Hollow Bond (A Magnolia Parish Mystery Book 2)

by BJ Bourg

  Dawn studied it. “Holy shit! He was dragged to the side of the road. If he would’ve pulled himself there, his arms wouldn’t be straight above his head.”

  “Right. Someone wanted us to find them, so we could get some help for Janice.” I searched until I found the autopsy photographs for Peter, Malloy and Bill, displayed them beside each other on the screen. I then located a picture of Janice’s injured face. “Janice was barely touched compared to them”—I pointed to my face—“and me.”

  “Barely touched?” Dawn echoed. “She almost died!”

  I searched through the file and came up with Janice’s medical records. “She was severely dehydrated, which contributed to the swelling in her brain. On a normal day, under normal circumstances, she takes that minor beating and keeps on ticking. They didn’t count on her being dehydrated. That caused some complications and almost foiled their plans.”

  “Wait...so, you think Janice is in on it?”

  “Absolutely. She wasn’t about to let Bill give their baby away, so she planned the murder and kidnapping. Another thing they didn’t count on was Marty turning the baby over to Peter and ratting about the murders. Tom thought he had Marty figured out, but Marty had a good heart. He was going to risk everything to do the right thing, and it got him killed.”

  “I’m not convinced Janice is involved in kicking her own ass.”

  I grabbed my keys. “There’s one way to find out.”

  “Where’re you headed?”

  “To get a search warrant for Tom’s blood...and to interrogate him one last time before he gets a court-appointed lawyer.”

  “You think he’ll talk?”

  “Once he realizes I’ve got his DNA and can link him to the kid, he’ll talk.”

  Dawn grabbed her keys, too. “While you do that, I’ll bring Janice in and interrogate her.”

  CHAPTER 48

  Magnolia Parish Detention Center

  “You again?” Tom Kosinski asked when the jailer brought him into the booking room and he saw me. He glanced at the phlebotomist, back to me. “Who’s she and what’s going on?”

  “You look like you’ve been in a fight,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.

  He grunted. “So do you. Why are you here? I figured the next time I’d see you was in court.”

  I pulled the search warrant from my folder, placed it on the table in front of him. “I have a warrant for your blood.”

  His eyes narrowed. “I don’t like needles. I’d rather you take it the old fashion way...like we did in the woods.”

  I chuckled. “It’ll be fine. Adalaide is one of our best phlebotomists. You won’t feel a thing.”

  “What’s this for, anyway?” he asked.

  “We found an unknown DNA profile on the brass knuckles,” I explained. “We just need to confirm you’re the contributor.”

  “I already told you I am, so this isn’t necessary.”

  “Humor us, please.”

  Tom grunted as Adalaide sat beside him and removed her blood collection kit from a small black bag, but he didn’t resist. I was sure he realized we were getting his blood one way or the other, and he’d rather give it up sitting in a chair rather than strapped to a hard cot. Adalaide went to work on his arm and recovered the necessary amount of blood. When she’d secured the vials and labeled them, she said, “I’ll get these over to evidence right away.”

  I thanked her and watched her leave, closed the door behind her. I took the chair across from Tom, who sat rubbing the new bandage on his arm.

  “So, what’s this really about?” he wanted to know.

  “We’re about to prove you’re a father.”

  He froze, staring down at his arm. After some time, he looked up and gazed into my eyes. “How’d you know?”

  “I put it together earlier today.” I leaned forward. “We know that Janice put you up to killing her husband and taking her baby—your baby—away so she wouldn’t be sold to the Abernathys.”

  Tom pressed his lips together, shook his head. “I’m not saying shit to you.”

  “Then you can listen.” I planted my elbows on the table. “You do realize Janice used you, don’t you? She wanted a baby more than anything else in the world. Bill couldn’t get her pregnant and she thought the procedure didn’t take, so she turned to you to impregnate her. That was your first job. Your second job was to rid her of her baggage and take her baby out of the situation. She couldn’t kill Bill and she couldn’t keep the baby away from Peter, so she got you to do the dirty work for her. Now, with you out of the way, the baby’s all—”

  “That’s bullshit and you know it.”

