by Unknown
Lil gave Jess another hug. “We have to go. We’re getting Maddie’s room ready.”
Jess smiled as she watched Lil and Blake rush away like newlyweds expecting their first child. This was a big leap for the empty nesters.
“We have a few minutes,” Jess checked her cell, “let’s drop by the hospital and visit Cook.” She’d been too upset to see him last night. He was out of ICU now. In another week he’d be home.
Lori suddenly stepped in front of her. Jess bumped into her back.
“Hold on,” Lori warned.
A long black limo had stopped on the street in front of the courthouse steps. Jess and Lori had stalled about midway down.
A rear door opened and a man emerged.
Gant.
“We need to talk, Jess.”
Jess moved down the final few steps separating them. “What’s this about?”
“Let’s take a ride. I’ll take you back to your office when we’re done. Detective, you can wait for Chief Harris at her office.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t do that. Wherever Chief Harris goes, I go.”
Jess bit her lips together to hold back a smile.
“Jess?” Gant looked to her as if he expected her to handle the situation.
“Detective Wells goes with me.”
Gant moved to the front door. “Have it your way. Detective, you can ride in the front with the driver.”
“Happy to, sir.”
Lori climbed into the front seat.
Gant gestured for Jess to step into the passenger compartment. When she ducked her head inside she drew up short. Two distinguished looking gentlemen sat in the seat facing Jess. One looked to be in his mid-seventies while the other was ten or so years younger. Jess settled into the luxurious leather seat opposite her hosts. Gant scooted in next to her.
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, Jess,” the older man stated as the car moved away from the curb. “Winston Drummond.” He gave her a nod. “This is my assistant John Kurtze.”
“Mr. Kurtze smiled. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jess. I’ve heard a great deal about you.”
So this was the man who’d warned Buddy to keep his nose out of the past. “Thank you,” Jess allowed before turning to Gant. What the hell did he have to do with this? “You want to let me in on the secret now?”
“Director Drummond generously offered to come here in person to answer some of the questions you have about your father.”
A new kind of tension moved through Jess. “What do you know about this?” She’d known Ralph Gant for nearly twenty years. She had worked directly for him for more than half that time. They’d never once discussed her parents.
“Agent Gant knows only what I told him,” Drummond interjected.
Jess turned her attention to the man whose painting hung in the hallowed halls of the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. Retired Bureau directors were forever referred to as director. “All right then, why don’t you tell me about my father?”
“Back in the seventies and eighties we were still fighting the Cold War on an international front. Here at home we were learning just how good the Russians were at planting sleeper agents. We were fighting a war on Main Street that never made the news. It was our most classified operation.”
Jess couldn’t see what any of this had to do with what her father had gotten himself into with the Brownfields and she said as much.
“We were trying out a very rudimentary form of homeland security. It was, of course, significantly smaller and far less sophisticated. We turned everyday citizens into watchers. Your father was one of our watchers. We had no idea when we embedded him that he would uncover some of the most evil elements we would encounter in those early days—none of which had anything to do with the Russians.” He gave a small wry laugh. “I’m afraid our methods weren’t as well-honed back then and we lost many recruits. The operation was eventually pronounced a failure and shut down. As much of an overall failure as it was, it wasn’t all bad, Jess. We gained a deeper understanding of the criminal element thriving in our communities. Much of what we learned then helps us solve some of the worst crimes we face today.”
“No one was ever supposed to know about people like my father,” Jess surmised, emotions she couldn’t begin to label expanding against her chest. “The families were just left in the dark.” Her father had crossed that line by telling her mother anything at all, though Jess couldn’t blame him. He’d been working blind. “Were these embedded agents properly trained?” She didn’t care that skepticism weighted her tone.
“Training was minimal,” Drummond confessed. “We had much to learn in those days.”
“Where was backup when these people needed it?” She couldn’t wait to hear the answer to that one. She crossed her ankles to prevent her foot from tapping. Dammit. Anger, hurt, injustice, and more of those feelings she couldn’t readily identify twisted inside her.
Drummond held her gaze for a long moment. “There was never a plan for backup, Jess. These agents were on their own and that was understood from the beginning. Their job was simply to watch, but human nature got in the way and many became involved and ultimately paid a high price for that involvement.”
White-hot fury rose inside Jess so swiftly she barely restrained it. “There must have been some required criteria to be a watcher. How was my father selected? Or did you just randomly select any father of small children to get himself killed?”
“Your father’s work in sales kept him on the road,” Drummond offered, choosing to ignore her remark. “No one was going to notice a change in his habits. He was reasonably well educated and had the right personality. It was all quite simplistic.”
Jess fought for a deep breath. The sheer arrogance and indifference of the man was suffocating. The only way she would get the answers she needed was if she kept her cool. “How long was he a part of your program?”
“From the time you were about two years old.”
