CHAPTER 17


Amanda climbed out of bed, crept over to the window and gazed out at the brilliant morning sun. It was a glorious Friday morning. She threw on a pair of sweats before going downstairs to pour herself a cup of coffee. Uncle Ken came into the kitchen and sat down across from her at the table.

Sleep well last night?” he asked.

Like a rock. Looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day.”

And what are your plans for this beautiful day?”

Got to follow up on Mark Foley. One thing I need to do is check out that gray paint mark on his fender—see if it looks like he actually could have hit the corner of Jodi’s house like the sheriff believes. I’m really frustrated, Uncle Ken. As much as I want the sheriff’s son to be the perp, I have my doubts. I think his father is over-reacting and jumping to conclusions about Mark. I don’t know why I think he’s innocent but I do. There’s just something that doesn’t make sense—like how he could know Jodi had all that money in the first place and why he would rob and murder her instead of just waiting until she was away from her house and breaking in to take the loot instead. You know what I mean?”

Barker nodded. “Yes I do. I’ve known Mark since he was a kid and although he was a troublemaker, I can’t see him murdering somebody to pay off his debts. I think whoever killed Jodi had a reason that went beyond simply eliminating her as a witness. Something personal.

The other thing I can’t understand is the sheriff’s stand on Nick’s guilt. Sure, he may be trying to save his son’s ass by putting all of his cards on Nick, but I don’t think he’s totally ruled Nick out. I think he suspects them both.”

You’re probably right. Mark Foley may be giving his father more credit than he deserves in this—he’s not fully convinced his son did this. He’s just trying to cover all bases.”

Which leads us to—”

Barker’s landline suddenly rang. He went to the phone mounted on the wall and checked the caller ID before answering it.

Ken Barker,” he said.

There was a long pause as Barker listened to the caller. His face grew grave.

When exactly is the last time you spoke to him, Marge?”

I see. And you just got his voicemail?”

Any idea at all where he may have gone?”

Don’t worry, Marge. It’s too soon to go into panic mode. I’ll see what we can find out from our end and call you back.”

Ken hung up and looked at Amanda. “That was Nick’s mother. They haven’t seen Nick since yesterday evening.”

Oh, no! Where do they think he went?”

They have no idea. Maybe back to Richmond. He’s not answering his cellphone or returning their calls. His parents are quite upset, to say the least.”

This isn’t good, is it?”

Not at all. If the sheriff finds out he’s AWOL, there will be hell to pay. If Nick has actually left town, they might serve a warrant for his arrest. Damn it, I told him not to leave town until this gets resolved!”

How could he be so stupid? This is not what we need now—it just makes him look even more guilty!”

It certainly does. We need to find him, pronto. Maybe he’s still in town. We need to check his friends and the local night spots. See if anyone has seen him.”

And if nobody has, I’m going to Richmond,” Amanda declared.

That’s probably a good idea. Shouldn’t you call Alan?”

Definitely.”

Amanda went over and dialed Alan’s number. After five rings, she got his voicemail.

Alan, I need to talk to you. Please pick up!” she spoke into the receiver.

When there was no response, she said. “Call me ASAP. We’ve got a major problem down here.”

She hung up and scowled. “I think that’s the first time he hasn’t answered his phone since I’ve known him. I can’t believe it!”

He’ll call back soon, I’m sure. In the meantime, we need to get moving. I’m going to have to take care of a couple of things at the office first. You want to hit the bars and restaurants in the meantime?”

Okay. Looks like my shower is going to have to wait.”

Go ahead and shower, honey. And get some breakfast. Like I told Nick’s mom, we don’t need to start panicking yet. We’re just on high alert.”

Well, maybe just a quickie, then I’m out of here.”

I’m leaving now—I’ll call you later.”

 

Alan was speaking to Charlie Ling when Amanda’s call had clicked in. He wanted to hear the rest of what Charlie had to say so he didn’t pick up.

Run that by me again. You found an email Jodi had deleted and what?”

It was from Nick, the ex-husband. He sent it to her a couple of weeks ago. Very interesting, actually.”

What do you mean, interesting?”

Here, I’ll read it to you.”

There was a brief pause before Charlie continued.

