Mint Juleps and Justice Page 8

  “I’m sure Riley would agree with you on that one.”

  “Where is that beautiful wife of yours? Didn’t you tell her I was coming to town this morning? Or are you keeping us apart so she doesn’t fall for a real man?”

  “She’s in Nashville with Kasey. Again. You know those two are inseparable. I’m on my own this week.”

  “Not totally alone.” Mike lowered his voice. “When’d you get the cute secretary? And does Riley know about her?”

  “That’s Riley’s handiwork. When she heard Mrs. Reynolds was going to Nebraska to help her daughter for a few weeks, she offered up the position to one of the local college kids.”

  “Tell Riley she can hire workers for me anytime, and since the little woman is out of town, you can buy me dinner tonight.”

  Von arched his brow. “That’s eight hours from now. You don’t think I’ll be sick of your sorry ass by then?”

  “I can almost guarantee it.” Mike plopped down in the chair in Von’s office.

  “What are you doing in this part of town anyway?”

  “I’ve got a client with an ex who won’t leave her alone. He lives here in Virginia Beach so I’m going to check on some things. I knew I couldn’t come to your town and not stop by. I’d never hear the end of that.”

  “Got that right. You’re settling in okay? How’s business?”

  “Good. The lawyers in the office below have already pushed a couple things my way. Got this case on Saturday. I uploaded all the data into the system on the new case. I figured it wouldn’t hurt for you to have it since it was kind of in your neck of the woods.”

  “Sounds good.” Perry walked around to his desk and flipped the remote to activate the big screen. His logo of a bloodhound projected on the wall. Perry grabbed the mouse and repositioned the windows of data on the screen side by side so they could see the whole case on the wall. Perry and Mike had designed the investigation and tracking software all those years ago and it had been a critical part of cracking the case to put Jackie’s murderer away. The two of them still received a nice income from the licensing of the Hound software, although they’d quit updating the product for the public not long after Mike joined the Marines. Now, they reserved any enhancements to Hound for their own use.

  “She’s got a louse of a husband bugging her.”

  “You know I hate a guy who treats women poorly.”

  “I know.” Mike knew it all too well. After Jackie’s death, Mike had been frustrated with the pace of the investigation to find her killer. When talk turned to the case being tied to others in Virginia, he’d tracked down some of the other families. It’s how he and Von had met. They shared the worst nightmare imaginable, and they’d been friends ever since. Tragedy did that—brought people together in ways you could never force. The two of them had spent over a year tracking down the guy responsible. Long after the police had moved onto new cases they’d stayed laser-focused and they’d tracked that loser down and turned him over to the authorities themselves.

  And as good as they thought putting that man behind bars was going to feel, Mike still remembered the loss the two of them felt after the sentencing. Even the death sentence wouldn’t have been enough. It was true that the evidence didn’t prove he’d killed all of those women, but Mike and Von both knew from the profile that he’d been behind them. Sadly, nothing would bring any of those women back, and nothing would ever erase that scene from his mind.

  Still to this day, Mike hadn’t been able to forgive himself for not being on time the night Jackie died. Had he been there at the time he’d promised…Jackie would still be here. He’d have protected her. Nothing and no one in the world would ever change his mind about that.

  The sleepless nights, the to-the-bone sorrow was more than he could take and, rather than crack beneath it all, Mike had joined the Marines and tried to escape the memories.

  It had been his only option. He couldn’t bear to see one more person look at him with that “I’m so sorry” expression, or hear that it wasn’t his fault. It was slowly killing him every day. But that had been a long time ago and now he was back. The pain was there, but it wasn’t so raw like it had been back then.

  And now, all these years later, he and Perry would be working together again on occasion.

  Mike sat. “Let me bring you up to date on this one. Her name is Brooke Justice. She used to live here in Virginia Beach, but she took a transfer up to Adams Grove to put some distance between her and the ex.”

  “Probably a smart move, and that’s how she found you, I take it.”

  “Connor Buckham, the lawyer downstairs, gave her my name. Her husband is still living down here. Or at least that’s what she said. She believes he’s been getting into her house in Adams Grove and that makes me wonder if he’s really still in Virginia Beach or not. So between here and Adams Grove…we should have this pretty well covered.”

  “What kind of trouble are we talking about?”

  “Nasty divorce.”

  “Cheater?”

  “According to the information she gave me, that was part of it, but not our problem. He’s been stalking her. Bothering her. Making a nuisance of himself. I guess he doesn’t want out, although he sure wasn’t all in the marriage when they had one, from what she says.”

  “There’s always two sides.”

  “I know.”

  “You have a pretty good starting point,” Von said, clicking through a screen of data and then expanding one of the boxes for more detail.

  “Right,” Mike said. “She didn’t think her ex had had any prior run-ins with the law. Public records from his hometown showed otherwise. Keith Farrell has a history of trouble there, including a domestic dispute.”

  “That’s not good.”

  “He also made a recent real estate transfer. Not sure what that means. Maybe he’s moving on.” Mike turned his attention from the screen back to Von. “I actually met this girl the other day, before she came to me about the case. On Kasey’s farm. She’s an ag extension agent out there in Holland County. She’s the one I’m working with on the pasture upgrades.”

