Keeping Watch (9781460341285)

by Choate, Jane M.

  “You know what I need?” he asked. “A hot-fudge sundae with whipped cream, nuts and a cherry on top.”

  “No one needs a hot-fudge sundae.”

  “I beg to differ. Hot-fudge sundaes are a known remedy for any number of ailments.”

  “Including a trashed apartment?”

  “Most definitely.” He grabbed her hand. “Play hooky with me. I happen to know of an old-fashioned ice-cream parlor where they serve real ice cream—the hard-packed kind, not the stuff that comes out of a machine.”

  It was tempting. “I have work,” she said and gestured to the witness statement in front of her.

  “Ditch it.”

  “I can’t ditch work.”

  “Didn’t you ever ditch class in school?”

  She shook her head.

  “Then you’re overdue for a lesson in the art of playing hooky.”

  In the end, she did exactly that. She left work, though not without filing the papers in the proper place, told Clariss she’d be out for a while, then left the office in the middle of the day with the sole intention of eating a hot-fudge sundae.

  A half hour later, she was bellied up to an ancient gray Formica counter, balanced on a red vinyl stool, shoveling vanilla ice cream drizzled with hot fudge into her mouth. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”

  “Better than Baked Alaska?” he asked, naming the dessert they’d eaten at her father’s house last night.

  She slurped up another bite, tasted, sighed. “Better.” Was it only last night that they’d returned to her apartment and found the devastation? It seemed that a half a lifetime had passed in that span of hours.

  “Told you so.” He smirked, drawing her attention to the hot fudge that rimmed his mouth. Unashamedly, he licked it away with his tongue.

  “Thank you. I needed this.”

  “Isn’t that what I told you? You can need a hot-fudge sundae.” The banter dropped from his voice.

  She put down her spoon. “What I really need are some new clothes.”

  He laid some bills on the counter, leaving a generous tip. “We can go shopping right now.”

  “I can’t. I have to take a deposition in forty-five minutes. Besides, I can do my shopping online. Just point and click.”

  “Doesn’t sound like much fun,” he commented. “Shelley’s always telling me that the best part of shopping is the deciding.”

  “It is. But it can take hours. Days, even. I don’t have that.”

  His hand at her elbow, Jake guided her from the parlor. She was surprised at just how much she had enjoyed the outing, and for the first time she could remember, she didn’t look forward to returning to work.

  * * *

  In the end, the deposition took two and a half hours rather than the scheduled one. Dani was tired and nearing cranky by the end of it. Still, she kept her professionalism and was rewarded with getting the testimony she wanted on the record.

  Jake had remained in the waiting room, and she wondered if he was as tired and cranky as she felt. Probably so. Neither one of them had gotten much sleep last night. She thought of the apartment she had furnished with such enthusiasm and care. Now she wondered if she’d ever be able to return there again.

  Jake relieved her of her laptop and briefcase. “You’re done for the day.”

  It was more an order than a question, and she treated it as such. “I’m done,” she agreed. “And done in.”

  “I have something to show you.” He herded her out to his Jeep and drove the twelve blocks to her apartment building.

  “I don’t want to see it,” she said and was ashamed of the admission. Some torn clothes and ripped upholstery shouldn’t have the power to upset her. Shouldn’t have. But they did.

  “You have to face it sometime.”

  Mentally bracing herself, she walked into the apartment. And stared.

  The ruined furniture and torn books were gone. In their place was a sofa in a quiet color, two comfortable-looking chairs and a new bookcase, the shelves waiting to be filled.

  “How did you...?” She broke off what she’d been about to say, too stunned to continue.

  “As you said, point and click. After I met with Monroe this morning, I did some shopping of my own. I called in some favors, had some buddies of mine pick the stuff up and deliver it.”

  She wandered into the kitchen to find the spilled food and broken china gone.

  “I also hired a cleaning crew,” he said in answer to the question in her eyes.

  The bedroom was next. A soft green spread covered a new mattress and box spring. The ruined clothes were no more. She opened her closet and gasped when she saw three suits in the spring colors she favored. “How did you know my size?”

  “I looked at one of your blouses, saw the size and pointed my mouse. If you don’t like them, we can return them.”

  Tears clogged her throat. Jake had done all this. For her.

  “No one’s ever done anything like this for me. Ever. I don’t know what to say.” The sting of tears behind her eyelids threatened to spill over. Jake didn’t need her waterworks. She knew enough about men to understand that they weren’t comfortable with a woman’s tears.

  He grabbed her hand. “C’mon. We’re going home.”

  Twenty minutes later, the doorbell rang and a large man who looked nothing like a pizza delivery boy stood there, holding a flat white box and a large bag.

  Jake made the introductions. “Dani, this is Sal. Short for Salvatore. I told you about him. He’s going to be helping us out for a while. Sal, meet Deputy District Attorney Dani Barclay.”

  Sal stuck out a large paw, enfolded Dani’s hand in it. “Pleased to meet you, Ms. Barclay.”

  “It’s Dani. And the same goes. How did Jake rope you into delivering pizza?”

