Free Beyond A Reasonable Doubt by Linda S Prather Page B

the towel from her mouth and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I would say whoever told you that is a lying bastard.”
    She took a cup of coffee from Harry and sat down at the table, noticing for the first time the two had tried to clean the kitchen while she was gone. She motioned for Harry to sit across from her and took a sip from her cup, studying them. “Someone told me if I was looking for an honest cop, I should look at you two. Are you?”
    Jake laughed out loud. “Bad question to ask if we’re not. Who would tell you something like that?”
    “Someone who would know.” Jenna continued to assess them as she sipped her coffee. “For reasons you can see”—Jenna waved her hand at the mess in the living room—“I’m not a very trusting person right now, but I really do need help.” She glanced from one to the other. “And you two are all I’ve got right now. So, if you’re honest, I can use you. If you’re not, well”—she held up her right hand—“you might as well finish what William Elkins started.”
    The temperature in the room seemed to drop twenty degrees, and Jenna noticed a quick intake of breath from Jake.
    His voice came out harsh and strained. “If you’re going after former Judge William Elkins, you’ve got whatever you need from me.”
    Harry Redmond nodded. “You already know he’s not one of my favorite people. Tell us what you know and what you want us to do.”
    Jenna spent the next hour filling them in on what Jordan had told her, including the fact he thought William Elkins had killed his mother. Her voice tapered off as the day’s events washed over her. “I don’t know anything more about the cover-up of the Atlanta shooting than Captain Taylor told me. Someone very powerful shut it down quick.” She stood up. “I really need to get to the hospital now. The torn-up house probably bought me a little time, but it’s going to look suspicious if I don’t show up there soon.”
    “Harry, why don’t you take me home, and then you can drop Jenna off at the hospital. We’ll need to get together tomorrow to sketch out a plan. Elkins is crafty. He gets a whiff of what’s going on, we’ll all be in a meat locker before we know it. We can call in an all clear on the burglary, and we should be safe for the time being—unless, of course, you’re being watched.”
    Jenna shook her head. “I don’t think so. At least not yet. Elkins said he was able to stave off the feds from questioning me. Maybe he thinks he has enough pull to shut down the Atlanta story. Or maybe he doesn’t know about the dead agents. But I do. I can’t see the FBI taking that lightly.”
    “Odds are they weren’t real agents,” Jake said.
    She watched as Harry and Jake exchanged a look she didn’t quite understand. “That’s the thing that keeps niggling at the back of my mind. I’m pretty sure they were.” She glanced down at the cutoffs and T-shirt she’d pulled on after her shower. “Give me five minutes to change, and I’ll be ready.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
    Jenna waited until Harry pulled back onto the highway from dropping off Jake before she started asking questions. Clearly, Harry was the weaker link where she was concerned. She’d forgotten how cute he was, and something in the darkness of his eyes made her shiver in a good way. “Tell me about your partner. He hates Elkins more than I do.”
    Harry turned onto the main highway, heading for the hospital. “Jake’s father was a cop. A good cop. When Jake was eight, he and his mother were kidnapped. They held them hostage for days, the kidnapper slowly beating his mother to death. She must have known she was close to dying because one night, she attacked the man and made Jake run for help. He did, but it was too late for his mother. They found her body the next day.
    “Jake’s father got a note a few days later that said, ‘Just a little reminder of what happens to the people who cross me.’ He blew his brains out.”
    Jenna