Incisions

by Barbara Winkes

  At the department, Jordan took a quick moment to assure herself Ellie wasn’t harmed.

  “You got him.” That was not the first thing she’d meant to say.

  “Yeah. Well, technically, he found me. At least he was almost ready to give himself up.” Ellie, already working on her report, rolled back her chair and gave her a tired smile. “I’m glad that it worked out that way.”

  “Me too. You saved lives today.”

  At that, Ellie got up from her chair and walked into Jordan’s embrace, neither of them caring about who witnessed the scene. Jordan could feel her trembling.

  “We’re okay,” she whispered.

  “We are.” Ellie leaned into her for a moment. “I have a lot of paperwork to do now. You think you could be back in time to drive me home later?”

  “Sure. Otherwise, just wait for me. You’ll be okay for a bit?”

  “Yeah, Kate is here too.” Ellie took a deep breath. “I’ll see you later.”

  They shared a quick kiss before each went back to their own work. Bethany had stayed at a respectful distance. She made no comment, which was fine with Jordan.

  Chapter Twenty

  “I never meant to harm her,” Roth claimed, speaking of Ellie. He had waived his right to an attorney. Carl Roth had hoped to convince him otherwise, but Daniel wanted to tell his story.

  “She’d be missing for a few days, would give you the tip you needed to find her. I had no idea Ward was such a creep.”

  “Yeah, because what he did to her the first time didn’t tip you off in the slightest,” Bethany said. It was hard to miss the sarcasm, though it was not enough in Jordan’s opinion. She wasn’t sure what would reach Roth who had made himself at home in his narcissistic delusion.

  “I didn’t tell him to do that! It wasn’t my fault. I was going to be there, but then I had to work. Scare her a little, rattle her, I said, not put her in the hospital.”

  “Why go with the same guy then?” she asked.

  “Because I managed to find him, and it’s not like I know a lot of goons! Branson didn’t want to touch anything too hot, but I knew from Easton he was still dealing sometimes, so I tried to make him see reason, and he put me in touch with Josh Ward.”

  “Tucker Branson, huh?” It was a small comfort for Jordan to see that he might not be all that innocent after all.

  “That’s the guy. He might have been a better choice, could have got the job done and keep his hands to himself…” Roth sighed dramatically. “I couldn’t do all by myself, you know?”

  Judging from the flash of anger on Bethany’s face, she didn’t have any more patience for his antics.

  “I still don’t get how you went from abducting Officer Harding to pulverizing your father’s work. You were angry at him, at the cops who frequented the place, but that’s a bit extreme, don’t you think?”

  He shrugged and winced. “I didn’t know what to do! If she hadn’t run away, we would have carried on with the plan, and you would finally see what I could do! It was such a disappointment the idiot got himself killed.”

  “So you changed your mind after your hostage got away?”

  “I had no choice!” Roth insisted. “This was my last chance.”

  “The bar is gone, and there was some minor damage to surrounding buildings. All in all, not that bad,” Bethany said. “What if there had still been people inside?”

  “There was a timer. It was supposed to go off with no one inside, I planned…”

  “Not to well. And you couldn’t have known for sure anyway.”

  “I’m telling the truth. I didn’t think you, or Dad would be there. I was mad at him, yes, because he thought that handing out drinks and adding receipts was all I could do. I needed to put an end to all this, and none of it would have happened if you’d given me a chance!”

  “Excuse me? You had your chance. According to Officer Hamel, you didn’t make much use of it.”

  Daniel Roth shook his head with a condescending smile. “You think the people who came to the Code 7 are the best of the best? Nobody ever sees me, but I hear every single word they say. About your partner’s girlfriend. About Harding…well, she had a reputation before I even got in touch with Josh the first time.”

  Jordan wanted to punch him. The only thing holding her back was knowing that if they kept him talking, he’d continue to dig himself deeper.

  “I see. You were listening to some gossip, and that made you decide you’d be so much better on the job.”

