Vile: The Faces of Evil Series: Book 8 Page 10

  Lori stared at her. “What?”

  Jess cleared her throat and pointed to the road.

  Lori jerked her attention forward. “You’re pregnant?” Her voice rose an octave or two as she spoke.

  “Three or four pregnancy tests and one doctor say so,” Jess rolled her eyes, “but I’m still holding out hope it’s a false alarm.”

  Lori maneuvered the Mustang into the first parking lot she came to, shoved the gearshift into park, and turned to Jess. “Are you okay?”

  Jess shrugged. “Physically, I think so. They’re checking me for Wilson’s disease, but otherwise I’m in great health.” Except for being old. No need to mention that part. Too depressing.

  “You know what I mean,” Lori said pointedly.

  The BPD cruiser eased up next to them. Jess waved at the cop behind the wheel to let him know they were fine. “It was a shock.” She turned back to Lori. “Evidently around the time frame that you were missing I did a little missing myself. I skipped a couple or three pills and here I am. Pregnant.”

  “Oh my God.” Lori pressed a hand to her chest. “What about the chief? How’s he handling this?”

  “He wants to get married today and tell his folks.” She smiled, worked hard at restraining the emotion that immediately burned her eyes. “He’s thrilled.”

  Excitement crept into her friend’s face. “Does anyone else know? Can I tell Chet?”

  “Only my sister. I told her yesterday after I saw the doctor.” Jess relaxed a little. It felt good to have that secret off her chest. “I don’t mind if Harper knows as long as he doesn’t start hovering more. If you can believe it, Dan’s working hard to give me a little more space. I think he might be afraid I’ll have a meltdown or something.” Jess frowned. “Oh, and Hayes knows. He figured out I’d bought a pregnancy test.”

  “Yeah, he’s nosy like that,” Lori gripped.

  What was this thing between Hayes and everyone else on the team? Wasn’t he friends with Lori? Not the time to ask, Jess decided. One startling revelation at a time was more than enough.

  Lori turned her hands up. “This is… exciting news.” She smiled then. The first real one Jess had seen from her in days. “Honestly, I’m torn between being ecstatic and completely stunned.”

  “Welcome to my world,” Jess admitted. “My hormones are working against me. Spears is threatening everyone I care about.” She sagged under the weight of it all. “I’m terrified.”

  “I didn’t think about all that.” Lori reached across the console and squeezed Jess’s hand. “Here I am worrying about whether I want to commit to have Chet’s child in the near future and you’re dealing with Spears and you’re already having a baby. Is there anything I can do?”

  “There is.” Jess looked her in the eyes. “You can go back to being the cop you were before Friday.”

  Lori’s expression fell. “Oh.” She looked away. “I’m working on it, but the truth is I don’t know if I can trust myself again. You could’ve been killed.” Her attention dropped to Jess’s waist before rising to meet her eyes once more. “Your child could have died, because of my mistake.”

  “Eventually, you’ll see that you didn’t do anything wrong,” Jess countered. “The sooner the better for all concerned.” She faced forward. Arguing the point wouldn’t change Lori’s mind. She had to find her own way back. “Let’s get this interview done.”

  Harbin’s Auto Repair, 10:10 am

  Darren Harbin, the owner of the shop, agreed to lend Jess the employee break room for questioning Slade Evans.

  Evans was forty, tall, and broad shouldered. Evidently, he enjoyed showing off how much time he spent working out since he wore one of those tank top style t-shirts that exposed his bulging, tattooed biceps. He sported a buzz cut and an indifferent attitude. At least he was willing to talk.

  “Your relationship with Amanda ended in February, is that correct?” Jess studied her notes. “After Valentine’s Day.” That hadn’t been a very good holiday for Jess this year either. She’d been reassigned the Spears case and had foolishly thought that was a positive thing.

  “That’s right. I would’ve ended it sooner but she owed me fifty bucks. She wasn’t gonna have the money until she got her tax refund. She picks up a job here and there just to make sure she gets that earned income whatever for the kid.”

