“Gram will probably warn Ruby, but she needs to ban Kash from the village until he gets his act together. Word leaks out to the neighbors, and they’ll turn on her.” I smiled at him. “It was amazing of you to help Ruby gratis and do everything you’ve done, when I know you’re paying Floyd.”
Grey looked embarrassed. “More news. Ender called on the way home. Simon Kent was arrested at the airport, getting ready to board a flight to the Caribbean. He’s been charged with felony embezzlement. He’d been having money troubles due to some bad investments and stole from the corporation. Wilson was in on the whole thing. Father/son con. Since the son is out of the country, he’ll have to be extradited, which will take a while. Depending on his finances and whether he has access to cash, he can keep moving around and make it that much more difficult.”
“Why hire you?” I snapped.
“It’s Ender’s theory that after Kent hung his son out to dry, he thought it would show his innocence or ignorance of what happened if he hired me to attempt to recover the money. Wilson was already out of the country, and Kent stupidly figured he was untouchable. Had he gotten an earlier start and not waited until everything was crumbling around him, it might’ve taken the spotlight off him, but not for long. When you’re under pressure, that’s when you start making a lot of mistakes.”
“You’re taking the case coming to an abrupt end rather well.”
“Never liked Kent. Shouldn’t have taken the case to begin with, but I got caught up in it being the first one as Steve. Can you imagine if Grey Walker had been involved with an embezzlement case?” He shuddered. “The pieces didn’t fit, and from the first, I was wondering what Kent was trying to pull. I’m happy he didn’t return my calls and I was out early on. If he was willing to let his kid take the fall, no telling what he’d do to a stranger.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The next morning, Grey took his frustrations out to the beach. When I heard the door slam shut, I looked up and caught sight of him in workout clothes, sweaty and rumpled, as he headed to the shower. I went to the kitchen and made a fresh pot of coffee, then perused the shelves of the pantry and gave brief thought to going to the grocery store so I could at least pretend that I cooked. Dismissing the chances of that, I assembled a tray and took it out to the balcony. I hated to waste the view of the sky and water, which were the same perfect shade of blue today. Breathtakingly gorgeous.
Grey came out, coffee pot in hand, set it on the table, and sat next to me, leaning over to kiss my cheek. “What are you up to?”
“Just sit there and enjoy the breeze.” I pressed down on his knee, turned my legs sideways, and tossed them over his lap. “Now you’re trapped.”
“I need to spend more time out here with my feet up, enjoying the view. Then I wouldn’t be so grouchy.”
“You’re the easiest.” I winked, which made him laugh. “You’ve had a bulldozer run through your life, and you’re still standing. Mark my words, you’re going to come out better than ever.”
“If I ever find out who hired you, I’m going to thank them and then break their face.”
I laughed. “You have plans for the day, sweets?”
Grey made a face. “I know that look, sweets, and since you haven’t answered my earlier question, which you promised to stop doing… today, huh?”
He hadn’t extorted that promise out of me, but I wasn’t about to remind him. I shook my head and pulled my burner phone out of my pocket. “You want to reconnect with Seven; I’m going to make that happen. If I can get the man to move his tuchus today, then I’m going for it.” I called and pushed the speaker button. “I’ll be happy when I can throw this phone in the trash.”
“So soon?” Seven said when he answered.
“I’m hoping you’re free today and I can buy you an overpriced cup of coffee.”
“You’re going to have to come up with something more than coffee.”
“Talked to Cathy, and if you want to hear what she had to say, you’ll need to meet with me. To add to your excitement about our get-together, I also got her new number, which you can pass along to one of your detective friends so they can close the missing persons case, if they haven’t already.”
“Or I can pass your name along to them, and they’ll soon be pounding on your door. It’s a crime to impede an ongoing investigation,” Seven grouched.
“If I get a vote, it’s no.” I ignored his chuckle. Grey squeezed my free hand. “You wouldn’t want to miss out on your big surprise, would you?”
Seven grunted. “Hate surprises.”
“You and most people. If this particular one doesn’t live up to your standards, I promise to go away and not blow up your phone in the future.”
Dead silence.
Grey poked me.
“Five minutes of your time. But I suggest you block off more than that, or you’ll wish you’d listened to me.” More grunting on his end. I’d bet that he was arguing with himself about whether to blow me off or not. “Time and location, and I’ll be there.”
“The Bike Shop on Flagler in an hour. If you’re late, I’m not waiting.”
“You won’t be sorry.”
“Uh-huh.” He hung up.
“That didn’t go as badly as it sounded,” Grey reassured me.
“I’m going to go change. I’m thinking early is better than cutting it close. I don’t want to give him a reason to skip out on us.”
* * *
The Bike Shop turned out to also be a coffee shop. In addition to meeting customers’ caffeine needs, they offered bike repair and rental services. Seven was early. He’d commandeered a table on the patio and was leaning back in the chair, feet on the railing, surveying everything from behind his dark glasses.
I turned to Grey as he parked not far from the entrance. “You’re coming with me?”
