by Debra Webb
“She was careful,” Harper agreed. “She didn’t want anyone to recognize her. Then or now.”
“I’m hoping she’s in the database.” Jess watched the woman kneel down and pin the note to the child’s dress. Since she didn’t wear gloves, there would be prints.
“Watch her lips,” Lori said, “she’s giving the kid final instructions.”
Jess studied the woman’s mouth as she spoke. There was no audio but Jess recognized part of what she said.
Remember…
“Remember,” Lori said, echoing Jess’s thought, “what…” She shook her head. “Let’s see it again.”
Cook hit backward search and then play.
“Remember,” Lori said, “what move or…”
“Mommy,” Jess said.
“Remember what mommy told you.” Lori turned to Jess. “She’s the kid’s mother.”
Jess nodded. “That’s the way it looks to me.”
“What kind of mother would leave her kid on the street like that?” Harper demanded.
“She’s working for Spears,” Hayes announced. His gaze collided with Jess’s. “He’s using the kid to send you a message.”
Hayes was the only person in the room who knew Jess was pregnant. She understood exactly what he meant but she hoped he kept it to himself. Eventually, she wanted to share the news with her team—her friends. But she couldn’t do that yet. They were already too protective of her. She could scarcely breathe much less investigate a case with them hovering. Learning this news would only double their efforts to keep her safe. Thankfully, Dan had been reasonable so far. At least as reasonable as he intended to be when it came to her safety.
“What does the kid have to do with Spears?” Lori challenged, that tension Jess had already noted between Hayes and the other male members of the team, apparently, extended to Lori as well.
“If he’s trying to tell me something,” Jess said, hoping Hayes would leave it at that, “I’m not getting the message.”
Hayes shrugged. “Maybe he’s using the mother as his next distraction. The way he used Ellis and the Man in the Moon before him.”
It seemed Spears had decided the best way to get to Jess was to create enough diversions to keep the Birmingham PD running in a dozen directions. At least, that was Dan and Gant’s theory. Supervisory Special Agent Ralph Gant was her former boss at Quantico. He was leading the Player Joint Task Force and he was convinced Jess was the ultimate target. Not that there was any question in anyone’s mind about that theory.
There was nothing like being the obsession of a sociopathic serial killer.
“What about the footprints they do when a child is born?” Jess turned to Harper who was the only one in the room with a child. “Can they identify the little girl that way?”
“Depends on where she was born but I wouldn’t count on it. Those footprints are primarily for the hospitals. To make sure the right baby goes home with the right mother. Most don’t enter the footprints into a state wide or national database.”
Something else to worry about. Jess had to find a doctor as soon as possible. Dan had made a few suggestions, which she appreciated. Selecting a doctor also determined which hospital would be used. Preferably one that ensured the right baby went home with her. On cue, her stomach roiled. The intense nausea she’d suffered last week had calmed down a little. Then again, last week might have been more about nerves and shock than morning sickness.
“Check with Child Services,” she said to Harper. “I’d like to know the little girl’s doing okay.”
“On it.” Harper retreated from the group and headed for his desk.
Lori followed suit without saying more.
“Cook and I are going out to pick up lunch,” Hayes declared.
“We are?” Cook looked confused.
“We are,” Hayes confirmed. “I could use some fuel.” He looked directly at Jess as he said this.
“Text me your orders,” Cook said as he followed Hayes out the door.
Jess hadn’t even thought about lunch. Maybe she needed her team looking out for her more than she realized.
If distraction was what Spears was after at this stage in his game, she was falling right into his trap.
4
Birmingham PD, 3:00 p.m.
Dan waited for the other man to settle in before he began. He’d wrestled with this decision all weekend. As much as it pained him—no, scratch that—as much as it annoyed the hell out of him to have to do this, he wasn’t a fool. At this point, it was more than obvious that he needed legal protection.
Despite being unspoken, the words were bitter on his tongue and heavy in his heart.
Frank Teller, Birmingham’s top criminal defense attorney, leaned back in his chair and studied Dan. “It’s been a while. How are the folks?”
Teller graduated high school with Dan. They’d played football together and done all the other stuff guys attending a small private school did. More importantly, they knew each other’s deepest, darkest secrets from back in the day. Having that level of knowledge on a man could make him your best ally. Not that any of their secrets were worth much as leverage. A few peeping tom exploits and a couple of stolen mascot incidents. Whatever else they had shared, their time at Brighton Academy had ingrained a certain loyalty. Teller would do his best for a fellow alumnus.
After high school, they’d gone their separate ways. Dan had followed Jess to Boston and Teller had headed to Tennessee’s Vanderbilt University. In time, they’d both returned to Birmingham.
“They’re doing well. Dad retired after his heart attack, but he’s doing great now.” His father might object to that last part depending on how much trouble his wife was giving him. Katherine Burnett could make life… complicated. But she was Dan’s mother and he loved her.
Teller nodded. “I see Annette from time to time. Did you hear she filed for divorce from Brandon? He’s already engaged to someone else.”
