by Mark Stone
With that, the video ended.
“Lord in heaven,” Boomer said from beside me. “Is this for real? Is it possible that this is actually true?”
“I don’t know,” I said, staring at the now blank screen. “But, if it is, then that means we’re in so much deeper than we thought.” I looked over at Emma. “And she’s in more danger than she can imagine.”
“No,” Boomer said, standing up, his eyes filled with fire. “There’s no way something like this has been going on for years without us knowing about it.” He shook his head. “Without me knowing about it.”
I took a deep breath and looked at my friend. “Boom, I hate to tell you this, but I’m sure there are more than a few things going on in this town that we don’t know about.”
“Someone would have come to us,” Boomer said. “Someone would have said something.”
“You sure about that?” I asked. “You heard the video. It said if someone came to us, then someone they loved would die. I’m honestly surprised Emma came.”
“I don’t have anyone,” she answered quickly. “No family. Honestly, even the ladies I went with tonight are just acquaintances. I don’t have anyone to love, at least not enough to throw the chance of you guys being able to save my life away.”
Something about what she said hung uneasily with me, but I decided to shelf it for later.
“Don’t worry,” I said, nodding at the woman. “We’re going to figure out who’s behind this, and we’re going to make sure you’re safe.” I looked at Boomer. “Whatever it takes.”
He nodded at me, answering. “Whatever it takes.”
Chapter 19
“Will you stop fidgeting?” Justin Knight, my friend from Chicago who had moved down here to open up his own law firm asked me, shooting me a half amused and half irritated look as we pulled into the parking lot of the tux shop. “Everything is going to be fine?”
I sighed heavily, opening up the passenger door of his car and stepping out into the parking lot. The weather was beautiful today, just hot enough so that you really appreciated the breeze coming off the Gulf. I took a deep breath of Florida air and looked across the top of the car at my friend.
“I’d be a lot more confident in that if I could handle it,” I admitted, placing my hands palm down on the top of his car.
“Yeah, yeah,” he answered, leering at me. “I’m sure you’d rather be throwing yourself in front of a bullet trying to protect a complete stranger, but it’s not going to happen.” He looked up at the tux shop and grinned. “We’ve got a wedding to dress for.”
I pushed off the car and started toward the shop. “You’re way too excited about this,” I muttered.
“Of course, I’m excited,” Justin scoffed. “Weddings are great places to meet women. They’re even better places to meet lonely women.”
“Haven’t you met enough lonely women lately?” I asked, looking over at him to make sure he was keeping pace with me. Since his breakup with Charlotte, Justin had been cavorting with more than a few of the tourists who passed through Naples this time of year. Not one to act with prejudice, he’d also seen a couple of locals, though nothing seemed to stick.
“Is there ever enough?” he asked, and something about the way he said it irked me.
“Of course, there is,” I said, stuffing my hands in my pockets, leaving the edge evident on my words.
“Sure,” he scoffed again. “For you, I mean. You’re still in that blush of love thing. It’s not so easy for the rest of us.”
“Nothing about being in love is easy,” I answered. “Rebecca and I aren’t kids. We’re not with each other because it makes things run smoother. We’re with each other because we made the decision to do the hard work of building a relationship.” I shook my head. “And because neither of us can imagine ever being with anyone else.”
“See, blush of love,” he said, opening the door of the tux shop and stepping back, allowing me to enter first. “It does seem nice though,” he continued. “I wouldn’t mind experiencing that feeling again.”
I stepped into the tux shop to find the small one room area completely empty.
“We’re a little early,” Justin said. “I called the tailor before we left and he told me that if he wasn’t out here when we came in, he was probably working with someone in the back room. We’re supposed to sit here and wait.” He pointed to a pair of chairs near the far wall. “He said something about some scotch we could help ourselves to.” He smiled at me. “So that doesn’t suck.”
“Definitely not,” I said, walking over and plopping down on one of the chairs.
A few seconds later, Justin followed suit, having found the scotch and poured us a glass each.
“Thanks,” I said, sipping the drink and setting it down on the table beside me. “Is that what happened with Charlotte?” I asked, feeling a little uneasy as I brought up the conversational topic. “You didn’t have that feeling?”
Justin took a drink of his own scotch, a much bigger drink than I’d taken myself. Clapping the near empty glass against the table, he looked over at me.
“We had the feeling,” he said, wiping his mouth. “I mean, I had the feeling. I’m pretty sure she had it too. At least, that’s what I thought. I loved that woman so much it hurt sometimes actually.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I decided it was time to ask him the question I hadn’t asked either him or Charlotte since they broke up.
“Then what was the problem?” I asked. “If you liked each other, why did you break up?” I blinked hard. “Was it Isaac? Were you not ready for that kind of responsibility?”
“Of course not!” he said loudly, sitting straighter. “I loved that little boy. Hell, I still do. I’d have been thrilled to be his father.”
