Fugitive at Large

THREE

Jessica flinched at the shocked look on Ryan’s face. He blinked at her and shook his head before he spoke. “What are you talking about? Why would anyone want to kill my brother?”

“I don’t know, but now that I put everything together, it all makes sense.”

He reached out and wrapped his fingers around her arms. “What things? Tell me.”

She guided him back to the sofa and sat down beside him. “There were some little things about what went down at the store that I didn’t understand. From where I was standing, I had a clear view of the robbery scene. The clerk put the money in the bag and laid it on the counter, but the robber didn’t pick it up right away. Instead, he pointed the gun at the clerk, and Jamie told him to leave the guy alone, that he’d done what the man wanted. Then the gunman looked up at the clerk, Richard, and nodded. Richard dropped to the floor behind the counter like a ton of bricks, and the robber turned toward Jamie.”

“What did he do next?”

“He kind of chuckled and aimed the gun at Jamie. Then he said, ‘You shouldn’t have stuck your nose in where it doesn’t belong.’ I thought he meant interrupting him from shooting the clerk, but now I’m not so sure.”

“You think the clerk was in on it?”

She thought for a moment before she answered. “Yes. I don’t think the robber meant Jamie’s interference in stopping him from shooting. I think it was something else. And whatever it happens to be, it was serious enough to get him killed.”

Ryan shook his head. “This is pure speculation. Jamie is a college student. How could he get into trouble?”

“Do you know anything about his friends? Could he be in some kind of trouble?”

Ryan shook his head. “I don’t think so. He doesn’t go out much with friends. He spends most of his time working at the computer shop or writing articles for the school newspaper. I have no idea if he’s mixed up in something or not.”

“Then you must keep Jamie from going out of town,” she said. “If somebody’s watching him, they could kill him and dispose of his body somewhere. You wouldn’t even know where to begin your search for him because he wouldn’t tell you where he was going.”

“You’re right. I have to stop him.” Ryan grabbed his cell phone and punched in Jamie’s number. She heard it ring several times before it went to voice mail. Ryan grimaced and waited until the greeting had finished. Then he spoke into the phone. “Jamie, don’t leave town. I have reason to believe someone is after you. Get in touch with me right away, and please come to my house.”

The worried look on his face as he disconnected the call made Jessica’s breath catch. “I’m sorry you couldn’t reach him. Is there anything I can do to help?”

He shook his head. “No. But whatever Jamie has gotten himself involved in seems to have spilled over into your life, too. I’m sorry about that.”

“Don’t be. I’m glad I was there today to keep him from being killed.”

His eyes softened, and he smiled. “I am, too. I always said you were the best cop I ever worked with. It’s good to see that you haven’t lost your edge.”

“Thanks, Ryan. I’m glad we’ve talked tonight even if it’s turned into concern for your brother. Please let me know if you hear from him. Now, why don’t you go on home and get some rest so you can be at the top of your game tomorrow.”

“I will.” He paused and glanced around the apartment. “But what about you? Do you think you’ll be all right here by yourself?”

She chuckled. “I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time. I’ll be fine.”

He cocked an eyebrow and stared at her. “The last time I was here was because of a break-in. What’s to say it won’t happen again?”

“I’ve got new locks now and a new security system. Robbers could probably break into a bank easier than they could get in here. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t know. Maybe you should go to Adam’s house for the night.”

“Adam and Claire are out of town for a few days. I’m better off here. Now, go on and don’t worry about me.”

She turned and walked toward the door with him right behind. He stopped when she opened the door. “Keep your gun close and call me if you have any problems.”

“I will.”

He stepped into the hallway and turned back to her. “Also, don’t forget about coming to the precinct tomorrow to look at some mug shots. Maybe you can spot the gunman.”

“I’ll be there. How about ten o’clock?”

“That will work. I’ll see you then.” He didn’t move to leave. Instead, his gaze drifted over her face. “Thank you, Jessica, for listening to me tonight. Think about what I’ve said. I hope it will help to change your opinion of what kind of man I am. I really want us to be friends again.”

“You’ve given me a lot to think about. I’ll see you in the morning.”

He nodded. “See you then.”

Before he could say more, she closed the door and locked the dead bolt. Then she walked into the kitchen and checked to see if she’d locked the back door securely when she came in. Satisfied that she was safe inside, she set the security system.

She knew she should eat something but she wasn’t hungry. All she wanted was to go to bed and try to forget all that had happened today. With a sigh she headed for her bedroom.

