by Debra Webb
‘She prefers to take care of herself,’ Duvall noted. ‘Jess is fiercely independent. I’m confident she sees your hovering as challenging that independence.’
Hovering? Jess had tossed that at him too. There was a lot Dan could say to that but he chose to keep the conversation civil. ‘I prefer to consider it watching her back.’
‘Unfortunately, you may be more right to take that strategy than you know.’
A new kind of tension tightened Dan’s gut. ‘You have additional information that involves Jess?’
‘I received a call from Agent Gant just before lunch today.’
That tension that had gripped his gut was suddenly at Dan’s throat. ‘Something new on Spears?’
‘Gant says there’s no confirmation he’s back in the country but Jess has been receiving text messages from him or from someone he has watching her.’
What the hell? She hadn’t said a word to him about this. ‘How long has this been going on?’
‘Gant couldn’t confirm the exact number of times Spears has contacted her but he believes she’s keeping the information close to the vest in hopes of luring Spears into some sort of trap. She wants to get that bastard, Burnett. More than either of us fully comprehends, I suspect. Until he is caught or eliminated, she won’t rest. Likewise, she won’t be safe.’
The idea that she would keep this from him had an emotional hurricane twisting inside Dan. Or maybe it was the glaring fact that Duvall knew and he didn’t. Be that as it may, he appreciated getting the heads-up from whatever source necessary. ‘If you learn anything else, I hope you’ll keep me advised and I’ll do the same.’
‘I take it she hasn’t shared this information with you either.’
‘She has not.’ That admission was like a sucker punch to the gut.
‘Watch her, Burnett. She’s way too smart and far too determined to let this thing with Spears go. I’ll do what I can from here,’ he vowed.
The call ended. Duvall was right. Jess had no intention of playing it straight with him or anyone else when it came to Spears. The bastard was the one black mark on her record. A killer who didn’t deserve to live. And she wanted him. Wanted to get him badly enough to avoid telling Dan the truth.
To prevent him from getting in her way.
A knock on the door yanked him from his frustrating thoughts. Lieutenant Valerie Prescott waited at his open door.
‘Your secretary’s away from her desk. May I have a moment of your time, Chief?’
‘Sure.’ Dan cleared his head and gestured to one of the chairs in front of his desk. ‘Have a seat, Lieutenant.’
‘I’d like to request a transfer, sir. I thought I could handle the situation but I can’t.’
‘I was hoping you would see your way clear on this.’ Prescott was a good detective. But she couldn’t compete with Jess. Few could.
‘I’ve tried,’ Prescott assured him. ‘I really have. I realized when I was working with the gang task force on the Lopez case that my loyalty just wasn’t with Chief Harris. I feel we’d both be better served if I transferred from SPU.’
This was a prime example of the sort of disrespect Dan would not tolerate.
‘I appreciate your honesty, Lieutenant. Captain Allen’s disappearance has left us with a hole in the department. I’d like you to consider moving permanently to the gang task force since you were happy there.’
‘That would be my first choice in assignments, sir. I’m up for captain, you know.’
‘Yes, you are, Lieutenant.’ Dan gave her a moment to gloat before lowering the boom. ‘But in light of recent events, I feel your teamwork skills are lacking. For now, Lieutenant Schafer will serve as interim commander of GTF. You’re to report to him ASAP.’
Prescott’s jaw dropped.
‘I’ll see that the proper paperwork is rushed through.’ Dan turned his attention back to the messages on his desk. ‘That’ll be all, Lieutenant.’
She’d made it all the way to the door without saying a word when she stalled and turned back to him. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t mention this, but I’d feel disloyal if I didn’t.’ Her voice was tight, her face flushed with anger. ‘Just before I left the scene at the Carson home, Buddy Corlew showed up demanding to see Chief Harris.’
What the hell was that guy up to? Dan had no doubt as to the lieutenant’s intent.
