Insinuations Page 16

  The other woman wasn’t listening to her. He could tell she was trouble.

  “Kate?” the blonde cop tried again. “Don’t do this. He’s going to pay for everything he has done.”

  Cop Kate’s finger twitched, and Bud Ryder, the owner of a new drug empire, already feared by the longtime players, pissed his pants.

  * * * *

  The men in the house were completely surprised by the team storming the premises. Most of them surrendered, a couple tried to run greeted by cops guarding the entrances. Derek and Maria went from room to room, uncovering a staggering amount of drugs and weapons.

  The information Serena had given them was good. This house in the woods was definitely Ryder’s headquarters—just no Bud Ryder or TJ Pratt. Derek couldn’t reach Jordan. He tried Ellie Harding, but the line was busy too.

  “He can’t be far,” Maria said. “One of his minions will give him up. They don’t want to go down for the murder of a cop.”

  “Unless they’re more afraid of Ryder than they are of us. Let’s hope—”

  His phone rang, and seeing the caller ID, Derek picked up immediately. He could hear someone crying in the background. Kate McCarthy, he realized.

  “Harding, what’s going on over there?”

  “Let me guess. You didn’t find Ryder.” She didn’t sound like she was in acute danger, though her words were troubling.

  “You’re not saying…”

  “It’s under control,” she said quickly. “He tried to go after Darla Pierson, but it’s under control now. We got him. No one was injured. Well, except for his ego. I’ll tell you later.”

  Derek felt slightly uncomfortable at the thought of a couple of rookies dealing with Ryder all by themselves, but they seemed to have done well. “All right. I’ll see you at the station.”

  “Have you heard from Jordan?” she asked. “I can’t reach her.”

  “Not yet. I’ll let you know when I know more,” he promised. Hopefully, Jordan had been equally as lucky.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Ellie felt like she needed to be several people at once at this moment. Take care of Kate, who had slumped over in the corner of the room, crying hard. At least, hospital security had arrived, and she could safely call for backup, then get a stinking murderer out of the patient’s sight.

  Slowly, the threads started to unravel.

  A young nurse accompanied Kate out of the room. When their eyes met, Ellie nodded to her friend. She’d be safe.

  A few minutes later, Casey walked into the room, shaking her head at the angry drug lord with the stain at his crotch. “My, Harding, you have a way of scaring people. Let’s get this gentleman to the station, where he can have a long talk with Carpenter and Henderson when they’re back.”

  “Have you heard anything at all about Jordan?” Ellie asked anxiously.

  Casey shrugged. “Last thing I heard, backup was on the way.”

  That wasn’t good enough. TJ Pratt was the only missing piece in this complex puzzle, and he made threats early on. Serious or not, Ellie didn’t like the idea of Jordan having a run-in with him, her biological father, a ruthless criminal.

  She tried Jordan’s number again, but the call went to voicemail.

  Jordan shouldn’t have been on this case, she thought, but then again, this case had developed so many branches it was almost impossible not to get involved—and Jordan needed to work. That was something Ellie could understand. Casey was silent, probably aware of the thoughts that troubled her.

  Once outside, they witnessed a man being rushed into the ER, and another ambulance arriving with a woman clearly in shock, blood on her face and shirt. Kathryn Larson. Behind her, Jordan emerged, looking tired, but otherwise unharmed.

  Ellie halted, and for a long moment, she just stood and stared, barely trusting her eyes.

  “Go,” Casey said after Ryder was safely locked into the back of the police car. “Don’t take too long though. He’s not going anywhere, but neither is that stink.” His glare would have almost been amusing, if Ellie had taken the time to care.

  She caught up with Jordan in the waiting area.

  “Hey. Jordan, wait.” Instead of asking all the questions that were on her mind, she simply embraced her. Jordan held on tight in return, letting go only reluctantly after a while.

  “I know you need to go,” she said with regret.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Ellie promised. “We busted Ryder here tonight, not long ago actually, Kate and I…”

  “Good job,” Jordan said, sounding tired.

