Still Life

by Dani Pettrey

  He laughed. “She’ll turn back up. Always does.”

  Avery exhaled her frustration and handed Gary her business card. “It’s got my cell on it. Call me if you see Sky, change your mind about filing a report, or think of anything else that might be helpful.”

  “Whatever.” Gary tucked the card in his pocket.

  She prayed he didn’t use it for any other reason than what she’d stated. Gary was the last person she wanted to hear from unless it was regarding Skylar.

  Parker waited until Gary cleared out before speaking.

  Great. He was going to ask her about Gary—the biggest regret of her life. Well, the second.

  “Any chance Gary’s the one who broke into Sky’s place?” he asked.

  She frowned, uber thankful he hadn’t asked about her past relationship with Gary, but the question rocked her. She hadn’t considered . . . “Why would he break into his own girlfriend’s place?” Although he did have a key, and the police said there’d been no signs of a break-in, which she and Parker confirmed after running the place.

  “Maybe she had something he wanted and she’s nowhere to be found,” Parker suggested.

  “But why all stealth, using a flashlight? Why sneak around?”

  “Not something he’d do?” Parker asked.

  She tossed it around. “If he had a motive, I suppose I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

  “I think I’ll go continue the conversation with Gary,” Parker said, moving for the door.

  “I really doubt he’s going to answer any more questions.” Not from him. Maybe from her, but not from Parker. To Gary he was an outsider, and you didn’t talk to outsiders, especially outsiders with guns.

  “He may not give me information verbally,” Parker said. “But everyone has tells.”

  And Parker was certainly gifted at seeing them, and that’s what terrified her. Could he read her heart? Did he know how she felt about him? She shifted the topic back to Gary before she freaked out over the thought. “Why the interest in Gary?” Because he’d threatened her? He was most likely just talking smack, and if he wasn’t, he didn’t frighten her the way he used to.

  “Because we found his fingerprints all over this place,” Parker said.

  “I told you—he and Sky were together. Of course his prints are going be present,” Avery said.

  “Yeah, but one place was odd even for a couple. At least I find it odd, especially after meeting him,” Parker said.

  Avery frowned. “Where?”

  “Her Chinese puzzle jewelry box.”

  8

  Why didn’t you say something before he left?” Avery asked, striding for the door.

  “Because, as you said, they were a couple, and I wanted to run it past you, but he’s probably more likely to answer without you present. Guy to guy.”

  She exhaled. That was probably true. Except Parker was an outsider, and he just wanted Gary out of her presence. Wanted her safe. It was endearing, really, but she could hold her own with Gary now.

  “Any idea what she kept in her jewelry box?” Parker asked.

  “Kept? As in it wasn’t in there?”

  “It?” Parker arched a brow.

  “A three-carat diamond ring.”

  “Three carats?” Parker’s jaw slackened.

  “It was an engagement ring offered to her mom by a really old dude. She said she refused to be a gold digger—which wasn’t entirely true, except in that case—but he said because she was honest and in need she could keep it. She gave it to Sky before she died, said she wanted Sky to have a better future.”

  “So why didn’t Sky sell it?” Parker asked.

  “Because it was a gift from her mom. One of a very few, and the last one. No way Sky would get rid of it. She never even wore it for fear of losing it. Are you positive it’s not in there? There’s more than one compartment.”

  “I found three—all empty,” Parker said.

  “Then you found them all.” She strode into the room, got Parker’s okay to lift the box now that he was already done with fingerprints, and checked for herself. How had nitwit Gary gotten the box open? “That’s it. I’m going to confront him with you.” That ring was all Skylar had.

  “You better do it fast,” Parker said, staring out the window. “I’m pretty sure he’s leaving.”

  “What?” She grabbed her keys and flew down the front steps to her car, climbing in as Gary’s truck whizzed past.

  Parker hopped in the passenger seat next to her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, shifting into Reverse.

  “You’re crazy if you think I’m not coming with.”

  She could argue, but what was the point?

