A Wanted Man (Cold Case Detectives Book 1)

by Jennifer Morey

  “I drove to Park City. I don’t understand why you don’t believe me.”

  Detective Cohen merely looked at Jax for several seconds.

  “I didn’t see anything,” Jax insisted.

  “I didn’t say you did.”

  Penny glanced at Kadin again and he briefly met her eyes. Had Jax seen something? Why would he say that so defensively if he hadn’t?

  “Did you see your brother before you picked up your son?” the detective asked.

  Jax blinked a few times. “Dane?” He seemed surprised.

  “Do you have any other brothers?”

  Jax shook his head as though shaking off confusion. “No. I didn’t see him.”

  The detective gave Jax another long look. “Mr. Ballard, we recovered evidence that may link you to Sara Wolfe’s crime scene.”

  “DNA?” Jax asked, quick and full of anxiety.

  The detective slowly shook his head. “No. Your DNA doesn’t match that found in the scene.”

  Jax sat back, slumping in relief. “Of course it doesn’t. I didn’t kill her!”

  “But we do have fibers from her crime scene that match some recovered from your home.”

  That bombshell caused Jax a few seconds of processing time. “From my home? You can’t do that without a warrant.”

  “You’re right, I can’t.”

  As Jax stared at him and realization struck, he grew angry. “Did Penny give it to you?”

  “I’m not at liberty to reveal my sources.”

  Jax cursed a few vulgar words, calling Penny names.

  “Tell me again, Mr. Ballard. What happened after you left work and before you went to the movie?”

  “We’re finished talking.” Jax rose to his feet. “You’ll have to talk to my lawyer from here on out.”

  “Who are you protecting?” the detective asked.

  “Protecting?” Jax scoffed, turning to face the detective at the door. “Nobody. Maybe you should bring my brother in here and ask him where he was that day.”

  Detective Cohen stood. “Why should I do that?”

  Jax’s mouth pressed tighter in his agitation. He seemed reluctant to reveal whatever he hid about Dane.

  “What do you know about Dane that you haven’t told me?” Cohen prodded.

  “I didn’t think it was significant. But now...” Jax turned toward the door. “You’ll have to talk to my lawyer.”

  “Wait.” Cohen put his hand on Jax’s shoulder. “I know he’s your brother, but you can tell me whatever you know. It won’t leave this room unless I have proof of guilt.”

  Jax looked toward the one-way window, clearly doubting whatever he said would stay in that room. But he met the detective’s face and then finally said, “I didn’t keep climbing rope in my Park City house. Someone put it there.”

  “Climbing rope?” Detective Cohen said. “I didn’t say it was climbing rope. I said fiber. I didn’t say what kind of fiber.”

  “Like I said, you’ll have to talk to my lawyer from now on.” Jax tried the handle and found the door locked.

  Detective Cohen knocked on the door and an officer opened it.

  Before leaving, Jax looked back at Cohen. “My brother put the rope in my closet. I noticed it there yesterday. He’s trying to set me up. He’s the one you should be looking at, not me.”

  Jax didn’t have a high regard for his brother. The two fought. Disagreed on business issues. Was Jax jealous of his brother or was his brother jealous of Jax?

  Detective Cohen didn’t say anything and Jax left. They’d get nothing out of him after this. But something still bothered Penny.

  Why would Dane try to frame his own brother? Did it have something to do with his best friend’s illegal embezzling?

  * * *

  After leaving the police station, Penny went with Kadin to talk to Vanessa’s parents. She’d listened in when he called to let them know he’d taken over their daughter’s missing person case but hadn’t had to hear how thrilled the woman on the other end became. Detective Cohen had let her know prior to the call. The visit had been brief, with Kadin only informing them of the tattoo parlor and confirming what he’d already suspected. Vanessa had run away from a good home after falling into friendship with a misguided boy.

  With the Sara Wolfe investigation once again at a standstill, Kadin had decided they needed to take a quick trip to Houston. Penny sensed the stout determination to find the missing girl and that doing so would bring him that much closer to healing, or at least coming to terms with his tragedy.

  She just hoped she could keep from getting sick in front of him.

  After landing, Cohen had called to report the results of his interview with Dane, who’d, of course, denied any connection to the stolen truck or the climbing rope. Cohen hadn’t asked for DNA because Jax’s had been so different from the crime scene sample. As Jax’s brother, Dane would also have different DNA. Whoever had left the DNA was of no close relation to Jax or Dane.

  The tattoo parlor looked as unkempt as the owner, a short, inked-up dark-haired man with a Fu Manchu mustache.

  The man took one look at each of them and half grinned. “First time?”

  Kadin took out a photo of Vanessa and showed it to the man. “This girl came here for a tattoo a few weeks ago.”

  “Yeah. I remember her. She got her first tattoo here, a real pretty one.” He twisted and pointed to the middle of his lower back. “One of these.”

  “Was she with this boy?” Kadin showed him another photo.

  “She did come here with someone. Yeah, that could be the guy. He didn’t say much.”

  “Did they pay cash?”

  “Yeah. I only take cash.”

  “Did Vanessa talk about anything while they were here?” Kadin asked.

