Her Last Day (Jessie Cole #1)(14)
Colin rubbed his chin. “And Koontz is an attorney?”
She nodded. “I knew that when I took the case, but it gets worse. According to Andriana, his partner is upset, and he wants justice. Her words, not mine.”
“If Koontz knew you were following him, why didn’t he confront you instead of pulling out a gun?”
“Good question,” Jessie said. “The whole thing makes no sense.” She paused, thinking. “To want me dead, he must have been extremely worried about others finding out about his extracurricular activities. Assuming he’d done his homework,” she continued, “he would have known I was a private investigator with a license to carry. He would have known what happened three years ago.”
“Don’t go there,” Colin said. “You were protecting a police officer. You did the right thing.”
Jessie had been doing surveillance on a man whose wife suspected he was cheating on her. Her plan had been to follow the husband and report back to his wife. But a fight had broken out inside the house. Neighbors heard the commotion and called the police. An officer arrived within minutes, and as he walked toward the house, Jessie saw the husband approaching the officer from behind, gun aimed and ready to fire. Jessie got out of the car, told him to stop or she would shoot. He fired and missed. She fired and hit her target. He died instantly. The scene still haunted her, but it hadn’t stopped her from pulling out her gun and firing in a public park.
She paced the room. “Why would Koontz shoot blanks? It makes no sense.”
“Maybe he didn’t know the gun was loaded with blanks. Either that or he was suicidal.”
It was quiet for a moment while they thought about different scenarios of what might have happened.
“How much time do you have before your court appearance?”
“Less than a month.”
“Sounds like we have our work cut out for us.”
“I can’t ask you to help me, especially when you’re so entrenched in finding the Heartless Killer.”
“You need to dig deeper into Parker Koontz’s life. The woman who hired you can’t be the first woman he’s harassed. Maybe you should have a chat with his partner.”
“That’s a good idea.”
Jessie met his gaze. “I’m sorry, you know, about everything. I didn’t mean to push you away. You surprised me. That’s all.”
“Nothing to be sorry about. One of these days you’re going to wake up and realize you can’t live without me. Let’s just hope it’s not too late when that happens.”
His phone buzzed, breaking into her thoughts. After reading his text, he said, “I’ve got to go,” then grabbed his things from the coffee table and started down the stairs to the front door.
“Colin,” Jessie called, worried she might not see him again.
He turned back to look at her and waited.
“Thanks for being there for me,” she told him. “It means a lot.”
“Sure. I’ll call you later. You know—to check on Higgins.”
“Thanks.”
There was nothing wrong with Colin Grayson, she thought as he walked away. It was all her. She was confused. He’d broken her heart before, and the thought of allowing him in again only for him to realize she wasn’t the one scared her to death.
The sound of the door opening and closing brought her back to the moment. Colin was gone. And she had work to do.
EIGHT
Erin awoke to the sound of chattering teeth. It took her a second to realize she was the one making the noise. She wondered how long she’d dozed off for. She was freezing, and it was pitch-dark.
As her gaze darted around the cell, she rubbed the chill from her arms. “Garrett?”
No answer.
Pushing herself to her feet, she hoped her eyes would adjust to the dark. No such luck. She held both arms straight and stiff in front of her like a mummy in an old black-and-white movie and walked slowly across the small space. A few seconds passed before her hand came into contact with something cold and fleshy. She yanked her arm back. “Garrett,” she said again. “Is that you?”
Still no answer.
She swallowed as she reached out again and forced herself to touch whatever it was in front of her. It was definitely a human form, bony, skeletal. She held back a cry. Standing on the tips of her toes, she felt the cloth around his neck, and realized then what he’d been doing with the backpack. He’d spent hours ripping it to shreds. She’d thought he’d wanted to ruin something that belonged to the man upstairs. But she’d been wrong. Garrett had seen the backpack as his chance out of here once and for all. He’d made a rope and noose to hang himself with.
She held his wrist, felt for a pulse, but there was none.
Her stomach tightened as a sharp pain gripped her heart and squeezed.
Garrett was dead. And now she was alone with a dead man.
Her heart raced as she grabbed hold of the bars and shook them. “Let me out! I want out!”
Unable to stop the tears from coming, she crawled back to where she’d been sitting before, got down on all fours, and felt around for the pile of things she’d collected. Her mind raced as she pulled the pen apart and then hid the coins under a pile of straw.
Calm down, she told herself. You need to think. Think. Think.