Chapter Twenty-Four
What seemed like an hour but was actually just a few minutes later, Anna brought in a tray and gave Jenna a wink. “Got you the good coffee here.”
“Thanks Anna. I really appreciate your help. I won’t forget it.” Jenna looked at the tired policeman. “Well, Detective, won’t you join me for some tasty hospital food?”
“No thanks, but I’ll find some coffee to go and order a car for you. We need to assign you an officer for at least the next twenty-four hours until this case becomes clearer.”
“Thank you, detective. That’s very kind. I was already wondering how I would look to the neighbors showing up in scrubs, but arriving in a police car on top of it, well, I’ll be the talk over dinner tonight.”
The detective grinned. “I can get you an unmarked car but can’t help you with the clothes. Where will you be staying? I have to log that in the report, you understand.”
After Jenna gave him the address of the townhouse, she realized she couldn’t get in unless Dan showed up. She had no keys and no purse, which meant no credit cards to pay for a hotel room. Her head began to hurt again.
The detective left her to eat and get her transport to somewhere set up.
Jenna looked at the tray Anna brought containing cereal, fresh fruit, milk, juice, and coffee. She tried to eat most because she knew she needed her strength. Days like this made her want to change her name, move to Scotland, and hide out in the Highlands in her dad’s old house, away from the world.
Jenna was beginning to feel better, her head clearing, and the pounding had settled down to a twinge now and then, when the door opened. “Dan! Where have you been? Are you hurt?”
Dan came over to the bed and kissed her on the forehead. “Long story for later. Are you all right? I’ve been looking for you everywhere! And what in the hell were you doing outside, and why take Marta’s necklace?”
“Well, taking your questions in order, Yes, I think I’m okay now. Someone enticed me outside with that note from Brock I showed you, and a fake one, I’m still assuming. Then a gun was in my back, and a man’s voice telling me they would kill you unless I got the necklace off Marta and brought it back in seven minutes. He said his partner had a gun on you. I couldn’t see you when I went in to collect the necklace so assumed they did have you held somewhere. I did the necessary and returned outside on time, but the minute my foot hit the ground, someone grabbed me and took the necklace. They stuck a needle in my arm and left me in the dirt. I woke up in the grass near the gazebo. I have no idea how I got there.”
Dan shook his head. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”
“Detective Jensen is here somewhere; he’s off to find a policeman to take me home. My clothes are ruined, but more importantly, he thinks they might come back for the real necklace and maybe for me, too.”
“Oh, so you must have told him some of our back story.” Dan frowned.
“Oh, don’t look so worried, Dan. I was not so out of it I’d tell it all. I did a background summary, and then told them about our theory concerning Harper and Gail and why they were here. They are offering protection for the next day or so. I’m pretty sure Sal Amato was who held the gun on me and gave me the shot.”
Dan sat on the side of her bed and took her hand. “It figures. I can’t find Harper. I’ve looked everywhere I know to look. I think someone was waiting, and they took off last night right from the party with the necklace no doubt. Not sure about Gail. I have no proof she was in on it.”
“The detective said Gail Wells seems to be missing, too. Oh, I forgot to ask about Brock. Do you have any news?”
Dan shook his head. “No, I think he was a dead-end. He was just someone to amuse Harper for a little while. She was grooming him in case she needed him for something.”
Jenna gazed at Dan and put a hand on his leg. “You’d better get out of here unless you feel like being grilled by Detective Jensen, or maybe you rather get it over with. I know he is looking for you.”
Dan nodded. “Yeah, I might as well do it now. I don’t want him pulling me out of my warm bed and dragging me down to the precinct.”
An hour and two cups of coffee later, Detective Jensen gave the okay for Jenna to go back home with Dan. He would send an officer along behind them.
Dan assured him he would watch over Jenna and secure the townhouse.
Since the senator made no formal accusation, the police didn’t hold her or Dan for further questions, but they warned them to stay put and not to leave town without letting them know.
Dan pulled the car around to the ER door, getting as close as he could get because Jenna was in borrowed scrubs and had no shoes.
The nurses gave her some shoe covers for her feet, and she left, mourning her ruined dress now in a plastic bag.
