Jolene 2: Cozy Mystery Series Book 2

by Sarina Adem

“Peel out right now? That’d give us away for sure. Duck down.”

  C.C. did so, but as the cruiser approached, its speed decreased. The window rolled down and came to a complete stop by Jacob’s vehicle.

  “Mr. Flannery,” the deputy greeted him.

  Jacob nodded, recognizing the man. “Deputy Pike.”

  Pike’s eyes scrutinized Jacob, his vehicle – the entire moment, Jacob see, as a strange fixture on Highway 101. “What are you doing out here, Mr. Flannery?”

  “Honestly? I keep the old scanner on. Heard some commotion was going down at the Lily’s ranch. You know my girl used to play with C.C. when they were little.”

  Pike nodded. “So you decided this was a moment for sentimentality?”

  Jacob smirked. “No. I guess it’s a mixture of missing the action, and knowing this bit seemed a little too close to home. I just wanted to come out here, but I got to this point and I stopped. Almost drove all the way down there.”

  “Well,” Pike said, “I wouldn’t. Philips and Foster are the only ones down there right now. We think C.C. got away. I’ve got her kids in the backseat and I’m taking to protective services.”

  Jacob believed C.C. knew better than to pop up to see her kids one last time, and he knew even better not to glance down at her to make sure.

  “Why don’t you go on home, Mr. Flannery?”

  Jacob smiled. “I believe I will.”

  Pike tipped his hat and his car began to inch away. Jacob stopped him.

  “Wait, deputy. Is Jolene down there?”

  “No, sir. I’m afraid things have been happening so fast, well, someone should have called you. Apparently, C.C. Lily had Jolene taken hostage. Another hostage helped free her from that situation, but there were casualties. Jolene was supposed to meet us at C.C.’s house, but when she didn’t show, we went after C.C. anyway. Jolene alerted us over the radio about twenty minutes ago letting us know more of C.C.’s men tried to take her out, but she and that other hostage managed to fend them off. She’s currently en route to the hospital.”

  Jacob’s voice quavered only slightly. “Is she hurt?”

  “No, sir. The other hostage is. Maybe you could meet her there if you’re worried.”

  “Certainly. Thank you, Deputy Pike.”

  Pike tipped his hat again and drove off.

  C.C. rose slowly and carefully in her seat. Jacob kept his eyes on the pavement ahead. His hands clung tightly to the steering wheel, his knuckles turning paper white.

  His gun was in the door compartment to his left. He hadn’t really expected to need it until now. His left hand dropped off the steering wheel as he turned to face C.C.

  “You failed to mention a few things,” he said.

  “I’m sorry, Jacob.”

  Jacob found the handle. He knew the next few seconds were pivotal. As stealthily as he could, he raised the pistol. But before it cleared his hip, C.C. said it again.

  “I’m so sorry, Jacob.”

  Then C.C. lifted her own pistol in his face. He stared down the barrel at her.

  “You want the car?” he asked.

  “I do. But we both know you’re not going to give it up.”

  “You tried to kill my Jolene.”

  C.C. sighed. “My father loved you.”

  “He was my best friend.”

  “We don’t have friends in this life, Jacob.”

  C.C. pulled the trigger, but she never heard the blast. Her ears rang from the shot, and Jacob’s blood stained the windshield, the dashboard, and the door. His head plopped back against the open window and hung outside, and somehow his hand still loosely gripped the steering wheel.

  She had to work fast. She took a jacket from Jacob’s backseat and cleaned the blood up as best she could. She opened the driver’s side door and allowed Jacob’s body to fall out on the asphalt.

  And that’s where C.C. left his corpse as she turned around in the road and headed for Folsom.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The ride was silent. Jolene felt the tip of her shotgun in the back of her neck the whole way. When they pulled onto Highway 101, Troy Ellis told her to speed up.

  She did.

  Finally, she said, “You’re a master liar, aren’t you?”

  “I’m paid for a multitude of skills, sheriff.”

  Jolene considered veering off into the trees. That would take them both out, though. No justice in it. Just revenge. She needed to play this smart if she wanted to take Troy and C.C. in. This was the third time in twenty-four hours she had lost the advantage, and she didn’t plan on losing it again.

  “My men will be waiting for us at C.C.’s ranch,” said Jolene.

  “Nope. No, they won’t. That’s not what my man said.”

  “Who’s your man?”

  “He worked for C.C. Apparently, your deputies beat you to the punch and tried to take her out before you got there. She’s gone, and so are they.”

  “But your man is still there?”

  “That’s right.” Troy studied her through the rearview mirror. “I know you’re agitated, and rightfully so. It’s not fair. Nothing about this is fair.”

