Don't Say a Word

by Beverly Barton

  “What?” Julia said, noticing Audrey’s contemplative gaze.

  Audrey thought Julia had the most incredible eyes; their brown color was almost golden. Julia was really quite lovely, with her chiseled bone structure and thick black eyelashes. It was amazing how much Zoe resembled her. Each blessed with all that flowing black hair and a tall and slender athletic build.

  “I was just thinking that you remind me of J.D. in lots of ways.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment, unless you’re talking about his quick temper and goofy sense of humor.” But Julia was teasing and Audrey knew it.

  Zoe piped up. “He’s a lot more laid-back now that he and Audrey are finally getting married. He’s even letting me go to the mall today to meet my friends.”

  “She’s right. You’ve been good for him, Audrey,” Julia told her. “Not that he’s ever been a bad guy. Let’s just say he wasn’t exactly domestic-bliss material until he met you.”

  Audrey’s lips curved up. “He was quite a ladies’ man, as I understand it.”

  “Yeah, it must be a TBI macho thing.”

  Tam looked quickly at Julia. “And you’re talking about Will Brannock, I take it?”

  Julia shrugged a little. “I saw him in action at the airport. It’s hard to forget.”

  “Well, no wonder. He’s a real hottie,” Zoe chimed in, clasping her hands together in feigned ecstasy. “I wish I was old enough to go out with him. I’d even ask him to go to the movies on Saturday, if I thought he’d go.”

  Audrey quickly said, “Better not let your dad hear that.”

  They all laughed, and the luncheon continued on a light note with everyone enjoying themselves and the bountiful array of food. While they were serving the cake, Zoe excused herself to take one of the endless phone calls she received night and day. And when it wasn’t a call, it was a text. Audrey had never seen anybody’s fingers move so fast on a touch screen. It wasn’t long before Zoe was back, cell phone still in hand.

  “The girls are waiting for me at the food court. Could you drop me off there, Audrey? Presley’s mom is picking us up at four o’clock. J.D. already said I could go to the movies this afternoon with them.”

  “Let me drop her off, Audrey. I’m going right past Hamilton Place Mall, anyway.” Tam grinned sheepishly. “I’m meeting Marcus, since the trial’s in recess until tomorrow morning.”

  Audrey couldn’t hide her delight. “Does that mean you’re getting back together?”

  “It looks that way. We’re having dinner together almost every night. We’re trying to work things out. I miss him, more than I ever thought I would. Guess I didn’t know a good thing when I had it.” Her eyes met Audrey’s. “We’re going to do whatever it takes to make it work this time.”

  And Tam was thrilled about that. Audrey knew her well enough to see the pleasure in her eyes, and that made her happy, too. She knew Tam had been lonely since her separation, and every time Audrey had seen Marcus he had looked absolutely miserable. She loved them both, and this was just one more blessing in her life for which to be grateful.

  Audrey and Julia bid Tam and the excited Zoe good-bye, and then they sat down together at the table over coffee and cake and smiled at each other.

  “There go two happy campers,” Julia said.

  “What about you, Julia? Do you think you’re going to be happy here, now that you’ve settled in a bit?”

  Julia nodded. “I do like it here. I love seeing J.D. and you and Zoe so often. You know, having family around is pretty awesome. It’s been a long time.”

  “What about Will? Do you like having him around?”

  Julia met her teasing gaze. “He’s a good detective. We work well together. I like that about him.” Her delicately arched dark brows lowered slightly in a frown. “But he’s so secretive. It’s, well, it’s almost as if he’s hiding something.”

  Surprised, Audrey examined Julia’s serious face. “What do you mean by secretive?”

  “Well, we’ve been working together all day nearly every day for quite a while now, and I don’t have a clue as to where he lives, where his family is, or what he did before he landed here at the Chattanooga TBI office—nothing. If I mention something about his personal life, he changes the subject or ignores the question. Don’t you consider that a little odd?”

  “Now that you mention it, I don’t think I know anything about him, either. I haven’t ever thought much about it.”

  “And neither does J.D. I’ve already asked him.”

  “Maybe he’s just one of those extremely private people. There are lots of them around. Maybe you ought to Google him.”

  Julia smiled. “I already did, I’m ashamed to say, but it turned up very little. Mainly just listed some cases he’s worked on here in Chattanooga. No address, no phone number, which is very strange. I know it’s intrusive to do something like that, but, Audrey, it almost seems like his slate has been wiped clean. I just wish he’d tell me on his own volition. Or maybe it’s better I don’t know.”

  “You’re probably right about that. The Internet doesn’t know everything about a person, anyway, unless we’re talking Facebook. My God, I can’t believe what the kids nowadays put out there for anybody to read. J.D. and I are strictly monitoring Zoe’s Facebook page. Luckily, she doesn’t seem to mind anymore.”

  “I’m pretty sure Will doesn’t have a Facebook page.” Julia chuckled to herself, obviously thinking the idea pretty absurd. “I just don’t know many people who hide where they live from their own partner. Sometimes he acts almost, well, almost like a wanted man would.”

