Mind Echoes (Book 2 in the Body Shifters Trilogy)

by Leslie O'Kane

  “No, he had his lawyer post bail.”

  “Mark Jones is out on bail already,” Allie said to Daniel. “Now what?” she asked Melissa.

  “He says he wants to give us some evidence that he thinks could incriminate Jennifer. Obviously, though, the police first have to accept the fact that Jennifer is in another body, so he’s hoping we can all testify and watch one another’s backs. I gave him directions on how to get here. He’s meeting me at my hotel room at eight thirty tonight.”

  “You went ahead and set up a meeting without discussing it with any of us?” Allie snapped.

  “No, I discussed it with Jake first.”

  They’re squeezing me out! Allie thought, even while she was aware that she’d only just now put Melissa on the defensive for not consulting with anyone. “Okay, then. Daniel and I will either be there, too, or we won’t.” She hung up. Daniel was watching her with an inscrutable facial expression. “Melissa and Jake have decided to meet with Mark Jones at eight thirty at Melissa’s hotel room. Presumably.”

  He looked at her alarm clock. “That’s in half an hour. We should go now and figure out our team strategy in advance.”

  Allie nodded. She was miserable at the idea of Melissa and Jake being alone in a hotel room. She couldn’t help but feel insecure; it was way too easy for him to tell himself that he wasn’t really cheating when it was Ellie’s personality and mind that he was drawn to. Plus, physically, she was Eric Sterling’s girlfriend.

  “We can tell your parents we have to go to the library for some crucial research,” Daniel suggested.

  Focusing on the thought of Jennifer being the driver, she said, “What if I was right before, and Mark Jones is now Jennifer, too? Or what if she’s here, and they’re in on this together? This concept of him giving us evidence could be a setup.”

  “There are four of us and only two of them.”

  “But there could be two Jennifer’s with two guns.”

  “I’ve got a gun. And I’m an excellent shot.”

  “You’ve never shot at a human being, though, have you?” Allie asked.

  “No, thankfully. But I wouldn’t mind taking out Jennifer McGavin.”

  “I would mind. So would the legal system. Suzanne Anderson-Jones has never harmed anyone in any way.”

  He sighed. “I’m leaving the ethical conundrum up to Jake. You know as well as I do that he’s going to put himself in charge and not listen to a damn thing I say anyway.”

  The bitterness in his voice was unmistakable. Allie studied his clear blue eyes. “Has something happened? Have you and Jake had a fight, or something?”

  “We’ve been having our differences.” Daniel shrugged. “Same old same old.”

  “You two mended fences several months ago.”

  Daniel snorted. “Jake and I did. Eric Sterling’s a jerk, though, and I think that’s what’s at the bottom of this. You know my legal troubles from the documents I forged to hide your identity?” Allie nodded, as he continued, “Now he’s saying that it’s all on me...that turnabout is fair play, after the way I screwed him with our business venture a couple years ago.”

  “I thought the courts were putting you on probation and ordering you to pay a fine.”

  “That’s what I thought, too. Until Jake told the court he didn’t want to get involved.” He rose, adjusting the chain that hung across his muscular chest.

  “I’ll testify on your behalf, and Jake will come around.” Allie paused, mulling Daniel’s statements. “This is exactly what Jennifer wants. We’re all arguing amongst ourselves. Meanwhile, she’s running circles around us and is going to start tightening the noose.”

  “You and I are still good, though.” He beamed at her and rocked on his heels. “And like you just said, I’m almost a rock star.”

  Allie laughed. “That is not at all what I just said.” She realized with a start that being alone with Daniel felt too breezy and natural. Melissa and Jake might be experiencing precisely the same feeling. And meanwhile a psychopath was about to swoop in and destroy them all.

  Chapter 13

  “We can’t trust Dr. Jones as far as we can throw him,” Jake said. “Let’s all agree that we don’t answer any questions or say an unnecessary word, we simply let him give us as much information as we can get.”

  They all muttered their agreement. They were huddled in Melissa’s room at the Benton Inn. It was a nice enough room for a brief stay, but Allie knew that Melissa had been miserable here after all this time. I should do the decent thing, Allie told herself, and convince my parents to let her stay in my sister’s old room.