“I hadn’t heard.” Dan was so out of touch with everything and everyone—including the stepdaughter, Andrea, he still claimed in spite of the divorce from Annette. “Brandon’s an ass. I’m glad she’s moving on.”
“I hear you’ve moved on as well,” his old friend noted. “I remember Jess. She’s all over the news these days. I guess she left Birmingham and made quite the name for herself in the FBI. Good for her.”
Dan nodded. “She did. We’re fortunate to have her in the department.”
Teller studied him for a time before getting down to business. “Why don’t you give me an overview of what’s going on, and then we can best determine how we should proceed?”
“Three weeks ago one of my division chiefs went missing.”
“Captain Ted Allen,” Teller said. “Saw that on the news too.”
“There were issues between him and Jess. We believe he made an attempt on her life just before he disappeared.”
“What kind of attempt?”
“A car bomb.”
Teller arched an eyebrow. “But that hasn’t been proven?”
“The investigation is ongoing.” Dan wasn’t at liberty to say more on the subject at this time. The truth was he didn’t have much more than that. “Just over a week ago his cell phone was found in my trash. I left the trash can on the street on pick up day and somehow it was overturned. A pedestrian noticed the cell phone lying in the street and assumed someone had dropped it. Forensics later determined the cell had been inside my trash can.”
“Circumstantial at best,” Teller argued.
No matter that he’d known that was the case, Dan felt some amount of relief at hearing an attorney say so. “Then last week Allen’s wedding band was found in the grill I keep on my patio.”
Teller turned up his hands. “Easily accessible. Anyone could have put it there.”
“I’ve come under scrutiny in the investigation,” Dan confessed. “That’s as it should be under the circumstances. Since I was aware of the direction the investigation had taken, it
looks suspicious that my house was basically destroyed by a fire. The fact that only days before the fire my security system was breached doesn’t appear to matter.” Dan held up a finger. “Also, I can’t forget the report recently found in Allen’s desk suggesting he intended to file a grievance against me. Somehow, that report was overlooked the first few times his office was searched.”
“Someone’s going to a hell of a lot of trouble to set you up, Dan.” Teller searched his face. “You made any enemies lately?”
“None that I’m aware of.” Dan exhaled a heavy breath. “I’m certain not every decision I make suits everyone in the department. But I can’t fathom anything I’ve done to cause this sort of reaction.”
“What about your choice to bring Jess Harris onboard? Was that decision well received?”
Though Dan understood the question was necessary, it still rankled that the man asked. “By most, I believe.”
“Is there anyone who would like to have your job who perhaps thought they should have had it instead of you?” Teller shrugged. “The situation with Jess and this obsessed serial killer may have presented the opportunity needed to right that perceived wrong.”
Dan had pondered that theory as well, but he didn’t want to believe the one qualified man who’d been passed over would go to such extremes. He’d known Harold Black for more than twenty years. After a bumpy few weeks in the beginning, Harold had backed Dan up every step of the way in his position as chief.
Why would he turn on him now?
Jess.
Maybe. Certainly for some reason Harold disliked her. He’d been complaining about her from the very beginning.
“I don’t believe this is an inside job, Frank.” Dan wasn’t ready to go there. “I honestly don’t know who’s behind it. On some level, it makes me feel better assuming Eric Spears has set this sequence of events into motion.”
“Whoever it is,” the attorney submitted, “he’s doing a damned good job of pushing you into a corner.” Teller clasped his hands in his lap and appeared to weigh the situation a moment before he continued. “Wherever the threat is coming from, you need to protect yourself, Dan. You need to start immediately. Based on what you’ve told me, the situation is escalating. We don’t want to wait until you’ve been put on administrative leave or had charges filed against you.”
Dan nodded. He felt ill. Was this really his life they were discussing? It seemed insane, but it was real. “I agree that we need to move quickly. I’m also thinking, in light of the fire, that maybe I need to get my affairs in order.”
Teller frowned. “Are you talking about your estate? Are you feeling threatened on that level? If so, there are other precautions we need to consider.”
Dan held up his hands. “With all that’s occurred, I think it would be best.” If anything happened to him, he wanted to ensure Jess and the baby would be well taken care of.
Teller passed a hand over his chin. “There’s someone in my office who can handle your estate for you, if you prefer not to use your family attorney.”
His family attorney was a lifelong friend of his parents. Dan was reasonably confident it would be best if he had a more objective voice handling his personal matters. “That would be very helpful.”
“In that case,” Teller stood and Dan did the same, “I’ll have my assistant prepare the necessary documents of our agreement, and I’ll see that my colleague contacts you about your private affairs.”
Dan skirted his desk and shook his old schoolmate’s hand. “I appreciate it, Frank. This is a difficult situation. I need someone I can trust without reservation in my corner.” No one understood that necessity better than Frank. Though their pranks together had been basically harmless, Frank had gone too far once with his need to make a nemesis look bad. Dan had covered Teller’s ass when no one else would. Frank owed him.
“Absolutely.” Frank’s eyes told Dan that he was remembering exactly how much he owed Dan. “You can count on me.”
