Tap Dance (29 page)

"I need to go speak with the nurse.  Will you be okay?" I asked and as her eyes came back to mine I could see that she, the 'she' that I knew and loved, was gone.

I ran down the hall to the nurse's station after giving her a kiss good-bye, which she accepted with more than a bit of confusion. 

*.*.*.*.*

The director was refusing to move my mother.  Said it was a waste of time and of valuable resources just because an Alzheimer patient claimed to have been told something.  He insisted she could've overheard the staff talking and recognized Estella's name.

I had already called Ram and left a voicemail. 

I even called the Matrix guy and left him a voicemail.

But I wasn't leaving until someone did something to help protect my mom.

I had been in the visitor lounge for five hours when I heard Ram speaking with the receptionist. 

I never moved so fast in my life as I did when I ran and collided with him.  And as soon as I felt his arms around me, all the defenses I had built around myself crumbled.

It took the director speaking with him to make sense of what I'd tried to blubber, but I'd been crying so hard even I knew he wouldn't understand what I was saying.  And, as soon as the director repeated what I'd heard from my mom, Ram took charge.

My mother was moved to a different room while she went to dinner, a room which faced the same direction as her old one, but was just across the hall.  The visitors log was opened and Ram could see no one but me had signed in to visit her but copies of the log were made.  Ram said he would have someone call and check with each visitor to see if whoever had visited my mom could've signed in to see another patient.

My boyfriend even came with me and I introduced him to my mother.  It was unfortunate that she didn't know me and had no clue who Ram actually was and wouldn't probably ever know who he was. 

But I did. 

I knew I had introduced two of my heart's very own people.  Even if one of them wouldn't ever know or remember.

We were outside by my car, arms around each other with our lips pressing softly while my tears poured softly, silently when we heard Agent Grant pull in next to us.

"God damn it, Patel!" I heard the Matrix agent yell.  "Get your God damn hands off her immediately!"

Ram slowly disengaged his lips from mine and raised his head slightly.

"No," was all my gorgeous boyfriend said.

"I said get your hands off her, Patel."

Ram raised his head a bit more and jutted his chin in the direction of Agent Grant who was somewhere over my left shoulder.

"I'm done listening to you bad mouth her, Grant.  You've got concerns, take it up with Grantham's District Attorney.  Make some formal charges.  Otherwise, shut the fuck up."

From the stillness of Ram's body, I was thinking these two were in another pissing contest but, since they were on the job, consisted of just staring each other down.

"Christ!  I hate podunk towns…" I heard the agent grunt out before his voice moved out of the range of my hearing.

*.*.*.*.*

Ram and I were just starting to discuss the logistics of being together when my cell rang with the standard ring tone.  The display said 'unknown caller'.

I looked at Ram and he nodded.

"Hello?"

"Marianne?  Where are you?"

"Hi, Steve.  At Mom's nursing home, why?"

"I need to see you.  Can you meet me at your house at eight?"

"Tonight?"

"Yeah, babe.  Tonight.  Can you meet me or not?"

"Sure.  I guess.  Any reason for the visit?"

"Stop fucking with me, Marianne," Steve said with a tone I'd never heard from him.

"I'll be there at eight, Steve.  No worries," I tried to assure him while bugging my eyes at Ram who had gone completely still.

 Steve disconnected without further words.

 I raised my eyes to Ram, who just nodded before looking away.

"I'll follow you,
Pyari
, and park around the corner," was all my Police Chief man said.

Chapter Thirty Two

Ram didn't want me waiting for Steve alone so he swung by his place and picked up an extra uniform and spare clothes before meeting me at my apartment.

We stayed in my bedroom which couldn't be seen from the street, cuddling and talking, laughing and reminiscing.

"Who are you fooling?" Ram asked on a chuckle.  "You would've laid back and given me your all that morning you discovered I liked Pop Tarts, too."

I narrowed my eyes and shoved my pillow against him.

"That is so not true, Ramjet Harold Patel!  You're the one who wanted to do me as soon as you saw I wore lacy nightgowns."

"Can't deny it,
Pyari
.  I was so hard for you.  I was afraid Cait and Jake were going to make me stand up and you'd see it."

"Honest to God.  How can men be so stupid?  Don't you know if we
cause
the damn hard on, we want to see it, for God's sake?  It's the times when you stupid people get hard
elsewhere
that we're not freaking interested."

He blinked his big, beautiful, brown eyes at me as he considered this.

"Is that true?" he asked.

"I don't know about other gals, but for me, yeah.  It's true," I reluctantly admitted on a sigh.

"So if you're looking sexy as hell and I get hard, then you'll get turned on if I show you?"

"Uh-huh, honey.  I would," I agreed.  "But don't you get excited seeing how you've aroused me?"

I got a whole new set of blinks with this question.

"Yes," he kind of hissed.  But I could see his brain was working overtime.

"What time is it?" he asked finally.

I glanced at the clock.

"Nine-thirty.  Do you think he's not going to show?"

"I don't know,
Pyari
."

"Do you think he made you, Ram?"

Ram's back had been against my headboard, with me scrunched up to his side when I asked the question.  And, to his credit, there was a couple of seconds between my question and his reaction.

But, there's no other way to say it, Ram lost it.

He was laughing so hard that he let go of me. 

Was laughing so hard he couldn't keep his legs still.

