Client Trap (Nick Teffinger Thriller)

by Jagger, R. J.

  And he brought her to the forefront.

  The case had started off better than any other he’d had in years. Neighbors saw Julie Pratt pull into Lindsay Vail’s driveway, knock on the front door, and then end up running down the street moments later. They saw a man wearing a ski mask stab her twice in the back; the same man who then threw Lindsay Vail’s limp body into the trunk of a car moments later.

  The conclusion was inescapable.

  The target had been Lindsay Vail.

  The other woman, Julie Pratt, interrupted things and paid for it.

  Lindsay Vail was probably still alive.

  Otherwise, the guy would have just left her in the house.

  Unfortunately, he wore the mask.

  TEFFINGER WAS ABLE TO CONVINCE every member of the homicide unit to come in Sunday and work the case. By the end of the day, they had recreated Lindsay Vail’s steps over the last three days. They located security cameras that shined on where she had been.

  Those cameras showed a man following her.

  At three separate locations.

  At three separate times.

  A pirate.

  From the videotapes, they lifted still photos that best showed the man’s face. They got the clearest photo on every local news station Sunday night. They also got it in this morning’s Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post. All they needed now was for someone to recognize him and call with a name.

  But that hadn’t happened.

  Not this morning.

  Not over the lunch hour.

  Not this afternoon.

  MID-AFTERNOON, Teffinger swung by Sydney Heatherwood’s desk and said, “You want to take a ride?”

  “Where?”

  “To Lindsay Vail’s place.”

  “Why? What’s there?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “That’s why I need to go.”

  “Someone will call, Nick,” she said. “Just relax.”

  “No one’s called yet,” he said. “So I’m going to Plan B.”

  “What’s Plan B?”

  “I don’t know yet,” he said. “I’m going to Lindsay Vail’s place to figure it out.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “I better come with you,” she said. “Otherwise you’re going to get into trouble. I can already tell.”

  On the drive over, Teffinger punched the radio buttons until he landed on “Black Velvet.” Then he said, “I met a woman.”

  “Here we go—”

  “She’s going to be a co-host on Hot Talk with Geneva Vellone,” he said.

  “She sounds high maintenance,” Sydney said.

  “Actually, she’s very down to earth.”

  “Yeah, well, don’t be surprised if you turn out to be a maintenance man.”

  “No problem,” Teffinger said. “I already have my wrench ready.”

  “When have you not?”

  “BROWN EYED GIRL” came on the radio just as they pulled into Lindsay Vail’s driveway. An attractive, long-haired blond stood in front of the house. She asked Teffinger a bunch of questions and he motioned for Sydney to take her picture.

  Sydney did.

  Afterwards Teffinger said, “That woman knows something about the case.”

  “You think?”

  He nodded.

  “Email her picture to me later. Her name’s Raven.”

  Inside the house, they went through the victim’s Rolodex, computer, cell phone and desk, and made a list of every name, both male and female, they could find, together with the person’s address and phone number when available. The plan was to contact every single person, show them the picture of the pirate, and see if they knew who he was.

  The list was long.

  Most of the names appeared to be clients or client-related.

  “Running all these people to ground is going to take forever,” Sydney said.

  Teffinger agreed.

  “Let’s make the clients second priority,” he said. “I don’t think anyone killed her because she messed up their web site.”

  THEY WERE JUST ABOUT TO LEAVE when Teffinger had a brainstorm. “You know what I just realized? We haven’t run across any photo albums or pictures.”

  “You’re right.”

  “Everyone has pictures,” he said.

  They searched the nooks and crannies that they hadn’t already been through and found a shoebox on a shelf in the bedroom closet.

  “Bingo.”

  The box was filled to the top with loose photographs.

  They went through them.

  Fast.

  Teffinger could feel the pirate’s picture in there somewhere and whistled “Brown Eyed Girl.”

  But he was wrong.

  It wasn’t there.

  And he stopped whistling.

