CHAPTER 9
Their weekend together was pure bliss. As it turned out it had rained all weekend and neither of them seemed to mind at all. The entire weekend was ‘clothing optional’ as they enjoyed the complete privacy they didn’t feel they had at her house, always worrying that someone was watching. Total freedom from all responsibilities for three blissful days, making love anywhere and everywhere they wanted. Never once did either of them feel bored or restless. Marla hadn’t been this relaxed in the past three years and certainly never this in love either. Both Marla and Pete waited until the last possible moment to put their clothes on and say goodbye to their now favorite cabin in the woods. Pete chuckled to himself as they walked out the door.
“What?”
“I was just thinking that next time I won’t go to the trouble of packing any clothes, just our toothbrushes and a comb and we’ll be good to go.” Marla blushed slightly at the thought of the previous weekend, still engulfed in the cozy feeling of being in Pete’s arms.
“I think you’ve got a valid point there, Mr. Jensen,” Marla agreed.
Both Pete and Marla hadn’t expected a welcoming committee waiting for them when they pulled into the driveway, but there sat chubby, balding Dillon in his car that was parked in Marla’s driveway. Pete and Dillon had rubbed each other the wrong way since day one and today was no different.
“Dillon, what the hell are you doing here?” Pete asked as he exited his car, noticing that the dogs weren’t barking.
“Captain Perkins wanted me to wait for you to get home and bring you both to the station as soon as you got back.” Giving Pete a warning look, Dillon continued. “Don’t even bother going into the house, just go straight to the station.” Pete nodded once to Dillon letting him know he got the message.
“Marla, we need to go straight to the station, Captain Perkins wants to talk to us.” The look on Pete’s face told Marla not to argue and she got back into the car quickly.
“What’s wrong Pete, what’s going on?” Marla asked nervously, wringing her hands together as her face began to pale with fright.
“I have no idea, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.” He parked the car and hopped out before Marla could get her seat belt unbuckled. Marla felt like she was walking to her own execution. Captain Perkins was waiting at the police station door when they walked in and, without a word, motioned them into her office.
Pete and Marla sat in the Captain’s office waiting for her to start the explanation.
“Marla, there’s been an incident at your house this weekend. When Lizzie let herself into your house on Saturday afternoon she found all three dogs wounded inside the house. Someone had beaten them very badly. All three of them are at the vet’s office recuperating.” Marla’s eyes filled with tears as she sat there, stunned silent while the pictures formed in her head. She hung her head, brushing her hand over her face to try and regain her composure.
“Again we found fingerprints of the same guy, Alonso Fortuna, all over the house. The vet expects them all to make it but they need to stay there for the next week or so. He assures me that they’re sedated and not in pain.” Captain Perkins paused for a moment to give the news time to sink in.
Marla closed her eyes, as if that would keep all the bad information out, saying a small prayer of thanks that everyone was alive and going to recover.
“Pete, you finally got a response from the Toronto P.D. and apparently this Fortuna dude was a pretty powerful player in the smuggling of diamonds before he was sent to face charges in the states. Our boys at the FBI are staying hush about how he supposedly died in federal prison while running around our fair city. As always, they’re sending some agents to “neutralize” the situation. I still haven’t been able to get a picture I.D. on Fortuna so he could be anywhere and we wouldn’t know it. Toronto did venture a guess to say that the purse Marla was found with probably had some priceless diamonds sewn into the lining, a favorite smuggling tool of this guy. It must have taken him a while to find her, otherwise we would have had these problems sooner. Have you been able to locate any of the items Marla had at the time we found her?”
“Negative Captain. Hospital says the police have them, police say they left them at the hospital. Is there any place else I should check?” Pete asked.
“No, I have the evidence room technicians going through every piece of evidence we have stored in there on the off chance that it’s been misfiled, but so far, nothing. Now for the other bombshell, Marla, the Canadian authorities have finally got back to us with a match on your fingerprints. According to them you were raised in a catholic orphanage and fingerprinted when you were released at age eighteen. Other than that they have no record of you. Your name when you lived in Toronto was Mary Margaret O’Toole. The nuns at the orphanage named you themselves and tell the authorities that your mother died after giving birth to you. Your father is listed as unknown. Even though the name O’Toole was given to you the nuns are pretty sure she made that up. To the best of their knowledge you have no other siblings and, apparently, you’re not a citizen of the United States.”
