Jayne and Steelie - 01 - Freezing (15 page)

She noticed he had stilled the salt shaker. She wanted to pull his hands to her lips and thank him for caring about people reduced to shadows. Especially when he needn't because that wasn't his job; when he needn't look back, only forward.

Steelie's voice came from behind her. ‘Here you go. Long line but worth the wait.'

Eric put a mug down in front of Jayne. ‘Steelie tells me you've got some kind of situation at your place.'

Scott looked from Jayne to his partner. ‘What's this?'

‘Looks like maybe someone planted a bugging device outside Jayne's apartment.'

Scott's eyebrows lifted. ‘
This
is what you wanted to talk to us about? When Eric said bugging, I figured you meant legals or clearances. If you'd have said something, we could have brought sweeping equipment.'

Eric said, ‘We did bring sweeping equipment.' He responded to Scott's look of surprise. ‘That's why they pay me the big bucks. Now, tell us what you know, Jayne.'

‘Look, I don't really
know
anything,' Jayne said, feeling frustrated with Steelie for no good reason. ‘There's a wire coming out of a box inside the soil of a plant pot—'

Steelie interrupted. ‘That was left on Jayne's porch anonymously.'

Jayne countered, ‘But my situation, as you're calling it, is probably nothing compared to Steelie's.' She enjoyed watching Eric turn on Steelie.

‘You didn't mention anything.' Eric sounded almost accusatory.

Jayne continued. ‘She didn't say she was pulled over on a fake tail light stop by a cop who maybe wasn't a cop and tried to drag her out of the car?'

He looked concerned. ‘Give me that again.'

Jayne gestured at Steelie, who described the events from the Atwater Village Shopping Center the night before.

Scott had the first question. ‘You drove off while his arm was in the car and he didn't follow you?'

‘Yeah. Stupid, right?'

He smirked. ‘More like gutsy. You report it?'

Steelie shook her head. ‘I just called an old friend at Parker Center. He said I had grounds for a complaint, which I can file even if I don't know whether he was an officer or just pretending to be one. I guess the Ombudsman – or whoever – will work that part out. But let me ask you, do you think a cop would act that way?'

‘Well,' Scott replied, ‘some aspects don't sound right. The fact that he was riding solo, him not letting you get a good look at his badge, grabbing the lock on your door. And, of course, not following you. Most cops would track you down, if only to save themselves from being a laughing stock back at the House.'

Eric said, ‘If he was a cop, you'll be getting a summons in the mail any day. If he wasn't . . . you maybe got a lucky break in getting away from a real piece of work. And you should watch your back.'

Steelie frowned. ‘What do you mean?'

‘You live in your own house, right?'

She nodded.

‘Alone?'

Steelie jutted her chin upwards slightly. ‘At the moment.'

‘Got a dog?' Eric asked.

‘No.'

‘Got a gun?'

‘Hell, no!'

‘Well, ma'am,' Eric had assumed a southern drawl. ‘What
do
you have?'

‘Don't listen to him,' said Scott. ‘You don't have to get a gun. Just stay alert. And maybe curb your late-night ice cream runs.'

Eric added: ‘And you should call us – either of us – if something like that happens again. I'm in Hollywood and Scott's in Downtown. Only a few minutes from either of you.' He saw Steelie's expression. ‘Guess you didn't know we lived so close, huh?'

She recovered, ‘No, I just didn't realize government agents
had
homes. What do you guys do there, anyway? I'd find that interesting from an anthropological perspective.'

Looking at Jayne, Scott said, ‘It wouldn't be more interesting than finding suspicious boxes hidden on your porch. Where're you parked? We'll follow you over.'

Jayne tried not to leave the Suburban behind at any traffic lights on the way to her apartment, so she was driving slower than usual. It made the drive hypnotic as the narrow road wound gently uphill from Sunset.

Steelie said, ‘The reservoir looks calm tonight.'

Jayne looked across the water, catching glimpses between trees. ‘In a dark way.'

‘Maybe I should get a dog.'

‘Maybe I should, too.'

