Soul Possession(41)

A soft moan escaped before she could call it back.

“I’ll get the nurse,” Rick said grimly.

“No,” Jessie said, catching at his arm as he turned to go. “Not yet. Please. I need to…I need to say this before…” Her breath huffed out, and she briefly closed her eyes as she fought a fresh surge of pain.

“Shhh,” Truitt said as he stroked his palm over her forehead.

Rick turned back, his brows drawn in concern.

“I didn’t say it,” she said. “I asked a question, but I didn’t say it. I want to say it. I love you both.”

Rick’s dark eyes warmed until she felt some of the pain melt away under his gaze. Truitt’s hand stilled on her head, and she glanced over to see joy unfurling in his eyes. Rick took the step back to her bed and bent over to brush his lips over hers.

“I love you too, Jessie. Now will you let me call the nurse?”

“That stuff she gives me makes me go to sleep.”

Truitt’s smile warmed her to her toes. “That’s okay, baby. We’ll be there when you wake up to tell you we love you all over again.”

Chapter 19

SIX MONTHS LATER

Why wouldn’t she let us take her to her therapy session today?” Truitt grumbled.

He leaned back in his chair and checked his watch. She should be about half done by now and he was itching to get down there to pick her up.

Rick scowled. “I don’t know. She wouldn’t even let us take her in. Or even let us drop her off at the door so she didn’t have to walk so far from the parking lot with her cane. What the hell was that about?”

“Maybe we’re getting on her nerves,” Truitt muttered. “Are we too overbearing?”

Before Rick could answer, Bull stuck his head in the door of Truitt’s office.

“Hey guys, I heard Jessie had her last therapy session today. How’s she doing?”

“We wouldn’t know,” Rick said sourly. “We weren’t allowed to go with her.”

“Well tell her we’re all rooting for her.”

“Will do,” Truitt said and waved as Bull withdrew.

The last six months had been long, hard months for Jessie but at the same time they’d been happy months of discovery as they charted the waters of a new and nontraditional relationship between the three of them.

The media had picked up on Jessie’s amazing story of survival, and within days, a fund had been set up to help her with the cost of recovery and her eventual knee-replacement surgery.

The local university had even given her a scholarship to complete her degree and she’d taken online classes, but she planned to attend regular classes next semester.

But the best part had simply been that they were together. Jessie had come home from the hospital to Truitt’s house, and there she’d stayed. Kirsten had been a constant visitor in those first weeks after Jessie’s surgery, helping when Truitt and Rick had to work.

It hadn’t always been easy. Jessie had nightmares and was in constant pain after her surgery. She had trouble sleeping and when she did, she battled her personal demons.

Through it all Rick and Truitt had been fiercely protective of her and they bullied her mercilessly to take proper care of herself and her knee. When they thought she pushed herself too far, they didn’t hesitate to shut her down. A fact that didn’t always endear them to her.

But every single day with her was a miracle. She was a miracle.

A lot of Kim’s madness was still a mystery. An extensive investigation into her life revealed a bitter woman driven by hatred for other women. Women she considered weak and inferior. The common denominator in all of the women she’d murdered was that they had done a perceived wrong in Kim’s mind. Things that had gone unnoticed in an investigation for their sheer unimportance. But to a woman steeped in insanity? They’d seemed unforgivable sins that Kim had insisted on punishing them for.

They hadn’t been able to trace back a cause or even the point when she’d broken from reality. Her early years on the force had reflected a driven police officer with an unerring sense of justice.

The most likely cause, if there indeed was a driving force behind her madness, was a case she’d worked three years before when a young mother had abused and eventually killed her children only to be released on a technicality. Kim had taken the case very personally and eventually had taken a leave of absence. When she’d returned, she’d been quieter and more focused, but nothing had ever made her fellow officers believe she was anything but a damn good cop.

What had pushed her to torture and hunt innocent women? It was a question that haunted both Rick and Truitt. Maybe they’d never know. All they had was endless speculation and a lot of unanswered questions.

Tied into all of it was Kim’s apparent obsession with Rick, a discovery that had baffled Rick and Truitt both. No one had picked up on her attraction to Rick, but she’d been intensely focused on him, and ironically, Kim had targeted Jessie only because of the apparent wrong she’d done to Rick when it had appeared Jessie had used Rick and Truitt as an alibi.

Jessie had simply been another woman who had committed an unforgivable sin in Kim’s eyes, and Kim had set herself up as judge and executioner.

“Hey man, it’s time. Let’s get out of here,” Rick said as he checked his watch again. “Let’s go get our girl.”