Obsession (26 page)

“I tried—”

He held up his hand to stop whatever excuse Jess intended to offer. “I’ve contacted my Bureau liaison to see what they intend to do in the way of protection. I’m certain after hearing about the text messages from Spears they’ll have no problem stepping in.” Dan had had some time to come to terms with the situation and still it twisted his gut into knots.

“At this point,” he went on before Jess could try taking charge of the conversation again, “we have to assume he’s here and watching you.” Fury whipped to a new frenzy when he considered how that bastard had taunted him about Jess. “For now, I’m responsible for your protection, Jess. You will do exactly as I say.” He glared at his detective. “That goes for you, too, Wells. When I give an order, I expect it to be followed.”

She and Jess started talking at the same time.

He held up both hands this time. The two fell silent. “I have just one question.” He reached for calm again, didn’t exactly find it. “What the hell were you thinking?” He stood behind his desk, Wells and Jess at attention on the other side, both rigid with guilt. He figured he needed something between him and the two of them to prevent shaking the hell out of one or both.

“I’m sorry, chief,” Wells said respectfully, “the urgency of the situation got the better of my judgment.”

“That’s not true,” Jess argued. She looked from Wells to Dan. “She followed my direct orders. Detective Wells had no choice.”

Now that, he didn’t doubt.

“That’s not the way it happened, sir,’ Wells countered. “I made the decision on my own to follow up on the Debarros case in connection with our current case. Anything Agent Harris said or did not say was not the deciding factor.”

Dan shook his head. “That’s all you have to say for yourself?” This he directed at his detective.

“No, sir.” Wells squared her shoulders. “I respectfully request that I be dismissed so that I can get back to work. I’m hopeful that any disciplinary action can wait until we find those missing girls.”

If she hadn’t been right Dan would have given her the dressing down she deserved. “Go. The others are in the conference room going over the possible link between the Debarros case and this one.”

“Thank you, sir.”

She and Jess exchanged a look before Wells left his office, closing the door behind her. Dan rested the full weight of his unhappiness on the last woman standing.

“Detective Wells did what I asked her to do,” Jess told him without a hint of remorse. “She argued that we should wait until after the press conference. I pushed the issue. She reluctantly agreed.” Jess bracketed her waist with her hands. “She doesn’t deserve any sort of disciplinary action. Besides, this investigation is more important than a stupid press conference. Waiting would have wasted precious time, just like what we’re doing right now is gobbling up time that should be focused on finding those girls. The Murrays—”

“You got your point across about Wells.” He tamped back the rising frustration. “But you had to throw out a smart ass remark about the press conference. That was outside my control.”

“You know I’m right.”

“You’re right, Jess.” He threw his hands up. “You’re right. But I can’t help these girls or anyone else if I’m fired. I, for one, would like to keep my job.”

She looked as if he had slapped her in the face. Oh hell. “Jess, I wasn’t implying—” 

“Yes, you were. And you’re right.” She glanced around for some place to focus her attention besides on him.

Well, hell. He rounded the desk and took her by the shoulders. “You don’t understand.”

Reluctantly she met his gaze. “I should have gotten word to Sergeant Harper to provide backup in case we ran into trouble. I screwed up. Again. Shit. Shit. Shit!”

“Jess, your instincts were right on target. I’m the one who freaked out. Instead of rushing to provide the two of you backup, all I could think about was the fact that the text messages that bastard sent might mean he was watching you. That he was close to you.”

Anger flared in her eyes. “I am not twenty-two years old anymore. I can take care of myself. Wells and I had the situation under control.” She shrugged away from his touch. “We should be talking to the Murrays right now instead of playing these ridiculous power games.”

Dan once more restrained the need to shake her. Resisting was a hell of a lot harder this time. “What you and Wells found is damned interesting. But I knew Detective Newberry. He was a good man and a damned good detective. If he couldn’t find a connection between the Murray boy and the missing girl, then one didn’t exist.”

Jess rolled her eyes. “Are you sure about that, Burnett? Or are you just assuming he couldn’t find a link because he belonged to the same club as you? I know how you good old boys stick up for one another.”

