She heard a muffled curse as her captor entered the space. Stella felt a small smile tug her lips. The voice was decidedly feminine.
Her arm was taken in an iron grasp, and she felt the bite of a needle at the crook of her elbow. Stella fought to clear her vision as the usual tests were run. She wondered how many holes there are in her arms.
Her captor murmured another profanity and then took out four syringes filled with the necessary decoctions.
Stella felt the needles pierce her skin and felt an instinctual wave of relief and gratitude. She was not going to starve to death alone in the dark. She felt her nails bite into her palms as she tensed her fists. Feeling grateful toward her kidnapper was not a sensation she wanted. Yet knowing that her life was entirely in the hands of another made her mind stretch and hope for that person to have at least some decency.
Just keep it together, Stella. You will be fine.
After her captor had packed the now empty syringes away, they sat beside the mattress. Her blood pressure was next taken, measuring her pulse and twice more sampled her blood for tests.
I must have been closer to death than I realized.
“You should be feeling better by now.”
Stella felt her honey eyes flash open. She had not been spoken to once since her capture. She shifted her head slowly to the side and grimaced over a lingering wave of nausea as she tried to bring the person into focus.
The woman, dressed, as always, head to toe in black, seemed to be watching her intently, though her eyes were also hidden by a screen of mesh. “Eat.”
Stella followed the gesture and saw a bowl of thick soup. She felt her stomach clench painfully and shifted slowly until she was kneeling. The woman handed her the bowl.
“Wh—” Stella began, her voice sounding scratchy from disuse.
“No questions, please. I’m only trying to be certain that you aren’t about to lapse into a coma like the other one.”
Stella took a few mouthfuls of the soup, fear beginning to pound through her veins as the woman’s words filtered through her tired mind.
The other one?
She could only be referring to Miranda Williams. Stella drank the rest of the soup, thinking hard. She remembered going to visit Miranda at her estate. Stella was planning to tell her about her father’s plans so that the woman would understand the contract better. When she had reached the house, a servant had told her Miranda was out in the gardens. She had followed the instructions and found Miranda collapsed on the ground.
Stella handed the bowl back to her captor. “You took Miranda too?”
The woman took the bowl, hefted her bag and turned to leave. “I took no one. I’m only here to keep you alive until my boss says otherwise.”
Stella watched the door slide shut, fitting seamlessly with the wall, and her heart sank. At first, she had thought that she might have been kidnapped in order for her to be ransomed to her father. Or that perhaps she had just stumbled upon something like that but with Miranda Williams as the intended target. Now, it seemed a little more complex than that. The woman had seemed annoyed rather than concerned that ‘the other one’ had slipped into a coma. If they were wanted for ransom, then at some point, proof that they were alive would be needed, wouldn’t it? And if this woman had a boss, then was this an organized crime thing?
Stella pressed her back against the cold wall. It was in her nature to try to figure out other people’s motives and desires. It was what made her a good lawyer. Yet at the moment, she had nothing that would give her more answers.
She felt a spear of determination break through the engulfing wave of despair. What would they do if she was in a coma? Would her bonds be unlocked so they could treat her better? Might she even be moved? Stella wasn’t certain how to fake a coma, especially as she felt certain this woman was a doctor of some kind, but she was definitely going to try something along those lines.
***
Dave tossed his bag in the trunk alongside Jay’s and then slowly rolled his shoulder. The pain was evident as he bit back curses.
Jay took in his expression and patted him lightly on the other shoulder. “I’m not sure I ever thanked you. For your reckless act of bravery.”
Dave’s green-blue eyes crinkled at the edges. “I did it for myself, remember? Entirely selfish reasons.”
Jay chuckled too. “Selfish or not, you still saved either my life or Mr. Haraby’s.”
“Would his death not have been helpful to you?”
Jay paused in the act of opening his car door and cast Dave a curious glance. “Just because he hates me, doesn’t mean I’d hurt Stella by allowing him to be killed.”
