Jessica sat on the bed for a long moment, scared to take anything off or to get too comfortable, just in case they had to bolt, make a run for safety. Finally she heard him coming back up the stairs two at a time. She waited for him, fear evident in her eyes. “And?”
“The house is empty,” he said, “but it wasn’t earlier. Lights were on that shouldn’t have been on, and I left a little trap in the glass doors to see if anybody came in that way,” he said. “And somebody did.”
“The glass doors,” she said. “Weren’t they locked?”
“They were,” he said, “and the lock is now broken.”
She sagged against the headboard and just stared at him, wordless.
“But I’ve tied it together for tonight. Tomorrow I’ll fix it with a new dead bolt.” He smiled, walked over, bent down, and dropped a kiss on her temple and on Danny’s as well. “I’ve made some calls,” he said. “I’ll check the security camera from your neighbor’s systems to see if we know who and what.”
“You can tap into their security cameras?”
Greyson smiled at her. “I can. If he has them turned on, then we might find something.”
“Can you do that hacking up here?”
“Yes. I can do my hacking up here.”
She watched as he raced downstairs to get his laptop, and, when he returned, he sat in the small chair she kept in her room, put his feet up on the bed, and proceeded to check out the laptop. When he made an odd sound, she got up off the bed, still wearing her jeans and T-shirt and shoes, and took a look.
“That’s Jensen,” she said, her voice faint, as she watched the man in the camera slide through her neighbor’s backyard, heading to hers. “Oh, my God, it really is him.”
Greyson nodded. “That’s what I was afraid of. On the other hand, now that we know, we have ammunition.”
“No,” she said. “This is just terrible.”
“Why is that?”
She didn’t really know what to say. “It just seems so far-fetched,” she said. “Impossible.”
“Nope,” he said. “I’ve hacked into your home security too. Here is the evidence for you.”
There were several other pictures, as Jensen went through all the downstairs of her house.
“How did you know about the security system here?” she asked him.
“I saw the cameras.”
She frowned. She was still frowning as she viewed the camera feed on Greyson’s laptop. Upstairs, there wasn’t a camera into Danny’s room or the two bathrooms, but there was one in the master bedroom and one in the hallway. Jensen was in Danny’s room for way too long, and, when he came out, he had a little T-shirt in his hand that he stuffed into his pocket. She gasped at the sense of invasion.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered. “He was in Danny’s room and took a shirt. Did you see that?” Next he went into her room, went straight to the dresser, and pulled out a pair of underwear, stuffed it in his pocket, and left. She shook her head. “I can’t believe it,” she muttered. “What on earth is he doing?”
“I’m sending this video to Badger and the cops,” he said. “With any luck, we should get Jensen picked up in no time.”
“That would be lovely,” she said, “but I highly doubt it. Does this also mean that Jensen is working with Frank?”
“Well, somebody is,” he said. “But let’s not assume we know all the players just yet.”
When Greyson’s phone rang, it was the cops.
“Okay, we have the video,” the detective said. “We’ve sent out a cruiser to pick him up. We have one vehicle registered in his name, so a BOLO has gone out on that.”
“Good. He’s already broken into and trespassed into Jessica’s house,” Greyson said, “so we can’t trust that he’s not coming back. And we don’t know who all we’re dealing with here.”
“No, we don’t,” he said. “I can do drive-bys every fifteen minutes,” he said. “But, if you’re there, you know yourself that he’ll just wait until the police cars are gone, and he’ll even time them.”
“I know, and I’m on guard,” he said, “but I don’t want anything to happen to this woman or her child.”
“I got it,” he said. “And, by the way, we heard from your associate and received confirmation that her husband has passed away. We have a proper and official death certificate, and we know exactly where he was buried.”
“And do we know he actually was buried. There are a few potential motives here, including a relationship motive, that may have gone from misplaced love to misplaced hate. Plus who signed the divorce papers?”
