“Let Bill know, although a navy blue or black coat isn’t a lot to go on.”
“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“For your information, I’m here, and I believe you.”
“Then what happened to the body? I pounded on the door. The chief did too and called.”
“Maybe the woman got up and passed out again in another room. She could be the one drinking or on drugs.”
Jessie’s frown deepened. “Maybe. That would fit…”
“Fit what?” Josh asked as Chief Shaffer came back.
“Fit the situation.” Jessie faced Bill. “I know what I saw.”
“That’s what Kira said, but I need a body. My officer should be back soon with Mrs. Williams. I’ll get to the bottom of this. In the meantime, the assistant district attorney is coming to this house.”
“Good. You’ll see something is wrong here.” Jessie stared at the window she’d looked through.
Bill harrumphed then stomped down the stairs in the direction of Officer Taylor.
Josh remembered when Jessie had insisted Gabriel hadn’t killed Marcie even though it appeared he had. In the end, Jessie had been right. That whole situation had taught him not to jump to conclusions until all the information was gathered. He leaned toward her. “Let’s sit on the steps until Mrs. Williams returns. The truth will come out.”
“What if the person is hurt somewhere else in the house? They’re wasting time.” Jessie took a seat next to Josh. “I wish I knew for sure who it was. Mary Lou told me once that only Heather and her aunt live here. Maybe it was Mrs. Williams. The chief didn’t say if he talked to her at work.”
“Waiting is the hardest thing to do. When Marcie went missing, I wanted answers immediately. In truth, the real answer to what happened to her wasn’t discovered until this past December—almost a year later.”
“We all wanted answers. When Gabriel had to tell Abbey her mother was gone, I could see how difficult that was for him.” Jessie slid a glance at Josh. “That’s why I knew he was innocent. He’d never do anything to hurt his daughter, and Abbey loved her mother.”
“In spite of the bad decisions my sister made?”
“You’re admitting that now?”
“I always knew my sister often acted before really thinking about the consequences. That’s one of the reasons Mother kept such a tight rein on her in high school. Marcie was impulsive and reckless.”
“And you weren’t?”
“I’ve had my moments, but heading up Morgan Industries has forced me to mature and put my wishes on hold.” The second he admitted that, he wanted to snatch it back.
“The poor little rich kid?”
Her retort only confirmed why Josh didn’t open up to many people. Most people had an image of him and didn’t bother to look beyond what they saw. “Everyone’s path is different.” He rose as a patrol car pulled up. “That’s probably Mrs. Williams.”
“I’m sorry. My comment was uncalled for.” Jessie pushed to her feet. “I’m worried about Heather.”
He twisted toward her. “We’ll get answers soon.”
Chief Shaffer escorted Mrs. Williams up the sidewalk. He took her key and opened the door. “In case there’s a crime,” he sneered as he said that last word, “I need y’all to stay outside while I go through the house with my officers.”
The urge to punch the police chief in the face swamped Josh. That man really didn’t like the Michaels family.
Kira arrived, talked with Heather’s aunt, and then joined Jessie and Josh still standing at the bottom of the porch steps. “Heather is spending the evening with a friend studying for a test.”
“So Mrs. Williams said she’s there now?” Jessie chewed on her lower lip.
“She says yes. She talked to Heather earlier. Mrs. Williams has no idea of anyone being on her floor or in her home at this time.”
Josh watched Heather’s aunt pace from one end of the porch to the other. Her gaze connected with his, and quickly the woman glanced away. She crossed her arms over her chest, dropped her head, and continued her trek. If she was so sure her niece was at her friend’s house, then why did she seem so worried?
Finally, Bill exited the house first, followed by his officers. The scowl on his face spoke volumes. “There’s no one in there. The back door is locked. What mess I found was in what appears to be Heather’s room.”
“That’s normal. I can’t get her to clean her room without a major fight,” Mrs. Williams said, tension still evident in the set of her mouth, her stiff arms at her sides, and her balled hands.
