For a long moment he didn’t speak, he just looked at her like he was seeing her for the first time. “I know you are and I forgive you. I forgave you a long time ago.”
The words should have brought relief but instead they brought the realization that it didn’t matter. Things would never be the same and she needed to accept it.
Twenty-Six
Jess woke up to the sounds of birds chirping and Stan licking her face. She squinted at the rays of sun that poured through the curtains.
“We need to do something about your breath.” She reached out and scratched him behind his ears. “But don’t worry, I still love you, buddy, even though you’re stinky. We’ve all got issues, am I right?”
She sat up and stretched her arms above her head. Normally it was still dark when she woke up but last night, after she’d spoken to Jamison, she had fallen into a coma-like sleep. She glanced at her watch to check the time. It was almost eight thirty. “Wow, it’s late. You’ve usually had your run by now. Do you want to go for your run? Are you ready?”
He barked his response. All she needed to do was mention a run and his tail started wagging. Stan could run until his paws bled and he’d still want to go longer.
“Okay, coffee then run.”
She paused at the door when she heard a woman’s voice in the living room. Jamison had a guest. A twinge of jealousy prickled her. She shook her head. It was the height of hypocrisy for her to be jealous. She’d slept with other people since they were together—several actually.
She scrubbed at her eyes. God, she was crazy. Of course Jamison was going to date, and it was none of her business. Well, technically it was sort of her business right now if she was about to meet her.
“Just like ripping off a Band-Aid,” she said to Stan. She took a deep breath and opened the door. She forced a smile wide enough to make her cheeks ache.
As she rounded the corner she remembered she was still wearing sweats. She was sure she looked like death warmed over but she was past the point of caring.
Tina was sitting at the coffee table, her laptop open.
“Oh, thank God, it’s just you,” Jess said as she let out a sigh of relief.
Tina looked up, her nose crinkled. “As opposed to who?”
“No, I mean… I’m glad to see you, that’s all.”
Tina smiled but Jamison gave her a dubious look.
Jess shook her head as she realized why Tina was there. “Wait? Why are you here? You should be working the strangler case.” She didn’t give Tina the chance to answer before she spun on her heel to face Jamison. Anger surged through her, raw and potent. “I don’t want to endanger anyone else. You said yourself we don’t know what we’re dealing with here. It’s not fair to put Lindsay in danger. I won’t do it.”
“Tina,” Jamison said gently.
Jess blinked. “What? Yes, Tina. That’s what I said.”
“You said Lindsay,” Tina said.
Jess’s cheeks warmed. “Sorry. I-I misspoke. I meant you. Of course I meant you.”
“I understand that given everything that has happened you’re reticent to involve me, and thank you, but I have the safest job in the office.”
Safest job in the office. Jess’s heart constricted painfully at the phrase. Lindsay had said the same thing about her job. Her dad hadn’t wanted her to join the FBI because he was worried about her getting hurt, but she assured him that hers was the safest job in the office. And it had been, until Jess involved her in an investigation and she was murdered.
“He didn’t call Tina. I did,” a voice called from the other room.
Jess’s head snapped up to see Jeanie standing in the doorway, bifocals perched on her head and hair braided in a neat bun. The red eyes and tear-stained cheeks were gone. She looked like the fearless agent Jess had first met.
“I explained the situation to Tina and the risk involved. She’s not coming into this blind.”
“I want to help, Jess,” Tina assured her. “My other option is sitting in the conference room and listening to Chan trying to impress me but really just creeping me out. Please don’t subject me to that.”
Tina was trying to make light of the situation with a joke but there was no levity for her. Jess couldn’t lose another team member. She couldn’t handle it. Life had taught her that she could deal with a lot of shitty things, but being responsible for another person’s death was not one of them. “We don’t even know if we have the authority to investigate this. I don’t even know if we should take it to the Office of Professional Responsibility because I don’t know who’s involved or how deep this goes.”
“Ultimately, we will need to get the Department of Justice involved but not until we know who we are dealing with and who we can trust. Until then, we continue to work this case on our own. The risk is we tell the wrong people and this is buried again, or worse.”
“Are you suggesting keeping this from Director Taylor?” Jess asked to be clear she understood. She’d never known Jeanie to deviate from the rules by even a little.
Jeanie took a deep breath as she considered her words. “Taylor is a good man. He was a fine attorney and he is competent in a lot of ways. I don’t always know that he puts his trust in the right people. Right now, that skill is paramount so I would suggest keeping the circle as small as possible.”
Jess nodded. Without saying much, Jeanie had made her position very clear. She was glad Jeanie was back. Their team was better with her but there was a question she needed to ask before Jeanie made the decision to come back. “Are you sure you want to be here for this part? I have discovered some things… I have some theories that might be difficult for you to hear.”
Jeanie took a few seconds to respond. “The simple answer is no, I don’t want to be here investigating Levi’s death. I don’t want him to be gone, but he is, and the only thing I can do for him now is bring his killer to justice. I’m sure I will hear some very painful things but not hearing them won’t make them not true.”
