“Information about handguns and blood splatter. What the hell? It looks like Gaines had more than a passing interest in criminology. Maybe he was using his degree to study criminal behavior.”
She snapped a few more pictures and peered into the bookcase next to the desk. There were several binders and she almost reached for one but pulled back just in time.
“Oops. That was close. Can you see what’s in these? It looks like they are one of the few things in this room that was organized.”
“I thought you didn’t want to touch anything in here.” Jason pulled the three binders from their spot on the shelf, sending up a puff of dust. Brinley sneezed as Jason flipped open the first one and paged through the contents. “It looks like information on a serial killer case in Florida. These last pages show an arrest and an upcoming trial.”
The two other binders held basically the same items except for different cases. Grisly photos and explicit details were not the norm for Brinley in her everyday life. She was used to macaroni art projects and stories about the family pet.
The picture she was getting of Roger Gaines was turning creepy. A young man who had lost his ambition and had turned to absorbing everything he could find about crime and violence instead.
“Do you think someone killed him in self-defense?” she asked, looking around the room again. Had Roger’s mind been as messy and cluttered as his room? “Do you think he stopped reading and started doing?”
“Are you asking if Roger Gaines was studying to be a killer?” Jason shook his head. “I don’t think so. It looks like he was studying to become a profiler. Remember, there was no struggle in Gaines’s room so it’s highly unlikely it was self-defense.”
“This is still weird. He was obsessed with murder. And then he was murdered.”
“The question is does one have anything to do with the other or is this a macabre coincidence?”
“My mother once told my brother that coincidences were only facts not known yet.”
Jason quirked an eyebrow. “Interesting observation. What brought it on?”
Brinley smiled as she remembered the occasion. “The parents of Dan’s friends all called our house one Sunday morning before church. All their sons had spent the night with Dan out in the tent in the backyard and were now sicker than a dog and puking their guts up. So was Dan, by the way. Mom and Dad had been out of town the night before so of course they questioned my brother. Dan tried to convince my parents that it was just an amazing coincidence. Mom and Dad thought there was more to the situation that they weren’t aware of. Turns out there was a keg of beer, and a party too.”
“Ah, those pesky facts. They do give our secrets away.” Jason chuckled and motioned to the untouched side of the room. “Let’s see if we can get a few more of those facts. But that story has a good lesson in it. Friends know many more secrets than family ever does. We definitely need to talk to Brad Enright. My hope is that he can give some context to what we’ve found today. Hell, maybe he knows why Roger had your address. He might be the type to confide everything to someone he was close to.”
“Are we almost done here? I’m beginning to get used to the smell and that worries me.”
Jason chuckled, the sound low and deep. “We can’t have that. Let’s get this done and get out of here. I don’t like invading the Gaines’s privacy at a time like this any more than we have to.”
Their visit had only created more questions and hadn’t answered any of the ones they’d already had. Solving this murder wasn’t going to be as easy as Brinley had hoped.
She might never find out why Roger Gaines had her address in his hand when he died.
Chapter Seven
‡
Jason climbed back into his truck with a defeated sigh. A visit to Enright Luxury Cars had proved to be fruitless. Brad Enright was in Denver and had been for the last week at a sales conference. He was expected back late tonight and would be in his office tomorrow morning.
Warning bells had gone off in Jason’s ears when he’d heard Roger’s friend wasn’t in Billings. Out of town was a good alibi. If he’d truly been in Denver, that is.
“So?” Brinley asked, looking at him expectantly.
He had to admit she’d been a good sport today. Other than the whole smell thing at the Gaines home she hadn’t bitched or complained once. The stench had been awful. He’d tried to play it off like it was nothing, but he’d had trouble keeping down his pancakes. It wouldn’t have surprised him if they’d found another dead body in that room.
“Brad Enright isn’t here. He won’t be back until tomorrow. We can talk to him then.”
“We’re coming back in the morning?”
