Black and Shadow (7 page)

“Jessica needs to rest, Joe. Don’t let
her get agitated, it won’t help with the healing. I would suggest
her friend visit for a brief time and then all of you leave her
alone to sleep.”

“I’ll keep the visit brief, Dr. Rick.
No worries there,” Joe said.

Jessica felt her lips twitch. Joe was
a controlling man. Oddly, it didn’t bother her when he got
possessive, though it always did with other men, including her
brother.

The doctor nodded. “If you need
anything, Jessica, press the call button.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” she managed to
get out.

He frowned and left the room. Jessica
looked to Joe, who took the chair by her bed. He held her hand,
rubbing his thumb across her knuckles.

“I hate to bring this up, but do you
remember how we got here?”

Jessica pursed her lips. Why did he
ask? “All I remember is darkness and a cold that bit at the bones.
I guess I passed out or something.”

“Or something,” Joe
murmured.

“Why do you ask?”

“I’ll explain later, after Dan leaves.
I would suggest you tell him to cancel your room at the Hyatt. I’ll
send a man over for your luggage.”

“What? Why?”

“Honey, you’ve been shot. You’ll be in
bed here at the clinic for a while. It would be foolish to pay for
a room you aren’t using.”

Jessica nodded her head. “I planned to
check out today anyway. I have an appointment with the manager of
Fred’s apartment to pick up a key. I have to the end of the month
to go through Fred’s belongings and move them into
storage.”

“Don’t worry about that now. I’ll
contact the manager and pick up the key. You need to rest and feel
better.” Joe pulled out a cell phone. Jessica listened as he first
sent someone over to the Hyatt to get her things and check her out.
Then he called the apartment manager and explained that he needed
to change the appointment.

“Where’s my cell phone?” Jessica
asked. She didn’t like the feeling that came up with Joe taking
over. “I left my purse in your car, but I had my phone in my pocket
at the bar.”

“It got destroyed last night. I’ll get
you a new one right away. Your purse is here.” Joe walked over to a
cabinet on the wall and opened it to show her purse and jeans. Her
shirt and bra probably ended up in the trash since both would have
been covered in blood. Having her luggage brought over would be a
good thing.

“Do you always take over?”

Joe glanced at her sharply, his
forehead wrinkled. Then he relaxed and shrugged. “I guess I do. I’m
head of security, I take over a lot.” He sat beside her again.
“Don’t worry, Jessica. I’m very good at taking over.”

“That’s what worries me,” she
said.

§

“What the hell happened?” Daniel
Ferguson ran into the room. “Dammit! I trusted you to keep her
safe, Running Bear. Jesse, are you okay? What happened?” Joe
winced. Dan was right; he should have kept Jessica safe.

“The man at the gate said there had
been an accident? What’s going on, Jesse?” Ferguson
insisted.

“I’m fine, Dan. Please lower your
voice, you’re in a medical facility. Joe saved my life last night.
It’s not his fault I got shot.”

“Shot? Dammit, that’s it. I’m taking
you home. Your brother wouldn’t want you hurt.” The big man’s hands
actually opened and closed like he wanted to carry Jessica out of
there.

Joe wouldn’t let that happen. “She’s
not going anywhere, Ferguson, until the doctor releases her. You
throwing a fit will upset her.” Joe wanted to punch him.

“Upset her? She got shot. Someone
should be upset. You two are way too calm. Arrange for a Medi-Vac
or something. We aren’t staying.”

“Look, I don’t know who you think you
are, but Jessica’s not leaving with you.” Joe stood. Jessica’s grip
kept him from moving farther.

“Stop it! Both of you!” Jessica
yelled. “I’m a grown woman and I’ll make my own
decisions.”

“What is going on in here?” Dr. Rick
asked hurrying into the room. “You’re upsetting my patient. I would
like you both to leave, right now.”

“Wait, Doctor. I need to speak with
Dan a moment.” Jessica squeezed Joe’s hand. “Give me a minute with
Dan, please. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.”

