‘Nah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. I’m guessing he made some trouble for ya from the questions the detective asked?’
‘Nothing for you to worry about. But I am interested in what the detective asked and what you told him?’
‘Just questions about when we’d last seen, or heard from ya. I told him, I ain’t seen ya since that trouble ya sorted out for Dean. Sung your praises I did. The detective asked if he’d come into any money, but like I said, if he had, Dean didn’t share it with me. He did ask me if he had any enemies. Hell, ya knows what it’s like around here. Ya don’t need enemies to end up six foot under, especially where drugs and gangs is involved.’
‘It must be hard for you. He’s not exactly given you an easy ride.’
‘Oh, he wasn’t all that bad. I’m guessing my garden will finish up like all the rest now he ain’t around. He had his good points, just easily led, that’s all.’
Nancy glanced back over at Dean. Whatever he had brought down on her, she didn’t wish him dead. Recalling some of the times she had laughed and joked with him over the years as he grew up, a lump rose in her throat.
‘Can you remember that time when he’d just turned eleven and he brought that girl home when we were having a coffee, after I’d returned your cat?’
Lilly chuckled. ‘Rosa, I remember. Said he was going to marry her. Cracked me up it did.’
‘Whatever happened to her?’
‘Lives in a trailer somewheres over west. Three kids last I heard. Shame when ya thinks she wanted to be an attorney.’
Somehow, her answer didn’t summon a chuckle from either of them. Lilly interrupted their reminiscing.
‘The detective asked about Dean’s movements just before he was murdered. It’s getting hard for me to recall things at my age, but I told him about something odd.’
Nancy snapped her head back from glancing at Dean to look at Lilly as she continued.
‘A large-black vehicle pulled up outside early in the morning, too fancy for these parts with all the windows blacked out and chrome-bull bars at the front. Anyways, Dean ran out and came back carrying a brown paper parcel. I only remember because I argued with him thinking it was drugs.’
‘What was the shape of the parcel?’
‘Hmm, say about the size of a block of butter.’
It sounded like ten-thousand dollars in her mind if the denominations were high enough.
‘He just grabbed his coat and ran off.’
‘What day was that?’
‘The Friday before he disappeared.’
‘Did you see anyone in the vehicle?’
‘Just a white guy when he rolled the window open, but I couldn’t describe him. Hell, you white folks all look the same to me. Leastways that’s what I told the detective.’
Lilly almost choked as she laughed. Nancy walked over to her and patted her back.
‘What about hair colour?’
‘Oh, hell, yeah. I never thought about that.’
Chapter 64
Kyle visiting Lilly confused her. If they had taken him off Kelly’s case because of a conflict of personal interest, then she failed to see why Logan would allow him to interview Lilly. Unless, she thought, his visit was off the record. But to what ends?
Maybe, she thought, they were trying to find holes in her statement about the last time she had contact with the family and to give them more evidence to build a case against her. The SUV Lilly had described caused her concern. Logan drove a black SUV with chrome bull bars, but the driver’s hair colour didn’t match his description.
She began to worry for Lilly at the notion that whoever had killed her son may see her as a loose end. At the same time, she felt relief that Lilly had not described the person in the vehicle to Kyle, as to who handed Dean the package. She entertained the thought that her ignorance would be her saviour. Nancy scoffed at Kyle’s incompetence in not pushing Lilly for a description of the guy in the SUV. But then she wondered if it was because he already knew?
Nancy pulled onto the Pasadena Freeway. She passed the Dodger’s stadium and drove toward Mary’s house. Glancing at her rear-view mirror she noticed a vehicle, maybe one-hundred yards to her rear, join the freeway with only the sidelights showing, which caused her mild concern. At the lateness of the hour, the freeway was light of traffic and with the darkness; it was hard to determine what type of vehicle it was that was following. Stepping on the gas, she sped along the lane gathering speed, her eyes flicking from the road ahead to her rear-view mirror. Taking one hand off the steering wheel, she felt for the butt of her gun. The car behind maintained its distance. Tightness in her chest and an empty feeling tugged away at her gut.
