Girl Jacked (2 page)

She lifted her chin. “Collins thinks I can handle things by myself now.”

Lie.

“Really?” Jack raised an eyebrow.

“And… Donald called in sick.” She blushed.

“Don’t rush solo. Maybe we can team up again soon.” Jack winked and headed up the steps. “I have to go back in and talk to the bartender. Thanks for the backup.”

She lingered and watched him go. “Jack, I’ll watch your
ass
anytime,” she laughed before heading to her cruiser.

Jack wrapped up the interview in the bar as quickly as he could. It was easy since no one wanted to say anything anyway. After he had finished, he walked back to his cruiser and made a mental note:
Order some extra-large handcuffs.

He muddled through the monotonous paperwork at the station and finally pushed away from the desk. Glancing at the clock, he grinned.

Great! I’ll be home before 2:00 am.

He finished his shift thinking about the night’s events and then headed out to his car with a smile still clinging to his face.

“You suck!” she yelled.

 The echoes from the slamming door blended with the shudder that rippled along the paper-thin walls. Jack tossed his keys onto the kitchen counter and didn’t turn around.

Anniversary, birthday, some promise…

He ran down a list of possible screw-ups but drew a blank.

I haven’t been on a bender in a while, so it’s not that. No cheating. Take that off the list. Caught in a lie? You have to talk for that to happen, and Gina wasn’t much for conversation.
 Talking wasn’t quite why they were together anyway.

He smirked and then replayed the events of the last two minutes in his head.

I came home from patrol. Gina, probably just back from some bar, is standing in the middle of the crappy open plan living room with her hands on her hips. Four inch heels, tiny miniskirt, silk top opened low to show off her cleavage, fake fur jacket that hugged her waist, a mane of blonde hair and topping it all off her shiny-ruby-red lips. She could be the cover girl of any hot-rod magazine, but as it is, she works for the beauty salon two blocks down. She throws her head back, bursts into fake tears and storms by. No bags. Pocketbook, but no bags. She might be back.

Jack shrugged and walked over to the refrigerator. His reflection brought him up short.

Stupid mirror. Who puts a mirror on a refrigerator? Gina. She said it would help her lose weight. She liked to eat, but she wasn’t fat.

As he looked into the mirror, his brown eyes became darker.

Way to go, Jack. Another one gone.

He was twenty-six, but he looked older.

Miles, too many miles and they were hard
.

Drinking, smoking, and he couldn’t remember the last vegetable he ate. Too little sleep and too much work; it wasn’t a shock that he looked rough. Gina dug that type of guy. She said it made him look dangerous.

Jack frowned.
Well, she might be back... No bags.

She had stormed out several times before over the last few months, but each time she returned. When she did, she was wild. His smirk broadened into a full smile as he thought about how badly they had trashed the bedroom the last time.

He pulled open the fridge and his smile disappeared along with any hope of food.

Nothing. Damn.

The only things on the top two shelves were spots where something long ago had spilled and an empty bottle of spiced rum. He had figured there would be leftovers or something, but there were only a couple of open cans and some condiments. Gina wasn’t much for keeping a well-stocked kitchen and he wasn’t much for keeping the rum bottle full.

Now he was hungry, tired and it was the middle of the night. He started to debate going back out to pick something up when he saw the front door was open. It wasn’t the first time it had rebounded from Gina slamming it.

Stupid lock. No way am I asking Mrs. Stevens to get it fixed. She was mad enough after the last time it got broken.

Jack trudged over to the door. It may have been the frequent slamming, but now you had to jiggle the handle for the front door to latch. He began fiddling with the knob and pushing in the latch until it popped back out.

He yawned, shut the door, turned around, and shrieked. He hadn’t sounded like that since he was a little kid. He had seen a lot in his life and thought he was beyond instant shock, but all of his training went out the window.

“You squeal like a baby,” laughed the pretty, teenage girl who stood in front of him wearing nothing but a towel.

