No Escape (18 page)

Monday, April 15, 9:00
A.M.

Jo arrived early enough at her mother’s salon so that they’d have at least fifteen minutes before her staff arrived for the early morning cuts.

She used her key and let herself inside. ‘Mom!’

‘In the back room, Jo.’

Jo found her mom stocking perm and hair dye supplies on the shelf.

Candace’s hair was spiked and sprayed in place and her makeup as neat as a mask. ‘I don’t have much time to talk, Jo. Got lots to inventory before the day gets rolling.’

‘You should turn that over to Ellie.’

‘I don’t mind it.’

‘You ever considered cutting back on your hours?’

‘And what would I do with myself?’

‘Have fun. You haven’t had fun since Daddy died.’

Candace’s eyes grew wistful. ‘Hard to top your daddy, baby. He was one in a million.’

Her parents had had a loving marriage. It hadn’t been perfect. They’d had their share of fights and tough times, but they’d always stuck together. ‘I miss Daddy.’

‘Me too. Every day.’ Her mother swallowed, as if squashing unwanted emotions. ‘What’s this all about?’

Jo wanted an honest conversation with her mother. No judgments. No finger pointing. ‘It’s not been announced to the media, but Harvey Lee Smith died yesterday in the prison. Doctors think his heart stopped.’

Other than a subtle tightening of her jaw, her mother had no reaction. ‘Why should I care if some crazy man died in prison yesterday?’

The muscles in the back of Jo’s neck tightened. ‘Mom, I don’t want to fight. I want to ask you point-blank if Harvey Smith is my biological father.’

Candace twisted the silver bracelets on her arm. ‘That is crazy talk.’

‘And that isn’t an answer. It’s classic avoidance.’

Candace leveled her gaze on Jo as if she were looking at a misbehaving eight-year-old. ‘I don’t need your doctor talk, young lady. I am your momma.’

‘I will always love Daddy no matter what, Momma. I want to understand my genetics.’

Her eyes widened with anger and a touch of panic. ‘I don’t have to justify myself to you.’

‘I’m not asking you to.’ She flexed the fingers of her right hand, wishing they didn’t have to have this conversation. ‘Mom, please, give me a straight answer.’

‘I don’t like your tone.’

Jo sighed. She knew her mother well enough to know they’d go round and round like this and they’d get nowhere. ‘Fine, Momma, fine.’

Candace glared at Jo. ‘And what does that mean?’

‘DNA, Mom.’ Frustration raised the volume of her voice. ‘That will give me the answers you won’t.’

The front door of the shop chimed, reminding Jo she’d not locked the front door behind her. Candace’s face was strained and angry but she held her tongue, knowing a customer could be in earshot.

‘Mom, send whoever it is away so we can finish this.’

Candace shook her head. ‘You know walk-ins are always welcome here. Always.’

Jo ground her teeth. ‘This is bigger than a damn haircut.’

‘Those damn haircuts put a roof over your head and food in your belly. I’ve never turned away a customer, and I never will.’

Her mother pushed through the curtain into the salon. ‘Welcome to Candy’s Hair Salon.’

Jo knew there’d be no more discussion today. Frustrated and more certain than ever her mother was hiding something from her, Jo pushed through the curtain. She expected to toss a passing nod at a customer. What she saw stopped her in her tracks.

Dr. Dayton grinned at her mother. ‘I was hoping to get a haircut. Sign said walk-ins welcome.’

Candace reached for her smock. ‘Of course.’

He looked at Jo, not a hint of apology or surprise in his gaze. ‘Dr. Granger. Fancy meeting you here.’

Jo clenched her fingers around the strap of her purse. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Getting a haircut,’ her mother said. All traces of anger in her voice were gone. There was no place for tension or politics in her salon when a client was on the property.

Jo shook her head. ‘You need to leave, Dr. Dayton.’

Dayton looked amused. ‘Is there a problem?’

Candace stepped forward in front of Jo. ‘No, there is no problem. My daughter is confused.’

Dayton’s grin widened. ‘Daughter. Now, I’d have thought you two were sisters.’

Candace beamed.

Jo seethed. He wasn’t here for a haircut. He’d been following her again. Had he been outside her house when she’d left this morning? She’d not seen anything suspicious, but stalkers were clever. ‘If you don’t leave, Dr. Dayton, I’m calling the police.’

