Death Takes a Ride (The Cate Kinkaid Files Book #3): A Novel

by Lorena McCourtney

  “Hi, Artie. Yeah, some rain.”

  If she thought surprising him with the name would send him into a tailspin, she was mistaken.

  “Ah, the busy private investigator.” Andy dipped his head in mock deference. “Hard at work snooping in everyone’s business.”

  “What’s that mean?” Lily demanded. Her eyes narrowed as if she was ready to do battle with someone, but she hadn’t decided on the appropriate target yet.

  “She turned up the fact that I use a different name now than I used to,” Andy said to Lily.

  “You never told me that!”

  “It’s no big deal.” Andy gave an oversized shrug in the oversized raincoat. Was he hiding something in there? The raincoat could conceal anything from a jumbo rolling pin to an assault rifle. Cate calmed herself with the thought that Andy hadn’t known she’d be here, so no reason he’d have come armed.

  “When I was a kid down in Sacramento, I was Artie,” Andy went on. He looked at Lily, not Cate. “My mom made me use my stepdad’s last name. Now I use my middle name, Andy, and my real last name, Timmons. Arthur Andrew Timmons. My stepdad was a jerk,” he added, as if that explained everything.

  Apparently it did to Lily. She turned to Cate with a triumphant smile. “See?”

  “Was that the name you were using when you—” Cate broke off, because she didn’t know for sure what he’d done. She tossed in a generic substitute. “When you got in trouble with the law down there?”

  “Who says I got in trouble with the law?” The mustache wiggled as Andy smiled. “My mom had enough of those my-son-is-student-of-the-month stickers to cover every bumper in the neighborhood.”

  “Was down in Sacramento where you were friends with Mace Jackson?” Cate asked.

  “I knew a lot of guys down there. Surprising how many of them have moved up here. God’s country, isn’t that what they call it?”

  “How about somebody named Tuffy who buys and sells bikes?”

  “It’s none of your business who Andy’s friends are,” Lily snapped. Andy nodded pleased agreement at this show of support.

  “What was the stepfather’s name that you used?” Cate asked.

  “You don’t have to answer her questions,” Lily said. “She’s just a private detective, not anyone important.”

  “I guess I won’t answer then.”

  Even if she wasn’t getting answers, Cate doggedly kept on. She tried for a conversational tone with the next question. “So, you’ve made a deal with Halliday on your old bike?”

  “Is that what he says?”

  “He says he hasn’t even talked to you.”

  Something flickered in Andy’s dark eyes, but all he did was shrug again. “I guess his memory is going bad, then. You know how it is with those old guys. Hey, babe, isn’t it time for your break?”

  “Yeah. I was thinking, it’s too wet for anything cold. Let’s get some coffee from the machine. And donuts. Those good cream-filled ones. We can sit in the back room.” Lily gave Cate a glance and defiant toss of head to make sure she knew she wasn’t included.

  “Sounds good to me,” Andy said.

  Lily had a parting shot for Cate. “I’ll be sure to send you that postcard, so watch for it.”

  Cate tightened her grip on her plastic bag. Outside, she zapped her umbrella open and headed for her car with the unpleasant feeling that she’d just been outmaneuvered. By weasely little Andy.

  The wind suddenly grabbed her umbrella and whipped it inside out. An appropriate ending for the meeting she’d just had. She tossed the ruined umbrella in a trash barrel and slogged on through the rain and wind to her car.

  Cate tried to call Mitch later, but he didn’t answer and she decided he’d probably turned everything off. Maybe he’d even gone to bed this early. She also called Candy and told her that Marilee was living in Portland, doing fine with some creative work for an interior designer, and “seeing someone.” Candy asked if she was getting anywhere identifying who’d sent the threatening note.

  “I’m working on some leads.”

  Except those leads had fizzled into dead ends, Cate decided glumly by the time the conversation with Candy ended. She was reasonably certain Andy Timmons had a significant misdeed of some kind in his past. She took time now to search the internet, but without knowing the last name he used in California, she might as well be surfing a vat of noodle soup for information.

