She Belongs to Me (42 page)

“Where’s…Lorraine?” She labored to get the words out.

“Lorraine isn’t here, love.” He couldn’t tell her, he could barely believe it himself. “Why do you want Lorraine?”

Jaynee
’s
eyes darted as if she expected someone to walk up. “She…she said you’re in danger.”

Jordan held his hand against her face to sooth
e
her. “Me? What danger am I in?”

“Your partner…an insurance policy…John I think…she said she had proof…” she struggled to speak the words. Jordan could see she was on the edge of passing out again.

“John?” It was all making sense. Lorraine had known something. She had come to warn Jaynee Friday night. Then she tried to tell him today. Ronny was in the middle of something, not John…he was certain. John was just a coincidence; he would never hurt Jaynee. He saw the way John looked at his wife, and he would never hurt him, they had been friends forever.

Ronny on the other hand, he had so many debts. Jordan had helped them out for his sister’s sake, but Ronny was never satisfied with just enough. And he and Rachael had an unhappy marriage.

Ronny hated his life, and he never liked Jaynee. He’d felt threatened the moment Jordan brought her here. He’d told Rachael she was going to ruin the business and probably have Ronny fired. Rachael had confided in Jordan after they first married. Jordan told Rachael how ridiculous that was. Jaynee wasn’t even interested in the business, and she definitely wasn’t interested in money. He had to beg her to spend anything on herself. The woman hardly spent a few hundred dollars a month, no matter how much he bugged her.

Jordan could hear Jaynee struggling to speak again. “
It’s
okay, Jaynee, you can sleep. I’ll be right here.”

“Jordan,” she mumbled. “My baby…”

Jordan looked up at Brian who was still leaning against the wall, listening to their exchange. He pushed his body forward from the wall to come nearer.

Jordan winced at her words. “What is it, Jaynee?” But nothing mattered as long as she was safe and alive. If she wanted to leave him for Brian, so be it. It’d hurt, he wasn’t sure he’d live through it, but he couldn’t bear to see her in pain either. “Brian’s here, Jaynee, did you want to speak to him?”

Jaynee’s eyes opened more. She looked so tired; it was obviously a task even to open her eyes. But the look of shock that crossed over her face was anything but enjoyment at seeing her former lover standing over her. As weak as she was, Jaynee looked angry
,
Jordan thought, as if she
were
going to jump out of bed. She didn’t look like the fragile woman who’d been lying there for almost four days.

Then her eyes darted back at Jordan with confusion, or was it guilt?

“Why…why…is here?” Her eyes narrowed, the confusion replaced by anger again.

Jordan was baffled, and Brian looked discouraged. “Didn’t you ask for him?” He tried to mask his pain from showing.

She shook her head then winced when she realized the movement hurt.

Brian shrunk away from the bed. “I’d better leave you two alone. I’ll be downstairs if you need me, Jordan.” Brian left the room with a final glance at Jaynee.

She had no desire to see him, even on her deathbed. Jordan couldn’t help but feel satisfaction, even as he read the torment spelled out across Brian’s face.

Jaynee looked befuddled again.
H
er eyes flicked between the men as Brian exited the room. “You know each other?” she asked, gazing at Jordan for an explanation.

“You said ‘baby’, Jaynee, isn’t that what he used to call you? You said it the other day, just the one word and fell back to sleep. I figured it out then, what you were keeping from me, but I don’t care what has been happening for the last couple of months. I just want you to know I love you and never want you to leave. But I’ll let you go, if that is what you want.”

“Jordan,” she said, shocked by his statement, sounding even stronger.

He looked down at her, embarrassed by his whimpering. He must look like a bloody fool, what she must think of him.

“Jordan…I planned it.
I quit the…pill…but we had to wait.
I wanted it to be a surprise…for us to try for a baby…I never imagined….” The words flowed easier, her strength was returning. “I hoped by Christmas.
Wanted to surprise
you
for a change.”
Tears started welling in her eyes. Jordan couldn’t say anything; he was in shock. “But for you to think…for you to assume I didn’t love you? That I’d want—”

Jordan reached over and cupped her face gently, breaking off her words. “Jaynee, what are you saying—are you—you might be pregnant?

She nodded slowly. “I hope so.”

“Oh, Jaynee.
I’m so sorry. I was just…I couldn’t understand.” Jordan sighed in relief after the pain of the last two months fell away to nothing but a misunderstanding. “We had such a wonderful time in Florida, and then we came home and I understood the first few weeks, but then I went insane.” He considered the situation for a second. “Jaynee, thank you, thank you, but please don’t ever surprise me like that again. My heart cannot take it, love.” And he always thought he’d liked surprises.

Jaynee did her best to smile.

“So we’re going to have a baby?” he exclaimed despite himself, and the fact they were in the hospital, and he just lost a good friend, and someone was still trying to kill them. At that moment, the only thing that mattered was that his wife loved him, and they were going to have a baby.
If not now, at least someday.

Pat stepped in the room the moment of his announcement, her eyes drifting to Jaynee. “Is it true, are you pregnant? Wouldn’t the hospital have known if you were pregnant?”

Jaynee smiled, though it was weak.

“Not if it happened the night she was admitted,” Jordan answered, smiling sheepishly, grabbing his mother up into a bear hug. “But it doesn’t matter, Mom, Jaynee is awake.” He looked back at Jaynee; her eyes were closing. He could still see the smile playing on her lips. “Well, she
was
awake. But she loves me, and it looks
as if
she is going to be fine, and we
are
going to have a baby.”

Brian was in the hall waiting for the elevator when he heard Jaynee’s confession and Jordan’s overwhelming cry of joy, which should have been his.

