Dead Drop

by Emma Rose Watts

  “So what happens to everyone who owed Rapid Loans money?”

  “Well that’s the interesting part. It appears Bo’s wife worked for the company. After watching the video, she deleted all the files of those who owed money to get back at Bo.”

  “Nothing like the scorn of a woman!” Harvey ran a hand over his head. “I hope he made backups.”

  “Seems not. Apparently Bo is now flying under the radar to avoid the Outlaws.”

  “Because it’s their money,” Harvey said.

  “Exactly.”

  “Probably dirty money too.” Harvey cupped his jaw in his hand and tapped his lips with a finger. “I still don’t get it though. So if the Rapid Loans database is wiped, how did they know about Keith?”

  “Through Bo. Seriously, Harvey, are you not paying attention?” Davenport said.

  “Lately I don’t think he is,” Skylar said half jokingly.

  “Hilarious. Look. I’m trying to understand this. Keith takes out a loan and starts falling back on his payments. Fearing for his life he records a video of Bo cheating on his wife and uses it as leverage in order to not pay back what he owed?”

  “Something like that, according to Keith he just wanted more time. He says he was going to pay them back. Was he? Who knows? What we are being told is that he gave that footage to the wrong person. Nick saw an opportunity and apparently made a good chunk of change from Bo’s wife by being her lawyer and helping her win in court.”

  “So are you saying that our man in there is responsible for the murder because of what Nick did with that footage or are you saying that Bo or one of the Outlaws is responsible for Nick’s death?”

  “It could be any one of the three. Though my money is on Bo. I’ve got Hanson and Reznik trying to track him down as we speak. Hopefully Miami police can locate him.”

  “If the Outlaws can’t I doubt our boys in blue will.”

  “Ah you’d be surprised at how resourceful they are,” Davenport said.

  Harvey scowled. “So what’s Keith’s alibi for the night of the murder?”

  “He says he was there at the bar and yes he got into an argument but it was over the footage being released without his permission. He was unaware that Nick had handed it over to Bo’s wife until Keith learned that Bo was looking for him.”

  “So how did he wiggle his way out of that?”

  “He made a run for it. That’s why his business has been closed for two months. He’s been trying to stay off the grid and one step ahead of Bo.”

  Harvey groaned. “Crazy the lengths people will go.”

  “You bet,” Skylar replied.

  “But on the night he was there, right?”

  “Yeah, apparently he blamed Nick for ruining his life. It got a little heated and then he left the bar.”

  “And yet he’s been on the run for the past two months,” Harvey said. “So no one can verify his alibi.”

  “That’s why I brought him in. I thought you might be able to work your magic on him, maybe find out if he doubled back and killed him.”

  Harvey got up. “So what now?”

  “Turn in for the day. If we hear any more we’ll keep you updated,” Davenport said. “I’ll have one of the other officers question him.”

  “Why? I’ll do it,” Harvey said.

  “Harvey, you’ve been in since early this morning,” Davenport said. “Go home. Get some rest.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “That wasn’t a question,” Davenport said.

  Harvey gritted his teeth got up and exited with Skylar in his shadow.

  “Hold up, Harvey.”

  Without looking at her he blurted out, “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to head over to Keith’s place?”

  “Does it matter? We got him.”

  “Yeah and I looked like a fool.”

  She shook her head. “Why?”

  “Because I should have gone over there. I told Davenport that he wasn’t around.”

  “You need to calm down,” Skylar said. “We’re partners. Sometimes you do one thing, sometimes I do another. Maybe he wasn’t there when you phoned. And besides Davenport is just looking out for your well-being.”

  “I’m glad someone is.”

  Harvey headed off towards the interview room leaving Skylar in the main office, mouth agape.

  Skylar had spent long enough working alongside him to know when to leave him be. Lately he’d been a little high strung and for the life of her she couldn’t figure out why. It wasn’t like they were in some kind of competition. She was just used to taking initiative. That’s what they were paid to do. Worn out from the heat of the day and with Sam on her mind she headed off home hoping that tomorrow would give them something substantial to follow up on.

