Unexpected Love (Jo's Story) (33 page)

“Ricky in place?”  I ask.

“Yep, about five cars down opposite side of the street,” Bob points out the window.  I look up and see the unmarked car sitting there.  I sit there just staring at the screen that the feed from Lewis’ hat is on.

“Jo,” Ryan says my name and is looking out the front window.  I look and see a black SUV coming down the road slowly.  It stops about a half block from us and I see three guys get out.  They go into the warehouse. 

“I wish I knew what was in there,” I say. 

“Maybe he can get some footage and get us a search warrant,” Ryan sounds hopeful.

“Yeah, maybe,” I am not as optimistic.  I adjust in my seat and look at the screen for the hat and notice that Lewis is on the move and not far from the warehouse.  I watch out the back window and see him turn the corner to the road we are sitting on.  “There he is,” I tell Ryan.

“Alright, here goes nothing,” Ryan takes a deep breath.  We sit there and watch the screen as he walks into the warehouse.  I see that they search him but they never touch the hat.  That makes me relax we are in.  He is doing a good job at looking around and getting us really good footage.  They stop at a door and open it.  They walk into a big room that is empty except for a bunch of tables.  There are three guys standing at a big table at the end of the room and Lewis walks toward them.  I see him shake hands with the guys and then they sit down.  I can’t hear anything that is being said but Lewis is doing a damn good job at getting their faces.  We know who is in charge now.

“He’s doing great,” Bob says.  “Like he has done this before.”

“I hope this gets us what we need,” I keep watching the screen.  Next thing I know he is shaking their hands again and walking out of the building.  His meeting lasted about thirty minutes.  Now we just have to wait for him to call us and let us know what they told him.  I let out a long breath when he walks out of the warehouse onto the street and starts toward his house.  “Let’s get out of here,” I say to Bob then get on the radio and tell Ricky to get back to the station.  Ryan hops out of the van and goes back to the car we came in and we all head back to the station.

“So how did it go?”  Chief comes to the board room when he sees we are back.

“Good, we have faces and a good layout of the building.”  Ryan answers him.

“Anything in the building?”

“Not this time.”

“Well, let’s keep on it now that we have some faces to go by,” Chief smiles.  He is watching me as I look at the three faces that we now have.  “Any idea who they are?”

“Not yet,” I answer.  “But maybe with the help from Lewis and the other dealer that wants out we can put some names with faces.”

“Did you contact the other one yet?”

“No, going to do that tomorrow.  With the meetings today and all the information we have I wanted to get everything sorted before I got in contact.”

“Alright, well keep me posted,” he puts his hand on my shoulder.  “Try to keep your head straight with this Jo.  I know he is Jake’s brother but don’t put yourself in danger because of that.  You know what happens when you get too involved.”

I nod; I have seen a lot of people get hurt because they get too involved when they shouldn’t have.  I am trying my hardest to not get in too deep but I want so badly to get him out.

“Does Molly know that you are just dropping me off and leaving?”  I ask Ryan as we get closer to Jake’s house.

“Not yet.  It’s after 11:00 already and I am completely exhausted she will just have to be ok with it.”  He smiles.

“Yeah, good luck with that,” he pulls up outside the gate and I tell him the code to get in.  He pulls up the driveway and I see that the living room lights are on.  I am assuming that Molly is waiting for Ryan.  I get out of the car and walk to the door and see that Jake is sitting on the couch.  I open the door and he looks at me and smiles.

“Hey,” he stands up and walks over to me.  “How did it go?”

“Good,” I smile.  “I'm exhausted.”

“Alright, let’s go to bed,” he grabs my hand.  “Molly is in the kitchen.”  He says to Ryan.

“Ok, I'm going to say good bye and head out, I'm beat too.”

“You’re going to drive home?”  Jake stops walking and looks at him.

“Yeah.”

“You can stay here,” Jake says.

“No, I don’t have any clothes or anything here, plus I would feel a little weird.”  I smile and know that this is not going to end the way Ryan wants.

“You might as well just give in Ryan, I have dealt with these two long enough to know that you are not going to win.  I'm sure Jake has something you can borrow,” I look up at Jake.

“Yeah of course I do.  And I would rather you stay then drive across town, if anything happened my sister would not shut up.  So save us all the hassle and just stay,” he laughs.

“You’re staying here tonight?”  Molly walks into the living room.

“Is that ok?”  Ryan looks at her.

“Of course it is,” I see her smile.  She is trying to hold back her excitement but I'm not sure if it is for the sake of Jake or Ryan.

“Ryan, come on up to my room I will find you some clothes,” Jake smiles and turns to go upstairs.

“I will be up in a minute,” I smile at him.  I need some water before I go to bed and maybe something to snack on.  I walk to the kitchen and get a glass of water and open the fridge.  I see there is some grapes in there and take a handful.  I am standing there eating them when Molly walks in.

