The Kate Nash Series Boxed Set

by Keene, Susan

  “Mr. Gillette,” Roger said, “that all happened years ago, why are you just now moving on your plan to kill Kate and Ryan Meade?”

  “I got nothing else to say.”

  Roger pushed a button under the table, the door opened, and a patrol officer walked in. “Take Mr. Gillette to central booking. Charge him with everything I have noted on this sheet. Put him in a holding cell. I’ll be by to sign the charges in a few minutes.” Roger stood. “I think we are done here.” He hesitated a bit, leaned over; put both hands on the table and got within an inch of the suspect’s face. “I’d be very careful if I were you. My guess is that your lifespan is no longer than a few days, He looked at Rainy. “Right, Morris?”

  August Gillette sat still. I could see his chest move, and we watched the color drain from his face.

  I thought, he’s a dead man, and he wouldn’t have time to spend the money.

  As they walked out the door, Roger said, “Only the truth can save you, August Gillette. But I doubt you will have much time to tell it.”

  CHAPTER 22

  R oger Simon left the room and came to us. “You have done a lot of dangerous things in your life, Kate Nash, but this one might be your last. You are getting in the way of millions, probably billions of dollars that flow from South America to here and Canada. Perhaps it goes all around the world from this one gang. Are the lives of the Tucker family, who have been long gone and forgotten more important to you than your own life, and perhaps the lives of Ryan and your friends?”

  “If we all thought like you how would the drug traffic and killing ever stop? Besides, we think it might be something totally unrelated to drugs.”

  Roger looked at Ryan. “Talk to your wife, I have become very fond of her over the years and I don’t think she grasps the enormity and the reach of the people she is dealing with. And if you don’t think it is drugs or sex trafficking or something equally horrific and dangerous―Kate, you have become naïve.”

  I knew my temper could blow any minute. I took a deep breath and looked from one man to the other but directed my comments to my old friend and partner. “Those people might be dead; they might not be. Ivy wasn’t. I want the people involved in this punished. The Tucker family deserves that much. So far as stopping drug trade, I’m not naïve. I know drugs are the number one suspect here, but if so many people are getting rich by selling drugs, it will never stop. Once I release the book, there will be no reason for anyone to want to hurt me.”

  Ryan put a hand on each of my shoulders. “I hope you’re right about that, my dear.”

  On the way home I glanced toward Ryan; he focused on the road and had such a grip on the steering wheel his knuckles were white.

  We went into the house by way of the garage. No barking dogs greeted us, and my heart sank. So much had happened lately, silence scared me. We quickened our step.

  A man in a Remington Windows and Doors shirt was hard at work. He had the new glass in and had been cleaning it with window cleaner and a rag when we reached him. Ryan tapped the man on the shoulder and he visibly jumped. “Sorry sir, wondering where our family is?”

  He pointed to the back yard. I looked out. I had no idea they would stay outside. I could tell the cleaning crew had come and gone, not a sliver of glass in sight and an invoice lay on the table.

  Amy and Nathan were lying on a blanket at the far end of the yard. They looked to be asleep and each had a dog resting on their chest.

  The worker packed up his tools and said, “If there is nothing else, I’ll be going.”

  Ryan walked him to the door and must have given him a tip for missing part of his Sunday to repair our French door. The man sounded extremely happy when he left.

  We each grabbed a bottle of water and went out to the yard as quietly as possible. It didn’t help. The minute the dogs smelled or heard us, they scampered off the sleeping couple and made a beeline for us.

  Amy and Nathan turned over, raised their bodies on their elbows and looked at us. They both lay down again. What a beautiful, lazy afternoon.

  Ryan had not said a word to me since we left the police station. We sat at the patio table; I put my hand on his. “Are you ever going to talk to me?”

  He turned my way and smiled. “Thinking about August Gillette. Do you think someone hired him to bomb us? Or is he part of the cartel? Whoever hired him trusted him enough to send him to the house and disarm the bomb.”

