Anytime Darlin' (4 page)

He got out of the car. Walking to the other side, he opened the driver’s door for Janice. She thanked him, and he nodded again, very polite. He held the door of the restaurant open for her too and spoke to the hostess about a table. Jake didn’t ask for one of his preferred tables near the front windows. He asked for a table in the back. He was hoping to give them a little more privacy, because he didn’t think either of them would be very happy with the outcome of their conversation.

“Thank you for coming,” Janice began, fiddling with her menu, “I’ve wanted to talk to you for the longest time, but I know, well, I know how angry you’ve been.”

The waitress poured them both coffee. Jake noticed that Janice set hers aside. Jake added cream to his coffee and stirred, wondering what she had planned. He decided he’d better choose his words carefully and say exactly what he meant so there would be no misunderstandings.

“I’m not angry anymore, Janice,” he told her.

She looked relieved. “Good,” she said, “I’ve been really worried. Jake, I didn’t…I mean, Jake, I wanted…”

The waitress approached, pad in hand, and asked if they wanted the usual. Jake nodded and handed her his unopened menu.

Janice said, “If you don’t mind, I think just some toast this morning, and would it be too much trouble to get some hot tea with lemon instead of the coffee, please?”

The waitress said, “Sure, honey,” as she picked up the menu next to Janice’s arm, along with the coffee cup.

“Since when do you drink tea?”

“Oh,” said Janice with a half smile, “I’ve developed a taste for it recently. Besides, I don’t want to be up all day. And you know I don’t like decaf.”

Again, Jake was very polite. “You were saying?”

“Jake, I didn’t mean that to happen. You have to know that. It didn’t mean anything to me,” Janice said, a note of quiet desperation in her voice. She reached for his hand. “I’ve told you how sorry I am, and I’ll tell you again and again until you believe me.”

Jake disengaged his hand from hers. “I believe you,” he replied, sincerity in his voice. “I believe you are sorry that it happened.”

Jake thanked the waitress as she brought the tea. Janice was silent. Jake could see tears shining in her eyes. God, this was hard. It had been bad enough breaking up with her the first time, but now he knew he’d have to make it very clear to her that things were not going back to the way they were. Ever.

Jake liked women. More to the point, he loved them. He didn’t want to hurt a woman, including Janice, but in this case, he didn’t have a choice. Regardless of the circumstances, Jake did not intend to marry her. If she was pregnant, and if by some unlikely twist of fate the child turned out to be his, he would take responsibility. Shit, he’d even raise the kid himself if she didn’t want it. Peters probably wouldn’t give a damn. Jake could feel himself grow angry as he thought about Jim Peters. He excused himself and headed to the restroom to cool off. He didn’t want to be angry with Janice. She’d got herself caught between a rock and a hard place, and while he didn’t plan to take responsibility for something he hadn’t done, he didn’t feel she deserved to be treated cruelly.

* * * *

Janice breathed a sigh of relief when Jake excused himself. She could tell that he believed that she was sorry. He said he wasn’t angry anymore. She should be feeling encouraged. Instead, she felt frightened and a little sick. Not morning sickness sick, but sick at the sudden, overwhelming realization that he honestly didn’t want her back. He didn’t care for her anymore, not in that way. Sitting at a lonely table in the back of Jake’s favorite breakfast place, it was crystal clear to Janice that she meant about as much to Jake as the waitress did, maybe less. What on earth had made her think she had a chance to win him back?

Jake returned at the same time as the waitress. The woman placed Janice’s toast in front of her, then handed Jake his big plate of extra-crispy hash browns, two eggs over easy, and whole wheat toast, along with a side of bacon. Janice couldn’t look at his breakfast. She thought she might gag at the smell alone.

“This was a bad idea,” she said, rising from her seat.

Jake pushed his plate away and guided her back down into her chair.

“Janice,” he said, his voice gentle, “say what you have to say. I’m listening.”

God, she wanted to cry. Why was he being so nice to her?

“I thought…I thought maybe there was a chance for us. Maybe we could work things out. Get back together. But, I know now we can’t. We can’t go back. It’s gone, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Jake answered in the same gentle voice, “it’s gone. We’re not going back.”

Janice felt her feet move all on their own, and without even realizing how she got there, she found herself standing by her car, Jake at her shoulder, helping her with her jacket.

