The Trees Beyond the Grass (A Cole Mouzon Thriller) (28 page)

CHAPTER 83

BY THREE P.M.
Leas had his answer. Mr. Christies had been found buried under a new planting of pink hydrangeas in the back yard, from the looks of it dead for weeks. He had been stabbed repeatedly in the chest with an ivory letter opener found in the soil beside him. Samples were being sent to the local toxicologist for testing because it was suspected he, like the others, had also been poisoned. He wondered if it was the oleander Winters had eyed on their visit.

It appeared that it was Mrs. Christie, not mister, who ordered the poison. She was Poinsett. Leas wasn’t comfortable with the decision to notify Cole of this finding; he wanted a closed file first. But pressure from higher-ups mandated it. A series of murders outside Atlanta had kicked up and they wanted him to get there. A message was left with Mouzon just saying he was cautious, but it looked like it was over.

Leas headed to the hotel to catch a few hours of sleep while waiting on the autopsy report. A fresh bottle of whiskey had his name all over it. Perhaps by tomorrow night he could be on a plane headed to Atlanta to torture himself with another group of murders. The springs in the economy hotel mattress dug deep into his back, making it impossible to sleep. Passing out from too much whiskey was his only option.

“Hampton, I need
a review of those computer records we seized from the Christie house before you leave tonight, you hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah let me fill my coffee cup first.” A skinny twenty-something officer was seated at the laptop Leas had previously seen in a room of the Christies’ home.

“Agent, don’t get your panties in a wad, we’ve got your killer. Why are you stressing so much? You’re a whiskey man right? Go and get you one. We will dot all the ‘I’s and such, don’t you worry.” The Mount Pleasant PD captain had walked in with his Charleston counterpart.

“Captain, I’ll get that drink when we know for sure.”

“It’s your time, Agent. As far as I’m concerned, this case is closed.” The chief walked off into the other room.

“Nothing more is happening today, go home, Agent.” Betsy passed by as she headed out the door to apparently grab lunch for the crew who had worked all night.

It was six p.m. by the time Leas returned to the station. Walking through the half-empty space, Leas dialed in the doctor’s number. He had run out so fast he hadn’t had a chance to explain. After two rings she answered, “Why hello Agent; is Mouzon okay?”

“Well, it looks like we’re wrapping this up, and if you’re still in town tomorrow I kinda figured we could finish what we started. After all I do owe you.”

“Agent, there is something interesting here…” Hampton was seated behind him, still focused on the computer he had inherited in the morning.

“In a moment, Officer…”

“As I was saying, will you be around?”

“Awh, sorry Officer, I decided to catch an early flight back to Atlanta this morning. But if you are ever back there, let me know.” A sound in the background jumbled her last few words.

“Sorry, I missed that, what was that?’

“Oh, just that I would like that drink if you ever get to Atlanta.”

“Well, it’s certainly my loss. But it looks like I’m headed to Atlanta after this. So, don’t book that dance card just yet.”

“Oh wonderful! Let me know.”

“I certainly will. Night, Beth.”

“Night, Agent.”

“Now, what is it, Officer?”

Hampton began, “Going through our suspect’s computer, I found something. Several files were deleted and then the hard-drive was defragmented to attempt to cover it.” A puzzled look crossed Leas’ face. He hated this geek-talk shit. “It’s like having a file cabinet full of files and then pulling some out and pressing the rest to make room at one end. But, with computers, the file cabinet doesn’t actually remove the files marked for deletion. Defragging won’t do much though unless new files are saved to officially take up that space. There was some damage to the deleted files, but I was able to retrieve a lot of them.”

“Well, spit it out.”

Hampton perspired as he spoke. “Chats, lots of chats, Agent, to one person off what appears to be a battered women’s board. See, Gmail caches your chats by default. And, well… There is a lot of discussion about what I take as a plan to kill her husband. But when I looked at emails after his murder, well, there is discussion about another murder… Mouzon’s.

“What?” Leas moved in for a closer look at the screen.

“Look here, a chat dated 5/29/13 at 11 p.m.”

He needs to die, now

How

I know where he is, will you do it like u promised

For you, yes, anything

I’ll text you, be clean. Like with Steve, tonight

“Who is she talking to?”

“Get this, ‘PoinZett.’”

“Shit! If this is real, Mr. Christie was likely dead and the real Poinsett manipulated Mrs. Christie as a decoy. Who is that?”

“I’ve looked all over the computer, but the only references are ‘PoinZett.’”

“Officer, call Agent Roger Goode in D.C.; tell him we need to find out
now
who that is and where they are.”

CHAPTER 84

“COLE, WHY THE
hell did you do that? God, do you want to be single forever? Ugh, I can’t really talk right now about this with everything going down last night, I am catching up. But I promise
we will
talk about your propensity to fuck a good thing up and I need to talk to you about Mark Calhoun. I think I found something. Let me get Billy to bed and then I’ll finish up those files on him so I can understand what I’m seeing and let you know in the morning. Okay? I need to go; Billy is starved and filthy, again. I love you, too, bro. Chin up, we got this creep.” As she hung up the phone, Billy rushed by her into the house, shouting, “Mac-n-cheese! Mac-n-cheese!”

