We don’t discuss the case until we’re in the parking lot, standing next to Mitchell’s patrol car.
“We should go talk to Rebecca,” I say. “It’s possible she was able to recognize something about our whistler that Dawson couldn’t.”
“Rebecca is probably home by now,” Dad says.
That’s true. I check my watch. “But Jacob will be home soon as well.”
“Do we really go there and out the affair?” Mitchell asks. “I mean I’m not a fan of either of them, but is it really our call to mess up a marriage?”
“It’s our job to solve this case, but I have an idea. Let’s go see Jacob first.”
Dad crosses his arms. “What are you up to, pumpkin?”
“You’ll see,” I say, opening the passenger door. “Meet you there. It’s the building that looks like a church on Third Street. You can’t miss it.”
Once we’re on the road, Mitchell says, “What’s the plan?”
“Dawson said he and Rebecca have been sneaking around for about ten years now. How would Jacob have no idea that’s going on? I mean the three of them worked together at one point.”
“And Dawson did slip up at that poker game. If it happened once, odds are it happened again.” Mitchell tightens his grip on the steering wheel. “But if Jacob does know about the affair, why would he stay with Rebecca? I mean he could have had all of Amelia’s money for himself.”
“Not necessarily. Divorcing her would most likely give her half of everything he has.”
Mitchell nods. “You’re right. So, he chooses to stay with her to keep her from getting a bigger cut of the money.” Something is clearly still bothering him judging by how tense he is.
“You hate cheaters,” I say.
He nods again. “I just don’t understand cheating. If you don’t want to be with someone, break up. Don’t start seeing someone else. It’s just…” He shakes his head.
“You’ve never cheated on anyone,” I say. “Good to know.”
He eyes me for a brief moment. “I’ve never technically been in a relationship, so it’s kind of hard to cheat. But I wouldn’t. Not ever.”
“I wouldn’t either. To be honest, the thought of juggling two men is not in the least bit appealing to me.”
Mitchell laughs. “I could have guessed that.”
“I have to wonder why Rebecca didn’t file for divorce, though. If she’d really get half of Jacob’s money, I’d think she’d be all for that. She gets the man she wants and the money she wants. It’s a win-win.”
Mitchell snaps his fingers. “Unless there was a prenup involved that said if either cheated, they’d get nothing.”
“But then why wouldn’t Jacob have left her and kept all the money for himself?” I ask. This case is getting stranger by the minute.
“I guess that’s a question we need to ask him.”
The receptionist is gone for the day, so Mitchell and I bring Dad right up to Jacob’s office. His door is open, but Mitchell knocks anyway.
“Detectives, what are you doing back here?” Jacob asks.
I step around Mitchell, determined to put everything out in the open and witness Jacob’s response for myself. “Dr. Crane, I’m afraid we have some upsetting news for you. Is your wife gone for the day?”
“Yes, she left about two hours ago. Why?” He gestures to the couch, possibly sensing this conversation is going to be a doozy.
I sit down sandwiched between Dad and Mitchell. “Dr. Crane, I don’t like to get involved in people’s personal lives, but this case has uncovered some details that I need to bring to your attention.”
“Oh. This is about Rebecca and Jax.”
Dad, Mitchell, and I probably all look like we were sucker punched.
“You think I don’t know?” Jacob wipes a tear from his left eye. “I knew soon after it started. At first, I just thought it was Jax being Jax. He loves women. All women.”
I can’t help looking at Mitchell, and I immediately regret doing so because his face falls. I know he’s not like that anymore, and I just made him think I still view him that way. He probably thinks all the talks we’ve had were for nothing. I subtly slide my leg toward his so our knees are touching. Okay, so I suck at consoling people or showing emotion at all, but what else am I supposed to do with Dad and Jacob sitting right here?
“If you know, why do you stay with your wife?” Dad asks.
Jacob looks completely distraught. “I love my wife. If I confronted her, I would have lost her. I had no money back then. My practice wasn’t even off the ground yet. If I lost her, I would have lost everything. She’s my world.”
Realization dawns on me as the pieces fall into place. There is no Steven Moore. Jacob made up that name to throw us off. It was Jax all along. “Dawson was the colleague you were going to have falsely diagnose Amelia. You were trying to set him up.”
Jacob nods. “If Jax was in prison, Rebecca would have to stop seeing him, and Amelia wasn’t going to get hurt either. I was going to make sure of it.”
“By switching the pills Dawson prescribed for sugar pills,” I say.
“I know I wasn’t a good uncle, but I did love my niece. I tried to give her some freedom. And the money I wanted from her, I was going to give it back once I got on my feet. I swear. I’ve done some questionable things, but I’m not a murderer.”
That doesn’t matter anymore. Amelia would never know it, and there’s no way to prove something that never happened.
