by Vella Day
“Oh, he’s not there. His parents live here. I’m hoping they’ll tell me where I can find him.”
“Now why would they do that?”
“Because I’m going to tell them their son has won a Florida drawing for a new car, and I need to give him, and only him, the keys.”
Tessa’s jaw dropped. “That’s preposterous. You think they’ll fall for such a ploy?”
“People have in the past. Money is a powerful aphrodisiac.”
“And you have no qualms about lying to people?”
“To find a killer, I’d do anything.”
Tessa asked no more questions. Dom reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of balloons and some string. “Help me blow these up.”
“You’re kidding. Why?”
“Don’t you watch TV? Sweepstakes people always have balloons.”
“Okay.” Tessa held out her hand for her share and blew up the balloons.
Just as they finished, an unpainted wooden house came into view. Needing a few boards on its east side, it sat at the end of a long dirt drive. Tessa shivered just thinking how cold the place must be inside. After mile upon mile of vast farms, the limousine finally slowed and pulled down a long, bumpy drive. The slight rain had created puddles in the dirt, adding to the already uneven terrain.
Pigs scurried across the front yard and mixed with the roaming chickens.
“How are you going to explain my presence?” she asked as the driver came to a stop.
“Clearing houses send more than one person to deliver good news. That’s why I had you dress up. Just follow my lead,” Dominic said as the limo driver pulled open the door. Dominic hopped out and extended her a hand.
“Why say we’re from a Clearing House? I thought you said you were pretending to give him a car.”
“We are. Morton entered his name in a drawing on our website, and he has to pick up his car in the next seven days or forfeit the prize.”
“Oh.” His poise and confidence convinced her he’d given his plan quite a lot of thought. “Have you ever done something like this before?”
“A few times. Worked like a charm,” Dom said as helped her toward the house.
He didn’t have to act so cocky. She looked down at her feet. Mud oozed up the sides of her shoes. Oh, well. If it would help find the murderer, she’d sacrifice her well-worn black pumps.
Dominic held her elbow as they marched up the three steps to the front porch.
“Smile and act as if we’re really excited about our news,” he said.
“I’ll try.”
Dominic’s shoulders relaxed for a second as he smiled down at her, and her traitorous heart skipped a beat. She didn’t want to like this man. He had too many flaws, too many hang-ups, but damn, he was good in bed and easy on the eyes.
Stop it, Tessa Jean. Now act happy.
With no doorbell, Dominic knocked. A moment later a small, gray-haired woman peeked her head out from behind the door. “Yes?”
“Mrs. Richter?”
“Yes.” She clung to the doorframe as if she couldn’t stand up on her own.
“Hello, Ma’am. We’re here to see Mr. Richter. We have some good news for him,” Dominic said handing the woman the bouquet of balloons.
Mrs. Richter turned her head and shouted behind her, “Someone says they have good news, Pa.” She pulled open the door. “Come in.” Her eyes sparkled.
No surprise, the inside held little in the way of niceties, but the close placement of the sofa, coffee table, and chairs gave the place a welcoming look.
An elderly gentleman remained in a wheelchair, bundled in a navy blanket from his feet to his waist. His mouth moved, but no sound came out. His gnarled hands grabbed the blanket, acting as if they’d come to take his one prized possession.
Mrs. Richter tied the balloons to the back of a desk chair. “Have a seat,” she said, pointing to the sofa covered in a stained beige sheet.
Tessa gritted her teeth, smiled, and dropped down on the sofa’s edge. Dominic had the nerve to plunk down right next to her, his thigh plastered against hers. Her thoughts immediately shot to the heated sensation and what he did to her insides.
“...or something, Miss?” said Mrs. Richter.
Tessa had no idea what the woman had asked her. Focus. “No, thank you.” She hoped her response was appropriate.
“You, mister?”
“No, thank you. We don’t want to keep you.” Dominic pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, nodded, and stuffed it back in his pocket. “A Morton Richter won a drawing from Synergy Corporation. Is he here?”
