Always Watching (4 page)

Truth be told, I was grateful that Johnny
and Devlin had forged a friendship, in spite of Johnny’s irrational
jealousy at times.  Whatever Devlin expressed as interest in
me seemed to pass without much ado.  Despite my frustration
earlier this morning, my life had settled into something far more
comfortable than I ever imagined it could be.

I had friends, people who regularly
congregated in my home to discuss life, not just the grisly and
macabre events that initially brought us together.  On my way
home from OSI, one such friend called.

“
Hola,
Señorita.”

“
How was Mexico?”  I
grinned at the sound of my oldest friend’s voice.  Maya and
Ken just returned from a romantic getaway to Puerto Vallarta. 
“Did you bring me a piñata?”

“
Stuffed with the most
decadent and fattening candy known to man.  You got plans for
dinner tonight, Helen?  I’ve got about three billion pictures
I’d love to show you.  We can send the boys out to smoke
cigars or something and catch up on what I’ve missed last
week.”

“
You know you’re welcome
to come over any time, Maya, but Johnny’s on his way to Montgomery
on official business for our beloved governor.”  I cast a
sidelong glance at Devlin as he navigated back to Beach
Cliffs.  “Johnny says he can’t tell me what’s going on, and
his minions are mum on the subject as well.”

“
Oh shoot,” she
said.  “I was hoping we could all get together
tonight.”

“
Does that mean you’re not
coming?”

“
We’ll be there, but I
suppose there’s no point in asking someone to be on call for either
one of us.  You’d think we were gone a month the way everyone
acted this morning when we showed up to work.”

“
It’s nice to be missed,”
I said.  A little of my early morning melancholy
returned.  Nobody missed me when I left the department. 
Life marched forward.  It was as if they forgot all about
me.  Well, except for my core supporters who were now working
for Johnny.  “So what time do you want to come
over?”

“
Six-ish?”

“
Sounds good.  I’ll
see you then.”

Devlin smirked.  “So it looks like I
don’t have to worry about your dinner plans for one night. 
Johnny will be bummed that he missed the reunion.”

“
Not so bummed that he
didn’t assign this case to Chris,” I said.  “Which I find
incredibly interesting, don’t you?  What could Collangelo
possibly have Johnny doing that he can’t trust his second in
command with?”

“
You, my dear, for having
worked for the federal government, managed to remain unbelievably
sheltered from the political process,” he said.  “When I was
out in Montgomery, these sort of hush-hush investigations happened
all the time.  To be fair, I hated it at first too, but after
awhile, you get used to it.”

“
Do I strike you in any
way as the kind of person that accepts being cut out of the line of
communication?”

Devlin laughed softly.  “No, you strike
me as the type who’s most efficient at cutting everybody else out
of the loop.  It hasn’t been that long since we worked a case
together, Helen.  I know all your little tricks.  That
far off gaze you get when you figure something out is typically
followed by claims that you don’t know anything the rest of us
don’t know.”

“
Suspecting something is
different than knowing it.  So I wasn’t eager to throw out all
of my wild theories until I had something concrete to back them
up.  Is that a crime?”

“
No, but God help the
state if you ever decide to run for office.”

I lapsed into silence.  If law
enforcement tempted me to kill those who were guilty and getting
away with their crimes, politics would push me over the edge in no
time at all.  Of course, Devlin wouldn’t know that. 
Johnny realized the tightrope I walked and had the wisdom to
intervene, even though I know he worries about my
boredom. 

“
You’re very quiet all of
a sudden.”

“
Mmm.  Wondering how
Celeste Datello is faring in the hospital.  At least that was
one mistake I never made,” I said.  “Just the thought of
perpetuating that gene pool about makes my skin crawl right off my
body.”

“
It’s not the child’s
fault, Helen.  She can’t help who her parents are.”

True enough.  Even though my father
ranked right up there with the worst criminals in the world, he was
a fabulous parent.  “I know.  It’s just a link between
the parents that nothing ever really severs,” I said.  “Think
about her life now.  What is she?  Twenty four?”

