Turning Tables (WeHo Book 3)

by Sherryl D. Hancock

  “Seriously,” Christian said, “she gets premonitions.”

  Jericho looked at them both, skepticism clear on her face.

  “Why haven’t I ever heard that?” Jericho asked.

  “Well, we didn’t exactly advertise it,” Cat said, “But Kash is the only reason we saved Midnight’s life.”

  “Seriously?” Jericho asked.

  “Dead serious,” Christian said, nodding.

  “Okay then…” Jericho said, shaking her head in disbelief. “How does it work?”

  “Well, you’d need to talk to Kash,” Cat said, “But in Midnight’s case, Kashena was getting flashes of pictures. One of the flashes was of some writing in a journal that the guy was keeping. It turned out to be the formula of what he’d used to poison Midnight and Tiny.”

  Jericho looked shocked, “Wow,” she said simply.

  “Yeah,” Christian said, nodding.

  “Looks like I should schedule a meeting with Kashena Windwalker-Marshal then.”

  “Probably a good idea,” Cat said, grinning.

  CHAPTER 6

  Kashena Windwalker-Marshal sat in the outer office to the Director of the Division of Law Enforcement. She assumed that something had changed about her assignment to Devin James as protection. Part of her hoped that they’d already caught the son of a bitch responsible for the deaths of two agents. It meant that this would be over before anyone else was hurt, and it also meant she could get back to her wife and son in Sacramento before their son’s birthday.

  Jericho walked into the office with Zoey right behind her. Jericho gestured for Kashena to follow her. Kashena stood and walked toward the door, nodding politely to Sally, Jericho’s secretary. She’d already flustered the woman completely by showing up early. As an ex-Marine, being punctual was programmed into her and since she’d already dropped Devin off at the office downstairs she’d simply made her way to the Director’s office. Sally hadn’t been at her desk, so Kashena had taken a seat and waiting. When Sally had rushed in, apparently late for work, Kashena had been waiting and it had thrown Sally completely off her game.

  Kashena noted that Zoey closed the door behind them, moving to sit in a chair at Jericho’s conference room table, turning on the laptop that sat there.

  Jericho moved to sit behind her desk, gesturing for Kashena to sit as well.

  “Thanks for coming in,” Jericho said, her look somewhat tentative, she had no idea how to go about having the conversation she needed to have with this Agent.

  “No problem, ma’am,” Kashena said.

  “So, I read in your file that you’re an ex-Marine?” Jericho asked.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Kashena said.

  “Okay, stop calling ma’am, it’s making me feel old,” Jericho said, grinning, “Call me Jericho, please.”

  Kashena nodded, her look amused. She remembered Kana Sorbinno and Midnight Chevalier having the exact same problem with being called ma’am.

  “How are things going with Devin’s detail?” Jericho asked.

  “Fine, she’s fairly easy to work with, no real security issues identified, it should be a pretty straightforward protection detail.”

  “Good,” Jericho nodded, “I don’t want to take any chances at this point.”

  “Yes ma–, Jericho, I understand completely,” Kashena said, catching herself on the use of ‘ma’am’, making Jericho grin.

  “That’s a military thing, right?” Jericho said.

  “Yes,” Kashena said, “they drill it into you pretty hard in the Marines.”

  “So,” Jericho said, trying to work her way through this conversation, “I understand from Cat and Christian that you were fairly central to solving the mystery of Midnight Chevalier’s illness a year and a half ago.”

  To Kashena’s credit, she didn’t even blink, simply staring back at Jericho with no expression whatsoever on her face.

  “Is that true?” Jericho had to ask.

  Kashena dropped her eyes and inclined her head.

  “How did you do it?” Jericho asked then.

  Kashena looked at her again, the look in her eyes calculating, Jericho knew she was trying to decide if she should tell her the truth.

  “Before you answer,” Jericho said, holding her hand up, “I heard how.”

  Kashena’s chin came up, and Jericho canted her head, narrowing her eyes, “I wouldn’t have you in here, Marshal if I didn’t believe it, or respect it.”

  Kashena relaxed visibly upon hearing those words, she nodded, “Okay,” she said then.

  “I’m just curious how it works,” Jericho said, “I mean, in terms of whether it could help with this case.”

