Shawn and I walked toward the elevator. Once we were inside, I asked, “Was she acting weird?”
He thought for a moment. “I was barely there, so I didn’t get a good read on her. Why?”
I shrugged. “She was stammering.”
“Maybe she just has a stutter or is nervous around cops?”
“Maybe.” I wasn’t sure if she was acting weird or not. Being close to the case was fucking with me. That was why police officers didn’t work personal cases, but I had to work this case.
Shawn and I parted ways when we got outside. He went to find Heather’s current class, and I went to walk Reagan to Officer Chase’s car. If I could, I would go with her every day.
A few steps from the classroom, I saw April leaning against the wall, waiting. April was dressed to go to class with Reagan and make it look less conspicuous, more like a friend or classmate of Reagan’s. She gave a small wave.
“Hey,” I greeted.
“Find anything?”
I shrugged slightly. “Will’s doing his thing now. Anything here?”
“No. It’s been quiet.”
“Good.”
April turned to me, leaning a shoulder against the wall. “I’ve been thinking. Do you think this is personal?”
I thought for a moment. “Against Reagan or me?”
“Either.”
The problem with her question was that I hadn’t technically known Reagan long enough to know if she’d done anything to piss someone off. I was a good judge of character, and I didn’t think Reagan would have done anything to anyone, but it could be anyone who had some sort of jealous vendetta against her.
“It has to be someone who knows her,” I replied. “They gave her that fucking plaque with her name on it.”
“Could still be a stranger,” April stated.
“Why do you think that?”
“Think about all the places you say your name out loud: coffee shops, fast food places, there’s a sign-up sheet at a bank if you want to meet with a banker, and even some nail salons make you sign in.”
“So, you think they overheard Reagan’s name or saw her write it and are just fucking with us since I’m on the cases?”
“Could be.” She shrugged slightly. “Someone could know that you’d be the one on the case. This school is in your jurisdiction, is it not?” she asked, waving her arm slightly to indicate the school we were standing in. I nodded, not liking where she was going. “Maybe someone is taunting you because they have something against you.”
April’s theory slowly sank in. Was Jessica behind this? Was it her way to get full custody of our kids? I would lose everything if she were successful, killing Reagan and getting custody of my boys.
But Amy’s murder was the night after Reagan and I reconnected, before we were even a couple again. Jessica didn’t know about her at the time. Then again, if she had someone tailing me, trying to come up with some sort of dirt on me, then she would know that Reagan was someone special to me. Even that first night at Judy’s, we’d left together, and she’d spent the night at my place. Was killing Amy some sort of way to pin the connection on me? To prove that my job was dangerous to my family? I wasn’t sure the timeline added up, but it was a theory.
“I hope you’re not right,” I finally said.
“Me too, but my aunt used to be a cop in Florida, and she’s paranoid as fuck. Now that I’m on the force, I understand where she’s coming from.”
Except if April was correct, it would be more than a criminal wanting to get back at me for sending them to jail. The boys would lose their mother because she would go to prison.
“You’re going to make a good detective one day,” I stated.
April grinned. “You think so?”
I smiled back. “Yes. You’re thinking outside of the box, and that’s good.”
“Thanks, Sarge.” She was still grinning.
Reagan’s class was dismissed. Her gaze met mine, and she smirked when she walked out the door. My heart clenched. Every second for the past three days, I’d been thinking the fucking worst—and now even more so, given my conversation with April. If the killer wasn’t connected to Jess, why would he place the plaque in Amy’s and Daisy’s home before killing them as he had with Reagan? Wouldn’t that be suspicious? I didn’t think that was the case.
Another thought came to me. If he was, in fact, watching Reagan—us—through her webcam, did he know everything I’d done on the case since I’d worked on it a few nights over the last month? Fuck. That might be why the killer was always one step ahead of us. But, did it mean that Reagan was or wasn’t a target? Was it possible he was only fucking with me, and Jess was behind it? But then, how did he get Reagan’s IP address to connect it to me? Was it random and they stumbled upon us? Did they not watch her while I was there?
I had too many fucking questions.
“Buttercup.” I kissed her lips softly when she walked up to me. I was trying to act normal—as normal as I could be. “How was class?”
“Good.” All three of us started to head out. “How was whatever you were doing?” I gave her a sideways look. “I know,” she sighed. “You can’t tell me.”
We continued walking to the exit. I stopped just outside the doors causing Reagan and April to stop too. “April, can you give us a minute?”
“Sure.” She smiled and walked a few feet away out of earshot.
“Everything okay?” Reagan asked.
“I wanted to tell you that I’m not sure what time I’ll be home tonight.”
“I understand.”
“It’s not just because of the case. I’m going to stop by Jessica’s.”
Her emerald eyes widened. “You are?”
“It’s Wednesday.”
“But the protection order.”
I rolled my eyes. “No paper is going to keep me from my boys.” Especially now that I had new suspicions that Jessica might be behind everything. I didn’t know how she had gained access to Reagan’s place, how she knew where she lived, or anything, and that was why I needed to talk to her face to face. I needed to read her. I’d know if she was lying or hiding anything because I had been married to her for almost ten years.
