Which was part of the problem.
“Did you hear anything about the body found by the river?”
Megan’s face clouded. “That woman last week, right? Kate something?”
“Yes. I was the one who responded to the call.”
Megan raised her eyebrows but said nothing.
“There isn’t a case yet—the department is still waiting on autopsy results—but the consensus is that it was an accident.”
“Yeah, I think that’s what I read in the paper.”
“But a couple of the details don’t really add up,” Jess said. “And Jarrett knew the woman. Katie Simmons. He thinks something might have happened to her…and that someone might know more than what they’re saying.”
“Okay…”
“He went to talk to her boss this weekend. She was at a party at his house, and that was the last time anyone saw her alive.”
Megan was eating her ice cream and listening, but Jess could tell by her friend’s expression that she wasn’t following why any of this was important.
Jess almost laughed. She knew her friend too well. The only thing Megan was concerned with was how this related to her sleeping with Jarrett.
“He didn’t want to talk to us, which was kind of weird. But we found out about another person who was at the party. So we went to go find him, to see if he knew anything. That was why we were up north.”
Megan cocked her head. “Wait a minute. You’re on vacation, right?”
Jessica didn’t say anything.
“And you don’t investigate things,” Megan said slowly. She stared at Jess. “What the hell are you doing?”
Jess cradled her bowl. It was now filled with ice cream soup. “I don’t know,” she admitted.
“Does anyone at the department know you’re doing this?” Megan asked. “I mean, they would probably appreciate the fact that you’re willing to do a little digging off the clock, right?”
Wordlessly, Jess shook her head. “That’s how I screwed up big-time.” She drew a shaky breath. “I mean, Kellan will probably have my head if he knows I’m poking around on a case. If it even is a case…which no one seems to think it is right now. Except Jarrett.”
Megan had abandoned her ice cream, too. “How would anyone find out? If you haven’t said anything?”
“Jarrett is Nate’s best friend.”
Megan’s eyes grew large. “Oh, shit.”
“I have no idea if he’ll say anything,” Jess said quickly. She didn’t want to make it seem like Jarrett was the kind of guy who would brag about his sexual escapades with his friends. Even at her most anxious, which was right about now, she couldn’t see him doing something like that. “I mean, if I ask him not to, he probably would be cool with that. But I just have this feeling my name is going to come up, you know? Nate will ask him about his weekend, and Jarrett will mention something and all of a sudden my name is in the mix.” Jess could almost picture the conversation in her head.
Megan thought for a minute. “Maybe you’re worrying too much about the what-ifs.” She tried to give Jess a reassuring smile. “And you’re picturing worst-case scenarios. Sure, your boss might be pissed when he finds out you did some investigating without his approval. But isn’t that what they want? People who are willing to go the extra mile, to do more, to prove their dedication to the force?”
“Kellan wants law enforcement officials who follow the rules,” Jess said bluntly. “And officers who follow orders. Period.”
“That sounds like he wants perfection.” Megan wrinkled her nose. “And I don’t know if this would be a newsflash to him, but no one is perfect. Not even Officer Jessica Claret.”
Megan leaned toward Jessica and wrapped her in a hug. “Things will be fine. You’ll see.” She disentangled herself and stood up, grabbing her bowl from the coffee table as she did so.
“I’m going to go take a shower,” she said. “You gonna be okay?”
Jess nodded.
Megan smiled again. “Just remember. Nobody’s perfect.” She grimaced. “I think I’m channeling my inner Hannah Montana.”
Jessica almost smiled, but her jaw was set too tight.
She’d been a model officer with AFPD. Not a single blemish on her record.
Kellan probably thought she was overdue for some kind of screw-up. She thought about the reprimands Blaine and Ollie had received; hell, even Nate and Cam had gotten chewed out by their boss on occasion.
But Jess never had.
Megan was probably right.
No one could expect her to be perfect.
Except Jess.
She stared glumly at her bowl of melted ice cream. Ever since she was ten years old, she’d done her best to be perfect. The perfect daughter. The perfect student. The perfect law enforcement officer.
And not because she had some twisted ideals, some ridiculously high standards she had set for herself.
No.
She wasn’t constantly pursuing perfection to make herself happy.
She was doing it for the one person who wasn’t there.
The person she felt like she needed to prove herself to, over and over.
The person who had propelled her, by accident or design, into law enforcement.
Because she hadn’t had time to amount to anything when he was alive.
She needed to be perfect, in every way.
For her dad.
26
Tuesday, July 3
8:45 am
Jarrett raked a hand through his still-damp hair and stared at the red light in front of him.
He just wanted it to turn green so he could go.
Because the longer he sat there, the more he debated doing something he probably shouldn’t.
He glanced at the pad of paper on the passenger seat. He’d hastily written down an address in Sauk Rapids, which was where he was headed to now.
He’d come home from Cloquet and had buried himself in looking up new leads in the Katie Simmons story. He needed to, to keep his mind off Jessica. To keep his mind off the night they’d spent together. And how it had made him feel.
