Crimes of Memory (A Detective Jackson Mystery)
Read Crimes of Memory (A Detective Jackson Mystery) Online
Authors: L.J. Sellers
Books by L.J. Sellers
The Detective Jackson Series
The Sex Club
Secrets to Die For
Thrilled to Death
Passions of the Dead
Dying for Justice
Liars, Cheaters & Thieves
Rules of Crime
Crimes of Memory
~~
The Lethal Effect
(Previously published as
The Suicide Effect)
The Baby Thief
The Gauntlet Assassin
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Text copyright © 2013 L.J. Sellers
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Published by Thomas & Mercer
PO Box 400818
Las Vegas, NV 89140
ISBN-13: 9781477809471
ISBN-10: 1477809473
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013906872
CONTENTS
Cast of Characters
Wade Jackson:
detective/Violent Crimes Unit
Kera Kollmorgan:
Jackson’s girlfriend/nurse
Katie Jackson:
Jackson’s daughter
Jan:
Katie’s aunt/Jackson’s ex-sister-in-law
Carla River:
FBI agent
Jamie Dallas:
undercover FBI agent
Rob Schakowski (Schak):
detective/task force member
Lara Evans:
detective/task force member
Michael Quince:
detective/task force member
Denise Lammers:
Jackson’s supervisor/sergeant
Sophie Speranza:
newspaper reporter
Rich Gunderson:
medical examiner/attends crime scenes
Jasmine Parker:
evidence technician
Joe Berloni:
evidence technician
Rudolph Konrad:
pathologist/performs autopsies
Victor Slonecker:
district attorney
Jim Trang:
assistant district attorney
Ed McCray:
ex-cop, private investigator
Craig Cooper:
homicide victim, ex-con
Jane Niven:
Craig’s sister
Todd Sheppard:
Craig’s neighbor
Danny Brennan:
robbery suspect, deceased
Maggie Brennan:
Danny’s widow
Jenna Brennan:
Danny and Maggie’s daughter
Patrick Brennan:
Danny’s brother
Chris Noonaz (Cricket):
Love the Earth founder
Adam Greene:
Love the Earth member
Russell Crowder:
Love the Earth member
Charlotte Diebold:
youth psychologist
Ted Rockman:
business owner, bombing target
CHAPTER 1
Tuesday, March 12, 8:22 p.m.
Jerry came too quickly, but before he could mumble an apology, he heard a thump downstairs in the factory. He pushed himself off his scowling mistress, leaped from the couch, and grabbed his pants.
“What’s your hurry?” Candy complained. “Jesus, Jerry. I don’t know why I bother with you.”
“I heard a noise. Someone’s in the building.” He yanked up his pants, not bothering with his boxers, which he couldn’t locate. Jerry regretted getting naked from the waist down. They usually just went at it on the desk, him with his pants around his ankles and her with her skirt pushed up.
Shuffling sounds, like someone moving quickly and quietly, raised the hair on the back of his neck. They weren’t the heavy footsteps of the plant foreman coming back to check the day’s production. Someone sneaky was in the building. “Get your
clothes on and get out of here,” he snapped at Candy, who’d sat up on the couch and now looked concerned.
“You think it’s Ricardo?” She was married to the foreman and had reason to worry.
“I don’t know. Just go.”
Jerry dropped to the couch and pulled on his shoes. His socks never came off, unless he was in the shower. Listening hard, he tried to determine where the intruder was. In the break room? Maybe hoping to steal iPods or drugs from the employee lockers? It didn’t sound like that corner of the building, but what else made sense? The factory filled plastic bottles with local spring water, using standard production equipment. Why would someone come in here?
A protester, Jerry realized. That was why the owner had recently asked him to work an overnight watch shift. Mr. Rockman was worried about the environmentalists, even though they hadn’t been out front recently. Something must have happened to make the owner nervous.
Jerry crossed the small upstairs office and peered through the glass at the factory floor below. With the overhead halide lights off, the production area was illuminated only by small wall lights that cast weird shadows on the machinery. He scanned the floor but didn’t see anything.
When he turned back, Candy had her skirt and heels on and was reaching for her pink leather jacket. “How do I get past Ricardo if he’s coming up here?”
Jerry had to think. “Stay under the stairs until it’s clear.”
Would she be safe? Would their affair get him fired?
“I don’t think it’s Ricardo. Stay under there until you hear from me.”
Jerry grabbed his giant flashlight—heavy enough to kill someone if he knocked ’em upside the head—and led Candy out of the office and down the stairs. As a watchman, Jerry wished he
could carry a gun, but the owner wouldn’t allow it. Rockman had added a weekend drive-by security detail after protesters picketed the place last year, but all had been quiet. Then recently something had spooked the owner, and he’d added a night and weekend on-premises watch. Jerry hadn’t had any trouble in the two weeks he’d been in the new night position. Not wanting to go back to working the line, he was almost grateful for an opportunity to prove he was needed on the watch shift.
At the bottom of the stairs, Candy turned and slipped into the built-in closet underneath. Jerry moved down the short hallway to the door leading to the factory. Should he call the police now or wait to see what he was dealing with? He didn’t want to risk getting both himself and Candy into hot water with their spouses over a supervisor coming back in for something he’d forgotten.
Jerry stepped into the factory and flipped on a row of overhead lights. “Who’s here?”
The cavernous room was quiet except for the hum of the halides. Jerry moved toward the break room. If it was an intruder, how did he get in? Had Candy left the door open when she came through?
Jerry strode past the bottling line and toward the short hall leading to the break room and employee lockers. A squatting figure jumped up and bolted out of the dark. The man in the ski mask shoved past him, brushing his shoulder. Jerry swung his flashlight and missed. The intruder ran for the side door. Jerry reached in his pants pocket for his cell phone and dialed 911.