Deep In Death: A Shelby Nichols Adventure

by Colleen Helme

  I kept my gaze lowered, but a sudden impulse to defend Uncle Joey raised my ire. I hadn’t thought of him as a slime-ball for a long time, and it kind of got my dander up. Of course, he wasn’t exactly a stellar citizen either. Still, I made up my mind that if Dimples ever figured it out, I’d just have to tell him he was crazy. No way was he ever going to know my secret. Calling my mind-reading abilities premonitions had worked well enough so far, and I wasn’t about to let that change.

  “Do you still do any work for Manetto?” he asked.

  I huffed out a breath like that was a silly question. “What? Are you kidding? After getting shot in the arm, I’ve learned my lesson.”

  “Good to hear.” Dimples smiled with relief.

  “I’m going to get me a soda. Do you want one?” I asked.

  “Um…no, I’m good.”

  I left him with a fake smile plastered on my lips, and took my time at the drinks machine. Right now I didn’t want to worry that I’d just lied to Dimples, or that I’d say something stupid and give away my secret. More than a little flustered, I mostly wished he’d quit thinking so hard about me and concentrate on the case.

  By the time I got back to the office, the husband had already arrived and I found Dimples waiting for me outside the interrogation room. To my chagrin, word had spread that I was going to question him. Bates and a few others had already gathered to listen in on the other side of the two-way mirror. If that wasn’t enough, the police chief joined them. My stomach churned. Now, besides trying solve the murder, I’d also have to make it look like I wasn’t reading the man’s mind or Dimples would figure it out. Talk about pressure!

  I picked up that Bates was glad he’d been keeping tabs on me. Finding out the husband was coming in so I could question him was the perfect excuse to tell everyone to come and watch the show. He was hoping I’d fail miserably and get kicked out of my so-called ‘consulting’ job. When the chief joined them, he glanced at me with a triumphant grin, and my face flushed with anger.

  As Dimples opened the door, I took a quick breath and tried to block my nasty thoughts of kicking that man where it hurt the most, and turned my attention to the husband. If this was going to have a happy ending, I needed to calm down and concentrate.

  “Spencer,” Dimples said. “I’d like to introduce you to Shelby Nichols. She’s helping us out on the case.”

  Spencer stood and shook my hand with a friendly smile, quickly sizing me up. He was of average height and nice looking with thinning brown hair and an easy smile. He came to the conclusion that I was harmless, mostly because I looked too darn nice to be a threat. But why was I there? Did it have something to do with what the police had found? “Are you a detective?” he asked.

  “I have my own consulting agency, and I help the police from time to time,” I replied, mostly for Bates’ benefit.

  Spencer’s lips turned down, and he wondered what a consulting agency had to do with a murder investigation. Something seemed a little off, and nervous sweat popped out on his upper lip.

  My spidey-senses tingled. He was definitely hiding something. Of course, his face only showed mild curiosity, and if I didn’t know better, I’d think he was a nice, easy-going guy.

  “Thanks for coming in so quickly,” Dimples said. He could tell Spencer was a little confused by my presence, and he didn’t want him to close up before I could question him. “We just need to clarify a few things so we can build the case against our suspect.”

  “You have a suspect? Wow, that’s great,” he said. Right after the words left his mouth, he realized that he might have sounded a little too happy about that, and tried to convey a more somber mood with his next words. “This has been a nightmare for me. I miss Stacy every minute of the day. Whoever did this needs to be caught. What I’ve gone through is… horrible… I’d hate for someone else to go through what I have.”

  Dimples nodded. “Let’s go over the events of the day. It will help us know if our suspect could have been there at the right time to actually commit the murder.”

  “Of course,” he responded. He relaxed just a little, thinking we didn’t know anything.

  “Maybe you could fill Shelby in? Just tell her what happened from the time you got home from work until the time you left your house later that night.”

