Biloxi Sunrise (The Biloxi Series Book 1) Page 5

  Jack cleared his throat and fiddled with the papers on his desk. He listened to the conversations going on around him, the ringing of phones, and the click of keyboards. It had gotten quieter over the last hour. Only a few of the night shift guys worked at desks around the room. Now was probably the most privacy he would have in the precinct. He might as well tell her what was happening.

  ”Pull up a chair, Kate.”

  Kate didn’t question. She dragged over the only other chair nearby and scooted closer. Once she was settled, he told her everything, from the call he’d received during the early morning hours to the last time he’d seen Lisa when he was leaving the hospital, including everything the doctor had told him.

  “Wow.” Kate stared and nodded but didn’t say much until he’d told the whole story. “You know you can’t kill him.” Jack suspected she was only half joking.

  “I know. That doesn’t change that I wish I could.” Jack wasn’t joking.

  “What about Lisa? What’s her side of the story?”

  “I haven’t seen her alone yet. I know what the doctor said, but I want to hear it from her. I want to see her face when she answers my questions.” He really didn’t. He wanted to see her and find out this was all some stupid mistake. Another one of Leslie’s dramas that didn’t really need to be a drama. But he knew that wasn’t going to happen.

  “Do you want me to go with you?”

  “I don’t think that’s necessary. I’m going to swing over, talk to Lisa.” Besides, the last thing Jack wanted right now was for Kate to connect with Leslie. Leslie might mention Susan and Lilly. It wasn’t something they talked about, but Leslie could be unpredictable when she was the center of a drama stage.

  The accident that killed his daughter, Lilly, and his wife, Susan’s, suicide weren’t something Jack and Leslie talked about. Jack blamed Leslie. Leslie got Susan started on drugs while Jack was fighting in the war in Afghanistan. And Susan was getting stoned with Leslie the night of the accident in which Lilly died. She shouldn’t have been driving.

  No, it wasn’t Leslie’s fault. It was his. He should never have left Susan and Lilly in a position to be so close to Leslie. He thought Leslie had kicked her own drug problem. Thought that she was okay. And he thought she would help take care of his family while he was away doing his duty for his country. He’d thought wrong. And it cost him the life of his wife and daughter.

  “If you change your mind, I can meet you there.” Kate gathered the file and tapped the edge on his desk to straighten its contents. “Or if you need a distraction when you’re done we can grab a bite to eat or something.”

  “Thanks.” Jack expected to leave Leslie’s exhausted. He was always exhausted when he had to deal with her. What he really wanted was to go home and even in this heat, to sit on his balcony and listen to the sounds of the beach.

  And the sooner he got this over with, the sooner that could happen.

  EIGHT

  Kate dropped onto the couch and wrapped her thick blonde hair into a ponytail holder. Sleep was over-rated anyway, right? She thought she might be able to turn in a little early and get some extra sleep. She’d need it when this investigation kicked into high gear. But after tossing and turning for more than an hour, she’d decided to catch up on some paperwork. She flipped open the cover of her laptop.

  The whole day had been stressful, from the investigation through the weirdness with Jack this morning to the crazy situation with Leslie and Lisa. Her heart hurt when he told her what happened. Jack said Lisa used to be such a sweet kid. Now she was just screwed up. And Kate had the feeling that Leslie was largely responsible for that, though Jack had never really told her as much.

  Kate navigated through files, pulling up the forms she had started filling out but never completed. She sat cross-legged, TV on with the volume down, and her mind everywhere but on the work she needed to finish up.

  This whole mess with Jack’s sister was tough and she had no clue how to help Jack deal with it. He was her best friend and her partner, but today she’d seen something she would never have thought possible. For a few minutes, Jack looked like he’d reached his breaking point.

  Truthfully, Kate hadn’t been thrilled when she was assigned as Jack’s new partner. Not after what had happened in Memphis. She was responsible for Ryan’s death and she didn’t want to be responsible for anyone else, ever again. But Jack made it easy for her to get into the routine of having a partner again.

