by Debra Webb
Assuming they found him alive…
4:05 p.m.
Jess waited until the introductions were out of the way and then she let the kindly looking woman named Selma Peterson from Child Protective Services have it. Politely, of course.
“Ms. Peterson, I appreciate and respect what you’re doing. I’m certain your job is rarely pleasant or simple. Unfortunately I’m about to make things a lot more complicated. This young woman and her brother, who is currently missing, are persons of interest in an ongoing homicide case. Until that case is solved or I tell you otherwise, you have no authority to question her. So, with all due respect, I will need you to leave these premises and not return until I’ve instructed otherwise.”
Ms. Peterson looked from Jess to her colleague, Heather Phipps, and back. “Frankly, Chief Harris, I’m speechless. In my career of twenty-four years I have never had an officer of the law speak to me in such a manner.”
Jess gifted her with a patient smile. “Well, ma’am, I’m awful sorry if you took anything I said the wrong way, but, if you have any questions, my boss is Chief of Police Daniel Burnett. You can direct any questions you, your colleague here, or your supervisor have to him. You have a good day now.”
The two women grumbled about rude cops and rules all the way out the door. As soon as they were gone, Jess turned to Leslie. “I don’t know what repercussions might come from that, so we’re going to get you moved someplace else until this is over.”
Leslie shook her head. “I can’t go anywhere. If Devon comes back he won’t know what to do.”
“Leslie.” Jess pulled her down to the sofa, since she looked as if she were about to drop. “We have your brother’s psychologist and two other specialists working with our search commander. We have Devon’s picture everywhere. We have an officer watching your home. If he comes back, we’ll know it. My top priority at this moment is to ensure your safety as well as your peace of mind.”
“I promise I’m fine.” Her voice shook.
“Have you eaten today?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“How about I order your favorite pizza?” Lori suggested. “My treat.”
Leslie looked from Jess to Lori and back. “Cheese is my favorite.”
Lori smiled. “Done.”
“Chief Harris,” Leslie interrupted before Jess could resume, “do you have a brother or sister?”
Jess blinked. “Yes, I do. A sister.” A sister who might be very sick. An ache twisted deep inside Jess.
“If this were your sister missing like this,” Leslie said, her worried gaze searching Jess’s, “would you leave?”
She had her there. “Okay, you win. Let’s go over the rules again and I’ll give you an update on the search.”
Leslie grabbed her and hugged her. Startled, Jess wasn’t sure how to respond at first. Then she just went with it and hugged the girl back.
Edgewater Condominiums, 5:30 p.m.
Johnny Trenton had managed to save up enough for a down payment on a low-end condo in Homewood. There was a pool and plenty of other folks his age. Just went to show that before the housing crash mortgage lenders would approve a loan for anyone, whatever their source of income.
Lori spotted Trenton lying on a chaise near the glistening pool. Jess could have gone the rest of her life without seeing the guy in a mankini and tanning oil. Why any woman would consider a self-serving player like him attractive she would never know.
Jess stared down at the glistening creep and wished she had saved the ice from the Pepsi she’d hit a drive-through for on the way here so she could cool him off before he scorched every female on the property.
“I’m sure you’re enjoying the view,” he said without opening his eyes, “but you’re blocking my sun.”
“We should step out of the way, Detective. We wouldn’t want to block his sun.”
Trenton’s eyes popped open but he didn’t bother getting up. “Chief Harris, what an unexpected pleasure.”
He looked her up and down with that usual smirk he wore most likely when any breathing female was in his line of sight.
Evidently not wanting to play favorites, Trenton gave Lori the same appraisal. Lori rolled her eyes.
“Remember I said we might need to speak with you again?”
“Yes, ma’am. I surely do.” He got up and stretched to ensure everyone around got a good look at his mostly naked body.
“Would you like to talk here or some place more private?” Jess asked.
“Come on up to my place.” He grabbed his towel. “I think I might even have some lemonade in the fridge.”
Like she would drink anything he had in his fridge if she were dying of thirst.
His condo was on the first floor with a slider leading to the pool. Not as bad as she’d expected. The décor was blasé but the place was spacious and relatively tidy.
When they had settled around the coffee table, Lori reminded him, “Mr. Trenton, your rights were explained to you when you were interviewed previously. Do you need me to read them again?”
He shook his head. “I have nothing to hide and as far as I know I don’t need an attorney. So shoot.” He smiled at Jess. “I’m ready for whatever you got.”
“Mr. Trenton,” Jess flipped through her notes just to make him nervous, “do you recall threatening Gabrielle Grayson when you were a patient at New Life Rehab Center three years ago?”
He flinched. “I do.” He shook his head. “I was a genuine asshole to Gabrielle. But, like I told you, she wouldn’t let me give up. She kept on urging me to hang in there even though I threatened her seven ways to Sunday. I called her every imaginable ugly name. But she never gave up. She’s the reason I got clean and stayed that way.”
“Why didn’t you mention this when I questioned you on Monday?” Jess hated wasting her time. This investigation was far too important to cater to his massive ego.
