Chapter 31 – Actions Speak Louder than Words
The sun was beating down through the windows of the airport as John Masters made his way out to where the taxis were waiting for fares. He had left instructions with his secretary, Margaret, that unless Rae called through to him he was unavailable for the next week. John knew that she would still pass on anything he should deal with as a matter of urgency, but he also knew that the world wouldn't stop in LA if he weren't there for seven days.
The first taxi in the rank was a deep blue Mercedes and, deciding that if he was on vacation he should enjoy himself, the chief opened the door and climbed into the back while his driver stowed the one bag he'd brought with him in the trunk. Once he had given his destination as the Palm Trees Beach Club he relaxed back into the silver- grey leather upholstery and watched a very pleasant world go by the window.
ooo
It was the middle of the day before Jesse drew into the drive of his home and carefully parked the car. Once he had done so he got out of the vehicle and walked round to let his wife out too. Rae had fallen asleep almost as soon as she had made herself comfortable in the front seat and put her belt on. Jesse felt guilty waking her, but he knew that she needed to rest properly.
"Rae, Rae, you're home." Jesse carefully shook her by the shoulder, moving his hand back quickly as she began to stir. Being with her was getting a little easier with time, but touching her, knowing that she might want to touch him back, that wasn't easy, it wasn't easy at all.
"Mmm, what?" Rae slowly opened her eyes and saw the house in front of her. She smiled and carefully stretched before she climbed out and closed the door. The keys were in her pocket and, knowing that Jesse didn't have a set, she unlocked the door and then, with her heart beating loudly, she waited to see if he would come in with her.
ooo
The Beach Club was a fantastically luxurious setting in which to indulge in a bit of sleuthing, and for a moment John Masters wondered how the bill for two homicide detectives to stay here would go down in accounts. Then, deciding to forget about work, crowded offices and smoggy sidewalks, he made his way through the lobby following a porter towards the elevators. One of the problems with his plan, he had realised as he relaxed on the plane, was that he had no idea what his son looked like. At first the chief had thought that knowing what his wife had looked like and what he himself looked like finding the young man would be easy, but he'd only been in the place for a little over ten minutes and so far everyone, including the receptionist, seemed familiar.
"This is your suite, Sir; I hope you will have a very happy stay at The Palm Trees Beach Club." The young man who had escorted him to his room opened the door and indicated that John should enter.
"Thank you, here you go." Once the chief had tipped the man he watched him leave and then looked around. The room, like the rest of the resort that he had seen so far, was beautiful, and, letting himself wallow for a little while, he thought how much he would have liked to have brought Elizabeth to a place like this where they could shut out the rest of the world and just enjoy being together after so long apart. That had been ripped away from him though, maybe by the young man he was here to find, but he didn't want to see him as a murderer, as a killer, he wanted to watch him and see his son, the man who, whether he realised it or not, carried on the Masters' family name, and, more than anything else, he wanted to see what he'd missed.
ooo
Steve put a call through to his dad after he'd eaten a very sad salad roll and asked him whether he was free for a little consulting that afternoon. Mark had arrived twenty minutes later with two boxes containing pizza and a couple of cartons of hot chocolate.
"How did you know that I was still hungry? I didn't even say I was eating." Steve shook his head in disbelief, his father never ceased to amaze him.
"I didn't, but I haven't had lunch yet, and I knew the trouble I would be in if I didn't bring enough for two … was that what you ate?" Mark looked dubiously at the remnants of a mediocre lunch in the wastebasket.
"Yep, so I am very grateful for this." Steve sat at the desk and opened his pizza box, the aroma was wonderful and he took a bite.
"So, what was it you wanted to discuss?" Mark asked his question with a gleam in his eye and watched as Steve tried to extricate himself from the cheese his teeth hadn't quite coped with.
"You," Steve swallowed, "waited until I took a bite, I saw you!"
Mark laughed and held his hands up, and then he began his own lunch. For the next ten minutes the room was full mainly of companionable silence, with just the occasional comment when one or other of them wasn't eating, but finally, with both packages neatly stacked next to the wastebasket, Steve stood up and moved across to the maps on the wall.
"I only started this today, and I'm still working on it, but this is what we have so far."
Mark put his glasses on the end of his nose and began looking at the different information now surrounding the map of his hometown. "What's this one, a Jane Doe?"
