Wicked Warning (An Ivy Morgan Mystery Book 5) (12 page)

“And that’s why you’ll eventually get everything you’ve ever wanted,” Felicity said, squeezing her hand. “Now, who wants cookies?”

Ivy’s hand shot up in the air.

“That’s good,” Felicity said. “I just happened to bake a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies this morning and they’re cooling on the counter upstairs. Why don’t you get them while I give Jessica a little tour.”

Ivy darted a look in Jessica’s direction, unsure. “Are you okay with that?”

Jessica bobbed her head up and down. “I want to see everything here,” she said. “This is my first day of freedom, after all. I should see everything, right?”

Ivy smiled. “Absolutely.”

“
I
love your aunt
.”

Ivy cast one more wave to Felicity through her aunt’s shop window before turning her full attention to Jessica. “She’s a good woman,” she said. “I was a little worried you would feel smothered, but … you didn’t seem interested in putting too much distance between yourselves, so I’m calling that a win.”

“I didn’t feel smothered,” Jessica said. “It was … amazing … to be out of that hospital room. I need to get out of there more often.”

“Jack says they’re worried about letting you go because the reporters and television vans are camped out on your front lawn so it would be an oppressive environment,” Ivy explained. “I know it’s not what you want to hear, but the police can legally keep the press out of the hospital, but the press could make you a virtual prisoner in your home if we’re not careful.”

“I don’t want to stay there any longer, though,” Jessica argued. “I want to spend time outside. Do you know how long it’s been since I could feel wind on my face? Or feel the sun beating down on my arm?”

Ivy’s heart went out to the young woman. “I’ll figure something out,” she said. “We’ll make sure you get to spend some time outside every day. I promise.”

“How can you promise that?” Jessica challenged. “The police made it clear they want me to hide in the hospital until all of this passes. They’re not going to allow me to wander around outside.”

“Yes, but I have certain … ways … of persuading Jack into doing what I want,” Ivy replied. “It will work out. Trust me.”

“Are you going to cry until he does what you want?”

The question was simple, something a teenager would ask. It caught Ivy off guard, though. “I’m not going to cry,” she said finally. “I’m just going to fight with him to get what I want. He doesn’t like it when we fight – quite frankly, I don’t either – and he always gives in. Well, I guess it’s fair to say that sometimes he doesn’t like it when we fight. He likes it when we argue as long as it’s not a big deal. When it’s a big deal, though, he always gives in.”

“Does he ever … you know … hit you?” Jessica averted her gaze when she asked the question, fixing her attention on something only she could see across the road.

“No,” Ivy said, slowing her pace. “Jack would never hit me.”

“But … he’s big,” Jessica pointed out. “He has a temper. I heard you say something about fighting with him. He has to hit you.”

“Jessica, real men don’t hit women,” Ivy said. “Real men don’t hit children. Heck, I would say real men don’t hit anyone, but that’s not entirely true because all of that crazy testosterone makes them hit other men sometimes. They can’t seem to help it.

“I like to think I only surround myself with enlightened men, but that’s not the case,” she continued. “Jack and my brother Max almost came to blows a few times. It was usually for my honor – which is kind of weird when you think about it – but I consider them both real men and they would never hurt a woman or child. They would, however, beat the tar out of each other and then have a beer ten minutes later and forget about it.”

“I’m not sure that’s normal, though,” Jessica said. “I think a lot of men hit because they can.”

Ivy narrowed her eyes. “Did your father hit you when you were younger?”

Jessica shook her head. “He yelled sometimes, though. That’s why I stopped to eat the licorice before going home. I didn’t want him to yell.”

“Parents yell,” Ivy supplied. “That’s what they do. They don’t do it out of malice. They do it because they want to make sure their children understand about dangerous behavior. You dad didn’t want you to eat candy before dinner because it was unhealthy. The alternative – I mean, what happened because of that – is something that will haunt him forever.”

“He keeps apologizing,” Jessica said. “I don’t know what to say to him. The truth is … .” She broke off, as if the words were too terrible to say out loud.

“The truth is that part of you blames him for what happened to you,” Ivy finished. “I get that. I think your father does, too.”

“It’s ridiculous,” Jessica sputtered. “He didn’t hurt me. He didn’t take me. He told me not to eat candy.”

“I also saw his face when you told Jack and Brian that your first instinct when someone grabbed you from behind was to think it was your father coming to punish you for eating the candy when you weren’t supposed to do it. That almost gutted him.”

