Part 22 (2/2)
”All right.” Jess crossed her arms over her chest. She was still shaking. ”Nudge the Vance sisters' parents again.” She thought about that for a second. ”Better yet, have Agent Manning do it. The feds will be taking this case anyway if the international connection we suspect pans out. Maybe the parents will react to the threat of a federal investigation.”
”I'll make that call right now.” Harper stepped away, his phone already in hand.
”Lori, you and Cook follow up with the ME. See if there's anything new with the latest victim. Check with all the surveillance details and with Gina Coleman at Channel 6. Maybe someone has seen or heard something new that we don't know about yet.”
”You staying here?” Lori glanced around at the chaos.
”Just until Hayes picks me up. I need a new badge and a weapon and...” She groaned. ”My bag and all my notes. My phone. It's all gone.”
Lori gave her a hug. ”All those things can be replaced.” She glanced at Dan. ”You and the chief are irreplaceable.”
”You're right. I should be happy to be alive.” She wasn't sure she would ever be happy again until Spears was dead.
”I know this isn't the time,” Lori ventured, visibly hesitant.
Jess frowned. ”What?” If either she or Harper was thinking of moving out of SPU, they could forget it. Wouldn't they be better off away from you?
”I'd like to go with you today. Hayes can work with Harper and Cook.”
Expecting anything but that, the request puzzled Jess for a second, and then she understood. ”I guess you saw through my big plan.” No use denying it.
Lori nodded. ”You've been keeping us at arm's length.” She reached out, squeezed Jess's hand. ”We're in this together. We want to help keep you safe.”
That confounding tidal wave of emotions swelled up again. When had she become such a blubbering bundle of emotions? ”I just don't want-”
”We know. But this is what we want. We want to help end this.”
Jess managed a shaky, watery smile. ”Okay. You're with me today.”
”I'll pa.s.s along your instructions to the others.”
Jess watched Lori cut through the crowd around Dan's house. She was wrong to try and protect her team. They were more than capable of protecting themselves.
Hopefully today they would get a break in the case. Ellis's part in this was still unclear to Jess. He would have a motive for being involved beyond simply following orders from Spears. The Vance sisters were young. They might very well have less of a personal motive and more of a grandiose reason for being puppets for Ellis and, by extension, Spears. Whatever their reasons, Jess intended to find them.
Her attention s.h.i.+fted back to Dan. Black stamped off, visibly angry or upset. Dan headed her way. She hoped the news wasn't as bad as it had looked.
”You okay?” The smile that tilted his lips under the circ.u.mstances made her heart stumble.
”I'm okay.” She searched his face and saw the strain there. ”The question is, are you okay?”
”Guess so.” He glanced back at this house. ”It looks like we'll be finding a new place to stay for a while.”
”We'll stay at my place.”
He shrugged. ”Thompson gave the place the all clear. We can do that.”
Suited Jess. ”You're okay with my place?”
”As long as we're together it doesn't matter where we stay.” His gaze slipped down to her belly before returning to meet hers. ”I need you to be extra careful, Jess.”
”I will,” she promised. ”Everything I do is about more than me now.”
He reached for her hand and squeezed it. ”It's about us. All three of us.”
She wished she could leave it there. But she had to know. ”What's Black saying this morning?”
Dan swiped what was likely soot from her cheek. ”Besides insinuating that I burned down my own house to destroy evidence?”
”Please tell me he's not really going there?”
Dan shook his head. ”I don't know, Jess. I think this might not be going away so easily.”
The hope she'd held out wilted. Whether Dan chose to blame her or not, she had devastated his life. He was being framed and his home had been destroyed. The painting of them in bed together and the headstone crept into her thoughts.
Her being here had already cost him so much. Whatever happened she intended to see that she wasn't the reason he lost his life.
Birmingham Police Department, 11:59 a.m.
Jess stared at her new smart phone. It looked and felt almost like her old one, but all the photos and contact information were missing. She should have signed up for that backup plan she'd been offered. Oh well. Lori was forwarding contact numbers to her.
”I hate this.” Jess set the phone aside and studied her new Glock. ”I hate this even more.” She'd had the other one, her second weapon in her entire career, for twelve years. This one looked basically the same. The weight was the same or very close, but it felt different. G.o.d, she despised change. She couldn't imagine how Dan felt.
”The call with Upshaw is in five minutes,” Lori announced.
At least something was going right this morning. ”I'm ready.”
Dan was back in his office. He'd stopped by to check on her after his trip to the AT&T store. He had a flashy new phone too and a new weapon. That was one of the perks of living in the same city where you grew up-you had contacts. Dan had put in a call to a friend and weapons were delivered to them at the office. The forms were filled out, the background checks done and they were good to go.
Except it was all different.
She glanced at the temporary bag on the floor next to her desk. The clerk at the phone store had felt bad for Jess and provided her with a nifty tote bag that sported the AT&T logo. Until she had time to shop, it would have to do.
She grabbed a bag of M&Ms from her drawer and decided a snack was in order. Lori had insisted on taking her to a drive through for breakfast after leaving Dan's. She hadn't been hungry but Lori had been right to insist. Jess needed to eat.
The whole morning had pa.s.sed in a whirlwind of smoke and purchases. It was lunch already and she felt as if she'd moved backwards rather than forward. Hayes had gone for burgers. Jess rolled her eyes. This kid was going to be addicted to chocolate and red meat before he or she was even born.
She was going to be a horrible mother.
Another chirp from her new phone and Jess jumped. Every time her phone made the sound indicating she had received a new contact it startled her. Mainly, because her thoughts were all over the place. She didn't want to think what would've happened if Dan hadn't woke up this morning.
Though she doubted killing her in a simple house fire was what Spears intended, she felt certain he was attempting to create havoc and more distraction. He had certainly accomplished that objective.
When the fire marshal's report was in they would know the point of origin and the cause of the fire.
<script>