Harlequin Intrigue March 2021--Box Set 1 of 2

by Cindi Myers

  Jackson shot her a quick glance as he drove. “That gives him more than enough time to do the round trip to Regina.”

  “And still supposedly ‘check out his client’s location,’” she said, emphasizing his explanation with air quotes.

  Jackson shook his head. “Who goes to a building site at night? I didn’t believe it then, but the Avalon officers confirmed the alibi.”

  “They did, but how much of that was influenced by the officer who works with Matt?” she asked, questioning it the way she had from the very beginning.

  Jackson clenched his jaw, clearly not liking her assertion. “I’d rather not think that an officer let a murderer go free on account of a personal relationship.”

  Rhea scoffed. “You think that’s never happened? That it’s possible it didn’t happen this time?”

  Jackson sucked in a deep breath and held it, recalling his chief’s words about embarrassing either of the two police departments. But if losing the police chief’s job was the price to be paid for the truth, he was willing to pay that price. “Let’s not go there until we’ve run out of options. First thing I’d like to do is talk to Matt and hear what he has to say. After, we’ll take a run to the building site. See how long it takes us to get there and then back to Avalon.”

  “And we can check out the road there also. Matt said he detailed his Jeep the morning after Selene disappeared because it was muddy and he was meeting a client.”

  Jackson mentally reviewed the evidence Rhea had gathered. “You said the road was paved with gravel.”

  “It is,” she insisted.

  “Maybe it wasn’t paved six months ago,” he offered in explanation, and she shrugged her slim shoulders.

  “I’m no expert, but it didn’t look like a new road to me. You saw the photos, right,” she reminded.

  “I did. If things don’t add up...I have a friend in the area who has trained dogs,” he said, omitting that they were cadaver dogs in deference to Rhea’s emotions. But, as he peered at her out of the corner of his eye, it was obvious she’d guessed exactly what kinds of dogs. She worried that full lower lip and glanced away, her gaze shimmering with tears.

  “And what then? What if we get nothing from it?”

  “We keep on looking, Rhea. I made you a promise and I intend to keep it. We’ll go over every fact and every discrepancy. We’ll talk to the Avalon police. I called to let them know we were reopening the case,” he said.

  She shot him a quick look, eyes wide with surprise. “How did that go?”

  “They weren’t happy. Felt like I was interfering in their jurisdiction, but I reminded them that the Regina Police Department had been involved in the investigation, as well.” He reached over and laid his hand on hers as it rested on her thigh. “We have an appointment to talk to them this afternoon.”

  A deep furrow raked into her brow as she considered what he’d said. Long moments passed until she said, “I appreciate all that you’re doing.”

  He brushed his hand across her cheek and said, “No need for thanks. It’s my job.” A more difficult one thanks to what he was starting to feel for Rhea.

  Returning his attention to the road, he continued the drive to Avalon and the discussion about the case. “Matt started a bonfire that night. It was one thing that struck me as really odd back then. Who starts a fire and then leaves it unattended for any length of time?”

  “And he kept it going almost all night, according to the neighbors,” Rhea added.

  Jackson nodded, wondering what that might mean. “Matt may have been trying to dispose of...” He hesitated again, sensitive to Rhea’s feelings, but that was only making things harder and not easier, so he plowed on. “I’m not sure you can fully cremate a body in a bonfire, but it’s something we’ll have to check out.”

  A tired sigh, as if Rhea was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, escaped her. “And what if it doesn’t prove Matt killed my sister?”

  “If it doesn’t, we have other scenarios to consider and resolve,” he said without hesitation.

  “The turn’s just in a few miles,” Rhea said and gestured toward the highway exit. “Is Matt expecting us? Did you call him?”

  Jackson smiled and shook his head. “Matt is in for a surprise. We’ve got to rattle him, remember?”

  Rhea blew out a breath and wagged her head. “Get him angry. Get him to make mistakes.”

  He jabbed his finger in her direction to confirm it. “You got it. If he’s guilty, we will unravel that supposed alibi and get enough evidence to build our case.”

  * * *

  MATT DAVIS’S JEEP WRANGLER sat in the driveway, hinting that he was likely at home.

  Jackson parked his police cruiser directly in front of the Davis home in a clear line of sight to a big bay window. He cut the engine and shifted in his seat to peer at Rhea. “Are you ready?”

  Face a sickly pale, lips pressed tight, she nodded.

  “Let’s roll,” he said as he sprang from the car and around to open the door for her.

  Her hand was ice cold as she slipped it into his and they walked to the front door.

  He scrutinized the home as they did so, taking in the recently mowed spring green grass. The landscaping was well-kept, and the home spoke of someone who took care of it.

  He had barely raised his hand to knock when the front door flew open and Matt Davis stood there, his face mottled with angry red blotches that grew larger as his gaze settled on Rhea. “What are you doing here?” he said, his voice trembling from the force of his rage.

  “Matt Davis?” Jackson said and angled himself so that Rhea was partially behind him.

  Matt jerked his head up in challenge. “Yes, and who are you? You’re not with the Avalon Police Department.”

