Mirror Image

“Hi, Lieutenant. Jenna. Is something wrong?”

Jenna found the strength to look away from Griff and acknowledge Gabby. “Hey, Doc, how are you?” She strove for a carefree tone, when in reality she felt anything but.

She seriously needed distance from Griff. Now.

“I’m fine, but what on earth happened to you?” Gabby reached out to lightly touch Jenna’s aching jaw. “This must hurt.”

“Nothing major, just a little run-in with one of the bad guys,” Jenna replied, sneaking a glance at Griff’s stone face. What was wrong with him? Had he felt the weird attraction that flashed between them, too? No, most likely it was just her overactive imagination working against her. She smiled at Gabby and lifted her hand, still wrapped in the brown paper lunch bag. “We need some evidence and hoped you would sneak us in to get my wounds swabbed.”

“Absolutely. This way,” Gabby said, gesturing for them to follow her through some double doors leading back into the emergency department. “We can use a room in the minor-care area.”

Jenna nodded and followed Gabby into a small exam room. “I caught the perp in the mouth,” she explained as she carefully removed the paper bag. “We’re hoping to get saliva for DNA evidence.”

“Understood,” Gabby said, pulling supplies out of the cabinet located in the corner of the room. “When I’m finished, I’ll wash the wounds out for you, too.”

Jenna grimaced. “I can wash my own hands,” she said, feeling as if the doc was making way too big a deal out of a few scratches that she barely felt compared to her jaw, which continued to throb painfully.

“Thanks. We’d appreciate that,” Griff interjected as if she hadn’t spoken. “The human mouth is full of germs.”

Jenna tried not to roll her eyes at his comment. Griff had hired her almost two years ago and she wanted to believe that he’d made that decision based on her abilities. But sometimes she couldn’t help wondering if she was nothing more than the token female.

Would she ever be taken seriously as a cop? Granted, the guys on the team knew she could shoot, but as far as other tactical situations were concerned, she often felt as if her teammates were trying to protect her.

She sighed and took a seat on the edge of the examining table, waiting patiently as Gabby pulled out the necessary supplies. Swabbing her wounds didn’t take long, and when Gabby had finished, Jenna quickly jumped down to her feet, crossed over to the sink in the room and thrust her hands beneath the stream of water. The antibacterial soap stung on her open cuts, but she ignored the pain while making sure she thoroughly cleansed the wounds.

Getting an infection would only make things worse.

She could tell Griff wasn’t happy, but he didn’t push the issue, either.

“I have a colleague who works at the state lab in Madison,” Gabby said. “I’ll ask him to put a rush on this for you.”

“Great—thanks for your help,” Griff said, as Gabby finished labeling the swab samples. “I owe you one.”

“No problem.” Gabby’s gaze was curious when she glanced at Jenna. “How’s your head? Maybe we should take an X-ray, make sure nothing is broken.”

“I’m fine,” Jenna insisted in a curt tone. “Trust me, I’ve been hit much harder than this.” She turned toward Griff. “Are you ready to get out of here?”

Griff’s fierce scowl didn’t faze her in the least. She didn’t care if he was all tough and growly. He was being ridiculous, and he must have realized that, too, because he finally nodded. “Yeah. Thanks again, Doc,” he said.

“Anytime, Lieutenant.”

Jenna walked out of the ER and headed straight outside, wishing she’d brought her own set of wheels. Griff easily kept pace with her, reaching out to open the passenger-side door for her before she could do it herself.

The gesture was polite, but she couldn’t help spinning around to glare at him. “What is up with you, Lieutenant?” she demanded querulously.

Griff raised his eyebrows, obviously caught off guard by her uncharacteristic spurt of anger. “What are you talking about?”

“This,” she said, waving an impatient hand toward the passenger-side door. “As if you’d do this for Nate, Deck or Isaac.”

The corner of Griff’s mouth twitched as if he found her amusing. “Hate to point this out, Reed, but you’re not Nate, Deck, Isaac or any of the other male deputies who report to me. Now, will you please stop making a big deal out of nothing and get in? We still need to review those mug shots.”

She bit back another retort, knowing she’d only make things worse if she continued to harp on his chivalrous behavior. She slid into the car and buckled the seat belt as she waited for Griff to get in behind the wheel.