  “Who was her last employer?”

  “Restaurant out on 35. She worked there for a couple months until she got in a big brawl with the night manager. Beat the hell out of the woman.” Evans leaned forward and braced his forearms on the table. “Amanda’s crazy, in case you ain’t figured that out already. I mean, total, batshit crazy. She can be all sweet and lovey-dovey one minute and ready to cut your throat the next.”

  “Is that your opinion or are you speaking from experience,” Jess prodded.

  “Experience,” he assured her, “definitely. I woke up one night and she was sitting in the bed staring at me. Might’ve been all right if she hadn’t been holding a butcher knife.” He shook his head and made a face. “Besides, all she talks about is serial killers and murders. She loves that shit.”

  “Have you ever known her to do more than rough someone up?” Jess placed her badge on the table just to remind him who he was talking to. “The statement you’re giving is the same as if you were in a courtroom testifying. Think carefully before you continue.” That wasn’t exactly true but he wouldn’t know the difference.

  “I can’t prove it but a couple times when she was wasted she bragged about killing people. I thought it was just her trying to be a bad ass. She likes attention. If she doesn’t get it, she gets pissed. I wouldn’t want her pissed at me.” He leaned back, showed his hands. “I knew I was done with her when she started talking about having sex with a serial killer. That player guy. He’s all she talks about. She acts like she knows him or something. I’m telling you she’s nuts.”

  Tension squeezed a little tighter around Jess’s chest. “Did she tell you she’d spoken to him or met him?”

  He shrugged. “Nah. At first, I thought he was more of her crazy talk. I’d never heard of him. I figured she made him up. She does that too. She has this big complicated story about her old man.” He smirked. “My momma said her daddy abandoned her. You try telling Amanda that and she’ll scratch your eyes out.”

  “When did you realize Amanda wasn’t talking about a fictitious serial killer this time?”

  “When I saw all that shit on the news, I asked her about it. She said she could have told me all that before it happened.”

  Jess readied her pencil, hoped the man didn’t see her hand shake. “I’ll need your mother’s name and contact information.”

  “She don’t know nothing about Amanda except that she’s crazy. Hell, she killed her own mamma, didn’t she?”

  “But your mother can vouch for what you’ve told me, isn’t that right?” Jess asked. “You said you were home with your mother last night? If I can’t confirm your statement, then you have no alibi.”

  He rattled off Connie Evans’s telephone number and address.

  “Mr. Evans, is there anything at all you can tell us about Amanda’s current boyfriend, Brock Clements?”

  “He used to work over at Vulcan driving a truck. Friend of mine works there too. He said Brock hasn’t been to work in a while. You could check at the Oasis. Amanda likes to hang out there. She was there Saturday night celebrating the Tide’s win over Arkansas.” He grunted. “I don’t know why she thought that game was something to celebrate. Anybody can beat Arkansas. It’s Florida they better worry about.”

  “I appreciate your cooperation, Mr. Evans.” Jess stood and passed him her card. “If you think of anything else, please call me.”

  “You know that lipstick she wears?”

  Jess collected her bag. “I know it’s red. Why?”

  “It’s Killer Red,” he said with a grin. “She told me it made her feel good to wear it because she’s a killer.” He shrugged. “I gues
s I should’ve believed her.”

  “Perhaps so,” Jess agreed. “You said you saw her on Saturday at a place called the Oasis, I’ll need that address.”

  “Highway 79, going out of town toward Guntersville. You might catch the manager there. His name’s Doug Sanders. He’ll tell you she’s crazy, too.”

  Jess was nearly convinced he was right about that part. “Did Amanda ever mention seeing a psychiatrist or seeking any other mental health support?”

  He lifted his chin and made one of those aha faces as if he’d just recalled something important. “Now that you mention it, she’s talked about a shrink before. I can’t remember his name. One of those quacks over at the mental health center. She used to laugh about how she freaked him out with her stories.” Evans looked straight at Jess then. “Does she freak you out? You know she bleached her hair so she could look like you.”

