The Target (9 page)

“Can’t stay in here all night.”

“Yes, you’re right. I can’t, can I?” So, she gave Jaime a dose of her own medicine. She stood and walked slowly to the edge of the pool, the water dripping off her naked body. She had the pleasure of seeing Jaime slip on a rock as she stared. Serves her right, she thought.

“Oh my God,” Jaime whispered. She looked around for Celia.

“Did you see that?”

“Sure did.”

“She’s beautiful.”

“Nice body.”

“Nice? That’s not nice. That’s … magnificent.”

Celia moved closer to her. “I think she likes you.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. She kept looking for you when you were gone. And she must have asked Sandra a hundred times if you were coming back.”

“She did?” Then Jaime playfully nudged Celia. “Thanks, even though this conversation is fast approaching the high school level.”

Jaime watched as Sara disappeared into her tent and her smile faded. She would have to tell her tonight. Tell her that she was only here because she was a cop and she was supposed to be watching her. And then, no doubt, all the fun would be gone. Sara would be furious.

Sara changed into her one pair of sweatpants, then took her dirty jeans and underclothes back to the springs to wash them. She smiled, thinking they looked very much like pioneer women on wash day. All but Jaime. She was nowhere to be found. Sara dipped her jeans into the warm water, trying to scrub the dirt off as best she could. Before long, tree limbs and shrubs held their wet clothing as it blew in the breeze. She helped the others gather wood for the fire they’d have later, all the while looking around for Jaime. Finally, she could stand it no longer.

“Celia? Have you seen Jaime?”

“She changed and walked back down the trail again. She didn’t say where she was going.”

Sara nodded, wondering at Jaime’s odd behavior today. Oh, well. The woman had a right to her privacy. It would just be courteous to let someone know where she was going.

In fact, it was nearly dark before Jaime joined them again.

Everyone had already eaten and were gathered around the fire, relaxing. Sara watched as Jaime quickly assembled her tent, then moved closer to the fire with her small stove.

“Where were you?” Sandra asked.

“Just exploring.” She grinned. “Miss me?”

“Well, it’s just kinda quiet when you’re not around.”

“Oh yeah? Thanks. I think,” she added. “Actually, you know, I’m crashing your party so I thought I should give you guys some alone time. Sara might have had something planned that I shouldn’t be a part of.”

“We don’t need any alone time,” Abby said. “And you’re not crashing our party. We invited you.”

“Well, thanks.” Jaime sat next to Lou Ann on a log they had moved up. “This reminds me of a trip I took when I was a kid. My older brother organized this backpacking trip with a bunch of his friends but I wasn’t invited. In fact, I was instructed they didn’t want me within ten miles of them.” She bent down to add her freeze-dried meal to the boiling water. “So, I snuck out of the house and followed them for two days before showing myself. I knew he couldn’t send me home alone but he was mad as hell, let me tell you.”

“How old were you?”

Jaime grinned. “Eight.”

Sara rolled her eyes. “And your parents didn’t miss you?”

Jaime laughed. “Hell, yeah. They had the police and helicopters out looking for me. It was all over the news. Volunteers had already organized to search the woods.”

Sara laughed with the others. “How old was your brother?”

“Seventeen. We came walking home five days later—tired, dirty and hungry. We should have known something was up by all the cars parked along the street.”

“Please tell me you were grounded.”

“Me? No, but my brother got his car taken away from him.”

“Your brother? But you were the one who snuck off,” Abby said.

“I was
eight
. You can’t be punished when you’re eight.”

“And your return made the news?”

Jaime grinned. “My mother made me put on a dress for the event.”

Sara watched the women as they hung on Jaime’s every word.

She was enjoying the story too. God, how boring would this trip have been if Jaime hadn’t tagged along? Then she frowned. Were all of her trips boring?

Jaime stirred the pot one more time before pulling it into her lap. “Has everyone already eaten or are you planning on sharing mine?”

“We’ve eaten,” Lou Ann said. “Tell us another story.”

“Another story? If I bore you with more than one story a night, I’ll run out before too long.” She looked at Sara. “Are you planning on taking us to St. Elmo?”

“I was, yes.”

“What’s St. Elmo?” Abby asked.

“It’s a ghost town. It’s in really great shape. Even some of the wooden sidewalks are preserved. Went there once. Hiked up alone. Saw the ghost town, all right. But saw a ghost too.”

