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I managed to take a few sips without spilling it down my front, and Islowly felt the cobwebs clear away from my mind. The second thing I noticed was the added weight on my left hand. I nearly bobbled the cup and what was left of the coffee at the sight of the ring on my finger.
“Jesus Christ, Jack. This is the Lawson ring?” A ruby the size of my thumbnail sat in a delicate antique gold setting, and tiny diamonds flashed around the ruby. It was beautiful. And terrifying. “What if I lose it? Or it falls into a body?”
“I’d say maybe we should get a chain so you can wear it around your neck so we don’t have to worry about that. I wonder if any other man has heard his fiancée utter those words?”
“This is like a real ring. A grownup ring.” I still hadn’t managed to take my eyes off it. My hand looked stately and official—important—when I wore this ring. I hoped I could live up to it. “I need a manicure, but I know I’d just mess it up, so I won’t bother.”
“A ring like that deserves some grownup attention to the man who gave it to you.” Jack slid his hand beneath my nightshirt and things started to get very warm. “It might even call for special sexual favors.”
“Oh, yeah?” My eyes wanted to roll back in my head as his fingers slipped beneath the cotton of my underwear. “How special?”
“I figure since you’re a doctor and all, you might know more about special than the average person. I’ve got to tell you my expectations are pretty high.”
I looked at the clock and saw he’d woken me up half an hour before I’d set my alarm to go off.Pretty sneaky.
“I need a shower.” I got out of bed and headed toward the bathroom. I stripped my nightshirt over my head and looked over my shoulder to make sure I had Jack’s full attention, and then I shimmied out of the underwear.
“Are you coming?” I asked.
“Not yet.”
I laughed and headed into the bathroom. “I bet I can fix that. I’m a doctor after all.”
“I can’t argue with that logic.”
***
My meeting with Mark Mosely didn’t take long. Leanne had been very specific in what she’d wanted as far as the burial and service went, and she’d had it all planned out just in case. By the shell-shocked look on her husband’s face, she’d made the right decision to take it out of his hands.
Jack and I watched as Mark drove away, and my gaze went to the white panel van parked across the street at the Laundromat. A gray Honda was parked on the side street so there was a visual of the back of the funeral home. Both cars had undercover agents in them assigned to guard duty for the day. We would all be traveling toFairfax to pay Jane Elliott a visit.
We’d left the cruiser and my Suburban back at the house and instead driven in Jack’sforest green Jeep. It rarely got used, but it was good for longer trips, rough back roads, and snow. We made a quick stop through a drive-thru coffee shop just outside of Bloody Mary and I got a bagel as well, since the special sexual favors had made me miss breakfast.
“Do you ever think about death?” I asked. “About what happens after, I mean?”
“I don’t think you can do what we do and not think about it. You’re thinking of Mark Mosely,” he said.
“It just makes you think, you know? They were a solid unit. They loved each other. It was plain to see anytime they were together. And now he’ll never be the same. How is he going to wake up every morning knowing she won’t be there beside him?” Jack took my hand and I held it like a lifeline.
“I wish I had an easy answer for you. I think you and I are at a disadvantage. Death is the norm for us. And because it is, we understand how precious living a good life can be. How important it is to not take for granted that person you wake up next to every morning, or those who are closest to us. And because of that, we’re more selective in who we choose to allow to get close to us.”
“Do you think this is it? That the life we have here on earth is all we’ll have together?”
He looked at me with a half smile on his face. “I believe that true love exists. And I believe there are souls in this world that are meant to be together in this life and anything that comes after. After all this time, I’ve finally got you where I want you. There’s nothing in heaven or hell that could keep us apart.”
I felt some of the sadness I’d been carrying around since meeting withMark Mosely seep from my bones.
“Think of how good I’ll be at the special sexual favors by the time we get to our next life.”
“I guess it’s a good thing I’ll be dead so it doesn’t kill me.”
We drove the rest of the way to Fairfax in comfortable silence.Jane Elliott lived in a middle class neighborhood of brick row houses. They all had shutters and low rooflines, and paint color was the only thing to differentiate between them. The lawns were neat and well kept with hedges lined like square green boxes across the front. The street was deserted, with only the occasional car parked in a driveway since it was a workday.
Jack parked behind an older model white sedan, and I noticed the panel van with our FBI tag kept driving and parked at the end of the street in front of another house.
A woman came to the screen door and watched as Jack and I got out of the car and made our way to the house. I didn’t know Jane Elliott from Adam, but I could only imagine what she was going through right now. She’d spent the last six years learning how to go on with her life and raise her children without her husband. Nursing a child who’d just lost her father through cancer treatments on top of it all. I’d always admired women who had strength, and Jane Elliott had to be up there at the top of the list.
She opened the screen door as we drew closer—a tall, willowy woman who was almost too thin in her capri pants and oversize work shirt. Her brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her face was void of makeup. The raw grief on her face when she looked at Jack made my throat close with emotion.
