WHAT YOU'VE DONE: A romantic suspense thriller by J.A. Schneider

Author:J.A. Schneider [Schneider, J.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-15T16:00:00+00:00

41.

“Walk nine steps,” he says in the parking lot. “Then turn, stand on one foot-”

“Stop.”

“-and touch your nose.”

“Stop, I’m fine. Have a question.”

“What?”

I’m leaning on the back of my Jeep with my arms folded. He’s standing, hands on his hips and almost serious about me maybe not driving. With his blazer open like that, I can see his gun on his right hip. A breeze gusts. The night air is balmy.

“Do you now consider John Kirkley a suspect?” I ask.

“Yes.” In the shadows, Jay’s deep-set dark eyes seem more intense. “But there’s no evidence, not of the fling and Jordan isn’t even sure it was Kirkley on the phone. You’re not either, right?”

“Right. It was muffled.” I inhale a lungful of tangy air from the river. “And even if there were proof he had sex with a minor, it doesn’t make him the killer.”

Jay paces away a little, his feet crunching gravel. “Watch how Herrick starts building the case. Stay close to it.”

“Easier said,” I sigh, trying to think. My head aches.

Two couples I saw inside come out, pile into one car and leave hurriedly. They’re scared, probably figure safety in numbers. Jay watches them. There’s been online skepticism; plenty of people in town think the police have the wrong man.

“We’re still off the record,” he says, looking back.

“Right.”

“I’m still also liking Jack Payne. What bothers me is that chilling, possessive sound to the phone voice. Could that have been Dear Dad, estranged father living so near where it…happened?”

I say nothing, seeing Kelly’s body again in the crime tent. Nausea threatens.

Jay paces back to me. “But you stay on Herrick. Pretend to help or hover or say you’ll take the case away if Brian wants to change. That would be interesting. See how much they fear losing control.”

I’m surprised. “Did you just read my mind? I’m trying to figure how to muscle in.” What I’ve said almost scares me. “Seems like forever since I mounted a defense.”

“Did you win?”

“Yes. The other side’s pal came gunning for me.”

Another couple comes out, then two drunks yakking about the Yankees. They get into their cars and leave. That’s it, there’d been few people in the restaurant. A minute later overhead lights start to turn off, and except for moonlight, the parking lot darkens. I tense, looking around. A moving silhouette draws my attention to the rear side of the restaurant. Probably just a kitchen worker, but it scares me.

Jay glances around too, as if checking every shadow. “Just remember, if you take on Kirkley and Herrick, that they’re both liars. Pretty good at it, body language and eye contact, everything.”

“Got it.”

“Herrick’s an empty suit who needs to brag, that’s his weakness. Even during that lawsuit with my father, he’d holler about how special he was, how he grew up on a forty-acre estate in Greenwich’s back country. Well he did – as the son of the caretaker. Spent his first twelve years living over the five-car garage before his family moved here.”

I gaze out at the river, realizing how many times Jay’s mentioned his father.

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