A Fatal Fall: A Senoia Cozy Mystery

by Harper, Susan

  Patrick left her standing there and returned to Jack. “Man, I think you should go home. Do you want me to drive you?”

  Jack didn’t look up. He just sat there shaking his head, unable to move. Felicity approached, much more cautiously this time. She sat next to Jack and suddenly felt him grip her hand. Felicity gave Patrick an assuring nod, and the man gave his partner an awkward pat on the back before wandering back over to the other officers—probably to be sure to get as well informed on the incident as he could, for Jack’s sake. Felicity squeezed Jack’s hand. They had not exactly been on good terms in recent days, but she supposed even her company was better than none.

  The sound of a sniffle followed by a desperate attempt to breathe erupted from Jack. “My, um…” he tried to form words. “My parents. I gotta let them know.” Jack released his grip on her and fumbled for his cell phone. His hands were shaking so badly he couldn’t dial. When he finally composed himself, he just stared at the phone. “I can’t,” he said and then looked at Felicity. “Would you…” He stopped and looked away, probably realizing it was quite a favor to ask of an ex-girlfriend with whom things did not end particularly well.

  “Give me your phone,” she said. “I’ll call them.”

  She didn’t want to do it, but she had never seen Jack like this. She nervously found his father’s number in the phone and dialed. She had always had a better relationship with Jack’s father than his mother—not that the relationship with his mother had been bad. She just knew the woman was a loud crier, and Felicity wasn’t sure if she could handle it. Of course, Jack’s mother answered his father’s cellphone either way. “Jack, your father is asleep, and so was I,” she said.

  “Mrs. Hudson,” Felicity said. “I don’t know if you remember me, but this is Felicity Overton.”

  “Felicity!” the woman’s voice chirped. “Oh, my, I haven’t heard your lovely voice in a long time. How are you? Jack told me about your new shop.”

  Felicity was quiet for a moment. She took a deep breath. “Mrs. Hudson, Jack asked me to call you. I know it’s late, but—” Felicity paused, unsure how to word this. “I’m so sorry,” she said and felt herself crying again. “But there was an accident on Main Street. It’s Jamie.”

  “What’s wrong? Felicity, are you crying? What’s wrong? Are Jack and Jamie hurt?”

  “Jack’s fine, but Jamie, I’m sorry, she was in an accident…she didn’t make it.” Felicity could hear a horrible cry erupt from the woman’s throat followed by what sounded like a very tired man questioning her about shouting in the middle of the night. Felicity spent the next twenty minutes speaking with Jack’s father after he took over the phone.

  Felicity realized she had been pacing the street while talking to them, putting some distance between herself and Jack, who she was certain didn’t want to hear his hysterical parents on the other line. She asked one of the paramedics if they knew where Jamie’s body was being taken, and they told her it would be taken to the Newnan morgue. She informed Jack’s parents of this, and they told her to have Jack meet them there. When the phone conversation was over, she was completely drained.

  “I know, I know,” she heard Patrick whispering to one of the other officers. “Just don’t tell Jack yet, let me tell him.” Felicity remained standing by one of the patrol cars, hidden from Patrick’s view.

  “Well, you need to tell him soon. He’ll figure it out,” the other officer said.

  Patrick grumbled, “I’m going to try to get Jack to leave the scene and go to the morgue. He doesn’t need to be here when we start questioning suspects. Just make sure you get as many names as you can as far as attendees go. Don’t let any more people leave until you do, and check IDs… You really think she was pushed?”

  Felicity suddenly felt her body surge with a righteous fury she didn’t know she was capable of. Pushed? While Felicity thought very highly of Jamie, the situation had made her assume she had been one of the underage kids drinking at the party that Abigail had been fussing over. But Patrick seemed to think that Jamie had been pushed. Felicity grinded her teeth to keep from screaming. She took a breath and made her way back over to Jack to see if she could offer him any comfort and to return his cellphone. All the while, her blood boiled.

