Chapter 4

The remainder of the week followed a similar routine, except Jenson made no move to get me into the diner, and I did feel that I was working efficiently, hell I'd even made a start on scanning those files. It was the Friday morning when Jenson came from his office with a frown on his face that I could tell that something was wrong. My heart sped up thinking of all of the possible reasons for that but at the forefront of my mind was that he'd found out who I was. I was waiting sat at my desk ready for the disgust that I was sure was coming. He'd hate me just like everyone else did, then tell me that he didn't want me around. That he would think that I was to blame, just as everyone else had told me took its toll on me. I liked Jenson and the friendship that was developing and suddenly all of the worries started to grow.

"I can't find this damn witness"

I was close to letting out a sigh of relief as I realized that his annoyance wasn't directed at me. I knew that Jenson had been very busy working a case for a man who had been seriously injured working for a logging company trying to get compensation.

"I can do some searching for you"

Afterall it was the least that I could do to help, and I knew that Jenson was worried that the logging company were trying to weasel out of paying up.

"You can?"

"Yes, but I'll need access to the programs that you have"

To be honest it would give me something more interesting to do and I knew that Jenson was going to be spending time with Anya over the weekend. It would keep me occupied.

"Okay. I'll upload those apps onto a laptop"

It was Saturday morning when I started to look for the witness so started with the file that Jenson had saved to the laptop. The man who was injured lived locally with his wife, who was pregnant with their second child. Without his wage the family were struggling financially, especially as he only got paid for when he was working. They had no health benefits through work so I supposed that the medical treatment would have depleted any savings that they had and in fact from what Jenson had written they were already in debt. According to the information that Jenson had gleamed from the man, Oliver Barnes, he'd suffered from a broken leg that required a plate to fix it and it had happened when the logs on a lorry had rolled off and onto him.

Barnes had been using a grabber to load the logs and another man, Gruper, said that he'd secured the logs. The problem came when Gruper denied doing that so now the company were saying that Barnes was negligent and was himself responsible for the accident. Apparently, according to Barnes there was another worker present who saw and heard everything and could validate that Gruper was responsible for what had happened.

The problem arose when this witness couldn't be found. Gruper was a foreman, but the witness was just a temporary contractor, paid in cash, and unfortunately, he was only known by a nickname, Dax. Options for where this Dax had gone were numerous. There were sixteen logging companies up in Canada which weren't that far away and fifteen here in Washington State, far too many to contact and let's face it they might not keep a record of occasional workers.

Undeterred I sat with a sandwich that I'd made as I pondered what to do next. If I was someone who was looking for work how would I go about finding a job? Word of mouth maybe but also through advertising. I found three companies that were after temporary workers so made a note of their phone numbers.

Forty minutes later I had the location of who Dax was now working for, courtesy of the secretaries. Women were always aware of men who worked on site, especially when they were young and good looking like Dax. The company, Bekkevar, was located just outside a small town named Blyn so after calling up several places that advertised lodging, I was holding a piece of paper with a name and address for Jenson's witness.

I hadn't realized that I'd spent all day doing that work and as I went out onto the balcony that overlooked the river, I was considering how I felt about that. Yes, I was pleased that I could find the man, but I knew that I'd used so many skills that I'd had to use as Stephanie Plum. As a bounty hunter it hadn't always been easy to find an FTA, but I usually succeeded with that. It was the capture that usually held the most problems for me. Okay, I knew that an FTA usually didn't want to go back to court so would try to avoid me but how that had happened usually ended up disastrously for me. The ones who genuinely forgot weren't the problem, ones like Mooner or Eula, it was the low level villains who were unpredictable and maybe the old men who didn't think that what they had done warranted me to apprehend them. That was when I usually got myself into situations that warranted someone to help me out and yes, it was usually Ranger who always made sure that I was safe.

