Steele Resolve (The Detective Jasmine Steele Series Book 1) (12 page)

“Jazz, we need to go, now.” His voice is film, but his eyes show me the truth. Something is wrong and my stomach is back to being a pit of hell.

Rushing up to the house, I feel Will’s arms pull me back into a tight embrace. My house, my home was burning to the ground and I was unable to do a damn thing about it.

“Chase and Frankie are inside!” I fight against Will, but the man is a Marine. He pulls me closer to his body.

“They were out before the fire started,” he whispers so only I could hear him.

It’s then the moment clicks for me. I need to be here to see the fire, to act afraid so if the killer is watching, he sees me. I stop fighting Will and simply fall to the ground. Everything I owned, everything I cherished was gone. Photos, videos, my memories of them all were gone. There were no tears, just this numbness to it all. The idea of letting go of the past is one thing, but the act of someone ripping it out of your soul is another.

“Detective?” I look up at the fireman in front of me and drag myself to my feet. “The fire has been contained, but it does look like the house is a total loss. The marshal is going to come down and do a more thorough investigation as to the cause.”

“I appreciate you talk to me, but I know who did it and why. The how is up to your marshal.”

I walk away from the scene in front of me. I can feel the eyes of everyone on me as I fall into the passenger side of the car. Will slides in a few seconds later.

“How you holding up?”

“I need a drink.”

“Everyone’s safe.”

I nod in response as he pulls the car away from what used to be my home.

Chapter Seven

Walking out of the elevator, I feel as though my brain is on automatic pilot. My feet move one in front of the other, methodically. Will knocks on a set of double doors, rather large for the department’s budget. James opens the door and lets us in. The second the door closes behind me, Chase rushes to my legs. His tear stained face looking at me for permission. I kneel down and take him into my arms. My cast hits his back a little harder than I intended, but he says nothing. He cries more on my shoulder. Standing, I carry him past all the officers and friends. Frankie points to one of the doors in the back and I carry him to bedroom.

Moving the sheets, I lay Chase down. He whimpers and fights me, but I pull the covers up before lying on top of them. He leans against me, his tears fewer than before.

“Everything’s gone?”

“Yeah, it is.”

“I couldn’t get my photo of mom and dad before Frankie grabbed me.”

“It’s okay, little man. You’ll never forget them.”

“But I might forget what they look like,” his tears start up a bit more.

“Maybe, but then it’s up to us to make sure we don’t. Maybe we can find pictures of them online to remind us. We can make due.”

“I was scared.”

“I know, honey, so was I when I got there. I thought you and Frankie were still inside.”

“We escaped out the back windows. The officers got us here before anyone knew we were gone.”I nod in understanding. My good hand continues to caress the top of his head. I feel his breathing begin to calm and even out. His little body gave out to rest.

“Is he asleep?” Frankie leans against the doorway looking at me.

“Yeah, he needed to crash.”

“You broke your hand?”

“I got into a fight with my desk and lost.”

“Would it have anything to do with the paper this morning?”

“It’s all crap, but something to worry about I guess.”

“No one is taking him, I can promise you that.”

“Maybe they won’t, but they are going to put up one hell of a fight.”

“Come with me?” I slowly extract myself from Chase’s sleeping form and follow Frankie into an adjoining bedroom.

“We all have our own rooms?”

“Will and James are sleeping in the living room. Victor has his own, Hadley and Mikala are sharing one, and so are you and I.” Instead of arguing I simply nod at all the information. Frankie leads me to the bed and sits down across from me.

“I know you don’t want to talk about this, but I will do everything in my power to make sure Chase stays with you.”

“It’s not your fight.”

“I’m going to let that slide because I know you’re in pain, but cut the bullshit and respect that you and Chase are my family too. We aren’t perfect, we aren’t even on the right track right now, but we can’t help who we love. Let me help you, please?”

She takes my good hand in hers, holding on tightly.

“I’m sorry you are being dragged through the mud with me. I’ve put you all in danger and I have no idea what the hell I’m doing anymore.”

Frankie lets go of my hand and grabs a small bag from the floor. “We had already packed three bags and loaded them in the car before the fire broke out. Chase was in his bedroom playing his games and I was in the office, looking over my files.” She pulls out a small portable hard drive and hands it to me. “You told me you always backed up everything at night automatically.”

Looking at the hard drive I feel immense gratitude wash over me.

“I don’t know what to say? This is… it has everything on it.”

“I know, you always told me the three things you would grab in case of a fire as a joke. I didn’t remember the other two, but this… this I couldn’t forget.”

“Chase was worried he would forget his parents, what they looked like.”

Looking up at her, I watch as she simply smiles in my direction. Before I can stop myself, I kiss her, reflecting all my emotions in one split second. Her hands are on my face, holding me there as if I would leave should she open her eyes.

