Colton 911--Deadly Texas Reunion

by Beth Cornelison

  “What can I do you for?” The hunky man in his thirties flashed a lopsided grin.

  Summer extended her hand and introduced herself as a PI and Nolan simply as her associate. “If you have a minute, we have a couple of questions for you regarding a case we’re working.”

  His smile dimmed with apology. “I only have a minute, I’m afraid.” He glanced at the Pennzoil clock above the front door as if to reinforce his assertion. “I’m on my way out the door to a Whisperwood town council meeting.”

  “You’re on the town council?” Nolan asked.

  Kain shook his head. “Naw. I don’t have the stomach for politics, but as a business owner, I feel it’s my responsibility to stay abreast of what the council is doing.”

  “Right, well...we’ll try not to keep you.” Summer noted they weren’t invited back to his office—another sign he was in a hurry to be rid of her and Nolan. “We’re looking into the death of Patrice Eccleston, and we understand from her father that she interviewed for a position as a mechanic here a few months back. Do you recall that interview?”

  Kain rubbed his chin and furrowed his brow. “Eccleston, you say? As I recall, we set up a meeting, and she came for the interview, but she left the office before we talked.”

  “She left?” Nolan narrowed his gaze on Kain. “Why?”

  Kain shrugged, charming smile still in place. “I couldn’t tell you. I assumed she changed her mind about wanting the job. Or maybe she got tired of waiting on me. I was running behind that day, delayed at a lunch meeting with the mayor, and kept her waiting a good while, I fear.”

  “How late were you?” Summer asked.

  Kain blew out a breath that made his lips buzz as he thought. “Half an hour or so. I’m not typically so remiss with appointments but, well, if you’ve ever met the mayor, you know his gift for gab. Seeing as I was lobbying for a better tax rate for small business owners, I didn’t feel I could brush him off.”

  Nolan turned toward Walter, who was hovering in the doorway still. “Were you here with her while she was waiting?”

  Walter appeared startled at being drawn into the conversation. He shifted his weight from one foot to another and folded his arms over his chest. “Uh, yes and no.”

  “Come again?” Nolan said.

  “I, uh...” He glanced to Kain then back to Nolan. “I was here, but I didn’t see her leave. I was doing some work from the creeper under a customer’s car.” Walter dropped his gaze to his shoes.

  Summer glanced briefly to Nolan to gauge his reaction, but his face remained implacable. As she formed her next question, Kain cleared his throat and straightened a framed certificate on the shelf behind the counter, an obvious attempt to draw attention to it. She read the bold print about gratitude to Tom Kain for his continued financial support of the local library.

  Kain caught Summer’s eye, and, clearly feigning modesty, turned the certificate facedown. “I really should put this ole thing away, but I didn’t want the good folks at the library to think I didn’t appreciate the recognition of my financial support.” He gave her a tight smile. “Then again, I don’t want the Baptist church or the children’s wing of the hospital to think I was looking for recognition of my contributions there, either.”

  Summer bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing aloud at his obvious attention grab. And deflection.

  Kain looked at the clock again with a theatrical lift of his head. “I’m sorry. I really have to get going to the council meeting. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”

  He made to leave, and Nolan stepped into his path. “One more thing. Does the name Melody mean anything to you?”

  From the corner of her eye, Summer saw Walter’s head jerk up, but Kain seemed unmoved. He twisted his mouth as if deep in thought. “No. I can’t say as I know anyone by that name.”

  Walter’s reaction to the name seemed to indicate he recognized it, but now his face was blank.

  “You’re sure? Does it mean anything to either of you in any other respect?” Summer included Walter in her question, sending her glance back and forth between the men.

  The two men exchanged a brief glance, during which Summer read nothing telling. Darn it! She hoped Nolan had picked up on a subtlety she’d missed.

  “If that’s all.” Kain sidestepped Nolan and took a jacket from a hook by the front door. “I really must go. Allow me to see you out.”