“Until it killed him,” Jess finished for him. Drummond clearly felt no remorse for what he had done. Breathe. “From the time my father became involved with the Brownfield family, he and my mother spent the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders. They died because of his involvement with that family. Wasn’t it obvious he was in over his head?” Someone ordered her father to become more involved. Drummond had to know more than he was telling and she deserved answers. “Or was it just easier to ignore the situation? After all, Lee Harris was expendable. Who would ever know?”
“Jess,” Gant cautioned.
“I’m afraid I have no other answers for you, Jess,” Drummond announced with a patience that sounded more patronizing than tolerant. “What the watchers did went undocumented. There were no files. Whatever answers you’ve uncovered are likely more extensive than the few I have.”
“So my parents lost their lives because your program was a failure,” she threw back at him without any of the fake patience and kindness he used so patently. He was lying. He had to know more than he was sharing. The idea that he could look at her and lie so easily made her sick.
“You know how it works, Jess,” Gant insisted. “The average citizen might not understand, but you do.”
No. She didn’t understand. “If you don’t have any more of the answers I need, then we’re done.” She had no desire to sit here and listen to how proud she should be that her father had lost his life serving his country without the proper tools with which to do it and without any backup.
“I watched you and your sister, Jess,” Drummond said. “When you chose a similar path as your father, I put in a good word for you. You did your father proud.”
“Are you suggesting that you had some influence on my career with the Bureau?” Shock radiated through her. How dare he imply such a thing!
“After your father’s brave sacrifice, I felt it was my duty to see that the right doors were opened for you—not that my influence was necessary. You managed quite well without any
help from anyone.”
Jess struggled to keep her outrage in check. “You’re right, sir, I didn’t need your help finding my place at the Bureau. But if you were so damned concerned, you might have thought about helping when my sister and I were being tossed from one foster home to the next. I’m confident my father wasn’t expecting that to happen when he signed on for your program.”
Drummond looked away. Apparently, he didn’t have an answer for that one.
Jess turned to Gant. “When did you know about this?”
“I had no idea until this morning.”
Enough. “Stop the car.”
“Jess,” Gant argued. “We can take you back to the courthouse.”
“I said, stop the car!” She couldn’t breathe.
Kurtze tapped on the privacy glass and motioned for the driver to pull over.
When the door opened, Jess realized there was one other thing the director needed to know. “You know, as a profiler I spent years studying evil and teaching others how to find it. Inevitably someone would ask what evil looked like. My answer was always the same. If they wanted to know what evil looked like they should look in the mirror.” The fury she’d been restraining slashed through her. “Have you looked in the mirror lately, Director?”
Gant emerged and held the door for her. She stepped away from the limo and drew in a deep breath to clear her lungs of the deceit.
“I’m sorry you had to find out this way, Jess.”
She turned to her old boss and shook her head. “I’m not. It just confirms the decision I made resigning from the Bureau. Goodbye, Gant.”
Jess walked away from him, Lori at her side.
She was where she was supposed to be. The Bureau had taken all from her they were ever going to take.
“I know you’ll tell me what happened back there eventually.”
“I will.”
“How are we going to proceed with our plan?”
Jess had a damned good idea. She surveyed the street. “We need a taxi to take us back to your car.”
“Where’re we headed?”
“The hospital. I want to talk to Rory Stinnett one last time before she’s released. First though, we have to stop by the office. There’s something I need.”
UAB Hospital, 10:50 a.m.
Rory Stinnett was not happy to see Jess. Her mother was even less happy.
“Mrs. Stinnett, your daughter is over the age of consent and this is police business. Why don’t you go get a coffee and we’ll be finished here by the time you’re back.”
“I’m calling our attorney,” the mother threatened.
Jess kept a smile propped in place until the woman was out the door.
“I already told you everything I know,” Stinnett insisted.
Lori took the manila folder she’d brought and went to the wall directly behind Jess. The wall Stinnett would have to stare at for the next few hours until she was released. Until Lori was finished Jess wanted the woman’s attention on her. She handed Stinnett an eight by ten photo of Spears.
“Look very closely, Rory. Did you at any time while you were a hostage see this man?”
Stinnett held the photo by the very edges as if she feared touching any part of his face. She shook her head. “Nope. I never saw him.”
Lori stepped to the side of the bed and gave Jess a nod.
Jess moved to the other side of the bed, giving Stinnett a clear view of the wall and the dozens of gruesome images posted there.
Stinnett gasped.
“All those women, including Presley Campbell, were victims of Eric Spears.” Jess indicated the photo Stinnett held. “Each one was tortured relentlessly for days. Raped repeatedly and then murdered. This is the man you’re protecting.”
“I swear I can’t remember,” Stinnett cried. “I… I don’t know!”
“As long as he’s out there,” Jess warned, “you will never be safe, Rory. No matter how you swear you didn’t see him, he knows you saw him. He knows everything about you. That’s how he chooses his victims. He knows where you live. Where you work. Who your friends are. He knows everything.”
Stinnett burst into sobs.
Jess let it go there. She’d pushed her hard enough. “I’ll just leave these with you so you can think about it for a while. Maybe you’ll remember something.”
