Revenge by Debra Webb Read Free Book Online

would stay.
    Detective Lori Wells twisted in her chair. ‘What about you, Valerie?’ she said to Prescott, who was her superior in rank, but the younger woman didn’t seem to care. Lori and Jess had bonded too deeply not to call each other good friends, off and on the job. ‘Are you a person of interest, considering you were Allen’s link to the scuttlebutt regarding Chief Harris? The way I hear it, you kept him informed of the chief’s every move where Lopez was concerned.’
    Though she appreciated Lori’s support, this wasn’t the time. Jess held up a hand before Prescott could utter what would no doubt be a frosty comeback if the icy glare pointed at Lori was any indication. ‘Let’s get back to the case board and what we have so far on Scott Baker. I just wanted y’all to know what’s going on. And now’ – she squared her shoulders – ‘you know. So, let’s move on.’
    ‘Baker was only twenty - seven when he was selected to be administrator of Vestavia Village,’ Harper said. ‘That’s a little young, so I did some asking around and it seems he has a friend of the family, a retired army general, on the board who ensured he was chosen for the position before the sellout to Your Life.’
    ‘The Baker family,’ Lori Wells picked up where Harper left off, ‘required the victim and all three of his brothers to obtain an MBA and then to work in the private sector for at least three years and to reach the age of thirty before receiving their trust funds. Scott was set to receive his in less than one week.’
    ‘I guess Daddy wanted to make sure his sons knew how to work for a living.’ Seemed to Jess that more parents should do the same before turning over their money to their offspring.
    ‘Makes you wonder how badly his wife wanted full access to that trust fund,’ Prescott suggested.
    ‘Good point,’ Jess acknowledged. She wanted Prescott to be a part of this team. Mostly she wanted the woman to get over the fact that she didn’t get the job and that Jess was her boss, for better or worse. ‘How much is this trust fund? And does the wife get it or does it go back into trust for their son?’
    ‘Ten million,’ Lori said. ‘I’ll have to find out where it goes now.’ She made a note in her phone.
    ‘Ten million is a lot of motive,’ Chad Cook said.
    ‘By anyone’s standards,’ Jess agreed. ‘Where are we on the statements from the other six widows and Claire Warren?’
    ‘Cook and I have two more scheduled this afternoon,’ Prescott said. ‘Those two were out of town for a long weekend.’
    ‘We asked what questions we could by phone,’ Cook added. ‘The important stuff, you know. Just to be sure they didn’t go changing their stories after talking to anyone else.’
    ‘Excellent strategy. I’m certain the first thing both did as soon as you spoke with them was to call their fellow widows.’
    ‘I interviewed Ms Warren when she arrived at the Village this morning,’ Prescott noted. ‘She’s been the dining room director since the Village opened. Her statement is a carbon copy of Foster’s and Brewer’s. She heard Frances Wallace say something to the effect that she would see Baker dead before she would allow him to get away with the new construction.’
    ‘I can’t see those ladies taking Baker down that way,’ Harper countered. ‘He was a young guy in good physical condition. His secretary said he played racquetball twice a week and ran three or four miles every day. He was strong. It took a hell of a blow to take him off his feet and keep him down.’
    ‘And a sudden, lightning - fast move,’ Lori tossed out. ‘Baker had no defensive wounds. He didn’t try and deflect the blow. He obviously wasn’t expecting it.’
    ‘It may have taken two blows to put him down for good,’ Jess noted, remembering the way the gash in his temple looked. ‘The first one may have rattled him enough that he didn’t have time to react before the second blow