“Can’t you go to jail or something?”
“That won’t happen.”
“Are you sure?”
“Just—trust me.”
“Okay.” She gave a small smile. “Who’s my detail tonight?”
“Braeden.”
“Officer Belt’s wife isn’t going to be happy.”
I grinned. I was sure she and Jessica had a great conversation at school drop-off about Braeden’s time with Reagan. “No, she probably won’t.”
Reagan and April left, and I waited for Shawn outside the doors to the administration building again. I didn’t have to wait long before he walked around the corner. “Well?”
“Heather said she packed the plaque and Amy’s mom took it when they boxed up all of Amy’s belongings.”
“Did you get an address?”
He nodded. “I did, but she lives in Washington.”
“Shit,” I groaned. I didn’t have the file in front of me, and we were talking about something we’d searched a month beforehand, so I’d forgotten.
“Yeah, and Heather said she never saw the plaque until she was boxing up Amy’s stuff.”
“So, he leaves the plaque after he kills them?”
“He has to be.”
“That makes no sense when it comes to Reagan.” I wasn’t going to tell him about my conversation with April. It wasn’t because I wanted to hide anything from my partner; I trusted him with my life. But if Jessica was behind everything, I wanted to know for sure before I did tell Shawn.
“I know. I’m going to call Amy’s mom and see if she’ll mail it to us. Then we can dust it for prints.” The chain of custody had been broken, given that the crime scene had been released, and Heather had gone back home to pack up and move.
“And have her check fo
r a number on the back,” I reminded him. Wooden objects weren’t the best to get fingerprints from, but at this point, since we had nothing, I wanted to see if we could recover anything that wasn’t Heather’s or Amy’s parents’ DNA.
“Yeah, I’ll try her now.”
I bobbed my head in agreement. “I’m going to go down and see what Will has found.”
“I’ll meet you down there.”
When I got down to the basement, the receptionist looked up from her computer and smiled. “Detective Valor, you’re back.”
“Sergeant Valor,” I corrected.
“Oh, sorry.”
I opened my mouth to ask her how long she’d worked in the IT department, but my phone started to ring inside the pocket of my suit jacket. I pulled it out and saw it was my father calling. I turned and walked to stand next to the elevator. “Hey.”
“Son.”
“What’s up?”
“When were you going to tell me that Jessica has a restraining order against you?”
“It’s a protective order,” I clarified. As though that was better. I’d called my mother to tell her that we weren’t coming for our monthly dinner and explained why, so of course, she’d told my father. I wasn’t trying to keep it from him; I just had a lot on my mind given the circumstances.
“Ethan!” he scolded.
“I’m handling it, Dad.”
“How?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “It’s connected to the …” I hesitated, then lowered my voice because I wasn’t that far away from the receptionist. “Remember how I told you someone broke into Reagan’s place, and that was why I asked you to change the locks?”
“Yeah.”
“We have evidence that the break-in is connected to the murders I’m investigating.”
There was a brief pause. “There’s a serial killer in Chicago?”
“Yeah.” I sighed. The elevator dinged, and Shawn stepped out. “I can’t talk about this right now.”
“I don’t like this.”
“And you think I do?” Shawn furrowed his brows, and I held up a finger.
“I’ll go talk to her.”
“No!” I shouted and then lowered my voice again. “I plan to talk to her tonight.”
“But she has a protective order against you. You can’t go talk to her even if you’re the cop on the case. You can go to jail for violating the judge’s order.”
“Yeah, I know, but I have to do something.”
“Let me go talk to her. The boys can still come over for dinner. It’s not good for them to change their routine.”
“I know it’s not.”
“I’ll deal with her.”
“No. Just let me handle it.” I watched Will walk up to the reception desk. “I have to go.”
“I’m dealing with this,” he repeated.
“Dad,” I groaned.
“Come by my house when you call it a night. I’ll tell you what happened.”
I felt as though we would go around and around, and I really had no time to try to talk him out of going. He knew the life of a police officer, and when Jessica told him she knew—that she was behind it—I hoped my father would have my back. I hoped his police senses would spike and he’d get to the bottom of it.
“Fine. Ask her everything.”
“Everything?”
“Everything,” I said again, hoping he’d get the hint. “I really need to go.”
“Okay. Goodbye.”
I sighed and stuck my phone back into my pocket as I moved toward Will and Shawn. “Well?”
“Still running a few scans, but so far nothing,” Will answered.
“Not even that malware shit?” I asked.
“No. I didn’t find it.”
Well, fuck.
My heart was beating fast as I sat in my truck outside of the house that I’d fucking paid for. My dad was inside, and I was two seconds away from going in too. The plan was to let him go in and talk to her, and I prayed he would find out if Jess was behind this shit without me telling him anything about the case or my suspicions. However, I couldn’t sit back and hope Dad got my signals, so I’d stopped him before he could go inside.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he’d stated as I got out of my truck.
