Checkmate (Caitlin Calloway Mystery Book 2) (11 page)

“Sucks being the boss.” Jamie posted the list and listened to the usual grumbling and complaining from her students. No matter how fair she tried to be, someone was always unhappy.

“Nights? For real?” Tierney groused.

“We could switch you to the butt crack of dawn,” Jamie said. She smirked at the look of horror in Dr. Tierney’s dark brown eyes. “Nights means you work with me.”

“Cool.” The young woman quickly backpedaled.

“Yeah, cool.” Jamie didn’t have the heart to tell Tierney she had put her on the late shift because she doubted her ability to make an early call.

Alvarez took a moment away from the others to thank Jamie for her schedule. “I wish I was on your team but—”

“I get it.” Jamie smiled. “I wanted to keep you, but you have little Lola to worry about. This is tough enough without the added responsibility you’re carrying. If you have any questions or needs, my door is always open.”

Jamie went back to work, unable to avoid hearing the comments from her new students. Half of them felt slighted that they hadn’t made her team. The other half were relieved, since she had the reputation of being a hard ass. Those that did make her team were either elated or frightened. She chose the best and the worst to work with her. The best since they deserved it and the worst because she wanted to keep an eye on them. She instructed the students to meet with their respective team leader as soon as possible. Then she reminded them to check the schedule each day since changes were always happening.

Jamie loved emergency medicine, but she hated the paperwork and useless nonsense that went along with being in a supervisory position. There were times she wished she could go back to being a basic ER doctor. But that wasn’t what Boylston General had hired her to be. Then again, with the threat of budget cuts looming on the horizon, she could end up being just another doctor.

She kept the team together for the rest of the night. The young doctors tried to keep up. Jamie chuckled when she heard one of them complaining how busy it was. Stella just glared at the youngster.

“This? This is slow,” Stella told the whining student.

“She isn’t kidding. Now move,” Jamie added for good measure.

“Coffee?” Stella suggested once the frightened student darted off.

“I’ll meet you in the break room, right after I check to make sure none of them has killed anyone yet.”

When Jamie made the rounds, all was well with the exception of Tierney who was nowhere to be found. Jamie muttered under her breath before heading into the break room to join Stella. She had to stop herself from shouting when she found Tierney sitting with Stella, enjoying a cup of coffee and a snack.

“Hey,” Tierney said as if she hadn’t a care in the world.

“Isn’t there something you could be doing besides eating cookies?”

“Uh-huh, just leaving.” Her head bobbed up and down as she slowly stood.

“And, Tierney, rethink the earrings.” Jamie noted the large hoops. “If you have a junkie on the table, they’ll rip those right out and not in a nice way.”

“Good to know.”

Jamie furrowed her brow as she took a seat and Tierney remained in the room. “Yes?”

“Is it true that your cold tude is just an act?”

“You’re direct. I’ll give you that. Hate to disappoint you, but this isn’t an act. I am a bitch.”

“Right. That’s why Alvarez is on a shift that works around her daughter’s day care schedule.”

“Look,” Jamie said slowly, “I used to try the soft ‘let’s be friends’ approach. But I had a problem with one of residents. And now I find it best to keep my distance.”

“What happened?”

Jamie wasn’t put off by the girl’s directness. “He killed another resident, along with at least eight other women. By the time the police figured it out, he tried to kill me,” Jamie said in a matter- of-fact tone. “So, no, I don’t do warm and fuzzy.”

“Damn.”

“Could you get your ass back on the floor?” Jamie tried to sound gruff. She failed. Despite this girl’s obvious lack of dedication, there was something endearing about her. Much to her surprise, Dr. Tierney actually complied with her request with very little stalling.

“That one sees right through you,” Stella said with a grin.

“Hey, I’m still a hard-ass.”

“Right.”

The night wore on with the usual mishaps, paperwork, and issues that only Jamie seemed to be capable of dealing with. After Mr. Stern and his police escort had been moved to a room upstairs, Jamie set about finishing up neglected administrative duties. Her wife was working late, and both of them were probably in for the long haul tomorrow.

