Dyed and Gone to Heaven
(Curl Up and DYE Mysteries, #3)
Copyright © 2017 Aimee Nicole Walker
[email protected]
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to the actual person, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover photograph and interior photos © Wander Aguiar – www.wanderaguiar.com
Cover art © Jay Aheer of Simply Defined Art – www.jayscoversbydesign.com
Editing provided by Pam Ebeler of Undivided Editing – www.undividedediting.com
Proofreading provided by Judy Zweifel of Judy’s Proofreading – www.judysproofreading.com
Interior Design and Formatting provided by Stacey Ryan Blake of Champagne Formats – www.champagneformats.com
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original publisher only.
This book contains sexually explicit material and is only intended for adult readers.
Copyright and Trademark Acknowledgments
The author acknowledges the copyrights and trademarked status and trademark owners of the following trademarks and copyrights mentioned in this work of fiction.
Copyrights and Trademarks:
Word of Warcraft – Blizzard Entertainment
Miami Vice – Universal Television, NBC
Elle and Warner – Legally Blonde (Metro-Goldwyn-MGM)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Mirage Studios
Mini Cooper – BMW
AG Jeans – Adriano Goldschmied, Inc.
Hermes – Hermes International
Gucci – Gucci Group
Vick’s VapoRub – Richardson-Merrell Inc.
Home Alone – Hughes Entertainment
Scooby Doo – Hanna-Barbera
Andrew Christian
Walt Disney – Disney theme parks
Dr. Phil Show – Harpo Productions, CBS
Friends – Warner Bros Television, NBC
Netflix
Absolute Black and F-150 – Ford Motor Company
McDonald’s
The Closer – Warner Bros Television, TNT
Twitter and tweeting – Twitter, Inc
Facebook and Facebooking – Facebook, Inc.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Other Books by Aimee Nicole Walker
Acknowledgments
About the Author
To Kim Hay,
You were a beacon when I needed it the most. To the moon and back, lady!
I COULDN’T STOP MYSELF from glancing at Gabe across the table in the fancy restaurant where we went on a double date with Adrian and Sally Ann to celebrate the upcoming birth of their baby girl. They’d just discovered they were having a daughter the day before and invited us to dinner with them. As happy as I was for them, and I was over the moon and back at least three times, I was even happier that I got to go home with Detective Delicious sitting across the dinner table from me—the one engaged in a hushed conversation with his partner.
I knew what the leaned-in heads and lowered voices meant. They were discussing their cases, most likely Billy Sampson, and Gabe didn’t want me to overhear and become upset. He was protective and cute like that, but I was certain he would learn that I was made of much sterner stuff than he ever imagined. I had survived Billy’s heinous treatment of me in high school and his childish attempts at harassing me as an adult wasn’t even a blip on my radar. Billy Sampson was a man who hated himself and turned to drugs in his attempt to escape the truth. He would have to live with his actions for the rest of his life, but I didn’t.
“What do you think about this crib mobile I found on Pinterest?” Sally Ann asked from beside me. She held up her phone and showed me a picture of a mobile with miniature stuffed animals that looked like zoo babies. “I think I want to keep the theme neutral,” she told me. “At first I thought it would be pink or blue everywhere depending on the gender, but I’ve changed my mind. Maybe my daughter will hate pink stuff. Maybe she’ll want to wear baseball jerseys instead of dresses. Yeah, I think I need to let her decide what her personality is rather than cramming it down her throat from day one.”
“If I weren’t gay as fuck, I’d steal you away from Adrian,” I told her.
“Shucks,” she replied, blushing. “You say the most charming things.” Sally Ann batted her eyelashes playfully at me.
I looked over at Gabe for the hundredth time in twenty minutes and thought about the lovely burgundy color of his tie. It was one that I found scrunched in the back of his dresser drawer when we moved him out of his house and into mine. Wow! It was still so shocking to me that we had made such a bold step and that I was the one who suggested it. I remembered how cool the silk felt against my fingers when I handed it to him to wear that evening—after I got the shameful wrinkles out, of course. I silently observed how lovely the color looked against my fair skin and was shocked that I’d even consider letting Gabe tie my hands up during sex.
I had never given that kind of trust to anyone because they had never deserved it, but Gabe did. I had found a man—or maybe, like with trouble, he found me—who was steeped in goodness. I admired his dedication to his family, friends, and justice. I loved that he was patient with me when I struggled at times to fight my demons and that he accepted me for how I was, not who he thought I should be. Of all the gifts that Gabe brought to my life, those were my two favorites. And somehow, someway, that beautiful soul was in love with me.
“He’s crazy about you too,” Sally Ann said, nudging me with her shoulder. “I’ve never seen Gabriel so happy as he is with you.” Her words meant a lot to me because Sally Ann had gotten to know Gabe when he first moved to town with his ex-boyfriend, Kyle. She would’ve seen them together as a couple and saw their connection. Even though Kyle himself told me that Gabe and I had something they never did, it was great to hear it from someone outside of the relationship. Sally Ann had no reason to blow smoke up my ass; if she didn’t believe it, then she wouldn’t have said it.
