Paradise falls a romanti.., p.15
Paradise Falls (A Romantic Suspense), page 15
“What’s the girl’s name?”
“I don’t know,” the old woman hissed. “I don’t care. I’m glad the worthless little bastard is out of my life.”
Jacob nodded. “Thanks for your time.”
As they stepped out, the man of the house caught up to him.
“The girl’s name is Liz Stroud. She lives in the apartments over by the Stop n’ Save.”
“Thanks,” said Jacob.
“No cops come around,” the old man said. “Saw them on TV saying Hunter killed those other kids, but they never asked no questions here.”
“They should,” said Jacob.
“What’s this to do with you?”
“Civic duty,” said Jacob. “We weren’t here.”
“Whatever,” the old man growled, and slammed the door.
In the car, Jacob immediately pulled out and started driving.
“What now?”
“Find the girl. She might be in danger.”
“Why?”
“If he talked to her on Saturday, she might know something. If she knows something, she’s dangerous.”
Jennifer nodded.
The trip was quick, out onto the highway and ten minutes to the Stop n’ Save and the cheap block of apartments another minute down the road. Jacob pulled into a parking spot and stepped out. There was only the one building. Jacob stopped by the door, reading the directory.
“Let me talk to her,” said Jennifer.
Jacob nodded. Jennifer pushed the button. A moment later, the intercom beeped at them.
“Hello?”
“Miss Stroud?” said Jennifer.
“Yeah, that’s me,” a girlish voice said. “What is it?”
“Can we come up? We’d like to talk to you.”
“Who are you?”
She looked at Jacob. He shrugged.
“Teachers.”
“Okay.”
The door clicked open. Jennifer leaned on Jacob’s arm as the ascended the stairs to the second floor. The apartment door down the hall stood open, and a short girl with mousy brown hair peered out into the hall. She had the door secured by the chain. Jacob let Jennifer step in front of him.
“Liz?” she said.
“That’s me. You said you’re teachers?”
“That’s right.”
“How come I’ve never seen you before?”
“We work at No. 2.”
“I go to No. 1,” she said. “Are you here about Hunter? I saw them talk about him on TV.”
“Yes,” said Jennifer. “We’re curious about him. He went… he goes to our school.”
As the girl opened the door, Jennifer choked down a gasp. Liz Stroud was massively pregnant, and did not walk so much as waddle into the dingy little living room as Jacob closed the door behind them. She made a great effort of sitting down, so much so that Jennifer grasped her arm to steady her.
“Why aren’t you in school?” said Jacob.
“I dropped out,” she said. “‘Cause of the babies.”
“Babies?” said Jacob.
She nodded. “We’re having twins.”
Jennifer’s stomach churned, cold. She sat down opposite the girl while Jacob paced around the room, quiet. The girl kept eyeing him.
“You’re not in trouble,” she said. “We’re just trying to piece together what happened with your boyfriend.”
“Fiancé,” she said. “We’re gonna get married when he graduates and gets a job at the fracking thing.”
Jennifer’s throat tightened.
“I see. Was he living here with you?”
“Yeah. He was saving money from his job so we could get a place. We only got two bedrooms here and Mom didn’t want us raising the kids here. The apartments’d want more rent ‘cause of all the people.”
Jennifer glanced over the girl’s shoulder. Jacob’s fists clenched, and his forearms went steel-hard. His wounded left hand went white.
“What was the job?” said Jacob.
“I don’t know. He said he was in a program. He…” she looked down. “He tried to sell some pot last year. Him and this other boy, Tommy? They had a patch growing out behind the school and they were selling it to the other kids. They got caught and they made Hunter transfer over to the other school. To you guys, I guess.”
“The job,” Jacob said, evenly. “How’d he get it?”
“He said it was like a work release thing. This cop picked him up here and drove him places. It’s a program.”
“Have you seen him in the last few days?”
