The Partners in Crime Collection, page 40
“We’ve got some information to share with you both as well, but let’s have some food and relax a bit first, huh?” Jack said as she handed out skewers and passed the bowl of marshmallows around.
“As much as I want melted chocolatey goodness, you can’t go saying that and leaving me hanging,” Janna said a few minutes later as the first roasted marshmallows were sandwiched with chocolate bar pieces and graham crackers.
“There was one thing we needed to follow up on and haven’t been able to do, yet,” Jack said. “Nate said lost fobs were just replaced with newly programmed ones. Old ones weren’t deprogrammed or whatever they’d do with them. So, there should be three or four passcode fobs that would allow someone into the building, the elevators, and LaSherie’s condo still floating around out there somewhere. My thought was that it felt very convenient to have ‘lost’ fobs that allowed access and the only way to know who had used one was by watching the video.”
“That’s a good point,” Janna replied. “You’re thinking maybe one of the so-called lost fobs ended up in the hands of LaSherie’s murderer?”
“Yep. Question is, who gave it to the murderer?” Jack said.
“How convinced are you that these two murders are connected?” Aidan asked.
“Three murders,” Jamie corrected. “We’re thinking Joel Johnson was somehow involved in Melly Warren’s murder, based on something a CI said. Then Trey Warren is possibly connected to LaSherie’s murder, and now Joel Johnson is dead and I’m betting his car was sabotaged.”
“You’re making some pretty big leaps there, my friend,” Aidan said as he leaned forward, beer bottle in hand. “Do you have anything to back that all up?”
“Not yet, but I’m hoping those video files will have some answers,” Jamie replied. “Trust me, if we can find enough solid evidence, I will wrap it all up with a nice big bow for you two.”
“If you can come up with that, then I will treat you both to a steak dinner at Harbor House,” Aidan said.
“How come they get dinner at Harbor House and I’m lucky to get a coffee in the morning?” Janna teased.
“Because you get all of me, and I’m better than any steak dinner,” Aidan replied, then leaned over and gave her a kiss.
“At least we can be ourselves around you two. You’ve no idea how hard it is to avoid being familiar with each other around other cops,” Janna said.
“I’m surprised Sarge let you two stay partners once he found out you were intimate,” Jack said. “Doesn’t that make it hard to keep your perspective when things get dangerous?”
“Yes and no,” Aidan said. “We’ve learned to trust each other’s competence over the years. We’ve only been a couple for the last two, but we’ve been partners for nearly eight years over all.”
“We’ve also still maintained a successful, high closure rate. That’s kept people from trying to split us up. The Powers That Be don’t want to mess up a good thing,” Janna said.
“It’s how they were with Mike and I,” Jamie said. “We had a high closure rate and consistent success, so they didn’t mess with us. Shit didn’t go sideways until Mike was murdered and all the rest happened. Jack and I had a good success rate, but we weren’t given the time to build on that before the pressure and abuse got to be too much. Once Sarge told us he was pulling the pin, we decided it wasn’t worth watching our good names get trashed. Best to leave while things were still salvageable.”
“Well, if they start trashing us, we’ll stop by and talk to Mahoney,” Aidan said.
“Yeah, we’ve already discussed our options,” Janna added. “I’d like to go back to school and finish my law degree, and Aidan could work with you guys at Resolute. But that’s not a right now thing, just a future option we’ve considered.”
“Good, because right now, we need you two as our connection to law enforcement. At least until we can wrap up this mess,” Jamie said.
“And then what? You won’t need us anymore?” Janna asked.
“Hah, like that’ll happen. For me, I can already tell it’s going to be an adjustment. How far we can take things on our side before we have to pass them over,” Jack said. “That, and how little power there is behind our requests now that we’re not cops.”
“Working together, all four – correction five – of us is the best answer we’ve got right now to doing what we do best. Serve and protect is what four of us swore an oath to do,” Jamie said. “We all know that what we do matters, and nothing happens in a vacuum. Avery has been invaluable in his assistance with a few of our cases, that’s why I’m including him.”
