The Last to Die (24 page)

''Jazzy, can I get you so-met-hing?" Genny as-ked. "Mo-re tea? Or a san-d-wich?"

Jazzy sho-ok her he-ad. De-ar, swe-et Genny, with her mot-her-to-the-world kin-d-ness. Jaz-zy glan-ced at the un-to-uc-hed cup of tea Genny had pre-pa-red for her over an ho-ur ago, right af-ter Dal-las had left.

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"It's cold." Genny fol-lo-wed Jaz-zy's li-ne of vi-si-on to the te-acup. "You ne-ed so-met-hing warm and so-ot-hing."

When Genny pic-ked up the cup of cold tea and he-aded to-ward the kit-c-hen, Jaz-zy cal-led to her. "I don't ne-ed tea or cof-fee or… I ne-ed to un-der-s-tand what hap-pe-ned, why it hap-pe-ned, and how it is that I'm in-vol-ved."

Genny tur-ned, set the cup on a ne-arby tab-le, and fa-ced Jaz-zy. "The most im-por-tant thing we must con-cern our-sel-ves with is how you're in-vol-ved. And even tho-ugh we both know you didn't kill Jamie, I ke-ep get-ting the-se odd fo-re-bo-dings. Who-ever kil-led Jamie wants you to be bla-med for his mur-der."

"But who? Who wo-uld ha-te Jamie eno-ugh to tor-tu-re him to de-ath? And who-ever she is, she ha-tes me eno-ugh to want to see me bla-med for a cri-me I didn't com-mit."

Genny ca-me over and sat down on the so-fa be-si-de Jaz-zy. "We both know that the list of wo-men in Jamie's li-fe is en-d-less. He's bro-ken do-zens of he-arts over the ye-ars."

"So why wo-uld she fo-cus on me to ta-ke the fall for Jamie's mur-der?"

"Because you're the only wo-man Jamie even ca-me clo-se to lo-ving," Genny rep-li-ed. "You're the wo-man Jamie kept co-ming back to, over and over aga-in."

"I'd say it was La-ura Wil-lis, but I don't think she's ca-pab-le of mur-der. Cer-ta-inly not tor-tu-re.

She co-mes ac-ross as be-ing a very ni-ce yo-ung wo-man. "Jaz-zy re-cal-led the-ir bri-ef con-ver-sa-ti-on in her of-fi-ce last night. She co-uld he-ar La-ura beg-ging. If he re-ma-ins ti-ed to you, in any way, he'll ne-ver be ab-le to com-mit to me, to our mar-ri-age. Ple-ase, ple-ase… set him free.

"Even so, we don't re-al-ly know her, do we? And Dal-las says that ever-yo-ne is ca-pab-le of mur-der, gi-ven the right set of cir-cum-s-tan-ces."

"Yeah, he's pro-bably right." Jaz-zy rub-bed the back of her neck. "I sup-po-se I had mo-re re-ason to kill him than an-yo-ne el-se did, and that's why I'll be the num-ber one sus-pect."

"But the-re is no evi-den-ce aga-inst you. The-re can't be. You didn't kill Jamie. You we-re he-re in yo-ur apar-t-ment when he was mur-de-red."

"Here all alo-ne. I don't ha-ve an ali-bi."

"You ha-ve an ali-bi for part of the night," Genny re-min-ded her. "Ca-leb was he-re with you."

At the men-ti-on of Ca-leb, Jaz-zy re-mem-be-red the-ir plans for this af-ter-no-on. A re-al da-te.

So many ho-pes and dre-ams ti-ed to a da-te that wo-uld ne-ver be. "Oh, God, I ha-ve to call him. We ha-ve a da-te for two-thirty. What ti-me is it an-y-way?"

"It's al-most no-on." When Jaz-zy star-ted to get up, Genny sho-ved her gently back on-to the so-fa.

"Let me call him and tell him what-"

A lo-ud, in-sis-tent po-un-ding on the outer do-or stop-ped Genny mid sen-ten-ce. She and Jaz-zy gas-ped and jum-ped si-mul-ta-ne-o-usly.

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"I'll get it." Genny rus-hed to the do-or.

A co-up-le of se-conds la-ter, Jaz-zy he-ard Ca-leb's vo-ice. "How is she?" 'You he-ard abo-ut Jamie," Genny sa-id in a mat-ter-of-fact way.

