Hearts and Aces (Kelsey's Burden Series Book 7)

by Kaylie Hunter

  “Before we dig through this mess,” I said, tapping my pencil on the table. “Were you at your aunt’s the day Allie went missing?”

  “No. I was at the army recruiter’s office, enlisting. I found out later that night that Allie was missing. I have a file on myself too.” He pulled a file from the middle and slid it toward me.

  I passed it to Tech. “When was the last time you saw Allie?”

  “The day before. I was at my aunt’s when she and Kristyn were riding their bikes. They stopped to talk. Allie was excited that school was about to start the following week. She kept making a point that she’d be a sophomore. I kept reminding her that I graduated high school already. They left when my aunt called me in for lunch.”

  “Anything stand out about either of them? Did they seem scared or angry about anything?”

  “Nothing. I’ve racked my brain a thousand times, but they both seemed their normal selves. I don’t recall seeing or hearing anything out of the ordinary.”

  I nodded and pulled the stacks of files toward me. I sorted out the names I had scheduled for interviews and flipped through them. Blake had interviewed all of them and verified their alibis. “If you went into the service, how did you have time to do all this research?”

  “For three years, I stayed alive so that when I got state-side again, I could find out what happened to her. I filled a notebook with everyone’s names and addresses. I started working the case while I was in the police academy and continued during my off time.”

  “Anyone you haven’t eliminated?” I asked as I closed another file.

  “Everyone was cleared. It couldn’t have been someone who lived there. I also checked for criminal records on anyone related to someone who lived on those roads. Nada.”

  “What about Kristyn’s uncle?”

  “I don’t know who that is, but as I said, I didn’t find any criminal relatives,” Blake said, shaking his head.

  “You didn’t interview Milo Sprigston then?” Tech asked, standing.

  “No. Who is he?”

  “Probably no one,” I said, nodding to Tech. “We’ll check it out.” I pulled my phone and texted Trigger to change direction and head toward Lafayette instead of Indianapolis. “Thanks for the help,” I said to Blake. “I’d appreciate it if you left your files in here. They might be useful to us.”

  I started heading toward the door, but Blake stepped in my path. “Don’t shut me out. Please. This case has haunted me.”

  I glanced over at Wayne. He had a worried expression as he watched Blake.

  “Give Tech and me some time,” I said to Blake. “I’ve only had the case for an hour. You’ve had it for five years. I’ll let you know if we find anything.”

  Blake was about to argue, but Wayne put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him out of my path. I left the conference room and returned to the war room.

  “Tech, I need everything you’ve got on Blake.”

  “He gave us his file. It shows he was in the army recruitment’s office.”

  I looked at Tech. Bridget looked up at Tech. Beth looked up at Tech.

  “Okay!” Tech answered our silent mocking. “It’s probably not the best idea to use the evidence provided by the person who needs the alibi.”

  “You think?” I said before handing Carl the folder. “Carl, can you get access to the army’s records and check Blake’s application file? You don’t need to get into their main system, just the recruiter’s office.”

  “Is that a good idea?” Beth asked.

  “One of us watches him to make sure he doesn’t do anything like re-enlist Donovan,” Bridget said as she walked over and watched over Carl’s shoulder.

  “That would be funny,” Carl said, typing on his computer.

  I pointed a finger at Carl. “I doubt you’ll think it’s funny when we turn you over to the army as punishment.”

  Only his eyes moved up to see if I was serious. His smile fell when he realized I was.

  Reggie, who was playing a game again on his phone, sighed dramatically. “I’m bored.”

  “Good. Do you know Blake Foster?”

  Reggie nodded. “I’ve met him. I know Wild Card has worked a few jobs with him.”

  “Go hang out with him. Make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

  “Stupid how?”

  “Like drive to Indiana stupid.”

  “I can do that,” Reggie said, pushing his chair away from the table.

