Chapter 25

“Jared Thompson?”

Jared glanced up from his phone. An older man with slightly familiar features and a woman a few years younger than himself stood beside his table at the De Clieu coffee shop in downtown Fairfax. “Who’s asking?”

The woman reached into her pocket and produced a badge. “I’m Detective Lauren Collier, and my partner, Detective Mark Livingston, with the Fairfax County Police Department. We’d like to ask you a few questions about TJ Williams.”

At the mention of Snake’s real name, Jared didn’t react outwardly, keeping his expression puzzled. “Who?”

Livingston pulled out a chair and sat down across from Jared while his partner remained standing. “If you want to play the I-don’t-know-anyone-named-Williams game, that’s fine. We’ll just move what could have been a quiet conversation to the police station.” The lines on the detective’s face hardened. “What’s it going to be?”

Jared fiddled with his phone. He’d rather not be hauled in for formal questioning, but he also wanted to distance himself from Snake. “Now that I recall, I might have known someone named TJ, but he went by the nickname Snake. Is that the same person you’re talking about?”

The expression on Livingston’s face didn’t change. “One and the same.”

“Wasn’t this TJ character murdered recently?” Jared was pleased with how casual the question came out. The tension that had been mounting in his neck and shoulders since the detectives introduced themselves dissolved. They had nothing to tie him to Snake recently—he’d made sure of that.

“Yes, he was,” Livingston said. “You admit to knowing TJ Williams, aka Snake?”

“Yeah, I did, a long time ago.” Jared paused, debating how truthful to be and deciding a partial truth should satisfy their inquiries. “I used to buy drugs from him, mostly prescription pain pills.”

“When was the last time you saw him?” Livingston leaned back in his chair, his tone less adversarial.

“I don’t know. Maybe fifteen, sixteen years ago?” Jared shrugged. “As I said, it’s been a long time.”

“So you wouldn’t have been at Van Dyke Park’s soccer fields last Wednesday?” Collier asked.

Jared’s heart rate accelerated. “No, I don’t have kids.” That was a safe answer.

“This would have been at night, around eight,” Livingston clarified.

“I was home at eight,” Jared said.

“Can anyone vouch for you?” Collier’s tone warned him she already knew what he would say.

“No, I was alone.” Jared looked from one detective to the other. “What’s this all about?”

A faint smile crossed Livingston’s lips. “I’m glad you asked. We have three witnesses who said they saw a man bearing your description pass them as they left Snake on Wednesday about that time.”

Jared snorted. “They were probably buying from him, so how reliable is what they say?”

“Reliable enough that we’re talking to you.” Collier’s calm voice grated Jared’s nerves.

“Why were you meeting with Snake if you’ve been clean for years?” Livingston asked.

“I wasn’t.” Jared had had enough. He didn’t have to talk to them, a fact his father’s pricey lawyer had hammered into him years ago. “I’ve got to go.” He pushed to his feet.

Livingston stood, his lanky frame filling the space between Jared and the path to the door. “I think that’s an excellent idea.” He nodded to his partner, who placed a hand on Jared’s arm. “We should continue this conversation down at the station.”

* * *

Quentin endedthe call with his private eye, then uttered an expletive. Raines had contacted Quentin as the detectives escorted Jared from a local coffeeshop to their unmarked vehicle. The private eye had eavesdropped on their conversation with Jared, who would be questioned further about his relationship with a dead drug dealer.

His son had been hiding something when Quentin stopped by Jared’s place after Ruby’s confession about the break-in at Melender’s apartment. Now a sickening feeling washed over him as exactly what that something might be coalesced in his mind. How had one act of mercy spawned such a mess?

“Quentin?”

He whirled to see Ruby standing in the doorway of the kitchen in her tennis whites. “Off to play a set with Alice?”

“Yes. You’re home early today.”

“I’ll be heading back to the office soon.” After he called a lawyer for Jared.

His wife came closer. “You look tired.” She laid a cool hand on his cheek.

Closing his eyes, Quentin allowed her presence to comfort him.

“I’m not as fragile as you think, you know.”

At Ruby’s softly spoken words, he snapped open his eyes to gaze directly into hers. Her delicate features hid a core of steel he sometimes forgot ran through her. “You are one of the strongest women I know.”

A slight smile played on her full lips. “Yet you still feel the need to protect me.”

He encircled her, drawing her close to feel the length of her body pressed against his. “That’s because I love you more than life itself.”

The cliché didn’t make her laugh like it usually did. Instead, she narrowed her eyes. “Then why are you keeping things from me?”

With a forced chuckle, he tried to steer the conversation away from dangerous waters. “Can’t a man have a few secrets from his wife? I let you have yours.”

“There are secrets and there are secrets. The ones I’m keeping have nothing to do with our marriage, and if you really wanted to know, you’d ask.” Rising on her tiptoes, Ruby pressed a light kiss on his lips. “However, I can see that you’re not ready to tell me, and I’m running late.”

When she’d extracted herself from his embrace, she sauntered to the door, swinging her hips in that way of hers that had driven him insane with desire when they’d first met. The familiar feeling rushed through his body as she paused to throw him a look over her shoulder. Rather than the coquettish glance he’d been expecting, sorrow tinged her face. Then she was gone.

Quentin stayed exactly where she’d left him for a long moment. Would she still love him if she got the answers about Jesse she sought? His phone buzzed, breaking into his reverie, and he answered without checking caller ID.

“I thought you were smart.”

The caller sounded puzzled, yet Quentin caught the pulse of anger behind the words. He waited for the man to continue.

“What does your son know?”

Quentin had been half expecting the man to contact him since he’d learned of Jared’s encounter with the detectives. “Nothing.”

