“Keep an eye on them, you hear.” She smiled at the officer sitting in the chair outside her door.
“You’ve got it.” He smiled back at her.
Jessie got into her car. She locked the doors and let the tears flow. This story could have ended so badly, but it hadn’t, which made her cry all the harder. Her phone rang, and she searched for it in her purse.
“Hey, sweetheart, where are you? Are you okay? What the hell, you sound like you’re crying.”
“I’m just leaving the hospital. My waterworks turned on, but I’m okay.” She looked in the mirror to see how much damage she’d done to her eye makeup.
“Are you alone?”
“Yes, why?”
“You shouldn’t be. No lecture, but you shouldn’t be anywhere by yourself right now. I’m near the hospital, and I’m going to have Jeremy drop me there. I don’t want you alone. Remember the glue, the new twist, and all.”
“I’m sorry I forgot. I wanted to check in on Maria, Adriana, and Rodney.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Jessie quickly ran a brush through her hair and put on some blush. The longer she waited, the more nervous she got, searching out all the places someone could hide. What had seemed like a long time in truth had been only about ten minutes when she looked at her watch again.
Finally, he was there. She watched him get out of the car. Her stomach fluttered. He did look good. The blue shirt set off his killer eyes, and those jeans were a perfect fit. She fanned herself and blushed. He was her eye candy today, and she was happy to have her fill until he opened the car door.
“Jess, I don’t want to have to go over the rules again, but you can’t go anywhere alone with that guy still out there. Before you bite my head off, don’t shake your head. I can see the fire in your eyes. Until we catch this guy, you always travel with someone. Got it?” He pushed his sunglasses firmly onto his nose.
“Yeah, sure, whatever.” She handed him the keys and jumped out of the car. He met her halfway around the car. “I wasn’t leaving.” She looked at him warily. “I was just letting you drive.”
He walked beside her until she got in the car and then closed the door. “I wouldn’t put it past you to take off.” His face showed no emotion, and she couldn’t tell if he was teasing or not.
“Have I ever deliberately…never mind, you don’t need to answer.” She wanted to smack the grin off his face, but she couldn’t keep a straight face long enough.
“Let’s start over. Hi, sweetheart.” He leaned over and gave her kiss. “Did you miss me? Ah, come on honey.” He smiled at her. “You know you did.”
“That’s debatable.” She turned away to hide her smile.
“It’s your lucky night. You and I are going out to dinner. Tomorrow is the street fair. Frank is tired tonight and is going to order room service. Jeremy has taken pity on me, and he’s taking Katie and Sadie out. It’s just you and me, kid. I have to go to the station, but I’ll be around to get you right at five.” He pulled into the parking space in front of their suite. “I’ll give you the info to write a good story and you can just be with me, which is more than enough.” He held up the keys. “Do you mind if I drive it?”
“Go ahead. I’ll be waiting for you.” She was still smiling as she walked in the door. What had him so happy? He wanted a date, and she wanted to give him one to remember. She promised.
****
He missed her the minute he pulled out of the resort. Another three hours and she’d be his for the evening. He needed to be with her, to look at her, and to hear her voice. She was his calm in the storm. His excuse was they needed to talk about this case. Frank seemed to think, given the opportunity, Radar might be able to track which direction Mallory had gone with the stolen car. He didn’t doubt that dog’s ability for a minute. Tomorrow they would try it. He had come up with a great idea to get her away from Palm Springs for a few hours. Balasco and a couple of the officers helped him put it all together. Not even Henderson could dampen his mood.
Matt walked into Balasco’s office grinning. “Hey, Tony, how’s it going?”
“Not bad. I just checked with the hospital, and they upgraded Rodney’s status to stable.” Balasco stood and shook Matt’s hand. “Thanks for the way you handled that with his wife. You did a damn fine job.”
“No problem. I felt sorry for the man. He didn’t deserve what happened to him. Hell, he just stopped to help the guy.” Matt frowned.
