Hurt (10 page)

“Good morning, Nicole. I didn’t expect to see you this early in the day.”

Nicole glanced over to at the heavy set woman dressed in bright pink and yellow scrubs sitting behind the nurse’s station at the end of the hallway and smiled.

“Hi Brenda,” Nicole said, pausing at the tall white desk. “It’s going to be a busy week at work, so I thought I would stop on the way in this morning and say hello.” She held up the small bag she had in her hand. “That and my brother’s wife bought a new robe for Nana the other day and asked if I could drop it by for her.”

Brenda made a tutting noise.

“Well, I’m glad you brought it and not her. If she’s who I’m thinking of, the last time she was here your grandmother threw food at her. It was a scene.”

“I’m sure it was,” Nicole said laughing. “Speaking of Nana, how is she this morning?”

“Actually, pretty quiet. She had a good weekend. Any weekend without an escape attempt is a good one, you know,” the smiling nurse said. “Although, someone told Mr. Harris that the kitchen is putting arsenic in the mashed potatoes, so that made for a very interesting Sunday dinner.”

“Oh Lord, I’m hoping it wasn’t Nana, but you and I both know better. I’ll have a talk with her.”

Nicole flashed a wave at the nurse and then continued down the hallway to Nana’s room. She smiled, thinking that Jamie would enjoy the arsenic story and then caught herself.

“Damn it,” she muttered as she got to Nana’s door. No matter what she did, Jamie kept creeping into her thoughts.

Nicole knocked softly and then opened the door to Nana’s room. The older woman was standing by the window with her back turned and jumped slightly when Nicole walked in.

“Hi Nana,” Nicole said.

Her grandmother turned sharply and narrowed her eyes as if trying to figure out who she was. After just a second, her face lit up and she smiled broadly.

“Well, kiss my ass and call me shorty! Nicole, what are you doing here?”

Nicole laughed, shaking her head, and stepped forward to hug her grandmother.

“Nana, what kind of thing is that to say?”

“Your grandpa used to say it all the time.”

“You’re thinking of that old song he used to sing to himself all the time. It’s ‘cut off my legs’, Nana, not ‘kiss my ass’.”

“Well, that’s silly. Why would I want someone to cut off my legs? On the other hand, there’s a few people around here I wouldn’t mind telling to kiss my ass. I’d even give ‘em thirty minutes to draw a crowd.”

“Nana!”

“Well, it’s true. Anyway, sweetie, what are you doing here?”

“I was on the way to work and thought I would stop in and say hello.”

“Well, it sure is good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too, Nana. How was your weekend? Sorry that I didn’t get a chance to come by.”

“Oh, that’s okay. What do you have there?” Nana asked, motioning to the plastic bag in Nicole’s hand. Nicole opened the bag and pulled out the peach colored robe.

“This is for you,” she said, handing it to the older woman. “Steven’s wife Amy picked it up for you and I told her I would drop it off for her.”

“Amy, huh?” Nana said with a sniff and inspected the garment at arm’s length. “I can’t stand that heifer. Always acting like she’s better than everybody else.”

“Yeah, I don’t like her very much either.” Nicole crossed the room and opened the closet door. “Here, I’ll hang this up for you and you can put it on tonight.”

“Thank you, honey.” Nana sat down on the edge of her twin bed and watched as Nicole pulled down a hanger from the closet and neatly hung the robe.

“There we go,” Nicole said, turning from the closet.

Nana looked at Nicole and frowned, extending one hand out to her.

“Nicole, honey, what’s wrong? You look like you’re upset.”

“It’s nothing, Nana.”

“Don’t ‘it’s nothing, Nana’ me. I can tell when something’s wrong. Spill it.”

Nicole sat on the bed beside her grandmother and shrugged.

“I had an argument with Jamie this weekend. A pretty bad one.”

Nana reached a wrinkled hand out and smoothed down the side of Nicole’s hair.

“I don’t think I know anybody named Jamie, honey,” she said quietly.

Oh good grief
, Nicole thought.

“Nana, you know Jamie.” She shook her head. “Just, never mind. It doesn’t matter anyway.” Nicole took Nana’s hand and patted the back of it. “Nana, did you tell Mr. Harris that there was poison in the mashed potatoes?”

