by Makenzi Fisk
Derek’s cheek twitched.
She tapped her ring finger to emphasize her point, and the ash dangling from her cigarette broke free. He followed it with his eyes until it landed on her slipper.
That had been all he could afford. He’d planned to get her a better one, as soon as he finished paying for that damned new boat. There was always something back then, but he’d lost it all to his wife anyways. He should have married Tiffany in the first place.
“She was a pretty girl. I told her she could have done better, but she insisted he was the one . I guess he wasn’t, because I haven’t seen her since.” She leaned forward and whispered. “The ladies at bingo said she up and ran off one day, left her child behind. It must have been because of her problem .”
“The drugs.” No sense beating around the bush.
“Yeah, she had a real hard time staying away from that stuff. She’d be gone for days and was always looking for someone to take care of the girl. She kind of wore out her welcome, and Mitsy never liked her, did you Mitsy?” She bent to pat the mop-haired dog. “Sometimes she’d get me to babysit, and the dog would hide the entire time. If my dog doesn’t like someone… well, you know.”
She peeked out the door as if to check on eavesdroppers. “I heard that the fellow three doors down had a cat go missing and blamed the girl. Wilsons’ cat disappeared too.” She puckered her bottom lip. “And Ramona in 5A said she caught her going through things in her bedroom. Imagine that, a thieving little girl.”
“You’re wrong!” Derek exploded. “Lily would never—” He stopped mid-sentence, and tweaked his anger into what he hoped was a look of interest.
“Lily, you’re right. That was the girl’s name, pale as a ghost, no respect for her elders, always playing with matches.”
Derek couldn’t stomach any more gossip, and this was going nowhere. Tiffany had not been seen, or heard from, since the day he’d proposed. Had she really panicked and run off? Who could disappear without a trace? He eased his foot out and stepped back to let the screen door swing shut. “Thank you for your time.”
Back in the car, he slouched behind the wheel. His guts curdled like sour milk and his nerves jangled. He put the car into gear and headed for the nearest corner store. Beer might do the trick.
At Gina’s Stop ’N Go, he parked beneath the new illuminated fish sign. Since the fire, it had been rebuilt better than before. You could get anything you wanted, from snacks to headache remedies to live bait or even a couple of beers for the road. Since high school, he and Gina had never seen eye-to-eye, but he didn’t care about that right now. Right now, he needed a drink to calm his trembling hands.
“Hey, Derek,” Gina greeted him as he strode past. “Nice weather we’re having, eh?”
He grabbed a case of Budweiser from the cooler and returned to the counter before responding. “Yup.”
“How’s the P.I. business?” She rang up his purchase.
“Great. Really busy.” Gossip traveled faster in Morley Falls than in prison. He’d barely gotten his license and it was all over town. He handed her one of the twenties he’d borrowed from Ernie. If everyone knew everything, why the hell hadn’t anyone heard about Tiffany?
Gina plucked two chicken kebabs from under the warming hood. She wrapped them in foil and tucked them into the bag. “I’ve got this free promo going on.”
When was the last time he’d actually eaten anything? “Fine. I’ll take ‘em off your hands if you’re givin’ ‘em away.”
“We don’t want them to go bad.” Gina’s voice was gentle.
He gave her a second glance. Even with her tattoo, and the hard edge of her jaw, she seemed softer somehow. The curves of her body were comfortable, like a man could fold his arms around her and — what the hell was he thinking? This was Gina. The fierce bitch who’d stood up to him in high school. Wouldn’t let him get near sweet little Erin Ericsson. He’d never forgive either of them.
His eyes took one last sweep of Gina’s face, the straight line of her nose, the curve of her mouth and the smooth skin at her throat. He had to admit that Gina had changed since the fire. Her rough edges had been polished smooth.
“No, we can’t have that.” He lifted a shoulder and took the bag when she held it out. He’d always thought Officer Chris Zimmerman had sold out when he’d married tough Gina. Maybe Z-man wasn’t such a loser after all.
