Brute Justice (Justice Series)

by Kim Jewell

  Always during the day.

  Of course. They must not use the alarm, except for at night. Come to think of it, he realized there was always someone in the house when he dropped in. It was the main reason he went, to eavesdrop on the kids. The only time they weren’t there was one Saturday afternoon when he went to make a copy of Sam’s hard drive, and his mom had been at the house.

  When he realized what he had foolishly left behind, he cursed his stupidity. Sure, he could go to the trouble of sneaking in, lifting the keys, making copies… But he didn’t want to have to do that. Again.

  He felt like he had just taken a huge step backwards.

  Leesha was the first through the door. “Let me see ‘em,” she said, holding her hand out.

  Clint dropped the keys into her empty palm, her other hand still fiddling with her own set. She only had two keys on her lanyard – for her car and house – so it didn’t take long to find the match. Her forehead creased with worry as she put her name on the mystery key.

  “So whoever this belongs to has free access to my house?!”

  “Have you been using the alarm?”

  “Well, yeah. But who says he doesn’t know the code, too?”

  “How do we know it’s a ‘he?’” Lexi asked, jumping right into the conversation as she and Sam walked in the door.

  “Aren’t we assuming it’s Crain?” Leesha shot back, her voice louder than normal.

  “I’m not so sure,” Sam said. “He’s way too careful. Don’t get me wrong – he’s crafty enough to compile information on us, track us. But he’s sneaky about it. Covert. Undercover. And from what Charlie said, he’s usually got someone doing the dirty work for him. It just doesn’t make sense to me that he’d do something so reckless as breaking into someone’s house in the middle of the night. Especially if he knew we’d be there, sleeping.”

  “Technically, he didn’t break in,” Clint added, “since he’s got a key. But I’m with you, Sam. It sounds like a stupid mistake, especially knowing whoever it was panicked and left the keys.”

  “So then who? And why?” Leesha turned the keys in her fingers, finally pulling out the bauble on the ring. “A bulldog?”

  “Yeah, I saw that earlier,” Clint said. “Not exactly Crain’s slick style, is it?”

  A knock sounded on the front door and Sam stood to let Jade in since Clint was still pacing the kitchen.

  “Hey, Jade,” Sam said. “Thanks for coming. Can I borrow your keys for a sec?”

  “Sure. What’s going on?”

  “Someone tried to break into our house last night and left this,” Sam dangled the bulldog, “in our garage door. So far we’ve matched house keys to our place, Clint’s and Leesha’s too.”

  “And you think there’s a match to mine on there?” she asked, astonished.

  “Yep,” Sam confirmed, holding up the twin keys. “I do now.”

  “Damn,” Clint muttered, looking over his shoulder. He nodded in agreement and labeled the match with Jade’s name.

  “How is that possible? Crain doesn’t even know about me.”

  “We thought it might be Crain too, at first,” Lexi answered. “But you’re right – he shouldn’t know anything about you, so these probably don’t belong to him.”

  “Then who?” Leesha asked.

  The room was silent.

  “Who knows about us?” Lexi continued. “That we’re working on something as a group?”

  “Our parents,” Sam said, checking off his fingers. “Clint’s dad. Leesha, does your mom know anything?”

  “Nope. Nothing.”

  “Jade – your parents? Have you told them?”

  “No.”

  “What about Bruce?” Sam asked. “He’s hung out with us as a group...”

  “But I haven’t told him anything about this.”

  More silence.

  “How many keys are on the ring?” Lexi asked. “Six?”

  “Yeah,” Clint nodded.

  “So who do the other two belong to?” Lexi continued her musing. “Maybe if we can find where the other two fit, we’ll find the owner.”

  Sam’s face shot a frustrated glance at Lexi. “And just how do you suggest we do that? It’s not like we can try every house in the area, one by one.”

  “I know that Sam,” Lexi shot back. “But we could at least come up with a short list of where to start.”

  “How?”

  “Well hypothetically speaking, let’s say Crain left the keys last night. If they’re his, my first guess is the other two keys could fit into Sara and Charlie’s doors. We know they’re both connected to him. There’s no easy way to check Charlie’s house, but trying Sara’s door wouldn’t take too long. Do we know what her work schedule is today?”

  Leesha nodded. “Yeah, she starts her shift at one this afternoon.”

  “Thanks Leesh. Do you want to drive over with me this afternoon? I could sneak up and try the door to test the theory.”

  “Sounds good,” she agreed.

  “Should we all go?”

  “There’s really no need,” Leesha answered Sam. “It’s a two-person job at most. I can drive and Lexi can slip up there invisibly.”

  “Let me take her,” Clint said. When Sam started to interrupt, he cut him off. “Hear me out on this for a second. Do you remember when I asked you what color Crain’s hair was?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “About a week ago I found a red hair on the buttons in my calculator. In my bedroom. It didn’t sit well with me then, and now - after what happened this morning – I’m even more convinced someone’s been in here snooping around.”

  “It was red?” Sam asked pensively. “Okay, well that would mean it didn’t belong to Crain.”

