Death by Auction

by Alexis Morgan

  The crowd outside was a mix of police officers from at least two different jurisdictions, emergency medical personnel, and bar patrons. It wasn’t hard to tell which ones had been involved in the brawl. There were plenty of black eyes, bloody knuckles, and split lips to go around.

  As they made their way around the edge of the milling crowd toward Tripp’s truck, she spotted Gil Pratt standing next to one of the squad cars, his wrists secured behind his back with one of those plastic zip ties. His right eye was nearly swollen shut, and he looked to be favoring his right side when he moved.

  “Tripp, do they usually arrest the guy who was attacked?”

  He followed her line of sight. “Why do you ask?”

  “I happened to be looking at Gil Pratt when the fight broke out. A bunch of guys wearing a different logo on their jackets surrounded him while he was standing at the bar. One of them swung the first punch, and Gil just defended himself. We need to tell someone.”

  Tripp tightened his grip on her hand. “I really wish you hadn’t seen that. The last thing we need is for you to get caught in the middle of two rival gangs.”

  She couldn’t help but agree with him, but she also couldn’t simply walk away without telling the investigating officers what she’d seen. Tripp knew it, too.

  He handed her his keys. “Get in the truck and lock the doors. I’ll go talk to our friendly deputy.”

  He was back a few minutes later. “They’re going to take Gil to the hospital rather than to the lockup with everyone else. Deputy Chapin will talk to Gage and let him decide how to handle the situation. They’ll do what they can to keep your name out of the report.

  “Thanks, Tripp.”

  As they pulled out of the parking lot, she glanced back over her shoulder. “Despite how it ended, I had a great time tonight.”

  “Me too, although I shudder to think what would’ve happened if we’d still been out on the dance floor when the fight broke out.” Tripp reached over and gave her hand a quick squeeze. “I swear you’ve turned into a real magnet for chaos.”

  As they headed homeward, she pondered that last statement and how she felt about it. Maybe she should’ve been a bit insulted by his assessment of her, but in fact she was kind of flattered by it. That didn’t mean she was going admit that much to Tripp, because he clearly had different feelings on the subject. She was still smiling when they pulled into the driveway.

  * * *

  Abby’s good mood lasted right up until she walked into her own kitchen to find that her houseguest had evidently decided to wait up for her. How thoughtful.

  Valerie looked up from her tablet to shoot a dark look at the clock on the wall. It wasn’t all that late, really. Just a little after midnight. Okay, it was closer to one o’clock, but still. For a brief second, Abby felt the same kick of guilty fear when she’d come sneaking in a couple of hours after her curfew back in high school. There was one big difference in the current situation, though.

  No, come to think of it, there were actually several. First, she was an adult, not a teenager. Second, this was her house, and she could come and go as she pleased. And finally, it was none of Valerie’s business how Abby had spent her evening or whom she’d been with.

  Abby hung her keys on the hook just inside the door as Zeke finally put in an appearance and demanded to be let out. She didn’t have to look outside to know he’d made a beeline for the small house in back, because she could hear Tripp’s deep voice talking to him. No doubt both man and dog were dutifully making their nightly patrol around the perimeter of the yard.

  Mostly just to have something to do, she fixed herself a glass of ice water, wishing the whole time she could simply head upstairs without waiting for Zeke to return. It was probably rude to ignore her guest, but she was pretty sure the last bit of her good mood would disappear the second the two of them started talking. She desperately wanted to keep that from happening, mainly because it would be nice to go to bed not tied up in knots over yet another confrontation.

  Valerie evidently had no such qualms. “You know, considering your claim to just be Tripp’s landlady, you two spend a lot of time together. He mentioned that his rent is discounted in return for services rendered. A more suspicious person might actually wonder what those services actually entail.”

  Had the barnacle really gone there? Abby tightened her grip on the glass in her hand in an effort to stop herself from heaving its contents right in Valerie’s face. She was really proud of herself when she set the glass down in the sink and stepped away from the temptation.

