Jessie Slaymaker's Rules of Engagement (The Jessie Slaymaker Series Book 2) (21 page)

‘If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave JD alone and get out of Hong Kong. FOR GOOD,’ she read aloud, in a detached voice. It was like she’d somehow managed to distance herself from the words on the page and the fact that they’d been addressed to her.

‘Your point exactly?’ she asked in a challenging way. She was clearly now over her initial shock. Her eyebrow quirked up as though
he
was the one being melodramatic.

‘Don’t be so bloody hard-headed!’ Jack said in frustration. ‘This nutter knows where you live. Please tell me you can understand that. I’m not taking no for an answer on this. Pack a bag or I will,’ he said, his tone threatening.

‘Calm down, Jack. You don’t even know this was even meant for me. It could have easily ended up in the wrong mailbox,’ she said, shaking her head.

‘Um, hello, JD,’ he said loudly, pointing to himself. ‘How many people do you know who have those initials?’ She looked thoughtful then as she tried to think of other people she knew, but she caught the steely look in his eye and clearly thought better of it.

‘Fine,’ she huffed, and finally began to gather some things together. ‘But just so you know for the record, I think you’re blowing this all out of proportion. It’s probably just someone playing a prank or something.’

‘Better safe than sorry,’ Jack said. ‘And you may as well pack enough for the rest of the week,’ he called out to her retreating back.

She stuck her head around the bathroom door and scowled at him. It was inappropriate, he knew, to be thinking about such things when the woman he loved was on the receiving end of threatening letters and all, but she looked damn sexy when she was in a mood with him. He was going to have fun making her see sense, that was for sure.

The next morning, Jessie was frog-marched to the nearest police station by her suddenly extremely bossy boyfriend. He’d even insisted on putting the stupid note in a plastic bag, lest they ‘contaminate the evidence even further.’ She thought he’d gone a tad OTT and had clearly been watching way too much
CSI
while he hadn’t been working. Sure, she’d been shocked and surprised when she’d first read the strange note the previous evening, but now it had sunken in, she didn’t think it was so very bad.

It’s not like she was in the habit of receiving these kind of notes on a regular basis, but the more she read it, the less she felt overtly worried. It was probably just one of Jack’s ex-girlfriends—she knew there had been many when he’d lived in Shanghai. One of them could have moved to Hong Kong in a quest to rekindle things with the boy wonder. The thought that Sonia Shum could be responsible for this crossed her mind, but she had a hard time picturing Sonia Shum writing such a thing. This wasn’t really her style. It was all a little bit amateurish for the eternally chic and sophisticated Sonia Shum. No, whoever it was obviously just had a thing for Jack. Although that didn’t narrow down the list of possibilities much. Everywhere Jack went, women practically swooned at his feet, such was his effect on the opposite sex.

At the station, Jessie explained to the kindly police officer what had happened, with several annoying interruptions from Jack, and then sat back and watched the young man in the crisp uniform handle the threatening note carefully.

‘We’ll check this for prints,’ he said. ‘We’ll also need to take both your prints so we can eliminate yours from the investigation,’ he added, nodding at Jessie and Jack.

‘I understand, officer,’ Jessie replied. ‘An investigation?’ she queried. That sounded awfully serious.

‘We’ll log your complaint and it will go into the system. I’m afraid that’s all we can do at this stage, unless there’s a positive identification from the fingerprints.’

‘I see,’ Jessie said, breathing a mini-sigh of relief. So it turned out that ‘investigation’ was just police-speak for generating some paperwork, which was fine by her. She didn’t want to be the cause of wasting police time. She was sure they had better things to do than find out who wrote her a nasty note.

‘Keep an eye open for anyone unfamiliar and anything untoward in your environment, and if anything comes to light, then we’ll be in touch,’ the police officer said as he went to stand up. Jessie was about to thank him for his time when Jack stood up in the man’s face. Jack wasn’t a happy camper.

‘Is that all you’re going to do?’ he asked loudly. ‘I don’t think you’re taking this matter seriously. This is a threat against her safety, plain and simple, and she should be assigned some sort of protection.’

‘Jack,’ Jessie hissed, tugging his sleeve. ‘Forgive him,’ she said, addressing the police officer. ‘He’s just a little security conscious.’

The policeman thought about it for a second, but then sat back down and reopened his notebook, exhaling loudly as though his job had suddenly become very tedious.

‘Any ex-boyfriends who might want you to stay away from JD?’ the policeman asked plainly.