  Jack was always forthcoming. And that’s what spooked Kate about the problems with Leslie and Lisa. He hadn’t said a word to her about it when they were called to that homicide scene this morning. She had seen the distraction, but he had put her off about giving her the details. And when he did finally tell her what was going on, it seemed as if he was only telling her out of a sense of duty. Or a fear that someone else would tell her.

  He’d down-played his own feelings about the whole mess. “It’s under control,” he’d told her. “Tim will go to jail and eventually Lisa will be okay. She’ll have to go to counseling for a long time, but she’s a tough kid.

  They both knew how devastating child molestation could be. Even to older children. And they both knew that it wasn’t likely everything would be okay. Kate was also pretty sure that the chances that Tim would serve any hard time were pretty small. If a lenient judge was assigned to the case, Tim might be fined a few thousand dollars and not have to serve any jail time. A harsher judge might put him in prison for two years. But since this was a first offense it was very unlikely he’d even serve a full two years.

  Why are you keeping me so far away about this? She’d worried that question in her mind all day long, but couldn’t come up with a satisfying answer.

  Shaking her head to clear the thoughts, Kate tried to get back on track. She jotted her thoughts of Jack into a blank document. This wasn’t something she had to have for the case. It was her own way of keeping track of her thinking as she worked through the details of a case.

  She needed to be able to record her observations and refer back to them. During the day she would often jot notes to herself, then at night, when she was comfortable at home, she could look at those notes and remember exactly what she’d been thinking. Then, she would put those thoughts into a journal document on her computer.

  Each day they were investigating a case, she added more thoughts, read over something from the past, and eventually full ideas would form. She’d seen patterns and behaviors in her journal; both her own and those of the criminals they hunted. On more than one occasion, she’d found answers that helped solve a case in them.

  Female – Patria Simms – Stabbed repeatedly. Found at Courthouse Road Pier on the rocks. Motive?

  What could the motive be?

  Kate continued to write through her thoughts.

  Def. not robbery. Vic’s purse was still on scene, cash inside pocket, but wallet missing. To hide identity? Maybe revenge? We know her ex- was abusive. Possibly a fight gone wrong?

  She glanced back down at her handwritten notes.

  Dana McNally. Jack confirmed identity with Dana. Her card found in vic’s purse. Was evidently being seen because of abusive relationship with ex.

  Dana McNally was a crisis counselor. She saw abuse in just about every form, nearly every day. How did she deal with all of that? It had to be tough to see the damage that other people could do every single day.

  Kate believed that people by their very nature were good. However, some people hit a wall during their early developmental stages and something happened to strip the good from them. What was left behind was bleak and mean. Kate had seen it too many times. People whose goodness had been taken from them could be cruel beyond words.

  The result of that cruelty was what Dana dealt with day in and day out. And Kate had no idea how she managed with it. It was hard enough being in Kate’s world, where they saw the damages and pursued the people that caused them. Sometimes, they got lucky and put those people in prison. More often,
the bad guys got away and Kate was left feeling like she had failed someone.

  That feeling must be infinitely more intense for Dana, who was likely dealing with those feelings right now. She’d lost a patient. A person she was trying to lead away from the darkness and the cruelty. A person who had chosen to go back to it.

  Kate’s cell phone buzzed from where it sat on the coffee table. She grabbed it, shuddering away the thoughts of the emotions that Dana must have fought through over this case, already.

  “Yeah,” she said the caller ID registering. It was dispatch, and that couldn’t mean anything good.

  NINE

  Jack stood at Leslie’s front door, his knuckles suspended a fraction of an inch from the wood, and listened to the voices from inside.

  “Leslie, I swear, I never meant to hurt Lisa. I have a problem. And I’ll get help, but it was her as much as me. She came to me the first time, Leslie. Don’t do this. Let’s get past this and go on with our lives. I really do love you.” Jack recognized the deep voice immediately.

  Something crashed against a wall inside the house. “Get out.” Leslie screamed.

