Justice Served: A Barkley and Parker Thriller (24 page)

Ray’s nostrils flared. “My point is that if
there’s any back stabbing here it will come from
you—
if it’s
discovered that you were withholding information in a criminal
investigation.”

Ray seriously wondered if he could have
betrayed Carole had Nina not stepped up to the plate, forcing him
to do so as well. It was something he didn’t want to think about at
the moment, much less the future implications for him and
Carole.

Stuart’s brows touched. “And just what type
of damned information do you think I’d be foolish enough to
withhold?”

Ray glared at him. “For starters, knowledge
that your car was being used in the commission of one or more
murders.”

“That’s ludicrous!” Sputum flew from Stuart’s
mouth. “This whole thing is a sham. We both know it—”

Before Ray could respond, one of the
technicians said: “I think we may have found something...”

Cliff Featherstone was a thirty-two-year-old
Native American, and eight-year veteran of the force. He climbed
out of the car, plastic gloves molded to his hands, his tall,
angular body righting itself. His long, black ponytail contrasted
his beige complexion. He held up what appeared to be a
bracelet.

“Found this wedged inside the front seat,” he
said, looking from Nina to Ray. “Appears to have blood on it—”

“Looks like a woman’s bracelet,” said Nina.
“Hmm...cultured pearls. Expensive stuff.” She looked at Stuart
suspiciously. “Does your wife own a pearl bracelet, Mr. Wolfe?”

Without prelude, he answered convincingly:
“No, she doesn’t. Vivian hardly ever wears jewelry. Certainly not
something so ostentatious, even if we can afford it.”

“Maybe you bought it for someone other than
your wife?” Nina questioned. “Someone who likes to wear expensive
bracelets—”

Stuart shook his head vigorously in denial.
“I have no idea where that came from. I’ve never seen it before in
my life.”

Ray studied the stunning bracelet as
Featherstone held it up to his eyes. It was rose overtone with a
heart toggle. He had seen it before.

Or at least something like it.

Ray suddenly felt his stomach churn as if he
were about to throw up. Carole had worn such a cultured pearl
necklace and earrings the night she came to his houseboat. He had
found them captivating. He recalled her saying they were family
heirlooms.

Did they include a cultured pearl bracelet?
Had Carole worn it the night Blake Wallace was killed and somehow
lost it in the shuffle?

Nina had observed his reaction. “What’s the
matter, Ray? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost?”

Ray wished to hell he had. He might have been
able to deal with the supernatural or some other mystical
phenomenon.

Instead, he knew he could be looking at the
one piece of evidence that could nail Carole as a murderess.
Especially if the blood on the bracelet proved to be a DNA match
for Blake Wallace’s blood or any of the other dead batterers.

Ray didn’t even want to think about the
possibilities. Yet he had little choice, for there they were
staring him squarely in the face.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Ray and Nina rode up the elevator in silence,
as if neither wanted to be the first to speak. For Ray’s part,
there was nothing left to say that hadn’t already been said. The
blood on the cultured pearl bracelet would have to be tested to
make sure it was human. It would take additional DNA tests to link
it to any of the victims of the so-called Vigilante Batterer
Killer; and consequently to get a judge to sign a search warrant
against a fellow judge. If it was proven to be necessary.

Ray had chosen to bypass the search warrant
for now, believing that if it was in fact Carole’s bracelet, there
might be a rational explanation for why it was in Stuart Wolfe’s
car. This, in spite of the man actually insisting that Carole had
never been in his BMW.

Ray had been forced to take that with a grain
of salt, all things considered. At this point, he wanted to keep it
as informal as possible with Carole, hoping they could still
somehow salvage whatever relationship they had left.

Or would be left after today.

Nina looked at him skeptically. “Are you sure
you’re okay about this, Ray?”

He rubbed his head.
Hell no, I’m not okay
about it.
But what other choice did he have? He couldn’t sit on
what might be crucial evidence in a murder spree that had taken
five lives. Not even when his personal life could blow up in his
face like dynamite.

