“Great. Thanks, Mom. I shouldn’t be that long.”
“You can have it the whole day.” She gave him the keys. “Will you be around for dinner tonight?” Her voice rose, and her hands pressed together as if she were praying.
Jack knew what she was really asking: Would you like a birthday dinner with a cake? He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
His mom smiled, but Jack read the disappointment in her eyes.
“Hey, do you know when Dad will be home?” he asked.
“He’s teaching a summer class. Did you need him for something?”
“I just wanted to ask him about an old student.”
“Who?”
“Alex Hernandez.”
His mother’s hand flew to her chest. “Please don’t tell me something bad happened to him.”
“No… Do you know the guy?”
She fiddled with the cross on her necklace, a sure sign she was getting upset. “He was your father’s student, oh, a dozen years ago. He was such a nice young man. Where did you see him?”
“I ran into him in Hamilton Park.”
“How did he know who you were?”
“Ah… he heard my name.”
“It’s surprising he remembered after all he’s been through.”
“So you know that he’s… kinda nutty,” Jack said.
His mom frowned. “I don’t like that word. He’s troubled. But he’s been through a lot.”
“His wife, Anne Hernandez, was the one who was murdered, right?”
His mom pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. “Yes. It was horrible. Poor Alex just snapped. Your father tried to help him, but…”
“Dad tried to help the guy? Really?”
His mom nodded. “Your father does a lot of things he doesn’t take any credit for. He’s a good man.”
“I know.”
“You’ll have to tell him that you saw Alex.”
“I will,” Jack said. “Well, we gotta run. Love you.”
“I love you too. You’re not going to do anything risky today, are you?” It was the closest she’d come to acknowledging the previous day’s incident.
Chandler waved. “I’ll keep him out of trouble.”
“Thank you, Chandler.” She folded her hands and stood up ramrod straight, as if she were about to give a presentation. “And Jack, your father wants to talk to you about what happened at the park. He deferred last night to Aunt Haddie but—”
“Can you get him to defer for my birthday?” Jack smiled hopefully. “Better yet, get him to defer permanently?”
His mom smiled. “I’ll try for the latter, but don’t get your hopes up. And Jack, please call me if you change your mind about tonight. I’d love to make you something for dinner.”
“I’m all set, Mom,” Jack called back as they headed for the door.
“Well, if you do change your mind, just let me know. And if you talk to Detective Clark, be sure to let him know that you met Alex and that he’s doing okay.”
Jack stopped. “Why Detective Clark?”
“He knows Alex too. Detective Clark watches out for him.” She rubbed her hands together. “It’s just so sad. To lose your wife would be hard enough, but she was expecting their first child.”
Jack felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Stacy Shaw was pregnant, too.
25
Follow All Leads
Jack backed into the parking space of a little convenience store so the front of his mother’s car would face the road to Michael Shaw’s house. The store had been a fixture in the neighborhood as long as Jack could remember. Originally, it had been a house, but the walls downstairs had been knocked down to fit in all the chips, beer, and soda.
“This isn’t a car,” Chandler grumbled as he tried to get comfortable in the tiny bucket seat. “It’s a shoebox with wheels.” He had the passenger seat on Jack’s mother’s compact as far back as it would go, and his knees still touched the dashboard. “Why couldn’t we take the Impala?”
“Because Michael knows what it looks like. Put your hat on.” Jack pulled down the rim of his cap.
Chandler glanced at the Boston Celtics logo on the hat Jack had given him. “I take it your dad’s a Boston sports fan?”
Jack grinned. “He was born and bred in Beantown. It’s in his blood.”
Chandler looked around. “So, why are we waiting here? What are you hoping to see?”
“We’re waiting here because if Michael leaves his house, he has to come right by us.”
“I get that, but why are you interested in Michael Shaw in the first place?”
“This morning I saw something on Michael’s Facebook profile that bothered me. It’s probably nothing, but it makes me want to look at him. He changed his Facebook profile to Single.”
“Did he change it, or was it already set to that?” Chandler asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Lots of people have no clue how Facebook works. Maybe he set his page up years ago, before he got married. Or maybe he just never knew you could set it to Married, or it never occurred to him to do it. When was the last time he updated?”
Jack’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t know. I didn’t check.”
“And anyway, didn’t the police rule him out? Didn’t they say he was four hours away in someplace that sounds like Skinny Lady or something?”
Jack chuckled. “Schenectady.”
“Whatever. My money’s on Dracula. He’s the prime suspect. He’s a crazy homeless guy who sleeps right where Stacy was killed. He thinks he’s still in the military. Maybe he thought she was the enemy or something.”
“Maybe,” Jack admitted. “But he was so convincing.”
“He was just as convincing when he said he checked in with field command.” Chandler whistled the theme from The Twilight Zone. “The guy’s out there—wearing tinfoil on his head crazy.”
“True.”
“What about Leland Chambers?” Chandler said. “If you believe Dracula, he saw Chambers running through the park wearing those bright-green sneakers. He’s Stacy’s manager, and that janitor said they argued.”
