Out for Justice

by Susan Kearney

  They entered the hotel through a side door and headed toward the elevator. “According to Lindsey, Johnny reserved room 504.”

  The elevator arrived with a family of four. Wade and Kelly exited first and followed the hallway signs to Johnny’s room. Kelly knocked. Once. Twice.

  Nothing.

  She turned to him and shoved a lock of hair back from her troubled eyes. “Now what?”

  Before he could answer, Kelly caught sight of the maid, and her blue eyes brightened. She headed toward a diminutive woman with dark olive skin, dark hair pulled back in a bun and creased brown eyes.

  “Excuse me, I was wondering if you could help us?” Kelly spoke pleasantly.

  The maid pushed her cart to the next room. “You need soap, towels, clean sheets?”

  “My brother’s friend asked me to come visit him. I’ve driven all the way here to meet him,” Kelly improvised, telling mostly the truth but skirting the facts. “Last night he didn’t answer the phone.”

  “He was here last night. He wanted an extra pillow,” the maid offered.

  “This morning he won’t answer the door. I’m afraid something might be wrong.”

  “I call hotel security.”

  Kelly looked at Wade and began to protest. “But—”

  Wade shook his head and she heeded his silent disagreement. “Security might be a good idea.”

  The maid used the phone, and two minutes later a uniformed guard joined them. “You think there’s a problem in 504?”

  “We don’t know.” Wade placed himself between Kelly and the door. “We expected Mr. Dixon to answer his phone or the door and he didn’t show for an important job interview this morning.”

  “Okay.” The guard knocked, and when he didn’t get an answer either, he opened the hotel room door. He entered the room and did a quick search of the closet and drawers. “There’s no one here. Looks like your friend checked out.”

  Wade didn’t know what to think. Johnny had been desperate for this job. If he wasn’t at the hotel, then where was he? “Thanks for your help. Sorry to have disturbed you.”

  Discouraged, he and Kelly returned to her Jag and she replaced her gun in the glove compartment. “As I see it we have two choices. We check the hospitals, the morgue and the police stations for Johnny or we go on to Dallas and speak with Niles.”

  Kelly sighed. “What do you think?”

  “I vote we drive to Dallas. Johnny might show up later today in Mustang Valley.”

  Kelly clicked on her seat belt. “It’s so strange. He left the mayor’s campaign without telling anyone. He comes here and doesn’t show for the interview. But the maid told us that she spoke to him last night.”

  “It’s almost as if we’re chasing a ghost,” Wade muttered. “It’s probably just bad luck. Maybe he got a flat tire on the way to his appointment.”

  “But wouldn’t he have phoned his potential employer, who would have told Lindsey—who would have told us?”

  Wade grinned. “You know you’re scaring me. I actually understood that sentence.”

  “Why is understanding me scary?” she countered. “Women are simple creatures, really.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “It’s true. We just need good friends, a close family, a job we enjoy and someone to love.”

  “What about fashion accessories?” he teased.

  “Them, too,” she agreed.

  Traffic snarled and he slowed the car. Up ahead he saw red and blue police lights and the intersection blocked. A traffic cop rerouted them.

  “Must be an accident.”

  “Oh, no,” Kelly gasped.

  “What?”

  “That looks like Johnny’s car. I saw a picture of it in his living room.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “Is he dead?” Kelly dreaded the answer to her question but knew she had to ask.

  Just minutes before, Wade had pulled into a parking lot and they’d walked over to a police officer on the scene. Yellow tape surrounded what proved to be Johnny Dixon’s car. Several bushes in the median looked uprooted, and a telephone pole had crushed the car’s front end. One officer snapped photographs, and another wrote up the incident while a third measured skid marks on the road.

  The windshield in front of the driver was shattered and blood trickled down the glass. Kelly turned her gaze from the scene, her stomach roiling. If Wade hadn’t avoided the tow truck pursuing them a few days ago, they might have been as unlucky as Johnny Dixon.