Nina, who had managed to possibly connect
Carole to the serial killer case, had insisted she be present for
questioning, on or off the record. And Ray couldn’t blame her. Or
object. This was her case as much as it was his.

And Ray conceded that she was far more
objective at this stage than he was.

He looked at her and kept his voice level.
“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“Good,” she said concisely. “You know we have
to talk to her and see what she says?”

“I know.”

“If push comes to shove, we can probably get
a warrant by tonight.”

Ray winced. “Why don’t we just wait and see
what happens?”

“It’s your call,” Nina said respectfully.
“For now—”

The elevator doors opened and they got off,
walking down the long hallway till they came to Carole’s door. It
opened as if on cue, and Carole stood there as if she was part of a
welcoming committee. Ray could see that she now viewed him with
caution and apprehension rather than as a friend and lover.

“May we come in?” he asked politely, noting
she was dressed in a stylish silver skirt suit and gray pumps, as
though on her way out.

She acquiesced without a word, stepping
aside.

The three stood in a triangle in the living
room. Planting her eyes directly upon Ray, Carole asked in a
controlled voice: “So what’s this all about,
Detective
Barkley?”

He swallowed the lump in his throat. Pulling
out a plastic bag from his pocket containing the bracelet, he held
it before her. “Do you recognize this?”

Carole needed only a moment to study the
bracelet. She looked at him as if she knew instantly where he had
first seen cultured pearl jewelry.

“Yes,” she responded with resignation. “It
looks like the matching bracelet to a necklace and earrings I
own.”

Ray glanced uneasily at Nina. Looking back at
Carole, he said: “We found it in Stuart Wolfe’s car.”

Carole lifted a thin brow. Ray wasn’t sure if
it was in surprise that she had been associated with the attorney
or that the bracelet had been in his car.

“I’m not sure what to say,” she uttered,
flushed. “Yes, Stuart and I are friends, but I haven’t been in his
car in recent memory, if ever.” She paused. “Certainly not wearing
that bracelet—”

Nina stepped forward. “But you don’t deny
it’s your pearl bracelet?” she asked pointblank.

Carole peered at her, then Ray, asking him
innocently: “Maybe
you
could tell me what’s going on here?
Am I being accused of something? If so, I’d sure like to know what
it is.”

Ray averted her eyes and back again, sighing.
“We have reason to believe Stuart Wolfe’s BMW may have been driven
by the person who killed Blake Wallace.” It pained him to have to
draw her into this cloud of suspicion, but there was no other way
at this point. “All leads, no matter how remote, have to be checked
out. I’m sure you understand—”

Carole batted her lashes at him indignantly.
“Yes, I think I’m beginning to...”

“Look, if you’d rather have your attorney
present—” Nina said patronizingly.

Carole shot her a scathing look. “I’m a
criminal court
judge
, Detective Parker! I think I understand
the law and my rights.” To Ray she stated frostily: “This whole mix
up could have been straightened out with a simple phone call.”

She abruptly marched towards her bedroom.
Both detectives watched, then followed, Ray leading the way, as if
his duty. He saw her bed upon entering the room and remembered how
soft it felt. And how Carole had felt even softer. He wondered if
he would ever get to make love to her again. It irked him that
their relationship now hung in the balance, surrounded by the
specter of murder.

Carole went to a jewelry box atop a dark oak
dresser, yanking open a drawer. She dug around in it haphazardly,
but came up empty. Her eyes popped wide at Ray as she stammered: “I
can’t seem to find it. The bracelet was in here, along with the
necklace and earrings. I’m sure of it.” She lifted the cultured
pearl earrings and necklace to show them, as if for effect. “I know
I put the bracelet back the last time I wore it—”

“And when was that?” Nina asked bluntly.

Carole looked up thoughtfully. “I really
can’t remember for sure.” Her voice faltered.

Nina narrowed her eyes. “Maybe I can refresh
your memory, Judge. Maybe you wore the bracelet when you beat Blake
Wallace to death with a bat,” she pressed accusingly. “Or Eddie
Jackson.”

“That’s enough, Parker!” Ray blared at her.
But the damage had already been done. He could see it in Carole’s
face, etched with fury. At him.

