| |
Haley barged into the Wheelbarrow Café and scanned the restaurant. Her heart sank when she didn’t see Luke anywhere. She rushed toward Mindy instead.
“Is Luke Justice here?” she asked.
Mindy stopped walking, two plates of food in her hands. “He usually doesn’t stop in on Saturdays.”
The chime on the front door sounded. As if they’d conjured him by sheer force of female will, Luke Justice strolled in and took the last unoccupied stool at the counter.
Mindy peered at Haley, her eyes as large as the servings of volcanic mashed potatoes weighing down the plates in her hands. “You got some powers I don’t know about?”
“I wish.”
Mindy got back to work while Haley made her way to the counter. She wedged herself into the tiny space separating Luke from the man in the next seat, ignoring both of their dirty looks.
“I need to talk to you,” she said to Luke.
“If you hadn’t noticed, I’m on my lunch break.”
“I know that.” Haley didn’t tell him she didn’t care.
“I’ve been working a double shift and could really use some downtime,” Luke said, his eyes darkening. “Do you realize I haven’t been home since yesterday?”
Haley nodded. His failure to return home last night had been the whole reason she’d tracked him down at the Wheelbarrow. After leaving Jenna’s she must have pounded on Luke’s door for five solid minutes. When he hadn’t answered, she’d given up and gone to bed, tossing and turning as she watched for headlights shining through the blinds and listened for cars pulling into the driveway next door.
But Luke hadn’t come home, and this morning she had jumped out of bed determined to find him. She couldn’t wait to tell him what she’d found. Every time she thought about her role in sending Ricardo Zepeda to jail for Jenna’s crimes, her chest constricted. She’d come to Sobaco to seek justice, not to punish innocents.
Not having any idea where Luke might be, her plan had been to drive through downtown until he stopped her for exceeding the town’s allowed number of laps per vehicular outing. Unfortunately, that had never happened. Nor did she spot his cruiser out on the streets. Her visit to the Wheelbarrow Café had been a last resort.
“Brian and I spent all night at the station brainstorming on a case with Victor,” Luke continued.
She deduced from his pointed look that the all-night session concerned Zepeda. Foolishly, she had never considered looking for Luke at the police station, although that now struck her as his obvious location. Or maybe subconsciously she had already dismissed that option to avoid Victor.
Luke seemed to sense that Haley didn’t intend to let him off the hook just because he’d been up all night. “Okay,” he said with a sigh. “Tell me what you want to talk about.”
Haley opened her mouth only to clamp it shut when she noticed the man two stools down watching them. He didn’t say a word as he flashed her a mostly toothless smile.
Haley leaned closer to Luke and whispered, “I can’t talk to you here. Can you meet me back at my place?”
Luke swiveled around, his knees knocking into hers. She managed to grab the edge of the counter before she performed a belly flop into his lap.
“Haley, I’m only on break,” he said. “Victor expects me to return to the station as soon as I’ve finished eating.”
“That’s fine. Just stop by once you get off work.”
She was disappointed she’d have to wait, but she wasn’t willing to argue here, where the whole town could hear. She knew she ran the risk of people assuming she and Luke were engaged in a torrid love affair, but even that struck her as a better alternative to Victor Lamb learning of the real reason for their afternoon rendezvous.
Haley eased back into the aisle. As soon as she evacuated his personal space, the man next to Luke flashed her a contemptuous look, spearing a dill pickle with more force than Haley deemed necessary.
She didn’t think that would be the last scornful look she’d have to endure today. When Luke came over, she vowed to confess everything, even if that meant admitting to searching Zepeda’s house.
She only hoped that once he got past his initial anger, Luke Justice would prove to be worthy of his surname.
* * *
While she waited for Luke to return home, Haley tried to make some progress on the MIT file. She felt compelled to compensate for the time she’d spent Wednesday morning staking out the Moreno’s building. Even so, she angled her laptop so she’d have a clear view of Luke’s property through the window.
Around three p.m. he finally drove into view. Haley jumped up and ran over to greet him.
“I’m here,” he said when she swung the door open, lifting his hands with equal measures of exasperation and resignation.
Haley stepped aside. “Come in.”
Luke trudged into her living room and fell onto the couch as though his spine had been surgically removed. He couldn’t look more exhausted if he were in a coma.
She closed the door. “Can I make you some coffee or something?” She didn’t need him sneaking in a few winks while she relayed her findings.
He glared at her. “Haley, the last thing I want is coffee. As soon as we’re done here, I’m going straight home and falling into bed.”
She perched on her desk chair. “Victor didn’t let you rest at all last night, huh?”
Luke ran a hand through his hair. “We received the lab results for Ricardo yesterday, and Victor wanted to talk about the details of the case we’re building against him.”
“So the tests came back positive.”
