Death Comes in Threes

by Marja McGraw

  “Very good. You did the right thing. Now, just go about your business as you always do. Don’t make the man who’s really following you suspicious. Mr. Goldberg is there so you don’t need to worry. He’ll take care of you.”

  “Oh my,” he said uncertainly. “I surely hope so.”

  “Trust me.”

  He said good-bye and hung up without another word. Odd little man, I thought to myself. Besides, Draper had followed him to our office. He already knew we were on to him.

  ~ * ~

  “The next morning Pete told me he followed Stanley and Draper all day. That night he continued to follow Draper to a sleazy bar where he picked up a woman. Pete thought that was the end, but Draper dropped the woman off a few blocks away and drove to a coffee shop. He kept glancing at his watch like he had an appointment.

  “Pete figured he was finally getting somewhere when Draper took one last look at his watch and got up to leave, acting as though it was time to keep his appointment. Unfortunately, Draper got fresh with one of the waitresses and when the owner called him on it, they got into a fight. The police were called and Draper was arrested.”

  “So at that point you still didn’t know why this man was following Stan?” Felicity wanted the whole story, but I didn’t have time.

  I had to figure out what to do about David. And, to be honest, I really wasn’t in a story-telling frame of mind. “Let’s figure out what to do about David. I’ll tell you more of the story later. Right now I’m too wound up to think about Stanley.”

  “What about me?” Stanley stood in the entry to the kitchen, looking tired and maybe a little cranky. “Don’t you think you should have locked the front door?”

  “We did!” Dolly and I glanced at each other. She’d even locked the dead bolt.

  Chapter Ten

  Running through the kitchen and living room, I worried that David had somehow come inside. I knew I’d seen Dolly lock the deadbolt, but I slowed down when I remembered that during the winter rains the door had warped a little. I had to push on the door and hold it while I engaged the deadbolt. I hadn’t thought about it when Dolly locked the door. Dropping my head and sighing, I pushed on the door and locked the deadbolt before returning to the kitchen.

  “There’s a trick to locking my deadbolt. I’ll show all of you later.”

  I pulled a mug out of the cupboard and poured Stanley the last cup of coffee. He smiled when I handed it to him. I had a feeling it was going to be a long morning, so I started brewing another pot.

  Remembering that he normally drank tea, I asked, “Stan, would you prefer tea? It’ll only take a minute to heat some water.”

  “No, this is fine. Don’t go to any trouble. But what were you saying about me when I walked in?”

  “Sandi was telling us about how she met you.” Felicity stood and gave Stanley a quick kiss on the forehead. “You never talk about it and I was curious. That’s all.”

  “Well, I can think of better things to talk about. How we met is a tedious story. What about David Smith? Dealing with him is more important than hearing Sandi’s and my history.”

  I wondered why Stanley didn’t want to talk about how I met him. While he’d changed a lot since then, he was basically still the same man.

  “He called a few minutes ago,” I said, adding water to the coffee maker.

  “Smith called? So he’s going to make a frontal attack. It doesn’t sound like he’ll be sneaking around.” If I hadn’t been watching, I would have missed the one small twitch at the corner of Stanley’s left eye.

  “Whether he called or not, he’ll still have to be sneaky or he’ll be arrested.” I knew Stanley was having a problem with this and I needed to set him straight.

  “Good point.” Stanley’s eye twitched again.

  I stood next to him, placing my hand on his shoulder. “Obviously I’m going to be okay with all of you here, but you have lives of your own. You can’t stay with me twenty-four hours a day. You’ve seen David. Do you remember what he looked like?”

  “How could I forget him? Pete was not a happy man when he saw you and David together. Let me think. He’s blond, and tall. I would estimate a little over six feet, and he had a good physique. He appeared to be rather athletic. Oh, and I believe he had blue eyes.”

  “What a memory, Stan! I called Rick but he was out. I’m going to get some pictures of David to pass out to everyone since you and I are the only ones who’ve seen him.”