  “How do you think I found you?” I could see a hint of doubt creep into his mind. “That’s right. Janice gave you up. She knows she’s no match for you, so she sent me to get you. Know what she told me?”

  He squinted, but didn’t speak.

  “She said, ‘Please catch these men and kill them. Don’t ask questions, don’t hesitate—just kill them.’” I paused to let the information sink in. “You know why she wanted me to kill you before asking questions?”

  Still no response from him.

  “Because she didn’t want me to give you a chance to talk. She sent me to murder you...to shut you up for good.” I shook my head. “You were such a fool.”

  When Tom refused to talk, I gathered up my things. “Suit yourself. You can go to the needle with your secret, while Janice is out there screwing the next loser she—”

  “You don’t know shit!” The veins in his temples bulged. “We love each other and we’re going to be together—no matter what!”

  I settled back down. “Tell me about that love.”

  His grin was anything but pleasant. “I already told you...I’m not saying shit.”

  CHAPTER 49

  When I got back to the substation I saw the sheriff’s car in the parking lot. He met me in the lobby and led me to the observatory. “Dawn has Janice singing like a bird.”

  My heart rate quickened. “Are you serious?”

  He nodded. “She broke her like a bad habit.”

  I hurried into the room and stared through the two-way mirror. Dawn had a hand on Janice’s shoulder and was talking softly to her. Janice’s head was lowered and she was crying. “How long have they been like that?” I wanted to know.

  “She’s been crying on and off for the past hour. Dawn got her to admit she was having an affair with Tom and ended up pregnant.”

  “How’d a woman like that end up with a man like Tom?” I asked.

  Sheriff Burke shrugged. “How’d your wife end up with you? How does anyone end up with anyone?”

  Dawn stood to leave the interview room and I stepped out into the hallway. She smiled when she saw me. “She broke.”

  After Dawn stationed a deputy in the room with Janice, we walked to our office, where Captain Theriot was pacing the floor.

  “Well?” he bellowed. “What the hell happened?”

  Sheriff Burke lifted a hand. “Simmer down. She’ll get to it.”

  Dawn opened her notepad, studied it for a minute. “Okay,” she finally said. “Janice admitted to organizing the hit on her husband. She did it to cover up her pregnancy—”

  “Bullshit!” Captain Theriot said.

  Dawn raised her eyebrows, fixed him with a cold stare. “I’d appreciate it if you’d let me finish before interrupting.”

  The captain’s eyes bulged, but he saw the sheriff glaring at him, so he simply took a seat in the corner of the room, mumbled an apology.

  Dawn told us that everything was set in motion when Bill and Janice needed some deck boards on their boatshed replaced. One day while she was shopping, Janice saw a flyer advertising handyman services, and it turned out to be Tom Keller. They hired Tom and he started working on the boatshed. Janice would bring him food and they would make small-talk. As the days dragged into weeks, the two of them grew closer and one thing led to another and they ended up in bed together.

&nbs
p; “Where was Bill through all of this?” Sheriff Burke asked.

  “The poor bastard was at work,” Dawn said. “He liked Tom’s work and prices so much that he found more stuff for him to do, completely unaware that he was just paying this guy to sleep with his wife. Eventually, Tom had to stop the handyman work because business at the boxing gym was picking up and Spencer needed him there. Of course, that didn’t stop Janice from seeing him. They’d meet often during the day at random places, but mostly at Tom’s cabin in the woods.

  “Janice ended up pregnant. She couldn’t afford to leave Bill, so she and Tom devised a plan. Tom knew Doctor Wainwright did procedures for women under the table, so he asked the good doctor to fake a procedure to make it look like Janice was pregnant for a surrogate buyer, and then give the buyers their baby.”

  “And Wainwright went for it?” I asked.

