Conroy Road, 7:30 a.m.
Two hours of sleep had hardly been worth the trouble. Jess lugged her bag onto her shoulder and descended the stairs. Two cups of dark roast had not done the trick. She still felt hungover. She glanced at her landlord’s house as she shuffled to her car. He hadn’t complained about her random comings and goings so far. She hoped he continued to be a good sport about it.
She held up her keys and started to punch the fob to unlock the Audi. The driver’s side door—her door—was ajar. Moving with caution, Jess eased closer. The door had definitely been opened.
“Well, damn.”
She backed up a few steps just in case and put in a call to Lori for a ride. Then she called Burnett to have whoever was working the investigation into the Taurus tampering to come pick up her Audi.
This shit was getting old.
“I appreciate you coming in this morning, Mrs. Riley,” Jess said. “I hope you didn’t have any trouble finding a sitter for your children.”
“They’re with my mother and father. They love going to visit their grandparents.”
Thank God. “Let’s get started then. You stated that the last time you saw Gabrielle alive was on Sunday when you and your husband had lunch with her and her husband, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
Sarah Riley was as calm as a cucumber and her husband was furious she was being questioned again. Burnett had sequestered Sergeant Riley and his superior, Deputy Chief Waters, to the conference room. Harper had sent Jess a text since she’d entered the interview room to let her know that Lieutenant Grayson had arrived to show his support for the Rileys.
“You may find some of these questions repetitive,” Jess warned, “but it’s important that we’re thorough.”
Sarah Riley nodded her understanding.
“Did Gabrielle appear to be worried about anything or anxious in any way?”
“Not at all.”
Sarah really was a petite woman. Maybe five two and ninety or so pounds. Far too small to physically control a woman Gabrielle’s size unless the OxyContin had already kicked in, and even then handling her dead weight wouldn’t be easy for someone Sarah’s size.
This morning she was calm and poised. Where was the cowering, beaten-down housewife who feared her husband? Today she wasn’t even nervous.
Abuse victims often covered for their abusers. Fear that no one else would love them or that there would be even more severe repercussions was often the motive. But sometimes the victim enjoyed the cycle of fighting and making up. Could Sarah Riley be one of those? Was she protecting that bond?
Maybe.
“And when you spoke later that evening? No indication that anything was wrong?”
“Our conversations were short but she sounded just fine.”
“You and Gabrielle were very close,” Jess went on. “You knew each other well. You stated that you even took vacations together.”
“Yes.” Sarah carefully resisted adding any other details. She answered only the question Jess asked.
Her husband had coached her well.
“You met on the job when you were both nurses at the New Life Rehabilitation Center.”
“Yes.”
Jess flipped through her notes. “You harassed patients for their drug connections and even went so far as to steal some drugs, isn’t that right?”
Sarah blinked and her expression closed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Really.” Jess made a surprised sound and pretended to reread some of her notes. “I have statements from several of your coworkers that suggests otherwise.”
That deer trapped in the headlights look abruptly vanished and determination took its place. “They were jealous of my relationship with Gabrielle. You can’t believe what they say. If those accusations were true Gabrielle would have written me up and I would have been fired and charged with a crime.”
“So Gabrielle didn’t tell you that you had to resign?”
“I resigned after my first daughter was born because I really wanted to be home with her.”
“I see.” Jess jotted a few words on her notepad. “So the notations Gabrielle made in your personnel file about suspected drug abuse were untrue.”
Fury lit in Sarah’s eyes. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Gabrielle was my friend. She would never have made up lies like that.”
“Maybe I misread the notes. I’ve read so much about you and your husband that it’s just all running together.” Jess shook her head. “Does your husband still have a problem with OxyContin? I noted where the drug was found in several of the required drug tests here at BPD.”
“What’re you talking about? My husband doesn’t have a problem with drugs or anything else. Why are you saying these things?”
