Chasing Bliss

Chapter Thirteen

Jesse looked down at the letters Cam laid out in front of him. They were protected by plastic evidence bags, but it was easy to read the typewritten letters—and way too easy to see the intent behind them.

“Has she gotten letters like this before?” He had to check himself. What he wanted to do was beat the shit out of someone, anyone. It would make him feel better. Maybe not anyone. Maybe Patrick Welch, who had run off with his girl. Yeah, that would really make him feel better. Patrick came from that world. From the world that had brought this crazy man into her life.

Nate sat down at the table in the interrogation room. He stared down at the letters, his brown eyes shrewd. Despite the fact that he was now the sheriff to a tiny county, Jesse heard he’d spent years undercover with the DEA. When Nate Wright’s eyes got that steely gaze in them, Jesse could damn well believe that was true.

“Apparently it’s a job hazard in her former occupation.” Nate nodded toward the door as Cam walked in with Rafe Kincaid and Laura Niles.

Rafe looked down at Jesse, a rueful smile on his face. “I wanted to tell you. I think the whole ‘getting in her pants’ thing is overrated. If you care about a woman, you care about her whether or not you’re sleeping with her.”

Laura’s lips turned up in a little smile as she sat down beside Jesse. “I heard Rafe was outvoted. The rumor is the men all got together a couple of months back and banged out an agreement on how to act. I would love to get my hands on a copy of that agreement.”

Cam huffed out a little laugh. “Rumors. Do you honestly believe if the men of Bliss got together for a guy’s weekend, we would do anything other than drink beer and fish? Well, except for Trev. He drank a lot of coffee and sat around with that perpetual look of amusement he has on his face. I swear that man’s blood count must be half caffeine.”

Rafe’s shoulders moved up and down in a negligent shrug. “Besides, if we did have some sort of agreement, we would never be so foolish as to write it down. We would memorize it.”

Nate reached for his coffee mug and grimaced. “Cam made the coffee this morning. I was kind of hoping Gemma would come in with you. She’s the only one who can work that thing. Is she with Cade? Tell me you weren’t too hard on her.”

He didn’t think he’d been hard at all. He’d cajoled her into admitting she belonged to him and then he’d given her a crazy strong orgasm and explained just how easily she could get out of her punishment. He’d been a total pussy. He should have immediately put her over his knee, but he’d wanted things to go easy with her. “She left. Her ex showed up and she took off.”

“She’ll come back. She’s not a girl to just up and run without a really good reason. I would also be very surprised if she got involved with her ex again. I heard what he did to her. She would be far more interested in her old career than in reclaiming him,” Laura said.

That career shit scared the crap out of him. He agreed with Laura. Gemma had seen an opportunity to make a point and she’d taken it. But why was that asshole here in the first place? Jesse had to hope Patrick was trying to win her back. That wouldn’t work. If he’d come to talk to her about going back to work? That was another story entirely.

Nate groaned a little and scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Yeah, well, Bliss rules or not, I shouldn’t talk to you about this at all without Gemma here. I’m going to because I think Gemma overestimates her ability to take care of herself. Now, Rafe and Laura and Cam have been working up some ideas about this guy.”

Jesse didn’t care about ideas. “Do you have a name?”

“Paul Johnson. Before you hop on your Harley for some of that vigilante justice you and Cade seem to like so much, you should know we’ve already tried to locate him. The last report we could find had him living in Kansas City two years back,” Nate explained.

Rafe opened the folder he’d walked in with. “According to his ex-wife, he took off sometime after the case was over. She said he’d decided to leave the rat race behind and get in touch with nature.”

Jesse stared at the hate-filled letters again. “Looks like he’s ditched that plan.”

Laura put a sympathetic hand on his arm. “I don’t know about that. Do you know what Rafe, Cam, and I used to do?”

Most everyone in town had a story. Laura, Rafe, and Cam’s was a violent one. “You profiled for the FBI.”

They had worked for the BAU. They knew their stuff, and Jesse was willing to listen.

“I’ve profiled criminals for years and often with far less than I have here.” She gestured toward the letters. “What I find interesting about these letters is the complete lack of passion behind them.”

