by Tracy Sharp
The sun was shining brightly but the wind was strong, whipping my hair around my head as I stood outside with Buddy. He’d come home the day before, and he was more than a little annoyed that he had to take it easy. He was like a crotchety old man who refused to accept that he couldn’t do the things he used to be able to do. Still, he was doing amazingly. The night before he’d refused to sleep downstairs, and even though it was his first night home he’d climbed every single step up to our bedroom. It was bad enough he’d had to spend five nights at the hospital. He wasn’t spending one more night away from his own bedroom. It had taken him a long time, but he’d made it to the top of the stairs.
Smiling, I watched him as he slowly made his way across the yard and to the edge of the woods. He was having a grand old time sniffing the grass and dirt. He was an inspiration. So brave, the way he just kept on going like nothing had happened to him. Big Dick might’ve slowed him down, but he didn’t stop him.
The image of Big Dick splashing around in the lake haunted me. Going down and coming back up, then going down again, sinking into the opaque depths of the water. Not coming back up. I shuddered, pulled Jack’s huge leather jacket closer around me. Things had turned out badly for Big Dick. For everyone involved.
I thought of how I’d only been asked to look into Chloe’s disappearance. It had seemed like such a tame task at the time. It was unbelievable, everything that had come out of that. Chloe was alive. She was gone again, but we knew that she was okay somewhere. I could see why she’d run away and changed her identity. I might have wanted to do the same if I’d come from her family. They might’ve looked down on her for stripping, but taking her clothes off in front of strangers was far more honest than the activities they’d been involved in. Chloe had just been trying to make a living.
We didn’t know yet why Phil had been looking for her. It could’ve been drugs. Or it could’ve been that he was just a jealous, obsessive ex-boyfriend who couldn’t take “goodbye” for an answer. Whatever the reason he was trying to find her, he would never find her now. She’d become a chameleon, easily changing to blend, unseen, into her background, wherever she chose that background to be. I wished her peace.
Jack told me that Muriel, Susan and Big Dick had plotted Tyler’s death. Big Dick, aka Richard Fellows, followed Tyler to his apartment, then waited for him to come out. When Tyler left his apartment Big Dick pulled up alongside of him in his fancy Jag and waved a wad of cash at him. He’d probably made it sound like an easy gig. Tyler climbed into the Jag and that was the last time anyone ever saw him alive again. Big Dick dumped him like a pile of garbage, making it look like he’d been murdered by a bad John, or perhaps the serial killer who was preying on young male prostitutes in New York State.
Skid went to the police with everything he knew. It would help to build a solid case against Susan and Muriel. But Phil Morreau had vanished. Nobody knew where he’d gone.
Skid told Jack that he wanted to get out of the life. Find a decent job somewhere, if he could. Jack asked him if he liked motorcycles, because he could always use more help in the shop. Skid said he loved them. He’d be starting his apprenticeship with Jack today.
“Come on, handsome.” I gave a low whistle and Buddy lifted his head and grinned at me. He slowly began making his way back to me. “I think you’ve peed on all your regular spots at least twice. Jack and Jesse are waiting on us for breakfast. You hungry?”
He grunted and walked beside me, like the gentleman he is, and we headed back toward the house.
Jack made pancakes and sausage. I made strong coffee. And as we ate, I realized that for the first time in what seemed like forever, I felt truly happy.
Then we heard tires in my dirt driveway and when I looked out the window I was surprised to see Mitch’s powder-blue truck. When I stepped outside to greet him he smiled at me, walking slow and easy the way he does.
I smiled back at him. “To what do I owe this honor?”
He stopped at the bottom of the three steps leading to the deck. “I just drove by Martin’s on the way back from seeing Lilly. Shanahan’s Mercedes is in the driveway. Just thought you might like to know.”
I frowned. “Shanahan’s car? Why would...” Then it came to me. “Chloe.”
He shrugged. “She’s the only child left. Martin is dead. She might be back for the funeral. Her mother is in prison. I imagine she has some things to get in order.”
“Martin’s death has been all over the news. I’m not surprised she heard about it.”
He grinned. “Yeah. Thanks to us.”
“You want a cup of coffee?”
He grinned and gave me an “as if” look. “Leah, I know you’re aching to get in your Jeep and drive up to the Nolan place. So just go.”
I stepped down to the lowest step and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks, Mitch.”
“No problem.”
And it looked like he meant it.
When Jack and I got to the Nolan house Shanahan’s car was still in the driveway, silver paint gleaming in the mid-morning sun. I really had no business being there. But I just felt that something was left undone. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. Maybe seeing Chloe again would help me figure it out.
“That’s weird,” Jack said. “No driver.”
“Um, I think Nelson’s gone. If you know what I mean.”
“Oh, yeah. I think so. But no replacement?”
I shrugged. “Maybe Chloe didn’t want anyone else around.”
“After the last driver, who could blame her?”
The inner door was open with just the screen door closed. It seemed so quiet. There was no music. No sounds at all from within. I rang the doorbell and glanced at Jack as we waited.
“Awfully quiet in there,” he said.
