Protecting Jenna (NCIS Series Book 8)

by Zoe Dawson

  There was another picture that had popped up on his tablet. The time and date were highlighted. “Look at this, Billy. You were there the night Sarah was murdered. This is your car, but you’re not behind the wheel.”

  “I got hungry and went to get doughnuts. I told you, I like the doughnuts there.”

  “There were reports of a prowler at the windows of their apartment. Was that you, Billy?”

  He looked away and Austin knew that was a tell. He couldn’t meet Austin’s eyes. Austin slammed his hand down on the table and Billy jumped.

  “Were you there? Did you look in the windows!”

  “Yes! I was looking in. I just wanted to see her.”

  Detective Morton said, “Billy, that is also against the law. Delaying, lingering, prowling or wandering on someone else’s inhabited private property when you don’t have a lawful reason for being there and you peeking inside is a violation.”

  “I didn’t see anything. They kept the blinds closed,” he groused. “Besides, the night I was there, the lights were out. I thought I saw someone, but I couldn’t make out who it was. I know it wasn’t Jenna because the shadow was too big.”

  Austin sat up straighter. “You saw someone. The night Sarah was murdered?”

  “What? You mean it happened when I was watching?” He twisted his hands together. “Oh, man. I coulda helped her?” He looked completely distressed.

  “Do you remember anything about this guy? Anything would help, Billy.”

  He dropped his head into his hands. “I’m in a lot of trouble. You going to arrest me now?”

  “We’ll talk about that later. The guy?” Austin said.

  “I was sad that Jenna wasn’t there. She said she was going to a concert, but I was hoping to wait until she got home, but since she wasn’t there, I left.”

  “Billy, focus on the man you saw.”

  “Okay, he was tall.”

  “Any details? Hair color, clothes?”

  Billy thought for a few minutes. “No, it was too dark. I just could tell he was big.” Billy’s face lit up. “Wait. I saw a flash of light. Then it was gone.”

  “A flash of light?”

  “Yeah, like a screen. Then it was gone.”

  “Anything else?”

  “No. I’m sorry. I wished I could have seen more.”

  Austin slid his card over to Billy. “If you remember anything, call me right away.”

  Detective Morton followed Austin out of the room. “Not much to go on.”

  “No. Not much help at all, but we know it was a man and he was big. You going to charge him?”

  “Yeah, he broke the stalking and Peeping Tom laws. I don’t know if we can make the charges stick, but that’s up to the DA, not me.”

  “All right. Let’s get him booked, and I need your help in guarding Jenna for a bit. I want to talk to the super and see what else he might remember and if he’s seen Billy around the place.”

  “You bet.”

  Austin and Detective Morton returned to Jenna’s apartment and relieved the uniforms. She was talking on the phone and Austin paced while Jack sat down on the couch. A tall, big man. Just the thought of the killer in the library with Jenna made his blood run cold. Then a thought occurred to him: Why didn’t he kill Jenna when he had the chance? He’d obviously gone through a lot to trap her in the library. Why just knock her out instead of finishing the job? This was the most puzzling case he’d ever been on and much harder than chasing Dexter Kaczewski, a Navy SEAL, and Piper Jones, a senator, through the desert and DC. They were very happily married now.

  She finished the phone call and came into the living room. “What happened?”

  “Billy was here the night Sarah was murdered. He saw the guy, but it was too dark to make out anything that was helpful. He was camping out across the street a lot. He was also your prowler, trying to catch a glimpse of you.”

  She folded her arms and shivered, rubbing at them. “Could he be lying about the man he saw to cover his tracks?”

  “No, I’m sure he’s telling the truth. He’s not too bright for one thing, and for another, I don’t think he would hurt you. He…uh…liked looking at you.” Join the freaking club, Austin thought, his eyes going over her. He liked looking at her, too.

  “He was persistent, and I had a hard time shaking his advances. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but he just wouldn’t stop asking me out. So what happened with him?”

  “We had to arrest him, Ms. Webb,” Jack said. “He broke the law.”

