Unforeseen Danger (7 page)

Ritzy
neighborhoods
.

The guy must have been loaded.
 
Someone who could give her all the things that he never could.
 
Suddenly, Jake just felt very tired.
 
He stared at the thin gold band on his hand.

Only a fool would still be wearing this ring.
 
But he had always been a fool when it came to Nikki.

Who was this man?
 

The thought ran an endless loop in his mind, driving him crazy.
 
Had someone really tried to kill him, and if so, how could he protect himself from a faceless enemy?
 

Jake thought the only man who wanted to kill him was already dead.

Seeing Hank Timmons did nothing to erase the apprehension he felt.
 
His usually imperturbable foreman refused to meet his eyes.

“C’mon,” Hank said gruffly, as he fumbled with the key ring clutched in his meaty hand.
 
“I hated to call you at the hospital, Jake, but I wasn’t sure what to do.
 
Thought about calling the cops, but I figured you needed to see it first.”
 
He strode toward Jake’s office and Jake trailed behind him.
 
One of the crews was just clocking out and a few of the men called out greetings.
 
Jake could only nod at them, his mouth suddenly dry.
 
Sparing a quick glance over his shoulder, Hank unlocked the door and pushed it open.

The smell assaulted Jake before he could see inside.
 
It was Nikki’s perfume, but it was heavy, overpowering, as if the place had been soaked in it.
 
Jake’s eyes watered as he stepped over the threshold.
 
Hank shut the door behind them and Jake almost called out to him to leave it open before he realized what Hank was being so secretive about.

He stared at the scene before him in shock.

Jake’s eyes were tearing, burning, but he didn’t know if it was from the perfume or fury.
 
Across one wall, over the top of a picture of him and Nikki, someone had spray painted
NIKKI BELONGS TO ME
.
 
Things were strewn around the office.
 
Her things.

Jake yanked a pair of purple panties dangling from the ceiling fan with so much force that the wooden blade snapped.
 
Everything had been knocked off his desk onto the floor and now the top was littered with hundreds of pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

A cartoon screensaver on his computer caught his eye.
 
A little cartoon man waved at him and pointed to the bottom right corner of the screen, where “Click here” flashed at him.
 
Jake did, and a picture of Nikki materialized on the screen.
 
She lay on their bed with a phone cradled to her ear, wearing only Jake’s faded
University
of
Tennessee T-shirt
and a pair of white panties.
 
She was sticking her tongue out at the cameraman.

With a growl of fury, Jake picked up the monitor and hurled it across the room.

“Do you want me to call the police?”
 
Hank asked in a hesitant voice.
 
Jake had almost forgotten he was there.

“No, just…just leave me alone a minute, huh?”
 
The cloying scent of the perfume was beginning to make him nauseous, but Jake was already sick with a rage that he didn’t want to take out on Hank.
 
Nodding, Hank closed the door behind him.
 
Pushing open a window to breathe, Jake flung a peach camisole that he hadn’t seen in awhile out of his chair and started shoving the pieces of the puzzle around.

What he saw made him even angrier.
 

Son of a bitch didn’t even have the guts to leave him all the pieces.

What he had was three-fourths of a photo of a
wet,
bikini clad Nikki in another man’s arms.

What he didn’t have was any part of the man’s face.

***

It was growing dark outside when Jake emerged from his office.
 
He managed to clean up most of the mess, but someone would have to shampoo the carpet.
 
His head pounded, and he just wanted to go home.

“Jake?”
 

Turning slowly, Jake shouldn’t have been surprised to see his foreman standing there.
 
Although he was a man of few words, they didn’t come more loyal than Hank.

“Hey,” the big man looked abashed.
 
“I was worried about you.
 
You okay?”

“Yeah.”
 
Jake forced a smile.
 
“Yeah, I’m okay.
 
Been a rough week, you know.”

“You don’t want to call the cops?”

Jake thought of the way the detective at the hospital had talked to him.
 
No doubt he was already the prime suspect.
 
He wasn’t going to give them more ammunition.

“Nah, no cops.
 
I’ll take care of it.
 
But could you get someone to clean the carpet for me tomorrow?”

Hank shifted uncomfortably and muttered, “Okay, Jake.
 
If you need someone to talk to, you know—”

“I know,” Jake interrupted with a smile.
 
Hank nodded and started to walk away when Jake said, “Hey, when was the last time you were in there?”
 
Hank was the only person with access to Jake’s office besides him.

“Nobody’s been in there since you were last, boss.
 
I had to go in there today to get a copy of the Bergman plans.”

“So it could’ve been vandalized last week.”
 
Jake mulled it over.
 
Maybe it had been done before the accident.
 
He thought of the unidentified body in the truck.

Maybe – just maybe – things had already been taken care of.
 

A cold rain started to fall as Jake watched his foreman drive away.
 
He climbed in the car and just sat there for a while, staring through the rain-streaked windshield.
 
His mind ran a constant loop of all their friends and acquaintances, trying to find a suspect.
 

It would be interesting to see who turned up missing in the next few days.

Reluctant to go home, Jake remembered that Kelly was out of town.
 
Maybe Eliot could help him put things in perspective.
 