  There was a lull in their conversation. Allie jumped in and said, “We shouldn’t let Mark see Daniel. Sorry,” she said to Daniel, “but in case Mark Jones is still working together with Jennifer, you’re the one person on our team she might not already recognize on sight.”

  “Fine,” Daniel said, “but I’m keeping this at the ready.” He reached behind his back and pulled a gun out from his under his shirt.

  “Oh, Daniel,” Allie said. “If you do have to use that, we’re toast.” His handgun must have been what he meant when he’d told her several minutes ago that he needed to get something from his trunk.

  “It’s just a matter of—”

  The knock on the door startled Daniel into silence. He promptly strode into the bathroom, leaving the door open a crack. Although this was Melissa’s room, Jake headed to answer the knock. He looked through the peephole.

  “It’s Dr. Jones,” Jake said, looking at Allie and Melissa. Allie nodded. He opened the door.

  “Hello, Mr. Greyland,” Mark said to Jake, the door blocking Allie’s view of him. “It is you. I thought you might be here under an alias. The clerk told me that there was a Jacob Turner registered here. I’m Dr. Mark Jones. I was one of your physicians at District General when you were recovering from a gunshot wound.”

  “Yeah. I remember.” Jake stepped back, and Mark entered. He looked older and less fit than he had this past winter. Maybe it was the weary expression on his face and his slumped shoulders that made him look like a mere shadow of himself.

  Mark’s eyes widened when he saw Allie and Melissa. “Hi, Ellie,” he said with a nod to Melissa, then to Allie. “I’m glad to see that you two have managed to connect. I can’t begin to say how sorry I am that you’re in this predicament.”

  “What predicament would that be?” Jake interjected, crossing his arms. “That Alexis Bixby and Melissa Cooper are dead, thanks to you and your wife? Along with at least half a dozen brain-trauma victims whom Jennifer experimented on?”

  “I had nothing to do with any of that,” Mark said.

  “Committing a crime that results in the death of another human being makes you guilty of murder, according to Federal law,” Allie said. Although she was uneasy with Jake putting Dr. Jones on the defensive like this, she wanted to make it very clear that she was on Jake’s side.

  Mark squared his shoulders. He turned his gaze to Melissa. “I never knew anything about Suz—Jennifer’s plans. I did my best to protect you after it was too late to prevent it altogether.”

  “Who told you there was a Jacob Turner registered here?” Jake asked.

  “The woman at the desk. After I gave her twenty dollars.”

  “Super,” Melissa grumbled sarcastically. “That’s Emily Cooper, my ‘mom,’ as far as my high school’s concerned.” She peered at Mark. “Did you hit Mike Burns with your car yesterday?” Melissa asked.

  “No, Ellie, I swear I had nothing to do with that.”

  “So, where’s your car?” Jake asked. He waggled his thumb in the direction of the parking lot behind him. “Those are rental plates on the car you drove here in.”

  Allie raised an eyebrow, surprised that Jake had apparently had the chance to see Mark’s license plate.

  “Yes, I rented a car this evening. Mine was impounded by the police. Jennifer must have followed me here to Albany. She stole my car, and ran over that kid in
an attempt to frame me.”

  “She managed to follow you from New York City to a hotel in Albany without your knowledge?” Allie asked.

  “She probably put a tracking device on my car. I haven’t seen my wife in almost two months. For all I know, Jennifer could have been here for weeks now, waiting for me to appear. All she had to do was hire a P.I. to keep an eye out for my Maserati. Then to use her key and drive away.”

  “Not very smart for you not to get her key to your car back,” Jake remarked.

  Mark shook his head. “Look, you’ve obviously already got your minds made up about me. But whether you believe this or not, I’m here to try and help you. I want to do whatever I can to atone for the part I played in Jennifer’s heinous actions. For the record, I believed Jennifer and I were bringing brain-dead patients back to life by transferring a now-deceased patient’s memories into their brains, restoring their neural pathways. That’s what Jennifer led me to believe. My crime was that I chose to ignore all the signs that clearly indicated something much more sinister was happening. I didn’t want to believe that the woman I loved was...maniacal.”

