Because of You: Just Because Series, Book 1, page 6
“That’s right,” she said.
“And now you’re determined to find this person, this killer on your own?”
She pulled the phone away from her ear as his question was delivered with a yell. The old saying be careful what you wish for drifted through her mind. She’d definitely gotten what she wanted. Caleb believed her and now he was furious with her for pursuing the mystery.
“Caleb—”
“Jess. I want you to stop this now. You’re in danger.”
“I’ll be fine. I’m simply doing a bit of digging around.”
“And it seems clear to me that whoever this asshole is, he knows what you’re doing.”
“I need to do this. I can’t stop yet,” she insisted.
She heard him sigh on the other end of the line and for several moments, there was an uncomfortable silence. “Regardless of what I say, you’re going to continue, right?”
She stared across the room, her eyes landing on a picture of Tommy at the bottom of the ski slope, grinning from ear to ear and wearing the goofy ski cap she’d knitted for him. “I have to continue,” she replied.
“Will you at least promise me that you’ll be careful?”
“That I can definitely promise. Thanks for calling, Caleb.”
“Would you mind if I called again? Just to check on you and maybe for dating advice and such?”
She grinned, pleased at his attempt to lighten the moment once again. “I’d love for you to call again.”
“Good night, Jess.”
“Night, Doc.”
Jessie hung up the phone and considered continuing the movie. Caleb always seemed to bring out a feeling of security in her. Even through a phone line, three hours away, he created in her a sense of peace that didn’t exist any other time.
She sighed and pushed the power button to turn the whole thing off. She was worn out. Rising, she went to check that the front door was locked when she noticed an envelope had been shoved under the door.
Her heart raced as she bent down to pick it up. She knew who it was from. The person who’d been tormenting her had been right outside her front door, just through this wall as she’d talked to Caleb. While laughing with her handsome doctor, she’d felt safe—even if only for a moment—but clearly that safety had been an illusion. She tore the seal open, and her hands shook as she pulled out the only item inside. A single sheet of paper.
As she looked at the paper, she felt herself leave her body.
An escape mechanism?
A way to escape the agonizing pain tearing through her physical form?
She felt like a spirit, like she was floating above herself, watching the scene unfold. A part of it, yet apart. She could see the woman below—her—as she screamed in horror and crumpled to the floor. She watched her body shake as the tears came out in giant, breath-gasping, rib-cracking sobs.
“Tommy,” she heard herself whisper. “Tommy.”
The paper contained only two words, written in bright red marker.
You’re next.
Glued to the page was Tommy’s obituary cut from the newspaper. She flew back down into her own body, the pain ripping through her, shredding her like a thousand knives. How long she lay crying and broken on the floor she couldn’t say.
When she was finally able to rise, she noticed the dark of night had given way to the gray of pre-dawn. She walked over to the phone. Pulling out the card of the police officer who’d investigated the break-in, she dialed the number.
Her mind continued to whirl with the same words, floating through her brain over and over.
I was right.
I was right.
Tommy had been murdered and now his murderer had set his sights on her.
Chapter Six
Jessie dragged in a deep breath and tried to still the queasiness that never seemed to leave her these days. The virus had hit her like a ton of bricks the morning after she’d received the frightening message under the door and, in the past three months, it had never gone away. She’d blamed the lingering illness and the unending nausea on her depression.
She’d finally gone to the doctor this morning, after weeks of nagging from Todd, and she was hoping the damn man would call her back soon with the test results. Todd had a fit when she’d told him how long the virus had been hanging on, but she absolutely hated going to the doctor, which was kind of ironic considering how much she’d loved talking to Dr. Caleb James on the phone these past few months.
The phone rang and she grinned. Speak of the devil.
“Hey, Caleb,” she said.
“Hey, yourself. You okay, Jess? Your voice sounds funny.”
“Actually, I’m just waking up from a nap. I ate something that disagreed with me at breakfast.” She wasn’t sure why she lied to Caleb about her health. He was a doctor, for God’s sake, and probably could have offered her some medical advice. For some reason, she didn’t want him to know how weak, how vulnerable she was feeling. Their phone conversations had become her lifeline, her brief touch with sanity while everything else around her seemed to be falling apart. When she was talking to Caleb, she felt like the same old Jessie, the one she’d been before death and terror had taken over her life.
“It’s not food poisoning, is it? You shouldn’t mess around with that. Why don’t you go to the—”
“I’m fine,” she interrupted. “Honest. Actually, whatever it was has passed and I was just getting up to do some more packing. How was your date last weekend?”
“Hell.” He replied so seriously and succinctly that she giggled.
“It couldn’t have been that bad,” she said, secretly pleased that Caleb hadn’t had any more success with his own list than he’d had with Jacob’s.
“I don’t think there are words to describe the eternity that passed during that two-hour dinner. All she wanted to talk about was her work.”
“What does she do for a living?” she asked.
“Real estate law,” he replied with a groan.
Jessie smiled. “Oh my, that was probably a stimulating conversation.”
“Very funny. When are you getting here? If I don’t have a meal with a nice, normal woman soon, I’m likely to die of indigestion.”
