Chapter 12

Amber made coffee and sat at the kitchen table, while Jasper worked on the laptop in front of her. She didn't disturb him, but she was dying to know if he had found anything.

Finally he whispered, "Gotcha," and gave her a feral grin.

"Got what?" she asked, staring at him intently. "Did you find him? What could you possibly find since he was right in the backyard?"

"Exactly," he said, a knowing smile on his face, "and he was dumped there on purpose, not killed onsite. And… I found the vehicle that dumped him."

She got up and came around to his side of the table. She was surprised at how quickly she was able to move and realized, when she wasn't focused on it, the unhindered movement came naturally. As soon as she got around, she took a look at the vehicle and nodded. "Now, that's interesting."

"What's interesting?"

"I almost feel like…"

"What?" he asked.

"I'm thinking that might be the same vehicle that ran me down."

He nodded. "They do look similar, don't they?"

"They do," she agreed, with a confused expression, "but I didn't see the license plate."

He pulled out his notepad and stated, "It is a similar-looking car but a different license plate." He did a quick search and then gave out a whoop. "The license plate is for an SUV, not a small car."

"They have different plates?"

"Yes, every vehicle type has a different plate sequence," he explained, "so this could definitely be the one that ran you down."

"I was thinking they weren't trying to kill me back then. If the hit was intentional, maybe they just wanted to intimidate me."

"Agreed, but, with the subsequent apartment fire, they might have changed their minds by now," he murmured. "This is past warnings for them. They're tying up loose ends, more as a lesson, I think… for you."

"What? So, by doing that"—she pointed to the screen where the dead guy was still displayed—"they're telling me not to talk?" This all was too alien for her. "They ran me down with a car, burned down my apartment, and now they've killed somebody I filmed in the hospital?" she summed up. "What else do they think they can do now?"

"They can kill you," he declared, turning to look at her, "and that's what all this is leading up to. It's a direct threat against your life, but rest assured. They didn't kill their associate because of you or as a lesson to you, but because they would take him out anyway. They used it as a teaching point. These people kill everyone involved, so no one leads back to them."

She groaned. "God, these people are barbaric." She wrapped her arms around her chest, as she sat once more, now huddled on the opposite side of the kitchen table. She stared at him. "Might be a good time for me to take a long holiday."

"It would be," he agreed, yet giving her a headshake, "but I have no doubt that they have great ways to monitor airports—as they did for the shooting of Mason. Therefore, if you decide to fly out, they could track you to wherever it is you're going."

Her heart sank. "Seriously? Why do they even care about me?"

"They probably want the video."

Her breath instantly whooshed from her chest. "So that's it? It is about the video? Crap, I wasn't even filming him, the dead guy.… I was worried about the other two guys."

"So, yeah, I would imagine that's what it's all about," he noted, looking up at her. "However, in our digital world, surely they know that copies exist. You gave it to me. I shared it with Tesla and Morgan and others."

"Right, I did immediately share it with you."

Jasper shook his head. "I keep coming back to how the video has something important on it. Something these bad guys really don't want shared. Yet you seem to be the key factor here, no matter who else has seen that video. Maybe you saw something that didn't make it on the video? Of course you won't know that it's important to Mason's case, which will make finding it that much harder."

Amber sighed. "I've reviewed the tape over and over. I just don't see anything."

"Yeah, but you're looking from the mind of a rational nurse interested in healing people, not from the mind of criminal, trying to cover up more crimes. Is it still on your phone?"

She nodded.

"Then get rid of it," he ordered, making a quick decision. "We have copies, so you don't need it on your phone."

She pulled out her phone and frowned. "I can't tell them that I deleted it, and they won't give a crap anyway, since I could have sent copies all over." Then she gasped. "They can't allow me to live. I'm another loose end to tie up. They'll take me down regardless," she shared bitterly. "You think that too, don't you?"

"I don't have a whole lot of choice but to consider that," he murmured, not liking that she had put this together so fast, "but I won't lie to you. Clearly they're not playing games now," he shared, as he looked out toward his backyard. "It's gone well past that point. That's why we've got to find them and lock them up."

"In the meantime, I'm a target. Great," she muttered. "So now what?"

"Now we'll dissect the dead guy's life, figure out who these other people are who are still threatening you, how they discovered you, and how they connect to Mason."

"Oh." She stopped and frowned, as he mentioned Mason's name. "It's connected to Mason?"

"It's got to be connected in some way. I just don't know to what extent. It's possible this guy they killed was a random factor, and they hired him, maybe a local, just to get the information they needed about Mason's condition."

"Good Lord, so in that case he probably died for what, one hundred bucks?"

"Unfortunately it's all too possible. And, if so, then he may have seen you enter Mason's hospital room more than the other nurses, maybe even saw you conversing with Tesla."