“How dare you!” Carole retorted bitingly,
glaring at Ray, before settling in on Nina. “You don’t know what
the hell you’re talking about!”

“We do know your father beat your mother to
death.” Nina’s voice was caustic, unapologetic. “And that you
witnessed it—”

Carole locked eyes with Ray. Once again he
found himself unable to meet her eyes head on, hating that they
both were put in such an unenviable position. Instead, he focused
on the expensive jewelry box with the even pricier missing cultured
pearl bracelet that may have been in his pocket.

“We also know you testified on behalf of
Esther Reynolds at her trial for killing her abusive husband
fifteen years ago,” Nina continued.

“So what?” Carole snapped, tossing her hands
up in the air. “My family skeletons and friendships hardly make me
a murder suspect, much less, a cold-blooded killer!”

“I think they do,” Nina responded bravely.
“Especially if the blood on the pearl bracelet found in Stuart
Wolfe’s car that we both know is yours, which you seem to have
conveniently misplaced, matches that of one of the victims of the
vigilante serial killer—”

Carole shook her head in disbelief. “This
whole thing is totally absurd.”

Ray made himself face her. “Are you and
Stuart Wolfe lovers?” he asked in a throaty voice, the implications
having dual meanings.

Carole studied the question. “No, we are
not!” Her voice seemed to echo throughout the room. “I already told
you, we’re just friends!”

So are we, technically speaking.
And
lovers. At least till now. Would they be either when this was all
over?

“Friendly enough that Wolfe would allow you
to use his car while he was lecturing?” Nina asked. “To commit
murder?”

“I won’t even bother to dignify that with an
answer,” Carole snorted derisively.

“Mind if we look around a bit?” Nina peeked
at Ray then gave Carole her full attention. “Just routine, you
know. We can get a warrant—”

“Go right ahead!” Carole practically did a
three hundred and sixty degree turn of her slender body in disgust.
“I’m not sure what you expect to find, but I have nothing to
hide.”

When Nina left the room Ray approached
Carole, not sure what to say. Or how to say it without sounding
like an asshole who’d just stabbed his girlfriend in the back...and
twisted the knife a bit for good measure.

“Look, baby,” he managed, placing a hand on
her shoulder, “you have to believe I never wanted to—”

She whirled away from him as though he was
her worst enemy. “Don’t!” Her voice filled with indignation. “This
is not the time and certainly no longer the place to hear your
sorry assed lies.”

“Carole—” Ray said regretfully. “This has
nothing to do with us...” The words even sounded hollow to him.

“Like hell it doesn’t,” she lashed out. “It
has
everything
to do with us. Do you really think I’m such a
big fool that I can’t see through you? It’s obvious that whatever
we had was nothing more than a sham. You used me, just like other
bastards, and now you’re trying to bury me for something I had
nothing to do with.”

She had it all wrong, Ray thought miserably.
But how the hell could he get through to her while remembering he
was a cop with a job to do—no matter who got hurt in the process,
including him.

Nina got their attention. She came in, a
gloved hand holding a wooden bat. “Look what I found—”

Ray gazed at the bat, then Carole.

“Where did you get that?” Carole asked,
sounding just as shocked.

“Found it in the spare bedroom closet,” Nina
said. “Is it yours?”

“I’ve never seen it before,” she said
wide-eyed.

Nina fluttered her lashes skeptically. “Oh,
really?” She held it up towards the light. “Looks like there might
be dried blood on the bat. It also looks just like the bats the
killer left behind after battering her victims to death—right down
to the same manufacturer. Now you wouldn’t know anything about
that, would you,
Your Honor
?”

Carole was speechless and starting to look to
Ray like a guilty person whose life was beginning to unravel before
his very eyes.

And he, too, was shocked into an
uncomfortable and fearful silence.

First the pearl bracelet.

Now a bat.

What the hell next?

A body stuffed in the basement?

Studying this disturbing chain of
coincidences and possibly damning evidence, Ray knew it didn’t look
good for Carole.

But did that make her a calculating,
cold-hearted serial killer?

He stared uneasily at the question.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO