“From sifting through the rubble down there, they didn’t take much.”
I caught up to her and looked out over the backside of the pasture. “I’ll be damned.”
Just on the other side of the fence was a gravel road. There was no way of knowing where it went, or if it was on private property without going over the fence and…wait a minute.
Jackie had already gone over the fence and was headed toward the road.
“Hold up.” I pulled my iPhone from my pocket and brought up Google Maps. I switched from maps mode to satellite, and typed in the King’s address.
The satellite pictures are never up to date, and the one I saw on my screen when I spread the map with my fingers showed the King house still standing. No people in the yard, but there was a car. A minivan was parked in front of the King house. Navy blue, or so it seemed.
“Jackie.” I climbed over the fence and jogged up to her and showed her the screen on my phone.
“Yeah?”
“This is us.” I pointed to a spot on the screen. I used the term found on mall information maps. “You are here.”
Jackie grabbed the phone from me and moved the picture around a bit. Then she switched it back to map mode and we found the connecting street.
“Let’s go.”
“Where?” I’d thought of backtracking, to find out where this gravel road led, but what good would it do us? About as much good as that filthy blankie, which would soon be stinking up my car.
“Let’s just see what they saw when they took off that day.” Jackie and I headed back up over the fence and down toward my car.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Jackie yelled.
I looked to see what she was freaking out about and under my breath I said, “I’ll kill her myself.”
78
I looked around for Wanda’s car, but it wasn’t there. I was so angry, my thoughts weren’t clear and I kicked the already flat tire on my Land Rover. Damn, that hurt, even with hiking boots on.
Jackie walked around the car. “All four.”
“Who does something like this?”
Jackie leaned against the front of the car. “On the plus side, you really needed new tires.”
“On the not so plus side, I was waiting until I had some extra money.”
“Use the five hundred that King chick gave you.” Jackie raised her brows, saying “I told you, you shouldn’t have taken that girl’s money” without actually uttering a word.
“That belongs to the agency. And with the lack of paying work at the moment, since you and I are here pro bono, the agency needs it.”
“I have plenty of paying cases on my calendar, thank you very much.” She had her cell phone in hand now, and was dialing.
I pulled mine out of my pocket and googled tow truck companies in the area. With all four tires slashed through the sidewall, my one measly spare wouldn’t do us much good.
“Wanda’s car isn’t even here. Do you think she could have done this, and drove away again?” I was looking at the screen on my phone while talking.
When Jackie didn’t respond, I saw she’d walked off a few feet and was speaking quietly into her phone.
I snuck up behind her. “What’s up?”
She jumped like I’d been a snake, and put her phone down by her side. “Nothing.”
I didn’t believe her, but I was more worried about getting my car out of this place than I was about what she was hiding.
“Have you ever used a towing company?”
“No, but don’t worry about it. Cortnie and Charles are on their way here now. Cortnie’s bringing an extra car, and she’ll ride back with Charles.”
“Why couldn’t you just let me call a towing company? This is going to make everything so complicated.”
“Complicated how?” Jackie asked. “We’ll have another car to drive over to the property entrance, and Charles will stay with the Rover until the tow truck gets here”
“Fine.” I acted exasperated, but I was relieved. “I’ll find a truck to come get the car.”
Jackie started heading back up the hill, the way we’d just come from. “No need, Cortnie is taking care of it en route.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to walk that road.” She called back over her shoulder as she kept walking away. “Meet me at the cross street.”
I watched her disappear behind the grove of trees and felt a shudder, as if I was being watched. I felt like someone would hear if I farted. I leaned with my back against the driver’s side door and stared at Wanda’s house.
Was George watching me? Was he hungry?
Then I stared down the driveway to the house where I’d been sitting the morning before. Did the curtains move?
It felt eerie that there was no traffic driving by. It was a quiet street, but not so quiet that a car didn’t drive by on occasion. I kept my phone in my hand, just in case I needed to call someone, but then within seconds of Jackie hiking away, I had company.
“What are you doing here?” the stern voice behind me asked.
I turned to see Helen Burrbutt, or Buttface, hell, I don’t remember her last name.
“Helen, to what do I owe this pleasure?” I put on my best charm school smile.
“It’s Special Agent Burrman,” she corrected, as a way of saying hello.
I looked around, “Special Agent Burrman? Who is that? Someone else joining us?”
Helen’s stone cold glare didn’t let up, or even crack. “What are you doing here?”
“I left something up on the hill, and I went to get it. Then when I came back, I realized I’d slashed all four of my tires so I could get new ones and be stranded here just long enough to get to rendezvous with you, Helen.”
“Are you slow?” she asked.
“Why, you want to have a foot race?” This was too much fun to stop now.
“Look, I know you were with the FBI, but I’m not sure being with the Secret Service makes you a real agent.” Helen goaded. “And I’m not sure they let such dim bulbs graduate the academy anyway.”
This brought on a huge grin. “Don’t judge a book by its witty remarks, Helen. I just may surprise you with my smarts.”
