Trapped By Revenge: A Shelby Nichols Adventure

by Colleen Helme

  “Don’t think like that,” I said. “Maybe the killer will be at the service and I’ll find out. Then we can let Uncle Joey know who it is, and he can take care of it for us.”

  Chris grimaced and I knew that was the wrong thing to say, so I continued. “Or I can tell Dimples and he can take care of it. We’ve got lots of people who are helping us out, so something’s bound to turn up, you’ll see.”

  He gathered me in a fierce hug. “I sure hope so.”

  A car honked from the driveway. “That’s Billie. I’ve got to go.”

  He nodded and I hurried out to the car. Guilt about what I was putting Chris through ate at me, and a sick feeling curdled my stomach. If I ever got out of this, I should probably tell Uncle Joey I was done for good. No more working for him. It was time to call it quits. I had to think of my family and what was best for them. It was probably best for me too, but doing it for them made it easier, how crazy was that?

  Billie smiled as I got in the car, but the fact that I was wearing sunglasses puzzled her. It wasn’t sunny, so if I was hoping no one would pay any attention to me, this was the wrong way to do it.

  “I don’t think wearing sunglasses to a graveside service is out of the ordinary,” I said. “People do it all the time to hide that they’ve been crying.”

  “What the f…reak!” she said. “How did you…?”

  I sighed and shook my head like she was a dummy. “Um…premonitions? Remember?”

  “Oh yeah.”

  “I just got the feeling you disapproved of my sunglasses…so I went with it. I take it I was right?”

  “Um…yeah.” She was thinking that was totally weird. Almost like I’d read her mind. Wow, if I could do that to her, how would it be at the service? Maybe that was the real reason I’d wanted to come. Looking at it that way certainly made sense. “Are you picking up anything about the service? Will the killer be there?”

  “I’m not sure,” I said. “But I’ll know better once we get there. If the killer’s there, I’ll know.”

  “Wow, that’s amazing.” She was thinking if it was true, it would be handy to have me around, especially when she did her interviews. It was a good thing I wasn’t a reporter. She’d hate to compete with me. I’d scoop her every time.

  I didn’t interrupt her line of thinking, mostly because it kept her from thinking about wanting to use my skills for her benefit. I already had enough on my plate without adding her to the mix. Of course, maybe once I was through with Uncle Joey, I’d have time to help her out once in a while.

  We arrived at the cemetery and pulled behind a long line of cars. Several people had already gathered at the graveside, and we made our way over to join them. “I want to stand in the back,” I whispered to Billie. She nodded, and we found a place close to the casket, but still behind several people.

  I glanced around, noticing Detective Bates standing on the opposite side of us. He narrowed his eyes at me, thinking I sure had balls to show up here. And I was with that nosey reporter. What was that all about? Maybe I really was the killer and I’d fooled them all.

  He shifted his attention to the others in the crowd, and I followed his thoughts as he noted who Sam’s friends and family were to himself. As much as I didn’t like him, it was handy to know who the different people were. He was looking for any of Sam’s clients, hoping he’d be able to match them with those in Sam’s files. Of course from many of the invoices without names, he’d figured out that the complete client list was missing, and probably what was stolen from Sam’s safe. So coming here might not help him much, unless I was hiding something and he could goad me into spilling it.

  Bates glanced at me, and I kept my gaze lowered. He wondered if I had taken the information from Sam’s safe. So far, they hadn’t recovered any of my fingerprints at his house, but at my trial, he’d be sure to point out that it was probably me. Even if it was only conjecture and the judge threw it out, it wasn’t something jurors were likely to forget.

  As anger surged over me, I tried to keep my breathing even. Instead of smacking him like I’d like to, the best thing I could do now, was focus on the real reason I’d come. I immediately turned my attention to the rest of the crowd. There were around thirty people, so it was easy to touch on everyone’s thoughts for a minute or two. Unfortunately, I didn’t get anything about who killed him. But on the positive side, at least no one was thinking that I had done it, except for Bates, so that was good.