Bill tapped the brim of his cowboy hat. “Sorry to bother you. I’ll have an officer drive you back to work. Do you want to go inside first and double check to see if there’s anything missing?”
“No, I don’t want any more money docked from my paycheck. Let me lock up here. Then I’ll be ready to leave.”
“Mrs. Williams, may I walk through the living room? I don’t know what’s going on here, but I did see someone in your house.”
Kira stepped forward. “Mrs. Williams, maybe you should—”
The older woman spun around toward Jessie. “Haven’t you done enough? I want you to leave now.”
Jessie opened her mouth, but before she said anything, Josh clasped her hand and tugged her down the sidewalk to his car at the curb. “Let it go, Jessie.”
When she sat in the passenger seat and Josh started the engine to warm the chilled interior, she finally said, “I can’t. I know what I saw. I need to see Heather alive for myself.”
Chapter Four
Jessie twisted toward Josh in his sports car, grinding her teeth. No amount of warmth from the heater would penetrate the coldness deep in the marrow of her bones. Heather might be connected to the person who killed her best friend. She couldn’t let it go. While she had been safe in Florida, Mary Lou had been murdered.
Jessie glanced toward the house as Heather’s aunt entered her home. “We have only Mrs. Williams’s word that Heather is at a friend’s house. The woman’s behavior was odd. Maybe she’s hiding something.”
“What? That her niece is missing? How long do you think she could keep that going?”
For a second, she wanted to tell him about Mary Lou’s note. Then he might believe there was a problem. But she didn’t need his approval to be worried. “According to Mary Lou, Heather and her aunt always fought.”
“So you think she hurt her niece? She was at work. If you saw someone on the floor, how could she be at the grocery store and at home cleaning up the evidence of what you saw?”
“If? I did see a pair of legs clad in holey jeans lying on the floor and a chair overturned. I’ve seen Heather wear jeans like that.”
He shook his head. “Okay, let’s assume Heather was on the floor. She could have gotten up, righted the chair, and left by the back door.”
“Why would she do that?”
Josh clutched his steering wheel. “I don’t know. I’m trying to give you the benefit of doubt.”
“That doesn’t account for me seeing someone in a dark coat fleeing. That’s two persons who left.”
“Look, let me spell it out for you. Chief Shaffer isn’t too happy with your family right now. Your brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law showed him up when they discovered the serial killer instead of him. The city council called him on the carpet over that case. We’re even considering replacing him with Captain Harris Doyle.”
Jessie glared at him although he probably couldn’t see it with the darkness shrouding them. “As they should. He didn’t do his job.” Where had Josh stood when the city council met? She wanted to ask him but gritted her teeth instead.
“I don’t know what he’ll do if he thinks another Michaels is snooping around a case. Let me see what I can find out.”
“You! Why? We certainly aren’t friends.”
“Because it’s the right thing. How do you think Kira and Gabriel, or worse, Abbey, would feel if you got into trouble?”
She wanted to scream at him. Instead, she forced a laugh. “Josh Morgan worrying about a Michaels. This is one for the record book.”
“You forget Abbey is a Michaels, and I love my niece.”
She squeezed the door handle. She couldn’t fault him for that. A memory of him playing with his niece on the beach in Florida flitted through her mind—a memory of him laughing and having fun building a sandcastle for his princess, Abbey. Seeing them together that day moved Jessie until she remembered who he was and what his family had done to her brother.
“That’s okay. I don’t need your help.” She started to leave, but Kira tapped on the driver side window.
When Josh slid the glass down, Kira leaned in. “Are y’all coming to the ranch for Abbey’s birthday party? I called Gabriel to let him know I was running a little late. Josh, your mother is already there.”
“Tell my brother I’ll be there. I forgot all about it.” Jessie exited his car, her body trembling. How could she have forgotten Abbey’s party? But since she found Mary Lou’s letter earlier, that was all she’d been thinking about.
“I’m going now.” Josh backed out of the driveway.
