"Ah, his mind isn't on his job," Moody told them. "He's got himself a new sweetie. A real hot little number and-"
"Shut up, will you!" Bobby Joe glowered at Moody. "Hell, can't a man have a private life without everybody sticking their nose in his business?" 'You're overreacting to a little innocent ribbing," Jacob said. 'That's not like you. Something is wrong or you wouldn't be acting this way."
Bobby Joe stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him after he marched into the hall. Jacob glanced from Moody to Dallas and then back at Moody.
"Who's the girl?"
Moody grinned. With those big blue eyes and curly blond hair, he looked like an overgrown kid. "It's that Willis girl."
Laura Willis?" Dallas and Jacob said simultaneously. "Nah, the other one." 'The teenager?" Jacob asked.
"Yeah. Her name is Sheridan and she's only nineteen, but from what Bobby Joe says, she sure doesn't act like a kid, if you know what I mean."
Jacob nodded. So Bobby Joe was screwing the younger Willis girl. Considering that Bobby Joe wasn't exactly a ladies' man and not known for making the first move, Sheridan Willis must have put the moves on him. But why was he acting as if he'd committed a crime? If she was nineteen, she was legal.
"Maybe he's embarrassed about dating somebody that young," Dallas said.
Jacob shook his head. "I don't think that's it. There's something more. Something to do with these murders."
"You think Bobby Joe knows something we don't know?" Dallas asked.
"How's that possible?" Moody's smooth brow wrinkled.
"I'm not sure, but I'm going to find out," Jacob told them.
When he exited the office, he looked up and down the hall. He spotted Bobby Joe at the end of the corridor by the cola machine. As if sensing Jacob's presence, his deputy glanced up from where he'd just deposited coins into the slot. Their gazes met for an instant. Then Bobby Joe looked down to where the machine had deposited an ice-cold can of root beer into the metal bed. Jacob took some quarters out of his pocket so that when he reached the cola machine, he dropped the coins in the slot and hit the Orange Crush button. After retrieving his drink and snapping the tab, he lifted the can t his lips and took a long swig.
"I guess Moody told you who I've been sneaking around seeing." Bobby Joe deliberately didn't look at Jacob.
"Sheridan Willis." Jacob wiped his mouth with the back of his free hand, then turned and put his hand on Bobby Joe's shoulder. "Is there something you want to tell me?" ^ Bobby Joe harrumphed. "Want to tell you-no. Need to tell you-yes."
"Just spit it out. Whatever it is, it can't be as bad you're making it out to be."
"It's not that. It's just I should have already said something to you about it, especially considering it might be something that could help Miss Jazzy."
"Tell me now."
"Well…" Bobby Joe shuffled, then motioned for Jacob to follow him. "Let's talk outside. Okay? I don't want nobody overhearing us."
When they walked out the back door of the courthouse, Bobby Joe looked around. After he saw that they were completely alone, he said, "Right after Jamie was killed, Sheridan said she thought maybe her sister had killed him."
"Laura Willis?" 'Yeah."
"What made her think that?"
"She said her sister had problems. You know, mental problems. It seems Laura had a nervous breakdown when she was sixteen."
"Any history of violence?"
''I don't know. Sheridan didn't say much more, but… she called me just a few minutes ago. You know… that personal call I took."
Jacob forced himself not to jump to any conclusions about Laura Willis. Not yet. Just because he knew Jazzy was innocent didn't automatically make Laura guilty. ut if anyone other than Jazzy had a reason to hate Jamie, to wish him dead, it was probably Laura.
"So what about that call?" Jacob asked.
"It was Sheridan. She'd heard about the second murder. Seems it's already all over the TV and radio."
Jacob groaned. Yeah, Brian MacKinnon would see to it that the sheriffs department and the local police were held up to ridicule. That guy had it in for both Dallas and him.
"Go on. What did she have to say?" Jacob sipped on his Orange Crush.
Mimicking his boss, Bobby Joe took a couple of swallows from his root beer. "She said Laura could have killed this guy, too… that when I dropped her off last night and she was heading up the back stairs at the Upton house, she caught Laura sneaking up the stairs, too. Laura had been out somewhere for hours and hours and nobody knew where."
"Sheridan must really hate her sister to share this type of information with a sheriffs deputy, "Jacob said. "Even if he is a deputy she's screwing."
