The Priority Unit (Maine Justice Book 1)

by Davis, Susan Page

  “No, but I live here,” Jennifer said firmly, “and I don’t like it.”

  “Oh, Jennifer, you’re so boring! Give it to me and I’ll keep it where it won’t offend you.” She reached for the bundle, but Jennifer turned and handed it to Harvey.

  Donna-jean stood stock-still, looking back and forth between the two. “I don’t get it. Does Howie want it? He’ll have to pay for it.”

  He stood, placing the package on the computer desk. “Donna-jean, I’m a cop.” He showed his badge and stepped closer to her. “You’re under arrest. You have the right to remain—”

  “I have no idea where that stuff came from. It must be Jennifer’s.”

  “No good, Donna-jean. There’s a patrol unit on the way the take you down to the station.” He brought out his handcuffs.

  “The squad car is here.” Jennifer moved to open the front door, and Harvey recited the Miranda rule. When the two officers walked in, he had snapped the cuffs shut, and was saying, “Do you understand these rights?”

  He didn’t know the two men Brad had sent over, but the sergeant had apprised them of the situation, and they took over from Harvey. He kept Donna-jean where she was while they searched her room, turning up a small amount of marijuana, two nickel bags of heroine, and some paraphernalia. They treated Jennifer respectfully when they took her statement, and said a cordial good-night to the detective as they left with the prisoner and the evidence.

  Jennifer sat down abruptly on the couch. Harvey went over and stood in front of her.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “You sure?”

  “No.”

  Harvey grimaced. “Jenny, I’m sorry. I don’t see what else I could have done.” He started to turn away, but she put her hand out and grasped his wrist.

  “Thanks.”

  “Just doing my job.”

  “No, it was more than that.”

  “You’re right. I want to keep you safe. As long as she was here, you wouldn’t be safe.”

  “You think she was using me.”

  He did. Innocent Jennifer was the perfect cover for someone like Donna-jean, and the perfect scapegoat if need be.

  “You’re very intelligent, but you’re also very tender hearted. I think she knew that and took advantage of you.”

  Jennifer nodded but didn’t look at him. Donna-jean’s presence seemed to hang over them. Harvey ached inside. He wanted to comfort her and reassure her, but she didn’t seem inclined to let him at the moment.

  “What do I do with all her things?” she asked stiffly.

  “Does she have family around here?”

  “I could get hold of her mother, I think.”

  “Call her tomorrow and ask her to come pack the stuff up. Make sure you’re here when she comes, so she doesn’t pack anything of yours by mistake.”

  “Could I just box it up myself and ask her mother to come get it?”

  “If she’s comfortable with that.” He hesitated, not wanting to leave her alone. “Are you going to be all right here tonight?”

  “I think so.” Her sadness tore at him.

  “Well, lock up tight when I leave. And give me a call in the morning, before you take off for work, okay?”

  “Okay.” She got up and walked with him to the door. “You take care, too. I don’t like people putting bombs where they think you’re going to be.”

  He touched her gleaming hair with his fingertips, to confirm that there wasn’t really a barrier between them. He wanted to warn her further and instruct her on what to do if Donna-jean’s boyfriend showed up at the door, but that might alarm her to the point where she would back off and never let him reach out to her again.

  “Good night.” She didn’t respond, but he couldn’t just walk out the door. He leaned toward her and kissed her cheek, just forward of her right ear. She caught her breath and stepped away from him.

  He went out, closing the door gently, and stood listening until he heard her put the security chain in place. Wearily, he walked toward the Explorer. His satisfaction with the new vehicle was gone. He took a penlight from his pocket and got down on his knees to look under it on the driver’s side, then walked around to the back, then the passenger side. When he rose and dusted off the knees of his jeans, he glanced toward the house. Jennifer was watching him from the living room window.

  Great. The one time he wished she wouldn’t look at him.

  The idea of the boyfriend or a pot customer showing up worried him. Before backing into the street, he called the station to ask that patrol units in the area drive by the house now and then.

