Targeted in the Desert, page 2
She allowed a half smile and shook her head. “Nora says you’re wrong practically all the time.”
Nora didn’t hesitate to speak her mind. Putting his little sister and Felicia into the same headspace reminded him of another reason he’d cut things off. Dating the sister’s best friend? Terrible idea, especially since he’d only recently gotten his sibling relationship squared away. “Nora talks too much.”
“Exactly what she says about you.”
He leaned a hand on the side of his car. “I’m offering a ride, that’s all. Your car’s a mess anyway.”
“Thanks for pointing that out.” Her brow puckered as she regarded the damage while the tow driver hooked chains to the wreck. “Poor Audrey.”
“You named your car?”
Felicia’s look was mournful. “She’s the Audrey Hepburn. Classy and gorgeous, or at least she was.”
He resisted the urge to chuckle at her whimsy. “Back to the issue. If it’s important to you to get to the coffee shop right away, take me up on my offer.” He hesitated. “Nothing more than a ride from point A to B and back home again.”
“Why do I have the feeling Detweiler wouldn’t want you to do that?”
“I’m on duty, and she approved it.”
Felicia twisted her ring. “Jude, I’m not trying to be difficult with you or Detweiler.” She turned those shimmering hazel eyes on him, and his stomach tightened. “I have a feeling I need to meet Keira, that she’s going to tell me I have a sister.”
“What if you’re wrong? Maybe it’s not your sister. Maybe it’s just some mistake, a mixed-up plot of Keira’s?”
“I have to find out.” Her expression was grave. “If there was a chance you had a brother you didn’t know about, wouldn’t you do the same thing?”
He sighed. “I would.”
“Thanks for telling the truth.”
Why did he have to be so honest? Without another word, he hurried to the driver’s seat. “I’m taking you, and I promise I’ll stay out of it. Taxi service only. Deal?”
She huffed out a breath. “All right. A ride would be okay, I guess.”
It might be okay, but he was already wondering how he’d gotten embedded in Felicia’s business so completely.
Just a ride, he echoed.
What could it hurt?
TWO
Felicia didn’t want to sit in the cramped front seat of Jude’s squad car crammed beside the radio console, much less talk to the man, but she couldn’t continue to ignore his flood of questions. It had to be purely professional interest, and she figured it couldn’t hurt to have a police perspective. And that was how she’d decided to treat the situation. She and Jude weren’t friends or colleagues, simply two people sharing a ride and discussing a bizarre series of events.
Though she was doing her best not to look at him, she noted the sprinkle of silver in his close-cropped hair that contrasted with his deep tan. Distinguished, she’d thought when she’d first seen him after being gone from Furnace Falls for a decade. Handsome, was her second conclusion, but he’d never need know that. After her arduous season of hospital treatments and rehab, they’d started dating...a blissful time, for her anyway, that ended all too abruptly after three months. Bewildering.
Their relationship had seemed so natural at first, after his loving attention during her healing process. She’d thought the dating was a continuation of that affection and care, a new chapter, finally, after she was whole and healed. She was no longer a patient. She could step into the role of honest-to-goodness girlfriend. She’d believed that right up until the rug had been pulled from underneath by their breakup three weeks before.
“You mentioned you were adopted, but you didn’t know the identity of your birth parents?” Jude’s question intruded on her thoughts.
“Yes. I was left at the entrance to the fire station. One of the firefighters spotted a woman putting me there. Young, a teen possibly. She wouldn’t stay to answer questions. That’s all I know. My mom and dad were foster parents and were asked to care for me after the social workers learned I had a heart condition that needed addressing. My dad was a doctor, like my uncle. They wound up adopting me formally when I was three, a few months before my dad died.”
“But you were never contacted by Keira Mattingly before? Or anyone else about your background?”
“No.”
“And you didn’t look into it?”
There wasn’t judgment in his tone, merely curiosity.
“Over the years I wondered, of course, but I had a mom and uncle, good ones, though my mother can be a tough cookie, which was part of the reason I skipped town with your sister after high school.” He already knew the rest—that his sister, Nora, had been driving drunk, resulting in an accident that damaged Felicia’s knee, ending her chance at a dance scholarship.
“That’s an understatement, but Olivia’s toughness helped her get through what happened in January.” He grimaced. “Sorry. Probably not something you want to talk about.”
“No.” The ball of tension formed beneath her breastbone as it did whenever she considered how close she’d come to dying from the car bomb. “I trusted the wrong man just because I knew him in high school, and it almost cost me my life.” Probably more evidence to Jude’s mind that she was young and naive, thirteen years his junior. She straightened and clasped her hands together. “It took my whole being to convince Mom to go care for her sister in Greece, so I’m not going to tell her about anything until I have a better grasp of the facts. The doctors say the cancer is in its last stages, so Mom needs to focus on Aunt Viv now, not me.”
They arrived at the coffee shop, and Jude held the door open. She breathed in the scent of coffee beans and pastries. There were very few people in the shop, and she scanned each one of the women. A young twentysomething with two kids, an older lady working on a laptop. Neither showed any interest in Felicia. It was almost three. Had Keira left, thinking Felicia hadn’t shown up? Or maybe the mysterious woman had never even been there in the first place.
