Deadly Valentine (38 page)

"Yes," Regina said.

"How about you? You're looking a little better."

"I'm just glad I'm alive," Tess said.

"Do you need anything? Water? Jello?"

"I'm a little thirsty."

"Let me," Regina said getting up to get the water. As she handed Tess the cup, her door opened again and the doctor entered.

"You've got a full house," he said approaching her. Daniel and Regina moved out of his way. "I've got good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"

He was kidding right? "The good news I guess."

"The good news is that you should be able to be discharged later today."

"Really?"

"I'm a doctor. I know these things. You're vitals are good. Your wound wasn't deep, just long. There's nothing we can do for you here that you can't do somewhere else."

"So what's the bad news?" Daniel asked.

"The bad news is that you don't have a home to go to. I can't discharge you until I know you have a place to go and someone to watch over you. You'll be able to leave, but you'll want to stay in bed and rest for several more days. While you're wound isn't life threatening, it will hurt and limit your mobility for a while."

"She can stay at my place," Daniel said.

Tess knew he was being her friend, but she couldn't bring herself to agree to stay at his home. She began to feel that she was right back where she started; Daniel slowly working his way to being more than a friend. Now that Jack was out of the picture, there was nothing stopping him from resuming his quest. Or stopping her from allowing it.

And that was her fear. With Jack she'd discovered that she really didn't want to spend her life alone. At this point Daniel was the only other interested party and the only one that Tess felt close to. It would be a safe relationship. The kind she and Brad had originally agreed to forge. It would be caring, although not romantic or passionate. Tess wasn't sure she was ready to give up on having that kind of love. She wasn't ready to give up on Jack.

"She's needs someone to stay with her," the doctor said. "You can't leave her while you work."

"Not a problem. I'll have Sarah come over. The Senator is in Washington, mom spends most of her day here, and Philip and Shelby are back at their own place, so no one will miss her. Plus, I think she'll be glad to be out of the house." He gave Tess a knowing look.

"I want to wait until this afternoon to be sure. But if things continue to progress, we'll get the discharge papers ready then."

"I'll have Walter drive Sarah to my place and I'll check back to pick you up later," Daniel said.

Tess tried to smile, but the doubt wouldn't let her. The doctor didn't notice. He left indicating he was fine with the arrangements.

Tess looked to Regina for support. Regina gave her a weak smile. "I'd let you stay with me, but when the girls are there, it's a mad house. Not very restful for you."

Daniel's eyes narrowed as if he finally caught on to her resistance. "It will be fine, Tess. No complications. You can stay as long as you need or like."

"She can stay with me."

The voice sent her spirit soaring. But when she looked into Jack's angry eyes, her hopes plunged. He stalked into the room, eyes piercing everyone in the room.

"Why didn't you call me?" he said his focus on Tess. "Or you?" he said slashing his gaze to Daniel. "Or you?" to Regina.

"I don't work for you. And why would we call anyway?" Regina moved, stood in his face and waited for him to flinch. He didn't. But he didn't return the aggression either.

"Didn't Detective Johnson or the fire investigator call?" Daniel asked in a cool tone.

"No doubt to interrogate me."

The testosterone was building to unbearable proportions. But all Tess could do was lie in her bed and wonder why he was here when he was still so mad at her. Done with her.

"Write this down," he demanded of Daniel. "George Akers, he's the doorman at my place in D.C. He'll give you the security tapes that show me entering and
not
leaving my building last night. And Brad Chancellor, he can verify I was at my place, as well as Cora Peterson. If you want to know anything else after that, we can talk later. Right now I'd like to talk to Tess. Alone."

All eyes turned to Tess. It didn't seem wise to alone in a room with a man that had murder in his eyes. But she nodded anyway.

"Was anyone going to call me?" he said pacing the area at the foot of her bed once the others vacated the room.

"I asked Inspector Chase to call. I was worried because you have the files and that seems to be what this is about."

"You wanted to call me about files?"

