Mission--Colton Justice

by Jennifer Morey

  “So, in your opinion, you don’t suspect foul play,” Adeline said.

  “No, I don’t, but there was a dent in the back wheel well panel that doesn’t fit a head-on crash with a pole. Did you see it?”

  “No.” Adeline saw Jeremy’s rising enthusiasm that the crash expert had found something significant. “Does that indicate someone could have driven her into that pole?”

  “Maybe, but why in that location? She could have easily driven into someone’s yard. I agree the dent might be enough to cause some suspicion, but it might not be enough to indicate someone tried to drive her into a pole. Something like that would be difficult to plan, much less execute. How does anyone deliberately send another car head-on into a pole of their choosing? I’m not saying it’s impossible, I just think it’s unlikely. It’s also hard to tell from the photos, but the dent appears to have been caused with less force than you’d expect from a car running into the side in an attempt to crash it.”

  “But it’s not impossible,” Adeline said, more to placate Jeremy. “Someone like Livia would try to drive an enemy into anything. City streets have lots of objects to run into. It didn’t have to be that particular pole.”

  “A very good point. It’s not impossible.”

  He still wasn’t convinced, though. Adeline didn’t comment further.

  “There was no dent in her car the morning I left the house, the last time I saw her alive,” Jeremy said.

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t think it is related to the accident that killed your wife, Mr. Kincaid.”

  “So you think it magically appeared sometime before that?”

  Adeline could tell Jeremy was becoming annoyed and almost couldn’t blame him. The crash expert had decided he didn’t believe Tess’s accident was caused by someone who meant her harm. He wouldn’t be swayed.

  On the other hand, Jeremy bulldozed his way into making others agree with him that Livia killed Tess. She was afraid he’d overlook evidence in his stubbornness.

  The crash expert didn’t engage Jeremy. He only said, “Again, I’m very sorry for your loss.”

  Jeremy abruptly stood. “Livia could have been there. She would have made sure no one saw her. And if I know Livia—and I do—she could have planned to run Tess off the road.”

  “I understand,” the expert said neutrally. “But I have to look at the evidence at hand, and in my opinion, none of that points to murder.”

  “That’s the nature of murder.” Jeremy’s voice rose. “The killer doesn’t want to get caught!” He stormed out, heading for the door.

  Adeline thanked the crash expert, who handed her a copy of his findings, and then hurried after Jeremy. She felt for him, but he had to see he might be reaching here.

  “I’ll go over the reports and question the witnesses again,” she said, fumbling to get the crash analysis report into her briefcase. “And I’ll talk to Tess’s friends. They might know something.” She saw him relax a little.

  “You should have told me you contacted a crash expert,” he said.

  “It’s standard procedure for me. I work with evidence, just like that man said. We have to rely on the evidence. Without it, we have nothing, Jeremy. Please try and understand that.”

  He relaxed further and stopped outside on the sidewalk, facing her. “I do. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be difficult.”

  Her heart melted at his easy softening. He was so even-tempered. She smiled. “Don’t worry about it.” She stepped closer and elbowed his arm. “Just let me do my job, handsome.”

  He grinned and the moment switched back to where they’d left off last night. Then she caught herself in this flirtation and started walking.

  “You really think I’m handsome?”

  A handsome widower who still mourned his wife’s death. She sent him a look that should let him know she wasn’t playing.

  “I think you’re beautiful,” he said.

  Why was he talking this way? Was he happy she’d keep investigating? Maybe romancing her into doing a thorough job? He should know by now that she would. Or had their near sexual encounter gotten him thinking?

  “Have you changed your mind about seeing other women?” She had to ask to protect herself. She needed to know where he stood in that regard.

  He walked a few steps without answering, as though the flirtation had been fun but now she’d asked a serious question.

  “I don’t know. I haven’t really given it much thought.”

  She walked beside him awhile.

  “I’m not ready to feel that way for anyone yet. Losing her...” He trailed off.

  Adeline felt the pain he must have gone through, losing his wife with such a young child. Those months leading up to her death must have been magical, a new baby with a woman he loved. How could he and Tess have been anything but floating in the clouds with happiness? And then to have that ripped apart so suddenly must have been terrible, unimaginable.

  Was he afraid to fall in love again?

  Adeline didn’t fear love. She had a healthy respect for it. Trust the wrong man and love would end up hurting her. Trust the right man and love would flourish. She’d have what Jeremy had with Tess.

  The more her thoughts took her down that path, the more a sense of foreboding mushroomed, blooming from her core into a full-fledged warning.

  She could not allow herself to have any feelings for him, not until she knew she could trust him.

  “I also won’t risk Jamie’s well-being,” Jeremy said.

  Why not make her apprehension worse?

  He did when he went on. “He doesn’t remember his mother. Someday that’s going to be tough on him.”

  “Maybe. Are you going to tell him about me?”

