Deep In Death: A Shelby Nichols Adventure

by Colleen Helme

  Hardly daring to breathe, I grabbed the keys from my purse and, with shaking hands, got the car started. I backed out a little too fast, but managed not to hit anything, and got the hell out of there. This case was freaking me out. What had happened in the dead file room I could almost believe was a figment of my imagination. It was creepy down there anyway. But that didn’t explain what had happened in the lobby today, or the few times I’d smelled gardenias. The fact that I’d parked in the exact same spot where they’d found her car nearly put me over the edge.

  I turned on the radio to get my mind off the creep factor and concentrated on driving responsibly. A gas station on my right caught my attention and I pulled into a parking place. Inside, I filled the largest cup I could find with Diet Coke and added both vanilla and cherry flavorings. It was good, but didn’t quite do the trick, so I found my favorite candy bar and got that too.

  Back in my car, I took a big bite of chocolate paired with caramel and nuts. I didn’t know what was going on, but chocolate always made it better. I enjoyed each bite and sighed when it was gone, but at least now I felt fortified and ready to get back to work.

  Meeting with the retired detective was next on my list, but since I was meeting at his house, I figured I didn’t have to worry about anything weird happening there. On a whim, I rolled down my windows to enjoy the breeze and sang along with the radio. By the time I arrived at Geoff Parkers’ house, I was pretty much back to normal.

  The man who answered the door had a gruff look about him. He was medium height and barrel-chested with a square jaw and unshaven face. His thick gray hair stuck up in a few places, and splotches of red stained his worn flannel shirt. He noticed my gaze on his shirt, and a smile broke over his face, making him seem less formidable. “You must be Shelby.” He opened the screen door. “Come on in. The wife and I are putting up tomatoes, but we just finished a batch so this is perfect timing.”

  That explained the red stains. “Thanks so much for meeting with me.”

  “No problem. Let’s go into my workshop. That’s where I keep everything.”

  I followed him into a room where clocks of all kinds hung from the walls. A work bench with desk lamps and magnifying glasses took up most of the space, and tools I’d never seen before rested in a meticulously organized chest. “Wow. Do you work on these?”

  “Yeah, it’s a hobby of mine. Only now, instead of clocks, I’ve switched to watches. Take a look at this beauty.”

  He turned on the desk lamp and held a watch under a magnifying glass. He gently popped open the back, showing me the intricate gears inside his newest creation.

  “So…you made that?” I asked.

  “Yeah. I like putting all the pieces together…kind of like a puzzle.” He was thinking it was also like doing detective work, but without all the blood and death. He liked this better. “Anyway, have a seat. Can I get you anything? Coffee? Soda?”

  “Oh no, I’m good thanks.” I sat down on a chair beside his work bench, and he pulled a box from a corner.

  “This is everything I kept, so let’s get down to business.” He was thinking that after all these years, he could finally pass on what he’d found and be done with it. “After you called yesterday, it reminded me of all the extra research I’d done and kept these last few years. That case was one of the hardest I’d ever come across, and I always felt bad that it went unsolved.

  “You have to remember, when the leads dry up, and more homicides are committed every day, it’s easy for unsolved cases to get pushed to the side. Right before I retired last spring, I went back over the unsolved cases and picked that one to look at one more time. I hoped with fresh eyes maybe I’d see something that I’d missed before.

  “That case was hard on me, and I felt like I hadn’t done my job right, or maybe I would have found something. Anyway…I took another look, but nothing had changed, so I changed my perspective. That’s when I found something.”

  He took out four folders and laid them side by side on the table. “These are copies. The originals with all the rest of the information are still in the dead file room.” He opened the first file, showing the photocopy of Darcy’s picture. “This is your case, but these…” he gestured to the others and opened them one by one, “are three other missing person reports. They all occurred after Darcy’s disappearance.”