  Skylar hopped into her truck and fired it up then pulled out of the parking lot. As the truck weaved through the roads, she heard an EMT siren’s wail and a few seconds later an ambulance sped past her heading in the opposite direction. She glanced in her rearview mirror at it but continued on home.

  When she arrived home that evening, Sam was watching TV and she noticed the light was flashing on the phone to indicate there were two messages on the answering machine.

  “How we doing, Sam?”

  “Good.”

  “You up for pizza tonight?”

  “Sure.”

  She scooped up the phone and checked the messages. They were both from Ben and by the tone of his voice he was pissed. “Skylar. Call me.”

  Skylar kicked off her boots and headed into the kitchen. She fished around in the fridge for a beer and twisted off the cap. She made a quick phone call to the pizza shop to have them deliver a large pizza and then she took a seat at the breakfast counter and made the call to Ben.

  “You called?” she asked.

  “Anything you wish to tell me?”

  “Oh I spoke with the school about the bullying. They’ll look into it but they weren’t aware.”

  “And?”

  She knew what he was leading to but she wasn’t sure how he knew. She’d made a promise to Sam not to tell his dad but it didn’t look like she was going to be able to keep that promise.

  “And look, I don’t want you to blow your top but…”

  “He’s been skipping school. I know. I spoke with the principal today.”

  “How did she get your number?”

  “That’s right, you didn’t give it to her even though she asked for it.”

  “I thought I could deal with it. You have enough on your plate as it is.”

  “My kid goes missing from school and you didn’t contact me, Skylar.”

  “Because I found him and I didn’t want to worry you.”

  She heard him sigh. “Well I am worried. Is he okay? Why did he leave? What’s going on?”

  “It’s related to the bullying.”

  “Well that’s obvious but why hasn’t he told me?”

  “Maybe because he knew you would react this way.”

  “React? How else am I meant to react when I find out my kid’s being bullied and has been skipping school?”

  “Look, I handled it. It’s fine. He’ll be there tomorrow.”

  “You didn’t take him back in?” he asked.

  “School’s out. It’s the evening, and no I didn’t. Would you want to put him back into that environment straight away? He can’t run from his problems,” Skylar said.

  “No, and he can’t deal with them with the same mindset.”

  There was a pause as Skylar contemplated what he said.

  “Look, in the future I would just appreciate it if you would let me know what’s going on with my son, especially when I’m away from home.”

  “I would imagine after this you wouldn’t entrust me with your son again.”

  He chuckled. “You’re always ready for rejection, aren’t you, Skylar?” He waited for an answer but she didn’t give it. “Look, I’ll be home tomorrow evening. If anything happens tomorrow please call me.
”

  “You have my word.”

  He made a groaning noise before hanging up as if frustrated with being so far away. Ben had a good situation going for him. He worked from home, he was only ten minutes away from Sam’s school and other than a trip to update his skills once a year he was rarely apart from Sam. It was a good situation but not exactly healthy. It was probably the reason he hadn’t dated. Skylar took a sip on her beer and headed into the living room to check on Sam. He glanced at her.

  “What you watching?”

  “Enter the Dragon.”

  She laughed. “You pick up any new moves?”

  He went red in the face as if he was embarrassed by the question.

  “Are you sleeping with my dad?” he blurted out. Skylar nearly spat out her beer.

  “Um. No but if I was I’m not sure that would be any of your business, young man.” She tried to put on a mothering tone as if she even knew what that sounded like.

  “But you like him, yeah?”

  She was hesitant to respond but before she could, Sam continued, “Because he likes you.”

  “Does he?” she asked taking a seat and thinking this would be a good opportunity to get the inside scoop on what was going on inside his mind. Sam scooped out a few chips from a half-empty bag of Cheetos and stuffed them in his mouth.

  “Oh yeah, he talks about you all the time.”