"Yeah, I he-ard. I tal-ked to Jacob."

Genny step-ped asi-de to al-low Ca-leb en-t-ran-ce.

"I ca-me over as so-on as I co-uld." Ca-leb hur-ri-ed past Genny and went stra-ight to Jaz-zy.

The mi-nu-te she saw him, the bles-sed num-b-ness that had co-co-oned her from pa-in mel-ted away. Oh, Ca-leb, Ca-leb, her he-art cri-ed. She'd ne-ver be-en so glad to see an-yo-ne in her en-ti-re li-fe. On so-me de-ep, in-s-tin-c-ti-ve le-vel she re-cog-ni-zed him as her pro-tec-tor. She ne-eded him.

Ne-eded him des-pe-ra-tely.

"Caleb!" She shot up off the so-fa and went right in-to his open arms. He held her, stro-king her back, nuz-zling the si-de of her fa-ce, whis-pe-ring soft, in-co-he-rent so-ot-hing so-unds in-to her ear.

She clung to him for de-ar li-fe.

"Hey, hey, ho-ney, it's go-ing to be all right." Ca-leb gras-ped her fa-ce with both of his hands. "I know you're hur-ting. I know how much you lo-ved Jamie. It's all right to cry and even rant and ra-ve, if that's what you want to do. I'm he-re for you. Le-an on me."

"I-I used to lo-ve Jamie," she sa-id, so-me-how ne-eding to ex-p-la-in to Ca-leb that she hadn't be-en in lo-ve with Jamie for a long ti-me. And last nig-ht-only ho-urs be-fo-re Jamie di-ed-she had felt free of him for the first ti-me sin-ce she was six-te-en. Free of the past. Oh, God, what if she'd sen-sed Jamie was go-ing to die and that's the re-ason she had felt so free? 'Tell me what I can do for you,"

Ca-leb sa-id. "You na-me it and-" 'The-re's a prob-lem you don't know abo-ut," Genny sa-id.

Caleb snap-ped his he-ad aro-und and sta-red at Genny. "What is it?"

Jazzy re-ac-hed up and clut-c-hed Ca-leb's hands and pres-sed them aga-inst her chest as she held them tightly. "Who-ever kil-led Jamie wo-re a red wig-eit-her that or she cut and dyed her ha-ir to lo-ok li-ke me."

"How did you find out abo-ut the wo-man? Did so-me-one see her?"

"Genny did." Jaz-zy lo-oked ple-adingly at Ca-leb, hop-mg he wo-uldn't dis-re-gard Genny's gift of sight. "In one of her vi-si-ons."

He tur-ned to Genny. 'Jacob told me abo-ut that, but not any de-ta-ils. Did you see an-y-t-hing el-se?" 'Only her ha-ir. And the car she dro-ve."

"Yeah, I know abo-ut the car. A gre-en Jagu-ar."

"How do you…" Genny sig-hed. "Why wo-uld Jacob tell you abo-ut the car?"

"Because so-me-body set that car on fi-re and sent it over a ra-vi-ne not half a mi-le from my ca-bin,"

Ca-leb rep-li-ed. 'The fi-re de-par-t-ment is the-re and Jacob's got a de-puty gu-ar-ding the si-te. He
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qu-es-ti-oned all the ca-bin re-si-dents ne-arby."

"By set-ting the car on fi-re, she ho-ped to des-t-roy any evi-den-ce she might ha-ve left in-si-de it,"

Genny sa-id.

"Do you know who that Jag be-lon-ged to?" Ca-leb as-ked, but be-fo-re eit-her Jaz-zy or Genny had a chan-ce to ven-tu-re a gu-ess, he went on, "Re-ve Sor-rell, that wo-man who ca-me to town yes-ter-day as-king abo-ut you, Jaz-zy. The wo-man who lo-oks eno-ugh li-ke you to be yo-ur twin."

The whe-els in Jaz-zy's he-ad spun hap-ha-zardly, cre-ating a crazy sce-na-rio whe-re the Sor-rell wo-man had kil-led Jamie and wan-ted pe-op-le to bla-me Jaz-zy for the cri-me. But then lo-gic to-ok over and she as-ked alo-ud, "If Re-ve Sor-rell had in-ten-ded to kill Jamie and pre-tend to be me so that I'd get bla-med, why wo-uld she ha-ve dri-ven in-to town yes-ter-day, whe-re a lot of pe-op-le saw her? Why wo-uld she co-me lo-oking for me?"