Bobby Joe's face flushed. "What do you think?"
"I think we should ask Laura Willis to come in and talk to us," Jacob said. "And I want Wade Truman here when we question her. If he sees there's someone else with motive and opportunity, he might be persuaded to drop the charges against Jazzy."
Caleb pulled his T-bird in at a Dairy Bar, got out, ordered coffee, and got back in his car. When he'd left Cherokee Pointe this morning, he'd just started driving, and had ended up on Highway 321 and kept going all the way to Greenville before he realized where he was. Originally he had planned on meeting up with Dallas and Jacob to get all the info he could about the most recent murder in Cherokee County. His goal had been to help Jazzy.
I want to protect you and take care of you and make you happy, he'd told her. And he'd meant every word.
Why the hell had he gone back into the bedroom for one last look at her this morning? Why hadn't he just left as soon as Sally got there? If he hadn't touched her, kissed her, hadn't felt the overwhelming need to whisper that he loved her while she slept, he never would have heard her murmur Jamie's name.
God, it had been like a knife in his heart. He had just spent the most incredible hours of his life making love with a woman who had come to mean everything to him. He'd been stupid enough to think she felt the same way. But it wasn't his name she murmured in her sleep. He wasn't the man in her mind and in her heart. That sacred spot was reserved for a man who had never been worthy of her.
Maybe if Jamie were still alive, he'd have a chance to win Jazzy away from him. But how did he fight a ghost? Had he really thought he was such a stud that one night in bed with him and Jazzy would forget about all those years she'd been in love with Jamie?
Caleb squeezed the half-full foam cup so hard that the contents sloshed out over the top and spilled onto his hand. He cursed loudly. The coffee was still hot. Hot enough to make him cringe, but not hot enough to burn.
What are you going to do, McCord, just keep going. Don't look back. But what about his things back there at the cabin? Okay, so go back long enough to get your stuff, then hit the road.
You can't leave -without checking on Miss Reba, without talking to Big Jim Upton and telling him who you are. After all, that's why you cam
e to Cherokee County. To find out about your mother's family.
If he went to Big Jim with the truth, the odds were le man wouldn't believe him. So show him your birth certificate. Show him the pictures of you and your mother when you were a kid. Tell him you'll take a DNA test.
Is that what he wanted? Did he want to be Big Jim, Upton's grandson-the heir to the Upton fortune? If he was filthy, stinking rich would Jazzy want him? Would she love him?
Caleb laughed at himself, at his own foolishness. He had known and pitied lovesick fools, never dreaming that someday he'd join their ranks.
If you love Jazzy so damn much, how can you desert her? How can you let your stupid pride keep you from being there to take care of her? You made her promises. You 're a man of your word, aren't you?
He had unfinished business back in Cherokee County-with Big Jim Upton and Miss Reba. And with Jazzy.
Caleb got out of the car, dumped his smashed foam cup in the trash bin outside the Dairy Bar, and made a decision. If he went back and proved his identity to his grandparents and pursued a relationship with Jazzy, some people would say that he'd stepped into Jamie Upton's shoes and taken over the man's life. Hell, a lot of people would say it. But they'd be wrong. He didn't want any part of Jamie's life. But you do want everything that had once been Jamie's, an inner voice told him.
Jim and Reba Upton were his grandparents, too. He had a right to know them, didn't he? People might not understand that the Upton fortune didn't mean that much to him, but having a family did. And as far as Jazzy was concerned, he didn't want her to love him the way she'd loved Jamie. He wanted more from her be-, cause he was willing to offer her more.
To hell with Jamie. To hell with what people would think and say. He was not going to let one word-one name-that Jazzy had spoken in her sleep run him off and stop him from laying claim to everything he wanted. Everything that was rightfully his.
Caleb slid behind the wheel and started his Thunder-bird. After backing out of the parking area, he turned the car southwest. He was heading home.
Mid afternoon, Dallas finished up a late lunch with Jacob, the two of them sipping coffee and enjoying Ludie's homemade pecan pie. As soon as Genny had finished eating, she'd gone to Jazzy's apartment to relieve Sally, who'd called to say that Jazzy was worried about Caleb. He'd left around six this morning and they hadn't heard a word from him. Dallas figured his Genny would be able to soothe Jazzy's concerns. He just hoped she didn't overdo. Genny had a way of putting everyone else first and herself last. As hard as he tried to look after her, to make her consider her own needs, she couldn't change who she was. By nature she was a caretaker. That loving, giving spirit was as much a part of her as those luminous black eyes and her remarkable gift of sight, all three inherited from her Granny Butler, a half-breed Cherokee.
