Cries in the Night (14 page)

What about Julie? For some reason, he couldn’t quite get her out of his thoughts. At every call last night he had looked for her, but other victim’s advocates on her staff had shown up. Maybe she would like to take the day off and go to Breckenridge with him.

He didn’t know if she skied. In fact, he knew very little about what she liked or didn’t like. What puzzled him was why that mattered. She was pretty in a pure, natural sense, but not beautiful. She was friendly, without being gushy. It wasn’t like she was trying to attract his attention or even wanted it. In fact, he felt she was doing everything she could to discourage him.

Rusty didn’t get rejected. There was no ego involved; just fact. Maybe that was why Julie lingered in his mind. She was an enigma, an ice cream flavor he hadn’t tasted. Just like the dozens of women in his past, once he had licked her, both literally and figuratively, his curiosity would be sated, and he could move on.

He finished his meal, left a generous tip for the waitress who had done everything short of dumping coffee in his lap to get him to notice her. Now that he had a plan of action, he was focused on moving forward.

It was a few blocks to the police station, so he decided to drop in, unannounced and use his charm to convince her to take a day off. Unlike him, she worked at least forty hours a week in the office and an additional ten to fifteen hours on the weekend. She deserved some time away from the stress.

Frankly, Rusty didn’t know how she was able to deal with all the drama. He and his fellow firefighters rushed in and tried to save the day by putting out the fire or helping someone who has been hurt. Julie had to come in after the tragedy and try to make things better or help people regroup. She dealt with victims who were at rock bottom. Their homes were gone or their loved ones had died or their own bodies were broken. She gave them clothes, found them someplace to live, helped them with insurance or financial aid, made funeral arrangements or tried to keep them safe from whoever or whatever was hurting them. That had to be even more exhausting than fighting a fire. It certainly would be emotionally draining.

Perhaps that was it. Maybe her job took everything and she had nothing left to give. She definitely needed a getaway day.

In the police station he was greeted by everyone he passed. He knew a lot of cops because of his brothers, but the kidnapping incident last week had made him a sort of civil servant celebrity. Anyone who had almost been killed in the line of duty earned extra respect.

He finally made it to Julie’s office. Her door was closed, but that was a minor obstacle. He knocked. When she didn’t answer, he opened the door and looked in.

She was alone. At the sound of the door opening, she whirled around in her chair to face him.

“Are you busy?” he asked rhetorically.

“Yeah, swamped,” she answered, lifting her hands, then letting them fall back to the arms of the chair. “Are you here for a debriefing?”

“Nah, I did that yesterday … between fires.”

“I heard you guys were busy.”

He shrugged. “People with pets or kids shouldn’t have portable heaters. Sixteen apartment units burned because a cat knocked one over.”

“People have to stay warm.”

She didn’t invite him in, but he ignored that, walked to the chair across the desk from her and sat. “You look tired,” he told her.

“I
am
tired,” she agreed. “I haven’t been sleeping well.”

“Me either.” He flashed her his most charming smile. “But I know what will help us both.”

Her eyebrows lifted skeptically.

“Exercise,” he continued. “Do you know how to ski?”

“I wouldn’t say I’m an expert, but I can get from the top to the bottom without running into a tree. Why?”

He leaned forward enthusiastically. “I’m sure you have some comp time. Let’s drive up to Breckenridge.”

“Today?” She seemed stunned by the suggestion.

“Why not? There’s fresh powder and it’s too early in the season for crowds.”

“Because I …” Her voice trailed off.

“Fresh air … nature … hot chocolate …?” he prompted, trying to tempt her.

“But my staff …”

“Can get along without you for a day. You’ve trained them well.” He pointed at the stack of reports on her desk. “Paperwork can wait. You need this change of scenery.”

Her gaze lifted to a painting of a peaceful meadow, and he knew he had hit a nerve.

“Come on. You need to recharge your batteries.”

She hesitated a moment longer, then, to his surprise, she opened her bottom drawer, took out her purse and stood. “Let’s go.”

“Really?” He blinked, a little amazed that she had capitulated. It was a small thing, but it felt like a huge victory. He stood and, before she could change her mind, helped her put her coat on and led the way out of her office.

She stopped at her boss’s office and the reception desk to make sure everyone knew she would be gone, but not completely out of touch.

“I’m going to run home and get my stuff. I’ll pick you up at your place in an hour,” Rusty told her. “No chickening out.”

She shook her head. “I won’t.”

He walked her to her car, and once inside, they drove off in different directions.

 

Julie changed her mind a dozen times on the trip home, and yet she didn’t turn back. As she slowed to turn into her driveway, she noticed a car parked across the street from her house. She didn’t recognize having seen it before, but then, like most women, cars didn’t register on her consciousness. Unless it was a Mustang or a Corvette, it was just a big car or a little car or an SUV. This one was a big car, white and nondescript. As she passed it, she looked in to see if she recognized the driver, but the windows were fogged up. Dismissing it as someone’s mid-morning tryst, she averted her eyes, not wanting to see that sort of neighborhood activity. She hit the garage door opener and drove into the garage. The door closed behind her as she unlocked the kitchen door and went inside.

Cat brushed up against her legs and gave her a few croaky meows, obviously disturbed by her messing with his sleep schedule.