  “They screwed it up with Baker, didn’t they? I might have saved him, and then some of your own wouldn’t call McCarthy a slut behind her back.”

  Jordan shared a look with Bethany, shaking her head.

  “You still wanted to be a part of it, didn’t you? But you couldn’t cut it. Instead you made friends with Ward. We already know your buddy Haynes’s side, now tell me how much Branson knew about the job.”

  This time, they were going to tie up all the loose ends, no matter how long it took.

  * * * *

  “You were pretty amazing today,” Kate said as she walked over to Ellie’s desk, carrying two paper cups. “This is for my badass soon-to-be roommate.”

  Ellie gratefully accepted the sweet-smelling caffeinated concoction. She wanted this day to be over, but if she couldn’t have that, the specialty coffee would tide her over at least. She had detailed today’s events in her report, and seeing them written in black and white, they reminded her once more what had been at stake.

  Jordan had been in that building, some of her colleagues, Bethany. Meanwhile, Roth junior was probably still whining about how his dream didn’t come true…Ellie stared at the screen somberly. Maybe he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths if she’d handled herself in a different way during her abduction—but they’d never know. It didn’t matter. She had done nothing to bring any of it upon herself, Ward’s attack, the abduction. Daniel Roth and his late accomplice were the ones to blame.

  “Thank you,” she finally said. “This is really good.”

  “I know you have lots of other things on your mind at the moment, but I meant to ask you earlier…Did you talk to your landlord already? I could get a van the coming weekend.”

  “Oh, they’ll be happy to have me out finally, so that’s not going to be a problem.” While she was talking, an image of herself, in a nightgown, stealing out of the apartment and then running, flashed in her mind. There hadn’t been much of a chance to reason with either of them. If she hadn’t taken that chance when it occurred—Ellie didn’t want to think of the alternatives. If she hadn’t gotten through to Roth when she did…She blinked a couple of times. They were okay. Jordan’s words were as much reassurance for the present, as a promise for the future.

  “Sorry, yes. Let’s do it this weekend.”

  “After this, you should finally take your vacation,” Kate advised. “It’s not like things are going to slow down all by themselves…You still plan on taking the detective’s exam, right?”

  “Of course. Wow. I can’t help thinking…I really wanted this, the job, prove myself. I understand that part. But then he goes all crazy, sending me those messages, breaking into my home so he could come out as the hero, and then what? He wouldn’t have made it anyway. Maybe when he realized that, he came up with the plan to blow up the bar, everything it stands for.”

  “I’m going to miss it,” Kate said wistfully. “It was almost like a second home.”

  “I can’t help thinking…Did I miss anything, something I could have said to him, how I could have acted differently and make him change his mind?”

  “You couldn’t have.”

  She turned around to face Jordan who was carrying a tray with paper cups which almost made her giggle. That would have revealed too much about her current state of mind, so Ellie held back the impulse.

  “Why do you say that?” she asked, accepting a cup.

  “He always wanted to do something big. He said so in emails and on social media…�
� Jordan shook her head, sounding weary. “Even though he claims it, in the end we were all means to an end in his delusions of grandeur. The idea that he wanted to be a cop was a story within a story. He wanted everyone to know his name, and it’s kind of fucked up that he’ll get his wish now. He hated the Code 7, everything it represented. You did great. You made him listen, and that gave us enough time.”

  This arrest meant closure for the both of them in so many ways. It meant Jonathan Darby had never had a hand in the text messages. Ward was who had attacked her on her way home. He was dead. Roth was looking at a long prison sentence.

  They could move on. They would.

  “Are you ready to go home? I was thinking of packing some boxes tonight, after dinner.”

  Jordan laughed wryly. “Sure. That sounds like fun.”

  Doing something as mundane as filling boxes with books, CDs and dishes together went a long way to keep her mind off all the horrible ways today could have ended. They had ordered in and then tackled their task regardless of the time, or the fact that they weren’t making too much headway.

