To Serve and Protect (8 page)

Before Vincent could answer, the doorbell rang. Jacob jumped to his feet. “Finally, that’s Troy.”

Vincent followed on Jacob’s heel as they headed to the front door, Vincent still being quiet as a mouse. Jacob couldn’t help but wonder if Vincent was pulling his leg before when he said he did things against the law, or was he saying the truth? If it was the truth, then that would explain why he was so secretive about his private life all the time they had been together. He didn’t want Jacob finding out about his seedy secret life.

Jacob rubbed his stiff neck as he twisted the doorknob, wondering if when Vincent remembered everything and they caught the serial killer would he also be arresting Vincent for his past crimes.

As the door swung open, Troy turned to face Jacob with a smile. “Are you glad to see me?”

Jacob rolled his eyes. “I would have been gladder to see you an hour ago. But better late than never.”

Troy frowned as he walked in. “And here I thought I would get a thank-you for doing you this favor.” He stared at Vincent and extended his hand. “Hi, I’m Troy Adams.”

Vincent smiled back, shaking his hand. “It’s nice to meet you. I guess you know who I am.”

Troy smiled. “Yup, Vincent Brewster. It’s nice to meet you, too. Unfortunately, it isn’t under the best of circumstances.”

Jacob closed the door. “No, not the best of circumstances at all.”

Troy asked, looking at Jacob then at Vincent, “Since Jacob’s call, have you remembered more of the night of the attack?”

“No…”

Jacob added, “But he has remembered other things about his life, his past. His memory seems to be coming back.”

He motioned with his hand to the living room couch. “Let’s all have a seat and we can talk about this some more.”

Vincent argued, “I thought we were going to go through mug shots? Didn’t you say that’s what you asked Troy to bring over here today?”

“It’s an FBI facial recognition database.” Jacob turned to Troy. “Did the captain give you the file and access code?”

“Yeah, got it right here in this laptop.” Troy swung a briefcase back and forth.

Jacob got up. “Great. I’ll get some paper and we can start searching.”

Troy lifted his finger. “Ah, wait a second. There’s been a change of plans.”

Jacob crossed his arms and frowned. “Change of plans? What change of plans?”

“The captain wants you to do some paperwork at the station,” Troy said as he placed the laptop on the cherrywood coffee table.

Jacob shook his head. “Paperwork at the station. What? Didn’t he want me to stay here and protect Vincent?”

Troy gave him a sideways glance as if he was delusional. “Uh, hello. Didn’t you tell me earlier today—at two something in the freakin’ morning—that you wanted me to take over?”

Jacob nodded. “Yeah, but then you said that I’d have to talk to the captain if I still wanted the change made. Which I didn’t.”

Troy lifted his hands up in the air. “Well, that’s not my problem, bro. I’m not Houdini and I can’t read minds. I went with what you told me early this morning. So when I went to the precinct and spoke to the captain, I told him what you requested.”

“And what did he say?”

“That we switch places. I stay here and protect the witness and you go on over to the station and finish some paperwork and reports he wants you to complete.”

Jacob huffed. “Great. That’s just great.”

Vincent was silent during the whole time. Jacob observed him as he sat on the armchair facing him, the faraway expression in his eyes and his paleness a telltale sign he hadn’t paid attention to their conversation. Something was happening in Vincent’s head and it stressed him. Was he remembering more details about the killer, about his life?

“Vincent,” Jacob said in a low voice so as not to frighten him further. Vincent didn’t seem to hear him, so he said his name louder. “Vincent.”

This time Vincent shook his head left to right, as if breaking the trance he fell under. “Sorry, what?”