“Yeah, he’s definitely a possibility. But I’ve got nothing to go at him with until I hear back from Betty.”
“Isn’t she a suspect, too?”
“What makes you think that?”
Chandler sat up. “She was the last one to see Stacy alive. What if she’s not telling the truth?”
“I never thought of that. She is a big woman.”
“Did you see her hands? They’re like my size.” Chandler held his up.
Jack laughed. “They’re nowhere close to your giant mitts. Wait a minute.” Jack took out his notebook. “Betty didn’t give off any red flags, but there was something she said about her husband… Bruce.” Jack flipped through pages until he found what he was looking for. “Betty mentioned that Bruce dropped her off after work and then went back out.”
“Did she say why?” Chandler asked.
“To run a few errands.”
“That seems kinda strange late at night. And why did he drop his wife off?”
Jack shrugged.
Chandler tapped on the roof. “My money’s still on Vlad.”
“Before you place your bet, there are other suspects too,” Jack said.
“Like who?”
“Jeremy. He was nearby. He’s physically strong enough, and he had a crush on Stacy.”
“What? How did you get that?”
“When I asked him how Stacy looked, he said pretty. That, and just how he acted when he was talking about her. He liked her—a lot.”
“You could be right,” Chandler said.
“And there’s still the two obvious choices,” Jack muttered. “Two Point, for one. Say it was a robbery gone bad. And yeah, his hand is screwed up, but I’ve been thinking about it. There are other ways to strangle someone.” Jack shifted in the seat to demonstrate. As he spoke, he reached out for Chandl
er’s throat. “If he pinned her down and grabbed her like this—”
Chandler knocked his hand away. “I get it, so you can use someone else for your strangulation demo. You said two choices. Who’s the other?”
Jack stared out the windshield. “Jay.”
“What? Isn’t he the guy we’re doing this for? He wasn’t even in the park.”
“We only have Jay’s word for that. And… he had met Stacy.”
“Say what?” Chandler did a double take.
“Jay delivered furniture to the Shaws’ house.”
“No way. So he knew Stacy.”
“He met her,” Jack said. “He was in her house. And H.T. Wells is only two blocks down from where he works.”
“That doesn’t look too good,” Chandler said. “Still, I think the cops should be looking at Vlad.”
“So you’ve said. And call him Alex.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“I know, it’s just…” Jack shrugged. “He kinda gave me the whole Ghost of Christmas Future type of thing. You know? Like, under the right circumstances, if the right things happened to me, could I end up just like him? Could that be me? Listen, if something were to happen, you know, to one of us—”
“Nothing’s gonna happen,” Chandler said. “I’ve got your back. Don’t talk about stuff like that.” In an obvious effort to change the subject, he added, “So how long are we supposed to sit here and wait for Michael Shaw?”
“As long as it takes, I guess.”
“Do you have any idea how long it could take for him to leave?” Chandler groaned.
“Do you know what the Army’s gonna be like? Job one is hurry up and wait. Same thing with being a cop. I have the patience for it. You’re like a bad doctor—no patients.”
“That is the lamest joke I’ve ever heard. There’s no way I’m going to sit in this sardine can all afternoon pretending to be a cop. Especially if you keep telling jokes like that.”
“It’s good prep,” Jack said. “My dad’s made me read every book in the library on police work—I’m not kidding. And I’m talking inter-library loan, too. And now that we’re going into the Army, I think he cleared the library out of books on military strategy and survival. You’re reading those books he gave you too, right?”
“They’re going to cover all that stuff in basic.”
“Some of it. Some they won’t. They can’t cover everything.”
“It’s the teacher in him,” Chandler said.
“And the overprotective dad. Thanks, by the way.”
“For what?”
“Coming with me. Having my back.”
Chandler’s expression changed. He looked serious. “What if they don’t let us serve together? I thought they kept family separated.”
“They won’t know we’re foster brothers. On paper, you and I are as different as yin and yang.”
“In looks, too,” Chandler said.
“But back to back. I’ve got you covered.” Jack held up his fist to knuckle-bump Chandler’s. “Besides, I can’t let anything happen to you. I could never show my face again if something did.”
“Hey!” Chandler sat up so quickly the whole car rocked.
“What did you see?” Jack stared down the road.
“No, not that.” Chandler waved his hand dismissively. “This is a stakeout, right?”
“Kinda.”
“Is it or isn’t it?”
Jack didn’t know where the question was leading, but he figured Chandler was up to something. “Is.”
“Great!” Chandler reached for the door handle.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting some donuts. This place has Krispy Kremes!”
“Stay in the damn car,” Jack snapped. “You just ate.”
“Come on.” Chandler’s outstretched hand almost hit the driver’s side window, his reach was so long. “You said we need to do what cops do.”
Jack laughed. “They don’t sit there eating donuts.”
“I would.”
Jack laughed again.
Chandler’s smile vanished. “Incoming.” He pointed.
Jack looked down the road and saw Michael in his silver Toyota, then quickly looked away. “Just act cool.”
“Always do.” Chandler grinned.
The Toyota passed them.