Jess decided to take a chance. She leaned across the table. “I know what you did, Sarah. We found your prints. Your neighbor told us about you leaving the kids at home alone on Sunday and the timing just happens to coincide with the timing of Gabrielle’s murder. You were there, Sarah. I know you were. Gabrielle didn’t call Jack at eleven that night, you did. Using her phone. Did you tell him there was a problem? What did he do, Sarah? Something you’re afraid to tell me? I’m prepared to give you until four o’clock today to get your story straight but after that, the deal is off the table. You’ll be picked up and charged with first-degree murder.”
Confusion and fear claimed her features. “What deal? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Gabrielle never called my husband! I was at Gabrielle’s house all the time. Of course you found my fingerprints there. And yes, I left the house Sunday night. Jack and I had a big fight on the phone so I went to see him. Ask anyone on shift with him that night, they saw him come out to my car but we never left the street. We just sat there in the dark and talked. Anyone on duty could have looked out the window and seen the car.”
There was a new revelation. No matter, Jess shook her head. “Save yourself, Sarah, so you can be there for your children. Otherwise you’ll go down with him.”
“I think I want a lawyer now.” Fury twisted the woman’s face.
Jess closed her notepad and set her pencil aside. “I understand. You’re afraid.” Jess pushed to her feet. “But keep in mind that we have a witness, Sarah. He saw everything.”
With that Jess headed for the door.
“Wait.”
Victory roared through Jess’s veins. She turned back to the woman who could help them nail Gabrielle’s killer.
“You’re wrong,” she said, to Jess’s surprise. “Jack would never hurt anyone that way. He loves me and he loves our children too much. He worships Larry and thought the world of Gabrielle. You’re wrong, Chief Harris.” Sarah picked up her purse. “You should be ashamed of yourself for trying to ruin an innocent man’s life. A cop’s life and career.”
Stunned at the about-face, Jess opened the door and let her go. “Just remember,” she said as Sarah walked past her, “you have until four o’clock today before I take my witness and the evidence we have to the DA. After that I can’t help you.”
Sarah walked out.
Damn it. Harper was right. The woman acted like some weird Stepford wife.
Burnett joined her in the hall. He’d watched the interview from the viewing room. “I’ve sent a cruiser to keep an eye on the grandparents and the children.”
“I was just about to set that up myself.”
“Chief Harris.”
Jess turned to find Lieutenant Grayson striding her way. Judging by the outrage on his face and in his posture she was in for a battle. “Lieutenant.”
Grayson acknowledged Dan. “Chief Burnett.”
Burnett shook his head. “Lieutenant, it would be in your best interest if you stayed clear of this mess.”
Jess spoke before Grayson could. “Let him have his say. There are a few things I need to clear up with him.”
“All right.” Burnett turned to Grayson. “Don’t make me regret that decision.”
“I don’t know what the hell you’re thinking, but Jack and Sarah Riley are friends of my family. I wouldn’t have gotten through the past few days without their support. How dare you make them feel like suspects!”
“They are suspects, Lieutenant.” Jess wasn’t going to sugarcoat this for the man. Not anymore. She’d given him some time to grieve, but right now he needed a wake-up call. “Your wife discovered Sarah was stealing OxyContin on the job two years ago. She swept it under the rug to protect Sarah for the same reason you’re standing by them now. That was her first mistake. Continuing to trust a woman who would steal drugs to support her husband’s habit was her second.”
Jess took a second to calm the outrage now rushing through her. “Those two so-called friends of the family know what happened to your wife, Lieutenant. I would suggest you be more careful who you trust. Particularly who you trust with your baby son’s life.”
He shook his head. “I don’t believe you.”
“Believe what you will, but you work with Jack every day. You haven’t seen any sign of drug abuse? You don’t feel the odd tension between him and his wife? Snap out of that denial you’re in and look closer.”
“I know what your problem is.” He stabbed a finger at Jess. “You can’t solve this case so you’re using my partner as a scapegoat.”
Jess ignored the accusation. “Did your partner’s wife show up at your surveillance location on Sunday night before midnight?”
Confusion furrowed his brow. “What? Wait. Yes. She and Jack had a fight. He sat out there in the car with her for probably half an hour before he came back in. They’re young, they still have stupid arguments.”