  “Oh, I see. He didn’t seem dangerous to me, but I guess you never know.”

  “No, you don’t. He’ll probably get out on bail if he gets himself a good lawyer. They have to make the charges stick, and right now all we have is his confession and the surveillance video from the bank across the street.”

  “He didn’t threaten me in any way,” she said. And Jack shifted at her unhappy tone.

  Austin met Jack’s eyes, and he cleared his throat. “I need to get something from the car. I’ll be right back,” Jack said.

  He left and Austin turned to Jenna. “We have to run down every lead.”

  “I know you’re frustrated and angry, worried about me. There’s no need to be distant. We’re in this together.”

  “I’m doing my job. I’m trying to keep you safe.”

  “I understand that.” She stepped toward him, but he stepped back.

  “We have to be smart about this. Now that we’re back in El Centro, where I think the killer is just waiting for another chance at you, I can’t be distracted.”

  She folded her arms across her chest, the hurt on her face scoring his insides. He had to be strong here, draw the line with her.

  “This is a murder investigation. Your life is in danger. If I’m pushing, it’s because I’m trying to keep you safe, eliminate this threat. I need you to work with me.”

  She raised her chin, her mouth tightening. It was clear he was pushing some of her buttons, but he couldn’t help that now.

  “Who else?”

  She gave him a blank stare.

  “Jenna, who else hit on you?”

  “It was just a couple of times.”

  “Who?”

  “Lieutenant Sims.”

  “Why didn’t you mention this when I was interviewing the squadron?”

  “He wasn’t pushy or hostile. He just asked me for drinks, and I thought, at the time, it had to do with Sarah. It slipped my mind. I was thinking about other things.”

  Him. She meant she’d been thinking about him, and this was why he shouldn’t have gotten involved with her. “He doesn’t have an alibi and he’s big and tall.”

  “He was much more interested in Sarah, not me. I think it might have been a ploy to get to her. If she’s not the target, then he has no motive, Austin.”

  He sat back. It was a sound argument, but he’d already decided to go at Sims again. His gut told him Billy hadn’t killed Sarah.

  Jack came back into the apartment and Jenna gave Austin one more bruised look and retreated to her room, closing the door.

  “You’re doing the right thing, kid,” Jack said. “But just remember—she’s scared, too.”

  He gave Jack a harried look, and Jack shrugged. Austin turned to go, realizing Jack was right. Jenna was scared, and she had every right to be. Austin wasn’t so quick to acknowledge his fear. It was one of those situations where you just had to man up and soldier on, as his dad would say. He was the only thing that stood between her and the person who wanted her dead. If he faltered, made a mistake or dropped his vigilance—

  He couldn’t even finish that thought. Now that he’d found her, been with her, he was losing himself all over again, just like at the embassy, but this time it was even worse. There might be a chance for them in the future once this danger was past, but if he lost her… He wasn’t sure he could come back from that kind of loss. The word fear didn’t even cover it.

  A few minutes later, he knocked on the super’s
door and Posner invited him inside. The man’s place was immaculate but kind of barren. It looked as if the furniture had come with the apartment and there didn’t seem as if there was anything personal in this place. No pictures, no art, no books, and no music. Everything was beige with this guy, even his clothing. Seemed like a bland way to live.

  “What can I do for you, Agent Beck? Is Ms. Webb okay?”

  “Yes, she’s fine. I wanted to ask you if you saw this man around.”

  Austin brought up Billy’s photo on his tablet. Posner studied it and nodded. “Yeah, I ran him off a couple of times. He said he was looking for an apartment, but I told him there weren’t any vacant. The second time, he didn’t have an excuse. Who is he?”

  “Billy Dyer. He was Jenna and Sarah’s prowler.”

  “Ah, the little weasel. The two times I caught him, he was in a general area, not anywhere near their apartment.”

  “He had a car across the street. He was watching their place. Do you recognize it?”

  “Yeah, I remember that sweet muscle car. What happened with him?”

  “We arrested him. He was here the night Sarah was murdered. Did you see him then?”