 

Hey Babe, I know you’re probably getting ready to delete this but please hear me out first. I’ve spent all day thinking about us and I’ve decided to tell you my thoughts. I can’t go on like this any longer. I’ve tried for the past year to move on with my life since the divorce but it’s not happening. I’m miserable, babe. Every day I think about what a great life we had when we were together and how I fucked it all up. I know it was the biggest mistake of my life, going out on you like that and I don’t blame you for being pissed with me. But had I known that you were going to leave me forever I would have NEVER done what I did! That girl meant nothing to me and you know I love you more than anything else in the world. So I guess what I’m saying is, can’t you just give me one more chance? I can’t live another day without you. All I want is to be with you and make it all up to you. Surely you could at least give me one more chance, can’t you?

You don’t have to answer now. Just promise me you’ll think about it, okay? Take as long as you need, then let me know what you decide. I can wait. I’ll wait forever if that’s what it takes but PLEASE GIVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE!

 

LOVE ALWAYS,

 

NICK

 

You ready for the response?” Charlie asked.

Sure, go ahead.”

First of all, her answer was immediate and to the point. Here goes:

 

Nick,

 

I’m sorry but there is no way we can ever get back together. I’ve moved on with my life and you need to, too. Whatever we had is gone. You blew it. Sorry to be so blunt but that’s just the way I feel. I suggest you forget me and find somebody else. I am happy the way things are in my life now so please don’t bother me again. You really need to get a life, Nick.

 

Jodi

Hmm, probably not what Nick wanted to hear,” Alan said.

There’s more. Nick responded about an hour later. Listen to this:

 

Hey Jodi,

 

I just read your reply and all I can say is FUCK YOU! Really, that’s all you can say after I pour out my heart trying to get your ass back? After all I did for you when we were still together? You have no compassion for anybody but yourself, Jodi.

One of these days somebody’s gonna knock you off that high horse of yours. And I’m gonna laugh my ass off when it happens. You are an uncaring, ungrateful bitch. Get a life, you say? We’ll see about that.

 

See you in Hell, bitch!


Whoa!” Alan exclaimed.

Sounds a little salty, doesn’t he?”

That’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one. Jesus, I can’t believe this. There is so much rage in his words that it sounds like he could kill her and not even bat an eye. This is not good. Not good at all.”

I thought you might feel that way. How do you think your girlfriend-slash-new partner is going to react to this?”

First she’ll be shocked. Then she’ll try to read something into what he wrote. Eventually she’ll get past her denial and have to admit that her old friend isn’t quite the super nice guy she thought he was.”

So you think he murdered her?”

If he didn’t murder her, it would only be because somebody else beat him to it. Seriously, there’s a slim chance this could be just Nick venting all his anger to Jodi after hitting the bottle hard. The next day he may have woken up sober, wondering what in the hell he’d done. Did she respond back to him?”

If she did, it’s not anywhere on her hard drive.”

In other words, probably not.”

Probably not.”

What’s the exact date these emails were sent?”

Let’s see—the first one was sent on Monday, May 28, 8:35 PM. Jodi replied at 11:05 PM. The husband’s last one was sent at 12:02 AM, May 29. ”

Alan jotted the times down. “And no other correspondence from Nick later on?”

Nope.”

Shit. He just may have done it—unbelievable.”

May have done it? How could you think anything else? I mean, this is none of my business but from what you’ve told me about this case, everything points to this guy as the perp. This just ices it, I would think.”

It doesn’t help, that’s for sure. But I’m going to try to keep an open mind. Hard as that may be. Like I said, there’s always a chance that this was just Nick having a bad night and running off his mouth. End of story.”

I guess that’s possible. But I sure wouldn’t bet on it.”

Did you find anything else, Charlie?”

Not really. The only thing that may be of interest of you is that I detected a worm in her system.”

A worm?”

Yeah, you know—like a virus or some other invasive thing. Not sure what the bug is but there’s a chance that somebody hacked into her computer. Or at least was able to access some of her data.”

But there’s no way to know for sure?”

Not yet, anyway. If you want, I can examine it further and see what I can find. It’s up to you. But you’re going to have to be patient—it’s the sort of thing that is labor intensive and I don’t have any time to do it now.”

What do you think I should do? I mean, do you think something could come of it if she had this worm?”

