They stood in the hospital hallway simply staring at each other. The minutes ticked away while her heart battled with her head. He knew from the steely glint in her eyes when she’d reached her decision—and somehow he didn’t think he was going to like it.
“I’ll meet you tomorrow at 4:00 p.m.”
“That’s not necessary, Liz. I can drive the boy myself.”
“If you don’t want to be forced into court for a ruling on this, then you’ll do things my way.” Her body language told him that her terms were nonnegotiable. “I am going to make sure nothing happens to that boy physically or emotionally. I will not let you repeat the damage your father did to Luke or to my family. I will be driving you to the house. Is that understood?”
Adam stifled the desire to lash back in anger and simply nodded his agreement to her terms.
Liz started to walk away and then turned. “By the way, if you are moving into the house with the boy, then be prepared, Freud, because I am, too.”
* * *
He turned off his headlights, eased into a parking spot across the street from the hospital and cut the engine. He glanced at his wristwatch in the glow from the streetlamp. Ten minutes past midnight. He looked up and down the deserted street. No one around. He was safe for the moment.
He shouldn’t be here. He knew that. But he couldn’t stay away.
He stared into the darkness and wondered which lit window in the multifloored hospital belonged to the boy.
How could this happen? How could there have been a child in the house and he hadn’t known? He hadn’t seen any toys. There’d been a room filled with odd things like a funny-looking hammock swing hanging from the ceiling, some mats on the floor and a computer in the corner. He’d thought it was some kind of weird exercise room. It never dawned on him that there might be a kid in the house.
Passing headlights illuminated the inside of his vehicle. He ducked down and his heart surged with a rush of adrenaline. The risk he might get caught was like a natural high. Who needed drugs?
He did. Too often and too many.
He cursed himself for his stupidity. He shouldn’t be in this situation. He should have taken care of everything at once.
Why hadn’t he seen the kid?
He slammed his hand on the steering wheel.
Then a glimmer of hope filled his mind. If he hadn’t seen the kid, maybe the kid hadn’t seen him, either.
It was all over the news that there was something wrong with the kid. He had problems talking or something. So he probably couldn’t tell anyone about him, anyway.
But could he afford to take the chance?
No.
He had no choice. He had to find out what that boy had seen before the boy had a chance to tell anyone else.
THREE
“Y
ou can stare at them photos till the cows come home and you’re not gonna see anything you ain’t seen before.”
Liz startled at the sound of Tom Miller’s voice but tried not to show it as she turned to face her deputy. She’d been standing in front of the white erase board, examining every inch of the crime scene photos.
“There has to be something here,” Liz said. “Something that can steer our investigation in the right direction. What are we missing?”
“Wish I knew. Those pictures are making me plumb cross-eyed.” Deputy Miller handed her a foam cup filled to the rim. The rich, robust aroma, unlike the mudlike brew they normally had available, woke up her senses. When he passed her a Boston cream doughnut, too, she almost drooled.
“You know me too well, Tom.” She smiled, bit into the doughnut and licked the oozing, sweet cream off her lower lip. “This is just what I needed,” she mumbled with her mouth full.
“There’s a couple dozen more on the table in the break room. And a decent pot of coffee for a change. Thought the men could use the boost before our meeting this morning.”
He stood beside her and stared at the board. “I couldn’t sleep last night so I came in early. I stared at the board for hours just like you been doing. Not one of them pictures talked to me. Leastwise, nothing I wanted to hear.”
He shook his head and raised his hat brim then let it settle back down. “Thank God your daddy isn’t alive. It would break his heart to see a family destroyed like this in his town.” He glanced at her and a red flush crept up his neck. “No offense, Sheriff. I’m not sayin’ that you’re not just as torn up about all this.”
“I understand, Tom. I miss him, too.” Liz placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll get this guy.”
Voices sounded behind them as the investigation team filed into the briefing room and took their seats around the conference table. Liz glanced at their brimming coffee cups and the doughnuts in their hands. She chastised herself for not thinking of it herself but was grateful that Tom had. She took a seat at the head of the table. Detective Davenport sat to her right. Sal pulled up a chair on her left. The rest of the men filled in the remaining seats.