  “What about Pratt? Is he…”

  “They don’t know yet.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Ellie was trying to figure out what to say, but her cell phone rang, a text from Casey that said “Now would be good.”

  “I’m sorry. I’ll come back. My partner’s got a bit of a sensitive nose.”

  She could tell from Jordan’s expression that she didn’t get the joke, but that didn’t matter now. They were both okay, or at least would be—together. That was all that mattered to Ellie.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Kathryn didn’t seem to be physically harmed, but Jordan wasn’t willing to leave anything to chance. She sat in the waiting room after Ellie was gone, replaying the disturbing family reunion in her mind. She’d had no choice but to shoot Pratt, blood spattering all over the terrified woman next to him. Those were the cards she’d been dealt, genetically speaking, a brutal criminal who might or might not live through the night, and a frightened woman who spent the better part of her life trying to escape from it, with drugs and sex.

  Jordan shook her head tiredly. She couldn’t afford to believe in genetic determinism, or she’d be screwed.

  The only reason she was still waiting here was to tie up loose ends, of the case, of her life. It didn’t mean all that much.

  “Detective Carpenter?”

  She flinched at the doctor’s soft-spoken address.

  “You can see your mother now. She’ll be fine, but we’d like to keep her overnight for observation.”

  “I’m not…She’s…” Jordan realized it would take much longer to explain the situation, and that the doctor probably didn’t have the time or inclination to listen to all of it. “All right.”

  Over the years, it had been impossible to ignore the evidence. Jordan knew she’d been lucky to escape the life she’d been heading for in the company of Kathryn and Jim, who would never change their ways, not for themselves, certainly not for a child. If anything was wrong with that, well, then it had to be somebody else’s fault.

  Still, when she stepped into the room, Jordan was struck to realize the woman in the hospital bed wasn’t at all what she remembered. Even in the past few days, from the first time she’d seen her at the department, she looked older, more fragile. Of course, her life-style wasn’t favorable to aging well.

  “I guess you heard,” she said. “They’ll release you tomorrow.”

  “They better. I don’t have the money. Jordan…Could you sit down for a moment?”

  Hesitantly, Jordan did. Just tonight, she reminded herself. She had to wrap up this case.

  “He came to threaten you, because of Serena?”

  “I always knew he was a bit crazy, but I couldn’t believe…until now…” She shuddered. “You saved my life.”

  “That’s my job. He was going to kill both of us if he’d had the chance. I suppose you underestimated him all this time.”

  Kathryn gave her a sad smile, but Jordan wasn’t willing to let go of all the anger and disappointment of decades in a matter of moments. How could you? she wanted to say. Granted, getting pregnant and married right out of high school, the beginning of a rapid slide down the social ladder, had to be hard. Jordan couldn’t remember Kathryn making the attempt, ever, to get out. Jim Larson might have been incapable or unwilling to provide for his family, but he hadn’t been abusive or pressured her to stay in any way. They had simply given up, both of them, and having C
hild Protective Services do the job for them was the easiest way out of the responsibility.

  “Okay.” She got to her feet. “I’ll send a detective to get your statement tomorrow.”

  “Wait. Please. I need to know something.”

  Jordan had the inappropriate impulse to laugh at her. You think I have answers for you? Think again.

  “You came to help me. Don’t you think that means something?”

  “It means I didn’t want you to die. I haven’t changed my mind on having coffee.”

  Kathryn nodded. “Maybe someday you will. Maybe someday, you’ll be able to see my point of view and…We thought we did what was best for you, give you the chance at a better life.”

  “You didn’t give me that chance. CPS, and Jack and Pauline did. It doesn’t matter now.”

  “It does matter,” Kathryn insisted. “All I want is for you to give me a chance.”

  “With all due respect, Ma’am, I believe that’s not up to you to decide.”

  Jordan spun around to see Ellie standing in the doorway. “I need to speak to Detective Carpenter,” she said.

