“Well,” I said. “Thanks again.” I lifted my hand in a little wave and Ricky frowned.
“What’s that in your hand?” He thought it looked like one of those stun guns that carried one million tooth-jarring volts of power.
“It’s a flashlight stun gun,” I admitted.
“Cool. Does it work?” He was thinking of getting one for his girlfriend.
“I don’t know. I haven’t tried it yet. I was going to use it on Mercer, but you got there first.”
“Oh. Well, you should probably save it for when he tries to kill you, otherwise, you won’t be able to take him by surprise next time.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” I agreed. Why was talking about my impending death so easy?
“Okay, well, see you.” He wasn’t confident he could keep me alive, and was glad I had the stun gun. At least it would give me a fighting chance, as long as I knew how to use it.
“Bye,” I said, and I hurried to my car, eager to get home. First, I needed to call Dimples and tell him the bad news. Maybe with the combination of the cops and Uncle Joey’s men, I had a fighting chance against the assassin. He answered on the first ring.
“It’s me again,” I said. “Just thought you should know that Mercer was standing in front of Chris’ office building when I came out. It looked like he was waiting for me. How soon can you guys pick him up?”
“Did he threaten you?” Dimples’ voice was harsh. I’d never heard him sound that way before.
“Not in so many words,” I said. “But it scared me just the same. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like me much, and would probably like to kill me if he got the chance.”
The pause on the other end of the line made me glad I couldn’t hear his thoughts, since I was pretty sure he was swearing. A lot.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll have them rush the testing so we can get him back into custody. Hopefully by tomorrow.”
“Do you think they’ll find anything with the testing?”
“I think so. Even if the gun has no fingerprints, the fake nose was attached to his skin, so there should be something we can get from it. In the meantime, I’ll have a cruiser drive by your house through the next couple of days and nights. That should discourage him from contacting you again.”
“Sounds good,” I said, relieved.
“Did you get the number of that client you told me about?” he asked.
“Ah, no.” I had forgotten. “Chris is at lunch, and the secretary wouldn’t give it to me. But I’ll get it from him and call you back.” Dimples said that was fine and we disconnected. I started the car, and pulled out onto the street, ready to get home where I felt safe. Since Ricky didn’t think I had anything to worry about tonight, I was going to believe him.
I felt bad I’d missed Chris, and worried about how he’d take the fact that the killer was out of jail and I’d spoken to him. Maybe I should leave the speaking to him part out. It wasn’t exactly lying, right? But I was definitely going to tell him he was out of jail. He would be happy we found the gun and fake nose, so it kind of balanced out. I figured it was best to tell him about Ricky, too. I mean – I was glad he was there, so Chris would be too. I hoped.
I let myself in the house, and re-locked the door. The fact that it was locked when I got there didn’t mean I could let down my guard. I knew how professionals broke in from Ramos, so I wasn’t taking any chances. I held my stun gun in front of me and went through the house.
I checked every room and closet in the house before putting my stun gun back into my purse. My shoulders sagged with relief that I was safe. Taking my shoes off, I changed into jeans and a t-shirt, then checked the clock. Chris should be back from lunch by now. I called his cell again. I needed that guy’s name and number, but after what I’d been through, I wanted to hear his voice even more. He answered this time. “Hey Hon, what’s up?”
“We found the gun and fake nose!” I blurted, deciding to start with the good news. “They’re at the lab for testing, but it should link Mercer to the murder.”
“That’s great. Now they can keep that guy behind bars where he belongs. Hey, can I call you back?” he asked. “I’m with a client right now.”
“Um…first can you give me the name and number of your client who was at the courthouse? We think he might have seen Mercer throw the gun and fake nose out the window, and Dimples asked me to get it for him.”
“Sure, just a minute,” he said.
I heard some papers rustling, and he came back with the name and number. I thanked him and hung up, deciding to tell him the rest when he got home. Why ruin the rest of his day when there was nothing he could do about it?