“Hey, guys… oh shit.”

Frankie pushes away from me the second we hear Hadley’s voice. She pops up and fixes her clothes as if she could remove the embarrassment as easily as wrinkles.

“I was chosen by the others to come get your guys. They all want to talk, as if we haven’t done enough of that already.”

Following the two women out of the room, I peek in to see Chase still soundly sleeping. I close the door fully before walking into the living room and sitting next to Frankie. Will walks by and hands me a beer. I nod in thanks remembering I had wanted a drink a little while ago.

“One of my old partners told me Garrison found more information about the building for the male victim.” Mikala pipes up from her place next to Victor. “I don’t know how he did it or if he has some backing feeding him information.”

“I scoured that place. There was nothing there,” I quickly argue.

“But you were told not to investigate. Captain didn’t order that, it had to come from higher up,” Will adds in.

“Mikala, what did he find out?”

“It was one of the second crew’s filming locations,” Hadley jumps in before Mikala can respond. “I hate to put a squash on the conspiracy theory, but it was in the location agreements. The producers must have handed them over to him after you were taken off the case.”

“Maybe, but the producers didn’t remove me. The captain told me explicitly not to enter.”

“Okay, but I don’t know how this adds to the big cover up.”

“It’s more about who is pulling the strings,” Victor adds. “Garrison was given information timely. Jazz wasn’t. Her house was burned with all of her theories and connections. All her work was gone.”

“Frankie saved my wireless hard drive. It isn’t fully up to date but at least I have some things to go on,” I take a sip of my beer and enjoy the cool fluid rolling down my throat. “Hadley, how are you holding up?”

“I’m not jumping for joy here, but what can I do? I have James to watch over me and that’s all I’ve got. Right?” I can see she is trying to put on a brave face, but she is truly terrified. I look over to James who is tinkering on his cell phone.

“Did you know Garrison was in horror films? His daddy is a mega millionaire and made sure to pay for anything the boy wanted to do.” James adds. “Apparently his dad invest a crap load of money in films to have tax write offs.” A soft beeping goes off and Hadley checks her phone. She taps James on the leg.

“Time to go James.” She hops up and cracks her neck. “Time to head to work!”

James puts his phone away and stands, stretching his arms. “Overnights, do I get double time for this?”

“Hadley, are you sure this is safe?”

“Sure? No. I’ve got to work, Jazz. They didn’t postpone anything. The film is already behind schedule, so the producers are not that thrilled. I don’t want to be that actor who pushes more delays because she’s afraid to go to work.”

“Hadley, these people…”

“Are after you and Chase.” She cuts me off with the truth of the matter. “We are pawns in the bigger plan. That bigger plan is somehow going after you. They don’t call us. They don’t scream or threaten us.” Hadley hugs me and walks swiftly out the door with James hot on her heels. Will says something to Frankie’s detail and he pops off right behind Hadley and James.

“Backups for backups.”

“Smart idea. What else do we have?”

“I think our best lead is Garrison’s father.” Frankie tosses in before she grabs my beer and drinks some.

“Care to explain why?”

“He has the money. You always say follow the paper trail. Who has the power and money to take care of all of this?”

“I wish you were right, but most of the money was routed from off shore accounts through untraceable means.” Mikala shrugs. “I’ve been through the reports, hacked into other databases, can’t track a thing. To make matters worse the only things I could find lead to the deep web, lots of drugs transactions. Beyond that, nothing.”

“Tyler had to put us in a room away from everyone for a reason,” I mumble, “so what do we know about Garrison?”

“He’s a pain in the ass. Born with a platinum spoon in his mouth. Went to expensive private schools. Never went to college. Couldn’t find anything on him being involved with the law.”

“Squeaky clean.”

“Too clean,” Will finishes as he reenters the room. “Let’s go over this again in the morning, maybe a good nights rest will help.”

Hadley and Victor simply groan in appreciation as they leave the room. Will props his feet up on the coffee table and holds his beer against his chest. His eyes close.

“Don’t spill that,” I jokingly say to him.

“Marines never spill.”

“See you in the morning, Will.” Frankie heads to the bedroom and I look in on Chase in the room next door. His soft even breaths fill the room. He looks so peaceful when he sleeps, I wish I could give him more of that. Closing the door, I walk back into my room.

“Left side of the bed?” I nod as she tosses me a pair of sweats and a shirt. Changing quickly, we both climb into bed. She snuggles into my back as my mind races. “Shut off your mind, we’ll figure it out in the morning okay?” Just like that I relax and close my eyes.

