A Promise to Protect (Logan Point Book #2): A Novel (24 page)

Ben picked up the Rubik’s Cube on his desk and made a couple of turns. Logarithms. No wonder the thing made absolutely no sense. He set it back down and wandered out into the commons area. The weekend dispatcher waved. “I see you skipped church again.”

“Yep. Had some paperwork to catch up on.” Not that it couldn’t have waited. But seeing Leigh walk out her front door, her chestnut hair silky in the morning sun, the smattering of freckles that makeup couldn’t hide . . . the memory of Friday night’s kiss had come roaring back. No way could he sit in the same room with her and concentrate on a sermon.

She refused to meet his eye, anyway. He hated that she’d taken his apology as rejection. But until he caught whoever was after her, he couldn’t afford to let his heart get involved. Protecting her was hard enough.

Wade stuck his head out of his office. “Ben, can I see you a minute? Outside.”

He followed his chief deputy to the parking lot. “What’s up?”

Wade rubbed his hands together. “I heard from Lester. He’s going to take me to see a dog Wednesday—he knows that’s my day off.”

“How does he know that?”

“Maybe because I told him last night when I helped Andre at the ballpark. Lester’s grandson was on the other team. By the way, we sure could’ve used your help. Might’ve kept us from losing five to one.”

Ben shifted his gaze down the street. Being on the field with the boys had been good the other night. Until the snakes appeared. “What if Lester is setting you up?”

“He doesn’t have any reason to suspect me.”

“You’re a deputy, Wade. That should be enough.”

“But I know how to play Lester. He doesn’t see me as a deputy. He sees me as this good-ole-boy he coon hunts with. Do you know how hard it was for me to be nice to him at the ball game, after seeing him at that dogfight? But you know me, I can sell milk to a dairy farm, and by the time we left the ball field, he believed I was his best friend. Besides, I don’t see any other way to infiltrate this ring.”

“I’d watch my back all the same. Be sure you have that pen in your shirt pocket, and let me know when you’re meeting with him to go see this dog.”

Wade saluted with two fingers. “Aye, aye, Cap’n.”

“I’m serious, Wade.”

“I’ll be careful, and I’ll call before we meet.”

“You better.” Ben cocked his head. “How is that pup we found?”

A satisfied grin crossed Wade’s face. “Rocky is healing, and he’s not nearly as cowered down. He’s going to be okay.”

“Rocky, huh?”

“Yeah. He’s not a quitter.”

“Good name.” Ben took his truck keys out. “Think I’ll do a little patrolling.”

“Tell Leigh I said hello.”

“Just doing a little patrolling, Wade. Not stopping anywhere.”

Ben pulled out of the justice center parking lot and headed toward the Oaks. He hadn’t driven far when he spied a familiar figure walking down the sidewalk. What was TJ doing three blocks from the jail? He pulled over and rolled down his window. “Where’re you headed?”

Sweat dribbled down the boy’s face. “Granna’s house.”

“Want a ride?”

“You’re not going to take me back home, are you?”

They both knew Ben would. He leaned over and opened the door. “Not until you cool off. Hop in.”

TJ fastened his seat belt and then leaned forward, trying to catch the air from the vent as Ben cranked the air conditioner to high. “What’s going on?”

“Nothin’.”

“You running away from home?”

TJ concentrated on the vent.

“If you are, you forgot your clothes.” Ben turned the truck toward the park.

“I just needed to take a walk,” TJ said and leaned back against the seat. His fingers inched toward the siren button.

“Don’t touch it,” Ben said. “Unless you want to go straight home.”

TJ slid his hand under his leg. “Did you know my mom is moving us again?”

Uh-oh. Leigh must have told him about the job in Baltimore. It didn’t appear TJ was too happy about it, either. He didn’t blame the kid. “Is that what this is about?”

A bare hint of a nod. “I thought Granna could talk to Mom. Make her change her mind.”

TJ grew quiet, and Ben glanced at him. The boy was studying him with an odd look on his face. Ben shook his head. “Uh, no. I’m not talking to her. Wouldn’t do any good, anyway. I’m kind of in the doghouse with your mom.”

TJ’s shoulders drooped. “Will you take me to Granna’s house?”

“I’m afraid I have to take you home.”

“Why?”