When his friend was gone, Dan moved to the window and stared out at the city he loved. He couldn’t say how this was going to end. Whatever happened, he would not let Jess and their child down. A smile tugged at his lips. If their baby was a boy, he couldn’t wait to teach him how to play football and to cheer for the best team in the nation, Alabama’s Crimson Tide.
His heart melted at the idea of having a little girl who looked like Jess. There would be dance and piano lessons and eventually recitals. He blinked at the foolish emotions that blinded him for a moment.
No one was taking this happiness from him. He would see Eric Spears in hell first.
5
4:05 p.m.
Jess placed the photo she’d printed of the little blonde girl on the case board. Harper had started a timeline of events. The best they could estimate, the woman had left the child between nine-fifteen and nine-thirty this morning. Lori and Cook were at the security company office reviewing the video feed recorded between eight and eleven this morning on every downtown camera in the system. It was a tedious task, but if they caught a glimpse of the woman who’d dropped off the child maybe they would at least learn the make of the vehicle she drove.
It was worth a shot.
Hayes was at his desk contacting hospitals in a hundred mile radius. Another monotonous job that likely wouldn’t yield any results.
Clues in a case such as this were like finding the needle in the haystack. You had to sift through the numerous possibilities in hope of finding a single shred of evidence.
Approximately seven hours and counting. Why had no one reported the child missing?
A rap on the door preceded Deputy Chief Harold Black poking his head into the office. Jess worked up a smile although she would have preferred to demand what the hell he wanted. She was not happy with the man. Then again, she rarely was.
“Chief Harris,” he said in that kind, we’re-all-friends-here tone of his, “I need your help with the perp I have in interview room three.”
Jess smoothed her hand down the front of her suit jacket. Very soon, she had to take the time to go shopping. Already she’d noticed her waistbands tightening. She’d had to hold her breath to zip this skirt this morning. “Certainly. I’ll be right there.”
Black opened the door a little wider. “I’ll just wait and walk you down.”
Lieutenant Hayes was at her side before Jess could respond. “I should join you. In case you need my assistance.”
For a second, Jess weighed the prospect of telling both men that she was perfectly capable of walking wherever she wanted to go, but she opted not to waste her breath. Instead, she smiled at Hayes and said, “Good. You can carry my bag.”
Without so much as a blink, he strode over to her desk and rounded up the big black leather bag she carried everywhere. Actually, it wasn’t the original she’d bought herself for her fortieth birthday—that one had gone up in smoke with the fire at Dan’s. This was one just like it. Sylvia Baron, Jefferson County’s associate medical examiner and a friend, had given it to Jess.
“Don’t forget my phone,” she reminded Hayes.
He grabbed the cell phone from her desk and hustled over to the door.
Jess turned to Black. “Lead the way.”
As they exited, Jess glanced at Harper who smirked. Though Hayes was a damned fine addition to their team so far, he still had a way to go with fitting in. Simply because he outranked the others didn’t make him more important to Jess or to the team. Somehow, he had decided that it was his job to stick to Jess. His eagerness was creating tension among the others. That annoyance, however, wasn’t anywhere near the top of her priority list.
“We received a call this morning,” Black explained as they headed for the elevators, “about a disturbance at one of the smaller homeless shelters in the area. When we arrived, the residents were in the street and the two men overseeing the facility were injured. One is still in the hospital. The other was treated and released.”
“There was a murder?” Je
ss presumed so since Crimes Against Persons had caught the case. Though that division worked everything from assaults to murders, she suspected they were talking about a murder since Black was personally involved. He preferred having his hand in the higher profile cases.
He nodded. “A gruesome one with some unexpected similarities to a previous case involving Spears.”
Jess stilled. “Why wasn’t I called to the scene?”
They hesitated at the elevator and Black pressed the call button. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves now, Harris. I think this might be a copycat trying to get our attention. That’s why I’m calling on you now.”
The elevator doors opened and Jess moved inside. Waiting for the others to board gave her the few seconds she needed to get her irritation under control. About a minute of his condescending attitude and she was ready to punch the guy. “Why don’t you tell me about the scene since you saw no need to show it to me?”
“One of the men who has been staying at the shelter for the past week dragged another of the residents, also male, into the bathroom and used a hacksaw in an attempt to cut off his hands and feet. He wasn’t successful since the other residents discovered what he was doing before he finished. Unfortunately, he hit an artery or two and the victim expired at the scene.”
“Has he given a statement?”
Black shook his head. “He wants to speak to you.”
Judging by his tone and expression, Black wasn’t too happy about the demand. If she’d had any question, his silence for the remainder of the trip to the interview room confirmed her suspicion. So this was why he’d bother to call on her at all.
“Lieutenant, you can watch with me,” Black ordered, indicating the door to the viewing booth.
“I’d prefer to go in with Chief Harris. That’s a violent perp in there. Her safety is—”
“I’ll be fine.” Jess removed her Glock from her bag and passed it to Hayes. “I’m certain Mister…?” She looked to Black.
“Terry Bellamy,” Black supplied. “Sixty-eight years old, unmarried, no family in Birmingham.”