I got busy with some chores and lost track of time, so I was surprised when the kids came home from school. It was Friday, and after dropping off his backpack, Josh left for a friend’s house. Savannah came out of her room with a large bag containing her pajamas and a pillow.
Had I missed something? “Where are you going?” I asked.
“Don’t you remember?” She realized that she had forgotten to tell me about her plans, and was hoping she could bluff her way out of it. “I’m pretty sure I told you about the sleepover at Madi’s house. I’m sure I mentioned it a few days ago.”
“I don’t think so,” I said.
“You probably just forgot. I know you’ve had a busy week helping the police and all.”
She was good, but I wasn’t going to let her get away with it. “No. I think I’d remember a sleepover.” I couldn’t understand why she didn’t just come out and ask me. I usually gave my permission, so what was going on this time?
“Oh,” she said, realizing I was on to her. “Well, can I go then?”
“It depends. What are you planning to do?” I asked.
“It’s a sleepover, mom. Probably watch a movie and eat popcorn.” She glanced down, avoiding my eyes, thinking it wasn’t a total lie. The movie they wanted to see was at the megaplex, and if the boys met them there, that was just a happy coincidence. She really wanted to sit by Ryan like a real date. If I knew, I probably wouldn’t let her go, and she wanted to go. Real bad.
“At Madi’s house? You’re not going to a movie theatre?” I asked, wanting to catch her. That part about sitting with Ryan like a real date kind of shook me up.
Her eyes widened, startled that I asked. Shrugging, she decided to go with it. “That’s a good idea. Maybe we’ll go to the movies instead. There’s that action one I’ve been wanting to see.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Too bad it’s rated PG-13, and you’re only twelve.” I was scrambling here, but how could I let her go, knowing she was going to be sitting by a boy in the dark? I knew what that led to. I wasn’t about to let some hormonally challenged teenage boy paw my daughter.
“Mom.” she moaned. “Why are you giving me such a hard time? It’s just a movie.”
Yeah, right! I didn’t know what to say. It struck me that I was probably over-reacting. “Okay,” I thought quickly. “You can go, but you have to let me know what movie you’re going to, and I’ll pick you and your friends up after.”
“After the movie?” She didn’t like that idea. They already had it figured out. Madi’s sister and her boyfriend were going to take them and bring them home. Having me come would be awful.
“Yes.” I wasn’t going to compromise. “Either that, or your dad and I will take you and your friends. I’ve been wanting to see that movie too. We could all go and watch it together.”
Savannah sucked in her breath. That would be a fate worse than death. “Fine, you can pick us up.”
“Great,” I smiled. “Just let me know the details before you go.”
She agreed, her face tight with defeat. It took some of the fun out of it, but at least she still got to go. If she didn’t know better, she’d think I knew what she was up to. That was a creepy thought.
I offered to drive her to Madi’s house, and that seemed to placate her a little bit. Now if only I could figure out how to get her to ta
lk to me about boys and dating, I’d feel a lot better.
Chris got home, and I didn’t know what to tell him first. He already knew about finding the gun and fake nose, so I filled him in on the details of that. From there, I told him about Mercer getting released from jail. To my surprise, he pretty much expected that. What he didn’t expect was that I’d talked to him.
“You mean he was waiting for you, like he’d been following you?”
“I guess.” I hadn’t thought of it that way, but it was probably true.
“So, what did he say? Did he threaten you?”
“Not in words, but his thoughts were a different story.” I explained what he was thinking and how Ricky intervened.
“Ricky? Who’s Ricky?” Now he was getting confused.
I told him he was from Uncle Joey’s organization, and was watching out for me. Chris didn’t take this news as well as I’d hoped. “Word on the street? Like someone’s put out a contract on you?”
“No. I think it’s more like Mercer letting people know he wants to kill me. Ricky said I didn’t need to worry that he’d come after me for a while, and I agree. Mercer will want to scare me first. Make my life miserable. It’s a matter of pride or something. Anyway, I think he’ll be back in custody before he can follow through on his threats.”
