Chapter Seventeen
Jake had never been on the civilian side of the slow inner workings of a police station. He had a newfound respect for those whom he’d made wait while he completed paperwork. If the t’s weren’t crossed and the i’s not dotted just right, criminals got away with their crimes in court.
But it’d been hours. He needed to talk to Gabby. They’d told him she was okay, but he needed to see for himself.
Steven, the bobby who’d driven him to the cemetery, finally returned with a cup of coffee. “Here you go, mate. Just got word you’re free to leave. We’ll be in touch via e-mail later, no doubt.”
Jake took the coffee and drank deeply. He’d been at the station for hours, leaving him tired and hungry. “Have they cleared Gabby, yet?”
Steven shook his head. “Not quite. She had a few minor injuries we need to photograph, and then she’ll be set free.”
Jake nodded and then paced to a nearby window to sip his coffee while he waited for Gabby. Rain poured from the dark clouds above as people below on the street dashed for a waiting bus. Normal people with normal lives. Something Gabby would never have if she went back home. Her father would never allow it. Might even be worse after what they’d just been through. He wanted so badly for her to have the normal life she craved. And he’d like to remain a part of it.
He worried Gabby wouldn’t forgive him for breaking his promise. He hadn’t set out to turn her father in. He hadn’t said a word to DI Edwards when Moretti was right next to them while driving to the cemetery. Because his word was all he had to give. He had to explain everything to Gabby. Make her understand that he’d done the best thing for both her and her father by identifying him. If he hadn’t, things could’ve turned out a lot worse.
A phone rang, and then Steven called out, “They’re showing Gabby out now.”
“Great. Will you tell her I’ll wait for her in the lobby?”
“Will do.” Steven passed on the message and then stuck out his hand. “You’re a fine officer, Jake. Good luck back home.”
“Thanks.” He shook the bobby’s hand, hoping his LT would agree after he learned of Jake’s part in arresting Moretti even though he was supposed to be on administrative leave.
Jake picked up his coat and followed Steven to the crowded lobby area where they said their good-byes. Scanning the room, Jake found just what his gut needed. Vending machines. He’d made his way over, his mouth watering at the sight of a bag of M&M’s, when a big hand landed on his shoulder. A deep voice growled, “You’re a dead man, asshole.”
Jake turned to find Sal standing in front of him, with intent to kill in his eyes.
“Yeah? Why’s that?” Refusing to be intimidated for doing his job, Jake grabbed his wallet and took out his credit card, thankful the machine accepted it because he had no British pounds.
While Jake punched in his selection of candy for him and Gabby, Sal leaned in close. So close that Jake smelled the coffee on his breath. “You used Gabby. No one hurts her and lives.”
“Gabby needed my help. And I needed to do my job.” It took all his restraint not to bust into his bag of candy. Instead, he tore off a corner and offered some to Sal.
Sal crossed his massive arms, apparently not interested in sharing, which pleased Jake more than Sal could’ve known. Jake stuffed Gabby’s bag into his pocket and then tilted his bag to his lips, nearly moaning in pleasure as the nutty, chocolate goodness filled his mouth. After he had swallowed, he added, “You’ve warned me, so leave. I’ll take care of getting Gabby home.” He found a nearby seat and flopped into it.
Sal shook his big head. “You might not make it home.”
Brute Number Two, Louie, appeared and took the chair beside Jake, while Sal stood over them, looming. Seemed things were about to get interesting. Maybe seeing Moretti arrested had made them lose their common sense. Picking a fight in a police station lobby was futile.
Gabby’s guards weren’t the sharpest swords in the arsenal, so there was no use arguing with them.
Gabby’s voice rang out, “Sal? Let’s get out of here.”
Hearing her voice, seeing that she was okay, sent a wave of relief through him. She could’ve been killed earlier. But had she really asked Sal to wait? What the heck?
Jake stood and maneuvered around the tree named Sal. “Hi, Gabby. Ready to go?”
Gabby must not have seen him until that moment, because her expression turned from exhaustion to bitter hate. “You can’t be serious, Jake. Come on guys.”
He reached out and slid a hand around her upper arm to stop her. “Please, Gabby. Give me five minutes to explain.”
Dammit. He’d been right to worry about her reaction. She was madder than he’d ever seen her.
She growled. “There is nothing you can say to fix the promise you broke today, Jake.” She jerked her arm from his light grasp as her tear-filled gaze met his. Then her brow furrowed as she glanced around the busy lobby. “But I need to ask you one last thing. Not here. Outside.” She turned and headed for the double glass exit doors.
