Honorable Death

by Linda S. Prather

  “How long are you gonna stay mad at me this time?” I asked.

  “Who said I was mad? I was thinking about that private investigator guy. Either he’s not good at his job, or he wanted us to know he was following us.”

  Dave had a point to make, and he would get to it eventually, but today wasn’t one of those days I was willing to wait. “Spit it out, Dave.”

  “Decoy. While we’re watching him, the real tail is moving in and following us.” Dave grunted. “If you don’t want to be noticed, you don’t drive a Porsche. They figure we’ll keep an eye out for Primm, and we won’t be looking for someone else. Or they’ll split up when we split up, and Primm will follow you because you’re expecting it, with the second guy following me. Since you know you’re being followed, they’ll think it makes more sense to send me after Simon.”

  The elevator doors creaked open. “They made a serious mistake, then.” I stepped out and scanned the hallway. “They underestimated us.”

  “This way.” Dave pointed to the arrow printed below Room 300-323. “Have I ever told you how much I hate these places?”

  I turned right and headed down the hallway. The icy hand that had clutched my stomach earlier spread its fingers as my gaze fell on the empty chair outside the room. “Damn it, there’s supposed to be an officer on the door.” I picked up the pace, making a beeline for the closed door as I unclipped my holster, my fingers only inches from my gun. “Get Stevens on the phone and find out who the hell was supposed to be here.”

  “Let’s not go off yet. He could be inside the room.”

  “Yeah, and maybe there is a Santa Claus.” I pulled my gun and pushed the door open slowly. The room was quiet, no beeping of machines, and the figure in the bed was slumped, his head tilting at a strange angle. “Damn it.”

  “I found our officer, Kacy.”

  I joined Dave in the bathroom doorway, squatted beside Officer Moore, and felt for a pulse, even though the loll of his head told me I wouldn’t find one. “He’s still warm.”

  “I’ll call it in.” He stepped outside the bathroom to make the call.

  Kyle was a thug, as was the guy in the bed, but whoever was behind this had upped the game by killing a police officer. Dave stored his cell in his pocket and reached down to help me up. “Remember what you said earlier?”

  “Refresh my memory.” I stood and placed my hands on my hips. “I said a lot of things.”

  Dave stomped toward the door. “This shit just got real.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The nurses weren’t a lot of help, and it wasn’t long before the corridors were filled with uniforms headed up by Commander Park, who was barking out orders.

  “You know something, Dave? If my father hadn’t tied us up this morning, we would have made it here in time.”

  Dave ran a hand through his thinning gray hair. “I’m not liking the way this is shaping up. Your brother must have stumbled onto something big.”

  “Let’s go shopping.” I headed for the elevators. I needed to get to Simon before whoever was behind this did.

  Snow had started falling again when we finally made it outside. Huge flakes stuck everywhere they touched down.

  “What are we shopping for?”

  Like me, Dave scanned the parking lot before starting the car. Primm was nowhere in sight, but I noticed the red Pontiac that exited the parking lot as soon as we turned on to the main highway.

  “A new me.” I quickly laid out my plan. “Blond wig, change of clothes, and then I’ll call a taxi and have them drop me off near the safe house. After I talk to Simon, I’ll backtrack the same way.”

  “What am I supposed to do while you’re doing this?”

  “Finish your Christmas shopping.” My mind was kicking into overtime. The last twenty-four hours had been hell, and if instincts were any indication at all, the next twenty-four would be worse. “Doesn’t Martha’s mother live in South Dakota?”

  Dave glanced at me, his bushy brows furrowing in the middle of his forehead. “You think I should send her and the kids away until this is over?”

  “It might be a good idea. You know the old adage. Better safe than sorry.”

  Dave nodded and turned in to the mall parking lot. “Red Pontiac two cars back.”

  “Blue Honda taking the next entrance. He’s been with us since we left the hospital.” We’d had no trouble spotting the cars following us. “Drop me off at the door and then drive around for a while. I’ll call you, and we’ll meet at the food court as soon as I get back.”