Now, Justin was a lawyer and, as such, it was his job to spin things a certain way. He had a knack for making the truth sound any way he wanted it to. Still, I knew the man well, well enough to know when he was putting on. Right now, though, talking about Isaac- I knew he wasn’t putting on. I knew the things he said had come from the heart and that they were true.
“He deserves one,” I said, nodding at my friend. “A father, I mean.”
“I know,” Justin said. “And I thought I could be that for him. I mean, that’s not the only reason I was with Charlotte. Honestly, it’s not even the biggest one. She’s an amazing woman and, when I bought the ring, I never-”
He stopped short, his face dropping a little. He had said too much, and he knew it. Of course, I couldn’t unhear that, and I certainly wasn’t going to let something like it go.
“You proposed?” I asked, my hand tightening on the arm of the chair.
“I did,” he said, sighing loudly.
“My, God. I had no idea,” I admitted.
“That’s because she said no,” he answered. “Otherwise, you’d have definitely heard about it by now.”
I slumped in my chair. “Why would she do that? She loved you. I know she did. She told me as much.”
“Then she didn’t tell you all of it,” Justin answered, shuffling in his seat.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means you should talk to her about it,” Justin said. “I can’t really give away her secrets, especially not anymore, especially not to you.”
I narrowed my eyes. What did that mean, not to me?
I was going to ask when the door at the end of the other wall opened. The tailor walked out and behind him, smiling and laughing, was a man I recognized. I had never really spoken to the man, but I knew him by reputation. I knew him from the pleas Lilith Mayberry had cried out to me before she lost her son.
The man standing before me was Dennis Chambers, the son of our mayor and Gary Mayberry’s chief political opponent that night. He was also Joel Mayberry’s best friend and the man Lilith swore to me was responsible for the loss of her son.
More than that, he was wearing a sling around his shoulder, like he had been hurt, like he had
been shot, and it was in the exact same place I’d shot the biker the night before.
Chapter 20
“Dillon,” Justin said, staring at me as I stared out the window, watching Dennis Chambers hop into his yellow corvette and speed away one handed. “Dillon, what are you doing?”
What I was doing, as it turned out, was putting together the pieces of a puzzle that seemed to lay itself flat out in front of me. This couldn’t have been a coincidence. The man Lilith Mayberry swore to me was responsible for the death of her son just so happens to sport the same injury I inflicted on the mystery biker the exact same day Lilith swore to me her son was alive. He was involved in this. Dennis Chambers had been on that bike. I’d have bet my badge on it, and I was going to have to move quickly if I wanted to find proof.
“I have to go,” I said, swallowing hard and looking back at him.
His eyes went wide and he held his hand out toward the tailor. “I don’t understand,” Justin answered.
“There’s a break in the case I’m working on,” I explained.
Justin turned to the tailor, said something in Italian, and nodded in the man’s direction. Grabbing my arm, Justin pulled me outside of the building, closing the front door behind us.
“Are you out of your mind?” he asked, practically spitting at me. “Do you have any idea how many strings I had to pull to get you an appointment with Nicholas?”
“I’m sure I don’t care,” I said. “I mean, I appreciate it, but I have work to do.”
“Actually, you don’t,” he said. “I talked to Boomer. You’re not on this case. In fact, you’re not on any case, and do you know why that is? Because you’re getting married in forty eight hours.”
“Forty-eight hours is a long time,” I said, nodding at my friend.
“Is it?” Justin balked. “Doesn’t seem like it, especially considering the fact that you still haven’t been fitted for your damn tux.”
“I’ve been busy,” I said, trying to explain why I’d even put the fitting off for so long.
“I get that,” Justin said. “Your job is important but your damn wedding is, too. You just spent ten minutes telling me how great your relationship with Rebecca is.”
“It is great,” I answered.
“Then prove it,” he said. “Put your relationship first. Put this damn wedding first. I get what’s going on. You shot some sonofabitch in the shoulder and now this sonofabitch walks in here with a sling. You don’t think it’s a coincidence. It’s probably not, but do you know something? He’ll still be in a sling in an hour. Better than that, he’ll still be in a sling if you call Boomer and get him to put someone else on the job.” Justin shook his head. “Preferably someone who isn’t getting hitched in the next two days.”
“This is important,” I said, taking a deep breath.
“I’m sure it is, but you’re not the only detective on the force,” Justin answered. “You’re not even the only great detective on the force. Lord knows I’ve dealt with more than a couple since I’ve opened my practice. How about you have a little bit of faith in them?”
I blinked at the man, letting what he’d just said wash over me. Maybe he had a point. Maybe I’d allowed this to worm its way too deeply into my mind.
“Okay,” I finally said. “I mean, I guess you might have a point.”
“Of course, I have a point,” he scoffed, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and guiding me back inside for my very sought after appointment with Nicholas. “I always have a point.” He shook his head. “Thank God for me.”
While his hand was around my shoulder, mine was doing something else entirely, something he’d hate me for in just a few seconds.