  An older man had taken an interest in Billie though, so I concentrated on his thoughts. He pulled out a piece of paper and glanced between it and Billie until he was satisfied that she matched the photo on the paper. I realized he had an envelope for Billie, but he didn’t know what was in it, only that it was from Sam.

  Excitement surged through my veins. Maybe this was it! Maybe Sam had saved something for Billie that would lead her to his killer. I searched the man’s thoughts, hoping to pick up more, but by then the minister had finished up, and people were putting flowers on the casket to say their last goodbyes.

  As the crowd dispersed, Billie leaned toward me. “Did you find anything?”

  “Indirectly,” I said. “Just wait for a minute and you’ll know what I mean.”

  The man came toward us and smiled. “Hello, I’m a friend of Sam’s. Are you Billie Payne?”

  “That’s me,” Billie said.

  “I have something for you. Could we talk privately?” He sent me an apologetic smile.

  “Go ahead,” I said. “I’ll just wait here.”

  “Thank you.” He took Billie’s arm and stepped out of my hearing range to talk. As he began, I picked up that Sam had given him specific instructions that if something happened to him, he was to deliver an envelope to a reporter named Billie Payne. He had tried to reach her through the paper several times and was relieved to find her at the service. He was…

  “I’m surprised to see you here,” Bates said, startling me enough to send my heart rate into overdrive. “That was pretty amazing how fast you got out of jail the other night.” He was thinking I must have some powerful friends and wondered who they were. “Why are you here anyway? Is your conscience bothering you?”

  “Give it a rest, Bates,” I said. “I’m trying to find the real killer, which, if you were doing your job, you would be doing too.”

  He huffed and his mouth turned into a grimace. “That’s exactly what I’m doing.” He stared pointedly at me.

  “Hmm…well, you’re barking up the wrong tree. What you should be considering is why the DA’s office contacted you. Isn’t it usually the other way around? Why would they do that? And more important, who is the judge that signed the warrant for my arrest?”

  Bates shook his head, wondering what that had to do with anything. “I don’t know who the judge was. We have lots of judges who sign warrants, and as far as the DA’s office contacting me, that’s not unheard of either.” Although it did seem unusual. At the time, he figured the chief had filled the DA’s office in on the case, and they had deemed it ready to press charges. But with the way things were in the office, he doubted the chief would do that since everyone seemed to have a soft spot for me. Maybe I had a point, but as far as he could tell, there just wasn’t anyone else who could have murdered Killpack. All the evidence pointed to me.

  “Someone set me up, Bates. I don’t know why, but that’s what I’m trying to figure out. It would help if you could do the same.”

  Bates opened his mouth to tell me I’d fooled everyone else, but I couldn’t fool him. Before he could utter a word, Billie came to my side. “Hey, are you ready to go?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I answered. I narrowed my eyes at Bates and in a low voice said, “You’re the fool.” I turned away, but not before I had the satisfaction of hearing his indrawn breath and reading his surprise.

  “Working your magic I see,” Billie said.

  We walked toward her car while anger simmered in my chest. When we were far enough away that he wouldn’t hear me,
I let it out. “That jerk. He’s convinced I’m guilty and won’t even look at anyone else. He’s so narrow-minded it makes me sick.”

  “Yeah,” Billie agreed. “Drew was pretty upset that Bates got him taken off your case.” She didn’t add that he was plenty worried about me too. He didn’t like the odds, but he hadn’t given up.

  I let out a sigh and pulled my lips into a grimace. “I know how bad it looks. If we don’t catch a break soon, I’m toast.”

  “This might help.” She opened her purse to show me an envelope tucked inside. “It’s from Sam. Let’s open it up as soon as we get in the car.”

  That was good motivation to get me moving. Inside the car, Billie took out the envelope and ripped it open. She pulled out a piece of paper folded into thirds and flattened it out. Taped to the inside of the paper was a small key. Billie scanned the paper, turning it over to see a note, but it was blank.

