Luke pointed the knife at Jeff, although the roof of the ventilation system was seven feet above he stood. “Always be prepared.”
“So Boy Scouts.” Jeff nodded at Emory, who pocketed the phone and pulled out his pistol. “Actually, I owe you a beatdown for loosening the lug nuts on my tires.” He holstered his gun and headed for the ladder attached to the wall of the ventilation system.
Emory said, “He also loosened Becky’s tire when he was trying to convince Corey to change his mind about which property to take.”
“He should’ve heeded the warning. Luckily for his replacement, his wife’s a greedy bitch.”
Jeff stepped onto the ventilation system’s ladder. “So you did pay Lettie to make her husband switch properties.”
Luke threw his knife into the shoulder of Emory’s gun-toting arm.
“Ahhh!” Emory dropped the gun and threw his other hand to his shoulder, clenching it around the knife’s hilt.
Luke grabbed Emory’s gun as soon as it hit the ground.
“Emory!” Jeff jumped from the ladder and rushed to his partner’s aid.
Luke aimed the gun at Jeff, stopping him a few feet from Emory. “Back up! Now!”
Jeff complied, while Emory pulled the knife from his shoulder and let it clunk to the floor.
“Take your gun out. Slowly. And slide it to me.”
Again Jeff complied.
Luke picked up Jeff’s gun and pushed it inside his belt. “No one was supposed to investigate Corey’s death. It should’ve looked like a suicide. He was so light. I couldn’t believe how far out he flew. I didn’t see the rope from the flagpole he’d wrapped around his wrist. I knew that was going to be a problem.” Luke pulled a chicken-bone doll from his jacket and leaned it against the flagpole.
Emory told him, “I know you wanted to give credence to your aunt’s curses, but those are actually for good luck.”
Luke shrugged. “No matter. They fed the fear.”
Jeff glanced at the blood coursing down Emory’s right sleeve before setting his eyes on Luke. “What do you plan to do now? You can’t make this look like an accident.”
“I don’t intend to. I have both your guns. You two came up here to investigate the case, and you got into a spat. Things elevated, and you shot each other.”
Jeff laughed. “No one’s going to believe that!”
Luke responded, “I saw you two together the other night.” He nodded to Emory. “You were wearing a cowboy hat.”
“That was in my apartment. How did you see that?” Right after Emory asked the question, the answer hit him. “You were watching us with the drone.”
“Domestic disputes are always the deadliest.” Luke pointed Emory’s gun at its owner. “Now give me the phone.”
Emory retrieved the phone from his pocket as Luke extended his free hand to receive it. Instead, Emory tossed it to Jeff.
As soon as Luke turned his eyes to Jeff, Emory lunged for him, pushing him back against the railing along the edge of the roof. The PI banged his wrist against the railing until the gun fell to the sidewalk thirty-two stories below.
Jeff ran to tackle Luke just as the killer punched Emory in his injured shoulder. Emory grabbed at the pain, allowing Luke to jump away from the railing. Jeff hit the railing full force, almost falling over it.
Luke kicked Emory in the mouth, causing his back to slam into the flagpole. He grabbed the lapels of Emory’s jacket and flung him toward the edge.
Emory reached for the flagpole to try regaining his balance, but it wasn’t enough. His fingers could only lock around the flagpole rope as momentum carried him to the very edge and over.
“No!!” Jeff screamed.
The flagpole rope was in one continuous loop all the way to the top of the flagpole and down, with several feet of slack at the bottom. Now clinging to the bottom loop of the rope with both hands, Emory looked up to see Jeff’s head and right arm protruding from the edge of the rooftop.
“Emory! Grab my hand!”
Emory stretched for his partner’s hand. Their fingers touched just before the rope slipped and the dangling PI fell beyond reach.