Twenty minutes later, she lay in bed, her gun and her cell phone on the bedside table beside the landline she still had. Adam had teased her about the added expense, but she liked having the familiar phone she’d had in her bedroom at home when she was growing up. Somehow it reminded her of happier times, when her father would yell at her to get off the phone, or she and Claire would talk for hours about which boys from school they were going to marry.

She sighed and pounded her pillow. Now Claire was her sister-in-law, married to Jessica’s older brother, but there was no hope for romance in her own life. She’d had her heart broken once, and she didn’t want to chance it happening again. It was better if she just concentrated on her job and building a life for herself and ignored the loneliness that plagued her.

Her eyes drifted shut, and she was almost asleep when she awoke to the sound of a ringing telephone. For a moment she thought it was her cell phone, but then she realized it was the landline.

She fumbled for the switch on the lamp by the phone and turned it on. Then she grabbed the receiver and pushed up in bed. “Hello.” The word sounded hoarse, and she tried again. “Hello.”

“Good evening, Miss Knight. How are you?”

She sat up straighter and frowned. “Who is this?”

“It’s a friend you met earlier today.”

Although the voice was friendly, she knew the caller was not. “Oh, it’s you,” she said. “What do you want?”

He chuckled. “Right to the point, aren’t you? What do I want? Oh, nothing at the present time. If I decide I want anything from you, you’ll know it. Now, have a good night’s sleep.”

Jessica stared at the phone as the call disconnected. Without hesitation she pushed Redial and waited for the call to go through. Instead, a high, piercing tone stabbed at her ear. “The last call is not accessible from this phone,” an automated voice said.

She punched the end button and put the phone back on the hook. After a moment, she reached over and disconnected the phone from the wall. At least she wouldn’t have to worry about him calling again tonight unless he had her cell phone number. She doubted he did, but he probably did know where she lived.

She grabbed her gun and climbed out of bed. It was no use. She wasn’t going to get any sleep, which was probably what her caller had intended in the first place.

The memory of the robber’s face flashed into her head. He might know her and where she lived, but she knew what he looked like. And that was going to come in quite handy when she examined those mug shots tomorrow.

If his picture was there, she’d find him, and then it would only be a matter of time before the police found him.

* * *

Ryan glanced over at his partner, Detective Mac Barnes, and arched his eyebrows. “What are you staring at?”

Mac chuckled and shook his head before he looked down at the file on his desk. “Nothing. I’ve just never seen you so worried about housekeeping as you’ve been this morning. You’ve not only organized that mess you call a desk, but you’ve dusted it and the chairs. Even made a fresh pot of coffee. Who’re we expecting? The first lady?”

Ryan’s face warmed, and he busied himself straightening the books on the shelf behind his desk. “Cut it out, Mac. I thought it was time we made this office a bit more presentable. What if the DA or the police commissioner came in here? You’d want it cleaned up, wouldn’t you?”

Mac’s eyes sparkled, and he tried to suppress the smile pulling at his lips. “Yeah, I expect we’d better get ready if the commissioner’s coming.”

Ryan huffed and sat down in his desk chair. “I didn’t say he was coming, but he could.” He glanced around the office. “Anyway, it looks better now than it did when I came in this morning.”

Mac just shook his head and turned his attention back to the report he’d been working on since arriving for work. Ryan glanced at the clock and frowned. It was after ten, and Jessica still hadn’t arrived. He hadn’t felt good about leaving her last night, but she’d insisted she’d be fine. What if she wasn’t, though?

He pulled his cell phone out and checked for text messages again, but nothing had come in. Not from Jessica, and not from Jamie. He’d been calling and texting his brother all night, to no avail. Still, he typed out another message asking Jamie to call and hit Send. He could only hope his brother would respond.

A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts and he jumped to his feet. “I’ll get it.”

Mac looked up, a surprised expression on his face. “Okay.”

Ryan pulled the door open and smiled in relief at the sight of Jessica standing in the hallway. “I was beginning to worry. It’s after ten. I thought something might have happened.”

She shook her head. “I’m fine. Adam called this morning, and we talked longer than I thought. I’m sorry I’m late.”

“Late for what?” Mac’s voice behind him startled Ryan, and he glanced around at his partner. Before Ryan could say anything, Mac pushed past him and grabbed Jessica in a bear hug. “Jessica! It’s good to see you. What are you doing here?”

She returned Mac’s hug and smiled. “Didn’t Ryan tell you? I’m supposed to look at mug shots today.”

Mac swung his gaze around to Ryan and grinned. “Oh, and I thought the first lady was coming.”

A puzzled look flashed across Jessica’s face. “What do you mean?”