  He reached into a pocket of his tailored tan slacks and handed a thumb-drive to Jake. “Study the contents of this. Then turn it into the authorities. It should be enough to put Jennifer away for the rest of her life.”

  “Why didn’t you give that to the police yourself?” Melissa asked. “If it’s incriminating, wouldn’t it help them believe your story about her being the driver of the hit-and-run car?”

  “I wanted to talk to you first, Ellie,” Mark replied. “I didn’t know if you’d want to have the police coming at you from out of the blue and asking about your family member’s murders. I figured that minor courtesy was the least that I owed you, for not stopping my wife from kidnapping you.”

  He scanned Jake’s and Allie’s faces. “Plus, by itself, those files look like the workings of a feverish imagination...science fiction that I’ve been manufacturing. I’m going to need your help. All of you. I realize I’m going to have to pay my debt to society for assisting my wife to reawaken in Suzanne’s body. I sincerely believed Jennifer when she told me that Suzanne was brain-dead and would never recover on her own. I had no idea whatsoever that Jennifer was rendering patients unconscious.”

  “That’s impossible to believe,” Jake said. “You’re a doctor. Even if you never saw the coma-patients’ readings while you were working at Ethan’s and Jennifer’s clinic in Washington, you read Suzanne’s charts every day when she was at your hospital...saw her vitals.”

  “Jennifer told me that Suzanne was a brain-dead trauma patient from her clinic who was being transferred to District General. When I saw that Suzanne Anderson wasn’t brain dead, yes, then I knew Jennifer had lied to me. I went through with the procedure anyway to bring the woman I loved back to life. At Suzanne’s expense. Exactly like what you did with Ellie.”

  This, Allie, knew, was a major hot button for Jake who, predictably growled, “That’s different. Alexis Bixby was brain dead, and I’m a neuro-scientist, not a doctor. I haven’t taken an oath to save my patients’ lives. I was ethically allowed to concentrate exclusively on saving Ellie from being murdered!”

  “Jennifer duped me into acting against Suzanne Anderson’s best interests,” Mark said. “But at least I saved Melissa’s life.” He pointed with his chin at the flash drive in Jake’s hand. “The evidence I’ve gathered proves that I’m guilty of a lack of judgment in falling for the malarkey that Jennifer fed me. She can be a very convincing woman. I loved her. She made me believe that she loved me, too.”

  Jake snorted. “Yeah. You keep telling us you loved her. I feel sorry for you, dude.”

  A look of abject hatred flashed across Mark’s features. His expression warmed as he shifted his gaze to Melissa. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew a check. “Take this. Cash it right away. Just in case anything...happens to me.” He thrust it at Melissa, who hesitantly accepted it.

  “Fifty thousand dollars?” she said as she looked at the check.

  “It’s Jennifer’s money. I’d rather you have it than her.”

  He left without another word. As soon as the door closed behind Mark, Daniel returned to the bedroom and sat down on the bed near Allie.

  “How did you know he was driving a rental car?” Allie asked Jake.

  He shrugged. “I didn’t. I was bluffing.”

  “What do you guys think?” Melissa asked, searching everyone’s features. “Is he on the up and up?”

  “I think so,” Allie replied.

  “So do I. If he was working with Jennifer, why would he give me all of this money?” Melissa asked.

  “Could be a frame job, of some sort,” Daniel suggested.

  “I worked for the woman for a couple of years,” Jake said. “I know her better than any of you. Anything Jennifer does that I find inexplicable, I steer clear of. It always blows up in your face.”

  “But that’s just it,” Melissa said. “Mark isn’t Jennifer. He wants me to have her money as guilt money. I can use this money to help Melissa’s family. To help myself. And to help all of us catch her.”

  “It’s written out to Melissa Cooper,” Allie said, glancing at the check. “If you try to cash it, the bank will run an identity verification on you, and they’ll find you on Missing Persons in the National data base files. They’ll contact the West Virginia police, and within hours, they’ll come find you. You’ll have to explain how and why you got that check from Dr. Jones.”

