One Night In Reno (6 page)

He flipped through the pages, and then back to the All Points Bulletin placed on top.  “Says here she’s just a person of interest.”

“I did a little digging.  After both Jenny and the owner/manager failed to report for work on Friday, a coworker from the Little Eagle Lodge was dispatched to their respective homes in the same trailer park.  The coworker found blood and a bloody hammer in Ms. Albright’s home.  Bank records indicate she cleared out her bank account that morning.  There’s no trace of the missing boss, Abdul Bari Kahn, AKA Barry.  He is, however, on a terrorist watch list.  I was lucky to nab jurisdiction ahead of the FBI and Homeland Security.”

“He’s not missing.  He tried to run us off the road tonight.”  

Tess took down the details of the earlier encounter.  “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t haul her in tonight?”

“It’s our wedding night?”

“Funny man.”  Tess sighed heavily.  “I said a good reason.”

“Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?  She’s wanted for questioning, nothing more.  I promise to bring her by your office first thing in the morning.”

#

“
Mom, look.”  Josh poked his head through the doggie door.  “Buster has her own door.”

The open floor plan allowed Jenny to stand
in the living room and see into the kitchen.  “Would you, please, get in here?” 

Josh crawled in through the back door and then called for Buster to follow him inside.  He’d been all over the small two bedroom house marveling at each new discovery.  Which included a recently cleared out bedroom.  Jenny had given up on trying to listen to the raised voices outside.  When the voices had faded into the distance, she’d steeled herself against pushing aside the drapes for a peek.  It wasn’t any of her business why it was taking them so long to kiss and make up.  It’s not like it was her fault she'd stepped into the middle of their break up.

Just like it wasn’t her fault they’d been run off the road? 

That might be her fault.
                           

Jenny couldn’t even begin to explain her relief when the door opened and Garrett stepped through it alone.  “I’m so sorry,” she started to apologize.  “I had no idea you were involved with someone or I never would have agreed to marry you.  I think the sooner we get an annulment the better.” 

She’d rushed through the words in a single breath.  Her chest squeezed tight as she waited for his response.

He set the box of electronics on a nearby computer desk and stooped down to give Buster a scratch behind the collar.  “Is that what you want, an annulment?”

The question caught Jenny completely off guard.  “It’s not a question of what I want, but what’s right.”

“What’s an annulment?”  Josh asked.

“Sorry, hon. Adult conversation.”  Jenny plucked him from the spinning stool and he wrapped his legs around her waist.  “I’ll explain it to you later.  Mommy needs to talk to Garrett right now.”  She looked to Garrett.  “Would you mind if we got our things so I could put Josh to bed?”

“But I’m not tired,” Josh interjected.

“You will be,” Garrett said.  “We’ve got stuff to do tomorrow.”

“Like what?  Swimming?”

“Swimming and finding you a bed. Tonight you have to sleep on an old Army cot, okay?  Do you like camping?”

The boy had to think about it for a minute.  “Do I like camping, Mom?”

“We’ve never been camping.”

“I like camping.”  Josh decided.  Though Jenny knew it had more to do with liking Garrett and the things he liked.

“I’ll go get our stuff.”  Garrett whistled for Buster and the pup followed him out front.  He returned after two loads and a trip to the garage for a cot.  “You and Josh can sleep in my room tonight.  We’ll figure out a more permanent arrangement tomorrow.”

Yeah, like her and Josh leaving.

CHAPTER TEN

It took awhile to get Josh settled and into bed.  When Jenny stepped out of the master bedroom Garrett was at his computer with Buster sitting by his feet.  “Would you mind?  Josh is asking if the dog can camp out with him.” 

“No, I don’t mind.  Go,” he said to the beagle and pointed. 

Jenny closed the bedroom door behind the dog and continued down the hall toward him.  “How’d you get her to do that?”

“We’ve been working on some things,” he said, getting up from his computer desk and moving to the kitchen.  “Is this going to be an all-nighter?  Should I put on a pot of coffee?”

It took her a minute to realize he was talking about the discussion she wanted to have with him and not a night of something else.  “No.”  She shook her head in answer to both questions. 

Coffee would just keep her awake.  Not that she was going to get any sleep.  Now that the time had come to talk, she couldn’t seem to find the right words.  “Tess seemed upset.”

What an inane and stupid thing to say.  She didn’t want to bring up his ex.

“If Tess was upset there’d be four letter words and shooting.”

“She’s in the military?”

He chuckled.  “So that’s your opinion of the military?  No, Tess is all civilian.  Though she’s with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.”

“NCIS?  Like on TV?  Your ex is a cop?”

“Special Investigator.  You have nothing to worry about unless you’re a spy, terrorist or criminal threat to the Navy and Marine Corps.  Are you a threat to the Navy or Marine Corps?”

“I don’t think so,” she said, slipping onto a stool while he made coffee.  “But I might be in trouble.  And I don’t want to get you in trouble along with me.”

“What kind of trouble?”

She tucked her hands between her thighs.  “I hit my manager over the head with a hammer.  I didn’t kill him,” she was quick to add.  “At least I don’t think so.  I think he may have tried to run us off the road.”

He didn’t seem shocked by her confession.  “I’m sure you had your reasons.”

“I burned dinner—sorry, but you should also know you married a terrible cook.  The smoke alarm didn’t go off.  So I got up there to change the battery.  When I realized it hid some sort of mini cam, I freaked out.  To think that creep was watching me and Josh in our own home…”  She shivered.  “I put the spy cam on the table and smashed it with a hammer I’d been using to hang pictures.”