“I know,” I said softly, but not arrogantly. I never took Gabe’s affection for me for granted, but I wouldn’t pretend I didn’t know it existed either. I was never one to fish for compliments. My days of begging for crumbs of attention were over.
“How’s cohabitating going?” she asked.
“It’s been surprisingly easy so far,” I replied honestly. “I expected it to be more challenging in the beginning as we got used to one another’s personalities and habits, but it’s great. There’s a big difference between sleeping over a few nights a week and living with someone.”
“There sure is,” Sally Ann agreed. “I’m glad it’s going so smoothly for you both. It wasn’t the case for Adrian and me.”
“Really?” I asked in surprise. They s
eemed so in tune with each other, and it was obvious how much they loved and respected one another. I leaned closer, lowered my voice, and asked, “How so?”
“We were both thirty years old and had lived on our own pretty much since college, which meant we were fairly set in our ways. Like with you and Gabe, our personalities are so different, but Adrian and I are both stubborn and don’t compromise as well as you guys do.”
I laughed then because I was quite stubborn and Gabe did most of the compromising when we first met. I guess you could say that he was equally as stubborn because he refused to give up on us when all I did was pull him close then push him away. Luckily for me, Gabe knew it wasn’t done in a manipulative way and was astute enough to realize I was afraid and fighting my growing feelings for him.
“Give me an example,” I told Sally Ann.
“Toilet paper.”
“As in you liked different brands?” I asked curiously.
“No! He,” Sally Ann pointed across the table at her husband, “puts the roll on wrong.”
“I do not,” Adrian fired back instantly, letting us know that we weren’t as quiet as we had thought. “There’s no such thing.”
Sally Ann shook her head vehemently. “There’s scientific evidence that you use less toilet paper if you pull the paper over the roller versus under.” Wow! Sally Ann was serious about her toilet paper.
“You’re so fucking cute with your science talk,” Adrian said to his middle school science teacher for a wife. “According to the Debunkers,” he said referring to a new show that debunked common myths, “that’s not true at all.”
Sally Ann threw her head back and laughed. “Those guys aren’t real scientists,” she shot back.
Adrian looked at me and asked, “Do you know how Gabe and I yell at the referees for getting the calls wrong in football?”
“And basketball,” I reminded Adrian.
“Wait until baseball season starts,” Sally Ann said to me beneath her breath.
“I heard that,” Adrian said, good-naturedly.
“You were supposed to,” Sally Ann replied in a sing-song voice.
“Well, anyway,” Adrian said, trying to get back to his question to me, “she is so much worse when I watch Debunkers.” Adrian laughed hard when his wife flipped him the bird across the table. “She yells, ‘that’s not scientific’ or ‘that isn’t how you measure it,’ every five minutes.”
“Or less,” Sally Ann added. “I’d rather watch sports any day of the week.”
Gabe and I sat smiling at each other over the table while Sally Ann and Adrian playfully bickered about his favorite show. It wasn’t that Gabe and I liked the same shows because that was the furthest thing from the truth, but we compromised or watched television in different rooms. To be honest, we didn’t watch a lot of TV when he first moved in because we were too busy entertaining ourselves in a more mutually pleasing way.
After the cute little tiff was over, Sally Ann returned her attention to me while our guys resumed their case-talking positions.
“Josh, I’ve meant to ask you something, but I wasn’t sure I should,” Sally Ann said. Her worried tone and the way she wrung her hands had me curious.
“Sally Ann, you can ask me anything.”
“Will you teach me to pole dance after I recover from having my baby?” She grimaced once the words left her mouth.
“Why do you look so nervous about asking me that?” I asked her.
“Well, you’ve never told me about your pole dancing studio, which means I either heard it from Gabe or Adrian. Logic points to Adrian, and I don’t want you to think that Gabe is telling him intimate details of your life together.”
She had a point, and I could understand her hesitation. I had to admit I was curious about how the conversation came up, but I was certain that Gabe wasn’t telling Adrian details of how I worked the pole. Six months earlier, I wouldn’t have felt the same way; I would’ve jumped to all kinds of conclusions. “I don’t think you said anything bad or inappropriate about me and I would love to teach you how to pole dance. It’s amazing exercise for strengthening your core muscle groups.”
Sally Ann leaned over and hugged me. “You’re amazing, Josh. I’m so lucky to call you my friend.” She pulled back and looked at me appraisingly. “Do you want to see more nursery ideas or is that boring you to death?”
“It’s not boring at all,” I assured her. “I’d love to paint a picture for her nursery once you decided on a theme.”
“You paint too?” she asked.
“It’s just a hobby,” I replied. “I’m not sure I’m all that great at it, but I will make it with love for baby Adrianna.”
