Revenge (20 page)

‘He nudged my car and when I looked in the rearview mirror, there was a gun pointed at me. I didn’t see his face.’ And unless Todd Penney had traded way up, it wasn’t him. Not that she thought for a second the incident had anything to do with her ongoing case.

‘Do not leave your location until I get there. That’s an order.’

Jess hit
END CALL
. ‘Great.’

‘That was Officer Cook,’ Harper announced as he stepped back into the unit. ‘He just got back to the office. The hospital called.’

Fear closed Jess’s throat. She prayed Lily was okay.

‘Your friend Frances Wallace is in the ER with chest pains.’

Jess had to get to her. ‘You know what to do here, Sergeant.’

‘I’ve got it under control, Chief.’

Jess hesitated at the door. ‘When Burnett gets here, tell him I’ll call him as soon as I know anything on Frances.’

Dan shouldn’t be surprised when he arrived to find her gone. If he didn’t know by now she wasn’t very good with orders, then he hadn’t been paying attention.

She never had been good with authority. Otherwise she wouldn’t have been voted most likely to rebel her senior year.

Come to think of it, Corlew had gotten that same vote.

Apparently neither one of them had changed much.

Chapter Nineteen

University of Alabama Hospital, 2.00
P.M.

J
ess paced the waiting room. Frances had seemed fine this morning. Obviously Scott Baker’s murder had taken a heavy toll on her. Finding the body of a murder victim haunted a person.

At some point she’d stopped counting how many victims and their killers she had viewed and analyzed.

No matter that she was surrounded by others, also waiting to hear news on their loved ones, Jess realized that until coming back home a month ago that was pretty much all she did – analyze evil and murder.

Maybe that was still her top priority. Her sister would certainly say that Jess was all work and no play unless the players were a part of her work. Like Spears.

He appeared to know that about her and intended to utilize those vast resources of his to taunt her. She had a bad feeling he also understood that she would do just about anything to prevent him from going
fishing
, as he called it in his text message. If he started another murder spree, there was no telling how many people would die before he was stopped.

‘Chief Harris?’

Jess reeled her thoughts back to the present. She hurried to the
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
doors. ‘I’m Chief Harris,’ she said to the nurse who had called her name.

‘Mrs Wallace would like you to join her.’

‘Thank you.’ Relief rushed through Jess. ‘Is she all right?’ She followed the nurse along the wide corridor. The sterile hospital scents invaded her nostrils. She hated the way hospitals smelled.

‘She’s doing fine. She’ll explain everything to you.’ The nurse stopped at a closed door. ‘The doctor has released her, so she’s free to leave. I think your aunt just needs a little extra patience.’

Her aunt? Jess thanked the nurse again and entered the room where Frances Wallace sat atop the exam table wearing a generic print gown. ‘That color is you,’ Jess said, her chest tightening at the weary mask of fatigue her old friend wore.

‘It’s a classic,’ Frances complained. ‘Unfortunately one that never goes out of style in these joints. Otherwise they’d have something new by now. These are the same old rags they had when my daughter was born.’

Jess laughed. ‘You know, I think you’re right. I’ve never been in a hospital that didn’t have those same damned gowns.’

‘Exactly my point.’

‘So.’ Jess walked over to stand beside her. ‘What’s the prognosis? Will you live?’ She bit her tongue when the other question on her mind bounced to the tip of her tongue. Where was her daughter?

‘I’ll live,’ she said with a shrug. ‘It was only a panic attack. Or maybe gas. The child they called a doctor couldn’t say for sure. But I’m fine now and’ – she gave Jess a look – ‘more relaxed than I’ve ever been in my life.’

‘Drugs will do that,’ Jess teased. ‘I guess you didn’t realize how Baker’s death affected you?’

She patted her meticulous bun. ‘Possibly. Mostly I think I shouldn’t have eaten Thai for lunch.’

‘Maybe not,’ Jess agreed, hoping it was that simple. ‘You do understand that Baker’s death had nothing to do with you or the widows, don’t you? I explained that already.’

‘I’m not dense, Jess. Certainly I understood. I didn’t kill the little shit and neither did any of my friends.’

That was plain as day. ‘I’m going to have an attorney Dan knows look into this business at the Village,’ Jess promised. ‘Maybe he can find a way around the clause in your contract that gives the board the right to screw you over.’

She reached for Jess’s hand and hopped off the exam table. ‘That would be very nice of you, dear.’

‘Why did you tell the nurse I was your niece?’ Not that Jess minded but she suspected there was a motive behind the move.

