Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
A groan woke Jesslyn. She tried to raise a hand to her throbbing head only to discover both hands were cuffed in front of her. She also realized the sound had come from her. What—
She sat up with effort, her gaze scanning the area, swallowing hard against the bile working its way up the back of her throat. She was in ... an office? There was a desk with a chair in front of the far wall. Two wingback chairs faced the desk. She rolled her head the other way and spotted a door. With a floor-to-ceiling rectangular window next to it. The blinds were closed. And she was hot . Was she sick again?
She shook herself and took inventory.
No. She had her fire gear on except for her helmet and gloves.
Memories came flickering back.
The fire scene, the guy dressed in matching gear. The struggle. The pinch in her wrist. Then ... what?
She had nothing.
It was a complete blank.
Panic wanted to scramble her thoughts and she fought to keep the fear under control. “Oh Lord, help,” she whispered. She was going to be sick.
She rolled to her feet in desperate search of a bathroom and spotted it right next to her. She raced to the toilet and lost what was in her stomach.
Then sank onto the blue-and-white tile floor.
The clean tile floor. In fact, the bathroom fairly sparkled.
Okay then.
She waited a few more minutes to make sure her stomach was going to behave, then awkwardly rinsed her mouth, wishing she could take her gear off. The water in the sink ran clean, so she drank deeply, getting her fill, then turned to walk to the door, thankful he hadn’t bound her feet.
She eased the blinds aside and glanced out, surprised to see a large warehouse-type area filled to the brim with—she squinted—pool supplies and other assorted chemicals. Was this the arsonist’s stash? Had to be, but where was she?
She tried the knob. Locked. Of course.
Jesslyn pulled in calming breaths. Screaming and pounding on the door would get her nowhere. And might bring her abductor.
So no screaming and pounding. She could do that later when she was safe.
If she ever got safe.
She looked at her wrists. The cuffs needed to come off.
She shot a glance at the desk, then at the window one more time. She could break the glass easy enough, but there was no way she’d be able to slide through the narrow opening. Not in her gear. Sweat dripped down her temples and neck.
Maybe. She might have to try.
A watercooler in the corner gurgled. In the opposite corner, there was a coffee station with a Keurig. She pulled open the double doors of the cabinet. A small bag of sugar, enough K-cups to last her forever, and packets of fake cream. There were also to-go cups and a box of stir sticks along with birthday plates and napkins.
She shut the doors, then hurried to the desk and pulled a drawer open. Empty. She tried them all and heard something rattle in the last one. She reached into the very back and scooped out birthday candles and a book of matches. Well, three matches.
Wow. Helpful. She tossed them back in. She would have preferred a stapler or a safety pin or a paper clip. She shut the drawer and pressed her palms to her forehead. Think, Jess.
Nathan would have noticed her absence by now and started looking for her. He’d probably alerted everyone else and they’d be searching too. But where would they even start? She didn’t even know.
Footsteps sounded outside the door. She darted around to the other side of the desk to keep it between her and whoever entered the room.
Of course if they had a gun, the desk wasn’t going to be much protection, but maybe she could toss it over on him if she had to. She tested how heavy it was and couldn’t budge it. Okay, no tossing.
More sweat beaded on her brow even as she shivered and her palms slicked with a combination of nerves and fear. God, help me, please.
The door opened and a man stepped into the room. Her eyes widened. “You?”
Professor Derek Morgan nodded. “Hi, Jesslyn.”
“What in the world? Why would you want to kill me?”
“I don’t.”
Okay. Right. She leaned forward and placed her cuffed hands on the desk, a plan forming. “Who are you?”
“You know who I am.”
“No, not really. I know you’re a professor at the local university and you used your students to set fires.”
He blinked. “They didn’t set the fires. Kenny was just there to watch and leave the jewelry. He didn’t know why, of course. Just that I needed him to do that and keep his mouth shut about it.”
