“Remember how we talked about George Tyler? Cleo’s husband’s brother?”
“Sure. Why?”
“Two girls were killed in that car accident. Their father is a man who sometimes works with Hudson. His name is Lyndy.”
“Emil Lyndy? Carpet layer?”
“You know him?”
Tex bent down and picked up a stack of manila folders. He flipped through the contents of the second one until he was about halfway through. “Sure. He’s been picked up on a couple of drunk and disorderlies. Sleeps it off in a drunk tank and gets out the next day. Doesn’t own a car so he doesn’t drive. You say his daughters were the ones killed in the accident?”
“Yes.”
“What else can you tell me about him?”
“He came to Mad for Mod looking for work, and he had a carpet knife with him. It had a long curved blade and a wooden handle. It’s the same kind of knife the guy who approached Effie had. Hudson has one too. It’s not expensive—you can get them in just about any hardware store.”
“Did this guy threaten you?” Tex said. His jaw clenched.
“He scared me at first, but only because I was in the storage locker and I didn’t know he was there. But listen to me. You have three people who died because of that car accident. Dan Tyler lost his brother and Lyndy lost his girls. You were here the night it happened, but so were a lot of other cops, right? So why are you being targeted?” My words tripped over themselves.
“I’ve been trying to figure that out.” Tex set the folder on the floor and looked at me. His stare was laser sharp. “That case I told you about, Jacob Morris. Iverson checked into him and found out he left Arizona a few months ago. Hasn’t turned up yet.”
I looked away. Nausea claimed my stomach and I wished I hadn’t eaten anything.
“When you went to the pool to swim, was there a guy there in a purple cap?” I asked.
“Yes. Why?”
“This might be nothing, but his name is Jake Morris. He told me he’s new in town. He’s a contractor. He showed up two days after Kate Morrow’s body was found at Lockwood Park.”
NINETEEN
Tex’s eyes bore into mine. “Describe him.”
“He was wet and he wore a purple swim cap and goggles. He came over to talk to me when I was trying to leave, but truth was, I was annoyed so I didn’t pay him much attention. I have his card in my car if you want it, but you’re not going to get much. It only has his name and his phone number.”
“I want you to stay away from him.”
“Do you really think he was holding a woman against her will?” I asked.
“The district attorney said he didn’t have a case.”
“That’s not what I asked. Do you believe he was guilty?”
“Yes.” Tex made a phone call. He turned his back to me, but I could still hear him. “Jake Morris. Could be Jacob Morris. Keep an eye out.” He hung up and turned back.
“Do you think it could be him?”
“Hard to say. He’s worth looking into.”
“But you’re not convinced.”
“It doesn’t feel right. Why would he come back here and commit the same crime we accused him of? And why impersonate me? It’s almost too obvious.”
“Have you heard anything about Cleo?”
“I think Mrs. Tyler was a distraction. She hadn’t even been classified as a missing person when you found her. If the press hadn’t picked up on her disappearance, she wouldn’t even be a part of this.”
“Distraction from what?”
He looked down at his hands. “There was another abduction yesterday. College graduate. She’d been out partying on Wednesday night. Went to her boyfriend’s to spend the night, but she never made it home the next day.”
“Do you have a name?”
“Barbie Ferrer.”
The blood drained from my head. “She was at the Landing with Effie the night Effie was approached.”
“When was that?”
“Wednesday.”
“We got the report yesterday afternoon. Still no leads. She could still be alive out there with the others. We need to find them.”
“Lieutenant, if this guy is going to such lengths to single you out, then maybe he’s holding the women somewhere that has a connection to you too.”
We were interrupted by three rapid knocks on the camper door. I went rigid. Tex sat forward and held his hand up to silence me. After a pause, a second series of knocks that sounded more like dull thuds followed. Tex relaxed. “It’s Iverson. Wait here.” He moved to the back door and cracked it. I heard another male voice. “Nah, not tonight. Thanks, man,” Tex said, and closed the door. When he came back inside, he was holding a six pack of Lone Star beer.
“And here I thought you needed me to look after you. Let me guess, the dancers perform in the parking lot when the bar closes?”
“Only on Thursdays.” He smiled.
This time I threw half an eggroll at him. He caught it and popped it into his mouth, and then screwed the top off of a longneck and took a long pull. I tried to stifle the sensation that I was hanging out with Burt Reynolds. He set the beer down and moved the empty containers to the fridge.
“Okay, Night, you told me why you’re here. Now you want to tell me why you’re not there?”
“Where?”
“Hudson’s.”
“I’m not there because I’m here.”
“You know what I mean. You overheard a conversation between me and Hudson. You learned things that probably you would have found out in due time. I appreciate that you want to help me more than you can imagine, but there’s something else going on with you. Want to talk about it?”
“With you?”
He looked to the left and then to the right. “You see anybody else around?” He paused. “C’mon, humor me. I’ve been trapped in a camper with nobody to talk to and the thoughts in my head aren’t the stuff of Doris Day movies. Give me a lifeline.”