“No way.”

“Yep. Sure did.” Jaime stood with her empty pot and walked toward the springs to clean it. “Remind me to tell you sometime,” she tossed over her shoulder.

“Why not now?”

“Oh, no. None of you would get any sleep if I told you a ghost story before bedtime.”

Sara smiled at the other woman. Yes, she was certainly full of stories. Sara wondered how many of them were true and how many were made up on the spot. It didn’t matter. They were at least entertaining.

Before too long, as the fire was burning down, the women started getting ready for bed. But Sara wasn’t tired. She added another small log to the fire and moved closer, holding her hands out to warm them. Actually, she hoped Jaime might stay up with her awhile. The previous evening, Jaime had joined the others at bedtime, leaving Sara alone. In fact, they hadn’t spoken a whole lot since the night Jaime had confessed she was attracted to her. And Sara had run. But Sara found she was interested and she hadn’t been flirted with this shamelessly since college. It felt good. It didn’t hurt that the woman doing the flirting was attractive and fun to be around. Then she frowned. Hadn’t she called her arrogant and conceited just a few days ago? Arrogant, yes, as she stripped naked in front of everyone, knowing full well the affect she was having on Sara. And then the nerve to insist that Sara strip as well.

Yes, shameless. But it was all in good fun. It wasn’t like Sara was going to fall for it.

“Hey.”

Sara looked up. She had been staring into the fire and hadn’t noticed Jaime approach. “Going to tell me about the ghost now?”

Jaime shifted nervously then glanced at the tents. They were within hearing distance, should anyone care to listen. And she knew full well that Celia and Sandra were probably sitting at their tent door this very moment.

“Actually, I need to talk to you,” Jaime said quietly. “Can we maybe take a walk?”

“A walk?”

“Just over to the springs,” Jaime suggested. “I’d like some privacy.”

Had she not been so serious, Sara would have teased her about her lame attempt to get her alone. So she nodded.

They walked along the footpath to the edge of the springs. The continuous flow of the river as it crashed across the rocks and boulders gave Jaime just the sound barrier that she needed.

Jaime turned and faced her, the moonlight strong enough for her to see Sara’s face. “Listen, first of all, you’ve got to promise me you won’t get mad.”

Sara crossed her arms across her chest and raised her eyebrows.

“That depends.”

“No, no. It can’t depend,” Jaime said. “I need to tell you something.”

“Okay. Fine. Tell me.”

Jaime took a breath then reached in her back pocket and pulled out her detective’s shield. She squeezed it tight, then handed it to Sara.

“What’s this?”

“What does it look like?”

Sara held it away from her into the moonlight. “Is it real?”

“Of course it’s real,” Jaime said as she snapped on a small flashlight and shone it on the badge.

“You said you were a CPA,” Sara reminded her.

Jaime shifted. “Not exactly. If you recall, you asked why I hadn’t made up something a little less threatening, I believe you said. So I insinuated that I might be a CPA. Big difference. Because in reality, I did say I was a cop.”

“You said you were a CPA. You lied.”

“No, I didn’t lie. I told the truth. I’m a cop. You just didn’t believe me.”

Sara handed the badge back. “Fine. So you lied and you are a cop. The two are not supposed to mix. Cops are not supposed to lie.”

Jaime raised her hands up. “Look, it doesn’t matter, okay? That’s not what I needed to talk to you about.”

“It’s not? Okay. Then what is it?”

“Remember, you promised you wouldn’t get mad.”

“I don’t recall making that promise, but … what …
is
… it?”

Sara asked loudly.

Jaime hesitated. Sara was going to kill her. In fact, she wouldn’t be surprised if the woman never spoke to her again.

“You asked me once why I was here.” Jaime took another deep breath. “Well, I’m working for the FBI.” At Sara’s widening eyes, she hurried on. “You know, the death threats.”

Sara stared, her eyes finally narrowing. “How dare you? How dare you come here, befriend us,
lie
to us?” Sara pointed her finger at Jaime. “Do you have any idea how much those women look up to you? And it’s all been a fucking game?” she yelled.

“Will you be quiet?” Jaime hissed, glancing toward the tents.

“They don’t need to know.”

“They most certainly
do
need to know,” Sara continued to yell.