Nana snatched her hand away and glared at Nicole.

“What did that bitch nurse tell you?”

“So would that be a yes, then, Nana?” Nicole said, sitting back on the bed with a sigh.

“That would be no such thing. I don’t know what kind of lies they’re trying to tell you about me, but don’t listen to them.”

“Nana, look, you can’t be doing things like that. You know—” Nicole was cut off by the sound of her cell phone ringing. “Hold on one second, Nana.” She reached in her purse and pulled out the phone. “Hello, this is Nicole.”

“Uh, hello Nicole. I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time,” a man’s deep voice said from the other end of the line.

Nicole glanced over to her grandmother, who had returned to looking out the room’s small window. The man sounded familiar, but she couldn’t quite place him.

“No, not at all. What I can do for you this morning?”

“Well, you know I’m not normally one to get involved in things like this...” As the man spoke, Nicole frowned, trying to figure out if it was a client or another agent.

She straightened up on the bed.

“Greg? Greg Samuels?” she said sharply as it finally struck her. “Are you kidding me?”

Goddamn Jamie.

“Wait, wait, don’t hang up!”

Nicole’s finger hovered over the ‘end’ button on the phone. She’d spent all weekend crying and thinking about what she saw and then crying some more. Nicole had finally told herself that she had to get it together. After that horrible day a few years ago when she walked in on Carol, Nicole had spent weeks a crying mess and it had almost cost her business. Whatever else happened with Jamie she wasn’t going to let that happen again, even though she had to admit, she loved Jamie far more than she ever had Carol.

Nicole brought the phone back up to her ear.

“Greg, I appreciate whatever it is you’re trying to do, but…”

“No, don’t finish that,” he interrupted. “Listen, I know—”

“You know? What do you know, Greg?” Nicole snapped as she felt a flash of anger run through her.

“I know more than you think I do,” he answered. “Just hear me out.”

Nicole closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“I’m listening.”

“I know that this is the last thing you want to hear, but you need to meet with Jamie—”

“Hell, no. If that’s all you have to say, then we’re through here.” Nicole pushed back the image of Jamie in her underwear with her arms around the blonde woman as she stood by the bed. “I’ve seen all I need to.”

“Jamie told me what happened and I know what you
thought
you saw, but there’s an explanation for the whole thing.”

“Oh, the shower head? I heard the voicemail Jamie left on Julie’s phone,” Nicole snarled. “You know what? Even if I believe that lame-ass story, that doesn’t change the fact that she lied about where she was going to be. What, did she accidentally go to her house—to her bedroom—instead of the station, like she said she was going to do? And that blonde bitch? What about her, Greg? I’m not buying any of it. Don’t think—no, in fact, tell Jamie because I know she’s right there with you—I’m not that stupid.”

“Nobody thinks you’re stupid Nicole, please. Look, you’ve been with Jamie for what? A year, year and a half now? God knows how, because I know how she can be. I sure as hell couldn’t do it.”

“So are you trying to help her case here, Greg, or hurt it?”

“You know what I’m talking about,” came the gruff reply.

Nicole smirked despite herself. She ran a hand through her hair before answering.

“I do. None of that changes the fact that she lied to me.”

“Listen, just give her a chance to explain. You don’t have to say a word. Just listen.”

“I—”

“Please, Nicole. You may not owe it to her, but you owe it your relationship. The one you’ve put more than a year into.”

Nicole wiped at one eye, realizing then that she was crying.
Damn it
, she thought. She said she wasn’t going to do this today. Nicole glanced over at her grandmother, who was slowly opening and then closing the window blinds.

“I’m really busy this week. I’m showing houses to two clients today and have a closing tomorrow morning and then an open house in the afternoon.”

There was a silence on the other end of the phone and Nicole heard bits of a muffled conversation. She knew that Samuels was talking to Jamie.

“What about lunch on Wednesday?” he finally asked. “At that pizza place you and Jamie like to go to all time? You can bring your friend Jill—” Nicole shook her head as she heard Samuels put the phone down and speak with someone—she assumed Jamie—in the background. “What? Then stop mumbling and speak up, damn it.” He spoke into the phone again. “Not Jill, Julie. You can bring her if that would make you feel more comfortable. Just listen to what Jamie has to say. Take it, leave it, whatever. Just give her a chance to explain before you make your mind up about anything.”

