Parker Security Complete Series

by Camilla Blake

  He wasn’t prying, though—I think he was genuinely curious. The thing about Drew was, though I’d known him for decades now, I didn’t really know him. None of us did, except maybe Jason, but even then, I wasn’t sure. I did know that Drew didn’t have a girlfriend, despite being in possession of those classically dark and handsome good looks—with a modern twist, though: he usually wore long-sleeve button-down shirts, only swapping them out during the hottest months of September and October, revealing arms covered in tattoos. That was interesting to me, though we’d never talked about it; I had asked him about some of the artwork before but he’d always been vague and would quickly change the subject. I also knew he didn’t have a girlfriend, and seemed perfectly happy living a solitary life. I couldn’t recall him ever dating anyone, though I knew that didn’t mean anything—he might have dated plenty of people, but just never shared with us.

  I had a feeling this wasn’t the case, though, particularly because he seemed rather curious about what was happening between Teagan and me, almost as if he wanted all the details so he could live vicariously through me.

  “So you found her passed out in an alley?” he asked, keeping his voice low. The receptionist was sitting at her desk, maybe fifteen or so feet from us, typing away on her computer.

  “Some guy picked up the phone and told me where she was. Fortunately.”

  “I’ll say.”

  “And we talked, and I think things are good between us now.” I hadn’t gone into all the details with Drew about what Meredith had done when I’d run into her, but he knew that she had been jocking me pretty hard, trying to get me to work with her.

  “That’s good,” Drew said, right as the receptionist stood up and told us that we could go back and get our meeting started with Kurt Hartley.

  Fortunately, the meeting was relatively brief, and Drew and Kurt did most of the talking, so I was free to sit there and think about everything that had happened. The fact that Meredith would post some bullshit like that was almost unbelievable, except that it had actually happened, and had almost royally fucked things up. I wanted to go give her a piece of my mind, but I knew that wasn’t going to change a damn thing. The best thing to do now would be to have nothing to do with her, and just be glad that I had been able to clear things up with Teagan.

  I called Teagan when I was done at the office for the day and asked if I could come by. She said yes, and sounded happy enough, but when I showed up at her place, I could tell that something was wrong. It wasn’t that she seemed distant so much as subdued, and at first I tried to write it off as the alcohol from earlier making her tired, but the longer we sat there on her couch, the more I got the feeling that this wasn’t the case at all.

  Probably, what it was, then, was that she was feeling regretful that she’d agreed to give things a second chance between us.

  “Is everything all right?” I asked. “Do you want to talk? If you feel like we’re getting back into things too quickly, I want you to be honest with me about that. Because I’m willing to take things as slowly as you’d like.”

  A confused look crossed her face. “What? Oh, no. That’s not it at all. No, I want things between us exactly like they are. That I’m happy about.”

  “Oh, okay. It just seems like something is bothering you and I wasn’t sure if maybe that was it.”

  “No...” She let her voice trail off, frowning, as she stared into the middle distance.

  “Is it... is it something you want to talk about?”

  She shook her head, but then started to talk. “I went and saw Meredith, which I’m beginning to realize was probably a mistake.”

  “Meredith? When? Today?”

  “After I got out of the bath. I was feeling a lot better, and I thought that it would be a good idea if I talked to her. You know, just a brief conversation. I wasn’t going over there trying to start shit or threaten her. I just wanted to get clarification about what had happened, because honestly, I felt confused about the whole thing. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”

  “No, I don’t think so. I take it that it didn’t go so well, though. Which really shouldn’t surprise you, Tea; she’s just that sort of person.”

  “It’s not that,” she said. “I mean, no, she basically laughed the whole thing off and then told me that she couldn’t even remember the conversation that we’d had previously where she’d said that she felt like we had this amazing connection, but... I ended up hitting her.”

  My jaw dropped. “You hit her?”

  “I didn’t mean to! Or, not that I didn’t mean to—it was just... it happened so fast. I can’t even remember exactly what it was she said to me that set me off, but it was something pretty awful. Something that made me realize she really doesn’t give a shit about anyone but herself, and I was a fool to think otherwise.”

  “So you hit her.”

  Teagan had a miserable look on her face, and I knew she felt genuinely bad about it.

  “I know it was the wrong thing to do. I’m not the sort of person who goes around hitting people. And it wasn’t even hard enough to leave a mark; it was more like a tap. On the side of her face. With my open hand.”

  She leaned forward, putting her face in her hands. I rubbed her back, though in my mind, I was wondering how the hell she could’ve let herself do something like that. Meredith was not worth it, not by a long shot.

  “And then she was threatening to call the police and report me for assault,” Teagan continued, her voice muffled. “So for all I know, the police are out looking for me.”

  I certainly wouldn’t put a move like that past Meredith, especially if she thought she could garner some more attention for herself, play the victim.

  “Do you think I should try to get back in touch with her? To apologize? I mean, I did say I was sorry and that hitting her was not the right thing to do. So there’s probably nothing else I can do at this point.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  “Do you think she’s already called the police?”

