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“Yep.” He finished his mug and poured a fresh one. “Hope sent them. State police, since we still have to worry about the mole in the Pelican Harbor department.”
“How long are they going to stay?”
“Hope didn’t say, but they can’t be our personal security indefinitely. This isn’t a permanent solution.”
“Should I get a new security system?”
“You could, but there’s only so much you can do here.” He swept his hand in a wide arc that encompassed her cozy little cottage. “You’ve got a ground-level stand-alone house with two doors, windows in every room, and outside parking.”
“What do you suggest?”
He cleared his throat. “You’d be much safer someplace like, well, my condo. Jane is getting the locks changed as we speak, it already has good security, and your car would be in a locked garage that’s hooked into the building security system. Plus, it’s on one of the main streets with a regular police presence.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind us barging into your small space before you’re ready? I’ll have Simon too. And my dog. It will be a very full condo.”
He smiled and pulled her close again. “I’d love it, to behonest. I’ve been counting down the days until the wedding anyway. I miss having you around—finding you in the kitchen first thing in the morning, talking over sweet tea at the end of the day, and all the little moments in between. It’ll be great to have Simon too. He’s a terrific kid, and he gives me an excuse to play my old video games.”
She nuzzled against him. “I’ve missed it too.”
Chapter 32
Stepping into Jess’s house still echoing with the silence of her absence was one of the hardest things Savannah had ever done. Her sister’s perfume still lingered in the air, and next to Savannah, Simon teared up and clung to her hand. “You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
She and Hez exchanged a concerned glance. How did they help their nephew process all this when it was more than she could take in herself?
When Simon headed toward his room, Hez pulled her into an embrace. “We’ll get through this.”
She gave a wordless nod into his chest before she swallowed hard and pulled away. “See if you can find anything in her office that might point to the killer.”
He pressed a kiss on top of her head. “I’ll just be down the hall if you need me. Hope said they aren’t treating it as a crime scene for now, but if I find anything, I’ll call her. She doesn’t want us to remove any potential evidence.”
Savannah nodded and waited until his footsteps faded before forcing herself upstairs to check on Simon. Her job today was to go through Jess’s bedroom, but the thought of pokingthrough her sister’s personal things felt like more than she could bear right now. She needed to adjust to being here first. This had to be so hard for Simon.
She found her nephew sitting on the edge of his bed. He stared blankly at the wall with its pictures of Will Dixon playing football. She entered the room and stopped by his bed. “Hey, buddy. Need some help?”
He didn’t respond at first, and it wasn’t until she touched his shoulder that he seemed to realize she was there. He shook his head wordlessly.
“I can pack for you.”
He stared at his hands and shook his head again. She’d talked to one of the counselors at the college and he’d told her to expect this kind of withdrawn behavior, but Savannah had thought their close relationship would weather the tragedy. Now she realized moving forward would be harder than she’d hoped. She squeezed his shoulder and backed out of the room. He needed to process his grief in his own way.
She went down the stairs and had started toward Jess’s bedroom when Hez called her from the office. The delay was more than welcome, and she hurried to join him. The impersonal space in the office let her catch her breath. She found Hez rummaging through a leather bag in Jess’s favorite taupe color. “Find something?”
“I think so.” He pointed at two passports and a leather wallet beside the bag. “Have a look. She bought fake IDs.”
Savannah frowned and opened the top passport. Though the woman in the picture had red hair, it was clearly Jess. “Susan Jones.” The other passport was Simon with matching red hair and a fake name of Shaun Jones. “She probably had them donedigitally. Simon would have mentioned dyeing his hair for a picture.”
“She had the money to get them done right. Look here.” He opened the bag wide to show a burner phone, a package of red hair dye, and a gun. “The pistol’s loaded and ready to go. This was her escape bag. She clearly knew she was in danger and might need to run quickly.”
A chill went down Savannah’s back. “Her desire for revenge was so strong. No wonder she’d kept Simon hidden away. Things spiraled out of control, and I don’t think she fully understood how things were closing in on her. She thought she was prepared.” What must it have been like for Jess to live in constant fear for her life—and her son’s life? Savannah wanted to know how this all started. Could there be information in the old journals she’d found?
She glimpsed the shine of something silver in the bottom of the bag and reached inside to lift out a necklace caught in the seam along the back. Her pulse kicked at the heart-shaped locket that dangled from her fingers. “I haven’t seen this in years.”
“You recognize it?”
“Our mom gave it to her for her fifth birthday. It was Jess’s first piece of real jewelry, and she loved it. She didn’t take it off for years. It had two pictures of her with Mom.” She fumbled with the clasp and opened it. A photo of Savannah and Jess together smiled back at her on the left side and one of Simon was on the right.