Page 112

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

S he sat by his bedside with her head tipped to the side, asleep on the chair. He watched her until he felt the need to shift his legs and adjust his position.

Jacob realized immediately that was a terrible idea.

A groan slipped from his lips. He tried to complete the move anyway, so he didn’t end up awkwardly tipped to one side. It didn’t get any better. He practically had to Lamaze breathe through it, unable to think about anything else for a second.

“Hey, hey.” She touched his arm. “Easy. You need to take it easy.”

He let his body slump where it was, totally spent. “Addie?”

She pushed hair back from her face, and he saw the dark circles under her eyes.

“Hey.”

She frowned. “I should tell the nurse you’re awake.”

Jacob stalled her with a hand on his arm. There was a tube in his arm. “What happened?”

He didn’t want to think about it. His abdomen burned like fire, but the last thing Jake needed was to contemplate the origin of all that pain. He didn’t even know what time it was or what day.

“You don’t remember?”

He tried to squeeze her hand, but his grip remained as weak as a newborn kitten’s. “Say it.”

Addie leaned on the rail at the side of the bed and leaned down. “You’re safe, and you’ll heal.”

He stared at her face like he could drink it in. Was she going to kiss him? He wouldn’t mind, but his mouth tasted like he’d licked the bottom of his running shoe.

“You were stabbed.” She touched his cheek. “I found you a few minutes after, and I’m happy it wasn’t worse than it is.” Relief washed over her face. “The surgeon sewed you up, inside and out. All that’s left is to rest and heal.”

She leaned down and touched her lips to his forehead.

“Addie.” Her name was a groan, all he could muster.

“I know. I’ll be back in a second.”

Jacob drifted back into sleep. All his energy drained.

He roused for a short conversation with the doctor, where Addie held his hand and kept looking at him with those reassuring glances. As though she fully intended to take care of him.

He figured he owed her the chance to do that if it was what she wanted. He’d never take that grace for granted. The idea that after he’d broken things off with her, following the worst time in their lives, she’d give him the honor of wanting to be with him again. Even just as friends? Jacob was willing to take whatever he could get.

The light in the room had dimmed when he opened his eyes again.

A dark figure stood by the window.

Jacob’s head swam. “Who…?”

Where was Addie?

Panic rolled through him. Too many crazy things had happened lately for him to be at peace when he couldn’t help himself. He’d have no choice but to pray and ask God to protect him and Addie.

Jacob tried to gather his strength enough to say, “What do you want?”

The man turned.

He tried to see the face. Was it the man who stabbed him?

Jacob’s world descended to black, and when he woke again the room was washed with light.

“Addie.” He blinked the room into focus. “Addie!”

The door flung open, and she rushed in, a paper cup in her hand. She set it on the side of the bed.

“Hey.” She leaned down close.

“I need water.”

“Okay.” She found a cup with a straw, and he drank the entire thing. “The doctor is coming in soon. They were going to uh…disconnect you from some things. And check you over.”

He felt its sensation and didn’t want to talk about his bodily functions with this woman. Or any woman. Or any doctor, but he figured he’d have to come face-to-face with reality while someone was in the room.

Jacob frowned. “Someone was in the room.”

Addie looked around. “It’s just me.”

“No.” Jacob shook his head. “Someone was here. In the dark.”

Her expression shuttered. “Do you know who it was?” The question had a guarded tone.

Jacob didn’t have the mental capacity to analyze it. He just liked looking at her.

“Jake, who was here in the dark?”

“I don’t know.”

She squeezed his shoulder. “I’m going to get the nurse again and talk to the officer on the door.”

He did not want to see the captain. “McCauley?”

“Eric Hummet.”

“I don’t know him.”

“He’s good. We’ve made friends.”

Jacob frowned.

Addie kissed him with her smile. “I’m not being na?ve, but I’m trusting him.”

“Okay.” Didn’t mean he had to like it.

“I’ll be back soon.”

Jacob watched her go.

The longer she was gone, the more he tried not to grumble about it. The doctor came in. He was given more instructions, and they reiterated everything done to put all his innards back together. Maybe he would remember.

The nurse did her thing so he could pee in private again.

Addie didn’t come back in for that, which was good. When someone left—or showed up—a couple of times, the door opened, and he caught a glimpse of her in the hallway.

He didn’t want to think about that man in the dark of the room.

Or the one in the parking lot.

He wanted to be in the light today and worry about the rest later. He was going to worry about all of it later. When he could move without nearly screaming. When cops didn’t factor in his life—except one beautiful one.

“Hey.” Her face swam in front of his. “You’re pretty out of it.”

“You’re just pretty.”

He heard the exhale that accompanied her smile. “Jake?”

“Yeah?” He reached up with his hand not tethered to meds and touched her cheek. Ran his hand into her hair.

“Did you see who stabbed you?”

He shook his head. “Don’t talk about that.”

“Jake, I need you to tell me.”

“Don’t remember.” That was a good answer.

“Is that true?”