“Is that why you put a tracker on Ben too?” Dave asked as they slipped into the car.
It was still early morning, and Jay had to squint at Dave in the low, bright sunlight. “You caught that, did you?”
Dave smirked. “Of course. My injury didn’t make me blind.”
“I’m not sure… No, actually I am absolutely sure that I wouldn’t have come this far without you. You have been a major help to me and everyone else.”
Dave held his gaze a moment and nodded, though something in his expression made Jay feel like he was annoyed by something.
Jay gunned the engine and started a journey that would take them most of the day, from New Orleans to Carthage, Texas, with a stop off in Natchitoches to give the box and bracelet over to Natalie.
He looked at Dave from the corner of his eye. It seemed like Dave’s brush with death had changed him a little. He no longer seemed happy to take all of Jay’s comments.
“Why do you seem lost in thought?”
Dave’s cheeks reddened slightly, and he shrugged. “I suppose I’m wondering how everyone always seems to write or speak about you like you’re this arrogant prick who never shares. I mean, I’ve only been working with you for twelve days, and I already know better.”
Jay huffed a laugh. “Weren’t you paying attention at the Williams estate? That’s how I speak to my clients. I get them results swiftly. How could my reputation be any different than it is?”
Dave nodded slowly as they stopped at a red light.
“I’ve never had a partner. Never had anyone worked so closely beside me. You were bound to catch glimpses of the Jayden Roe that doesn’t often make a public appearance.”
Dave seemed to suppress a smile. “Are you regretting letting me on?”
Jay rolled his eyes. “How is that even a question after everything I said?”
Dave smirked, then froze and pointed out the passenger side window. “Look!”
Jay followed his glance in time to see a person, dressed head-to-toe in black, vanish into the gathering crowds on the sidewalk.
“Should we follow?”
Jay felt his heart hammering in his chest. “No. We stick to the plan.”
Dave cast him a sidelong glance. “Are you sure? Didn’t you go somewhere yesterday? Shouldn’t you at least warn them?”
The lights changed, and Jay hit the accelerator. He was trying hard not to laugh at the idea that The Serpent Brothers could possibly be caught unaware in their own town.
“No need. New Orleans won’t be another Salisbury, I guarantee it.”
Dave frowned, but remained silent. Jay felt a wave of sympathy. He had returned from his impromptu lunch only to find Dave a mild wreck, already having learned that his gaggle of gossipers had all been killed. He seemed to have taken some satisfaction as he had watched Jay compile a neat sheaf of evidence for the Salisbury police, so that they would stop chasing the wrong man.
Jay flashed him a grin. “Don’t worry, Dave, we’ll win this fight.”
Dave met his eyes and a broad smile tipped his lips.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Jay pulled off Interstate 49 and headed into Shreveport. There, in the safety of the trees, he would see if Hector still had the noble knight image he was striving for.
“Why are we stopping here?” Dave asked as Jay
drove into a mall lot and parked. “Hang on, why are we in Shreveport?”
Jay chuckled and felt another wave of gratitude. Dave seemed to have a gift for making others feel at ease and smile. It was a blessing with the pressure to find Stella mounting with every passing hour. The fact that he was being tailed helped too. It gave him hope that she was alive for whatever messed up game this person was playing.
“So you really did doze off.”
Dave’s expression became sheepish. “Sorry. Had a bad night.”
Jay nodded and answered the question. “We are here because Natchitoches is not New Orleans, and I don’t want another Salisbury either.”
Dave looked up at the big mall and nodded. “I see. So we’ll be meeting Dr. Piers here?”
Jay smiled at the reminder that his childhood friend had finally married the woman who had supported him through every bad patch in his life. “That’s the plan.”
“You say that like you don’t really expect her to show up,” Dave told Jay as they entered the bustling mall.