“And we wonder why no one wants to help anymore. I think we have our answer.” Tony took a swallow of his coffee. “Now, if I could get Agent Henderson to try a little diplomacy, life around here might be pretty damn good.” He sat down again and motioned Matt to do the same.
“Have you heard about any more sightings of the hit man?” Matt tapped restlessly on the arm of the chair.
Balasco shook his head no. “We know this one calls himself the Hunter. He likes to toy with his victims for a while before he kills them. They become his prey, the hunted. Henderson seems to think he’s observing for now. He’s not your problem, at least not yet. He likes to inform his victims first so he can give them a chance to run. It’s all about the thrill of the hunt for him. Here’s a copy of the file that we have on some of his past victims, and what we’ve learned so far.. You may need it in the future. He’s hard to pin down. We haven’t gotten his real identity yet, but the FBI is working on it.”
“He sounds like a sick bastard.” Matt stretched out his legs. “Thanks, Tony, I’ll read this over.”
Tony nodded. “What did you learn in the interview with Adriana earlier?”
“She couldn’t give us much information about the location although it sounded like it the place was a real dump. She ran for it. She tried to stay clear of the road where he might have spotted her.” Matt pulled out his notepad.
“She was one lucky lady.” Balasco took a sip of his coffee.
“I realized talking to her, just how lucky we were to have found her. The dog made all the difference in the time that it took. “I don’t think we would’ve found her in time without him. This story would have had a different ending.” Matt sat forward in his chair.
“I’m willing to write Frank and his dog a glowing report.” Tony made a note to write one.
“I’m not sure she’s safe yet. That’s why I’m here, the stalker’s obsession with her. She did tell us he came into the bank in Rocky Pointe. She never saw him, but he left her several messages. Notes like the ones someone left Jessie. He holds something over Mallory. I wouldn’t put it past him to use it against Mallory, forcing him to attempt to get her back. What do you think should be our next step to protect her?”
“We have to convince Henderson that we should put Adriana and her husband in a safe house for a few days until we’re through questioning her. Then she can return home until his trial.” Tony glanced out in the hall. “Henderson was pretty pissed off that he wasn’t there when we found her. That would have looked good on his record. He’ll be ready to pounce on you if I don’t miss my guess.”
“Not to worry.” Matt lifted an eyebrow. “I can live with him not liking me. There’s no love loss on my side either.”
“What do you think we should do about Adriana?” Tony picked up his pencil and notepad.
“I agree we should put them somewhere safe. I think we should keep the hospital room as if she’s still there and hope our guy will bite.”
“I don’t know if Henderson will go for it.” Tony tapped his pencil idly on the notepad. “But it doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”
“Maybe Tom Maxwell could help convince him. Look, someone wants Adriana. My gut is telling me that this guy promised Mallory he could have Jessie if he handed Adriana over to him. I think Jessie may be the prize for Mallory, and he needs to have Adriana to claim her. So I’m ruling him out in my mind as trying to harm Jessie, but he still might try to kidnap her.”
“What about all the notes and stuff?”
“Scare tacti
cs. One of our suspects has a connection to voodoo. One of the things we found out during the interview was that Adriana and her roommate had some bizarre experiences in college. It had started happening again at Rocky Pointe a few months ago.”
“Do you think Jessie is in the clear?” Tony frowned.
Matt shook his head. “No, not by any stretch of the imagination. There is someone behind all this who wants both of us gone, and I’m not sure yet who.” Matt pulled out his phone and scrolled through the messages. “I’m waiting for word now. Dylan is working some angles for me back in Blue Cove.”
“Interesting logic. I need to think about this for a while. I’m willing to stick my neck out with Henderson if you can give me something to go on.”
“I should have something for you before I leave here today. The thing is, in the last couple of cases we worked, Jessie’s writing and research is what exposed them. She brought it all out in the open where we could pursue it. Either one of the cases, and both of them were big, could have made us a lot of enemies.” Matt leaned forward in the chair.
“I remember hearing about both of the cases. You’re right about making some enemies. You broke up some big money schemes. People don’t like having the money spigot turned off.” Balasco sipped his coffee again. “Yuck, it’s cold.” He grimaced.
