Justice Returns: A Private Investigator Mystery Series (A Jake & Annie Lincoln Thriller Book 6)

by Rayven T. Hill

  Not only was Jeremy worried at Moe getting picked up, but he knew with the big lug’s level of intelligence, it wouldn’t take the cops long to get him to talk. If Moe got caught, Jeremy would have to go elsewhere and leave his friend in the lurch, something he was loath to do.

  Uriah mentioned earlier, while Jeremy was out, the police came to his door showing around photos of Moe. It looked like they might be getting dangerously close, but when Uriah said he didn’t know the guy in the photo, they left him alone. Perhaps they were canvassing the whole neighborhood, and once they’d covered this area, they wouldn’t be back.

  He knew the police weren’t in this district because of his phone call to Annie. He expected they would trace the call, and he moved well out of the area, staying on the move during their conversation. And certainly, it wasn’t because of the building he’d burned down. They had no way to connect him to it; that was something he wouldn’t normally have considered doing, its purpose only to ease his tortured mind—and maybe a little retribution for the burning of his precious barn.

  Jeremy had another concern. He didn’t know Uriah all that well and wasn’t sure how solid he and Moe were as friends. Uriah seemed like a decent enough guy, but if the police offered a reward, Uriah might turn on his friend. Now that the police connected Moe with Jeremy, offering a reward wasn’t out of the question. And if so, it meant his association with Moe would threaten the big guy.

  They would have to look into finding a new place, but it would be difficult with no money, and both of them wanted men.

  Moe looked worried. Jeremy knew his friend would do what he told him to, but sometimes the knucklehead did stuff without thinking. Moe needed Jeremy to help keep him on the straight and narrow, as it were.

  Moe’s face brightened slightly. “Jeremy, you gave the money back to the man at the store, so maybe they’ll leave me alone.”

  Jeremy hadn’t told Moe what he actually did with the money. “That won’t help, Moe,” he said. “What’s done is done and they don’t care about the money. They want you and they want me.”

  “I have some other friends downtown,” Moe said, his face still showing signs of hope. “Maybe we can go there?”

  “Moe, those are the guys who landed you in prison last time. You can’t trust them.” Jeremy paused. “Don’t worry, I’ll come up with something.”

  He went to the fridge and scrounged around inside. There wasn’t a whole lot to eat, but he managed to find a slab of ham behind a loaf of bread. The meat still smelled ok, so he made two sandwiches, plastered them with mustard, and brought one to Moe. They ate in silence, Moe enjoying the snack, Jeremy deep in thought.

  He wondered if perhaps he could return to his house, but no, the cops would be keeping an eye on it for quite some time. Maybe they could hide out in a farmer’s barn somewhere and help themselves to the crops in the field. He hated to steal from the farmers, but it was now a matter of survival.

  And he would have no transportation. He wouldn’t have access to Uriah’s motorcycle any more. He could use that old bicycle; it was still in the hallway, but that bike would be hard pressed to hold Moe’s weight.

  Problems. Problems. Problems. If only they understood his mission. Perhaps one day the police would leave him alone and allow him to do their job for them.

  After all, didn’t telling them about Joey count for anything? Didn’t it show he was repentant for that, and wasn’t interested in harming innocent people?

  Perhaps it was too much to hope for.

  His one wish was that Annie would spend more time on finding his parents’ killer, like she promised. He had a lot of faith in the Lincolns’ expertise—he’d witnessed that first hand in the past— and right now, more than anything else, he was dying to know who killed Mother and Father. And the more time she spent on that, the less she would be looking for him.

  He had a short window of opportunity at the moment. Right now, Detective Corning and the others would be looking into finding Joey’s body. That might take some time and attention away from them, and perhaps give Moe and him a little breathing space—some time to find a new place to stay. He had to make that his top priority at the moment—maybe put further episodes of justice on hold until they got firmly settled.

