Beyond A Reasonable Doubt

by Linda S. Prather

  David sighed. “Let it go, Jenna. I also wanted to let you know I tracked down that fake journalist. He’s the younger brother of the immigrant that killed your parents. Name is Carlos Markito.”

  Jenna took in the information, storing it in the back of her mind with all the other things she had to deal with at the moment.

  “You ready to come back to work, or are you enjoying your vacation?”

  Going back to work would solve the problem of access to Elkins’s court files, but it would also limit her time for working with Jake and Harry. Jordan had given her only a week. “Are you okay?”

  “The oncologist is starting me on chemo again in two weeks. I’ll be fine until then, but I miss you around here. You kept us all straight.”

  Jenna laughed. “I miss you guys, too, but I think I’ll stay off at least another week. How about I come back a week from Monday? That way, I’ll be there when you start your treatments.”

  “You enjoy your vacation, then.”

  “Thanks, David, I will. Bye.”

  Jenna hung up the phone and flopped down in the middle of the living room floor. Jordan’s paranoia was getting to her. David had made her take a vacation when he should have stood behind her and defended her. Now, all of a sudden when she was closing in on Elkins and Dade, he suddenly wanted her back at the office. Why? Was he telling the truth, or did someone think it would be easier to keep an eye on her there?

  Sighing, she stood up and headed for her bedroom. Thanks to Beaumont, she’d missed dinner, and Jake and Harry were planning on stopping by around midnight. If she hurried, she’d have just enough time to take a shower before they arrived.

  True to form, Jake and Harry arrived right at midnight. Jenna let them in and motioned toward the kitchen. “If you’re hungry, it’s breakfast again.”

  Harry eyed the empty living room. “Looks like you’ve been busy today.”

  “Now if I just had the money to furnish it, I’d be fine.”

  Jenna waited until they were seated and plates were filled with bacon and her specialty omelet. She was eventually going to have to go shopping. “Did you find out anything today?”

  Jake took a bite of bacon and washed it down with coffee. “I called a friend of mine in Lexington, Kentucky. He’s doing some checking there, but it’s probably a dead end. The Elkinses stayed at a private farm owned by Mrs. Elkins. She leaves a staff there year-round, and she and Mr. Elkins stay there during race season. They always attend the Derby and the Keeneland meets. Usually stay there for a few weeks. Odds are, even if the staff saw something, they’ll be too scared to tell it. Don’t the Elkinses have a maid that’s been with them for years?”

  Jenna nodded. “I think Michael called her Maria. She’s been with them since he was a little boy.”

  “Have you met her?” Harry asked.

  “No. Michael wanted to keep our relationship quiet until after he announced his candidacy for judge.”

  Jake frowned, shot a quizzical look at Harry, and asked, “How long have you been dating this guy?”

  Jenna felt her cheeks flush. “About six months. You don’t have to say it, Savior, or even insinuate it. I’m an idiot… or at least, I was an idiot.”

  Harry steered the conversation back to the case. “I feel like we’re looking for a needle in a haystack, and we’re doing it by jumping up and down on our butts. Eventually, one of us is going to wind up screaming ouch. Have you talked to Michael since he left the hospital?”

  Jenna shook her head. “It took me all evening to clean up the mess Elkins made of my furniture. Then Beaumont came calling. I had just enough time to shower and prepare this luscious meal before you guys knocked. Why do you ask?”

  “Because you know his mother died in Kentucky. Even if his father tried to put fear into you, Michael is going to have to deal with that one way or the other. Either he convinces you to not talk, or he makes sure you can’t talk. It might be a good idea to move to a motel until we figure out where we’re going on this,” Harry said.

  “No. In fact, hell no. I almost lost my job; I’ve been shot at, dumped in the middle of nowhere to be eaten by bugs, and tortured; and I ruined my only pair ever of seven-hundred-dollar shoes. I am not leaving my home.”

  Harry grinned, meeting her gaze. “All right, then let’s do what we do. We usually get a hint, collect evidence, and arrest the bastards. You put the evidence together and make a case. Tell us what we need, and we’ll get it.”