“Adriana said they were going to release her today. Henderson won’t be back until this evening, so you should call him. We need to slip the Fosters into a safe house and convince the hospital to leave the room unoccupied.” Matt’s phone alerted him to an incoming message. He read the text.
“Henderson will do what’s best for her. He wants this case to end well. That’s all the better for him. He’s an all right guy. A little on the controlling side, but he does a hell of a job.”
“I agree with you. That’s why I’ve put up with all his crap. Let me warm up your coffee.” He took Tony’s cup and filled it up with the hot brew. Balasco was talking animatedly to Henderson. As Matt walked back into the office, Tony hung up the phone. He handed the hot coffee to him.
“He okayed it. He hardly put up a fuss about leaving guards on the empty hospital room. Of course, it helped that I made it my suggestion and not yours.” Tony grinned.
“Whatever it takes to get it done. I’ll try to get that information for you before I leave tonight, but you can always reach me by phone. Thanks for your help with my other plan.” Matt smiled thinking about the evening he had planned.
“I enjoyed helping you. It’s all about the romance, the ladies like it.” Tony grinned at him. “Henderson wasn’t happy that you weren’t going to be here tonight.” He chuckled. “I think he’s a little taken with your Jessie.”
“Hell, who isn’t? He gave a lopsided grin.
“Well, it’s hopeless for Henderson. I’ve seen the way she looks at him. Jessie’s not impressed.”
“She has a mind of her own; that’s for sure.”
“I’ve noticed. I’d say she’s a nice problem to have.”
Matt grinned. “Yes, she is.”
Chapter 22
Jessie was excited to see Matt. He had called to say he was on his way and would be on time. He was mysterious, evading all her questions about their evening. Her curiosity had kicked in. She loved a good mystery and found herself fully engaged in trying to figure it out why he was evasive.
Jessie could hear Katie’s happy voice in the other room. She was excited about Katie going out with Jeremy, even if Sadie was going along with them. Jessie thought they looked great together. If only Katie could settle down and not scare Jeremy off. When she got nervous, Katie chattered in hyper-drive. Jessie grinned. It would make her so happy if Jeremy and Katie got together. They both meant so much to her. She’d promised Jeremy to stay out of it, but maybe she could give a little nudge here and there to help them along the way. Why not? Katie had done it to her often enough. Jessie knew she didn’t have the finesse that Katie did, but she’d like to keep trying her hand at it. Katie was like a bull in a China shop. She did not attempt to hide what she was doing at all. She jumped right in. Jessie looked in the mirror one more time. It would have to do.
Jessie walked out into the living room. “Where are you guys headed?”
“Jeremy didn’t say, he just said we were going.” Katie stood up and turned in a circle. “How do you like it?”
“It looks great on you. A new dress?” She smiled. The jade color made Katie’s green eyes pop, and the fit showed her figure to perfection. Maybe there was hope for her plan yet. “I think it’s perfect for you. When did you get it?”
“I found it earlier when I bought the necklace for Adriana. When you were busy shopping for her clothes.” Katie smoothed her dress as she sat back down. “How is she, by the way?”
“Physically, she’s been given a clean bill of health, but emotionally it will take a while.”
Sadie patted the couch beside her. “Sit down, dear. You look lovely in that dress. I have just the thing to go with it. Wait right here. I’ll be back.” Sadie went into her room and came out carrying a strand of pearls. “The perfect accessory for the little black dress, I always say.” She latched them around Jessie’s neck.
“Thanks, Grams.” She kissed Sadie’s cheek.
“Enjoy yourself tonight. Try to forget about everything for a few minutes if you can.”
“If only…” Jessie sighed.
Matt walked in with his suit coat slung over his shoulder. “All this beauty in one room and you’re all waiting for the guys. Something is wrong with this picture.”
“In my day, it was the other way around. It was always the lady who made the grand entrance and the man had to wait until she was ready.” Sadie grinned. “Making them wait was the fun of it. Waiting for your entrance was the build-up; the look on their faces was the payoff. It was all very romantic.” Sadie blushed.
