Sunset Beach(121)

“And you’re sure it was him? Spell that name for me.”

“It’s F-E-N-T-R-E-S-S. Yes, I’m positive. After you left with Neesa, I was alone all afternoon, until he showed up with that smoothie. He sat there, watching me drink it, until I was so stoned I could barely walk. He left, but then he came back, briefly, I’m assuming to get rid of the smoothie.”

Jonah spoke up from the backseat. “Hi. This is another of Drue’s colleagues from the law firm. I work with Ben too. We found Drue at seven-thirty tonight. She was barely conscious. Another of her friends, who was with me, recognized the symptoms of an overdose. He’s the one who called nine-one-one. While we were waiting for the ambulance, we found a bottle of OxyContin in her purse. But there was no smoothie.”

“How about my files? And my notes?” Drue turned to address Jonah. “They were on the kitchen table.”

“Nothing like that,” Jonah said.

“Okay, I’m gonna take this story of yours at face value,” Hernandez said. “Do you have the guy’s address?”

“I don’t,” Drue said.

“I’ve been to his place,” Jonah volunteered. “It’s in Woodlawn.”

Brice had been scrolling through the contacts on his cell phone. He spoke up now. “I have it: 1516 Hibiscus Street.”

“What kind of vehicle does he drive?” Hernandez asked.

“It’s a silver Honda Accord,” Drue said. “Late model, and I think it’s got, like, a M?tley Crüe decal on the back bumper.”

“Do any of you happen to know if this guy has a gun?”

Drue looked at Jonah. “I never heard him talk about owning a gun,” Jonah said. “He doesn’t seem like the type to me.”

“All right,” she said, after a long pause. “Woodlawn is out of my jurisdiction. I’m gonna call St. Pete PD and ask them to pay a call on Ben Fentress, and bring him in for questioning. In the meantime, sit tight until you hear from me.”

“You’ll call us, right?” Brice asked. “As soon as you have him in custody?”

“Yes, Mr. Campbell. I’ll be in contact.”

Drue disconnected and leaned back on the headrest. “I’m spent.”

“You’re spent?” Brice said in disbelief. “This is the second night in a row I’ve been up with you at one-thirty in the morning. It reminds me of when you were fifteen, the last summer you lived with me and Joan.”

Drue scowled. “Or as I refer to it, my very own bummer summer.”

“Under the circumstances,” Brice said, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to take you home. You’d better come back to my house.”

“Noooo, Dad,” Drue protested. “Ben’s not coming back to the scene of the crime. He’s too smart for that. Just take me home, okay? I haven’t slept in nearly twenty-four hours.”

“Uh, Brice?” Jonah said quietly. “I caught a ride to the hospital with Corey, so my car’s still at Drue’s place. If it’s okay with both of you, I could hang there, on the sofa, in the off chance Ben does come back.”

“Great idea,” Brice said.

“Absolutely not,” Drue said. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Overruled,” Brice said, starting the Mercedes.

Traffic was nonexistent at that hour. Drue had almost dozed off when Brice’s voice, low and urgent, startled her awake.

“Will you answer one question? Honestly?”

She knew what the question would be, and was already dreading having to answer.“Yes.”

“What makes you think my oldest friend, and your colleague, is capable of blackmail? Of actually being complicit in the cover-up of a murder?”

Drue moaned. “Do we really have to hash this out right now?”

“Yeah. We really do. It’s bad enough that you thought I would do something like that. Jimmy’s like family, he’s like a brother to me.”

“Look. It was a mistake, a terrible judgment call on my part. It’s just that Zee gives off a weird vibe, you know? Always dressed in black. And he never answers a direct question. After Yvonne Howington walked into the office, I guess I became obsessed with figuring things out. I mean, we’re the Justice Line, right? So, where was the justice for Jazmin? And Yvonne and Aliyah?”

“You could have come to me with your suspicions.”

“I tried!” Drue said. “You told me bad stuff happens. You told me you’d done your best, but boom, case closed, next case.”

“And you can’t take no for an answer,” Brice said, giving her a sideways glance. “Never could.”

“And it turns out I was right. There was something there. Just … not what I expected. Or who I expected would be behind things.”

“But why blame Jimmy? What else did you have against him?”

Drue stared out the window. “It wasn’t just the Jazmin Mayes case. There was something else. Colleen Boardman Hicks.”

“That again?” Brice’s voice was sharp. “The woman’s been gone for forty years. What’s she got to do with Jimmy? Or me?”

“I don’t know, Dad. You tell me. Since we’re on the topic of honesty, can you honestly tell me she was ‘just a high school classmate’? And there was nothing going on between you? Can you explain why Mom kept a folder full of old newspaper clippings about Colleen Hicks’s disappearance all these years? Or why the official case file, which has been missing from the St. Pete Police Department since Jimmy retired, should turn up in the attic of Papi’s house?”