Why would she?
She was at home and safe.
As she passed by them both, Elizabeth knew this was going to be ugly. Regina, while she saw herself a woman, was a brick shithouse.
As in Callen’s size.
“Hands up, Regina,” she stated, pointing her Glock right at her with her good hand.
The woman did the opposite. She tried to bolt, but first, she swung her purse and knocked the gun from Elizabeth’s hand.
The battle ensued, and she’d been right.
It sucked.
After all the back and forth of Regina swinging out, elbowing them in the faces, and trying to bite and scratch, somehow, they managed to nearly take her down.
Tori took the worst of it being smaller. Regina apparently thought she could take her.
Yeah, no.
When the woman swung out, Tori took a chance. She swung her leg with all she had and the shot connected to Regina’s gut.
She went down—and for good.
Together, the smaller women dragged her to the couch, and they were out of breath.
“Holy shit! Next time, Callen gets the stripper. Screw the media,” she stated, shaking out her casted arm and numb fingers. She couldn’t wait to get it off. It was slowing her down.
“What did I do?” Regina whimpered.
They took a seat beside the beast of a woman.
“You were being blackmailed,” Elizabeth stated.
The stripper was definitely off her meds. The hormones were running amuck. Regina began wailing like a Middle Eastern woman on a casket.
It was…something.
“I didn’t want the world to know I was a man. I was born the wrong sex.”
They both stared at her.
Seriously?
There was someone who wouldn’t think Regina was really a Reggie?
They had news for her.
Yeah, no. It was a no brainer.
“How long?”
“Three months I paid her.”
“How much?”
“One hundred bucks a month.”
She and Tori glanced at each other. It appeared that Shelby was charging them according to what they could afford or what their secret was worth to her. Regina’s was clearly low on the ‘making the Benjamins’ list.
“How did she find you? The bar?”
“No.”
“Where?”
Silence.
You could hear crickets.
“Where, or I drag you out to the media, pull that skirt above your head and show them Tom, Dick, and Harry?”
Tori struggled not to laugh.
Elizabeth was always amusing, but that was just wrong in so many ways.
“I hook on the side. I have a special clientele. They like that I’m…both.”
They left it at that. What Regina did in the privacy of her bedroom was none of their business—unless it led them to a killer.
“And you were hooking?” Tori asked, rubbing her face. She was going to have one hell of a bruise.
“Yes, I was with someone.”
“Who?”
“Leon Brewer. He was a regular.”
Neither spoke.
Stop the presses.
Did she just tell them she was having sex with the bartender who was banging Shelby and all at the same motel?
Elizabeth thought about it.
Something was bugging her.
“What?” Tori asked. “You look like you just had an epiphany. Share.”
Oh, she would.
“What did my mother say last night?” Elizabeth asked. “It was all connected, right?”
“Yeah.”
She stared at the woman. “Was Leon being blackmailed too?”
She nodded.
“He told me he had to help her or she was going to tell the world he’d slipped her some details. He has a big mouth, but Leon wouldn’t hurt a fly. I know. He asks me to hurt him.”
“TMI on the sex,” Tori stated. “Keep it clean. I don’t want to know.”
Regina got mad. “WHY? Because I’m transgendered?”
She looked at her like she was insane.
“NO! Because he was also banging my mother. You all were playing pass the bar sausage!”
That shut Regina up.
“Oh.”
Elizabeth got Tori to focus. “You know what this means, right?”
“What?”
“This means Leon had even more reason to kill her,” she stated. “He didn’t tell us he was being blackmailed. We presumed he was part of the blackmailing the whole time. We overlooked it and broke the first rule by assuming.”
Regina started crying.
“Zip it.”
Tori and Elizabeth stood.
“Are we going to the bar?” Tori asked. “We can beat it out of him.”
She glanced at her watch.
There was no way it would be open, and instead of sitting outside it for two hours, they could be more productive.
“No, let’s go back. I want to run him again, work this out on the whiteboard, and go from there.”
Tori was good with that.
They headed toward the door, leaving the big woman behind.
“Wait! What about me?” Regina wailed from the couch.
“You like handcuffs, deal with it!”
Tori laughed outside. “That was so damn wrong, but so damn funny.”
Elizabeth grinned. “I’m off the clock,” she stated, holding up her casted arm.
But she was right.
It was funny as hell.
Maybe she did miss her job.
A lot.
* * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *
Littlemoon Investigations
When they got back, the whole team was there, including Nyx and Beau. They were sitting side by side, working on files as they tried to find anything.
“What happened?” Callen asked, the second he saw Tori’s face.
Julian stared. “What did you do to her? She’s getting a black eye!”
Elizabeth laughed. “Well, we decide to roll around and see who had bigger balls. I won.”
Both men stared.
“Elizabeth!”
She snorted. “Relax. It wasn’t me. Regina got her. Don’t worry, we left her handcuffed on her couch for someone to set her free.”
Now Callen was staring. “What?”
“Did you want me to shoot her in the dick? What?”