Mac shook his head, grabbed Jessica’s arm and pulled her into the office. “It’s nothing. Ryan’s been cleaning all morning. I thought we had important company coming.” He grinned down at her and chucked her under the chin. “Of course, if I’d known you were the one he expected, I would have been right in there helping get ready. It’s always good to see you.”

She sat down in the chair by Ryan’s desk and let her gaze drift around the room. “This is the first time I’ve been back since I transferred out. Everything looks the same, though.”

Mac patted his stomach and grinned. “Well, it’s not all the same. Some of us have put on weight.” He glanced at Ryan. “And some of us can eat anything they want and never gain an ounce.”

Ryan joined in the laughter. Then he grew more serious and sat down on the edge of his desk. “I told Mac about the robbery yesterday.”

Mac nodded. “Yeah, but you didn’t give me the details. What happened, Jessica?”

Ryan watched her face as she told his partner about the incident in the convenience store. As she spoke, concern for his brother grew. Why hadn’t Jamie called back?

After she’d finished, Mac pursed his lips and didn’t say anything for a moment. Then he exhaled. “I think you’re probably right about it being a setup to kill Jamie. The question, though, is why.” He turned to Ryan. “Does he go there often?”

Ryan nodded. “It’s near his campus, and he’s told me he goes by there every afternoon to get a cup of coffee before he goes to work at the computer store. Jamie is a creature of habit, so it wouldn’t be hard for someone to track him. He doesn’t deviate from his routine very often.”

“Except now,” Jessica said. “He’s deviated quite a bit by suddenly disappearing and not letting anyone know where he is.”

Ryan rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re right about that. I still haven’t heard from him. I intend to let him have it when he comes home.”

Before either Jessica or Mac could speak, a knock sounded at the door. Ryan opened it to find one of the department clerks holding a manila envelope in her hand.

“The lab sent these reports over to you. It’s from that robbery at the convenience store yesterday.”

“Good. Thank you for bringing it to us.”

He brought the envelope back to his desk and opened it. He pulled out several sheets of paper. Mac stepped up beside him, and Ryan held the reports so that Mac could read along with him.

After he read the first few lines, Ryan had to take a deep breath to slow his accelerated heartbeat. He glanced at Mac, who frowned in concentration as he scrutinized the lab’s findings. Ryan directed his attention back to the report and didn’t look up again until he’d read the final word.

For a moment neither of them spoke. Then Mac gave a soft whistle. “I never expected that.”

“Me neither,” Ryan said.

Jessica, who’d been silent while they were reading, rose from her chair. “I know I’m not a police officer anymore, but I’d really like to know what the lab discovered. Can you tell me?”

Ryan and Mac exchanged glances before Ryan nodded. “I think this may involve you as much as anybody else.”

She cocked her head to one side and stared at him. “How do you figure that?”

He looked down at the report again. “The lab found a fingerprint on the gun, and they’ve identified it as belonging to a man named Lee Tucker. He’s been arrested before, and his fingerprints as well as his DNA are in the system. In fact, there’s an arrest warrant out on him right now for attempted murder. He was arrested but skipped bail.”

Jessica’s eyebrows arched. “Skipped bail, huh? I wonder why we haven’t found out about him at the Knight Agency.”

Ryan handed her one of the pages from the envelope. “They sent a picture of his mug shot along with the report. He seems to fit the description you gave of the robber, but we need you to make a positive identification. Is this the man you shot at the convenience store yesterday?”

Jessica took the picture in her hand and studied it for a moment before she handed it back to him. “Yes, this is the same man. I’m sure of it.”

Ryan slipped the photo back into the stack of papers. “Then you met Lee Tucker in the flesh at that store.”

“But I don’t understand. You made it sound like I was involved in some other way than being able to identify this guy. What did you mean?”

“There was some blood on the gun.”

She nodded. “From the wound where I shot him.”

“Yes. Just a small spot, but it was enough to get a DNA sample. It was also a match to Tucker. So we have his fingerprint and his DNA on the weapon he used to try to kill Jamie.”

“I still don’t see—”

“There’s more,” Ryan said. “Remember the case we were working together when I asked for a transfer to another partner?”

“Yes. Cal and Susan Harvey were investigative reporters who were found murdered in their midtown Memphis home. They’d been working on a story about the drug trade in the South.”

“And there was a bandana with gang symbols on it found in their home,” Ryan finished for her. “And an anonymous tip informed the police that the bandana belonged to Tommie Oakes, a gang member who went by the name of Cruiser. We found the murder weapon in his closet.”

Jessica nodded as she no doubt recalled the case that had caused such a rift between the two of them. She took a deep breath. “Although his DNA was on the bandana, he had an alibi that the police and the DA ignored. They argued that the DNA on the gun probably belonged to another gang member who wasn’t in the system. Your new partner at the time couldn’t wait to close the case, and he kept on until the DA had Oakes arrested and charged. He was convicted and is now serving a life sentence in prison.”

