“What about the case you guys are working on?”
J.T. heard Amber blow her nose.
“Sorry, but I can’t discuss that with you. All I can tell you is we haven’t found a connection, but we are checking that angle diligently. Please call me if you hear anything, Amber, and I’ll do the same.” J.T. hung up and reconvened with Agent Tam, Bruce, and Dave.
Agent Tam led the impromptu meeting at the side of the car. “According to the chief,” she said, “there’s nothing in the house that leads the PD to think Jade has been inside. Of course, the forensic team will give us a definitive answer on that soon enough. There’s also nothing they’ve seen that incriminates Jordan Taylor of any wrongdoing. There’s no sign of Methohexital, syringes, or any drugs whatsoever. There isn’t a manifesto, a kill list, or cinder blocks on-site.”
“We’ve been here for over an hour, boss. Where do you think she is?” Bruce asked.
“I have no idea, but it is a Saturday, and she could be anywhere. Did you get useful information from the neighbors across the street?”
“Nah, just what we already know. Jordan keeps to herself, the husband travels a lot for work, and she doesn’t have a job.”
Dave added, “That would fit in with her ability to ambush a person any time day or night and anywhere.”
“Agent Tam.” The chief called out from the house. “You’ll want to see this.”
Tam jerked her head toward the house. “Let’s go.”
Back inside the residence, the chief led the group to the family room, where a matching set of bookshelves flanked the fireplace.
“There wasn’t a reason to go through these books and photo albums, but a quick look by one of the officers brought up something unusual.” He pulled out a photo album and flipped open the plastic-covered pages. “I’m assuming this is Jordan Taylor, according to her description. The question is, who is the child in all of these photos? I thought the family only consisted of Jordan and the husband.”
Agent Tam held the album in her hand and took a seat on the couch. She turned the pages slowly while she studied the faces in each picture. She tried to make sense of the snapshots in front of her. They began with Jordan and most likely Kent, in a hospital room, proudly holding an infant in their arms. As Agent Tam continued through the pages, she saw a first, second, and third birthday for a little girl sitting in a high chair with Jordan at her side. Photos of Christmases by the tree and snapshots of Easter egg hunts with a happy little girl continued for several pages then abruptly stopped. The rest of the album was empty.
Agent Tam barked out orders. “Get on the horn and find out who this child is. I want to know where she went and why she isn’t part of this family any longer.”
Chapter 31
With a quick stop at a gas station minimart to pick up supplies, Jordan was back at the storage facility fifteen minutes later. The walls were closing in on her. She felt it and knew she didn’t have a lot of time. The cops were going through her home room by room and would likely keep the house under surveillance. There was no turning back. Kent would be home in a day, the cops would question him, and he’d find out everything.
Jordan knew this storage space, a bit larger than a single garage, couldn’t be her new residence forever. If she stayed too long, she would be found out by the security detail when they made their occasional trip through the complex. She needed a better idea, and she had to come up with one fast. Kent would be home tomorrow, and the chances of the house being under surveillance were high. He knew nothing of the van, either, but taking the car out again was too much of a risk. As long as Jordan was under a cloud of suspicion, the cops would be on the lookout for her vehicle.
Now what the hell am I going to do? The damn FBI agent is becoming a liability too.
Jade lay in the trunk of the car, and moving her from vehicle to vehicle was risky. Sedating her too often was dangerous as well, and Jordan didn’t want the death of an FBI agent on her hands.
I’ll hunker down at Jeanie’s house for a few days. Nobody even knows she exists. I’ll make up something that won’t raise suspicion. She’s always asking if I want to hang out, anyway.
The sense of closeness Jordan felt toward Jeanie had deteriorated recently, but she had to shelve those feelings temporarily. Finding a place to stay that wasn’t on anybody’s radar was far more important, but first, she had to tend to Agent Monroe.
Jordan popped the trunk and stared at the woman lying in a fetal position. The agent wasn’t moving. Jordan reached in and gave her a nudge. “Hey, wake up.”
