by Terri Reed
She pondered Jace’s certainty that something would happen at Aunt Sarah’s funeral. Irene had stated that her brother’s instincts were usually on target. Mel couldn’t help but fear that the worst was yet to come.
The next morning, she awoke, feeling nervous. She took her time showering and getting dressed in her jeans and a white turtleneck with a jade-green knit sweater over it. As she brushed her hair, she briefly toyed with the idea of wearing a little makeup. Snap out of it, Mel, she chided herself. This is a serious situation.
Finally ready, she walked down to the kitchen. Jace had made pancakes. There was something to be said for a man who could cook, she decided, biting into the fluffy pancakes. She licked a small dot of syrup from her fingers, then looked up to find Jace’s eyes riveted on her.
“What?” she asked, defensive.
He grinned. “You look like a little kid. I can’t believe what a messy eater you are.”
She grinned back. Her smile faded as the electricity crackled between them. The memory of the hug last night lingered between them. Abruptly, Mel jerked her gaze from his. She gathered up her dishes and started clearing the table. Jace helped her, but neither spoke.
It might be a very long day, she thought as they made their way to the car in silence.
*
Jace held the door open for Mel and allowed her to precede him into the police station. As she passed him, he inhaled the scent of her freshly washed hair. Weary from lack of sleep, he was revitalized by the smell.
Unfortunately, there was a new awkwardness between them. He knew that hug in the kitchen was the cause. Did she regret it? He could tell that her walls were back up. A twinge of regret hit him, even though he knew it was a good thing. They had no future. He couldn’t afford a romantic entanglement. His job depended on it. He reminded himself that romance and duty didn’t mix. Couldn’t. Yet he found himself wondering what would happen if he took her out. After the case was closed, of course.
Shaking his head to clear it of these thoughts, he led the way to Paul’s office. The door was open, and Paul was sitting inside. Unexpectedly, so was Dan Willis. His spine stiffened. Jace instinctively stepped in front of Mel, shielding her with his body. No way was he letting Dan get near her again.
Neither Paul nor Dan appeared concerned. What was going on?
Paul motioned them into the room. “Close the door behind you. I don’t want to be overheard.”
Jace put his hand on the small of Mel’s back, feeling the tension in her. He slid his hand up to her shoulder and squeezed. He hoped she got the message that he was here. He would stay by her side. Dropping his hand, he turned and closed the door, making sure he heard the click of the latch before he turned back.
Once they were all seated, Paul started.
“Jace, Mel, I need to let you in on what’s been going on. I know that Chief Garraway told you she had an officer undercover.” He gestured to Dan. Jace’s jaw dropped.
“You! You were the officer investigating Steven Scott’s death?”
Dan cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah. Steve came to see me several months back. He told me how he and at least one, possibly two, other jurors had been threatened. I told him I’d look into it. Before I’d even finished reading about the case, he was dead. I found it suspicious, to say the least. When I investigated the wreck, I found that his car had been sabotaged. When I talked to my chief, she in turn called Chief Kennedy, and they agreed to bring me here temporarily to work undercover.”
“Chief?” Jace addressed his friend, struggling with this new information. “I assume you didn’t inform me to make sure there was no risk of a leak.” He knew his tone was a little cold, but he couldn’t help feeling angry. Paul had known him forever. They had been hanging out at each other’s houses since they were kids. Jace still considered Paul his closest friend. Paul knew he could trust him.
“Please believe me, Jace, I would have informed you if I could have. But there were lives at stake. Knowing that Miss Swanson was being released soon made it even more important that Dan be able to continue his investigation. I did everything I could to protect her. I had her release time changed at the last instant. I had you act as her bodyguard. Still, a mob amassed outside the courthouse. How did they know her release time? And Sarah Swanson and Alayna Brown were both attacked.” He glanced at Melanie. “I will always regret that we couldn’t protect your aunt, Miss Swanson. She was a fine woman. One of best I’ve ever known.”