“It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t.”

“You don’t always do what’s right. Sometimes you let the twins get away with stuff.”

The kid was observant. “How about your mom? Don’t you think she’ll be worried if she discovers you’re gone? In fact, don’t you think you should call her now, so she won’t worry?” How Ben had hated it as a kid when adults put a guilt trip on him. But TJ needed to be the one to call Leigh.

“I guess. I just don’t see why she can’t stay here and work at the hospital in Logan Point or for Ms. Emily. Can’t you marry her so she’ll stay here? She likes you. I know she does.”

Ben almost swallowed his tongue. “Uh, I think we better give your mom a call.”

“You talk to her.”

He dialed Leigh’s cell, and she answered almost immediately, panic sounding in her voice.

“Ben, I received this awful call threatening TJ, and now I can’t find him. I’ve looked everywhere in the house, and he’s just not here.”

“It’s okay. He’s with me. I found him a couple of blocks from the jail. What call are you talking about?”

“What was he doing near the jail?”

“Said he was on his way to my mom’s house.”

“I see.” She sighed. “He’s kind of upset with me right now.”

“I’ll bring him home, but tell me about this call.” Even talking to Leigh over the phone made his heart ratchet up.

“Let’s wait until you get here.”

“Okay.” He hung up and turned to TJ. “Are you ready?”

“You sure you can’t take me to your mom’s?”

“Afraid not. Tell you what . . . I’ll get Mom to call your mom. Maybe all of you can go over and have supper with my folks tonight. How would you like that?”

“She won’t do it.”

The boy was probably right.

Leigh stood waiting on the front porch when Ben pulled into her drive. Actually seeing her was harder on his heart than talking
to her. For a second he thought about what it’d be like if he quit his job and went to work with the U.S. Marshal Service. He could be based anywhere, even Baltimore.

No. When he qualified for the sheriff’s race, he made a commitment to his town, something Leigh didn’t seem to be capable of doing. Otherwise, she’d stay in Logan Point.

Beside him, TJ fumbled with his seat belt. The boy wasn’t anxious to get out, and a wave of emotion swelled in Ben’s heart. TJ was a good kid who had somehow burrowed under the stone wall he’d erected.

Suddenly his heart knocked against his ribs while his face grew cold in spite of the sweat that beaded it. A band squeezed his lungs just like the day Tommy Ray had dragged him to the bottom of the lake. If he didn’t do something, his chest would explode.

The panic attack blindsided him.
Relax.
Ben focused on taking slow, complete breaths as he imagined the thoughts about Tommy Ray colliding with a huge stop sign. In his peripheral vision, he saw Leigh walking toward him. In the seat, TJ tried to wiggle out of the seat belt. He shook his head to clear it and reached toward the seat belt. “Let me get that for you,” he said.

His fingers shook as he unsnapped the metal. Without looking at his mom, TJ scrambled out of the truck and darted into the house. Ben took another breath then lowered the window.

“Are you okay?” Leigh wrinkled her forehead. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Do you want to come in the house?”

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand then licked his lip, tasting the salt. “I’m fine, but I’ll come in so we can talk about this call you received.”

“How about if we stay on the porch? I don’t want TJ to overhear us.”

He nodded and fumbled for a notepad from his dashboard before following her to the house, trying not to remember the last time he had been here. Leigh settled in the swing, and he took the
rocking chair. Avoiding her emerald eyes, he stared at the delicate lines of her neck. This was not working.
Focus.
Ben cleared his throat. “This caller, was it a man or woman?”

“I don’t know. The number was blocked . . . then there was this awful music, and then a voice like out of a horror movie—”

“Did it sound like he used a synthesizer? Remember the one we used in that play in high school?”

Her eyes widened. “Yes, exactly like that.”

“What did this person say?”

“The only thing I really understood was when he said to mind my own business or TJ would be hurt. Then when I couldn’t find TJ . . .”

Ben tapped the notepad. “Was anything specific mentioned? Like the flash drive?”

Her jaw dropped. “You think this is because someone’s still looking for that stupid drive?”

“Leigh, I don’t know. I’m just trying to make sense of everything that’s happened since Tony’s death.”

“Maybe it’s that father that I turned in for suspected child abuse. That would fit with what the caller said about minding my own business . . . except for . . .”