  I focused on the background research Tech was sending me for both Blake and Milo. After about twenty minutes, Blake seemed to check out. His military career was average, never trying to achieve greatness which made sense if he was anxious to return home. His career as a cop was short, barely over a year of service before he was shot. Donovan hired him around the time my family was hiding in Texas last year. Since it was before we had a formal training program, Donovan had kept him mostly assigned to two-man teams, working with the more seasoned guards. All his evaluations came back that he was doing a good job and took protection jobs seriously.

  Milo, on the other hand, was an odd duck. He lived in a trailer on the backside of the forty acres his parents owned. Single. No children that were on record. And his longest stretch of employment had been as a ticket attendant at a movie theater. He’d lasted a year. “Find out why Milo’s career as a movie theater attendant ended,” I said to Tech while I continued reading.

  “Already hacking their server,” Tech said.

  “Blake’s alibi checks out,” Bridget said. “Carl confirmed Blake was taking a comprehension test from eleven until about twelve-thirty.”

  “Blake’s officially not a suspect then. Good to know.” I nodded, turning to Tech. “What’s taking so long?” I snapped my fingers for him to hurry up.

  “Hold your horses. I’ve almost got it.”

  I entered Milo’s address while I waited for Tech. Turning on the wall TV, the satellite image appeared in front of me. I spotted the parents’ house and moved to the east to find the trailer where Milo lived. Zooming in closer, I was unimpressed with the garbage bags lining the outside of the trailer. Nor did the tires stacked in the driveway inspire me to move to the neighborhood.

  “Does Milo have a truck or SUV?”

  “No registered vehicles in his name,” Tech answered, not looking up from his computer.

  I zoomed out again and moved the screen back to the main house. “Well, look at that. How much do you want to bet that Milo borrows daddy’s truck?”

  Beth glanced up at the screen that showed two cars and a truck in the driveway. The truck was the oldest of the three vehicles. “You’re having fun, aren’t you?”

  “There’s a lot about this job that sucks—” I started to say.

  “But when Kelsey is on the scent of a bad guy, this shit is a blast,” Tech interrupted.

  “If only Tech could get his hands on the termination file for our suspect…” I said.

  “Got it,” Tech said. “Weirding the girls out. That’s exactly what the manager wrote. Milo was fired two weeks before Allie disappeared.”

  “Holy shit,” Beth squealed. “You got him.”

  “Not so fast,” Bridget said. “Finding a suspect isn’t enough. Now she has to prove it was him. First to herself, then to the cops. And there’s no guarantee that if she does prove he was involved, that we’ll figure out what happened.”

  “That sucks,” Beth said, her shoulders deflating. “You make it sound impossible.”

  “Not impossible,” Bridget said. “She’s just a long way from the finish line.”

  I pulled my phone and called Trigger.

  “You’re on speaker, Boss. And I’d like to request anyone other than Casey for future road trips. He won’t let me change the radio, and he’s a country music fan.”

  “Suck it up. What’s your location?” I asked as Tech took over my computer and zoomed out. A blinking red dot appeared on the screen. “Never mind. Tech pulled up your GPS unit. Looks like you are about
an hour from our mark.”

  “We have a mark? I thought we only had a list of people to interview?” Trigger asked.

  “Things change. The mark is a single white male living in a trailer at the back of his parents’ property. I’m going to have Tech send you the coordinates to a location on the far north of the property. Go in on foot to do recon first. This guy is reading as extremely odd and likely owns a shotgun.”

  “Doesn’t everyone own a shotgun?” Casey asked.

  Outside of the war room, loud clanging and thumping noises, followed by a brief scream, had me running toward the door. On the other side of the walkway, I leaned over the rail and looked down. Tweedle was laid out on the floor with a cut on her forehead and her skirt hiked up to her boobs. She scrambled to roll over and pull her skirt down.

  “Wayne!” I yelled.

  “I only took my eyes off her for a second, Kelsey! I swear,” Wayne said as he ran over and helped Tweedle from the floor.

  “Ryan is going to kick our asses when he sees all the bruises on her!”