  “He said he’d buy. I’d do just about anything for good old American pizza.” Already at home, Sal carried the box in to the kitchen. He dug in the plastic bag and came up with paper plates, napkins and three cans of soda.

  “Sal, you’re a lifesaver,” she said fervently.

  “I aim to please.”

  “Sal’s going to stay with you when I can’t,” Jake explained. “Don’t worry. He’s one of the good guys.”

  By the end of the evening, Dani felt as though she’d known Salvatore Santonni all her life. His laid-back manner and easy conversation were a balm to her weary soul. She learned that he’d served with Jake in the Sandbox.

  “It’s a downright shame what some polecat did to your place,” Sal said. “If I catch him, I’ll skin him alive.”

  “How is it that you have a name like Salvatore Santonni yet talk like a good ol’ boy?” she asked.

  “Blame it on my mama. She was a real Southern belle, supposed to marry a family friend from Ole Miss, but she fell in love with a foreign exchange student named Luigi Santonni. It upset her mama and daddy something fierce, but they came around eventually. The rest, as they say, is history.”

  She lost the battle with a smile and finally let it have its way. “Seems like that history turned out pretty good.”

  “Thank you, ma’am. You’re a real lady. Just like Jakey here said.”

  Dani turned to Jake. “Jakey?”

  Sal spread his hands and cast an innocent smile upon her. “He told me I wasn’t to call him Preacher.”

  “Preacher?” she asked.

  Jake tossed a look her way. “It’s a long story.”

  “It ain’t long,” Sal said in contradiction. “We called him Preacher ’cause he was always reading the Good Book.”

  “The Bible?” She couldn’t keep the surprise from her voice.

  Jake glared at his friend. “I’ve been known to crack it open once in a while.”

  “Don’
t let him fool you,” Sal said. “He was always spouting scripture verses at us. Some of them even stuck.”

  “You talk too much,” Jake muttered. “Give it a rest.” He aimed a dark look at his friend. “Where’re you staying?”

  “I got me a place not far from here. I’ll be here first thing in the morning.”

  “I like your Sal,” she said after the big man had taken himself off. “He’s nice.”

  Jake coughed out a laugh. “Sal’s the one you want standing beside you when trouble hits. I hope you don’t mind my hiring him, but I need someone to watch you while I do some more digging.”

  “Into Jerry Brooks?”

  “Him and whoever helped him bypass that monitor.”

  “Why are you so convinced it was Brooks who trashed my apartment?”

  “Human nature. Brooks has got himself a lot of rage. When it gets bad, he starts hitting. Someone. Or something. He couldn’t get to you because I’ve been with you 24/7. But he could get to your apartment.”

  “That’s another thing. How’d he get in?”

  “Let’s have a talk with your doorman, Barry.”

  “You can’t think Barry had something to do with this.” She refused to believe it.

  “Not knowingly. But the kid’s so green that I expect him to be sprouting grass any moment. How do you feel about another trip to your old digs?”

  “Fine.” That was a lie, and they both knew it.

  Returning to her apartment building was bittersweet.

  Barry, fresh-faced and eager to please, looked up and smiled. “Hey, there, Ms. Barclay. Mr. Rabb. What can I do for you?”

  “You know about the trouble at my place last night?” Dani began.

  His smile fell away. “I sure do. The police questioned me, right sharplike. I told ’em I didn’t let anyone have a key. I’d never do that, Ms. Barclay. You know that.”

  “Of course I do. But maybe you noticed something?”

  He frowned. “No, ma’am. Just like I told that detective, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”

  At a loss, she looked at Jake.

  “What about someone who called you away from your desk?” Jake asked. “You do get calls from tenants, don’t you?”

  “Yes, sir. But I don’t leave my post. The manager is real clear about that.” He paused. “There was that policeman who came by.”

  “Asking questions about last night?” Dani asked.

  “No. It was earlier. He wanted to know if I’d had any problems with homeless people hanging around.” Barry darted a quick look between Jake and Dani. “I feel sorry for people who’ve got nowhere to go. In the winter, I let them hang out in the lobby if no one’s around. Please don’t tell anyone.”

  “We won’t,” she assured him.

  “This policeman,” Jake cut in. “You ever see him before?”

  “No, sir. He said he was new and wanted to get a feel for the neighborhood. I told him this was a real nice place, with good people. He thanked me, then went on his way.”

  “How long did you talk?”

  “Two minutes. Maybe three.”

  Jake exchanged a look with Dani. She knew what he was thinking. The fake patrolman could have distracted Barry just long enough for someone to sneak past him.

  “Thanks, Barry,” Dani said and pressed a bill into his hand. “You’ve been a real help.”

  “But I didn’t do anything.”

  “Oh, but you did.”

  On the ride back to Jake’s place, Dani thought aloud. “Someone could have gotten past Barry. But what about the security camera?”

  “A security camera would be child’s play for someone who could take out an ankle monitor.”

  “You’re right.”

  If they were right in their supposition about Brooks, he was even more clever and dangerous than she’d first believed. It was with a troubled mind that she turned in for the night.