“Now that we have this lead we’re looking into the question of your citizenship and that will take some time. Until we get this all straightened out the FBI has requested that we keep you in protective custody, at a safe house of our choosing. I have to agree with them on that point,” Captain Perkins asserted. “Officer Dillon will take you to your safe house and stay with you.”
Before Pete could say anything Captain Perkins held up her hand to silence him. “I know what you’re going to say but I need you here, Jensen, and that’s an order.” Marla watched frustration cross Pete’s face but he didn’t say anything.
“How long do you think this might take to be resolved, Captain Perkins?” Marla asked with a shaky voice and tears filling her eyes.
“I truly have no idea, Marla, hopefully soon,” She responded sympathetically.
“I want to visit the dogs before I go,” Marla stated rather than asked.
“Not possible,” Captain Perkins staccato voice spit out emphatically.
“Yes, it is. And just so you know, I’m telling you, not asking you. I have every intention of cooperating with you fully once I know my dogs are safe and on the mend.” Marla asserted.
After a moment’s hesitation Captain Perkins gave a nod of acceptance.
“Jensen make sure you give Dillon all the contact information you have on this case before he takes Marla to the vet’s office. I’ll have you stay here, Marla, until Dillon is ready to go.” Pete sprang into action with Captain Perkins on his heels. Marla listened to Pete and Dillon’s conversation.
“Are you upset, Jensen, because I’ll be alone with you lover girl?” Dillon goaded.
“She’s not my woman, Dillon. Marla’s free to do as she pleases,” Pete spat out angrily.
“Yeah, right. You mean to tell me you wouldn’t be upset if I tried to seduce her?”
“Hey, go for it. I don’t have any claim on her and it doesn’t make any difference to me one way or the other. She’s a free woman.” He pressed back the anger and bitterness, knowing Dillon was just egging him on to get his jollies by pissing him off.
Marla couldn’t believe what she was hearing. What was Pete talking about not having any claim on her? Of course he had a claim on her, he was her first and only lover! Didn’t that mean anything to him? How could he even consider encouraging Dillon to go after her like she was a piece of meat? Tears sprang to Marla’s eyes as the fact that she’d been used by Pete sank in. She clutched at her chest as she felt the physical pain of her breaking heart. When Dillon came into the office he saw that she was crying and for the first time expressed some genuine concern.
“Are you all right, Marla? Let me get you some tissues.” Dillon ran to his desk and grabbed the open box of Kleenex and raced back into the Captain’s office. Pete heard Marla sniffle then blow her nose and he had
to turn away, unable to stop his feelings of inadequacy for not being able to solve this case sooner. It tore him up inside when she cried and his arms ached with wanting to comfort her, but this was neither the time nor place for words of love or consolation. He sat at his desk with his back to the door of the Captain’s office and tried to concentrate on his assignment. Unfortunately he was more successful than he realized because the next time he stuck his head into the Captain’s office Marla was already gone.
“Where’d they go?” Pete asked Captain Perkins in disbelief.
“They left about ten minutes ago, why?”
“I have Marla’s suitcase in the trunk of my car and I was going to give it to her before she left.”
“Too late. Bring it into my office. I’ll make sure it gets to her.” The Captain reassured him.
“I’ll be glad to run it over to her if you’ll tell me where Dillon took her.” Pete offered hopefully.
“Sorry, need to know basis only and you’re not on the list. I’ll take care of it.”
Pete sat at his desk and sulked about the fact that he hadn’t even had the chance to say goodbye to Marla before she’d left. Dammit! He had no way of contacting her now. He considered asking the Captain to deliver a note to her from him, but he didn’t want it to seem like they were in high school, passing secret love notes like two teenagers. Suddenly it occurred to him that the bakery might have trouble functioning and he went back into the Captain’s office.
“What about the bakery? What’ going to happen while she’s gone?”
“Closed until further notice. We already posted a sign on the door.”
“But what if she loses her employees? They have to make a living like everyone else.”
“I suppose they’ll do what they have to do to survive. They might be entitled to unemployment benefits if Marla agrees to that. Frankly, it’s really not my priority or problem at the moment, or yours for that matter. We all heard your rather loud assessment of your relationship with Marla. Apparently it’s not as important to you as we all thought, so don’t worry about it.” Pete’s face went ghostly white as he plopped his large body into the chair across from her desk.