  *****

  Jennifer dressed slowly for bed after Harvey left. She was glad he had stayed. She wouldn’t have had the nerve to confront Donna-jean alone. In her blue terrycloth robe, she loosened her long hair and brushed it, her mind running off in all directions. The computer program, the car bomb, drugs in the freezer, and Harvey in danger every day.

  He checked his new vehicle for bombs. He’d only had it a couple of hours, but he believed someone could have sabotaged it during the time he was inside her house. Stark terror washed over her, and her fingers clenched around the handle of her hairbrush.

  She padded to the back door and checked the lock, then checked the front door again. What was she getting into by dating a detective? His best friend had almost been killed by getting into his car. How could she ever feel safe with him?

  She went into Donna-jean’s bedroom and checked the lock on the window. An acrid smell lingered faintly. She wrinkled her nose. Secondhand tobacco smoke was bad enough. Was her brain addled by Donna-jean’s secondhand marijuana? Harvey had done the right thing.

  At last she went to her own room and sat on her bed. Still she hesitated to turn out the light. It was silly, and it bothered her, but it was there. This fear wasn’t just because of Donna-jean’s escapades. It went deeper than that, and she didn’t want to live in fear the rest of her life.

  She had broken up with one man because she’d felt he was a threat to her. It was different with Harvey. He wasn’t the menace. His unknown enemies were, and she might be hurt because she associated with him.

  Somehow that frightened her less than the thought that she might lose him.

  She crawled under the blue quilt and turned the lamp off. She reached out in the darkness and felt for her flashlight. It was within easy reach. She groped for her cell phone. It was right where she always put it at night, on the stand with the lamp.

  She was very tired, but sleep eluded her. It didn’t seem fair for her to drift off to sleep when Donna-jean was in a cell in the city police station. Even now, the load of guilt was enormous. Somehow, she ought to have prevented Donna-jean’s arrest. But in order to do that, she would have had to prevent her from using drugs, either that or ignored the whole mess. But then she would be culpable herself.

  If I believed in God, I wouldn’t be confused. And I wouldn’t be afraid, ever. I could ask him to protect me. And to protect Harvey.

  Chapter 10

  She called, as he had requested, at 7:15 the next morning, slowly pressing the buttons.

  “Jenny. I’m glad you called. How are you?” He sounded calm and rested. For some reason, that bothered her.

  “Harvey, where is Donna-jean now?”

  “Probably in the county jail until the arraignment.”

  She sighed. “I shouldn’t have told you.”

  “Don’t ever say that.” His voice was stern, but the next moment it melted into tenderness. “I’m sorry it had to be this way, Jenny.”

  She knew his contrition was genuine, but she also knew he couldn’t have acted differently. She grabbed a tissue and wiped her eyes. “Her mother called me this morning. Donna-jean called her in the middle of the night from the police station. Mrs. Jacobs is not very happy with me.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault. She wanted to come get Donna-jean’s stuff today, but I told her she’d have to wait un
til I get home tonight.”

  “Good. Does the name William Cassidy sound familiar?”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “How about Donna-jean’s boyfriend?”

  “Oh! Billy?”

  “His prints were on the wrapping. Jenny, he’s a known drug dealer.”

  She couldn’t breathe for an instant. “Harvey, he was in the house lots of times.”

  “You’d better have the locks changed as soon as possible. Call your landlord today.”

  “Okay. Can you find out how Donna-jean is doing?” She hated to ask it of him, but the thought of Donna-jean in jail was still a heavy weight on her heart.

  “I’ll get an update on her status and call you at noon if I can.”

  “Thanks. Her mother was going to get a lawyer for her.”

  “That’s good.” He paused. “Jenny, you’re not going to … resent me for doing this, are you?”

  “I’m trying not to. You had to do it.” She shuddered. A drug dealer in my house. Knowing it for certain was a million times worse than the discomfort she’d felt when Billy was just Donna-jean’s scruffy boyfriend in the next room.

