Dyed and Gone to Heaven (Curl Up and Dye Mysteries, #3)

by Aimee Nicole Walker

  “That’s probably not a good sign,” he said, stating the obvious. Dorchester and I automatically reached for our guns. I moved to the left side of the door and gave him a nod when I was ready, and he pulled open the door with his free hand.

  “Police,” I yelled loudly down the long hallway that led to Nate’s office and the rear of the bar. In the hallway, there were two glossy black doors directly across from one another. I knew one was Nate’s office but had no clue what was behind the other one. “Mr. Silver,” I yelled as we approached the two doors. “Are you in there, sir?” There was no response.

  I kept my gun aimed in front of me in my right hand and grabbed the door handle for Nate’s office with my left. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Dorchester had done the same. “One, two, three…” We pushed the doors open and entered the rooms at the same time.

  The lights were on inside the office, but no one was there. I was about to see if Dorchester had found Silver when a secret panel behind Nate’s desk opened, and Jonathon Silver walked out buck naked, toweling his hair as if he’d just come out of the shower and completely unaware that I was in the room.

  “Mr. Silver,” I said firmly.

  He jerked to a stop and yanked his towel off his head, but made no move to cover his dick from my view. “Well, this is a surprise, Detective Wyatt.”

  “You know who I am?” I asked.

  “Of course, I know who you are. You’re the man who rejected my brother when he turned to you for help,” he said bitterly. “Do you mind putting your gun away?”

  “Do you mind putting yours away?” Dorchester asked as he entered the room.

  Jonathon Silver chuckled as he wrapped the towel around his waist and knotted it. “Does my nudity offend your sensibilities, Detective Dorchester?” Silver asked him.

  “How do you know my name?” Dorchester asked him. “Better yet, why don’t you explain to us how we don’t know about you? I find it odd that you’ve made no attempt to get involved and assist us with the investigation to find your brother’s killer. Does that sound odd to you, Gabe?” Dorchester asked me.

  “I’d move heaven and earth if it were my brother,” I replied, which was the truth. I still reviewed Dylan’s case file and checked if any new leads popped up twenty years later.

  “And you think that makes me look guilty?” Silver asked. “Put yourself in my shoes and see how you’d feel. My brother—identical twin to be exact—is killed after reaching out to the good detective here twice and the Cincinnati Police Department once. Can you maybe see how I don’t have any faith in you to catch whoever was harassing Nate?”

  I could see how he felt that way, but that would only motivate me to get in their faces more, not less. “Put yourself in our shoes, Mr. Silver,” I said, mimicking the words he’d used. “We had a man who claimed he was threatened but wouldn’t cooperate when we tried to help him through legal channels. What exactly could we have done differently?”

  “More than what you did.” Silver shook with anger. “I know all about the new task force, which is too little too late in my opinion, and those who are on it. I’m staying vigilant even when those who should are not.”

  He sounded like some sitcom vigilante. “Mr. Silver, you weren’t so vigilant when you left the back door unlocked.”

  “Ah, that’s how you got in,” he said. “I guess I need to have a longer chat with Alexander—well, perhaps an actual chat that includes words and not body language next time. Don’t be too mad at him, Detectives, because I promise he wasn’t capable of much thought when he left.” Silver had deepened the timbre of his voice, and his words were filled with sexual innuendo, leaving no doubt in our minds what, or who, Alexander had been doing in the club at the early hour.

  Silver pulled the towel off his waist and dropped it to the floor before he reached for his clothes from his desk chair. “If you want to talk to me, then you can do it in the presence of my attorney. It’s the same attorney Nate used, so your task force should be familiar with him.” He took his sweet time pulling on his underwear.

  “Rick Spizer?” Dorchester asked, nonplussed by Silver’s actions.

  “The one and only,” Silver replied.

  “That’s great news,” I told him. “We have an appointment with him at noon so why don’t you join him at the precinct?” Jonathon Silver narrowed his crystal blue eyes in speculation. If he refused, he would look guiltier and if he agreed he would have to answer questions or have his mouthpiece decline or interject on his behalf, which would also make him look guilty. “This is your moment to step up and prove that you want to help catch the man who killed your brother, as you claim.”

