Ryan walked over and stood beside her. “It looks like the killer may have made his way out here and then down the fire escape. Don’t touch the doorknob because there might be fingerprints here. I wonder if he entered this way, or if Richard let him in at the front door. I’ll tell the first officers who arrive to have someone question all the apartment residents to find out if anyone saw anything out of the ordinary today.”
Jessica nodded and walked back through the apartment and into the hall where the superintendent and Richard’s friend were waiting. Just as she arrived, two police officers appeared at the top of the stairs and headed toward her.
When they reached where she was standing, she pointed at the open door to the apartment. “Detective Spencer is in there waiting to talk to you.”
The officers glanced from her to the two men waiting with her. “Don’t anybody leave until we talk with you.”
The two men nodded, and Jessica leaned against the wall to wait for Ryan. Their visit to Richard Parker’s apartment had brought back a lot of memories about working with Ryan. Some were good, but others were troubling. She’d built a new life for herself. She loved being a bounty hunter, but she had to admit, at times she missed the challenges of being a police officer. But she didn’t miss crime-scene work. The memory of standing over Richard Parker’s body returned and with it the nausea she’d been fighting.
After a moment, she sighed and turned back to enter the apartment. As she walked down the hallway, Ryan came around the corner from the living room. He stopped, and the benign expression on his face gradually tightened into a look of concern. He tilted his head to one side and narrowed his eyes as his gaze drifted over her. “Jessica, are you all right?”
“I—I th-think so,” she murmured. But she knew she wasn’t.
The memory returned of saluting Richard Parker with her soft-drink bottle the day before, and tears stung her eyes. Now he lay in his living room, the victim of a killer.
The room seemed to have suddenly grown hot, and she struggled to breathe as her pulse quickened. She closed her eyes and brushed her hand across them as a wave of dizziness swept over her.
From far away she could hear Ryan’s voice. “Jessica?”
She tried to answer but couldn’t. Her stomach rumbled, and for a split second she thought she was going to throw up. Air, that was what she needed.
Without answering Ryan’s question, she whirled and lurched from the room. Once in the hallway, she stumbled to the stairs and held on to the banister as she groped her way to the bottom. She’d just stepped into the downstairs entry when she heard Ryan’s voice again.
“Jessica! What’s the matter?”
The thought of fresh air propelled her to the front door, and she burst into the bright sunshine. A big oak tree, its branches towering upward, stood at the side of the front yard, and she staggered toward it. Reaching out a shaking hand to prop against the tree, she gulped in great breaths of air in an effort to overcome the nausea attacking her.
In the distance she heard a car engine crank and the screech of rubber on pavement as a car accelerated, but she didn’t look up. She continued swallowing exaggerated breaths of air.
“Jessica!”
She recognized Ryan’s voice, but it was almost drowned out by the increased roar of an approaching car. She started to turn her head toward his direction, but before she could, a force much like a defensive end sacking a quarterback plowed into her from behind.
She hit the ground, facedown, with the weight of Ryan’s body on hers as two bullets whizzed over their heads and splintered the bark of the oak tree just inches away from where she’d stood seconds before.
* * *
Ryan lay unmoving until he was certain the car had disappeared down the street. Then he jumped to his feet, pulled his cell phone from his pocket and punched in the number for Dispatch. When the operator answered, he spoke quickly.
“Shots fired at officer in front of the Sunny Lane Apartments on Summer Street. Be on the lookout for a late-model gray sedan with two male occupants. Last seen heading west on Summer.”
After he’d completed the call, he reached down for Jessica, who was just beginning to sit up. He grasped her hand, pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her. Before he had time to think of his actions, he’d pulled her trembling body closer and rested his chin on top of her head as she burrowed her face into his chest. His hands moved up and down her back, rubbing and caressing in gentle strokes as he whispered soothing words in an effort to calm her.
The front door of the apartment complex burst open, and the two officers who’d been at the murder scene ran out, their guns drawn. “We heard gunfire and then got a bulletin that shots had been fired. Are you two all right?”
Ryan nodded. “We’re fine. Just a little shaken up, that’s all. The car’s long gone, but there’s probably a BOLO out by now.”
The officer slipped his gun into the holster and returned to the building. “Then there’s no need for us to pursue. Patrol will take care of the call. We’re waiting for the crime-scene investigators, so we’ll be in the apartment if you need us.”
“I’ll be back inside in a few minutes,” Ryan called out as the two officers walked into the building. When the door had closed behind them, he shifted his position, moved his hands to Jessica’s shoulders and gently eased her away from him. She stared up at him, a wary expression on her face. He smiled, placed his finger under her chin and tilted her face up toward his. Her unblinking hazel eyes stared up at him. “Are you okay now?”
She swallowed, and the veins in her neck stood out. Her skin had resumed its normal color, and she no longer looked like the pale child she’d resembled when he saw the first signs of her growing panic attack. “I’m fine, but I wouldn’t be if it weren’t for you. What made you follow me, though?”
