Two-Faced (14 page)

CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

"I don’t know how she knew that!" Jess said once they were outside. "Ally must've....somehow..." She shook her head, unable to continue. She had no clue how Ally knew.

Jess looked up and noticed Sykes watching her, though he said nothing. He opened the car door, his eyes back to their usual, opaque expression.

She had to find some way to convince him that her sister was lying. "Maybe he called her,” Jess said. “Maybe Smalley wrote down the number off of Ally's license... and he called her...and they got to talking and that's how she knew the whole story…" Jess looked at Sykes, her eyes pleading, but he said nothing. "It’s possible right? It could have happened that way.”

"I
’ll look into it in the morning,” Sykes said as he started up the engine. “It's late."

"It just had to have happened that way,”
Jess frowned, staring out the window. "How else could she have known?"

Sykes didn
’t say a word the entire drive home. It almost seemed to Jess that he was angry. All trace of his earlier friendliness had disappeared and he refused to look at or talk to her--as though he was disappointed in her in some way.

When he pulled into her driveway, he didn
’t turn off the engine, but instead let it idle.

"So…
" Jess began, trying to think of some way to convince him of her innocence.

"Goodnight" he said abruptly. Jess sat for a moment, trying to think of so
me way to reach him. Then she nodded silently and got out of the car.

Walking up to her house she was grateful that at least he'd waited until she got safely inside the house before he drove away.

CHAPTER FORTY FIVE

It was late the next afternoon when Sykes called.

"There’s news," he began, not bothering with any of the usual pleasantries. "Turns out it was your sister that called Smalley, not the other way around."

Jess sank into the living room chair. "But that
’s impossible…" 

"Yeah, well, that
’s the way it happened."

She tried to keep calm. "Well...but maybe she got to him. She has a way of manipulating men. Maybe he's lying for her."

Sykes didn't respond.

"There must be a way to prove it was me there, not her
."

"Yeah well if you think of it, let me know."

At that moment she knew for sure he thought she was guilty. "You really don't believe me," she said despondently.

"One of you is lying, and let
’s face it, you’re the one with the motive."

"But…
do you really think I could have killed my father?"

He exhaled loudly. "You don
’t look like the type. But one thing I've learned in this job is, you never can tell about people. If I were you, I’d think about getting a lawyer,” he said, then up.

Jess felt the nausea
rise in her chest. Smalley had been her last hope and try as she might, she couldn’t remember any other incident, any other detail that would prove that she had been in Mexico that day. She'd told Ally about everything else. Everything but Smalley.

However Ally did it, one thing was certain, Jess needed to call a lawyer. She'd resisted doing it earlier, even though Maddy had been urging her to. Since she had nothing to hide, she  thought that hiring a lawyer would only have made her look guilty--as
though she needed defending. And to be honest, involving a lawyer would only make it all seem the more real. Now, however, it was as real as it could get.

She found the name of the lawyer Maddy had recommended written on a piece of paper near the phone, and
dialed the number. His secretary informed her that Victor Lopez would be out of the office all that day so she made an appointment for the following day.

Jess slogged through her appointments in the afternoon, going through the motions, though her mind
wasn’t really there. It was as though she were moving under water and her body was weighted down with an anchor.

Ironically, though she could barely concentrate during her house showings that day, two clients were ready to put bids in on two separate hou
ses.

But even that failed to lift her spirits. She attempted to call Danny during a free moment in the afternoon, but no one answered at Lars
’ house.

Maddy invited her out to a dinner to cheer her up, but Jess begged off, telling her that since Danny was
coming home in a few days, she wanted to finish getting her cleaning done. Though in truth, she could imagine doing nothing more strenuous then lying on the couch and staring up at the ceiling.

By the time she got home it was almost dark and she had nothing in the house to eat. But then again, she wasn’t hungry anyway. She got out of her car and walked up the driveway, then froze, thinking she heard a noise. The neighbor’s cat came around the corner and Jess laughed in relief.