He stepped into the elevator and pressed the lobby button. He had to come to terms it was over. The girl he
’d
loved for almost ten years, the woman he’d given away for drugs and alcohol was no longer his. She belonged to someone else. He needed to escape this place, return to Florida. He didn’t know what he would do when he got there; he just had to leave.

63

Chapter
Thirty-Two

Jordan barely had a chance to grasp the entire situation that his wife may be pregnant and someone had definitely tried to kill her, when Lorraine’s phone vibrated in his pocket, reminding him that she was gone.
Lorraine, dead
?
God, it couldn’t be true.

He stood up from his chair next to Jaynee’s bed and walked out of the room so as not to wake her. As soon as he was outside the glassed-in room, he flipped open the phone. “Hello?”
What if it was Lorraine’s mother? What would he tell her?

“Jordan,
it’s
Powe
.” The detective sounded out of breath. “I haven’t had a chance to call. You must be going insane with grief.”

Of course
he was grief-stricken, and he had to tell Jaynee. It’d devastate her to know that inadvertently she’d been the cause of Lorraine’s death.

“Are you there, Jordan? Did I lose you?”

Jordan sighed. “I’m here.” He wished he wasn’t, wished he co
uld get his hands on Ronny. But
he couldn’t leave Jaynee’s side.
What if Ronny came back to finish what he
’d
started?

Powe’s
end of the line was noisy, voices echoed in the background. “Anyway,
as
I said, I’ve been too busy to call, but Lorraine’s alive. She went into cardiac arrest
in the ambulance, and the paramedics pronounced her DOA. But the ER Docs were able to resuscitate her. We’re waiting to see her now. Attendees said she’s awake but weak.”

“Thank, God!” Jordan felt relief, but it was fleeting, marred by what he had to say next. “You don’t need to speak with her. I know who tried to kill Lorraine and was probably there the night Jaynee was shot.”

This time Len’s end of the connection was silent.
“Who?
And how do you know?” the detective finally asked.

“Hang on a sec.” Jordan walked back into the room. His mom had moved to sit beside Jaynee. “Mom, I’ll be back in a minute, please do not move from her side.” He leaned over his wife. “Jaynee, my love, I’ll return shortly.” He kissed her forehead, confident she could hear him, even if only subconscious.

His mother nodded her head. “I won’t leave her side, Jordan, I promise.”

Jordan walked down the hall just out of listening range. “My brother-in-law Ronald Duncan,” he spat the words out, disgusted at the thought.
How could he?

“How do you know, Jordan? What proof do you have?” Len demanded.

“Jaynee…she woke up,” he blurted out the wo
rds. “The night Jaynee was shot
Lorraine had come to see her. She told Jaynee about some information she found and believed one of my partners wanted Jaynee and me dead to collect on an insurance policy.”

“But how do you know it’s Ronny? What about Bobby, or God forbid, John?” It was apparent Len didn’t
want to believe a fellow officer could be r
esponsible, but cops were human
too.

Jordan paced the hallway. “John came here after I went looking for Lorraine, offering to watch over Jaynee while my mother got something to eat. But then Ronny showed up. He never does anything for the family, but that wasn’t all of it. He apparently sent John away, and when Brian and Pat returned to the room—” Jordan took a deep breath, as he comprehended the danger that almost befell his wife. “He was standing over her, Len…he was going to murder her, God knows how, right here under our watch.”

He wanted to capture Ronny himself and bring him in, but he knew he couldn’t. He had to stay with Jaynee, keep her secure, and he knew if he did get Ronny alone, he would probably kill him with his bare hands. He couldn’t do that to Jaynee or Rachael. What would Rachael even think? Would she believe that Ronny was even capable of such atrocities? “Len, I need you to go to my office and get my laptop, and then I’ll be able to tell you exactly where Ronny is.”

“Tell me you have a tracking device on your company vehicles please.”

“Yep…something my car saleswoman suggested. I can tell you where all of my vehicles are located, where they stop and how long they’ve been there. And it was one of the only things I didn’t share with any of my employees or partners.” He hung up the phone.

The last thing he wanted was to wait for Len to get his laptop and come to the hospital, but he wasn’t leaving Jaynee’s side for anything.

He needed to make a couple more calls before returning to Jaynee’s room. He just hoped they wouldn’t ask a lot of questions. He could see the room from where he stood, so he knew Jaynee was safe.

“Yeah?” his sister answered, sounding out of breath as if she’d been running or upset.

“Hi, Rachael.”

“Jordan? Is everything all right? Mom told me Jaynee was coming outta the coma. Is she okay?”

Her genuine concern surprised him. She never was close to Jaynee or even him for that matter, but he knew she loved him. She was just spoilt, always had been. Nothing was ever enough. Not that that was any excuse for what Ronny did. “Rachael, I can’t talk but a second, but yes, Jaynee seems to be doing better. She’s awake and talking, though very weak. But the reas
on I called is not about Jaynee;
I need you to do something.”

“Anything, Jordan,” she said.

Again, this was all new to him. She was being extremely altruistic. “I need you to go over to Melissa’s house, and whatever you do,” he paused, knowing she wouldn’t just comply without questioning him, “do not answer if Ronny calls or comes by, but I doubt he will.”

“What the heck are you talking about?”

That sounded more like the sister he knew. “Rachael, for once in your life, will you trust me? Have I ever let you down?” he asked, truly upset now. He gave her everything, and she gave him nothing but heartache, and now her husband—

“No…”

“Then for the love of all that is holy, would you just do what I request for once?”

“Okay, Jordan.”

He hung up the phone and called Bobby. Bobby needed no explanation. Jordan told him to get home, keep Ronny away and most importantly protect the women. Bobby didn’t hesitate, just said, “Whatever you say, Jordan.”