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She sat up quickly and fumbled with her dress, her fingers refusing to coordinate well enough to get it over her head. Jace sat frozen, seemingly not knowing what to do.
“Go!” she said to him in a whisper-shout. “Go down the stairs and through the kitchen.”
Jace grabbed his phone and ran down the hallway. She heard his footsteps as they descended the staircase, juxtaposed with the footsteps on the balcony outside the room where she was sitting. She managed to get her shoes on and smooth her hair down as the door swung open. For a brief second, she was relieved to see him until she actually got a good look at him. He stepped in from the shadows, and she could see that his face was twisted in anger.
Her stomach dropped.
This wasn’t good.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Ithadbeentwodays since he’d received the news of Jace Gordon’s suicide, and Detective Vaughn Webb was beside himself. Disconsolate. Ashamed.
“I could have done more,” he said to Ackerman, fighting back tears. “That kid had a future. He would have gone somewhere in life. All these knuckleheads out here doing nothing with themselves, and this kid is the one who…” he trailed off, his voice breaking.
Ackerman looked concerned, but he didn’t speak. Webb had been emotional in his presence on several occasions, and his reaction was always the same. Don’t speak, let it pass.
This time was different.
“Vaughn. Listen to me.”
Webb looked at his partner with wet eyes.
“There was nothing you could have done. Okay? He didn’t string himself up in a jail cell. He was at home, dealing with whatever foul shit was going on there. This hadnothingto do with his arrest.”
Webb wasn’t convinced, but what could he do at this point? People like to say their loved ones are in a better place, but what does that even mean? Earth can be a shitty place, no doubt, but who’s to say the other side is better? No one knows, so they make empty proclamations.
But on this day, Webb chose to believe in them. He had to. He had been raised in a Baptist Church, and he knew what they said about the other side. It was a small comfort, believing there would be music where Jace was going.
Besides, there wasn’t time to wallow in sadness. They had a job to do. Webb had tunnel vision, and the only thing that would make him anywhere close to being satisfied with this case was if he succeeded at one thing:
Arresting Bobby Gordon.
That anonymous tip didn’t mention him by name, but with a minimal amount of sleuthing, he quickly deduced that the teacher with over 200 students and a son at the school was Dr. Gordon himself.
Officer Shannon Brown entered the room with a smile. “I just got off the phone with Mays College.”
Webb sat up and composed himself. “What did they say?”
“Gordon was investigated by the Board of Regents five years ago. The charge was sexual misconduct. Apparently, a female student complained that he groped her, tried to kiss her, and then retaliated when she refused.”
“What came out of the investigation?”
The young detective shook her head. “Not much. The student ended up transferring because of threats against her. Somehow the word got out that she was making trouble, and folks didn’t like that.”
“Was it his people threatening her?”
“Don’t know.”
Webb thought for a moment. “I spoke to his ex-wife. She said she never saw any violence or hostility.”
“She covering?”
“I doubt it. I can tell there’s no love lost between those two. She flat out called him an asshole.”
“There’s gotta be something else to this guy.”
“There is. I just don’t know where else to look.”