  “I really don’t know, Tea. I would hope not, especially if you didn’t actually hurt her. But... you never know. She might be really pissed that you did that.”

  “Oh, she is.” Teagan sat up. “I wish the whole thing hadn’t happened. I wish I had never even gone out to lunch with Elliott, because then I wouldn’t have had all that wine, and then none of this would be happening right now. But I know that’s stupid, to try and blame someone else, because there’s really only myself to blame.”

  I didn’t want to feel like a jealous boyfriend or anything, but the fact she’d gone to lunch with Elliott definitely hurt. Not that it really mattered. The bigger problem here was the fact that Meredith certainly was the sort of person who might call the police, and that would start a whole bunch of drama that really wasn’t necessary.

  “Listen,” I said, “I think the best thing to do right now is not to try to get back in touch with her. That might only instigate things even further. She’s definitely not someone I would want to cross, because she doesn’t exactly seem like the most sensible person.”

  “Could I go to jail?” she asked, a quiver in her voice.

  “Probably not. I mean, if you hit her as lightly as you say you did, there won’t be any marks, no physical evidence.”

  “So you’re saying I should deny it?”

  “No, I’m not saying that either. You should be honest. But in the grand scheme of things, this is a very minor thing, not something that they usually send people to jail over.”

  The words sounded good, and I wanted to believe them, but I also knew that Meredith could be vindictive—and who knew what she would stop at if she felt like getting Teagan into trouble.

  Chapter 25

  Teagan

  I had spent most of the past night tossing and turning, unable to really sleep because I kept imagining what my life would be like once I was locked up behind bars because I had assaulted Meredith.

  It was such a stupi
d thing to do, and I couldn’t believe that I had done it, now that I was replaying the scene over in my head. Ben had spent the night but left early to get to work, and I knew that I needed to get out and do something, anything, or I was going to go crazy playing out every possible prison scenario in my head.

  But before I went anywhere, I grabbed my phone and went online. I had a message from Amanda at Gemini Books saying that Sarah wanted another meeting, which was a good sign because she never requested a second meeting unless she was prepared to make an offer. The message barely registered, though. I would not have thought there would have been anything that could have gotten my mind off my possible assault charge. But there was. The headline, right there.

  San Francisco-based Instagram star shot dead

  My eyes read the rest of the article, not believing what I was seeing.

  Meredith was dead.

  I don’t know how many times I read the article, my eyes unwilling to believe the text right in front of them. I jumped when my phone started to ring. It was my sister, and when I picked up, all I could hear was her crying hysterically.

  “Teagan!” she wailed. “Oh, my God, I was camping up in Mendocino and just got back and heard the news about Meredith! Are you safe? Should you even stay in the city anymore?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I’m pretty shaken up over the whole thing. I can’t... I can’t really believe it. Any of it.”

  “I’ve missed you,” Aoife said, as her sobbing slowed. “And then this whole thing with Meredith just makes me realize how stupid it is that the two of us were fighting, and I don’t even remember what we were fighting about to begin with. Can we just put all this behind us?”

  “Of course,” I said. “You’re my sister. I know we’re going to fight sometimes, but that doesn’t change anything.”

  “I just can’t believe this is happening. It’s get closer and closer to home, don’t you think? I mean, you knew Cecily, but you were really friends with Meredith. I can’t stop freaking out over this, Tea. The whole situation just seems so dangerous. Is Ben there with you now? I think you should consider having a bodyguard full-time. Around the clock. I know you said you didn’t want that, but I’d say it’s pretty obvious that you wouldn’t be overreacting.”

  “I know,” I said. “The whole thing is just really hard to wrap my mind around.”

  “But Ben still goes with you when you go out—right?”

  “Um... sort of. We’re not actually working together anymore.”

  “What? Why the hell not?”

  “We... well... our relationship has kind of moved in a different direction. One that wouldn’t allow him to also work for me.”

  There was a pause. “Are you saying that you’re seeing each other?”

  “Yeah. We are.”

  “Oh, my God! That’s great. I’m so happy to hear that—I really needed to hear some good news.”

  “Thanks,” I said, deciding to leave the part out about what Meredith had done with him. Not that it mattered now anyway, because Meredith was dead, which I still couldn’t believe. “It’s all still very new, but we’re happy together.”

  “I hope it works out for you. Oh, and before I forget, you should give Mom a call at some point. I know that she heard about Meredith’s death, but you know how Mom is—she’s trying to pretend like it’s not a big deal. And you know she’s not going to reach out first to you.”

  “I’ll call her,” I said. “I was really just giving both of you guys some space; it’s not like I never want to speak to either of you again. In fact—” Before I could finish my sentence, though, the doorbell rang. I wasn’t expecting anyone, but maybe it was Ben; maybe he had finished up early at the work meeting. “Hold on one sec,” I said to Aoife. I went over to the intercom and pressed the button.

  “Yes?” I said.

  “San Francisco Police Department. We’re looking for Teagan Kelly.”

  My heart stopped and a tingle of fear shot down my spine. Oh, shit. This was probably not going to be good.

