by Tonya Kappes
“He did?” I asked. “Was he wearing a black hat and coat?”
“Yes. That’s right.” She nodded. “He wanted to see her but I told him that she was busy. She was getting ready to go to Mystic Couture for her photo shoot.” Her hand flew up to her mouth. “I completely forgot to tell the police about it.”
“We will take it from here.” Mick motioned for me to come on. “Say, is The Ville in here?”
“Yes.” She pointed to the big package propped up on the backside of the couch. “That’s it.”
“Don’t let anyone move these until you hear from me.” Mick instructed her. “Orders from SKUL.”
She nodded.
When we were safely outside of the hotel room and in the elevator, I said, “You can’t tell her she can’t have them moved.”
“Why not?” he asked.
“You are on leave,” I reminded him.
“She doesn’t know that.” A wry smile crossed his lips that made my pulse suddenly leap with excitement.
Chapter Fifteen
Mick wanted to go run more checks on Franklin Bingo which was his way of telling me that he was going to go do it without me since he was the real agent and I was the civilian agent, which was fine with me because it gave me an opportunity to head over to his apartment and try to find anything from his past that would link him to the crimes.
It seemed that this Franklin Bingo could be a viable suspect but it still didn’t explain what the other dead women in Mick’s life had to do with Franklin.
After I dropped him off at the diner to grab his car, I went inside to check on Auntie Meme and Mom. I sent Vinnie off on his own spying mission to see where Mick had gone so when Vinnie came back to pick me up, we could hurry over to Mick’s and take a look around.
“Out of the way.” Auntie Meme hustled around me at the front door with a big sack of laundry hoisted over one shoulder and a takeout sack on the other arm.
“Don’t try to stop her,” Mom called out from behind the counter.
I stepped out of the way just in time to avoid being barreled over by her.
“She hates Gladys so much that she’d date Joe just so Gladys can’t.” Mom wiped down the counter and I locked the diner door behind Auntie Meme.
I watched out the window as she tried to hurry down the sidewalk toward Farmer’s Dry Cleaners and wobbled right and left to keep the food steady.
“I haven’t seen her move that fast without a little magical help in a long time.” I laughed and watched until she was out of my vision. I turned around. “Spell in the food?”
“I guess. She was back in there all day perfecting whatever it is that Joe Farmer claimed to love. But you know as much as I do that if true love isn’t meant to be then it’s not meant to be.” She threw the towel in the sink behind the counter and leaned on the counter propping herself up on her elbows. “Speaking of love.”
“You can get any ideas out of your head.” I pulled a clean coffee mug out of the rack of dishes and poured a cup of coffee. “I mean, he is adorable.”
“Adorable? He’s a hunk.” Mom sighed. “And since I know now that he’s part of your Life’s Journey, then it might be a good thing.”
Just another example of my mom being able to completely shock me.
“He’s a mortal.” I reminded her how dangerous it could be.
“He’s a smart mortal that just might be the one you can confide in.” Mom flipped around and leaned back on the counter with her arms folded. “After all, there will be a lot of SKUL investigations where they are going to need you and him.”
“Not if I can’t figure out what’s going on.” I stared out over the diner.
“Can I help?” Mom asked. I looked at her. “If not, I’m a good listener.”
“Three women who have been involved with Mick as more than just friends have been murdered. He is the only link between the victims. One of them was that Angela Fritz from the art festival.” It did feel good talking to someone other than Mick about it. I felt like I couldn’t be open with him since it did involve such an intimate past with the women.
“The same lady that didn’t show up for Lilith?” Mom asked.
“Yes. She didn’t show up because someone was stabbing her with a knife in her back. Long story short, I found her and I also found out that she’s tied to Mick like the rest of the women, only he’s left that little part out. So while he’s off trying to find out who killed her, I’m working for SKUL because they gave him a leave of absence.”
“Something tells me that his past has crept up to haunt him.” Her words were truer than she could imagine.