Jace could see Mel’s lips tremble. She bit her bottom lip and nodded. He put his hand over the one clutching the armrest of her chair. Paul raised one eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.
“If you were trying to protect me, why did you treat me so horribly?” Mel questioned Dan. Jace was pleased to note that her voice, though husky, was strong. He was so proud of her.
“Sorry about that, ma’am.” Dan apologized in a sincere voice. “I thought it would look more genuine if I acted as if I believed you were guilty. I probably could have toned it down when it was just the two of us, but I figured it would look more natural if I could get you to really dislike me. Then no one would suspect I was actually working to help you.”
The lieutenant then looked Jace in the eye. “I’m sorry, sir, for appearing so belligerent. With Miss Swanson’s release date leaked, the chief and I worried about someone here not being completely trustworthy.”
“That’s why we didn’t tell you, Jace.” Jace swung his head to stare at Paul, shocked. Did Paul think he might have leaked the information? Paul held up his hands and shook his head. “I know what you’re thinking, Jace. The answer is no, I never thought you were the leak. You’re the most honest man I know. I couldn’t take the chance of someone listening in.”
“But then why are you telling me now?” Jace narrowed his eyes, glancing between the two men.
Paul rubbed his hands over his face, suddenly looking tired. “You seem to have become a target, too. With Mrs. Swanson’s funeral looming, I need to have you on the same team.”
Okay. That answered most of his questions. Except one.
“Why,” he growled at Dan, “did you leave Mel alone at her house?”
Dan flushed. “I knew you’d eventually ask that. Chief Garraway called me and needed me to check on a lead. I honestly did call the sergeant on duty to cover for me. He was literally two minutes away from the house. I know I should have waited for him to arrive, but I figured Miss Swanson wouldn’t be unguarded for more than a minute. It was an error in judgment on my part.”
As much as he wanted to remain angry, Jace knew holding a grudge wouldn’t help them get whoever was terrorizing Mel.
“Let’s focus on seeing if we can find this dude who was impersonating a doctor,” he suggested.
For the next hour, he and Mel pored over the books of known criminals. When he flipped the last page, Mel sighed, her face discouraged.
“Hey, it’s okay.” He patted her shoulder. “I really didn’t expect to find him so easily. Honest. We’ll just go up to the second floor and meet with the artist. She’ll help us get a good likeness, then Paul will circulate it. I think we’ll have better luck with that.”
Within another hour they had a sketch of “Dr. Ramirez” drawn. Mel drew in a sharp breath beside him when the artist showed them the final sketch. He could relate. It was an uncanny how she captured the features of a complete stranger just on their descriptions.
The artist stood. “I’ll just get this to Chief Kennedy so he can get it to the other precincts.”
“I’m starving. What about you?” Jace stood, then held out a hand to help Mel to her feet.
“Not starving, but I could eat.”
“Let’s go to the Amish restaurant across the street,” Jace suggested. “They have the best chicken and dumplings.”
Before long, they were sitting down to a hearty meal. Feeling some of the tension dissipate, Jace reflected that they were probably free to enjoy a quiet meal.
> “I can’t believe you brought her here.”
Or not.
Jace looked up, resigned. Senator Travis and his wife approached their table. The senator had his usual sneer on his face. Mrs. Travis showed no emotion whatsoever. She did appear to be a little thinner than the last time he’d seen her, and her color was off. He remembered that she was ill. Lagging behind his parents was Seth, tugging at his collar and appearing uncomfortable.
Jace kept his face carefully controlled. He managed to look at Mel out of the corner of his eyes. Her face was blank, although her fingers plucked nervously at her napkin.
“Senator, Mrs. Travis. Travis.” Jace greeted their visitors.
“Lieutenant Tucker, if you keep hauling that woman along with you, people might start getting the wrong idea. You best start minding your reputation.” The senator’s booming voice hushed the conversations around them.
“Sir, I think you might want to be careful what you say,” Jace warned.