“I’ve been looking forward to this meeting. I’ll be by your side—the silent, brooding type—and see how long it takes Seven to make me.”
I cupped his chin in my hand. “You’re certain Seven won’t do anything crazy like arrest you?”
“Being presumed dead isn’t a crime. And even if it were, he’d at least recommend a good lawyer.”
We got out, and Grey held my hand as we crossed the parking lot. Seven had us in his sights the whole time.
“You’ve got five minutes,” Seven said with a glance at his watch as we sat down. “You trade the galoot in for a punier model?” He nodded at Grey.
“Be nice,” I admonished. “Would be a shame if he had to rearrange your face.”
Grey snickered.
Seven gave me an even stare. “You going to introduce us?”
“Maybe later.”
Seven snorted. “You talked to the elusive Cathy? Did she have a reason for letting people think she’d met an ugly end?”
“Now that was a weird phone call. She refused to answer any questions about anything, stating that she only called as a favor to Rally.” I pulled a piece of paper out of my pocket and pushed it across the table. “That’s the number of the burner she used. I also found out that it was purchased recently. Also noted is the address where it was bought.”
Seven’s eyebrows shot up. “Nice work, Brenda. It’s still Brenda, isn’t it?”
I ignored the question and his smirk. “Cathy’s story about the old phone was that it stopped working and she got a new one, along with a new number. We both know that’s a lie.”
“Interesting.” Seven looked at the paper and then at me. “Here’s your freebie: I checked with my source, and the missing persons case is still active. He’s very interested in this information, which I’ll be passing along. If he’s got more questions, do you mind if I give him your number? I also told him that Rally bragged about being friends with “all the players.”
“Isn’t there some kind of anonymity for sources?” I managed not to roll my eyes. The last thing I wanted was to be involved in a police investigation.
“Where’s my surpris
e?” Seven cocked his head as though peeking under the table. “Can’t be very big.” He hadn’t looked Grey’s way since we sat down.
“We should have a rule—one asks a question and the other answers.” That garnered a beady glare. Okay then. “I’ll go first. Patience. I started this book project because I want to clear Grey’s name and I needed your help to do it.”
“What do you think you’re going to uncover that the cops haven’t?”
“If the situation were reversed, Grey would do it for you.”
“He’s dead,” Seven said evenly.
“Except I’m not,” Grey grouched.
Seven turned to him and scrutinized him closely. “You’re telling me you’re Grey Walker?” he asked skeptically. “Nice try, pal. He wouldn’t go out in public looking like an overgrown bush, and I happen to know he owns a razor. That scraggle is… a mess.” His lips quirked, just barely.
“Remember when Pixie—the love of your life, one of them anyway—dumped you, and you drowned your heartache in tequila? You claimed to have eaten the worm but couldn’t remember where you bought the swill. I still think that part was BS. You ended up face down in the bushes all night, waking when the sprinklers came on.” Grey went on to remind Seven of more of his life events that had ended in him commiserating with his friend, alcohol.
“Peggy,” Seven barked. “You never could get her name right, which was a sex-killer when you said it in front of her. And even knowing that, you did it anyway.”
“Give a guy a break. Couldn’t help it—she dressed like one of Santa’s elves, and the bootie shoes… I mean, dude…” Grey shook his head.
“When ole Pix was in the mood, she probably blew his socks off.” I grinned at Seven and got the stink eye from him.
Seven kicked his chair back, he and Grey stood, and they hugged. “Where? What the hell?”
“It’s a story you’re not going to believe. Even I’ve had a hard time with it.” The two men sat back down. “As Harper said, I’m hoping for some help to get my life back on track.”
Seven’s eyes followed Grey’s as he smiled at me.
“Harper Finn. That would be me.” I waved.
Seven scrutinized me closely. “I knew you were full of it.”
“It’s quite the story. I’ll let Grey tell you.”
Seven’s face said, Yeah right. “You know who’s going to be happy? Our old boss. He’s still intent on finding Mindy Graham’s murderer and clearing your name of any suspicion. He felt guilty about what happened to you, but he got caught up in a political firestorm.”
“No hard feelings. On my last day, we spent a long time talking, and he wished me well.”
“You’re obviously not dead, so whose corpse was that?” Seven asked.
“Big misidentification. And when I heard about my demise, I decided not to correct the misunderstanding. I had a damn good reason. I’ll start at the beginning.”
I nudged him under the table. “I think there’s a few things you could skip over.”
Grey smirked at me.
“You two?” Seven scissored his fingers.
Grey laughed.
“What happened to your usual type—mousey, doesn’t say much?”
I bit back a laugh.
“You must be in the coo-y, everything’s fantastic stage. You’re going to drive him crazy.” Seven flashed me a knowing look.
“Harper saved my life,” Grey said adamantly.
So there. I squinted at Seven.
“Can I get your word that everything I’m about to tell you stays between us until we agree that others need to know?” Grey asked.
“Anything you need.”
“I was trudging along in my dreary life, major bad attitude and not doing much to turn it around, and then I met this hottie—” Grey waggled his brows at me. “—over coffee. Being a gentleman, I walked her to her car and—”
“You can skip forward in the story, don’t you think?” I asked. “What happened right after that isn’t really relevant.”
