by Jamie Hill
“I may be pathetic, but you’re weird, Marshall. Don’t waste your time sniffing around Crystal. That’s a dead end. We need to figure out whom Dave Erickson was involved with in the drug dealing. I’d like to know who’s so hot to retrieve the quarter of a mil he swiped.”
“That’s the ultimate goal. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, thanks.” Jack hung up the phone and breathed in and out a few times. Marshall was good. Hopefully he’d crack this case wide open, and quickly. Jack hoped it would happen before Crys, Mark and Devon got caught up in the web of lies he was spinning to try and protect them.
Jack took a nap after dinner so he could remain up all night again, standing guard. Crystal tried to reason with him, but the subject was not open to discussion. “Talk about stubborn,” she pouted and fixed him a pot of coffee before she went to bed.
He was gone in the morning when she wandered out to the kitchen. He left a note saying there’d be a police car parked outside all day. They were to stay inside and follow all previously mentioned rules. Crystal sighed and fixed herself some coffee, then made eggs and toast for the boys.
They were in good moods for some reason, and she found herself smiling as she watched them. She lingered over breakfast with them, after which they helped her clean up, something they'd never done before. She gave each of them a kiss on the head before they went off to watch TV. She lit a cigarette and finally allowed herself to focus on the thought that had been niggling around in her mind all night.
I’m going to keep the boys.
It seemed like the most natural thing in the world once she let herself finally admit it. She would be their foster mom, or adoptive mom, whatever the state allowed her to do. She was so excited at the idea, her stomach fluttered with butterflies. It felt wonderful to have finally made the decision. She felt as if the weight of the world was off her shoulders. She looked around Jack’s kitchen. She hadn’t allowed herself to think where Jack might fit into the picture she'd begun drawing in her mind. One thing at a time, she told herself.
She was in an exceptionally pleasant mood. She couldn’t tell the boys why, yet, because she didn’t know what the red tape would involve. But she was excited to tell Jack. She planned a special dinner so they could eat and relax, then talk afterward.
The men in the police car out front didn’t seem to move. Crystal checked out the window occasionally, and began to feel sorry for them. She hated being cooped up in the house. She couldn’t imagine sitting in one position in a car all day. At lunchtime, she prepared sandwiches for the boys. Making extra sandwiches, she took them outside with two cups of coffee.
The officers looked nervous as she approached. She smiled and said, “I thought you might be hungry. I brought some coffee too, but if you’d rather have a cold drink, I could—”
“Ma’am,” the driver interrupted. “I don’t think Detective Dunlevy would like you coming out of the house like this. We need to get you back inside.” He stepped out next to her.
“I just thought…” she trailed off. They had food in the patrol car. She felt completely stupid.
“Thanks for the offer. It's very kind of you,” the second officer said, “but we really can’t accept.”
“Okay, sure.” Crystal allowed the first patrolman to walk her back to the door and stay until she locked it from the inside. The episode put a slight damper on her spirits, but she thought of telling Jack her decision and cheered up again. She decided to focus on dinner, and what she could make for him.
In the end it didn’t matter. Jack didn’t make it home for dinner. He finally arrived after eight p.m. and looked exhausted. He greeted the boys and said, “Hey,” to Crystal as he passed through the kitchen to get a glass and a bottle.
“You look awful,” she advised and watched as he downed the first shot standing at the counter.
“Thanks. I feel awful. It was a hell of a day.”
She took a step toward him and rested a hand on his shoulder. He stepped back and poured himself another drink. “Officer McGinley tells me you tried to bring them lunch. You can’t be doing stuff like that, Crys.”
She gave him a look. “What? Trying to be friendly? They looked miserable out there. I just thought—”
He faced her. “You need to forget anyone is out there. They’re doing their job, and it’s not safe for you to leave the house like that.”
“I just went into the front yard,” she muttered, and Jack grabbed her wrist.
“You can’t do that anymore, Crystal. Understand? This thing has gotten way out of my control.” He took a breath and exhaled. “We found Ralph behind the apartment complex today.”
Her eyes widened. “Was he—?”
Jack looked at her with sad, tired eyes. “Dead. He’d been tortured, Crys. He looked like he’d been through hell. And for what? I have to ask myself what information they thought that pathetic little man could provide. The only thing I know for certain was that he knew my name.”
“Shit!” She remembered how Ralph always called Jack by name. “But someone was here Saturday night, so apparently they knew your name at that point.”
He looked at her and took another long drink. “Ralph’s been dead for a couple of days.”
“Oh my God.” She turned away from him and reached for her cigarettes. She lit one up and Jack took it from her.
“Thanks.”
She nodded absently and lit another. They smoked in silence and let their thoughts mull around. She finally glanced over and inquired, “So what does this mean?”
He shrugged. “Twenty-four hour protection for the house, here, for starters.”
“Good,” she said, squaring her shoulders. “Did you eat?”
“Yeah.” He started unbuttoning his shirt. “Sorry I didn’t call. It was a hell of a day.”
“It’s okay.”
He took one last drag and ground out his cigarette in her make-shift ashtray. “I’m going to catch a shower and then maybe a quick nap.”
