But one thing was for certain: Mike wouldn’t have refused to tell her anything if there was nothing to tell. Bobby worked in strange and mysterious ways, and no doubt he knew a lot more than he wanted Harley to find out. Since he knew and disliked the fact she was helping Tootsie’s friend Jordan, that meant there was a connection. It also meant she’d have to face Bobby herself.
“Now where did I put my flak vest?” she mused as she headed for the bathroom and her delayed shower. She’d definitely need some kind of protection for that meeting.
Chapter 5
“SO WHERE ARE we going?” Cami asked for the third time since she’d gotten into Harley’s car.
“I told you. We’re going for cappuccino.”
“You’ve passed two Starbucks and a Dunkin’ Donuts. Where is this cappuccino?”
“Just down the street. I have one stop to make first.” Harley slowed the car in the turning lane on Union Avenue.
Cami looked out the window. “Why are we in front of a police precinct?”
“I have to talk to Bobby. It won’t take long.”
“Let me out. I’ll walk home. Or you can pick me up when you leave here. I don’t want to be anywhere near one of yours and Bobby’s conversations. It gets too loud.”
“Not every time.”
Cami clutched the door handle. “Okay. Just the times when I’m around then. Stop the car so I can get out.”
“You can’t get out in the middle of Union Avenue. You’d get run down.”
“I’d rather take my chances with traffic on the Indianapolis Speedway than with you and Bobby in the same room.”
“Cami, Cami, you have no faith in me. I just have a couple questions to ask, then we’ll go for cappuccino. My treat.”
“I’ll pay for a year’s worth of cappuccino if you just let me out.”
Harley turned into the police lot and looked for a parking space. “I’ll let you out in just a second. Ah. Here’s a place. And not too far away. Must be my lucky day.”
“Not mine, obviously,” said Cami in a gloomy voice. “I can’t believe you tricked me. I thought we were friends.”
“You know I’d do anything for you, Cami. I just thought you might want to help me out.”
“How? By getting arrested? By being a co-conspirator in some insane scheme of yours?” Cami slapped a hand to her forehead so hard her ash brown hair bounced against her shoulders. “Why do I always get mixed up in something crazy when I’m with you? I feel like I’m caught in the middle of a Will Ferrell movie.”
“Better than being in a Bruce Willis movie. All that shooting and bleeding. And I really need you. Bobby won’t be as . . . volatile . . . if you’re along with me.”
“Ohmygod,” Cami ran the phrase together with a moan. “I’m doomed.”
“Cheer up. You know Bobby likes you and won’t be too ugly to me if you’re there.”
“Bobby feels sorry for me. He said I keep risky company when I’m with you.”
“See? You’ll be fine. You’re just what I need to keep the tiger at bay. Am I being too selfish?”
“Yes. I hope that whatever it is you need to find out from Bobby is worth the risk you’re taking with your personal safety. And my sanity.”
“That remains to be seen on both counts. Here we go.”
Bobby was in a small room off the main area, talking to another officer in a suit. He had his back to the open door, and when the other officer pointed, Bobby turned and spotted Harley. He scowled and shook his head. Uh oh. This wasn’t going to be easy.
“I knew it,” said Cami. “He’s going to have us arrested. What did you do?”
“Lately? Nothing. I came here to ask questions.”
“Why do I feel as if you’re leaving something out of that explanation?”
“You should be more trusting, Cami. I haven’t done anything. Honest.”
She groaned. “When you say ‘honest’ in that tone, I know you’ve been up to something.”
“Well . . . not yet.”
“Oh lord.”
Harley kept an eye on Bobby as he continued talking to his co-worker. He looked so different from how she’d always known him. Instead of the black jeans, tee shirts and tattoos she was used to in their adolescence, he now wore two-piece suits that covered his tattoos and made him look the part of a Homicide lieutenant. His black hair was cut short and neat, and his handsome features had matured nicely. He still turned feminine heads when he came into a room, and not just because he was a cop.
