Broken Build (20 page)

A shadow fell upon them, and a man’s foot caught her captor’s side. He yelped and let go of her. Punching and grunting sounds flew above her. She crawled onto the median between the spaces and pulled herself up by a tree.

“Call the police,” she yelled.

Bystanders whipped out their cell phones. Instead of calling they pointed the backs of their phone at the fighting men and cheered. One man had his phone trained on topless Jen. An older woman tried to skirt around the crowd. Jen pleaded with her to call the police. She shook her head and walked off faster. Snakehead and Scraggly Beard came out of the drugstore, calmly got into the car, and drove off while the crowd whooped and cheered the fight.

“They got away,” Jen yelled. But no one took notice, and she couldn’t see the fight because of the crowd.

Finally, sirens sounded and a police car pulled to a stop. The crowd backed away when the officers took charge.

A man held Bandana down in a wrestling hold. The police pulled him off and he raised his hands. Dave!

Jen hugged her bare torso. Dave gestured toward her, and the officers let him go. He staggered over and draped a jacket over her shoulders.

“Jennifer, are you all right?” He folded her into his arms. “What did they do to you?”

She let out a heavy breath and sunk into his chest, too drained to even cry.

* * *

Dave reluctantly relinquished Jen to the police. She had trembled without stopping, and he let her keep his jacket. They put her in a squad car to take her to the hospital. Another officer questioned Dave on the fighting. He admitted that he beat up the man, but it was in defense of Jen. He followed them to the station house to give his statement, but he was not charged because witnesses confirmed the man was assaulting Jen. He wanted to get to the hospital before they released her, so they let him go after contacting his lawyer.

He followed the directions to Washington Hospital and waited in the emergency room. A group of police officers talked. Jen had refused the rape kit and was being treated for cuts and scrapes. Pain traveled from his spine to his fingertips at the thought of Jen victimized. He had to question her about Abby. But how could he interrogate her when she’d been raped? He squeezed his eyelids shut. He couldn’t imagine how she felt.

A nurse wheeled Jen to the waiting room and gave her a pair of crutches. “Here's your backpack and purse. Do you need a taxi, miss?”

Dave jumped to her side and took her things. “I’ll take her home.”

Jen stood with the crutches and followed him to his car. He held the door open. A few police officers milled around. One looked at the front of his Camry a little too long.

Jen was silent on the drive down the freeway. She shrunk in the seat and stared out the side window. Hugging the jacket, she moved gingerly as if she was in pain. He took care to drive slowly and take wide turns to make the ride more bearable.

When they exited the freeway, Dave asked, “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

She hid her face from him. “I can’t.”

Her voice sounded so plaintive, it hurt. Despite the questions burning in him, he’d have to wait until she was ready.

He reached his driveway, turned on the high beams, and rolled across the lawn.

Jen stared out the window at the wreckage on the driveway. “What happened here?”

“Been a long day.” He helped her from the Toyota, and she limped to the front door with the aid of a single crutch.

The security light turned on while he unlocked the door. Jen touched the dried blood on Dave’s forehead. “You’re hurt?”

Her concerned look tugged at his heart. Maybe he had accused her too hastily. After all, the criminals had kidnapped her, forced her to download the code and… He was afraid to ask whether they had raped her or not.

He held her hand. “That was from before, when I smashed my SUV.”

She lowered her head and took her hand back. “Thanks for rescuing me. I wasn’t really going to give them the code.”

He pulled her to his chest and held her tightly. “You scared me. Don’t ever do this to me again.”

She collapsed against him, and he swung her over the threshold into the house. He kicked the door shut, his hands unsteady and numb.

He placed her gently on the guest room bed and palmed both her cheeks, peering into her eyes. They were the same kind yellow-brown eyes hidden behind Jennifer Cruz’s glasses. Pinpricks swirled in his gut and into his chest. He couldn’t catch the next breath and his heartbeat raced. An overwhelming urge, a need to run as far as he could, surged over him. Those eyes telegraphed his pain with each blink.

* * *

Jen winced but held onto Dave while he placed her on the bed in the guest room. Her entire body was one giant ball of pain, and she sat with a groan onto the soft pillows. Dave stared at her with a hollow, lost look. She owed him an explanation. He finally let out a deep breath and stood to leave.

