Chapter Six
Josiah Teller survived his surgery. A week later, he was recovering well in a suite in Lane Medical.
“He remembers someone knocking on his front door, but after that he said he can’t recall a thing.” Detective Williams had his arms crossed over his chest. Outsiders might think he was being nonchalant, but Price knew him well enough to understand he was brimming with anger.
An entire week had gone by and not one stitch of evidence or a lead had been found about Josiah’s attacker.
And now he was having to admit that to their newly returned Sheriff Weaver.
Liam sat at the head of the meeting table, fiddling absently with his wedding band. He tilted his chin to the side a little in thought.
“The doc says it could be a trauma response given how violent the attack seemed to be,” he said. “That or the very real possibility that the physical injury was too much. Either way, I don’t think we can bank on Josiah remembering anytime soon.”
Price’s coffee mug between his hands was empty. He’d finished part of a patrol before joining the recap and was starting to feel the lack of caffeine now. He had already been feeling frustration way before Sheriff Weaver had entered the building.
“I’ve been visiting Josiah and each time we talk, we always find our way back to the fact that Josiah really can’t figure out why anyone would attack him or go through his house,” Price added.
“It could have been random,” Rose offered.
She was standing in the doorway of the meeting room, paperwork in her hand.
She was on the other side dealing with a public intoxication arrest near the county line.
She pointed in the direction of the area of the sheriff’s department that housed the two holding cells.
“My drunk friend earlier was willing to fight anyone and everyone just because they were there. It could have been kind of the same thing. Our attacker did what they did simply because Josiah opened the door.”
“But then what about their stint in the house that morning?” Darius asked. He turned his attention to Price. “The guy you fought came back. Whether that was for an object in Josiah’s house or Josiah himself, it doesn’t read as random. They came to Josiah for a reason.”
That was the sticky part. If one of the two events hadn’t happened it would have made more sense, but with the two it was tripping them all up.
And it wasn’t like they could simply make it all clear.
That didn’t mean they would stop trying to though.
Darius was still the detective of the department, and he was still putting in his best. Price, guilt aside, had returned to his normal daily routines.
At least in body.
In mind, he was still in his fight against the masked man in Josiah’s house.
If he had subdued him, then would Josiah have almost died?
Price let go of the what-ifs as the meeting concluded. He finished out his shift and found himself driving in the direction of the only coffee shop in town. It was just after four and Winnie had arrived right before him from school.
“Don’t tell me you’re going for another coffee,” Winnie said in greeting from behind the counter. “You’re too old to have one this late.” She had a textbook open, a highlighter in one hand.
The sight warmed him.
Price had never been the greatest at school.
There was something about putting pencil to paper that had never worked well for him.
That and he’d spent most of his academic career talking and playing around instead of focusing on the task at hand.
Winnie’s mother had been different. Her attention had always been on studying.
It had been the people part of school she hadn’t been a fan of at all.
Winnie?
She was split between the two.
She brought home As, studied religiously and had won two spelling bees in her time.
She also was good at the talking bits. People liked being around her.
Price had often gotten compliments about how polite she was too.
He had been rabble-rousing then, and now his kid was soothing the old annoyances he’d left behind.
It made him proud.
It also made him sure of one thing: Winnie Collins was going places.
And, when she finally went to those places?
He was gone too.
Price reached across the space between them and gave her a light thump on the forehead.
“I’ll remind you that you called me old when you’re my age,” he said. “I bet you won’t joke about it then.”
Winnie didn’t dodge the little hit but brushed it off. She didn’t give up her highlighter though. Instead, she used it to point toward the back.
“I can make you the normal but fair warning, Corrie just got a call and she got that face she normally does when something exciting just happened.”
Price glanced in that direction.
“Something exciting?”
Winnie sighed.
“I suspect she’ll tell you all about it once she sees you.”
Price was already angling his body toward the door.
“You know, you might be right,” he said. “I think I should cut down on the caffeine. I’ll just come back to grab you after shift. I’ll stay in the car though.”
Winnie laughed. Price might have liked to talk a lot, but gossip was a double-edged sword he’d been cut by plenty of times since becoming a young father.
He didn’t like indulging in it unless he had to.
Winnie was more or less the same. She’d often rolled her eyes at Corrie’s need to tell her everyone else’s business.
Not to Corrie’s face though. Winnie was, once again, the polite Collins.
She waved bye and Price was back in his truck.
It felt too early to go home, but he wasn’t about to go back to the department. Price scanned the parking lot. It took him a few beats to realize he was looking for JJ’s car. She must have gotten off work earlier.
He wondered how she was doing. Josiah had said she had visited him once in the hospital since he’d gotten out of surgery, but that had been when Price was on duty.
Word had traveled around that she’d been the one to find Josiah in the field, but Winnie had assured him that while a few more people had come to the coffee shop looking for her, JJ had seemed to stay out of the way of most people’s rapid-fire questioning.
That was good, he’d decided. She probably needed some peace after everything she’d seen.
Price nodded to his own thoughts and went back to trying to figure out his next destination when the door to the coffee shop swung open. Corrie was indeed excited about something. She was visibly bouncing when Price made eye contact with her through the windshield.
She made a stop motion and was at his truck door all within what seemed like one quick movement.
Corrie wasn’t smiling but she wasn’t frowning either. Her voice however was sweet with the syrup of a favor.
“Hey there, Price,” she said. “This sure is fate catching you here.”
Price’s eyebrow rose at that.
“You do know my daughter works here, right?” he deadpanned.
She waved that off and dove in.