Dallas's cell phone rang, pulling him from his thoughts of Genny. He removed the phone from its holder, punched the on button and said, "Yeah, Sloan here."
Dallas, it's Teri. I've got a preliminary on Laura Willis and I'm still digging. It could take another day, maybe two, to get everything on her, her parents, and her sister."
Keep digging," Dallas said. "Now go ahead and tell me what you've got."
She did have some sort of mental collapse when she was fifteen. She spent nearly three months in a private hospital and was under psychiatric care for a couple of years."
"Any details on what caused the breakdown?"
"Haven't been able to find that out yet."
When Teri paused and didn't say anything for a couple of minutes, Dallas remembered how she'd always liked to build up to a big revelation with a long, silent pause.
"What is it?" he asked.
She chuckled. "Just an interesting little tidbit It was easy enough to trace dates. You know, things like date of birth, date of marriage, and so on. Laura Willis is twenty-four, according to the records I was able to access-her driver's license info being one."
"So?"
"Andrea and Cecil Willis have been married only twenty-three years."
Dallas mulled the information over in his mind. "Did you double-check the dates?"
''Yes, I did. You should know that we FBI types always double-check."
"All that means is that Laura was born before her parents were married."
"Maybe."
"What are you dying to tell me?"
"Andrea Willis is not the first Mrs. Cecil Willis. His first marriage was annulled twenty-four years ago, so that means he was married to someone else when he fathered Laura."
"Interesting, but I don't see how it's pertinent to our case."
"I think there's more to it," Teri said. "Call it gut instinct, but-hey, why don't you ask Genny to do a…’’ "No way."
"Not even if it would help her friend Jazzy?" 'You keep digging, find out all you can and if you don't come up with something, then maybe I'll involve Genny."
"Whatever you say. I'll be in touch."
When Dallas replaced his phone in its holster, Jacob asked, "Anything?"
"Not really, but Teri's got a hunch and her hunches usually pay off," Dallas said. "She'll be back in touch with me soon."
"Well, I hope you're right about her hunches. We've got two unsolved murders and unless we can give the DA another viable suspect, Jazzy will more than likely be put on trial for Jamie's murder."
* * *
Chapter 24
Cherokee County Hospital seemed the most logical' first stop for Caleb when he returned to town. He wasn't quite ready to face Jazzy, to confront her with his wounded! masculine pride. If she told him that she still loved Jamie, he wasn't sure how he'd react. Was he willing to spend the rest of his life playing second fiddle to his dead cousin? Or if when she found out the truth about Caleb actually being an Upton heir, would she want him and put him in the position of always wondering if she loved him or the Upton millions? When he paused at the nurse's station down the hall from the intensive care unit, no one paid any attention to him. He cleared his throat A statuesque black woman in her mid fifties, with a warm smile, turned to face him. "May I help you, sir?"'
"I was wondering if I could find out how Mrs. Upton is doing?" Caleb asked.
A petite middle-aged blonde-apparently the RN on duty-snapped around and glared at Caleb. "If you're another reporter, I suggest you leave before I call security.''
"I'm not a reporter."
''Then what is your interest in Mrs. Upton? Are you family? A close' personal friend?"
Caleb didn't know how to respond and before he could think of a suitable reply, the RN told him, "Since you're apparently neither, perhaps you should call Mr. Upton and ask for that type of information."
"I'm family," Caleb said boldly.
The RN eyed him skeptically. "I doubt that"
"Look, all I want to know is if she's better or worse."
"Check with the Upton family," t
he nurse told him, then picked up a stack of charts and walked off down the hall.
Just as Caleb started to leave, the other nurse called to him quietly. "Hey, young man."
Caleb stopped and faced her. "Yes, ma'am?"
"Mrs. Upton's condition has been upgraded. She's doing much better. So much better that they moved her out of ICU about an hour ago. Her husband arranged for her to have a suite on the fourth floor."
"Thank you." Caleb grinned. "And you should know I really am a member of the family."
"I thought so," the nurse replied. "I could tell right away that you were genuinely concerned about Mrs. Upton."
The Last To Die Page 32