"Good qu-es-ti-on," Ca-leb sa-id. "Who knows? May-be she's crazy. Hell, if she tor-tu-red Jamie to de-ath, then she's nuts."

"Is she a sus-pect?" Genny as-ked. "Jacob is plan-ning on qu-es-ti-oning her, isn't he?"

"He told me that as so-on as he fi-nis-hed qu-es-ti-oning the ot-her ca-bin re-si-dents, tal-king to Ms.

Sor-rell was next on his agen-da."

Holding on-to Ca-leb's right hand-she didn't think she'd ever be ab-le to let him go-Jaz-zy lo-oked to Genny. "Co-uld it be Re-ve Sor-rell? Do you sen-se an-y-t-hing abo-ut her?"

Genny sho-ok her he-ad. "Not-hing. Eit-her the-re is no link bet-we-en her and Jamie's de-ath or for so-me re-ason, I can't pick up on it."

When the te-lep-ho-ne rang, they all three sta-red at it as if it we-re a slit-he-ring sna-ke.

"I'll get it." Genny pic-ked up the re-ce-iver. 'Jaz-zy Tal-bot's re-si-den-ce."

When Ca-leb slip-ped his arm aro-und her wa-ist, Jaz-zy le-aned aga-inst him. "I gu-ess our da-te is can-ce-led."

He hug-ged her to him. 'Just pos-t-po-ned."

Genny held her hand over the te-lep-ho-ne's mo-ut-h-pi-ece. "It's Tif-fany Re-id. She sa-id she ne-eds to talk to you, that it's very im-por-tant. What sho-uld I tell her?"

Tiffany was not just one of the wa-it-res-ses at Jas-mi-ne's, she was a buddy, too. And only re-cently, Jaz-zy had gi-ven her a ra-ise and pro-mo-ted her to part-ti-me hos-tess du-ti-es. "I'll talk to her."

"Are you su-re?" Ca-leb as-ked.

Reluctantly Jaz-zy eased away from Ca-leb and wal-ked over to ta-ke the pho-ne. Genny ga-ve her a con-cer-ned lo-ok. "Ye-ah, She-rif, what's up?" 'Jaz-zy, you he-ard abo-ut Jamie, didn't you? I me-an that's why Genny's the-re with you." 'Yes, I know that Jamie was mur-de-red this mor-ning."

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"Look, the-re's so-met-hing you ne-ed to know, so-met-hing I'm not su-re what to do abo-ut."

"Whatever it is, just tell me."

"Well, it's li-ke this-I had a la-te da-te with Dil-lon Car-son-"W-hen Jaz-zy gro-aned, Tif-fany la-ug-hed. "Ye-ah, I know. The guy's bad news, just li-ke Jamie was-oh, God, sorry I sa-id that.

An-y-how, we we-re he-ading to my pla-ce so-me-ti-me early this mor-ning and this car ca-me whiz-zing past us. Dil-lon sa-id he tho-ught it was a Jagu-ar. And-" Tif-fany pa-used, as if re-luc-tant to con-ti-nue. "He tho-ught the wo-man dri-ving the car that tur-ned off on the mo-un-ta-in ro-ad was you, Jaz-zy. So this mor-ning when I he-ard abo-ut Jamie and… I know you didn't kill him, but what do I do? I don't want to get you in-to tro-ub-le, so sho-uld I just ke-ep qu-i-et?"

"Did you see the wo-man?" Jaz-zy as-ked "No, I was dri-ving. But Dil-lon saw her. And un-less I stop him from blab-bing, he might tell folks that it was you in that car."

"It wasn't me."

"I know that, but-"

"You ha-ve to tell Jacob," Jaz-zy sa-id. "He'll ha-ve to qu-es-ti-on Dil-lon."

"Are you su-re that's what you want me to do?"

"Yes, She-rif, I'm su-re." Jaz-zy suc-ked in a de-ep bre-ath, then ex-ha-led slowly. God, what a mess. Dil-lon Car-son had se-en the wo-man who kil-led Jamie-and he'd tho-ught it was her.

Jacob knoc-ked on Re-ve Sor-rell's ca-bin do-or shortly af-ter no-on. She res-pon-ded qu-ickly, but when she saw him, she star-ted to clo-se the do-or in his fa-ce. He grab-bed the do-or and sho-ved it open.

