Tin God (12 page)

“You think she was the only one with connections?” Nick said. “I’ve got people all over the city I could call, but I won’t need to.”

“Why not?”

Nick left the money on the table and rose to leave. He motioned for Jaymee to go first. She brushed his arm as she moved past, her silky hair covering her face. Without thinking, he laid his hand on the small of her back to guide her out of the restaurant. She craned her neck, heated questions in her eyes. Pressed together, her pouty lips were ruby-red against her delicate skin. The sliver of attraction Nick had been fighting to ignore embedded itself further into his brain. He swallowed hard.

“Why not?” She asked again. Her usually smooth voice was husky.

Confusion reigned over him. Half his blood flow had left his brain. Nick shook his head. “Uh.”

“Why don’t you need to call these people you have?”

“Oh. Oh!” Nick shook his head. “Right. Let’s go outside.” The blistering sun barely cleared his thoughts. He started the car and blasted the air conditioning. The semi-coolness cleared the last of the cobwebs.

“Jackson may be a big city,” Nick said. “But we’re still in the friendly south. The clerks at the courthouse are busy, and I happen to know where the adoption cases are kept. Any lawyer will tell you all you’ve got to do is walk in and ask. If the clerks know the lawyer, they’ll let him look.”

“You’re not a lawyer.”

Nick ignored the sharp dagger of guilt. “Remember the woman Lana had lunch with the day she was murdered? The one who remembered her being upset when Wilcher and your dad showed up?”

“Kara somebody?”

“Kara Butler–Lana’s
friend
.”

The Hinds County Courthouse, located on East Pascagoula Street, was a hulking grey structure. The county seat since 1930, it took its design inspiration from the Greek temples. Standing guard in front of the building were weathered statues of Moses and Socrates–a brazen representation of Mississippi’s government.

“You’re sure you can trust her?” Jaymee shaded her eyes to stare up at the courthouse.

At this point, he wasn’t sure he could trust anyone. But Kara was his best hope, and he knew she wanted to see Lana’s murder solved, too. “We don’t have much choice.”

“She’s just going to let you waltz into the records room while everyone watches?”

“Not exactly.” Nick drove around the courthouse and parked in a small adjacent lot. A bold sign noted it was reserved for customers of the tiny sandwich shop county employees frequented. “She’s meeting me at the service entrance. We’ll go from there.”

Jaymee made no attempt to hide her skepticism. “You’re starting to remind me of MacGyver. Or Indiana Jones.”

“I like Indiana Jones better. He had the whip.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’d probably do more than scar your chin. You’d strangle yourself.”

“Thanks for the confidence.”

She stopped smiling. “Listen, be careful. You don’t know who’s on Wilcher’s payroll. If he or my father killed Lana and Rebecca to cover this up, they’d have no problem taking care of you. Snooping through these records might put you on their radar.”

“Don’t worry about me.” Nick kept his tone light. “I’ll be around to drive you home.”

“Two people I care about have been killed over this–over
me
. If something happens to you…” She closed her eyes. Her fingers drummed a rapid staccato on the door.

A nervous sensation unfurled in Nick–one he couldn’t describe but knew he missed. He laid his hand on Jaymee’s left arm and wrapped his fingers around her wrist. She opened her eyes, focusing on his touch. He didn’t move. He didn’t want to.

“I’m going to be fine. We’re going to get to the truth. Justice is going to be served. And Sarah will come home to you.”

“That’s too much to hope for.”

“Everything good in life starts out that way.”

“I don’t remember the last time I felt real hope,” Jaymee whispered. “Even before Rebecca was killed, deep down I didn’t think I had a prayer. I figured as soon as an attorney heard who he’d be up against, he’d turn and run. Wilcher’s got too many powerful allies. I’m just a poor girl he used to know.”

“You’re more than that. Maybe one day you’ll realize it.”

The air-conditioned car suddenly blazed. Nick felt clammy–unsteady. Jaymee said nothing, staring across the small space at him with burning eyes. He had to get out before he did something stupid.

Nick opened the door and swallowed steaming summer air. His eyes watered. “Get in the driver’s seat. Someone bothers you, drive around the block until you see me waiting. Don’t stop for anyone else. Got it?”

She nodded. “Be careful.”

He slammed the door and walked the half block to the courthouse’s back entrance. His racing heart had nothing to do with the hot June temperature. None of this was right. He shouldn’t be having these feelings for Jaymee. Lana’s friend. And Cage was in love with the girl.

Nick focused on his task. Kara should be waiting for him. She’d promised him fifteen minutes with the records. It would have to be enough.

Kara stood outside the courthouse’s service entrance. Nick had only met her a few times, but he remembered the white-blond hair and tanned skin. She looked more like a beach girl than a professional.