Finally, around four in the morning, she was on her way home. When she pulled up to the Victorian home that had been converted into a duplex, she felt at peace. When the three were first shown the house, it was in desperate need of love and hard work, and they fell in love with it. This was home. The only thing missing was Caitlin’s Subaru in the parking space next to her own.

Jamie shouldered her work bag and headed into the house. She paused and checked to reassure herself that everything was all right. Another little gift from her time with Simon Fisher; she was overly cautious. Nothing seemed amiss, so she disabled the very high-tech alarm system. One of the many great things about being married to a cop her wife knew the best security people in the Boston area. She reset the alarm and put her work bag aside. She wasn’t troubled that CC had to work late. Given their professions, when one or the other had to work late it could easily mean well into the next day or even the day after that.

She stripped and showered and donned more comfortable clothing. In the kitchen, she put on the tea kettle. A quiet house after a long day called for one of two things: a long hot bubble bath or a nice hot cup of tea. If the night was rocky enough, both were needed. The kettle whistled, and she set about brewing her tea. The knock on the door that connected Stevie’s side of the house to theirs wasn’t a surprise.

Stevie had probably been waiting up for either her or Caitlin to get home and, when she heard the tea kettle, decided to visit. How good it felt to have family so close. Her own family was back in Maryland, which wasn’t that far. Yet, there were times when it felt like a million miles separated them. Having Stevie and their niece, Emma, just a door away felt comforting.

“Morning,” her sister-in-law said.

“Come on in. Can I get you a cup?”

“No thanks. Just waiting up for you crazy kids.”

They settled on the sofa. Jamie flipped on the television out of habit. She selected the local news station and turned the volume down so she could chat with Stevie.

“How did the meeting go?”

“Good.” Stevie handed Jamie an expensive-looking 4g phone. “I got a new client and some free stuff to share. I’ll transfer from your old one. It will take a moment.” She explained connecting the phones to her laptop with a cable. “Once this is in place, your new account will be activated.”

“Cool.” Jamie studied the new gadget before retrieving her old cell for Stevie. “This is nice. I can shoot movies in HD, go online, and probably bake a pie. I love it.”

“I have one for Caitlin as well.” Stevie finished transferring Jamie’s information. “You can go online and download about a gazillion different apps. You know just in case you have a sudden need to know the weather in Istanbul.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. Thank my new client.” Stevie handed the shiny new phone back to Jamie. “I was getting worried after losing three clients this year. One went belly up, another decided to cut back and do their own website, and Marcus Styles died. Not a big surprise. Everything that man ate was deep fried. This is the first year I’ve not only failed to gain new clients, I’ve lost some. Of course it happened right after we bought this place. Don’t get me wrong, I love this house and the neighborhood.”

“I know.” Jamie reluctantly set aside her new toy. “Your condo was paid off, and now we have a mortgage and a bad economy. Like I said yesterday, we’re ahead. Don’t worry. If the hospital starts cutting back, I know I can find work. And it seems CC feels certain that if the department starts making cuts she’s going to be okay. Speaking of which…” Jamie’s attention was drawn to the television. “I think this is why she’s working late.” She turned up the volume.

The overly perky newscaster said, “Natalie Stern, mother of two from Boylston Village Hills, will be arraigned this morning facing charges of assault and possibly murder.”

“She tasered her husband right in the jewels,” Jamie said. “Poor guy won’t have any feeling in his tackle box anytime soon.”

“Work!” Stevie gasped as CC entered the house.

“Whatever happened to doctor-patient confidentially?” CC teased her wife. She gave Jamie a quick kiss, shuffled into the kitchen, and studied the chessboard.

Jamie laughed. “I respect it. But if you think anyone who was working the ER tonight didn’t go home and tell someone about poor Mr. Stern getting his nuts toasted, you’re sadly mistaken. So, did she kill the nanny?”

“Yes,” CC called out. “She’s going to be arraigned in a couple of hours.”

She finally made her move. “That’ll teach you,” she said, gloating, before she remembered she was playing with a child. “Tell Emma it’s her move,” she told Stevie when she returned to the living room. “Nice phone.”

“I have a new client.”

“Great news, sis.”

“And she got free stuff.” Jamie was already playing with the new gizmo.

“It’s huge,” CC noted.

“I have one for you.”

