by Nancy Mehl
17
Alex heard a sound beside her. Logan stood there with his weapon aimed at the man’s chest. She backed up so she wasn’t in his way.
“You better tell us right now why you’re here,” Logan said. “And how you knew where to find us.”
The man held up his hands. “I just know how to track people. I’m not armed.” He looked around him, and Alex could see the nervousness in his face. “When I found out the police were searching the hospital for me, I decided to find you. Look, I was with the Circle once, but I’m not anymore. I left years ago. But I’ve kept an eye on them.”
“Why?” Alex asked. “And why were you at the hospital? Did you kill Nettie?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t be here if I had. When I heard what happened at the house, I went to the hospital to protect Willow, hoping she was the one who’d survived. But . . . she hadn’t. Not that I wanted Nettie to die either, but Willow’s death . . .” He looked behind him again. “Could you point your gun at me inside? I’m afraid of being seen.”
Logan glanced at Alex. “What do you want to do? Call Chief Rogers?”
“No. At least not yet. Let him in.”
She backed up and grabbed her own gun. She’d left it on the kitchen counter, and now she pointed it at Gedrose.
“Come in and sit down,” she said. “You have fifteen minutes to convince me you didn’t kill Nettie, if not Willow. If you don’t dispel my doubts completely, I’ll call the police and tell them you’re here. Right now you’re their prime suspect.”
Gedrose stepped inside the room, and Logan closed the door behind him. He wiped his feet on the small rug in front of the door, and when Logan gestured toward it, he moved to the chair next to the couch.
“Do you mind if I take off my coat before I sit down?” he asked.
“You have two guns pointed at you,” Alex said. “And we’re both trained to take you down with one shot. You have no chance of survival if you try something. Just remember that.”
Surprisingly, Gedrose smiled. “Warning noted.” He slipped off his black coat and put it on the back of the chair. He was dressed in dark slacks and a dark blue pullover sweater. He had to be at least in his sixties, but he carried himself like someone much younger. His beard was neatly trimmed and matched his gray hair. He could pass for Santa Claus, but he wasn’t overweight.
He sat down and waited, apparently for them to decide what came next. Alex took a seat on the couch. She wanted to keep a comfortable space between them. She had no intention of allowing him to grab her gun. Logan stood behind her.
“You’re Jimmy Gedrose,” Alex said. “I saw you a long time ago. At my aunt’s.”
Gedrose nodded. “So you do remember me.” He pointed at their guns. “You don’t have anything to worry about. I . . . I loved your aunt, Alexandra. I know you thought she was unbalanced, and, well, she was. But I got to know the woman she could have been. Against the rules, we became friends to the point we told each other our real names. She was Willow to me, not Lady X. She had a generous, kind soul beneath all her problems.”
“You didn’t really know her,” Alex snapped, ignoring the echo of her mother’s words in her mind. She’d said Willow had been sweet too. “I had to take care of her as if she were a child. I kept the house clean, shopped, made the meals, fed the cats, paid the bills. She was completely irresponsible.”
“But she gave you a place to live, didn’t she? I know you may not believe this, but she really cared about you. When you left, it almost destroyed her.”
“You’re right. I don’t believe you.” She was certain her aunt cared for her on some level. But was she destroyed to see her niece leave? No. Not unless losing a captive caregiver was that important to her.
Gedrose shook his head. “I saw the police going through her place. Have they found her will yet? She left everything to you, you know.”
Alex was so surprised she wasn’t certain how to react. “Great, so I get her debts?”
“You get the house, and everything in it. As far as debts, she has none. The house is paid off.”
Alex pushed back the anger that bubbled up inside her. “That’s not true. She could never have paid it off, even in the eighteen years I’ve been gone. She owed thousands of dollars on that dump.”
“I helped her pay it off, Alexandra. You’ll learn it’s free and clear now.”
“Will you quit calling me Alexandra? I’m Alex.”