“Thank God for you, indeed,” I said, spinning around and walking back out of the tux shop. Nicholas might have been a hard appointment to get, but he was going to have to take a rain check if he wanted to dress me for my wedding.
“What the hell, dude?” Justin asked, pushing through the door and back out into the parking lot. “You said you were going to- Wait. You took my keys, didn’t you?”
He patted his pants pockets as I held the lifted keys up for him to see, jingling them as I walked toward his car.
“Damnit, Dil. I made some really good points there,” he said.
“You did,” I admitted. “You missed one though and that’s the fact that doing my job doesn’t mean putting anyone or anything in front of the woman I love. Hell, half the reason I fell for Rebecca was because she got that, because she understood that sometimes I had to do what I had to do.” I nodded. “Just like she does.”
“There are other cops out there,” Justin reminded me, though I could tell from the tone of his voice and the fact that he’d stopped walking that he had basically given up on trying to talk sense into me.
“But no other culprits,” I said. “At least not where Emma is concerned. If I’m right about Dennis Chambers being there last night, then that means the rules of the game state that he’s the person who’s going to come after Emma again. I have to keep him close. I have to know where he’s going right now and, if possible, I need his help to get to the bottom of it.”
“So, just another Tuesday then?” Justin asked, shaking his head at me.
“You know me,” I said. “The job’s never done.”
Justin scoffed. “Lucky for you, we’re about the same size. Otherwise, Rebecca would be marrying a naked groom the day after tomorrow.”
I shrugged at him as I slid into his car. “Like you said, thank God for you.”
I turned the ignition and tore out of the parking lot, ready to chase down Dennis Chambers and make him talk.
Chapter 21
I tore down the road in a car I would have never bought for myself. While it was true Justin had done well for himself since moving down to Naples, he had made the bulk of his money up in Chicago. In a place like that, where heinous crime is as much of an everyday occurrence as the sunrise, being a defense attorney can be quite profitable. To that end, Justin had the sort of nest egg that allowed him a Mercedes every once in a while, as well an apartment not too far off of where my brother lived.
He was rich, more or less. He was one of the good ones though, which was why I knew he wouldn’t hold what just happened against me. At least, not after a beer or two at Rocco’s.
I kept my eyes peeled for Dennis Chamber’s car, a gaudy yellow sport-ish thing that would have stood out on the streets of Monte Carlo, let alone here.
The streets were crowded today, mostly with weekend travelers leaving their vacation getaways and milling back to the workday lives they’d left behind. It was strange but, in the last few years, people had taken to going back home on Tuesdays as opposed to Mondays. Maybe they all thought they could beat the traffic by waiting an extra day, or maybe they just wanted to steer clear of the pressure cooker existences that drove them down to paradise in the first place a little longer. Either way, I understood it. Of course, that didn’t mean I liked it.
With the roads jam packed like this, seeing Dennis was going to be difficult. While his car stood out, it would have been simpler had I not been surrounded by near gridlock traffic at every conceivable angle.
“And it’s not even summer,” I muttered, practically punching the steering wheel. My mind was running much faster than the traffic, trying to deduce where someone I knew practically nothing about might be going. As it turned out, I wouldn’t have to wonder that much longer. As I turned toward the main highway, I saw the bright yellow of Dennis’ fancy car pulled along the shoulder.
Throwing my blinker on, I forced my way across the lanes and onto the shoulder. This being Justin’s car, I wasn’t able to turn on my flashers. I did, however, turn my emergency blinkers on as I pulled to a stop behind the car. Opening the door, I started toward the car, yelling loudly as to be heard over the traffic.
“Mr. Chambers, I’m Detective Dillon Storm. We need to talk.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I saw the man throw hi
mself from his car and dart into the woods alongside the road’s shoulder.
“Damnit,” I muttered, knowing I would have to follow suit.
The thing about Florida is that the woods are never really woods. They’re more like swamps that sort of look like woods the minute you get inside of them, and I wasn’t keen on the idea of sloshing around the swamp right now.
Still, that was the job, so I didn’t hesitate to run along after him.
Breaking into the swamp, I wasted no time in finding Dennis. This wasn’t my first time bogging around in a place like this, but it definitely looked like it was his. He was trudging along slowly, as though he’d just found himself running through quicksand.
“Stop, Mr. Chambers!” I yelled in his direction.
He turned to me, his eyes wide and his mouth open. “You can’t be here!” He shrieked. “Do you have any idea what happens if you’re here right now?”
“What, Mr. Chambers?” I asked. “What happens now? Tell me what’s going on.”
“If I do that, then I’m really as good as dead,” he said, looking down at his shoulder in the sling. He looked up into the sky and shouted, as though he was talking to some omnipresent being. “I didn’t say anything! Whatever’s happening here, it isn’t because of me!”
“This is the Game, right?” I asked, glaring at him. “You’re involved in the Game. Emma Anderson is your mark.”
He shook his head wildly. “I didn’t say any of that. I didn’t tell you any of that.” He looked up into the sky again. “I didn’t tell him anything!”