“Something wrong, Jensen?”
“Do you think Marla heard that too?”
“I don’t see how she could have missed it, you were rather yelling it around the office. Listen, I don’t have time to play Dear Abby right now and we have more important problems to deal with at the moment. Has it occurred to you that if you can’t locate Marla’s legal entry into this country she could very well be deported?” At that Pete’s head snapped up in shock. Captain Perkins read his reaction in his face.
“Exactly. You better get on that right away.” Pete swallowed hard and went back to work in a daze.
Marla sat in the backseat of Dillon’s car, dazed and confused by the events of the day. She closed her sore and swollen eyes, exhausted both emotionally and physically. Thankfully, Dillon left her to her own thoughts and didn’t bother with any idle chit chat. She had so many thoughts swirling through her mind that she was unable to concentrate on any single one for a reasonable length of time. All she wanted to do was find a bed and pull the covers over her head. Marla couldn’t believe how the last three years of her life had come full circle. Three years ago she had woken up in the hospital with only the clothes on her back. Now she sat in the back of a police car with only the clothes on her back. Three long years of hard work and determination down the drain. Oh wait, she did have something more than she’d had last time, this time she could add a broken heart to her list of possessions. Marla’s stomach churned on itself, causing her to feel nauseous after all the riding in cars she’d done today.
“Dillon, how much longer will it be? I’m not feeling very well. I think I’m getting a little car sick.”
“We only have about five more minutes. Do you need me to pull over?” Dillon seemed obliging enough to Marla.
“I think I can make it that long. Do we have any bottled water or anything else cold to drink in the car?”
“No, but I’ll call ahead and make sure there’s some in the room for you.” Dillon flipped open his phone and spoke to someone, quickly giving orders for cold drinks and some crackers to help settle her stomach. Suddenly Marla had another thought and jumped visibly when it struck her.
“Dillon, Lizzie’s all right isn’t she? I mean, she didn’t get hurt, did she?” She would feel terrible if anything happened to her.
“She’s just fine, Marla. She was a little shaken when she saw the dogs but she handled it beautifully. Instead of trying to pick up any of the dogs and hurting them more, she called the vet and he came to the house. He medicated the dogs so they wouldn’t feel a thing and then he and Lizzie moved them to the clinic. She wouldn’t let anyone in the house until the dogs were safely in the vet’s car. I guess she was afraid that the strangers would upset them. She was a rock until the crisis was over, then she fell apart. You couldn’t have had anyone do any better under the circumstances. I know I was impressed.” By the time Dillon finished his explanation they were pulling into a parking lot of some hotel. They came in through the back so Marla didn’t even know what hotel she was at, let alone what city she was in, and she didn’t really care.
When Dillon stopped the car a man whose demeanor screamed cop opened the car door, as he constantly scanned the surrounding area for any signs of danger. He never said a word and simply nodded a greeting to Marla as she passed. She had no idea who he worked for, but she knew it wasn’t the Wynott P.D. Marla knew everyone on the force back in Wynott, or at least she thought she had. She had trusted Pete with her most precious possession, her heart, and he had taken a hammer and shattered it into a million tiny bits. She never saw it coming. It had never once occurred to her that he was just filling the boring hours he was forced to spend with her by taking her to bed. Hell, he was even willing to share her with Dillon. Pete probably felt sorry for Dillon having to spend all these hours with her, bored out of his mind just like Pete had been.
Marla didn’t even bother to take in her surroundings. She headed straight for the mini-fridge and took out a cold bottle of water. She spotted the bed and laid down immediately, calling to Dillon as her stomach continued to roll in and out of nausea.
“Dillon, do we have any nighttime sleep aids? Maybe some Tylenol PM or something like that,” Marla asked.
“I’ll find something for you. Still not feeling any better?”
“No. I think I just need a good night’s sleep, at least I hope that’s all I need. On second thought, anything I take will just upset my stomach more. I’ll just skip the pills.”
As it turned out she hadn’t needed any sleep aid at all, she was sound asleep within fifteen minutes. She never even made it under the covers and was still fully dressed when she fell into her restless sleep.