  “We need proof I can present to a jury—something that a mastermind like Dade can’t pick apart and make look innocent. There have to be records somewhere—the pilot of the plane, the staff at the farm, the maid, or as Jake said, the undertaker. Someone knows, and we need that person to talk.

  “I’ve got a friend at the federal courthouse. I’ll contact him tomorrow and see if he can do some research for us on Judge Elkins’s dismissals. We need to establish a pattern of corruption. I’ll map out a set of questions that I want to ask Elkins on the stand. All we have to do is gather the proof to back up those questions so he can’t lie his way out of it. We have the list Jordan gave us of beatings.”

  Jake drained his coffee cup and stood to refill it. “We have to start thinking like they do, and we need to be quick about it. If there’s someone out there that’s a threat, that person is going to disappear pretty damn quick.”

  Jenna held out her cup for him to refill. “So what happened with the undertaker? Was that a dead end?”

  Harry grinned and raised an eyebrow.

  “Sorry,” Jenna said. “No pun intended.”

  “We’ve got someone watching him,” Jake said. “Figured he wouldn’t talk, but unless he’s an idiot, he kept something, some type of proof to protect himself.”

  Jenna frowned. “The more people who know what we’re doing, the better chance Elkins or Dade will get wind of it. Are you sure you can trust this person?”

  “It’s my cousin, Loki. She runs a small private-eye business. I’d trust her with my life,” Harry said.

  Jenna placed her cup in the sink. “I hope so because you just did.”

  Jake walked into the living room, glanced out the front window, and cursed softly. “You’re being watched.”

  Harry and Jenna joined him at the window. “Far right tree line. If you watch, you’ll see the glint off the lens.”

  Harry pulled his gun. “I say we go out the back, circle around, and take him down.”

  Jenna laid her hand on his arm and shook her head. “It wouldn’t do any good. They’d just send someone else. Better to let them watch and let them follow us until the evidence is gathered.”

  “She’s right, Harry. Of course, they know we’re cops, so they may not give us time to collect the evidence,” Jake said.

  “We just have to make sure it looks like we aren’t finding anything,” Jenna said, “which right now isn’t all that hard because we aren’t.” She grinned at Harry. “And we need another reason for you two being here.” She opened the door, flipped on the porch light, and walked out, motioning Harry and Jake to follow her. She waited until the three of them were outside, laughed loudly, and turned to reach up and pull Harry’s face down to hers for a long, sensuous kiss. Pulling back just a little, she whispered, “Get that shocked look off your face, and play along.”

  Harry grinned and pulled her close. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  Jenna stood on the steps and waved them off. She fought the urge to look at the spot Jake had shown her earlier. Word would probably get back to Michael eventually that she had another boyfriend on the side, but she hoped she’d bought them some time. She grinned as she closed the door behind her. Besides, she’d been looking at those gorgeous lips for two days now and wondering what it would be like to be kissed by them. She grinned again. It felt good. Really good.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Michael stepped into the sweltering heat of the veranda and lit a cigarette. The doctors had warned him about smoking as well as leaving the hosp
ital early. That wasn’t what was going to kill him. Stress from listening to the judge whine and cry about their predicament was going to kill him.

  Clearly, in hindsight, he’d chosen the wrong side. If he’d stuck by his mother, he wouldn’t be in this predicament. He’d be sharing in his brother’s wealth, not wallowing in his father’s poverty.

  Taking a long drag from the cigarette, he studied the fields surrounding the mansion. He’d taken them for granted all those years, and he’d taken for granted that one day the money, the house, and the prestige that went with it would all be his. He had to find a way out of this mess. He was smart, smarter than the rest of them, but even if he turned on the judge, there was still that damn evidence to deal with. What had his mother had on them? Was it just on his father, or did she know about the girl?

  Even that had been his father’s fault. He’d been too young, too inexperienced for a girl like her. She’d laughed at him. He hadn’t meant to kill her, just to teach her a lesson. There was no statute of limitations on murder, and it wouldn’t matter that he had been only fifteen. He’d be ruined.

