Vile (4 page)

Teller nodded. “I see Annette from time to time. Did you hear she filed for divorce from Brandon? He’s already engaged to someone else.”

“I hadn’t heard.” Dan was so out of touch with everything and everyone—including the stepdaughter, Andrea, he still claimed in spite of the divorce from Annette. “Brandon’s an ass. I’m glad she’s moving on.”

“I hear you’ve moved on as well,” his old friend noted. “I remember Jess. She’s all over the news these days. I guess she left Birmingham and made quite the name for herself in the FBI. Good for her.”

Dan nodded. “She did. We’re fortunate to have her in the department.”

Teller studied him for a time before getting down to business. “Why don’t you give me an overview of what’s going on, and then we can best determine how we should proceed?”

“Three weeks ago one of my division chiefs went missing.”

“Captain Ted Allen,” Teller said. “Saw that on the news too.”

“There were issues between him and Jess. We believe he made an attempt on her life just before he disappeared.”

“What kind of attempt?”

“A car bomb.”

Teller arched an eyebrow. “But that hasn’t been proven?”

“The investigation is ongoing.” Dan wasn’t at liberty to say more on the subject at this time. The truth was he didn’t have much more than that. “Just over a week ago his cell phone was found in my trash. I left the trash can on the street on pick up day and somehow it was overturned. A pedestrian noticed the cell phone lying in the street and assumed someone had dropped it. Forensics later determined the cell had been inside my trash can.”

“Circumstantial at best,” Teller argued.

No matter that he’d known that was the case, Dan felt some amount of relief at hearing an attorney say so. “Then last week Allen’s wedding band was found in the grill I keep on my patio.”

Teller turned up his hands. “Easily accessible. Anyone could have put it there.”

“I’ve come under scrutiny in the investigation,” Dan confessed. “That’s as it should be under the circumstances. Since I was aware of the direction the investigation had taken, it looks suspicious that my house was basically destroyed by a fire. The fact that only days before the fire my security system was breached doesn’t appear to matter.” Dan held up a finger. “Also, I can’t forget the report recently found in Allen’s desk suggesting he intended to file a grievance against me. Somehow, that report was overlooked the first few times his office was searched.”

“Someone’s going to a hell of a lot of trouble to set you up, Dan.” Teller searched his face. “You made any enemies lately?”

“None that I’m aware of.” Dan exhaled a heavy breath. “I’m certain not every decision I make suits everyone in the department. But I can’t fathom anything I’ve done to cause this sort of reaction.”

“What about your choice to bring Jess Harris onboard? Was that decision well received?”

Though Dan understood the question was necessary, it still rankled that the man asked. “By most, I believe.”

“Is there anyone who would like to have your job who perhaps thought they should have had it instead of you?” Teller shrugged. “The situation with Jess and this obsessed serial killer may have presented the opportunity needed to right that perceived wrong.”

Dan had pondered that theory as well, but he didn’t want to believe the one qualified man who’d been passed over would go to such extremes. He’d known Harold Black for more than twenty years. After a bumpy few weeks in the beginning, Harold had backed Dan up every step of the way in his position as chief.

Why would he turn on him now?

Jess
.

Maybe. Certainly for some reason Harold disliked her. He’d been complaining about her from the very beginning.

“I don’t believe this is an inside job, Frank.” Dan wasn’t ready to go there. “I honestly don’t know who’s behind it. On some level, it makes me feel better assuming Eric Spears has set this sequence of events into motion.”

“Whoever it is,” the attorney submitted, “he’s doing a damned good job of pushing you into a corner.” Teller clasped his hands in his lap and appeared to weigh the situation a moment before he continued. “Wherever the threat is coming from, you need to protect yourself, Dan. You need to start immediately. Based on what you’ve told me, the situation is escalating. We don’t want to wait until you’ve been put on administrative leave or had charges filed against you.”

Dan nodded. He felt ill. Was this really his life they were discussing? It seemed insane, but it was real. “I agree that we need to move quickly. I’m also thinking, in light of the fire, that maybe I need to get my affairs in order.”

Teller frowned. “Are you talking about your estate? Are you feeling threatened on that level? If so, there are other precautions we need to consider.”

