He apparently wrote extensively about the murder and included his own thoughts, but had he written anything about her, about abandoning a child or his reasons for doing so? And why had he never told anyone, not even his family, about that long-held secret? “Why do you think he never told anyone about me?”
“I don’t know. I suppose because he never found the real killer.”
“I’ve been thinking about why he did what he did—leaving me at that church.” She’d been trying to work through the anger she felt over being abandoned, but it was hard to get past no matter what his intentions had been. “He must have believed I was in real danger from someone.”
“I think so, too.”
“Tell me about him, Quinn. I can see he was dedicated to this case from this information, but what kind of man was he personally?”
“He was a great man. He taught me everything I know about life and honor and integrity. He was the first one who made me really want to help fight injustice in the world. He’s the reason I joined the army instead of the sheriff’s office.”
“How did your family feel about that?”
“Oh, they worried about me, especially when I joined Delta.”
“You were a Delta operator?” She wasn’t at all surprised to learn that he’d held a Special Forces job, but she was surprised he was sharing this information with her. “They’re a very elite group of warriors.”
“I worked hard to earn that distinction and I was good at it. Being a soldier is all I’ve ever known.”
“I guess private security isn’t quite as thrilling, is it?”
“It has its moments, but it’s nice to be able to use my skills. One thing I learned during my time in the army was that this world is so much bigger than this little town. Don’t get me wrong, I love it here. This is home. But it’s not everything. There’s a big world out there and there’s a lot of evil to be fought.”
She understood what he was saying. She saw evil in her job every day. And being surrounded by it all the time could have an effect on your soul. It was good he could come home to a place like West Bend to relax and refresh. She’d never really had such a place and she found herself jealous. She wasn’t comparing her job reporting on cold cases to what he’d done in Delta, or even the physical dangers he faced now on his job in private security, but she understood how seeing such violence could affect a person.
She was glad to hear more about Bill Mackey from someone who knew him best. He sounded like a good man and everything she’d read in the archives had him pinned as a decent sheriff. By all accounts, if he’d left her with that preacher then he’d likely had a good reason for doing so. It must have been for her protection. She wanted to believe that. She wanted to believe Quinn’s grandfather was good and had her best interests at heart.
But she couldn’t seem to throw off the anger that still came whenever she thought about it. He’d left her there, alone and helpless. She put her face in her hands, wanting to cry. She’d been excited about the possibility of being that abandoned little girl, but now she was terrified at what it might reveal—that the real reason Bill Mackey had left her at that church was that she wasn’t good enough to keep. It was the secret fear that had driven her most of her life. She hadn’t been good enough for her adoptive mother to want to spend time with her, for Jason to want to marry her, or for a good and honorable man to take the time to find her a decent home.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay,” Quinn said, seeing her emotional struggle.
He pulled her into an embrace and she laid her head against his chest and leaned back, never wanting this moment to end. She was finally in a good place, finally able to move on from the hurt and pain Jason had caused her. But how could she fall for Quinn when she didn’t even know who she was or where she belonged?
* * *
A sound behind Dana caused them both to turn to see Quinn’s parents walking inside. “We don’t mean to interrupt,” Clara said. “John told me what happened and I wanted to make sure you were all okay.”
“Thank you for your concerns,” Dana told her. “I’m more worried about Deputy Jenkins’s condition. Have you heard anything?”
“Jenkins is still in surgery but they’re listing his status as critical,” Sheriff Dawson told her.
“What about Reed Jessup?”
“He’s still on the loose, but we’re scouring the area. We will find him.” He turned to Quinn and the papers they’d been sorting through. “Have you found anything?”
“It looks like Grandpa took the evidence from the file,” Quinn told his father. He’d found scores of notes so far on inconsistencies in the records and evidence logs.
“Why would he do that knowing it would make prosecuting anyone for the crimes impossible?”
“According to his notes, he believed someone in the office was already compromising the evidence. He didn’t know who it was, but he was convinced someone was working against the sheriff’s office. He must have believed it would never be prosecuted. Which means he knew Rene’s killer would always be free. Alicia would always be in danger if her attempted killer couldn’t be prosecuted.”
He glanced at Dana. It made sense, more sense than anything else about this situation. His grandfather would have wanted to do what was best for her.
She seemed to understand that. “So he faked my death in order to keep me safe from a killer who was apparently unstoppable?”
It sounded like his grandfather, except for one additional thing. “But he never gave up looking. He went to his grave trying to keep you safe.”
“That sounds like Dad,” Clara stated. She put an arm around Dana’s shoulders and hugged her tightly.
Quinn noticed a tear slip from her eye at his mother’s embrace and she suddenly seemed flustered. “Thank you. I only found out about all this recently and I have to admit I’ve been dealing with some anger over why he would just abandon me that way. Now, I see he was only trying to protect me.”
“I can’t imagine what he was going through. He must not have known who to trust.”
