Page 1 of Stand By You
CHAPTER 1
“It’s you again,”Detective Curt Simons walked into the ER bay where Jillian Grant lay on the gurney with a large bandage over her right eye.
“Afraid so.”
“How many times are we going to meet up like this, Miss Grant?”
“I hope this is the last time, detective.”
“It isn’t unusual for an attractive woman to be mugged in in a city like Miami, but to be mugged twice in a matter of weeks, now that is something to be alarmed about. Did the mugger get away with anything this time?” he inquired.
“No. I had my crossbody bag on and he didn’t even try to take it. I know the police officer on the scene called it in as a mugging, but I don’t think that is what the man who attacked me was there for,” she explained. “Not like last time.”
“And you were able to fend the last mugger off with your self-defense techniques,” Simons said. “What about this time?”
“I didn’t have a chance. He came for me out of the blue and I was knocked down, hitting my head on the sidewalk, which is why I was brought by ambulance to the ER,” she explained. “The EMTs that were called insisted on it because they believedI could have a concussion, but thankfully the doctor I saw said I wasn’t showing signs of one.” She paused, taking a deep breath and rubbed her brow. “Sorry, my head still hurts from the fall, but the man who attacked me didn’t take anything, that is why I don’t believe it was a mugging. If he’d wanted my purse, he’d have taken it once I was knocked out.”
Simons nodded in agreement. “I know I asked you before, but in lieu of this happening again within a matter of weeks of the other incident, do you have any idea why anyone would go after you like this?”
“I don’t, detective. I really don’t,” she said feeling irritated with this happening to her. “I’m a Nanny to an eight-year-old boy.”
“What about his mother?” the detective asked.
“She’s out of the picture and been since he was four and they divorced. I started looking after Travis when he was two.”
“I sense there is a story there,” Simons said.
“There is, but I don’t think it’s worth getting into. I can’t tell you the last time I had any contact with her,” Jillian explained.
“What can you tell me about Mr. McGinty?”
“He’s an efficiency expert and he’s exceptionally good at his job– former military officer. He’s very meticulous and runs a tight ship even in his personal life after his retirement.”
“Did you tell him about the last mugging?” he asked.
“No. Because it was too close to his wedding and things were already hectic at home with the preparations,” Jillian said, feeling a bit guilty for not sharing what had happened to her.
“He just remarried?” the detective said.
She nodded. “They’re on their honeymoon and Travis is in day camp during the summers and afterward he is with me.”
“Mr. McGinty must trust you if he feels comfortable enough to leave his son in your care while he goes off on a honeymoon.”
“He should,” she said. “I’ve been in his employee for six years.”
“But would he have done so if he knew about the attempted muggings?” Simons asked.
Jillian sucked in a breath. “Do you think I should be worried?”
“I do, Miss Grant. I do. I don’t believe these are random acts.” Simons closed his notepad and sat down in the vacant chair near her bed. “I would like you to come down to the station to make a formal complaint once you are released. It doesn’t have to be today, but in the next day or two if you can. Do you think that would be possible?”
“Of course,” she reluctantly agreed twisting the sheet in her fists as she worried how she would explain the bruise on her face to Travis.
“Is there anyone else that lives at the McGinty household besides you, Mr. McGinty and Travis?”
“The housekeeper,” Jillian said, watching the detective open his notepad again. “Mrs. Hudson. That’s Evelyn Hudson. She wasn’t with us when Travis was a baby, so she doesn’t know his mother. She came when he was five.”
“Thank you for this information,” he said. “I know you mentioned that you live in a gated community the first time we spoke.”