  Being here with Jordan, watching her work, was all she needed at the moment.

  Ellie was carefully looking for signs that they were still on the same page, that they still agreed that this was the best solution for them at the moment. Truth be told she was excited to finally leave the place she’d shared with Rhonda for years, too long after they had both known their relationship wasn’t going anywhere. Jordan’s house was neat and cozy, but it would always be the house that Darby sold to her while he maintained a torture chamber in his own…Ellie found she had a hard time getting over that fact, even when in the early morning, she drifted off to sleep in said house, wrapped in Jordan’s embrace. She wasn’t giving anything up, neither of them was. They were just navigating the space between them carefully, learning from their mistakes of the past.

  * * * *

  All through the week, Ellie kept close, making sure their agreement was still firmly in place. Separate living spaces for now. That was all it meant.

  “So, tomorrow is the day,” she said when they had turned in for the night on Friday, once again at Jordan’s.

  “Yeah. That came quickly.”

  “I’ve been paying Rhonda’s share for too long. And I’m still dying my hair, damn it.”

  Jordan laughed softly. “You don’t have to do it for me, you know. I happen to know your natural hair color.”

  “You don’t say. This is a good change, right? You’ll be tempted when you stay over and we can sleep half an hour longer before getting ready for work.”

  “I guess you’re right. That will be my main reason to stay over.”

  “Funny,” Ellie whispered, pulling her close. “I’ll give you another reason.”

  “I love you,” Jordan said, managing to sound breathless in a sexy, sultry way, and very serious at the same time. “We’ll take all the time we need, but…I never even thought about having a family, ever. That’s because I was never with anyone who wanted to, and for the most part, I thought it was all me. It’s all different now.”

  Ellie listened. Knowing Jordan, she would bring those musings to a halt in a second, starting to feel skittish about going this far…but she could relate, understand how important it was to tread carefully.

  “I feel the same,” she said. “What I said to Jack and Pauline, I didn’t make that up. Not tomorrow or even this year, but if I ever have that, I want it with you. However,” she was sure a bit of humor would go a long way to ease Jordan’s mind, “First, I want that vacation. No more delay. If anyone deserves it, it’s us.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that,” Jordan confessed. “Let’s choose another destination though. Better luck this time.”

  * * * *

  They booked the new trip early in the morning, before their friends arrived to help Ellie move. Jordan hadn’t made empty promises—they would be okay. She firmly believed in that, even though she couldn’t help feeling wistful as she carried boxes with Ellie’s belongings down the stairs to load them into the van Derek had rented. It was the right time for them to be together. In fact, she couldn’t imagine anything else, not anymore.

  It wasn’t the right moment to ask for more, though she had to wonder if there would ever be a right moment, or if what she needed was more courage. She hadn’t done so well communicating with Bethany. She wouldn’t make the same mistakes, but she needed more time.

  Half an hour later, she stood in Ellie’s new bedroom after the fifteen minute drive.

  “It’s a nice place. Good neighborhood.”

  She spun around to see Derek standing in the doorway. “Yeah.”

  They shared a look, and then a wry smile when the realization passed between them that they were likely to see a lot more of each other in their off-time.

  She thought of what Roth had said in the interrogation room, and that he got it all wrong. Kate and Derek’s situation wasn’t easy either, but they had the support of most of their colleagues, like Jordan and Ellie.

  In crisis, they did band together.

  “I heard you’re going on vacation 2.0,” he said.

  “Oh yeah. Wish us luck.”

  “I think you’ve been lucky…and I’m really glad about that.”

  “Yeah, me too. I could really go for a cold beer now.” Jordan’s announcement wasn’t a complete non-sequitur, as they both didn’t want the moment to get too emotional.

  “Sounds great. Someone said something about pizza…come on, let’s go.”

