Chapter 10

Pearl curled up in bed and stared out the window, wondering if she could sleep, what with the memory of her trip out the window and into the tree still very vivid. She knew she had an emergency exit now, and that was both a blessing and a curse because, if she could get out that way, it also meant that somebody else could get in the same way. That was something she didn't want to contemplate. Yet how could she not, knowing that route was available?

Finally she picked up her phone and texted Gideon. Does this window lock?

He answered immediately. Of course.

When a knock came on her door, she called out, "Come in."

He poked his head in and asked, "You can't sleep?"

"It's foolish, but, because I got out onto that ledge, I keep worrying that somebody else can come in."

He nodded. "Sorry, I should have shown you this earlier. I have a special lock on this window." He moved her to the window and pointed out the lock to her, showing her how it couldn't be opened from the outside.

She smiled as she looked at it. "Yeah, I would have been asleep hours ago if I had known that."

"My bad," he muttered, with the abashed tone of a little boy.

She burst out laughing. "It's all good. I'm happy to know it now." Climbing back into bed, she asked, "How's your work going?"

He shrugged. "Nothing to jump for joy about," he replied, with a crooked smile. "No leads so far, but I did track the intruder's getaway vehicle on the street cams—stolen of course—where he and the driver went a little farther from here to an outdoor parking lot. Then they stole another vehicle. I traced that vehicle, which sat in another outdoor parking lot. For about ninety minutes, a big rig truck was parked beside their vehicle, blocking the street cam. When that truck finally moved on, and we got a camera view back again, one person was in the getaway vehicle, but it's the dead man, our intruder. That's where he was found by a passerby, and, once he was moved to the morgue, our John Doe searches kicked in," he explained. "Of course the driver is unknown at this point and probably dead as well."

She sucked in her breath, then nodded. "They didn't leave much to chance, did they?"

"No, and I think luck has been on their side right from the beginning, like that semi truck," he shared. "Otherwise I could have seen a lot more of what happened, when he was killed."

"Did I hear you say something about a single bullet to the head?"

He nodded. "That's exactly what it was."

"So, execution style, as they say."

He nodded again. "In this case, tying up loose threads."

She winced. " Nice ."

"Yeah, not so nice," he agreed, with a smile in her direction. "When you think about it, this stuff shouldn't be happening, but it still does and not just here. I've seen it with guys like these pretty much everywhere."

"I'm sure you're right," she murmured. "Still, with all the things that can go wrong in your world, it doesn't usually involve this stuff, does it?"

"You would hope not. We don't want to be involved in things like this," he noted. "We would like to think something was peaceful and joyous about life. Yet, in the world I work in, we're always after people on the negative side of life."

"Do you find that it taints you?" she asked, staring at him. "Like your view of life? Or are you still able to put it away and see something different?"

"I thought I was putting it away, but I did have a period where I got a little bitter, a little less open to that more positive outlook," he admitted.

She winced. "That was because of me, wasn't it?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it probably was, but I moved past it eventually." He gave her a smile. "I reverted back to my usual personality," he said, with a laugh, "but not before a few people had pointed it out."

"Sorry," she murmured.

"Don't be. Sometimes you need to understand pain in order to truly understand joy." She sighed and he nodded. "Everybody is always talking about having a perfect life.… When there's so much perfection and ease around, you can forget what other people go through at times. So seeing and feeling the bad side once in a while can make you a better person."

"It's made you a better person, for sure, but you already had a pretty good outlook, especially considering the work that you do."

He burst out laughing at that and then walked back to her bedroom door. "Now get some sleep."

"Will you be staying here all night, or are you leaving? Just tell me the truth. I can handle it," she said, narrowing her gaze. Then she took a moment and added, "But waking up and finding you're not here when I expect you to be, that will be much harder."

"I'm planning on staying, yes," he replied, "and I haven't heard anything different from my team. But remember that things like this can pivot on a dime. Sorry. I'm not used to worrying about other people being in the house."

"And you don't have to worry about me either," she stated firmly.

"Are you not nervous?" he asked.

"Betty, and two intruders, and escaping your house via the second floor aren't exactly the most wonderful events in my life," she said, "but I won't let all that ruin everything. I got away, and you caught your intruder, so it's a done deal."

"I didn't catch him," he pointed out.

"Fine, he got discarded. Human refuse . Wasn't that what Betty called me?"

He winced at that. "She's mentally sick. She needs some serious help."

"Still such a strange thing to consider. We all have our flaws and all that, but she was extreme."

"Are you sure you're okay? You've had some intense days."

She laughed. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine." As he stared at her, it was obvious that he was still worrying. She shook her head and waved at him. "Go on and get back to work. If you need to leave, just send me a text."

She waited until he walked out of the room and shut her door, then exhaled and relaxed because everything she had just told him was a pack of lies. How do you deal with an intruder one minute, then turn around the next and completely ignore it? It would take her a bit to get comfortable again, since both homes she'd recently spent time in had been compromised. She would get there. No way she wouldn't… because she had to.

Life would not dictate any more of these things in her world. She would do everything she could to maintain her independence and to not let something like this beat her.

The fact of the matter was, Gideon did have upgraded security here, and this was a topnotch house. So she appreciated everything he'd done to make it the home he'd always wanted. She would not ruin that for him, or for herself.

