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They exchanged life stories over dinner, and Jessica couldn’t shake the feeling that David’s recitation was memorized and rather sterile. Was he trying to present a pictureof perfection? She didn’t need perfection from her brother, just a human connection, which she hadn’t felt yet.
When David finished another story about the lessons he taught, not the kids, just the lessons, Jessica excused herself to use the ladies’ room. She dismissed her disappointment. They were strangers, hadn’t seen each other in over twenty-five years. The last time she’d seen David, he was barely a toddler. How would he even remember anything about her?
Maybe they wouldn’t be best buds, but she had a sibling and she’d try to forge a relationship with him.
By the time she returned to the table, David had paid their bill. “I think we should get out of here while it’s still light outside. I have a great idea.”
“Oh?” Jessica sat down and finished her wine. She’d need it to spend any more time with David. “What do you have in mind?”
“A surprise.” He clapped his hands together like a child.
“Maybe another time, David, and I hope there is another time, but you need to catch the ferry back to Edmonds and I need to drive back up the peninsula.”
“You should probably wait to drive, anyway, Jessica, after drinking that wine.” He tapped her glass. “I have something in mind that I think will bring us a little closer. You feel it, too, right? That bond between us is missing, but I think this little road trip will give it a boost. What do you think?”
So, he’d felt it, too. Maybe it was her fault. And when she looked into his brown eyes, so similar to Tiffany’s, she decided she couldn’t refuse her little brother anything.
She grabbed her purse and said, “Why not? Let’s go make some new memories.”
* * *
FRANTIC, HIS FINGERS SHAKING, Finn searched his computer for Celine Jerome’s information. This couldn’t be happening. It was all some weird mistake.
He’d questioned Wilder, and Jessica’s boss admitted the DNA could be from any close male relative, even her father. Finn dug his fingers into his hair. That wouldn’t work. Jessica and Tiffany had different fathers. The sample DNA from the red fiber wouldn’t have matched Tiffany’s DNA if it belonged to Jessica’s father.
He finally found Celine’s phone number and called her. “Celine Jerome, private investigations.”
“Celine, you don’t know me, but I’m friends with Jessica Eller. She told me all about how you located her half brother for her.”
“Whatever you say. Can’t discuss my work.”
Finn rubbed his eyes. “I understand that, I do, but this is a matter of life and death—Jessica’s. She could be in danger from her brother.”
Celine sucked in a breath. “What are you talking about? He’s a nice, normal guy. An army veteran, an accountant, a student.”
“Would a nice, normal guy have his DNA at a murder scene? Please, Celine. I need to know his name. Jessica called him David, but I need to know his last name. Jessica is with him now and is in danger.”
“Wait a minute. Who said his name was David?”
“Jessica. She told me he didn’t want to give her his last name, but he said his name was David, same as it was when he was a baby.”
“That may have been his name as a baby and maybe he decided to give that name to Jessica, but that’s not his legal name.”
“What is his legal name?”
Celine hissed on the other end of the line.
“I’ll turn this over to the police, anyway, Celine, and they’ll make you give up this information—only it might be too late for Jessica.”
“Oh, all right, but you didn’t hear it from me. His legal name is Dermott Webb.”
After the call, Finn sat stunned, the phone still held to his ear. His student Dermott Webb was the Kitsap Killer? Jessica’s half brother. Of course, it made sense. He was on campus. He worked in that accounting office where those women had taken the register money. Wasn’t the sheriff’s department supposed to be questioning and investigating anyone who’d worked with the women?
He’d call the police, but he wasn’t going to waste any more time. At least he knew that Jessica and Dermott were at a restaurant in Kingston. What was the name of it? Salty Ladies? Salty Girls?
If they were meeting for dinner, they could still be there. At least it was a public place. He grabbed his keys and ran from his house. As he sped down the 104, he got Detective Morse’s voicemail. He told him about the DNA, advised that he call Wilder for a better explanation, and let the detective know that he was on his way to Kingston to interrupt Jessica’s dinner with her brother—the Kitsap Killer.
He made it down to Kingston in record time and asked his phone for directions to the Salty Girls restaurant. Turns out he was just two blocks away, and he swung an illegal U-turn in the middle of the street to find it.