Settling The Score (BBW Romantic Suspense Contemporary Romance)

by Diane Blake

  Being mindful of her commitment to her job and customers, Craig timed his arrival for just a bit after closing when all the customers would be gone, but Jasinda would still be there cleaning up.

  Craig laughed to himself as he pulled his expensive, two-seater sports car into the mall parking lot. If he ever told his brother or his teammates that he wanted to surprise a girl with a dozen roses so soon into their relationship, he'd never hear the end of it! He imagined the teasing reactions of the men...

  Whipped after less than a week? Damn, bro, you got it bad for her!

  We know who's gonna be wearin' the pants in that relationship!

  Awww, Craig's gotta girlfriend. How cute. Are you going to write her name in your diary? Don't forget to dot the I's with little hearts!

  As Craig turned the corner, the blue and red police car lights bounced off the outside walls of one of the mall's anchor stores. "Maybe they caught a shoplifter," Craig said aloud as he shifted the car into park.

  Craig grabbed the bouquet of roses from the passenger seat. He strode through the parking lot. Craig tilted his head in acknowledgment to the cop standing by the mall entrance. "Evening, Officer."

  The cop stepped sideways, putting himself directly in front of the double glass doors adorned with sale signs. "Sorry. Mall's closed for the night, sir."

  "I thought I'd timed it better. Maybe there was more traffic on the highway than I thought. Would you mind if I just pop in real quick to surprise a special lady with these?" Craig showed the bouquet and stepped forward. He fully expected the cop to move out of his way.

  However, the police officer didn't budge.

  Craig was momentarily taken aback. People usually just did what he wanted. He was the Craig Wilder after all. He rarely even had to give actual orders. Just phrasing things in the form of a question usually sufficed. "Not a football fan, hey?" Craig joked, even though only he understood the humor based on what he had been thinking.

  "Oh, I thought that was you, Mr. Wilder, but I couldn't believe I met you twice in such a short amount of time."

  Craig looked more closely at the officer's face. "Right. You were the cop who took the statement after the incident at the ice cream shop a few days ago."

  "Yep, that was me. This is my beat and shift."

  Craig smiled. "Too bad we couldn't meet under better circumstances the first time. At least this time, it's a happy occasion." Craig held up the roses again. "So, be a pal, and let me deliver these to score some points with a nice girl, will ya?"

  "You obviously don't know..." The cop let the sentence trail off.

  "Know what?"

  "There was another incident tonight." Off Craig's look of confusion, the cop continued, "At the ice cream place."

  "What happened? Who?"

  "I don't know all the details. I haven't been up there myself tonight," the cop explained.

  A page for the officer came over his shoulder radio. "Excuse me." The cop turned away. He lowered the volume and tilted his head to get his ear closer to the speaker. He spoke into it softly. After a couple back and forth bits with the person on the other end of the conversation, the cop turned towards Craig. "I'm sorry, Mr. Wilder. It involves one of the women from the other night."

  Craig swallowed audibly. "Which one?"

  "Her name is Jasinda."

  "That's who I came to see. To bring her these flowers. What happened? Is she all right?" he asked all in one breath.

  The cop's heretofore stoic expression finally changed. He slowly shook his head from side to side. "Again, I'm sorry."

  "What the hell does that mean?" Craig yelled.

  "Someone attacked her..."

  "And?"

  The cop drew his lips together in a sympathetic expression. "She didn't make it."

  "Oh," Craig whispered as he took a step back. His hand drooped. He barely held on to the now upside down handful of flowers.

  The cop's shoulder radio crackled with static. He bent his neck and listened.

  Craig's state of shock prevented him from even attempting to make out the policeman's conversation with whomever kept squawking on the other end.

  "Yes, he's still here. I'll ask him." The cop used as soothing a voice as possible under the circumstances. "Since you're well acquainted with the victim, the coroner requests that, if you feel up to it, you go upstairs to the food court to identify the body."

  Craig shook his head yes without saying a word. The cop stepped out of the way. Craig maneuvered his way to the food court by autopilot fueled purely by adrenalin.

  The various emergency personnel and officials recognized Craig as he approached them. They offered condolences and respectful acknowledgments.

  Mere steps away from the spot in which she lay, Craig realized that he still held the fragrant and beautiful roses. He kneeled on the floor and gently placed the bouquet by her side.

  With his size and athletic ability, Craig Wilder had hardly been afraid of anything in his life. The task before him sent fear right to the core of his being. His hand trembled as he reached out for the sheet which the coroner had placed over Jasinda's body.

  "I have to warn you, Mr. Wilder. The murder was particularly bloody. There's one minor comfort (if anything could be called that in a circumstance like this) – whoever did this was a professional. Your girlfriend's death happened very quickly. It would have been over before she even realized what was happening to her."

