“If I needed the money I might,” she said absently letting Julie know clearly that money was something she didn’t need.
“Well, I think you’re amazing. Good luck with the project.”
When Julie was gone, Zeke looked at Willow. “What was that all about? We’re putting this down in the hallway? Taking pictures of student faces? What were you talking about?”
Willow stared at the empty doorway for a long moment before turning back to Zeke. “Nicole might think she has Finch under her thumb, but I’m not so sure. Until I’m convinced she’s a solid member of the Quills, I think we should just keep this little project to ourselves.”
“Nicole isn’t going to like that,” Zeke said shaking his head.
“Nicole isn’t the one creating this masterpiece.”
“And masterpiece it is.” He rubbed his hands together and grinned. “It’s going to be the best prank the Quills have ever pulled.”
Now Willow grinned in return. “One they’ll be talking about for a long, long time. Have you picked out the street yet?”
He nodded. “Got just the one. Not so much traffic that someone would see us when we unroll it, but enough to cause a commotion. It’s going to be great.”
“Then I’d better get back to work,” Willow said with a smile. “So get out of my way.” And with that she gave him a none-too-gentle shove toward the door.
Chapter Seventeen
Jo walked through the front door and was greeted with wiggling bodies eager for her attention. Bella, no longer patient for her turn, bumped Blitz out of her way as Jo knelt to stroke heads and accept loving kisses.
“Easy, you guys,” Kate cautioned, helping Jo to her feet.
“It’s okay,” Jo sighed. “I’m just so glad to be home.” She shifted her cast to a more comfortable position in the sling. “Did I mention how much I hate hospitals?” She eased down in the recliner and sighed again.
“Ah, only about a hundred times.” Kate carried Jo’s bag and set it down inside the bedroom door. “And I believe the hospital was as glad to get rid of you as you were to leave.”
“Then everybody should be happy.” Jo closed her eyes. “I think the best part of all of this is I get a two week vacation.”
Kate rolled her eyes. “No, the best part is that you lived after that maniac shot you and we now have his ass in jail. Hey, maybe we should also charge him with trying to destroy government property! You do work for the government as it were.”
Jo chuckled, “Yeah, I wonder how much the government would think I was worth. Still, life is going to seem pretty dull around here. No more crazy notes on the door, cut brake lines, or snakes in the living room.”
“Jo,” Kate said, “when was your life ever dull?” But when she looked back, Jo was already asleep in the chair.
The next morning Jo set down her book and watched Kate. “Would you stop pacing, you’re making me tired. What’s wrong?”
“I’m missing something.” Frustrated, Kate flopped down in the rocker only to get up again. “I know it’s got to be there but I’m just not seeing it.”
“Okay, what’s got to be here and what are you missing?”
Kate rounded, “If I knew what I was missing it wouldn’t be missing, would it? I need coffee. You need coffee?” She headed for the kitchen.
Jo looked at Bella, who whined. “I know,” she said stroking the dog’s head. “She’s just in a mood. Let’s go see if we can figure out why.” Jo eased herself out of the recliner and headed for the kitchen.
Kate turned from the counter and frowned. “I would have brought you the coffee. You didn’t need to get up.”
“Not a problem.” Jo sat at the kitchen table. “So why don’t you tell me what’s got you so twisted?”
Kate poured their coffee and joined Jo at the table. “I’ve got three suspects and I can’t really get a handle on anyone.”
“So do what you do best,” Jo said. “Change the parameters. Toss the pieces up in the air and look at them from a different angle. I assume we’re talking about Danny Witmore’s murder. Is Aggie still on your list?”
“You mean Agatha?” Kate asked. “Yeah, she is, and so is Karl. They both have a reason for wanting Danny dead. Karl admitted he spoke with Danny that morning and he knew Danny was into bodybuilding. It would have been easy for him to switch the sports drink bottles.”
“Then conveniently leave for a business trip.”
“Exactly!” Kate saluted with her coffee mug. “But he admitted this freely. Why would you admit you’d been there if you knew you’d just committed a crime? Wouldn’t the average person be ‘No not me, I was never there’?”