  Dave stopped in front of the store, and I exited. The wind was vicious, and I kept my head down as I sprinted toward the door. Once inside, I stopped to watch where the two cars parked. The red Pontiac parked in the back, facing outward, where he had a perfect view of the front of the store. He must have changed his mind, because he waited only a minute before following Dave. The blue Honda parked near the front, and a tall, thin guy with silverish-gray hair and a mustache climbed out and headed for the front entrance.

  I spotted my favorite security guard and grinned. Time for a little fun and games. I approached Johnny Clayton with a smile. “Hey, Johnny, can I ask a favor?”

  “Not planning on shoplifting, are you, Kacy?”

  I turned my back to the door where Silver Hair was entering. “Don’t be too suspicious, but you see the guy entering the door?”

  “Yeah.”

  “He’s been following me all morning. I know I’m cute, but he’s giving me the creeps. Would you mind following him? And if he tries to follow me up to the ladies’ department, detain him for a bit?”

  Johnny chuckled. “Be a pleasure, Kacy. He’s not dangerous, is he?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Be on him like glue.”

  Johnny headed off and stood a few feet away from the guy as I rushed toward the back to take the escalator upstairs. I caught a glimpse of the shocked expression on Silver Hair’s face as he started to follow, only to find his path blocked by Johnny’s huge bulk. I hadn’t told Johnny he was a pervert, but the insinuation was there.

  I breathed a sigh of relief as I stepped off the escalator in the women’s department. My luck is changing. The clerk on duty was Claire Marble. “Hey, Kacy, I’ve been expecting you.”

  Claire had, for the past two years, helped me pick out an outfit for the Christmas party. I always bought an expensive dress and had the bill sent to Kurt and Katherine. Of course, I never wore that expensive dress to the party. I leaned across the counter, keeping my voice low. “I need your help, Claire.” A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed Silver Hair hadn’t followed me upstairs. “I need to go undercover, and when I walk out of here. I want to look like someone else.”

  “Oooh, this is exciting.” She grabbed a bag from beneath the counter. “Follow me.”

  Claire led me to the employee bathroom, which was twice as large as the customer bathrooms. “Take off your clothes and put them in the bag. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  Her few minutes turned into fifteen as I stood shivering in my underwear. The door opened, and I stepped inside a stall. “I hope you chose something warm. It’s freezing in here.”

  “You’ll love this.” Claire held out several hangers. “Put those on, and I’ll set up the makeup station.”

  Ugh. Makeup. I hated painting my face. The most I ever wore was lip gloss. I held up the stiletto over-the-knee boots. “You don’t think these are a little much?”

  “Of course not, darling. They’re perfect for that outfit.”

  One of the reasons I loved Claire was I didn’t have to try on ten different outfits. She knew my size, and her taste in clothing was impeccable. We always laughed because she chose things I wouldn’t be caught dead in. I slipped on the skintight black leather pants and pulled on the boots. After finishing with a cheetah-print pullover, I joined Claire at the sink.

  She waved to the stool she’d wheeled in while I was dressing, and held out a plastic apron. “Put th
is on, have a seat, and close your eyes.”

  “We need to hurry.” I slipped on the apron, sat down, and closed my eyes.

  “This may be a little tight.” Claire encased my hair in a fishnet covering. “Keep your eyes closed.”

  I squirmed on the stool as she pressed against my eyelids. “What are you doing?”

  “You’ll see.” Claire continued her face-and-neck massage. “Your own mother won’t recognize you when I’m finished.”

  I doubted my own mother would recognize me without the makeup, but then Claire didn’t know Kurt and Katherine weren’t my real parents. “How much longer? I need to hurry.”

  “Almost done.”

  Claire slipped a wig over my head and fluffed it around my face. “Open your eyes, but stay perfectly still.”

  The urge to turn toward the mirrors was overwhelming, but I stared straight ahead as she applied mascara to my lower lashes. “You can stand up and look now.”

  I turned toward the mirrors, shocked as I didn’t recognize myself. The dark-blond wig and makeup had transformed me. The fake eyelashes were a little weird, but I wouldn’t be wearing them long.