“Okay, so if we’re all in, let’s get started.” Tina tied her hair in a loose knot on top of her head and stuck a pencil through it. “Where do we start?”
Jess stood for a second as she considered if she should go brush her teeth and change her clothes. Everyone else was wearing appropriate work attire. It felt weird and unprofessional to let Jeanie see her like this. Suddenly, she remembered what else Jeanie must have seen if she was here. Mortification burned through her as she wondered how much Jamison had told her, if he’d told her the exact nature of the pictures that were found at her apartment. Jeanie had to know something about it because she was here.
Jess bit back her embarrassment and ignored the heat in her cheeks. None of that mattered right now. They had a killer to find. “As you know there were photos of Levi and the other Gracemount boys found on Jim Iverson’s computer. The theory put forward was that Jim Iverson took videos of the boys because he was a sex offender. It was implied that he abused the boys. To cover it up he invented the suicide game to encourage them to commit suicide, or he murdered them.”
Jeanie’s lips flattened to a tight white slash but she didn’t flinch, she remained focused.
“But I don’t buy it,” Jess continued. “Iverson’s murder was far too convenient. Everything was wrapped up in a nice neat package for us and we all know that never happens.”
“So, what do you think happened?” Jamison asked.
She looked over at Jeanie to make sure she was okay before she continued. “I think there could very well be a sexual component to this case but what happened last night in my apartment tells me Jim Iverson is not the guy we’re looking for. He’s dead so he couldn’t have broken into my apartment to scare me off the case.”
“Whoever did this knows your history,” Tina said.
“Yeah, and as you know, that’s not something I advertise.”
“You think this is someone you know?” Tina asked.
“Yeah, I do. I think we need to take a hard
look at Richard Smart and Calum Scott. They worked the case for almost six months with no breaks, and then as soon as we start to make headway they break it wide open.”
“Okay, I’m on it.” The keys clicked as Tina began typing.
“Start with Scott,” Jess said. “He is the dominant personality and I just get a vibe off him.”
“Okay, will do.”
“The other person we need to look at is Lynette Hastings. She is somehow involved in this. Levi sent an email that said he was upset by seeing her. I could be wrong but I feel that is connected. It doesn’t make sense. And her whole demeanor was off.”
“In what way?” Jeanie asked.
Jess shrugged. She couldn’t explain exactly, it was more of a feeling than anything concrete. “I get that she is bereaved. She lost a child, that must be the worst pain imaginable, but she wasn’t just depressed or angry or any of the other emotions you would expect. She was scared, almost paranoid. She could know who the curator is and be scared of him, but we also need to look at the very real possibility that she is scared of us discovering something about her. We can’t rule that out. I know she doesn’t fit the profile but I think we’ve learned that sometimes they just don’t.”
“Okay, I’ll look into her too.”
“Thank you. I also need your help identifying an emblem. I tried doing an image search but I don’t think the resolution was good enough because I couldn’t pull anything up.” She turned to Jamison. “Can you pull it up on your computer?”
“Yeah, give me a second.”
A minute later he pulled up a still image they had taken from the footage at Pine Ridge. “Here we go.” He turned his laptop so Jeanie could see the embroidered chalice emblem. “Do you recognize this? Jessie found the same emblem on Levi’s blazer and Chief Hagan was wearing the same thing in a picture hanging in Sturgeon’s office.”
Jeanie pulled down her glasses to examine the image. “Yes. That is the Founding Father emblem. They are a charity organization at Gracemount Academy. Paul and I have given them a donation every year since Levi started. What does that have to do with this?”
Jess caught Jamison’s eye.
“What?” Jeanie demanded. “What is it? What aren’t you telling me?”
Jess nodded to Jamison. If Jeanie was going to be here, they couldn’t hold anything back from her. “Play the video.”
She watched Jeanie as she viewed the video, waiting for some sort of expression, but there was nothing.
“That looks like Pine Ridge,” Jeanie said.
“Yeah, it is. And as you can see in the video, he is searching for a disposable camera under the bed. His bag is full of them. We need to look at the possibility that the people who stayed at the lodge were instructed to take pictures of each other.” Jess left the rest unsaid as if it were less cruel to let Jeanie connect the dots on her own, but the truth was she didn’t want to say it aloud. She was tired of perversion. She could barely remember a time when her life wasn’t dominated by monsters and the pain they inflicted.
She watched as Jeanie’s expression changed, as the realization set in. “Levi went there in August before school started. He was picked as one of the junior ambassadors for the group.”
“For the Founding Fathers?” Jamison clarified.
“Yes. He was honored to be picked. It’s a coveted position. All the boys want to be a member but membership is limited to keep it exclusive. He was so excited because some of his best friends were picked. He was excited that they got to do it together.” She closed her eyes like she was trying to distance herself from what she was saying.
“Which friends?” Jess asked. “Who all went?”
“There were just the five of them.” Jeanie’s face drained of color. “And now they’re all dead.”
