Chapter 12

“Jessie, what was that?” Katie’s voice trembled as it sliced through the thick air that still permeated the room in spite of the growing dawn light. “What just happened? I can’t stop shaking.” Katie hugged her middle tightly with her arms.

Jessie remained huddled in the corner, grateful for the wall’s solid support. “I don’t know—it was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. Dark…evil.” She shivered. “I was balanced on a fine line between sanity and insanity. It…it took all I had to hold it together. I thought for a moment that I would lose it.” Tears filled her eyes. “That’s why I started humming the first thing that came into my head and then singing it. It seemed to help me focus.” She shivered again.

“What are we going to do?” Katie grabbed the chair to pull herself to her feet and stretch her legs. “It felt real. I wonder who or what it was?” She frowned. “Didn’t it feel a little weird how it just sort of went away with the light of day? At least I hope it did.” She plopped down in the chair.

“My, sweet girls.” Sadie put her arm around Jessie and patted Katie’s knee. “We’ll be okay, but no more dilly-dallying. I think we need to let Matt know what happened, immediately. I’m going to call him.” Sadie tried to stretch her cramped legs, and then groaned as she rolled over onto all fours and held on to the chair to stand. Katie held out her hand to help her.

“He said he’d come if we need him. I hate to bother him and bring him running over now.” Jessie winced at Sadie’s slow progress. Her grandmother didn’t deserve this. She felt a pang. Her fault, she’d brought this danger with them.

Sadie shook her head. “We need him! The other man is here, and we need Matt.” Sadie frowned as Jessie’s chin started to lift.

“Okay, call him, but I don’t think he could have done anything to help us last night.” Jessie stretched her legs out in front of her. She shivered.

“Whoa! Back up. Did I miss something? Who’s here?” Katie grabbed Sadie’s arm. “You mean the guy who’s been writing those notes?” Katie stood up with her hands on her hips. “I told you he’d follow you, didn’t I? Now, what are we going to do?” She glared at Jessie. “Don’t listen to her, Sadie. Call Matt, and get him here now. I’m scared.”

“Matt flew in to help but wanted you girls to enjoy your vacation. You, my dear girl, can remove that stubborn look on your face.” Sadie wagged her finger at Jessie. “He wants to be here. He’s your partner. The case is here now, and so is he.”

“I hate that he forever has to come to my rescue.” Jessie shrugged her shoulders.

“I’m glad he does, with all the weird stuff happening to you and anyone else near you.” Katie sniffed.

“First things first, girls. We need to shower, get dressed, and we’ll have a lovely breakfast. We are going to be rational and sane about this. The three of us need to put our heads together and think.” Sadie stretched her arms and walked about a little bit. “Boy, it’s been a long time since I sat on the floor. I’m going to pay for it.”

“Are you okay, Grams?” Jessie bit her lip.

“Yes, it’s nothing that a nice hot shower and time in the hot tub can’t cure.” She held her hand out to Jessie as she stood. Sadie sat down on the bed. She patted the open space, but Jessie shook her head.

“I think I’ll get dressed.” Katie walked out of the room. “Call him,” she called over her shoulder.

Sadie nodded. “What do you think it was?” Sadie looked at Jessie as she asked it.

Jessie began to pace. “I don’t know. Matt had mentioned that the deputy in charge of Adriana’s case said strange things happened at their station when they started investigating her case.”

“What kind of strange things?” Sadie glanced at Jessie when she asked her.

“All the paper files, all the interviews from their legwork in the case went missing. Computer files were erased. They found blood and several small fetishes. Matt told me the deputy had sounded fearful.”

“It sounds a little like voodoo, but most voodoo rituals aren’t for evil purposes.” Sadie frowned. “Although, it seems, I read once that there was a dark side of voodoo, with practitioners who did curses and cast spells for a fee. They believed it could bring the dead to life again. That’s where the idea of the zombie originated. Who do you know that would be mixed up in that?” She looked thoughtful.

“I have no idea, but if their intent was to scare me, they did a good job.” Jessie pushed her hair behind her ears and started pacing again.

“You must’ve been up against a cultic ritual of some sort last night.” Sadie nodded. “It’s probably best if we don’t mention it to Katie.”

“I agree. All I know is that right before it all started happening, Reba’s words about me being the gatekeeper came back to me, and I knew I didn’t want to let anyone into my head. I focused on keeping them out.” Jessie stopped pacing and looked at Sadie. “I don’t know if they were real or only in my mind. Ugly and dark is how I would describe them.”