  “Yes, that’s... that’s me,” I said. “Hold on one moment, please. I’ll be right down.”

  I put the phone back up to my ear. “Aoife,” I said, “I’ve got to go. The police are here.”

  “The police?”

  “Um, yeah. I’m not sure what they want, but I need to go down and talk to them.”

  “Okay. Call me when you’re done.”

  I tried to calm my nerves as I went down to let the officers in. They weren’t in uniform; instead the two men, both middle-aged and stern-looking, wore dark suits and had sunglasses pushed up, resting on the tops of their heads.

  “Come on in,” I said, holding the door open.

  They stepped inside, looking around.

  “You’re Teagan Kelly?” the taller of the two asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m Detective Atherton and this is Detective Ford.”

  I shook both of their hands, hoping they didn’t notice how sweaty my palms had gotten. “Would you like to come up?” I asked.

  They looked at each other briefly and then Detective Atherton nodded briskly. “Yes,” he said, “I think that would be a good idea.”

  My heart raced as we went into my apartment, and my thoughts seemed to be going a mile a minute. Was it a mistake that I had let them in? Should I have asked to see some sort of identification first? Should I call Ben and have him come over?

  But the barrage of questions left me feeling paralyzed, so I simply led them into my apartment, leaving the door slightly ajar, as if that would somehow help anything.

  “We just had a few questions for you about Meredith Turner.”

  “Okay,” I said. “I know that she’s dead.” Was that stupid to say? I wanted to put that out there right away, so they wouldn’t think that I was playing dumb.

  “That’s correct,” Detective Atherton said. “When was the last time you saw Meredith?”

  “Um... recently. I don’t... I don’t remember the exact day, but I had gone over to her place.”

  “And what was the nature of your visit?”

  “I... um... I...” It seemed mortifying to now be confronted with the fact that I had to come clean to these police officers about what I had been doing over at Meredith’s. Detective Atherton kept his eyes on me, but I could see Detective Ford out of the corner of my eye, looking around, taking inventory, as if he thought he might find something incriminating. I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” I said. “This whole thing has been such a shock. Meredith and I weren’t even that close, but still... it’s very upsetting.”

  “You weren’t that close? Even though you went over to her apartment?”

  “Well, the reason I went over there... This is probably going to sound kind of stupid, but... I went over there because she had posted this photograph online, of her and my boyfriend, and they were kissing.”

  Detective Ford turned away from the Klee painting he’d been examining. “She was kissing your boyfriend? And you went over there to confront her?”

  “No,” I said. “It wasn’t like that.”

  “What happened when you went over there?”

  “I need to back up a little,” I said. “I need you to understand what happened before I went over there. And that was that I got really upset with my boyfriend, Ben, and we got into a huge fight, because I thought that he had gone out and done this behind my back. We only just started going out. But he had just happened to run into Meredith that night and she threw herself on him and kissed him, and one of the people she was with must’ve taken a picture. So I cleared all that up with Ben, but I went over to Meredith’s because I wanted to talk to her. Just talk to her, not confront her. Because we had hung out prior to that and she’d told me how she thought we had this connection and that we should be good friends. So I just went over there to find out why someone who considered me a good friend would do something like that.”

  Detective Atherton raised an eyebrow. “And...?”
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  “And...” I could feel my face flush. I would tell them the truth of course, but it was still painful, still embarrassing to admit. “And she told me she didn’t remember the conversation at all and that basically she considered herself better than me.”

  The detective nodded. “I see. Was that the extent of your conversation?”

  “Yeah, that was pretty much it.” I paused. “Well. No, it wasn’t it, actually. She said something to me. I can’t even remember at this point. But it was cruel, and I hit her across the face. Very lightly—it didn’t even leave a mark. And I know that was absolutely the wrong thing to do, and I apologized. But that did happen.”

  Needles of anxiety started pinging around in my stomach and I shifted my weight. Had I just said the wrong thing? Should I have kept that part to myself? I knew that I had nothing to do with Meredith’s death, but to these detectives, I might sound like a prime suspect. Meredith and I weren’t getting along. She had kissed my boyfriend. I had hit her.

  “I know that probably doesn’t sound very good,” I said. “But I want to be honest with you. And I want you to know that it was wrong of me to do that, and I feel horrible that that was my last interaction with her.”

  The two detectives exchanged a look, which was difficult for me to read. Did they believe me? Did they think that I was trying to hide something?

  “And then I left,” I said. “After all of that. She was having company over anyway, so there was no point in me staying any longer.”

  “Yes, Craig Hurst. We’ve already spoken to him, and he was the one who mentioned that you and Meredith had gotten into some sort of altercation.”

  “I wouldn’t even really call it an altercation. She didn’t hit me back or anything. And, like I said, it was really nothing more than a tap. But that was it. That was the last time I saw her.”

  And now I would never see her again. Because she was dead. And because she was dead, I had these police officers, in my apartment, interrogating me. Everything felt so surreal that I expected I’d wake up at any moment and realize this was all a dream.

  “Did Meredith ever mention anyone who might be giving her any trouble at all?”