Heinous (15 page)

Jess gave her a grateful nod and hurried along the carpeted floor. She stared out the window as her sister’s phone rang. Lil had a family. She’d given up nursing to be a full time wife and mother. Motives and methods for murder never entered her mind. She didn’t have to worry about obsessed serial killers and haunted reverends or the psychopathy of a possible half sister like Amanda Brownfield. At least she hadn’t until Jess came back to town.

For days now, she’d hidden the ugly truth from her sister to protect her. What a joke. Lil was one of the strongest people Jess knew. What she’d really been covering up was her own inability to accept that she wasn’t any closer to the truth than she’d been a week ago. She didn’t have the answers. Not yet anyway. But that didn’t give her the right to keep what she’d learned from the people she loved.

“It’s about time you called,” Lil said instead of hello. “You were supposed to call me on Monday and tell me how the Baron barbecue went. Was Nina there?”

“I’m sorry, Lil. Work got in the way.” This was the same excuse she’d been using for twenty years. “Listen, that Brownfield woman I told you about has escaped custody. Your surveillance detail will be keeping an eye out for her.”

“What about her little girl?”

“She’s safe. Everyone’s on the lookout for the mother. I want you to be extra careful. Her fixation with me could spill over to you.”

The hesitation that lingered before Lil spoke again had Jess’s heart pounding harder.

“I’ve decided to buy a gun, Jess. I’m at home alone so often it just feels necessary.”

The announcement was certainly an unexpected one. Lil hated guns. “Let’s start with signing you up for the proper weapons training first.”

“I mean it, Jess. All this stuff with Spears is making me paranoid.”

“I understand. We’ll take care of it. I promise.” Jess braced. “Lil, we need to talk.” The warning that she had another call sounded in Jess’s ear.

“I’m home,” Lil reminded her with a sigh. “I’m always home. It’s really empty with the kids gone. Why don’t you come right now?”

“I have another call. I’ll call you back. Stay safe.” Jess ended the call and accepted the incoming one. “Harris.”

“I told you Eric could get me out.”

Jess stilled. “Amanda, I need to know where you are. Right now.”

She laughed. “You always sound so serious and I keep telling you the same thing. There is nothing you can do to stop this, Jess. He’s coming for you. Everything else is smoke and mirrors.”

“Not you, Amanda. You’re my sister remember? Sisters stick together no matter what. Tell me where you are and I’ll come. Just me. No one else.”

A beat of silence echoed.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the dark-haired man who drives the Infiniti?” Jess asked when Amanda remained silent. “He brought you pictures of me.”

“You’ll know everything soon, Jess. Don’t resist.” Another hesitation. “It’ll be better that way.”

“Amanda, where are you. Let me help you.”

“Come to the water, Jess. You know where. I’m leaving something there for you.”

Scottsboro, 4:30 p.m.

Standing on the Comer Bridge above the river where her parents had glimpsed their final view of daylight before slipping beneath the dark surface, Jess surveyed the water and the shoreline once more.

If Amanda had left something for her, she’d hidden it well.

Sheriff Foster and a dive team searched the water beneath the bridge. They’d found nothing so far. Jess had called Foster en route. By the time she and Lori arrived, the search was underway.

She told herself this was nothing more than another diversion Spears had set in motion. As much as she wanted to believe that, deep down inside, Jess sensed this time was different somehow.

“The divers found something,” Lori said from her vantage point at the guardrail.

Jess started that way and her cell phone rang. Hoping it was Dan, she stopped to check the screen.
Gant
. “Dammit.” He’d called twice already. She tossed her phone back into her bag. Black had evidently gone straight to Gant about her insubordination. She doubted her former boss would be surprised. He knew her too well, but that wouldn’t prevent him from reminding her of all the reasons her behavior was unreasonable and unacceptable.

As Jess reached the guardrail, Lori placed a hand on her arm. “It’s Amanda Brownfield.”

At some point along this journey, Jess had thought she was prepared for almost anything. After all she’d seen in her career, what could possibly shake her?

This
shook her... hard.

“Call Dr. Baron,” she said, her voice not as strong as she’d prefer. “Tell her we need a preliminary on Amanda tonight. I’ll work it out with Foster.”

