The Gamble

by Kristen Ashley

  “All right, Kami,” Linda replied, not turning and Kami and Shauna both slid from their stools.

  Then Linda continued with her pancakes and Max stayed still at my side, his arm around my shoulders as Kami and Shauna walked to the door.

  “We’ll see ourselves out,” Kami called spitefully.

  “All right, darlin’,” Linda called back and handed me a plate of pancakes.

  The door closed and I offered the pancakes to Max.

  “You eat, baby, I’ll wait for the next round,” Max said softly.

  “And I’ll apologize for Kami,” Linda said as she put butter into the skillet. “She isn’t like this all the time, honestly. Curtis’s death has been tough on her.”

  “Then maybe she shouldn’t be friends with Curt’s piece of ass,” Max muttered as I slid out from under Max’s arm and walked to the butter.

  “Max,” Linda said quietly.

  “Can’t imagine why you brought them both here, Mom, especially Shauna,” Max said and Linda looked at him.

  “I did because a mother always wants to believe the best of her kids. I had a word with Kami about the crap I heard in town, she and Shauna came and asked if I’d smooth the way with you. I had no idea that would happen.”

  “They played it so they could act just like that, get under Nina’s skin and rile her up. Nina’s hell on wheels when she’s riled and they wanted to make her look bad in front of you,” Max told his mother and I stared at him, wondering if this was true and figuring, unfortunately, it was.

  “Kami wouldn’t do that,” Linda returned.

  “I’ll give you Kami but Shauna?” Max asked.

  “Known her since she was ten, Max, she’s like one of my kids too,” Linda answered.

  “And she’s also been up her own ass since she was ten,” Max replied. “Christ, goin’ to Curt’s funeral? Jesus.”

  Linda sighed. I poured maple syrup on my pancakes and stayed quiet.

  Linda went on, “Anyway, yesterday, I looked out the window and what did I see? You and Nina over at Barb and Darren’s. I also saw you didn’t bring her by to see me. You’re at Barb and Darren’s, you don’t come to see me?” She shook her head and poured in more pancake batter. “It’s all over town, you spendin’ time with Nina’s folks and you haven’t brought her to see me. So you’ll have to flippin’ forgive me, darlin’, I needed an excuse to meet my own son’s new girlfriend so I brought ‘em up here.”

  “The truth comes out,” Max muttered.

  Linda turned to him. “Yeah, there it is, Max. I found out from Barb why you all were there, that I can understand but I still don’t get why you didn’t walk a house away and introduce me to Nina.”

  I forked into my pancakes, avoided looking at either of them, shoved pancake into my mouth (which, incidentally, Max was correct, was delicious) and stayed quiet.

  “We been busy,” Max told his mother.

  “Yeah, havin’ lunch with Mindy and Becca, with Bitsy, dinner at The Rooster with Brody and breakfast with her folks, I heard about it all. Jesus, Max, Nina’s made fish casserole for flippin’ Arlene.”

  Seriously, the gossip tree in Gnaw Bone was second to none.

  “Because she showed up at the house and stayed. Jesus, Mom, you know Arlene,” Max explained.

  “What I know about Arlene is she’s had Nina’s fish casserole.”

  I decided to wade in. “I’m thinking of making my pasta bake tonight, Linda. Why don’t you come for that?”

  “See?” Linda flipped a hand out to me but didn’t take her eyes from Max. “Even Nina’s polite enough to ask your mother to dinner.” She turned to me and queried, “Are your folks comin’?”

  I wondered briefly what Mom plus Linda would equal for the night’s experience and I was guessing they’d probably enjoy it but Max and I sure as heck wouldn’t.

  Then with no choice, I answered, “Um… sure.”

  Linda turned to the skillet and flipped pancakes. “Then I’ll be delighted to come.”

  I chanced a glance at Max to see he was staring at me and I knew without him saying a word that he’d calculated the same equation and came up with the same answer.

  I tilted my head to the side and shrugged. Max shook his head.

  I ate my pancakes.

  * * * * *

  As Max taught me, I looked down the sight of the gun but I didn’t really have to do much since he was standing behind me, his body pressed close to mine, his arms around me, his hands mostly around mine, aiming the gun.