“It’s downright creepy, if you ask me. I never could figure out why anyone would want to live in a place like this. The kind of place you’d be afraid to touch anything. Imagine being a kid in this house growing up?”
“That would sincerely suck,” Jack said.
There was a creak coming from upstairs, but then I saw a pair of bare feet with pink nail polish on the toenails, followed by some nicely shaped legs. Chloe reached the bottom of the stairs, Shanahan close behind her.
“I knew it was you. I saw your Jeep in the driveway,” she said. Her bobbed hair curled softly under her jaw, and large brown eyes regarded me brightly, a strange light in them.
The hair at the back of my neck bristled. “Hello, Chloe.”
“Leah.” She nodded. “Jack.” Her lips curved a little when she looked at him, then her gaze came back to me. All the girls like Jack. There’s just something about him.
Shanahan stood behind her, almost curling himself around her. “Is there anything we can do for you? I thought our business was finished.”
“It is, sir. We don’t want to upset Chloe.” I looked back at her. “We just wanted to see how you were doing under the circumstances. It was brave of you to come back here. How are you holding up?”
She nodded a little, looking over my shoulder, off into the distance. “I’m okay. It’s safe to be back here now. There’s nobody left to hurt me.”
Jack and I glanced at each other. She was forgetting somebody.
“What about Phil? He may still be looking for you,” Jack said.
She shrugged, her face serene.
“Jealous boyfriends don’t like to let go, do they?” I said.
She blinked at me, looked suddenly blank. “Jealous boyfriend?” She shook her head. “Oh, no. No, he wasn’t my boyfriend.”
Jack and I looked at each other, confused. “He was looking pretty hard for you to just be a friend.”
“He pretended to be a friend but he wasn’t,” Chloe said.
“I gathered that,” I told her.
“He was my brother,” Chloe said. “My jealous brother.”
I felt my mouth drop open. “Your brother?”
“Well, half-brother. I found the
letters he wrote my father. There were so many of them over the years. I found my father’s old bank statements. He’d transferred money to Phil’s mother’s account over the years, then to Phil’s account when he turned eighteen. My father always dealt with the money, so my mother never knew. Until the moment before she shot him.”
“She found the letters and statements?” Jack asked her.
“She found everything. They were scattered around my father’s office floor. I don’t know what she was looking for, but it was clear what she’d found.”
That combined with Martin confronting her about blackmail must’ve pushed Muriel over the edge.
“Phil was the result of an affair?” I asked her.
Chloe nodded. “Yes. My father took care of both Phil and his mother for years. But then Phil got into drugs and spent all his money on coke and heroine. My father paid for rehab but refused to send him any more cash because he was afraid he’d just blow it on drugs.”
“And that’s when Phil introduced himself to you,” Jack said.
Chloe nodded. “He’d been watching for awhile, I guess. He sent a dancer to the diner I worked at to show me how much money I could make. She flashed me a wad of it. Counted it right there at the counter. After I began dancing he introduced himself and pretended to be my friend. He also introduced me to drugs. I told him everything.” Her delicate brows furrowed. “I thought he was my friend, that I could trust him.”
It was all making sense now.
“And when you mentioned to him about Michael getting in trouble for molesting children he saw dollar signs,” I said.
“Right. That’s when he approached Tyler and his friend. When I found that out, I just took off. I couldn’t believe he’d do that. It was just too much. I couldn’t stand being who I was anymore.”
That would explain why he was trying so hard to find her. Chloe was the last trump card he had left.
“Enter Darcy Shanahan,” Jack said, nodding to Shanahan behind Chloe.
She tilted her head up over her shoulder and looked at Shanahan. “Yes. Darcy saved me.”
Shanahan squeezed her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. “You saved me, love.” His eyes were filled with adoration. “You saved me.”
“Will you stay here?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “I’ll sell the house. There are only bad memories for me in this house. Darcy and I are making a life of our own.” She brought one small hand to her belly. “We’re buying a new house.”
“It’s safe here for Chloe now. Phil won’t be bothering her anymore. She never has to run away again.” Shanahan’s green gaze bore into my own.
I got his meaning. “Oh. Well, congratulations. I wish you all the best, Chloe.” I nodded to Shanahan. “Mr. Shanahan.”
He nodded back, his face clearly telling me it was time for me to go.
I turned and headed down the stairs and back to the Jeep, Jack close behind me. I glanced into my rearview mirror as we drove away. Chloe and Shanahan were still standing in the doorway, her leaning back against him. His arms were wrapped around her, his mouth close to her ear, as if he were telling her a secret.
I should’ve felt lighter the further away from the Nolan house we got. I was glad for Chloe. I didn’t know if the head of the Irish mob in Albany was the best choice for her, but it wasn’t my choice to make. He did clearly loved her, and I really did wish her the best.
But something still bothered me.
Jack was watching me. “What now?”
I shook my head but said nothing, refusing to give voice to the needling feeling that everybody had been had. My mind went back to that first meeting with Phil, when I had thought he was just a concerned boyfriend of Chloe’s. Something he had said then was now ringing in my mind. She’d told him that she’d had something cooking, he’d said. Something that would make her a lot of money, and that they could both take off somewhere. What if the blackmail was all her idea? Without Phil around to confirm it we’d never know the truth. And something told me that he wouldn’t be seen again.