It hadn’t really worked—she’d still haunted his thoughts more often than he cared to admit—but during that time, the hours he’d spent combing through various Google searches, he’d managed to find something that felt like it was worth checking out.
The house where Katie lived.
But there was just one problem.
He wanted Jessica to come with him.
He didn’t know why. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t spent years hunting stories down on his own. In fact, that was the way he preferred to do things.
He didn’t have a partner, and he wouldn’t have wanted one if it had been offered. Hell, he didn’t even like sharing bylines.
So why was he sitting at a red light in Aspen Falls, three blocks from Jessica’s house, his pulse quickening and his foot practically bouncing on the brake as he waited for the light to turn green?
He thumped the steering wheel with his hand. Dammit. He knew why, just as surely as he knew he’d be turning down the wrong road, away from the highway, just as soon as the light turned green.
Within minutes, he was parked in front of Jessica’s house, the car idling as he stared at the front door.
He shouldn’t be there.
But he shouldn’t be doing a lot of things.
His boss was pissed that nothing was coming out of the Simmons story. He wanted Jarrett to move on, to get back to reporting regular news instead of wasting time on what he considered a wild goose chase.
Jarrett hadn’t listened. He wasn’t ready to give up. Not yet. He felt like there were answers to be found, which was more than what he could say for the one other thing consuming his thoughts: his mother’s health. Charlie was still texting him, still asking if he’d made any progress with finding a possible story there, but he hadn’t. He’d dropped it once the Simmons story broke.
Because that one felt solvable. That felt like the
re was a story waiting to be told, like an onion whose layers would slowly unravel if he were just patient enough. And maybe the version of events the police were going with was true. But there was still a story there. And he was determined to tell it.
But his mother’s illness? And Patty and Glen’s? And Dorothy’s? And little Kyle’s?
Those just felt like sad stories unto themselves. Things he had no control over. Stories that would play out however they were meant to, regardless of his input.
His pulse ticked up a notch when the door opened and Jessica stepped outside. He had a momentary flash of panic. Had she seen him sitting out there, staring at her house? Was she coming out to ask him what the hell he was doing parking himself out there so early in the morning? Did she think he was a stalker?
But as soon as he thought these things, they disappeared. Because it was clear what Jess was doing. Clad in tight black running shorts and a purple sports bra, it was obvious she was going out for a morning run. It was the perfect time of day for one, with the heat and humidity relatively low, and Jarrett realized that if he’d gotten there a minute later, he probably would have missed her.
It seemed like fate had stepped in to ensure their paths crossed.
He watched as she finished fiddling with her earbuds, saw how she glanced up at his car and then did a double take. Her expression was impossible to read. Yes, she looked surprised, but was it a good surprise? He couldn’t tell.
She started down the sidewalk and he got out of the car.
“Hey,” he said. His voice felt a little shakier than it actually sounded. Thank God for small favors.
She pulled the ear buds from her ears. “Hey.”
He stood next to the car, his gaze flitting from her to the sidewalk.
“What are you doing here?”
For the first time ever, he felt the heat rise in his cheeks. Dammit. She was the one who always blushed. Not him.
“I found a lead,” he said.
She raised her eyebrows. “A lead?”
“One of Katie’s roommates. She’s willing to meet with me.”
“She is?”
He nodded. “I don’t know if she’ll have anything useful to share, but I figure it’s worth a shot. Just to see.”
“Sounds like it’s worth a visit.”
He swallowed a couple of times. Why was this so hard?
“I was wondering if you might want to come along.”
She blinked. “Me?”
“Yes, you.”
He saw her hesitation, saw the uncertainty flash in her eyes. His heart dropped to his stomach. Was she having second thoughts about this particular thing—the case—or was she having second thoughts about seeing him?
For the briefest of moments, he felt his defenses go up. He could take back the invitation, hustle into his car and make a quick exit. The awkwardness would disappear. Sure, he’d be left to obsess over just what the hell was going on, but at least he wouldn’t be standing there, vulnerable, waiting to see if she outright rejected him.
But he didn’t want to walk away. Not this time. Not with Jessica.
“Let me rephrase that,” he said slowly. “I was hoping you’d want to come along.”
He watched her reaction, and it was almost as if he could see the internal struggle going on inside of her. He wondered what she was warring with, why this was so difficult. She’d been so willing to go along when he went to Bill Lewis’s house, and then again when they went to see Donovan Smith. What had changed?
Besides them sleeping together.
Maybe that was it. Maybe she thought it would be awkward, shuffling between a pseudo-work relationship—was that what they had when they went out on these visits?—and a blossoming romantic relationship.
He swallowed.
A romantic relationship. He wasn’t even sure they had that.
They’d slept together.
She’d been in a vulnerable position and he’d let his guard down, and they’d ended up in bed together. Jarrett knew how he felt about Jessica, knew she was more than a one-night stand, but that didn’t mean she reciprocated those feelings.
