Chapter 13

Jessie walked into the small kitchen, checking her phone for messages.

“You look lovely. That pink shirt gives a little color to your cheeks.” Sadie smiled at her.

“Thanks.” She bent and whispered in Sadie’s ear, “I love you, Grams.”

“I love you, too.” Sadie patted the chair next to her. “Sit down, dear.” She took a cup and poured her some coffee. “I think we’re all going to need this to get through the day.”

Jessie held the cup between her hands. “You know, Grams, I’m ready to fight. If we were scared last night, can you imagine how Adriana is feeling? There were three of us, but she’s all alone.” Jessie’s eyes flashed with anger. “They abducted her several weeks ago and there’s no telling what they’ve done to her. I get sick thinking about it. If it were me, I would want Matt to move heaven and earth to find me.”

“Have you heard anything from her or seen her in your dreams?” Sadie took a blueberry muffin from the basket and passed the basket to Jessie.

“No, and that makes this case harder. I think they might have sedated her. She’s not dreaming, so I don’t know. I would think she’d be hallucinating or something. I haven’t seen her since the night I saw her in the trunk of the car and the dark figure bent over her.” Jessie grabbed a sesame bagel.

“I hope her baby will be okay.” Sadie pinched off a piece of her muffin popping it in her mouth.

“Who’s sedated?” Katie walked into the kitchen.

Sadie smiled at her. “We’re talking about Adriana, dear.”

“Let’s hope so. How else could she remain calm in an endless nightmare?” Katie sat across from Jessie.

“You’re right, Katie.” Jessie handed her a cup of steaming hot coffee. “I think you hit the nail on the head. She’s sedated and out of it altogether.” Jessie glanced at Katie “Sometimes you surprise me with your astuteness.”

“Yeah, whatever that means.” Katie rolled her eyes at Jessie.

“You know what it means. You always play dumb, but you’re an intelligent woman.” Jessie gave Katie a playful slap.

“Of course I am, but a smart woman is a threat to men. You’re a prime example. You scare them off in droves.”

“Any man who is threatened by a woman’s intelligence isn’t much of a man in my book.” Sadie adjusted her glasses on her nose. “Some men love to talk things out with a woman who can think for herself.”

“Oh my gosh, Sadie, you’re cute.” She blew her a kiss. “What man? Give me an example!”

“Matt, for one.” Sadie grinned at Jessie.

“It’s true.” Jessie eyed Sadie’s smug smile. “We do seem to work well together, bouncing ideas off of each other, but it wasn’t always that way. We fought a lot in the beginning.”

“Okay, so there’s one, but it doesn’t mean much. Matt loves Jessie. There aren’t very many others.” Katie took a muffin from the basket.

“I’m glad he’ll be here soon.” Sadie looked over her glasses at Jessie.

“Me too! He’ll know what the next step is.” “And you know, Katie, you’re wrong. There are others.”

“Like who?” Katie’s eyes lit up.

“Like Jeremy.” Jessie’s eyes sparkled with mischief.

“Now there’s a guy I could get used to talking to.” She winked at Sadie.

“You’d better start practicing.” Sadie laughed. “He’s here in Palm Springs and will be coming tonight with Matt.”

“Did you say Jeremy is here?” Katie jumped up and did her happy dance around the room. She grabbed Sadie and tried to get her to dance. Sadie shook her head no. “Oh, that’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”

“It’s the only news you’ve heard. It’s still early yet.” Jessie laughed, and Katie gave her a playful slap.

“Party pooper.” Katie sat again. “I have to do my hair and makeup. I wonder what I should wear.”

“Settle down. You’ll have plenty of time to get yourself ready. Matt and Jeremy won’t be here until around dinnertime. Do you think we should order in tonight?” Sadie looked at the dark circles under her granddaughter’s eyes. “You seem a little tired.” Sadie saw Jessie’s chin edge up.

Jessie shook her head. “If it’s all the same to you, Grams, I think we should all go out. I think it would be good to get out of this room for a while tonight.” She sipped her coffee.

“That’s okay with me. You know, I was thinking, girls, instead of moving on to San Diego, how about we just stay here. I checked, and we can have this suite for a few more nights. There’s an open street fair on Thursday that I thought would be great fun to see.”

“I think you read my mind, Grams. It’s perfect.” Jessie took a bite of her bagel. It’s not the right time to move.”

“It’s fine with me as long as whatever happened last night stays away.” Katie shuddered. “If Jeremy’s here, I’m not going anywhere.” Katie took a sip of her coffee. “What’s on the agenda for today?”

“We need to stop by the police station for a few minutes. I want them to meet Jessie. Then I think we should do a little shopping. I want to buy you both new outfits. How does that sound, girls?”

Katie smiled. “I’m always up for a new outfit.” Katie spread some butter on her muffin and took a bite. “Oh my, this tastes wonderful. I guess I was hungry.”

“I’ll just give Matt a text and let him know we are planning to go out for dinner.” She smiled at Katie’s exuberance. “Finish up; we need to get on our way.”

****

Jessie shut the door behind her and walked out into the warm sunlight. Chief Balasco was a good man. She wasn’t so sure about Agent Henderson. He had bugged her. She didn’t like the way he had looked at her. It felt like total freedom to walk out of the station away from his stares. He was a colossal jerk, and he was in charge. Poor Matt.

“Dear, I think we should make this normal time for Katie.” Sadie grabbed Jessie’s arm to slow her pace. “I know shopping doesn’t sound like you’re doing anything for Adriana, but your mind will keep working. Maybe you’ll hear something as we go through the day. After last night, I want to keep Katie’s mind off it. Besides, I want you both to have a little fun on this trip despite everything.”

“I know you’re right. It’s hard for me not to get wrapped up in a case once I get going on it.” Jessie turned to talk to Sadie. “Besides, Matt will be here soon, and we can talk. He helps me see things more clearly.” Jessie walked arm in arm with Sadie to the car.

Katie had remained in the car and at some point had put the top down. “You took long enough. It’s hot in the sun,” she called out as they approached.

“Now, Katie, I’m old enough to set the record straight. It took all of fifteen minutes, and I tried to get you to come in. I didn’t want you to get too warm, remember?” Sadie chided her. “Jessie, you drive. I’m never good when I don’t know an area very well.”

Jessie followed Sadie’s directions and turned down Palm Canyon Drive, a street lined with palm trees and flowers. It was the heart of Palm Spring’s downtown area with all its shops and restaurants. “Where do you want to go, Grams?”

“I was told we had to visit this place.” Sadie handed a piece of paper to Katie with instructions on it. “It’s the El Paseo shopping district, the Rodeo Drive of the desert.”

“Wow, it has over three hundred shops, boutiques, and art galleries. El Paseo has just about everything you could want, including jewelry. You know how I love jewelry.” Katie’s eyes filled with excitement reading the brochure.

It was a floral-filled, well-maintained mile of beautiful shops and restaurants. Excited to explore the shops, Katie was squealing with delight. Jessie smiled at her, getting into her enthusiasm. Katie was bound to find several things that she loved. Shopping here could do some major damage to Jessie’s budget, but she was willing to risk it. She’d probably never be back to the area again. Jessie pulled into the first parking space she came across. “Do you feel like walking a little, Grams?”

“Of course,” she replied gaily. “Let’s hit a few of these bad boys and shop our cares away.” She smiled at them.

****

Jessie settled her bags around her as she sat down on the bench with her grandmother and Katie. The three were exhausted and ready to stop for the day. “I think we did enough damage for the whole week today.” Jessie giggled, looking at all the bags.

“Sadie, what are you on, speed? I could hardly keep up with you. Whoever said people slow down when they get older obviously never met you.” Katie slipped off one of her shoes and rubbed her foot.

“What do you say we get something to drink as we head back to the car? I think I could use a little nap before this evening. I’m saying that for your benefit, Katie dear, so you can take one too.” Sadie smiled at her.

Katie smiled. “I hope when I’m half your age I can be as young as you are.”

“I hope you can, too.” Sadie patted Katie’s hand and laughed.

“I’m sincere. None of us slept much last night and you, sweet lady, just keep going. You’re not like any grandmother I’ve shopped with.”

“There are plenty of us out here. Getting older doesn’t always mean life is over. As long as you have your health, you can keep on moving.” She handed them their iced teas.

When they got to the car, Jessie unlocked it so they could get in. “Thanks, Grams, this was a good day.”

****

“Damn, Matt, how’d you put up with the insolence of that guy? I wanted to punch him.” Jeremy followed Matt into the room.

“He’s in control of the case and that’s just how it is. Most guys are cool to work with but now and then you get a guy who loves power and likes to pull rank on you,” he said wearily. “I’m going to have to tolerate it to work the case.”

“I have a feeling he’s going to enjoy pushing your buttons.”

Matt took his gun off and placed his badge on the table. He stretched out on the bed. “He’ll push, and I’ll find a way to work around him. I’ll feed him enough to make him happy. We do what we have to do I guess.”

“I think I’ll check on a few of the other areas you requested. When are we leaving?” Jeremy grabbed his laptop and turned it on.

“I told them we would be out of the room by five.” Matt held up the remote. “Will it bother you?”

“No.” Jeremy’s fingers flew over the computer keys.

“I’ll tell Sadie we’ll be there a little after five.” Matt turned on ESPN, but he couldn’t concentrate on it. Matt muted the sound. “There is something that connects all these characters together. I wish I knew what the hell it was.”

“Matt, you’re not going to believe this.” Jeremy jumped up with his laptop. “Look who spent time with Mallory in prison.”

“We’ll I’ll be damned, that changes everything. This case just got real interesting.”