“Hi, Bobby,” she said as he finally walked over to where she and Cami stood by a wall waiting. “I think we need to talk.”
“That’s debatable. Hey, Cami, how are you doing, and why are you with Harley?”
“Help. I was abducted and am being held against my will,” replied Cami.
“Want me to arrest her?”
“Not today. She’s my ride home. And she promised me cappuccino.”
“How generous.” He finally looked directly at Harley. “You bribed her to come with you?”
Harley regarded him in exasperation tinged with affection. They’d been friends too long for her to get that upset when he rattled her cage. She knew him a little bit too well for that.
“Yes, I bribed her,” she said. “It’s the only way I can keep friends. What can I offer you so you’ll tell me what’s going on with the Jordan Cleveland thing?”
“What makes you think anything’s going on? And you don’t have enough money to bribe me, so forget it.”
“Okay then, no bribes. Just tell me why you’re suddenly so interested in Tootsie’s friend thinking someone’s trying to kill him. And why you’re so determined to make me stop trying to find out who it is.”
“I knew it,” Cami muttered, but Harley ignored her.
“I’m not trying to keep you from helping this guy so much as I’m trying to keep you from getting in over your head again,” said Bobby. “I checked up on Jordan after Tootsie called me. He’s in the middle of a messy divorce, has financial problems, and probably isn’t thinking very clearly about anything.”
“So you’re saying he’s imagining that someone’s trying to kill him?”
“No. I’m saying stay out of it, Harley.”
“Again—what would your reason for that be?”
“Do you really want a detailed list? I don’t have time for that. It’d take the rest of the day. Just stay away from Jordan Cleveland, and stay away from anyone connected to him.”
“I can’t. I work with Tootsie, and he’s Jordan’s friend.”
Bobby looked at Cami. “She’s hopeless.”
“I know. She’s always been this way. Stubborn as a goat.”
“It’s going to get her killed one day.”
Cami nodded. “I’m afraid so.”
“I’m right here, you know, and I can hear you,” said Harley.
“She always hears. She just never listens,” Bobby said to Cami.
“Isn’t that an oxymoron?” asked Harley.
Cami shook her head. “No. An oxymoron is a phrase containing two words that contradict each other.”
“You mean like idiot cop?”
“More like smart prisoner,” said Bobby. “Smart and prisoner being the two contradictory terms in what’s about to happen.”
“I get your point.” Harley took a step back. “I’ll go. It would have been nice if you had been more cooperative, but I can do it without you.”
“Harley—”
“No, no, that’s all right, Bobby. I wouldn’t want you to compromise your rules and principles.”
“I do that every time I let you leave here without being arrested,” he said. “Just take it from me; this is not something you want to get involved in this time. Understand?”
“How can I understand when you won’t tell me why I shouldn’t get involved? All I hear from you is no.”
Bobby nodded. “I know. That’s all I can say right now. Be wise this time. Don’t get into something that
may be more than you can handle.”
“Thanks for the advice. I’ll keep it in mind.”
When they were out in the car and Harley pulled from the police lot onto Union, Cami said, “So that was a wasted trip.”
“Hardly. I learned more than I knew before.”
“Like what? All I heard was Bobby telling you to stay out of it.”
“Exactly,” said Harley. “If this was simply a divorce case and two people being hateful, he wouldn’t be involved. He checked out Jordan and said he’s in a messy divorce and financial trouble. The fact that he checked it out and he’s telling me to stay out of it means there’s more to it than that.”
Cami banged her head against the rolled up window glass. “I don’t get it. Either you’re crazy, or I’m stupid. Or both.”
“No, neither. Well, maybe I’m just a little crazy, but you’re definitely not stupid. I have a litmus test of sorts that I use. When two or more police officers are telling me I’m not going in the right direction, then I’m going in the right direction.”
“So Mike wants you to stay out of it, too.”
Harley nodded. “Yup. He says it’s because of Bobby, but he’s leaving out the part where he probably suggested it.”