“So did you guys get whatever done that you needed to?”  She leans up against the counter and looks at me.

“Yes, we did.  Hopefully no more excitement for the night though,” I smile at her.

“Are you involved in my dumbass brother’s case?”  She frowns at me.

“Molly, I can’t talk about my work.  Especially an ongoing investigation.”

“So I'm going to take that as you are.  I just don’t understand why everyone is putting their necks on the line for him.  He has done nothing but tear our family apart and keeps getting in trouble with shit.  He treated Jake like shit for the last three years and Jake is just letting it roll off his back and being ok with his girlfriend bailing his loser brother out of jail.  It doesn’t make sense to me.”

“Well Molly, maybe your brother is more forgiving than you think.”

“I don’t think so.  I think he is being cool about it because you are around and you made up some sort of excuse for him,” my mouth drops open.  I just shake my head and finish my glass of water.

“No one said you had to forgive him Molly.” I say and walk out of the kitchen.  I go toward the steps and hear Jake and Ryan talking at the end of the hall.

“He is freaked out a little bit that is for sure.  I don’t think he expected it to go this quickly.”  Ryan is saying.

“Yeah, well the sooner this is over the sooner I know Jo is safe and the Lewis can get out of town,” Jake says then he sees me walking down the hall.

“You sound like your sister who, by the way, just interrogated me in the kitchen,” I look at him then walk past him into the bedroom.  I hear him say goodnight to Ryan as I grab my clothes that I put on the bed when I left earlier and go into the bathroom and shut the door.  I start the shower and get undressed and get in.  I hear the door open.

“Is everything ok?”

“Oh yeah, just peachy, I'm in the middle of a crazy ass relationship that I cannot explain and now I am busting my ass to get your brother that it seems like you don’t care about out of drug cartel.  And not just any drug cartel, the worst and most dangerous one in Baltimore!  I just wish I would have known that a week ago so I would not have wasted mine and my teams time and energy on a case that could potentially get one of us killed!”  He doesn’t say anything and I hear the door open and close again.  I just stand there and let the water run down my body trying to relax.  After about twenty minutes of just standing there I turn the shower off and get out.  I dry off and get dressed and go out of the bathroom.  I don’t see Jake in bed so I just crawl in and curl up.  I am just lying there when I hear him talking to Molly in the hall.

“Molly, just get over it, ok.  Everyone screws up, so what if he did some stuff wrong.  He is trying to turn his life around.”  Jake says.

“I don’t believe that you have forgiven him for all the shit he has put our family through,” she says back.

“No, you’re right, I haven’t.  But you know what if he can stay clean maybe he can be the old Lewis again.”

“I find that very hard to believe.  I'm sorry I just don’t trust him and I probably never will.”

“Then that is your choice, but you do not attack my girlfriend about him again.  Jo did nothing but to help him get up here so he could get clean.  You should be thankful to her; mom and dad are happier knowing that he is up here safer.  Now if he can just stay clean and get his shit together maybe then his family will support him again.”

“I'm not buying your act Jake.  I think you are putting on a face for her and I think she is wrapped up in his bullshit.  Did you even tell her what he did to you?”

“No, Molly, I didn’t.  To be completely honest with you I don’t think that matters.  That was a really long time ago and I have moved on.”

“Oh really?  Moving across the country is being over it?  Christ Jake, the guy just about ruined your football career because he was jealous.  He is never going to change Jake; he will always be the low life that tried to get you busted with drugs.  He wants you to be a useless piece of shit just like him.  I bet you given the chance he would do it again!”

“Enough Molly! I don’t think that information really needs to get out ok.  Let’s just move on and let shit go.”

“Whatever Jake, you do what you need to.  I will never forgive him.  He is still worthless to me and I don’t care if I ever see him again.”

“Just leave Jo and Ryan out of it ok.  She doesn’t need to know what he did.”

“Fine,” I hear her shut a door and I hear him come down the hall.  I just lie there not knowing what to think.  Why is he hiding stuff from me?  I hear the door open and automatically close my eyes to make it seem like I am asleep.  He closes it and I feel him get in bed.  He gets closer to me and kisses my cheek then lies down.

I hear my alarm going off and look at my phone; it is 6:00 already.  Yesterday was such a long day.  I roll over and see that Jake is not in bed.  I don’t know how he stays awake as long as he does and is up so damn early.  I lie there for a little bit then decide I need to get up and get moving.  I have a lot of work to do today.  I get out of bed and go in the bathroom and fix my hair and get dressed.  After I brush my teeth I walk back out into the bedroom.  I walk over to the window and look out.  The sun is just coming up and I can see Jake running down the driveway for his morning jog.  I smile.  He is dedicated I will give him that.  I go down to the kitchen and grab a bagel out of the fridge and eat it. 

