Plus, he had Mom’s support. She hasn’t apologized for what happened Thursday night, though from what my brothers told me, they did talk to her about Jess. She just hasn’t seen the light yet.
“I heard back from my FBI connections. You want to talk somewhere else, first?” Nothing about Garrett’s expression hints at what he has to tell me.
I pull the door shut behind me. Jess, Avery, Zara, Simone, and Emily are hanging out in Jess’s kitchen. I haven’t told Jess yet that Garrett was going to look into something for me. I wanted to hear what he found out first. But it seems like the kind of intel that might be useful for me to share with my brothers—the men who know me best. “You guys wanna join us?”
Kellan, Lucas, and Noah nod without a clue as to what this is about.
I lead them to the single-car garage. Some of the supplies we’ve been using are stored there, so our coming here won’t raise any questions from the women.
The space inside the garage is filled with all kinds of tools and discarded cabinets Jess hasn’t dealt with yet. Dust motes dance in the late afternoon sunlight streaming through the narrow windows in the garage door.
“I asked Garrett to check if Beckley had information about the individuals who attacked Jess while she was incarcerated there,” I tell my brothers and Noah. “Especially the last time, which almost cost Jess her life.”
We all look at Garrett.
“My contact couldn’t find out anything,” he explains. “He tried several channels. All were dead ends.”
I frown. “He didn’t find anything about any of the attacks?”
Garrett shakes his head. “Only a few incidents were listed in any of the logs, one being for the near fatal attack, but no motive was given for that one. The assault that caused the scar near Jess’s mouth wasn’t even listed. And there are no suspects identified for the near fatal attack. Nor was there an explanation for how Jess bled out for as long as she did before a prison guard found her. She wasn’t expected to survive.”
“Convenient,” I mutter. “What I want to know is if there was a connection between the attack and why it took so long for Jess to be found. She was in the kitchen when it happened. A place where you’d expect there to be video cameras.”
“Did the cameras record anything?” Kellan asks Garrett.
“I don’t know. My contact couldn’t tell me about that part of the investigation.”
“Jess said the lights went out just before the attack.” I pick up the full box of screws I’d been heading out to the garage to get when the doorbell rang. “How did the attacker find Jess in the dark?”
Lucas crosses his arms, his frown deepening. “Sounds like there could be a bigger cover-up involved.”
“At the time, Jess was labeled a cop killer,” I remind them. “If the guards caught wind of a plot to end her life, it’s possible they looked the other way and did nothing to prevent it.”
“Maybe. And maybe not,” Noah says. “We don’t know how the guards felt toward her. There are those who do want to make a difference and see prisoners rehabilitated so they make better choices when they leave the system.”
Garrett leans his hip on Iris’s old workbench. “What has Jess told you about her time in Beckley?” He directs his question to me.
“Nothing much. She prefers not to talk about it, and I haven’t pushed her for details.”
Garrett turns to Kellan. “Has she said anything about it to you?”
Kellan grunts a low scoffing noise. “What? You think we reminisce about our favorite guards and our prison-stay highlights?”
“Fair enough.”
Lucas uncrosses his arms and lets them fall to his side. “Let’s assume for a second it was an inside job, and some of the guards were involved. That means someone paid an inmate to kill Jess…and we’re assuming it was an inmate. Maybe it was a guard. We don’t have evidence either way.”
“But why would anyone want to have her killed?” Noah’s gaze slides to each of us in turn. “Jess isn’t the kind of person looking to make trouble. Just the opposite.”
“Did your FBI contact say anything about Jess’s record while she was serving time?” My question is for Garrett.
“I did ask about that, but they couldn’t tell me much. As far as they could tell, she kept to herself.”
She told me she had one friend in prison at the beginning, but the other woman quickly realized that wasn’t a good idea. It was too dangerous. Jess had been isolated almost from the start.
“The San Diego police haven’t made any arrests in her husband’s murder,” I tell them. “Sounds like they have no idea the motive behind it.”
Fuck.All the time wasted that could have been spent searching for the real killer, but instead, the SDPD had focused on Jess being the one who pulled the trigger. Now they’re left with a cold case no one has thought about in a long time.