“Maybe he wasn’t sure if anyone saw him.”
“Yeah, there’s that possibility. But I don’t think he’d do something like that and leave Aggie for two weeks to deal with the fallout.”
“You mean Agatha,” Jo teased. “Okay so we keep Karl on the list but move him down. Who’s next?”
“Then there’s Principal Phelps,” Kate set her cup down. “I really don’t like that man. But putting that to the side, when I’m interviewing him my radar goes off. Something’s not right. I can tell he’s not telling the truth, but I can’t pinpoint what he’s lying about.”
“Well, if your gut is telling you something’s up with him, I’d move him to the top of the list. Your gut is never wrong. Did he lie about being at the Witmore’s?”
“No, because I never asked him that. I had him in interview because of Diana Harkins. Someone switched her eye drops at that birthday party. Now Phelps had a reason to be angry with her, but killing her seems a little over the top to me. And according to his wife, he steered clear of Diana all night.”
“So you never asked him why he was at the Witmore’s that morning?”
Kate shook her head. “No. I didn’t even know he’d been there until the night you got shot. A neighbor flagged me down right after you left Aggie’s and told me she’d seen him.”
“So maybe he’s the missing piece,” Jo said. “Anyway, I think you should rethink Aggie.”
“How so?”
“Well, you’re the profiler not me, but in this case I know Aggie better than you do. She’s a meek, dependent personality type. I wanted to get her into an empowerment class, not the Batterer Intervention Program. I know she hit him with a wine bottle once, but after talking with her I really think that was reflex. I don’t think she has the guts to take Danny out. She was too dependent on him to tell her what to do. Heck, I’d eat my left shoe if it turned out to be her,” she said, sifting through Kate’s notes that were in tidy piles all over the table. “And even though you found those Internet searches from Christian, I see you’ve taken him off the list.”
“That just put another check against Aggie’s name for me,” Kate said. “Poison is usually done by a woman.”
“Well, what if Christian heard how his dad was poisoned and decided to look up the information about antifreeze? Kids get curious about the strangest things.”
“Hmmm, you might have a point there.…”
“So what’s happening with Ricky?”
“Tony is having him moved to a safer location. The sex trafficking scandal is all over the news.”
“Did you find any more names?”
“Yeah, that’s the sad part. Using the book you found we were able to match another eight girls that were either missing or listed as runaways with the initials in the book. Ricky is claiming through his lawyer that the book isn’t his and he didn’t know it was in the car and he only met Sherry that night when he picked her up on a street corner.”
“And you’re not buying that?”
“Hell no! I’ve got a source that will testify Sherry showed her Ricky’s picture over a week before the incident. She’ll say that Sherry told her they’d been dating for a little while before that.”
“Did she ever see him?”
“No, that’s the sticky part. Sherry just showed her a picture she took o
n her cell phone.”
“So what’s your next step with him?”
Kate shrugged. “I don’t have a next step for Ricky. The FBI has officially taken over the case. They’ve been working on cracking this particular ring for over a year. Then bang, you find the key to their puzzle.”
“Don’t give me all the credit. You’re the one who wanted to go back and inspect the cars from the crash. And hey, what about Tony? Is he still around? I really want to get my hands on that camera.”
“Afraid that’s not going to happen,” Kate said with a sigh. “He’s gone back to Washington for the time being. He left last night.”
“Damn it,” Jo banged her cup on the table. “Do you realize that was probably the closest I’ll ever come to getting to even touch a Hasselblad?” She picked up another stack of Kate’s notes and started flipping through them.
“Don’t mess up my stacks,” Kate snapped. “I have them sorted by case.”
“Of course you do,” Jo looked up. “Do you realize that you have Karl in the wrong pile?”
“What?” Kate snatched the papers. “What are you talking about? He’s right here in the Danny Witmore pile.”
“But his name is on the birthday list for Diana Harkins,” Jo said.
