by Ann Mullen
We all glanced back and forth at each other.
“Hmm…” I said. “A question we’ve come up against before.”
It was the same question we had asked ourselves on a previous case. We made a wrong decision then, and it wound up landing me and Billy in hot water with the sheriff. If we’d just given Sheriff Hudson the gun when we found it, instead of holding onto it, our life would be as it was. We wouldn’t be working on the sly, taking a chance we could land in the pokey for an indeterminate amount of time. We’d be out there kicking butt. Now we were reduced to sneaking around in the bushes like panthers waiting to pounce. But hey, isn’t that the way we’re supposed to operate?
“I’m sure they already know Preston was there,” Jonathan said, looking over at the clock on the wall. “If we know, they know. We need to find out if Preston is in custody.” He motioned to Shark, who turned and walked outside.
“Where’s he going?” I asked.
“He’s going to check the status on Preston.”
“Where? In the front yard?”
Jonathan chuckled, Shark smiled. “No, Jesse. We have a rather sophisticated setup in the Hummer. We can run a check on anyone, anywhere, in a matter of minutes.”
Less than five minutes later, Shark returned. “They’re looking for him in connection with the murder of Mae Bridges, but he hasn’t been picked up yet.”
“It’s your call, Billy,” Jonathan said. “We’re here to protect and serve right?” He looked over at Mom. “You might want to leave the room, Minnie, because I’m getting ready to get down and dirty. You might not want to hear what I have in mind.”
“I can handle anything you throw at me,” she replied with confidence. “I think I’ll stay. Gavin Preston almost killed Jesse, so I’m pretty much in agreement with whatever you want to do. I’m tired of bad guys trying to kill off my loved ones. So, fire away.”
Jonathan looked back at Billy. “Why don’t you let us go out and whack him? Save us a lot of time and trouble.” He chuckled. “We’ll dispose of his body, and I guarantee you his remains will never be found.”
“What remains?” Shark jokingly asked. “We don’t leave anything behind.”
Shark had a deep voice that carried a lot of force. He reminded me of a guy I’d seen in a movie once. The only difference was that he didn’t have the bulging belly, and he definitely wasn’t overweight. He was as strong as an ox.
Mom flinched and said, “You mean, kill him?”
“That would be my guess,” Helene said, adding to the conversation.
“We’d burn in Hell!” Mom squealed. “We can’t just kill him in cold blood. I won’t be a part of it. I say we turn our information over to the cops and let them take care of the problem. The evidence is right here in black and white.” She looked at Billy and then at Jonathan. “We’re not killers!” She shook her head in disbelief. “Maybe I should’ve left the room when I was told to.”
“Oh don’t act so surprised, Minnie,” Helene said. “What do you think these guys do? Use harsh language? No. They terminate for a cause.”
“What the hell does that mean, Helene?” Mom shot back, angrily.
You’d think someone had just hit the pause button on real life, because everyone’s mouth dropped opened and stayed that way. Well, except for the terminate-for-a-cause guy. He was more baffled at our reaction than he was at Mom’s use of a curse word. He didn’t get it. You see, my mother never, ever cussed. She hated the use of foul language, so for her to come back with the h-word used in that way, was a real shocker. It surely got our attention.
“I’m so sorry,” Mom said, her tone remorseful. “I never talk like that, but sometimes you can’t control what comes out of your mouth when you’re in shock.” She looked around the room, going from one face to another. “If murder is what you have in mind, I’m leaving now.” Billy started to say something, but she stopped him. “I’ll go home, lock all my doors, and sleep with a gun, but I won’t stand by and watch you commit murder. I’m sorry. I just can’t do it.” She looked at Jonathan. “I know I said I’d go along with whatever you had in mind, but that didn’t include murder.”
It was time for some damage control, and we all knew it.
“Minnie,” Jonathan said as he walked over to her and put his arm around her shoulders ever so gently. “We’re guys. We talk trash. It’s just our way of getting through a mission. We’re not going to kill anyone.” He looked at Shark who immediately shook his head in agreement, and then he looked back at Mom. “We kill for God and Country, no one else.”