‘No,’ Jessie replied, attempting to stifle a laugh. ‘There’s no danger of that,’ she added in a jokey way—which was entirely unappreciated by an unimpressed PC Cheung. And by Jack. He was wearing a semi-permanent scowl on his face, which told her he clearly thought she should be taking this whole thing a lot more seriously than she was. Jessie quit smiling and concentrated on making her face look more serious.

‘And what about you, sir… Mr Davenport?’ the officer said, referring to his notes. ‘Any ex-girlfriends or significant others who would want to separate the two of you?’ There was a pause as Jack and Jessie exchanged a glance. Jessie wasn’t going to be the one to bring up her name. That was Jack’s call.

‘Well, yes,’ Jack said. ‘There is someone who springs to mind. Sonia Shum.’

PC Cheung’s pen stopped still and his eyebrows went skywards as he studied Jack carefully. He then picked up an old-fashioned telephone on his desk and dialled a number. After speaking in Cantonese for about a minute or so, he then listened intently to whatever was being said on the other end of the line, only supplying a series of grunts and nods.

‘Leave it with us, Miss Slaymaker,’ he said eventually when he returned the receiver to the cradle. ‘I will pass this on to a detective who will be in touch with you for further questioning.’

‘Okay, right,’ Jessie said. Things had begun to sound more serious again. ‘Thank you,’ Jessie added, as she got up. She pinched Jack just above the elbow and steered him towards the door before he could throw his toys out the pram again.

By the time Jessie got to work it was mid-morning. Rachel appeared out of her office and threw a cursory look of indifference her way, then closeted herself back in her box, probably for the rest of the day.

Jessie found it hard to get on with her work. She’d been replaying events from that morning at the police station. She’d gotten the distinct impression that not a huge amount would be done unless things were to escalate. That is, until Jack uttered Sonia’s name. After that, PC Cheung’s whole demeanour had changed. Of course, he hadn’t given anything away with his words, but she felt that he was no longer treating the note as a one-off, random act. This made Jessie worry. Maybe Jack had been right to be alarmed. Maybe they really did have something to worry about.

In a bid to try and shake up her normal routine, Jessie arranged to meet Jack at his bar after she finished work. He wasn’t quite ready to leave when she arrived, but she was more than happy to prop up the bar with a glass or two of delicious white wine whilst she waited for him.

Jessie found it impossible not to partake in a bit of people-watching as she surveyed the after-work crowd bustling about, unwinding after a long day in the office. Then she found herself studying Jack’s staff and wondered if any of them were secretly carrying a torch for their boss and wanted her out of the way. She was sure there were bound to be a few of Jack’s predominantly female workforce who liked him. He was utterly gorgeous, charming when he wanted to be, and pretty impossible
not
to like. Maybe one of them had become infatuated and gotten a little carried away and written that note. But how would they know where to send it? They would have had to have followed her. The thought sent a shudder through her, and she chose to think about something else. This whole letter thing was probably nothing.

‘Sorry,’ Jack said as he plonked himself down on the stool next to her. How are you doing?’ he asked, rubbing the back of her neck.

‘Better now,’ she smiled sweetly at him.

‘How was the TV thing?’ he asked, reaching over the bar and grabbing his beer.

‘Oh, it got postponed till tomorrow. Probably a good thing. I don’t think I looked my best today, what with all the drama last night,’ she said, rolling her eyes.

‘We’re not going to fight about this. I’m looking out for you, so the least you can do is start taking precautions and looking out for yourself. All I want is for you to be careful.’

‘I know,’ Jessie said wearily. She twisted the stem of her wineglass as she silently contemplated how she was going to phrase what she wanted to tell him next. ‘I’m going to tell you something. On the condition that you’re not going to get angry with me.’

‘Well, that’s a surefire way of getting my attention, Miss Slaymaker. But I’m afraid I can’t promise not to get angry about something that you clearly think is going to make me angry.’

‘No deal then,’ Jessie said. ‘Forget about it.’

‘Jessie,’ Jack said in that slightly husky way that seemed to make her do whatever it was he wanted her to do.

‘Promise you’ll
try
not to get angry then?’ she said, imploring him with her eyes.

‘Deal.’

‘This is going to sound silly, but ever since we arrived in Hong Kong, I’ve had this feeling. Like I’m being followed. I haven’t seen anyone specifically, but like I said, it’s just a feeling that I’ve been watched a couple of times.’