He followed behind, sick in the gut he might lose her, trailed closely by Sal and Louie. When they were outside, she grabbed his arm and tugged him down the slick stone steps. She held up a hand toward her guards, indicating they shouldn’t follow, then stopped under an awning of the building next door, out of the falling rain. Through gritted teeth, she asked, “Did you tell the police he was my father?”
That was the last thing he expected her to ask. “Of course not.” He leaned closer and laid a hand on her shoulder. “I promised you I’d never tell, Gabby. And I won’t. Ever.”
“I don’t trust you anymore.” Her shoulders dropped. Then she let out a huff of breath and looked away, as if unable to stand the sight of him. “We can’t ever be together long term anyway. Because of my father. So why not break your promise to me?”
“No! That’s not it at all. I don’t want to lose you, Gabby.” He shook his head, desperate for the right words to materialize. “I chased after your father—”
“Stop!” She threw her hands up. “Don’t you dare try to justify your betrayal. You and my father both had a hand in killing someone today, Jake. Why is it fair they blame my father and not you?”
He’d never felt more lost and alone. He had to find a way to prove he loved her and had only her best interests at heart.
He moved in front of her so she’d look at him. Understand him. “Because I’m a cop. Not someone out for revenge. Big difference, Gabby.”
She slowly shook her head. “You both took a shot at Pablo Garza because he threatened someone you supposedly loved. You don’t have a badge at the moment, Jake. Today, you and my father were equals. If that’s your idea of justice, then you chose well to be loyal to that instead of me. Have a nice life.” She turned and walked to where Sal and Louie waited for her. Never looking back.
“Wait, Gabby. I need to tell you the whole story.” He started to follow but stopped. She was too angry to listen.
As he stood in the pouring, cold rain, her words raced through his mind. Had he made the wrong choice? He’d never tell the cops that Moretti was her father, he’d promised her that. Maybe it hadn’t been right to call out to Moretti by name to make him stop running. But it was the only way to get his attention with all the shouting. The sharpshooters had been closing in and about to stop Moretti with a bullet. Could he have handled it any differently, and with the same outcome? Had Moretti simply thought he’d been saving his daughter’s life rather than exacting revenge on Garza? Maybe everything wasn’t as black and white as he’d made it since his parents’ death, like Gabby had pointed out. Had he screwed up big time?
Worse, had he lost Gabby forever?
The commercial plane’s tires screeched as Gabby and her guards touched down in DC, a day after all the excitement had blown over. When her mind had cleared a bit, she realized they couldn’t have risked flying home on her father’s plane. People, particularly Pablo Garza’s father, might have made the connection.
As she gathered her things, dreading going home, she focused on the positives. The statues were both on their way back to where they belonged. And Dean would get his due.
When she stood to disembark, dizziness from exhaustion overcame her. She’d had a restless night in the London hotel and had gotten zero sleep on her flight. She didn’t care that it was only 6:30 p.m. in DC. She planned to land face-first on her mattress as soon as she got home.
Had it been only a day since her world had fallen apart? It seemed like it had been weeks since she’d said good-bye to Jake. And possibly her father. But as the hours had passed since she’d talked to Jake, and the fist holding her heart had lessened its grip a fraction, she’d developed a whole new worry. Would her father give up his cleaned-up life and have Jake killed now? What would he have to lose if he had to spend the rest of his life behind bars? Thinking of Jake dead and her father in prison because of her sent a new pang of hurt to her heart.
She waited as the passengers in front of her gathered their things from the bins in first class. She’d treated her bodyguards to better seats, too. It was the least she could do after they’d chased her across the ocean and back.
She waited off to the side in the Jetway for Sal and Louie, then the three of them merged into the crowd and made their way to the gate. She’d been grateful for the private-cubicle seat she’d spent the last eight hours occupying. Happy she hadn’t been forced to make small talk with a stranger. Get sideways looks as tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks.
Having a broken heart sucked.
As soon as they walked into the terminal, two police officers approached them. The taller of the two men said, “Ms. Knight? We’re here to escort you to the station. We need to get a statement.”
Crap. She was so freaking tired. The last thing she wanted was to talk to more cops. She’d told the story over and over in London. Now she’d have to say it all again. “Okay.” She turned to Louie. “Can you go get the car, wherever it is, and then meet me at the station?”
