Chapter 3
“What are you doing home at this time?” Ilsa demanded as she looked up from the salad she’d made herself for lunch and shook her head.
“Sorry, not any of my business.” She froze when an extremely handsome man walked into the house behind Kevin.
Not that Kevin wasn’t handsome, but he didn’t push any of her buttons, but the man who stood there looking around did something to her insides.
“Ilsa,” Kevin said as he spotted her. “This is Jason Black.”
“Our savior?”
“I wouldn’t call me that,” Jason said as he smiled and stepped forward with his hand out. “Jason Black.”
“Ilsa Miller.” They shook and both their hands gripped a little tighter, and their eyes flared, but they weren’t quick to release the other’s hand.
“Lunch?” Ilsa asked when she finally let go of his hand. “I’m having a salad, but I can whip something up.”
“Ilsa,” Kevin admonished her with a shake of his head. “How many times have I told you that you don’t have to wait on me.”
“I know,” she said on a sigh as she settled at the counter after Kevin pointed to the chair she had been about to sit in. “It’s just that I’m so used to it.”
“I know, but I don’t expect you to wait on me.” He opened the refrigerator and started bringing things out as he looked at Jason.
“Sandwich?”
“Sure,” Jason said, and hadn’t realized that he was actually hungry again, even though he’d eaten two hours ago.
The men made their sandwiches and they only talked about Jason’s traveling while they ate.
Afterward, as Ilsa cleaned up, she insisted Kevin took Jason upstairs and showed him a room he could stay in, then he left to go back downstairs.
“When do you have to go back to the office?” Ilsa asked as she wiped up the counters.
“Six months.”
“Really? Why so long?”
Kevin sighed heavily and scrubbed his face, he invited Jason, who had joined them, to sit at the counter. “I might as well tell you both at the same time.”
“What?” Ilsa asked when he stalled.
“You know I’m divorced, I was married for twenty-five years before the divorce.” He waved his hand around and shook his head. “My grandfather built this house, it was passed down to my father, then to me, and I’ll pass it to Caleb?”
“Who is that?”
“My son, however, I don’t think he’ll come back to Seattle. Don’t ask me how I know, it was just a vibe I had while in Colorado. Anyway, my ex-wife’s name is Karen.”
“Shit,” both Ilsa and Jason said.
“Was she as bad as the internet makes them out to be?”
“Worse. She was constantly calling the cops on the neighbors for little things. She tried to say she was the President of the HOA, but this neighborhood doesn’t have one. When someone called the police on her, they would arrive, and then she’d throw my name out.”
“Using you to get out of jail free?” Jason asked.
“Yes.” Kevin turned his head to look at Jason. “I don’t know how well you knew the guys I mentioned earlier, but one of them on Delta Team was Karen’s brother. When he was captured a couple of years ago, Karen immediately started mentally spending his death benefits.”
“Did he die?” Ilsa asked in shock.
“No. After being released from the military, he came here to let us know he was alive and kicking, but he was in rough shape.” He looked at the two and shrugged. “I don’t know if I’m allowed to say anything.”
“Will you reveal any military secrets?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“I’ll stop you if you start to.”
“Okay, well, Ryan is a big man, I’m not talking fat, I’m talking six foot four or five, maybe even six, and I swear to god, even in the weakened condition I saw him in, his arms were bigger than my thighs.
Anyway, he came to the police station to see me.
” He turned and looked at Jason with an angry expression.
“The Navy called Karen to tell her he was MIA, that’s not right, they called to say he had been captured by the enemy.
However, they failed to call us three weeks later when he was rescued.
We went months without knowing if he was dead or alive. ”
“That’s not how the military is supposed to function,” Jason said in anger. “No family member is to be notified until all avenues have been taken to find and rescue him.”
“Well, after talking with Ryan, and getting a time line, it turned out the phone call to Karen came less than forty-eight hours after he was taken.”
“Damn, heads should roll for that. They never let you know he was alive?”
“Not that I know of, I didn’t take any calls. Anyway, Ryan was released and it took him three days to drive from his base to here. I have no idea where it was.”
“What branch of the service was he in?” Ilsa asked.
“He’s a Navy SEAL.”
“Ah, then probably down in Cordiano, there is a gigantic Navy base there and a lot of SEALs are stationed there.”
“Probably, anyway, as I said, Ryan was in rough shape, he wore an eye patch, used a cane, and it looked like he’d lost almost a hundred pounds.”
“How long was he held?” Jason asked.
“Twenty days.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, anyway, when I saw him across the bull pen, I screamed like a little girl, and by the time I reached him, I was crying. I was so happy he was alive. When I hugged him and slapped him on the back, he asked if I had a first aid kit. My slapping him on the back opened one of his wounds, with his shirt removed, he looked like hell. I saw the results of the torture he endured. It wasn’t pretty. ”
“Did he lose an eye?” Ilsa asked. “You said he had an eye patch.”
“He did, they took it. Anyway, I brought Ryan home, Caleb was home, and when I walked in here, Karen had all these books laid all over this counter.” He shuddered, then looked at Ilsa. “Those were the books we threw out when you made your office in the basement.”
Ilsa nodded and turned to Jason. “Decorating samples. Carpets, fabrics for curtains, or furniture, paint chips.”
“I think I understand,” he said with a laugh as he nodded when Ilsa offered him a cup of coffee that had just stopped brewing.
“I call my decorator and tell him what I want.” At their expressions, he nodded.
“Single, never married, unless you count my work. Workaholic, almost a hundred hours a week, make boo coo bucks, but I work so much I have no time to spend it, so I hire others to do things for me.”
