Checkered Past (A Laurel London Mystery Book 2)

by Kappes, Tonya

  It warmed my heart how he knew the way to treat Trixie. He was a kind man and she liked him. A lot.

  I walked over to the corner of the room where Trixie had spent all night whittling the big piece of wood.

  “She’s going to keep us safe with this.” I picked it up. “She worked on it all night.”

  “That is why I’m here.” He put the stuff on the floor. He picked up each piece explaining to Trixie what it was. “This is going to go in the tree, so if any aliens come, you can see them on the monitor I’m going to put in the hall closet in the foyer.” He pointed to the doorway off the family room where we were.

  “Aliens can be seen on camera?” Trixie didn’t seem to be buying it.

  “Duh.” Jax put his hands out to the side. “I was a special agent with the FBI and this equipment is the latest technology in alien catching.”

  “I’ll be a yellow-bellied sapsucker.” She smacked her leg. Popcorn went flying. Henrietta jumped down and grabbed a kernel, running underneath the coffee table to attack her food. “This is great! I won’t have to wear tin foil all day long.” She rubbed her jaw. “I think it’s been messing with my dental fillings.”

  “Good. We have a solution,” I said, knowing the tin foil had nothing to do with her mouth, but I knew to keep an eye out in case she needed a quick trip to the dentist.

  Jax got busy doing whatever it was he needed to do to get the equipment wired up and working.

  “This place is tighter than Fort Knox.” He stood on the porch after he installed the alarm to the door.

  “Can I get you a glass of tea?” I asked.

  “That’d be great.” He plunked down in a rocker and I disappeared inside feeling safe, knowing anyone associated with Johnny Delgato wasn’t getting near me or Trixie.

  Even if it was just a threat, the fact he had thought of it made me sick to my stomach. I knew I had to get the blood money from underneath the floorboard back in the hands of Ben Bassman. There was no way I was going to use any part of it.

  “Here you go.” I handed him the glass. Our fingers touched, triggering a yearning I wasn’t able to shake off. “I can’t thank you enough for doing this for me.” I sat in the chair next to him.

  “No problem.” He put the glass on the small table between the chairs, stood up, and bent down between my legs.

  His hands ran up my arms. I kept my hands planted on my thighs. He placed a hand on each side of my face. His nose inches away from mine.

  “I got angry when you told me you went to the jail and what had happened with the inmate. I knew I was in trouble because I vowed not to lay a romantic hand on you, but I feel like you are having the same feelings I’m having,” he whispered; his breath on my cheek. “I couldn’t live with myself if I let anything happen to you. That is why I can’t let you stay on this Willie Ray Bowman case.”

  Oh shit! Oh shit. . . my mind melted when he came forward to kiss me. For some unknown reason, I turned my head giving his lips my cheek. He backed away.

  “Am I misreading your body language you’ve been giving me since the day I sat in your car?” He referred to the first day I ever laid my eyes on him.

  Memories of Willie ruffled through my mind like wind on water.

  “I. . .” Ahem, I cleared my throat. “Let’s get through with this case first.”

  It killed me denying my attraction for him. Only my bad-ass girl guard remembered how Eric told him to put on the charm. Jax was way too smart to buy I went to preach to the jail because Sharon Fasa asked me to. He knew there was an underlying reason.

  “I want you to be safe.” He planted his hands on my knees and pushed himself up.

  “You made it safe.” I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. “No one is going to get in here.”

  “Do you want to tell me the truth about your history with Willie Bowman.” He sat back in the rocker. “Off the record. I won’t tell the FBI. Just me and you.”

  His voice was smooth. His words were believable.

  “Willie and I.” Something flew next to my head, smashing the window out behind me.

  Before I knew what happened, Jax had throttled his body on top of me, sending us to the ground. His body covered mine, his large hands placed on my face, covering it fully.

  “Shh,” he warned. His eyes looking into the night. The distant sound of footsteps could be heard in the distance.

  Jax jumped off me and darted off the porch into the direction of the thumping feet.