  “No, I didn’t. So, he was peeping at the time Lieutenant Taylor was murdered?”

  “Yeah, he’s given us a description of the man who killed her. I was hoping you might have more information.”

  “I’m sorry. Like I said, Lieutenant Taylor called me right before she was murdered. I wasn’t home. I was at the other side of the complex fixing a toilet that was overflowing. It was an emergency, and I couldn’t get away right then. I’m sorry that I didn’t.”

  “I’m sorry that you didn’t, either.” Austin’s shoulders, already tense, tightened even more, the frustration building. “Thank you for your time.” In the back of his mind, he noted that Posner was a big, tall man, but he had an alibi. He couldn’t have been on the phone with Sarah across the complex at the same time she was being murdered. The phone records had exonerated him. But it could be possible that he played the system. There was no way Austin could prove that, but Posner didn't really have a motive. He didn't really know Sarah. The strangulation was very personal and seemed like it would be carried out by someone Sarah knew.

  Austin left Posner’s apartment and headed for his car. He’d go at Sims again, then check in with Drea. Sims could be one of those guys who couldn’t handle rejection from anyone. Let’s see if he has an alibi for the night Jenna was attacked in the library.

  He didn’t want to think about how he would handle Jenna tonight when they were alone. She was angry at him about Billy, sure he didn't have anything to do with Sarah's murder. But he had to cover all the bases.

  Chapter Fourteen

  By the time Austin left the base, his frustration had settled into a lump in the pit of his stomach and set off one hell of a headache. He couldn’t remember his head ever hurting this much. The freaking devil winds started to blow, and it only made his jaw tighten. There was an uneasiness in the air, the stirring of something hot and buzzing down his spine, and a hot, dry heat that lingered in his lungs, as if an inferno was trapped in his chest. A feeling of being crowded, of being boxed in, moved in on Austin. He wasn’t used to being stymied like this. Feeling ineffectual, he hit the wheel several times, sweat slipping down his temples as he realized how close to the edge he was. How much Jenna mattered to him, and because of that, his emotions were heightened. He needed a cool head, and he could feel nothing but fever.

  By the time he got back to Jenna’s apartment, it was bad. He knocked at the door and Jack answered, his hand on his gun.

  When he saw it was Austin, he relaxed. “Boy, you look roughed up. You okay?”

  “Headache and another dead end. Sims has an alibi for the night Jenna was attacked. It’s not him, either.”

  “Well, damn,” Jack said with disappointment.

  “Hitting a dead end has never happened to me before.”

  “Well, then, you’re one of the lucky ones.”

  Austin leaned against the door frame. “I got it from here.”

  “Don’t look like it. How about I stay for a while until you feel better?”

  “What’s wrong?” Jenna asked, coming out of her room.

  “He’s got a doozy of a headache.”

  Austin looked at her and she came immediately forward. “Come with me.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “You will be once we get some pills into you and you get some rest.”

  Gritting his teeth against the sickening jolt of pressure in his skull, he let her lead him. He closed his eyes, fighting the pain, and when she stopped him, she undid the snaps on his pullover and slipped it off over his head. She reached behind him and unclipped his holster in the middle of his back, setting it on the bedside table. Before he knew it, a mattress was against the back of his knees and he was on his back. He wrestled with the pain, feeling the need to be there for Jenna, but it wouldn’t abate. It was the tension, the pressure of knowing that time was running out, and he wasn’t any closer to stopping the man who was here to kill her. Trying to release the grinding tension in his jaw, he took a deep breath, then exhaled.

  Unable to let go of his duty, he reached over, pulled his Glock from the holster and checked the gun, removing the safety and chambering a round. Headache or no headache, he’d be ready for anything threatening her.

  Then he settled back against the pillow, the weapon on his chest.

  There was soundless movement beside him and Jenna very gently slid her hand under his head. “Here,” she said softly. “Take this.” Carefully cradling his head against her hand, she pressed two tablets against his mouth. He opened his mouth and took them as a glass to his lips followed. She lowered him back down and fixed the pillow under his head, so it was supporting his neck.

