by J. L. Brown
“More than a normal team.”
“Yeah. William has his own army. Disciples. What do you call them?”
“Acolytes?” Micah offered.
“Yeah.”
“How so?” Jade said.
“The guys in the club would do whatever he said. Batshit crazy stuff. Like the SS during the Third Reich. Some of the players really got off on it. If you aren’t in, though, you’re terrified. They can come after you. Your sisters. Your girlfriend. Your mother. Kids rat each other out. After I left the club, I couldn’t eat. Couldn’t sleep. I almost quit the team. And baseball’s my life. You know what’s funny? The guy in the movie? Brad Pitt? His name was Tyler. William hated that Tyler Thompson had the same name. The name William wanted.”
“What about Jenny? Mrs. Thompson?”
Sam’s face reddened, visible even in the dark. “She came on to me. What was I supposed to do?”
“Say ‘no’?” Jade said.
“Easy for you to say. You’re older. You’re smart enough not to be tempted by someone who isn’t good for you.”
Well . . .
Sam explained that Jenny had started texting him. She was upset about losing her son, and needed someone to talk to who knew him.
“Did you know him well?” Jade asked.
“No. But hey . . . ” He smiled, sheepish. “Anyway, tonight was going to be our first night together.”
“And, maybe, your last. On earth.”
Sam stopped smiling.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWELVE
Fairfax, Virginia
Christian sat on a big blue concrete ball, one of three in front of William Randolph Secondary School, which protected the building from someone trying to drive through the main entrance. Jade stood near him scanning the faces of the students as they hurried to their summer-school classes that morning. They had arrived early, but she had a feeling that the person they were waiting for was not an early bird. Her dress shirt stuck to her back, the humidity not taking a day off this summer.
Finally, William Chaney-Frost sauntered toward them. He had alighted from a new BMW M4. He slowed as he saw the agents. He glanced back at his car and back at her, his smile wide. “Agent Harrington! Howie! Nice, huh? Present for my sixteenth birthday.”
She could never afford a car like that on her bureaucrat salary.
“It’s Agent Merritt,” Jade said. “We need to talk to you.”
“Sure.”
Instead of heading inside to the conference room with the little chairs, they led him to a backless steel bench away from the front entrance. She sat next to him. Christian stood beside her, arms crossed over his chest.
“What’s up?” William asked.
“We need to ask you some more questions.”
“I’ve told you everything I know.”
“Not everything,” she said. “Can you remove your sunglasses?”
“No, I’m good.”
“That wasn’t a request.”
He hesitated, then did what he was told.
“Besides Grace and her mother, you were the last person to see Kaylee alive.”
“How do you know that?”
“Did you kill her?”
“Of course not.”
“What was she to you?”
“We were just friends.”
“Just friends?”
“She was dating one of my teammates. I don’t roll like that.”
“But he’s dead.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Why didn’t you come forward about being there?”
William’s head drooped. “I was in shock. I thought you’d think I had something to do with it.”
“Why were you at school?”
“Lifting.”
“Anyone see you?”
“Yeah.” He rattled off some names.
“I had a long talk with Sam Carter last night,” she said.
A tightening of the eyes, but the boy’s facial expression remained cool. “What did he say?”
“That he didn’t bully Tyler. In fact, he said you were involved. Not only that, but you were the boss.”
“He’s lying.”
“He told us something else.”
William remained silent for as long as he could. “What?”
“About the fight club. The batting cages”—she pointed toward the baseball fields in the distance—“where you beat the crap out of each other. About how the teammates who didn’t want to participate were bullied outside the club.”
“We messed around. So what?”
“It looked like more than messing around to me. Sam showed us a video he took with his phone the night he was there.”
“He recorded us?”
Jade nodded.
William swore, but regained his composure quickly. This was one cool kid. “Fighting’s not illegal.”
“Trespassing is.”
“Our coach said . . . ”
“What?”
“He said it was okay. If we used the cages at night to fight.”
Christian stepped forward. “Sam also told us something else. You beat up my son. You and Andrew and Joshua.”
Christian was acting and not well. He hadn’t even been there last night to interview Carter. They had planned the bad cop/good cop routine earlier.
William’s eyes widened. He glanced at her. “Isn’t it a conflict of interest for him to be here?”
Christian inched closer. “Are you a lawyer now?”
“Do you know who my mother is?”
“I don’t care who your mother is.” He removed his badge and his gun and handed them to Jade. “You think you’re tough. You’ve only been fighting boys in your little club. Why don’t you fight a real man?”
William’s eyes bulged. He turned to her, his eyes pleading. “Do something!”
She held up Christian’s gun and badge. “He doesn’t work for me anymore.”
“Hey, man,” William said. “I’m sorry.”
The kid was shaking. Jade reached out and grasped Christian’s wrist. “William, why don’t you tell me everything from the beginning, and Agent Merritt will take a step back and let you.”
