“You think it’s someone on the inside?”
“I’ve learned a long time ago, when your gut screams at you that something smells funny, don’t eat it. I don’t have any proof of any misconduct, but I don’t like when information leaks from any source. For all I know the coffee cart chat was overheard and sold. Just tighten the hatches and prevent any further leaks.”
“You’ve been there for me since my family’s been gone. You know I’ll do what you ask, even if I don’t like it.”
“There’s more.”
“Should I be worried?”
“Garrison is lead on this. He’s been in the background on this case, so he can run it with some help.”
“He’s a prick.”
Tyler laughs at me and nods his head in agreement.
“He’s a little ambitious, I’ll give you that. He’s the best man for the job given our situation.” Tyler leans forward and drops a business card on my desk.
Picking it up, I see it’s the lawyer he recommended when I was dealing with the adoption of Chase. He was a bit more expensive than I could afford so I went with the local attorney’s appointed to you type.
“What’s this for?”
“I know you officially adopted Chase and I doubt there are any loopholes, but you might want to have him look the paperwork over. Just to make sure.”
My stomach is churning and I can feel the bile rising up from the pits of hell. Tyler looks at me concerned but I keep my mouth shut. This cannot be happening.
“There are certain organizations that are making your front page news fuel for their cause to place children into natural loving homes.” He waits for me to respond, but I am fighting my stomach and refuse to reply.“They shouldn’t have a case, but the reality is those people are going to use you simply because your picture’s in the paper. They’re not right, but they will cause pain.”
I lose control and punch the hard wood drawer of my desk. The sound of cracking bones shocks Tyler, but I feel nothing but calm. I swallow down the bile and look at Tyler straight in the eyes.
“If they want a new war, I’ll give them one.”
“Hold on. We both know they are out of line, and frankly so buried in their fear they can’t see straight. You can’t lower yourself to their level. You have to be stronger, wiser, better than they. You can’t give them more fuel.”
“I’m breathing, so they have fuel.”
“No, you’re breathing and living a good life. That makes them angry. Let them have heart attacks figuring out ways to destroy humanity. We have enough stress in our jobs already. Call the lawyer. Have him just look everything over. Cover your bases and call it a day. These people can scream to their hearts content, that’s there right, but you’ve got an army of blue behind you. Nothing changes.”
“Everything changes, sir.”
“You just stay safe, do as I say and have Will take you to the hospital to get that hand checked out.” Tyler stands up, wants to say something but stops. Will opens the door and stops short.
“Sorry, sir, I just came by to get Detective Steele.” Tyler pats Will on the shoulder before leaving the room. Will looks at my hand.
“Bad day?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Right, so red or black?”
I grab my coat and realize how badly I damaged my hand. Will helps me hold my stuff as he leads me out of the office.
“Black. I hear chicks dig the color.”
The hospital trip is simple enough. Sitting on the gurney, I’m lucky I didn’t do any worse damage. Will is adamant at teasing me the entire time. Hopefully, Frankie won’t be too angry with me when I explain my actions. I know I’d be livid with myself. Will’s phone rings and I see him step into the hallway. The assistant finishes putting my cast down to my second knuckles and babbles some directions at me. Will comes back into the room.
“Jazz, we need to go, now.” His voice is film, but his eyes show me the truth. Something is wrong and my stomach is back to being a pit of hell.
Rushing up to the house, I feel Will’s arms pull me back into a tight embrace. My house, my home was burning to the ground and I was unable to do a damn thing about it.
“Chase and Frankie are inside!” I fight against Will, but the man is a Marine. He pulls me closer to his body.
“They were out before the fire started,” he whispers so only I could hear him.
It’s then the moment clicks for me. I need to be here to see the fire, to act afraid so if the killer is watching, he sees me. I stop fighting Will and simply fall to the ground. Everything I owned, everything I cherished was gone. Photos, videos, my memories of them all were gone. There were no tears, just this numbness to it all. The idea of letting go of the past is one thing, but the act of someone ripping it out of your soul is another.
“Detective?” I look up at the fireman in front of me and drag myself to my feet. “The fire has been contained, but it does look like the house is a total loss. The marshal is going to come down and do a more thorough investigation as to the cause.”
“I appreciate you talk to me, but I know who did it and why. The how is up to your marshal.”
I walk away from the scene in front of me. I can feel the eyes of everyone on me as I fall into the passenger side of the car. Will slides in a few seconds later.
“How you holding up?”
“I need a drink.”
“Everyone’s safe.”
I nod in response as he pulls the car away from what used to be my home.
Chapter Seven
Walking out of the elevator, I feel as though my brain is on automatic pilot. My feet move one in front of the other, methodically. Will knocks on a set of double doors, rather large for the department’s budget. James opens the door and lets us in. The second the door closes behind me, Chase rushes to my legs. His tear stained face looking at me for permission. I kneel down and take him into my arms. My cast hits his back a little harder than I intended, but he says nothing. He cries more on my shoulder. Standing, I carry him past all the officers and friends. Frankie points to one of the doors in the back and I carry him to bedroom.