“After Amelia died, I thought the money would make Rebecca end things with Jax. I mean how in love with him could she really be?” Jacob starts to cry. “I keep telling myself she has to love us both or she wouldn’t stay.” He meets my gaze. “That has to be it, right? Otherwise, she’d divorce me and take half the money.”
He’s asking me for relationship insight? Oh boy. “Dr. Crane, I did read your wife once, and I got the sense she didn’t want to go through the emotional turmoil of reopening Amelia’s case. But I also sense she doesn’t like to deal with emotional issues at all outside of her work.” Seeing as Jacob has cried in front of me numerous times, I’m willing to bet Rebecca tries to avoid his emotional outbursts as well. “I think she has a hard time dealing with your emotions, and divorcing you would cause you to be emotional.”
“You’re saying she’s staying with me to avoid making me cry?” He wipes his cheeks with the backs of his hands.
“I’d like to weigh in here,” Mitchell says, raising a hand as if he were in school. “I think she knows you’re aware of the affair. Right now, she has everything she wants. Jax, money, and you. If she divorces you, she’d have to go out on her own as far as the practice is concerned. It’s more work than she wants to get into.”
“Very insightful, Mitchell,” I whisper. “Dr. Crane, I’m sensing what Detective Brennan is saying is in fact true.”
“Why are you all here?” Jacob asks. “It couldn’t just be to tell me about Rebecca.”
“No, it’s not,” I say. “Jax told us he and Rebecca ran into Amelia at the movie theater with her boyfriend one night. We’re convinced it was Amelia’s boyfriend who murdered her, but the problem is, no one seems to know who he was.”
“And you think Rebecca knows?” Jacob shakes his head. “She would have told me.”
He’s right. She would have helped solve the case if for no other reason than to give Jacob closure so he’d stop crying. “I don’t think she got a good look at him, but if she was able to make out any of his features, it might help us narrow down who the man is.”
“You think he’s still living in town?” Jacob asks, his voice cracking.
“He got away with murder. Why wouldn’t he be?”
“You can’t tell Rebecca I know about the affair. Please.” He actually presses his palms together in front of him.
“Call your wife,” Dad says. “Tell her you have to work late. We’ll go talk to her now before you go home.”
I’m more than a little surprised Dad is willing to keep this secret. He and Mom have been happily married for thirty years. And Dad feels the same way about cheaters as Mitchell does. But I suppose Jacob is the victim in this situation, and Dad must feel for him.
“Thank you. I’ll do that right now. I can’t tell you how much this means to me,” Jacob stands up when we do and shakes all our hands.
“I’m tired of you screwing up, Jax. I want you gone,” Jacob says, his face bright red.
“The prescriptions are close enough that no one will be any the wiser. I’ll meet with Mrs. Orsen in a few days and tell her I found something that might be more effective. I’ll write a new prescription. No harm done.”
Jacob rips his hand from mine. “What did you do?” he asks me.
“It was what you did,” I say. “I try not to shake people’s hands because some people are harder not to read than to read.”
“What did you see?” he asks me, still looking a little too terrified for someone who hasn’t done anything wrong.
“You were yelling at Jax for giving a patient the wrong prescription. Jax told us he left this office at Rebecca’s request, but I’m sensing that’s not true.”
“It is in part,” Jacob says. “I told Rebecca what Jax did.”
“Because you thought it would make her stop seeing him,” I say, knowing it’s true.
“I was grasping at straws. She told him it would be better if he found a different practice.”
That’s not the story Jax told, but I don’t want to see Jacob cry again, so I don’t tell him that.
“Thank you for your help, Dr. Crane,” I say.
“Well, that was interesting,” Mitchell says as we walk out to our cars. “I still don’t see how you can love a person who is cheating on you.”
“I agree with you there,” Dad says.
“Jacob clearly isn’t okay with the cheating. He was so angry in the vision I just had, and I don’t think the anger had much to do with Jax’s screwup with the prescriptions.”
“Let’s go see Rebecca before Jacob goes home,” Dad says. “I’ll meet you two there.”
Mitchell is quiet on the drive, and I can practically see the little hamster running on its wheel inside his head.
“What are you thinking?” I finally ask.
“Is this another reason why you avoid relationships? Because seeing things like the Rebecca, Jacob, and Jax love triangle turns your stomach?”
“I’d never be in a situation like they are because no one could keep a secret like that from me.” I twist the ring on my pinky finger. “Even thoughts about another person would surface, and I’m not sure that’s entirely fair because a person can have thoughts and not act on them.”
“Are you saying you know whenever I find a woman attractive?” Mitchell asks, and for once there is no trace of sarcasm or confidence in his tone.