“I don’t want to hurt my dad,” Jessica said. “I don’t blame him. Not really, I mean. I don’t know who to blame.”

“The only person to blame is the man who took you,” Ivy said, extending her hand and pointing toward the ice cream shop about a block away. “Let’s get a treat before heading back to town.”

“Is this where you push me to tell you who took me even though I don’t know who it was?” Jessica asked, suspicious.

“Nope.” Ivy shook her head. “This is where I let you pick out whatever ice cream you want and then we take a leisurely drive back home.”

Jessica pressed her lips together, uncertain. “How come you’re not yelling at me and trying to get me to remember?”

“Because I figure you’ll remember when you’re ready,” Ivy replied. “I … .” She broke off when she caught sight of movement out of the corner of her eye. She shifted her gaze toward the glass window in front of a funeral parlor, frowning when she saw a man hurrying across the street and heading toward Jessica. He had a determined look on his face, and Jessica was oblivious.

Ivy didn’t have a lot of time to make out features and she had even less time to consider what to do. She watched the man approach for what felt like forever, and when he extended his hands and reached for Jessica’s shoulders Ivy did the only thing she could think of: She swiveled quickly and extended her wrist like Max taught her when they were teenagers so she wouldn’t hurt herself when she slammed her fist into the stranger’s face.

“Holy crap!” The man howled as he cupped his bleeding nose. “You … bitch!”

Ivy couldn’t afford to make a mistake. Jessica pressed herself against the building, fear coursing through her given Ivy’s reaction. Ivy couldn’t let the girl get hurt on her watch. Instead, she focused on the man – well, teenager, to be more exact – and acted as prudently as possible.

“I’m really sorry for this, but … better safe than sorry,” Ivy said, lifting her leg and slamming it into the guy’s knee, causing him to buckle. “If I’m wrong about this, I’ll make it up to you. If I’m right, well, you’ve got it coming.”

Ivy lifted her leg one more time and then slammed it into the man’s unprotected groin, earning an unearthly scream for the effort when he fell to the pavement and cupped himself.

“Who is that?” Jessica asked, her fear evident.

Ivy shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

“What do we do now?”

“Call the police.” Ivy was resigned as she reached into her purse for her phone. “Jack is going to be really ticked off.”

“
W
HERE
is she
?”

Jack pushed his way through the small gathering of police officers a half hour later, giving little heed that he was out of his jurisdiction and risking hurt feelings and anger for his actions. He pulled up short when he saw Ivy sitting in the middle of the congregated law enforcement representatives, what looked to be a teenaged boy pressed to the pavement beneath her as she held his arm behind his back and kept him pinned to the ground.

“Are you Jack Harker?”

“Huh?” Jack had a hard time dragging his eyes away from Ivy and focusing on the police officer approaching him.

“Are you Detective Jack Harker?” the officer repeated.

Jack nodded. “I don’t understand what’s going on here.”

“That makes two of us, sir,” the officer replied. “I’m Sergeant Steven Sebastian. I was called to the scene because a passing motorist claimed a woman with pink hair was beating up a teenager.”

“Uh-huh.” Jack shifted his eyes back to Ivy and the look she shot him was conciliatory – and worried. “What seems to be the problem?”

Sebastian’s eyebrows flew up his forehead. “Well, sir, we believe that’s a minor.” He pointed toward the boy on the pavement, who wasn’t even bothering to struggle. “The woman on top of him is not and she refused to get off him until we called you.

“We’ve tried reasoning with her,” he continued. “She insisted the only way she would get off him was if we got you out here. We could’ve taken her forcibly, but we were worried that would agitate the other problem.”

Jack was almost afraid to ask. “What other problem?”

The police officer pointed toward the alcove by the front door of a small store and when Jack narrowed his eyes to stare into the shadows he realized he was looking at Jessica – and she was shaking as she hid her face and cowered as close to the wall as possible.

“I see,” Jack said. “Okay, stand back. I’ve got this.”

“You’ve got this?” Sebastian obviously wasn’t convinced. “That woman is crazy.”

Jack couldn’t help but smile. “She is,” he agreed. “She’s also the most amazing person I’ve ever met. It will be fine. Just … give me a second.”

Jack kept his hands up as he moved closer to Ivy, his expression unreadable. “Hello, Ms. Morgan. How are you this fine day?”