Outrage pounding inside her, Jess left the room. The mother hurried back in to be with her daughter. The sound of her shouting followed them down the corridor.
“I think maybe momma might be upset with you.”
“If we’re lucky and her daughter talks, she’ll thank me in the end.” Jess stabbed the call button on the elevator. “Let’s go see how many nurses have asked for Cook’s number.”
“Last count was five.” Lori laughed. “The guy’s going to get a big head.”
Jess had a feeling all those cute nurses were wasting their time. Chad Cook was smitten with Dr. Sylvia Baron.
“I guess you’re going to Roark’s funeral?” Lori asked as they boarded the elevator.
“It’s mandatory, but I’d go anyway. At some point in his career he was a good cop, before power or greed got the better of him.”
“Guess so.”
She and every other cop in the BPD owed Roark the respect due him for those years of dedicated service.
Lakefront Trail, Bessemer, 7:30 p.m.
With Lily beaming, Maddie took Jess by the hand and led her to the stairs.
“Can Uncle Dan come see your room, too?” Jess asked the little girl.
Maddie looked over at Dan and then nodded.
Dan gave a nod to Blake and joined Jess and Maddie at the bottom of the stairs. “I would love to see your new room, Princess Maddie.”
Maddie giggled and ran up the stairs.
Jess and her sister had taken a few minutes together while Blake and Dan helped Maddie make cookies—what a sweet mess that had been. Lily had been just as stunned to learn about their father’s true occupation as Jess had been. Though many of the pieces were missing, the news provided some amount of closure. They’d shed a few tears and done a lot of hugging, but tonight was about Maddie.
Lily had taken the guestroom Jess had always used when she visited and turned it into a veritable wonderland. The walls were pink. Glossy white furniture and a bed with a frilly canopy filled the room. There were dolls, a dollhouse, and oodles of stuffed animals, along with a little table and tea set. It was incredible.
“This is the best room ev’r!” Maddie squealed as she jumped on the bed.
Jess sat down in one of the little chairs at the table. “I’d like some tea, please!”
Maddie bounced over and arranged the cups and saucers. She looked up at Dan. “You, too!”
Dan knelt next to the table. “Honey, I’m afraid I’m way too big for your chairs.”
“You can be a giant!” Maddie’s laughter tinkled around the room.
“Wait!” Jess stood. “I have to get my phone so I can take a picture.”
“Hur-ree up!” Maddie ordered.
Jess paused at the door to look back. Maddie was serving tea to Dan. The way he smiled at the little girl made Jess melt a little inside. She couldn’t wait to watch him play with their children.
All she had to do was protect him until this was over.
Tomorrow she and Lori would set a plan in motion.
23
Birmingham Police Department
Friday, September 17, 10:00 a.m.
“Good morning, Tara.”
The receptionist looked up and gasped. “Chief!”
Dan grinned. “How are you this morning?”
She smiled. “Much better now.”
“Chief Black is expecting me.”
“You know the way.” She blinked rapidly to hold back tears.
Dan wanted to hug her. This had been Tara’s first job out of college. She’d been so nervous on her first day. She and Dan had had a special bond since that same day had been his first as chief of pol
ice.
Dan’s step felt lighter as he headed for his office. It wasn’t official yet, but it would be soon. He had a tremendous amount to be grateful for this morning. His father was being released from the hospital today with an encouraging prognosis after having two additional stints put in place. His other wounds were healing nicely. Dan wanted his father around to play the role of grandfather. Nina was safe in another private facility until the transfer to New York. The family had decided to keep her close for a while given the trauma she’d just suffered.
Jess had saved Nina’s life. He was certain Spears had intended for Nina to die and Jess to be the cause.
Dan checked his cell once more before stepping into the small waiting room outside his office. Corlew was supposed to have made contact with the cell number Spears used. Hopefully he’d heard something by now.
One way or the other, Dan intended to ensure Spears was taken care of permanently.
“Chief!” Sheila jumped up from her desk and came around to give him a hug. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“It’s good to be here.”
“You go on in. Chief Black is waiting for you.” Her eyes sparkled. “I believe he has some good news for you.”
Dan gave her a smile and headed into his office. No matter how dire the situation had looked, he’d still considered this his office.
“Good morning, Dan.” Harold stood at the head of the small conference table in the room. “Have a seat and we’ll get started.”
“Morning, Harold.” Dan was struggling with the changes to his and Harold’s relationship. He had known and trusted the man for many, many years. This business had left a seriously bad taste in Dan’s mouth. He was looking forward to putting it behind him.
When Dan had taken a seat, Harold settled into his. He clasped his hands atop a folder on the table. “I received an urgent call from the AG in Montgomery this morning.”
“I’m assuming the call was related to Meredith.” Meredith had left Birmingham a number of years ago to take a job at the state level on the governor’s staff. Dan couldn’t imagine a call from the AG’s office having anything to do with him otherwise.