  Jack coiled, ready to bust through the door.

  “Leslie, listen to me. I’ll get help. I swear. I’ll do whatever you want. But I can’t go to jail.”

  “Tim, just go.” Leslie was calmer now. “I don’t have any control over it. It’s happened. It’s too late. I can’t stop this now. It’s out of my hands.”

  “But, Leslie, I love you. And I love Lisa. I’ll leave if you really want.” Heavy footsteps sounded near the door. The steps stopped and Tim spoke softer now. “We could all go away, get out of here until things calm down. We’ll go somewhere small and quiet. We can get through this.”

  Jack’s stomach knotted. He should just kick the door in and handcuff Tim before this went any further. There was no way that he was going to allow this to happen. At least not if Lisa was involved.

  But Jack fought the urge to charge in like a white knight. He wanted to know more about what was going on, and he had a deep-seated desire to make sure Tim really got what was coming to him – a nice long vacation in Parchman, the Southern prison where justice was served by the prisoners on the inside as surely as it was served by the judge who placed prisoners behind bars.

  Slowly, he backed away from the door and walked to his car. He reached through the open window, keyed the radio, and called for backup. He should have taken Kate up on her offer to come out here with him, but he wanted to deal with this alone. The conversation with Kate had been easy. She’d probably already heard bits and pieces from the guys at the office, but she had listened intently and then simply said, “If there’s anything I can do, let me know.”

  What was the issue with telling her in the first place? It wasn’t like she ever made a big, dramatic scene about things.

  And he should have brought her with him. If he’d thought it through, he would have known that Tim would show up again. And if Kate were with him, then he definitely wouldn’t be standing outside, listening to a conversation that shouldn’t be happening and trying to decide how to best handle Tim.

  This whole situation kept him off kilter. He couldn’t carry a thought for more than a second before his mind was back on Leslie, Lisa, and Tim. Not thinking clearly seemed to be the theme for his day so far.

  He stood by the car, trying to gather his thoughts, and giving the backup time to get near before he walked back to the house. The front blinds were drawn, and he couldn’t see inside the house. He walked around the side of the house to a window in the kitchen that had no blinds. The way Leslie’s house was laid out, he could easily see through the kitchen into most of the living room.

  He peered over the windowsill, and watched as Tim took Leslie into his arms. She was crying, and stood stiffly without returning the embrace at first. Then Tim leaned close, and whispered something into Leslie’s ear.

  Her arms circled Tim, and she held onto him as if she would fall from the earth if she let go. She nodded, and Tim slipped a ring onto her finger.

  Jack’s heart stopped. Had she just agreed to marry Tim? And did that mean she might try to go somewhere with him? What about Lisa?

  His blood pounded and he could hear nothing but his own rapid heartbeat in his ears. How dare Leslie put Tim before Lisa? Jack charged for the front door, not knowing who he wanted to hurt more, Tim or Leslie. He no longer cared if they heard him. All he could think of was stopping them before they ruined Lisa’s life completely.

  Jack kicked through the front door. The door jamb splintered sending small fragments of wood flying into the front room. Leslie and Tim looked up, surprise and shock in their expressions.

  As Jack rushed across the room, Leslie’s face registered terror. She tried to move between Jack and Tim, but Jack shoved her down on the couch.

  Tim’s face paled. Then rage bunched his features into a knot. He lunged for Jack, and was greeted by Jack’s fist as it connected with the underside of his jaw. Tim’s head snapped back, and he stumbled but held his ground.

  Jack advanced, and slammed his fist into Tim’s stomach. Leslie screamed as Tim doubled over. Jack jerked his knee up, connected with Tim’s forehead, and Tim flipped backwards, landing so hard that his head bounced off the floor.

  Jack fell on top of Tim and hit him over and over again. In the back of his mind, Jack registered someone screaming, “Haven’t you done enough damage?” He didn’t realize it was his own voice, hoarse with rage.