Dan was not successful in hiding his amusement as he watched her as she tiptoed across the concrete to the rental car.
The officer tasked with following them home opened the door for Jenna and tipped his hat the same as if she was wearing jewels and a mink. If he was amused, he didn’t show it.
She was still a lady, and he was still a Southern gentleman.
Dan was unusually quiet on the way home.
Jenna caught him smirking a few times as he glanced her way. She knew that look. He was having great difficulty holding back some comment.
When they got to the house and watched the officer give them a wave and drive off, he doubled over with laughter. “These Southern boys, you gotta hand it to them. Nothing makes them lose it, not even seeing one of their fine Southern ladies come back from a grand party, a senator’s party, wearing hospital scrubs and paper shoe covers!” He lapsed into another laughing fit.
“Well, if you have all that out of your system now, I need a shower.” She glared and started upstairs.
“You go get out of the lovely outfit and I’ll order lunch. Then we’ll get out of here if you want to and go back to New York,” Dan said.
Jenna paused on the first step. “You know it’s only when I’m mixed up with you do I end up like this.” She gestured at the green scrubs she wore. “My life was going along fine, like a normal person until I ran into you again.”
“But were you having any fun, Jenna?”
“Fun! Fun? Not exactly a great day. Besides, fun is not everything, Dan,” she said, as she started up the stairs. “Also, of note, this is not over.” When Jenna came back downstairs, she saw Dan setting up their lunch at the table by the window.
He looked up, smiled, and motioned for her to take a seat. “I hope you’re feeling better and are hungry. I got some of your favorites here.”
Jenna sat and looked over the food. “Dan, I was wondering about Brock. I need to know if he was somehow connected, I guess. Was I such a bad judge of character or not? I’ll try calling him later.”
“I don’t think he’s involved but call him if it makes you feel better. Now eat, so we can figure out what is next. Oh, I have your purse thing in my jacket. Marta held on to it and gave it to the detective who got it to me before I left.”
“Oh, good, one more thing I won’t have to replace. My dress is ruined and the shoes are gone, but things could be worse. At least they half believed us, and we didn’t end up in jail. At least, not yet.”
Dan handed Jenna a bottle of water. “We are in the clear, and as soon as they find Harper and Gail, we can leave here knowing we did a good thing, even if it cost you a dress. Besides, think of the great story you now have for your article.”
Jenna shrugged. “Hmm, yes, I didn’t think of that. It might be a tough one to write though.”
Later, after finishing their lunch of delivery pizza and a salad, Dan stood to clear the table when he froze and looked at Jenna. “I think I know where Harper might be.”
“Where?”
“Harper will go back to where she feels most at home, where she can get around easier and have access to her money, and fast. She’ll go to Paris. She has property there, in addition to her stepfather’s house. When they arrested him they couldn’t take the house because the title to everything was already in her name. She owns a house outside the city which backs up to a small vineyard, too. I can see her going there.”
“But if she knows you have this information, will she still go there?”
“She doesn’t know I have all the information. I’m sure she thinks her house is the safest place on earth right now. The info about the house came from Luc. Anyway, she is well protected, Jenna. No one will get to her easily at either place. That is the land of her friends, family, and all her connections.”
“Why even bother with her now? She has the fake necklace and can’t do anything with it. She’s bound to stay out of sight for a time. I can’t see her pulling off any more jobs for a while, can you?” Jenna put the pizza box in the trash.
“You don’t know her, Jenna, she never quits. If she wants Marta’s necklace, the real one, she will come back. She will want it above all things now that she knows our trick caused her to end up with the fake. We have hurt her again and in the pocketbook.”
“Great, she has even more reason to hate us now.”
Dan hugged Jenna and stroked her face. “She will come back, mark my word. We must set a trap.”
Jenna frowned. “Oh, yes, a trap, since the last one worked so well . Do you think the senator and Mrs. Roseland will ever speak to us again?”
Dan nodded. “Confirming Harper indeed took the fake necklace went a long way in getting us out of trouble. Where do you think I was for all that time? I was convincing the Roselands and the police we were not the jewel thieves, and if you had taken the fake necklace off Marta’s neck, you had a good reason. Of course, finding you in the dirt and out cold behind the house kind of cemented the story.”
