I would have to think it through later. For now, I have other things to worry about. I turn back on my heel and start wandering back in the direction of Jacqui’s apartment.
Then my phone rings.
I almost drop it, since it’s still in my hand. This time, however, it’s exactly the phone call I’ve been waiting for, and I pick it up quickly.
“Alex!” I exclaim.
“Hello to you, too,” Alex says dryly.
“Sorry,” I say, drawing in a deep breath of air. “I’ve just been waiting, but I knew it would take a while, and I didn’t want to bother you…”
“Breathe, Kyle,” Alex says, bemused. “I should be the one apologizing. I should have kept you updated, but I wanted to give you something concrete. Then something else came up…but it’s all taken care of now. It’s taken me a few days, but I think I have something for you.”
“Yeah?” I ask breathlessly.
After four days…I have something! It looks like going to Alex was exactly the right thing to do.
“Let’s see,” Alex says, and I hear the rustling of papers. “Jesse Willis. He’s thirty-two years old, born in June. His mother passed away when he was younger, his father passed away three years later from alcohol poisoning, and his two brothers are both in jail.”
I grimace. “Fun family.”
“You don’t even know why they’re in jail. I didn’t get much, but the younger brother murdered his girlfriend of six years.” He coughed. “Anyway, back to Jesse.”
I feel dread curling in my stomach. Murder? That’s a bigger charge than I was expecting. But Jesse is the only one out of jail, so…
“Jesse was sixteen when the brother’s girlfriend was murdered, and he was there at the time,” Alex says. “There was a charge of accessory to murder, but it was dropped and he was allowed to return to school due to lack of evidence.”
“At sixteen?” I ask. At sixteen I was committing petty crimes, and Jesse was on trial as an accessory to his brother’s girlfriend’s murder.
“Yeah,” Alex says. His voice turns grim. “It gets better. It turns out that Jesse is wanted in a few different states.”
This is both better and so much worse than I expected.
“As in he’s on the run?” I exclaim.
“Yeah. Mostly for robbery crimes; he robbed a jewelry store in Miami, and then fled the state, so they’re looking for him there. Didn’t you say he got arrested here last year? How did the police miss this?” He scoffs. “But that’s not even the biggest thing they missed.”
“What’s the biggest thing?” I ask, not sure I want to know.
“Turns out Jesse is wanted for the murder of three men back in Washington. There’s a report about a bar brawl that went wrong.”
“It could be manslaughter then?” I suggest.
“No, it was murder,” Alex says, voice grim. “He brought a knife with him, stabbed the three of them several times and fled the scene. The police missed him, and it looks like he escaped the state again.”
I give him a shaky laugh, running a hand down my face. “Sounds like he’s an escape artist. Considering how much trouble he’s been causing, why hasn’t he been picked up yet?”
“Only thing I can think of is that the system didn’t pick him up for some reason,” Alex says. “Maybe your girl bailed him out too quickly, and no one took a closer look at his prints. It was the only time he’s landed himself in jail in the last three years, though I don’t know how he’s managed that.”
“Fuck,” I say. “This is… Shit, I don’t think Allison has any idea about this. She’s convinced that he’s just an
asshole and a violent idiot.”
“Well, he’s more than that,” Alex says, voice dark. “He’s a murderer, and he’s wanted. You keep an eye on his ex; if he’s gunning for her, he’s already got a history.”
I open my mouth, and then close it.
Jesse, a murderer, is after Allison.