“I’ll only be a few minutes,” Cassi hopped out of the car and ran up the few stairs. The outside door was locked, and she no longer had Jared’s keys, so she pushed the buzzer to Meela’s apartment. There was no answer.
In desperation she pushed the supervisor’s number. Instead of answering the call, a middle-aged woman emerged from her downstairs apartment. Jared had told Cassi that each person owned their own apartment, but together they paid the supervisor to maintain the halls. Jared also paid the woman to clean his apartment, so she had his key. Cassi knew that from Jared’s she could probably get into Meela’s apartment to retrieve her things. It was also possible the supervisor knew where Meela had gone.
“May I help you?” the woman asked, opening the lobby door but positioning her thick-set body to block her entrance.
“Yes, I need to get in touch with Meela Sanders. I left something in her apartment, and I’m flying to San Diego this afternoon.”
“I don’t know where she is.” The woman moved to close her door.
“Please, I need to get into her apartment. You could go with me to make sure I don’t take anything. You clean Jared Landine’s place, don’t you? I need to go there, too—to leave him something. Please, help me.” Cassi knew her voice was beginning to sound desperate, but she didn’t care.
The woman’s eyes narrowed. “Look, I don’t know you from Mr. Magoo, and I’m certainly not going to open Jared’s apartment for you. You’ll have to talk with him.”
“I can’t. He’s at the hospital. I—” Cassi broke off. She wouldn’t be doing herself any favors by admitting she had shot Jared. “He was shot and—” Cassi was nearly crying again. Hopelessness flooded her. She just wanted to get her things and get as far away from New York as she could.
“Cassi! Are you okay?”
Cassi turned to see Meela coming up the walk behind her, a little boy in tow. She nodded numbly. “But Jared got shot—in the shoulder. He’s at the hospital by now. Laranda also was shot. I’ve come to get my stuff and leave something at Jared’s. I–it’s my fault he was shot.”
Meela put an arm around Cassi and pushed past the woman into the lobby. “It’s okay, Mrs. Fackly. I’ll take care of it from here.” The older woman nodded but stayed where she was, watching them get on the elevator.
“So what happened?” Meela asked when the door closed.
“Is Jared okay?” asked the little boy.
“I think so.” Cassi began to explain as they emerged on Meela’s floor, trying futilely to hold back her tears. The details brought back the utter terror she had felt, and especially her fear that the hook-nosed man would shoot and kill Jared.
“Then the FBI showed up,” she made herself finish. “Laranda was hurt pretty badly, and Jared was still bleeding when I left. He was crying. I—I think he really cares about her.”
“I’m sorry.” Meela’s eyes showed understanding. ”
Cassi gave her a watery smile. “Well, we got out of it alive, anyway. I’ll make sure you get back your gun.”
Meela unlocked and opened the door to her apartment. “I’m going to call the hospital and see how Jared’s doing.”
“I don’t know which one he’s at.”
The other woman shrugged. “I’ll find him.” She went to the kitchen and pulled out her phone book.
Cassi grabbed her duffel bag and followed Meela into the kitchen. She walked quickly out onto the balcony and stepped over the railing. The sliding glass door to Jared’s apartment was still open a tiny sliver, and in a few seconds she was standing before Jared’s Life collection. Carefully, she drew her statue out of its case.
Ever since she had seen Jared’s collection, she’d known that the Mother and Baby statue belonged with others of its kind. She ran her fingers over the realistic features of the mother’s face. The woman’s full blue-checkered skirt swung out to the side, and one could easily imagine the mother dancing with her baby next to her chest in a tender embrace. Its sweetness made Cassi’s heart ache, yet she forced herself to set the statue down among a small group of children who were also dancing. A man with what looked like a fiddle stood to the side, one foot raised as if keeping time with the music.
Her tears fell as Cassi touched the baby’s face in parting. She didn’t cry because of the money because she knew Jared would reimburse her. Nor did she cry because the statue was no longer hers. She cried because of her love for a man she had just met, and for the seeming hopelessness of her situation. For good or for bad, he had chosen Laranda.
