by Karen Singer
“Because one of the killers on the island said that just before he died today.”
“He did?”
“Yes.”
Jenni tried to think about that. “Gee,” she finally said. “So what’s that mean?”
“You tell me?”
“How should I know?”
“Because you still seem to know more than anyone else.”
“I don’t know anything! I’m just guessing at everything.”
Pierce nodded. Guessing at everything was much the same way he worked…and every other detective that he knew. “What it means to me,” he said, “is that one of the possible things we should be watching out for, could be terrorist cells from the middle east.”
Jenni did a slow exaggerated blink. “Terrorists?”
Pierce shrugged. “We have to be watchful. They’re out there.”
Jenni was still too much in shock to react. And then a tiny question slipped into her mind. “What was on that hard drive?”
“I don’t know. It’s not my case. But I can tell you that the FBI is involved. And if they’re into it, then most likely, it has something to do with the government.”
Jenni took that in, then asked, “but what has it got to do with me? I don’t even know what was on that thing. I only guessed that it was some kind of industrial espionage.”
“Jenni, your guess is as good as mine right now.”
“So what should I do?”
“Hide…and pray! Now, in your grandfather’s case, what first led you to think that Ashley might have had anything to do with it? Was it just that one posting you found on the internet?”
His change of subject came as a surprise to her. “No. There were a few things. For one, opportunity. She had been at the bar, but her father had sent her back to her room after a little while. But then she was back again to tell everyone about the murder. I don’t remember seeing her anywhere near Grandpa’s body, and I was right there the whole time. I even took tons of pictures of it.”
“You did?”
“Uh…”
“You did?” Pierce insisted.
“Kind of. I sent them to Mr. B so he could see them.”
Pierce realized he should have figured she would do that. If the case wasn’t solved already, he would get her phone and all those pictures too. As it was, they now meant nothing. “So tell me about how all this happened, right from when you first knew about the trip your grandmother wanted everyone to make. Tell me about…all of it.”
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
It had to be about the most frightening and depressing place Sally could imagine. And the sight of them bringing her mother in to talk to her was enough to make her sick. That was her mother – in chains! There were chains connecting her ankles, with a chain leading up to another chain around her waist. Even the chains holding her hands in front of her were chained to her waist. Sally couldn’t help herself. She started crying as her mother was led into the room and the officers sat her down at the table. The chains on her hands were cuffed to a strong metal bar on the table.
Sally watched it all. Every little thing caused her nothing but more distress. As the officer walked out, she couldn’t hold it back anymore. “Oh Mom. What have they done to you?”
“They?” Judith replied. “What do you mean they? The only one to blame is that damn Kyle! He’s the one who’s responsible for the treatment they’re giving me. He’s the one who deserves all this. Not me!
“But Mom. Jenni didn’t…”
“He’s the one who went and accused me and Ashley of that murder, right in front of the damn police no less! So this is all his fault! You mark my words, Sally. I’m going to get back at him for that. I’ve already got my lawyers looking into it. I’ve hired the best team of lawyers for Ashley and me that money can buy. They’re going to get me and Ashley off, and we’re going to put Kyle behind bars here where he belongs!”
Sally was horrified. Her mother was nuts! “But Mom. You and Ashley killed dad, not Jenni.”
“My lawyers told me not to talk anymore about that. They told me not to say one damn word about it to anyone! But they didn’t say I couldn’t tell everyone about me having them go after Kyle. They didn’t say one word about that at all!”
“But Mom. Jenni’s not to blame!”
“She sure as hell is. If it wasn’t for her, I’d be off enjoying my seventy-fifth birthday instead of rotting away where I can’t even see the sun. He’s going to pay for that. And he’s going to pay dearly. As much as my money can make him pay!”
Sally was sick. What had her mother done now?
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
It had taken Jenni quite a while to tell Pierce everything she knew. At least he had been nice about the whole thing. He had asked a lot of questions, but eventually they had gotten through it all. And now she was following him down, deeper into the police station…or under the police station. Down to where he said he’d let her talk briefly with Ashley.
He led her into a small dingy room. There was a table there with a big U-shaped bolt sticking out of it. A few chairs were scattered around the room. Otherwise the room was empty. Jenni sat and waited. It was quite a while before the door opened again. She stood up in shock at the sight of Ashley, in an orange jumpsuit, all bound up in chains. “Ash!” she breathed in disbelief.
Ashley stopped in the doorway. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to talk to you. See how you’re doing?”
“How do you think?” Ashley said nastily, still standing in the doorway. The officer with her tried to prod her forward. “No!” she said. “I don’t want to talk to her. She’s the whole reason I’m here in the first place.”
“But Ash!” Jenni said. “I just wanted to tell you how sorry…”
“I don’t care!” Ashley interrupted her. “Get lost! Get out of here! I could kill you too for what you did.”
“But Ash!”
Ashley quickly turned around. “Get me out of here,” she said to the guard.