  “I’m ready for ya!” Trixie ran out the screen door with the homemade spear in her hand.

  “Trixie, go back inside!” I screamed, scrabbling to my feet and pushing her back in the door.

  The door of the closet where the monitors were located was open. Trixie and I watched as someone ran along the side of the property. Jax couldn’t be far behind.

  “Who was that?” Trixie got close to the screen.

  The person stopped and turned back toward the house, looking straight into the camera. Willie Ray Bowman’s eyes glared into the lens.

  “Is that who I think it is?” Trixie asked, her eyes hollow.

  “Yeah, and we can’t tell Jax.” I quickly knew I had to erase the tape since Jax had insisted on filming. There was never a time I was happier to be damn good at electronic stuff. My eyes shifted to Trixie.

  Both of us grinned and we waited, pretending to be scared for Jax’s arrival.

  “The tape!” Jax rushed through the screen door.

  “You didn’t get them?” I asked all innocent.

  “Oh no,” Trixie threw in with a frightened voice.

  “Don’t worry. This should tell you.” He hit a few of the buttons on the surveillance tape machine. “Crap.” He punched a few more buttons.

  “What?” I asked, standing behind him, not trying to take in his manly scent.

  “I don’t think I hit record.” He stomped. “Shit!”

  “Don’t beat yourself up.” I gently put my hand on his shoulder.

  He jumped around. The lines around his eyes creased. He jerked away from me.

  “Don’t screw with me.” His eyes were flat, hard, emotionless. “I am pretty good about dotting my i’s and crossing my t’s. Did you see who was out there and erase it?”

  “No,” I protested, knowing I couldn’t turn Willie in, as much as I wanted to. I had to find out for my heart what had really happened the day Willie left me at the altar.

  “Because I swear to God if I find out you are helping a criminal like Willie Ray, we are over.” He gestured between us. “You will go to jail and I won’t have any regrets putting you there.”

  His words stung me. I knew they were true, but I questioned his feelings for me.

  “Maybe someone was already on the property before you installed the equipment,” I suggested.

  “Bullshit!” he yelled. His jaw clenched. His fist pumped. “I was out there putting it all together. I saw no one. Tell me the damn truth, Laurel!”

  His argument didn’t make sense. If Willie wasn’t already on the property, the alarms would’ve sounded when he crossed over after Jax installed the alarms.

  “That is enough.” Trixie stepped between us. “Laurel and I didn’t see anything. We appreciate your help.”

  “I’m sorry Trixie.” He sucked in a deep breath. “I have to get out of here.” He walked out the door and I let him go.

  “What are we going to do?” Trixie asked with worry in her voice.

  “Nothing.” Willie’s eyes from the camera burned in my mind.

  He had seen Jax between my legs, caressing my face, coming inches from kissing me and he threw the rock to stop us.

  Willie had to be here to see if I had gotten the keys. I wasn’t going to run after him and let him know I had turned Jax away, nor was I going to rush and tell him I had gotten the keys.

  He deserved to be nervous for a few more hours. It was the least he could feel after what he had done to me all these years. But what if the FBI got his scent and track
ed him down?

  “That face doesn’t look like nothing.” Trixie got closer.

  Panic rioted within me.

  “I need you to make a late night social call to Curly Dean.” I bit my lip. I couldn’t make Trixie visit Curly Dean on a good day. “I need to talk to her and ask her a few questions.”

  “Is this for Willie Ray?” Trixie asked.

  “You know me so well.” I grinned. “I’ll get my bag.”

  Quickly I got everything I needed off the entry table. I picked up my phone and stared at it in my hand for a moment. The images of my phone number on Jax’s laptop jumped into my memory.

  “Sonofabitch,” I spat and put my phone back on the table. “He’s tracking me by my phone.” I looked out into the room, thinking. “Not tonight he won’t.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “What in the world are you doing here?” Curly snarled from behind the screen door off her covered carport when she opened the door and saw Trixie standing there.

  “Ask her.” Trixie pointed to me. I stepped into the light.