  “I can’t give out medical information, ma’am,” the police officer replied from the other side of the cordoned area. “An ambulance took the driver to County General. You can check on him there.”

  Kelly didn’t see any other vehicles, but a tow truck driver was hooking up Johnny’s smashed car, and it appeared another car had been involved but had been removed from the scene. She saw no additional skid marks, no other signs that another car or truck could have caused the “accident.”

  She tried to phrase her question innocuously and ignore the sweat on her brow from the hot sun. “Was anyone else hurt?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  Wade would understand that she was worried that someone might have run Johnny off the road, just as had been done to them. Yet she hesitated to sound too inquisitive since she didn’t want to make explanations to the policeman. “Officer, were there any witnesses?”

  The officer’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you ask?”

  “Just curious,” Wade replied. “Did you find a gun in the car?”

  “I suggest you take your curiosity elsewhere. You people need to move along and go about your own business.”

  “But—”

  “Ma’am, I’ve told you all that I can.”

  At a momentary dead end, she and Wade returned to her Jaguar and the air-conditioning cooled her. She wasn’t in the mood to talk. Seeing that wrecked car had shaken her more than she wanted to admit. The sight of the tow truck had brought back their own close escape from death just a few days before, and Kelly wondered if her parents had been right, that they should leave the state and hide out while the sheriff did his job. However, he might never solve the case, and then neither she nor Wade would be safe until they figured out the identity of Andrew’s murderer.

  “Can I borrow your phone?” Wade asked.

  “Sure.”

  After she handed it over, he dialed and chose the speaker option so she could listen to his conversation. After several rings Deputy Warwick answered, “Mitchell here.”

  “I was wondering if you could request a look at a Dallas accident report for us,” Wade phrased his question as a suggestion, but she heard the urgency beneath his mild tone.

  “What accident?” Mitch asked.

  Wade gave him Johnny’s full name and the street address. “Any news yet on whether the bullet that killed Andrew matched the one that struck his client?”

  “We should have an answer this afternoon,” Mitch told him. “Mr. McGovern’s applying pressure on the sheriff. Oh, and we got the fire chief’s report. Your guy used an accelerant to start the fire at Lambert & Church. Gasoline.”

  “Thanks, Mitch.”

  Kelly had no idea which information was important. She intended to keep gathering pieces until she could put the puzzle together. Right now she wanted to talk to Johnny Dixon, so they drove to the hospital.

  But no one there wanted to release any official information about Johnny’s condition to anyone but family. While Kelly sat alone in the waiting room, hoping that Johnny would be all right, Wade sweet-talked a nurse into giving him information, which he promptly shared with Kelly.

  “Johnny has a brain injury and is in a coma. He may not make it through the night, or he could remain in a vegetative state for the rest of his life.”

  “That’s terrible.”

  “Or he could wake up any minute and be fine.”

  Stunned, Kelly tried to regroup. She’d been hoping for better news. She couldn’t get Johnny’s “accident
” out of her mind. She had no evidence to support her theory that there had been more to it than the driver losing control of the car, and there was too much that they didn’t know. Too many bad things had happened lately with people who had been connected to Andrew for this car wreck to be simple bad luck.

  “The doctors are doing their best, but we can’t do anything for him by staying here,” Wade said. “I think we should drive over to Dallas and talk to Niles Deagen.”

  “Okay.”

  Kelly had never thought that playing private investigator wouldn’t have consequences, but in the last few days she’d come to the conclusion that it could be a very dangerous profession, one she’d have no interest in doing full-time. But if she survived the next few weeks, she vowed that never again would she take her tomorrows for granted.

  During this dangerous time with Wade she’d passed a milestone in her life. She’d changed in several ways, one of them being that she trusted her own instincts more than ever. And she now refused to live in a world where the approval of others influenced her decisions as much as she’d allowed in the past. If her parents didn’t approve of Wade, that was their problem. She was a big girl and it was her decision whether or not to pursue a relationship with Wade. Or attend law school in the fall.

