“Thank you so much for bringing that up again,” I muttered.
“That’s my favorite story, too,” Jake said, chuckling. “I can just see it. I don’t see why you made her hide by the Dumpster. You know she has a weak stomach.”
“I didn’t know it was that weak,” Eliot countered. “I … .” He didn’t have a chance to finish his statement because Lexie picked that moment to slide in at his end of the booth, forcing him closer to me.
“Hey,” I said, tamping down my surprise. “How did you know where we were?”
“Derrick told me,” Lexie replied, reaching for Eliot’s coffee and frowning when he slapped her hand away. “I need caffeine. Do you know how early it is?”
“I do know how early it is,” Eliot confirmed. “I also know I don’t want your cooties. I have no idea where your mouth has been.”
“You’re either being sexist or racist,” Lexie declared. “I can’t decide which.”
I didn’t believe Eliot was being either, but Lexie did have a penchant for dating black men, and she also found herself in really uncomfortable sexual situations from time to time. I didn’t blame him for protecting his coffee.
“Where have you been?” I asked, hoping to change the subject to something safer. “I was expecting you to check in yesterday with an update on Devon. Have you been following her as I told you to do?”
Jake frowned. “Why is Lexie following Devon?”
I ignored the question. “Seriously, where have you been?”
“You know you’re not my mother, right?” Lexie said, making an exaggerated face. “I don’t have to report to you.”
“I believe she gave you ten grand for a down payment on a yoga studio, so you owe her,” Eliot said. His relationship with Lexie was tempestuous at best and outright hostile at worst. He didn’t appear to be in the mood to put up with her crap this morning. I was glad to see her. Her appearance would allow me to ignore Cara for a few minutes, and that pretty much meant she was my favorite person in the world right now.
“You’re such a pain,” Lexie said, turning her attention to me. “For the record, I have been following Devon. She’s been a busy girl, and I wanted to make sure I was right before I told you my suspicions.”
“I’m still trying to understand why you have Lexie following Devon,” Jake said.
“Who is Lexie?” Cara asked.
“Who are you?” Lexie asked, focusing on Cara. “Do I know you?”
“That’s Cara,” I explained. “She’s Jake’s girlfriend.”
“Oh,” Lexie said, her voice unnaturally bright. “You’re Jake’s girlfriend. Huh.” Lexie didn’t even try to hide the fact that she was looking Cara up and down. “You’re pretty.”
“Thank you,” Cara said, preening under the compliment. “You’re pretty, too.”
“I know,” Lexie said. “I also have a great personality. Do you have a good personality?”
“Um … .” Cara looked confused by the question.
“She has a good personality,” Jake confirmed.
“Well, how great for you guys,” Lexie said, seemingly losing interest in Cara and turning her attention back to me. “So, I followed Devon when she left work. She met a friend at the mall. I lost them at first and then caught up with them in Macy’s. They spent most of their time in the furniture department, and the furniture they look at was for little people.”
“Like midgets?” Eliot asked.
“You’re not supposed to use that word,” Lexie complained. “They’re little people, not midgets. And no, I wasn’t talking about that type of little people.”
It took me a moment to grasp what Lexie was suggesting. “No way.”
“I didn’t want to believe it either, but it’s true,” she said. “I’ve followed her to the mall, the spa, the doctor’s office and one of those home renovation places that has a huge display of wallpaper with clowns on it.”
“So you followed Devon shopping and this is somehow big news?” Jake asked, clearly missing the bigger picture.
“You’re very slow sometimes,” Lexie said. “You should be smarter because you’re a cop.” She glanced at Eliot. “I expect you to be slow.”
“That shows what you know,” Eliot shot back. “I already know where you’re going with this story.”
“And where is that?”
“Devon is pregnant,” Eliot supplied.
“Oh,” Jake said, realization dawning.
“I thought it was going to be something simple, like she was moving to a bigger market,” I said. “This bites.”