“What?”

“He—I’m assuming it’s a he—said I had something that belonged to him.” She looked at him with troubled eyes. “How did he get my cell number?”

“How many people have your number?”

One corner of her mouth turned up. “Half the hospital staff. Getting my number probably wouldn’t be that hard.”

“Well, just keep TJ close, and I’ll beef up patrols around here.”

“Keeping him close won’t be hard. After what he did today, he’s grounded for life.”

“Don’t . . .” He swallowed a grin. “Don’t be too hard on the boy. He’s had a lot going on lately.”

“Maybe so, but that’s no excuse for running off today. Thanks for bringing him home.” Leigh hesitated. “And I want to apologize for getting upset Friday night.”

The words ran together as they rushed out of her mouth, and he took a second to decipher them. He tried to ignore the heat creeping up his neck. “I should never—”

“If you’re going to apologize for kissing me again, then I’ll take back
my
apology.” She’d fisted her hands on her hips.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to kiss you . . . but after the report from the fire marshal, and now this . . .” He swallowed. “Until this person is caught, I can’t afford to have feelings for you.”

He shouldn’t have said that, either. He couldn’t afford to have feelings for her. Period.

Her shoulders softened. “Oh. Then that makes me feel even worse.”

The scent of her perfume drifted from the swing. Like a camera lens, his mind captured the image of her sitting so close, her green eyes the color of jade, the few freckles across her nose, her chestnut hair curving delicately toward her cheek. He almost reached and brushed it back.

Ben had to get out of there before he said or did something stupid. He stood and edged toward the steps. “I’ll call you if I learn anything more from the fire marshal.”

At his truck, he stopped, almost tempted to go back. To try and erase the hurt from her eyes.

A
rmero went over the shipping list for Maxwell’s Fine China. The shipment of raw materials was still on the schedule for a delivery to Mexico next Wednesday. He checked and made sure Gordon Roberts was still scheduled to make the run. Next, he clicked on the manifest and added the Blue Dog Company for an offload of kaolin. No one had ever questioned a delivery to the dummy corporation.

Two hundred AR-15 rifles with no serial numbers sat boxed in a corner of the ceramics warehouse with a hold order on them. Tuesday evening after the lines closed down and everyone left, he would load the boxes on the truck. This was the most dangerous part of the operation. If anyone questioned him, he had a ready answer—a rush order came in and he couldn’t find anyone else to load it. But there was always the chance something could go wrong at any stage.

Just thinking about the guns sitting in plain view sent a surge of blood racing through his body. Just like it had when he was a teenager and walked through the doors of a department store with no intention of paying for what he walked out with. It hadn’t been about needing a watch or any other item. It had been about getting away with it, and not once had he been caught.

Until Tony. That had been a piece of bad luck. On a day that
his own computer had been down, Armero used Tony’s to access his Switzerland account and thought he’d erased all traces of activity. His heart almost stopped when Tony showed him the web address that popped up on his screen and asked who’d been using his computer.

Even though Tony seemed to buy his answer, he had not gotten this far taking anything for granted. He downloaded the spyware onto Tony’s smartphone and viewed the company security videos daily, which paid off when he saw Tony download data from his computer onto a flash drive. When he froze the screen and zoomed in on the computer monitor, the Switzerland website was up. Then the phone calls to Ben Logan. Armero had known he had to get that flash drive. Even if it took killing Tony to get it.

Except Tony didn’t have it on him at the hotel, and three weeks later he still didn’t know where the drive was. Hopefully burned to a crisp in the house fire. But he couldn’t count on that. If the drive still existed, it was probably in Leigh Somerall’s possession. She could have it and not even realize it. He needed insurance. He needed to put enough fear in her so that if she found it, she’d be afraid to take it to the sheriff.

It was time to give her another call and mention the flash drive this time.

By Wednesday morning Ben was no closer to solving the mystery of who’d been setting the fires or who set the snakes loose in the park. He tapped his pen on the desk. Six crimes in a month, and only one definitely solved with Billy Wayne’s death and the discovery of the Sub-2000 in his saddlebags. Not good results. He dialed Livy. “I don’t suppose you’ve gotten a ballistics report back on the bullet you found or the .38 Smith and Wesson?”

