“No worries,” Melissa laughed. “Good luck, and let me know if you need anything.”
“I will.”
The doctor swept out of the room, leaving Paige and Barkley alone once more. Jack had been gone some time now. After he had gotten a phone call from forensics, which had confirmed that the blood on the watch was a match for Jonathan Cook’s, he had grabbed her old phone and headed to the interrogation room.
Paige rubbed the fur on Barkley’s head and the puppy curled up against her contentedly; he hadn’t left her lap at all since they got to the station, unwilling to leave her side even as Melissa carefully examined him.
“Sorry to put you through that, Barkley,” Paige said softly, scratching his ears. “If I’d been more careful, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”
Barkley lifted his head and licked her hand. Paige blinked away the sudden tears that came to her eyes. She didn’t know if the puppy was aware that she had put him in terrible danger. She wondered if he would care even if he did know.
But she cared. She had been foolish, and Barkley had gotten hurt. Both she and Barkley could have been killed because she had jumped into a situation without thinking it through first. Because she had let her emotions and her desire for excitement get the better of her.
“Maybe it’s time to settle down, right, Barkley?” she said.
“I’m okay with that.”
Paige jumped at the sound of Jack’s voice at the door, and she cleared her throat.
“How’d it go?” she asked.
“Much better than we expected,” Jack said with a grin, striding into the office. He leaned against his desk. “We showed him your phone and the recorded call; he thought we had him, so he answered all our questions from there. I’m not sure what he thought gave him away, but his testimony is going to be more than enough evidence against him, now.”
“I’m glad,” Paige said. “So? What actually happened?”
“Honestly?” Jack said, shaking his head. “You ended up getting a lot of it right. First, he and his wife were behind the dog thefts; they bought a dog just to attend the training school, and used it to research champion dogs in the area that were connected to the school.”
“It makes sense,” Paige mused. “The best place to find out about all those amazing dogs would be at the source.”
“That’s what they decided,” Jack agreed. “They would stake out Otter Crest Loop a few times a week, and find an owner with one of these dogs. They had discussed branching out to other areas before the location became too obvious.”
“Too late, there,” Paige said, thinking of Jack’s page of notes on the thefts. “So, how did they kidnap them? It was the whistle, right?”
“Exactly,” Jack said. “Jessica was a former trainer, as she told you, and she had talked to Alice at length about her dog training methods. This was how she picked up the whistle that Alice used to call all the dogs to her so that they weren’t running amok during lessons.”
“I’m guessing Jonathan wasn’t aware that Jessica was a trainer?” Paige asked.
“As far as we know, he wasn’t,” Jack sighed. “Which was why he suspected Alice, in the beginning. But we honestly feel that he changed his mind before he died.”
“Right,” Paige mused. “There was that weird page that just had an apology on it.” She faltered at Jack’s hard stare, suddenly remembering that she hadn’t told him about photographing the diary pages. “Er…”
“I’m not going to ask,” Jack decided. “But, yes, we’re speculating that it was an apology to Alice for suspecting her. Therefore, when he spoke about finding something on the last page, we believe that he discovered the truth and moved to stop it. Unfortunately…”
“He was killed,” Paige finished. “On the same day Gunner went missing, too.”
“That wasn’t actually a coincidence,” Jack said, his voice grim. “Stealing Gunner was how Jessica and Daniel lured Jonathan out to Otter Crest Loop on that day. It was all premeditated.”
“What?” Paige asked, stunned; she had just assumed that the murder had happened because Jessica and Daniel had caught Jonathan spying.
But, as she thought this, she realized that it didn’t make sense. Jessica had set up an appointment with a lawyer, at the time of the murder, to escape suspicion. Wait, didn’t that mean…?
“What you’re thinking is right,” Jack said, seeing the sick look on Paige’s face. “Jonathan was killed while you were at your appointment with Jessica. Daniel said he killed Jonathan and then called you to interrupt the appointment, as they had agreed.”