That flame of frustration he’d kept at a low burn blazed higher. “You have to be right, don’t you? No matter the cost to yourself or anyone around you. You just can’t see past your vision of how things are.”

“Don’t be absurd.” She lifted her chin. “My vision and the facts are one in the same in this case. That is what we’re talking about, isn’t it? The case? Five missing girls?”

The blaze roared into an inferno. “It’s just like that last summer we were together.” He was barely hanging on to reason. He knew it but, at this point, he could do nothing but embrace it. “You refused to see any other route to our future together except the one you had planned. It didn’t matter that I might have slightly different priorities.”

She laughed, a dry, aching sound. “We had been together for four years. I think I understood your priorities as well as anyone could. At least until your ego got the better of you.”

The emotional impact of that statement stunned him, obliterated the last of his reason and any lick of his self-control. “Okay, yes.” He steadied himself against the tremors rocking his insides. “I was disappointed and my ego was bruised when I didn’t get the internship. Is that what you want to hear?”

“I didn’t need to hear you say it. I’ve known it for twenty years!”

His jaw ached from clenching. “I was also struggling with the fact that my family was here. I wasn’t so sure at that point that I wanted the rest of my life to play out in a whole other region of the country.” He grappled for calm. Couldn’t find it.

“I guess you forgot to mention that part to me.”

He took a moment, fought for some semblance of composure. “I didn’t want to be the reason you didn’t follow
your
dream.”

“How noble of you.”

“You had no one holding you back. Your sister is here but that’s different. My parents weren’t getting any younger. I knew there would come a time when they needed me. I realized this was where I was supposed to be.”

“Like Katherine Burnett would ever need anyone.” Jess scoffed. “She probably talked you into coming back. She never liked me any way.”

Jess and his mother had started off on the wrong foot and time hadn’t altered that path. His mother’s opinion of Jess had been irrelevant to Dan. “She didn’t talk me into anything. I talked myself into taking the step that was best for you and for me. You wanted to be free of entangling commitments with family. I didn’t. It just took me a while to be able to grasp it, accept it and to do the right thing. It was the right thing, Jess. It was right for both of us.”

Her own fury tightened her lips, glistened in her dark eyes. “You think so? I mean, after all, the only thing you had to do was turn your back on me.”

“You had already turned your back on me.”

“Wow. We really are fucked up, aren’t we?” She shook her head. “You came back here and married three times, ending up divorced every time. I ignored my personal life until someone barged in and made me pay attention. And look how that worked out.”

“Your husband made a bad decision.” The man had hurt Jess, whether she wanted to admit it or not. Dan felt her pain, saw it in her eyes.

“Yeah,” she nodded, “he did. But I wasn’t referring to him.”

Confusion furrowed his brow. “Someone else barged into your life?” He didn’t know why he was surprised. Jess was a beautiful woman. Smart and ambitious. What man wouldn’t fall in love with her?

“It was you, you idiot,” she accused. “In that damned Publix on Christmas Eve. You just appeared,” she made a poof sound, “and I fell into bed with you as if ten years hadn’t passed since you broke my heart completely in two.”

He couldn’t stop himself. He had to touch her. He took her face in his hands, made her look at him when she tried to look away. “I’m sorry, Jess. I didn’t set out to hurt you. I missed you so much.”

“At least you had your family and friends.” Her lips trembled. “You were here. Surrounded by all those people who care about you. I had nobody.”

“Why didn’t you come home?” God Almighty, he had hoped and prayed a thousand times that she would come back. But he hadn’t asked her to come back. Not once.

“What?” Her voice trembled. “And look like a failure?” She shook her head. “No way.”

“You graduated Summa cum Laude, Jess. You were chosen for an internship with the Bureau, not once but twice. How could anyone look at you and see failure?”

“Are you kidding me? You and your family had it all. My sister and I had nothing. We barely survived after our parents died. Four different foster homes in eight years, Dan. Four. As soon as I was out of high school, I was out of
here
. My sister had already married her high school sweetheart and was expecting her first child. I needed to find my life. Anywhere but here.”

