Death Deserved (A Detective Jackson Mystery) (27 page)

CHAPTER 39

Tuesday, December 8, 3:15 p.m.

Jackson flipped through a news magazine as he waited for the doctor’s assistant to call him back. He’d already had the CT scan and just needed the results now. He expected bad news and hoped the recommended treatment would be more medication and not another surgery. At some point, this disease could be a death sentence, but the remission he’d experienced had given him hope. Had it been an unfair mistake to adopt Benjie? The boy couldn’t handle it if he lost his new father too.

Just wait and see.

A few minutes later, Jackson had his answer.

“I have good news and bad news.” The doctor gave him a sad smile.

Jackson braced himself.

“The good news is that the fibrosis is still in remission. I’m not seeing any new growth.”

Thank goodness. So what was it? A tumor somewhere else? “What’s the bad news?”

“Your kidneys are damaged from the uncontrolled growth you were experiencing before. That’s what’s causing the pain.”

“But I didn’t have any for a while.”

“Because you were taking prednisone. Now that you’re off it, we’re seeing some long-term effects.”

No stents, please!

The doctor continued. “There’s a medication that can help, but you may need a kidney transplant someday.”

Okay. Not a death sentence. He knew he should ask questions, but he couldn’t. Not yet. He had to process this. And talk to Kera about it. As a nurse, she always knew what to ask. He was headed over to see her right after this.

Jackson knocked briefly, then opened the door at Kera’s. Soon, this formality wouldn’t be necessary. They would all live in one house, and he would simply come home to the place where they all resided. He couldn’t wait. He found Kera and the boys at the dining room table putting together puzzles. Benjie’s idea, for sure. That boy loved puzzles. Recently, Benjie’s counseling sessions had revealed that he still dreamed about his mother quite often, but now most of the dreams were happy instead of nightmares. It was such a relief to not wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of Benjie crying. As the boy’s new father, Jackson could never undo what had happened to Benjie, but he could give him a good life in spite of it.

“Hey, Daddy’s here.” Kera got up to kiss him. Her mouth was smiling but her eyes were sad.

The boys scrambled to be picked up for hugs and kisses. God, he loved this family. He wished Katie were present, but she’d made plans with a friend.

“I’ve got homemade soup and garlic bread ready, so let’s eat,” Kera said. “Then we have to talk about something.”

Her tone worried him and took some of the pleasure out of the meal. He asked the boys a lot questions about their day and tried to be patient with their sometimes irrelevant and comical responses. After dinner, Kera set Micah and Benjie in front of the TV to watch their favorite show,
Bob the Builder
—something she rarely allowed—then came back to the table.

What was this about? Was Micah’s grandfather back in the picture?

“I got a call from my father today.” Kera poured herself a glass of wine, another rare indulgence.

“This can’t be good.”

“It’s not. My mother has cancer and starts chemotherapy soon. And Dad is worried. He can’t even take care of himself. She’s been looking after him since his heart attack.” Tears formed in his girlfriend’s eyes. “I have to go stay with them for a while. At least through my mother’s chemo. She’ll be too sick to cook or clean or . . .” Kera’s voice trailed off.

Panic filled his gut. How long did chemo last? “I’m sorry about your mother. Are the doctors optimistic about her recovery?”

“That’s the good news. It’s breast cancer, so they are.” Kera reached for his hand. “I’m so sorry. There’s no point in signing a rental agreement until I get back. But I’ll put this house on the market and hopefully sell it while I’m gone.”

“How long?”

“I don’t know. Maybe three months.”

Too long!
The worry and pain in her eyes made his heart hurt, but the thought of not seeing her for months made his whole body ache. Who would take care of the boys?

She read his mind. “I’m taking Micah with me of course. But you’ll have to get Benjie into a different day-care situation.”

The poor kid. Having Kera, his new mother, disappear on him would be a setback. “This will be hard for Benjie. I hope you’ll make time to connect with him. Maybe even do some Skype sessions. If you just vanish the way his mother did . . .” Jackson couldn’t finish the thought. His throat was closing up.

“Of course I’ll stay in touch.” She came around the table, stood behind him, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “You’re my family, and it kills me to leave you. But she’s my mother. How can I not go?”

“We’ll get through this.” He stood and held her close. What if she didn’t come back? He knew a sergeant whose marriage had failed after his wife had started caring for her mother. How would he make this work for Benjie? A leave of absence from his job? He couldn’t afford that. Especially now that he’d agreed to a settlement with Ivan Anderson, the jackass who’d sued him over Renee’s death. They’d met the day before, and with Katie’s blessing, Jackson had offered to give him the life insurance money his ex-wife had left for Katie—if he would drop the suit. Anderson had agreed, confirming Jackson’s suspicion that’s what the prick had wanted all along.

What if he needed a leave of absence later—to recover from a kidney transplant?

At this point, his best option—for Benjie’s sake—was to take the lead position in the Violent Crimes Unit and get out of the field. Chief Warner had offered him the job. He would still have to officially apply for it and wait for a committee decision, but the supervisory position was his if he wanted it. For the sake of his kids, Jackson decided to take it.

He would still be a detective. He could attend task force meetings and guide investigations. He just wouldn’t go out and look at dead bodies on the spur of the moment anymore. He’d still get the middle-of-the-night calls, but the new role would allow him to pass along the case responsibilities to other detectives. In time, if he hated the position, he could always go to work for the district attorney’s office as an investigator. Or open his own private-investigation business. He could do this.

“Are you all right?” Kera asked.

He kissed her deeply. “Always.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Photo © 2016 Peggy Johnson

L.J. Sellers writes the bestselling Detective Jackson mystery series—a four-time Readers’ Favorite Award winner—as well as the Agent Dallas series and many provocative stand-alone thrillers. Her seventeen novels have been highly praised by reviewers, and she is one of the highest-rated crime fiction authors on Amazon.

Sellers resides in Eugene, Oregon, where many of her novels are set, and is a Grand Neal Award–winning journalist. When not plotting murders, Sellers enjoys stand-up comedy, cycling, social networking, and zip-lining. She has also been known to jump out of airplanes.