The elderly man squirmed in his seat. His mouth opened, and then he grunted. Tessa was unable to make out what he was saying. Perhaps he’d suffered a stroke.
“Don’t worry about him, dear,” Mrs. Richter said. “Pa hasn’t spoken since the accident.”
Tessa wisely decided not to ask about it.
“Morton’s our son, but he doesn’t live here,” she explained. “Hasn’t for close to eighteen years. What’s this about a drawing?”
Dominic sat up straighter. “Well, he placed his name in a drawing, and he won a new car.”
Mr. Richter slapped the arm of his wheelchair, drawing Tessa’s gaze.
“Now, Pa. It’s all right,” Mrs. Richter said. She turned back to Tessa and Dominic. “You see, we’re not allowed to speak of Morton.”
“You son put this as his address.”
Mrs. Richter shook her head. “There’s been a mistake. I don’t know how you got this address.” Her calm delivery surprised Tessa. It was as if her son not coming home for such a long time was a common occurrence.
“You haven’t tried to find him in eighteen years?” Tessa asked not believing anyone could not forgive a relative. Dominic nudged her knee.
“Pa wouldn’t let me. Morton tried to kill his daddy, you see. That’s why my husband can’t talk. Morton hit him over the head with a bat and left him for dead.” No outward sign of distress showed on her lined face.
“The police never found your son?” Tessa found this story hard to believe.
“We told them a robber came in and beat Pa up.”
“And Morton never contacted you in all those years?” Dominic asked.
“No. I don’t blame my boy. You see, Pa hurt him bad when he was growing up, and I wasn’t strong enough to stop the abuse.” Finally, her face clouded over. She glanced down at her hands. “It was all my fault I didn’t stop it. I shoulda stopped it, but I couldn’t. I wasn’t strong for Morton. I failed him.”
“I’m sure you did your best,” Tessa said, her voice cracking. She wouldn’t be surprised if the father abused Mrs. Richter too. Poor woman was a co-dependent enabler.
Before Mrs. Richter could answer, Dominic stood. Was the interview over? They’d learned nothing.
“Do you have a photo of your son?” he asked.
Morton’s mom stood and hobbled over to a side table and pulled out the top drawer. “Pa doesn’t like to be reminded of him, so I keep his picture hidden. Mort was a good boy, though. He never hurt anyone, except Pa here.”
She handed the photo to Dominic. He stood so still, Tessa moved beside him to get a look at the picture. The round face in the faded photo appeared familiar, but the graininess prevented her from making a positive identification.
“Would it be possible,” Dominic asked, “to keep this for a little while. I want to make a copy. I’ll be sure to send this back to you, with a little payment for keeping it.”
She shrugged. “I hate to give it up, but if it’s important, go ahead. What good would it do?”
“We’re going to put ads out asking Morton to claim the car. When he shows up, we’ll know it’s really him.”
Tessa watched Mrs. Richter. The woman couldn’t possibly fall for the lame story.
“I would a thought a driver’s license would be good enough, but if you promise to tell my son to write me when you find him, you can take it. But tell him his Pa ain’
t dead. I know he thinks he killed him, but he didn’t. And tell him I forgive him.” She looked over at her husband, whose lips were pulled back, exposing blackened teeth. “We don’t have a phone, you know, otherwise Mort could call.”
“I promise.”
She smiled, but Mr. Richter slapped his armchair and grunted, his face turning red. Poor man. Tessa bet he’d turn the law on his son if he could.
Dominic grabbed Tessa’s hand and led her out the door. This time the cold air felt good on her face.
As soon as they were inside the limo, Dominic leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “I feel like a cad that I lied to them.”
She grabbed his hand. “You did what you had to. I guess we’re lucky Morton wasn’t there.”
Dominic turned to her and smiled. “Maybe you’re right.”
“May I have another look at the picture?” Tessa asked as she finished putting her clothes in the hotel room dresser. “There was something about him that looked familiar.”