He was on his way to the front door, and I’d made it in time to speak with him before he could talk to Jessica. After Will informed us that he had gotten nothing from the computers, I left, knowing my dad was more than likely on his way to talk to Jess. I was right.
“I need to tell you something before you go inside.”
“What is it?”
“Get in the truck.” I’d motioned for him to get in on the passenger side. After he got into the cab, I drove away from the house, not wanting Jessica to come outside.
“What’s going on?”
“Let me park,” I’d said. A few moments later, I pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store down the street.
“I don’t care if she’s your ex-wife—”
“That’s not it.” I’d parked and cut the engine and sighed before speaking. “I told you earlier that the protection order is connected to the cases I’m working, but I also think Jess might be behind the murders.”
“What?” Dad had shouted. I’d told him everything. He was no longer on the force, but he was a damn good cop, and if anything, he could help me. I needed his help, given I had to stay five hundred feet away from Jessica, and I didn’t want to tell Shawn until I knew for sure.
Dad was silent for a few moments, but then he took a deep breath before responding, “For the sake of those boys, you better hope she’s not behind this.”
We came up with a plan for him to question Jessica without her knowing we had our suspicions.
“What about my boys? How can I let her keep them if she’s behind this?”
“That will never happen,” he’d stated. “I’ll find out, and if I think she’s behind it, I will take them to my house, and you can call it in to bring her to the station for further questioning.”
“Thank you.”
I’d driven Dad back to the house, and while he was inside, I had to restrain myself numerous times so Jess didn’t know I was outside and breaking the protection order. I didn’t know what would make me feel better: Dad coming out with my sons or coming out without them. Either way wasn’t good for me. I already missed my boys. I couldn’t imagine not seeing them for two or more weeks, but I also couldn’t imagine Jessica going to prison and them only seeing her in shackles.
Finally, after the sun had gone down and an hour or so had passed, Dad walked out of the front door. Alone.
Fuck.
Dad got into the passenger seat of my truck, and I turned slightly to face him.
“Well?”
He shut the door. “She knows nothing.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I treated it like an interrogation. She didn’t crack.”
“She’s a manipulative bitch, Dad. She could have fooled you.”
He shook his head just as the doom light shut off, and we were left in only the glow of the streetlight. “I know she is, but I don’t think she’s behind the killings.”
“How can you be sure?”
Dad thought for a moment. “I can’t, but if you want to call Shawn to arrest her, go for it. It’s on you.”
“I don’t want to lose my kids,” I admitted.
He grabbed my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “You won’t. You’re a decorated officer. Go with your gut.”
“I have to wait two weeks to fight this,” I reminded him.
“I know it’s going to be tough but take those two weeks and solve this shit. No matter who the killer is, you’ll get your boys back once the case is over. If you can’t solve this before your hearing, a judge will do the right thing.”
After thanking my dad—who also said that the boys were spending the night at their place Friday night—I left before Jessica got her panties in a bunch and
tried to say I was violating the protective order. I went to the station, surrendered my service weapon, and then drove home.
When I walked in through the door of my condo, Reagan was sitting on one end of the couch and Braeden on the other end. The TV was on, but I paid no attention. I just wanted to be alone with Reagan.
“Valor,” Braeden greeted.
“Hey,” I replied, throwing my keys onto the table by the door.
“I thought you were going to be late?” Reagan asked.
Braeden stood, and I moved to give Reagan a quick kiss. “Wanted to rush home to you, Buttercup.”
“And that’s my cue,” Braeden stated. “See you tomorrow, Reagan.”
“Have a good night,” she replied.
After seeing Braeden out and locking the door behind him, I sat on the couch next to Reagan. “Did you go to Jessica’s?” she asked.
I sighed and tipped back my head onto the back of the couch and closed my eyes. “Yes, but I didn’t speak to her.”
“What happened?”
I wanted to tell her my suspicions about Jessica but then thought better of it. My gut was telling me Jess wasn’t behind the murders. I trusted my father, and I had to trust his judgment. “My dad talked to her for me. Worked it out so the boys will spend the night at their place on Friday.”
“So, you’ll get to see them?”
I shook my head, not raising it from the back of the couch. “No. The protective order is for them too. If Jess heard that I showed up, she’d have me arrested.”
Reagan moved closer and rested her head on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”
I took a long, deep breath. “Me too.”
“Do you think you’ll solve this before Thanksgiving?”
I finally looked at her. “Thanksgiving?”
“Yeah. Thanksgiving is in three weeks.”
“I sure fucking hope so.”
I wasn’t nervous when I saw Detective—no, Sergeant Valor and his partner walk into the IT department. I was in my office, with the door open. I knew he and the other detective would be by eventually because my process wasn’t foolproof. But I knew how to cover my tracks, and it was only a matter of time before they’d find the malware program I’d created and then put onto each computer via the link each student and staff clicked on when they needed to create their Lakeshore U profile. I also knew that they’d realize all three ladies were students too.
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