by Diane Capri
Mercer closed his door. “From the reports I’ve read, you’re hoping for a lot.” He breathed heavily and fidgeted with the car’s dials and knobs.
Jess watched the digital clock on the dashboard. She knew she was right to wait.
The clock ticked over. Ten minutes had passed since the hallway light came on. Julia Kemp could have made coffee and shaken off her sleep.
“Okay. Let’s go,” Jess said.
Mercer was out of the car and across the road before she had closed her door. She ran to catch up and stepped in front of him.
He reached over her shoulder and pressed the doorbell. A buzzer echoed inside. He kept his finger on the button. The buzzing continued.
Jess pulled his hand away. “I think she knows we’re here.”
“We wouldn’t be here at all if he’d done something about his brother a long time ago.”
Jess took a deep breath. “I know you’re angry. You have every right to be. But we need answers, not more enemies.”
The door cracked open, held by a security chain. Through the gap, Jess saw a woman with thick golden brown hair and big dark eyes. Her friendly round jawline contrasted with her deep scowl.
“You’re Julia Kemp, right?” Jess put a friendly tone into the words. “I’m Jess Kimball. This is my friend Roy Mercer.”
“What do you want?” Her voice was thick with sleep.
“That coffee smells great.” Jess smiled as she sniffed the aroma appreciatively. “Can we come in?”
Julia looked at them for a couple of seconds before she put her hand on the door to push it closed.
Mercer shoved past Jess and wedged his foot in the diminishing gap. He held his badge out at Julia’s eye level.
Julia groaned.
“Either talk to us now or talk to us after I’ve arrested you.”
“For what?”
“Littering. Spitting on the sidewalk. Broken headlight. You name it. I’ll make it stick.”
“Get the hell off my porch.” She pushed the door hard against his boot.
“I mean it, Julia.” He pushed back against the door, and the old chain snapped.
The door flew open. Julia staggered backward into the room. Only a firm grip on the doorknob kept her from falling flat on her ass.
Julia righted herself and glared at Mercer before she walked away.
“Thanks for inviting us in,” Mercer said as he entered the house.
Jess followed him inside and closed the door behind her.
The duplex’s kitchen was at the rear, and a sitting room was at the front. The two were separated by a half-wall. They followed Julia into the kitchen. What looked like two five-year-old boys sat at the kitchen table eating toast. Julia sent them to their room. They left silently.
They followed her into the sitting room. A desk was pressed against one wall. An old computer and printer sat on top. The keyboard was lost under a mass of junk mail. Julia bundled it up and stuffed it into a plastic bag from the local supermarket.
“I wasn’t expecting visitors.” She pointed to a two-person sofa. “Sit.”
Jess pulled a fifty dollar bill out of her pocket and gave it to Julia. “For the broken chain.”
Julia’s eyes widened, and she stuffed the bill into her bra.
“We were sorry to hear about your husband.” Jess sat and Mercer stood behind the sofa.
“Right,” Julia said with contempt. “Like you cared one whit about Benny.”
Jess looked at a photo of a man in a wheelchair on a table beside the sofa. “Is this Benny?”
“Guess.”
Jess gave a sympathetic smile. “Was he in a wheelchair all his life?”
Julia shook her head. “Accident. That’s what killed him.”
“The accident?”
“He got a staph infection from the surgery. Got worse and worse. Antibiotics couldn’t treat it.” She paused and, after a moment, shrugged.
Jess nodded. “I’m really sorry.”
Julia sneered. “What do you want?”
“Have you seen your husband’s brother?” Mercer said.
Julia sighed. “Norman? Not since he was let out last time.”
“Which was?”
She shrugged again. “Couple of years ago, more or less. He worked for Benny a little. Then I never saw him again.”
“Cut the crap,” Mercer said. “He’s been seen in Santa Irene. You telling me he didn’t come to his own brother’s funeral?”
“How would I know?” She stuck out her chin.
Jess said, “Have you had any contact with him at all, Mrs. Kemp?”
Julia gestured toward the computer. “I expect you’ve been monitoring our phone and email. Just like you did when that Warner woman was taken.”
“How did you feel about Norman’s involvement in that?” Jess said.
Julia glared. “Seemed like that doctor got what was coming to him.”
“Norman kidnapped Karen Warner,” Jess said.
“We weren’t his guardians.” She flicked her fingers at Mercer. “We’re not responsible for Norman.”
Jess cleared her throat and waited until Julia turned her gaze away from Mercer. “Karen Warner’s sister disappeared, too.”
“Very sorry, but still not my problem.”
“Melissa lived in Bear Hill.”
Julia frowned. “How nice for her.”
“You know the place?”
Julia shook her head. “Everyone’s got to live somewhere.”
“But here’s the thing, Julia.” Jess paused until Julia looked up. “She was found dead. Murdered. And someone burned her house to the ground.”
Julia pressed her lips into a tight line.
“Bit of a coincidence. Two sisters.” Mercer said. “And your Norman definitely kidnapped at least one of them.”
“I told you. I haven’t seen him, and my husband’s dead, too. I’ve got enough problems of my own.”