  “I didn’t give it much thought but now that you bring it up, someone thinks enough of him not to let him blow himself up. In the crime culture, that’s a big deal.”

  “I’m sure his bail will be paid tomorrow and no one will ever see him again for one of two reasons. Either he’ll end up floating in the muddy Mississippi for his ineptness or whisked away to a safe location the authorities don’t know about.”

  I took my hand away, unscrewed the cap on my water bottle and took a drink. “What bothers me the most is to them everyone is disposable. Me, you, those two,” I pointed to our friends who seemed to have gone back to sleep in the spring sun. “Even their own families or other people’s families, all for money. What have we, as a people, become?”

  He put his hand on mine. “If we’re going to do this, let’s get it done, now. I want to send Amy and Nathan and Digger on a trip. I’ll send them on a company plane. I don’t have a plan yet, but we’ll create some sort of diversion so no one notices they’re gone until it is too late to track them.”

  “Do you think it’s possible?”

  “Anything’s possible.”

  A half an hour later our friends joined us on the patio. Amy said, “I guess that was rude. It has been a long time since I’ve been so relaxed and calm.”

  Ryan pulled two chairs out from under the table and motioned for them to sit. “We didn’t consider it rude. Had the blanket been larger, we might have joined you. We need to talk to you about something,” he continued. “We didn’t learn anything downtown except the man who threw the bomb is connected. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to afford his high-priced attorney, and they would have let him die with us in the house. I reached down to pick up Chili who jumped at my leg.

  Amy spoke up. “Maybe we have approached this from the wrong point of view. How do we know the Tucker’s didn’t tick someone in Chicago off bad enough to kill them? Maybe the kids were collateral damage.”

  Ryan leaned forward and put his hands on his knees. “You’re right. We should take a longer and closer look in that direction. Meanwhile, we’d like to send you two on a vacation far from here until this is over.”

  Amy looked at Nathan and then at me. “And you believe once the book is released, the danger will end?”

  Kate answered. “Actually, I do. As we talked about before, those people don’t want notoriety. Once the story comes out and the publicity blossoms, it will all die down. Once they’re bombarded with it, they’ll crawl back into their holes. The challenge is to stay safe until then.”

  Nathan put both hands on the table. “And you think the answer to the two of us remaining safe is to leave our home, our garden, our jobs, and run off somewhere leaving our dog.”

  The next few minutes were dead still.

  Ryan spoke up. “When you put it like that, it seems you’re getting punished for being our friends. Tell us what you’d like.”

  Amy put a hand on Nate’s knee. “I want to live as I do and not have to worry about this drama. I understand why you want to do it, and we have decided to help, we‘re wiser than we were before.” She nodded at Ryan. “With your help, I’m sure we can all stay safe, but we’re living at our own home. Tomorrow, we’re picking up a new dog. She’s well trained and able to see and hear things we can’t.”

  I asked. “Are you sure about this?”

  “Yes, we are,” they answered together.

  Ryan tried to lighten the mood. “Tell us about your new dog.”

  Nathan stood. “Mind if I go inside and get me and my lady a drink first?”

&n
bsp; I jumped to my feet so fast I almost lost Chili from my lap. “Geez, I’m sorry. What can I get you?”

  We all went inside and talked. Before we uttered a sentence, Amy put her finger to her lips. She acted like she was writing on a piece of invisible paper. Ryan went to a kitchen drawer and came back with the grocery list pad and a pen. Amy wrote. “Did you check for bugs? Something doesn’t feel right.”

  “I have the disrupter on,” Ryan mouthed. “He sat a second before he and Nathan scrambled, each in a different direction. Ryan headed for our new office and came back with a wand. Nathan drew his gun and disappeared out the back door and then the gate. He came back with a scanner, sat it on the counter, put on a set of headphones, and began to turn dials and press buttons.

  Amy and I sat quietly and watched the show. An hour later, there were seven listening devices of different types stacked next to me on the table.