A parched groan sounded from deep within Jade’s throat, and she slowly began to stir. Jordan turned Jade’s head and tore the tape off her mouth then removed the rag.
“It sounds like you need a drink of water. I have a sandwich for you too.”
Through her cracked voice, Jade spoke. “My head is throbbing. What am I doing in this trunk?”
“You’re groggy, and the Methohexital probably gave you a headache. You’ll remember everything in a few minutes. Here, sit up.” Jordan lifted Jade to an upright position and opened the bottle of water. “Take a sip.”
Jade gulped the water. It ran out the sides of her mouth and down her neck. She wasn’t fully coherent yet. Jordan wiped Jade’s face with a napkin from the stack she’d taken from the minimart.
“We have to talk, Agent Monroe.”
“I have to go to the bathroom, and you need to get me out of the trunk. I’m pretty dizzy.”
“All I have is a bucket in the corner and these napkins.”
Jade nodded. “That’ll do, but I need a hand. I’m zip-tied, remember?”
Jordan helped Jade to the bucket and waited while she did her business then walked with her as she shuffled back to the car and leaned against the open trunk.
“Are you going to tell me what the hell this is about?”
“I can’t yet. There’s still work to do, plus I have to think of something for you.”
“I’m a federal agent, and people must be looking for me. You’ll never get away with this.”
Jordan raked her hands through her hair as she grimaced. “They already are looking for you, and now I can’t go home. I have to think.”
“Holding me hostage is worsening your position. Just let me go.”
“And then what? I’ve already gone too far. I may as well finish what I’ve started. The charges against me won’t change whether I kill five people or fifty. I’m already serving a life sentence. Being incarcerated isn’t going to change that.”
“I don’t even know what that means.”
“You don’t need to.” She tore off a piece of the sandwich and put it into Jade’s mouth. “Eat this. You must be starving.”
Jordan walked to the end of the garage and pulled out her phone. The first call would be to Kent. She had to know his whereabouts and what time he intended to be home tomorrow. After that, she’d call Jeanie. Jordan dialed her husband and waited as the phone rang on his end.
“Jordan, I was about to call you.”
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“You sound paranoid, and yes, actually, something is wrong. I’m missing several vials of Methohexital. I wouldn’t imagine you’d know anything about that, would you?”
She heard his familiar sneer through the phone lines and was instantly angered. “Are you accusing me of stealing your samples?”
“I am. You know that’s a controlled substance and could be lethal if you take too much.”
“You want me to take my drugs, and I needed something to help me sleep. When are you coming home?”
“Now that I have to babysit you, I’ll be home tomorrow for sure. Stop taking that drug or—”
“Or what, Kent?” she interrupted. “You’ll turn me in?”
“Actually, I will, so stay out of trouble. I’ll see you tom—”
Jordan cut him off and hung up before he had time to finish his sentence.
Chapter 32
“Agent Tam, a call ju
st came in to dispatch that there’s a hit on the BOLO for the cruiser,” Chief Boardman said. “Apparently, a security guard at the airport found it parked in the short-term lot.”
“Okay, we’re on our way. Keep your guys on the house,” she yelled back as she rounded up her agents, “and find out who that child is too. Call all the local hospitals and see if Jordan Taylor gave birth at any of them in the last five years.” She motioned toward the cars. “Let’s go, guys.”
The drive from the Taylor home to George Bush Intercontinental Airport would take forty minutes.
“Damn it,” Tam said as she hit the steering wheel with her open hand.
J.T. looked across the front seat. “What’s wrong, boss?”
“We need the forensic team at the airport, but they’re still going through the Taylor house.”
“How about the evidence garage’s flatbed to haul the car back to the PD? We can give it a quick inspection and send it on its way. By then, forensics should be done at the house.”
“Yeah, that should work. Call Dave and tell him to take care of that. Make sure they bring a forensic kit with them.”
