Cold Case Manhunt

by Jennifer Morey

  Was he going to join her in his underwear?

  Jaslene still reeled from wondering if she was actually pregnant. The sight of him in only his underwear was too intimate right now.

  “This is a nice room.” He sat next to her, holding his glass of juice in one hand and stretching his other arm out behind her.

  Awareness of him and the sweet warming as a result vanished as more persistent nausea roiled. Her head began to feel cold and tingles chased down her arms.

  “What’s the matter?” Cal traced his finger down her face.

  “I don’t feel well.”

  His brow lowered a little as he surveyed her. “Why not?”

  “I don’t know.” She put her hand on her forehead and wrapped her arm across her stomach with the other. The nausea intensified.

  Jumping up from the love seat, she ran to the nearest bathroom, holding her mouth and barely making it to the toilet.

  After several minutes, she finally felt better. She went to the sink and washed her mouth. When she finished, she looked up into the mirror and saw Cal standing in the doorway with an apprehensive question in his eyes.

  “It started this morning,” she said.

  “You are on the Pill, aren’t you?”

  “I...was...” Before Ryan died, she’d stopped taking them with him and had not gotten pregnant, so she assumed she wasn’t a Fertile Myrtle.

  Cal stepped farther into the bathroom and banged his fist down onto the counter, making Jaslene gasp and take a step back.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Angry that he seemed about to blame her, she stepped forward again. “It didn’t occur to me until just now. Why didn’t you ask?”

  He instantly regained control of his emotions. He rubbed his forehead above his eyes and then met hers, gravely concerned.

  “Why weren’t you on the Pill?”

  “Why did you assume I was?” she shot back.

  “You said it was all right.”

  “I thought it was. I never got pregnant with Ryan.”

  He stared at her for long, uncomfortable seconds. “What are we going to do?”

  “We don’t even know if I’m pregnant yet.” Why work themselves into a frenzy? She couldn’t even think about having a baby with him. That would be dangerous because she knew right then that she would love it.

  He cocked his head at her, clearly not needing a test to convince him. She hadn’t yet been able to accept the reality of a baby coming into her life soon.

  “I don’t know what we’re going to do. I’ll have the baby and raise it. You can be a part of our lives if that’s what you want.” She still wasn’t sure how she wanted to handle that. Secretly she hoped he would come around and raise the child with her.

  “I don’t think either one of us will benefit from being forced into parenting,” he said.

  “Well, we may not have a choice.”

  “We aren’t ready for this.”

  “No. That’s for sure. But what can we do?” She looked pointedly into his eyes so he wouldn’t misunderstand her. “I refuse to get an abortion just because you aren’t ready.” They’d both made this mistake and now they were going to have to deal with the consequences. They both should have thought before they had sex.

  “We don’t have to get married.”

  More anger stormed his eyes. She had never seen him this way before.

  “What are you suggesting, then? That we share a baby but not live together? I won’t pass a child back and forth for eighteen years.”

  “Well, getting married doesn’t have to be the solution, either. I agree with that. Whether we’re ready or not doesn’t really matter, does it? If I’m pregnant, we’re having a baby.”

  She could see he couldn’t argue her point. Ready or not, if they were going to have a baby, then that was a huge responsibility. After running his fingers through his hair with a heavy exhale, he turned and left the bathroom with a curse.

  She followed him into the kitchen. A yip told her Punzie had gotten up. She turned and crouched to lift the furry cutie. Her soft whimpers and cuddling face comforted Jaslene, especially when she saw Cal leaning over the sink as though he’d just lost everything he held dear. She sat on one of the tall chairs.

  After a few minutes, Cal finally pushed off the sink and walked over to her. He leaned toward her with a hand on the table, looking at the now sleeping dog in Jaslene’s lap and then up into Jaslene’s eyes.

  “Okay, fast-forward to when we have this baby,” he said. “How do you envision your life?”

  “You mean...with the baby?”

  “With everything. Work. Me. The baby.”

  “Well, like you I haven’t had time to think it over, but my first knee-jerk reaction is I’d take some time off work. As for you, I don’t know. I suppose I’d be willing to live together to see if it works out.”

  He nodded a few times and she couldn’t tell if he liked her answer. “What about my work?”

  She began to sense he faced his biggest fears: losing another woman because of his line of work or because she was all wrong for him. Throw a baby into the mix and things got much more complicated.

  “That’s up to you, Cal.” She reached up and put her hand on his cheek. “No matter what happens between us, I won’t keep you from seeing your child.”

  “So you think there’s a chance you’d leave?”

  How could she predict that? If the two of them got together and then it didn’t work out, it wouldn’t make any sense for them to stay together. “It wouldn’t be your job that separated us, if that’s what you need to know. I am not the kind of person who needs a man to be around every second.”

  He blinked once as though he was relieved to hear that.

  Jaslene didn’t say what thought came to her next—that she saw no reason why the two of them wouldn’t be able to make a relationship work. They had chemistry but would that translate to romance and a family? How would a baby change that, though? They hadn’t known each other very long, so what if their seemingly good match, personality-wise, changed?

