Stuck On You (3 page)

Katherine Kingston had crept into his dreams on more than one occasion since high school.

He had seen her around the jail, the courthouse and the county office building when she was a probation officer. This program was a new venture for her, and she’d make it successful or die trying. That’s the way she was in school, and that’s the way she was now.

He remembered how Kate volunteered to be the editor of the school paper when no one would do it because of the work involved and because it was a geek job. But Kate didn’t know that. She took it on, and actually made
The Rooster Crows
an interesting paper to read.

He remembered how she even interviewed him just before the big football game. She didn’t know a thing about football and admitted to doing research before the interview. She sure as hell tried to ask good questions. Actually, she did quite a flattering story on him. He had always felt that her article had helped him get the Rose Lake High Alumnae Scholarship.

And then he had passed on the scholarship to join the sheriff’s department and the scholarship went to Pete Nash instead. Mack’s father had been livid and things were never the same between them.

But that was then, and this was now.

"I can't sit at home," he said, wanting Kate to understand. “I have to find out who set me up and who shot Tom. I had nothing else to do in jail but replay that night over and over in my mind. So now, I have to check out a couple of things. I can't do that if I'm locked in my house."

"If you'd bothered to read the contract you signed, you'd know that you get to go twenty feet around the perimeter of the house."

"Oh, boy." He rolled his eyes. “Kate, I’m a cop, a good cop, believe me. And something’s rotten in Rose Lake. I have to get to the bottom of it.”

The elevator came and Mack was relieved when he saw it was empty. The fewer people who saw him in jail clothes, the better. They got on and he pushed the button for the intensive care floor.

"You lied," Kate said, shoving back her bangs in a way that made some of them stick up.

"Don't worry. It'll all work out."

"It'll work out because I'll make sure that it does, Mack. And if you don't cooperate, you can just rot in jail until all your court proceedings are over because I'll simply surrender you."

"You'd have to catch me first. With a good pair of scissors, this ankle monitor is history."

Her face was turning red. He was pushing her past her limits. He liked her. She was a good egg in high school and the butt of a lot of ribbing due to her shyness and because she was a bookworm. Over the years, she had gotten over some of her shyness. She certainly said what was on her mind now.

“How did you get into the house arrest business anyway?”

“The Probation Department had their budget cut, and I was one of the lowest in terms of seniority. I like computers, and saw a void in the criminal justice system in Rose Lake. We needed a house arrest program.”

“No, we don’t. The cops arrest the criminals, and the criminals should stay in jail.”

“Even those who can’t afford bail?” she asked.

He grunted. “Most of them are bailed out or released on their own recognizance before I can finish their paperwork.”

“But some aren’t. Why should they languish in jail just because they are poor? Many have ties in town, so they won’t abscond.”

He rolled his eyes. “But some will. Then we’d have to find them again.”

“I’m going to be selective in who I recommend for my program.”

“No, you’re not,” he said. “If you were, you would never have let me out.”

She was just about to explain that Pete Nash insisted that she take Mack, and he’d send her more clients, but they had reached their floor. He strode out of the elevator and headed for Tom Murray's room with Kate close on his heels.

Two guards posted at the door blocked their way into intensive care.

"Good morning, doctor," one said, nodding at Mack.

Mack laughed. In his turquoise jail clothes, he supposed he did look like a surgeon in scrubs. He turned his back to them and pointed over his shoulder to the black stenciling on his shirt proclaiming 'Rose County Jail'.

They look more confused, then they finally recognized him.

"Olsen." Mack nodded at one deputy, then the other, reading their brass name tags. "Cruz." He ran his fingers through his greasy, unruly hair. He couldn't wait for that shower along with a haircut and a shave, but first things first. "How's Tom doing?"

They both remained silent.

It figured that he'd get two cops that he didn't know very well. "C'mon, guys," he said, trying to get their cooperation. "I'm here to see my partner."

The two cops looked at each other and closed ranks in front of the door to Intensive Care.

Mack lifted up his pant leg so they could see the ankle monitor. "I didn't escape if that's what you're thinking. I was released from jail on house arrest. Got it?"