Joe glared at Ferguson. He didn’t want
to leave Jessica alone with the man. Needing reassurance, he leaned
down and planted a kiss on her lips. “A minute, sweetheart. Dr.
Rick is right. You need to rest.”

Jessica nodded. Joe forced himself to
release her hand. Walking out the door, he stopped at the vending
machines. At least Rick remained in the room with them. He could
hear the murmur of voices. The sound of Daniel’s disgruntled voice.
Joe reached into his pocket and pulled out change. He picked a
candy bar filled with nuts and caramel, and waited for the machine
to drop it into the slot. He reached for it as Ferguson came
storming down the hall.

“I know you think I’m using Jesse. But
I would have protected her, even if that meant not letting her
finish her investigation.” The man shook with suppressed rage. Joe
almost wished he would throw a punch. It would be a good excuse to
thrash the man. Instead he reached for the man’s mind with his
telepathy.

Dan’s eyes went glassy, his
fists loosened and he stood quietly in Joe’s thrall.
“You will go home. You don’t need to worry about
Jessica, because Joe Running Bear will keep her safe. She isn’t
your responsibility anymore. Joe will take care of her. That’s how
Fred would have wanted it. He always planned on getting Joe
together with Jessica. It’s time to get back to New York and your
club.”
Joe released Ferguson’s
mind.

“I need to get back to my club. Take
care of her, Joe. That’s what Fred would have wanted.” Daniel held
his hand out to shake Joe’s.

He took it and gave a gentle squeeze.
“Don’t worry, Ferguson. Jessica is safe with me.” Joe meant every
word.

The man nodded and headed
for the elevator.
“Hugh, have security
escort Mr. Ferguson from the building. Be nice, please. Take him to
the Hyatt to check out and make sure he has a ride to the airport.
Mr. Ferguson needs to get back to New York.”

“Roger. I have security
waiting at the elevator in the lobby,”
echoed in Joe’s head.
“You want the
company to pick up the bill?”

“If he doesn’t make
arrangements to pay himself. I think he expected Jessica to pay the
bill.”

“We can’t have that now,
can we?”

Joe sighed.
“Take care of it, Hugh.”

“Done. All it takes is a
few flicks of the keyboard. I even got you the fifteen percent off
rate for Isanti guests. If Ferguson doesn’t pay, Isanti will be
billed as usual.”

“Thanks.”

“I’ll be down in a few.
The phone for Jessica is ready, including the security chip you
asked for.”

“Excellent. I’ll be here
waiting.”

“Joe?” Dr. Rick asked.

Joe blinked his eyes and realized he
stood holding a half-eaten candy bar melting in his hand.
“Yeah?”

“Miss Black really does need to rest.
I’ve given her something to make her sleep. Once she succumbs, she
should sleep for a couple hours.”

“Thanks, Rick. I’d appreciate you
keeping an eye on her, especially if I’m not here. Everything looks
good for a full recovery, right?” Joe thought she looked a little
pale. The freckles on her nose stood out a little
darker.

“Of course, if she gets her rest and
allows the time needed to heal. She should be up and about in a
couple days, though the healing will take longer. As long as she
doesn’t develop a fever, we should be good.”

“Well that gives me two days to figure
out what’s going on here. The attack last night doesn’t make sense.
Hugh will be down shortly with a cell phone for Jessica. Shadow
destroyed hers last night. Luckily, she doesn’t really remember my
bringing her here. So, that explanation can wait for a
while.”

“She’s your mate, right?” Rick asked.
“I thought I saw the heart tattoo marking her breast during
surgery.”

“Yeah, she’s mine. Thanks for the
warning. I may not have as much time as I imagined. Once she
notices the mate mark, she’ll be full of questions.”

“I’d have that discussion sooner,
rather than later. She’ll be mad about the mark if she doesn’t
understand it.”

