Page 60 of Finding Carly
“I know. I hate that you have to see any of those assholes. If I had my way, they’d all move off the island so you’d never have to be reminded of that fucker you dated.”
Carly chuckled. “Ditto.”
“Just stay aware of your surroundings at all times,” Jag pleaded. “Just because it’s been months doesn’t mean the danger is gone. I agree that as time goes by, in theory, the threat to you lessens, but I’ve learned the hard way that when someone has hate in their heart, no amount of time is too long for them to act on it. Many times that hate festers inside them until they can’t contain it anymore and they have to do something.”
Carly nodded. “I will,” she reassured him.
She rested her arm on the console and Jag immediately reached for her hand. She closed her eyes once more and sighed. “I needed this. You, holding my hand, being a solid presence next to me.”
“Same,” he agreed.
The rest of the trip to Barbers Point was uneventful, besides the hellish traffic. Jag pulled into the parking lot down the street from Food For All. “Stay put,” he said, as usual. She gave him a small smile and grinned. She knew the routine by now, and he was relieved when she didn’t complain.
Jag got out and checked the immediate area. The parking lot was pretty full, which wasn’t a surprise. This area had gotten more and more popular as small businesses flourished and moved into the empty spaces in the neighborhood.
He gave Theo a chin lift. The formerly homeless man was sitting on the sidewalk across the street. He was in the shadows, tucked between a decorative brick column outside a small Korean restaurant and a sign the owners had placed outside advertising their daily specials. If Jag hadn’t looked right at him, he might’ve missed him.
Theo might have a roof over his head now, thanks to Lexie and Midas, but he still liked to be outside as much as possible. He had also taken it upon himself to be a sort of one-man neighborhood watch patrol. Even though he had some mental difficulties, he was pretty damn observant. He smiled at Jag and waved, but the other man didn’t get up from his spot, obviously too comfortable and content to move.
There were a few people milling around, but no one Jag recognized. He opened Carly’s door and she smiled up at him. Even tired from her long day, with her clothes wrinkled and her hair a mess, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
They walked to the back of his car and he opened his trunk. He grabbed a heavy box filled to the top with dented cans and various other food stuff, and Carly picked up three bags. There was another box in the trunk and a few more bags, so they’d definitely have to make two trips. Carly shut the trunk and they turned to head down the street to the food pantry.
They both stopped in their tracks when they caught sight of the man down the sidewalk.
“Fuck.Again?” Jag murmured.
“Hello,” Gideon Sparks said as he walked toward them.
“What are you doing here?” Carly asked, her voice hard.
Gideon looked surprised. He had on a pair of brown overalls with the zoo logo on a patch on his chest. His brown hair had streaks of white and he was growing a beard, which was new since the last picture Jag had seen of the man. He had quite a belly on him and was around his height.
He stopped a respectful distance from them. “I just brought some food the zoo was going to throw away,” he said. “I tried to bring it to the downtown location, but they were already closed. The sign on the door said this location takes donations until seven o’clock. I read an article in the paper recently about Honolulu’s homeless population and how much food went to waste every day, and had a talk with the kitchen manager at the zoo. He agreed that it would be a good thing to see about donating what we could. And I suddenly found myself in charge of dispersing it.” Gideon smiled slightly and shrugged. “But I feel blessed to have what I do, so it’s not a hardship.”
Jag studied the man and didn’t see any sign of deceit in his expression or his eyes. That didn’t mean he wasn’t up to no good, but at the moment, he seemed to be exactly what he said he was…someone who was doing a good deed.
“You work with the lions, right?” Carly asked.
Jag wanted to tell her not to engage, but it was too late. She was being exactly whoshewas. Or really, who the old Carly was, friendly and outgoing. Even if this was one of her ex’s friends, she was doing her best to move on with her life. He admired her for that, even if it made him uneasy at the same time.
Gideon smiled and put his hands in his pockets. “Yeah. Been there about twenty years now. Started out shoveling shit and now I’m in charge of their health and welfare. It’s my dream job.”
Carly nodded.
“I haven’t had a chance to say this before now, and it might not be the time or place, but I wanted to tell you I’m so sorry about everything that happened. Shawn was my friend, but he was kind of an asshole. I knew that, and I regret not saying anything when he talked shit about you,” Gideon said.
He sounded sincere, but again, Jag didn’t trust him. “The police said Shawn told you and a few others what he’d planned.”
Gideon winced and looked down at the sidewalk. He seemed repentant. “I’m ashamed to say I thought he was just talking shit. You know, how you say you want to kill someone, but don’treallymean it? He was always saying that kind of thing, saying the governor should die, or wishing the person in the car in front of him would crash and get out of his way. He really was a dick. I’m a little embarrassed that I was even his friend.”
“Why were you?” Carly asked softly. “I mean, if he was that awful, why bother coming over every week to hang out?”
Gideon shrugged. “I guess because I was lonely. I’m fifty-two, single, and I spend most of my time with four-legged animals who don’t talk back when I try to have a conversation with them. And maybe just…routine. I’d been playing poker with him for years, and it was just something I did every week. I know it sounds stupid, and you have no idea how much I regret everything that happened.”
Jag continued to study him carefully. The man sounded sincere, but people frequently lied convincingly. He’d seen it time and time again in his line of work.
“I appreciate that,” Carly told him. “If you’ll excuse me, it’s been a very long day and I want to bring this stuff in and get home.”