Jude looked up a driver’s license photo of Keira Mattingly and showed it to the barista.
He peered at the photo around a stack of mugs. “Yeah. I think she came in around two o’clock and sat for a while.”
Felicia’s pulse raced.
“Real jumpy,” the barista continued, “which is why I thought she should lay off the caffeine. She left about a half hour ago.”
“Did you see which way she headed? What she was driving?”
He shrugged. “Hey, man, I only dispense the beverages.”
“Let’s give it a while longer in case she comes back,” Jude said. “I’ll get us some coffee.”
Great. Now she would have to sit with Jude and make small talk. But after he slid their coffees on the table, he busied himself studying every patron who came and went. They sat until her drink was cold and Jude’s was gone, a solid hour, and there was no sign of anyone looking for Felicia. Had she missed her chance?
Unsure if she should feel relieved or disappointed at missing Keira, she let Jude toss the cups and lead her to his car. She noticed he checked the parking lot carefully as she buckled in. The memory of the rock smashing through her windshield made her shiver. He drove her back to her mother’s house in Furnace Falls, as he’d done often in the three months they’d dated. Their time together had been easy, fun, natural, completely opposite of this strained silence as he walked her to the door.
“I...uh, I know you don’t want to hear it from me, but it would be a bad idea for you to go to the address on the photo until we unravel the situation.”
She fixed her gaze on the doorknob. “I appreciate your concern.”
“It’s not just concern, Felicia. It’s common sense. It could be that Keira lured you to the coffee shop for some reason. Or someone didn’t want you to meet with her in the first place.”
“I’ll play it safe. I didn’t survive an attempt on my life to throw caution to the wind now.”
“Felicia...”
“Thank you for your help.” She stepped inside and shut the door firmly behind her.
There was a pause before she heard his boots marching back toward his vehicle. He was frustrated with her, but that was no longer her problem. He’d broken up with her because she was too young, his sister’s best friend, they’d wanted different things, et cetera.
You’re not part of my life anymore, Jude. I don’t have to make you any promises.
* * *
Jude strode through the golden October morning that was on its way to the low nineties—a far cry from the ferocious heat that would crowd in at the end of April. Life in the Mojave Desert. Old hat for the locals.
Detweiler had summoned him. Something that needed a face-to-face rather than an email or text. Ominous. He pushed open the door to the sheriff’s office and was dumbfounded to see Felicia for the second time in as many days.
She sat in a hard-backed chair in the waiting area, her expression dark. That was unusual. She was a glass-half-full kind of woman. Somehow a degree of optimism had lingered even after the bomb almost killed her and she’d struggled through months of recovery. He realized with a lurch that she had one leg twisted around the other, a habit she had that made her appear younger than her twenty-seven years. Why was there such a deep chasm between twenty-seven and forty?
Heart thumping, he cleared his throat, and she darted a look at him. “Detweiler called me in.”
“Me, too.”
“What’s going on?”
He didn’t get a chance to answer before the office administrator ushered them into a conference room. Mechanically he put out a hand toward her lower back to guide her before he stopped himself.
Not yours. Not ever.
He settled on pulling out a chair for her. That wasn’t proprietary. It was simply good manners. Detweiler joined them. Only his long-term familiarity allowed Jude to discern the tension in her tight jaw, apparent in spite of the iron control that was her hallmark. Her pant pleats were knife-precise, silvering hair parted neatly in the middle and captured in a bun, dark eyes intense.
She sat with perfect posture. “Thank you for coming in.” She glanced at Jude. “Fox will be held up in court until tonight, so I’ll brief him on all of this later.”
“All of what?” Felicia leaned forward. “Why did you ask me to come?”
“We’ll need more information, a few details we have to collect on the overpass accident, but there’s...been a development.”
Jude’s stomach tightened. “What kind of development?”
Detweiler breathed through her nose. “Keira Mattingly was found dead last evening.”
Jude stared.
Felicia gasped. “What? What happened?”
Jude’s question, too, precisely.
“It’s premature to say, but her body was found at the foot of Steel Rock Point.”
Steel Rock, just outside Furnace Falls.
“Massive cranial trauma, or at least that’s our unofficial read on the situation. The coroner will do an autopsy.”
Felicia had gone pale. “Did she...jump? Fall?”
Or was she pushed? Jude wondered.
“That we can’t say. What I can tell you is that we confirmed the child at the Mule Creek address is indeed Keira’s daughter—Gracie Silvio, age six. Keira moved her in with a woman who used to be their housekeeper a few weeks ago.”
“Keira and her husband were definitely on the outs,” Jude said, “for her to do a thing like that.” At Felicia’s quick glance, he explained, “I did some research on her last night. Housekeeper says Keira didn’t want Aaron around Gracie, but she didn’t articulate her reasons.”
“He’s Keira’s second husband. Her first was killed by a hit-and-run driver eighteen months ago,” Detweiler said. “Aaron Mattingly called us at ten p.m. last night and reported her missing. He said she’d been acting irrationally, emotionally volatile. She allegedly told him she was going for a drive at seven, and he followed as she headed toward Furnace Falls, but he lost her. After a few hours of driving around, he called us.”