I popped the plastic that contained my fortune cookie and pulled out the slip of paper from inside. if you speak honestly, everyone will listen. I crumpled the paper up and set the cookie on my lap.
“I don’t know if I have the energy to do it all again,” I said. “The thing with Brad…I don’t know. You date from time to time. Don’t you get tired of the game?”
“What’s worse? Connecting with somebody, even if it’s only for a couple of hours, or not taking the chance? Or taking yourself off the market because you think the biggest romance of your life is behind you and nothing else can compare?”
“Is that what you think I’m doing?”
“I wish I could figure out what you think.” He leaned back and stared at me. “Strike that. I think the sexiest thing about you is that I don’t have a clue what you’re thinking.”
“That is funny. Because I think I’ve been pretty consistent when it comes to me telling you what I think of your playboy ways.”
“True. Problem is, you keep showing up in my life and I can’t stop thinking about the way you kiss.”
Heat climbed my face. “I was confused.”
“You were vulnerable.”
“Weak.”
“Open to possibilities.”
“Stupid.”
“You’re saying you had to be stupid to kiss me?”
“No, I wasn’t stupid. Desperate?”
“For me to kiss you?”
I raised my gaze and looked directly into Tex’s clear blue eyes. “I was desperate to know I could still feel something.”
We sat that way, facing each other, in silence. For the first time in days, my mind was clear. I didn’t want to think about what it all meant, or whether I’d made a mistake by coming here. I knew the answers. Tex m
eant something to me, and even though I couldn’t define what it was, I couldn’t walk away.
“Night, I appreciate everything you’re trying to do for me, but I’ll take it from here. I don’t want you involved.”
“I already am involved. I have access to Cleo and Dan from my client files, Effie from her tenant application, and Lyndy if I hire him. Tell me what you want to know about them and I’ll find it out.”
“No.”
“What do you mean, ‘no’?”
“I mean, I’m not putting you any further in the middle of this. Night, somebody is out there abducting women and he’s killed at least one of them. You shouldn’t be here helping me. You should be scared to death like the other woman in town. Under normal circumstances, I would hunt this perp down and make sure he can’t do this again. But I can’t do my job because some Ted Bundy wannabe made it personal. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“You’re letting him get to you.”
He gritted his teeth and balled up his fists. “Night, this is going to get worse before it gets better. There are things I have to do in order to figure this out, and I can’t do them if I’m worried about you following me around and putting yourself in danger.”
“You weren’t worried about me when I brought you eggrolls,” I said. “So, what are you going to do? Live in a camper parked outside of a topless club? Drop out of society and become a vigilante? Shut out the very lifeline you just asked for?”
“I don’t need you to be my conscience. Somebody’s got to stop this guy.” He stormed past me. He grabbed a set of keys from the counter and left out the back door. I followed him. He tried to slam the door but I caught it with my palm. He crossed the parking lot and went into Jumbo’s.
Screw this. I went back in the camper and checked my handbag for my own keys. They weren’t there. That’s when I remembered I had set them on the counter next to the Chinese takeout. Where they no longer sat.
This was not happening.
I exited the camper a second time and looked at the bouncer. He stared at me, standing in the middle of the parking lot in my yellow and white floral dress and green ballerina flats. He crossed his arms over his chest. I closed the camper door and approached him.
Sometimes a woman has to do what a woman has to do.
TWENTY
If a fortune teller had predicted that I’d walk into a topless bar after midnight, I would have had her license revoked. Yet here I was, inside the poorly lit red and gold interior of Jumbo’s. I looked away from the stage where a woman in a cowgirl outfit danced to “Mustang Sally,” and I scanned the crowd for Tex. I found him at the bar, his back to the stage, sitting next to Officer Iverson. Two empty shot glasses sat in front of Tex.
As I passed a table of rowdy young men, I felt something brush against my hip. I looked down and saw one of the men holding a wad of one dollar bills. “Hey, Sandra Dee! Cool. I didn’t know it was amateur night. You up next? These singles got your name written all over them.”
I shook my head and kept walking.
By the time I reached Tex and Officer Iverson, they were aware of my presence. Iverson looked amused. Tex looked angry. I caught my reflection. My expression matched Tex’s.
“Go home, Night,” Tex said.
“I can’t. You took my keys. If you don’t hand them back in the next five seconds, I’ll be forced to drive that camper home instead of my car. I have no problems doing that, but in all fairness, I should tell you, the clutch on the Alfa Romeo sticks.”
Tex stood from the bar stool and patted down his front jeans pockets, and then the back ones, and then the pocket on his T-shirt. His angry expression turned to confusion. He turned around and looked at the bar, the stool, and the worn wooden floor boards.
“This isn’t a joke, Lieutenant,” I said.
“I don’t have them,” he said. He turned to Iverson. “You see a set of keys?”