She’d been burning the candle at both ends lately and had decided it was time to hit Saratoga for a brief vacation. She was looking forward to relaxing and hanging out with her friends. “I’m coming next week. Hey, are you asking me out?” she joked.
“Yeah,” he said. “I guess I am. Is that okay?”
She paused to consider his question. Was she ready to go out on a date? “Yeah, I think that’s more than okay,” she said, her answer surprising her as much as him.
“Good,” he said. “Listen, I actually called for another reason. I ran into Todd last night and we had a long talk. He agrees with me that you need to stop this insanity.”
“By insanity, I assume you are referring to the fact that I am pursuing Tommy’s killer?” she asked, her voice seizing up with the sudden tightness claiming her chest. She silently cursed her best friend and his big mouth, praying that he hadn’t told Caleb about the death threat. “Glad the two of you had such a nice chat about me behind my back.”
“We’re worried about you, Jess.”
She hadn’t told Caleb about the terrifying note she’d received. She hated keeping it a secret but given the fact that he didn’t like the idea of her investigating her husband’s murder, she was fairly certain he’d go ballistic if he learned that the killer had threatened her as well.
“I don’t like the idea of you staying in Denver alone,” he said.
“I’ll be there very soon.”
“Just for a visit. I don’t like the idea of you—” She heard another voice in the background before Caleb came back on the line. “Looks like my break is over. Rescue squad just pulled in and I’ve got to get back to work. You’re sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine, Caleb. Really.”
“Call me as soon as you get into town.”
“Okay. Bye, Doc.”
“Bye, Jess.”
Damn. She had hoped to keep her past problems separate from her future. And the fact was she was kind of looking forward to exploring a possible future with Dr. James. She’d given up feeling guilty about her fascination for the man weeks ago. It looked like Todd had been right the morning after her one-night stand with Caleb. She had turned a corner. She stood up and glanced at the pile of boxes surrounding her.
Her lease had expired and she was going to stay in Saratoga for a couple weeks until she figured out what the hell she was going to do with her life. Despite the fact she seemed to be living in utter limbo, she refused to stay in this apartment any longer. There were too many memories—good and bad—and she was anxious to make a fresh start elsewhere. Problem was her heart longed to live in Saratoga while her conscience screamed for her to remain in Denver until justice was served. Tommy deserved that.
She’d gone through the apartment with a fine-tooth comb as she’d packed, looking through every disk of Tommy’s she could find, spending countless hours on the computer, searching through old files. She’d found nothing strange.
Despite her lingering sickness, she actually felt better mentally than she had in months. She felt happy, and there was this amazing optimism bubbling inside her that wouldn’t be contained. She’d been right to decide to move out and as soon as she’d settled her mind to the idea, it had become paramount to her happiness.
The phone rang as she was reaching for another box and she silently hoped it was the doctor. At this point, she was ready to admit defeat and take whatever drugs he was willing to offer.
“Ms. Warner?”
“Yes, Dr. Griffin. Thanks so much for getting back to me. It’s the flu, isn’t it?”
“Actually, no. I ran a series of tests and I have to say I was so surprised by the results, I had them run the test again.”
Jessie’s heart beat a little harder at the doctor’s words. She didn’t think she could stand any more bad news. She’d had enough of that to last a lifetime. “What is it?”
“It would appear that you’re pregnant.”
Jessie’s legs gave out at his words. Fortunately, the couch was behind her and she dropped down to the cushions. “That’s impossible,” she whispered.
“Is it?” the doctor asked. He had been her doctor for years. He knew she was a widow and he knew the trouble she and Tommy’d had trying to conceive.
“No,” she confessed. “Not entirely impossible.” She’d had sex. The condom had broken, but she had thought—
“Jessie, I was surprised too, but we hadn’t actually started the fertility tests before Tommy—”
The doctor’s words faded as did most peoples’ when faced with saying any variation of the word death to her.
“We tried for five years, Dr. Griffin. My periods have never been regular and I always thought it was me. I mean never, not once, were we able to—”
“We never determined for sure if the difficulty lay with you or with Tommy. I know you’ve suffered from irregular periods your whole life, but I guess now, well, I guess now we know.”
“Now we know,” she repeated, awestruck by his news.
“Do you know exactly when you conceived?”
Jessie thought back to the last night of her vacation and Caleb. “August thirtieth.”
She thought she heard the doctor chuckle. Obviously he wasn’t expecting such a quick, specific answer. “Well, as this is now the end of November, we can safely say you are three months along. That also means you will probably begin to see an end to your morning sickness.”
“I wasn’t just sick in the morning.”
“That is sometimes the case, which no doubt led to your confusion about the cause of your illness. I wish you’d come to see me sooner, Jessie. You’re almost through the first trimester. I’m going to have my secretary call you tomorrow morning once you’ve had time to let this sink in. She’ll make an appointment for you early next week.”
“I’m moving,” she said. “I was planning to pack up my car and a friend’s truck to leave this weekend for a brief vacation.” Jordan had offered to help her move her belongings to Todd’s guesthouse for the time being.