“Still, we could have gotten someone hurt or worse. You could have been killed, or we both could,” Jenna said.
Dan shrugged. “Okay, I take some of the blame for what happened and how it happened, but I know Harper will be nearby waiting for an opportunity as soon as she can. When she re-groups, she will be back. They can’t prove she was the one who did this to you or stole the necklace unless they track her down and find her with the fake necklace. That will never happen, so she won’t hide out too long, only long enough to hatch another plan. She won’t fear anyone because no one has proof.”
“If you know her so very well, Dan, what will be her plan?” As she imagined how well he did know her, Jenna gritted her teeth.
“Simple, she’ll wait for another public event where the necklace will be on show. She will have to decide to go for it there if she knows it’s the real one, or she will do it the old- fashioned way and break into the safe at their home.”
“Do you think the Roselands will make another fake since Harper has the other?”
Dan ran his hands through his hair. “Probably, but it will take some time, and Harper knows it. The Roselands will have to give up the real thing to the jeweler again while he is making the new fake. I don’t think she will want to do it any time soon. I think the necklace will be back in the safe.”
“If Harper goes for option one, Marta is taking it out in public again at the big party the senator is giving to thank all his staff and campaign contributors. Well, it was the plan before all of this happened. Maybe she will just leave it in the safe now. Everyone is assuming he will be the winner again come Election Day. If the voting went otherwise, everyone will be surprised. His big thanks party is to be held right here in Savannah in two weeks. It’s the last, big public event before the election. He hits the road again afterward and will continue until Election Day, and he will be on to all those little places and one-hour stops. Marta will certainly not be wearing the necklace to those places.”
“So, this last big event will be something Marta would help host, but yeah, how do we know she will even consider risking the necklace again? Using it as bait again…once burned.” Dan drummed his fingers on the table.
“I can ask her,” Jenna said.
“Hmm, how would that go over under the circumstances? Would she or the senator trust you, us, now?”
Jenna shrugged. “Maybe not, but maybe we can help it get leaked about her plan to wear it just to get Harper back here.”
“Yeah, possibly. All right then, you do your thing and I’ll do mine. I’ll ask Luc to help me track Harper when she comes in and goes out of Paris. I feel sure she is there right now and will be until she is ready to strike again. You can bet she will be getting news about the Roseland’s schedule and likely from Gail Wells, wherever she is.”
Jenna grabbed another bottle of water. “Speaking of Gail Wells, where is she supposed to be? I mean where does her office think she is?”
“The police, along with her employer, were still looking for her the last I heard.”
Jenna put the cold bottle of water on her forehead. “I don’t know, Dan. Should we walk away now and leave it, all of it?”
“Harper won’t allow it, Jenna. We must set her up, and she must go to jail. If for nothing else than leaving you in the dirt and threatening to kill you.”
“Amato was who made the threat and who seems to have conveniently disappeared as well. Isn’t it time we leave it to the police? I still think she has something else planned to hurt us, and I hesitate to put myself and you in her path on purpose.”
“I know, Jenna, but it’s always better to meet your enemy head-on, rather than to wait for him or her to seek you out. You want the advantage. Trust me, we are already in her path. We are like a bull’s-eye on her target.”
Jenna sat again at the kitchen table. “So, I’m stuck with you here in Savannah for a bit, huh? I need to break the news to my office manager at the magazine and call two of my editors. They will hate me.”
“Once this is over, they will forgive you. Come on, let’s get out of here and go for a sail, and get our minds off the ugly things in life.”
“You always know how to live in the moment, Dan.”
After they had finished cleaning Dan’s borrowed townhouse, they decided a change of scenery was in order, and went sailing in his friend’s boat…something Jenna had not done in years. She’d forgotten how much she loved just the two of them together for a few hours, in their own world, working together as a team, and in perfect harmony.
Jenna closed her eyes and threw out a wish to the god of the sea—she wished she could always be so happy. But like all things, good and bad, an end came. As they returned the boat to its owner’s dock and drove back to the house, she wondered why she still lived in New York City and not here all of the time. This time, she asked it as a serious question.