Jasper, page 8
He chuckled. “In some cases, tea does appear to be the answer. Not always, and not for everyone, but it has some magical properties, and it fixes everything.”
“I wish it did fix everything,” Amber muttered, her words slurring. He turned back to check on her, to see that she’d dropped her head back against the chair. He walked over, studied her for a moment, and continued to talk, but she didn’t respond. With a smile, he grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and covered her up. She never moved a muscle.
Unplugging the teakettle, he stepped off to the side, checking the entire apartment to ensure he had absolutely no reason to worry—something he should have done right off the bat, but a little hard to do without raising her suspicions.
As soon as he had that done, he stepped onto the little balcony in back and took a good look at the situation. Of course she was only on the second floor, which was still very accessible if someone with any skills wanted to get in. That didn’t make him happy, and again something he would have to fix. He made a quick phone call to Morgan. When Morgan answered the phone, he explained what had just happened, which was met with silence for a long moment.
“Are you saying it’s connected?” Morgan asked.
“I’m not saying it’s connected, but I am saying that it’s something we have to consider.”
“Why did she take videos of these guys?”
“Because she thought they looked suspicious. Then she forwarded it to me.”
“Did you look into them?”
“Not yet. I was just about to do that now. I can send you a copy.”
“Do that,” Morgan said, his tone harsh. “If this is getting bigger, and they’re taking out associated targets, we’ll have to put a stop to this before we have an uncontrollable amount of casualties here.” He took a moment and asked in a much harsher tone, “Are you the one who told her to look out for anything?”
“I warned her to keep an eye out,” Jasper confessed. “I just asked whether she had seen anybody hanging around who didn’t appear to be with somebody who belonged there at the hospital, and if so, to let me know.”
“Still …”
The note of censure in his tone made Jasper’s back go up, and he recognized a level of responsibility here that he could get nailed over, and that was fine. He was quite prepared to accept any blame coming his way, and the last thing he wanted was to see an innocent person getting mixed up in this, but it appeared that Amber already was.
“Whether I’m responsible for her doing this or not,” Jasper pointed out in a cold tone, “the bottom line is that she has been the victim of a hit-and-run. She couldn’t identify anyone in the vehicle—apparently a small gray sedan. So, if we can get into the cameras for the hospital, we might pinpoint who it is.”
“Anything else?”
“No, just that. At least if we can do that much, we would have left no stone unturned. Then we can knock this off the list as a possibly connected event.”
“I’m on it,” Morgan replied, his tone crisp. “Keep an eye on her.”
And, with that, Jasper hung up. Keeping an eye on her was something he was planning on doing, but he would need to figure out his next step from here.
When Sam phoned a little bit later, he didn’t sound happy at all. “Morgan just told us what happened,” he began. “Do you think it’s connected?”
“I don’t know whether it’s connected or not,” Jasper admitted. “All I can tell you is that nobody at the hospital could identify the vehicle, and it happened so fast that Amber was knocked off her feet with a good-enough thunk that several people came running because they heard it, and the vehicle took off at top speed.”
“That’s not much to go on.”
“That’s true. Now it could have just been some asshole afraid of being charged, so he took off. Who knows? But what I do know is that, here at her apartment, she is definitely vulnerable, if somebody chooses to come back again. And the only reason I know why anybody would give a crap is because she took that video today.”
“I get that she’s worried, and everybody at the hospital is worried,” Sam noted in exasperation, “but the last thing we need is people taking videos.”
“Oh, I hear you,” Jasper agreed, “but she apparently thought someone was acting suspiciously.”
“Did she give it to you?”
“Yes. I’ve already forwarded to Morgan, but I can send it to you as well, if you want.”
“Yeah, send it along,” he replied. “We should upload it to the central files anyway. That way it will be there for all eyes, and we can all do a check on it.”
“We should also be pulling the cameras from the hospital parking lot, and I already mentioned that to Morgan,” Jasper noted. “We need to know if anything there will help to pinpoint the vehicle.”
“You stay where you are. I’ll check in with Morgan.”
As Jasper hung up, he noted that, in both cases, the men were basically telling him to stay put, and they would handle things. If they thought that was a way to keep him out of the investigation, that wouldn’t happen. However, having her videoing some suspicious types only complicated things—unless she had found something or had triggered something, which he tended to believe. In that case maybe her actions would not be in vain, … providing they could keep her safe.
*
Amber woke with a start, jolting upright, then cried out in pain and collapsed back down. Instantly a face loomed over hers. She recognized Jasper and groaned. “Good Lord, I hadn’t considered what it would be like to wake up to this.”
“I imagine you’re sore as hell,” he replied. She glared at him, and he smiled. “I get it. You want the world to suffer, just like you,” he guessed, with the same bright tone, “but I would just as soon not, thanks.”
That brought a chuckle out of her. “Didn’t you promise me some tea?” she asked, scrubbing her face.
“Yeah,” he agreed, studying her.
She could sense the intensity of that gaze. “What?” she asked, as she dropped her hands from her face. “Am I covered in something?”
