“But why shoot his daughter? Are you sure?”
“I saw it happen. I came into the room and yelled just as he was pulling the trigger.” Saying it out loud didn’t make it any more believable for Jackson.
“Holy crap.” Schak kept rubbing his buzzed head. “Why?”
“I think it has to do with her sexuality. I think that’s why he killed Raina too. To put an end to their lesbian relationship. Maybe he’ll live long enough to tell us.” The burden of shooting a man was suddenly heavy on Jackson’s soul. “He had a gun aimed at an unarmed woman. He pulled the trigger, then turned to me. I had no choice. I had to shoot.”
“Of course you did.”
Chapter 34
As Jackson sat in North McKenzie hospital, waiting for an ER doctor to page him with news about either Jamie or Ted Conner, he let himself think about Kera. He needed to hear her voice, to know they were still a couple. The phone call from Daniel had shaken him badly. He couldn’t bear to think that passionate, funny, optimistic Kera would cease to be a presence in his life.
He pressed her speed dial number and waited. Kera didn’t answer so he left a brief message. “It’s Jackson. I need to see you. I love you. Call me.”
Another forty minutes passed before the volunteer in the waiting room told Jackson a doctor wanted to speak with him. She pointed to a small room with a coffee table and chairs. “Just pick up the red phone.”
“This is Dr. Stowall. I just operated on the young woman with the gunshot wound. You’re a police officer?”
“Yes. Is she okay?”
“She’s stable and her prognosis is good. Does she have any family here in the hospital?”
“Not yet. Someone called her mother and she should be here soon. Any news on the male gunshot victim?”
“No. But I’ll see what I can find out.”
“Can I talk to Jamie?”
“Not yet. She’s in the recovery room.”
“She’s a witness. I just need a few minutes with her.”
“As soon as she’s conscious, I’ll call. Do you have a cell phone?”
A few minutes later, Kera called him back. “Wade, I’m so glad to hear from you. Guess where I’m headed?”
It was late Monday night and she sounded more excited than worried. Jackson had no clue. “Sorry, Kera, I’m too frazzled to play.”
“We’re on our way to the hospital. Danette is having her baby. She was here visiting us and her water broke. I’m going to be a grandmother!”
“Wow.” Jackson wasn’t sure what to say. He couldn’t take any more news. “It’s too early, isn’t it?”
“A couple of weeks. But he’s already eight pounds, so everything will be fine. Can you meet us there?”
“I’m at the hospital now. Waiting to hear if the man I shot is going to live or die.”
“Oh, Wade. I’m sorry. Is he the killer you’ve been tracking?”
“Yes and no. I’ll tell you about it when we have more time. Call me when you get here, and I’ll come up to maternity.”
Jackson hung up. Kera said ‘us.’ She meant herself and Daniel, the baby’s grandfather.
Jamie had an oxygen tube coming out of her nose and she could barely keep her eyes open. He knew she was twenty, but surrounded by the white sheets and blankets she looked fifteen. An innocent child. Jackson felt a stab of guilt for questioning her, but there were still too many holes in his understanding of this case.
“Jamie, I’m Detective Jackson. I’ve been investigating the death of Raina Hughes. I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
She cringed, but nodded her permission.
“Did you know Ryan Bodehammer? I mean before all this happened?”
She shook her head.
“He kidnapped you?”
“Yes.” Her voice was a whisper.
“Do you know who killed Raina?”
“My father did.” She made a whimpering sound, like a half cry. “He didn’t want me to be with Raina.”
“Did you know he was her killer all along?”
Her eyes flew open. “No!”
“Why did your father shoot you?”
“I goaded him.” She pressed her lips together and slowly shook her head. “I told him I was gay. I said I would marry a lesbian and have gay sex. I was so mad. I wanted to hurt him the way he hurt me.”
“Did he admit to killing Raina?”
“Not in those exact words. But he did it.” Jamie closed her eyes.
“That’s all I need for now, but we’ll have to talk again later.”
She nodded.
“I know you’ve been through a lot, but you’re strong and you can still have a good life. “
“Thanks for saving me.”
“I didn’t save you. I was late. And wrong about many things.” Jackson squeezed his forehead.
“You did save me. When you yelled at Dad to drop the gun, it startled him. That’s why he missed my heart. He was so close to me.”
