by DK Herman
"I freaking hope not," Ben said angrily.
"I know, Ben. It sucks," Mike said. "But the calvary's coming."
"Did you call them?" I asked.
Mike shook his head. "The state police felt the FBI was needed."
"Is that bad?" Ben looked worried.
"They aren't going to want our help," I answered. "Call us if you need anything." I sighed.
Ben and I left Darcy's and walked towards my car.
"Does the FBI have something against private investigators?" Ben opened the driver's door for me.
"We weren't hired by the family, so they probably won't want us around." I shrugged and leaned close to Ben for a kiss.
"Is it lunchtime?" He asked.
"Close enough," I whispered as I brought my lips to his. Ben is delicious. Why did I wait so long to do this!
A car stopped next to us, and we slowly pulled apart.
"Well, well, we didn't know you two are a couple," Gail Kubicki said slyly. Jane sat in the passenger seat of her Honda SUV.
"It's a new development," I said. "What are you doing here?"
"I thought it would be good for Jane to get out of the house," Gail said. "Nothing's happening until Thursday, right?"
I nodded. "Have you arranged for the ransom yet?"
"We went to the bank yesterday. They promised to have it ready." Jane said. She looked tired, but calmer. It probably was a good idea to get her out of the house. "We heard about Darcy, so I brought Taylor a casserole." Jane patted the foil covered dish on her lap.
"Hey, do you mind if I look at the inside of your car?" Gail asked. "Bob and I are looking for a new car, and yours is gorgeous." Gail put her car in park and popped out of the driver's seat.
"Sure." I stood back and let Gail have a good look inside the Denali.
"Oh my, yes," she said. "I'll have to put this kind on my list." She got back behind the wheel of her car. "We have to go and buy a good, sturdy backpack."
"See ya," I said. Ben and I waved as they motored away.
Ben leaned over and kissed me again. "Where to next?"
"You should go check on your apartment." I nuzzled his neck.
"I shouldn't go alone," Ben said with his hand brushing my breast.
"I'll go with you to watch your... back." I smiled and ran my tongue over his upper lip.
"Let's go," Ben said.
Ben's apartment took up the entire second floor above the agency. I hadn't been up here since throwing him a small housewarming party in January. He'd decorated the place with the bare minimum of furnishings, but what he has is comfortable, and clean.
A few additional items, like the fifty-inch flat screen mounted on a living room wall, and the twin recliners facing it, were new and looked inviting. I wondered into the kitchen and smiled at the clean and tidy countertops.
Ben went to the thermostat and set the temperature cooler. "It's a little warm in here."
"We don't want to get too sweaty." I walked into his arms.
He picked me up and carried me into his bedroom. His old futon was gone. In its place, a queen-sized bed waited for us. The song 'Afternoon Delight' popped into my head, and I started to giggle.
"What's so funny?" Ben said, placing me gently on the memory foam mattress.
"I'm just... happy," I said.
"So am I," he said and joined me on the bed.
An hour later, we were dressed and casually leaving Ben's apartment. I was starved, and my belly rumbled persistently.
"I've been looking for you," Gail said as she and Jane came out of the door to the agency. Gail seemed flustered.
"What's wrong?" I resisted the urge to check the fly of my emerald green, twill shorts.
"I just got a call that my employee hasn't showed up for work, at two jobs, and she's not answering her cell." Impatiently, Gail tapped her foot on the sidewalk.
"She found Darcy dead in the dumpster," I said bluntly. I didn't want to tell Gail that Allison hit the booze and was in the ER, drunker than a pirate who fell into a barrel of rum. "She didn't feel well, and the police were afraid she was going into shock. They took her to the ER, just to be safe. I'm sure she'll be fine tomorrow."
"Or maybe the day after that," Ben said, stifling a giggle into his hand.
"Well then," Gail said unhappily. "I'll have to go clean. Jane, the backpack will have to wait."
"I'll help you clean, mom," Jane offered. "We'll get it done in half the time."
"Thank you, sweetheart." Gail gave Jane an affectionate squeeze. "Do you think I should go to the hospital and check on Allison. The poor dear is divorced with no children to look out for her."
"Ah..." I tried to think of a reason to keep Gail away from the hospital. She seems like the type who might frown upon an employee getting schnockered on the job.
"I'd check on her in the morning," Ben said. "They gave her a sedative, and she's sleeping it off."
"The poor woman," Gail said with a sigh. "It must have been a gruesome thing to find."
