‘It’s him,’ Juliette insisted. ‘It has to be him.’
‘How do you
know
it’s him?’ Jess gave her a second to absorb the impact of that question. ‘His friend died twelve years ago. Penney has a very successful life out in California. Why would he come back out of the blue and start killing people? It’s not the anniversary of Porter’s death. No special date has passed at all as best I can tell.’
Still Juliette said nothing.
‘That leads me to believe there’s a reason we haven’t uncovered yet,’ Jess reasoned.
‘What are you implying?’ Gina Coleman asked.
‘For a man to start a killing spree, there has to be a motive. Considering the one event all three victims have in common, we have to assume the motive is related to Lenny Porter’s death and that it’s been festering all that time. And now, after twelve years, he’s decided to do something about it. The problem is, we haven’t found a trigger.’
‘A trigger?’ Juliette asked, looking confused or guilty, maybe both.
Jess pushed a copy of the latest journal entry across her desk. ‘Yesterday we discovered a storage unit,’ she explained to the two women. ‘That storage unit was covered with pages like this.’ Anger and disgust started to build inside Jess. ‘Long narratives detailing how five smart, attractive, rich kids tortured two young men whose only shortcoming was that they didn’t have it all.’
Plain old pissed off now, Jess spread crime scene photos of Scott’s, Elliott’s, and Aaron’s bodies in front of the women. Juliette gasped. Gina glared at Jess.
‘Your three friends are dead not just because they were selfish assholes when they were teenagers.’ Jess struggled to contain her outrage. ‘They’re dead because something occurred recently. A conversation, a meeting, something. And that something triggered their murders. There’s only you and Kevin left. Are we going to let whoever is responsible for these murders just keep following this obvious pattern or are you going to start telling me the whole truth?’
‘Are you accusing my sister of something?’ Gina demanded.
Jess looked her square in the eye. ‘Absolutely. I’m accusing her of not telling me the whole story.’ She turned to Juliette then. ‘Three of your friends are dead,’ she repeated. ‘Another is unaccounted for. Are you going to keep pretending that you don’t know anything until you’re all dead?’
‘We need a lawyer,’ Gina announced. ‘Let’s go, Jules.’
‘Just one more little detail.’ Jess opened a folder and withdrew Scott Baker’s phone records. She’d gotten to the office this morning to find them waiting for her. Why the hell it sometimes took as much as three days she would never understand. They were still waiting for Todd Penney’s, Elliott Carson’s, and now Aaron Taylor’s. Evidently she needed to add Kevin O’Reilly to that growing list. ‘Scott called Todd Penney just over one week before he died. They spoke again the day before he was murdered. You and Scott were lovers. Did he mention to you that he’d spoken to Todd?’
Gina stood. ‘Don’t say anything else.’ She kept that glower tuned at full power on Jess.
Juliette held up her hands. ‘Okay.’
Mouth gaping, Gina stared at her sister.
‘We were doing drugs that night.’
‘Oh my God!’ Gina cried.
‘If you’d like your sister to leave the room,’ Jess said to Juliette, ‘we can go on without her.’ Jess ignored the mega evil eye that earned her. Gina would need a few more cooking classes to get her Zen after this.
‘No.’ Juliette shook her head. ‘I want her to stay.’ She fell silent for a long moment; then she began, her voice taking on a distant quality. ‘None of us did drugs. We didn’t even smoke pot.’ She glanced at her sister. ‘But that night was the last night of our youth, you know? Starting on graduation day, we would be adults. College, jobs, marriage, and children lay ahead of us.’
Jess didn’t prompt her with more questions. Just let her talk.
‘We decided that one night would be ours. Completely. We could do anything we wanted and it didn’t count. We swore never to talk about it. Like it never happened.’
‘How did Lenny Porter become involved?’ Jess had a feeling he didn’t just show up.
‘The guys wanted guinea pigs. We’d spent the whole year screwing around with them – why not include them in the big bash? So Scott and the others invited Lenny and Todd.’ She stared at her hands. ‘Lenny did everything they told him. Whatever stupid thing it was, he did it. He took the drugs but not just the pot and coke we did – the hard stuff, like acid. He was their puppet. They were getting off on watching his reactions to the drugs.’
‘What about Todd?’
‘He played along at first but then he tried to get Lenny to leave. Finally he left without him. But he was tripping too. The acid really screwed with their heads.’