  Craig's throat went dry. He could hardly get the words out. "We were just getting to know each other. Just beginning..."

  "Perhaps you would prefer to do this at a later time," the coroner suggested.

  Craig declined the delay. "Not only for you, but for me, I need to see her now, one last time. Kiss her good-bye."

  "I understand," the coroner said.

  A tear welled in Craig's eye. He squeezed both eyes shut to force it out. He wiped the tear away with the back of his hand. He couldn't remember the last time anything brought him to tears.

  Instead of a slow, agonizing reveal of moving the sheet down an inch at a time, he did just the opposite. Like ripping a bandage off a wound in one fell swoop, he just yanked the sheet off, essentially exposing Jasinda's body all at once.

  His eyes bugged out at the horrible sight. Craig shook his head in disbelief. "That's not Jasinda!"

  The coroner put a comforting hand on Craig's shoulder. "Many people have that reaction. It's perfectly normal-"

  "You don't understand." Craig's voice rose. "That's not her. That's not Jasinda Reed's body. That's her co-worker, Trudy!"

  Chapter 26

  The relief showed on Craig's face when Jasinda opened her apartment door half an hour later.

  "What's wrong?" Jasinda asked, instantly reading his expression which had changed from relief to something darker.

  "You haven't seen the news, have you?"

  "No, I shut off all electronic devices, including my phone so I could concentrate on all my schoolwork tonight."

  "That explains why you didn't respond to my texts or phone calls. Let's sit down, I've got something to tell you."

  Jasinda couldn't help herself. Her mind went right back to Oh no, he's going to tell me that what Kandi said about the two of them secretly being a couple was true all along. I'm such a fool!

  Jasinda soon forgot about that thought when Craig explained that Trudy had been murdered at the ice cream shop.

  "It's all my fault!" Jasinda buried her face in Craig's shoulder.

  "Don't say that," Craig said softly as he cradled her in his strong arms. His hand pushed the hair out of her eyes. He kissed her on the forehead.

  "But it's true!" Jasinda wailed. "Trudy wasn't even supposed to be at Biggie Scoops tonight. I asked Trudy to switch shifts at the last minute."

  "That still doesn't explain why she was wearing your name tag."

  Jasinda continued her explanation, "Trudy was out shopping when I texted her about working for me because I just had too much schoolwork to do. Trudy didn'
t have time to go back home to get her name tag. Since the manager had said the corporate secret shopper was due to visit this week, Trudy didn't want to get caught working without a name tag. I told her I'd left mine on the counter in the back room and she could just use that one."

  "Oh, no..."

  "Exactly! That's why she got killed. The killer thought she was me."

  Craig tried to think of something comforting. "There could have been another motive."

  Jasinda stopped crying and pulled away from his embrace. "What did the police say?"

  Craig scratched his chin. "The coroner did say it was planned. A professional job."

  "Another robbery?" Jasinda asked.

  "There wasn't any money missing from the register. Plus the police said the food court security cameras had been disabled beforehand."

  Jasinda shook her head as she wiped a tear away from her puffy eyes. "They must have been after me."

  "The important thing now is to keep you safe." Craig pulled her against his body, once again fully embracing her with the promise that he would do everything in his power to stop anyone from ever hurting her.

  Craig hovered overnight like a guard dog. He insisted that he didn't want to leave Jasinda alone. She made up the couch for him. She slept in her bedroom with the door open to the living room, knowing that he was only steps away if necessary.

  When they woke up on Friday morning, Craig shared his desire to stay with her all day. However, with the Big Game only two days away, the Tigers management demanded their star quarterback fulfill his contractual obligations for publicity, interviews, appearances, etc. They paid him millions and they expected a handsome return on the investment, both on and off the field.

  "Why don't you come with me while I do my duties?" Craig asked. "You might have fun."

  "As much as I would enjoy being your number one groupie, I have my own responsibilities. Besides, I have a full day and evening planned on campus. Classes. Research. I'll be surrounded by people all day long. I'll be safer there than sitting in my apartment."

  "Still, I'd feel better if you let me hire a bodyguard to watch over you."

  "Wow, that's an incredible and expensive idea."

  Craig looked at her with a bemused smile. "I can afford it, you know."

  "I know. I just meant that I can't believe you'd do that for me."

  Craig took her in his arms. He looked into her eyes. "Jasinda, I'd do anything for you."

  She smiled and hugged him.

  "I wish my brother wasn't out of town on business. There's nobody I trust more."

  Jasinda raised an eyebrow. "Your brother? The computer geek wizard? He doesn't sound like the type to take down the bad guys."

  Craig laughed. "That's right. You haven't met Stephen yet. He's definitely the brains of the family. He also happens to be the same size as me. He's only a year older. When we were kids, people often mistook us as twins. Even now, when he takes his glasses off and wears his contacts, it's hard to tell us apart."

