Ruthless (9 page)

Yet another reason Jess felt so fortunate to have Lori on her team. Knowing Jess would want to talk to Corlew—even before she’d said as much—Lori had already confirmed his location. Technology was an amazing thing. While Jess had continued to question Mr. Patrick, Lori had obviously been communicating via text messages with Buddy Corlew. One of these days Lori needed to give Jess a few lessons.

Since Harper and Cook were whittling down the list of cops who’d worked this case in the past, Jess wondered if they had already interviewed Corlew. “Any word from Harper?”

Lori revved the Mustang’s engine. “They haven’t gotten to Corlew’s name on the list, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“That’s the answer I was hoping for. I’ll let Harper know we’re taking that one.” Jess tapped in the message and hit Send. For someone who hated text messaging, she’d become quite adept at it. Still, she had a long way to go to catch up with her detectives.

She relaxed into the seat and considered Patrick’s statement as well as his demeanor during the interview. He felt confident none of his people were involved with the abductions. He’d gone as far as to ask Jess if she’d considered the telephone companies and the cable providers, since most of the families involved had one or both.

The answer was yes. But the phone company didn’t make regular visits to the homes, and none of the victims’ families had listed work by the telephone company in the two or three weeks prior to the disappearances. Same went for the cable companies.

“Looks like every light’s going to get us,” Lori grumbled.

She’d had to stop for the last two traffic signals. “If one gets you, they all will.”

“Annoys the crap out of me.”

Lori brought up Harper’s birthday again, but the sporty car waiting in the lane next to them had snagged Jess’s attention. The windows were darkly tinted—illegally so, she would wager—making it impossible to see the driver. But that wasn’t what garnered her attention. That creepy-crawly sensation she experienced whenever someone was watching her had goose bumps spilling across her skin.

Paranoia.
If she allowed herself to be distracted by what-ifs she might miss important details in this investigation. She needed to be completely focused. Determined to make that happen, she turned her attention back to the traffic signal. Was it never going to change to green?

An engine revved. At first Jess thought it was Lori. The sound was very similar to her high-octane Mustang’s roar… but it wasn’t Lori. Another rumbling had Jess turning toward the car waiting next to them. Camaro. Black. She couldn’t see the driver through the heavily tinted
windows, but the feeling that he could see her and wanted her attention was undeniable.

Was he baiting them?

“Just wait until the light changes, smart-ass,” Lori warned. “We’ll see who has the fastest top end.” She shook her head at Jess. “When you drive a sports car everyone else driving one automatically assumes you want to see who can piss the farthest. Especially guys.”

Jess tried to relax. That was as good an explanation as any. “Maybe he’s flirting with the driver.”

“Maybe.” The light changed and Lori eased forward. “Since you’re in the car I won’t make an ass of myself.”

“Don’t hold back on my account.” To Jess’s supreme irritation, rather than taking off the other car kept pace with theirs.

She glared at the tinted window running right alongside hers. The idea that the driver could be armed—like last week when she’d had a weapon pointed at her from a car trailing her—had her barely resisting the urge to squirm.

Deciding she’d had enough of the other driver’s tactics, whatever the motive, Jess opened her mouth to tell Lori to floor it when the other car abruptly lunged forward, leaving them behind.

“It’s a rental,” Lori grumbled. “What an idiot.”

Jess breathed a little easier.

For the rest of the drive back to Birmingham she comforted herself with the notion that Lori was probably right when she mentioned the competitiveness of sports car drivers.

Then again, denial was a common escape… even for those experienced enough to know better. Spears had
used rentals before. And there was Captain Ted Allen. His family hadn’t heard from him. His body hadn’t been found, though his vehicle had been. Maybe he was driving that rental. Maybe he still wanted revenge for Jess busting into his case, which seemed totally irrational unless his connection to Lopez was a financial one. That avenue, as well as several others, was under investigation.