“Finding someone attractive doesn’t necessarily mean you’re attracted to them,” I say.
“True.” He clears his voice. “Were you attracted to Ryker—I mean Sam?”
Sam Pierce is a special circumstance. “I found him attractive on the outside. And I was attracted to what he could do as a psychic. But once I found out he was a kidnapper, I was completely repulsed by him.”
“What about me?” Mitchell asks, keeping his gaze on the road.
“Could we not have this conversation right now?”
“Is there a conversation to have?” This time he looks at me.
I can’t keep dodging this. It’s only making things more complicated between us. “I know I don’t want to talk about it. I’d rather just…” I don’t know how to say it.
“See where things go?” Mitchell asks.
“Yeah.” I stop playing with my ring and slide my hands under my legs.
“Okay. I can respect that.”
“Thanks.” I stare out the window until we’re in the Crane’s driveway.
Dad looks suspiciously between Mitchell and me as we walk up to the front door, but he doesn’t question us. I’m grateful for that much. Mitchell rings the bell, and Rebecca Crane couldn’t look unhappier when she greets us.
“Again?” she asks. “I thought you said you didn’t think my husband and I had anything to do with Amelia’s murder.”
“We don’t,” I say. “But we had an interesting conversation with Jax Dawson, and we’d like to ask you a few questions about the man you two saw with Amelia at the movie theater.” I decide laying it all out there is the best way to get our foot in the door.
“Luckily for you, Jacob is working late this evening.” She steps aside. “Come in.”
I give Dad a small smile as we enter the house.
“Please don’t make yourselves too comfortable. I don’t know exactly how long it will be before Jacob comes home, and I’d rather you be gone when he does.”
“We just have one question, so this won’t take long,” I say, remaining in the entryway.
“Wonderful.” Her tone implies it’s anything but.
“Mr. Dawson already gave us his description of the man Amelia was with. We’d just like to get yours.”
“That’s it?” she asks.
“That’s it.” I shrug like it’s no big deal.
She lets out a deep breath and looks up at the ceiling as if the memory is stored up there. “Okay, well, it was dark, so I didn’t get a good look at him. He was pretty tall. Average build, but he was wearing a jacket, so I can’t be sure if I was mostly seeing jacket or if he was filling it out. He had on a baseball cap, so I didn’t see his face. And he kept whistling during the movie.” She lowers her head to look at us again. “That’s all I’ve got.”
“You never saw her with anyone that could have fit the man’s description after that night?” I ask.
“No. Now if you’ll please leave. I’ve told you all I could.” She opens the front door.
“Wait. I have one more question,” Mitchell says. “I’ve got to know why you’re staying with Jacob. Why continue to juggle two men when you don’t have to?”
She takes a step toward Mitchell. “Detective, my husband worships me. He gives me everything I could ever want and treats me like a queen. Jax fulfills other needs that I won’t get into with you. Does that answer your question?”
“Thank you for your time,” I say, pushing Mitchell out the door.
“I think it’s time we call it a night,” Dad says. “The funeral for Hugo Spencer is tomorrow. See you both there?”
“Yeah, see you there. Oh, and give Jez a kiss for me. I really miss her.”
“She misses you just as much, pumpkin.” Dad kisses my cheek before getting into his BMW.
“Ready to go home?” Mitchell asks me once we’re in the patrol car.
“I’d love to, but I’m stuck at your place for the time being.”
“Don’t sound so put out. I’m the one sleeping on the couch.”
“Sorry for intruding on your personal space like this.”
“You’re not intruding. Besides, you let me crash at your place all the time.”
“Where you sleep on the couch,” I say with a laugh. “You can’t win.”
“I beg to differ.”
I do my best not to read into the meaning of his words.
I wake up Saturday morning to something brushing against my face. I raise my hand to swat away whatever is tickling me.
Amelia throws her arms around the man’s waist. “I’m scared. He’s everywhere. I don’t know what to do anymore. I know you don’t want me going to the police, but what if I hire a private investigator? I have plenty of money.”
Firm hands grip her arms and push her away. “To do what? You know he’s following you. A P.I. isn’t going to do anything but take your money. I’ll handle it.”
“But it’s been going on for months. I can’t keep living this way. I have to do something. I’m sorry if you don’t agree, but this is my life.” Amelia turns away.
A hand grabs her and spins her back around. “Don’t you walk away from me. I said I’ve got this.” He loosens his grip, and his tone softens. “Come on, baby. Let me take you away from here. Just the two of us. That guy will never find you again, and we have plenty of money between us to live long, happy lives.” He leans forward and kisses her, but she pushes against his chest.
“No. I don’t want to leave. This is my home. I tried it your way. Now I’m doing it my way.”
“I’m afraid that’s not an option, love.” He reaches for her neck and squeezes.