“
Something like
that.”

“
Her husband will probably
go to prison for the rest of his life, and she’s going to raise
this child alone, with a family that would just as soon kill her
and that baby to punish her husband as lift a finger to help her
like a normal family would.  How can she stand by him through
all of this?  Why would she want to live that way? 
Surely she knows the danger in her future.  For the rest of
her life, she’s going to need eyes in the back of her head. 
Is it youth and naiveté that makes her think it’s a good
idea?”

“
Maybe it’s love,” Devlin
said.  “It’s something that we can’t explain by rational
thought.  A lot of times, it doesn’t make any sense at
all.”

“
All
of the time,” I muttered.  My own irrationality was
never far from my thoughts.  I don’t doubt that I love
Johnny.  On the contrary, there are times that I curse the
emotion, because it puts both of us at risk.  There is no
statute of limitations on murder.  My beautiful castle of
cards could come tumbling down at any time, and it would hurt
Johnny.  Then again, I doubt he’d stand by me if he ever found
out what a liar I am.

“
You don’t mean that,”
Devlin said.  “You’d do anything for Johnny and never regret
it.  I’ve seen the way you guys are together.”

“
I would do anything for
him.  And that’s the problem.”

Those were the thoughts swirling through my
head as I drifted off to sleep early that afternoon, that and my
conversation with the man in question after I got home.  I
hated the fact that he left with me feeling bitter and
petulant.  So I apologized.

“
I shouldn’t have been
such a bitch this morning when you left.”

“
What’re you talking
about?  Do you honestly believe I’d have been pleased if you
were happy to see me go?”

I laughed.  “Well when you put it that
way, I guess not.”

“
I know you, Doc. 
You get mad and you pout and you try to connive to get your way,
but at the end of the day, I knew you understand that this isn’t
what I wanted any more than you did.”

“
Then why can’t I be with
you in Montgomery?”

“
Because it’ll be too
tempting for you to figure out what’s going on, and I can’t risk
that, sweetheart.  This is a potentially volatile
situation.  You don’t take kindly to me being in the middle of
anything you don’t like.”

“
It’s political, isn’t
it?”

“
Helen –”

“
I promise I won’t butt
into whatever you’re doing, Johnny.”

“
In part it’s
political.  But at the same time, it’s still an official
police investigation.  Trust me.  I can handle
this.”

“
I know you
can.”

Strange dreams commenced.  The ringing
phone woke me an hour later.  Or perhaps it was the fact that
my stomach rejected that cup of tea and slice of dry toast I choked
down.

Chapter 4

I wiped the bile from my lips with a tissue
off the bathroom counter.  The ringing phone stopped.  My
watch revealed that it was only three o’clock.  Plenty of time
to fix dinner and be ready for Maya and Ken’s visit
tonight. 

I crawled up the counter and rinsed my mouth
at the sink.  If this nonsense didn’t stop, I’d have to see a
doctor.  It was probably nerves on top of a touch of the
flu.  What would a doctor say?  Drink plenty of
fluids.  Get more sleep.  Don’t push yourself too
hard.  I could do all of that on my own.

Voicemail from Crevan.  “Hey, if Ken
and Maya are coming over tonight, would you mind if Devlin and I
tag along?  Give me a call.”

I smiled despite the bitter taste that
persisted on my tongue.  The more the merrier.  It would
help immensely to fill the hole in my life left by Johnny’s
absence.  I dialed Crevan’s number.

“
Hey, sorry I missed your
call.  I heard the phone, just couldn’t get there in
time.”

“
Would you mind if Dev and
I crash the party tonight?”

“
You know my door is
always open, Crevan.”  Honestly, he was probably feeling more
lost and alienated than I’d ever felt, since the last perp I
arrested outed his sexual orientation.  To my knowledge, the
ever narrow-minded Tony Briscoe still hadn’t uttered a single word
to his former partner and friend.