“I have to go to the station for now. Troy will stay here with you and you can go through the FBI file together.” Jacob tried to use a calm tone even though he raged inside. The last thing he wanted to do was leave Vincent when he looked so vulnerable. But he had no one else to blame but himself. If he hadn’t been so gung ho of getting as far away from Vincent as he could when he saw the wounds had miraculously and completely healed, then none of this would have happened. He had started to panic when strong emotions threatened to surface again. He feared he wouldn’t be able to contain them. This unbelievably puissant attraction he and Vincent shared, plus those feelings just overwhelmed him. He couldn’t handle all of it bombarding him like it did. But instead of calming down and taking the time to listen to Vincent and believe him when he said he had no idea why he healed so quickly, Jacob pushed away. He pushed those feelings away and he pushed Vincent away.

But pushing away the attraction, the connection, was futile. Because it won out in the end and with it came the emotions flooding him. His love for Vincent was not only present and strong, it was stronger than before. It ran deeper and wider than ever.

Now all he wanted to do was hold Vincent close and protect him. And help him through this trying time as best he could. A pretty impossible feat considering he’d be miles away in a little while. Damn, he needed to fix the wrong he did.

“But I’ll be back soon,” he said to reassure Vincent, and himself.

“You’re going to go against the captain’s orders?” Troy’s brows furrowed.

“No, I’m just going to ask him if we can switch places again. You work at the station on the case and I work from here and protect Vincent. I can do the work here and complete the reports, too.”

Troy waved his hand in the air. “It’s your funeral, bro. You know the captain hates complications. He likes things to run smoothly with the least hassles as possible. He doesn’t like headaches and he likes the person giving him the headaches even less.”

Jacob shook his head. “No, he’ll understand. I’ll make him understand.”

“Well, you’ll have to wait awhile before you can talk to him.”

“Why?” Jacob asked, baffled.

“Because he left right before I did. He said he had a big meeting with the police commissioner. He might even be gone the rest of the day. Maybe he’ll be back only tomorrow morning.”

From the corner of his eye, Jacob saw Vincent fidget upon hearing Troy’s words.

To reassure him, he responded, “Well, then I’ll finish the paperwork and reports the captain wants completed as fast as I can and come back here.”

He got up and walked to his room to get his keys and wallet. The sooner he got to the station, the sooner he’d return here. When he came back out, he had his jacket on.

Smiling, he said as he opened the door to leave, “It’ll take you some time to go through the FBI files. I’ll probably be back before you’re done. In the meanwhile, you’re in good hands, Vincent. Troy is one of the best cops I know.” He glanced at Troy and added, “Other than myself of course.”

Troy rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, your highness. Tick-tock. Tick-tock,” he said, tapping his wristwatch. “You ain’t getting anything done just standing there yapping.”

He nodded. “Okay, okay. I’m outta here.”

He closed the door behind him but couldn’t help noticing right before the door shut completely that Vincent looked like a deer staring into a car’s incoming headlights.

Chapter 10

Vincent needed to get the hell out of there before something bad happened, to him or to Troy. Just minutes ago when Jacob and Troy were talking, Vincent barely registered what they discussed. Even when Jacob spoke directly to him, he heard only bits and pieces of it. The ringing in his ears made it almost impossible to make any sense of his words. His eardrums seemed like they’d explode. But worse than that, he feared he might spontaneously self-combust. Fire spread over his skin like a wildfire raging in a dense forest in the smoldering heat and sun.

Because the pain was so intense, when Jacob or Troy weren’t looking, he checked twice, making sure no boils had formed on his arms where the sunshine peeking through the living room window beamed on him. His skin appeared normal, but he hardly felt normal. A pressure formed inside him, getting more consuming and agonizing by the minute.

Thank God Jacob left when he did. Vincent couldn’t understand why, but he had a funny feeling that whatever was happening to him was just the tip of the iceberg and would only get worse as time passed. He needed to be alone to deal with it as it progressed.

As the door closed behind Jacob, Vincent said, “Excuse me for a second. I need to use the washroom.”

He darted into the bathroom, not waiting for Troy’s response, which he heard come a few seconds after that right before he closed the bathroom door. “Not a problem. Take your time. I’ll set up the software so we can start using the FBI file once you’re ready.”