  Chapter 4

  Felicity sat near Jack, listening as he refused several rides to the hospital. There is no way I am letting him drive to Newnan like this, she thought. He’s way too upset to get behind the wheel of a car. She had driven to work with Jefferson, so she felt a bit guilty volunteering herself to make sure that Jack made it to the hospital since it would put Jefferson in a bind, but Jefferson was a kind soul, so she knew in the end he wouldn’t mind. This was one of those things you do for someone when living in a small town like Senoia, whether you liked them or not, and in Jefferson’s case, it was a pretty obvious or not.

  By the time Jefferson made it back from dropping off Monte, the party had essentially cleared out. Felicity took the time that Jefferson was away to speak with Abigail about ensuring things got cleaned up. As soon as she heard that Felicity knew the girl who had died and that she needed to get the girl’s older brother to the hospital, Abigail was more than happy to ensure that everything got locked up for her. It was one less thing Felicity needed to worry about that evening, so she was grateful to have found a friend in the business woman.

  Jefferson had parked in the lot behind the office complex where she and Jack had wound up sitting by the curve for the past half-hour. Just as Jefferson was walking up, the ambulance was pulling away with Jamie’s body. “Your parents will be waiting for you,” Felicity reminded Jack; he was still in a bit of shock as he sat on the sidewalk.

  Jefferson stood by awkwardly, probably at a loss of what to say to a man who was certainly not a friend. “I got your message, Felicity,” Jefferson said at last. “It’s no problem, Jack, if you need a ride to the hospital.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Jack stated boldly and started to stand up.

  Felicity grabbed onto Jack’s arm before he could stand. “Jack, we’re driving you,” she declared. He didn’t have the energy to resist, so he nodded in agreement. After bidding Jack’s partner farewell and listening to several words of condolences from the other officers, Felicity and Jefferson walked Jack around the back.

  The parking lot behind the buildings was a mere six rows of possible parking, all on a brick laid pavement that had a substantial amount of grass growing up between the poorly placed bricks. It made for a lovely effect when it was trimmed, but today, it was not. Jefferson climbed into the driver’s seat, and Felicity sat in the back with Jack. They pulled out of the lot and made their way toward Highway 16 in order to get to the hospital. At first, they didn’t speak, but the silence allowed Jack to get too far into his head, Felicity noted, and he appeared to be working himself up again. The man’s lip quivered, and he wrung his wrists repeatedly.

  An occasional quick, deep breath from Jack ensured Felicity that he was fighting off the temptation to let his guard down in front of them again; that he was struggling to keep it together. “It’s okay, you don’t have to put on a face for us, Jack,” Felicity tried to tell him, but he shook his head and looked away from her, turning his gaze toward the window.

  Felicity looked up into the rearview mirror where she could see Jefferson’s eyes occasionally glancing up to peek back at Jack. They made it halfway down 16 before before Jack broke the silence. “How did my mom sound when you spoke to her?” he asked Felicity.

  She shrugged a little. “Not good, if I’m being honest, but you can’t really expect her to be after hearing this sort of news.”

  Jack tapped the door as he spoke. “She and Jamie got into this big argument a few days ago, and they haven’t spoken since,” Jack said. “My mom’s probably going to be really hung up on that. It was pretty bad—the fight, I mean. It’s not fair to my mom that it was the last conversation she had with Jamie.”

  “She couldn’t have known that something like thi
s was going to happen,” Jefferson said. “Kids and their parents fight all the time. Don’t let her make herself guilty over that.”

  “It was my fault they were fighting to begin with,” Jack said, and his voice cracked slightly. “Jamie was living with me. She has been for a couple of weeks; she’s been fighting a lot with my parents. It was just a dumb, rebellious teenager type thing, you know? I figured she just needed space to cool off, so I let her rent a room from me. Give her a taste of the real world type thing. I figured as soon as her rent was due, she’d move back in with our parents and that they would work something out.”

  “I hadn’t seen Jamie since she was a tiny little thing,” Felicity said. “It’s hard to imagine that little girl in pigtails being rebellious.”

  “It wasn’t anything crazy,” Jack said. “She just wanted more freedom than my parents were willing to give her. You probably remember how strict they were with me. They are worse…were worse…with Jamie, well, because she was their little girl. And she never dealt well with being told what to do.”