  Chapter 43

  Thursday, 5:21 PM

  JAKE WAS EAGER to be present when the forensic geophysicist conducted the subsurface scan for the body of Joey Benitto. Annie was enthusiastic about adding to her forensic knowledge, but her main concern was in a successful search, as well as bringing a small measure of closure to the Benitto family.

  When Matty got wind of the expedition, he begged to be taken along. Jake agreed immediately, and since there would be no danger involved, Annie relented somewhat later, realizing the value it could bring to her son’s already burgeoning interest in his parents’ investigative venture.

  They agreed to meet Hank at the Spencer property and move into the forest directly west of the house to the spot Jeremy indicated. The cop was already there when they arrived, and a van along with two cruisers pulled up moments later.

  Out on the road, a flatbed truck carrying a small backhoe idled. Directly behind, the forensic geophysicist, along with his team who would conduct the exhumation, waited in a van containing the ground penetrating radar equipment.

  Further down the laneway, the place where the barn once stood was strangely silent. All that could be seen were a few of the larger beams that escaped the inferno, protruding up at awkward angles.

  The small group of searchers gathered around and Hank gave a basic rundown on the area they were looking for. “If we’re all ready, we’ll spread out and move in.”

  They walked as a line into the forest, parallel with the road. The fertile ground had produced a rich mixture of vegetation mixed among a variety of evergreens and maples. In less than ten minutes, the group came together at a small clearing, where three maple trees, perhaps fifteen feet apart, made a perfect triangle.

  “This has to be the spot,” Hank said, heading off to his left. “I’ll notify the GPR and excavation teams.”

  Jake crouched down and surveyed the ground with his eye. There was a slight indentation where the soil settled over the suspected grave, but not enough to be sure it was anything other than a natural dip in the terrain.

  The backhoe’s treads crunched over fallen branches and small shrubs as it wormed its way a hundred yards from the road to the site. The GPR technician followed behind, wheeling his equipment. The non-destructive method to find evidence or locate subsurface bodies had become an important forensic archaeology tool, used by many law enforcement agencies.

  Annie and Matty stood back, out of the way, watching the proceedings.

  A ten foot square area was laid out in a tight grid pattern, spaced in such a way as to ensure the survey was accurate and complete.

  The GPR equipment, looking suspiciously like a small lawnmower, transmitted its high frequency radio signal into the ground as the equipment was rolled systematically over the grid.

  Jake approached the technician monitoring an LCD display. He leaned in and looked at the monitor as the reflected signals were returned to the receiver, interpreted by the computer system and displayed as an image on the unit’s panel.

  “We have something,” the technician finally said, pointing to the display. “It looks like human remains. The computer measures the time it takes for a pulse to travel to and from the target, and it indicates its depth to be just under six feet.”

  Jake pumped a fist and went over to Annie.

  “Did they find the boy who was buried?” Matty asked.

  “It looks like it,” Jake said. “We’ll soon find out.”

  The excavation began as the backhoe moved in and scooped up the dirt. It continued to a depth of five feet, and then the forensic archaeology team took over, using small shovels, scoops, pails, and brushes, until finally a skeleton was completely uncovered.

  Jake moved over and joined Hank wh
o was gazing down into the grave. The detective let out a long sigh. “Now we have to confirm it’s Joey Benitto.”

  Annie ordered Matty to stay put while she went to the excavation and looked down briefly into the crude grave. She shuddered. “I had to see it for myself.” Then she turned and went back to her son.

  The somber group left the exhumation to the experts and made their way back to the Spencer property.

  “It’s exciting to finally bring an end to this, but nonetheless, it’s sad,” Annie said. “I don’t know whether to celebrate or mourn.”

  Hank nodded. “It’s going to be hard to tell Joey’s parents. I remember an interview they did about five years ago. They still held out hope their son ran off somewhere and would eventually be located.”

  “I don’t envy you that job,” Jake said.

  “It’s one of my most uncomfortable tasks,” Hank said. “Sometimes I think I’d sooner face a killer with a machine gun.” He sighed and added, “We have to catch Spencer. Once Nancy takes a DNA sample and confirms it’s Joey’s remains, I would love to be able to tell the parents we’ve caught their son’s murderer.”

