Faces of Evil [4] Rage (19 page)

Nope, she hadn’t said a word to Dan but he clearly knew the way. He’d done his research. That was the kind of guy he was. She was learning that side of this older version of Dan. He was far more grounded and steady than he’d been two decades ago. He was strong and brave. And incredibly handsome and a generous and ambitious lover.

Not the path to go down just now, Jess.

She wondered if Wanda had changed in all these years. She considered the idea that according to DMV records, her aunt had never remarried and never moved. She’d married young, before her older sister, Jess and Lil’s mom. But her husband had gotten killed on a military operation in the Middle East. After that, Wanda had turned to drugs and eventually prostitution. She never had any children. She was alone.

Jess supposed she lived on Social Security these days or maybe a VA check. She was a widow after all. How else was a sixty-plus-year-old prostitute going to make a living?

Why hadn’t she ever gotten help? Why hadn’t her only sister helped her? Giving her mom credit, you couldn’t help someone who didn’t want help. If a person was determined to commit the same mistakes over and over again, there was no diverting their path. Jess and Lil had been too young to know or understand whatever had been going on between the two sisters.

Jess wondered if she would end up alone like Wanda.

“Do you think,” she asked, breaking the silence that had settled inside the car, “we become more and more like our parents as we get older?” Or like any other close blood relations, she kept to herself.

“I think,” Dan said as he made the final turn onto the street where her aunt resided, “that we exhibit characteristics related to how and where we grew up. If you’re asking me if your aunt being old and alone is a path you’ll follow, the answer is no. I won’t let you take that path.”

Jess laughed. “I have your word on that, do I?”

“Unconditionally.” He parked at the curb.

Jess unfastened her seat belt and turned to him. “Let’s make a pact right now, Dan. Like we used to.” This was crazy. She knew it was crazy but she couldn’t stop herself.

He turned to her, those blue eyes as familiar to her as her own. “All right. Shoot.”

“When we reach sixty, if we’re both still single, we’ll get married and live together just so we’re not old and alone.” She’d said it. By God, she’d said it. She held her breath and waited for his answer.

A frown of confusion claimed his face even as humor sparkled in his eyes. “Are you proposing, Jess?”

“I’m proposing that we not spend our sixth decade of life, and onward, alone. That’s what I’m proposing.”

He reached across the console, offering his hand. “Well then, you have a deal.”

Jess closed her hand around his and gave it a shake. “Good. No need to worry about that anymore.”

She was out of the SUV by the time he came around the hood. Jess squared her shoulders and headed for the unknown. Dan stayed right beside her. She would not end up like this. Wanda’s ancient Toyota sat in the drive. The yard was overgrown and two pots with dead geraniums sat on either side of the steps. Dan knocked for the third time before a female voice demanded, “Who is it?”

“Chief of Police Daniel Burnett,” he said before Jess could respond.

The door opened just far enough for the woman to view the credentials Dan flashed. Then she opened it the rest of the way.

“Whatever happened, I don’t know anything about it. I stay in the house,” she was saying, “except…” Her voice trailed off as she looked at Jess, really looked at her, for the first time. “Jessie Lee?”

“Yes… ma’am. It’s me.” Jess’s mouth had gone so dry the words scarcely squeezed out. “I apologize for arriving unannounced, but I have some questions for you if you have a few minutes.”

For one long moment Wanda stared at Jess as if she’d seen a ghost. Jess kind of felt the same way. Wanda, though her lifestyle showed in her face, looked so very much like Jess’s mother, Helen. If Helen were still alive she would be sixty-five now. Wanda would be sixty-three in October, according to the DMV. Her blond hair was gray. Her brown eyes a little faded. She was too thin. Jess couldn’t remember her mother being that thin.

“Come in.” Wanda backed up and opened the door wider. “You’ll have to look over the mess. I wasn’t expecting company.”

The place looked the same as it had three decades ago. Tattered sofa and chairs. Magazines and newspapers piled about. The whole house smelled of Lysol. Her aunt might have been a lady of the night, but she’d been almost phobic about cleanliness.

Dan waited until Jess had taken a seat on the sofa, then he settled next to her. “I appreciate your time.”