  Spencer took a deep breath and began his carefully rehearsed story. He told it with such passion that he was starting to believe it himself, although he still couldn’t keep the image of placing Stacy’s bloody, lifeless body in the freezer. He’d left shortly after that and checked into a hotel, making sure he was seen at the bar. In the early morning hours, he’d snuck back home and put her partially frozen body back where it was when he’d killed her. Then he’d broken a few things to make it look like a robbery.

  All of these thoughts came through during his narrative, and I had to work hard to keep my jaw from dropping open. He’d certainly gone to a lot of work to cover up his crime, and I had a hard time believing that this kind-faced man could do something so terrible. What had she ever done to deserve that?

  “Did you love your wife?” I asked.

  “Very much.” His razor-sharp gaze focused on me, instantly suspicious of why I would ask that.

  “What did you argue about?”

  “I don’t even remember,” he said. His gaze dropped to his clenched hands. “All I know is that I left her there and now it’s my fault she’s dead. If I hadn’t left, maybe I could have stopped the killer, and she’d still be alive.”

  “What did she say that made you so angry?” I asked.

  His thoughts went to her confession that she didn’t love him anymore, and she’d found someone else who could take care of her like she deserved. How he was a worthless husband and horrible in bed and she never should have married him in the first place. He ran his fingers through his hair, thinking that if he hadn’t been cutting up vegetables with that knife in his hand, it might not have happened. He still couldn’t believe what he’d done to her.

  “You didn’t mean to do it, did you?” I asked. “If that knife hadn’t been in your hand, it never would have happened.”

  His gaze jerked to mine and his eyes widened. “How did you…” he realized what he’d said and his breath caught. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Yes you do,” I answered softly. “She told you she didn’t love you anymore and there was someone else she’d rather be with. You knew things were bad, but you never expected her to betray you so effortlessly. You just… lost it, and with the knife already in your hand, it was easy to plunge it into her neck. Tell me Spencer… what will the police find when they open your freezer?”

  His face paled and he leaned back in his chair as if to put as much distance between us as possible.

  “Even if you’ve cleaned it out with bleach, there will still be traces of her blood inside.” I leaned forward, invading his space. “You can’t hide what you’ve done, Spencer. It’s time to come clean and tell us what really happened. Even though she was planning to leave you for another man, I know you didn’t mean to kill her. It was an accident.”

  All the bravado left him, and he crumpled, dropping his face into his hands with a wrenching sob. “You’re right! I didn’t mean to kill her.” He sobbed even harder. “It was an accident, I swear. I didn’t mean it…all those things she said…it just happened…I loved her. I don’t know what came over me. But I didn’t mean it!”

  Dimples’ surprised gaze jerked to mine. He could hardly believe how fast he’d confessed. Both of us watched as Spencer sobbed with remorse and grief. Finally, Dimples stood and gently pulled Spencer’s arms back to cuff him. Dimples read him his rights, and then led him out of the room where a uniformed officer took him away for processing. He came back inside the room with awe in his eyes. “That was…amazing.”

  I shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal and stood. “You could tell he was nervous, right? So it only made sense that he was hiding something. You’ll want to c
heck his freezer though, just to make sure. I guess that’s how he fooled everyone with the time-of-death part.”

  “Yeah, right,” he answered, still gazing at me like I was from another planet.

  The police chief pushed his way past the other detectives and burst into the room. “I don’t know how you do it, but nice work.” He shook my hand like I was a celebrity.

  “Thanks,” I answered. “Glad to help.”

  “Make sure you turn in your hours. We don’t want to forget to pay you.” With a satisfied smile, he left the room. In the doorway, he shooed the other detectives away with his gruff voice. “Don’t you have work to do?”

  I couldn’t help the sly grin I sent to Bates, who turned away with a shake of his head. He thought what I’d done was brilliant… and a little creepy…maybe it was best if he stayed away from me. He didn’t want any bad juju coming his way.

  Juju?? Did he think I was a witch or something? That was a first.