Chris glowered, his teeth clenching and his brows drawn together, his eyes tiny slits. By the time I got to Savannah, I decided not to tell him about her wanting to sit with the boy at the movie. I was afraid Chris would beat him up or something. So I just told him we needed to pick her up after the show.
“Oh, and Dimples said he’d send the police to cruise through the neighborhood every few hours until Mercer is back in custody. That’s good, right?”
“Just great,” he said. He was thinking he’d better apply for a concealed weapons permit, and buy a gun.
I sighed, sad that it had come to this, but silently agreeing. “Oh, I forgot. There’s something I want to show you.” I found my purse and pulled out my pepper spray and stun flashlight. I explained how it worked and that I was ready to use it.
“Good,” he said. “I wonder how long it keeps someone down. That might be good to know.”
“Would you like me to try it on you?” I asked, a wicked smile on my face.
“Only if you go first,” he said.
I reached out to touch him with it, and he grabbed my wrist. I playfully fought against him, and soon he had me pinned against his chest, the flashlight forgotten. I savored the feeling of his body against mine. As our lips met, he let go of my wrist and I circled my arms around him. A crackling, buzzing sound broke the spell, and I realized I had accidentally pushed the button on the stun gun. Lucky for me, it wasn’t touching Chris. He jerked back, almost hitting his head against the wall.
“You’d better put that away,” Chris said, his eyes wide. He was thinking that the sound alone gave him the creeps. No way did he ever want to know how it felt.
“It’s got one million tooth-jarring volts of power, so I’m sure it would feel pretty icky.” I put the stun gun back in my purse, and snuggled back into his arms. “Now where were we?”
***
Later that night, we got Savannah and her friends from the movie, and dropped them off at Madi’s house. I picked up that Savannah had a great time snuggling with Ryan, but she wasn’t ready to kiss him or anything. She liked having his arm around her though. It made her feel all shivery inside. I smiled, grateful she hadn’t done more than that. The girls were probably going to stay up all night talking about it.
The rest of the weekend was uneventful, which suited me just fine. No phone calls from Mexico. No strange vehicles stopped in front of my house. No assassins loitering at my door. The only thing out of the ordinary was the police car that drove through the neighborhood, parking every now and then in front of my house. Even with the extra police presence, I couldn’t help being nervous, and it started to bother Chris too.
On Saturday, he purchased a gun and took me to the firing range. We took the firearms safety class and I got pretty good at understanding how to load and fire a gun. It didn’t make me want to use one, but I knew I could if I had to. But seriously, I’d rather stick with my stun flashlight.
Chapter 7
Monday morning came with the hope that the police had found something to put Mercer behind bars again. After getting the kids off to school, I called Dimples to check on the case. He was hopeful that by this afternoon or the next morning it would happen.
Not quite what I wanted to hear, but at least they were making progress. After my regular workout at the gym, I showered and got ready for the day. I finished fixing my hair when the doorbell rang. My pulse quickened. Now what? I ran down the list of who it might be, and none of them were people I wanted to open my door for.
Peeking out the window, a familiar black SUV was parked across the street. The CIA was back? What did they want? Had they come to re-plant a bug since I’d flushed the last one? A loud knocking followed the ringing of the doorbell. Somehow, they knew I was there. Maybe they’d seen me come home from the gym.
I pushed down my fluttering nerves and hurried to the door. Agent Bristow and Agent Shaw smiled politely. “Hi Mrs. Nichols,” Agent Bristow said. “May we come in for a moment?” I hesitated and he continued. “We just have a couple of questions we’d like to ask, if that’s okay.”
“Sure,” I said, pulling the door open. Agent Shaw was relieved he didn’t have to show me his badge again. After last time, he’d decided to let Agent Bristow do most of the talking.
I ushered them into my living room where they took a seat on my couch. “How can I help you?” I asked.