“What?” Kate quickly scanned the pages then sat back down on her chair. “I don’t believe this.”
“You didn’t notice this before?”
“I only gave the birthday list a quick glance,” she said studying the list more closely. “I never even noticed that Karl’s name was on this.” She looked up, “Coincidence?”
“Don’t believe in them,” Jo said with a smile.
“Me either,” Kate scooped up her files. “You going to be okay if I head to the office for a few hours?”
Jo rolled her eyes, “Ah duh, it’s no problem. I don’t need a babysitter and besides, with the wacko guy in jail, you could even think about moving home. Like soon.…”
But Kate was already out of the kitchen. “I’m taking your car,” she called. “Since you’re not going out, and I have to go in on a Saturday I’m at least driving with the top down.”
Jo looked at the dogs, which were now standing at attention in front of her. “We’ll just let her leave,” she said giving Blitz a pat, “then I’ll get my camera and we’ll go for a ride ourselves.”
***
With her arm in the sling and her shoulder aching like a sore tooth, getting the dogs into their safety harnessess and into Kate’s car had not been an easy task. Jo sat behind the wheel and tried to catch her breath. Sweat ran down her face and her breathing was coming too fast. I’m exhausted, she thought, and we’re not even out of the driveway. Determined not to give in, she turned over the motor and just let the air conditioner blow full on her face. Bella whined and Blitz gave a soft, low growl since both dogs were eager to be off.
“I know,” she said slowly, “I want to get out of here, too.” She sat for another minute trying to decide if she should just go back into the house and wait for another day. But heck, she thought, we’re already in the car.
With no destination in mind, she started off. “I know,” she said to her companions, “we’ll go to the dog park and you can play chase with all your friends.” The dogs barked their agreement.
When they reached the park and she unhooked the dogs, they took off at a run. She found a picnic table and sat down surprised to realize how exhausted she was. Looking around, she saw the park was completely empty of dogs and owners except for her two. The sun beat down relentlessly and within minutes despite the fact she wasn’t even moving, she was dripping in sweat. It was too hot to just sit, but since there weren’t any tables in the shade she didn’t have much choice. No wonder no one is here except me, she thought.
Trying to take her mind off her discomfort, Jo struggled to hold her camera steady with one hand and still snap some pictures of the dogs as they played. But the effort was too much and each time she tried to focus and snap a picture her hand moved or the camera slipped. Okay, she thought, this wasn’t one of my better ideas and, whistling for the dogs, she stood. It startled her to realize she wasn’t steady as she leaned against the table. Her energy was completely gone. Suddenly the distance to the car seemed to have doubled. Just one foot in front of the other, she thought and with the dogs at her side, she slowly made her way back to the car.
When they finally reached home, Jo climbed out of the car and after releasing the dogs, made her way up the porch steps. She got inside the house and, though her plan had been to take the dogs out back and hose them off, she never made it past the recliner. I just need a moment she thought, just a few minutes to rest my eyes.
She dreamed of birds flying overhead. Birds being controlled by an ominous form that stood on a mountain and directed their movement. Was that the Birdman, she wondered? She watched in fascination while the formations turned different colors as they dipped and soared across the sky. But then the Birdman turned in her direction and the sky grew dark. The delicate beauties she’d just watched glide on the air, turned black and began to move in her direction. A harsh laugh rang out and she heard homeless Ruby whisper, “Don’t like the Birdman, he’s always watching when he thinks no one is looking.” Was he watching her? The dark birds were getting closer now and suddenly she was afraid. The colorful plumage turned black and beaks cawed a warning. Claws sharp as razors opened and reached, coming closer with each breath. And all the while the Birdman stood on top of the mountain and directed the flocks as a conductor might conduct a symphony.
The scent of pizza and her rumbling stomach pulled Jo awake. Disoriented, she tried to rub the sleep and confusion from her eyes. The room was filled with dusty shadows and the lamp by the piano had been turned on low. Uh oh, she thought, Kate was home. She went to stand and momentarily forgetting about the cast tried to raise her hand. Pain shot up her arm and exploded in her shoulder. Damn, where were those pills? Groggily she made her way into the kitchen.
