Dream Catcher

Chapter 27

Roberto's voice vibrated in Jax's ear, "Loretta Palmer was the victim before Remy Kress. That means—"

"Can we get a warrant?" Jax asked. "We can't prove that shirt came from his apartment."

"Well here's the thing...Derek Bombay already gave us permission to search his apartment," Roberto reminded him.

"Get the warrant, Montoya. We don't want to screw this up on a technicality."

"Fine, but it'll take some finagling. Right now we're also looking at Bombay and Gearson as suspects."

Jax looked at Dani who clearly wanted to know what was going on by the eager expression on her face. He nodded, "Yeah. Look into the both of them."

"Got it. Once you get your girl settled, meet me at the station, alright?"

"Understood."

Dani leaned forward, "Well? What did he say?"

"They found a match for the blood on the shirt."

"Was it Billy's?"

Jax shook his head, "It belonged to a victim of the Maestro."

"Oh my— so it's Derek!" Dani covered her mouth and looked around to make sure she hadn't gotten anyone's attention before lowering her voice, "It has to be him. It makes total sense. He probably hurt Billy too. It's all starting to make sense now."

"Dani, you can't make wild guesses like that. Besides, Billy is also a suspect."

Dani frowned, "What are you talking about? Billy...Billy can't possibly be a suspect. He's too nice and he's my friend."

"Even so...we can't overlook the fact that the shirt could've been his."

"He's not the Maestro. I saw his nightmare, remember? He was hurt," Dani reminded him.

"Are you sure it was his dream? I have dreams all the time. Half the time, they don't make any sense. Just yesterday I had a dream about a hippo wearing a tutu dancing to the Nutcracker. Made no sense whatsoever."

"Billy wouldn't want to hurt me. I just know it."

Jax turned his head away from Dani. He understood what it felt like to want the person you cared about most to be innocent. Unfortunately, things just didn't always work out that way.

Later that evening, Tammy Owens sat in her apartment, staring at the text message she had received earlier. It was a warning from her boyfriend not to call him.

"Does this mean we've broken up?" she gave a pathetic laugh that filled her with self-loathing.

Despite the warning, she pressed the number that automatically called him.

"Did you not get my text?"

No hello. No apologies. No sympathy.

"Are we breaking up?" Tammy asked.

She waited a few beats for him to answer. When he didn't, she asked again, "Are you breaking up with me?"

His sigh on the other line made her feel worse.

"Answer me," she said, desperation creeping out of her mouth.

"No."

Tammy felt a quick wave of relief ride through her.

"How can we break up when we never dated? I told you once. I'm telling you again. You were a mistake," his voice was void of emotion which made her feel worse. His indifference stabbed her heart worse than his rejection ever could.

"How can you say that? Knowing that I'm—"

"Don't start with the pregnancy bit. I told you that I don't care about some bastard kid of yours."

"Ba-bastard kid? How can you say that when he's yours?"

He sighed again, "Are you done?"

"No, I'm not done. Why are you doing this? I deserve an explanation?"

"Is that so? What makes you think you deserve anything more from me than what I've already given you? Didn't I warn you? If you're looking for a knight in shining armor to take you away and put you in a castle with a white picket fence, then look somewhere else. If you don't want the abortion, I won't stop you. Just don't expect to tie me down with it."

"Your parents might want a grandchild."

Tammy bit her bottom lip when he began to laugh.

"Grandchild? Maybe they would if I was married to a proper woman but that won't happen and even if I did eventually get married...it wouldn't be to you. It couldn't be."

"Why not?"

"I've told you. My parents keep a clean house. They don't want trash in their home. They've told me time and time again. Listen, I've got to go. Do me a favor and lose my number."

"Wait!"

"What?" his voice was impatient, angry.

"I...I just want you to know that I love you."

"You love me?" he didn't bother to hide his contempt.

"Yes. I...I love you. Everything about you. How you come across as arrogant because you're really confident in yourself. I love how you always tap your fingers to the beat of a song you hear when you think no one is watching. You're special to me."

"I'm special to you? Is this a joke?"

"No, of course not," Tammy said.

"You really are delusional. You know that? How is it that you can turn a one night stand into a drawn out relationship?"

"One night stand?"

"What else did you think it was?" he asked, exasperated. "We met at a club. I was bored. I never would've talked to you again if you hadn't used my phone to call yours and get my number."

"Stop it—"

"Even though I told you I was in a relationship, you kept pestering me and I talked to you but it's been a nuisance for me. People like you don't understand. We aren't meant to be. I can't stand clingy women. Please...just stop already."

"Are you sure you won't regret this?" Tammy asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"I'm positive. Probably more positive than I've ever been in my life."

"You'll regret this."

"I don't think so. A child? Family? They don't mean anything to me. They can both be easily discarded at any moment. I learned that firsthand."

"What do you—" Tammy's shoulders sagged as she heard the quick melody that told her Derek had hung up.

She placed a hand on her stomach and sighed. Raising a child alone would be difficult. She didn't think she'd be able to have an abortion and live with herself. A persistent thought nagged her to find out why Derek felt a family could be easily thrown away. What had he meant when he said he learned that firsthand? One thing was certain. Tammy wasn't ready to give up on Derek just yet. Even if it killed her, she wanted to know what secrets he carried to make him despise the idea of having a child.