  “Thanks for your help,” Dimples said, drawing my attention. His eyes held a new respect for me. He didn’t know how I did it, but he didn’t really care when the results were this great. “I don’t know if we would have ever figured it out without you.”

  “Oh… you probably would have. He might have given himself away at some point.”

  Dimples shrugged. “Maybe, but I doubt it.”

  “Well…I’d better get going. Thanks for the file. I need to get to work.”

  “Yeah…call me if you need anything else. I think after what you did today, you can pretty much get whatever you want from us.”

  “Even Bates?” I asked.

  Dimples smiled. “Um…maybe not him.” He glanced in Bates’ direction. “If that guy was smart, he’d try to get on your good side.”

  I snorted. “Oh well, you can’t please everyone.” Wanting to change the subject I asked, “So, how’s it going with Billie? You guys still seeing each other?” Billie Jo Payne was the news reporter who had the hots for Dimples. I knew they were together, but I didn’t want Dimples to get any more nervous around me.

  His eyes lit up. “Yes.”

  I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t and I tried not to roll my eyes. “That’s good. She told me to call her once I was back on the job. Do you know what she’s working on now?”

  “Well, she’s still covering the homicide cases for the paper, so that keeps her busy.”

  He was thinking she was also doing some snooping into something else, but had kept it from him. Since she wouldn’t tell him what it was, he knew it was dangerous and that made him uneasy. He glanced at me, thinking that maybe I could talk to her and figure out what it was and then tell him, so he could talk her out of it.

  “I guess now that you’ve solved this case,” he said. “She’ll want to know we’ve made an arrest. Is it okay if I tell her you helped us with this? She might want to interview you for the paper or something.”

  “Um…sure. Tell her to give me a call.”

  “Great. I will. Let me know how it goes. Uh…there is something else. I’m a little worried about her…she’s following a lead on something and won’t tell me what it is. Makes me think it’s not exactly legal, you know? Maybe you could talk to her about it?”

  “Okay, I’ll see what’s up.”

  “Thanks Shelby,” he said, smiling with relief. “And thanks for helping with the case. That was…remarkable.”

  I smiled and said goodbye, then made my way out of the precinct before he asked me to do anything else. As much as I’d liked helping him out, I was glad to leave. Sure, I’d solved the case, but seeing the images in Spencer’s mind of killing that poor girl sickened me.

  Now I had to worry about what Billie was into, but I knew she was a big girl and could take care of herself. So what she was involved with probably wasn’t too bad. After all, she was a martial arts expert. In fact, as soon as my arm was better she was going to help me learn Aikido, so Dimples was probably just a little over-protective, and it wasn’t anything to worry about. I hoped.

  I took a deep breath and got into my car. As I drove to Thrasher Development, I wondered what Uncle Joey wanted from me. It didn’t sound like it would be too unpleasant, and now that I was on my way there, I put everything else from my mind.

  A rush of eagerness to see him and Ramos flowed over me, making me doubt my sanity. Maybe I really should go see a shrink and get some help…or…just go to lunch with Holly. Yes, talking to her was what I needed. That would be a lot more helpful, and definitely more fun.

  That settled, I pulled into the parking garage and walked to the elevators, grateful no one was trying to kill me today, and that I didn’t have to look over my shoulder like a few of the other times I’d been there. I emerged on the twenty-sixth floor and grinned to see the familiar suite of offices with Thrasher Development in big letters across the top.

  Jackie sat at her desk, and a big smile popped over her face when she caught sight of me. “Shelby! How are you doing? How’s the arm?” She was Uncle Joey’s secretary…and his main squeeze.

  “Hi Jackie. I’m fine…the arm’s healing and I’m ready to get back to work.” Did I really say that out loud? I’d better see if Holly was free for lunch tomorrow.

  “Great! I know Joe will be happy to see you.” She was thinking Ramos would be happy too. Especially today, with the big fiasco he’d unwittingly brought down on them. She felt kind of sorry for him and was glad none of it was her fault.

  My elation turned to concern for Ramos. How could he be in trouble? If he was, then I certainly hoped I could help him out.

  “Hang on a minute and I’ll let him know you’re here.” She picked up the phone and told Uncle Joey I had arrived, then replaced the receiver. “He said to send you on back.”

  “Okay.” I headed down the hall to his office, grateful I’d picked up who else was in the office from Jackie’s mind before going inside. At least now I’d be prepared to see my former nemesis. I was also grateful I looked good in my black leggings and tall boots, with a three-quarter-inch sleeved lace-print tunic. I even had the necklace and earrings on that matched.

  I knocked, and then opened the door to go inside. Yup. There was Kate. She’d been after my husband at one point, and it was all her fault I was now involved with Uncle Joey. She was also one of the few people who knew my secret. I don’t know why, but just seeing her made something primal in me wake up, and I knew if I was a cat, I’d be hissing and baring my teeth right now.

  Our gazes met, and I kept a neutral expression on my face. At least that’s what I thought until I heard Ramos thinking I looked like I wanted to bite her head off. So much for trying to look composed. I scowled at him and he just smiled back, thinking he was sure glad to see me, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

  “Shelby.” Uncle Joey stood. “Glad you could make it. Come on in and have a seat.” He motioned to the chair next to Kate, and I sat beside her even though it was the last thing I wanted to do.

  “Hi Kate,” I said. “What brings you here?” I wanted her to know she was on my turf.

  She glanced at Uncle Joey, hating that she had to ask me for a favor, but she’d run out of options. “I need your help.” It came out a bit stilted, as if she’d just taken a bite out of a lemon wedge.

  Hmm…I smiled. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. I caught Uncle Joey’s mental reprimand of play nice now, and it kind of spoiled the moment. But then I picked up that he’d already said the same thing to Kate, so it wasn’t so bad.

  Ramos settled back in his chair and glanced between us, thinking this could be highly entertaining, and that he hoped for a good show. But he was also grateful for anything that might get the attention off his involvement in this mess. I turned my smile to Kate. “What’s going on?”

  She pursed her lips, unhappy that I hadn’t agreed to help her right off the bat. She didn’t want me to think she would grovel, so she put on a nice smile, but it suddenly faltered when she realized I knew exactly
what she was thinking and there was no way she could fool me. She mentally cursed, and my jaw dropped at the blast of four letter words flowing from her mind.

  “Whoa,” I said under my breath.

  She caught that remark and her face got all blotchy with embarrassment and frustration. Taking a deep breath, she managed to calm down. Still hoping Uncle Joey might step in, she sent a quick glance his way, but his raised brow and pursed lips let her know she was on her own.

  “Here’s the deal,” she began. “I run the shipping company Uncle Joey and I “inherited” from Eddie Sullivan after his death.”

  I remembered Eddie Sullivan well, since he’d tried to kill me. Lucky for me, Uncle Joey killed him first. Uncle Joey then sent Kate to Seattle to take over what she could of Eddie’s businesses. “You got a shipping company out of it. That’s good,” I said, mostly because it kept her in Seattle and out of my life. “How’s it going?”

  “Really well,” Kate said, preening a little. “I’ve got a great manager who’s taught me the ropes, and things are running smoothly. My problem is with another shipping company. We’ve been competing for many of the same contracts, and they approached me about a merger between our businesses. It would be great for us, but I’m not sure we can trust them. I was hoping you could tell me if the man I’m working with has ulterior motives.” She was really thinking that it was Uncle Joey who didn’t trust him, but that was Ramos’ fault. If Ramos hadn’t stuck his nose in where it didn’t belong, she wouldn’t be here right now trying to defend her position.

  I picked up a strong impression of the man in question, and if he looked anything like she was thinking he looked, there was a lot more to their relationship than she let on. Of course, Uncle Joey already knew that. He was thinking Kate had a problem where men were concerned and that’s why he’d sent Ramos in the first place. It was just too bad Ramos had been discovered before he could get to the root of the problem. He was supposed to be better than that.