The words were scarcely out of her mouth when two black SUVs parked behind the other official vehicles on the side of the road at the entrance to the bridge. The doors flew open and Chief Black, as well as four agents, emerged.

Now the real battle began.

By the time Jess reached the shoreline, Black and Agent Todd Manning from the Birmingham FBI Field Office, were arguing with Sheriff Foster. Jess could hardly take her eyes from the ominous black body bag. Her last exchange with Amanda sifted through her thoughts. On some level, it was difficult to see Amanda as a victim but, in actuality, that was exactly what she was.

Black’s firm tone, punctuated by Manning’s furious one, drew Jess’s attention. Foster wiped the sweat from his brow, settled his hat back in place, and bided his time while the others explained the legalities of why he would need to turn over the body ASAP.

Jess figured her best option was to let them hash it out. She was banking on the probability that the small town cop with the big hat and the cowboy boots was on her side.

“Well, gentlemen,” Foster began, “I’m afraid you’ll have to take your requests up with Sheriff Griggs down in Jefferson County. You see, I already turned all this over to him and his representative.” Foster gestured to Jess. “Our coroner already pronounced the victim and Jeb Cardin over at the funeral home’s sending a hearse to transport the body to the Jefferson County Coroner’s office as we speak.”

Jess didn’t see any need to stay and listen as Black and Manning challenged Foster’s declaration. She and Lori headed for her Mustang. The somber black hearse arrived as they pulled away, making Jess feel cold. Maddie’s mother, whatever her issues and whatever she was guilty of, was dead. Now the little girl was an orphan in the truest sense of the word.

Jess knew that feeling.

Lori executed a U-turn and drove away from the place that somehow continued to provoke change in Jess’s life.

She checked her cell to see if Dan or Buddy had returned her calls. No missed calls. Why couldn’t she reach Dan? She’d given a message to his secretary in addition to the voicemails she’d left him. And where was Buddy? Frustrated, she left another voicemail for him with an update on Amanda.

“You don’t think Buddy had anything to do with Amanda’s escape, do you?”

Buddy was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. “When Amanda called she said something about Eric getting her out.” Jess shook her head. “How do you spring someone out of the psych unit, for Christ’s sake? She had a BPD guard in addition to the usual security measures.”

“I put in a call to a friend of mine at the hospital.”

“Did he have any information?” Black hadn’t given Jess any of the details.

“He says a nurse took Amanda for an MRI. The nurse and the BPD uniform who accompanied her were found in the basement. Both had been shot and are in critical condition, but they’re expected to make it.”

“Were either of them able to give a statement?”

“He didn’t know for sure.”

Jess pressed her fingers to her temples and tried to ease the tension there. Buddy had promised to call her as soon as he spoke to Amanda. Dan should have called her back by now.

Where was everybody?

She stared at her phone and willed it to ring.

Jefferson County Coroner’s Office, 8:30 p.m.

“I’m convinced you’re trying to ruin my social life, Harris.”

“I appreciate you staying late again.”

Sylvia lifted a skeptical brow. “Don’t make a habit of it.” She looked Jess up and down. “Very nice.” Her gaze lingered on the shoes. She sighed. “I don’t know what Gina was thinking.”

Jess was beginning to think that moments like this with Sylvia were about breaking the tension. Right now, as ready as Jess was to move on with this, she appreciated the break. “Comfort and practicality. You do recall those terms, don’t you?”

“I deleted those from my vocabulary when I was twelve.” Sylvia turned her attention back to the victim. “Let’s get down to business, shall we?”

Jess surveyed Amanda’s body. There was no question who had done this. Spears wanted Jess to know this was his work. The lacerations to her body, including her breasts, and the widespread bruising were all classic Player torture techniques. Her wrists and ankles bore ligature marks. The thigh and pelvic bruising along with vaginal tears was the sort of injuries Jess had seen repeatedly in his victims. Some of the damage was older, from her first meeting with Spears last Friday, Jess estimated, while others were fresh... only hours old.

The sutured lips were not typical Player handiwork. Was this some new point Spears wanted to make? The recent victims with the sutured lips appeared to all have one thing in common, they could have given Jess information. Spears had stopped them.

Speak no evil
. Or, in this case, speak no truth.