"Crap," she muttered, as she got up and began to pace the room. "Okay, in that case, I need food first. Then I need to do something different to distract myself, like have a hot bubble bath, where I don't have to think about how people in this world can be so shitty."

"Food. Damn it. I was supposed to pick up food and deliver it to you and Tesla."

"It doesn't matter," she murmured. "I can just have some toast or something."

"No, I'll go get food anyway." When she shivered—from worry, not cold—he shook his head. "You'll be fine, but, if you want, I can call Morgan back to stay with you."

"No, I would rather be alone."

"I'm sorry," he muttered. "I don't want you to be afraid of being here."

"I would prefer to stay alone. I would feel safer that way. At least then I don't have to worry about being taken out by a member of your team, one you don't even trust," she muttered.

"I won't be long." He swore under his breath. "Can't believe I forgot it."

"It's fine, and it's hardly important."

He shrugged. "I can order in."

She stared up at him. "I'm not that hungry that I can't wait."

"It doesn't matter." He shook his head. "I'll take care of it." He stepped away and quickly made a couple phone calls and smiled. "I'm sending a delivery to Tesla too."

"Do you trust the delivery people?"

Jasper snorted. "Yes. They are my own people. I still need to step outside."

Yet he hesitated still, and she waved her hand at him. "With all that crew outside, no way anybody will try to enter the house." She sighed. "I'm fine. Just go."

He leaned over, gave her a hard kiss on the lips, and took a step back to see her face flushed. "Fine." And then he was gone.

She touched her lips, wondering why that had happened. How had they gone from a causal relationship to something that required a goodbye kiss?

And yet she welcomed it. She welcomed the emotions, the feelings, the realization that maybe something in life was worth living for after all this, because right now she was feeling put upon, and that just made her feel even worse. To think that poor man died because of her just broke her heart, and the last thing she wanted was to have that memory go away.

She needed to remember that whatever this was, she was playing for keeps, and she didn't dare make a mistake and end up being one of the casualties, just like the man in the alleyway had.

*

Jasper stood outside,just out of Amber's sight, enough that she wouldn't know whether he was here or not. He did want to survey the activity out here on his property but didn't want her to worry. He also had no intention of leaving her alone to get food. He had called on others he trusted to do that job, and, sure enough, it wasn't but minutes later when a vehicle pulled up, and Evan stepped out, a grin on his face.

He handed him several large bags as he approached him. "All yours."

"What about Tesla?"

"That's my next stop," he replied, with a smile. "I haven't had confirmation of it, but I did hear from somebody that the doctors were cautiously optimistic about Mason. Did you hear the same thing?"

Jasper shook his head. "No, I haven't heard that at all."

Evan's face fell. "Damn, I was hoping that you would give me a high five and say he was awake and doing fine."

"Can't do that yet," Jasper noted, "but, like you, I'm hoping that's the next step."

"Yeah, damn. Okay, I'll head over and talk to Tesla now, and I know.… I'll try not to upset her."

Jasper smiled. "She's gold, that girl," Jasper murmured, "no upsetting allowed."

Evan just rolled his eyes and was gone quickly.

Jasper walked back into the house and saw no sign of Amber. He knew that she was looking at having a bath and maybe that's where she'd gone. He frowned, pulled out his phone, and called her. When she answered, she seemed dazed for a minute there. "Hey, I'm downstairs with food."

"That was fast," she replied delightedly.

"Did you get into a bath?"

"No, I was just lying down."

"Good. Stay there, and I'll come up."

"No, you don't have to," she protested. "I can come down."

"Be quiet and let me make this easier on you," he said amiably.

And, with that, he hung up, stepped into the kitchen, and grabbed plates, napkins, and forks, and headed upstairs. When he got to her room, he knocked, then opened the door. "Don't get up. Just stay where you are and relax."

He walked over, put everything down on the floor and snagged one of the small bedside tables, clearing the items on top, and brought it over to use as a temporary table.

"We'll eat in bed?" she asked.

He looked up, flashed a wicked grin in her direction, and said, "Sounds good to me. It's not the usual dinner and a date that I begin a relationship with, but it works."

She rolled her eyes at that. "You would jump at the chance, if I took you up on it."

"What makes you think that?" he asked in astonishment.

"It must have been a long time for you."

He laughed. "Hey, no derogatory remarks, please," he teased. "That's not allowed."

"But teasing is okay," she noted, with a quirk of a smile. "I have to admit that it's been a little while since I had a long-term relationship."

"Me too," he admitted, "but that doesn't mean we have to wait and put in a certain amount of time in pain and suffering before starting a new one."

"No, of course not," she agreed.

"Good, so in that case, consider this an open invitation for us to get to know each other better."

She smiled. "You do move quickly."

"No, not quickly enough," he argued. "You slept under my roof last night, and I didn't make a move at all. You might have noticed that." When she stared at him, he laughed. "Just teasing."