  “I don’t even know who you are.”

  “You never did, so that’s one less thing to feel bad about.”

  The forest whipped by as the charger blasted down Highway 101. A bump on the road ahead caused Jolene to instinctively slow down. Troy pushed the shotgun harder into Jolene’s skull.

  “Please, sheriff. I’d hate to kill us both.”

  “I think that’s a body.”

  Troy examined the shape of the bump and came to the same conclusion. “Looks like a man. The carnage reached even this far away. Don’t stop.”

  But she did.

  “What are you doing?”

  “That . . . whoever that is, they look familiar.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “I just . . .”

  As they drove by as a snail’s pace, Troy said, “Don’t get out.”

  Jolene obeyed, stretching her neck to see as they passed. And she gasped. Tears swelled beneath her eyelids as she started to hyperventilate.

  “You knew him?” asked Troy.

  “That was my father.” Jolene bit her bottom lip. “Why is my father dead on the road? Was he involved in all this?”

  “No, I mean . . .” Troy appeared flabbergasted. “I never met the man.”

  Jolene did not weep. The shock of seeing her father’s body and the cold shotgun created a moment of clarity rather than a sad reaction.

  “I can’t just leave him there,” she said.

  “You have to. For now,” said Troy. His smug demeanor had vanished. “For what it’s worth, I have no idea how your father is involved in this. And I’m sorry.”

  Jolene nodded, “For what it’s worth, your apology is worth nothing.”

  Soon Jolene’s father was just a blip in the rearview mirror until he disappeared behind the curve. When they pulled into C.C.’s driveway, two deputy vehicles sat in front. Leaning against one was a deputy in uniform.

  Jolene put the car in park. The sight of the deputy gave her pause. She needed to warn him, but how? How could she convey there was a shotgun pointed at the back of her head?

  Troy said, “Take your guns out and put them in the passenger seat.”

  She did what she was told, and when Troy ordered her out of the car, she did that, too.

  Even as Troy stepped out behind her, the shotgun aimed at her back, the deputy remained relaxed against his cruiser.

  “Walk,” said Troy.

  Jolene walked toward the deputy, the stillness of C.C.’s ranch eerie. The deputy watched them, and when they came close enough, Jolene realized she didn’t recognize him.

  Troy grinned. “How’s it going, Sparkles?”

  The man named Sparkles shook his head and scowled. “That’s not my name.”

  “No,” said Troy, “but it should be. How are we doing this?”

  “Jacques will be here shortly. I
’ve already made the call. We have four minutes.”

  “Have you talked to Tomlin?”

  “No,” said Sparkles. “Figured you’d want to do the honors.”

  “Jolene,” said Troy. “Turn around. Face me.”

  Jolene gulped. This could be it. When she turned around, that shotgun might find its way into her belly. It could tear in her half. At this point, she didn’t really have a choice in the matter, so she turned around.

  “I want to thank you,” said Troy. “You may not realize it, but your men did all the work for us. It was a process that was supposed to go on a little longer, but C.C. kind of nixed that when she decided I was an F.B.I. agent. I went along with it, because if I told her the truth, I was dead anyway. And if I ratted on the guy I really work for, and I managed to escape C.C.’s wrath, I’d be a dead man anyway.”

  Jolene took a deep breath. “Where are my men?”

  “Dead,” said Sparkles. “Only two of them. Identifications said, Garrett Philips and Alma Foster. I showed up just in time to watch a third drive away. I figured the safest place to hide would be here at the ranch since the rest of your department wouldn’t think C.C. might even consider returning here.”

  Jolene’s department seemed to be dwindling by the hour. These were people she knew, that she worked with daily. Torn from this world. Her father, too. So much death in such a small span of time. To say Jolene desired vengeance would be an understatement.

  “Where’s your phone?” Troy asked Sparkles.

  “Here.”

  Sparkles threw Troy the phone. He caught it with his left hand. Swung the shotgun around with his right and blew Sparkles over the hood of the cruiser. Jolene jerked back against the hood of her own car, shielding herself foolishly with her hands as if they might stop a bullet.

  Troy said, “Relax.” Then he dialed a number on the phone. He put the call on speaker and set it on the roof of Jolene’s car. An odd voice answered, saying, “Is it done?”

  Troy said, “It’s done, Mr. Tomlin.”

  “This is Harland’s phone. Why am I talking to you, Casey?”

  The man apparently named Casey but who went by Troy said, “Harland didn’t make it, Mr. Tomlin. The sheriff’s department got him.”

  “Shame,” said Mr. Tomlin. “Last he reported a few hours ago, Harland said you had the sheriff.”

