Loves Redemption by Kimberly Terry (best novels to read in english .TXT) 📗

and shook out several of the pills.

CHAPTER 26

“Thank you,” Nicolai knew who’d given him the pills without opening his eyes.

“Hey, why don’t you sit down for a minute? Look, let me give you a hand up. There’s a

tree over there you can rest against until you feel better.” Mark reached down to take the silent man’s arm and guided him the short distance to the tree, bearing much of his weight as he did so.

Once there he allowed the agent to slide down the tree and watched as he leaned his head

back against the thick trunk with his eyes remaining closed.

Mark turned and walked a few paces away to try and the agent time to regain his

composure. Several minutes later, he cleared his throat. Turning back Mark looked over the

small distance at the relaxed figure.

“Thanks.”

“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me what that was all about?” Mark asked as he looked down

at the agent.

“If I tell you, I’ll have to kill you,” Nicolai replied with a half smile showing nothing but teeth, giving his face an even more predatory look than ever.

Although he’d said the oft-joked phrase with a grimace he was passing off as a smile,

Mark noticed a strange gleam enter his eyes that made him wonder how much the man was

joking. Shaking off the notion he walked over to extend his hand.

“Thank you, but I can manage this time,” he declined. Mark shrugged his shoulders and

walked away when Montgomery reached for his arm.

“Thank you. I sometimes suffer from migraine headaches, and when they hit me, I can’t

seem to function. But it passes. I have a prescription so I’m usually prepared for them. This one, well, it caught me by surprise,” he offered by way of explanation.

Mark nodded his head. “No problem. Glad I was here to help.” And the two went down

the incline toward their vehicle. Once he was behind the driver’s seat, Mark gave the agent his full attention. “Are you up to checking out another scene? You still look a little green around the gills.”

“I’m fine. Let’s go to the next scene Detective.” Nicolai assured him.

“Okay, if you say so.” Mark pulled away from the roadside and headed for the second

crime scene designation.

As he drove, Mark glanced over at the silent agent, wondering what had happened to

wipe him out.

He didn’t think he looked ready to go over another scene or do much of anything else. It

looked like he could use as a nice soft bed to lie down in.

* * * *

“Maya, I have good news,” Dalia said as she ventured into her office.

“Yes and what is that?” Maya asked as she continued to peruse an open file lying on her

desk. Pausing in her reading, she looked up at Dalia as she pushed the small wire frames closer to her eyes.

“When you were in your meeting this morning with the detectives, we received a phone

call from a graduate student who would like to start an internship with us this summer. Not only is he willing, but would prefer to do his hours in the evening and weekends. Except for Fridays.

He said Fridays would not work for him,” Dalia told her with an excited look planted on her face.

“Oh that’s great, Dalia. Does he have his paperwork from the intern office and from Dr.

Tomas?”

“He says he has everything. Dr. Tomas signed his paperwork before he left for vacation

and the student....” she looked down at the notebook in her hand before continuing. “James

Smith. Yes his name is James Smith. James will be coming on Sunday if it is okay with you? He wanted to come in as soon as possible.”

“Yes of course Sunday will be fine, preferably in the morning, Dalia. Arlinda and I are

working on the fundraiser in the afternoon.”

“I will call him back and set the time for Sunday then,” Dalia answered as she left the

office. As she was leaving, Maya’s direct line rang. Motioning that she’d answer, Maya picked up the phone.

“Imani House this is Dr. Richardson,” she answered as she glanced over the file in her

hand.

“Hello there Dr. Richardson, this is Detective Halstan. How are you today, sweetheart?”

Maya set the file aside and spun around in her chair to face the open window. A smile

automatically creased her face. “Hello back at you. I’m fine, busy but fine. How’s it going for you?” she asked as she twirled the pencil she held between two fingers.

“Fine. It’s calm around here for once. Agent Montgomery and I finished with the crime

scenes a few hours ago. Right now I’m catching up on some paperwork.”

“How did it go? At the crime scenes,” she clarified before continuing. “Did he have a

chance to look over the scene where Ally was found?” she asked with a slight hitch in her voice.

“Yeah, sweetheart, he did. He didn’t say anything particularly about it. It was pretty odd

what did happen, but I’ll tell you about it when I see you.”

“Okay,” she took a deep breath and continued on a lighter note. “Are you going to be

here for dinner? Jorge is making quesadilla and rice,” she stretched out the last word, tempting him with Jorge’s cooking.

In the weeks Mark had been coming on Fridays he’d often eaten dinner with her at the

House.

She would tease in front of Jorge that his cooking was the real reason for Mark’s Friday

visits. A red flush would stain Jorge’s dark cheeks before he would laughingly agree and say although he loved her, the poor detective would starve if he waited for the bonita doctura to cook for him.

The majority of the residents had grown used to Mark’s presence around Imani House

too. This was an added bonus. Most of the residents had been nervous and reluctant in the

company of the police due to past encounters.

However they trusted and respected Mark as they too had taken to teasing