“And nothing about that incident seemed amiss? It’s happened before?”
He hesitated. “Well, no… I mean she’s dropped by before but never for an extended time in the middle of the night like that. What the hell difference does it make? That alone should tell you Jack couldn’t have killed Gabrielle. He was right there with me the whole shift.”
Except for when he was in the car with Sarah. “Think long and hard, Lieutenant,” Jess urged. “You’ve already allowed blind trust to cost you your wife. Will you allow it to cost you your son, too?”
11:30 a.m.
In Burnett’s office, Jess set her phone to speaker so he could hear the update from Harper.
“I followed the Rileys to Sarah’s parents’ house. They picked up their children and then drove to their town house and, judging by the frantic gestures in the vehicle, they argued the whole way. Jack was mad as hell when he got out of the car. He kicked it a couple of times before storming into the house.”
“Did Sarah get out of the car then?” Jess was beginning to have second thoughts about her. She hadn’t reacted the way Jess had expected at all. She had given the woman the perfect opportunity to get free of the twisted situation with her husband and she’d walked away.
What if Jess were wrong? What if Sarah wasn’t a victim? Grayson had confirmed that she had come to their surveillance location that night. Though Jack had sat in the car with her, the two had not left the scene.
Damn. Damn. Damn.
But a spouse showing up at a stakeout like that was way, way outside protocol. The kind of action that would get a cop written up. And what were they fighting about that night?
No, Jess decided, she wasn’t wrong.
But what about the children? Now they were caught in the middle of this precarious situation. Damn it.
“She and the children went inside as well.”
“Stay on them, Sergeant.”
Jess ended the call and plopped into a chair in front of Burnett’s desk. “We didn’t get the confession I’d hoped for,” she admitted, “but we’ve got them worried and in a reactive state.”
“They have four hours to make a move,” Burnett reminded her. “If one or both were involved in Gabrielle’s murder, there will be a reaction.”
“That’s what I’m counting on.”
Lori was at the safe house with Leslie and Devon. Jess wanted this over for their sakes as well. Devon needed his routine back. They needed to feel safe in their own home again.
“Chief Waters has placed Riley on administrative leave until this is cleared up.”
Jess shook her head. “Why is it when something like this happens, no one seems to have noticed all the signs leading up to it? How could Larry Grayson not know Sarah was being abused or that Jack was hooked on painkillers? Has our entire society become so oblivious that we don’t see anything we don’t want to?”
Burnett got up and came around to her side of his desk to sit beside her.
Uh-oh. “You got news on the Audi?”
He nodded. “Someone jimmied the lock, but the car is clean. The perp either changed his mind or got interrupted. Nothing else in the car was touched. They lifted prints and we’ll be running those. I’m having the Audi delivered to the parking garage this afternoon.”
“Looks like my landlord was wrong.” Jess shook her head. There was no such thing as a safe neighborhood these days.
“That break-ins and stuff like that didn’t happen in his neighborhood.”
“Jess,” Burnett said in that voice that warned she had better listen up, “someone is trying to hurt you. It’s not a random act. Don’t even think about wrapping yourself in the denial you keep throwing in everyone else’s faces. Until we find the source of this threat, you won’t be safe.”
God, she was so tired. Tired and frustrated… and scared.
“I know.”
He pulled her out of her seat and into his arms. She let him. She needed to feel the strength of his arms right now.
No more denial.
3:00 p.m.
Jess checked her cell again.
“Eat,” Burnett ordered. “You can’t function on no sleep and nothing but coffee.”
She picked at the fries. Tara, Burnett’s receptionist, had gone out for burgers and fries. Jess appreciated the gesture but she had no appetite. Besides, she’d had her fill of burgers and fries this week.
If this plan didn’t work, they were back at square one. There was no other evidence. Devon wouldn’t be able to return to his normal life.
And Gabrielle Grayson’s killer would continue to get away with murder.
Burnett had refused to let her out of his sight since he got the report back on the Audi. She was a prisoner. She couldn’t even do her job. Admittedly the investigation was kind of in a holding pattern right now. But she would like to be out there doing something!