“I’m coming back. You’re welcome to join me if you like.”
Jason had also been thinking about the creepy books, papers, and photos they’d found in Roger Gaines’s room. If the guy was violent, he might have equally violent friends. Add in Brinley’s address and Jason was more determined than ever to keep her safe. He wasn’t sure she was actually in any real danger but he wasn’t taking any chances at this juncture in the investigation. Too many unknowns. Too many open questions.
It all came down to one thing. Jason wanted to keep an eye on Brinley until they knew more about this case.
The fact that she was beautiful, smart, and funny was a complete coincidence.
“Of course I want to. I meant it when I said I wanted to find out how I fit into all of this. So what are we going to do now?”
“Dinner,” Jason answered promptly. “Then back home. We both need a good night’s sleep. I’m guessing you didn’t get any more rest last night than I did.”
“Not much,” she confessed. “I can’t stop thinking about Roger Gaines. I don’t know how detectives do this kind of a job. I’d never sleep again.”
“I don’t usually get this personally involved in a case. Most cases don’t have this many unanswered questions also. Most of them are pretty cut and dried.”
Jason wasn’t being completely honest. There had been one case before this that had become personal as hell. It had almost killed him. And it affected his sleep. He still had nightmares, although not as often. It was a small price to pay to be alive.
“There’s a decent steakhouse off the highway. How does that sound?”
Changing the subject seemed like a good idea. He liked Brinley but he wasn’t in the mood for a confessional of any sort. There was something innocent and sweet about her that he didn’t want to sully with the sordid details.
He didn’t want her to know just how fucked up he really was.
*
By the time Brinley and Jason returned to Tremont the sun was down and she was yawning. It had been a very long twenty-four hours and so much had happened in that short span of time. Her entire life had been turned inside out.
Jason was right. She needed a good night’s sleep.
“We’ll be home in less than five minutes,” Jason said when she yawned again. “How about we get on the road about ten in the morning? You can sleep in. That will get us to Billings about lunchtime.”
Brinley nodded, shifting in her seat. She’d been sitting too long and her lower back ached. A long bike ride would take care of it and loosen up her muscles but that wasn’t going to happen at this time of night. The only thing she was good for was crawling between the sheets and spending the next ten to twelve hours unconscious.
“What the hell?” Jason hissed, the truck accelerating sharply now that he’d turned onto their street. Brinley grabbed the door handle in alarm as the engine growled, throwing her back in her seat.
“What’s wrong?”
But she could see it now even as Jason was muttering under his breath. Red and blue lights flashed on two police cars in her driveway. A crowd of people were gathered on her lawn including her neighbor Fran, Fran’s husband Richard, and Detective Westin Anderson with Huck alongside.
The blood pounding in her ears, she practically jumped from the truck before
Jason even had it in park. Slamming the truck door closed she jogged toward her house, frantically scanning it for damage, fire or otherwise.
“Easy there.” Of course Jason had easily caught up to her. His hand wrapped around her upper arm, bringing her to an abrupt halt on trembling legs. “Let’s talk to West first.”
“I want inside my house. I need to see what’s happened.”
She jerked her arm free only to have West block her path as she made a beeline for her front door. Huck enthusiastically greeted Jason who scratched the canine behind the ears, much to the dog’s delight.
“Ms. Snow, I’m glad you’re home.”
The detective held up his hand in a halting motion that made her pause but her gaze was firmly on the house behind him. It was hard to see in the dim light but it appeared to be undamaged.
“What happened, West?”
Jason was beside her again. This time he draped his arm over her shoulders, pulling her close to his strong frame. Not in a romantic way, but more of a reassurance that if something bad had transpired he would be there. His fingers squeezed her shoulder as if he comforted semi-hysterical women every day.
Maybe he did but she wasn’t planning to make a scene. Yet, anyway.
