His Brand of Justice

by Delores Fossen

  Oh, yeah. He understood all right. It’d been the heat that had caused him to take her hard and fast. No kid gloves. But the bottom line was that while she was healing, she was indeed still broken, and Jack had no intentions of adding to that. It meant he’d walk a fine line between his feelings for her and his need to protect her. Thankfully, he didn’t have to get into the details of how he’d manage that, because Gunnar pulled to a stop in front of the sheriff’s office.

  Caroline’s eyes met his again as if she wanted to delay getting out until he gave her some kind of assurance, but Gunnar remedied that, as well, by hurrying to open the door to the building for them. Clearly, the deputy was standing guard and waiting for them to go inside. On Caroline’s huff and Jack’s sigh of relief, that was exactly what they did.

  As he’d done on their previous visit, Jack didn’t linger around. He took Caroline past the noise and chatter in the squad room and into Kellan’s office. His brother was there at his desk and working on his laptop. Gunnar peeled off from them and went to his desk.

  “Lily’s already here,” Kellan told them, his eyes still on his laptop. “She’s in the interview room with her lawyer.” He finally looked up from his computer and his attention landed on Jack. Then on Caroline. “You two look...”

  “Think carefully about how to finish that,” Jack warned him. He wasn’t in the mood for another lecture after he’d already gotten a scolding from Teagan.

  “You look slightly more relaxed than you did yesterday,” Kellan finished after a pause. “It won’t last. Lily’s not happy about you getting those warrants, so she came in here ranting.”

  A surprise, since Lily hadn’t reached the ranting stage the day before. But then maybe the woman hadn’t thought Jack would actually get the warrant.

  “Here’s the file on Skylar.” Kellan turned his laptop in their direction. “There supposedly isn’t a hard copy, only the digital one.”

  Lily was going to have to wait, because Jack wanted a look at this before he spoke to her. “Anything about the file jump out at you?” Jack asked Kellan as he pulled up Skylar’s record.

  But before Kellan could even respond, Jack saw an immediate problem. The file was too short. Two pages. The first was an intake form with basic stuff like name, age and next of kin. The next was a record of places the woman had been sent for job interviews.

  “There are no reports from counselors or such,” Jack concluded.

  Kellan made a sound of agreement. “There’s nothing about room assignments, day-to-day chores or any interaction with staff.” He shook his head in disgust. “I’ve asked the computer guys at the Ranger lab to go through the files and see if anything was deleted in the past twenty-four hours. If so, we can look into charging Lily with obstruction of justice.”

  Was Lily really that stupid as to try to hide info from them? Maybe. People did dumb things all the time.

  Caroline reached around Jack and typed something on the keyboard while her gaze skirted over the screen. “The file was modified nine hours ago.”

  That would have been just before the warrant had been served.

  “I can’t tell if anything was deleted,” Caroline went on, “but the file was created a little over a year ago, and that fits the timing for when the woman would have arrived at New Beginnings.” She continued to study the screen. “For only two pages, someone certainly spent a lot of time in this file. Over twenty-five hours.”

  That was too much for simply logging job interviews and background. Still, it wasn’t proof of a crime. “Lily’s lawyers could maybe say that the file was just left open and that’s why the time doesn’t jive with the amount of info that’d been entered.”

  “I want to talk to some of the other women at New Beginnings,” Kellan said. “I’ll find out if they’ve had counseling or anything else since they’ve been staying there. It might help if I also talk to previous residents and find out why Skylar left.”

  That was a necessary step, one of those drone-work chores that cops had to do in the hope of finding threads they could tug. It could give them something they could use against Lily, but it would take time.

  “Does your warrant cover the computers at New Beginnings?” Caroline asked. “Because if so, I could get you what you need this morning so you wouldn’t have to wait for the crime lab.”

  Kellan shook his head. “It only covers the one file.” Then he paused. “But I’ll see what I can do about getting another warrant so we can search through any-and everything in the damn building.”

  He took out his phone and stepped to the side to make the call, but he stopped when the front door opened. Kellan’s grunt of irritation caused Jack’s attention to zoom in that direction.

  Zeller walked into the building.

  “If you deal with him, I can get started on that warrant,” Kellan said, and when Jack nodded, his brother went out into the bullpen to make the call.

  “Don’t start giving me grief about why I haven’t returned your calls,” Zeller griped the moment he stepped into Kellan’s office. “I’ve been tied up on an investigation in Austin.”

  Jack didn’t know about any such investigation, but it’d be easy enough to check. Which probably meant Zeller was telling the truth. Or the partial truth anyway. He could have been working a case and avoiding Jack at the same time.

  “Tell me about your relationship with Nicola,” Jack said.

  Since Lily was waiting, it was best not to waste any time getting that out there. Plus, he liked that Zeller was off guard. Judging from the way the man’s eyes widened and then narrowed, he’d been first surprised by the demand and then riled. Good. Because Jack was riled, too, that a fellow marshal could have withheld something like this.

  “There was no relationship,” Zeller spat out.

  “But you knew her,” Jack countered. “And don’t bother to deny it, because I have a witness.” That last part wasn’t exactly true. He had the speculations of a person of interest—Lily—but sometimes a half-truth got fast results. In this case, it did just that.