  Jess stilled. “How do you know she wanted to look like me?”

  He grinned. “I guess I forgot to tell you. You’re the only other thing she ever talked about besides Spears and murders. I thought she made you up too until I saw your pretty face splashed across the news.”

  “You didn’t think to mention that until now?”

  He shrugged. “I didn’t want to say anything until I knew.”

  Jess’s patience was at an end. “Knew what, Mr. Evans?”

  “Whether you were anything like her.” He eyed Jess for several seconds too long. “But I guess you’re not.”

  “Why would you think I was like her?”

  “She said something about y’all being alike, that’s all.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Evans. We may need to call on you again.”

  He glanced from Jess to Lori and back. “Anytime.”

  Once they were in the Mustang en route to the Oasis, Jess did a search for the city’s mental health center. “While I’m questioning the club manager, assuming we can catch him,” she said to Lori, “try getting me an appointment with the doctor Amanda was seeing at the mental health center. I’d really like to talk to him today.”

  “You think he’ll talk to you?”

  “Probably not but it never hurts to ask.” Jess could learn a number of things from his reaction to her questions. If there were reason to worry that Amanda was capable of murder, she would see it in the doctor’s eyes.

  Oasis, 11:30 a.m.

  “Yeah, she was here.” Doug Sanders said as he loaded the cooler behind the bar with bottles of beer. “She and that Brock guy she’s got wrapped around her little finger were here until just before closing.”

  “Have you seen either of them since?” Jess asked.

  Lori joined them at the bar and gave Jess a nod. If the doctor Amanda had been seeing had agreed to see Jess maybe he would cooperate to the extent possible. That was always a plus. Doctor-Patient privilege wasn’t easy to get around but anything he could offer could prove useful.

  “Nope,” Sanders said, “and I’m pissed too. Brock was supposed to help me with some plumbing issues yesterday and he didn’t show. He’s not answering his cell and nobody’s seen him since Saturday. You can’t count on nobody these days.”

  “Does he make it a habit of disappearing like this?”

  “Not that I know of. Why don’t you ask his mother? She lives over in the projects close to the hospital. Brock’s one of them guys with that “failure to launch syndrome.” He still lives with her. She might know where he is.”

  Jess wanted to interview the boyfriend’s mother anyway since she was the one to find Margaret Brownfield’s body. Maybe she had some idea where her son would hide if he were in trouble.

  If he was still breathing.

  13

  Mayor Pratt’s office, Birmingham, 12:45 p.m.

  Dan had waited for half an hour. Pratt evidently derived great pleasure from wasting his time. Dan had rushed to the mayor’s office on numerous other occasions for an emergency meeting only to end up sitting here twiddling his thumbs.

  Pratt’s secretary grimaced. “I’m so sorry you’re having to wait, Chief. No sooner than he requested this meeting, he was called away. He hoped to be back before you arrived, apparently that didn’t work out.”

  Dan resurrected a decent smile for the woman. This wasn’t her fault. Pratt was yanking his chain. He had been against Jess coming onboard with the department from the beginning and things had only gone downhill from there. Since Dan refused to cooperate with his desires, Pratt was no longer happy with Dan either.

  It was no surprise the man had jumped on the bandwagon against Dan in the Allen investigation. When the mayor didn’t get his way, he sought opportunities to remove the problem. Dan had become a problem.

  He hadn’t heard from Jess since about ten this morning. He hoped she was being careful. He didn’t want her out in the field but she was determined to do the job—the job he’d talked her into taking. He supposed he couldn’t have his cake and eat it too. Be that as it may, things were different now. She was carrying his child. Their child. He needed her to be more careful than ever.

  He’d rushed home after a long, drawn out meeting with the city planners last night and found her asleep on the sofa. Thankfully, Sylvia and Gina had kept her company for most of the evening. It was good to have friends he could count on. He rubbed his jaw. Last night’s big news was all about Gina’s secret sexual preference. He’d been surprised at first, but hey, she had a right to be who she was. No one should have to pretend to be someone he or she wasn’t. He was glad Jess had found a way to include her in the Jackson County investigation. Getting Gina out of the city for the day would give her a break from those hounding her for confirmation.