  “I wish I knew how it works, ma’am,” Kashena said, forgetting to call Jericho by her name, “It just happens,” she said, shrugging, “It’s random.”

  Jericho drew in a deep breath, blowing it out in disappointment and nodded her head.

  “I promise, Director, if I get anything at all, you will be the first to know.” Kashena said.

  “I appreciate that, Marshal, thank you.” Jericho said, standing as Kashena did too.

  They shook hands and Kashena left.

  Jericho looked over at Zoey, “Damnit,” she said to the girl.

  Zoey nodded, looking equally disappointed. “Still, maybe she’ll get something.”

  Jericho sat back down in her chair, her look despondent. Zoey stood up, walking over to the door to the office and closing it. Then she walked over to where Jericho sat, moving to sit on her lap and hugging her. Jericho’s arms encircled her waist as Zoey leaned against her. Zoey knew that Jericho wasn’t sleeping well; she’d be awake at all hours of the night. The night before she’d climbed into bed behind Zoey, when Zoey had awakened at the movement, she’d glanced at the clock, it had been three AM. Two hours later when Zoey had awakened again, she’d seen that Jericho was already awake, her eyes staring tiredly up at the ceiling, her mind working.

  It was becoming a full time job to make sure that Jericho ate and rested as much as she could get her to at this point in time. Zoey knew that this was the time when it mattered, nothing else was important to her, taking care of Jericho was all that mattered.

  Jericho rested her head against Zoey’s shoulder, wanting nothing more than to sleep and forget everything that was happening. Everything kept winding around in her head, every time she closed her eyes, words, phrases, sounds; thoughts would inject themselves into her consciousness. She couldn’t rest. She knew she was pushing it, but it was a cycle now and nothing seemed to break it. She thanked the Gods for Zoey, who at least kept an eye on her, doing her best to soothe her to sleep, and feed her when she knew she hadn’t eaten. It was that thought that had her clinging to Zoey that morning.

  A week later a third agent was killed from the Los Angeles office, and Cat was beyond frustrated. They weren’t getting anywhere. Every lead was a dead end, they had no idea where the attacks were coming from. They’d run down everything they could think of and still nothing had worked.

  Outwardly Jericho was a rock, she took everything in, and handled everything smoothly and without emotion. Even in private, Jericho was controlled, but it would slip now and again. One such time was an evening when she received an email. It was from Kelly’s lawyer that outlined Kelly’s demands in the divorce.

  They were sitting in the living room, with the TV on, Jericho was drinking a beer and watching whatever movie Zoey had picked for the evening, doing her best to relax. Her phone pinged, and she picked it up, opening the email. She noted the lawyer’s name at the top of the email and opened the document attached to the email and started to read. Beside her, Zoey glanced over, but didn’t want to be nosey.

  Without warning, Jericho chucked her phone across the room. Riley, ever the dutiful canine, retrieved it for her, which had Jericho laughing to the point of tears.

  “So what was that about?” Zoey asked, still grinning, because Jericho’s laugh was so infectious and it had been so long since she’d heard
it.

  Jericho wiped the dog slobber off her phone and punching in the code for the display handed it to Zoey. Zoey read the attachment, her face becoming more and shocked. When she lifted her hand to throw the phone, much like Jericho had, Jericho took it out of her hand.

  “Is she crazy?” Zoey asked, thinking that Kelly must be.

  “No,” Jericho said, shaking her head, “she wants to hurt me at this point.”

  “Why?” Zoey exclaimed, “She’s the one that left!”

  Jericho nodded, “I know, babe,” she said, “but the way she thinks, it was my fault.”

  “How?” Zoey asked.

  Jericho shrugged, “I changed jobs, I moved her here there and everywhere.”

  “How many times did you guys move?”

  Jericho thought about it, “Technically we moved five times,” she said, “and that’s if you count when she moved in with me in Virginia. But it also includes the two times we moved in El Paso , the second time when she wanted to be closer to Shelly.”

  Zoey narrowed her eyes, “She’s awfully attached to Shelly…” she said, her tone suspicious.

  Jericho grinned, “That isn’t the first time I’ve heard that,” she said.

  Zoey looked at the list again, “House in El Paso?”

