Falling for his suspect, p.13
Falling for His Suspect, page 13
Her brother had known Wynne. Knew they were friends. Roommates. But...
“So, just to be clear, given the right relationship...you...feel arousal for men, too?”
Wynne was special. Important to her. Jasmine didn’t regret that they’d loved each other. Or how they’d loved each other. Wynne just hadn’t been the right life-partner relationship.
“I most definitely feel it,” she told him.
And could have sworn she saw him smile.
Chapter 14
When exactly he got the idea that he could help Jasmine and still see her brother pay for his crime, Greg didn’t know. It kind of grew on him. And the more he knew of her, the more he got to know her, the more it all made sense.
Jasmine had suffered more than a lot of women before she’d even reached adulthood. At a time when she should have been carefree and exploring her own strengths, she’d been forced to protect the brother she’d loved. And then watch him protect her.
She was aware. Responsible. She took accountability. There were no chips on her shoulders that he could see. No blaming others for what went wrong in her life. There was only facing the challenge and doing what you had to do to get to the other side.
The one constant in her life, through all the battles, appeared to be Josh. Of course she couldn’t imagine him in any kind of role that made him dangerous. To her or anyone else.
That crash was going to be a hard one. Probably the hardest in her life. She’d need a friend. Someone who could deal with whatever fallout she might suffer and remain calm—as Josh had seemingly always done.
Maybe he, in all of his dread of drama, his calm demeanor, his logical, problem-solving mind, was what she needed.
Maybe Liv had prepared him.
As a friend, that was. Jasmine had made it quite clear that she wasn’t looking for more than that. And if she ended up with her three-year-old niece, which seemed almost inevitable from where he sat, she’d have enough to deal with without the added uncertainty of a new relationship.
But a friendship...that just was.
Appeared almost to be already.
Regardless, he had to stick close to her. Because the bottom line was that if Heidi was telling the truth, and he had no doubts that she was, then Josh Taylor was a potentially dangerous man. And Jasmine and Bella, as his closest family, stood a good chance of becoming his victims.
That was it. That was why he couldn’t get this woman off his mind. Because he sensed that she could be in danger.
The idea made sense. Sat well with him as he hung at home Friday night, thinking about her. Picking up his phone to call her a time or two and setting it back down.
He could tell her to watch out for herself. She was never, ever going to suspect that her brother would hurt her. She’d just quit trusting Greg to be open to the truth.
He had one hell of a job ahead of him. One that might just help him find some peace for a conscience that he’d been battling since the last case he’d prosecuted. The reason he’d left the prosecutorial side and gone back to the academy to become a detective. As a lawyer, he’d once won a conviction with the evidence he had, sent a fall guy to jail and allowed a criminal to walk free.
If he was going to be her friend, help her through what lay ahead with her brother, she had to trust him. Therein lay his biggest challenge. Jasmine Taylor didn’t even fully trust herself. And she most particularly didn’t trust men like him who fit her pattern. He had to let her get to know him.
To tell her he’d been a prosecutor before he’d been a prosecutor’s detective. And maybe tell her how badly he’d let Liv down, too.
With that thought in mind, he picked up his phone. Added her to speed dial and then tested the button.
He heard ringing. Six times. And then got her voice mail. The button worked.
* * *
She heard the phone ring. It was on the counter in the kitchen where she’d set it after speaking with Josh that evening. He’d read Bella her story. Blew her good-night kisses. Accepted the kisses the little girl’s lips put on her phone screen. And then, once Bella was tucked in, Josh had asked her to do something she absolutely didn’t want to do.
Talk to Heidi.
His ex-wife needed reassurances that if she went along with Josh’s plan, Jasmine wouldn’t try to keep her from her child. He’d insisted that she just wanted to know that Jasmine would still give her a say in decisions regarding Bella’s future.
She’d promised to call the other woman but hadn’t had the chance. Heidi had shown up on her doorstep half an hour after Bella went to sleep. She’d claimed Josh had given her the code to get past security and into her neighborhood. And wanting to keep peace, and because Heidi met her gaze without that wild-eyed look, she’d let her in.
Josh was certain they could all work this out as a family. That Heidi had seemed calm with accepting that while she couldn’t have custody of Bella for another three years at least, Josh wouldn’t have their daughter, either. He seemed to think that he’d be able to talk Heidi into dropping the abuse charges against him, too.
And that was the only real reason she was sitting in her living room, listening to Heidi, hoping to God she hadn’t made a mistake. All she had to do was listen, to let Heidi talk, to help her feel heard and understood, and then maybe they could talk about the fake charges.
“Who’s calling you this late at night?” Heidi asked when the phone’s ring finally quieted.
“I don’t know.” She knew who she’d most like to talk to at the moment, but figured that would have been a mistake, too. She didn’t need more of Greg Johnson in her personal life. No matter how much she might want him there.