  Audrey frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, watch him sometime, Audrey. He always sits with his back to the wall—not just occasionally, but every single time. Wherever we are, he’s constantly watching the entrances and exits and the people coming in and out. He looks uncomfortable if I even touch on anything personal about him or his life.”

  Audrey chuckled. “Sounds like J.D. And I’ve seen you do some of those things, too, Julia. Could it be just a cop’s habit?”

  “Granted, all of us in law enforcement learn to watch our backs. Will acts like he’s being stalked.”

  “Well, I do know one thing about him. He likes you.”

  Julia picked up her glass, swirling the ice around. She kept her eyes down. “How do you know that?”

  “He told me that you were exceptional at your job.” Audrey hesitated, not sure she should bring up his concerns, but she wanted Julia to know that both she and Will were there for her, if she ever needed them. “Please don’t take this in the wrong way, Julia, but Will and I both noticed the way you reacted when we surprised you the other night. I apologize if I caused you pain or brought up any unpleasant memories.”

  Julia kept her eyes focused on her glass for another moment. At first, Audrey thought she wasn’t going to speak to the issue, but then Julia looked up. “It was an incident when I worked homicide in Nashville. I was attacked by a guy high on drugs. My partner was shot and killed. I’m just jumpy sometimes, is all.” She laughed. “You guys surprised the hell out of me that night.”

  “I understand.”

  A rather uncomfortable silence settled over them after Julia’s admission, but Audrey didn’t want Julia to leave before offering her professional help. “If there’s anything I can do to help you work through that terrible night, Julia, I hope you’ll let me know. If you need to talk about it, or talk about the way you feel about what happened, anything at all, I’ll be there for you. Sometimes going over it with someone who understands how a trauma can affect you is very helpful in working through your emotions.”

  Julia raised her eyes, and Audrey easily read the pain in them. J.D.’s sister still suffered from the death of her partner and her own attack at the hands of a brute. “Thank you, Audrey. I know you’re a grief counselor. I appreciate the offer. Maybe sometime, after we get through this case, I will want to talk it out. Right now, the Tongue Slasher murders are all I see
m to think about.”

  “Okay. Just so you know. I’m here anytime you need me.” She smiled. “Night or day.”

  They chatted some more about the people Julia had met at the surprise party as they cleared the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher, but nothing else personal was said, nothing more about Julia’s past. Audrey bid her future sister-in-law good-bye at the door and gave her a hug, but as Julia ran down the steps and headed for the old Charger, Audrey couldn’t help but wish that J.D.’s sister would confide in her now rather than later. Audrey had been in the counseling business long enough to sense when someone was struggling with emotions, possibly even repressing some memories. In her professional opinion, Julia was doing just that.

  Julia got into the Charger and pulled the door shut. She sat with her hands on the steering wheel, unsettled by the fact that Audrey had brought up her concerns about Julia’s state of mind. That awful night when Bobby died was the one thing she never, ever discussed. That was something she handled on her own and in her own time. She’d gotten a handle on it a long time ago, and unless startled by a similar situation or a terrible dream, she was dealing with it okay; at least, so far, she was. She sat silently in the car for a while, thinking about it. Thinking about how Bobby had bled to death in her arms. How she’d heard him take his last breath. How his last word had been her name, his dark blue eyes riveted on her face. Her breath caught, and she quickly forced that image out of her mind, the way she always did. It was over, past, done with, don’t think about it.

  Turning the ignition key, she pumped the accelerator a few times and let the old engine run a bit. She was going to have to make buying a new car a priority or she’d never get it done. She knew that J.D. planned to give the Charger to Zoe someday, when she was older and able to appreciate the car’s sentimental value. That was one reason he was still working on it, trying to get the motor and body in top-notch, pristine condition. Julia just hadn’t had the time to go car shopping, not with a killer slashing his way through Chattanooga. Maybe she’d get a truck like Will’s. Jasper would love to ride around in that. Yep, she would like that, too. And she’d get it in white because she played for the good guys’ team.

  Heading home, she planned to do more research on Roc VanVeter’s life and career. Tam was done with her part in the trial now and had offered to take over the search into the judge’s past cases. Julia had already run a search for Roc VanVeter and Judge Lockhart, trying to find a connection between the two of them, but hadn’t got that many promising hits. There were many news articles mentioning that Roc VanVeter had blasted Judge Lockhart on some ruling or another, but nothing that really might lock them together in a killer’s crosshairs. She intended to keep looking until she found a good lead. There had to be something that was connecting the two murders. There was no way these crimes could be random. This was the exact same MO, the same carefully constructed crime scene, with just a few varying factors. She just hoped to God that the murderer didn’t kill again before they identified him.

  When she neared a grocery store on her right, she realized that her fridge was basically empty, the cupboards bare, so she pulled into the parking lot. The store was busy, lots of people buying their weekend supply of ground beef and hot dogs, buns, sodas, and chips for Saturday’s cookout on the grill. She picked up some salad greens, tomatoes, and cucumbers, a few frozen en-trées for nights like tonight when she didn’t have the time or energy to cook for herself, a case of bottled water, 7UP, and a few other staples she needed.