Jessie walked with Kira to her truck. “Chief Shaffer is wrong. I know what I saw, and I’m not letting it go.”
Kira chuckled. “Your relentlessness reminds me of your brother. See you at the ranch.”
When Jessie sat behind her steering wheel, she watched Heather’s aunt lock her front door and leave with one of the police officers. The patrol car taking Mrs. Williams back to work didn’t pull away from the curb until Jessie backed out of the driveway.
On the drive to the ranch, she went over her options concerning Heather. The easy and safest choice was to let it go as Josh insisted. Maybe she should. She would take the letter to Kira tomorrow when she met with her and then let the police do their job. Chief Shaffer once had a crush on Gabriel’s wife, and he couldn’t see beyond Gabriel killing Marcie. The chief had never liked Gabriel. Was Josh right that the city council would be scrutinizing the chief’s every move? Or was he saying that to make her back away?
Jessie was the last to arrive at the ranch. She parked around back and entered the house by the rear door. She came to a halt when she saw the Morgan family cook in the kitchen. The scent of whatever was in the oven smelled heavenly.
“It’s nice to see you, Helen. What are you baking?”
“Miss Abbey’s favorite dish.”
“Ah, pizza. That’s the best one I’ve ever smelled. Everyone in the living room?”
“Yes.”
Jessie hurried down the hall. Knowing Gabriel, he wouldn’t start the birthday party until she arrived, and Abbey was probably watching the minute hand go around the clock.
“Hi. Sorry, I’m late.” Jessie paused in the entrance and grinned at Abbey.
Standing near the table filled with presents, Abbey set her hand on her waist. “It’s about time. I’m dying to open my presents.”
Jessie scanned the people in the room—Kira and her grandmother, Mrs. Morgan and Josh, Hank, the ranch hand, and Gabriel. Everyone was relaxed except Josh’s mother. Her stiff posture and sober expression was her usual demeanor when she visited the ranch, as though she’d barely been able to force herself to attend her only grandchild’s family birthday party. Somehow Gabriel had learned to ignore the woman’s disdain, but Jessie hadn’t. While in Florida, she’d been subjected to it every time she was in the older woman’s presence.
“Honey, now that Aunt Jessie is here, go…” Gabriel’s voice trailed off into silence as Abbey attacked the first gift. He laughed and put his arm around Kira. “Now you know her secret. She hates waiting.”
When Abbey opened the second to last present, her eyes grew big as she looked at the name of the person who gave her a gold necklace with a horse dangling from the chain. “You remembered.”
Josh winked at his niece. “I sure did. You dragged me to the window of the jewelry store and showed me what you wanted.”
Abbey blushed and giggled. “That’s because Mom told me you had to be led to the water. I didn’t know what she meant at first.”
Josh held up his hands, palms outward. “Okay, you don’t need to explain. I hate shopping, but you made my trip easy.”
For a while, Jessie hadn’t been sure her niece would ever laugh again, especially on her birthday. This time last year, her dad had been arrested in the middle of a quiet party at the ranch when Abbey had turned eight.
Kira pushed the last gift in front of Abbey. “You saved the best for last. It took a whole roll of birthday paper to wrap this and careful planning on my part to cover…”
Again Abbey tore into the present, scraps of wrapping paper flying every which way. Quickly she revealed a saddle in the big box. Jessie’s forehead crinkled, her niece peered at Kira.
“All you talk about is riding a horse. I thought you should have your own saddle.”
“I use Daddy’s, but it’s big.”
“Now you have one that isn’t.” Kira hugged Abbey.
Jessie sat across from Ruth Morgan, and throughout the opening of gifts, the older woman’s expression hardly changed—uncomfortable and solemn with a mouth that neither smiled nor frowned.
Gabriel gave Abbey a piece of paper. “Here’s your first clue.”
“Yes!” Her niece pumped her arm into the air. “What’s pink and lacy?” Abbey’s eyebrows shot up. “I know.” She raced out of the room and stomped up the stairs.
