Chapter 14
Jessa was sitting with her legs curled up on the bench seat and her arms wrapped around her middle. If Jax didn’t know better, he’d think she was sick, but she insisted she was fine.
“I don’t understand what you think the lawyers can tell you,” she said.
“I have a hunch that Maria Elena’s death wasn’t a random event. We know whoever was stalking your beach house was armed with a sniper rifle, so we have to consider the possibility the real Maria Elena was killed by the same person who’s after you.”
“What, she was murdered?”
Jax nodded. “By an intruder. Cops said it was likely a burglary in progress, but she lived alone, so there was no way to tell if anything was actually taken.”
“What do you think?”
“I think whoever wants that book killed Maria Elena so she’d never receive it.
Only the lawyers from Harold Hopewell’s estate can tell us what would have happened if Maria Elena hadn’t risen from the dead.
If they sent the inheritance to her, but she wasn’t alive to receive it, what would have happened to that package? ”
“You think the next heir in line is the killer.”
“Exactly. And the person who’s after you.” Jax stared in his rearview mirror. “Don’t turn around, but we’ve got a tail. They’ve been following us since we left the hotel.”
“How can you tell?”
“They’re always two cars behind us. Never right behind, but twice now I’ve sped up and they catch up, then get two cars behind. When I stopped for gas, they stopped, too, but no one got out of the car. They want me to know they’re there.”
“What do we do?”
“I haven’t figured that out yet.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Aren’t you going to drink yours?” He’d gotten her a double espresso at the gas station, something he knew she liked, but he was nearly done with his cup and she had yet to touch hers.
“I gave it up. If there is someone following us, they must have been following us yesterday, too.”
“Not necessarily. I would have noticed if they were. Hang on.” He cut across two lanes of traffic to exit at a rest stop that advertised a McDonald’s and a Starbucks Coffee.
Jessa turned around. “They kept going.”
Jax parked the truck and turned to her. “There must be a transmitter on something. What did you bring with you?”
“Just my purse and the book.”
“Let me see your purse.”
“I don’t think…”
He picked it up off the floor. “We’re looking for something small, probably plastic but it could be metal.” He began digging through the contents of her purse. Within moments, he withdrew a cube slightly smaller than an old flash bulb. “Bingo.”
“That’s not mine,” she said.
“A GPS transmitter. It’s reporting our location as we speak. These are professionals, not amateurs, Jessa.”
Maybe even professional hit men.
The thought was unsettling.
Jessa held the transmitter in her palm. “Whoever broke into the house must have put it there.”
“My guess is, we’re going to find our dark sedan within a mile or two of this rest stop, pulled over with imaginary car trouble and waiting for us.”
“What do we do now?”
Jax looked around the parking lot. “We find a rest stop employee who didn’t bother to lock his car. Sit tight. I’ll be right back.”
He made his way briskly across the parking lot to a row of cars set apart from the masses of highway traffic. The second car he tried was unlocked, and the gate pass he was looking for was tucked neatly under the visor.
He climbed back in next to Jessa, handing her the card. “This will get us out the backside of the rest stop through the employee entrance. Our tail is going to take awhile to catch up to us once he realizes where we’ve gone.”
He reached for his drink, only to find them both missing. “What happened to my coffee?”
“I threw it away. That much caffeine isn’t good for you.”
“You threw out my coffee?”
“Why don’t we just throw the GPS in a trash can, too, so this person stops following us?”
“Because it’s time to find out who’s after you, and we’re going to use the GPS as bait.” He swung around behind the rest stop service building. “You’re lucky we’re in a hurry, or I’d run inside Starbucks and buy two more.” He shook his head. “Who throws away someone else’s coffee?”