Stranded. Alice Sharpe
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was talk they were going to promote Kit Anderson but they haven’t done it yet. Chief Quill quit right after you disappeared when he was caught taking bribes. The mayor appointed Frank Smyth to fill the position until he makes a permanent decision. As far as I know, they’ve got you on the books as being on some kind of emergency leave.”
Alex made himself concentrate on the conversation. “I’m surprised the mayor chose Frank instead of you to act as chief.”
“Yeah, I was, too. But Frank likes the business end of things and getting his picture in the paper, you know what he’s like. He probably sweet-talked the mayor and that’s nothing I would do unless he was twenty, gorgeous and a she.”
Alex nodded. He didn’t know Frank all that well even though they’d worked side by side on occasion. Frankly, the new chief was something of an enigma to Alex. Touchy on one hand, egotistical on the other, never shy about tooting his own horn. It was hard to imagine him as the chief. On the other hand, Alex was grateful the guy had held open his job.
“You’re probably going to break Kit’s heart but he’ll live through it,” Dylan said. “I don’t care how many classes he’s been taking, I don’t think he could pass the detective test, anyway.”
They both turned as Jessica entered the kitchen. She’d wrapped a kimono around herself and Alex’s gaze immediately dropped to her midsection where he tried to discern a bulge. She smiled at him and his gaze flew to her face. “It doesn’t show too much yet,” she said.
He tried out a smile and wished they were alone so he could ask her about the Facebook thing.
“Morning, Dylan,” she said as she poured herself a cup of coffee. “It’s good to see you.”
“Sorry to barge in so early. I just had to look at this guy with my own eyes,” he said. “I swear, I hate to say it, but I never thought I’d see him again.”
“It’s hard to believe he’s home,” she said.
Dylan turned back to Alex. “It says in the newspaper that you hurt your leg.”
“No big deal,” Alex said. “Besides, Jess has already heard all the gory details. Let’s not bore her with more.”
“Come off it,” she protested. “You’ve barely told me anything.”
“And that’s because you have more important things to think about,” he said as he got up from his stool and offered it to her. He suddenly realized he hadn’t delivered her coffee because he let himself get sidetracked by Dylan. Oh, well, there was always tomorrow.
“More important than your survival? I don’t think so,” she said.
“The fact is I did survive. Hey, here’s some good news. Dylan says my job is still open.”
She shook her head as she glanced at Dylan. “He’s in protective mode,” she said. “I may not survive it.”
“I’m not worried,” Dylan said. “We spend a lot of time driving around together. I’ll get sick of his stories by the end.”
“That’s true, you will,” Alex said. The phone rang and he added, “I have a feeling that’s Nate calling me back. I need to talk to him and it might take a while. Later, okay?”
“Sure,” Dylan said as Alex sprinted off to grab the phone before the answering machine came on.
* * *
“I’D BETTER BE on my way,” Dylan said. But he paused with his hand on the knob and looked back at Jessica. “I’m so glad things are finally working out for you two.”
Dylan was such a strong, physically honed individual that there were times Jessica found being in the same room with him a little overwhelming. She knew he was divorced, liked fast cars and dated a lot of younger women but never the same one for very long. It always seemed his romances started out hot and heavy and then tapered off.
“I know you’ve had a rough time the last year or so,” he added.
She really did not want to talk about her relationship with her husband, at least not with Dylan, so she smiled brightly. “That’s all behind us now,” she said.
He cocked his eyebrows as though he thought she was being very naive. Exactly what had Alex told him? Whatever it was, she didn’t want to know, but she could imagine. Hadn’t she discussed her struggling marriage with her girlfriends? There was no reason Alex shouldn’t have done the same. “Do you work tonight?” she asked.
“Not unless something terrible happens,” he said. “Knock on wood.”
“Then why don’t you come back around six o’clock. Bring along anyone from the office who’s free. We’ll have a little surprise party for Alex.”
“Do you think he’ll like that?” Dylan said.
“I think it might be easier for him to see people in an informal situation. He can bring everyone up to speed at the same time and not have to keep going over things.”
“That sounds reasonable,” Dylan said. “Why don’t you make it potluck. I’ll bring one of those veggie trays.”
“Okay. Tell everyone to park around the block and come in the back way through the garden.”
“You got it.”
After he left, she went in search of Alex. She found he’d closed himself in the den and what she could hear of his voice sounded low and guarded.
A few minutes later, he emerged from the den and seemed surprised to find her standing there.
“I take it that was Nate?” she said.
“Yeah.”
“I bet he’s relieved to hear you’re okay.”
He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “Yeah, of course.”
“Did he explain things better than I did?” she asked as they started back toward the kitchen.
“He just gave me a few more facts. He talked about the B-Strong organization which was used as a front, stuff like that. And he says the authorities can’t place the guy who killed Mike as being in Blunt Falls last February.”
“Which means he must have had an accomplice here,” she said.
“Exactly. Nate says the FBI hasn’t found anyone, though. Oh, you’ll be relieved to hear the concern about a Memorial Day attack seems to be centered on Seattle, Washington, not here.”
“I’m not relieved about anything,” she said stubbornly.
He stared into her eyes. “Nate has had a hard time. That shooting at the mall really gutted him. He thought he should be able to save those kids...and then he was injured and in the hospital. The authorities are going to be hell-bent on finding out if my plane was sabotaged but even if it was, it doesn’t seem to me that it has a whole lot of bearing on the here and now.”
“But we don’t know that,” she said. She bit her lip and added, “I get the feeling you’re giving me the kid-glove treatment,” she said. “I can be pregnant and concerned about other things at the same time, you know. I’m pretty good at multitasking.”
“I don’t want to argue with you,” he said. “Just let me take care of this and you take care of our baby.”
“Listen carefully,” she said, her voice soft. “We drifted apart before, partly because our dreams of having children weren’t coming true. Now they are, but you’re using him or her as an excuse to push me away again. I don’t want to live like that, Alex. You have to let me share your life.”
“I know,” he said. “That goes two ways.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you have to let me share yours, too.”