Was laughing so damn hard he was starting to piss me off, if you want to know the truth.

I sat.

I waited.

When he was kind of coherent, and I'm giving him props even saying he was coherent when it was evident he really wasn't, he finally spoke.

"
Made me
?  Made me, really, Marianne?"

I stayed quiet.

"How many TV police dramas do you watch,
Pyari
?"  He was wiping his eyes because he'd actually laughed until he cried.

Damn him.

"You knew what I meant, Ram," I said huffily.

He blinked at me again.

Note to self, big Kahuna of a boyfriend knows exactly how to use the big, brown eyes to get what he wants.

"I parked around the corner, MG.  I don't think he'd know I'm here with you," he said trying, and failing, to keep the laughter out of his voice.

"Okay.  But, Ram?"

"Yeah,
Pyari,
" my big Kahuna replied with a small smile before letting go with a jaw cracking yawn.

"You need to teach me the correct law enforcement terms in order to speak with you about these things.  Okay?"

"No,
Pyari
," he said sliding down onto the mattress before reaching to pull me against his side.

"No?" I asked, not even bothering to hide the chilly note in my voice.

"No.  If you can make me laugh with such a simple question, why would I ever want you to speak differently?"

Why indeed?

I smiled myself as I moved to turn out the light and entwine myself around him.

*.*.*.*.*

It wasn't until my first break and when I was grabbing an iced coffee at Buxby's that I saw that Greg called.  Had called at two-ish in the morning.

His voicemail was garbled and even though I'd listened to it more than a dozen times, I still couldn't understand what he was saying.

I called him back and actually got him on the first ring.

"I couldn’t understand you, Greggy," I began softly, my heart hurting that he had lost his mom which meant he was without parents.

"I left you a voicemail, Cuz," he said sarcastically, "to ask if you knew where she kept her medical insurance paperwork."

I thought fast and hard.

Oh, boy. 

This was going to be a bad conversation I could tell.

"I don't think she had additional insurance, Greg, beyond Medicare."

"You're fucking kidding me, right?  You're the one she talked to and depended on and she didn't even have fucking medical insurance in addition to what the government provides?" he screamed into the phone.

"How dare you, Gre…" and the call disconnected. 

The rat bastard hung up on me.

Sure, I got it. 

Greg had finally discovered exactly what I'd been trying to tell him.  His mom was broke.  Someone, somehow, had fleeced her out of everything my uncle had wanted her to have, everything she was deserving of, and now poor Greg was having to see it.

He was going to have to explain why he couldn't, wouldn't and shouldn't pay for her medical bills.

He was probably seeing it now in unrelenting black and white.

And was trying to justify it to himself as well as the other people lining up to call him.

My heart hurt for him, but there wasn't anything I could do to help.

Except send a text message with Sam McKenzie's info along with a prayer Greg would make an appointment and meet with him.

Chapter Thirty Three

"What've you got for me, boys?" Ram said as he walked through the bull pen. 

Paul and Ted were still working the credit card fraud case and had discovered Bewitchments was also taken a hit through their online sales. 

"Buying sex toys online?" Ram asked.

"Yeah, Chief.  Very lucrative business.  Had over half a million in online sales last year," Ted explained.

Ram whistled. 

"I know, right?" Paul said.

"Do you know if anyone else in town does business through the internet?"  Ram asked.

Paul and Ted looked at each other, knowing where their Chief was going with the question.

"I think Tammy, from The Bakery, does something with her cupcakes and stuff," Ted said.

"We'll check it out, Chief," Paul promised.  "But we don't really have the knowledge or resources to track this if its online."

"There's a guy up in Denver we can call if we get enough info. He's an old buddy of mine and a Goddamn whiz on the computer," Ted added.

"Sounds good.  Call me if you need me," Ram said, knowing both Ted and Paul were like Pit Bulls when it came to resolving cases.

Ram moved through the room before dropping into the chair next to Tim's desk. 

"How's it going, boys?"

Jeff was working on the computer but stopped what he was doing and came over to Tim's desk. 

"Marianne's mom was right.  The perp used a trophy to hit Mrs. Gibson but the M.E. thinks she also hit her head on some kind of table.   We were able to get a print and had it fast tracked.  We should have results pretty soon," Tim said.

"The house was torn up just like Marianne's with everything ripped to shreds and drawers upended, things like that.  We think we've got all we need from the scene and we're going to release it back to Greg," Jeff added.

"Yeah.  He gave us a list of things he needed to bury his mom and I took them to him.  Weird, though.  Greg didn't seem to be grieving as much as he was mad,"  Tim said looking at his notes.

"How's Marianne holding up, Chief?" Jeff asked.

"To tell the truth, I don't think it's really hit her fully yet," Ram replied.  "But, to be honest, with her mother talking about 'dark angels' who told her about Estella Gibson's death, Marianne understandably has a lot on her mind."

"Any chance of getting the secret agent twins off our backs?" Tim asked with a smirk.  Jeff shook his head remembering how Agent Grant had yelled and screamed at the detectives when he learned of the break in at Mrs. Gibson's house. 

"You think you've got it bad?  Agent asshat has even tried to advise me about my love life!" Ram said with his own smirk.

All three of the men shook their heads in frustration.  They'd never had Federal involvement before and for some reason they'd thought the people working for the federal government would be smoother, more unemotional and provide help in resolving the crimes.