Dangerous Passage (Southern Crimes Book #1): A Novel (13 page)

“I’m doing this for her. For all of us.”

“I know, but you’ve seen your mother. Today’s blowup with
Aunt Doris is a prime example. She’s not getting any better, and I’m worried.” He shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring this up, tonight of all times, but I don’t know what else to do. Some days I feel like I’ve already lost her. She’s not the same woman I married, and this downward spiral keeps getting worse.”

The music faded in the background. “I’ll be the first to admit that she needs some professional help, but stopping my search for the truth isn’t going to help her.”

“I know it won’t just go away, but every time there’s a new lead, or even the hint of a clue in the case, she gets her hopes up, only to have them come crashing down. Honestly, I don’t know how much more she can take.”

“Mama is stronger than you think. She’ll get through this. She told me about going to the counselor . . .”

“She’s said she’ll go. She has to . . . We both have to come to the realization that Michael isn’t coming back. And finding his killer isn’t going to change that.”

“Mom.” Tess appeared in her bright blue party dress, holding a small silver gift bag with a purple ribbon.

“Tess, your grandfather and I are in the middle of—”

“It’s important, Mom.”

Avery shifted her attention to her daughter. “What is it?”

“That man over there—” she turned back toward the entrance—“I don’t see him now, but he asked me to give this to you.”

“For me? You must have misunderstood. It has to be for your grandfather?”

He’d already opened a table full of retirement gifts, everything from gift cards, to luggage tags, to charitable donations. Someone must have come in late.

Avery started to hand the gift to her father.

“No, the man said you.” Tess’s smile widened. “Which means it’s probably from Jackson.”

The hint of romance clearly had Tess’s attention.

Worry still lingered in her father’s eyes, but he managed a weak smile. “I think I like this boy.”

Tess nudged her grandfather. “It’s romantic, isn’t it?”

Avery reached for the attached note. Well, at least she didn’t need to worry about what Tess thought about her dating again. She opened the card and started reading.

“Ring around the rosy,

Pocketful of posies,

Ashes, ashes.

They’ll all fall down.”

Avery’s breath caught. She flipped the card over. No signature.

They’ll all fall down . . .

“This isn’t from Jackson.”

She pulled open the bag and glanced inside. A sweet, lemony smell filled her senses.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

Avery’s fingers shook. The bag dropped to the ground. Out tumbled a white magnolia.

J
ackson put his empty plate on a tray, then refilled his punch. Watching Avery dance with her father had offered a rare peek into the private life of the woman he was falling for. She’d found a way to take both the good and the bad that life had given to her and allow them to make her stronger. The threads of vulnerability that ran through her only made her more real . . . and made him want to be the one to protect her.

He had his own haunting memories to throw into the mix and, like Avery, knew what it meant to lose someone he loved. Something that gave him a place to connect and understand better where she came from.

Jackson turned back to the dance floor and searched for Avery. She and her father now stood across the room with Tess. A silver bag lay at her feet beside a white flower. She turned and the light hit her ashen face.

Something was wrong.

He put his cup down on a table and crossed the room in long, determined strides. “Avery?”

She looked up at him, eyes wide, and handed him a card.

“What is this?”

“Read it.” Avery gripped Tess’s hand. “It’s him, Jackson. He was here.”

“Ring around the rosy . . . Ashes, ashes . . . They’ll all fall down.”

He didn’t have to ask who she was talking about. He knew exactly what she meant. But why? Why send a threatening message to a function where there were dozens of police officers and even the former captain himself?

“Where did it come from?”

“A man gave it to Tess. He knows who I am, Jackson. Knows about Tess, my family, but it’s more than that. They’ll all fall down. He isn’t finished.”

Jackson watched the color start to return to her cheeks again as determination settled in. She was right. They had to find this guy and find him quickly. The fact that he’d given the gift to Tess could have been a coincidence, but he didn’t think so. And Avery was thinking the same thing, because she’d be looking at the situation both as a detective and a mother.