  After a few moments, the excruciating pressure in his head eased, and he was finally able to unclench his teeth. Letting go of that grating, brittle tension left him feeling cold and shaky. As if tuned in to his every need, Jenna drew a blanket over him, her touch so gentle as she tucked the fabric around his shoulders. His throat closed up, and he had to shut his eyes against the sudden surge of emotion. He needed this in his life.

  He needed her in his life. He had to save her. Had to protect her.

  She gently brushed his hair from his forehead, her voice husky with concern when she asked, “Would ice help?”

  He opened his eyes and looked at her, her profile blurred in the semi-darkness of the room. Warmed by the pressure of her body against his, he caught her hand and pressed it against his chest. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.

  She laced her fingers through his, and Austin tightened his hold, then closed his eyes and began stroking her palm with his thumb. The frustration was banked, the anger cooled, replaced by a haunting ache that sat squarely in the middle of his chest. He wondered how many more chances he was going to get with this woman before it was too late. The timing with them seemed to really suck.

  The heaviness in his chest expanded, and he clenched his jaw against it, then reached up and caught Jenna by the back of the neck, pulling her down beside him. Her hair was like silk beneath his fingers as he cradled her head against his shoulder, then began stroking her upper arm. In spite of the shape he was in, he couldn’t get the unsettled feeling in his gut to go away. He wished like hell he could stop feeling as if they were living on borrowed time.

  The next thing he knew, his cell phone woke him up, and Jenna was gone. For a moment he panicked, but then remembered that Jack was here. He sat up, and a washcloth slipped off his forehead and dropped into his lap. He picked it up. The headache was just a buzz at the front of his head, most of the blinding pain gone. His weapon was once again on the bedside table. He grabbed for his phone.

  “Agent Beck, this is Billy. Am I calling at a bad time?”

  Austin hesitated, then said, clearing his voice of the gravel from sleep, “No, now’s fine.”

  �
��I know it isn’t much. But I noticed things since I hung around Jenna’s place so much. Her neighbor across the hall watches Jenna a lot, like when she gets in her car or on her shopping days. He always seems to be there when she needs a hand with her groceries.”

  “Mitch Campbell,” Austin said, swinging his legs to the floor, trying to clear his head of cotton wool. The neighbor? Austin had already talked to him, and he said he had been with his girlfriend that night and couldn’t help. Morton had talked to the girlfriend—Tina Guthrie—and she had corroborated his story, but now Austin wondered. Tina’s apartment wasn’t that far away. Could Campbell have come back and killed Sarah, thinking she was Jenna? This development put a crimp in his supposition that Robert Webb was behind it, but Austin couldn’t discount any clue.

  “Yeah, that’s the guy,” Billy said with a sullen voice. “I considered him a rival for her affections. I got out on bail, and I have to talk to the DA. My lawyer thinks he can get me off with community service. I’m sure sorry if I scared Jenna. I didn’t mean to. Would you tell her for me? I’m not supposed to be anywhere near her.”

  Austin pushed off the bed. “Sure, Billy. Just be careful in the future and make sure you accept no for an answer.”

  “Yes, sir. So long.”

  Austin pushed off the mattress, reaching for his gun. Slipping his cell into his back pocket, he tucked the gun into the holster and clipped it to his pants. He dropped the washcloth into the sink as he passed. He could smell something delicious in the air and his stomach rumbled.

  When he walked out, Jack was watching the news, and Jenna was in the kitchen at the stove. Jack shut the TV off and turned to look at him. “You look like you’re feeling better.”

  “Much. Thank you for staying.”

  Jenna turned from the stove with an uncertain expression in her eyes, indicating that she had picked up on his edginess. He felt like a complete jerk.

  “It’s no hardship to watch a pretty lady and get out of those thrice-cursed winds.”

  Austin rubbed the back of his neck—the pressure of the winds was relentless—and Austin shifted to look out the window. The moaning increased in volume, howling as it shook the trees, dust and debris swirling and shuddering, caught fast in its grip. A force of nature that everyone from LA to San Diego endured this time of year.