  She smiled. “Well he is my shrink.”

  “No, that night he went out for a meal with you he had this cheesy smile on his face for two days after that. I haven’t seen him that happy since…” He trailed off and she knew he was thinking about his mother. She wanted to ask him about her but at the same time realized it was a delicate subject. Ben’s wife had passed away six years prior in a skiing accident.

  “He said you lost someone. Your husband,” Sam said.

  “Fiancé. And I didn’t know he shared that with you.”

  “Oh he doesn’t usually. He’s very anal about what he can and can’t say, and the only reason he told me that was he was planning on inviting you around for dinner and he didn’t want me to open my mouth and say the wrong thing.”

  “Like bringing up the topic of my dead fiancé?”

  “Yeah, something like that.”

  She couldn’t help but find the humor in that. He continued watching Bruce Lee taking on twenty guys. Sam’s head bobbed around like he was a part of the scene.

  “Yeah, that’s right. I lost someone close,” Skylar said.

  “Do you miss him?”

  “Of course. I’m sure you miss your mother.”

  He was fishing into his bag when he stopped watching the TV and looked across to a photo on the mantel. It was a photo of them all together as a family. “Every day,” he replied and then returned to chomping on the chips, though more slowly, more mindful as if trying to forget.

  Skylar leaned back in the recliner and was about to get comfy when there was a knock at the door. Sam bounced out of his seat and answered the door. “Pizza,” he yelled.

  She got up to fish out some money to pay, then realized she didn’t have any cash. “Oh, um. Do you take credit cards?”

  “We do.”

  The pizza guy fished into his bag and pulled out a swipe machine.

  “Technology. Gotta love it.”

  The pizza guy jabbed his finger at the device. “Oh and that button there is for the tip.”

  Skylar smiled and gave him a good tip before closing the door and scooping up a slice out of the box. Back in the living room she slumped down in the chair and looked over at Sam. She could get used to this. It certainly beat coming home to an empty boat. Skylar had taken a couple of bites of her pizza when the phone rang.

  “Sam, do you mind grabbing that?”

  He hopped up and returned a moment later. “It’s for you. A guy named Harvey.”

  “Ah right, yeah, pass it here.”

  He handed it over. “If you’re calling to go for a beer, can’t do it. But we have a lot of pizza here.”

  “Actually, Skylar. I have some bad news.”

  “What?”

  “Jenna is in the hospital.”

  Chapter 9

  Skylar was in a daze as Harvey explained. Apparently not long after leaving her apartment Darryl had returned in a drunken state and forced his way inside and taken out his anger on Jenna. Skylar bundled Sam into the back of her truck and tore through the streets of Carrabelle heading for George E. Weems Memorial Hospital.

  “Where are we going?”

  “A friend of mine has been injured, just stay close,” she said gripping the steering wheel tight as they pulled into the parking lot. This was the downside to having to look after someone else’s kid. She was beginning to understand the demands and great responsibility that came with raising a child. The place was lit up and several ambulances were outside with EMTs assisting in emergency patients on stretchers. Skylar had never liked visiting hospitals. Just being around the sick made her want to break out in hives. There was something very cold to the place. She recalled spending many a night down at the hospital because her mother had drunk herself into a stupor and taken a handful of pills in an attempt to end her life. She’d sit in the waiting room trying to keep herself busy while her father would speak with doctors. In her mind she knew eventually her mother would die, she didn’t expect it would be from suicide.

  The main entrance doors hissed open and she kept a tight grip on Sam’s hand as she made her way to the front desk to enquire about Jenna. She didn’t have to wait there long as she spotted Harvey making his way down the corridor.

  “Harvey.”

  He glanced at Sam but didn’t look like he was in the mood for small talk.

  “Skylar, I need to talk to you.”

  “Sure, but is she okay?”

  “She’s stable and will recover but…” He motioned towards a quiet waiting area further down the hall and led the way. Skylar tried to get more details out of him as to whether or not they had Darryl in custody but he didn’t bother answering her.

