Deadly Deception

by Marissa Garner

  “Yep, I did. No one’s talked to Molly since this morning.” He ladled sauce over a mountain of pasta.

  “What about Nate or Uncle Chad?”

  “Nope. Not a word this afternoon.”

  She put a small serving of spaghetti on Callie’s plate. Her daughter snatched a long, slippery noodle and sucked it into her mouth.

  “Okay, one more before I put the sauce on.”

  Once Callie had her second noodle, Jessie cut the spaghetti in a crisscross motion and spooned sauce on top. She held up the Parmesan. “Cheese?”

  The little head bobbed. “Lots.”

  “Mom’s hair appointment is the only thing on the calendar. Did she mention anything else before she left?” Jessie asked, and served herself.

  Hal shrugged. “Nothing specific, but she said the errands would take all afternoon.”

  “She didn’t call or leave a message on the answering machine while you were playing with Callie?”

  “Nope,” he said around a bite of garlic toast. “Maybe she went to a movie.”

  Jessie frowned. “I didn’t know there was a theater in Ramona now. Besides, when has she ever gone to a movie on a weeknight?”

  “Before you moved…” He cleared his throat. “She used to go over to the Poway theaters with a few of her girlfriends. Sometimes the prices are cheaper during the week.”

  A sliver of guilt pricked her. She and Callie had barged into her parents’ lives and destroyed their calm, orderly world. They never complained, but she knew it hadn’t been easy for them. The added stress and work had resulted in some heated nighttime arguments, which her parents didn’t know she’d overheard. Maybe something had happened today that triggered a daytime fight.

  She speared a bite of salad and pinned him with a serious expression. “Was everything okay today?”

  His fork stopped midair. “What do you mean?”

  “You know, did you and Mom have an argument?”

  He gulped and blinked. “Well, now that you mention it, we had a…a disagreement.”

  “About what?”

  Hal’s gaze darted away and then came back to his granddaughter. “Molly…uh…wanted to sign someone up for…uh…dance and tumbling lessons.”

  Callie’s head jerked up. “Dance and tumbling lessons? For me? I’m someone.”

  “Yes, sweetie, you sure are.” Jessie rolled her eyes. “Dad, I’ve warned you about Big Ears.”

  “Sorry, honey,” he said to Callie, ignoring her mother. “Grandpa and Grandma would love to get you lessons, but we can’t afford it right now.”

  Guilt cut a little deeper. Her daughter’s pouty face didn’t help. I should be able to afford the lessons. If Drake was paying the child support he owed, money for dance, tumbling, finger-painting, swimming, or any other lessons wouldn’t be a problem. But without it or the alimony, her finances were tighter than her parents’.

  Pushing aside her anger toward her ex, she refocused on the issue at hand. “I understand Mom would be disappointed, but I can’t believe she’d miss dinner over it.”

  Hal did his classic shrug. “Women.”

  Jessie sighed. “Where else would she go?”

  He took a deep breath. “She might be at the coffee shop in town.”

  They dropped the subject because Callie launched into a pathetic tale about how much she wanted to dance and tumble. Jessie caught herself glancing at the clock every few minutes. She’d never known her mother to act childishly, but staying away, worrying everyone, was definitely childish. As if Jessie didn’t have enough problems already, playing referee for her parents might be the last straw.

  When Callie finished eating, Jessie pushed her own plate away even though she’d barely touched her food. “Bath time,” she announced.

  Callie stuck out her lower lip and whined.

  “Since you napped so late, I’ll read two books before lights-out, okay?”

  “Okay.” She scrambled off the chair and ran toward the bathroom.

  “Dad, would you clean up?”

  “Sure, no problem.”

  A bath, three books, a backrub, a glass of water, two trips to the bathroom, and four hugs for Grandpa later, Jessie turned out the light in Callie’s room. “Good night, sweetie. I love you.”

  Callie’s eyes were already closing. “Loves you, too.”

  Hal was half asleep in his recliner when she walked into the living room.

  “Did you talk to Mom?”

  He raised the back of the chair to upright. “Haven’t heard a word.”

