The Priority Unit (Maine Justice Book 1)

by Davis, Susan Page

  “I found this earlier, when I was reading.”

  Jennifer took it and squinted at it in the dusk, then nodded. Harvey hesitated, then put his hand to her cheek for an instant before she turned toward the house and he went down the steps.

  He was about to get into his SUV when the house door crashed open and Jennifer ran out again, jumping down the three steps in one bound. She stumbled and regained her balance, and reached him as he looked beyond her to the house.

  A shadow moved in the doorway, then disappeared inside.

  Harvey grabbed her arm and pulled her behind the open door of the Explorer, then pulled his pistol.

  “He’s in there,” she choked.

  “You got your phone?”

  “No. I dropped my purse.”

  Harvey fumbled for his and thrust it toward her. “911. Now. And stay here.” He ran for the steps. At the doorway, he checked and faced the dark interior. His long training took over. Even as he braced himself to enter, he could hear a muffled sound and knew the intruder was escaping out the back. He brushed the switch by the door, flooding Jennifer’s living room with light, and ran for the kitchen.

  The back door was open, and he was outside in an instant, jumping from the back stoop in a fluid leap. A dark figure was fleeing across the small backyard. With relief, Harvey saw that a five-foot fence separated Jennifer’s yard from the neighbors’, and he thought he had a chance.

  “Hold it, police!”

  The man jumped onto the board fence, but didn’t clear it, and hung scrambling with his sneakers to gain the top. His hands were obviously empty, and Harvey ran over and pulled him off the fence.

  “Put your hands on your head.”

  He stared at the young man. He’d been thinking so much about Massal, he’d been prepared for a foreigner and a struggle to the death. Instead he was holding at gunpoint a tall, thin young man with a blond ponytail and a feral, desperate look. Harvey stood him against the fence and patted him down, transferring a four-inch folded knife from the man’s pocket to his own.

  “What are you doing here, Billy?”

  Surprise registered in the pale blue eyes, and Harvey smiled. He’d looked long and hard at Billy Cassidy’s mug shot just days ago, and he had a good memory.

  “Nothing.”

  “Come on, you know Donna-jean doesn’t live here anymore.” Harvey clipped the handcuffs on Billy’s wrists and headed him around the corner of the house.

  Jennifer watched from behind the door of the Explorer, breathing in ragged gasps and saying nothing. Almost at once, Harvey heard a distant siren wail.

  “You were planning a little surprise for Donna-jean’s roommate, weren’t you?” Harvey asked.

  “She asked for it.”

  Harvey shook his head and shook Billy a bit, too. “You picked the wrong person to mess with, you know that?”

  Billy sneered at him, but looked away quickly as Harvey glared back.

  “Get over there,” Harvey growled. “Hands on the hood of the vehicle.”

  The squad car arrived in moments, and he gladly turned his prisoner over to Jimmy Cook and Nate Miller. When their backup arrived, the two of them entered the house for a thorough check.

  Harvey went around his SUV and pulled Jennifer into his arms.

  “You okay?”

  She nodded and sucked in a breath, and he realized he was holding her so tightly she could hardly breathe. He loosened his grip a little, but she held onto him.

  “You caught him.” Her laugh was a little hysterical.

  “Yeah, I’m not quite decrepit yet.” He kissed her forehead. “I thought maybe Ali Baba and the forty thieves were in there.”

  “No. Just Billy. I’m sorry.”

  “Ha! Don’t kid yourself. That scum is dangerous.” He straightened and reached to take his phone from her hand, but she didn’t let go, so he bent slightly and began to peel her fingers off one by one.

  “I’m sorry,” she said again, and she let go.

  “It’s okay. I’m calling Mike.”

  “What for?”

  “To see if he and Sharon can put you up tonight.”

  Her face was already white in the dim light, but she seemed even more distressed. “No, don’t. I couldn’t. Not your captain.”

  “Rick and Ruthann Bradley, then. Jenny, I’m not leaving you here alone tonight.”