“So, they lured him out and created an alibi for themselves at the same time,” Paige said. “That’s sick.”
“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “They left hints that they were going after Gunner, and allowed him to follow Daniel out to Otter Crest Loop. Then…”
Paige winced. She could already imagine it. Jonathan would have quietly followed Daniel at a distance, believing he was finally about to shut down the thefts that had been terrorizing his school. Then, without warning, Daniel would have turned and stabbed him when he was certain no one was around.
“Then, of course, Jessica joined him after her appointment and they picked up Gunner,” Jack continued. “I’m still trying to track him down, along with all the other missing dogs.”
“I know at least one has been sold,” Paige said. “The golden retriever with the spotted ear. It was in a photo of a competition Jessica showed me.”
“Actually, that photo was in your drawer, as well,” Jack said. “I hope you don’t mind that we took it.”
“Not at all,” Paige said, shaking her head. “Okay, so that’s how Daniel killed Jonathan, and how I ended up getting pulled into all this. Why did they dump him at the winery?”
“They were frightened that it would make everything too obvious,” Jack said. “On top of that, Daniel had lost his watch at the same time as the murder. They didn’t want the murder to be connected to the thefts. It was bad enough Jonathan was a trainer.”
“But it didn’t matter, because you were already suspicious,” Paige said.
“Exactly,” Jack said, looking pleased. “They thought it would be found the next morning, giving them time to clean up the crime scene. But that kid went back for his wallet and found the body too early. Jessica and Daniel heard our sirens and fled the scene after covering the blood with sand. After that, they didn’t dare go back there until everything had calmed down, aware that it was now a suspicious location with the dog thefts.”
“They had everything planned out,” Paige murmured.
“The only thing they didn’t expect was you, to be honest,” Jack admitted. “You attending the training school surprised them; you might never have known Jessica also went to the school if you hadn’t. It wouldn’t have even occurred to you to connect her to the murder. Your connection to both the school and to me made them nervous, and they started making mistakes, including heading to Otter Crest Loop on the day you saw them.”
“They shouldn’t have reacted the way they did,” Paige said, shaking her head. “I was half convinced that they really had just reconnected somehow. It was how they acted that was suspicious.”
“After they left your office, they decided that they couldn’t just let it go and hope you wouldn’t figure anything out,” Jack said. “That was why they attacked you.”
Paige grimaced and rubbed her neck, remembering the feel of Jessica’s arm cutting off her air. If Jack hadn’t been there, she didn’t know what would have happened. One enemy, she could have fought off. But two while she was worried about Barkley? The odds had been stacked against her from the start.
Suddenly, the phone rang on the desk, and Jack picked it up quickly.
“Sheriff Lewis speaking,” he said sharply. He listened for a moment and then his expression cleared. “Thank you for letting me know. Yes, we still have Daniel Wilson in custody. We just got a statement from him. Yes. Thank you.”
He hung up.
He turned to Paige and a broad grin spread across his face.
“That was Newport station,” he said. “Jessica attempted to return home for supplies and they picked her up. She’s in custody now.” His smile softened. “It’s over, Paige.”
Paige blinked. Finally, something within her relaxed and she closed her eyes.
It was all, finally, over.
Chapter 24: To the Future
24: To the Future
“Penny for your thoughts?”
Paige blinked and looked down at her meal. Freshly cooked spaghetti that looked delicious, but she couldn’t bring herself to concentrate on it.
“Sorry,” she said to Jack, attempting to smile at him.
“You’ve been spacing out a lot since the case ended,” Jack pointed out. “Are you okay?”
Paige grimaced. Three days ago, both Daniel and Jessica Wilson had been officially charged with the murder of Jonathan Cook. Alice Campbell had been quietly released, and she had phoned Paige in tears, thanking her profusely for her help.
“I’ve just got a lot on my mind,” she said.
“Like?” Jack pressed.
