Soul Possession(20)

“Too little too late,” Truitt said bitterly. “Who the hell did it?”

“Jessie’s alibi about being at the grocery store checked out. She told the truth about being at the pub no more than ten minutes. Not to say she couldn’t have killed Ms. Powell in that time, but there was a lot of blood at the scene and there’s no way she could have cleaned up and gone to the grocery store so quickly. When we started to question other employees, one of the stories waffled. When we pressed the bartender, she folded in about thirty seconds. She was a sobbing mess inside of five minutes and couldn’t confess fast enough.”

“Then why the hell was that information leaked?” Truitt demanded. “Son of a bitch. Nothing had been decided for sure. We aren’t a bunch of f**king amateurs. You don’t go to the press ever, but you damn sure don’t go around telling people who you think killed someone.”

“I want to know just as badly as you do,” Bull said with a scowl. “It compromises my investigation.”

“Has anyone informed Jessie that she’s no longer a suspect?” Rick cut in.

Bull paused before turning his gaze to Rick. “I thought maybe you two would want to do the honors. Up to you though. I wanted to tell you first. I got a confession just an hour ago and I called you as soon as I was done.”

Truitt thrust his fingers into his short hair. Jessie probably wouldn’t ever give them the time of day again, but she deserved to know she was off the hook.

“Thanks, Bull. Appreciate it,” Truitt said as he rose.

Rick also stood and they nodded their good-byes and then headed back out to Rick’s truck. For a long moment, Rick sat behind the wheel staring moodily out the windshield.

“Goddamn it,” he finally said and he pounded the steering wheel with his fist. “She was telling the truth all along. She went home with us because she wanted to.”

Truitt nodded tightly. “Yeah. We f**ked up. Christ. What a load of crap. The coincidence of all that going down like that? Has to be astronomical.”

“Or maybe it wasn’t coincidence,” Rick said grimly. “We don’t have the details, but it’s entirely possible someone saw their opportunity and used Jessie as the scapegoat.”

“We need to get over to her place. Do you have her address?”

Rick swore and then picked up the phone to call Bull.

Twenty minutes later they pulled up outside Jessie’s apartment to see her car parked out front. Truitt breathed a sigh of relief. At least she was home. They would make her listen. They had no other choice.

Both men got out and just as they got to the door, it opened and Jessie nearly ran into them, lugging a suitcase behind her. She stopped hard and would have fallen but Rick caught her arm and steadied her. Truitt could still see the wince when her leg took too much weight.

As soon as she locked onto them, she hastily backed away. The suitcase fell to the porch with a clunk.

“Are you here to arrest me?” she asked in a shaky voice.

She looked small and fragile and Truitt swore at the fear in both her voice and her eyes. He reached out to touch her, to somehow offer reassurance but she jerked back, making herself a smaller target.

“No honey, we’re not,” Rick said gently. “We’re here to tell you that an arrest has been made. You’re no longer a suspect.”

She stared blankly at them for a long time, her mouth open. Her gaze darted back and forth and then she shook her head as if she hadn’t fully understood what Rick had said.

“Just like that?” she asked hoarsely. “I’m not being arrested?”

Truitt shook his head. “No. You’re under no suspicion.”

Tears filled her eyes and then she looked away as she wiped at her eyes with her palms. “Everyone will think so though. It was all over the news today. I’ll never get another job.”

“We’re going to fix that,” Truitt vowed. “The department owes you. The chief is going to take care of it. No one will think you’re remotely guilty.”

She swallowed hard and then color suffused her cheeks. “You can’t fix it for me. You can’t control what other people think. What they think they know. What they know is that my face was all over the news. Some may not even remember why, but they’ll know there was something about me that they should be cautious about. So, no, you can’t fix this for me.”

Truitt couldn’t stand it any longer. “Sweetheart, let’s go inside. Were you going somewhere?”

“Yeah, I was going to my friend’s apartment to stay with her. She called her dad about a lawyer since we were convinced I’d be arrested any moment. I’m not going inside with you. I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“Jessie, please,” Rick said softly.

Her eyes flashed. “Do you know I said the same thing? I said please believe me. But I get that it was your job, okay? I’m not mad, because it looked like I killed someone and you had to do your job. I get why you had to stay away from me. Do you want to know what I don’t get and why I’m angry?”

Truitt swallowed and let his hand fall.

“I don’t get why you looked through me like I was nothing to you. Like I had betrayed you. I get that you may have thought so, but you condemned me without ever asking. You never once asked me if I did it.”