Chapter 16 Jagg
JAGG
“And then there’s this.” Darby handed me another DPD police report.
I had a slow, gradual reaction as I read the report. First, shock, then a clenching gut, then heat prickling my skin all the way from my toes to the tops of my ears, then finally, a rush of white-hot rage.
Protectiveness.
“She almost died.” His words barely registered through the thudding of my heart.
I held up the single piece of paper. “Is this all you’ve got on it?” My voice was sharp, clipped. No way to hide that.
He nodded. “I spoke with someone at the department. They just sent that over.”
“At Dallas PD? When? Now?”
“Yeah. I got ahold of a fellow rookie working the nightshift. Turns out we both like video games. Anyway, he pulled the full file, which has the medical report and everything. The responding officer to the attack is his mentor. They had discussed the case as a training exercise.”
“What did he say?”
“Basically, Sunny’s cracked-out boyfriend almost beat her to death in some sort of jealous rage after her twenty-first birthday party. Beat her with a baseball bat, slammed her head against a bathroom mirror then threw her down the stairs.”
Darby handed me a collage of the crime scene photos.
It was horrific.
I had a visceral reaction when I looked at the blood splatters on the cracked mirror. Her blood. A fresh sheen of sweat broke out under my T-shirt.
I’ve responded to plenty of domestic disturbances during my career, some of which contained a dead body, but these pictures, I couldn’t even look at. It was like a switch was flipped inside me. I handed it back as he continued.
“Miss Harper was in ICU for forty-eight hours. Broken arm, collar bone, swelling of the brain. She got one-hundred and sixty-seven stitches across her body. Doctor noted the guy had ripped clumps of hair from her head.”
I looked through the two-way mirror at the silky mane cascading down her slender shoulders.
Long tresses marking victory over a story, a nightmare, she’d likely never forget.
Her eyes flickered with awareness, her face turning slightly in my direction, but not all the way.
She knew I was there. She knew I was watching.
And in that moment, I wanted her to know I was watching.
“What’s his name?” I asked.
“Kenzo Rees.”
I didn’t need to write it down because it burned into my brain like a branding iron.
“What did he get?”
“Assault with a deadly weapon. First degree felony. Got him a four year sentence in prison but the guy was already on probation for two DUIs and possession with intent to sell, so the judge threw the book at him and gave him another two years. Rees was rumored to be one of the biggest cocaine dealers in the area, but cops could never pin him for it. Rumored gang affiliations, too.”
“And this happened when she was twenty-one?”
“Right.”
“She’s twenty-eight now. That was seven years ago. His sentence was six years. Is he out?”
“No according to my DPD rookie.”
“He should be. Find out why he isn’t.”
“Yes, sir.”
The door flung open. Colson stormed inside and slammed it behind him, a tornado of energy that had Darby taking a step back.
“Let’s recap, shall we?” Colson interrupted, his voice booming. He was cracking under the pressure of a sleepless night. He needed sleep. Food. Probably both.
I glanced at Darby, who muttered, “I set a copy of all this on his desk.”
Colson ignored Darby and turned to the two-way mirror, staring at Sunny as he addressed me.
“We’ve got an emotionally scarred rich girl who dated a gang member who almost beat her to death, and a dead pastor’s kid who just got back from a mission trip.
Who, according to our guest of the evening, attacked her and was killed by a phantom ninja who came out of nowhere and then disappeared into thin air.
Despite the fact that she was found holding a gun over Julian’s dead body. ”
“You don’t believe her.” Darby said.
“No I don’t. There’s something about her. About this whole thing. My gut is screaming at me. There’s something about her I don’t like.”
“That’s not going to stand up in court.” I said.
“Like you’re so politically correct? Give me a break.
” Colson scowled, turning to me. “Why didn’t she lawyer up?
Why didn’t she tell us everything at the scene?
Blabbering like a normal panic-stricken person would be?
What’s with the attitude and nine millimeter?
Who the hell jogs at midnight? Why is she being so…
not normal about this whole thing? She’s not normal. ”
“Is this your first assault victim, Colson?” I deadpanned.
“Why are you so sure she’s telling the truth?”
“Why are you so fucking sure she’s not?”
“Why are you so fucking defensive about this? She’s hot and all, but shit, Jagg, I thought you had better contr—”
“You finish the rest of that sentence, you’ll be slurring it through a hole in your mouth.”
Colson squared his shoulders. “You threatening me, Jagger?”
“Whoa.” Darby shifted between us. “Guys. Stop.”
“Get out.” I said to the rookie, my eyes never leaving Colson.
Darby slinked out and shut the door.
Colson threw up his hands, heaved out a breath, and took a step back.
“I know you’re messed up about Seagrave’s death, but you need to reset, Jagger.
Check yourself. Because we both know you’re hanging onto your job by a thread right now and the last thing you need is to stick your neck out for some random chick.
There’s emotions already involved here, bro.
The Chief knows the pastor. He knew Julian.
He hates you. My opinion, you either need to pass off Seagrave’s investigation—or this one.
Leave the cursed Cedonia scrolls and this Sunny Harper stuff alone. ”
“I’m already involved in this Sunny Harper stuff.”
“Exactly.”
“I don’t mean emotionally you, asswipe. I was one of the first responders with you. Hell, I just interviewed her for you.”
“That’s not why you want to stay on. You think Sunny Harper, Julian Griggs, and the freaking Voodoo Tree are all connected to Seagrave’s death.”
“You’re right, I do.”
Colson shook his head, turned his back to me and placed his hand on the doorknob.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, bro.
All eyes are on you, just waiting for you to screw up.
” He glanced over his shoulder and gave me the once-over.
“Speaking of, maybe now’s the time to start dressing like you give a damn.
Button-up, slacks, shoes that don’t have beer stains on them.
Walk the line, at least until everything blows over. That’s my advice.”
I looked down at my T-shirt, jeans and boots.
He turned the knob. “Go home and get a solid night’s sleep. This’ll all be here tomorrow.”
I jerked my chin to the two-way mirror. “What about Harper?”
“I’ve got nothing to hold her on. I’m going to let her go, strongly suggesting not to leave the area for the next few days.”
In case he got something to bring her back in for, he meant.
“You can’t take the easy way out here, Colson.”
He spun around. “You mean by signing the report that says Julian Griggs was simply killed in self-defense? Then filing it away so everyone can move on with their lives? No. I can’t do that.
Why? Because the pastor is going to want answers.
The town is going to want answers. Because it makes no sense that the God-fearing kid of a pastor would hide in the woods and attack a woman in the park.
And don’t even get me started on this mysterious third person.
” He pushed open the door. “Forgive me, dude, but you’re crazy to take on a case so high profile right now. ”
The door slammed followed by Colson’s heavy footsteps, followed by Darby’s tiptoes down the hall.
Colson was right. I was crazy to stay on the case.
Good thing crazy never stopped me before.