Thursday, August 20 at 9:30 p.m.
Bryan had been gone for over twenty-four hours. He never called on Wednesday night leaving her with a very perplexed B.J., full of questions she couldn’t answer. She was grateful her mother offered to pick up B.J. and keep him until the weekend.
After questioning more people at the apartment complex on Thursday, Jo almost welcomed the silence at home especially since she still had no new leads on the case. Despite her circumstances and Bryan’s absence, Jo convinced herself to enjoy the rarity of being home by herself. She called and talked to B.J. and her mother. Afterwards, she took a long hot bath and settled into bed.
The brief window of peace disappeared when Jo recognized the ringtone on her phone. She started to ignore Bryan’s call, but then wanted to hear what he had to say.
“Hello, Jo. May I speak to B.J.?” Bryan asked.
Bryan might as well have punched her in the stomach. So that’s how this is going to go? She swallowed before answering. “B.J. is staying with my parents. You can call and talk to him, if my mother lets you. You know they go to bed early.”
“I guess that means you were working tonight.”
A surge of hurt and anger struck Jo. “What exactly are you trying to say? You were the one having an affair. Wait, oh I forgot, ending an affair and you forgot to pick up your son. You left our home and didn’t bother to call your son last night, who by the way wanted to know where his daddy was.”
“I was just making a comment, Jo. I know I’ve messed up.”
“But you want to blame me. I can hear it in your voice. You will not mess with me about my parenting skills too.”
Bryan responded with silence on the other end.
“You know what, I can’t with you. I just can’t. If you were so unhappy with me, you could have been honest. What happened to our promise to always talk to each other? You didn’t have to have sex with another woman.” Jo ended the call, gripping the phone in her hand. She wasn’t sure she wanted Bryan to come back. Where is he anyway? Did he really break up with Alexis or did he change his mind?
Jo curled into the fetal position and cried into her pillow. She was not a woman who cried easily. Growing up, she was the tomboy and athlete. And to her parents chagrin, she was the rebellious one. Somehow she found purpose following her dad’s footsteps in law enforcement. Always the late bloomer, she found her first love later than most, and that one true love was Bryan.
God, I don’t know what to do? I still love him, but I feel like my marriage is over.
Friday, August 21 at 10:30 a.m.
For the second night in a row, Jo barely slept. With great effort, she pulled herself out of bed. She hadn’t worked out at the gym in two days. To add more insult to her weary body, on the way to work she purchased two jelly donuts from Dunkin Donuts along with black coffee. Jo couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten donuts.
When she arrived at work she ignored Pete’s wide eyes. Without fail, Pete had a Hardee’s steak and egg biscuit on his desk. A true southerner, Pete believed in a hearty breakfast, and usually ridiculed Jo about her fruit and granola bars.
“No quinoa and flax seed this morning, kid?”
Jo glared at him and bit into the jelly donut. She savored the sweet jelly, licking her fingers. She’d sat at her desk all morning reviewing her notes. The property manager at the apartment complex didn’t recognize the victim, but he said people came and went as their leases expired so it was hard to keep track. The victim could have been carried either from an apartment or transferred by a car. Either way, it would have taken some effort to get the body, wrapped in a rug, down into the woodsy area.
She didn’t know why, but Jo couldn’t help but compare the crime scene to Maddock’s victims. All of the women were found in their homes. It was obvious each of the women knew their killer because there were no signs of forced entry. Very different crime scenes. She was feeling less anxious than she had been yesterday about this case affecting Maddock’s trial.
Jo pushed her chair away from the desk and lifted her arms above her head to stretch. It was time for more coffee. Her morning sugar rush had faded. She wasn’t trying to drink the sludge already sitting in the coffee pot so she started a fresh brew.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about. Fresh coffee. You’re a saint, Jo.”
Jo turned around to laugh. “I wish. I wasn’t trying to drink that mess people around here call coffee.”
Detective Darnell Jackson placed his mug on the counter. “You’re smart, too!”
Jo couldn’t help but feel a little bit of Darnell’s joy. “You are still acting like a newlywed. How long has it been?”
Darnell grinned, “Seems longer, but Candace and I have been married almost two years.”
Jo smiled. “I’m happy for you both. It’s good to keep that glow.”
“Oh I plan too. This is a second marriage for both of us. Candace and I want it to be the last one. You know? Until death do us part thing. Hey, you know I’m glad I ran into you today. We’re starting the basketball teams up at Victory Gospel. You think Bryan wants to join us again this year?”
Jo felt her jaw twitch as she struggled to keep smiling. “He might. I’ll ask him about it.” Jo turned to pick up the pot. “Coffee’s ready.”
