Chapter 14

Severe thunderstorms kept Jake awake most of the night. Up early, he brewed the coffee extra strong, almost equal to the consistency of mud. Tasting it, he was satisfied it would keep him from nodding off at his desk. He loaded up a thermos and headed into the precinct. At his desk, he decided to tackle his reports, including writing up the latest episode with Chloe, when Louie walked into his office, whistling. “What’s up, Louie?” Jake asked.

“All manner of things, my boy, all manner of things, but I digress. I reviewed Meryl Drake’s first interview again, compared it to ours. I didn’t like her tone when she answered some of those questions about her relationship with Shanna. It was all over the board.

“First soft, then hard, and then back to soft. She got real nasty when Kraus asked if she and Shanna fought. Her attitude hardened again and never softened when she spoke of Chloe. Something’s off with her. She hates Chloe. I got the impression Meryl would like to see her go down for this. Another interview is certainly called for,” Louie said as he finished up.

“It’s worth a second look. Before we talk to her, I want to talk with Kraus and Brown on it and make sure they verified if she did or didn’t see Shanna the week she disappeared. We looked at her but there wasn’t anything there.”

“Okay, I want—”

Katrina, the squad secretary, buzzed in. “Jake, there’s a call for you on line three. It’s JC’s Pawn Shop on Lakeview Road. Do you want to take it?”

Jake picked up the phone. He could hear Jessie Cerone, the owner of JC’s, yelling at someone in the background.

“How’s it going, Jessie?”

“It goes, Jake, you know,” Jessie said.

“Yeah, I know. What’s up?” Jake asked, before Jessie could go into one of his long spiels on the human race.

“You sent over a picture last week of an emerald ring. You said you were doing a follow-up, remember?” Jessie got to things in his own time. Jake waited.

“Yeah, I remember.”

“Jake, this guy came in five minutes ago trying to hock it. I got it on my cameras. You want me to try to email you a picture?”

“You have cameras now?”

“Yeah, I got hit too many times last year. I now have surveillance 24/7.”

“Good idea. Does this guy know you’re calling me?”

“No, one of my clerks is still working with him. He called me up front to appraise the ring. I recognized it from your fax. I told him I needed to look up something in my gem book and walked back to my office, and called you. Don’t worry, I played it cool.”

“Can you stall him? We can be there in about fifteen minutes, if we don’t hit traffic.”

“I’ll try.”

“Don’t make it obvious, Jessie. If he wants to leave, let him. Did he give you a name?”

“He didn’t give a last name. His first one is Joe. Real original, huh?” Jessie laughed and hung up.

“What’s going on?” Louie asked.

“Get your jacket. We’re heading out to JC’s.” Louie walked to his desk to get his jacket. Jake followed. “Someone’s trying to hock Shanna Wagner’s emerald ring.”

“Sometimes it just clicks.”

Jake felt the buzz. Maybe they’d give the Wagners closure and get Chloe off his back at the same time.

“Oh, by the way, I’ll need a ride home today. If you can find it in your heart to stop by the vet’s I need to pick up Houston. Poor thing had to spend the night and Sophia’s car is still in the shop.”

“No problem,” Jake said.

* * * *

Jake’s jaw dropped when he walked into JC’s. The guy called Joe—turned out to be Joe Wagner, Shanna’s father. He’d aged since Shanna’s murder.

“Joe.”

“Sergeant.” Joe Wagner avoided making eye contact with him.

“It’s Lieutenant now,” Jake said. “You remember Detective Romanelli?”

“Detective.” Wagner looked down at his hands.

“Mr. Wagner?” Louie moved to Wagner’s left side by tacit agreement. Jake walked to his right.

“Hey, Jessie,” Jake said. “Can we use your back room for a couple of minutes?”

“Sure, no problem.”

“Mr. Wagner…Joe, can you come with us for a minute?” Jake asked.

“Why? I’ve done nothing wrong!” His voice almost squeaked.

“It’s either here in the back room or downtown at the station, Joe. Which do you prefer?” Jake asked.

“I guess here.” Wagner’s shoulders slumped as he pushed away from the counter.

Joe followed Jake down the hallway to the office. Louie boxed him in from behind. All of them crammed into a minuscule room designed to hold no more than two people at any given time. A desk, a small round table with two chairs, and a bookcase loaded with books narrowed the space even more. He pulled a chair out for Joe and stared at him until he sat. Jake saw a defeated man who’d lost everything, including his will to live. Wagner’s hands were in constant motion—he was nervous and Jake wanted to know why.

“What has you so wound up, Joe?”