  Chapter Twelve

  Day One—July 12

  Monday Night

  ______________

  MONDAY NIGHT, AFTER DARK, RAVEN sat in the passenger seat of Samantha Dent’s black Honda Accord, three doors down from Erin’s house—on a stakeout. A black storm fell out of an even blacker sky.

  They waited for the mystery man to drive by to see if Erin Asher—the bait—was home.

  So far he hadn’t.

  Every pair of headlights that came down the street turned innocently into a driveway.

  Samantha turned out to be just as wild as Erin portrayed her, the Yang part of the Ying, seriously into clubbing. She had no problem telling Raven that she worked for an escort service, made a minimum three grand a week, and mastered the fine art of deep-throat by age nineteen. She got kinky at times, but only with existing customers who had developed a record of being trustworthy; and only for big bucks. For them, she would be a submissive or a dominant for bondage, spanking, wrestling, face-sitting, cum control and whatever else they wanted, within reason.

  She was twenty-three, with black stylish hair, a tight body and a hot face.

  Everything about her was built for sex, especially her lips; there was something about those lips.

  She did women as well as men.

  RIGHT NOW, SHE WAS BLOWING CIGARETTE SMOKE out the window, which was cranked down just enough to let the air escape and keep the rain out.

  “So have you had any famous customers?” Raven asked. “Someone I’d know—”

  Samantha chuckled.

  “That depends,” she said.

  “On what?”

  “On whether you know anyone,” she said. “Because if you do, I’ve probably done them. You’d be absolutely amazed at how much pussy-eating and dick-sucking goes on in this town that shouldn’t.”

  Lightning exploded overhead, immediately followed by a deafening slap of thunder.

  “Have you ever done anyone from a law firm called Radcliffe & Snow?” Raven asked.

  Samantha tossed the cigarette out the window.

  “I’ve done lots of lawyers, honey,” she said. “They’re our best customers.”

  “Really?”

  “They got the guts to do it and the bucks to do it,” Samantha said. “Why? Do you know someone from that firm?”

  “I used to work there.”

  “I feel sorry for you,” she said.

  Raven pressed for names.

  But Samantha wouldn’t give them.

  “Honor among thieves,” she said.

  HEADLIGHTS CAME DOWN THE STREET. They slowed as they passed Erin’s house and then sped up afterwards. They didn’t turn into a driveway. Instead, they went all the way to the end of the street and turned left at the stop sign.

  “Go!” Raven said.

  Samantha immediately cranked over the engine, did a 180, and stepped on the gas.

  Raven called Erin and said, “We’re following someone. Be careful while we’re gone.”

  “I have my gun out,” Erin said.

  “I didn’t know you had a gun,” Raven said.

  “Well now you do.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Day One—July 12

&nbs
p; Monday Night

  ______________

  DALTON WOULD BE THE FIRST TO ADMIT that he seriously botched the tattoo on Lindsay Vail’s stomach. Of course, he had only given one tattoo before, to a high school buddy named Mike Preston, so he wasn’t expecting perfection.

  Still, he expected better than what he did.

  He couldn’t blame the woman, either.

  She held still through the whole thing.

  He stood back and studied the woman, still stretched tight on the rack. “This isn’t exactly my best work,” he warned.

  “I got to pee like crazy,” she said.

  “If I let you up will you be good?”

  “Yes.”

  Dalton put his ski mask on, unwrapped the blindfold and released her. She immediately ran to the toilet, pulled her jeans down and relieved herself, looking at her stomach as she did. The tattoo wasn’t that big, only about six inches, with lots of color. She couldn’t make out what it was.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “I’ll bring you a mirror later so you can see it better,” Dalton said. “If you promise to behave yourself, I’ll go out and get some food.”

  She promised and seemed relieved.

  Not so much because she was hungry, which she was.

  Starved, in fact.

  But because he wouldn’t be feeding her if he planned to kill her.

  At least short term.

