Martin refocused all his attention on the phone call. “Where?” he asked sharply. After a moment he said, “You’re going to need help. Let us assist you.” There was another pause before Martin continued. “You’re injured. You need a hospital.”
It was clear to Mark that the conversation was not going Martin’s way. He watched the muscles in the agent’s jaw clench.
“You should know that Cindy is in the wind… Yeah, yeah, kill me later, but right now we both have problems.”
Everyone in the room had come up behind Mark, eager to hear the news. Martin scowled at all of them, but no one moved.
“You should know that we found… your missing fingers. I’ve got them on ice… Yeah, thank me if we get through this. The clock is ticking you know… I swear, you’re going to be the death of me. Fine, I’ll see what I can do.”
Martin hung up and faced the rest of them. “Yes, he’s alive. Yes, he’s in critical condition. No, he’s not going to stop. I’ve got to go.”
Martin turned back to the door.
Mark took a step forward.
Without even looking at him Martin lowered his voice and growled. “Not now.”
Mark believed the threat in his voice and he stepped back. Martin headed out the door, closing it behind him.
Everyone began talking at once until Mark finally turned around to address them. “I don’t think we’re getting out of here until whatever is happening out there is over. So, what we need to focus on is handling Jeremiah’s legal difficulties so we can sort that out before he gets back.”
“Agreed,” Don said. “Let’s think about what we know.”
“Good,” Mark said, heading toward the table.
Geanie, Joseph, Don, and Traci moved quickly to join him. Kyle and Carol again retreated to their own corner of the room where they talked quietly. It was just as well. Mark knew Traci wouldn’t be able to let it go if the two started being idiots again. He doubted that any of them would be able to let it go at this point.
“Alright, he’s been accused of four murders,” Mark said. “Let’s start with the easiest one. The dead guy who showed up on Jeremiah’s lawn.”
“What do we know about him?” Don asked.
“He was a former spy turned homeless guy. He was going by the name of Peter at the time of his death. He seems to have been killed because he witnessed terrorists killing an Iranian student.”
“Then how are they even accusing Jeremiah of this?” Don asked with a frown.
“Keenan’s on a witch hunt, pure and simple. I just don’t know why.”
“Do you have proof that the terrorists killed the man?” Traci asked. “As I recall I was in the hospital giving birth during that whole investigation.”
“You were,” Mark said, picking up his wife’s hand and kissing it. “I have proof that Asim, the student who was killed by his brothers, gave a letter to Peter to mail to his girlfriend if something happened to him. Everything else was pretty clear, but nothing I could actually show Keenan on paper. Plus, it all ended up running into the terrorist thing Jeremiah and Cindy dealt with in Israel, so…” He shrugged.
“So, it seems like our friendly neighborhood C.I.A. agent might have something to say about the matter,” Don said.
“Heh. Not as friendly as he looks, trust me,” Mark said touching his throat. “Plus, I’m not sure how willing he’d be to go on record with my department.”
“I’m sure he has a way he could help,” Don said.
“It’s worth a try,” Geanie said.
“You’re right,” Mark said. “The man was definitely killed because of his closeness to Azim, who Jeremiah never even met.”
“Great, one down, let’s keep going. Number two,” Joseph said.
“Number two is a lot trickier. It’s the terrorist at your guys’ wedding, the one who was trying to kill Cindy,” Mark said.
“What’s so tricky about that one?” Don asked.
Mark cast a glance toward Kyle and Carol, but they were engaged in a conversation of their own and clearly not paying attention. He lowered his voice anyway, just to be on the safe side. “The problem is, Jeremiah actually did kill him.”
“Oh,” Geanie said, clearly startled.
“Who would know that?” Don asked, brow furrowing.
“Only me,” Mark said. “I caught him right after. He gave me a line about the woman who was going after Joseph being responsible. And she’s insane, so her answers about anything are immediately suspect. But, he told me later. The man was a terrorist, somehow related to the ones he’s dealing with now.”