J.T. made the call as Agent Tam drove.
“Call the airport and have someone from security meet us at the entrance to the short-term lot.” She glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “Tell them we’ll be there in thirty minutes.”
J.T. called airport security, explained the situation then hung up. “They’ll be ready and waiting, Agent Tam. Do you want to get Jordan Taylor’s profile on the news? If so, it’s going to have to be done soon, or we’ll miss their prime-time broadcast.”
“Let’s check out the vehicle first.”
They reached the airport, where a white security truck with a light bar on the roof sat waiting. Agent Tam pulled to the curb and got out. J.T. watched as she approached the truck, exchanged a few words, and nodded.
She returned to the cruiser and stuck her head in the window. “The guard is Brian Mays. He’s going to lead the way in. I’ll tell Dave and Bruce to wait here for the flatbed.” She walked to the idling car snugged up behind hers and told the agents what the plan was then returned to her car and climbed into the driver’s seat.
Agent Tam followed the truck down five rows, turned right, and drove to the end of the lot. The security guard parked near the chain-link fence and exited his vehicle.
J.T. craned his neck and looked around. He pointed two rows away at a dark sedan. “There’s the cruiser.”
They followed the security guard on foot to the parked car.
“J.T., take some photographs of the outside and through the windows.” Tam jerked her chin toward the guard. “You wouldn’t happen to have any gloves, would you?”
“Sorry, ma’am, but no.”
J.T. pulled the sleeve of his coat down around his hand and tried the door handles. “Locked. Do you want to break in?”
She nodded the go-ahead, and J.T. walked back to their car, pulled the tire iron from its trunk, and returned to the locked cruiser.
“Stand back,” he said. With a forceful tap, he broke the driver’s side window. Safety glass spider webbed then spilled out to the ground. J.T. reached in and popped the door locks.
“Get that trunk open before anything. We need to make sure Jade isn’t in there.”
J.T. reached under the dash and popped the trunk. Tam and J.T. rounded the vehicle and stood at the back bumper. She gave him a nod, and he lifted the trunk lid. They both let out a sigh of relief.
Agent Tam momentarily relaxed her stiff shoulders. “Thank God. Okay, let’s get pictures of everything before we start going through the vehicle.”
With his cell phone, J.T. snapped a dozen or more images of the car’s interior.
“Check this out.” He leaned in close and took three pictures of a long blond hair on the driver’s seat back. “If I were a betting man, I’d say this hair belongs to Jordan Taylor.”
Agent Tam looked in. “I’d have to agree.” Her phone rang seconds later. Dave was calling to say the flatbed had arrived. “Okay, lead them in.” Agent Tam hung up and addressed J.T. “Snap a few pictures of the trunk too before they show up.”
He walked back to the rear of the car and lifted the trunk lid for the second time. “This is interesting.”
“What have you got?”
Between his pinched fingers, J.T. dropped what looked to be a mix of sand, gravel, and cement dust into his open palm. “I’d say this is residue from cinder blocks bumping against each other in the trunk.”
They turned to see Dave and Bruce directing the flatbed to their location. The two men from the evidence garage exited the truck and approached the cruiser.
“Agents, what have we got?”
“What we’ve seen on the driver’s seat back is a long blond hair that needs to be bagged, and there’s a gritty mix of sand and gravel in the trunk. We haven’t actually touched anything except the door locks and the trunk latch. I want this car gone over with a fine-toothed comb. Bruce?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Get forensics on the horn and tell them to collect Jordan Taylor’s hair samples from the house. It’s a good possibility we’re going to have a match. Also, tell the tech department to pull the cruiser’s GPS system right away. There aren’t any keys in this car, so they’re going to have to figure that out. Tell forensics to leave the house now with the hair sample and get to the lab. Go ahead and meet them there.”
“You got it, boss.”
Agent Tam turned to the waiting men. “Okay, the car is yours. Get it to the evidence garage as soon as you collect those samples.” She addressed Brian. “Is this lot monitored with video surveillance?”