  Food meant life.

  Dalton said, “No calling out or screaming while I’m gone.” He made double sure that the door was a hundred percent locked, and then headed for McDonald’s.

  A hard rain beat down.

  So powerful that he ran the wipers full speed.

  ON THE WAY, HE CALLED POINDEXTER and was surprised when James Madden answered. Dalton pulled up an image of his shaved black head, piercing brown eyes and tight powerful jaw.

  “Where’s Poindexter?” Dalton asked.

  “In the can.”

  “Well, tell him it’s done,” Dalton said.

  “The tattoo?”

  “Yeah,” Dalton said. “Tell him I didn’t do a very good job.”

  “How bad is it, just out of curiosity?”

  “Pretty bad.”

  “Okay. I’ll let him know.”

  DALTON ORDERED two Number 3 meals at the drive-thru and then pulled up to the window to pay. A kid handed him the food and told him the amount, $9.38, which he already knew, because the kid had just told him that back at the speaker box twenty seconds ago. When Dalton reached into the back pocket of his jeans to get his wallet, it wasn’t there.

  Huh?

  He checked his other pocket.

  It wasn’t there.

  He scooted forward on the seat and checked behind him, to see if it slid out while he was driving.

  It wasn’t there.

  He checked the passenger seat.

  No.

  Then the floor.

  No.

  Nothing.

  Did it fall out while he was giving the tattoo? Was Lindsay Vail going through it right now, at this very moment? Was she looking at his driver’s license and memorizing his name and address?

  Dalton looked at the kid and said, “Forgot my wallet.” Then he squealed off.

  FIVE MINUTES LATER, the flashing lights of a cop showed up in his rearview mirror, not more than a few car-lengths behind him. He immediately looked at his speedometer—51—and realized the speed limit was probably 35.

  He slammed his fist on the dashboard.

  Damn it!

  He should have paid more attention.

  Okay.

  Calm down.

  No biggie.

  Get the ticket and mail a check tomorrow.

  He pulled to the side of the road.

  The flashing lights pulled in behind.

  A spotlight kicked on and focused on his license plate.

  Then, after what seemed like a long time, two cops got out and walked towards him, hunched against the weather, one on either side of his car. Dalton powered down his window and put on his friendliest face.

  The storm splashed in.

  The cop was soaked by the time he got his face to the window, clearly not happy.

  “Evening officer,” Dalton said. “I guess I wasn’t watching my speedometer.”

  The cop shined a flashlight on the passenger seat.

  The beam landed on a white McDonald’s bag.

  Dalton looked at it, shocked, and suddenly realized that he’d been so preoccupied with his wallet that he forgot to hand the food back before taking off.

  “Is that yours?” the cop asked.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Day One—July 12

  Monday Night

  ______________

  THE 1967 CORVETTE is the coolest car ever made, hands down, end of story. Teffinger had one; a red convertible with black interior, numbers matching, all original, primo condition, 45,000 miles. It was a small-block, which meant that it wasn’t anywhere near as insanely pricey as its older sibling, the 427; nor did it have a hood stinger, side pipes or knockoff wheels. But, even so, it had 300 horses under the hood, a four-speed manual transmission, and classic mid-year styling that hadn’t been matched before or since.

  Technically the bank owned part of it.

  But Teffinger didn’t regret a single dollar, not even the ones that went for interest.

  When it stormed at night, his favorite thing in the world was to sit in the vehicle with the garage door open and watch the rain, with a can of Bud Light in hand. That’s what he was doing when Venzelle pulled up in front of the house and killed the engine.

  Teffinger honked the horn.

  She ran through the weather, into the garage and slid into the passenger seat.

  Incredibly sexy.

  “A ’67 Corvette,” she said, “very nice.”

  “How’d you know it was a ’67?” Teffinger asked.

  “The air vents,” she said.

  Teffinger nodded, impressed. The 1967 was the only mid-year Corvette with five vents on the side.

