When Sparks Fly (11 page)

She fell backward more than sat. “What
happened?”

Blue looked at Blackwing. “Someone broke in
and…I’m guessing here; Jean Luc and Brandy obviously can’t talk
yet…interrogated them. They have a few broken bones, and some lost
blood from strategic cuts. I think we might have interrupted
things, but I have to check the surveillance tapes to be sure. The
police are going to have loads of questions.”

Gem put her face in her hands, unable to
take everything in. Suddenly, a surge of strength surprised her.
She looked at Blue and said, “I need to be with her now.”

He started to shake his head, but she got up
from the couch and said, “They’ll have some forms for me at the
hospital; or the medics will. There’s always paperwork. And
I’ll…I’ll have to arrange for more protection. Protection for them
while they’re recovering….” It was so hard to think past the fog of
shock, but she needed to keep busy.

“Already done,” Chief Blackwing assured her.
“The local police will be guarding your sister and Jean Luc
twenty-four–seven, believe it. Gem, you need to think about going
somewhere quiet until this settles down.”

“Not now!” Gem snapped. “If I have to hire
ten men like Blue, I will. Someone just hurt my family and I want
to find out who. I’ll do whatever it takes. I’m glad to be
bait.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying,” Blue
spoke up, his voice harsh. “You haven’t seen Brandy.”

“Then let’s fix that,” Gem snapped. “She
needs me. Now.”

“What she needs is a full medical team and a
week of sleep,” he growled, but he allowed her out of the room and
followed.

Gem thought she was prepared, but her first
glimpse of the stretcher holding Jean Luc was bad. Even surrounded
by medics as he was, she caught sight of a deep slash that exposed
bone down the bartender’s cheek.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath,
then opened them in time to see her sister whisked by. Brandy’s
eyes were swollen shut, her nose was bloody; and that was just the
damage Gem saw in a quick glimpse as her sister was rushed past.
The rest was covered with blankets, so Gem’s imagination started
working overtime.

They traveled quickly to the hospital in a
rented transport. Blue sat with Gem in the waiting room for hours.
He didn’t say much, but he brought her hot drinks whenever she ran
out and a plate of food from the cafeteria. He ate most of it,
actually, but she got a little down and it steadied her.

A doctor explained what they were facing.
Brandy had a broken nose, a fractured jaw and several loose teeth.
She’d been choked, and every finger and some of the bones in her
hands were shattered. She had fractured ribs, internal injuries and
both of her shinbones had been broken. Dawn came and went before a
tired surgeon in burnt orange scrubs came out with more news. The
scrubs clashed with his sparse green hair.

“She’s heavily sedated,” he said, obviously
trying to be considerate in spite of his fatigue. “We’ve set all
the bones, but there’s going to be swelling, and you know that
bruises get uglier as they get better. The important thing is that
she’s alive and you’ll be able to talk with her, perhaps even
tomorrow. Today you can have a short visit, but no staying in her
room. The best thing you can do for her is to go home and get some
rest. I promise you, she won’t wake up before you do.”

Gem shook her head, but the doctor was
relentless. “Five minutes. Reassure yourself that she’s fine and
then come back tonight, or better yet, in the morning. I promise
you’ll have plenty of time to nurse her yourself when we send her
home.”

“Come on,” Blue said gruffly, pulling her
toward the ICU. “He’s right, and we both need to sleep.” He’d dozed
in his chair off and on, but his voice still sounded scratchy with
fatigue.

“I can’t sleep,” she said, though she felt
awful from lack of rest.

“A few slugs of whiskey will solve that,”
Blue assured her. “And remember, it could have been worse. She
could have been killed,” he warned as he opened the door to her
sister’s room.

Brandy did look awful, beyond recognition.
Though Gem wished she were awake and well, it was some comfort to
know Brandy wasn’t in pain. It was hard not to hold her hand. Her
attacker hadn’t left many places intact, so Gem stroked her
hair.

Tears burned her eyes. “Oh, Bran. Who did
this to you? And
why?”

They stayed until a nurse shooed them out.
Gem wasn’t walking too straight, so Blue put a steadying arm around
her waist. “Come on. We’ll go home, take a nap and then come back.
There’s a lot to do tomorrow.”

