Imperfect Justice (27 page)

“That appears to be your license plate, Mr. Jackson. Are you saying that it’s not?”

David picked up the photo again, this time his hands shaking slightly. “I don’t think it is. I mean, you can’t really tell in this picture. So no, I don’t think it’s mine. Sorry I couldn’t help you.”

“So you’ve never driven on High Cross Road, Mr. Jackson?”

David Jackson sat back in his chair and reached for Lindsey’s hand. “No, I can’t say I have. It’s not really near any place I would go. Are we finished here?”

“Not quite. I need to talk to my deputy for a moment.” Jared rose from the couch and walked to the door where Knox was waiting. Letting him into the house, Jared knew instantly what Knox had found by the look on his face. Knox held out two pieces of paper with tire tracks on them.

“Thanks, Knox.” Jared walked back and sat down again. “Mr. Jackson, what would you say if I told you that your tires match the tire tracks at the spot where we found Boyd Hicks?”

The once pale face turned bright red. “There are lots of trucks with those tires, Sheriff.”

“That’s true, except all those other trucks didn’t drive on the road to that location.” Jared leaned forward and looked the man in the eye. “Don’t make this difficult, Mr. Jackson. I’m getting a warrant for your truck right now. We’ll impound it and go over it with a fine tooth comb. I’m thinking we’ll find evidence that Boyd Hicks was in the back of your truck and you transported him to the Hawkins pasture from wherever you killed him. Am I right?”

David Jackson opened and closed his mouth several times and then his shoulders began to shake. Lindsey fell to her knees next to him. “David, what’s wrong?”

He buried his face in his hands and the sound of sobs filled the room. “I did it to protect my wife. I wasn’t going to let that low-life hurt her or Tilly again.”

The words were choked but Jared could make out the confession. Exultation at finding the killer mixed with dismay that it was David Jackson. Lindsey wore a stricken expression at her husband’s statement of guilt. She kept shaking her head and trying to pull his hands from his eyes but he was whispering over and over, “I did it for you. I did it for you.”

“Mr. Jackson, are you confessing to the murder of Boyd Hicks?”

David Jackson still didn’t look up but he nodded his head, sobs still wracking his body. “I did it to protect Lindsey and Tilly.”

“Mr. Jackson, did you act alone? Was anyone else involved in the commission of this crime? Did your wife know about this?”

Jackson shook his head again. “No. I didn’t want her to know. I killed Hicks so he would never come near her again.”

“She didn’t know? She wasn’t there?” Jared asked sharply, watching the reactions of both man and wife. Lindsey Jackson appeared to be in shock but Jared needed to be sure.

He wasn’t unsympathetic to the couple’s plight. If Boyd Hicks had been threatening and harassing them Jackson may have felt he had no choice. But he should have gone to the police and not taken things into his own hands. Unless it was truly a case of self-defense where Boyd was ready to kill Lindsey. And that wasn’t out of the question.

“I tell you she had no idea. I went to see Hicks to confront him. That’s when I killed him.”

Satisfied at least for the time being, Jared reluctantly nodded to Knox who helped the man to his feet before snapping cuffs on his wrists. Lindsey cried and tugged frantically at her husband’s arm.

“Tell the sheriff this is all a mistake, Dave. Tell him you’re just kidding.”

“I love you, Lindsey. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you.”

Sobs wracked the woman’s body and she pulled at her husband’s shirt. “Don’t do this, Dave. Don’t do it.”

“I love you, baby. I love you.”

Lindsey turned to Jared, her hands together as if in prayer. “Sheriff, Dave doesn’t mean it. He couldn’t do something like this. Don’t take him. Please don’t take him away!”

With each sentence her voice had become increasingly desperate and ragged. Her ashen skin was streaked with mascara as her tears continued to fall. Jared felt a twist of sympathy for what this woman had endured first with Boyd and now with David Jackson.

“Ma’am, I have to take your husband in. But I suggest you call a good lawyer, especially if he was simply protecting you from harm.”

Lindsey was shaking but she nodded her head. “Can I kiss him before you take him away?”

Jared nodded to Knox again and the deputy stepped away from Jackson. Lindsey pressed her palms to her husband’s chest and looked up at him with a pleading expression.

“I’ll get a good attorney. Don’t make any statements until he gets there, okay? Don’t say a word.”

It was actually good advice. Lindsey kissed her husband before Knox led him out of the house and into the truck. They’d take him to the station, get him booked, and then wait for his attorney to show. Jared had many questions for the man including how, when, and where the whole thing happened.

“He’ll be arraigned in the morning, Mrs. Jackson. At that time the judge will set bail,” Jared explained as the stricken woman watched her husband being led away in cuffs.

“He only did this because he loves me,” she whispered, falling to her knees and wrapping her arms around her torso as if in comfort. “No one has loved me until now. Dear God, he loves me.”

Digging in his wallet, Jared pulled out a card from a social services group that worked in the area. They helped the families of the incarcerated with a multitude of programs, not the least of which was counseling.

“Mrs. Jackson, this group may be able to help you. They can recommend a lawyer or help you fill out forms for aid. They also offer counseling to prisoner’s families.” Jared held out the card and she reached up to take it with shaking fingers. “We need to take your husband to the station now. Is there anyone I can call to come stay with you?”

The crying had stopped and her eyes were glazed over as if she was in some sort of trance. “There’s no one.”

Jared pointed to the card he’d given her. “Then you should call them. They’ll send someone here to be with you.”