The doctor was silent for a moment. “If I might suggest, have your friends load the vehicles or pay a moving company. Are you moving away from Denver?”
She thought about his question for only a moment. “Yes, I’m going to live in Saratoga.”
“Ah, well, I will miss you as my patient, Jessie. Call the office as soon as you get settled and find a new doctor. Don’t wait too long. We’ll have your medical records transferred.”
“Thank you, Dr. Griffin.”
“Good luck, Jessie.”
She hung up the phone and sat staring for several moments at her newly bared walls. Pregnant? Ever since their first year of marriage, she and Tommy had tried to conceive, desperate to have a child. Shortly before his death, they’d scheduled an appointment to talk to a fertility specialist. She’d truly believed she couldn’t have children. Her hands went instinctively to her stomach. A baby. She was going to have a baby.
She smiled. Then she laughed, long and loud and until tears streamed down her face. She was going to have a baby. She wasn’t going to be alone anymore. She would have a child to take care of, to love.
She calmed down as she thought of Caleb. Christ, one lousy night with her and the poor man had dealt with her tears, her insane life, and now she was dropping this bomb on him. She leaned back and considered her options. She was having the baby. Of that there was no doubt. But what about Caleb?
Keeping the truth from him wasn’t an option she wanted to consider. It wasn’t as if she was asking him to marry her, but she couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t at least give him the choice to decide what role he would play in their child’s life. She would simply leave the decision to him. If he wanted to wash his hands of her and the baby, so be it. However, if he wanted to know his child, help her raise it, then that was fine too. With her living in the same town, it would be easy to include him in the baby’s life…and hers.
The idea of seeing Caleb again started her heart doing flip-flops. She reached over to her purse and dragged out her phone. Caleb’s number taunted her. As she looked at the cell phone, she tried to imagine what the hell she would say.
Hi there, Caleb. This is Jessie. Remember when we had sex on a kitchen counter a few months ago and the condom broke? Well, guess what? I’m pregnant.
Yeah, that would be a hell of an awkward conversation. No phone call, she decided. She was leaving this weekend for Saratoga, her planned visit now a permanent stay. She would call Caleb once she was settled in at the guesthouse as they’d planned. She’d invite him over for dinner and tell him in person.
There was no question of where she would live now. A small pang pierced her heart. She’d been determined to discover the truth of Tommy’s death, but there was no way she would jeopardize the life of her baby. Moving away from Denver and the ominous threat that hovered over her here was now a necessity.
Mind made up, she picked up her cell phone. Todd was waiting to hear about the results of her doctor’s appointment. He’d threatened bodily harm if she didn’t call him back. Shit, what would he think of this? She’d convinced him she had the flu.
She chuckled as she considered the fact that for once in her life she stood a good chance of leaving her outspoken best friend speechless.
Chapter Seven
“Thanks again, Jordan. Are you sure you don’t want to stay for some hot tea before you go?” Jessie offered.
Jordan had followed her all the way from Denver with a bunch of boxes in the back of his brand new black F-150 pickup truck. They’d finished moving them all into the guesthouse, and Jessie sighed at the thought of unpacking all the things she’d just packed up.
“No, I’m afraid I need to head back for the city. I have a meeting with Rex in the morning. Hope it won’t hurt your feelings if I say the man was clearly pleased to learn you were moving to Saratoga.”
Jessie laughed. “I’m sure he was. I think poor old Rex has come to view me as his arch enemy.”
“Ah yes, I can see it now. You are Lex Luthor to his Superman.”
“The Joker to his Batman,” she added with a grin. “Oh, Jordan. How can I thank you for all your help?”
“No thanks necessary. I wanted to check out this new town you’ve chosen to make your home and to make sure you arrived here safe and sound.” Jordan turned to Todd. “See that you take care of our young lady here.”
“No worries there, Mr. Scott. I’ll look after her.”
“Well, I’m pleased to see that you’re staying somewhere nice. Saratoga is truly lovely. So picturesque and quiet compared to the crowds and noise of Denver. Take care, Jessie, and stay in touch.”
“I will, Jordan. And thanks again for helping me move.”
She hugged him fondly as she and Todd walked the older gentleman back to his truck and waved as he pulled out of the driveway.
She’d taken the doctor’s advice, hiring a moving van to bring the bulk of her heavy furniture later in the week, and the move had been relatively easy as a result. She had already packed up a bunch of the smaller bits over the past three months and sent them to Todd to store in his attic. Until she found a place to live, everything else she owned in the world other than her clothing was going into a storage unit.
“A baby,” Todd exclaimed as they walked back to the front porch of the guesthouse. He was the only person with whom she’d shared her unexpected news, and she grinned at her friend’s unabashed enthusiasm.
“I know,” she gushed. “I can’t quite believe it myself.”
“When are you going to tell Caleb?”
“Soon,” she answered. “I was going to get settled and then call him to come over for dinner one night. You think he’ll be okay with this, right?” Since her decision to tell Caleb about the baby in person, she’d worried incessantly over his response.