  Besides, now that Parker was actually back in her company, she didn’t want their time together to end.

  “Fine.” She eased back on the gas. “I don’t think he saw us. No sense letting him know we’re following. We’ll stay a ways back and confront him when he arrives at wherever his destination is.”

  “Good plan. We can start working the list afterward.”

  “List?” She frowned.

  “Of fingerprints.”

  “You identified more than Gary and that preppy twenty-one-year-old? Who do we have?” Maybe she’d recognize some of the names. The trailer park wasn’t large.

  His masterpiece was now in the hands of a nosy friend of his model. He couldn’t risk claiming it at the show. It was too risky. The woman had questioned Skylar’s whereabouts all evening. It limited his maneuverability and altered his showing, but he’d had to leave his masterpiece behind.

  He wanted, no, needed it back. It was his. She was his.

  Now to track down the woman who’d taken what belonged to him.

  Parker pulled the list of fingerprint hits from his jacket pocket and held it up to the dash light, not wanting to turn on the overhead lights and alert Gary to their tailing presence. “Well, there is, of course, Connor Davis and Gary Boyd,” he began, “and next is a Crystal Lewis. She and Gary are in the database for a range of offenses—DUI and shoplifting for Crystal, assault and trespassing for Gary.”

  “Crystal was at Skylar’s?”

  He half glanced over at her, still keeping his focus partially on Gary’s taillights a quarter of a mile ahead. “I take it you know Crystal Lewis?”

  “She lives in the park. I didn’t realize she and Sky were still friends.”

  “Okay.” He moved on to the next name on the list when she didn’t elaborate, not wanting to push her about her past. “Megan Kent is the next name. Do you know Megan?”

  Avery shook her head. “Doesn’t sound familiar. I’m guessing she has a record too?”

  “No. Looks like a background check was run for her job. She’s a nurse at St. Agnes. What about Sebastian Chadwyck?” he asked. “His fingerprints were also on file for a background check. He also works at St. Agnes but as an orderly. I didn’t even know they still had orderlies.”

  “Sebastian?” Her voice hitched up an octave.

  “I take it you know Sebastian?”

  “No, but Gerard blamed a guy named Sebastian for the portrait switch.” She indicated the portrait in the backseat with a tilt of her beautiful head.

  Parker glanced back, examining her wrap job as best he could in the headlight beams shining through the back windshield from the car behind them. From what he could see in the dim light, she’d done a decent job. He shifted back around. “But why would an orderly swap portraits?”

  “Gerard said he was an up-and-comer in the art scene. Gerard mentored him,” she said, using air quotes on mentored. “Probably works as an orderly to pay the bills while he pursues his dream.”

  “Since both work at St. Agnes and both have been at Skylar’s place, odds are Megan and Sebastian know each other.”

  “Maybe Megan was one of the women Gary saw at Skylar’s,” she said.

  “And Sebastian one of the dudes?” he asked.

  “Possibly.” She tapped the wheel. �
��After we get Gary to talk, I think we should visit Sebastian next.”

  “First thing in the morning,” Parker agreed.

  She glanced at the clock, and he followed her gaze.

  It was nearly three thirty and dark as could be.

  “Who else?” she asked. “Any more names?”

  “One more name and a good number of unknowns.”

  “Who’s the last name?”

  “Lennie Wilcox.”

  “I don’t know him.”

  “Unfortunately I do.” He gripped the paper tighter.

  She glanced sideways at him. “Why don’t I like the sound of that?”

  “Because Lennie works for Max Stallings.”

  “And he is?”

  “One bad dude. I’ll have Declan and Lexi talk to him.”

  “Why?”

  “Let’s just say they have a history with Max Stallings.”

  “Speaking of Declan,” Avery said, cricking her neck to the side, “I’m curious to find out what he learned.”

  “That makes two of us.” Parker raised his brows, his innate curiosity clearly flaring.

  She’d never met anyone more curious, and it was so captivating—like watching a little kid spot a butterfly for the first time. She loved that about him.

