Protector - Laurel Dewey [69]
“Yes!” Emily exclaimed, holding the packet to her chest. She slid the photos out of the envelope and looked at the top picture. “There they are.”
Jane glanced down at the photo. It looked like the same one on the refrigerator. “Keep those pictures with you and you’ll never forget them.”
Emily stared at the photo, becoming lost in it. “That was a fun day.”
“How about if you put that top one right here by your bedside so you can see it when you wake up.” Jane started to take the photo off the stack when Emily quickly placed her hand over Jane’s hand.
“I can’t sleep up here!” Emily said, her voice filled with fear.
“Nothing is going to happen to you. I’ll be downstairs.”
“Then I want to be downstairs. I want to be with you.” Emily grabbed on to Jane’s sleeve as if she were drowning and Jane was her life preserver.
“Well, I’m not—”
“Please let me be with you.”
Jane realized that Emily was genuinely scared and that the child was not taking “no” for an answer.
Downstairs, Jane fashioned the couch into a bed using sheets and blankets from the hallway closet.
“Hey,” Emily said, safely securing the pack of photographs inside the vinyl case that held her Starlight Starbright projector. “It’s dark enough to show you my Starlight Starbright. Turn off the lights!” Emily grabbed the case and skipped over to the couch.
Jane went around the room turning off the various table lamps. When she reached the final lamp that sat next to the couch, her eye glimpsed something against the metal side of the lamp’s center post. At first Jane thought it was a large black fly. She squinted through the blinding light. It was a bug, alright, but not the insect kind. Jane carefully removed it and recognized it as the kind of apparatus that the police use for surveillance. She handled it very discreetly as she walked across to the front window. Jane could make out Chris sitting in his unmarked car with the interior light on. He was drinking coffee with one hand and holding his earpiece with the other. Jane purposely ran her finger over the bug and watched Chris readjust his earpiece.
A flash of hot anger surged through Jane’s system. She turned to Emily and spoke in as calm a voice as she could muster. “I’ll be right back.”
Emily watched as Jane crept to the front door, opened it quietly and walked outside leaving the door slightly ajar. Emily slunk off the couch the second Jane was out of sight and crossed to the front door, peering outside into the darkness. Jane walked across the lawn, safely hidden in the dark shadows. She brought the tiny microphone bug to her mouth and spoke into it as though she were having a covert conversation. “Okay, Emily, I’m back. Now, I want you to listen to me very carefully. What you just told me upstairs about how you know who killed your mommy and daddy . . .” Jane stopped walking and watched as Chris immediately held his earpiece closer to his head. “I want you to know that’s going to be our little secret. No one ever has to know a thing. Especially not my fucking partner who’s sitting across the street and getting a hard-on listening to what we’re saying!”
Chris jerked forward and turned toward the house just in time to see Jane bolt across the street and head right to his car.
“Roll down your fucking window!” Jane screamed. Martha turned around in the other car to see who was yelling. Chris rolled down his car window. “You got a lot of fucking nerve, cowboy!” Jane screamed at Chris who looked as though he’d been caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar.
“Yeah, well, call that a little insurance!” Chris yelled back.
“Insurance?”
Chris got out of the sedan and stood his ground. “Insurance that I know everything so I can solve this case!”
“Jesus, Chris! You’re turning into a paranoid little fuck!”
“You think I’m paranoid? Well, just because people