Page 7 of Stand By You
Closing her eyes, she tried to think happier thoughts, but she was disturbed when the door opened, and a tall stranger entered her room. A very handsome, tall stranger with chestnut brown hair that swept away from his face and deep blue eyes fringed with thick lashes. Why were men always blessed with those?
“Jillian Grant?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, surprised she even made a sound because her mouth had gone dry at the sight of this man. He really was handsome, and it had been a long time since she’d reacted like this to anyone. She hoped he wasn’t picking up on her difficulty.Was she staring at him? She hoped not. Swallowing, she glanced down at the thin coverlet to make sure her legs were covered. Hospital gowns were not modest.
“I’m Nick Bardou from the Wolf Agency. I believe Detective Simons mentioned I was coming.”
Looking back up she smiled. “He said a guy with the Brotherhood Protectors was, but he didn’t give a name.”
“He didn’t have that information since I don’t work directly with Hank Patterson. Hank called my boss Kenneally who reached out to me because I’m local. From the file I was sent on you it sounds like you’ve been through the ringer,” he said coming forward but stayed a respectful distance away. “I’m sorry this has happened to you, but I promise to keep you from danger here on out.”
“Tell me about yourself,” she said.
“I’m a medically retired JAG officer, but I still manage cases from time to time for my former command unit when they need someone to step in,” he explained. “I like working for the Wolf Agency because it allows me that freedom. Enough about me for now, I want to hear more about you that wasn’t in the file that Hank had sent to me. I’m sure that Detective Simons didn’t have the full story or you wouldn’t have been almost ran over today leaving the precinct after giving your statement from a second mugging attempt yesterday.”
Her back bristled at his words. “I don’t know why you think I am hiding something,” Jillian said feeling defensive. “I told Detective Simons everything I knew when he interviewed me both times.”
“Are you sure? Was there something you might have thought was unrelated at the time or insignificant that you left out?” Nick asked. “Think about it for a moment. Has anything out of the ordinary happened in the past weeks that you brushed off?”
The word insignificant stood out and she thought for a moment before slowly nodding. “Now that you put it that way…”
“Yes?”
“I have received a few odd threatening letters in the mail.”
“How so?” he asked, stepping closer to the bed and pointed to the empty chair.
She nodded and he sat, pulling out a notepad and pen from his pocket.
“The first letter said, ‘I remember what you did, and I will repay you one day.’ The envelope was addressed to me, but there wasn’t a return address, and it was postmarked Fort Lauderdale. I don’t know anyone who lives there. So, I didn’t think much of it,” she said. “Then the second letter came, and it said ‘You shouldn’t have said what you did. It caused much pain and sorrow, and you will regret it.’”
“Same postmark?” Nick asked.
“No, this one came from Key West.”
“Interesting,” he said. “Was there another?”
“No.”
“Do you still have these letters?”
“Yes. I put them aside for some reason. Maybe because they didn’t make sense and I was trying to figure out what they meant,” she said.
“But you didn’t think to mention either of them to Detective Simons?” he asked.
“I didn’t think about them when he was questioning me about the muggings,” she said. “As you said, they were out of the ordinary and if you hadn’t asked me specifically, I wouldn’t have remembered them because at the time they didn’t seem to matter much. I didn’t really believe my life was in danger.”
“But it is, Miss Grant. I hope you see that now,” he said.
“I do. And I realize how foolish I have been not to have paid more attention to those letters, especially with the attemptedmuggings,” she said. “But I don’t know what I have done to anyone to make them want to hurt me.”
“These days you may have not said anything out of line to cause someone to go after you,” Nick said. “Are you active on social media?”
“Not really. I’m a nanny,” she said. “I spend all my time taking care of Travis or working on my advanced education degree now that he is older. I’m taking a few online courses while he is in school and day camp in the summer.”
“And your employer is okay with you doing that?” Nick asked.
“He’s actually the one who encouraged me to continue my education goals once Travis was older,” Jillian explained. “I started working for Mr. McGinty when I graduated with my bachelor’s when I couldn’t get into the master’s program right away. Early childhood development is very selective, and they only take so many applicants at a time, but since then they have started an online program which allows more applicants to apply and be accepted.”