Shark, the scariest looking one in the bunch, went over to Mom and spoke softly in his deep voice to her. “Don’t let Jonathan fool you, Minnie. May I call you Minnie?” She shook her head submissively. “We’re just pussycats.” He slowly reached out and took her hand in his. “We’re here to protect you. We know Gavin Preston is a killer. He’s still out there and he’s a threat to your family as long as he is. He tried to kill your daughter. Don’t you want us to get him off the streets? We won’t bump him off. I swear to God.” He put his other hand to his heart as if he was making a promise to the man upstairs.
What a sight to see—Mom being consoled by the most unlikely person in the room—a big black guy whose body was made of steel and had a name that conjured up images of being ripped to shreds and then eaten alive. Shark… that should tell you something.
Jonathan’s buddies weren’t the kind who tried to appease a person; they used brute force instead. Yet, here was this guy, who could make you pee your pants just by looking at you, calming Mom’s fears. It was at that point I realized Shark was a man to be reckoned with. He could charm you and make you believe anything, but underneath that façade was a killing machine. But don’t get me wrong. He’s one of the good guys.
“I don’t want anyone murdered,” Mom said to Shark. “I want us to solve this case without killing anyone—unless it’s in self-defense—and I want those criminals behind bars.”
“Then let us do our job,” Shark pleaded. “We’ll be good boys, I promise. Don’t let anyone fool you. We’re tough, but we’re not murderers. We’re lean, mean, fighting machines.” He gave Mom a sheepish, beaming grin, showing a mouth full of pearly whites.
“I’ve heard that one before,” Mom snickered. “You’re not so tough after all, are you, Mr. Shark? You guys were just pulling my leg. Shame on you! You scared me half to death.”
“It’s just Shark,” he said to her. “But you can call me anything you want, Minnie.”
“Shark is fine,” she replied. “I like that name. Scary, but cool.”
Her fear that we had all turned into murderous lunatics was now gone, thanks to the smooth-talking ways of a roughneck called Shark. He’d won her over.
Mom pointed her finger at Jonathan and admonished him. “Don’t you ever play a trick like that on me again, Jonathan Blackhawk! I believed you!”
“All right,” Billy said as he picked up the paperwork and slid it back into the folder. “Here’s how it’s going to play out.”
We milled around him, waiting for instructions. I knew that whatever he was about to say was going to be sugar-coated for Mom’s benefit. She could play the role of private investigator, but she’d only go so far.
Billy looked at Jonathan and said, “The first thing we need to do is send someone to pick up Eddie. I don’t like the idea that he’s laid up and by himself.”
Jonathan motioned to Shark, knowing that Mom had warmed up to him, and said, “Is it okay if Shark takes you, Minnie?”
“I’m ready. Where’s my purse?”
After Mom and her new buddy Shark left, we got down to the nitty-gritty.
“We’re not turning any of this information over to the sheriff.” Billy looked at me. “It proves we’re not on hiatus, and there’s the question of how we obtained it.” He handed the file to Helene. “Would you mind putting this on my desk?”
Helene took the folder and replied, “Sure, but when I get back I’m
going to fix breakfast. Y’all need to eat. Can’t kill someone on an empty stomach.” She walked away laughing at herself, proud of coming up with such a smart, timely remark.
“I’m starving,” Jonathan said. “Gotta eat something before I go out and kill someone.” Then he winked at me.
“As if it would hurt you to miss a meal,” Helene wisecracked from down the hall, and then broke out in laughter. She yelled back, “I take that back. I need both my arms.” After that one, she laughed so hard I thought she was going to choke.
We took a seat at the table and sat down with the idea that Billy would continue discussing his plan, but I had ideas of my own. I spoke up first.
“We know we’re going after Gavin if the police don’t have him locked up already. We’ll torture him in some secluded bunker, and then we might just put him out of his misery if need be.”
“We’re not going to kill him, Jesse,” Jonathan chuckled. “We’ll dump him off naked and penniless in some third world country. He’ll never get back to the states.”