“By the way,” Sylvia noted, “Henshaw’s tox screen was positive for Ketamine. The ME in Huntsville is sending me his preliminaries on Mooney and Skelton. I’m guessing he’ll find the same.”

“No surprise there.” Ketamine was Spears drug of choice for his victims.

“She wasn’t in the water very long,” Sylvia announced, drawing Jess’s attention back to the table and the woman who could be her half sister. “Skin isn’t loose, wrinkling, or pimpled.”

Amanda had called Jess shortly after noon. Foster’s team had pulled her out of the water by five. Somewhere in between Spears or one of his sadistic followers had tortured and murdered her, and then had her dumped in the river.

Egotistical bastard
.

“Let’s check the mouth.” Jess needed to know if there was another message. Any minute now Black or Manning could show up with a court order to take possession of the body. It would take a court order to override Griggs’ authority.

With sterile pincers and surgical scissors, Sylvia started the removal process. Jess’s cell sounded. She dug for it in her bag and checked the screen.
Dan
. Her heart leapt. Thank God. “I have to take this.”

Peeling off a glove, Jess hurried from the room. Lori came out right behind her, had a look around, and then took a short walk down the corridor.

Jess swiped the screen and accepted Dan’s call. “You okay?”

“I’m hanging in there.” He sounded exhausted and disgusted. He had every right to be. This week had been hell on earth for him.

“I’m sorry about Meredith.”

“Me, too.” He sighed. “I heard about Amanda. How are you holding up?”

“It’s strange.” Jess shook her head. “I feel confused.” How was she supposed to feel about this woman? She had no idea if she was her biological half sister and so what if she was. They hadn’t formed a relationship. Amanda was a killer. The families of her victims would cheer when they heard the news about her death.

“I can imagine,” Dan said. “When’re you coming home?”

“I’m with Sylvia. She’s doing a preliminary since I can’t be sure Gant won’t have Black or someone rush in and steal the body from me.”

“Your standoff with Harold over at the Redmont is running rampant through the department grapevine.” There was a hint of humor in his voice now.

“Gant pushed me into a corner. I had no choice.”

Dan laughed softly. The sound made her wish she could go to him. “I love you, Jess. Come home as soon as you can. I need to hold you.”

“Love you, too. Be there as soon as I can.” Jess put her phone away. She could relax a little now that she’d heard from him.

Lori moved up beside her. “Everything okay?”

“As okay as it can be.” Jess worried about Buddy. She hoped he wasn’t at the bottom of that damned river, too. Gant was right. There was a new urgency in Spears latest moves. Anything could happen next.

“Can I ask you something, Jess?”

She pushed aside the disturbing thoughts. “You don’t have to ask if you can ask. Of course you can.” Had she been so distracted that she’d lost touch with her team? The whole week had felt disjointed and surreal.

“Did you want me at the Brownfield farm yesterday?”

Jess frowned. “Hayes said you’d headed over there with Cook to check out a hunch. I meant to ask you about it, but I’ve been a little distracted.”

“I guess there was a lapse in communication. Hayes told me you wanted me over there with Cook. No problem, I was curious that’s all.” Her face told a different story. It was a problem and she was clearly frustrated.

Jess was more than a little frustrated herself. “If Hayes is—”

The door to the exam room opened. Sylvia poked her head out. “Spears left a message for you.”

“We can talk about this later,” Lori assured her.

Heart banging against her ribs, Jess followed Sylvia back to the autopsy table. A plastic Ziploc bag had been removed from Amanda’s mouth. Inside was a wallet size photo. Jess pulled on new gloves and carefully removed the photo from the bag. The image of big brown eyes and a wide smile framed by long, dark hair stared out at her. Hand shaking, she turned the photo over.

And then there were four... only one to go until it’s your turn, Jess. Can’t wait
.

The note was signed
Eric
.

Jess turned to Lori. “Get Gant on the line for me.”

Only one to go... before it was
her
turn.

Cedar Hill Cemetery, Bessemer, 10:45 p.m.

Buddy Corlew parked the Volkswagen Beetle he’d borrowed from a friend, shut off the headlights and waited. After what he’d seen on the news, he wasn’t so sure showing up for this little tete-a-tete was such a good idea. His cell vibrated and he checked the screen knowing full well it would be Jess.