Joe rubbed his hand over his jaw.
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Thanks, Rick.”

The elevator dinged down the hall and
Hugh stepped out. Grinning, he walked toward them. “I found
information about your DEA agent. He got busted for drugs while a
minor.”

“Really, how did you find that
information? Juvenile records are supposed to be
sealed.”

“I’ve got my ways.” Hugh winked.
“Here’s the phone for Jessica. I even downloaded her call list from
the cloud. Next time you take her through Shadow, her phone will
survive.”

“So, what do you think about Kramer?
Do you think he’s dirty? A DEA agent using his job to get the drugs
he needs?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time.” Hugh
shrugged.

“Okay, keep digging. We might need to
put a tail on the agent.” Joe scratched his head. Did Kramer have
something to do with the sheriff’s death?

“I’m on it,” Hugh said.

Joe climbed out of the company sedan.
He’d picked the one he used last night and could smell the scent of
Jessica’s perfume in the air. He’d left her safely sleeping at the
clinic. One telepathic call from Dr. Rick and he’d Shadow Walk to
her. Moving through space and time like that had its uses. Of
course, you always needed a shadow to enter the dimension, but in
most cases one wasn’t hard to find.

He walked up to the apartment building
where Fred had lived and found the listing for the manager.
Security cameras monitored the front entrance. Joe wondered what
other security measures were in place.

“Manager,” a voice came out of the
speaker.

“Mr. Johnson. I made an appointment.
It’s Joe Running Bear.”

“Come right in. I’ll be there in a
moment.” The gate buzzed open and Joe went inside a courtyard with
a pool in the middle. Apartment doors faced the square on three
floors. Several people took advantage of the sun and lounged on the
chairs around the pool. An older man wearing a white T-Shirt and
plaid shorts hurried toward him. Smiling, he offered his hand. “Mr.
Running Bear, Fred spoke of you often. It came as quite a shock
when we learned of his death.”

“It shocked all of us. Fred’s sister
is in town. I believe she made an appointment to pick up a key to
Fred’s apartment. I’m afraid she got in an accident and will need a
couple of days to recover. She asked me to pick up the key for
her.”

“Of course, this way.” The man led Joe
to the stairs down the corridor. “I feel terrible about making her
move things out by the end of the month.” The man panted up the
stairs. “But I have a new tenant that wants the place. I offered to
have everything moved into a pod for her, but she said she wanted
to go through things herself.”

They reached the second floor and the
man walked down the balcony. “Fred was such a nice man. He helped
so many of his neighbors while he lived here. We all miss him.” He
stopped in front of an apartment almost in the middle of the
building. Going through the ring of keys from his pocket, he found
the correct one and went to put it in the lock. As he pushed in the
key, the door swung open.

“What? That’s not right. I came in
here two days ago. I know I locked the door.”

He pressed the door open the rest of
the way and chaos greeted them. The apartment had been
tossed.

“Mr. Johnson. Call the
police, please.” Jessica would
not
like this.

“I don’t understand. Who
would do this?”
Who indeed, and why
now?

The manager walked over to the phone
on the wall and called 911. Joe looked around the apartment while
Johnson talked to the operator. Everything had been removed from
shelves and drawers. Whoever did this took their time. He glanced
in the bedroom. A note was stuck to the door with a knife. Someone
had written “Get out of town, or else” in red bold letters. A
strange symbol was printed on the bottom of the page. It looked
like a scythe. Joe pulled out his cell phone and took a picture of
the note.

“Mr. Running Bear? The police are on
the way.”

“You said you came in here two days
ago?” Joe asked.

“Yes, I showed the apartment to a
young woman. She liked the security around the place. I even showed
her the hidden cameras on each floor. A burglar can’t disable a
camera he doesn’t know about.”

“No, he can’t. Do you keep recordings
of who comes and goes, Mr. Johnson?”

“Yes, yes. My security company keeps a
record. I never see them, you understand. It’s all done
remotely.”