“Why is this a bad thing?” Cara asked. “Isn’t Devon the woman your cousin Derrick is dating? Won’t he be happy about being a father?”
“We’re not happy,” Lexie clarified. “This means that Devon is going to be a part of our family forever. Ugh. Her genes are going to mix with our genes. It’s the end of the world.”
“And I take it you don’t like her?” Cara said.
“She does not have a good personality,” Lexie said. “What do you think we should do, Avery?”
“I don’t think we should do anything,” I answered, taking everyone by surprise.
“Are you kidding me?” Lexie was annoyed. “I followed that idiot for two days. We’re going to do something.”
“It’s her place to tell Derrick,” I said. “Man, this means I can’t mete out unbearable torture on her when she ticks me off. This is going to blow.”
“You always know how to put things in perspective,” Eliot said, grinning.
“I think I must be misunderstanding what’s happening,” Cara said. “Are you saying that Derrick is going to be a father and you’re mostly upset because you can’t be mean to the woman carrying his baby? I’m missing something, right?”
Well, if she put it like that … . “No, you’re not missing anything,” I said. “This totally bites. How am I supposed to be nice to that woman for nine months?”
“HURRY up and change your clothes,” Eliot ordered several hours later. “Jake has people watching the Jackson home, but we have to be ready to move when he calls. He’s not going to wait for us.”
After the news conference – where I asked every annoying question I would’ve under regular circumstances – I asked Eliot to drive me home so I could change into something more comfortable. When I dressed this morning – still half asleep, mind you – I picked four different things and none of them matched. I even put on mismatched shoes, which was mortifying. You can’t mix Disney and Star War Vans. It’s not allowed.
After looking through my closet and not finding anything I wanted to wear, I finally settled for a previously worn pair of jeans piled in a heap at the end of the bed.
“I can’t believe you’re going to wear dirty jeans for your big moment,” Eliot said, shaking his head. “We’re definitely getting a maid at the new house. I can’t watch you do this on a regular basis.”
“They’re not technically dirty,” I argued. “I wore them the day Carly and I went to the mall. It’s not like they saw a lot of action.”
“Whatever,” Eliot said, watching as I tugged my other jeans off and shimmied into the wrinkled pair. “They’re still dirty.”
Something felt off about the jeans. I reached into the front pocket and pulled out the small doll I picked up in the arcade the day Sierra disappeared. “I forgot about this.”
“What is it?” Eliot asked, extending his hand.
I handed over the doll and shrugged. “It was on the floor in the arcade when Derrick and I went in there to see if we could find any sign of Sierra,” I replied. “We were looking for clues to see if she ever made it down there to meet her brother. I saw that poking out from a video game machine. I picked it up to look at it, but that’s when Daniel Jackson showed up, so I shoved it in my pocket. I forgot all about it.”
“It kind of looks like a voodoo doll,” Eliot remarked, examining the small rag doll. “It’s rigid inside, though. That’s kind of weird.” He tipped the
doll over and studied the seam across the bottom. “I think there’s something up here.”
I looped a belt around my waist as I watched Eliot dig inside the doll, ultimately returning with a cell phone. I widened my eyes when I saw it. “Holy crap. Did I steal some kid’s cell phone?”
“I don’t know,” Eliot said, turning it on. “The battery is dead.” He moved to the nightstand and used his charger to plug the phone in.
I sat on the bed and watched the phone power up as I tugged on a pair of shoes. “It’s probably nothing,” I said. “Maybe we’ll find out who it belongs to, though, and we can send it back. I’d hate to think I stole some kid’s phone.”
Eliot slid his finger across the phone screen and hit the email button. He knit his eyebrows as he looked inside the mailbox. “Do you want to guess who this belongs to?”
“Is that a trick question?”
Eliot shook his head, his dark hair brushing against the top of his shoulders. “This is Sierra Jackson’s phone.”