They bent down to inspect the black plastic band with the square plastic block in the middle. After a while, he shook down his pant leg and met the cops' uncertain stares.

Mack stepped toward them. "Tom's my partner. I want to see him."

The cops didn’t budge, and Mack’s hands closed into fists. He didn't know how much more he could handle before he exploded. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself against a physical fight. One punch at a cop, and he’d be back in jail. He never felt so helpless in his life, and he didn’t like it one bit.

It was even more demeaning with Kate being there to witness his humiliation.

Kate wedged herself between Mack and the deputies.

"Gentlemen, my name is Katherine Kingston and I'm responsible for Sergeant Mackowitz while he is awaiting trial. Only minutes ago, County Court Judge Peter Nash and I agreed to give the sergeant permission to visit Sergeant Murray before Sergeant Mackowitz officially starts his house arrest." She glared at Mack. "And he will follow all the conditions of his release." Turning back to the guards, she added, "His visit won't take long."

Mack shook his head. This was shy, introverted Kate Kingston?

"I can handle this, Kate. Will you just let me handle it?" "We have orders not to let anyone in that room, ma'am," said Olsen. "And that includes this citizen."

This citizen?
Mack fumed.
Citizen?
They were talking over him like he didn't even exist, as if he'd already been stripped of his rank. He couldn't stand the thought of not being a cop. If he wasn’t a cop, he was nothing.

"But Officer, Sergeant Mackowitz isn't just anyone. He was...um...I mean he
is
Tom Murray's partner, and he's very concerned about him. Wouldn't you be if you were in his position?"

Well, she didn't back off and he had to admit that she looked good when she was challenged. Her cheeks were flushed with color, her eyes were bright, and he liked the feeling that she was on his side in this particular battle.

Mack grudgingly concluded that Kate wasn't doing all that badly. She had the two cops shifting on their feet, looking like they were ready to give in. But this was his fight, not hers.

"I said I can handle this, Kate." Frustrated, he took a deep breath. "I don't need you to talk for me."

Ignoring him, she stepped closer to the cops and smiled at them as if they were the most important guys in the world.

“C’mon, officers. If anything goes wrong, you can blame me and Judge Peter Nash.” She winked, and they actually melted before his eyes.

Cruz stuck out his chin. "But he was arrested, and there's talk that it's his fault that Murray's in there."

That's not true
, Mack assured himself even though he had thought the exact same thing a million times. The guilt was choking him. Maybe he should have seen it coming. Maybe he should have investigated more extensively, but maybe Murray should have anticipated it, too, and been on his toes. Maybe it was just damned unavoidable.

Or maybe the bullet was meant for him.

But who the hell was this cop to judge him? Accuse him? He was ready to lunge for Cruz when he felt Kate's grip on his arm.

"Officers, you don't believe that the sergeant would put his own partner in danger, do you? You know his reputation. Everyone knows that he's been decorated and has several commendations. The
Rose Lake Herald
said he's the most decorated cop in the sheriff's department, and he holds the record for the most arrests which resulted in the most convictions. Now why don't you call your commanding officer and get the okay for Sergeant Mackowitz to visit his partner?"

It blew him away that Kate had read newspaper articles about him, and he couldn't help but wonder if she had kept track of him through the years, as he’d done with her.

She probably just reads the paper, Mack. That's all.

Mack closed his tired eyes. All he wanted right now was to see Tom and then take a shower to scrub the jail stink off of him.

And why was he still allowing her to do his talking for him? Grudgingly, he admitted that she was doing a pretty good job of it and he just wasn't thinking right. Of course, he should have told them to call Captain Marty Crowley right from the get-go and saved himself all this trouble. No. He should have reminded them that he was still a sergeant, their commanding officer, until fate or a jury decided otherwise.

"Are you going in there with him, Miss Kingston?" Olsen asked.

Kate looked up at him. "You bet I’ll be with him. I won't let him out of my sight."

Both officers looked relieved. For the life of him, Mack couldn't understand why Kate's going into the room with him would make the cops feel better. He could have given her the slip a dozen times by now. Maybe he should have.

