Deadly Valentine

by Jenna Harte

The look on his face told her she couldn't have said anything more hurtful to him. She held her ground, returning his stare with her own. The knock on the door broke the standoff. There was a twinge of guilt as she watched him turn and leave her room. She listened as he opened her front door.

  "Ah, Deputy Dan. We've been expecting you," she heard Jack say.

  "Mr. Valentine, just the man we've been looking for."

  Chapter Ten

  "We need to go over a few points in your statement," Daniel said. He stood at the end of Tess' couch looking much like a police detective of a rural town. His hands on his hips and he held a facial expression that suggested he wasn't going to believe anything Jack said. Tess knew better. He may want to project an air of authority, but Daniel was a fair cop. Still, she worried that Jack's fingerprints on Asa's computer would lead Daniel and the police to focus only on Jack.

  “You're on the case?” she asked looking up at him from the couch. She didn't feel much like a defense lawyer covered in blankets with a bucket next to her.

  “The case will be assigned later today. I'm just doing some follow up.” He was trying to be professional, but Tess could see that he didn't like Jack's association with her. She wondered if the clinching of his jaw was the realization that Jack was wearing the same clothes he'd been wearing the night before. “It won't take long.”

  "Alright," Jack said sitting in a chair, crossing one ankle over the other as he extended his long legs. His elbows rested on the arms of the chair with his hands clasped over his abdomen. He looked comfortable and not the least bit concerned about Daniel's attempt to wave his authority around. But Tess could see the tension in Jack's face.

  Daniel's partner, Sam stood quietly next to Daniel.

  Daniel took a black notebook from his coat pocket. "Tell us again what you did when you left Tess to find the others."

  "I went to the living...ah...parlor," Jack corrected himself. "Asa told us to meet there. But it was empty, so I went back to the entryway."

  "Did you see anybody?"

  "Not at first. I was trying to decide where to go next when I saw Philip."

  "From where did he come?"

  "The dining room. I asked him if he knew were Mr. Showalter was."

  "You asked about Mr. Showalter instead of telling him about Mr. Worthington ... his father."

  Tess saw a flash of annoyance in Jack's eyes. "I thought it would be helpful to have Mr. Showalter there to manage the situation. He's the family attorney and knows everyone better than I do."

  "Then what happened?" Daniel said as he wrote in is notebook.

  "He didn't know where Mr. Showalter was, so I told him about Asa and what Tess said about waiting for the police."

  "Was anyone else there when you told him?" Daniel's eyes lifted from his notepad and were piercing as they looked down on Jack.

  Jack's brows drew together. He looked to Tess and she wondered if he was thinking the same thing she was. Why hadn't Daniel asked about Philip's response to the news that his father was dead? But she nodded at Jack to encourage him to continue.

  "Not at first, but his wife joined us as I was explaining what had happened."

  "Where did she come from?"

  Jack studied Daniel for a moment. Tess saw understanding come to his eyes and she wondered when he'd let her in on the secret.

  "How does where they entered the entryway matter?" she asked.

  "She came from upstairs," Jack answered.

  Tess shot him a warning glance to stop him from answering questions without her consent.

  "Did Mr. Showalter and the Senator join you too?"

  "Mr. Showalter joined us as I was telling both Philip and his wife about Asa. Mr. Showalter entered from the front door and the Senator came in from the hallway near the back of the house."

  Daniel let his arms drop to his sides. "Are you sure about all this?"

  "What's this about?" Tess asked holding a hand up towards Jack to keep him quiet. There was something going on. Whatever it was, Jack knew what Daniel was hinting at. She didn't like being in the dark.

  "He thinks I'm lying," Jack finally said. He turned to Tess. “Remember last night when Philip's wife said they were together when Asa was killed."

  Tess nodded as understanding came to her. "If they'd been together, they wouldn't have entered separately from different rooms."

  "What does the maid say?" Jack asked.

  Daniel's momentary look of triumph vanished. "What makes you ask that?"

  "Because when I saw Philip he had red lipstick on and since I don't think he normally wears it, he must have picked up from a woman."

  "His wife is a woman," Daniel said.

  "But she wasn't wearing red lipstick," Jack said. "The maid was."

  Daniel shifted, but maintained his confident stance. "I suppose a man like you makes it his business to notice things like that on a woman."

  Jack's jaw clinched, but he smiled. "As I said, Philip was clearly doing something with red lipstick. It was curiosity that had me looking to see if his wife wore red lipstick. When she wasn't, I knew it had to be from someone else."

  "It could have been Tess."

  Tess' jaw dropped.

  "No. Tess wasn't wearing any."

  Tess had a feeling that the discussion was moving away from murder to a testosterone fueled pissing contest. She looked to Sam to see if he'd intervene. No luck.

  "Did you question the servants?" Tess asked.

  Daniel's look told her he was offended that she was questioning his work. "Daniel you know as well I as I do that it's much more likely that one of the family members killed Asa."

  "It's hard to believe Philip would. Why would he lie?"

  "Even someone like Philip can get pushed too far."

  "Or it was the wife," Jack offered. "I'm not sure Philip knew they'd supposedly been together until she said so in the parlor."