She shook her head. “He called me yesterday. He said he got in trouble in school, but his cop friend took care of it. He said he had to go somewhere and he’d call me when it was over. He said he had money for me. That was Saturday.”
“What time?”
She shrugged. Her face pinched and she choked back a sob.
“Afternoon. He said he had to do something really important and then he’d be home.”
The little room was quiet, except for the tick-tock of a tacky black cat kitchen clock and the muted whispers of the old tube television set in the corner. The girl folded up around herself, cradling her big belly in her arms and folded legs.
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” she said. “I can feel it.”
“We don’t know that yet,” said Jacob.
She choked out a little sob. “That’s what they said when my dad didn’t come home when I was eight.”
The dam burst and the girl broke out in choked, wet sobs, weeping into her own arms. Jennifer jumped to her feet and moved to the kitchen counter, sagging to her knees. Jacob moved past her and sat down opposite the girl.
“Liz,” he said. “Is that short for Elizabeth?”
She looked up and sniffed. “Yeah.”
“When are you due?”
She shrugged. “Next week, I guess. I’m scared, mister. I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”
Jacob stretched back and reached in his pocket, and handed her a business card. She took it and held it in her trembling hands. There was nothing on it but a phone number.
“What’s this?”
“If you have any kind of trouble, I want you to call that number. If any police come, don’t let them in, and call that number. Understand?”
“Why?”
“It’s for the best. Two men are going to come to you. When they buzz, they’ll ask for you. I want you to say to them, ‘the sun is shining’. If they say ‘but the ice is slippery’, let them up. If not, call that number. Do you understand?”
She nodded. “I don’t get it. What’s that mean?”
He took her hands in his. She flinched when she saw the crooked fingers of his left hand. Her fingers were tiny compared to his. Jennifer looked at her again and saw a scared little girl. She couldn’t have been more than sixteen- if she’d dropped out, it was this year.
“You and your babies are going to be fine. You’re going to see a specialist obstetrician that deals exclusively with teenage mothers, and then you’re going to have a place of your own to stay and food to eat. In exchange, I want you to do something for me.”
“What?”
“I’ll arrange for a tutor. When you’re ready, we’ll have a nurse take care of your children while you go back to school. High school, and I’ll cover four years of tuition to any college you’d like to attend and can gain admission to.”
The girl sniffed. “Why?”
“Because I can. Can you do that for me?”
She nodded. “Why are you doing this, mister? What are we to you?”
“Kids,” said Jacob, standing. “The sun is shining.”
“…But the ice is slippery.”
He nodded. “Tomorrow. We’ll come to visit you once you’re all set up, alright? Miss Katzenberg will call you once we have you situated.”
“Okay,” the girl sniffed.
She rose and made her way to the door. When she closed it, three locks crunched into place. Still stunned into silence, Jennifer didn’t speak until they were outside.
“The sun is shining, but the ice is slippery,” she said. “The Shadow?”
Jacob shrugged. “If it works, it works.”
“Did you mean all that?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t even know her.”
“I know enough,” he said, and took her arm to lead her down the stairs.
“What are we going to do about Hunter?”
He didn’t answer until they were back in the car.
“There’s nothing to do. He’s dead.”
Jennifer bit her lip and looked back up at the apartment. The girl was in her window, watching them pull away.
“I have a theory,” said Jacob. “It goes like this. The let the kid out of lockup and tell him to settle his affairs. Probably told him to keep his mouth shut or they’d hurt the girl. They let him call her to make sure she doesn’t start asking questions. His mother isn’t going to raise a stink.”
Jennifer nodded. “So they killed him too, and they’ll just say they never found him.”
“Right,” said Jacob.
The steering wheel creaked in his hand.
“It’s a wonderful thing you’re doing for her,” Jennifer said, softly. “You’re a good man.”
“No,” said Jacob. “I’m not.”
Jennifer didn’t press him.