  “Yeah,” Jericho said, “I had settled a case with the City, so we bought a house with the money as an investment property.”

  “Settled a case?” Zoey asked.

  Jericho nodded, curling her lips.

  “What does that mean?” Zoey asked, recognizing the sign for when something bugged her.

  “It was a case where the City had cleared a house for us to go in, and a booby trap went off.”

  “Oh my God!” Zoey said, “If they ‘cleared’ it, doesn’t that mean they said it was safe?”

  “That’s what it’s supposed to mean yeah,” Jericho said, her look wry.

  “But it wasn’t,” Zoey said, “How badly were you hurt?”

  “Oh… three broken ribs, punctured lung, nice long cut on my back, lots of lost blood.”

  “Jesus…” Zoey breathed. “Wait… your back?”

  Jericho nodded. At Zoey’s quizzical look, she turned around pulling up the back of her shirt, that’s when Zoey saw the thin white scar that went from Jericho’s shoulder to mid-way down her back. She reached out touching the scar, it was the first time she’d seen it.

  “I guess I don’t usually see your back,” she said.

  Jericho shrugged, dropping her shirt and turning back to Zoey, “It’s no big deal.”

  “Oh, sure,” Zoey said, her tone mockingly casual, “Cause everyone breaks ribs and stuff all the time…” her voice trailed off as she narrowed her eyes at Jericho, “It’s a big deal.”

  Jericho grinned, making a face that made Zoey narrow her eyes again, “What’s that look?”

  Jericho shook her head, “Kelly didn’t seem to think so.”

  “What do you mean?” Zoey asked, her look flabbergasted.

  “I mean, she really didn’t worry too much.”

  “She didn’t worry?” Zoey asked, “Because she was there and saw that you were in good hands…. Right?” Her tone indicating how much umbrage she was taking at hearing this.

  Jericho’s eyes widened at Zoey’s tone, and she pressed her lips together, “Sure, let’s go with that.” She said, her tone humoring.

  “Are you kidding me?” Zoey asked, her tone outraged.

  “I wish I was,” Jericho said shaking her head.

  “And she wants…” Zoey began, picking up the phone again and scanning for the amount of Alimony a month that Kelly was asking for, “Three thousand a month for alimony?”

  Jericho chuckled at the tone of her voice as well as the inanity of the situation.

  “Oh and I love this one,” Zoey said, looking at the phone, “She wants your Softail, right? I’m not reading that wrong, there isn’t another one, is there?”

  “No, that’s mine,” Jericho said.

  “And she wants it?” Zoey said.

  “Apparently,” Jericho said, an amused look on her face.

  “Why are you finding this so funny?” Zoey said, “I’d be pissed as hell right now.”

  “I’m not finding her demands funny,” Jericho said, “I’m finding my girlfriend’s reactions to her demands funny.”

  “Oh,” Zoey said, smiling her hazel eyes sparkling.

  Jericho sighed, lying back on the couch, “She’s trying to take everything she can get,” she said, her tone so tired suddenly, “I just don’t know if I have the energy to fight her at this point.”

  “Oh, you’re going to fight her,” Zoey said, her tone sure.

  Jericho turned to look at Zoey, “You think so?” she asked.

  “I think you’re getting the shit kicked out of you right now at work, and it’s affecting your confidence,” Zoey said, sounding very wise suddenly, “But you’re going to fight that bitch tooth and nail for everything that you’ve worked for.”

  Jericho couldn’t help but smile at the vehemence in Zoey’s voice.

  “So tough for someone so young…” Jericho said.

  Zoey moved to lie down next to Jericho, looking over at her, “When it comes to you, yeah, I don’t want her hurting you anymore.”

  Jericho smiled a soft smile, shifting slightly she kissed Zoey’s lips, reaching up to touch her cheek gently. Zoey moved closer, pressing her body along the length of Jericho’s, her hand on Jericho’s stomach grasping at the shirt she wore. At the feeling of Zoey’s hands grasping at her, Jericho intensified the kiss, and Zoey instantly moaned, pressing closer still.

  After a couple of minutes of kissing, Jericho sat up, standing and picking Zoey up to carry her to the bedroom. It was definitely a great tension release for both of them.