“It’s Josh, isn’t it?” Heidi stood up, and Jasmine forced herself to remain calm. If she didn’t engage, Heidi would sit back down. They’d been through some pretty horrible scenes during their years as family, and Jasmine always seemed to have a calming effect on the younger woman. “The two of you, you’re working me. In this together. I knew it!” Her voice grew louder still. “There’s no breaking into the two of you. It’s like this impenetrable wall. Always there for each other. Protecting each other. Well, I’ve got news for you, Jasmine. You aren’t going to be able to protect him this time. You two think you’re so perfect, but he’s not. He hurt me, Jasmine. He abused me, and he’s going to pay, just like I had to.”
She wished she had her phone. Could be recording this. Surely the court would see that Heidi was out for revenge.
“Tell me about it.” She forced herself to speak with a compassion she just didn’t feel. Not anymore. Not for this woman. “But keep your voice down. You don’t want to wake Bella. You don’t want her telling anyone you were here or that she heard Mommy yelling.”
Heidi watched her through narrowed eyes. She didn’t sit. But her voice was lowered when she spoke again. “He grabbed my wrist so hard it was bruised to the elbow,” she said, her eyes starting to get a more faraway look. “When I tried to pull away, he wouldn’t let go, and that’s how it got sprained. But that’s not the first time he hurt me,” she said. “It’s just the first time there was any evidence.”
Jasmine could hardly sit still, but she knew from past experience that if she stood, Heidi would take the move as aggressive, as though Jasmine was standing up to her, and get defensive.
She had to talk her down. Not raise the fight in her. And, it occurred to her, maybe she could get something out of Heidi to take to Greg. Something that could prove the lie to her accusations.
“What else did he do that hurt you?”
“One time he slapped the back of my head. But you can’t very well see the bruise underneath your hair.”
The look of concern, of horror, Jasmine knew was on her face wasn’t faked. But it wasn’t due to thinking her beloved brother was an abuser. Heidi had it all worked out. Without even hearing other ways Josh had supposedly hurt Heidi, Jasmine knew that they’d all be similar injuries. Ones that didn’t allow proof.
She knew Josh knew them all. Their father had been a genius at hiding his abuse. Heidi listed a couple of more instances where Josh had supposedly hurt her, leaving no evidence. A trip that landed her on her ass and left her whiplashed, saying she hadn’t been watching where she was going. Pulling her hair straight up on her head until she capitulated. Both stories Heidi had heard from her and Josh’s past.
“So...you agree that I should have custody of Bella for now,” she said when the woman fell silent, still pacing. “Since you can’t have her yet, and we have to get her away from Josh.” She sat on crossed fingers on that one. Feeling like she was betraying her brother just by saying the horrible words aloud.
She had to defuse the conversation and get Heidi out of her home. Then think about calling the police. Or at least Greg.
She’d let Heidi in. There was no restraining order to prevent Heidi from being there. And she wasn’t attempting to see Bella without her court-ordered supervision. To the contrary, she’d come after the toddler’s bedtime.
“I think I can have her.” Heidi stopped right in front of her. A look in her eye that Jasmine didn’t like at all. For the first time since she’d seen her former sister-in-law on her doorstep, fear seeped through Jasmine. And her first thought was Bella. Keeping herself between Heidi and the little girl’s bedroom door.
“The court said five years,” she said softly, still hoping to rationalize their way out of this. “It’s only been two. That’s not me or Josh stipulating, that’s the court.”
“The court says generally it’s five years before I can petition,” Heidi said. “But when I show that Josh is the one who’s abusive, they’ll believe that he was abusive back then, too, which I claimed, if you remember, and they’ll realize I’ve been a victim all along.”
“I saw you attack him, Heidi,” she said now. “He hadn’t done anything to you. He’d just told you that he was giving Bella to me for the weekend so the two of you could work some things out.”
“He was trying to take her away from me then, too,” Heidi said. “I couldn’t let him do that.”
An admission of abuse.
Josh had been trying to protect his daughter. With good cause, as it turned out. Thank God he’d been home when Heidi had finally lost it and started to shake the baby uncontrollably that day...had gone into the nursery and saved Bella from serious harm...
“I think you should go,” Jasmine said, putting her hands on both arms of the chair as she started to rise.
With one strong shove, Heidi pushed her back down.
“Don’t think you’re going to pawn me off like you did before, missy,” she spat. “I’m not going away this time. I know my rights. I’m the victim here. The victim!” Spittle shot from her mouth to Jasmine’s face on the last v.
Heidi grabbed Jasmine’s hair, wrapping her hand in it, even as Jasmine reached up to try to free herself. With Heidi’s hand tangled at her head, she was able to stand, wincing at the sharp pain in her scalp.
Heidi yanked, but she wouldn’t cry out. With her body bent sideways, she used both hands to try to free the other woman’s hand from her hair. To knock Heidi off balance. Trip her up. But Heidi was quick. Agile. She’d been a runner in high school. Had always been in good physical shape.
As long as Jasmine kept herself between Heidi and Bella’s door, she’d be okay.