“Barry came running over—because he’s also my landlord and neighbor—he stormed the door, ‘Jenny, Jenny it’s not what you think!  Security only, security!’  Of course, I didn’t believe him.  I screamed at him.  He’s tried to shut me up by putting his hands on me.  He’s a pretty fit guy.  I knew if he got hold of me I wasn’t going to get away—”

“And that’s when you hit him with the hammer?”

She sucked in her breath.  If felt good to let it go.  “And that’s when I hit him with the hammer.” 

Garrett came around to her side of the island.  “Why didn’t you go to the police?”

“I thought I’d killed him.  There was blood.  He wasn’t moving.  I wasn’t thinking.  I just grabbed Josh and loaded up the car.  I went back inside and grabbed the smashed mini cam, but then Barry was coming around and I didn’t want to be there when he woke up.  I just wanted to get away.  I figured he wouldn’t go to the police, not if I had evidence and he had to explain himself.”

“You still should have gone to the police.”

“I know, I know.  But by that time I was on the road to Grand Junction.  My car broke down.  I didn’t have any money until it rolled over to midnight and my payday hit the bank.  Then I realized I had no job and no home to go back to.  I just felt overwhelmed.” 

She implored with her eyes.

“Still have that evidence?”

She nodded.

He held her gaze as he dropped his forehead to hers.  “Tomorrow you’re going to tell Tess everything you just told me.”

Jenny closed her eyes and nodded.  Was it so terrible to want to kiss her husband right now?

#

Garrett woke up on the couch several hours later to find Josh staring at him.  It was still dark outside and it took him a minute to orient himself.  He propped himself up.  “What time is it?”

The little boy shrugged.  Garrett looked at his phone.  Just after 4 o’clock in the morning.  Which meant he’d had exactly two hours of sleep.

“I can’t find Buster.”

“I’m sure she’s around.  Probably just off exploring her new surroundings.”

Josh shook his head.  “I checked everywhere.  Even the backyard.”

“The backyard?” 

Josh pointed to the doggie door.

Wide-awake now, Garrett sat up and threw off his covers.  He heard Jenny padding down the hall toward them in her bare feet and turned to look.  She wore low-slung pajama pants and a midriff revealing tank top. 

“What’s going on?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“Josh can’t find Buster.”

She crossed her arms over her breasts.

“Really wasn’t staring.  I’m just not awake yet.”  He rubbed his eyes.  Okay, maybe he hadn’t been staring, but even half asleep he had noticed her perky breasts. 

“Josh.”  She spoke to the boy in a loud whisper.  “Leave Garrett alone.  Buster climbed into bed with me.  You can, too.  If you promise not to get up before the sun.”

Garrett lay back down and pulled the covers over his head while everyone else went back bed.  His bed.  Birdsong kept him awake and wrestling with a point Tess had brought up.  Why a man who couldn’t commit to his fiancée had married a complete stranger.  But Jenny didn’t feel like a stranger.  She felt like…home. 

Even if he was sleeping on the couch.

I’m not your plus one anymore, Itch.  You’re now a plus two.

Plus three.  I’m now a plus three. 

Buster counts.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Later that morning, Garrett held her hand while Jenny recounted her story to investigators.  She felt like a walk on character in a bad TV drama.  There was so much more going on behind the scenes.  Her mild mannered boss was suspected of international sex trafficking, among other things.

Peeper was bad enough. 

To think what might have happened to them sent chills up her spine.  

It was likely Jenny would never know Barry’s true intent or if there had been other cameras in their trailer home.  The sooner he was caught the better.  Hopefully, the evidence she’d turned over helped convict the creep. The Eagle County Sheriff’s department was reopening five missing person cases, including a co-worker of Jenny’s who’d dated Barry for a short time.

Once the interview was over Jenny was free to go.  

In the days that followed, she felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders and placed right onto Garrett’s.  He’d been put on stand down after he returned from leave, pending a review of his security clearance.  He told her not to worry, that his XO was just being cautious until his CO
could review the situation.   

On the plus side, it meant the three of them could look forward to spending some time together, checking off items from a long to do list.  Between practical matters such as dealing with the claims adjuster, the auto body shop and car rental agency, there was the fun stuff--like getting their first military dependent ID cards and shopping on base.

They walked the beach and went to the pool every day, where Garrett taught her how to swim.  She was not as adept as Josh, but she was learning.  Swimming and walking were great exercise.  She’d never been so toned and tanned. 

Or well fed.

“Taste.”  Garrett extended a wooden spoon for a taste of his chili con carne.

“Mmm, that is good.” 

“I’ll get the bowls.”

“I’ll get Josh.”  As they brushed past each other, a little thrill shot through her.  Her husband appeared to be wooing her the old fashioned way.

She and Josh sat at the counter while Garrett stood for their afternoon break from the chaos of redecorating.  He didn’t own a dining room set.  Or it had belonged to Tess.  He didn’t talk about his ex fiancée much, but he did talk to her every day.  As naïve as it might seem, Jenny chose to believe the two were just good friends. 

Though they’d been lovers once.

She looked up from crumbling cornbread into her chili.  “Will you help me turn the mattress after lunch?”

“Sure,” he agreed between spoonfuls.

He obviously missed the significance of her request.  The truth was she’d rather burn it and buy a new one.  But California King mattresses were pricy.  And they had a budget.  While bed shopping for Josh, she’d tried to give back the twelve hundred dollars Garrett had snuck into her purse in Reno. 

He’d told her to use it to buy the bed, groceries and anything else that would make them feel at home.  She’d purchased bedding, drapes, paint, groceries and a few personal items for her and Josh to replace those left behind.  She still had a significant amount of grocery money left, but needed to make it stretch to the end of the month.