“I cannot believe you!”

Jaime stepped forward, moving behind Sara and clamping her hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. It seemed like a good idea at the time. But that was before an elbow to her midsection took the breath from her and a closed fist connected with her face. The next thing she knew, she was being tossed over Sara’s shoulder like a rag doll and landing with a thud on the ground.

She ran her tongue over her lips, tasting blood. “Damn,” she murmured. “Forgot about that self-defense class.”

Sara stood back, her eyes wide. She couldn’t believe she’d just done that but it was an automatic reaction. One minute they’re … they’re talking, well, she was yelling and the next, Jaime was … was manhandling her. Instincts just took over. She finally knelt down, touching Jaime’s shoulder.

“I am so sorry. I never meant to do that, but you grabbed me and—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s okay. Really, it is. But you’re under arrest for assaulting a police officer.” Jaime wiped at the blood on her lip.

“And as soon as I can stand up, I’m going to handcuff you.”

Sara stood. “You’re going to
what
?”

Jaime finally got to her feet. “I’m bleeding. I can’t believe you did that.”

Sara picked up the flashlight that had fallen and flashed the beam on Jaime’s face. She touched her lips with a soft finger, finally finding the cut.

“You are such a baby.” Sara let her hands fall away. “It’s a tiny cut.”

“Uh-huh. Don’t think that’ll get you off the hook.”

“What hook? I’m the one who should be pissed off here. You lied to me.”

Jaime snatched the flashlight from Sara’s hands. “Fine. Be pissed off. It doesn’t change anything. The only reason I’m telling you this is because we’re being followed.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, they’re behind us, following us. They’re traveling on a higher trail or not on a trail at all. The map doesn’t show anything but that doesn’t mean there’s not a trail up there. And it could be perfectly innocent. They might be hikers for all I know.” Jaime turned the flashlight off. “But we can’t take a chance. I’ve got to check it out. So, tomorrow, you stay here with the group, keep them occupied. I’m going to go out and see if I can find them. If it’s just a couple of hikers, then it’s no problem and we can be on our way.”

Sara met her eyes in the moonlight. “And if it’s not?”

“I don’t know yet.” Jaime rubbed again at her lower lip, shaking her head. A cop, for God’s sake, and she gets tossed to the ground by a … a woman! Jesus. “Listen, what do you know about these threats? The FBI was strangely vague about them.”

“Vague? That’s an understatement. They showed up at my office one day, saying my father had received letters threatening my life. That’s it. When I asked questions, they simply said they couldn’t say more.”

“Special Agent Ramsey said he practically begged you to accept protection.”

“Who?”

“Ramsey. He said he spoke with you.”

“No. I don’t recall a Ramsey. There were just two. A man and a woman. The man was tall, black, with a shaved head. His name was Erickson. I remember because my secretary’s last name is Erickson.”

“Erickson? I spoke with Ramsey. Squirrelly white dude. He said he was heading the investigation. He said he talked with you and you refused protection. That’s why I’m here. Your father insisted someone look after you.”

“Oh, please. My death would be the best thing for my father’s campaign. I can’t believe he even notified the FBI. My father doesn’t like me, Jaime. He never has. Even as a kid, it was like he was always angry at me for some reason.”

Jaime walked away, pacing. “Why would Ramsey lie to me?”

Sara leaned her head back and looked at the sky. Why couldn’t anything ever be simple?

“Look, let’s start at the beginning, okay?” She sat on a rock and waited for Jaime to turn around. “Tell me what they said.”

“My captain called me into his office last Thursday. He said the FBI needed a female detective who backpacked to keep an eye on a senator’s daughter who had received a death threat. The next day, Ramsey came in and basically said they thought it was a bogus threat but they had to check it out. That’s when he told me he’d spoken with you and you refused protection. I asked him if they had any idea who had made the threats and he said he couldn’t tell me.” Jaime shrugged. “That’s about it. Here I am.”

“Well, you know more than I do. They showed up … not last week but the Friday before. Out of the blue, no call, nothing. They said my father had received several letters in the past month indicating that my life was in danger. They asked if I’d received any letters or phone calls. They suggested protection. And yes, I refused. I’m not involved in politics, I don’t want to be involved. I’m not even involved in my father’s life. I haven’t been for years. Like I said earlier, we don’t have a relationship.”