by Debra Webb
Lori glanced at the door. “He’s taking the detective’s exam today.”
That news shook Jess from the daze she’d fallen into. “Well... good.” She had no idea why she didn’t know about that, but she was glad for Cook. Strange that he hadn’t asked for her approval first. “Where are Harper and—?”
“Right here, Chief.” Harper strode in from the corridor, the lieutenant on his heels.
Jess hadn’t heard any raised voices, but she had the distinct impression the two had exchanged unfriendly words. “Sergeant, plug in that iPad and see if the reverend left us anything there.” She shifted her attention to Hayes. “Lieutenant, bring in the box of photos I picked up this morning.” She turned back to Lori. “Some of the family photos I picked up from my aunt have dates written on the back by my mother. We can compare the writing on those to these pages.”
“Sergeant, see if Ricky Vernon can lend us a hand ASAP.” Vernon was an evidence tech who had a love for all things electronic. He’d helped Jess before and he was damned good at his job. If there was something on that iPad, he would find it.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Jess turned back to Lori. “I’d like photos of all this. I want everything documented by SPU in addition to the documenting the forensic techs will do.”
“On it.”
Jess moved around the room and studied page after page from the diary apparently kept by her mother. Her heart pounded so fast it threatened to burst. She could hardly breathe. She kept wishing Lil were here. She should see this at some point. Why hadn’t they known their mother kept a journal?
A moment was required for her to put aside her emotions and to look at the scene like a cop. The room was in disarray. The reverend, presumably, had written page after page of notes. Most of the pages repeated what he’d found in the journal or simply spouted nonsensical lines. His handwriting had grown increasingly frantic. Numerous references to the Brownfield family and to Spears had been made. Pages from the Bible had been removed and taped to the wall as well. Whatever was going on in Henshaw’s mind, either he’d started to lose control or he’d been afraid.
“Vernon is on the way,” Harper said as he joined her.
“Did you speak to the hotel manager?” Reverend Henshaw had been MIA for two months. It looked as if he’d been here most of that time.
“I did. Henshaw checked in on July fifteenth. He refused to allow housekeeping in the room. This morning the housekeeper came in anyway. She saw all this and called the manager. One look at the room and he realized the murdered reverend he’d read about in the paper was the man who’d rented this room. He called BPD. Dispatch sent the call our way.”
“Have you discovered any documented history of mental illness?”
“No, ma’am. Henshaw underwent a yearly physical with the same doc for the past thirty years. No history of illness, physical or mental. The nurse I spoke with said the man never got sick.”
Jess moved back to the photo and articles about her work with the BPD. “If he had something to tell me, why didn’t he contact me?”
“Maybe he was searching for an answer before he made contact,” Harper suggested.
“Maybe.” Jess wished she could have spoken to him. If he knew she was back in town, why didn’t he talk to her? Why hadn’t he contacted Lil in all these years? Where had this man of God been when two young girls lost their parents and had no decent place to go? Anger lashed through Jess. Nowhere to be found, that’s where.
Hayes returned with the shoebox of photos. Jess looked through the photos until she found several with handwritten dates on the back. She passed one to Harper and one to Lori.
Jess went to one of the pages she recalled being dated June fourteenth. A photo from the shoebox carried the date January sixteenth. The j’s were exactly the same as were the u’s. Jess reminded herself to breathe. The dates were definitely written by the same person.
“What’s going on here?”
Jess cringed at the sound of Black’s voice. She squared her shoulders and prepared for battle. “Stop right there, Chief, this is a crime scene. If you’re coming in you need to take the necessary precautions.”
Fury tightened the man’s face. “I’ve attempted to reach you several times, Chief Harris. I’d like to speak with you in private.”
Jess produced a smile. “Of course.” She was prepared for this conversation. She didn’t bother closing the door as she joined Black in the corridor. She wanted her team to hear this. “What do you need? I’m a little busy here.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, Harris, but it’s my understanding you and your team have been taken off the Spears investigation by Agent Gant.”