  “Shoot, baby,” he said into my ear, I pulled the trigger, there was a loud rapport, our hands jumped back with the recoil and the can, dead center in the triangle Max set up on a fallen log, flew back causing all of them to collapse.

  “Yay!” Mom shouted, taking her hands from her ears and clapping, the noise muted by gloves. She was sitting on a tree stump Max had cleared of snow and I’d thrown a woolen blanket over. “Neenee Bean,” she called, moving her eyes from the cans to me, “you’re getting really good at that.”

  “Great,” I muttered, Max chuckled and Steve spoke.

  “Company.”

  Max’s arms went from around me and he and I both turned to the drive, seeing a police SUV parking behind Mom and Steve’s car.

  We were outside and it was after pancakes; after Max took Linda back to town while I had a shower; after me getting ready; after Mom and Steve had arrived; after Steve had shoveled the steps to the house; and after Max got back in time for Mom to make grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.

  And, I guessed, watching Mick hop down from the cab of the SUV, after my shooting lesson.

  “What now?” Max muttered, taking the gun from my hand, sliding on the safety and shoving it in the waistband of his jeans as he watched Mick saunter to us.

  “Hey Max, Nina,” Mick called when he was close.

  “Hi Mick,” I called back, Mick’s eyes went to Mom and Steve, “these are my parents, Nell and Steve Locke.”

  “How d’ya do?” Mick greeted, arriving at our group.

  I got a good look at his face and I tensed.

  Mom and Steve didn’t answer because Max got there before them.

  “What’s up?” Max asked and from his tone I knew he’d gotten a good look at Mick’s face too.

  Mick looked at Max. “You think we can talk privately?”

  “Shit,” Max muttered.

  “Steve and I’ll go in, make coffee, how’s that?” Mom enquired and I looked at her. She’d wrapped both her hands around Steve’s bicep and she, too, was reading Mick’s expression.

  “Thanks, Miz Locke,” Mick replied, Mom nodded and both Mom and Steve gave Max and me a look before they started moving toward the A-Frame.

  “Nellie, please, no one calls me Mrs. Locke,” Mom invited from over her shoulder, still walking away.

  Mick nodded at Mom, waited several moments as she and Steve made their way to the house and then he turned to Max and me.

  “I’ll just… um… go with them,” I offered, starting to move away.

  “Nina, reckon you should stay,” Mick told me, my breath caught and my body locked.

  “What’s up?” Max repeated, Mick looked at him and I slid my thumb through the belt loop at the back of Max’s jeans.

  “You know that PI Dodd hired?” Mick asked Max.

  “Yeah,” Max answered.

  “Welp, we found him dead,” Mick informed Max.

  “What?” I breathed, moving closer to Max.

  “Found him dead,” Mick repeated, his eyes coming to me for his answer then going back to Max. “Been dead awhile. Some boys found him at one of Dodd’s building sites.”

  “When?” Max queried.

  “Coroner’s guessin’ the same night Curt was done,” Mick replied.

  “How’d he die?” Max asked.

  “Messy,” Mick answered. “Not clean, not professional. He’d been tied up, taken there, killed. Shot four times. Twice in the head, twice the chest. Whoever did it wanted
to make sure he was dead.”

  Max stared at Mick and I moved closer, so much closer Max was forced to slide an arm along my shoulders.

  “Can I ask why you’re up here tellin’ me this?” Max queried.

  Mick shuffled his feet, twisted his neck uncomfortably then looked Max in the eye. “Did you know your sister Kami bought a .38 ‘bout a month ago?”

  I felt Max go still at my side. Then he answered, “No.”

  “Paperwork filed then,” Mick went on, “got it at Zip’s Gun Emporium in Denver.”

  “You’re tellin’ me this because…?” Max prompted.

  “’Cause the PI was killed with a .38.”

  “Jesus Christ, Mick!” Max exploded, coming unstuck, he leaned into Mick. “You tellin’ me you think Kami murdered this PI?”

  Mick’s hands came up but he kept the dire information flowing. “She borrowed on her house, Max. Twenty-five K.”

  “Fuck,” Max clipped.

  “You know about that?” Mick asked.

