by Unknown
Jess didn’t know the lady, but she liked her already.
“This is Special Agent Vicki Hancock,” Gant explained. “She’s new to BAU and the Spears case. She’ll be staying in Birmingham for the duration.”
Hancock presented a smile to all at the table. She looked to be about Jess’s age. Well dressed. Dark blond hair. For her sake, Jess hoped they stopped Spears soon. Otherwise, the agent might need to look at setting up permanent residence in the Magic City.
“What we can confirm about this morning’s raid is that Spears was not expecting us,” Gant said, echoing Jess’s earlier conclusion. “He was caught off guard and anyone who has worked on the Player investigation can tell you that has never happened before. We’re hoping a neighbor we haven’t questioned as of yet will have seen him leave or noticed something out of the ordinary recently.”
“Like the fact that he ran out of the house with a naked woman in tow,” Jess reminded her former boss. Not at all a typical Spears getaway. Buddy had absolutely blindsided him. Spears had not anticipated that Amanda would betray him.
Gant sent her a look that warned she should stow the sarcasm. “The nearest traffic cams are well away from the exclusive neighborhood and haven’t yielded any results as of half an hour ago.”
“It’s difficult to take advantage of traffic cams,” Black interjected, “when we don’t know the type of vehicle Spears is using. The black Infiniti believed to be used by one of his followers was not found in any of the footage covering this morning’s traffic near the Red Mountain neighborhood.”
“That’s because the driver was busy trying to murder a member of my team,” Jess reminded him.
Black ignored her while Gant asked for an update on Cook as well as the three women rescued from the scene. Lori provided the latest information from her point of contact at the hospital. Cook’s condition had been officially upgraded from critical to stable.
“Where are we on determining whether or not Spears was involved with Nina Baron’s disappearance?” Gant asked.
“Given her connection to Dan Burnett,” Black spoke up before Jess could, “I believe we should treat her disappearance as if Spears ordered it. As for evidence, we have none at this time.”
“None of the victims saw Nina and Spears hasn’t contacted me about her,” Jess added. “Usually, he takes great pleasure in keeping me informed of his exploits. That said, I agree with Chief Black. We should treat her disappearance as if she is one of his victims.”
Agent Hancock briefed those seated around the table on the fourth victim, the one still missing. Presley Campbell, twenty-four, was a graduate student at Auburn University. She had been missing for seventy-two hours. Since she lived alone and her family was in Tupelo, Mississippi, no one had reported her missing. Everyone contacted was stunned to learn she had been abducted.
Between the BPD, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, and the Bureau, the city was crawling with cops searching for Spears, Campbell, and Baron. Every single media outlet, even Facebook, was warning citizens to be on the lookout.
By the time the meeting ended Jess was ready to collapse. It had been one hell of a long day. As exhausted as she felt, she couldn’t help wanting to go back to the Argyle Drive house and do some more poking around. Gant insisted he had the scene under control. Maybe tomorrow she’d drop by anyway.
Outside, Lori fired up her sassy red Mustang and pointed it toward the Forest Park neighborhood Jess called home for now. She’d rented the small apartment over George Louis’s garage shortly after she returned to Birmingham. The apartment was small, but the historic neighborhood was nice and it was all she’d needed at the time. After the fire at Dan’s house, he’d moved in with her. It was a little cramped, nevertheless, they were making the best of it. The house hunting had begun in earnest. With any luck they would decide on one soon.
Her life had changed dramatically in the past two and a half months. She’d walked away from a career two decades in the making with the Bureau. The man she’d fallen in love with at seventeen was now her fiancé and the father of the child she carried. Getting pregnant hadn’t been part of the plan, for sure. Yet, she couldn’t deny being a little excited about the prospect of motherhood. Who knew if she’d be any good at it since her sister appeared to have inherited all the nurturer genes. Jess was work oriented. She spent more hours at work than she did anywhere. If she were completely honest with herself she would admit that work had defined her until very recently.