My heart rolled and disbelief washed over me. That couldn’t be right. “Are you messing with me?”
“I’m afraid not,” Eliot said, minimizing the email and going through some of the other apps. When he got to the videos icon he pulled up the lone one stored there. His eyes widened when the sounds of an adult screaming at an obviously upset girl filled the room.
“You’re worthless! Worthless! You’re a disgusting piece of filth and I hope you die a terrible death. I hope your mother dies with you, for that matter. In fact … .” The unmistakable sound of a hand making contact with skin hit my ears and I narrowed my eyes as I watched the small woman on the video hit Sierra Jackson several times.
“That doesn’t look like a typical spanking,” Eliot said, his voice low. “That looks like abuse.”
“It also looks like Danny took the video,” I said. “I think he was hiding in a closet or something. Do you see how a frame keeps edging in here on the right? That’s a closet door. I don’t think Sandy knew she was being videoed.”
“Maybe she found out,” Eliot said. “Maybe she wanted to take Sierra and Danny because she knew they had evidence that would turn Daniel against her for good.”
“We need to call Jake,” I said, my heart rate speeding. “I think this gives him enough evidence to arrest Sandy Jackson.”
“Let’s just hope it’s not too late for Sierra,” Eliot said. “This might be a more dangerous scenario than we initially envisioned if Sandy is trying to keep abuse under wraps.”
That was exactly what I feared.
29
“What did Jake say?” I asked, walking back into the bedroom after brushing my teeth. “Is he on his way?”
“I forwarded the video to him,” Eliot answered. He sat on the bed and tapped on his laptop. He was intent on his work and didn’t even glance in my direction. “He’s having his men go over it right now. They’re still watching the Jackson house. There’s no movement.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going through Sierra’s phone for clues,” Eliot said.
“What kind of clues?”
Eliot shrugged. “I won’t know until I find something. If I knew what I was looking for I wouldn’t be looking, would I?”
“I guess you’ve taken over the grumpy portion of this relationship for the afternoon.”
“I’m sorry,” Eliot said, wrenching his eyes from the computer and fixing them on me. “I want to find Sierra. This video makes me angry.”
“Because Sandy is a terrible person?”
“Because Sierra and Danny didn’t have anyone watching out for their best interests,” Eliot replied. “They’re kids. People are supposed to look out for them. You don’t have kids if you don’t want to take care of them.”
“That’s definitely my philosophy.”
“Mine, too.”
“I still don’t want to have kids,” I warned.
“I still don’t want to have them either,” Eliot said, furrowing his brow as something caught his attention on the laptop. “Just because I want to save someone else’s kid – a kid who has had a rough time of it, mind you – that doesn’t mean I want to add other kids to the mix and ruin our lives.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You really are the perfect man.”
“I know,” Eliot said, tapping a few keys. “I was proud of your reaction about Devon’s pregnancy. It took a lot of maturity to keep that to yourself instead of calling every member of your family to spill the beans.”
That did take maturity. I was proud of myself, too. “I can’t use the information to my advantage if I tell other people,” I said. “The fewer people who know the more power I have.”
“And you’re back,” Eliot said, chuckling. “Are you going to confront Devon?”
“I can’t even think about that given the circumstances,” I said. “Sierra is the most important thing right now. When she is safe we have to figure out how you’re going to break the news about us moving in together to my mother. After that I’ll deal with Devon.”
“I’m not telling your mother we’re moving in together,” Eliot argued. “That’s your job. I can’t do it when I know you’re really dying to share our wonderful news with her yourself.”
“I hate you.”
“You’ll live,” Eliot said. “I … come here.”
“If you want to have sex I’ll do it, but you’re going to have to do all the work because I’m still tired,” I said, moving to his side.
“That’s a very sweet offer,” Eliot said. “That’s not what I want you to look at, though. What is this?”
As far as I could tell the file Eliot showed me was gibberish. “Is that really something or are you testing me?” I asked.