“Good morning, gentlemen.” She smiled at the men as they returned her greeting. “While you finish your breakfast, I’ll get this meeting started so we can get back out there as quickly as possible.”
She shuffled through some papers in the pile in front of her and pulled out a sheet of paper. “Darlene is off this shift. I have a copy of her preliminary report. The autopsy reports aren’t available yet but we hope to have them by tomorrow. Detective Davenport’s team has verified that the plastic bag we recovered from the Hendersons’ bedroom did contain five pounds of high-grade cocaine.”
“Five pounds?” Paul asked. “That’s not recreational use. The guy was a dealer.”
“Did they get any prints off the bag?” Tom asked.
“No prints. Not even Henderson’s. It was wiped clean.”
Sal looked puzzled. “That doesn’t sit right with me. No prints? Not even his own? Why would the guy wipe his prints off the bag before hiding it under his mattress? Did he have some kind of sixth sense that he was going to get raided or something?”
“Maybe he wore gloves,” Paul replied.
“Maybe,” Sal answered. “But if he wore gloves every time he handled the bag, then where are the gloves? We haven’t found any, have we?”
Liz scoured her evidence inventory sheets. “No gloves.”
“See.” Sal leaned back in his chair. “Something stinks and I can’t quite put my finger on it.”
“Moving on.” Detective Davenport took over the lead. “Nothing significant has shown up in the Hendersons’ background check. Henderson was a model employee and well liked at his old job. They hated to see him leave but were happy for him when they heard he planned to start his own computer tech firm.”
“Anyone express any animosity about the move?” Tom asked. “Any signs of jealousy that the guy was going to run his own business?”
“Nothing that turned up in our initial interviews. Everyone seemed to sincerely wish him well. His boss not only gave him a letter of recommendation but was instrumental in helping him get his first client. Seems Third National Bank has a branch in Country Corners and was updating their computer software. Since his old firm holds the account, the boss threw the local business his way.”
“What about the boy’s school?” Paul asked. “Anyone talk to any of his teachers? Maybe the parents had a falling-out with another parent or something.”
“One of my men checked that out,” Davenport replied. “Jeremy had been in an Easter Seals special education preschool class when they lived in Tennessee. Kate chose to homeschool him once they moved here but not because of difficulties with the schools or parents. She just wanted to take a more hands-on approach to his education. She continued to take him to Poplar Bluff for occupational therapy three times a week.”
“Anyone know what brought them here in the first place?” Sal asked.
“I can answer that one,” Liz said. “Kate told me that she was born and raised in Poplar Bluff, which has grown quite a bit since she was a kid. They talked about it and wanted to settle somewhere a little more rural. They thought Country Corners would be the ideal suburban setting to raise children and yet still be close enough to take advantage of the things more populated areas had to offer.
“Kate’s mother has dementia and lives in a nursing home in Poplar Bluff. Our town is still close enough that she could take Jeremy for his therapy and visit her mom, too. Seemed like the ideal situation.”
“Didn’t work out quite the way they planned, did it?” quipped one of Davenport’s men, who was immediately censured with a glare from his superior.
“How about you, Sal? Got any leads?” Liz asked.
“On the surface, it’s a lovefest at this job, too. Everyone singing the boss’s praises. But we all know that nobody likes to speak ill of the dead. I did a little digging and I found out that Henderson fired a couple of people this past year. Don’t think they’ll be singing his praises when I interview them.”
Liz and Davenport absorbed the information and both nodded.
Brian Walker, one of the men on Davenport’s team, spoke up. “I read in this morning’s paper that the Henderson boy is being released today.”
Liz winced. She wished there was some legal way to muzzle the press. How was she supposed to run an investigation when every move was broadcast to the public? Didn’t the press know that killers read, too?
“Is that true?” Davenport asked. “Has anyone even talked to the boy yet? Does he know anything pertinent to our investigation?”
Liz spoke with authority. “Yes, it’s true that Jeremy is being released this afternoon. So far he has not been able to respond to any questions regarding the murders.”