“
Hey, Petunia,” she said, bending down to pet the orange and white tabby before hurrying toward the house. She decided that she would definitely have to follow Sykes’s advice and get more light in her dark yard.

As she got the key into the front door, she sensed a flurr
y of movement behind her. Before she could turn around, a hand covered her mouth, and another hand grabbed her roughly around the chest.

"Don
’t say anything," a low voice growled.

"Don
’t..," she said, struggling to free herself, trying to kick out at her assailant.

He shoved her inside, then kicked the door closed behind him.

"Damn it!" he hissed, holding her even more tightly while shoving her further into the darkened house. "Calm down. I don't want to hurt you."

She continued to struggle, almost losin
g her balance. His tight hold on her was the only thing keeping her upright.

"I'm going to move my hand away," he said into her ear. "If you promise you won
’t scream."

Jess nodded frantically.

He hesitated a moment as though unsure whether to trust her. Then he slowly removed his hand from her mouth.

Jess gasped for air, fighting the natural urge to scream. His tight grasp around her waist was a reminder that any attempt to escape was useless.

"What do you want?" she whispered, terrified.. She resisted the urge to turn around to see his face.

"I'm going to let go of you, but don
’t try to run."

She nodded and he released his grip on her.

She slowly turned to face him, her eyes straining to see in the dim light. She could just make out the contours of his face, his long hair pushed behind his ears.

"Zach?" she gasped, backing away.

"Jess,” he said with a smile. “Glad to see you haven’t forgotten me." He walked over to the end table and flipped on a light. "I'm sorry to scare you that way, but I have to talk to you and you got me pretty good with that mace earlier.”

"That was you? What...what do you want?"

She wasn’t sure whether she was relieved or more afraid now that she knew it was him. The last time she saw him was when she and Ally had gone to get the blackmail video from his safe and his last words to her then, were, "I'm gonna get you bitch.” 

Seeing him now, though, he didn
’t appear threatening.

“
Look,” he said. “I need to talk to you, and I know you don’t want anything to do with me. But there’s some things I need to tell you. Things you should know. About your father. About his murder.”

“
What? What do you know about his murder?”

"You got a beer?" he said, walking into the living room and settling down onto the couch. "I'm really thirsty."

Jess nodded and hurried into the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and took out a beer thinking, for a moment that she should call the police. She glanced over at the phone, but for some reason, she didn’t know why, she didn't think Zach was there to hurt her. Besides, she really wanted to know what he had to say.

Ten minutes later they were seated across from each other in the living room, Zach's half-finished beer in his hand.

Jess sat, shaking her head in disbelief. “So…You mean Ally was the one that sent you to seduce me in Texas? Not Lars?”

Zach traced the lip of the bottle with his finger and shrugged. "Yeah. She set up the whole thing. She cancelled your reservations, told me just how to play it...just what you liked in a man.”

Jess cringed at the thought but forced herself to remain focused on the more important issue. "But why? Why would she do that?"

"So that I could blackmail you. So that you'd have to go to her for help.”

Jess shook her head trying to take the whole thing
in.

"Look, she knew you wouldn
’t be able to pay the blackmail money, and that you'd do anything to save your kid. Even asking your old man. Even asking
her
. She planned that accidental meeting with your friend that day. She had told me she just wanted to make up with you and the only way to do it was to get you
to come to her. She wanted you to need her so that she’d be able to help you."

Jess frowned. "So she had you seduce me, then blackmail me?”

"Yeah. I know it
’s extreme, but she said you were really angry at her and she knew she had to do something dramatic to get you to trust her again."

"And you believed her?"

"Well you know your sister. She's pretty persuasive. Besides, I needed the cash.” He took another gulp of beer. “Anyway, it didn’t sound like a bad gig." He smiled at Jess who remained stone-faced.  "As an out of work actor, you take what you can get,” he shrugged.