Don’t let your imagination run away with you, Jess.
Ted Allen was one of two places, in her opinion: soaking up rays on a sunny beach somewhere south of the border, or pushing up daisies right under their noses.

Dread sent a shudder rocking through her.

“You cold?” Lori reached for the AC control.

“No.” Jess shook her head. “I’m fine. Just fine.”

Jim ‘N Nick’s was on Eleventh Avenue in Five Points, near Lori’s old apartment. The atmosphere was casual, and the aromas coming from the kitchen were incredible. Jess’s mouth began to water as soon as they walked through the door. She’d had no idea she was so starved until she walked into the place. Usually she had to be reminded it was time to eat.

No one was going to have to remind her at the moment. Food just tasted better lately—except for that pizza last night.

Corlew waved them over to his booth. “I ordered burgers and sweet tea. You won’t get better anywhere in town.”

“Thanks,” Lori said, as she waited for Jess to slide into the booth first.

Corlew assessed her for a second or two too long. “How’s it going, Jess?”

Jess would have to be deaf not to notice the way his
voice softened when he spoke to her. Good Lord,
they
had been a long time ago. And even then there really hadn’t been a
them
. She had already been with Dan. But there had been something between her and Corlew. A spark… a glimmer of something that might have been had circumstances been different.

A close call for any female. Buddy Corlew had been a womanizing shit. A damned handsome one, but a shit nonetheless. He had, however, been a friend on occasion. She was hoping this would be one of those occasions.

Mostly, she surmised, today’s thoughtfulness was about making up for trying to make the BPD, Dan in particular, look bad last week. By all accounts, he’d spent a lot of time trying to make the department look bad. Not so unusual for ex-cops, especially ones who’d been fired. But he should get over that, Jess thought. Corlew was a PI these days. Carrying around a grudge wasn’t going to win him any respect, much less friends.

“Going just great, Corlew. How’s the PI business?” As a private investigator he did basically the same work she did, just without all the rules and the ultimate arrests. Like her, he’d never been very good with rules anyway. The main difference between them was that she would never use anyone else to get ahead. Corlew would use anyone, anytime, for anything that might benefit him.

“I heard you almost lost your ponytail,” Lori chimed in when the silence dragged on. “You made today’s early morning news.”

He laughed, the sound rumbling from deep in his chest, something Jess shouldn’t have noticed. “That was a close one,” he agreed.

Maybe it was an inside joke, but Jess had no idea what
the two were talking about. Apparently she needed to watch the early morning news while she rushed about getting ready in the mornings. Never going to happen.

As if he’d gathered her confusion from her expression, he explained, “I promised a client I’d bring her no-good-cheating husband back to Birmingham for prosecution. He’d cleaned out her bank account and run off with the housekeeper.” Corlew shook his head. “I told her she could chop off my hair if I failed. That bastard was halfway across Texas headed for Mexico when I caught up with him. Got him back here about midnight last night.”

The ponytail was vintage Corlew. He’d had it all through high school. Jess imagined the only time he’d been without it was during his stint in the Marines and his tenure with the department.

Their burgers arrived, and Jess lost herself in the food that strangely tasted better than anything she’d ever eaten in her entire life. She couldn’t remember when she’d enjoyed a simple burger more. If she’d been at home alone she would’ve licked her fingers when she finished. If she kept eating like this she was going to outgrow the new wardrobe she’d been forced to buy when her motel room and all her stuff was vandalized a couple of weeks ago.

“What can I do for you ladies today?” Corlew asked when he’d knocked back the last of his sweet tea.

The way Jess heard it, booze was his refreshment of choice. His inability to abstain when on duty had helped kill his career. Maybe he was one of those who resisted until after five o’clock.

“You interviewed a Mr. Patrick from Alabama Power as well as several of his meter readers thirteen years ago after the last abduction associated with the Man in the Moon
case.” Jess dug out her spiral notepad and surveyed the scribbling she’d done there. Corlew wouldn’t be surprised at the question. Even if he’d missed Dan’s press conference last night he no doubt had contacts on both sides of the law.