“I don’t know about that. Putting a fucking heart in a box seems a little extreme.”

Rafe picked up one of the letters. “I know it seems that way, but really look at these letters. They’re precise. He says the same things over and over. You’ll pay the price for what you did. Lawyers are bad. Gemma is the worst of them all. But the wording is almost polite.”

“Men who are truly angry don’t mince words.” Cam pressed a couple of buttons on the laptop in front of him and turned it around so Jesse could see. “These are some of the transcripts from the depositions prior to the trial. They’re expletive filled. He was truly angry. He had to be restrained at one point.”

Jesse looked them over and had to agree. But talking and writing were two different things.

Rafe cut that pass off. “We also have copies of the letters he wrote to Giles and Knoxbury, the law firm Gemma worked for. Again, he’s very vitriolic. There’s no politeness in these letters. They’re full of bile and rage and centered squarely on what he lost. Most of his rage is directed at the firm, not Gemma herself, though he calls her out.”

“If you’ll note,” Cam began, “he doesn’t actually threaten her in a physical sense. He calls her morality into question.”

Jesse skimmed through the notes. Sure enough, they were filled with a “woe is me” attitude that didn’t completely jibe with the latest batch of letters.

“And there are some phrasing inconsistencies that bother me.” Laura placed the second of the letters in front of him. “See here where he says this is ‘all your fault’ but over here in the next one, the phrasing is ‘this is your entire fault.’ I know it sounds odd, but the second one is the way Word corrects a document. If he’s that angry, why is he letting his processing program fix his grammar? And then in the third we’re right back to ‘all your fault.’”

Jesse wasn’t sure what changing the wording had to do with anything, but they were the experts. And he did trust them. They were friends. They wouldn’t steer him wrong. “So what does all this add up to?”

Rafe and Laura exchanged looks, a whole conversation occurring in silence. Rafe finally nodded as though agreeing with her.

“I think it’s a game. And I don’t think Paul Johnson is at the heart of it. If you asked me, I would say if he’s involved, he’s just a pawn.”

“Why would someone do this?”

Laura shrugged, an elegant movement of her shoulders. “To scare her for some reason? To set up a potential lawsuit? I’ve been going through her cases. She had her fingers in some really big cases when she left the firm. Tremon Industries, a lawsuit against a biochemical plant, two intellectual property cases. She wasn’t lead on any of them, but she was crucial.”

“I talked to some FBI friends in New York,” Cam said. “There’s a rumor that Giles and Knoxbury is being investigated. I’ve gone over this with Gemma, but she can’t think of anything she knows that could hurt the partners. And according to those same friends, this kind of harassment is typical for a lawyer who works the kind of cases Gemma does. So we could be totally wrong and this guy is just expressing his anger.”

He calmed just a little. “The heart shit still scares me.”

Rafe’s fingers drummed along the table. “It smacks of showmanship. It wasn’t human. We suspect he bought it from a supply store.”

He widened his eyes because that didn’t sound right.

“Cadaver hearts are used for research purposes and for training surgical residents, though many hospitals are moving to more technological methods. If there had been blood on the heart, I would be worried. I actually think it was a very sterile warning.”

It still seemed awful to him, and he didn’t want them to brush this off. “I would be happier if I knew where this guy was.”

“Cam’s looking into it,” Nate said.

“If he pokes his head up, I’ll find him. I already have access to all of the e-mail accounts he’s used in the past and I found one his ex-wife didn’t know about.” Cam smiled. “Hey, I wasn’t always a straight and narrow fed. I’ve done some hacking in my time.”

“I want to be kept in the loop,” Jesse said. “Even if Gemma won’t talk to me.”

It was a real possibility. She’d been surprisingly mad this morning. He wasn’t sure exactly how to handle her. He just knew he had to figure it out. There was no other option. He couldn’t let her go.

She was it. He’d suspected it that first time she’d turned her tart mouth on him, known it last night when his heart had nearly broken at her deep vulnerability. He’d cared for women before, but he’d never just longed for one. Gemma was inside him now, and he didn’t want to get rid of her.