“Okay,” said Cami, “so you have two police officers warning you that you’re in over your head, but you’re going to do it anyway. Right?”
“Right.”
Cami banged her head against the window glass again. “I don’t get it. I really don’t get it. Do you have a death wish?”
“Of course not. Stop being so dramatic. I’m being paid to find out who’s trying to kill Jordan, and when I do, I get the rest of my money, and he takes the information to the police. I win both ways.”
“You’re leaving out the part where the possible murderer might take exception to you identifying him.”
Harley waved a hand as if batting away a fly. “Minor detail. It’ll be fine, Cami.”
She slumped in her seat. “You always say that.”
“And it’s always fine.”
“After being terrorized, abducted, and nearly being killed!” Cami sounded out of sorts, so Harley nodded sympathetically.
“There, there. It turned out okay. You should have more faith in me.”
“All right. Forget the cappuccino. Just take me home, and I’ll have more faith in you from there.”
“And miss out on cappuccino? No, I promised you mocha caramel cappuccino, and I’m going to keep my promise.”
Harley turned the car into the small parking lot of a Dunkin’ Donuts and killed the engine. “Let’s have it inside. We can talk, and I don’t have to worry about spilling it all over me.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Once seated at a tiny table for two, Harley told Cami all about Jordan asking her to find out if his ex-wife was trying to kill him. “So now I find out that maybe there’s more to it than I was first told,” she ended her explanation. “Intriguing, don’t you think?”
“I think you’re an adrenaline junkie,” said Cami. “All this danger and excitement just makes you want more.”
“Maybe. I prefer to think of it as more along the lines of I just like solving a good puzzle.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Do the New York Times crossword. Do Sudoku. Buy jigsaw puzzles. Let the police solve the other kind of puzzles. That’s their job. They can do it better. You used to be more sensible. Now you’re crazy. What happened?”
“I think I’m insulted,” said Harley.
Cami nodded. “Deal with it. Just don’t go chasing off after some killer again. You give me heartburn.”
“Please. I told you, as soon as I figure out if and who is trying to kill Jordan, I’ll get the info to Bobby. Or Morgan. Whichever, it will be them chasing killers, not me.”
“Famous last words,” said Cami.
Harley rolled her eyes. “I need the money, okay? My insurance is going to go up, and it’s the slower time of the year for tours, so I don’t get as many hours.”
“So, you still have money left from what your aunt paid you to help her,” said Cami. “Use that instead of risking your life just to pay higher insurance rates.”
Harley was aghast. “For one thing, I don’t have any spendable money left from what Aunt Darcy paid me, and for another, it’s not ‘just to pay higher insurance rates.’ My bike needs some work. I keep it in great shape, you know that. If I don’t do the proper upkeep, it’ll end up as junk. You know how I love my bike, don’t you?”
“Oh, don’t get your panties in a wad,” said Cami. “Okay. You’ve convinced me you need extra money. Can’t you throw papers or something? Do you have to risk your life?”
Just as Harley opened her mouth to reply, her cell phone rang. It was attached to a key ring in the belt loop of her jeans, and it took her a moment to get it loose. By the time she answered, the caller had been switched to voicemail.
“Damn,” she muttered. “I lose more calls this way.”
“You lose even more when you run over your cell phone with the car,” reminded Cami.
“True that,” Harley said, then paused to listen when the voicemail clicked in. It was Jordan, and he sounded frantic.
“It just happened again! I can’t believe it—you’ve got to help me! I can’t take any more of this, I just can’t . . . Can you help me, Harley? Please? These are hired killers. They’re after me. Call me back quick before . . . before they find me.”
She hit the buttons to call him back and looked up at Cami. “We have to go. Come on.”
“Wait—what? Why? Where are we going? What about my muffin?”
“Bring it or eat it. We’ve got to go.” Cami followed her out, and just as they got to the car Jordan answered Harley’s return call.
“Where are you?” she asked quickly. “Are you all right?”