Lately, she’d come to realize how important an existence beyond work was. There were so many things out of balance in her life right now—everything about her childhood had been turned upside down. The one thing she knew without doubt was that Dan loved her and she loved him.
And they were going to have a baby. As well as a house. And a dog.
Jess groaned. “I completely forgot about the dog. I hope Dan dropped by and let him out.” Otherwise there would be a huge mess waiting for her at home.
Lori laughed. “It’s difficult to have a pet when you keep a cop’s hours.”
Jess sagged in her seat. “I hope I’m better at making arrangements for my child than taking care of this puppy.”
“My mother swears it comes naturally,” Lori assured her.
“I sincerely hope so.” The poor puppy! He’d showed up at Jess’s door last week. So far her efforts to find his owner had proven futile. She had never owned a dog and really hadn’t planned to own one now, but how did you drop a creature that cute at the pound?
She couldn’t do it.
Lori parked in the driveway in front of Jess’s apartment. The BPD cruiser assigned as her surveillance detail parked next to her. Since Dan’s rental car wasn’t at home, Jess suspected the dog had been inside without a break since early that morning. It was now seven o’clock.
“I’ll walk you in and help you clean up,” Lori offered.
Jess waved her off, and then reached for the door. “Go home. I spend my days slogging through murder scenes, how bad can it be in there?”
“If you’re sure.”
“Go,” Jess repeated before closing the passenger side door.
“See you tomorrow!”
Jess waved a goodbye and slung her bag onto her shoulder. As soon as she cleaned up, she was going to have a long warm bath and a glass of milk with chocolate chip cookies. The sound of yapping stopped her at the bottom of the stairs leading up to her place. Before she could turn around a warm fuzzy body slammed into her legs.
“Puppy!” Jess glanced up at her apartment door to ensure it was closed. “How did you get out?”
“He must have sneaked out behind you this morning.”
Jess smiled at George Louis, her landlord, as he strolled toward her. “I was sure I left him inside. I hope he wasn’t any trouble.”
“A little digging and nosing around in the flowers.”
Jess cringed. “I’m sorry about that, George.” This was the second time the puppy had gotten into his flowers. “Bad puppy,” she scolded.
“It wasn’t so much trouble.” George adjusted his eyeglasses, and then clasped his hands behind him. “A few flowers to replace.”
She couldn’t help wondering if George had his fingers crossed behind his back. “I’ll pay you for those,” Jess insisted. What in the world was she going to do with this rambunctious puppy? How could she have a dog when she was never home?
“I’ve already taken care of the flowers. I won’t have you think of it again.”
Before she could protest, George went on, “I fed him at six. I had some homemade jerky he thoroughly enjoyed.”
“Thank you, George.” Jess ruffled the puppy’s fur. “You’re too kind.”
“I should let you get upstairs. Have a nice evening, Jess.”
“You, too.”
George gave her a final wave and wandered toward his house. She’d started up the stairs when the sound of crunching gravel drew her attention. Dan was home. He shut off the engine and emerged
from the BMW he’d rented. She smiled. The puppy barreled toward him.
“Hey there, boy.” Dan scratched him behind the ears.
“We left the puppy out this morning.” Jess felt terrible at the idea of having been so neglectful.
Dan frowned and kissed her on the cheek. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “George took care of him.”
Dan glanced toward the main house. “That was nice of him.”
“Any word on Nina?” Jess asked as they climbed the stairs.
“Nothing yet. I spent some time with the Senator this afternoon. Everything that can be done is being done. At this point, all we can do is pray she’s found unharmed. The longer she’s off her meds the more paranoid and delusional she’ll become. She could become psychotic and completely out of touch with reality.”
Jess wished there was more she could do.
While Dan unlocked the door, she checked her phone. “I haven’t heard from Buddy. I hope Black didn’t arrest him.” Of course Buddy was a person of interest in Amanda’s death, but he was definitely not her murderer. In Jess’s opinion Black was abusing his power where Buddy was concerned. Revenge, she supposed, for Buddy’s years of trying to make the BPD look bad.
“Corlew was released about four this afternoon.”
