Intentions (Carpenter/Harding Book 6)

by Barbara Winkes

  Sadly, she couldn’t tell him to stay away from the Night Shift without good reason. Perhaps she should have redirected her focus from Becca Crane to the man showing up in places that she frequented…She wasn’t ready to let her off the hook though. Jordan trusted Ariel to let them know if anything was wrong. As for Holmes…

  “I hoped you’d be here tonight,” he said.

  “Really.”

  “Jonathan Darby died earlier today, some complications, I heard. You probably know already…Oh. You didn’t,” he said, having caught her minute reaction of…what? Relief? Jordan wasn’t sure, but it must have shown in her face. “All the more reasons for us to connect. I guess you could say we both got into real trouble because of him.”

  “I don’t need to connect,” Jordan mumbled. “How did you find out?”

  “Donovan. He works with my lawyer as well, so he knew I had…an interest in the story.”

  “Lovely. Enjoy your drink.”

  “What happened?” Derek asked when she returned to the table, handed him his beer and took a swig of hers. Across the room, Holmes took a bill out of his wallet that he tossed onto the counter, and left.

  “Apparently…Darby is dead. I guess it’s still under tabs, but Holmes’ lawyer works with Donovan, so he got the news exclusively. Couldn’t wait to tell me.”

  “And?”

  Jordan sighed. “Hell if I know. For sure, I’m not sad to hear this. I don’t feel like dancing on his grave either. It’s just…nothing.”

  “You’ve had a lot on your plate lately.”

  “Well, yeah, everyone has. To victory over evil…I guess.”

  Their bottles clinked together. Jordan wondered what Ellie was doing at this moment, wishing she’d be waiting for her at home.

  * * * *

  It turned out they had both dreaded going back to an empty apartment, which was mostly the reason why they walked the few blocks down the road to Derek’s apartment, making a stop at the liquor store on the way. Meanwhile, the news about the serial killer passing away in prison had broken. Making a grimace, Derek turned off the TV.

  “They give a lot of fame and attention to the bad guys. He’d love that.”

  “Oh yes. But he’s not loving anything anymore. Let’s talk about something nicer. When are you going to call Kate?”

  Derek gave her a quizzical look. “She called it quits. Why would I do that?”

  “You miss her.”

  “Wow, Harding’s a terrible influence. Nine years with a shrink, and you’ve never been this chatty.”

  “Funny.” It probably wasn’t Ellie’s influence, but the number of beers they’d had that made the difference at the moment. “You know it’s true.”

  “Can we go back to the serial killer?”

  “No,” she said, making a non-committal sound. “I have no desire to ever go back there.”

  “Sorry. Yes, I miss her. Are you happy now?”

  Jordan leaned back on the couch, pondering that question. She certainly had hoped for a different outcome on some things—the adoption, and her other plan for which the timing never seemed right.

  “Yes. I am. We’ll keep tabs on Dr. Crane for now, make sure she’s everything we hope she is. I want to marry Ellie. The sooner the better.”

  “That’s great. Why are you telling me first?”

  “Wait, what makes you think I haven’t told her yet?”

  Derek surveyed the bottles on the table, looking back at her. His gaze spoke volumes.

  “Yeah, you can see I haven’t changed all that much. It’s not that it’s a big decision. I’m good with big decisions. There was just no time to do it right.”

  “If you say so.”

  As the night went on, Jordan accepted Derek’s offer to crash on his couch—she hadn’t been looking forward to moving far from it anyway. The questions kept her up, though, and they seemed to get more urgent by the minute. There were several people whose opinion she could have asked, but not at this time of night. It was worth a shot. She knocked on his bedroom door and went inside.

  Derek didn’t even look surprised. She took that as an in invitation to sit on the other side of the bed and begin.

  “It’s about Kathryn. Jim, too, but mostly her.”

  “You’re not sure whether to invite them?”

  “That’s not it, but I think she expects it. There are other people who really made an effort. It wouldn’t be fair to them.”