Crystal started to say something but decided against it. She watched him go and quickly extinguished her cigarette, then headed for the living room, where the boys sat watching TV. “Hey, sweet guys. Jack is really tired tonight, and he needs to turn in early. I thought it might be easier for him to sleep if we all went to bed. Do you mind, just this once, going a little early?”
They agreed peaceably. She shut off the TV as they went to brush their teeth. She peeked out the front window and saw the police car still on duty. She locked the house up and let Zeus out and then back in.
She found Jack stepping into a fresh pair of jeans.
“Thanks for finishing up the laundry.” He began switching his wallet and the stuff from his pockets into the clean jeans he was wearing.
“No problem. The boys want to tell you good night.”
“Oh, okay.” He nodded vaguely and Crystal went to the door and opened it.
The boys stood just outside in the hallway. “Good night, Jack,” Mark said.
“Night, buddy. See you tomorrow.”
Devon stepped up to Jack and tugged on his hand so Jack would lean down. He did, and the boy hugged him around the neck. “Good night, Jack. Have happy dreams.”
“Thanks, buddy. You too.”
Devon held on tight and whispered, “I love you, Jack.”
Jack looked startled. He replied, “Well, I love you too, kiddo. Sleep tight now.” He turned around to compose himself while the boys left, and Crystal followed to tuck them in.
She returned in a moment and closed their door behind her.
Jack pulled a t-shirt over his head. “I’m going to catch a quick nap. Could you wake me in an hour or so, and maybe put on some coffee?”
“Nope.” She walked over to him and peeled the t-shirt right back off.
“Crys, I’m beat.”
“I know. Now let’s get you out of those jeans, so you can sleep comfortably.”
“I’m just going to catch a nap,” he protested.
“But I have to—”
“No, you don’t,” she interrupted. “Heckle and Jeckle are watching the house from outside. The only thing you have to do is lie down and get some sleep. I’m going to lie next to you because you always sleep better in my arms.”
He protested faintly as she settled him in the bed. She stripped out of her clothes quickly, grabbed his t-shirt and threw it on. She turned off the light and climbed into bed next to him.
“You’re sleeping in your contacts,” he reminded her, yawning.
“One night won’t kill me.” She snuggled next to him.
“Okay.” Jack wrapped himself around her and buried his face in her hair. “Thank you.”
“Go to sleep,” she whispered firmly.
“Okay,” he repeated, only half awake. “Good night Crys. I love you.”
She sighed and waited until she could hear his breathing fall into an easy, rhythmic pattern. Then she whispered, “I love you too, Jack.”
She saw his eyes pop open for one moment and then close again. She smiled and noticed Jack falling peacefully to sleep with a smile on his face, as well.
* * * *
He slept straight through until the alarm woke him at six-thirty. He slapped the buzzer off and stretched.
“How’d you sleep?” Crystal asked softly, her eyes still closed.
Jack glanced at her. She was so pretty and warm next to him. “I slept great. It definitely helps having you in my arms.” He felt a stirring in his belly and all points south when he looked at her. He couldn’t resist nuzzling her neck.
“Mmm…” she stretched her neck for his kisses. “Yeah, it definitely does.”
He noticed she was wearing his shirt. He slid his hand up her stomach under the shirt and cupped her breast. “You look beautiful lying there with your hair all spread out over my pillow.” He nibbled his way past the shirt to her breast, and sucked the nipple into his mouth. “I want to make love with you, Crystal,” he murmured, his mouth pressed into her skin.
She chuckled. “Since when do you announce your intentions? Go for it, big guy.”
He looked up at her. “Just making sure we’re both on the same page here.”
“Oh, I think we are. Make love to me, Jack.”
He switched to her other breast and ran his tongue over the tip lightly. “Patience, my love. This is going to be slow and gentle.”
Crystal smiled at him. “Now that sounds good.”
He kissed her slowly, agonizingly, and brought her to climax several times with his hands and mouth before he finally donned a condom and slid inside her. “I love you,” he whispered in her ear as they rocked together. The silence from her lack of reply was deafening. He chuckled and murmured, “I heard you tell me you loved me last night.”
Her eyes were closed but she smiled and replied, “You must have been dreaming…or drunk.”
He chuckled again. “Possibly. But I know what I heard. And I’d like to hear it again, preferably when I’m looking in your eyes.”
Crystal chuckled this time, and wrapped her legs around him. “Has anyone else ever commented that you seem to talk a lot during sex? And right at the best part, too, when I’m so close to coming I can almost taste it.”
“I recognize a change of subject when I hear one. That’s okay, baby. I plan to spend as much time as possible looking in your eyes, so I can wait. Now come here, I’ll give you something to taste.”
She opened her eyes and they kissed deeply. Their orgasms were simultaneous and passionate, leaving them both drained and holding on to each other for dear life.
Jack hated to leave her but he had to get to the office. He thought they might be close to a break in the case, and he was certainly ready to wrap it up and get on with their lives. He dressed and looked down at Crystal lying naked with her eyes closed, sprawled across his bed. He leaned in to kiss her and pulled the sheet up. “Not that I particularly want to cover up this beautiful body, actually, I could sit here and look at you all day. I think when this case is over, we’re going to have to take a couple weeks off and spend it in bed somewhere.”
