Unexpected Love (Jo's Story) (34 page)

“You don’t think he is trying to take you down to get even with Jake do you?”

“Come on Ryan, he has more sense than that.  I'm a cop and he knows that he would not be able to get to me like that.”

“I hope so Jo, I would hate for something to go bad with this and it is because he had it out for Jake.”

“It will be fine Ryan, I haven’t really done anything anyways, you are the one in contact with him not me, and I am not even around for anything that is being done.  He doesn’t know that I am there watching him.”             

“Yeah, I guess.  Just let me handle all this ok?  I will take the lead on it that way you don’t get hurt no matter what.”

“You already are Ryan, I trust you the most out of everyone that is why you are the contact to him.  I promise I will be careful ok.” I smile at him.  I hear my phone ping.

Hey Jo, so when are we going to go down to Virginia Beach?  I need a vacation!  My classes just started and I am already stressed out!  What am I going to do when school starts back up!!!

I laugh, Annie is such a drama queen sometimes.

Not sure, I guess you will have to talk to Mr. Hottie since he is the one that now owns a condo down there and that is where we will be staying.  I don’t know with his schedule getting crazy though he has games every weekend I think.  We might have to go during the week will you be able to get off?

Oh I will get off!!!  Maybe at the end of the month after the memorial??  Then I am sure we could all use a vacation!

Crap, the memorial.  I haven’t even thought about that yet.  That is a little less than a month away.  I only have to speak for a little bit at that, the station gets everything else set up.  I look up at Ryan.  “What do you think of Jake?”

He looks up at me from his computer, “What do you mean?”

“You like him?”

“Jo, he is the perfect guy for you.  Honestly I think you two are meant for each other.  He obviously adores you, and I know that look that you have isn’t just having a crush on him,” he smiles.

He is right, I do love Jake.  “I just feel like our relationship is moving so quickly.”

“It is, but I don’t think that is a bad thing.  A lot of people now a days drag things out and don’t know if they want to be together and change their minds a million times and in the end they both get hurt.  You two know what you want.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“You don’t?”

“I don’t know, I mean we have been dating for like two weeks and I think we have been apart a total of one day.”

“So?  I started seeing Molly on Sunday and have seen her every day since and met some of her family.  When it works it works, that is all there is to it.  Don’t doubt it Jo, you will end up regretting it.”  I smile at him.

“Hey Jo,” Jean knocks on the door.

“Yeah,” I look up at her.

“There is a Dr. Manny here to see you.”

“Ok, can you show her to the board room, I will be in there in a minute?”  Why is she here to see me?  “That was Lewis’ rehab doctor,” I tell Ryan when he looks questioningly at me.  “I will be back.”  I get up and go to the board room and she is sitting there waiting for me.

“Hi Jo,” she smiles when she sees me.

“Dr. Manny,” I smile back.

“I'm sure you are wondering why I am here?”

“A little yeah,” I sit down across from her.

“Well, I wanted to share with you what I found in Lewis’ blood screens.” She pulls out a file.  “They are giving him bad bad drugs Jo.  These are from when he had tests done down in Virginia Beach.  The levels of the drugs are beyond anything I have ever seen.  I honestly am surprised he isn’t dead after these.  The test I gave him before he left on Monday still shows a trace of the drug but I don’t think enough to affect him.”

“So what does that mean?”

“That means, I think they are dealing some bad stuff.  If his levels were this bad imagine what other people are getting.  I mean he is a dealer so he is probably getting the good stuff, but those poor people that are just buying the crappy stuff.  I'm afraid of how many people this could kill.”  I can see the worry in her face.  I look down at the charts she has shown me.  I'm no doctor but the levels are extraordinarily high from what most of our druggies are at that we get.

“Can I keep these?”

“Yes, these are just copies; I figured you would want these.”

“Thanks, this helps us actually.  I may be sending someone new to see you for a couple days.  We have another dealer looking to get out.”

“Ok, sounds good.  Let me know if you need anything else,” she stands up and reaches out to shake my hand.  After she leaves the room I look at the sheets again.  If his levels were this bad, how the hell did he stay alive, and what are they dealing?

“Jo, I have Lewis on the phone,” Ryan comes into the room and shuts the door.  “Lewis, its Jo and I now, go ahead.”

“Hey Jo,” Lewis says.

“Hey Lewis, I just got done talking to Dr. Manny.  Seems you got damn lucky with that last batch of drugs you took.”

“How so?”

“Well, she said you are lucky to be alive as bad as the drugs were.  She said that you should be dead.”  He doesn’t say anything.  “So, what did you find out last night?”

“Right, last night.  Well, they want to put me in charge of the big party crowd, which we pretty much knew.  They gave me all the contacts that they have for escorts, players, stuff like that to sell to the big guys.  They told me that since my brother is a big star dating a cop that I am safe from getting into trouble.  They think between the two of you I'm safe of getting any charges brought up against me.”

“And what did you say?”

“I went along with it. They want me back at that warehouse location on Saturday at 8:00pm to pick up any inventory I need.”

“They said that?”

“Yes, said they have a shipment coming in Saturday morning and I will have first pick.”

I look at Ryan, “That’s it, that is what we need right there.  I need that in Lewis.  If they have drugs in that building on Saturday night when you show up, we are done.  I will have them behind bars.  Who were the three that were there last night?”

“The three oldest brothers, there was Marcus, Al, and Patrick.  From what I got, they are the ones that control everything.”

“Do you think that is the only location?”

“Did you see that place?  It’s huge; I don’t think they would need another location.  I think they sort and weigh and do everything right there in that building.”

“Perfect.  Listen Lewis any new information that you get from them let me know ASAP!  I need to get to work on getting something on that building.  If you see anything suspicious going down before that let Ryan know.  Otherwise we will be in touch before Saturday.”