Did she mean her father’s distance to her at the time of the shooting or was she talking about their relationship? Jackson started to ask, but Jamie’s eyes were closed again. He left the recovery room and walked out to the nurses’ station.
The young man at the desk had dark hair with dozens of tiny little braids. Jackson decided it was better than some alternatives. “I’m Detective Jackson. Can you find out the condition of a man who was brought in with a gunshot wound about an hour ago? His name is Ted Conner, if that helps.” This was Eugene, not Chicago. There would be only one gunshot victim tonight.
After a moment on the phone, the nurse said, “He’s still in surgery.”
Jackson pushed Conner from his mind. If he died, Jackson would get the mandatory counseling and move on. He couldn’t waste any more time worrying about a man who had murdered an innocent woman and tried to kill his own daughter. Jackson headed for the maternity ward where a new life was about to come into this messed up world.
The waiting room had only one other person, an older man who was nodding off. Jackson chatted with Katie on the phone while he waited for Kera. He made arrangements to pick Katie up tomorrow after school. He really wanted to go home, eat a roast beef sandwich, and sleep for ten hours. Sergeant Lammers would not be happy that he was waiting until tomorrow to write up a report about the shooting incident. Too bad. He was exhausted.
He was also deeply disturbed by the violence Ryan Bodehammer and Ted Conner had committed for no other reason than their hatred of gay people. Jackson knew he needed to make changes in his own speech and thinking. He needed to push for changes within the department, including sensitivity training. A lot of grief would come his way from the good ol’ boys club, but he’d weather it. He hoped they would all be better peace officers for it.
He heard Kera’s voice, that warm sexy tone that made him want to simply sit and listen and watch her gorgeous lips move. He looked up as she flowed into the room, fast and fluid like a small stream. A well-dressed man with a perfect nose and a touch of gray strode into the room behind her. The infamous Dr. Daniel Kollmorgan. It hurt to see them together—both tall and attractive, both medical professionals with college degrees and world travel experience. In that instant, Jackson knew he was out of his league. Kera and Daniel belonged together and he needed to get out of the way. They were still a family, and they had a grandson to help raise together.
Kera gave him a quick hug and whispered, “I’ve missed you.”
Jackson hugged her back, unable to speak. He shook hands with Kollmorgan as Kera introduced them and managed a small nod. He said to Kera, “Where’s Danette?”
“She just got admitted. Let’s all head down to her room.”
“I can’t stay.” Jackson kept his voice light. “I haven’t slept much in days, and I need to crash. Call me and leave a message when you have news.”
Kera locked eyes with him and wouldn’t let him look away. “I’m sorry,” he said finally, and pushed past them out of the claustrophobic room.
On the elevator ride down, Jackson worked hard at not feeling anything. His romance with Kera had been too good to be true, a passion born of a shared traumatic experience. He would let her go gracefully. He’d do whatever it took—voluntary overtime, frenzied dating, finishing the trike—to numb the pain.
His phone beeped as he walked out of the elevator and into the lobby. The screen indicated a text message. Katie, of course. Jackson pressed through the appropriate combination of buttons to access the message. It was from Kera and simply said, Nice try. But you’re not getting away.
Jackson smiled and headed home.
Chapter 35
Sunday, February 24
Jamie looked up the flight of stairs, stopped, and sighed. Every step she took tugged at her chest with little slivers of pain, and she was easily winded.
“You don’t have to do this,” her mother said, reaching for her arm. “No one would blame you if you never spoke to him again.”
“I have to.” Jamie started up the stairs.
“I’m here to visit Ted Conner,” she said to the female sheriff behind the plexiglass.
“ID please.”
Jamie slid her driver’s license though the small scooped opening at the bottom of the glass. Her hand shook as she let go of the card. You don’t have to stay long. You just need to find out… She still wasn’t exactly sure what she would say, but the questions began to form.
Through the glass, her father seemed smaller than she remembered. Older too. A week in the hospital recovering from a bullet to the chest would do that. Yet his expression was still confident and he sat ramrod straight, as always.
“I think you’re supposed to pick up the phone to talk,” her mother said, hovering behind her.
Jamie picked up the black phone receiver hanging on the left of the small booth. Her father picked up his. “Hello, Jamie. Thanks for coming.” His voice broke. “I’m so sorry I shot you, honey.” He began to sob. “You made me crazy that day. Please forgive me.”
Jamie had never seen her father cry before. She bit her lip to hold back her own tears. “Are you sorry you killed Raina?” She locked eyes with him, not allowing her father to look away.