  “Small world.”

  “Got that right.” He thrummed his fingers against the arm of the chair as they discussed the details of the case. “Tell you what,” he said in closing. “I’m going to get to work on this.”

  Von headed for the door. “I have to head down to the courthouse to pick up some things. Let’s touch base midday. How about we meet at The Brew in Town Center?”

  “Sounds good.” Mike got up and walked out with Von right behind him.

  “Always loved that car,” Von said.

  Mike nodded. He knew Kasey’s late husband, Nick, and Von had been best friends. Mike had promised Kasey he’d drive Nick’s car on occasion. Nothing undercover about a classic baby-blue Thunderbird, but then sometimes overstated was even less obvious and it wasn’t like he was planning to tail the guy.

  After just a couple hours of cruising around Virginia Beach, Mike had found out that Keith had quit his job, broken his lease on the apartment that he’d gotten after the separation, and his cell phone was no longer in service.

  Could be good news, but his gut told him otherwise. The little things that Keith Farrell was doing to his wife were not the actions of a guy who was going to give up. Not enough to get him in big trouble, but a definite sign she was always on the top of his mind. If Mike had to guess, the guy was obsessed with getting her back just because he couldn’t.

  At least the guy at the apartment complex had told him about a new vehicle Keith had purchased. Brooke only knew about the red Cadillac, but Farrell’s former neighbors had complained that he also had a big green four-wheel-drive pickup now. That information, along with the names of a couple of Farrell’s old haunts from the guys he used to work with, gave Mike high hopes that if Farrell were still in town, he’d run across h
im today.

  Mike headed over to The Brew to grab some coffee and update the information he’d gathered so far. The Hound app on his iPad fed the data real-time to the database and would keep both him and Von up-to-the-minute with any new information.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Mike took the list of Keith Farrell’s hangouts and punched in the addresses on the tablet. Not only did the information get logged into the Hound application, but the software also charted the most succinct map like a GPS on steroids.

  Technology sure made the job a breeze.

  He tapped the red dot closest to his current location. Pappy’s Pool Hall. One more click and the GPS picked up from there.

  It didn’t take but about twenty minutes to get to the dive. In front of the small brick building there were a couple motorcycles and half-dozen cars. He was getting ready to leave when he spotted the big Dodge pickup parked around back.

  Mike pulled the T-bird across the street and settled in. No telling how long Keith would be in there. He’d known guys like Farrell. He could be downing a liquid lunch and shooting pool for hours.

  About thirty minutes later Keith Farrell walked out of the building and got into his truck. Mike eased onto the road behind him. It was a hassle trying to follow him in the downtown traffic, but once Keith got on the interstate it was smooth sailing, and it didn’t take Mike long to figure out exactly where Keith was headed. Back to Adams Grove.

  He dialed Von to let him know he was on Keith’s tail and cancelled their dinner plans.

  Once they got onto Route 58, Keith pulled into a gas station. Mike rode on by. No sense blowing his cover. He went up the road about a mile and stopped to top off his own tank, then waited for the green truck to catch up.

  Mike watched Keith drive by and then waited to let a big rig pass and pulled the vintage car behind it.

  Forty-five minutes later they were tooling down Main Street in Adams Grove. Keith pulled into the parking lot at the post office. He rolled the window down, his elbow dangling out, as he sat in his truck right across the street from the County Agriculture and Extension office where Brooke worked.

  Mike parked around the corner where he could see them both but Keith wouldn’t have a clear line of sight on him. When Brooke walked out of her office building, Mike saw Keith straighten and crank up the truck.

  Brooke walked up the block and met up with a blonde-haired girl, then both entered the diner.

  Keith gunned the engine on the big truck and took off.

  Mike followed him at a distance. He had a pretty good idea where Keith was headed.

  Mike passed and went down to the end of the street as Keith pulled into Brooke’s driveway. He turned around at the culvert near the lake then pulled to a stop down the street where he had a straight-shot view of the side of Brooke’s house. He watched Keith saunter up the front steps, and from where he sat, it looked like Keith used a key to get inside.

  “One mystery solved.” Mike hadn’t had time to set up any type of internal surveillance yet, so he watched to see what would happen next.

  A few minutes later, Keith walked out of Brooke’s house, busy working his thumbs across a small device in his hands. Mike would put his money on it that Keith was synchronizing his own smartphone to Brooke’s. It was easy enough to do if she was keeping her home computer calendar synced to her phone.

  Mike followed Keith back to Brooke’s office.

  Keith parked up the street and sat watching until she walked out of the diner and headed back to her office. He moved up the street and parked right across from her office. He was being bold. New wheels or not, that was a smug move.

  He was on her every move, and so absorbed in watching Brooke that he hadn’t noticed there were eyes on him too.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Goto slowed as Mike turned into one of the nicer neighborhoods. He knew this area well. He’d delivered plenty of pizzas out here over the past month.