“And you did,” he said softly. “You reached a career pinnacle few can ever hope to accomplish. You did good, Jess.”

She shook her head. “Yeah, right up until the time I screwed up. I screwed everything up. My life. My career. Everything. Now look at me. I don’t even know who I am anymore! I’m back here a day or two and suddenly all that I thought I was just disintegrates!”

“I think maybe you had a little help. Me, for one, and this bastard Eric Spears for another. Not to mention a superior who prefers to make you look bad rather than to simply go public with the facts.”

A tear rolled down her cheek. “It’s more than the job or a case. It’s me. The person I worked so hard for years to become. She’s…” she shook her head, “…gone. I don’t know who I am anymore. It all went to hell in a matter of days and I can’t catch up. Not to mention that sick bastard followed me here. Now my sister and her family are in danger. You’re in danger.”

Dan laughed softly, not that her feelings were funny but her worry for him was amusing. “Why the hell would you think I’m in danger?” Truth was, he would rather Spears be after him than after Jess.

“He’s been watching us, Dan. At Katherine’s house. He’s probably been following us or had someone following us. I thought when he sent me that text saying he liked my friend that he was talking about Lori. But after the way you two sparred, I’m thinking he has his eye on you.” More of those uncharacteristic tears fell. “This is all my fault.”

Dan wished he knew the right words to say, but there were none. He could only offer his understanding. “This isn’t your fault. Your world has been turned upside down, Jess,” he said gently. “Give yourself a break. You need time to adjust to all these changes. The Bureau will take care of Spears.”

“Maybe you’re right.” She scrubbed at the tears. “All I know is that right now I need to think about anything but that.” She searched his eyes, desperation in hers. “We have to find these girls. I can feel the connection to the Murrays but I have no proof, just like with Spears. We can use the Debarros case as a way to question them further. It can work, Dan. We won’t be crossing any lines. We’ll be doing our jobs.”

“We are going out there. And we will get the truth.”

“We have to hurry,” she urged. “I’m terrified it’s too late already.”

He nodded, dropped his hands to his side. “All right. Let’s get this done.”

“You did the right thing, you know. Back then.”

Her statement surprised him, but her eyes backed up the words. “Sometimes I wonder.”

“I was on a mission to prove something,” she confessed. “Whether it was that summer or the next, we would have fallen apart. I couldn’t see past what I wanted for my future to notice what was happening to us. We were drifting apart.”

He felt weak with relief. All this time he’d carried that guilt. He’d walked away from her…left her and somehow she’d made it all by herself. Had he been carrying guilt all this time or had it been resentment? He hadn’t meant to resent that she hadn’t needed him. Whatever it was, he didn’t want that to stand between them anymore.

“Thank you for telling me.” The liberation he’d expected to feel if this moment ever came—this clearing of the air—didn’t show. He still felt—

“Just one more thing.”

He looked at her expectantly.

She reached up, took his face in her hands, rose on her tiptoes and kissed him. His arms went around her and he kissed her back. She felt good in his arms.

God help him,
this
was what he’d carried all these years. He still wanted her. He wanted to hold her like this…to kiss her like this.

She drew back first, pressed her forehead to his cheek. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

A rap at his door forced them apart.

Jess’s eyes were wide with mortification but her face was flushed with the same desire he felt.

The door opened and Harper stuck his head into the room. “I think you two should come to the conference room. We found something you’ll want to hear.”

“We’ll be right there,” Dan assured him.

The door closed.

“I’m sorry,” they said in unison.

The flush on Jess’s cheeks deepened. She pressed her fingers to her lips. “I didn’t mean to do that. So, if we can just act like it didn’t happen, I think that would be best.”

“It did happen, Jess. Frankly, I don’t want to pretend it didn’t. Just like when I kissed you night before last. It happened and I’m glad it did.”

He reached across his desk for his cell, tucked it into the holster at his waist. “Let’s find these girls and then we’ll finish this…conversation.”

He crossed the room, opened the door and waited for her to exit before him. She hesitated. Clearly shaken and uncertain.