She swallowed hard. The drugs were buzzing just enough that she couldn't get a read on him. "Yes."

"You didn't think I'd care to know that someone tried to kill you?" His eyes narrowed, darkened even more. "You think I did this to you?"

"NO! No. Never." Did he really think that? "Why are you here?"

He whirled on her. "Yesterday you begged me to forgive you, to take you back. Now you don't want me here?"

The drug-induced fog lifted enough to get her hackles up. "I'm sorry I'm not able to grovel right now. My house and office burned down; I've got a hole in my side and charcoal for lungs. I don't have the energy to get on my knees and beg right now."

"God dammit, Tess!" He started pacing again, both hands running through his unkempt hair. "Do you know what it did to me to drive up to your house and find it …burnt to a crisp? To not know what happened to you?"

"Is that why you're mad?"

"I am mad. You know why I'm mad?"

"Because I hurt you-"

"NO!" He stalked to her side, his blue-green eyes alive with something Tess couldn't comprehend.  "I'm mad because you were in my office yesterday telling me you love me and instead of jumping over my desk and taking you in my arms like I wanted to, I walked out."

"Oh." It sort of sounded like he was mad at himself. Maybe he was here because he loved her. But it wasn't clear. There was so much anger in his voice. His words and affect didn't match and it confused her.

"And then when I realized my mistake and drove down here... To think I could have lost you. To think that my last words to you were said to hurt you."

"I'm alright."

He stood over her bed, staring at her. His face still not giving her clues as to what was going on behind his brilliant eyes. He was saying the right things, but maybe now he'd changed his mind again.

"I lost my dad when I was young. And it was tough, but my mom always reminded me of what I had. How we had to live each day to the fullest. Even when she was dying, it was about capturing every moment and not letting anything that could lead to regret slip by. But I keep doing that with you." His face softened turning from frustration and anger to guilt. "My pride got the best of me yesterday, Tess and I nearly lost you because of it." His hand was tentative as it took hers. "To answer your question, I'm here to tell you I love you and ask for your forgiveness."

"Okay. You can do that."

He laughed. "Okay then. I love you. Will you forgive me?"

"Does that mean you forgive me?"

"It does."

"Then it's only fair that I forgive you." She couldn't help the silly grin that spread. She hurt. She was loopy. But she was ridiculously happy.

"It's only fair," he agreed, his grin mimicking hers.

He leaned in closer to her, his lips a whisper from hers. "Tell me again. I need to hear you tell me again."

She knew what he meant. She could see the need of it in his eyes. She had that same need, the need to tell him. "I love you."

"Ah Tess." He dipped his head, his lips caressing hers in a kiss that was so gentle, so loving, it brought tears.

"Did I hurt you?" he whispered as his thumb wiped a stray tear.

"No. I'm just being silly."

He smiled and dipped again, this time his kiss while still gentle, was firmer, and longer. She thought she would suffocate, but didn't care. If you had to go, kissing Jack seemed like the best way to do it.

"Ahem."

Jack's lips left hers only by a fraction. "We're busy," he said and then he kissed her again.

"Let me know when you're done. I'll wait."

Tess laughed even while Jack's kiss persisted. Finally he pulled away. "Is he still there?"

Tess looked around his body. "Yes. It’s the fire investigator."

Jack moved away, but Tess took his hand to keep him close.

"I take it this is Jack. You should check your messages. I'm Mike Chase, the fire investigator." Jack nodded his hello.

"I have some information on that fire you asked about," Mike said.

"That was quick."

"You said it could be related to the current string of fires, so it warranted a look."

"I asked him to look at the report of the fire that killed Delia." Tess watched Jack's face for any sign of anger, but instead he squeezed her hand.

"So what did you learn?" Jack asked turning his focus to the investigator.

"The fire started around a kerosene heater, as the report said."

"So, it was an accident."

He shifted. "There's nothing, at least in the report and the photos to suggest the fire was set. No strange burn patterns or use of accelerant beyond the kerosene in the heater."