  “Looks like I brought over the clothes Alex gathered just in time,” Lisa said as she crossed the gym, holding up two tote bags. “I’ll get her cleaned and changed. Get back to work.”

  “Dress her in bubble wrap and strap her to a chair if you have to. Our lives depend on it.” I walked back into the war room to find Tech, Bridget, and Beth laughing. Carl was hunched close to his computer. “Carl?”

  Bridget jumped up and looked. “No, Carl. You can’t order twenty pizzas.”

  “Actually, I’m getting hungry,” I said.

  “Me too,” Tech said.

  “Hello?” a voice from my phone yelled.

  “Shit, sorry. Tweedle fell down the steps.”

  “Who’s Tweedle?” Casey asked.

  “Ryan’s wife.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “She’ll live. But it was her third near-death experience since being left in our care.”

  “What were the first two?” Trigger asked.

  “One involved a nail gun, and the other involved an ax, but I’ll deny both happened if asked.”

  Casey whistled. “Okay. We’ve got the coordinates from Tech, and we’re navigating that direction. It’ll be an hour at least before we’re there.”

  “Call us when you’re ready. We’ll be twiddling our thumbs until then.”

  “You got it, boss,” Trigger said before disconnecting the call.

  “Now what?” Beth asked.

  “Now we work on something else until Trigger and Casey are ready for us.”

  “How can you focus on something else?”

  “It’s better than pacing for an hour,” Tech said, laughing. “This is a daily occurrence for us, so you get used to it.”

  “What’s next on the list that I can clear while we wait?” I asked Tech.

  “Grab one of Donovan’s stalker cases,” Tech said, nodding to the stack of folders on the credenza. “I haven’t looked at them yet, but we can start a workup.”

  I read the label on the side of the first folder: “Daphne Davenport.”

  “The movie star?” Beth asked.

  “Hell, if I know,” I said, shrugging. I couldn’t remember the last time I watched a movie that didn’t involve cartoon characters.

  Chapter Six

  “This chick can’t be for real,” I said, lowering my working station so I could give my aching feet a rest. I had been reviewing Daphne’s file for the past forty-five minutes and my feet couldn’t take any more.

  “Wayne covered for Billy Hobbs last week so Billy could take a few days off,” Tech said, leaning back in his chair to take a break. “Wayne said Daphne whined for three days that she wasn’t safe without Billy at her side.”

  “I’m betting Wayne loved hearing that. Have I met Billy?”

  “Don’t think so. He usually works security for big events involving the rich and famous. His assignments don’t cross paths with our investigation work. He was only assigned a stalker case because the other guys threatened to quit after spending one day with the client. Billy’s used to the crap that comes with these hoity-toity clients, so he volunteered.”

  “The flowers delivered to Daphne could be coming from anyone.”

  “So?”

  “What if she’s sending them to herself?”

  “Sending herself flowers with creepy messages?” Tech clicked his mouse a few times before reading from the screen, “Your thighs glistened as you walked across the stage last night. It made me hard. I can’t wait to have you.”

  “Ooh,” Bridget said, bouncing in her chair. “She’d totally write something like that!”

  “Especially after Michael broke up with her on the red carpet!” Beth said, nodding at Bridget. “She was so mad.”

  “Did you see her upper lip turn white because she was pressing her lips so tight?” Bridget asked Beth.

  Beth nodded, grabbing Bridget’s arm. “Did you read the article in People Magazine? A friend close to the source said she threw a vase at Michael’s Porsche, smashing out the windshield.”

  “She has nice boobies,” Carl said, turning in his chair as one of the TV monitors lit up with a red-carpet picture of Daphne in a barely-there dress. Her breasts were pouring out of both sides of a thin strip of material.

  “Nice, Carl,” Tech said, chuckling as he laced his fingers behind his head and admired the picture.

  The door opened, and Wayne entered with a stack of pizza boxes. “What an ugly woman,” Wayne said, shaking his head at the TV screen.

