Chapter 8
After lunch, Jillian and Nick cleaned up their dishes and placed them in the dishwasher for Mrs. Hudson.
Nick went to his room to take care of JAG business that had come through on his phone while Jillian decided to rest in the family room.
On the way, she passed by Mr. McGinty’s study, and she recalled the painful days of his divorce and the custody hearing, reminding her of the local judge’s murder this morning.
Still unable to recall the judge’s name that heard the McGinty custody case, she went in and began searching the file cabinet for the custody papers.
Under normal circumstances she’d never do this, but with Travis missing and Mr. McGinty out of touch she didn’t see any other choice.
She had to know if the murdered judge that had been found dead might have some connection to what was going on. Or if her mind was running wild.
She was elbow deep in the lateral file drawer searching through the neatly labeled files when Nick walked in on her.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
She jerked up, losing her footing and stumbled backwards, crashing into the desk. Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment. “Trying to see if I can find the custody papers and if Judge Michael Stevens signed them. The one who was found murdered this morning or have you forgotten?”
“And if they are?” he asked. “What will it prove?”
“I don’t know,” Jillian said. “But I am sure it’s not a coincidence that a judge was murdered the day after Travis was abducted and I was hit by a car.”
Nick nodded. “At least sit in the desk chair. And make sure not to make a mess.”
She grimaced and did what he suggested. “It’s not easy with one arm and the other in a cast.”
“I’m sure,” he said. “I can do it if you want. Or I can give Swede a call and have him do a court documents search for the information in question.”
“Doesn’t he have better things to do than deal with us?” she threw over her shoulder before turning back to the files.
“He’s a great multitasker and he’d be happy to help us in any way he can. It’s all part of his job as he sees it,” Nick explained.
A few minutes later, Jillian pulled out a manila folder and held it high in the air. “Eureka.” She closed the drawer.
Swiveling the chair around, she opened the folder and flipped through the pages of the documents until she found what she was searching for. Groaning, she looked over at Nick who had walked to the desk. “It was Judge Michael Stevens.”
“And who was Geneva’s attorney for the divorce and custody hearings?” Nick asked.
Jillian flipped through the pages until she came to the divorce complaint, but the attorney’s names were not listed. Then she recalled seeing a section of paperclipped letters and turned to them. “Here it is. Her attorney was Amber Collins. Why?”
“It’ll be good to know her name if we need it later,” he said, jotting it down in his little notebook. “Don’t want to have to come back and search for it later. Mrs. Hudson might catch us.”
She rolled her eyes, closing the file and placing it neatly back in place with the other folders.
Scanning the desk to make sure it was as neat as when she came into the office, she used her right hand and pushed herself to a standing position, waiting until she was steady before she hobbled out the door behind Nick.
“What are we going to do for the rest of the afternoon?” she asked as they finally headed to the family room.
He shrugged. “If this was a murder investigation, I’d be creating a murder board, but it isn’t.”
“I still think the logic behind one of those boards would work in a kidnapping,” she said. “Let’s call it a crime board instead.”
“A kidnapping normally involves a ransom demand, but there hasn’t been one,” Nick said, turning to face her in the hallway. “Why?”
Jillian pursed her lips together. “Because it isn’t about the money.”
“Then what is it about?”
“Travis.”
“That’s what I’m thinking as well,” Nick said. “And the only person who would want him enough to take him would be his mother.”
“But why now?” Jillian asked. “And why if she took him did she react the way she did when I informed her he was taken?”
“Why not now?” Nick said. “It’s the perfect time. She’s finally sober. His father is out of the country. His nanny should have been dead if the hit and run had been successful.”
Jillian reached for the wall and supported herself not believing she hadn’t seen the connection herself. It made perfect sense. “We need to share this theory with Detective Simons.”
“Yeah. We do,” Nick agreed, pulling out his phone to give Simons a call, but he addressed what Jillian had said about Geneva first. “But to answer your question about the way Geneva acted when you told her about Travis. If she took him she had to act the way she did not to let on otherwise.” He finished the call to Simons.
The man answered with a gruff voice. “What is it?”
“We believe we know who is behind Travis’ abduction,” Nick said.
“Is it a theory or do you have actual proof because I am getting my ass chewed by higher ups at the moment,” Simons said. “No Amber Alert. Allowing the father twenty-four hours to inform his ex-wife, yada yada. I’m being treated like I don’t know how to run my own investigation suddenly.”
“It’s our theory, but I think we have solid evidence of events that proves it could be true,” Nick said. “We just need for you to investigate the mother.”
Simons sighed. “You told me the mother lost her custodial rights and isn’t in the boy’s life. The father wanted her managed carefully so she wouldn’t relapse when she learned about the abduction.”