“My own stupidity, for one,” Paige said grimly. Then she sighed. “And the future, I guess.”
Jack didn’t say anything. His expression was open, waiting to hear what she was going to say. He had been waiting patiently for her answer for some time, she realized. But not once had he pushed her or demanded that she stay in Otter Rock. He had just listened to her and waited for the day when she decided what she was going to do…one way or another.
“The other day…I told you one of the reasons I wanted to be involved in the case was because I wanted to show you that you could trust me to help you,” Paige told him. “It was really stupid. But that wasn’t the only reason.”
Jack nodded, unsurprised. “It was the thrill of the chase, right?”
“Yeah,” Paige said with a wince. “Finding the evidence, chasing the criminal… Cynthia Johnson’s case was the most alive I’d felt since I left Portland. After that case, it felt like I had lost my footing a little. I didn’t know what to do.”
“Do you now?” Jack asked, absently stirring his spaghetti with his fork.
Paige pressed her lips together. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about it over the last few days.”
She looked over at Barkley. He was spinning in circles on the rug, chasing his tail, yet again the loveable, goofy puppy that she had come to adore. It was hard to imagine that he had looked so fierce, just days ago, as he defended her.
“I miss Portland,” she declared. “I miss the city and the people and the work. I really love Otter Rock; it’s where I grew up, and the memories I have here are wonderful. But…I’m really bored, Jack. I understand that a lighter caseload is good for me, but I get very few cases now, and that’s not enough to keep my interest. The most exciting thing in my life right now is the ongoing struggle to pay the bills.”
Jack winced. “Yeah, not the most exciting thing in the world.” He sighed. “I was kind of expecting this, if I was honest. There was a reason you left the first time, after all.”
“Because I wanted to see more of the world,” Paige agreed. She eyed his expression; it was resigned and sad and determined to support her anyway. “I’m not leaving Otter Rock.”
“Yes, so I’ll accept…” Jack said, then trailed off, staring at her. “What?”
“I’m not leaving,” Paige repeated. “I’ve thought long and hard about it. I miss the excitement of Portland, yes, but I was very lonely there. I don’t want to leave Otter Rock, where my parents are, where I’m making friends…” She gave him a soft smile. “Where you are.”
Jack’s breath caught. He reached across the table to clasp one of her hands in his.
“Don’t hold yourself back for me, Paige,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “Even at eighteen, I knew I couldn’t hold you back from what you wanted. I don’t want to trap you somewhere you don’t want to be.”
“Aren’t you listening?” Paige asked, raising an eyebrow. “I already told you; I want to be here. You aren’t trapping me anywhere.”
“But then what are you going to do?” Jack demanded, though his grip on her hand became a little firmer, as though he couldn’t bear to let go despite his words. “You’re wasting away here, Paige. You’ve always had big dreams. You couldn’t fulfill them in Otter Rock back then, and you can’t now.”
“Please,” Paige snorted. “If I’d wanted to, I could have let all my former clients know where I was. Otter Rock would have been overrun.”
“Wait…what?” Jack said, confused. “Then why haven’t you done that, yet?”
“When I first came to Otter Rock, I thought of it as a new start,” Paige said. “Then, after the case…” She shrugged. “It wasn’t that I had lost interest in being a lawyer, but my job couldn’t hold the attention I once gave it. It just seemed to…pale in comparison.”
Jack blinked, even more lost. “Are you saying you don’t want to be a lawyer anymore?”
“And put all those years of study down the drain?” Paige asked in mock horror. “No, thank you!” She laughed as Jack shook his head, not following her. “I want to broaden my horizons, Jack. I specialized in divorce a long time ago, and I never looked back. But…what if I returned to study and expanded into criminal law instead?”
“Criminal law?” Jack asked, startled.