‘Chief Harris looked none too happy but Corlew managed to get into the scene just the same. He’s like that, you know. He keeps on until you let him have his way just to shut him up. I’m sure you of all people remember how he can be.’
With that parting remark, Prescott left. She would need a state-of-the-art GPS to find happy again.
‘Join the club,’ Dan muttered.
His cell vibrated and he suffered a twinge of guilt until he confirmed it wasn’t Jess calling. She wouldn’t be happy that he’d transferred Prescott out of SPU without discussing the move with her first.
Sylvia Baron’s name flashed on his screen.
Dan exhaled a big breath that failed to help with the frustration he couldn’t seem to ditch. ‘Sylvia, what’s up?’
‘I don’t know about you,’ she jumped right in without as much as a hello, ‘but I’m rather busy with all these dead bodies your newest deputy chief keeps piling up, so I’ll get right to the point. I’d like you to visit Nina with me on Sunday morning.’
Caught off guard by her request, he hesitated. Images and voices whispered through his mind. The weapon in her hand . . . the screaming . . . the pounding of his heart.
When he failed to recover quickly enough, Sylvia went on. ‘Before you come up with a more than worthy excuse to beg off, hear me out.’
He worked at keeping an open mind despite the tension coiling in his chest. ‘I’m listening.’
‘They can’t do anything else for her here, Dan. Once she’s settled in at the new clinic in New York, she may never be back to Birmingham. If there’s any chance at all my sister’s in there somewhere, I want her to know you’re not holding what happened against her.’
‘Christ, Sylvia, you know that’s not the case.’ He dragged a hand down his face. How could she think that?
‘I know it,’ she agreed, ‘but the point is that she knows it. Please, Dan. It would mean a great deal to me.’
Nina had suffered too much already. He couldn’t bear to be the reason she might suffer more emotional pain. A moment was required for him to find his voice but he was certain of what he had to do. ‘What time?’
‘Ten, if that works for you. I assume you’re still a heathen like me and don’t attend church services.’
‘I’ll be there.’
‘It’s the right thing to do, Dan.’
Those words reverberated inside him over and over for long minutes after the call ended.
Dan pushed out of his chair and stared out the window. He hadn’t visited Nina in years. There hadn’t seemed any point.
Truth was, it was easier for him to sleep at night if he could close his eyes without seeing her face.
With every fiber of his being, he was certain the Nina he had known was gone. If he had been wrong about that . . . God he couldn’t even go there.
For years he had tortured himself about what he might have done differently. After all, he must have done something wrong or that day wouldn’t have happened. How could this beautiful woman he had married turn into a raging force of anger and hatred in the space of a day without some sort of event that caused the change?
Schizophrenia.
Her family had explained that the illness had always been there. But sweet, beautiful Nina had somehow managed to triumph over those demons. She’d finished law school, had a thriving practice.
Then she’d met Dan. They’d been so happy at first.
He’d let her down. He’d spent too many hours at work. Had too many commitments that didn’t include her.
He hadn’t been there when she needed him most.
He’d let her down just like he di
d Jess after college.
Now all these years later he had a second chance with Jess. He wouldn’t let her down again.
But he would never forgive himself for letting Nina down.
Chapter Fifteen
1.30 P.M.
Jess had the office to herself for the meeting with the Coleman sisters. As promised, Wells had coordinated lunch with Harper and Cook to discuss the similarities in the two murder cases and what they had on each so far. Hopefully Harper had something on Todd Penney’s whereabouts as well as Scott Baker’s personal life. Prescott had dropped back by the office long enough to prepare her report from this morning’s canvassing of Elliott Carson’s neighbors. Just when Jess was sure she would need to ask the detective to find someplace else to work for an hour or so, she had promptly informed Jess that she needed the rest of the afternoon off.