“That’s right which all leads to motive,” Nick said.
“The father’s remarried, he’s out of the picture for a few weeks.
The nanny has been injured but not killed like they tried to do.
The court judge who ruled in the custody hearing was found murdered this morning.
And I suspect her attorney is next because she failed to get Geneva even partial custody.
. And now that she’s supposedly sober Geneva is going after Travis anyway she can. ”
“Wait a minute,” Simons said. “Are you saying my new homicide case from this morning is related to this one?”
Nick whistled. “Your new case is the Stevens murder?””
“What?” Jillian asked.
Nick put his cellphone on speaker so she could hear. “His other case is the Stevens murder.”
Jillian’s mouth dropped open. “Holy…”
Nick held his phone in his hand and spoke into it. “Judge Michael Stevens presided over McGinty’s custodial hearing,” Nick explained. “Jillian heard it on the radio while we were outside the Quickie Mart.”
“Shit.” Simons was silent for a few moments. “Give me the woman’s information.”
“Geneva Reyes McGinty, although Jillian believes she may not use her married name anymore,” Nick said. “Her parents, Robert and Judy Reyes, are high rolling real estate agents in town.”
“So, she has money backing her,” Simons said.
“Sounds like it.”
“There’s money all around this case,” Simons said.
“That explains why the mayor has stuck his nose into it and has been up my craw all day. I just don’t know how he got wind that McGinty’s son had been abducted.
Unless her side of the family let it leak to cause trouble for my investigation and stall matters.
If so, I’ll not only have her brought up on charges of third-degree felony of interference with custody but also charge them with tampering with an investigation. ”
Nick whispered, “I need Geneva’s information.”
Jillian handed him her phone with her text message from Mr. McGinty showing Geneva’s phone number and address.
Nick took a photo of the message and sent it to Simons while they were on the call.
“Jillian, I want those letters you received before all of this started,” Simons said.
“Sure,” she said.
“We’ll get those to you,” Nick said, ending the call.
He glanced at his watch, checking the time before he reached for her hand and led her to the family room.
He settled her on the sofa and propped her left leg with a few pillows before channel surfing to find something on the large screen television for them to watch. Then he sat at the far end of the sofa.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling exhausted,” he said.
“It’s only four in the afternoon,” she said.
“I don’t care. I was up hours before you,” Nick said.
“That’s what you think. I couldn’t sleep last night for worrying over Travis,” she admitted. “I’m afraid if I stop, I might fall asleep.”
He patted her non-injured leg. “It’s okay if you do. We’ve accomplished so much today. Don’t you agree?”
“And yet, Travis is still missing.”
“We’ll find him. I can feel it in my bones. We’re getting closer,” he said. “Let’s rest for half an hour and then take your suspicious letters to the police station to Simons. He wants them.”
“He can have them,” she said and leaded her head to the side against the sofa back and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
Nick leaned his head back as well, closing his eyes and when he opened them and looked at his watch an hour had passed.
“Jillian. Jillian, wake up,” he said, unfolding himself as he got up off the sofa. He shook her to wake her when his words didn’t do the trick.
Her eyes slowly opened, and she stared at him with sleep-heavy eyes. “Did I fall asleep?”
“You did, so did I,” he said. “We need to go. I’m going to check in to make sure Simons is still at the police station.”
“We should have Mrs. Hudson go with us to drive my car back. It’s still parked in the lot across from the precinct,” Jillian said. “I’d forgotten about it. I’ll see if she’s in the middle of cooking and get those letters.”
Nick dialed Simons.
“You must have telepathy. I was about to call you. We have Geneva down here for an interview.”
“We were just coming down to bring the letters,” Nick said. “But wanted to make sure you were still in the office.”
“Yeah, come on down. I’ll stall if you want to observe,” Simons said.
“How’d you get her to agree to come in?” Nick asked.
“I told her it was just routine when a child goes missing to talk to the parents,” Simons said. “Let me know when you get here and I’ll let you park in the officers parking, so Jillian doesn’t have to walk across the street from the pay lot. It can’t be easy to get around in that boot.”
“You got it.” Nick ended the call and hurried from the family room toward the kitchen hoping Mrs. Hudson wasn’t cooking dinner either.
When he got to the kitchen, Jillian was coming in the door from the backyard. “Do you have the letters?” he asked.
“I do,” she said.
“Great. We need to get going,” he said. “Geneva is waiting in interrogation. Simons said he’d stall if we hurry.”
“I’m ready when you are,” Mrs. Hudson said. “Dinner can wait until you’re both finished down there.”