  “Believe it or not, Valerie, I don’t really care what you think of me or my relationship with your ex-husband.” She hoped the woman picked up on her slight emphasis on the “ex” part of that statement as she slowly turned to face her directly. “Having said that, despite all the years since your divorce, you should know Tripp better than that.”

  When Valerie started to speak again, Abby cut her off. “No, you’ve said enough for one night, so let me finish. For the record, we met with friends who grew up here in Snowberry Creek to see if they knew of anything in Bryce’s past that might have resulted in him getting killed.”

  At least that little bombshell managed to silence Valerie for a few seconds. She sounded a little less confrontational when she asked, “Did you learn anything useful?”

  The back door opened and Zeke bolted into the kitchen. At first Tripp remained outside, but it was too much to be hoped that he wouldn’t pick up on the tension between Abby and Valerie. He gave his ex-wife a disgusted look and invited himself to the party.

  “Okay, Val, what did you do to upset Abby this time?”

  The other woman went on the defensive. “How do you know she didn’t say something to upset me?”

  He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “Because that’s not Abby’s normal style.”

  By that point Valerie was on her feet and moving around the table to stand closer to him. “And you think it’s mine? Because I’m telling you that all I did was make a simple statement, and she went off on me.”

  Abby had planned to stay out of the discussion, but enough was enough. “Actually, she was wondering what exactly it is you do for me to earn that reduction in rent you get.”

  Tripp looked at his ex-wife as if she were a total stranger. “Valerie, if you don’t want to have to pack your bags and get the heck out of here right now, you will apologize to Abby. All she’s done is offer you a safe place to stay and done her best to help clear your name.”

  Valerie wasn’t having it. “Don’t forget that she’s the one who sicced that cop on me in the first place. If she hadn’t totally misread the situation between me and Bryce Cadigan, I would’ve been back home by now.” She paused to shoot Abby a hateful look. “I’m sure her interference was purely innocent and had nothing to do with the fact that I outbid her in the auction.”

  That again. “For the last time, Valerie, I didn’t bid on anybody at the auction.”

  Meanwhile, Tripp’s hands remained tucked in close to his chest, but now they were clenched in tight fists. “You need to leave, Valerie. Go pack. I’ll follow you to one of the hotels out by the interstate to make sure you get checked in safely.”

  Maybe it finally got through to the woman that she’d gone too far. Her shoulders slumped as she reached out to lay her hand on Tripp’s arm. He merely glared at her until she jerked it back down to her side.

  “Come on, Tripp. I’m upset because that police chief friend of yours came by again while you two were out having fun to ask me a bunch more questions.”

  Tripp didn’t fall for her play for sympathy. “So how does that translate into you being rude to both me and Abby?”

  Valerie looked exasperated. “All right, fine. I overreacted, and I apologize to both of you. I was pretty shaken by the fact he doesn’t seem to be backing off on the idea that I killed Bryce. It seems someone else has been talking to Chief Logan about the discussion I had with Bryce in t
he parking lot. In that person’s opinion, it was on the verge of becoming violent. That’s ridiculous, of course, but it’s my word against theirs. When I went looking for you, hoping that you could intercede on my behalf, you were nowhere to be found. It didn’t take me long to realize you were out with Abby. I guess I was a little jealous.”

  Abby rolled her eyes but used the excuse of giving Zeke a fresh bowl of water to hide her reaction from both Tripp and Valerie. This discussion was going nowhere. It was time to make herself scarce.

  “Look, it’s late, and I’m tired. If neither of you need me for anything, it’s way past my bedtime. Good night.”

  Then she walked away without waiting to see if Tripp made good on his threat to force Valerie to find somewhere else to stay for the duration. Her phone was chiming before she even made it to her room.

  Should I make her move?

  She so wanted to say yes, but she knew herself well enough to know she’d regret the rash decision in the morning. The woman was rude and hateful, but she was also in a tough situation. Besides, the barnacle wasn’t the only one who’d said something to Tripp tonight that had hurt him. Abby had been grateful when he’d forgiven her. Maybe Valerie deserved another chance, too. After a brief hesitation, she gave Tripp her answer.

