Creep - Jennifer Hillier [116]
“Open it,” Maddox said.
Kellogg hesitated, and Wolfe’s girlfriend said, “It’s not used or anything. I put something inside it. Something I found a couple of weeks ago in Ethan’s pocket.”
Kellogg looked at Torrance, who gave her a nod. The blonde put her notebook down and reached inside her jacket pocket for a pair of latex gloves. Snapping them on, she unfolded the tissue with the points of her fingers. Something shiny rolled onto the table.
It was a woman’s diamond ring.
Kellogg picked it up and examined it under the lights. Even watching on the computer monitor, Jerry could tell the diamond was huge.
“I found it when I was doing laundry. I’m pretty sure it’s Professor Tao’s. I remember admiring it from a distance when I went to meet Ethan at his office. I don’t know why he’d have it. I thought . . .” Maddox’s voice choked as another sob racked her. “I thought she’d left it behind and he’d stolen it. We’re broke and I thought maybe he was going to pawn it. Now I’m not so sure.”
Torrance put on a pair of latex gloves as well and took the ring from his partner. Turning it so he could see the inside of the band, he read the inscription aloud. “ ‘Now and forever, Morris.’” He dropped it into a plastic bag and looked at Maddox, his face grim.
“There’s something else,” the young woman said, her voice faltering.
Torrance and Kellogg exchanged a look. What now? Jerry thought.
Maddox rooted around in her purse again and pulled something out with shaking fingers. “I know I’m going to get in trouble because I found this and didn’t tell anyone . . .” She was barely coherent as she tried to speak through her tears. “It’s just, I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t. I couldn’t believe he might have—”
Torrance’s face turned to stone as he took the object from her.
Kellogg looked confused. “What is it?”
Maddox’s hands shook. “Diana St. Clair’s gold medal.”
Jerry’s mouth dropped open.
Maddox’s husky voice lowered to a whisper. “From when she won the Nike Cup last year. I’m sorry. I should have told somebody. But he—I love him. I didn’t want to believe it.”
Diana St. Clair. Holy shit. This was worse than Jerry could have imagined. Morris’s instincts had been dead-on.
“You just happened to have these items in your purse, Miss Maddox?” Torrance said in a neutral voice.
“I knew . . . I needed . . .” A giant sob escaped her and Maddox collapsed, her ramrod posture folding under Torrance’s hard stare. The look of terror on her face was heartbreaking. “I wanted to tell somebody, but I . . .”
He beats her, Jerry thought suddenly. His gut clenched at the thought of Wolfe’s fists punching that beautiful face. He’d seen many battered women in his time, and though Abby Maddox displayed no obvious bruises at the moment, he’d bet his left nut that Wolfe smacked her around. And often. Bastard. Coward.
Torrance put the medal in another plastic bag. His expression would have been unreadable to anyone but his ex-partner. Jerry knew exactly what he was thinking. “Is there somewhere you can stay tonight, Miss Maddox? We’ll need to search your apartment.”
Torrance didn’t mention searching the house in Lake Stevens, which Jerry thought was a good call. No point in upsetting the poor girl further.
Maddox shook her head and started crying again. “I don’t have anywhere to go.”
“We’ll get you a motel room,” Kellogg said. She touched the top of the other woman’s hand lightly. “Just for tonight until we get things sorted out.”
All three left the interview room.
A few seconds later, Torrance poked his head into the control room where Jerry was sitting. “Consider your case reopened.”
CHAPTER : 39
“We need to get out of here,” Ethan said. “But before we go, I want to tell you about my first time.”
Sheila’s fingers traced slow circles around his nipple. Her face looked the way it always did after sex, flushed and lazy. Her naked body was contoured against his, covered in a light, musky sweat. If Ethan closed his eyes, he could almost imagine they were back in room sixteen