  * * *

  Jake knew Dani was nearing the end of her rope. She’d been stalked, nearly poisoned, now had her apartment vandalized. She’d held up admirably, but she was fragile right now.

  Bringing Sal on to help guard her had been a stroke of genius. As he’d told Dani, Sal was the man you wanted standing at your side when trouble hit. He was also the man you wanted guarding your back when you couldn’t do it for yourself. Since leaving Delta, Sal had knocked around, trying his hand at various things, including bounty hunting. He carried a pair of Flex-Cuffs with him, along with other tools of his trade.

  Years ago, Sal had saved Jake’s life in a forgotten village in the Afghan mountains. Jake had returned the favor a couple of years later when they’d taken fire in the mountains of Kazakhstan. They both bore the scars of those ordeals, inside and out.

  Sal had been given the nickname Gentle Giant in the unit. His size and wizardry with weaponry were intimidating, but he had a tenderness to him that made him a favorite of children, wherever the unit had happened to be sent.

  It was common among the men to share candy with village children, most of whom had never tasted it. Sal had made it a point to round up anything he could for the kids, even writing home and asking his family to send candy and small toys, which he distributed with a generous hand.

  With Sal making sure that Dani was safe, Jake could spend the following days concentrating on investigating. He knew Brooks must have committed the vandalism. Now he just had to prove it.

  As he got ready for bed, he admitted that he was more than tired. A nearly sleepless night the night before had left him sluggish and—he feared—unable to respond immediately should there be a threat. That was another reason he’d wanted Sal on board.

  There’d been a time, not too long ago, when he’d gotten by on little or no sleep for days on end. When he’d hiked over rough terrain carrying an eighty-pound backpack of essentials. When he’d swum through frigid water against the current and jogged in desert heat without once breaking stride.

  Though he hated to admit it, his body wasn’t in that kind of physical shape any longer. Years of physically pushing his body beyond the normal limits had taken their toll.

  He could still take on nine men out of ten, but it was that tenth that worried him. For himself, he didn’t care so much, but Dani was in his charge now. A warrior accustomed to taking care of others, he would never forgive himself if something happened to her on his watch.

  His watch. What was the saying? Old soldiers never died; they just marched to a new drummer. And that was what he was. An old soldier who was struggling to do the duty that had always defined him.

  Sometimes he couldn’t remember when he hadn’t been fighting to survive. There were the years in the projects, when he had taken on anyone foolish enough to bother his little sister, when they had both battled against the poverty that sucked people under like a bog of quicksand.

  When Shelley had graduated from high school and won a scholarship to college, he’d enlisted. There, he’d fought to make his way in the regimented and often brutal environment of military life.

  He’d excelled at every challenge thrown at him, especially hand-to-hand combat and small weaponry. When he’d been singled out for training in special ops, he’d known he’d found his place.

  Jake knew he was competing against other soldiers, even against the elements as he and the others trained in the worst conditions nature could throw at them. But, most of all, he understood he was competing against himself, trying to beat his best record. The challenge of it satisfied something deep inside him.

  In the service, he’d found something he had never before experienced: a sense of belonging. Belonging to something bigger than himself, something that really mattered.

  The work had intensified, with specialized skills added to the regimen. SERE training had convinced him that
he wanted to be part of Delta Force, where the baddest of the bad volunteered to take the fight to the enemy on their own ground using what they’d learned in Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape.

  For twelve years, he’d done just that, having been deployed to every trouble spot on the planet.

  He’d risen in the ranks until he’d commanded his own unit. He’d believed that he would serve his full twenty before leaving the military.

  Until Libya. Until his unit had been betrayed, sacrificed at the altar of politics and greed.

  With a conscious effort, Jake emptied his mind of the past. He wished he still believed, that he could once again take the comfort he had always found in prayer. At one time, he’d wondered how those who didn’t have faith got through a day, much less a lifetime, without prayer. It had been his sustaining force, his anchor, in a world that too often seemed to have gone mad.

  He shut off the memories of when prayer had been a regular part of his life. He’d leave the praying to Dani and depend on himself.

  * * *

  The rap on the door awoke him. Instantly alert, Jake reached for his pants, pulled them on and went to the door.

  “Preacher. It’s me.” Sal’s deep voice sounded through the door.

  Jake undid the locks and opened the door. “I hope you brought coffee.”

  “Coffee and the fixings for breakfast.”

  Sal’s appetite was legendary among their unit. He routinely ate six eggs and six slices of bacon every morning. That he wasn’t three hundred and fifty pounds of lard was one of those mysteries of nature.

  “I’m a growing boy, Preacher. You know that.”

  Jake looked at the man who topped his own six foot two inches by another three, outweighed him by at least fifty pounds, and grinned. “That you are.”

  “Let me get breakfast started and you can catch me up on the scumbags I need to look out for.”

  While Sal made himself at home in the kitchen, Jake filled him in on everything that had happened. He started with the letters and phone calls, ended with Newton’s trying to poison Dani at the awards night.