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“She’s right here, honey.” He moves the phone and calls out to his wife, “Lily, come here, sweetheart. Jasmine’s on the phone.”
A patter of feet is heard.
“Hi, baby girl,” her mother shouts.
“Honey, she’s not deaf. No need to yell,” her father kids.
“Hey, Mom. I have Zeke with me,” Jasmine says. “He’s the man I’ve started seeing. You’ll love him, Dad. He’s a lot like you.”
“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Belfour. I was hoping we’d meet in person the first time, but this will have to do,” I say.
“Zeke. What a lovely name,” Lily says.
“Nice to hear your voice, son,” Austin adds.
“He’s a detective. And unfortunately, that’s how we met.” Jasmine eases into the situation at hand. “There’s been a series of weird things that started happening. At first I thought I was clumsy or just at the wrong place at the wrong time, but then it started freaking me out, so I went to the police station. Turns out this is serious, and Zeke’s been looking after me.” Jasmine chooses her words cautiously, clearly not wanting to upset her parents.
Her father, though, isn’t going to settle for a placid response. “How serious? Is someone stalking you?”
“Oh my God,” her mother gasps. “Jasmine, is that right?”
Jasmine looks to me for help. “Sir, I’m going to take you off speaker and I want you to do the same.” I think Austin needs to know the severity of our circumstances, but I don’t want to upset Lily. He can then decide how much to tell his wife. I reach over to take Jasmine’s hand as I speak to her father. “I’m going to give it to you straight, sir. First off, Jasmine’s safe. I’m undercover with her all day, and she’s staying with me at night. I have a solid security system, and no one gets in without me being made aware within seconds. But there have been several attempts made on her life. We caught the hired hitman, but he can’t give us a physical description of the guy who hired him. We’re tracking the leads. Caleb, our lead detective, is the best there is. Alex and Damian are detectives, who work alongside me and are like brothers, and I would trust them with my life.”
“Dear God!” he exclaims. “Why would anyone want to hurt my little girl? She’s never done a damn thing to hurt anyone.”
“Here’s where it gets tricky. Jasmine found out today who her biological father was. His name was Gregory Madden. I saywas, because he died recently,” I tell him.
“You think this is all tied together?” he asks.
“We can’t be sure, but we’re looking into every possibility. Considering Madden left a considerable amount of money to Jasmine as one of his heirs, it’s a good reason to target her. We’re on that too. Jasmine wanted to call to fill you in, but also to get more information on her birth mother. She died shortly before Madden, and this is all looking very suspicious. The more information we have, the faster we can get to the bottom of this and end this nightmare.”
“We can be packed and home—”
“Mr. Belfour, I know you want to protect your daughter, but she’s safe. Even if you come home, she’ll be staying here under my protection. I care about Jasmine. I swear to you, I won’t let anything happen to her. But you say the word, and I’ll have my friends meet you at the airport and bring you straight over.”
There’s a pause, then Austin says, “I want daily updates.”
“You’ll get them. Text me your number and I’ll call,” I reply without hesitation.
Jasmine pulls the phone out of my hand. “Dad, listen. I don’t want you and Mom in the middle of this mess.”
“Your mother and I— ”
“Mom has a heart condition. This wouldn’t be good for her,” Jasmine whispers. “Please, let’s give it another week, and if nothing changes, then you can come home. Zeke and the guys are on it. They’re the best, honestly. But I need to know about Constance. The lawyer, his name is Nick Davis, he finally tracked me down and filled in some of the missing pieces. Zeke thinks any additional information we have on Constance could lead us to the person behind all this.”
“Your mother and I have a safety deposit box at First National Bank in town. I’ll courier the key. In it is an envelope containing everything we’ve gathered. That’s all I have, and it’s yours. Now your mother is next to me and needs to talk to you, jellybean. We’re coming home next week for a visit,” he says evenly, obviously heeding Jasmine’s advice to keep her mother calm. “I’m passing the phone over to your mother.”
“My sweet girl.” I can hear her mother through the phone. “Your father is looking very tense. What’s wrong? And I warn you, ‘nothing’ is not an answer I’m going to accept.”
“It’s just that a lawyer got in touch with me about an inheritance, and he says it has something to do with my birth father. Both you and Dad have told me time and time again that if I wanted to find out more, you’d help. I honestly don’t care about my birth parents. I have parents, and they’re the best, but I do need to see this through. I’m sure you heard Dad give me the information on the security box. I’m going to check it out and see where this all leads. Zeke will be with me the whole time.”
“He sounds handsome,” her mother says with a laugh.
“He is, Mom. He’s wonderful, and I can’t wait for you to meet him,” Jasmine says, turning to me with a glowing smile. “He’s smart and kind and has amazing people in his life. They love him, and I remember what you told me. ‘A man being surrounded by true friends speaks to his character.’”
“I did say that,” she admits. “I’m not sure your father is ready to let go of his little girl. He doesn’t seem too happy at the moment.” She sighs. “But don’t you worry, I’ll have a talk with him.”
I can see the guilt on Jasmine’s face from keeping the severity of the situation from her mother and having her father keep this quiet. But if her mother’s health suffers because of this, she’ll feel even worse. “Thanks, Mom. Once he meets Zeke, he’ll mellow. Zeke’s a lot like Dad.”