"Wait just a minute," Cruz ordered, holding up his index finger. He called the station on his radio, then turned to them. "Sarge, Captain Crowley said that he's glad you're out of jail and you can go right in, but Miss Kingston is to accompany you."

"I heard," Mack said, feeling sick in the pit of his stomach. Even his own commanding officer–his mentor, his friend–thought he needed a keeper and couldn't be trusted.

He waved the air with his hand. "Whatever."

Before his arrest, the two of them would have stepped aside and gladly opened the door for him. He was respected on the force. Now he was neither fish nor fowl. He wasn't a cop, yet he was. He wasn't a sergeant, yet he was.

And to add insult to injury, he now had Kate Kingston sticking to him like glue and doing his speaking for him.

What next?

"I'll radio the inside guards and tell them that you have clearance from the captain."

"Thanks," he muttered. Grabbing the handle of the door to the Intensive Care Unit, he slowly opened it. "Let's go," he said over his shoulder to Kate.

He stood a minute, letting his eyes adjust to the dim light. The nurses' station in the center of the unit was brighter than the glassed-in rooms around the perimeter. Some of the rooms had curtains drawn. Mack quickly scanned the dark rooms, but he didn't see Tom Murray.

A nurse walked toward him, her rubber-soled shoes squawking like crows in the quiet room.

She was as short as she was wide, with gray hair pulled so tight from her face that it had be painful. Her white uniform was as starched and as stiff as she was.

"I'm here to see Sergeant Murray," Mack said before she asked. "I don't see him. Where is he? Is he all right?"

"He's doing very well...considering,” the nurse stared at him. “And who might you be?"

He reached for his badge and ID, but it wasn't there. "I'm Sergeant John Mackowitz, Rose County Sheriff's Department. I'm his partner."

She eyed him as if he had just crawled out of a sewer. How right she was.

"Only immediate family is allowed to visit in Intensive Care."

Mack took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "He's as close to me as my own brother."

She raised an eyebrow and looked at Kate, who waited by the door.

"She's my warden," he mumbled.

The nurse clicked her tongue on her teeth, but didn't pursue it. "This is highly irregular. I don't think—"

"Nurse, please." He pushed back his filthy, greasy hair. "I've been to hell and back. I was with Tom when he was shot. I need to see him."

She studied him for a long time, sizing him up. Finally, she nodded. "Go ahead. Room One. You have five minutes. Your warden, as you call her, may stand outside the door with the guards, but she can't go in. Only one visitor at a time."

Mack winked, and the nurse chuckled. She was a tough one, but she had a heart. He read her nametag. "Thanks, Nurse Newton."

She pointed her finger at him. "Five minutes, handsome, and not a second more."

He motioned for Kate to join him, and she hurried over, trying to walk on tip-toes so her heels wouldn't make a sound. That was considerate of her, Mack thought, since Nurse Newton didn't seem to care.

"They're going to let me see him, but you have to stand outside the door with the guards."

She nodded. Her face was pale and her lips were pursed so tight, they were white. She looked like she was ready to faint. Medical stuff and hospitals always used to do that to him, too. When he was a rookie, he lost many a meal to the bushes after arriving on the scene of a horrible car accident or viewing what was left of a person after a shotgun blast. He never got used to it, but, after a while, he learned to deal with it.

She swayed, and he took her arm in an attempt to steady her. "You can wait at the nurse's station, if you'd like. I promise I won't disappear."

He could see her eye the red "exit" door about ten feet from Tom's room. "Kate, I promise. Go over by the nurses."

She swallowed. "Okay."

"You sure?"

She exhaled and waved him on. "Go ahead."

He walked over to Room 1 and stared through the glass window for a while, gathering the courage to go in. The deputies guarding Tom's room nodded to him curtly, and Mack nodded back. He recognized them as recent graduates of the police academy and remembered them sitting in the front row when he was guest lecturer just last month. How ironic that he spoke about undercover drug operations and stings and how you had to watch your back and your partner's back at all times.