She placed her gun on the passenger seat. Her breathing speeded up in tandem with her glances from road to rear-view mirror. The vehicle behind was gaining and she fixed her eyes on the rear-view mirror. The vehicle’s full headlights turned on, temporarily blinding her vision. A glance at the road ahead and she pulled hard on the steering wheel, almost careening into a slow moving truck. Her heart raced in her chest and her sweaty hands grasped the steering wheel. Her car skidded and snaked along the road to the sound of the truck’s horn. Her gun skirted off the seat and into the foot-well. Nancy fought hard to control forward momentum. The inside of her car flooded with light, as the vehicle behind tailgated her.
All she could think to do was to keep the car behind her until the next exit, so she pressed the gas pedal to the floor.
Nancy pushed the switch for her hazard lights, hoping it was just some crazy driver and the vehicle behind would draw back. All the action did was to add an annoying, distracting ticking sound of the hazards. In her side mirror, she could see the outline of an SUV as it veered behind. The rear flashing lights on her car reflected off the SUV’s chrome-bull bars. The image sent a chill through her body as she recalled the description of the vehicle Lilly had given her. A loud thud from behind and a jolt shocked her; throwing her against the tightened seat-belt strap as the car behind hit her fender. Nancy swerved to the nearside lane, but the SUV stuck to her tail like glue, as if some magical thread bound them together. She cursed under her breath at not having replaced her cell phone. Unable to concentrate with the distracting sound, she flicked off the hazards.
With her foot pressed hard to the floor, there was no more speed to be had. The SUV pulled out, ready to overtake, and she swerved to obstruct its path. All she could do was to weave from lane to lane to try and keep the vehicle behind her and pray for a traffic cop to intervene.
All her thoughts were honed to surviving the ordeal. She took long deliberate breaths to try to slow down the adrenalin that was flushing uncontrollable shivers in waves from head to toe. The taillights and outline of a truck in the middle-lane loomed ahead as if they had suddenly appeared. Flashes of light in her rear-view mirror and a staccato of shots from an automatic overcame her slow breathing, sending a shivering cold blast through her body. Her head ducked at the sight and sound of rounds peppering the steel rear doors of the truck ahead. She feigned to make a move to the right and at the last moment steered left around the truck, her tyres squealing as if with delight at outsmarting her pursuer. For an instant, she felt elated as she zoomed alongside the truck and relative safety, but trembled as she came out in front of the truck with the SUV alongside.
Nancy feathered the brake pedal at the sight of an automatic rifle poking from the window and positioned her car to the rear assailant’s offside. Driving at speed, weaving along the lanes of the freeway, they caught up with heavy traffic. Nancy gained some respite as she managed to manoeuvre her car with a lane of traffic between her and her pursuer. The exit road fast approached and she prayed to reach it before the SUV’s driver found a gap in the tailgated traffic to continue the chase. Nancy flicked the switch for the vanity light and reached for her gun. Grasping the butt, she felt a surge of energy pass through her body at the security of having something to fight back with, which steeled her nerve.
Her head pounded with pain. This was no time to be starting with a migraine, but it developed with a vengeance. By the time she reached the top of the exit road, she had to pull over, braking hard with her car slewed across the road.
Her eyes were scrunched tight with intense pain throbbing in the front of her skull. Managing to crack one eyelid open then the other, she climbed out of the car leaving the door open and the engine running. She scrambled behind the engine block and positioned herself facing down the exit road, gun-in-hand.
From her vantage point, slightly elevated, she could see the lines of traffic on the freeway. The lights of the cars were blurred, but started to focus. She could just make out a space in the line of traffic and a guy, an automatic rifle in one hand, banging his other hand on the hood of a car in the lane nearest the exit road.