Gem rested her head on the transport’s seat
back on the ride home, exhausted, but once at The Spark she had no
interest in going to bed.

“We’ll cure that,” Blue promised, dragging
her into the kitchen. He got her a glass of water, then handed her
a pill. “It’ll make you sleep,” he promised.

She tried to hand it back. “I don’t want
it.”

“Take it. Trust me,” he said sternly,
closing her hand. “Staying up worrying won’t help right now. Get
some sleep so you can be of use to your sister.”

Gem narrowed her eyes. “Are
you
going
to sleep?”

“Absolutely,” he promised.

“Liar.” She swallowed the pill anyway,
knowing he wouldn’t give in until she had.

It seemed she had just gone to bed when
someone shook her awake.

“Eh? What?” she demanded, trying to roll
back over and snuggle down.

“Gem, you need to get up,” Blue’s voice
insisted. “There are some people who need to talk to you.”

She could feel the bed dip as he sat down,
so she rolled over and settled against the low point of gravity.
“No.” She snuggled against his thigh, hugging the warmth like a
stuffed toy. Sleep came nearer.

“Gem, this is not the time to nap,” he said,
peeling her hands off his leg. He quickly stood up. “Remember
Brandy?”

That woke her. In the odd moment before she
drifted out of sleep, she also realized something else. “Why have
you gone away?”

“What?” He frowned.

She rubbed a hand through her hair and
groggily threw the covers back. “You know what I mean. You’re here,
but you’re not like you were. You…you’ve changed.”

There was a moment of silence. “What do you
mean?”

“I
mean
…Oh, forget it.” She was
wearing a white sleep shirt. Nothing fancy, but it only came to
mid-thigh. She waved him out of her room. “Go. I need to change.
Was there anything good in the kitchen? I’m starving.”

She frowned at the door as it closed behind
him. He
had
changed. Not long ago he would have kissed her
senseless if he’d caught her abed, half-dressed, and she’d have
been lucky if he stopped there. Wistfully, she revised her
thoughts: “Lucky” might have been if he pushed a bit further. These
days he didn’t even flirt with enthusiasm. Either he was taking his
job way too seriously, or she’d lost her appeal.

Not that she could blame him. She closed her
eyes, fighting despair, which she didn’t have time for. Brandy
needed her, and she still had an inn to run.

Blue hadn’t enjoyed waking Gem up. Sleeping,
she was almost irresistible. Heavy-lidded and with tousled hair,
with her nightshirt riding up her thighs, the vision had been
almost more than he could handle. Professional or not, he didn’t
know how much more he could take. His attraction to the woman was
messing with his head.

He closed his eyes and rubbed his face.
Maybe Zsak was right. Maybe he did need to find a woman. A
different woman. But then he shook his head, knowing it was no
cure. If it were that easy, he wouldn’t be suffering right now.

He sighed and shook the idea out of his
head, finger-combing his hair back off his face. He had work to
do.

Gem was dry-eyed when she emerged from her
room, but her face felt stiff. The first thing she was going to do
was eat; then she’d go see her sister. Feeling better for having a
plan, she headed toward the kitchen…and found Blue at the bottom of
her stairs, looking carefully neutral.

“The
police
are here,” he said,
imparting information he’d clearly held back when first waking her.
“They want to ask you some questions.”

She closed her eyes and let herself slump
for a moment, then rallied. Blue and Blackwing had kept the local
police out of her hair last night, but now the piper had come to
call and be paid. Drawing a strengthening breath, she said, “Okay,
it’s got to be done. Have to eat first, though. Would you send them
to the dining room and offer them coffee? I’ll be with them as soon
as I can. Are they in the kitchen? Tell me when they’ve cleared
out, please.”

She waited until Blue gave her the
all-clear, then entered, sat down at one of the worktables and let
Jamir smother her with sympathy and pastries. Being around her own
people was just what she needed, and she drew strength from their
company.

Finally, fortified, she retreated to her
office and let Blue bring in the cops.