“That’s right.”

“So why are we rehashing this now?” Jessica said through gritted teeth.

“Because the DNA found on the gun that killed the Harveys has been in the system ever since. The lab sent the DNA from the convenience-store robbery to the database, and it matched the results from the Harvey case.”

Jessica’s eyes grew wide. “So if the DNA from yesterday’s robbery is Lee Tucker’s, then he must have been the person who shot the Harveys.” She shook her head. “But the evidence from the Harvey case has been in the system for four years. Why didn’t it show a hit on Lee Tucker before now?”

Ryan shrugged. “The lab people don’t know. The important thing is that it does now. Tucker had to be at the Harveys’ home the night they were killed.”

“So Oakes might not have been the killer.”

He nodded. “Maybe not. The real killer could be—”

“Lee Tucker.” Her expression changed instantly. Alarm took over her features as she no doubt realized the danger that he had come to understand moments ago. “The police have to stop Tucker before he follows through and kills Jamie, too.”

“I know,” Ryan said. He tried to keep his anxiety reined in.

“But Lee Tucker could be anywhere,” Jessica said. “How would you decide where to start looking?”

Ryan held up one of the papers from the report. “I think we start with the car that you saw leave the scene after the shooting yesterday. The license plate is registered to the reelection campaign of Hayden Mitchum.”

Jessica’s eyes grew wide. “The US senator?”

Ryan nodded. “Yes. When we called his reelection headquarters this morning, they said they hadn’t realized it was missing. It’s one of the cars that the senator’s aide uses when he’s in town, but he is in Washington right now with Senator Mitchum.”

The phone on Mac’s desk rang at that moment, and Mac answered. “Detective Barnes.”

Ryan waited until Mac hung up before he said anything else. “Do we need to answer a call?”

Mac shook his head. “No. That was the captain. He needs me to bring him up to speed on the investigation into Gerald Price’s murder.”

“I read about that,” Jessica said. “He’s the man whose body was found in a riverfront parking lot. The newspaper report said the police believe he was killed in a carjacking.”

“That’s right.” Mac turned to Ryan. “I can go over everything with the captain. You stay here and talk to Jessica.” He reached over and patted her on the shoulder. “It’s good to see you. I hope you’ll come back to visit soon.”

She smiled. “Maybe I will, Mac. Take care of yourself out there.”

He nodded and walked from the room. Ryan waited until Mac had closed the door behind him before he spoke.

He stuck his hands in his pockets and took a deep breath. “Jessica, yesterday I thought I was going to a store to make sure my brother was okay. Since then, what was thought to be a robbery has snowballed into something that appears to be much deeper. And somehow it has ties to the murders we investigated four years ago.”

“I know,” she murmured as if she was lost in thought.

He sat down on the edge of his desk again and faced Jessica, who took the opposite chair. “What is Lee Tucker’s connection to the murders of two reporters four years ago and to what appeared to be a random robbery yesterday? And why was the getaway car stolen from a US senator’s parking lot? It doesn’t make sense.”

She nodded in agreement, then added, “If it really was stolen.”

“That’s a possibility. The senator’s office could have been lying about that.” He stood up, paced to the far side of the office and came back to sit in front of her. “And why did my brother suddenly disappear?”

“And why did I receive a threatening telephone call?”

Now it was his turn to be startled. “When did that happen?”

She shrugged. “Last night. A man called I think just to scare me so I couldn’t sleep. I have to say it worked.”

“What did he say?”

“When I asked who was calling, he said it was the friend I met earlier. So it must have been Lee Tucker,” Jessica answered. “I asked him what he wanted, and he said he didn’t want anything at the present time. But he’d let me know if he changed his mind.”

Ryan pounded his fist down on his desk. “That settles it. I have to find out what’s going on.”

“How are you going to do that?” she asked.

He thought for a moment before he responded. “I think I’ll take a few days’ leave and poke around on my own to see what I can find out. Maybe I can turn up something.”

She pushed out of her chair. “Well, I wish you luck. Let me know if I can help in any way.”

He stood and faced her. “You can. How about working with me for a few days? Let’s see if we can find out what’s going on.”

She stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am. After all, Lee Tucker is a fugitive and you’re a bounty hunter. If we find him, maybe we can answer some questions we’ve always had about Cal’s and Susan Harvey’s murders. And you may get to bring in a fugitive who’s skipped bail.”

She stared into his eyes without blinking. “Ryan, I don’t know...”