  I glanced at the pictures, noting they were all pretty women in their late twenties to mid-thirties. I shuffled through the pages and found they had all disappeared under suspicious circumstances. One was out jogging, another had gone to the grocery store and never come back, and the third never showed up at work. The cars in which the two women had disappeared were not left behind with keys like Darcy’s. They had been abandoned, leading the investigators to believe the women may have run off. One of them was going through a divorce, and the other wasn’t married. The jogger had a husband and three kids, and they hadn’t found a trace of her anywhere.

  “I know they don’t look related,” Geoff said. “But just take a look at the dates.”

  As I scanned each date, my pulse quickened. “They all disappeared in October.”

  “Now check the years.”

  I glanced at each year and could hardly believe what I was seeing. “If you start with Darcy’s file there’s a two year gap, but since then, these have happened every year, ending with last year at this time.” I didn’t state the obvious, but a chill ran up my spine.

  “If this is a pattern, it might happen again…this month,” Geoff said. “But what do I know? I turned this over to one of the detectives before I left, but I don’t know if he followed through on it or not.”

  “Who was the detective?”

  “Wilkinson. Do you know him?”

  “No. I don’t think he’s still there, but I can ask Dimples…a…Detective Harris. He’s the one I work with.” I glanced at Geoff and his eyes crinkled in the corners.

  “Dimples?” he snickered. “Yeah I know who Dimples is.” He wasn’t going to let me live it down. He laughed again. “You don’t call him that to his face, do you?”

  “Oh…no…of course not,” I sputtered.

  He chuckled even more. “You’re a terrible liar.” He was thinking Harris probably hated it. But if he let me call him that, then he was either crazy, or he had a big crush on me. After looking me over, he’d bet on the crush.

  “He has a girlfriend,” I said.

  Geoff’s eyes narrowed and his brows drew together. That was weird. “Is that so?” he asked. Then it clicked. “Wait a minute…are you the lady with the premonitions?”

  “Oh…so, you’ve heard about me?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah…there aren’t too many people like you who do consulting work for the department, so yeah, I’ve heard plenty.”

  “Was it good?” I had to ask.

  He smiled. “What do you think?”

  Since he wasn’t thinking anything one way or the other, I went with my gut. “Probably good, with a little weird thrown in?”

  “You got that right. Not everyone in the department thinks you’re for real, but I figure what does it matter?” He shrugged. “You get the bad guys, everyone’s happy.” His thoughts shifted to what he remembered hearing about me getting arrested for murder, and his smile drooped a little.

  “Well…just so you know, I’m back on the payroll. I’ve got my badge back and everything.”

  “Badge? What badge?” He didn’t think that made any sense. Most consultants didn’t have badges.

  “Yeah, my honorary badge. Here, I’ll show you.” I pulled my ID card out of my purse and showed it to him.

  He glanced at it and tried not to smile. This was not a badge, it was an ID card. “That’s not a bad picture. You look pretty good.” He kept his mirth under control, thinking he didn’t want to hurt my feelings by pointing out my mistake.

  “Um…thanks.” I quickly put it away, knowing a red flush of embarrassment stained my cheeks. “Is there anything you can tell me about Darc
y’s case that’s not in the file? Did you interview anyone that seemed suspicious but you couldn’t pursue because you didn’t have enough to go on?

  He thought for a minute before replying. “No. At first, everyone looked suspicious, but then after a week went by with nothing, it was like all the leads dried up. They went nowhere, and our investigation came to a stop. I think the husband may have hired a P.I. You should talk to him.”

  “Yeah, I talked to the husband before I came here, and he gave me everything the P.I. had on the case.”

  “Oh, that’s good,” he said.

  “What about the other tenants in the office building. Did you interview any of the employees that may have seen something that night?”

  “Well…let’s see. I’m pretty sure we canvassed the area for witnesses, but with the car in the parking structure, it’s not visible from any of the buildings, so that really cut out any eyewitness reports. As far as the other tenants in the building…I don’t remember any that stood out.”

