both said that Dan was responsible for the attack. "
"What attack?"
"You don't know what happened to Grayson and
Alex, do you, James," questioned Sam.
"What happened, Sam," demanded James coming
around his desk and getting in his face.
"Grayson and Alex were attacked outside the W
Restaurant last night. Grayson was beat up pretty
badly and Alex was hurt as well. " "Oh, God; what have I done," James asked
collapsing into one of the arm chairs.
"James, are you alright? If it helps, Jeff was there as
well."
"Jeff knows," James said looking up suddenly.
"Yeah. The doctors called him because they
couldn't find anyone else and his number was in
Alex's purse."
"I got to find, Jeff," said James rushing into the
plant.
Sam watched James leave the office and shook his
head. Whatever was going on there was more
pain to come. Allen came through the door then and found Sam
staring at James' empty chair, "What's up," he
asked passing through.
"Have you seen Alex," Sam asked.
"She just left. "
"Oh, thanks," Sam responded following him into the
plant.
James found Jeff in the weld shop and pulled him
aside, "Why didn't you tell me about last night?"
"There was nothing to tell," Jeff replied, "Alex is
fine; so is Grayson."
"What the hell happened?"
"After you abandoned her at the restaurant, she
called Gray for a ride, the minute she stepped out Dan Reynolds had her. Grayson might have saved
her life and could have died himself."
"Dan Reynolds again; that son-of-a-bitch is starting
to annoy me."
"There you are," said Sam finally catching up with
James.
"What now Sam; more bad news."
"Actually some good; Dan and his partner have
been arrested on the New Jersey turnpike. They
are being brought back here this afternoon. "
"That is good news. Thanks Sam," accepted Jeff.
"You're welcome. I better get back to work. " "What hospital," asked James watching Sam's
retreating back.
"Memorial. "
James shook his head in acknowledgement and left
Jeff standing there as he headed for the door, "Has
Alex left," James asked Francine as he passed
through the office.
"Wouldn't you rather see me? I am the mother of
your child, James," she responded.
"I don't have time for your games, Francine. Has
Alex left?"
"James this isn't a game, it's a child's life. If you
can't take this seriously maybe I should just do away
with it altogether. " "Don't you dare," shouted James, "Don't you even
consider making that decision. This is my child
too, Francine. "
"Well a lot you care about it. You'd rather let Alex
raise my child than me? How do you think that
makes me feel?"
"You talked to Alex?"
"Of course I talked to Alex. I wanted to know what
her intentions were."
"And?"
"And what do you think? She's going to hold onto
you for dear life. I will not let her raise our child,
James. That's my privilege."
"Francine, we'll talk about this later. In the
meantime, you do anything to jeopardize my child and there will be hell to pay. Do you understand,"
James demanded grabbing her upper arms in his
urgency.
"Yes, James, I do understand. I understand
completely. "
"Good," he said letting go of her arms, thrusting her
into her chair, and then charging out of the building.
Francine watched him go and picked up the phone,
"It's me," she said into the receiver, "we got a problem. "
Chapter 23
Alex made a few pit stops along the way and arrived
at the hospital just as lunch was served. She found
Grayson sitting up as gingerly as possible playing in
the mound of unappetizing mashed potatoes.
"Hey stranger," she said walking into the room.
"Alex," Grayson replied trying to smile. The
stitches in his lip as well as the bruises on his cheeks
restricted the movement.
"How are you feeling?"
"Much better since I have the prettiest nurse
here. " "Where is she," Alex joked removing the nasty lunch
from his bed stand and placing on the empty bed
beside her.
"Very funny. What'd you bring me?"
"Tons of goodies; first and foremost, let's do
something with that hair." Alex pulled the brush she
had grabbed from home and ran it through the
tangles in Grayson's hair, "Anything good on," she
commented as the TV droned overhead.
"Only if you're in the mood for soap operas or
cartoons."
"Cartoons would be good. "
Grayson used his free hand to search for a decent
cartoon reveling in the gentle strokes that Alex applied to his hair. "I can do that you know," he
said.
"I like doing it. Besides, how are you going to
maneuver a gum band around this mass of hair with
only one hand. "
"Good point," he responded, turning his attention
back to the television, "Cool, Speed Racer. "
"That works; here's your glasses," Alex smiled as she
continued to pull the various lengths into a decent
looking ponytail.
"Hello, who is this," came a voice from the door as
she made her way into the room, "You are relative,
no?"
Alex and Grayson watched as the stocky nurse
puttered closer to the bed. Her graying hair had been pulled into a tight bun which only served to
relieve the mass of wrinkles that creased her face.
