JUDE: Book 2 The Justice Brothers Series (26 page)

“Dr. Samuels, this is Skylar Hughes. Thank you for talking with us. I am familiar with Paxil and SSRIs in general. However, when I saw Blake yesterday, he was clearly in severe distress. Much more so than he should have been if he was taking his Paxil as you prescribed.”

Skylar let the implication stand and exchanged a knowing glance with Jude when Dr. Samuels rushed to explain, “You need to understand, Ms. Hughes, and you too, Detective, Blake Parker is a very fragile individual. He has been under the care of a psychiatrist for some years now. I can’t confirm that he has been taking his medicine as I prescribed it.”

Jude broke in smoothly. “And the name of his psychiatrist is?”

Dr. Samuels hesitated and then said, “To my knowledge he has been seeing Dr. Samuel Claxton in Minneapolis.”

After they ended the call with Dr. Samuels, Sky shook her head. “I don’t like this, Jude. Blake was definitely taking something in addition to Paxil unless he’d tripled the dose. Marion has to have known that. And good God, after what Shirley told us, how can we possibly trust anything that Marion tells us?”

“Unfortunately, we can’t. We also can’t arrest Blake without additional evidence. I’m going to talk with Dr. Claxton and see what I can get him to tell me about Blake’s ‘condition.’ Depending on how forthcoming he is, we’ll determine our next steps. Unfortunately, the chances of the shrink confirming Shirley’s accusations are minimal at best.”

Sky nodded in agreement. “I want to go back to Lars Larson. I’ve been thinking about the personal accounts the siblings set up. Can we get a subpoena to see those accounts if Lars resists?”

“I’ll check with Jorden. See what you can get Lars to reveal. I think we scared the shit out of him yesterday. Methinks he may be more amenable to our requests knowing that we have him in our crosshairs.”

As Sky stood up to leave, Jude rounded his desk and reached for her. “Let me hold you, Squirt. I know I don’t have to tell you, baby, that we’re on to something important. We don’t know what role Blake played in his parents’ murders, but my gut is sending signals that can’t be ignored. Between Lars and Dr. Claxton, we may be able to get enough evidence to bring him in for questioning.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Jesus, Sky, wouldn’t it be amazing if wimpy Blake really did have something to do with the murders?”

He tipped up her chin. “So be careful sweetheart. And remember that no matter what happens today, you and I are going to be in each other’s arms tonight.”

Later that afternoon, Skylar remembered Jude’s assurance that they would be together tonight and scoffed at her naïveté, wondering how she could have been so gullible.

***

“Son of a bitch, Jude. I always knew those women were protective of Blake. But damn, bro, if Shirley is correct, this is waaaay beyond weird.”

“Yeah, Jared, tell me something we don’t know. But if you had been in that room and listened to Shirley Martinson…I’m telling you, this was not a tale she was happy to tell. She and her mother were obviously frightened by what she saw.”

Jude paused for a long moment and looked at his three brothers. Jared, Jake, and Jorden came to his office when he had called them. They’d had to wait for Jorden to finish in court and it was nearly six o’clock now, which made the Maker’s Mark they were slugging a welcome treat.

Jude continued laying out the suppositions. “Let’s assume for the moment that Shirley was correct. She also claims that Charlie was aware of the sexual relationship among the siblings. Which puts an interesting cast on Charlie’s murder. At least it raises the possibility of him blackmailing Blake.”

At the frowning agreement from his brothers, Jude continued, “Also, assume that Sky can find evidence that Blake was siphoning money from the Parker accounts. She’s been at the Larson, McClellan office most of the afternoon and the last I heard from her, she felt she was getting close. Which is the primary reason I need a subpoena, Jorden. Lars appeared to open the books to her, but she felt certain he was holding back information on the siblings’ personal accounts. And given my conversation with that pompous shrink Claxton, we’re gonna need to at least threaten him with a subpoena to get any information from him. He was fierce about physician-patient privilege.”

“I’ve got both requests to Judge Taylor now. He was in court all day, but will be back in his office by eight o’clock. Knowing how cautious Taylor is, we’ll be lucky to hear back tonight, but should have authorization to review all of the Parker accounts by tomorrow morning.” Jorden added, “I’m not so sure about the request for his medical records. The courts are strict about patient privacy.”