“Sure.” Louie shared a glance with Sal and then walked away.
Sal moved closer to her. “I’m staying with you, Gabby.”
He still didn’t trust her not to ghost on him. It was sorely tempting. “Fine. Let’s go.”
After three grueling hours at the police station, she and Sal walked out the front doors where Louie waited for them. Along with fifty people, who stuck cameras and microphones in her face. She had to look like death warmed over. But she couldn’t care less as she shook her head and said, “No comment” over and over while following in the wake Sal made for her through the crowd.
Because she’d been the prime suspect in the Father statue’s theft, her badge picture from work had been plastered all over the news while she’d been gone. Thanks to freakin’ Dean, who reportedly was in stable condition back in London and expected to live. Pablo Garza and the other guy hadn’t been so lucky.
Gabby threw her bag in the car first, then crawled into the back and laid her head against the seat. Thankfully, when the door slammed shut, the noise level from the press shouting out questions lowered by half. Blissfully fading away completely as Louie pressed forward through the crowd and found open road. He’d be able to quickly shake off the reporters tenacious enough to follow behind.
Familiar landmarks sped past in the dark, barely registering in her jumbled brain foggy with jet lag.
Damn Dean for putting her in the middle of his drama. And Jake for making her fall in love with him, for showing her a glimpse of happiness that’d always be just out of reach. People like her weren’t allowed to have normal lives. She’d just forgotten that for a bit.
After hours of pondering Jake’s actions as she flew home, she had to conclude that he couldn’t have cared for her the way she’d cared for him. Or he’d never have betrayed her like that. They’d had a deal. That Jake would ignore her father’s presence just for the day. So her father could be sure she was safe. People don’t betray the ones they love like that.
Her phone dinged, but she ignored it. Jake had texted to be sure she’d gotten home safe earlier. She hadn’t bothered to reply. What was the point? But she wanted to know what was happening to her father because the police had given her little to no information, so she reached into her purse and snatched up her phone. After she’d unlocked it, a new text from Jake flashed across the display. Without reading it, she swiped it away and called up the Internet. Her father’s mug shot filled the screen. Catching the elusive Luca Moretti was big news around the world.
Guilt made it hard to stare into his angry, narrowed eyes. Would she ever talk to him again? Probably not, if his lawyers didn’t win at trial. Prison visitors’ names were public record. It’d cast suspicion on her if she visited a man who had been trying to steal the thing she tried to save. As the story was being told in the press. They’d made her out to be a hero, but she was far from that. She’d betrayed her father for a man who’d been only using her. Her father had believed her when she’d explained their plan on the phone. She’d said he could trust Jake not to turn him in. God, she was an idiot.
Louie called out, “Hang on. We still have a few stragglers.”
She weaved her fingers through the grab handle as she continued to read about her father. His lawyer claimed that after seeing Dean take a bullet, Luca shot to protect the innocent archaeologist. That he was a hero, not a murderer. They planned to extradite him to the United States in the next day or two to stand trial on earlier money-laundering and racketeering charges and now the new one for killing Pablo Garza. Would her father live the rest of his days in jail? All because she’d gotten caught up in Dean’s web? Her father would probably never forgive her for exposing him, all so she could chase after a statue.
She closed her eyes as the car’s tires squealed around a corner, sending a new stab of annoyance in her ears. Had her father seen the knife Jake had thrown at Pablo? Taken the opportunity to put a satisfying bullet in his enemy’s head. Or had her dad really been protecting her? He’d been a fair distance away. He might not have seen the knife.
In any event, she and her father linked together for the world to see was so not good. Would Pablo’s father put two and two together? That Luca was protecting his daughter, who was supposedly dead? Would she have to start looking over her shoulder every time she left the house again? Like she’d had to do for those first few years after her mom and brother were killed? The thought drew her even deeper into the dark cloud her life had become. Over stupid statues.
Sal turned and said, “All clear.”
“Thank God. I just want to go home.” Pull the covers over her head and sleep for days. Or at least for the rest of the night. She had to go back to work, resume her normal routine, not disappear for good as she wanted. Pablo Garza’s father could be watching. He’d put a price on her father’s head for sure now. She didn’t need one on hers, too. But as much as she hated the things her father had done in the past, she didn’t want him to go to jail. Except, maybe he’d be safer there. No, if Garza wanted revenge, prison wouldn’t stop him. Had her father just traded his life for hers? She could only hope her dad’s lawyers could find a way to convince the jury that he’d saved an innocent life by shooting Pablo Garza.