  She swallowed hard. “All right, but the Bradleys don’t have much space. Maybe—the Rowlands?”

  He nodded. “Great. I’ll have to get the number.”

  Jimmy Cook came down the steps.

  “Stay here,” Harvey said, and he walked toward Jimmy. “What did you find?”

  “Nothing, but her stuff is strewn all over. He was looking for something.”

  “We did a thorough search when I had her roommate arrested.”

  “Must have missed something.” Jimmy shrugged. “I heard the story about you blowing the whistle on the roommate. If she was tight with this guy, anything could surface.”

  “How bad is it in there?”

  “It’ll take a while to clean up.”

  Something brushed Harvey’s sleeve, and he turned to find Jennifer beside him.

  “Do you want to give us your statement now, ma’am?” Jimmy asked.

  “He—he was in the living room when I went in. It was dark, and I didn’t see him, but just as I shut the door, he said—” She stopped and looked at Harvey. “He said, Where is it, Jennifer? I didn’t know who it was at first. I just opened the door again and ran.”

  “Do you know what it was he wanted?” Jimmy asked.

  “No. But he and Donna-jean used to smoke pot in her room, I think, and she left some heroin in my freezer. Harvey was here when I found it.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ll get a copy of the report. Billy Cassidy wasn’t here that night, was he?”

  “No, but he came and went a lot.” She looked up at Harvey, and he reached for her hand. She’d been scared way back then, he knew.

  “When your roommate was taken to the police station that night, what did you do with her things?” Jimmy asked.

  “Her mother came for them the next day. There were a few things left, and I boxed them up and sent them later.”

  “Everything went to her mother’s address?”

  “Yes.”

  “Has your roommate contacted you since then?”

  “No. Harvey said the judge told her not to.” Jennifer’s solemn eyes widened. “I found a CD a couple of days ago. It was in with my classical albums, but it was hard rock. I figured it was hers.”

  “What did you do with it?” Harvey asked.

  “I mailed it yesterday to her mother’s house.”

  Harvey nodded at Jimmy. “Call the DA first thing, Jim. Get a warrant, then call the postmaster and pick up Mrs. Jacobs’s mail in the morning.”

  “Will do.”

  Jennifer gave him Mrs. Jacobs’ address, and Jimmy wrote it carefully in his notebook.

  Harvey’s fist clenched and unclenched. If Billy had waited ten seconds longer, he would have been gone, beyond hearing Jennifer scream, if she’d screamed. Beyond seeing her streak through the door and down the steps.

  He reached out and wrapped her in his embrace again, not caring what Jimmy or the other cops thought. The timing was fortuitous. If she’d put the security chain on…if Billy had waited in her bedroom…Providential, not fortuitous, he decided. A tremor went through him. Thank you, God.

  “I’m taking you to the Rowlands’ now,” he said. “You can clean the house up tomorrow.”

  “You haven’t called them.”

  “Come on, you get a few things together. I’ll call them while you pack your toothbrush.”

  Chapter 21

  Harvey and Eddie went to Harvey’s apartment for breakfast after their three-mile run Monday morning. Harvey made a big production of serving Wheaties at the new kitchen table.

  “This is almost like a real kitchen.” Eddie poured a dollop of milk in
to his coffee. The dark circles beneath his huge brown eyes gave him a decadent air, making him almost wickedly attractive.

  “So, what did you get on Billy Boy last night?” Harvey asked. He was sure his own fatigue just made him look old and tired.

  “His car was parked down the street. You drove right past it when you took Jennifer home.”

  Harvey shook his head, mentally berating himself. “I’m losing my edge.”

  “Love can do that to you.”

  “It’s not love, it’s all these loose ends we have hanging. Dunham, the Coastal Technology partners, Bobby Nason. Billy totally blind-sided me.”

  “Out of the blue,” Eddie agreed.

  “So, where’s Donna-jean? Did you check on her like I asked you to?”

  “Her mother says she’s visiting a friend in Connecticut. She wasn’t too happy about me calling her at 1 a.m.”

