by Diane Bator
“Got a tip someone found Paulina’s car at the airport so I left an officer to figure out what happened from there.”
For appearance’s sake, Danny remained handcuffed and sat on Maddox’s desk to supervise while officers boxed everything. Much to his delight, Maddox walked into the room in the middle of the evidence gathering.
“What’s going on here?” He wore a black trench coat, a rumpled tuxedo and a bow tie undone around his neck. When his gaze fell on Danny, a sneer curled his lip. “What’s going on, Wild? What are the police doing here?”
Danny was glad he’d worn his disguise despite the itch. Maddox couldn’t learn the truth yet. Not until Paulina was in custody. “I don’t know. I just got here.”
“He’s under arrest.” Bobby grabbed Danny by the arm then threw him against the wall.
“For what?” Danny shot Bobby a glare.
“I’ll come up with something.”
“There must be some mistake. Mr. Wild is with me. I spent the entire day with top notch lawyers convincing your superiors they have the wrong idea about me and my associates.” Maddox stood in the middle of the room with his palms up. “I’m on my way to a fund-raiser. Please release this man so we can be on our way.”
“Not a chance. Come on.” Bobby yanked Danny toward the elevator.
Maddox’s voice raised an octave. “You can’t take him. I need to talk to him. Where’s Paulina, Wild?”
Danny froze. If Maddox had no idea where she was, things were more complicated than he thought. Or Maddox was a liar. “I thought she was with you.”
“No. I didn’t see her at the police station, either.” He frowned. “We need to find her. She has something I need back. She could be in trouble.”
“Mr. Wild’s not being charged, yet, just detained and questioned.” Bobby motioned to one of the other detectives to hold Maddox back. “I’m locking this one in interrogation before this loser sneaks him out under a lawyer’s coat.”
Down the hallway, Bobby threw him into the elevator. They rode down in silence, aware of the video camera behind the ornate mirrored walls. At street level, Bobby shoved him into the back of a cruiser.
“Hey, take it easy. Maddox can’t see us down here.”
“I’m not taking any chances.” He glanced in the rear-view mirror. “That guy has more eyes than a horsefly.”
Danny blew out a breath and sat back, his wrists already chaffed. “Good point. Drop me off at Wild Blue.”
“No way. You’re coming to the station to make it look good. You can sneak out the back later and grab your car.”
“They’re still processing it. Paulina threw up all over the inside when we left the party.” Danny squirmed to find a comfortable position, glad he didn’t have to ride in the backseat often. “We need to find Paulina and put her in witness protection until the trial. If the D.A. accuses me of murdering her, Maddox would get off her trail so she could appear as a surprise witness later.”
Bobby shook his head. “We have to find her first. She can’t testify if she’s dead or missing.”
Danny blew out a long breath. They’d worked hard to dig a lot of skeletons out of closets over the past two years and probably still didn’t know the half of it. After spending the night shuttling between Maddox’s house, DMR and the police station, he was too exhausted to chew anybody out. “Drop me off at Wild Blue so I can check my messages. Maybe she found my card in her purse.”
“Wishful thinking. She thinks you’re a thug and will tear it into pieces.” He pulled over to the curb to drop Danny off. “I still don’t like this. You should come down to the station and at least let Maddox see you behind bars.”
“We need to find Paulina. That takes precedence over keeping Maddox happy.”
Bobby scowled. “Get out.”
Danny laughed. “When’s the last time you rode back here? You know I can’t so don’t be a jerk. Open the door and take off the cuffs.”
“I should leave them on and see if Leo can get them off you.” Bobby got out and opened the door.
“He could. In about three seconds.” Danny turned so he could remove the cuffs. “You want to come up and say hi? He’s probably in the office by now.”
“Are you kidding? That guy scares the hell out of me. He’s like half Rambo and half Einstein rolled into one scary dude. I’m damn glad he’s on our side.”
Danny was halfway up the first flight of stairs when his phone rang. When “Hannah Diggly” appeared on the display screen, his shoulders sagged. He needed sleep and lots of coffee before he talked to his sister, but that wasn’t going to happen today. “Hey, Sis.”
