Harlequin Romantic Suspense July 2021 Box Set

by Carla Cassidy

  To the contrary, it could help. Giving Heidi yet another avenue to be heard. So he was done there.

  With her having support of the system, we’re going to need professional help to stop her.

  Stop. He reminded himself, and the irritating voice in his head, that he was done. He had the information he needed.

  The new motion would give Heidi another chance to show herself before the court as a healed woman who only wanted what was best for her young daughter. A woman who knew that she had to get Bella away from the Taylors, just like she had to get herself away...

  None of us are safe until she’s exposed as the liar she is.

  Greg ended the interview. Went for his climb early. He tried to concentrate on the good work he’d done that day—and found himself, instead, with a maybe messed-up brown-eyed schoolteacher taking his thoughts hostage.

  He had to get rid of Jasmine. Mentally, that was. Get her out of his head. He’d find the truth, and that’s all he could do. He wasn’t Jasmine’s savior. Couldn’t be. Didn’t even want to be.

  He couldn’t afford to be.

  CHAPTER 8

  Jasmine wasn’t served that weekend, or Monday, either. When she’d spoken to Sara Havens Edwin, head therapist at the Stand, she found out that if the motion was thrown out, she likely wouldn’t hear about it. She was told not to worry about it in any case. With no evidence, the court wouldn’t take Bella away from her. Most particularly since Josh was the custodial parent and Heidi wouldn’t even be considered for such a role for another two or three years.

  Most of which she already knew.

  Validation was good, though. Heady. As was the knowledge that Greg Johnson had called her to give her a heads-up when there’d been no reason for him to need to have done so. Not in an official capacity. He was letting her know Heidi’s moves, so she and Josh could be prepared.

  He was helping her protect her brother and niece.

  She thought about calling him often over the weekend, as she took Bella grocery shopping, to the park, down to the beach. Instead, spent an afternoon baking chocolate chip cookies with the toddler, letting her dump, “stir” and help put cookies on the trays. She talked to Bella about different ingredients. Put a tiny taste of flour on her tongue and then sugar. Let her feel the difference between the two of them with her fingers. And thought about Greg Johnson and the way he was helping them.

  Was it too good to be true? Was she being naive, or worse, stupid again, to trust the cop? To believe that someone would really protect them?

  Still...the weekend passed with many joyful moments. Josh called each night. Saturday night they played a memory game together on video chat with big flashcards of colors laid out on Jasmine’s floor. Bella had the most matches most of the time. Josh teased her, and she laughed and showed him her “flips.” She was learning to do somersaults in a little pre-dance class at the Stand.

  When it was time to say good-night, he brought his lips right up to the phone to kiss her cheek, and then Bella turned her lips to the phone where all that showed was his cheek.

  It wasn’t perfect. Perfection would have had her brother right there in the room with them. Or her visiting with him and Bella in Josh’s living room.

  But it was good. Really good.

  Heidi was inconveniencing them. She wasn’t going to hurt them. Or change them.

  She managed to stay predominantly hopeful and positive on Monday, too, going into the new week with strength and determination, until Lila called her to office just after the end of classes. An unsolicited meeting with the managing director wasn’t usually just a pat on the back for work well done.

  After checking on Bella, happy to see her niece avidly engaged with story time, she presented herself to her boss with trepidation.

  Had word of the motion somehow reached Lila? Was it going to be a problem after all? Her job...it was more than just an occupation, a way to earn money to pay for bills. She had enough money to pay bills. Her work was her life. A way to contribute something meaningful, to make lemonade out of her lemons.

  Heidi, who worked at a call center, knew how much Jasmine loved going to work every day. Could her former sister-in-law really become so vindictive that she would stop at nothing to cause pain to her as well as Josh? To ruin their lives as she’d ruined her own?

  Lila answered her knock immediately. She showed Jasmine to a seat on the couch off to the side of her desk—not to her inner sanctum. Not a good sign.

  Glancing at the director, Jasmine tried to get a sense of what was coming, but she couldn’t read much on the stoic face. Lila’s hair was in its usual bun, secured with a jeweled clasp instead of just the pins she used to wear.

  Tempted to look around, she didn’t. One thing life had taught her was to face her challenges head-on. It was the only way to have a chance at preventing them from rear-ending you.

  “I had another call from Detective Johnson today.” Lila, who took a seat next to her, rather than in a chair across from her, came straight to the point. And for a moment, relief pounded through Jasmine instead of dread. “He was asking questions about you...things about you personally. I thought you should know.”

  Greg was interested in her? Personally? Her heart fluttered in a good way. A very good way.

  She tempered her smile. Just because the man was interested didn’t mean she was changing her life choice to remain single. But damn, it felt good to have someone watching out for her...

  It had to be because of Heidi’s motion. He’d said he had nothing to do with it, that he wasn’t involved in any aspect of that case, but he’d know that if Heidi continued to come after her, it could have an impact on her job.

  “If you’re asking for my permission to give him personal information, you have it. I trust you to be circumspect,” she said, while making a plan to call the detective himself and let him know that if he had questions, all he had to do was ask. She’d told him she’d be completely honest with him. That promise hadn’t just encompassed Josh’s case.