  Jordan took a last look at the bedroom, suppressing a sigh. She’d made that bed for herself, and she was going to find out how living apart again would work out for her and Ellie—but first, they’d take walks on the beach in Hawaii, far from all thoughts about past failures—or close calls.

  * * * *

  Jordan wasn’t a particularly superstitious person—there was no reason to believe that anything would stop them from going on that vacation this time. Still, she couldn’t help the feeling—when spending the night at Ellie’s new place, or in the morning, when Kate McCarthy drove them to the airport before her shift.

  She didn’t say it out loud, especially when Ellie seemed to feel the same, her nervous smile telling.

  “Come on, guys,” Kate scolded good-naturedly as they said goodbye in the drop off zone. “It’s going to be all right! Unless you’re missing the bad guys already.”

  “No way,” Ellie and Jordan said, almost in unison.

  She had to believe that this meant something, that she wasn’t pushing away the person that meant most to her just because they weren’t living together yet. They had talked about the prospect of having a family. Ellie joined her to dinners with Jack and Pauline. She was family. Finally, they were going on this much welcome vacation.

  “Who knows? We might even stay there,” she joked.

  Kate laughed. “I don’t think so. You’d get bored, and you know it. I’ll be back to pick you up in two weeks. Have fun.”

  “Thanks.” They hugged, and Jordan stepped back to let Ellie embrace her friend as well. “That’s the plan, anyway. I guess we better go in now…and you have to go to work. Thanks for the ride.”

  “You’re welcome. See you.”

  “And here we are,” Ellie said when they were getting in line with other travelers. “Can you believe we made it this far?”

  “I’m starting to,” Jordan said, leaning in to kiss her. “It feels pretty amazing.”

  Read an excerpt from the next Carpenter/Harding, Intrusions:

  It was a slow morning for Officer Kate McCarthy at the front desk, her mind wandering more than she would have liked. Perhaps this was the calm after the storm for all of them.

  Time didn’t heal any wounds. It was all about what you did with that time. She had raged and cried, grieved, questioned, and eventually picked up the pieces, and so had everyone around her.

  Today, Jordan and Ellie would be back to work after their vacation. Kate
was happy for their friends and their ability to deal with the aftermath of a traumatic situation. She could also admit she was jealous of them, just a little bit, because their relationship seemed so…urgent, unavoidable. She had wondered if that’s what she and Jensen had been, and with each day passing, Kate felt more unsure and guilty about that question.

  She was moving forward, if not moving on. It was much too early for that.

  Moving into an apartment with Ellie had been a good idea, but she worried how long that could last.

  Then there was Derek. She wasn’t looking for a Happily Ever After. Especially not with another cop, after having seen how quickly those plans could be crossed out by a maniac with a gun. He made her laugh, and that was something Kate needed most at this point in her life. She held on, even though there was talk behind her back. There had been talk about Jordan and Ellie too. Eventually, people moved on to the newest gossip.

  “Here. If you need something to pass the time.”

  Libby sounded sympathetic as she put a tall latte in front of Kate. The front desk wasn’t anyone’s favorite, but every once in a while, it was your turn.

  Libby had been there during the ambush, injured, one of the last people to see Jensen alive. Sometimes, Kate envied her friend for the latter, but she never said it out loud.

  “Thanks. I guess a lot of people are still on vacation. It’s pretty quiet around here.”

  “Yeah. Actually, I don’t mind quiet for five minutes. Have you seen Ellie yet?”

  “I picked them up last night. She should be here any moment. I don’t think she wants to be late on the first day after vacation.”

  “No, that that’s not like her,” Libby agreed.

  The door opened, and a middle-aged woman walked inside, looking tired and uncertain.

  “At least it looks like I’ll have some work after all,” Kate commented.

  “All right. See you later.”

  Kate nodded to her friend and turned her attention to the woman. “Good morning. How can I help you?”

  “I…I hope this is the right place to do this, but I don’t know what else to do.” The woman’s eyes were welling up. “I need to report my daughter missing. I know something happened to her.”