Ruthless Read Free Page A

had misheard. “You’re telling me the bar association ignored his superior academic prowess and refused to admit him because he’d worked as a manwhore?” She could think of far worse things lawyers did every day, and it rarely got them disbarred.
    “I’m telling you”—Harper chuckled—“that the BPD hired him
because
he was a manwhore.”
    Now Jess was really confused.
    “It was the mayor’s idea,” Lori interjected, wearing her own smirk now. “Rumor was that Clint’s little black book included Mayor Pratt’s wife’s name.”
    In spite of the insanity going on around her, Jess hadto laugh. Seemed like for all their old money and power the mayor’s family and friends just couldn’t resist dancing around the dark side. And in the South, even in a city the size of Birmingham, everyone who was anyone knew everyone else. “Don’t you just love small-town justice?”
    Harper leaned in closer. “You think he called up Mayor Pratt and asked for a favor, or do you think the mayor’s wife took care of it for him?”
    “Good question.” Jess cleared her throat. “If the two of you think Hayes would prove an asset to our cozy little group, I’m fine with a probationary period.” She wouldn’t mention the idea that having a little dirt on the mayor would make her immensely happy. “Talk to him,” she said to Lori. “If he’s agreeable and Burnett approves it, we’ll bring him over as soon as possible.”
    Before Jess turned her attention back to the case board she wanted one more administrative issue out of the way, since their youngest member was out of the room. “We need to start grooming Cook for the detectives’ exam.”
    “I can handle that,” Harper offered.
    “Excellent.” Whether or not Cook got a promotion wasn’t such a priority right now, but Jess needed to hang on to a few threads of normalcy. Spears was doing all within his power to take that from her.
    Ruthless, that was what he was. Ruthless and pure evil. If she had her way he would die screaming.
    Satisfaction warmed her heart.
Oh yes. I will get you this time.
    “Your Realtor called.” Lori hitched her head toward Jess’s desk. “There’s a message. Something about the last week of September for the closing date on your house.”
    There was another normalcy Jess had been hoping for. It also meant she only had to pay one more house payment before that burden was lifted. There would be some fees involved with the sell, but her equity in the house would take care of that.
    “I’ll give her a call back later today.” Jess realized then that both detectives were staring at her. “Oh, sorry. With all that happened, I forgot to tell you. My house in Virginia finally sold. Full asking price.” Thank God for that last part. “The call came Sunday afternoon just before”—she gestured to the board—“this happened.” A splinter of fear needled its way back into her chest.
    You have to do something, Jessie Lee. Something that will stop him in his tracks. Fast.
    “So.” She walked to her desk to prowl for her glasses. “The hotlines have no confirmed leads on the identities of these women.”
    “A few callers,” Harper said, “insist they’ve seen one or the other around their hometown but they don’t know their names. Most of the calls are coming from the Montgomery and Mobile areas.”
    “The FBI’s adding an additional layer to the searches in those towns, but it’s like the proverbial needle in the haystack,” Lori added.
    “No matches to Alabama driver’s licenses?” Glasses in place, Jess moved back to the case board.
    Harper hummed a note of regret. “Nothing yet.”
    There was no way to know how much time they had before Spears took the next step, but Jess suspected it wouldn’t be enough. “These women are the right age to be college students. Maybe students from other states. That could explain why we didn’t get a hit with the DMV.”Damn it. Or new residents of Alabama who hadn’t had time