Now, if her luck would just hold out for the next hour, Burnett wouldn’t show up demanding an update or answers as to why she had been cavorting with Corlew. Lori had already warned her that pictures of her and Corlew in front of the Carson home had made the breaking news. Speculation as to his involvement in the investigation would soon be rampant and Burnett would not be happy. In light of his nasty break with the BPD, most likely no one in the department would be happy.
Gina and Juliette Coleman now sat in front of Jess’s desk, one looking as terrified as the other appeared determined.
‘We started hanging out as a group our freshman year,’ Juliette explained. ‘We’d known each other our whole lives and’ – she shrugged – ‘somehow we just ended up as close friends. We got the tattoos when we were seniors.’
‘Was there ever any trouble between the five of you?’ Jess asked. They were taking this from the beginning. She needed a good handle on the dynamics of the group.
Juliette shook her head. ‘Not at all. We backed each other up. We kind of made a pact that we would always be there for each other. You know, take over the world.’ She laughed, a sad, bittersweet sound. ‘We still try to get together when we can but everyone’s busy. When we do, we share photos of kids and partners. Brag about our accomplishments.’
‘I’m aware of Elliott’s and Scott’s accomplishments. What about the others?’ Juliette was a political analyst with the local CBS affiliate. Her family had major connections all the way to the White House. No wonder Burnett and Gina Coleman had clicked.
Stop, Jess. This meeting wasn’t about Burnett’s sexual conquests.
‘O’Reilly Enterprises was started by Kevin’s great-grandfather. The company owns several newspapers and magazines in the southeast, including the Birmingham News. Kevin is the CEO. Aaron’s father is an Alabama Supreme Court justice, as was his grandfather. The hope is that Aaron, who is a very successful attorney, will follow in that same path.’ Juliette looked to her sister. ‘Did I miss anything?’
Gina shook her head. ‘You covered it, sweetie.’
‘Impressive.’ The mayor and every other uppity-up would be breathing down Jess’s neck on this one. On top of that, with Carson a national celebrity figure, the case would be followed by national news. Complicated things, but there was no help for that.
‘You and your friends met for lunch yesterday, you said?’ Jess confirmed, making a note on her pad.
Juliette averted her gaze, squirmed a bit in her seat the way folks who didn’t want to answer questions always did. ‘Yes. Kevin was worried that Scott’s death was somehow related to Todd’s return to Birmingham.’
Juliette Coleman was scared to death and still she was keeping some aspect of the reason to herself; otherwise she’d have no trouble with direct eye contact. The woman worked in the limelight; she wasn’t shy.
‘Why would Todd’s return have anything to do with Scott or any of you? Was there some sort of trouble with him before he left town twelve years ago?’
Juliette picked at her cuticles to prevent making eye contact. Certainly that fresh French manicure she sported didn’t require any further attention. Her older sister stared at her and still the awkward silence dragged on.
‘Tell her, Juliette,’ Gina pressed.
‘We were there,’ the younger woman said. ‘That night when Lenny Porter jumped.’
‘Why don’t we start from the beginning? Again,’ Jess said firmly. ‘Only this time let’s start with that May night twelve years ago. How did you and the other members of the Five end up on the Birmingham News roof?’
Juliette glanced at her sister.
‘If there’s anything you’d prefer not to say in front of your sister,’ Jess suggested, ‘I’m certain she would be happy to take a walk.’
Juliette cleared her throat, as if she needed to get past the emotion clogged there. ‘No. It’s fine. I told her the whole story when I heard about Elliott.’
‘And how did you hear about Elliott?’ Jess had still been at the scene when Gina Coleman called. Seemed some of Juliette’s sources had gotten the word to her even before an announcement had been made to the press. Either that or the woman had a friend in the department.
‘Kevin told me. He received a call from one of the paper’s investigative reporters who has a source in the department.’
How nice for Kevin. All cops hated leaks unless they were the ones doing the leaking. ‘All right, then. Tell me about that night. It was the night before your high school graduation?’