“I mean, when I need a really big favor, you just so happen to be around. It’s kismet!”
During high school, Price wouldn’t have called his relationship with Corrie Daniels that much more than an acquaintance that sometimes bordered on a casual friendship.
Now, in their thirties, he was starting to realize somewhere along the line that had changed.
Corrie was now someone who looked after Winnie, teased him about his lack of a dating life, questioned his choices and, apparently, had no hesitation in asking for favors.
Price wasn’t sure if he liked this change.
Just as he wasn’t sure he’d like a favor that had her this animated.
He narrowed his eyes, suspicious.
“Fate and kismet,” he repeated. “If you say destiny next, I’m out before I hear your ask.”
Corrie was unperturbed. Her question didn’t come with the fancy buzzword though.
“How do you feel about going to a fun little party tomorrow night as our plus-one?”
That surprised him. He didn’t know which point to land on first.
“Party? Our?”
She jerked her thumb back at the coffee shop.
“It’s a business bureau thing in the city, mainly meant to network. Originally, it was supposed to be Cassandra going but she can’t with the baby. Then I was going to go but, well, something just came up that I need to do instead.”
“And so you’re asking me to go? You know I don’t work here, right?”
Corrie rolled her eyes.
“I’m asking you to be the plus-one to JJ, who’s been nice enough to agree to go and schmooze a little on our behalf.”
Price was less sarcastic in his response.
“JJ’s going?”
She nodded.
“I’d send you with Winnie but it’s an adult soiree with drinks and the like.
Plus, I figured since your social life could use a boost, it might be good for you to go too.
That and I feel bad sending our quiet JJ out to battle alone.
” Corrie slapped her hands together. “Y’all only have to fake nice and chat for an hour.
You’ll have my gratitude for life. What do you say? ”
Price didn’t have to think about it long.
“What’s the dress code?”
* * *
JJ ended her call with Corrie and left her cell phone on the coffee table. She left her house soon after.
The sun wasn’t setting but the heat wasn’t as high as it had been during the day.
A fact that made her exercise clothes less stifling.
Even the small bag she was wearing across her chest wasn’t as uncomfortable as it would have been had they been in the thralls of a southern summer.
She adjusted it as she drove to the park near Main Street.
She adjusted it again once she was outside and walking the beginning of the path.
Seven Roads wasn’t that difficult of a place.
It was small but spread out enough that not everyone who lived within the town limits was on top of each other all of the time. Which meant she could do something as innocuous as jogging to get her close to Jamie Bell’s home without raising any suspicion.
JJ started her run slow.
Her leg muscles thanked her for the act of mercy.
Since her fight and run-in with Deputy Collins, her ribs had let her know quickly that any exercise was a no-go for a while.
The forced break from working out had also bled into her search.
She had taken the last week to be as normal as possible instead.
Partly, she was waiting for the potential other shoe to drop from her break-in at Josiah’s.
Partly, because even without anyone pointing fingers at her, the town’s attention had slightly turned her way.
So, she had waited.
Then she’d heard that Jamie Bell was about to leave town on a three-month-long business trip.
Which meant searching his house was now or—three months later.
While JJ was good at playing house by herself for a week, three months was too long. That didn’t mean she was going to make the same mistake as she did going into Josiah’s home. This time, she was going to scout the place longer, only going in when she was sure no one else was around.
And if she found proof that he was the one she’d been looking for?
Then you’ll what? she thought to herself, not for the first time. Tell him that you’re his biological sister who isn’t actually dead and that you’re back in town to make sure the people who almost killed you don’t try and kill him?
JJ picked up her pace. She shook her head slightly at how ridiculous it all sounded.
However, that didn’t mean it wasn’t true.
That’s why she had to be careful, even when she needed to be fast.
The park around her was replaced by the neighborhood that shared a sidewalk with it. Trees were sparse, manicured yards were not. There was a homeowners association. The only one in all of Seven Roads.
Jamie Bell was making decent money as a travel writer.
If he ended up being her brother, JJ made a mental note to be proud.
Until then, she passed by his house at a slow clip and took in as many details as she could.
Two-story. Twelve hundred or so square feet.
No visible security cameras or a doorbell camera.
The garage was single-car and closed. A vehicle was in the driveway, but it didn’t match the SUV he usually drove.
JJ had heard he had a boyfriend but didn’t know what kind of car he used, only that he lived across town and lived with and took care of his grandfather.
They were probably preparing for him to leave the next day.
She kept on jogging until she was well past the house. An old frustration welled up inside of her as the concrete passed beneath her feet with each new step. She was looking for a needle in a stack of needles…while pretending she wasn’t.
All while racing against someone else looking for the same needle.
She wished it was easier.
She knew why it couldn’t be.
She—
“JJ?”
JJ stopped in her tracks. She’d been so focused on Jamie’s house in the distance, she had let her guard down to the street behind her. A truck was idling on the other side of the two-lane road.
The man smiling at her through his open truck windows could not have surprised her more.
“Deputy Collins?”
Price looked like he was about to say something clever but in another unforeseen twist of fate, JJ’s plans of staying beneath everyone’s radar went up in smoke.
Literally.
A small explosion tore through the small neighborhood around them.
JJ covered herself in reflex.
It was only after Price was out of the truck and yelling at her that she realized whatever had happened was far enough off that she was fine.
But the same couldn’t be said for the two-story home five houses away from them.
JJ couldn’t believe it, even as she saw the newly erupted flames at its side.
It wasn’t just someone’s house.
It was Jamie Bell’s.