He pressed his lips together.

“Tell me.”

He said nothing.

“The police are going to bring in whoever it is. We can’t have someone who would hurt another person like that, leave them to bleed out on the ground…” She cleared her throat. “Walking around free. It isn’t right.”

So much pain. Not his, but the grief of the man who had done it.

Jacob had seen it in his eyes as the knife went in. Not anger, just pain.

“Who was it?”

He swallowed. “Celia’s father.”

Instead of rushing out to tell the police, she touched her forehead to his. “It’s going to be okay.”

“Tell him I didn’t kill her.”

“I know, honey.” Addie kissed his forehead.

Jacob shut his eyes. She slipped away and he heard the door shut.

Even though he wanted to think of nothing but her—not the pain, not anything but Addie. Still thoughts crept in like those bugs in the vent. He felt them come and couldn’t help the burn of tears at what Celia’s family had suffered.

Sure, they were convinced he’d killed her. The fact he hadn’t didn’t mean anything to them when their daughter was dead.

Jacob felt the tear roll down his face, swiped it away, and realized he needed to shave a couple of days ago. Still, thoughts of that man’s eyes right before the knife slid into Jacob’s stomach.

The nightmare was worse.

Days later, when they released him, Jacob didn’t see Addie until he was wheeled outside to the curb. The sun had set behind the high rises of downtown. A siren blazed past, and an ambulance pulled into the corner bay at high speed.

“Ready?”

He glanced over at her. She’d gotten some sleep after he sent her home, so she didn’t spend the night in that awful chair again. Jacob nodded. “Where’s Hank?”

Addie helped him out of the chair. “No one’s seen him. He didn’t call into work, but the consensus is he’s out looking for the guy who stabbed you. Or his wife, she packed her things, and no one has seen her either. We think they’re together.”

He concentrated on her voice so he didn’t have to think about how much it hurt to walk. Maybe they shouldn’t be letting him go home so soon. He was useless. All he could do was lay in bed. Doing that at home was preferable to hospitals full of noise and people twenty-four seven.

“Okay. Legs?”

Jacob lifted his feet and folded them into the car.

“We can fill your prescription in the car. Get you the pill you’ll need in…” She looked at her watch. “Two hours.”

He could wait that long. It would hurt, but he could do it. He just needed a distraction. “Tell me what else has been going on.”

“Home front first.” Addie pulled out of the pickup lane and headed for the exit. “Mona and Russ got into it. Her boyfriend is twenty-five. Can you believe that? She’s seventeen. It’s crazy. Anything you can imagine; she’s been doing it.” Addie made a face. “Russ is so mad. He’s taken away her phone, her car. He drives her to school and work, then home.”

Jacob winced.

“Yeah. That was a fun couple of days.”

“What else?”

“The field office in Seattle sent a team of two agents over yesterday. I’ve got backup, and they’re hot on the case.”

Jacob glanced at her.

“Okay, so they don’t like me, and they don’t like Benson. Apparently, they want to be in the big city .”

“Okay.”

She smiled. “Doesn’t matter. I want this thing solved, and I’m done with either of us being strung along in the middle. So it is what it is, and I took two personal days. Who knows what the two of them will have figured out by the time I’m back in the office in a day or two? Right now, I’m here to help you. Work can take care of itself.”

“Is that a good idea?”

“It’s the right idea. I don’t care if the FBI disagrees.” She gripped the wheel with both hands. “You were stabbed. ”

“Is Hank really missing?”

“I’m sorry.” She winced. “I even pinged his phone and got nothing.”

“Maybe he’s at his hunting cabin. There’s no signal up there.”

“You hunt?”

“No, but Hank does.” Jacob had never gone out with him, just to the gun range occasionally.

“I’ll have Hummet check into that.”

She pulled into the garage in the basement of his building. Jacob thought about standing in the elevator for long enough to get upstairs and wanted to stay in the car rather than do that. It sounded exhausting, and he was already ready for a nap at this point.

Addie pulled to a stop beside another vehicle. Russ got out of his truck.

Jacob quickly realized it was his truck, not the old marshal’s.

The graveled older man pulled a wheelchair from the bed of the truck and set it beside Jacob’s door.

He was pretty proud that he got into it by himself without crying.

Addie wheeled him to the elevator, and Russ hauled his stuff. They piled in, and Addie used his key to get them into his floor.

As soon as the doors opened, he knew something was wrong.

Russ stepped out first. “Door’s open.”

Addie shifted. “We can see that, Russ.”

Jacob just stared. Addie pushed him over, and he nudged the door.

Addie let out a long breath. “The whole place is trashed.”

Russ frowned. “PD?”

“They’ll need to get the crime lab up here to dust for prints. Figure out who did this.” She shifted. “Jacob?”

He could only stare at the mess. His home. His private space. Someone had come in and tossed it.

She laid a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll pack a few things, what you need for a couple of days.”

Jacob swallowed. “Where am I?—”

Russ leveled him with a look. “You’re staying with us.”