The Plain Jane Mystery Box Set 2

by Traci Tyne Hilton

  “I’m with Wendy.”

  “But are you safe? Can you maybe stay in one place, one public place? We’re very concerned for you right now.”

  “We’re at her apartment; is that good enough?”

  Francine worked her jaw back and forth. “Honestly? I don’t know. But if you see Lucas or Tiffany come to the door, whatever you do, don’t open it.”

  “Hold on—what is it, Wendy?”

  In the background they heard muffled voices.

  “Wait, who’s here? Hey, Francine, um, Wendy just let them in. I’m going to try and, um, distract them? Yes?”

  “No! That’s not good enough! Hang up and call the cops! Or, better yet, stay on the line and call the cops with the other phone.” Francine’s eyes were bulging, and her voice had gone hysterical. “Whatever you do, try and overpower them.”

  Nick didn’t respond, but there wasn’t a dial tone yet, so Francine passed Jane the phone and they both got in the car. “Where does this Wendy girl live?”

  “Across the street from me. I can get you there fast.”

  They hopped on the highway and raced to Jane’s neighborhood.

  “What car do you think they are driving?”

  “They’ve been driving a turquoise Subaru, but I doubt that’s what they used to kidnap Theo and Robert.” Francine’s voice broke on Robert. They still hadn’t had word about him.

  Jane spotted a Subaru that matched the one she had seen them get in at Christiana’s house. “Park there!”

  Francine pulled her car up so it blocked the ride.

  They ran to the apartment and barged in.

  Nick and Lucas sat across the small dining room table from each other, talking in earnest. Tiffany looked up from her coffee cup and smiled at Francine and Jane.

  “Hey.” She sat in her wheelchair next to the couch where Wendy sat with a coffee cup in a shaking hand.

  Jane gripped her side, panting. Again, taking up running had been a good idea. Too bad she had quit. The three flights of stairs to Wendy’s apartment were killer.

  “We need to talk.” Francine stepped into the center of the room and stared at Lucas with laser intensity. “Tell me where you were the day that Theo disappeared.”

  Lucas paled. “I was…”

  “He was resting,” Tiffany jumped in. “This has been a terrible experience, and he needed to rest. I left him in our room and went to the hotel computer bank to catch up with emails.” Her voice quavered like Francine intimidated her.

  Jane tilted her head and considered Tiffany. Why was she not giving her husband an alibi? Could she be more innocent than Jane had imagined? “How long were you in the computer lab?”

  Tiffany shook her head. “I don’t know. A long time. Maybe two hours? Maybe more. The computer timed out my session twice, and I know they give you an hour at a time. But I don’t remember how long I had stayed by the time I was done.”

  “That should be easy to confirm with the computer.” Francine’s voice was quiet, like she was taking notes for later reference.

  Tiffany shook her head. “Maybe. I don’t know. When it logs you out, it says it erases all cookies and memory and stuff. I don’t think they keep a record.”

  “It’s a computer, kiddo; it’s all saved.” Lucas smiled, his face so relaxed that Jane shivered. Could he be a true psychopath? A person who would willingly out his wife as a liar in a murder investigation?

  Or had he protected her alibi? Maybe he had sent her to the computer lab on purpose so there would be a record that proved she hadn’t been a part of the kidnapping. But if she hadn’t been there, how had he managed to overpower both Theo and Robert?

  Jane sat down. She let Francine continue her questioning while she ran different scenarios through her mind.

  If Tiffany had absolutely been in the computer room at the hotel while Theo and Robert were being kidnapped, could Lucas have overpowered the two of them? Lucas wasn’t particularly fit, so it seemed unlikely. What if he had thrown the rock and then used the car to overpower them? Maybe he had run them over, or something like that.

  Or what if one of the other two men was in on it? Tiffany was safely in her computer lab, and Lucas was absolutely confident of not getting caught, so he completely vouched for her alibi. Then, he and Robert overpowered Theo, beat him, and dumped him to die.

  But if they had already murdered once, why not make sure they had finished the job with Theo?