John grimaced. “I wish he would have trusted me. I was young and new back then but he had a lot of years to confide in me. Maybe I could have helped clear this case before now.”
Clara gave him a knowing look. “He didn’t want to burden you with what he’d done.”
“Well, there was too much nonburdening back then and not enough following the law.” He grumbled then pulled several sheets of paper from his pocket. “We found some papers around Jenkins’s cruiser. I assume they were yours?”
Quinn glanced over her shoulder and saw they were copies of an aerial map.
Dana nodded. “Yes, they are. I saw this in the newspaper archives and I was heading to the clerk’s office to check it out. Apparently, there was a proposal for a new highway and the Renfield property ran through it.”
“I remember that,” Clara stated and her husband nodded.
“Paul refused to sell. That land had been in his family for generations.”
“What happened to it after he died?”
“With no heirs, it was eventually auctioned off and purchased by a developer, I think. But the highway plans changed. It ended up not going anywhere near the Renfield property.”
His heart kicked up a notch at this new development. “Would that have been a reason to kill an entire family?” Quinn asked. He’d seen greed in his life, but it still shocked him when it hit this close to home.”
“It’s worth considering,” his father stated. “Why don’t you two follow up with the clerk’s office and find out who purchased that property and when. I’ll look in to when the highway plans were changed.”
Quinn nodded, but Dana spoke up.
“I had some questions about Paul and Rene and I was hoping, since you’ve both mentioned knowing them, that you could answer some things for me. I heard th
e rumors that Rene was thinking of leaving Paul for someone else. Is there any truth to those rumors?”
Quinn saw them glance at one another then hesitate. He knew that shared look. They were about to shut down her questioning.
Before they could, Dana said, “I know they were your friends and you don’t want to do anything to damage their memories, but someone is trying to kill me for looking into this. I need to know the truth. Was Rene planning to leave Paul for another man?”
His mom fidgeted but told what she knew. “I can’t say for certain that she was going to leave Paul, but she’d had an affair with her old boyfriend a while back. In fact, most people thought Alicia was his child and not Paul’s. What she told me was that he wanted to get back together with her, but she was conflicted about what to do.”
Quinn could see Dana was rocked by this new information. It was one thing to learn your father had murdered your mother and tried to kill you, but now to learn that your father may not have been your real father. It was mind-blowing.
His dad agreed. “Paul was concerned that she was going to leave him, but he was prepared to fight for her. He didn’t want to lose his family.”
“Who was this old boyfriend?” Dana asked. “Has anyone looked into him?” She turned back to the records they’d been searching through and looked at Quinn. “Did you see anything about this old boyfriend?”
“It was Calvin Jessup.”
Dana looked shocked when his mother said the man’s name. He was shocked, too. “Mayor Jessup? Rene was having an affair with Mayor Jessup?”
“Well, he wasn’t mayor then. Calvin and Rene were high-school sweethearts. He broke it off when he went away to college and law school, but he and Rene always had a thing for one another. When he returned home, Rene was already married to Paul and Calvin was set to marry Meredith. Still, he told her he wanted to be with her. I heard he even broke off his engagement to Meredith so Rene would see he was serious about being with her.”
Quinn turned to his father. “I know he was your friend, but what makes you believe Paul wasn’t the killer?”
“In my job, I’ve seen people do terrible things to one another. I would never cross Paul out as a suspect because he’s my friend. The facts are that he’s never been found. There’s never even been a sighting of him in all these years. His social security number and bank accounts have never been touched since the night of the fire. My professional opinion is that Paul died that night along with his family but his body has never been discovered. I believe whoever committed those horrible acts hid his body to make him a scapegoat and divert attention from the actual killer. I watched my father-in-law go over that evidence night after night while I was still on the force. I saw those evidence reports before they vanished from the official file. Paul’s blood was found at the scene. It was a significant amount. Something terrible happened to him that night and as far as we know, he never received any medical attention. I believe that’s why Bill never bought in to the Paul-as-the-killer scenario.”
“But why would Calvin kill the woman he loved and his own child?”
“Maybe she refused to leave Paul?” his mom suggested.
But Quinn had a more obvious answer. “Or because an illegitimate child could ruin a politician’s career path.”
He looked to his father. They needed to have a candid conversation with Mayor Jessup, but Quinn knew the man wielded a lot of power in town. He’d held the position of mayor for nearly twenty years and had made several failed bids for governor before setting his sights on a senate seat in Washington. Having a presumed dead illegitimate daughter suddenly appear could derail yet another bid for political office.
His father sighed. “It’s not enough to compel him to talk to us, but maybe I can convince him to come in to answer a few questions. He has to know that if we’re investigating this case he’ll be called in to answer questions. I’ll go back to the department and make the call.”
“Drop me home first?” Clara asked and he nodded. “We’ll see you both later,” she said, then walked out with her husband.