"No, you're not," she muttered. She scooted over to sit before the makeshift table in front of her. "Wow, what is all this?"

"Chinese. Wasn't sure what you wanted, so I got a selection." When she stared at him, he shrugged. "It seemed like the easiest thing to do."

"Thanks, but you know it's not that necessary."

"Besides, it's fun. So let me just spoil you." He opened the bags and, sure enough, removed loads of food. He pulled out several Chinese dishes and put them on the table. "I wasn't sure what you wanted, so I ordered some vegetables, some with almonds, chicken, plus noodles and rice," he shared, putting each container on the table, one by one. "I hope you like something here."

"That makes sense if you're talking strictly Chinese," she said. "I was afraid that you'd ordered Italian, Chinese, burgers, and whatever else."

"No, not at all." He smiled at her.

"But this should give us enough leftovers that we won't have to worry about food for another day or two. Good Lord, it should be enough for half a dozen people," she noted.

He smiled broadly, when her eyes widened as she looked around at all the dishes. He handed her a pair of chopsticks. "You get to start first."

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"So I can finish it up," he stated, with a chuckle.

"You can't seriously eat all this. No way."

He shrugged. "Hey, I'm a big guy, and I'm hungry, so you better take the offer while you can."

He watched while she opened several of the containers and served herself a decent portion. He nodded approvingly. "I do like a woman who can eat."

She laughed. "I do like my groceries," she murmured, "but I hadn't considered that was something I should be even thinking about."

"You shouldn't," he said. "That's my job, and groceries are important, particularly right now." He kept his tone jovial and calm, hoping that she wouldn't feel the need to ask any questions about what was going on outside. He held a faint hope; she was a nurse after all. She had certainly seen more-than-enough trauma in her life to recognize that some definite issues existed outside.

After she'd eaten about half of the food on her plate, she set down her fork and sighed. "That's a good start."

He laughed. "Yeah, especially for somebody who thought I brought way-too-much food."

"You did, but I do love leftovers," she noted. "Right now, I'm wondering when you'll tell me about what's going on outside."

"You already know," he murmured.

"I know that the forensics people will be there," she added. "I can't believe that nothing is happening in terms of solving this."

He stared at her in astonishment. "Just because we don't have definitive results or a culprit in handcuffs, don't think that nothing's happening. We're all working to track down the man who dropped off our dead body, checking all the city cameras, checking all known associates, running facial recognition, everything that can be done. We're doing all that, but some of it can take quite a bit of time to assimilate." He noted her bottom lip wobbled and then suddenly firmed, and he understood. "This isn't so much about not getting answers. It's more about the fact that this man died and that you still feel guilty."

She sniffled and nodded. "Once a little time and distance has passed, I probably won't feel the same way, but, for the moment, it's very hard to see this as anything other than my fault."

He stared at her, wondering how to convince her otherwise.

She looked over at him. "I know we've hashed it out a couple times and that, as far as you're concerned, if anybody is at fault, it's you. However, I don't see it that way, and, until this is over, it feels so very wrong."

"It is very wrong," he confirmed. "It's all very wrong, and I understand that the guilt is eating away at you, particularly the way they did it."

"And that's another thing," she pointed out. "They targeted me."

He sat back and nodded. "Yes. The way they dropped off the body was also a dig, almost a message to say, Hey, you think you're hidden, but you're not, you know? And of course, they emailed you the photo." She sucked in a breath and stared at him, and he nodded. "Just in case you hadn't seen that aspect too."

"Honestly I hadn't," she acknowledged and then stared around the room. "Are you sure we're safe here?"

"We're safe," he confirmed. "I'm not exactly sure what their next move will be or why they felt the need to do this, but a warning for you is a warning for me. It's another reason I won't be leaving you."

Then she looked at the Chinese food and back at him, nodding. "Right. Your special delivery by your own men, whom you trust."

He nodded. "Yeah, I have plenty of people running around, helping me," he explained. "So it wasn't an issue to get somebody to pick up food for us. I had food delivered to Tesla as well." He smiled, as she relaxed. Something about getting food was okay, as long as for other people, not just for her. "You have trouble accepting help, don't you?"

She blinked at the sudden change in conversation, and then she slowly nodded. "Maybe."

He reached into a container and pulled out another egg roll and put it on her plate. "No maybe about it." She glared at him, and he shrugged. "Be honest. You help others, but you have trouble accepting help."

"Maybe," she repeated, and hearing the word coming out of her mouth again, she laughed.

"It does seem to be a common word for you," he murmured.

"I think it's just that, when you're put on the spot, you do anything you can to deflect interest."

"Absolutely," he agreed, a bright grin on his face, "and I'll let you continue to deflect interest, at least for a little while."

She shook her head. "Do you think all this surrounding me is personal?"

"No, I don't. I think it's definitely all connected to Mason, but we can't ignore the fact that there could be some crossover involved as well."