  “Damn! There’s no writing on here,” she exclaimed. “It’s just a key.” She pulled the key from the paper and ripped the tape off to examine it more closely.

  “What kind of a key is it?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. It’s pretty small. Maybe it goes to a strongbox or a lockbox? Oh my gosh! Do you think it went to his safe?”

  “No,” I assured her. “His safe had a combination lock, not a key.”

  “That’s good.” She turned the key over and over, trying to figure out what it could possibly open. “I can’t believe he didn’t give me a clue. This is nuts! If he wanted me to have it in case he died, you’d think he’d at least give me a clue as to what it went to.”

  “He probably did,” I said. She glanced at me with a raised brow. “Hey, just think about it. You talked to him a week before he died. Maybe he told you something then. You just need to put it together. Think about what he told you. Write it down if you have to. There’s got to be a clue there somewhere.”

  “Yeah, okay,” she sighed. “In the meantime, I can take it to a locksmith and see if they can tell me what kind of key it is. That should narrow it down a little.”

  “That’s a great idea. Let’s go right now and I’ll come with you.”

  We drove to the nearest hardware store and asked the clerk what kind of a key it was. He matched it to one of the others he had and told us it went to a moneybox like you’d use for keeping loose change and dollar bills, or maybe a filing cabinet of some sort.

  “Okay, great,” Billie said. “That narrows it down.” Then she surprised me by asking, “Can you make a duplicate while we’re here?” She was thinking that if anything happened to it, or her, she wanted to make sure someone else had a copy. Not that it would, but what if she lost it or something?

  “That’s a good idea,” I said. “Maybe you could give it to Dimples.” I wanted her to tell him about the key so he could watch her back if she got in trouble.

  “No. I’m giving it to you.” She figured I had more of a vested interest in finding what it went to. Plus, I didn’t have to divide my loyalty with the police.

  “That makes sense,” I said. “But you are going to tell Dimples about it, right?”

  “Yeah,” she smiled. “It won’t hurt to have him worry about me a little bit.” The clerk finished and she paid him, then handed the key to me. “Guard this with your life.”

  “Don’t worry. I will.” I put the key in the zippered part of my purse where I kept my loose change.

  We got back to the car and Billie started toward my house. She was thinking about everything she had to do to find the lock. Maybe get into Sam’s house and garage. If she asked nicely, Drew might even help her out and she wouldn’t have to break into the house. She also needed access to everything the police had taken from Sam’s office. It might just be sitting there in evidence and no one even knew.

  I thought not breaking into Sam’s house was a good idea, but I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be that easy. We pulled up in front of my house and I got out of the car. “Thanks for taking me with you,” I said. “But before you spend too much time breaking into people’s houses, take a minute to think about everything Sam said in your phone conversation. I think that’s the key…um…to figuring this out.”

  Her surprise that I’d read her so easily turned into a smile at my pun. “I will.” She believed in my premonitions, so that was first on her list.

  “Oh…and call me when you do. I’d like to go with you.”

  “Sure thing,” she said. I closed the door and waved as she drove away, surprised that she didn’t even think about what I was going to do with my key. She never once thought that I might do some digging of my own, or hand it over to someone who knew all about locks.

  I felt kind of bad that she trusted me so well, but on the other hand, if I could get my hands on whatever Sam had for Billie, it wasn’t much different than if Billie got there first. We’d still use it for the same purpose, so what was the difference?

  It also meant I might be able to keep Billie out of trouble, especially if someone saw that guy give her the envelope. I didn’t think anyone had, since I hadn’t picked up anything, but if they were far enough away and were watching, it could be true. In the meantime, I sure hoped this was the clue I needed to find the real killer.

  Chapter 13

  I went inside and changed my clothes, grateful to get out of my heels and wear something more comfortable. Chris was anxious to hear about the service and came in while I changed. I told him everything, but hesitated about the key. For some reason, I didn’t want him to get all worked up about finding what it went to. I wanted to give that chore to Ramos, and I knew telling Chris that I wanted Ramos to handle it wouldn’t go over very well. On the other hand, that didn’t mean he had to know I had a copy of the key, so telling him about the key was probably all right.

