Chapter 17

It had been a strange day for Jessie. Dinner was okay because everyone was there. Her conversation with Matt was strained and almost non-existent. She decided to sleep in Sadie’s room. She needed to be near her grandmother. Her earlier fight with Matt and his concerns were weighing heavy on her mind. A hit man? She didn’t even want to go there. Then there was William Mallory, unstable and out to get her. She had read some of her old news archives and had seen his picture. Once she saw him, she remembered the incident. He was scary. She must have buried it deep, trying to forget it.

She could hear Sadie’s nice steady breathing. Sound asleep. The earplugs tucked in her ears kept the sounds of the night out, including Jessie’s restlessness. What a trouper she was, always so dependable, caring, and selfless. Jessie didn’t like to think about the fact that because of her, both Sadie and Katie could be in danger. She would have to do everything she could to keep them safe. Matt would help her. She frowned. She hadn’t treated him well, either.

Grams and Gramps had had their share of rough times in the beginning, too. Overall, theirs was an incredible life together. No more pouting. Grams wouldn’t let her get away with it, not even for a moment. She wouldn’t care if she stood her ground and stood up to Matt, but she wouldn’t like the fact that she’d given him the silent treatment. So what are you going to do about it, Jessie? She got out of bed, pulled on her robe, and went out into the living room. He wasn’t there. She finally found him sitting in a chair in the courtyard.

“Why are you awake?” He watched her walk toward him.

“I wanted to talk to you.” She bit her bottom lip, moved a chair closer to him, and sat. He looked tired.

“Before you say anything, let me.” He reached over and grabbed her hand. “I’ve been thinking, and I’m sorry for jumping on you earlier. You had no way to know I was coming back to get you. I was a pain.”

“I’m sorry, too. I was pouting and giving you the silent treatment.” She bit her lip again. “But, I’m not sorry for calling you out on how you treated me.” She smiled at him.

“I need to learn a few things about being in a relationship, I guess.” He grinned at her. “The truth is, I’ve never known a more beautiful woman inside and out. You’re kindhearted, Jess, and I hope you’ll always stay that way. This business has a way of making one jaded.”

“I need to learn a few things, myself.” She tried to free her hand as she stood up. She found herself on his lap instead.

“Let me just hold you a minute.” He gently pushed her head down on his shoulder. “I don’t like it when you’re mad at me.” His hand stroked up and down her back. “You’re my girl, and I’m happiest when I’m with you. I don’t like it when we aren’t talking.” He paused as she lifted her head to watch his face. “I love how you’re kind to everybody.” He looked into her eyes. “How come you’re so sweet?’

“I don’t know if I’m that sweet. I got mad enough at you.” She chuckled. “From my earliest memories, Sadie drummed into me that life was a gift, and I should be grateful for it. She taught me that love is stronger than hate, so strong that it can stop the hate. I guess I believed it. At least, now and then I try to live it. I’m learning it’s not all so black and white, though. Life is tough and even when you try to be nice people might not be nice back. “ She traced his brows with her finger. “You look worried. What is it?”

“We’re in an awful fix, and we are going to have work together to get through this safely. Jeremy found transferred funds in Mallory’s account—in a rather large tidy sum. We also discovered that Mallory has a connection to a couple of the perps from our past. He developed it while in prison. How that influences this situation, I don’t know. It adds one more piece to the puzzle.”

“How do you think Adriana fits into all of this? Why was she kidnapped?”

“I don’t know, but Mallory is a talker. I’m sure he’ll let us know. It’s a surprise to me that we haven’t heard from him since you saw her escape. I think he doesn’t know yet that she’s gone. So where has he been?” Matt frowned in concentration.

“Good question.”

“Dr. Hearst said he could disappear for days when he was in a manic state. I can’t imagine what’s going to happen when he does find her gone. I think he’ll come after you. He’ll probably make a mistake in the process because he won’t be in control. His anger will get in the way. So you and I, we’re going to stick together like glue.” He grinned at her. “A nice little twist, don’t you think.”