“I thought you said you didn’t want to think about the case for one night.”
“I know, but I can’t help it.”
Dom was pretty sure he knew the man’s identity, but he wanted Tessa to confirm his thoughts. He pulled the photo from his suit jacket pocket. “Here.”
While she studied the photo, he placed his unopened suitcases on the small table in the hotel room, wondering if she’d recognize the man who worked at the Blue Moon.
“This photo is so cracked and faded, it’s hard to tell much,” she said.
“Why don’t you mentally go through all your employees and customers, focusing on those who’d be in their late thirties or early forties now. Also consider they probably have gained some weight in the last eighteen years. Some might have grown a beard or shaved their head.”
Tess shook her head. “Oh, no, it couldn’t be.”
Dom sat on the bed next to her. “What couldn’t be?”
“This looks like Charley.”
That’s exactly what he’d thought. “How so?”
“If you take away his hair, like this,” she said, placing her palm across the top of the photo, “and you get rid of the mustache, I think it’s him. What do you think?”
Dom dreaded confirming her suspicions. He understood she’d trusted her bartender and had even allowed him to help care for the baby. How would she feel if she knew her ability to read people was so off?
“Come on. Don’t clam up on me now,” she said. “What do you think?”
“It’s him all right.”
“You say that as if there’s no doubt.”
“Once I have our crime lab cross reference Charley’s prints with those of Morton Richter, I’ll know for sure.”
“You think Charley is Morton? I can’t believe it.”
“I’m sorry, Tessa. If Charley is our serial killer, this has nothing to do with you. The guy’s avoided capture not only in his home state, but also in Atlanta and Tampa as well. Until now.”
She placed the photo face down on the bed. “I’ve read that many criminals were abused as children. The pattern fits. But if his mother stood by doing nothing while his father abused him, I’m surprised he doesn’t hate women.”
“We don’t know he doesn’t,” Dom said softening his voice.
“No, we don’t. So now what?”
Her doe-like eyes tore into his soul. “I’ll call Phil and have him put out an APB. I’m betting Charley doesn’t have a clue we’ve connected him to the murders.”
Dom pulled her toward him and kissed her before she had a chance to pull away. His heart thudded at her sweetness. She leaned into him for a moment, but then withdrew. Saddened, he let her go.
“Dominic, we can’t.”
“I know, but I want to.”
She scooted off the bed and his erection strained against his zipper.
“I’m going to take a shower and then try to sleep.” She avoided his gaze.
For her sake, he was sorry there hadn’t been another vacancy at the hotel. As it was, only a last minute cancellation yielded this tiny room with a queen sized bed. He wasn’t enough of a gentleman to suggest he sleep on the floor. Tessa would have to deal.
As the hot water poured over her body, Tessa ran through her interactions with her bartender over the last month. Nothing pointed to him being a killer. In fact, he’d treated her with more care than Dominic had recently.
Charley went out of his way to protect her against any angry customer. How could he have murdered anyone? And why would he kill?
Certain the young man in the photo was merely a look-alike, and not related to Charley at all, she let herself enjoy the warmth of the shower. When her fingers pruned, she shut off the tap. The steamy bathroom would make changing into her nightgown a sticky affair, but she couldn’t change in front of Dominic. Just because they’d made love didn’t mean she felt comfortable prancing around the room naked.
Tessa took as long as possible in the bathroom, hoping Dominic would be asleep by the time she finished. His every touch excited her, yet something about him caused her to distrust him. Was it his apparent wealth or the way he withheld information from her?
She toweled off, slipped into her nightgown, and headed to bed, hoping against hope she could keep her hands to herself.
15
Dom was thankful for the aisle between Tessa and himself. The last thing he needed was to sit next to her and smell her perfume for five hours on the flight back to Tampa. He’d not gotten a wink of sleep last night, in part because her cute little ass kept rubbing up against his crotch. He’d flip over only to find Tessa snuggled against his back. Ass to crotch or breast to back. Both resulted in a ragging hard-on all night.