  All she had was suspicions. That Andy had a closer relationship with Mace Jackson than he was admitting. That he was the top-rated candidate for authorship of the threatening note. That he had deadly plans for Matt Halliday. And if she got in his way, maybe deadly plans for her too.

  But she hadn’t a shred of evidence to prove anything. Should she warn Halliday anyway? Or would it look as if she was using busywork to pad the bill for PI charges but not actually accomplishing anything?

  The phone rang while she was trying to decide. Uncle Joe. Rain was hammering the coast too, but he and Rebecca weren’t coming back to Eugene any sooner than planned. They were busy eating crab fresh-caught that day and playing pinochle with some new friends down from British Columbia.

  Cate didn’t give Uncle Joe any details of the case. It was Kinkaid Investigations now, her responsibility, not his. But she’d made up her mind by the time the call ended that she couldn’t keep her suspicions to herself. Even if she didn’t have concrete facts, she had to warn Halliday that Andy Timmons may have sent the note. Andy could be planning to use the old bike to maneuver Halliday into some dangerous situation, such as getting him alone somewhere, without arousing his suspicions.

  Cate got back on her computer and started a report for Halliday. She used her notebook for details about her trip to Salem, although she left out more details than she put in. Nothing about staying overnight with Candy, nothing about Candy’s later call with the phone number for Marilee. She tried to decipher what she’d written on a restaurant napkin at the Midnight Logger last night, but wrinkles and dampness had turned the words into some alien language. They read as if she’d been drinking something stronger than coffee. Dsrik?? must have meant something when she scribbled it on the napkin, but she now had no idea what.

  She ended the report with an admission that she had no proof Andy Timmons was dangerous, but she suspected he’d sent the threatening note. She added that at this point she had no immediate leads to follow, and, a question. Did he want her to stop the investigation now or keep digging?

  30

  On Monday morning, Cate called H&B to see if Halliday was in the office today. The report she had for him was likely a final wrap-up, and she wanted to deliver it to him in person and emphasize the danger Andy Timmons possibly presented. Radine said he’d gone up to the Salem branch early that morning, but he should be in sometime after lunch.

  Cate used the morning to begin the process of officially setting herself up in business as Kinkaid Investigations. She applied for a business license and talked to Uncle Joe’s agent about insurance and bond. She ordered new business cards. She changed the phone listing to the new business name. She called the shooting range and made an appointment with an instructor for Friday morning.

  She headed for H&B about 2:00, but Halliday still hadn’t returned. Radine said he was hauling a car down from Salem.

  Radine eyed the envelope sticking out of Cate’s purse. “If you have something for Matt, you can leave it with me.”

  “Maybe he’ll come in before I leave. I’d like to talk to him for a minute. Is everything okay with Mr. Halliday?”

  “He hasn’t mentioned anyone trying to kill him lately, if that’s what you’re asking. Though I think the threat in that note is kind of getting to him.” Radine sounded resentful, as if the note were somehow Cate’s fault and Cate wasn’t doing enough to protect her boss.

  Hey, I’m an investigator, not a bodyguard, Cate mentally protested. But that silent protest didn’t do anything to assuage the guilt she felt for not coming up with information solid enou
gh to put someone behind bars for conspiracy in Kane’s murder. And save Halliday from being targeted by that person also.

  “I told him I thought he should take some time off and go on a vacation way off somewhere,” Radine added. “But you know Matt. Work, work, work.”

  Cate nodded. “A vacation would be a good idea, considering all the strain he’s been under.” It would also get him out of this danger area. “Okay if I go out and talk to Shirley for a minute?”

  “Sure.”

  Shirley looked up from her computer when Cate pushed through the door to the warehouse. “Hey, Cate! I haven’t seen you for a while.”

  Shirley had gotten her hair cut, taking away most of the wiry curl and leaving a surprisingly flattering short pixie style. She hadn’t changed the boots, however. They still looked capable of flattening old cars.

  “Everything going okay?” Cate asked. “You never did get to a Fit and Fabulous session, but your hair looks great.”

  “I decided fit and fabulous was too much of a stretch for me. But I went to church yesterday.” Shirley laughed. “Don’t look so shocked. It isn’t like I took a UFO ride with a herd of little green aliens.”