Derek popped the tab on a beer and had his first sip before he reached the car. He sat behind the wheel and downed it in a few more gulps. He opened a second can and put the car into gear. His hands would stop trembling soon. Goddammit.
The sun had set by the time Derek reached the row of luxury condos near the river. He backed into a concealed spot across the street and attached the telephoto lens to his camera. How long would it take for Randolph Keller to come home? It was like fishing.
A half hour later, there was a tug on the line when Keller’s red Corvette eased into the garage. Minutes after that, the silver Porsche pulled into the driveway. The fish was on the hook. Dick’s wife skipped up the steps and inserted a key. The affair had been going on for a while if she had her own key to the place. All he needed to do now was to expertly reel in this fish.
The kitchen light went on, then the back deck. Drinks on the patio, they were going to make it easy for him. Derek got out of his car and found a trail along the river with a good view.
There they were, acting like a couple of newlyweds. Dick was going to freak out. His wife was an exhibitionist. It’s a wonder she’d never been caught before now. Derek’s camera snapped multiple frames as she straddled Keller on the deck chair, red wine spilling from her glass. Her laughter carried over the gurgling of the river. If that was his wife, he’d want to squeeze the life from her. He put down the camera and took out his cell phone.
Dick answered on the first ring. “Do you have what I need?” He sounded so desperate that Derek wanted to slap him.
“I got more than you need.” He said through clenched teeth. “Listen, I know you’re gonna piss yourself when you see who she’s with.”
Dick groaned.
“I’ll make you a time limited offer on this, man-to-man. If this was my wife, I’d want to make her pay. For an extra five grand, I’ll kick the crap out of this guy for you.”
The phone was silent.
“Don’t worry, nothing will lead back to you. Listen, I’ll do it for twenty-five hundred.”
“I-I don’t think that’s a good idea. Just what we agreed, the photos I already paid you for.” Dick’s voice wavered.
“Well, buddy. My price went up. Considering who I’m lookin’ at screwing your wife right now, you’re going to pay me another five grand and you’ll thank me for it when you don’t give her a dime.” Derek disconnected. What a pussy.
He took a few more photos. With the patio lights casting shadows across the couple, the images were as good as the ones he’d seen in an art show once. He’d have another look at them once he got back to his car. And he’d have another beer.
Derek rubbed bleary eyes and tore off his sweat-soaked jacket. Through the windshield, the town spread out before him from his vantage point at the top of the hill. He took a mouthful of vodka from a half-empty bottle and swished out the foul taste in his mouth before swallowing. His teeth were covered in moss. When he set the bottle down, it clinked against the empty one from the day before. When had he bought more? And where was his beer?
He held up his hand and examined torn, bloody knuckles. There was a fuzzy memory, or was it a dream, of shooting through his open car window. A fox, or something. He checked his shoulder holster. Empty.
Frantic, he scrabbled with raw fingers under the seat. Nothing. He picked up his jacket and froze at the obvious spatters of blood across the front. Had he gotten into a bar fight? What had he done last night?
Sure, he’d had blackouts before, but not like this. What if he had gone back to the condo? Derek put his head in his hands. Fragments of memory sank out of sig
ht. Where was his pistol? He jumped out and checked the trunk, sighing when he popped the lid on his camera case and found it nestled safely in its foam cocoon. At least he hadn’t been stupid enough to pawn the one thing he really needed.
Back behind the wheel, he opened the glove compartment and was immensely relieved to find his gun. He gripped it in his hand like an old friend, but his blood ran cold when he ejected the magazine. Two cartridges were missing. Two shots fired. So it hadn’t been a dream. A memory then. Had he hit the fox?
On his knees, he searched every inch of the interior for the expelled brass. Sweat dripped from his temples and drenched the neck of his shirt. If he’d fired his pistol from the car, why couldn’t he find the empty cartridges?
His phone buzzed in his jacket pocket and he cleared his throat before answering. “Peterson Investigations.”
“I received your emails from last night.” Dick’s voice was tense, as if he spoke through a tightly clenched jaw.