He ignored her call the way he had all the others. She would only try talking him into coming in. Not happening until he was done. If he was right, he was too close to let anything or anyone get in his way. In the end, if he survived, Jess would thank him.

If he were wrong, it wouldn’t be the first time. He just hoped it wouldn’t be the last.

He checked the time again. Where the hell was he?

Headlights bobbed through the cemetery gate. His instincts went on point. After all this time, if this guy decided to turn on him now, Buddy was going to be pissed.

The car parked and the driver opened his door and climbed out. No interior light came on to give him away. Cops and PIs knew interior lights were good for one thing, illuminating a target. With no sirens echoing in the distance and no blue lights pulsing through the darkness, Buddy breathed easier.

Detective Kelvin Roark walked the short distance and climbed into the passenger side of Buddy’s borrowed car.

“What the hell took you so long?” Buddy didn’t like to wait. Never had. His no good old man used to say he was born a grownup. From the beginning, he knew what he wanted and he demanded to have it. Not that he’d ever gotten anything from that drunken bastard.

“There was a last minute conference call with the FBI.”

“I couldn’t know that,” Buddy gripped, “because you went dark on me around noon. What the hell happened?” Maybe he should have taken at least one of Jess’s calls. If he had, he might have known what was going on.

“You need to lay low, Corlew. Amanda Brownfield’s body was pulled from the river over in Jackson County about five this evening.”

The news hit like a sucker punch.

“Same MO as the others,” Roark went on. “Lips were sewn shut. This time Spears put the photo of his latest victim in her mouth. Gant says he’s escalating. Six is his number. He left a note on the back of the photo saying there was one more to go before it would be Harris’s turn.”

Buddy tightened his fingers around the steering wheel. “Was Brownfield tortured?”

“Oh yeah. Tortured and subjected to some rough ass sex.”

Whatever Amanda Brownfield had been, no one deserved to die like that.

“I guess cutting her loose was a mistake.” Roark laughed.

“I did not cut her loose.” When Buddy had walked out of that hospital, he’d been alone. His last image of Brownfield was of her shackled to the damned bed.

“Everybody thinks you did,” Roark warned with a little extra pleasure. “The uniform who was guarding her says he never saw the shooter. Nurse didn’t either. No video in the basement to show what happened. Black intends to hang you for this one. If they catch you, I can’t help you. You got that? This arrangement will be over. If I was you, I’d be getting the hell out of Dodge.”

“Black’s been trying to hang me since I was a rookie cop taking his orders,” Buddy argued. Nothing new there. “And there’s no need for you to be concerned about my expectations, Roark, I fully understand the boundaries of our arrangement.”

“Good, because I have to tell you, Corlew, Black may just do it this time. The woman is dead. You were her last visitor. Maybe you wanted her dead and copied the MO of these latest murders to put the blame somewhere else. Or maybe you’re one of Spears’s followers.”

Buddy leaned toward him. Roark flinched. “What the hell you doing here if you think I might be one of Spears’s followers?”

“I never said I thought that.” Roark laughed nervously. “I came here to warn you. This isn’t going away. Black is out for blood.
Your
blood.”

“What about Burnett? Any new evidence against him?”

Even in the darkness, Buddy could feel Roark scrutinizing him. “I’m beginning to think you’re worried about Burnett.”

“You going soft in the head, Roark? Burnett’s been a pain in my ass since I was a sophomore in high school. It was never enough that he was rich, he had to knock me down at everything I attempted. Are you forgetting he fired me from the Force?” Buddy pounded the steering wheel with the heel of his hand to punctuate his words. “Screw it! Get outta my car, Roark. I don’t need this crap from you.”

“Okay, okay.” Roark blew out a big breath. “This situation is getting dicey. Burnett retained Frank Teller. He’s got his big shot investigative team crawling all over this. It’s making me nervous. That’s all.”

Buddy was glad it was dark because he couldn’t stop his lips from curling into a smile. “What can I do to help? The sooner we toss Burnett outta there, the better off the department will be.”

“Damn straight,” Roark agreed. “Black deserved that promotion four years ago. Pratt wanted young blood in the office. A new more progressive attitude for the city. I guess he learned the hard way that you can’t own a guy like Burnett.”

