The Protector's Mission

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Jesse visited the clothing shop then the drugstore, flanking Pickens Appliance. Neither place had any promising leads. The few employees in those establishments were scared and jumpy. Phillip Keats, the pharmacist and manager, even told him one longtime woman employee called in sick and hadn’t returned since the bombing.

As he strolled to his SUV his phone rang. It was Lydia’s house number. He quickly answered, praying nothing was wrong. “Lydia?”

“No, this is Kate.”

“Has something happened?”

“Lydia thought someone had been in her bedroom. I’m scared.”

Jesse turned on his engine. “Is anyone there now?”

“No, but—”

“I’ll be there as soon as possible.” After disconnecting, Jesse pulled out of his parking space. Why didn’t Lydia call him? Because you told her to contact Thomas. He realized the foolhardiness of that. They might not be friends now, but they were close once. He couldn’t walk away because she hurt him in the past—not if her life was in jeopardy.

* * *

A sea of black surrounded her, but Lydia couldn’t move. Something held her down. Her heartbeat began to race. She couldn’t breathe.

Lydia’s eyes flew open. Darkness blanketed her. A band felt as though it constricted her chest. Panic drove her off the bed. But when she stood, she began to see shapes and glimpsed the clock. It was 9:30—obviously at night. She wasn’t trapped any longer. She was safe and at home.

Just a dream—no, a nightmare.

She flipped on the overhead light and drank in the sight of her bedroom. She eased onto the bed and dragged deep breaths into her lungs until her heartbeat slowed to a normal rate.

Quiet melted the tension that had gripped her, and she thought of going back to sleep. But immediately dismissed that notion. She’d already slept over four hours, and her stomach rumbled. She decided to check on Kate and see if she’d ordered that pizza.

Thoughts of her sister brought back what happened earlier and the fact that Kate was no doubt angry with her, her usual attitude toward Lydia. She hadn’t handled her sister right. She needed to apologize. She didn’t want what happened to disrupt her life any more than it already had.

Out in the hallway, she found Cheri waiting at her door. Scooping her cat up into her arms, she started for the living room. The sound of Kate’s voice as well as a deep, masculine one floated to her. Who was here? She hoped it wasn’t the boy Kate was dating. Connor was a senior and from what she’d discovered, wild. Lydia didn’t want her sister making the mistake she’d made.

She followed the voices to the kitchen. Stopping in the entrance, she stared first at Brutus, then Jesse sitting at the table with Kate across from him.

“Are you sure you don’t want any more pizza? Lydia might not wake up until morning.” Kate was finishing off a piece, then slurped a long sip of her soft drink.

Jesse’s gaze snagged Lydia’s.

Kate twisted around in her chair and looked at Lydia. “How long have you been there?”

She moved into the kitchen, Cheri wiggling in her arms. “A few seconds. Why?” She placed her cat on the floor, and Cheri stared at Brutus, then walked to him and settled down beside the Rottweiler as though that was where she belonged. Brutus gave her cat one look and closed his eyes.

Kate shrugged. “Just wondering.”

What had they been talking about? Lydia switched her attention to Jesse, his expression his usual neutral one whenever they were around each other. “Why are you here? Has something happened on the case?”

Jesse and Kate exchanged a glance. “Kate called me.”

“How? Why?” Her sister had met Jesse at the hospital and had seen him again when she’d come home from school earlier, but that had all been casual.

Kate scraped the chair back and shot to her feet, rounding on Lydia. “I called Bree and she gave me Jesse’s number. I started thinking about how someone might have been in the house, and I got scared.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“And you’d do what? You’re hurting. Bree was working, and David is tied up. I thought of asking Connor to come over, but then you’d freak out if you found him here.”

If she’d seen Connor, she probably would have. Connor reminded her of Aaron, and she didn’t want her sister to have anything to do with him, especially when she was sound asleep in another room. “I was wrong. I’m sure no one has been in the house while we were gone. The evening before the bombing, I was late going to bed, and I just didn’t shut the drawer all the way. I can’t even remember what happened at the bistro, let alone the night before.” I’m panicking at the small things.

Kate curled her hands and then uncurled them. “Yeah, I guess. Anyway, I’ve got homework.” She looked over her shoulder at Jesse. “Thanks for sitting here with me.”

“No problem.” He gave her a smile that died the second Kate left the kitchen.

Leaving them alone.

The past few minutes left Lydia drained. She sank onto the chair Kate had vacated. Brutus came over and put his head in her lap. She began stroking him, and the feel of his fur soothed her. Finally she looked up at Jesse, studying him.

“You should have called Thomas if you thought there was a chance someone was in your house.”

“But not you,” came out, and she wished she could take those words back. Even she could hear the regret in them. Cheri jumped up on the table and purred, then plopped down in front of Lydia while Brutus lay on the floor by her chair.

Jesse glanced out the window over the sink.

When she could no longer take the silence, Lydia made a decision. Right now she felt her life had shattered into hundreds of fragments. “I can’t change what happened, but I’m asking you to put what happened right after graduation in the past. I could use a friend right now.”

He swung his attention to her, but she couldn’t read anything in his expression. “What about Bree or Alex?”

“You knew me better than anyone did at one time.”