“I probably shouldn’t,” she said, and his head whipped in her direction.
She offered a grim smile. “But I will.”
He tried not to breathe a sigh of relief as she turned and headed back toward the house.
Jessica was back outside five minutes later, now wearing jean shorts and a brown T-shirt. She slipped into the passenger’s seat and he noticed she’d added a bit of makeup, subtle touches like mascara and a soft red lipstick that managed to make her lips even softer and plumper looking than before. He remembered with aching clarity what it had been like to kiss those same lips, over and over again, only two nights earlier. The feel of those lips on his cheeks, his chin, his chest. His body immediately responded to the memory.
“Are we ready?” Jess asked after they’d sat in the car for a moment.
Jarrett blinked. He was as ready as he would ever be.
“Yeah,” he said, clearing his throat and shifting the car into drive.
“So what kind of conversation did you have with the roommate?” Jessica asked.
It felt like a calculated move, a way to shift their conversation into safe territory. Which he was fine with.
“I got her on the phone yesterday. Told her I was doing a story on Katie and asked if she would be willing to sit down with me for a few minutes.”
“And she agreed?” Jessica sounded doubtful.
“Yep.” Jarrett grinned, trying to keep the mood light. “I can be very persuasive.”
“Apparently,” Jess said with a reluctant smile of her own. “Think she’ll have anything of interest?”
He shrugged. “No idea.” He wasn’t being dismissive; it was the truth. He didn’t have a clue as to whether or not Katie’s roommate would offer up any information that might be helpful, but he also knew it would be silly not to go and talk to her. Especially when she was willing, and especially since it didn’t sound as though she’d talked to anyone else yet, including the police.
The police.
Jarrett shot a glance at the woman sitting next to him.
Jessica was the police. Maybe not today, sitting in his car, driving up to Sauk Rapids. She wasn’t in her uniform, and she wasn’t going along in that official capacity.
But she was still an officer of the law.
And he should probably work harder to remember that.
Jarrett listened to the voice on his Maps app guide him away from the highway and into an area of Sauk Rapids that was just east of the river. They drove through the downtown area, passing a grocery store and liquor store, and a video rental store that probably should have closed up shop twenty years ago. Jarrett turned right at the town’s funeral home, and then a couple more quick turns led them down a tree-lined street filled with small clapboard homes in varying states of repair. Some of the pre-war homes were neatly kept, with freshly painted siding and flowerboxes brimming with colorful blooms, while others looked days away from being completely razed.
He breathed a small sigh of relief when he finally saw the house Katie had lived in. It wasn’t the nicest-looking house on the block, but it also didn’t look like a meth den, either. White wood siding, black shutters on the windows, a side yard that wasn’t filled with junk. The lawn was mostly weed free, but it looked like it could use a good watering. The detached garage sat almost directly behind the house, a small yard wedged between them, and he thought he saw evidence of a meager vegetable garden.
Jessica peered out the window. “This is it?”
He turned off the engine in response.
They walked up the sidewalk together and then up the three steps to the front stoop. The doorbell chimed and they listened as footsteps approached. The door swung open and a woman who didn’t look much older than Jessica answered.
“Are you Jarrett Pryor?” she asked, giving him a once-over.
She was tall, with cl
ose-cropped platinum blonde hair. Piercings decorated her nose, lips and eyebrows, and Jarrett could see part of a large bird tattoo visible under the sleeve of her black T-shirt.
“That’s me.” He smiled. “You must be Alison?”
She gave him a cool nod before turning her attention to Jessica. “Who’s this?”
“This is Jessica. We’re working the story together.” He didn’t think it would be at all helpful to mention that she was law enforcement.
Alison nodded again. “I have like fifteen minutes before I need to leave for work.”
“We won’t keep you,” Jarrett promised. “Do you mind if we come in?”
Alison shrugged. “Suit yourself.” She stepped away from the door, giving them room to pass by her.
The inside of the house reinforced Jarrett’s belief that it wasn’t the best or worst house on the block. The living room was filled with older, cheap furniture, clearly cobbled together, but the room itself was clean. There was a faint smell of pot, and as he scanned the room, he saw a small bong tucked alongside a bookshelf. He saw Jess’s eyes land on it before she quickly looked away.
“I’m sorry about your roommate,” Jarrett said, after the three of them found places to sit. Alison was perched on the arm of an old La-Z-Boy recliner, and Jarrett and Jess had taken opposite corners of the lumpy plaid couch.
“Yeah, it kind of sucks,” Alison acknowledged. She didn’t seem overly distraught.
“Were you close?”
“Not really.” Jarrett wondered if she realized how indifferent she sounded because she quickly added, “I only knew her a couple of months.”
“A couple of months?
Alison nodded. “That was when I moved in here. I know our other roommate pretty well. Maria. She’s the one who hooked me up with this place.”
“And where is she?”
Alison’s expression clouded. “She’s on vacation. A six-week trip to Guatemala.”
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