  “Laurel, honey, you are welcome here anytime.” She smiled at me. The smile grew into a thin line and she looked at Trixie, “Not so much you.” Her left brow cocked.

  “Listen you two.” I stepped between them and the door. “We have to put our differences aside for a few days in order to help Willie Ray. We all want the truth. And the truth is, Willie Ray needs all three of us.”

  “Yes.” Willie stepped behind Curly. “I do need you all. All the special women in my life right here, right now.” The warmth of his smile echoed into his voice.

  I refused to get lost into his eyes. There was one mission I was on and it wasn’t to go to bed with Jax or Willie. It was to get to the truth of what happened the day Willie Ray left me at the altar. If I could get the truth, I might have a shot of a normal relationship with a man.

  “Fine.” Curly unlocked the door and pushed it open. “Come on in. I’ll put on the coffee.”

  All the curtains were pulled tight as a tick in Curly’s house. She said she wanted Willie Ray to roam freely and not worry with the FBI, though there was no reason for the FBI to think Curly was helping Willie Ray.

  The kitchen floor in the old country house was uneven. The linoleum humped and bumped along the way. The old gas-top stove roared with fire and a kettle teetering on top, bringing the water to a boil for the instant coffee Curly was making.

  There was an old tin table with four chairs nestled around it. Rooster salt-and-pepper shakers along with a small vase filled with toothpicks sat in the middle. A plate of sliced tomatoes was there for the tasting.

  Trixie didn’t bother asking, she took a few slices and moaned with joy during each chew.

  “I sure have missed your fresh mators’.” Trixie smacked her lips. “Ever since Willie Ray went away and didn’t work for y’all anymore, I hadn’t had a decent tomato.”

  “I got plenty.” Curly walked over to the stand-alone pantry and took out a small brown paper sack. She walked over to the window above the sink and tossed three or four tomatoes in the bag. “Here ya go.”

  Trixie took the bag. “Thank you kindly.” She nodded.

  Curly nodded back and took a seat at the table.

  “So?” Willie anxiously asked.

  “Trixie and Curly, you can’t get mad. Promise me.” I looked between them knowing neither would think it was a good idea I went with the Friendship Baptist Church to the prison. Being with the Friendship Baptist Church would shock them. Being at the prison might kill them.

  They both put their hand to God. Simple gesture meaning they weren’t going to freak. Though I had my doubts.

  “I hopped on the bus with the Friendship Baptists to Eddyville.” I stopped when I heard the smallest peep out of Trixie. My brows rose, reminding her of her promise she just made seconds ago. “Shh.” I paused and let her get her composure. “I had to go back and look for keys Willie Ray said were going to prove he didn’t kill anyone. The keys were in the spine of a book in the prison library. Needless to say,” I dug in my hobo bag, “It wasn’t as easy as I had hoped it would be.” I took out both keys and put them on the table.

  “You did it.” Willie Ray reached across the table and laid his hands on mine. Our eyes met. His mood seemed suddenly buoyant. “I knew you could.” He squeezed my hands.

  I gulped and slid them out from underneath his.

  “Like I said, it wasn’t easy, but I did it and got them here. Now, Curly.” It was her turn to answer my question. “Which key is the one Bo gave Willie?”

  Willie picked up the keys and laid them in his palm. She leaned forward and took a long look before she picked each one up. She held them close to her eyes.

  “I have no idea.” She shook her head, not telling me what I needed to hear.

  “Think please. Take another good look,” I begged. “We only have one good shot at this.” I gave them my reasoning. “If one of these keys holds the secret to why the other guy was in there, we need to have that key because I’m sure the FBI are swarming the bank in case Willie comes back. The FBI knows there is a key missing and they know the key doesn’t belong to the bank where your key belonged.”

  “How do you know this?” Trixie asked.

  “Before Jax took me off Willie’s case, I read the file. The FBI had the sting in full force when Willie ruined it for them, though they believe he is the suspect they were looking for. The suspect had a key to get into a safety deposit box in your bank. In their safety deposit box, there was another key to a different bank’s safety deposit box where are the answers the FBI are looking for. I have no idea what one of these keys will unlock, but it’s something big if the FBI had a big sting and threw Willie in jail, sentencing him to death for killing the agent. And Charlie Haskel overheard two men on the dock the other night talking about getting the key back.”