“It sure is, ma’am.”
“Okay, lead the way. We need to see all the footage between nine o’clock last night and now.”
“Follow me.”
Agent Tam and J.T. climbed back in their cruiser and followed the white security truck to the employee entrance at the north side of the airport. Through a number of hallways and turns, they finally reached the pulse of the facility—the security department. The enormous room was filled with employees watching monitors for anything that could be considered suspicious.
Brian briefed his immediate supervisor through his walkie-talkie then clicked off. “He should be here in a second, folks.”
Agent Tam thanked him, and they waited.
Moments later a man approached them with his hand outstretched. “Bill Harris here. How can we help you agents?”
Tam and J.T. shook his hand and introduced themselves. Tam explained the urgency and said they needed to see the short-term lot videotapes going back twenty-four hours.
“Sure, not a problem. Right this way.” Bill Harris led them to the fourth cubical in a row of twelve. “This is Terry Pietry, and he can pull up that footage for you. Terry, go ahead. I’ll grab a few extra chairs.”
Bill Harris returned moments later with several roller chairs. Terry already had the tape from yesterday ready to roll.
“What are we looking for, ma’am?” Terry asked.
“We’re looking for a government-issued black cruiser. According to Brian, it was parked in Row F, all the way to the end near the chain-link fence.”
“Sure, I’ll pull up that location, and the time?”
Tam looked at J.T., her eyebrows raised in question. “What do you think? Nine o’clock?”
“Let’s go with nine thirty.”
Tam nodded, and Terry set the time. The tape began with an empty parking spot.
“I can speed it up a bit until the next car enters through the gate. That should make this process go a lot quicker,” he said.
“Yeah, let’s do that. Time is of the essence.”
They focused on the gate area and watched the clock at the bottom right corner of the screen. Three cars entered the lot, but none of them were the black sedan. Time ticked away, and ten o’clock came and went.
“Here we go,” J.T. said when the hea
dlights of another car approached the gate. “That’s the cruiser.”
The overhead lights that shined down on the guard gate confirmed the vehicle was the black sedan.
“Take us back to the camera near the parking spot,” Tam said.
Terry clicked the mouse over to camera four. The tape showed brake lights at the last open parking spot. The cruiser pulled in, backed up, and then finally parked. The headlights went out, and the driver’s door opened. A tall, large-framed blond woman stepped out of the car, slammed the door behind her, and walked away. The headlights flashed twice, and she headed to the sidewalk.
“Did you see that? She just dropped something into that garbage can,” J.T. said as he pointed at the screen. “How far can you follow her?”
“We’re pretty much done. The cameras only cover the lot and fifty feet around it. We’d have to pick up her movements with another camera.”
“Well, now we know Jade wasn’t with her,” Tam said. “Can you bring up the tape of the sidewalk area? I want to know if she went into the building or not.”
“Yep, just another minute while I switch out cameras. The next tape will take over at the ten fifteen mark.”
The tape began rolling with an image of Jordan’s back as she walked to the taxi stand and got in line behind a couple with two kids.
“Smart woman, covering her tracks and all,” J.T. said. “There she goes. Can you zoom in on the cab number?”
“Not with the sideways angle, but I can get the plates.” Terry zoomed in, and J.T. wrote down the license plate number. “All the cabs are through the same company. They’re contracted with the airport. Yellow Airport Service is the company name.”
Tam and J.T. stood and shook hands with Terry and Bill Harris.
“Thank you for your help,” Agent Tam said. “We’ll show ourselves out.”
Back in the car, J.T. called the cab company, gave them the plate number of the cab, and told them the time in question. He needed to know where that fare was dropped off. The taxi dispatch put J.T. on hold momentarily then came back to the phone with the information.
“That fare was dropped off at the intersection of Fairmont and Clark, sir.”
Snapped: An Agent Jade Monroe FBI Thriller Book 1 Page 14