  “Exactly. And while I don’t want to rule him out entirely, my gut says it’s not Crain’s keys we’re holding. He’s just not stupid enough to do that.”

  “Do you think he’s got help?” Jade asked.

  “Like the goons?” Lexi added.

  “Could be. Or it could be it belongs to someone else entirely.”

  “Which leads us nowhere, and fast,” Leesha said, frowning.

  “Maybe, maybe not,” Clint said. “But we probably need to find out as much as we can, and quick. Splitting up is going to double our efforts.”

  “So what’s the plan?” Sam asked him.

  “Sam, I need your eyes to help me finish scanning here at my house. Your senses are the best solution to this.”

  “Okay. Do you know what we’re looking for?”

  “Not really – just anything out of the ordinary, I guess.”

  “Do you still have the hair?”

  “I think I threw it in the trash upstairs. I’ll bet it’s still there, unless Dad already got to it.”

  Clint grabbed his garbage can out of his bedroom and found the hair still crumpled in the Post-it note. They all five took turns passing it around to get a closer look.

  “Sam, can you get a scent from this, so you can track it by smell?”

  “What do I look like – a bloodhound?”

  Clint shot him a half-crooked grin. “Well, yeah. Aren’t you?”

  Sam bent forward to sniff the hair. “Actually,” he replied somewhat sheepishly, “ I can. I hate to admit it, but it does have a pretty distinctive scent.”

  “There you go, Fido!” Clint laughed. “Go get him, boy!”

  Lexi stifled a giggle while Sam snarled back at him. “Funny, wise guy.”

  “Okay, once we get done sweeping my place,” Clint said, getting serious again, “Sam – you’ll need to do the same thing at Jade’s and Leesha’s houses. See if you can find any other traces like this, or anything else that just seems off.”

  “Okay.”

  “Lex and I will head over to Sara’s to try the key. We’ll meet back at your place to finish up the sweeping there.”

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  “Mom’s gonna kill me if she finds out I was on your Harley!” Lexi’s face w
as flushed pink, the chill of the wind making her eyes sparkle with tears.

  “She doesn’t have to know,” Clint said as he secured the kick stand. “We’ll go back and switch to the Bronco before we head back to your place. This was just easier to stash. You weren’t scared, were you?”

  “No way! That was awesome!”

  He smiled.

  They had stopped at the end of the cul-de-sac one street down from Sara’s house and parked the bike in the street. Lexi looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then grabbed Clint’s hand to vanish both of them as they ducked behind a shed.

  “Let’s walk by the garage door,” she whispered as they hurried through the yards. “I just want to double check, see if her car’s gone.”

  One glance through the window confirmed the house was empty. They snuck around to the front door and Clint gave the keys to Lexi. He watched her try both of the unmarked keys, but neither one of them fit in the knob or the deadbolt.

  “Should I try the others?”

  “May as well,” he whispered back. “Though I can’t imagine they’ll fit. We already know where they belong.”

  He was right. They didn’t fit either. Stumped, they both just looked at each other for a minute, not sure what to do next.

  “I guess this was a wasted trip…” Clint flexed his jaw in frustration. “We’re no closer to answers now-”

  “Feel like snooping around a little, since we’re here and all?”

  “Inside?”

  “Well, yeah. We don’t need a key to get in!” Lexi was already pulling him through the front door. “Wipe the snow off your feet. We can’t leave evidence we were here.”

  “Right. Are you sure we should… I mean, what exactly are we looking for?”

  “I’m not sure. Maybe something about Crain. There may be nothing at all, but I figure it can’t hurt to poke around a little.”

  She was already flipping through the mail on the counter. Clint went into the living room, wandering aimlessly. He heard her clicking her cell phone.

  “What are you doing?”

  She looked up at Clint. “I don’t recognize any of these return addresses,” she answered, holding a stack of Christmas cards. “But I figure it can’t hurt to have a record of who she’s close to. Oooh! Pictures!”

  He followed her gaze to the refrigerator. It took him only three giant strides to meet her there. “Do you see any red heads?”

  “I don’t think so, but have a look at this one,” she said, pulling a snapshot from under a magnet.

  It was a picture of Sara and Crain, at winter time, with mountains in the background. They were dressed in ski clothes, hats and sunglasses. Lexi flipped the photo over and found a note written on the back:

  Sara and Carl – Christmas 2010

  “Do you know what this means?” Lexi asked, her voice hoarse with excitement.

  “No, what?”

  “She called him Carl. Not Donald. Not Don, or anything else related to the new identity he’s created for himself.” She clicked an image of the front and back to save on her phone. “She really was telling the truth. She doesn’t know who he’s posing as now.”

  “That’s not exactly proof.”

  “No, but it’s close.”

  “I’m going to check the bathroom for red hairs. The bedroom, too. Is there anything else you need here?”

  “She’s got a basket of prescriptions next to the sink. I’m going to look through the labels, see if they belong to anyone else, or more importantly, who they were prescribed by.”

  “Good thinking. Hurry, though – I want to get out of here and try out another hunch on those keys before it gets dark.”

  “Okay.”

  “Where are we?” Lexi asked when Clint cut the engine.

  “Crain’s apartment.”