“I may not be a cop, but I’m a cop’s son. I’ve seen what it takes to stop evil from winning, and I’m here to do what I can. If my research and tech skills can help, then I’m happy to help,” Avery said.
“Fighting crime and the evil that people do doesn’t stop being my job just because I carry a different kind of badge,” Jack said. “Let’s get these assholes and bring justice to the dead. We’re their only voices now.”
The clink of beer bottles as they touched them in a toast rang out across the yard.
Dead to Rights: Chapter Eleven
Melly watched her children sleep, curled around each other like they used to when they were small. Channing looked more like her father than he did Trey’s side of the family, while Liz was a carbon copy of Melly herself, but with Trey’s eyes. They had fallen asleep on the giant beanbag chair in their common area, Liz’s head on Channing’s chest, tears drying on her cheeks. They were just a month shy of their seventeenth birthday, about to start their senior year in high school in the fall – and their world had shifted on its axis. Channing was her champion. He’d gone up against his father more than once and paid the price in beatings and punishments. Liz did her best to become invisible around Trey.
Melly knew that her children were intelligent and had seen how Trey treated her, how she’d lived her life. Just a few weeks ago, the three of them had had a talk about leaving and starting over. Melly had been afraid to leave because Trey had told her, more than once, that if she tried to take his children and leave him, he’d kill all three of them. They’d discussed the risks and both had begged her to speak to a lawyer, or the cops, or both. She’d been afraid. Now, she’d lost them forever.
It hadn’t started out like this, with her afraid and with him controlling literally everything. Twenty-two years ago, they’d been young, in love, and the best of friends. Then they’d lost their first child, a daughter, to stillbirth. Then two sons, a year apart – one a miscarriage at six months, the other stillborn. Doctors recommended she not get pregnant again, but neither one of them wanted that. She wanted her own children. Living children. It became an obsession. They went to see specialist after specialist, and finally she’d become pregnant with the twins. After the fourth month, she was on bed rest for all but a couple of hours a day and Trey’s way of handling things was to schedule and control what she ate, her medications, how much exercise she had – even how hot her shower could be.
Melly let him. She focused all of her energy on birthing healthy, live babies. Stuck in bed, she read voraciously across a wide range of genres. She spent time working on her art. Sketchbooks and colored pencils littered the side table, the floor, even under the bed.
Trey took to staying in one of the guest rooms so he wouldn’t disturb her sleep. Melly missed him holding her in the night, but he’d often crawl into bed in the early morning to hold her, stroke her bulging belly, and talk to the babies. At first, she thought it was sweet, but then she wished he’d spend some of that time talking to her, too.
The babies were born a touch under five weeks early and spent the first week in the neonatal intensive care, then the regular neonatal unit before they could bring them home. The cesarean delivery had been difficult for Melly to heal from, but while the babies were in the hospital, she’d been there every day and had pumped breast milk until she could nurse them. When they were brought home, they slept in the same bassinet within arm’s reach of Melly’s side of the bed. Trey tried to lay down rules about how they should be handled, but when it came to her children, Melly refused to let him control her. She nursed them, bathed them, and changed them all by herself.
Trey gave up after the first week and put all of his energy into his work. He’d tried to hire a nanny and Melly fired her when she showed up at the door. Melly had never known her father, and her mother had died when she was in high school. Trey’s parents had died when he was ten years old, and they were both only children, so they didn’t have close family to call on for help. He’d been raised by his father’s sister through a series of boarding schools and summer camps. Basically, Trey had lost his parents and had to figure out the rest of life on his own. Melly understood that his fear of abandonment translated into his obsession with control, but it didn’t excuse the extremes he had eventually developed.
Extremes that had cost Melly her life. Even though she knew Trey had an alibi for her death, the only way she would’ve been killed would have been at his command. The team had to find a way to bring him down. Her children’s future depended on it.
