Deadly Valentine (8 page)

Daniel's look told her he was offended that she was questioning his work. "Daniel you know as well I as I do that it's much more likely that one of the family members killed Asa."

"It's hard to believe Philip would. Why would he lie?"

"Even someone like Philip can get pushed too far."

"Or it was the wife," Jack offered. "I'm not sure Philip knew they'd supposedly been together until she said so in the parlor."

"Are you a mind reader, Mr. Valentine?"

"No, but I'm observant. Philip was as surprised as I was to hear Shelby's claim."

Daniel didn't look convinced as he made another notation in his book. "Is that all you have to share?"

"You're asking the questions here, Dan."

Tess gave Jack a chastising look.

"No, I have nothing to add," he amended.

"Are you sure?"

"Is there something specific you want to know about?" she said thinking of the laptop that had Jack's fingerprints on it. Why hadn't Daniel asked about it? They would have certainly matched the fingerprints and probably traced the email by now.

Daniel shook his head. "No. But when the case is assigned, the detective will likely have more questions."

Tess frowned. "Is that it?" she asked.

"For now," Daniel said slipping his notebook into his pocket.

Tess bit her lower lip trying to decide how to proceed. Had they looked at the laptop? If so Daniel would have certainly said something. But if they hadn't, it was in Jack's best interest to fess up to using the computer now instead of later.  At the same time it wasn't smart to give up incriminating information.

"Did you find anything in Asa's office that helps with the case?" she finally asked.

"Like what?" Daniel asked.

She shrugged hoping nonchalance would keep him from reading more into her question. "Paperwork? Tracks. The back door was open."

"We're looking into the back door. There was nothing important on his desk or his files. And no one has indicated that anything was missing."

Tess looked to Jack. His brows lifted suggesting he was thinking the same thing she was.

"I'd like to talk to Jack alone for a minute."

Daniel's face showed intrigue. He knew now that she and Jack had information. "Okay." He motioned to Sam and they moved across the living area toward the kitchen.

"Can you wait outside?" Tess asked. A cozy house was also one that made eavesdropping too easy.

"It's twenty degrees outside."

"You could wait in your car." Tess looked to Sam. He'd been silent during the entire meeting, but Tess knew he'd not been uninvolved. When they left, Daniel would be asking him about his impressions, what he may have noticed that Daniel had missed. Sam shrugged. Or maybe not.