“Get in.” He directed her into the passenger seat. She got in and handed him her keys.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Home,” Jake said, “I’m taking you home.”

“But how will you get back? How will you get to your car?”

Jake adjusted the seat and started the ignition. “Don’t worry about it.”

Jake woke from an unusually deep sleep. He heard a phone ringing, but he couldn’t quite get his bearings. He didn’t know whether he was in his bunk at the station house or in his own bed. He’d been dreaming of eyes, aquamarine, flecked with gold. Large eyes, frightened eyes, and a pale face. He reached out to the side of his bed, his hand fumbling toward the noise.

“Hello?” Jake’s voice sounded harsh, even to his own ears.

“Wake up, buddy.” It was Mike, sounding inordinately cheerful.

“Fuck off,” replied Jake, and he hung up the phone, turning onto his stomach and burying his face in the pillow. The phone rang again.

“Wake up, asshole, or I’ll drag you out of bed,” demanded Mike, sounding far less cheerful.

Good, thought Jake. He couldn’t deal with cheerful today. “What time is it?”

“Nine and we gotta head back to the hospital. I think we got an ID on the kid, but Shauna says she won’t talk to her. Neither will the person who ID’d her. Your presence is requested. By the way, I’m coming with you. You need a lift? I saw your car parked at the fire station.”

“Yeah, thanks. I need a shower first.” Jake paused. “How is she?”

“Devlin? Awake. See ya in a few.” Mike clicked off.

* * * *

Jake gave his thick hair a brief rub with a towel and ran his fingers through it. A quick check in the mirror told him he had a pretty pronounced shadow beard, but he wasn’t in the mood to shave. In fact, the thought that he might learn who abused Devlin had him feeling downright savage. Like maybe he’d have the opportunity to tear someone limb from limb.

Jake pulled on a pair of faded jeans and headed to the kitchen for some instant coffee.

“Jesus Christ! Don’t you knock?” he exclaimed as Mike handed him a mug of steaming coffee with cream.

“When you learn to lock your door, I’ll learn to knock,” stated Mike blandly. “I called Shauna. The girl still won’t talk to her, neither will the witness, or whatever she is. She wants you there ASAP.”

Jake grabbed a couple of slices of whole wheat bread from a package sitting on his counter and stuffed one in his mouth. “Just give me a minute,” he mumbled, talking around the bread. “I gotta find my shit-kickers.”

“Put a shirt on while you’re at it, and a sweater. It’s fucking freezing outside this morning,” Mike added as he followed him to the bedroom. “So what’s up with you and Janice?”

“Nothing’s up. I took her home.”

Jake heard Mike muttering. “What’s your problem?”

“Please tell me I won’t be standing up for you at a shotgun wedding.”

In the middle of pulling on a black tee shirt, Jake stopped and glared at Mike. “What do you know about it?”

“No,” said Jake as he grabbed a sweater slung over the foot of the bed, “I don’t plan to marry her, but once the baby’s born, if a blood test shows that I’m the kid’s father, then I’m the kid’s father. You got a problem with that?”

“It’s not your kid! How the hell can you be so calm about this?”

Tugging on his boots, Jake didn’t bother to look up. “Because you’re right. It’s not my kid. Let’s go.”

“Well, well, if it isn’t Mutt and Jeff,” clucked Shauna when she met them at the hospital entrance. “You off already, Mike?”

“Gee, Shauna, what gave me away? Maybe I’m just undercover,” retorted Mike.

“Nah, the leather jacket’s too nice,” she commented, sizing him up.

Mike grinned at her. “Be still my heart.”

Shauna rolled her eyes and deliberately ignored his comment. She turned to Jake. “So, Jake, how you doing?”

“Good, Shauna. You?”

“Good, thanks. I suppose Mike filled you in?”

Jake nodded. “Yeah, no matching prints, she’s not in the system, but if I understand correctly, you may or may not have someone who can identify Devlin. You want me to talk to both of them?”

“Actually,” said Shauna, “I have a teacher from Sunset Springs High who came into the station early this morning to talk about a student who might or might not be missing. She ended up at my desk. I listened to her story and showed her a photo of the girl, one we took last night. The teacher clammed up on me. Refused to say another word.”

Mike and Jake exchanged glances. Mike was the first to speak. “So you think she knows exactly who the girl is and probably who did this?”