  “How did this happen?”

  “Jerry asked if I’d like to go with him. He goes every Sunday. Reads the Bible too. So I went.” With a shrug of real or feigned indifference, she added, “I didn’t have anything else to do yesterday morning.”

  “Are you going again?”

  “I might.”

  “Okay, I’m all the way astonished,” Cate admitted. “About you and Jerry both. You’re, um, dating?”

  “Dating? Oh no. We just kind of, you know, hang out together.”

  “Isn’t that what kids call it these days?”

  “I’m no kid. And I sure don’t have any plans for getting involved with someone as young as Jerry,” Shirley stated.

  “I didn’t plan to be a private investigator either, but here I am. God had different plans for me. Maybe he has different plans for you too.” Especially considering the church-and-Bible surprise.

  Shirley frowned. “Sometimes it feels as if God might be messing around in my life,” she grumbled.

  “Jerry sounds like a pretty good guy. And he isn’t all that young.”

  “I remember eight-track tape players and shag rugs. He doesn’t.”

  “I do too,” a male voice behind them said. Jerry grinned, a smile that lit up his plain face. “I remember reading about them in a history book. They came along about the time the wheel was invented, didn’t they?”

  Shirley made a face at him, but then they both laughed. She might not have plans for getting “involved” with Jerry, but Cate could see that he had a different agenda. And, apparently, patience. That brought a smile to her face too. Yep, God was “messing around” here, at work in Shirley’s life. Jerry’s too.

  Way to go, Lord.

  On her way through the front reception area, Cate gave Radine the report to pass along to Halliday. She got a call from Mitch just as she was scooting into her car in the parking lot. He and Lance had to make an unexpected trip up to Portland for an evening conference with several of the top men in the company buying Computer Dudes. They’d be staying overnight for a breakfast meeting the following morning.

  “What about Clancy?”

  “Actually, I’m calling from your place, wondering where you were. Could he stay with you? I can leave him here in the SUV because we’re taking Lance’s car to Portland, and you can take him inside when you get here. If he and Octavia have territorial disagreements, you can put him out here for the night.”

  “Sure. That’s fine.”

  “Thanks. Lance just got here. So we’re off. I’ll talk to you later.”

  The SUV was parked in front of the garage doors when Cate got home. She let Clancy out and snapped a leash on his collar before taking him inside. He and Octavia usually settled into a wary truce if they were around each other for a while, but the first few minutes of each encounter were always tense as a Hatfield and McCoy confrontation.

  Today they went through the ceremony of stiff-legged dog and porcupine-furred cat, but Octavia claimed the window seat while Clancy was still leashed, and he had to settle for a throw rug near the sofa. Octavia probably wished she had the hands to make a kid-face of thumbs in ears, fingers flapping, but she could use the anatomy she had to do queenly-smug quite effectively.

  When the rain let up temporarily, Cate took Clancy for a walk around the neighborhood. Usually walking with Clancy was fun, but this time a new thought nibbled her nerves. While Mitch and Lance were in conference with the company, would he accept their offer of the job in Seattle? Or would that black eye and lumpy jaw make a difference to them? Mitch wouldn’t volunteer details, of course, but if they specifically asked, she knew he wouldn’t lie about the injuries. Would they rescind the offer? That gave her mixed feelings. She didn’t want him to take the job and move off to Seattle. But neither did she want his trying to help her at the Midnight Logger result in the loss of the job opportunity.

  The rain had apparently been gathering strength for a new assault, and raindrops bounced off the concrete by the time she climbed the steep driveway up to the house with Clancy. Back at the computer, she looked for information on a new case, finding a witness to an accident for an insurance company. Not exciting work, but the kind that paid a PI’s bills.

  The landline phone rang about 7:00. Cate jumped to answer it—Mitch?—before remembering if it was Mitch, he’d have called her cell phone.

  But, for the very first time, she didn’t stumble when she briskly answered the call the new way. “Kinkaid Investigations, Cate Kinkaid speaking.”

  “Cate, this is Lily. I guess you, uh, remember me?”