Well, I’ll be…” Matt chuckled. “I would have never taken you to be a romantic girl, Sadie.”
“There’re a lot of sides to this old girl, Matt. I guess you’re going have to get to know me a little better.”
“I think I would like that.” He winked at her and kissed her cheek. Do you mind if I take my gorgeous date now and leave you girls to wait? Where is Jeremy, by the way?” Matt looked around the room.
“He’s getting ready.” Katie giggled. “It’s too sad when the guy takes longer than the girl.”
“Now, Katie, you know that he only got back a few minutes ago and ran in to change his clothes.” Sadie smiled at him. “You two run along and have fun.”
****
Once in the car, he turned to her. “You’re a knockout as usual. I don’t know what I ever did right that fate dropped you into my hands, but I’m sure happy for whatever it was.”
“You have such a way with words; a regular smooth talker.” She smiled slightly. “You don’t look half bad yourself.” Jessie slowly exhaled. “Where are we headed?”
“We’ll now, ma’am, that’s a surprise. I have a few surprises for you tonight. Sit back and enjoy yourself.” He winked. “I can be a bit of romantic if I try.”
“Is this a new side of you that I haven’t seen yet? I mean you have to admit it’s a little different than the tough guy cop who likes to lecture me.” She grinned at him.
“Time will tell.” He drove to the Palm Springs airport.
“What are we doing here?”
“You’ll see.” He stepped out of the car and walked around to open her door. “I didn’t want you to leave the West Coast having never seen the Pacific. I hope you don’t mind a short flight to San Diego for dinner.”
Jessie’s jaw dropped as she shook her head. “When did you have the time to plan all this.”
“I have my ways. I wanted to get you away from Palm Springs so you could relax for a few hours without worrying.”
“Did Sadie know about this?” She glanced sideways at him.
He grinned. “She sure did. I had to tell her just in case you needed a l
ittle convincing.” He placed his hand in the small of her back, escorting her to the waiting small jet.
Jessie sat in a seat by the window. She looked at Matt as he sat beside her. “I’m speechless, thank you.” She glanced at him again, a bemused look on her face.
“Buckle up, sweetheart, and you’re welcome. I chartered the flight with a little help from Tony.”
From takeoff to the landing, it took all of forty minutes. Another surprise for the night was the limousine that waited their arrival. It was a luxury plus, and the driver negotiated the area with flair. Matt put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “One of the perks of letting someone else drive.” He grinned and bent his head to steal a kiss. A quick turn sent her sliding into him. “We used to call those turns opportunity curves.”
“Why is that?” Jessie asked him.
“You did live a sheltered life.” He grinned at her. “You’re closer to me now and I didn’t have to do anything. I can take the opportunity to kiss you.” He glanced at her. “I forget you didn’t have a brother to torture you or educate you. Boys pretty much think about girls all the time. It’s what we do. I think about you all the time.”
She blushed. “I thought you wanted to talk about the case.” She took a deep breath, gazing into his eyes.
“I’ll get to that soon enough. For now, I want to enjoy you and pamper you. Most of our relationship has been about saving one another. Let’s just enjoy being together.”
Their first stop was a restaurant nestled at the water’s edge. They sat at a table by the window with a beautiful view of the San Diego Bay and the downtown skyline. The waiter poured dark, lush Merlot into their glasses, leaving them to enjoy their meal. It was the perfect setting. Jessie enjoyed a salad of field greens, tossed in a ginger orange vinaigrette, topped with mandarin oranges and candied pecans. Matt had the house specialty, Lobster Bisque followed by Prime Rib.
Matt leaned back in his chair resting one arm on the back of her chair. “I’ve wanted to ask you for a while what it was like to grow up as an only child. Our house was wild with my brothers and me. My mother was a saint to put up with it. We pushed her to the limits almost every day. What one of us didn’t think up, the other one did. We had a lot of crazy good times. We fought often and nearly ate my folks out of the house and home—especially in the middle school and high school years when we were playing sports.”
The Game Changer Page 17