Darnell held up his mug as Jo poured. “Thanks, Jo. I hear Maddock is finally going to get his day in court soon.”
Happy Darnell changed the subject, Jo poured coffee into her cup. “Yep. We provided solid evidence, so the D.A. should be able to convince the jury to do the right thing. Besides, I don’t think the defense has much of a case.”
Darnell sipped his coffee. “Maddock didn’t confess, but anyone can tell he’s guilty. You and Pete did a good job getting that guy. He’s a real piece of work. Thanks again for the fresh coffee. Please don’t forget to ask Bryan about coaching. We could use his help.”
Jo nodded, feeling a knot form in her stomach as Darnell walked away. Does Bryan have any idea what he’s done? If their marriage fell apart, there would be rippling effects. Victory Gospel was the Reeds’ family home church.
On her way back to her desk with her refilled coffee mug, she saw Pete walking towards her holding something in his hand.
“We may have an I.D. for our girl.”
Jo sat her coffee mug down on her desk. “Really? How? Who is she?”
Pete held out his hands. “Whoa, slow down. You are going to want to take this in nice an easy.” He passed a photo to Jo. “First, here she is.”
Jo grasped the photo. She immediately recognized the young woman to be their victim. Not only did she have a beauty queen smile, but the woman had been a participant in some type of pageant. She was wearing a tiara and had a bright pink sequined dash across her pale pink gown. Her blue eyes sparkled.
This woman was certainly Maddock’s type, Jo thought. “What’s her name?”
Pete cleared his throat before he responded. “Laura. Laura Finney.”
Jo stared at Pete. “Finney? She wouldn’t be related to…?”
Pete crossed his arms and nodded. “Senator Morris Finney.”
“You have got to be kidding me?” Jo felt nauseous. She probably shouldn’t have eaten those two jelly donuts.
“I wish I was. Her mother called to say their daughter was missing this morning. Police chief put Captain on red alert. The captain was the one who came to me with that photo. The parents will be heading to the morgue soon to confirm.”
Jo rubbed her forehead. “I’m glad we may know who she is now. We can start narrowing down her schedule and talk to people who knew about her plans on Tuesday night. Remember Senator Finney is not a fan of this department. I should know. That guy worked with the mayor to force my dad to retire. He’ll make this investigation more difficult.”
“I know. I talked to the captain. He agreed we need to keep a lid on some of the details and move at lightning speed as soon as we have confirmation. Come on. Let’s head over to the morgue, so we can talk to the Finneys.”
Jo and Pete arrived in time to watch the Finneys walk in with Lou. Based on the wail that ripped from Mrs. Finney a few minutes later, it appeared their victim was Laura Finney. They waited for a few minutes before approaching the grieving parents. Senator Finney was a man who enjoyed public service and liked the spotlight. Right now as he held his wife, Jo recognized grief and a smoldering anger behind the man’s blue eyes.
Pete led the conversation, “Senator and Mrs. Finney, we’re sorry about your loss. I’m Detective McConnelly and this is Detective Reed-Powell. We hoped to ask you a few questions.”
Jo jumped right into the first question, “Any idea who Laura could have been with on Tuesday evening?”
Mrs. Finney lifted her tear-stained face. Probably in her late forties or early fifties, she was still a beauty herself. “She said she was going out with friends. She was supposed to head back to Duke this weekend and wanted to spend time with her high school friends. They are all going into their senior year of college.”
Jo hadn’t realized the victim was that young. She made a mental note that Maddock’s victims were in their late twenties and were established career women. She asked, “Can you give us names?”
Senator Finney frowned, not looking at Jo, he stated, “None of my daughter’s friends would harm her.”
Puzzled, Jo looked at Pete before responding to the senator. “Her friends may know someone Laura was seeing that you didn’t know.”
Mrs. Finney yelped, “Laura’s engaged. Her fiancé adores her.”
Senator Finney gripped his wife’s arm. “Where did you find her?”
Jo noticed the senator addressed his questions mainly to Pete as though he didn’t want to acknowledge her. She wondered if he recognized her name, Reed. Jo did look like her father.
Pete cleared his throat. “We can’t share too many details, Senator. However, the evidence, so far, points to the crime scene being different from where she was found. Any help you can give to help us to pinpoint her whereabouts on Tuesday evening would be appreciated.”
Jo added, “We want to find the person responsible as soon as possible.”
The family was grieving and maybe they needed time to process their daughter’s death. But something didn’t feel right to Jo. Her parents were already on the defensive, which meant there was a lot more to find out about former beauty queen and college student, Laura Finney.