  “And who are you?” Kathryn asked, her bitter impatient tone much more reminiscent of the woman Jordan had once known.

  “I’ll bring you some clothes tomorrow. Try to get some sleep,” she said and followed Ellie out of the room. Jordan was grateful for her presence and, at the same time, self-conscious about it.

  “I didn’t think you were going to come back.”

  “I snuck away,” Ellie confessed. “Everyone’s busy with the big bust tonight, although, technically the big deal was Ryder pissing his pants. Before you ask, I didn’t make him do it, I guess that was Kate, but it was…interesting, in any case. Darla Pierson is going to be okay.”

  “Thank you.”

  “That’s only the abbreviated version. I’m sure Derek will be able to tell you more about what went down at Ryder’s house. I’m so glad you’re okay.” Her voice got a bit shaky on the last words.

  “Same here. What a day. I meant thank you for arriving when you did.”

  “She doesn’t have the right to ask anything of you. You risked your life to save hers.”

  Split-seconds. Jordan thought that she would have to go through the motions again, like the last time when she had to fire her gun and shoot a perpetrator ready to kill first—in less than nine months. It was getting old. At least, both Darby and Pratt were alive, for now. If Pratt made it through the night, he’d be likely to get a life sentence for the numerous deaths he caused, for what? There was never a real reason, just greed and power play.

  “I’ll bring her the clothes. That’ll be the last of it, and I swear, it only gets better from here. I can’t wait for you to meet Jack and Pauline.”

  “I can’t wait either,” Ellie said, her smile warm and affectionate, reminding Jordan that in spite of all the detours and incidents, something was going right in her life. It gave her an idea.

  * * * *

  The pieces were coming together. Apparently, Hobbs had been boasting about his connections with major drug suppliers when still in prison. Pratt thought they might be helpful and thus made a deal with Ryder whose primary goal it was to get back at Mara Lyman, the woman who had dared to leave him.

  That sort of entitlement was tiring at best, but in this case, it had cost too many lives.

  Jonathan Darby had felt entitled, too, punishing women who, in his deranged perception, led an immoral life.

  Jordan wasn’t thinking of Darby when she climbed the stairs to Mrs. Clayburn’s apartment. It was early, but she had hoped to see the elderly woman before returning to the hospital.

  Mrs. Clayburn let her in, her expression somber.

  “I wanted to let you know we caught the man who murdered Mara,” Jordan said. “He wanted to set her up, too, but we learned the truth.”

  “She didn’t do anything wrong, did she?” Mrs. Clayburn asked, tears in her clear blue eyes.

  “No, she didn’t.”

  Jordan wasn’t the only one who had risked her life to save others. She was going to make some calls on Darla’s behalf, but first she had to make sure Kathryn had something other than the hospital gown to wear when Derek was finished with her statement.

  “I made some tea,” the elderly woman said with a hopeful tone to her voice. “Would you like some?”

  Jordan was about to decline, but she decided she could spare a few minutes. After some tea and cookies and conversation with Mrs. Clayburn, she left to get Kathryn some clothes.

  Ellie was waiting for her at the trailer like she had promised. No, Jordan remembered, she had asked to come, and Jordan had decided she had to stop assuming everyone would treat this situation as something to trap her, material to use in a bitter argument.

  Not Ellie.

  If she was serious about letting her know what she was getting herself into, Jordan owed it to her to open the door this much. It wasn’t a big space to begin with, so it didn’t take her long to locate a set of underwear and socks, pants and a shirt. Funny how memory worked as a warning system. The feeling of being trapped and about to suffocate came easily, but it was hard to tell whether that was remembrance of her childhood, or the hours spent in Darby’s basement.

  There would be another case, and another after that, and eventually, they wouldn’t all hit so damn close to home.

