Page 26 of Stand By You
After lunch,Jillian and Nick cleaned up their dishes and placed them in the dishwasher for Mrs. Hudson. Nick went to his room to take care of JAG business that had come through on his phone while Jillian decided to rest in the family room. On the way, she passed by Mr. McGinty’s study, and she recalled the painful days of his divorce and the custody hearing, reminding her of the local judge’s murder this morning.
Still unable to recall the judge’s name that heard the McGinty custody case, she went in and began searching the file cabinet for the custody papers. Under normal circumstances she’d never do this, but with Travis missing and Mr. McGinty out of touch she didn’t see any other choice. She had to know if the murdered judge that had been found dead might have some connection to what was going on. Or if her mind was running wild.
She was elbow deep in the lateral file drawer searching through the neatly labeled files when Nick walked in on her.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
She jerked up, losing her footing and stumbled backwards, crashing into the desk. Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment. “Trying to see if I can find the custody papers and if JudgeMichael Stevens signed them. The one who was found murdered this morning or have you forgotten?”
“And if they are?” he asked. “What will it prove?”
“I don’t know,” Jillian said. “But I am sure it’s not a coincidence that a judge was murdered the day after Travis was abducted and I was hit by a car.”
Nick nodded. “At least sit in the desk chair. And make sure not to make a mess.”
She grimaced and did what he suggested. “It’s not easy with one arm and the other in a cast.”
“I’m sure,” he said. “I can do it if you want. Or I can give Swede a call and have him do a court documents search for the information in question.”
“Doesn’t he have better things to do than deal with us?” she threw over her shoulder before turning back to the files.
“He’s a great multitasker and he’d be happy to help us in any way he can. It’s all part of his job as he sees it,” Nick explained.
A few minutes later, Jillian pulled out a manila folder and held it high in the air. “Eureka.” She closed the drawer.
Swiveling the chair around, she opened the folder and flipped through the pages of the documents until she found what she was searching for. Groaning, she looked over at Nick who had walked to the desk. “It was Judge Michael Stevens.”
“And who was Geneva’s attorney for the divorce and custody hearings?” Nick asked.
Jillian flipped through the pages until she came to the divorce complaint, but the attorney’s names were not listed. Then she recalled seeing a section of paperclipped letters and turned to them. “Here it is. Her attorney was Amber Collins. Why?”
“It’ll be good to know her name if we need it later,” he said, jotting it down in his little notebook. “Don’t want to have to come back and search for it later. Mrs. Hudson might catch us.”
She rolled her eyes, closing the file and placing it neatly back in place with the other folders. Scanning the desk to make sure it was as neat as when she came into the office, she used her right hand and pushed herself to a standing position, waiting until she was steady before she hobbled out the door behind Nick.
“What are we going to do for the rest of the afternoon?” she asked as they finally headed to the family room.
He shrugged. “If this was a murder investigation, I’d be creating a murder board, but it isn’t.”
“I still think the logic behind one of those boards would work in a kidnapping,” she said. “Let’s call it a crime board instead.”
“A kidnapping normally involves a ransom demand, but there hasn’t been one,” Nick said, turning to face her in the hallway. “Why?”
Jillian pursed her lips together. “Because it isn’t about the money.”
“Then what is it about?”
“Travis.”
“That’s what I’m thinking as well,” Nick said. “And the only person who would want him enough to take him would be his mother.”
“But why now?” Jillian asked. “And why if she took him did she react the way she did when I informed her he was taken?”
“Why not now?” Nick said. “It’s the perfect time. She’s finally sober. His father is out of the country. His nanny should have been dead if the hit and run had been successful.”
Jillian reached for the wall and supported herself not believing she hadn’t seen the connection herself. It made perfect sense. “We need to share this theory with Detective Simons.”
“Yeah. We do,” Nick agreed, pulling out his phone to give Simons a call, but he addressed what Jillian had said about Geneva first. “But to answer your question about the way Geneva acted when you told her about Travis. If she took him she had toact the way she did not to let on otherwise.” He finished the call to Simons.
