Raven's Cove - Jenna Ryan
Page 19
Jasmine regarded him in passing. “Violence level wasn’t quite high enough for you last night, huh, Sergeant?”
“You tell him, Jas,” Daniel said with a smirk.
“Uh, excuse me, but there’s a dead man currently lying in the county morgue, not to mention his nine victims and three police officers from the safe house. I’m feeling just a little responsible and a whole lot bad about that.” She twitched a shoulder before turning to Boxman. “How’s Costello doing?”
“He’s good. No concussion, just a big bump.”
When he narrowed his eyes at Daniel, she gave up and headed for the door. “I need air.”
“Wait.” Reaching over the counter, Riese pushed a steaming mug into her hands. “The cliff rocks make a nice perch after a storm—even though nothing that happened here in the Cove or anywhere else was your fault.”
One day, Jasmine reflected, she might actually believe that. In the meantime, cliff rocks it was.
The morning air had a bite and smelled strongly of the sea. Gulls wheeled overhead. So did flocks of ravens. A large one landed on a high boulder to stare at her.
Recognizing the red band on his leg, she smiled and sipped her tea. “You can’t unnerve me, Hezekiah. I watched something at least as terrible as the raven’s tale unfold last night.”
And if Rogan hadn’t shown up when he had, who knew how it might have ended?
Climbing onto one of the flat rocks, she let the roar of post-storm waves fill her head. Yet even with the relentless pounding of surf against cliff, she knew when he came up behind her. Knew and felt her heart jitter.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come back.” She passed him her mug. “Is everything done?”
“Getting there.” He settled on the rock beside her. “Deputy mayor offered Costello the job of police chief. Sheriff’s good with it. Costello’s considering.”
“Because an outsider keeps things impartial—which, I assume, is why they hired Ian Cutless.” She paused for a long moment. “Rogan, am I ever going to get the picture of Victor stabbing himself out of my head?”
“Probably not. But you’ll tuck it away because you have to and go on because you want to.”
Scooping the hair from her face, she regarded him in profile. “Is that what you do? Tuck things away so they don’t hurt? Or is it because they do hurt?”
“Same thing in the end.” He stared out to sea. “Either/or, you do what you have to do to get past the pain.”
She regarded him through her lashes. “It doesn’t always work, though, does it?”
“Not always.” His lips twitched ever so slightly. “And now you want me to explain.”
“Sharp as ever, Lieutenant.”
He slid his eyes to her face, took another drink and handed her the mug. “Her name was Diana. You already knew that. We weren’t a couple. I was eighteen, she was seventeen. We went to high school together. Just that, no dating, not even much interaction. One night at a party, she came on to me. I wasn’t interested. I don’t think I was unkind, just—not interested. She started to cry, which threw me. Telling her I was sorry made her angry, which was better. She hit me and shouted. Screamed, actually. I didn’t know how to deal, so I asked a couple of her girlfriends to calm her down.”
Jasmine studied his face when he stopped speaking. “She didn’t want to be calmed, did she? She was angry and upset and crying, and she ran off.”
“Yeah, she ran off.” Finally, he looked at her. “It was a beach party, precollege, way too much alcohol to be had. Lifeguard found her the next morning. She went into the water alive. She came out dead. I saw her in the morgue, on one of those metal tables. I’ve never been able to see her any other way since then.”
“You feel responsible,” Jasmine said softly. “Like I do about…” She motioned with her free hand.
Setting his fingers under her chin, Rogan let his thumb graze her lower lip. “We all have our demons, whether real or imagined. Victor’s alter ego murdered nine people and caused three others to be killed.”
“Because Victor was in love with me, and that threatened his existence. How can I not feel responsible?”
“Jasmine, a young girl died because I didn’t handle a situation properly. She drank too much, and she went in the water.”
“Her drowning was absolutely not your fault.”
“She couldn’t swim.”
“It was still her decision to go into the water.” But she dropped her forehead onto his shoulder. “God, we’re a pair, aren’t we?”
“Not sure what of exactly. But, yeah, we are.”
She turned to one side, rested her cheek. “How’s Cyrus?”
“Holding up. I think he knew how it would end.”
“Like it did for Hezekiah Blume in a way. Am I at least allowed to feel badly about everything that’s happened? I mean, so many people are gone.”
“A lot of others aren’t. And won’t be now that Robbie is.”
“That sounded vaguely optimistic, Lieutenant. I’m impressed.” Lifting her head, she let amusement sparkle up into her eyes. “If I told you I loved you, would you freak and be out of Raven’s Cove before I finished the sentence? You don’t have to say anything back,” she told him when his gaze narrowed. “I won’t hit you or hurt you or jump off a cliff for you. I’ll just say it and leave you to deal any way you choose.” Meeting his eyes, she smiled her first easy smile in days. “I love you, Rogan. I’ve loved you since I saw you at the safe house.”
It surprised her a little that he touched her cheek, and even more when that killer half smile of his appeared. He lowered his gaze to her mouth. “What can I say to that except—I love you, too. Pretty much since the day I met you.”
However, when he inclined his head to kiss her, she pressed a hand to his chest. “There’s something else. Something—big. That night after Gus Ballard’s funeral, we made love.”
“I know.”
Moment of truth. She took a bolstering breath. “That wasn’t the only thing we made. I’m pregnant. With your baby.”
He glanced at the mug of tea, but continued to lower his mouth. Keeping the half smile in place, he murmured an easy “I know.”
Lost in Rogan’s kiss, Jasmine didn’t notice Hezekiah take flight. Or see him vanish silently into the misty morning air.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459226364
Copyright © 2012 by Jacqueline Goff
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