The Wrong Side of Dead

Harper slumped back in his chair with crossed arms. Defensive with a capital D.

“I can’t talk about that.” He shook his head. “But Jess, if you wanna be my friend, don’t judge her. I couldn’t take that coming from you. Just trust me when I say, Mandy had plenty of reasons for the way she turned out. Some people aren’t strong enough to deal, that’s all.”

Jess heard the truth in what he said about judging people. She’d been on the receiving end of criticism plenty of times. But for her, Mandy had crossed a line. It was one thing to screw up your own life, but to take someone else with you was inexcusable.

To say Mandy had made bad decisions in her life was an understatement of mega proportions. Hooking up with a psychopathic jerk wad with a penchant for sharp objects could have been just one on a long list. She had ruined her life, but to play a hand in stealing the rest of Seth’s wasn’t right. Jess had sympathy for what her gullible boy genius had tried to do for this messed-up girl, but she found it hard to muster any sympathy until she knew more about her.

“Mandy got caught on the wrong side of dead, Harper. Her life was doing a 360 down the commode. You were only trying to throw her a lifeline. I get that, but the cops have tunnel vision. You being found with her gave them a slam-dunk case. They’re not gonna believe that you were only trying to help her.”

“Help? She’s still dead, Jessie.” He shook his head, chin low.

“Yeah, and you’re still screwed.”

“Thanks for the update.”

“I just want you to start caring what happens, Seth. To you.”

Harper looked too fragile for Jess to say what was really on her mind—that his so-called friend had probably come close to destroying him. Even sporting a morgue Y-incision with her chest splayed like a lab rat, the girl still might take him down.

For some, misery loved company—even in death.

“So I guess that’s it.” He shrugged, defeat settling on his face. “The cops are gonna get me on this, aren’t they?”

Jess didn’t have much to lift Harper’s spirits, but something Nadir Beladi said last night made her think.

Whoever Desiree was before, she isn’t now. She is no longer your concern. Had the smoker known about Mandy being dead before the story had appeared in the papers?

Plus, his beefy sidekick had been too quick with a knife. After he tried to bully her, imagining the bastard using his blade on a woman wasn’t much of a stretch. Maybe Mandy had threatened Beladi’s livelihood. After all, he’d been willing to cut her up for simply asking questions about Mandy. What did the girl know—being an insider to his dealings—that put a target on her back?

Jess had to get the cops to direct their investigative energy in another direction. Any direction. The cops would be building a case against Harper, compiling evidence for the DA to proceed. If she cast doubt on Seth’s case—giving them a believable motive on anyone else—he might have a shot at bail. For them to drop the charges now was too much to ask, but that would eventually be the general idea.

“Don’t give up on me, Harper.” She grinned. “You gotta have faith.”

“I do have faith in you, Jessie. And thanks.”

“Well, I owe you one”—she shrugged—“or six.”

After coercing a faint smile from him, she hit Seth with an unexpected question.

“Why did you take a cab to Dirty Monty’s?” It was a bluff. Pretending to know more than she did, Jess stared him down and saw that her question had hit home, sort of. At least it got Harper thinking.

“A cab? I don’t remember—” He struggled for glimpses of memory. “But I guess I could have. I grab a taxi when I know I’ll be drinking.”

She had to smile at the kid. He hadn’t seen the irony in what he admitted.

“God, Harper. You’re priceless.” When he scrunched his face in confusion, she filled him in on the joke. “For cryin’ out loud, you even drink responsibly. How could anyone think you hacked a woman to death?”

“Promise me you won’t serve as my character witness.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“Look, I’m makin’ my way down a list of cab companies. If a driver remembers you, it could help build a timeline for that night. But I’m letting you know now that I plan to ask the cabby where he picked you up. You got a problem with that?”

She saw by his reaction, the kid knew what that meant.

“I need to make a phone call, Jess.”

“Are you finally contacting a lawyer? If you need a name, I can check around, give you a good referral. You really shouldn’t let them assign you a public defender.”

“No, this is personal.”

Harper was done answering questions. She saw it in his eyes. He’d made a decision, and he wouldn’t share it with her. Seth had allowed her into his life in the past, but this time he chose to keep where he lived a secret—even from her.

Keeping his secret—and protecting someone else besides Mandy—was more important than he was.

Seth never thought he’d be on the wrong side of jail bars. And the reality of his situation made his stomach hurt.

Down the hall, a buzzer sounded, and a door slammed with a clang. Footsteps echoed and intensified as someone came closer. A dour-faced jailer stopped at his cell and escorted him down a hallway to a larger room with one phone on a far wall. Other prisoners stood in line. He kept his head down and didn’t make eye contact, but they knew he was fresh meat and taunted him until they lost interest.

The rules for use of the phone were posted in more than one language. All prisoners had access to it during limited times of day. If he didn’t make it through the line, he’d have to wait for the next time period. Since his call was not considered confidential or to a legal advisor, he had no right to privacy. His call would be monitored. Knowing this, he chose to call someone else, someone who would intervene.

And Harper prayed the man would.

When he got to the front of the line—with all eyes on him—Seth worked through the operator to place the collect call. On the other end of the line, a man with a low, gravelly voice picked up the phone. He acted as if he had expected the call and accepted the charges.

“Seth, is it really you?” the man asked after the operator got off the line.

He shut his eyes tight for an instant, wishing the call hadn’t been necessary—not like this. Seth gripped the phone and realized he was holding his breath. Finally, he gulped air and got on with it.

“I need to reach him. It’s urgent.”

Silence. For a moment, he didn’t know if the man would speak or hang up.

“Why haven’t you called before now? He’s been waiting.”

Seth lowered his head and hugged the phone to his ear, saying, “I know.”

CHAPTER 9

Harper was protecting someone else. At first, Jess thought it had been Mandy, but with the girl dead, he had no more reason to guard her identity. His reticence had something to do with where he was living now, but she had no idea why.

After leaving Harper, Jess drove to Harrison Station to see Sam. When she got there, her friend met her on the first floor and they walked to a nearby coffee shop to talk, away from prying eyes and ears.

“They took a blood sample on Seth and thanks to Ray Garza, the lab is gonna do a more extensive analysis, not just the standard screening. Ray thought Harper looked more drugged than drunk,” Sam said. “But I doubt the final analysis will be back in time for Seth’s bail hearing.”

“That’s too bad, but if Ray is right, the tox screen should help our boy, right?”

“Let’s hope so. Harper couldn’t remember anything other than heading for a bar, then waking up at that motel room. It would be nice if we had more of a timeline of what he did that night…and the name of that bar.”

Good boy, Jess thought. Harper had held out with the cops, but the face of the bartender flashed in her mind. As much as she wanted to pin something on the bastard—to wipe the smirk off his