“No, we had mac-n-cheese last night because we got home so late. I think I have some…ah, here we go. We still have grilled chicken from the weekend we need to eat, mister. Green beans or corn with that?”

“Awe, I want mac-n-cheese.” A saying Granny always said popped into her head,
And people in hell want ice water, too
, but she wasn’t about to tell her child that. “Corn or green beans?”

Billy responded with a sad, “Green beans.”

“Now, go upstairs and jump in the bath. You can watch thirty minutes of TV once you eat. Go!”

The steps boomed with each rushed step up the stairs, followed by the sound of water running through the pipes. Jackie loosened her uniform top and proceeded to open a can of green beans, placing them on the gas range. There was a creak in the floor behind her as the gas range clicked and the burner went aflame. Turning, she was immediately surprised by the stranger in her kitchen.

“Who the hell…?”

“Hello Jackie.” A mist hit Jackie’s eyes; something had been sprayed. The pain was immediate, a deep burning sensation branching out in all directions that forced her to close her eyes. Jackie screamed out in pain and stumbled over something that felt like a leg. She fell hard, hitting her head against the sharp edge of the island’s granite countertop.

“Mom?” Billy called out from upstairs.

Oh god.
Jackie fought to open her eyes. A blurry figure stood over her. Fear passed through her entire body, not for her, but for her son. She had never been shot at, much less hit in the line of duty. Her closest encounter with violence was her husband who drank too much and then used her as a personal punching bag.
Who is this and why?
Jackie fought to maintain her vision as the figure kicked her in the ribs. Jackie would not, could not allow herself to be taken. She needed to stay conscious and fight for Billy.

NOT BILLY!
Kicking out, she landed a blow on what she perceived as a knee. The figure was down. Jackie swung her body in its direction, swinging at the same time. Her fist landed solidly on a rib. She swung again, but it collided with a cabinet. Falling back again in pain, the figure was on her. Two punches into the assault Jackie went blind. The hot pain of her eyes had consumed her entire head; she could no longer feel the irritation of tears running down her face. With a final swing, the kitchen went quiet.

Poinsett couldn’t resist taking on Jackie. She had stuck her nose somewhere it didn’t belong and she was more than happy to teach her a lesson. The FBI was busy with Janet, thanks to Poinsett pushing her toward Mouzon. She knew that Janet wouldn’t be successful. Mouzon had proved too resourceful and was covered in protection. But she did have to hand it to her for getting so close. The trap had been placed brilliantly and now it was time to spring it.
How could he resist not coming to help his sister.
The kid just made the performance that much more perfect. She slipped her hand into her coat and located a phone she had picked up at the gas station down the street.
Let the hunt finally begin
.

CHAPTER 85

79,52,23,74
32,47,3,69

THE TEXT HAD
come from an unknown phone with a local 843 number at six p.m. It made absolutely no sense.
Lottery numbers
? Cole called Agent Leas and forwarded the text just to be sure. A call to Jackie went unanswered, unusual for seven at night. Several texts went un-responded to before Cole started to get worried.
Where the hell is she?

At seven-fifteen the phone rang.
About time.
“Hello?” A panicked voice met his. “Cole this is Mom, what is going on?! We just got a call from Billy. He’s crying and said something about Jackie being gone.”

Chills ran down his body at what Ava had just said. “What? When?”

“Just a second ago. Cole, is everything okay?”

“I…I don’t know, but I’m going over. Call the cops.” With that Cole ended the call.

“Cash, she has Jackie!” Cole was panicking with just the sound of what he had just said making him dizzy with fear.

“Wait, what? Who? I thought they had her, caught her last night?”

Cole’s hand trembled as he spoke. “I don’t know! I don’t know! But Billy is alone and says someone took her.”

“Where are you now?”

“I’m on my way to her house. Cash, what if…”

“Stop it. I’m jumping in the car and I’ll meet you there, text me the address.”

CHAPTER 86

LEAS BARGED INTO
the interrogation room where Mrs. Christie had been returned.

“Mrs. Christie, I’m going to ask you again, why? Why did you do it?

“Do what Agent?” Janet smirked.

“Why did you target Cole Mouzon?”

“Because I wanted to, it felt good. Don’t you like feeling good, Agent?”

“We found your husband.”

She recoiled. “Piece of shit, he needed killing. You have no idea what that man did to me. The bruises, the cuts… The lies I told for that man. Nobody believed me, of course, until… Of course, they all knew, those piece-of-shit high-society ladies. But did any one of them help me? No! So… I helped myself. Steve won’t be hitting me anymore.”

“What did Mr. Mouzon do to you?”

“He looked at me wrong. He stepped on my toe. You pick.”

Agent Leas sat back in his seat still looking at his suspect. “Here’s what I don’t get, and maybe you can help me out… Why the other kills? What did they do?”

“Don’t I get a phone call or something?” Janet crossed her arms and looked away.