  “This is ridiculous. I can’t believe she’s acting this way.”

  “She’ll get over it.” Scowling, he cocked his head. “You know, maybe she’s still upset about the big fight with Nate this morning.” He yawned. “But she’ll get over that, too. I’m going to bed.” He lowered the footrest and pushed himself out of the chair.

  “Dad, it’s only eight. What did you do with Callie to wear you both out?”

  He paused before facing her. “Didn’t she tell you?”

  “Callie said she couldn’t ’member because her brain was still asleep.”

  He snorted. “I can’t believe she doesn’t ’member hiking over to the creek to feed the ducks. It was great. Had the place all to ourselves.” He shook his head. “Kids. Ya gotta love ’em. Good night.”

  “Seriously, Dad. How can you possibly sleep with Mom not home? Aren’t you worried?”

  He shrugged. “Molly’s a big girl…and she’s done this before.”

  “She has? Really? This doesn’t seem like her.”

  “Guess things changed while you were gone.”

  He trudged down the hallway into the master bedroom and shut the door. Jessie glanced at her watch and headed to her own room to change clothes.

  She sat down on the bed to slip off her shoes but paused. Closing her eyes, she inhaled and exhaled slowly. As much as she didn’t want the blame to rest on her shoulders, she knew her parents’ argument was her fault. For so many reasons. She needed to fix the situation before it got any worse.

  When she reached the master bedroom door, Jessie raised her hand to knock, but she hesitated. If she told Hal what she was doing, he’d try to talk her out of it and insist she not go. But she had to do something.

  Determined to stick with her plan, she returned to the kitchen and wrote a note to tell her stepdad where she was going just in case he got up and found her gone. Leaving it on the table, she grabbed her purse and stepped out the back door.

  Her breath caught as the deepening darkness enveloped her. She reached back inside to switch on the patio light. After locking the door and pulling it shut, she hurried toward her car.

  Although she’d grown up in this house, the years she’d lived in Chicago with Drake had changed her. Perhaps the fear of big-city crime had followed her home because the lack of streetlights and neighbors here now made her uncomfortable. What had once been precious privacy now felt like vulnerable isolation.

  The cloying darkness and quiet pressed in around her. Her eyes searched the shadowy property while her feet raced across the driveway.

  She clicked the door lock button as soon as she jumped into the Camry. The instant the car started, she flipped on the headlights. Once on the road, she switched on the brights and sped up. The sooner she got into town and talked some sense into her mother the better.

  A mile down the deserted road, she barreled around the corner onto Wheaton. The Camry’s lights swept across the asphalt to the opposite shoulder and landed on a familiar car.

  * * *

  Sean Burke glanced at the flashing lights in the rearview mirror. His eyes widened in surprise and then darted to the speedometer of his Ford F-150 truck. He wasn’t speeding, not even close. Scowling, he angled a look over his shoulder at the vehicle behind him.

  “What the hell?” he muttered, slowing and pulling onto the shoulder of Highway 67 near Ramona, California.

  After lowering the windows and turning off the motor, Se
an sat with his hands clearly visible on the steering wheel. Through the glare of the headlights reflected in the mirror, he squinted to see a San Diego County sheriff’s deputy get out of the patrol car and approach his truck on the passenger side. The man swung a flashlight in a sweeping motion, but his body was just a silhouette in the vehicle’s lights. The crunch of his footsteps on the gravel stopped just before he reached the front passenger window, leaving him partially hidden by the side and roof of the truck’s cab.

  “Do you know why I pulled you over, son?” a deep, raspy voice asked.

  “No, sir. I know I wasn’t speeding.”

  “That’s right. Your violation is more serious.”

  More serious? Sean frowned. He hadn’t violated any traffic laws. The Los Angeles Police Department disliked their detectives getting tickets, so he’d become a very careful driver since joining the force. “What did I do wrong, Deputy?”

  The man huffed, moved forward, and shined the flashlight directly into Sean’s eyes. “You’ve got a goddamn LA Dodgers bumper sticker, you idiot. This here is San Diego Padres country.”