‘Jo!’ her mother shouted as she moved in front of her. ‘That is enough out of you, little lady.’

Dayton managed to look genuinely confused. ‘Is there a problem, Dr. Granger?’

‘Yes, there is a problem.’ Jo moved in front of her mother. ‘Seven days ago I interviewed you about the disappearance of your wife. The next day you show up in a dress shop. And now you are here. What game are you playing, you pathetic jerk?’

‘Jo!’ her mother warned. ‘I have never heard you speak with such disrespect.’ Her patience now threadbare, Jo held up her hand to silence her mother. Intellectually, she could see that she was letting Dayton manipulate her, but her emotions didn’t care about reason with such a dangerous threat near her family. ‘Leave now, Dr. Dayton.’

‘You’re a bit prickly,’ he said. The laughter had vanished from his gaze.

She clenched her fingers into tight fists. ‘And you are a stalker. Now leave. Or we let the cops settle it.’

Dayton looked beyond Jo to Candace. ‘Mrs. Ganger, I am sorry, but I won’t be able to stay. Perhaps another time.’

Candace looked mortified. ‘Of course.’

‘No,’ Jo said. ‘You show up on this property, and I will call the police.’

Dayton snapped up a peppermint from the jar on the receptionist desk and slowly unwrapped it. ‘You’re overreacting, Dr. Granger.’

‘I don’t think so, but if I am, I’ll live with it. Now get out.’

Gaze narrowing, he slowly placed the candy in his mouth and folded the wrapper in half. ‘See you soon.’ He turned, tossed the wrapper in the trash, and left.

Jo shook with anger. She’d written off the mall as coincidence but not this. This place was too far out of his way and too unlike any place he’d frequent.

‘Jolene Marie Granger,’ her mother said, teeth clenched. ‘If you think you’re going to get back at me by insulting my clients, you better think twice.’

Jo faced her mother, her fingers still fisted at her side. ‘Do you think I’m trying to get back at you?’

‘Yes, I do.’

Drawing in a deep breath, she silenced the first remark that came to mind and slowly unfurled her fingers. ‘The man is a person of interest, which really means he’s a
suspect
, in the disappearance of his wife. She’s been missing for months.’

The fire blazing in her mother’s gaze didn’t cool a degree. ‘People go missing all the time for all kinds of reasons!’

‘Everything I know about body language and interview techniques tells me he knows his wife did not run away. I’d bet my last dollar that he killed her.’

She planted hands on her narrow hips. ‘Innocent until proven guilty, Jo.’

Jo tipped her head back, praying for the patience that was her trademark. ‘Don’t let that man in your shop again. He is poison, and he’s trying to get to me.’

Her mother muttered as she pulled a cigarette and lighter out of her smock pocket. ‘Why is it always about you?’

Irritation clawed at her gut. ‘This is not about me. It’s about keeping you safe.’

Candace shoved the cigarette in her mouth. She flicked the lighter three times before it lit. ‘You keep telling yourself that.’

‘That man is dangerous.’ She spoke slowly, carefully.

‘He didn’t look dangerous to me, and I can take care of myself.’

The front door chimed. Tensing, Jo turned and expected to see Dayton again. It was her sister, Ellie. Ellie was a younger version of their mother. Tall, blond and tanned, she wore her jeans and T-shirt tight. The bemused, happy expression on her face turned to suspicion when her gaze darted between Jo’s face and their mother’s.

Gold bracelets rattled on her wrist as she tucked her purse in the bottom drawer of her beauty station. ‘So what did I walk in on?’

‘Nothing,’ Jo and her mother said at the same time.

Ellie shook her head. Gilded hoops peeked out from her blond hair. ‘That’s the first time I’ve heard you two agree on anything in the last fifteen years. What is up?’

Jo hoped she and her mother could talk, and she could help her see that Dayton was dangerous. But as Jo opened her mouth, her mother turned and stalked toward her station to rearrange her scissors. She’d seen that expression often enough. Candace Granger’s arctic blast could cool any sweltering Texas day.

Jo moved past her sister, unwilling to rehash, and reached for the door. ‘Ask Mom.’

Dayton was humming when he started his car. He glanced up at the salon as Jo stood in the center of the store arguing with her mother and another woman who, if he didn’t miss his guess, was her sister.

By the looks, Jo was gaining little headway with her kinfolk.