  “All right.” Harvey was silent for a moment, and she hated herself for doubting his judgment, even for an instant. He sounded wary when he asked, “Are we still on for Saturday? The play, I mean?”

  “If you still want to.”

  “Of course I still want to.”

  His ready answer bolstered her, and she realized she’d been afraid he thought less of her now, because of her empathy for Donna-jean. “I want to go with you,” she said firmly.

  *****

  Harvey picked Eddie up a few minutes early. He’d told him about Donna-jean when they met to run at dawn. There was no way to keep something like that from Eddie.

  “I knew I should have stuck with you after that trip to Scarborough,” Eddie said.

  “Too bad you missed it. Will you get the schedule of arraignments from the district court? I told Jenny I’d check on her roommate this morning.”

  As soon as they entered the office, he pulled up the report on Donna-jean’s arrest. Everything was by the book, and he sighed with relief. He closed the file and accessed the electronic data on closed cases. With any luck, he’d be able to find reports of past bombing cases on the computer.

  Mike came in at eight and came straight to Harvey’s desk in the corner.

  “What’s this about you making a drug bust while you were off duty last night?”

  Harvey sighed and tore his gaze away from the monitor. “It just happened. I was there, and it happened.”

  Mike waited, frowning slightly. Harvey told himself that after all these years he shouldn’t be surprised anymore. Mike was always on top of things.

  “There’s no problem, Mike. My friend stumbled on her roommate’s supply, is all, and it was too big to ignore.”

  “Your friend.”

  “Yes.” Harvey moved the computer mouse, not looking at Mike. “Look, I know this is unusual, but I called for a unit, and everything’s fine. You can take that to the bank.”

  “I saw the report. I’m not worried about procedure. I’m concerned about you.”

  “I’m fine, Mike.”

  “You met her eight weeks ago.”

  Startled, Harvey glanced up at him.

  “Jennifer Winthrop,” Mike prompted. “I told you, I saw the report, and I know how to use a computer.”

  “It’s Wainthrop.”

  “Huh. Anyway, you met her on the job.”

  “Is that a problem?”

  Mike sighed. “I guess not. That missing persons case is a dead end, anyway.”

  “Maybe.”

  The captain eyed him closely. “You all right, Harvey?”

  “I told you, I’m fine.”

  “Fine enough to bring her to my house for dinner?”

  Harvey ran a hand through his hair. “Well, I don’t know. It’s early for stuff like that.”

  “Have you met her family?”

  “Not yet.”

  Mike nodded. “Let me know when she’s ready to meet yours.” He turned toward his desk, and Harvey smiled.

  “Mike!”

  Browning turned, swinging his briefcase. “What is it, Harv?”

  “The M.O. on the car bomb is too much like Bobby Nason’s for me to like it.”

  “I thought Bobby was in jail, thanks to you.”

  “He got out in February.”

  Mike set his briefcase on his desk and came back to Harvey’s station. Harvey gestured toward the computer screen. “It was a pipe bomb with a timer, stuck to my gas tank.”

  “Ouch. Eddie was lucky to get out alive.”

  “Yeah. If he drove any slower, he’d be dead.”

  Mike sat on the corner of Harvey’s desk. “Can you get a line on Bobby?”

  “I’ll try. We’re done with the school case. I may have to go to the DA’s office this morning.”

  “You think the bomb is related to the school business?”

  Harvey shook his head. “Not really. It’s possible the dealer rousted Bobby Nason out for the job, but I don’t see it that way.”

  “It happened too fast,” Mike agreed. “You’d only been on the case a day, and you hadn’t done anything but question kids.”

  “Way too soon for the supplier to try to kill me.”

  “So who did it?”

  Harvey grimaced. “If I knew that … but whoever hates me hired Bobby Nason, I’m pretty sure.”

  “Maybe Bobby’s working on his own. You’re not his favorite person.”

  “When I have time, I’ll see if I can pick up any information on his whereabouts.”

