Savage Rage (20 page)

Constantly underestimated. “I didn't. . . .” Jack looked from Manny to Jenny, the two people he trusted the most. If he couldn't be honest with them . . . He drew a deep breath, let it out slowly. “All right. Ever since Sy died, I've had a problem with knives. I dream about them and when I found that one today it shook me. I imagined what would happen if he pulled it out when I was that close.”

“He would have died, dude. That's what.”

Jack snorted, just shy of laughing. “I know. So that's all it was. That and a bit of stress brought in from home. And no, we don't have to go into that.”

Jenny and Manny exchanged a glance then nodded and Jack suddenly felt the little discussion had been far from spontaneous.

“You guys satisfied?” he asked.

“Dude, we're concerned, that's all.”

“What type of friends would we be if we weren't?” Jenny hugged him. Jack preferred hugging her when there weren't two Kevlar vests between them. “You've been through a lot, you idiot.” She touched his newest scar lightly. “We would've been stupid not to ask how you are.”

“Thanks, guys. I appreciate the concern.” Time to change the topic. “Now it's your turn to answer a question. How come you're so happy?”

“I,” she announced proudly, “have a date tonight.”

“This the same guy you mentioned last week?”

Jenny nodded happily and for an instant the cop disappeared and Jack saw her as the beautiful woman she was.
Lucky bastard.

Manny had to ask. “He's not a cop, is he?”

She grimaced. “Fuck, no.”
Yeah, party girl. Riiiight.
“And he's not a fireman or paramedic.”

“Well, that eliminates the obvious. What does he do?”

“Computer stuff. He has his own business, but I don't understand it.” She waved that away, unimportant. “I'm meeting him after work. He's taking me to this amazing Japanese restaurant.”

“Is it just me,” Jack asked, turning to Manny, “or is she acting like some giddy little schoolgirl?”

“She is.” Manny leaned in conspiratorially but spoke loud enough for Jenny to hear. “I think someone's getting lucky tonight.”

She smiled slyly. “Maybe. It is the fifth date and I really like him. If dinner goes well, we may just end up back at my place.”

Very lucky bastard.
“Well, I hope all goes according to plan.”

Jack had gathered that Jenny didn't have the greatest luck when it came to relationships. He figured guys saw just the physical side of her and were shocked when they discovered she was smart as well as attractive. And, being a 51 copper, she probably wasn't used to taking the submissive role in a relationship. He doubted most guys, cops or not, could handle the woman being the dominant one. He smiled. If he was single, he figured he could take being dominated by Jenny for a bit. Okay, more than a bit.

She caught him daydreaming. “What are you smiling about?”

“Oh, nothing you need to hear about.”

The can of Diet Coke hit the dispensing slot with a tinny clunk. Jack gratefully ran the cold can across his brow before popping the tab and downing a huge swallow. Fuck, what a day. Scratch that. What a fucking weekend. First the poor bastard who got his head smooshed, then the fight with Karen, and he capped off the day by almost killing some crackhead with a knife.

Jack summed up the day by ripping loose a satisfying belch.

“My thoughts exactly.” Jenny stomped into the lunchroom and angrily dumped her purse and jacket into a chair.

The lunchroom was right above the parade room and its twin in size and shape but with larger windows in the south-facing wall. Despite the extra glass, the room was dim in the late winter/early spring evening light. Jack could clearly see that Jenny looked as pissed as she sounded. Gloomy light or not, foul mood or not, she still managed to flutter Jack's heart by the simple sight of her.

Her jeans were still new enough to have that dark blue colour yet hugged her hips with an enticing familiarity. Her belted blouse was that deep indigo a summer sky could hit just before the setting sun painted it in colours. Her hair tumbled in soft raven waves to her waist; her blue eyes flashed crystal fire.

What did Sy call her? A siren?
Jack fully understood what his old partner had meant. She was the type of woman men would gladly sign over their mortgages for.

“Can I have a sip?”

“Huh?” Jack realized he had been staring and shook his head to clear his thoughts. It almost worked. “Sorry?”

