Chapter 7
It was close to one in the morning by the time Eddie made it home after work and she was pleasantly surprised to find someone waiting up for her.
"Hey...what are you doing up?" Eddie asked her husband as she slid out of her jacket and pulled off her boots.
Jamie dropped the book he was reading to look over the back of the couch and gave his wife a welcoming smile. "Bed was lonely without you," he pouted, leaving out the part about how he'd had that strange feeling come over him again when he came home earlier that evening. It was the damndest thing, but for some reason home didn't feel like home anymore.
"Sure it was," Eddie chuckled as she walked over to the living room and laid across the length of couch next to Jamie, releasing a sigh of contentment when her head rested on top of his chest.
"How was work?" Jamie asked as he kissed the top of Eddie's head and hugged her to him.
"Good," she replied. "Glad to be home."
They both lay on the couch quietly for a few moments before Eddie remembered her encounter with his long lost friend earlier in the day.
"Heard some things about you today," she smirked into his chest.
Jamie's head jutted back to glimpse at his wife's face. "Me? What'd you hear?" he asked with a nervous chuckle, afraid of what it could be just by her playful tone.
"I heard you were quite the player in your day, Reagan," Eddie snickered. "Guess I was lucky to land you, huh?"
Jamie let out a short laugh upon hearing himself described that way, but didn't understand what she meant. He'd never been one to be described as a player of all things. "What?"
"You denying it, babe? It's okay, I won't hold it against you," Eddie teased.
"You lost me. Where'd you hear that?" Jamie asked curiously.
Eddie laughed again, preferring to get the scoop on Jamie's weird friend, surprise be damned. "Did your friend call you?"
"Friend? What friend?" Jamie asked as he shifted on the couch to face her, not getting the connection here.
"Yeah. Eric...kind of a weird guy. I thought I knew all your friends by now," Eddie commented.
"You lost me."
"Eric Weller."
Jamie's brow furrowed, realizing she wasn't kidding around. "Babe, I don't know an Eric Weller."
Eddie pursed her lips wondering if she got the name wrong, but she was sure she heard him clearly. "He seemed to know you. Said he moved out of the city a few years ago and just moved back. He wanted to surprise you," she said.
"And you met this guy in person?" Jamie asked, to which Eddie quickly nodded. "Where?"
"Downstairs."
Jamie's stomach fluttered nervously and he raised himself up on one elbow. "What did this guy look like?"
Eddie shrugged, yawning as the day began to catch up with her. "Our age, white, six feet, maybe 180, light brown, short, wavy hair, green eyes. He said you saved his life once," she described quickly.
Jamie's mouth dropped open with every word that came out of Eddie's mouth, thinking that there was no way it could be him.
"Then he said you chased after his sister which is a weird thing to say to a guy's wife. I don't know, he kind of gave me the willies after a while," Eddie finished. "Did you really chase his sister?"
"Noble," Jamie whispered with a far away look.
It was now Eddie's turn to be confused. "What's noble?" she asked.
Jamie sat up fully, Eddie following suit when she saw the alarmed expression on his face.
Stunned by the thought that Noble Sanfino may have resurfaced, he shook his head in disbelief. "That wasn't a friend, Eddie. He was my UC assignment my second year on the force. Noble Sanfino. We brought him in and he turned state's evidence to bring down the Sanfino and the Cavazerre families," he explained in a rush as his breathing grew shallow. "I told you about them once."
"The ones that put a hit out on you?" Eddie asked with wide eyes as realization hit. Jamie had only given her the Cliffs Notes on the assignment and the price that had been put on his head.
"Not me, my cover," Jamie corrected without thinking.
"You really think there's a difference?" Eddie huffed.
Jamie got up from the couch to pace one side of the living room. "What the hell is he doing around here? He's supposed to be in WitSec."
Eddie assumed the question was directed at her and answered as best as she could. "He said he saw you in that stupid Post article...that thing is going to haunt us forever," she grumbled angrily. The damn thing had caused them enough grief before the wedding.
Jamie let out a few curses under his breath as he continued to walk the length of the room. After a moment, he turned to give his wife a pointed look. "What else did he say?" he asked, wondering what he wanted.
