The Contract: Kill Jessica White

by Remington Kane

  The chief calmed Beck with assurances that all would be explained, and then she, Jessica, Jessica’s husband, Beck, and Greyson, all went inside the chief’s office to talk.

  “I assume that you’re letting me go now?” Greyson asked.

  Chief Rodgers smiled at him.

  “I’m going to charge you with the attempted murder of Gage Aldridge, and that’s just for starters.”

  “Who the hell is Gage Aldridge?” Greyson asked.

  “He’s the old man you nearly killed last night with that stunt you rigged on the truck.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Greyson said, and his lawyer advised him to remain quiet and let him talk.

  “Chief Rodgers, explain what you mean,” Beck said.

  The chief smiled at Jessica.

  “I have Dr. White to thank for figuring it out. You see, I believe that your client here has killed four people, one of which was his grandmother.”

  “Do you have proof?”

  “It’s being gathered. My deputies and I searched your client’s home and business earlier.”

  Beck’s face reddened.

  “I hope for your sake that you obtained search warrants.”

  “Of course,” the chief said, and Beck’s angry demeanor turned into a look of worry.

  With Jamesburg being a small town, Beck knew the local judge, and was aware that the man didn’t hand out search warrants without a valid reason.

  “What evidence do you have against my client, Carol?”

  “We believe he broke into a truck and released the emergency brake while straightening out the front wheels, so that it would be certain to roll forward.”

  “How did you come to that conclusion?”

  “We’ve made contact with the owner of the truck and he swears that it was locked up, and that he always keeps the wheels turned to the right. The grooves in the grass seem to verify that last part.”

  “The truck involved in last night’s accident? I heard about that, but my client was in your jail cell last night. He couldn’t have done it.”

  “He could and he did. He was at the truck in the afternoon and placed blocks of ice under the rear wheels to act as wheel chucks. Once Greyson here put the ice in place, he broke into the truck, released the brake and straightened out the front wheels. When the ice finally melted enough, the truck rolled forward and went down the hill. It was pure luck that no one was killed by the crash.”

  Beck shook his head, looked at his client, and then asked a question he didn’t want to ask.

  “I assume you have proof of these accusations?”

  Chief Rodgers laid a photocopy of a receipt on the desk in front of Beck and Greyson.

  “Your client routinely buys ice from an ice house the next town over that he sells in his store. That ice is normally delivered by their truck and is cubed and in bags, but yesterday, Brad here made a special trip to the icehouse in his pickup, and when he left, he had two, forty pound blocks of ice.”

  Beck scoffed.

  “There could be any number of reasons why my client would buy that ice.”

  “True, so how about it, Brad. What did you do with the ice?”

  “Don’t answer that,” Beck said, as Greyson had begun to look sick to his stomach.

  A deputy knocked on the door, and when the chief told the young woman to enter, the deputy handed her a slip of paper, and then whispered something to her.

  “That’s been verified?” the chief asked, and the deputy nodded her head.

  “Good work, Kristen, and thank you.”

  The deputy smiled and left the room, but not before she sent Greyson a cold stare.

  “Has there been a development?” Beck asked.

  “My deputy there recalled that Greyson’s market used to have an old barbwire fence at the back of the store. She checked, and the new fence was put in just two days before Sean Green drowned after becoming entangled in that same sort of fencing. The men who installed the new fence remember that they tossed the old one in Greyson’s dumpster, at Mr. Greyson’s insistence. They normally haul the old fencing away.”

  Beck shrugged.

  “It’s a coincidence.”

  While he was talking, Chief Rodgers began reading the sheet that was handed to her by the deputy. When she finished reading, she looked up and spoke to Beck.

  “A preliminary report shows that the paint on your client’s bright yellow snowplow blade and the paint found on a wrecked section of guardrail are a match.”

  “What section of guardrail?” Beck said.

  “It concerns the death of Keith Washington; your client killed him, and I’m sure we’ll uncover more in the days to come concerning the other murders. Thanks to your client’s stunt with that truck and the ice.”

  Jessica leaned forward. The movement caught Brad Greyson’s attention, and she spoke to him.

  “You probably thought that by using different methods to kill that it would confuse things, but the fact is that each of the accidents had the same signature, although you were unaware of it. It was by deciphering and following that signature that we knew about the blocks of ice.”

  Greyson sneered at her.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Water,” Jessica said. “Water was the key. One of your victims drowned, while another froze to death after being exposed to frigid water. Keith Washington’s car went down a steep embankment after sliding on ice, or rather, frozen water, and your grandmother died of heatstroke and dehydration, a lack of water. Those blocks of ice you used yesterday to delay the truck rolling down the hill were as good as a signature.”

  Beck told his client not to say another word, and the chief arrested Brad Greyson for the attempted murder of Gage Aldridge, with the understanding that further charges were pending.

  ***

  They were headed to the airport when Jessica received a call from one of her contacts at the FBI. She placed the call on speakerphone mode, so that her husband could listen while he drove.

  “Hello Alan, what’s new in Colorado?”

  “We’ve got snow on the way, as usual, but I’m afraid this isn’t a social call.”

  “What’s up?” Jessica asked.