  “Charlie Haskel is a drunk.” Curly tapped the table. “We can’t listen to a word he says.”

  “That’s not true,” I corrected her. “He actually knows a lot. I had the pleasure of getting to know him on the way to and from the prison. Long story short, people see Charlie but they don’t really see Charlie. He blends in and people think he’s too drunk to know what is going on.” An evil grin crossed my lips. “He knows exactly what is going on. He’s a better gossip than any henny hen in town.” I slowly nodded. “He didn’t visually see the people talking smack about Willie, but everything he said they said, fits with Willie’s story.”

  “See.” Willie Ray sat back, pride on his face. “I told you I was innocent.” His face softened, he licked his lips. “We would be married right now if this hadn’t happened.”

  “No you wouldn’t.” Trixie jumped up and pounded the table with a flat hand. “I would have had it annulled before the night was over and you.” She glared at Curly and pointed her crooked finger. I closed my eyes. She was about to give Curly a beat down. I had been on the receiving end of her finger before. Downright scary. Her voice steady and stern, “If you and Bo Dean were going to approve these two youngins getting married, shame on you. Why. . .why Laurel would have five babies by now and Willie Ray would be smoking and drinking himself silly.”

  “Now don’t you go around here throwing stones.” It was Curly’s turn to stand up and give it back to Trixie. “Bo and I raised Willie like he was our own, not like some crazy women in charge of an orphanage!” She pointed back at Trixie.

  “Enough!” I screamed and put my hands over my ears, sucked in a deep breath and continued, “This is not helping the here and now.”

  “We would be married.” Willie wouldn’t shut up. “Damn. You are fine.”

  “Seriously?” I tilted my head to the side. “You are on the lam and you want to think about being married?” I threw my hands in the air and got up. “If that’s the case, I’m done with helping you.”

  “Oh, you can’t do that.” Trixie calmed down. “We have to tell the authorities about the keys.”

&
nbsp; “No.” I shook my head. “I want to find out everything I can before I give them the keys.”

  “Why?” Curly wasn’t happy with my answer.

  “Because Jax Jackson let me know that if I was helping Willie in any way, even if he is innocent, they are going to charge me with aiding and abetting which is a prison sentence.”

  “Now you have done it again.” Trixie nervously pat the curls to her head. “I really did think you’d get better with age.” She shook her head.

  I know she wanted to blurt out something about The Gorilla and my ties to the bad mob, but she wasn’t going to do it in front of company.

  “Fine.” Curly sat back down. Calmly she asked, “Do you have a plan?”

  “Think back to the bank safety deposit box,” I encouraged Willie. “Were there any papers or anything with a hint of the keys?”

  Willie Ray looked into the distance. His eyes narrowed. His jaw tensed.

  “It was so fast.” He swallowed. “I was so nervous because I knew after I got the money Curly and Bo wanted me to use on us, I was heading down to Nashville to marry you.”

  “We got that,” Trixie said blandly.

  “Shh.” I jerked my head toward her and then back to him as he continued, “The bank lady opened the safety deposit room door and two men were in there with masks on. One was dead on the ground and the other was shuffling through papers. He turned the gun on us. The teller screamed and he shot her.”

  My eyes welled with tears. It was the first time I had heard his side of the story and not read it in the paper or seen it on the news.

  “Next thing I knew, I had passed out.” He paused.

  “So, the real killer took the opportunity to wipe off his prints on the gun and get the hell out of there.” I was talking out loud and throwing things out there. “I had read they didn’t hear the gunshots because there was a silencer on it.”

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “There was no way I was able to afford a gun, much less one with a silencer.”

  “Then how were you going to support a wife?” Trixie wouldn’t let it go.

  Curly muttered a few words under her breath; Willie and I ignored them both as we spouted different scenarios back and forth.