LET'S PLAY (Det. Jason Strong(CLEAN SUSPENSE Book 10)

by John C. Dalglish

  “The body found at San Isidro is going to be front page in the morning.”

  Jason didn’t respond, instead trying to picture the look on the captain’s face when he heard about it.

  “Jason?”

  “Yeah?”

  “This is your chance to check any details you might want to make sure are correct.”

  “Still no comment.”

  “Okay.”

  Jason was about to hang up, but he knew Devin had done him a favor. “I gotta go, but James…”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it.” The phone clicked and Jason immediately dialed Patton.

  “Captain Patton’s.”

  “Mary, this is Jason. Is John still in?”

  “Yes. Hold on, Jason.”

  A minute later, Patton picked up. “What’s up?”

  “I just got a call from Devin James.”

  “What now?”

  “He said the story is front-page tomorrow morning.”

  “Dang it! That guy is a pain in my you-know-what!”

  “I stuck with the no comment.”

  “Good. I have to go, but I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

  “Have a good night, John.”

  The captain snorted. “Yeah, right!”

  *******

  After an unknown number of hands of Gin, and a burned pizza she still ate most of, Tammy-Jo was back in front of the TV. He had turned on the set, and after she was seated, plopped into his own chair. They had watched for nearly two hours and it appeared his eyes were getting heavy.

  She would sneak a glance to her right, trying not to make a sound. If he fell asleep, she could run. She had already spotted a door at the far end of the kitchen; she just needed her chance.

  She looked.

  Did his eyes just close?

  She checked again.

  His eyes are shut!

  She scooted the TV tray from in front of her to clear her path, then checked him again.

  Still shut!

  Slowly, she began to rise and was almost standing, when he snored. He’d woken himself up, and when he saw her standing, leapt from his chair. Tammy-Jo didn’t have time to react. He was behind her, knife drawn and across her throat, in a flash.

  “Thought you could sneak out, eh?”

  Terrified, she struggled to keep him calm. “No…no. I just needed to use the bathroom!”

  The blade eased slightly against her skin. “Go then!”

  He released her and she bolted for the bathroom. When she came out, he was waiting at the end of the hall.

  “Let’s go.”

  Her pulse surged as he pointed toward the box room. He stepped out of the way as she approached and let her go to the makeshift coffin. She held her breath and lay down inside, the robe still on. The lid closed over her and the padlock snapped.

  She was safe. For the night.

  *******

  Jennifer Landers leaned against the bar, the fifth one she’d visited that night. In her hand was a copy of the sketch, done by the Police artist, based on her description. Every business along the River Walk had one in their window or at the counter. So far, there had been no calls to the hotline number.

  Each of the last few nights, she had brought her copy of the sketch and hung around the bars looking for the surfer guy. It was the only thing she could think to do in an effort to find her friend. Two days from now she was supposed to be on an airplane home to Nebraska, back to her classes and the busyness of college, but she couldn’t imagine leaving without her best friend.

  Detective Warren had been keeping in touch with her, and she appreciated how hard he was working to find Tammy-Jo, but frustration was building for both of them. Jennifer suspected the detective knew more than he was saying, but she didn’t push; she didn’t want to be shut out of the loop altogether.

  “You want something to drink?”

  Jennifer turned to see a sharp-looking bartender, in a white dress shirt and plaid bowtie, smiling at her. She checked his nametag.

  “No thanks, Tommy.” She slid the sketch across the bar. “Hey, have you seen this guy?”

  Tommy glanced at it. “That’s the same one in the window, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “No, I haven’t seen him, but…”

  Jennifer froze. “But?”

  “Well, it doesn’t look much like him to me, but the description of the surfer clothes reminds me of a guy who hangs out at the RainTree.”

  “Do you know his name?”

  “No, but whenever I go by there, he’s usually around.”

  Jennifer had been to the RainTree numerous times and not seen him. “Anybody you know at RainTree who might help me?”