Dan held up his hands. “With all that’s occurred, I think it would be best.” If anything happened to him, he wanted to ensure Jess and the baby would be well taken care of.

Teller passed a hand over his chin. “There’s someone in my office who can handle your estate for you,
if
you prefer not to use your family attorney.”

His family attorney was a lifelong friend of his parents. Dan was reasonably confident it would be best if he had a more objective voice handling his personal matters. “That would be very helpful.”

“In that case,” Teller stood and Dan did the same, “I’ll have my assistant prepare the necessary documents of our agreement, and I’ll see that my colleague contacts you about your private affairs.”

Dan skirted his desk and shook his old schoolmate’s hand. “I appreciate it, Frank. This is a difficult situation. I need someone I can trust without reservation in my corner.” No one understood that necessity better than Frank. Though their pranks together had been basically harmless, Frank had gone too far once with his need to make a nemesis look bad. Dan had covered Teller’s ass when no one else would. Frank owed him.

“Absolutely.” Frank’s eyes told Dan that he was remembering exactly how much he owed Dan. “You can count on me.”

When his friend was gone, Dan moved to the window and stared out at the city he loved. He couldn’t say how this was going to end. Whatever happened, he would not let Jess and their child down. A smile tugged at his lips. If their baby was a boy, he couldn’t wait to teach him how to play football and to cheer for the best team in the nation, Alabama’s Crimson Tide.

His heart melted at the idea of having a little girl who looked like Jess. There would be dance and piano lessons and eventually recitals. He blinked at the foolish emotions that blinded him for a moment.

No one was taking this happiness from him. He would see Eric Spears in hell first.

5

4:05 p.m.

Jess placed the photo she’d printed of the little blonde girl on the case board. Harper had started a timeline of events. The best they could estimate, the woman had left the child between nine-fifteen and nine-thirty this morning. Lori and Cook were at the security company office reviewing the video feed recorded between eight and eleven this morning on every downtown camera in the system. It was a tedious task, but if they caught a glimpse of the woman who’d dropped off the child maybe they would at least learn the make of the vehicle she drove.

It was worth a shot.

Hayes was at his desk contacting hospitals in a hundred mile radius. Another monotonous job that likely wouldn’t yield any results.

Clues in a case such as this were like finding the needle in the haystack. You had to sift through the numerous possibilities in hope of finding a single shred of evidence.

Approximately seven hours and counting. Why had no one reported the child missing?

A rap on the door preceded Deputy Chief Harold Black poking his head into the office. Jess worked up a smile although she would have preferred to demand what the hell he wanted. She was not happy with the man. Then again, she rarely was.

“Chief Harris,” he said in that kind, we’re-all-friends-here tone of his, “I need your help with the perp I have in interview room three.”

Jess smoothed her hand down the front of her suit jacket. Very soon, she had to take the time to go shopping. Already she’d noticed her waistbands tightening. She’d had to hold her breath to zip this skirt this morning. “Certainly. I’ll be right there.”

Black opened the door a little wider. “I’ll just wait and walk you down.”

Lieutenant Hayes was at her side before Jess could respond. “I should join you. In case you need my assistance.”

For a second, Jess weighed the prospect of telling both men that she was perfectly capable of walking wherever she wanted to go, but she opted not to waste her breath. Instead, she smiled at Hayes and said, “Good. You can carry my bag.”

Without so much as a blink, he strode over to her desk and rounded up the big black leather bag she carried everywhere. Actually, it wasn’t the original she’d bought herself for her fortieth birthday—that one had gone up in smoke with the fire at Dan’s. This was one just like it. Sylvia Baron, Jefferson County’s associate medical examiner and a friend, had given it to Jess.

“Don’t forget my phone,” she reminded Hayes.

He grabbed the cell phone from her desk and hustled over to the door.

Jess turned to Black. “Lead the way.”

As they exited, Jess glanced at Harper who smirked. Though Hayes was a damned fine addition to their team so far, he still had a way to go with fitting in. Simply because he outranked the others didn’t make him more important to Jess or to the team. Somehow, he had decided that it was his job to stick to Jess. His eagerness was creating tension among the others. That annoyance, however, wasn’t anywhere near the top of her priority list.