As much as Jess wanted to explain to this woman that four people were dead and she was partly responsible, she waited for the rest.
‘The guys started goofing around close to the edge of the building. Scott, Aaron, and Elliott were acting totally insane. I sobered up pretty quickly. I begged them to stop but it didn’t do any good. They just kept getting closer and egging each other on. I was done. I told them I was leaving. I turned my back for a second. A
second
! And Lenny jumped.’
‘So the three who have died, your friends, were at the edge with him but he was the only one who jumped.’
She nodded. ‘We went home and pretended it never happened. But Todd knew. No one believed him but he knew. And now he’s having his revenge.’
‘What about Kevin?’ Had she forgotten about him? He was there that night as well. What was he doing during that pivotal time?
She laughed, then pressed her hand to her mouth as if she hadn’t meant to do that. ‘Are you kidding? He’s terrified of heights. There was no way he was getting near the edge.’
‘Juliette,’ Gina said, breaking her silence, ‘has always been the good girl in the family.’ She smiled at her sister. ‘She wasn’t a rebel like me. She didn’t give anybody any grief.’
‘Except Lenny Porter,’ Jess reminded her. ‘And his friend Todd Penney. You read the journal entries.’
Both women stared at her in something like disbelief. Juliette was the first one to speak. ‘I was always nice to Lenny.’ She shrugged. ‘Why wouldn’t I be? It was the guys who were mean to him. I didn’t like being a part of that. I tried to smooth things over. I felt sorry for Lenny. The poor guy loved me.’
‘But you couldn’t love him back enough to make your friends stop,’ Jess suggested. Before she could respond, Jess moved on. ‘Thank you, Juliette.’ She passed a notepad and a pen across the table to her. ‘I want you to write down everything you’ve told me.’ She turned to Gina then. ‘When she’s done, take her home and keep her there. Do not go anywhere or do anything that might cause the two of you to become separated from your surveillance detail.’
‘Of course.’ Gina wore the shocked look of someone who had just learned that people, even little sisters, sometimes kept deep dark secrets.
The door to Jess’s office opened just a crack and a head poked in. ‘Oh, excuse me.’
The door closed as fast as it opened.
What was Corlew doing here?
‘I’ll be right back, ladies.’
Jess got up and walked out of the room. Corlew was already halfway to the elevator. ‘Hold up, Corlew,’ she called after him.
He waited for her to catch up to him.
‘You wanted to see me?’ she asked.
‘There was another murder last night? Aaron Taylor?’
‘That’s right. Do you know something about it?’
‘I’m not sure. Is there some place we can talk?’
‘There’s a conference room.’ Since they had to walk right past the lounge, she had to have more coffee. Corlew declined.
Once the conference room door was closed, she started things off with a simple question. ‘What’s on your mind?’
‘Twelve years ago, after Lenny Porter died, Todd Penney insisted that the Five had something to do with his death. But the cops who worked the case cleared those kids.’ He shrugged. ‘Who was going to drag the offspring of Birmingham’s biggest big shots through the mud? So Penney ends up looking like a total fool and a bad friend because he wasn’t there to save his friend, whose death was ultimately ruled a suicide.’
Jess sipped her coffee and sent him a disinterested look. ‘I got all that, Corlew. Where’s the new stuff?’ The better question was, what information was compelling enough to bring him
here
? Or was he angling for her to change her mind about the search warrant?
‘All these years later, Penney finally returns home for a visit and people start dying,’ Corlew went on. ‘But I don’t think Penney is killing anyone.’
She had her doubts about Penney’s involvement as well. ‘I’m in the middle of taking a statement. If you have something relevant to say, forget about setting the stage and just say it. And don’t forget you have until noon to comply with my request.’
If he was here to offer a bone that might put her off his scent, he could forget about it.
His cheeks puffed with frustration. ‘All right.’ He looked around the room as if he didn’t know where to begin. ‘I haven’t been totally up front with you, Jess.’
If she hadn’t already suspected that was the case, she would be mad as hell. As it was, what she wanted was for him to spill his guts. ‘I warned you not to yank me around, Corlew. I will get that search warrant and I will make your life miserable from this day forward if you don’t tell me the truth right this minute.’
He held up his hands in surrender. ‘I got it. That’s why I’m here.’