  "Are you a mind reader, Mr. Valentine?"

  "No, but I'm observant. Philip was as surprised as I was to hear Shelby's claim."

  Daniel didn't look convinced as he made another notation in his book. "Is that all you have to share?"

  "You're asking the questions here, Dan."

  Tess gave Jack a chastising look.

  "No, I have nothing to add," he amended.

  "Are you sure?"

  "Is there something specific you want to know about?" she said thinking of the laptop that had Jack's fingerprints on it. Why hadn't Daniel asked about it? They would have certainly matched the fingerprints and probably traced the email by now.

  Daniel shook his head. "No. But when the case is assigned, the detective will likely have more questions."

  Tess frowned. "Is that it?" she asked.

  "For now," Daniel said slipping his notebook into his pocket.

  Tess bit her lower lip trying to decide how to proceed. Had they looked at the laptop? If so Daniel would have certainly said something. But if they hadn't, it was in Jack's best interest to fess up to using the computer now instead of later. At the same time it wasn't smart to give up incriminating information.

  "Did you find anything in Asa's office that helps with the case?" she finally asked.

  "Like what?" Daniel asked.

  She shrugged hoping nonchalance would keep him from reading more into her question. "Paperwork? Tracks. The back door was open."

  "We're looking into the back door. There was nothing important on his desk or his files. And no one has indicated that anything was missing."

  Tess looked to Jack. His brows lifted suggesting he was thinking the same thing she was.

  "I'd like to talk to Jack alone for a minute."

  Daniel's face showed intrigue. He knew now that she and Jack had information. "Okay." He motioned to Sam and they moved across the living area toward the kitchen.

  "Can you wait outside?" Tess asked. A cozy house was also one that made eavesdropping too easy.

  "It's twenty degrees outside."

  "You could wait in yo
ur car." Tess looked to Sam. He'd been silent during the entire meeting, but Tess knew he'd not been uninvolved. When they left, Daniel would be asking him about his impressions, what he may have noticed that Daniel had missed. Sam shrugged. Or maybe not.

  "Five minutes." Daniel nodded to Sam and they both went out the door.

  ~~~~

  "The computer is gone," Tess and Jack said simultaneously.

  "That doesn't make sense," Tess said. "It was there when I found Asa."

  "It was there when I found you."

  "Why would someone kill Asa and then take the computer later?"

  Jack shrugged. "Timing?"

  "Or maybe someone else took it," Tess offered.

  "Like me?"

  "The police will think so. Only they'll think you killed him too."

  "Great." Jack ran his fingers through his hair. For the first time he looked like a man who'd had a long night and hadn't made it home yet.

  "Unless we tell them."

  "What? What kind of defense lawyer are you? You're not supposed to give them information to put me away."

  "No. But if that laptop shows up with your prints, you'll look more guilty. Plus as a witness I need to tell them that the computer was there."

  "You're killing me here, Tess."

  "Even if they don't find the laptop, if they get a warrant to search your email account, they'll be able to trace the information you took." She wasn't sure if they would ever get a warrant for his email, but these days it wasn't uncommon to search computers for evidence.

  Jack stood and paced the area between her kitchen and living room. "Your boyfriend will use it to put me in jail."

  "No. He doesn't have any evidence," she said ignoring the boyfriend comment.

  Jack gave her a look that suggested he didn't believe her.

  "I know I can keep you out of jail with what we know so far. The worst that will happen is that they'll put you at the top of the list of suspects, but you're probably there already."

  "The goal was to keep me off the list of suspects."

  "Then you shouldn't have broken into Asa's computer."

  Jack groaned and spun away from her. He looked through the French doors in her dining area to the back yard. Things must have seemed as bleak as the cold, dark day outside.

  "If we tell them that I took some information," he started as he turned back to her. "We'll have to give them copies of what I took."

  She nodded.

  "What if that makes it worse for me?"

  "How could that happen?"

  "I don't know. But knowing Asa he found something ... interesting."

  "Have you been doing anything illegal?"

  "Not since high school"

  The comment peaked Tess' interest, but now wasn't the time to ask about juvenile pranks. "Any skeletons in the closet that could hurt your reputation or cost you money?"

  "No."

  "Then what could he possibly have?"

  "I don't know. That's what makes me nervous." He stood with his hands on his hips. "We could find out now."

  Tess looked at her watch and then at the laptop that sat on her dining room table. "Hurry. You've only got two minutes."

  Chapter Eleven

  Jack picked up Tess' computer from her dining room table and brought it to her. She turned it on, logged in and then handed it back to him. “You can access your email from my computer?”

  “Yes.” He took the computer, his long fingers moving quickly over the keys. “I don't get it,” he said as he studied the screen.

  “What?”

  He turned the laptop so she could see the screen. “The file has a copy of my birth certificate and information about my parents. And here's a birth certificate of someone else and a copy of newspaper clipping.”

  “Who's Brady Jackson?” Tess said looking at the birth certificate.

  “I don't know. This clipping is about a woman, Delia Jackson killed with her infant son in a fire. Maybe the baby is Brady. It says Delia worked for the Senator.”

  “This clipping is over thirty years old. Why would that be in a folder with your name on it?” Tess asked.

  Jack shrugged. “Why would Asa have any of this?”

  “The good news is that it's not incriminating or damaging to you.”

  “I guess so.” But Jack's face showed concern.

  “Is there a problem?”

  He looked from the screen to her, “I just don't get why he'd have this. He doesn't gather information on people unless he intends to use it. How was he going to use this?”

  “Maybe he was hoping to find something to use, but there wasn't anything substantial.”

  Jack shook his head. “He was keyed up about something last night.”

  “We don't know it was about any of this though.”

  There was a single knock and then Tess' door opened. “Time's up,” Daniel said as he and Sam reentered the house. “So what's the big secret?”

  Tess looked to Jack who gave her a reluctant nod.

  “Asa's computer is missing,” Tess said. She explained how both she and Jack had seen the computer when they found Asa, but since the police hadn't seen it, someone must have taken it.

  “It doesn't make sense,” Daniel said. “Why not take it during the murder?”

  “It's possible someone else took it. Have you talked to Tom?” Tess asked.

  “Why would he take it?" Daniel was unable to hide the protective tone at the mention of his father in connection to a crime. "He knows it would be illegal for him to take something from a crime scene.”

  “He's Asa's lawyer. Maybe he was protecting him.”

  “From what?”

  “I don't know.”

  “It doesn't matter. He wouldn't have taken it.” Daniel turned his eyes on Jack who'd remained seated on the coffee table next to Tess. “You could have taken it.”

  “I could have, but then I wouldn't have told you it was missing.”

  Daniel didn't look convinced. “Maybe you could let us search your car.”

  “Not without a warrant,” Tess said.

  “Not convinced your client is innocent?”

  “It's my job to make sure he's protected from overzealous law enforcement.”

  Tess could see the same surprise in Daniel's eyes as she felt at their predicament. It wasn't so much that they were on opposite side of a case. When she worked in the public defender's office, she had represented people Daniel had arrested. But this time it was different. It was personal, because it involved Daniel's family and Jack, someone she had a history with.

  “In that case, I'll add your information to the report. I'm sure you'll be contacted for more information when the lead detective is assigned.”

  Daniel and Sam wrapped up the meeting and left.

  Tess reclined on her couch feeling exhausted and little troubled by the interaction with Daniel. While she didn't love him, he and his parents were important to her; like family. It was unsettling to be in a position that would put her in opposition to him.

  “That wasn't too bad.” It sounded like a question more than a statement.

  “It could have been worse,” she said.

  “Can I get you anything?”

  “I just want to rest.”

  “Let me help you back to bed and then I'll run home and change.”

  “I'm fine here.” She didn't want to move, so she settled into the pillows.

  He tucked the blanket around her. “I'll be back in an hour or so. Is there anything you need while I'm out?”

  Tess wanted to tell him she didn't need a nurse, but she realized that they still had more to talk about regarding Asa's murder. “I don't need anything.”

  He kissed her on the cheek as he got up to leave. “Rest.”