“No, but you’ll need a hand to get to the washroom.”
“Oh God.” She winced. “That’ll be painful, won’t it?”
“It could be. I just don’t know if you’ll be difficult about the infringement, you know, on your privacy and all.”
“Oh, I’ll be difficult,” she declared, and then sighed. “Yet I get it. This is the stuff I do on a daily basis. It’s just not what is done to me.”
“I hear you,” he replied, with a gentle smile and a deep breath. “But, first off, let’s see how you are when you’re vertical. Then see if we can get you to walk to the bathroom on your own.”
“Oh, I should be able to walk there on my own,” she stated, “at least I hope so.” With his help she managed to get on her feet, though it took a few minutes of hanging on to him for the room to stop swaying. “Good Lord,” she muttered, then gasped for air.
“I know. I was hoping it wouldn’t be quite so bad for you, but you did get pitched around pretty hard.”
“If you say so,” she muttered. “I don’t have any experience to compare it to.”
He smiled at her. “I understand that. Let’s just keep heading for the bathroom.”
And, with his assistance, she slowly made it to the bathroom door and then smiled. “The good news is, I can take it from here on my own.”
“That is good news,” he repeated, but his gaze was watchful.
“I’m fine,” she said, waving him off. “You don’t have to look after me, wondering if I’m about to collapse.”
“And yet you might be, so don’t worry about me. Just go in there and take care of business. If you need a hand, call out, and I’ll come help.”
“That won’t happen.”
He laughed. “If I hear somebody drop, and it sounds like you fell down, I’ll be in there, whether you like it or not.”
Glaring at him, while knowing he meant it, she stepped into the bathroom, shut the door, and hobbled her way over to the toilet. She used the facilities, and, by the time she was back up and washing her hands, she felt sweat trickling down her back. The pain was incredible. She opened the door, and he stepped forward.
“I can see from your face just how bad the pain is.”
With her next step, she gasped. Instead of her hobbling over to the couch, he swung her up in his arms and carried her there. She cried out in amazement. “I don’t think I’ve been carried since I was like four years old,” she muttered.
“I definitely don’t want you falling, and you look definitely pickled.”
“Pickled?” she murmured. “Is that a word?”
He grinned. “I’m not sure if it is or not, but it’s the one I used.” He settled her on the couch, so she could stretch out. When she did, she winced in pain. Jasper asked, “Now, where are we at for the pain protocol?”
She waited a few moments, thought about it. “Grab my purse and some water, will you?” She shook her head under his glare and retorted, “I can take my own medication.” She pointed to her purse, which he retrieved for her.
After she swallowed the pills, he added, “You don’t have to be independent all the time. You know that, right?”
“I kind of do, because, even when you rely on people, it’s sometimes hard. You expect them to be there, and sometimes they just aren’t.”
He nodded, totally getting where she was coming from. “Sounds like probably a story is in there.”
She shook her head. “No story, just what I’ve learned from watching people.”
“Meaning that people aren’t always looking out for others?”
“Something like that,” she murmured. “Like sometimes patients are stuck in a hospital bed, waiting for people to come and pick them up, or to come and visit, and they just don’t show up. It breaks my heart to see people let down by someone they thought they could count on, and it happens all the time.”
He nodded. “How about that cup of tea?”
“I would love a cup of tea,” she muttered, as she settled back down, pulling the blanket up over her shoulders.
“Are you cold?”
“Not cold so much, but vulnerable somehow. I think I’m just feeling that way from being injured,” she murmured.
“Give me a second, and I’ll get a cup of hot tea for you.” He quickly left, heading into the kitchen.
She presumed that, while she had been out cold, he had made himself at home, and that was a strange feeling. She hadn’t had a relationship, at least not the solid long-term type in a couple years. So, when that one had broken off, the painful feelings had been intense. She had sworn off long-term relationships soon afterward. It made for a very lonely lifestyle, if that’s what she would stick to, and, as it was, it hadn’t stuck all that well.
She tried hard, but being lonely wasn’t something she was good at. Still, she didn’t have anybody in her world now and hadn’t for a fair bit, so having somebody walk around her apartment was a novelty, a strange feeling. It made her realize how isolated she had become over the last few years. But hadn’t everybody?
That worldwide virus had changed things so much for so many people, including her. She’d been on the frontlines for a lot of it, seeing several of her coworkers die, succumbing to the disease, and many other medical workers had gone down the same path. She had been blessed herself. She had gotten COVID but had survived, and now here she was—in this new normal, which was something else entirely.
It didn’t seem very normal at all, and that was the problem. A lot was wrong with this version of normal, but it was all she had. As she sat here, listening to Jasper tinkering in her kitchen, it made her realize just how much she wanted a change in her world and how much she needed to take control of her own destiny. If this was what her world would be, she needed to raise the bar and create more of a life for herself, before something like this took her out.
