“Can you start taking pictures?” she asked. “Use your phone. Roxy hates when we move the body before she sees it.”
He could do that.
“About her...?”
“Yeah?”
“What’s her deal? She’s intense.”
Bishop found that amusing since so was Jagger. The man was like a puzzle inside a puzzle inside two more puzzles. He didn’t speak much. When he did, it was succinct, and she was amused that the two of them had connected.
“She’s crazy and out of control.”
“Yeah, I figured that out.” It was right about the time she’d talked him into bareback sex twice. Jagger, at his wildest, never dared to screw a woman without a condom.
It was…reckless.
“Roxy had a rough childhood.”
“Really?” he said, snapping some pictures. That was funny because he’d had one too. When your dad was a mobster, you had shitty luck like that. His mother, the only woman, other than his sister who he ever loved, was blown up in a car bomb meant for the mob guy.
That was as shitty as it came.
“I can’t give you too much information,” Bishop stated. “It’s really not my place to talk about it.”
He understood.
“You’re her best friend, huh?”
“Yeah, and I have been since she came to Ravenswood. Her granddad took her in and raised her after…”
She stopped talking.
“After what?”
“Can you check his pockets?” Bishop asked.
Jagger did just that.
“I have a wallet.”
He tossed it up to her.
Bishop caught it. Not far away, she heard the hum of an engine. It looked like the team was finally coming. That was a damn good thing because she didn’t want to spill Roxy’s secrets. They were hers to tell.
Flipping through the wallet, she found the license. It was Earl Thorpe.
“I have a note. It’s tucked into his mouth.”
Yeah, this was their killer’s handiwork.
“I bet it’s going to be three of seven,” she said, leaning over the rail to look.
He didn’t doubt it.
“Do you have gloves?”
“No.”
“Don’t touch it. Roxy will dig it out for us when she does the autopsy.”
Jagger agreed.
He glanced up. “Don’t lean over too far. You don’t want to fall from there. You’ll knock yourself out going into the water. Hand me down the other line, and I’ll get it attached to the noose. We can try to lift him up.”
She was good with that.
The engine got louder. It sounded like someone was headed their way, but going way to fast.
Even Jagger heard it.
It registered.
“Sheriff!”
She turned in time to see the lights.
The car was barreling right toward her.
“Shit!”
She had to move fast. Bishop jumped out of the way, hitting the rail of the narrow bridge as the car blew by, clipping her in the hip. It kept going, and so did she.
The hit stunned her, knocking her off balance. Her weight pushed her back, and she began falling over the edge.
Jagger reached for her, his fingers just touching her arm as she fell past him.
He watched her tumble into the swirling water.
At the splash, he pulled his knife and sliced through his safety line.
It looked like he was about to prove a point.
He was taking a swim. He had a sheriff to save.
* * * O R A C L E * * *
Lucian was in his foyer, putting down his last bag. All the sudden, he felt the static.
It came fast and furiously out of nowhere.
He heard her scream.
It would haunt him the rest of his life. Lucian knew who it was.
It was Bishop.
He’d know her voice anywhere.
The visions flashed and the colors exploded. He watched her falling, and then he felt the murky blackness cover her. He tasted water in his mouth.
It choked him.
Then he felt her go still as she went unconscious.
It was the most horrific thing he’d ever lived through in his life. Not only had he hurt her, pushing her away, but Lucian was forced to do something no one should ever have to experience in their life.
He felt the woman he loved drown, and there was nothing he could do.
In that moment, his life ended and he prayed that he’d die too.
* * * O R A C L E * * *
Jagger fought to find her.
It was one hell of an effort. In the dark, in the swirling black water, it was like finding a needle in a soggy haystack, but he didn’t give up.
Marines didn’t let one go down without fighting to find them. You left no one behind, and he wasn’t going to leave Bishop to die.
That’s not how he rolled.
Tenacity was his middle name.
After going down about ten times, he finally found her.
It was her hair. It wrapped around his wrist, giving him something to hold onto. Pulling, he forced her body to the top, only to see she wasn’t breathing.
The gash on her head was bleeding, and her shirt was torn.
She was a mess.
He knew there wasn’t much time. If he wanted to save her, they needed to get to shore. With everything he had, he started swimming. Her dead weight sucked, but he couldn’t let her die. He focused on each stroke, pretending she was just a rucksack and this was training.
He couldn’t let nature win.
As he pulled her onto the rocky shore, he began CPR. With each push to her chest, he began saying a prayer. If there were a God, he’d save her. Jagger had seen too many good people go down for justice, and she needed a miracle.
“Come on, Bishop,” he muttered, breathing for her. “I need to get you to breathe.”
He kept going.
Finally, his efforts paid off.
Bishop began sputtering. She coughed up the water and opened her eyes. Then she moaned.
“Jesus,” Jagger said, pulling off his t-shirt. He was soaked, but her head wound was bleeding pretty badly.
“Asshole,” she muttered.
