Chapter 1


“Hi, Mom, I’m waiting for the movers now.” Callie took a final look around. ”Ah, they’re here now. I’ll call you when I get close.” This was it. Moving day! Callie opened the door for the movers.
“Ms Johnson? I’m Fred Malloy, this here’s Dave Benson. Are you all set?”
“Yes, come in.”
Fred looked around, made a few comments to his partner, and started loading the truck. Wasn’t long and she stood alone in an empty apartment. Who would’ve thought? Her, Callie Johnson, Symtheville’s next Chief of Police. When Mayor Hendricks called and said Chief Jim Landry was retiring was she interested, Callie darn near fell off her chair. Was she interested? Who wouldn’t be? Just the fact of coming back to her home town made it worthwhile. She’d been waiting several years for an opportunity.
Still, she couldn’t help but wonder if her grandmother had something to do with it, being a judge and all. Not that it mattered. Callie wasn’t about to refuse. Nope, this was a chance of a lifetime. You’d have to be a fool to refuse.
After locking the doors and dropping the keys at the rental office, she hurried to her car, anxious to get on the road. This was it. She was on her way.

***

Mama always used to say, “This too shall pass.”
But not this time, Mama – this time Jessica Roberts was in a heck of a mess. She paced the small jail cell, waiting for the chief. How could anyone even think she killed Jake Warren? She was a Judge for cripe sake. Not like she could kill anyone anyway. “Hey, don’t I get a phone call?”
Nothing, no answer as usual. Damn rookie cop was gonna pay for this. How dare he ignore her? A night in the cell made her itchy, like a million bugs crawled all over her. She ran her fingers through her hair and pulled out a handful of gray hair. The rate her hair fell out, she’d be bald by time she was sixty-six. When this was all over she’d have to see what the problem was. But that was the least of her worries. All she wanted now was a hot shower and a warm bed. And where the hell was Jim Landry anyway?
What kind of police chief goes fishing in the middle of the week? Jessica rubbed her wrists where Officer Sanders handcuffed her. Handcuffed, how humiliating. Worse part, he seemed to take pleasure in making sure they were real snug too. Real smart ass, that one. Didn’t he know who she was?
Oh he knew all right, that’s why he took such pleasure. Pay back because she reproached him in her court room when he testified in that hit and run case. Too smart for his own good. Cocky attitude and all.
Jessica fingered the button in her pocket. It was a clue, and she shouldn’t have picked it up from the crime scene, but it was in her hand when Sanders came along. She barely had enough time to drop it in her pocket when he grabbed her arms and slapped the cuffs on her.
Darn, she wished she knew what Jake had wanted. So secretive calling the way he had and asking her to meet him in that alley. Good lord, no better than thugs. What was it he said, something about police corruption and he couldn’t talk to Landry about it. What in the hell did that mean? Landry was the most honest cop she knew - Wouldn’t cheat a store clerk out of a penny.
“Jess, what the hell’s going on?” Landry’s voice boomed through the jail.
“About time you got here. How should I know what’s going on? Someone killed Jake Warren, and that punk out there seems to think it was me.”
“Hmm.” Chief Landry rubbed his unshaven chin. “Well everyone in town knows you and Jake didn’t see eye to eye.”
“Jim Landry, you can’t believe for one minute that I had anything to do with his murder.” Jessica glared at the Chief. “No, we didn’t see eye to eye, but you can’t possibly believe I killed him. Good Lord, Jim you know me better than that.” Of all the nerve, even as a joke that wasn’t funny. “Come on open the door - get me out of here.”
“Well now, I’d like to do that, Jess, but see, you’ve been booked, and we got to follow procedure. You know the proper channels.” He unlocked the door and motioned to her. “Come on, we’ll talk in my office.”
Procedure, my eye. Proper channels. She knew damned good and well Jim could let her go if he wanted to. She didn’t like this. Not one little bit. She followed him into his office, relieved to at least be out of the cell, for the moment anyhow. He handed her a cup of hot coffee. She sipped it, relishing the aroma while it warmed her. Never knew coffee to taste so good.
