Jamie Hill Triple Threat (31 page)

He pulled back and smiled. “I doubted myself plenty. That was one crazy stunt you dragged me into there, woman.”

She beamed at him. “We did it, didn’t we? It was almost like we read each other’s minds.”

He touched her cheek. “So, are you going to be pulling crazy stunts like that when we’re married?”

“Absolutely!” She grinned at him. “As long as you’re always around to read my mind.”

Jack smiled at her again and pulled her face to his for a gentle kiss. He barely registered the distinctive
click
in his ear…the quiet sound of a gun being cocked. He pulled apart from
Crystal
slowly, their eyes meeting for one terrified second. Then he pivoted toward the sound.

At first, all Jack’s mind could absorb was a virtual sea of plaid. A man wearing a black-and-orange plaid shirt. “Well, this is a surprise,” Jack finally said.

Moe Wilson kept his gun leveled at Jack as he took a step away from him. “I know it is. I never wanted it to come to this. I was always so careful to keep diner business separate from other business.”

Jack kept his body between Moe and Crystal as he faced the man. “What other business would that be, Moe? Meth labs? Cocaine? Heroin?”

Moe shrugged. “I’m a well-rounded individual.”

Crystal
moaned softly. “No.”

Moe looked at her. “I’m so sorry, Crystal-ina. I never wanted to involve you in any of this. But I did make sure that you weren’t harmed, neither you nor
Devon
.”

“Weren’t harmed?” She looked at him with disbelief. “You don’t think it harmed that six-year-old boy to be snatched from his home at gunpoint and held like an animal on a filthy mattress in a dark, musty basement?”

Moe shook his head. “
Devon
is fine. He’ll be fine. I would never harm a hair on his head. You see,
Devon
and Mark are my grandchildren.”

Jack and Crystal exchanged surprised glances. “Your grandchildren?” she repeated. “How can that be?”

“Laura Devon was my daughter.”

Crystal
looked at him skeptically. “I don’t believe you. The boys never indicated any such thing.”

“They never knew,” Moe said. “Laura wasn't fond of my sideline. She didn’t want the children anywhere near me. It infuriated her when David came to work for me.”

“Dave,”
Crystal
said softly. “You killed Dave.”

Moe shook his head as if irritated by her assumption. “David was a fool. I gave him everything. You know, I never liked him when Laura first brought him around. But I had no say in the matter. He mistreated her and made her miserable. She wouldn’t let me be there for her when she needed me. She died alone.” He paced a few steps in front of them. “I put up with Dave so I could keep tabs on the children. I introduced the two of you, don't you remember, Crystal-ina? After you came to work for me, and you were looking for a place to live?”

“Oh my God,”
Crystal
whispered.

“I thought you’d be perfect for him and the boys. But he was too stupid to hold on to you, and that infuriated me. When I discovered he was stealing from me, on top of everything else…” Moe shook his head again. “He had to be dealt with.”

“You killed him!”
Crystal
cried. “You orphaned your own grandsons!”

“He was a liar and a thief. I gave him everything, and he stabbed me in the back. Where was the family loyalty?” Moe’s eyes glazed over.

Jack was afraid the man was losing contact with reality. He tried to reel him back in. “
Crystal
was loyal to you, Moe,” he said quietly.

Moe smiled at her. “Crystal-ina was always loyal. I knew she would be the perfect one to take care of the children.” He looked at Jack. “Until you butted in. Things were progressing just fine until you stuck your nose where it didn’t belong.”

Jack gave a small shrug. “I was just trying to investigate a murder. I guess we now know that you killed Manny Hooper and Ralph Prescott.”

Moe waved off the names as if swatting a fly. “Inconsequential. You ruined everything I had planned so carefully. Now I guess I’ll have to raise those boys. The two of you know too much. You should have never tried to be a hero, Jack.”

Jack frowned. “Wrong thing to say, old man.” He bent his head and spoke into the wire attached to his collar and snaking down his sleeve. “Have you heard enough? I certainly have.”

A dozen spotlights burned down upon the parking lot, with twice as many police officers surrounding them. “Drop your weapon!” Hank Reeder’s voice came through a loud speaker. “I have three S.W.A.T. sharpshooters with their rifles pointed at your head. You so much as twitch your nose and you’re out of here.”

Moe looked around carefully before dropping his gun and raising his hands. Jack stepped forward and twisted the older man’s arms behind his back. “You’ll never see the light of day without a row of bars in front of you, and you’ll never come near those boys again. I intend to personally see to that.”

A police officer stepped up and slapped handcuffs on Moe. Another officer cut the tape off of
Crystal
’s hands and feet. As soon as she was freed, she flung herself into Jack’s arms. “Is it really over this time?”

He clutched her tightly in the glow of the spotlights. “Yeah, it’s really over.”

She glanced to where two emergency medical technicians leaned over Brady. “Detective Marshall!”

Jack put his arm around
Crystal
’s waist and walked her over to Brady. He was sitting up. One EMT was carefully removing Brady's bulletproof Kevlar vest. “You okay buddy?” Jack smiled at him.

“Sore as hell, but in one piece.”

Crystal
looked from Brady to Jack with amazement. Jack smiled and thumped his own chest, which made a hard, knocking sound. “We admit to being crazy, but not stupid. It took a lot of thought to hatch this scheme. I couldn’t have done it without Brady, and his advice to clue the lieutenant in.”

The EMT said, “He’ll have a heck of a bruise, but he’ll be fine. We’re going to run him to the hospital as a precaution.”

