Tourists and residents thronged the brick sidewalks of Pelican Harbor for the jazz festival starting today. Music played on the street speakers, and vendors were setting up to sell Cajun dishes and seafood. The party vibe was already in full swing.
Reid tried to ignore the judgmental stares of a few people on the street as he and Jane headed from the SUV toward Scott’s office. Why did people always assume the worst? Did it make them feel superior that their child had never been accused of anything? Did that make them better parents?
He wanted to shout out Will’s innocence, but Jane took his hand and pulled him inside the office where the cool blast of the air-conditioning tamped down his anger. “Can you believe the gall of people like that?”
“I’ve gotten messages of support, you know. A few accusatory comments, too, but by and large most people have been great.”
With her job visibility she had to have heard from a lot of people. The stares outside were probably mild compared to what she’d been experiencing.
They’d planned to go to the island in spite of the huge swells out there today, but Scott had called with an urgent meeting request.
Reid stopped inside the lobby under the chandelier. “Did you see those pointed looks though? What makes them so superior?”
She tucked her light-brown hair behind her ears. “I used to think something like this couldn’t happen, not on my watch. I was so wrong.”
They went down the hall to Scott’s office. He met them in the doorway. “Have a seat.”
Reid didn’t care for his somber expression. “You said you had news?” He and Jane sank onto the chairs.
Scott went around the other side of his desk. It was Saturday, and he wore khaki slacks and a green golf shirt, so he clearly hadn’t expected to come into the office today. His dulling red hair looked freshly cut, and Reid spotted a set of golf clubs in the corner.
“Yes. I’ve been in contact with Ms. Chan. She’s willing to drop the charge to manslaughter if Will chooses to plead guilty.”
Jane leaned forward in her chair. “Absolutely not! He is totally innocent, Scott.”
“I know, but she agreed to ask only for a two-year sentence. And he could serve it in juvie.”
Reid clenched his hands into fists. “It’s still wrong. Will isn’t guilty. We’re finding information that will lead to the actual killer. I know we are.” He glanced at Jane, who nodded.
“Reid is right. Gail Briscoe knew Lauren and was blackmailing her. We’re pursuing that avenue with the thought that Lauren had an accomplice who might have murdered both Gail and Lauren.”
“And in the meantime, your son could face the death penalty.”
What if they didn’t solve this? Jane was like a terrier with a captured rat—she’d shake the truth out of someone, wouldn’t she? But people went to jail all the time for crimes they didn’t commit.
But Jane was shaking her head before Scott finished talking. “Have you requested a bail hearing?”
“I did. It’s set for Wednesday, but I’m not optimistic the judge will agree to release him even when we give our evidence. And if he gives him bail, it won’t be cheap. Count on five hundred thousand dollars for a first-degree murder charge.”
Jane gasped, and Reid’s gut clenched. He’d transferred every penny he had from savings to checking in preparation for paying Will’s bail, but that kind of money was out of his reach. Maybe he could get a loan on the house he owned in New Orleans, but that would take time too.
Scott sighed. “Do you want to talk to Will about the deal before I turn it down? He might want a say.”
“He’s a minor,” Reid said. “He doesn’t understand the ramifications of pleading guilty.”
Jane glanced over and held his gaze. “I think we should at least tell Will and explain the right decision. He’s old enough to have some input on this.”
Did they have the right to make that decision for Will? If he was being prosecuted as an adult, maybe he ought to have the opportunity to weigh in before they rejected it outright. But Reid couldn’t agree to any kind of guilty plea. He just couldn’t. “Can you get us in before visiting hours tomorrow?”
“I don’t think so. I’m sure Chan knows we can’t talk to him until tomorrow,” Scott said. “But I really think you ought to consider it without rejecting the idea out of hand. I know Will is innocent, but the evidence is bad. He’s admitted to fighting with her. He could be convicted.”
Reid glared at the attorney. “We’re fighting for his life, Scott! This isn’t some kind of game. Even if he was incarcerated for two years, Will’s life would never be the same. We can’t sit by and let him be railroaded by some unseen enemy.”
Scott sighed. “Very well. I’ll let Chan know you’ll have an answer on Monday morning.”
“The answer is no,” Reid said. “No matter what Will says, the answer is no.”
Jane put her hand on his arm. “Let’s talk to Will. I agree with you, but he has to have a say in this.” She leaned toward Scott. “What can we do to better our chances for release?”
“An idea of who might be behind this would be helpful. And have your dad attend as well.”
“I’m sure he will.”
Even waiting until Wednesday felt like an eternity. He wanted to hear his son’s booming laughter and heavy footsteps. The sight of his goofy grin always brought Reid joy. The two of them hadn’t been apart more than a day or two ever since the kid was born. It was agony, pure and simple. Not being able to fix things for Will and make sure he had enough to eat felt wrong.
Everything about this was wrong.
He thanked Scott for the information, then he and Jane exited into a drizzling rain that expressed the despondency they both felt. He took her hand, and they ran through the puddles to the SUV.
At some point they would need to talk about the elephant in the room—the murder of his mother. Every time the thought came up, he’d managed to suppress it, but he wouldn’t be able to do that much longer. It was starting to affect his sleep with nightmares.
An old murder wasn’t high on the list right now, but maybe it should be. He’d had a dream last night that it held the answer to what was happening to Will. When he awakened, he dismissed it as the usual weirdness of dreams, but Gabriel wanted the pictures badly. Was there more in them than his mother’s murder?