Gedrose smiled. “Sorry. Your aunt always called you Alexandra. It’s a beautiful name.”
Alex put out her hand. “Give me your wallet.”
He reached around and slowly pulled his wallet from his back pocket. “If you’re trying to rob me, you’ll be disappointed.”
Alex didn’t respond. She didn’t find the situation funny. She took the wallet from his hand and opened it, then pulled out his driver’s license and stared at it, trying to decide if it was real. It looked legitimate and was issued to a James R. Gedrose. She quickly looked through the rest of the wallet. Credit cards, gift cards, vehicle registration—all with his name and a Wichita address. She put it on the coffee table and wrote down his address in a notebook. “If you pull anything, or if we find out you’re lying to us, we will call the police. Do you understand?” She handed the wallet back to him.
“Yes, I get it.”
“I understand you have quite a history with them.”
Gedrose’s smile slipped. “I guess you know I was given early retirement from the department. They thought I’d stolen money from a drug bust. I don’t suppose you care that I didn’t do it.”
“Sure,” Alex said. “We don’t hear that often enough in law enforcement.”
Gedrose shrugged. “You’ve made up your mind, so I won’t waste my time trying to convince you. But there was never any evidence that I took the money. However, if you’ll look through the file from back then, you’ll see that my partner seemed to suddenly have a lot of luck at the casinos in Kansas City.”
“The department would have been looking for that.”
“Not if your partner is the chief’s son.”
“Look,” Logan said, “let’s concentrate on what happened at the hospital. Do you know how Nettie died? Do you think she was killed?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see anyone at the hospital who aroused my suspicions, but you need to know that more members of the Circle are around than you think. The actual number would shock you. I’ve only met a few of them.”
Alex snorted. “Only four or five people used to show up for my aunt’s meetings. I think we can handle that.”
“But that wasn’t the only meeting place in Wichita. And across the country? Thousands of people are in the Circle.”
“Wait a minute,” Logan said as he sat down on the arm of the couch, his gun still pointed at Gedrose. “You’re trying to tell us it’s true that thousands of people believe in this stuff? That’s absurd.”
“Yes, it is. I finally realized that. I got involved with the Circle shortly after I was pushed out of my career and forced to make a living any way I could. I won’t bore you with my job history, except to say I did okay.” He swallowed. “My wife hated the Circle. She was a Christian and tried to tell me that I’d been deceived and The Book was false. She said that Satan can’t create anything so he attacks what God has designed. That The Book is one of the devil’s ways to keep people from Him.”
“You said she was a Christian,” Alex said. “You’re not married anymore?”
Gedrose hung his head. “She died about ten years ago. Embolism. That’s what drove me to the truth. My parents made me attend Sunday school when I was a kid, but I didn’t pay much attention. But I had to know if my wife was in heaven. If I could really see her again. So I read the Bible all the way through. When I was done . . . I believed. I prayed for God’s forgiveness and asked Jesus to give me a new life. A new mind. I asked for His Holy Spirit to live in me. Make me the man He wanted me to be. And He ans
wered my prayer.”
He shook his head and smiled. “Being in the Circle only caused me to fear others. But God filled me with love and changed me completely. I’m not the same. That’s the miracle, isn’t it? Seeing people change. No other god does that.”
Alex sighed. “That’s great, but it doesn’t explain what happened to Nettie.”
“The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced the Circle got to her in the ICU. Nettie wasn’t worried that they knew Willow had a copy of The Book, but I wasn’t so sure. I warned her they might try to take it.”
“Wait a minute,” Alex said. “Just before she died, Nettie indicated she recognized you from a sketch I made, but she never mentioned you when she gave me The Book.”
“She wouldn’t,” Gedrose said. “She was protective of me. Even though she wasn’t worried about herself, she was concerned about me. She kept my connection to the Circle and to her a secret. She and I were working together to free Willow from the Circle’s clutches.”