I stretched out another olive branch. 
“If you guys would like to bring someone along, I wouldn’t mind
that either.”

Crevan’s pause was uncomfortable.

“
Or isn’t Devlin dating
anybody?”

“
Helen –”

“
Crevan, I love you. 
I don’t care if you’re slowly beginning to come out of your
shell.  In fact, I’d love to meet him, whenever you’re
comfortable with that,” I said. 

“
You already have,” he
said softly.

“
Oh?”

“
Yeah …”

“
Don’t keep me
hanging.  Who is he?”

“
Alex Waters.”

“
My, my,” I grinned. 
“Good choice, my friend.  If you’re not comfortable dragging
him to dinner with a bunch of friends, I understand.  Maybe
the three of us could have dinner alone some night this
week.”

“
Helen, some days I don’t
know what I’d do without you.”

“
Thanks to your best
friend, I doubt you’ll have to find out.”

Everyone knew Johnny was the tether that
kept me from disappearing into the mist that shrouded Darkwater
Bay.

“
There’s another reason I
called,” he said.  “We thought you’d like to know that the
judge appreciated our quick response to the situation with Celeste
Datello and the threats.  In light of her new protective
custody detail, she’s decided that the trial can commence on Monday
after all.  Old Stefano was fit to be tied, but it’s a done
deal now.”

“
Do we know how she’s
doing?”

“
Delivered their baby
about an hour ago at Saint Mary’s Hospital.  A little girl,
just like she said.”

“
Aww.  Well I hope
she recovers quickly,” I said.  “If I’m gonna have a houseful
for dinner, I should probably get busy cooking, Crevan.  We
eat at six.  You can show up anytime before that.”

“
We could pick something
up so you don’t have to cook.  You sound tired.”

Temptation tickled my tongue.  “What
did you have in mind?”

“
I don’t know.  Sushi
maybe?”

I swallowed the bile before it burned the
back of my tongue.  “I’d rather cook.  Please tell me
your new friend isn’t a vegetarian.”  Part of me hoped he
was.  The idea of raw meat touching my hands made my stomach
revolt again.

“
Nope, anything you make,
he’ll eat.  Alex is very diverse.”

More than I was for sure, if he ate
sushi.

“
Hey, my call waiting is
beeping at me.  It might be Johnny,” I said.  “See you
later, my friend.”

I clicked the receiver on the phone. 
“Johnny?”

“
I called this line
because I thought you would’ve shut the ringers off on the
phone.  Weren’t you planning to take a nap?”

“
I did.  Crevan
called.”  I filled him in on the trial news and Celeste
Datello.  “Why are you calling me back so soon?”

“
Eh, I’ve got to go to
some stupid thing at the governor’s mansion tonight,” Johnny
said.  “Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that it probably
won’t wrap up until late.  Do you want me to call when it’s
done?”

“
I’m having people over
tonight anyway,” I said.  “Maya wants me to see her pictures
from Mexico, and of course, Devlin and Crevan invited themselves
over too.  The troops are rallying around exactly as you
ordered.”

“
Hey, don’t be upset with
me.  I can’t stand the thought of you holed up alone while I’m
gone, sweetheart.  I wish you were here with me for this thing
tonight.”

“
No you don’t.  You
know I hate formal parties.  This is you in your
element.  I’d just be in the way.”

“
Never,” he said
softly.  “I miss you already.”

“
Now we’re really being
ridiculous.  I spend plenty of nights home alone when you’re
right here in Darkwater Bay, Johnny.  Focus on this job. 
Get it done quickly, and come home where you belong.”

“
Deal.  I love
you.”

I rifled through a kitchen drawer for a box
of gloves I lifted from the morgue.  “Mm-hmm.  Me
too.  Talk to you later.”

Gloves solved the problem of touching raw
meet with my bare hands.  Sadly, it had become my priority,
instead of letting Johnny segue into what he really wanted to tell
me.  Instead, I took my own advice and focused on the problem
at hand.