The thought of watching her father stand trial and the grueling weeks to come depressed her. There were going to be more follow-up questions from the police, lawyers to deal with, and questions on the stand. Dean’s trial for sure, and possibly her father’s. She wanted so badly to speak to her father’s lawyers, understand what his charges were, but none of them knew of her existence. Hopefully, her aunt would be able to find out what was happening with her dad.
As they finally drove through the gates surrounding her home, she fingered the passport she’d taken from Dean. It was still in her pocket. She hoped she’d still have the courage to use it as soon as all the legal crap was over.
While the garage door rumbled shut, Gabby left her bags and her bodyguards behind and went straight inside to see her dog. In the living room, Einstein lifted his head from the couch he wasn’t supposed to be on, then realized it wasn’t her aunt coming in to feed him. He bolted up and ran full tilt to greet her. A little black-and-white tornado.
She leaned down and smiled for the first time in what felt like an eternity, her hands spread to catch him. Einstein jumped into her arms and licked her cheek. There was nothing better than her sweet dog to help lift her dampened spirits. “You’re the only man I need. Right, buddy?”
She walked to her bedroom, cuddling her dog, when a memory hit her smack in the heart. The time she’d told Jake that he was good company, like Einstein. If she could ever forgive Jake, she’d probably miss his never-ending teasing and millions of questions. Her short time with him had been the best of her life—until the end.
That part, she’d never forgive him for.
After plopping Einstein into his bed, she fell prone on her mattress, arms and legs spread eagle, too tired to take a shower or even brush her teeth. But then Aunt Suzy came rushing into her room and flopped beside her.
“You’re back. And in the one piece. Thank the Lords all of above.” Gabby’s bitter heart softened a fraction at her Italian aunt’s familiar mispronunciations.
Suzy’s arms circled Gabby and squeezed hard. “I was so worried, topolina.”
Her little mouse. Ironic, because Gabby stood over a foot taller than her round aunt. “I’m fine.” Gabby forced her eyelids open. “But I can’t breathe.”
“Sorry, sorry.” Her aunt, who was a woman who rarely missed a meal and made sure Gabby didn’t, either, moved her arms. Then she laid her salt-and-pepper-haired head on the spare pillow. Aunt Suzy tucked a stray piece of hair behind Gabby’s ear. “It’s not your fault. Your father a grown man. Responsible for his own self.”
Einstein chose that moment to insert himself between them. Tears made Aunt Suzy all blurry. “He was protecting me. If I hadn’t . . .”
“Stop! No more. I can see by the eyes you’ve beaten yourself too much already. What about your handsome cop friend? Huh? The news no tell what happened to him.”
She closed her eyes again. “Don’t know. Don’t care. Dad was right. Jake told me what I wanted to hear, could never be serious about a woman like me.”
“Pffft. That’s the load of bull dooey. You, amore, are a princess. I tell your father you have real feelings for the man. Me, I can know these things. Your papa, he not want to lose his bambina, that’s all. Sleep now. We talk in the morning.”
When Suzy made to leave, Gabby took her hand to stop her. She was angry and upset with Jake, but she was worried for his safety. Her father had to be even angrier at him. “Please tell Dad not to hurt him, Zietta. As soon as you can speak to him. Tell him if he loves me, he’ll keep Jake safe.”
Suzy’s brows popped up. “You fall in love with this Jake?”
She shook her head. “I just don’t want another death on my hands, that’s all.”
“Okay, sure.” Suzy stood and chuckled as she untied Gabby’s shoes and slipped them off. “You say this because you love him. No tell lies to me. Now sleep. I make a big breakfast in the morning, and we get to the bottom of it all, sì?”
“Yes, in the morning.” Gabby was too tired to argue.
“Sweet dreams.” Her aunt hit the light switch and closed the door.
Einstein wasn’t allowed to sleep with her, but he’d stayed, cuddled at her side. When her pent-up tears over losing her father and Jake began to fall again, Einstein whimpered in sympathy. He always knew when she was sad. “Okay. You can stay. But just for tonight.”
His tailed thumped on the mattress. She’d swear the dog understood English better than her aunt sometimes did. He was certainly more loyal than Jake had been.
She wrapped an arm around her bundle of fur and love and pulled him close. “Why can’t all men be as perfect as you?” She closed her eyes and let herself succumb to the darkness in her heart and in her head.