  “So Tanner and Declan ended up together tonight. . . .” Parker’s lips twitched into a smile.

  “Yeah. What’s with the smile?”

  He rested his hand on his knee. “I just find the interchange between the two interesting.”

  She smiled. “That’s one word for it.” She missed this. Missed them, but them was clearly defined differently by both.

  Parker was flirtatious and clearly wouldn’t mind some sort of relationship, but she wasn’t into casual. She wanted to be in for the long haul with a man who could give his whole heart, and unfortunately, that would never be Parker. His heart, or a great part of it, still belonged to his first love—Griffin’s younger sister, Jenna.

  Ever since Jenna’s murder at seventeen, Parker—who’d been twenty-one at the time—had never been the same. He played it light when it came to dating, and rumors swirled about the stunningly handsome Irish American. His Irish brogue alone jellied her knees, but there was so much more. He was brilliant—creatively and intellectually—and possessed a depth few men did. He saw stars where others saw faint dots. He danced across her mind with an intensity that elated and terrified her. But she needed something he couldn’t give.

  So rather than focus on how severely that stung, she let herself be soothed by the scent of his cedar aftershave—the woodsy scent triggering happy memories of her trip to Deep Creek Lake a couple summers ago, the feeling of the sun’s warmth on her face, its rays reflecting off the rippling water, and the fresh, crisp fragrance of evergreens. It was calming, and yet the cedar scent on Parker was highly intoxicating too. She was easing back into the comfort of his presence far too easily.

  They followed Gary in silence until he turned east onto 404. “Any idea where he’s going?” They’d been following him for nearly an hour.

  “I’m guessing his brother’s place. He lives on the eastern shore. Whenever Gary’s in trouble he runs to his big brother.” She shook her head. “Some things never change.” But thankfully other things did.

  Parker glanced back at the portrait, squinting in the dark interior, anxious to start examining it. Then his gaze shifted to the car behind them. Still behind them. “Hmm.”

  “Hmm, what?” she asked in that inquisitive tone he found so adorable.

  “We’ve had the same car behind us since shortly after we left the trailer park.”

  “Really?” Avery glanced in the rearview mirror. “You think they’re following us or Gary?”

  He looked back again. “My guess would be Gary.”

  The car lengthened the distance between them.

  Avery glanced in the mirror again. “I think they know we’ve made them.”

  “Ease off the gas. Try to close the gap just enough for me to get the license plate with my flashlight. It’ll scare them off, but I just need a few seconds to get the plate number.” He put his arm out the window, peering at the vehicle’s front plate and clicking on his flashlight, but the plate was smeared with something black, covering the numbers and letters beyond the point of recognition.

  They approached a cop turnaround, and the car, a Fiat convertible, made a hard left. Parker lifted the flashlight’s beam at the driver, glimpsing what looked like the swish of a long blond ponytail as the driver made an illegal U-turn and headed in the opposite direction.

  “Get the plates?” Avery asked as he settled back in his seat.

  “No. They were smudged out.”

  “Old trick,” she said. “Sky used to do that when she was trespassing or . . .” she exhaled, “. . . when we were trespassing.” She said it as if it were new information, but he’d seen her rap sheet when he’d run her background check. Normally that kind of background would negate his hiring said person, but with more than a handful of clean years, it was clear the woman beside him had changed and made a fresh start.

  “It typically keeps the cops from pulling you over because the plates aren’t technically missing, but they are harder to read if you get caught and are fleeing,” she continued, yanking him back to the situation at hand. “But Sky and I were smart enough, or stupid enough in hindsight, to dirty up the rest of her car, so it actually looked plausible. That Fiat looked pristine.”

  “It was.” Interesting. A Fiat wasn’t the type of vehicle he’d picture Lennie or any of Max’s thugs driving. But it stood to reason, if Lennie was in Skylar’s place, she owed him something. Maybe Gary did too. Maybe that’s why he’d broken into Skylar’s jewelry box. Maybe that’s why he was fleeing.

