Two-Faced (17 page)

CHAPTER FIFTY ONE

As they drove over to Zach's Jess hoped against hope that she remembered where he lived. She knew the general area from having followed him there that day, but she'd been too anxious and excited to really pay close attention. Besides she hadn’t ever planned on coming back.

Sykes drov
e down Wilshire, heading east towards downtown, and Jess remembered the familiar signs in Korean, advertising restaurants and businesses. She knew it was somewhere close.

"Turn here!" she said as they passed the large church on Normandie.  As they drove so
uthward Jess frowned, looking out for the familiar beige building, but she saw only houses. "You know, I think it was one street up," she said, trying to sound certain. If the detective knew just how lost she was, he'd probably give up looking altogether.

He eyed her for a moment, then turned the car up the next street, passing a small car repair shop.

This wasn’t it.

Jess wondered just how much longer the detective would continue searching.

"Go left," she said, hoping to ease him onto the next street without his realizing it.

Unfortunately,
‘left’ led only to a dead end, and to the unwavering gaze of those brown eyes that looked at her without amusement.

Sykes waited, saying nothing, until she could take it no longer. "Okay, I have no idea where he lives
. I thought I remembered but I don’t have a clue."

He shook his head.

Was that a look of amusement or irritation? It was hard to tell.

He put the car in reverse, sighing heavily as he turned the car around and drove back to Wilshire. But instead of driv
ing her back home as Jess expected, he reached for the small radio on his dash and keyed the mic.

"I need an address for a Zach..." he looked at Jess.

"Winters," she said, hoping that Zach had given her his real name.

"Winters," he repeated into the mic.

Within a few minutes the female voice on the other end supplied him with Zach's exact name, middle initial included, and his address. As well as his list of priors. Just as Zach had told her, he had been arrested twice for theft.

"Handy," Jess said, no
dding towards the mic setup on the dash--she realized the stupidity of her words as they exited her mouth.

"Yeah, we like it,”
Sykes grunted as he pulled the car back onto Wilshire and headed further east.

Was that a joke, she wondered as she looked over
at the unsmiling detective. His eyes were focused straight ahead. Probably not. The man clearly was all business.  How Maddy could find him attractive was beyond her, but then again Maddy found all sorts of men attractive and even, she'd once admitted to Jess, the occasional woman.

Sykes drove east, block after block. As they stopped at a red light near Filipinotown,  she could sense him watching her and pretended to be looking out for Zach
’s house. She wasn’t going to give him the pleasure of gloating about just how off she'd been in her directions.

They had gone another couple miles and were deep into the heart of downtown when Sykes approached Rose street and made an abrupt left, pulling up to the familiar beige building with the decrepit courtyard out
front.

They got out of the car and walked up the two flights of stairs in silence. As they approached  212, they heard a woman
’s voice, screaming.

Sykes rapped loudly on Zach's door.

It swung open as though it hadn’t been shut properly and Sykes quickly threw a protective arm out to block Jess from entering.

"Police!”
  he called out, unholstering his gun. When there was no answer, he  walked slowly into the apartment, motioning for Jess to stay where she was. While she nervously waited for Sykes to give the all clear she heard the sound of a commercial playing and realized the sound of woman screaming was coming from a show on TV. Not a real person.

She ignored Sykes's warning and walked in, spotting the TV at the far e
nd of the living room.  Taped to the center of the screen was a note with the word, ‘
Jess’ 
written on it.

She reached for it, just as Sykes reappeared from the bedroom, putting his gun back into its holster. “
What’s that?” 

“
It’s the evidence,” she said excitedly, opening it up. The ‘note’ was in fact a thin envelope with a DVD inside it. “Zach must have left it here for me.”

She put the disc into the DVD machine, hit
‘play’ and Zach's face appeared on the screen, looking as handsome and cocky as usual.

“
Jess,” he said, looking directly into the camera. “Sorry I couldn’t get this to your place but if you’re watching, I guess you realized I wasn’t coming tonight.”

Jess nodded impatiently-- eager to get on with the tape and prove her sister guilty once and
for all. 

"Look, I
’m sorry" Zach continued,  on screen. "But I felt the need to leave town fast. The thing is, babe. I don’t think our plan to frame Ally would've worked…”

“
What?”  Jess whispered towards the screen.

"No one would
’ve believed that story we concocted about the fake blackmail and the video in the hats. They would have seen it for the bullshit that it was...”

Sykes looked from the TV over to Jessica.

She was shaking her head in horrified disbelief.

“
Anyway, babe,” Zach said, with a cocky wink. “It was great knowing you and I hope you get away with everything and you get all the money. Oh—and by the way, you should really get rid of the rest of those bullets, don’t want the cops finding them.”

“
That’s a lie!” Jess screamed. “He’s lying! I never had any bullets!”

Sykes looked at her coldly. “
That’s enough to get us a search warrant of your house.”

Zach continued on screen. “
And here's some footage of the other night to remember me by...."

Jess stared, dumbstruck. Not only by Zach
’s lies but by the footage that suddenly appeared on the screen. It was a close up of herself and Zach making love on the beach.

