Shielded In The Shadows

Which meant that she couldn’t.

Whatever he’d done...clearly it hadn’t been prosecutable. Not on a felony level. He wouldn’t have his job if it had been. And therefore, it was none of her business—her shadow side be damned.

* * *

Jayden didn’t talk about his past. It had happened. He couldn’t change it. Whatever condemnation he deserved, he gave himself. Every single waking minute of every single day.

And whatever commiseration or understanding his telling might possibly elicit, he didn’t deserve it.

His friend, a guy who’d looked up to him, was dead, because of him. And part of Jayden had died, too. It was just that simple.

And that tragic.

Even more upsetting to him at the moment was how close he’d come to telling Emma Martin about it. He couldn’t even comprehend the temptation to tell her.

“Did you ever hear from that counselor at The Lemonade Stand? About Suzie Heber?” He had to get things back on track. And get home. Crack one of those beers. Find a comfortable position in his chair and maybe get some sleep.

“Yes.” Emma pulled a sheet from beneath the yellow legal pad in front of her. “Here are approximate time frames Bill is suspected of having been in the area. This is based on when Suzie said she fell, but also on other things she said. Times she was upset, or just not herself. A day she didn’t make it into work, but said she wasn’t sick. As well as doctor reports. She’s been to the ER twice in the past three months and also to see her regular physician and her chiropractor.”

“All of this has happened in the last three months,” he noted, looking at the information she’d printed out for him. He just couldn’t believe Bill was responsible. And yet...clearly someone was hurting Suzie and it made sense that Bill would be a suspect. The incidents had started after his parolee’s release...

“She claims that all of the ailments stem from a fall that has created issues that have caused other falls. She hurt her foot and says she stumbles a lot, but all medical reports say the same thing—the injuries aren’t ones you’d sustain on your own. They’re blunt force caused mainly by human hands and, on occasion, a fist.”

“Is there evidence of a foot injury?” he asked, feeling the tension grow within him as he listened. It sounded as though things were escalating, and if Suzie was being hurt, as apparently all medical personal reported, they had to get the guy before he killed her.

“Yes, a cracked bone that is healing incorrectly. It appears, from bruising, that someone grabbed it and deliberately twisted it.”

“That broke it?”

“No, that was after the initial injury.”

Good God. Just to be sure, he pulled out his phone. Checked his app. Bill was at work. Right where he belonged. Half an hour south of Santa Raquel.

But that didn’t mean Suzie was safe.

“I’m assuming they’re doing something for her foot now? So that if it was causing her

to fall, that won’t keep happening?”

“Yes. Eventually she’ll probably need surgery, but they have her in a boot.”

He glanced down at her list. “I’ll check all of this tonight against the app. And head to Heber’s neighborhood in the morning to check out ice cream vendors.”

She nodded. Smiled. He didn’t smile back.

“You want to go get some dinner?”

Her question knocked him out of line. She’d very clearly blown off his advance the night before. And he...

Had work to do.

Jayden looked at her, knowing he had a beer waiting in his refrigerator.

“Are you seeing anyone?” He repeated the question she’d ignored the night before, expecting her to back away again.

“No.”

“Then yes, I’d like to get some dinner.”