Then Shanahan comes along.
He never even saw her coming.
“This isn’t over, is it?” Jack’s voice had an edge of tension in it.
“Oh, it’s over for me. I’m done.”
He said nothing. I had the feeling that he’d already figured it out back there at the Nolan house while Chloe was talking.
“Yeah,” he finally said. “We’re done, Kicks. Let’s just let it go.”
I nodded.
He forced some energy I’m sure he didn’t feel into his voice. “Now, what about Callahan? You promised you’d call him.”
I sighed but was grateful for the change in conversation. “I know.”
“So?”
“So I’ll call him when I get home.”
“Sure you will,” he said.
I smacked him lightly on his rock-hard belly. “I will!”
And I meant it.
I sat back and let myself relax. It was one of those days where the sun shines so brightly that everything seems to be glimmering, and it’s hard to imagine bad things happening in the world.
DIRTY BUSINESS
A Leah Ryan novel Suspense
TRACY SHARP
DIRTY BUSINESS
Pregnant women are disappearing in the capital region. The mother one of the missing women hires private investigator Leah Ryan and partner Jackson Quick to find her daughter.
A simple missing persons case turns into a nightmare as the list of suspects grows. Alexia's unfaithful husband, a cult leader who impregnates his female followers whose babies suddenly vanish, and a shady network of adoption agencies involved in a black market baby scheme.
Taking this case leads Jackson and Leah into a labyrinth of mystery and murder.
This is the third book in the Leah Ryan series. Leah also appears in the short story Jacked Up, which also features Lieutenant Jack Daniels, written in collaboration with J.A. Konrath.
Chapter One
I was somewhere I shouldn’t have been when I heard about the dead girl. At that point she was only missing I didn’t know it to be true then, but a terrible, creeping dread came over me that let me know that her death was the most likely outcome.
Problem was, I was having a drink in a bar with a man I was incredibly attracted to, even though I was in a committed relationship with a man who was waiting for me at home. I was where I shouldn’t have been, not because I was doing anything wrong, but because I wanted to be doing something wrong. The act of sitting beside him, smelling his cologne and mooning over the angles of his face, was bringing me to a point where the next set of actions between us would lead us to the next series of actions that could never be taken back. I knew this in my mind and in my heart, and though I loved the man waiting for me at home, the physical and mental attraction to the man beside me was irresistible.
Yeah. I was very well aware of the danger. But at the moment, I didn’t care. I was getting high on the rush of the attraction, on the signals he was giving me.
Lucas Novak was head of a company that did risk assessment of potential violence for clients all across the spectrum of status and stature, he was an expert on predicting violence. Which was the reason he’d come up on my radar. His skills are invaluable for somebody like me. Being a private investigator, I needed to know a client’s risk of violence by potential attackers. I also needed to know the risk to myself, because I come into contact with all kinds of fruit loops in this business.
Again, danger, I’m attracted to it. I guess I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Christ. Not another one.” Lucas leaned forward on the bar, eyes trained on the television.
I pulled my eyes away from his face. A face I liked looking at, and couldn’t seem to help looking at. To see the photo of a smiling, red haired woman standing sideways showing off her very pregnant belly to the camera. Two pregnant women had gone missing in the last three months. I called to the bartender, �
�Turn that up, Tim, would you?”
Lucas shook his salt and pepper head. “This is bad, Leah. This is very bad.”
“Yeah, I gathered that,” I said and winced inwardly. I had a smart mouth. Times like this didn’t call for it. But it’s worse when I’m feeling uncomfortable or nervous. The missing women made me nervous. “What do you think is going on?” Ideas were already gathering in my own mind, and I didn’t like where they were headed.
“Kidnappings of pregnant women are happening more often, but it’s always one victim, one kidnapper. Always a woman who wants a baby so desperately she’s willing to resort to taking the unborn baby of another woman. But this is the third one. I’ve got a really bad feeling about this.”
“Either whoever the kidnapper is keeps getting it wrong, or there’s something more going on here.”
“Right,” He shook his head slowly and took a sip of his scotch. “Not good either way, but the thought of it being some kind of organized thing makes the hair on my neck stand on end. It would mean that this is only the beginning.”
“Jesus, black market babies.” A chill ran up my spine.
“Yeah, could be, but I hope not.” He stared up at the TV. “It’s more common than you might think.”
My cell rang, it was Jack. He’s been my partner and best friend since our days in juvee hall. We’d seen some good days, some pretty bad ones, too.
I was hoping it was something mundane, like dealing with past-due bills. The last few cases we’d taken had left us both drained and raw. Jack would’ve gone on until he dropped, but I needed a break. We’d taken a vacation of sorts from working for the last six months. That is if, you’d call wandering aimlessly, a vacation. I didn’t want it to end. “Yes darling.”
“I hope you’re well rested, dear.” Jack’s whisky and gravel voice was edged with a tightness I recognized. It didn’t mean good news.