“Yeah.” He paused. “What can I do to help?”
From the pantry, she pulled out a few water bottles and set them on the counter. “I don’t know. Nothing, really.”
“Sophie?”
She turned to see Katie in the doorway. The woman hurried over to her and grabbed her in a hug much like the one Mr. Jameson had given Sophie earlier.
Luke nodded to the door, indicating he was going to give them privacy.
* * *
Sophie hugged Katie back. “What is it? Here, take a water bottle. As many tears as you’ve cried, you need to hydrate.”
A giggle slipped from Katie and she slapped a hand over her mouth. “How can I laugh at that? Something is wrong with me if I can laugh at a time like this.”
“Nothing is wrong with you other than elevated hormones. And dare I say it, but Jordy would be the first one to tell you to laugh.”
“Thank you,” Katie whispered and gave her another hug. “I can’t thank you enough for just being here. I love my in-laws, but sometimes they can overwhelm a girl a bit.”
“I’m here anytime you need me, Katie. You’ll get through this. It’s going to be hard and there are going to be some dark days ahead, but we’ll get there. We have to,” she whispered, releasing her friend and gripping her hands once more. “It’s what Jordy would want.”
Katie nodded. “You’re right. It is what he’d want. He’d want us to be happy and to enjoy life and laughter again. Just keep reminding me of that when I’m deep in the pit of despair and missing him desperately, okay?”
“I promise.” It would be a good reminder for Sophie, too.
“Okay, I’m going to put on my strong face and go back into the den and tell them about the baby.”
“Good.”
After yet another hug, Katie left, and Sophie grabbed two water bottles and went in search of Luke. She found him in the sunroom, hands shoved into his pockets, staring out into the backyard. Bruno lay stretched out on the large throw rug, his watchful eyes following her.
“Katie’s with her in-laws now. I think she’s going to be all right. Eventually.”
“She will. It’ll be hard, but she’ll get there. It may not seem like it now, but we all will.” A pause. “I don’t understand,” he said softly.
“Understand what?”
“This whole thing. I keep thinking about him. Just sitting there under the tree. No sign of foul play, nothing.”
“Have they found his phone?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t leave it somewhere.”
“Not Jordan. And especially not now.”
He turned. “Where does this unwavering faith come from? How are you so sure?”
“I...just know. Without a doubt.”
Luke ran a hand over his chin. “Okay, well, let’s say you’re right and Jordan didn’t kill himself. I truly don’t think so, but I’ll admit to some lingering doubts. However...”
“However...?” she asked.
“If it wasn’t suicide then that means his death was either due to some crazy undiagnosed medical issue, like a heart condition or a brain aneurysm or—”
“Or it was murder,” she said. “And since he’d just had a checkup not too long ago, I’m going with murder.” Although, she admitted silently, some things could be missed even in a thorough checkup. But still...something in her said Jordan’s death wasn’t an accident or a medical mishap.
Luke nodded. “I was inclined to believe that, too—until I saw him. I took a good look at him, Sophie. There were no wounds or any evidence of a traumatic injury.”
She sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what the medical examiner says.” She paused and handed him one of the bottles of water.
“Thanks.”
“Sure. So, what’s next?”
“What’s next is,” Luke said with a heaviness that made her heart hurt even more, “they plan a funeral and we find out why our healthy, happy friend died.”
He twisted the cap off the bottle and took a long swig. She could tell he was still troubled and even knowing she couldn’t really help, she had to try. “Tell me,” she said softly.
“I’m just thinking.”
“About Jordan, of course.”
“Of course.” He gave a short laugh, one without humor. “I can’t stop thinking about him. I keep running everything through my mind over and over. It’s like a loop and I can’t seem to find the stop button.”
“You’re wondering if you could have saved him.”
Luke jerked, his eyes locked on hers. “Yes, but how...?”
“Because I’m wondering the same thing. Well, not if you personally could have, but if any of us could have. What did we miss? If it was murder, who had it in for him?” She glanced into the den, where Katie and her brothers-in-law sat speaking in low tones. “And does someone now have it in for Katie?”
Luke took her hands in his. “I know you’re worried for Katie. I am, too. But she has four male protectors in there and a mother-in-law who thinks of her as her own daughter. I think we need to turn our focus on you—and who has it in for you.”
EIGHT
Sophie shivered at his ominous reminder and he grimaced. He knew she’d been working hard to put the incidents aside in order to be there for Katie, but he also needed her to stay alert and watchful. “Are you ready to go?”
She nodded. “I’ll check with Katie and make sure she’s all right with me leaving.”
While Sophie was doing that, Luke stepped into the foyer and called their tech guru, breathing a sigh of relief when she answered on the first ring. “Hi, Dani.”
“Hi, Luke.”
“Any news?”
“Like what?”
“Like security footage of Vanderbilt Parkway.”
Keyboard keys clicked in the background. “I just got it in, believe it or not. I haven’t really had a chance to go through it yet.”
“Want an extra pair of eyes?”
