Home Invasion - J. A. Johnstone [16]
“We have to put Navarre in jail where he belongs,” Alex said.
Neither of the men even looked at her. It was like they hadn’t even heard her.
This case had already gone beyond any concept of right and wrong, she realized.
This was about money now.
Even though everybody in Home was talking about the tragedy that had happened at the McNamara house, it wasn’t the only thing going on in town. People had their own lives to lead and their own problems, and they went on about their business. Some of the news crews even left, although they just went back to the rooms they had rented in the two local motels. They wanted to be close at hand if there were any new developments, as it seemed sure that there would be, since Emilio Navarre had been granted a bail hearing.
Alex tried to go on about her business, too. She sent Officer Jerry Houston to relieve Delgado on guard duty at the hospital. Clint Barrigan was working overtime, too, keeping reporters out of the place. Alex called in Lester Simms, one of the part-time reserve officers, to take over for him.
That left her other full-time officer, Betsy Carlyle, to work patrol. Jimmy Clifton was handling dispatch. Jimmy had a mild case of Down Syndrome, but he was an excellent dispatcher and knew as much about what went on in town as anybody, and more than most.
Alex was glad there were no other major problems that morning. She had enough on her mind. Home had always been such a peaceful little town. Did this tragedy mark a shift? Would it be just the first act in an escalating pattern of violence, the sort of thing that had affected so much of the rest of the country?
The citizens of Home had always thought they were safe.
But was anybody ever safe?
In the middle of the day, Alex swung by the pizza place downtown and picked up a large pepperoni. She took it home and carried it into the kitchen, feeling a brief flash of guilt because she didn’t cook all that many meals for her and Jack. They ate takeout way too much. It wasn’t good for either of them.
Hey, Jack, I’m home,” she called as she set the pizza on the kitchen table. “Wake up.”
Even though it was nearly one o’clock in the afternoon, she assumed that Jack was still asleep. It was summer, after all, no school, and he was a teenage boy. She sometimes thought he was like a cat, capable of sleeping twenty hours a day. Plus he had come in late the night before, she reminded herself, when he wasn’t even supposed to be out at all.
When he didn’t respond, she went down the hall to his room and knocked on the door. “Jack. Pizza. “ That was usually the magic word.
Not this time. For all his passion for privacy, he seldom if ever actually locked his door. She reached down and turned the knob, eased the door open.
He wasn’t in his room.
Muttering under her breath, Alex quickly searched the rest of the house. Jack wasn’t anywhere to be found. She felt like tearing her hair out in frustration. What was it about the concept of being grounded that he didn’t understand?
Or did he just not give a damn what she said anymore?
His car was here, which meant he had either gone somewhere on foot or somebody had come by and picked him up. Alex called the Donovan house, and when Rowdy’s mother answered, she said, “Sorry to bother you, Helen, but this is Alex Bonner. Does my son happen to be there with Rowdy?”
“No, we haven’t seen Jack all day, Alex,” the woman said.
“Rowdy is there, isn’t he?”
Helen snorted. “I’m looking right at him. In fact, I don’t plan on letting him out of my sight. He’s grounded for a month.”
Alex heard Rowdy complaining in the background, so she knew Helen was telling the truth. “Thanks anyway,” she said. “If you see Jack, I’d appreciate it if you’d tell him I’m looking for him.”
“Sure. Say, isn’t it just terrible about the McNamaras? I’m glad you’ve got that monster locked up.”
Navarre wasn’t exactly locked up, but Alex didn’t point that out. She thanked Helen again and hung up, then called the Boone house. Jack’s friend Steve was Dr. William Boone’s son.
Dr. Boone was a widower, but he had a live-in