They were stepping out of the car when Katie’s Beetle trundled up the hill and pulled to a crunching stop on the gravel. Katie leapt out of the little car, stormed up to Jacob, and jabbed her finger in his chest.
“You,” she snapped, “We need to talk.”
6.
Jacob gazed down at the girl that just jabbed her finger in his chest. She was clearly Jennifer’s sister. They had the same pale skin, and freckles, though this girl’s eyes were a clear blue rather than storm gray, and her hair was a lighter shade, a true red that she kept to shoulder length where Jennifer let hers hang past her waist. She was more curvaceous compared to Jennifer’s lithe, angular beauty. Jacob recognized her.
Katie Brennan. She was two years behind him in school, even after he was held back. She had her fist pressed into her hip and her finger jabbed into his chest and was staring up at him, bristling.
“Excuse me?”
“Are you the guy?”
“What guy?”
She drew her hand away, only to put her other fist on her hip and rear up to her full height, such as it was. “I came looking for my sister this morning and I found her house trashed, and she wasn’t answering her phone. The last guy she told me about was you. Her landlady said she was up here with you.”
“Guilty,” said Jacob. “She’s been staying with me since Elliot trashed the house.”
“I’m right here,” said Jennifer.
Katie turned her nose up. “Are you some kind of freak? Do you make her wear a ball gag?”
“Katie!” Jennifer snapped, grabbing her arm.
Katie shook loose. “Well? You were supposed to call me, then I hear on the news that those kids got shot, and then I find out your house is trashed and your landlady thinks you were kidnapped by the CIA. What am I supposed to think?”
“I’m not in the CIA,” said Jacob.
“Then what are you in?”
Jacob sighed. “I’m a math teacher.”
“Oh bullshit,” said Katie.
“Let’s go inside,” said Jennifer.
Katie stepped back, folding her arms under her chest. “How do I know I can trust this guy?”
“Katie,” Jennifer growled. “Inside. Now.”
Jacob stepped back, and watched the two glare at each other. Katie broke first and headed up the stairs to the front door. Jennifer shot Jacob a withering look and followed her. When he opened the door Katie stomped across the carpet and flopped on his sofa, looked at Jennifer, and patted the space beside her. Jennifer sat down and the two of them stared at Jacob.
“So,” said Jennifer, glancing at Katie.
“What the hell is going on?”
“Let me explain it to her,” said Jennifer.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” said Jacob.
Both women scowled at him.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll be downstairs if you need anything.”
Jennifer nodded. Katie continued to glare at him as he passed into the kitchen, only turning away as he dropped out of her sight. Jacob grabbed a protein bar and a shake and headed down into the basement. He chewed on the rubbery supplement bar while flicking through the photographs from last night and scribbling notes.
There was more data, now. Much more. At some point, Ellison Carlyle busted two kids for dealing pot, probably small amounts from their own personal grow operation. Later on, the Fiore boy was dealing drugs at the school, and in between he was putting away money, or at least told his girlfriend he was.
The pained look on the girl’s face when she asked if the boy was dead clouded his vision for a moment and he rubbed his face in his hands. He could use a few hours sleep. Instead, he put down the rest of what he knew.
Ellison Carlyle and the light-haired boy with the Leviathans were present at the shooting, and the biker was one of the shooters. Ellison may have been one of the others, or the wheelman or simply set it up. Someone pulled strings to get Fiore out of lockup on Saturday morning, he said his goodbyes in the afternoon, disappeared, and then the authorities came out to put the murder on him.
Jacob tapped the page with his pencil, and sent an email to his people to get down the girl’s details and see that she was taken care of. Hunter Fiore was not coming home, and he was not going to meet his twins.
He leaned back in his chair.
That wasn’t much of a plan. Sooner or later someone would ask questions, ask why they simply gave up looking for their prime suspect. Of course, if James Katzenberg was involved, strings would be pulled, and he didn’t come back to his little home town and leave his Washington machinations behind out of grief over Krystal Summers, no matter what he said. Jacob thought of that man standing up there with his fake smile, his manicure and his styled hair, and his hands closed into fists. The pencil in his hand snapped.