  “I don’t know if she can help, but you can ask for Jacy. She’s been a waitress there for a long time.”

  “Jacy? Do you know her last name?”

  “No, I’m sorry.”

  “Okay, Tommy. Thanks.”

  Jennifer raced outside and back toward the RainTree Restaurant. It took her less than five minutes to get there and she went straight to the maître d’s desk. A tall girl, with raven hair and olive skin, was taking names for the tables. Jennifer had to wait in line to speak to her.

  “How many in your party?”

  Jennifer shook her head. “I don’t need a table. Can you tell me if Jacy is working tonight?”

  “No, she’s on vacation.”

  Jennifer’s heart sank. “Crap.”

  “Are you a friend of hers?”

  “No, I just need to show her this picture.” She held it up. “You don’t happen to know who this is, do you?”

  “No. I’ve seen the picture, but I’ve only worked here a couple weeks.”

  “Do you know when Jacy works next?”

  The girl looked down at a book, flipped a page, then back up at Jennifer. “She’s on vacation for another three days.”

  “Okay, thanks. I’m just going to sit at the bar for awhile.”

  “That’s fine.”

  Jennifer spent the rest of the night watching the door for the surfer guy. At one in the morning, she headed back to her hotel, without learning his name.

  Chapter 6

  Mary didn’t greet John Patton with her usual smile. This morning was not off to a good start.

  “Morning, Mary.”

  “Good morning, Captain. Chief wants you upstairs immediately.”

  “Crap.”

  He turned and walked back into the elevator, pushing the button for the fourth floor. He didn’t bother asking why the chief wanted to see him; he’d already seen the front page. He pulled the newspaper from under his arm and looked at the headline again.

  Melinda Gomez Missing No More.

  Body of the first River Walk girl is found.

  A picture of Gomez sat below the headline. She wore her high school graduation cap and gown along with a big smile, her arm around her mother. He folded the paper back up as the elevator doors opened.

  Chief Murray’s aide gave him a grim smile and went back to her work as John walked into the office. The chief was on the phone, standing near the window, but pointed at a chair.

  “I understand, sir… I will… I’ll call you as soon as I know anything.”

  The chief was less put-together this morning, his tie loose, and his shirt untucked; Patton suspected Murray had been here for a couple hours. Sitting quietly, he waited while the phone call ended, and Murray tucked in his shirt. The tie remained loose.

  Murray moved behind his desk. “Do you want to guess who that was?”

  “The mayor?”

  “Do you want to guess what he was calling about?”

  “The news story?”

  “You’re two for two, how about his last words before he hung up?”

  “Have a good morning?”

  The joke caught the chief by surprise and he laughed, despite his obvious stress level. “I wish. No, it was more like I want someone’s hea
d!”

  “That was my next guess.”

  The chief dropped into his chair with a sigh. “He said he’d checked his end and the leak didn’t come from city hall. Therefore, it must have come from our end and he wants to know who it was.”

  “I’ve spoken with everyone involved. Warren, Banks, Davis, Doc Josie. Each one insists they were tight-lipped.”

  “What about the new guy?”

  “Darrel Chase?”

  “Yeah, did you talk to him?”

  “Yes, and he was very forthcoming. He knows he’s the new guy and that puts him on the spot, but he assures me he didn’t speak to anyone.”

  “Alright, tell everyone the lid is still on, despite what’s in the paper, and jobs are on the line.”

  “I’ll be sure they understand.”

  “Now, what about the case itself? Have we made any headway?”

  “Eli Warren has the River Walk plastered with flyers of the surfer guy but nothing yet. Jason and Vanessa are rechecking everything in the Gomez file and cross checking with the other three missing.”

  “So, nothing.”

  “Come on, Bill, you know how these things work. Cases that are going cold tend to have the thing you’re looking for already in the file. It takes fresh eyes and luck to find it.”