“You did well, girl.” Sadie stood. “Make yourself presentable, and I’m going to call Matt. I’ll speak to him about what happened last night and tell him we want him here. I’m doing this for me, as much as for you.”

Sadie had won! Jessie knew her grandmother was worried, and she was right. Matt needed to be here. She was in over her head.

She headed for the bathroom and turned on the shower. Stepping into the warm water, she let it wash over her, taking away for a moment the stress and fear of the night, sending it swirling down the drain. Again, Jessie hummed the song, feeling her spirits rise. She had survived to fight another day. Adriana, talk to me. I’m not giving up on finding you. You’re fighting this alone. I can’t imagine the fear you must be feeling.

****

Matt grabbed his phone off the table when it rang. “Hey, Sadie, what’s up?’

“Matt, I think you need to get over here tonight. We had an incident last night and I think it’s more than the three of us can handle.”

“You mean other than the one I was in on?”

“Yes.” He heard her exhale a deep breath.

“What kind of incident are we talking about?” Matt cursed under his breath as Sadie explained it. “How is she?”

“She’s decent, considering, but I think whatever it was wore her out. And, Matt, we’re all glad that you’re here.”

“That’s nice to know.” Matt raked his free hand through his hair. “While we were checking things out last night we found some fetishes and these little altars sprinkled with blood placed around your suite. Whoever it was must have prepared the area for some ritual. Are you sure she’s fine? I should have stayed in the area through the night.” He knew what he had felt and the strength of whatever it was that knocked him to the ground.

“I don’t think you could have done anything, and Jessie is fine. She fought it like a trouper. It was scary. Even Katie felt it. When the sun came up, it was gone.”

“It seems when it comes to Jessie, every wacko comes out of the woodwork. Does she come by it naturally?” He jotted a thought on the pad.

“I admit similar things happened to me when I was younger, and my mother was the same. I never had the strength I saw in Jessie last night.” Sadie sighed. “I’m proud of my girl, but I think we need to put our heads together to make sure we can keep her safe while finding Adriana.”

“We’ll come right now if you want.”

“Unless I call you back, around dinnertime will be soon enough. We can all eat dinner together. You might want to consider checking out of your room. I’m glad you followed your instinct to come. We need you!”

Sadie’s last statement both heartened and worried Matt. Sadie was seldom concerned, but she was now. He woke Jeremy up and told him what happened. “You need to look up any practitioners of voodoo in the area. I’m not sure you’ll find anything here. He might have hired someone from outside the area.”

“Man, nothing is easy when it comes to Jessie.” Jeremy sat up on the bed rubbing his eyes.

“No, it’s not, and we need to hit the ground running. We didn’t learn much from Carter that was useful. He didn’t know what hit him. He did mention he couldn’t catch his breath, that hands were strangling him, but no one was there. Strange, he was afraid still.” Matt pulled his shirt on. “I plan to check out of here later this afternoon before we meet them for dinner.” Jeremy nodded and headed to the shower. Matt grabbed his phone and called the station. “Dylan, how’s it going back there?”

“You know, just the usual petty stuff. With Jessie out of town, it’s our quiet community again.” Matt could hear Dylan chuckle. “Gary and I checked out the information you wanted. We learned some interesting things yesterday.”

“Let’s have it.” Matt frowned.

“The owner of Joe’s is out of the country. His name is Joel Cummings. He’s the brother of Jason, our past infamous mayor, now living in prison.”

“I forgot Jason had a brother. I didn’t know he bought the coffee shop.”

“It’s a small world, as they say.”

“Yes, it is. I’d say it’s damn convenient for him to be out of the country right at this time.” Matt looked at his watch. They’d have to leave soon to make their meeting.

“It would be too convenient if he’s actually out of the country.”

“Did anyone know about the wires coming into Jessie’s place from Joe’s?” Matt asked.

“Cumming’s Enterprises had a work request and permit on record. Access was given to pull wires and install electricity into Jessie’s store through Java Joe’s. What I found interesting is Joel and Jason are partners in the company.”

“Who requested the access?”

“The company name given was Idle Time Books. I’m sure Jessie’s signature was forged. I doubt she requested the extra work. She thought she was paying technicians to install her lights only. The secretary couldn’t give us any other information.”

“I’ll ask Jessie about it, Dylan. Joel or Jason probably ordered it but covered their tracks. What else do you have?”

“We went through the security camera footage at the coffee shop and Molly pointed out the man she remembered. Gary has isolated the frame and is blowing it up to send it to you as we speak.”