“I did. Patrick was the field supervisor over the meter readers who worked the routes of the victims’ homes in that case, including the little Myers girl’s house.”

That he fiddled with his glass and checked his cell as he spoke set off warning bells. “Why isn’t there a report in any of the case files you worked?” Reports got lost or misplaced occasionally, but on a case this high profile and well documented with Black in charge—Black was a stickler for the rules—an error this big didn’t seem likely.

Corlew frowned, shrugged one shoulder. “I did several reports.” He leaned to the side as if looking for the waitress. “I interviewed every damned one of those meter readers. Not that it mattered. Harold Black was right about that—it was a dead end—but we wanted to make sure we covered all the bases.”

And yet, the reports of those interviews weren’t in the files. That her old friend appeared so fidgety seemed all the stranger. “You didn’t feel any of the men you interviewed were potential suspects?” Jess was really hoping to find a lead. Soon. Whatever Corlew knew, he didn’t appear ready to give it to her just yet. That was, she decided, his new MO. Then again, knowledge was power. Corlew had made plenty of bad decisions in his life but no one could accuse him of being dumb.

“A couple were a little peculiar,” he said finally. “Religious zealots. But this is Alabama—you see some of that from time to time.” Corlew pointed to his glass for a refill as the waitress made a pass around the tables in their
section. “But you have to ask yourself: How would they get to the kids? What would make a child open her window to a meter reader she probably hadn’t seen more than once or twice in recent memory? These guys do their meter reading during the week. School-age kids aren’t likely to be around except in the summer.”

“What if the windows were unlocked?” Jess challenged. “None of the homes, not even the Myers home, had a security system. The abductions were in early fall, the perfect time of year for windows to be raised to conserve energy while enjoying the cooler nights.” Not to mention a meter reader would know which homes left windows unsecured and raised and which didn’t. As well as which children were friendly opposed to the ones who were particularly shy and who had pets.

“That’s true.” Corlew smiled for the waitress who refilled his glass, but it wasn’t his A-game killer grin.

He was hiding something. Jess could feel it.

When the waitress had moved on, Corlew picked up where he’d left off. “But I didn’t get that kind of vibe from any of those guys. Their supervisor was adamant that his crew was above reproach, and I think he was right.”

“Not one of the men you interviewed stands out?” Jess asked again. “No one made an impression?”

He shook his head. “You’re wasting your time if you think you’ll find the Man in the Moon among that group. Not brilliant enough to pull it off, no offense to meter readers. Think about it, Jess. The guy who did this had to be able to lure each kid out of her room without anyone else hearing or seeing anything. Most of the homes these kids were taken from were rural but not all. This guy was slick. Slick as hell.”

“Maybe so.” Jess couldn’t argue the point, since she hadn’t interviewed the persons of interest in question, but she intended to do just that.

“Must creep you out to have some sick bastard like that sending you gifts.”

There was that. “I guess I just have that kind of charisma.” Though her name and the specifics on discovery hadn’t been mentioned in the press conference she wasn’t surprised that he knew most of the details.

“Oh, you’ve got plenty of that, Jessie Lee,” Corlew accused. “The mayor had better watch out or next thing you know you’ll have his job. People like you. They like your guts and those cute brown eyes.”

Jess managed a smile, but it was time to go. He clearly didn’t want to talk further about his work with the BPD just now. Like the case last week, he’d give her what he wanted her to have when the timing was right for him. She couldn’t depend on Buddy Corlew. They weren’t friends anymore. Maybe they never had been.

“Is there anything else you’d like to share from your days at BPD that might help with this investigation?” Jess searched his face for any indications he was holding something back, not that she held out much hope for spotting a slip. The man was an expert in the art of lying. That he seemed nervous at her questioning was way out of character.