Jess waited until Dan had entered the security code so the alarm’s infernal beeping would stop before she questioned his news. The puppy raced into the apartment ahead of them. “Did you talk to him?”
Dan shook his head. “I sent my attorney over to represent him. Black was ready to back off after Frank Teller made an appearance.”
“You asked your attorney to help Buddy?” Talk about an about face. The rivalry between the two was legendary. It went all the way back to their days as competing quarterbacks in high school. “That was nice of you.”
Dan shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. It was more about showing up Harold than helping Corlew.”
Even Dan was damned frustrated with Black right now and the two had been friends for years.
“How did the conference with Gant go?” Dan peeled off his jacket and tossed it on the sofa.
Jess started to rattle off her complaints about the Spears investigation, but she stopped herself. She was so glad to be home with Dan. All she wanted to do was stare at him—well, maybe there were other things she wanted to do as well. “I don’t want to talk about work.” She tossed her bag aside and put her arms around him. “We’re home. I want to talk about us.”
A smile widened that sexy mouth of his. “Do you have a fever?” He touched her forehead, then her cheek. “Should I call the doctor?”
She shook her head. “You can draw us a bath.”
“Now that,” Dan kissed her lips, “is what I call a nice welcome home.”
Dan carried her to the bathroom and closed the door. “Have I told you today how beautiful you are, Jess? And how much I love you?”
Jess smiled. “You might have mentioned it.”
With the puppy yapping his indignation and steamy water filling the tub, Dan stripped off her clothes. It felt as if a weight had been lifted from her, leaving her skin exposed to the vivid contrast of the cool air whispering from the air conditioning and the searing heat of his touch. He kissed every part of her that he bared. By the time he had ditched his clothes her thighs were trembling and her heart was racing.
He made love to her slowly, and then they bathed each other and made love again. Long minutes later, the water had cooled and she had melted against the warmth of his chest. She didn’t care if they stayed in this tub all night.
What mattered was that they were together.
4
Birmingham Police Department
Saturday, September 11, 1:00 p.m.
Sergeant Chet Harper tapped the photo he’d printed and taped to the case board. “The security footage at Cook’s apartment shows the dark-haired man entering the building at six-thirty yesterday morning and exiting at nine. Dr. Baron arrived at ten-twenty, followed by the paramedics at ten-forty.”
Jess propped against the front of her desk and studied the timeline Harper had created. Her stomach clenched each time she thought of how close Chad Cook had come to dying. The only aspect of the past twenty-four hours that had provided any hope was the idea of how close they’d come to catching Spears.
All because Amanda Brownfield had given Buddy a clue.
Lori Wells walked to the board and picked up the Dry Erase marker. “Forensic techs have found no evidence.”
“Spears and his followers never leave any,” Hayes tossed in. He leaned back in his chair and propped his leather-clad feet on his desk. “And yet they don’t seem to mind being captured on video.”
Hayes had foregone a jacket, but the polo and slacks he’d chosen somehow looked elegant on him. Jess decided Hayes, like Dan, could make anything look good. She wondered if the lieutenant and Harper had finally decided to be friends since they both wore polo shirts minus jackets this Saturday morning. Doubtful. Jess wasn’t sure the two men would ever fully trust each other. Maybe later she would ask Lori how things were going. Hayes was the newest member of the team. He was a damned good detective, but a little on the arrogant side, landing himself on probation with Jess.
“I think,” Jess shifted her attention back to the conversation, “it’s safe to assume they don’t care because they already know their fate.” She thought of Fergus Cagle, the Vance sisters, Richard Ellis, and then of Amanda Brownfield. All had given their lives to fulfill the desires of a sociopathic serial killer. How had Eric Spears risen to such power?
“Presley Campbell’s parents arrived in Birmingham this morning,” Lori mentioned. “Chief Black met them at the airport.”
Jess resisted the impulse to make a nasty remark about Black enjoying the hell out of Dan’s job. Dwelling on that travesty took far too much energy. All their efforts had to be focused on finding Presley Campbell alive and stopping Spears.