“I disagree, sweets.” Grey grinned. “It’s integral to the story of how we met. Where was I?” He winked. “I don’t remember anything after that until I woke up cuffed to her bed.”
“Yeah, sure.” Seven’s laugh conveyed that he didn’t believe that. “One look, and you’re, ‘I’ll hook up with this one.’” He laughed again. “You have a sister?”
“If you like older women, my Gram would jump you in a hot second.”
“It’s a sweet story, but I know you too well, pal.” Seven managed to stop laughing. “Can’t wait to hear the rest.”
Grey told him everything he knew about the contract on him, which was very little. It wiped the smile off Seven’s face.
“What the hell, man?” he growled and turned to me. “You have no clue who hired you?”
“None, and not for lack of trying. I had the phone number traced, but it was shut down. Same for the bank account.”
Seven turned his attention back to Grey. “If you hadn’t gone off on your wounded high horse and stayed in touch, we could’ve partnered up and be making a go of it on our own.”
“If we had, you could’ve ended up in the crossfire,” Grey said. “Whoever was willing to shell out a million bucks to see me dead wouldn’t have balked at a little collateral damage.”
“You got a plan for how you’re going to uncover this person’s identity?” Seven asked.
“Everything so far has been a dead end, which is why Harper offered to interview people about the Mindy Graham case. That hasn’t uncovered anything… except people that have no interest in bringing a killer to justice.”
“There are a couple of officers we worked with that are retired and living down this way,” Seven said. “I’m thinking we could pool resources. Get the chief involved, cover your backside, and make sure we don’t cross any lines. We could start by getting you some ‘I’m alive’ publicity.”
“The first thing the person who put a hit out on Grey is going to do when it hits the news is hire someone else,” I snapped. “This time, they might find someone actually willing to do it.”
“We’ll get a good plan in place before doing anything,” Seven said. “Did you commit any crimes while you were staying out of sight that would make you vulnerable?”
“Hi, I’m Steve Smith.” Grey held out his hand. The two men laughed. “Other than the phony name, nothing.”
Seven turned to me. “What about you?”
“I’ll admit that my ‘getting to know Grey’ efforts were a little questionable.” He didn’t need to know anything else.
Grey grinned at me.
“Why do I think there’s so much more to this story?” Seven asked.
“Because you’re an ex-cop, and it’s instinctive,” I answered, which quieted him for the moment, but I knew it would probably come up again.
The two men talked about what they’d been doing since their days on the force. Then bandied about ideas about how to proceed with getting Grey’s life back, and who would’ve shelled out a cool million to see him dead. Mr. Graham seemed the logical choice, since it was his daughter that was dead. We all thought it had something to do with Mindy’s death, as neither of them could think of any other reason that someone would be holding a grudge. The two went over past cases, and none stuck out as being likely to result in someone wanting to exact that kind of revenge.
Seven questioned me about my interviews, then said, “I’m eliminating Graham. He turned over the diary because he’s friends with our old boss, and I don’t think the chief would be able to overlook the kind of mental breakdown that would result in him thinking that hiring a hitman was a good idea.”
“The chief told me about that on my last day.”
“I still haven’t heard from your pal Rally,” Seven said to me. “Not that I expected to. Give him a call and tell him you were able to set up an interview through a friend of a friend’s cousin and you’d like him to go along.”
“That oug
ht to make him squirm.”
Seven told Grey that he’d clear his schedule and give him a call in the next day or two so they could come up with a plan of action.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
It had been a couple of days, and Grey and Seven had been burning up the phone, strategizing a plan for Grey to reclaim his life. They were getting together today, and Grey told Seven to meet him at the office building so he could show him around.
While they were doing that, I sat in the car and made a complete nuisance of myself—burning up Rally’s phone, leaving more messages about today’s upcoming interview with Seven, and making sure to tell him the time and location. I’d set up a meeting at the same coffee shop where we’d met Seven. Tired of the game, since I’d bet Rally had listened to everyone, I left one last message: Cancelling meeting with Detective Donnelly. Will reschedule when you’re available. Seven and Grey had debated whether he’d show or not and decided on a definite maybe.
That got Rally’s attention, as he called back immediately. “Sorry, I’ve been out of cell range due to a family emergency. Go ahead to the meeting without me, and I’ll make it up to you.”
Yeah, sure. He was a terrible liar. I’d wondered what his excuse would be, since he had no relationship with Seven and that would have been evident. Seven would have enjoyed calling him out on it. “If I have any questions after speaking with him, I’ll get back to you.”
Grey came back and slid behind the wheel. “Introduced Seven to Avery. He did a double take at the large eyeglasses that covered her face and, after a few traded barbs, called her a nutjob. I laughed and didn’t tell him it was my special name for you.”
Seven pulled out of the parking lot and disappeared from sight.
I punched Grey’s arm. “Avery probably loved it.”
“She told him he should take the stick out of his… but then called him a hot piece.”
Hired Killer (Biscayne Bay Book 1) Page 18