First to Die

Chapter 74

I WAS DRIVING HOME, really pleased at having brought Jill into the group, but it didn't take long for the thought to worm its way in that I was still withholding from my friends. My beeper sounded. "What're you doin'?" Raleigh asked when I buzzed him back. "I was headed home. Beat." "You up for talking just a little? I'm at Mahoney's." Ma honey's was a dark, crowded bar near the Hall that was usually thick with off-duty cops. "Already ate," I told him. "Meet me anyway," Raleigh said. "It's about the case." I was only a few minutes away. Mahoney's was on Bran nan. To get to Potrero, I had to go right by it. I found myself a little nervous again. I was scared we were no longer playing things by the book. The book was, part255 ners didn't get involved. Nor people with their lives ebbing away. I knew that if I let things go, anything could happen. This wasn't some casual fling we could go at for a night and try to rationalize away the next day. As much as I wanted him, I was holding back. Scared to let it all come out. Of letting myself go. Of dragging him in. I was relieved when I saw Raleigh waiting for me outside the bar. He came up to my car. I couldn't help noticing that he looked good, as usual. "Thanks for not making me go in," I said. He leaned on the edge of my open window. "I looked into Nicholas Jenks," he said. "And?" "The guy's forty-eight. Went to law school but never finished. Started writing novels his first year. Wrote two books that didn't go anywhere. Then this twisted thriller, Crossed Wire, hit. "There's something you should know. Maybe seven years ago, give or take a few, cops were called out to his home in a domestic dispute." "Who made the call?" "His wife. His first wife." Raleigh leaned in closer. "I pulled up the report. First-on-the-scene described her as pretty beat-up. Bruises up and down her arms. Large bruise on her face." A thought flashed in my head- Merrill Shortley, on Kathy's boyfriend: He was into intense sex games. "Did the wife file?" I asked. Chris shook his head. "That's as far as it went. Never pressed charges. Since then, he's cashed in big-time. Six huge bestsellers. Movies, screenplays. New wife, too." "That means there's an old one out there who might be willing to talk." He had a satisfied expression on his face. "So, can I buy you a meal, Lindsay?" A hot bead of sweat burned a slow path down my neck. I didn't know whether to get out or stay in. I thought, If I got out… "Chris, I already ate. Had a commitment." "Jacobi." He grinned. He could always get me with that smile of his. "Sort of a women's thing, a group of us. We meet once a month. Go over our lives. You know, nanny problems, personal trainers, country homes. Affairs, things like that." "Anyone I know?" Raleigh raised his eyebrows. "Maybe one day I'll introduce you." We sort of hung there, my blood slowly throbbing in my chest. The hair on Raleigh's forearm gently grazed against mine. This was driving me insane. I had to say something. "Why'd you call me out here, Chris?" "Jenks," he replied. "I didn't tell you everything. We ran a firearms check on him with Sacramento." He looked at me with a glint in his eye. "He's got several registered. A Browning twenty-two-caliber hunting rifle, a Renfield thirty-thirty. A Remington forty-point-five." He was leading me on. I knew he had struck pay dirt. "There's also a Glock Special, Lindsay. Nineteen-ninety issue. Nine millimeter." A rush of validation shot through my veins. Chris frowned. "He has the weapon of choice, Lindsay. We we got to find that gun." I made a fist and brought it down against Raleigh's in triumph. My mind was racing. Sparrow Ridge, the phone calls,