  A snarky question about “were the coffee and donuts good?” came to mind, but Cate managed a neutral tone when she said, “Yes, of course.”

  “I don’t know if I should be calling you, but, uh, something’s come up.”

  “Is there something I can help you with?” Maybe we could get together and write a Dear John letter to Andy?

  “The thing is, I heard Andy talking on the phone a little while ago. I don’t know for sure who he was talking to, but he asked the person if he had the cash money. So I’m thinking it was that Halliday, about buying the bike. And then, a few minutes ago, Andy left.”

  “Did he take the bike with him?”

  “No, it’s still sitting here.”

  In the middle of the living room floor.

  Was this Andy’s plan to set Halliday up so he could carry out the threat in that note? Had Halliday read her report yet about possible danger from Andy?

  “Did this person call Andy or did Andy make the call?”

  “I don’t know. I was taking a shower, and when I came out, he was on the phone.”

  “Is he meeting Halliday somewhere?”

  “I don’t know for sure that it was Halliday he was talking to. I mean, maybe Andy’s selling pot again, and he was checking to make sure the buyer had cash.” Lily’s ambivalent feelings about Andy, half-protective, half-accusing, were surfacing again. “It seems kind of strange that if this is about selling the bike, why didn’t he take it with him?”

  Good question. Halliday surely wasn’t going to hand over a hefty amount of cash without getting the bike on the spot. She wouldn’t if she were selling something to Andy.

  “Then the guy must have said something about meeting him in a warehouse, because Andy said, yeah, he’d meet him in the warehouse. And then he sounded like he was kind of teasing or something because he said, ‘Not eager to introduce me to your friends at a barbecue or fancy dinner, huh?’ But I have no idea what that was about or what warehouse he was talking about.”

  Cate didn’t know what the “friends” taunt meant. But she had a good idea of the warehouse where they were meeting.

  “He went in your pickup?”

  “We don’t have anything else to drive.”

  �
�Anything more?”

  “I can’t think of anything. The guy said something else and Andy said, ‘Yeah, yeah, I can do that.’ You can’t tell much when you’re only hearing half a conversation,” Lily fretted.

  “So what, exactly, are you worried about with this?” Cate asked bluntly.

  Long pause before Lily finally said, “I’m not sure. When Andy left, he gave me a big kiss and said to start packing. We could take off for Nevada right away, because we were into some big bucks now. Or maybe we’d take a vacation in Hawaii first. Big bucks,” she repeated, but she sounded apprehensive, not as if she were looking forward to packing for Nevada or vacationing in Hawaii.

  “Lily, I really don’t think you should go off to Hawaii or Nevada or—”

  “I know what you think about Andy!” Lily flared. Cate heard her take a scratchy breath before she went on. “The thing is, I think he took a gun with him. But I don’t know why he’d take a gun to sell that stupid old bike.”

  Cate remembered a finger jabbed in her back. “A real gun?”

  “Yeah. A real gun. He keeps it in the bedroom. He doesn’t know I know it’s there, but I do. It’s duct-taped to the underside of the bed. Except I looked and now it’s gone. I-I’m scared. I’m afraid Andy is going to … do something to someone.” Pause while she struggled with those mixed feelings again. “I’m afraid someone might do something to Andy.”

  Either was possible, Cate agreed.

  “Sometimes I feel like I don’t know Andy at all. I mean, he’d never even told me about the different name thing. Or that he knew that Mace Jackson.”

  “Maybe you should call the police.”

  “And tell them what?” Lily flared. “That my boyfriend left the apartment, and maybe he has a gun? That maybe he’s meeting someone about selling a motorcycle, although he might be out there selling pot to someone in a warehouse somewhere? Or, for all I know, maybe selling the gun.”

  Okay, not a report likely to send the police scurrying to find Andy and slap handcuffs on him. Yet Matt Halliday could be in serious danger if he thought he was meeting Andy about buying the bike and Andy had a much darker purpose in mind. She’d gotten to the point where she knew enough about Matt Halliday that she didn’t really like him. There was a dark side to both his personal and business relationships. But her personal and professional standards said she couldn’t let him walk into an ambush.