  Jordan nearly dropped the bag she was holding. She hadn’t even meant to open the last drawer of the cheap old dresser about to fall apart, and see the open tin box, a handful of photographs—of herself, as a baby, a toddler, then a pre-school child. The timeline was torn off abruptly after that. In spite of the visual proof, she had hardly any connection, any memory of that time. She had always thought Jim and Kathryn hadn’t kept anything of hers, intent to cross her out of their lives like she had done with them.

  What a cruel joke.

  “Jordan? Are you okay?” Ellie came closer hesitantly.

  “No, damn it.” If she wanted to be honest, she might as well start by telling the truth. Very little had been okay in too long. She wasn’t ready to have coffee with Kathryn yet.

  “You’ll do what feels right,” Ellie said, brushing her hand down Jordan’s back. “That’s the most important thing, what feels right to you. They owe you answers, but you’ll ask them when you’re ready.”

  “I’m not sure I’ll ever want to know.”

  “If you don’t, that’s fine, but remember that little girl was strong enough to make it through the worst of it. That is what matters.” Ellie was crying. “I know who you are…and I love you.”

  This was probably not the right moment to ask her if she’d ever considered having children, but right here in this place that was still a crime scene, Jordan wanted to believe that they could make it, and do better—as a couple. Maybe, one day, as parents.

  “I love you too,” she said.

  For the first time in a long time, those words felt real.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “I can’t believe that after everything, you’re still nervous about meeting the parents. I wasn’t kidding when I said it gets better,” Jordan told her, amused. “They’re good people.”

  “I don’t doubt that. They raised you, after all. You’re sure this will do?” Ellie asked with regard to the lilac-colored dress. She’d been wearing it when she arrived at Jordan’s house. Currently, she wasn’t wearing anything, and they were about to be late because of Jordan’s attempt at relaxing her.

  “It’s just dinner. As long as you wear something, it’ll be okay.”

  “Funny,” Ellie muttered, but Jordan’s hands on her naked body soon distracted her from any worries about the first impression she’d make on the Carpenters. She sighed, helpless to the pleasure of fingertips wandering up her thigh and between her legs.

  “You’re relaxed enough now?” Jordan asked, kissing her neck gently, the caress sending a shiver down her spine.

  “Not anymore...”

  “I’m
sorry about that, but we’re going to be really late if we don’t leave soon…”

  “It’s okay. Let’s do this.” Ellie reached for her dress and put it on for the second time this evening. Truth be told, she was curious too.

  It was a good thing that Jack and Pauline Carpenter didn’t live far away, and so they made it—decently dressed and without further incident—in under half an hour.

  Ellie stayed at a respectful distance when the couple embraced Jordan.

  “You must be Ellie,” Pauline said, shaking her hand. “I’m so glad we finally get to meet you.”

  “Me too. Thanks for having me.” Ellie was sure she had to be bright red, and she could tell from Jordan’s small smile that she’d noticed it too.

  “Come on in,” Jack said. “Dinner is ready, but you can sit down and have a glass of wine first.”

  They sat in the den, and for a moment, Ellie was overcome with emotion as she realized how meaningful this scene really was, for her, for Jordan. These were people who hadn’t hesitated to step up to the task. They had the means to help a child in a bad situation, so that’s what they did.

  She knew so much more than she had when first aware of her attraction to Jordan, but Ellie had never been more certain that she wanted to be here, with her. It felt good to be certain of something.

  After dinner, Jordan offered to make some coffee, and Ellie followed her into the spacious kitchen, happy, and the tiniest bit tipsy—she’d been nervous after all, drinking that red wine a little too fast. “This is going well,” she said. “They’re good people, like you said. They’re not going to ask you about anything you’re not ready to talk about.” Damn, now was not the moment to cry again.

  “I know.” Jordan kissed her softly. “I needed to stall for a bit after…everything, but I’m glad we came here. There’s something I wanted to tell you, but there was no time earlier. It’s all good,” she added quickly, when the alarm must have shown on Ellie’s face. “Everyone’s been telling me I should have taken more time off. You know how it is—the first day of work can’t come soon enough.”