“I usually have Bible study on Tuesday nights,” Wanda said, breaking the tension. She sounded a little nervous, excited almost. “But so many people are trying to get in that last vacation before school starts.”

Bible study? Maybe Wanda had changed. Better late than never. “I wanted to ask you a few questions about my mother and father.”

Wanda blinked. “Okay.”

There was a distinct loss of enthusiasm in her voice. Even with that one word Jess heard it, saw it on her face. “Can you tell me if either one had any health issues or maybe if my grandparents on either side had any”—she shrugged—“heart issues, cancers, anything like that?”

“Helen and Lee were completely healthy as far as I know,” she said, her attention wandering all over the room. “Our parents, yours and Lily’s grandparents, died young. Your grandfather died in a work accident. He was an ironworker over at Sloss.”

Jess didn’t remember having heard that story. All those times she’d been to that old place she’d had no idea her grandfather had worked there back in the day. That he’d died there gave her a chill.

“Your grandmother died in childbirth having our little brother, who didn’t make it either. If either one of ’em had any health problems I didn’t know about it. We were poor. Medical attention was something generally reserved for life and death situations.”

She hadn’t known any of that either. “What about aunts, uncles, or cousins?” Jess pressed.

Wanda shook her head. “My mother was an only child and I never knew any of my father’s family.”

“What about
my
father?” Jess was named after her father, Jessie
Lee
. “Any health problems on his side that you know of?”

“Your father never spoke of his family. He moved to Birmingham for college from down around Mobile and, to my knowledge, Helen never met a single member of his family.”

What kind of people didn’t know their own family? Jesus Christ. Jess wanted to scream her frustration. But she wouldn’t show it to this woman for anything. No matter that she usually had Bible study on Tuesday nights, she was still the same woman who had chosen her life of drugs and crime over two little girls when they needed her most.

“What about you, Ms. Newsom,” Dan asked the question Jess was too mad to ask. “Have you been diagnosed with any health issues that you would be willing to talk about? We realize we’re invading your privacy a bit, but any information would be appreciated.”

God, he was a born politician. Jess wasn’t showing any appreciation for a thing this woman said or did. Tuesday night Bible study, for heaven’s sake. Wait until she told Lil.

“The usual,” Wanda said. “Arthritis. Found out I have a cataract last week. That’s about it.” She turned to Jess. “Is something wrong with you or your sister?”

The fake sincerity in her voice made Jess want to puke. “We don’t know yet. Lily is having some testing done. The doctors suggested we get as much family history as possible.”

“I hate to hear that,” Wanda responded. “Tell her I’ll be praying for her.”

Jess shot to her feet. “Well, I have to be going now.” She had to get out of here. Right now. Or she was going to say something Dan would likely regret.

Dan stood. “Thank you for your time, Ms. Newsom.”

Wanda followed them to the door but Jess didn’t get a word of what she said to Dan. Jess had to get out of here. Her heart was pounding. Her stomach was churning. Her throat kept closing, blocking her ability to get air into her lungs.

Jess stormed the length of the cracked sidewalk and straight up to the waiting SUV. From somewhere behind her Dan started it. She climbed in and faced forward, absolutely refused to glance back at the woman or the house.

“Take me to my car,” she ordered. “I don’t want to talk about this. I just want to go away from here.”

“I understand.”

Thankfully he proved as good as his word. He didn’t argue with her or ask any questions. He drove her to the Audi and gave her a hug before walking away.

Jess got into her faithful old car and drove to her new home. Dan followed her. She’d expected he would. At her door she’d disengaged the new locks, stuck one hand in her bag to get a grip on her Glock, and then gone inside. She hadn’t managed a decent breath until she’d confirmed the place was clear.

When she closed and locked the door, Dan had driven off. She watched from the window until his headlights disappeared. This day had been too long.

After stripping off her clothes she climbed into the shower and scrubbed her body. Her stomach roiled each time the remembered smell of Lysol revisited her senses. Memories from that awful year she and Lil had spent with Wanda swirled in her head over and over like a bad movie. That was one part of her past she’d just as soon never think of again.