  Right now her primary concern was to fight for justice for Andrew. No way was she backing down. As Wade escorted her into the hospital parking lot and back to her parked Jag, she quickened her steps. The sooner they figured out who had murdered her brother, the sooner she could move on with her life.

  NILES DEAGEN WORKED in a penthouse suite of the Deagen Building, an architectural masterpiece of marble and mirrors. Built with oil money, the building had the opulence of a palace, with twice the security.

  Kelly had made Wade stop in a department store and insisted they each purchase new clothing before this visit. As a result of the shopping spree, Wade now wore a three-piece dark gray suit and squeaky new black shoes. For herself, Kelly had chosen a conservative blue dress that brought out the color in her eyes. Earlier, Wade had been impatient with the shopping delay, but as he strode past other men and women dressed similarly, he now realized that the time they’d spent had been worth it.

  They might be meeting Niles on his turf, but at least they were dressed as equals. On the drive into the city, they’d debated the pros and cons of calling ahead. Wade wanted to risk a surprise visit, but Kelly had insisted that a man of Deagen’s stature would be guarded by secretaries and security. Without an appointment, they might not get to see Niles.

  So Kelly had phoned and asked for an appointment. Surprisingly, Niles had fitted them in for a three o’clock meeting. They gave their names at the front desk, and a man in a uniform issued them temporary passes.

  After riding the brass elevator to the tenth floor, striding down several hallways and receiving directions from two secretaries, they were finally ushered into Deagen’s office. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the city. Another wall housed framed works of art. The fourteen-foot-high ceilings gave the office an airy feel, the thick carpet portrayed wealth, while the mahogany furniture suggested old money.

  In his early forties, Niles had thick black hair that was showing the first signs of gray at the temples. He wore gold-rimmed glasses and a custom suit. His piercing green eyes surveyed them with an authority that told Wade the man was accustomed to taking charge.

  “Mr. Deagen. I’m Wade Lansing and this is Kelly McGovern.”

  Kelly shook Deagen’s hand. “Thanks for seeing us on such short notice.”

  “No problem. Please, sit down and make yourselves at home, and call me Niles.” Deagen didn’t sit behind his desk. Instead he pulled up a chair on their side of the desk. “Debbie said you might be coming by.”

  “Debbie?” Wade asked. Niles’s comment startled him. He hadn’t been aware that Debbie still spoke to her ex-husband. And even if she had, how had she known that he and Kelly would come here?

  “Please. Let’s not play games. Andrew handled Debbie’s divorce and then he was murdered. Debbie said you asked her questions and would likely want to talk to me, too. I suppose in your eyes that our love for the same woman makes me a suspect. But despite what you might think, I didn’t hate your brother. As lawyers went, he treated me decently and I’m sorry for your loss, Ms. McGovern.”

  “Thank you.”

  It seemed to Wade that despite the sheriff’s wish to keep his investigation under wraps, the news of Andrew’s murder had leaked far beyond the confines of Mustang Valley. And from Niles’s tone, either he was an extremely smooth liar or he genuinely held no ill will toward Andrew.

  “Would you mind telling us where you were the night my brother died?” Kelly asked bluntly.

  While Wade admired her tactic, he didn’t think taking a head-on approach with a man like Niles was the best of ideas. And yet Niles didn’t seem to mind at all.

  “I was in Washington, D.C., that night with several senators and two congressmen. I’m sponsoring a bill to open up drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.”

  The oil executive might have an airtight alibi, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t hired a thug to do his dirty work. Wade was about to ask Niles about the rumors of his financial problems when the door to the office opened.

  Kelly gasped. Niles smiled a welcome.

  Wade turned around to see Debbie West entering the room. She had no makeup on and wore clothes he considered much too young for her. Although he was no fashion expert, in her pink shirt and schoolgirl skirt, she looked about fifteen. She strode into the room, seemingly not the least bit surprised to see them. She walked directly to Niles and then sat in his lap.