  "What about these?" Jasinda said as she gave Craig's bicep a squeeze with both hands – which still didn't fit all the way around it.

  "Stephen has a gym installed right next to his office. He says lifting weights helps him sort out computer code problems in his head."

  "Impressive," Jasinda commented. "He sounds like a real student-athlete type."

  "Oh yeah." Craig looked around as if he wanted to make sure nobody was listening. Of course, they were alone so it was just to be funny. "I'll let you in on a little secret. He's the one who taught me everything I know about football, especially those amazing runs I'm known for. My brother also played football in high school and college. I think he would have made a great pro player too, but he loved computers more than anything else."

  "I'm looking forward to meeting him someday. Since he's your brother and you respect him so much, I know I'll like him."

  Craig reached for his phone. "Back to the issue at hand, I'll call the player hotline and have them assign a bodyguard to you."

  The jealousy crept into Jasinda's voice. "Sure, I bet that Sierra or whatever her name is who answers that hotline number knows lots of big burly men."

  Craig winked. "Her name is Sienna." Craig made the call. A couple minutes later, he reported that the bodyguard would meet Jasinda at the apartment and then follow her around campus all day.

  Chapter 27

  The pleasant aroma of fresh roasted coffee beans filled Jasinda's nostrils as she settled into a table at The Coffee Corner, a coffee shop right on the Jefferson University campus.

  She observed from the overstuffed couches, abundance of track lighting, and soft pastel colors that the place needed an update. Apparently, it hadn't been remodeled since the 1980's when it was converted from being a campus bar.

  She'd read about the history of the shop in the online university handbook. Business department students originally developed the location as a bar in the 1960's. At that time, the legal drinking age in most states was 18. The bar thrived as a campus hangout where any local and national bands just starting out in the industry played for exposure.

  Then, in the 1980's, states across the country raised the drinking age to 21. Most college campuses banned alcohol entirely. Jasinda reflected on the irony of how that move created a greater desire for drinking among college students by making it taboo.

  In order to save the student-run business, they reinvented the campus bar as The Coffee Corner. Jasinda perused the décor including the cups emblazoned with the Jefferson University symbol and motto. She wondered how many of them had survived since the inception of The Coffee Corner.

  "You must be thinking about that hot new guy of yours," Gus said as he dropped his books on the table and delivered a fancy steaming coffee to Jasinda.

  "Actually, I was thinking of how I'd remodel this place."

  "Don't get me started on that! Though I suppose if they played it up even more, they could leave it as it is and go for a whole retro look."

  Jasinda sipped the delicious coffee. "Extra sugar. You remembered."

  "Of course. Plus this..." Gus produced a banana nut muffin and presented it to her.

  Jasinda's face lit up. "You shouldn't have."

  "I can take it back," Gus teased.

  "Don't you dare," Jasinda said as she playfully slapped his hand. She took a bite of the heavenly food. She offered him a piece. "You want?"

  "All for you," he smiled.

  They chatted about classes and the weather. Jasinda felt grateful to just be a normal person for a change and forget about everything that had happened to her recently. She was so glad that she'd kept Gus in the dark about the robbery, Kandi, and then the terrible tragedy of Trudy's murder. If he knew, Gus would feel compelled to keep asking her how she was coping with everything. This way, she could get a little escape from it all and try to maintain her sanity.

  The content feeling disappeared when Gus said, "I don't want to alarm you, but I think you have a stalker."

  Jasinda swiveled her head like an owl. Instead of saying "Who...who..." she said, "where... where?"

  "Stop that. You look like a bobblehead. Good thing he happened to look away for a minute. You don't want him to know you're on to him."

  Jasinda took a deep breath. Gus's calm demeanor brought her out of the panic mode she'd automatically entered. The bodyguard. Of course. She relaxed. The bodyguard had been so unobtrusive all day, she'd momentarily forgotten about him when she heard the word "stalker."

  "I'm sure it's nothing," Jasinda told Gus.

  "Your attitude just did a 180 faster than a race car reaches that speed at the Indy 500."

  Jasinda eyed Gus. "You? And pro sports?"

  Gus shrugged. "Have you seen some of those drivers?"

  "Good point."

  Gus gazed past Jasinda at the man who kept looking over at them. "Even if you're not concerned about a potential psycho stalker/serial killer, I am." He reached for his phone.

  "What are you doing
?" she asked.

  "Calling campus security to report that guy creeping on you.

  Jasinda snatched the phone from his hand. She swiped back to his home screen. Jasinda glanced over her shoulder to assess the situation. She turned back to Gus. "Are you talking about the guy with the dark hair wearing the Jefferson University jacket?"