  Maybe they could be friends. A good friend would be nice.

  Lila, who wasn’t smiling at all, shook her head. “His questions were more on the lines of someone investigating you,” she said. “He wanted to know if I had any concerns...”

  “Concerns? About my work? My teaching ability?” Confused, she tried to fit the new data into what she already knew. What would Greg Johnson care if she was a good teacher? Unless he was believing Heidi? Or there was some weight to her motion?

  If it just had to do with him investigating her regarding the criminal case against Josh, then wouldn’t he have questioned Lila the previous week when he’d been to the Stand?

  “He didn’t specify. And I didn’t ask. I simply told him that if I had any concerns about you at all, you wouldn’t be teaching in one of my classrooms. I was left with the impression, though, that I was only one of many people he’d spoken to, or would be speaking to. I thought you should know.”

  Lila’s unusual blue-gray eyes held Jasmine’s gaze steadily, as though waiting for her to catch up. And then she did.

  “Desmond.” She said the one word and saw Lila’s nod. “Detective Johnson just called. I suggested that he might want to wait and speak with you before making any other calls, but I can’t guarantee he’ll do so. He’s got a job to do, and he doesn’t strike me as a man who’ll let anything get in the way of that.”

  If Greg Johnson called Desmond, he’d be unleashing more than he knew. “I have to believe he hasn’t called him yet or my cell would be going off.” Pulling it out of one of the two big pockets on the front of her tunic, she checked. Her heart pounded in earnest now. Hard enough for her to feel it in her chest.

  “I’m sorry,” she said to Lila, rising. “I have to call him before he gets to Desmond.”

  Nodding, Lila moved over to her desk. Jasmine could have left the office to ma
ke her call. She didn’t.

  Greg Johnson’s voice mail picked up.

  “Detective Johnson, this is Jasmine Taylor. I need you to call me before you contact any other people in my life asking about me. Please. It’s important.”

  She hung up and looked over at Lila. “He’ll call,” she said, not sure why she felt like she had to convince Lila.

  The woman, standing still, moved some papers around on her desk. Maybe purposefully. “I’d never met him before, but I know of some of the work he’s done for the High-Risk Team. With Emma Martin, in particular. You’ve met her, right?”

  Jasmine nodded, wishing her chest wasn’t knotted to her throat with tension. Prosecutor Emma Martin had most recently worked a case involving a resident at the Stand. The girlfriend of a prominent drug dealer who swore her boyfriend wasn’t responsible for a face so swollen it was hardly recognizable.

  “He’ll call,” she said again, glad to know that Bella was happily and safely ensconced in the Stand’s daycare.

  “I’m just wondering if perhaps you should stay here until you hear from him,” Lila said. “At least give him a chance to call back. Especially with that little one in tow. Desmond hasn’t made a chargeable mistake yet, but something like this could throw him into high gear.”

  Desmond Williamson. Her ex whose brotherhood all gathered around him, honored him as a great cop.

  In his circle he was revered—just as her father still was in his own. Men like them, they always found a way to come out okay. Partially because of the great work they did outside the home. No one ever saw the people they became once behind the locked doors of their own abodes.

  “I can handle Desmond,” she said now. “He’s not going to risk his career—”

  “You don’t need to go through that again.”

  With a sad smile, she met Lila’s concerned gaze and said, “But the good news is that we both know I can handle it if I have to do so.”

  “I’d feel better if you’d gotten a restraining order out against him.”

  “It could have ruined his career, which would have unhinged him, and then I’d be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life.” Some men, like Desmond, like her father, you could bargain with. They’d go away if you left their lives intact.

  The only problem was, her way, her mother’s way, of dealing with the problem put others at risk. Jasmine lived with that knowledge. And knew that Lila supported her choices, regardless. Even if Desmond had gotten convicted, a first offense, for a dedicated cop...he’d have had a slap of the wrist at best. He could have lost his job, but even that wasn’t a foregone conclusion. They had programs for officers who’d committed domestic violence. Some that allowed them to remain on the job. And Desmond had been so careful to skate on the line, but not cross it completely. He’d never actually landed a blow with the hand he’d raised to her.

  “I’ve still got some work to do in my classroom, with the rearranging,” she said. “Maybe Detective Johnson will call in that time.”

  “If he doesn’t, why don’t you and Bella join me for dinner? Here. In my suite.”

  That Lila would stay for her—and Jasmine knew full well that was what the director was offering—meant more than she’d probably ever know. The director’s support, her belief in Jasmine, helped Jasmine to believe in herself.

  Nodding, she told Lila she’d call her within the hour to let her know if they’d be staying or not.

  * * *

  Greg called Jasmine Taylor back after he got out of the shower, still standing in his bathroom in his underwear. His call to Lila had been on the way home from his climb. It didn’t completely surprise him that the managing director had gone straight to her employee.

  Maybe he’d known she would. Maybe that’s why he’d called her first. To know that someone would have Jasmine’s back in his stead.

