Mai Tais and Murder
Page 18
“I bet if we ran a test, it would match Mr. Maxfield’s dental records here,” Maka said, muscle in his jaw clenching.
“There will be no need for tests, Detective. I am confessing.” The sudden change in Ashburn’s attitude surprised me. Where did all of his vigorous protesting of his innocence go? Was it just because I exposed the bite mark? Or was there something more involved? I glanced at Delgado’s face as Ashburn confessed, but it was a perfect expression of surprise. He was a damn good actor, I’d give him that.
“I did indeed break into Mr. Maxfield’s apartment, and I did assault him at the photography shop. I was also the person who called Carrie Lange in order to convince her to cease her investigation of my boss.”
“Tyson,” Delgado gasped. “Why? You know as well as I do that she would have turned up nothing.”
I doubt that, I thought, but managed to suppress the scoff; I didn’t think it was the proper time.
“It could have hurt business if someone found out that you were being trailed. I was protecting you.”
“And the money?”
“That was mine. I paid Peter myself. Mr. Delgado in no way authorized it and was in no way involved.”
Delgado sat down on the corner of his desk, shaking his head. “Tyson, you fool.”
Maka pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his inner jacket pocket. “Tyson Ashburn, you’re under arrest…”
After Maka pushed Ashburn into the backseat of his car and closed the door, he gave me an apologetic look. “Are you sure you’re okay waiting for Grace here? Unfortunately, you can’t ride in with me if I have someone in custody.”
“I’m fine. She’ll be here soon. You go take him in.” I kissed Maka gently. “Do you believe him? That Delgado wasn’t involved?”
Maka shrugged. “Hard to say. I wouldn’t be surprised if he kept things at a distance so they couldn’t be connected to him. I don’t know how much money Delgado would be giving him to keep his name out of it. I have no idea how long it’ll be before I get home. I’ll see you later.”
Maka kissed me again and drove off.
God, I hope Grace doesn’t take too long. I watched the taillights disappear from sight. It felt strange, standing out there in front of Delgado’s office building. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and I felt eyes watching me. Glancing around, I saw no one. I looked back toward the building and saw Manuel Delgado standing just inside the doors, hands behind his back, watching me intently.
For a moment, I thought he would approach me and wondered if my life was in danger, but then Grace’s Jeep pulled up in front of me. “Get in. I don’t want to be here any longer than I have to be,” she called.
“Are you okay?” she asked as I sat down and buckled my seat belt.
“I’m fine,” I said offhandedly, glancing back toward the entrance to DLC Construction. Delgado was nowhere to be seen.
The story of what happened was a huge news sensation—local private eye and friend solve murder case—how could it not be?—and took several days to blow over. Both Grace and I decided to lay low for a bit, not wanting to have a bunch of cameras shined on us or questions thrown at us.
A week after our incident in the Paradise Investigations office, Grace asked to take me out to lunch. Things had died down, the news cycle beginning to let go of our story, so I thought why not, and she offered to pick me up.
We made small talk on the way to whatever restaurant. It felt good to just spend time together, not having to wonder about finding evidence to clear her name, or who did it. It wasn’t all over, of course; Delgado was still free, but Peter was off the streets.
As we talked, I didn’t pay any attention to where we were going, so when Grace brought the car to a stop, I fully expected it to be in front of some restaurant—which was good, because I was starving.
“Uh, Grace,” I said, looking at where she’d brought me. “This isn’t a restaurant.”
She’d stopped the car in the parking lot of a small house converted into a business office. The sign in front of it read “Kei Paoa, DDS”. Under that was a sign that said “For Sale.”
“Looking to go into dentistry?” I asked wryly.
“Don’t be an ass.” Grace turned the car off and got out. “We’ll get lunch in a sec. I just wanted to show this place to you.”
“To me? Why?” I followed behind her.
“Isn’t it perfect?”
“Perfect for what?”
“Listen, I can’t stay in that office building anymore. Like you said, it was inconveniently located, and here, right on a major road where traffic gets busy, it will be much more suitable for drawing in clientele.”