  “Not at first. He said it was unethical and immoral, but Tom reminded him he was running an underground surrogacy center and was already doing unethical and illegal things. When Tom threatened to blow the lid on Doctor Wainwright’s illegal operation, he finally agreed to falsify the procedure and the records. Doctor Wainwright had been contacted by the Abernathys before Tom had approached him, and he knew they were desperate because of Derrick’s criminal record, so he figured it would be easy enough to pull off the con job.”

  Dawn stopped to drink from a bottle of water, then went on to say how Bill was fit to be tied when Janice first approached him about the surrogacy idea, but Janice convinced him that bearing a child—anyone’s child—would satisfy her desire to have children and they could live out their lives in peace, with no more arguments over raising a family.

  “That was a problem between them?” the sheriff asked.

  Dawn nodded. “She said they fought over it constantly and Bill was terrified she would eventually leave him. Now, while that was a strong motivator for Bill, there was also the money...twenty thousand up front and twenty thousand once the baby was delivered. If there was one thing Bill loved almost as much as his wife, it was money.”

  “Why’d she have Tom kill her husband?” I asked. “Why not just divorce him like a normal person?”

  “She didn’t exactly tell Tom to kill Bill—Tom wanted to. Bill was going to force Janice to give up their baby, and no amount of pleading would change his mind. She even threatened to leave him over it, but he said he was getting the rest of that money no matter what. Bill planned on packing Shelby up and delivering her to Doctor Wainwright that Saturday.”

  “And Tom killed him before he could do it,” Karla interjected.

  Dawn nodded. “It was the only way to stop him.”

  “Why’d he care so much?” I asked. “He’s a heartless man. He killed his first wife and abandoned his only daughter, so why kill over a baby he didn’t even know?”

  “That’s exactly why he did it—to erase his sins of the past,” Dawn explained. “He told Janice he had abandoned one daughter and he regretted it with every breath he took. He said he’d rather spend the rest of his life in prison than feel that pain again.”

  When I asked about Marty’s role in all of it, Dawn said it was mostly how Tom had described. Tom made Marty follow Janice just in case Bill tried to deliver the baby early and Janice wouldn’t have time to call him. When they ‘repossessed’ the baby, Tom told Marty to take her to the car and instructed him to wait there. Tom then slipped into the master bedroom, dragged Bill out of bed, and beat him to death in front of Shelby’s bed. Next, he bruised Janice up a little to make it look good. Marty thought Tom was taking too long, so he went back into the house and freaked out when he saw what was happening.

  “Why didn’t he split?” I asked.

  “Tom threatened to turn him in for kidnapping and principal to murder, told Marty he was probably seen following Janice around, so he’d definitely be implicated.” Dawn shook her head. “Janice said he was scared out of his mind, so he went along with everything Tom told him to do—secured Shelby in the back seat of his mom’s car, helped Tom load the bodies into his mom’s trunk, helped him stage the scene, and later babysat Shelby while Tom would go to work at the gym. But when it came down to letting Shelby stay with Tom and Janice, that’s where Marty drew the line. He bided his time and, when he could, brought Shelby to Doctor Wainwright and told him to take her to the buyers before Tom realized what he’d done. While he was trying to do the right thing, he paid the ultimate price.”

  “You know we almost interrupted his murder?” I asked.

  Dawn nodded. “Janice said she called Tom from the hospital as soon as you left and told him Marty had given you the ring and that we were searching for Marty.” Dawn frowned. “That’s how he got to him so fast.”

  Dawn said Tom and Marty had parked the Charger several dozen yards from the dump site and off the road so they wouldn’t be seen by passing motorists. They had dragged Bill into position and Janice was about to lie on the ground beside him when they saw Sally McGregor’s car coming down the road. They had hidden in the bushes, hoping the motorist would keep driving, but then she’d stopped and backed up her car. Afraid they would be seen, Marty and Tom hurried back to the Charger and Janice lay in the grass, waiting for a chance to call out for help.

  Dawn turned to me. “Janice is really grateful to you for saving her life.”

  I grunted. “Now I wish I would’ve let her die.”

  “She almost did. She said she started to feel woozy and tried to call out to Tom or the motorist, but they were already gone. She grew nauseous and started to feel weak, so she tried to stand up to walk to the road for help, but she collapsed. She was terrified, begged God to forgive her for what she’d done.”