“So you think someone from the Circle tried to kill Nettie because she was trying to free Willow? Then they finished the job at the hospital? But why kill Willow?” Logan asked. “She was one of them.”
“I don’t know. To be honest, I find it strange that Willow and Nettie were attacked after Nettie gave you The Book.”
“How did you find out about that?” Alex asked.
“Nettie called me. Told me about it.”
“That’s convenient,” Alex said. “Then you told the Circle about it and caused their deaths. Maybe you even killed them yourself.”
Gedrose’s expression darkened. “First, I don’t know anyone in the Circle who would attack two women—and so violently. And second, even if I were a killer, which I’m not, do you really think a former police officer would assault those women the way they were? I went in the back door after the police left Willow’s house. I have a key. What I saw was rage. It was messy. I wouldn’t have done it that way. No one in law enforcement would.”
Alex couldn’t argue with that. Gedrose would have simply shot them.
Logan sat down on the couch next to Alex, his gun lowered. “Let’s say we believe you,” he said. “Why are you here?”
“I want to help if I can. Like I said, I loved Willow, and I might be the best link you’ll ever have to the Circle.” He frowned at Alex. “Nettie said you removed The Book in a bag. If someone was watching, they might have guessed what it was.”
Alex shook her head. “I really don’t see how.”
“We might be barking up the wrong tree,” Gedrose said, “but ultimately, I can’t see any other reason for killing these women. You both need to be careful. The people you work with know about The Book. Maybe someone with the police department or the FBI alerted the Circle.”
“I can’t believe anyone in law enforcement would be involved in some kind of cult,” Alex blurted.
Gedrose looked at her strangely. “Well, I was, and I was a good cop. LEOs are just people. Not all of them are perfect, Alex.”
“Law enforcement officers are the angels. Criminals are the demons.” As soon as the words popped out of her mouth, she gasped.
“What did you say?” Logan asked, his expression one of astonishment.
“I . . . I don’t know.” Alex was stunned. Where had that come from? “Forget it. Channeling my aunt, I guess. I’m . . . sorry. I don’t really believe that.”
“Willow was always trying to jam that stuff into your head,” Gedrose said gently. “I see some of it got through.”
“No.” Alex shook her head vigorously. “I rejected all that crazy stuff years ago. I’m just . . . tired. I need some sleep.” She glared at Logan. “I’m all right. Just ignore what I said.” She knew she sounded a little manic, but those words flying out of her mouth made her feel violated.
“It’s fine.” Logan nodded toward Gedrose. “Can you nose around? See if you can find out what’s going on?”
“So you’ve decided not to shoot me?”
“For now,” Logan said. “But we don’t trust you completely, so—”
“I think he’s telling the truth,” Alex said abruptly, reaching for the training she knew she could believe in. Could trust. She’d been speaking to Logan, but she never took her eyes off the former cop. “He made direct eye contact. Didn’t fidget. Didn’t look away. Leaned in to talk to us. I believe him. Gedrose, if you really cared about my aunt, then help us find out who killed her.” She took a deep breath. “If you had to pick one person most likely to have done this, who would it be? Don’t think. Just react. Now!”
Gedrose blinked several times, then blurted, “Marcus Pannell.”
“And who is Marcus Pannell?” Logan asked.
“He was in our group. The one that met at Willow’s. He’s the only member who could possibly do this. He’s a big man, and sometimes he acted like he was in charge. I eventually realized not everyone in the Circle considered themselves angels, and—”
“I thought you weren’t supposed to give your real names,” Alex said. “How do you know his?”
“I didn’t until after I left the Circle. I saw him one day in a local hardware store. He was checking out, so I hung back until he left. I’m friends with the owner. I told him I’d met the guy but couldn’t remember his name. My friend told me he was Marcus Pannell. I guess he owns an advertising firm in Wichita.”