Jack’s mouth fell open.

She moved closer. “You got nothing to eat and–”

“What the hell!”

Jack grabbed her by the arm, and before she realized it, he pushed her out the front door into the hallway and slammed the door behind her.

BANG! BANG! The walls shook. BANG!

Dammit! She must be slamming her whole body against the door.

Jack panicked when he thought about what would happen if someone found a young half-naked girl outside his apartment. When he yanked the door open, she charged headlong into the living room. She tripped, the towel flew off, and she was now naked, as she lay sprawled across the floor.

Jack heard loud thuds coming from down the hallway.

Just what I need!

Jack peeked out the door and saw an extraordinarily large woman in a flannel nightgown; her face flushed bright red, storming down the corridor. He ducked back inside and slammed the door. A few seconds later the stomping feet came to an audible stop just outside.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

The girl scrambled to her feet and slammed both hands into his chest.

“You suck!” she growled.

Caught off guard, Jack staggered back from the blow and crashed into the wall.

“Mr. Stratton, what is going on in there?” His landlady continued to beat on the door. “Was that a girl in the hallway?”

“What’s your problem?” the girl demanded as she looked around for the towel.

Jack was at a loss for words.

The nude girl shot an angry glare at him while his landlady huffed and puffed just outside the door.

“That’s it! That’s it Mr. Stratton! 
That is it!
You’ll be evicted this time!” With that threat, the landlady stomped off back down the hallway.

Jack stared at the girl and tried to keep his eyes on her face as he held up his hand sideways attempting to block his view of everything else. Her shoulder length, dark brown hair was dripping wet, but it was her piercing eyes that grabbed his full attention; emerald green with flecks of gold.

Jack blinked and tried to refocus.

“Who are you and why are you in my apartment?”

She gawked at him as she finished wrapping the towel back around herself. “You don’t remember me?”

The question freaked Jack out. He was a blackout drinker, but there was
no way
he would go anywhere near this young girl with a ten-foot pole.

“I’m Chandler’s sister.” She held his eyes and stood defiant before him.

Jack laughed. “Michelle is his sister!”

“So am I!” Her hands tightened into fists.

Jack opened then closed his mouth. He tried to remember.

She was a little kid back then. She had worn her hair in a ponytail on top of her head and was always following Chandler and him around. She must have been ten or eleven. That would make her at least eighteen now.

“Replacement?” He said her nickname out loud, as he tried to reconcile his memories with the young woman who stood before him.

He could almost hear Chandler say ‘Leave it to my Aunt Haddie… We’re the only poor black family that goes and adopts a white kid.’

His pleasant recollection of his best friend faded when his memories changed.

Chandler’s dead. Died in Iraq
.

He turned away.

She just stood there glaring at him.

Jack sighed, “Sorry.”

“Sure. Jerk!” she spat.

Her tone forced him to turn around. A pair of blazing eyes ripped into him.

“Wait a minute. Why–”

“Hold on!” She turned and went into the bedroom. “I’m getting dressed.” She slammed the door just as she finished her sentence.

Jack’s eyes narrowed. Now he had a headache.

Chandler had been his best friend since elementary school, but he could barely remember Replacement. Chandler and he were about to graduate high school when Aunt Haddie brought her home from church one day. Chandler had said that’s why his Aunt Haddie took her in, so she could ‘replace him’ when he went in the army that summer.

That’s what they started calling her - Replacement.
She liked it so the nickname stuck.

Jack was eighteen by then but whenever he came over to Aunt Haddie’s for a visit, she had followed the two older boys around like a puppy. He always viewed Chandler and Michelle like his brother and sister but with Replacement, it was different. To Jack she was just another foster kid that came through the house.

Now she’s here. Why? Was something wrong with Aunt Haddie?

Haddie Williams had been Jack’s foster mother for four years before he was adopted. He could never forget the big black woman’s bright smile and sparkling eyes. She wasn’t his ‘real’ aunt, whatever that meant. She had taken him in when he was seven and loved him when he needed it most.
 