*

Just as Gideon got settled in bed, hoping for a bit of quality sleep, Jasper phoned. "What's going on?" Gideon asked, yawning.

"Now an attempt was made on Mason's room tonight."

Gideon froze. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, so we've doubled up the guards once again. God knows we have enough volunteers to do that for years, without using any man twice. Dane was on shift at the time. He gave chase but didn't want to leave Tesla alone, just in case it was a setup. He gave us a bare description which wasn't terribly helpful, but we're viewing the hospital cameras now. This is just a heads-up that we're still under the gun and that everybody is figuring out what the hell they can do to help because, well,… it's Mason."

"No, I get it." Gideon stretched out on the bed. "So, what happened?"

"Somebody dressed up as a doctor came in to check up on Mason. Tesla was sleeping at the time, and Dane was standing outside, talking on the phone with the ER nurse about the upcoming schedule for Mason, when Dane noted that the doctor went straight into Mason's room. Dane didn't even hang up, as he raced inside to see the doctor casually preparing to inject something into Mason's IV line. He grabbed the doctor's hand, catching him by surprise. I am sending you the transcript of the report Dane made."

Gideon went straight to his computer, with Jasper still on the line, and opened the report. He skipped right to the statement made by Dane, since Gideon had gotten the basics from Jasper.

Doctor: I heard a guard had been posted, but I didn't realize it was this bad.

Dane: It is this bad, and you won't be administering anything to him.

Doctor: Why not?

Dane: His snooty tone triggered my suspicion of him. I immediately disliked him, distrusted him, and, while he was standing there, I called to a passing nurse. The nurse stepped in and asked, What's the problem? I pointed to the doctor. She took one look at him, shook her head, and asked, Who are you? He immediately muscled in, trying to get to Mason, and I blocked him. When he failed to get past me, he ran, tossing the nurse to the ground as he booked it. I gave chase but didn't want to leave Tesla and Mason alone, in case a second person was involved.

"Jeez, so they know where Mason is, and they know Tesla is there, and they don't care?"

"Exactly," Jasper replied.

"So now what?" Gideon rubbed his forehead. "We still don't have a reason why a sniper shot Mason, much less any workable suspects. We still don't have any idea who we're dealing with."

Jasper continued. "Exactly, and that's the bigger issue. We've got six of Mason's team sorting through files, some that they were players in, ones that others might have had something to do with. We hope to see if anything triggers memories as to a revenge killing of Mason. Right now, they've got about six cases currently flagged as possibles to be looked at, and we're doing deeper reviews on those now," Jasper explained. "But, as I'm sure you realize, Mason was involved in hundreds of cases."

"I'll grab some sleep, and then I'll take a look at those six, go deep into those myself. Do we have any idea why they were flagged?"

"Fatalities, fatalities of people with families, and one case where somebody was convicted, but he still maintains his innocence and blames Mason for the conviction."

"Why does he blame Mason?"

"Mason has notes in the file saying that the gunman was caught red-handed firing on women and children. It was considered open-and-shut."

"So why blame Mason?"

"Mason is the one who stopped him from completing what he considered his mission, which was to take out everybody in a specific family," Jasper shared. "And, because of that, he blames Mason and says that it's all Mason's fault, not his."

" Great , more psychopaths."

"When you do something like that, definitely mental instability is a factor."

"Speaking of which," Gideon added, with an odd tone, "Betty was seen by one of the psychologists here in town. Per the doctor's report, she's likely to be deemed unfit to participate in her defense, so unlikely to stand trial for anything she's done."

" Wonderful , so, in other words, Betty gets away with it all."

"Won't she be institutionalized instead? Regardless, if she gets away with it, I would agree with you. But honestly, I'm not sure she's there enough to even know that she's getting away with anything," he replied.

"I hear you," Jasper noted. "It's just frustrating. You want to see justice, but then, in Betty's case, you're not even sure what justice looks like. Apparently you became some image in her mind that she thought would be perfect for her. She did talk about you to this psychologist, saying that, as far as she was concerned, you guys were perfect together. She just needed to create an opportunity, the perfect opportunity so you could understand that."

"Even though I met her for five seconds just once?"

"Even though," Jasper murmured.

" Great , that just makes me not want to talk to people,… not even for five seconds."

"I get that too," Jasper agreed, with a note of humor in his tone. "More than that, if Betty is released, you need to keep that lady friend of yours safe. According to all the interviews done at her office, Pearl always held herself in very good stead. Her behavior was always exemplary, even in the face of Betty's harassment."

"That's Pearl, and I would expect nothing else. That's pretty much how she treats the whole world too."

"So, you won't let her get away this time, will you?"

"I didn't exactly let her get away last time," Gideon muttered in frustration. "However, once my trust is broken, that's a whole different story."

"Maybe, but, if you understand why she did it and what she was after, it should make it a little easier."

"Still doesn't make it perfect, though."

"So, does that mean you'll let her go?"

"I didn't say that," Gideon snapped in frustration.

Jasper burst out laughing. "I already know you won't let her go. I'm just wondering how long you'll make her pay for it."

"I'm not making her pay for anything," he protested.

"Oh, I think you are,… even if it's subconscious. She hurt you, and you would like very much for her to feel that pain."

"No," he argued. "That's not how I feel about her at all. That's not our relationship."

"No, it probably isn't, but subconsciously I'm not sure you're quite ready to let those past hurts go either." And, with that, Jasper disconnected.