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“I’m not talking about friendship caring. I’m talking about the real thing. The love between a man and a woman. The marrying kind of love. Jim won’t be easy to convince for a lot of reasons, but the woman who wins him will have a prize worth holding on to. There aren’t many like him.”
Fear clutched at Heather’s insides. “I don’t want marriage. I don’t want to risk falling in love again.”
Flo shrugged. “Then I guess you’re not the one. I keep waiting for her to show up and claim him. Lord knows he needs someone to love him.”
“Everyone does,” Heather agreed. She told herself she wasn’t the one. She’d been down this road and it hadn’t once worked for her. She didn’t want anything to change between her and Jim. “But I can’t fall in love,” she said.
“Nobody is saying you have to.”
But Heather felt pressured in ways she couldn’t understand. “I thought those other men were terrific, too. All of them. And they turned out to be all wrong for me. How can I trust my judgment about Jim?”
“If those other men were as great as him, then I guess you can’t.”
Heather wanted to say that they had been that wonderful, but she knew there was a difference. She’d never met anyone like Jim before. He was a living, breathing hero and that terrified her. How was she supposed to live up to that? If she tried again with someone like him and it didn’t work, then she really wouldn’t have any faith in love.
“It’s too great a risk,” she said slowly. “I’m not willing to take the chance.”
Flo grimaced in impatience. “Do you have any idea what you’re giving up? All because you’re afraid?”
The door to the office opened before Heather could reply. Two policemen entered the room. “We’re looking for Brian Johnson,” the taller of the two said. “We have a warrant for his arrest.”
* * *
“What the hell is going on?” Jim demanded when he stormed into the office. He tossed the logbook onto Flo’s desk. “When did the police get here?”
Flo’s face was pale, the only color coming from the splotches of blusher on her cheeks. She glanced at the clock, then at Heather. “Maybe an hour ago.”
He glanced at Heather for confirmation. She nodded. “It was over in a matter of minutes. They checked his identification, read him his rights, then took him away. None of us knew what to say to them or what to do.”
He stared at the two frightened women. Heather held little Diane in her arms as if to protect her from all that had happened. Rage and frustration bubbled inside him. What the hell was going on? One minute he’d been flying a couple of executives over to LAX to catch their flight back east and the next Flo had radioed him with the news that Brian had been arrested for dealing drugs.
He raked his fingers through his hair and paced to his desk. “There’s nothing you could have done. They had a warrant for his arrest. You couldn’t have stopped them. I’m just sorry I wasn’t here.” Not that he could have done anything, either.
“They searched his locker for drugs,” Heather said quietly.
Jim turned to her. “Did they have a warrant for that?”
She nodded. “Several other police officers arrived as they were taking him away. They didn’t find anything. They’re going to be in touch with you later. I think they want to search the whole place.”
This wasn’t happening, he thought grimly. It couldn’t be. “How could I have been so wrong about that kid?” he asked, not expecting an answer. He thought he knew Brian.
Heather crossed to Flo’s desk and handed her the baby, then she moved next to him. “Something’s not right,” she said firmly. “We all know Brian. He’s a bright, sweet kid and I don’t think he’s involved with drugs. Maybe I’m a fool, but I don’t think so.” She frowned. “The police said they had an anonymous tip from a witness. Someone who knew Brian’s name and where he worked. Even if he was involved with something like that, he’s too smart to get caught that way. Some kind of police operation, like a sting or something, would make sense, but not this.”
“She’s right,” Flo said. “You’re going to have to do something.”
What he wanted to do was forget he’d ever met the kid. But Heather’s words rang true. Some of the rage cleared out of his brain and he was able to think. “Brian wants to fly helicopters,” he said slowly. “That’s all he talks about. He has a steady girlfriend he’s devoted to and he gets good grades in school.”
“Exactly,” Heather said. “When he’s not with her or at school, he’s here. When would he have the time? You have to go talk to him.”
He looked at her, then cupped her cheek. “You’re right, I do.”
The second his hand touched her soft skin, he was reminded of all that had happened the night before. Of the way they’d made love over and over. This was not the morning greeting he’d planned. But they had more pressing matters than their personal life, and he wasn’t about to say anything intimate in front of Flo.
He grabbed his car keys from his desk and headed for the door. “I’ll call when I know anything,” he said as he left.
It took some fast talking, but the police finally let him speak to Brian. Jim was ushered into a small room with no windows and only one door. A worn table surrounded by three chairs nearly filled the small space. He had to wait thirty minutes until the door opened and Brian was led inside.
The teenager was still in his own clothes—a T-shirt and jeans—but there the similarities to the young man he knew ended. The boy was pale and obviously terrified. Tears streaked his face. He was shaking and smelled as if he’d recently thrown up. And handcuffs bound his bony wrists. He looked young and alone and scared.