“I doubt it will be any good. It seems like he might be working for our perp.” Matt grabbed his laptop off the bed.

“How’s it going out there?” Dylan asked him.

Matt filled Dylan in on the details. “That’s where we stand right now. Jeremy and I are working to find some link that can tie the two cases together, but who knows if they’re related.”

“Gary said you can expect that photo in about ten minutes. He’ll send it to your email so you can have it on your phone. Is there anything else you need?”

“See if you can find Joel Cummings. I’d be willing to bet he’s still in the country.” Matt put his gun in the holster.

“Okay, I’ll look into it for you. We’ll handle things from this end.”

“I want you to look at a file for me and see if you see anything. I’ll email it to you.” He opened it on his computer and sent it to Dylan’s email.

“What am I looking for?” Dylan asked.

“Anything that seems to stand out to you or that might tie these two cases together. I feel like I’m missing something.” Matt put his badge in his pocket. “You know how to reach me.” Jeremy walked into the room, ready to go.

“I’ll read through it. Do you want me to see if Joel has signed in at the prison to see his brother in recent days?”

“Good idea.” He should have thought of that. “They keep a log of all visitors.”

“I’ll get back to you, Matt, if I find anything.”

“Same here.” Matt hung up and emailed Dylan and Tom Maxwell a copy of the second note, then called Frank Wagner.

“What’s up?” Jeremy asked as soon as Matt was through talking to Frank.

“We should be getting a photo of the man who installed the equipment in Jessie’s store. It could be our guy or someone he hired to do it. I hope it will be good enough quality to see the guy’s face.”

“I’ve been thinking. What if Adriana’s stalker and Jessie’s worked together to help each other out? Maybe they hatched this little plan together or had the help of a few friends?”

“What made you think that?”

“I was checking on the guys from the bank like you asked, and some things just don’t add up.”

“Like what?” Matt’s brows lifted slightly.

“They all belonged to the same health club, which could be a coincidence, and they all lived in the same apartment building. Two of them went to NYU, and one of them had just started at the bank a few months ago.”

“Which one is new at the bank?” Matt asked, but he already knew the answer. “Jordon Daniels!”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“I knew the moment I met him I wanted to punch him. Now I might have probable cause. One can hope.” Matt grinned. “Who else went to NYU?”

“Randy Wallis. Another point of interest, which may or may not mean anything is Professor Irwin quit his job not long after the interview, which is unusual for a tenured professor. He’d had several death threats, and he seemed just to drop off the planet. Irwin’s wife had mysteriously vanished the year before and was never found.”

“Interesting. We may need to locate a living relative.” Matt looked at Jeremy. “What else do you have for me? Damn, you’re good at information gathering. I could use you on my team.”

“Brett Peters’ real name is William Mallory and he served a couple of years in prison. He was released six months ago, and that’s when he moved to Rocky Pointe. I’m trying to find out who he associated with while he served time.”

“Good work.” Matt grabbed his files and keys. “Guess who owns Java Joe’s?”

“Not, a clue.”

“Joel Cummings, Jason Cummings’ brother. Do you remember Jason?”

“I sure do. He’s serving time, isn’t he?” Jeremy whistled softly. “I’ll have to check it out. Where are we headed?”

“Tom has everything set up with the West Coast Office. I had a call from the Palm Springs PD to check in with Chief Balasco this morning. Agent Henderson will be there too.” He printed another copy of the second note to give to them. “Let’s get going.”

Matt backed the car out of the parking space. “I would stake a lot on the idea that there’s more than one guy in on this. The logistics alone dictate it.”

“How so?” Jeremy clicked his seatbelt.

“Adriana was taken near Blue Cove. Jessie lives there, and they found bugs in her house and shop. They brought Adriana across the country to the desert of California, and someone placed a note in Jessie’s store after Adriana was abducted.” Matt looked in his mirror and changed lanes. “Jessie and I usually talk these things out together and we help each other think outside the box. If you have anything, lay it on me.” Matt frowned. “It doesn’t make sense. We’re missing an important piece in this case…”

“The guys at the bank could be in on it.”

“They could be, or they could have been inadvertently used to get information and set the abduction up.”

“I’ll try to find out who Mallory’s friends are.”

“I’d be surprised if you find any. Men like him don’t have friends. They tend to use people or be used by them. He might have met someone in prison he tried to impress. We also can’t forget the voodoo angle either, and how it might play into it.” Matt turned in to the station. “From what Sadie said, it was pretty scary. I can agree with her assessment.”

Just as Matt pulled into the parking space, his phone chimed an incoming email. He opened it up and saw a poor quality photo.

