Chapter Seven #2
Jack didn’t refuse her help, but he did look her straight in the eyes.
A look that likely told him that she was exhausted.
She also had a dull, throbbing headache.
There’d been no time for her to calm down after the shooting.
No chance for her to regain her footing.
And the kiss hadn’t helped with that. Maybe that was why Jack didn’t come to her.
Instead, he crammed his hands in the pockets of his jeans.
“As soon as Kellan finishes up with Kingston, we should be able to leave for another safe house,” he said.
Her first response was relief. She could get some quiet time and try to level out her nerves.
But another concern popped up immediately.
For her to get to a safe house, she’d have to leave the sheriff’s office and go outside, where their attacker could be lying in wait for them.
It was a risk. Then again, she couldn’t stay here amid all the badges that she wasn’t sure she could trust.
So this was the rock and the hard place.
“Where’s the safe house?” she asked.
Jack didn’t get a chance to answer her, though, because Eli stepped back into the doorway. “You’ve got a visitor,” Eli said, shifting his gaze to both Jack and her.
Instant alarm went through Caroline. Jack seemed to stiffen with attention. He immediately stepped in front of her.
“Who is it?” Jack pressed.
“Lily Terrell,” Eli answered. “She says you’ll want to see her because she believes she’s a suspect in today’s attack.”
WELL, JACK HADN’T seen this coming. In fact, he’d thought he was going to have to contact Lily to let her know that he had some questions for her. He’d expected an heiress like that to give him some flak. Instead, here she was, walking straight toward Kellan’s office.
Jack closed the laptop and checked to make sure there was nothing that a person of interest shouldn’t be seeing. There wasn’t. Well, nothing other than Caroline. Jack didn’t care for the fact that she was going to have to face yet someone else who may have had a part in the attack.
“She’s not armed,” Eli told Jack.
Jack appreciated that his brother had frisked the woman, but after getting a good look at her, he figured there weren’t many places Lily could have hidden a weapon.
She was a tall woman, close to six feet, and she was rail thin.
The cobalt blue dress she was wearing clung to every inch of her.
No chance of her hiding much in the tiny hand-sized purse she was holding.
“Marshal Slater,” she greeted, her voice a sultry drawl. It went well with her cool violet eyes and the auburn hair that tumbled over her shoulders.
She flashed him a smile, extending it to Eli and then to Caroline. “Miss Moser,” Lily added.
“How do you know me?” Caroline asked, taking the question right out of Jack’s mouth.
“I’m familiar with your work on Crime-Track that you did at the university with Gemma Hanson.” Lily’s answer was quick and unruffled. Actually, unruffled was a good description for the woman herself. If she was bothered by being considered a suspect, she didn’t show it.
Caroline had indeed worked on that project, and Jack figured that was common knowledge. The media had hashed and rehashed it after one of the research assistants on the project, Eric Lang, had been uncovered as a serial killer.
“It’s work you should continue,” Lily added to Caroline a moment later. “It could be very beneficial to law enforcement agencies.”
Caroline lifted an eyebrow. “I doubt anyone wants to trust a profiler who worked side by side with a serial killer and didn’t know it.”
Lily made a sound that could have meant anything and turned back to Jack. “The shooting was on the news,” she said. “Details were sketchy, but when I heard your name and Caroline’s, I thought it best if I came in.”
“And why is that?” Jack had no intention of showing his hand until he found out more about this visit.
“Bennie Darnell is a handyman at New Beginnings, and he told me about Marshal Lee Zeller’s interest in me. When I heard about the attack on the news, I assumed Zeller would be trying to convince you that I was somehow involved. So I came here to clear my name.”
Jack exchanged glances with Caroline and saw that she was just as surprised as he was.
Zeller had made it seem as if Bennie was his mole, but obviously the handyman still had some loyalty to his employer.
In turn, that called into question any info that Bennie had given Zeller, because maybe Bennie was just the sort who liked to tell people whatever it was they wanted to hear.
“Why exactly does Marshal Zeller have an interest in you?” Jack asked. He tried to keep his tone level, more of a request than a demand, since he was still trying to figure out if Lily was playing some kind of game or if she truly was concerned about making sure her name was clean.
“Because of Skylar Greer.” She didn’t hesitate, and Lily looked him straight in the eyes when she spoke. Then she dragged in a long breath. “Even though he’s never come right out and said it, Marshal Zeller seems to believe I had some part in Skylar leaving New Beginnings. I didn’t.”
Interesting that Lily had used the word “leaving” when Zeller had described it as a disappearance.
“Why did the woman leave?” Jack pressed.
Now she dodged his gaze, but only for a few seconds. “I’m not sure. She didn’t speak to me about it, but I assume Skylar felt as if there was some other place she wanted to be. Hopefully, a safe place,” she softly added.
Yeah, Jack hoped the same thing, and also wished he could know for sure that the woman was actually alive. “You think Skylar could have gotten lured back into sex trafficking?”
Lily didn’t jump to deny that, and she glanced at Caroline. “You both know how hard it is to come back from a traumatic situation. Skylar was a troubled young woman and didn’t trust easily. I think it would be very easy for her to slip back into her old ways.”
Lily’s words were right. So was the concerned expression on her face. But something in her voice and body language didn’t ring true for Jack. Or maybe he was just projecting because of the sliver of doubt that Zeller had put in his head.