“Sounds like an educated guy,” Logan said. “How could he buy in to this stuff?”
Gedrose just stared at him.
“Sorry,” Logan said. “I didn’t think.”
Gedrose shook his head. “It’s okay. I guess we’re all looking for answers. The Circle came at the right time, and they made sense to me—in the beginning. The devil is a deceiver. I was certainly deceived.”
“Why hasn’t the Circle come after you in some way?” Alex asked. “Why haven’t they seen you as a threat?”
He smiled. “I was diagnosed with prostate cancer not long after I became a Christian. It’s under control, but they don’t know that. I told them I just wasn’t feeling well enough to be involved—at least until I was cured.” He shrugged. “They accepted that and never bothered me again. I’d been one of their most dedicated members. I guess they trusted me.”
“But now?”
“I need to be careful.”
Alex’s phone rang. It was Harrison. “We need to get to work,” she told Gedrose. “Give Logan your contact information. We’ll let you go for now, but the police will want to talk to you, so expect them. We’ll be in touch as well.”
She got up and grabbed the phone. “We’ve got more information about the missing pathogen,” Harrison said after she answered. “And it’s not good. I want to video conference with you and Logan in fifteen minutes. I’ll give you the information then. Will that work for you?”
“Sure. We’ll be online.” She said good-bye and made eye contact with Logan. “Harrison wants to talk.”
Logan grabbed the notebook Alex had used. Turning to a clean page, he handed it and a pen to Gedrose. “Write down Pannell’s name too, so we’ll know how it’s spelled.”
“Please call me Jimmy,” Gedrose said. “I want to do anything I can to assist you. But call only this number. It’s an old burner phone that can’t be traced.”
Logan frowned. “So you really are worried someone might be following you?”
“A little. But like I said, I didn’t notice a tail. Still, I’m giving you the address of a safe place where I plan to hang out for a while. I really believe I can help you if you give me a chance.” He shook his head. “To be honest, I never thought the members of the Circle were dangerous. Until now. I really don’t know what to think anymore.”
“We’ll pass this information along to the folks in charge,” Logan said. “Again, they will want to question you.”
Jimmy nodded. “I’ll be waiting.”
Logan walked him to the door. When he closed it behind him, Logan turned around, his expression tight.
“I hope we haven’t made a mistake,” he said. “Not just letting him go, but I’m also concerned about his safety. He’s not a young man.”
“And I’m worried that the Circle might have sent him to us. They could be trying to get involved in the investigation.”
“I thought you said he was telling the truth.”
“He appeared to be, but he was in law enforcement. He knows how to make himself look innocent.”
“Well, I hope he’s exactly who he seems to be. He really could be an asset.”
“I guess we’ll find out. Hopefully, partnering with Jimmy Gedrose isn’t a decision we’ll live to regret.”
18
Logan and Alex sat down in front of Alex’s laptop. Within minutes, Harrison’s video call came through. Logan thought he looked worried.
“You’ve seen the paper?” he asked, forgoing any kind of greeting.
“Yes,” Alex said. “Have you secured the letter?”
“It’s on its way to the lab.”
“I doubt they’ll find anything. Walker’s too smart for that.”
“Can you tell us more about him yet?” Harrison asked.
“No, sorry,” Logan said. “We had a visitor, and that took up some of our time. Jimmy Gedrose. The man in the sketch Alex drew and facial recognition identified. He wants to help us.”
“Sounds like you don’t think he killed these women, but I don’t want to bring someone we can’t trust into our investigation.”
“He seems to be on the level,” Logan said. “He was in the Circle. Knew Willow and Nettie. He did give us a name. Someone in the Circle he thinks could have been involved in what happened at Willow’s. A Marcus Pannell.”
Harrison wrote down the name as Logan spelled it. “We’ll check it out.”
“You said you had additional information about this pathogen?” Alex asked.
“Yeah. I figured if you knew more about what we’re dealing with it would help you.”