Katie and Jennifer were staring at him. He looked over and forced the rage down to a background boil.
“Wow,” said Katie. “So where’s Alfred?”
Jennifer sighed and rubbed at her temples with her fingers.
“What did you tell her?” said Jacob.
“I thought you were crazy at first,” said Katie. “I’ll be blunt. Feeding my sister a line about the bridge being some kind of conspiracy is a great way to get her to open up to you, Mister Kane.”
Jacob looked away.
“Add in the other stuff, though, and…” she shrugged. “You’re on to something here with the whole drugs thing, but so what? What are you going to do about it?”
“Whatever I can,” said Jacob, rising.
“Yeah, yeah,” said Katie. “I’ve already heard the whole ‘police can’t handle it’ thing.” She waved her hands dismissively. “You’re going to… can I talk to you alone?”
She looked at Jennifer.
Jennifer glanced at Jacob. Her eyes flashed, and she turned, limping a little. “I’ll be upstairs. I need a nap. Don’t hurt him, Katie.”
Katie waited for Jennifer to be fully up the stairs before she turned back.
“Did she tell you what Elliot did to her?”
Jacob shook his head. “I have some idea. I’m observant.”
“Yeah,” said Katie. “Look, I shouldn’t tell you this. I’m not completely sure why I am, except that she likes you a lot and she won’t do anything about it on her own.” She looked up the stairs again and chewed her lip, nervously.
Katie paced around the room, stopping to look at everything. She gave the safe a strange look.
“Mom was really hard on Jennifer. Really hard. Mom wanted Jennifer to do gymnastics, like really, really bad. When she was little she was good at it, but when she hit her first growth spurt she got really tall, really fast, and she was kind of awkward. She hurt her ankle and had to quit. Mom convinced her it was because she was fat and Jennifer started starving herself. She’s been doing it for years.”
Jacob sat down. “I gathered that.”
“She wasn’t allowed to go out, or have boyfriends or anything, so she snuck out. I was little when it happened, but she went to a party at Elliot’s uncle’s house. She’d never had anything to drink before, and I don’t think she’s ever had a drink since, but you know what kind of party it was.”
Jacob sat calmly on the chair, with his hands folded on his lap, still as a statue, but he could feel every muscle in his body drawing into a tight iron wire, heating up from the rage pulsing out from his chest. Katie sensed it for all his stillness, and paused.
“I was there when they brought Jennifer home. Dad just wanted to make sure she wasn’t going to get sick from the booze, but Mom exploded. She sat Jennifer in a chair in the kitchen and screamed at her for hours. She lost her mind. She almost hit her, but Dad stopped it. Dad had a fight with Mom after I took Jennifer upstairs and put her in my bed, and they never slept in the same bed again. Our Dad died about six months later.”
“Why?” said Jacob.
“I don’t know,” said Jennifer. “Mom just… she was always so mean. She wasn’t so bad with me, but when I wasn’t little anymore I did everything I could to avoid her. When I could move out to go to school, I did. I guess she knew I wasn’t moving back, since she packed up, sold our house, and left. I talk to her on the phone once in a while, but only when she calls me. I don’t think Jennifer has talked to her since…” Katie shook her head.
“Jennifer left for college as soon as she could, and she ran into Franklin again. They started hanging out together. I mean, I never thought they were dating or anything like that, but I’m not sure Jennifer knows how to date. When she graduated, she announced that they were getting married. Mom was furious, and Franklin’s family wasn’t happy, either. Jennifer and Franklin got married by a judge over in Port Carol. I was the witness.”
Jacob sighed.
“That’s not all,” said Jennifer. “Elliot showed up. He was drunk, and tried to throw his weight around, stop the ceremony. He’s crazy.”