  The chief sat quietly, regarding his captain. Finally, he smiled. “You would never have my job, would you?”

  “Only if it came with a bullet to the head on day one.”

  Murray laughed. “I understand. Keep me up to speed.”

  Patton stood. “You’re the first, Chief.”

  *******

  Jason and Vanessa were in the conference room by six that morning. There was still a lot of video to look at, files to go through, and no time to spare. They were on their third surveillance video when there was a knock and the captain entered, followed by Lieutenant Banks.

  Jason shut off the video. “Good morning, Captain.”

  “Not so far. I gather you’ve seen the newspaper.”

  “Yes.”

  “Chief Murray has asked me to re-enforce the fact that this is still a low-visibility investigation, and need-to-know is still in effect, despite the story in the paper.”

  Banks and both her detectives nodded.

  “He also wanted to pass on that if there’s another leak, or if they find who’s responsible for today’s front page, he will have them terminated.”

  Again, three silent nods.

  Patton pointed at the whiteboard, where some notes were scribbled in Vanessa’s handwriting. “What have you got?”

  Vanessa stood and moved over to the board. She pointed with the marker in her hand as she talked.

  “In watching the video, we’ve come up with three commonalities for each of the missing girls, prior to number four. We haven’t looked at the video of Tammy-Jo Cousins yet. The first is a River Walk employee who had contact with at least two of the girls on the nights they went missing. He was interviewed, but we want to talk to him again. The second is the taxi stand. Each victim was in the vicinity of the taxi stand, although we only know for sure that one girl got in a cab.”

  Patton stopped her. “What about the cab logs?”

  “We have copies, and they seem to provide an alibi for each cabbie on duty, but only one driver worked all three nights. We’re still waiting for a log of the fourth night. We want to speak to that cabbie again, as well.”

  “What’s the third link?”

  “The RainTree Restaurant. We know each girl was there at some time on the night they went missing.”

  “Have employees been interviewed?”

  Jason nodded. “There’s page after page of interviews, but we’re still working our way through those. So far, nothing stands out.”

  Banks swiveled in her chair to look at Jason. “What about the cemetery guy?”

  “He’s a loose end. We know he dug the grave that Melinda Gomez was found in, and he performs the same duties at five other cemeteries. So far, that’s his only connection to the case.”

  “Did the phone records for the Cousins girl come back?”

  “Yes. The phone went dead the night she disappeared. The last ping was in the area of the River Walk.”

  There was another knock at the door. Jason reached over and turned the knob. “Hi, Eli. What’s up?”

  “I may have a lead on our surfer guy.”

  “Oh?”

  “You remember the girl who reported Tammy-Jo Cousins missing?”

  “Sure.”

  “She called me this morning with the name Jacy Lennox; a waitress at the RainTree. She may know the guy in our sketch, so I spoke to the restaurant and they gave me her information. I’m on my way to talk to her now.”

  Vanessa stood. “You want some company?”

  “I thought you guys might want to tag along.”

  Jason also got up. “Tag along? Heck, I’ll drive!”

  *******

  Jacy Lennox lived northwest of the city, on Briarcliff Road in the Castle Hills Subdivision, with her husband and two children. Castle Hills had wide streets, large old-growth trees, and brick ranch-style homes on large lots. It was one of Jason’s favorite neighborhoods and he took Sandy to look at several homes in the area before they finally bought their place in Terrill Hills.

  Jason found the address and parked on the street. Vanessa leaned on the hood of the car while Jason and Eli went up to the door. Eli pushed the bell and a resonant ding-dong echoed through the door. Within moments, they heard shuffling feet.

  The door was opened by a woman in her early thirties with jet black hair pulled into a ponytail. “Can I help you?”

  Jason showed his badge. “Jacy Lennox?”

  “Yes.”

  “My name is Detective Strong and this is Detective Warren. We wanted to ask you a few questions, if that’s okay.”

