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I dropped Jade off and then drove around a while, looking for a parking spot, finally deciding to use the valet service. It was Saturday, after all, and many people were here visiting, no doubt.
I signed in as a visitor and made my way up to the waiting area outside the ICU.
My nerves jumped when I walked into the area. Two cops were there, and Jade was already talking to them. Beside her stood a man about six feet tall with the same golden-brown hair I was used to seeing on the woman I loved. He was a nice-looking man, his skin tan, showing wrinkles around his eyes. Jade said he was in construction. He’d probably worked outside most of his life. He looked tired. And not just tired in that he had worked hard all his life. Tired and worried. Worried about someone he loved. Jade’s mother, I assumed.
I was going to have to meet her father—the father of the woman I loved. Here I was, thirty-five years old, and I had never met a woman’s father before.
Jade motioned me over, smiling. “There you are. Talon, this is my father, Brian Roberts. Dad, this is Talon Steel.”
Jade’s dad stuck out his hand. “Good to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
The back of my neck chilled. Jade had seen some of my darker moments, but surely she hadn’t shared those with her father. “Nice to meet you too, sir,” I said.
Was that right? Did you call a woman’s father “sir”?
“Please, call me Brian.”
“All right.” I attempted a smile. “How’s your mo
m doing, Jade?”
“She’s good. They’re finally moving her out of ICU today.”
“That’s great, baby.” Then I snapped my head over to Brian. I had just called his daughter baby. But it didn’t seem to faze him. Thank God.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Jade said. “This is Officer Shapley and Officer Duke. Talon Steel, my boyfriend.”
Boyfriend.
Never had a word imbued me with such warmth. And still, it was woefully deficient. For if I was Jade’s boyfriend, that made her my girlfriend—and “girlfriend” was such an inadequate term for what Jade was to me.
“Nice to meet you, sir,” the one called Shapley said.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt. I can go sit down over there while the officers ask their questions,” I said to Jade.
“No, I wish you’d stay. Is that all right with you two, and with you, Dad?”
“It’s fine with me, sweetie,” Brian Roberts said. “I guess it’s really up to the officers here.”
“It’s fine,” Shapley said. “This is just preliminary questioning anyway.”
“So do you two think there’s enough to warrant an investigation here?” Brian asked.
Shapley, obviously the mouthpiece of the two, replied, “Yes. We’re definitely going to take a look at the vehicle. See if we can determine whether the airbag was tampered with. The only problem is that the vehicle has already been repaired. But we’ll have our experts take a look.”
Jade’s face fell. “Why was it repaired?”
“Ms. Roberts,” Shapley said, “no one had any reason to think there was any foul play. Mr. Kostas had the vehicle towed from the scene and repaired.”
“Mr. Kostas seems to be nowhere to be found.”
Shapley nodded. “True enough, and that is also something of a concern.”
“He’s a senator, for God’s sake,” Jade said. “He can’t just disappear.”
“No,” I said, my voice low. “He’s not.”
Jade turned to me, her steely eyes wide. “What?”