  “No,” Max bit out.

  “Jeff ‘n’ Pete are bringin’ her in now,” Mick told Max.

  “My sister didn’t kill any PI, Mick,” Max returned. “And she sure as fuck didn’t hire someone to kill Curt.”

  “It ain’t lookin’ good for her, Max,” Mick replied.

  I butted in, asking, “Why are you telling Max this, Mick?”

  “I ain’t tellin’ Max, Nina,” Mick said to me. “I’m tellin’ you.”

  I blinked. Then I asked, “Me?”

  “Heard word you’re an attorney,” Mick explained. “We been combin’ Kami’s records, she don’t got a lot, bank statements show she’s pretty much got zilch, livin’ from paycheck to paycheck, beyond her means, flyin’ high in her Lexus cartin’ around those fancy-ass purses on credit. Figure she’ll need some help ‘round about now and George isn’t only covered in work, he’s pricey.”

  “You’re coming here because you want her to lawyer up?” I asked in disbelief.

  “I’m here because I watched Kami Maxwell grow up and doin’ that I watched her grow bitter.” His eyes went to Max. “Just like her Ma, wantin’ a man she had but let him get away.”

  “Don’t mean she killed a man, Mick,” Max returned.

  “She did this, whatever pushed her to it, she’s still one of our own and, right now, she needs help,” Mick told him.

  “This is fucked up,” Max clipped.

  “She’s got motive, she had twenty-five large that went in and out of her account in about three days. We talk to her and she don’t have an alibi, we may find she had opportunity,” Mick said to Max.

  “Kami ain’t small but she’s also not got the strength to subdue a man, tie him up, take him to a building site and drill four rounds into him,” Max retorted.

  “Toxicology shows he was roofied,” Mick stated.

  “That’s not good,” I muttered and Max’s eyes sliced to me.

  “Roofied?” Max asked.

  “Date rate drug,” I answered.

  “Christ,” Max bit out and looked back at Mick. “Kami doesn’t have it in her to shoot a man four times, he’s drugged or not.”

  “That’s what I’m hopin’, Max, you got to know that. But I also gotta do my job and this is what we got. She don’t have an alibi and some good reason to buy a gun and take a loan against her house and blow it all in three days, what can I say? Any way you look at it, with her history with Curt and Bitsy, the evidence we got, it ain’t lookin’ good.”

  “Do you have a ballistics match on her gun?” I enquired.

  “Got a warrant to search her house. Jeff and Pete are bringin’ her in, other boys are goin’ through her house. We find the weapon, we’ll run the tests,” Mick answered.

  “You said they’re bringing her in?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” Mick said to me. “You comin’ down the mountain?”

  “Fuck yeah,” Max answered.

  I let Max’s belt loop go and muttered, “I’ll go get my purse.”

  * * * * *

  “I should sue you for wrongful arrest!” Kami shouted from her seat at the table beside me.

  I drew in a calming breath and Mick, across the table from us, looked at me.

  “Kami,” I said softly.

  “This is crazy!” she yelled.

  “They’re just asking questions, Kami,” I reminded her. “You aren’t arrested.”

  She twisted in her seat and glared at me. “Then I’m free to go?”

  “Um…” I mumbled, “technically, yes.”

  She started to stand, declaring, “Then I’m goin’.”

  I reached out and grabbed her hand. “As I explained to you before we came in here, you’re free to go but, if you do, you’ll appear uncooperative and you don’t want that.”

  She glared at me and I noticed while she did it that her hand was trembling in mine so I squeezed it.

  Then I continued, “Or if you try to leave, you may force Mick’s hand and he’ll have to arrest you on what he thinks he’s got.”

  Her hand jerked spasmodically in mine.

  “You have nothing to hide, Kami, sit down and take a deep breath,” I advised, giving her hand a small tug.

  She held my eyes then she looked at Mick then she sat down and I released her hand.

  My gaze went to Mick. “Mick, you can start.”

  He nodded and looked at Kami. “All right, Kami, we’ll begin at the beginnin’. What were you doin’ between the hours of one and four last Wednesday mornin’?”

  “I wasn’t killin’ Curt,” Kami snapped.

  “What were you doin’?” Mick pressed.