“Sounds good,” he hangs up.

“That’s it Jo, that’s what we needed.” Ryan looks at me.

“Yes it is.” I smile.  I cannot believe what Lewis just told us.  This could not have gone any better.  I walk down the hall to my office and get on the phone to the other dealer that is looking to get out.  Turns out it is a girl that is a little younger than me.  She wants out because she wants to get clean and get her daughter back.  I set up a time to meet with her at the rehab center that Lewis was in.  Once I have an appointment set up with Dr. Manny I go down and talk to Chief to keep him posted to what is going on. 

“Are you going to go home at any time tonight?” Ryan asks me from the doorway at about 5:30.

“Finishing now.  I had to get Felicia all set up at the rehab center.”

“Does she seem as bad as Lewis was?”

“I don’t think she was in quite as bad as he is, but she scared that is for sure.”

“Alright, well I told your brother I would be there at 6:00 so I need to get out.  Can I walk you out?”

“Yeah, sure,” I grab my stuff off my desk and follow him out.  “Tell Lucas I say hi,” I smile as Ryan gets in his car.  Once I am sitting in my car I grab my phone and dial Jake’s number, but he doesn’t answer.  He might be at dinner with his parents or something.  I drive home.  It’s so weird to be going home I haven’t been there since Friday.  I see Lilly sitting on the porch and go say hi to her before I go in the house.  Once I am in the house I make sure to lock all my doors.  I grab some stuff to make myself a sandwich and then go sit on the couch to watch some TV.  I am sitting there relaxing and finishing my sandwich when my phone rings.

“Hello?”

“Hey Jo,” it’s Bobby.

“Hey Bobby, what’s up?”

“Not a whole lot.  How have you been?”

“Good, really busy with a big case at work this week.”

“Yeah, that’s good keeps you out of trouble,” he laughs.

“For the most part yes it does.”

“Yeah, I know. So listen I did call for a reason.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

“Well, I was wondering if I could stop by tonight.  I found something that I really think you should have.”

“What do you mean?”

“Something that I have of Jarrod’s that I think you should have.”

“Oh, well yeah I'm home.”

“Ok, good.  I will be by in like ten minutes?”

“Sounds perfect,” I hang up.  I wonder what he could have of Jarrod’s that I should have.  I go to the fridge and get a soda then go back to the couch.  I still haven’t gotten a call from Jake.  I feel bad for leaving things the way that I did this morning, but we have so much that we need to figure out.  I feel like him and I don’t really know much about each other, which in reality we don’t.  We have only known each other for two weeks.  I look up when I see a car pull into the driveway.  I get up and see Bobby get out of his car.  “Hey,” I smile when I open the door.

“Hey Jo,” he gives me a hug then I step aside for him to come in.  “Actually I'm not going to stay.  I have a dinner date with Marie tonight and I cannot be late.  I wanted to give this to you.  Now Jarrod gave me this about a week before you had Abby and told me that if anything ever happened to him he wanted me to give it to you.  I had forgotten about it until I was digging through some of my old stuff in the closet and came across it.”  He hands me and envelop.  “I don’t know what’s in there, and I can only imagine with him.  If you want my opinion, you probably should not read it alone.  Maybe have Annie come over?”

“Ok,” is all I can say.  What could this be?

“I figured you would be a little freaked out by it.  I'm really sorry that it took me two years to find it.  I hope whatever it is its good.  I know Jarrod and I'm sure it is something that will make you cry,” he smiles and grabs me into a hug.  “I have to go; I mean it though, call Annie and have her come over.”  He turns and walks back to his car.  I just stand there staring at the envelope.

“Hello?”  Annie answers her phone.

“Hey, so what are you doing right now?”  I ask her.

“Um, nothing, just sitting here watching some TV.  Why what’s wrong?”

“Bobby was just at my house, he gave me something from Jarrod.  Something that he apparently wrote a week before Abby was born.  He told Bobby that if anything ever happened to him to make sure I got it.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I don’t know.”

“So what is it?”

“I haven’t opened it.  Bobby said that he thinks I should have you come over and sit with me while I open it.”

“Ok, I will be there in a bit,” she hangs up. I just sit there, not knowing what to think.  Why does this not surprise me though?  Jarrod, he was always worried about me and what if something happened to him.  I remember us having this conversation many times.  It always ended with me saying that I expected him to come home to me no matter what.

“Jo, you know that I will always want to come home to you.” I see his smile.  “There is always the chance that one of us won’t come home on any given day.  That is why I wish you would change your mind and do something less dangerous.”

“Yeah, I could say the same thing to you.  But I know better because I know that you were born to be a firefighter, just like I was born to be a cop.”

“You are impossible.”

“Ditto Mr. Lewis.”

My daydream is interrupted by a knock at the door; I look up and see Annie standing at the window.  I go let her in.  “Did you open it yet?”

“No, I don’t know if I can,” I hand it to her then go back to the couch.  She shuts the door and follows me.  “I don’t know what it could be.  A letter, did he know that there was going to be one day that he didn’t come home?”

“You want me to read it?”  I look at her and take a deep breath and nod.  She opens it.

My darling Jo-Jo~

If you have gotten this letter from Bobby that means that I am no longer with you, for that I am so sorry.  I am sitting here writing this letter next to you as you lay here nine months pregnant with my beautiful baby girl and cannot help but feel like I need to do this.  There is so much that I want to tell you yet I know you don’t want to hear it. 

For starters, I love you, more than life itself.  I have since the day I saw you in that cheerleading outfit at the football game our freshman year.  I can never imagine my life without you.  Unfortunately you are living it without me right now.  I am sure you are amazing at it.  I know how strong you are, but I also know that you have the best team of support in the world.  Don’t forget about the guys at the station, I know they love yo
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