"Yeah, for now, but from what I read in Rae's notes she shouldn't be that hard to identify. Amanda didn't do the autopsy, a …" Steve glanced down at a piece of paper, "Doctor Walter Saperstein did, d'you know him?" he looked over at his dad, enjoying the sensation of being able to invite him to join an investigation while he was the commanding officer. "Didn't you win an award from him?"
"No, same name, different person. I don't know him, not personally, but by reputation, yes. Bit of an old woman, but very good at what he does. What did he find?" Mark looked down at the shelf underneath the maps and picked up the piece of paper that his son had just referred to, which he recognized as having Rae's writing on it. "Oh, I see, yes, that does narrow it down a little bit. Do you have someone in missing persons looking for her?"
"Yeah, and they're looking city wide. Saperstein thinks she'd had a baby, so somewhere there is a child who no longer has a mom …" He trailed off, the subject making him think of Jo and he wondered how she was. "Sorry, what?"
Mark had seen his son's attention wander for a moment and had put his hand on his arm. "Steve, Rae isn't the only one who isn't getting enough sleep, why don't we sit down and do this?"
"Because I want you to look at this first. I've had pictures sent to me from San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Fresno, San Diego and Carmel, I have three for here plus our latest victim, twelve girls, Dad, twelve, we have to stop him, before he kills again." Steve's eyes rested on the photo of Nadine, which had a piece of blue string joining it to one of the red pushpins, which was positioned at Toluca Lake. "This has to end."
"Steve, you must have pictures in their files, let's sit down, we can discuss this much easier that way." Mark was concerned by the worry in his son's eyes and he wondered whether there was more going on than he knew about.
"Yeah, that sounds like a plan to me. I … I need to ask you a question too."
"Ok, ask away, what is it?" Mark made himself comfortable once again by the side of Captain Newman's desk and checked that there weren't any greasy crumbs or bits of pizza left on the surface. Once he was sure everything was fine he looked up and waited for Steve to put down all the information he had gathered on the Red Rose Killer.
ooo
Rae had stood just inside the front door to her home and looked out at Jesse who was still standing in the front yard. "Jesse, please." She didn't know what else to say, or whether if she said anything at all he would turn tail and run.
Jesse stood there, he had planned to go in with Rae, to stay with her for a while and then pick up the girls from Sally, but now that he was here, and needing to only take three or four steps to be back home, where he knew that he really belonged, he wasn't sure if he could do it.
The tears threatened Rae, but she swallowed them back down and, not wanting to put more pressure on him, she went into the breakfast room and sat on the sofa.
The first step of any journey is the hardest one to make, Jesse knew that was true, and as the thought came up into his mind he realised that he had already taken many steps. He'd gradually gotten closer and closer to Rae again without actually committing himself to anything more than a taxi ride to Beverly Hills, but now this was different, this was home, and he knew, deep down, that if he went in he wouldn't be able to leave, not ever again and he was suddenly hit by the awareness of the fact that he didn't want to, not ever again. For a few moments more Jesse battled with his emotions, and then when he noticed that Rae had gone in without him he took his courage in both hands and followed her.
ooo
Jo had forced herself to put the letters away and have some lunch, and as she was sitting with her chicken noodle soup and home made bread roll she went over a short conversation that she'd had with Michael a little earlier in the day. He had taken Eliana and Anneya over to their carer and, unusually for him, had reported back what had happened.
"Michael, did you get the girls to Sally ok?" Jo had been tidying away the things in the morning room after breakfast when her butler had returned.
"Yes, Madam, they got safely to their destination, and I was planning to do that upon my return." Jo had known that Michael was a little put out about her clearing up and so she had let him take the dirty tablecloth out of her hands before following him into the laundry room.
"Did Eliana stop speakin' at all durin' the journey?" She had laughed; the little girl seemed to talk constantly, almost never pausing long enough to even take a breath.
"Yes she did, and Miss Anneya got very excited when we drove past Oak Place, she definitely recognized it as her home."
At the time Jo had just smiled, but an idea had been wandering around in her mind all morning, and now, as she drained the last of the soup and ate the final mouthful of her bread she picked up the phone from beside her and put a call through to her attorney, Gilbert Sholte.
ooo
Rae heard the front door click shut and she closed her eyes; her hands were in tight fists, and she waited to hear whether Jesse had closed the door from outside the house or inside.
"Rae?" Jesse looked down at her, she looked so little, so scared, and he knew that he was the cause of that.