‘Why didn’t you tell the police this morning?’ Jack asked plainly. He didn’t look happy. Not angry, but he was definitely not happy Jack.

‘I forgot,’ Jessie replied lamely, unable to meet his eye.

‘How many times do you think you’ve been followed?’

‘Only a few, and it was most probably nothing,’ Jessie justified quickly. ‘Just my imagination playing tricks in unfamiliar surroundings.’

‘If it happens again, you call me immediately, you understand? I’m not joking.’

‘Yes, boss,’ Jessie replied.

‘And I still think you should tell the police you think you’ve been followed,’ Jack added, fixing her with a serious look.

‘I’ll phone PC Cheung in the morning,’ Jessie said easily, more to keep the peace than because she actually wanted to.

‘Good,’ Jack said, seemingly satisfied. He took a good glug of his beer.

‘You’re doing so well here,’ Jessie complimented him as she scanned around the spotless bar, keen to change the subject. ‘It looks to me like you’ve got everything running like clockwork.’

‘So far, so good,’ Jack replied, smiling at her. ‘I’m enjoying things. It’s good to be doing something again.’

One of the bar staff approached. ‘Hi Jack, sorry to interrupt you,’ the young woman said, smiling sweetly at Jack as she sidled over. She was pretty and petite with a bobbed haircut, which just seemed to enhance her doll-like features.

‘Hi Candy. No problem. Candy, this is Jessie, Jessie, this is Candy,’ Jack introduced. ‘What’s up?’

‘Is it okay if I start an hour later tomorrow? I have an appointment,’ she said, giving him some seriously good puppy dog eyes and pouty lips.

‘Let me see…’ Jack began. He pulled out his phone and opened up a calendar displaying his staff roster. ‘Could you make it a half hour later instead of an hour? It would be really helpful if you could,’ he said, giving her a smile.

‘Oh, sure Jack, that’s no problem. Thank you.’ She beamed at him like he’d just given her a humongous pay rise.

‘How did you do that?’ Jessie asked, her eyes wide.

‘What?’ Jack replied innocently.

‘Get your own way. Just like that,’ Jessie elaborated, snapping her fingers in his face.

‘Ah, that’ll be the legendary Davenport charm.’

‘Hmm,’ Jessie said. ‘I think she likes you. Do all your staff flirt with you like that?’

‘Flirt?’ Jack replied. ‘They’re just being nice.’

‘Seriously, buddy, they’re flirting with you because they fancy the pants off you. I bet none of them have ever said no to anything you’ve asked them to do. Ever,’ Jessie said mildly.

‘Are you jealous?’ he asked cheekily.

‘What? Of not being able to say no to you? Hardly,’ Jessie scoffed. ‘What they think and feel about you is their business and nothing to do with me.’

‘But you can’t say no to me,’ Jack said confidently.

‘I can, and I have. On more than one occasion,’ Jessie returned defiantly, sipping her wine. ‘It’s just like they’re all under some spell or something,’ she added, slightly sulkily, as she clocked another member of the bar staff flashing Jack a smile and a hint of cleavage.

‘Trust me when I say you won’t be saying no to me tonight,’ he said in a suggestive voice and wearing an impish grin.

‘You sound rather sure of yourself,’ Jessie said, returning his smile. ‘Sounds like a challenge.’

‘Oh, and just for the record, the only person I care about fancying the pants off me, is you,’ he whispered into her ear, and he tugged her off her stool and out the door.

The next day was officially ‘TV day’ at the bank, and Jessie trotted into the office feeling well rested and with a spring in her step. She had woken up super-early, excited about the day ahead, and had selected an olive green shift dress and statement necklace that she felt were television-appropriate. It was amazing what a good night’s sleep and an absence of nasty notes in the post had done for her. And Jack, of course. She felt revitalised, as though she had more energy than she’d had in years.

Life was going much better after her few initial wobbles here. The truth was, she couldn’t be happier with Jack, and she’d even started to find her feet in her job now she’d accepted her new role. In a bid to impress Rachel, she had started a side project of her own, focusing on a group of shell companies and how their profits and longer-term growth plans would likely be impacted by the financial liberalising measures that were being gradually introduced by the Chinese government. The work was topical, and being conducted from an original angle. Jessie was still compiling her statistics and developing her analysis, but she hoped that when she was done, Rachel would be suitably roused to give her something more substantial to work on going forward—not just report updates and amendments. Maybe she would even be able to publish her work independently, or submit it to one of the journals.