Moving the sheets, I lay Chase down. He whimpers and fights me, but I pull the covers up before lying on top of them. He leans against me, his tears fewer than before.
“Everything’s gone?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“I couldn’t get my photo of mom and dad before Frankie grabbed me.”
“It’s okay, little man. You’ll never forget them.”
“But I might forget what they look like,” his tears start up a bit more.
“Maybe, but then it’s up to us to make sure we don’t. Maybe we can find pictures of them online to remind us. We can make due.”
“I was scared.”
“I know, honey, so was I when I got there. I thought you and Frankie were still inside.”
“We escaped out the back windows. The officers got us here before anyone knew we were gone.”I nod in understanding. My good hand continues to caress the top of his head. I feel his breathing begin to calm and even out. His little body gave out to rest.
“Is he asleep?” Frankie leans against the doorway looking at me.
“Yeah, he needed to crash.”
“You broke your hand?”
“I got into a fight with my desk and lost.”
“Would it have anything to do with the paper this morning?”
“It’s all crap, but something to worry about I guess.”
“No one is taking him, I can promise you that.”
“Maybe they won’t, but they are going to put up one hell of a fight.”
“Come with me?” I slowly extract myself from Chase’s sleeping form and follow Frankie into an adjoining bedroom.
“We all have our own rooms?”
“Will and James are sleeping in the living room. Victor has his own, Hadley and Mikala are sharing one, and so are you and I.” Instead of arguing I simply nod at all th
e information. Frankie leads me to the bed and sits down across from me.
“I know you don’t want to talk about this, but I will do everything in my power to make sure Chase stays with you.”
“It’s not your fight.”
“I’m going to let that slide because I know you’re in pain, but cut the bullshit and respect that you and Chase are my family too. We aren’t perfect, we aren’t even on the right track right now, but we can’t help who we love. Let me help you, please?”
She takes my good hand in hers, holding on tightly.
“I’m sorry you are being dragged through the mud with me. I’ve put you all in danger and I have no idea what the hell I’m doing anymore.”
Frankie lets go of my hand and grabs a small bag from the floor. “We had already packed three bags and loaded them in the car before the fire broke out. Chase was in his bedroom playing his games and I was in the office, looking over my files.” She pulls out a small portable hard drive and hands it to me. “You told me you always backed up everything at night automatically.”
Looking at the hard drive I feel immense gratitude wash over me.
“I don’t know what to say? This is… it has everything on it.”
“I know, you always told me the three things you would grab in case of a fire as a joke. I didn’t remember the other two, but this… this I couldn’t forget.”
“Chase was worried he would forget his parents, what they looked like.”
Looking up at her, I watch as she simply smiles in my direction. Before I can stop myself, I kiss her, reflecting all my emotions in one split second. Her hands are on my face, holding me there as if I would leave should she open her eyes.
“Hey, guys… oh shit.”
Frankie pushes away from me the second we hear Hadley’s voice. She pops up and fixes her clothes as if she could remove the embarrassment as easily as wrinkles.
“I was chosen by the others to come get your guys. They all want to talk, as if we haven’t done enough of that already.”
Following the two women out of the room, I peek in to see Chase still soundly sleeping. I close the door fully before walking into the living room and sitting next to Frankie. Will walks by and hands me a beer. I nod in thanks remembering I had wanted a drink a little while ago.
“One of my old partners told me Garrison found more information about the building for the male victim.” Mikala pipes up from her place next to Victor. “I don’t know how he did it or if he has some backing feeding him information.”
“I scoured that place. There was nothing there,” I quickly argue.
“But you were told not to investigate. Captain didn’t order that, it had to come from higher up,” Will adds in.
“Mikala, what did he find out?”
“It was one of the second crew’s filming locations,” Hadley jumps in before Mikala can respond. “I hate to put a squash on the conspiracy theory, but it was in the location agreements. The producers must have handed them over to him after you were taken off the case.”
“Maybe, but the producers didn’t remove me. The captain told me explicitly not to enter.”
“Okay, but I don’t know how this adds to the big cover up.”
“It’s more about who is pulling the strings,” Victor adds. “Garrison was given information timely. Jazz wasn’t. Her house was burned with all of her theories and connections. All her work was gone.”
“Frankie saved my wireless hard drive. It isn’t fully up to date but at least I have some things to go on,” I take a sip of my beer and enjoy the cool fluid rolling down my throat. “Hadley, how are you holding up?”
“I’m not jumping for joy here, but what can I do? I have James to watch over me and that’s all I’ve got. Right?” I can see she is trying to put on a brave face, but she is truly terrified. I look over to James who is tinkering on his cell phone.
“Did you know Garrison was in horror films? His daddy is a mega millionaire and made sure to pay for anything the boy wanted to do.” James adds. “Apparently his dad invest a crap load of money in films to have tax write offs.” A soft beeping goes off and Hadley checks her phone. She taps James on the leg.
“Time to go James.” She hops up and cracks her neck. “Time to head to work!”