  Ryan had found three and Nathan, four more. I put them in a colander, sat them inside the dishwasher and turned it on the heavy setting.

  I turned back to the other three. “So much for these little gadgets.” I put the deflector on the table. I’m beginning to think the idea of a well-trained dog is marvelous. Tell us about him.”

  “Her,” Amy said. “The trainer suggested since Digger is a boy, we should get a female. Sally is a big dog and we don’t want to take a chance on her hurting our little boy.”

  Ryan said, “You’ve never told us what kind of dog.”

  Nathan laughed. “She’s a two-year-old Rottweiler. She had a seasoned trainer, she’s a personal protection dog, a real charmer. If you take her for a walk and say potty, she leaves the path, squats, and is back in a flash. When someone walks by, she becomes super alert. The man who delivered her to the kennel here said she is one of the best. They are trained near Quantico by off duty FBI trainers.”

  I wasn’t a lover of big dogs. Chili was my first dog and the only pet I’d ever had. A Rottweiler would terrify me, even if it was mine. “If we wanted to adopt a dog, we should get a male?”

  Amy answered. “According to what they told us. I was afraid because one bite and Digger would be gone. They showed us videos of Sally letting a baby bite her ears and kittens sleeping on her back. And Digger is getting older. He’s nine now, he’s pretty laid back.”

  I glanced toward Chili who had just run to the bedroom and back several times at top speed as she tried to get Digger to chase her. Nothing laid back about her. Of course, she was only three.

  Amy continued. “Talk to them. We will get you our contact. I bet they recommend a German Sheppard. They are good with other dogs.”

  “Do you think Sally would be okay with Chili playing with the two of them?”

  “You’ll see,” Nathan said. “She is a great dog. I don’t think we would have had near as many problems to date with bugs and break-ins if we’d had a well-trained dog. I guarantee whoever planted those bugs while we were napping in the yard would never have been able to if Sally had been here.”

  Ryan and I looked at one another. He went to get refills on our drinks. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it. We use Hobo every day. One of the guys checks out the security system with the dog. I hadn’t put two and two together.”

  Amy leaned forward and petted Digger, who sat at her feet. “Think about it. Many people have a dog instead of a gun. If they are trained not to take treats from strangers, it is safe for them. It is proven a criminal will kill a person before he will kill a dog.”

  So would I, I thought.

  For the next three weekends, Ryan and I took Chili with us and went dog shopping. Six dogs were introduced to us as perfect matches. On the last day, we chose an eighteen-month-old black and tan German Sheppard named Axel. Axel loved Chili. I just hoped Sally, Digger, Chili, and Axel got along.

  A retired Army trainer brought her to the house. We all went for a walk, me with Chili, Ryan leading Axel, and our trainer pointing out all of Axle’s many talents.

  On the third night, we all walked to the Loop. This time I had the new dog and Ryan had Chili. She heeled the entire time until we got into a crowd by the movie theater as at least thirty people came out the doors. She blocked my way and sat in front of me. When a clear path became visible, she walked back to my side and continued our stroll. He performed perfectly and I didn’t have to worry about anyone touching me. Most folks cut a wide birth around her although she paid no attention to them.

  On the way home, a man bumped into Ryan. Axel pushed Ryan back and jumped on the man with his two front feet on the guys shoulders. He bared his teeth although he didn’t hurt the man, who yelled, it was an accident. Please, call off your dog.

  I did. The dog stayed an inch or two from the man and growled. I turned to Jason, the trainer. “Should I call the police?”

  “No, Mr. and Mrs. Meade, this is David. He volunteered to bump into you so you could get a picture of what to expect.”

  Ryan shook the man’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  We stood and talked for about five minutes. Before they left, the trainer said, “I think you have yourselves a personal protection dog. I know she’ll be all you want and more.”

  CHAPTER 23

  T he next day, Amy and I talked about The Kate Nash Detective Agency. “After the three big cases we’ve been involved with, I was bored when we did the short-changer. I could hardly wait until it was over.”