“That’s true,” Jess agreed.
He frowned. “Then, why are you here? The Spears investigation encompasses the Henshaw murder as well as the Brownfield murders.”
“Oh.” Jess laughed. “I’m sorry. I assumed you understood.” She reached into her bag and removed the SPU handbook—the very one Black helped compose. She thrust it at him. “Section One, paragraph one. The newly formed Special Problems Unit operates under the authority of the Birmingham Police Department and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, equally. Sheriff Griggs has reopened the cold case involving Lee and Helen Harris, former residents of his county, and he assigned that case to SPU. Since the Henshaw case is related, I’m simply doing my job.”
Black smiled patiently. “I’m certain a quick phone call to Sheriff Griggs will clear up the confusion. He must be unaware of Gant’s orders and of your connection to the Harrises.”
Jess was the one smiling this time. “Why don’t I clear up the confusion for you, Chief. The Bureau has no jurisdiction on this cold case unless local law enforcement requests assistance or relinquishes control, Sheriff Griggs isn’t doing either, and he is well aware of my personal connection. Now, if we have that all cleared up, I have work to do.”
“You’re making a mistake, Harris,” Black warned. “Your every misstep reflects poorly on Chief Burnett. Are you intent on ruining him?”
“Frankly, I believe you’re doing that all by yourself, Chief Black. Do you really want to move up the food chain so badly?”
The words hit their mark. Black was livid. Just when she felt certain he would blast her, he flinched, then reached into his pocket and withdrew his cell phone. “Black.”
Jess plucked the handbook from his grasp and tucked it into her bag. He could pull his own copy. A quick phone call to Sheriff Griggs had taken care of her problem with Gant. Griggs was more than happy to help and assured Jess he’d back her up whenever she needed him.
“When?”
The urgency in that solitary word snapped Jess back to attention.
“Issue BOLOs immediately. I’ll be right there.” Black shoved his phone into his pocket. “If you had anything to do with this, Harris, I will see that you are prosecuted under every applicable federal and state law.”
“Everything all right out here, Chief?”
Jess waved Hayes off. “What’re you talking about, Black?”
“That was Roark. Amanda Brownfield walked out of the hospital less than twenty minutes after being visited by Buddy Corlew.”
For heaven’s sake! What was Buddy thinking? Jess abandoned that worry for an even bigger one. “I should warn Nicole Green. Maddie may be in danger.”
“Are you saying you had nothing to do with this?” Black demanded.
“Amanda Brownfield is a violent psychopath. A serial killer. Why would I want her running around free?”
“I warned you that Buddy Corlew couldn’t be trusted. He won’t ever see the light of day again after this.”
Jess held back the frosty retort she wanted to make as Black rushed away. When the elevator doors opened, Ricky Vernon exited. Black glared at him before boarding. Before Vernon could ask any questions, Harper ushered him into Henshaw’s room. Jess spoke to Nicole Green, and then she called Buddy to find out what in the world had happened. She fel
t reasonably confident he was not responsible for Amanda’s escape. Not unless he had no other recourse. Whatever the case, if he was involved, he had better have one hell of a good explanation.
His line went straight to voicemail. “Dammit, Buddy. Where are you? Call me the instant you listen to this message.”
Jess should call Lil and touch base with her surveillance detail.
Lori joined her in the corridor. “I spoke to your sister’s surveillance detail. I’ve put them on alert regarding Brownfield’s escape.”
“Thanks. I was about to do that. I should call Lil and explain.”
“I can hang out here while you step away if you’d like to have some privacy.” Lori gestured to the end of the hall and the window there.
“I’ll only be a minute,” Jess promised.
“Take your time.” Lori squeezed her arm.
Jess gave her a grateful nod and hurried along the carpeted floor. She stared out the window as her sister’s phone rang. Lil had a family. She’d given up nursing to be a full time wife and mother. Motives and methods for murder never entered her mind. She didn’t have to worry about obsessed serial killers and haunted reverends or the psychopathy of a possible half sister like Amanda Brownfield. At least she hadn’t until Jess came back to town.