James puts his phone away and stands, stretching his arms. “Overnights, do I get double time for this?”
“Hadley, are you sure this is safe?”
“Sure? No. I’ve got to work, Jazz. They didn’t postpone anything. The film is already behind schedule, so the producers are not that thrilled. I don’t want to be that actor who pushes more delays because she’s afraid to go to work.”
“Hadley, these people…”
“Are after you and Chase.” She cuts me off with the truth of the matter. “We are pawns in the bigger plan. That bigger plan is somehow going after you. They don’t call us. They don’t scream or threaten us.” Hadley hugs me and walks swiftly out the door with James hot on her heels. Will says something to Frankie’s detail and he pops off right behind Hadley and James.
“Backups for backups.”
“Smart idea. What else do we have?”
“I think our best lead is Garrison’s father.” Frankie tosses in before she grabs my beer and drinks some.
“Care to explain why?”
“He has the money. You always say follow the paper trail. Who has the power and money to take care of all of this?”
“I wish you were right, but most of the money was routed from off shore accounts through untraceable means.” Mikala shrugs. “I’ve been through the reports, hacked into other databases, can’t track a thing. To make matters worse the only things I could find lead to the deep web, lots of drugs transactions. Beyond that, nothing.”
“Tyler had to put us in a room away from everyone for a reason,” I mumble, “so what do we know about Garrison?”
“He’s a pain in the ass. Born with a platinum spoon in his mouth. Went to expensive private schools. Never went to college. Couldn’t find anything on him being involved with the law.”
“Squeaky clean.”
“Too clean,” Will finishes as he reenters the room. “Let’s go over this again in the morning, maybe a good nights rest will help.”
Hadley and Victor simply groan in appreciation as they leave the room. Will props his feet up on the coffee table and holds his beer against his chest. His eyes close.
“Don’t spill that,” I jokingly say to him.
“Marines never spill.”
“See you in the morning, Will.” Frankie heads to the bedroom and I look in on Chase in the room next door. His soft even breaths fill the room. He looks so peaceful when he sleeps, I wish I could give him more of that. Closing the door, I walk back into my room.
“Left side of the bed?” I nod as she tosses me a pair of sweats and a shirt. Changing quickly, we both climb into bed. She snuggles into my back as my mind races. “Shut off your mind, we’ll figure it out in the morning okay?” Just like that I relax and close my eyes.
Chapter Eight
The bright sun shines overhead warming my chilled skin. My puffy red eyes look up as if wanting to burn the pain from them. A shadowy silhouette of my brother hovers above me. “Mom send you?” The shape nods. “Henry, tell her I’m fine.” Henry falls to the ground next to me, the sun blinding me in the process.
“You don’t look fine.”
“Well, looks can be deceiving.”
“You’re a pain in the ass.”
“As your baby sister that is part of the job description.”
“You’re not a child anymore.”
“No, I’m fifteen going on sixty. And before you mention boys, I want you to know if they can’t hit a baseball as far as I can – they so aren’t worth my time.”
My brother gags a bit, “I don’t want to think about you and boys.” He leans on his side to face me. “It’s okay to cry you know. You haven’t done that yet.”
“Ladies don’
t cry.”
“Jazz, everyone cries.” He pauses as I look him over for a minute. No matter what words echo in my head I know a lady never cries, not in public anyway. “Grandpa’s in a better place. Just have faith.”
I stand up, anger boiling deep within me.
“FAITH!” I yell at the top of my lungs. “When Monsignor Evans told us about heaven, I asked him if all animals go there. He said yes. So I argued but wouldn’t that make heaven awfully crowded?” I start pacing back and forth, my nervous energy overwhelming me.
“Then I asked about the megalodon and dinosaurs, were they there? Cause to be honest, every animal, bug or any of God’s creatures dead would technically be in the kingdom of heaven then. That makes it really crowded and how could I find grandpa there anyway with all those things trying to eat me still in there!”
My brother grabs my arms to stop me from pacing, his face has aged and his wedding ring rests gently on his finger.
“You have to stop. Stop seeing the darkness and see something positive. Remember the positives.”
Looking down at my officer’s uniform, covered in dirt and dried blood.
“How can I do that after all I’ve seen? All my years of studying the human mind, how can you just turn that off? I can’t. I still sit in the subway and pick up all the conversations around it. It drives Frankie crazy!”
“Turn it off. See the sun, the stars, whatever you need. Think of our parents, mom’s laugh or her voice when she sang. Think of all of the things that make you happy.” I look at him, lost. “Let’s get you home. I’ll play some Kiss on the way home, liven you up a bit.”
He puts his arm around me and opens a door to his right. Walking in, I see Frankie next to Belinda with a birthday cake in the center of the table. My dirty uniform is gone, replaced by shorts and a t-shirt. My brother slaps me on the back.
“You think we’d forget? Now, blow the candles out before we’re eating wax with ice cream.”
Steele Resolve (The Detective Jasmine Steele Series Book 1) Page 11