“That’s a relief,” I said. “I’m all for putting as much distance between us and him as possible. Dump him in Afghanistan for all I care. I would like to rough him up a little first. You know—payback.”
“If this isn’t a nice conversation to have at breakfast,” Helene said while placing steaming cups of coffee in front of us. “Do I get to punch him a few times?”
“Wouldn’t it be cheaper and quicker to just dump him off the top of a mountain?” I asked Jonathan.
Helene walked back to the kitchen. “Breakfast will be ready soon. Gotta feed these killers before I lose a limb.”
Billy cracked up first, and the rest of us followed.
We had just finished breakfast when Athena and Thor barreled through the doggie door in the laundry room, barking and snarling. When they reached the table, they stopped, sniffed the air, and then went to the front door and sat down. Thor whimpered. Athena started howling like a wolf.
“I was wondering where you guys were, but now I wish you had stayed there. What’s wrong with you two?” I had to yell to drown them out. “Stop it!”
They ignored me until the house phone rang. They stopped barking and sat staunch, their eyes glued to it.
“Thank you,” I said to them as I got up to answer the call. “It’s a little hard to talk above that racket.” I picked up the portable phone and before I could say anything, I heard Mom’s voice in the background, crying and screaming. My heart skipped a beat. “Mom! Mom!” I yelled. Panic was strangling me. “Are you all right? Mom! Someone answer me!”
Finally, Shark spoke into the phone. “This is Shark, Jesse. Eddie’s been attacked, but he’s going to be okay. Your mom isn’t taking it well. She’s a little upset at the moment.”
“I can tell. She keeps screaming something about killing someone. Is she talking about Gavin Preston? Has he been there? Did he beat up Eddie? That son-of-a…”
“I need to talk to Jonathan,” Shark demanded. “Put him on the phone… please.”
Mom kept screaming in the background, “Kill him! Kill him! Shark, you have to stop him! I want that man dead! Kill him!”
Shark tried to calm her down, but it wasn’t working. She was outraged.
I knew exactly what had happened and what she wanted. She wanted Gavin Preston dead. Anger can change everything. Now she was the one who wanted revenge.
Chapter 7
Eddie had been watching TV, his leg propped up with a pillow, a glass of iced tea in his hand, when he heard someone at the back door. He figured it was Mom, so he didn’t try to get up. When he finally turned around to look, the man was standing there with his hand raised. He cold-cocked Eddie up side the head, dragged him from the chair, and pinned him to the floor.
Eddie’s in his late sixties, served his country for four years in the Army, and after that went on to serve citizens as a police officer. He retired several years ago and now spends his time serving my mother. At least that’s what he tells people when they ask what he used to do for a living. He’s not a large man. Age does that to a person. He’s about five-eight and weighs around a hundred seventy pounds, almost the same as my mother, except she’s a few inches shorter, weighing in at about one-fifty. Since neither one has size and strength going for them, they have to rely on their wits and the 9MM Billy had provided for each of them. Neither weapon was close by when Eddie was attacked.
The intruder knocked Eddie around, but didn’t batter him as badly as he could have. He wanted this beating to be a lesson to the rest of us. He told Eddie to call off the dogs, or next time, he’d kill him and his busybody old lady. It happened so fast, the only thing Eddie could remember about the man was that he was big with awful breath and evil eyes.
Mom was angrier than I’d ever seen. She kept saying that if they had arrived twenty minutes sooner, they would’ve caught the man in the act. Instead, they got there just as Eddie was being loaded into the ambulance. It seems the guy dialed 9-1-1 and then tossed the phone on the floor next to Eddie and said, “Better get help before you die of old age.” Mighty nice of him.
Our crew congregated in the hospital waiting area, quietly discussing our next move. Shark and Mom were with Eddie, the kids were safe—that’s the first call Billy made when we found out about Eddie’s attack—and Gavin Preston was still out there, most likely planning how much more damage he could inflict upon us.
Jonathan’s cell beeped and he excused himself, walked over to the nurse’s station, and then returned with a woman wearing scrubs.
