Changing Course (40 page)

“Just the one over your bed,” he answers nonchalantly.

“What!” I scream into the phone.

“Jesus, I’m only kidding. No cameras. I just saw the mess this morning, but didn’t have time to clean it up. I knew you wouldn’t be able to let it sit.”

“Oh, well okay then.”

“Listen, I need to go, my phone is blowing up with blinking lights.”

“I love you, Brett.”

“I love you too. If flowers were all it took to get that out of you, I really might have to invest in a garden.” I giggle at his silly joke.

“I’ll see you tonight.”

“You couldn’t keep me away. Bye, babe.”

“Bye.” I hang up the phone knowing nothing would be able to erase this smile from my face.

Three hours later…

“W
HY ARE
you doing this?” I whisper with my knees pulled tight against my chest as tears stream down my face.

“Because I have to. Because it’s been four fucking years, and I can’t live like this anymore.”

“I’m sorry all of this happened, but you don’t have to live like that anymore. Things can change.” My words are meant to be encouraging, but I know they fall flat.

“Please, stop crying.”

“Why? So you don’t have to feel anything. If you’re really going to do this, you should feel it.”

“No, because I can’t watch anyone else cry over the shit-fest that is my life.”

“I’m not crying for you. What happened to you is sad, but it didn’t ruin your life. Altered, yes. But not ruined. So no, I’m not crying for you. I’m crying because this whole situation is so unfair. There isn’t a single winner.”

“That’s not true, Jesse. You and Brett won. You found each other.”

“That’s not fair.”

“It never is.”

Brett

“I’
M SORRY
Mrs. Kaplan, my hands are tied. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear something.”

My day has been shit and if last night didn’t end with Jesse in my arms, I’m not sure I could handle this. I’ve been slammed with cases all day. Nothing useful. It’s been one dead end after another. I feel like I’ve been banging my head against the wall for the last six hours. My phone rings yet again, breaking though my frustrations.

“Detective Sharp.”

“Detective, this is Sandy with emergency dispatch. We have a 911 caller who is claiming someone broke into her home and she is asking to speak with you. We have units on the way already, but she is insisting to speak with you.”

“Did she give her name?”

“Kara Reed.” My heart stops beating and the room begins to spin.

“Put her through!”

“Brett?” I hear Kara on the other end of the line. Her voice is frantic and scared, unlike anything I have ever heard from her before.

“Kara, what the hell is going on?” I jump to my feet, grabbing my jacket off the back of the chair, and head toward my car.

“Where’s Jesse?” she asks.

“Cleaning, last I heard. What’s going on? Did you say someone is in the apartment?” She begins to sob into the phone.

“She’s in the house. She has a gun and I think she has Jesse.” I have no idea what she’s talking about, but the fact that she used Jesse and gun in the same sentence has me sprinting the rest of the way to my car.

“Who, Kara? Calm down, tell me what’s going on!” I scream into the phone, anything but calm myself.

“Sarah. I got home a few minutes ago and she snatched open the door and waved a gun in my face. She threatened me, but I took off running. You don’t think she would hurt Jesse, do you?”

Oh God. This isn’t happening. I’m not losing the woman I love…again. Different woman, different situation, yet another tragedy I can’t control. No, fuck that. I’m not losing Jesse. I flip on the lights and speed toward her apartment faster than anyone, cop or not, should drive. I’m not thinking about anything but getting to Jesse.

“Kara, you still there?” I realize I’m still holding my phone to my ear.

“Please, answer me. Sarah wouldn’t hurt her, right?” The fear in her voice matches the pain in my chest. I have no idea what Sarah is capable of anymore. She might as well be a stranger to me. I know she isn’t afraid to kill herself, but now I’m terrified she isn’t afraid to take Jesse with her either.

“I’m on my way. Do not go back to the door. Are the officers there yet?”

“Yes, they just pulled up. Shit Brett, Jesse’s car is here. I think she’s in there.”

“Go to the officers, tell them everything and make sure to tell them Jesse’s mine. They’ll take care of her if you tell them that. I’ll be there in about ten minutes.” I flip my phone onto the passenger seat and slam my hand down on the steering wheel cussing Chicago traffic. Even with my lights on, I’m still a lifetime away.

Officer Eli Tanner

“H
ELP.” I
hear the small woman yelling and running my way. I immediately reach down to my service weapon. She doesn’t look dangerous or armed, but she does look scared as hell.

“Freeze. Put your hands in the air,” I yell as she comes to a complete halt.

“Please help me. There is a woman with a gun in my apartment. She has my best friend in there with her.”

“Keep your hands in the air and slowly walk towards me.”

She complies, and when she gets close I see the tears dripping off her chin.

“Please. Help her.”

“What’s your name?”

“Kara Reed.”

“Do you know who broke in, Kara?” I question while patting her down.

“Sarah Sharp.” Fuck. I’d recognize that name anywhere. It was the name that changed my life all those years ago.

“Excuse me?”

“Sarah Sharp, and she has Jesse Addison, Detective Brett Sharp’s girlfriend in there with her.” Son of a bitch! How can one woman fuck up so many lives?

“Stay here.” I leave her standing next to my patrol car. I head to the door praying this is some sort of a mistake. My day has been boring as hell, but I’d give anything to be able to dismiss this as one big cat fight over a man. I draw my weapon and slide up beside the door. Careful to move out of shooting range in case she really does have a gun of her own, I test the door knob and find it locked.

“Sarah Sharp!” I shout using my boot to knock on the door. “Officer Tanner, CPD. Open up. If you have any weapons, I suggest you put them down first.”