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
“Does Jenni like pizza?” Pierce asked while he and Sally waited for Jenni to come back from talking with Ashley.
Sally raised her eyebrows. “Are you asking her out on a date?”
“Uh…no. Not my intention. Besides she’s…not my type.”
“Then why did you ask.”
“Because…. Hell! I was going to ask you next. I was just trying to be polite.”
Sally smiled for the first time since she had seen her mother. “Yeah,” she replied. “We both like pizza, and I’m famished. I haven’t eaten much of anything all day today. Jenni either.”
“Good!” Pierce replied. “We’ll stop at a place I know for dinner before we go to the hotel. We’re putting you up someplace local for the night. It’s not much of a place, but there will be several officers there all the time right outside your door. I don’t recommend that you leave the room until I call for you tomorrow.”
“And then we can go home?”
“We’ll see. From what I gather, you could be in almost as much danger there as you probably are here. Maybe more.”
That wasn’t good news for Sally.
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
It certainly looked like a cheap hotel. Once they got into their shared room, the room pretty much confirmed it. Especially after the nice suite Sally had been staying in at the island. But this hotel room came with something that Sally’s last room didn’t have – three police officers staying right outside. After the last few days, Sally wasn’t sure if the policemen made her feel safer or not.
“Ashley wouldn’t even talk to me,” Jenni told her, now that they were finally alone. “She was really angry at me.”
Sally nodded. “Mom was simply crazy,” she told Jenni. “The only thing she wanted to talk about was the fact that she blames you for her and Ashley being in jail, and that she’s having her lawyers go after you instead.”
Jenni was
shocked. “Can she do that?”
Sally shrugged. “She’s got money. Lots of it.”
“But she and Ashley killed Grandpa. All I did was figure it out.”
“I know. But that doesn’t mean that her lawyers won’t try to find some way to get back at you for it.”
“But that makes no sense.”
“It doesn’t to me either. But you know Grandma.”
Jenni sighed. As if she didn’t have enough to worry about. There was no way she was going to mention terrorists around her Aunt Sally. No way!
A few hours later, in the dark of the room, Jenni opened her eyes to see a light glowing from her Aunt Sally’s bed. She raised her head slightly to see what it was. “Who are you texting?” she asked.
“Go back to sleep, Jenni,” Sally replied, never taking her head up from the screen.
“The bartender?”
“Go back to sleep!”
Jenni smiled to herself as she nestled back under the covers. It was hard to imagine her aunt having a boyfriend. What was it like to have a boyfriend…someone who liked you? She dreamed about it. She dreamed about living a life where most everyone liked her, not just the few who tolerated her. She dreamed about being a woman that someone actually loved. She dreamed…she dreamed…she dreamed.
Chapter 16
“Okay,” Pierce said the next morning as she and Sally sat in their rental car. “You’ve got a full tank of gas so you shouldn’t need to stop for anything. All you have to do is stay right behind me. The other police car will follow right behind you. If you have a problem with anything, Jenni has my number. She can call me. Got that?”
“And someone from Gainesville is going to meet us halfway?” Sally asked.
“That’s the plan.”
“Why all the police? Why can’t we just drive home?”
“Not my call,” Pierce explained. “Personally, after yesterday, I think my Captain wants to make sure you both don’t get murdered on our turf.”
“I guess that’s a good thing,” Sally replied.
“Just keep thinking about it that way.”
Two minutes later, the caravan of three cars left the hotel. Sally was a bit annoyed to find that both Pierce and the police car behind her were driving the entire way with their flashing lights on. The lights were more than annoying. She constantly felt like she was supposed to pull over and get a ticket or something, except Pierce had told her he didn’t want her stopping for anything until they got to the halfway point where they would be met by someone from Gainesville. More police Sally guessed.
Jenni couldn’t help but notice how nervous her aunt seemed to be as they reached the highway. She figured a change of subject was in order to get her aunt’s mind off their current situation. And what better subject to move on to than… “So what’s your new boyfriend’s name?”
Sally was jolted a bit by the question. She also felt her face flush a bit. “I don’t have a boyfriend!”
“Uh-huh! And how long were you two texting last night?”
Sally refused to answer, but try as she might, she couldn’t help smiling. They had texted quite a while last night.
“Boyfriend!” Jenni finally laughed when her aunt said nothing. “So Aunt Sally, how long before you think he’ll kiss you?”
Sally knew she was blushing now. “Jenni, he lives down in Islamorada. That’s eight hours away!” But she still couldn’t help but remember the deep kisses she had already shared with him. Their relationship was too far away for it to work, but she knew she would be remembering those kisses for a very long time.
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
“Hey! I heard that the girl you were interested in is supposed to be on her way home today.”
“It’s about time,” Vahram replied. “Where does she live?”
“Not a clue!”
“Well find out!”
“If I can. It’s my day off and I’m not going to go out of my way to do it. It could raise too many suspicions.”
“I don’t care!” Vahram told him. “We need to know!”
