Gotcha Detective Agency Mystery Box Set

by Jamie Lee Scott

  “She’d have reasoned with him, like she has for twenty-five years. Somehow she always reasoned with him. But this time, he said she’d ruined everything. He’d planned to go to town and file for divorce as soon as the horses were finished yesterday. He was going to leave me and my mom with nothing. There was an iron clad prenup. We talked about it many times when we were on the road. Everything belonged to Bucky; my mom just married into it. And he’d sold off most everything anyway, so she’d be fifty-five years old, starting all over. I couldn’t let that happen.”

  I shook my head. What had she just said?

  “He’d been treating me like trash all morning. Lower than trash. Saying, ‘Bastard, get this, bastard, get that,’ and at the time, I didn’t even know what happened. I went into the house to get him a cup of coffee and asked my mom. She told me everything.”

  “Did she tell you who your dad was?”

  “No, but only because Bucky called on the cell phone wanting to know where his coffee was. I’d thought she wasn’t down there helping because she felt sick, but it was because he said he couldn’t stand the sight of her. He could deal with me because he’d never stuck his dick in me.”

  Pleasant. I liked Bucky more and more. Not!

  “When I went back, I threw the hot coffee in his face, and I confronted him.” She got in our faces, walking in front of each and every one of us. “He unbuckled his belt and pulled down his pants, and he said, well, you ain’t mine now, are you? Maybe I should put my dick in you. How would your momma like that?”

  The collective gasp was audible.

  “That’s when I couldn’t take it anymore. I picked up the nearest thing I could find and I swung as fast and hard as I could as he came at me.” She closed her eyes as the memories flooded into her head. “I jumped to the side as he came at me, and I swung. And when he went down, I kept swinging, for my mom, for Skinner, for everyone he’d ever been mean to.”

  I realized I’d been clenching every muscle in my body as I listened to her. My neck hurt. Hell, every joint in my body hurt, I was so tense. And I realized that everyone was silent. No one spoke, it was as if they were afraid to respond.

  Even Charles was quietly seething. I could see the corded muscles in his neck. He stepped forward and grabbed Galynn. He pulled her in tight and hugged her. He held her like he was never going to let her go. He wrapped his arms around her, and held her to him, enveloping her in his body, letting her know that someone understood, someone had been there, someone cared. And finally, she softened against him. Sobbing, she wrapped her arms around him, and cried into his chest. She held him so tight, it would have cut off the breath of a lesser man. But Charles held tight, and kissed her hair. He let her cry, let her melt, break down, lose it, and not have to look at anyone as she did it.

  “No father, real or step, should ever treat their child that way. If you don’t have the money for an attorney, I’ll find you one.” He held her tight.

  I was standing close enough to hear her, and I hoped that Nick and Gabe weren’t.

  “I might have killed him anyway,” she said into Charles’ chest.

  He leaned down and whispered, “That’s between you and me. Don’t ever say that again.”

  I wanted to un-hear that exchange. I hoped that Nick never asked, so I’d never have to tell him the truth. But a relationship isn’t built on lies, and if needed, I’d tell him.

  Nick said to Gabe, “We’re going to have to arrest her.”

  Gabe said, “You do it.”

  Nick said, “I’m the senior detective, and I say arrest her. We’ll have to let a jury decide this one.”

  Dragging his feet, literally, Gabe inched up to Galynn and loosened her grip on Charles. “Honey, I’m sorry, but you’re under arrest for the murder of Bucky Cox.”

  She didn’t resist, and Charles held onto her until he could no longer touch her flesh. Gabe wrapped the cuffs gently, but tightly, around her wrists, and escorted her to his Crown Vic.

  Charles and I stood, watching, and Charles put his arm around my shoulder. In a low voice, he said, “I knew it was her.”

  I shook my head. “Oh, really?”

  As Gabe gently placed Galynn in the car, Nick stepped up beside us.

  Charles asked, “Why did you take Rayna away?”

  “We had the kid dead to rights. We’d matched her fingerprint in the blood on Bucky’s belt buckle to her prints on the glass of water she brought to Gabe. But that was all circumstantial, you know? If we pinned it on her mom, I thought maybe we’d get her to break down and start talking. A confession is easier than a trial.”

  “But will it hold up? I mean, she’d easily be able to turn this around and call it self-defense. I wasn’t kidding when I said I’d pay for her attorney.” Charles puffed out his chest, making it clear to Nick whose side he was on.

  “Look, Charles, I don’t care if you pay for the girl’s attorney or not, but I wouldn’t let her sob story and sad tale sway you too much. She’s no dummy, and I’d bet a lot of this went down long before yesterday. These don’t seem like stupid women to me. As a matter of fact, they’ve been traveling down the road together, across the country, for years. Who knows what they may have cooked up along the way?”