  “Would you be happy if your daughter was running with a dope dealer?” Harvey sighed. “I called the landlord. He’s putting a new dead bolt on both doors at Jennifer’s house this morning. I wish we could do more, but I don’t know what, short of having her move.”

  “You said she’s getting a new roommate. That ought to give her some peace of mind.”

  “I don’t know.” Harvey wondered if it was fair to ask Beth to take on Jennifer’s mistake and the consequences. Billy Cassidy no doubt had a lot friends. Then there were the unexplained car bombs that were endangering Jennifer, Eddie, and anyone else connected to him.

  Eddie picked up his cereal bowl and drank the milk. “So what did you and Mike turn up on the other business?”

  “Massal is a likely suspect, all right. He’s here on a Turkish passport. Supposedly he’s a businessman, representing some technology interest in Istanbul. The State Department was a little cagey. So far we’ve got nothing concrete on him.”

  “You think they’re watching him?”

  “I don’t know. I’m wondering if they’d lost track of him and don’t want to admit it.”

  “Are we going in to Coastal again?”

  “Not yet.” Harvey sipped his coffee.

  “We ought to get a warrant for that program Jennifer talked about.”

  “We don’t want to close in too soon.”

  “Jennifer okay?”

  “The pastor will look out for her.” Harvey glanced at his watch. “She’ll be at work in an hour.”

  “She’s safe,” Eddie said. “We know where Billy Cassidy is.”

  Harvey nodded, but the image of his car burning in front of the school was still in his mind. That had happened before Donna-jean’s arrest. “I’ll call her later.”

  On the drive to the police station, he opened a different subject. “Are you going to see Sarah again?”

  “Friday night.”

  “Where you going?”

  “I don’t know. Where would you take Jennifer?”

  “Anywhere. But practically speaking, I’d suggest something a little sophisticated, for contrast. Let her see you in a suit.”

  Eddie considered that. “Maybe so. Let’s go rattle Rainey’s cage, Harv.”

  Harvey drew a slow, deep breath. “We can’t prove this secret computer program is anything out of the ordinary. Besides, Mike wants to touch base with his contact at the CIA first.”

  *****

  Jennifer hated to call Harvey during working hours, afraid his phone would ring at a critical moment, but her instincts told her not to wait. He sounded normal and calm when he answered, and she was relieved.

  “Harvey, please, can you meet me for lunch? I need to see you, but I can’t be away from the office too long.”

  “Okay, gorgeous, how about that deli across from Coastal?”

  “No!” She cringed as Jane came down the aisle between the cubicles. She returned Jane’s bright wave with a slight flip of her fingers.

  “Too close to the spot in question?”

  “Much.”

  “How about I get some sandwiches and meet you someplace?”

  “Okay. You pick. I don’t want to say much.”

  He named a drug store a block away, and she agreed.

  “In the parking lot at 12:05,” Harvey said.

  “Yes.”

  Jennifer hung up and turned back to her keyboard, still agitated but determined to make the most of the intervening hour.

  As promised, Harvey waited in his Explorer near the drugstore, with Eddie in the back seat. Harvey got out and opened the passenger door for her, then got in the other side.

  “Hi, Jennifer. I hope you don’t mind if I’m here,” Eddie said, handing her a sandwich.

  “No, that’s fine, Eddie. How are you?”

  He smiled. “Okay.”

  “You look tired.”

  “I was up kind of late.” He smiled again, innocently. “Diet Pepsi for you.”

  “Thanks. You should take better care of yourself.” He’d had a late date, she guessed, and she hoped he wasn’t drinking. Eddie was becoming dear to her. She wondered if he’d taken Sarah out again, but she didn’t ask. She turned instead toward Harvey.

  “Are you all right?” he asked. The creases at the corners of his eyes were deep, and she knew suddenly that he and Eddie were on the edge of exhaustion.

  “I’m fine. The Rowlands were wonderful.”

  He nodded. “Well, you don’t have to worry about Billy for a while. He’s not going anywhere.”

  “That’s good to know.” She hesitated and shot another glance at Eddie. “Did you guys sleep at all?”

