Chapter 10
This was his chance. The Indian slut had left the house as if in flight and by the looks of the still drawn curtains in the rooms, Jake concluded that the guy living with her was still asleep. Jake was well prepared for the invasion of her house, he had a credible disguise and on account of that it would be easy to gain access.
In taut anticipation Jake got out of his car and grabbed the clipboard from the passenger seat. He donned the cap and pulled it deep over his eyes. Then he approached the front door of the house and drew a deep breath. His arm went up and he started banging on the door.
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Joe was bothered by strange feverish dreams. He had seen fleeting images of Julia, but then she was gone all of a sudden. He had to find her. But he felt so terribly sick, his head and his throat hurt, and now the pain was even radiating up to his ears.
He had drifted off again into sleep when a steady pounding permeated his clouded perception. He couldn´t place the sound, turned over to block it out. It didn´t stop. Finally he slowly surfaced. This could only be Levon, that Texan always raised hell when he wasn´t ready for work. That pounding…
It was continuing, persistantly and loud. Ok, he might as well get up to answer that call. With an enormous effort Joe sat up and the room around him started to spin. For an instant he held on to the comforter and tried to breathe easy. Without the cover he felt cold and his hand searched the bed, getting hold of a heavy toweling bathrobe. He got to his feet and dragged the bathrobe behind himself, aimlessly stumbling towards the hammering sound. On his way down the hall he tried to put on the bathrobe and at last he managed it, even tying the belt fairly well. He faintly wondered why the whole place didn´t look familiar. Then he was at the door and opened it, the blinding light making him sneeze violently.
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Jake had thought he was well prepared. But the picture before him took him completely by surprise. He recognized the guy, it was the man he had seen in the garden. But this time the man looked different. He was clad in a ridiculous flowery bathrobe, probably dating back to the fifties. His eyes were red and the stubble on his cheek indicated that he hadn´t shaved for at least two days. His hair was in total disarray and the moment he opened the door a massive sneezing fit seized him.
When the sneezing stopped the guy blinked into the blinding sunlight. "Yeah?" he croaked in a hoarse voice.
Jake tried to focus and remember what he had planned to do. But somehow he had imagined the situation to be completely different. It would be easy to overpower that man, he was in a sorry state, that much was obvious. But dealing with an opponent so far below his own capacity wasn´t his style, it just wasn´t fun.
"I am looking for Miss Johnson," Jake said businesslike. "I am from the local power supplier. I have an appointment with Miss Johnson to check her appliances." Ostentatiously he scanned the clipboard he was carrying.
"Who?" Joe looked dumbstruck. "Oh, yeah." He turned back towards the hall, hesitating for a moment as he finally realized where he was. But where was Lexie? "I don´t know… where she is I mean." He was wrecking his clouded brain but the fever was making it impossible to think straight.
"Listen, I could check the appliances even though Miss Johnson isn´t in. Then I wouldn´t have to come again and that would spare the lady the extra cost." Jake smiled reassuringly.
Joe wiped the sweat from his forehead with his right hand while his left grabbed the doorframe to steady himself. "Yeah, if you don´t need me for that, I´d like to lie back down, I don´t feel so well…"
"Yeah sure, don´t worry, I´ll find my way around. These houses are all the same," Jake laughed, making a step into the house as Joe retreated down the hall and disappeared into the dark bedroom.
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That had been easy. Jake looked around the kitchen. He stepped up to the stove and took a look at the main power connections. He rummaged around for a while and then stopped, listening attentively for any sounds from Lexie´s lover. But the house was utterly quiet. Cautiously he went from one room to the next. He peeked into the small bedroom, finding the guy in the single bed, apparently asleep. The adjacent room was obviously Lexie´s bedroom. Quietly Jake sat down on the bed. He opened the drawer of the nightstand and lifted a few sheets of paper.
Wow, there right in front of him was the cut-up lingerie he had sent her. And there was a gun. So she was expecting him. He grinned. Pity that she had gone out instead of waiting for him. From the corner of his eye he saw her nighty lying on the bed. He reached out and pulled it to his face, drew in her smell as he closed his eyes. Immediately he felt aroused. But the sexual excitement was tainted with fierce anger, anger he knew could only be released in a violent confrontation with the object of his desire. He slid the gun into his jacket pocket and closed the drawer again.
Back in the kitchen he pulled a sheet of paper from the clipboard and scribbled something down. He folded it and laid it on the kitchen table.
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Lexie shut the door behind herself and immediately headed for Joe´s bedroom. She had felt uneasy about leaving him alone for so long. But it had been essential, indispensable even to get vital medication for him as soon as possible.