  Amy reached down to pet Sally who laid on the floor with Digger, spread out comfortably on the big dog’s back. “I know what you mean. Remember when we went from one case to the next, perfectly satisfied? I think we should turn our office’s day to day work to Marsh and Marsh.”

  Chili kept trying to get Axel to take a toy and play with her. Axel put his paw gently on Chili’s head and licked her. “Is that the two brothers who are retired military?” I asked.

  “I don’t think I told you about these men. The father was on the force with me in Chicago. He retired early and moved down here to be near his son when his wife died. They want to open an agency. I’ve been sliding work over to them ever since we began this case and the background checks. Nathan is not cut out to be a helper. He just won’t say no to Ryan.”

  I looked around the office. “I don’t think we need the Clayton office anymore. We have everything we need right here. We could find an interesting unsolved murder or robbery and see if the victims or their families would like to hire us.”

  Amy said, “Or they will fall in our lap like this one did.”

  “We aren’t making any money on this one.”

  “Kate, I bet when we put The Untimely Death of Ivy Tucker out, money will come in.”

  I laughed. “It didn’t cross my mind, you’re probably right.”

  We sat and looked at one another for a long time. “Well?” she finally said. “What do you think?”

  I picked up Chili. “Let’s meet with the Marsh men. I want to like the people we turn the agency over to. We are selling it to them, right? Meanwhile, I have a present for you.”

  I opened the desk drawer and handed her a box. She opened it. “Oh, my, “she said, “I didn’t expect this.”

  They were business cards but instead of the old ones that read Kate Nash Agency and at the bottom, Amy Perkins Associate, they now said Nash & Perkins Detective Agency and had her name and mine at the bottom as associates. “Ryan rented us a post office box, so people won’t come to the house. We could go to them. The box number is 1313”.

  She laughed. “In honor of your favorite childhood show, The Monsters,” I said.

  Amy beamed. “Are you ready to get started on the book?”

  “No,” I answered. “Something Ryan said got me to thinking. Maybe the neighbor Mrs. Caulfield wasn’t as she seemed. And why did the Donnellson’s want to be our best friends at the whaling camp? There were others there much more friendly than we were and more their age.”

  Amy and I had gone to the kitchen to get a snack and a cool drink. I wasn’t quite
used to Axel dogging my every step. Chili still required as much lap time as she could con out of me.

  Sally stayed with Amy the same way. Digger, who liked floor time more than Chili, walked squarely under Sally’s belly. The Rottweiler didn’t seem to notice or the fact that Digger liked to lay between her front legs anytime she lay down, or better yet, on her back. Amy and Nathan had taken a million pictures. I prayed the dog liked the new baby.

  Amy looked up from watching her two dogs. “It’s a small world. It’s difficult to say with certainty how many people were involved in the Tucker family’s disappearance.”

  While she talked, I’d been fixing us each a tuna salad sandwich with Havarti cheese, a side of carrot sticks, chips, and fresh pineapple for dessert. “My, my,” Amy commented as I pushed the plate in front of her. Aren’t we getting healthy?”

  She popped a chip in her mouth and said, “Okay, after lunch, let’s start with the Tuckers’ neighbor.”

  Axel always lay right outside the room, but far enough to the side, people could come and go. So long as I didn’t get upset, she slept peacefully. The phone rang. I listened intently. Before the person hung up, Amy came in. “You aren’t going to believe this. The biggest newspaper in the country wants to do a serial on our book. They offered me a huge sum of money. When I said the money wasn’t important, he laughed.”

  Amy leaned forward in her chair. “How did they find out about it?”

  “Apparently, my friend went to a publisher’s forum in New York and told the paper about it. He said it was the kind of story they hunt for but never find.”

  “Kate, we are going to be famous.” She didn’t sound happy.

  “I’m already famous, or infamous is more like it. It is not all it is cracked up to be.

  “I have an idea,” I said, “let’s make up two names and use them, you know, a nom de plume.”

  “What if we have to make an appearance?”