“You need to come home, Danny. Uncle Ray fell down the stairs of the bookstore again. He’s fine, this time. I’m afraid one of these days he’ll fall and break his hip or neck.” She paused for a quick breath. “We need to put him in the seniors’ home.”
“It’ll have to wait.”
“Yeah, I know. You’re busy. You’re always busy.” Anger filled her voice. “Just remember who took us in when Mom and Dad died and who made a lot of sacrifices so you could become a cop.”
“Dad’s Uncle Ray.” His words echoed in the stairwell. “I’ll come as soon as I can. Bye, Sis.” Danny dragged his body up the remaining flight of stairs of a nondescript brick building then opened the door to Wild Blue Detective Agency. “I’m home. Anybody miss me?”
“Shut the door, wipe your shoes and don’t get blood on the carpet.” Leo Blue sat at a beat-up desk staring at a laptop. The desk was marred by burns and scars, much like Leo.
Bobby was right, only Danny figured Leo was more like two-parts Rambo and one-part Einstein. “When did you get back to town?”
“Five minutes and thirty-three seconds ago.” Leo’s eyes never left the computer screen.
Danny rubbed a hand over his face and yawned. He’d called Leo in to back him up on the DMR case and to build a fake detective agency. Ironically, Leo thrived on the whole business and had taken several minor cases on his own over the past few months. When he didn’t disappear for days on end.
“You working a new case?”
Leo smirked. “I wish. Video poker. I’m up two grand. You want to go to the gym?”
“I can’t. Just left Maddox’s office.” He stood in front of a mirror to remove the wig and fake beard.
“Is that where you’ve been?” Leo whistled. “You’re a mess. Whose bodily secretions are you wearing today? You reek.”
“It’s a long story.”
He waved a hand. “Bro, I’m playing video poker and winning. I’ve got time.”
“The bust at Maddox’s last night went bad. We arrested them then they all got out, thanks to good lawyers and loopholes. Paulina disappeared before backup picked her up. To make matters worse, someone shot Dunnsforth between his release this morning and three this afternoon, and all the evidence points to Paulina.” Danny straddled a chair. “This day’s been crap.”
“Whoa. Paulina? The D.A.’s star witness? How’d she disappear?”
“I screwed up.” Danny lowered his voice. “I took her to a motel and left her there passed out. When backup got to the motel, she’d come to and taken off. Bobby and the guys stormed the DMR offices. We’ve got boxes of evidence and a body but no witness.”
“A falling down drunk got away from all of you big, bad cops?” Leo burst into laughter. “Kudos to her. From what you’ve said, I didn’t think she had it in her. What happened to Dunnsforth?”
He blew out a breath. “He was shot in the head near Maddox’s summer cottage with Paulina’s blue scarf in one hand. Maddox wanted him dead and could have planted the scarf. There were blonde hairs on it but half a dozen of the women at the party last night were the same shade.”
Danny grew somber and scrubbed his face with both hands. Phone calls from Hannah about Ray had become more frequent over the past six months. “I have to go to Packham. Ray fell down the stairs again. I’ll be there and back in a couple of hours. Longer if I slee
p. I need you to do some legwork before the trail gets cold.”
“So you’re leaving town and Bobby and I get stuck cleaning up the mess.” The chair creaked when he leaned back. “You should’ve brought me in a lot sooner. I’m wasting my talent with all these petty cases. I’d go toe to toe with Al and Chevy in a heartbeat. No sweat.”
“Yeah, I know. Then I’d have to search for you instead of a drunk.” Danny grinned. “The odds are better with the drunk.”
Leo shrugged and tapped his keyboard.
Danny should have brought him in sooner so Paulina would be safe instead of missing or dead. He walked over to Leo’s desk and laid his hand on Leo’s shoulder. “I have a brown envelope in the safe that has copies of information we’ll need against Maddox. If anything happens to me, give it to Bobby. For now, I need you to run around town and see if anyone has seen her lately. Her car was at the airport, but that’s too easy. Maddox taught her too well.”