She entered the dark bedroom and it took some time for her eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. The patient was buried in a tangle of blankets and scarfs. Only the shock of near black hair was visible. The sound of Joe´s breathing, however, was clearly discernible. It had a wheezing quality and it indicated that by now the infection had spread throughout Joe´s whole respiratory system.
She sat down on the edge of the bed and tried to get hold of Joe´s hand by burrowing into the tangled blanket. At last her hand touched his neck and chest and she could feel the searing heat of the fever on his skin. For an instance she wondered if it hadn´t been better to have taken Joe to a hospital instead of going out to get the meds for him.
"Joe, come on. I want to fix an IV to your hand." She got hold of Joe´s hand and pulled it out from under the blanket. Joe didn´t react. His extremities were frighteningly limp. Lexie pushed aside her fear and welcomed his passive state as a chance to administer the necessary treatment. She took the IV from her bag and slid the needle into the back of Joe´s hand. A strip of adhesive tape kept it in its place. She hung the bag with the fluid onto the floor lamp. For a while she watched Joe´s face but she searched in vain for a change or reaction.
Then she realized that Joe´s lips were dry and chapped from the fever. She got up and fetched some balm from her medicine bag. She dipped her pinky finger into the small vessel and cautiously applied the balm to Joe´s lips. Her thoughts had drifted away when Joe suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"Jules, Jules, don´t leave me alone again. Please, don´t go away." His grip was almost painful.
Lexie set the balm aside and got hold of his hands, trying to stop his movements to prevent him from tearing out the IV drip. "Joe, please, stay calm." She began to chant softly, a melodic tune her mother and her grandmother had sung when she had been a child. At the same time she ran her fingers through his hair. It had a soothing effect and while Joe held on to her other hand he continued to mumble: "Jules, why did you do that to me, why, tell me…" Then his speech became slurry and the words unintelligible as he nodded off again.
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"HPD, Sergeant O´Brian speaking. How can I help you?" Levon´s long legged blonde colleague with the nickname "Legs" had picked up his persistently ringing phone.
"I´d like to speak to Levon Lundy, please."
"Sorry, he´s not in right now. Is this about a case?"
Lexie hesitated, then she resigned. "Could I speak to Mr. Lundy´s superior instead?"
"Yes, sure, hang on. I´ll put you through."
There were a few crackling sounds on the line before another female voice spoke. "Lieutenant Beaumont speaking."
Lexie drew a deep breath. "I´m Dr. Johnson. I´m currently taking care of Joe LaFiamma."
There was a short pause, then Joanne Beaumont asked: "Did you say doctor? Something wrong with Joey?"
"Yes, I´m sorry, there is in fact something wrong with him. He´s down with a serious strep throat infection. I understand that he was supposed to be back at work on Monday?"
"Yes, that´s when his leave will end." There was a moment´s hesitation in the lieutenant´s voice. "Does this mean he won´t be coming back next week? We are terribly short of staff right now."
"There´s no way Joe can go back to work on Monday, he´s way too sick. I´ll send you a note."
"Ok." Joanne´s voice indicated that she was not at all pleased. "But I don't actually need a doctor´s note. Joe is on unpaid leave right now. But thanks for letting me know."
"Oh, I wasn´t aware of that," Lexie replied, then hesitated. "Could you please tell Levon Lundy about Joe and ask him to call me?"
"Levon doesn´t know yet?"
"No, I couldn´t reach him yet. Perhaps he could come to see Joe on the weekend."
Joanne wondered where Joe actually was right now. "I´m afraid Levon can´t take any time off right now. As I said, we are extremely short of staff…"
"Oh, yes, I understand. Then it would be kind of you to just relay the message."
"Of course."
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The repeated failure to reach Levon frustrated Lexie. After checking that Joe was still asleep, she at last headed for the kitchen to have a belated breakfast. She made herself some toast and coffee and sat down at the kitchen table. As she put down the steaming mug her gaze fell on a folded sheet of paper. Casually she picked it up and unfolded it. Recognizing the familiar hand she gasped as she took in the message.
Don´t worry, it won´t be long now, my love
Instantly her hand began to shake and the letters blurred before her eyes. She could hardly breathe, and she felt a trickle of sweat run down her spine. The minutes passed and she didn´t dare to move.
She could not say how much time had passed. At last, when no hand had been placed on her shoulder and no hot breath had tickled the skin on the back of her neck, she got up and slowly went from one room to the next, always expecting to find Jake standing behind this door or in the shadow of that wardrobe.
Where had the sheet of paper come from? There was only one answer: Jake had put it there, Jake had entered the house, God knew how.
As sheer terror quickened her heartbeat she hurried to her bedroom and sank onto the bed. She opened the drawer of the nightstand and lifted the papers. There was nothing underneath, the gun was gone. He must have taken it. Her chest felt painfully constricted and she unsuccessfully tried to contain her fear. But her despair broke free with a violent sob which she could not suppress.