  The man’s roughneck congeniality faded. “Is something the matter? You two cops or something?”

  “Would it matter if we were?” Penny asked.

  The man glanced at her and then did a visual inspection of Kadin’s size and intimidating aura. “No, man. Just wondering. They in trouble or something?”

  “Vanessa was reported missing almost a year ago and we think the boy she was with when she came here knows where we can find her.”

  Obviously, or he wouldn’t have been with the girl while she got a tattoo.

  “She mentioned being hungry and wanting to go to the hamburger place down on South Post Oak Road,” he finally said. “They picked that place because it was close to their apartment. That’s about it.”

  “Thanks. You’ve been a big help.” Kadin gave the man a pat on his shoulder.

  “I can give you two half off on a couple of tattoos,” he said as they headed for the door.

  Penny glanced back, surprised that the man would even ask, and then caught Kadin’s cynical smile.

  A few minutes later, they parked in front of the burger place. Penny followed Kadin’s gaze and found herself looking at an apartment building down the street.

  “Let’s go talk to the landlord.”

  The landlord lived on the first floor. A heavyset woman with curly gray hair in a loose-fitting floral dress and socks answered the door, a television loud in the background.

  “I only rent from ten to noon, Monday through Friday.”

  Nothing like a workaholic, Penny thought wryly, catching a glimpse of borderline hoarder piles scattered throughout her home.

  “We’re investigating the disappearance of a girl.” Kadin showed her the photograph and told her the name.

  “You’re police?”

  “Private investigator, but I’m working with the lead detective in her case.”

  “I can’t give out personal information on my tenants.” She looked back at her television, where a dayt
ime drama played. She didn’t welcome this intrusion.

  “Then she does live here?” Kadin asked. “Just tell us which apartment and we’ll be out of your hair.”

  The woman eyed him and then Penny. “Three-sixteen. She lives there with her boyfriend. Looks young, if you ask me.”

  The boy must have false identification, or he’d gotten it for both of them. Didn’t a person have to be eighteen to rent an apartment?

  She and Kadin left and went to the apartment door, where Kadin knocked.

  A few moments later, the door opened as far as the chain would allow and a young girl peered out at them, hazel eyes wary and medium brown hair in a ponytail. Vanessa.

  “Hello, Vanessa. I’m private investigator Kadin Tandy. We’d—”

  The girl started to push the door shut, but Kadin had already put his foot in the open space. She moved back from the door.

  “She’s going to run,” Penny said. Then she heard Vanessa race through the apartment.

  Kadin kicked the door free of the chain lock and entered before Penny. She saw the girl opening a window, ready to climb down the fire escape.

  Kadin reached her before she made it through the window.

  “Let go of me!” Vanessa struggled against Kadin’s hold.

  “Come over here and have a seat.” Kadin guided her to the old, stained sofa. “Let’s talk.”

  He plopped the girl down and when she began to rise, he put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her gently back down.

  “We just want to talk to you.”

  The wild instinct to run softened in her young eyes and her body relaxed, indicating she’d cease fighting, at least for now.

  “Your parents have been worried sick about you,” he scolded.

  To which Vanessa averted her head. From Penny’s angle, she caught sight of something dark high on Vanessa’s cheekbone, hidden by hair.

  “Can you tell us why you ran away from a loving home?” Kadin asked, not having seen the same.

  “It wasn’t loving. My mom wouldn’t let me do anything. She wouldn’t let me be myself!”

  Standing before the sofa, Kadin had a looming presence. To soften that, Penny sat down beside the girl.

  “Are you an investigator, too?”

  “No. I’m just with him.” Penny reached over and took the girl’s hand. “Your parents are very worried about you, Vanessa, and they don’t understand why you left.” With her other hand, she brushed the hair along the girl’s cheek aside, revealing a small cut and nasty bruise.

  Vanessa jerked away and would probably have bolted again if Penny hadn’t held firm.

  “Vanessa...” Penny began softly, looking up at Kadin, who stayed back, although his hands had fisted at his sides.

  The girl bent her head again.

  “When is he going to be back?” Penny asked, glad that Kadin had left this up to her.

  She shrugged. “Sometime tonight.”

  “Do you want to stay with him?”

  No response came from the girl. She must be terrified. She’d made a mistake running away with a boy she thought she could trust and now she felt like the walls were closing in.

  “I read your case file,” Penny went on. “Your boyfriend came from a pretty rough background. He’s been arrested several times. Did you know that?”

  “Arrested?”

  She nodded. “And his parents have problems, too. They aren’t like your parents.”

  As Vanessa stared at her, Penny realized she wasn’t telling her anything she hadn’t already figured out. She just hadn’t admitted it to herself until now.

  “Your parents love you,” Penny said. “Your mother is so scared for you. She wants you to come home.”

  “She’s going to be so mad at me.” Some of the rebellious girl returned, the one who had led her to flee with a bad boy. “She’ll ground me and yell all the time. Just like before.”

  Penny patted her hand, then let it go. “I bet if you stop hanging around boys like the one you came here with, she won’t ground you anymore. And I also bet that she’ll be so happy to see you that she won’t ground you at all. Or be mad.” She smiled encouragingly at Vanessa. “She’ll want you to get past this phase in your life. To move on and have a bright, successful future.”