  An hour and a half later they watched Gary pull off at what Avery said was his brother’s place.

  Two and a half hours in the car and he felt like he knew Avery better than ever. This was the first time she’d talked openly about her past. Clearly being back in the setting was stirring memories. And while she may not like the memories, he finally felt like he was seeing the fullness of who Avery was—scars and all. And he appreciated her resilience and fighter’s heart all the more. She was a remarkably strong woman.

  He watched Gary step from his car and head for the house. He couldn’t believe the guy hadn’t figured out he was being followed. Granted, they’d kept their distance, but still . . . though Gary was hardly the sharpest tool in the shed.

  Avery pulled to a stop at the end of the drive. “How do you want to handle this?”

  “Is Gary ever armed with more than a bat?”

  “A knife sometimes. No gun, at least not that I’ve ever seen, but it’s been years.”

  “What about his brother?” Parker gazed across the eastern shore property. He spotted a two-story farmhouse, barn, silo, and a fair amount of acreage as the first wisps of dawn broke the still of night.

  “Billy’s into hunting, so my bet is he at least has a rifle.”

  “Do me a favor. Wait in the car. I’ll go in and see if I can’t have a chat.”

  “I’m not sitting this one out.”

  “He’s obviously hostile toward you. Give me a shot.” He prayed she’d listen. Just once. She was too precious to lose. It’d kill him.

  After a moment’s pondering, she sighed. “Fine, but be careful. If you aren’t out in ten, I’m coming in.”

  “No. If I’m not out in ten, you call the cops.”

  9

  Avery sat in her car, staring at Billy Boyd’s farmhouse as the sun broke the horizon. She worried what Gary and Billy might be telling Parker about her past a whole lot more than what Billy may or may not be packing. The porch and front room lights were on, the silhouette of people pacing back and forth through the sheer-curtained windowpanes.

  Still dressed in her evening gown, she raked a hand through her hair. What a night.

  Moving her hand over her head, she winced at the
lump that had formed just above the base of her skull. Maybe she should have allowed Kim to have the paramedics look her over after all, but there was no time for that now. As soon as they finished with Gary, they were headed for Sebastian Chadwyck’s.

  Headlights approached, and Avery slid down in the seat and watched as Crystal Lewis’s refurbished Trans Am drove past.

  What on earth was Crystal doing at Billy’s, especially so early in the morning? What was going on in there?

  Crystal exited the car and strode quickly into the house, not even bothering to knock on the front door.

  Avery took a deep breath and climbed out of her car. This turn of events was just too curious to ignore, even if she hadn’t waited Parker’s required ten minutes. And she wasn’t calling the cops. Not yet. Not until she assessed the situation.

  She, unlike Crystal, knocked on the door, and her breath caught in her throat when Billy’s wife, Carol, answered.

  “Avery Tate, is that you? Ha!” Wearing red silk PJs and a tattered white terry-cloth robe, she rested her hand on her hip, her strawberry-blond hair still tousled with slumber. “I cannot believe you have the nerve to show up at my door and in that choice of attire. Just wrapping up another night of partying, are we?”

  She ignored the comment. Her history with Carol certainly couldn’t be described as amicable. There was no need wasting breath explaining she was no longer the party girl Carol used to know.

  “Avery?” Parker said, ducking around the doorframe. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah. Sorry.” For not listening to you. “I saw Crystal arrive and—”

  “You just had to stick your nose in other people’s business.” Carol shook her head.

  “What is she doing here?” Crystal’s voice emanated from the room to Avery’s right.

  Carol stared at Avery, her bathrobe double knotted, her expression grim. And then, to Avery’s shock, she stepped back, allowing Avery entrance. “Make it quick. I don’t want my boys woken up or witnessing any kind of scene, if you understand me.”

  Her boys—the twins from Hades, as everyone in the trailer park referred to them—were hardly going to be fazed by a conversation between her and Crystal. And that’s all it would be—a conversation. She’d moved beyond girl fights.