  “It’s only a matter of time,” Annie said. “We’ll get him.” She paused. “I’ve been working on a few ideas, and I still want to find out who killed Jeremy’s parents, but after seeing … what we just saw, I’d rather give my attention to catching Joey’s killer. At least for now.”

  On the way back home, the conversation in the Firebird was limited. Matty was silent in the back seat, looking out the side window as they drove. Jake wondered what the thoughts of an eight-year-old would be on an occasion like this.

  Jake’s own thoughts were sobering. He’d seen much worse on television and movies, but to view the grisly sight first hand was a chilling experience.

  ~~*~~

  AS SOON AS THEY arrived home, Annie went directly to the office and called Callaway.

  “I didn’t see any information on the print-out of Moses Thacker,” she explained to him. “I doubt if anyone at the prison would talk to me. Would you call to see what they have on Jeremy and Moses Thacker during their incarceration?”

  Callaway agree and said he would call her back as soon as possible.

  Annie hung up thoughtfully. She assumed the two must’ve become friends in prison and met up again on the outside. The dilemma she was faced with was their current location. Finding either one would help in finding the other.

  She studied the print-out of Thacker’s rap sheet further, memorizing dates and times, as well as the variety of offenses and corresponding sentences. There was no known family listed for Thacker, and Hank’s earlier visit to his last known address prior to his incarceration netted nothing.

  Jake came into the office and sunk into a chair. He watched her study the papers and notes. Finally, he said, “Except for robbing convenience stores, neither one of our fugitives has any means of support. It appears to me Spencer and Thacker are being aided by a third party.”

  “Someone either one of them knows,” Annie added. “The police have already checked out anyone Thacker was involved with before his arrest and came up empty. As well, ex-cons who either one of them might know, and are living in the city, have been questioned and investigated.”

  “What’re we missing?” Jake asked.

  Annie shook her head, looking at her notes. She leaned forward. “I can’t get the building that burned down out of my mind. It’s too much of a coincidence Jeremy’s barn burned on the same day, as well …” She paused, turned her notes around so Jake could see them, and pointed. “Look at these addresses.”

  “The burnt building and the convenience store are only separated by three blocks,” Jake said, leaning forward. “I know that area.”

  Annie produced a map she’d printed out a few minutes ago. She found a red marker in her top drawer and made two circles on the map. She flipped the paper around, pushed it toward Jake, and pointed to one circle. “There’s where the fire was.” She moved her finger. “That’s the store.”

  “Let’s speculate for a minute,” Annie said. “We already know Thacker robbed the store. Let’s assume either Thacker or Jeremy started the building fire.” She sat back. “It stands to reason their hideout may be in the same neighborhood.”

  Jake sprang to his feet. “There’s one more little item. Jeremy was on the move when he made the call to you, but they got his exact location once.” He grabbed the marker, added a circle to the map, and stabbed at it with his finger. “That’s the spot.”

  Annie looked at the map. The three circles encompassed a four-block area.

  “They’re in that immediate vicinity somewhere,” Jake said, a grin spreading across his face.

  Annie sat back. They may be on to something. Now all they had to do was find a way to cover that four-block neighborhood. It would be a daunting task, but there had to be a way.

  “First thing tomorrow,” she said. “We’ll canvass the area and see what we can find out. I’ll work on a plan of action.”

  Chapter 44

  Thursday, 7:39 PM

  MOSES THACKER was sick and tired of staying in the apartment, hour after hour, day after day. Jeremy wouldn’t even let him go out to the hallway for a little walk and he’d had enough of watching television.

  He stretched out on the couch and turned his head toward his friend. “Jeremy, I need to go outside for a little while. Can’t you disguise me somehow?”

  Jeremy twisted in his chair. “Moe, you saw the news. Everyone in the city will be looking for you. We can’t chance it.”

  Moe sighed, put his hands behind his head, and closed his eyes. Jeremy always knew best. He should’ve listened to his friend before and they wouldn’t have these problems now.