Jake pulled onto the highway, feeling better at the thought of talking to his friend.

Tired of the endless questions in his head, Jake flipped on the radio station and turned it off again when he recognized the first few bars of Nikki’s
favorite
song.
 
He laughed as the wipers beat against the windshield.
 
How impossible it all was, to think of extracting Nikki from his life.
 
Since the day they met, every thought he had was connected some way or another to her.
 
Even if he left town, if he left the
country
, for that matter, how could he erase his memories of her?
 
The way she laughed, the way she tilted her head when she smiled.
 
The way they made love as silver moonlight spilled through their bedroom window, and afterward – oh God, especially afterward – when Nikki would become a different woman in his arms.
 
In the cover of darkness, she was someone soft and vulnerable, someone who needed him.
 
She told him her lonely childhood, her dreams and her fears.

Nikki trembled and her tears had burned his chest the first time she told Jake she loved him, even though he’d confessed it first.

“Sometimes I feel so cold inside and wonder if something’s wrong with me because I just don’t give a damn.
 
I used to think my heart was all ugly and black inside, because I didn’t fall in love like other people did.
 
Then I met you.
 
I swear, Jake, the first time I ever felt anything was when I took your hand.”

That was the Nikki he fell in love with and now he had that woman 24/7.
 
The Nikki in that hospital room ripped his heart to shreds.
  

“
Dammit
,” Jake said softly.

Eliot wasn’t home.
 
So lost in his thoughts, Jake hadn’t noticed the darkness of the house or the
absence of Eliot’s Porsche until he had driven all the way up
the elm-lined drive.

Discouraged, he followed the paved circle of the driveway and headed home.
 
He drove on auto-pilot and was a little surprised to find himself pulling up in front of his house a few moments later.
 
Jake lurched up the sidewalk like a drunk, so tired he could barely walk.
 
When he moved to stick his key in the door, it swung open wide.

“What the hell?” he muttered, instantly alert.

Had he forgotten to lock the door?
 

As Jake stood in the doorway, something crashed upstairs.
  

***

“Are you okay, dear?”
 
Catherine called from the other side of the shower curtain.

“I’m fine,” Nikki said, too embarrassed to admit that wasn’t really true.
 
While she welcomed the shower, the hot water seemed to drain her energy, leaving her muscles weak and quivering.
 
She hated being so helpless.
 
Clutching at the silver handrail, Nikki washed her body, but couldn’t lift her arms above her head to wash her hair.
 
She rested underneath the hot spray until she felt ready to try again.

A wave of dizziness assaulted her and heat flooded her face as she let go of the bar and raised her arms.
 
Nikki swayed and nearly fell through the blue plastic shower curtain.
 
Reacting quickly, Catherine pushed her back toward the handrail,
then
reached around the curtain to steady her.

“Let me help,” Catherine said.

“My hair.
 
I can’t wash my hair.”

Catherine adjusted the faucet and gently washed Nikki’s hair.
 
Nikki clutched the rail until Catherine turned off the spray and handed her a towel.

“I really must remind Jake to bring some of your things,” Catherine said as she helped Nikki into a white hospital gown.
 
She wrapped a towel around Nikki’s head and Nikki leaned on her as they made a slow, awkward shuffle back to the bed.
 
A ten minute shower exhausted Nikki.
 
As she sagged against the pillows, she noticed the water spots darkening the front of Catherine’s powder blue sweatshirt.

“Your shirt—
”
 
Nikki
said.
 
“I’ve ruined your shirt.”

“Nonsense, dear.
 
Just a little water.
 
It’ll be fine.”
 
Catherine
toweled
Nikki’s hair, and then retrieved a comb from her purse and gently went to work on Nikki’s tangles.

“Jake said we didn’t like each other before,” Nikki said softly.
 
“I find that so hard to believe.”

Catherine’s hand stilled for a moment, then resumed its brisk motion.
 
“Jake shouldn’t tell you things like that.”

“You’ve been so good to me.
 
I don’t know what happened between us before, but I’m sorry.”

Catherine put her comb away and sat on the bed.
 
She gave Nikki a rueful smile and squeezed her hand.
 
“I’ve been thinking about us a lot since your accident.
 
I’m sorry, too.
 
There were times that I acted petty toward you, times that I interfered in your marriage when I should have kept my mouth shut.
 
I wanted to protect Jake, but now I can see that these little battles just hurt him.”

“Why did we argue?”

Catherine sighed.
 
“Mostly, I think we were just jealous of each other.
 
Jake is my only child.
 
He’s been my whole life since his father died.
 
Even though he’s a grown man, I’ve had a hard time letting go.”
 
She smiled and tucked a stray lock of Nikki’s hair behind her ear.
 

“Girlfriends came and went, but I knew from the first time Jake spoke of you that you were different.
 
A little over a month after you met, he proposed.
 
I admit it scared me to death.
 
He was so crazy about you, and I was terrified that you would break his heart.”

“Did I?” Nikki asked, staring down at her hands.
 
For the first time, she noticed that she wore no wedding band.

“Darling, I think you need to discuss that with Jake.”

“He won’t tell me anything.
 
I can see his hurt, feel his distance, but he won’t talk about our marriage.”