  Summer wanted to stay and speak to Walter without Kain hovering, but the friendliness in Kain’s eyes had become hard determination. Summer reached in her purse and withdrew two business cards. Handing one to each man, she said, “Thank you for your time. If you think of anything that might help us with our investigation, please call. Day or night.”

  Each man took the card she offered them, and she followed Kain as he exited the business. He moved slowly for someone in such a hurry to get to a meeting, and she got the sense he was watching, waiting to make sure they left the premises before he would.

  Nolan paused by the driver’s door of his truck and leveled a steady gaze on Kain as the auto shop owner slid behind the wheel of a well-kept Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan.

  Finally, once they’d pulled out of the parking lot and headed back to her office, the Mercedes exited the driveway and turned the opposite direction toward town hall.

  After a moment of mulling the brief meeting with Kain, Summer broke the silence.

  “Look at me. I give money to charities,” Summer said in a mocking low voice. “I’m an important and benevolent businessman.”

  Nolan chuckled. “Right.”

  Hearing Nolan respond with a laugh did wonders for her mood. At least some tiny piece of their rapport had survived. Maybe more, please?

  “So...thoughts?” she asked, but before he could speak, her cell phone rang. The caller ID showed an unfamiliar number. “Hello?”

  “Meet me on the south side of the auto shop. Kain has security cameras that see everywhere except that side by the fence. Don’t park anywhere near the property, neither.”

  Summer’s pulse spiked. “Walter?”

  “Yeah. Meet me there in five minutes.” The line disconnected.

  Nolan cast a querying look toward her. “What’d he say?”

  “He wants to talk but gave explicit directions how not to be spotted by Kain’s security cameras.” She stashed her phone and told Nolan what Walter had said about staying out of the cameras’ view. “I think we’re finally about to catch a break in this case.”

  Chapter 15

  Before leaving his truck, Nolan took his personal handgun out of the glove box and loaded a sixteen-round magazine. After ensuring the safety was on, he stashed the gun in the holster at his hip and pulled his jacket over it to hide the weapon. Summer gave him a grave look, and he said, “We need to be careful. I want you to stay behind me until we’re sure this isn’t an ambush.”

  “An ambush?”

  “If Avery is right about Kain being a drug dealer, he could have Walter on more than one payroll, if you get my drift.”

  “You think we’ve kicked a trip wire by talking to Kain.” Summer’s eyes reflected her concern as she nibbled her bottom lip.

  “I think we’d be foolish to ignore the possibility.” He reached to stroke her cheek but jerked his hand back. He’d never keep the reins on his desire if he didn’t stop touching her, didn’t stop thinking about how good it had felt to hold her and be inside her. He sighed and fisted his hand. “I won’t let anyone hurt you, Summer. I promise.” Including me.

  Shouldering open his truck door, Nolan waited for Summer to join him before cautiously approaching Kain’s auto shop. He stopped every dozen yards or so, sidling up to the corner of buildings, vehicles or trees, anywhere they could stay hidden. The sun had just set, casting long pools of darkness on the streets, and he scanned his dimly lit surroundings for anything suspicious.


  “There he is,” Summer said, pointing to the orange glow of a cigarette tip in the shadows beside the garage. She set out across the street toward the dark meeting point, and Nolan hurried to catch her arm.

  “Stay. Behind. Me,” he grated through his teeth.

  She faced him, her mouth in a taut frown. “This is my case, Nolan. Don’t think that because you have the gun that makes you boss of me.”

  “It makes me your best chance to stay alive if we are attacked. Do you really think a suspected drug dealer is going to ignore the fact that private investigators came sniffing around his place today?”

  Beneath his hand, he felt Summer shiver.

  “All I’m saying is we need to be careful. You lead the conversation, but keep your eyes and ears open. And if I say run, or get down, or do the damn hokey pokey, do it. Immediately. Got it?”

