And since she’d just started her senior year of high school, weekends were especially precious to her. Jessie did her best to be respectful of that, if for no other reason than to keep the peace.
It was easier to avoid accidentally waking anyone up since the big move. It had been a month since they’d left the apartment of Jessie’s best friend, Kat, and started to settle in at the house Jessie had inherited from her mentor and friend, Garland Moses. There was lots more space and the walls were thicker.
The new house had an added benefit. As a one-story home formerly occupied by a long-widowed senior citizen, it was already well-designed for people with mobility challenges. That was a major plus considering that Jessie’s boyfriend, LAPD Detective Ryan Hernandez, was coming home today.
Nearly six weeks after being stabbed in the chest by Jessie’s ex-husband and four weeks after being taken out of a medically induced coma and removed from a ventilator, he’d been given approval to leave the hospital. Jessie’s excitement when Dr. Badalia gave her the news was tempered by his warning that the hardest part of Ryan’s recovery had yet to begin.
He would need multiple daily visits from a nurse to help out and evaluate his progress, in addition to daily physical therapy. Dr. Badalia had suggested a full-time, in-home nurse for a few months but Ryan had balked at the idea. Jessie didn’t want to make him feel powerless so she’d consented to his wishes. But she worried that even with all the equipment she’d had installed, including handrails, bath and toilet accessories, and help buttons in every room, she might still not be prepared for the responsibility.
Caring for a wheelchair-bound thirty-two-year-old man who might have cognitive impairment was a challenge on its own. Doing that while simultaneously raising a seventeen-year-old who was still recovering from seeing her adoptive parents murdered felt borderline insurmountable.
But it wasn’t all darkness. Kat had been an amazing friend, offering her place as a safe haven after Jessie and Hannah couldn’t return to the condo where Ryan had been stabbed. She’d also been a shoulder to lean on and someone to vent to, even as she was trying to keep her own fledgling private investigator business running.
Another good distraction for Jessie was work. After officially leaving her job as a criminal profiler for the LAPD, she had been teaching a weekly forensics seminar at USC, her alma mater. She was supposed to instruct a full-on class in the subject when the fall semester began a week from Monday.
In addition, she’d come to an informal agreement with her former boss, Central Station Police Captain Roy Decker. If time permitted, she’d offer her services as a profiling consultant on major cases. She’d already worked on two as part of the arrangement, one involving the death of a faded movie star and just last week, the murder of an abducted oil heiress.
But with Ryan’s arrival later today and classes picking up in a week, she doubted she’d be able to help out much on the law enforcement front going forward. And if Hannah’s reaction when Jessie told her she’d be expected to help out with Ryan—cursing under her breath—was any indication, just keeping her head above water was going to be job enough.
Her cell phone rang and she quickly silenced it. Even before looking at it, she knew that at this hour, the call could only be from one of two places. She was relieved to see it wasn’t the hospital.
“Hey, Captain,” she said. “A little early to be calling on a Sunday morning, don’t you think? The sun’s not even up.”
“Sorry, Hunt,” he replied, maintaining the last name formality even though she was no longer an employee. “You know I wouldn’t reach out like this unless it was a big deal.”
“Whatever it is, I’m think I’m going to have to take a pass on this one. I start teaching in a week. More importantly, Ryan leaves the hospital this afternoon.”
“I know,” he said. “That’s why I need to see you this morning. Please—don’t say no until you’ve heard what this is about.”
Jessie wanted to say no. With everything going on at home, she didn’t need the extra responsibility. And yet, she couldn’t help but be curious. She relented slightly.
“See me? Can’t you just fill me in over the phone?”
“No. This one’s pretty sensitive. Can you be in my office in an hour, just to hear me out? Trust me—it’ll be worth your while.”