She hadn’t even had a chance to live yet, as far as she was concerned, and there had to be much more out there. There just had to be. The thought that somebody may have intentionally tried to cut her life short was devastating.
She had always considered herself a nice person, and now it seemed as if somebody had done this on purpose. They had deliberately run her down, not caring whether she survived or not, meaning they placed no value on her life.
When Jasper came back out, carrying a cup of tea, she smiled because he had brought along a cup for him too. “Are you a tea drinker?” she asked in a teasing tone.
“Not necessarily a tea drinker most days,” he admitted, “but, hey, I can go with the flow.”
“Coffee is in there,” she murmured.
“I saw it, and I was tempted.”
“Why didn’t you just make some?”
“If I’d known you would wake up soon, I probably would have. In the meantime, I am totally okay to have tea with you.” And he sat down beside her, placing both cups on the coffee table.
She replied, “I’m not sure I could have brought out one cup right now, much less two.”
“You don’t have to,” he said, looking at her. “I’m not going anywhere.”
She froze. “You’re not staying here, are you?” she asked incredulously.
One eyebrow raised, he asked, “Do you have somebody else you can call?”
She flushed. “What does that mean?” she asked, keeping the anger and the fear out of her tone, as he assessed her expression for a long moment.
“That’s why I’m staying.”
“Good God.” She got flustered. “I don’t need that level of care.”
“No, and that’s good,” he stated. “If you don’t need it, you don’t need it, and I’ll be bored the whole time.”
“That may very well be, but you can’t possibly stay with me,” she said. “You have to solve this problem with Mason.”
“That’s definitely part of what I’m doing,” he shared. “I’ll start collating all my notes, and the rest of my team is looking at the hospital parking lot camera footage.”
“I didn’t even think of that.”
He smiled, then nodded. “That’s one of the reasons why we’re good at what we do, so you’ll stay here and relax.”
“Will you start being bossy already?” she asked, glaring at him.
“I can already tell that you won’t be a good patient,” he noted, his lips kicking up at the corners.
And damn if that didn’t do something to her insides. She blamed the shock over the whole situation, plus the drugs she had taken, because no way she would fall for some guy who was obviously so very capable and in charge. Two people that way in the same relationship would never work out as a long-term thing. On the other hand, who said it had to be long-term?
A lot could be said for a nice roll in the hay, and yet her mind argued right back, That’s not what you want. That’s not the relationship you’re looking for. She gave her head a shake, only to realize he was watching her.
“Problems?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.
She flushed bright red and shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”
But that gaze of his stayed intense, as he studied her. Finally he eased back and asked, “If there is a problem, you’ll tell me, right?”
“Not likely,” she muttered.
He straightened and glared at her. “And that”—he pointed at her face—“needs to change and fast because I can’t have you holding stuff back from me, particularly if it’ll affect your safety.”
“I don’t know anything,” she declared, frowning at him. “I haven’t done anything and don’t know anything. As far as I’m concerned, this was just a freak accident.”
“I hope it was,” he replied, “because then we wouldn’t have to worry about you.”
“You don’t have to worry about me anyway,” she stated, glaring at him. He just smiled, prompting a sharp retort. “What’s that smile for?”
“Because you’re getting contrary.”
“I am not.”
“You are, very much so.”
Staring at him, she suddenly realized how silly and childish she must sound. Sagging back, she mumbled, “Fine, I’m just being childish.”
He nodded. “The tea is probably cool enough for you to drink now.”
She picked up the cup and sipped it, letting the tea soothe her. The warm liquid slid down her throat, like sand sucking up the first rain. “I hadn’t realized I was so parched,” she muttered.
He nodded. “Sometimes it’s the drugs, and shock can do that as well.”
She contemplated that and then nodded. “Sounds as if you’ve had a bit of experience.”
“Anybody in my position has had some experience,” he replied. “That doesn’t mean a whole lot necessarily. It’s just that sometimes we have experiences in life that we wish we didn’t.”
“Yeah, I’ve had a few of those already,” she admitted. “This will just be another to add to the list, I suppose.”
“That’s another reason to solve the problem, and, if it turns out to be not connected, even better.”
“I still can’t imagine anybody caring about that video,” she muttered.
“Someone is worried about what could have been captured on that video. Something was going on in that vicinity.” He asked, “What if somebody was hired to hang around the ER, until he got news about Mason’s condition?”
“But how would they even get that? It’s not as if we would have told some random strangers.”
“Maybe they wouldn’t need to be told. Anybody in that waiting room would easily have seen Tesla’s reaction and even overhead conversations.”
She winced, as she thought about it and nodded. “That’s very true, and it wouldn’t have taken much detective work to realize Mason was still alive.”
“Exactly, and the fact that he is still alive is an issue somebody may care about. They would know it, one way or another.”
“People suck,” she announced.
He laughed. “I won’t argue with you on that because I happen to agree. They definitely suck.” He nodded, a smile on his face. “Still, that doesn’t change the fact that, right now, Mason is under guard, and you can’t be left alone, not until we solve the case of this hit-and-run.”
