Boardman grabbed them out of a cupboard near the door and handed them to me. “Here you go, Jade.”
“Thanks, sir. Okay, Jordan had me tied up on the floor of the van, but I could see out the side windows. It felt like she turned around on the street, pulled over to the curb, and parked. I remember seeing several street signs through the window as she passed them. A big mistake on her part for not blindfolding me.”
“Makes sense,” Agent Tam said. “That’s when she pulled a U-turn on Lincoln Street.” Tam poured me a cup of coffee as I focused on what I remembered.
“Thank you, ma’am.” I looked at the map again. “Yeah, here we go. I saw the street signs at the intersections of Franklin and Adams, here, and here,” I jabbed the map with my index finger then sat back down and sketched out what I remembered. “Jordan turned around and parked, so the van was here.” I drew an X on the paper beyond the two intersections with Lincoln Street. “She left me alone for a while, but when she came back, she got in and drove ahead for twenty seconds or so and made a left. It only took a few seconds more before we turned left again into a driveway. She stopped, I heard the sound of a garage door opening, and then she pulled in and closed the overhead.”
Dave stared at my drawing. “That means the house you were at is on Adams Street and on the left. Do you remember if it was a one-car garage or two?”
“It definitely was a one-car garage and crowded inside.”
Boardman spoke up. “Who has the records of the houses with cars in the driveway?”
“They’re right here, sir.” Officer Colby pushed the five stapled sheets of paper across the table.
Boardman flipped the sheets until he saw an address for Adams Street. “Colby, grab a computer and pull up the street view of Adams Street. I need to know how far in is 331 Adams and which side of the street it’s on.”
“Nailed it, boss, and 331 Adams is the fourth house on the left.”
I jumped from my chair. “We have to go. There’s no time to waste.”
“One second, Jade. Colby, pull up the name locator app and type in that house number. I need to know who lives there.”
“The app just spit out the name Jeanie Livingston.” Colby turned toward me with a raised brow.
“That’s her. I need a weapon. Jordan took mine.”
“Jade, you need to sit this one out. We can handle it,” Agent Tam said.
“With all due respect, ma’am, there’s no way in hell I’m sitting this one out after all the crap Jordan put me through.” J.T. grinned, and I felt my face flush. “Besides, I know the layout of the house, and I’m a familiar face to Jeanie, that is, if she’s still alive.”
“Okay, somebody get Agent Monroe a weapon. Let’s roll.”
Chapter 50
“Finally waking up? Hell, Jeanie is tougher than you are, Kent. How does it feel to literally lose control?” She smirked and glanced at the wet spot between his legs. “You’re pathetic. You can’t help your whore girlfriend, you can’t lie to me anymore, and you can’t call the shots. I’m in charge now.”
Jordan watched from across the room, comfortable on the couch, as Kent stared at Jeanie’s swollen face and frantic eyes.
“She isn’t that pretty anymore, is she? But then you look like a pile of shit too.”
He thrashed in the chair.
She cocked her head. His anguish amused her. “Is there something you want to say?”
He nodded.
Jordan pushed off the couch and approached them then ripped the tape and a layer of skin off his lips. Kent groaned, and he grimaced with pain.
“What the hell is wrong with you? Have you lost your mind?”
She laughed and gave him a violent slap across the face. Jordan pulled Jade’s gun out of her pocket and rubbed the cold steel barrel against Kent’s reddened cheek. He jerked his head back.
“No, Kent, I didn’t lose my mind. Just my daughter. Imagine my surprise, a week ago today as a matter of fact, on the sixth-month anniversary of Emily’s death. You thought I’d already left to go shopping, but I forgot the grocery list. When I came back into the house, I overheard you talking on your phone in the bedroom.” Jordan stuck her finger in Jeanie’s face and jabbed her. She spat the words at both of them. “You were talking to this pig right here, the woman that used to be my best friend. You were discussing our daughter and how, six months later, you still hadn’t gotten over your feeling of guilt. I heard you admit how you weren’t watching her when the wall collapsed. Instead, you were on the phone, professing your love for Jeanie and planning your next sexcapade. Emily was outside by herself, and both of you killed her, just as much as the men who designed and built that faulty wall, and just as much as John Nels did when he gave all of those people a pass and refused to sue them.” Jordan wiped her tear-stained cheeks on her sleeve. “How many miscarriages did I endure before we finally got that gift, our precious Emily, and now she’s gone?”
“Jordan, please, it was a horrible accident.”
“No, it wasn’t. She wouldn’t be dead if you would have been paying attention to her instead of talking to your girlfriend on the phone. Emily was only three years old, for God’s sake. It’s time.”
“Time for what?”
“Time to pay for your deception. You cheated on me with my best friend, and you killed our daughter, the only child I’ll ever have. Look where you are right now, Kent. When I talked to you on the phone last night, you said you’d be home this morning. I guess you meant after you stopped in for a quickie with Jeanie. You have no remorse.” Jordan followed Kent’s eyes as he locked on the blocks that sat against the wall. She laughed. “Look familiar? Yeah, those are the cinder blocks from our house. I only need two. One for each of you.”