"Well, I guess that's good news." Tess again looked to Jack. She wasn't sure about his feelings towards Delia and his relationship with her, but she was sure Cora wouldn't buy it and Jack had to be thinking about that.

"But," the investigator continued. "It is odd that the baby wasn't found. That alone should have triggered a deeper investigation. And the position of her body…well there's just something about it that is off."

"How off?" Jack asked.

"Well people just don't sleep like that, unless maybe it was a suicide."

"What do you think it means?" Tess asked.

"I don't know. I do know that if I was the investigator at the time, I'd want to look a little deeper into the missing baby and the autopsy."

"There was an autopsy."

"There was, but I'm not sure how deep it went. It was clear she asphyxiated and burned. But … "

"You think it's possible she was incapacitated before the fire," Tess finished.

"I don't think anything, but it's something I would have wanted to look into. The investigator of the time is long gone, so we can't find out if he had the same feeling."

"Do you think it was closed quickly because of the Senator?" Jack asked.

"I can't say if there was any intervening on the Senator's part, but I wouldn't be surprised if people determined that fire didn't look suspicious and it was the Senator's aid so it was closed quickly. I know there isn't enough there to open the case again especially since there is a Senator involved."

"So we didn't gain anything from it?"

He shrugged. "I'm certainly going to keep it in the back of my mind as I look into your fire and Mr. Showalter's. But beyond that, I can't do much with it."

"Thank you for looking into it," Tess said.

Chapter Forty-Two

Tess was afraid to open her eyes. Perhaps it had been a dream. Not the fire. She had the pain to tell her that the fire and her narrow escape had been real. But Jack. Was he real? Had he come back and forgiven her? Held her as the latest round of medication made her sleepy? It was the kind of perfection that could only happen in dreams. But she couldn't sleep forever.

She opened her eyes. He sat in a chair by the window. He had papers in lap, but he wasn't reading them. He rested his chin in his hand, his eyes were on her.

"You're here." Joy rippled through her.

"Where else would I be?"

"I was afraid it was a dream."

"No dream." He set his papers aside and moved to her. He took her hand, bringing it to his lips. "I'm here."

Tess had an overwhelming need to have him hold her. "You won't leave will you?"

"No mountain high enough, no river wide enough to keep me from you," he said.

She smiled. "Is that the Diana Ross version?"

"Of course not. Marvin Gaye."

"I still can't see you as a fan of Marvin's"

"The guy sings about love and sex, what's not to like?"

She laughed and then winced as it sent a stab of pain through her side.

"Do you need something for that?"

She shook her head. "Just you. What were you working on?"

"I was looking through the files you dropped off yesterday."

She gripped his hand. "You need to hide those!"

"I just have the information about Delia. The rest is locked up-"

"If anyone finds out they weren't burned in the fire, you'll be in danger." Tess felt the panic all the way to her toes. She'd only just got him back. She couldn't risk the killer coming after him. As it was, Jack could already be on the killer's list.

"I'll be careful. I just had to see what could be in them that would lead to murder."

Tess eyes darted around the room, looking for hidden eyes or ears. But they were alone. Her door was shut.

"If you're right about Delia's death being a part of this, it leaves only one suspect," Jack continued.

 Tess looked back to him. "The Senator?"

 He nodded. "I find it hard to believe. Most Senators accept bribes and cheat on their wives, not kill people. Then again. I don't know him very well. If he's anything like Asa, then I suppose it's possible."

"When I talked to him he seemed genuinely sad about her. But I suppose it could have been guilt or regret."

"It still doesn't make sense. His wife was already dead. Having an affair at that time wouldn't be cheating," he said.

"Maybe it was because of the baby. And they weren't married."

"It still seems extreme."

"Maybe it's because she wasn't going to live under his terms," Tess said. "According to Walter and Agnes, the Senator was going to support her and the baby."

Jack's face became pained.

Tess gave his hand a squeeze. "Have you talked to Cora about this anymore?"

"Not much."