  She expected it to be him. It wasn’t going to be. But she wouldn’t be left adrift, either.

  “You want to know about me, I’ve lain my life open to you,” she started in, obviously recognizing his number on her cell as soon as she picked up. “I told you I’d tell you anything you wanted to know. Come search my home. Take my computer and analyze it, if you need to. But don’t... Please, Greg, I’m asking you not to go around talking to everyone I’ve ever known.”

  “I’m an investigator. Talking to people about other people is what I do.”

  “I’m not the one on trial here.”

  “No, but I believe you’re holding things back from me.” He gave it to her straight. Sometimes it was the best way. “I need to know what and why. Someone you or Josh knows might know what neither of you are telling me. I’m talking to people he knows, too, by the way.”

  “You’re not involving Play for the Win, I hope—at least any more than you can help. Ultimately, we want you to do whatever you need to do to get to the truth so these charges can be dropped, but...”

  Turning his back on his face and near nudity in the mirror, Greg leaned his butt against the counter, looking at the unmade bed. He’d meant to put the sheets in the wash before he’d left that morning.

  “So you understand that I need to talk to people,” he said.

  “I’m not afraid of what you’ll find out, if that’s what you mean,” she said. “But...you bringing me up to other people—look, I’ve had some people in my life that might be only too glad to give you false impressions, which is fine, you’d have to figure out what to believe, but in at least one case, there could be other repercussions...”

  Sounded a hell of a lot like drama to him.

  “Someone else is going to be hurt if I talk to them about you?” he said, trying to decipher fact from supposed fear. Or imagined scenarios. Not that she’d given him any reason to believe that she had Liv’s vivid imagination when it came to fearing the worst.

  “Look. I just... I really appreciate that you’re searching for the truth like you told me you would. I appreciate that more than you might ever understand. But...could you just hold off long enough for us to talk about this?”

  “Isn’t that what we’re doing?”

  “I’m still at school. At the Stand. Anyone can walk in... I need to get Bella from daycare. It might be better if we do this later.”

  “Your brother has a hearing on Thursday.”

  “I know. I’m not... We can talk tonight if you’d like. Maybe it would be better in person. So you can watch my body language or whatever you do. Bella’s bedtime call is at eight. If you come right after that, we’ll have whatever time you need, uninterrupted. And you can look at my computer or whatever else then, too, if you’d like. I’ll give you whatever records you want or need. Just, please...hear me out...before you contact anyone else...”

  He hadn’t planned to make any further calls that night anyway.

  “Why do you think I’m holding back on you?” Her question came while he was still pondering the advisability of doing what he wanted to do and taking her up on her offer to look at her computer. He didn’t have a warrant. But he would like to get a peek at any emails between her and her brother—not that she wouldn’t delete any incriminating ones before she gave him access.

  Why did he think she was holding out on him? Her question hung there.

  “There are patterns...things that victims experience kind of globally, not all of course, but a lot, and I see none of those for Josh. He grew up in an abusive home. Where are his issues? No one’s as perfect as you make him out to be.” Why this woman brought out the straight truth from him sometimes, he didn’t know. But he noted it happening. Would keep an eye on it.

  “Of course he has issues. He’ll discuss them with you if you ask.”

  “I can’t talk to him without his lawyer present, and his lawyer is advising him to say nothing.”

  Which meant that her brother’s lawyer would probably tell her to remain sile
nt, as well. She could very well be realizing that herself. “I talked to Heidi today. She brought up some things that need explaining,” he added.

  Because he didn’t want to take a chance on losing her cooperation?

  Or because he was just a little bit bothered by how cleanly Heidi’s new motion fit with the criminal charges filed against her ex-husband. If he were a confessed and convicted abuser, Josh’s opinion would have admittedly held more weight than hers when they appeared before a judge. For all he knew Heidi’s family law attorney had come up with the whole idea to file the custody motion just to help her win her case against Josh.

  “So...you’ll stop by tonight? We can talk then?”

  He’d met with witnesses at later hours. In bars and parking lots. Jails and homes.

  He hadn’t planned to work that night. “Yes. I’ll be there.”

  He waited for a bit of gushing. For her relief. Knew her emotion was going to wash right over him.

  She calmly thanked him and hung up.

  CHAPTER 9

  She’d changed clothes. Jasmine had gone back and forth on that one. Did she answer the door in a floral shirtdress with leggings? Or in jeans and a loose blouse with tennis shoes on her feet? She almost never wore those. Found them...bulky and uncomfortable. And somewhat unattractive, too, as far as shoes went.

  Ditto for the oversize blue-and-white-striped button-shirt that covered the pretty floral stitching on the pockets of her jeans. Her hair pulled back in a ponytail, she hoped her message was clear. She wasn’t trying to pretty up anything about her. Or impress him.

  She most definitely wasn’t coming on to him. Lord knew the last thing she wanted to do, inviting him over after dark, was to encourage him to think of her in a personal way. Yes, she’d had thoughts about them maybe becoming friends. But she went back and forth on that, too. Given her track record, did she trust herself to have a friend like Greg Johnson in her life?