It’s a long shot, but it is possible that if it’s the right kind of bug, it would suggest that somebody has been in her laptop and tampered with her files. Either copied some or planted some. That might have a bearing on your case, I don’t know.”

I see what you’re getting at. Yeah, go ahead and see what you can find out. And if there’s any chance at all that you can put a rush on it, I’ll make it worth your while.”

If there was some way to make a day longer than twenty-four hours I would be a rich man, my friend. But I’ll see what I can do—can’t promise anything, though.”

I appreciate it. Can you shoot me a copy of what you just read me?”

It’s on the way.”

Great, thanks, Charlie.”

See you.”

Shit!

At least the authorities never saw this. Had they searched Jodi’s hard drive as thoroughly as they should have, Nick would already be in jail. This email correspondence was not only damning to Nick’s claim of innocence but it could be perceived as having an undertone of threat to Jodi’s life.

Get a life, you say? We’ll see about that. See you in Hell, bitch!

Nick’s word could just as well as said, I’m going to take your life and join you in Hell after I kill myself, too.

Jesus, and all of this happened on the night of May 28—just two days before Jodi was murdered. The timeline of the email exchanges couldn’t be any more incriminating.

Nick was probably sober when he wrote the first one at 8:35 and then had a couple of hours of drinking before receiving Jodi’s reply at 11:05. An hour and a few drinks later, after pondering his ex-wife’s total rejection of him and any future with him, he sent back his scathing response. A day later, he takes off for Milldale, a man on a mission to murder his ex-wife.

Alan wondered how much more could happen to point to Nick’s guilt? All of these things were piling up. Piling up into a big mass of crap.

He groaned and recalled Amanda’s call and noticed that she’d left a voicemail. He played it back:

 

Alan, I need to talk to you. Please pick up!” A pause and then, “Call me ASAP. We’ve got a major problem down here.”

 

Now what? he thought and returned her call.

What’s up?” he said when she answered.

Nick’s been missing since yesterday,” she replied.

You’re shitting me.”

I shit you not. The last time his parents saw him was yesterday evening. He’s not answering his phone and so far not a soul has seen him since.”

Man, I can’t believe this! I just got done talking to my computer hacker friend. You aren’t gonna believe what he found on Jodi’s laptop.”

Alan told her about the email exchange that Jodi had deleted and Charlie had been able to retrieve.

Fuck!” she cried. “And now he’s probably blown town! What do you make of this?”

Hell, anybody with half a brain is going to think he’s guilty, he’s gotten paranoid that he’s gonna get thrown in jail so now he’s gotten the hell out of Dodge.”

And you think that, too?”

Gee, at least give me credit for having half a brain! Seriously, it doesn’t look good at all. Between the damning evidence on Jodi’s laptop, the circumstantial evidence that’s already been found and now his sudden disappearance I think he’s already cooked his own goose. And even if he didn’t murder Jodi, no jury is going to believe it. That’s what I think.”

Unless we find another suspect,” Amanda said.

Unless we find another suspect that can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that he’s the one who robbed and murdered Jodi Wilburn, not Nick Wilburn. That’s not looking too likely so far.”

This is so screwed up, Alan. What are we going to do if I can’t find Nick before the sheriff discovers he’s missing?”

We can’t let that happen. You need to find him, and I mean real soon.”

That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to ask around town if anybody’s seen him in the last twelve hours. If I don’t have any luck, I’m driving to Richmond.”

Don’t waste your time in Milldale. Go to Richmond now. Not only is that the most likely place he would have gone, there’s no problem if he’s still in Milldale. Maybe your uncle could be looking in town in the meantime.”

You’re right—why didn’t I think of that?”

You’re not looking at this from another perspective, that’s all.”

Guess that’s why we make such a good pair, eh?”

There you go.”

I’m going to call Uncle Ken and get Nick’s home address in Richmond. Then I’m heading there. I’ll call you if I have any luck.”

Be sure to. Good luck, kiddo.”

Thanks, I’ll need it.”

Alan felt a huge wave of anxiety as he disconnected. The Wilburn case was swiftly heading even further south. He regretted thinking it, but Amanda may have to start getting used to the idea that her old friend murdered his ex-wife. The evidence is overwhelming and Nick’s quite aware of it. So there’s nothing left for him to do but either turn himself in or run away.

He’s apparently chosen the latter.