At least it looked that way. Though obviously it was a lie. A complete lie.

“That’s not me on that tape.” Jess turned frantically to Sykes. “He’s lying. About everything. I never had any bullets. I never…”

Sykes continued to stare wordlessly at the footage on the screen.

“It must be Ally with him on the beach. She made him say this stuff. Or…” Jess shook her head trying to figure it out. “Or maybe they were both just setting me up again. But he’s lying. Please. You have to believe me.”

Sykes carefully removed the DVD from the machine and placed it into its white sleeve.

“Detective…” Jessica said, pleading, looking tearfully into his brown eyes. But she could see from his expression that it was hopeless. He didn’t believe her.  In fact, he seemed almost angry.

“
You need to come downtown,” he said.

“
But ...that was all a lie. He was lying."

Sykes pulled his handcuffs from his belt
and flipped them open. “If you won’t come willingly…”

Was this real? Jess stared at them. “
No..." she said, shaking her head. “Please.”

“
We’ll track him down. He won’t get far,” Sykes said glancing at her. 

For a moment she saw a flicker of something in his eyes. Sadness? Disappointment? Something…
she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Then the cold emotionless expression returned.

She stared down dazed, as he led her outside.

CHAPTER FIFTY TWO

Sykes sat back and put his feet up on the desk. He flipped to the sports page and checked the scores. Great. Another loss in a long losing streak for the Dodgers. He cursed to himself and tossed the section into the trash, then he began scanning the metro page. No news on the Parks arrest yet, but it'd probably make the evening paper.

"Hey, congrats on making an arrest in the Banks case,”
Morelli said, taking a bite of donut. He held out the box for Sykes.

"Un huh," Sykes grunted, continuing to read the p
aper. For some reason, he didn’t feel like eating.

He knew he ought to be happy. He
’d closed the case after all. But for some reason, he wasn’t.  He’d been wrong. His gut had been completely off. He had never really thought that the Parks woman did it. He would have put money on the sister instead any day. And he didn’t like to be off like that.

It was eating at him. How screwy his instincts were on t
his. She’d been lying the whole time. Lying about everything. Saying she'd only slept with the Winters guy that one weekend in Texas, when there they were, getting all hot and nasty with each other right there on the beach. That sure as hell was Santa Monica, not El Paso. Not unless El Paso changed a lot in the last ten years.

He shook his head and took another sip of his tepid coffee. Some women were just good liars. The ones that seemed so innocent, especially.

He flipped over to the second page.. Another drive-by in South Central and a murder/suicide in Tarzana. That one that had been all over the news last night, but only warranted a small column on page eight today. Already old news.

His eyes skimmed a story about an unidentified body discovered in an
alley in West Hollywood. Some John Doe who was missing his teeth and fingertips––anything that could identify him.

Sykes bet they
’d probably never find out who the guy was. That was the way it worked more times than people knew. In real life, people actually got away with murder.

As Sykes read the story, Morrelli walked up behind him, reading over his shoulder. “
Ouch. Poor guy, huh? His entire body was covered with welt-- like he'd been whipped to death. Probably a gay thing.”

Sykes nodded. At least it w
ouldn’t be their case. The West Hollywood sheriff’s department would handle it.  He put the paper aside and cursed under his breath.

Time to get back to work. He had to get on the trail of Zach Winters.

The DA wanted to charge him as an accessory in the Banks murder, though once they found him, they'd probably cut him a deal to save himself and testify against Jess. In any case, they had him on that tape, that would do her in, no matter what.

CHAPTER FIFTY THREE

Jessica sat alone in the small grey interview room, her head bowed. At the sound of the door opening she looked up.

"Jessica,” Lars said, as he hurried into the room past the guard, who closed the door behind him.

She
burst into tears, when she saw the look of concern on his face.

He hugged her tightly as tears spilled uncontrollably down her cheeks. “
Thank goodness you’re here,” she said.

“
I’m sorry it took so long, Jess, I was trying to track down Carl LaGrange. He’s the best criminal defense guy in the firm. He’s out of town but I’ll have him here for your arraignment.”

Jess dried her eyes. "Where's Danny, he doesn
’t know I'm here does he?" she asked, frantic.

"My mother's with him at the house. He doesn
’t know anything. Don’t worry about it, he's fine."

Jess nodded, relieved. "They think I killed my father,”
she whispered. She was trying to keep her voice even but it quavered with emotion.

"That's ridiculous,”
he snapped.  Lars stood, enraged, and began pacing around the small interview room. "Where on earth did they get that idea?"

"It was Ally. She's back in town. She set me up.”
Jess dried her cheeks on the handkerchief Lars handed her.  “It’s a long story…I've been such a fool."

"Tell me." He took the seat op
posite her at the small wooden table.

Jess twisted the handkerchief nervously in her hands and looked down at the scratched, dented table. She absently traced her finger over the words
Mike is inocinnt
scratched into the wood.

"It started last month...wit
h that convention in Texas. I...I met someone...a man." She looked down and paused. "I don't know...Maddy was pushing me to start dating again, and there was this guy in Texas. He seemed really great…”