He had to stop now or God knew where she’d take it. Elizabeth was unpredictable.
“Just focus and tell us why you’re both smiling.”
That she could do.
Elizabeth spilled it all.
The team listened.
“We missed something,” Beckett stated.
“Yeah, we did. We need to go back over the whole list. They are all tied together. Leon didn’t give us the whole picture, and that’s what sent us off the right track.”
“So, we start with him?” Roman asked.
“Yep, we back up, we forget everything we’ve found after him, and we see where this leads us.”
It sounded good to them.
“What’s bugging you?” Chris asked, once the team began going over everything they’d found.
“I need coffee,” she stated.
“Out in the lobby,” Tori said.
Elizabeth motioned to Chris and Callen to follow while the others did the legwork. Out at the coffee machine, she made a cup.
“You’re thinking about something big.”
Yeah, she was.
“Last night, as Nyx channeled my mother, she said something to me.”
“What?” Chris asked.
She glanced over at Callen. “I’m sorry, but I have to do this.”
Then she gave the man a kiss on the mouth.
He didn’t stop her.
“What was that for?” Chris asked, staring at her. “Are you possessed?”
She snorted. “You didn’t even bat an eye when I said �
�channeling my mother’. Thank you for being my best friend and supporting me.”
He didn’t mind.
Callen patted the man on the back. “We appreciate it,” he added.
“Back to my mother,” she began. “She said ‘what do you look at when you buy a house’?” Elizabeth paraphrased.
“You joked around and asked if it was haunted,” Callen offered.
“What if it’s location?”
He stared at her.
“What do you mean?”
Elizabeth sipped her coffee. “Shelby was at that motel. That’s where she shacked up with Leon, that’s where Regina went, and that’s where the money was all dropped off.”
“Okay, and?”
“It has to matter. I think it’s centered there.”
They were good with that. If Elizabeth got a burr under her saddle about something, they knew to listen.
“Let’s go work that angle,” Callen offered.
“Let’s let Tori’s team talk it out, but let’s keep it in mind. I’m telling you. My gut…”
They got it.
Heading back into the room, they noticed the team looked a little lost.
“How about you talk it out?” Elizabeth asked, sipping her coffee.
Tori grabbed the smelly marker. “May I, while you take a break?”
She didn’t mind.
Elizabeth wanted to listen.
“It’s your castle, so rock it out.”
She knew how Elizabeth worked.
“I want to start with Leon,” Tori stated. “He passed on all the information about Wyatt Grant and Sabrina Adams. He was her eyes, but he was also a victim.”
They all listened.
“Then we have Alberta Nicholson, who bribed a city official. She wanted all the business for the parade. Do we know who else was part of that parade?” Tori asked.
Roman pulled up the city website.
There was a list.
“I haven’t heard of anyone on it, but there was one float you might be interested in?”
Elizabeth spoke up, “The bar, right?”
He glanced over at her. “How did you know?”
She had her suspicions, but she wanted them to figure it out to make sure she wasn’t insane.
“Lucky guess?”
Tori didn’t believe it.
“How?” she asked.
“I’m going to bet that Leon got suspicious when Alberta’s business got the contract. I’m also going to bet that he was the one who sicced Shelby on her.”
“What a scumbag,” Beau stated.
Yeah, he was.
“Keep going,” she offered.
Tori did.
“Regina McCann wasn’t being blackmailed for being a man, she was prostituting on the side. That’s what got her caught. Once more, it was with Leon.”
Callen leaned back in his chair. “So, he is connected with two victims.”
“Keep going,” Elizabeth stated. “Refocus on Alberta. Think about it.”
“This is a teaching moment, isn’t it?” Tori asked.
She smiled. “I can’t be here next time, so you may need a little of my experience. Alberta offered a bribe—to who?”
The papers were shuffled.
“The planning commission,” Mattie answered.
Tori got it.
“Who runs it?” Elizabeth asked.
“The accounting office,” said Roman.
Then he got it.
“And we have a city accountant. Sabrina either told, trying to get Shelby off of her back, or inadvertently let it slip. That was probably why they were focused on her. We assumed it was because she was sleeping around.”
“That’s the problem with this case,” Elizabeth admitted. “We did a lot of assuming, and all because we didn’t have Leon’s information.”
“So, Leon is the killer?” Roman asked.
“Nope,” she stated. “I know who the killer is, and it’s not him.”
They all stared at her.
“How?” Beckett asked.
“A ghost told me.”
They were looking at her like she was insane, and that was saying a lot since they all believed in ghosts.
“Who?” Julian asked.
Tori got it.
“Your mother!”
“Yep. She told me, and I quote, ‘What do you look at when you buy a house’?” Elizabeth stated. “At first, I thought to be funny, but she was giving me a hint. Why don’t the dead just say what they mean?” she asked.
Tori had no idea.
“Who is the killer?” Beau asked. “Seriously! Who?”
Elizabeth grinned. “Who is the only person who we didn’t investigate?” she asked, “and I don’t mean Leon. Think about what my mother told me. Location, location, location,” she stated.