"Yes, I'm his sister," replied Alex.
"Sister, huh? Well I suppose it is possible. I am
Nurse Willamina, I take care of brother. But you
can't stay long. The mister needs his rest.”
Alex smiled at the heavy Danish accent, "Well then I
won't stay very long."
"Good. You be out in an hour," she decreed
pointing her finger at Alex, then turning her
attention to Grayson, "You eat lunch! No pick,
eat!"
"Scout's Honor," promised Alex, "And I'll make sure
he eats." The nurse harrumphed herself from the room never
taking her eyes off of Alex. She doubted Alex was
a sister, but she was just a nurse and refused to
comment on the patient's lives.
"What a personality," laughed Alex.
"Try dealing with that first thing in the
morning. She came in and demanded to help me
go to the bathroom; insisting I couldn't do it
myself. The damned sponge bath was the worst.”
Alex laughed heartily and finished the ponytail for
Grayson, "It isn’t the best, but it looks better," she
commented going to the bag she brought with her,
"This should help," she said handing him a baseball
cap with a bow on top. "Two's Company, Three's Perverse," Grayson read
from the hat laughing, "Oh, she'll love this."
The pair er
upted in chortles of laughter as Alex
continued to unload the bag laying out the two
magazines he had requested, a deck of cards and
lunch.
"You brought me Quarter Pounders," Grayson asked
upon smelling the food.
"Yep. I brought some for me too. "
"You look like you didn't sleep last night. "
"I told you I got drunk. "
"Well, at least you're safe. Have you eaten?" "I had some toast this morning. "
"Well then you're eating with me. "
"Trust me I will," she commented stealing a fry.
They quickly devoured the lunch of fast food and
tossed the hospital food into a garbage bag to avoid
suspicion by Nurse Willamina. As soon as they were
finished, the charming nurse charged back into the
room.
"I smell something," she declared.
"What," asked Alex trying to hide a smile behind the
cards Grayson had just dealt.
"I smell something," she declared again as she
began to smell the room like a bloodhound,
"Ah-hah," she said finally, picking up the empty McDonald's bag sitting beside Alex's chair, "You
bring bad food into room. You leave. "
"It was my lunch. Besides, he ate his," Alex
pointed out gesturing to the empty plates on the
tray.
"Oh. I am sorry. I go, you stay longer. Nice lady,"
she said leaving the room and taking the tray with
her.
"Thank God she didn't see the hat," erupted
Grayson as he laughed.
"Ditto," laughed Alex.
"They say laughter is the best medicine," came a
voice from the door.
"James," said Alex. "Jimmy," said Grayson.
"Hi. Too late to deal in a third," he asked strolling
into the room.
"Never too late," replied Grayson peeling five cards
off the top of the deck for James.
"What are we playing?"
"Gin," replied Alex looking at James across the span
of the bed. "Great drink, bad game. "
"Well the beat up guy chose it. How did you know?"
"Sam told me."
"I should've known," Alex said shaking her head.
"You don't look that bad, pal," said James to
Grayson, "Not as bad as this hand." "Thanks, Jimmy; knew you'd agree. Seems like
every time Alex looks at me she thinks I'm dying."
"No, I don't," protested Alex.
"More peoples. Not good. Need rest, mister,"
bustled in the nurse.
"He's our brother. Can't he stay," requested Alex.
"First sister, now brother. Oy," she exclaimed
before leaving.
"That was Nurse Willamina," explained Gray.
"Oh, good. By the way, thanks for telling me about
this. You know one of you could have called me
last night or this morning," said James. "It was kind of difficult for us to call last night,
James. We were both unconscious. Any way, if
you hadn't left Alex at the restaurant this may not
have happened," voiced Grayson.
"You think so? Well let me tell you something, Dan
Reynolds is the guy who came into your house and
shredded the sheets on the bed," James said
turning his attention to Alex.
"Dan did that," Alex replied
"Yeah. Mrs. Thompson identified him from a
company photo that Ashmore Valley Exterminators
took. Sam knew who he was."
"Damn," sighed Alex.
"What's this about your bed?" Alex and James filled in the blanks for Grayson who
listened intently, "He broke into your house, then
he beat the crap out of me and hurt you in the
process."
"You didn't tell me you got hurt," said James looking
her over for injuries.
"Not badly; more on my legs than anything. "
"Thank God. Alex, I'm so sorry about last
night. If I had thought about how inappropriate
my request was, I never would have asked."
"Well, I can see your point, James. But my answer is
still no. I'm sorry too," Alex responded reaching
across the bed to take his hand. "Ahem," coughed Grayson, "Should I leave?"