Jordan picked them up, one at a time, and placed them next to each chair. Kent pleaded and begged for mercy.
“You know, I’ve listened to you far too long. Always criticizing me, always telling me I should be medicated. I’ve heard enough.” She leaned in, close enough to feel his breath on her skin, and stretched the tape over his mouth. “There, I never want to hear your voice again.”
She turned Jeanie’s chair so it would line up against the back of Kent’s. She unwound the roll of duct tape as she circled them twice and bound them together.
“Sorry you can’t gaze into each other’s eyes as you die, but that’s life. Or not.” She chuckled as she tore the tape off the roll. “There, that’s perfect.” Jordan stood back and studied her work. “You killed Emily together, now you can die together. Which do you want first, the cinder block crushing your skull or a bullet to the brain?”
Chapter 51
We came in quickly and quietly. The sirens had been silenced two miles back, and now the house was surrounded. Squad cars had blocked off Adams, Lincoln, and Franklin Streets. Three black sedans, two cruisers, and an ambulance filled the street to the left of Jeanie Livingston’s home as we gathered along the side of the house and planned our approach.
“Did you find out who that second car in the driveway belongs to?” I whispered out over my radio. Officer Colby had pulled up the plate number for that mystery vehicle on his squad car’s computer.
“Yes, Agent Monroe. That vehicle belongs to Kent Taylor.”
“Shit. That’s Jordan’s husband. What about the garage?”
Boardman responded. “We have eyes on the white van, Jade. It’s parked inside.”
“Okay, guys, I’m taking the front door with J.T., Dave, and Bruce. The side door back there”—I pointed over my shoulder—“leads into the laundry room, which is attached to the kitchen. We need several officers to breach that door. There’s an entry into a mudroom from the garage, but that probably won’t be an issue since the overhead is closed. The last entry point is the patio sliders at the back, but we should hold off on that one until the last second. We don’t know where they’re located in the house just yet, and we don’t want her to see any of us. This has to be a blitz attack, and don’t forget
she has my gun. From our initial drive-by, it looked like all the curtains were drawn. That’ll help us sneak up on the house. Everyone have your ears perked. I’ll give the signal right as we breach the front door.” I tapped my chest. “Protected?”
The officers nodded. They were all wearing vests.
“Okay, this woman is a loose cannon. Be careful.”
I jerked my head to the left, crouched down, and ran for the front door with J.T., Dave, and Bruce at my side. We reached the stoop, positioned ourselves, then I whispered into my radio. “Let’s do it!”
With a nod from J.T. and our guns drawn, I coiled back my leg and, with a forceful kick, broke in the door.
Jordan stood in front of Kent and Jeanie with a cinder block high above her head. She spun at the sound behind her.
“Jordan Taylor, drop that block now or I’ll shoot!”
Jordan laughed when she saw me. “Agent Monroe, you must have nine lives. I certainly didn’t think I’d see you again.”
“I told you to drop that cinder block.”
Kent rocked the chairs, and his eyes bulged with fear. Jordan’s concentration on me broke when the chairs tipped and fell to the floor. She yelled out and raised the block even higher and was ready to release it into their skulls with a fury. I had a split second to think and shot the cinder block. It exploded in her hands. Gravel dust and pieces of cement shot out like shrapnel, and that second of commotion gave Jordan just enough time to react. I saw the gun come out of her pocket. Three shots rang out—two in the heads of Kent and Jeanie and one from Bruce’s weapon that went into Jordan’s chest.
J.T. ran out to the sidewalk. “Son of a bitch, get the EMTs in here, now.”
Everyone rounded the house to see what had taken place. The ambulance backed across the front lawn, and the EMTs pulled out a gurney.
“Step aside and let us through.”
“What the hell happened in here?” Tam yelled out as she barged into the living room.
I knelt at Jeanie and Kent’s lifeless bodies. There was nothing anyone could do to help them, that much was obvious. I turned to Tam and shook my head.
“What about Jordan?”
I touched her neck and found a weak pulse. I waved the EMTs over. “Hurry, guys, she’s still breathing.”
Jordan was stabilized for the moment and loaded into the ambulance. The EMT closed the back doors.
“Hang on,” I said and stepped up on the bumper. “I’m riding with her.”
J.T. gave me a questioning look. “Why, Jade?”
“She doesn’t look like she has long for this life. I need more from her.”
I climbed in, slammed the doors, and the ambulance hit the sirens.
“Jordan, can you hear me?”
She groaned, and bubbles of blood seeped out of her mouth.
“Jordan, talk to me. Tell me why you snapped.”
“Kent.”
“What about Kent?”
“He let Emily die… not watching her.” Jordan coughed out a mouthful of blood. “He was on the phone with Jeanie instead.”
Piece by piece, the story came together. I understood, even as deluded as she was, why she thought the killings were deserved.
“Why did you kill Beverly Grant, the 9-1-1 operator? What was her sin?”