  The deputy’s voice changed as he spoke, losing its scratchiness and deepness. By the time he finished his reprimand, Sean was laughing.

  “Luke Johnson, you son of a bitch. Get your fucking flashlight out of my eyes.”

  “Watch your mouth, dickhead. Show some respect or I’ll haul your ass in.” The deputy lowered the flashlight and leaned in the passenger window, resting his forearms on the door. “Heard from your brother that you were coming into town. You need a breath of smog-free air or somethin’?”

  More than you could know. LA was a tough place to live for a man who’d grown up in a rural area of San Diego County. In addition to the eye-burning smog that practically made him ill, the SUV-congested freeways, the sardine-can housing, and the gang-related crime made every day a pressure cooker. “Damn right. The smog gets so thick that you have to chew it before you can breathe it.”

  Luke snorted. “Wanna get some coffee?”

  “Sure.”

  Sean followed his friend to the 7-Eleven, where they both purchased the largest size cup of plain black coffee. As Luke checked in on the radio, Sean settled into the passenger seat of the car. The vehicle’s interior brought back memories of his days as an LAPD patrol officer before he was promoted to detective.

  “Your brother mentioned you’re staying with him,” Luke said after a swig of java.

  “With is relative. Glenn’s out of town so much on business, I’ll probably never see him.”

  “Don’t want you to get lonely, bro, so I’ll call ya on my days off. We can raise some hell like back in the day.”

  Raising hell wasn’t exactly in Sean’s plans. He wanted time to think, to decompress. His last case had been such a revelation of the underbelly of LA that he’d burned out. He needed a break. Bad. Technically, he was being disciplined with a brief suspension for not following proper procedures in solving that case, but he was also taking all his available vacation days. Hopefully it would be enough time to decide if he should go back to LA and his job.

  Before Sean had to come up with an excuse not to party with his long-time friend, the radio crackled to life. “Check out an abandoned car on the east end of Wheaton. Caller also reported the driver missing,” the dispatcher said.

  “Vehicle description? Driver’s name?” the deputy asked.

  “Older model Buick. Missing driver is Molly Freeman.”

  Sean stiffened.

  “Who called it in?” Luke asked.

  “Her daughter, Jessica Hargrove.”

  Sean tensed even more. Painful memories tightened his chest.

  “I’m on it. Ten-four.” Luke turned to him. “Sorry, bro, gotta go.”

  “I’ll come with you.”

  Luke nailed him with a you-gotta-be-shittin’-me look. “You’re way out of your jurisdiction, Detective Burke.”

  He played innocent. “Detective who? I’m Sean, your hell-raising high school buddy, just enjoying a civilian ride-along.”

  Luke shook his head. “Not a good idea. And you know why.”

  “What’s the big deal?” Sean shrugged. “A middle-aged woman has car trouble, decides to walk home in the dark, and her daughter overreacts. C’mon, buddy. How serious can this be?”

  Chapter 2

  Ten minutes later, Deputy Luke Johnson parked several yards behind the abandoned Buick. The cruiser’s headlights shone past the old car to illuminate a Camry parked in front of it. The driver opened the door a crack and peered out warily.

  The deputy killed the engine but left the lights on. “Do us both a favor, man, and stay in the damn car.”

  Sean didn’t answer.

  Muttering a curse, Luke climbed out and slammed the door. He flipped on the flashlight and spent several minutes inspecting the Buick and the surrounding area. When he finished, he flicked the beam toward the Camry and motioned for the person inside to join him. A woman slowly got out of the car.

  Sean swallowed past the boulder in his throat. Jess. The sight of her resurrected a long-buried ache in his chest. He knew she’d been married and had a kid, but she didn’t look much different. In pants and a blouse, she was still slender, although her curves seemed slightly fuller than eight years ago. He couldn’t tell if her rich brown hair was quite as long as he remembered, but it was long enough to be pulled back in a ponytail. His fingers itched to discover if it was still as silky.

  And her voice. Would it affect him as it used to? Without a sound, he opened the car door so he could hear better.