Mercer leaned over the sofa. He pointed a finger at Benny’s photograph. “I find one shred of evidence that you’ve talked to Norman, or you’re lying to us, and I’ll make it my life’s work to put you somewhere a million times worse than here.”
“I’ve got nothing more to say to you.” Julia walked to the front and opened the door. “Get out.”
Jess followed Mercer back to his car. He wasted no time in swinging the cruiser around and peeling away from Benny’s widow.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Wednesday, May 24
Santa Irene, Arizona
Hades stood at the corner of Lawson’s garage, deep in shadow despite the daylight outside.
He watched Cora ease the Lawsons’ Nissan back into its space. She switched off the engine, and he pressed the button to close the door. He waited until the door was fully closed before moving out of the shadows.
He rapped on the windows. Julia looked at him from the rear seat.
Hades spread his arms. “Home sweet home.”
Julia stepped out of the car, frowning. Her children wriggled out of the car behind her. Hades held out his fist and knuckle-bumped each boy in turn.
“We’re done,” Hades said.
Julia raised her eyebrows, questioningly. “What? What’s done?”
“Inside first. We can talk inside.” He walked out of the side of the garage, across the wide patio, and in through the large patio doors. Julia and the boys followed.
Shorty appeared at the bottom of the stairs. He raised a hand. “Yo, guys.”
The boys ran over and hugged him. Julia waved.
Shorty gestured up the stairs. “Talk later. I gotta go back. Keep up the watch.”
Cora sat on the sofa. Pony prowled the kitchen, picking at snacks in the cupboards.
“I don’t understand,” Julia said.
Hades shook his head. “I know, I know. We couldn’t contact you. Couldn’t risk it.”
Julia looked at him.
Hades grinned. A big wide stupid grin. “We are inches from being mil
lionaires.”
Julia’s mouth hung open.
Hades gestured to the house. “Look at this place. This whole house is what? Three mil? Four?” He shrugged. “Who knows, right?”
“Whose house is this?”
“Lawson’s.”
“Simon Lawson?”
“Yeah. This is his place. And look at it. It’s worth millions.”
“What are you going to do? Sell it?”
“Hell, no.” Hades stood in front of Julia. “Are you ready for this?”
“What?”
“He wasn’t just some doctor with maybe a million stashed away. People like that can’t afford places like this.” Hades grinned. “He had twenty-three million in a hidden account.”
Julia’s eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open.
Hades shook his head. “Twenty-three million. He scammed it out of people. Good people who deserved better. He took their money. Just like he screwed Benny. And now? He’s going to pay for it. Because it’s ours. All ours.”
Julia looked at Cora and Pony.
Cora nodded. “It’s not a joke. It’s all ours. Or it will be.”
Julia frowned. “Will be?”
Hades grabbed the papers from the brokerage account and held them up. “It gets transferred into our account at 2:00 p.m., our time.” He checked his watch. “Four hours, Julia. Four hours and everything those scum did to you and Benny and the boys…” he lowered the papers. “It gets paid back.” He laughed. “Paid back with interest.”
Julia shook her head slowly. “It’s just a lot to take in.”
Hades threw his hands up. “It’s twenty-three million to take in. I just wish Benny was here with us.”
Julia swallowed. Everyone was silent. She sniffed. “The police were at my house today.”
Hades frowned. “Today?”
“This morning. A lousy cop and he had a woman with him. Asking questions about you.”
Hades scowled and leaned down toward Julia. “What did you say?”
“Said I hadn’t seen you since you got out last time.”
“What else?”
“Nothing. I told them to get lost.”
Hades peered into the distance. “What police department?”
“I don’t know. Some guy called Mercer. And I didn’t get the woman’s name.”
“FBI?”
“Definitely not.”
Hades looked at Cora and Pony and back at Julia. He sighed. “Four more hours. We just have to keep on our guard, and be ready to leave.”
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Wednesday, May 24
Santa Irene, Arizona
Jess struggled to fasten her seatbelt as Mercer slung the Ford through a ninety-degree turn to join the main road.
“I told you,” he said, “The Kemps were no use at all.”
Jess ignored the dig. “Did you have his computer monitored, back then?”
“According to the report, they searched it, but they didn’t find anything useful.”
“Any connection to Melissa Green?”
Mercer shrugged. “Don’t know.”
“Or The Art Market, or Bear Hill?”
“I can look.”
“She seemed curious about the fact Karen Warner had a sister,” Jess said.
“She missed a beat, but maybe she just didn’t know?”
“Surely it was brought up at the trial?”
Mercer glanced at her. “Why would it be? She probably watched every moment of the trial, but I don’t think Melissa was mentioned at all.”
“It was a big trial. Got lots of attention. Whether it was relevant or not, the press would have done articles on every family member at some point.”
Mercer grunted. “I guess.”
“And she said Hades worked for Benny? Doing what?”
“Kemp did some construction work. I don’t think it was very successful. I guess Hades could have worked for him.”
“Construction? Like the kind of plumbing somebody did to Melissa’s house?”
Mercer jerked his thumb toward the papers on the back seat. “It’s in there somewhere.”