Jay gave a rueful laugh and pitched his voice so that only Dave would be able to catch his words. “Her husband might not like her getting involved in all this. Especially if he has discovered that I went to Salisbury and then returned leaving a body count behind me.”
“You make it sound like he’d believe you capable of murder.”
Jay gave him a disbelieving look. “I thought you knew everything about me? Didn’t you know that Hector was the one who arrested me for the murder? A murder I confessed to so it is hardly a stretch for people to think me capable of it.”
“Yes, but he also ensured that everyone knew Linda had wanted to die to bring down Goldstein.” His green-blue eyes flew suddenly wide as if he’d just had an epiphany. “Hang on. You don’t think it is him do you? Goldstein? I mean, it all adds up,” Dave started to talk faster now as they settled into a table near the staff entrance of a restaurant. “Goldstein has every reason to hate you. Even though he’s serving multiple life sentences, he could still have some power and reach. Maybe there is someone who knew him who escaped your net and holds a grudge?”
Jay remained silent. He had thought of all this too. Dave’s logic was sound and feasible, but Jay was reluctant to believe them. After all, he had been chasing Goldstein for years, digging into his life, discovering everything he could, every link the man had. He knew that to truly break someone like him, he would need to have broken every single link, so that there was no chance of a comeback. He was confident that his work had been absolute, but where his mind got stuck was on Dave’s last point. While Jay had fashioned the net, he hadn’t cast it himself. All that had been left to Hector. Was it possible that someone had managed to escape Hector’s grasp?
Dave was watching him and seemed to have come to another realization. “Didn’t Linda Wei have a granddaughter? Could she—”
“No,” Jay stopped him there. Ruby was not heartless. She had suffered much as a child, and he knew she would never hate someone that much.
The fact that no one had seen even the smallest sighting of Stella in the nearly three weeks she had been gone, meant that either she was already dead, or she was being kept somewhere secretive. Even if Ruby hated him, she would never kill Stella, nor would she chain her somewhere.
Dave met his gaze squarely. “Why not? Look I think—”
“They’re here,” Jay interrupted again.
“Where?” Dave scanned the restaurant, but neither Natalie nor Hector were anywhere in sight.
Jay readied himself to leave and tilted his head discreetly toward the staff door that had been propped open to let out a stream of waiters, carting sparklers, and a birthday cake.
As the singing inevitably drew everyone’s attention, Jay rose and slipped through the door, followed swiftly by Dave.
They entered the kitchen area and followed the chef’s direction as he pointed a steak knife in the direction of another door.
Jay entered the small staff rest area and took in the three people there. The mere fact that Hector had brought Natalie gave Jay hope that he would at least listen to what he wanted. Jay turned a smile on the last person. A woman with silvery blond hair and a long face with dark eyes who had once sat on the Natchitoches city council. It was thanks to his work that she had not gone down with Goldstein.
“Thanks for helping me out, Kelsey.”
She smiled and shrugged. “I owed you one.”
Jay inclined his head, and she slipped out.
Hector watched her leave and then his eyes fell on Dave. “You!”
Jay smothered a laugh. He had forgotten that Hector might not take kindly to Dave’s presence. “You already know my partner, Dave Tiller, of course.”
Hector’s eyes flashed to Jay’s. “Partner? Since when do you have a partner?”
“Since I realized that Stella’s life was on the line and Dave here proved worthy.”
Dave shuffled his feet, but greeted the two in a solid voice.
“Do you know he tricked my wife into giving him information he wanted?” Hector fumed.
Jay sighed. “He needed to prove his worth. I can’t have just anyone tailing me, can I?”
Hector stared at Dave another long moment then turned a dark smile on Jay. “Can’t you? Then why are there eighteen dead at Salisbury and counting?”
Jay breathed out his annoyance, reminding himself that Hector had chosen to show up with Natalie, despite already knowing this. “I’m working on that. In conjunction with the Salisbury police, I might add.”