He’d have initiated the love making, but Tessa had barely looked at him after her shower. He could only imagine what demons she was fighting after learning one of her employees might be a serial killer.
During the whole flight, Tessa didn’t attempt to speak with him. In fact, she kept her eyes closed for the most part. Had it not been for her clenched fists, he would have assumed she’d been asleep.
Only when the wheels slammed down on the runway did she awake. She looked over at him and gave him a half smile, but he’d bet she was none too happy to return to the land of Ralph and Charley. Given his house had a state-of-the-art alarm system, he didn’t worry about anyone breaking in.
The seventy-five degree temperature was a nice change from Ohio. As Tessa exited the plane, Dom slipped John a few hundred more to cover the cost of the flight. His friend objected, but Dom insisted. Learning who’d killed Trace was worth ten times the amount.
“I hate to do this to you, Tessa,” Dom said, “but I’ve got to see about getting the lab to hurry up the fingerprints on Charley. I’ll call Dean to make sure he stands guard at the house while I’m at work.”
“Can’t your partner call the lab?”
He grabbed hold of her shoulders. “He’s out looking for our man now. I promise nothing will happen to you.”
“Okay, but don’t leave me alone too long.” Her bottom lip jutted out, but he doubted she was trying to be coy.
“I promise. Besides, I want to find Chelsea’s parents.”
She brightened. “That would be great. I know she’d love to see them when she wakes up. At least I think she’ll be happy.”
The cool, damp night air crawled down Ralph’s back as he stared up at the second floor of the detective’s house. He wet his cracked lips, angry he’d forgotten his lip balm. At least he’d figured out which was Tessa’s bedroom.
Two days ago he’d hidden behind the warehouse a hundred feet from the restaurant waiting for Tessa to emerge from the Blue Moon. When she’d come out, he couldn’t believe how pathetic she looked standing by the dilapidated bar awaiting her white knight to pick her up. As if having a bodyguard would stop him from doing what he wanted with Tessa. Please.
Dumb cop couldn’t even spot a tail. What a loser. Ralph had followed them from
the restaurant to the hospital, then to dinner, and then to the cop’s mansion. Ralph thought about letting Tessa know he knew where she was staying, but when it started to rain, Ralph decided he’d come back the next day.
Okay. He admitted it. For a split second he thought they’d gotten a jump on him. The cop’s car was gone all day. Royally pissed, Ralph had driven around the neighborhood in an old truck with a landscape sign attached to its side awaiting their arrival. If they hadn’t shown up today, Ralph might have burned the place down just to teach them both a lesson.
Ralph had studied the property. The detective left the blinds open to his study, making him an easy target should Ralph want to execute the guy. The detective’s turn would come later. Who in this day and age left their blinds open at night? Like a reality TV show, Ralph watched Tessa stop in the office once, but she didn’t stay long. Maybe they weren’t doing each other. If they were, it might be interesting to see how she’d react to seeing her lover lose a few body parts one piece at a time.
Once Tessa left the detective’s office, Ralph only had to wait thirty seconds before a light flicked on in an upstairs window. Bingo. He’d found his sweet little bird. Her shadow appeared through the sheer curtains on the second floor, and she must have thought no one could see her.
Ralph shook his head. He still couldn’t believe Tessa was staying with a cop—and a rich one at that. Man, women were a strange breed of animal. The guy probably took bribes right and left given his one-acre estate was so near to the city. The other houses on the street were crammed together, but not his. No, the guy had money that was for sure.
Wouldn’t the schlep be in for a surprise once Tessa caught him doing something illegal? And she’d find out, all right. The woman was a born snoop. She never could keep her damn nose outta other people’s businesses.
Ralph stepped next to one of the downstairs windows on the other end of the house from the office and checked for wires along the edge of the window. Yep, just as he suspected. The place was alarmed all right. Sure he could disarm it, but the time it would take and noise he’d make wouldn’t be worth it.