  “I’m not on the missing-person’s list, Allie. Dr. Jones contacted Melissa’s parents and paid them off, essentially. He put me on the phone with Melissa’s mother, and I told her that I was in New York of my own freewill and was fine. My mom inferred that I was ‘getting hitched to a doctor’ and said that I’d ‘done good’ for myself. End of story.”

  “Melissa’s mom...wrote off her own daughter?” Allie muttered. “That’s really sad.”

  “Melissa’s parents got married at age sixteen and seventeen,” Jake said. “He works in a coal mine. With Eric’s father. They did their best to provide for their daughters.”

  Allie could feel her cheeks grow warm. She resisted an urge to apologize to Melissa. She remembered how upset Jake had been when he’d found out that Eric’s mother was gravely ill, and Eric’s younger brother had put a plea on the Internet for Eric to return home. In contrast, Melissa’s mother had likely found a way to be happy for her daughter to build a new life for herself after Eric had run away.

  Jake gave Daniel the flash-drive. “How long will it take to analyze this and figure out if it’s legit?”

  “A couple of hours, probably. First I’ll need to make sure there are no Trojan horses before I load the files onto my computer. This whole thing could be a scam to trick us into giving Jennifer spyware to keep track of us.”

  Speaking of keeping track of someone, Allie thought, her parents must be on the verge of asking the police to put out an APB on her by now. “Can you give me a ride home?” Allie asked Daniel. “I’d just as soon not lie to them about my whereabouts, and I’m sure my mom’s so worried by now that she’s beside herself.”

  Daniel rose, tucking his gun back into his belt.

  She headed to the door and glanced at Melissa and Jake. She’d be leaving them alone together. She decided then and there that, if she lost Jake to Melissa, she would still fight with every fiber of her being to get Jennifer off the streets—dead or in jail—whichever worked. “I think Dr. Jones is being completely truthful with us, Jake.”

  He shook his head. “It sounds like Jennifer’s typical master plan to me...convince us that we can trust Mark. Let our guard down. Move in for the kill.”

  “Maybe so.” Allie sighed. “I’ll see you tomorrow, I hope.” Jake strode toward her and kissed her passionately, ignoring Melissa’s and Daniel’s presence.

  “Be hyper-vigilant at all times,” Jake instructed.


  “I know the drill. Take care, too,” she replied.

  The next couple of hours were surprisingly normal, by Allie’s standards. Her parents were obviously happy that she’d returned home, but didn’t grill her about Jake. A few minutes before eleven, Allie got a text. She saw that it was from Daniel and eagerly swept up her phone. He’d written:

  Thumb-drive info seems legit. Not sure if it’d hold up in court, though.

  They probably needed expert legal advice, Allie thought. Daniel’s father was a lawyer. She typed back:

  Can you run it past your Dad? Without giving anything away?

  Yep, he replied. Problem is, I’m certain the police need McBitch’s computer itself to verify Mark didn’t alter her files.

  Allie cursed to herself as she read that line. If that was the case, she didn’t see how the thumb-drive information was going to be of any use.

  What if Jennifer destroyed her computer? We’re SOL.

  She pressed send, and seconds later, Daniel wrote:

  Can you come back to the hotel tonight?

  She replied:

  Not unless it’s an emergency.

  No, he wrote back. Melissa’s here. Just wanted your company.

  Allie grinned. Thanks. Good night.

  U2, he replied. Don’t bite the bed bugs.

  Allie chuckled, but quickly grew somber. It was after 11 pm. Melissa and Daniel had obviously hit it off to be in his hotel room at this hour.

  A couple of minutes later, her cellphone rang. She grinned the moment she recognized Jake’s ringtone.

  “Hi, Jake.”

  “Are you on your computer?” he asked. He sounded tense. “Or watching the local news?”

  Allie felt a chill and realized she was going to have to brace herself, yet again. “No. What’s happened?”

  “It’s all over the news. Mark Jones is dead. The police found him dead at his hotel room.”