“Nope,” Iverson said. He picked up his drink, a clear glass tumbler filled with ice and liquid, and poured it down his throat. “Good luck, man,” he said. “Hotel California” came over the sound system. Iverson patted Tex on the back and moved to a seat closer to the stage.
The bartender, a slim man in a black T-shirt and jeans, leaned against a wall filled with bottles of booze and dried a glass with a white terrycloth towel. His attention was on the stage.
“Night, I don’t know what to say. You have a spare set, don’t you?”
“Not with me.”
“So I’ll give you a ride home.”
“Between the two beers in the camper and the empty shot glasses in front of you, I’d say you’re not driving anywhere.”
“So, what, you’re going to hang out with me and watch the stage show? You really are an enigma.”
“They must have fallen out of the camper when you left. Come help me look.”
Even with pain throbbing in my knee joint, I made it to the exit before Tex. As I passed the bouncer, I cut my eyes to him for a second. He stifled a smile.
“It’s not what you think,” I said.
“It never is,” he replied.
We scanned the lot between the doors to Jumbo’s and the back of the camper. My keys weren’t there. Tex asked the bouncer if he’d seen them, and the bouncer shook his head. Tex rejoined me.
“Tell you what. I’ll have your car towed to a safe lot overnight and you can pick it up in the morning.”
“And in the meantime I just accept the fact that my keys are gone?”
“Night, they didn’t spontaneously combust. They’re probably in the back of the camper.”
Tex pulled the back doors open and climbed in. I watched him from the lot. He squatted to the floor and looked around the table and the bench. “You got a nail file?”
“Not on me.”
“What kind of a woman are you?”
“The kind who is rapidly losing patience with you.”
He looked down at me. “Your keys are wedged between the bench and the table. The way I see it, you’ve got two options. Give me a ride to Thelma Johnson’s and take the camper—”
“Or?”
“Spend the night here with me and we figure it out in the morning.”
I grabbed the camper keys from him. “Buckle up, Lieutenant. I’ve never driven a camper, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a bumpy ride.” I went around to the driver’s side and climbed up into the cab. I was thankful that it was the middle of the night and the roads would be close to empty.
The engine turned over easily, but the camper jumped when I put it into reverse. It took a second to find the emergency brake, and then we were off. I checked every mirror three times and eased the behemoth out of the space, cut the wheel to the right, and left the parking lot.
The drive to Thelma Johnson’s house was slow and steady and filled with more mirror checking than backstage at a beauty pageant. I was surprised that Tex had asked me to bring him here. I parked the car out front and walked around back to check on him.
He wasn’t there.
What had happened to him? Had he climbed out the back while I was stopped at a traffic light? Why? Simply to make me mad?
The man was infuriating.
I threw the camper in reverse and backtracked over the route I’d traveled. I made it most of the way back to Jumbo’s without seeing any sign of Tex. When I turned the corner, the five police cars, spiraling red and blue lights, and scattered crowd of uniformed officers in the parking lot out front distracted me from my annoyance.
I threw the camper into park and got out. A young cop put his hand up to stop me from getting closer to the crowd.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but this is a crime scene. I can’t let you get any closer.”
“But I was here earlier tonight. What happened?”
I looked past him to the crowd and picked out Officer Iverson talking to a uniformed officer I didn’t know. Iverson looked out of place in his civilian clothes, a chambray shirt and jeans over cowboy boots. Behind them, several of the dancers from the club huddled together, each wrapped in blankets that covered their near-nudity. Iverson spotted me. He raised his chin and then nodded in a sign of recognition. “Let her through,” he said. The young officer stepped back.
“Officer, what happened?” I asked.
Iverson put his hand on my shoulder and turned me away from the others. “You left here with Lt. Allen, right? How long ago was that?”
“Ten—fifteen minutes. Why?”
“Where’s he now?”
I studied Iverson’s face. I didn’t know where Tex was, but all of a sudden I was afraid to acknowledge that.
“Ms. Night, I’m on Allen’s side. I think you are too. But unless we can prove he wasn’t anywhere near Jumbo’s in the past ten minutes, we got ourselves a problem.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody dumped the body of another of the abducted women.”
TWENTY-ONE
I swayed with a bout of vertigo. When I opened my eyes again, I saw the body on the asphalt. She was face up, her legs bent underneath her at an unnatural angle. Her arms were out on either side of her, as if to say, “Come and get me.”
“Who is she?”
Officer Iverson turned around and stared at me. “Her name is Linda Gull.”
I chewed on my lower lip, too stunned to answer. Linda Gull was the second woman who’d been reported as missing after Kate Morrow. She’d been abducted while on her way to Shreveport. It wasn’t until after she failed to meet her friends that someone noticed the abandoned car left outside of the Mexican restaurant on Greenville and put two and two together.
“How did she die?” I asked.
“You don’t want to know,” Iverson said.
With Vics You Get Eggroll (A Mad for Mod Mystery Book 3) Page 15