Agent Leas sat back and leaned into his chair until it was balanced on one leg. “We found the chats. Mrs. Christie, we know you have an accomplice. We found the messages, how you planned it out, killed your husband and then were told to go after Cole Mouzon.”

“You really don’t get it, do you, Agent. I guess it makes sense. You can’t help yourself, can you…being so stuck on catching someone that you don’t ask yourself if you deserve to catch them. Agent, you don’t deserve to catch her. She was the only one who listened to me. She gave me the strength. You’re not worthy of catching her.”

“Worthy? What do you mean by that?” Leas was back on all four legs, leaning in.

She shook her head and grinned. “If I have to tell you, it would be no fun, now would it.” The smirk was back, deeper and revealing deep smile lines across her otherwise Botox-frozen face.

“You didn’t kill those others, did you? It was
her
.” He watched as she stared with enjoyment at him. “We will find her.”

Bam bam bam,
the knocking at the hollow steel door echoed through the room. “Agent, you have a call.”

“I’m in the middle of something here.”

“Agent, it’s Cole Mouzon… Jackie has been taken.”

The agent turned on Janet. “What did she do to her?
Answer me
!”

“You’ll never catch her; you’re pathetic.” Janet reached out to Leas, flirting with him for attention. For the brief second they were out, he noticed her hands. While he leaned in, she struck. Spit splattered across his face, like venom from a snake. Wiping his face, Leas stormed out the door praying that they had not made a horrible mistake and been played for fools; Jackie’s life now was now at risk.

CHAPTER 87

THE RAIN CAME
down in sheets of thick, viscous water as Cole pulled up to the house, his heart beating through his chest, and was met with the wrenching sound of Billy crying in the house as he stepped out of the car. Cole bolted toward the house and onto the front porch, only to misstep on the slick, grey-painted surface, falling hard on his right hip. It ached with a throb. Up and opening the door, he screamed, “Billy! Billy! Where are you?” A pot was boiling over in the background, the burner still on, making a sizzling sound as the water overflowed onto the heated surface.

“Momma! Momma!” Cole rounded the corner of the upstairs bedroom as he caught a glimpse of Billy, seated on the floor at the foot of his mother’s bed. “Momma!” Cole ran over to Billy uncontrollably weeping. Blood was everywhere, including on his pajamas. Jackie’s phone rested in a pool of blood on the floor near his hand. He grabbed the child.

“Billy, are you okay…are you hurt?” Tears of anger entered Cole’s eyes. “Where’s Mom? Where’s your momma?”

“Momma got taken. She’s gone.”

“What did you see, Billy?” Rushing words, Cole tied not to interrogate his nephew but he felt time running out.

“I was at the stairs. Mom was screaming, she yelled ‘run’! Someone was hitting her. But, she just kept screaming, telling me to stay back, to run. So I ran and hid under Momma’s bed. I ran like she said, but screaming didn’t stop. She was screaming, Cole.” Billy broke down in deep sobs. “She screamed run and wouldn’t stop. Then she did…the bad woman hit Momma and then took her away.” More sobbing came as Billy finally released all his fear. “I wanted her to stop, but she wouldn’t! Momma!”

“Shoo. Shoo. Uncle Cole is here. It’s okay. Shhh.” Cole sat on the floor holding Billy as Cash ran into the room. Cole looked up, his eyes moist and now red. The look on his face said it all.
Someone is going to pay.
Billy continued to whimper, calling for his mother, but it was softer now. Cole stood up with Billy still in his arms and walked past Cash, headed to the kitchen downstairs.

“‘BOUT DAMN TIME!”
Cash showed his anger as the police walked into the home, guns drawn. They looked past Cash into the kitchen and to Cole.

“All clear.” Another officer had come in from the back porch and apparently realized Poinsett wasn’t there.

Thirty minutes later the police were everywhere. One of their own was in danger and that meant emptying out the entire city if needed to find Jackie. Asleep, Cole had passed Billy on to Cash who was sitting on the couch, gently rocking him against his shoulder. Cole finished up with the officers, filling them in on the call and what they saw when they arrived. His patience was wearing thin. The police released him and Cash, explaining they were doing everything possible to find Jackie and to not worry.
Not worry? Right
.

Agent Leas pulled him aside outside the home. “Cole, I know what you are thinking, but don’t do anything rash. Going out and trying to find your sister is just going to get you both killed. Let us handle this. You take Billy home and just sit tight.”

“Right, right…like you’ve been promising since you showed up. The only things I know you’ve gotten to the bottom of are the empty bottles in your hotel room, Agent. So, go fuck yourself. That’s my sister, Billy’s mom. She wouldn’t sit tight if that was me. So, you do what you need to do and I’ll do what I need to do. If I find something out I’ll let you know.” The emotional wall had come crashing down at the sight of Billy and now his raw emotions were driving him into a frenzy for revenge.
Channel it, Cole. Channel it.
And then, clarity…

Leas looked at Cole with disapproval, knowing that the sudden calmness he just saw wash over his face was trouble. Cole walked away before he could say anything further.