“I don’t know what you want, Lieutenant.”

“Yes, you do.” Jake stared into Joe’s eyes.

“I don’t.”

“Where’d you get Shanna’s ring?” Jake asked.

“We found it in her room. We started to clean the room out in hopes it would help my wife move on. I’m glad I discovered it and not Anna. It would’ve killed her. I hid it from her. I figured I’d get rid of it before she found out,” Joe said.

“Joe, it’s a family heirloom. For the worth of Shanna’s ring alone, I’d think you’d want to keep it or sell it at a jeweler’s.” Jake kept using Shanna’s name to work Joe, to pull on his guilt.

“Her grandmother gave it to her. Anna couldn’t bear to have it around. It would be a constant reminder of our loss.” Tears ran down Joe’s face. Jake waited while Joe pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and swiped at his nose and eyes.

“Why, Joe?” Jake pushed.

“Because Shanna always wore it,” he said, grief dripping off him.

“Joe, I’m going to ask you again. Where’d you get Shanna’s ring?”

Joe didn’t reply but continued to swipe at his tears. Jake didn’t say a word. He struggled with his part in causing Joe’s pain.

Jake sent Louie out to ask Jessie if he had any whiskey in the shop. Louie came back with his bottle of Jack Daniel’s and poured Joe a drink.

“Here, take this,” Louie said.

“Thanks.” Joe chugged it down like medicine. When the liquor hit the back of his throat Joe started choking.

“You need to talk to us. You’re not protecting her this way,” Jake said.

“You don’t understand.”

“I do. I know this is hard, but it has to be done.”

“No, you don’t understand. Shanna’s death—it killed our family. My wife has lost over twenty pounds. She doesn’t participate in our lives. She’s nags Chloe throughout the day to see where she is. I found a counselor for us, but she refuses to go. I don’t know how long I can go on like this. I know this is going to sound horrible but…I…we need to move forward,” Wagner said.

“When my sister was killed, my mother never got over it. My father, he tried to help her, but he couldn’t. It ate away at him after a while. The stress killed him. My mother’s in a home right now. She’s not crazy. She either doesn’t care, or just can’t move forward. You can’t make this right by trying to protect Chloe.” Jake stared into Joe’s watery eyes.

“Chloe’s all I have left.”

“Joe, you knew, or you suspected, Chloe might be involved in Shanna’s death. You didn’t want to face it. Finding the ring made you realize Chloe might be a big factor in how Shanna died. You’re trying to protect her. It’s the reason you’re here today, trying to sell it. You know if Anna saw the ring, and found out where you got it, she’d make the connection to Chloe too.” Jake kept using Anna and Shanna’s names. Press harder.

“Are you going to leave us with nothing? I lost one daughter forever, now you want to take the other one away. I don’t understand how you do what you do.”

“Don’t you believe Shanna deserves justice? Don’t you deserve closure? Someone ended her life, when she should’ve been starting to make her own way in the world. She was excited about her future. She was smart, kind, beautiful, and focused on what she wanted. The killer needs to pay for the crime he or she committed against her. Every crime’s cruel, but this one demonstrated an extreme brutality. He raped her, then beat her, then he dumped her naked in a field for the animals to find. He left her with nothing.” Jake watched his words land like fists in Joe’s face.

“I understand that. We love our daughters, both of them, Lieutenant. We didn’t create the monster capable of this horrendous crime. I won’t, no I can’t, accept it was Chloe. Chloe’s had some problems dealing with things since Shanna died, but she loved her sister. You can’t judge her for her lack of common sense, Lieutenant.” Louie poured Joe another drink.

“I’m not judging her, Mr. Wagner. Envy’s a terrible thing, it can lead to actions in the heat of the moment that we can’t take back,” Jake said. “We need you to come with us to the station to make a statement. We’ve confiscated the ring as evidence. Here’s your receipt for it. We’re not questioning Chloe solely based on you hocking the ring. We’ve been reviewing the case, going over statements. Joe…the evidence is pointing to her. The ring only adds to our suspicions.”

“I don’t believe you. What kind of evidence?”

“We can’t tell you that at this time.”

“Do I leave my car here?” Joe asked, looking around the office for the first time.

“Yes. When we’re finished, we’ll give you a ride back.”

“Should I call my wife?”

“No. Do you know where Chloe is today?” Jake asked.

“She should be at work. She knows I have the ring.”

“How does she know?” Louie asked.

“I confronted her with it. She denied it, but I saw something in her eyes that hurt me.” Joe wiped his nose on his sleeve. “No matter what you tell me, I’ll never believe she killed her sister.”