Dead Storm

by Emma Rose Watts

  Outside the department, Hanson caught up with him.

  “Baker. Wait up.”

  Harvey pretended he couldn’t hear him as he approached the cruiser. As soon as he jumped in the driver’s seat, Hanson opened the passenger side.

  “Davenport might have wanted us to work together earlier but I don’t recall him saying all day.”

  “Ease up.” He shook his wet hair sending droplets of water all over Harvey, annoying him even more. “I just figured you could use a hand. You know, after how things went down at Randall’s and all.”

  “That was then, this is now. How about you speak with Veterans Village and I’ll handle this?”

  Hanson sniffed hard and stared out through the rain-soaked window. The cruiser shifted a little under the force of the wind. “Reznik is on it.”

  “Reznik is handling other matters.”

  “Nope. I assigned him the task, so I’m free.” He looked at him. “What, you think I’m sitting cooped up inside answering phone calls? No thanks.” He motioned with his hand. “Let’s go.”

  “Sure thing. After you get out.”

  “Right, because you’re a lone cowboy. Man, I never realized how hard it must have been for Reid. I always thought you were the one that was suffering but…”

  “Get out, Hanson.”

  “We still have to collect the money as evidence.”

  Harvey turned in his seat, squinting at him. “Ah, now I understand.”

  “What?”

  Harvey didn’t bother to explain. He started up the engine and peeled out of there taking him along. They only made it five minutes down the road and he was back at it again. “You’re going the wrong way.”

  “I told Elizabeth I would swing by.”

  “Ah, now I understand,” Hanson said throwing his own words back at him and grinning. “Hoping to catch a few z’s, were you? Get in some lunch?”

  “You know, Hanson, you are exhausting.” He sighed. “I have a family matter to deal with, then I’m heading over to Tony Parish’s home.”

  “Tony Parish?”

  “Jake Weslo’s stepfather. The kid who has been purchasing pills from Randall.”

  Hanson sat there for a minute or two with a frown as if stumped by some math equation. He eventually turned his head. “Want to fill me in?”

  He didn’t want to but as he was tagging along, he thought it best to bring him up to speed. After Harvey told him, Hanson tapped his fingers against the car door handle and nodded. “I get it. But don’t you think you might be taking things personal here? I mean, getting a little sidetracked?” He motioned with his head to the weather outside. “Only so many hours and that hurricane is going to make landfall.”

  “That’s why I didn’t want you tagging along.”

  Hanson nodded as they came around a bend that brought them onto Harvey’s street. “You don’t think I’m a team player, do you?”

  “Team players listen. You don’t.”

  “Are we going back to that again?”

  “If the boot fits.”

  Hanson groaned. “I’m gonna let that slide.”

  Harvey pulled into his driveway. A massive branch from the huge oak tree out front of his home had been torn off and was laying on the gravel, blocking the way. “Oh geesh,” Harvey said slamming his brakes on. Hanson hopped out of the vehicle without hesitation, ready to assist him in moving it. Harvey looked at him through the windshield for a second before getting out. It didn’t take them long to shift it out of the way. Drenched by the rain, he brought the cruiser up to the house and saw Elizabeth looking at them from the front porch step.

  “Just stay here,” Harvey said. “I’ll be back in a second.”

  He bounced out and forged forward through the harsh weather.

  Elizabeth greeted him at the door. “I thought you’d never get here.”

  “Yeah, kind of got tied up,” he said thumbing over his shoulder. A smiling Hanson ducked his head and waved to Elizabeth before Harvey closed the door. Not wasting any time he made a beeline for Payton’s room. He tried the knob first, then rapped on the door with his knuckles. “Payton. Open up. No messing around.”

  No response.

  Michael came out of his room. “Oh, hey Dad.”

  “Payton. Do you hear me?”

  “If it’s any consolation, I think I saw Jake Weslo’s car earlier.”

  “What? Michael, why didn’t you tell me?” Elizabeth blurted out.

  “Because you kept telling me to be quiet and shutting me down. I tried.”

  With that said, Harvey shouldered the door. It took four hard thrusts before the door exploded open sending parts of the wooden frame shooting across the room.

  Empty.

  Elizabeth checked her closet as she had a seat inside and would often go in there to read. It was like her own little hiding place from the world. He turned around a few times and then it dawned on him. She’d locked the door. Something that could only be done from the inside. His eyes caught the drapes move ever so slightly. A draft was coming in from an open window. Hurrying over to it he noticed the metal window cover he’d used was slightly pushed away from the window. “Oh great.” She’d gone out the window. Harvey dashed out the back of the house and made his way around. Sure enough embedded in the wet soil were footprints, two sets leading back to the driveway. Why? Why would you do this, Payton? Of all times. He thought they’d raised her better than this. Either this was her rebelling or she had a really good reason. Either way he was going to find out. He yelled to Elizabeth who was standing by the doorway to go inside and he would try to find her.

  Harvey didn’t say a word to Hanson as he jumped into the driver’s seat and tore out of there nearly losing control of the car. “Whoa, slow down, partner,” Hanson bellowed. “You’ll get us killed.”