K
ATE
’
S
F
LOWER
S
HOP
was imprinted on the envelope. Avery turned to her daughter. “Tess, this is extremely important. I need to know everything you can tell me about the man who gave this to you.”

“I don’t know . . . It was just like I told you. Some guy in a uniform came up to me, handed me the package, and said it was for Avery North. Then he left. I thought it was a surprise from Jackson.”

Jackson stared at the flower on the floor. The edges were already beginning to wilt. “Did he leave through the front doors?”

“Yeah, I was standing over there by the food table eating one of these little quiches.”

“I need you to tell me what he looked like, Tess.”

“Mom, you’re scaring me.” She reached down to pick up the flower, but Avery pulled her back gently. She’d already have to eliminate fingerprints on the card, but that was okay. She was
thinking like a police officer again. “Tess, we need to leave the flower where it is for now.”

“It’s just a flower.”

“Just tell me what he looked like.”

“I’ll try.” Tess let out a sharp breath. “He was an inch or two shorter than Grandpa. Dark brown hair, I think.”

“Beard or mustache?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Did he wear a uniform or have a shirt with a logo?”

“I don’t know.”

“Think, Tess. Close your eyes and think.”

Tess closed her eyes and wrinkled her nose. Music played in the background as the party went on around them. Everyone laughing, eating, drinking, with no idea what had happened. Avery ignored it all.

If he could get to Tess . . .

She opened her eyes. “I think he had some sort of logo of a flower on the front pocket. It happened so fast. He gave me the present and made me promise to give it to you.”

“Good girl.” Avery turned to her father. “Dad, keep Tess with you. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Avery struggled to catch her breath as Tess and her father walked away.

“She’s safe for now, Avery, and you’ll have plenty of time later to figure out how to keep her safe.” Jackson followed her across the room. “For now, the clock is ticking and your priority needs to be to find this guy.”

“This shouldn’t have happened. Not in front of my daughter and friends and family.”

But there weren’t rules in this kind of game. And Jackson
was right, the clock was ticking. There wasn’t time to sit and wish it would simply all disappear.

A minute later she had her team assembled. “Carlos and Mitch, check the parking lot. He’s got a head start, but maybe we’ll get lucky. Look for a male, Caucasian, midtwenties, dark hair, no facial hair, wearing a shirt with a florist logo. I’m not ready to assume this wasn’t our killer.”

Mitch and Carlos double-timed toward the door. Avery turned to Tory.

“Tory, get ahold of the owner of Kate’s Flower Shop and find out who ordered a single magnolia.”

“What do you want me to do?” Jackson asked.

She grabbed a napkin from the nearest table, picked up the glittery bag along with the flower and card, and handed it to Jackson. The moment she let the situation become too personal, she’d lose her focus. “This isn’t exactly an official crime scene, but if you could take it to forensics and see what you can find on it? Fingerprints, DNA trace evidence, anything.”

“Consider it done.”

She hesitated before following Mitch and Carlos to the parking lot. “Jackson . . . I’m sorry. This isn’t exactly the evening I imagined.”

“As long as you promise me a fourth date, I won’t hold it against you.”

Avery smiled, despite the seriousness of the moment. “I think I can arrange that.”

Five minutes later, Jackson had already headed to the lab while Avery stood in the parking lot beside Mitch. Half a dozen streetlights lit the lot except one in the northwest corner that had burned out, leaving shadows along the back fence. A couple was leaving in their sports car, but no delivery van or signs of the man Tess described. Whoever had delivered the flower was long gone.

“Did you know that the magnolia flower isn’t pollinated primarily by bees or butterflies, but instead beetles?”

“Beetles?” Avery looked up at Mitch. “You never cease to amaze me.”

“My mother’s always been into botany. Used to bore me to death as a child, but you never know when you might need a bit of trivia to lighten the mood.”

She laughed, which is what she knew he was after. Something to break the tension in the air, hanging heavier than the humidity. Something to distract her from the reality that there was a killer out there who knew her family.

“It worked.”