  “Is this about those missing girls?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Do you want to come in?”

  “Please.”

  She led the detectives down a tiled foyer to the rear of the house, where they entered a large family room. The TV was on to The Price is Right, but Jacy shut it off immediately.

  “Can I get you some coffee?”

  Jason shook his head as did Eli. “No, thank you.”

  They each took a seat on a large sectional, the detectives on one end of the L-shaped couch, and Jacy on the other.

  Eli took out his notepad. “You’re on vacation, is that right?”

  “Yes, since last week.”

  “So you haven’t seen this sketch?” Jason handed it to her.

  “No…but he’s not familiar.”

  Jason and Eli exchanged looks. “What about the written description?”

  Jacy read it, and then looked up at the detectives. “Well, the picture doesn’t look much like him, but the outfit sounds exactly like Denny.”

  “Denny?”

  “Yeah, Dennis Purdom. He’s been one of my regulars for years. His folks have money, so he doesn’t work. He dresses like a surfer and hangs out, but seems pretty harmless. I think he even dyes his hair blonde for the image, but of course, there’s nowhere to surf in San Antonio.”

  Jason handed her a missing flyer with all the women on it. “Did you ever see him in contact with any of these girls?”

  She studied the pictures, then shook her head. “No, not that I can remember.”

  Something about the man’s name seemed familiar to Jason.

  “Dennis Purdom? Of the Purdom Construction family?”

  “Yeah, that’s them.”

  Jason stood and handed her his card. “Thank you very much. We won’t trouble you any longer.”

  “No trouble.”

  Back outside, Jason and Eli found Vanessa sitting in the car with the A/C running. Jason grinned at his partner as he climbed in. “Guess who our guy is?”

  “I give up.”

  “Dennis Purdom, he goes by Denny.”

  “P
urdom, like the construction Purdoms?”

  “The same. They live in Scenic Oaks.”

  “Wow. Is that where we’re going now?”

  “It is.”

  “Awesome. I love the houses in that neighborhood.”

  Eli gave her a funny look and Jason laughed. “Never been, Eli?”

  He shook his head.

  Vanessa laughed. “Oh, you’re gonna love this.”

  *******

  Scenic Oaks was north of San Antonio proper, just west of I-10, and mind-boggling to the average man or woman. Houses, better known as estates, began at seven figures and went way up from there. Jason and Vanessa had done an interview in a home that sold for six million dollars. It was mid-priced in this area, where tennis courts, pools, and hot tubs were mandatory to keep up with the neighbors.

  On their way, Eli called in a record request on Dennis Purdom. As the result was given to him, he wrote it down. Hanging up, he filled in the other detectives.

  “Two arrests for DUI, one for Public Intoxication, nothing as far as violent crime.”

  As they drove into the Scenic Oaks area, Vanessa watched Eli, laughing out loud when his mouth dropped open. One house after another on the tree-lined cul-de-sacs brought the exclamation of “Look at that one!”

  When they finally reached the Purdom home, they had to stop at an automatic gate. Jason pushed the intercom.

  “Yes?”

  He looked at the camera hanging from the portico above them, and held up his badge. “Detective Jason Strong to speak with Dennis Purdom.”

  “Wait, please.”

  After several minutes, the speaker crackled to life at the same time as the automatic gate began to open. “Mr. Purdom will meet you at the main house.”

  Jason followed the long cobblestone drive as it wound its way up hill through the tall trees on either side. At the top, the hill crested and opened into a large parking area with a spraying fountain in the center. The house itself was modeled after an old English estate, complete with stained glass windows and steel framed doors.

  Vanessa and Eli echoed each other. “Unbelievable.”

  Waiting for them on the marble steps was Dennis Purdom. His surfer outfit, which apparently wasn’t just for cruising the bar scene, was a dead giveaway. The three detectives climbed out of the car and approached him, Eli leading the way. “Dennis Purdom?”