Gabriel went after his daughter with everyone following, even Mrs. Morgan.
Abbey stood in the middle of her room, the coverlet on the floor by her feet. “My bedspread is pink with lace trim, but I didn’t find anything on it.” With her palm under her chin, her niece slowly rotated.
“Do you know what it is?” Josh whispered.
Jessie shook her head. “I once let a secret slip, and my brother won’t tell me now.”
“Ah.”
Jessie twisted her mouth into a half frown, shifted around, and bent toward Josh’s ear. “I’m surprised your mother came up here.”
He took a step into the hallway, drawing Jessie, too. “Frankly, I’m surprised she insisted on coming.”
“I got it,” Abbey shouted inside her bedroom and hurried, with another clue in her hand, into the corridor and down the stairs.
Again the group, except for Hank trailed after Abbey into the kitchen. She stuck her hand into a cowgirl cookie jar and waved the third clue in the air. “What’s big, brown, and needs a coat of paint?” She beamed. “That’s easy. The barn.”
Before anyone could say something, Abbey was out the back door and running across the yard in the direction of the big, brown building with peeling paint.
When Jessie entered the barn, Hank was holding the reins to a horse. Abbey faced it. Tears streaked down her cheeks.
Josh came up behind Jessie. “Why’s she crying?”
A big grin slowly spread across Abbey’s face. She turned toward Gabriel. “Is she mine?”
He nodded.
Abbey threw her arms around her father. “Thank you. Thank you. I’ll take good care of Daisy.”
“So her name is Daisy?” Gabriel asked.
His look of contentment and happiness caused Jessie to tear up.
“Yes.” Abbey whirled and began to run toward the horse but slowed as she approached the small mare and stroked her hand along the pinto’s neck. “She’s beautiful.”
“Now that Abbey has opened her presents, we’re all probably starving. Let’s go eat.”
“But, Daddy, I don’t want to leave Daisy. She’ll be lonely.”
“Hon, you can come back later and tell her good night, but right now we have guests.”
Abbey stood on tiptoes and kissed Daisy. “I’ll be back.”
Hank led the mare to a stall while the guests left. Josh walked next to Jessie as they headed toward the back door.
“Why did your mother come? She’s hardly spoken.”
“Why did you come?”
“To see Abbey—and you.”
She stopped. “Me?”
“You’ve formed an opinion of me without really knowing me. I’m not like my sister or mother.”
“You were one of the loudest proponents against my brother last year. That’s not easy for me to forget.”
“Because, at the time, I believed he murdered Marcie. My family was grieving and wanted answers.”
“So that’s why you believed the thin evidence that convicted Gabriel?”
“If it means anything, I’m sorry for what happened.”
“It doesn’t mean anything to me.” She stalked in the direction of the back door, curling and uncurling her hands. Gabriel had forgiven the Morgan family. She hadn’t.
* * *
The next day, Jessie sank into the chair at Kira’s conference table, releasing a long breath. “I’ve been going nonstop since sunrise. It’s nice to take a few minutes to eat lunch and talk to you. How are the wedding plans coming along?”
“Good thing we’ve both been married before. Trying to curb Grams from planning a large wedding has been exhausting.” Kira slid the boxed lunch toward her that her secretary had picked up at Al’s Diner. “Since when have you just ordered a salad for a meal?”
“I’m watching my figure.”
Kira chuckled. “From the looks last night, you’re not the only one. First Josh comes to the Williams’s house, and then you two talked half the night at Abbey’s birthday party.”
“It’s nothing. We both care about Abbey. That’s all.”
“Sure,” Kira replied in a tone that said she didn’t believe Jessie. “Josh and I have been friends for years, but when I worked with Gabriel to find the serial killer, my relationship with your brother was precarious. Neither one of us was happy with the other at first. Then he began to see reason. Josh had always been protective of his younger sister. Losing her was very hard on him, especially the way it happened.”
Deadly Dose Page 3