Jenny pointed to the Coke. “Can I have a sip?” If she noticed his mental fugue, she didn't mention it.

“Oh. Sure.” He passed her the can and watched, mesmerized, as her lips touched the wet metal.
Easy, Jack. You're a married man.
Her tongue slipped out to wipe those amazing lips.
A married man who's pissed at his wife, so shut up.

“Thanks.” She handed him his drink. “Everything okay? Do I have something on my face?” She raised a tentative hand.

“Um, no. I've just never seen you wear lipstick before.”

“Big load of good it'll do me.” She hopped onto one of the metal tables running the length of the room, kicked her booted feet.

Jack was reminded of the abrupt twitching of an angry cat's tail. “Thought you had a date tonight.”

“So did I.” More foot twitching. “But Richard had other plans.” She might as well have hissed the words.

“What did he do?” Jack felt an unreasonable flair of anger at a man he had never met.

“We had this great night planned and he didn't know the half of it.”

Another flair in Jack, this time . . . jealousy? “Yeah.” His throat hitched a bit. Just a bit. “It was supposed to be
the
night.”

“Well, he can forget that,” she snapped.

Jack eased in next to her, resting his butt against the table. “What did he do?” he asked again, handing her the Coke.

Jenny smiled her thanks, then sucked back a healthy gulp. She passed the can back in time to cover her mouth before croaking out her own carbonated belch.

“Sorry. Guess my stomach's a little unsettled.”

“Because. . . ?”

“He called me. Not ten minutes ago. I was still getting dressed.” She flapped her hands in useless frustration at her clothes. “We were supposed to have this special night and he cancels on me. And do you know why?” She caught his eyes with hers and Jack thought he had never seen anything so beautiful. He managed to shake his head. “A buddy of his called him up with hockey tickets. He cancelled on me for the fucking Leafs.” It was her turn to shake her head. “I mean, I could understand it if they were in the run for the playoffs, but they're done for the season. I doubt any of the top players will even dress for the game.”

“That sucks.” As soon as the words were out, he cringed.
Way to go, Jack. That sounded really intelligent.

But apparently Jenny thought it was appropriate. “Yeah, it does suck.” She hung her head and her face slid behind a curtain of glossy hair. Her feet stopped twitching. Her anger was spent. “What are you still doing here?” she asked after a moment.

“I'm not exactly in a hurry to get home, so Manny and I are heading out for wings and some cider.” He dropped his voice conspiratorially. “Don't tell him I told you, but that industrial accident yesterday really got to him. I think he just needs to talk for a while.”

Jenny patted his thigh and a thrill flashed through him. “You're a good friend, Jack.”

“Why don't you come with us?” he suggested with a hopeful smile. “We can take turns crying on each other's shoulder.”

She swept her hair back with a smile. “You wouldn't mind?”

“Hell, no. Misery loves company.”
Another good one, Jack.

She gave his thigh a quick squeeze. “You are one of the good ones. I hope Karen knows that.”

Before Jack could answer, Manny bounced into the room. “Not interrupting anything, am I?”

Jenny slid her hand seductively up Jack's thigh. “I was just telling Jack why he should dump you and work with me.”

Manny glanced at her hand caressing Jack's leg, then smiled at her. “Well, you do have some assets I don't,” he conceded, “but Jack loves me and would never leave me. But you can have him tonight if you want.”

“I thought we were grabbing some drinks?”

“Sorry, dude, but my girlfriend called. I told her about yesterday and she's waiting for me wearing nothing but chocolate sauce.”

Jack laughed. “I hope she waits until you get there to pour it on, otherwise she'll be a bit of a mess by the time you arrive.”

“No worries, dude. She knows how long it takes me to get home, so she'll put it on her —”

Jenny shot up a hand. “Whoa, I don't need to know.”

Manny smiled. “Like you've never used chocolate.”

She held up both hands suppliantly. “I didn't say that,” she admitted with a grin. “I just don't need to picture you covered in chocolate sauce. I might not be able to ever look at another sundae again.”

Manny grinned, a grin that wiped away the day's trauma, at least temporarily. “You don't mind if I bail, do you, Jack?”