“Skylar didn’t trust you?” Caroline came out and asked.
“Sadly, no,” Lily answered.
Again, right tone, but it did nothing to ease that bad feeling. He considered a moment how to deal with this and went with the direct approach.
“I want copies of Skylar’s records,” Jack insisted.
Lily’s expression never changed, and she didn’t even pause. “I’m afraid I’ll have to insist you get a warrant for that. The privacy of the residents is a top priority for me.”
It was the exact answer he’d expected from the woman. Maybe stonewalling. Maybe just trying to be ethical. “I’ll get the warrant, and then you’ll need to come back in here to give me an official statement.”
Lily nodded, but some wariness crept into her eyes. “It sounds as if I’ll need my lawyer for that.”
“That’s probably a good idea.” Jack didn’t especially want to deal with her lawyer, but he liked that his comment had caused her some tension. He wanted Lily out of her comfort zone, since nervous suspects were more likely to make mistakes.
“We’ll get into this more after I have the warrant,” Jack continued, and he decided to go with a long shot. “Tell me about your relationship with Eric.”
Lily’s eyes widened, and she fired nervous glances at Caroline, Eli and him. “There was no relationship.” Her voice was clipped now. “I knew Eric only because we were in the same social circles.”
“You knew him,” Jack emphasized.
Lily’s mouth tightened for a moment. “Eric and I rarely spoke and only at parties and such.”
But the bottom line was that she had indeed known him, and Jack was fairly certain that hadn’t come up in the investigation.
Of course, there would have been no reason for it to have.
Lily hadn’t been a suspect, and there’d been no record of Eric ever contacting her.
The only reason Jack had asked her about it was because he was toying with the idea that Eric and Zeller might have had some part in the sex trafficking.
They could have teamed up to lure Buck to that inn so Zeller could kill him.
That was a long shot.
However, if Eric and Zeller were connected, then maybe Lily was, too. That could explain why Zeller was so hell-bent on pinning something illegal on her. Maybe he wanted her to be put away so she couldn’t expose his own crimes.
“What about Kingston Morris?” Jack went on. “You know him, too?”
Lily’s slow nod was as uncertain as the rest of her. “Yes. Again, the same circles, and I knew him slightly more than Eric. How is he involved in this?” she asked.
Jack knew it wouldn’t be long before word got out, so he decided to tell Lily so he could see her reaction.
“Kingston showed up at Caroline’s house.
Trespassing,” he added. “Her address was protected and wasn’t easily accessible.
Still, Kingston managed to get it, and shortly afterward, Caroline was attacked. ”
Lily pressed her hand to her chest as if to steady her heart. “You suspect Kingston of trying to kill her?”
“He’s being interviewed now,” Jack answered, dodging Lily’s direct question, and yeah, Kingston was a suspect all right.
“I see.” Some of the color drained from Lily’s face. She paused, moistened her lips. “Is it because of Grace Wainwright? Is that how Kingston got Caroline’s address?”
Jack glanced at Caroline to see if she recognized the name, but she only shook her head.
“Who’s Grace Wainwright?” Jack asked.
Lily opened her mouth, then closed it just as fast. Maybe rethinking what she’d been about to say.
“Grace was at New Beginnings. She had gotten caught up in sex trafficking,” Lily added.
“She also had some family problems that prevented her from going home, and she asked if she could stay there while she straightened out her life. However, before that, she was romantically involved with Kingston.”
For someone who was hesitant to share much on Skylar, Lily clearly didn’t feel the need to hold back with Grace.
Jack stared at Lily. “And why would Grace have known Caroline’s address?”
“Because Grace has excellent computer skills and wasn’t always ethical about whose information she accessed. She could have hacked into the files, found Caroline’s address and given it to Kingston. Or sold it to him.”
Jack didn’t have trouble latching on to what Lily hadn’t said. “Grace accessed information about you?”
Lily’s mouth tightened. “She did. Actually, she managed to steal some funds from my bank account. When I caught her, I told her she had to leave New Beginnings. She did, but I’ve since heard rumors that she’s still using her talents for illegal activities.”
He was definitely going to have to question Grace about that. But if she had indeed managed to get into Justice Department files, then she had to be better than just “excellent” when it came to hacking.
Jack made a mental note to contact Grace ASAP, and then he moved on to the next question he had for Lily. “Why is Zeller so hell-bent about coming after you?”
Lily hesitated, and he saw the pulse kick up on her throat. “I suspect it’s because he feels guilty.” She stopped, huffed. “Look, I’m guessing you’re not going to want to hear anything negative about one of your fellow marshals...”
“Trust me, I want to hear it,” Jack insisted.
Lily nodded and made a suit-yourself sound. “From what I’ve gathered from conversations with some of the girls who came to New Beginnings, I believe Zeller knew Nicola Gunderson and that he talked her into helping him bring down the sex-trafficking ring.”
Everything inside Jack went still. He definitely hadn’t heard Zeller mention knowing the dead girl, and he was pretty sure that should have come out by now. Especially since it was his father who was investigating her murder.
“I’m not surprised Zeller didn’t mention any of this to you,” Lily went on. “In fact, I suspect he doesn’t want anyone to know that he’s the reason that Nicola was murdered.”