Nicole sniffed and rubbed at her eyes. Damn, she was going to have to reapply her make-up before she headed into work. There was a sudden crash and Nicole turned to see the blinds lying in a heap on the floor and her grandmother standing by the window looking around as if trying to seek out the culprit.

“Fine,” she said, blowing out a breath. “Wednesday at lunch. Say around twelve? I’ll be there.” She disconnected the call before Samuels had the chance to say anything else.

Chapter Fourteen

“Oh my God, doughnuts.”

Jamie smiled as the announcement brought all activity inside the Hamilton County District Attorney’s office to a standstill. She let the glass door swing shut behind her as she stepped into the poorly lit office that took up most of the third floor of the old county courthouse. When Jamie first moved into Investigations from Patrol, Samuels had sat her down and explained that the real power in the District Attorney’s office lay with the secretaries and the assistants. If you wanted to get your case moved through quickly, if you wanted to make sure paperwork made it from the D.A.’s office to the Superior Court clerk’s office in a timely fashion, if you just wanted to get things done—you stayed on the good side of the often overworked and always underappreciated administrative staff.

“Never,” Samuels had said in complete seriousness, “underestimate the power of fresh baked goods.”

Jamie handed off the box of half-chocolate covered, half-jelly filled doughnuts to a tall woman in a dark gray pants suit.

“Jamie, you are freaking awesome,” Natalie Porter gushed as she turned and placed the box of doughnuts on a desk in the center of the room. In a manner of seconds, the box was swarmed by a dozen coffee cup-holding men and women, all smiling and chattering amongst themselves.

“Not a big deal,” Jamie said as she walked past. “I thought you might like a little pick me up this morning.”

“You’re a life saver. I didn’t have time for breakfast this morning. I am starved,” Natalie said, taking a bite out of one of the chocolate doughnuts.

Jamie laughed as she continued on through the office, heading toward a half-closed door beside a row of greenish-gray filing cabinets. She knocked softly on the doorframe.

“Knock, knock,” she said and then realized the office was empty. She turned to leave but was stopped by a muffled voice.

“Hold up, don’t leave,” she heard Megan Riley say and then saw the pixie-like blonde peep her head up from behind the large desk that sat in the center of the room.

“What are you doing on the floor?” Jamie asked, stepping into the room.

Megan stood up, blowing a strand of hair out of her face before straightening her glasses.

“I dropped my one damn working pen and it rolled all the way under the desk,” she answered as she sat the black, ballpoint pen on the desk and looked at Jamie. “So, what is it today? Bagels or doughnuts?”

“Doughnuts,” Jamie answered with a grin. She knew that Megan was keenly aware of her habit and the reason behind it. “But I think you may be too late if you were wanting one, the locusts were already descending on the box before I got half-way across the room.”

“Oh well,” Megan lamented, sitting down in her leather chair. “Maybe next time.”

“So,” Jamie said, leaning against the wall, “I understand congratulations are in order.”

“God, yes. I was worried when the jury was out as long as they were. I figured it being the week of Christmas, they’d want to get in and get out fast. Guilty on all charges, though.”

“Good work there, Counselor,” Jamie said. She and Samuels had gotten the message earlier in the morning that the Thompson jury had come back. Thus far, that was the only thing that had gone right in her world since Saturday.

“Well, it helps to have a strong case to work with in the first place,” Megan said. “So, you by yourself today?”

Jamie shook her head.

“No, Samuels is tracking down Judge Smith. We got a tip on some teenagers who’ve been stealing lawnmowers, so he’s trying to get a search warrant signed. One of the kids’ grandparents own a couple acres and with several outbuildings on the far side of the county, so we think that’s where they’re keeping the stolen goods.”

Megan nodded and shuffled around some papers on her desk.

“Okay. Let me know what you find. Sounds like a minor case to stop by and run by me, though. Was there something else?”

“There is. We have reason to believe that one of the guys pulling off the home invasions in Hixson is former military. We’ve put in a request with the Army C.I.D., but thus far have got nothing solid back from them. Samuels and I wanted to see what the odds are of getting a subpoena through to the V.A. to see if any we can match records to our guy’s description.”