“Unfortunately, I think you are right.” I put away my coffee cup when Vinnie pulled up at the sidewalk. “Vinnie followed Mick after I dropped him off here to make sure he wasn’t going home like he said so I can go by his apartment and look around, see if I can find anything that ties to his past.”
“Good thinking.” Mom showed the first bit of pride on her face since she’d learned I worked for SKUL. “This is your Life’s Journey. You will figure this out.”
“I know. I just hate that he has to go through this.” I walked around the counter and gave Mom a hug and a kiss on her cheek.
It was the first time we’d had a real grown-up talk since I took my Life’s Journey. It was the first time I felt like she’d taken me seriously. It felt good.
“That was a touching scene,” Vinnie said when I’d gotten in the car.
“It’s a funny thing how relationships work, Vinnie.” I strapped on seat belt. He veered out into the downtown traffic. “Especially between the parent and child and when the parent recognizes the child is no longer a child but an adult.”
“That seems all too complicated for me, Maggie. But I did get the list completed and happy to say that each woman on there is still alive. Some of them do not live here. It seems to me that we need to be focusing on the person with the black hat,” Vinnie said.
“I haven’t seen them around since the hotel when Angela was murdered, so I have to wonder if her murder is unrelated.” It was a scenario I had wanted to go over with Mick but he seemed too preoccupied and stressed. It was one last thing he needed to fill in his head. “I can’t help but think that the black hat person has something to do with Mick and the other women, but Angela Fritz is the only one that had something to do with The Ville painting since Franklin Bingo has claimed she stole it from him. It just so happens that she too was involved with Mick, only no one knows about him and Angela.”
“No one that we know of, Maggie.” Vinnie passed Farmer’s Dry Cleaners.
I looked into the window and Auntie Meme had her arms lifted in the air as if she was about to bring a spell down.
“Stop!” I yelled and jumped out into downtown traffic as soon as Vinnie came to a stop. “Pull over,” I instructed him through the beeping of horns and people rolling down their windows to yell at the crazy lady, me.
Auntie had poor Joe pinned up against the wall inside the cleaners where luckily there weren’t any customers.
“Auntie,” I scolded her when I walked in. “What are you doing?”
“Oh honey,” she greeted me with a sweet smile and brought her hands down to her side. “Just a little spell to turn this prince back into a pumpkin that we can put in the pumpkin pies at The Brew.” She swung her arms up again.
“Joe?” I waved my hand in front of his face. He didn’t move, blink, or speak. He was comatose. “Are you nuts? What am I saying?” I ran my hand over my face. “Of course you are nuts.”
“I am not.” She protested. “I’m tired of Gladys Hubbard. And it’s either turn Joe into something and let her live or vice versa.”
“Or neither. And I opt for neither.” I dragged her arms down to her side. “Joe has been trying to woo you for years. It’s your fault that he’s now turned to Mrs. Hubbard.”
“No, it’s your fault for telling us about those cakes and having her at the diner where Joe has met her.” Auntie did
have all the facts straight. “But, I’m willing to forgive if you make everything go back to the way it was a week ago. Me at the diner making all the food. Joe coming in and cat-calling me while I ignore him and you off doing your little spy game.”
“You let Joe out of his coma and I’ll be sure to check on them during their date. I can do a little spell to insure that this is their only date.” I pointed to Joe. “Now, undo him.”
Auntie huffed, snorted and pouted her way through letting Joe off the hook and when he came to, it was as if nothing happened.
“This is a change.” Joe noted when he saw all the laundry that needed to be dry cleaned. “I would’ve come down to get it.”
Auntie looked at me and I urged her to be nice.
“Fine,” she spat. “I had a lot since Gladys Hubbard didn’t know what she was doing and made a complete mess of my kitchen before I kicked her out. I need these by tomorrow.”
I wasn’t pleased with Auntie’s way of giving Mrs. Hubbard a kick in the gut, but at least I got some sense knocked into her.