“Apparently George was buried, yes. There was also an obituary in the newspaper, so it appears to be a done deal.”
“And what about a will from the lawyer?”
“We’re still waiting to confirm that,” he said, “but that would be an interesting motive.”
“I like it myself,” Greyson admitted.
“Yes,” the detective said. “I hear you. We’ll follow-up on that detail in a few minutes.” And, with that, he hung up.
Greyson looked over at Jessica. “Yes, George is deceased and buried. There was an obituary in the newspaper as well. We’re still trying to get confirmation on the will.”
“And the date of death?”
“Three months and four days ago,” he said.
She got up and walked over to her night table, where she pulled out some paperwork and handed it to him. “So these are the documents that were signed. They were submitted to the judge and sent to me,” she said. “I’m not sure who signed them, but the timing doesn’t work out.”
“Unless George signed them earlier,” he said, “but regardless I don’t believe it is valid because, when the judge signed them, George was already deceased.”
“So what happens in a case like that?”
“We’ll find out,” he said. His phone rang again. “Stone? What’s up?”
“You’ve got company outside,” Stone said, his voice direct.
“Where?”
“Two guys, one north, one south.”
“Got it,” he said. “I’m heading outside. I’ll take one out, please keep an eye on the other one.”
“Keep your ears on, and keep this phone line open,” Stone replied.
Greyson got up, looked at her, and said, “I’m leaving Kona with you. Stay in this room.”
Looking up at him, she bit the lower part of her lip. “What’s going on?”
“My buddy Stone’s on the satellite,” he said, holding up his phone, a call that was still live. “We have company.”
She gasped and immediately reached out a hand to Danny.
“Exactly,” he said. “Your job is to stay safe and to look after Danny. I’ll take one of them out, so I only have one to worry about.”
“How can you take out just one?”
“Because they’re on opposite sides of the house,” he said, his tone grim. He looked at her and then walked over and kissed her hard. “I’ll be back.” And, with that, he disappeared.
He slipped out of the house and quickly blended into the shadows along the trees. His phone was on Silent, and he ended the call with Stone to send a text and immediately got a message back.
Forty feet.
Pocketing his phone, he slipped down, heading in the same direction he’d been traveling. He knew one of them was right here somewhere. He stopped about thirty feet in front of the alleyway. The fence was right in front of him, and he assumed the guy was on the other side. He looked over at the neighbor’s fence and then at the gate. Her gate was a little bit lower, so he could look over it, but, if he did that, he’d lose the element of surprise. He sent a second message. How close?
Directly on the other side.
Slipping the phone in his pocket once more, he took a silent breath, and, from a standing position, used the top of the fence to vault over. He landed on something soft that made a heavy oof sound. His hands immediately went around the guy’s neck, and Greyson hit a pressure point on the back, while the guy struggled to get up. With one right fist, Greyson took him out with a shot to the chin. With him down, but not daring to leave him alone, he quickly took off the guy’s shoes and socks. Using the shoelaces and socks, he tied up the guy’s hands and ankles, and, finding some cardboard, he jammed several bent pieces into the guy’s mouth. He was unconscious, and he’d stay like that. Greyson quickly sent a photo with a message. I’m after number two.
Go. And fast. He’s trying to get in through the front of the garage.
Swearing, Greyson took off to the back of the house, and coming up to the glass doors, he slipped inside and froze. He could hear sounds of footsteps, but the stairs were between him and them.
The footsteps went up the stairs. He immediately headed up after him. As if realizing he was being pursued, the intruder raced ahead. He darted directly for the master bedroom, already knowing where it was, having been in the house earlier. But what he didn’t know was what was waiting for him. The door was open, but even Greyson couldn’t see where Jessica and Danny were. Just as the intruder bolted into the doorway of the master bedroom, Greyson called out a command.
“Attack!”
From a standstill at the edge of the doorway, Kona jumped. She didn’t go for the hand this time; she went for the shoulder and locked down hard, pulling the man off his feet and onto his back, screaming all the way.