Jess twisted around, shuffled the mess of paper into a single stack, and placed it on her lap.
She sorted through the pages until she found Benny’s background. “General construction. I guess that includes plumbing. Or…”
“Or, what?”
“Benny couldn’t have done that sort of plumbing from a wheelchair. But maybe Hades learned a trade while he was in prison?”
Mercer punched a button on his radio. It crackled and hissed. He punched the button again, and the radio turned off. “Out of range.”
Jess fumbled her phone from her bag, the papers sliding around on her lap. “Who do you want?”
Mercer recited a number. She put the call on speaker. A young man’s voice answered formally.
Mercer leaned toward Jess’s phone. “This is Roy. Find out if Hades, real name Norman Kemp, learned a trade during his last prison stint.”
“Captain. I thought you were taking time off.”
“Find out and text the answer back to this number, okay?”
“Sure. Few minutes.”
Jess ended the call. “You’re out on a limb here, aren’t you?”
“And you’re not? You’ve been shot at. Twice.” Mercer grunted as he took the road for Bear Hill.
“You heard from Santa Irene PD?” Jess said.
He shook his head. “They’re only going to talk to me if they want something.”
“We could call on them.”
“I’m on leave, remember?”
“I could do it.”
He glanced sideways at her. “Maybe. Worth a shot for anything new.” He took the next exit and doubled back down the service road to rejoin the road into town.
Jess straightened the papers on her lap again. Her photographs were at the top of the pile.
She pulled them out and waved a picture of the bike magazines. “Definitely not Melissa Green’s reading material.”
Mercer glanced at the pictures. “It did seem weird that there was a lot of food in the house, but given that it wasn’t just Melissa Green, I guess that’s not so strange.”
Jess leafed through the pages. “The place was lived in. There was milk and perishables in the fridge. So they must have been getting the food from somewhere.”
“Santa Irene PD were going to do a sweep of supermarkets and corner shops. They’ve been using Melissa Green’s picture, but given they’re identical, I guess it would do for Warner as well.”
Jess studied a photograph of Melissa Green’s kitchen. It was a sweeping view of a rear window, a gas stove, and the sink. She flattened it against the side window.
“What?” Mercer said.
Jess grabbed her phone. She found the same picture and zoomed in on the area by the rear window.
The counter top was some sort of stone-look plastic affair. Pressed into the corner was a pile of letters. She zoomed in as far as her phone would allow.
Her skin tingled. “Junk mail.”
Mercer slowed the car. “So?”
“Wait,” she said.
The envelope at the top of the junk mail was an advertisement that promised to increase the value of her home with a new wood floor. The company was called Wood Floor Whiz. Its logo was a simple black triangle on the corner of the envelope.
She searched the Internet for the company’s name. There were several similar sounding matches, but nothing exact. She dialed the number on the envelope. An automated announcement for an insurance company asked her to wait for the next available operator. She hung up.
Mercer had slowed to thirty miles an hour, barely looking at the road ahead. Cars were zooming past. “Will you tell me what you’ve found?”
He stopped on the side of the road.
She tapped the picture. “I remember seeing this pile of junk mail in Melissa Green’s house.” She tapped her phone. “I’ve never heard of this company,
and they don’t exist. The phone number brings up an insurance company.”
Mercer frowned.
“See this?” She pointed to the black triangle. “I saw the same logo on an envelope at Benny Kemp’s house.”
She slapped the picture down on the pile of papers. “Julia Kemp knew all about Melissa Green and Bear Hill. Benny was sending letters there. That’s how he was communicating with his brother. He couldn’t do it by phone or email because he knew those were easily monitored. So he used the postal service.”
Mercer punched a button on the dash, and the lights and siren started. He stomped on the accelerator, and the Ford fishtailed onto the main road, headed back to Benny Kemp’s house.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Wednesday, May 24
Santa Irene, Arizona
Jess phoned Mandy as Mercer threaded the cruiser through traffic. Mandy answered on the first ring.
“Jess?”
“I need details about a construction company owned by Benny Kemp. It might have gone out of business. See if you can get employee records. I’m interested in Hades, aka Norman Kemp.”
“Based in Santa Irene?”
Jess looked at Mercer. He nodded.
“Yes,” she said.
“Okay, I’m on it.”
Jess hung up.
Mercer used the emergency lane to pass a slow car.
“You said Benny was investigated when Karen Warner disappeared?”
“He was. They monitored his phone and Internet. It’s in the reports. But it came to nothing.” He shrugged. “I guess being in a wheelchair ruled him out of the actual kidnapping, and when they found no communication from Hades, they must have moved on.”
Mercer swung the cruiser into Benny Kemp’s street and parked opposite his house in the same spot he’d parked before. The drapes were closed and there was no sign of light in the hallway.
Jess extricated herself from the wires and checked the Ruger in her bag. Mercer was across the road already, knocking on the front door when Jess caught up with him. He had his badge out and his hand on his weapon.
Jess stood two paces to one side. She didn’t really expect trouble from Julia, but no reason to make the two of them a single target.
