine one. She didn’t bother to knock, but opened the door and let herself in. Reece was on the phone and pacing back and forth behind his desk. One hand held his phone to his ear, and the other hand was massaging the tight muscles in his neck.
“You burned the boxes, but you didn’t check inside of them first to make sure they really contained Blackwood’s files?” he growled into the phone. “Crandall, are you really that stupid, or do you just act that way?”
He looked at his wife and shook his head in despair. “Well, of course it’s too late,” he shouted. “We can’t unburn them you fool. We’ll just have to hope that they were the actual files and no one switched them out.”
Amy sat in one of the leather chairs facing the desk and folded her hands on her lap, a sign, Reece knew, that she was feeling impatient. “Crandall, I’ll call you when I need you,” he said, interrupting the flow of conversation from the other side. “Goodbye.”
He hung up the phone, tossed it on the desk and turned to his wife. “What can I do for you, Amy?” he asked, his voice cordial.
“When you invited Crandall to be part of this organization were you drunk?” she asked calmly.
He took a deep breath and acknowledged the hit with a nod. “I regret that decision nearly every day,” he said. “But since he was the one who disposed of your overly curious husband, I would have to say that he has been useful.”
“Except that he killed Bruce in front of Brooke,” Amy reminded him.
“She was supposed to be taking a nap,” Reece countered.
“She was three,” Amy replied. “Three year olds live by their own schedule, and Bruce was forever spoiling her. But, that’s past history. I have a problem we have to deal with today.”
Reece walked around the desk and sat on the corner closest to Amy.