“Well, Sleeping Beauty awakes,” Kate said, standing beside the oven.
“Pain pills,” Jo searched the counter for the bottle. “Where are my damn pills?”
Kate calmly walked over and picked up the bottle from the table. “Slept through a dose did you?”
“Gimme,” Jo greedily shook out two and contemplated three, then gratefully took the glass of water Kate held out to her. “Forgot about the arm,” she said sinking onto a chair. “Oh, damn this hurts.”
“I’d say it serves you right for trying to go out the day after you’re out of the hospital, but you didn’t deserve to get shot so I guess it’s not completely your fault.”
Jo sat with her head propped on her hand and tried to focus on something other than the arrows of pain that were streaking down her arm.
“Here,” Kate put a slice of veggie pizza in front of her. “Eat something. I know you skipped lunch and you really shouldn’t take those on an empty stomach.”
Jo gingerly picked up the slice and juggled it trying to scoop up the dripping cheese with her first bite. “Oh,” she sighed, “this is so good.”
Kate sat with her own slice. “Whatever possessed you to take the kids to the park today?” When Jo just stared in confusion Kate continued. “Eau de sweaty dog and lots of sand,” she said easily.
Jo sniffed, but only smelled pizza.
“I already gave everyone a bath out back,” Kate answered taking another bite. “And I already cleaned my car so stop worrying about that.”
“Cabin fever,” Jo said with her mouth full. “Had to get out.”
“I might understand that if you’d been home for a few days, but you just got out of the hospital yesterday, Jo, and you were shot. Where is your common sense?”
“Left it at the hospital.”
Kate just shook her head. “The pills kicking in yet?”
Jo sighed, “Yeah, I hate taking those things ‘cause they make me tired. I think that’s probably why I fell asleep.”
“Y
ou fell asleep because you did too much. You’ve been asleep for the better part of four hours. You never moved when I came in and you didn’t even flinch when Midnight jumped off your lap.”
“Well, I’m awake now, Jo said realizing that except for her arm being in a sling, she was beginning to feel human again. “Did you make any progress?”
“I’ve got things in motion. Principal Phelps will be coming back in to interview with his lawyer first thing on Monday. And I called Karl Patterson. He took Aggie to his beach house in New Smyrna. She’s staying there so the press can’t find her.”
“Is he staying with her?”
Kate shook her head, “He got her settled but he’s back here. He stopped by the station this afternoon. Turns out he didn’t know Phyllis very well but he came because he’s a friend of her fiancé, Jack.”
“Who the heck is Phyllis? I thought you were working on Diana Harkins.”
“Phyllis is the kindergarten teacher and it was her birthday party. Diana was the person who ran the party but Phyllis admitted that Jack had also invited some of his friends to attend. And whereas I can see Karl wanting to get rid of Danny, I can’t see him killing a woman he doesn’t even know.”
Jo contemplated taking a third piece then pushed her plate away. “So you’ve ruled him out of the Diana mix but you’re keeping him on the Danny list?”
“That’s about it. I still don’t have any hard evidence connecting anyone. Just lots and lots of circumstances that don’t make me comfortable.”
“Well, you’ll figure it out. Maybe you can’t put the puzzle together because you don’t have all the pieces yet.”
“If that’s the case, I’ve got to do some serious searching. I don’t like having two cases hang open this long.”
Jo leaned back in her chair. “Can I change the subject for a minute? I had the weirdest dream before. I keep thinking about what Brett Wilson said before he shot me. He referred to someone as the Birdman just like Ruby did.”
“Are you sure you’re not thinking about Ruby and getting things mixed up in your head?”
“I know, I know, concussion and all that, but bits and pieces are coming back. I’m sure Brett said he was stepping into Rodriguez’s shoes but he wasn’t going to take orders from the Birdman anymore. Do you think you could find out if he was into something other than just killing Rodriguez?”