“Right, and this has nothing to do with the fact that your business partner was murdered in the old office, and you and I almost murdered.” I didn’t move fast enough to dodge Grace’s punch, and my shoulder stung from the blow.
“Didn’t I say don’t be an ass?”
“Sorry. So why am I here?”
“Because I want you to become my new business partner. I can’t afford the down payment on this place alone. Together we can buy it and reestablish Paradise Investigations. And don’t say you can’t because you’re not a licensed detective—because I am, and only one of us needs to be. You can get your license over time.”
“Grace,” I started, but the look she gave me made me stop. “Why do you want to keep doing this after everything that happened?”
“I’m good at this, Gabe. I make a good private investigator—you do, too, judging by last weekend.”
“My brief foray into private investigating resulted in me almost being choked to death, almost being shot, and then almost being shot again,” I reminded her.
“Anomalies,” she said dismissively. “Besides, it also got you in bed with one extremely sexy Hawaiian detective, right? See, look at that smile. You know I’m right. Come on, this way you can be your own boss—and make money, to boot. I know it’s not a fancy paralegal position at a high-powered law office, but you’d get to work with me and see this beautiful face every day.” She held her hands up, framing her face for emphasis. “That’s better than writing law briefs and filing motions and whatever it is you did in Seattle, right? Come on,” she begged, grabbing my hand and tugging it. “You came here for a new start, right? What better way to start new than in an entirely new career?”
I looked into her hopeful face and felt my resolve crumbling. What else did I have to do with my time? Maka’s going to hate this idea. “You should have become a salesperson,” I said, and she let out a loud whoop of celebration, pumping her fist in the air.
“Wait, wait—I set my own hours, right?”
Grace nodded.
“We decide together what cases to take—none of this separate and no information nonsense that you and Carrie hard, right?”
Another nod.
“Okay, I’m in.”
Grace grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the office of Kei Paoa, DDS, soon to be the office of Paradise Investigations, chattering about the inside and how nice it was and how many ideas she had about how to set it up and make it work perfectly.
This is going to be a terrible idea, I thought with certainty, a small smile on my face. But at least it will be a fun one.
About the Author
J. C. Long is an American expat living in Japan, though he’s also lived stints in Seoul, South Korea—no, he’s not an army brat; he’s an English teacher. He is also quite passionate about Welsh corgis and is convinced that anyone who does not like them is evil incarnate. His dramatic streak comes from his lifelong involvement in theatre. After living in several countries aside from the United States, J. C. is convinced that love is love, no matter where you are, and he is determined to write stories that demonstrate exactly that. J. C. Long’s favorite things in the world are pictures of corgis, writing, and Korean food (not in that order…okay, in that order). J. C. spends his time when not writing by thinking about writing, coming up with new character
s, attending Big Bang concerts, and wishing he was writing. The best way to get him to write faster is to motivate him with corgi pictures. Yes, that is a veiled hint.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjclong
Twitter: @j_c_long_author
Website: http://www.jclong.org/
Email:jclongauthor@gmail.com
Other books by this author
Unzipped Shorts
New Year’s Eve Unzipped
Unzipping 7D
Hong Kong Nights
A Matter of Duty
Coming soon from J.C. Long
A Matter of Courage
Hong Kong Nights, Book 2
Blurb
Winston Chang has spent much of his young life admiring the Dragons who have kept his area safe and fought off the gangs that would bring violence to their area. Now that he’s an adult he wants nothing more than to join the Dragons and live up to those standards.
The opportunity presents itself when his passion and knowledge of cars is just what the Dragons need. One of their own has been killed and his death seems linked to his involvement with the illegal racing scene known as the Dark Streets. Winston is needed to infiltrate the scene and find out who is responsible and why.
Steel has always been Winston’s best friend, and Winston has always been there to get him out of trouble. Just as the stress in Winston’s life reaches its peak, the relationship between Winston and Steel begins to change in ways neither of them expected.
Will Winston and Steel be able to find the courage to face not only the unknown killer stalking the Dark Streets racers, but also their growing feelings?
Also Available from NineStar Press
www.ninestarpress.com