Page 79 of Heart of a Hero

John shook his head. “Selma Thompson is married to a man who runs a gas station out on the highway. They pay their bills and have some savings in the bank. Her retirement from the state will help them in their older years, although her husband has a little in an investment account. Their son? He works various jobs and doesn’t hold one down for long like his mom reported to Karen. But no priors… not even a speeding ticket. I’ve checked his accounts, and there’s not much. She said he gave his girlfriend a ring, and I’ve seen the credit card payments to the pawn shop. Nothing suspicious there. Phone records don’t tie him to Alan or Carla.”

“So, the ring was legitimate?”

“Seems so. What did you find out about Rick and his twins?”

Mark looked down at his notes. “Same kind of thing. No records that tie any of them to either Carla or Alan. One of his boys has already applied to the community college here on the shore. The other one applied to ODU but as a day student. Not sure if Dad knows that the other boy plans to commute and do online classes, but that will hold down costs. None of them have made suspicious deposits.”

“Patrick has student loans, but his bank records show he’s been making payments for five years. He’s increased the payments in the past year, but only in accordance with the raise he received. Again, nothing to signify that he was involved in any way with Carla or Alan.”

Mark was beginning to turn back to his desk when Brad called out, “Mark!” His head jerked up to see Karen standing next to Colt in the doorway of the detectives’ workroom. Her face was pale, and even from a distance, he could see her hands shaking.

He leaped to his feet and crossed the room in a few long strides. “Karen, what’s happened?”

She looked at him, then her gaze skittered over the room of faces that had turned her way. She swallowed deeply, then said, “I changed purses this morning. And when I reached down into an inner pocket, I found this.” She opened her fist, and in her palm lay a diamond-and-emerald ring. He stared at it for a few seconds before his gaze jumped back to her face.

“I have no idea how it got in there,” she said, her eyes pleading for him to believe her.

Brad stepped closer, with John and Elizabeth nearby. Brad looked at Karen. “Could Alan have?—”

“No,” Karen stated definitely. “He’s never been near me.”

“Could you have left your purse in your car when you were visiting Roscoe Jefferson?” Elizabeth asked.

Karen shook her head again. “No. Never. I always take my briefcase with my laptop and my purse into every home.”

“Does that ring match any that have been reported?” Colt asked.

Mark stared, then slowly shook his head. Looking up at Brad, he found his partner also shaking his head. “It must be from someone who hasn’t missed it yet.”

“Oh God,” Karen groaned. “This makes no sense. The only time I dealt with Alan was when he stared at me the first time I met the kids at Roscoe’s place. He just asked who I was, and I said I was Mr. Jefferson’s visitor. It was Marty who told me later that Alan asked who I was. Marty said he told Alan that I was a nurse who visited people in their homes. But there’s no way he could have followed me to all my patients. There’s no way he could have gotten ahold of an ESHH list.” Her chest heaved with emotion. “And there’s no way he could have gotten near me to put this in my purse!”

Mark didn’t care about the others around and pulled her into his arms. He felt her shivering, and while he wanted to offer comfort, his mind raced with the question of how the ring came into her possession. Suddenly, he jolted and leaned back, keeping his hands on her arms. “Zannie.”

Karen’s head started to shake, but he continued. “We asked Marty about what he’d seen. He told us about the credit cards and the cash. He may have seen jewelry and not realized that was something that didn’t belong to Alan or his mom. But we never talked to Zannie.”

“Mark, honey… Zannie wouldn’t… she… oh, I don’t know.”

“She was fascinated with the cards,” Brad said.

Elizabeth added, “And if there was any jewelry, she might have thought it was pretty and taken a piece.”

“But I wasn’t in their home,” Karen protested.

“Yes, but you were all at Roscoe’s,” Mark said. “What if Zannie put the ring in your purse to keep it safe? Maybe she forgot about it. But we need to talk to her.”

A huge sigh left Karen’s lips as her shoulders dropped. “I don’t want her to be scared. If we bring her here, she’ll be scared. Marty thought it was cool, but Zannie might get upset.”

“Let’s talk to her at school. The counselor can call her out of class, and she won’t be upset.”

Karen looked at the others before her gaze landed back on Mark. Slowly, she nodded. “I need to call Lisa. I want Zannie to have legal representation.”

“We need to check the list of all your patients to see if any of them had a ring that fit this description and have them look to see if it is missing,” Colt added.

Karen dropped her head, and Mark drew her back into his arms. One hand soothed over her back, and the other cradled her head. “It’s going to be fine, I promise. We’ll find them andfind out the connection. You just concentrate on taking care of yourself and the kids.”

She snorted, then leaned her head back to hold his gaze. “And my job. And making sure I don’t get falsely arrested for having stolen items in my possession.”

“No one is arresting you, babe. No one here thinks you have anything to do with this other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

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