  “Really?” he exclaimed, after I told him. “That’s huge. Whatever he’s left Billie could clear your name!”

  “I know…it’s great, huh.” His enthusiasm was contagious, and my spirits lifted. “I sure hope Billie can find what it goes to quickly. Wouldn’t it be sweet if she found it before my arraignment?”

  “Yes,” he agreed. “It’s too bad you didn’t get a copy made. You could have given it to Ramos. I’ll bet he could have figured it out.”

  “Yeah, that is too bad.” Wow. Did I ever blow it. Besides feeling about an inch tall, I couldn’t tell Chris I actually did have a copy of the key now. What a dolt I was!

  “Don’t worry about it,” Chris said, noticing my crestfallen expression. “I’m sure Billie has resources too. The good thing is we have a lead.”

  I nodded, but it put a real damper on my day to know I’d underestimated my husband. Now I had to get the key to Ramos, even though it meant doing it behind Chris’ back. I should have just told him, but since Chris had thought giving Ramos the key was a good idea, then meeting Ramos without him knowing was okay, right?

  It was Saturday, so I had a lot of cleaning to do. That also meant I needed to go to the grocery store, which would give me the perfect opportunity to call Ramos and meet up. I grabbed my grocery list, and at the last minute, added my stun flashlight to my purse. I felt better knowing it was handy, mostly because I had a feeling things could get complicated fast.

  I found a parking spot in a remote corner of the lot and took out my cell phone, hoping Ramos would pick up.

  “Hey Babe, what’s up?” he asked.

  I exhaled with relief to hear his voice. “Well, for starters, I have something for you.” I explained about the graveside service and the key Killpack had left for Billie. “We took it to a locksmith and Billie made a copy. She gave it to me for safe keeping. Do you think you’d know what it went to?”

  “Probably. Where are you?”

  “Great! I’m at the grocery store…well…in the parking lot at the moment. You know…the store by my house?”

  “Oh yeah…” he said softly. “The one where you got shot-in-the-head-and-can-read-minds-now-store. You sure you want to go in there?
”

  I could hear the teasing in his voice and smiled. “Sure. I’d never let a little thing like getting shot in the head keep me from getting my groceries.” I made it sound easy, although to be honest, every time I went in there I remembered that day and had to work hard to put it from my mind and go inside.

  “That’s the spirit,” he said. “I’m just about done with what I’m doing. I can probably get there in about half an hour.”

  “Are you making any progress with the thief?”

  “Hmm…a little. I’ll know more later.”

  I waited for him to explain, but when he didn’t I broke the silence. “Okay, I guess since you don’t want to tell me about it, I’ll just have to pick it up from your mind when I see you.”

  He chuckled. “You can try. See you soon.”

  I got out my grocery list and debated about doing my shopping while I waited. Some things needed to be refrigerated, and I didn’t know if it was a good idea to buy the food, only to leave it in my trunk while I went with Ramos to find the lock. On the other hand, I didn’t know if Ramos would want me to come with him. He might just take it and run. In a way, I really wanted to go with him, but on the practical side, it was probably best to let him take care of it.

  I hurried inside and did my shopping in record time. If I needed to go with Ramos, I could drop the food off at the house and tell Chris I had to run a few more errands. A pang of guilt rushed through me that I was even thinking about lying to my husband. Again. By the time I got out to the car, I had decided not to go with Ramos even if he wanted me to.

  As I loaded the groceries into the trunk, I heard the sound of a motorcycle and smiled to find Ramos zooming toward me. He stopped beside me and took off his helmet. His dark, penetrating gaze caught me by surprise and turned my insides to mush. He was thinking I only looked a little tired and worn down from my time in jail, so that was a relief.

  I cocked my brow and drew my hands to my waist. “A little worn down and tired?”