  “I won’t be baited by you, Detective. I don’t owe you a fucking thing,” he replied hotly, “but I will be there at noon.”

  “Thank you,” I told him.

  “I’m not doing it for you; I’m doing it for Nate.”

  “We’ll see you at noon,” I told him. “Be sure to bring your alibi information with you for the night that your brother died.”

  Dorchester and I were almost to his office door when he spoke up. “Detective Wyatt, am I identical to my brother in every way?” His words shocked me, but I kept walking instead of responding to his crude question. I could hear his dark laughter ringing through the hallway as if it was chasing me out of the building.

  “So, you and Nate, huh?” Dorchester asked once we were back in the spring sunlight.

  “Once,” was my response. “We were never a couple or anything like that. In fact, a year passed between our two meetings.”

  “You’re investigating the death of a former hookup while working with another. That’s got to be some interesting ‘how was your day, dear’ dinner conversation. Unless Josh doesn’t know,” Dorchester added.

  “How’d you know about Paul?” I asked him after picking my chin up off the damn pavement. I didn’t like that my personal life connected to this case, but I knew that my objectivity was uncompromised.

  “I’m a detective,” he replied. “I’m paid to read body language and stuff. I’m not sure if the other team members are as astute, but I saw the way your eyes widened slightly and your body stiffened. Paul’s a smooth customer, but he had similar reactions as you. The first impression wasn’t enough to convince me, but then he offered to show you to the bathroom when you asked for directions. Most guys would’ve told you to turn right outside the conference room and then left at the end of the hallway.” Dorchester laughed. “You didn’t answer my question about Josh.”

  I unlocked my car with the key fob. “He knows.”

  “And?”

  I thought back to the conversation I had with Josh the previous night. I knew by his body language and words that he didn’t like the situation, but he trusted me. I smiled when I thought about how much faith Josh had in me. “He trusts me,” I told Dorchester.

  “As he should,” he replied. “I have to ask something, and I promise your answer stays between us.”

  “What?” I asked uncertainly.

  “I’m coming at this from a purely scientific angle,” Dorchester said seriously. “Are they identical everywhere?”

  I noticed Jonathon Silver’s cock, of course; I was a gay man after all. Although I knew the answer to Dorchester’s question, I wasn’t about to answer it. I pinned him with a disbelieving glare instead.

  “Your silence speaks for itself,” he said smugly. “I guess I know why Nate’s stalker was so hung up on the size of his dick in that email.”

  I had temporarily forgotten about the exact wording in that email due to the discovery of Silver’s existence, but Dorchester was right. Dorchester had never seen the email or the pictures, or he’d have known the answer to his one question. Commenting on the size of Nate’s dick and being remorseful that it was wasted on him wasn’t something a brother would say to another, especially one who was equally as endowed. That didn’t necessarily mean that Silver was in the clear; hell, he could’ve said those things intenti
onally so that he could avoid scrutiny. Smoke and mirrors.

  “Unless they had a twincest thing going on,” Dorchester commented.

  “Gross,” I replied. “This case just keeps getting weirder every single day.”

  “Do you have the feeling that we haven’t even scratched the surface of weird yet?” he asked.

  “I do,” I replied, which was why I was eager to get back to the police station to do more digging into Jonathon Silver’s property company. I didn’t want to be caught off guard more than I had already been.

  IT WAS BY PURE coincidence that I talked Chaz into coming with me to take Diva for her booster shots. I didn’t have an ulterior motive for the invite at all. Wink. Wink. I didn’t think it was coincidence though that Chaz dressed up a little more than he normally would for a visit to the veterinarian either, but I didn’t remark on it. I was becoming one of those annoying friends that everyone groans when they see them coming. You know the type—the one that has fallen madly in love and wants everyone else to feel the same things too. So, yeah, I totally twisted Chaz’s arm to come along with me and used his guilt against him to get my way. It wasn’t like Diva needed an extra hand because she was a shameful slut when it came to Dr. Dimples. It was embarrassing the way she purred the second he walked into the room.