Jude shrugged. “I’m telling you, if Blake’s condition is anything close to what Sky and I saw yesterday, we’ll be lucky if we can question him in the next couple of days. Sky is convinced he’s ingesting a hell of a lot more than Paxil.” He added thoughtfully, “I don’t have to tell you this, but without Skylar’s uncanny insights we truly would be dumb cops sitting around with our thumbs up our asses.”

Jared chuckled and shared a grin with Jake. “I do believe our lead detective said something close to that, but that was when he was disparaging ‘Specs’, as he called her then. He indicated that her ‘erudite analysis’ might actually be useful. That we ignorant cops could always use an IQ boost to help us analyze a crime instead of stumbling around with our thumbs up our asses like we usually do.”

Jude put up his hands in defeat and grinned. “What can I say, bro? How the hell did I know I was going to fall under the Sprite’s spell?”

Jorden looked up in surprise, glancing to his brothers. His eyes widened at Jude’s diffident shrug, and Jared and Jake’s obvious delight. “Wait just a damn minute. Am I missing something here? My cynical brother, the most chauvinistic asshole we all know, is gooey-eyed over a member of the female persuasion?”

Jared crowed, “None other, bro. And all it took to turn our never-before-love-bitten brother into mush was a five-foot, four-inch pixie with coke-bottle glasses that mask the most gorgeous eyes any of us has seen, and a brain as impressive as our womanizer brother’s.”

“Well, I’ll be damned.” Jorden whistled and shook his head in amazement. Meeting Jude’s sheepish smile, he pressed, “Are you for real, buddy? Not only did you fall, but you fell for a
real
woman—not one of the plastic bimbos that you usually associate with?”

Jude shrugged. “What can I say, man, except that I’ve never met a woman like Skylar. She’s in a class by herself.”

“Okay, Jude, I’ll give you that,” Jorden agreed. “Every one of us, including the Judge, has been thoroughly charmed by the inimitable Ms. Hughes. She might be the most interesting woman I’ve met. Certainly the most complicated. But let’s face it, man, she doesn’t exactly meet your—what do you call it? Your required rack to ass ratio?”

Thoroughly embarrassed by his older brother’s on-target assessment of his customary disdain for women, Jude couldn’t let that impression stand. “Let’s just say, brother of mine, it’s obvious that you haven’t, and may I add that you never will, have the pleasure of spending the night with her.”

At his brothers’ shrieks of surprised laughter Jude didn’t try to undermine his assessment of Skylar. Instead he put up his hands in defeat. “All I can say is that under those baggy clothes and Clark Kent glasses is the most beautiful, enticing woman I’ve ever known.” He added seriously, “But you’re correct, Jorden. She’s complicated, and has a tyrant of a father who’s filled her head with more destructive shit than anyone should have to hear in three lifetimes. And yeah, she’s so damn smart she’s scary. But she’s also funny, clever, and frankly, sexy as hell.”

Jake rose to his feet and lifted his glass in a salute. “Christ Almighty man, this is the best news you could give me. Jude, I love you as much as I love anyone. But I gotta tell you, dude, I’d given up hope for you as far as women are concerned. Skylar Hughes is everything your women aren’t. She’s smart, and, yes, beautiful. But she is also kind, and generous, and shy. And man, I don’t have to tell you, given that father of hers, she’s vulnerable as hell.”

Jared left the table to take a phone call. When he came back to the group his eyes were dark with concern, his expression rigid. He pinned Jude with a hard gaze and shook his head. “Goddamn, the last thing I want to do is rain on this parade. Fuck it, man, I’ve been pulling for you and Sky since I saw you fighting like hell to keep from giving in to your interest in her. Which, although you wouldn’t admit it, was from the first time you saw her.”

Jared sucked in a deep visible breath then blew it out in an audible sigh. “Unfortunately, sometimes our past comes back to bite us in the ass. In this case, man, looks like your past got to Skylar. In the form of the most vicious bitch that ever offered her bimbo ass to every one of us Justice brothers—Jerri Ross.”

Chapter 29

“We thought you weren’t coming, Sky! Hailey said you weren’t, that you had your nose in financial files and it would take a case of C4 to blast you free. Get that cute little butt of yours over here. You have some serious drinking to do to catch up with us.” Mitzi was emphatic.