For days now, she’d hidden the ugly truth from her sister to protect her. What a joke. Lil was one of the strongest people Jess knew. What she’d really been covering up was her own inability to accept that she wasn’t any closer to the truth than she’d been a week ago. She didn’t have the answers. Not yet anyway. But that didn’t give her the right to keep what she’d learned from the people she loved.
“It’s about time you called,” Lil said instead of hello. “You were supposed to call me on Monday and tell me how the Baron barbecue went. Was Nina there?”
“I’m sorry, Lil. Work got in the way.” This was the same excuse she’d been using for twenty years. “Listen, that Brownfield woman I told you about has escaped custody. Your surveillance detail will be keeping an eye out for her.”
“What about her little girl?”
“She’s safe. Everyone’s on the lookout for the mother. I want you to be extra careful. Her fixation with me could spill over to you.”
The hesitation that lingered before Lil spoke again had Jess’s heart pounding harder.
“I’ve decided to buy a gun, Jess. I’m at home alone so often it just feels necessary.”
The announcement was certainly an unexpected one. Lil hated guns. “Let’s start with signing you up for the proper weapons training first.”
“I mean it, Jess. All this stuff with Spears is making me paranoid.”
“I understand. We’ll take care of it. I promise.” Jess braced. “Lil, we need to talk.” The warning that she had another call sounded in Jess’s ear.
“I’m home,” Lil reminded her with a sigh. “I’m always home. It’s really empty with the kids gone. Why don’t you come right now?”
“I have another call. I’ll call you back. Stay safe.” Jess ended the call and accepted the incoming one. “Harris.”
“I told you Eric could get me out.”
Jess stilled. “Amanda, I need to know where you are. Right now.”
She laughed. “You always sound so serious and I keep telling you the same thing. There is nothing you can do to stop this, Jess. He’s coming for you. Everything else is smoke and mirrors.”
“Not you, Amanda. You’re my sister remember? Sisters stick together no matter what. Tell me where you are and I’ll come. Just me. No one else.”
A beat of silence echoed.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the dark-haired man who drives the Infiniti?” Jess asked when Amanda remained silent. “He brought you pictures of me.”
“You’ll know everything soon, Jess. Don’t resist.” Another hesitation. “It’ll be better that way.”
“Amanda, where are you. Let me help you.”
“Come to the water, Jess. You know where. I’m leaving something there for you.”
15
Scottsboro, 4:30 p.m.
Standing on the Comer Bridge above the river where her parents had glimpsed their final view of daylight before slipping beneath the dark surface, Jess surveyed the water and the shoreline once more.
If Amanda had left something for her, she’d hidden it well.
Sheriff Foster and a dive team searched the water beneath the bridge. They’d found nothing so far. Jess had called Foster en route. By the time she and Lori arrived, the search was underway.
She told herself this was nothing more than another diversion Spears had set in motion. As much as she wanted to believe that, deep down inside, Jess sensed this time was different somehow.
“The divers found something,” Lori said from her vantage point at the guardrail.
Jess started that way and her cell phone rang. Hoping it was Dan, she stopped to check the screen. Gant. “Dammit.” He’d called twice already. She tossed her phone back into her bag. Black had evidently gone straight to Gant about her insubordination. She doubted her former boss would be surprised. He knew her too well, but that wouldn’t prevent him from reminding her of all the reasons her behavior was unreasonable and unacceptable.
As Jess reached the guardrail, Lori placed a hand on her arm. “It’s Amanda Brownfield.”
At some point along this journey, Jess had thought she was prepared for almost anything. After all she’d seen in her career, what could possibly shake her?
This shook her... hard.
“Call Dr. Baron,” she said, her voice not as strong as she’d prefer. “Tell her we need a preliminary on Amanda tonight. I’ll work it out with Foster.”