The relief that washed over Rae was incredible, her husband was home, for however long or short a time didn't matter right now, he was home.
ooo
Steve had arrived home a little later than he'd planned and Mark had come with him. A very pleasant family meal had been eaten, and Daniel had been relieved that neither his mom nor dad had mentioned his problems to his grandpa.
Steve had wanted to make sure that Rae would be up to doing a little work the following day at home. He knew that she was having trouble coping, but he also knew that without her he would be the same. Mark had called Alex from the station and without giving away any confidential information Steve had been told that yes it would be ok to speak with her, and that Alex had a feeling that come hell or high water she would be back at the station on the Friday morning.
With that information to hand Steve had brought home all they had on the four LA victims, as well as the details sent through from the other Californian locations which appeared to have been visited by their killer.
The body that had been found in Topanga State Park had been easily identified. Although the dental records had yet to be returned, it seemed likely that their victim was called Mary Sue Evett, a 24 year-old tourist from Sydney, Australia. Walter Saperstein had been correct about her disability and the fact that she had given birth, although it had been not once, but twice and the two children were living with their grandmother where Mary Sue had left them to take a three week holiday of a lifetime to a city she had always wanted to visit, Los Angeles.
ooo
The afternoon and early evening had been difficult for both Rae and Jesse, but gradually the atmosphere had eased a little. It had been very tense for a while though, Rae was scared she was going to say or do something to frighten off her husband while Jesse was fighting his own demons, delighted to be back home but terrified that Rae might ask something of him that he was unable to deliver. In the end though it was the one thing that he could always be counted on for, that had made things more relaxed.
"Jesse, thank you, the tea was delicious." Rae put the cup down on the tray that was over her knees. She had fallen asleep on the sofa after a light lunch, and had only woken when Jesse had told her that he was going out to pick up the girls. The house had descended into silence, but because Jesse had come home the silence was different and Rae had snuggled back down underneath the throw that she had pulled around her and drifted back off to sleep.
The feeling of small soft fingers on her cheek had awaked her and as she slowly opened her eyes Rae saw both Eliana and Anneya looking at her. "Hi, my darlings, how are you?"
Eliana had launched into a description of her day, which jumped from morning to afternoon and back again, and Anneya had just held tightly to her daddy's hand and looked as if she would never let go.
The girls had been put to bed a little after six and then Jesse had come back in to sit with his wife, if not on the sofa with her, at least in the same room.
"Would you like another piece of cake?" Jesse looked around for something to cut it with, but couldn't see it.
"Yes please, but I'll go get the knife, I need another drink of water too." Rae got up from where she was sitting and went out into the kitchen and Jesse sat and watched. Two minutes later he heard her cry out and rushed after her.
"Rae, Honey, what's wrong … oh, God, ok, don't worry, it's all right, just hold it up, but over the sink and I'll go get my bag." The bread knife was lying on the counter, blood over its blade, and Rae was holding her right hand up and away from herself as she watched it bleed into the sink.
Jesse wasn't gone more than a minute or two at the most; he rushed to the car, took his bag from the trunk and raced back into the house. All his worries about Rae being too close to him were forgotten as he arrived back in the kitchen to see her bent over the sink, her forehead resting on the cold stainless steel.
"Come and sit down, that's it, easy does it." Jesse, his arm around her shoulders, guided her to a kitchen chair, making sure that her hand was kept raised above her heart as he did so. He carefully positioned her so that she could sit and rest her head on her knees, giving her a gentle push in the right direction to help her on her way.
"I … I'm sorry, Jesse, I thought I was gonna pass out again. Please, don't take me back to the hospital … please." Rae was almost grey, but Jesse knew that it was a combination of the fatigue she was suffering from coupled with the shock of slicing into her finger unexpectedly.
"Shhh, it's ok, I can deal with this here, I have everything I need in my bag." As he spoke Jesse leant over and pulled open the drawer he knew Rae kept the dishtowels in and shook one out to lay on the table. He then put everything he needed on top of it and prepared an injection so that Rae wouldn't feel any more pain. "Ok, this might hurt a little bit, but it'll soon wear off."
"What … what is it?" Rae carefully raised her head and looked up into the wonderful blue eyes of her husband, but he began to blur a little around the edges and so she quickly looked back down again.
"It's just lidocaine … there it's done." Jesse put the syringe down and waited for the anesthetic to take effect.
"No, Jess, it … it makes me feel sick." Rae leant sideways a little and felt the heat from Jesse's body as she made contact with him.