“Fuck you Eli! Where’s Brett?” she screams from the other side of the door. Obviously, she remembers me too.

“I have no idea where Brett is. Are you alone in there? Where’s Jesse?”

“She’s not a part of this problem anymore.” Damn it! That’s the wrong fucking answer.

“Sarah, I’m coming in. Back away from the door.” I radio for backup as my partner rounds the corner to watch my six o’clock.

Before I reach the door, I hear the unmistakable bang of a shot fired. I should back away and follow protocol, but I know this woman. I rush to the door, banging and praying for a miracle.

“Sarah, open the fucking door!”

“Find Brett or I swear it won’t just shatter a few picture frames next time.”

“I need to talk to Jesse. I need to know she’s okay.”

“Um, she isn’t exactly speaking to me right now,” she laughs.

“Is she okay? Does she need any medical care? You have to give me something here. I can’t just call Sharp out here without any details.”

“Tell him I need him. He’ll come running. He loves to play the hero.”

Brett

I
DRIVE
like a maniac the whole way to Jesse’s apartment. I keep flipping between pissed off and terrified that Sarah is going to hurt Jesse. I’ve never in my life wanted to hurt Sarah, even when she physically abused me after the accident. It never crossed my mind. But today, if she so much as lays one finger on Jesse, I can’t be held responsible for my actions.

I thought Sarah went crazy when she showed up at the coffee shop. And I definitely thought she went too far when she slapped Jesse in the grocery store. But this…this is worse than I ever could have imagined. Today it ends. I’m getting Jesse back even if Sarah gets hurt in the process. I want her locked up somewhere where she can’t hurt anyone, including herself, ever again.

“911, what is your emergency?”

“This is detective Brett Sharp, badge number 712, I need to be patched through to the officers on the scene at 12 Daven Court.”

“Please hold, detective.”

A few clicks of the line later, I hear, “Officer Tanner.”

Oh, thank Christ. Eli’s there. He knows what he’s doing. I’ve worked closely with him for years. Best of all, he’s familiar with Sarah.

“Eli, it’s Sharp. What the fuck is going on? I’m about three minutes out.”

“Brett, do not show up here. Sarah is asking for you. I think she’s waiting for you to get here before she does something stupid. Do not give her that. Stay the fuck away from here.”

“Have you lost your fucking mind? I’m on my way!” I boom into the phone. “Tell me what the hell is going on? Have you gotten Jesse out of there yet?”

“No, and Sarah won’t let us talk to her. She’s locked up in the apartment and won’t let anyone inside. She just keeps asking for you. Shots were fired a few minutes ago. Sharp, I’ll be honest here. It doesn’t sound good. She keeps making comments about Jesse not being an issue anymore. I really think you need to let us handle this.”

I feel like someone took a sledgehammer to my stomach. The wind is knocked out of me completely. The car swerves to the side and I over-correct, barely missing oncoming traffic. I’m overwhelmed with crippling panic. I can’t go through this again. I’ll kill her. I can honestly say that. If I have to choose, I will definitely pick Jesse over Sarah. Losing Sarah almost destroyed me, but if I lose Jesse I won’t be able to survive.

“You still there, Sharp?”

I swallow past the knot in my throat, “Call Jones. I have no idea why, but she listens to him. He can talk her down. I’ll be there soon. I’ll stay out of sight if you really think she’s waiting for me.”

“Jones isn’t answering. Shaun is headed to his house now. Park around back. I don’t want her to have any idea you even know this is happening.” I drop the phone and send up one last pleading prayer.

Jesse

“H
OW LONG
did it take you to realize you were in love with Brett?”

“Ten minutes,” I answer honestly. This conversation has been going in circles for hours. The ground is too hard and my butt is killing me from sitting for so long, but I don’t dare get up.

“That’s bullshit. You can’t know in ten minutes that you love someone.”

“Yes, you can. How long did it take you to fall in love?”

“A week.” I nod at the admission.

Ten minutes or a week, it’s all the same thing. We aren’t talking months or years. We are talking about recognizing that you would share an eternity with a person within minutes or hours of meeting them. I felt that with Brett. I was too afraid to see it at first, but it was always there. That first day he walked into the coffee shop, I knew I was going to spend the rest of my life with him. Convincing Brett was the hard part. I laugh to myself and wipe a lingering tear from my cheek.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” I answer shortly, not wanting to share the details that caused the unlikely smile to creep across my face.

“I’d die to feel like that again. To smile like that, and actually feel something. The void is the hardest part sometimes.”

“You could find it again someday. You could find someone who reminds you what it feels like to be truly alive. Someone who will give you meaning and hope again.”

“I don’t want to find someone else. I just want to feel it again.”

I drop my head to my knees. I want to say the right words, but I can’t seem to find any.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“I know, Jesse. You’ve said it a million times. Stop fucking apologizing.” I flinch at the outburst. So much for talking.

Brett

I
PULL
up, throwing the car into park, and darting toward the line of uniformed officers huddled at the side of Jesse’s apartment. All eyes rise to mine, and the looks of sympathy on their faces do nothing to put out the fire that is currently blazing in my veins.

“Talk to me,” I snap at Eli.

“Nothing has happened since we got off the phone. No more shots, but also no sign of Jesse. Sarah isn’t talking anymore, but we can still see her pacing through the window next to the door.”

“Okay, you’re going to have to let me talk to her.”

“No way. If we give you to her now, we have nothing to use as leverage later when she gets tired of playing games. You know the way this works. We just need to wait her out for a little while.

“I’m well aware of the way this fucking works. I’m also well aware that my woman could be in there bleeding to death.”