  Felicity noticed that Jack’s hands were shaking, so she reached over and grabbed his right hand. It seemed to calm him down a bit. “Teenagers do that sort of thing,” Felicity said.

  “Yeah, but, Felicity, I knew she was going to that stupid party,” he said. “I knew, and I didn’t stop her. I should have made her stay home. She was my responsibility—”

  “Jack,” Jefferson said his name sternly, and Felicity could see Jefferson’s eyes in the rearview as they went under a streetlight. “You probably wouldn’t have been able to stop her from going even if you had tried. This isn’t your fault. This was just a terrible accident.”

  “She was probably drinking,” Jack said. “I knew about the fake ID, but I took it from her and hid it in my bedroom. I just brushed it off like it was nothing, though. I should have talked to her about it.”

  “This isn’t your fault,” Felicity insisted, as Jack was growing increasingly distraught. “So you think she was drinking at the party… Did you give her the ID back?”

  “No, I didn’t,” Jack said. “I still have it at the house, I think.” Felicity could see the hospital in the distance. Jack wiped his eyes to prevent tears from trickling down his cheeks. “I knew she was at that party, you know? She had told me she planned on going. And you know what? When I got the call that someone had fallen off the roof, I didn’t even think for one second that it could have been her. Not for one second. Not until I saw her.”

  They pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, and because of the late hour they found a spot up close. Jack was out of the car fairly quickly, but he didn’t move from where he stood—as though he was lingering just so he didn’t have to walk into the building alone. Felicity unbuckled and leaned forward before Jefferson had a chance to do the same. “Listen, Jefferson, I can get a ride home from Autumn. You don’t need to stay here with us.”

  Jefferson looked rather hesitant. He whispered, “That’s probably for the best,” he admitted. “I don’t think Jack is too thrilled I’m here anyway. He can’t stand me.”

  Felicity wasn’t going to argue. The two men rarely had anything kind to say about one another. “I’ll call you in the morning,” Felicity said and then thanked him for the ride as she got out of the car.

  Jefferson rolled down the window to speak to Jack before leaving. “I’m sorry about your sister, Jack,” he said. “If you or your family needs anything, don’t hesitate.”

  “Thank you, Jefferson,” Jack said. “And thank you for the ride. Felicity was right, I don’t think I could have made the drive over here.”

  Jefferson nodded approvingly, and he waited for Felicity and Jack to start walking toward the hospital before pulling off. Jack seemed rather dazed to Felicity, and she had to lead him through the hospital like it was his first time ever being there. He seemed ghostly, like he was having an out-of-body experience. As Felicity and Jack were headed toward the elevator to head down into the morgue, her stomach sunk to see Mr. and Mrs. Hudson arriving as they did from the opposite wing of the hospital. “Jack!” Mrs. Hudson cried out and hurried over to the two of them, wrapping her arms around Jack’s neck.

  Felicity stood aside, feeling incredibly uncomfortable. Senoia was a small town, but she still hadn’t seen her ex-boyfriend’s parents since she and Jack had broken up back in high school. It felt like a lifetime ago. Mr. Hudson had lost most of his hair since then, which was a shame because Felicity had always admired the man’s hair. Mrs. Hudson had aged incredibly as well; the woman’s gray hairs had taken over, but mostly on just one side of her head to the point it made her look like Cruella De’vil—though her personality was lovely, so Felicity felt awful for the mental comparison she made.

  Mr. Hudson stood aside just as awkwardly as Felicity. He nodded and smiled crookedly at her, but it was a very sad smile. From the three of them, Felicity could tell that Mr. Hudson had yet to let the news sink in about his daughter. Jack and Mrs. Hudson, however, had become quite hysterical after running into one another. “Come on, Martha,” Mr. Hudson said, reaching out and putting a hand on both his wife and his son, ushering them toward the elevator. “Let’s go see her,” the man said, his voice cracking slightly now as it slowly started to become more real.

  “Felicity?” Jack beckoned when she didn’t immediately step on the elevator.

  She hurried on. “I’m coming,” she promised him and gently touched his arm to reassure him of that.