Could he be any more cryptic? “So you set them? And why leave the jewelry?” She hesitated. The Morgans were on the list. “You lived in my neighborhood, didn’t you? Your mom was the woman he was seeing, wasn’t she?”
“So many questions. It doesn’t matter who set them. And yes, she was. I was thirteen when I knew something was wrong with my family—between my parents. And when I found out your father drove my father deeper into the bottom of a bottle and turned his fists even harder ... well, that wasn’t a good feeling.”
Her heart ached for the confused child he’d been, but fear of the man he’d become pounded through her. “Why take me?”
“Because I need you.”
Her brain hurt. “For what?”
“A couple of things.” He glanced at his phone. “But we’ll get to that in a bit. I have to take care of something first.”
He wanted to play games and she wanted answers. She drew in a ragged breath and tried to think through the fear. First things first. “Are you going to kill me?”
“If I was going to do that, I would have just given you enough of the drug to ensure you didn’t wake up.”
Okay, valid point, but he seemed evasive as well. “But ... but you’ve been trying very hard to do so, and now that you have me, you’re not going to—” What was she doing? Trying to talk him into killing her? She snapped her lips shut.
“No,” he said. “Not at the moment.”
“Why not?” She couldn’t help it.
He laughed. “Again, it doesn’t matter. What matters is you’re here.” He offered her a small smile. An empty one that sent a shiver up her spine. “Enjoy your little ... vacation. I’m not sure how long it’ll last, but I’ll get you some supplies so you’ll be more comfortable until ...”
Until? She held up her hands. “I’m a prisoner. I don’t think comfort is going to factor in.”
“But you won’t be dead. Yet.”
He was infuriating.
Swallowing a scream, Jesslyn studied him, her heart thudding but her fear under control. Her confusion was another story. “What do you need from me?”
“You’re going to pay a debt for me.” He smiled again, but it didn’t reach the flat dark eyes that stared at her. “And I’m not a killer.”
A debt? Somehow she had a feeling he wasn’t talking about money. She also had a feeling he wasn’t ready to reveal exactly what the debt was and how she was going to help him pay it.
“Were you the one who tried to grab me at the restaurant?” He was certainly the right height and everything else.
“Yes.” He scowled this time, that weird smile fading away. “If you had just come peacefully, this would all be over by now.”
Over how? She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. “So you just plan to keep me here indefinitely?”
“No.” His frown deepened. “I just need you to cooperate with me for a while, then you’ll know everything. But if you give me any problems, then you’ll have to die—and then I guess I’ll be a killer too.”
“Too?”
He sighed. “I don’t have time for nonsense and drama. I have enough to deal with. Understand?”
“No. I actually don’t. Can you be a little more clear? Who’s trying to kill me?”
“That’s not for me to say.” He studied her. “You don’t remember me, do you?”
“Should I?”
He leaned forward. “I’ll be watching you, Jesslyn,” he whispered.
Jesslyn gasped and recoiled against the wall behind her, her childhood nightmare coming to life and facing her in the flesh. “You were real. You were there. In my room.”
“I was.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure, to be honest. I was ... jealous of you. You got to start over with life. I wished I could do the same.”
She ignored that last part and stared at him while she let his identity sink in. “You killed them.”
“Me?” He laughed, then scowled. “No, of course not. I told you, I’m not a killer.”
She didn’t believe him. “You were in my bedroom at my aunt’s house. I remember you. I remember your words.”
“Yes. I was compelled to see you, to see what a survivor looked like in some ways, but I also thought about killing you that night.”
Jesslyn shuddered. “Why didn’t you?”
“I told you I wasn’t a killer.”
She was so confused.
“My sister thought you had all died in the fire. That’s what she hoped, but you beat her. You survived all of it—losing your whole family, starting a new life. I admired that. Relished it, even. I overheard her ranting one night when she didn’t think I was there. At the park where she used to watch our mother meet your dad. She saw me there and started screaming at me, like it was my fault you weren’t in the fire too. I asked her what she was going to do and she said nothing. Our mother was dead because of your father.”