Her shoulders sagged as the car made way to let the SUV through and the guy jumped in the vehicle. With a realization that she couldn’t outpace them, she knew she had to meet them head on to stand any chance of stopping them. She took aim down the road. Her head vibrated with the pain and all around her peripheral vision blurred, but strangely the vehicle remained perfectly focused, as if she were seeing it in tunnel vision. Nancy firmed her finger on the trigger. Assuming the stance, resting her arms on the hood of her car and looking down the barrel from sight to SUV, she prepared to shoot.
Events unfolded as if in slow motion. The windshield and headlights of the SUV imploded, the sound offending her hearing. The car slewed in the road to a screech of tyres, revealing the rest of the windows smashed, and the vehicle came to a shuddering halt, sideways. She squeezed the trigger, with a muzzle flash and kick of the wrist as the round exploded, the bullet taking out a front tyre. The pungent smell of swirling nitro from the powder in the expended cartridge engulfed her as the casing tinkled and rolled off the hood and onto the road. The car gave the appearance of a sigh as the air expelled from the tyre. A wheel-trim fell off and rattled on the ground.
The driver of the vehicle was slumped forward on the steering wheel and there was no sign of the guy with the automatic. Instinct drove her to keep low and to get behind the wheel to get the hell away from there before they had a chance to recover from the confusion. Tyres of her car burned tracks on the asphalt as she sped away to safety.
Nancy’s strange reaction to the car chase wasn’t fear, but sheer disbelief at the entire event. The pounding in her head had settled to an ache behind her eyes. Her fingers locked around the steering wheel. Staring ahead, with eyes narrowed, she drove as if by instinct. Streets, roads and buildings, all zipped by in a blur. A vision of Dean lying in the coffin, vied with the inexplicable image of the SUV’s windows imploding.
She didn’t know how long she had been driving, or how she had managed to drive to her dad’s apartment. It was as if the entire journey had been blanked. The last recall she had was when she had sped away from her pursuers. Nancy switched on the vanity light, removed the magazine from her gun. Only two rounds had been fired; one from her encounter with the muggers and one from taking out the tyre on the SUV.
Nancy looked upward as if searching for an answer to the vehicle’s glass imploding.
‘How in the hell did that happen?’
Chapter 65
From zilch to saviour in just over a week. Nancy reflected on all the wasted years at having no relationship with her dad as she trudged to his door. Nervously, she kept looking over her shoulder, annoyed that she had developed a twitch in her left eyelid, and knocked on the door. Apart from her attorney, she knew he was the only one she could trust. Nancy shuffled her weight between her feet in a restless dance as she waited.
The door opened. Her eyes popped and her jaw dropped. There was a gash across the top of his eyebrow and his nose was bright red with a cut across the bridge.
‘Dad! What the hell have you been up to?’
He raised his hand to shield his face, revealing cuts on his knuckles.
‘I could ask you the same. You look like you’ve seen a ghost. And button your blouse up for God’s sake, the guys are here.’
He closed the door behind her. Her cheeks rouged with a warm glow as she fumbled to fasten her button. The sound of the lock clicking and his presence lifted the ache from behind her eyes.
‘The guys are in the living room, best we talk in your bedroom.’
Nancy followed him into her old bedroom and sat on the corner of the bed.
‘What happened to your face?’
‘Later. We’ve been waiting to hear what you discovered trailing Mary.’
Whether out of relief at finding sanctuary; or simply with the dawning of the enormity of what she had escaped from, she couldn’t be sure, but it started with the feeling of something wriggling in her stomach. Then she felt a burning in her throat. Finally, she threw up on the floor. Her dad took a step back.
‘Jesus, what have you eaten? Wait here.’
He left the room, returning with a towel and a damp cloth. Nancy took the towel and cloth and wiped her face. Her dad left the room again, returning with a mop and bucket.
‘Christ, Nancy, I thought I’d finished wiping your ass years ago.’
Her fingers trembled and she began to cry.
‘Shhhh. Keep it quiet. When I said, wipe your ass, I meant nappies. I didn’t…’
‘It’s… it’s not that.’
