Page 25 of Love on the Run

“Yes, I’ve been a good patient.” She looked over at him. “And my temperature is normal.”

“Good. I wouldn’t want you to get sick on top of everything else.”

“No, what happened was bad enough already,” she agreed without thinking.

Jake looked steadily at her. “I’m sorry I got on your case about the car. I realize that you had reasons for what you did. But, please. Can you tell me what really happened to you?”

He had such a nice face, Callie decided. Maybe he could be trusted. A little.

“I more or less did. I was with this…guy…” she began slowly.

“Not Ed?”

“No.” She took a long breath, then committed. “His name is Malcolm.”

“No last name?” he pressed.

“Not yet,” Callie replied, a warning tone in her voice.

“Okay, so Malcolm is your boyfriend.”

“No,” Callie said hastily, shaking her head.“It’s…complicated.” She didn’t know why it was important to say that, to clarify that she definitely wasn’t in love with Malcolm. “It sort of started out that way. We dated once or twice, when I first met him. But it was more like…business.” Seeing his expression, she rushed on. “Not that kind of business. Malcolm is pretty important in the movie industry.He’s got money and connections. He was sort of promoting me. So I was with him a lot. That’s all.”

“Okay,” Jake looked like he didn’t understand the distinction, and why not? Outside the bizarre world of Hollywood, it didn’t make sense.“So what happened?”

Callie paused.How much could she tell him without revealing too much?Nothing about the other man’s death, obviously.“We did have a fight, sort of. Well, there was a fight and I was there. We were at a party at his place. His parties could get kind of wild, drugs and drinking and tons of stupid people.Hollywood, in other words. Malcolm had tons of money, so sometimes carried a gun for protection.”Protection from the police, but Callie left that out.“The night we fought, he had it with him. He got crazy, and he just pulled it out and fired it.I don’t think he even knew what he was doing. He was tripping on something, actually. I have no idea what.” Which was true. Malcolm looked utterly insane those last few minutes.Callie had never been more scared of him.

“So he shot you?”

“Yes. Because I was trying to leave, just like I said.I didn’t see him do it, since I was heading the other way.”

“And so he got you in the leg?”

“Yes. But I was at the car, and he wasn’t. So I was able to get away. I didn’t tell you it wasn’t mine at first because it was hard to explain. And anyway, I didn’t mean to steal it. I never meant to keep it. And I didn’t want to tell you any names because I never want to hear any of those names again. I’m sorry I lied to you.” Callie sighed. “It’s not that I wanted to, but you’re a cop, okay? You wouldn’t let it go, I could tell.”

“Why didn’t you go to a hospital?Or call 911?That’s what most people would do.”

“I guess I just freaked out,” Callie said. “I couldn’t think about anything clearly… Just that I had to get as far away as I could.”

“You got pretty far.” Jake said, and Callie caught the edge of disbelief in his voice.But he didn’t ask her anything further, so she closed her eyes, suddenly tired.

Jake watched Callie nod off before he rose and walked over to the kitchen. Her story still didn’t add up.It was a little bit more true, but only a little. There were too many holes, and not enough logic. For instance, why wouldn’t she tell him Malcolm’s full name?What would it matter? Maybe she didn’t want to press charges, but if she was truly the victim here, then why was she protecting this man?This man who she insisted was not her boyfriend.Jake frowned as he tried to puzzle it out.

His frown deepened when he realized that his brain kept avoiding the simplest answer for why her story didn’t make sense.She was lying. And he didn’t want her to be a liar.He wanted to believe her story because it was simple, and it made her an innocent victim.But innocent people didn’t lie, so that only left the alternative.She was still hiding something from him.Because he was a cop.

Jake smiled a little.If Callie thought her little story worked on him, she was wrong.He simply grew more determined to find out the truth.

5

She was running again. The voice in her head told her she couldn’t stop.But it was getting harder and harder to move. Her heart thumped painfully in her chest, and she wanted to stop, but she knew that whoever was behind her would kill her if she did. Though the voice warned her not to, she glanced behind her, and what she saw made her scream.Don’t look, the voice hissed, just run.So she tried. But then she hit what felt like a brick wall. Callie raised her arms, trying to push at whatever blocked her way.

“Callie, Callie wake up,” the wall said, dissolving into a person. Jake.She opened her eyes, blinking in confusion.She was sitting in her bed in the loft, held in Jake’s arms.

“You had a nightmare,” he said.

Callie nodded, barely able to speak.Her throat was strangely raw. And she was conscious of Jake holding her, steady in contrast to her own shaking body. She felt safe for just a second, and it would have been easy to nestle against him.

“Did I wake you up?” she asked in a small voice. She unconsciously put her arms around him.

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