“I don’t mind. We’ve done it before.” She gazed into his eyes. “But, won’t that make us an easy target for a hit man, if there is one?”

“I’ve thought about that, and we’ll have to take our chances but keep our eyes open.” He caressed her cheek, then lifted her chin, and kissed her lips. “You need to get some rest. We have another long day ahead of us tomorrow.” They walked inside together. As soon as he closed and locked the door, he backed her up against it. With his hands on each side of her head, he kissed her passionately, robbing her of most of her senses. She felt him shudder as he pulled away. Her heart raced, and she wanted him to kiss her again.

His finger stroked her cheek, tracing her lips. “You fascinate me and scare me at the same time.”

“How do I scare you?” She exhaled slowly, her eyes meeting his.

“I can’t get enough of you and I can’t imagine my life without you in it, Jess.” He grinned at her as she made a face and gave her a playful push. “Goodnight, sweetheart.”

She grinned as she strutted past him her hips swaying saucily. In one quick move, he swung her around. Grabbing the front of her robe, he pulled in close and kissed her one more time. She sighed, and he smiled.

****

Jessie lay awake, tossing and turning. His question kept interrupting her memories of his incredible kiss. Why hadn’t Mallory responded to Adriana’s escape? It was all a mystery to her. Unless, of course, she hadn’t seen it at all. Maybe she had wanted Adriana to get free so badly that her mind made it up. It sure had seemed real enough. She relaxed, stretching out on her side, closing her eyes, her arm cradling her head. It was heavenly just to relax for a moment. She was tired.

Jessie’s pulse quickened. It was faint, but she could see it just the same. Suddenly the picture in her mind was clear. It was dark, and Adriana was making her way across a broad open expanse. Jessie could see the fear in her eyes. She was looking at something in the distance. Jessie tried to make it out. What are you looking at, Adriana? Help me out, please.

“If I can just get there and take shelter, maybe I can rest. I’m tired. How are you little one? Nighttime is the only time I can travel. I don’t want him to see us.” Adriana patted her stomach. “I hope there are no snakes out.” She shivered. “I hate snakes. I know your daddy won’t give up looking for us. We can’t give up either. Just a little ways more and then we can rest.” Jessie saw the landscape ahead—maybe rocks of some kind. As fast as the scene had appeared, the vision was gone.

Jessie sat on the edge of the bed and then lay back down. One more time she sat up, sighing. Why fight it? She threw off the covers and headed for the chair in the corner. Why had they abducted Adriana? She sat down, turned on her laptop, and combed over the articles on mental illness, one by one. She found herself feeling a bit sad for Mallory and others who suffered from mental illness. Mallory had his problems to be sure, but so did the doctors treating him. Treatment was often a case of trial and error. His doctor struggled to find the best combination of drugs for him. To be fair, there were some success cases. People who stayed on their meds and whose doctors monitored them closely did the best over time.

So where was he now? He apparently had left Adriana alone long enough for her to wake up and to be able to escape. If what this report said was true, he could be sleeping off an extreme excitable or manic event. How was she to know? If he weren’t on his meds, his behavior could be unpredictable. Jessie knew what he was capable of when he was angry. They needed to find Mallory before he hurt someone else, including himself. No wonder Adriana was afraid. Had he beaten her too? She followed her train of thought and continued to search for something. Her excitement began to build. She crept to the door carefully, opening it on a whim. She could hear Matt’s even breathing and started to close the door again.

“Are you coming or going?” He sat up and pulled on his T-shirt.

“I was checking to see if you were awake.”

“I wasn’t, but I am now. Why aren’t you asleep?”

“I saw Adriana again.” She leaned against the doorframe. “I couldn’t sleep so I got up, searched through some old files, and I found something. I should have waited until morning, but I got too excited.”

Light filtered into the room as Jeremy opened his door. “Is this a private party or is anyone invited?”

“You may as well come join in. Jessie saw Adriana again and has some new information she was about to tell me.”

“Now isn’t that a coincidence. I have some information, too.” Jeremy walked into the room.