  The store was unusually crowded. Everybody was rushing around like they were on a racetrack—carts rattling, many customers talking loudly on their cell phones—so she cut the grocery shopping short. She went through checkout and pushed her cart of groceries out to where she’d left the Charger.

  Audrey had insisted on sending some leftovers home with her, and Julia wasn’t one to argue with a free and already exquisitely prepared meal. She considered herself pretty good in the kitchen, too. She had pretty much run the household when she and J.D. were left alone after their daddy’s death. But on the days she spent hunting down a psychopath, a mutilating killer, she just wasn’t up for handling raw food. Drink, maybe, if it was something strong. The only other home-cooked food she was likely to get in the near future was at Cathy’s when she and Will joined the Axelrods for dinner. Which reminded her, she thought belatedly on the drive home, she had forgotten to pick up the bottle of wine that she had decided to take to the dinner party.

  So that meant yet another stop. She pulled up to an upscale package store along the way and decided on a bottle of Beringer white zinfandel; not her favorite, but she did know it was Cathy’s. She made a few more stops, picking up her dry cleaning, checking in for a moment at her desk at police headquarters down on Wisdom Street, where she dropped off some paperwork for Chief Mullins. CPD was pretty deserted, so she headed home, anxious to hit the Internet for a more thorough search.

  When she passed the Axelrods’ log cabin, all was quiet and deserted. Lonnie’s car was gone and so was Charlie’s bass boat, which had been there earlier, so she suspected Charlie had returned home and Cathy and Lonnie were out running errands. When she reached the boathouse, Jasper was parked inside the screen door, wagging his tail, as pleased as punch to see her. She grabbed her groceries and let him run out the screen door and prowl around down by the river, very feisty after being cooped up all day. She unpacked the milk and fresh fruit and put them in the fridge, then walked back outside for the dry cleaning and wine. As she gathered up her clothes, she saw a UPS package sitting in the back window of her car. She hadn’t noticed it before, but she knew for a fact that it hadn’t been there when she’d left the boathouse earlier that day on her way to Audrey’s town house on Second Street.

  Immediately alert, she unsnapped her holster and pulled out her weapon, her gaze quickly searching the yard and surrounding woods. She stared out over the swift current but detected no boats anywhere on the river. Who had put the package inside the Charger? And when? Where? Instinctively knowing it had something to do with the Tongue Slasher, she sheathed her gun, grabbed a pair of latex gloves, and snapped them on. Keeping a wary eye on the thick undergrowth alongside the riverbank, where Jasper was now sniffing out a squirrel, she opened the door and got her first good look at the package.

  When she saw what was written on the front of the tan mailing envelope, she tensed and again searched her surroundings. PROVERBS 10:31 in black marker. The Tongue Slasher was sending them another message, one he wanted to make sure they received in person. He had been inside her car. The idea made her stomach turn over.

  Taking care, she picked up the package and examined the wrapping. It was a used UPS box, left unsealed. When she opened the end, she saw the DVD inside. Oh God, she hoped the killer hadn’t filmed the murders for them to watch. The sinking sensation in her stomach, however, and her sixth sense, told her that was exactly what they were going to find recorded on that DVD.

  Pulling out her cell phone, she punched in Will’s number. He picked up on the second ring. “Yeah, Cass? What’s up?”

  “Where are you?”

  “At home.”

  “How quick can you get to my place?”

  “What’s wrong? You okay?”

  “Yes, but guess what the killer left in my car?”

  “Oh my God, what? Not part of a tongue?”

  “A DVD with Proverbs 10:31 written on the front of the mailing envelope.”

  “You sure he’s not still around there? He could be watching you.”

  “I’ve been looking, believe me. I don’t think anybody’s out here creeping around. Jasper would’ve let me know a long time ago. He doesn’t like strangers.”

  “I’ll be there in ten minutes, fifteen tops.”

  Julia carried the DVD inside, very carefully handling the evidence. Forensics would have to dust it for prints, but her hunch told her they weren’t going to find anything usable, at least not usable in court. If the per
p had managed to clean up the gory crime scenes without leaving a trace of himself, he sure as hell wasn’t going to be careless enough to leave fingerprints on a package that he delivered in person to the police.

  It wasn’t long before she heard the sound of a boat’s motor coming upriver. She hurried out onto the porch, thinking it might be Charlie. He visited Lonnie often, but it didn’t sound like a bass boat. It sounded like one of those big racing speedboats that passed her place from time to time. A minute later, she was shocked to see Will Brannock fly into view, in one of said big, sleek racing boats. He maneuvered the long black-and-red craft beside her little dock with expert ease, tied up, jumped out, and ran up the steps.

  “Any sign that he’s been here?” was his greeting. “Do we need to call in forensics?”

  “No. It doesn’t look like he placed it in the car out here. If anybody ever came up my road, I’m sure Cathy and Lon would’ve seen him pass their house. I’ll ask them, but I don’t think he’d take that chance.”

  “Have you played it?”

  “No. I figured you’d want me to wait. Maybe assemble the rest of the task force before we watched it.”

  “Where was it in your car?”

  “In the back window.”

  “Don’t you lock your car?”

  “No.”

  He gave her a disapproving frown. “Well, you should. You have any idea when he put it in?”