  Zeller groaned and glanced up at the ceiling as if hoping for some kind of divine guidance. “I spoke to Nicola, that’s all,” he finally admitted. “She’d had a friend who’d gotten involved in the sex trade.”

  Jack didn’t feel one ounce of joy over Zeller’s confession, since it was coming way too late. “How’d you find that out?”

  Zeller took a deep breath first. “Nicola’s name came up when I was questioning a group of college students about the sex-trafficking case. A lot of names came up,” he quickly added, “and I talked to a lot of people. Nicola, included.”

  “Her name wasn’t in any of your reports,” Jack reminded him.

  “No, because I didn’t get anything from her. I swear I didn’t,” Zeller snapped when Jack gave him a hard glare. “My conversation with her lasted less than ten minutes, and I realized her friend didn’t have anything to do with my investigation. She was just someone who got lured into turning tricks by her sleazy boyfriend.”

  Jack mentally went through every word of that, and he was sure that Caroline was doing the same. In the squad room, he saw Kellan finish his call and give Jack a thumbs-up. He hoped that meant his brother had gotten the process started for the warrant for the other computer files at New Beginnings.

  Jack turned his attention back to Zeller, who was clearly waiting for him to continue. “So, if your meeting with Nicola was all innocent, as you say, why not mention you’d met her once her body had been discovered?”

  “At first I didn’t remember talking to her. Not until I saw photos of her body.” His breath turned into a long sigh. “And then I started feeling guilty, thinking that maybe something I said spurred her to do something dangerous. Like trying to save other girls like her friend.”

  Jack latched right onto that. “Was that what Nicola was trying to do?”

 
“I don’t know. That’s the truth,” Zeller added in a hoarse whisper. “Like I said, I had a short conversation with her, one I barely remember, but I guess it’s possible she picked up on something that made her put herself in a situation that turned dangerous.”

  Yes, it was. But then it was just as likely that Nicola had struck out on her own to try to investigate something she should have left to the badges. Of course, in this case, maybe the badge was what had gotten her into trouble if she’d inadvertently mentioned something to Zeller that made him believe she was some kind of threat. Perhaps Nicola had even known something about his involvement in the sex trafficking.

  But if so, Jack had no proof of that.

  “Look, I feel like dirt over what happened to her,” Zeller went on. “She seemed like a good kid, and she was killed. It doesn’t matter that I didn’t have anything to do with that. She’s still dead.”

  Either Zeller was telling it the way it was, or else he was darn good at putting on an act. If Zeller was feeling guilty, maybe that was the bad vibe Jack was picking up on and it had nothing to do with being dirty.

  This time, it was Jack who took a deep breath. “Just cool your heels for a while. I’ll need an official statement from you about Nicola, but for now I have to observe another interview.”

  “Lily,” Zeller quickly supplied. “I heard about the warrant to get the file of the missing woman.”

  Of course, he had. There wasn’t much of a chance of keeping a warrant a secret, and Zeller likely had his ear to the ground to hear anything going on with the investigation. Jack couldn’t fault him for that. If their positions had been reversed, he would be doing the same thing.

  “I want to be in on Lily’s interview,” Zeller insisted.

  “I’m sure you do, but it’s not going to happen.” Jack considered telling Zeller that he could watch from the observation room, but Caroline would be in there, and Jack didn’t want the marshal near her. “I’ll ask Kellan to copy you on the report he writes up after he talks to Lily.”

  Zeller huffed. “We’re on the same side here, Jack. I know you don’t believe that.” He shot Caroline a nasty glance, no doubt to remind her that she was the reason for the mistrust. But Jack had had his doubts about Zeller before Caroline had voiced any.

  “You’ll get the report if Kellan agrees,” Jack emphasized. “That’s the best I can do right now.”

  Obviously, that wasn’t enough in Zeller’s opinion. He turned on his heels and stormed out. Jack didn’t mind the fit of temper. It was better than the alternative of having Zeller linger around and upset Caroline even more. Jack could practically see the jangled nerves all over her face, but he would need to speak to Zeller again. Would need to make it official that Zeller had neglected to mention the conversation he’d had with a woman who had ended up murdered.

  When Kellan tipped his head toward the interview room, Jack and Caroline followed him there. Jack intended to leave Caroline in observation while he conducted the interview with Kellan. But before they could even start, Lily came out, with her lawyer trailing right behind her.

  “Are you really trying to get a warrant to get into my computer files?” Lily demanded, and she aimed that at Jack. There was fire in her eyes and raw anger in her voice.

  “Yes, Kellan and I are,” Jack confirmed. He didn’t want Lily including Caroline in on the venom.

  Lily made a sound of outrage and batted away her lawyer, who tried to whisper something in her ear. “You have no right!” And this time, she directed her anger solely at Jack. “I’m trying to help women who’ve been violated.”

  “If that’s all you’re doing, then having us look at your files shouldn’t be a problem.” In contrast, Jack kept his voice calm.

  Clearly, it was a problem for Lily, because every muscle in her face tightened in rage. “I’ll stop you. So help me, I’ll stop you.”