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Her tears had been almost spent when a sound from the door made her start up. Joe was standing there, slumped against the doorframe, one arm half raised to hold up the half empty IV bag.
Lexie jumped up to meet him: "Joe, you mustn´t get up, please, lie back down." She steered him back towards the guest room, slipping his arm over her shoulder to support him. Joe let himself be pulled along but when she pushed him onto his bed he got hold of her and pulled her down with him.
"Lexie, what´s wrong? Why are you crying?" His hand wiped the tears from her face.
"It´s nothing, Joe, really." But as another sob broke free he pulled her to rest against his chest.
"Shhhh," he tried to console her, though his voice was hoarse and almost failed. His hand soothingly stroked her back and hair. "Is this about me? You needn´t worry, I´ll be alright."
"No, no," she uttered between sobs. "He was here, he took my gun."
Joe held her at arm´s length. "Who was here, what gun?"
Lexie drew a ragged breath and tried to compose herself. "My ex, he´s stalking me. He must have been here, he left a note on the kitchen table."
It took Joe´s muddled brain several moments to work out what she was talking about. As comprehension hit him he reluctantly conceded his part in the incident. "There was someone here from the local power supplier. He wanted to check things. He said he had an appointment." Joe looked devastated as he realized just how gullible he had been. He knew that his state was no excuse for acting carelessly. "I´m sorry Lexie, I let him in and I went back to bed, because I felt so sick." He hugged her in an attempt to comfort her.
But she broke free and wiped her face with the back of her hand. "It´s not your fault, Joe. I should never have left you alone." She jumped up and rushed to her room, pulling out a travel bag from under the bed. In a frenzy she started to pull clothes from the wardrobe and stuff them into the bag. Joe had followed her and in a spell of dizziness clung to the doorknob.
When she saw him pale she abandoned the packing in favor of rushing to his side to steady him. "Oh God, Joe, I´m sorry. I tried to reach Levon to ask him to come down so we wouldn´t be on our own anymore. But I couldn´t reach him. Perhaps I should call the police." She went to the phone.
"Wait," Joe croaked. "Don´t lose your head, calm down. What exactly did the guy do that you´re so spooked?" His cop instincts were kicking in, despite the fever his brain tried to follow a logical course.
At once Lexie was torn between feeling terrified and embarrassed. She didn´t want to admit that she had become a victim, just like many of her former patients had been in one way or another. Never would she have guessed to get into such a situation herself, to change sides so drastically. She swallowed hard before she uttered through clenched teeth: "He harassed me in the meanest way and then…" she was hardly able to say it aloud, "…then he beat me." She blushed, ashamed to put her ordeal into words. "I had two broken ribs, assorted bruises and a black eye."
"Damnit, that bastard," Joe drew her into his embrace again. "I´m so sorry."
The extensive and close body contact made Lexie realize Joe´s body temperature. She withdrew and felt his forehead. "Joe, you need to lie back down." At first he protested but she pulled him towards his bedroom and as he sank back against the pillow a half suppressed moan escaped his lips. Lexie checked the IV needle and hung the bag back up. Then she sat down on the edge of the bed and offered him the thermometer. He slipped it under his tongue and closed his eyes.
Joe had almost fallen asleep when Lexie cautiously retrieved the measuring device three minutes later. "Still 104, how are you feeling?"
"Great," he mumbled, his voice raspy and almost failing.
"How are your ears?"
"Better."
"Don´t lie to me, Joe."
"No, really, they don´t hurt anymore." He tried to smile, but the expression was half-hearted and slightly lopsided as he added: "Really, my ears are better, but the rest of my head hurts like hell."
"Huh huh, you can´t be that sick if you´re still up to a joke. Now go back to sleep." She got up to leave.
"What about your ex?" Joe called after her.
She turned around in the door, trying to keep her face straight. "I guess he just wants to scare me. He´s very good at such things." She did not want to burden Joe with her own private problems but she wasn´t sure she could fool him. "I think I should once more try to reach Levon." She refrained from relaying Lieutenant Beaumont´s message about not being able to spare Levon. Instead Lexie switched off the light and left the door slightly ajar.
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How could he have been such a fool. Jake´s foot kicked at the waste paper basket in his motel room. It would have been a piece of cake to overpower Lexie´s new lover and he, Jake the idiot, had let the chance pass by. He had already spent far too much time tracking down the slut, watching her and trying to figure out how to take his revenge on her. He was itching to get back at her but his impatience was clouding his judgment.
Though he was angry with the man who now shared her life, Jake suddenly felt pity for the guy. He was just another victim of that depraved woman. He wondered how many lives she had destroyed before he had met her. Well, that was about to end soon. With new resolve he picked up the car key and headed out of the motel room.