“Can anyone corroborate his story?”
Detweiler shook her head.
Felicia had gone completely silent.
“Miss Tennison,” Detweiler said. “In light of what’s happened, I would like to ask you for that photo.”
Felicia pulled it from her pocket and slid it across the table. “Who’s going to tell her?”
Detweiler cocked her head. “Tell her?”
“The little girl. Gracie. Who’s going to tell her that her mother’s dead?”
The emotion in Felicia’s voice plucked at his nerves. “Since there are questions about Aaron that need to be answered, we’ll send a social worker,” he said gently. “That’s how it usually works when there’s...no living parent.”
“Who’s going to take care of her? Aaron?” Felicia looked from him to Detweiler and back again.
“Since her death is suspicious, we’ll need to look into the husband before we consider him.” Detweiler straightened the folders in front of her. “Research will need to be done to see if Keira had a will or other legal direction designating guardianship.”
Felicia didn’t seem to hear.
Detweiler’s phone buzzed and she checked it. “Unfortunately, I need to go now. I’ll call you about other details. In the meantime, I wanted you to know Fox will be heading over to the Mule Creek home later this afternoon to collect some info, and he’ll remain there until the social worker arrives.” She cleared her throat. “If you think of anything else, something you remember about the car you saw before the accident, or any odd phone or text messages...”
“I’ll let you know,” she said.
Detweiler left.
Felicia stared at the closed door. Without warning, she stood and pushed her way out. Jude followed. He did not catch up to her until she hit the parking lot, where he finally grasped her wrist.
With no choice, she turned to face him. “I have to leave, Jude.”
“Tell me what you’re thinking.”
She frowned. “This isn’t your concern. I’m not your concern.”
“Look, I know things didn’t work out between us, but you’re at a police station after you missed a meeting with a woman you apparently don’t know and now she’s dead.”
“I understand all that. I will handle things my own way.” She walked so fast to the visitor parking lot she almost tripped. He jogged along behind.
“You’re in trouble, and you’re planning something. You need to tell me what.” Bold, Jude.
She stared back at him defiantly. Had he thought using his “sheriff” voice, as his sister called it, was going to work?
“Actually, I don’t.”
“You’re going to go see Gracie, aren’t you?” Even as he said it, he wondered at his forwardness. He had no right to intrude on Felicia’s situation. She’d made it abundantly clear that she didn’t want him involved. His sister, Nora, had told him recently, “Grit’s good, but it can rub people the wrong way.”
“No grit, no pearl,” was Jude’s motto. He pressed a little more. “I know you well enough to read the signs, Felicia. You get this crimp in your lower lip when you’re determined about something. You’re going to Mule Creek.”
She lifted her chin in a challenge. “Keira said Gracie is my sister. Maybe Keira was my mom, too. I don’t know if any of it is true or not, but I need to go see this child for myself. I can’t explain it, and I’m not going to ask your permission. This is my decision.”
“I can respect that. I’ll take you.”
“I...”
“You shouldn’t go without a police presence. Detweiler would tell you the same. Fox won’t get there until afternoon.” Now it was his turn to wait. She could easily refuse, rent a car, enlist his cousins to help, call an Uber, but that would take time to arrange, and there was urgency emanating from her in waves. The seconds ticked by in slow motion.
“Just drop me off,” she blurted out finally. “I’ll get a ride back. A quick trip.”
Victory. He nodded, hiding his relief. A quick trip, a short visit and then Fox would arrive to take over security. Maybe it was nothing to worry about, but something deep down told him Felicia needed his help.
Grit or no grit, she was going to get it.
THREE
She was relieved that Jude lapsed into silence as they drove, taking the off-ramp onto a road that wound through burnished foothills nestled beneath the towering mountains. A rabbit the same color as the ground peered at them from beneath branches as if curious about their purpose on the lonely stretch.
“This is a pretty out-of-the-way location,” Jude said. “What I learned last night was that Keira and Aaron lived with Gracie at their home in Las Vegas until a couple of weeks ago. According to Aaron, Keira abruptly moved Gracie and their dog out without telling Aaron, and she wouldn’t disclose to him where she’d left her daughter. He complained to the cops about it at the time, but there was nothing they could do since Keira was still the only custodial parent.” He eyed the rippled rock as they drove along. “Does seem like odd behavior on her part, to take the child out of the home. If the marriage was on the skids, why not work through a divorce or move into a new place near the kid’s school and friends?”
“Maybe she was scared of leaving Aaron, that he was going to hurt Gracie or her if she did.”
“Motive?”
“Men don’t need much of a motive to hurt women, do they?”
Jude flinched. “I also phoned a lawyer friend of mine, Dan Wheatly. Left him a message.”
She shot him a startled look. “A lawyer? Why?”
“To advise on the guardianship situation until we figure out if Keira spelled out her legal wishes. Aaron had started the process to adopt Gracie several months ago, but it wasn’t finalized.”