She nodded. ‘Seniors didn’t have school the next day, so we decided to have a private celebration. Since our parents were watching us like hawks – you know, a lot of seniors end up never seeing graduation because of last-minute celebrations that get out of control.’
Jess understood what she meant. Far too many seniors ended up in the morgue the nights before and after graduation. ‘So you took your party to a place they wouldn’t think to look.’ How clever.
‘We got together up there sometimes.’ She smiled, apparently recalling fond memories about those days. ‘When we were up there, we felt like we were on top of the world. That anything could happen.’
Something else Jess knew a little something about. She and Dan had a place like that as teens. They went back to Sloss Furnaces just a couple weeks ago. Her stomach quivered at the memory. How had so much time flown by when they weren’t looking?
‘We had a few beers. Talked about our futures and just chilled out.’
Jess waited for her to continue. From the distant expression on her face, she wanted to linger among the memories of that night before going on.
‘Lenny Porter showed up.’ She looked away. ‘Kevin was mad as hell. Apparently Aaron left the door open when he went down to the parking lot to get more beer. That’s the only way Lenny could have gotten in.’
‘The roof couldn’t be accessed via some exterior means? A fire escape maybe?’
Juliette shook her head. ‘You had to come through the building, take the elevator or the stairs to the top floor and then the maintenance access door to the roof.’
‘Was there any way Porter could have known you were going there?’
Juliette stared at her hands again. ‘He sort of had a thing for me. He followed me around. Left me notes. Sat in the street in front of my house. It was sweet but’ – she shrugged – ‘it got a little creepy the last couple of weeks of school.’
‘Creepy how?’
‘He started coming to my door at home. I tried to be nice but he just wouldn’t leave me alone. So the guys gave him a talking-to.’
‘Did this talking-to include a physical confrontation or public humiliation?’
‘I don’t think so. Scott was my boyfriend at the time and he wasn’t like that. He wouldn’t have hurt anyone.’
‘That still doesn’t answer my question about how Porter found out where you were that night,’ Jess countered.
‘Don’t you think it’s obvious that he followed her?’ the elder sister demanded. ‘I was already living in my own apartment, but Juliette mentioned that she had a stalker. She laughed it off. Thought he was harmless.
’
Jess gave Gina Coleman a patient smile. ‘Why don’t we let Juliette answer the questions?’
Gina crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Jess.
‘She’s right. I believe he followed me there.’
‘The five of you were just hanging out and he appeared?’ How convenient. Jess wanted to reach across her desk and shake the woman. Maybe what she’d read in those journal pages was making her less objective. Either way she wasn’t letting Juliette off the hook. Jess needed the truth before someone else ended up dead.
‘We were sitting in a circle on a blanket, drinking beer and just talking. He showed up, looked at me for a moment while the guys were demanding to know what he thought he was doing. Then he walked over to the edge of the roof and jumped.’
‘Did any of the guys make a move toward him or threaten him in any way?’
She shook her head adamantly. ‘No one even got up. We were all kind of in shock.’
‘Did he appear to have been drinking or using drugs? Was he high?’
‘I don’t know. The papers said he was on drugs. The rumor was he was dropping acid.’
‘Was he a drug user, to your knowledge? You said he hung around you all the time.’
‘Not that I know of. He was like a genius. He and his friend Todd Penney were the top nerds at Carver.’
‘Where was his friend Todd that night?’ Jess kept firing the questions at her. She wanted to see the woman’s emotions – her true emotions. Two of her friends were dead for Christ’s sake.
‘He was in the car . . . I guess . . . waiting for him. He claimed to have tried to talk him out of coming but Lenny wouldn’t listen.’
‘So his friend had no idea Lenny had come to the roof to jump?’
She shook her head and shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Did Todd Penney come to the rooftop?’
Juliette hesitated before answering. Her gaze flicked around the room, looking for some place to light. ‘No. He didn’t.’
More evasive answers. ‘Despite having not witnessed any actions made by you or your friends, he blamed you for what happened.’