“Yeah, I’m not sure what’s going on either,” she told him as she squatted down and stroked his black-striped gray coat. His purr vibrated against her fingers, an audible appreciation of her hospitality. She had no idea where he had spent the first few years of his life, but he seemed to be quite content to settle here with her.

Julie made sure he had fresh water and some dry kibble before she went to her bedroom to change. It took a couple of minutes to find her ski pants. When she first moved to Denver, she had gone on a few outings with co-workers to the mountains. Julie had grown up in Connecticut with wealthy parents that loved to ski and had spent a few weeks every winter traveling around the country, staying at the finest resorts. Her first time on a Colorado slope had been when she was eight … but that was a lifetime ago.

She pulled on a royal blue turtle neck sweater and the tight black ski pants. She didn’t own skies or boots, but they would be available for rent on-site. She brought a pullover sweater in case it was really cold and a knit hat with a yarn tassel and put them with her parka and a pair of heavy gloves.

This was so out of character for her. She never did anything impulsive, at least not lately. Rusty had caught her at a particularly vulnerable moment. He had offered a chance to go to the meadow, and she couldn’t refuse. She needed to escape if only for a day.

A knock on the back door told her Rusty was there, and she was surprised by the little skip of her heart. She was smiling when she opened the door.

“Ready?” he asked.

She nodded and stepped outside, then locked the door behind her. Cat had resumed his nap on the back of the couch, taking advantage of a sun ray that was warming that spot. He was content to let his person go off and play while he stayed warm and dry.

The car that had been parked in the street was gone. Obviously, just a quickie, she thought, then forgot about it as she and Rusty headed out of the city.

“Aren’t you just getting off your shift?” she asked as they headed north on I-25.

He nodded.

“Aren’t you tired?”

“I caught a couple hours of sleep between calls last night,” he told her. “I try to stay up when I get off so I can keep my sleep schedule regular.”

“That’s probably smart. Shift work disorder can really mess you up.”

“Have you noticed a correlation between shift work and domestic violence?” he asked.

“Actually, I have. Changing your sleep patterns throws off your body clock. It causes insomnia and sleep deprivation. Lack of sleep can make people grumpy and short-tempered which seems to be contagious.”

“Then it all escalates and someone gets hurt.”

Julie nodded. “It’s more that they can’t think straight and once they get into an argument, they have more trouble staying calm and finding ways to settle it peacefully. And it doesn’t help when their family members expect them to keep up with normal activities which compromises their sleep time.”

“I’ve found that ten to thirty minute naps recharge my batteries and help me get by until I can get a full night’s sleep,” Rusty commented.

The conversation never lulled during the almost two-hour trip to Breckenridge. Julie had been expecting Rusty to live up to his reputation as a flirt. But he surprised her by keeping up his end of an intelligent dialogue. They talked about everything from their favorite local weathermen, or rather weatherwoman since they agreed that Kathy Sabine was the best, to the last movies they’d seen and even touched on politics. What they didn’t talk about was the specifics of their jobs or Rusty’s recent brush with death. The topics were heavy, but they kept things light and time passed quickly.

Breckenridge looked like a Christmas card with its thick covering of snow, long icicles hanging from Victorian-looking buildings and flocked trees.
Everything was covered in twinkling lights, oversized ornaments and candy canes. The snow had stopped falling and the sky was a vibrant blue against the pure white peaks. Rusty and Julie were anxious to hit the slopes, so they went straight to the resort.

Julie insisted on paying her own way even though Rusty offered. Equipment rental and a day pass for the ski lifts wasn’t cheap, but Julie didn’t spend a lot of money on entertainment, so she could afford it.

The summit elevation was almost 13,000 feet which was almost two and a half times that of Denver, so even though they were both in good shape, after three runs, they were ready to take a break.

“I’m starving,” Julie said as they clumped into the restaurant, their chunky ski boots making their gaits stiff and awkward. She had put on a layer of sunblock, but she could feel her cheeks burning from the wind and the sun. Even though she was winded and her muscles were getting a little sore, she felt good.

They ordered their food, found a table and dug in with the enthusiasm of bears just out of hibernation.

“You’re pretty good out there,” he commented as he sat back and let the meal he had so quickly devoured settle.

“I skied a lot when I was young, but not so much lately. We had a little ski club going at the station a couple years ago. It kind of fell apart when one of the women got pregnant and one of the men got transferred to a different shift. It’s not much fun alone.”

“My brothers and I used to go all the time, but we all work different schedules, so it’s not easy to arrange it. Holidays are difficult enough to coordinate.”

“I don’t know how your parents deal with having all of you in such dangerous work.”

“My dad was a judge, so he gets it. And Mom tries to be okay with it, but I can tell she worries about us. When my brother got shot earlier this year, none of us told her about it until it was all over.” He took a drink of hot chocolate. “Do your parents live around here?”

Julie lifted her cup to her mouth and considered her answer carefully. “My parents are both dead.”

Rusty frowned, but before he could offer his condolences, she hurried to add, “It was a long time ago. They were killed by a drunk driver on Christmas Day. I was a junior in college and had decided to spend the holidays with a friend instead of going home.” Her gaze lifted to the beauty outside the window, but her eyes
didn’t see it. Instead, they were glazed with a rush of tears that surprised her. She felt Rusty’s hand wrap around hers.