They lapsed into silence. Jayne pulled in front of her duplex and waved her arm out the window for Scott to park in the driveway. Then she drove further along Silver Lake Boulevard until she found a parking space. They walked back.

Eric was holding a case. ‘Lead the way.'

Jayne went up the stairs first. What she saw as she rounded the corner of the landing surprised her so much that she came to a dead halt. Scott collided into her back and put a hand on her waist. Behind him, Eric exclaimed but was able to stop in time and put out a warning hand to Steelie, who called up to Jayne.

‘What is it?'

Jayne looked past the others to Steelie, her eyes wide, the porch light casting a hazy glow across her face. She spoke through clenched teeth.

‘They're not here.'

The landing was clean. No pots, no soil, no wire.

THIRTEEN

S
cott could feel Jayne start to tremble and knew she wouldn't be aware that she was trying to back down the stairs even though he was right behind her. As nice as it was to have her moving against him, he would enjoy it more if she intended to do it. He could only see the back of her head, but with his hand firmly on her waist he knew he was reading her right. She was experiencing a fear made more intense because it was brought on by the absence of something.

He slid a hand over hers and moved it to the railing, forcing her fingers to curl around it by using pressure from his own. Then he twisted around to Eric and gestured upwards with his head. Eric nodded and squeezed past them to reach the landing.

Scott then looked at Steelie and saw that her usual wry-tough expression was gone, replaced with something taut and far away, like she was speed-thinking through a million topics. He knew he had to get her to lock down on something. ‘Steelie.' He watched her focus on him. ‘Keep an eye on her, OK?'

When she spoke, her voice had its usual clip. ‘No intention of doing otherwise.' She came up the stairs as he let go of Jayne's hand. Then he stepped on to the landing.

Eric was crouched in front of the door with a flashlight. He ran a gloved finger across the wood siding on the wall just above the floor of the landing and then stopped. Holding his finger in place, he passed the flashlight to Scott who kept it steady on his partner's hand while Eric selected a tiny metal tool with a curved end from the open toolkit beside him. He dug at the wall gently and a plug of material softer than wood but well camouflaged against the siding came away on the tool and left a small hole.

He glanced up at Scott, who returned the flashlight and turned to Jayne, who was still gripping the handrail. She was looking at the doorway, brows knitted and chewing her bottom lip. Scott wanted to make her stop and kissing her would have been his preferred method.

‘When were you last here?'

Steelie spoke when Jayne didn't respond. ‘Yesterday. She stayed at my place last night.'

‘Can we open your door?' He was still directing the questions to Jayne.

She was watching Eric thread a wire into the hole he'd exposed. She nodded.

‘Just need your keys,' said Scott.

She spoke without taking her eyes off of Eric. ‘Don't know where they are.'

‘I think they're in your hand.'

She looked at him then and he saw confusion and fatigue in her eyes. Steelie was the one who took the keys from her and passed them over. Scott unlocked the front door. He opened it but didn't go in. Instead, he waited for Eric to continue threading his wire through the hole on the outside. When Eric depressed a switch at the other end of the wire, light glowed weakly from under the metal bar over the threshold. After a bit more threading, the wire and its bright headlamp came out through a hole where one of the screws on the threshold plate should have been, but wasn't.

Eric spoke softly to Scott. ‘No doubt there was something here. Probably audio, though it's the right size for a fiberscope video package. Whoever set it up has done a nice clean-up job.'

He began pulling out the wire. ‘I don't think we'll find anything in here but let's sweep the place.'

Eric looked back at Steelie and Jayne. ‘We're going to check the place for bugs and then you should come in and see if anything's missing or out of place.'

When they entered the apartment, Scott was acutely aware that this was a step beyond the peculiar closeness he and Jayne had maintained over the years. Turning on the lights revealed a large room that seemed like two rooms due to the placement of the living room furniture; two yellow sofas made an L under a beam bisecting the ceiling. Narrow tables backed both sides of the L and were laden with large lamps and neat stacks of
Architectural Digest
.