Jack walked over to the bedroom door and right before he was about to knock, it opened.

Replacement scowled and put her hands on her hips. She was petite, around 5’4”. She appeared small for an 18 year old. Her hair was still damp and she had put on a green and white dress.

She looks peeved but at least she’s decent.

Jack tried not to make a face. “Why are you here?”

“Aunt Haddie sent me. She said that you would help.”

Guilt washed over him.

I knew it. I should have gone to see her. I’ve been back in the area for over six months now but I hesitated… It’s been way too long.

“Aunt Haddie was your foster mother too,” Replacement continued. “She took care of you and she needs your help now.” She stuck her chin out.

Jack held his hands up. “I’ll try. What does she need help with kid?”

She stopped looking at him, her eyes seeming to search the room behind him for answers as if she was trying to figure out how to deliver her news.

“Michelle is gone. She’s missing.”

The words were like a kick in the gut and they took all the wind out of him. Michelle was his foster sister and friend. He was at Aunt Haddie’s when Chandler and Michelle had arrived. The three of them had quickly become inseparable, like the Three Musketeers. Even after Jack moved to his new parent’s house, they had still stayed close.

He always felt guilty that he had been adopted, but they never were. Part of that was because they were actually brother and sister, and they refused to let anyone separate them. It was hard enough to place one older kid, but to place two kids into one home was near impossible.

He also knew that part of it was because they were black and he was white. Jack hated that fact, but he could see it in the eyes of a lot of the couples who came by to adopt. Some beat around the bush, but he knew they wanted a little ‘white’ kid.

Jack’s back stiffened. “Gone? What do you mean, gone?”

He took a step closer to her. The hair on the back of his neck rose, and his chest tightened.

“We haven’t heard from her in over two weeks. She got accepted at White Rocks and then… I tried going up there, but when we went to the police…” She was like an engine that revved too high then sputtered out. Her eyes were welling up with tears.

Jack’s heart pounded, and he had to force himself to breathe. “Wait a second.” He held up a hand like he was directing traffic. “Michelle has to be… what twenty-four? Why was she going to White Rocks College?”

“She always wanted to go to college, but she couldn’t afford it. She got a work scholarship. It was her first year. She didn’t come home and…”

“Calm down. What day was she supposed to come home?” Jack coaxed.

“Four days before Christmas.”

“Okay. When you went to the police what did they tell you?”

 
“They investigated it and said she transferred to Western Tech out in California and just left. She wouldn’t do that! She wouldn’t just – go!” She threw her hands up. “She just started and got a full scholarship. Why would she just leave?”

“Did she ever talk to you about transferring?”

Replacement stamped her foot. “She didn’t! After Chandler died, do you think she would just take off to the other side of the country without telling anyone? Do you think she could do that to Aunt Haddie? Do you honestly think
Michelle
would just leave and not tell her?” Her eyes burned and her voice trembled.

No way.
Michelle was just like Chandler and to them family was everything. There had to be another reason…

“Why do you think I can help?”

There was a long pause as she stared at the floor. “Who says I do?” She raised her head, eyes blazing once more. “Aunt Haddie does. She says you’re a cop.
She
still thinks of you as family and you
were
Chandler’s best friend, for whatever that’s worth.”

He let that slight go; he deserved it. “Who’s handling the case?”

Jack was a third year deputy, and he had transferred to Darrington a little over six months ago. Besides, cops with a few years under their belt didn’t get missing person cases; they got to be the gophers for the detectives who did.

She thought for a minute. “Aunt Haddie filed a missing persons report in Fairfield County’s Sheriff’s Office. Then they asked someone over here to look into her last known address. They said his name’s Daven…Davenport.”

Joe Davenport was a detective in Darrington. He had a few years to go until he retired and right now, he was coasting to the finish line. Joe wasn’t a bad guy, but he was far more interested in fishing than police work.