“I love you too. I guess we won’t be getting married now. Too bad. I love a wedding.”
He was trying to get her to laugh.
Anything.
He was shaken that she’d almost not made it.
“He doesn’t even care about me. Why did you save me?”
There were so many reasons he saved her, and Lucian wasn’t really even on the top of the list. She needed to live, and life was precious.
She kept asking him the same thing, over and over again. It made him want to kick Lucian’s ass himself.
Looking at his watch, he got their coordinates. This was why he loved being prepared. There was no way anyone would find them.
It wasn’t possible. It was dark, cold, and it was time to call in the one person who would have a clue how to track him. Bishop wasn’t going to be able to walk out.
They needed extraction, and fast.
He pulled out his cell and prayed the military grade case had held up. If not, he was carrying a hundred and thirty pound woman, who knew how many miles, to a road.
The second he dialed, he heard it ringing.
“Jagger! What’s going on? Lucian and Avalon nearly lost it.”
“The sheriff took a swim. She’s in bad shape. I need a pick up. She’s okay for now, but hypothermia and shock are kicking in.”
Jagger watched her shaking.
He gave her the coordinates.
“Hurry. She needs to get to the ER.”
That was all Maura had to hear. She hung up and got the team moving.
When Jagger hung up, he knew it wouldn’t be too long. First, he needed to make sure Bishop stayed warm. All he could hear in his mind was Avalon telling them that Bishop was the key, and Lu
cian was dead without her.
It was motivating.
He picked the sheriff up and held her against his body. “Hang in there, Bishop. We’re going to be chilly, but we’re getting out of here alive.”
She closed her eyes and tried to focus. In the static in her mind, she could hear him. It was Lucian.
He was calling to her like in her dreams.
Instead of reaching for him, she did something she’d never thought she’d do.
She shut him out.
Forever.
* * * O R A C L E * * *
One Hour Later
Lucian couldn’t breathe.
Avalon’s words had nearly come true. She told him he couldn’t leave or she would die, he tried to abandon her, and Bishop had nearly lost her life.
He couldn’t help but feel responsible.
He felt the life ebb from her, and it was a fate worse than death. He’d made a huge mistake.
He’d screwed up.
That one moment in time, where he nearly lost her had proven one thing. He couldn’t live without her. The entire time she felt dead, his life had stopped. While he’d planned to leave and then one day return for her, he knew that wasn’t going to work.
Fate had put down her foot.
He had to fix this.
Lucian wanted to weep. After the pain stopped, he stayed on his knees.
Only this time, it was to pray.
He wasn’t a religious man, but if she’d be okay, he’d rethink that stance. He’d do anything for her.
Anything.
He wouldn’t give up. Bishop couldn’t be gone from his life. Fate wouldn’t be that cruel. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. He was going to make her mad, buy her some time, and instead, she was gone.
When Jagger called and Maura raced out of there to find them, his life was held in flux.
He couldn’t move.
As he sat on his floor, Avalon beside him, he knew that he had to make this right.
He had to fix what he’d done. All he couldn’t think was that she’d nearly died thinking he didn’t love her. That he was going back to Wendy. He’d been a bastard, and he needed to help her understand.
When Nate got the call that they were on their way to the hospital, Lucian didn’t hesitate. He pulled on his shoes, grabbed a jacket, and didn’t look back.
Nate drove them there, Avalon in the back, him praying in the front, and the unknown waiting for all of them. As they pulled up to the hospital bay, it was chaos. There were deputy vehicles, ambulances, and then the Feds.
Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who cared about Bishop. She was well loved. He didn’t know what that would feel like, but he was grateful that she had this.
She deserved it.
“Where is she?” he blurted, dying to see her. Lucian needed to make sure she was alive.
Maura placed her hand on his shoulder. “They’re checking her out. She’s had a rough one. Breathe. She’s alive, and that’s what matters.”
He couldn’t.
He’d caused this.
He stared at Avalon, who Nate was cautiously blocking from any of the attention going on around them.
“Tell me she’ll be okay.”
Avalon shook her head. “You broke her heart. She doesn’t want to do this anymore. If you want her to live, you need to fix what you did. You’re an asshole.”
They all looked at her.
“What? He is. Just because I don’t always say stuff like that doesn’t mean I won’t when I really believe it. Besides, he told her he didn’t love her.”
Maura shook her head. “Douchebag move, Lucian. I’m with Avalon on this one. You’ll be lucky if she ever even looks at you again. I know I wouldn’t.”
Everyone there agreed.
He had news for them. Lucian was well aware that he’d jacked this up. Now he had to repair what he’d done.
“Get me in to see her. I’ll fix it. I’ll make it right.”
Hell!
He’d cut off his arms to fix it. He just needed to see Bishop with his own eye.
There was a screech of tires, and they all looked over. It was Doctor Faust, and she was pulling in like a bat out of hell.
A well-dressed one at that...
“Where is she?”
They told her.