“Emory!” Jeff looked over his shoulder and saw Luke cutting the rope at the flagpole with his bloody switchblade. The frayed section of the rope had snapped, changing the loop into one long line of rope. The snaphooks that secured the flag caught in the metal pulley at the top of the flagpole, anchoring one end of the rope, but the other end was now loose, and Emory was sliding down to meet it.
Emory’s hand had been locked into the bottom of the rope loop, but with the loop now broken, he had only his grip on the rope to keep him from plunging to the sidewalk below. His hold on the thin line, however, was not enough to keep him in place. The rope burned the palms of his hands as he continued to slide down the extra forty feet of rope that had snaked over the edge of the roof.
With ten feet remaining before he would slide to the end of the rope, Emory stopped his downward slide. It took every ounce of strength in his hands and forearms to maintain his grip, but he knew holding on would not be good enough. He would have to climb.
Watching from above, Jeff sighed a bit of relief when he saw Emory holding steady. He pushed back from the railing to see Luke about to cut the rest of the rope. Jeff held the phone up. “Luke! Back away, and I’ll give you the phone.”
Luke released the rope and took two steps back. Instead of handing him the phone, Jeff threw it up to the billboard. It hit Emory’s picture before coming to rest on the narrow catwalk in front of the sign.
Luke pocketed the knife and bolted for the catwalk ladder, which ran up alongside the middle post of the billboard.
Emory started climbing the rope to get back on the roof. When he lifted the soles of his shoes to glass, however, he realized it wasn’t glass at all. It was plywood. This is where Corey Melton crashed through the window and died. They haven’t replaced the glass!
Sure enough, there was glass all around except for the square of wood on which his feet now rested. I might be able to break through the wood!
Emory held the rope with one hand so he could wrap it around his other wrist to provide some stability. He jumped off the wood, sending his body swinging out two feet from the building like a narrow pendulum. When he started swinging back to the building, he put his feet together to concentrate the force. The wood shuddered when he hit it, but it didn’t break.
This isn’t going to work unless I hit it with more force. Emory kicked off the wood with greater strength, but the wood still didn’t break when he swung back.
Emory was sweating nonstop now, including his palms. He tightened his aching hands. I’ve got to go for it!
He kicked off with all his strength, and he flew almost ten feet from the building. When he swung back, he clenched his entire body to make himself the stiffest projectile possible. His feet rammed through the wood, splintering a big enough hole for him to fly through. His body slammed to the office floor, just shy of where Corey had landed a week earlier.
The office employees flocked around him. Some screamed while others asked, “Is he dead?”
Jeff rushed to rescue his partner, but no one was hanging from the rope. “Emory! Where are you?!” Even though he couldn’t see a body on the sidewalk below, he knew Emory must’ve fallen.
As tears blurred his eyes, he clenched his fists and screamed at Luke, who was now scurrying along the catwalk in front of the billboard, “I’m going to kill you!”
Jeff darted for the ladder to the billboard catwalk and grabbed the bottom rung with a single leap. As he climbed, he looked above and below and realized one end of the billboard protruded over the side of the building. He crawled onto the catwalk just as Luke picked up the cell phone and pocketed it.
Jeff ran and punched him, sending him flying backwards onto the catwalk. He jumped onto Luke’s torso and punched him over and over again.
Luke reached into his pocket to retrieve his switchblade, and he sliced Jeff’s
forearm.
Jeff retreated a few steps as Luke climbed back to his feet. “You’re wasting your time, Luke. That’s Emory’s cell phone. There was no recording.”
“I don’t believe you.” Luke tossed the phone over the side of the catwalk and didn’t watch as it plummeted to the sidewalk. He plodded toward Jeff, slicing the air with each step.
Jeff backed up until he couldn’t back up anymore. He glanced down. Between the grates of the metal catwalk, he could see the sidewalk thirty-two stories below.
Luke grinned at his cornered prey. He held the knife over his head and lunged for Jeff.
Jeff ducked, and the blade stabbed the billboard – right into Emory’s torso in the picture. Luke lost his footing and slipped off the catwalk. His grip on the knife’s hilt was the only thing keeping him from falling to his death.