“It was on Sierra’s phone,” Eliot answered. “It was in the notes section.”
“Do you think it’s code?”
Eliot shrugged. “I thought maybe it was some female shorthand only girls understood,” he said. “You know, like BFF, or TLA, or LOL, or … .”
“WTF?” I suggested.
“Exactly,” Eliot said, smirking. “This looks completely random to me.”
“I think you’re looking at this the wrong way,” I said, sitting next to him and grabbing the laptop. Where are the photos?”
“Why do you want to see the photos?”
“Because Sierra is thirteen,” I explained. “She’s not doing things how an adult would. She’s not even doing things as a teenager would yet. She’s at that hard age when you’re kind of a teenager but you’re mostly still a kid.”
“I’m not sure what you’re telling me,” Eliot admitted.
“She hid her phone in a doll,” I said. “Most teenagers don’t carry around dolls. It was a voodoo doll, though. I’m guessing she and Danny made a game out of sticking pins in it and pretending it was Sandy.”
“I still don’t know what you’re getting at,” Eliot said.
I pulled up the photos and studied them. Most of them were of Danny and Sierra. She was young, but Sierra had already discovered the magic of the selfie. I skipped past most of the photos and then went back to one that caught my attention. I double-clicked on it to blow it up.
“What do you see?” Eliot asked.
“Where do you think this cabin is?”
“I don’t know,” Eliot said, narrowing his eyes as he regarded the cabin in the background of Sierra’s selfie. “Why?”
“The timestamp says it was taken the day before Sierra disappeared,” I said, pointing to the date on the file for emphasis. “They would’ve been with Sandy and Daniel at that time. They live in a subdivision. This clearly isn’t a subdivision. Where is this?”
“Very good question,” Eliot said, taking the laptop back from me and blowing up the photo. “There are numbers on the mailbox right here.”
“We don’t have a street name, though,” I pointed out.
“We don’t, but that doesn’t mean I can’t track an address,” Eliot said. �
��Give me a few minutes.”
It took everything I had to keep my mouth shut as Eliot plugged the numbers on the mailbox into Google Earth and looked at what felt like fifty houses. He finally settled on one and shifted the screen so I could see better.
“That’s it,” I said, my excitement growing. “Do you know anything about that house?”
“Only that it belongs to a Stan Smith,” Eliot said.
“Stan?”
“Yup.”
“Get ready to move,” I instructed. “I’ll call Jake.”
“OKAY, we found the cabin and there’s no way to approach without calling attention to ourselves,” Jake said an hour later, climbing into the back of the sheriff’s department mobile van and moving to the table where Eliot and I sat. The cabin was located along Jefferson Road, with access to Lake St. Clair within walking distance and a lot of trees surrounding it. “We’re going to have to go in hot.”
“Is that a good idea?” I asked, worry for Sierra’s safety flipping my stomach. “What happens if Newman panics?”
“I don’t know how to answer that,” Jake said, opting for honesty. “We can’t leave Sierra in that house. We’re not even sure she’s in there.”
“What about Sandy?” I pressed. “Shouldn’t we ask her whether her father has Sierra locked up here?”
“I don’t want to tip my hand yet,” Jake cautioned. “I want to do the right thing for Sierra. My gut tells me the right thing is to get her as soon as possible. If Newman feels pressured by the news conference … .”
I blew out a frustrated sigh. “What if I could offer you another solution?”
“What did you have in mind?” Jake asked, his interest piqued.
“Whatever it is, I’m saying no right now,” Eliot said. “I know you’re going to put yourself in danger. No. We’re not doing your plan. It’s not going to happen.”
“You’re a big part of my plan,” I said, batting my eyelashes. “We could do it together as a team.”
“No.”
“I’ll love you forever,” I said.
“Ugh.” Eliot made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat. “You make it impossible to say no to you.”
avery shaw 08 - misprints & mistakes Page 24