He backed up his car. If Jolene Granger thought she could bully him, she was mistaken. He wasn’t going anywhere. In fact, he was just getting started with her.

‘Do you want the good news or the bad news?’ Dr. Watterson said to Brody.

A headache pounded behind Brody’s temples as he stared at the medical examiner’s sour expression. They stood in exam room two, the draped remains of Smith’s last three victims resting on covered gurneys behind the doctor. ‘Bad news is dominating the day. Good news first.’

Dr. Watterson moved toward the first gurney that held one of the victims’ skeletonized remains. He pulled back the sheet to reveal a collection of darkened bones that had been arranged in some semblance of anatomical order. ‘We weren’t able to extract DNA from this victim. She’s been in the ground too long.’

‘How long?’

Dr. Watterson adjusted his glasses. ‘Thirty or so years.’

Shit. ‘That means she wasn’t one of the women on my list to identify.’

‘The women you were looking for died in the last eight to ten years. She can’t be one of them.’

The letter that had been delivered to Jo’s house had mentioned a Delores. The specifics on her had been sketchy compared to the other victims. He’d turned the letters over to the experts who were now analyzing handwriting, fingerprints and whatever information they could squeeze from the pages. ‘But you can definitely confirm that the victim was a woman?’

‘Yes. Shape of her skull and pelvis confirms gender. I can also tell you that she was Caucasian between the ages of twenty-five and thirty. And I think, judging by the shape of her pelvis, she didn’t have children.’

Brody studied the brown bones. ‘But you can’t identify her?’

‘Not at this time.’

Frustration had him clenching and releasing his jaw. ‘Anything else you can tell me about her?’

The doctor raised his index finger. ‘As a matter of fact, I can tell you that she suffered an injury to her mouth. Someone knocked out two of her front bottom teeth. For whatever reason she did not seek treatment and an infection set in.’ He pointed a gloved index finger to her bottom teeth and traced along what would have been the gum line. ‘She would have been in a great deal of pain. And she would have been sick. That kind of infection will spread with each breath she takes.’

‘Could the killer have injured her mouth?’

‘The injury would have occurred six or so months before her death.’

‘Anything else?’

‘She was a heavy smoker. You can see it on her teeth.’

Not a lot to go on, but something. ‘What about the other two bodies?’

Dr. Watterson carefully covered the first set of bones and moved to the second. ‘If you look at her right femur you’ll see she suffered a bad break early in her life. See the break line and how it mended?’ He traced a gloved hand along the visible line in the bone. ‘Likely the trauma happened when she was a teenager. Tammy Lynn Myers, one of your alleged victims, also suffered the same type of break. And we have dental X-rays for Myers and they do match this victim.’

Tammy had been living in a halfway house near one of the schools where Smith had taught. She’d been struggling with substance abuse but had turned a corner. And then she’d vanished without a trace.

The police had assumed she’d overdosed or left town. It had been Tammy’s sister who kept insisting that she had done neither.

Three years ago when Smith had been arrested and his house searched, police had found a locket that had belonged to Tammy.

Immediately, she’d been added to the list of possible victims. But the search team excavating his backyard had never found Tammy’s body. Later, Smith had confessed to killing the girl, but he’d never revealed where her body could be found.

Finding her now was another piece of the puzzle and though the news was grim, there was relief knowing she’d been found. ‘So we have Tammy.’

‘Yes.’ Carefully, Watterson pulled the sheet over her body. ‘You are free to speak to her family.’

He sighed, not looking forward to the hard conversation. ‘Will do. What about cause of death?’

‘No way of telling without the soft tissue. But based on the positioning of the hand bones in front of her chest and the presence of rope fibers, she was tied up like Smith’s other victims.’

She’d been in a shallow grave, bound and immobile. He’d never be able to say with certainty but he knew. She’d suffocated.

One down, one to go. ‘What about the last one?’

He moved to the next gurney, which held the second set of remains. ‘The next victim is Brenda Morris.’

‘She vanished eleven years ago. Prostitute working in downtown Austin. Her ankle bracelet and her driver’s license were found in Smith’s house. How did you confirm her identity?’

‘Brenda had scoliosis.’ He nodded to the collection of bones. ‘This person had scoliosis, so given the time frame I’d say this is Brenda. I have a DNA sample from Brenda’s son on file and was able to extract some from this victim’s back molar. The lab will be able to cross-check.’