Dead to Rights: Chapter Twelve
Jamie zipped the last pocket shut on the gear bag and hefted it to check the weight.
“That’s not going to be too heavy for Jack, is it?” Mike asked.
“No, it shouldn’t be. She’s no weakling,” Jamie said. “I kept the weight under forty pounds and they have shoulder straps to make it easier to carry.”
“I still think you went overboard,” Mike said.
“I don’t think so,” Jamie replied. “We don’t have crime scene techs or uniformed patrol officers to do the grunt work anymore. That’s all on us now. We want prints lifted, we need to do it ourselves – or we wait for whichever detective gets the case to maybe file the paperwork so Haggerty and Jones can check it out and let us know about the results. That will be so far down the road as to not even matter anymore.”
“You’ve still got to be careful you don’t damage evidence or cause problems that get cases tossed. I mean, how good are you at dusting anyway?”
“Jack is better at it than I am. She had trained in forensics before she went full cop,” Jamie said. “Hey, even if we never use half of this stuff, I’d rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it, right?”
“Boy scout,” Mike grumbled.
“Not even close. Who was the one who always had gloves or a flashlight when you needed them? Wasn’t you, my friend.”
“Yeah, yeah. Oh, by the way, I’m going to be at the retirement party. I want to listen in and see if anyone says anything interesting. Consider me your invisible bugging device,” Mike said.
“Sounds like a plan. Have Melly or LaSherie remembered anything new?”
“Melly’s not remembered anything since Joel, and LaSherie is struggling to stay on this side long enough to get answers,” Mike replied. “I don’t think she’ll be around much longer, to be honest. She wants to just cross over and meet her son. The only thing holding her here right now is Mary. Making sure Mary is taken care of is her last desire over here.”
“Then once this retirement party is over, we’ll focus on making sure Mary is okay. Let her know, would you?”
“I’ll do that. Seems that without a body, or a definitive answer to whether or not LaSherie is dead, the insurance company won’t pay out her claim. We need someone to confess and get it on record.”
“Avery has already started combing through the videos. Joey has a new program that helps with facial recognition, so hopefully we’ll have some answers soon,” Jamie said. “Oh, Joel hasn’t shown back up yet, has he?”
“Not that I’ve seen. My minions haven’t seen him either. Want me to send a few out to look for him?” Mike asked.
“Yeah, do that. And what’s with the minions?”
“They’re just souls that aren’t motivated to cross over yet. They like being useful, so I put them to work,” Mike said.
“Interesting. Although, every time you say something about your minions, I keep visualizing you seated on a throne, petting a long-haired white cat,” Jamie said.
“Ha ha. Very funny. It’s more like herding cats, to be honest. Some of them are reliable, but most of them are easily distracted and will wander off without notice.”
“Too bad you couldn’t promise them donuts like you used to with the new recruits at crime scenes,” Jamie said. “Four dozen donuts and a vat of coffee would get us better results than standing over the techs and breathing heavily. Never ceased to amaze me.”
“Hey, are you bringing a gift for Sarge?” Mike asked.
“I am. Jack helped me decide, so it’s from both of us. I got him one of those picture frames that you load up with photos from your phone or whatever and it cycles through them. I had Avery scan some old photos, then pulled together some over the years and put them on it. There’s room for a couple thousand, so he can add to it. We also got them a four-day weekend at an inn in Bar Harbor, Maine. Comes complete with an all-day fishing trip for him and a spa day for Mrs. Sarge, all meals covered, and so on.”
“Mrs. Sarge is Eleanor Tremont. Not Mrs. Sarge,” Mike said. “But that sounds like a great trip. A chance for them to get away and catch their breath before their new life starts.”
“That was the idea,” Jamie said. “Okay, I'm going to load these up in the car, then go shower and change. I’m picking up Jack and we’re driving together. Avery’s car is in the shop until Monday, so she wanted to leave hers for him to use if he needed it. He’s really doing us a solid with his help on those videos.”