“You can use this room.” She pointed to a door with the letter B on it. “I’ll send in a grief counselor.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Jonathan said, leading us into the room and then closing the door. He hit the speaker key on his cell and said, “Lu Ann has been doing some digging on Preston. Go ahead Lu Ann.”
Everyone stood and listened.
“Here’s what I have on Preston. He was abused as a child by his father, who happened to have the misfortune of falling on his chainsaw and decapitating himself when Preston was seventeen. This is what we’d call a stressor—an event that sets someone off. But there’s nothing in Preston’s background that would indicate his father’s death had any ill effects on him. He lived the straight and narrow for fifteen years, and then his mother killed herself. He cherished his mother, so if there ever was a stressor, this would be it. A couple of years after his mother’s death, he went to work for Dakota.”
“Such a tragic story.”
“The one thing we know for sure is that two days ago he started smashing in faces. All we have to go on is Mae Bridges’ accusations that Dakota killed her husband, or either got Preston to do it. Remember, this is a woman who said she wanted her husband dead, and then paid money after he was killed.”
“But Mae wasn’t serious,” I said. “She was just playing along.”
“Mighty dangerous game, don’t you think?” Lu Ann said. “Who would do something so stupid? Would you?”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
“Maybe he’s a latent serial killer,” Helene added. “He could’ve had it in him all along and now it’s coming to the surface.”
“He’s not a serial killer,” Lu Ann replied. “If he were a serial killer there would have been signs of it in his past… trouble in school, torturing of small animals, fighting… juvenile stuff. There’s nothing like that in Preston’s past. If anything, he was a good kid.”
“Then perhaps he’s just a hit man for Dakota,” Billy said. “You said his mother’s death was a stressor. That could’ve gotten him started, made him susceptible to outside influences, especially when money’s involved. What about his financial status?”
“According to his bank account, he deposits five hundred a week, and thanks to Gator’s hacking ability, we now know Preston lives high on the hog. Has a fancy condo, wears designer clothes, and eats at all the best restaurants.”
“Blood money,” I retorted.
<
br /> “No police record,” Lu Ann continued. “Clean as a whistle, that is, until Sheriff Hudson locked him up on that disorderly charge.”
“What about his health?” I asked. “His breath was awful. He must be sick or something. I’ve never smelled…”
“Ah, the bad breath,” Lu Ann said. “Seems he has a stomach ulcer. His medical record says he’s been seeing a doctor for the ulcer and diabetes. He’s also had lots of dental work—a couple root canals and crowns. He probably had an abscessed tooth. That could account for his bad breath.”
“Well, it didn’t work,” I sneered. “His breath still stinks.”
“Could be the ulcers,” Lu Ann offered. “Perhaps Dakota makes him use mouthwash and eat breath mints before they have sex.”
“Ah, they’re lovers,” I added. “That makes sense. She uses sex to get him to do what she wants.”
“Sex… and the money,” Lu Ann replied. “He came from a family who barely scraped by. Now look at him. He has it all—money, job, and sex with a beautiful woman.”
“Who pays him to kill people,” Helene added.
“Maybe,” Lu Ann remarked. “Gator’s been digging into her background, but he isn’t having much luck, just like y’all. There seems to be nothing on her life before she moved to Charlottesville. We need a fingerprint or a DNA sample.”
“That shouldn’t be too hard,” Shark said. “We can search her house.”
“She lives at The Body Shop,” Lu Ann said. “So does Olivia Swales. Can’t dig up anything on Olivia either. Stolen social security numbers is all we have on them. They’ve gone to great lengths to cover their tracks. Even a DNA sample and a fingerprint might not do us any good, but it wouldn’t hurt to try.” Lu Ann paused and then said, “If Preston is Dakota’s hit man, why didn’t he kill Jesse and Eddie? He had the chance. Hit men don’t play around. They don’t warn their victims by making threats. They kill and then get out. Here’s something else. Y’all think Preston killed Mae Bridges, but the nurse at the hospital told the police that a nurse had gone in Mae’s room just before she saw the man leaving. She didn’t recognize the nurse. That nurse could’ve been Dakota Stone in disguise. Perhaps, the only thing Preston is guilty of is being stupid.”