Jack smiled. “Sounds good.” To
Crystal
he said, “We need to take you to the hospital, too, just to be safe.”

“No.”
Crystal
shook her head. “We’re fine. A little stiff and sore, but we weren’t hurt.” She looked down at herself. “We could probably use baths and something decent to eat.”

“You got it.” Jack kissed the side of her head, and opened the back door to the Explorer. “Hey, buddy boy, it’s all over. Come out here and give me a hug.”

Devon
’s scared expression turned to one of joy as he climbed out and into Jack’s arms. “It’s really over?”

“Really and truly. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” He hugged Devon tightly but looked at
Crystal
as he spoke. “I’m going to do my best to make it up to you every day for the rest of our lives.”

“You don’t have anything to make up to us.” She hugged Jack and
Devon
both. “You saved us, Jack.” She looked in his eyes. “I love you.”

He smiled and kissed her gently. “I love you, too.” He kissed the side of
Devon
’s head. “And I love you, my big brave boy.”

Devon grinned wildly and hugged Jack and
Crystal
’s necks.

“
Crystal
!
Devon
!” Mark escaped Melanie Curtis’s grasp and ran toward his family.

“Hey!”
Crystal
wiped tears from her eyes as she reached down to hug him. “Oh, my gosh, are we ever happy to see you! We missed you so much!”

“We missed you, too,” he told her somberly. “Jack and I don’t ever want to be apart from you guys again.”

She squeezed his face and grinned at him. “I think that sounds like a very good idea.”

Jack set
Devon
down and the two boys hugged. “You hid and got away!”
Devon
looked at his older brother with wonder.

“Yeah, I was sorry to leave you and Crystal, but I thought I could be more help if I went to find Jack. He said he was glad I was there to help him.”

“You were a great help,” Jack agreed as he ruffled Mark’s hair.

“I’m so proud of you both,”
Crystal
told the boys. “What a terrific family I have!”

“
We
have,” Jack corrected her.

She smiled and slipped her arms around his waist. “
We
have.”

Jack heard his lieutenant calling his name. He knew there were reports to be filled out, suspects to be interrogated, and two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be returned to the department. But he was holding
Crystal
in his arms, with Mark and
Devon
clinging to each of their legs, and the only thing he wanted to do at that moment was kiss her. So he did.

Chapter Fourteen

Jack’s last official act as a WPD detective was to cut through the red tape surrounding the adoption of Mark and Devon Erickson. After spending several hours interrogating Moe Wilson, a.k.a. Maurice Devon, birth certificates were uncovered proving Moe had told Jack the truth. The Erickson boys were his grandsons. Once Moe had time to confer with his lawyer and realized the seriousness of his legal predicament, he agreed to sign custody rights over to
Crystal
.

Jack wanted to be named on the adoption papers as well. After a few rounds with Social Services, it was determined that the only thing missing from the stack of official paperwork was a marriage license.

So in early November Jack,
Crystal
, Mark, and
Devon
put on their Sunday finest and went to the courthouse to make things legal.

“Nervous?” Jack asked
Crystal
as he took the midnight blue coat from her and hung it on the coat rack.

“Not really,” she answered and smiled at him coyly. “I was just sort of wishing for a cigarette.”

He chuckled. “It’s been two weeks! You’re doing so well.”

She adjusted his tie and patted the lapel of his suit jacket. “You, too. Two weeks without cigarettes
or
alcohol. I’m amazed you’re still alive.”

He leaned in to kiss her cheek and whisper in her ear, “Thank God for the sex, is all I’ve got to say.”

She laughed and gave him a little shove, but when he clasped her hand, she didn’t pull it away.

“Hey, here’s my favorite family!” Brady Marshall joined them in the outer office. “Wow, look at you guys, all spiffed up and everything.”

“Hey, Brady.”
Crystal
reached for him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She would never forget him for jumping in front of the bullet meant for Jack. But she knew that he'd done something else for Jack that night, something even more precious. He became Jack's true friend. She patted the lapel of his suit jacket. “You clean up pretty nicely yourself.”

Brady swept her into his arms and glanced toward Jack. “You’re really not going to share this gorgeous creature with me?”

Jack smiled and pulled
Crystal
back into the circle of his own arms. “I’ll share a lot of things with you, buddy, but no, not this gorgeous creature. How about my other gorgeous creature? Are you ready to spend two weeks with him?”

Brady smiled and knelt down to where Mark and
Devon
stood with Zeus, holding his leash. “Hi, fellas. How’s he doing?” He touched the bandage that wrapped diagonally around the animal.

“He’s doing pretty good,” Mark said. “But he’s not supposed to run too much. We wrote down all his instructions.” Mark held out several sheets of paper.

“Great,” Brady smiled at the boys and took the papers. He folded them and put them in his jacket pocket. “I promise to read them all.” He stood back up and looked at Jack. “So, two weeks at Disney World. Sounds like quite a romantic honeymoon.”

“I think it sounds wonderful.”
Crystal
leaned in to Jack, beaming at him.

He gave Brady an irritated glance and told her, “Well, I wasn’t exactly honest with you. It’s actually
one
week at Disney World, and another week on a Disney cruise.”

“A cruise?” Her eyes lit up.

“A
Disney
cruise,” Jack corrected. “There’s a difference. See, on a Disney cruise they plan all sorts of supervised activities for the children, and the parents are left to their own devices.”

Crystal
’s eyes sparkled as she threw her arms around his neck. “You are so smart! I knew there was a reason I was marrying you.”

Brady nodded. “Nice touch, Dunlevy. Okay, so maybe you are kind of romantic…and smart.”