  Vanessa didn’t seem to believe her at first. Her eyes didn’t meet Penny’s and she rolled her lower lip between her lips.

  “Do you really never want to see your family again?” Penny asked softly.

  The girl shrugged.

  “Come with us, Vanessa. You don’t have to live like this.”

  After a while, she lifted her head and then tears bloomed. “What about...what about...”

  “He can’t hurt you anymore,” Kadin said. “I’ll make sure of that.”

  Vanessa looked up at him, taking in his big, commanding form.

  “Why don’t you go and pack your things?” Penny said gently.

  Glancing around, Vanessa looked toward the door and then up at Kadin again, and then finally back at Penny.

  “It’s okay. If you come with us, everything is going to be okay. I promise.”

  Blinking a few times and then letting out a tense breath, Vanessa stood and went into the only bedroom.

  “Nicely done,” Kadin said.

  “Let’s bring her back to her mother.”

  * * *

  Kadin received a call later that day. He’d contacted the Houston police and informed them of the runaway boy. They’d subsequently intercepted him during a drug deal and he was now under arrest. Kadin found it difficult to feel sorry for the boy when he’d essentially abducted Vanessa and had nearly ruined her life. Kadin’s only hope was that some time in jail and some therapy would steer him onto a better path.

  Kadin had phoned Cohen, who’d notified Vanessa’s parents that their daughter had been found safe and sound and would be brought home today.

  “I’m nervous.”

  Kadin looked into the rearview mirror at Vanessa as he stopped the car in front of a house. Cleaned up in new clothes Penny had bought for her, she presented a picture of the girl she’d been before her terrible ordeal.

  Her mother appeared on the front porch, her father behind her. Thin and fit, hair tidy. Her father, also thin and much taller, emerged tight-lipped and grim. Both had to be worried over what their daughter had suffered but tried to put on strong fronts.

  Borders trimmed with flowers and a plush green lawn finished the perfect-family picture. She came bouncing down the steps and ran to the car, where Vanessa slowly climbed out of the back.

  Crying—no, sobbing—Vanessa’s mother took her into her arms. Her father came to stand near them, fighting emotion, stuffing his hands into his front pockets.

  Kadin felt deep resonance of bittersweet regret open a hole in his chest. He got out of the car when Penny did, but couldn’t make his feet move close to this happy reunion. What he wouldn’t give to have had the same with Annabelle.

  “All this time we thought...we thought you were... Oh...we were so scared and now we’re just so happy you’re back,” Vanessa’s mother cried as she continued to squeeze her in a heartfelt hug.

  Vanessa’s father put his hand on his wife’s back and then an arm around his daughter. The three stayed that way, in a huddle, basking in joy.

  “Mom...I’m so sorry.”

  “No, no. No apology. I’m just so grateful you’re home.” She leaned back, her husband doing the same and lowering his arms to his sides. “Never do this again.”

  Vanessa shook her head with remorse. “I thought he was a good person.”

  Her mother took her face between her hands. “I know. You’re so young, honey. I love you. I’m so happy you’re home.”

  “Me, too.” Vanessa hugged
her again and then moved to her father and embraced him, too.

  That was when her mother turned to Kadin. While Vanessa and her father talked, she walked around the car to him. He felt like withdrawing, like running, like getting far away from here.

  And then the woman took his hands in hers, and her teary eyes met his.

  “I can never repay you for bringing her home.”

  “You just did,” he said.

  She breathed a laugh. “How did you know she ran away? We couldn’t believe she’d do such a thing.”

  “I didn’t believe it, either. That’s how I found her.”

  The woman touched his face. “I wish you could have done the same for your little girl.”

  Why did she have to make this harder? He stepped back. “We should get going.” He looked over the roof of the car at Vanessa, standing with her dad, arms around each other as they faced him with big, tremulous smiles.

  Penny gave Vanessa a farewell hug and got into the car with Kadin. He looked back once to see the trio as a family, watching him go. Was this what he had to look forward to? He’d see other families joined together, alive and happy. He wouldn’t see his.

  He’d really like to be alone right now. The first time he returned a child to their mother, he thought he’d feel complete. Satisfied. Whole again. Instead, he felt...wretched.

  Chapter 12

  “Wait here.”

  Penny shot Kadin her best unappreciative look. When he saw that and ignored her, she glanced through all the car windows. Nothing stirred in the dark neighborhood, but she didn’t relish the thought of sitting out here alone, not with Hoodie Man still on the loose.

  “Thanks, but I think I’ll go with you.”

  He’d been insufferable ever since they delivered Vanessa to her parents yesterday. He wouldn’t let her out of her apartment without him, and he wouldn’t talk about his daughter. She respected his needs, but tiptoeing around his manly emotions had begun to wear on her.

  “You’ll be safer here.” Kadin finished organizing his break-in tools and stuffing a plastic bag inside the flexible container.

  “I beg to differ.” She got out of the car and slammed the door, tired of his surly attitude. He really needed to figure out how to move on.