“This is the guy.” He handed his phone to Jeremy.

“You can barely see his face. Jeez, I was hoping for someone that stood out, but he just looks ordinary.” Jeremy handed the phone back to Matt.

“He was probably paid to install the equipment. I’ll have Gary send a copy to Tom to see if the Bureau’s technicians can clean it up a little. It would be great to find out who he is and who hired him.”

“If he was a hire, there might be fingerprints.” Jeremy grabbed his computer case off the floor when he opened the door. “I mean, if he’s not in on this he wouldn’t be worried about prints, would he?”

“I don’t think I’d get my hopes up in that department.” Matt opened his car door and got out with his case files in hand.

****

The sergeant ushered them into Tony Balasco’s office. Tony stood up from his desk and reached over to shake Matt and Jeremy’s hands. “We’ll get started in a minute as soon as Agent Henderson gets here. Help yourself to some coffee.” He pointed to the small alcove across from his office.

Matt stepped out to get a cup. The first thing Matt had noticed was that Balasco was a short, but a solidly built man with a thick Eastern accent. He had a firm handshake and a smile that reached his eyes. Matt liked him. He liked him even more when he heard him laugh at something Jeremy had said.

Matt sat down in the chair and opened his files. “You sound like a New Yorker.” He smiled at the chief as he said it.

“I am, or I should say, I was.” He briefly closed his eyes. “I bet you’re wondering how I got here.”

Matt nodded and took a sip of his coffee.

“I was a young cop working a beat the day the Trade Center Towers came down. I was several blocks away but saw the first plane hit the tower.” His eyes fixed on Matt. “My first thought was that it was an accident until I saw the second plane do the same thing. Sirens were screaming all over the city. I tried to make my way there, but as you can imagine, there was a lot of panic on the streets. I got close enough to see people hanging out windows and jumping to their deaths. I was never close enough to get inside the building. Too many people running from the building needed help.” He cleared his throat.

“I can imagine. As a kid, I watched the news coverage alongside my parents.” Matt remembered it well.

“It still affects me.” Tony’s eyes were misty. “When the first tower fell, it was like being swallowed up in the gray mist of hell. God only knows what swirled around the city. You could hardly see or breathe. I tried to help people, but I knew with every step I took that a lot of people had died. It was the worst thing I’ve ever been near.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “I lost a lot of good friends that day. I still have dreams that haunt me. After all the funerals, I knew I needed to get out of there and make a fresh start.”

“This is pretty far from there.” Jeremy sat forward in his chair.

“I put in for jobs as far away from the sad memories of that day as I could get. You have to admit this little place is an oasis in the desert and just about as different from New York as I can get. I don’t regret it, not even for a moment.”

“Being from New York, I can understand.” Jeremy looked away briefly. “I was a kid, but everyone you talk to can remember where they were when the towers came down.”

Tony cleared his throat again. “Before I forget to mention it, Jessie Reynolds will be here this afternoon to introduce herself. Her grandmother wanted us to know what she looked like, just in case.”

“That sounds like Sadie.” Matt grinned.

“Tom Maxwell filled me in on some of the details and I would like to get the rest from you.” Balasco watched Jeremy stand up. “Decided on some coffee after all?” Jeremy nodded.

Tony looked at Matt. “Between you and me, I wish we didn’t have to include Agent Henderson. He’s somewhat of a control freak. He likes to micromanage things. He’s trying to make a name for himself, I guess. On the fast track if you know what I mean.” Tony stood abruptly. “Speak of the devil, here he comes. Prepare yourself.”

A tall man with blond hair walked into the office as if he owned it. His broad shoulders filled the doorway as he paused to stare at Matt. “I see we get the honor of working with each other again, Balasco.” He shook Tony’s hand, but his eyes returned to Matt.

“Agent Henderson, this is Chief Matt Parker.”

Matt shook his hand and tipped his head. “Thanks for letting us work with you.”

Henderson barely acknowledged Matt. “I’ll be running this operation. You both need to go through me. I don’t want any Lone Ranger messing up my case. If you’re on to something, you fill me in. You got it?” Henderson looked directly at Matt when he said it.

“I sure do,” Matt’s answer was brief, his features schooled. If this were the avenue to get what he needed for Jessie, he would just have to suck it up and take whatever this fella dished out. And he was sure Henderson would dish it out.

“Okay then, let’s get down to business.” His cold gaze swept them. “I have what Tom sent me and I want to see what you have for me.” He reached for the notes and files Matt had for him.