“Nada. The crime lab has a backlog of cases, but I’ll call and see if I can rush them.”

He disconnected as his dispatcher stuck her head in his office.

“What is it, Maggie?”

“Ruby Gresham is at the front desk, asking to see you.”

“Did she say what she wanted?”

“No. Do you want to see her?”

Not really. Every time he saw the poor woman, he thought of the boy who drowned. “Yes.”

A minute later Tommy Ray’s mother stood in front of his desk. Today she was dressed in what he thought was probably her Sunday best. White shirt and black pants. She wasted no time in getting to the point of her visit.

“I’ve been hearing how my boy shot that Jackson fellow.” She pressed her lips in a thin line and leveled her gaze at Ben, steel glinting in her blue eyes.

Ben put down his pen and closed the report. “Won’t you sit down, Mrs. Gresham?”

“Ain’t staying that long. Everybody says Jackson got kilt around eight o’clock.” She pulled an envelope from her purse and threw it on Ben’s desk. “Iffen he was in Memphis killing that man, then how did he get a ticket here in Logan Point at the same time?”

Ben leaned forward and picked up the envelope. Inside was an Automated Red Light Enforcement ticket, complete with a photo of a motorcyclist running the red light at the intersection of Highway 72 and Reynolds Road. The time stamped on the ticket was 20:10:05. Ten after eight. The same night and about the same time Ben had entered the Peabody and ridden the elevator to the fifth floor. It was a forty-minute drive from the hotel to that intersection, ruling out any possibility that Billy Wayne could have been Tony’s shooter . . . if he was the cyclist.

The ticket indicated the green Kawasaki belonged to Billy Wayne, and it certainly looked like the same one that he’d wrapped around a tree on Highway 310, but the tinted shield on the silver and black helmet made it impossible to identify the rider. “How can you be
sure this is Billy Wayne? The racing suit, the helmet, it’s hard to tell who’s on the bike.”

“That there ticket says it was his. And I know my boy. I would recognize him anywhere. ’Sides, that bike was new, and nobody rode it but him. He didn’t shoot that Jackson man, but somebody wants you to think he did.” Her eyes narrowed. “I want you to find out who’s trying to make my boy out to be worse than he was, Sheriff. You owe me that.”

Her words stung. He squared his shoulders. “I will, Mrs. Gresham. I will.”

Two hours later, Ben leaned back in his chair. Wade sat across from him. Ben ran his thumb back and forth along his jaw as Taylor Martin turned from the whiteboard where she’d been writing. This afternoon, the willowy brunette had opted again for casual with blue jean capris and her hair in a ponytail. On the board, she’d listed the crimes—Tony’s murder, the ransacking of his house, and the shooting the next morning, the torching of the house, the snakes on the ball field, and finally, the criminal justice center fire.

“Six crimes, one of them solved, possibly more, when Billy Wayne overshot the curve on Highway 310.” Taylor drew a bracket around the first three crimes. “Before you called this morning with the information about the traffic ticket, I already had problems with these three being committed by the same person. Let’s start with Tony’s murder. How did the shooter know where Tony would be the night he was killed?”

She nodded at Ben. “According to your notes, Tony thought someone might be after him, and he was paranoid about calling you on a phone that could be bugged, so it stands to reason, he’d make sure no one followed him to the Peabody. In all likelihood, whoever shot him arrived at the hotel before Tony did. Did he call you and give you the room number?”

Ben nodded. “I was tied up in a traffic jam when he called with the room number.”

Wade leaned forward. “I bet whoever killed him downloaded the same kind of spyware on his phone that’s on mine.”

Taylor nodded. “Which means the person knew Tony was meeting with Ben that night at the Peabody.”

“And even the room number,” Ben said. “Who could get access to his phone?”

Wade said, “From what I know of Tony, he didn’t trust anyone, and I sure don’t see him leaving his cell lying around.”

A strand of hair had worked its way out of Taylor’s ponytail, and she hooked it behind her ear. “For someone who knows what they’re doing, spyware only takes a couple of minutes to install. All Tony would have to do is leave his phone on his desk or a table while he went to the men’s room or to get a cup of coffee. If a spy program was used, the program will be on the host phone as well. Did you recover a cell phone on Gresham?”

“Not in one piece.”