‘That better be why you’re here,’ she warned. If playing his games had cost her team precious time, he would regret it. ‘Let’s hear it.’
‘Keep in mind,’ he said sheepishly, ‘that sometimes the end justifies the means.’
She glared at him so he would get on with it.
‘Monday night I was at Vestavia Village.’
Outrage rushed through her. ‘The night Scott Baker was murdered you were there?’
‘He was still alive when I left, but yeah.’ Corlew tucked his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. ‘It’s like you said before, I discovered his ongoing affair with Juliette Coleman during the investigation for Frances Wallace. I decided maybe there was something there, so I went back to compile the necessary evidence.’
‘You went back for pictures.’ She shook her head in disgust. ‘You intended to blackmail Scott.’ It wasn’t a question. She understood exactly what he was up to. How the hell could he still be that guy? The one who cared about no one but himself?
Worse, he had the unmitigated gall to look disappointed at her for calling him on it.
‘I wasn’t going to blackmail anyone. You know how things work, Jess. I figured the photos would be good bargaining power in the future if I found myself in a tight negotiation. In my line of work, collecting insurance dividends is a necessary evil.’
‘Start from the beginning,’ Jess ordered. ‘Don’t leave anything out. And when we’re done here, you’re going to write an official statement.’
He heaved a long-suffering sigh. ‘I arrived at Vestavia Village just after six Monday evening. Juliette typically arrives around seven, so I wanted to be in position. I parked on the street that runs parallel with the front of the property and cut through the trees on foot. I settled in between the hydrangeas.’ He looked straight at Jess and said the rest. ‘Five, ten minutes before seven, two men exited the lobby and stood outside the main entrance for another couple of minutes. I could tell by their body language that the discussion was not exactly a friendly one, so I zoomed in with my camera.’
Jess reminded herself to breathe.
‘One of the guys was Scott. He had something in his hand. A notebook or something. The other man I didn’t recognize at first, so I zeroed in closer on his face.’ He made a long, low whistle. ‘I knew that face but I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.’
‘It was Todd,’ Jess surmised.
He nodded. ‘They talked or argued a minute more and then Penney got into his Corolla and drove away. Scott went back inside. Juliette drove up about that time.’
‘And you got your photos, is that right?’ Jess was kick-the-crap-out
-
of
-
him furious. Not only could he confirm Penney had met with Scott that night, but also he could likely confirm what time Juliette left. All of which was immensely relevant to her investigation.
‘Nope.’
Unable to hide her surprise, she echoed his answer. ‘Nope?’
‘I decided I was more interested in what was up with Penney’s return. I rushed back to my Charger and followed him. He drove to one of those geeky places he used to frequent back in the day and that’s where he stayed until around midnight when he went to his mother’s house.’ Corlew scrubbed a hand over his face. ‘After that I drove back by the Village and saw all the official vehicles and I knew I’d picked the wrong guy to watch.’
Jess wanted to shake him. ‘I could’ve used this information days ago.’
‘All it proves is that Penney didn’t kill Baker,’ Corlew argued. ‘And that maybe you need to look more closely at Juliette’s alibi. Where the hell were the rest of her buddies that night? Have you looked into that? I’m telling you, the Five were responsible for Lenny Porter’s death and at least one of them is responsible for what’s happening now.’
‘You’re determined to prove it’s one of them, aren’t you?’ Jess had her suspicions along those lines as well, but there was no concrete evidence yet and she damned sure couldn’t nail down a motive unless Penney was blackmailing one of the Five. If that was the case, no one was telling. And the suspect pool was getting mighty slim.
‘What I’m determined to do,’ Corlew said, ‘is right the wrong that was done the first go
-
round.’
‘What wrong? Stop beating around the bush and get to the point.’ She needed specifics not innuendos.
‘When Porter took that fatal plunge, Daniel Burnett was the liaison between the mayor’s and the chief of police’s offices. He made sure Deputy Chief Black closed that case the way the rich daddies of the Five wanted it closed. Call me an asshole but this is my opportunity to take Danny boy down a notch or two with the truth. That’s why I didn’t tell you. You weren’t going to listen to me over Dan. I decided to do it myself. I thought I could nail the killer, close this case, and prove the department screwed up last time, but I was wrong. I kept an eye on O’Reilly’s house all night last night. Once again I picked the wrong guy to watch.’