“Oh, my old phone is fine,” CC said while Jamie snickered.

Jamie understood that her wife feared new gadgets because she was more than a little technologically challenged.

“Your phone barely holds a charge anymore. Give Stevie your old phone, and let her explain what this new one can do.”

“I just need to download the information from your SIM card,” Stevie tried to explain while CC reluctantly handed over her old cell phone.

“The what?”

“It’s a tiny chip inside your phone,” Stevie said. “It holds all of your information in your old phone. The new one is different. Same theory but different.”

“But what about my numbers? I don’t know any of them.”

“That is why I’m downloading all of your information,” Stevie patiently explained. “This new phone is a smart phone. You can listen to music, surf the web, send email, take pictures and videos, check the weather—”

“Can I make phone calls?” CC grumbled, shedding her coat.

“Yes.” Stevie impressed Jamie by the way she stayed calm. “I’ll go over everything with you.”

“Just show me how to answer the phone and dial out. Oh, and I need to know how to shut the ringer off, for when I’m in court.”

“Caitlin,” Jamie said, “say thank you.”

“Thank you, Stevie.”

“It’s okay, James, I’ve known my dear sister all of my life. Her limits when it comes to the technological advances of the twenty- first century aren’t a revelation. If I hadn’t insisted, she’d still be trying to use a beta max and dealing with basic cable. Not to worry. I’ll show her how everything works, so she won’t bug you to do it later.”

“You are such a good sister in-law.”

“I am.”

“I don’t need to do a bunch of stuff,” CC tried to argue.

“Probably not,” Stevie said. “But when you see everyone else doing it, you’ll get all cranky.”

“I can’t even send a text.”

“Now you can.” Stevie pulled CC down onto the sofa and showed her how to slide the images around. “In fact you can send a voice text by tapping the little microphone. Or just use the keypad and type. That way you won’t end up cursing at the autocorrect.” CC’s eyes widen with delight. “See you’ll love this new phone.”

“I hate the way they keep changing things,” CC said.

“No, you don’t.” Stevie laughed. “You hate that Emma is better at these things then you are. She’s a kid. Which means she’s going to surpass all of us. She already texts twice as fast as I do.”

“She’s too young to be using a cell phone.” CC gave a huff.

“I agree, sis.” Stevie showed another feature to CC, well aware that her sister’s attention was already drifting. “Emma has a very basic phone that allows her very limited calling. I only caved in so she could get in touch with one of us in case of emergency.”

“Okay, I’ll try the new phone.”

Jamie couldn’t help laughing as Stevie painstakingly took CC through the basic steps to operating her new phone. She listened so she could work her own phone and help CC when she got stuck.

“I don’t see why you would need a phone to film a video,” CC said. “But thank you. I hate to cut things short, ladies. I need to take a quick shower before I head downtown for the arraignment.”

“I need to get back and check on Emma. Enjoy the phones.” Stevie excused herself.

Jamie followed CC upstairs to the master bathroom. “Long day?”

“Yes.” CC yawned and, much to Jamie’s delight, stripped off her clothing. “It felt good.”

“You’re not the type that’s happy with being idle.”

“Sitting around doing nothing while the crime rate was going up didn’t feel right.” CC stretched out her tired limbs.

“Hmm.” Jamie sighed. “Nice stretching.”

“Pervert,” CC teased giving Jamie one last peek before she stepped into the shower. “I think once the paperwork and court appearance are out of the way, I’ll duck back here and try to catch a nap.”

“Mulligan seemed nice,” Jamie said absently, her mind far too busy watching CC lather her entire body. She was pleased that CC took extra care to rub soap over her firm full breasts.

“The boss is thinking of teaming us up together after Max clocks out,” CC said. “He’s worried about pairing two women together.”

“The more things change,” Jamie grumbled.

“There’s going to be a spot open. With Max retiring and Andy not able to clean up his act, our department is going to be safe from any cuts.”

“Think there will be cuts?”

“Don’t you? I’m lucky. Seniority wise, I’m smack dab in the middle, so I won’t get hit.” CC rinsed off, and the sight of the soap sliding down her body nearly made Jamie swoon. “The Boss said my closure rate is so high there have been a lot of requests to ride with me.”