“Too bad.”

“Can the program be erased from the host phone?”

Taylor shrugged. “Forensics could probably find it, but I feel certain if someone downloaded the spyware on Tony’s phone, they would have gotten rid of their phone. I only asked about Gresham because he might not have had time to get rid of his. Did Tony have a girlfriend?”

Wade chuckled. “According to gossip, more than I can count until about a month or so ago when he started attending church with his nephew.” He looked at Ben. “I think you talked with one of them—Tiffany, the receptionist at Maxwell Industries.”

Taylor picked up a folder and glanced through it. “I don’t see a mention of a cell phone in his personal effects.”

“He didn’t have one on him, just like he didn’t have the flash drive he talked about when he called.” Ben massaged the knotted
muscles in his neck. “I think I need to take another drive out to Maxwell Industries. Do you think Billy Wayne was capable of putting spyware on Tony’s phone? They’d spent time together, and Billy had lost a couple of grand to Tony in poker.”

“Judging from his computer skills, yes.” She pointed to the ticket on Ben’s desk. “But he couldn’t be in Memphis and Logan Point at the same time.”

“If that’s Billy Wayne. There’s no way to prove this is or isn’t him, other than his mother’s assertion. Could it be his brother?”

“Junior?” Wade asked. “He’s much bigger.”

“I think I’ll go talk to him anyway. See if his brother had any friends who might have been on the cycle. If he did, then Billy Wayne could’ve been at the hotel.”

“I’ll be surprised if it’s Billy Wayne,” said Taylor.

Ben looked at her. “Why?”

She picked up the file she’d brought in with her. “I studied his websites and Facebook page. If he had assumed the persona of the assassins he created, why didn’t he kill either you or Leigh that morning? I took the crime scene photos and drove by Leigh’s house. He had a clear shot. There was no reason for him to miss unless he only intended to scare or threaten you or he was a bad shot.”

“He’s a Gresham,” Wade said. “He grew up with a rifle in his hands.”

“Maybe a human target made a difference,” Ben said.

Taylor shook her head. “Then he probably didn’t kill Tony, because if he had, another murder wouldn’t have bothered him.”

“So you don’t think Tony’s death is related to the other things on the board up there?”

“Only the ransacking of the house. I believe his killer was looking for something he expected Tony to have on him at the hotel. When it wasn’t, he searched the house.”

“Do you have a profile of what type person I should be looking for?”

“Someone educated and a professional, well-respected in the community, likable, social even, midthirties to late forties, and a male, of course.”

“About 10 percent of Bradford County’s male population.” Ben scratched his jaw. “Could it be someone he gambled with?”

“Perhaps.”

“No possibility of it being a redneck ne’er-do-well?” he asked, thinking of some of the men he’d seen Thursday night at the dogfight.

“If they have highly developed reasoning skills, it’d be possible, but I’d be looking elsewhere.”

“How about the other crimes? Same person?”

“It’s my opinion you are looking at two different perpetrators. I think you’re right that someone is trying to make you look incompetent.”

If Ben were a betting man, he’d put his money on Jonas Gresham. But he didn’t have a single piece of evidence against him.

Wade’s cell phone vibrated, and he picked it up. “It’s Cummings.” The deputy leaned back in his chair as he answered. “How’s it going, Lester, my man?”

Silence followed for less than ten seconds. “Today? I thought we’d agreed on tomorrow. Oh, I see. Well, sure, I’ll just tell Ben I’m going on patrol. See you in an hour.” Wade hung up and grinned. “Looks like I’m going to see a man about a dog.”

“Then let’s check to make sure I can connect to your phone.” Ben took out his cell phone and dialed the number to activate the listening device on Wade’s phone. Then he turned on the speaker on his phone.

Wade stared at his phone. “It’s not doing anything.”

The words echoed in the room.

“Well, I’ll be,” his chief deputy said. “You better never activate that when I’m with Ruth.”

Ben disconnected. “How do you know I haven’t already?”

Wade glared at him.

“Now turn on the pen.”

Wade clicked it on.

“Testing, one, two, three.” Ben’s cell phone rang. “Okay, it seems to be working. Don’t turn it off.”

“I’m private, not stupid,” Wade retorted. “Everything will be fine. Stop being such a worrywart.”