Jack put the compact car into drive. As the gears tumbled into place, something inside Jack shifted too. He felt the warm glow of adrenaline rush through his veins as a determined grin spread across his face. He pulled out onto the road and accelerated. The compact’s little engine whined in protest.
“Speed up,” Chandler said.
Jack broke into his best Scottish accent. “I’m giving her all she’s got, Captain.”
“What’s this car have under the hood for power? Hamsters?” Chandler scoffed. “Stop fooling around; you’re going to lose him.”
Jack looked down at the red-lined tachometer on the dashboard. “The lawnmower engine in this thing is about to blow a rod. My foot’s flat on the floor. Unless I strap a rocket on the roof, this is it.”
It took three blocks of weaving in and out of traffic, but they finally caught up with the Toyota. They followed it west, out of Fairfield.
“I think he’s going to the highway,” Jack said.
“Are you too close?”
“I don’t know.” Jack slowed down.
“No! You’ll lose him.”
Jack sped up again.
“Don’t get right behind him,” Chandler cautioned. “You’re supposed to leave a car or two between us and him.”
“You’re driving me crazy. You’re the worst back-seat driver ever.”
The Toyota took the ramp onto the highway.
“He’s hitting the highway.” Chandler’s big hand swept up and thwacked the ceiling. “This thing will have a hard time at fifty.”
Jack stepped on the gas, and they zipped up the ramp. Traffic was light, but the other cars obscured their view of the Toyota.
“You lost him.” Chandler craned his neck and peered ahead.
“It’s a highway. He can only go straight. I’ll find him.” Jack glared at the speedometer as he kept his foot pinned to the floor.
“I should get out and push,” Chandler grumbled.
Jack moved into the far left lane of the three-lane highway in order to pass a slow-moving tractor-trailer in the center lane—apparently the only vehicle on the road that was slower than they were. “I still don’t see him,” he said. “But the next exit isn’t for, like, ten miles.”
“It’ll take us that long to catch him,” Chandler said. “Oh, man!”
They’d passed the tractor-trailer and the silver Toyota was right beside them, in the far right lane. Chandler turned his head down and away, as though he were fiddling with the radio.
Jack sped up.
“What are you doing?” Chandler hunched up his shoulders. “You’re not supposed to pass him.”
“I’ve got this.”
The little car shook as it strained to go faster.
Chandler looked around. “I think the wheels are going to come off this thing.”
“Trust me.” Jack looked in the rearview mirror. Michael was still in the far right lane, and the middle lane was clear. Jack slowed down.
A minivan behind him flashed its lights to signal Jack to move out of the left lane. Jack just slowed even more. The minivan pulled into the middle lane to pass them. As it did, Jack continued to slow and used the minivan to block their car from the view of the Toyota. He then switched over to the far right lane, a couple of cars behind Michael.
“See.” Jack held his hand out as if he had just served up the Toyota on a platter.
“Sweet, but don’t get us jammed up.”
“I won’t.”
“One call to the cops and we’re screwed. The Army doesn’t want troublemakers.”
“You sound like Aunt Haddie.”
Chandler smacked his ar
m. “Yeah, just this morning she said that to me.” He cleared his throat and broke into his best Aunt Haddie impression: “Now, Chandler, you need to stay out of trouble or you’re screwed.” He stretched the word out.
Jack laughed. Aunt Haddie would never use that word. “I meant you sounded like Aunt Haddie when you said troublemaker. But fine, you sound like my mom. Better?”
“Like your mom has ever said ‘screwed’ either.” Chandler held up his index finger. “Listen, I’m one hundred and ten percent as serious as a heart attack. I cannot, and will not, get jacked up in this. The Army’s my ticket to college.”
“You won’t.”
They followed the Toyota for the next ten miles. Jack wondered whether he was wasting valuable time following this guy around.
When at last the Toyota’s right turn signal started blinking, Chandler pointed. “He’s getting off in Darrington.”
The Toyota took the off ramp and Jack followed, with a van in between them. At the stop sign at the end of the ramp, both the Toyota and the van took a right. Jack rolled through after them.
“Can you see him?” Jack craned his neck and drifted toward the middle of the road.
The Toyota and the van both took a right.
“The stupid van is going everywhere Michael is,” Chandler said.
The Toyota took a hard left. So did the van.
Suddenly, the Toyota slammed on its brakes. The van skidded to a stop right behind it, and Jack had to jam both feet down on the brake pedal to keep from running into its rear bumper. Everything on the front seat shot forward and onto the floor, while Chandler braced himself against the dashboard.
A car door slammed shut. “What the hell!” Michael yelled.
“Crap, he got out of the car,” Chandler whispered fiercely.
Jack leaned over and looked out the window.
Michael stormed over to the driver’s side of the van. “Are you following me?” he yelled.
“What? You just stop,” the van driver said in a thick Spanish accent.
“What’s your problem?” Michael’s feet were set wide apart and he stuck his chest out. “Why are you following me?”
“No. I no follow. We working there.”
“What’s he doing?” Chandler whispered.
“He’s screaming at the van driver.”
And Then She Was GONE: A riveting new suspense novel that keeps you guessing until the end Page 22