What a helluva blackout if he couldn’t even remember emailing the lawyer. “Uh huh,” he muttered.
“The photos were… My own partner! And my wife!” Dick sounded mad enough to act like a man for once. “I called Keller, that bastard, to come in for an emergency meeting.”
Derek relaxed. Keller was fine. It had only been a fox.
“He’s in for the surprise of his life. I’ve had the accountant go through the financials this morning. All this time, Keller’s been funneling off cash to spend on her . Tens of thousands. She’s not getting a dime out of me. And he’ll be lucky if he’s not disbarred for embezzlement.”
“Glad to hear it. My bill is in the mail.” Derek disconnected. Somehow, he’d pulled it off. Even in a drunken blackout, he could get the job done. He was that good.
He started the engine and drove back to his motel. With an extra five thousand coming in, he’d be able to get the manager off his back. Hell, he’d even get up to date on the rental car before they managed to reclaim it one of these days. Things were looking up.
Ernie pulled him over as soon as he hit the main road, and Derek swore when he saw the red and blue lights flash in his rear-view mirror. He kicked the liquor bottles under the seat and stuffed the bloody jacket after them.
“Rough night, Lieutenant?” Ernie leaned down and inhaled the boozy odor wafting through the window.
“I’m headed home, buddy. Are you coming off night-shift?” Derek tucked his bloody knuckles out of sight.
“Yeah, sorry to create such a production, but I didn’t want the other guys to get the wrong idea if they saw us together.” He let the rest hang.
Derek’s gut churned. By wrong idea, Ernie meant he didn’t want to be viewed as conspiring with the disgraced ex-cop. “No problem, buddy. Do what you gotta do.” He snorted when Ernie’s cheeks flared pink.
“We had a helluva night, and I wanted to see if I could get your take on it. Well, since you did time in the same prison.” Ernie shifted his weight.
“What are you talking about?”
“You haven’t heard.” He bent to look him in the eye. “We had a murder last night.”
Derek was light-headed with confusion. A murder in Morley Falls was a rare occurrence and a big deal for the local department. “Who?”
“A guy named Ethan Lewis was shot in his room at the Sunset Motel. Whoever did it, beat his face to a pulp first. Someone really must have hated him. Word is that Lewis was in Stillwater Prison the same time as you. Evil little dude got out a week ago. Walked with a limp. Did you know him?”
Ethan Lewis, aka Badger. “Nope, can’t say as I did.” Derek had given him that limp in prison when a guard had turned his back one day. The ex-cop had no choice but to disable the other inmate when he’d attacked him. Sure, they’d had their differences, but he never imagined that Badger would head back here. Now he was dead.
“That’s weird.” Ernie cocked his head. “Our local records show you arrested him for aggravated battery. Officer Ericsson backed you up on that call.”
Derek avoided eye contact. Friggin’ Erin Ericsson. The little bitch who’d sent him to prison. The super cop who left Morley Falls PD to join the FBI. His anger burned at the mention of her name.
“You two sent him down for quite a few years. I would have thought he’d make his presence known when you were in there.”
He shrugged. “I arrested so many dirtbags, I guess he wasn’t memorable.”
“Okay, then.” Ernie straightened. “There’s cash in it if you hear anything on the street. This thing we got going can work both ways, right?”
“Alrighty.” Derek got it. Ernie was trying to work him the same way he worked Ernie. And why was Erin Ericsson’s career golden when his had crumbled before his eyes?
He sat in his car and stared at his torn knuckles long after Ernie was gone. His hands were shaking again. Back in his shoulder holster, the pistol, minus two rounds, weighed heavy. He reached under the seat for the rest of the vodka.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Wow, you are hungry.” Allie pushed her plate toward her girlfriend, who polished off the rest of her fries. When had she started ordering junk food? What she’d really wanted was a salad. She took the lighter from her bag and clicked it. The spark flared and died. A little ripple of excitement wriggled down her spine. She did it again.