Jesslyn flinched. His mother had made choices too, but she didn’t think now would be a good time to point that out.
“But that’s neither here nor there,” he said. “That’s all in the past. Or at least it was until you went on television and told the world about your wonderful father and how you were going to honor him by building a youth center. What this boils down to is that your father was not a good man. There can be no building with his name on it. That’s just laughable. Why would you want to honor a dishonorable man?”
“He’d changed,” was all she could offer.
He snorted. “Right. You don’t understand. My family was all I had. Do you know what it’s like to grow up as the odd one? The quiet one? I was smart so I was expected to achieve great things, right? I loved chemistry so that was great. I could become a famous chemist. But one summer I worked at the country club and discovered I also loved pools.” He gave a humorless laugh. “Have you ever heard of anything so dumb? Maybe it was all the chemistry involved in keeping them clean and balanced. Whatever. But that’s what I loved. I can’t explain it so anyone really understands. But when I’m out there with just the pool, I can just be me. I don’t have to worry about what anyone thinks of me and I don’t have to worry about measuring up. Basically, I just wanted to own my own company and serve customers. Help them keep their pools in great working order. Clean and fun. But that wasn’t good enough for my dad. He hounded me about making something of my life, so I decided I would do both. Teach and work with the pools. But because I have to give all my money away, I’ll never be able to see that dream come true. Until now. It’s just about to be within my grasp and I can stop this stupid teaching thing and start my own business.” He shrugged.
“And I’m somehow going to help you do that.”
He glanced at his phone again. “Yes.”
“What about the other fires?”
“Again, not my work.”
He seemed in a hurry to leave and yet at the same time wanted to stay. Like telling her everything was a relief of some sort.
“But you used your students to watch them? What were they watching for?”
“It was just Kenny. No one else was involved. I promised Kenny I’d make sure he got his degree with honors if he helped me and kept his mouth shut. He was desperate and wasn’t about to say no. Kenny dropped the jewelry at each fire for me. I told him if he got caught, I’d make sure he lost everything. But good old Kenny. When he got caught, he kept his mouth shut.”
“Why drop the jewelry?”
He straightened. “I have my reasons. Don’t worry. They’ll put it together soon.”
“Who’ll put what together?”
“Where to come. They’ll find the check.”
Her brain hurt. “What check? Who’ll find it?”
“My neighbor called and said officers were looking for residents of our old neighborhood. It’s only a matter of time before they connect me to the neighborhood and the school, right? And then come here?”
“Right, but you want them to come here?”
“Yes. I’m sure they missed you almost immediately at the fire scene and started looking, right?”
She frowned. “Yes.”
“Then they’ll be here soon. I just have to pick the right time to call her. They’ll stop her.”
“Her? Who?”
He shook himself and backed toward the door. “I’ve got to go.”
“And Brad?” she asked, ignoring his insistence that he had to leave. “Someone pushed him off the dorm roof. Was that you?”
He whirled back to face her. “No! I told you I wasn’t a killer.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Wait! Why the jewelry? Tell me! Why leave it at the scene?”
“It was my mother’s. I’m the only one who knows about it. I walked in on her trying it on and wondered where she got it. There was no way she could afford those pieces. But she wouldn’t tell me, and she swore me to secrecy. I figured it out, though. I thought about selling them, but the very idea of using that money ... money that came from the man responsible for her death?” He shook his head. “I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want anything from him. It would have felt like a betrayal of my mother. I’ve always wanted to get rid of them, so when the fires started, it seemed a good time to do that. You were supposed to use them to figure out who was burning the buildings, but apparently y’all aren’t that smart.”
“My father bought those pieces. Is that what you wanted me to know?”