  “She’s beautiful,” Tech said, glancing over his shoulder at Wayne.

  “Not after you meet her,” Wayne said, shuddering. “Ick.”

  “Is she faking the stalker?” I asked Wayne.

  “No idea. I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.”

  “You have to give us the dirt,” Beth said, taking the top pizza box and opening it.

  “Not much to tell,” Wayne said as we grabbed a slice. “She’s a bitch to everyone. Her own family would disowner her if they didn’t all work for her. She checks her reflection in the mirror every ten minutes and raises hell if someone has something she wants. She made her sister strip out of a dress before an event and trade with her, because her sister’s dress was nicer. Poor girl was in tears and skipped the event.”

  “Does she really have a tattoo of a bird on her ass?” Bridget asked.

  “Yup.” Wayne nodded. “A bluebird.”

  “How do you know?” I asked.

  “She insists her bodyguards are present while she skinny dips in her pool. She says she worries her stalker might breach the property’s security. I know when a girl likes to be watched, though, and that chick almost orgasmed in front of us.”

  “I knew it.” I stood and tossed the file onto the far cabinet. “Daphne invented the whole thing.”

  “How do you know?” Tech asked.

  “She’s not actually scared. Someone with a crazy stalker isn’t likely to go skinny dipping in an outdoor pool.”

  Bridget shrugged. “Everybody reacts differently.”

  “I agree, but not that differently. It’s also not the only red flag I noticed.”

  “You want me to terminate her contract?” Wayne asked.

  I shook my head. “I’m not willing to risk a client’s safety over a hunch. No. I need to prove my theory first.” I looked up at the monitor of Daphne on the red carpet. “Give Billy a call. Have him convince her to come to the tournament this weekend. Let’s set the bitch up and see what happens.”

  “Ooh,” Bridget squealed again. “This is going to be good.”

  Wayne laughed, heading toward the door. As he exited, the kids came tearing in around him and into the room. Wayne held the door open for Hattie before he left.

  “Well?” I asked. “How’d it go at the dentist?”

  “Good,” Sara said, grinning.

  I smiled at her before looking at Nicholas. He moved to sit by Carl. I raised an
eyebrow and waited him out.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said, sighing dramatically.

  “Well, I do,” Hattie said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “How many cavities?” I asked.

  “Three,” Hattie said, holding three fingers up at Nicholas. “And one of them was an adult tooth.”

  Nicholas stared at the table.

  “What do you think we should do about this, Nick?” I asked him.

  He shrugged a shoulder, not looking at me.

  “You can’t let your teeth rot out.”

  “Yeah, man,” Tech said. “Girls don’t like guys with rotted teeth.”

  “I don’t care what girls like,” Nicholas said, shrugging again.

  “You will eventually,” I said, walking over and lifting his chin to look at me. “By then it will be too late. You’ll look like some redneck with bad hygiene.”

  “What’s hygiene?”

  “Cleanliness.”

  “I’m clean.”

  “Your teeth aren’t,” Tech said. “Do you really want to be the guy with bad breath and black rotting teeth? You can also get digestive infections.”

  “Really?”

  Tech turned to his laptop, typing rapidly against the keyboard before he stopped and pointed up at the screen behind Nicholas. The picture of Daphne was replaced by a close up of a man with black rotted teeth, a lip sore that looked like herpes, and puss-filled welts on his face that were likely from a meth habit. It was the extreme visual for a kid with just a few cavities. Nicholas paled, walking toward the door.

  “Where are you going?” Hattie asked.

  “I’m going to go brush my teeth again,” he answered, opening the door and leaving.

  Hattie patted Tech’s shoulder. “That was perfect, Mr. Tech. Thank you.”

  “I do what I can,” Tech said, laughing.

  I sat back in my chair and looked at Hattie. “You look tired. Do you want me to take the kids off your hands?”

  “I’m fine. Perhaps they’re wearing me out, but I’m flying back to Texas next week so I’d like to spend as much time as I can with them until then.”