“Okay, Jess, what the hell’s going on here? What were you doing in that alley? Sanders said he found you bent over Jake’s body.”
“I wish I knew. Jake called me all secretive. Said he had something to show me, and it had to do with police corruption. I suggested he call you, but he said he needed a little more proof before he talked to you.” She didn’t have the heart to tell Jim that Jake didn’t trust him. She didn’t understand the whole thing herself. What made Jake single her out anyway?
While she and Jake didn’t exactly hate each other, there was certainly no love lost between them. She didn’t approve of some of Jake’s methods in the court room for starters, and she certainly didn’t agree with his lifestyle outside the court room.
Jake’s flamboyant ways irritated her. Always in the society pages of the newspaper, always with a different beautiful girl on his arm. Society’s most eligible bachelor. Ha! Guys like Jake never made a commitment to anyone. To think she almost fixed her granddaughter up with him. Good thing Callie had enough brains to see through him.
“Okay let’s start from the beginning. Just exactly what did Jake say in this phone call?” Jim’s question broke her thoughts.
“Not much, he just asked if I’d meet him at eight o’clock in the alley. When I asked why, he said wanted to show me something, and he didn’t want anyone to see us together.” Jessica scratched her head and pulled out another handful of hair. Damn, she hated this.
“I wasn’t too happy at the idea of meeting him in the alley, I can tell you that. But I was curious, so I went. When I got there Jake was laying at the bottom of the steps. I only just bent over to see if he was alive when that punk officer came on the scene. He pulled his gun and slapped some handcuffs on me before I had a chance to say anything.” Jess fingered the button. Should she tell Jim? He’d be furious with her. “Damn idiot never did listen. You really ought to train your officers better.” Still, she held the button in her pocket. Maybe it didn’t mean anything. “You can’t really mean to charge me for this?”
Jim laughed. “No, Jess, I’m not going to charge you for this. I’m not stupid enough to think you had anything to do with it. Besides I saw Jake’s body. He has a black eye and bruised, skinned knuckles. He fought with his killer. Even now you hardly have a hair out of place.”
“Besides, little thing like you’d be no match for him. I’d sure like to know what he wanted to show you though. We didn’t find anything with his body, so either he didn’t have it with him, or the killer took it.” He rubbed his chin.
“Well I can’t help you there, sorry.” Jess set her cup on the counter next to the coffee pot. “Can I go now? I really need a shower.”
“Yeah, you can go, but if you remember anything you let me know, ya hear?”
Jessica put her hand in her pocket, pulled out the button, looked at it, and handed it to Jim. “I know I shouldn’t have done it, but I found this lying next to Jake’s hand. I picked it up just before that yo-yo out there slapped the cuffs on me.”
Jim took the button from her. “Damn it, Jess. You know better than that. That’s evidence, and now you contaminated it.” He turned the button over in his hand. “Go on, get outta here now.”
Something about it looked familiar to Jess, what was it? It wasn’t Jake’s button. Had he pulled it off his killer in the struggle? “Yeah, yeah I hear.” Jessica couldn’t get out of the police station fast enough. The very idea of being arrested and spending even one hour, let alone one night in jail infuriated her.
What had that young punk been thinking anyway? All she wanted to do right now was get home and get into the shower and scrub herself clean. Her hair itched so bad she thought she’d scream – probably nothing more than her imagination about the feeling of bugs. Jim ran a clean, sanitary police station, but still. The thought of all the derelicts and drunks that spent their nights in jail made her skin crawl – not to mention all the hardened criminals she’d sentenced to long terms in prison. She shuddered at the idea of doing time. She hurried to her car, got in, and pulled away – grateful she hadn’t run into anyone. What she didn’t need right now was the town gossip. Not that it mattered-news of her arrest was probably all over town anyway. Couldn’t keep anything quiet in this town.