To be honest, she shouldn’t take her bad mood out on Griff. Being attacked and then finding the bracelet, so much like her own, had put her on edge. In addition, Griff’s innocent act of opening her door had reminded her of Eric. Eric had seemed like such a nice guy at first, polite, charming. A facade that hadn’t lasted long.

She didn’t know Griff very well, and that was just fine with her, since she obviously couldn’t rely on her instincts when it came to relationships. She knew better than most that men were not to be trusted. Even cops, like Aaron Simms. Far better to keep her distance from the lieutenant. As soon as they’d looked at mug shots, they’d go their separate ways.

Besides, she needed to focus on getting her life back on track. On helping the women at the shelter. On making sure her father didn’t violate the no-contact order that was still in place.

But the first thing on her list was to investigate the bracelet she’d found near her doorstep.

* * *

Griff could feel the tension radiating off Jenna in waves. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel and tried to stay focused, even though the strawberry scent of her shampoo permeated the inside of his SUV.

They were going to look at mug shots. Nothing more. Jenna was a deputy who reported to him. Off-limits in more ways than he could count. Besides, he wasn’t interested in a relationship, not after the way he’d indirectly caused his wife’s death. Granted, he wasn’t the one who’d run a red light, but he had been driving.

He’d supported his wife through law school and had been proud of her when she’d obtained a position at a high-powered law firm doing corporate legal work and family law. Helen had been passionate about her career but innocent in some ways to the seedy side of life. Jenna was tough, edgy, and had a chip on her shoulder the size of Mount Hood. Okay, maybe Jenna had a point about the way he’d instinctively opened doors for her, but she was a woman. His grandmother had ingrained manners into him from the moment he’d gone to live with her at the tender age of eight, after his parents were killed.

When Griff had learned the details of how his parents had operated on the wrong side of the law, he’d made a silent promise to be a cop. To bring people like his parents to justice.

He blew out his breath and concentrated on getting back to the issue at hand. One of his deputies had been brutally assaulted, and he was determined to find out who was holding a grudge against Jenna and why. And how did the bracelet fit in, if at all?

She had a point about the Brookmont scandal. The arrests of the crooked mayor and police chief had rocked the foundation of the entire city. Especially once they’d uncovered the drug running that had been going on for several years right beneath the public’s nose.

“You really think this recent attack on you is related to Brookmont’s former chief of police?” he asked, breaking the silence.

“I think it’s a possibility we can’t afford to ignore,” she said. “It’s a good thing that Nate happens to be down in South Carolina helping to move Melissa’s stuff back here. Maybe he should extend his leave of absence a bit. If they’re coming after me, they’d likely go after him, too.”

“True,” Griff agreed. He slanted a glance at Jenna. “And you’re sure no one is giving you a hard time? What about the new guy, Jake Matthews?”

“He’s fine,” she said with a careless shrug. “Seems to fit in well enough. Better than Simms ever did.”

He lifted a brow at the bitter note. He’d known there was tension between Jenna and Simms, but it was possible that more had transpired between the two of them than he realized. Had Simms made a move on her? Griff clenched his jaw and reminded himself that he preferred to have his deputies handle their interpersonal issues on their own.

Logic that didn’t work well when it came to Jenna.

He turned into the parking lot of the building that housed his office and parked near the entrance. He climbed out from behind the wheel and met Jenna at the door. After unlocking it, he held it open so she could precede him inside.

Jenna led the way to his office and dropped into a chair as he took his familiar seat behind the desk. He booted up his computer and clicked on the file that contained their closed cases.

“Here. Do any of these guys seem like they may have been the one who attacked you?” he asked, turning his computer screen toward her so she could see the faces of their most recent arrests.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, frowning as she peered intently at the mug shots. Each time she shook her head, he flipped to the next page.

After about fifteen photos, she sat back with a sigh. “The last one, Corey Rock, has a similar height and muscular build,” she admitted. “But I don’t see why he’d have a personal grudge against me. If I remember correctly, Isaac was the one who arrested him. I was the spotter up on the building across the street.”

“I’m sure he saw you at trial,” Griff felt compelled to point out. “After all, you were one of the witnesses to his little shooting spree.”