  “Only four more things to finish you.” Claire picked up a furry bucket hat and placed it over the wig before reaching for the floor-length mink coat.

  “I don’t wear dead animals, Claire.” I slipped on my shoulder holster and backed away from the coat.

  “You do today.” She held it up, a stubborn look on her face, until I placed my arms in the sleeves. “Now that wasn’t hard, was it?”

  “Not for you, but the poor animals that were slaughtered to make this piece of garbage aren’t enjoying the day.”

  Claire reached for a pair of gold hipster oversized eyeglasses. “Put these on while I grab your last item.”

  I slipped on the glasses and stared at my reflection in the mirror. I could almost hear Dave’s whispered Jesus echo in the room. The look was somewhere between fashion model and expensive hooker.

  “Take any items you need from your purse and place them in the bottom of the basket.”

  I gazed at the adorable sleeping black puppy. “Claire, I cannot carry a dog around with me.”

  She laughed and shook her head. “He isn’t real, but like he fooled you, he’ll fool most people.”

  I glanced at my watch and quickly removed my billfold, cell phone, and badge from my purse. I was running out of time to argue. I turned off the phone and removed the SIM card. It wouldn’t stop them from tracing me through the police station, but it would make it harder. “Do me a favor and take this downstairs and leave it in the women’s bathroom.” I handed Claire my cell phone and the card. “If you want to have some real fun, go downstairs and move it to different departments.”

  “Priceless.” Claire’s laugh was one of those titters that drove me nuts. “Some day you’ll have to tell me all about your day.”

  “Can you store my clothes and call me a cab? And I don’t care who asks you, even if it’s Dave, tell them you haven’t seen me.”

  “Do you have money for the cab?”

  “Crap, I forgot all about that.”

  Claire nodded, picked up the bag, and passed me the basket. “We’ll take a few hundred out of the register. Don’t walk like a cop, Kacy. Stroll. You’re rich and beautiful. Work it, girlfriend.”

  I rolled my eyes and grinned. I had no idea what she meant by work it. “You can put this on Kurt and Katherine’s bill, but wait until I get back if you don’t mind.”

  “No problem, sweetie.” Claire took five one-hundred-dollar bills from the register. “We’ll settle up later. Now go catch those bad guys.”

  Claire had made sure I would stroll. With those stiletto heels, anything faster would have landed me facedown on the floor. Not sure I could navigate the escalator, I opted for the elevator going down.

  Silver Hair was in the men’s section, his eyes shifting to the escalator whenever someone descended. Johnny was a few feet away, keeping a close eye on him. Neither of them gave me a second glance as I walked toward the entrance and my waiting cab.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Everyone has a moment in time when they realize they haven’t thought things through. My moment came when I gave the cab driver the address of the safe house.

  “You sure you got the right address, lady?” His eyes raked over my body.

  I gave him my haughtiest smile. “Yes, I’m sure.” We would have to move Simon as soon as possible. The driver would remember the silly woman wearing a ten-thousand-dollar mink coat and asking to go to one of the poorer sections of town. Within hours, he would have spread the information through the other cabbies. Damn Claire and her stupid mink coat.

  Most cabbies are chatty, but mine seemed to have trouble starting a conversation. His eyes would gleam for a moment in the rearview mirror then slither back to the road. I think the bastard is trying to decide whether to rob me or not. He thinks I didn’t notice that he forgot to turn on the meter. The holster under the mink housing my Glock was comforting.

  The roads were slick, and it took forty-five minutes to reach the safe house. He pulled up, backed in to the driveway, and parked. “That’ll be eighty bucks.”

  I met his gaze in the mirror and smiled. He was expecting an argument, as we both knew the normal fare was closer to forty. “How much to wait for me and give me a ride back to the mall?”

  “You buying drugs, lady?”

  It was as good a reason as any to be in this neighborhood. “Does that bother you?”

  “Nah, but it makes your price go up. Three hundred to wait fifteen minutes and take you back to the mall. Goes up a hundred dollars every fifteen minutes.”