  Jane exhaled slowly. Who had stabbed Christiana while Lucas was preaching? Tiffany, who had managed to slip away after being knocked from her wheelchair, or Robert, who was supposed to be missing during the event?

  In the background she had heard Lucas and Tiffany make the expected lies. Resting and at computers, or together. Horrified by the stabbing. So relieved that Theo was back. Etc. etc.

  “What happened after my cousin Gemma knocked you out of your wheelchair, Tiffany?” Jane asked suddenly.

  “What?” Tiffany jumped. She had been giving Francine her full attention and appeared to have forgotten Jane. “I did get pushed out of my chair, didn’t I? I don’t know, I just sort of got in the pew. It was fine.”

  “Could you see her from where you were preaching, Lucas?” Jane expected him to say yes, of course. But she wanted to see him say it.

  Lucas frowned. Then he turned to Tiffany and shook his head.

  “Of course he did. I was right up front, in my usual spot.”

  “No, you weren’t.” Lucas shifted in his seat. “Are you sure you remember correctly, babe? I mean, you are pretty strong, really, and had been in the chair most of the day. Did you walk further away, to get a more comfortable spot?” His brows were pulled together in a look of concentration.

  “Babe, I was too there, just like always.” Tiffany smiled, but her eyes were shooting daggers.

  “No, you weren’t. Why are you lying?” Lucas scooted his chair back from the table. His knees shook convulsively. “Tiffany, what aren’t you telling me?” He stared at her, his eyes huge.

  Jane’s own legs had begun to shake as well, and her heart rate was off the charts. Lucas was actually a psychopath. He had to be, and so none of them were safe.

  “Babe, relax.” Tiffany laughed softly. “You remember how bad the lighting was and all of that rigging and the screens and stuff. You just couldn’t see me.” She laughed again, but more awkwardly. “Especially with all of the lights in your eyes.”

  For a moment his face relaxed. Then he shook his head again, slowly, and a look of horror came over him. “Tiff, tell me you didn’t.”

  “What? What didn’t I do?”

  Nick got up and crossed the room slowly until he was next to Wendy. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close.

  “Tiffany, we need to talk…” Lucas looked from Tiffany to Francine, and back to Tiffany again, fear fighting with disgust.

  “I think we all need to talk to the police.” Jane’s voice was much calmer than she felt. She had managed, for the first time this case, to master her emotions so she could project authority. She was so proud of herself that a grin broke out, but she quickly stifled it.

  “You just did.” Wendy’s voice quavered. “I dialed the cops just like Francine told us to, and they’ve been listening to this whole conversation.” She held up a cell phone that had been concealed in her hand. “Are you still there?” she asked.

  “We’re still here. We’re sending an officer to the location to clear up some questions.” The voice on the phone sounded distant, and alien, but wonderful at the same time.

  Tiffany stood up.

  She bolted for the door, crossing the room with that fleet-footed strength Jane had gotten a glimpse of once before.

  Francine stuck out her arm and caught her.

  Jane, eyes on Tiffany’s feet, saw them waver and almost fail her, the appearance of strength being just that. Perhaps her disability wasn’t as bad as she put on, but she didn’t truly have the strength or power to overcome two men without the help
of her husband.

  “Tiffany, don’t. Please.” Lucas’s voice broke. Then he buried his face in his hands and began to sob.

  “Stop it.” Nick stood up with force. “Stop the charade, Lucas. Stop blaming your wife for what could have only been your plan. I’ve watched you. I’ve been watching you. You wanted what my parents had. You wanted it from the beginning and did anything you could to get it.”

  “No, no, I didn’t. I swear.” Lucas fell to his knees, forehead to the floor, sobbing.

  Jane was disgusted, and from the look on her face, so was Tiffany.

  But why wasn’t she saying anything?

  She stood there, letting Francine hold her. Not accusing her husband, not saying anything about what he had done. Just…letting him cry with a look of pure disgust on her face.

  “Tiffany, where is Robert?” Jane asked.

  Tiffany shrugged.

  “Were you driving the car while he beat Theo?” Jane sat on the edge of her seat, fairly sure if she stood up, she’d be as weak as Tiffany looked. She was overwhelmed by the ideas rolling over her as she watched the drama unfold.