  “Let’s make a doctor’s appointment,” he said. “I want to make sure you’re all right, along with making sure you are, in fact, pregnant.”

  “I’ll make one this morning.” Did he mean to go with her? Jaslene didn’t know how she felt about that. Good, in that he cared, but also wary. Dared she trust another man?

  * * *

  Later that day, Cal had to force himself to focus on Payton’s case as he searched through her personal records for the second time since he’d begun the investigation. His tenacity—or the need for distraction—paid off. In a box containing operating manuals for various appliances, he found a receipt for the purchase of a disposable phone one month before she disappeared. Cal hadn’t been the one to search this box and he could see how a receipt would be missed in a box full of operating manuals.

  Where was the phone?

  It wasn’t in Payton’s house. Hearing Jaslene talking to Payton’s mother for her periodic updates on the case, he went to her in the kitchen and showed her the receipt. Jaslene saw it and her eyes widened with excitement.

  “Hey, Pat, something just came up. Do you know if Payton had a disposable phone?” she asked and then listened. “All right. We will be right there.”

  “She said Payton keeps some memorabilia in her closet,” Jaslene said.

  Cal drove them to Patricia’s house. Jaslene didn’t say much on the way. He sensed she was not only glad for this significant lead, but for the distraction as well.

  At Pat’s house, it took them just moments to find a shoebox filled with things Payton had kept from her childhood. Among them, she had hidden the phone. Cal took that and the charger and he and Jaslene returned to her house. Cal plugged in the phone and stared at it, impatiently waiting for it to charge.r />
  Jaslene held Rapunzel like a baby. That image didn’t help the ever present worry of Jaslene being pregnant. He didn’t need a doctor to tell him what lay ahead. Dread pooled and swirled in his guts. Yet, even as these negative feelings assaulted him in waves, so did the image of their baby growing inside of her, of the birth and of what would come after that. Less and less he thought of the risk to his heart and more of what the child would be like, and what it would be like to be a father, something he’d long ago abandoned all hope of experiencing.

  She walked toward him and then turned, gently bouncing Rapunzel as though putting her to sleep. With her back presented to him, he once again had the sight of her rear in faded blue jeans. The front of her top scooped down and draped over her breasts and then flared attractively. He watched her until she turned again and saw him. Their eyes met for a few long seconds, heating the energy between them.

  “Has it charged enough?” Jaslene asked.

  Glad she’d redirected his attention, Cal checked and saw the cell had enough juice to start looking. He navigated through her phone calls, Jaslene leaning close to look with him.

  “That’s Dr. Benjamin’s.” When he came to a number he didn’t recognize, she pointed. “What’s that one?”

  “Let’s find out.”

  “Why did she have a burner phone?” she asked as he dialed the number to another detective at DAI.

  “She didn’t want anything traced to her.” She was afraid of being discovered. Had she gotten the phone to communicate with the married doctor and hide her relationship with him? Cal didn’t think so. She wasn’t the one married. Dr. Benjamin was.

  “Oscar,” he said into his cell. A few seconds later Oscar, an expert in mobile device forensics, answered.

  “You have something for me?” Oscar asked, sounding excited.

  “Is it a slow day at DAI?” Cal chuckled.

  “Slow week, which is a good thing because that means fewer people are being killed, but it makes for dull days for me.”

  “I have a number I need you to track down.”

  “Is that all? What about the phone it’s on?”

  “I’ll send it to you overnight delivery.”

  “Yay.”

  Cal gave him the number.

  “Hang on. I can locate that device for you right now.”

  Cal heard him typing into his high-tech computer program.

  Then Oscar whistled. “West Virginia Insurance Fraud Unit. Was Payton reporting insurance fraud on her married doctor lover?”

  “If she did, there would have been an investigation.”

  “Are you sure there wasn’t?”

  He hadn’t checked, but wouldn’t Dr. Benjamin be out of work if he committed insurance fraud? People went to jail for that.

  “I think you have motive, friend. Maybe the married doctor had her whacked to stop her.”

  “Maybe. Depends on whether he was defrauding people. Thanks, Oscar.”

  “Send me that phone.”

  “It’s on the way.” He put down his phone and looked at Jaslene. “Time to investigate Dr. Benjamin’s business.”

  “Why would Payton buy a disposable phone?” Jaslene asked.

  “To hide her calls to the fraud unit.”

  “Yeah, but he had to have known the number. She used it to call him.”

  “She must have wanted the calls to be traceable but she didn’t want him to know she was onto something.”

  “Why not use her own phone?”

  “She could toss this one if she needed to.”

  She pondered that awhile, still seeming skeptical.

  Payton must have known he might try to find the phone, either to see what calls she’d made on her second phone or to see if she’d called the fraud unit. “If he was suspicious of her, he’d want to know why she’d purchased a second phone.” Her regular cell phone records had been searched long ago, with nothing suspicious turning up.

  “Or if he found out she was onto him.”

  “Exactly. Tomorrow let’s go talk to some people about the good doctor’s business.”