James laughed, "No, I think we should. There are
some things we need to finish talking about and I
don't want Nurse Willamina in here busting our
chops."
"Alex? Are you going to be alright?"
"I'll be fine, Gray. Thanks. You get some rest, okay?
I'll sneak back in later tonight and check on you,"
she whispered before laying a light kiss on his
cheek.
A twinge of jealousy ran through James but he
squelched it quickly. It wouldn't do for him to be so
jealous of her relationship with Grayson while she
was handling Francine's pregnancy. "Take care, bud. We'll be back later on," said
James nodding his head.
"Thanks guys."
James and Alex smiled at Grayson and then
retreated from the room. "Good. Family leaving,"
commented the Danish nurse as the couple passed
her. They smiled again and proceeded to the
elevators.
"I missed you," James whispered once they were
ensconced in the elevator.
"Me too," she whispered back.
James kissed Alex lightly on the lips attracting the
stares of the other passengers in the car. The
elevator was reaching the lobby when the sound of
Alex's cell phone began to ring in her purse. "Alexandra Chambers. . . Hi,
Sam. . . Really. . . Yeah, I'll be right there,"
she said into the receiver then clicked it off, "Dan
Reynolds and his partner are at the Ashmore Valley
headquarters. They want me to come down and
identify them.”
the hospital to his car. Alex left her car behind and
drove with James downtown to the police station
on Washington Street.
Sam met them in the lobby and escorted Alex to an
interrogation room where Dan was being held. His
partner, who Sam said was Dominic Shelly, was in a
separate room awaiting identification by the maître
d' from the restaurant. "So, where were you last night, Mr. Reynolds," Alex
heard Rob ask in the interrogation room. Sam,
James and Alex were stationed on the other side of
the two way mirror watching the interrogation
which seemed to be going nowhere fast.
"Alex, is that him," asked Sam from behind her.
Alex stared at Dan Reynolds, her skin crawling at
the memory of them crossing paths so many
times. Shaking her head yes, she felt James' arms
go around her.
"Thanks, Alex. I'll let Rob know," Sam said before
turning for the door.
"Sam," Alex called, "Can you ask him why? Why
me?" "Sure, Alex"
Sam walked out of their room into the one they
were observing. They watched as Sam told Rob and
Dan that a positive identification had been made
and that Dan was being charged with breaking and
entering, assault and a list of other charges.
Dan stared hard at the mirror. Alex felt him
probing it and almost seeing her through it. She
retreated
further into James' grasp trying to hide
from that stare.
"Are you alright," asked James.
"He knows I'm here. "
"He can't hurt you anymore, Alex. "
"I know. " "I want to talk to Alex," demanded Dan finally,
"Alex! I know you're in there. I want to talk to
you. Not these damned pigs! He said I wouldn't
serve time. He promised! Alex," he shouted at
the mirror.
"No such luck, Reynolds. You're screwed to the
wall. There is nothing you can do to get out of this,"
assured Rob.
"Alex," continued Dan shouting at the
window. Finally, he got up and rushed to the
mirror, banging on it with his shackled hands.
Sam and Rob wrestled him to the ground and
forced him back to a chair, handcuffing him to it,
"Behave yourself! This is not helping your case,"
yelled Rob. Sam retreated from the room and returned to the
observation room to find Alex near tears and James
glaring at Dan's face.
"Is she alright," asked Sam.
"Just fabulous, Sam," hissed James.
"I want to talk to him," murmured Alex.
"What," asked James stunned.
"I want to talk to him. I want to know who made
him do this to me."
"What makes you think that anyone made him do
this," asked Sam.
"You heard
him. Somebody. . . no. . . some man promised he wouldn't serve time. I want to know
who he's talking about."
"Alex, he just may be saying that to get to you."
"Sam's right. We don't know what he'll do to you
once you're in there with him. I'm not going to
take that chance. God help him if he touches you
again. "
"James, I'll be alright. Sam can handcuff both arms
to the chair and I'll stand near the door and stay
with me. I won't go any closer. Sam, what do you
think," she asked turning to the officer and her
friend. "Let me get him secured. When I nod my head,
come on in. Rob will stand outside the door and
I'll stay in there, James. "
Sam left the room again and secured leg irons and
another pair of handcuffs. Securing Dan to the
chair, he nodded at the mirror.
"Are you sure you want to do this," asked James
again.
"Yes, I am," she replied placing a kiss on his lips,
"When I'm finished with this, we're going to sit
down and talk about Francine and her baby. "
Alex travelled the short distance between the two
doors, took a deep breath and walked in. "God you smell fabulous," said Dan licking his lips
salaciously.