  Jolene remained silent, but she made a mental note about that name. Casey.

  “That’s right,” said Casey. “She’s standing right here in front of me as we speak.”

  “Why is that, Casey? Have you turned on me?”

  “No, sir. I just thought you might want to hear her scream when I kill her. So you know she’s dead and won’t be a problem.”

  Tomlin’s end went quiet. He was waiting.

  Jolene stared into Casey’s eyes, full of hatred for the man who now betrayed her. Strangely enough, he stared back with a vague smirk. Suddenly, the shotgun in his hands lowered toward her feet. Then fired.

  Jolene screamed, but all that hit her was a blizzard of dirt. A small crater created by the blast smoldered a few feet in front of her. Now Casey held a finger up to his lips for her not to say a word.

  “It’s done,” said Casey.

  “Good. Have Jacques bring you back to Kent. Make sure you bring the money.”

  Casey chuckled. “Like I’d forget about it.”

  Tomlin hung up. Casey made sure the phone was off and then he tossed it.

  “Why didn’t you kill me?” asked Jolene.

  “I like you,” said Casey. “I mean, I know you about as well as you know me, but I like you. I am sorry about your father, but now the new big dog of Bluff County thinks you’re dead. So you’ve got two choices. You can stay here and prove to him that I’m a liar.”

  Casey lowered the shotgun and walked over to where Sparkles lay dead on the deputy’s hood, bent down and retrieved the briefcase leaning against the tire. “Or you can come with me.”

  “You think I’ll just go with you to Kent?”

  “I’m not going to Kent. I’m going to have that pilot take me somewhere else. Split the cash with him. Sparkles said there’s enough cash here to retire, so that’s what I’m doing. And Jolene, I’d be honored to have a beautiful woman such as yourself join me.”

  “And you’ll take me where?”

  “Where ever you want to go, sweetheart.”

  “That is sweet,” Jolene said, smiling. “But I’m afraid where ever you go, you’ll just have to fuck yourself.”

  Casey grinned. “I guess that’s a no. And yet I’m still turned on. I admire the fact that you stand by your principles.”

  “Where ever you go, Casey, I’ll find you. You’d be wise to just kill me now.”

  Casey shrugged. “I’ll be out of your jurisdiction, sheriff. But if you do come looking for me, I hope you find me. When you do, I’ll likely be on the beach, and I’ll have a margarita waiting for you.”

  The sound of whirling blades began to roar overhead. A chopper approached above the trees. Casey, with the shotgun trained on Jolene again, stepped toward her. Closer, and closer still.

  He came so close that she thought the fool might actually try to kiss her. Instead, he said, “I’ll be waiting,” then brought the butt of the shotgun hard up against her skull, and all became silent.

  Jolene awoke to sirens. Soon she was surrounded by her deputies, medics, and the coroner. It seemed unreal. Voices echoed, the stretcher wheeled away in slow motion, carrying her friends off to the back of an ambulance. Sparkles was peeled off the hood of that deputy’s car, all the answers she wanted about the man named Troy Ellis, or rather Casey, dead with him.

  They tried to tell her about her father, but Jolene said she already knew. What no one seemed to be able to tell her was why.

  C.C. Lily was gone. Vanished. A ghost. Casey, too, was now an urban legend. The man who didn’t exist.

  Right then and there, Jolene made a private vow to bring those two to justice. C.C. Lily. Casey. Hell, even beyond those two. Add Noah Tomlin to the list. The answers she sought might lie with him. He would definitely be the first place she’d start.

  As she sat on the hood of her car while a medic tended to the gash on the side of her head, a man in a black suit approached her. He had a peculiar smirk on his face, and said, “Sheriff Jolene Flannery?”

  “Yes?”

  “You alright? Looks like your man left you for dead.”

  “My man?” Jolene came off the hood and stood toe-to-toe with this creep. “The man who left me for dead was not mine. But he will be, once I get a pair of cuffs on him.”

  “Sure,” said the suit. “Guess he played you, too. Had no idea he was working for Noah Tomlin? Well, Tomlin and Lily both are my enemies. Ever hear that saying the enemy of my enemy is my friend?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  The suit grinned. “I’m saying maybe you can help me take down Tomlin since he just put your boss out of business.”

  “My boss –? I am the sheriff of Bluff County. Who the hell are you?”

  “Jolene Flannery,” said the suit, producing an I.D. with a badge and a pair of handcuffs, “I am Agent Gary Lasher of the F.B.I., and for aiding and abetting C.C. Lily in her cocaine distribution throughout Bluff County, you’re under arrest.