“Released? Where? To whom?” Sal’s expression looked annoyed that she hadn’t shared this information with him earlier.
“Dr. Morgan is accompanying the boy to his home until we can make other arrangements.”
Liz sighed deeply and leaned back in her chair, steeling herself to deliver the rest of her news.
“We can’t ascertain yet if Jeremy witnessed the murder or not. But one thing we do know. That child saw his family lying dead. My goal is to bring the killer to justice and to help Jeremy feel safe again.”
“Are you sure he saw what happened?”
Liz answered Tom’s question. “The boy hasn’t spoken a word about the incident so we’re not sure yet what he witnessed, if anything at all.”
“If he did witness his family’s murder, how do you plan to keep him safe?” Sal asked. “I mean, once the killer reads the papers or hears on the news that he’s been released, what’s going to stop him from making a second run at the boy?”
“We are,” Liz answered, putting a don’t-dare-
question-me tone in her voice. “I will be arranging for 24-7 police protection.”
A low murmur traveled around the table.
Liz held up her hand for silence. “I know. Everyone’s been working double shifts as it is. We are a small department with a small staff. I understand.”
She glanced around the table. “I have a plan. Most of the coverage has already been arranged.” Liz turned her attention to Davenport. “My team and I will be able to cover most of the time slots. I’ll need to utilize your men on the graveyard shift so I can get some sleep. Can I count on you, Sergeant?”
“I’ll make it happen.”
“Thanks.” Liz took a breath and prepared herself for dropping her next bombshell. “Dr. Morgan and I will be moving into the residence with the child.”
Paul, who had been sipping coffee and eating doughnuts through the entire meeting, looked up. “You’re moving in, Sheriff? What does that mean?” Still looking a little sick, even five days after the incident, her youngest deputy scratched his head and looked puzzled. “Are you just sleeping over there or what?”
“I’ll be moving my office to the house. With computers, visual teleconferences and cell phones, I feel confident I can temporarily run my office from there. When there is an occasion that requires my presence outside of the home, I will arrange for one of our team or one of the troopers to stand in for me until I return. Our goal is to provide 24-7 protection for Jeremy and to catch this killer as quickly as humanly possible.”
“And just how long do you think you’re going to be able to run a sheriff’s office from the house?” Sal’s disapproval at this turn of events was evident in the sharp tone of his voice. “It’s going to be hard enough protecting the boy. Aren’t you making a target of yourself, too?”
“I will be protecting Jeremy.” She looked directly at Sal. “And I appreciate your concern, Sal, but I’m a cop not the victim. I don’t need protection.”
Sal scowled, the news still not sitting well with him. “Do I need to remind you that the Henderson case isn’t our only case?”
“I don’t need to be reminded of my obligations—by you or anyone else.” A tense silence descended upon the room. “That brings up another point. How is the investigation progressing with the drug dealer’s murder? Any leads?”
Sal shrugged. “Nothing definite. Got a couple of nibbles I’m following up. I’ll let you know if I turn up anything solid.”
Liz nodded. “Have any of you been able to tie the cocaine in Henderson’s possession to any of our known local dealers?”
“Still working on it. Nothing yet.” Paul wiped the last of doughnut cream from his lip.
“What’s on your agenda today, Tom?” Not willing to continue a verbal battle with Sal, Liz tried to steer the conversation in a different direction.
“Well, I love Country Corners same as the next fella,” Tom said. “But all small towns, even ours, have secrets. Maybe Henderson stumbled across one of those secrets and it got him killed. So, I’m gonna force myself to have tea with some of the old lady gossips in this town. Ain’t no tellin’ what I might find out.”
Laughter rippled through the room.
“Good idea,” Liz said.
“Well, then the way I see it,” Tom said. “If we want this killer caught and our sheriff back in her office, then we better get off our butts and make it happen.”
* * *
He spread a line of cocaine on the kitchen counter, twisted a dollar bill and snorted it into each nostril. The instantaneous rush raced along his nerve endings, filling him with an almost inhuman energy considering he’d had very little sleep since “the incident.”