"Five minutes." Daniel nodded to Sam and they both went out the door.

~~~~

"The computer is gone," Tess and Jack said simultaneously.

"That doesn't make sense," Tess said. "It was there when I found Asa."

"It was there when I found you."

"Why would someone kill Asa and then take the computer later?"

Jack shrugged. "Timing?"

"Or maybe someone else took it," Tess offered.

"Like me?"

"The police will think so. Only they'll think you killed him too."

"Great." Jack ran his fingers through his hair. For the first time he looked like a man who'd had a long night and hadn't made it home yet.

"Unless we tell them."

"What? What kind of defense lawyer are you? You're not supposed to give them information to put me away."

"No. But if that laptop shows up with your prints, you'll look more guilty. Plus as a witness I need to tell them that the computer was there."

"You're killing me here, Tess."

"Even if they don't find the laptop, if they get a warrant to search your email account, they'll be able to trace the information you took." She wasn't sure if they would ever get a warrant for his email, but these days it wasn't uncommon to search computers for evidence.

Jack stood and paced the area between her kitchen and living room. "Your boyfriend will use it to put me in jail."

"No. He doesn't have any evidence," she said ignoring the boyfriend comment.

Jack gave her a look that suggested he didn't believe her.

"I know I can keep you out of jail with what we know so far. The worst that will happen is that they'll put you at the top of the list of suspects, but you're probably there already."

"The goal was to keep me off the list of suspects."

"Then you shouldn't have broken into Asa's computer."

Jack groaned and spun away from her. He looked through the French doors in her dining area to the back yard. Things must have seemed as bleak as the cold, dark day outside.

"If we tell them that I took some information," he started as he turned back to her. "We'll have to give them copies of what I took."

She nodded.

"What if that makes it worse for me?"

"How could that happen?"

"I don't know.  But knowing Asa he found something ... interesting."

"Have you been doing anything illegal?"

"Not since high school"

The comment peaked Tess' interest, but now wasn't the time to ask about juvenile pranks. "Any skeletons in the closet that could hurt your reputation or cost you money?"

"No."

"Then what could he possibly have?"

"I don't know. That's what makes me nervous." He stood with his hands on his hips. "We could find out now."

Tess looked at her watch and then at the laptop that sat on her dining room table. "Hurry. You've only got two minutes."

Chapter Eleven

Jack picked up Tess' computer from her dining room table and brought it to her. She turned it on, logged in and then handed it back to him. “You can access your email from my computer?”

“Yes.” He took the computer, his long fingers moving quickly over the keys. “I don't get it,” he said as he studied the screen.

“What?”

He turned the laptop so she could see the screen. “The file has a copy of my birth certificate and information about my parents. And here's a birth certificate of someone else and a copy of newspaper clipping.”

“Who's Brady Jackson?” Tess said looking at the birth certificate.

“I don't know. This clipping is about a woman, Delia Jackson killed with her infant son in a fire. Maybe the baby is Brady. It says Delia worked for the Senator.”

“This clipping is over thirty years old. Why would that be in a folder with your name on it?” Tess asked.

Jack shrugged. “Why would Asa have any of this?”

“The good news is that it's not incriminating or damaging to you.”

“I guess so.” But Jack's face showed concern.

“Is there a problem?”

He looked from the screen to her, “I just don't get why he'd have this. He doesn't gather information on people unless he intends to use it. How was he going to use this?”

“Maybe he was hoping to find something to use, but there wasn't anything substantial.”

Jack shook his head. “He was keyed up about something last night.”

“We don't know it was about any of this though.”

There was a single knock and then Tess' door opened. “Time's up,” Daniel said as he and Sam reentered the house. “So what's the big secret?”

Tess looked to Jack who gave her a reluctant nod.

“Asa's computer is missing,” Tess said. She explained how both she and Jack had seen the computer when they found Asa, but since the police hadn't seen it, someone must have taken it.

“It doesn't make sense,” Daniel said. “Why not take it during the murder?”

“It's possible someone else took it. Have you talked to Tom?” Tess asked.

“Why would he take it?" Daniel was unable to hide the protective tone at the mention of his father in connection to a crime. "He knows it would be illegal for him to take something from a crime scene.”

“He's Asa's lawyer. Maybe he was protecting him.”

“From what?”

“I don't know.”

“It doesn't matter. He wouldn't have taken it.” Daniel turned his eyes on Jack who'd remained seated on the coffee table next to Tess. “You could have taken it.”

“I could have, but then I wouldn't have told you it was missing.”

Daniel didn't look convinced. “Maybe you could let us search your car.”

“Not without a warrant,” Tess said.

“Not convinced your client is innocent?”

“It's my job to make sure he's protected from overzealous law enforcement.”

Tess could see the same surprise in Daniel's eyes as she felt at their predicament. It wasn't so much that they were on opposite side of a case. When she worked in the public defender's office, she had represented people Daniel had arrested. But this time it was different. It was personal, because it involved Daniel's family and Jack, someone she had a history with.

“In that case, I'll add your information to the report. I'm sure you'll be contacted for more information when the lead detective is assigned.”

Daniel and Sam wrapped up the meeting and left.

Tess reclined on her couch feeling exhausted and little troubled by the interaction with Daniel. While she didn't love him, he and his parents were important to her; like family. It was unsettling to be in a position that would put her in opposition to him.

“That wasn't too bad.”  It sounded like a question more than a statement.

“It could have been worse,” she said.

“Can I get you anything?”

“I just want to rest.”

“Let me help you back to bed and then I'll run home and change.”

“I'm fine here.” She didn't want to move, so she settled into the pillows.

He tucked the blanket around her.  “I'll be back in an hour or so. Is there anything you need while I'm out?”

Tess wanted to tell him she didn't need a nurse, but she realized that they still had more to talk about regarding Asa's murder. “I don't need anything.”

He kissed her on the cheek as he got up to leave. “Rest.”