“You’re late.” Nerves colored her tone.

“Sorry.”

“You know this could cost me my job.”

“It won’t.”

“You can’t promise that. You get busted—”

“I’ll say I snuck in. But I won’t get caught. Besides, attorneys go into the records all the time. Everyone knows that.”

“You’re not an attorney.”

“But I could be.”

She didn’t smile. “Why won’t you tell me how an adoption record could be tied to Lana’s murder?”

“Plausible deniability. You don’t need to know.” He glanced around. It was late afternoon, and the courthouse should be relatively empty. “We going to do this?”

Kara swiveled on her three-inch heels, punched a code into the keypad, and then gestured for Nick to follow her. Inside the back halls of the courthouse, the temperature was cool, but the heavy quiet made Nick uneasy. Sneaks were easier to spot when they were the only ones around.

Kara led him to a locked room. She turned the key and pushed open the door. “Fifteen minutes.” The door shut behind him, and Nick was alone in a long, narrow room filled with gray filing cabinets. Lighting was dim and the air conditioning lacking. The lone computer sat tucked away in a corner. It was probably a dinosaur, but it was his best chance.

###

Jaymee played with the radio. Every station in Jackson seemed intent on shoving the same country music down its residents’ throats. She jabbed the off button and glared out the window. The parking lot remained empty, but several suits had come and gone from the courthouse.

The women fascinated her. All of them were dressed neatly with sensible skirts and sleeveless shirts. A few wore dresses, but nothing frilly. Dark colors to match their stern expressions. Most of the men loped to the little deli, briefcases in hand. Some played on their fancy phones. But the women walked with purpose, eyes focused straight ahead, mouth in grim, determined lines. Every one of them looked stressed, harried, and miserable. So much for gender equality.

She dropped her head back against the seat. How long had Nick been gone? She hadn’t thought to look at the clock when he’d left. She’d been too busy watching him walk away and wondering why she could barely breathe.

Her track record with men was pathetic. After Wilcher was a string of losers like Troy, all out for one thing. Most left when they realized that wasn’t happening without serious time and effort. Jaymee really didn’t care. Men had barely appealed to her since Holden Wilcher screwed up her head.

Never again. So when the men came and went, Jaymee really didn’t care. Cage was the constant in her life, her emotional boyfriend, and that was all she needed.

Except Cage was in love with her, and she was too much of a coward to let him go. Lord knew she’d tried, and she’d never let him believe she felt the same. But still she reached out, kept him close. It wasn’t fair to him.

And now there was Nick. She wasn’t sure if he was good or bad for her. Not that it mattered. He was off limits. That didn’t stop her skin from burning when he touched her.

All physical and easy to control.

Yet when Nick looked at her with such truth in his eyes, she felt stripped to her core. Naked and helpless. Worst part was, she didn’t hate the feeling. She just didn’t know what to do with it.

“Damn it.” She covered her face with her hands. “You can’t do this. Focus. Lana. This is her husband, for Christ’s sake.” She forced Nick out of her mind and tried to conjure up a mental picture of her best friend. It didn’t work.

Jaymee jumped at the rap on the window. “Shit.”

Nick peered down at her. Even with his Ray-Bans hiding his eyes, Jaymee could tell by the set of his jaw the news wasn’t good. She unlocked the doors and hopped back to the passenger side.

“Thanks.” He fell into the driver’s seat.

“You didn’t find anything, did you?”

“Not a damned thing.” Nick turned up the air conditioning. “Nothing under your name or Sarah’s. Computer was slow, but nothing came up with the social worker, either. There were several adoptions affiliated with Hannah’s House, but I ran out of time.”

“Wouldn’t the file have shown up under my name if it was there?”

“If it was filed legally, yes. But if they used a fake mother’s name, didn’t name the mother, or said the mother abandoned the child, it wouldn’t. That’s why I needed to look through all of the adoptions through Hannah’s House for that year.”

“What now?”

Instead of answering, Nick put the car in gear and swung out into the street, cutting off an SUV without so much as an apologetic wave. The silence stretched, and Jaymee had the distinct feeling she wasn’t going to like whatever he said next. The courthouse wasn’t far from his apartment, and they soon pulled back into his parking space.

Nick put the car in park. “We’ve got to go to Hannah’s House.”

Her chest suddenly ached, and her mouth tasted like a dirty sock. “Why?”

“To see if they remember Debra Davies.”

“And me. Right?”

“It sucks. But if anyone there knows anything, you showing up might throw them off their game.” Nick’s hand darted towards her and then dropped to the console with a smack. “It’s our best shot.”

Jaymee flexed her cold, numb fingers. “Fine. But it’s too late in the day.”

Nick cleared his throat. “You brought an overnight bag, right?”