“I’m on it.” The card game disappeared, replaced by the mountains of Tibet. Leo’s home away from home.
“Nice screensaver. You don’t have plans to desert me, do you?”
“I’m a rolling stone, dude. I could be gone by the time you get back from the bathroom.”
He laughed. Leo was the last person who’d leave without warning. Gypsy or not, he’d never turn his back when a friend needed help.
“Find out everything you can about Paulina Chourney.”
Danny rifled through his desk and added a flash drive to an envelope that already held assorted paperwork and three flash drives in the safe. All he needed was someone to back up the evidence on the witness stand and Paulina Chourney would be perfect.
If he found her.
He’d avoided her in the past simply because she belonged to Maddox. In hindsight, she was the one person he should have gotten close to. Secretaries always knew where the bodies were buried. Paulina, being Dunnsforth’s secretary and Maddox’s girlfriend, knew more than most.
Leo whistled. “She’s a babe. I’ll bet I can sniff her out in no time. What kind of perfume does she wear?”
“I know you can but I’d probably scare her less.”
“What?” He waved his hands in the air. “I’m harmless.”
“You?” Danny studied the scars on his face. Rumor had it Leo once killed a man with one punch. Danny didn’t doubt it. “You’re as harmless as a cobra. I need you to go out and show her picture around town. Cover the airport, the bus terminal and the train station.”
“You want me to use a police badge? Sometimes it helps people remember.”
“No. Play it straight. You’re a private detective looking for a runaway.”
Leo waved his arm toward the printer. “Your pictures are printing. I made duplicates for me. She’s cute, you know. I’d like to meet her sometime.”
“Careful what you wish for. She comes with a lot of big, ugly baggage.”
“Yeah and I don’t?” Leo, severely wounded while stationed in Afghanistan, was both a former professional boxer and third degree karate black belt. He was the one person Danny wanted to have watch his back, especially in this situation. “You want my opinion?”
“Not really.”
“Maddox had more influence than you think. He beat her for years and she stayed. If she doesn’t go back to him the first chance she gets, she’ll get a new identity and hide somewhere nearby.” Leo shrugged. “Or she’s already dead.”
“That doesn’t help much. You don’t think she’s on a tropical beach blowing his money?”
“Gut instinct?” Leo paused then shook his head. “Nope.”
Danny raised his left eyebrow. “If she was smart, she would be. She’s probably as far away as she can get from Newville. I know I would be.”
Leo laughed. “You wanna bet on that?”
“You’re on.” Danny dug into his front pocket. “I don’t mind taking your money.”
Leo shrugged. “This isn’t even a contest, Bro. She’s an abused alcoholic. I don’t think she’s all that predictable.”
* * *
The drive to Packham, an hour west of Newville, gave Danny time to think and avoid the media circus unleashed by Maddox’s arrest. Maddox would send his lawyers to talk to Wild, only to discover he wasn’t held in any holding cell and would assume the police were after bigger fish. Donovan Wild, aka Danny Walker, was a detective, not a thug and hadn’t done anything wrong. Technically.
The closer he drew to Packham, the more tension drained from his shoulders. His curiosity for Paulina Chourney took a back burner to his concern about his uncle. Ray Colter, in his early seventies, was increasingly prone to slipping on the wood floors and down the steep stairs in the used bookstore he owned. If he didn’t check on Ray, Hannah, tenacious as a squirrel with a corn chip, would call every half hour.
He picked up two cups of coffee before heading to the bookstore. One black and one loaded with cream and sugar.
“Hannah said you put the store up for sale.” Danny handed Ray the cup of black coffee. “Are you moving?”
“I’m not selling. Your nag of a sister is.” He limped across the room and sat on a wobbly stool behind the counter. “I fell down the stairs again and she’s been on my case ever since.”
Clutter had claimed more aisles since Danny last set foot in the store. The stairs were rickety, wooden and steep. His sister was right to be concerned. Ray either needed help to fix things up or he needed to move. “Hannah wants what’s best for you.”