Luke nodded. “The pot we found in Ricardo’s house matched the plants seized in the woods. Likewise, the DNA on that water bottle and the fingerprints on both the bottle and hori-hori all point to Ricardo.”
Although she had expected as much, hearing Luke’s confirmation knotted her stomach. A tiny part of her had hoped that Victor Lamb had enough professional integrity not to frame his wife’s lover for a crime he didn’t commit.
Luke sighed and draped his arm along the back of the couch. “So, what did you need to talk to me about that’s so urgent I can’t even rest first?”
She took a deep breath, knowing he wouldn’t appreciate what she had to say after spending all night building a case against the wrong man. “Ricardo Zepeda is innocent.”
Luke just stared at her. She was about to repeat herself in case he hadn’t heard her, but he started laughing before she could open her mouth again. His reaction struck her as so discordant with the Luke Justice she knew that she could only conclude his lack of sleep had caused him to lose his mind.
He gulped down air as he tried to compose himself. “That’s a joke, right?” He must have noticed her grave expression because he quickly sobered. “Wait a minute. That’s not a joke? You’re serious?”
“Sorry,” Haley said, meaning it.
Luke pulled his hands into his lap, clasping them together so tightly his fingers turned white. “We just got the test results back. I just spent all night helping Victor build a case for the D.A. What brought this on now?”
“Well, I didn’t change my mind overnight,” Haley admitted. “I’ve been edging toward this conclusion for about a week now.”
“A week?” Luke looked toward the ceiling and raised his hands into the air, as though the heavens could help him understand women. “You’ve thought this for a week, and you’re only bringing it up now?”
“I kind of brought it up earlier.”
“You mean when you posed all those hypothetical questions about not testifying?” Luke stood up and began stomping around the living room. “You said your memory was fading. That’s it. You didn’t mention anything about Ricardo being innocent.”
Haley nodded, feeling sheepish for not confiding in him sooner. “You’re right. I should have been clearer about my doubts.”
“Doubts?” He cackled as though he found the word hilarious. “Doubts I could handle, but you’re saying you know for a fact that our prime suspect is innocent.”
“Well, not for a fact really. But I remembered something that points to someone else.”
Luke stopped pacing and latched his hands onto his hips. “And what’s that?”
“The man I ran into is taller than Zepeda. His elbow lined up with the lower edge of my shoulder.”
“But he was running at the time. Ricardo probably had his elbows lifted.” Luke wedged his hands under his armpits and started flapping his arms like chicken wings. “When people run, they don’t let their arms hang from their bodies like billy clubs.”
“Zepeda would have to hold his arms almost fully perpendicular to his body in order to brush my shoulder,” Haley countered.
“Okay, so he runs like this then.” Luke raised his elbows and pumped harder, solidifying Haley’s suspicions that he was delirious from exhaustion. “So what?”
“Zepeda is about my height, right?”
Luke halted his gyrations and eyed her up and down. “Stand up.”
She rose from the chair, standing stiffly beside her desk.
Luke approached, perusing her body with the intensity of a preying jungle cat. Her breathing grew shallow as he studied her. He stood so close that she could pick up a vague odor emanating from him. The scent wasn’t off-putting. He certainly didn’t smell anything like a man who had been neglecting simple tasks such as bathing in order to work nights.
After what felt like an eternity, he sighed and turned away, collapsing back onto the sofa. “I don’t know, Haley. Ricardo might be your height, or he might be taller.”
Lightheaded, Haley reached behind her and guided herself back into the safety of her desk chair. “You know Zepeda personally, don’t you?”
Luke shrugged. “I’ve seen the guy around town a couple times. I wouldn’t say we’re friends exactly.”
“Did you know he’s sleeping with Tracy Lamb?”
Luke didn’t say anything, but neither did he flinch or blink or offer any other physical response. His lack of a reaction answered her question.
But of course he would already know about the affair, Haley reminded herself. With him and Victor spending all that time together at the station, Victor had probably confided in him at one point. Who knew, maybe the chief had even used his cuckold status to convince Luke to work harder at building a case against Zepeda.
“Did you also know Victor went against best practice when conducting my eyewitness interview?” Haley asked.
Luke raised his eyebrows. “Why would you think that?”
“Tracy Lamb stopped by the day after Zepeda’s arrest. She explained how Victor breached procedure in order to frame Zepeda.”
Luke snorted. “I wouldn’t trust anything Tracy has to say when it comes to Ricardo.”
“But she was right. I verified her claims online after she left. Victor did violate best practice.”
“How so?”
“He waited over a week to question me, and then he showed me all the suspect photographs simultaneously instead of sequentially.”
Luke regarded her. “You can’t seriously believe that would cause you to falsely identify Ricardo.”
“And what about your sketch?” Haley said, tilting her chin up. “Did Victor tell you to show that drawing to me? Did he use you to trick me into superimposing Zepeda’s profile over my true memory of the man in the woods?”