  “There’s a guy here in Boulder, Colorado who claims that someone has put out a hit on you, Jessica. The cops say that the tip looks legit, but the guy won’t give any details until he gets an attempted murder charge dropped on his ex-wife. You might want to take off to parts unknown until it’s all sorted out.”

  After asking several questions and learning nothing new, Jessica ended the call.

  “What do you want to do?” her husband asked.

  “I want to find out more. When we get to the airport, we’ll take the next flight to Boulder. We need to find out what that informant knows.”

  “We’ll find out everything,” White said.

  “But what if the DA doesn’t want to drop the charges against his ex-wife? He may never talk.”

  “He may never talk to the cops. He will talk to me.”

  Jessica looked over at her husband and smiled.

  “Yes, I bet he will.”

  CHAPTER 12 – Party ‘til you drop

  The damn party had still been going on at daybreak, and then more people showed up.

  Tanner mentally chastised himself for not having any tracking gear. If he had placed a GPS tracker on Styles’ car, he could have gone to a motel, gotten a good night’s sleep, and tracked the punk down later.

  He then realized that it wouldn’t have been a good idea anyway, because he might have awakened to find that Styles had left his car in an airport parking lot, and was off to kill Jessica White.

  He had to keep an eye on the young hit man until he could get him alone and kill him.

  ***

  Styles didn’t emerge from the house until it was past noon, and the party was going as strong as ever.

  When Styles dropped his girlfriend at the same apartment house he had pic
ked her up in front of the day before, Tanner was glad to see that the man was finally alone.

  His happiness didn’t last.

  Styles drove six blocks to where another girl stood in front of a different apartment building. This one, a tall brunette, was perhaps even younger than the blonde, and she greeted Styles with a soulful kiss and climbed into his Mustang.

  “The kid never stops,” Tanner mumbled to himself.

  He was tired, hungry, nearly out of bottled water, and he needed a shower and a shave. Also, it had started to snow, and if the weather service was right, it was the beginning of a huge storm.

  Tanner let out a sigh and continued to follow the Mustang. If Styles drove back to the damn party, witnesses or not, Tanner was going to blast him into next week.

  Styles didn’t return to the party house, instead, he drove to his home in Wonderland Hills.

  ***

  Tanner looked down on Styles’ small home that sat at the edge of a small developement. He had to leave the jeep parked among trees back on the road, or else Styles and the girl would have heard his approach.

  He crept down the hill behind the house, which had been made slippery by the fresh snow, and made his way silently to Styles’ Mustang, where he eased beneath the car and cut the fan belt.

  He figured that it would delay Styles from going anywhere until he had the car serviced, and hoped that he wouldn’t notice it for a while.

  After returning to the jeep, Tanner went to the drive-thru window of a fast food restaurant, and then on to a motel he had passed while tailing Styles.

  After eating, Tanner took a shower and laid atop the bed in Room 16.

  He realized it was possible that Styles would make his way to the airport while he was asleep, but it was a chance he was willing to take.

  Tanner wanted to help keep Dr. Jessica White alive, but charity had its limits.

  He was asleep seconds after his head hit the pillow.

  ***

  Back at the motel office, a woman named Emmy Lee sat drinking a cup of coffee that was spiked with Irish cream, as she contemplated her next move.

  Emmy had worked in motels and hotels since she was in high school twenty years ago, and she found the work was either boring or stressful. Boring in the off-season and stressful when it snowed, as it was now, and she knew that the snowbirds would be coming in droves.

  Emmy Lee was blond with brown eyes and a cute figure, and while she wasn’t very bright, she was conniving, and considered herself lucky, because it looked as if fate had smiled upon her once again.

  Emmy had recognized Tanner, or thought she did, and if Tanner hadn’t been so weary, he would have noticed that she had been giving him an odd look as he checked in.

  Weeks ago, she had a flyer with Tanner’s picture on it. She had either thrown it away or misplaced it, and so she was reluctant to make a call to the person looking for him, if he was just some random guy who reminded her of the man she saw in the flyer.

  It was the man’s eyes, those intense eyes, and Emmy was almost certain that the man in Room 16 was the same man who was worth money to whoever turned him in.

  With the first significant snowfall of the season coming down, Emmy became busy checking in guests and soon placed Tanner at the back of her mind.

  Hours later, as she reached into her purse while looking for her nail clippers, she came across a crumpled piece of paper. When she looked at it, she saw it was the flyer.

  “It’s him,” Emmy said, and then she called the number at the bottom of the flyer by using the motel’s phone.

  She knew the number by heart, because she had worked there for years before moving to Boulder. She also knew the owner, although she never liked her.

  “O’Grady Hotel, Darlene speaking, how may I help you?”

  “Hey Darlene, this is Emmy.”

  “Emmy, how are you, girl?”

  “I’m good, but listen, is the bitch around? I need to talk to her.”

  “She’s around, and bitchier than ever since her accident.”

  “What accident?”

  “She never said, but she’s got a nasty scar running up her face, and you should see the dude she has with her now. He’s a big monster of a brute.”

  “I need to talk to her. It’s about that guy she’s been looking for, Tanner. I think he’s here in Boulder.”