She smiled but didn’t open her eyes. “Now that sounds lovely. But I wonder what we’ll do with our children?”
“Foiled again. Well, a man can dream, can’t he?” Jack kissed her lips lightly and headed to work. He was halfway there when he realized what she'd said, and for the last half of his drive he wore a ridiculously huge grin on his face.
* * * *
The house seemed unnaturally quiet to Crystal. She wandered around and found everything as it should be. Their police guards out front hadn't moved all day. She shrugged off the feeling. Maybe it felt too quiet because after the boys fought over their video game earlier, she shut the TV off and made them take naps. Now they were drawing quietly at the dining room table—but not very happily, she realized and chuckled to herself.
“Let’s see what you’ve got.” She walked up between them.
“I made a pumpkin!” Devon showed her.
“Oh, yeah!” She admired it. “Geez, Halloween is coming up, isn’t it?”
Devon looked up at her seriously. “Do you think we’ll be able to go trick-or-treating, Crystal?”
She ran a hand over his head. “I don’t know, honey. I don’t think Jack will go for that, until his case is solved. Maybe it’ll all be over by then.” She looked at Mark’s picture. “What did you draw?”
“Nothing.” Mark crumpled his paper and threw it across the room. “This is stupid. I want to play Playstation.”
“Okay,” Crystal agreed. “You’ve been behaving nicely this afternoon, so go ahead. Just no arguing you guys, please.”
Mark jumped up and was off to the front room before she could change her mind. Devon said, “I want to draw some more. Could you show me how to make a face on my pumpkin, please?”
“Sure.” Crystal smiled at him and sat down. “Use triangles, like this, for the eyes and nose.” She demonstrated, but before she could draw the mouth they heard an unusual yelp from Zeus in the backyard. “What the heck?” Crystal went to the sliding door and opened it the inch that she could with the broomstick blocking in the track. “Zeus! Come on Zeus!” she called, but he didn’t respond.
“He sounded funny, Crystal.” Devon looked out with her.
“Yeah, he did,” she sighed and removed the broomstick. She opened the door fully and took a step out. “Zeus, you big dummy, wh—” A hand clamped over her mouth and someone shoved her backward into the house.
“Hey!” Devon yelled before a second man muscled his way in and clamped the boy’s mouth as well.
Crystal’s heart raced as the man shoved her up against the door that led to the garage. He ripped a piece of duct tape off a roll and covered her mouth with it. She tried not to panic, forced herself to remain calm and breathe through her nose.
He tore off another piece of tape for Devon’s mouth. Crystal looked around wildly for anything she could grab. The telephone was right there, but she had no hope of dialing even if she reached it. The answering machine sat next to it. She focused on the buttons for a second, and as the attacker grabbed her again she managed to punch the Record button.
He thrust her into a dining room chair and duct-taped her hands to the chair behind her. She watched him do the same thing to Devon. She tried to catch the boy’s eyes to reassure him. But what could she tell him silently? She wanted to convey that they were going to be all right. Jack would come for them, and everything would be fine. She wanted to tell Devon she loved him and would always take care of him. But she knew her wide eyes probably only telegraphed terror. That she was as afraid as he was.
She watched the other man go into the front room, and prayed that Mark would somehow not be in there. The man was gone several minutes and he returned alone. He said to
his partner, “I thought there were supposed to be two kids.”
The stranger behind Crystal said, “There are.”
“Then where’s the second brat?” He stormed down the hall and Crystal heard doors fly open and slam shut again. She wondered where Mark could have hidden, and hoped when they found him they wouldn’t be too rough on him. But the man returned alone once more. He glared at Crystal and ripped the tape from her mouth.
“Ouch!” She shook her head, and he grabbed her face.
“Where is the other kid?”
“He’s not here,” she lied quickly. “He wanted to get out of the house, so Jack took him to the grocery store. They’ll be back any minute.”
“Don’t lie to me.” He slapped her across the face. She offered a stony glare. He changed his tactic and removed the tape from Devon’s mouth, being slightly more gentle than he'd been with Crystal. “Where’s your brother?” He glowered menacingly at the child.
“At…at the store. He wanted to pick out his own cereal. Jack kept buying stuff he didn’t like.”
Crystal’s heart soared when Devon picked up on her lie and backed up the story. She looked at the two men, who were conferring now about what to do. The angrier of the two walked into the front room again.
She stole a quick glance at the answering machine. The tape was still recording. She truly hoped it wouldn’t shut off with a noisy snap while they were standing in here. She eyed the man pacing before her, and noticed a big tattoo on his arm. She took a chance and said, “That’s a cool red dragon tattoo on your arm. Did it hurt?”
He looked down at his tattoo and then back at her. “Not really. When they first started, I thought—”
“Shut the fuck up.” The second man came back in. He opened the garage door and looked out. He pressed the button and the big overhead door went up. He turned to his partner and ordered, “Go pull the truck into the garage, and shut the door. We’ll take these two before the cop gets home with the other kid.”