Page 28 of Stand By You
“We’ll find him. I can feel it in my bones. We’re getting closer,” he said. “Let’s rest for half an hour and then take your suspicious letters to the police station to Simons. He wants them.”
“He can have them,” she said and leaded her head to the side against the sofa back and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
Nick leaned his head back as well, closing his eyes and when he opened them and looked at his watch an hour had passed.
“Jillian. Jillian, wake up,” he said, unfolding himself as he got up off the sofa. He shook her to wake her when his words didn’t do the trick.
Her eyes slowly opened, and she stared at him with sleep-heavy eyes. “Did I fall asleep?”
“You did, so did I,” he said. “We need to go. I’m going to check in to make sure Simons is still at the police station.”
“We should have Mrs. Hudson go with us to drive my car back. It’s still parked in the lot across from the precinct,” Jillian said. “I’d forgotten about it. I’ll see if she’s in the middle of cooking and get those letters.”
Nick dialed Simons.
“You must have telepathy. I was about to call you. We have Geneva down here for an interview.”
“We were just coming down to bring the letters,” Nick said. “But wanted to make sure you were still in the office.”
“Yeah, come on down. I’ll stall if you want to observe,” Simons said.
“How’d you get her to agree to come in?” Nick asked.
“I told her it was just routine when a child goes missing to talk to the parents,” Simons said. “Let me know when you get here and I’ll let you park in the officers parking, so Jillian doesn’t have to walk across the street from the pay lot. It can’t be easy to get around in that boot.”
“You got it.” Nick ended the call and hurried from the family room toward the kitchen hoping Mrs. Hudson wasn’t cooking dinner either.
When he got to the kitchen, Jillian was coming in the door from the backyard. “Do you have the letters?” he asked.
“I do,” she said.
“Great. We need to get going,” he said. “Geneva is waiting in interrogation. Simons said he’d stall if we hurry.”
“I’m ready when you are,” Mrs. Hudson said. “Dinner can wait until you’re both finished down there.”
CHAPTER 9
Twenty minutes later,Nick and Jillian walked into the Miami Police Department. She noticed the same burnt coffee smell present in the air as the previous time she’d been there, and the desk sergeant looked as weary as he’d been that morning as well. His eyes brightened as if he recognized her but couldn’t recall why as they approached.
“We’re here to see Detective Simons,” Jillian said.
“Right. Mugging case from the other day,” the man said.
“Good memory,” she said.
“I’ll let him know you’re here,” the sergeant said.
A few moments later a tall, lanky man in his thirties in a came out to greet them. “Hello, you must be Nick and Jillian, I’m Detective Simons partner, James Kohl. Follow me to the interrogation observation room.”
As they walked down the brightly lit corridor, Kohl talked. “Simons just walked into the interrogation room as soon as we got the call you had arrived. He explained to her he was held up because of another case he was working on the murder of Judge Stevens. Her face went ashen.”
“Of course it did,” Nick said.
“I mean, out of all the detectives on the force, what are the odds that that murder of a judge would land on our desk when Simons was already investigating her kid’s disappearance,” Kohl said opening the door to a room for them to enter. “She wasn’t expecting that. The same judge who heard her custody case.”
“I wonder if she knows we suspect her,” Jillian said.
The room was dimly lit, and a large mirror allowed them to see into the interrogation room where Simons and Geneva were. “Let’s have a listen, shall we?” Kohl reached up and adjusted the sound volume. “This should be interesting.”