He leaned on the door and slid downward onto the green tiled floor. “What is happening to me?” He raked his fingers through his damp hair and closed his eyes. Fireworks exploded behind his closed eyelids, making his anxiety mount. Not a second went by that he didn’t think it was his end. If this wasn’t how one felt before dying, he didn’t know what it was.

Could it be he encroached on death’s door? He certainly didn’t feel invited, nor did he want to visit.

Slowly getting to his feet, he leaned on the counter’s sink and stared into the mirror. Flabbergasted, he stared at his reflection. Normal. Other than his sweaty skin and damp hair, he looked normal, like he was experiencing nothing life threatening. Could it be psychosomatic, all in his head?

He took a deep breath and turned on the cold water faucet. Splashing the ice-cold water on his face, he sighed. The insurmountable heat stopped instantly and his skin and body began to cool. A few minutes later, his heartbeat slowed to normal and his panting ended.

With welcomed relief, he undressed. A super long cold shower would be the final stage to recovery.

Whatever he experienced, real or imagined, had scared the crap out of him. He prayed it would never come back. He didn’t know if he’d be lucky enough to survive it again.

* * * *

Almost half an hour passed when Vincent finally came out of the bathroom. He shivered as his body temperature began to rise and he slowly became accustomed to the warmer apartment. Thanks to his ice-cold, long shower, the bathroom had turned almost into a veritable igloo.

As Jacob walked into the living room, he expected to see Troy sitting on the desk table going through mug shots on the laptop he brought with him. But to his surprise, the living room lay vacant. He journeyed to the kitchen and then Jacob’s room and finally the guest room, but the apartment was completely empty.

“Where the hell did he go?” He walked back into the living room and slumped onto the sofa. He laid his head back, spread his arms out on the top of the soft chocolate-brown suede sofa, and closed his eyes, relaxing. It felt good to be back to normal again.

Just then he heard a low humming and realized it was someone talking. But where? Lifting his head and turning his head to the right and then the left side, he deciphered the sound came from the hallway outside. He quietly and slowly got up and snuck to the door, making sure his footsteps could not be heard outside. He placed his ear to the door and closed his eyes to listen. He recognized the voice. It was Troy and from what Vincent could surmise, he spoke to someone on his cell phone.

“Yeah, Jacob left half an hour ago. He’ll be gone all day. And I just made sure the area is clear. It’s safe now, but I can’t promise you for how long.”

A moment of silence, then he heard, “Good, I’ll be waiting.”

Footsteps approached the door and Vincent panicked. He ran to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. The floorboards under his feet as he scurried away made creaks and cracking sounds. To him, they sounded as loud as a police siren, but he prayed they couldn’t be heard from outside.

When the door opened, soft footsteps sounded and he guessed Troy walked into the living room and sat down. Then silence came again. Taking a deep sigh, he let his nerves and raging heartbeat calm down. Obviously none the wiser, Troy hadn’t registered Vincent’s crazed, frantic run.

Who had Troy been talking to? Could it have been the captain calling in to make sure Vincent was fine and that Jacob had gone into the station? Somehow, from the bits and pieces he had heard of Jacob and Troy’s conversation earlier, he doubted it. But then who could he have been talking to? Was there another detective assigned to these serial murders? If yes, then why did he place the call outside the apartment and not inside?

Somehow and someway, an alarm of peril sounded off in Vincent’s head. Why? He didn’t know. But things didn’t quite add up where Troy’s mysterious phone call was concerned. Now the questions that rolled over in Vincent’s mind involved getting to the bottom of this enigma without drawing attention to his approach.

Chapter 11

Jacob cursed and rubbed his sore neck as he stared at the pile of paperwork he needed to go through.
Damn!
So much for his plans on finishing up quickly and getting back to his apartment and Vincent. By the time he finished here, the year would have ended.