  When Luke and Jess met at the front of the Buick, she threw herself into his arms and buried her face against his neck. “Oh, Luke, I’m so glad they sent you.”

  He wrapped one arm around her and stroked her hair with the other hand. “It’s gonna be all right, Jessie. Just calm down and tell me what’s going on.”

  Sean glared at the couple. What the hell? So this was why Luke didn’t want him tagging along. The traitor had hooked up with Jess. Damn him.

  Luke turned her so she wasn’t facing the bright headlights, which meant her back was to Sean. His jaw clenched; he wanted to see her face. And the jerk knew it.

  Raising her head, Jessie looked up at Luke. “Mom’s missing. She never came home from running errands this afternoon. I decided to go look for her at the coffee shop, but then I found her car.” She clutched the front of his uniform. “Where is she?”

  “Don’t worry. I’m sure everything’s fine.” He bracketed her shoulders with his hands and put a little distance between them. “You didn’t see the Buick on your way home from work?”

  She shook her head. “No, I take the other route past the Turners’ place.”

  “Okay. What were your mom’s errands?”

  Jess let go of his shirt to swipe at her cheeks. “Well, she had a hair appointment.”

  “Did she keep it?”

  “I don’t know. We should ask Karla. She’ll know. But Mom’s appointment is always just after lunch, so it wouldn’t make her this late.”

  “Right, but I’ll confirm with my sister just to be sure. Anything else?”

  Sean pushed the door farther open and slipped out of the car. As the two continued to talk, he stepped beyond the gravel shoulder into the dirt and quietly approached the passenger side of the Buick.

  “My clothes are hanging in the backseat, so Mom must’ve stopped at the dry cleaners.”

  “I noticed the clothes, too. We’ll call the shop to see if they can tell us what time she was there. Any place else?”

  Jess sighed. “Not that I know of, but Dad said she expected to be gone all afternoon.”

  “Has the Buick been having problems?” Luke shot a quick glance in that direction.

  Sean ducked.

  “Oh, yeah. It’s been giving her fits lately.”

  “So it likely died on her.”

  “I get that, Luke, but Mom could’ve walked home from here by now, been home hours
ago. So where is she?” Jess’s voice trembled with emotion.

  Sean knew where her mother might be. And if Molly Freeman was indeed gagged, bound, and dying in the trunk, they needed to rescue the poor woman immediately. Complicating his professional opinion was an irrational longing for Jess to see him, which was probably a mistake but an undeniable desire nevertheless. Regardless of his personal feelings, though, his cop training told him what he had to do. And do it now.

  He drew a deep breath, braced himself, and stepped from behind the Buick. “Luke, come here. We need to talk.”

  * * *

  No, it can’t be. Jessie froze before whipping around. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to throw daggers at him with her gaze. Quickly moving beyond Luke’s reach, she marched across the gravel to stand in front of her former boyfriend. Years of hurt, disappointment, and confusion welled up inside her. Unable to stop herself, she slapped him. Hard. Then she shoved him again and again until Sean grabbed her wrists.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” she spat, wrenching free of his grasp.

  His expression darkened, and he held up both hands in surrender. “Just trying to help.”

  Her throat grew so tight she wasn’t sure she could speak. Her heart pounded like a sledgehammer. “I wouldn’t want your help if you were the last person on earth. Go away.” She raised her hand and took a threatening step toward the bastard who’d broken her heart.

  Luke caught her arm from behind. “Relax, Jessie. Sean’s not trying to cause trouble. He just happened to be with me when I got the call.”

  Sean’s gaze hardened with a suspicious gleam. “I bet you wish I wasn’t here as much as she does.”

  Luke frowned. “Yeah. But, as usual, you wouldn’t listen. If you had to tag along to gloat, couldn’t you at least stay in the car?”

  “Gloat? About what?”

  “Forget it.”

  Still stunned, Jessie allowed Luke to lead her to the Camry. “Make Sean leave,” she insisted.

  “Can’t. He rode with me. Now just stay here while I see what he wants.” Luke came back after speaking to Sean quietly for less than a minute. “Do you have a key to the Buick so we don’t have to jimmy the lock?”