“I’m warning you, Jasmine. You think you and Josh are going to keep me from my daughter, my only real family, you’re wrong. You got that?” The words came through gritted teeth.
Her head felt like her scalp could come loose at any minute. But Heidi wasn’t even attempting to get to Bella. “I got it,” she said.
“Good then. I don’t want to hear another word about you getting custody of my daughter, you understand? Josh is going down. And I’m going to take Bella and start a new life. Away from the two of you. You’re poisonous. Both of you. I won’t have her growing up in your vile little family.”
The woman gave Jasmine a shove, letting go of her hair only after the force of the shove gave her one more stab of pain so severe she felt sick to her stomach.
And then she was gone. Out the door, to her car and down the drive.
Leaving Jasmine with a god-awful headache, and, she saw as she looked down, a piece of evidence.
* * *
Greg had been heading to his home gym when his phone rang. Seeing his newly entered speed dial contact come up, he grabbed it up. She’d seen his missed call.
Was calling back.
A good sign.
“Can you come over?” The words, alarming in themselves, didn’t grab him as much as the weak thread in her voice.
“Of course,” he said, turning from the bedroom-turned-gym toward the master suite where he’d traded his jeans for basketball shorts. “What’s up?”
“I...need you to come. I don’t know if I should call the police or not, but...can you hurry?”
Fumbling to get into a flannel shirt over his workout T-shirt, Greg was on full alert. “Are you hurt? Is Bella?” Had Josh been there?
“No, Bella’s fine. Still asleep. And I’m...fine. Just...”
He’d button up in the car. Was working his way one-handed into his jeans.
“Is someone there?”
“Not anymore.”
Her brother had shown her his true colors. And she’d called him. “You need to call the police, Jasmine.” They couldn’t quibble on that one. “He could come back.”
“He?” For the first time since he’d picked up, he heard the fire of her strength in her voice. “Who?”
“Who was there?” She’d said not any more when he’d asked if someone was there.
“Heidi.”
Not at all the answer he’d been expecting.
Grabbing his keys and the gun he didn’t always carry, he headed for the garage door and listened as she gave him a two-sentence brief of the meeting.
“Hang up and call the police and call me right back,” he told her, pushing the button to open the garage door and starting his SUV at the same time.
He was almost half an hour away. The Santa Raquel police were five minutes away. Max.
Heidi could still be in the area.
While Jasmine made her call, Greg sped to the freeway and made a call of his own. To the Santa Barbara police department, asking them to do a wellness check on Josh Taylor.
Just in case he’d been wrong again.
And to reassure himself that the man wasn’t going to be hurting someone, too.
Chapter 15
She’d been crying, Greg noticed. Her eyes were red rimmed. Completely devoid of makeup. In black fleece pants and a cream-colored fleece-looking sweatshirt, she looked fragile to him. He’d been fully prepared for that. Was ready for panic and more tears. As ready as he ever was.
He’d been prepared to help her through as best he could.
And yet she stood in her doorway, telling the officers who were leaving she was just fine, in a voice that sounded—just fine.
In the half hour it had taken Greg to get to her, she’d regained her composure. For a second there, he felt...not needed. Superfluous.
Missed a step as he strode toward her. Or rather, paused while attempting to stride toward her.
She glanced over and saw him. Held his gaze. He hurried up the walk, passing the uniformed officers on his way, flashing his ID but not stopping to speak with them.
“My brother wanted to come, but I told him to stay put,” she said as she shut her front door behind them. “Bella never even woke up, and I don’t want him anywhere near the place where Heidi was in a terror. She’d find a way to blame it on him. She’ll find a way, anyway, I’m sure, but at least if he’s home, he has an alibi. Well, not really, since he’s there alone, but...”
So not quite as composed as he’d first thought. Which made more sense to him. And yet...her rambling didn’t irritate him in the least. He wanted to hear it, strangely enough. Wanted any and all parts of her she’d share with him.
A thought he might examine further later. Or not.
“He’s got his alibi,” he said when she paused for breath. “I called the local police to do a wellness check on him, and they’ve already reported back. They’ve warned him not to open the door and to call 911 if she comes to his place. There’s also an APB out on her in Santa Raquel and Santa Barbara. I’m sure she’ll be in custody before morning.”
Jasmine’s mouth fell open. She stared at him, standing there in his jeans and flannel shirt that were both now fastened properly, and then she smiled. Not a full-bodied expression. The slight upward turn of her lips didn’t encompass her eyes. Or even much of her face. But it was there.
So was he.
And that was good.
* * *
“I shouldn’t have asked you to come all the way over here.” Standing there, smiling up at the handsome detective like some kind of besotted idiot, Jasmine suddenly felt self-conscious. Far too aware that she had a huge problem of falling for the protector with power.
Because she was falling hard for this one.
For the first time in her life, she hadn’t needed Josh to come racing over and hold her hand through the trauma. Even figuratively. She’d needed to know that he was okay. Needed to warn him about Heidi. But she hadn’t needed him. She’d known Greg was on his way, and that was enough.