“I love you,” she said softly. She knew that the statue would tell him as she couldn’t, and in a way that would not embarrass him or compromise his feelings for Laranda. And who knew? Perhaps Laranda would change and make him as happy as Cassi wanted to make him.
She wiped her tears away with both hands, gathered up her duffel bag, and turned her back resolutely on the collection. Then she went through the balconies and back into Meela’s kitchen.
“He’s not there?” Meela was saying into the phone. “Well, maybe he hasn’t arrived yet. Yes, I’ve already called other hospitals. What? You’ve found them? How is he? And the woman? Oh. I understand. Yes. Thank you.”
She hung up the phone and turned to Cassi. “Jared’s going to be all right. They’re examining his shoulder now. They’ll probably keep him for a day or so.”
“And Laranda?”
“They wouldn’t give me any information over the phone. It must be serious.”
“Could you maybe go see him? Just to make sure he’s okay?”
“Good idea. What about you?”
Cassi’s eyes watered. “I’m going home. I just have to go home.” She paused, knowing she was running away. “Will you tell Jared that I’m sorry for shooting him? I feel it’s my fault, what happened to Laranda and all.”
“I’ll tell him, but it sounds to me like you saved him in the end, just like you wanted.”
Cassi shrugged. “Maybe.” She didn’t think Jared would look at it that way. Not when Laranda might be dying. “Thanks for everything.”
“You’re welcome. If ever I can do anything for you, let me know.”
Cassi hugged her and shook hands with the solemn Mikey. When the door shut behind her, she walked to the elevator without looking back, feeling that Jared and everything to do with him was gone from her life forever.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“Aren’t you done yet?” Jared asked the doctor impatiently. They had given him medication, but even so the doctor’s bandaging made pain shoot down his arm and through his chest.
“We’ll need to check you in for a few days,” the doctor said. “You’ve lost a lot of blood.”
“No. I’ve got to find Cassi.”
“She’s in surgery now. You can’t go to her.”
For a moment Jared’s heart jumped anxiously, until he realized the doctor was talking about Laranda. “No, not her, someone else.” Jared shut his eyes against the pain. In an instant, it all came back. He had been kissing Laranda—so different from the warm and vibrant Cassi—and had decided to reach for his gun that she’d left on the table behind her. Doing so seemed dangerous, yet he wasn’t about to trust Cassi’s life to Laranda’s greed. As he reached for the weapon, an agonizing pain ripped into his shoulder. The rest had happened too quickly for words, and even now he had trouble sorting out what had happened before the FBI agents raced into the room. Jared had clearly seen the fear on Cassi’s face and had wanted to go to her, but one arm hung uselessly at his side and dizziness had quickly overtaken him.
And Laranda! Jared felt new tears in his eyes as he remembered how the blood had soaked her shimmering dress, and how she had clung to him, asking him if he loved her.
Jared had always loved Laranda. He loved her as a friend and as an admirer, though he knew even before the shooting that she had been planning to use and betray him again. Admittedly, his respect and trust in her had evaporated, but he couldn’t shut off his feelings of love so quickly. She ha
d been alone and desperately in need. Jared hadn’t been able to turn his back on her.
With Laranda’s blood flowing onto the floor, Jared had glanced up at Cassi, hoping for comfort. He found none. Her tear-streaked face was abnormally white, and her body shook violently. An older man had his arms around her, and she leaned heavily against him. Though Jared longed to go to her himself, Laranda’s pitiful cries made him feel that he should stay with her.
He had expected Cassi to come with them to the hospital, but to his surprise, the man had hurried her out of the room. Who was he? Where were they going? Didn’t she care about what happened to him?
Wait! he wanted to shout at Cassi’s retreating back, but he was in too much pain to think coherently.
The ambulance had come then, and finally they’d given him something for the pain. At the hospital, Laranda was rushed into surgery, and there was nothing more he could do for her. His only thought now was for Cassi.