Jesse had forgotten that his wife had an adverse reaction to the drug he'd just given her, but it was only very slight, and he knew that she had never suffered a toxic reaction, just the mild nausea, which, he had a feeling, was more psychological than physical. He also knew that there was no way he could stitch her finger without it, so trying to be upbeat and positive he started to talk again. "Hey, it was either that or a visit back to Community General, and Alex is on duty tonight, want to explain to him what you were doing?"
"No … no, I guess not." Rae tried again to look up and this time Jesse's handsome face stayed where it was supposed to be, and looked as it was supposed to look. Heartened by this she tried a small smile too, which became broader when Jesse smiled back at her.
"Ok, let's give it another minute or two while I clean it up. If it hurts tell me and I'll wait a little longer before I stitch it."
"I will." Rae was almost too frightened too speak, for the first time in what seemed like an eternity Jesse was sitting so close to her that they were touching, he held her hand gently with his own and now, as he began to carefully clean away the blood, she could feel him breathe, and she didn't want to move ever again.
"There, it's a nasty cut, Rae; I'll stitch it up and check it again in the morning. But if it hurts more than it did before I jabbed you, or if it's throbbing, you know the drill, we go see Alex, ok?"
Rae just nodded, her eyes were now fixed on the needle that Jesse had in his hand ready to stitch her wound, but as it moved nearer to her finger she looked away and held her breath.
Twenty minutes later the finger was stitched and dressed, the sink no longer had blood in it and Rae was back on the sofa curled up. Jesse had taken a deep breath and sat at the other end to his wife and he was watching her as she sat, her eyes closed and her now bandaged hand in her lap. He realised that she was shaking slightly and he knew what he had to do.
"Rae, come here." The words didn't come out as a command but a request and she looked at him in surprise.
"Pardon?"
"You're cold, and probably suffering a little from shock, please, come here, to me." He held his arms out, and with a strangled cry Rae moved quickly to the other end of the seat and into his embrace.
ooo
John Masters sat at his table for one in the back corner of the Italian restaurant at the beach club and looked around him, taking in all the other diners, but especially a young couple two tables over from where he sat. Callum Edwards hadn't been difficult to find, a couple of telephone calls which were put through to the young man's room and a pretence at a wrong number had meant that the Chief could make a few trips up and down the hallway outside, and his luck had been with him when, on the second journey a young man, probably a little over six foot tall, and a shorter, brown haired woman had come out of suite 3921. The newspaper that he had thought to bring with him had kept the chief out of the view of his son, but he had been able to get a good look himself at the man he had come to see.
Their son, his grandson, wasn't with his parents, but there was an excellent childrens' activity package at the beach club and he was probably partaking of that to the full. Keeping as far back as he could without losing sight of the couple John Masters had made his way along the hallway and then into the same elevator. He waited in line while they made a dinner reservation and then did the same himself. When they both signed up for parascending though he'd drawn the line and spent the rest of the afternoon on the golf course.
ooo
It had been a bit of a struggle to start with, but gradually Jesse had relaxed enough that Rae did the same. He knew that she understood, somehow, about him not wanting to touch her, but when he had offered to hold her she hadn't been able to resist and had almost flung herself into his arms. Her breathing had been erratic and Jesse had known that she was struggling to keep herself under control, and taking a deep breath himself, he had gently stroked down her hair with his hand.
The feeling of her husband's caress across her head was too much for Rae; she had tried all afternoon to keep everything together, even when she had sliced open her finger she had managed not to cry, not to fall apart, but now, now that he was holding her, was comforting her, she couldn't contain herself any longer and she began to sob, deep, heavy sobs that showed more than anything just how she had suffered while Jesse had been away.
ooo
Once the dining table had been cleared Steve had put a call through to Amanda to see if she could come over and help them with the details from the various autopsies Steve now had in his possession. He had then called Jesse's cell phone and been delighted to find that he was just down the street once again. Jesse had been reluctant to join in the discussions, knowing that Rae needed to go to bed and get a good night's sleep, and even though she had only cut her finger he was worried about that too. He was however, also anxious to get back to more normality in his life, and he knew that talking over murders with his friends, however odd it may seem to other people, was about as normal as it got for him. In the end it was decided that Michael would go to Oak Place in case either of the children awoke and Rae would go to bed and sleep. Jesse arranged to return no later than eleven and then, once he had made sure that Rae was warm and comfortable in the large double bed in the master bedroom, and that her hand wasn't hurting too much he had said goodnight and left the room, wishing that he'd had the courage to kiss her, but knowing that he had achieved a great deal already.
ooo
The discussions hadn't uncovered anything too earth shattering, Amanda had gone through all the details sent down about the autopsies carried out in San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Fresno, San Diego and Carmel as well as casting her expert eye over her own and Walter's work again.