Hector snorted. “You mean you’re shoving some of your artfully created reports down their throats so that they stay out of your way.”
Jay half smiled as he sensed the end to Hector’s anger. “We’re running out of time here, Hector. Stella was taken more than three weeks ago. You know the odds better than anyone.”
Hector held his gaze for a long moment and then sighed. “I only want one honest answer from you.”
“Ask away.”
“Is this personal? As in, was Stella taken because of you?”
Jay felt his breath leave him in a gust as if Hector had just punched him, but forced the honest answer out. “Yes. Everything certainly seems to be pointing to that.”
“Then do me a favor, no, do her a favor. If you find her in time, let her go.”
“Am I meant to walk alone forever just because my job rubs some people the wrong way?”
Hector scowled, and Natalie finally piped in. “Your message said you needed forensic help?”
Jay turned to her. “Yes. I found something, or rather, it was left for me. I don’t know who handled the box besides myself. Chances are, it was quite a few people, but the bracelet inside should have only been handled by Stella and the person who took it from her.”
Hector’s complexion paled slightly behind his wife as Jay removed the antique box carefully from his backpack. It was already neatly packed inside another large handbag.
Natalie took the hand bag carefully, but didn’t even open it. She may appear nothing more than a small town forensic analyst to outsiders, but he knew she had stayed there by choice. She could have had a post as one of the leading forensic specialists in the country, but money and fame would never have been enough to take her from Hector’s side.
“Thank you.”
Hector’s eyes flashed up, and he smirked. “The great Jayden Roe is being humble. Alert the media.”
Dave chuckled under his breath, and Jay smiled for a moment before it faded. “I have asked a friend to keep an eye out for you guys, okay? Just in case whoever is trying to lead gets annoyed when I stop playing ball.”
The others all shifted uncomfortably at his words, and he half turned to Dave. “You can back out if you want. We’re right back here in your hometown after all.”
Dave raised his eyebrows, more in challenge than in surprise. “Not a chance, Jay. Do you think a bullet is enough to scare me away?”
Jay gave another smile
and turned to the rest. “Take care of yourselves.”
“You too,” Hector said as Jay shouldered his pack once more and left.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Jay pulled into the hotel in Carthage and breathed out a silent sigh. Quite apart from the tiredness caused by a total of six hours behind the wheel, he was glad to be able to put a little distance between himself and Dave.
He glanced out of the corner of his eye as Dave also got out of the car and took in their surroundings. The start of the drive from Shreveport had begun with Dave launching almost immediately back to his ideas revolving around Ruby and Goldstein.
“She’s got a good knowledge of you,” Dave had said, ignoring Jay’s request to drop the subject. “And she’d obviously have a good reason for hating you.”
“I said enough, Dave. Ruby is not a suspect. She is not involved in this, end of story. So just drop it, okay?”
“No,” Dave had said stubbornly after a pause. “I can’t, because you won’t share or explain any of your reasons with me.”
“My reasons don’t need explaining. I know her. You don’t. I say she’s not mixed up in this, you trust me.”
“Or what? Leave?”
Jay had turned a cold glance on him, taking his eyes off the road for longer than was wise. “Yes.”
After that, the mood in the car had dissolved into a sullen, tense thing pushing between them. Jay drew in a deep breath, hoping things could turn around by morning.
“Let’s go,” Jay called, opening the trunk and pulling out both of their bags.
“Thanks,” Dave murmured, seeming unable to quite meet his eyes.
Jay sighed inwardly then rested a hand on Dave’s shoulder. “Listen, I understand where you are coming from, but this whole situation feels a step away from chaos. I need you to trust me. That line of investigation is already closed. You agreed to join me as my apprentice, remember? Well, sometimes that means following orders without having all the facts.”
Dave held his gaze for a long moment then nodded. “You’re right, but surely my actions since then have heightened my standing. Or am I never to draw level with you?”
Jayden Roe Mystery 02-The Final Lie Page 11