  Jeremy stopped at the car and faced her. “I hadn’t really thought about it. Tess and I talked about it and didn’t come to a decision. And then she died. I’m not sure how that will affect him.”

  “Well, if you never marry again, it might affect him a great deal.”

  “It would have to be the right woman.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.” She could be blatantly honest on this. “I won’t make the same mistake I made before. If I ever fall in love again, I’ll trust the man.” She’d never told anyone that before. Why had she confided in him?

  Moving around him, she got into the passenger seat.

  Jeremy went around to the driver’s side. When he closed the door, he started the engine but didn’t drive anywhere.

  “You said you loved the man who used you,” he said.

  “I also said I didn’t trust him.” And she hadn’t. She’d loved the man she met in college, not the man she’d lived with. Blindly. Impulsively. Now she knew she had to wait, to know for sure she could trust.

  “Do you trust me?”

  What a loaded question. She turned to study his face, which he kept straight forward. Was he testing her? For Jamie? Checking to see if she was worthy? Adeline couldn’t be sure. She could only be honest.

  “I don’t know you well enough to say.”

  Then he turned, his eyes soft and warm. “Maybe we should rectify that.”

  Did he intend to do some exploring? Adeline felt herself recoil, that earlier foreboding returning. She didn’t mind getting to know him and he her, but this wasn’t going anywhere beyond friendly unless she had some assurances.

  Chapter 7

  Jamie finished eating his chocolate chip pancake topped with whipped cream and more chocolate chips. Adeline finished cleaning up the mess they’d just made. She was beginning to really love the mornings when she and Jamie shared pancake breakfast. Those were her favorites as a kid, too.

  “Are we going to the park today?”

  She turned from the sink, drying her hands. Why had that idea popped into his head
?

  “You want to go to the park?”

  Jamie swung his little legs from the island stool, having to think of his answer. “Daddy said Mommy took me there.”

  “Oh. Do you remember going with her?” She went to him and smoothed his hair.

  “No.”

  “Did you hear your daddy talk about going there?”

  “Yeah. He said Mommy liked it.”

  She wondered if he wanted to go to see what it was like, maybe so he could imagine going with his mother as he must have done with his father or nanny, whom he hadn’t had a chance to know. If only she could tell him Tess wasn’t his biological mother. She wished Jamie knew who she was.

  And along with that powerful desire came another wave of foreboding.

  “Let’s get you cleaned up. I’ve got some errands to run and maybe we’ll have time to stop by the park on the way to see your dad.” Jeremy had invited them to his office for lunch today. And wouldn’t that be a family affair? She got tickles in her stomach that subdued her foreboding, which could be a dangerous thing.

  Jamie bounded up the stairs ahead of her. She followed him into the bathroom first and ran some water. In his superhero PJs, he started making faces at himself in the mirror.

  Adeline wet a cloth with warm water and scrubbed all the chocolate off his face and hands. She made a face with him in the mirror. She stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth and made her eyes cross.

  Jamie laughed and did the same. He looked so much like her she laughed with him. Instinctively, she leaned over and kissed the top of his head.

  Their fun eased and Jamie continued to observe her in the mirror.

  “Are you going to be my mommy?” he asked.

  Shock rendered her speechless for a second. “I don’t know. Would you like that?”

  “Other kids have mommies.”

  “Yes, they sure do.” She crouched in front of him. “Tell you what. Let’s get you cleaned up and dressed and then we’ll decide later, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  * * *

  Ready for her day in a chain-trimmed bouclé tweed, light gray-and-black collarless jacket over a white silk camisole and straight-legged black pants, Adeline still floated on a cloud of bliss as she drove with Jamie in the backseat. She’d dressed him in jeans and a superhero long-sleeved T-shirt under his sporty blue windbreaker. She felt so good she didn’t even attempt caution. The damage to her heart could be devastating if she continued, however. If she became too attached to this child—to her child—what would she do when the time came to part ways?

  Through the rearview mirror she noticed a black Suburban followed her too closely. She turned on her blinker and moved into the right lane. The Suburban moved behind her, not using a blinker.

  “What the...”

  Adeline slowed down. Maybe the driver would tire of following her. He didn’t. She tried to get a good look at him but he wore a black hat and sunglasses. He had the same build as the man she’d chased from Jeremy’s property, from what she could see of his upper torso.

  Heading into a turn in the road, Adeline drove past a stand of trees. The landscape opened up after that, with a hill sloping off on the right. As the hill steepened, the Suburban switched lanes. Finally. Maybe that flash of apprehension had been nothing, after all.

  The Suburban drove up alongside her. She glanced over just as it veered into her lane. With a gasp, she steered to the right. The road dropped off at the steep slope. She couldn’t move over any more.