“Always. But I’ll be reviewing it while you’re on the way.”
“Thirty minutes?”
“I’ll be here. Gotta go. Bye.” She hung up.
Dani was fabulously good at her job even if her phone etiquette could use a little work. He went looking for Sophie to let her know he was ready and found her in the kitchen with Katie. The two had their heads bent together and were whispering. He cleared his throat and they both jumped as though guilty of some conspiracy. “Uh, sorry. If you need more time.”
“No,” Katie said. “It’s okay. I was just explaining something to Sophie. Thank you for everything.”
“Sure.”
She headed back to join her family and Sophie turned her gaze on him. “So, we’re headed to headquarters?” Sophie asked, her brow still furrowed from the conversation he’d just interrupted.
“If that’s all right.”
“It’s more than all right. At least I feel like we’re doing something proactive that might lead us to discover what happened to Jordan instead of sitting around waiting on...everything.”
They found the others and said their goodbyes with Katie promising to call should she need anything. Zach, Noah and Carter all wanted to go, too, when they realized the footage was available.
“It’s better if you don’t,” Luke said. “You three can’t be anywhere near the investigation on this. Should Jordan’s death be due to something other than an accident or a health-related issue—”
“Like murder?” Carter snapped.
“Yes,” Luke said evenly. “Like murder. If that’s the case, you don’t want to do anything that would jeopardize us getting a conviction once we catch the person responsible.”
Zach’s jaw tightened, and Noah laid a hand on his shoulder without taking his eyes from Luke. “You’ll let us know
what you know?”
“As soon as I know it.”
Noah gave a short nod and Sophie followed Luke out to the SUV. A light rain misted them. “I hope this doesn’t interfere with gathering any evidence around the crime scene.”
“They’ll have known it was coming and prepared for it.” And worked fast.
Luke drove to headquarters and found a spot on the street, thankfully not too far from the entrance. “You ready?” he asked Sophie.
“I guess so.” She bit her lip and sighed. He didn’t have to be a genius to know it was going to be devastating walking into that building when Jordan never would again.
When he let Bruno out, the dog shook himself and trotted toward the three-story building. Luke and Sophie followed. Luke kept her between him and the suite of offices to their left as they walked down the sidewalk.
If there had been a better way to get into headquarters without exposing Sophie to the outside, he would have used it. Having no choice, he did his best to use his body as a shield, although he’d admit to breathing a sigh of relief when they reached the double glass doors that led into the main lobby area. He punched in the code that allowed them access and stepped inside.
Luke was almost as comfortable in this building as he was in his own home. Bruno was, too. Mostly because of the treats Luke kept in the bottom drawer of his desk. Since his reward for finding a cadaver was playtime with a tennis ball, the treats wouldn’t confuse him.
The receptionist, Officer Patricia Knowles, sat behind the large U-shaped desk where she kept tabs on the comings and goings of the handlers and their K-9s—and answered the never-ending ringing phone.
Once inside the lobby, Luke nodded to Patricia, whose eyes went wide at their entrance, but she simply threw them a wave before pressing the button on her headset to answer the phone.
“She was surprised to see us,” Sophie said.
“Jordan was just found a few hours ago. No doubt she thought we’d still be with the others.”
“Which is where I’d love to be, but if this can help us find Jordan’s killer, then this is where I need to be.”
“Exactly.”
Luke headed for the large open area with cubicles that separated the handlers’ desks and gave them a modicum of privacy.
Somber eyes followed him, and he knew each person wanted to stop him and ask him about Jordan, but they respected his body language and turned their attention to Sophie. One by one, she hugged each officer.
While she spent time giving and receiving condolences and fielding questions that had no answers, Luke stopped at his desk to retrieve a treat for Bruno, who wolfed it down. For a moment, he leaned against his desk and closed his eyes. He wanted to pray, but the heaviness in his soul had no words. Instead, he drew in a deep breath and found Bruno had settled onto the dog bed in the corner and was watching him with sympathetic dark eyes.
When he had his emotions under control, Luke exited the cubicle and nodded to Sophie, who extricated herself from the others. She walked with him past the small connecting hallway that led to Jordan’s office. Just outside Jordan’s office was Sophie’s area. Her desk was tidy, the chair pushed in. It looked ready for her to return. He averted his eyes from Jordan’s door as emotion welled once more and couldn’t help noticing that Sophie did the same.
* * *
Luke led the way down the stairs. The large training center was to the left. Dani’s office to the right. The door stood open and she motioned them inside. Her red-rimmed hazel eyes behind the large-framed glasses perched on her nose attested to her own emotional state. She had her curly blond hair pulled up into a messy ponytail. “How’s Katie?” she asked.
“Not good, as you can imagine,” Sophie said, “but she’s strong. With support and love from her family and friends, she’ll get through this. We all will.” She felt like a broken record, but it was the only answer that fit—and offered the hope everyone needed right now. Including herself. Maybe if she said it enough, she’d start to believe it.