  “Under the circumstances, my client and I need to reschedule this interview,” the lawyer said.

  Jack considered nixing any rescheduling, but he rethought that. Maybe it would be best to speak to Lily after the warrant had come through and they’d done a computer search. That way, they might have some ammunition they could use to get her to confess to any wrongdoings going on at New Beginnings. Of course, it was possible for Lily to successfully fight the warrant. That had been known to happen, but if she managed it, that would make her look as if she were hiding something.

  “Tomorrow morning,” Jack finally said. “Be back here at nine.”

  That should give them plenty of time to press for the warrant and start searching through the files. He had no idea how many women were actually in the facility or had been there, but the search might take a while.

  And it was something Caroline could help them with.

  He’d likely run into some protest from Kellan on that, but Jack understood that Caroline needed to be part of this. She should have a hand in helping eliminate the threat to both of them. Besides, Caroline would get through those files a lot faster than Kellan, he or the techs they could get to work on it.

  Lily certainly didn’t thank Jack for rescheduling. As Zeller had done, she hightailed it out of there, leaving the anger still vibrating in the air.

  “I’d better push on that warrant,” Kellan muttered, taking out his phone again. As he’d done with the other call, he stepped into the squad room.

  “I’m okay,” Caroline told Jack before he could even ask. “Really,” she added when he gave her a flat look. She sighed and pushed her hair from her face. “I just want answers. I want the person who attacked us behind bars.”

  “That’s my top priority,” he said, though that was one of those half-truths similar to the one he’d told Zeller.

  Finding the person responsible and keeping Caroline safe and sane went hand in hand. But Jack knew that once that happened, it wouldn’t be the end of things. Caroline still had to recover from the ordeal that Eric had put her through. She’d need time to deal not only with that but also with her feelings for him. And she did have feelings. No doubts about that. But Jack suspected that was the last thing she wanted to sort out right now.

  “Sorry I dragged you in here,” Jack told her.

  Caroline lifted her shoulder. “You didn’t get to do the interview, but we still learned some things. Both Lily and Zeller are scared. Maybe they’re that way only because of the damage something like this can do to their reputations, but they’re scared.”

  Oh, yeah. And Jack liked that because it could perhaps cause them to make a mistake. It could also make them dangerous. If one of them had indeed run the sex-trafficking ring and murdered Nicola, then there was nothing they’d hesitate to do to cover their tracks.

  Because getting caught could lead to the death penalty.

  “If Lily tries to delete or hide computer files, we can arrest her,” Jack explained. “Ditto if Zeller tries to cover up the unreported contact he had with Nicola.”

  Of course, neither of those things would be a direct link to the attack, but it could open a door or two. Right now, Jack would settle for a sliver of an opening.

  He was about to suggest that Caroline and he go back to his place to work, but before he could say anything, his phone rang. Jack frowned when Unknown Caller popped up on the screen.

  Hell, what now?

  He hit the answer button, and while hoping that whatever he was about to hear didn’t give them another dose of bad news, he put the call on Speaker. “Marshal Jack Slater,” he answered.

  Jack didn’t care much for the long silence that followed, but he finally heard a woman’s voice. “Marshal, you’ve been trying to get in touch with me. I’m Grace Wainwright. I understand you have some questions for me.”

  Well, he certainly hadn’t expected Kingston’s friend, and the former resident of New Beginnings, to return his call. Jack had figured he’d have to track her down.r />
  “Yes, I have questions,” he verified. “What can you tell me about an attack that took place yesterday near Longview Ridge?”

  Since it was a direct question, he thought maybe she would dodge it. She didn’t. “Unfortunately, I know more about it than I should.” Grace sighed, and it sounded both heavy and weary. “Marshal Slater, there are some things you need to know about Caroline Moser.”

  Chapter Ten

  Caroline couldn’t stop the new round of fear and worry that slammed through her when she heard what Grace Wainwright had just said.

  There are some things you need to know about Caroline Moser.

  She didn’t think she had blank spots left in her memory, but it was possible she did. Also possible that this woman was about to give her news that she wouldn’t want to hear. Wouldn’t want Jack to hear, either. Still, that didn’t stop Caroline from moving closer to the phone so that she wouldn’t miss a word.

  “Where are you?” Jack asked Grace.

  It was one of those square-filler questions that lawmen needed to ask. A face-to-face interview was better than one on the phone, and there was the troubling problem of Grace’s safety. If she was involved in this—whatever this was—then she could be in danger.

  “Sorry, but I’d rather keep my location to myself,” Grace answered. She didn’t sound angry or resentful. In fact, her voice was surprisingly calm.

  “That might not be smart,” Jack countered. “I could help you.”

  “Thanks, but I’ll manage. I don’t exactly trust lawmen and cops.”

  Caroline couldn’t muster up a nod of agreement when Jack shot her a glance.

  “By now, I suspect you’ve talked to Kingston and Lily?” Grace went on.

  Jack paused, obviously considering how much to tell Grace. And when to press her on what she intended to tell him about Caroline. “I have. What do they have to do with Caroline and you?”