  Bastard. I handed him a hundred. “That’s a down payment. We’ll settle up when I get back.”

  I expected him to leave as soon as I exited the cab, but he surprised me. The glitter in his eyes said he was hoping it would take me an hour to do my business. Now all I have to do is get inside the house without Simon attacking me.

  The ground was covered with snow, and the stilettos made walking treacherous until I reached the side of the house. With a hand on the wall, I tiptoed the rest of the way to the back, slipped the key in the lock, and opened the door slowly. “Simon, it’s Kacy.”

  The silence was eerie, and I grabbed my Glock, crossed the kitchen, and stopped in the doorway to the living room. Simon was huddled in the corner, his body shaking, drool running down his chin.

  “Damn it, Simon.” I picked up my pace, moving as fast as the boots would let me. I holstered my gun as his eyes rolled back in his head, grabbed him under the arms, and hefted him up. “You puke on me, and I’ll kill you.”

  His body was light, but there was no way I could drag him down the steps and to the cab without help. Flopping him on the couch, I slapped him. “What did you take?”

  “Ka… cy.” His voice was weak, his lips were turning blue, and his breathing was becoming shallow.

  I slapped him again. “What the hell did you take?”

  “Eight ball.”

  An eight ball could refer to a lot of things, but normally it was a mixture of cocaine and heroin. The son of a bitch had overdosed. Dave’s voice echoed inside my head. “Look at him, Kacy. He’s pitiful. You can’t let him die.”

  “Screw you, Dave. I’ve got enough problems without you bitching at me.” I hurried toward the door, hoping the cab driver was as much of a sleazeball as I thought he was.

  He saw me coming and started the cab. “Five minutes to spare.”

  Jerking open his door. I leaned in. “No time to spare. I need a shot of Narcan. Do you carry it?”

  “Yeah, but it’ll cost you.”

  “Fu…” I took a deep breath and counted to ten. “Give me a minute.” I jerked the back door open, tossed the fake puppy on the seat, and retrieved my badge.

  Holding it up to where he could see it, I growled, “I’ll give you two seconds to produce that shot. Otherwise, I’m arresting you for murder.”
<
br />   “Murder!” He gasped, dug through the middle compartment, grabbed the shot, and held it out to me.

  “Get out. You’re going with me.”

  He pushed and heaved his huge frame out of the seat using the top of the door. “I’m not supposed to leave my cab.”

  “I’ll bet you’re not supposed to charge double for fares, either, but that didn’t stop you. Get moving.” I followed him across the yard and up the steps. He stopped in the center of the doorway.

  “Christ.”

  “Pray later.” I pushed him forward. Simon was barely breathing now. “Give him the shot, and you’d better hope it’s not too late.”

  I watched him closely as he leaned over the couch and administered the shot into Simon’s thigh. Sadly, it was apparent he’d done this before. Overdoses were once rare but quickly becoming the norm.

  The driver looked up at me. “Help me move him to the floor and turn him on his side.”

  We stretched Simon out next to the couch and turned him on his side. Then the driver placed Simon’s arm under his head. “He’s breathing. If he throws up, that should stop him from choking.” He stood and rubbed his hands along his thighs. “Ain’t you gonna call an ambulance?”

  “He’s in witness protection.” The lie was easy, and it satisfied the driver. “Which makes it a good thing you didn’t turn your meter on, because if anybody finds out where you were, and anything happens to him, you’ll spend a long time in a federal prison.”

  His face paled, and he nodded. “I’m on my lunch hour.”

  I grinned, picked up Simon’s suitcase, and searched it for drugs. I’d been gone over two hours, and by now Dave would be chewing his nails to the quick. “Let’s go.”

  “You gonna leave him here?”

  “He’s being picked up in a few minutes. That’s what I came for, was to tell him we were moving him to a new place.” I headed outside, the cabbie’s footsteps pounding behind me. “And I need to borrow your personal cell phone.” I locked the door and glared at him. “And don’t tell me you don’t have one.”

  He retrieved his phone from his pants pocket. “All female officers as bitchy as you?”