He smiled, released his hold on her and took a step back, severing their connection. “Because I knew you were ill.”
He didn’t blink as he stared into her eyes, and even though she wanted to, she couldn’t tear her gaze away from him. “You always could read my expressions.”
He chuckled. “Yeah. Your face is transparent. Everything you feel shows up in your expressions.” His smile grew wider. “Do you remember the night we were searching for a suspect at that bar in midtown where a rock band was performing?”
She smiled in spite of herself. “Yes. And I found him in a dressing room backstage, and he got the drop on me.”
“Then I stopped at the dressing room door and called for you, and you opened the door.”
“But you didn’t know the guy was behind the door with a gun pointed at me, just waiting for you to come in.”
Ryan shook his head. “Oh, yeah, I knew right away. I could read it on your face, the way you kept blinking your eyes and darting glances to the door even though you were telling me that the room was empty and for me to come on in.”
By now Jessica was laughing. “And then you shoved the door against the wall with your full weight and knocked the guy to the floor, and I cuffed him.” She wiped at the tears of laughter running down her cheeks. “That was one of the best times we ever had. You saved my life that night. It was almost as good as the time we overpowered Rafe Johnson when he was holding a bank full of customers hostage.” She suddenly became serious. “You always watched my back. Thank you for doing it today.”
“You would have done the same for me, Jessica. That’s what we’ve always done.”
She brushed at the debris on her pants, then straightened and took a deep breath. She lowered her eyelashes and after a moment looked back up at him. “I know you don’t see my brothers much, but if you should happen to run into them, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t mention my temporary loss of control here today. They’re very protective of me, sometimes too much, and I don’t want them to get the
idea that I’m losing my edge.”
“I would never say anything to them, Jessica. But don’t you think it’s time you quit trying to prove to yourself that you’re as brave and as tough as your brothers? You’ve been doing that as long as I’ve known you, and it’s unnecessary. You’re the smartest and one of the toughest police officers I’ve ever known. I think you’d take on a raging grizzly bear with a stick and not blink an eye. So what does it matter if you get a little queasy at crime scenes?”
“But I hid it so well that nobody ever knew.”
He smiled. “Except me.”
“Except you,” she said so low that he barely heard the words. “Thank you for not ever telling anybody.”
He thought he’d buried his feelings for her deep in his soul, but her words released them from their prison in a warm rush that flowed through him. He wanted to reach out and trail his finger down her cheek like he used to do, but his better judgment warned against it. He inhaled and smiled as he reached up and brushed a leaf out of her hair. “All your secrets are safe with me.”
Before she could answer, a van pulled up to the curb and the team from the crime-scene investigation unit climbed out. Mac Barnes’s unmarked police car stopped right behind them. He raised a hand in greeting as he strolled around the front of the car, spoke to the investigators who were pulling equipment from their van and headed to where Ryan and Jessica were standing. He stopped beside them.
“Are you the two that got shot at here?” he asked.
Ryan rubbed the back of his neck and nodded. “Yeah, that was us. I saw the car coming and was able to knock Jessica to the ground before we were hit.” He pointed to the tree. “The crime-scene folks need to pull some slugs out of that tree and keep them for evidence.”
Mac glanced at the apartment building. “Was the victim shot?”
“No. It looked like he was stabbed. Maybe bludgeoned, too. I guess the medical examiner will tell us which.”
Mac took a step as if to enter the building and then stopped. “By the way, after you left this morning we got some interesting information about Gerald Price, the guy that was murdered in the riverfront parking lot. He wasn’t really a reporter, although he’d been pretending to be one for quite some time. He’d been following both US Senate candidates.”
Ryan darted a glance at Jessica. “Why was he following them?”
“He was a private investigator that Cal Harvey’s parents had hired to get to the bottom of their son’s death. It seems that the Harveys thought the police and the DA rushed to judgment, and they hired Price to see what he could figure out. Right before Cal and Susan were murdered, Cal had told his father they were working on a story that he said would set Washington back on its ear. They’ve always thought Cal and Susan were killed because of it.”
“So do you think it’s possible that Gerald Price got too close to the answer of whether or not the murders were committed by somebody other than gang members?” Jessica asked.
Mac nodded. “That’s the way I read it. Of course, we have no idea what the story was about. Gerald Price’s car was stolen along with everything in it. We found a parking receipt in his pocket for a hotel in midtown and discovered that’s where he’d been staying while he was in town. His clothes and personal belongings were strewn about the room, and it looked like somebody had gone through everything. There was nothing about what he’d been working on.”
The whole time Mac had been talking, Ryan’s mind had been reeling with questions about the night Jamie met Gerald Price. According to Ellie, Jamie had seen the Harveys’ names on papers that spilled out of Price’s briefcase, but could Price have told Jamie something else? Something that might have put him in danger?