  “Is that a new cologne?” I asked him, although I knew the answer. Okay, maybe I couldn’t just let it go by without a mention. I glanced over and saw a pink flush creeping across his cheeks. I saw him fiddling with the buttons on his shirtsleeves. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw Chaz wear something other than a T-shirt or long-sleeved T-shirt.

  “It was a birthday gift from my mom,” Chaz said softly. His birthday was eight months prior, and I’d never smelled it on him before or heard him mention it.

  “Well, it smells nice,” I told him. “New shirt?” Why stop when I was on a roll?

  “It was a birthday gift from my grandmother,” he replied, squirming in his seat. He was such a bad liar, but I chose not to call him on it.

  “Well, Grandma Gertie has great taste.” She totally did not have good taste and another reason I knew he was holding out on me. Again. I remember very well the hideous things she bought him in the past. I nearly lost my cool when I recalled the knitted sweater she made him during his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles phase. It was the most disgusting color green I’d ever seen and had sea turtles all over it; as if that was anywhere close. His mother made him wear it to school where it had an unfortunate accident with ketchup and mustard at lunch and couldn’t be saved. That sweater was so ugly that no one asked how Chaz got his hands on those two condiments on sausage and pancake day.

  “That combination of blues and grays makes your pretty blue eyes pop. I’ll have to ask Grannie where she got it so I can see if they have any that would look good on me.”

  “Macy’s,” Chaz said quickly as if he didn’t want me to call her. “She left the tag on it.”

  “So, who bought you the brown leather half boots?” I asked. “Don’t tell me, let me guess. Hmm… Your aunt Sandra.”

  “Hanging around that detective has rubbed off on you. Can’t get nothing past you,” Chaz said sarcastically.

  I wanted to come back at him with a snarky reply about Gabe rubbing off on me every chance he got, but I didn’t. It was obvious to me that Chaz was going through something that he didn’t want to discuss. He gave the excuse about the video games, and I thought there might be a little bit of truth there, but I suspected that something else was going on.

  “You look and smell very nice,” I told him. It was good to see some color on his cheeks; even if it was because he was slightly embarrassed over dressing up to see Dr. Dimples.

  “Thank you.”

  Diva softly growled her displeasure from inside her cat carrier on Chaz’s lap. “I’m not sure Diva agrees, but you know how fickle she can be. Don’t take her opinion to heart,” I told him. “She just wants me to speed up so she can get to rubbing her head against her favorite vet’s dimpled chin.” I saw Chaz squirm in his seat and I knew he was thinking about rubbing a certain head of his against the good doctor’s square chin.

  Alyssa smiled brightly at us from behind her desk when we entered the waiting room. “Well don’t you just look adorable this morning, Chaz.”

  “Uh… thank you,” he muttered. “I’ll take Diva and have a seat while you fill out the paperwork,” Chaz told me.

  “Better yet,” said Dr. Delicious as he stepped out of his office, “why don’t you and Diva come with me. I’ll get started with her checkup while Josh fills out the paperwork.”

  “Uh…”

  “Come on, now. I don’t bite.” Kyle’s sultry, seductive voice made me blink several times and lose focus on what I had begun to write on the paperwork Alyssa handed me. What the hell was going on here? Was Dr. Dreamboat stepping up his game?

  “Uh…” Jesus, Chaz was starting to sound like a broken record. I did what any good friend would do. I subtly kicked him in the back of his leg to break him from his trance. “Okay.”

  I smiled as I watched Chaz follow Kyle back to an exam room. I thought they would make the most adorable couple. Alyssa cleared her throat, pulling my attention back to her.

  “That’s a new form, and perhaps I should go over it with you,” she said to me. I looked at the form and noted that it was a new format, but it asked the same questions that were on the old one. She gave me a conspiring wink when I returned my eyes to hers. “It could take a while.”