“So, if it’s a terrorist, that also seems like something we can pull Martin in on,” Don said. “I mean, someone’s going to have to clean up the aftermath of whatever is going on out there,” he said, waving his hand to the outside world. “I say this gets packaged with that, whatever the explanation is.”
“And I can swear that Jeremiah was never out of my sight,” Geanie said defiantly, lifting her chin.
“That’s perjury,” Mark said.
“In all the chaos, the only ones who would know that are sitting at this table,” she said.
“Yeah, he was with both of us during the chaos. He got us away from the front of the sanctuary and stayed with us until it was over,” Joseph said.
“I’m not sure-” Mark began.
“There’s nothing we said in the police reports that would contradict that. I’m quite sure of it,” Geanie said. “We’ll both swear that he was with us all along and couldn’t be responsible for that man. He was another victim of psycho chick’s machinations as far as I’m concerned. I’ll tell Keenan as much.”
“I still don’t understand why Keenan was even looking into these murders,” Traci said. “And why was he so quick to blame Jeremiah?”
“That brings us to the third problem,” Mark said, taking a deep breath. “Keenan has somehow gotten it in his head that Jeremiah killed Not Paul.”
“That’s preposterous,” Geanie said after a moment. “The assassins up at Green Pastures killed Paul when he went to rescue people.”
“That case has been shut for a couple of years,” Joseph said with a frown. “What on earth made him open it?”
“Here’s where things get really weird,” Mark said. “Someone came forward and claimed to witness it. Whatever they said led Keenan to get a search warrant. He found a Barrett sniper rifle in Jeremiah’s house. That’s the same type of weapon that killed Not Paul.”
Don looked at him in surprise. “That’s a serious piece of weaponry, and not something that your average guy is going to have just lying around. Besides, Jeremiah wouldn’t be stupid enough to keep a murder weapon.”
“Agreed,” Mark said.
“Two of the kids saw what happened, Noah and Sarah. Either of them could easily vouch for the fact that Jeremiah was right there and didn’t have a weapon like that on him,” Joseph said with a frown.
“How do you know?” Don asked.
“I read all the reports and statements since I was on the board that managed that property for several area churches and groups. So far of the three this is literally the most absurd and the most easily disproven. I don’t understand,” Joseph said. “I mean, Keenan is a detective and I’m assuming they don’t just hand those badges out to idiots.”
Mark nodded. “You’re right. I’ve been so swept up in the stress and fear that I’ve been thinking about this all wrong. The only one they even have a shred of evidence for is that one and its patently wrong.”
“So, I’m starting to really wonder who’s framing Jeremiah? Is it a terrorist, someone else or maybe even Keenan?” Joseph asked.
“That’s crazy,” Mark said, not even wanting to think about it.
“Is it?” Traci broke in. “It’s not like we haven’t dealt with a corrupt cop from your department before. Heck, I was kidnapped by one,” she said, her voice hardening at the end.
“But wh
at could he possibly have against Jeremiah?” Joseph asked.
“Maybe not him personally, but someone else?” Geanie suggested.
“So, what about the fourth problem?” Don broke in.
“Ah, yes, the pastor at the church. Apparently he and Jeremiah have had some words and he gave Cindy crap for wanting to get married to Jeremiah,” Mark said. “Other than that conflict, as far as I can tell he doesn’t have anything else on the murder.”
“Do we know who might have wanted the pastor dead?” Traci asked.
“Ben pissed off a lot of people when Cindy quit her job because of him. She’s back, though, and I can’t see any of those people doing more than yelling at him,” Joseph said.
Geanie nodded in agreement.
“Cindy and I visited the crime scene,” Don said, speaking up.
All eyes swiveled to him.
“And?” Joseph asked.
“We found one thing the cops had apparently missed. There was a torn-out page of his day planner. It was crumpled up under his desk. It showed that he had a meeting scheduled late night the night he was killed.”