Eddie shook her head as she replayed the conversation in her mind. "Uh, I don't know, uh, that you were close to him and his family. That he wanted to move back when he saw the article so he could reconnect. He said he had your number and would call you," she said, pausing when she thought about the part that made her think he was strange. "Then he said the thing about you hooking up with his sister or something but that you backed off."
Jamie closed his eyes and shook his head, leading Eddie to believe that part might have been true. "Anything else?"
Eddie shrugged. "Just that he hoped to see me soon."
Jamie's blood boiled at what he knew to be a veiled threat at his wife. The last time he saw Noble, he'd been pissed that he'd been duped by a cop.
"Oh, okay, so this conscience of yours, it-it lets you gain people's trust - perfect strangers - and then you screw them over?" Noble asked as anger simmered just below the surface. He still couldn't believe he'd let himself get played; if his uncle wanted him dead before, he couldn't imagine what he'd want to do to him knowing he'd been the one to roll the red carpet out for the cops. That was the only reason he had to consider the deal they were offering.
"That's not what went down here," Jamie argued.
"No?" Noble fired back.
"No, you're not perfect strangers. You're criminals, and I'm a cop," Jamie corrected. Noble may not be involved in most of his uncle's dirty business, but he wasn't innocent in all of this either. And he was still being handed and opportunity to save his life.
"Okay, let's go," Lt. Arbogast prodded before this got more heated.
"You're a weasel with a badge," Noble spiped.
"Now, Sanfino," Arbogast ordered with a sharp tug of his arm.
"You're alive because of me," Jamie reminded him. "And you're welcome."
Jamie would never forget the death glare Noble gave him as Arbogast led him away. "Eddie, you see him again, you call me or Danny, even Dad. You find back up," he ordered.
"Back up?" she questioned. "The guy seemed smarmy, but he didn't come off as dangerous. I thought you said he was a screw-up?"
"He's an impulsive idiot is what he is who seems to have forgotten about the kind of people he helped put away, regardless of the fact that they were his family. He draws them out, there's no doubt about what they'll do to him. But if he starts sniffing around us -"
"They'll realize who you are," Eddie finished his thought.
"I mean it, you see him again, you get away from him and get help."
"I'm a cop too, Reagan. I carry a gun and I can protect myself," she argued, mistaking his warning for unnecessary overprotectiveness on his part.
"Eddie, honey, I know you can protect yourself, but these are mob guys we helped put away and they won't hesitate to hurt you or anyone to get to Noble or me after what we did."
Eddie could see the fear in his eyes, for both her and himself and understood how serious this was. "What are you going to do?"
Jamie ran his hands through his hair and gripped the back of his neck, blowing out a breath as he thought about that. "I need to let dad know first," he said as he checked his watch, "but it will have to wait until morning. Chief Arbogast was my CO for that assignment but he's not with the department anymore. He'll probably have to call in OCCB to see if they know anything. The Marshals too since Noble is supposed to be in witness protection."
"I guess they don't keep their animals on tight leashes," she mumbled to herself before getting up to stop his nervous pacing. "But we're safe here, right?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around his waist.
"Yeah," Jamie sighed, as a mix of emotions went through him as he thought about Noble being back in the city and approaching Eddie. "We're okay here," he said, although he hated the idea that Noble knew where they lived...what the hell was his end game, he wondered.
"I don't know that we'll be getting any sleep tonight, but let's try, huh?" Eddie suggested. "We're gonna have to talk to your dad first thing in the morning," she added as she led him to their bedroom, doing her best to hide her own concern for him.
Noble laughed as he watched the pair disappear into their bedroom, thrilled to know Jamie Reagan now knew he was back in town and on to him. The guy seemed utterly shaken by the fact he'd gone near his wife. He hadn't appreciated the insults they traded about him. He certainly wasn't an idiot, that got under his skin a little, and he wasn't a screw up, this whole plan was coming along nicely and proved him to be just the opposite. It was time to put an end to the little games he was playing, but first, he'd let them stew in fear. He'd show Jamie soon enough who was smarter.