“It’s not the kind of thing I want to brag about. Besides, that was someone else. It wasn’t the man you’re sitting here talking to now. Gabrielle saved my life. There is no way in this world I would have done anything to harm her.” He looked away then. “I pretend to be all nonchalant and like I don’t care about anything but I care that she’s gone. I hate like hell that some sick son of a bitch gangbanger did this to her.” His jaw tightened with the fury Jess heard in his words. “I hope they kill each other until the fuckers are extinct.”
Now there was a thought. Only, a gangbanger didn’t kill Gabrielle.
“Mr. Trenton,” Jess offered, “I’m going to go out on a limb here. I believe you when you say you would never have hurt Gabrielle. But I need you to think long and hard about your relationship with her.” She had to be careful. She couldn’t put words in his mouth. Yet she wanted desperately to get a break in this case. The only way that was going to happen was if someone who knew Gabrielle started talking. “Did you ever see or hear anyone do or say anything that might have developed into the motive for murder? Did she have a boyfriend? Did her husband have a girlfriend? Was anything going on that signaled trouble?”
His shoulders slumped. “Honest to God, I wish I knew something. But there’s just nothing to know. Gabrielle’s whole life revolved around that kid and her husband. She got frustrated sometimes, mainly I think, because she was used to working outside the home. But she was happy. Her husband was happy as far as I know. He wasn’t usually around when I worked on the pool. He didn’t like her associating with anyone like me. Can’t say that I blame him. Most addicts who had it as bad as I did don’t stay clean. But I had Gabrielle. There was no way I was going to fail.”
“On Monday,” Jess countered, “you said Gabrielle’s husband wasn’t taking care of her needs. That her child was driving her nuts. Which is it, Mr. Trenton? The woman you hold in such high regard is dead. Someone cut off her head and stabbed her body ten times. Imagine what she must have suffered.” That wasn’t true but he didn’t know that. “Don’t you want us to find the person wh
o did this?”
Cocky, full-of-himself Johnny Trenton cried. Like a baby. Jess felt like a total buttwad.
Lori shrugged and grabbed a paper towel for him to dry his eyes.
“Okay,” he mumbled, then sniffed. “I know I said Gabrielle was unhappy, but she wasn’t. Not really.” He looked at Jess with watery eyes. “Gabrielle loved her son more than life. She almost never complained. And she worshipped her husband. He could do no wrong in her eyes. She set the standard for being a wife and mother.”
There it was. More proof of Gabrielle Grayson’s sainthood.
How the hell was Jess supposed to solve a case when everything was so perfect?
Except for the fact that a woman was dead.
And a little boy was missing.
Outside, Jess dropped into the passenger seat of Lori’s Mustang. It was hot as blazes and she was exhausted and disgusted and mad as hell. What jerk disliked her so much he would try to blow her up?
Lori started the car. “Wow. I feel like I just walked off the set of an episode of Dr. Phil.”
Jess laughed, sort of. She was too tired and overwhelmed to really laugh, but it was a start. She adjusted the air-conditioning vents. “So, her former coworkers and patients think Gabrielle walked on water. We know there is little or no likelihood this was a gang hit.”
“Don’t forget her neighbors,” Lori added. “Everyone we talked to thought she was super mom. We got nothing but rave reviews.”
Didn’t add up. All those post mortem stab wounds spoke of the killer’s rage. “This killer had to be someone who knew her. Hated her. Was envious of her. Or feared her somehow.”
Their gazes locked. Lori spoke first. “All her friends are cops and cops’ wives.”
As unpopular as exploring that avenue would be with the whole department, they had no choice but to take this investigation right there. “Grayson’s mother-in-law is home now. We need to nail down an interview with Sarah Riley. She has no more excuses.”
“She’s put me off every time I call,” Lori complained.
“She and her husband are closer to the Graysons than anyone,” Jess said, mostly to herself. “We need that interview.” They needed a hell of a lot more than that. “We need whoever the hell was close enough to know Grayson’s work schedule and whoever Gabrielle knew well enough to let into her house at that time of night.
“We need,” she said, frustrated and tired, “to find whatever it is that prompted a motive strong enough to kill a woman and then mutilate her body.”
Find the motive, find the killer.
9911 Conroy Road, 8:40 p.m.
Jess’s new surveillance detail parked on the street right across from the drive to her place. When she pulled into the drive and shut off the engine of her Audi, her gaze automatically swept up to the top of the garage stairs. There was a man there. He seemed to be doing something to her door.
Good grief! Was she being burglarized?
What next?
She grabbed her Glock, opened her door very carefully, and eased out. The guy still hadn’t moved. He had surely heard her car pull into the drive. How could he have missed her headlights?
Maybe he had a hearing problem. If so, he needed a new line of work.
Could be her landlord. But why didn’t he turn to greet her? Why keep his back to her arrival? She surveyed the back of his house. Lights were on downstairs. He was up it seemed.
Moving cautiously, she made her way to the stairs and slowly started upward. When she was two steps from the landing, her weapon in hand but aimed downward, she cleared her throat in hopes of alerting the man to her presence.
He turned around, seeming startled. This was no young man. Sixty-five or seventy. Eyeglasses with very thick lenses. Thin gray hair. Had to be her landlord.
“Mr. Louis?”
“Chief Harris, I presume?” He passed a hammer to his left hand and offered his right for her to shake.
Jess shifted the Glock to her left hand and accepted his gesture. His grip was firm. Steady. “Yes, sir. That’s me. Sorry about the gun. But I thought someone was breaking in.”
He shook his head. “We don’t ever have any trouble like that around here. It’s quiet. Peaceful.”
She could argue that point but she opted not to. Her problems had nothing to do with the neighborhood.
“I’m almost done here,” he said. “I noticed when the locksmith was here that some of the trim around the door was loose.” He pointed to the strips of painted wood around the frame. “I thought I’d tack them back into place and freshen the paint. So be careful, it’s still a little wet.”
That was when she noticed the bucket of white paint and well-used brush. She also noticed there was light. He’d taken care of the outdoor light on the landing.
“Thank you for taking such good care of me.” She gestured back to her car. “I’ll just get my stuff.”
“I’ll clean up and then I’ll be out of your way. With this heat, I have to wait until the sun goes down for outside maintenance.”
“Smart plan.” She smiled before turning to hustle back down to her car. She grabbed her shopping bag and the Chinese takeout she’d picked up on the way home. By the time she reached the top of the stairs again, Mr. Louis had finished his work and was preparing to be on his way.
She waved the box. “I picked up Chinese. I always order far too much. Would you like to join me for my first meal in my new place?”
He shook his head. “I couldn’t do that.”
“Please. I’d love to have the company.”
He kind of shuffled his feet and gave a vague nod.
“Great.” She picked through the keys and unlocked the door. After the day she’d had she could use the distraction and she needed to get to know her landlord. She flipped on the interior light and walked in. “Feels way better in here.” The heat index had neared another record today. Thank goodness the air-conditioning was up to par in this place.
“I repaired the light.” Louis pointed to the light outside her door, then flipped the necessary switch to turn it off then on.
“I can’t thank you enough.” She dumped the load in her arms on the table. “Maybe I’ll get one of those automatic thingies that makes the light come on at dark. My schedule is so crazy I never know what time I’ll get home.”
He nodded, his gaze directed more at the floor than at her. “I can install a sensor for you.”
“That’d be great. You can add the charge for the work onto my rent.”
He shook his head. “No charge. That’s part of being a good landlord.”
He needed to spread that word around. “Well come on in. Have a seat.” She gestured to the table. “I haven’t had time to get a sofa yet.”
Rather than take a seat, he waited a few feet away and watched as she spread the dinner on the counter. “Bottled water okay with you? I don’t have any beer or wine.” She wasn’t much of a host.
“I don’t drink alcohol.”
Oops. She should have considered that possibility. Lil said he was at church every Sunday and though Lil drank wine, not all churchgoers approved of alcohol consumption. Jess checked the bag to ensure they’d included more than one set of chopsticks. Usually they did, since they assumed she was ordering for two or more.
What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. She might go all day without eating but when she did, she made up for the missed meals.
“We can eat in here or sit on the steps. I’m planning to get a glider for the deck.” She laughed. “Eventually.”
The sound of a car door slamming outside had her guest turning toward the door neither of them had bothered to close.
“I should get back to the house.” Louis backed up the two or three steps he had taken. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
Before Jess could argue he had snagged his toolbox, rags, and paint can and hurried across the landing and headed down the steps. She walked outside to see that he got down the stairs in one piece at that speed
and with both hands full. The new arrival was Wesley. And she looked a mess. Too late to do anything about that. She ordered her jittery nerves to settle down. It was only Wesley. He’d probably spoken to Lopez’s people and had an update for her.
Wesley nodded and said hello as he and Mr. Louis passed. Louis didn’t appear to say anything but maybe he spoke too softly for Jess to hear. He just kept going as fast as he could walk until he’d disappeared into his house.
Nice man but quite peculiar.
“I brought dinner.” Wesley held up a bag that looked oddly familiar. “And wine.” He held up a bottle next.
“The wine will get you in the door for sure. But I hope you have a corkscrew and glasses. Otherwise we’re doomed to merely admire your taste in wine.”
When he was inside they laughed over the idea that they had chosen the same fast-food restaurant. That was one of the things that had drawn her to Wesley. They thought so much alike, or so it had seemed.
Not only had he brought a corkscrew and wineglasses, both of which were housewarming gifts, he had brought a blanket, which he promptly spread on the floor for their dining experience.
Jess couldn’t deny enjoying his company and the food. Not to mention the wine.
But she knew Wesley well enough to know that he wasn’t here just for dinner and conversation.
“I’m leaving tomorrow.”
“I see.” She’d wondered when that would happen. There was little more he could do here.
“Leonardo Lopez returned to Los Angeles late this afternoon. Based on our conversation, I must admit there appears to be merit to his allegations of a mole in my organization.” Wesley swirled the wine in his glass. “That’s difficult for me to believe but it’s my duty to explore those allegations.”
“What does he want in return?” Jess cradled her second glass of wine. “He wants something, I’m certain.” Lopez had mentioned wanting immunity for his daughter. Jess hoped he wouldn’t win that negotiation.