“Is that it?” Jared asked. The doctor had finished taping his shoulder and was fitting him with a sling for his arm.
“Yes. The nurse will take you to your—hey, where are you going?”
Jared ran out the emergency room doors before anyone could stop him. He had to see Cassi, to tell her how he felt. He hadn’t stopped for his shirt, and he knew he made a strange sight, especially with his blood-stained jeans. Indifferent to the stares, he ran down the street, searching for a taxi.
“Stop!”
Jared turned to see one of the FBI special agents behind him. It was Fred Shulte, the burly, brown-haired man who seemed to have some position of authority. “We’re not through with you yet.”
Jared stopped, breathing heavily, and waited for Fred to catch up. He had a nice face, and his mouth beneath the brown moustache didn’t seem angry. In fact, he looked like someone who might understand. “Look, I need to find Cassi, the woman who was with me at the gallery. Do you know where she is?”
The Special Agent Shulte nodded. “Her boss is with her, and he called us. She went to get her stuff at an apartment somewhere, and then they’re going to the airport.”
Jared blinked in surprise. How could she leave him, when there was so much left to say? Panic rose in his throat. “Don’t you have to question her or something?”
“They’ll do it in San Diego,” the man shrugged. “Linden says she’s pretty shaken up. It’s better to let her rest first.”
Jared wanted to curse himself for not going to Cassi after the shooting. Her expression had clearly shown how much she needed him, and because of his compassion for Laranda, he’d failed her.
“Come back inside.” The agent put a firm hand on his undamaged shoulder.
“Why don’t I get a chance to rest?” Jared asked, saying the first words that came to his lips.
The man’s mouth curved in a half-smile. “You’re a man. You don’t get that luxury.”
Jared hardly heard the words. “I’ve got to find her before she leaves. Will you take me to my place?”
The agent studied Jared’s face for a moment before saying. “Is she really worth all this?” At his nod, the man motioned for Jared to follow him. “I’ll take you if afterwards you’ll to come back to the hospital like a good little boy.”
“Agreed.”
Jared stared anxiously out the window as the car rolled through the crowded New York streets. Not for the first time, he wished he lived somewhere less busy. After what seemed an eternity, they arrived at his apartment building. Inside, Jared pounded on Meela’s door. “Where’s Cassi? Is she here?”
“Jared! You’re supposed to be in the hospital. I was just leaving to go see you there.”
“Where is she?” Jared wanted to shake the answer out of his friend.
“She’s already gone. She went home to San Diego. She asked me to tell you she was sorry for shooting you.”
“Shooting me? What do you mean?”
“She said she dropped the gun and it went off and hit you.”
That stopped Jared in mid thought. “Oh, I thought it was Ivan. I was going for a gun.”
“It was Cassi. She feels that what happened to Laranda is her fault.”
Jared snorted. “Cassi probably saved us all. I was so dizzy; I might have missed that guy at the door. She swung the balance. If it weren’t for her popping out of the vault when she did, we’d have all ended up dead.”
“I tried to tell her, but—”
He grinned, ignoring the pain rippling through his shoulder. “You should have seen her. She barked at that man, telling him to put down his gun, and he knew she was serious. It was incredible.”
“How’s Laranda?”
Jared shrugged. “She’s in surgery now. The doctor says it doesn’t look good, but I think she’s too tough to die. I feel bad for her, but she brought it upon herself.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Meela what about to say more, but hesitated.
“What aren’t you telling me,” Jared said.
“Well, Cassi said you were crying. She said something about you caring a lot about Laranda, but you don’t seem too worried about her. Not like Cassi described.”
“What?” Understanding dawned on Jared as he replayed the events at the gallery from Cassi’s point of view. He had stayed with the woman who would have killed them both. He had even reassured Laranda of his love.
Had Cassi also misinterpreted his words when he told Laranda that Cassi could never be her? That was most certainly true; Cassi could never be a cold-hearted, money-grubbing user like Laranda. He had to find her and explain.
“The airport. Let’s go to the airport!”