~~~~

Tess closed her eyes and willed sleep to come. Before she attained REM, there was a knock on her door. It couldn't be Jack already, she thought. She started to sit up when the door opened.

“Hey Brat,” Daniel said poking is head in. It was a name used only when they were alone together. She'd earned the name when his parents, Helen and Tom had taken her in during a break from boarding school.

"I've never done chores at my house," a sixteen year old Tess had said when Helen had asked her to sweep the kitchen after dinner.

"You're welcome to go home for Thanksgiving if you'd prefer," Helen replied. Although at the time it seemed to Tess that Helen didn't care one way or another what choice she made, she'd later learned that Helen had been very afraid that Tess would leave. But Tess decided a little sweeping was better than going home to parents who at their best were indifferent and at their worst resentful of her. Home from college at the time, Daniel witnessed the incident and nicknamed her "Brat". It wasn't a complimentary name, yet somehow he said with such endearment that she accepted it.

“Can I come in?”

“Yes, of course,” She started to rise.

“Don't get up,” he said as he entered her living area. He took a seat on the coffee table that Jack had just vacated.

“Where's Sam?”

“He's running an errand. He'll be back for me soon.”

“How are you doing?” she asked glad to have the chance to talk to him about Asa's death.

“I'm doing alright.” She knew Daniel and Asa had never been close. In fact, she thought they'd had a falling out, but never heard the details.

“And Helen?” she asked.

“She's struggling. She feels guilty for not being there.”

“But she never attended his parties.”

“No, but apparently he'd applied more pressure for her to be there last night.”

“Why?” Tess wondered if Asa had given Helen a clue as to the purpose of the gathering.

“That's the question of the day.”

“Do you think it's why he was killed?”

Daniel shifted, looked apologetic. “I can't talk about it especially in light of who you're representing.”

“Right.” She felt sorry too. Not that he would have been able to tell her much anyway. But somehow her representing Jack had become a wedge between them.

“Actually, I'm here because I'm worried about you.”

“Me? It's just a little flu bug. I'm starting to feel better already.”

“Good. I'm glad to hear it, but I was talking about Valentine.”

“Jack?”

“I know you said he's an old friend of yours.” Tess could see he hated the idea of her having had a relationship with Jack, but before she could explain he said, “There's a lot of circumstantial evidence that doesn't look good for him.”

“I thought we agreed we couldn't talk about that, under the circumstances.”

He nodded. “Even if he wasn't a suspect, I'd be concerned.”

“Why?” She hadn't meant to ask because she was pretty sure he was feeling threatened by Jack's attention. She didn't want to have to remind Daniel, yet again, that she wasn't interested in romantic liaisons with him or anyone for that matter.

Daniel moved from the coffee table to sit next to her on the couch. “I remember when you came back from D.C. You were so ... lost, unsure of yourself. I don't know all the details of what happened, but I do know that you broke away from everyone including Jack for a reason. I just don't want to see you get hurt.”

She took his hand, gave it squeeze. “I'll admit, it was a little unsettling to see him again, but it's not going to be a problem. He can't hurt me.”

Daniel's expression told her he wasn't as sure about that as she was.

“He's really a nice guy,” she said. “Under different circumstances you two would probably hit it off.”

“I doubt it,” Daniel said with a scoff.

“Well not now of course. You think he's a murderer. That can hinder a budding friendship.”

“There's that. And then there's the fact that he and I are in love with the same woman.”