  When they reached the office area of the morgue, Autumn was already hurrying toward them. Her face was red and splotchy. She wrapped her arms around Jack’s neck and then took a step back to examine the Hudson family. “I’m so sorry,” she told them. Felicity could recall Autumn tagging along with her on a few babysitting ventures with Jamie back when they were all still so full of youth.

  There were two officers present; both of them looked as though they too had shed a few tears for their fellow officer’s young sister. The officers shook Jack’s hand and Mr. Hudson’s as well. Felicity remained outside in the office area while Jack and his parents went back to the morgue with Autumn and the other two officers to officially identify the body. Felicity waited patiently, not having worked up enough courage to enter into the cold room that was the actual morgue to see Jamie for herself.

  After close to half an hour of waiting, the group remerged into the office. Jack wiped his eyes again before coming over to Felicity. “Thank you for coming here,” he told her. “My partner, Patrick, he’s coming to pick us up. Do you need a ride home?”

  “I think I’ve got one,” Felicity assured him and gave him a reassuring hug.

  He thanked her again, and soon Felicity found herself alone with Autumn as the officers escorted Jack and his family up the elevator. “Long night,” Autumn moaned, speaking only to fill the void. “I know I joke about this job a lot. You have to in order to keep yourself sane,” Autumn said. “But there’s nothing funny about seeing someone you know carted through here, especially when they’re so young.”

  “I overheard Patrick saying that someone might have pushed her… Do you think—”

  “I haven’t told Jack yet, but yeah, someone did,” Autumn said and pulled on her gloves. “Do you want to see her?”

  Felicity hesitated, but ultimately she nodded and followed Autumn into the room. Jamie was laid out on the table in the center of the room, a blanket covering her. Autumn rolled back the blanket, revealing the girls face. Felicity cringed. “Cover her back up,” she said, and Autumn quickly obliged.

  “How do you know she was pushed?” Felicity asked.

  Autumn sighed slightly and pulled the girls arm out from under the blanket. “Look at her wrists,” she said.

  Felicity didn’t have to be a forensic pathologist in order to deduce what she was looking at. There was bruising around both of Jamie’s wrists, and it was evident someone had grabbed her. “That looks like it had been painful,” Felicity said.

  “Our girl fou
ght off her attacker,” Autumn said. “Look at her knuckles. The skin is torn like she was punching with every bit of strength she had. I’ll have to do a full diagnosis, but I’m definitely finding evidence of a pretty serious struggle. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Jamie managed to scratch her assailant because there’s nothing under her fingernails. No DNA. However, whoever did this to her pulled several patches of hair off of Jamie’s head. I’m going to look and see if I can retrieve DNA evidence from there, but it’s not looking good.”

  “Who would want to hurt Jamie?” Felicity asked.

  “Someone strong.”

  “You think it was a man?” Felicity asked.

  “I don’t know, but it was someone strong enough to snap her right wrist. I’d say man, but the bruising indicates that the suspect had kind of small hands, so honestly, I wouldn’t rule anyone out just yet. They would have to be strong enough to throw Jamie over the side of the building, but Jamie’s a really tiny girl.” Autumn removed her gloves and then wiped a tear that had started to form. “I feel awful. We knew the Hudsons pretty well when we were kids. I became Jamie’s backup babysitter whenever you would bail on them to go out with Jack.”

  Felicity smiled slightly. “Yeah, I remember.”

  Autumn crossed her arms. “You going to do it again?”

  “Do what?”

  “Look into this,” Autumn said. The woman seemed to be going through the same pattern of emotions that Felicity had. She had seemed sad and shocked at first, but now a bit of anger appeared in the woman’s eyes. Autumn hissed as she spoke, “Are you going to look into this like you did with the Charles Jones case that made you so famous around here?”

  Felicity shivered slightly. The very thought of it made her anxious. This was different from what she had done once before. Before, she hadn’t known the victim personally, and now the victim was just a seventeen-year-old girl…and someone she knew. She had taken on the Charles Jones case to clear a friend’s name. This was different. Very different. This was her old boyfriend’s baby sister.