Drake Sisters 05 - Safe Harbor

she always gives me one."
    He was going to do more than shake her. What the hell was she thinking? Rudy may have seemed harmless, but if she was going to single him out and make him feel special, she should have had a security guard do it for her. Jonas forced a smile. "I'll make certain it's signed, Rudy. Tell me what you remember."
    Rudy scrunched up his face and made small noises, like a computer trying to access information when it was old and tired. "He was big."
    Jonas waited, but Rudy looked happy with himself. "Big. Okay. I got that. What color of hair? Was it short or long?"
    "Blond and short. Very short. And he looked mean. He smiled, but it wasn't real. It was the same kind of smile you have."
    Jonas went still. Rudy might have suffered brain damage in the accident, and he appeared childlike, but he was still sharp, or maybe like a child, he could perceive the truth easier than an adult. "I'm sorry. I'm upset about what that man did to Hannah."

    Rudy nodded. "Me, too." His brows came together as he studied Jonas's face. "I know you. You talked to me before. You weren't nice."
    Jonas sighed. He'd been afraid Rudy would recognize him sooner or later. No, he hadn't been nice. He'd interrogated Rudy roughly, hammering away at him while the man became more and more confused and upset. "I'm careful of Hannah's safety and she had been getting some threatening letters."
    Rudy hung his head. "I wrote to her."
    "Yes, I read the letters. You wrote several." Rudy had called her some nasty names and the threat was more implied than stated. Jonas had wanted to come across the table and smash him until he realized the man was so fixated on getting Hannah's picture that it superseded actually talking with Hannah. Or was Rudy clever enough to just appear dim and bumbling? Jonas had discovered killers were very manipulative and deceptive.
    "I was angry because she didn't give me the picture. When she was in Australia, she didn't give me. She always gives me one."
    "Yes, I know she does," Jonas said with as much patience as he could muster. "I'll get you one from her, signed the way you like it. What else do you remember? Did you hear anything they said? Did the man have scars? A tattoo?"
    Rudy looked excited. "On his hand, right here." He rubbed his knuckles. "He had something on his hand. I'd never seen it before."
    Jonas tried for several more minutes to extract information, but Rudy clearly knew nothing else. He was willing to make it up if Jonas wanted him to, for the picture, but he really didn't remember anything else.
    "I'll see that she gets your flowers, Rudy, unless you want to leave them at the fence with everyone else's," Jonas offered.
    Rudy took the flowers back and put them in front of all the other arrangements, facing toward the windows of the Drake house. "She can see them here. Are you getting my picture now?"
    "Yes. Would you mind standing back behind the fence now, so the security people won't be worried?"
    Rudy walked back through the gate and pressed close. "You'll get it signed?"
    Jonas nodded and hurried away, snagging Matt, who was patrolling the fence-line with a couple of the other men in the family and the security they'd hired.
    "Have you seen Jackson around?"
    Matt indicated up the hill. "He thought he saw a couple of reporters climbing the fence and went in that direction to check it out."

    Jonas swore softly. "Why won't they all go home?"
    "I don't think it's going to happen for a while," Matt said. "But the businesses in Sea Haven are flourishing. Every hotel is filled and the stores and cafés are making out like bandits. I think the prices are tripled."
    "So I've heard." Jonas scraped his hand over his jaw. "Tell Jackson we need to review all the tapes again—the ones the stations shot of the crowd outside both the fashion show and the party."
    "You think you got some new information?"
    Jonas shrugged. "It's worth a shot."

Chapter Twelve
    THE Drakes were waiting for him in the living room—all but Hannah. They knew he was angry by the line of his body. Sarah leapt up to intercept him as he started to the staircase, but he held up his hand to stop her, flashing her one, emotion-laden look.
    "Don't," he warned.
    She hesitated. "Tell us, Jonas."
    He glanced over her head to Joley. "You take care of that one." He jerked his head toward her. "And I'll take care of Hannah." He cast one more furious look at Joley and hurried up the stairs to Hannah's room.
    The door was closed and locked