“Sure.” She now stood square in front of me with her feet shoulder width apart, like a drill sergeant. “I’m not going to ask again.”
“Good, it was getting a bit redundant.” I pushed off the car and stood toe to toe with her. “Fuck you.”
She blinked. I win! Fine, she blinked, said nothing, and waited.
I couldn’t let her win by speaking first in this silent standoff, so I took a step backwards, and leaned against my car. So be it.
The silence was building pressure in me like a two liter meth bottle, and I was about to give in when I turned to see Charles driving up in the agency’s Toyota pickup. I looked Helen in the eye, and then walked over to talk to Charles. The words came out in a rush, from the lack of speaking for almost ten minutes.
“Finally. Did you call the tow truck? Where is Cortnie? Do I need to pay the tow company now? Where is Cortnie?” I spoke so fast I could see Charles’s expression change as he tried to keep up.
He didn’t bother to answer any of my questions and stalked past me to Helen.
“Special Agent Burrman. Thanks for keeping an eye on Mimi until we arrived. I appreciate that my hard earned tax dollars are paying your paycheck.” He waved his hand at her, as if she was an annoying bug. “Now, move along, nothing here for you.”
I looked at Charles, incredulous. “What the hell? You sent her here?”
Helen hadn’t moved an inch. “Don’t be silly. I don’t take orders from civilians. I’ve been following you.”
She’d been following me. This was curious. “How long have you been following me?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but since last night. Right after the homicide detective left your house.”
“Wow, you must have had one boring night.” I laughed.
“But my morning has been very interesting,” Helen said.
“So who slashed my tires?” If she’d been following, she’d know.
“I was in the trees when you went up over the hill. When I came back down, I saw a navy blue van leaving. I ran down the hill to catch the license plate, but I was too late.” All said in a “just the facts” tone.
The hairs on my neck did a little dance, but I tried to keep calm. I wasn’t going to give this woman any ammunition.
Cortnie arrived, parked behind Charles, and got out of the car. She usually doesn’t work Fridays, so she was dressed in taupe yoga pants and a lime green t-shirt. Her running shoes were a combination of chartreuse, hot pink and flaming purple. I loved it.
She tossed me the keys and said, “How are you?”
I didn’t want a discussion of my private life in front of Master Sergeant Burrman, so I said, “Peachy.”
I fumbled for the ignition key to the Honda and walked away. I could hear Charles asking inane questions to keep Helen at bay long enough for me to make my exit, and get a small head start. But before I could back away, Charles came up to my door.
I rolled down the window, and he stuck his head inside and kissed me on the cheek. “I hope you still love me.”
I winked at him.
It was what he said next that startled me.
And then he backed up a step and tripped Helen on her way down the driveway.
79
I knew the blue van that Helen saw was the same one in the satellite view from Google Maps. Why on Earth would the person in that van slash my tires? Alyssa said something about only having one car, so she borrowed her mother-in-law’s, but where were the cars on the day of the fire? No one ever mentioned, or thought about the fact there were no cars.
I drove two miles up the road, and thought about Helen. I’d bet she got the license number of that van, but wasn’t sharing. Feds! I headed toward Watsonville, then turned right and drove another half mile when I saw Jackie standing in front of a Cyclone fence. She was leaning against the diamond shaped wires with her left leg bent, and her foot pressed into the fence. She looked like a woman with nowhere to go, and all day to get there. She was texting when I drove up to her.
I rolled down the window. “How much for a blow job?”
She smiled grinned a seductive smile and wiggled her hips in an exaggerated manner as she approached my car. “Honey, you couldn’t afford me,” she said as she got in.
“Damn right I can’t.” I rolled the window back up and looked over to her phone. “What’s up?”
Unless it was an emergency with her kids, she rarely let her phone be the center of her attention.
“I’ve got a picture for you.” She turned her phone to face me, and there it was: the blue van.
“Interesting.” I took a closer look. “It’s parked just outside this gate.”
Jackie took her phone back. “Yeah, I was coming down the road and I saw it parked at the gate. Someone opened the driver’s side door, then looked up and did a deer in the headlights stop. The car door shut and they sped away.”
“Did you see who was driving?”
Jackie shook her head. “May have been a guy, but I couldn’t tell for sure.”
“Oh, well, it figures.” I put the car in gear and headed back toward Salinas.
“But I did get this.” She showed me another picture of the van. “I got it as the van spit dirt at me.”
It was the license plate number.
“Jackie, you are my hero.” I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “You realize that’s probably the same van that was in the map picture?”
“Not all redheads are stupid.” She placed her phone in her lap.
“Yeah, sure.” We crack ourselves up.
“You want me to call it in?” Jackie asked.
“Cortnie is with Charles, and it’s her day off. So there isn’t anyone in the office to check it out.”
“I do have contacts of my own, you know.” Jackie dialed her phone. “Hey, big guy, remember that house that blew to smithereens? I need you to run a plate number related to it.”
She waited a moment, then gave the person on the other line the plate number.