“Morning,” I hear Ryan.

“Hey,” I smile at him.

“Get any sleep last night?”  He sits down at the counter.

“Not a lot.  I was going to sleep in this morning but decided the sooner I get in the sooner I can get done.”

“Yeah, I hear you there.  I told your brother I would help him at the restaurant tonight.”

“Did you tell Molly yet?”

“Yeah, last night.  She was a little upset but I think she is going to go down to DC and get some stuff taken care of for work today and be back tomorrow sometime.”

“Oh, well that gets you off the hook.  Not sure how I am going to tell Jake that I am going home tonight.”

“Why are you going home?”

“Because I need a little break from this,” I wave my hand in the air.

“Too much too fast?”

“Yeah, I think so.  I mean don’t get me wrong I want to be here, but I don’t want to lose grip on what I am doing.  I have so much going on right now and I just need to get my head on straight right now.”

“You think he is going to be upset?”

“Most likely, but I will just tell him I have work to get done tonight.”

“Well I'm sure you will.  You’re going to make contact with that other dealer today right?”

“Yeah, that was my plan.”

“Alright, well I am going to get going I want to run home quick and grab some clean clothes.  See you at the station?”

“Sounds good,” I smile at him.  He goes back upstairs I assume to say good bye to Molly.  I look around the room and smile.  I still need to talk to Jake about his comment of me moving in with him last night.  I walk out onto the porch and drink my coffee that I made.  I hear the front door close and figure that Ryan left.  I finish my coffee and walk back into the house and go upstairs to grab my stuff.  Jake still isn’t back and I was hoping to talk to him before I left but I need to get to the office.  I head downstairs and see him running up the driveway so I go out to meet him.

“Hey baby,” he smiles at me.

“Hey,” I kiss him when he gets close to me.  “How was your run?”

“Refreshing,” he smiles.

“That’s good.”

“You’re leaving already?  It isn’t even 7:00 yet.”

“I know, I have a lot to do.”

“Hey, I'm sorry about my sister last night, I know she upset you.”

“Jake, its fine.  There are obviously issues with Lewis that I don’t know about.  But like you said the sooner I get this done the sooner he can get out of town and leave you alone right?”

“It’s not like that Jo.”

“It’s none of my business.  There are things you don’t want me to know about and that’s fine.  Listen I have a lot of work to do, and I will probably be going home after work to get some stuff done there too.”

“So I won’t see you tonight?”

“No.”  He looks at me almost confused by what I am saying.  “Listen Jake, last night when you made the comment about me moving in with you I realized that there is a lot that we don’t know about each other, and there is a lot that we need to talk about.  But I am so consumed by this case right now and I want to keep my head in that right now.  I cannot allow myself to get distracted right now.”

“So I distract you?”

“No, but the more time I spend with you the more I want to be by you all the time and I won’t get my job done.  This is a very dangerous situation with these guys right now.  I just want to make sure I get this done and get it done right that is all.”  He grabs my hands.  “I will call you when I leave work.”

“Ok,” he forces a smile.  I know he is upset but we have so much that we need to talk about and right now I need to concentrate on this case.

“I'm gonna go,” I stand on my tip toes and give him a kiss.  “I love you Jake,” I smile as I look up at him.

“I love you,” he pulls me into a kiss.

“I will call you later,” I smile when I back away from him.

“Ok,” he lets me go and I walk to my car.  I get in and see him wave as I pull out of the driveway.  It’s a little after seven when I get to the station.  I walk into my office and pull up my email.  I see some stuff from HR regarding Officer Turner’s paperwork being processed and that she is now officially on our team.  Then I see an email from Captain Williams about whom the guys are that we got pictures of last night.  He says that they are all Warren brothers but isn’t sure which ones.  He knows two of them and knows that they are the oldest.  He thinks the one may be the oldest and the one in charge.  I am going to have to get Ryan to call Lewis and conference with him to find out what they said.  I look up and see Ricky walk past and I wave to him.  He goes down the hall to his and Bob’s office.  I'm going over the footage from the camera when Ryan walks into the office.

“Hey,” he sits down at his desk.

“Hey, has Lewis contacted you yet?”

“He sent me a text this morning about 6:30 saying he was going to call in like an hour.  I assume he will be calling soon.”

“Ok, I want to hear what he says when he calls.”

“Jo, did you hear Molly and Jake’s argument last night?”

“The one about Lewis?”  I look up at him.

“Yeah.”

“Most of it yes, why?”

“Do you think it is true what she said about Lewis planting drugs on Jake to try and get him busted?”

“I don’t know, I guess it wouldn’t really surprise me.  That is their business and if he doesn’t want me to know about it then he doesn’t want me to know about it.”