  Charles’ face turned scarlet. He didn’t like being played for a fool. But I could see he was on the fence, not sure who to believe.

  “You’ll be keeping the mother and daughter away from each other, right? So they can’t concoct a crazy defense?” Charles asked.

  “Tell you what, Charles, you let me do my job, and I’ll let you get back to yours.” Nick was ready to be done with us.

  “I’m just here to pick him up,” I said. “I got lucky and arrived just in time for the good stuff.”

  “And now you can be even luckier, and hit the road before you get arrested for interfering with an investigation.” He winked, but I knew he was serious. About me hitting the road, not about the getting arrested part.

  As we walked to my car, Charles handed Nick something. It was so small, I couldn’t see what it was, but I heard him say, “I don’t know if this will help you, but I found it on the floor right before you two arrived.”

  121

  Mimi

  Back at the agency, I had a visitor waiting in my office when I arrived.

  “Can we talk?” Jackie asked.

  Charles had walked in the door with me. He looked at me, then at Jackie, and walked toward his office. I swear I heard him mutter something nasty under his breath.

  I walked into my office and sat down at my desk, really not ready for the confrontation. This day had been exhausting.

  “What can I do for you?” I tried to keep the edge out of my voice.

  “We’ve been best friends forever, and I didn’t want to leave things the way I left them.”

  She couldn’t even look me directly. Her gaze shifted around the room, never quite landing on my face, though I did try to maintain eye contact.

  “And…” Now I didn’t care about any damn edge.

  “This marriage thing is scary for me. It didn’t work out so well last time, and I jumped in with two feet this time, like a teenager.”

  I wanted to say, “Like last time?” but I didn’t say anything.

  “The kids are happy, I think I’m happy, but I’m always on edge. And I don’t know, I feel like you pushed me out while I was gone. So I gained a husband, but I lost a chance at being a business partner.” She let go of the arms of the chair and shook her hands out. “There, I said it.”

  “So, you think, if you hadn’t left and eloped, that I’d have taken you on as a business partner, instead of Charles?” Edges were smoothing.

  “Exactly. I’m telling you, my feelings are hurt. I think I at least deserved the first right of refusal.” She was back to gripping.

  I leaned forward, elbows on the desk. I think psychologists would call this an open body language. Letting it all hang out. “Jackie, you’ll never be my business partner. Not in th
is lifetime, anyway.”

  Her face turned to stone. “But…”

  “Let me finish.”

  “Fine.”

  “I love you from the bottom of my heart, even when I hate your guts, even when I haven’t spoken to you for twelve years, or twelve weeks, or whatever. I’m not stupid enough to go into business with my best friend in the whole wide world. It’s bad enough that I took a chance and had you work here. That alone could have been disastrous, but we got lucky. I’m not willing to push it again.” I stayed in my open posture.

  Jackie grinned. “And that’s the only reason?”

  “Yes. Of course. Why?” Now I was perplexed.

  “I thought you liked Charles better than me. I thought you preferred him over me.” She sat back in the chair and crossed her legs.

  “Right now, I do.” I laughed.

  “Can we have a do over? I’ve been an ass.” She uncrossed her legs and leaned toward me.

  “Yes, you have been an ass. And I’ll be fine with a do over. But here’s the thing. If you want to come back to work here, you owe Cortnie, Charles, and most especially Uta, an apology.” I wanted to make sure she knew she’d been an ass to more than just me.

  “Oh no, I don’t want to come back to work here. I mean, I’ll apologize, and all, because I was a jerk. But I’ve talked this all over with my husband, and he said I need to make amends before I move on.”

  Oh, he did, did he? “Move on?”

  “Yes, I’m going to open my own agency.” Proud as a peacock, she stood. “It’s been wonderful working for you, and I love you, but I think it’s time I spread my wings and went out on my own.”

  Just then, Charles came in from the kitchen. “I thank you for the roundabout apology, and I’m thrilled you and Mimi are friends again, but I have some bad news for you.”

  Jackie tensed at Charles’ entrance. “Hey.”

  “Hey, back,” he said. “When we revamped, you signed a bunch of paperwork. In that paperwork, in case you don’t remember, was a non-disclosure and a non-compete. That non-compete states that you won’t open another business even remotely resembling a private detective agency in the state of California in the next five years after leaving the Gotcha Detective Agency, and you will not be able to open one ever within twenty-five miles of our current location.”

  Jackie jumped from her chair. “What the hell are you talking about? I never signed anything like that.”

  She looked at me. I nodded my head. “I’m afraid you did. Everyone did. And this was before Charles came on as a partner, so you did it when I was the owner, and we had everyone re-sign the papers after Charles became partner, so you signed them twice.”