  No, but if she ever says anything like that to me again, I will kick her to the curb in a heartbeat.

  You’re a nice person, Abby McCree.

  Not really, but I’m glad you think so. Get some sleep. That’s what I’m going to do. We’ll figure out what to do with all we learned tonight in the morning. But not too early. I plan to be lazy and sleep late.

  It’s a deal.

  She brushed her teeth and put on her favorite sleepshirt before crawling into bed. She’d just pulled up the covers when she heard the creak of the stairs as Valerie made her way up to her room. Instead of continuing on up to her bedroom on the third floor, she stopped outside of Abby’s door.

  “I apologize again. Thanks for letting me stay.”

  If Abby had thought there was even a hint of sincerity in the apology, she would’ve responded. But she didn’t and remained silent. There was a slight hesitation as if Valerie was waiting for their kumbaya moment to begin. When it didn’t come, she quietly continued on her way.

  * * *

  The whole sleeping late thing didn’t happen. Too restless to stay in bed any longer, Abby gave up and got dressed far earlier than she’d meant to. Tripp must have been watching for her to turn on the kitchen light, because thirty seconds later he was at the door holding up a grease-stained bag and cardboard tray with four cups of coffee that sported the logo from Something’s Brewing. Abby immediately unlocked the door.

  “I come bringing Bridey’s best fresh-out-of-the-oven blueberry muffins and coffee.”

  She hurried to set out plates, napkins, and forks. “Wow, you must need an extra shot of caffeine to have bought four cups of coffee. You could’ve just had some of mine when it gets done brewing.”

  “Actually, this isn’t all just for the two of us,” he admitted, looking a bit chagrined. “I ran into Gage on my way to the coffee shop and asked him to stop by. He accused me of trying to bribe a police officer by tempting him with coffee and muffins, but that didn’t stop him from accepting the invitation.”

  Abby winced. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

  Not that her doubts about the situation kept her from setting out another plate. She also asked, “Are you going to invite Valerie to this discussion?”

  He shrugged. “It concerns her, too, so I sent her a text. Of course, she might not see it in time if she’s still sleeping.”

  Right. If Abby was reading the subtext correctly, he didn’t really want to include his ex-wife. At the same time, he didn’t want her to think they were sneaking around behind her back again, not that that wasn’t really what they’d been doing. After poking and prodding that idea a little, Abby decided she was okay with his thinking.

  “So we’re going to admit to Gage that we’ve been doing a little investigating on our own?”

  Tripp looked a little worried. “I think we should even though he won’t like it. I’d rather he not learn it from someone else, especially if he decides to talk to any of the others and finds out we were asking questions about Bryce and Denny.”

  Zeke woofed softly to warn her that more company was on the horizon. A few seconds later, Gage appeared on the back porch and walked on in without knocking. He took off his hat and tossed it on the counter near the door.

  “Morning, Abby. I hope Tripp warned you he’d invited me over.”

  “Yeah, he did.” Well, sort of, anyway. “Would you two like something besides muffins for breakfast? I’ve got bacon, eggs, yogurt, and oatmeal.”

  Gage shook his head as he and Tripp took their usual seats at the table. “Thanks, but I’ve already had breakfast. That was a few hours ago, though, so a muffin will really hit the spot.”

  She checked the time. It was barely eight o’clock. “You must have been out and about awfully early this morning.”

  “One of my deputies had some personal business to take care of today, so I’m covering the early patrol for him. To be honest, it feels good to get out of the office for a little while.”

  Abby piled all the muffins on a large plate and passed them to Tripp. As he took one, Gage gave both her and Tripp stern looks. “I know you’ve got questions and want to talk about the status of my investigation. Can we at least hold off on that until after I finish my first muffin?”