“Jess,” Burnett scolded.
She stuffed a fry into her mouth and chewed.
Her cell clanged. She jumped, almost choked. Harper. Thank God!
“Harper, what’s going on?” She had her phone on speaker so she wouldn’t have to repeat the news to Burnett.
“Chief, we have a problem.”
Tension coiled tighter. “What’s going on?”
“About twenty minutes ago Mr. Haines went over to the Rileys’ door and started pounding. Eventually I got out of my car and asked what was going on. He said the babies were crying and no one was coming to the door. I heard the crying too and after identifying myself, I kicked in the door…”
Jess braced for bad news. She had pushed too hard. If Sarah was dead… or, dear God, if the children were hurt…
“Jack Riley is dead. Two stab wounds to the chest. I’ve called dispatch. The kids are okay. But, Chief, Sarah Riley is gone.”
“How the hell did that happen?”
“The back door was unlocked. I’m assuming she took off on foot.”
“See if you can get ahold of the grandparents to come take custody of the kids,” Jess directed. “Burnett and I are on the way.”
When she ended the call Burnett was already on the horn ordering backup.
Jess considered this newest turn of events. Whatever twisted bond had existed between Jack Riley and his wife… it was broken now and she was a loose cannon. Sarah Riley had gone over the edge. There was no telling what she was capable of in the state of rage that had no doubt risen inside her.
Jess and Burnett had just reached his SUV when her cell rang again. She expected it to be Harper but it wasn’t. “Harris.”
“Chief Harris, this is Larry Grayson.”
His voice sounded strange. Cold, distant, full of terror. “Yes, Lieutenant. What can I do for you?”
“Sarah is here at my home and she would like to see you. Only you. She says it’s time you knew the truth.”
Equal parts anticipation and worry detonated in her veins. “Lieutenant, is she armed?”
“Yes.” He made a sound, almost a whimper. “She has Jack’s service weapon and she has my son. Please… please help us.”
Shady Creek Circle, 4:15 p.m.
“All you have to do is say the word and we’re coming in,” Burnett reminded her.
Like she needed to hear that again. Jess was wearing a wire and a vest. She had a backup piece in a thigh holster under her skirt. She had on the vest under her jacket. They had set up a command post in the Chamberses’s home. SWAT was in position.
They’d thrown this together in fifty minutes. No matter how well prepared they were, Sarah was playing it smart. All the blinds in the Grayson home were closed. There was no view into the house. Sarah had shown up at Grayson’s mother-in-law’s home and taken the baby. The mother-in-law had immediately called the lieutenant who had gone to his minister for a counseling session. No sooner than the lieutenant had gotten into his car, Sarah had called him with her demands.
“I should get in there. It’s been an hour.” Jess had given herself some leeway by telling Grayson that she was nearly an hour away.
Unless Sarah had gone completely around the bend she likely wouldn’t buy that story but so far he hadn’t called demanding to know when Jess would arrive.
Burnett took her by the shoulders. “Don’t try to be a hero, Jess. Do the best you can. That’s all anyone can expect.”
“That’s the plan.”
He held on to her a second longer. She held her breath, worried he would hug her with all the others watching. Finally he released her and she breathed easy again.
Jess gave him a nod before climbing into her Audi. She drove down to the end of the block and parked in front of the Grayson home. The crime scene tape was gone. Looked as if they had taken it down a little too soon.
SWAT had taken positions all around the home.
Jess rang the bell so those inside would know she had arrived, wherever they were in the house.
Grayson opened the door. His face was ashen. But he was alone.
“Where is she?”
He swallowed with visible effort. “In the nursery with Gary.”
“Go,” Jess instructed. “Leave. I will take care of this. You have my word.”
Jess moved past him and into the house. “Go.” Why the hell didn’t he listen to her?
He closed the door. “This way.”
She worked at calming herself. She supposed she couldn’t fault him for not wanting to leave his son. Jess followed him to the nursery. Sarah sat in the rocking chair, baby Gary in her arms, the .40 cal weapon belonging to her dead husband in her hand.