  “You mean your parents. Do you really think they’d mind if Kathryn was there? Have you asked them?”

  “That’s your answer for everything,” Jordan complained, idly wondering at how many beers they’d stopped earlier. She still felt slightly dizzy—or maybe it was the subject. “You’ll be invited. Kate will be there for sure.”

  “Relax. We’re not going to cause a scene at your wedding. You’ll be fine.”

  “Thank you,” she said, hiding a yawn behind her hand.

  “No, I mean, you’ll be fine. With everything. It will be even better now that one problem, by which I mean Darby, solved itself. As for the other subject, I know it’s tough right now, but if you want children, there are always other ways.”

  Jordan had several thoughts on that, and she was grateful for him listening to her ramblings in the middle of the night, but the context struck her as highly amusing.

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it.” He couldn’t help laughing either. “Have you even bought a ring?”

  “I’ll pick it up tomorrow.”

  “Yep, that’s what I thought.”

  * * * *

  Ellie and Libby had driven back early on the Monday morning, going directly to work. Ellie hadn’t seen Jordan yet, but sitting at her desk, she was pleased to make more progress on the list of red Volvos. She was down to five owners, one of which had a record, including vandalism and B&E. Going over the names, Ellie was startled to find a familiar one: Lillian Bishop. A quick search revealed that Lillian was the mother of Jeffrey Bishop who had been Colin Buck’s roommate, and a member in the online serial killer fan club.

  Certainly Jordan and Derek would be interested in asking him about meeting the photographer, Paul Burton. She was about to call when Sergeant Bristol came out of his office, heading straight for her desk.

  “Harding, I just got a call from Lieutenant Carroll,” he said. “He’d like to see you in his office.”

  “Of course. Is everything all right? Did he say what it’s about?”

  “He will tell you.”

  Ellie’s heart started beating faster. This could be about a simple assignment, but then again, nearly everyone in the department knew about her and Jordan’s relationship, including Jordan’s boss. What did he have to say to her that he couldn’t say in public? She had just received a text from Jordan this morning, so this could have nothing to do with her?

  She hasted upstairs, catching her breath before she knocked on Carroll’s door.

  “Officer Harding, come on in.”

  Once they were seated, the lieutenant wasted no time.

  “Detective Waters has given me notice that he wants to retire by the end of the year,” he said.

  “Oh my God.” Ellie cleared her throat when she got a quizzical look in reaction. “I mean…I thought this was about…I’m sorry.” Her relief aside, she didn’t like this situation at all. Coming straight to work from the all-girls weekend, getting flustered because of a misunderstanding, this wasn’t how she wanted to present herself to her future boss.

  “It would be best to find a replacement while he’s still here. I hear you might be interested in the position.”

  “Yes, sir, I am.”

  Ellie’s heart was still pounding, for a completely different reason now.

  “Good. I wanted to give you a heads-up on this. You’ve worked well with my detectives before…” She hoped she wasn’t blushing too hard. Work wasn’t all she’d done with one of his detectives. “…so I expect this to work out. You’ll be notified of the d
ate for your interview.”

  “Thank you, sir. I really appreciate it.”

  They shook hands, and Ellie left the lieutenant’s office with excitement, and a tinge of guilt creeping in, for being this happy when Ariel’s situation was still somewhat up in the air. Ellie hoped that was true, and that the girl would find a loving, supportive home with the Cranes. They had to push their own hopes for the future aside for this.

  “Ellie, hi.”

  “Derek. Thanks again for helping out with the painting. I haven’t seen the house or Jordan today, though…” It occurred to her that having spent the weekend with the woman who had just broken up with him, made the situation slightly awkward. “Um…I think I have something for you. Remember Jeffrey Bishop? The owner of the dark red Volvo, that’s his mother. It seems like there is a connection between the break-in and Darby’s fan club.”

  “Good job. I’m going to see him right now. Why don’t you come with me?”