Christian hesitated and then stepped back. She returned his badge and gun.
And William started talking.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED THIRTEEN
Washington, DC
Jade had just settled into her seat in an interrogation room at FBI HQ. Jenny needed no prompting.
“Zach was slow. I’ve been watching him play sports for years. I knew I could take him.”
“Why is that?”
“You weren’t the only one who played ball. I played softball in high school. A small town in Iowa. Catcher. Got a partial scholarship to GMU. I know how to handle my son’s bat.”
Technicians found a baseball bat with Jenny’s fingerprints at the top of the slide at the park. On the bat, they found hair and fibers from Zach Rawlins, Nicholas Campbell, Andrew Huffman, and Kaylee Taylor. Jade and Micah had arrived in time, before Carter had become a statistic. And not of the baseball kind.
“Was it your Vicodin your son took?”
Jenny nodded, a sad look crossing her face. “Bad knees.”
“Is that where you met Matt? At George Mason University?”
“Yeah. We got married right after I graduated, and I never went home.”
“Tell us about Nicholas.”
“He was easy. Tyler told me the guys on the team said I was a MILF. He was embarrassed.” Christian paused in his writing. He stared at Jenny. “I asked Nicholas to come over and help me pack up Tyler’s things. He got off on doing it in Tyler’s room. I didn’t care. It was a means to an end. While he was on top of me, I hit him on the head with the lamp.”
No wonder Fairfax County PD didn’t discover the blood and semen. Jenny had had sex with Nicholas after they had processed the scene.
She was still talking.
“ . . . and then dragged him to my car and dumped
him in the park by Reagan.”
“By yourself?” Jade asked, doubtful.
“I’m stronger than I look. When someone messes with your kids, you develop a strength you can’t even imagine. I suppose you wouldn’t know about that.”
Jade ignored the barb. “And you had no help from your husband?”
“Matt’s weak. He isn’t strong enough to protect our family. I’m the strong one. No one is going to fuck with my kids.”
So, you fuck someone else’s kids?
Jade recalled the gnawing feeling that something was off when she was standing in Tyler’s bedroom. Now she knew what it was: the circle, absent of dust, on the nightstand. There was something else off in that room, as well. She had thought about it a lot. But try as she might, whatever it was remained elusive.
“What did you do with the lamp?”
“I cleaned it, and dropped it off at Goodwill. I support the causes I believe in.”
She was serious.
“Why did you cut off the victims’ penises?” Christian asked.
“They were not the victims here,” Jenny snapped. “I didn’t want them spawning demon seeds.”
The chill in her voice produced goose bumps on Jade’s arms.
“Tell us about Andrew Huffman,” Jade said.
She shrugged. “I flirted with him like the others. I saw how they used to look at me. When I sat in the stands. I could see it in their eyes. All of them. They wanted to fuck me. I could’ve had them all.”
This was one sick woman. “I’m sure you could have.”
“Are you mocking me?”
Jade let the question hang in the air for a moment. “Finish telling me about Andrew.”
“I arranged to meet him behind the 7-Eleven.”
“What was your husband doing there?”
“I knew you suspected him. He was my . . . what do you call it? Red herring.”
“You blame Matt for Tyler’s death?”
“He should’ve taught Tyler to be tougher. To fight back. Like I said, he’s weak. I made him think I was going crazy. Wearing a bathrobe all the time. Not showering. I was sleeping during the day. At night, I would follow those boys around. Watch them. Watch their stupid fight club. Learn their habits. And then I picked them off one by one.”
Jenny spat on the floor.
Christian stared at his sister-in-law, as if she were an extraterrestrial being who just landed from outer space.
William had corroborated Sam Carter’s story about the fight club and that he was its leader. He downplayed its viciousness.
“How did you find out which kids bullied Tyler?” Jade asked.
“The fight club. They did as much talking as fighting. I found out everything.”
Not everything.
“How come Matt didn’t recognize you at the 7-Eleven?”
“I was wearing a lot of makeup. And a wig.”
“Why the 7-Eleven? There are lots of places closer to your house. To Huffman’s house.”
Jenny looked at her oddly. “Because it was closer to yours.”
Dante was right.
Jade realized what Ethan had been trying to tell her about Dante. One of his useful qualities was his ability to take disparate information and make it fit together. Make something out of nothing. Like any good cook.
Christian stopped writing and stared at Jenny. “Explain.”
“I wanted to make sure she noticed.” She nodded at Jade. “The great Jade Harrington. Super FBI agent. I read everything about the TSK case. Where do you think I got the idea to use the bat? I wanted her to catch me. I wanted everyone to know. To read about it. Just like her TSK case. Now, Tyler will live forever.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, Jenny,” Christian said, exasperated.
“Why did you kill Kaylee?” Jade asked.