“I guess I’ll get a firsthand taste of her cookin’.” Joe hoisted the laundry bag up on his shoulder before he flung it into a big cart. “But I sure bet she’s not better than you, Meme. After all, you are the one with the diner.”
“You got that right.” That seemed to pep her up. “Let’s get back to work.” She grabbed me by the arm. “Will I see you in the morning, Joe?” she asked. “Biscuits and gravy.”
“You betcha.” Joe winked, giving Auntie Meme a little giddy-up in her step.
I never thought I was going to get Auntie Meme out of Vinnie. She fussed and cursed letting all sorts of sparks and flames shoot from the tips of her fingernails and hair on the way back to The Brew. There was no way I was going to let her walk back in fear she’d change her sudden slightly better disposition about Joe and Mrs. Hubbard’s date.
“You promise?” she asked before I could shove her out of Vinnie.
“I promise after I go do what I need to for SKUL,” which was go to Mick’s apartment, “then I will make sure to stop by Mrs. Hubbard’s and check on their late lunch date. But you have to get out of the car or I will miss their date completely.”
“Do you remember your family crest?” She threw up the family, coven, and thyself. “Family always comes first.”
“Do you remember no magic in public due to witch hunts? Get out.” On that cue Vinnie opened the door.
“Miss Kitty has never been this mean to you.” She jabbed her finger in Vinnie’s dash before she got out.
Mom stood at the door shaking her head, knowing that if I had to bring Auntie back that something horrible had happened and I’d leave it up to Auntie to tell her. Not that Auntie Meme thought what she did was wrong, she didn’t.
Chapter Sixteen
“Where did Mick go?” I asked Vinnie as soon as he pulled out from The Brew.
I wasn’t about to stick around to give Mom the low down or even see if Auntie Meme would come clean about what she’d done to poor old Joe Farmer.
“Well, Maggie, he went back to SKUL headquarters where I used my radar to follow him up to his office.” Vinnie’s circuit screen rolled footage of Mick going into his office, which dawned on me that I’d never been in his office.
I’d only been in Burt’s office and the guts of the basement where they’d put me in the cubicle, which reminded me of Sergeant Major Marjorie Steepleton.
“Vinnie,” I watched as Mick sat at his desk going through some files, “I need you to look up Sergeant Major Marjorie Steepleton. Mick didn’t tell me, but she and he were in Special Forces together and she was killed.”
“Why is this of any importance?” Vinnie asked.
“I don’t know, I’m just trying to not only uncover his past to see if there is a link between him and her intimately, if she’s one of the reasons he throws himself into his work and part of the demons Dr. Artie seems to think he’s battling.” I really needed to get back to SKUL and get on the computer to figure out exactly what was in Mick’s file.
There had to be something there. There was an inkling in my twitching nose that I couldn’t exactly scratch.
“I’ll do a little digging around while you be careful digging around in there.” Vinnie pulled up to Mick’s apartment building.
Mrs. Cartmell, Mick’s landlady, was sitting on the front porch on an old metal chair. She had on the same blue housedress I’d seen her in last time with the same thick-soled white nurse’s shoes and knee-high pantyhose.
“I don’t know what it is about you women and that man.” She rose a bushy brow when I approached.
“Hi, Mrs. Cartmell. It’s great to see you again.” I nodded and tried to be as polite as I could and get past her. “We are just work friends. Nothing more,” I assured her.
She had other plans.
“Seriously, he must be one fine used car salesman.” She tsked and crossed her arms across her chest, looking over the small lawn out front.
“Excuse me? Used car salesman?” I asked.
“Mick’s job. At least for this week.” She pursed her lips. “I’ve never seen a man have so many jobs. One week he sells fish at the pet shop. The next week he’s a chef and now he’s a used car salesman. Which you should know since you work together.”
“Yes.” I nodded realizing that Mick really didn’t tell all those women that he was an undercover agent for SKUL and that the murders had to be tied to his SKUL job. But how? “I have to run up and get a car title he left here. Good to see you.”