“Hopefully, we’ll have something more than this,” Jess stared at the case board, “to give them soon.” She rubbed at her forehead and the headache pounding there. “What do we have on the name North?”
“This is where things take a turn for the better.” Harper smiled and gestured to Lori.
Jess perked up. She could definitely use some good news.
“Quentin North, forty-four, Caucasian,” Lori taped a new photo of the dark-haired man on the board, this one from the DMV, “is the only North in the state of Alabama with a black Infiniti registered in Jefferson County. The address listed is in a Homewood neighborhood, but we drove by the house this morning and no one by the name of North lives there now. The current resident said she didn’t know anyone by that name and she’s lived in the home with her husband and three kids for five years.”
“I take it Mr. North has no record.” Of course he didn’t. Jess didn’t know why she bothered to ask. If he’d had one, the details would already be on that board.
“No criminal record,” Lori confirmed. “No prints on file. I ran his name and the MO he used through the usual databases and got nothing. I passed his name along to Agent Manning and he came up empty handed as well. He said he’d run it by his Interpol contact.”
Todd Manning was assigned to the Bureau’s Birmingham Field Office. He and Jess had worked together a few times. They’d gotten off to a shaky start, but Manning had turned out to be a reliable team player.
“Has anyone driven by the Argyle Drive house today?” Jess had spoken to Gant just before lunch. They’d found nothing new at the house. No evidence that Spears was ever there, not even a fingerprint, and no escape route. It made no sense. He had been there. Four of his hostages had been there. How the hell had he gotten away? How could he not have left a single print? The decision had been made to dismantle the house with the hope of finding evidence. Spears had purchased the property in cash using an alias and a local sleazy attorney who couldn’t even describe the purchaser. Which actually made what the
Task Force wanted to do much simpler. The transaction had all the earmarks of illegal activity.
“I stopped by,” Hayes said. “I spoke to Roark. He said a crew was coming in to start taking down walls. He also mentioned he’s moving over to the Gang Task Force to replace Captain Allen.” Hayes flashed a fake smile. “In case anyone cares.”
No surprise there. Roark was Black’s right-hand man. Jess had expected he would be moving up the food chain. Captain Allen remained missing, presumed dead, it was time to fill the position and an opportunity for Black to give Roark a promotion.
Allen was another dark cloud hanging over Dan. Jess had butted heads with Ted Allen early on in her new career with the BPD. To Allen’s way of thinking, she had stepped on his toes or unsettled his deal with the very gang element he was sworn to bring to justice. He was suspected of having planted a bomb in her department issued vehicle and of tampering with her personal vehicle. Then he’d promptly disappeared. No one had seen or heard from him in more than a month. He left a wife and family as well as a long, distinguished career with the department. His cell phone and wedding band had both turned up at Dan’s former home, suggesting he had something to do with Allen’s disappearance. The friction between Jess and Allen had lent credence to the ridiculous theory.
Anyone with half a brain should recognize a set-up as blatant as that one. The only questions in Jess’s mind was how much of the set up was Spears, and if it wasn’t him, then who? Could the mayor really want Dan out that badly? Ridiculous question. Jess was nearly certain Mayor Joseph Pratt had somehow forced Meredith Dority to make allegations of misconduct against Dan going back to his time as liaison between the mayor’s office and the department. With Dority dead, they might never know the truth.
“Anything new on the Dority case?” Jess surveyed her team. They weren’t working that case, but cops had their own grapevine.
Meredith Dority had been murdered in her mother’s home. The neighborhood was one primarily occupied by retired folks. Yet, no one questioned thus far had noticed a single thing. Mrs. Dority was bedridden, recovering from surgery, and unfortunately, she was the reason Dan was a person of interest in the case. She’d heard the argument between Dan and her daughter that morning. She’d even heard the door slam as Dan left. The trouble was that someone else had come into the house almost immediately after Dan left. The mother hadn’t been able to hear the discussion between her daughter and the second visitor well enough to identify the voice or to exclude Dan. She could only confirm that the visitor was male and that there was a struggle.