One eyebrow rose. “Did I? I used to think I did, but then you took off. One day you were here. The next gone and married.”

“I called you and left a message on your voice mail.”

“Yeah, at the airport right before you got on the plane to leave. With no real explanation.”

Stress knotted her shoulders and neck, the pain surpassing the ache from her bruised ribs. She remembered the tears she’d cried when she’d agreed to marry Aaron and leave. The disappointment on her father’s face was engraved in her mind—a vision she couldn’t shake even after all these years. She’d let everyone down, but mostly Jesse. He deserved better than her.

She swallowed several times, but still her throat was as dry as the ground in the midst of a severe drought. She walked to the sink and drank some water, then returned to the table, combing her fingers through Cheri’s thick white fur. “I couldn’t because we’d promised our parents we wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“What? That you were eloping?”

“That I was pregnant with—Aaron’s child.”

For a few seconds his mouth pressed together in a thin, hard line, and his eyes darkened. Then as though he realized he was showing his anger a shutter descended over his features. But she saw a tic in his jawline.

Finally after a long moment, he asked, “Where’s your child? With Aaron?”

That he would even think she’d let Aaron have full custody of her child devastated her. She rose, gripping the edge of the table and leaning into it. “I lost my little girl when I was seven months pregnant. I had to deliver her stillborn.” She spun on her heel and stalked toward the hallway.

She heard the sound of the chair being scooted across the tiles, and all she could think about was getting away from him before she fell apart and poured out the pain she’d locked deep inside.

He caught up with her and clasped her arm, stopping her escape. “I’m sorry, Lydia. I know how much you wanted children.”

A houseful, she’d once told him when they’d talked about the future. “Dreams have a way of changing,” she whispered, remembering the few times she’d dated after her divorce from Aaron. No one had been Jesse. Instead, she’d thrown her life into her career and her love of animals.

“Yes, I know.” His hand fell away from her.

And she missed his touch. For a second, she’d felt connected to him again like when they were teenagers.

“Why didn’t you come back to Alaska?”

“I was married to Aaron and I took that seriously. I wanted to make our marriage work even after our daughter died.”

“What happened?”

“He had an affair with one of his professors while I worked to support us and allowed him to go to college full-time.”

“He came back here a couple of years ago with an older woman as a traveling companion. He talked with Thomas but didn’t get in touch with me.” One corner of his mouth hitched up. “Good thing, too, even though I didn’t know all the details of your elopement.” He swept his arm toward the table. “I’ll warm up some pizza while we talk about what happened earlier. Kate had herself worked up by the time I arrived.”

His softer expression coupled with his coaxing voice urged her to accept, especially because she was hungry. “That sounds nice. Food was what drew me out here in the first place.”

After Jesse heated up the remaining slices and fixed a cup of tea for Lydia, he sat across from her. As she took several bites, he finally asked, “Explain again why you initially felt someone had been in your house. I’ve taken a look around and haven’t seen a forced point of entry. I was surprised you didn’t have a dog or two until your assistant brought the cats.”

She placed Cheri on the floor, then took several sips of her warm tea. “I had Bree take both of my cats to the veterinary hospital for boarding. I didn’t want her to have to deal with them and Kate. JoAnn, my assistant who brought them home, told me they were being thoroughly spoiled. Charlie and Cheri are siblings left at the back door of the hospital. One look into Cheri’s green eyes and I knew I had to keep them.”

“No guard dog?”

She shook her head. “But Charlie growls like a dog, and anytime someone comes to the house, he’s at the door growling.”

“That’s better than nothing.”

“Yeah, but as soon as the person comes in, he runs and hides, whereas Cheri is all over the visitor. She’s never met a stranger.”

“So that’s why I’ve only seen her.” Flipping his hand at Cheri, Jesse relaxed. “I’m surprised you have cats. You always had a dog growing up.”

“The cats needed me.” And I needed them. It had been within a month of her arrival in Anchorage. She’d been dealing with a hostile sister, who was grieving but not expressing those emotions. Many nights she’d been up late cuddling Cheri and talking to her about her day. In those first months she and Kate had argued every day. At least now it wasn’t as often.

“Tell me about going into your bedroom.”

“I didn’t notice anything at first, but when I looked at my desk, I saw the top drawer was open about an inch or two. I always make sure I close drawers and cabinets. Remember when I fractured my wrist?”

“Oh, yeah. You told me you fell, not how.”

“I’d opened the drawer a few minutes before, then the phone rang and I was in a hurry to answer it, but I rammed right into the drawer and fell. It’s become second nature to me to shut them now, which is why it stood out, but I couldn’t find anything missing or out of order. I was upset, so I supposed I could have forgotten to shut the drawer. The night before Kate and I had a big fight over Connor. That boy isn’t good for her, but she won’t listen to me.”

“And you find that strange?” A grin twitched the corners of his mouth.

“Okay, you don’t have to remind me about my dad and me. He changed so much after Mom left, and I could be stubborn.”

“You think?”

She narrowed her eyes and pinched her lips together but couldn’t maintain the tough act. She started chuckling. “I seem to remember you could be quite determined, too.”

“Still am, and I’m especially determined to catch this person setting off the bombs. If you don’t mind, I didn’t check out your room earlier. May I look at it?”