“God, I don’t know . . . I’m off Poplar at the fountain in front of the Clark Towers. I just . . . they tried to kill me again!”
“Look, calm down. Are you in front of the fountain? Are you on foot or in your car?”
“My car’s at work in the parking lot. I walked over to have lunch at Houston’s. I was leaving when they found me. I ran behind Houston’s and took off down a street. Black Road, I think. They had to go out and around, so I turned and ran. Now I don’t see them, but I know they’ll come back . . . I’m hiding behind the fountain. Help me!”
“We’ll get there as soon as we can. Hunker down and stay there, okay?”
She swiped the phone closed and motioned to Cami to get in the car as she swung open the driver’s door. “We have to hurry,” she said when Cami asked what was going on. “Jordan’s in trouble.”
“Oh lord—can you pick me up later? I’ll wait here.”
“I don’t have time to argue. Are you coming with me or not?”
“All right, all right. I’m coming.”
Harley screeched out of the parking lot so fast Cami grabbed at the dashboard and held on. She didn’t say a word, but her face scrunched up in a knot.
“It’s okay,” said Harley. “I won’t wreck.”
“Hunh,” replied Cami.
Harley turned on Evergreen and headed for Poplar several blocks away, her foot heavy on the gas pedal. Traffic on Poplar was always crazy. Cars switched lanes at will, often not even warning other drivers with a turn signal. Harley had become accustomed to it. It was obvious that Cami had issues with weaving in and out of traffic at a high rate of speed, however. She clutched at the door handle with white-knuckle fingers.
“You’re going to get a ticket,” she said in a faint voice. “If we live long enough.”
“Have more faith in me, Cami. I drive Poplar every day. I live and work on this road.”
“Let’s not include dying on this road in our obituaries,” Cami moaned. “Is that a semi just ahead? Don’t you want to slow down? Eeek!”
Harley swerved at the last moment, barely missing a Palazola Produce truck that slowed down
for someone cutting in front of it. “Damn Memphis drivers,” she muttered.
When White Station Tower loomed just ahead, the traffic light at Mendenhall turned green as she approached. Before oncoming traffic could get a good start, she wheeled into the tiny driveway beside the Belmont Grill, screeched through the small parking lot in back of it, then bounced over a rut and bucked out onto Mendenhall. A driver in an approaching car laid on his horn as she scooted in front of him so close that his bumper almost scraped the side of her car.
“You do realize that you’re one of the Memphis drivers, right?” Cami said. She had both hands over her eyes. “We’d be safer on your bike.”
“I agree with the last. It can go places cars can’t—get out of my way!” she yelled at a car that cut in front of her. “Jeez Louise . . . what’s the matter with these people?”
“They’ve obviously attended the Harley Jean Davidson School of Ambush Driving. Let me out at the next corner, please.”
“That just happens to be the corner where I’m going. Hold on.” She put on her turn signal as she wheeled onto a street behind the shopping center that held Houston’s Bar and was adjacent to the White Station Tower. A movie theater and parking area was on the opposite side. “I think he’s probably at this dead end,” she said. “He said he was in a fountain. Or by a fountain. Damn. I don’t see him. I hope they didn’t find him first.”
Just as she got to the end of Black Road, another car came up fast behind her and bumped the Toyota pretty hard. Cami squealed, and Harley cussed as she jerked the wheel hard to the left and into the turn. The car bumped over a low curb then onto the grass. Harley cut the engine and jumped out, angry at the other driver.
The car was a heavy Mercedes sedan, black and shiny, with tinted windows. It idled on the blacktop road. Harley started toward it, then stopped. There was something rather ominous about the vehicle. It suddenly made her think of a huge metallic dragon, sitting and growling at her.
One of the side windows hummed partially down. Harley took a step back. No, there was something very, very wrong about this, and the abrupt drop of her stomach to her toes made her take two more steps back toward her car. A spurt of orange flame from the Mercedes window settled any indecision. She jumped backward and nearly fell to the pavement.
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