He needed to gather his courage and take a look.
* * *
“I know you hate asking Dad for money, but you’re not. I am.” Jane pushed open her door and stepped into the deluge of rain, which soaked her in an instant. She ran through the mud puddles to her dad’s front porch.
It had taken a lot of persuasion to get Reid to come out here. It was only when he understood she was doing it with or without him that he agreed to come along. It had to be a blow to his pride, but they could never manage a $500,000 bail on their own. And it might be more than that. Even a percentage charged by a bondsman would be tough. And there was no guarantee a bondsman would take them. The judge would be reluctant to agree to bail because of Reid’s contacts and constant jetting around the globe.
She waited for Reid to join her before going inside. The television blared the sound of a baseball game, and she found her dad in his recliner with lemonade and a half-eaten pizza on the table beside him.
He put his feet down. “Jane. I wasn’t expecting you.” His gaze cut back to the game before he picked up the remote and paused it. “Have a seat.” He gestured to the sofa.
Jane and Reid sat shoulder to shoulder. The sudden silence shriveled her courage a bit, but she had to do this. “There’s a chance Will could be given bail at the hearing on Wednesday. Scott says it’s likely to be at least five hundred thousand dollars though. Even with pooling all of our money, we can’t come up with that kind of cash. Do you know a bailsman who might be willing to cover us?”
“We don’t need a bailsman. I have the money, and I’ve made sure I can get to it. Will is my grandson.”
“Thank you, Charles,” Reid said in a low voice. “I didn’t want to ask you, but we didn’t know what else to do.”
“You didn’t even need to ask. I love Will and I miss him.”
“Thank you, Dad. We have some interesting evidence too.”
She told him about the connection between Gail and Lauren as well as the charges that would’ve been brought against Gail.
His bushy white brows drew together. “I’m not surprised. Finn believed his case wasn’t the only one she’d botched.”
“You knew Finn?”
“I mentored him. He was interested in building a bunker, and we’d spent a lot of time together.”
“This is the first you’ve mentioned it.”
“You haven’t been out much since his death.”
Her dad was always so hard to talk to. He wore his secrets like a second skin, and the shield was as impenetrable as steel. With all that had happened with Will the moment they’d come home from Maine, she hadn’t even told him about her visit with her mother or that she’d met his brother.
Did her dad even love her? He never said it, but at least he freely admitted he loved Will. That was enough, more than enough.
She gathered her thoughts back to the case. “Did you get the sense Finn might harm Gail?”
“He was enraged, but who wouldn’t have been? He hated drugs of any kind. That test was totally bogus, but I don’t think he would have tried to hurt her. I talked to Wayne, and he said they were all out at Gail’s house until Finn saw the ‘Save My Pet’ sticker on the window. He went back inside to try to find the dog.”
“But she didn’t have a dog. And Drew never put a sticker on the window. That’s an odd piece of evidence, and we haven’t figured out how it fits.”
“I know. It seems suspicious to me. Finn loved dogs. He volunteered at an animal shelter and worked on finding homes for dogs every day. He had three of his own.”
“I wonder what happened to his pets?”
“Wayne found homes for two of them. Finn’s ex-wife took the puppy for their daughter.”
Jane hadn’t given much consideration to the sticker. “Could someone have put that sticker there as an enticement for Finn to go in and end up dying? That seems a stretch. I mean, there would be no certainty he’d even notice the sticker. And why would he go in and not one of the other firemen?”
“Was the sticker on the outside of the window or the inside?”
She thought about it. “I don’t know.”
“Someone who puts a sticker in their window wants it to last, so they put it on the inside facing out.”
“I’ll check that out.”
“Wayne dislikes dogs, and Finn was the only rabid animal lover in the fire department. He was young and impetuous.” Her dad reached over for his lemonade. “But you’re right—it would be a stretch to assume he would act that way.”
Jane frowned as she thought about it. “They’d gotten Gail out by the time Finn saw the sticker and went back inside. It’s odd for sure.”
But she didn’t see any way the sticker could play a role in some kind of plot to kill Finn. “What if Finn killed her and set the fire?”
“Autopsy?”
“Drugged with a roofie and left to die. So definitely murder.”
He gave a slow nod. “You can’t completely know another human being, but Finn was a gentle soul. He loved his little girl, and he thrived in his job of helping people. It would be out of character for the man I knew.”
She wanted to point out that he hadn’t done a good job of even picking a girlfriend, but she kept her mouth shut. Charles didn’t have a good track record when it came to understanding human nature.
“I talked to Mom.”
His hazel eyes flickered. “I assumed you did, but I figured you’d tell me about it when you were ready.”
“I found out about my three missing days fifteen years ago. She drugged me so I wouldn’t remember a murder.” Jane launched into what her mother had told her.
Charles ran his fingers across his lips. “She gave you a safe-deposit key? What are you going to do with it?”
“We haven’t examined it yet. Will’s situation is more important than an old murder right now.”
“Is Gabriel still in town?”
“We were going out there this morning until the storm rolled in. We’ll go out as soon as it’s safe. I’ll let you know.”
“He’s always been an angry young man.”
She nodded. “Would you come to the bail hearing with us? You’re friends with the judge.”
“I was planning on it. In the meantime you should check on Gabriel. His presence here is probably not a coincidence with the murders that have occurred. And have you thought about the fact that he might be behind Will’s predicament? He warned you that he’d make those you love pay.”
She wet her lips. She had to tell him about his brother’s threat and see what he had to say.