“That bitch texted my son. Pretended to like him. I cut her fingers off so she would never be able to text anyone again. Even in the afterlife. I also found out she was the one who created that awful Twitter account. That whore got what she deserved.”
She continued to talk, as if they weren’t there. “I don’t care what happens to me. I did the world a service. All those boys and that bitch who bullied my son will never hurt anyone again, and will not beget more bullies. I stopped the cycle.”
Jade waited for Jenny’s head to start spinning like the character in The Exorcist.
“Except one. We believe one other boy was involved in bullying your son.”
Jenny snapped out of it. “Who?”
Jade stood, a sudden need to be out of Jenny’s presence. “It wasn’t Carter. You almost murdered an innocent kid.”
Jenny digested this information. A manic expression returned to her face. She tried to stand, the manacles restraining her.
“Who? Who was it?”
Jade signaled to the window for Dante and Micah to remove Jenny.
“Answer me!” Jenny screamed.
They entered, each agent holding one of her arms. She fought them, as they pulled her toward the door.
“I won’t be in jail forever,” she said, her eyes never leaving Jade’s. “I’ll find out who it was! And when I do I’ll—”
Mercifully, Micah closed the door behind them. Jade would never know what Jenny would do.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FOURTEEN
The White House, Washington, DC
“I don’t think he’s ready,” Sasha said.
“Who could ever be ready for that job?”
“Lena is doing a good job. Why make a change? There are other unfilled positions that are a higher priority.”
Whitney fiddled with the pen on her desk. “He thinks well on his feet. He’s well-spoken, and he could sell ice cream to Eskimos. He has a prodigious memory, which will come in handy. He doesn’t need to write anything down, so notes from our conversations would never be subpoenaed. He’s perfect.”
“Isn’t it my responsibility to make hiring decisions?”
“My mind is made up.”
“Do you really want a man speaking for you?”
“I am not going to dignify that question with a response.” Her phone buzzed. “Yes, Sean.”
“Madam President, Mr. Blake Haynes is here to see you.”
Whitney looked at Sasha, as she spoke into the speakerphone. “Send him in.”
A minute later, he crossed the room, taking in the Oval Office before he shook her hand.
“I wish I had seen your office when I was here for the interview.” He glanced around again. “Amazing.”
“Take a seat.” She waited for him to sit in the chair next to Sasha. “Mr. Haynes, I have a proposition for you.”
“Another interview?”
“Something like that.”
He leaned forward. “I’m intrigued.”
She glanced at Sasha, whose pursed lips were hard to ignore. Whitney turned back to Blake. “How would you like to be the White House Press Secretary?”
His mouth opened in surprise.
She would never forget the expression on his face as long as she lived. The young man with the gift of gab was speechless.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FIFTEEN
Washington, DC
“I need to see you when you get in.”
“I’m on my way.”
Jade tapped the button near the car radio to end the call. What could Ethan want first thing in the morning?
When she arrived at the Bureau, she dropped her briefcase in her office.
She stood in his doorway for a moment watching him work. In a starched white shirt and maroon tie, he marked up a document, oblivious to her presence.
She had suspected Dante of leaking details about the TSK investigation to the media, but he’d been off the case at the time, and wouldn’t have had access to the information. She never suspected her boss. A man she admired and respected for his work ethic, integrity, and loyalty to the agency.
She knocked.
He looked up from his writing. “S
hut the door.”
She sat across from him and began updating him on Jenny’s interrogation.
He interrupted her. “That’s not why I called you in here.” He spun his wedding ring once. Twice. “I’m leaving the Bureau.”
Jade opened her mouth and closed it. She had not expected this. At all. “What do you mean?”
“In all the years I’ve been here, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had dinner with my family.”
“You’re not answering my question.”
“It’s personal.”
“Does it have anything to do with the leaks?”
“How did you find out?”
“So, it’s not personal. A reporter called me. From Seattle.”
Ethan, with an uncharacteristic display of anger, slammed his hand on the table, startling her.
“This is crazy,” he said.
“She said that you provided her information about the TSK case.”
“I didn’t leak anything.”
“You think someone set you up?” Jade asked, doubtful.
He let out a lungful of air. “Now, you think I’m crazy. Why would I leak it? I would be jeopardizing an operation. One of my agent’s cases, which is a reflection on me. It doesn’t make sense.”
He had a point.
Realization dawned. “This isn’t voluntary.”
He didn’t respond.
“Can we fight it?” she said.
He shook his head. “The decision’s been made. I’m out of here.”
She remained silent. She hadn’t known an FBI without Senior Supervisory Special Agent Ethan Lawson. “I don’t know what to say. Is this permanent or a leave of absence?”
“I don’t know.”
“When are you leaving?”
“Not sure yet. Probably in a few weeks.”
Jade started to rise. “This is a lot to process.” At the door, she thought of something. “Who’s going to take your place?”
“You are.”
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED SIXTEEN
The White House, Washington, DC