“I understand,” Kevin nodded and sipped his own coffee.
“Anyway, I walked in, asked Karen what she was doing with all that crap, and she started spouting off that because she was her worthless brother’s next of kin, she hated him since the day he was born, and she’s several years older, maybe ten or twelve, but she hated him. ”
“Yet she was already spending his death benefits?”
“Yes, then Ryan spoke from the doorway, he said, ‘But, I’m not dead.’ Before I left the station, I talked with my boss and asked him to notify patrol to have two cars here.
They were parked on each end of the street.
They knew Karen. Anyway, long story short, she started screaming and attacking him, physically.
The police arrived, and put her in cuffs, when she was dragged out of here, she had her hands cuffed behind her back, a hood over her head, and when they got her into the squad car, they cuffed her ankles. ”
“Why the hood?” Ilsa asked.
“Spitting.”
“Eew.”
“Yeah, anyway, once Caleb graduated from high school and started college, I started working overtime. I volunteered for any shift I could take in order to not come home to her. My time added up.”
“Why is she doing eighteen to twenty?” Jason asked in confusion. “I don’t know if I understand that.”
Kevin smirked and wiped his mouth. “It’s not a laughing matter, but in the long run, it is. Karma came for her.” He shook his head and looked off into the distance. Jason and Ilsa exchanged worried looks, but didn’t say anything.
“Ryan’s return was the beginning of her downfall. I had already gone to my lawyer to draw up divorce papers. Because this house was built by my family, I had a prenuptial agreement drawn up that she wasn’t allowed to touch the house if we ever divorced.”
“You had it before you married, so it wouldn’t have been part of the divorce settlement,” Ilsa said.
“I know that, but I needed to cover my bases. Anyway, because she was arrested late on a Friday afternoon, and it was a holiday weekend, she wasn’t taken before the judge until Tuesday.”
“Ooh, I bet she was pissed.”
“Oh, yeah, and I had her served the divorce papers on Sunday.”
“Double whammy.”
“Correct, then when they got to court, the judge called her last. Every time he called someone before her, she would mouth off, showing her entitlement. When she was before him, she started to berate him in her sharp tongue before he could even speak. He sat there for five minutes, I was in the stands, and then he lifted his gavel, barked out, ‘Contempt of court, thirty days,’ then he slammed the gavel down.” Kevin actually giggled at the next part. “That happened two more times.”
“No.”
“I kid you not. When she was brought before the judge the fourth time, she was finally released on bail. Once she was removed from my home, I packed up all her crap and stuffed it into her SUV. When she was out on bail, she came back here, Caleb was back at college, I was at work, and the neighbors called the cops because she was trying to break down the front door.”
“Arrested?” Jason asked with a smirk.
“Yes, but for some reason she was released on bail again. I think the only thing different was that she had a different lawyer. Oh, and the prosecutor was a young buck. The regular prosecutor was on vacation this time. In the past she was the one that denied Karen bail. Anyway, I don’t know, and frankly, I could care less, but Karen was arrested again for something, and the prosecutor tried to throw the book at her. Different judge, granted bail.”
“What happened?” Ilsa asked as she refilled their coffee mugs and started another pot.
“While out on bail this time, Karen stalked the female prosecutor for about a week. One day, it was late, and she attempted to run her over with her SUV. The prosecutor sustained a broken ankle when she dodged out of the way, but…” he sighed and shook her head.
“Karen was so crazed that when she sped away, she wasn’t paying any attention and ended up t-boning a patrol car. ”
“Oh shit,” Jason said in shock. “Did the officers get hurt?”
“The driver had a broken shoulder, and the passenger had a head injury. The impact threw her head into the side window. Karen was arrested, denied bail, and sat there for a year before going to trial. Three attempted murder charges. Eighteen to twenty years. Anyway, to answer your question, about why I have six months leave, I worked all that overtime and it added up. I just started my twenty-third year with the force, and I’m entitled to six weeks’ vacation.
I’m here at your mercy to do any running around.
I don’t want to sound paranoid, but because of Karen, the neighbors watch this house like a hawk.
” He turned to Ilsa with a sad smile and a shake of his head.
“That’s why I won’t let you go out, and I had Jason park in the garage. I’m not saying Grayson/Babcock will find you here, but I can’t take that chance.”
“I understand.”
“Is there a safer place?” Jason asked. “Someplace that we can investigate without being under watchful eyes, but someplace that is also safe?”
“Yes, let me make a phone call.” He withdrew his phone and walked to the back of the house, and ended up in the enclosed garage.
He returned twenty minutes later with a grin on his face.
“Well?” Ilsa asked in frustration.
“I have a place, do you want to drive or fly?”
“I think driving would be better,” Jason spoke first. “I have the severely redacted court scripts from the FBI, and I know they don’t suspect they’re in my crosshairs, but I don’t want to take a chance they get wind of our plans.
Being the FBI, they have the ability to track our whereabouts.
If they learn of us, they will know that I flew into Seattle, but they won’t know I left.
If it comes down to it, they will search this city with their hands on their asses, because I won’t be here. ”
“Okay, but what about your rental?”
“How far away is Spokane?”
“Give or take three hundred miles.”
“How’s your vehicle? Will it make it to where we’re going?”
“Yes. It’s only six months old. I celebrated Karen getting sentenced and out of my life. It will hold the three of us and our stuff.”
“Okay, then how about we leave for Spokane tomorrow, then onto wherever we need to be.”
“I like that idea, let Ilsa take you to the basement to see what she has for court documents while I run upstairs and start to pack.” He headed up, while the other two headed down.