  Cat was handling the tension in a whole other way. She’d texted Quinn from the office asking her if she was headed to the gym that day. Quinn had responded that she was. Cat had said she’d meet her there. When she and Jovina left the office, Cat drove to the gym and spent the next two hours going round after round with Quinn in the ring. Jovina watched at first, but then saw that things were getting absolutely brutal and had to leave the area.

  She found Cat two and a half hours later, smoking on the patio of the gym. Her hair was soaking wet, as were her gym clothes. Jovina could already see a few very dark bruises appearing on her shoulder and arms, she imagined there would be more later. Cat was still breathing heavily as she sat legs braced wide apart, her elbows on her knees, her head down, her hair loose from the pony tail she’d had it in, dripping on the pavement.

  “Catalina?” Jovina queried.

  Cat glanced up, and Jovina saw the cut on her cheek.

  “Meus deuces!” she said, saying ‘my god’ in Portuguese, as she knelt next to Cat, touching the cut that had a trickle of blood sliding down her cheek.

  Cat hissed as Jovina touched the cut pulling her head away.

  “What are you trying to do to, kill yourself?” Jovina asked, moving to stand her look angry.

  Cat leaned back in the chair, taking a deep drag off her cigarette, blowing the smoke out a minute later, closing her eyes as a wave of dizziness hit her.

  “Actually, the opposite,” Cat said, her voice sounding out of breath.

  “What?” Jovina asked, completely confused by that answer.

  “I’m trying to get rid of this…” Cat said, shaking her head.

  “What is this?” Jovina asked, still confused.

  “This…” Cat said, making a circular motion in front of her chest, “This anger, this fury…”

  Jovina moved to sit down, looking at Cat with concern in her eyes, “You’re scaring me.” Jovina told her.

  Cat looked back at her for a long minute, then blew her breath out, shaking her head.

  “You are, Catalina,” Jovina insisted, “You’re not sleeping, you’re not eating, you’re living on coffee and nicotine… and now you’re punishing your body…
I don’t understand what’s happening.” Jovina was near tears by the time she finished speaking.

  Cat looked back at her, grimacing at some of the things she said.

  “I’m sorry, babe,” Cat said, trying desperately to think of a way to explain things to her, “I have to do this,” she said, gesturing to her body, the bruises she could see, “Or I do worse.” she said then.

  “What kind of worse?” Jovina asked, unable to fathom anything worse.

  “Drinking till I pass out, and then waking up and drinking again, punching walls, getting into fights, any number of crazy ass ways to get rid of the anger.”

  Jovina looked back at her, surprised by what she was hearing.

  Cat scrubbed her face, “We can’t catch a fucking break on this case, and it’s making me absolutely insane… Losing another agent… Godamnit! Right here! Right fucking here Jovi!” she yelled, shaking her head her eyes blazing. “This son of a bitch is so fucking close I can feel him! Where is he? Fuck!” The last was a frustrated shout.

  Jovina knew she was getting a first-hand look at Cat in her environment when things weren’t going well. It did scare her to see this woman that she loved so disheveled and not only beat physically but emotionally at this point. She could also see what Cat was saying, that there were plenty of more negative ways to deal with her frustration and she wasn’t doing those things.

  Moving to kneel next to Cat again, Jovina reached up to touch her on the cheek, staying away from the cut, her gold eyes searching Cat’s.

  “You good?” Quinn asked, walking out on the patio.

  Cat tore her eyes away from Jovina to look up at Quinn.

  “Yeah,” Cat said, nodding, “Thanks.”

  “Gonna pay for this one.” Quinn said, grinning, moving her shoulder around gingerly.

  “Me too,” Cat said grinning too.

  “Good,” Quinn said, nodding as she chuckled, “I’ll see ya later, take it easy, and call me if you need anything, okay?”

  “Will do, thanks again Quinn.” Cat said, nodding.

  After Quinn left, Cat looked back at Jovina, she saw that Jovina had seen the casual way Quinn had treated the situation. It made Jovina think that maybe she just didn’t understand how these women were since she really didn’t have a basis for comparison. She’d never dated anyone like Catalina, or even someone like Quinn, she’d always dated girlie girls who were either artists or dancers or the like. These women were a whole other breed.