“She wants me to move out to the middle of nowhere with her and Nate.”
“I thought you loved the farm.” Danny sat on a worn wooden stool. “What do you want?”
Ray grimaced. “Her to leave me alone.”
He laughed. “You’d miss her nagging. She asked me to get some boxes so she can clean this place up. No one will buy it when it looks like a dump.”
Ray snorted. “Don’t bother. Anyone who wants it will have to take it as-is. Complete with my butt on this stool.”
“Who’d want this place as-is? It smells like mold and B.O. If you’re not going to sell, then you at least need to hire someone to clean it up and help you.”
“No.” His uncle got off the stool and hobbled around the store.
Danny had insulted the one thing Ray loved most. The grey brick walls and weathered barn board that supported sagging shelves. Whoever bought it would either gut it or torch it. “This place does have a lot of potential.”
“Then you buy it.”
“I already have a job.” He sighed. “Let Hannah clean it up so you can get a good deal.”
“What about you?” Ray raised his eyebrows. “What’s so important you can’t take a couple of days off to help? You think she’ll clean this place alone?”
“She’ll have to.” The last thing he wanted was to involve Ray in a case. “She’ll get rid of the books that aren’t worth anything and dust. Nate can shore up the shelves so they’re safe.”
His uncle snorted, not about to make this easy on anyone.
Danny patted his arm. “Start sorting through the books. I’ll be back in a few days. Hannah will help you clear some stuff. Then we can shore up these shelves and the stairs.”
“I’m not selling.”
“You need help, Ray. You also need a safer place to live. One of these days you’re going to fall down the stairs and break half your bones.”
“Then you can sell the place when I do. It’s all I have left.”
Danny shook his head. “You have Hannah and me and neither of us thinks you’re safe here alone. Look, if you won’t sell the store, at least hire someone.”
Ray didn’t look impressed with the request. “Deal.”
“Good. I’ll call Hannah.”
“You think she’d run the place?”
“No. She’d strangle you by closing time.” He grinned. “You need someone who doesn’t know you. Let them worry about the day-to-day stuff so you don’t have to sit here doing nothing. You
could get out and do what you want.”
“Huh.” Ray caressed the old wooden countertop he and Danny sawed and finished by hand. “That might not be so bad.”
Danny blew out a breath, relieved he’d finally said something helpful. “You could come and go as you pleased.”
Ray placed his hand on a stack of books. “I could get a hobby.”
“Yes, you could.” He had no idea what interested his uncle anymore other than making his and Hannah’s lives miserable.
At the counter, Ray stared at the loft and grinned.
Danny raised his eyebrows. “Uncle Ray? Are you okay?”
“Yup. Better call your sister. I need some work done around here.”
Chapter 4
Katie
Katie walked around Packham for the fifth day in a row, numb and unable to keep from looking over her shoulder. It was warm for early April. She slung her jacket over one arm and tried to lose herself in the charm of the small town.
Maddox was still out there somewhere. Everyone at the party had been arrested then released on bail. Indictments were made, hearing dates set and the offices—including hers—cleaned of all incriminating evidence.
Still, there was no mention of her disappearance, but plenty about Dunnsforth’s apparent suicide. Maddox wouldn’t have let him take the easy way out. Either the police hadn’t figured out who killed him or…
She shuddered. Or they’d released as few details as possible.
Any sleep she’d had this past week came only after a good cry and half a bottle of whiskey or, her new favorite, vodka and cranberry juice. Too many things to think about. Too many plans to make. Too many nightmares of waking up in the motel with no idea how she got there.
Packham, as much as she’d hated it, offered her a warm welcome. Not everyone here was a potential threat. Packham was more like home than Newville ever was. People smiled more and even asked how she was enjoying her stay and what she’d seen so far. The lady at Java Jo’s Coffee Shop knew her preferences by day three and gave her a free coffee on day four. By day five, she felt like she’d returned home after an absence.