“But for some reason is scared to say,” finished Jake.

“Right,” said Shauna, “but the thing is, I don’t think she’s scared for herself. I think she’s scared for the girl. I want you here, Jake, because Dr. Workman suggested I keep you involved. She thinks Devlin, if that’s her real name, will open up to you.”

“It’s her real name,” muttered Jake, pacing.

“And I brought the teacher with me. She’s upstairs in the nurses’ lounge.”

“I hope you didn’t leave her alone,” said Mike.

“Yeah, right, Mike, I left her alone.” Shauna threw him a feral smile. “Scott’s with her.”

Jake loped toward the elevators, Mike and Shauna trailing after him. He hit the up button and turned to Shauna. “I want to hear what the teacher has to say.”

“Miss Ellis,” said Shauna, “this is Jake McKenna. He’s one of the paramedics who brought Devlin in. And this is Officer Mike Jones, he answered the call. In fact, he was the first one on the scene. They’d like to talk to you, if that’s okay.”

Miss Ellis was a young woman, attractive, with wide brown eyes and shoulder-length amber-colored hair that she twisted nervously. Jake figured she hadn’t been a teacher very long. She still had the innocent, idealistic look of a college student. She stared suspiciously at both of them.

She turned to Shauna. “Why?”

At that moment, Mary Workman walked through the door. “Because they want to help,” she said. “Miss Ellis, I was the doctor on duty last night when Devlin came in, and I saw up close what was done to her. I know she connected with Jake. I don’t think she would have tolerated anything we had to do to her in the ER without Jake right beside her. I insisted Shauna call him because, first of all, I want him here, and secondly, I believe that Devlin will tell him what happened. And right now, there’s nothing I want more. She needs help, and whoever did this to her needs to be identified and arrested. I’m guessing you know that as well as I do. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have shown up at the police station in the first place.”

Miss Ellis blushed. Jake thought she was very pretty when she blushed, and one glance at Mike told him Mike noticed the same thing.

“I’m so sorry,” Miss Ellis stammered. “I didn’t mean to…It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s that I don’t want to make anything worse.”

Mike took her arm and led her to the couch. “Why don’t you sit down? Jake and I have known each other for a long time, and I promise, we won’t let anything happen to Devlin.” He looked in Jake’s direction, warning him to keep his mouth shut. “Just tell us what you know, and we’ll find a way to protect her. And you,” he added at her look of distress.

Jake decided to let Mike handle her. He was too edgy, pacing, anxious, to find out what Miss Ellis knew about Devlin. She was afraid. Jake could practically smell it. Mary must have recognized his rising anger because she approached him.

“Calm down,” she whispered. “You don’t want to scare her off.”

Mary squeezed Jake’s arm. He was grateful for her good sense and the fact that she knew better than to be afraid of him. Jake had a quick temper, but he’d never hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it, especially not a woman who seemed scared to death. Miss Ellis seemed almost as afraid to talk as Devlin.

“Devlin’s in my senior Advanced Placement English Literature class at Sunset Springs,” she began abruptly, “at least when she comes to school.”

“A senior?” interrupted Mary. “She looks like she’s about fourteen.”

“No, she’s not fourteen. She’s seventeen, almost eighteen.”

Jake crossed his arms over his chest, considering. He decided to get right to the point. “Hasn’t it occurred to anyone at your school that the girl’s as thin as a rail? It’d take a blind person not to notice. I don’t believe for one minute that you’ve never seen bruises on her.”

“Jake…” Mary interrupted.

“No, I’m dead serious.” He disengaged her hand from his arm. “No way do I believe that no one at your school’s ever discussed this.”

“Shut up, Jake,” hissed Shauna.

Miss Ellis burst into tears. Mike began to pat her back while Mary retrieved a box of tissues from a cabinet. She handed it to the crying woman.

“Thanks.” Miss Ellis sniffed. “He’s right. He’s absolutely right. We all knew something was wrong, that something very bad was going on, but we didn’t know what. We tried, we tried to intervene, but nothing happened. I called Child Protective Services three times. All they said was the family seemed fine. I don’t even know if they went over there. They wouldn’t give me any information. I went over there myself one evening. Her uncle told me Devlin was at the library, at nine o’clock at night.”

“The library closes at eight,” volunteered Mike.