  The Suburban hit the driver’s side. Adeline lost a little control, braking to get out of the way. From the backseat, Jamie screeched. The Suburban braked with her, and the driver steered into her vehicle again. She narrowly missed the edge of the road and the steep drop-off. Braking harder, she reached into her jacket and retrieved her pistol as the car came to a stop. She kept the gun hidden from Jamie but carried anyway because of her other client.

  Ahead of her, the Suburban backed toward her; as he passed beside her, she rolled her window down and stuck the pistol out. The man saw her and sped faster backward. She fired and missed.

  Adeline pressed on the gas and drove fast down the road. The Suburban chased behind. The landscape evened out and the first sign of the town came into view. The Suburban grew more and more distant, and then stopped altogether and turned around on the road.

  “Why did that man hit us?” Jamie asked.

  “Are you all right?” She twisted briefly to check on him, anger rising fast and intense that someone had tried to run her off the road with a small child in the car. Her child.

  “Yeah.”

  Putting her gun away, she slowed to a stop along the side of the road and dug out her cell phone. She called 9-1-1 and explained what had just happened. The dispatcher told her to stay where she was.

  Less than three minutes later, a sheriff’s car drove up. It was Knox.

  “Stay in the car, Jamie.” Adeline got out and met Knox as he did the same. “A man just tried to run us off the road.” She pointed. “Back there where the slope gets steep down to the river.”

  Knox glanced back and then faced her again. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, we’re both fine.” But they almost hadn’t been. “It was a man in a black Suburban, a newer model.”

  “You didn’t happen to get the plate on it, did you?”

  “No.” She’d been too busy keeping the car on the road and getting away from the man.

  Knox inspected her damaged car and then went back to his car and radioed for backup, instructing his deputy to drive the road to see if they could find the Suburban. After that, he started making notes for his report.

  Adeline called Jeremy and let him know what had happened. He’d been earnest in asking if they were okay and then said he’d come and get them. The car would be towed for repairs. While she was still on the phone, another car drove up and she recognized the deputy who had dismissed Jeremy’s concern that Tess had been murdered, seeing his name tag. Nicholson. She already knew his first name was Rusty.

  He walked toward her and Knox. Ending the call with Jeremy, she faced the other deputy with Knox.

  “Any trouble here?” the deputy asked.

  “A man driving a black Suburban tried to run this woman and her young boy off the road,” Knox said, surprising her by referring to Jamie as her boy. “I’ve got my deputy looking for him.”

  “That driver is long gone by now.”

  Was he just a pessimist or did he not want the driver of the Suburban found? Adeline watched him closely awhile. He saw her and met her look and Adeline thought she detected wariness in the man.

  “Why did you think Tess Kincaid’s accident couldn’t have been deliberate?” she asked, drawing a look from Knox.

  Nicholson appeared to have to search his memory.

  “Jeremy Kincaid’s late wife?” Adeline helped him out.

  “Yes. There was no evidence of foul play. None of the witnesses saw anything unusual and Mrs. Kincaid had an elevated blood alcohol level.”

  “How well did you know Livia Colton?”

  He drew his head back as though he thought that a strange question. “I knew of her. Everyone knows about Livia Colton.”

  “Maybe you’re trying to protect her by not looking into Tess’s accident as a possible homicide.”

  “There was no need to look into a possible homicide. The accident was an accident and nothing more. I’m sorry for Mr. Kincaid’s loss, but there’s nothing I or anyone else can do.”

  He seemed sincere, if a little dismissive. She could see why Jeremy had thought that about him.

  “I just stopped to make sure everything was all right.” He gave a nod to Knox and went back to his car.

  He left rather abruptly, as though he preferred to avoid any talk
involving Livia. She glanced at Knox, whose dark eyebrows had lowered as he watched the deputy drive away.

  “You think he’s dirty?” she asked.

  “Anything’s possible, I suppose. He hasn’t done anything to raise my suspicion, but Livia is my mother. I know her. She could talk a paper clip into doing what she asks.” He turned a wry smile at her.

  Just then, Jeremy pulled up. Adeline went to get Jamie, who’d gotten busy with a superhero action figure.

  “Come on, little guy.” She unclipped him from his car seat and helped him out. Taking his hand, she led him to Jeremy, who crouched before him and took him into his arms.

  “I’m fine, Dad,” Jamie complained.

  He stood and leaned over to put his arm around Adeline and kissed her cheek. “I’m so glad you’re okay. And I’m so sorry I pulled you into this.”

  Still tingling from his touch and warm greeting, she said, “I’m more convinced than ever that you need me to look into Tess’s accident.” She still needed proof but she felt more purpose now.

  That pleased him but didn’t clear the concern from his eyes.

  The tow truck arrived and interrupted the intimate moment. Adeline saw Knox’s knowing smile and chose to ignore him.

  * * *

  Jeremy shared a lunch with Adeline and Jamie. It had taken a long time for his worry to subside. He kept imagining Jamie injured or killed if Adeline had been driven off the road. Her quick thinking and reaction could have saved both her and Jamie’s lives.