West waved his flashlight toward the front porch. “Looks like an attempted break-in. The neighbor was outside and saw a flashlight through the windows. His dogs made a ruckus and while he was going for his shotgun the burglar ran off between the houses. I’ve got men out on foot looking for him but I’m guessing he’s long gone. Probably had a car parked a block or two away. Ms. Snow, you’ll need to–”
“I want to see.” Frustration with not knowing in general and these two men in particular made her yank away from Jason and zigzag around West’s imposing frame. She wanted inside her damn house. It wasn’t an unreasonable request. She didn’t want to be protected from the truth or coddled like a child. Jason and West seemed determined to delay learning the extent of the damage as long as possible.
“Wait.” Jason’s deep commanding voice made her pause but only for a moment. He wasn’t the boss of her, although he seemed used to giving orders. Without a backward glance she pushed through the crowd of neighbors and stomped up her porch steps only to find her front door hanging crumpled and sagging on its hinges. She reached out to touch the large footprint on the finished oak but a larger, stronger hand captured her wrist and pulled her back against his warm body, his arm anchoring her waist. “Don’t. That’s what West was trying to tell you. They’re still gathering evidence. You can’t touch anything.”
Her fingers curled back into her palm, the nails cutting into the flesh to keep from screaming. He didn’t get it. The utter feeling of helplessness. Outrage. She’d been violated. Like a million eyeballs staring at her stark naked. Someone had been in her home. The place she felt safe. At least until this moment. She needed to see where they’d walked and what they’d touched so she could bleach any trace of them away. If not from her mind at least physically.
With a free hand she scrubbed at her cheeks, surprised to find them wet with tears. Sagging back against him the fight drained out of her. She was exhausted. Worn out and beaten down by the last twenty-four hours. A human could only take so much and she’d had her fill.
“How did this happen? Why?” The words came out stilted but the detective seemed to understand.
West stood on the other side of her, a sympathetic expression on his face, probably grateful she wasn’t going to faint or scream or something worse. “I don’t know why this happened, Ms. Snow, but if I were a gambling man I’d say it might have something to do with Roger Gaines. Believe me, we intend to find out.”
She drew a shaky breath, hating the fact that she felt vulnerable and exposed in front of all these people. Most of them strangers. “I think under the circumstances, Detective, you should probably call me Brinley. I have a feeling we’re going to see a lot more of each other.”
“Thank you, Brinley. Just call me West. I need to talk to you about this. How about we all go into Jason’s house and sit down? Maybe have a cup of coffee or something.”
Needing to be away from the curious eyes of the neighborhood she nodded in agreement. “That sounds good. But I want to thank Richard and Fran for scaring him away.”
Jason patted her shoulder. “They can come over and join us. I’d like to hear the story directly from them.”
On automatic pilot, Brinley followed West and Jason down the steps and across the yard and driveway to Jason’s house, Huck on their heels. Her life didn’t feel like her own anymore. Something sinister – and very scary – was going on and she didn’t like it one bit.
And there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.
Chapter Eight
‡
Brinley looked like she was ready to collapse. Jason had a feeling she’d been running on pure adrenaline all day and the supply was empty. The feistiness she’d displayed when they’d arrived was gone, replaced by an eerie acquiescence that concerned him. She was sitting quietly on his couch, Huck draped over her lap while she petted him absently, her fingers stroking the silky fur. She’d barely glanced at the cup of coffee he’d sat in front of her, instead staring vacantly out of his front window where a crowd still stood.
“Why didn’t you call me?” Jason whispered to his brother, who was directing a deputy to bring in Fran and Richard. “Jesus, I could have prepared her for this.”
“I was just about to do that when you pulled up. I hadn’t been on the scene all that long and I didn’t want to call before I knew something.” West grimaced. “Dammit, I was here earlier walking Huck and giving him dinner. I didn’t see a thing. When I heard the call on the radio I almost couldn’t believe my ears. I got over here as soon as I could.”