Twenty-Seven
Jess took Stan out for a run while Tina worked and Jamison finished getting Jeanie up to date on the case. She felt a twinge of guilt for leaving them for an hour but Stan would not stop whining until he had been out; besides, she needed a break from the bleakness of the situation and running was her one healthy coping mechanism. When the endorphins flowed, it took the edge off. It didn’t block everything out the way sex did, but it would have to do for now.
As they rounded the corner back to Jamison’s street, Stan stopped to christen yet another fire hydrant. He loved the novelty of the new locale, all the new smells and fresh places to mark as his own. He would happily spend the rest of the day finding new places to cock a leg but they had been gone long enough. He might not be tired from the run, but she was.
Jess’s heart faltered when she saw Tina was waiting for her on the front porch when she got back.
She took out her headphones. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, fine. I think I might have something.”
“Oh good. You scared me.” She wiped the sweat off her forehead before it dripped into her eyes.
“Sorry, I just thought you would want to know.”
“Yeah, no, please don’t apologize.” It wasn’t Tina’s fault that she automatically assumed the worst in every situation; that was just who she was. Jess opened the door to let Stan inside. “So, what did you find?”
“First, I’ll tell you what I didn’t find: anything exciting on Richard Smart. Raised by a single mom, went to the Naval Academy. Did twenty years in the marines and then began work as a consultant, and started working with the FBI eighteen months ago. He looks squeaky clean.”
Jess took the lid off her water bottle and had a swig. “And what about Scott?”
“Also squeaky clean but a few interesting things to note. For example, his mother is a proud member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and his father’s family came over on the Mayflower. They have lots of money, all of the old variety—you know, the way some people have tons of cash but no one really knows how they earned it because the family has been rich for so long? That’s his family.”
“Interesting, but not sure it’s relevant.”
“That’s what I thought at first but then I got to thinking.” Tina broke into a broad smile. “With blood that blue, it would only make sense that he went to a suitably salubrious school. And I was right. Want to guess where he went?”
Jess’s heart picked up speed. “Please tell me it was Gracemount Academy?”
“Ding, ding, ding, ding! You got it in one. His father and his grandfather went there as did his great-grandfather and presumably his great-great-grandfather. Those records haven’t been made digital yet so I couldn’t go back any further, but I think that gives you an idea.”
“Tina, I could kiss you.” Jess smiled. Jeanie had been right to call Tina. Despite her misgivings about including anyone else, there was no denying that investigations always went so much faster with Tina on the team. She knew her stuff. There was no better analyst in the FBI. “You worked with him the most—did he ever mention to you that he went there?”
Tina shook her head. “No, never.”
“That’s weird. Scott should have made us aware he went to Gracemount Academy. Even if he didn’t think it was a conflict of interest, it would have come up even in an ‘oh, by the way’ context. Did you find out if he is connected to the Founding Fathers?”
“Only that he makes annual contributions to the charity.”
Jess let out a stream of air. “So does Jeanie, so that is hardly the smoking gun we need to take this to the DOJ.”
They walked into the living room. Stan had made himself at home at Jamison’s feet. Jess took the seat on the couch opposite. Normally as soon as she sat down, Stan was under her, looking to be petted, but he barely acknowledged she’d come into the room. He was too busy staring adoringly at Jamison.
Tina grabbed her computer off the coffee table and pulled it onto her lap. “I’m still looking into the Founding Fathers but so far all I can find are press releases about their charitable contributions. They give a lot to inner-city projects.”
“I don’t think we�
��re going to find any negative articles. They would bury any bad press.” Jeanie looked up at them over her bifocals.
“Yeah, we’re not going to find anything online,” Jess agreed. “We need someone on the inside. I think we put pressure on Lynette Hastings. She knows something. I feel it. She’s holding back.”
“Okay, well I’ve started looking into her and so far there are zero connections between her and the Founding Fathers. She has never donated to their charity and she has no connection to them.”
“Other than her son,” Jamison reminded them.
“Yeah. Just that.”
Jess bit her lip as she thought. “Lynette is a single mom, right?”
Tina nodded. “Yeah, she has two kids. Dad is in California. Doesn’t look like he pays any alimony or child support.”
“She is an ER nurse. So, she must make what? Eighty thousand a year? Ninety max. That’s before tax. Take out rent, utilities, food, all that, and there is no way she had the fifty thousand a year to pay for Ryan’s tuition.”
“Maybe he was on a scholarship,” Jeanie said.
Tina stopped typing to look up. “He would have to have been. Lynette’s credit is a mess. She has maxed out two credit cards to the tune of forty thousand dollars.”
“Wow. Did she put his tuition on credit cards?” Jamison asked.
“No.” Tina pounded the keys as she searched. “Her credit was fine until this past fall, then in late September she paid what looks like a retainer to the law offices of Anderson and Murray for twenty-five thousand dollars.”
“What kind of lawyers are they?” Jeanie asked.
“Mostly criminal.”
Jess shifted position in her seat so she could fold her leg under her. “Hmm. Why did she need a lawyer? Were any charges filed against her?”
Catch Your Death Page 15