Sky smiled, admitting that she had to force herself to leave the Larson, McClellan office to come to the Shipwreck. She wouldn’t have left, except that she believed she’d gotten as much information as Lars Larson could give her. Jude had put the fear of God and the law into the frightened man the day before. After spending four hours going through the files, hunting for clues, Sky decided Lars was telling the truth when he said that neither he nor anyone in his office had access to the Parker siblings’ personal accounts.

Seeing the women at the table calling out to her, welcoming her, Sky was glad she had come. She never had women friends before. Actually, she’d never had
any
friends, women or
men, until Jared and Hailey. Now six short months after she made the extraordinarily difficult decision to leave the Northeast and the dominion of Morton J. Hughes, here she was, about to join a group of noisy women at a raucous happy hour at the pub. Add to that, these women were her friends, and all seemed genuinely pleased she was joining the party.

Sinking down beside Hailey, who wrapped her arm around her and squeezed her shoulder, Sky allowed herself to add to her reverie the most surprising fact of all, that in addition to having friends, she also had a lover. And not just any lover—the single sexiest man who had ever walked the earth. Even as she said it to herself, Sky’s heart flipped. God, it was a wonder she’d gotten anything done today. Nothing like trying to concentrate on spreadsheets or the hideous information Shirley Martinson had given them when all her mind and body wanted to do was to revel in the night she had spent with Jude.

But Sky admitted ‘reveling’ was challenging. As hard as she tried to focus on Jude’s words of praise and encouragement, she couldn’t stop thinking about their conversation about her father and mother. She’d lain in Jude’s arms, not only talking about growing up with her despotic father, but also describing the woman who had left her when she was a small child. Amazing. She never talked to anyone about her mother, or the fact she was certain her father had run her off when she failed to meet his impossible standards.

Skylar acknowledged that since moving to Duluth it was becoming easier to block out her father’s disparaging litany of her shortcomings. She’d even begun to look in the mirror and instead of seeing the academic freak with the ugly glasses and misshapen clothes, she occasionally glimpsed a pretty woman. A woman who looked a lot like her beautiful mother. Sky felt her face flush, remembering the exciting things her commanding lover had encouraged this new
woman to do. Not the least of which was waxing her pussy.

Sky felt her cheeks flush hotter when Hailey whispered, “Just so you know Sky, you aren’t getting out of here tonight until you tell me how he responded to your little surprise.”

Sky didn’t need to hear Mitzi’s whoop to know that it wouldn’t be long until she was outed.

“What surprise
,
Hailey, and who is the he you’re talking about?” Mitzi glanced from Hailey to Sky, her eyes dancing with excitement. “Damn, Skylar Hughes, if you confirm the gossip that has been positively flying around the precinct and tell me that you and Jude Justice are truly—”

A sultry voice interrupted Mitzi’s excited inquiry. “Now, now ladies, if you want to know the very latest about that serious hunk of a man, Detective Jude Justice, the most reliable source is yours truly.”

Shock skittered across Skylar’s tightly strung nerves when Jerri Ross pulled out a chair to their table and parked her curvaceous ass into it. Waving a careless hand at the waiter, the voluptuous woman called for a glass of wine. Her eyes blazed with malice as she focused on Skylar, then she turned to the surprised women who were staring at her.

Addressing Mitzi, her voice dripped with sarcasm. “I’m not sure what news you’re hearing, Officer Olson, but I can assure you that if it’s about Detective Justice, you can believe half of what you see and none of what you hear. I’ll grant you that Jude has been known to stray—he’s always had a penchant for the pitiful ones who run after him—but he always comes back to the real thing…me.”

She ran a long, bright red fingernail around the rim of her glass then dipped the tip of her finger in the fragrant wine and licked it off seductively.

“Just to prove the point, I was at Clem’s Fish Shack last night. Clem told me that once Jude deals with a troublesome issue, he plans to take his yacht on an extended excursion down the Great Lakes. According to Clem, Jude made no secret of the fact that he would have a special companion
on that excursion.”

Jerri paused dramatically, then lowered her eyes as if deciding whether if she should say anything else. Apparently deciding that the news was too good to keep secret, she purred, “Which explains the enticing message he left for me today.”

Knowing that she was making a complete fool of herself, Skylar also knew she wouldn’t be able to breathe if she didn’t get away from the simpering woman smirking at her. Not bothering to offer an excuse, she stood up and simply said to her surprised companions, “Excuse me. I need to leave.”