  Mike nodded thoughtfully, then smiled. “So, you got a new vehicle. I saw it in the garage. Nice choice.”

  Harvey said grudgingly, “Eddie talked me into it. He thought I needed to update my image.”

  Mike stood up. “Be careful, Harv. And take care of that girl. Eddie tells me she’s a knockout.”

  *****

  Jennifer rapped on the door of Bart Owen’s private office.

  “Come in, Miss Wainthrop.”

  She advanced toward his large walnut desk, holding out a plastic disk case. “This seems like a pretty good program, Mr. Owen.”

  “Yes, we thought so, too. Dunham did an excellent job. The tracers work fine, and until recently the system seemed resistant to outsiders. But the hackers are getting smarter and smarter, and we’ve had a couple of minor breaches recently. Can you fix it?”

  Jennifer had thought about the problem as she viewed Nick’s security program. “Do you want me to make a new program? Not a new system, but a program that will work with this one. I think I can add a couple layers of new safety features.”

  “Will that keep outsiders from getting at our data?”

  Jennifer shrugged. “They say nothing’s tamper-proof, and I would have thought Nick’s program would do the job. But I can at least make it harder for anyone to break in. It might be enough to discourage them. It would slow them down, anyway.”

  Owen nodded. “Well, these industrial spies are determined nowadays. Companies are hiring kids that think of nothing else but computers.”

  “It will mean putting aside the special project for a while,” she said.

  Owen sighed. “Yes, well, to be frank, we have no one else who can do this job. My partners are quite anxious about security, and they want this taken care of immediately. We’ll keep Ms. Comeau and Mr. Macomber working on the other project, and when you’ve attended to this little matter, you can get back to your portion.”

  “All right, sir. I’ll do my best.”

  She left his office with mixed feelings. It was good to know you were needed. It was also unsettling. If she failed to meet her bosses’ expectations, where would that leave her? They would think she was incompetent if she couldn’t keep a high school kid out of their company’s payroll data and personnel files.

  On another level, she was glad
to be free of the top secret project for a few days. She hated working on it, not knowing what it was for. She knew it was to be marketed overseas, and she wondered if the designers weren’t just a little out of their depth. At least with her current assignment, she could picture an opponent. Some bright but misguided teenager was out there, intent on cracking into the posh software company’s databases. She could foil him, she was sure.

  And the intense work would keep her mind off Donna-jean and the car bomb.

  *****

  It was lunchtime when she left Owen’s office. Jane wasn’t at her desk. Jennifer took her purse from her desk drawer and stepped out the side door, into the parking lot.

  She hesitated, then turned quickly toward the sidewalk. The Arabic client was standing near her car, talking earnestly with a dark-featured young man she had never seen before. She felt the teeniest apprehension and decided not to approach her car near them, but to walk to the deli for a quick sandwich.

  A smidgen of guilt struck her. Was it reasonable caution, or was she prejudiced? She hadn’t been careful enough lately, and look where that had gotten her with Donna-jean. She straightened her shoulders.

  As she waited for a break in the traffic, she took another quick glance over her shoulder. The younger man was standing at the car next to hers, with his driver’s door open, and Massal seemed to be lecturing him. As she turned away, Jennifer saw the young man glance toward her. There was no recognition in his gaze, but there was something. Maybe he was just searching for anything but Massal to focus on, and she was there. Not for long. There was a gap in traffic, and she hurried across the street.

  Chapter 11

  Harvey rang Jennifer’s doorbell on the dot of six Saturday night. It had been a long week. Far too long since he’d seen her on Tuesday. He’d nerved himself to call her Thursday evening, and he was glad he did, but talking on the phone was never satisfactory. She was still shy with him, and he couldn’t tell how much of her reticence was natural and how much was caused by the traumatic events of the week.

  He heard the security chain rattle, and anticipation coursed through him. Jennifer opened the door and stood looking at him, breathing fast. “I’m sorry. I was—” She glanced over her shoulder.