“Dad, let’s go,” Seth muttered, his glance straying to Melanie before he looked away.
“You were smart to break off with this woman when you did, Seth. She’s trouble.” Senator Travis curled his lip and narrowed his eyes. “Haven’t you noticed that people around her seem to get hurt? I’d be careful if I were you, Lieutenant.”
Senator Travis smirked—a sly, unpleasant expression—as Jace surged to his feet, furious.
“Easy, son. I’m just stating a fact. I don’t think we’ve seen the end of the troubles caused by this woman.”
He led his family away. Seth threw an apologetic glance over his shoulder, but Jace ignored him—as did Melanie, he noticed. He sat down and swiftly sent a text to Paul. It seemed he had a new suspect for his list.
They paid their bill and walked across the street to the car. Jace unlocked the doors. His phone chirped. Glancing at the text, he said to Mel, “Paul wants us to see him for a minute before we head back to my mom’s house. Let’s go back into the station to see what he wants.”
Jogging around the car, he put a hand on Mel’s elbow and steered her back toward the station. They were almost to the door when he pulled her to a halt.
“Oh, wait. We should lock the doors.” He held the car remote toward the vehicle and clicked twice to lock it. The horn gave a slight beep. They turned to resume walking. The blast as the car exploded into flames sent them both flying forward.
FOURTEEN
“Oof!” Jace hit the ground with a thud and grunted as the wind was knocked from him. Mel hit the ground five feet away from him and lay still where she landed.
“Mel!” Frantic, he ignored his own aches and pains as he jumped up and ran over to her. Pounding footsteps had him grabbing his service revolver and whipping around to face whoever was coming at them.
It was Seth. A Seth very anxious about his ex, judging from the wild look on his face.
“I called 911! An ambulance and the bomb squad are on their way.” Seth skidded to a halt beside Jace. “Has she moved?”
“No. You’d better take a look at her.”
Seth gave him a wary look. “Could you put your gun away, do you think?”
Jace muttered under his breath as he holstered the weapon. He hadn’t realized it was still in his hands.
The men knelt on either side of Mel, who was stirring. The police station doors slammed open as Paul, Dan and half a dozen other officers and workers came running out of the building.
“Jace! What happened? Are you two all right?” Paul shouted, his calm mask slipping as he sprinted toward his best friend.
Mel picked that moment to moan. All attention shifted to her as she opened her eyes. At first her face was confused; her gaze seemed unfocused. Within seconds, though, her expression changed. Her eyes widened and the fear crossed her face. Until she locked glances with Jace. His heart thudded as her gaze calmed. Emotion clogged his throat.
He had come so close to losing her.
He couldn’t understand how she had become so important to him so fast. He had been determined not to get involved with anyone. What was he going to do now? He was no prize for any woman, not with his baggage.
The ambulance siren distracted him.
Within minutes, he and Mel had been corralled by the medics and were getting their vitals checked. Neither had suffered any serious injuries. A few scratches, and Mel had a nasty bump on the back of her head. It wasn’t a concussion, though. He had been concerned about that when the bump was discovered. So was Seth, he guessed, watching the other man’s intense concentration as the on-duty medics checked her out.
By the time they were declared fit, the bomb squad was on the scene, poring over the destroyed cruiser.
“Sir! We have something here,” a junior bomb squad member yelled to his leader.
“I’ll be right back,” Jace told Mel. “Dan, stay with her.”
“Yes, sir.” Jace nodded in approval as Dan took up his position next to Mel. He frowned when Seth sat next to her on the other side. Mel looked a little too comfortable chatting with her former fiancé. He gave Seth a stern stare, which the other man ignored. There was nothing he could do. The sooner he found out what the bomb squad had found, the better.
Jace hurried over to the huddle of officers and the bomb squad team. A small piece of debris sat in the palm of the leader’s hand.
“What exactly are we looking at, Trevor?” Paul inquired.