The door to the room opened, and Holly rushed in. Holly was manning the phones on Gemma’s day off. The beautiful redhead was flustered. “Nate, we have a big problem at Stella’s.”

Her eyes trailed to Jesse, her mouth firming, and he just knew.

“Gemma?” He stood, his heart threatening to thud out of his chest. “What’s happened?”

Nate and Cam were already on their feet, heading out the door.

“Just tell us all,” Nate said as they moved toward the front of the station house. Nate picked up his Stetson and settled it on his head.

“Gemma went into anaphylactic shock. Caleb is prepping her to go to the hospital, but a fight broke out. Caleb is pissed. If you don’t get down there right now, I worry he’s going to do something stupid.”

Laura sat down at the desk. “Go, Holly. Go help Caleb.”

Jesse didn’t wait to hear another word. He’d heard Gemma and shock and hospital and someone was stopping her from getting the help she needed. They shouldn’t worry about Caleb doing something stupid. They should worry about him.

He ran. He heard Nate curse behind him and then both Nate and Cam were catching up to him.

“You try to remember that Gemma needs you,” Nate said, his voice even though he was sprinting. “You help Caleb get her out of there, and you leave everything else to me and Cam.”

All that mattered was getting to Gemma. What the hell was anaphylactic shock? What had happened? She’d been fine this morning. More than fine. She’d been perfect. What else was she hiding from him?

Nate made it to the door first, shoving his way through. Jesse’s heart nearly stopped at the scene in front of him.

It was complete chaos. A man was thrown bodily right across the diner, and then there was a loud roar as another man launched himself.

“Stop him!” Fuck. Gemma’s ex-fiancé. His nasally scream seemed to echo in Jesse’s head.

He looked at the other man and nearly joined in the fight. Cade. Cade jumped on Patrick Welch, his face red with fury. Cade’s fist flew back and he started pummeling the smaller man.

Caleb Burke hadn’t gotten his trusty tranquilizers out yet. He was leaning over a prone body, protecting it with his own. His face came up. A truly wrathful expression played across his features. “Get that shit shut down now, Nate. I swear to god, if she comes to harm because of that, I will kill them both.”

Jesse didn’t give a shit about the fight. His eyes were on Gemma. Small. Vulnerable. Hurt. What the hell was Cade thinking?

“Holly, hold the door open.” Caleb bent over to lift Gemma up, but Jesse moved into place.

“Doc, please.”

Caleb nodded and allowed Jesse to bend over and lift her up. “I think she’s breathing well enough that we can move her now.”

Nate and Cam were breaking up the fight, throwing their bodies in between the combatants and forcing them apart.

“Jesse?” Gemma’s voice sounded harsh, forced out of her throat.

She looked like hell, and yet he’d never seen anything so damn beautiful as those eyes opening up. “Baby, you’re going to be okay.”

“Gemma, you’ve had an allergic reaction,” Caleb said. “We’re taking you to the hospital. Ty has his truck ready. He has sirens on his truck. We’ll be there in no time at all.” He looked at Jesse. “When we get her to the truck, you can ride along, but I have to be in the back with her. I don’t know if she’s had enough epinephrine. Do you understand? I need to monitor her and make sure she doesn’t have any cardiac problems.”

As it seemed the doc had had enough people getting in his way today, Jesse nodded. “All that matters is her safety.”

“Cade?” She tried to look around. Her face was still swollen, red blotches all across her skin.

Jesse looked over at Cade, who had blood running from his lip. He seemed to be coming down from his volcanic rage.

“I need a doctor!” Patrick was saying. “Take that man to jail. He’s insane. He attacked me for no reason.”

“Cade?” Gemma was insistent.

“He’s fine, baby. He’s just fine.” Jesse looked back at his best friend. Cade so obviously wasn’t fine, but there was not a thing Jesse could do about it now. Cade was supposed to find Gemma, keep her safe. Not place her in more danger. He should have been carrying her out to Ty’s truck, not starting a fight.

Nate looked over at Caleb. “You want to take a look at these two, Doc?”

Caleb just flipped Nate the finger as he charged out the door.