“Wait.” Jen gestured. “I have to tell you.”

“It’s okay. You’re hurt and need to rest.”

“No, please. You’re looking at me like I’ve done something wrong.”

He stared at her with a wary, puzzled expression. “You sure you want to talk?”

Something bothered him. His posture was too stiff, and his fists were clenched.

Jen hugged a blanket to her chest. “I would never give code to them. I was just buying time.”

His brows narrowed, as if he didn’t quite believe her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“How did you become involved with them? Are they Rey’s friends?”

“Yes.”

He leaned forward, a suspicious glint in his eyes. “Are they also blackmailing you, Jennifer? I need to know.”

A ticking sensation raised the hair on her scalp. He called her Jennifer again.

“Well? What do they have on you that you’d risk losing your job for? What are you hiding from me?”

She’d tell him. But not right now, not after all she’d been through. Just this night, let her pretend she still had a chance, that he still cared about her. Soon enough, he’d hate her. But not tonight, not yet. She grabbed his wrist and looped his arm around her neck. “Hold me.”

She closed her eyes and settled into his warm, protective chest. He smelled as rough as she felt, a mixture of musky cologne and hot blacktop, antiseptic and sweat. Her heartbeat spiraled, and the panic she suppressed rumbled from the bottom of her gut like a subterranean explosion, chattering her jaws and shaking her shoulders. Her breathing accelerated. She latched onto him, clawing his shoulders, and the shell she hid in shattered like a champagne flute in front of a buxom soprano.

He held her gently, lightly rocking her, calming her in a cocoon of protection, replacing her vulnerability with his assurance. Her jagged breaths of panic gradually subsided. His eyes, concerned and doubtful, quickened her pulse with a different type of agitation. She ached all over, but the fear of losing him tore through her heart. Dizzy, as if at the edge of an abyss, she pulled his lips to hers.

“Dave, whatever happens. I love you.”

Chapter 20

Dave turned his face away from Jen’s kiss. Bitter bile flooded his throat. She had lost his daughter and expected him to erase everything because she loved him? He pushed away.

She covered her eyes with both hands and lowered her head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Is this another one of your gambits? To distract me from questioning you? I’m not in the mood for games.” He stood and shoved his fists into his pockets. If he didn’t leave the room now he might say something cruel. “Good night.”

He shut the door and stumbled upstairs to the master suite, his refuge, and turned on the shower. He cranked the water hotter to burn away the perennial agony. How he wanted to ravage her with the pain that ate at him like barbed wire stretched around his heart. He hated that nanny and had displaced his anger and frustration on her. It was the only way he had stayed sane.

Pain, too deep to comprehend, threaded his heart and hollowed his soul. He dropped to the shower floor and let the hot water run over his head. The woman who screwed up his life loved him. And she did something to him, enlivened him—she accepted him. He wanted more than anything to hold onto that acceptance.

His skin red hot, he toweled himself. The phone rang and went to answer mode. Who could be calling? His pulse quickening, he put on a robe and went to the living room.

The message light blinked on his answering machine. He pressed the ‘Play’ button. “Hey, it’s Lisa. I left your new iPhone on the doorstep. It’s about time you upgraded.”

Relieved, Dave glanced into the hallway. Light was absent from underneath the guest room door. He’d let her sleep and question her in the morning. What was wrong with him? He wanted to hurt her and comfort her at the same time.

He opened the front door and picked up his new phone, glancing at the display. Multiple missed calls. He dialed voicemail but hung up when an incoming call beeped.

“It’s Owen, Jen’s lawyer. I tried calling Jen, but Lisa said you found her.”

Now he was taking calls from her lawyer? “Go ahead.”

“Detective Mathews has been talking to the Fremont Police. He has enough to arrest Jen for the murder of Rey Custodio.”

Adrenaline shot through his gut. “What?”

“She knew the victim. The guy they arrested, Sid Parker, said she was Rey’s fiancé. He claims Jen was with Rey the night of the murder, that Rey showed him a ring the day before and planned on popping the question. Matthews is going to serve her with a warrant for her arrest. Is she with you?”

He wiped his forehead. “Yes, but she’s sleeping.”