Steve had brought home a large easel from the station; he used it for discussions and brainstorm sessions there, and saw no reason not to do the same in Beverly Hills. There was now a piece of white paper clipped to it with Similarities and Differences written on it.
The differences column was sparsely populated, the only items on it were the names of the towns and the fact that Jenna had had a red rose stamp whilst the others had been holding a flower and Nadine had been knocked out.
The similarities column was bulging and Steve was glad that he'd begun writing reasonably neatly. The age of the victims were all within a close enough ratio for them to be considered similar. They had all been female, of course; white, blonde and beautiful. Once the personal attributes were put aside the other similarities were either in the MO or the signature of the killer. He used a knife, he disabled his victims first, usually by slashing their feet or their throats, it was impossible to tell in which order the two most devastating wounds had been caused, and he cut their hair off.
"You know there is one other thing that they have in common, I'm not sure if it is just a fluke or if it's deliberate." Amanda looked up from the notes she had kept herself on the four victims in Los Angeles so far.
"What? Anything at all that might help us catch this guy, fluke or not; in fact, right now, I'm all up for flukes." Steve looked at Amanda and she could see the tiredness in his eyes. She knew that Rae had been signed off for a few days, that Jo had already gone to bed because she was worn out and her pregnancy was making her more so, but Steve didn't have that luxury, he was working and worrying for all the victims and would continue to do so until the case was solved.
"All these women, the LA ones at any rate, were natural blondes. I know you can tell to a certain extent by eyebrows, but they can be dyed too."
"Hmm," Steve's eyes sparked with interest. "So he has either been lucky and picked the only four natural blondes in the city or he knows how to tell if they're cheating or not."
"Or …" Jesse paused as he got his thoughts in order, "he discards the ones who he finds out aren't natural."
"And how is he gonna … ohhhh!" Steve suddenly realised what he was about to ask and stopped talking, his embarrassment rising as he did so.
Mark chuckled and picked up one of the photos on the table. "This young lady from Santa Barbara looks like she should be a natural blonde, she has beautiful blue eyes, her brows are fair and her lashes too, I would say you might be on to something, Honey." He smiled across at Amanda; one of the pleasures of his insatiable curiosity had been the involvement of his two closest friends in the investigations he undertook with his son.
"I don't know what we can do with this bit of information, warn every natural blonde in California to go brunette? Why concentrate on the hair anyway? All of these women had long hair, not just shoulder length, but long, Nadine's came half way down her back, Jenna's too. The picture of Mary Sue isn't very clear, not for hair purposes anyhow. She had it pulled back off her face, so there's enough of it to tie up, but then, Rae has enough for that now, and I wouldn't consider her to have long hair."
"Looks nice though." Jesse spoke before even thinking his words through and the look on his face made his friends smile at him. They all knew that there had been no overnight recovery, that it had cost Jesse a great deal to be with his wife, but they were also delighted that he appeared ready to do all it took to get his life back.
ooo
The discussion had broken up just before eleven when Jesse announced that he had to go home. Amanda had followed a little while later as had Mark. Steve had put away all of his information ready to take to show Rae the following day. Once that had been done he had checked his date book, found that he didn't actually need to go into the station until the afternoon, and decided that he would work from home instead.
Much to his son's disgust Steve had driven him to school himself, giving him a stern lecture about responsibility, what was acceptable and unacceptable behavior, as well as a run down on how much allowance he would lose for each further transgression. The journey was only twenty minutes in rush hour traffic and Daniel was glad to get out of the vehicle and return to the safety of the schoolyard.
Once Steve had made sure that his son was inside the school gates he had driven back home, only stopping at a florist to buy Jo a bouquet of twelve deep red roses.
"Jo, I'm gonna go next door for a while, I need to look over some of this stuff with Rae, then I'll head into work." Steve called out from the bottom of the stairs to his wife who, he knew, was in her office in the East Wing trying to ignore the letters she had been reading the past few days so that she could catalogue some more of the bulky items. She had been delighted with the flowers, and his trip to see Rae had been delayed quite a while because of them, now though they had eaten lunch, she was working and he needed to be.
"Ok, don't be late, we're havin' dinner at the beach house tonight." Her voice floated down from upstairs reminding him of the plans which had been made the evening before.