  He blinked and turned his head when the apartment door squeaked open. It was Uriah. What was he doing here? He should be at work.

  Uriah closed the door, pulled off his cap, tossed it onto a hook, and walked into the living room. He dropped into his easy chair and put his feet up.

  “You’re home early,” Jeremy said.

  Uriah was silent. “I got laid off,” he said at last.

  Moe sat up. “What happened?”

  “Not enough work to keep us going,” Uriah answered with a shrug. “The factory laid off almost half of us.”

  That wasn’t good. Uriah was the only one around here who made any money. “Can you find another job?” Moe asked.

  Uriah’s face darkened. “Why? So you two can eat all my food?”

  Moe didn’t know what to say to that. He tried to help out by robbing that store, but it’d only gotten him into more trouble. He wouldn’t be able to find a job, and for sure Jeremy couldn’t either.

  “You know we’d help if we could,” Jeremy said.

  Uriah sat forward and glared at the little man. “I don’t owe you two nothing and it don’t help having you here. If they find out two wanted guys are living with me, I’m back in the joint for sure.”

  “We’ll find another place soon,” Jeremy said.

  Uriah stood and came to the table, swung a chair around and sat down, his face a few inches from Jeremy’s. He spoke sharply, in a raised voice. “I want you guys out of here by tomorrow. You can stay one more night, but then …” He pointed toward the door. “You gotta go.”

  “Both of us?” Moe asked.

  Uriah spun around to face Moe and spoke firmly. “Both of you.”

  “But we have no place to go.”

  “I don’t care. It ain’t my problem.” Uriah stood and paced. “I was good enough to give you guys a bed for a while, but now, it’s too dangerous, and in case you haven’t heard …” He stopped pacing, glared at Moe, and shouted, “I lost my job.”

  Moe shrunk back, closed his eyes, and stuck his oversized fingers in his ears. He didn’t like it when Uriah was in this kind of mood. It made him afraid. Not afraid of Uriah, just afraid of everything.

  His old man used to yell at him like that all the time, just before
he beat him. That always made him afraid too. He didn’t want to get hit any more, and sometimes when he got too scared, he would go crazy. He didn’t want to hurt Uriah. His friend was good to him.

  Moe removed his fingers and looked up when Uriah shook him by the shoulders.

  “Did you hear me?” Uriah was still shouting.

  “I … I heard you.”

  Jeremy stood and placed a hand on Uriah’s arm. “Please, Uriah. He doesn’t understand.”

  Uriah straightened, looked down at the little man, and spoke in a softer tone. “Yeah, I know. He’s a big dud and can’t help it he’s so stupid.”

  “I’m not stupid, Uriah,” Moe said defensively, and stuck his chin in the air. “I’m just slow. That’s what my mother always told me.”

  Uriah rolled his eyes, sighed deeply, and dropped back into his chair. “Whatever.”

  Moe felt himself getting angry and he didn’t like the feeling. When he got angry he did bad things. Uriah had called him stupid. He knew that was wrong, and now he couldn’t stop his anger from escaping.

  He jumped up, leaned over Uriah, and bellowed, “You’re stupid.”

  Jeremy grabbed Moe’s arm and tugged at him. “Moe, forget it.”

  Moe pulled his arm away from Jeremy’s grasp, then reached down and took a handful of Uriah’s shirt. He lifted the now frightened man off the chair and stepped back, bringing Uriah’s face in close to his. “You’re the stupid one.”

  Uriah’s feet kicked at the air and he swung wildly at his attacker with his hands. “Let me go.”

  Moe threw Uriah on the floor and raised a foot, ready to crush his throat. Jeremy sprang forward and hurled himself into Moe, knocking the big man to one side. “Stop it, Moe. Don’t do it.”

  Moe caught his balance and glared down at Jeremy. His friend was holding his hands out in an attempt to prevent him from killing Uriah.

  “No more,” Jeremy screamed. “Leave him alone.”