Ben and I nodded.
"Thank you," Gail said, leading Jane towards her car. "I'm sure you have things to do. We'll talk to you later."
We watched them leave and checked with my staff to see if anyone wanted to order from Gina's. Gina's Pizzeria has the best Italian food in Herville. I ate there when I was a teenager, and the place hasn't changed a bit.
It's the kind of place with red checked tablecloths, and a drippy candle at each booth. And it smells like dough, cheese, pepperoni, and spicy marinara sauce. My mouth watered just thinking about it.
Poppy and Rayna wanted to split a veggie pizza, and Linda and Jessie wanted subs. Ben and I ordered an extra-large pie with everything but anchovies. I gave Linda the cash to pay for the whole order plus a nice tip, and I joined Ben to wait for the food in my office.
He was sitting on the couch, flipping through the book he'd borrowed from the library.
"Anything interesting?" I sat down next to him.
"Yeah, look. Here's a picture of the library a hundred years ago."
"It looks about the same." I picked up the book for a closer look. "That's not there anymore." I pointed to something on the side of the building.
"Got a magnifying glass?"
"In my desk drawer," I said.
Ben brought it over to the couch and examined the picture. "Wow, they must have been popular back when these old buildings where built."
"What is it?" I took the magnifying glass from Ben.
"An outside stairwell," he said. "See, they have a railing around it so people don't fall in."
"Oh, yeah," I agreed.
Ben took the book back onto his lap and flipped through it. He seemed fascinated by the town in the early nineteen-hundreds. It gave me a chance to check for any paperwork waiting on my desk.
I read and signed a few invoices and authorized payment on our monthly bills before our food was delivered.
The pizza was delicious. I matched Ben bite for bite until my last piece. Gracefully, I gave it to him and sat back burping with satisfaction. I watched him eat and read the book and smiled, feeling very lucky.
When Ben was finished eating, we gathered up our trash. I was about to suggest a trip to the police station when Noah Kelly's parents stormed into the building. They rudely ignored Linda and looked inside every office until they found me.
"What are you doing to find our granddaughter?" Mrs. Kelly demanded.
"Please, come in and sit down," I said calmly.
Ben moved to a chair with his book.
They took a seat on the couch and looked at me expectantly.
"Everything that can be done to find Lexi is being done," I said. "And now, the Herville Police have the assistance of state and federal agencies."
"I hope so," Mr. Kelly said. "She's all we have left. You can't let something happen to her before we have a chance to meet her."
"She's been across town for five years," I said. It was annoying me that these people blindly believed
their son and were so willing to hurt Jane. "Do you know why Lexi was taken?"
"Because her mother was off stripping instead of taking care of her child." Mrs. Kelly's face twisted with indignation.
"No," I said. "Jane worked at the strip club to make money to support a child that she was raising... alone. The night Lexi was taken was Jane's last night at the strip club because she won the lottery."
"We heard about that," Mr. Kelly said.
"It should keep her in drug money for a very long time," his wife added angrily.
I was getting mad. Yeesh, people, connect the freaking dots!
"Jane doesn't do drugs, and Lexi is being held for ransom," I said. "They want Jane's lottery winnings. And," I looked Mrs. Kelly in the eyes, "your son only claimed Lexi after he heard about Jane's windfall. If he got custody, he'd get a large piece in child support."
"What are you saying!" Mrs. Kelly jumped to her feet.
"I'm saying Noah abandoned his unborn child, then he only wanted her when there was a lot of money to be had."
"How dare you!" Mr. Kelly joined his wife and they both stood over me, glowering.
"I'm sorry, but the timing of his sudden, fatherly, interest in Lexi speaks for itself!" I stood up and pointed at the door. "Good day, people!"
After they stormed out, Ben took me into his arms. "I've only heard people say good day in movies," he said with a snicker.
"Yeah, it just came to me." I rested my forehead on his shoulder. "Maybe, I shouldn't have said what I did."
Ben pulled back and shook this head. "They needed to hear it. Jane doesn't need a custody battle after she gets Lexi back."
"Hey, Hallie," Rayna said from the doorway. "I know you've been busy, but did you read the information I sent you about Max?
"No," I shrugged. "Sorry, I will now." I picked up my cell to bring up my email.
"Here's a hard copy." Rayna handed me a thin file. "I think there's enough for you to go to the cops."
"Thanks," I said with a smile. This day just keeps getting better.
Ben went back to his book while I read the file.