‘The only way they’d let you take me home is if you’re family. You have a problem with that?’

Jess gave her the universal gesture of surrender. ‘Absolutely not, Aunt Frances.’ She grinned. ‘Just remember your favorite niece in your will.’

‘I’ve already taken care of that,’ she assured Jess as she reached for her clothes. ‘I’m leaving you my tell-all biography. You’re to see that it’s published so all the old geezers I used to know can roll over in their graves and their highfalutin offspring can be properly mortified.’

‘It would be my pleasure.’ Jess turned her back when the cotton gown hit the floor. ‘I’m not in this book, am I?’

‘Of course you are.’ The rustle of clothes underscored her words. ‘I spent several chapters analyzing your life and raved on and on about how I helped shape your future.’

‘That’s sweet.’ That was one biography she couldn’t wait to read.

‘That’s me,’ Frances announced as she gathered her purse. ‘Sweet as honey and a whole lot less sticky.’

Jess offered her arm and Frances took it. As they approached her car in the ER parking garage, Frances brought them to a halt. ‘I didn’t call my daughter.’

‘Is there a reason you didn’t?’ Jess located the fob and unlocked her Audi.

‘She’s not strong like you, Jess.’ At the passenger side door, Frances turned to her. ‘God love her, she’s like her father. She needs everything to be normal and calm. This would have gotten her all worked up for nothing.’ She smiled sadly. ‘Besides, like her father, she thinks I’m immortal. I can’t have her believing otherwise.’

Jess patted Frances’s arm. ‘Your secret is safe with me.’

‘That means a great deal to me, Jess.’ Frances smiled but Jess saw the glitter of emotion in her eyes.

She moved around to the driver’s side. When they settled into the front seat, Frances turned to Jess. ‘After you and your handsome boss left this morning, I made a few calls. I had a long chat with a former colleague of mine who taught at Carver High School.’

Jess had read the records on both Porter and Penney. But firsthand accounts generally provided better insights. ‘Do tell.’

‘The young man who died, Porter, was quite besotted with a lovely young lady from Brighton Academy.’

Juliette Coleman. ‘Were there any particular incidents your colleague recalled?’

Frances shook her head. ‘Just that she thought it was very sad for Porter. She said he and his friend Todd Penney were very nice young men.’

‘I appreciate the information but you really don’t need to bother yourself with this investigation, Frances. You have enough to worry about with that construction.’

‘Too late.’ She smiled crookedly, probably the drugs. ‘I also spoke with an old friend who taught at Brighton. Scott Baker and his friends were smart, polite, and hardworking in school.’

Jess felt a twinge of disappointment. ‘The perfect students.’

‘Hardly,’ Frances mused. ‘They all had a wicked streak a mile wide. When they thought no one who mattered was looking, they could be quite nasty.’

‘I may need to speak with this old friend of yours.’ This case was not nearly as cut and dried as it appeared on the outside.

‘You let me know. I’ll be happy to arrange it.’

As Jess drove across the parking lot, Frances touched her arm. ‘You’re a lot like me, Jess.’

She flashed a grin. ‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’

‘Maybe you shouldn’t. I know how fiercely independent you are. That can be a good thing. But it can also leave you lonely and needy when there’s no one around to lean on because they’ve all been trained to stay out of your way.’

Jess couldn’t decide how to respond to that.

‘We all need a strong shoulder once in a while, Jess. Take my advice and let someone else be the strongest from time to time. You’ll regret it if you don’t.’

9911 Conroy Road, 5.40
P.M.

Jess had gotten to her apartment just in time to cover her murder board with a sheet before the technician from Atlas Home Security, Harry Watson, arrived. Dan had been too furious that she had left the storage facility alone to show up here, so he’d sent Lori instead. Jess knew he would reserve his explosion for when they were alone.

She couldn’t wait. For now she and Lori followed Watson around the room as he explained what he had done.

‘That’ – he pointed to a small object in the corner near the ceiling above her bed – ‘is a motion detector. If anyone comes through that door’ – he indicated the only entrance to her place – ‘this sensor will set off the alarm. If there is any movement at all in the room, the same will happen.’

She’d had a system in Virginia. She understood that the motion sensor was for when she was away from home. Otherwise she might wake up in the middle of the night and set it off when she got up to pee.

‘Each window’ – he indicated the windows around the room – ‘has a sensor. If the window is opened, the connection is broken and the alarm goes off.’ He then pointed to another little beige box he had installed on her wall, this one above her murder board. ‘That’s a glass break sensor. It’s triggered by the sound of breaking glass and will set off the alarm as well. Your entry door has a sensor the same as the windows. If the door opens, off the alarm goes.’

‘What’s to prevent a professional from shutting down the system somehow?’ Jess wanted to know. The old-fashioned systems like she had in Virginia worked through a landline. Cut the phone service outside the house and the system was useless. She’d never upgraded since she was rarely home anyway.

‘This system is totally cellular.’ He directed their attention to the modem-like box he’d placed atop Jess’s chest of drawers. ‘Complete with battery backup that continually recharges in case the power goes out.’

That was a huge relief. ‘You did something outside?’ Lori asked. ‘You were working on the stairs.’

‘Since that door and the staircase is the only way in or out of your place,’ Watson explained, ‘I felt you needed to know if someone was approaching. So I placed motion sensors at the bottom of the staircase and then another set about midway. They’re attached on the underside of the railing so you won’t see them and they won’t pick up a cat or dog the way they would if they were at the tread level.’

‘Sounds like I’m covered.’ Jess was impressed. According to Burnett, this was the top security company in the city.

‘All I need now is your security code, four digits, and a code word or phrase.’

Jess went with the day and month she returned to Birmingham and for the code word she decided on
Glock
. Who would ever guess that?

With the work done, all she had to do was write the massive check. God, her checking account balance was dwindling and her puny savings wasn’t much better. The locksmith had come while the security guy was doing his thing. Now she had new locks
again
.

Once the technician was out the door, all she needed to do was fumigate her place. The idea that some stranger had been in here made her shudder. Lori had helped her check the place for bugging devices, audio or video. They’d also checked every cupboard and drawer and they’d taken apart her bed all the way down to the box springs to make sure nothing else had been hidden there.

‘Man, you are state
-
of
-
the-art,’ Lori praised. ‘I wonder if you can count this as a tax deduction since it’s work related?’

Jess snorted. ‘I won’t hold my breath. Since the technician was here already when I finally made it, how about an overview of what you and Cook learned today.’ She curled up on the sofa and motioned for Lori to join her.

She settled at the other end and opened to the notes in her phone. ‘The cousin and mom’s ex both claim Todd hardly ever comes home. His job takes up most of his time and he swore when he left Birmingham he was never coming back.’

Jess knew that story line. ‘Did Cook get anywhere on relatives of Mrs Porter?’

‘No luck. Her house is locked up tight. Cook had hoped to at least get inside if there was a house sitter. No relatives we can find. She doesn’t work, so no coworkers to question. If she goes to church, none of her neighbors know where.’

‘Try getting through to her ship. Maybe she’d be willing to answer at least a few questions.’

Lori entered the notes into her phone’s notepad. ‘I’ll get on it. Depending on the time zone, I may be able to get through tonight.’

‘Anything from Harper on Corlew’s reaction to our request?’

Lori smirked. ‘Oh yeah. Corlew is mad as hell. He said his lawyer would contact you.’

‘We’ll give him until noon tomorrow.’ Jess shouldn’t be getting any glee out of this but she was. If Corlew thought he was dragging her into his grudge with the department, he had another thought coming. Nor would she tolerate him muddying this case.

There was no point putting it off. Dan was waiting for her at his place. Talk and dinner. The dinner she looked forward to. She was starving. The other, not so much. She’d promised to do better just last night and already she’d gone back on her word.

‘Thanks for hanging out with me while this was done,’ she said to Lori. At this hour Jess was cutting into the detective’s personal time.

‘Not a problem. We all want you to be safe.’

‘I appreciate that.’ She gathered her keys and her bag. ‘I guess I’m headed to Burnett’s house for dinner and a scolding.’

Lori waved her phone. ‘Yeah. I’m supposed to take you there.’

Jess started to argue but decided that she’d give Dan that, considering how badly she’d broken her promise today. She locked up and set the alarm. That way he’d have to bring her home and then he could see that with the new locks and the security system there was no reason she wouldn’t be safe right here.

‘We took Chester to McDonald’s last night,’ Lori said as they descended the stairs.

‘How’d it go?’

Lori nodded. ‘Better.’

‘All it takes is time.’

A crash inside the garage had both Jess and Lori going for their weapons. Neither said a word as they flattened against the stone walls and eased toward the side door.

The door was ajar.

Jess’s gaze collided with Lori’s.

Lori nodded and Jess reached for the door.

She swung it open and Lori went in, weapon leveled and ready. Jess was right behind her.

Mr Louis staggered a step or two, then reached up and righted his eyeglasses.

‘Mr Louis, are you all right?’ Jess skirted the old Caddy and hurried to the elderly man’s side.