Luke pursed his lips. Haley played through his prior assertions about Victor’s integrity and dedication to the law, wondering if he would still cling to his boss’s side once her claims fully sank in. She hoped not. If it merely came down to a battle of loyalties, Luke would undoubtedly side with the police chief.
Haley opted to change tacks. “I might know who is responsible for those drugs.”
Luke straightened. Despite his bloodshot eyes, he no longer looked tired. “Who?”
“Jenna McArthur.”
Luke didn’t react. He could have been running through his mental catalog of evidence to see if Jenna fit, or he could simply be longing to crawl into the comfort of his bed next door.
Haley took a deep breath. “I went to the garden store Wednesday, where Jenna works. I saw their delivery man loading bags of what appeared to be soil into his truck. But Moreno’s doesn’t deliver soil.”
“Why would you think that? The garden store sells tons of soil.”
“But according to Owen Moreno, they don’t deliver soil.”
Luke stared at her for a long moment. Finally, he said, “You have proof of this?”
She nodded. “Owen gave me his inventory spreadsheet.”
“Okay,” Luke said, dragging out the word as if the acknowledgment pained him.
“I followed the driver,” Haley added, encouraged by his small concession. “He drove to Jenna’s house, where he unloaded the soil.”
“That doesn’t mean she’s stealing. She could have asked him to transport the bags as a favor, after she purchased them.”
“Except that doesn’t explain why Owen’s records don’t show signs of those sales or why his inventory doesn’t add up.”
Luke appeared to stifle a yawn. “So she’s stealing a little soil and selling it on the side to make a few extra bucks. So what?”
“There’s not enough profit to be made for her to bother.”
Luke’s head fell back against the sofa. “Okay, then she’s using the stuff in her personal garden.”
“She doesn’t have a garden. At least, not one that’s planted in her yard.”
“Fine.” He slapped the sofa with one palm as his head jerked forward again. “Then she’s a disgruntled employee stealing from her boss for the fun of it. Haley, if you haven’t noticed, I have bigger crimes to focus on right now than some missing dirt.”
Haley stamped her foot. “We’re talking about the same crime.”
“Jenna stealing soil doesn’t mean she’s responsible for the cannabis and every other offense committed in Sobaco.”
“It does if she’s using the soil to grow marijuana plants.”
Luke blinked, the corners of his mouth turning down. Haley considered that he could just now be registering that gardening supplies would be needed to grow marijuana.
“There’s something else,” Haley said. “I visited Jenna’s place yesterday and spotted something in her house.”
“What?”
“She has a bunch of items from Moreno’s in her spare room. Not only soil, but pots and fertilizer and pesticides, too. Except she doesn’t have a garden. So why the need for all those supplies?”
From the way Luke’s brow furrowed, Haley could tell he understood her point.
“Jenna isn’t working alone,” she added. “The Moreno’s delivery driver must be one of her partners. The guy I saw in the woods has to be in cahoots with them too.”
Luke eyed her. “You mean Ricardo Zepeda?”
Haley lifted one shoulder, not willing to battle that issue again. “If he is Zepeda, he should be able to tell you something about the operation, right?”
“You’re assuming Victor and the D.A. would agree to a reduced sentence. Otherwise, Ricardo has no incentive to turn state’s evidence.”
Haley didn’t think questioning Zepeda would lead to anything new one way or another. She’d convinced herself he was innocent, which meant he wouldn’t have any information to share no matter how much he might benefit from doing so.
“I guess I can start with Zepeda,” Luke said. “Who knows, sometimes criminals talk without much prompting.”
“If he doesn’t tell you anything, what will you do?”
Luke shrugged, then yawned. Haley couldn’t tell if the yawn was genuine or contrived. “Honestly, Haley, I’m not sure yet,” he said. “This is kind of a new area for me.”
“But you’ll do something, right?” Haley pressed. “Promise me you’ll look into an affiliation between Jenna and the Moreno’s driver and the drug organization.”
“I promise.”
She felt a huge weight lift off her shoulders. She remembered Luke’s confession about wanting more police responsibilities, taking comfort in his ambition. He probably had never imagined himself conducting a subversive investigation to prove himself, but Haley knew as well as anyone that things didn’t always go according to plan.
“Are you going to tell Victor he has the wrong man jailed?” she asked.
Luke shook his head. “Not without concrete evidence.”
“That sounds like the best strategy.” She didn’t doubt Luke’s ability to uncover something pointing to Jenna’s and the driver’s guilt. She only hoped his loyalty to the chief wasn’t rooted so deeply that he swayed back to his boss’s side the minute he left her house.
Luke stood up and stretched. “Now, if we’re done here, I could really use some rest.”
Haley met his gaze, feeling her breath hitch. “Thank you, Luke. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
He stepped around the sofa. “Don’t worry. I’ll get to the bottom of whatever is going on.”
Haley hoped he was right.