  Jackson reached into his jacket pocket, removed his business card and handed it over to Matt, who snatched it away with a swipe of his hand.

  Matt shot it only a quick look and said, “What do you want?”

  “Detective Whitaker, Regina PD. We’ve reopened the Selene Davis case,” he said calmly, sensing that the more controlled he remained, the more upset Davis would become.

  Matt glared at Rhea. “Why won’t you leave this alone? I told you I had nothing to do with Selene’s disappearance.”

  “Just like you had nothing to do with those bruises she had?” Rhea challenged, her voice steady even though Jackson felt her trembling beside him.

  Matt angrily jabbed a finger in her direction. “I never touched her. If Selene told you that, she lied.”

  “She never told me, Matt. I saw for myself. I saw the way you treated her. That’s why you didn’t want me around,” Rhea challenged.

  Matt made a move toward her, fists clenched, but Jackson swept up his arm, blocking his access to Rhea. Calmly, Jackson said, “Seems to me you’ve got an anger problem, Davis.”

  Matt whipped his head around to nail Jackson with his gaze. “You’d be angry, too, if you were being accused of something you didn’t do.”

  There was a sincerity in the man’s response that was unexpected. But sociopaths could be quite convincing, Jackson reminded himself. “If you didn’t do it, I assume you’ll be willing to answer a few questions.”

  Davis deflated before his eyes, his shoulders lowering as he took a step back. But then he looked toward Rhea again and jabbed his finger in her direction. “If it means I never have to see her face again, I’ll answer any questions you want.”

  “Where were you two nights ago?” Jackson said.

  “Home. Asleep,” he said with a nonchalant shrug.

  “The Avalon police came by and said no one answered,” Jackson pressed.

  He shrugged, but met Jackson’s gaze head-on. “I sleep with earplugs, and I’m a heavy sleeper. I probably didn’t hear them.”

  The Avalon Police hadn’t seen Matt’
s SUV, unlike today, where it sat in the driveway. He gestured to the Jeep. “Do you normally park in the driveway?”

  Matt shook his head. “I normally pull it into the garage, but I’m custom-building something in the garage. I started the project yesterday afternoon.”

  “Mind showing it to me?”

  With a harrumph, Matt pushed past him and to the garage, where he entered a code and opened the door to reveal a number of sawhorses covered with plywood and pieces of a woodworking project.

  “Thanks,” Jackson said, but pressed on. “Let’s talk about the trip to your client’s location. You say you went the night Selene disappeared? At night, Matt?”

  The other man shrugged and looked away this time, a telltale sign that someone was lying. “I had been at a site all day and, when I came home, Selene and I had a fight. I needed to blow off some steam and went outside to do some yard work.”

  “You had lots of scratches and cuts on your hands. You told the officers you got them doing the yard work,” Jackson said.

  Matt nodded. “There were lots of brambles, but I was so mad, I didn’t pay attention and got cut up while I piled them in the firepit.”

  “And then you started the bonfire?” Rhea asked.

  Matt glared at her again, but nodded. “I did. I like to keep things looking neat, and it was the easiest way to get rid of them.”

  Jackson peered all around the house once more and said, “I see that you care, which makes me wonder why you left a live fire to drive up a mountain.”

  Matt dragged his fingers through unruly waves of blond hair. “Stupid, I know, but I was still too wired after doing that and decided it was as good a time as any to check out my prospective client’s building site.”

  “Up a mountain? In the dark?” Rhea pressed. She had never believed Matt’s alibi from the very beginning and nothing had happened that would change her opinion.

  Matt glared at her, and spittle flew from his lips as he said, “Maybe if Selene had earned more at that stupid school I wouldn’t have had to bust my ass just to keep a roof over our heads.”

  Rhea was barely controlling her anger. Her body shook with the force of it, but Jackson laid a hand on her shoulder. Gave a reassuring squeeze.

  “I understand you were having some financial difficulties,” Jackson said.

  Matt’s gaze narrowed to almost slits and settled on her. More bright splotches of red erupted on his cheeks and down his neck as he said, “I was working out of it. That’s why I drove up the mountain. It was a big job and really helped me get things back on track.”

  Me and not us. It had always been about Matt, Rhea thought, but kept quiet to let Jackson continue the interrogation. But he surprised her with his next statement.

  “That’s good to hear, Matt. Especially since I told the insurance company we had reopened the case. They’re holding up the payout on Selene’s policy until we close the case.”

  Matt’s barely leashed anger turned toward Jackson. “You had no right to do that. No right,” he shouted and leaned toward Jackson, his pose threatening. But he was no physical match for Jackson, who had several inches on him in height and width.

  Jackson met him dead-on, his nose barely an inch from Matt’s. “I had every right, Davis. A woman is missing. Likely dead and, from what I can see, you had a hand in it.”

  As he had before, Matt backed down. Bullies couldn’t handle being challenged, and it made Rhea realize why Matt hadn’t wanted her around. Unlike Selene who hated confrontation, Rhea wouldn’t have put up with the way that Matt treated Selene.

  “I didn’t kill Selene. I don’t know what happened to her after she left here that night,” Matt said, a defeated tone in his voice.