“Hello, Sarah.” Jess moistened her lips. “I’m here. Why don’t we let Larry take the baby so we can talk woman to woman?”
Sarah glared at Jess. “I am not as naïve as I look.” To Larry she said, “Get out of here. We have to talk in private.”
He looked to Jess and she nodded. With obvious reluctance, he left the room.
“Close the door,” Sarah called after him.
Jess heard the latch click behind her.
“What would you like to talk about, Sarah?”
“You need to know what really happened. It wasn’t like you think. Gabrielle left us no choice.”
Jess kept her hands at her side and held very still. The baby was sleeping and the weapon was in Sarah’s right hand. For now that was good, but everything could change in a single heartbeat. “Why don’t you tell me what happened.”
Jess had an idea of how things had gone. Sarah had been trying to protect her abusive husband. She would have done anything to protect that insanely twisted bond. Things got out of control… Riley went into a rage and Gabrielle was dead.
Somehow Jess had to make sure there wasn’t a second act to this tragedy.
“She found out Jack was still using the OC. The idiot dropped one in her goddamned bathroom when we were here for lunch Sunday and he was so fucked up he couldn’t find it. Well, she did. She called me that night after Larry came by to tuck in the baby. She’d gone in the bathroom to take a shower and saw the damned thing. I came over and begged her not to tell. She wouldn’t listen.” Sarah shrugged. “She wouldn’t listen to reason so I did what Jack told me to do. I put OC in her drink, but she just sipped at it. She didn’t drink enough fast enough.” Sarah shook her head, her lips tight with fury. “She didn’t do anything right.”
Jess waited out her silence, the thickness of it making breathing difficult. Judging by the changing expressions on Sarah’s face she was remembering that night.
“She always thought she was better than me. Smarter. A better wife and mother. I never could do anything as well as she did. She was a better nurse, wife, mother… everything!”
“Sounds like she wasn’t a very good friend,” Jess offered.
Sarah made a face. “She was the kind of friend who loved surrounding herself with those she could feel superior to. She wanted to humiliate us. She wanted to tell us what she was going to do before she did it. And this time she was going to ruin us.” Sarah made a scoffing sound. “How dare she suggest that Jack might get her husband killed! Jack was the best partner Larry ever had. He said so a dozen times!”
“Did the two of you argue?”
Sarah nodded. “She just kept arguing and not drinking her wine. Jack’s plan wasn’t going to work! How could the stupid bitch OD if she didn’t drink it?”
Jess’s respiration hitched at the news. She watched the frantic woman’s arms tighten around the baby, adding another layer of tension. The child started to squirm and fret. Jess needed to do something. “She forced you to do it. She left you no choice.”
Sarah’s face went blank as she stared at Jess. Her hold on the baby relaxed a bit. “She did. I couldn’t take it anymore.” A smile stretched across her face. “Then the OC started to kick in. Not enough to send her into respiratory arrest, but enough to make her weak and clumsy. She accused me of poisoning her!” Sarah laughed. “I just watched her get more confused and frantic.”
“She got a taste of how you felt,” Jess suggested.
Sarah nodded. “Then she tried to call for help. She shouldn’t have done that. I knocked her down and she just kept trying to get up. I held her down. It was easy. She was all weak and uncoordinated. Her tongue was thick from the drug when she warned that I was going to jail.” Sarah shrugged. “She kept on and on and then I put my fingers around her throat and I choked her. I choked her until she shut up.”
Dear God. It wasn’t Jack… it was her.
“For a long time I just sat there looking at her. It was storming and I watched the light flash on and off over her body.” Sarah blinked repeatedly as if coming out of a trance. “Then Jack called and said I’d better go home and check on the kids. So I turned out the lights and went home.”
Jess held herself steady when deep inside fury was twisting like a hurricane. She needed just one more thing. “But you had to go back.”
“Jack made me. When I got the kids settled I sneaked out to see him and he went ballistic. He told me what I had to do to make sure no one ever knew it was me who shut her up.”