  “Seriously?”

  “I’d swear it’s the guy.”

  “You do know what she plans to do to him, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, I hear that she thinks he’s the guy that killed her asshole father, but I don’t care what she does to the man as long as she pays me my reward.”

  “I hear you, and I’ll call the house. If I can get ahold of anyone, they’ll call you back. Give me your cell phone number.”

  Emma left her number, checked in another pair of skiers, and was thinking about what she wanted for dinner later when her cell phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “This is Ariana O’Grady. Tell me where I can find that bastard Tanner.”

  CHAPTER 13 – I know something you don’t know

  Jessica and her husband arrived in Boulder when the snow was coming down furious enough to cancel flights.

  After leaving the airport, they drove straight to the police station where Horrigan was being questioned. He wasn’t under arrest, but was going through a fruitless second round of questioning, as he refused to talk until he had a deal in place that would save his ex-wife from doing time.

  Jessica’s FBI contact, Alan Watson, met them at the station, and they watched through a one-way mirror while the homicide cops tried to get Horrigan to say more.

  “He won’t talk,” Watson said. “He insists on getting a deal for his ex-wife, and the DA is balking.”

  Watson was in his forties and kept in shape with a daily run. His dark hair was graying at the temples, and he came from a family of cops.

  “How long can you hold him here?” Mr. White asked.

  “They’ll be bouncing him soon, if they keep pushing like this he’ll lawyer up, and I don’t want that. If the people he’s planning to talk about find out we’re holding him, they could delay their plans and we’d lose our advantage, which would leave you in danger, Jessica.”

  “But what if the DA doesn’t change his mind and make a deal?” Jessica asked.

  “That would be a problem, but Horrigan will spill eventually, and in the meantime, you’ll have a police escort, just in case.”

  ***

  Tanner awoke after several hours of sleep to find the world white with snow.

  He felt better after having slept and went shopping at a ski shop to buy warmer clothes. On the way to Styles’ cabin, he stopped and had a meal at a restaurant.

  When he was almost at Styles house, he passed a flatbed tow truck with Styles’ Mustang sitting on it. In the cab beside the driver was Styles and the brunette he’d been with earlier.

  Tanner turned around and followed the tow truck to a garage. There was a donut shop beside the garage and Tanner parked in their lot and went in to use the men’s room.

  When he came out, he saw that Styles was standing in line with the woman, and he stood in line behind them. If Styles hadn’t spotted him by now, he never would. Besides, Tanner figured he could use a second cup of coffee and there was the chance that he might overhear something useful.

  That turned out to be the case, when he heard Styles say that he didn’t have to leave town after all.

  Tanner raised an eyebrow at that and wondered what it meant.

  Was the hit cancelled?

  He didn’t know, but he could guess who did.

  While they waited for the car to have a new fan belt installed, Styles and his girlfriend crossed the road and went into a grocery store. While they were inside, Tanner stayed in the jeep.

  Another jeep appeared and drove into the service station. It had markings on the side that proclaimed it was from an auto parts warehouse. The new fan belt for the Must
ang had just arrived.

  Tanner stayed on Styles tail until the young hit man drove back to his home in his repaired Mustang.

  With Styles apparently hunkering down for the rest of the day, Tanner headed off to find Jim Horrigan to get some answers.

  ***

  Ariana O’Grady rode in her black Lexus LX while a man named Brick drove.

  Brick looked like a brick. He was well over six feet tall and nearly as thick as he was wide, even his coloring reminded one of a brick, in that he was a full-blooded American Indian, a Comanche.

  Brick had been helping Ariana to track down Tanner for weeks in a search that began in New York City.

  Ariana was twenty-seven, with dark hair, a fair figure, and a formerly pretty face that now bore a long scar after her confrontation with Tanner in Oklahoma City.

  Tanner had killed Ariana’s father, Hank O’Grady, because he had held O’Grady responsible for the deaths of two of his friends. Once she had discovered the circumstances surrounding her father’s death, Ariana began hunting Tanner to exact revenge.

  “That woman Emmy said that there was no sign of that Mexican bitch that scarred me, but if we can take Tanner alive I can torture him to tell me where she is,” Ariana said.

  She was referring to Alexa Lucia, who had scarred her after gaining control of a knife and disarming Ariana.

  “If you get a chance to kill Tanner, take it,” Brick said. “You won’t get another.”

  “I’m not intimidated by the man.”

  Brick laughed.

  “The guy went into Mexico and killed a cartel leader who everyone said was untouchable. I’m not afraid of Tanner, but I respect him the way I respect a rattlesnake, and you don’t play with snakes, you just kill them.”

  Ariana made a huff of displeasure at Brick’s advice and then asked a question.

  “These mercenaries who are meeting us, are they really good?”

  “They are, and smart. They plan to trick Tanner and avoid any gunplay.”

  “How do they expect to accomplish that?”

  “They’ll be wearing jackets and fake badges that say FBI. Tanner is a badass, but he’s not a cop killer, and he’ll likely stand down and hope to escape from custody later.”

  “That is smart, and it will enable us to take Tanner alive.”