Dani nodded and moved behind her desk. Monitors lined the wall in front of her. “All right, just so you know, I managed to grab the footage from the ATM across the street from where your wreck happened and your kidnapper bolted. But first, let’s look at the parkway footage.”
“Great,” Luke said. “How’d you get it so fast?”
“I pulled in a few favors I’d been saving for the right case.” She shook her head. “I didn’t expect to be redeeming them on a case like this.”
“I know.” Luke leaned in. “Show us.”
“So, here’s what I managed to get from some of the surrounding security cameras. There’s one right before you enter the trail. Once they were on the path, it gets a little trickier. Fortunately, there’s a study being done on the feasibility of expanding the parkway, so I’ve got a bit more to work with. They’d placed some counters along the pathway that are triggered every time someone passes by. I don’t know how accurate they are, but I think it gives a good idea of the use of the place. Anyway, I’ve paused it at the place where things get interesting. In spite of the darkness, you can make out what’s going on pretty well. Just not who the person is in the video, unfortunately.”
A few clicks on the keyboard brought images up on the monitor closest to Luke. “This is the footage from this morning,” Dani said. “There wasn’t any sign of him on the camera the day he actually disappeared.” The footage began to play. For a moment, there was nothing, then Jordan’s SUV came into view, just barely on the side of the screen. The driver exited, wearing a hoodie over a baseball cap, along with dark sunglasses. “How can he see with those on?” Sophie whispered.
“Probably put them on just before exiting the vehicle,” Dani said.
The driver went to the back and pulled out a long pole. “What’s he doing?” Luke asked.
“You’ll see.”
He attached a piece of cloth to the end, turned and lifted the pole toward the camera. The man’s sleeve rode up and Luke caught sight of something on the person’s arm. Then the camera went blank.
“What’s the point of that?” Sophie asked. “Why try to make it look like a suicide if you’re going to let yourself get caught on camera covering the lens? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Unless it was Jordan,” Dani said. “But I’m pretty sure it wasn’t him.” She returned to the part where the man lifted the pole. “There. See that?” Dani zoomed in. “A tattoo of some sort. I can’t make out the design, though, so there’s no way to run it through the tattoo-ID software.”
“It’s not Jordan,” Sophie said. “He doesn’t have a tattoo. So, again, why would this guy allow himself to get caught on camera?”
“I don’t think he realized he was within camera range,” Dani said. “See where he parked?” She rewound the footage. “That’s right on the edge of the parking lot. He approached the camera off to the side when he covered it. These cameras are wide-angle, though. I think he just miscalculated.”
“You may be right,” Luke said. “I know we need to wait for the autopsy results for an official cause of death, but this is clearly a murder however it was done. It’s obvious from the note that he’s trying to set up Jordan’s death as a suicide, but he sure did a lousy job. Other than the token action of leaving Jordan’s vehicle there to make it look like he drove himself to the park, there’s no other sign that this is a suicide. What did he kill himself with? There are no pills, no evidence of any drugs, nothing.”
“No one ever said criminals had to be smart,” Sophie muttered.
“True enough.” He glanced at Dani. “Is that it?”
“No, not totally. Take a look at this.”
Another monitor blipped to life. “Like I said, there’s a study being done on the path. These are the monitors that track how many people are using the path. Last night, there was nothing from 1:00 a.m. until movement at 3:20
a.m. Then at 3:25 a.m., more movement, then nothing until around 5:16 when two joggers went for their morning run.”
“So, what does that tell us?” Luke asked.
“I cross-referenced that information against the security footage at the entrance to the parkway. There’s no record of anyone entering around that 3:20 time on foot other than the guy who covered up the camera.”
“Anyone could have entered from anywhere along the path.”
“I know. But then one person exited at 3:40 at this point of the trail and this is what I got from one of the security cameras along the overpass.” She clicked a few more keys. “It’s two miles away from where Jordan and his SUV were found.” She froze the frame to allow them a good look at the person. “He’s also dressed just like the guy who got out of Jordan’s SUV.”
“Did he get into a vehicle?”
“I can’t tell. He kept going until he was out of camera range.”
“This doesn’t tell us much,” Sophie said. “It’s terribly disappointing.”
“Let’s not be so hasty to assume that,” Luke said. “Let’s take another look. See if you spot anything that stands out. Is there anything on his clothing, shoes, hands, that could be identifiable later? Does he have a limp? A habit Anything?”
Dani played the footage again.
“He’s wearing gloves,” Sophie said. “This time of year that wouldn’t be too suspect except maybe in the middle of the day when it warms up.”
“But at night, with the temps getting into the midforties, they make sense. But that’s not why he’s wearing them.”
Sophie shook her head. “We need to know when Jordan died,” she said. “Any word about what his time of death was?”
“The ME’s working on that. We should have a preliminary report soon.”
“How did he get Jordan’s body out there?” Sophie asked. “Jordan was a big guy. A little over six feet and all muscle. He would have weighed too much for someone to carry for very long—even for a person similar in size to Jordan.”
Justice Mission Page 9