  “Sam, you want to go in there? I’ll be right back, okay?”

  He nodded and went back to looking at his phone as he went into a divided waiting room. Skylar could see him through the window as Harvey closed the door. He paced a little and scratched his head as if he was trying to figure out what to say.

  “I spoke with several of Jenna’s neighbors tonight and one of them said that she’d seen Jenna a couple of times with bruises on her. So we know this has been going on a while.”

  “Yeah it has.”

  He glanced at her.

  “Why didn’t you bring him in today, Skylar?”

  Her brow pinched, a look of confusion. “What?”

  “You went over there. You could have stopped this from happening. You knew this was happening and yet you did nothing?”

  “Hold on a minute. Back up the truck. You know how it works with abuse victims. Not all of them will admit it and few want to press charges. Jenna didn’t want me interfering. She said she could handle it.”

  “And you know that this is a part of the cycle of domestic violence. Even if the victim doesn’t want to press charges, the state can still move ahead with prosecution. We don’t know what kind of threats or intimidation he was using to keep her quiet. Skylar, you know you have to arrest someone on any domestic call. Once they make that 911 call to report a domestic the couple has lost control over their relationship for a while. She might drop the DV charges but it’s in our hands from there.”

  Skylar stabbed the air with her finger. “I wasn’t responding to a 911 call. And Jenna refused to admit that it was him. She only alluded to it.”

  “Well it was pretty damn obvious. We still could have filed some charges.”

  “Yeah well best of luck with that.”

  Harvey looked angered by her reply. He jabbed his finger down the hall and headed off making it clear that he wanted her to follow him. She had to practically jog to keep up. They we
nt about six rooms down and then he opened a door. There was a nurse inside hunched over the bed. She turned and that’s when Skylar got a glance at Jenna. She was hooked up with tubes and her face had been beaten so badly that she could barely recognize her. The nurse was tending to her wounds and Jenna didn’t appear to be awake.

  “Luck has nothing to do with it. Look at her.” Skylar turned her face away. “Look at her!” Harvey said loudly causing several of the orderlies in the hall to turn and stare. Skylar looked back and tears welled up in her eyes.

  “I’m sorry for intruding,” Harvey said pulling the door closed. He turned towards her. “It’s a little late for tears now. Davenport wants to speak to you.” With that said he turned and walked away without saying another word. Skylar stood there not knowing what to say or do. She had dealt with abuse cases before back in New York and more often than not the victim would go to the station give a statement and then at the last minute decide they didn’t want to press charges. In nearly all cases when the victim didn’t want to appear for trial, the prosecutor would subpoena the victim. If they still refused to show, the prosecutor could continue with the trial or try and prove it based on statements given.

  Skylar returned to the waiting room and motioned for Sam to follow her.

  “Is that it? Are we going?” he asked as he tried to keep up.

  “Yes we’re going.”

  “How’s your friend?”

  “Sam, enough,” she snapped out of frustration. He stood there staring at her, a look of confusion spread across his face. “Look, I’m sorry, I’d just rather not talk about it.”

  The journey home that night was spent in silence. As soon as she got in she told Sam to get ready for bed, to which he replied he wasn’t tired. One look and he decided that it wasn’t worth an argument. She heard him head upstairs and close his door before she went into the living room and headed for the liquor cabinet. She just needed a little something, just one glass to take the edge off. She pulled out a bottle of bourbon and a glass. She was in the middle of unscrewing the top when her mind returned to her conversation with Darryl that afternoon. The memory of bottles clinking together, his demeanor, the argument in the kitchen, and the door slamming shut. Why? Why didn’t she just take him in? She placed the bottle down and screwed the top back on without pouring a drink. This wasn’t the way. Ben was right. At some point she had to face all the problems she was dealing with and not hide behind drink or anything that would dull her senses. Skylar headed over to the recliner chair in the corner of the room and slumped into it.