  She wet her lips and hesitated before nodding. He clenched his back teeth tighter, shoving the mental image of her tongue sweeping her plump lip from his brain. It was essential that he focus. He couldn’t let thoughts of how he and Summer spent the afternoon distract him. Their lives could depend on it.

  He eased in front of her, his hand ready on his weapon, as they crossed to the spot where the dark figure waited for them. As they approached, the glowing cigarette was dropped on the ground and crushed out.

  “Hands out where I can see ’em,” a male voice hissed, “or this is over before we start.”

  Summer held her hands out, but Nolan called back, “Likewise, pal.”

  When the man held up his hands, Nolan inched his up, as well. Not until they got right up next to the man could he make out the man’s face and confirm it was the mechanic in the coveralls that had been party to their conversation with Tom Kain.

  “Hello, Walter. Thank you for calling.” Summer let her hands drop, and Walter visibly tensed.

  “Hands back up, sweetheart. You wearin’ a wire?”

  “No. I—” She gasped as the mechanic stepped up to her in one long stride.

  “Hey!” Nolan placed himself between them and grabbed the front of Walter’s coveralls. “Easy, buddy.”

  The mechanic lifted his chin defiantly. “I’m patting you both down for wires or weapons, or I’m gone.”

  Summer put a hand on Nolan’s arm. “Let him. We have nothing to hide.” Then to Walter she added, “My associate has a gun—”

  The other man stiffened.

  “—but only for our protection. It will stay holstered so long as you give him no reason to draw it.” Summer stepped out from behind Nolan, adding, “And fair is fair. You pat us down, Nolan here pats you down. Got it?”

  The man’s eyes darted from Summer to Nolan and back again before he jerked a nod. While the mutual pat downs were conducted, Nolan kept checking the street, the shadows, the corners of the building, prepared for attack. As Walter frisked Summer, Nolan gritted his teeth so hard his jaw hurt. He hated the idea of the mechanic’s hands on her, touching the curves he’d caressed intimately earlier today.

  Finally, searches satisfied, Walter stepped back and dragged a hand down his mouth. “Before I say anything, I gotta have your solemn word that Kain never hears I talked to you. If you do, I’ll deny every bit of it and—”

  “You have our word,” Summer said. “Anything you tell us will be strictly confidential. I protect my sources one hundred percent. I promise.”

  Walter looked to Nolan.

  “You have my word, too.”

  Walter nodded and rolled his shoulders. “You asked about Melody. Why?”

  Summer straightened her shirt where it had been mussed during her pat down. “You know a Melody?”

  “Answer my question. Where’d you hear the name?”

  “You just had me swear not to reveal you as a source. My other sources deserve the same favor. Who is Melody?”

  He rubbed his hands on his coveralls, shifted his weight and sighed. “She’s not a who. She’s a what.”

  “Excuse me? What do you mean?” Summer asked, pulling out her notepad.

  Walter eyed the notebook uneasily. “Nothing in writing.”

  She held up a hand signaling surrender and put the notepad back in her purse. “How is Melody a what?”

  “Melody is... Kain’s Benz.”

  “His Benz,” Summer repeated, then, “You mean a car? A Mercedes-Benz?”

  Walter nodded. “Melody is his pride and joy. Fully loaded, highest-quality leather seats, not a scratch in her paint. He’s obsessed with that car.”

  Nolan thought back to earlier in the evening when they’d played chicken with Kain to see who’d drive away from the auto shop first. That car had been a black Mercedes sedan. “Do you mean the one he was driving tonight?”

  Walter’s head twitched back, and he blinked. “He drove Melody tonight?” He gave a gruff chuckle. “That’s rare. He typically keeps her under a protective canvas in the back of the shop. When he does drive her, he’s showing off for people he wants to impress.”

  “Like the members of the town council?” Summer said.

  “Well, yeah.” The mechanic glanced around them nervously. “But he’s already got most of them hoodwinked, I thought.”