  “How about the Marketing Solutions Company on the first floor?”

  He rubbed his head and frowned. “To be honest, that doesn’t ring a bell. You might have better luck reading the file. We were pretty meticulous about our findings.”

  I nodded. “Okay. I’ll get right on it. Do you mind if I take these other files? I’m interested to know if any of them got solved.”

  “Yeah, that’s fine. In fact, I’d be glad to see someone working on them. Who knows? If one of them has been solved since I left, that might mean that Darcy’s killer is in jail already, and all you need to do is link them together.” He seriously doubted that, since they weren’t solved when he left last spring, but he didn’t want to discourage me. He also didn’t want to scare me off. This was October…the same month and time-span between killings. It meant the killer could strike any day now. Since all the victims had light-colored hair and blue eyes…just like me…it could get a little creepy.

  Why did he have to think that? I was already creeped out enough as it was. He also thought they were dead…murdered. It took all my will power to suppress my shudder and put the folders in my bag. “If you remember anything else, please don’t hesitate to call me.” I handed him my business card.

  “Sure,” he said. “And feel free to call me if you need anything.” He was thinking he’d come out of retirement to help me if he thought it would do any good. Still, he was glad I was on the case, and he hoped I could find out what had happened to those poor women. “One more thing…if you do figure it out, will you let me buy you a drink?”

  He was sincere about that, and it hinted of a respect between colleagues which brought a lift to my spirits. “It would be my pleasure,” I agreed. We shook hands and I hurried out to my car, ready to get started on the files.

  On the drive home, I couldn’t help thinking that instead of one missing-person case, I now had four. But I decided my first priority was to my client, Tiffany Shaw. If I found something that connected the disappearances to each other, I wouldn’t hesitate to look into it, but I wasn’t going to waste my time. For now, I would concentrate on Darcy. After all, wasn’t it her energy I kept feeling? At least I had one good clue, even if it did come from a dead person.

  Once I got inside Marketing Solutions, I could use my mind-reading skills to find the person linked to Darcy Shaw. It might even be the killer. Wouldn’t that be great? But even finding the killer wouldn’t do me much good unless I had solid evidence linking him to Darcy’s death, and the thing I needed most to prove that, was her body. So, not only did I need to catch the killer, I needed to know what he’d done with her. This could get dicey. I mean…what if he’d chopped her up into tiny little pieces? Eww…that would be awful.

  I pulled into my driveway and dragged my heavy bag inside, then went back out to get both boxes and carried them into Chris’ office. Before taking a second look at the files, I woke up my computer and googled the marketing company. After it came up, I eagerly clicked on the website.

  The company looked like a computer software business that used their software to design websites, send out email campaigns, and research strategies to promote small businesses. It was a small company with only thirteen employees besides the president and vice-president who turned out to be brothers. Wow, this was perfect. I could use my consulting agency as the reason to set up an appointment. Once inside, I could meet the staff and hopefully get an idea of who might be connected to Darcy.

  With a burst of excitement, I called and made an appointment for the next afternoon. That settled, I took out the folders and looked through them, comparing everything I could to determine if anything else besides the dates was related.

  An hour later, and no further in my search, I decided to put in a quick call to Dimples. He picked up and I told him about my meeting with Detective Parker. “He said he gave all four files to Detective Wilkinson. Do you know what he did with them or where he is? I know he’s not there now, but if you could tell me where he went, I could talk to him about this. Maybe he found something new.”

  “Um…I’m afraid he moved to Arizona,” Dimples said. “But I might be able to find a phone number.”

  “Oh…all right. That should work. Was he a good cop?”

  “Yeah, he was good. He just got tired of living in the city, and with his wife’s health problems, it made it easy to move to a drier climate. Okay…here it is.” He rattled off a number. “I don’t know if that one will still work, but you can give it a try.”

  “Sure, thanks,” I said.