  ~~~~

  Tess closed her eyes and willed sleep to come. Before she attained REM, there was a knock on her door. It couldn't be Jack already, she thought. She started to sit up when the door opened.

  “Hey Brat,�
� Daniel said poking is head in. It was a name used only when they were alone together. She'd earned the name when his parents, Helen and Tom had taken her in during a break from boarding school.

  "I've never done chores at my house," a sixteen year old Tess had said when Helen had asked her to sweep the kitchen after dinner.

  "You're welcome to go home for Thanksgiving if you'd prefer," Helen replied. Although at the time it seemed to Tess that Helen didn't care one way or another what choice she made, she'd later learned that Helen had been very afraid that Tess would leave. But Tess decided a little sweeping was better than going home to parents who at their best were indifferent and at their worst resentful of her. Home from college at the time, Daniel witnessed the incident and nicknamed her "Brat". It wasn't a complimentary name, yet somehow he said with such endearment that she accepted it.

  “Can I come in?”

  “Yes, of course,” She started to rise.

  “Don't get up,” he said as he entered her living area. He took a seat on the coffee table that Jack had just vacated.

  “Where's Sam?”

  “He's running an errand. He'll be back for me soon.”

  “How are you doing?” she asked glad to have the chance to talk to him about Asa's death.

  “I'm doing alright.” She knew Daniel and Asa had never been close. In fact, she thought they'd had a falling out, but never heard the details.

  “And Helen?” she asked.

  “She's struggling. She feels guilty for not being there.”

  “But she never attended his parties.”

  “No, but apparently he'd applied more pressure for her to be there last night.”

  “Why?” Tess wondered if Asa had given Helen a clue as to the purpose of the gathering.

  “That's the question of the day.”

  “Do you think it's why he was killed?”

  Daniel shifted, looked apologetic. “I can't talk about it especially in light of who you're representing.”

  “Right.” She felt sorry too. Not that he would have been able to tell her much anyway. But somehow her representing Jack had become a wedge between them.

  “Actually, I'm here because I'm worried about you.”

  “Me? It's just a little flu bug. I'm starting to feel better already.”