"I won't, see you later." Steve strode across the hallway, out into the front yard of his house and he took in a deep breath; the air was crisp and, amazingly for Los Angeles, clean. With a smile on his face he made the short walk to the house of his partner and his best friend. The fact that Jesse had been able to come back to Oak Place the previous day had delighted Steve; he had felt torn when they had been apart, it had been natural to him that he should try to help Jesse all he could when his friend was suffering, even though he didn't think he had done very much, but Rae was his partner, and his friend too, and she had been suffering in a different but just as devastating way, which was why she was off sick. Now though, hopefully, that phase of their lives was ending, and although Jesse was still finding things hard, it was much easier than it had been for him.
His thoughts had taken him to the front door of Oak Place and he rang the bell and waited hoping that the positive tone from yesterday still prevailed with his friends.
ooo
Jo looked at the beautiful dress which was hanging on a tailor's dummy on the other side of her study, it was an almost silver green in colour, and now that she had put all the petticoats underneath it, it was exquisite. Jo had no idea who had made the dress, but she knew that she would find out. The idea, which she hadn't told anyone yet, had taken form that she could probably open a museum back in Texas, the proceeds from which could go to one of the local charities. She would want to put as much information with each item as possible, and if she couldn't find the maker, she would at least, she hoped, be able to work out who had worn it.
With this in mind every box that she had delivered to her from the storage company that morning was being unpacked and repacked. Some things were definitely only good for dumping, some were obviously of no interest to anyone outside the immediate family, but there were many, many items which would form the basis of an examination of Texan life since it joined the Union, and now that Jo had a project to work on she was almost obsessional about it. She had to admit that it was the letters that had fired her imagination the most, and she had locked the entire collection in the safe so that she couldn't read any more of them until she began to make at least a small reduction in the amount of items she had in storage.
The dresses had been repacked at some time in the not too distant past, and for the first time Jo was grateful for the large walk in closets in the East Wing. So far there was a deep burgundy velvet and taffeta gown, an ivory silk and lace gown and now the green gown, and Jo knew that in the other boxes, which were like individual closets in themselves, there would be other clothing. She was hoping for some men's outfits so that she could pair them off, and secretly she wanted to be able to put on one of the dresses and persuade Steve to wear a suit from a bygone era.
As Jo looked at a pair of darker green elbow length gloves which had been packed with the gown she heard the doorbell ring downstairs, and the unmistakable sound of Michael's footsteps across the highly polished hallway. She knew it was highly polished because no one had been allowed on it all morning.
"Good afternoon, Sir, may I help you?" the sound of the English man's voice was muffled, but still clear enough to hear.
Sir? Jo listened a little more intently. Michael knew most people who came to their door, and it was obvious from both his words and his tone that this person was a stranger to him. Try as she might Jo couldn't hear the voice of her visitor, but Michael's next words told her that he wasn't welcome in her house.
"I see, Sir, if you would just wait a moment, I will check whether Madam is available."
Jo heard the door being firmly closed, and she moved out into her private hallway to await her butler.
"Madam, there is a gentleman downstairs for you." The way that Michael said 'gentleman' left Jo in no doubt that he considered the man nothing of the sort.
"An' what is his name, Michael?" Jo wasn't sure why but her heart was beating loudly and part of her didn't want her nice afternoon amongst her history spoiled.
"His name is Wayne McCauley, Madam … Madam, are you alright, would you like me to get the Lieutenant?" Michael was alarmed to see that Jo had gone almost grey and she staggered slightly, but she shook her head. "Michael, I'm ok, it was just a surprise that's all, he is someone I didn't ever think I would be seein' or hearin' from again."
Realisation dawned on Michael's features just as the bell began to ring again, and then a banging was heard on the glass. "I will get rid of him for you, Madam." Michael hadn't been with Miss Josephine when she had known Wayne McCauley but he had been dealing with the fall-out ever since. Now she was finally pregnant again, as well as being happily married, Michael knew that there was no place for the Texas cop in any of their lives.
"No, no, Michael, I will get rid of him, once an' for all, but I would be mighty glad if you could get Steve to 'pop home' just for a minute or two."
"Of course, Madam. I will put Sir in the library." Michael went back down the stairs, and Jo went into her bedroom to put the brush through her hair, and make sure that she looked what she was, a very happy successful woman, who was certainly missing nothing because Detective McCauley wasn't still involved in her life.