“Ain’t that the truth?” Buddy commiserated. “You got screwed, too. You should’ve made captain a long time ago.”

“It’s coming,” Roark assured him. “Burnett is going down.”

“With Dority dead, you think there’s enough evidence.” Buddy shrugged. “I mean, Prescott’s case isn’t that strong. You need something else?”

Roark laughed. “I don’t think so, man. Between the evidence in the Allen case and then this Dority thing, Burnett is finished.”

Buddy needed Roark to be more specific. “We both know Burnett is no killer. How the hell did that evidence end up at his house?”

“Who cares? Just be grateful. Keep your head down, Corlew, until this Brownfield thing blows over,” Roark advised. “I may still need you. You owe me.”

Roark got out and swaggered back to his car. Those last words kept ringing in Buddy’s ears.
You owe me
. Unfortunate, but true. Buddy shut off the recording device he’d hidden in his dash and drove away.

Tonight’s meeting hadn’t cleared Dan but it did point to a conspiracy. Would that be enough? With Amanda Brownfield’s escape hanging over his head, Buddy wasn’t sure how much longer he could prod Roark for information. For the good it had done so far. Roark claimed not to know who was planting the evidence against Burnett. Someone damned sure planted Allen’s wedding band and cell phone.

Putting the cemetery behind him, Buddy headed to the address Rosey had under surveillance. Leaving that location had been a difficult choice but Roark had demanded a meeting. Buddy couldn’t afford to make him suspicious.

Now if what he’d learned from Amanda Brownfield panned out, he might just come out of this barrel of shit smelling like a hero.

Damn. It sucked to think what she’d gone through before she died. When Buddy had first entered her room, she’d tried to play him. She’d wanted information on Jess. Buddy had sensed that the questions meant more to her on a personal level than Amanda wanted anyone to know.

A woman who had killed her own mother and the guy she was sleeping with wasn’t to be trusted in any capacity, yet he’d picked up on her genuine desire to know more about Jess. Not just for Spears either.

Now she was dead.

Had she known Spears was going to kill her? Maybe that was the reason she’d given something to Buddy she hadn’t given to anyone else. She’d asked him to lean closer and she’d stolen a kiss before he could react. Then she’d whispered a phrase and said she’d seen it on a license plate across the street from where she’d met with Spears that one time.

Maybe she was screwing with him. Buddy couldn’t say. Whatever her goal, the information was worth consideration. He’d gotten a pal at the DMV to run the Alabama plate,
1PERCNT
.

The address was in a particularly prestigious neighborhood in Birmingham high atop Red Mountain. Buddy had a real estate friend who was looking into recent purchases in the area. For now, he intended to watch this location in case Amanda was telling the truth. If Spears was there, he’d have to come out sometime. Until then, another borrowed car would be Buddy’s hotel room.

Twenty minutes later, Buddy parked right behind the BMW Rosey Cunningham had borrowed from his chiropractor. He and Buddy would exchange cars since a Beetle would stand out like an A cup in a wet T-shirt contest.

Buddy grabbed his bag, eased out of the Beetle, and moved to the driver’s side of the BMW. Rosey had already slid over the console and into the passenger seat. Buddy tossed him the keys to the Beetle. “Any activity?”

“Lights came on upstairs about an hour ago. No departures and no arrivals. Driveway sensors are in place. So’s the one on the car.”

About five this evening a limo had arrived. Pulled into the garage and then departed about fifteen minutes later. The driver had dark hair and sunglasses had shielded his face. The heavy tint on the passenger compartment windows prevented a visual on the passenger. The irony that the limo arrived here about the same time Amanda’s body was pulled from the river was not lost on Buddy.

He wanted to get this guy. Maybe more than he’d ever wanted anything.

“Good deal, Rosey.” The sensors would notify Buddy through his cell if anyone passed on the street or entered the driveway of the property under surveillance. He didn’t plan on sleeping but he was only human. His bag was loaded with power drinks and protein snacks. Everything else, weapons, binoculars, portable urinal, were right here in the Beemer.

“Call me when you need to go somewhere or sleep,” Rosey said before heading out.

Buddy grunted. He had no intention of leaving until he had confirmation that Eric Spears was in that house.

Then, he was taking him down.