  “Why murder Doctor Wainwright and his wife?” Sheriff Burke asked.

  “When Doctor Wainwright found out Tom had murdered Bill,” I began, “he threatened to turn Tom in to the law and—”

  “Ah, but that’s not entirely true,” Dawn interjected. “When Tom realized Marty had taken Shelby, he went to Doctor Wainwright’s house, but the doctor and his wife had already left to bring Shelby to the Abernathys. When they returned, Tom finally caught them home and demanded to know where they’d brought Shelby, but Doctor Wainwright refused to tell him, citing the confidentiality clause. Tom began beating him and his wife, but neither of them would break. They said they’d rather die than let Tom have Shelby.”

  “Wow,” Burke said. “They died to protect the little baby? That takes courage.”

  “How’d Janice know all of this?” I asked.

  “From the moment she woke up from her coma, she’s been calling Tom to find out what’s been going on and to let him know what we were telling her.”

  “That bitch,” I said.

  We all sat quiet for several minutes, somber over Dawn’s latest revelation. It was easy for someone to say they would die for a cause, but to actually do it—I suddenly had nothing but respect for Doctor Wainwright and Malloy. I was sad for them, wished I could’ve gotten to Tom in time to save them. I was also sad for Shelby, who was the only real innocent one in all of it. The office of child services had taken her into custody pending a court hearing that had the potential to get ugly. On the one side, Janice’s sister had already expressed interest in adopting her, and on the other side, the Abernathys were hiring the best lawyer money could buy to keep her. I sighed. At least they’re fighting for you, little girl, and not trying to get rid of you.

  “Well,” the sheriff finally said, “let’s wrap things up here so you kids can go home. Y’all did good.” He started to walk away, but I called out to him and he turned.

  “I’d like to take a vacation if that’s okay with you. I need to invest in some quality father-daughter time.”

  He smiled. “Of course. Take as much time as you like...as long as it’s no more than two weeks.”

  CHAPTER 50

  It was almost five o’clock when I turned the corner toward my apartment. I was tired, but happy and relieved that
we’d closed the case. I idled toward my parking spot and frowned when I saw Debbie’s Tahoe in my spot. I glanced toward my front porch. Nothing. Movement to my left caught my eye and I nearly swallowed my tongue when I saw Debbie sitting with Kristen, and they were both laughing.

  I slowly stepped out of my Crown Victoria, ambled up the sidewalk. Debbie ran up and threw her arms around me. I glanced over her shoulders and saw Kristen purse her lips and turn her head away.

  I gently peeled Debbie off of me and walked around her to where Kristen was sitting. Debbie followed and stood beside me. I looked down at Kristen, then at Debbie, leaned against the corner post. “So, ladies, what’s going on here?”

  “I was just telling Kristen that you and I are getting back together,” Debbie blurted, her face beaming. “Samantha was so excited when I told her you were coming home!”

  Kristen sat quietly, trying to find a safe spot upon which to fix her eyes.

  I looked slowly around. “Where is Samantha?”

  “Oh,” Debbie said, “I left her with my mom. I thought you and I could have a night to ourselves. You know? It’s been a while since we had some alone time and I figured since this case is over and—”

  “Can I talk to you alone?” I asked.

  Debbie smiled down at Kristen. “Would you kindly excuse us?”

  Kristen nodded, but kept her eyes averted as she started to rise.

  “No, Kristen, you don’t have to get up.” I turned and walked to the end of the sidewalk, faced Debbie. When she reached me, I folded my arms across my chest. “What’s going on?”

  “We’re getting back together.” She shot a thumb over her shoulder. “You can finally move out of this hellhole and come back home where you belong. I’m so sorry I put you out, but I did what I thought was best for—”

  “You filed for divorce.”

  “I never really wanted a divorce. I just wanted you to pick me and Samantha over your job. I thought kicking you out would get you to come around, and when that didn’t work I had no choice but to say I wanted a divorce.”