Immediately he turned with a knife in his hand and tried to stab the dog. Greyson heard a shout from Jessica, but he was already on Jensen, grabbing for the knife. Just as it was about to plunge into the dog, Greyson shifted the angle and the knife went into the man’s wrist. Blood shot out everywhere, and Jessica turned on the light and stared at the mess in horror. But the intruder wasn’t giving up. He was screaming in pain but still kicking and fighting.
Greyson reached up, pulled the balaclava mask off his face, and commanded, “Jensen, stop it!”
Immediately the man stopped and glared up at him. “How the hell do you know who I am?” he asked.
“I told him,” Jessica said, standing behind Greyson. “How dare you come into my home like that and steal my son’s clothing, not to mention my underwear. You make me sick.” She stared at him like he was some kind of a bug.
He glared at her. “You don’t know anything,” he said.
“I know that George is dead,” she snapped, “and I know that you’ve been trying to take his place. You need to leave me alone.”
“I’m not leaving you alone,” he said. “You were never supposed to marry him. I told him that he shouldn’t marry you, that you’d be no good for him. I told him way back when that I was supposed to marry you. He laughed at me and told me to go off into the military, that he would take care of business.”
“Interesting,” she said. “I always wondered why he wanted to get married.”
“To spite me,” he said. “I hated him for that. I hated him for everything.”
“Did you do anything to kill him?” she asked.
He shook his head and laughed. “I didn’t have to,” he said. “That aneurysm was just too damn perfect.”
“But then you couldn’t resist meddling, could you?”
“With him gone and the divorce papers right there, it was pretty easy to make sure that it was all clean-cut and that everything came to me, instead of you. I needed you to see me as your answer, your savior,” he said. “That’s why I had Frank stalking you, leaving your front door open, breaking the lock on your French doors, shutting off the electricity to your house. See? You need me. All I had to do was collect the last bit of my winnings, and that was you.”
At the word winnings, Greyson winced. “Do you really think of her as winnings?”
“Of course,” he said. “And there was money in there for the kid,” he said, looking at the little boy. “As his guardian, of course I’ll make sure he’s well taken care of.”
Just enough of an odd glow was in his eyes to show that some serious madness had set in.
“You must have had a rough time of it in the military,” she said slowly. “Where were you? Iraq or Afghanistan?”
“Both,” he said, and his voice turned to a weird singsong. “So much killing,” he said. “So much death. When I came back, I couldn’t even sleep,” he said. “I already knew that George was in a coma. They had called me to tell me. I’d argued with him a couple weeks earlier. But coming back and finding him like that, it was almost like seeing a sign that it was finally my turn. My place. He should have gotten out of your life a long time ago,” he snapped.
“He did,” she said. “We haven’t been together for over two years,” she exclaimed.
He stared at her. “No. No, not two years.”
“Yes. You helped me move out of his house. Remember?”
He nodded. “But that was just a few months ago,” he said. “It wasn’t that long at all.”
“Yes, it was,” she said, “I was pregnant. Remember?”
“Yes,” he said, “you were pregnant.” He looked at her belly and said, “What happened to the baby?”
At that point, she realized that he really wasn’t all there. She looked over at Greyson, who shrugged.
“There’s not any real talking to him now.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
“I’m not,” Greyson said. “What about Frank, Jensen? How did you get him into this?”
“He needed money,” he said. “That’s the one thing I have now, thanks to my brother.”
“So you paid him to come stalk her? And to kidnap her son?”
“Well, he was supposed to bring the boy to me,” he said. “He’s my son after all.”
At that statement, she gasped, then stared at him in fascination. “You do know that George was his father, right?”
“No. No. No. I am George,” he said. “My brother is gone. I’m now in George’s life. It’s his house. It’s his bank accounts. It’s his car. They’re all mine now,” he said, with a beautiful smile. “And so is my son.”