“We’re beyond nothing. You told me you had nothing to do with the ransom, and yet twenty thousand dollars of marked money turns up in the pockets of your son’s former drug dealer. That’s something.”

Quentin didn’t want to acknowledge even to himself Jared might have sent the ransom note. That his own flesh-and-blood had callously capitalized on Jesse’s disappearance.

“Now what are you going to do about it?”

Quentin had the answer ready. “Here’s what I had in mind.” As he relayed the details, he feverishly hoped it would be enough misdirection to keep his family from disintegrating even further.

* * *

“They’re questioningJared Thompson in connection with Snake’s murder.” Seth propped his shoulder against the edge of Brogan’s cubicle. “Looks like your phone call to the detective paid off.”

“Good.” Brogan had brought Seth up to speed after Fallon’s directive. Then Seth checked with one of his police sources to see if Livingston had followed up on Brogan’s call about Jared. “Did your contact have any other details?”

“Only that forensics matched Jared’s fingerprints to one of the bills.”

Brogan stared at his colleague. “That’s called burying the lead.”

Seth grinned. “Yeah, I know. But it was totally worth it to see the expression on your face.”

“Jared must have had something to do with the kidnapping.” No evidence had tied Melender with the kidnapping, so the prosecution hadn’t brought it up at trial. Neither had her defense attorney, which was strange. With the lack of proof Melender had anything to do with the ransom pickup that had taken place while she was being questioned by police, the kidnapping aspect could have cast reasonable doubt onto her guilt in Jesse’s disappearance.

“Which means Harman did not.” Seth snagged a desk chair from an unoccupied cubicle and scooted closer to Brogan. “What I don’t understand is how, if she wasn’t tied to the kidnapping, Harman was convicted of murder. They never found his body.”

“I think it boiled down to a couple of things.” Brogan rubbed his chin. “First, her court-appointed attorney did squat to help her. In reading the transcript, it’s like he was going through the motions to give her the appearance of a fair trial. Second, the prosecutor hammered home the theory that Melender killed Jesse because of jealousy and resentment at being constantly asked to take care of her young cousins. Her aunt, housekeeper, Jared, uncle—they all said she wasn’t happy about the arrangement. Jesse could be a fussy toddler who often didn’t asleep through the night.”

“Where’s the attorney now?”

“In a cushy job at the law firm representing Thompson Energy.” Brogan let that sink in. “I believe it’s time we paid Dan Stabe a visit, don’t you?”

Seth grinned. “I was just thinking the same thing.”

* * *

Twenty minutes later,Brogan and Seth walked into the lobby of the building that housed Davis, Ramsey, and Stevens. Brogan checked his phone for the time. One-thirty. With any luck, most of the office staff would have headed out to lunch, leaving fewer people to observe their entrance. Seth had called Stabe’s assistant to ask about an appointment in the afternoon and been told the attorney had no openings. Brogan surmised that meant he was in the office but unavailable.

As they rode the elevator to the eleventh floor, Brogan went over their simple plan of attack in his mind. Seth would try to sweet-talk the receptionist to find out if Stabe might be holed up at his desk. If so, they’d ambush Stabe. Brogan put their chance of success at less than ten percent, but hoped they could catch the attorney by surprise. The elevator doors opened, and he caught sight of the receptionist. “Oh, no.”

The middle-aged woman manned her reception desk like the captain of a war ship. Her dark brown hair liberally streaked with grey was pulled into a bun at the nape of her neck. Pearl studs in her ears, a single strand of pearls around her neck, and round wire-rimmed glasses completed the austere picture.

“Oh, ye of little faith,” Seth muttered under his breath as he strode toward the desk.

Brogan glanced down at his phone to mime concentration on the small screen while trying to monitor Seth’s progress with the receptionist. To Brogan’s astonishment, within seconds, Seth had the woman laughing, then shaking her head as she clicked on her keyboard. A few more minutes of conversation, then Seth nodded once. He motioned to Brogan to join him at the desk.

“Brogan, this delightful woman is Audrey Evans.” Seth introduced the woman with a flourish.

“Nice to meet you.” Brogan offered his hand to Ms. Evans, who shook it with a firm grasp.

“Ms. Evans has graciously informed me that Mr. Stabe is in his office, eating lunch at his desk, and now would be the best time to…” Seth turned back to Ms. Evans. “How did you put it?”

Ms. Evans didn’t quite roll her eyes, but she came close. “I believe I said, ‘beard the lion in his den.’”

“Ah, right. ‘Beard the lion in his den.’” Seth tapped the counter lightly. “I can’t thank you enough for helping us out. If you’ll point us in the right direction to Mr. Stabe’s office?”

As Ms. Evans gave succinct directions, Brogan couldn’t wait to grill his companion. Seth led the way to Stabe’s office with Brogan at his heels.

Once out of Ms. Evans’ earshot, Brogan elbowed Seth. “How did you manage that?”

Seth waggled his eyebrows. “Wouldn’t you like to know? I never flatter and tell.”

Brogan shook his head. “Remind me not to leave you alone with any female I’m interested in.”

“Then I won’t be talking to Melender Harman alone?”

Seth’s teasing remark hit him in the gut, and Brogan nearly halted in the middle of the hall. He struggled to sound nonchalant in his response. “I doubt you’d be her type anyway.”

As they stopped in front of Stabe’s office, Seth slapped him on the back. “I knew you had it bad but didn’t realize you were that far gone.”

Brogan tried to mask his amazement at his colleague’s perceptiveness. “What are you talking about?”

“That you’re falling for her. Big time.” Seth knocked sharply on Stabe’s closed door.

Brogan opened his mouth to deny it, but found the words stuck in his throat. Because it was true. He was falling for Melender Harman. And the thought didn’t fill him with dread.