Chapter Eight

The bright sun shines overhead warming my chilled skin. My puffy red eyes look up as if wanting to burn the pain from them. A shadowy silhouette of my brother hovers above me. “Mom send you?” The shape nods. “Henry, tell her I’m fine.” Henry falls to the ground next to me, the sun blinding me in the process.

“You don’t look fine.”

“Well, looks can be deceiving.”

“You’re a pain in the ass.”

“As your baby sister that is part of the job description.”

“You’re not a child anymore.”

“No, I’m fifteen going on sixty. And before you mention boys, I want you to know if they can’t hit a baseball as far as I can – they so aren’t worth my time.”

My brother gags a bit, “I don’t want to think about you and boys.” He leans on his side to face me. “It’s okay to cry you know. You haven’t done that yet.”

“Ladies don’t cry.”

“Jazz, everyone cries.” He pauses as I look him over for a minute. No matter what words echo in my head I know a lady never cries, not in public anyway. “Grandpa’s in a better place. Just have faith.”

I stand up, anger boiling deep within me.

“FAITH!” I yell at the top of my lungs. “When Monsignor Evans told us about heaven, I asked him if all animals go there. He said yes. So I argued but wouldn’t that make heaven awfully crowded?” I start pacing back and forth, my nervous energy overwhelming me.

“Then I asked about the megalodon and dinosaurs, were they there? Cause to be honest, every animal, bug or any of God’s creatures dead would technically be in the kingdom of heaven then. That makes it really crowded and how could I find grandpa there anyway with all those things trying to eat me still in there!”

My brother grabs my arms to stop me from pacing, his face has aged and his wedding ring rests gently on his finger.

“You have to stop. Stop seeing the darkness and see something positive. Remember the positives.”

Looking down at my officer’s uniform, covered in dirt and dried blood.

“How can I do that after all I’ve seen? All my years of studying the human mind, how can you just turn that off? I can’t. I still sit in the subway and pick up all the conversations around it. It drives Frankie crazy!”

“Turn it off. See the sun, the stars, whatever you need. Think of our parents, mom’s laugh or her voice when she sang. Think of all of the things that make you happy.” I look at him, lost. “Let’s get you home. I’ll play some Kiss on the way home, liven you up a bit.”

He puts his arm around me and opens a door to his right. Walking in, I see Frankie next to Belinda with a birthday cake in the center of the table. My dirty uniform is gone, replaced by shorts and a t-shirt. My brother slaps me on the back.

“You think we’d forget? Now, blow the candles out before we’re eating wax with ice cream.”

I lean forward to blow the candles out, but all the light goes out and I’m buried in darkness. A phone rings. I ignore it.

“This can’t be real.” I pinch myself and let out a gasp of pain. “Descartes always said I think therefore I am. So this pain thing might mean I’m awake. Or it is a manifestation of a dream and I am overanalyzing that even.”

Closing my eyes, breathing deeply I focus on the oxygen and not the mess in my mind. The phone rings again. Opening my eyes, the lights are on in my house. A small ring box sits on my coffee table next to a floor length black dress with matching heels. The phone rings again and I answer.

“Hello?”

Silence. Opening the door, I see flashing lights up the street. Dropping the phone, my feet walk of their own volition as I hurry to the scene. As I get closer, the lump in my throat grows. It feels as if I can’t breathe, like my tongue has swollen so badly I need my epi-pen. Standing outside of the yellow tape, an officer looks me over.

“Ma’am, you can’t be here.”

Turning my head to the faceless man in a sea of blue, I aimlessly hold up my badge to gain entrance. The man nods, lifting the tape and allowing me to cross inside the barrier. The movement around me swirls like a sea of color, nothing crystal clear or important. The tar grabs my feet causing them to drag along the pavement, unable to move quickly. My breathing slows, labored, painful.

“Jasmine, you don’t need to be here.”

Tyler, the captain in all his glory, stands in front of me. He head handing low, his gait soft. He tries to pull my attention to him.

“Tell me.”

He takes a deep breath. I’ve done that before. It’s the split second you have before you inform people of the worst moment in their lives. It’s the way you control all your emotion, the anger, fear all of that humanity inside to be very black and white. There is no room for grey when telling a family your loved one has died. There is only factual information and pseudo support. Either way, you are breaking on the inside as any human with compassion would. You have to be an amazing actor to hold all that in and still be professional. I should have a mantle full of Oscars by now.

“There’s been an accident.”

“How?”

“It’s doesn’t matter.”

I hear machines working to rip the car open and I lift my head to see the firemen working on the driver’s side of the car. A smaller black sports car is almost buried into the passenger side of the car. Blood covers the hood. I see deep gashes in the tree closest to the driver’s side door of my brother’s car. They were sandwiched.

“Belinda?”