  Kelly and Wade exchanged glances.

  Debbie kept her eyes downcast, her voice flat. “Niles and I are reconciling.”

  “I see,” Kelly said, pain and anger swirling in her blue eyes at what she obviously considered a betrayal of her brother. “Did you ever love my brother or were you—”

  “I loved him, but he’s gone.”

  Kelly’s eyes narrowed with accusation. “You expect me to believe that you loved my brother, yet he’s only been gone less than two months and you seem to have moved on easily enough.”

  Debbie trembled and she refused to look at Kelly. Niles took Debbie’s hands between his, and a tender look glazed his expression. “And I’m prepared to take good care of Debbie.”

  Wow. Wade’s thoughts whirled at the multitude of possibilities. He’d never expected this turn of events. What bothered him most was that Niles didn’t seem to care that Debbie had divorced him and then changed her mind after Andrew’s death. It seemed to Wade that Niles’s attitude was obsessive, off-kilter.

  But Wade knew that what struck Kelly hard was Debbie’s seeming betrayal of her brother, who had gone out of his way to help Debbie. That his fiancée could move on so easily had to hurt Kelly.

  “Debbie, I wouldn’t be so sure you’ve found a meal ticket,” Kelly said with a bite of steel in her tone. “From the rumors I’ve been hearing about Deagen Oil, Niles has leveraged the business to the max and could lose the whole company.”

  “What does that mean?” Debbie asked with a wide-eyed-little-girl look that made Wade uncomfortable.

  Niles patted her hair as if she were a dog on his lap, not a full-grown woman. “Nothing to worry your head over, sweetie pie.”

  Debbie stood up. “I know you have work to do, dear. I’ll escort our guests out if that’s okay with you.”

  The moment they exited Niles’s office and shut the door behind them, Debbie dropped the little-girl demeanor. She straightened her shoulders and held her head up. “I can’t imagine what you must think of me.”

  “I don’t know what to think.” Pain and distrust mixed in Kelly’s tone. “How could you go back to a man like Niles after being with my brother?”

  Several office workers who seemed overly interested in their conversation passed by. Debbie raised her finger to her mouth. “Shh. Not here.”

>   She led them down the hallway and opened a door into a conference room filled with a long shiny table and upholstered high-backed chairs. “We can talk in private here.”

  Wade’s curiosity burned, and he vowed to pay close attention to Debbie’s words, especially knowing that Kelly, being upset that this woman had betrayed her brother might not be thinking clearly.

  Debbie shut the door behind them and bit her bottom lip. “For what it’s worth, I loved Andrew. I think…we could have been happy together but—”

  “Right.” Kelly’s tone hardened. “You loved my brother so much that two months after his death you’re back with your ex-husband? Were all those tears at his funeral just for show? Was my brother just another man that you used?”

  “You don’t understand.” Debbie sagged against the wall. “Look, I could have stayed with Niles in his office. I didn’t have to volunteer to talk to you, but I did because…”

  “Because?” Kelly prodded, disdain coloring her words. She’d obviously made up her mind that this woman hadn’t been good enough for her brother, and Wade tended to agree, although he was more open to hearing the extenuating circumstances.

  Still, Wade’s sympathy went out to Debbie. Wade had the feeling it had taken all of the woman’s courage to speak up and try to explain. Debbie’s hands trembled. She spoke quietly, the entire time keeping her head down, her gaze on the floor. “It’s just that I’m not like you.”

  “What do you mean?” Kelly looked clearly bewildered. But Wade figured he had a better handle on Debbie’s situation than Kelly did. The two women had grown up in the same small town under vastly different circumstances. Kelly had been born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Sure she’d worked hard in college, but that was a lot easier with Daddy paying the bills than it would have been for Debbie who’d probably never entertained the idea of attending.

  “I never graduated high school, nevermind went to college like you. Don’t you think I’d like to work and be self-sufficient?”