  “What are we doing here? Wait…” She scanned the parking lot for his car. “Is he here?”

  “I don’t think so, but I’m sending a text to Sam, see if he’ll check the GPS for his car.”

  “So why are we here?”

  “I have a hunch one of those keys fits his apartment.” His phone beeped, and he paused to read the text. “Sam. Crain’s at his office, so we’re clear. Wanna test my theory?”

  “Absolutely!”

  They walked silently up the sidewalk. Once they were inside the stairwell, they both vanished from sight. Clint smiled to himself, enjoying the trip with Lexi, if for no other reason than he could hold her hand.

  When they reached the door, Clint pulled the keys from his pocket to try the lock. The second key fit perfectly and he turned it to pop the lock in the knob.

  Lexi shivered slightly as he cracked the door open to peek inside.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “This just feels more up-close-and-personal than I was ready for. Invasive. You know, with a creep like Crain. Looking into his home and all…”

  “Do you want to go back?” he asked her.

  “No. Nope, not at all. We might be able to find something here. But… Can we just stick together?”

  He smiled at her. “You bet. And Sam said he’d text if Crain’s car was on the move. I think we’re safe to give his place a quick run-through.”

  They stepped into the entry, which led to an open living room which flowed right into a spacious kitchen. There was no art on the walls, and the furniture was dark, sleek and modern.

  “This does not look like a bachelor pad,” Clint said looking around. “It’s way too neat.”

  “Sterile is the word I’d use. Cold. It doesn’t even feel like a home. There is nothing out of place! Who lives like this?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe somebody who’s got something to hide?”

  She nodded her agreement.

  “Let’s check the bathroom first, then see if we can find an office,” he said, pulling Lexi behind him.

  There was no trace of any hair in the bathroom – not even in the hairbrush or shower drain. No medicine bottles to check, and no snapshots in his bedroom or living room. The place was completely void of any human evidence.

  At the end of the hall was another room, presumably a guest room, behind a closed door. When Clint pushed the door open, it revealed what he was looking for – a home office. He walked over to the computer and hit the space bar to wake the sleeping monitor.

  “Huh,” he said. “Why would anyone password protect their own computer? Especially if they lived alone?”

  “No clue. But it makes me wonder what’s on the computer that’s worth protecting.”

  She leaned down and pecked with her free hand at the keyboard, but everything she tried prompted a message box informing that the password was invalid. She gave up after several attempts.

  “You got any ideas?” she asked him.

  “Nope. I wish Sam were here. I’ll bet he could figure out a way to bypass it.”

  “Yeah, I know. We can always come back if we need to. We’ve got the key… Hey, do you have any hunches on where the other one fits now?”

  He shook his head. “My best guess – Crain’s office. But we’ll have to check it later, when he’s not at work.”

  “Why would he have our keys on his key ring? And why doesn’t he have his car keys on it?”

  “I’m not so sure these belong to Crain.” Clint turned his head toward the front door and squeezed Lexi’s hand. He put his finger over his lips.

  “What?” she whispered. “What is it?”

  “Did you hear that?” He was already leading her out of the office and toward the living room. Peeking around the corner, he saw two armed officers stepping through the front door.

  Clint looked back at Lexi, whose face had gone white with terror. He signaled for her to follow him and slowly creeped around the perimeter of the dining table, out of the path of the guards.

  “I don’t see any sign of forced entry,” one said. “The front door was unlocked.”

  “Who would activate the security alarm, but not lock the doo
r?”

  “Beats me. Maybe he just forgot when he left.”

  “Maybe. Let’s check the bedrooms.”

  As they disappeared into the hallway, Client silently pulled Lexi through the living room and to the front door. Rather than open the door again, she stepped through the barrier and Clint followed. They walked as quickly as they could back to the motorcycle.

  “Can you make the Harley invisible too?” he whispered in her ear.

  “I think so.”

  They climbed onto the seat and Clint watched the reflection in a window nearby until the cycle was gone, too. He could feel her heart pounding on his back.

  “Did you hear an alarm?” she whispered.

  “No. If there was one, it must have been silent, sent directly to the security office,” he answered. “Hang tight. I want to see how long they stay here.”

  “Do you think Crain knows we’re here?”

  “I’m sure he knows the alarm has been tripped, but he can’t possibly know it was us. Chances are the guards will report it was a false alarm after they find nothing inside.”

  They sat there for nearly ten minutes waiting for the guards to surface. When they finally came out, they climbed into an unmarked SUV where one made a call on his cell phone and the other did something on a laptop. Three minutes later, they pulled out and drove away.

  “Are we going to follow them?” Lexi asked.

  “No, I want to head straight back to your house to tell everyone what we know so far. Besides, I’ve got their license plate number. Sam can run it and find out who they are, what company they work for.”

  When his personal cell phone rang, the first instinct was to read the caller ID.

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s Neal.”

  “What is it?”

  “Your silent alarm at the apartment was just tripped. The guards are on their way now to investigate, but I wanted you to know right away.”

  “The security footage?”

  “So far I haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary. No intruders. It looks like maybe the door blew open and set off the alarm.”