“Mac,” Ryan began, “there’s something I have to tell you.”
For the next few minutes he related the story as Ellie had done for Jessica and him. When he finished, Mac stroked his chin as if he was trying to digest all that Ryan had said. When he finally spoke, his words weren’t what Ryan would have expected.
“If I understand you correctly, Jamie spent some time with Gerald Price a few nights ago, and he encountered Richard Parker yesterday in a convenience store that was being held up by a robber. Now both the men Jamie came in contact with are dead. What are the odds of that being a coincidence?”
Ryan’s eyes grew wide. “Surely you don’t think Jamie had anything to do with those murders.”
Mac shrugged. “I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that something ties him to both these homicide victims, and I’d like to talk to him. Can you bring him to the station in the morning?”
“I—I don’t think I can do that.” Ryan almost choked on the words.
Mac regarded him soberly. “And why not?”
“Because I don’t know where he is. He’s gone off somewhere, but he wouldn’t tell me where.”
“This isn’t good, Ryan,” Mac said as he shook his head slowly. “You’ve been on the force long enough to know that this will send up red flags back at headquarters. Jamie has ties to two homicide cases, which automatically targets him as a person of interest. But the fact that he’s disappeared makes it look even worse for him.”
“I know,” Ryan muttered.
“You need to find him.”
Ryan nodded. “I will, Mac. And I’ll bring him in.”
“You have any idea how you’re gonna go about it?”
Ryan shook his head. “No. The only thing I can think of is to ask the chief for some time off so I can concentrate on finding him.”
“And I’ll help him.”
Ryan jerked his head around to stare at Jessica. “Are you sure you still want to do that? Especially after...well, you know, after what happened earlier.”
She nodded. “We’ll find him, Ryan.” She turned to Mac. “Don’t worry. I know you don’t think Jamie had anything to do with these murders, but he may have some information that will help find the guilty person. As soon as we locate him, we’ll bring him straight to the station.”
Mac glanced from Ryan to Jessica and then nodded. “Okay, but keep me informed. I want to know what’s going on.” He exhaled and straightened his shoulders. “Now I need to get to work. I’ll go on up and take a look around at this murder scene. Want to come with me, Ryan?”
“I’ve already talked with the guys that are there. I think Jessica and I will get out of here, if that’s okay with you. We need to decide what our next move will be.”
“Then I’ll see you later.”
Mac didn’t look back as he strode to the door. When he’d entered the building, Ryan turned to Jessica. “Are you sure about this? I thought you might change your mind after what happened in the apartment.”
She spread her hands in dismay and frowned. “I really don’t know what happened. I think it was all the smells in that closed-up apartment combined with the scent of death that made me ill for a few minutes, but I’m fine now. And I want to help you find Jamie. So why don’t you take me back to the precinct so I can pick up my car. We can talk on the way about what our next move is going to be.”
She didn’t wait for him to answer but started walking toward his car, which was parked at the curb. Her back was straight and her auburn hair sparkled in the sun. He glanced down at his hands and remembered how he had rubbed her back to comfort her, and his skin warmed. It had seemed so natural to hold her close while she regained her composure, and she didn’t seem to resent his arms around her. Maybe that was a good sign that she had begun to forgive him for the past.
The warm feeling vanished as quickly as it had come as his gaze fell on the tree and the splintered bark where the bullets had struck. He replayed the events of the shooting in his mind from the time he stepped out the door until they were flat on the ground.
Jessica had come outside first, and he had just pushed the front door op
en when he saw the gray sedan barreling down the street. It seemed reasonable to assume the shooter was after Jessica not him.
A chill ran up his spine at the chain of events that had taken place since Jamie went to cover the senate candidates’ debate. A private investigator he’d met there had been murdered, a convenience-store clerk had possibly been in on an attempt on Jamie’s life and had been murdered afterward, and now Jessica, who’d been responsible for foiling the robbery, had almost been killed in a drive-by.
Coincidences? He didn’t think so. Their one common denominator was Jamie.
“Oh, Jamie,” Ryan muttered to himself. “Where are you and what have you gotten involved in?”
SIX
When Jessica had told Ryan the night before that they needed to decide what their next move would be, she had no idea it would involve a trip to Nashville. But here they were, speeding down Interstate 40 on their way from Memphis to Nashville. And they weren’t bound there in hopes of catching a glimpse of a country-music star. They were on their way to the state prison.
They had been very quiet ever since leaving Memphis, and she had enjoyed the time just looking out the window and watching the landscape change as they traveled across the state. The flatlands of West Tennessee, home to some of Tennessee’s best farmland, had given way to the hills of middle Tennessee and its rolling hills and valleys with rippling streams.
She gazed out the window at the Harpeth River as they sped across the bridge that spanned the major tributary to the Cumberland River. The sun sparkled on the water that rippled along on its journey, and she sighed in contentment.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Ryan glanced at her. “What did you say?”
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