Jordan sucked in a deep breath, and her raspy voice trailed off.
“Jordan? Why did Bev Grant die?”
Blood pooled on the gurney beneath Jordan, and I knew she didn’t have long. Her words were barely a whisper. I leaned in as close as I could, my ear against her bloody lips.
“She sent the ambulance to the wrong address. Emily might have lived if the EMTs had gotten there ten minutes earlier. Instead, my baby died in the ambulance just like—”
“Just like what, Jordan? Just like what?”
A deep and final breath came from her mouth, almost like a sigh of relief. The demons had left her body. I pulled back and looked at Jordan’s face. Her eyes were fixed and unblinking. I checked her pulse and put my ear to her chest. She was gone.
I knocked on the window between me and the driver’s cab. The EMT in the passenger seat turned around, and I shook my head. I saw him slide up his sleeve and check the time. The driver pulled to the curb, and they came around the back. They needed to double-check for a pulse and officially call the time of her death. Jordan Taylor died at 10:42 Sunday morning. The EMT silenced the siren and drove her body to the hospital’s morgue.
Chapter 52
“About ready to head out?” J.T. asked.
“Yeah, just bang on my door in twenty minutes. I’ll know it’s you.” I hung up and finished packing.
Our paperwork and debriefing was complete, and the case in Houston was closed. Tam needed a good explanation of why I had gone to the Taylor house alone that night. I explained to her how I had tried J.T.’s phone numerous times as I drove but wasn’t able to get through to him. Although we never learned why—whether it was cell service issues, something blocking the reception when the guys were at TaTas, or a hundred other reasons—the fact remained that I went to Jordan’s house alone and suffered the consequences.
Jordan’s trigger, I learned in her ambulance confession, was that on the sixth-month anniversary of Emily’s death, she found out Kent and Jeanie were having an affair. She also overheard Kent admit his guilt about not keeping his eye on Emily that fateful day.
As sad as the situation was, Jordan lost control and snapped. She turned into a violent serial killer, and she had to be stopped.
When it was all said and done, Jordan Taylor, along with eight other people, died because of a tragic accident that had happened six months prior. I’d never understand the demons that took over the mind of a serial killer, but my duty as a sworn FBI agent was to find them, apprehend them if at all possible, and bring them to justice.
J.T. and I had said our goodbyes to Agent Tam, Bruce, and Dave earlier that morning. Now, our jet was fueled and waiting on the tarmac for takeoff in an hour.
I zipped my suitcase and gave myself a final glance in the mirror. I was thankful for concealer to cover the stun gun marks and bruises until they were healed.
A loud bang sounded on my door. I looked through the peephole and saw J.T. grinning, then he covered the hole with his finger. I chuckled and opened the door.
“Spying on me, huh, partner?”
“Who, me?”
“Yeah, right.” He stretched out his hand and took my bag. “Ready to go home?”
“Definitely.”
The elevator doors opened at the first floor. We checked out at the reception counter and turned to the exit when I saw two familiar faces walking toward me.
I laughed as I embraced both of them. “I can’t believe you guys recognized me.”
Dan and Leon smirked. “We had to stop by. We were curious.”
“Yeah? About what?”
“We were pretty sure there was a good-looking FBI agent under the dirt and bug bites, and we were right.”
I gave them each a kiss on the cheek. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you old farts are flirting with me. In all sincerity, you guys are my heroes, and I’ll always be grateful for your help.”
Leon looked at our suitcases. “Heading home, Jade?”
“I’m afraid so. Wisconsin is looking pretty good right now. Take care, guys, and stay out of mischief unless you’re saving someone’s life.”
I waved goodbye to the guys as J.T. and I climbed into the waiting car. We were at the airport and sitting on the jet forty-five minutes later.
“I’m going to give Spelling a call and tell him we’re on the plane. We’ll update the group in the morning. Tonight, I just want to go home, relax with a bulldog on my lap, and kick up my feet.”
“I feel ya, partner.” I clicked my seat belt and stared out the window. It had been a long week, and I looked forward to going home too.
The engines revved, the jet thrusted forward, and we took to the sky.
�
�I still have time to call Amber, don’t I?”
“Yeah, another few minutes.”
I dialed my sister and told her we were heading back. I promised I’d be home for dinner. Amber said meatloaf, mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn were on that night’s menu.
“It sounds delicious, sis, and I can’t wait. Just one more thing. I’d love a large glass of wine when I get home, and pour one for yourself, Jack, and Kate too. I need a comfy chair, a fire in the fireplace, and my feet on the ottoman. We have a lot of catching up to do.”
THE END
Thank you for reading Snapped, Book 1 in the new Agent Jade Monroe FBI Thriller Series. I hope you enjoyed it!
Follow the complete Jade Monroe saga starting with the Detective Jade Monroe Crime Thriller Series. The books are listed in order below:
Maniacal
Captive
Fallacy
Premonition
Exposed
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Snapped: An Agent Jade Monroe FBI Thriller Book 1 Page 20
