Ashley took a good look at him. He was about her own age, with medium brown hair, rather long. His eyes were large, very blue, and sincere. He was in a tailored shirt and jacket, and seemed both too concerned and far too intelligent to be writing about two-headed alien babies.
“I talked to the police, and they talked to the managing editor. I knew the names of a few local bigwigs Stu had been talking to before he went completely undercover. The police talked to them, but can you believe it? They all came out as pure as the driven snow. After that the police told me to shut up and butt out. I doubt I’ll ever be able to tell the police anything they’d take seriously.”
“So why are you talking to me? Why would I want to get involved with you, when you’ve done nothing but cause trouble?”
He shrugged and grinned, a nice, rueful grin. “I heard you’re in the academy, and I know you don’t believe that Stu was a dope addict. So I figured if anybody would really be able to fight for him, it would be you.”
She studied him. He seemed sincere. He’d tried to help, and it had backfired on him.
He believed in Stuart. That mattered to her. And though she knew better than to make snap judgments, she couldn’t help but feel he was more ethical than Nathan Fresia believed.
She smiled at last. “Sorry. I’m afraid I’m not in the academy anymore.”
He frowned. “You washed out? I can’t believe it. Not after everything Stu said about you.”
“He talked about me to you?”
“Yeah, you know, just casual conversation. We went by your uncle’s place one night—maybe a year ago. You weren’t there. Your uncle wasn’t even working. But he talked about what good friends you’d been growing up, and that he needed to give you a call so you two could get together. The bartender said you were looking into the academy.” He gave her another sincere smile. “I’d like to help. I’m a good investigator.”
“And you think that you can come up with something the police can’t?”
“I already have,” he told her.
CHAPTER 13
Jake was still sitting on the terrace; Marty had been gone a good twenty minutes. Catching him up on things hadn’t taken long. He’d told him he’d gotten the urge to go back to the property where the cult had once had its headquarters. The farmer who owned the place now had been more than agreeable to letting him walk around. His neatly plotted fields ended where the canal began. Jake had stared at the water for a long time, reflecting that the property was a long way from where the latest victim had been found.
It was only a few miles west of where Nancy’s car had gone into the canal, though. Not that there was anything strange in that. Most of the residential homesteads and farms in the southwest sector of the county had been forged out of the Everglades. Canals and waterways were a major part of the ecosystem. They crisscrossed the entire area.
The farmer’s wife had come up to him as he’d been walking around.
“We bought this place for a song, you know,” she told him, her eyes anxious. “You don’t think that’s because we’ll stumble on a corpse one day, do you?”
“I certainly hope not,” Jake had told her.
Even Marty had wondered what he’d thought he would find now, when People for Principle had been gone for so many years.
“I don’t know. I just know that we’re staring right at something and we’re still not seeing it,” Jake had said. Marty didn’t buy it. But then, Marty hadn’t been with him when he’d talked to Bordon and heard him talk about smoke and mirrors.
So he’d moved on to the task force meeting, then his trip to the morgue.
“The drawing will run in the paper tomorrow. And when it does, we’ll have something. I’m certain,” Jake had finished.
Marty had stared at him strangely. “The sketches were that good, huh?”
“Exceptional. If she was from around here, we’ll get something back.”
“So why were you such an ass to the artist?”
Jake had stiffened. “She told you that?”
“No. I just…well, hell, Jake, I’m a detective, too. I can read people.”
Soon after that, Marty left. Jake had stayed, staring at his empty coffee cup.
“Hey, Jake. Can I buy you a beer?” Sandy said.
Jake gave a start. Where had the old guy come from?
“On the house,” Sandy added proudly. “I’m helping out tonight.”
“How come?”
“Everyone’s at the hospital, seeing that kid.”
“Nick and Sharon, too?”
“Yep. So Katie’s running the joint, and I’m pitching in.”
“They went together?” Jake asked, wondering why it mattered.
“No, no, Nick had it in his head to go before Ashley even got home. I think Sharon put the little bee in his bonnet. She’d been baking again. Thought the parents could use something warm and home-cooked. So she and Nick took off first. Ash was picking up a couple of friends, I think. What about that beer?”
“Thanks, Sandy, but no. I’ve got work to do. I’m not even sure why I’m still sitting here.”
“The mind is working, Jake.”