Nate sighed. “Jesse, you tell Ty to come to the station house when he gets a chance. I think they’re fine, but someone should look them both over.”

Cade’s eyes met Jesse’s just before he walked out the door. Pure and utter misery was plain on his bloody face. He didn’t fight as Cam cuffed his hands behind his back and started reading him his rights.

Jesse turned because he couldn’t help Cade now. He had to think of Gemma.

His choice had been made the night before. She was his woman. He would share her with his friend, but he would never put her second.

He handed her over to Caleb and hopped in the truck as Cam hauled Cade out and started walking toward the sheriff’s office.

“Jesse?”

“I’m here, baby. I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

As Ty took off, lights flashing, Jesse worried for the first time that this wouldn’t work out. And he had no idea how to fix it.

Cade let the cell door shut behind him, utter misery washing over him. What the hell had happened? One minute he’d been terrified about Gemma and the next Cam Briggs was pulling him off Asshole Lawyer and shoving him into handcuffs.

Laura Niles sighed and walked up to the cell with a wet cloth in her hands. “Come here. Let me take a look at that. Rafe, will you get me some ice? Please tell me Cam didn’t do this to you.”

He let her wipe the blood off though he didn’t think he deserved anyone’s tender care. “No. Asshole got in a lucky punch. Are they going to book me?”

The station doors opened again, and Nate hauled in Patrick Welch. The lawyer looked terrible, his formerly pristine clothes a bloody mess. His hands were cuffed behind his back, and he was talking as fast as he could.

“Do you have any idea who I am? You fucking small-town idiots. Do you know what I’m going to do to this town? When I’m done, there won’t be a goddamn town. I will bury this place. I am going to slap you with a lawsuit the likes of which you’ve never seen. Have you ever even heard the term false arrest?”

Nate opened the cell door, giving the lawyer a wide-eyed look. “Now, they might have covered something about that in small-town idiot school. But I never did too well in school, son. That’s how I ended up a sheriff. Ain’t much learning needed here.”

Nate was fucking with the lawyer. Why? Cade had no idea because he’d started the fight.

“Sheriff, you should let him go,” Cade said. The lawyer had been a jerk, worrying about how Gemma looked instead of whether or not she was alive, but he hadn’t started the fight.

“Shut your mouth, son,” Nate warned.

“You should listen to him, Sheriff. He’s the only one talking with any intelligence.” Patrick sat down on the small cot and wiped at his mouth, a sullen expression on his face. “It won’t help you. I intend to sue you for everything you’re worth, you piece of shit.”

Cade stared out at the office. Cam was already writing up a report. And he had no idea how Gemma was because he’d been an asshole who couldn’t control his temper. And as for Patrick taking everything he was worth, well, he wasn’t worth much. He was worth way less than he’d been about an hour ago.

“Do you know how she is?” Cade asked quietly.

Laura stepped up. “I talked to Ty on the radio. Gemma’s stats are good. Her heart rate is steady and she’s breathing just fine. Jesse’s with her. Caleb is taking her to the hospital, but he thinks she just needs some rest and steroids. He’s going to keep a close watch on her. Ty’s coming back here to take a look at you.”

He didn’t want any damn medical attention. He just wanted to sit and rot in the cell and think about what the hell he was doing. He should never have gotten involved. He knew better. He knew what happened when he loved someone. He fucked up and they got hurt.

Gemma almost died. She would never have been in Stella’s without her purse if it hadn’t been for him.

The station doors opened, and Stef Talbot strode in along with his wife, Jennifer. The rumor was Jennifer Talbot was pregnant, but Cade couldn’t tell. The artist looked slender and lovely, following her husband who seemed deeply agitated. Stef Talbot, who some around town called the King of Bliss, wore jeans and a Western shirt, but that didn’t make him an ordinary cowpoke. Stef had power, and he didn’t mind wielding it.

“Does someone want to tell me why my stepmother is crying and trying to tally up the damage to her place of business?”

Cade opened his mouth to talk, and Nate sent him a nasty look.

“I told you not to talk, son.”

Stef stalked his way. “Did you do this, Sinclair?”

Patrick piped up. “He sure as hell did, and I’m going to sue him.”

