Jax and Roy came up with nothing at the Sleepy Sheep. There wasn’t anything left behind in the parking lot that looked like it could’ve been used as a weapon.
Whoever had hurt Preston had stolen his wallet. But Jax suspected that whoever had done it had just wanted to make it look like a mugging. There was no need to beat someone senseless when you already had what you wanted. No, Jax was pretty sure this was a hate crime.
And he knew exactly who was on top of his list.
After the incident at the restaurant, Jax was going to look into Chad and Judson. Same with Hoyt, as he’d started this whole mess by outing Preston to Bethelda, and subsequently the whole town. Grace had told Jax about Hoyt’s parting words in the stairwell. Yeah, that left him pretty damn suspicious, too.
Jax went home to change into his uniform. He found Grace just getting out of the shower. She had a towel wrapped around her waist and another in her hair.
“Hey, baby,” he said, pulling her into his arms. He reached up and grabbed the towel from her hair and threw in on the bed. He held her head in his hands, his fingers sliding into her wet hair, and kissed her. “You have no idea how much I wish I could spend the day with you,” he said, resting his forehead against hers.
“I have a pretty good idea,” she said, running her hands up his chest.
“What are your plans today?”
“I’m going to go over and see Brendan and Paige and the baby, then go back to the hospital to sit with Preston. Call me when you’re done.”
“Will do,” he said, holding her to him for just a minute longer. But he really didn’t want to let her go. Not now, not ever.
* * *
Chad lived over on the north side of town, in a small house about the size of the one that Jax rented. It was in about the same condition, too, maintained but not anything impressive. Chad’s truck was parked outside when Jax pulled into the driveway. He went up the porch steps and knocked, waiting for a minute before the door opened.
Chad’s mouth turned up in that arrogant, smarmy way of his as he looked out the screen door.
“Can I help you?”
“Just need to ask you a few questions,” Jax said.
Chad merely raised his eyebrows.
“Where were you last night?”
“Why? Did something unfortunate happen?”
“Preston Matthews was attacked, and after your public display of hatred at the Floppy Flounder, you’re a suspect.”
“So something happened to the queer? I wouldn’t say that’s unfortunate. I’d say that’s an act of righteous justice. But I wasn’t involved.”
“Where were you?” Jax repeated.
“With my girlfriend. Here, at my house.”
“I’m going to need to get her name.”
“Missy Lee,” she said, coming to the door.
Not a lot of things shocked Jax, but this sure as hell did. Missy Lee was old enough to be Chad’s mother. She was wearing one of Chad’s shirts and nothing else.
Okay, this was highly disturbing on soo many levels. Jax tried not to let his surprise and discomfort at the situation show on his face.
“How long have you been here?”
“Since eleven o’clock last night,” she said.
“And neither of you left?”
“Nope.” Chad grinned. “We were busy all night. Is there anything else I can help you with?” Chad asked.
“I’ll let you know,” Jax said.
“I can’t wait.” Chad took a step back and slammed the door.
God Jax hated that guy. But if Chad had been with Missy all night, then he hadn’t attacked Preston, and Jax needed to move on. Jax turned around and walked to his truck, but he slowed as he passed Chad’s truck.
Chad worked for Marlin Yance Construction, the same company Bennett worked for. The bed of the truck had a couple supplies in it, a few wooden beams, and some PVC pipe, nothing that anybody would really worry about getting stolen. Chad’s tools were most likely locked up in the metal box at the back of the bed, that or in his truck.
Jax didn’t see anything suspicious, but that PVC pipe sure did give him an idea. Judson Cocker worked with the stuff, too, and it would’ve fit the description of a possible weapon Preston described.
When Jax showed up to Judson’s apartment, he didn’t see Judson’s truck anywhere in the parking lot. There was no point in waiting around when Jax had no idea when Judson would be back. Jax headed out for Hoyt’s place, but as he was driving he spotted Judson’s truck in front of the Mirabelle Methodist church.
What a hypocrite.