Sally Ann tilted her head, and she got a faraway look in her eyes. “Why had I never thought of that name?” she pondered out loud. “It’s a combination of both our names. It’s perfect!”
“Sunshine,” Gabe said. The shock in his voice pulled me away from my conversation with Sally Ann. I looked over at him, and he asked, “Are we,” he gestured back and forth between him and Adrian, “tripping or did Nate Turner just walk into the restaurant?”
“What? Nate’s dead.” I turned my head in the direction that Gabe and Adrian were looking and said, “I’d say there was something psychedelic in those stuffed mushroom appetizers, but you didn’t eat them.”
“You see him too?” Gabe asked like he truly saw a ghost.
“Hell yes, I do,” I replied in awe.
We watched as the ghost of Nate Turner stopped, smiled, and spoke to a waiter in the dining room. That was odd because I’d never seen Nate Turner smile, although I didn’t know him well and I refused to think about how well Gabe did. He also came off as someone who thought that speaking to a waiter was beneath him. The new Nate Turner, though, clapped the waiter on the shoulder before he joined a group of people at a table.
“I don’t fucking believe it,” Adrian said. “I saw his photos from the morgue. You ID’d his body at the scene.”
“I gave a visual ID that the dead man in the car was the man I knew as Nate Turner. I know for a fact they made a fingerprint and dental record comparison to validate my identification,” Gabe said. “Who the fuck is that guy?”
“We’re about to find out,” Adrian said. He raised his hand and waved the waiter over who’d been talking to the doppelganger.
“Yes, sir?” the waiter asked.
“What’s the name of the gentleman you were just talking to?” Adrian asked, nodding his head in the direction of the table our mysterious man just joined.
The waiter hesitated as if he wasn’t sure he should say. “His name is Jonathon Silver, sir.”
“Thank you,” Adrian said pleasantly. “He looks so familiar, but that’s not a name I recognize.”
“He’s relatively new in town,” the waiter replied. “Is there anything else? Would you like more bread for your table?”
“No, we’re fine, but thank you,” Gabe told him. I could tell that he was eager for the guy to move on so he and Adrian could discuss the new development. I counted to four after the waiter moved on before Gabe said, “Has to be a twin brother.”
“No other explanation,” Adrian agreed, “but why in the hell had no one told the cops about his existence? Not Nate’s attorney, not his silent business partner, and not his staff. No one mentioned this guy at any time.”
“The only thing the Cincinnati police told me was that he had adoptive parents. There was no mention of a brother—identical twin or otherwise,” Gabe told Adrian. “They must’ve been raised by different families.”
“Which means that the CPD probably didn’t know either. What are you going to do about this discovery?” Adrian asked Gabe. Adrian didn’t include himself in the equation because Gabe was the one leading the joint task force investigating Nate’s homicide while Adrian wrapped up any investigation that involved Billy Sampson since Gabe was obviously biased against him.
Gabe shook his head and shrugged his shoulders slightly before he
replied with, “Not much I can do about it until Monday. I can do a basic internet search on the guy and try to get some background info, but I guess there’s not much out there if the CPD didn’t know about him. He’s either kept his nose clean or has evaded capture.” Gabe looked at me across the table then said, “There’s no need ruining our evening over something we can’t resolve tonight.”
I knew that the investigator in him wanted to fight that logic, but I also knew from previous conversations that he felt his hectic, long hours on the Miami Police Department played a big part in his failed relationship with Kyle and he wasn’t willing to let the same thing happen between us. I loved that about him, I truly did, but I’d rather him do what he could right then so that his attention would fully be on me when he was home.
“I can ride home with Sally Ann and Adrian if you…”
“Nope,” Gabe said emphatically. “Yes, my mind will be spinning in a million directions tomorrow, but it’s not fair to call in the task force on the weekend with nothing to go on except his name. Like I said, I’ll do some research tomorrow and formulate a game plan for Monday.”
“If you’re sure,” I told him.
“I am,” he replied. “Let’s go back to enjoying our dinners and later you can tell me why I’m just now learning that you can paint.” So he had overheard what I said to Sally Ann. “I expect you to show me your stuff when we get home. Your artwork,” he corrected when he could tell I was about to snark about how often I show him my stuff.
“The bloom is already falling off the rose,” I woefully told a laughing Sally Ann. “Gabe, you’ve seen my artwork already.”
“I have? When?” he asked.
“The studio in my attic,” I told him.
“Are you telling me those paintings of the ballet dancers are your creation? That’s just…wow, Sunshine. What other talents are you keeping from me?” he asked in awe.
The attention he was giving me in front of Adrian and Sally Ann made me feel anxious, so I did what I did best in that type of situation. “Baby, you’ve barely scratched the surface of my talents.” Sally Ann and Adrian laughed, but Gabe just studied me quietly for several moments.
Dyed and Gone to Heaven (Curl Up and Dye Mysteries, #3) Page 1