When he turned from checking the lock on the sliding glass door to the deck, he pictured Jayne sitting on the sofa, her feet on the glass coffee table, looking at the corner fireplace. Then he realized with a start that the image had turned into one of him lying intertwined with her on that sofa. He tried to get back to the task at hand. Eric was continuing methodically with the bug detection unit, now passing it behind bookshelves and a pine TV cabinet. So far, the unit wasn't raising any red flags.

Scott crossed the full length of the room, past the glass dining table and the front door where Jayne and Steelie were hovering, and stepped into the kitchen. He checked all the locks on the windows. Nothing had been forced or tampered with so he moved on to the bedroom, knowing Eric would follow him with the detection unit.

Scott was surprised by the femininity of the bedroom compared to the rest of the place. A blanket was draped at the foot of a large bed and numerous pillows of different shapes were ranged at the head under a sizeable window. He went directly to the window to check its lock and had to navigate a complicated set of semitransparent curtains running on different tracks. Leaning in, he jogged the bedside table and looked down to make sure he hadn't knocked anything to the floor. Along with a small stereo unit, three books-on-tape, and a slim silver pen, there was a pad of paper whose top sheet looked like a list.

He registered a few words and then stooped to take a closer look.

Kigali. Blocked road.

Genocide starting. Ripping shoulder joints.

Driving but no rides. Child with fever.

Embassy. Knowledge of ignorance
.

He started to re-read it, hoping it wasn't what he thought it was and then he heard someone step into the room, their tread soft on the carpet. He turned quickly to see Jayne in the doorway, looking more like herself, if somewhat pale.

‘I was just . . .' He couldn't explain why he was reading her private notes.

She walked toward him and looked down at the paper. ‘It was just a dream.' She flipped the pad over so its cardboard back was uppermost.

He was looking at the top of her down-turned head. ‘You're dreaming about road blocks in Kigali.' He couldn't make it a question.

‘Yep.' She met his eyes and he was surprised to see a defiant look. He was even more surprised when she jabbed an index finger toward his chest and hissed, ‘And don't you dare judge me.' She turned and began walking away.

He couldn't believe she thought he didn't know what this dream was about. ‘Jayne, wait.'

She stopped by the door but didn't turn around.

He continued, ‘I know what the books-on-tape are for.'

She turned toward him but spoke warily. ‘They're entertainment.'

‘No, they're not.' His tone was harsher than he'd meant it to be but he was trying to hold her there with his voice, desperate to stop her from putting up more defenses. He could practically see her throwing up the scaffolding, so he talked, fast. ‘You have them so that when you wake up from a nightmare so real you think you're there, you can hit “Play” and know that you're here. Here;
not there
. And maybe you feel guilty about that.'

He tried to read her expression. He couldn't be using the right words. She looked stricken. He closed his eyes, mustering all his energy to say the most important thing, the thing he should have said first. ‘You know what, Jayne Hall? You're not the only one who sometimes needs a reality check to get through the night.'

Saying that out loud made him feel like he'd eaten something bitter and he swallowed before opening his eyes, hoping to see understanding on her face this time. But she wasn't there and he didn't know when she'd left. He felt rooted to the spot.

Eric stepped through the doorway. ‘I just told Jayne we're clear in the other rooms, including the bathroom. So I'll check this one, then we'll do the outside.' He frowned at Scott. ‘Everything all right, man? You weren't shouting at her, were you?'

‘No.'

‘OK, maybe not shouting, but that thing you do that sounds like shouting to everyone else.' Eric started to sweep the bug detection unit around the walls and closets but he kept an eye on Scott, who sat down on the edge of the bed.

‘OK, maybe my voice was raised.'

Eric stopped in mid-sweep and looked him over.

Now Scott felt defensive. ‘I just don't want to be misunderstood on any of the stuff that matters.'

Eric turned back to the sweeping. ‘Houston, I have never known you to care what other people think about you.'

‘Yeah. Well, I care what Jayne thinks about me.'

Eric came to the end of his circuit around the room and rested a hand on his shoulder. ‘My friend, you will be lucky if that woman thinks about you, at all. Ever.'