“We received a call this morning,” Black explained as they headed for the elevators, “about a disturbance at one of the smaller homeless shelters in the area. When we arrived, the residents were in the street and the two men overseeing the facility were injured. One is still in the hospital. The other was treated and released.”

“There was a murder?” Jess presumed so since Crimes Against Persons had caught the case. Though that division worked everything from assaults to murders, she suspected they were talking about a murder since Black was personally involved. He preferred having his hand in the higher profile cases.

He nodded. “A gruesome one with some unexpected similarities to a previous case involving Spears.”

Jess stilled. “Why wasn’t I called to the scene?”

They hesitated at the elevator and Black pressed the call button. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves now, Harris. I think this might be a copycat trying to get our attention. That’s why I’m calling on you now.”

The elevator doors opened and Jess moved inside. Waiting for the others to board gave her the few seconds she needed to get her irritation under control. About a minute of his condescending attitude and she was ready to punch the guy. “Why don’t you tell me about the scene since you saw no need to show it to me?”

“One of the men who has been staying at the shelter for the past week dragged another of the residents, also male, into the bathroom and used a hacksaw in an attempt to cut off his hands and feet. He wasn’t successful since the other residents discovered what he was doing before he finished. Unfortunately, he hit an artery or two and the victim expired at the scene.”

“Has he given a statement?”

Black shook his head. “He wants to speak to you.”

Judging by his tone and expression, Black wasn’t too happy about the demand. If she’d had any question, his silence for the remainder of the trip to the interview room confirmed her suspicion. So this was why he’d bother to call on her at all.

“Lieutenant, you can watch with me,” Black ordered, indicating the door to the viewing booth.

“I’d prefer to go in with Chief Harris. That’s a violent perp in there. Her safety is—”

“I’ll be fine.” Jess removed her Glock from her bag and passed it to Hayes. “I’m certain Mister…?” She looked to Black.

“Terry Bellamy,” Black supplied. “Sixty-eight years old, unmarried, no family in Birmingham.”

“I’m certain Mr. Bellamy,” Jess continued, “is properly restrained.”

Black nodded. “He is indeed.”

Obviously unhappy with her decision, Hayes didn’t argue.

Jess was glad. She did not want to embarrass him in front of Black.

As she entered the interview room, Mr. Bellamy didn’t look up. His clothes were disheveled and bloody. His hair was more gray than brown and sticking out every which way but right. His hands were cuffed behind his back and restraints had been secured around his ankles. He stared at the table as if he hadn’t heard her come in or didn’t want to acknowledge her presence. She settled her bag on the floor and took the seat opposite him. The smell of blood and filth was nearly overpowering.

“Hello, Mr. Bellamy. I’m Deputy Chief Jess Harris. Would you like to tell me what happened this morning?”

He lifted his head and stared directly at her. His face was marred by age, hopelessness, and a few bruises she suspected he’d sustained during his scuffle with the police. His eyes disturbed her the most. Ghostly pale gray eyes filled with the harsh reality that he had long ago lost the war with his many demons.

“I didn’t want to do it,” he whispered, his words heavy with remorse.

“What did you do, Mr. Bellamy? I can’t help you unless you tell me what happened.”

He dropped his gaze again. His shoulders sagged with a heavy sigh. “I did it just the way he told me to. I hid the hacksaw in the bathroom. I waited until old Chuck was asleep, then I dragged him into the bathroom. He takes them pills to make him sleep so I knew he wouldn’t give me no trouble.”

“Who gave you these instructions?”

“It wasn’t as easy as he said it’d be,” Bellamy continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “I ‘bout wore my arm out and I still couldn’t cut through the bone. Got blood everywhere. The cops told me Chuck was dead.” He shook his head. “I didn’t want to do it.” His shoulders moved up and down in a listless shrug. “I shoulda never listened to that devil.”

Jess held her breath. The odor was making her stomach churn. “Who told you to do this, Mr. Bellamy? Who gave you the hacksaw?” Her heart pounded twice for every second that passed before the man lifted his gaze to her once more.