After she’d practically skinned herself, Jess let the evidence and facts of the Grayson case fill her head. A sense of calmness settled over her.

Call her a coward, but that was the one place she felt most comfortable… deep inside a case. It was funny how she felt more at home immersed in the elements of a homicide than she did with the people who were part of her personal life.

10:00 p.m.

This was exactly what she’d needed.

Jess taped a note onto the section of wall between the two windows on the east side of her apartment that overlooked the main house. She quickly scribbled another observation about Devon Chambers and his sister, Leslie, tore it out of her notepad, and taped it on the wall.

She stood back then, took off her glasses, and considered the duplicate case board for the Grayson investigation she had created on the wall of her place.

“That’s perfect.” She could put a desk right there. She considered the floor space beneath where the biggest dry erase board that would fit, maybe a six-footer, would hang. As soon as she had some free time during normal business hours, she needed to round up those items and maybe a small sofa.

The stuff she had in Virginia was being sold with her old house there. None of it would work in this place anyway. Besides, she wanted a fresh start. This was a new beginning for her professionally and personally. Nothing about her old life would fit.

Which was exactly why she had been ignoring calls from Wesley all evening. And two from Dan. The one conversation she hadn’t avoided was the one with her sister. Lil was feeling a little better. She wasn’t surprised that dear old Aunt Wanda didn’t know jack.

Speaking of Jack. Jess moved back to her makeshift board. She needed more in-depth info on Sergeant Jack Riley and his wife. They were closer to the Graysons than anyone else. Since Jess hadn’t been able to meet with the wife, Sarah, today, she was hoping that would happen tomorrow. Since Grayson’s mother-in-law had finally arrived in the city, he and his son would be staying with her rather than the Rileys. Made setting up interviews simpler. Jess also needed to talk to Grayson about his neighbors, Leslie and Devon.

Jess’s attention shifted down to the picture of the little boy Leslie had given her. An AMBER Alert had been issued and flyers sent out all over the city along with media blasts. Devon Chambers’s cute little freckled face was all over the place. Hopefully someone had seen him and would call the hotline.

As much as she wanted to nail Gabrielle Grayson’s killer, that little boy was Jess’s top priority.

She turned away from the case board. Enough for tonight. She tightened the sash of her borrowed robe. Lori had been happy to part with it. Jess loved the well-worn cotton. She didn’t care that it was now more white than pink. It suited her.

This place, she decided, suited her. Particularly now that she had better locks. There was no way anyone could reach one of the many windows without a ladder. Breaking in now wouldn’t be such a simple matter.

Her cell vibrated against the countertop. She walked over to the phone. Her pulse rate climbed at the idea that it could be Spears texting again.

But it wasn’t.

Did you have dinner?

Jess rolled her eyes. Dan worried over her like a mother hen. Y… e… s.

She couldn’t remember when she’d enjoyed going to the market. But after she’d had a shower, she had driven to the closest grocery store and forced herself to shop. As if walking into the store and smelling the scents emanating from the deli had somehow tripped some you-need-to-eat trigger, she had shopped like a maniac. Her fridge and cupboards were now crammed full of stuff.

She had eaten half a banana and two chocolate bars on her way home.

And she had a nifty new single-cup coffeemaker and all sorts of coffee and tea selections in a very cool lazy Susan–style rack. She might never visit a Starbucks again. What she didn’t have was pots and pans and dishes. Or silverware. She’d grabbed a pack of disposable coffee cups.

Good was Dan’s response. She decided to put on a cup of French vanilla–flavored coffee and put him out of his misery. Every time they were alone together she could feel the way he wanted to touch her. That caring hug he’d given her in the parking garage after the pointless trip to Wanda’s house had been filled with barely restrained need. But even more telling was the obvious and innate urge he clearly felt to protect her. Those were facts she could no longer deny. However painful their past, she could trust Dan.

The vow to be there for each other when they were old… every look, every touch, all of it tugged at a place so deep down inside her that it scared the hell out of her. She wasn’t sure what it meant or where it was going but she could no longer pretend the journey wasn’t real. The trick now was to find some sort of balance.