“Beckett was the first to get it. “This is all about the location? The motel?”
She nodded.
“Shelby was meticulous when laying out her plan. She picked up a bartender who was shacking up with a transgendered hooker/stripper. She used him for information. In that, she was able to use him as her ears and eyes. He rolled on Alberta, tossing her to the Shelby wolves, and blackmail was born.”
The whole team listened.
“Once Alberta admitted it with her first payment, Shelby dug into it and found Sabrina. The woman isn’t the sharpest tool. While she was padding her nest with bribes, she likely thought it was about her infidelity.”
Tori couldn’t believe it.
“Holy shit!”
“Yeah, and when she had Sabrina on the hook, she took down Wyatt Grant. He likely ran his mouth like no one’s business. He was being paid off by Sabrina’s husband to keep the farce going until he could get all his contracts in.”
“And Fredrick Raymond?” Beau asked. “How did he get sucked into this?”
“He’s the attorney for the city, and Sabrina was the accountant. Are you telling me that she didn’t know money was missing?”
“Freaking genius. They each began ratting the next person out, hoping to get off the hook—or inadvertently.”
“Yep. Fredrick likely got outed by Sabrina, and he offed himself.”
“We know Regina was involved because she had sex with Leon,” stated Claire.
“Here’s my educated guess,” Elizabeth offered. “Motel walls are really thin. Want to bet Shelby eavesdropped at first? That’s how she got them on the hook.”
Callen was proud of his wife. She may be emotionally and physically battered but she was still a Fed to her core.
“What about Xavier Lake?” Justin asked. “He was big into drugs.”
Tori followed Elizabeth’s lead. It was easy to figure it out now that she had the direction.
“That motel is a dive. I’m willing to bet that Xavier went there for drugs, she saw it, and then she may have even sold to him. We can’t explain the missing Oxycodone.”
Elizabeth grinned. “My guess too.”
Beckett shook his head. “The only person connected to all the people, as they connect to the location, is the guy who worked there. What was his name?” he asked.
Callen gave it to them. “David Harmon. He told me he didn’t see anything, but I’m willing to bet it’s a lie. He just ran the place for his dad.”
They didn’t get it.
“Why would he kill Shelby?” Beau asked. “For the money?”
“Run him, and we’ll find out. We went through every suspect, their spouses, and partners. The reason we didn’t find anything is we were looking at the wrong person. I want to know everything about him. I’m willing to bet that he’s involved. After all, he’s the only player not mentioned in this game to this point.”
“You’re willing to gamble Beau’s life on it?” Arsen Woods asked. The whole time she’d been talking, he was shocked.
By the result that she was coming up with, and her methodology. It was clear she worked hunting killers.
She thought like one.
> “Yes, on this one, I am. This is tied to that location.”
Roman and Mattie got to work. It took about three minutes with the government laptop to find something.
It beeped.
“Oh my god!”
Everyone looked at Tori.
“What?” Arsen asked.
“She’s right about everything she said.”
“How did you know?” he asked.
“She picked that sleazy hotel for a reason. Everything Shelby did was with purpose. She told Beau about me after she saw us on the news. She came to Delta falls to stay here and try to blackmail me, and she was blackmailing people all tied to that place.”
“But why?” Julian asked.
“Trey, I need you!”
The radio came to life.
“This is sketchy for me, but you were older. I need to ask you some questions.”
“SHOOT. SPROUT.”
“What base was dad stationed at while we were kids?” she asked.
“FORT. BENNING. YOU. WERE. THREE. I. WAS SEVEN. WE. WERE. THERE. A. FEW. YEARS.”
She turned the tablet around.
“I ran military records. Guess where David Harmon’s father was stationed at before he came here and bought that dive?” she inquired.
“The same place?” Julian asked.
“I. DON’T. RECOGNIZE. THE. NAME.”
Neither did Tori.
“Let me find something else,” she offered.
“I need more,” Detective Woods stated. “I can’t arrest him because his father was on the same base with about four thousand other soldiers.”
Tori kept typing.
No one interrupted her.
The tablet beeped again.
“His father is Lewis P Jackson, and he served in the same unit fighting with our father, Lawrence Christensen,” Tori offered.
“Really?” Julian asked.
“I. KNOW. THAT. NAME. DAD. AND. HE. WERE. FRIENDS. THEY WENT. TO. BARS. TO. GET. LAID. TOGETHER. MOM. HATED. THAT. MAN. HE. USED. TO. GET. DAD. DRUNK.”
This was beginning to look like it went years back and not just the last few weeks. Could this man be guilty?
“I don’t know why David would want to hurt Mom,” Beau asked. “Yeah, she didn’t like his father, but that’s no reason to kill her.”
“I’m going to bet she didn’t pick that motel without a reason,” Elizabeth offered. “Think about it. Everything points to her plotting. Why that location? I trust my gut, and my mother. Something is tied to it. We need to dig deeper.”
Kiss of Souls Page 48