Jax parked and got out. He looked into the back of the truck and found exactly what he was looking for.
There was a stack of PVC pipes. Jax leaned over to get a better look and found a red smear on the end of one.
* * *
Judson’s truck was seized, and he was brought into the sheriff’s office. He didn’t have an alibi. He said he’d been asleep and claimed that someone had to have planted the bloody PVC pipe in his truck. He hadn’t been the one to do that to Preston, he had no idea who had, and he didn’t really care. He refused to say anything else.
But it didn’t matter. The searching of Judson’s truck proved to be very helpful. And they found plenty of other incriminating evidence, and for more than just Preston’s attack.
A red flyer with the Bethelda article that had been attached to Grace’s car was shoved between a backseat cushion, and the same black car chalk that had been used to write on her windshield was in the glove compartment. And then there was that blessed pipe.
Normally it took time to get DNA results back from the lab, but Sheriff Dawson pulled some strings to get this test moved to the top of the pile. A hate crime where somebody was beaten was a pretty big deal in comparison to other crimes.
The results came back within twenty-four hours. It was Preston’s blood, along with some of his hair. And the only fingerprints found on the PVC pipe were Judson’s. To top it all off, Preston’s blood was found on the floor of Judson’s truck. So his story of someone stealing the pipe, beating Preston, and then putting it back wasn’t enough to explain how it got into his locked truck.
The problem was, Preston was pretty sure two guys had attacked him, and the only other suspect was Hoyt Reynolds. When Neal Sanders brought Hoyt in to talk, Hoyt had pointed every single finger he had at Judson.
Hoyt said that Judson had always had a problem with Grace. He said that she’d turned Judson down in high school and many times after that. Judson had always been real bitter about it, too. When Grace had started her relationship with Jax, Judson had gone into a rage. But Hoyt hadn’t known about the flyers, though it didn’t surprise him.
Hoyt had known how upset Judson was after the altercation with Preston at the Floppy Flounder. Judson had been humiliated. Hoyt had never thought that Judson would go so far to get revenge against Preston, but apparently, he said, you sometimes just didn’t know a person.
Jax wasn’t in the room when they questioned Hoyt, but he and Baxter were on the other side of the glass and they heard everything Hoyt said.
“He’s full of shit,” Jax told Baxter. “He’s just like his father.”
“I know,” Baxter said, furious. “I bet you anything that son-of-a-bitch attacked Preston.”
Jax was pretty impressed that Baxter hadn’t hit someone at this point. If it had been Grace that had been hurt, Jax would’ve gone crazy. There would’ve been no rational thought at all.
It had been two days since Preston’s attack and he was doing better. He was home from the hospital and Baxter was currently staying with him. Indefinitely.
Baxter had no more reservations about making his relationship with Preston public. He didn’t care what anyone thought anymore. But as it turned out, when he came out to his family, they said they’d always known. They told him it hadn’t changed anything before, and it most definitely changed nothing now.
“The only evidence we have points to Judson,” Jax told Baxte
r as they stared through the glass and into Hoyt’s smug face.
“I can’t wait to see how Judson’s going to take it when he finds out his friend completely ratted him out,” Baxter said.
“Oh, it’s going to be interesting,” Jax agreed.
* * *
And interesting it was.
“That piece of shit framed me,” Judson roared. “I had nothing to do with this. Hoyt is the one that’s always had a problem with Grace.”
“Why?” Jax asked.
“You’d have to ask him.” Judson snarled.
“So he didn’t help you out with any of this?” Jax asked.
“I didn’t do any of it,” Judson said.
“It sounds to me like Hoyt is who you should be investigating, not my client who’s innocent,” Burt Norwood said. Burt was Judson’s lawyer, and he was just as slimy as Judson.
“Right, I understand.” Jax nodded. “But the thing is, all the evidence we have points to you, Judson, and nothing that points to Hoyt. So if you were to confess and tell us about Hoyt’s part in all of this…” Jax trailed off.
“I. Didn’t. Do. It.” Judson repeated.