  Alyssa went over every line on the form as I completed it, which added an extra ten minutes to the process. I had expected to see Kyle halfway through his exam of Diva by the time I got back to the room, but instead, I saw Diva twining herself around Kyle’s legs trying to get his attention while he held Chaz’s bleeding finger in his hand.

  “Well, at least we know the little vixen is well-vaccinated,” Kyle said as he examined Chaz.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Your little slutty cat bit me when I didn’t hand her to Dr. Dimples quick enough,” Chaz said petulantly. Kyle stood up a little straighter and blinked at Chaz several times before a wide smile spread across his face that showed why he earned the nickname. Unfortunately for Chaz, Kyle didn’t know we called him that until just then. Poor Chaz turned an unnatural shade of white when he realized what he’d said.

  “Dr. Dimples, huh?” Kyle asked. “I like it. Maybe I should change my avatar name to that.”

  “Chaz plays World of Warcraft too,” I told him. “He’s really good at it.” I had no fucking clue if he was good or not, but that didn’t stop me. “Plays a lot at night and makes a lot of friends around the world.” I was starting to ramble, and Chaz was looking at me with bulging eyes that pleaded for me to shut the fuck up, but I didn’t know how once I was on a roll. “I think he’s met a guy online and just doesn’t want me to know about it. He worries I’ll make fun of him or something.”

  “Josh,” Chaz growled.

  “I would never!” I clutched my heart dramatically and blinked my eyes innocently. “We never know when we’ll find the other half of our soul. Sometimes they’re standing right in front of you all along.”

  Chaz and Kyle didn’t hear a word I was saying though because they were too busy staring into each other’s eyes. I was about to start patting my own back when Alyssa burst into the room.

  “Dr. Vaughn,” she said breathlessly, “Beth Handerneski called and said their bull got loose. They tracked him down and lured him back in the trailer, but not before he cut himself pretty bad on a fence. They want to know if you can come out and take a look at him.”

  Kyle broke eye contact with Chaz and looked at his receptionist. “Tell them I’ll be out there as soon as I finish up here.” When Alyssa left the room, Kyle was back to doctor mode. That’s some damn bullshit right there. “Come here, pretty girl,” Kyle cooed to Diva. He picked the cat up, and she purred loudly as she butted her head against his chin. Kyle talked
to her the entire time he examined my shameless cat. He gave her ears an extra scratch before he handed my feline over to me. “I’ll let Molly give her the booster so that Diva doesn’t get mad at me.” His comment made me laugh. “I better get out to the Handerneski’s farm and look at Tank. I’ll see you guys around.” He stopped in front of Chaz and said, “Maybe I’ll find you online, and we can play together.” Oh, that sounded a little naughty! Kyle left the room without waiting to hear a response from Chaz.

  Once we were alone in the exam room, a hard shiver worked its way through Chaz’s body as if Kyle had asked him to play with his joystick. I was glad to see I wasn’t the only one who thought so. “I’m going to kill you,” Chaz said when he could finally talk again.

  “Gabe won’t let you,” I said smugly.

  “He’ll help me when he finds out what you just did,” Chaz said, sounding wounded.

  “What? I told Kyle that you like to play World of Warcraft too. Did I lie?” I asked.

  “You insinuated much more than that, and you know it. What the hell was that ‘sometimes they’re standing right in front of you all along’ bullshit?”

  “It wasn’t bullshit,” I replied. “Gabe had been right in front of me all along.” Well, we lived in the same damn town anyway, which was the same as Kyle and Chaz. Besides, maybe they had already connected online and didn’t even know it. That damn Tank had to get loose and ruin it. Lucky for him I loved all of God’s creatures, or I’d turn him into meatloaf.

  “Just because it happened to you doesn’t mean it will happen for me. You really embarrassed me, Jazz,” Chaz said softly. “I know you’re just trying to help, but please stop it. There’s no way a guy like that wants a guy like me.”

  My best friend was beautiful in every possible way, and I wished he could see what I saw in him. I let out a soft sigh and apologized. “I won’t do it again,” I added. The look in his blue eyes told me that he didn’t believe me for a second, but he didn’t argue.