  Charles leaned in the doorway, crossing his arms in front of him. “Yeah, maybe you should read before you sign.”

  He uncrossed his arms, spun, and walked away. I didn’t think he’d gone far, because he wouldn’t want to miss what happened next. Only nothing happened.

  “So, I guess this isn’t a good time to ask for my job back.” She dangled her keys in her right hand.

  “Not so much,” I said, and stood. “Maybe you need some time to be a housewife. Enjoy it. Be a mom. We can talk in a few months.”

  She turned on her heel and left without another word. I wasn't sure if we’d be talking again any time soon.

  I started to sit back down when I heard Nick say, “Oh, hey, Jackie.”

  She said, “Piss off, Nick.”

  He walked into my office. “I see you patched things up.”

  I laughed. “Or not.”

  He sat in the chair she’d just vacated, and Charles conveniently appeared in the doorway again.

  Really?

  Then Lola came in from the kitchen, too. She walked up and put her chin on Nick’s knee.

  Charles said, “Shouldn’t you be doing the paperwork for your collar?”

  “That’s the perks of being the senior detective. I have the lackey do the work.”

  He looked tired. It was early in the afternoon, and I knew he still had a long day ahead of him.

  “I can tell you this…” Charles pulled his phone from his pocket. “Hold that thought, I have to take this.”

  “Max?” Nick asked.

  Charles grinned and left the room.

  “I wanted to catch you before you made plans. Dinner tonight?” He didn’t sound like he wanted to have dinner. He sounded like he wanted to go home and sleep.

  “No, you’re tired.” I tried to beg out.

  “I’m not. I want to celebrate. We caught the killer in less than forty-eight hours. This is a good thing.” He stood. “Get dressed up. All in black.” He laughed.

  “Whatever.”

  “I’ll pick you up at eight,” he looked at his phone. “I’ve really got to get back to the station. I just wanted to see you.”

  He leaned across the desk and planted the most sensual kiss on my lips, then left without another word.

  Lola whined.

  I whined.

  Cortnie broke the spell when she walked in the door. “I’ve got a bit of interesting news.”

  I didn’t care about anything at the moment, except going home to take a shower and get ready for a long, sexy evening with Nick, but I said, “What’s up?”

  “I was going through some of the paperwork on Skinner, and did you know he’d sold half interest in his livestock company?” She crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame.

  “Now why would I know that?” I may have been a bit cranky in my response.

  “He sold it to Naomi’s brother, Cash McBride. I called Cash, and he said Skinner had talked about wanting to go back out on the road with Naomi. Even talked about buying her a new horse, and a trailer. The works.”

  Now I was interested. “Really, when was this?”

  “The deal was drawn up early last week. The paperwork still has to go through the bank, it’s all but a done deal. Cash is worth a pretty penny. I looked him up too.” She pushed off the wall. “Seems Skinner may have learned more than a little from Bucky.”

  * * *

  Nick wasn’t a minute late. And he’d reserved the back room at The Pub. I loved The Pub, and it was funny, because the last time I’d been there was when I’d had a date with a rather creepy dude.

  “This brings back memories.” I choked on the words.

  “I want this night to make new memories.” He took my hand and led me to a room with dimmed lighting, and a bottle of champagne already chilling in the ice bucket. There was a bottle of sparkling grape juice for him. The table was set for two, with champagne flutes sweating from being pre-chilled. He’d gone all out.

  “Sit,” he said. “We don’t have to order. I’ve already taken care of the ordering for the evening. This night is just for you and me. We never get to be alone anymore, and I don’t want any interruptions.”

  Speaking of interruptions, at that moment, his phone rang. Not his personal phone, his work phone. “It’s Gabe. I have to take this.”

  He answered, and listened. “Okay, it can’t wait?”

  I listened, trying to hear Gabe on the other end.

  “No, I understand. This is what I get for trying to make plans. I’ll be right there.”

  I had been elated, and now my bubble had burst.

  Nick got down on one knee, in front of me, and said, “I’m so sorry. I’d wanted tonight to be special. Not like this.”

  I backed away from him, sliding on the leather of the booth. “Don’t. Please don’t. You have a call. Go to your call. I’ll have all of this put in a doggy bag, and I can save the bubbly for later. Please go.”

  I couldn’t bear the look on Nick’s face as he left the restaurant.

  As I watched him walk away, I pulled out my cell phone and called my mom.

  * * *

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  About the Author

  Jamie Lee Scott is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the Gotcha Detective Agency Mysteries.

  Look for her new Uncertain Police Procedural series in early 2015

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  When Jamie isn’t writing, she’s riding. She lives on a small farm with her husband, three horses,

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