Jessie realized she hadn’t slipped on her robe and darted back into the room to put it on. She brought her laptop out with her, placed it on the coffee table, and sat down on the couch between Jeremy and Matt. She pulled up the page she had been on so they could see it on the screen. Matt nodded at her.

“I was watching this unedited video of my interview with Professor Irwin. Do you see Mallory standing there?” Jessie pointed him out. Both men nodded their acknowledgment. “This is after everything was over. Brian, my cameraman, continued to roll the camera.” She froze a frame and enlarged it. “You can’t see this when the video is running. It was happening too fast. The professor slipped Mallory an envelope. Money maybe? Was the interview staged or the professor being blackmailed? Their argument could have been for show.” She stopped the video and went back a few frames letting it play at regular speed. “See, it only looks like they’re shaking hands.”

“What I found makes a little more sense now.” Jeremy looked at her. “Mallory must have had something to hold over Irwin. The college was hush-hush about the stalker. The case remained unsolved according to them. I couldn’t find out any information. They terminated Irwin’s tenure, which I find strange. It doesn’t happen very often. His records were sealed, and they wouldn’t say why. A few weeks before his tenure termination, Irwin resigned. This is even stranger. Adriana never filed any charges against anyone. The good prof dropped off the radar after that. The other thing I learned is Irwin spent a good deal of time in Haiti and overseas during his vacations and sabbaticals. I found that interesting. Could Irwin or someone from the bank be the stalker? No one is talking.”

Jessie’s eyes lit up. “I wonder if that’s what she meant when she said that death had found her again. It seems I can remember an article that I read at the time that suggested some unusual things had happened to her and her roommates.” Jessie stifled a yawn. “Her stalker must be somewhere in Rocky Pointe.”

“Or here,” Matt added to the conversation. “If she’s here, he would want to be nearby. Nice work both of you. It looks like two or three different cases have somehow found a common link. It gives us a lot more questions to think about and answers to find. Is Irwin still paying Mallory, or is someone else doing it, and why? How does our past case fit into this?” Matt looked at them both. “Let’s keep a lid on this for now. We need to think it through before we tell Henderson our theory.” Matt yawned. “What did you see this time?”

“She was walking across a vast open expanse. She headed for what appeared to be a safe place to shelter herself and the baby. It looked like maybe a small rock or sand formation of some kind.”

“It will be like finding a needle in a haystack. The desert area is vast. I’ll ask Balasco if he knows of any rock formations in the area.”

“I’m wondering, with Mallory’s troubled life, if he could come up with all of this on his own. I could see blackmail, but who else is involved and how do you both fit into it?” Jeremy looked at them both.

“While you’re figuring this all out, remember there’s a body of at least one other woman somewhere. I’ll leave you boys to your collaborations. I’m finally tired. Good night, you two.” Jessie caught Matt’s wink at her and smiled back at him. She went to her room, yawning all the way.

****

The next morning, Matt and Frank cleared the hurdles with Henderson and Balasco and headed back to the resort. Henderson was following behind with Tony. They wanted to see the dog work. This time Matt had called Jessie and had given her the heads up.

“How do you want to go about this, Frank? You’re the handler, and I want you calling the shots. Don’t let the others force you into anything that’s not right for you and your dog.”

“Yeah, I think I got the situation.” Frank gave him a wise look. “But I’m pretty particular when it comes to my dog and I know what’s best. Believe me, I won’t let him push me into anything. I’ve worked with a few law enforcement agencies over time, and I found a way to work with all of them—which hasn’t always been easy.” He chuckled, his eyes crinkled at the corners.

“You’ve got to know there’s a lot of male ego in law enforcement.” Matt joked with him, smiling.

“There’s no doubt about that.” Frank grinned back at Matt. “I think we should start the track at Jessie’s place. You said he had been there. Radar may pick up one of their scents. It’s worth a try. We might at least get the direction he drove when he left the area.”

“Sounds good to me. I’m looking forward to seeing Radar in action again. The last case was eye opening. I admit I’m a bit of a skeptic. I want to see if he does it again.”

“Even I can’t guarantee that he will, but he still surprises me all the time with how good he is.”