Chapter 9

Gem’s first glimpse of the tall, lanky
detective in the black narcotics uniform threw her. Long green hair
tied back in a ponytail framed a cold face marked by an old knife
wound that ran from forehead to temple. He was missing the tip of
one ear, and a crystal stud winked from the lobe, as if drawing
attention to the mutilation. Obviously the man’s main occupation
wasn’t riding an office chair.

Blue took up a station against the wall.
Arms crossed, he directed a cool look at the Narc’s two
intimidating comrades.

Gem rose automatically from her desk and
extended her hand, extending common courtesy. The Narc looked at
it, but made no move to take it. Puzzled and a little insulted, Gem
let her hand fall.

“I’m Captain Azor, and I’ve been assigned to
your case,” the man said in the deep, raspy tones of someone who
spent his days inhaling hellfire. “I have some questions for
you.”

“Okay.” Gem gestured for him to take a seat
and resumed hers. Reminding herself he was there to help, she
looked at Azor attentively. “Do you have any idea who might have
hurt my sister and Jean Luc?” In all the excitement, she’d almost
forgotten Jean, but she planned to visit him, too. She blinked as
she added the trip to her mental schedule. This was turning out to
be a jam-packed day, and it wasn’t even noon!

“We spoke with Jean Luc this morning,”
Captain Azor said coldly. “While he claims he didn’t know his
assailant, he gave us a general physical description. Short,
masked, with an unidentified accent. He was trying to get
information out of Jean by interrogating your sister. However…Jean
would not specify what the man wanted.”

Gem frowned. “Why not?”

Azor cocked a brow. “Perhaps because he
would implicate himself.”

Gem shook her head, still puzzled. “In
what?”

Azor leaned back and assessed her. “Are you
aware that there’s a drug investigation centered around your inn,
Ms. Harrisdaughter?”

Gem’s eyes bugged. “A what? That’s not
possible. I’m aware of everything that goes on around here!”

Blue snorted.

Gem glared at him, then turned the look on
the captain. “That’s not possible. You’ve got to be wrong,” she
added.

Azor gave her a cold stare. “Are you aware
that your sister is taking antidepressant drugs, Ms.
Harrisdaughter? You didn’t list them on her medical records last
night while filling out her paperwork. Her surgeons would have
found the information useful. Fortunately, they were in touch with
her current doctor. Thank goodness for small communities.”

Gem blinked, floored. She’d never heard of
such a thing, never suspected it.

Azor continued in a conversational tone that
still cut like a whip, “You’re a busy woman, Ms. Harrisdaughter,
that’s obvious, but maybe you should have looked into the
background of the man you chose to affiliate with. Your brewer has
a record of past narcotics violations as wide as your desk.
Distributing, suspected manufacturing; someone didn’t do their job
on that one; fraud…The list goes on. You did claim to know
everything that happens around here, didn’t you?”

The blood had drained from her face as he’d
recited the list. Now Gem stared at her desk, blinking in
disbelief. This cop was investigating The Spark, and she was smart
enough to know what that meant. If they thought she had anything to
do with this, she could lose her livelihood, her self-respect and
her home, all in one blow.

Azor inclined his head. “You should also
know that your sister Brandy is one of our main suspects.”

“No!” The word exploded from her in a burst
of rage and fear. Gem stood up. “You’re mistaken, Captain. My
sister would
never
sell drugs.”

Azor rose slowly to his feet. “You didn’t
know she was taking them, either.”

“Legal drugs,” she ground out. “And I can
understand why she wouldn’t tell me that.”

“Can you?” He handed her a slip of paper.
“This is a warrant to search the brewery and anything else on the
premises we deem necessary. I trust we have your full
cooperation?”

She couldn’t speak, could only stare at him,
hollow-eyed with shock. He tilted his head at her and left the
room.

Gem looked at Blue. “How could I not know?
And Brandy is taking medicine? How could I not know that?”

She shook her head. “You snorted when I said
I knew everything that’s going on around here. What else am I
missing?” She moved around her desk, then jerked to a halt when a
plan came to her. “Jean Luc! I have to talk to him.”

“He’s in custody, Gem. He wasn’t hurt
that
badly.” Almost reading her mind, he added, “And
Brandy’s got a fractured jaw. No talking. Broken hands; she can’t
write, either.”