Dana turned back to the papers from his grandfather’s stack, but she seemed lost now. He had to admit his own mind was whirling with all the new information they’d just learned.
He realized for the first time that they were kindred spirits. They both hated injustice in the world and tried to do away with it, her through her exposés and him through his military service and security work.
Why was he fighting her? They both wanted the same thing—to find the truth and bring it to light.
He pulled her to him and held her close. The smell of her soap floated over his skin, captivating him, drawing him like a moth to a flame. But would he get burned by her? She lifted her head and looked up at him, her eyelashes wet with tears. She seemed so vulnerable now that it drew out in him the desire to protect her, but he knew better than anyone that this lady in his arms didn’t need protection. She could take care of herself. She’d proven that to him. But he couldn’t squelch the urge to pull her from danger and do whatever it took to keep her safe from the world.
Her hand grazed his arm, sending chills through him. He breathed a deep breath and suddenly found it difficult to swallow with her so close. He could claim her lips with only a tilt of his head and the way they parted seemed to welcome him to do so.
His hand tightened on her back and he pulled her even closer. She closed her eyes and lifted her face to his, their lips only inches apart.
But did he really want to go down this road with her? Was he ready for this level of commitment? He wouldn’t lead her on. Either he wanted a relationship with her or he didn’t, but he couldn’t, could he? He would never be able to trust that she would keep his secret. It wasn’t right to burden her with such a secret and never allow her to tell it. It wouldn’t be fair to her.
She took the initiative before he did, closing the inches between them, and suddenly the soft, suppleness of her mouth muddled his thinking. He pulled her close against him and it felt right, like a missing part of him had suddenly been found. He wanted to keep it with him and never let it go again, sparking a fire deep in his soul, alerting him to something that had been missing in his life that he hadn’t even realized.
They stayed that way for a long time, wrapped in each other’s arms, her head on his chest, his hand stroking her hair. And it felt right. It felt good.
* * *
Quinn hadn’t had many dealings with Mayor Jessup, but he knew from watching the news that the mayor liked to make a statement wherever he went. Today was no exception. The mayor arrived at the sheriff’s office in two large, black SUVs with tinted windows and a procession led by a local West Bend officer. He was impeccably dressed in a suit and tie and offered a big smile and brisk hand shake when Quinn’s father greeted him.
“I appreciate you coming by, Calvin,” John Dawson told him.
“Of course,” Jessup assured him. “Meredith and I are both very upset about this mess with Reed. We’ll do whatever we can to help, but frankly, I haven’t heard from him in weeks. I usually don’t when he’s strung out.”
John Dawson stopped in front of Quinn. “You remember my younger son, Quinn?”
“Of course, the Delta guy. That was a nasty business in Libya a few weeks back, wasn’t it?”
Quinn tried not to show it but he flinched at the mayor’s words. He didn’t make his business known around town, but rumors were hard to stop and many people knew he’d been out of the country at the same time as the embassy attack. He also knew his family had requested special prayers during the hours they had no idea if he was dead or alive. Small-town rumors were hard to stifle. And Dana was close by, listening to the exchange from an interview room, where she was hiding until Jessup was ushered through the department. Given that several people had commented on how much she looked like Rene, it had been her idea to remain out of sight until the
right moment to spring on Calvin Jessup and demand to know the truth about what had happened that night. Now...had she heard the mayor’s comment about Libya? And how long did he really think he could continue hiding it from her?
“Yes, it was, Mayor. Almost as nasty as this business with your nephew.”
He nodded and grew solemn. “Yes, Reed is a troubled boy.”
“He’s not a boy anymore. He’s twenty-three and he shot a cop.”
Quinn watched as a political mask seemed to drop from the mayor’s face. He imagined for the first time he was seeing the man instead of the politician. “What do you mean he shot a cop? No one’s told me that. My chief only said there was an incident involving Reed at the library.” He turned to Quinn’s father. “What’s happened?”
John Dawson led him into an interview room. “Let’s talk in here.”
He went inside and closed the door. Quinn walked to the secondary interview room, where Dana was waiting. They were able to both see and hear what was going on inside the other room.
“John? Tell me the truth? Reed shot someone?”
“He did. He ambushed Deputy Mike Jenkins today at the public library and shot him three times. The doctors are still uncertain if he’s going to make it.”
“But why? Why would he do that?”
“Jenkins was assigned to a protection detail. It seems Reed has been trying to attack a woman in town for the past few days. Dana Lang. Have you heard of her?”
“The news lady? I know her name and I’d heard she was in town, but why would Reed want to harm her?”
She nudged closer to Quinn when Jessup started talking about her and he wrapped his arm around her, not even caring at this point what anyone thought. She needed his support and he was going to give it without reservation.
“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” John insisted. “Have a seat.”
“I should phone Meredith and let her know. I had no idea Reed was involved in the shootout at the library. I’m sorry, John.”
Cold Case Cover-Up Page 11