The words were scarcely out of her mouth when two black SUVs parked behind the other official vehicles on the side of the road at the entrance to the bridge. The doors flew open and Chief Black, as well as four agents, emerged.
Now the real battle began.
By the time Jess reached the shoreline, Black and Agent Todd Manning from the Birmingham FBI Field Office, were arguing with Sheriff Foster. Jess could hardly take her eyes from the ominous black body bag. Her last exchange with Amanda sifted through her thoughts. On some level, it was difficult to see Amanda as a victim but, in actuality, that was exactly what she was.
Black’s firm tone, punctuated by Manning’s furious one, drew Jess’s attention. Foster wiped the sweat from his brow, settled his hat back in place, and bided his time while the others explained the legalities of why he would need to turn over the body ASAP.
Jess figured her best option was to let them hash it out. She was banking on the probability that the small town cop with the big hat and the cowboy boots was on her side.
“Well, gentlemen,” Foster began, “I’m afraid you’ll have to take your requests up with Sheriff Griggs down in Jefferson County. You see, I already turned all this over to him and his representative.” Foster gestured to Jess. “Our coroner already pronounced the victim and Jeb Cardin over at the funeral home’s sending a hearse to transport the body to the Jefferson County Coroner’s office as we speak.”
Jess didn’t see any need to stay and listen as Black and Manning challenged Foster’s declaration. She and Lori headed for her Mustang. The somber black hearse arrived as they pulled away, making Jess feel cold. Maddie’s mother, whatever her issues and whatever she was guilty of, was dead. Now the little girl was an orphan in the truest sense of the word.
Jess knew that feeling.
Lori executed a U-turn and drove away from the place that somehow continued to provoke change in Jess’s life.
She checked her cell to see if Dan or Buddy had returned her calls. No missed calls. Why couldn’t she reach Dan? She’d given a message to his secretary in addition to the voicemails she’d left him. And where was Buddy? Frustrated, she left another voicemail for him with an update on Amanda.
“You don’t think Buddy had anything to do with Amanda’s escape, do you?”
/>
Buddy was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. “When Amanda called she said something about Eric getting her out.” Jess shook her head. “How do you spring someone out of the psych unit, for Christ’s sake? She had a BPD guard in addition to the usual security measures.”
“I put in a call to a friend of mine at the hospital.”
“Did he have any information?” Black hadn’t given Jess any of the details.
“He says a nurse took Amanda for an MRI. The nurse and the BPD uniform who accompanied her were found in the basement. Both had been shot and are in critical condition, but they’re expected to make it.”
“Were either of them able to give a statement?”
“He didn’t know for sure.”
Jess pressed her fingers to her temples and tried to ease the tension there. Buddy had promised to call her as soon as he spoke to Amanda. Dan should have called her back by now.
Where was everybody?
She stared at her phone and willed it to ring.
Jefferson County Coroner’s Office, 8:30 p.m.
“I’m convinced you’re trying to ruin my social life, Harris.”
“I appreciate you staying late again.”
Sylvia lifted a skeptical brow. “Don’t make a habit of it.” She looked Jess up and down. “Very nice.” Her gaze lingered on the shoes. She sighed. “I don’t know what Gina was thinking.”
Jess was beginning to think that moments like this with Sylvia were about breaking the tension. Right now, as ready as Jess was to move on with this, she appreciated the break. “Comfort and practicality. You do recall those terms, don’t you?”
“I deleted those from my vocabulary when I was twelve.” Sylvia turned her attention back to the victim. “Let’s get down to business, shall we?”
Jess surveyed Amanda’s body. There was no question who had done this. Spears wanted Jess to know this was his work. The lacerations to her body, including her breasts, and the widespread bruising were all classic Player torture techniques. Her wrists and ankles bore ligature marks. The thigh and pelvic bruising along with vaginal tears was the sort of injuries Jess had seen repeatedly in his victims. Some of the damage was older, from her first meeting with Spears last Friday, Jess estimated, while others were fresh... only hours old.