  “That’s a good idea. We wouldn’t want to attack an innocent stranger who happens to look like him.” Stanley raised his eyebrows and glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

  I raised my own eyebrows. “No! Absolutely no attacking. There will be no physical confrontations. This man is dangerous. As a group, we could probably take him down, but as individuals, he’d wipe the floor with us.”

  My mother leaned forward in her chair. “Are you going to start packing?”

  Dolly turned to my mother. “Packing? Where do you think Sandi should go?”

  Mother patted Dolly’s knee. “No, I mean is she going to start packing heat?”

  “Oh, you mean a gun.” Dolly thought about that for a moment before turning to me. “Well, are you? Going to pack, I mean.”

  I sighed loud enough to set off alarms. “That’s not something I want to think about at the moment.”

  “Well, you’d better. Frank taught me how to shoot, so if you aren’t going to carry your gun, I’d be happy to.” My mother mimicked a gun with her hand and fingers. She made a clicking noise and shot an imaginary hole in the wall.

  My nice little world was spinning out of control. “No, Mother, you’re not going to carry a gun. I’m not even sure if I will. I’d much rather work out a No Gun Plan if I can.”

  My mother looked disappointed. So did Dolly.

  “Not to worry, ladies,” Felicity said. “I’ve got a gun and I know how to use it. I’ve known how to shoot for years, and Stan and I have been practicing on weekends.”

  “Stan?” I leaned over and looked him in the twitchy eye. “Is this true?” The thought of Stanley carrying a gun was terrifying. As much as I cared for Stanley, the fact remained that he’s a klutz. I was surprised he hadn’t shot himself in the foot – yet.

  He sat straighter and looked directly into my eyes. “Yes. I know how to shoot a gun. It’s actually a hoot, and I’m quite good at it. Felicity’s been showing me what to do.”

  Oh, Pete, I wish you were here right now, I thought. Of all the lousy times for you to go camping. Of course, he couldn’t have known how things would turn out.

  Thankfully, the phone rang so I excused myself to answer it. All eyes were on me, waiting to see if it was David calling again.

  It was Rick. “I got your message. What do you need, Sandi?”

  “Can you get some pictures of David to me? Stan and I are the only ones who know what he looks like. He called a while ago, and – ”

  “He what? What did he say? Did he say anything that might help us find him? Why didn’t you call right away?”

  I have a friend who rolls her eyes all the time. I moved the receiver away from my ear and followed suit before I resumed speaking to Rick. “He was watching me yesterday when I tried on wedding dresses. I never saw him. That’s why I want pictures. If any of the women had seen him, we might have been able to do something. But they don’t know what he looks like.

  “And, no, he didn’t say anything that might help us find him. As far as not calling you, I did. You were out of the office.”

  “Oh. Yeah. Okay, are you going to be home for a while?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll be by with pictures as soon as I make some copies. Make sure your friends and your mother stay there with you. Hernandez is off this morning, but I have another officer patrolling your area. He understands the situation.”

  “Who’s the other officer? What’s his name?”

  “Officer Post is on duty this morning. Hernandez will be back tonigh
t.”

  We hung up and I turned toward the kitchen table. “Rick will be by in a while with pictures of David.”

  There was nodding and muttering around the table, and I retreated to the living room. I needed a quiet moment to collect my thoughts. There was too much confusion. I needed to formulate a plan, and so far I hadn’t had a chance to put two thoughts together. I sat down on the couch and leaned forward, thinking.

  “Are you okay, sweetie?” Mother sat down next to me.

  “Guns. You want to carry mine, or you want me to carry mine, Stanley is learning to shoot, and Felicity carries a gun. Dolly is the only gunless person in the group, although she’d probably like to carry one. Pete is out of town and unreachable. I’ve got cops cruising my house twenty-four hours a day. Rick is on his way over with pictures of a man who wants to kill me, and that same man has made his first move by calling to say he’s been watching me. No, Mother, I’m not okay. But I will be just as soon as I can figure out what to do.”

  “What can you do?”

  I didn’t answer her right away. She began to fidget.