“I suggest she turn herself in. She’ll likely get off on a lesser charge.”

Dave’s chest tightened. “What evidence does he have on her? He can’t arrest her. We need her to prepare the Black Friday build.”

“If I were you, I’d get her to fix everything tonight. Look, I’m sorry about your company, but there’s not much I can do if they arrest her.”

“Sure, thanks.” Dave hit the off button. He stalked into the hall and yanked the guest room door open. Moonlight filtered in from the sheer curtains, highlighting Jen’s face, swollen and bruised. A bottle of pain killers lay open on the night table. He plopped down onto the beanbag near the bed and listened to her soft breathing. He didn’t have the heart to wake her, build or no build.

* * *

Jen cracked a swollen eye open. The sun had come up. Waking up sore and aching was getting old. She had stopped counting her wounds. The cuts on her stomach were scabbing, and her ankle still throbbed. Now, the side of her face puffed like a balloon, and her jaw stung as if she had a toothache. She was back in Dave’s guest room. A giant stuffed teddy bear was tucked into the other side of the bed.

She petted it. “Where’d you come from?”

The black plastic eyes stared at her, unblinking. She put her arms around the bear and let her head sink into his fur. “Guess, it’s just you and me, huh? I was pretty stupid, wasn’t I?”

She gave the bear a squeeze while tears wet her cheeks. The hurt inside was more unbearable than all the injuries she had suffered.

“Jen, you awake?” Dave called from the door.

“Yes.” Her voice didn’t quite emerge from her dry, constricted throat.

He brought a tray with orange juice, eggs and sausage. His eyes were serious under his scowling brow. He didn’t seem friendly, and she didn’t blame him. Jen turned her gaze to the floor.

“You’re going to have a tough day today, so I might as well tell you what to expect.” His tone was stiff and businesslike.

“Go ahead.”

“You’re going to be arrested for the murder of Rey Custodio.”

A cold fist shoved buckets of ice into her stomach. “I didn’t do it. You don’t believe it, do you?”

He placed the tray on the nightstand. “I don’t know what to believe about you, Jennifer.”

The deep tone of his voice sounded ominous. Jen retreated to the corner of the bed. “Why are they arresting me?”

“They know everything. You told me you barely knew Rey, that he wasn’t your boyfriend. Well, the crook they arrested told them otherwise. What kind of sick game are you playing with me? And why did you drag me into this?”

“I swear I didn’t want to get you involved. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t begin to cut it, not with what you’ve done to me.”

The blood rushed from her head. “W-what did I do?”

“You lied to me.” The lines of his face turned grim. He yanked her by the arm and half-carried, half-dragged her to the answering machine in the living room. He hit play and glared at her. “Listen to yourself. You admit he was your fiancé. You think this is all some big adventure, don’t you?”

“No, no. I tried to get him to admit he murdered Rey. I only said it to get evidence. It’s on my laptop. I recorded it all.”

“Then last night.” He shook her shoulders. “You didn’t mean what you said, did you? It was a desperate attempt to keep me from discovering the truth.”

Her heart shattered. He knew. “I couldn’t tell you. I was going to, but you’d hate me.”

“What did you do with my daughter? You were her nanny. Why didn’t you tell me?”

The buzzing of a thousand hornets circled her head. She would have collapsed had Dave not propped her up. He dragged her to the kitchen and set her at the table. The high school yearbook lay open to the page where she had signed it. Photos of her and Abby were scattered in the open shoebox. She wrapped her head in her arms and cried.

“Jen.” Dave’s voice was close to her ear. “We don’t have time for hysterics. Tell me what you did with my baby. Where is she?”

“I-I don’t know. I wish I knew.”

“You must have theories. You must have thought about it.” He clenched the back of her neck. “Tell me before they arrest you.”

Jen couldn’t catch one breath from the next. She hiccupped with ragged gulps. “I-I already… told the p-police all… all I… knew.”

“You have no idea how I feel, not knowing if she’s dead or alive.”

She raised her head. Her vision blurred, and she didn’t have her contact lenses. She touched his unshaven cheek, and the pain in her chest exploded and connected to his suffering. “I’d do anything to get her back for you. And then I’ll go away and never bother you again.”