  “I’d never hurt Curt,” Kami kept snapping.

  “Answer his question, Kami,” I urged quietly, she sighed in a harassed way and responded.

  “Between one and four in the morning, I was sleepin’. What else would I be doin’?”

  “Were you alone?” Mick asked and Kami’s face twisted bitterly.

  “Yeah, Mick, I was alone.”

  Mick nodded then went on, “Did you buy a gun in Denver ‘bout a month ago?”

  Even though I told her that Mick had that on her, Kami’s body jerked before she answered belligerently, “Yeah, so?”

  “Why?” Mick queried.

  “I don’t know. Shauna and I were in Denver havin’ a girls weekend. We drove by this shop, saw they had a shootin’ range, Shauna got a wild hair and we went in. Dad taught Max and me how to shoot, we used to go up to the land and do it all the time. I forgot I was good at it and we had fun. After we took turns at the range, Shauna mentioned she noticed I was good at it too and she convinced me to buy a gun.”

  My eyes, on Kami, slid to Mick to see he was nodding. But I was wondering why on earth Shauna would, first, get a wild hair to go to a shooting range and, second, after she did that, convince her friend to buy a gun. I wasn’t a mountain woman therefore I didn’t know what they spent their fun time doing but that seemed strange.

  I just hoped Mick was wondering the same thing.

  “You recently borrowed on your house,” Mick informed Kami.

  She nodded and asked curtly, “So what?”

  “Twenty-five thousand dollars,” Mick continued.

  “Yeah, I remember how much I borrowed, Mickey,” Kami snapped.

  “It went in and out of your account in a few days,” Mick told her and Kami’s eyes narrowed.

  “So, you’re lookin’ into my accounts too?”

  “Kami, you’re a suspect in a double homicide,” Mick said quietly.

  She sucked in breath, her narrowed eyes went wide, she sat back in her chair and I bit my lip. Mick had asked me not to mention that to her and as a favor I didn’t.

  “Double?” Kami breathed, clearly astonished at this news, something Mick couldn’t miss which I hoped made my favor to Mick pay off for Kami.

  “Curtis Dodd and Marco Fitzgibbon,” Mick stated.

  “Who’s Marco Fitzgibbon?” Kami asked.

&nbs
p; “The PI Curt hired to find out who was threatening his and Bitsy’s lives,” Mick answered.

  Kami went stock-still then she enquired softly, “Curt got death threats?” Mick nodded and Kami went on, “Bitsy too?”

  “Yeah, Kami,” Mick told her.

  “Shit,” Kami whispered.

  “The money, Kami,” Mick prompted.

  She shook her head then looked at me. “Is this confidential?”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “This interview, will this be made public or anything?” she asked.

  “Why?” Mick butted in.

  “Because I promised I wouldn’t say anything,” Kami told him.

  “About what?” Mick queried.

  “About the money, I promised I wouldn’t say anything,” Kami replied.

  I leaned toward her. She hadn’t shared this part with me fully, we didn’t have the time, what she had said was that it was all innocent.

  “Kami,” I caught her attention, “if you had a reason to borrow that money then you need to tell Mick what it was. He’s trying to remove you from the suspect list. You need to give him all the information he needs to help him do that.”

  Kami looked at me and for the first time I saw she was uncertain. “But I promised.”

  I leaned closer and touched her arm. “You’re being questioned for a double homicide. I think whoever you promised will understand. If something else is going on here, we need to ask Mick to leave so we can confer.”

  Her eyes held mine for long moments then she looked at Mick. “It was for Shauna.”

  This surprised me. Shauna again.

  My gaze also went to Mick.

  “Shauna?” he asked.

  “Yeah, she’s…” Kami paused, pulling her hand through her hair, her eyes slid to me then to the side then back to Mick. “She’s in trouble. Money trouble. They were gonna shut off her electric, her water, gas. They already shut off her cable. Her cards are maxed. And she doesn’t have any insurance and she’s pregnant.”

  “You gave the money to Shauna?” Mick enquired.

  “Yeah,” Kami replied.

  Mick turned slightly in his chair so his profile was facing the mirror behind him and he dipped his head, communicating to whoever was watching they were meant to do something.