Steele Resolve (The Detective Jasmine Steele Series Book 1) (9 page)

Bile rises up in my throat faster than I can stop it. I dash off to the bathroom and let go of what little I have left into the toilet. Chase could be in serious danger, the idea of him being hurt makes me dry heave again. I try to gain control over my tormented stomach as Frankie walks into the bathroom.

“Don’t you knock?” I say not looking up.

“Usually, but not when you’re puking in your hair.” I look over and see wet hair.

“Great, fucking great.” Frankie grabs a wash cloth and rinses it in the sink with some soap. Leaning forward she grabs my hair and tries to clean it.

“You don’t have to do that. I’m more than capable of doing it myself.” Frankie smirks as she mindlessly continues.

“I used to do this all the time when you had too much tequila. I even remember lying on the floor with you trying to stop your shivers.”

I sit back, flush the toilet and lean back against the wall.

“I don’t remember.”

Frankie lets out a shallow laugh.

“How could you after twelve shots of tequila? I’m surprised you remember anything from that night.”

“I wish I knew how to fix everything. Just go back and make it all simpler. Maybe make different decisions along the way.”

I say sincerely as she stands and rinses the wash cloth again. She hangs it over the faucet and places her hands on both sides of the sink for stability. I watch her calmly while she fights herself. Her back muscles tense, her breathings shallow, that’s all classic signs of something in her noggin desiring to come out.

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Her muscles loosen up and her breathing becomes a normal pace. She opens the door, “If you made different decisions, I would never have known you.” She walks out of the room and I’m left to my own thoughts. Taking a deep breath I pull out my cell phone and dial the one man I know I can trust.

“Is there a reason you’re calling my personal cell phone?” Captain Udall chirps through the receiver at me.

“My apologies sir, but this is important.” I can hear him lean back in that old leather chair by his desk.

“I’m listening.”

“I need protection for Victor, Hadley and Frankie,” I blurt out as quickly as possible.

“Mind giving me a reason why?” I swear he’s calculating the cost in his head.

“Some new information has come to light.” The silence on the other end forces me to continue. “All the victims appear to not only look like Hadley, but the method of killing and the locations seem to be connected to a film she was in. Now this could all be just a coincidence, but I’d like to make sure.”

“And you think Victor and Frankie are in danger because of their relationship to Hadley. Am I getting this right?” The clink of a glass hitting the wood of his desk echoes through the phone, then the squeal of a drawer then the twist of a bottle top and finally the sound of the pouring.

“No ice?”

“Not this time.” I half expected a hint of a laugh, but he’s far too serious right now to enjoy any bit of humor.

We respond differently to things like this. He gets all fatherly and protective. I get nervous, make stupid jokes, then defensive and shut down. The silence on the other end of the phone unnerves me. After another clink of the glass the captain finally speaks to me,

“Jasmine, please consider what I’m telling you. If this guy is after all of you it’s safer if we protected you in one of our estates.”

“You mean one of our really bad hotel situations or an even worse safe house.”

“In laymen’s terms, yes.”

The girls continue to mumble and murmur to each other. They can try all they might, but they never were able to be quiet. I calmly turn my attention back to the conversation at hand,

“I can’t.”

“What about Chase? Have you even thought about how his is going to affect him?”

“Yes, sir I have. We’ve got protection for him all the time. I’ll protect him better if I know what this guy’s doing. Besides, the last thing that would benefit him is pulling him out of school and locking him away. He doesn’t need the added stress.”

I can hear the bottle pouring again and understand the stress I’m putting my captain through at this moment. The ladies are getting louder in the living room, something to the effect of Hadley’s rabid fans are freaks of nature. At this point, I just want to shut the world off for five minutes so I can get a breath of fresh air in silence.

“We’ll do it your way for now,” the Captain says calmly. “You’ll have round the clock protection. No more shadowing or hiding in the backdrops, Jasmine. These are going to be my best hardnosed, no bullshit guys. Any of you ditch them and I swear to all that’s holy it will take dozens of surgeries to remove your badge from your ass. You understand me?”

I try to stifle my giggle as he sounds more like my mother with every word, but I do appreciate him trying to meet me halfway.

“Yes, sir I do. All of us get round the clock protection, but sir, if they get in my way of the case…”

“You’ll ditch them. I know. Keep your cell phone on at all times, same with the rest of your friends. I’ll make sure we’re tracking your GPS signal.” Normally I would say that was a massive invasion of privacy, but right about now, I could care less. Let them track me. Considering my history I’ll need the backup eventually. Before I could respond to the captain, he disconnects the line and I’m left to the fighting banshees in the other room.

“Maybe if you were more concerned about an actual acting career and not being NUDE in every freaking film you do, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Frankie screams as I walk into the room. Hadley and Frankie are nose to nose while Victor sits on the couch watching the battle. I bet if I had popcorn and beer, he’d be in heaven.

“Ladies…” I attempt to get their attention but my voice barely permeates the room.

“I AM a serious actress! Just because I work in the horror industry doesn’t make me any less talented than Angelina Jolie. Who, by the way, has also been naked in films before!” Hadley screams back at Frankie.

“Yea, when she was doing it to further the storyline, not saying ‘Hey don’t forget what you come home to!’ that’s cheesy, cheap and frankly makes film feel like a porn.” Frankie shakes her head at a stunned Hadley.

“Actually, nudity is quite useful in various ways in film. Gratuitous sex is pointless, but something that makes sense and fits in the storyline is fine, personally.” The two women look at me like I have ten heads.

“Now that I have your attention there is something I need to share. Considering this mad individual might want to off any one of us, we all have protective details. They should be here shortly. Before any of you argue, be happy we have a detail and are not on our way to an hourly hotel where Hadley’s former co-stars now reside.”