He put his finger to his lips and then whispered, ‘Don’t let the guys hear you cry. They’ll think you’ve gone mushy.’ He stepped forward, sat beside her and placed his arm around her, holding her tightly. ‘There, there, hush, hush. What’s wrong?’
His words and actions of comfort only turned her tears to sobbing and she buried her head in his chest. Emotions completely engulfed her very essence as he stroked her hair. She couldn’t recall the last time he had ever shown her any affection.
‘Come on, try and pull yourself together and tell me what’s brought all this on?’
The words struggled to escape her lips between deep breaths.
‘Su… someone… tried … to kill me… tonight.’
He jumped up off the bed and stood before her. He ran a hand down one side of his face, pulling the folds in his skin taut and giving him the appearance of a stroke victim. His eyes bulged.
‘What... Tonight? How?’
Nancy buried her head in the towel and regulated her breathing. Finally composed, she relayed all that had happened since she had seen him at lunchtime.
‘Did you turn off your Sat-Nav, like I told you?’
‘Hell, I forgot.’
His eyes rolled and he turned to pick up the mop, slapping the head hard in the bucket as he returned to type. She drew her knees to her chest and covered her face with the towel at the sight of his face reddening.
‘Damn it, Nancy, don’t you ever listen. Why didn’t you use the GPS locator I gave you? It damn well works on the move.’
She dropped the towel. He wiped the floor with vigour, given her the feeling that he would have happily used her as the mop.
‘I didn’t think...’
‘‘Didn’t think’? We’ve been waiting, ready, all night for a signal. Did you get the registration number?’
‘No, it all happened too fast.’
He thrust the mop in the bucket.
‘For Christ’s sake, go and get washed while I clean up this crap. Fucking shit for brains women. Fu…’
Nancy sprang from the bed and hurried to the bathroom, his cursing reverberating in her brain. At the sink, she rinsed her face and then stared at the mirror. Despite his foul-mouthed rant, taking away the expletives and the chauvinist remark, she knew he was right and she’d come up short. Taking a deep breath and letting out a long sigh, she returned to the bedroom.
‘Sorry, Dad.’
‘No, I’m sorry, I’m just glad you’re alive.’ He raised his voice as she stepped into the room. ‘Don’t step on the wet floor, damn it.’ His voice lowered again. ‘Listen, are you sure there were no
muzzle flashes when the windows exploded?’
‘No, there weren’t. Like I said, the windows imploded, they didn’t explode. Besides, the headlights are on the outside.’
He stroked the stubble on his chin.
‘There’s bound to be an explanation. It’s surprising how the mind tricks you when you’re faced with something life threatening. One thing’s for sure, you can forget following Mary on your own. None of this would have happened if you had let us watch your back as I suggested. But no, you’re too freakin’ stubborn. Come on; let’s meet the guys now you’ve stopped snivelling. We need to make plans for tomorrow.’
‘Not until you tell me what happened with your face?’
‘Oh, that. Let’s just say I think you can be certain Bill will make sure you’re off the hook tomorrow, but it still won’t guarantee you can return to work until all the rats are flushed from the hole.’
Wide eyed, she placed her hand on her hips.
‘What the hell does that mean? Are you saying you’ve been fighting with Bill?’
He looked down at the floor and mumbled. ‘I just wanted to make sure he did the right thing.’
‘Oh, for God sake, Dad, you can’t go around threatening and fighting a cop.’
‘Hey, I didn’t threaten him about your situation. I just wanted to hear what he was going to say. He owes you that. The tussling had nothing to do with anything concerning the case. It was something personal and it just sort of developed.’
‘So are you going to tell me what it is with you two?’
‘No, like I said, it’s best left personal between us two. Come on we have plans to make.’
He ushered her down the hallway and toward the living room door. Nancy grabbed him by the arm.
‘I should phone the station first and tell them what’s happened.’
‘No, definitely not. Leave it for now, someone will have phoned it in.’
Not phoning it in went against her better judgment, but for now, she wasn’t going to go against the only person she trusted.
Missing: The Body of Evidence Page 27