  Harvey flicked on the lights and siren and accelerated.

  “You want to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Jake Weslo is what’s going on. My daughter has gone off with him.”

  “Okay. And that’s a bad thing?”

  Harvey glanced at him. “You don’t have kids, do you, Hanson?”

  “No?” he replied as if wondering what that had to do with anything.

  “Then you wouldn’t understand.”

  The rest of the journey was spent in silence barring the wailing of the siren which was deafening. With hardly anyone on the roads, Harvey had no problem getting through town over to Jake’s home. The brakes squealed as he skidded outside the home. Jake’s car wasn’t in the driveway but his mother’s car was there. Hanson was two steps behind him, trying to get him to calm down as he made his way to the door.

  “Payton. Payton Baker! Get out here now!”

  He figured the kid had hidden his vehicle. Harvey had visions of them curled up together. He knew how a guy’s mind worked. Before he could bang on the door, it was opened by Tony. He had a hand up to his face and was sporting one gnarly gash. “About time you got here. Though, how did you know? I was trying to get through and the lines were jammed.”

  “Know what?” Harvey blurted out.

  “That kid is out of control. You better come in.”

  Stepping out of the rain, Harvey was led down the hallway to the living room where Jean Parish, Jake’s mother, was sitting on the edge of the sofa nursing a wound to the face. Harvey glanced at Tony and he threw his hands up. “It wasn’t me, before you start accusing. You cops are all the same.”

  “It wasn’t him,” Jean said removing an ice pack from her face. There was one hell of a welt on the side of her eye. “Jake is…well…he…” she dropped her chin and began to cry. Tony took a seat beside her and wrapped his arm around her.

  “There, there, love, it’s okay. Things are going to be okay.” He turned his attention to Harvey and Hanson. “The boy. He’s out of control. I didn’t want to say anything when you were last here as we were trying to work through it with him but he’s out of control. Someone needs to step in. I would s
ay before he hurts someone but as you can see, he’s already done that.” He motioned to Jean.

  “Jake did that?” Harvey asked.

  Through tears she looked at him and nodded. “He’s a good kid, detective. Since his father left, he’s changed. That’s partly my fault though.”

  “It’s not your fault. He has to realize that you have a life too.”

  Tony chimed in to fill in the details. “He probably told you that I hit him, right?”

  “He insinuated. Yes. Said you knocked Jean around too.”

  “I admit, I struck him a few years back but that was out of self-defense, and because he struck his mother. I don’t care who you are, or what problems you are dealing with, you don’t go doing that. That kind of stuff doesn’t end well. There needs to be some respect and he has clearly lost it for everyone. It’s the drugs.”

  “Tony,” Jean said.

  “What? It’s true. He spends most of his day smoking weed and doped up. Then there are the pills. I swear that has messed with his head. Jean here tried to throw the pills down the toilet and he went berserk, threw her across the room. That’s how she hit her head. I came at him to control him and he struck me and bolted.”

  Harvey looked at Hanson. Randall thought he was helping people by supplying them with pharmaceutical drugs but he had no idea the devastation they could cause in the wrong hands. All he was thinking about was the money. That was all folks in that business cared about.

  “Do you know where he could have gone?”

  “No idea,” Tony said. “He tore out of here before I could get a hold of him. Though not before giving me this shiner.” He shook his head and hugged Jean. Looks could be deceiving. Harvey was beginning to understand what he meant when his mother said he did it to himself. He’d seen drug users do all manner of things when they were under the influence — self-harm was prevalent. Then again, perhaps he’d exchanged blows with Tony. Domestics like this were complicated. It was hard to determine truth as no one really knew except the family and often a husband or wife would cover for the abusive partner in the grand hopes that they would change their ways. It rarely happened. It usually escalated. But what happened when the son or daughter was the abuser? It wasn’t common but it happened and when it did, sometimes the parents had to hit rock bottom before they decided to let someone else step in. It was pride. Appearances, and not wanting to feel as though they had failed. He thought about Payton.

  “He could have gone to his father’s cabin.”

  “Where is it?” Harvey asked.

  She reeled off the address and they sprinted for the car. Harvey’s mind was on one thing only — protecting his daughter.

  15

  At first she was defensive, belligerent even but it was all hot air. Skylar had seen it before in countless suspects — more so in those looking to cover up some shady dealing or something they were embarrassed about. It didn’t take long to dig beneath the picture-perfect exterior to understand the real cash cow that was funding her life.

  “How long have you been an escort?” Skylar asked while Sara paced, nerves getting the better of her. She looked out the window, balled her hands and pulled the drapes closed. Skylar was aware that if Sara was behind the murders there was a chance she would put up one hell of fight, especially if she was well versed in judo. State champion vs. Skylar. Now that was a challenge she’d yet to encounter.

  “Look, what I do with my time is my business. Just as I told Lamar.”

  Skylar’s lip curled. “He found out, didn’t he?”

  “Found out?” She snorted. “That’s a laugh. He found out but not the way you think. He was one of my clients,” she said clenching her fist. “I met him a few years back. We began seeing each other outside of work.”