Looking at the passenger side of the car, I knew the answer. I just needed to hear it. The captain says nothing. I look into his eyes and I see him struggling with his emotions. He isn’t as good as I am. I stumble towards the mangled mess of metal. The captain leads me around the men working hard to rip open the roof of the car. Henry sits in the driver’s seat, the steering wheel pressed hard against his abdomen, metal digging into his legs. The doors on the side missing, ripped apart by machines. Chase screams in the back seat uncontrollably.

“Hey, ass munch, what you doing here?”

Henry’s eyes open and I can see him struggle to focus on me.

“Hey, shithead, glad you could make it.” Blood trickles from the corner of his mouth meeting a stream of blood from his head lacerations. “How’s Chase?”

Looking over my brother’s shoulder, I see Chase with a small brace around his neck and an oxygen mask over his face. “He’s okay, the paramedics are taking good care of him. You look like shit though.”

Henry laughs, coughing up more blood.

“It’s a flesh wound.” He looks over at Belinda and takes her hand in his. “So, did she say yes?”

“I’ll tell you over drinks when we get you out of there.”

“You didn’t ask her.”

“Kinda busy coming to save your ass, shithead.”

“They aren’t getting me out, Jasmine. You need to take care of my son.”

“Chase has a team of doctors hovering over him right now, let the guys help you.”

Henry coughs more, his body shakes in pain.

“You can’t save everyone, not this time.” He grabs my hand and squeeze it tightly. “Please, stay with me.” I kneel down beside the car, never letting go of my brother’s hand. “You think Mom and Dad will find me.”

“I’m sure they will.”

“Hopefully, they’ll avoid the dinosaurs and killer sharks.”

Laughing at his comment I add, “Never underestimate Mom. She could find her way through a corn field during a tornado.” He smiles at my comment, blinking back the blood.

“I’m sorry I’m leaving you, Sis, but I can’t…”

“I know,” I cut him off. Looking over his injuries, I know there is no way to save him. The minute they removed the dashboard, he's dead. My eyes fix into a lifeless gaze, I can’t let him see the pain. He doesn’t need to see this right now. He knows how I feel. He knows I love him. I don’t want him to know how angry I am at the world right now.

Henry’s eyes dart to the rear view mirror and I know whom he’s trying to see. Reaching forward, I angle it so Chase is visible. Henry smiles and squeezes my hand tighter. I can feel him running out of energy and in essence, time. As I look down at his blue jeans, the darker navy color below the knees stands out as does the ever growing pool of blood at his feet.

Metal screeches as it breaks apart from the car, allowing the firemen to get to my nephew. My brother screams in pain as the car moves. With every twist and pull of the wreckage, his grip on my hand tightens, cutting off blood flow. His eyes never leave the mirror.

“You ask her. You raise my son with a family. You take care of him. Promise me?”

“Henry…”

My brother turns sharply to face me. His face, pale and drenched in pain pleads with me.

“Promise me!” He grunts as he pulls me closer to him.

“I promise.”

He nods as he turns his attention back to his son.

“Tell him we love him.” I can hear my brother’s voice crack and I find my own resolve giving. “Remind him to be a good man. Tell him his daddy trusted you to take care of him because mommy and daddy trusted you.”

“I will.”

Peeking over my brother’s head I see Chase being pulled from the car seat. His arms move around frantically as his cries fill the air. The fireman hands me Chase. My brother kisses his son’s head, smearing blood on the pristine skin.

“Daddy loves you, little man. I’ll be watching over you, okay?” My brother coughs and blood pours from his mouth. I hand Chase back to the fireman and grab my brother’s hand again.

“I’m scared,” his voice small, broken.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here.”

“I love you, little sister.”

“You’re an asshole for dying on me, but I love you too.”

Henry chuckles a bit before shaking violently, bubbles forming in the blood pouring from his lips. In seconds, it stops. Everything around me falls into silence. Letting out a scream I didn’t know I was holding, I let the tears pour out of my eyes like a waterfall. Shaking my brother, I punch him trying to wake him up. Leaning into the car, I pull him close to me, hugging him for the last time.

I fall back out of the car to the ground, empty. The captain pulls me to my feet, placing his jacket around me. I watch a paramedic close Henry’s eyes. Looking over to the cruisers, I notice someone in the backseat, a worn Yankees cap on, hanging his head low. The black sports car must have been his.

“Was he drinking?”

“Jasmine, let me handle this case. You just take care of Chase. Whatever you need, I’ll help you.”

“I don’t need help. I need my brother alive and I want some fucking answers!”

“Kid lost control of his car, that’s all I know.”

“Was he drinking?”

“I don’t know anything more than that.”

The captain helps me up into the back of the ambulance, Chase lying on a gurney. “I’ll call Frankie and have her meet you at the hospital.” He closes the doors behind me.