  Nolan checked their surroundings again, as well. Everything seemed quiet, empty...but he knew better than to assume anything.

  “What do you mean by hoodwinked?” Summer asked.

  “Deceived folks. Fooled people,” Walter explained in a tone that said his meaning should be obvious.

  “Fooled people how?” Nolan pressed.

  “Look, I shouldn’t be talking to you.” Walter stepped backward and raised both hands. “If Hands-On Tom found out I said anything...” He released a restless sigh.

  “We won’t let anyone know you talked. Please, Walter...” Summer spread her palms, and her tone beseeched him. “We’re just trying to get justice for a young lady who was brutally murdered.”

  Walter’s agitation grew, as evidenced by his ragged breathing and constant fidgeting. Finally he said, “I lied.”

  Summer glanced at Nolan then back to their informant. “When? What did you lie about?”

  “I saw her—that gal that was killed—when she came in the shop for the interview.”

  “You saw Patrice Eccleston?” Nolan asked, wanting confirmation. “Did you speak to her?”

  “I did. Briefly. When she first got to the shop. Told her Kain wasn’t back yet. She was supposed to wait in the front, but...” He hunched his shoulders. “She came in the garage bay where I was working. I saw her feet. She was looking around at the equipment. I didn’t see any harm. She was interviewing to work here, after all.” He sniffed and wiped his nose as he glanced away, checking the shadows again.

  “And?” Summer prompted.

  “Kain had Melody parked in the garage that day. Uncovered. He’d been out somewhere in her earlier in the day and hadn’t put her back in storage yet.”

  Nolan scratched his chin, wondering if it was as odd to Summer as it was to him hearing Walter refer to the car with feminine pronouns. The effect was...unsettling.

  “Anyways, I was under that customer’s car like I said, but from my angle I could still see the gal’s feet, right?”

  “Okay.” Summer’s gaze narrowed on the man.

  “Well, I saw her walk over to Melody and peek in the windows. I mean, why wouldn’t she? Melody is any car enthusiast’s wet dream.” He stopped abruptly and shot a guilty look to Summer. “Sorry, ma’am. What I mean is, the car’s, uh...”

  “I know what you mean.” She motioned with her hand. “Please continue.”

  “Well, I don’t really know what happened after that. I was concentrating on the repair I was doin’, when I hear her sorta gasp. Scared-like. I turned my head and see her getting up from a squat by the front tire. She stumbles back a few steps th
en just takes off. Leaves the shop without staying for her interview.”

  “Did you follow her out or go look around the front tire area to see what might have upset her?” Summer asked.

  Walter shook his head. “Didn’t see it as a big deal, really. The shop’s got spiders. Roaches. I figured the gal saw a bug she didn’t like and got spooked.”

  Nolan cut a glance to Summer. He was growing irritated with the mechanic’s reference to Patrice as “the gal” and the insinuation that because she was a female, she’d be frightened away from a job interview by the likes of an insect. How must Summer, who was especially sensitive to sexism and patronization, be feeling?

  A muscle in her jaw ticked as if she were gritting her teeth, and her hand fluttered restlessly at her side. Her tone, though, was remarkably calm and encouraging when she asked, “How did Mr. Kain react when he learned she’d left?”

  Walter shrugged. “He didn’t, really. At least, not until I said she’d been admiring Melody. Ole Hands-On Tom didn’t like that a bit. He’s real protective of her.”

  “So you’ve said.” Summer raised a fingernail to her teeth and nibbled as her brow creased in thought. “You said Kain has security cameras everywhere. Could the cameras maybe have caught an angle that would show what she found?”

  “No doubt.” Walter rolled his shoulders. “Hands-On Tom reviews his security tapes every night. The man’s nothing if not watchful over his property. Only reason there ain’t no camera here is—” he motioned his hands to the empty yard and blank concrete-block wall of the shop “—nothing here to protect.”

  “Explain what you meant by Hands-On Tom and his reaction to—”