Her Last Day (Jessie Cole #1)(86)
A restless feeling settled over Jessie as she began to realize what this could mean. If David Roche was somehow involved, this could be the Holy Grail of evidence needed to prove she’d acted in self-defense.
“Why would Koontz fire at Jessie in the first place?” Colin wanted to know.
Nobody had the answer to that.
Andriana rubbed her temple. “If David Roche somehow deceived his partner, he’s not going to be happy to learn that Parker Koontz is waking from his coma.”
Colin frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“Andriana’s friend works at the hospital where Koontz is staying,” Jessie explained. “He’s showing signs of recovering.”
Colin smiled at Andriana and then grabbed Jessie’s hand and pulled her from her chair so he could wrap his arms around her.
She laughed. “Are you happy about the video or Koontz’s possible recovery?”
“Both. Everything. We might be able to keep you out of jail, after all.”
FORTY-SEVEN
Two days later, after a long day of courtroom drama, rousing revelations, and celebrations, Jessie returned home to Olivia and Higgins, who had stayed up to say good night. As she watched her niece head off to bed, Higgins on her heels, Jessie found it hard to believe he was the same dog from only weeks ago. His cast had been removed, and he’d become more playful and less fearful of people. He’d also become dependent on Jessie whenever Olivia wasn’t around, following her like a second shadow. She wondered how they’d ever gotten along without him.
Jessie plopped down on the couch, picked up the remote, and turned on the TV. For the second time in the past three weeks, she was the main story. On the screen, a reporter on Channel Ten news looked into the camera lens and talked about what went down in the courtroom behind closed doors.
“Parker Koontz, a well-known attorney in Midtown, awoke from a coma yesterday,” the reporter said, “and was well enough to tell investigators that his partner, David Roche, convinced him to shoot Jessie Cole after he was told she would ruin the firm’s reputation when the public learned of his Peeping Tom tendencies.”
The report continued. “Events around the Cole-versus-Koontz case escalated when the receptionist at the law firm told the court that the firm was in financial trouble, and David Roche had set up a Key Man Insurance Policy, which compensates businesses for financial losses that often occur in the result of the death of a key player in a business. Many law firms have such insurance.”
The reporter went on to talk about how David Roche had replaced real bullets with blanks, knowing that Jessie Cole would most likely return fire to protect herself and others. They went on to show clips of the video Jessie had taken, circling the area with a red pen where David Roche was clearly visible. Both men were charged. David Roche was taken into custody, and Parker Koontz would soon be transported to the prison infirmary.
Jessie shut off the television and headed for bed. It was late, and she still had trouble sleeping since the Heartless Killer incident. For the next few hours, she tossed and turned. Finally giving up, she lay awake, her mind churning. During the first week after Arlo Gatley’s release, she’d talked to him more than once. During their last conversation, she’d been glad to hear that he was making a concerted effort to meet the neighbors. Whether out of guilt or shame for judging Arlo based on his looks and mannerisms and thinking the worst of him, or sheer compassion, the neighbors had come out in full force, plying him and Zee with home-cooked meals and invitations to barbeques. Mrs. Dixon, a longtime widow and Arlo’s next-door neighbor, had invited him to dinner. He’d been surprised to admit that he’d enjoyed being in her company.
Despite solving the mystery of Parker Koontz, and her tremendous relief in knowing that the Heartless Killer had finally been stopped, she couldn’t stop thinking about Ben Morrison.
A week after he’d saved her life, and others, he’d called her and asked to meet with her, telling her it was imperative that they talk. She’d met him at the office. After hearing what he had to say about Sophie, she’d been angry that he’d waited so long to tell her what he’d heard. At the time, she had a court case looming, so she’d pushed it out of her mind.
But now, as she lay in the dark, she thought about Sophie’s friend Juliette Farris. After Sophie had disappeared, Jessie had met with Juliette on more than one occasion. She remembered Juliette coming across as quiet and sort of standoffish. Long before Mom ran off, Jessie had realized Sophie was a troublemaker. There was the time Sophie stole a pack of gum from the grocery store, and then was suspended from school after forging their mother’s name, excusing herself from school due to illness. There were other things, too, but a car thief? Luring strange men away so she and Juliette could steal their money?
Sophie had a wild side, and she’d liked to let loose every once in a while, but Jessie also knew the Sophie who cried easily at movies and spent more than one weekend baking cookies to raise money for families worse off. All Jessie had to do was shut her eyes to see Sophie spending endless, sleepless nights watching over Olivia when she was sick with croup.
Ben Morrison, Leanne Baxter, and Juliette Farris had nothing to gain by making up lies about her sister.
And yet every time she talked to Ben, it seemed there was one more link between him and Sophie. And it always pointed to the last day Sophie was seen alive.