and Jake had made it a priority to keep her spirits up. That included meeting her for dinner or drinks a few times a week. Almost a year had passed—a year in which Jake had kept up the routine because he enjoyed it, too. Rina was stronger now. Even the jokes had come more freely to her of late. Jake’s mission had been a success. It had also recently led to his obsession with a woman he didn’t know.
“Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. How I’m doing. I’m going to take a vacation. A friend invited me to spend the summer with her in Italy. And I really need the break. I need to get away and…”
“I think it’s a great idea.” Jake didn’t hesitate. Not only would the vacation do wonders for Rina’s mental health, but it would keep her out of the country and safe until Ramirez was behind bars. “Anything that gets you out of that mausoleum of an apartment is good by me.” Besides, all that marble and china made Jake nervous. Every time he turned around in the penthouse, he felt in danger of breaking something.
“I’m glad you think so. But about the penthouse?”
“Mausoleum.”
“Whatever. I need you to stay there while I’m gone and watch Norton—and before you say no, think about the whirlpool and the pool. They’ll do wonders for your rehabilitation.” She opened her brown eyes wide and fluttered her thick lashes.
Not a good sign, he thought, and he knew he was in deep. “I don’t need physical therapy. I’m doing some exercises the orthopedist recommended, and my shoulder’s just fine.” He caught her stare and realized he’d been subconsciously rubbing the muscle with his hand. He quickly wrapped the hand around his glass, which had grown warm to the touch.
She raised an eyebrow. “The department says otherwise.”
Much as he loved Rina, no way could he let her in on the fact that he had been undertaking strenuous rehabilitation. Her well-meaning concern often translated into talking at inopportune moments and generally butting into his life. He couldn’t risk her informing the department that he’d be in shape sooner than they thought.
“The department has no say unless I choose to go back,” he told her. And he was no longer sure he wanted to. Getting hit by a bullet and damaging his shoulder while diving out of harm’s way had nothing to do with his uncertainty. The circumstances surrounding the episode did.
Louis Ramirez, who had been drug trafficking on college campuses and had access to major dealers, had been ripe for the picking. As a detective on narcotics detail, Jake had invested all his time and energy on the scum. He’d seen one too many co-eds in the morgue thanks to Ramirez’s tainted goods, too many once fresh-faced kids now addicted. Jake had sworn he’d nail the crook, and had skirted the edges of proper police procedure to arrange a bust that would put Ramirez away for a long time. He’d trusted a snitch, something he regretted the instant the first bullet was fired and he realized he and his fellow officers had been set up.
But they’d gotten their man, anyway. After the hail of bullets that had stolen Frank’s life and sidelined Jake, Ramirez had been taken into custody. And he would have stayed there, too, if Jake hadn’t been down for the count. If some rookie hadn’t screwed up and failed to give proper Miranda rights. Ramirez had walked, on a technicality. It wasn’t the first time Jake had seen a criminal go free but it was the proverbial last straw. Jake was disgusted, disillusioned with his role in bringing in the dregs of the earth only to have his efforts thwarted courtesy of America’s judicial system.
The detective Ramirez killed had been a good man—a man with a wife and kids—and though all cops knew the risk, Jake would have preferred to take the fatal bullet instead. He had no little ones who needed a father. Jake’s weekend visits and phone calls to Frank’s family were a poor substitute for the real thing.
“The system pisses me off and I’ve had it with the whole routine,” he said, giving his sister the gut-honest truth.
“So Frank’s gone and you’re just going to give up?”
Her tone conveyed disbelief, possibly because she knew Jake better than anyone. She knew his friendship with Frank and his family ran deep and she understood the pain of losing someone. But she also knew her brother. Jake Lowell didn’t throw in the towel, and he never left a job undone without a fight.
“I’ll redirect my energies,” he lied. He didn’t want to upset Rina by admitting he planned to get Frank’s killer on his own.
Jake couldn’t bring Ramirez in on any of the charges stemming from the original bust, but no doubt the guy was still selling drugs and somehow he’d slip up. Between Jake’s off-duty digging and the official information two of his detective buddies continued to feed him, Jake would nab Ramirez. It was only a matter of time. But he wouldn’t have the freedom to follow up leads if he was constrained by his superiors and newer cases he’d no doubt be assigned.
Jake also needed personal R-and-R. Time without the pressure and restrictions of the job to find out what direction he wanted to take in life. To decide what the restlessness he’d been experiencing lately meant. Was it the gritty life of a cop and the disillusionments that came with the job that had worn him down, or something more? Jake didn’t have any answers. And he had a hunch none would be forthcoming until his mind was free of Ramirez.
His lieutenant would jump on him if he thought Jake was ready, so allowing a prolonged recuperation provided the perfect excuse. “Can we change the subject?” he asked his sister.
She shrugged. “Suit yourself. Let the muscle atrophy until you can’t make it work. Then when you want to go back, you’ll flunk the physical and—”
“Rina,” he said, warning her with his tone.
But he understood her concern because it mirrored his feelings for her. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for his sister. She knew it and played him shamelessly, but he adored her, anyway. Without a doubt, she had the same loyalty toward him, which prompted her pushing him now.
She held her hands up in surrender. “Okay, I’ll back off. So will you stay in the penthouse while I’m gone?”
He raised an eyebrow. Given her usual propensity to butt in where she didn’t belong, Jake didn’t buy the easy subject change, but he was grateful for the reprieve. “Couldn’t you put the dog in a kennel?”
“Norton doesn’t like kennels. He gets nervous. And if you won’t watch him, I’ll have to stay home.”
“Never mind,” he muttered, resigning himself to animal-and apartment-sitting for the summer. His fate had been sealed from the moment she’d batted her brown eyes at him across the table. It didn’t matter where he set himself up, as long as he had the freedom to come and go as he pleased on his quest for Ramirez.
With Rina out of town, Jake had nothing and no one cramping his movements. Besides, she needed the break. “You should get away, and if you need my help to do it, I’ll stay, even if it means walking that pathetic excuse for a dog in public,” he said, infusing his voice with warmth and humor. Once he said yes, he’d never knowingly make her feel guilty and, besides, he and Norton had developed a grudging respect for one another.
Her face lit up in a way Jake hadn’t seen since before her husband passed away. “Oh, thank you.”
Before he could blink, she was up and around the table. She wrapped one arm around his good side and kissed his cheek. “Thank you. You can’t imagine how depressing it’s been for me alone in the penthouse.