  Great. More opportunity for awkward conversations. Kate had indicated that she wasn’t entirely happy with her decision, but Ellie had promised not to tell anyone.

  “Sure. Jordan isn’t here?”

  “She was going to check out something else, but she said you could check the progress on the house during lunch break.”

  “Sounds good. I swear I’m not going to bail on any more weekends…Lieutenant Carroll told me Waters is going to retire. I’ll still have to go through the process, but he seemed to think I’m a good candidate for the job.”

  Ellie had wanted to wait to tell Jordan first, but she couldn’t seem to hold it in any longer. She had waited so long for this moment to arrive.

  “If he calls you here to tell you about it, that means something. That’s great, congratulations.”

  “Thank you. You’re the first to know,” she said, baffled when Derek rolled his eyes and said, “You guys. You should really talk to each other once in a while.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  After breakfast at Derek’s, where they had both spoken to each other in quiet tones, for a good reason, Jordan had spent the Sunday cleaning up in the house before she picked up the ring. Lunch break on Monday might give her time enough…

  She received Ellie’s text regarding the owner of the Volvo when she was a block away from campus. She was almost there when she saw Bishop get into a van and drive away. Jordan followed him down various streets to the harbor, and then further into the industrial district. When he parked, she did too at a distance and called Derek back.

  “Looks like he’s waiting for someone. How about you join the party? This could be interesting.”

  “Don’t say that word. I still have a headache.”

  “Right. This will be the last time I’ll ever wake up in your bed. Let’s never speak of it again.”

  “Um, Ellie’s here,” he said, chuckling, and she realized he’d put her on speaker.

  “Guys?” she heard Ellie’s voice. “I feel like there’s something you should explain to me.”

  “Don’t worry, it was harmless. Speaking of the weekend, will you have time around noon to go take a look at the fruits of our labor?”

  “Sure. I’d still like to know…”

  “I’ll leave Derek to explain that to you,” Jordan said, laughing. “I should get a little closer. I’ll see you in a bit.”

  She got out of her car and walked closer to the vehicle Bishop had driven here before he vanished into the building—not the red Volvo, but a black van.

  Jordan wondered if they’d finally find the clues as to who had broken into Lori Gleason’s house.

  * * * *

  “We drank, we talked, we fell asleep. I swear there’s nothing you need to be worried about.”

  Derek had misinterpreted Ellie’s silence. “I’m not worried,” she said, still trying to get hold of what was nagging at the back of her mind. “Come on. I was just thinking…” There was something that seemed familiar, something she couldn’t put her finger on. After days of trying to narrow down the type of car, Bishop showed up in this van, in this area…In her mind, she went through the previous cases they had worked together, connections, until it came to her.

  She’d been here before. Sheila Irwin’s ex had hired a couple of goons to rob and vandalize her sex shop—he had rented an office in this area. The main perpetrator, a man by the name of Randy Wheeler, going by HotStud69 online, had denied vandalizing Jordan’s front door as well.

  “Is it paranoid to think that the same folks who wrote ‘bitch’ on Jordan’s front door, could be part of Darby’s fan club?” she wondered out loud.

  “Aren’t they behind bars now?”

  “Not all of them. I think at least one of Randy’s buddies got probation, and the ex-husband…I’m not sure.”

  “It’s a theory,” Derek ascertained. “Excuse me,” he added, when his cell phone rang. It was still on speaker, so Ellie could hear Jordan talk.

  “This is interesting. Are you anywhere nearby now?”

  “Ten minutes max,” Derek said.

  “Good. I think I found something…”

  The line went dead.

  * * * *

  The hit wasn’t strong enough to knock her out, but she still ended up face first on the concrete, her gun skidding out of reach. Relying on strength rather than skill, the attacker tried to drag her behind the metal doors and inside.

  “Please, stop it,” a familiar voice said. “We’ve come so close. You don’t think this was all going away, didn’t you?”

  The man let go of her, and Jordan immediately understood why. Jeffrey Bishop had a gun trained on her.