“Yeah, great. Can you text me the info?” A moment, then, “Yep, it’s all good, for the moment anyway.”
When she hung up, my curiosity got the better of me. “Who is your connection?”
She looked at me and grinned from ear to ear, “Nick.”
Damn, she was good.
As we pulled onto Highway 101 that damned blue van appeared again. Jackie yelled, “That’s it! See the dent in the driver’s front fender?”
I didn’t see it, but I deferred to her. We’d just passed the van, which had been going at least five miles per hour under the speed limit.
“Damn, how do I get back without being obvious?”
Then I threw said a quick prayer and slammed on my brakes. It caused such a chain reaction that whoever was driving the van wouldn’t know what happened. Then I changed lanes, and ended up three cars behind the van. This was no easy task, as a line of cars were now forming. Between my stunt, and the van driver’s speed limit impairment, traffic was backing up.
“Did you see the driver?” My eyes were fixed on the van. It wasn’t getting away this time.
“A man, I think.” Jackie’s observation was likely hampered by my driving skills.
Jackie’s cell phone vibrated. She picked it up and said, “Marvin King.”
“What? Who the hell is Marvin King?” I took the Highway 156 exit toward Castroville, still following the van.
“I don’t know who it is, but he owns that van.” She put her phone down.
“Jeff’s dad? His brother? Either way, I’m going to see who the hell slashed my tires.”
Highway 156 is two lanes for the most part, until you get closer to Castroville. Staying behind the van wasn’t difficult, since the traffic made it dangerous to pass. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw a backup of cars behind us. I’m pretty sure there was some swearing going on in those cars.
When we got to Castroville, the van turned onto Merritt Street, and again traveled about five miles per hour under the posted speed limit. I’d come this far, I wasn’t going to back off now. Then the van slowed way down and the right blinker flashed.
I drove past the Horseshoe Road Inn motel and turned at the corner. I flipped a quick u-turn and headed back to the motel.
The motel was a single story stucco building in the color of faded cantaloupe. The stains of water, weather, and time, had marked the walls, and stained the motel’s reputation. The office at the front of the lot looked like it hadn’t been painted in a century, and the windows hadn’t been cleaned in at least as long. The curtains were torn, and I could see dark wood paneling on the walls inside.
I was sure if it was nightfall, at least one light in the motel sign would be burned out. In the daylight, it was hard to tell. The “no vacancy” sign was lit.
Brazenly, I drove right into the lot. Good thing there was a call for this type of “no tell motel” in our area, with so many transient workers. The lot was half full, even in the middle of the morning.
I put on my sunglasses, and twisted my hair in a knot at the nape of my neck. Looking slightly down, I drove slowly over the cracked cement, right past the van, which had stopped in the lot, but not in a parking space. From my rearview mirror, I saw Alyssa King step out of the passenger side of the van.
“That bitch owes me four new tires.” I fumed when I saw her.
“Park here.” Jackie pointed at an open space about twenty-five feet from where the van stopped.
I pulled into the space and waited. Within seconds, the van backed up and pulled out of the motel lot. It wasn’t a man driving; it was Jeff King’s mom.
“That old bat knows what’s going on. She lied to us.”
“What did you expect? It’s her kid. I’d lie for my kids, too.”
&nbs
p; “I would hope your kids were never into making meth.”
“Never happen,” she said.
“How do you know?” I looked at her, looking away from Alyssa as she opened the door for room 109.
Deadpan, she said, “Because I’d kill them.”
It was then that everything changed. Jackie pointed.
“Where’s she going? I thought they only had one car.”
Alyssa had only been in the motel room for a matter of moments, but when she emerged, she had a backpack, and a two-liter bottle of what looked like a generic soda in her hand. She looked around, then got into a faded pink car parked three spaces away from us. I could only see her through the windows of the cars between us, so I didn’t know what kind of car it was.
She got in the driver’s seat and nestled into it. I didn’t see her put on a seatbelt, but then, she may not have planned to drive anywhere. I watched as she reached down to the lower part of the dashboard and fiddled with something. She sat up straight and shook a cigarette loose from a pack and put it to her lips. It hung precariously as she leaned forward again and brought the car’s lighter to the cancer stick. Inhaling deeply, she sucked on the cigarette like it was oxygen.
She picked up the two-liter bottle she’d been holding when she got into the car and shook it, looked at it, then put her cigarette back between her lips as she twisted the cap on the bottle.
What happened next happened so fast I didn’t have time to react.
80
Chips of glass flew through the air. The windows of the car next to us had been pounded, and though they were broken, nothing flew at our car. A ball of fire erupted in Alyssa’s car.
The screams pierced the air like an emergency alert alarm.
Jackie jumped of out the car and said, “Pop the trunk.”
I reached down and pulled the latch to open the trunk, then I opened my door and got out of the car. iPhone in hand, I dialed 911 as quickly as my fingers would move. I had to remind myself to stay calm, so my fingers would touch the correct numbers.
Gotcha Detective Agency Mystery Box Set Page 60