“You’ll have to thank your mother for me.” Her phone rang and she answered, praying for anything that would bring them one step closer to their killer. “What have you got, Tory?”

“The shop was closed, but I was able to track down the owner and get ahold of her. She’s agreed to meet you at the shop. I’m sending the address.”

“Tell her we’re on our way. Mitch and I will take it from here.”

Avery scanned the parking lot. There was nothing more to do here. A minute later she was driving toward the florist with Mitch.

Mitch tapped his fingers against the armrest. “Sorry you had to leave the party early. I know you looked forward to this for a long time.”

“My mother has been the one looking forward to this party, but as long as Daddy knows how proud we are of him, that’s all that really matters.”

“I think you succeeded.”

She’d suggested to her father to let the party wind down naturally and not tell Mama unless they had to. No need for everyone’s evening to be ruined. And if Mama asked, Daddy would simply tell her that an emergency had come up in the
case Avery was working. Mama had been married to an officer of the law for forty years. Emergencies and late nights weren’t exactly a surprise.

“I guess we both had to leave our dates.”

“Fiancée,” she reminded him.

“It has a nice ring, doesn’t it? I asked Jenkins to drive Kayleigh home. She insisted she could get a cab, but with all that’s happened tonight . . .”

Avery understood. It was hard not to worry about those they loved. “So what does she think about living with a homicide detective who takes on the world of crime on a daily basis?”

“Her uncle was a police officer in New York, so she’s not coming into this completely unprepared.”

“Still, it’s one thing when you’re investigating a murder. It’s a different matter when you’re the one being threatened.”

“How are you?”

“Coping. I’m more worried about Tess . . . and what my mother’s reaction is going to be when she finds out. I don’t want to make this into something it’s not, but I can’t ignore the note and its implications.”

She’d done everything she could to ensure Tess was safe. One thing Mama had always insisted on was the latest in home security. Depending on how things went over the weekend, school next week might be out of the question as well. While she had no intention of letting this man run their lives, neither was she going to ignore basic precautions.

Mitch broke the silence. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you or Tess. Not that I wasn’t determined to catch this guy before, but what he’s done has made it more . . . more personal.”

Avery pulled into a parking spot in front of the corner florist shop. “Then let’s go get him.”

There was a light on in the store despite the
CLOSED
sign in the window, and a bell jingled as she swung open the front door. The strong scent of flowers greeted them, along with shadows casting darkness on shelves full of knickknacks.

Avery introduced themselves to the owner, Kate Wright, who sat behind the counter, then gave a brief update on the man they were looking for.

“Sean made the delivery.” She checked the log on the computer. “That was his last one for the evening. I still don’t understand what the problem is, though. Is Sean in some sort of trouble?”

“No, it’s the person who ordered the flower that we’re looking for.”

“Then you might be in luck. Normally, I don’t remember the details around every specific order, but not too many people ask for a single magnolia to be delivered. The request stood out.”

“What can you tell me about him?”

“Not much. The man came in yesterday and asked for it to be delivered at eight o’clock tonight at Captain Hunt’s party.”

“Any other specific instructions?”

“Not other than the fact that it was for . . .” She glanced at the order on the computer screen. “Avery North.”

So Tess had just been a coincidence? But he knew who Avery was. Knew she was working on the case. Knew she was still working on the other Jane Doe case.

She would have to deal with implications later. “What about a description?”

“Nothing that stood out. Caucasian, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, baseball cap.”

“Any camera footage we could look at?”

“I’ve got a couple security cameras I’ve been meaning to fix. Not too many people looking to steal a dozen roses, so it’s never
been much of a priority. I figure just having them helps ward off any would-be thieves.”

“How did he pay?”

“Cash.”

Figured.

“I just remembered something.” The owner started digging through one of the drawers. “He filled out one of our store’s frequent buyer forms that includes name and address.”

Mitch leaned against the counter. “What would be the point of paying cash in order to remain anonymous and then fill out personal info?”

“That I don’t know.” The owner dug through the pile of cards. “Here it is. It’s dated yesterday and signed . . . Michael Hunt.”