“So you went back and did what he told you.”
“It took a while but I got her head cut off. Like he said. I had to do it in the dark, but the lightning helped. Then I wrote the words he told me to write. He was mad when I told him about the knife… but I decided that Gabrielle deserved that. I stabbed her ten times. For all the times I could remember her making me feel beneath her. Then I called him and told him it was done. I had to use her phone. The battery was dead on mine.”
“I guess you got her blood on your hands.”
She visibly shuddered. “It was all over me. I took a shower and checked on the baby. That’s when I knew someone was in the house.” Fury tightened her lips. “The little shit.”
“This isn’t your fault,” Jess lied. “You’re suffering from all his years of abuse. You did what you thought you had to do. This is Jack’s fault. Any decent lawyer will recognize post-traumatic stress disorder.”
Sarah seemed to snap out of her coma, and her gaze connected with Jess’s. “Everything would have been fine if that retard hadn’t gotten in the way. And you.” She turned the barrel of the weapon toward Jess. “You took everything from me. We had the perfect family until Gabrielle and you stole it from me.” She got up. The baby sighed and stretched. She walked straight up to Jess, the weapon steady in her hand. “You caused this.”
“Wait, Sarah,” Jess urged. “I should’ve told you already, but Jack isn’t dead. When your neighbor heard the girls crying he called the police. I heard over the scanner on the way over here that the police had kicked in the door and found Jack hanging on by a thread. He’s in surgery but he’s going to be okay. We should get to the hospital so you can be with him when he wakes up. You can still be a family.”
Her face twisted in fury. “Don’t try to fool me! I’m a nurse. He was dead.”
“You have my word,” Jess promised. “Call the hospital if you don’t believe me.”
Sarah hesitated, seemed to weigh her claim. “If you’re lying,” she threatened, “I’ll kill you and the baby. I have nothing else to lose.”
“You want to go in my car?” Jess asked. “I didn’t see yours.”
“I went down the alley behind my house and called a taxi to pick me up. I knew that cop was watching my house. I’m not as stupid as Jack said.”
“We should hurry,” Jess suggested. “You don’t want Jack to wake up and be alone.”
Sarah started forward.
Jess made a worried face. “They won’t let the baby in the hospital. And if we run into trouble the baby will only slow us down.”
Sarah smirked. “Give it up. They’re not going to shoot at me as long as I have the baby. I am not leaving him.”
“But you have me now. You just keep that gun pointed at me and no one is going to bother you. I’m a deputy chief. I’m way more important than that baby.”
“Maybe you’re right.” Sarah pressed the barrel of the weapon against Jess’s forehead. “Take him.”
Jess scooped the sleeping boy into her arms. He squirmed a little but quickly settled. Jess’s heart skipped into an erratic rhythm.
“Put him in his crib.”
The weapon jammed against the back of her skull, Jess walked over to the baby’s bed and carefully placed him there, then covered him with his blanket.
“Let’s go,” Sarah ordered. “You drive.”
Jess walked out of the bedroom and turned to her right. At the end of the hall were the steps down to the entry level. Her heart stumbled when she got a fleeting glimpse of Burnett hovering to the left at the bottom of the stairs. She hoped he wasn’t going to do anything that would get them both killed.
There was just one thing Jess could do.
As she reached the third step from the bottom, she pitched forward as if she had stumbled and hit the floor.
Sarah screamed at her to get up.
Burnett swung around the corner and slammed her in the head with a lamp base.
The weapon discharged.
Jess rolled and jumped to her feet, her fingers snatching the .38 from her thigh holster.
Sarah was down and Burnett was cuffing her. She bucked and screamed at him.
SWAT swarmed into the house.
Jess rushed to the baby’s room and scooped up the fretting child. “It’s okay, sweetie,” she cooed. “Let’s go find your daddy.”
She turned to find Burnett in the doorway. The tender expression on his face tore at her heart.
She arched a skeptical eyebrow. “Don’t get any ideas. I’m just doing my job.”
“You did good, Chief.”
“I know.” Jess scooted out the door past him. “I always do.”