Jeff hesitated before reaching for him. “Give me your hand!”
Luke held up his free hand. The knife in his other hand slipped and continued cutting a path down the billboard. The knife’s downward slicing stopped for a second when it hit the metal frame until the blade dislodged altogether.
Helpless, Jeff watched while Luke flailed at the air before thudding against the sidewalk.
Emory had slammed open the door to the roof just in time to see Luke’s plunge.
Chapter 41
HALF AN HOUR after Luke’s death, EMTs bandaged Emory’s hands and shoulder and Jeff’s forearms while the PIs talked to Virginia on the roof of the Godfrey Tower. Police cataloged the scene – there and on the street below. Virginia put a consoling arm around her shivering friend. “Jeff, are you sure you’re all right? It’s okay not to be.”
Jeff stared at the roof. “I tried to keep him from falling.”
“I believe you.” Emory winced when the EMT applied an ointment to his left hand. “I know whatever you did was in self-defense.”
“Did you see it?”
Emory shook his head. “I opened the door just in time to see him fall.”
Chin trembling, Jeff caressed Emory’s cheek. “I thought he killed you.”
“I thought he did too.”
“You know, just once I’d love to solve a case without putting any of our lives in danger.” He glanced up at the ruined ad. “Looks like he did kill your picture. Hey, your phone.”
“What about it?”
“Luke dropped it before he fell. There’s no way it survived a fall from thirty-two stories.”
Emory frowned at him. “I don’t care about the damn phone right now.”
“No, it was your effigy. Remember Saturday, when I handed you your phone.”
“Because I left it in the office.”
“I actually lifted it from you and took it to Miss Luann, that clairvoyant down the street. She did the transference spell for me. The phone is destroyed, so now your curse is broken.”
Emory grinned. “I appreciate the effort, but I had actually stopped worrying about that.”
“What changed your mind?”
“It was that sheriff at the auction. The Crick Witch cursed him, and he’s fine.”
Jeff flashed to the conversation he overheard at the auction between the new sheriff and the elderly woman. I’m not going to tell him that sheriff she cursed actually did die.
With his partner at his side, Wayne arrived at the scene. “I’m glad you find a man’s death so funny, Emory.”
The PI dropped the grin from his face. “I wasn’t smiling about that.”
“I don’t care. Just tell me what happened.”
The PIs recounted the events that led to Luke Hinter’s death, and Jeff ended with his blow-by-blow of the fight.
At the end, Steve Linders spoke up. “What made you suspect Luke killed Mr. Melton?”
“We knew the killer was using a drone to gather information on Corey and his other victims – the Belchers, me, Emory, Virginia, that surveyor.”
Virginia clutched her chest. “Me?”
Jeff answered for him. “We’re pretty sure he cut your rope when you discovered the surveyor. Anyway, I saw the drone firsthand, and when I found the same model online, I saw that it came with a metal carrying case.” Jeff nodded in deference to his partner.
“Jeff showed me the case, and I realized I had seen it before. When I first met Luke, he was rolling a case that looked just like it.”
Wayne scoffed at the connection. “That’s not proof.”
“I agree, but the clencher was when Fred Leakey from the survey company identified the charm Ms. Mary Belle Hinter gave to Jeff.” Emory removed it from around his neck and held it up for a second before handing it back to Jeff. “He said it was zinc ore. Ms. Mary Belle Hinter’s property is full of these rocks. She was sitting on a billion dollar vein of the stuff, and Luke was her only heir.”
“Whoa!” Steve’s eyes widened. “Billion with a ‘B’?”
Jeff nodded. “That’s right, and the TVA took it away from her without even knowing its value. That’s why he was so determined to get it back.”
Wayne waved toward the damaged billboard. “So why didn’t you inform the TBI once you knew? Why the ruse?”
Emory shrugged. “We had to be sure.”