  Putting my arms around her, I hugged her. “For today we’re going to act as if nothing is wrong. You, Dolly and Felicity will familiarize yourself with David’s picture and keep your eyes and ears open. We’re going to work on wedding plans. I don’t have to go into the office, so we can do that from here. I want Stanley to go home and get some rest, and after that he can check on things at the office. And we’ve got Bubba here, too.”

  I glanced around the room.

  “Where is Bubba? I haven’t seen him since I got up.” My heart did a quick flutter.

  “Don’t worry about the dog,” my mother said. “I let him outside and he’s been out there soaking up the sun all morning. I fed him, too. Are you sure we should just go about our business as usual?”

  “Yes. Although David came across as shy when I first met him, I eventually learned that he’s a bully. And he’s got a temper. He comes from a wealthy family, but they wrote him off a long time ago after he attacked his father.”

  My mother looked shocked. To her, family is family, and they don’t hurt each other – at least not on purpose.

  “He’d developed a gambling problem. His father turned him down when he asked for money, and it set him off. David’s brother stopped him from doing any real damage.”

  “Oh, good grief. We’re dealing with a bully who’s a killer and who has a temper. Maybe I was right early on when I said you should get into a different line of work.”

  “I’m doing what I love, Mother, and that’s important. Anyway, David is into scare tactics. After I met him and he realized I was trying to find Robert, he shot a hole through my window, figuring he could scare me off. Then he came to pick me up for a date, acting innocent and shocked that anyone would shoot at me. He pretended he’d be protective, when all the time he was the one who’d done the shooting.”

  “Are you sure you want to stay home today? Maybe we should get out of town for a while. Go someplace where he can’t find us.”

  I smiled at my mother. “He’s watching. No matter where we go, he’ll follow. I’d rather stay here. I have more of an advantage because I’m on my home turf.”

  “I agree with everything you’ve said.” Stanley’s voice carried across the living room.

  Looking up, I saw that my friends had stepped into the room and they’d been listening. I hadn’t even noticed.

  “Therefore, I’m going home to get some rest. After that I’ll stop at the office to check on messages. Once I’ve ascertained that everything is as it should be, I’ll return and watch over things.”

  “Thank you, Stan. You’re a good friend.”

  He squared his shoulders. “I’m just doing what I think Pete would do.”

  I smiled at him.

  Felicity gave him a hug, and Stanley looked embarrassed. He cleared his throat. “I’ll be back later. Lock the door behind me.”

  He left and Felicity locked the deadbolt after I explained the problem about the door being warped.

  “Can you see why I love that man so much?” she asked

  “We surely can,” Dolly said. “Stan is a peach among men.”

  Rick showed up about fifteen minutes later bearing pictures of David. He passed them out.

  “My, he is a good looking man,” Dolly said. “I can see why you might have overlooked his shortcomings.”

  “Shortcomings?” Rick shook his head. “The man is a killer.”

  “Yes, but my daughter didn’t know that at the time.” Mother sounded just a little defensive.

  “He’s very handsome,” Felicity said. “But I like Pete’s looks better. He’s more rugged looking; more like a man’s man.”

  The phone rang and since everyone was at my house other than Pete and Stanley, I expected the worst. Walking toward the kitchen, I motioned for Rick to follow me.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Put it on speaker when you answer it,” Rick said “I want to hear what he has to say.”

  Picking up the phone, I pushed the Speaker button. “Hello?”

  I heard a woman’s voice. “Good morning. Is this Livvie Brewster? I’m calling from Best Flora Florist.”

  “No, just a moment please.” I turned off the speaker and turned to call to my mother, but she was already standing behind me. The whole gang had followed us into the kitchen when the phone rang. I handed it to my mother and left the room.

  Rick was right behind me. “We really want to nail this guy, Sandi, but I don’t want to put you in harm’s way.”

