Page 35 of One Final Target

“Gus would never blame you,” she sobbed in Jodie’s ear.

Jodie broke. It was all she could do to push Estella away and stumble off the porch to hurry toward her car, wiping at the tears streaming down her face. She climbed into the driver’s seat and sat there for a minute, pulling herself together, wondering if she would ever believe those words.

Blame.

The blame most certainly belonged to her. She. Was. In. Charge.

CHAPTER20

ONCE BACK IN CONTROL,Jodie got out of her car, leaving it parked at Estella’s, and walked to Dennis Collins’s address. She was tired, emotionally drained with zero patience. A certainty brewed in her chest that the darkness in her life would lift only when Collins was dead. A similar realization also blazed in her thoughts—she was way over the line now. The prudent thing to do would be to call Mike or Tara or Smiley or Sam and step back, let them do their jobs. But she couldn’t. Instead, she increased her pace.

Jodie knocked on the front door and got no response. After a few minutes she backed off the porch.

“He’s not home.”

Jodie turned. A man in the next yard stood watching her. Estella had said “Kent” asked the neighbor to watch the house.

“Got it,” Jodie said. “Do you know where he is?”

“Are you a relative?”

“Cousin,” Jodie lied, a bit chagrined at how easily they seemed to fall off her lips today. “I just got into town and thought I’d look Dennis up.”

The neighbor stepped over a small hedge. “You call him by his first name?”

“Yeah, always.”

“He hates Dennis. We always called him Kent, his middle name.”

Hmm,Jodie thought,one mystery solved.“Do you know where he is?”

“He said he was going back east to take care of his mother, your aunt?”

“My father is his dad’s brother. I guess I’m out of the loop. Maybe I’ll leave him a note.”

The man folded his arms and frowned. Jodie was afraid he didn’t believe her.

“Could you do me a favor first?”

“Sure, what?”

Now he looked ill at ease. “Well, I know Kent left—I saw him drive away and he asked me to watch his house, but...”

“But what?”

He motioned toward his backyard. “Let me show you.”

Jodie followed the man over the small hedge and then through the back gate. She hadn’t gone far when she smelled an unmistakable odor.

“You smell something?” the man asked.

“I do.”

“It’s coming from his house. I don’t think he had any pets, but something large has died in there. Maybe a stray dog?”

“How long have you smelled this?”

“Just started yesterday. I almost called the cops, but I’d be embarrassed if it were just a stray animal. Is there any way you can check and see what’s happening? Maybe call Kent?”

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