“Yeah right! I’ve put my neck on the line enough as it is.”
“And Bijan lost his life…as it is!”
“Not my problem! And I still want my money!”
Vahram was angry. Once again, the policeman had hung up on him. The man was getting to be impossible! Unfortunately, he was still useful. Unfortunately, he was still needed.
He picked up his phone again and called another number. “Pasha. I need you to put your quest to eliminate that private eye on hold for a few days. I have something more important for you to do, and I fear the only way will be to let that man live a little longer.”
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
They exited the highway near Melbourne, Florida. Pierce easily found the large gas station where Philly had told him they were waiting. He didn’t see any obvious police cars, but when he pulled to a stop, he was glad to see Philly standing near his car talking with two other people. With their lights on and the obvious police car bringing up the rear, everyone noticed him.
In Sally’s car, Jenni saw the people too. “Hey!” she exclaimed. “There’s Mr. B. And Shirley’s with him.”
“Where?” Sally asked as she tried to look while still trying to follow Detective Pierce’s car. She didn’t get a chance to look anymore as she took the parking place right next to him. Whew. She was ready for a break. They had been driving a lot faster than she expected for much of the trip. It had been fun and interesting for a while, but after that, the dangerous speeds had started to test her nerves. By the time she got the car parked and turned off, there was a man and woman standing next to her car.
Jenni opened her door quickly. “Mr. B! Shirley! I didn’t expect you to be here.”
“We both decided to come and make sure you were okay,” Robbie Bosch told her.
Jenni ran around the car and gave him a quick hug, then she did the same with Shirley. Only then did she notice her aunt standing next to them. “Aunt Sally, this is my boss, Mr. Bosch and his wife Shirley.”
“I’m very glad to meet you,” Sally said to them. “Until a few days ago, I had no idea who Jenni worked for or even what kind of work she did.”
Robbie turned a surprised look at Jenni. “I never did understand why you wanted to keep that all a secret.”
“I understand…now!” Sally told him. “I certainly didn’t before, but I do now. And maybe Jenni was right…to a point.”
“You’ll have to explain it to me sometime then,” Robbie replied.
They were joined by Philly and Pierce. “Robbie,” Philly said, “this is Detective Pierce. I know you talked a few times on the phone.” The two men shook hands, and quietly sized each other up.
“It sounds like you had some nasty business the last few days,” Robbie said.
“Probably the worst experience of my career…so far. And I don’t think I want to deal with anything much worse.”
“I believe it,” Robbie replied.
“But from what I gather, you’ve been having some problems where you live too.”
“I think that’s a bit of an understatement. I went through some bad stuff while I was on the force, but right now, this feels just as bad as anything I’ve ever been through before.”
Pierce nodded. “Did Philly tell you what one of the killers on the island said as he was dying?”
“Praise Allah.”
“It wasn’t what I wanted to hear just then.”
“No. I expect it wasn’t.”
“Watch your back, Bosch. I have a feeling there’s a great big target on it.”
“I already know that. They’ve tried twice now to kill me. I’d rather not have them try it again.”
Pierce turned towards Jenni. “And her? If it’s the same people you’re playing cat and mouse with up here, and they tried to kill her down there, then this is bigger than we first realized.”
“I have a feeling that Jenni is an even bigger target than
I am.”
“Why?” Jenni asked, still confused and frustrated.
“Heaven only knows, Jenni. But at least now we know about it.”
“So what are we going to do?” Jenni asked.
“We’re still trying to figure that out,” Philly told her.
Pierce glanced around at everyone. “If you’re all good here, then I’m going to head back.” He nodded to Jenni, and nodded toward Sally, focusing his eyes a bit longer on her. “It’s been a hell of a week. Not fun, but interesting. Stay safe.” His eyes went back to Sally. “Both of you stay safe.”
“What’s the plan?” Sally asked, once Pierce and the other police car had departed.
“I was kind of thinking about lunch,” Robbie suggested.
“Works for me,” Philly replied.
“I could certainly use something to eat,” Sally agreed. “But aren’t we supposed to be watching over our shoulders?” Sally asked.
“All the time!” Philly replied.
“But I don’t think we’ll have anything to worry about here,” Robbie added. “Not until we get home.”
“You make it sound like we’d do better not to go home at all.”
“That would be one of the best things you could do,” Philly agreed. “Do you have someplace far away from Gainesville that you can go for a while?”
“Not really.”
“Then we’re stuck with Gainesville…for now,” Philly told her. “There’s a restaurant just up the road. Why don’t we all head there for some lunch.”
Twenty minutes later, the five of them were seated at a table and were waiting for their orders to be delivered. Shirley kept staring at Jenni. She finally felt she had to say something. “Jenni, excuse me for saying this, but you don’t look as good as you usually do.” She was quick to note the look of frustration and trouble on Jenni’s face.
Jenni looked down at the table. She couldn’t look at anyone else. “There’s a reason for that,” she said softly. “The men who came to the island, did more than just try to kill me.”