  “Excuse me? I couldn’t be much closer to harm’s way than I am right now. The only thing that might be more dangerous would be if none of you were here, and David was. Honestly, Rick, I have the feeling that he’s planning on playing the cat-and-mouse game before he tries to kill me.” I shivered and rubbed my arms. “Whoever thought I’d be talking so calmly about someone wanting to murder me?” I dropped my arms and clenched my fists.

  “You don’t appear too calm.” Rick reached out and took hold of my hand, making me unclench it. “I can see your jaw muscles working, and your hands were clenched until I took hold. You have dark circles under your eyes and you look like you’re ready to explode. You practically jumped out of your skin when the phone rang.”

  I leaned forward and stared into Rick’s eyes. “Since when did you become so observant?”

  “It comes with the job.”

  Pulling my hand out of Rick’s, I folded my arms across my chest. I suddenly felt even more chilled. “I’ll be back in a minute. I need some chocolate. Chocolate will have a calming effect. It always makes me feel better.”

  Rick nodded, but didn’t say a word. He seemed to realize it wouldn’t be a good time to make a joke about my chocolate habit.

  Making my way out to the kitchen, I opened the top drawer on the right side of the sink – my guilty pleasures drawer. This is where I keep my chocolate stash. When Pete and I were stranded in a ghost town, I’d run out of chocolate. Ever since, I keep a large supply on hand. I rummaged around and found a plain milk chocolate candy bar, just what I needed. I ripped the wrapper off on my way back to the living room.

  “Uh oh. She’s hitting the chocolate.” Dolly shook her head.

  “Okay, Rick, I figure the only way we’re going to catch David is if we set him up. I’ve been trying to come up with the best scenario, but I just can’t seem to make a good plan.”

  “No. Absolutely not. I’m not going to use you for bait. Smith is too smart. He’d know he was being set up. We’re watching all the places he might show up or hide out, and we’re watching you. We’ve got a few leads we’re following, and I’m going to run a check to see if we can figure out where he called you from.”

  “But, Rick – ”

  “If he calls again,” he interrupted, “try to trick him into giving something away. Anything would help. Listen for background noises. Anything.”

  “Yeah, okay.” My mind was
already leaping ahead. I didn’t care that Rick wanted me to stay away from David. I knew I had to do something, and I knew if I played my cards right I could lure him out of hiding.

  “We want this guy, more than you can imagine. He escaped from prison, killed a guard and he’s after you.” Rick was watching me, almost like he could read my mind. “But, Sandi, you’ve got to let us do our job. You can’t catch this asshole by yourself. Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that.” He glanced at my mother and Dolly before quickly turning back to me.

  I forced myself to relax, or at least look relaxed, and I smiled at my friend. “I know I can’t catch him, but if he shows up, I’m not going down without a fight. You do your job, and if I have to, I’ll do whatever it takes on my part.”

  Rick left shortly after that, warning us one more time to let him take care of things.

  Felicity walked up behind me and put her itty bitty hand on my back. “We couldn’t help but hear what Rick said, and we agree with him. Leave it up to them to find David.”

  Turning around, I saw my mother and Dolly nodding in agreement.

  “I have to do what I have to do. If you heard Rick, then you heard what I said, too. You’re either with me or you’re not. Your choice. I know I can lure David out of hiding, and I plan to do it. I’m not going to stick my head in the sand and wait for him to pick me off. I’m going to get him before he gets me.”

  “I’ve never heard you sound so foolhardy.” My mother had moved in front of me and looked up into my eyes.

  Once again I thought about just how tiny these women were as I looked around. I’m not all that big myself. What could we do if David showed up? Size doesn’t matter, I thought to myself. It’s what we do, not how big we are.

  “I thought you were on the phone with the florist.”

  “I told them I’d call them back. There are more important things going on in this living room, Sandra.” Uh oh. The dreaded use of my proper name.

  “Where’s Bubba? I want him in the house. I don’t want him where I can’t keep an eye on him. David is just nasty enough to go after my dog to get even. He’s also nasty enough to go after the three of you. I think it might be best if you all keep your distance from me. Mother, you’d better go stay at Felicity’s house, and I think you should, too, Dolly.”