Jason rubbed his aching temples. “This is a clusterfuck all the way around. Something is going on and we’re ten steps behind. I don’t like this at all. Somebody is after Brinley and I don’t intend to let them near her.”
He was shocked to hear the ferocity in his voice, but something about this woman brought out his caveman protective instincts. She was caught in something very dangerous and had no one but himself to protect her.
“I’m glad to hear you say that.” West nodded in agreement, keeping his voice low. “I know you said you were going to keep an eye on her but now I think we need to watch her twenty-four-seven. I don’t have the manpower to do something like that, though. Nor the budget. The mayor and I had another of our knock down drag-outs regarding expenses. That man is a total asshole.”
Money and resources weren’t an issue. Jason knew exactly who to call in.
“Not a problem. I’ve got this covered.”
“That’s good because this case has me worried. Gaines is dead and it looks like the killer isn’t done. Did you find out anything from his brother?”
“Yes, I’m going back tomorrow to talk to one of Roger’s friends. But I want to hear from Fran and Richard first. What they saw and heard.”
The couple, dressed in their pajamas and robes, had entered the house and were comforting Brinley.
“You can talk to them but it isn’t much to go on,” West warned him but Jason still wanted to hear their story. He just needed that one detail that would blow the case wide open.
Jason sat down in a chair across from the couch trying to appear calm and in control, at least for Brinley’s sake.
“Fran, Richard, it sounds like you had an exciting evening.” He tried to laugh to keep the tension to a minimum. “What can you tell us about what happened?”
The couple looked at each other and Fran nodded at her husband who began to speak. “I was taking the dogs out to let them do their thing. I was in the side yard that connects the two properties. Anyway, I looked over at Brinley’s house and there was a light that swept through the living room. I didn’t think she was home yet because her car was gone.”
Shit. Brinley’s car was at the motor inn. They’d need to retrie
ve it tomorrow.
“Go on,” Jason urged. “What else?”
Fran patted Brinley’s hand. “Richard yelled at me to bring out his shotgun and call the police. I grabbed his gun from the wall while I dialed 911.”
“Then the dogs must have known something was happening because they started barking and howling, which of course started Huck doing the same over here.” Richard hopped to his feet and began to pace. “The light went out in the house and I heard a crash. He must have gone out the back door because I heard a rustle of bushes and then nothing but the barking dogs.”
“So you didn’t see him?” Brinley’s softly spoken question echoed Jason’s own thoughts exactly.
“I didn’t,” Richard agreed. “I keep saying him but I guess it could have been a woman too. Hell, it could have been more than one person. I just didn’t see a whole hell of a lot, to tell the truth. I wish I had. I would have shot his ass so full of buckshot he’d be walking funny for a week.”
“I know you would have. Thank you, Richard. And you, Fran. You scared him away and I don’t know how to thank you for that. I’m so grateful.”
“Now, honey, everything’s going to be fine.” Fran hugged Brinley and gave her a reassuring smile. “Now this person knows we’ve got some loud and angry dogs plus a shotgun. They won’t be coming around here again any time soon.”
Unfortunately Jason couldn’t agree with the sentiments. Someone was determined to get to Brinley.
One way or another. But they’d have to go through him first.
They chatted with Fran and Richard for a few more minutes before the couple took their leave. A deputy came into the living room holding a crowbar in a plastic bag.
“Is this yours, Brinley?” West asked, holding the tool up for her inspection. “My deputy found this on your dining room floor.”
“No, I’ve never seen it before.”
“We’ll send it to the lab and see if we can get any prints off of it.” West sat down next to Brinley and scratched Huck on the neck, getting a lick in return. “The lab is done with your home. They’ve pulled a few fingerprints and of course we’ll need you to check if anything is actually missing, but tomorrow morning is soon enough for that. In addition, your front door is broken and will need to be fixed. I can recommend a good handyman if you like.”
Damsel in Danger (Danger Incorporated Book 1) Page 5