  He considered his options before turning in behind Mike. There was only one way in and out of this neighborhood. At least there was one advantage to working that pizza gig. He knew this area like the back of his hand already. The cul-de-sac at the very back of the neighborhood opened up to a large park. He’d slept there a few times. That was before he’d manipulated that kid at the pizza shop to let him crash at his place. Nice kid. Too bad he didn’t have a clue that he had a criminal in his midst. Pizza Boy would probably freak when the plan was done and he saw his own roommate on the front page of the paper.

  Goto could picture Pizza Boy saying, “He was such a nice guy. I can’t believe he’d ever do something like that.”

  A belly laugh flooded the car at the thought. He waited another minute before turning down the street behind Hartman to look less conspicuous.

  Goto tugged on the neck of his T-shirt. Between the humidity and nerves, his shirt was soaked. The neckline hung. He swept the back of his hand across his forehead and began to slowly drive down the street.

  Steady.

  Don’t speed up or slow down.

  Head forward, only look with the eyes.

  Don’t want to get his attention.

  He crept down the street at the posted 15 mph.

  This neighborhood was known by the guys down at the pizza shop as the best tipping area. In fact, the guys had fought over the new lady who had moved in. They’d even given her the nickname Tipper. But he knew she was the one he’d met at the yoga studio that day.

  He drove past her house, but there was a green truck there he hadn’t seen before. Two doors down, parked on the street, Goto passed Mike parked along the curb.

  It nearly killed Goto not to look the man in the eye; his insides were screaming to react. This was the closest he’d been to him so far. His jaw ached, reminding him not to clench his teeth, but every muscle was taut being this close to his mark.

  Mike was watching someone.

  He was watching Mike watching someone.

  Not just anyone, though. He was watching the house he was familiar with. A good tipper. Brooke Justice.

  What were the odds?

  “It’s like she was tossed down on a silver platter just for me,” Goto cried out to the Jesus air freshener. “In the yoga studio, the same one from Hartman’s office yesterday, the one whose tips were keeping him afloat to execute his plan. Destiny. She was meant to be part of the plan.”

  Hot chick. Hot car. The guys in the pizza shop said she hadn’t lived there long. The tips were nice, but what he liked was how she answered the door with a warm smile, like he was doing her a favor.

  She smelled good too. Like honeysuckle, or something fresh like that. His mind connected to the scent, but then he breathed in a little too quick, swallowing his gum, choking on it.

  He still hadn’t figured out exactly what that plan was going to be, but now he was sure that Brooke Justice was going to have a pivotal role in it. Small world.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  When Brooke got out of yoga class Monday night, she’d just opened her locker to go shower when her phone rang.

  She picked it up and glanced at the display—Mike Hartman’s number. “Hello?”

  “Hi Brooke. It’s Mike. We need to talk.”

  “Okay, I could stop by in the morning if you like.”

  “Actually, I was thinking more like now. I made some progress today, and I’d like to go over it with you and take care of a couple of things. Could you meet me over at your house?”

  “My house? Sure.” She pulled her clothes out of the locker and draped them over her arm. “I’m on my way.”

  Brooke threw her lock in the top of her handbag and headed out of the locker room. She spotted Jenny over by the smoothie bar with a group of new clients. She’d never miss her.

  Sweaty from the class, she yanked the ponytail holder from her hair and headed for home. Mike was
sitting on the front porch when she got there.

  “I look a mess. Sorry. You caught me just after yoga.”

  “I think you look pretty.”

  Pretty? She ran her hand through her hair, feeling very conscious of her appearance.

  Mike stood. “Didn’t realize that stuff was so exerting though.”

  “Oh, you’d be surprised.” She walked up the steps. “Come on in.”

  He followed her inside. She let the dog outside, then went to the kitchen and came back out with two glasses of ice water. “So, what’s going on?”

  “I tracked down your ex today. He’s been busy.”

  She took a long sip of her drink. “What’s he done now?”

  “Quit his job, moved out of his apartment, switched to a burner phone. Even stopped by here.”

  “He was here?” Her heart dropped. “Today?”

  “In your house. I saw him.”

  She looked around. Feeling vulnerable. “How?”

  “It looked like he had a key to me. We’ll file a complaint against him, but I’d like to get my guys over here to change the locks and install a security system. It’s good technology. I think it’s important that you do that, especially under the circumstances.”

  He looked at home in her house, but heck, it seemed like anyone could make themselves at home in her house these days. How had Keith managed to get a key to the new locks? “Okay. When can they do it?”

  “I called them this afternoon and let them know we might need them tonight. If you’re okay with it, I’ll get them right over.”

  “What’s it going to cost?”

  Mike pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket and spread it out on the coffee table between them. He reviewed the system and its cost.

  “That seems like a fair price. That’s installed?” She leaned forward and sighed.

  He placed his hand on her arm, then moved it away. She wondered if he’d felt that tingle between them.

  “I know it’s a lot to take in. It’s a good deal, and yes, that’s the price. Completely installed. It also includes two external surveillance cameras. Nothing on the inside of the house. I think you need that privacy, and you can have any of it disconnected if you decide you don’t need them later.”