Page 9 of Missing Justice
She’d been eight months pregnant with their first child, and the case of the beautiful, young, pregnant wife of a freshman senator had made national news.
The case had played well for Walt Jarvis, his popularity rising exponentially as he repeated his story over and over again in the press. His grief from not telling his wife to call 911; his remorse in not assigning her a bodyguard in the first place. His plea to her supposed kidnapper to let her and the baby go.
The million-dollar reward he’d posted for her safe return hadn’t hurt either.
But there were plenty of things about the disappearance that hadn’t added up. No one at the store had seen Felicity exit the place or any man in a truck who might have been following her. There was nothing on the security video from the store, whose parking lot camera was conveniently on the blink. Other things about the senator’s story bothered Taylor too. One of the reasons she’d used her car’s Bluetooth to call Justice Greystone that morning on her way into the office.
Had Grey told Meredith she’d called? Didn’t seem like him. Was Taylor’s car or her phone bugged?
God, she was getting paranoid, but really, there was no other way her boss could know about that phone call unless the woman had ESP.
Which was possible.
“This will be a feather in my cap if we solve this,” Meredith said. “Yours too.”
Taylor nodded. Meredith was one of the candidates next in line for the assistant director’s job. The director had already tapped her, and Cunningham was less than six months from retiring. “I won’t let you down,” she said. “I will solve this case.”
Meredith smiled. “I know you will,mi hija.”
Mi hija. Only when it was just the two of them did Meredith call her ‘my daughter’. Since Taylor’s own mother rarely called her anything, it was nice to be thought of by her mentor in such a way. Hers spent her time with friends, reliving the awful night Isabel had been taken. At least she had friends to share her grief with.
Fifteen minutes later, Meredith pulled into the senator’s curved drive, the two-story colonial rising above them. By the matching Beamers out front, Taylor guessed the senator and the new Mrs. Jarvis were both home. After Felicity had been gone seven years, Walt could legally file to have her declared dead and he had. He and Ann had tied the knot a year ago. “You didn’t tell them we were coming, did you?” Taylor asked.
Meredith parked near the front door. “No, why?”
Hmm.
“I’d like to take lead on questioning the senator, if that’s okay,” Taylor said as she got out of the car. “I have a list of things I’d like to ask him about that don’t add up.”
Meredith got out as well and shut her door, giving Taylor a nod over the hood. “You’re in charge of cold cases, Taylor, so this is your baby, but watch your step. Besides, you probably know more about the details of the case than I do after consulting with Greystone.”
Another dig about her going to him. Just a little rivalry between old friends or was it more? “Did you have a thing for him back in the day?” she teased.
“Justice Greystone?” Meredith rolled her eyes, then smirked as she diverted her gaze to the sidewalk. “Maybe a little,” she admitted, “but so did half the women in the department.”
“Grey is easy on the eyes, and definitely the best profiler I’ve worked with.”
“Until he screwed up his career and got fired.” Meredith’s voice held a hint of warning. “You have Leo now. He’s easily as good as Grey.”
That was debatable, but whatever. The sidewalk wound around to the front door, elaborate topiaries edging the steps and ferns hanging from pots on the porch. Flower boxes hung under every window and looked as if they were straight out of a Martha Stewart magazine. “I’m not going to screw up my career, Mer.”
“Good. I haven’t put all of this work into you for you to blow it on something stupid.”
Something stupid could translate to a dozen different things. No matter how many cases Taylor closed, there was always another. Some of them, like this one, were potential land mines because of the people involved.
“Guilty or innocent?” Taylor asked as she punched the doorbell and dug out her badge. It was a game they liked to play right before questioning a suspect.
Meredith had her credentials out as well. “Innocent,” she said, then quirked an eyebrow at Taylor.
Taylor had reread the file on Felicity Jarvis for the dozenth time while waiting for Meredith to get out of her morning briefing. She had no doubt. “Guilty as hell.”
The eyebrow went higher. “Based on what?”
“Gut feeling.”
Another eyeroll. Meredith didn’t believe in gut feelings.
Taylor grinned and reached over to ring the bell again but the door swung open before she could do so.