I didn’t leave any room for her to continue to make conversation. Something in his past had crossed with his SKUL job—that was the one thing about this case I was sure of.
When I got up to Mick’s apartment, the first thing I did was call Sherry from Mick’s phone.
“Hello?” She sounded strange.
“Sherry, it’s Maggie Park.” I glanced around the very clean apartment and wondered exactly where Mick might keep anything personal. I was here so I might as well look into his background and completely rule it out.
“Oh, Maggie,” relief over took her voice. “I saw it was Mick’s number and I had just seen him leaving his office. I knew he couldn’t have made it home that fast.”
“Where was he going?” I asked.
“I’m not sure. He was pretty upset because the police really do want to charge him with the murders of those women.” She paused. “I’m afraid we are running out of time.”
“I have a hunch,” I said.
“A hunch?” Sherry wasn’t too keen on my hunches.
“They haven’t been wrong so far. Just hear me out.” She could either listen or hang up, either way, I was ready to give my theory. “All the women from Mick’s past that are being killed off—none of those women really knew that Mick is an undercover agent for SKUL. They all think he does something else for a living. That makes me think the killer knows that he’s an agent.”
I tucked the phone between my shoulder and ear and walked over to the desk that was so pristine it didn’t look like Mick used it. When I opened the drawer there was nothing in it. I headed back to his bedroom.
“Maggie, that’s a far-fetched thought. The killer has something against Mick and it wouldn’t take a special agent to figure out that Mick dates a lot of women, or to follow him to see the women.” Sherry rambled on and on as I continued to look for the something that I had no idea I was looking for.
In fact, I quit listening to her, because I knew there had to be someone in the agency that was mad at Mick. It just made complete sense to me. The closet was the most logical place to look for anything Mick had packed away. At least that was where Abram Callahan stored most of his junk. There was an old blue locker trunk. I pulled it out of the closet and opened it.
“These women that were being murdered were women way back in his past, which was why we are looking at people in his past.” She stopped. “You know; he did say that he was meeting with his old high school budd
y. That Big guy.”
Right on top was a photo of Mick and Angela at a Louisville High School football game. In the background, clearly someone who was not supposed to be the focus of the photos and who had a glare on his face, was a younger Big Stevenson and another boy.
“Oh no.” I groaned when I realized that I’d told Mick I could meet him to see Big.
Big Stevenson. My mind whispered his name again, Big Stevenson.
Big Stevenson would have a jealous motive to hurt not only Angela Fritz since they used to date and she wasn’t going to give him the time of day when she was here. And if he found out that she and Mick had a fling, he did seem the type to get really angry.
“I’ll let you know what I find out.” I hung up on her and began to search for anything else that might give me a clue into Mick’s past before I had to rush out of there to meet him and Big.
There were a couple of yearbooks from high school and I grabbed the one that he’d written senior year on and put it on the floor next to me as I continued to look for anything else.
My hand raked over a stack of unbound photos where the people were dressed in their army gear. One with a girl in her camo uniform, gun, and her hair pulled back in a ponytail with a big bright smile on her face caught my attention. Mick had his arm around her and they were clearly in the desert. I flipped the photo over and read the back.
“Always my hero. Love Marjorie.” I flipped the photo back over and got my first look at the woman Mick seems to be haunted about. For some reason, I took that photo and put it on top of the other photo I’d taken of Angela and Mick with Big in the background and the school album.
I went back to shuffling the photos when I happened to come up on one that was of Mick, Marjorie, Angela and Big. The only one not in a blue Army uniform was Angela. She had on a blue formal gown with sequins lining the edges. I flipped it over. Army Formal Ball was scribbled across the back along with the names. Only Big’s name wasn’t Big, it was Robert Gazda.
“Big was in the Army?” I asked myself and remembered what I’d learned in the office about Robert Gazda being in the special operative group Mick was in and brought up on charges and then dismissed.