“Our physical training schedule is grueling,” Erin said. “Today was ground-fighting. Davis forgot to take off his ring and cut open Garrett’s nose. It was a good punch too. Never thought he had it in him.” She nodded at a pair of men in black polo shirts two tables over. One of them sported a white bandage across the bridge of his nose. “Guys from my class,” she mumbled between mouthfuls. “Garrett, the guy with the busted nose, passed his PT exam on the first try too. He could have weekends off like me, but everyone spends most of it studying. There are so many things to remember in Fundamentals of Law. Did you realize that every state’s penal code is unique? That makes it tricky.”
Allie focused on the flame spurting from the lighter. An ache gnawed at her subconscious. She rolled her thumb over the spark wheel, reveling in the feel of its rough edge against her skin. Oily smoke filled her nostrils.
“Allie?” Erin was staring at her.
“Um hmm?” She put the lighter down.
“What are you doing?”
Allie looked down at the plastic lighter on the table. She’d been playing with it at the gas station but hadn’t realized she’d actually bought it, and she didn’t remember taking it out of her bag just now. How could she not remember? Cold sweat prickled the back of her neck.
One of the men at the other table got up and approached them. He nodded to Allie before addressing Erin. “Sorry to intrude.”
“What’s up, Davis?” Her smile was strained.
He ducked his head in deference before he spoke. “I’m sorry about today, Erin. I should have, well, I have a lot to learn.”
“We both made mistakes. Let’s be glad it wasn’t for real.”
“Yeah, not for real.” His eyes traveled to the bandages on her wrists. “Um, we wanted to talk to you about something.” He stole a glance over his shoulder at Garrett who waved encouragement. “We’ve run into some trouble qualifying at the shooting range, and we’ve noticed that you are a pretty good shot.”
Erin gave a curt nod.
“But uh, you’re not doing so great in law.”
“Yeah, I’m totally bombing that class.” Erin pushed her plate away. “I’m studying, really. It’s just so much.”
“That’s where we come in.” Garrett got to his feet and joined Davis at their table. “We’ve developed an effective study strategy. If we work together, you can help us pass firearms, and we’ll help you pass law.”
Erin’s eyebrows shot up.
“No pressure or anything.” Davis glanced sideways at Allie. “If you don’t have the time…”
“That’s a great idea.” Erin stood to shake their hands. “I’ll meet you at the range fi
rst thing tomorrow morning.” They exited and Erin sat back down, her frenetic mood buffeting Allie with sheer energy. “I might pass after all.”
“Why was he apologizing?” Allie’s intuition hadn’t been wrong. Something had happened when she’d been waiting. And how much coffee had Erin consumed today? She was vibrating like an out of gamut color on a TV screen. It was giving her a headache.
“He messed up, I messed up, the role players messed up. One of them actually quit afterward. It wasn’t the best day.” Her clear blue eyes met Allie’s. “You don’t want to sit here and talk all night do you?”
“Not even a little bit.” She’d come for personal time. A refill on all the hugs she’d been missing and some long-awaited intimacy.
Erin gulped her beer and set the mug on the table. “Ready.”
“The dog is probably tearing up the motel room by now.” Allie handed her credit card to the waiter.
“You’re awfully serious for a girl who’s flown halfway across the country for some naked time.” Erin grinned. “Where’s my smart-ass girlfriend?”
She flinched. There hadn’t seemed to be much to laugh about lately. It wasn’t only their separation. It was something more. Her phone rang.
Erin plucked it off the table when she saw the call display. “Z-man! How did you find me?” She greeted her former crew-mate Officer Chris Zimmerman.
Allie got up from the table, eyes on the lighter. She turned away, hesitated, and then turned back. While Erin was distracted by the phone call, she snatched up the lighter and stuffed it into her bag.
“How’s Gina and Li’l Z?” Erin followed her out to the parking lot, phone still pressed to her ear. “Do you have any suspects?” She tugged on Allie’s jacket sleeve and whispered, “There’s been a murder. I think he wants me to help him solve it.” After a moment, she frowned and handed over the phone. “Z-man wants to talk to you .”