  Suddenly a pair of hands were on his shoulders pulling him back, away from Tim. He fought, trying to get back, to finish what he’d started, but the two hands became four and he was pulled further from Tim. Once he was stilled by the strong hands holding him back, Jack’s vision cleared and he could see Tim lying motionless on the beige living room carpet, blood oozing from his nose and several cuts on his face.

  “Jack, get a grip. You coulda’ killed him.” Jack slowly turned his gaze toward the familiar voice. It took a couple of seconds before he recognized Kate’s tense face.

  The rage drained from Jack, and he panted hard as his muscles went slack. He watched as Kate bent over Tim, and spoke to him. Jack couldn’t hear what she said, his ragged breathing and racing heartbeat reverberated through his skull so loud they drowned out her softer voice.

  In slow motion, as adrenaline made Jack’s skin buzz, he watched Tim not answer Kate’s questions. His heart froze in terror as it occurred to him that he might have killed the other man. But then Tim moaned and relief flooded through Jack. He wanted Tim dead, he just didn’t want to be the person to do it.

  A second officer, Sinclair, appeared next to Kate. He helped Tim sit. The buzzing in Jack’s brain cleared enough that he realized he could hear Leslie crying from where she had landed on the couch a few minutes before. She had not moved, and now she looked shell-shocked and terrified.

  Jack pushed himself up from the floor and shrugged off the hand Kate offered him. “I can manage,” he croaked never taking his eyes off Leslie. She covered her face with her hands and cried.

  He sat on the couch close enough that they were touching, but she jerked away. “Get out!” She screamed. “He was going to make everything better, and you ruined it.”

  “Leslie, I’m not to blame for this. Tim is.” Jack forced his voice to be calm and reasonable.

  “I said get out!” She grabbed his wrist and her long nails dug into the soft flesh on the underside of his arm. She hauled him off the couch with more strength than Jack thought she had. “Get out.”

  At the top of the stairs, jewelry jangled, and Jack and Leslie froze. Standing at the top of the stairs, Lisa stared at them through eyes painted with dark, heavy makeup. “You just couldn’t keep your nose out of it could you?” Then she stomped back to her room, slammed the door, and within seconds her stereo was blaring screechy alternative music.

  Was she talking to him or Leslie? Did Lisa know what had just happened? Not the fight, but that Tim, who was supposed
to love her so much, had asked Leslie to marry him? That Tim had tried to get Leslie to run with him and take Lisa from the only home she’d ever known? Jack started for the stairs intending to pound at her door until she opened it and agreed to talk to him.

  Before his foot hit the bottom stair, Leslie grabbed his shoulder, again digging in her fingernails to stop him. “I told you to get out.” Her voice was quiet, but fierce. She yanked him backward and pushed him toward the door. Jack stood his ground. He wanted to talk to Lisa, to make her understand what was going on.

  Leslie started up the stairs and Jack moved forward to follow her. Kate stepped in front of him. “Jack. Leave it alone for now.”

  He stared straight into Kate’s eyes. She didn’t waver. If anything, it seemed that she grew and became a more formidable obstacle. He turned and walked toward the front door. She followed a few steps behind, but at the door, Jack stopped and listened to Leslie banging on Lisa’s door. She alternately begged to be allowed entrance and then threatened the teenager in anger.

  Lisa didn’t turn down the music, if she even heard her mother’s pleas and threats coming through the door. Neither did she open it and allow Leslie even a glimpse at her domain.

  Kate pushed past Jack and headed toward the car, but Jack stood in the doorway until Leslie gave up and started back down the stairs. Her face was pinched tight and her hands were balled into fists at her side. Jack wanted to shake her. To make her understand that Lisa wasn’t the responsible party in this situation. Tim was an adult and should never have let anything happen with Lisa. No matter what the situation might be.

  He stepped through the ruined door into the shadows and stood in the darkness, willing the anger to go away so that he could clear his head of the thoughts that threatened to consume him and send him into another blind rage. So much had happened. And he’d hadn’t even suspected it was happening.