“That was a bit of a low blow, don’t you think?” Hadley looks at me before falling back into the couch.

“Yes, it might have been, but it got your attention didn’t it?” Hadley throws a pillow at my head which I expertly duck out of the way from.

“If this is because of me, I’m sorry. I never thought any of these films would… I just… I can’t control what people do with what they watch.” Hadley hangs her head in disgust. Just as I’m about to open my mouth and argue, Frankie jumps in.

“It’s not your fault. People see the films and find attachment to you regardless of the film. I just wish you would show less skin. You’re better than a nude slasher flick.”

Hadley laughs a bit, “You’re better than an office with no windows and a stuck up pencil skirt, but who’s judging.” Everyone seems to calm down but Frankie walks down the hallway into the bedroom.

I excuse myself and head down the hallway. Frankie rests on Chase’s bed, holding a framed photo in her hand.

“You think he forgives me?” I walk inside and sit beside her.

“I don’t think he feels there’s anything to forgive.” She nods her head and continues to look at a photo of the three of us, before our world was turned upside down.

“I remember this picture from the ballpark. He was bouncing in the car on the way home, telling us all how his father told him not to eat too much crap.”

I laughed.

“Yea, and I sent him photo after photo of Chase eating hot dogs, ice cream, a bucket of cotton candy.” Frankie laughs, “I never thought he’d sleep that night.”

I take the picture out of Frankie’s hands and place it back on his dresser.

“He didn’t. My brother said he was up to three in the morning talking about how he got a baseball, ran the bases and ate anything he wanted. He said we were the cool aunts to hang out with. Chase bragged all over school the next day, while my brother fell asleep at his desk.”

“Why was it so different when he lived here?” It was an honest question. One I had asked myself on more than one occasion. “I asked myself that a lot. I mean we used to take Chase out all the time. We even took him for a weekend away…”

“But you were never totally responsible for him. Even when we went away, we brought him back and dropped him off.” I turn around and leaned on the dresser, trying to find the truth in her words. “Maybe. There was so much more going on though.”

“Your brother once told me I was good for you. I made you make decisions in this century.” I laugh slightly as I think about my indecisiveness. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I pushed you and didn’t have the patience…”

“You did. You still do. You were the best thing for me, Frankie, but I can’t have you be that anymore. I can’t wake up knowing that I’m nothing without you. I have a kid to think about. I have someone else depending on me and I need to know that I’m enough without anyone else. I have to be able to hold him up when he’s down. I can’t expect… I can’t need you to do that for me.”

Once the words are out of my mouth, I know I’ve hit her hard. I never had a way of phrasing things without having to rephrase. It’s just my foot in mouth disease. I look at her, see tears in her eyes and I know saying it again wouldn’t matter. She stands and steps in front of me, her right hand settles on my cheek.

“That’s the thing Jasmine. You never needed me. I always needed you.”

She kisses my forehead and walks out of the room. I’m left, stunned by her words. How does one absorb that?

“The cops are here, so I’ll catch you later,” Hadley’s words piece my silence. “Victor already left with a very hot young officer. He was rather happy he needed a detail all of the sudden. Frankie split with some officer chick. Might want to watch that. Anyway, the others already split, so I figured it would be nice to give you a heads up. My guy, Officer James Dunkin, he said the captain wants a list of production dates, locations and crap. I’ll get the producers to send it to you. Lord knows they’ll love the free press this detail comes with. You need me; you know where to reach me.” Before I can say anything she’s out the door as quickly as she came in.

Entering the living room, I see a mid-thirties uniformed officer standing by the door, his thumbs tucked neatly in his belt. “You don’t have to stand at attention all the time. You could relax a bit.” He looks at me nervously, before he approaches his hand outstretched.

“Detective Steele,” I shake his hand with the simple greeting. “Sgt. Will Everts at your service ma’am,” he properly replies. He lets go of my hand and immediately his thumbs return to his belt.

I head in to the kitchen, Will a few steps behind me. “Ma’am is my mother. I might act like her on some… well, most of my occasions, but please just call me Jasmine or some nickname. While I appreciate you being here to protect my associates, you really don’t need to be so nervous around me.” He looks at me oddly and I point to his thumbs. “You put your thumbs in your belt, sometimes it’s a sign of nerves.”

Will’s chiseled shoulders bounce up in down as he laughs, “no Jazz, I used to put my hands on my belt where I had my grenades. It was more nerves there than here. Now, it’s just muscle memory.” Now it’s my turn to look confused. “Marines, three tours. Home for good now.”

I nod in response,

“So I got the big bad marine. I must have irritated someone.”

“No, the captain just figured no one else would be able to keep up with you or wrangle you in if need be.” I pour the two of us some coffee and place the mug on the table.

“You want milk or sugar?” Will sips his coffee.

“No, this is fine, thank you.”

After I lighten the dark fluid, I take my seat across from him.

“So, what do you think of this case thus far?”

“I think someone is in for a good ass kicking when we find them.” I laugh slightly at his honest reply. Leave it to a military man to say it like it is. Before I can give him a witty answer, my cell phone buzzes on the table.

“Steele,” I state flatly into the phone.

“Ms. Steele?” An unknown female’s voice echoes through the phone. “My name is Jane Michaels and I’m a nurse here at University Hospital.” I grab my coffee and take a sip of the now lukewarm fluid.

“How can I help you Ms. Michaels?” I can hear her flipping through some papers as another voice booms in the background over the intercom.

“I’m calling about Chase Steele. You are listed as his next of kin…”

“Is he okay?” The coffee burns back up my throat as it feels like forever for an answer.