She looked down at the card and then at Jared. “I will.”

“Good. I’m sorry about this,” Jared said awkwardly. He wasn’t sorry about arresting a killer but he was sorry that this woman had experienced way too much trauma in her life. She needed someone – preferably a professional – to help her through the days and weeks to come. It was going to get worse before it got better.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“S
o the case is closed?” Misty asked as she and Jared sat down in a booth at the diner. She’d been working all day, so by the time he arrived at home they’d decided to eat out.

“Well, the prosecuting attorney will evaluate the evidence and decide if it’s enough to indict. I’m still waiting on DNA from the crime lab and information from Hicks’s prison stay, although that’s a moot point now since Jackson confessed.”

Jared handed Misty a menu and began perusing his own.

“So sad that things got to the point that David Jackson felt he had no choice but to do what he did. Has he made a statement yet?”

The waitress interrupted and Jared ordered a coffee for him and a hot chocolate for Misty. Their server moved to the next table quickly, the diner filled with patrons.

“He did when his attorney arrived. He says Hicks was harassing Lindsey about seeing Tilly and threatening Lindsey’s life if she wasn’t supportive of his petition for visitation. Things came to a head when he went to see Boyd at his house and tell him to leave Lindsey alone. Things got hairy and Boyd pulled a gun on Jackson but Jackson shot first, firing two bullets into Hicks’s chest. Then he got scared and dumped the body in the Hawkins’s pasture. He admitted that he’d worked there several years ago as a ranch hand and knew the layout well.”

The harried waitress slapped down their drinks and pulled out an order pad. “Are you ready to order?”

“I’ll have the pot roast with potatoes and carrots.” Misty closed the menu and set it on the edge of the table. The waitress scrawled on her pad and looked at Jared.

“I’ll have the pot roast as well,” he decided. Since the night of their argument he’d stopped nagging her about vegetables and milk, which in turn made her want to be sure she ate her veggies and drank her milk. Chocolate milk. Hot or cold.

The waitress shoved her pencil in her pocket. “Pot roast for the sheriff and for Man Trap Misty. Coming right up.”

The words were muttered under her breath but Misty easily heard them. She assumed she was meant to. Sucking in a shocked breath, her first instinct was to ignore the woman. Hadn’t Annette Foster always said to turn the other cheek? But look where that had gotten her. A town that treated her like dirt and a man who for awhile only thought about his needs.

She’d stood up to Jared but it was time to stand up for herself. Especially if she was going to live in this town and raise her child.

“Pardon me?” Misty asked sharply before Jared could ride in on his white horse and come to her defense. “Did you mention my name? Is there a problem?”

Apparently the last thing the woman expected was to be called out about her rude behavior. She turned a bright red and her mouth fell open in surprise, no words coming out.

“Well?” Misty prompted. “Is there a problem with my order?”

“Um–” The waitress began but the manager interrupted. A kindly older man, Tim Siddell, had owned the diner for as long as Misty could remember.

“What’s going on here?” he asked, looking back and forth between Jared, Misty, and the waitress. Jared started to stand but Misty grabbed his hand and shook her head. She needed to handle this herself.

“Hello, Mr. Siddell. I was just asking your waitress if there was a problem with my order.”

“Is there, Ada?” he asked, his tone hard and uncompromising.

“No, sir.” Ada shook her head vigorously. “I was just taking their order back to the kitchen.”

“Then get to it,” he replied with a chilly tone. “We’re busy tonight and people are waiting.”

The waitress dashed away and Mr. Siddell sighed as he watched her disappear into the kitchen. “Now that Ada is gone, what did she really do?”

Misty wasn’t one to try and get people in trouble, especially as she’d made her point. She wasn’t going to be anyone’s doormat any longer. Period. Full stop.

Jared, however, had no such inhibitions. “Ada used an unflattering name for Misty. If it happens again we won’t be coming back, Tim.”

Misty patted Jared’s hand soothingly. He was more upset than she was. “If it happens again I’ll react exactly the same way, which is to call them on it. No need to make threats or promise a boycott. It’s that simple.”

Mr. Siddell’s face split into a grin and he leaned down close to Misty. “Good for you. I always thought people were crappy to you for no reason. You tell them off once and for all.” He straightened and looked grimly at Ada, who had returned and was now taking an order at a nearby table. “And I’ll deal with Ada. I’ll make it clear to her and anyone else who works for me that we respect our patrons. All of them. Thank you for your patience and tolerance, Miss Foster.”

The manager strode away and Misty felt a little sorry for Ada. From the look on Tim Siddell’s face she was about to get her rear end chewed.

“I agree with Tim,” Jared said softly. “Good for you. I have to admit this side of you is kind of sexy.”

Misty giggled and sipped her hot chocolate. “You think everything is sexy. Is that all you can think of?”

“When you’re around? Pretty much. It’s all your fault and I’m just a poor victim of your feminine wiles.”

“I’m changing the subject. What were we talking about before Ada interrupted?”

“Murder,” Jared responded promptly. “But I’ve told you pretty much everything. The only other issue is that now Jackson is in jail the state will probably postpone Lindsey Jackson’s custody hearing for her daughter until after David Jackson’s trial.”

“That could be years,” Misty exclaimed, her hand instinctively covering her stomach protectively. Heaven help anyone that wanted to try and take her child away from her. “So sad for Lindsey Jackson. She lost her daughter and now she’s lost her husband.”