When the Mourning Dove staff left the Godfrey Tower that afternoon, Emory noticed a familiar blue SUV with tinted windows parked in front. “Hey guys, I’m parked down here. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.”
Virginia waved goodbye to him, but Jeff had a question to ask. “Does that mean you’re coming into the office?”
“Actually, I was thinking of driving to Brume Wood in the morning to take Ms. Mary Belle home.”
“I’ll go with you. Swing by to pick me up?”
Emory said he would and waited for them to turn the corner before entering the back of the SUV. He greeted the head of the TBI. “Mr. Alexander.”
Anderson Alexander shook his hand. “I heard what happened. Good work, Mr. Rome.”
“Thank you, and I’m glad you’re here. There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”
“My job offer?”
“That too, but…” From his pocket, Emory pulled the listening device that had been planted in his apartment. “Do you have any idea why I’m being bugged?”
Anderson examined the device. “It’s the brand the TBI uses, but if you believe I had you bugged, you’re mistaken.” He handed it back to Emory. “Ah, now I’ve spotted the rabbit hole of logic in which your foot is stuck. You surmised my offer was a stalling tactic while we searched for something salacious to assail your character, which would then force dismissal of the lawsuit.”
Emory nodded. “In a nutshell.”
Anderson placed a hand on the young man’s shoulder. “Emory, my word travels the well-paved road of veracity, free from the potholes of deceit. My offer is sincere, and I do hope you accept it.”
Emory could see the sincerity in his grey eyes. “I believe you, Sir.”
“Good. Now do you have any idea who would want to spy on you?”
“I can’t think of anyone.”
“Have you considered your new partner?”
The suggestion shocked Emory. “Wha… What? No. He’s a good person, which brings me to the next topic.”
“You’re turning me down, aren’t you?”
“I am. Please, don’t think me ungrateful. Your offer was exceedingly generous, and I’m probably a fool for not taking it. It’s just, if I can be honest, I’ve been so focused in my life.”
“That’s what makes you a good special agent.”
“I appreciate that, but it goes deeper than that.” Emory’s eyes dropped to his hands. “This past month has been extremely difficult for me. After I was fired, I fell to a place I hadn’t been to since… I was younger.”
“Son, I know what happened eight years ago.”
“I figured you did.” Emory nodded without looking up. “Last night I slept for seven hours. That hasn’t happened since I don’t know when.”
Ande
rson raised his hands. “I’m… happy for you?”
Emory laughed. “The point is, I feel like I’m just beginning to experience who I think I would’ve been if that whole thing had never happened, and I don’t want to stop. I want to see where it leads.” He looked up, a little flushed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so… open.”
“Perfectly all right, Son.” Anderson patted him on the shoulder. “So do you like being a private investigator?”
“I don’t know yet. Being a PI might be temporary or it might not, but it doesn’t matter.”
“I wish you the best in this new venture.”
“Thank you, Sir. I appreciate that.”
“I hate to be crass, but what about the lawsuit?”
Emory smiled at him. “I told my lawyer this morning to drop it.”
“I am relieved to hear that. The TBI is a wonderful organization, and I would hate for the actions of your former boss to diminish its standing in the public eye.”
“I agree.”
“If you would allow me, I’d like to impart a word of advice.”
“I’d welcome anything you have to say.”
Anderson stared him right in the eyes. “Reconsider any plans to align yourself with Jeff Woodard. Strike out on your own. You do not want your future entwined with his.”
“Why do you say that?”
Anderson produced a manila envelope. “I have information on him. He’s not being completely honest with you. Read the file before making a decision you’ll likely regret.”
“I think I know him pretty well now. I doubt there’s anything in there that could change my mind.”
“Just take it home.” Anderson pushed the envelope into Emory’s hands. “Read it or don’t. And I know I gave you a deadline, but let’s just say there’s an extended grace period. If you read it and change your mind, let me know.”
Pinching his lips, Emory looked at the envelope in his hands.
Death Opens a Window Page 24