Irresistible Force (A K-9 Rescue Novel)(45)

His expression must have prompted her faltering on the last word. Now he knew a bit more. "Why didn't he field this guy?"

She frowned, clearly unhappy he was calling the shots. "He called my  cell number. He said he knew I wouldn't want anyone else to know about  him."

"Because?"

She leaned forward suddenly, one hand landing lightly on his knee. Her  attempt at seduction was as subtle as a baseball bat to the groin.  "You've got to understand, a celebrity isn't responsible for who becomes  a fan. After I made my announcement on the morning show last Friday I  got a call from a really loyal fan. He said he knew people who could  help me track down my unknown detractor."

"In addition to the private eye you hired to tail Shay?"

"And you." She smiled and squeezed his knee.

He pushed her hand away and checked his watch. Two fifty-five. He'd  promised Shay he would be in Raleigh by two P.M. He was at least two  hours away. "You had this fan hire someone. Who is he?"

Jaylynn sat back, her investigative reporter face slipping into place. "You really are falling for her, aren't you?"

"You really are about to watch me walk out of here with that guy still loose."

"Okay." But then she didn't say anything for so long, James made to  rise. "Okay. There is this guy at the state prison who said he had  friends on the outside who'd see to it that your girlfriend changed her  mind about testifying against me."

James felt like a rock slide had hit him. "A criminal, you mean. You let loose an ex-con on an innocent woman?"

He must have looked as wrathful as he felt because she leaned back and  pulled in her legs to wrap her arms about them. "I didn't say that. In  any case, I don't think he meant to have her harmed."

"What exactly did you think he meant to do?"

"I don't know. Scare her. Oh, for pity's sake. I didn't ask. Okay? I didn't want to know, or get involved."                       
       
           



       

"But you didn't tell this scumbag not to bother her?"

"I didn't know for sure there was even anyone doing anything until this  guy called me yesterday." She looked away. "He said some things."

"What things?"

She wouldn't look at him.

James got up but he didn't head for the door. He moved to stand over  her. He bent over and placed a hand on either side of the back of her  chair, bringing his face down to within inches of hers. "I'm a cop,  Jaylynn. You keep forgetting that. Talk to me or I'm calling the station  to send over an on-duty officer, and you can explain your connections  to criminal activity to him."

Her eyes grew big in defiance, then her mouth went crooked in defeat.

"He said he was doing a job for Big Bog-that's the nickname of the con  I've been corresponding with. He said he was doing it for free because  he owed Bog. But that it had occurred to him that he didn't owe me a  thing. And how about I show him some respect by paying for his work from  now on."

"What kind of work?"

"How should I know? I told him I didn't know who he was or what he was talking about, and to leave me alone."

James levered away from her, afraid he might throttle her if he stayed too close. And he needed to know everything. "Go on."

"So then he says he could go to a source he has with the police and they  might be interested in what he had to say about being asked by a mutual  friend on the inside to take an interest in my case. That's when I knew  who he was."

"And?"

Jaylynn folded her arms, expression going pouty. "So, I told him I would  meet him in a public place. We met at the Reedy Creek Park, by the dog  park yesterday."

James stared down at her. "Describe him."

"He was ugly. Big. Not tall but thick like a brick. Black hair, scruffy,  like a street person." She wrinkled her nose. "He smelled."

She glanced up at James. What she saw was enough to keep her talking.  "He said he wanted ten thousand dollars to keep quiet and keep scaring  her. I told him I didn't have that kind of money. He said in that case,  he wanted five thousand not to-to hurt the person. That's when I got  scared."

"Only then? What do you think he's been doing to Shay up till now?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. I tell you, I didn't authorize any of this."

"But you didn't say no to the idea."

"I guess I thought, what if the little bit-woman decides it's not a good  idea to testify against me? Then I can go back to my career, which I  worked very hard for, and get on with my life." She looked up at James,  peeking through her false eyelashes. "I didn't do anything to her. But  she could ruin me. She brought this on herself by interfering."

"Bullshit, Jaylynn. You deserve what's happened to you because of what you've done."

She looked at him with incomprehension. "You think I deserve this?" She  pulled back her kimono top and he saw bruises on her neck and shoulders.  "I told him I'd give him some money to just go away. I'd bring it to  the park today at noon. But he came to my door this morning just as I  was leaving and forced his way past me. I only gave him five hundred  dollars. I told him that's all I could get together overnight. So then  he … "

James licked his lips, his mouth having gone dry. "Did he rape you?"

"He tried to." She flinched. "But I then remembered about Big Bog. I  said Big Bog would not be happy if he heard that he'd done anything to  hurt me."

"That stopped him?"

She nodded. "I guess he owes the guy big-time."

"Or Big Bog knows people deadlier than him." James tried to think like a  policeman. But his brain was working like a boyfriend now. Shay was in  trouble! All he knew was that he was too far away. He needed to get  closer fast.

He looked down at Jaylynn. "You didn't deserve to be attacked. But you  started a shitball of trouble rolling downhill. You're to blame for  that."

"I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I was just protecting myself."

"You were protecting your image. Who you really are sent a criminal after an innocent, unsuspecting woman."

Bogart bounded to his feet as James reached the door.

"Be careful, James. He knows where she lives and has been threatening her with phone calls and other stuff for a week."

James flinched as her words hit home. Shay hadn't said a word about any  threats from any source but Eric. But then, would she? She was too  accustomed to taking care of things herself. That hurt him more than he  expected.                       
       
           



       

"James? If you can handle this, and get my money back, I swear I'll withdraw my civil suit against Shay."

James looked back from the door.

She nodded. "It would ruin me if it got out I knew anything about her being harassed by an ex-con."

"You're still thinking of yourself." That much he believed.

* * *

"Fuck!" James punched "end call" on his screen. Of all the times for  Shay to pull mad girlfriend on him. She wasn't answering her phone. He  doubted she had listened to his messages since she hadn't responded. He  would pull over and text her again but he didn't want to waste the time.

As he left Jaylynn's drive, he had called in to his department in  Charlotte. He wanted them to get Jaylynn on record while she was still  scared. But he had an even more important reason for calling. "Get me  someone in the Raleigh police department. I have reason to believe a  woman there is in imminent danger."

He used his emergency lights and a very heavy foot from Charlotte all the way to the city limits of Raleigh.

All he'd been able to think about on the drive was that he was  responsible for the mess Shay was in, and that she had no idea how bad  it was.

Worse yet, she couldn't protect against what she couldn't see coming.





CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Shay pulled up the hood of her heavy sweatshirt as she slipped out from  behind the wheel. Being on the lake dropped the normal November evening  temperature of the surroundings by several degrees. A damp breeze chafed  her cheeks. Her cowboy boots made crunchy sounds on the gravel as she  walked around to the rear of her car.

She gathered her grocery bags by their handles to haul them out of the  trunk. Four bags' worth was probably too much for a weekend. But she  couldn't decide what she wanted to cook for James. There were T-bone  steaks, a fillet of salmon, sweet potatoes, greens for salad, fruit,  eggs and bacon because she was pretty sure James was the kind of man who  would want meat with his homemade waffles. On top were a couple of big  doggy bones that the butcher had promised wouldn't splinter and harm  Bogart.