  Neither she nor Tripp bothered to deny his assumption that there had been an ulterior motive behind the invitation to share pastries and coffee with them. Tripp gave his friend a quick nod. “It’s a deal.”

  Neither of them was in a big hurry to make Gage mad, so they actually waited until they were all finishing up their second muffin before turning the conversation back to what they’d learned.

  Tripp drained the last of his coffee and then refilled his cup from the pot Abby had started just as he’d arrived. He held up the carafe, asking without words if either of them wanted more. After topping off Abby’s, he rejoined them at the table. Meanwhile, Gage pulled out his all-too-familiar spiral notebook to jot down any useful information they might have to offer. Abby had lost count of the number of conversations the two of them had conducted accompanied by the sound of his pencil scratching across the paper.

  “Start talking. What have you guys been up to this time? Don’t forget to include the brawl at Beer last night.”

  Abby was more than willing to let Tripp take the lead, but he just sat there waiting for her to jump in. Fine, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d dipped her toes in an investigation.

  “I . . . no, actually Tripp and I both decided to talk to some friends about Bryce Cadigan and what happened between him and Denny Moller back in high school. We met them at the bar.”

  The lead in Gage’s mechanical pencil suddenly snapped off. After a heavy sigh, he clicked out a new piece and said, “And so?”

  “Seems there was an incident during a football practice that involved the two of them. Our source didn’t see what happened, but it resulted in Denny getting badly hurt. He didn’t just miss a lot of school because of the resulting surgeries, he lost any chance of getting the athletic scholarship he was counting on. Bryce wasn’t at school for a few days afterward. He came back after the investigation ruled that the incident was an accident. Oh, and the coach ordered his players to not talk about anything they’d seen or risk being kicked off the team. That might have been him simply wanting to keep rumors from starting, but it sounds like it could’ve been part of a cover-up to me.”

  There was a long silence while Gage continued to take notes. As far as she could tell from the blank expression on his face, he might have been writing his weekly grocery list. Finally, he set the pencil down and leaned back in his chair.

  “I would point out that I already warned you that I had a cell with your name on it if
I caught you doing anything like this. Clearly that failed to make any kind of impression on you at all.”

  She really didn’t want to spend the foreseeable future living behind bars. On the other hand, as long as she was in jail, at least she wouldn’t have to share her quarters with the barnacle. Well, unless Gage tossed the woman into the adjoining cell. It would be better if he put Tripp in between them. That image made her snicker, probably not the smartest thing to do under the circumstances.

  “You really think this is funny?”

  Whoa, an irritated Gage was scary enough, but the sudden cold chill in his voice was so much worse. “Sorry, Gage. I promise I’m not taking the situation lightly. I don’t want to end up in jail, and neither does Valerie. The thing is, we don’t exactly get along all that well. I was wondering if it would be too much to ask for you to put Tripp in the middle cell to act as a buffer.”

  Now both men were glaring at her, especially Tripp. “Not funny, Abs.”

  Gage evidently agreed with that assessment, but he wasn’t any happier with Tripp. “What were you thinking? She stumbles into enough danger on her own without you encouraging her. I swear, I should throw all three of you in one cell and lose the key.”

  He was already mad, so she might as well tell him the rest of it. “While we’re still confessing our sins, I figured out that it was for sure Gil Pratt I saw at the auction.”

  Before Gage could choke out a response, she hurried to finish her explanation. “I promised you I wouldn’t go looking for either of the Pratts, and I didn’t. Tripp and I were out on the dance floor when I spotted Gil in the bar. I did not go near him or try to talk to him. The only reason I found out his name at all is I asked a friend if he knew him.”

  Gage grabbed another muffin off the plate and slowly peeled off the wrapper. Then he methodically broke the pastry into bite-sized pieces. He glared at Tripp the whole time. Finally, he said, “Let me get this straight. You’ve somehow decided I can’t actually do my job without your interference. So, for the sole purpose of poking your nose in my investigation, you decided to take Abby to that biker bar even knowing the type of crowd that hangs out there at night.”