And that was all Judson said through the rest of questioning. So he was the only one brought up on charges for attacking Preston and harassing Grace. He was released on bail, and Judge Mendelson ordered that Judson had to stay in Atticus County while awaiting trial.
* * *
Grace and Lula Mae were catering a dinner for Keith Reynolds. Hoyt’s father was the Atticus County school superintendent, but up until about three and a half years ago he’d been the principal of Mirabelle High School. He had worked in the school district for twenty-five years, and a commemoration dinner to honor him was scheduled for Thursday.
Mel had been one of the teachers put in charge of the event, and she hired the café to cater. Grace wasn’t enthusiastic about doing anything for Keith Reynolds, but she’d do anything for Mel.
“I’m not okay with this,” Jax had told her the night before. “I don’t want you anywhere near that worthless piece of garbage. I know Hoyt was involved in the attack on Preston, and Judson said that Hoyt is the one who always had a problem with you. Which means Hoyt probably helped with what happened to your car. He’s a loose cannon, Grace, and he’s capable of hurting you.”
“In a room full of people? Come on, Jax, be reasonable. This dinner is tomorrow. I can’t bail out on Mel. She’s counting on me and Lula Mae.”
“Fine. Cook the food but get somebody else to serve it.”
“Jax, I’m not going to do that, so stop it. I’m going to be fine,” she’d said, kissing him on the cheek.
“I still don’t like this.” He’d huffed.
And because he didn’t like it so much, he was going to be at the banquet when he got off work to play bodyguard. Not that Grace minded, because she always liked to have Jax around. And if she was honest with herself, she really didn’t feel comfortable being in a room with Hoyt or anyone in his family.
Mr. Reynolds was very much like his son with his thick blond hair, tall and lean stature, and arrogant as all get out. He’d always been the biggest prick to Brendan, and Grace had no forgiveness for anyone who messed with her family.
Mr. Reynolds had always been fairly indifferent to Grace, but then again she’d never really done anything to garner the attention of the principal. She stayed out of trouble. Well, except for the rumors that had been spread about her. Grace wasn’t sure if Mr. Reynolds had ever heard the rumors, but if he had, he’d never involved himself in such matters.
Dolores Reynolds, Mr. Reynolds’s wife, was a grade-A bitch. She’d pretty much looked down her nose at most of the people in Mirabelle ever since she moved there. She’d never been particularly friendly to anyone. Whenever Grace saw her, the woman always had an unpleasant sneer on her face, kind of like she smelled something particularly foul. So that was either the expression the woman always had, or was just the expression she had when Grace was around.
Grace and Lula Mae spent most of the week in the kitchen preparing the food for the dinner, while Callie Armstrong and Rebecca Parks worked the front of the café. By four o’clock on Thursday, they had Lula Mae’s SUV and the little space in Grace’s Bug loaded up, and were heading over to the community center.
The dinner was for over one hundred guests. White linens covered the tables and unlit tea lights floated in clear round globes at the center. Panky was arranging blue and yellow flowers at the podium at the back of the room.
“I’m almost done and then I’m all yours,” Panky called out to them as she snipped the end off a sprig of greenery.
“No rush,” Lula Mae said. “We have to set up first anyways. We’re going to need your help to dish stuff out tonight.”
“Now you know if you want someone to dish stuff out you would need Pinky here, as the woman has no filter on that mouth of hers.”
“Then how about you do it with a spoon?” Lula Mae asked.
“Now that I can do.”
Mel showed up just after five with all the beer and wine. She didn’t get to enjoy the night. Nope, she was the bartender. That’s what happened when you were one of the lowest men, or women in this case, on the totem pole. And she hadn’t been the only one forced into free service. Other teachers were in charge of various tasks for the night, all of them recent hires. They weren’t the ones being honored, so what did it matter if they didn’t get to sit down and eat their dinner? It didn’t.
Mel wasn’t the biggest fan of Superintendent Reynolds, either. For the last year she’d been trying to do a hands-on project to get the kids more excited about math. She wanted to show them how math could be used to build things.