  Tossing the cigarette, he reached for his cell phone and started to dial Jenna’s number. Then he closed the phone. He couldn’t call her. He needed to see her, look into her eyes, and tell her he loved her. He would convince her he was on Jordan’s side. After that, Jordan would do the right thing. That’s the kind of guy he was.

  ~ ~ ~

  Jake opened the door, climbed inside the cruiser, and grinned. “You’re early, partner. Can’t wait to see JJ?”

  Harry backed out quickly and headed into town. “Loki called. She wants to see us.”

  Jake waited for Harry to elaborate but was met with stony silence. “You think she’s found something already? Or is something wrong?”

  Harry shook his head, turned a corner on Mason, and parked in front of a small office building. “More on the wrong side. She sounded upset.”

  An image of the petite, dark-haired beauty flashed through Jake’s mind. “Upset” could mean a lot of things. He reached for the door handle. “Scared upset? Weepy upset?”

  Harry opened his door and climbed out. “Mad upset.”

  “Ah, shit.” Jake followed him from the car and up the steps. He’d seen Loki mad only once. She’d gone on a repo, and the guy had hit her, busting her lip. By the time they’d arrived, Loki had him down on the ground, a knife pressed tightly against his throat. It had taken them half an hour to talk her out of slicing and dicing the guy.

  Harry knocked on the door, which was opened immediately by a ball of spitfire fury. She grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him into the room. “You!”

  Jake intervened, trying to grab her from behind and hold on. A quick head butt made him let go and grab his nose. “Damn it, Loki, stop.”

  She spun on him. “Stop? You want me to stop?” She slapped at his head, and he ducked as she continued her tirade. Grabbing a box on the filing cabinet, she pulled out its ghastly contents and flashed them in front of their faces. “Look at this. Look at what I found on my front doorstep this evening!”

  Loki tossed the scalp to Harry and flopped in an office chair. “You have a leak, and when I find it I’m going to plug it permanently. Where is this prosecutor? I’ll scalp her and send it to someone and see how they like it.”

  Jake grabbed his handkerchief and pinched his nose tightly to stop the flow of blood. “Tell me that damn thing isn’t real.”

  Harry turned it around so bits of flesh and dried blood were exposed. “It’s real. Question is… where’s the rest of the body?” Picking up the box, he dropped the scalp back inside and addressed Loki. “What time did you find this?”

  “At nine, when I came in to check the office before switching out with Jules. We were taking four-hour shifts watching the funeral home while Dadron watched his house. I called you as soon as I opened it.”

  “Call them in and shut it down,” Harry said. “You’re off the case.”

  Loki glared at him, her lips lifting slightly around the corners. “You think I’m scared?”

  Harry handed the box to Jake and sat down beside her. “I don’t think you’re scared of anything. The problem is, Loki, I’m scared. The next box could be mine, and it could be your scalp in there or Jules’s or Dadron’s. I’m not willing to take that chance.”

  “Dadron said the man put suitcases in his trunk when he came home at lunch. Let us finish out the night. I will light a fire and call upon the little people.” She stood up and walked to the door. “You should go. I have a lot to do, and I’ll call you when I have news.”

  Harry stopped just inside the door. “Be careful, Loki.”

  She nodded and pushed him out the door. “You be careful, my cousin. There is a rogue wolf in your pack.”

  “What the hell was that all about? Little people, a fire, and a rogue wolf?” Jake asked. He checked his nose in the mirror. At least the bleeding had stopped. “And what are we going to do with this?” He held out the box containing the long-black-haired scalp.

  Harry took the box and set it in the backseat. “I’m hoping if we check the local deaths, we’ll find a woman with long black hair who died in the last day or so. We’re dealing with an undertaker. Easy enough for him to have access to a body.” He started the car and pulled back onto the highway. “As to the little people and the fire, Loki combines the Chickasaw customs with several new age concepts. She’s quite the little spell caster. The rogue wolf refers to a leak in our group. The only people who knew about Loki were her brothers, you, me, and Jenna.”

  “Well, I didn’t tell anyone, and you didn’t tell anyone, and her brothers would die first, so that just leaves JJ.”