“With who?” Mark asked, leaning forward eagerly.
“It just had two initials. J.S..”
“That’s not good,” Mark muttered.
“Cindy was going to go over the church directory, see if there was anyone else with those initials since she couldn’t think of anyone off the top of her head. She didn’t get a chance,” Don said grimly.
Mark frowned. “How on earth did the officers who went over the place miss that?”
“I don’t know. We were only there for a couple of minutes and we found it easily enough. Perhaps too easy, if you know what I mean.”
“Like it could have been planted there just like the rifle was planted in Jeremiah’s house?” Traci asked.
“I’m just saying that if the pastor tore out the paper, he would have put it in a trash can. His place seemed pretty orderly. And if the killer tore out the paper they would have destroyed it or taken it with them.”
“So, why didn’t Keenan find it?” Mark wondered.
“Do you know if he was actually at the scene himself? Maybe if he left it he was hoping another cop would find it,” Geanie suggested.
“That seems like a stretch.”
Traci leaned toward Geanie and Joseph. “Is there anyone at the church with those initials?”
The two looked at each other.
“Well, I’m a J.C.,” Joseph said. “Jordan’s last name doesn’t start with an S.”
“Neither does Pastor Jake’s or Jesse who heads the women’s ministry,” Geanie pointed out.
“Anyone else?” Mark asked.
“Grrr, I don’t know! If we were in the office this would literally take me two minutes to figure out,” Geanie said, the frustration strong in her voice.
He held up a hand. “We’ll look when we can.”
“That’s assuming that the meeting was with someone from the church. Or that there even was a meeting and the whole thing wasn’t just a red herring for our benefit. Or someone else’s” Don said.
“Just how many enemies does Jeremiah have do you think?” Traci asked.
“The number is probably scary high,” Mark said with a snort.
“Not just that, but people who would want to harm him in this way and not just kill him? I mean, I’m sure there’s a line around the block of people that want to see him dead. But how many of those would want to see him in prison?”
“They could be trying to break him, strip away his network, his freedom, everything before killing him,” Don offered.
Something was growing inside Mark’s mind, though. He was beginning to think that they were going about this all the wrong way, looking in the wrong direction.
“What is it?” Traci asked him suddenly. “You’ve got that look on your face.”
“Maybe we’re asking the wrong question,” he said.
“How do you mean?” Joseph asked.
“What if we shouldn’t be trying to figure out who wants to hurt Jeremiah?”
“Well, clearly someone does. But, what are you thinking? What should we be trying to figure out?” Geanie asked.
Mark took a deep breath. There was a sudden sureness that was washing through him. He was on the right track and he knew it. He looked around at the others. “What if we should be trying to figure out who wants to hurt Cindy?”
17
“Ma’am, please move aside,” a police officer said, pushing past Cindy.
All around police were filing out of cars. They started by pushing the crowd back away from the dead man on the ground. Another one began making a perimeter around the car and the body using yellow police tape.
Cindy moved forward, and another officer attempted to stop her.
“Please,” she begged. “I think that might be my fiancé.”
“Okay, don’t touch anything,” he said, compassion in his eyes.
Cindy moved forward, her feet feeling like lead. She didn’t want to look, but she had to know the truth.
Finally, she was close enough to look down and get a good look.
Relief swept through her as she realized it wasn’t Jeremiah. It looked like a middle eastern man. He had a look of surprise on his face and blood covering the front of his shirt.
Cindy turned away, shaking with relief.
“Was it him?” the policeman who had let her through asked.
She shook her head, “No. I’ve never seen that man before, and I’m so relieved,” she burst out.
He nodded. “Good luck finding your fiancé.”
“Thank you,” she said.
She walked swiftly back to the car. “Thanks, I’ve got it from here,” she told Marie.
“Are you sure?” the other woman asked, skepticism in her voice.