“As you know, we’ve been monitoring Mr. Manetto’s whereabouts in Mexico,” Agent Bristow began, “and he’s dropped off our radar, so to speak. A few days ago we found out he was helping a woman, Ms. Carlotta Juarez. She works for the Mexican police, and we think she might be involved with the drug cartel there. We don’t know what her role is, but we have some suspicions.” He was thinking they didn’t know if she was being blackmailed, or on the drug lord’s payroll.
“I know you’re probably wondering what this has to do with you, but we have information that they might try to contact you.” He looked at me expectantly, wanting to know if they’d called me already.
“I did get a phone call from a police inspector last week,” I said. Had the phone calls been real? If so, it was something I should probably tell the CIA. “His name was Salazar, and he told me Uncle Joey had been kidnapped and held for ransom. He called me twice. First to ask if Uncle Joey had contacted me, and a second time to ask me for money to pay a ransom.”
“How much did they want?” Agent Shaw asked.
“One million dollars,” I said. “I told him I didn’t have that kind of money, and that I thought he was scamming me. I kind of hung up on him.”
Agent Bristow’s eyes got big and he wondered how I could be so cold hearted when Manetto was my uncle. At least I kept calling him that. Somehow the kidnappers were under the impression that he was my uncle as well, so it only made sense that they would contact me. They had to think I had access to Manetto’s money. When he’d talked to Manetto’s secretary, she’d seemed upset and surprised. It was obvious she didn’t know anything about it. That left me their only lead.
Oh no! Jackie already figured I had the money, but she didn’t know the kidnappers had called me. What would she do once she found out? Since I knew she had feelings for Uncle Joey, it was ten times worse. Maybe she’d tell Ricky to let the assassin kill me. This was bad.
“Mrs. Nichols,” Bristow said, his lips drawn into a frown. “Did you just say you hung up on your uncle’s kidnappers?”
“Just a minute,” I said. This was getting out of hand and I was starting to panic. “In the first place, I am not related to Uncle Joey. That’s just what I call him, but he is not my uncle! I only called him that to bug him, and it sort of got into a habit with me. But beli
eve me, I am not related to him. Nor do I have access to his money. I only worked for him for a short time, but I quit. Okay? I don’t work for him anymore. I don’t want to have anything to do with him. I don’t know why you people, and those Mexicans, keep bothering me. Who tells you these things? Who told you they would contact me?”
Agent Shaw glanced at Agent Bristow, a small smile on his lips. I was rattled. That was good. It meant they were getting closer to the truth. It also meant their anonymous informant was right, since I just told them I’d been contacted for the ransom money. Shaw wasn’t fooled one bit with my little song and dance routine. He figured I knew what was going on, and would make it his mission to get me to crack so he could get to the bottom of this.
I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead, wondering how in the world things had taken such a bad turn. I wondered if I should just tell them about the money and have done with it. But could that backfire? Could they arrest me for something? I was pretty sure I had done nothing wrong, but for some reason that did not reassure me.
“We can’t tell you that,” Bristow answered my question. “But since our source was right, you can understand why we had to ask. I believe you, by the way.” At my confusion he continued, “That he’s not your uncle.”
“Oh, well that’s good,” I said. “Since it’s true.”
He nodded, thinking there was still something I wasn’t telling them. Did I have access to Manetto’s money somehow? It seemed the common thread in all this. Why wouldn’t I tell them unless…I was being bribed?
Shaw pulled his hand away from the end table and wondered what had happened to the bug he’d planted. He was pretty sure that was the spot. Maybe it didn’t stick and had fallen on the ground. He glanced under the table and I decided I’d had enough.
“Did you lose something Agent Shaw?”
He jerked his gaze back to my face and satisfaction ran through me to catch the guilt on his face. “No,” he stammered. Then his eyes lit up with speculation, and my stomach dropped. Did I know? Had I removed it? If so, maybe there was a lot more to me than they thought.
Fast Money: A Shelby Nichols Adventure Page 10