  “Um…I don’t know what happened to his case files, but I imagine they’re still here. Since you found the first file in the dead files room, that’s probably where the others are too. You might want to come back and take a look…unless you’re too scared to go back down there.”

  I could hear the teasing smile in his voice. “Ha! Not me, I can go down there just fine.”

  “Good,” he said. “When do you want to come in?”

  “Well, let’s see…it’s about one…I could…oh damn! I forgot about lunch!”

  With my heart racing, I disconnected and sprinted to the bathroom. Thank goodness I’d put on my make-up and a cute outfit this morning. In seconds I’d fluffed up my hair and applied a thin coat of lipstick before grabbing my purse and running to the car.

  If I hurried, I’d only be a few minutes late. It usually took time to get seated, so that would work in my favor as well. I just hoped Kate wouldn’t be mad. It would be just like her to dock my fee of five hundred dollars for being late. I sped down the freeway and got off the ramp downtown in record time, grateful not to get caught for speeding.

  I pulled up in front of the valet parking and jumped out, barely waiting for my claim ticket. Inside, it was packed with people waiting for tables, and I scanned the area for any sight of Kate. Not finding her, I hurried to the hostess desk and gave her my name. “Oh, I just seated your party a few minutes ago, they’re this way.”

  Whew! That was close. I’d made it and was only sweating a little. Hopefully it wouldn’t show too much, and all that rushing around would give my complexion a healthy glow instead of a wilted one. Guilt that I’d hung up on Dimples swept over me, but if he knew I was meeting Kate, he’d understand.

  I followed the hostess to the table and spotted Kate looking perfect and elegant seated beside a man whose back was to me. She caught sight of me coming to the table and smiled, telling her companion I had arrived. The man beside her turned in his chair and politely stood. Shock slowed my progress. He was the spitting image of Jon Passini.

  “Sorry I’m late,” I said breathlessly, and quickly moved into the empty chair.

  “That’s all right,” Kate answered. “I’ve just been telling Alec all about you. Shelby, this is my associate, Alec Passini.”

  He smiled and gave my hand a quick squeeze. “So nice to meet you.”

  “Nice to meet you too,” I said. Now that I was closer, I could see the differences. Alec was younger wit
h a leaner build and narrower face. He had the same dark eyes, but instead of anger and resentment, his held warmth and kindness. What was going on here?

  “Kate told me you knew each other in college,” Alec said.

  “Yes…that’s where we got to be such good friends.” Keeping a smile on my face while I said that proved difficult. Kate was thinking that my smile looked more like a grimace and she was glad Alec wasn’t watching me too closely.

  “It was my first year in college,” Kate began. “And Shelby’s last. Then she got married and left for law school.”

  Alec turned to me, his brows raised in interest. “So you’re a lawyer too?”

  “Uh…no. It was my husband that went to law school.”

  “Oh, I see…so what did you graduate in?”

  “I didn’t graduate because we got married and I had to work while my husband went to law school.” I glanced at Kate to find a smug smile on her face, and knew she was enjoying this way too much. I was going to kill her for this.

  “How is Chris anyway?” she purred.

  “Good,” I said.

  She glanced at Alec. “Chris and I worked at the same law firm, so it was fun to renew my friendship with Shelby. I think we were both surprised to see each other again after so long. But anyway, Shelby’s got her own business now,” Kate explained, noticing the anger in my eyes. “She’s quite successful. What do you call it again?”

  “I’m a paid consultant, but what I do is more like a private investigator. It’s called Shelby Nichols Consulting Agency.”

  “How interesting,” Alec said. “What kinds of things have you done?”

  “Oh…mostly snooping into other people’s business…that sort of thing.” I caught the look of surprise on his face and smiled. “Just kidding. What I do isn’t all that interesting. Just lots of sitting around in a car for hours and spying on people. But that’s enough about me, tell me about you two. What brings you here from Seattle? Kate said you’re working on something together?”

  “Yes,” Alec answered. “We’re looking at a way to merge our companies and came here for some legal documents.”