“They won’t tell us anything,” Nate offered, as the woman blew right past them.
Then she stopped.
“I work out of this hospital when they need a standby coroner. I’ll get information.” Roxy saw Jagger in scrubs and wet hair. “Did you save her?” she asked. “Did you really dive into that water to find her when she fell?”
“Yes.”
She moved toward him.
Jagger wasn’t quite sure what Roxy was going to do until it was too late. She grabbed him, pulled his mouth to hers, and kissed him like it was the last few seconds they’d share on earth.
It was scorching hot.
He simply held on as the woman destroyed every ounce of control he had with just that one meeting of mouths.
When she pulled away, she ran her thumb over his lower lip. “Thank you for saving my best friend. You’re my hero, and I owe you one.”
Then she was gone.
Doctor Faust headed into the emergency room.
It took Jagger a few minutes to be able to think again. He was pretty sure the heat had dried his hair.
Lucian paced back and forth.
He wanted to go with her. This wait was going to kill him. There was no way he’d survive this.
“Maura, get Avalon back to the house. I’ll head with Luke to the bridge, and we’ll help work the scene. Jagger, you stick like glue to Lucian.”
He could do that.
“That wasn’t an accident,” Jagger said. There’s no way that person missed seeing the sheriff’s truck, and us on that bridge. This was the killer.”
They didn’t doubt it.
“What did you see?” Nate asked.
“Nothing. I was hanging below the bridge. I heard the engine, I saw Bishop topple, and I went in after her. That’s it.”
They knew the truth. If they did find the vehicle, it was likely stolen. No one used his or her own ride for a hit and run.
“I’ll grab your gear,” Luke said, referring to the change of clothes in the back of their ride. “Although, you look sexy in green scrubs, but they don’t ‘hide’ anything,” he said, busting the Marine’s ass.
It was clear what Roxy’s kiss had done.
Well, clear to the team and anyone else who looked down at Jagger’s groin area.
“You’re funny for a Fed,” he muttered. He was well aware that he was rock hard, and that was the problem when Roxy was around.
“What doesn’t it hide?” Avalon asked.
Maura was laughing her ass off. “I’ll tell you all about it on the ride back to Graymoor.”
“Maura!” Nate and Jagger said at the same time.
“ALL ABOUT IT,” she repeated, enjoying how both men looked irritated by that. Score one for the girls on the team. This was going to be fun.
Everyone split up to take care of business.
Lucian paced the ER, waiting for some word. He knew people were staring at him, but he didn’t care. Bishop was hurt, and at that point, she was the only one who mattered.
He needed to make sure she as okay.
Until then, his life would be on hold.
* * * O R A C L E * * *
Lucian didn’t know how much time had gone by, but it had been a while. He’d had two cups of shitty coffee, paced for about ten miles, and was still waiting to hear about Bishop.
He was getting angry.
He was scared.
As Jagger sat there, as calm as ever, he wanted to rage around like a maniac—not only because he’d screwed up, but someone had hurt Bishop.
“You need to chill,” Jagger said, watching him.
It was getting late and the ER had emptied out of patients. Th
e staff, out of respect for the sheriff, had booted the media out the door and off the premises. It gave them some privacy.
Lucian was shocked they had been allowed to stay. It showed that an FBI badge worked wonders.
“She nearly died. I can’t chill.”
“Actually, she did die. She wasn’t breathing, and her heart wasn’t pumping. That’s the definition of death.”
Lucian stared at him. “That isn’t helping.”
“You need to be aware of what happened. That vehicle clipped her, she moved out of the way, and she fell. You nearly lost her. It was a bitch to find her in that black water in the dark. If not for her ponytail, she’d be dead. I lucked out.”
Lucian ran his hands through his hair.
“I’m aware.”
“What you aren’t aware of, Lucian, is that when I finally got her back for you, she was weeping. Not because she’d nearly been flattened by a car, or that a killer was trying hurt her, but because you had broken her heart.”
Jagger didn’t often interfere, but the team’s mission was to follow Avalon’s instruction. She said they needed to be fixed, so that was what Jagger was going to do.
Okay, maybe he was a little bit of a romantic at heart, but no one needed to know that.
He was going with tough. The man before him needed a wakeup call, and fast. If they were going to keep them both alive, they needed to be on track.
“I feel horrible.”
“You should. She kept saying, ‘He doesn’t even care about me. Why did you save me?’,” he offered. “I have a sister, and if a man treated her like that, I’d kick his ass and then bury the body where no one would find it. Hell! Her husband got her the wrong color roses for her birthday, and I wanted to take out his liver. Men should treat women better.”
Yeah, and he didn’t follow his own damn advice. Jagger was such a hypocrite, but Lucian didn’t need to know that.
Lucian sat. “I had my reasons.”
“Well, they sucked.”
He was aware. Lucian was curious if the man really had feelings. Well, there was one way to find out.
Oracle Seeing (The Phoenix Files Book 2) Page 32