It was his turn to stop and stare at her for a moment. “Well, well,” he finally said, “what do ya know? Maybe you’re smarter than I gave you credit for.”
“Why drop them at the fires? If you wanted us to figure out who bought the jewelry, why not just tell us? And how does the jewelry connect to the fires and who started them?”
“Because I can’t have any of this coming back to bite me.”
He didn’t think kidnapping her would come back—
A door slammed overhead and he glanced up. “Like I said, I have to go.” His phone rang. “That’s my cue. I have a client coming to pick up supplies, but I’ll be back with some food. There’s water in the cooler. It’s fresh.”
His reference to a customer sparked an idea. “Is George Harlow a customer of yours?”
He froze again, then tilted his head. “Yes. Why?”
“You managed to get your hands on his key fob somehow, didn’t you?”
“Wow.” He looked impressed. “You figured that out?”
It had been a shot in the dark but explained the gun theft. “Now that I know it was you looking for me, I figured you had to know Harlow.”
“I delivered some supplies to his business. I knew he kept the weapon in his car, and when I saw the keys on his desk, I waited for him to turn his back and pressed the button. Then grabbed it out of his car. Easy enough. And now I really must leave. For real this time. I’ll be back soon.”
“Wait! Please! I need to take this gear off. It’s too hot.”
He hesitated, then shook his head. “No, if I take the cuffs off, you’ll just attack me. I can’t deal with that right now. I have a customer. I’ll turn the air on. Now I’ve got to go.”
“I have more questions.”
But he backed out of the room and the key twisted in the lock and she slammed her hands against the door. “Who needs pool supplies this time of year!”
NATHAN SWIGGED ANOTHER MOUTHFUL of coffee, then set the cup on the hood of the sedan. He, James, Andrew, and Kenzie were at the entrance to Jesslyn’s old neighborhood. They’d requested the help of Lake City’s finest and had about thirty cops canvassing the area, going door-to-door to speak to those who’d lived in the neighborhood when Jesslyn’s family had been there.
Those who weren’t home were being located.
It was taking too much time.
But what other choice did they have?
On the iPad, he scanned the list once again, noting the names that had been checked off the shared sheet.
One name snagged his attention. “Wait a minute.”
Andrew looked up. “What?”
“I think I’ve got it,” Nathan said. “Morgan. It’s common enough not to jump out at me, but put the word ‘professor’ in front of it and now I’m curious.”
Andrew leaned in. “You think it’s the same family?”
“I’m thinking the connection is there. Look at all the kids from the school who are overly interested in the fires. Kids with a professor named Morgan.”
“Yeah, it’s definitely worth looking into.”
“The homeowners were Todd and Patty Morgan.” He leaned over to work on his keyboard for a few seconds, then looked up. “Two kids. A son and a daughter. Daughter’s name is Samantha Morgan Ashcroft and the son is Derek Morgan.” He raised a brow. “Derek Morgan could be a coincidence, but I don’t think so. Patty Morgan is deceased. She shot herself the night of the fire. Todd is in an assisted living home. Derek still lives in the house and Samantha lives about twenty minutes away with her husband and three children.”
“Derek’s a professor, Samantha is...”
“...his sister. Yeah. We had the pleasure of meeting her at the school.” He tapped the keyboard. “She was in the Army. Enlisted after high school and was a ... firefighter.”
“Okay, that’s interesting,” Kenzie said.
Andrew nodded. “No kidding. Think her little brother picked up some tricks on how arson works?”
James nodded. “Let’s find both of them and their spouses too. But mostly, I want eyes on Derek Morgan ASAP. If Jesslyn’s father was involved with their mother, then that would explain the nighttime walks.”
“Maybe. But with his students’ interest in the fires and Kenny’s running from the scene ... it’s all connected somehow. What’s Samantha doing now?”
“I don’t see a job status. Looks like she’s staying home with her kids. They’re two, four, and six.”
“Littles,” Nathan said.
“Let’s go.”