“This here, boys and girls, is what is left of a do-it-yourself car bomb. Whoever built this little baby knew what they were doing. See this wire?” he pointed to a small wire, barely discernible from where Jace was standing. “I suspect that this was connected in such a way that when you unlocked your car door via the remote control, it would go into ready mode. As soon as the car locked again, which it would have done automatically once you started driving, it would activate the detonator.”
“When was it put there?” Jace asked. “Is there any way to know?”
“Well, when is the last time you used your remote to unlock the door?”
Jace thought back. “Yesterday afternoon. I was in Pittsburgh.” He generally didn’t bother to lock his car doors at home. No one did. It was a bad habit, but he was grateful for it now, as it had literally saved his and Mel’s lives.
“Okay, well, then I would estimate it was set sometime in the last twenty hours or so.” He slipped the remains of the bomb into a bag held out to him, then removed his gloves. “One more thing. Whoever set this bomb was no amateur. This was a professional.”
“What? You mean a hit man?” Jace exclaimed. He and Paul both turned to look at Melanie. She was still sitting between Seth and Dan, laughing and shaking her head at something Seth was saying. At that moment, she looked completely young and innocent. It was hard to believe a hit man was after her. Because Jace was fairly certain he was only collateral damage. Whoever had set that bomb wanted Mel out of the picture.
Whatever doubts he still clung to about Mel’s innocence melted away. Someone, maybe even a couple of someones, was trying too hard to silence her. Someone who was afraid her memory might resurface.
Paul fell into step beside him. They started to walk back toward Mel and her impromptu guardians.
“I need to get into Maggie Slade’s house.” Jace kept his voice low so as not to be overheard. “I have a hunch that we’ll find a clue of some sort there.”
Paul, too, kept his voice pitched low. “I’ll call the judge as soon as I return to the office. Let him know the case is getting out of hand and we need immediate access.”
“Appreciate that,” Jace murmured, never taking his eyes from Mel’s beautiful face. The sun came out from behind the clouds, and she tilted her face up to the warm rays, closing her eyes. His chest tightened. He found himself actually rubbing his hand over his chest, it ached so badly.
“Jace? You okay?”
Jace looked at Paul in surprise. For a moment, he had forgotten that he wasn’t alone.
No. He wasn’t alone
. Even when danger was near, God was with him. He needed to entrust Mel’s care to God. Ask Him to help him keep her safe. Mentally, he turned the task over to God. Resolution entered his soul. And peace.
“Yeah, I’m good,” he replied, steel in his voice.
*
The day of the funeral dawned cold and clear. Frost coated the grass and the windshields of the vehicles. The sky was a brilliant blue, the sun shining bright and blinding. It looked as though it should be warm, but when people walked outside, their breath misted in front of them.
Jace waited in the living room for Mel and his mother to join him. He repeatedly tugged at his necktie. It seemed way too tight. Jace hated the constricting feeling at his throat. He had dusted off his best suit for the occasion. It hadn’t been worn since Ellie’s funeral. Good thing it still fit. It had never even occurred to him until that morning that he should have checked before.
He took out his phone and checked the time. They should have left two minutes ago. What was taking those women so long? As if on cue he heard the click of heels and the swishing of skirts in the hallway. His mother entered the room first, looking elegant in her black dress and pearls. But his attention did not remain on her for long. Mel entered the room, and his throat closed.
Today, she wasn’t Mel. No, today she looked like a Melanie. Feminine and poised. She held her head high, though he could see the fear behind her eyes. Even in mourning, she took his breath away. That’s when he knew. He was lost. He walked over to her and bent down to kiss her cheek. Standing so close to her, he could hear her breath hitch. He held out his arm to her.
“You’ll be fine, Melanie. I’ll be with you. Even when I’m acting as pallbearer, someone will be with you at all times.”
“I know,” she whispered, her voice faint. He was glad to note that it was steady.
“Got your inhaler?”
She nodded once. “In my purse.”
“All right, then.” He turned and offered his other arm to his mother. “Irene called,” he said. “She’s already at the church. Let’s motor.”