And the amazing thing about Manny was that Jack knew if he said he really needed to talk, to shake off the memories from this shitty day, Manny would call his girlfriend and postpone without a second thought. Not that he didn't want to indulge in some chocolate fun — from the way he was bouncing on his toes, chocolate fun was the only thing occupying his thoughts — but if Jack needed a friend he'd be there. No questions asked.

How anyone can not like this guy is beyond me.

Jack waved Manny on his way. “Go, man. You don't want the chocolate to get all runny.”

“Thanks, dude. I owe you. See you guys tomorrow.” With that, he was gone, nothing but a slap of shoes running down the half flight of stairs to the back door.

“They grow up so fast,” Jack said wistfully. “So, what do you say, my dear? You still up for some wings even if it's with just me?”

Jenny smiled at him and his heart melted. “You want to take one car or two?”

The bar was in the division's south end and a favourite watering hole for end-of-shift parties. This being Sunday, Jack and Jenny were the only cops in the place. They were in a corner booth, well away from the crowd and their noise at the bar. Jenny was sipping a beer, and Jack held a cold bottle of cider lovingly between his hands.

“Manny really got you hooked on those, didn't he?”

Jack took a swig, then nodded. “Yup. I don't think I've had a beer since that beach party last year.”

“That was the one where Sergeant Pembleton had you burn those gloves, right?”

“It was,” he said simply, then thought about that night. The night the division's coppers had said goodbye to a brother and friend. The night war had been declared on anyone daring to wear black leather gloves in honour of a cop killer. A killer who died at Jack's hands. God, he missed Sy.

As if reading his thoughts, Jenny raised her glass. “To Sy.”

Jack smiled, a little sadly, and tapped the neck of his bottle to her glass. “To Sy.”

They drank in companionable silence until the basket of wings arrived, half honey garlic for him, half suicide for her. Over the food, they did what coppers always did: they talked about the job.

“That was a pretty gruesome scene at the industrial accident,” Jenny commented, then nibbled at a wing.

Jack devoured his wings; Jenny took them apart with small, meticulous bites. It let her thoroughly enjoy the hot sauce, she said.

Jack nodded in agreement. “Poor bastard. I've never seen anything like it. Funny, though. The call came over for a man fallen behind a truck and Manny and I both think, ‘Okay, guy got hit by a truck. No big deal.' When we get there, everyone's running around in a panic, but I'm still thinking it's just a guy who needs to go to the hospital or something. Then I walk around to the back of the truck and he's lying there without a head.”

“That's one of those ‘I see' moments.”

“That's for sure.” Jack hooked another wing and tore off a strip of meat.

“What are you grinning at?”

“Was I?” Jack sucked the last of the meat from the bones and tossed them aside. “Just thinking how Sergeant Johanson says you know you aren't a rookie anymore when you can have lunch with a corpse.”

“We're not exactly eating with the corpse right now,” she pointed out.

Jack shrugged. “Close enough.”

“Was Manny really upset by it?” The concern in her voice was genuine and it touched Jack. A lot of cops would have seen Manny's reaction as weakness.

“I think he was. And it wasn't the sight of it. We've all seen our share of gross things. I think it was the whole situation, you know? Suicides and homicides are one thing, but this . . . it was just sad, really. A sad, stupid way to die.”

“How about you? You okay?”

He shrugged again. “I've seen worse.”

“No, you idiot,” she derided with a smile. “How are things with Karen? Have you talked to her today?”

“Nope.” Jack wiped his fingers with a napkin, then wadded up the paper and tossed it in among the chicken bones.

“What are you going to say when you get home?” Jack had given Jenny and Manny a brief recounting of the discovery he had made that morning.

His face twisted and he shrugged again. It was his day for shrugging. “To tell you the truth, Jenny, I really don't feel like going home. I'm just way too pissed off.”

Jenny smiled sympathetically. “You have to go home sometime.”

“Yeah, I know, and I will, but . . .” He didn't have the words to express what he was feeling.

Jenny reached across the table to take his clenched hands in hers. “Tell me how you feel.”