Mr. Reynolds wouldn’t even take the time to meet with her, sending her an e-mail stating there wasn’t enough room in the budget. He refused to meet with her so she could show him her plan of paying for it. He didn’t have the time. He was kicking off his reelection campaign, so what he apparently did have the time and budget for was a dinner celebrating him.
Asshole.
The guests started rolling in just before six. Grace was relighting one of the flames under the chafing dishes when she felt a prickling at the back of her neck. She looked up to find Hoyt Reynolds staring at her, his eyes full of hatred as he sipped his beer.
“I don’t like the way he’s looking at you,” Lula Mae whispered in Grace’s ear as she set a pan of lemon, basil, and goat cheese chicken in one of the already warmed chafing dishes.
“Don’t worry about it,” Grace said, moving on to the next dish.
Grace didn’t want to give Hoyt any credit for his attempt at intimidating her.
“I wouldn’t even be doing this if it wasn’t for Mel,” Lula Mae said under her breath. “Keith Reynolds deserves about as much honor as a horse’s ass.”
There was no love loss for Lula Mae toward the Reynolds family, either.
It was just after six o’clock when Mitch Bolinder, the principal of the high school, made his way up to the podium.
“I just want to welcome everyone here tonight,” Mitch said, adjusting the end of his tie. “We are here to recognize a great man, a man who is an asset to our fine community. But first, let’s eat.”
The guests got up from their tables and filed down the food line. Grace, Lula Mae, Panky, and the English teacher, Mia Grant, served the food. The chatter echoed in the room, people laughing and carrying on as they dug into their food.
“This is just absolutely delicious,” the music teacher, Karen Wilson, told Lula Mae as she came up for seconds.
“Why thanks, sugar,” Lula Mae drawled as she scooped up some rosemary potatoes.
“How’s that great-grandbaby of yours doing?” Karen asked.
“He’s doing just fine.”
“And Brendan and Paige?”
“All good, exhausted but good. Trevor has a set of lungs on him that could wake the dead.” Lula Mae smiled. “So he’s giving them a run for their money.”
“Oh, I’ll bet,” Karen said before she moved on.
The line died down, and as Lula Mae and Panky took the empty dishes to the kitchen, Grace started to put out the desserts. She was just setting out a tray of her chocolate hazelnut mousse when an odd vibe went through the room. Grace looked up to see Judson Coker stumble up to the empty podium.
Oh, fantastic. He was drunk.
“This can’t be good,” Lula Mae said, coming up behind Grace.
Grace hadn’t seen Judson since the incident at the restaurant. He’d just been released on bail the day before.
Judson leaned over and hit the top of the microphone with his palm, a dull thrum echoing through the speakers.
“So ya’ll are here to honor Superintendent Keith Reynolds,” he slurred. “An upstanding man, an upstanding husband, an upstanding father. Well why don’t we give a nice, big round of applause to his backstabbing, conniving son who managed to get out of being punished for that little queer Preston Matthews attack. Well done,” Judson said, clapping his own hands together. “And while we’re at it, why don’t we recognize Keith Reynolds’s other child, as she’s currently here servicing all of you. But the King women’s ability to service men is no secret to anyone. So why don’t you come up here, Grace, and congratulate your father.”
Everyone was silent and staring transfixed at Judson, everyone except for Mr. Bolinder, who was making his way toward the podium. He unplugged the microphone and turned to grab Judson’s arm.
Grace’s heart was pounding so hard in her throat she thought she was going to choke.
“No need to show me out,” Judson shouted as he pulled his arm away. “I’m not making this up, either,” he said as he made his way toward the door. “Keith Reynolds showed up in town and Grace King was born nine months later. Coincidence? I think not.” Judson pointed to Grace. “So take a look at the bastard daughter of this man who y’all think is so great.”
All eyes in the room turned to Grace, and she was lucky she didn’t pass out.
Chapter Sixteen
The Truth
Undeniable (A Country Roads Novel) Page 23