“I guess it’s bad if you’re calling me by my last name, huh?” Ivy bit the inside of her cheek. “This really wasn’t my fault, Jack. We were going for ice cream and I saw him approach us because of his reflection in the window and … I’m not apologizing. I did what I thought was best.”

Her quick conversational shift caused Jack to chuckle. “I’m not angry,” he said. “Anything that keeps you safe is a good thing. I’m here now, though, and I need you to get off of him.”

“But … I haven’t questioned him yet,” Ivy protested.

“I’m going to question him,” Jack countered. “I’m the police officer.”

“I believe I’m going to question him,” Sebastian clarified. “This is my jurisdiction, after all. Detective Harker is merely here as a courtesy.”

Jack refused to rise to the bait. “We’re going to question him,” he said. “You need to take care of Jessica.”

Ivy glanced over her shoulder, her eyes cloudy. “Yeah, I didn’t do a very good job of taking care of her, did I?”

“I think you did a fine job,” Jack said, stepping forward and grabbing her hand to help her up. “She needs you to take care of her now, though. All of these men are making her uncomfortable.”

Ivy shot one more dubious expression at the teenager. “Are you going to rough him up for me?”

“I’ll consider it,” Jack replied, grinning. “Now … take care of Jessica.”

Jack shifted his dark eyes to the boy on the pavement as Ivy scurried in Jessica’s direction. He was having a hard time hiding his smile. If he didn’t think the Bellaire police force would balk, he would’ve snapped a photograph of Ivy on top of her prey before releasing the teenager. That was probably bad form in front of officers he didn’t know, though.

“Get up,” Jack ordered.

The boy remained prone on the ground and Jack couldn’t see his face. “Is she gone?”

“Yes, the terrifying woman is gone,” Jack said. “Get up. I want to talk to you.”

The teenager made a big show of pushing himself to his feet and dusting off his jeans and T-shirt. He spent thirty seconds putting every blond hair in place and his expression was murderous when he glared in Ivy’s direction. Jack briefly worried he would go after Ivy, who was busy murmuring soothing words to Jessica in an attempt to calm her, so he snapped his fingers in the kid’s face to get his attention.

“Don’t even think about going after her,” Jack warned, his voice low and menacing. “You won’t like what happens if you do.”

“She’s crazy,” the boy hissed. “She attacked me out of nowhere.”

“She says you approached her,” Jack argued. “Did you?”

“I … .” The boy looked caught and Sebastian and Jack exchanged a knowing look.

“What’s your name?” Sebastian asked.

“It doesn’t matter.” The boy crossed his arms over his chest and glanced down the street.

“It matters to me,” Jack said. “What is your name?”

“None of your business.”

Jack tamped down the overwhelming urge to grab the boy around the neck and shake him. “You’re either going to tell me your name or this police officer is going to take you into custody,” he said. “Those are your two options.”

“Wait a second,” Sebastian protested. “What makes you think I’m going to take him into custody?”

Jack leaned closer to Sebastian, his eyes defiant. “Because that girl is Jessica Stamper,” he said, making sure only Sebastian could hear him. “She’s been missing for years and we still don’t know who had her. She’s big news … and she’s traumatized.

“She came over here to get some space,” he continued. “She doesn’t trust men and is frightened around them … for obvious reasons. If that boy was approaching Ivy and Jessica – and it’s obvious he was – he might know who kidnapped her.”

“Holy crap,” Sebastian intoned, his eyes darting toward Jessica. “I guess that explains her reaction. The crazy chick kept trying to calm her down while she sat on the kid but … I didn’t get it.”

“That crazy chick happens to be my girlfriend, so I would watch yourself,” Jack said, running his tongue over his teeth as he turned his attention back to the teenager. “What is your name?”

“Answer him,” Sebastian prodded. “If you don’t we’ll take you into custody and put you in a cell. Then you’ll be stuck there until you tell us who you are.”

The boy let loose with a low growl. “Fine. I’m Douglas Dorsey.”

Jack knit his eyebrows together. “Dorsey?” He glanced at Ivy for an explanation.

Ivy was intrigued as she stepped forward, keeping an arm around Jessica’s shoulders as she locked gazes with Jack. “He’s Dan Dorsey’s son,” she supplied. “Dan knocked up a girl in high school. He was older than me. He was a little older than Max, too, but I think they were in high school for about a year together. Dan and the girl never got married or anything. I believe the mother moved over here not long after the baby was born. It was big news because … well … all gossip in Shadow Lake is big news. Dan never did anything for the kid. I forgot about him until just now.”