He took a moment to get control, then said, “I’m terribly sorry. That was not my call to make. Only God can decide who lives and dies. Only God can judge homosexuals…or anyone.”
Jamie struggled to stay composed. She already knew how this would turn out. “Do you accept the fact that I’m gay? If I come to visit you in the state prison, will you listen as I tell you about my life and my new girlfriend?”
It was the longest ten seconds of her life, while her father decided how he would answer. At one point, her mother squeezed her shoulder. Jamie waited.
Finally, he said, “I don’t believe you are gay. Give yourself some time to get over Raina’s death. You’ll meet some guy and—”
Jamie gently hung up the phone and pushed off the hard stool. She gave her father a small wave and walked out of the visiting area. Life was short and she would not waste another moment of hers.
Chapter 36
Jackson shut off the motor and looked up at the puke-green trailer. The Bronco had been released from evidence bay and was parked in the gravel driveway. A light was on in the kitchen. Cindy Gorman’s silhouette passed in front of the window. Jackson walked up to the front door, thinking about Raina as he did. She would have died even if she hadn’t come to this sleazy little hellhole in the woods. Raina’s presence here, though, and in the life of Josh Gorman, would finally bring justice to another little boy.
Jackson knocked on the door and waited. A sharp pain near in his lower abdomen made him almost double over. He decided it was time to call his doctor. The chest tightness and gut pain had to be more than stress. After a long moment, Cindy opened the door. She had lost weight since the last time he saw her here in the trailer, and dullness was all he could see in her eyes. “May I come in?”
She shrugged and stepped aside. Jackson followed her into the kitchen, where she grabbed a beer and sat down at the little table. “What do you want now? You already took my husband and my son.”
Jackson sat across from her, remembering, they’d sat like this the night after Raina’s death. He believed justice would be served for Raina. The button found near Raina’s blood in the woods matched Conner’s jacket, and the tire tracks matched his Dodge. They were still looking for the .22 rifle, but Jackson expected Conner to plead guilty for a reduced sentence.
He waited for Cindy to look him in the eye. “Tell me about your son, Trevor.”
Her lip trembled. “How do you know about Trevor?”
“The state of Washington keeps pretty good birth records. Of course Trevor never made it to public school so it took us a while to find any paperwork at all.”
Cindy took a long drink of beer. “Now what?”
“Tell me what happened. Bruce already gave you up, so there’s no point in lying.”
A single tear slid down her left cheek. “It was an accident, I swear. It happened right after we moved here.”
Jackson waited.
“I was having a bad day, the boys were being obnoxious. They wouldn’t stop playing some game that involved a lot of shouting.” She squirmed. “Then they broke my mother’s antique mirror. It was the only thing I had left of hers.” Cindy’s eyes begged him to understand. Jackson tried to look empathetic. He needed this confession.
In a moment Cindy continued, “So I’m standing there in the bathroom, holding this big chunk of broken mirror, yelling and swearing. Then Trevor starts laughing. Like it’s frickin’ funny. I snapped. I threw the piece of mirror. Not at Trevor, of course. I threw it at the wall. But it bounced off the edge of the door and hit Trevor in the neck.” Cindy looked down and started crying. “I never saw so much blood so fast. He was dead before I got him to the Bronco.”
“Were you high on meth at the time?”
She looked up, eyes suddenly blazing. “What difference does it make? It was an accident.”
Jackson reached in his bag for his handcuffs. They would convict her of aggravated manslaughter, at least.
About the Author
L.J. Sellers is an award-winning journalist and the author of the highly praised Detective Jackson mystery/suspense series:
The Sex Club
Secrets to Die For
Thrilled to Death
Passions of the Dead
Dying for Justice
She’s also written two standalone thrillers: The Baby Thief and The Suicide Effect.
When not plotting murders, L.J. enjoys performing standup comedy, cycling, social networking, attending mystery conferences, teaching writing workshops, and editing fiction manuscripts. She’s also been known to jump out of airplanes.
Thanks for reading my novel. If you enjoyed it, please leave a review or rating online.—L.J.
Table of Contents
Novels by L.J. Sellers
Copyright Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
About the Author
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L. J. Sellers, Detective Wade Jackson Mystery - 02 - Secrets to Die For
Detective Wade Jackson Mystery - 02 - Secrets to Die For Page 27