###

Jaymee didn’t drink. Last time, she’d had too much wine in a box and started telling Crystal things she didn’t need to know. But alcohol was a necessity tonight. She accepted the glass of red wine Nick offered and tried not to down it with one gulp.

“What’s the plan for tomorrow?” She sat down on the couch while Nick took the recliner.

“We’ll talk to the administrator at Hannah’s,” Nick said. “You play it straight. Say you were here a few years ago and they helped you out. Now you’ve got a friend in trouble, and you want to put her in touch with Debra Davies.”

“This is turning into a soap opera.”

“It’s a puzzle,” he said. “Like any good story. We just have to figure out how to put it together.”

“I think we need all the pieces first.”

“Very true.” He scratched the stubble on his chin with the back of his fingers. “I think Lana had real proof.”

“Why?”

“Her killing had to have been planned. She was waiting for me at the restaurant. I didn’t show up. She leaves, says goodbye to the bartender. Never makes it to her car.”

“Stranger abduction.”

“Except that it wasn’t. No one in the area remembers a struggle of any kind. Which means she went willingly–because she knew the person. Trusted him.”

“Okay. So how did he know she was there?”

Nick stared at his still full glass. “Her cell phone had two unknown calls, both traced to a throwaway phone. One in the late afternoon and one about twenty minutes before she left.”

“So her killer called her, asked her to meet him?”

“I think so.”

Jaymee rubbed her temples. “I still don’t understand how that equates to her having proof.”

“She sees the evil three at lunch. I think she confronted one or more of them at some point. And Lana wouldn’t have done that until she knew she had the leverage. She was too smart.”

“Maybe her anger got the best of her.”

“I doubt it. She was used to having to hold her tongue and play the ass-kissing game. She was a social worker. She saw shit every day that made her angry. I think she had the proof and decided to act on it. After she made the threat, someone she trusted contacted her.”

“You’re thinking all three of them–my father, Holden, and Royce–are involved?”

“Possibly. Probably. I don’t know. But I know my wife. And she wouldn’t have played her cards until she had them all in her hands.”

“But how do we find out what she knew? What about her computer? Did she have one?”

“Police scoured it. Nothing came up. It’s still in evidence.”

“And we’ve gone through all of her things?”

Nick winced. “Her paperwork, yes. There are a few personal things.”

“Like what?”

“Notes I’d written her. Letters. Cards. That sort of thing.”

“I know you don’t want to, but we should look through them. Maybe something got stuck in with them, something that was overlooked before.”

He was grinding his teeth again. “You’re right. But I don’t want to.”

“I can look. Just tell me where they are.”

Nick closed his eyes, his skin suddenly gray. Fine wrinkles appeared around his eyes and mouth, his face pinched in such acute pain, she felt the misery creep into her own heart.

“No,” he said. “I need to be the one to go through them.” He got to his feet, moving as though a heavy weight pushed against him.

“I’ll wait here,” Jaymee said.

Nick looked down at her. His expression was strained and hard to read. “I didn’t say I wanted to do it alone.”

Her heart kick-started. She stood on wobbly legs. Her head felt sloshy from the wine. “Lead the way.”

Like the living area, Nick’s bedroom was nearly bare, with only a queen-sized bed, nightstand, and a small bureau. Navy comforter. Heavy blinds on the large window, no curtains. Nick disappeared into the closet and returned with a black and brown wicker box, the kind of cutesy storage piece found at Pier One and other fancy stores.

He sat down on the bed with the box in his lap. Gripping the open handles, he stared at the lid. For the first time, Jaymee saw real vulnerability on his face. Not just pain, but raw wounds. She put a hand over his. She didn’t know what to say.

“I was a shitty husband.”

“No.”

“I was. You know it, Cage knows it. She knew it.”

“You loved her.”

“I did. But I was so hell-bent on my career, on proving myself, I pushed her aside. She was never a priority.”

“It happens. We never appreciate what we have until it’s gone.”

“That last day, I accused her of having an affair.” He faced Jaymee with red-tinged eyes. “I was so angry, and she’d been acting strangely. Working later, being secretive. I wasn’t there for her. Maybe she’d found someone who would be, you know?”

“It was me. She was working on finding Sarah. I made her keep the secret.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Shame. Fear. Selfishness.”

Nick enclosed the hand resting on his between his own, laying them on the box. “You were young. You’d been taken advantage of in a horrible way. Why would you trust me?”

She couldn’t raise her head, couldn’t meet his eyes. If she did, he’d see more than the pain she dealt with every day. He’d also see the yearning need his touch ignited. How could she allow herself to feel that way? Lana had probably died for her, and here Jaymee was, fighting the urge to crawl into Nick’s arms.