  Dan checked the time again. Where in the hell was Pratt?

  Just when Dan was ready to walk, Pratt breezed into his private lobby. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Chief.” He slowed long enough to gesture to his door. “Come in, please.” To his secretary he said, “Hold my calls.”

  Dan took his usual seat in front of Pratt’s desk and waited for him to settle into his. For more than a decade, he had served as the liaison between this office and the one he now held. He’d had the utmost respect for Joseph Pratt in the beginning. The mayor, among others, had hoped to groom Dan for moving up in the local political world. Pratt had his eye on the governorship. He’d hoped Dan would be elected as mayor and perhaps eventually into higher office.

  Time changes all things. Dan had come to realize that politics was not for him. The level he tolerated as chief of police was more than enough. He no longer had any respect for or cared to waste his time or energy dealing with those who assumed justice should take a backseat to their perception of the greater good. Over the years, he and Pratt had come to a new understanding: they had little, if anything, in common. Sharing the same social circles was the extent of their common interests and even that ground was shaky.

  If turning a blind eye on occasion and choosing power and wealth were more important than justice, Dan wanted no part of higher office. He was happy where he was. Trouble was his position as chief of police often conflicted with what the mayor and his allies wanted.

  Tough. Dan wasn’t budging anymore.

  “I’ve been in a meeting with the city comptroller this morning,” Pratt announced. He studied the documents on his desk for a moment before leaning back in his chair to scrutinize Dan. “The budget overruns for your department this quarter are staggering. Round the clock surveillance on no less than a dozen people.” He turned his hands up in question. “Where do you expect these additional funds are going to come from? Are you prepared to cut back on personnel? Training? You aren’t thinking, man!”

  There was an issue Dan hadn’t expected today. “I’m well aware of the department’s budget overruns at the moment. But we’ve been careful the past three or four years. We’re in good shape. I’m on top of this.” Dan had met with the comptroller last week. “I was assured the budget’s on target.”

  Pratt scoffed. “I hardly think so. The depar
tment’s emergency slush fund is disappearing like water through a sieve.” He tapped the pile of reports on his desk. “This has to stop. We can’t be wasting resources because one of your deputy chiefs refuses to step down. Harris should take a leave until this Spears business is over. Instead, she’s keeping the community in turmoil and using up resources. This is your problem, Dan. You need to get it under control.”

  Before responding, Dan waited until he’d restrained the blast of fury that hit him square in the chest. It was best that he not lose his temper. A reaction like that wouldn’t help anyone. He had a family to support and protect. This was no longer just about him. Dial it back a notch, Dan.

  “I understand your concerns,” he offered as calmly as his anger would allow. “I’ll sit down with the comptroller and go through the numbers again to be certain there’s no misunderstanding. If I’m wrong about the standing of the department’s budget, I’ll get things in line.” He took a breath, gave himself a mental pat on the back for keeping his voice down and his tone amiable.

  Pratt shook his head. “What’s happened to you, Dan? We’ve worked together in one capacity or the other for going on twenty years. You’ve always been a team player. A man for the people. You know how to get things done and keep the community safe and happy.” He shook his head. “Suddenly, it feels like you’re an island. No longer a part of all we’ve built together.”

  Dan saw red. The outrage tried to gain a foothold once more but Dan held it back. “I’m not operating any differently, Joe. The difference I see is your continued attempts to manipulate my office and my department. I work for the people of Birmingham. Their safety is my top priority. Can you still say the same?”

  Before Pratt could stop babbling and say something intelligent and clever, Dan held up a hand. “No need to answer that question. I’m well aware of who you serve. I’m also aware of your hand in the troubles I’m currently experiencing. Mark my word, Joe, I’m not going down without a fight.”

  “Is that a threat?”