CHAPTER 42 JESSALYN
JESSALYN
“You have a call from an inmate at the Fairfax County Detention Center. This call is subject to recording and monitoring. To accept the call, press ‘hash.’”
My fingers shook as they found the keypad, and the next voice I heard was Justin’s.
“How are you doing?”
I choked out a sob. Justin was the one in jail, and he was asking me how I was coping?
“I’m doing okay. Just…” Just crying, staring at the wall, and baking croissants from scratch. “Just waiting for you to come home. Did you get any sleep?”
“A little.” He lowered his voice. “I’m pretty sure my cellmate is on drugs. Either that or he needs to be on drugs. He keeps talking to himself.”
“Can’t they reassign you?”
“It doesn’t work that way. And even if it did, this place is bursting at the seams.”
Shiro pressed his face against my leg, and I scratched his head. He understood something was wrong, and he wanted to offer comfort in the only way he knew how.
“Ari said you’d be getting out. That there’s a new witness who saw the flowers on Ruby’s grave, and they can’t continue holding you.”
“Special Agent Rimer kept asking about a card. Why wasn’t there a card on the flowers? How do they know it was the same plant?”
“How do they know it wasn’t?”
“That’s exactly what my lawyer said. There’s no way it would hold up in court, but we think they’re stalling for time until they get the autopsy results.”
“Why are they doing this? Why?”
“Special Agent Rimer more or less said that she has suspicions Levi didn’t act alone.”
“What? They think he teamed up with a friend to…commit murder?”
“I guess.”
“That’s insane. Did she question you back when Ruby died?”
“They questioned all of us, but it was her partner who did the talking. He never once suggested it might have been a team effort.”
“Then why is she saying that now?”
“I don’t know. Just hang in there, okay? They can’t hold me here forever, and my lawyer also suggested it might be a publicity stunt.”
“Like, they have to be seen arresting someone, even if it’s the wrong person?”
“Action is better than inaction. Is the crowd still outside the house?”
“Yes, but it’s gotten smaller. They lost interest in me after you were arrested, plus it’s raining, which helped a bit.”
“Do you have anyone with you?”
“Violet’s here, and Ari. Dawson went with Marion to get groceries.
” She’d been so lovely bringing food, but she never paid full price for anything, and we were running out of the staples because they weren’t discounted this week.
“He’s going to park next door and bring the bags in through the back gate. ”
Ari was in the den, watching an old surveillance video from Blackstone House, just hours and hours of nothing happening. When I asked what she was looking for, she’d said she wasn’t sure.
“Tell them thanks,” Justin said. “Are you okay for money?”
Yes and no. Obviously, I had no money of my own.
But Ari had handed me a debit card, and then I’d received an email with details of my new checking account, which I’d figured was a scam, but apparently it wasn’t, and the balance was ten thousand dollars.
Nobody would tell me where it came from.
Of course I couldn’t spend it, but I didn’t want to burden Justin with my financial worries.
“The others are taking care of me.”
“I know they might be slightly unorthodox, but they’re good people.”
In that moment, I agreed with him. An hour later, the story would be very different.
“They are.”
“I have to go, but I’ll call again when I can.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Thank you for standing by me.”
“You were there for me when I had nowhere else to go.”
“Jessie, I love—”
The phone cut off. Shit! Had he been about to say he loved me? Because in my heart, I knew I’d fallen for him too. Despite the awful circumstances and the way we’d been torn apart, I was in love with Justin Norquist. I only hoped I’d be able to tell him in person soon.
“No, no, no, no, no. That must be a mistake.”
It couldn’t be true. No way. It must have been misreported.
Violet reached across the kitchen island for the remote. Marion had brought sixteen pounds of peaches, I’d been stress-baking, and there were pies everywhere.
“I’m telling you, that’s what he said. The medical examiner arrived to do the autopsy, but the body was gone.”
She turned to the local news, where a guy with perfect teeth and slicked-back hair was talking about a missing service dog. He didn’t mention Justin or Amie.
“They’ll run the story again. Or I’ll check the internet. Or ask Ari—she’ll know. Hey, Ari? Are you watching the news?”
“No, I’m watching a surveillance video.”
“What, still?”
“There are days and days of this.”
Shiro scratched at the back door, and I opened it for him. Usually, he was so good, but he must have picked up on the stress because he was acting out of sorts—he’d stolen an entire peach cobbler and wolfed it down when I wasn’t looking.
“Just don’t puke in the house,” I told him. “Please?”
Ari ambled in. “Is there any more peach pie?”
“There’s peach everything.” Violet waved an arm at the counter. “Peach pie, peach tart, peach pavlova…”
“Did you see the news?” I asked. “Something about Amie Carlson’s body going missing?”
“The police have misplaced it. Crazy, huh?”
“How can they misplace a body?”
“I don’t know; maybe they put it in the wrong freezer?”
“But they’ll find it, right? Because Justin said the detectives are waiting for the autopsy results before they let him go.”
No body meant no freedom. Another night in a cell.
Ari shrugged. “Depends on how careless they’ve gotten with their morgue procedures.”
How could she act so relaxed about this? “Justin’s stuck in a cell with a freaking drug addict.”
“Not for long. They arrested him on a vibe, not actual evidence.”
“But what if—”
“Just relax.”
“Have you been spending too long with Jerry? Because you’re starting to sound a lot like her.”
Violet put an arm around my shoulders. “Why don’t you make another peach cobbler? It looked delicious.”
I was stuck in limbo, and Justin was trapped in the ninth circle of hell.