  “Plus, this,” she said, putting her hand on the emergency brake, which was mounted between the seats. “All the others are under the dash.”

  “Someone knows their cars,” Teffinger said.

  “My dad collected,” she said.

  “Really? What kind?”

  “Mostly old American muscle cars—Vettes, Mustangs, GTOs, Chargers, that kind of thing,” she said. “He spent twenty years flying around the country and handpicking them, all original. That was his thing, they had to be absolutely authentic and genuine. My mom never understood the whole old-car thing and sold every one of them at a Barrett-Jackson auction six months after he died.”

  “That’s too bad,” Teffinger said.

  “Not really,” Venzelle said. “She never objected while he was alive, even though she thought it was a waste of money. So he got to do what he loved. That was the important thing.”

  “That’s the kind of wife I need,” Teffinger said.

  She chuckled.

  “What?” Teffinger asked.

  “You don’t strike me as the marrying kind,” she said.

  Lightning flashed.

  And thunder exploded.

  Teffinger took a long swallow of Bud Light and passed the can. She waved it off and said, “I’ll take some wine though, if you have any.”

  He did, in the kitchen.

  “Stay here, I’ll get it,” she said.

  SHE RETURNED TWO MINUTES LATER and clinked a glass against his beer can, then took a sip. Teffinger asked, “What do you know about voodoo—anything?”

  She chuckled.

  “Now there’s a question I didn’t expect today.”

  “Then we’re even,” Teffinger said. “I didn’t expect to ask it.”

  “Voodoo, huh?”

  “Right, voodoo.”

  “Does this mean you’re into it? Are you going to put some kind of a spell on me and turn me into your sex s
lave?”

  Teffinger grinned.

  “Why? Would you like that?”

  She ran her fingers through his hair.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I’m still deciding.”

  Teffinger chuckled.

  “What?” she questioned.

  “You’ve already decided,” he said.

  “I have?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, really? And what did I decide?”

  “You decided yes,” he said.

  “And what makes you think that?”

  Teffinger took a swallow of Bud Light. “I can tell,” he said. “And, more importantly, I can prove it.”

  “How could you possibly prove what’s in my mind?”

  “I’m a detective,” he said. “I’ll make a bet with you. If I can prove it, then you have to admit it, and you have to let me put that voodoo curse on you.”

  “You mean, be your sex slave?”

  “Right.”

  “And what if you can’t prove it?”

  “Then you can have this Corvette,” he said.

  She grinned.

  “Deal.”

  “Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  “No backing out,” he said.

  “Same for you.”

  They shook on it.

  “OKAY, GIVE ME YOUR CAR KEYS,” Teffinger said. She looked puzzled; then did it. Teffinger got out of the ’67, set his beer on the cement and ran through the storm to the black silhouette of a vehicle parked on the street. One minute later he returned, drenched, holding a black bag that he pulled out of the back seat of Venzelle’s car. She tried to grab it out of his hand but he held it away and unzipped it.

  “Let’s see what we have in here.”

  Then he pulled things out.

  A T-shirt.

  A bra.

  A pair of white cotton panties.

  A toothbrush and toothpaste.

  Mouthwash.

  “Exhibit A,” Teffinger said. “Proof that you already planned to spend the night.”

  She looked as if she was about to deny it.

  Then she laughed.

  “Well, it looks like we have a winner.”

  “Yes we do.”

  She sipped the wine, got serious and said, “I hope you’re not into voodoo. That stuff scares me. I had a roommate in my first year of college named Reanne who was half Haitian—that’s where it comes from, you know, Haiti. Anyway, she wasn’t a priestess or anything, but she made the dolls and put spells on them. It was weird, there we were sitting on our beds with our books spread out and a CD playing, and she’d be doing this voodoo magic as if it was as normal as apple pie. All her spells were good, though, not dark or evil. She liked this guy named Michael Bradshaw and put a spell on him to make him like her back.”