Agent Shulte nodded in agreement.
When they arrived at the airport, the plane to San Diego was already in the air. Pale and dizzy from the effort of reaching the ticket desk, Jared reached out to the wall to support himself with his good arm.
“I’d better get you back to the hospital.” Agent Shulte took his arm.
Jared let the man lead him back to the car. Cassi had left him! She hadn’t waited to see if he was all right, or even to say goodbye. Jared felt betrayal that seemed many times worse than what Laranda had done to him. One thing he knew was that he loved Cassi. Loved! She should have trusted him, believed in him.
Jared continued to torture himself with her memory: the smell of her, the way the sun brought out the highlights in her incredible hair, her brown eyes, so deep that he felt himself absorbed every time he looked at her. The vitality embodied in her ready smile, her kissable lips, her impetuous behavior. The list seemed endless. How could he go back to what his life had been—dull, monotonous, unfulfilling—before he knew Cassi? It wasn’t something he wanted to think about. Since he’d met her, a whole realm of new possibilities had emerged, and he wanted to explore them to the fullest.
In his mind, he could see her face when he had kissed her the night before. There had been an underlying passion he’d never felt before, and certainly not when he’d kissed Laranda today. Love made all the difference. But Cassi obviously didn’t share his feelings, or she would have trusted him more completely. Now that the mystery of the Buddha was solved, she was gone.
Logically, Jared knew his thoughts didn’t add up. After all, she’d come to save him at the gallery, risking her own life. He also remembered how she admitted that she enjoyed being with him, and how she’d returned his kiss. So, what was the problem? Was it his fault because of what happened with Laranda? Surely Cassi should have waited for him to explain.
Misery like none he had ever known descended upon him. He had opened his heart as Trudy had advised and had only succeeded in getting it broken.
“You could go to San Diego when you’re better,” Agent Shulte commented, not looking at Jared, yet obviously sympathizing with his pain.
“But she left me!”
“When a deal at work doesn’t go right, do you just dump it?”
The man had a point. Jared wouldn’t give up easily. He would go to San Diego, if only to he
ar from Cassi’s own lips that she didn’t love him. At least he would know the truth. Determination filled his heart, replacing the misery. He hadn’t come this far to lose her—at least not without a fight.
“You’re right,” Jared said. They drove in silence for a moment before Jared thought of something else. “How about stopping back at my apartment for a shirt? It’s on the way. The sooner I look normal, the sooner the doctor will release me.”
The other man sighed. “Only if you promise that we’ll go straight to the hospital afterwards. I think you’re bleeding again.” He jerked his head toward Jared’s shoulder. Sure enough, a large patch of red stained the fresh bandage. “What we men go through for a beautiful woman.”
Jared had to agree.
On the way home, another thought occurred to him. He had never actually told Cassi how he felt about her, and it was entirely possible that his actions after the shooting had only doused any inkling he’d given her. Despite his own hurt, tenderness for Cassi swelled in his heart.
At the apartment, he put on an old shirt and packed a few items for the hospital. He didn’t plan on staying more than one night, and that only because he’d promised Agent Shulte. As he emerged from the bedroom, he stopped, noticing that the door to his Life collection was ajar.
“I could have sworn I left this door shut last night,” he said.
Agent Shulte motioned Jared back and drew his gun. He approached the door cautiously. “Is anyone there?” he asked. No one answered. In true FBI fashion, he pushed open the door cautiously and peered into the room. After a moment he called out, “There’s nothing here but a bunch of statues.”
Jared followed him into the room, instantly seeing what was different. On the floor in front of his collection lay a box he remembered only too well. His eyes swept over Life, quickly finding the addition.
Cassi’s statue.
Wonder filled Jared’s mind. Cassi had given him her Mother and Baby.
One could argue that she let him have it in payment for shooting him, or that she simply believed the statue belonged in the collection. But Jared knew how much she loved the Mother and Baby, and by giving it to him, Cassi said far more about her feelings than anything else they had shared.
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