Cindy nodded firmly. “I’m positive. Thank you so much for all your help.”
“You’re welcome,” Marie said. “If you don’t need me I’m going to skedaddle before someone tries to write me up for all those tickets I earned.”
“It’s a good idea,” Cindy agreed. “I will see you later.”
Marie nodded before backing her car up and then slowly easing it around. Cindy watched until she was partway down the street then turned back to the crime scene. There was an alleyway between two buildings and she headed for it. If she was running from someone that’s where she would have gone.
Once she was partway down it and sure no one was watching her she started looking around. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw drops of what looked like fresh blood on the ground.
She told herself that it was possible the blood wasn’t his, but given what little she already knew about what he’d been through she was worried. Whoever’s blood it was, though, she had to find Jeremiah fast before things got worse for him than they already were.
She sent up another prayer for Jeremiah’s safety. Then she struck out down the alleyway, trying to determine how she was going to catch up with whoever she was following.
~
“Are you suggesting that someone killed Pastor Ben just so they could frame Jeremiah and get to Cindy?” Joseph asked.
Mark nodded.
“Isn’t that a little extreme?” Joseph asked.
“More like a lot extreme,” Geanie muttered.
“Is it really?” Traci asked.
“We’ve been fixating on his enemies. Maybe we should be looking at hers,” Mark said.
Don frowned. “My daughter has enemies?”
“Um,” Mark said, feeling suddenly awkward.
Traci put a hand on Don’s arm. “Cindy has helped put many criminals behind bars. You can’t do that without making some of them enemies.”
“We still don’t know for sure who hired the man to kill Leo in her house do we? That same killer tried to kill her on her way to the hospital,” Geanie spoke up.
Don blanched. “
One doesn’t like hearing those kinds of things about their daughter,” he said.
“I’m sorry,” Traci said. “But, if it helps us put a stop to all this…”
“Then I’m in,” he said.
“I swear that whole debacle over the secretary will just not go away,” Mark said.
“Kind of like the whole debacle about Not Paul,” Traci said pertly.
Mark rolled his eyes. “Point taken. At least Not Paul’s ghost or someone who knew him isn’t trying to kill me over it.”
“Oh really? And how did you get stabbed by a banker then?” Traci demanded.
Mark touched his shoulder involuntarily. “That was more of a misunderstanding.”
Traci snorted derisively, but let it go.
“I still don’t understand how Keenan has gotten this bee in his bonnet, particularly since the case records should pretty clearly indicate that Jeremiah had nothing to do with either Peter or Paul’s deaths,” Don said.
“After Paul was killed I was temporarily, um, suspended,” Mark said, really not wanting to go into all of that with the older man. “Our case work got split up and according to Keenan he ended up with a notebook or something where Paul had been keeping notes on his suspicions regarding Jeremiah. He thought Jeremiah had something to do with Peter’s death and he died long before we knew otherwise. But apparently Paul laid out all his suspicions pretty intensely. Keenan has himself convinced that Jeremiah has a deep, dark secret that he killed Paul to keep,” Mark explained.
“But Jeremiah does have a deep, dark secret,” Don said with a frown.
“Yeah, but not one Paul knew or Keenan knows,” Mark said.
“So, an old journal and possibly someone who helped frame Jeremiah. That’s what we’re looking at.”
“That’s about the size of it.”
“I think you’re onto something, though, Mark. If Keenan had these suspicions all this time, why wait to act on them? It’s the Pastor’s death that tipped him over the edge. That and whatever information he got that enabled him to get a warrant to search Jeremiah’s house,” Traci said.
“Thanks, Hon,” Mark said, appreciating the support. “Look, I know Jeremiah made enemies, and I know that Keenan is sniffing around like a bloodhound that just won’t let go, but I can’t shake the feeling that there’s a piece to this puzzle that we just keep missing.”
In the Presence of Mine Enemies Page 13