"I've got a few qu-es-ti-ons for you," he sa-id as he step-ped in-to the ca-bin, his entry prom-p-ting her to mo-ve back qu-ickly or be tram-p-led by a man easily twi-ce her si-ze.

"Look, if this is abo-ut my car be-ing sto-len, I al-re-ady know." She plan-ted her hands on her hips and gla-red at him.

He glan-ced aro-und the ro-om, no-ti-ced her su-it-ca-se sit-ting by the so-fa, and lo-oked back at her. "Go-ing so-mew-he-re?"

"I'm re-tur-ning to Chat-ta-no-oga," she told him. "If it's any of yo-ur bu-si-ness."

"Why the rush? I tho-ught yes-ter-day af-ter-no-on you'd de-ci-ded to-"

"I chan-ged my mind."

"Interesting."

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"Look Dud-ley Do-right, let me ma-ke this sim-p-le for you. I know abo-ut Jamie Up-ton be-ing mur-de-red. I know that the chi-ef sus-pect is Jaz-zy Tal-bot. When I went out for bre-ak-fast tins mor-ning, pe-op-le we-re tal-king abo-ut not-hing el-se. I don't plan to stick aro-und and try to find out if a mur-de-ress is re-la-ted to me. As so-on as my car ar-ri-ves, I'm le-aving Che-ro-kee Po-in-te and I'm ne-ver co-ming back."

"I think you'd bet-ter stick aro-und," Jacob told her. "We ne-ed to find out if Jaz-zy might be re-la-ted to the mur-de-ress."

Reve gas-ped. "Just what do you me-an by that? Su-rely you aren't im-p-l-ying that I-I… you're a mo-ron if you think for one mi-nu-te that I'm go-ing to stand he-re and al-low you to-"

"Pipe down, will you?" How the hell tins wo-man co-uld lo-ok so much li-ke Jaz-zy and be so com-p-le-tely dif-fe-rent he'd ne-ver know. "No-body is ac-cu-sing you of an-y-t-hing. But sin-ce we ha-ve every re-ason to be-li-eve that the kil-ler was dri-ving yo-ur car and that she set it on fi-re and sent it ca-re-ening over in-to a ra-vi-ne up in the mo-un-ta-ins-"

"My Jag was set on fi-re?"

"Burned to a fa-re-thee-well. It's just ba-rely re-cog-ni-zab-le. But we're ni-nety-ni-ne per-cent su-re it's yo-ur car."

"The kil-ler sto-le my car, then bur-ned it?"

"We think she used it to tran-s-port Jamie Up-ton to a de-ser-ted ca-bin up ne-ar Scot-s-man's Bluff.

Then she dro-ve it hal-f-way back down the mo-un-ta-in, set it on fi-re, and-"

"I was right he-re, in this ca-bin"-she po-in-ted to the adj-o-ining ro-om-"in that bed-ro-om, in the bed as-le-ep. I was not pic-king up Jamie Up-ton and ta-king him to so-me de-ser-ted ca-bin to kill him.

Go-od gri-ef, if I had plan-ned to kill him, I'd ha-ve hardly be-en stu-pid eno-ugh to let so-me-one see me dri-ving my own car. A very dis-tinct car, might I add."

"Maybe."

"Oh, you are a mo-ron if you think I had an-y-t-hing to do with Jamie's mur-der." She flung her hands out in a ges-tu-re of exas-pe-ra-ti-on. "I had no mo-ti-ve. Why wo-uld I want to kill Jamie?"

"You tell me, Ms. Sor-rell. Did he lo-ve you and le-ave you? Did he ma-ke a fo-ol out of you? Are you used to en-ding yo-ur af-fa-irs, not the ot-her way aro-und, and got pis-sed when Jamie bro-ke things off?"

She sho-ok her fin-ger in his fa-ce. "I did not ha-ve an af-fa-ir with Jamie, so the-re was no af-fa-ir to end. We had a few da-tes. That's the ex-tent of our re-la-ti-on-s-hip. It didn't ta-ke me long to fi-gu-re out that the man was a char-ming Ro-meo who had only two in-te-rests in me. One, I lo-oked li-ke his te-ena-ge swe-et-he-art. And two, he wan-ted me to be anot-her notch on his bed-post. I was smart eno-ugh to see thro-ugh him and not fall for his li-ne of bull. Un-li-ke yo-ur fri-end Jaz-zy."