  Harvey smiled. “Enough. And a detective got the package you sent Mrs. Jacobs from the post office this morning.”

  “Guess what was in it.” Eddie’s eyes brimmed with suspense.

  “A rock CD?” she hazarded.

  Harvey smiled regretfully. “No, a CD containing a list of Billy Cassidy’s customers. He’d put it in the case to camouflage it.”

  Jennifer stared at him. “I’ve made a lot of trouble for you guys by being naïve, haven’t I?”

  “Hey, it will give the vice detectives something to do this week,” Eddie said.

  Harvey eyed Jennifer closely. “How were things at the office this morning?”

  She took a deep breath. “Well, the translator came. It’s a young guy I saw once before. He was in the parking lot one day last week, talking to Massal.”

  “You don’t say.”

  “I do say. And you’ll never guess what languages the program is going into.”

  “Esperanto?”

  “No, it’s already in English and French; those are done in-house. And this guy is putting it into Arabic and Farsi.”

  “Farsi? You aren’t serious.”

  “Yes, I am.”

  Eddie looked from Harvey to Jennifer and back. “What’s that?”

  “One of the official languages of Iran,” Jennifer said. “English, French, Arabic, and Farsi. Those are the four.” She looked down for a moment, then met Harvey’s gaze again. “I don’t think I was supposed to know, but I was in Mr. Rainey’s office getting the disks this morning. Mr. Channing brought the translator in and introduced him to Mr. Rainey.”

  “Did you get his name?”

  She frowned. “Hamad, I think. He looks like a kid. I knew Tessa had already put most of the onscreen stuff into French, but just as I was making my exit, I heard Channing say the boy was there to do the Farsi and Arabic translation. I was afraid if I stuck around any longer they’d be suspicious.”

  “Jenny, you’ve got to be careful,” Harvey said.

  “I know. But I thought you needed to know. You were saying last night you need to convince the government that this program is a real threat. I’ve looked at most of it this morning. It’s pretty frightening.”

  Harvey frowned. “If they’re putting the program in Farsi … ”

  “I’m sure now that it’s military,” she said. “At least, it has military applications. Tessa’s disks are very detailed. I’m not an expert on national security, but
the program is designed to allow access to other programs, and to recognize and deactivate protocols that have a definite military ring.”

  Harvey said slowly, “If they’re selling Iran some kind of computer technology that will be detrimental to us militarily, it could be disastrous.”

  “Come on,” Eddie said. “You really think they’re writing spy programs at Coastal?”

  “Well, stranger things have happened.”

  Jennifer nodded, not liking the thoughts she was having. “Before my day, there was a spy they arrested who had lived in Skowhegan. My dad used to talk about it.”

  “I remember. That was big stuff,” Harvey said.

  “The whole town was ashamed. But…Harvey, I’m working on that program! I’m making it so good nobody can crack it! If the wrong people get hold of it—”

  “Let’s not get all excited,” he said. “We could be wrong. We wouldn’t want to cause an international incident over nothing. Just keep your eyes and ears open. And don’t take any chances.”

  “Okay.” Jennifer unwrapped her sandwich slowly. “It occurred to me that I might be able to derail the program somehow.”

  “No. Too risky. If something didn’t work right, they’d know you caused it.”

  She drew a shaky breath, glad he had said it. Just thinking of going back to Coastal frayed her nerves. “All right, but once we’re finished with it, they can send it electronically. We might not have time to act.”

  “That’s true.” Harvey didn’t look happy.

  “It’s all right if I call you like I did this morning?” she asked. “Any time?”

  “Any time.” He watched her closely. “You’re really stressed over this job, aren’t you, baby?”

  Her stomach flip-flopped. “Kind of.”

  “Look, you probably won’t even want to think twice about this, but I heard the other day that there’s a temporary position open at the station, in the records department. It’s a maternity leave, so it’s probably just for the summer, but it might give you a breathing spell if you really want to change careers.”

  “What would I be doing?” She couldn’t believe she was asking.