“He’s a good kid. I’m glad you guys told him about us ghosts,” Mike said. “I’ll see you there. Stay safe.”
They were not the first to arrive, but Jack and Jamie managed to get to the party soon enough to be considered ‘on time’. The original plan had been to rent a hall, but with the current state of the HPD politics, it ended up being safer to hold it at Sarge’s house instead. A non-public venue meant they had more leeway in keeping undesirable attendees out. Two grills were fired up on the back patio and a table in the living room held a growing stack of gifts. The youngest Tremont, Ellie, directed them inside and told them where the gift table could be found. Jack put the wrapped photo frame gift on the table and handed the envelope with the weekend trip to Jamie.
“Let’s give this to them directly. It’s too small and could get lost,” Jack said.
“Good point,” Jamie said. “Let’s go find them.”
They found the couple on the back deck, welcoming their guests with laughter, handshakes, and for some, hugs. Sarge pulled Jamie in for a quick back-slap hug, then accepted one from Jack.
“So glad you two could be here,” Sarge said. “Lennie, this is Jack Forbes. You’ve heard me tell you about her.”
Eleanor Tremont turned to greet Jack with a smile and a handshake, then hugged Jamie. “You’ve been a stranger, Jameson Kennedy.”
Sarge was tall and lean, while his wife was about five foot five with curves to make a model envious. They made a striking couple standing side by side, and the love between them was visible in the tiny touches and glances they shared.
“Lennie, you know how work gets,” Jamie replied. “I’m sorry, I’ll do better. But first, this is for the two of you.” Jamie handed the envelope to Mrs. Sarge.
“Hey, it’s my party, how come she gets to open a gift?” Sarge teased.
“Because now that you’re going to be home all the time, she needs a treat, too,” Jack teased right back.
“Oh, Linc, look at this. What a wonderful gift – thank you, both of you. We’ve not had a chance to catch our breath, so this will give us that,” Lennie said.
“The day he’s got a full day of fishing is the day you get a full spa day, so you’re both doing something special for yourselves,” Jack said. “I would’ve gone fishing and cut the spa day down to a mani-pedi, but Jamie said you’d enjoy being spoiled and weren’t a fan of fishing.”
“I like sitting on the ground or a dock and fishing. I’m not a fan of boats. This is perfect, Jack. I’m going to get spoiled,” Lennie said.
“Like the queen you are,” Sarge replied and kissed his wife’s brow.
Aidan showed up with an arm around Janna and handed Jamie a beer. “Time for me to kick your ass in horseshoes,” he said to Jamie.
“I’m in for that,” Sarge said and the three men left the deck for the horseshoe pitch in the back of the yard.
“Thank you both for being here,” Lennie said, her voice kept low so only Janna and Jack could hear her. “He needed to know his team still respected him. The way this has all gone down is shameful and if I were twenty years younger, I’d be giving those assholes more than a few words.”
“Sarge is the best,” Jack said. “He’s protected me – and Jamie – as best he can from things going on outside his control.”
“And he’s allowed Aidan and me to keep our private life private and not drag it across the tongues of everyone in the precinct,” Janna said. “Those of us who love Sarge are going to have a rough go of things. I’m just hoping Aidan and I can weather the storm and stay cops. I’m not overly hopeful about that, though. I’ve already made arrangements if things implode so we can keep surviving.”
“When being a cop meant you were as at risk from those in uniform as you were from those out of it, it stopped being about protecting and serving the community and became about surviving the job. That’s when I started pushing for Linc to get out. He felt responsible for all of you, though, and knew if he bailed early, it would cost all of us. Then Mike Donovan was killed and it all went to shit so fast,” Lennie said. “I was terrified every day that someone would shoot him in the parking lot or something. I even wanted us to leave Harbor, but Linc has reminded me that this is our home and if we let them run us off, we’re letting them win.”