Jen took a long look at the man in the other cell. “Babe, why don’t we get the whole story before you try to take Cade apart? He’s a damn fine mechanic. We need those around here. The snowmobile is busted.”

“I don’t give a damn about the snowmobile,” he said, never taking those angry eyes off Cade.

Cade was kind of happy for the bars between them.

Jen came up and whispered something in her husband’s ear that had him flushing. He turned back to her. “Are you serious?”

She shrugged and gave him a half smile. “Rach says it works really well. I thought we could get some happy fun time in before I get too big.”

His hand strayed briefly at her belly before he turned back to Cade. “Fine. Talk. You have two minutes before I throw you out of my town.”

“Just do it, Talbot. I was going to leave anyway.” The look in Jesse’s eyes had made that decision for him. Disappointment. Anger. Regret. All directed his way. At least one of them was there for Gemma.

Holly walked up, brushing the hair out of her face and passing Cade an ice pack. “Put that on your lip. It’s swelling. Stef, according to Hal, who I just talked to, Cade was upset because Gemma nearly died from anaphylaxis because this guy over here was eating strawberries in front of her. She’s got a terrible allergy to strawberries. I called her mom, and she’s on her way to the hospital.”

Stef turned to Patrick. “Did you know she’s allergic?”

Patrick didn’t bother to look ashamed. “I’m not taking the blame for this. I like strawberries. They’re a super food. I’m not going to eschew them because Gemma has a problem. It was her fault. She should have been more careful. Come to think of it, it was that dumb bimbo café owner’s fault because she only brought one fork. I’ll have to see about suing her, too.”

Stef Talbot nearly grew fangs and claws. His eyes narrowed. “Nathan.”

“Already on it. I have witnesses coming in to give their reports,” Nate explained.

“Thank god, you’re getting one thing right,” Patrick complained. “I’ll want copies of everything.”

“I’ll make sure you have them. According to all the witnesses I talked to, you started the fight, Mr. Welch. Now, why would you do that? Is it because you found out your ex-fiancée is involved with Mr. Sinclair?”

Jen grinned, her arm going around Stef’s waist. “See, babe, told you Nate would handle it. You’re not the only manipulative son of a bitch in the world.”

Stef sighed, a satisfied sound. “Excellent. Nathan, let me know if you need anything. Talbot resources are completely available to you. And you. Think twice before you go after that bimbo café owner. She’s Stella Talbot, wife of Sebastian Talbot and my mother in every sense of the word. You might think you’re the big-time fucking lawyer out here in the sticks, but I promise you that stick will hurt when I shove it up your ass, and no amount of New York City lawyers will be able to get it out.”

Jen gave Cade a wink. “Come out to the estate when you get a chance and take a look at the snowmobile. Bye, Cade. Tell Gemma we’re all thinking of her and to expect the casseroles to start showing up at her place tomorrow. I promise no strawberries. Unfortunately, I can’t promise the same of tofu.”

They walked out the door, leaving Cade more confused than ever.

Patrick went a little green. “As in Talbot Industries?”

Nate leaned against Gemma’s desk. “One and the same. And in case you want to go after the doc for not seeing to that tiny bruise Sinclair gave you, you should know his birth name is Caleb Sommerville. Yes, those Sommervilles.”

“The senator from Illinois?” Patrick practically gulped the question.

“Is his brother,” Nate explained. “Now, do you still want to sue this town for everything it’s worth?”

It seemed Bliss was worth way more than Patrick Welch thought it was and he backed off. “I think we can all agree this was a terrible misunderstanding.”

“I thought you might see it that way. Cam, you can stop. I think we’re all going to agree to walk away from this.”

Cam stopped typing. “Thank god. I hate paperwork. I’m going to call and see how Gemma is and when we can see her.”

Ten minutes later he was free, but no one could let him out of the prison he’d put himself in.

Cade walked to the Trading Post, bought what he needed, and got his bike and a few things from the apartment he shared with Jesse. He went to Gemma’s. The cabin was silent where hours before it had been full of life.

He worked until long past twilight. His cell phone was depressingly silent. He sat down on Gemma’s couch and waited.