"Even blackmail," she said with disgust.

Zach looked embarrassed.

Or then again…
maybe he was just acting again. Jess had to admit he was pretty good. Here he was sitting across from her and she had no idea who he really was. He had neither the suave charm of the gentleman she’d met in Texas, nor the sleazy, rough, insolence of the man who'd blackmailed her in the park. He appeared now to be just what he was claiming to be, a struggling out of work young actor.

"Well," she said sarcastically, "judging by your past performances you ought to go very far."

“Thanks,” he said, taking a sip of his beer, choosing to ignore her sarcasm. "So that's why she set the whole blackmail thing up. She said she wanted to be able to do something for you, and this was the only way. No one would get hurt.”

"So Lars never hired you…
" she shook her head and frowned, disgusted at herself for being so easily manipulated.

"Nah, he didn
’t have a thing to do with it. It was all Ally. I've never even met your husband."

Jess stared off, stunned. The whole thing had been set by Ally. From the very start.

No wonder Lars had appeared so confused whenever she brought up his "plan."

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked, still suspicious.

“Money, he said, sitting back in his chair. “ I mean, don’t get me wrong—Ally’s been paying me. But…I don’t know. I feel like something’s going on.”

He leaned forward, agitated. “
I thought I was in on every aspect of the plan, but then the other morning, when Ally thought I was in the shower, I heard her whispering to someone on the phone.” He looked at Jess. “I think there’s someone else involved in all this. I don’t know who. But I think she’s going to try to cut me out once she doesn’t need me anymore.”

“
Sounds like Ally,” Jess nodded.

Zach shrugged. "I figure I got more chance of coming out of this alive and with money in my pocket,
if I help you out.”

Jess stared at him in silence.

“Why should I believe you?” she finally said. “Maybe this is just another con."

"Yeah...”
Zach shrugged, taking another sip of his beer. "I thought you might think that. But all I can give you is my word."

Jess couldn
’t help but roll her eyes.

"Look, I thought about telling you the truth a couple of times, but Ally would
’ve killed me if she found out I was talking to you. She can be one mean bitch when you don’t do what she says. But I guess you know that."

Jess nodded absently.  Then she looked at him, horrified. “
Did you...are you the one that...killed my father?”

He drained the last of his beer, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "No. No way. I didn
’t even know about the murder till after she did it. Though I guess that was the point of everything, ultimately. She wanted you to owe her a favor so that you’d have to drive to Mexico for her. Giving her an alibi...”

“
While she was busy killing my father,” Jess said, finishing his sentence for him.

"Yeah, exactly. It was pretty smart of her, putting those cameras in the hats and...

"Wait. Cameras?" Jess's stared at him dumbstruck. “You mean…there never were any drugs in the hats?"

"Drugs? Hell no. Both
hats had video cameras planted in 'em. Little tiny ones that broadcast into a tape machine in the trunk of the car. It let Ally be in two places at the same time."

"Jeeze..." Jess stood up. It was all making sense now. She'd never even thought about the p
ossibility of cameras--she’d been so sure there were drugs in the hats.

“
Video cameras?" She shook her head, stunned by the realization of just how well her sister knew her. Ally didn’t have to tell her what was in the hats, she knew Jess's own imagination would fill in the missing information with the worst thing possible. 

Jess walked over to him and knelt beside him, her hand on his arm. "Zach, will you tell all this to the police? Will you help me?"

"I'd like to," he said, extricating his arm from her grip. “But I can’t."

"Then why are you here? It won't do me any good if you won't help me." She stood and paced away from him.

"Look, I didn't say I wouldn't help you. I just can't go to the police with you. Because of this…”

He reached into the inside
pocket of his leather motorcycle jacket and pulled out a small cassette tape.

“
What is that?”

"It
’s the tape of that little episode in the park. Y’ know, the one where I talked about blackmailing you. The one where Ally came to your rescue by taping me?"