  Tiffany let the faintest of smiles cross her lips.

  “You knew Robert was a hired bodyguard. That he could be bought by the highest bidder.”

  Tiffany’s face resumed its disgusted look.

  “And Theo thought he got rid of the LSD when he gave it to you, but really you sold it to pay Robert to get rid of another Malachi or two, right?”

  Nobody moved, and even Lucas’s sobbing had stopped.

  “And he’s somewhere nearby to take out Nick, only we popped in, so you couldn’t keep going.”

  “Not Robert,” Francine whispered.

  “Robert wasn’t saved,” Jane reminded her. “He wasn’t…going to come around, even if you had fallen for him. I’m so sorry.” She tried to look sympathetic for Francine, but there was always a cost when you fell in love with someone unsaved, and Francine was going to have to accept that, and grieve it like everyone else who made the same mistake. “You hired Robert because you wanted Lucas to take over the ministry. Because he was better at it than Josiah.” She looked at Lucas, his forehead still to the floor, his shoulders shaking. “Because he is a better man than Josiah. Lucas…” Jane paused. “Lucas is as good as he seems. So you wanted more for him.”

  Lucas slowly pulled himself up and looked at Jane. “Please stop. I’m not good. I’m not better than anyone else.”

  “Oh, shut up.” Tiffany spit the words out.

  “Lucas really was resting. And when Lucas was out of the sound booth the night of the murder, it really was because he was too sick. Maybe even because you made sure he was too sick.” Jane stood up finally and moved to the window to watch for the cops. “You were protecting him because he is good, and because you love him. But, why aren’t you good?”

  Tiffany wrenched her arm from Francine’s, but she wobbled, and Francine steadied her again.

  “Oh no.” Jane’s mind had gone back to Psych 101. “Oh, Tiffany, when did you come to America? How long were you in the orphanage?”

  “She was there her whole life,” Lucas said. “I met her there, with the ministry. She was eighteen, and no one had ever adopted her.” He wiped the tears from his cheek with a fist. “I loved her immediately. Just look at her.”

  Jane did look. Tiffany was a stunning beauty with her cascading black hair and huge black eyes. She had full red lips, and perfect skin like a Photoshopped supermodel. Of course he had loved her at first sight.

  “Lucas, are you familiar with attachment disorder? When a person fails to bond with their caregiver as a baby, they develop attachment disorder, which ranges in severity, but in most cases leads to a sort of sociopathic inability to empathize with others and view them as actual people.”

  Tiffany’s face didn’t register anything to this news, this claim that the life she was unfortunate enough to have been born into may have left her…crazy.

  “But that’s not Tiffany.” Lucas spoke soft, and gently. “Not my Tiffany. Everyone at the orphanage loved her. Adored her. They hated me for taking her away.” He sat back on his feet. “Tell them, Tiff, tell them that you bonded with your family there.”

  Tiffany stared at him with stony silence.

  “They were her family, really they were.”

  “It’s just one theory,” Jane said. “But we’re all born sinners, and only Christ can make any of us any different.” Lucas needed to hear something else now; he didn’t look like he could take any more bad news about his wife. But Jane was pretty sure she was right. That the harsh conditions of her growing up could account for why she was able to do away with her bosses, and their sons, with such ease.

  A knock at the front door broke the silence. Wendy got up and opened it. Two police officers came in and took over the conversation.

  Tiffany confessed nothing, but Lucas refused to give her an alibi for any of the dates in question, so they took her down to the station for further questioning. Lucas stood by her side, though.

  He demanded she tell the truth, but swore he would find a good lawyer.

  Chapter 27

  Two days later Jane and Francine went to the hospital to sit with Christiana. The stab wound had necessitated surgery, and she was now resting in recovery. With Josiah long gone, Tiffany under arrest, and a warrant out for Robert, who Theo said had beat him and left him for dead in the thick of the forest on the mountain, everyone was ready to sit together and hear Christiana’s side of the story.

  Theo had also said after hiking out of the woods and catching the bus back into town, he was pretty sure he had seen the car he had been hauled away in at a doctor’s office. Unfortunately, that lead had come up empty and Robert was still missing.

  “Theo, I owe you an apology.” Jane was getting good at these, which made them easier, but still not what she’d call fun.

  Theo gazed past her, his eyes still shadowed and tired. “What?”

  “I think I ruined something of yours. The thumb drive on the cat’s collar…I thought it might have evidence that could help us catch Lucas and Tiffany.”

  “And instead you found my sorry attempts at writing worship music.”

  “Not exactly.” She rubbed her thumbnail and willed herself to not look away from him. “I’m really sorry, but I broke it.”

  “Nick would say I broke it, by saving my sorry music on it.” Theo smiled wryly. “It’s not a problem, Girl Detective. You were just trying to do your job.” His shoulders were slumped and his face registered very little emotion, except exhaustion. He looked like a strong course of antidepressants wouldn’t be amiss.

  “Can I ask…why on the cat’s collar?”

  Theo shrugged. “Sis was the only one who ever liked my music.” He just stared at his hands, so Jane dropped the subject.

  Christiana coughed into her hand and then broke the awkward silence that followed Theo’s words. “Wilt didn’t like the ministry, so he took Haven from me.” She looked around the room with wide eyes, trying to get one of her boys to connect with her. “It was religious discrimination—but how could I fight it? I couldn’t.”

  “It wasn’t really discrimination, though, was it, Christiana?” Francine’s voice was gentle, as it had been with Stacy. “Tell your boys the real reason why Haven had to leave.”

  Christiana shook her head. “No, that was it. Discrimination against our faith.”

  “What was it really, Francine?” Nick’s face contorted. As opposed to Theo’s complete disengagement, anguish seemed to eat at Nick from the inside.

  “You can tell us. I think it’s time.” Francine laid her hand on Christiana’s back, and Christiana did not move away.

  “I never wanted this life.” Christiana wiped her eyes. “You know that, right, boys? When your dad’s business took off, I couldn’t take it. It was wrong of me to leave my first marriage, but it was so scary. He was always gone, and the money was…it was just so unstable. One day we’d be rich, the
next we’d be broke. I was overwhelmed with anxiety. I was better off alone. But then I met a nice preacher.” A sweet look of nostalgia passed over her face. “The quiet church life sounded perfect.”

  “But it hasn’t been quiet in a long time,” Francine said.

  “It was never quiet.” Christiana pressed her hand to her forehead. “I was confused. If this was what Jesus wanted, how could I want Jesus? I rebelled. When I met Wilt, I just wanted out. Leaving had worked once; I thought it would work again.” Her face went white; even her lips paled, bloodless. “But it was wrong. I begged for forgiveness, and received it, from God and Josiah. And I vowed—again—to be faithful to both of them.”

  “When did you realize that Josiah wasn’t who he claimed to be?” The tender look on Francine’s face nearly did Jane in.

  Jane sucked back her tears and prayed that Christiana could have a new moment, be born again, all over again. Or something like that. That she could purge her demons and move forward with her life.

  “Josiah was never wrong.”

  “But the LSD?” Theo asked. “That’s not very much like any other church on earth.”

  Christiana took a deep, gulpy breath. “It looks bad from the outside. I know. But I think Josiah meant well. He did. He never meant to deceive or to harm.”

  “But what about the baking soda and vinegar?” His voice was ragged and matched the pain that worked over his features.

  “He just wanted to force people to believe. He was tired of excuses…” Christiana’s shoulders slumped.

  The mention of the LSD was the nail that did her in. She had fought for Josiah for so long, but everyone in the room knew there was no way to excuse the drugs and the lying.

  “Did Haven’s father find out about the drugs?” Jane asked.

  Christiana nodded. “Yes. Wilt had agreed to let me put Josiah’s name on the birth certificate. His wife…his family…mine…” She sighed. “We had just agreed to act as though it had never happened, for everyone’s sake. But Wilt came to see her when we were in Ohio, where he lived. And he found out about the drugs. Someone told him, but I don’t know who.”