Then there were times that I'd worked at Rangeman, probably times when Ranger took pity on me due to my low finances. Rangeman was a security business that Ranger was CEO of along with his friends. Those searches were easy enough to do but usually boring, checking out future clients or sometimes new recruits. Did I want to get involved with this type of work again? It brought back a lot of memories even thinking about it and that had the more recent memories crashing down on me. I couldn't be that woman again and end up being responsible for someone being involved with me and badly hurt or worse. I needed to separate myself from that life, wasn't that what I'd been trying to do? Vanquish everything about Stephanie Plum from my life? Was doing a search for someone something that I wanted to do, was it too close to what I had done?

A sighed as I tried so hard to push those feelings down and decided that if this type of work for Jenson was a one off then it didn't really matter. I had felt a sense of accomplishment through what I'd managed to discover, for the first time in ages.

I turned at the door opening behind me and watched as Jenson walked out to join me, a glass of wine in his hand. Once he'd settled in the chair, I passed him the piece of paper then waited as he read it.

"I'm impressed. I didn't expect you to be able to find him and certainly not so quickly"

I acknowledged what Jenson had said, pleased that he didn't ask for any details as to how I'd managed to find his witness. Maybe that particular job had been a one off and I didn't need to worry about being asked again allowing me to try and shake my past.

"Fancy going over to Blyn and talking to this guy?"

"No"

Was my immediate reaction to being asked to do that. No way did I want to approach the man or even be in his immediate vicinity. Okay, I knew that he wasn't an FTA or dangerous, but the idea of actually finding a man that I'd researched had my whole body tensing. What if something happened? It would be my fault and I couldn't cope with the thought of that happening.

"It's not a good idea Jenson. Please don't ask"

I was back to looking out over the river my muscles tense as I waited for Jenson to say something.

"No problem, Chloe. When you're ready"

I wasn't sure what he meant by that. Was he referring to me going out with him when he spoke to people or about my life before he stumbled across me? There was no way that I could tell him what had happened to make me run away as I had done, I was too ashamed and was sure that he'd hate me if he found out. Was I right to stay here for much longer before I became too close to Jenson, or he started expecting answers from me? Yeah, maybe I should think about moving on.

Jenson left early the next morning to go and find Dax, so I decided that I needed to get out in the fresh air. I decided against going to the shore because to be honest I was frightened to go. Scared that maybe I'd be tempted again to get lost amidst the waves and water. It was a beautiful day, sunny but cool, and Jenson suggested visiting Stewart Memorial Park. I could reach it from the house, and he assured me that it was an easy walk. All I had to do was to follow the river upstream and then follow the directions to the park. Walking through the park was easy, I didn't need to feel stressed about getting lost just follow the signs, as it took me on a loop.

I felt myself relaxing for the first time in an age as I walked through the trees. They were enormous and being close together had me feeling as though I was surrounded by something safe. The trail consisted of a well worn path and included sections where walkways had been built. It may have been a popular place to visit but I came across very few people. Maybe the forest could be my new go to place, to relax and find some peace for myself because I sure as hell needed it. Of course, walking on my own had me thinking. Those old fears and guilt were still there along with the shame and humiliation, but as I walked, I realized that I was managing to reinvent myself and I was definitely becoming a different person. I was quieter and less curious, and I suppose less adventurous which was what I needed to be. I wasn't happy though and doubted that I ever would be. I kept people at a distance so that they wouldn't get too close to me, though I suppose Jenson was close to the line on that.

I knew that my looks had changed to suit this new personality. Different hairstyle and less weight but it was the face that looked back at me in the mirror that was also different. My eyes didn't seem as bright, and my face didn't betray my emotions or feelings anymore. Yeah, I had slowly built a wall around myself that kept my emotions locked in tight and people out.

If only the dreams would stop. They weren't as bad as they used to be, but they still haunted me, something that I knew I would have to endure because I already knew that they were my punishment. With those revelations I made my way back to Jenson's house wondering if he'd had a successful outing and had managed to secure a meeting with his witness.