  “If that’s true, you’ll have no issues with helping us prove that,” Jackson said.

  Matt gazed away again and nodded. “Whatever you need. I just want to get on with my life.”

  “Great. We’ll be back,” Jackson said and exerted gentle pressure on her shoulder to guide her toward his cruiser.

  “He just wants to get that insurance money,” Rhea said under her breath, not believing a word of Matt’s explanation.

  “For sure, but he won’t get it if he doesn’t cooperate to clear his name,” Jackson said.

  Rhea stopped dead and glanced at Jackson. “You think that’s possible? That he didn’t do it? That she killed herself?”

  “Or that she’s still alive, like you hope.” His gaze was a dark gray, like a troubled sky, when it settled on her. With a harsh breath, he said, “Anything’s possible right now. But, fact by fact, we’ll determine what really happened.”

  Although he had voiced her hope as a possibility, Rhea was certain he didn’t believe it likely. But she’d take it for now.

  “What’s the plan?” Rhea asked, impatient to continue their investigation.

  “A trip up a mountain.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Rhea had visited Matt’s client’s site barely a week after Selene’s disappearance. She directed Jackson down the highway for several minutes until the turnoff for a narrow gravel-paved road.

  Jackson pulled the cruiser off the smooth highway and onto the rougher gravel. The car dipped deeply before beginning the rise to the building site on the ridge.

  “This road had gravel when you came up,” Jackson said as he drove, navigating past a rut here and there on their journey up the mountain.

  Jackson had given her a link to the digital notebook they had created the day before. She pulled her tablet out of her bag and, in no time, she had opened the notebook and navigated to the pages that held the photos she had taken shortly after Selene’s disappearance. She held the tablet up so Jackson could see it.

  He stopped the car to take a better look at the photos. “Definitely gravel, but not as deep as right now. Do you remember how deep it was?”

  Rhea shook her head. “I wasn’t thinking about that at the time,” she admitted, wishing she had been more observant.

  Jackson ran the back of his hand across her cheek. “Don’t blame yourself. What you’ve put together is amazing.”

  She appreciated his words and braved a smile. She scrolled to other photos of what the site looked like before any construction had taken place. “There was a lot of land cleared along the ridge. Plenty of places and time for him to...”

  She couldn’t say it and left it at that.

  Jackson clearly got it. “Let’s go see what’s up there now.”

  They bumped their way up the road to the wide hilltop ridge where Matt was building his client’s custom home. A truck was parked before the home’s double garage doors. One of the garage doors was open, and a large stack of siding sat there, waiting to be installed.

  “Looks like they’re almost done with the build,” Jackson said.

  The home was a large contemporary structure, situated to provide views of the valley below, the town of Avalon and the mountains in the distance.

  As they got out of the car, one of the laborers walked over, a puzzled look on his face. “Can I help you?”

  “Detective Whitaker with the Regina PD. We’re just here to take a look at the site. Is that a problem?”

  Obviously uneasy, the man held his hands up in a stop gesture. “Above my pay grade, Detective. I’ll have to check with the contractor.” Without waiting, he walked away, whipping out his cell phone as he did so. A short, clearly upsetting conversation ensued, but the man returned and said, “Matt says look away, but don’t bother the workers.”

  Jackson dipped his head and touched the brim of his hat. “Thank you. We appreciate your cooperation.”

  The man said nothing, only pivoted and returned to work, shouting out instructions to his people who were busy installing the siding.

  Rhea brought up the photos again to show Jackson how the ridge had looked before the construct
ion had begun in earnest, since there had already been some digging going on.

  Jackson looked around, comparing the site to the photos. With a shake of his head, he said, “The home takes up most of the flat land at this point.”

  He walked toward the home and backyard, Rhea following. With a sweep of one hand, he held up the tablet with the other and said, “This was all woods. They cleared a good bit to make this open space for the house, the deck and the grass area beyond that.”

  Rhea nodded. “It was. I remember wondering how big a house they could build without taking down some of the aspens.” The thought stormed through her brain again about the aspens being one and feeling the loss.

  Jackson tightened his lips and tipped his hat back. “It didn’t take that long to get here. When Matt made this round trip, he had plenty of time at this location, but... I can’t imagine him burying Selene anywhere on this ridge. Most of the land here would be touched during construction. It’s too risky.”

  A numbing chill erupted inside Rhea at the thought of her sister buried here or somewhere else, and she wrapped her arms around herself. Rubbed her hands up and down her arms to chase away the chill.

  Jackson immediately noticed and hugged her. “I want to check out the ridge,” he said, and they walked, joined together, to the edge of the property where the land dropped off sharply to thick woods at least a hundred feet below.

  “It’s more likely he would have dropped her over this edge. The woods down there are dense and probably not well traveled.”

  Jackson paused and whipped off his hat. He dragged a hand through his hair in frustration. “I don’t remember anyone searching that area.”

  Rhea nodded. “As far as I know, they didn’t. They searched all along the ridge up here, but not below.”

  “Well, that’s where we start tomorrow,” he said with a quick nod and urged her in the direction of his cruiser. He paused by the edge of the build site.