  “Isn’t that against policy?”

  “Perhaps but he was kind, and we discovered we had a lot in common. It just seemed natural to spend more time together and I didn’t want to keep charging him, especially since it wasn’t always about sex.”

  “But with Matthews?”

  She shook her head. “It was only sex. He knew what he wanted. He paid well and—”

  “You didn’t mind that he was married,” she said cutting her off.

  “Detective, ninety percent of my clients are married. The rest are women looking to experiment and college jocks hoping to get a group freebie. Jason was having problems in his marriage. His wife no longer wanted to have sex. It was that time of life, if you know what I mean. At least that’s what she said. He said that he was tired of having to wine and dine her in order to be intimate.”

  Skylar shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Oh, the travesty.”

  “I used to think the same way until I got into this business but I get it. Not all these men are jerks. Many are but some are like Jason. He just had a high sex drive, and I don’t think his wife could keep up. That’s where women like us come in. We cater to those needs and he goes home to the woman he loves.”

  “Didn’t he ever think of just leaving her?”

  “As strange as it might sound, he loved his wife too much to leave her. He’d spent too many years with her and couldn’t see himself with anyone else. It was just in the sex department things were lacking. Could it have been resolved? Possibly through counseling but how often does that happen? It usually turns into a war and people go their separate ways.”

  Skylar’s mind drifted back to the bar. Was she any different? Was any woman or guy who met in a bar any different? Sure they didn’t accept money for sex and that might not have been their objective when they entered the bar sober, but there sure as hell was an exchange that took place between the accepting that first drink from a stranger and waking up the next day.

  “Look. I’m not here to judge you on your career choice, Sara. Is it possible that Lamar might have followed you that night Matthews died? Could he have killed him and then out of guilt hung himself because you’d kicked him out?”

  “He wasn’t a man given to depression. Contrary to what people might think. Even though Lamar worked in a bar he wasn’t even a drinker. That man lived a clean life. He ate well, he avoided drugs and not one drop of alcohol passed his lips. Sure, he was as jealous as they come. He wanted me to leave the business and that was why we had the argument.”

  “Finally the truth.”

  She shrugged. “Not exactly something I’m proud of.”

  “Then why do it?”

  Sara stared at Skylar and then took a seat across from her. “It might sound shallow, even unbelievable and I don’t really care what you think but…” she trailed off swallowing hard. “I was damn good at it. I could make several thousand a night.” She looked off towards the hallway. “You know how long it would take me to earn that selling furniture?” She looked back.

  “A long time,” Skylar replied.

  Sara nodded and clasped her hands together. “You know, when I was a kid all I wanted to do was make my parents proud. That’s why I got into judo. My father loved the sport so I joined. I could have made it to the Olympics but I gave it up not long after the state championships. Why?” She paused. “Because it wasn’t me. It was my father’s dream. I wanted to discover what I was good at. For a time I thought it was the furniture business but there’s no money to be made in that so I looked into other ways. I was always good with words, and men would compliment me and stare at me in the gym. I had a friend that introduced me to the business. Said I could make big money in a short time. I figured I could try it. If I didn’t like it, I could find something else. Well. Six years later I’m still at it.”

  “Money is a hard thing to turn down.”

  Sara nodded. “For sure.” She breathed in deeply. “Anyway, Lamar wanted me to leave. I wouldn’t. I kicked him out. You see, what you have to understand is we had an agreement. I would see him outside of work on one condition — he didn’t tell me to stop. He agreed. Then he went back on his word. I couldn’t live that way. Having someone over my shoulder telling me what
I could or couldn’t do, when his own moral compass was broken.” She scoffed.

  “About that. Anything else you left out?”

  Skylar was making it clear that if she’d only now managed to get her to come clean about being an escort, what else had she been holding back?

  “You asking if I killed him?”

  Skylar cocked her head.

  “I had no reason to kill him or Jason.”

  “The drugs. Were you telling the truth about that?”

  “I swear on my life. He was purchasing them for someone. I don’t know who.”

  Maybe she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The connection between Lamar and Jason made sense. It was Carly Michaels that threw a wrench in the loop. The only connection Skylar could make was she worked for Veterans Village and they served homeless veterans and their families.

  “Was Lamar ex-military?”

  “Yeah.”

  “He ever mention Jason or the anger management meeting he attended?”

  “Of course.” She swallowed hard. “In fact he was the one that turned Jason on to me as a client back when we weren’t seeing each other outside of work.”

  “Anyone else you saw from that meeting?”

  She shook her head then frowned. “I mean, I met a few of them but not in that way. Lamar invited some of them over here for a BBQ one time and introduced me to them.”

  “Jason among them?”

  “No. There were four of them. They were nice enough guys.” She stared off out the window as if lost in thought or remembering the past.

  “What is it?” Skylar asked.

  “Ah it’s nothing.”

  “Sara.”

  “It was the first time we had an argument. He asked if I would let one of the guys stay for a while until he got on his feet. I refused.”