“Yes,” Paige said with a nod. “With this case and Cynthia’s…there was a common thread. And it was that I wanted to help those who had been falsely accused. Rachel, River and Alice… I wanted to prove that they were innocent. I knew I had to find the evidence to do it. We managed to do it at the end of the last case; we saved so many people when we solved Cynthia Johnson’s murder..”
She looked at him, a fire burning within her. In the days after the murder, she had been thinking about this a lot, and about what had driven her to solve the case.
“Both River and Alice asked me if I could help them… And I couldn’t,” she said. “Do you know how hard that was? I had to tell them I was just a divorce lawyer. In the eyes of the law, there was nothing I could do.”
“As a criminal lawyer, you still can’t get involved in cases unless you’re asked to, Paige,” Jack pointed out.
“I know,” Paige said with a nod. “And that’s okay. But if someone does ask me for help, then I will be able to help them. Then, during court, I’ll be the one to stand up and present or fight against the evidence you give me, to maybe help someone who shouldn’t be there.”
“You’ve really thought about this,” Jack said.
“A lot,” Paige said seriously. “I didn’t want to leave Otter Rock. But I didn’t want to stay as I am right now, either. This seemed like the best solution.”
Jack didn’t say anything, quietly mulling over her words.
“What do you think?” Paige pressed.
“I think…” Jack eyed her, and then a grin spread over his face. “It suits you. I like the idea.”
Paige grinned. “Good, because I’ve already been looking at some online courses.”
Jack laughed. “Of course you have. This is probably for the best, anyway. You’ve already been caught up in two cases in Otter Rock; if your luck continues like this, you’re definitely going to need that degree.”
“Right,” Paige said, rolling her eyes. “In the meantime, I’m going to collect some more clients; I’ll phone some of my old clients and ask them to pass the word on where I am. I’m going to set a limit, though. There’s only me in the office, and I can only handle so many clients at once, so I’ll have to close my books if I get too busy.”
“Barkley and I can drag you away if you get too overwhelmed,” Jack promised.
Barkley barked, hearing his name, almost as if in agreement. Paige laughed and shook her head.
“You have my permission to,” she joked. “Though I think my mother would beat you to it.”
“Probably,”
Jack admitted. He smiled and lifted her hand so he could press a light kiss to it. “Regardless… I’m glad you’re staying, Paige. I would have accepted it if you had left, but…”
“I’m sorry,” Paige said with a small smile. “I know you’ve been waiting to see what I was going to do. I know Barkley was meant to help with that, though that one was a bit too obvious; walking Barkley forced me to see more of Otter Rock so I would appreciate it, right?”
“Guilty,” Jack said sheepishly.
Paige shook her head with a fond smile. “Either way, even before that, I didn’t really want to leave. I think I appreciate this place far more than I ever did as a child.”
“We’ll see more of it,” Jack promised. “And…maybe the world a little, too?”
Paige smiled. “I’d like that.” She paused. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you, Jack. Maybe, if I had paid more attention, I wouldn’t have gotten myself in trouble.”
“I’m sorry, too,” Jack said, shaking his head. “I wasn’t listening, either. From now on, we should tell each other what we’re thinking. We don’t want this sort of misunderstanding to happen again.”
“Yeah,” Paige agreed. “I think we’re both pretty independent…and that didn’t really help matters, did it?”
“Not to mention how stubborn we can both be,” Jack laughed. “We have time to work that out, though.”
Paige smiled. Yes, they had time now. Now that the last uncertainties had been removed, now that Paige was definitely staying in Otter Rock, they could truly explore what it meant to be in a relationship with one another.
She felt words hovering on the tip of her tongue, words that would voice what she was feeling, but she held them back with a smile. There would be time enough for that later. Right now, she and Jack needed to define themselves and their relationship once more, and decide where to go from here.
But that was okay, she decided. Her smile grew as Barkley scrambled onto her lap, peering over the table at her unfinished spaghetti. It would be a long road, but she felt better equipped to travel it, this time.
The Comfy Canine Murder Case Page 16