  She nodded, looking somber. “Right after my appointment.”

  * * *

  Stepping into the ob-gyn’s office, Jaslene could feel Cal’s tension. She had a fair amount of her own. Amazement gave her chills every once in a while. Anxiety had its turn as well. Over the last few days she’d had time to get used to the idea of having a baby, but not how to handle Cal. Even if they could come to terms with their past experiences in other relationships, the timing was all wrong. A baby? She reeled with incredulity. She chastised herself for losing track of her cycle.

  That didn’t mean Jaslene wasn’t beginning to look forward to having a child in her life. More and more the idea grew on her, expanded and took shape into a warm feeling. She wondered about names. Boy or girl? She wasn’t sure which she’d prefer more.

  “You’ve got a funny smile on your face.”

  Jaslene turned from the television screen in the waiting room. Cal looked wary and intent on finding out why.

  She shrugged. “I was just thinking.” She turned away again.

  “About what?”

  Forced to address him, she opened her mouth to say the baby when a nurse called, “Jaslene?”

  Her heart lurched and she had to breathe deeper. She stared at the nurse without moving. This would confirm what she and Cal already knew but needed to make official.

  Cal stood and extended his hand. Startled, she took his and he guided her to stand with him. He didn’t let go as he walked toward the waiting nurse. That surprised her. He was so upset over this, and yet he’d stepped up to the plate like a brave, confident player. Ready to take them in for a home run.

  The nurse led them down a hall and directed Jaslene into a bathroom, where she provided a urine sample. Cal waited outside the door and so did the nurse.

  “Right this way.” The nurse took them to a room and asked Jaslene a set of routine questions, took her vitals, drew some blood and then said, “The doctor will be in shortly.”

  Once she left, Jaslene perched on the exam table while Cal sat on a chair, wringing his hands, leaning over with his head down.

  He really didn’t want this. Was it disenchantment caused by his first marriage? Did he not trust Jaslene? Or did he not believe they’d make a good family? He’d already said he wasn’t ready for a baby. Neither was she, but she wouldn’t drag him down.

  “We’ll be fine, Cal.” When he looked up at her, she said, “Me and the baby. You don’t have to do anything you aren’t comfortable with. Women raise kids on their own all the time these days. I have a good job. I can take care of the baby on my own.”

  The anger she’d seen in him before began to reappear, his eyes going hard and his jaw clenching. “You’re suggesting I forget I have a child?”

  Jaslene had nothing to say to that. She would never be able to forget her own child and gave him credit for not being able to do so, either. They were both stuck with this.

  The door opened with a knock and Jaslene’s doctor entered. In a white jacket, she had dark, short, curly hair and soft hazel eyes.

  “Hello, Jaslene.”

  “Hello.”

  “This must be your significant other?”

  “Calum Chelsey.” He shook the doctor’s hand, half rising off the chair.

  She smiled kindly and went to her chair and the computer. “Just here for the pregnancy test?” She began typing away.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, if you’re here, I’m sure it will come as no shock that the test confirmed you are pregnant.” The doctor finished typing and turned to face her, looking at Cal, too. “Was this planned?”

  Jaslene scoffed. “No.”

  “How long have the two of you been together?”

  Jaslene g
lanced at Cal, who also looked her way.

  “Not long,” Cal said.

  “Love crept up on you, hmm?” The doctor smiled. “It happens. You aren’t alone. The question is what you want to do.”

  “We’re having the baby.” Jaslene noticed how Cal glanced at her when she said we.

  “That’s good. We’ll set up regular checkups and get you on a healthy diet with some supplements and exercise. There’s also a Lamaze class I can recommend.” She looked at Cal and then put her hand on Jaslene’s knee. “You may even start to like this. I know you’ll develop a bond with the baby. And if you aren’t sure about the relationship the two of you share together, this might be the thing to get you closer. Babies can work magic.”

  “Thank you, Doctor. It has been quite a surprise.” She felt how little that conveyed just how disruptive this was to her—and to Cal. The baby was blameless, though, an innocent life created by two people who should have known better.

  “I’m here for you whenever you need me. And if you want to see a counselor, I can recommend someone for that as well.”

  Cal’s body language was rigid and full of tension. The thoughts that must be going through his head! He was going to be a father. He didn’t know the mother of his child well enough. Although they’d known each other quite a while professionally, they hadn’t known each other long enough as lovers...or parents.

  * * *

  Having the phone as a new lead in Payton’s case helped take Jaslene’s mind off the looming reality that they’d confirmed her pregnancy. Their first stop after her doctor’s appointment was to see Bonita Lawrence. They intercepted her when she arrived home at her apartment and invited her for some coffee.

  Jaslene sat beside Cal at a booth in a downtown Chesterville coffee shop. Booths lined the windows and round wood tables filled the space between there and the kitchen and bathrooms. Historic town pictures covered the walls. About half the tables were occupied. Jaslene had ordered herbal tea and Cal and Bonita got coffees.

  “What did you want to talk to me about?” Bonita asked.