  Harry turned toward the outskirts of town and Jenna’s house. “Did you get Cara off to her mother’s?”

  Jake glanced in the backseat at the box. “Yeah. She wasn’t happy about it, but right now I’m glad she’s gone. You’re ignoring the obvious here, Harry. JJ’s smart. She may not be beautiful by Elkins’s standards, but she’s cute. She could get any guy she wanted. What the hell was she doing with a guy like Michael Elkins?”

  Harry gripped the wheel. “She said she got caught up in the glamour.”

  “Yeah, well evidently, she’s still caught up in it. I say we go in there, flash that thing”—he pointed to the box—“in her face, and ask some damn serious questions.”

  The radio squawked, and Harry picked up the mike. “Car Twenty-two.”

  “Need you and Sherlock to check out a domestic violence complaint at Thirty-three Hundred Sycamore.”

  Harry did a U-turn and headed back into town. “We’re on it.” Hanging up the mike, he glanced at Jake. “Looks like those questions will have to wait until tomorrow.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Jenna put the final touches on the roast and popped it back into the oven. If the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, Jake and Harry should both be falling in love with her. She felt as if all she’d done since meeting them was sleep, cook, and eat. At least she’d gotten an opportunity to go out today to buy a few new clothes, a purse, and a new cell phone.”

  A loud knock came from the back door. Frowning, Jenna glanced at the clock. They were early. And why were they using the back door? She grinned and headed for the door. If the guy out front was still watching, using the back door was actually a smart move. She jerked open the door. “You guys are smarter…” Her voice faltered as her eyes widened. “Tom? What are you doing here?”

  He pushed past her and glanced around the kitchen. “You expecting company? Otherwise, that was pretty damn stupid to just jerk open the door.”

  Jenna blushed. He was right, of course. “Savior and Redmond. They usually stop by around ten. And you’re right about the door. I won’t do it again.”

  “Got any coffee?”

  Jenna poured him a cup. “What are you doing here? I’m being watched, and if they see you, they’ll follow you right back to Jordan.”

  Tom downed the
cup of coffee in two large gulps and placed the cup on the table. He reached inside his shirt pocket, pulled out a list, and handed it to her. “Jordan’s sick. Bad sick. I need a doctor, or that’s a list of medicine we need if we can’t get a doctor. Figured you could get me one. I’ll be back at midnight.”

  He headed toward the back door, and Jenna reached out to stop him. “Wait a minute. Surely you know a doctor? Why did you really come here?”

  Tom glanced at her hand on his arm before his gaze came back to search her face, stopping just for a moment on the greenish discoloration below her left eye. “I’ve run out of favors with doctors, and Jordan made me promise I’d make sure you were okay.” He nodded toward her front door. “Rumor had it there was a nasty character watching you. He’s not watching you anymore.”

  The implication behind the words sent a chill down her spine, but she held up a hand. “Don’t say anything else. Savior and Redmond usually leave by eleven. I’ll have a doctor here by midnight.”

  Tom nodded, opened the back door, and disappeared into the darkness.

  Jenna glanced at the clock, turned off the oven, and headed for her phone. Harry and Jake were late, and she couldn’t wait for them. She knew only one person that could drum up a doctor at that time of night. Picking up the phone, she dialed the number.

  “Hello.”

  “Mr. Beaumont, this is Jenna James. I need a doctor—one that knows how to keep his mouth shut—and I need him by midnight.”

  “Anything else?”

  Jenna glanced at the note. “Antibiotics for an infection from a gunshot wound and pain killers.”

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  The phone went silent, and Jenna replaced the receiver and ran a hand through her curls. What are you doing, Jenna Patience James?

  She’d always known that world existed—a world of power so immense that a single phone call could result in people disappearing or political offices being vacated, a world where doctors were available at a moment’s notice. She’d never been part of that world—never wanted to be. Her gaze wandered through the empty room and then fell on her taped fingers. Somewhere out there in the shadows was a body. Right or wrong, Tom had done what he thought he had to do to protect her. Unless she found the proof on Elkins, the body count was going to rise.