  “It’s okay, I can take care of this,” he said. The other man, apparently another buddy from the serial killer fan club, nodded and turned to walk away. “Now, go inside, please.”

  “This is not going to work.” Jordan cast a glance at the display to her left, barely suppressing a shudder. “My colleagues are on their way.”

  “No, they’re not. You still have nothing…and now that our mutual friend is dead, there is no witness connecting us. And there won’t be. Now go. I want you to see what we prepared for you.”

  “Jeffrey, don’t be stupid.”

  “No, you don’t be stupid. I could hurt you with this.”

  He raised the gun a few inches. Unfortunately, he was right about that. Backup would be here any minute, so she had to stall best she could.

  This time, the admirers hadn’t gone with a live model. The mannequin’s wrists were tied together above her head, the chain attached to a hook in the ceiling. She couldn’t look, couldn’t get distracted—or remember, though she couldn’t suppress the gasp.

  “What do you want with all this anyway? You really think you can scare Lori Gleason—or me—after everything?”

  His finger was still on the trigger, though relaxed. He and Holmes were wannabes, admirers of a killer. If she could keep him talking, get him to let his guard down…This time, it wasn’t her tied up. In fact, there was so much clutter behind her it gave her options.

  “It’s not about what happened. It’s about finishing it. What do you think? We had Colin ask the details. He hated it, but he did. That’s why Darby wrote you the letter. To tell you about what’s coming.” He glanced quickly over to the mannequin. There was a red line on the doll’s thigh, like blood from a cut. The disgusting display had been created with a love for detail.

  “He did. And he instructed you. I guess there were some things he neglected to mention.”

  Bishop howled and let go of the gun when the metal pipe hit him. Clutching his side, he scrambled for it, but Jordan got there first.

  “It ends here,” she said. “It’s finished.”

  There were voices at the door, and a moment later Derek appeared, with the other man in cuffs. Ellie came running inside to put the cuffs on Bishop as well, while he was complaining loudly.

  “Jordan, are you okay?”

  She stopped cold at the sight of the mannequin.

&
nbsp; “Sick.” Derek sounded disgusted.

  “Yeah. We need to pick up Marcus Holmes as well and…” She winced, and a split-second later, Ellie was by her side.

  “You’re bleeding,” she said. “Let’s take care of this first. I have a few ideas about who else might be part of this club.”

  * * * *

  Fortunately, the unpleasant encounter hadn’t led to more than a cut on her temple and a few bruises. Jordan didn’t want to go home—cleaning up the last of the messes Darby had created, seemed like a much better solution, and it would keep her occupied.

  The warehouse turned out to be a cornucopia of evidence, from the equipment that had been used for the photograph left at Lori’s, to the spray paint used to scrawl a slur on her front door months ago. This was how long they’d been planning this, with Colin, with Jonathan Darby who had hoped to live the fulfillment of his fantasies vicariously.

  All of it was going to fall apart, and she didn’t want to miss a moment of it.

  Walking past the interrogation rooms, Jordan noticed Marcus Holmes in one of them, already talking to Donovan.

  “What happened to his other lawyer?”

  “He didn’t give an explanation, just that Donovan would handle the case.”

  “Interesting,” she said to the lieutenant who was also watching from the other side of the glass. “I can see why Donovan would want to do it. This is right up his alley.”

  “Shouldn’t you be home?”

  She laughed wryly. “I’m not even sure where home is at the moment. But no, I’m fine. And something about Donovan doesn’t sit right with me. He always denied that he let Colin Buck talk to Darby, but these guys claim Colin got all the details of his crimes out of him? Bishop says that’s why Darby wrote the letter. He couldn’t have done it without help. I’m not sure what to believe.”

  “Either way, it’s over.”

  “You don’t have to tell me that. I know. I want to talk to Holmes.”

  “I’ll be right outside,” Carroll said.

  Jordan walked inside only to have Donovan jump to his feet. He looked outraged.

  “What are you holding my client for? He has nothing to do with whatever happened this afternoon!”