out, no longer wore thick dark-rimmed glasses, and his dull brown hair was now blond. In college, he’d gone by Junior.
Like Hope, Jeffrey junior had always been at the periphery of the group that she and Tricia had hung out with. So Hope would have known Jeffrey junior, but probably wouldn’t have remembered him by JP any more than Mo had.
Was it possible this was Tricia’s lover? It had to be. It was his animal shelter that Tricia had worked at. She recalled Thomas complaining about how much time she spent down there. That had to be where they’d met, and hadn’t Hope said that Tricia and her lover had shared a soft spot for animals?
Her heart was a drum in her chest. She recalled Hope saying that Tricia and her lover had joked about how much Thomas loved Jeffrey Palmer’s seminars. The pieces of the puzzle fit.
“I’ve got you, JP,” she said as she started the pickup. Now all she had to do was find out why her sister had wanted her to have the papers she’d left for her. They must have meant something to Tricia. Mo had a friend, Elroy, in finance.
Thirty minutes later, she dropped off the papers. Elroy promised to get back to her. She thought about waiting until she got Brick out on bail before she confronted JP, but that would be so not like her, she thought as she drove out to the animal shelter.
Chapter Fourteen
Brick sat on the cot in the cell, worrying about Mo. He knew she could take care of herself. But he also knew how emotionally involved she was in finding out the truth about her sister’s death. That alone could put her off her usual guard. Not to mention, they’d already been shot at. He no longer doubted that they had been on the trail of a killer. A killer who now knew that Mo was after him.
At the rattle of his cell door, he looked up to find a guard standing there. “Phone call,” the man said, not sounding happy about it as he unlocked the door. “Come on.”
In a small office off the cell block, he took the phone that was handed to him. “Hello?” He was hoping to hear Mo’s voice. But his gut told him there could be only one person calling. He closed his eyes at the sound of his father’s voice.
“What the hell, Brick?”
He turned his back to the guard, keeping his voice down. “I was jumped in the alley by three cops. Believe me, I didn’t start this.”
Marshal Hud Savage sighed. “Maybe it’s the best place for you right now.”
“It’s not.” He glanced at the cop standing by the door. “Mo is out there trying to find her sister’s murderer. I’m worried about her.”
“I’m worried about you.”
“Mo will get me out once I see a judge.”
“Brick, if you’re serious about keeping your job—”
“I’ll take care of this.” There were witnesses at the bar when Shane attacked Mo and he had hopes that the other two cops would tell the truth when push came to shove. But this wouldn’t look good on his record if he couldn’t convince a judge of his innocence.
* * *
MO REALIZED THAT she would have never connected JP with the young man she remembered from college. Seeing this version of the man, she could understand how Tricia might have fallen for him. He had broad, well-developed shoulders and had apparently traded the glasses for contacts, and his face was ruggedly handsome, all sign of his bouts of acne long gone under his tan.
But the shyness was still there. Mo could see where Tricia would have found it charming. She watched him move through the crowd, greeting people as he went. Apparently the shelter was having a fund-raiser this evening. Mo thought of all the organizations father and son were involved in, including MSD, Inc. But it was the shelter that would have helped steal Tricia’s heart.
When he reached her, she saw the sparkle of surprise in his blue eyes. She hadn’t expected him to remember her. But then again, if he’d been having an affair with her sister...
“Maureen,” he said and reached for her hand, cupping it in both of his large ones. “It is so good to see you. I didn’t realize you were an animal lover.”
“Not as much as my sister, Tricia, I’m sure.”
His eyes narrowed slightly, but his smile remained in place. “Let’s step into my office.” She followed him down a thick-carpeted hallway