grimaced when she saw who it was.
“This can’t be good,” she muttered.
She opened the door to find Ray Garza and Sam on her doorstep. But before she said a word, Ray got in a quick jab.
“I always thought you were tougher than a three-dollar T-bone.” He shook his head and gazed at her cuts and bruises. “But maybe I should check out the other guy.”
“Yeah, you do that. He’ll be the one with the new corn shoot.”
Ray tried not to laugh, but he lost his fight with a smile.
“What happened, Jessie?” Sam rushed through the door, but when she saw Alexa smile and wave, she narrowed her eyes. “Actually, maybe I don’t want to know.”
“Good idea.” Jess shut the door behind them and quickly introduced Ray to Alexa. “I’d get you guys some coffee, but I get the feeling this isn’t a social call. What’s up?”
She looked at Sam, but when her friend kept quiet and shifted her gaze to Ray, Jess knew something was terribly wrong.
“Someone start talking…please,” she pleaded.
“Sam told me she called you about Jade filing charges against your friend Harper,” he said.
“Yeah, what about her?” Jess didn’t dare look at Alexa.
Her confrontation with Jade and her head-on collision with Beladi last night weren’t up for discussion until she knew more. Sam was her friend, but Ray was the cop who’d nearly gotten her arrested for the murder of Lucas Baker a few months ago. Just because Sam had the hots for the guy didn’t mean he deserved her complete trust.
He’d have to earn that.
“She was killed early this morning,” he said. “Butchered with a knife, same as Desiree—right down to a series of distinctive puncture wounds. If the DA wants to proceed with charging Harper for Desiree’s murder, those shallow wounds will tie him to Jade’s killing even if the link is only circumstantial. And Jade’s assault charges against him don’t help his case. We’ve got an APB on Harper.”
“And I suppose you want me to magically produce him, like I know where he is.” She turned on him, walking into her living room to slump onto her couch. Things had gone from bad to worse in seconds flat. And she had a headache brewing at the base of her skull.
“Actually, we’re here to update you on other developments. Then we can talk about what’s best for Seth.” Sam sat next to her on the sofa, with Ray taking a spot on the armrest near her friend. Alexa remained standing, her face stern.
“This morning I put a hole through Jason Burke’s I-PASS alibi,” Sam began.
“She’s being modest,” Ray said. “She annihilated it.”
Sam touched a hand to his thigh and smiled. Jess hadn’t missed the gesture. And neither had Alexa.
“Talk to me, Sammie. What’s going on?” Jess didn’t want to get her hopes up, but this was the first bright spot she’d heard in Harper’s case.
“I had a hunch about Burke. Remember, the guy claimed to be in Lombard at a club and he used his I-PASS for an alibi?” After she nodded, Sam went on, “Well I ran his cell-phone bill and checked it against the night of the killing. He lied to us about being in the burbs.”
Sam explained about triangulating cell-phone towers and how she had determined Burke’s location and exposed his lie.
“That’s good news, right?”
“Yeah, I’d say so. Detective Culver is bringing Burke in for questioning. We’ll have him for forty-eight hours if he doesn’t lawyer up. It’ll give us time to check him out.”
“And we should have Harper’s drug test soon,” Ray said.
“That should help with reasonable doubt,” Sam nodded.
“Yeah, but we still have to find out who killed these women,” he said. “With Burke being Desiree’s ex and having a history of violence toward women, he’s a likely candidate. But Jade is another story. Her killing may have similarities, but my gut tells me this doesn’t add up. Something else is at work.”
Jess clenched her teeth. Ray’s hunch was spot on. Beladi and Pinzolo had seen her with Jade in front of Phat Jack’s. If the woman were perceived to be a loose end, Pinzolo would have no problem with cutting her out of the picture, literally.
Had she gotten Jade killed? Her stomach turned at the thought. It was one thing to put
“So Harper might—and I stress the word ‘might’—have reasonable doubt in his favor for Desiree, but for Jade he’s got nothing. If anything, that killing might strengthen the DA’s case.” Alexa jumped in with the harsh reality of Seth’s situation and locked her gaze on Jess. “They turn up any of his prints at the scene?”
“No, but they’re still working evidence,” Ray admitted.
Jess knew Alexa was making a point to be careful and not expect too much—at least not until they had a chance to talk one-on-one. Beladi was a viable suspect, but she had nothing to go on except gut instinct. Although Alexa had promised a thorough background check on the man, all Jess had were theories and the bruises to go along with them.
But Ray was not happy with Alexa’s take on Harper’s predicament. She could see it on his face.
“It’s time for a little tough love, Jessie,” he said. “That’s why we both came, to plead our case.”
Sam reached for her hand and held it. She was straddling the line between being a friend and a cop, a familiar place.
“You gotta bring in your friend for his own good.” Ray’s usually somber expression softened, and he lowered his voice. “If you care for him, you gotta bring him in whether he wants to come or not. With him on the loose, whoever is framing him is racking up the charges and making it look easy. And the killing may not stop with Jade. Other lives could be at stake.”
Jess knew this was difficult for Ray, too. The guy was pretty cut-and-dried where the law was concerned. But for Sam, he was making an effort.
“I know this will be hard.” He fixed his gaze on her. “But the way I see it, it’s up to you now. Do what’s right, even if your friend can’t see it.”
Jessie gritted her teeth, fighting back nausea. Her loyalty to Seth Harper clashed with the sickening guilt over playing a part in Jade’s death. Her path and Seth’s had crossed when they were both kids, and it was happening again. And all the darkness lurking under her skin and wedged deep in her memory had been stirred awake. She’d have to deal whether she wanted to or not.
But in the end it might come down to one thing.
Could she track down a friend to stop a killer? She hoped Seth would understand.
After Ray and Sam left, Jess sat with Alexa in silence on her living-room sofa. Her appetite had bitten the dust. And to her credit, her new companion gave her plenty of time to think—an intuitive gesture she appreciated.
Finally, she spoke. “Did I get Jade killed?”
Jess stared across the room, unable to look the woman in the eye. She had only thought about finding Mandy’s killer so Harper would walk on the charges. Her sole focus had been on her friend. Had she known someone else would have been murdered, would she have acted differently? The fact that she had to think about the answer scared her.
“Jessie, look at me.” The blonde waited until she did. “You had nothing to do with that woman’s death. My theory is that she got picked because she knew her killer. Whoever did this knew she’d file charges against Harper and probably beat her up to make it look good. You can’t take credit for all the bad choices Jade made in her life. She became a loose end, and someone felt the need to eliminate the threat. You had nothing to do with that.”
“I wouldn’t exactly say I had nothing to do with it.” She shook her head and pulled a pillow to her chest. “My gut tells me Harper would be safer in police custody, like Ray said. But I’m not sure I can be the one who takes him in.”
Duping Harper and betraying his trust felt so wrong. Even though Ray and Sam made a good point that it was time for tough love, she found herself flogging her brain for another option.
“I can do it, if you want,” Alexa offered.