My ex-husband, Max Morris, is now living in California. Since leaving me and taking almost everything I had with him, he married a woman in Greece. Two months ago he left her, taking three million with him. Presently, he's engaged to a paper products heiress in Los Angeles. Rayna highlighted his current address and fiancé’s name. Then I turned the page, and my heart skipped a beat.
Rayna downloaded a copy of a marriage license between Max and a Mary Travers, dated eight months before my wedding to Max. Rayna had attached a sticky note stating that no divorce papers were ever filed.
Mary Travers Morris had reported her husband missing six months before I married Max. According to her local police department, Mary was still waiting for him to come home or be declared dead. I wonder what he took with him when he left her?
Mary Traver's address was listed. She lives in Buffalo, New York, a four-hour drive from where I'd met him in Pennsylvania.
Ben looked up and saw the gleam in my eyes. "What?"
"I might be getting my trust fund back," I said, handing him the file. "He was already married when I married him!"
He looked it over while I resisted the urge to jump up and do a dance.
"That's great, honey," Ben said, handing me back the file. "What do you want to do to celebrate?" He grinned suggestively.
"We can celebrate our brains out tonight," I said with a giggle. "Let's go to the police station, and see what's going on with the case."
I tucked the file into my purse and grabbed my cell. I stopped to tell Jessie we were leaving for a while.
"Don't forget your four o'clock appointment," Jessie said. "And ask my sweetie to call me if he can't make it for supper."
"Will do," I said. "Ready?" I asked Ben when he came out of his office.
"Yep," he answered, and we went out the door.
I was surprised to find the police station so quiet. Mike and Andy were working at their desks. Through an open door, I saw Chief Woods doing the same.
"What happened to the Staties and the Feds?" Ben asked.
"The FBI isn't here yet, and the Staties took custody of Charlie." Andy said, looking up from a laptop.
"Any word on the gun you found in Darcy's desk drawer?" I sat down between the two detective's desks.
Mike Krause brought a report up on his computer screen. “It was the gun that killed Noah Kelly, but it wasn't the gun that killed Joey Kearn or Darcy. And it wasn't used to shoot through Ben's windshield. The serial numbers on the gun in Darcy's desk match the gun owned by Patty Rogers, but the only fingerprints on the gun were Darcy's."
"So, there are two .38 caliber hand guns killing people in Herville?" Ben said and sat down next to me.
"Yep," Mike said. "But, one revolver and one pistol. And the revolver only has one body on it, Noah's."
"How many does the pistol?" I asked.
"Besides Joey and Darcy, it was used to murder an elderly woman in a home invasion in Bloomsbury last year. The shooter was never caught. Andy leaned back and stretched. "Old Charlie wouldn't say anything except that he didn't kill Darcy or anyone else."
"Do you believe him?" Ben asked.
"Yeah, we do." Andy frowned. "But he's gonna have a lot of charges against him for the child porn. He'll probably die in prison."
Was that enough for the innocence of the children he's abused? Damn it, I hate cases that involved kids.
"What do we do now?" Ben asked.
"Let's track down those two names on the list of Noah Kelly's buddies." I said. I looked at Andy. "After Jane got the call from the kidnapper, we forgot about them. I'd still like to know who told Noah about Jane's lottery win, and who he spoke to on the phone before leaving his parent's house Wednesday night."
"His autopsy report is here." Andy handed me a file. "He was killed Wednesday night or early Thursday morning."
"Shot in the hand, arm, and head," I read aloud from the file. "It sounds like he put his hands up to defend himself."
Andy nodded. "We think Darcy killed him, and she got Charlie to stow him in his storage locker. They didn't think about what would happen to his body over time, locked up in the heat."
"But why did Darcy kill him?" Ben mused. “And who killed Darcy?"
"Who has little Lexi," I said. "There are too many questions and not enough answers.
" Andy said with a frown. "Hey, if you guys have the time, could you stop in and talk to Joey Kearn's parents? Mike and I were there yesterday, but they were too upset to talk."
"Sure." I looked at my watch. We'd have time to talk to the Kearn's. "We'll get going. I'll call you with anything interesting."
"Oh, Andy," Ben said. "Jessie wants you to call her if you can't make it for supper."
"Thanks," Andy said with a smile, and he waved as we went out the door.
Kearn's Beer Distributor is one of two places to get a case of beer in Herville. The building looks like a garage with two roll up doors on either side of a glass entrance door. Rows of cases of beer were stacked over five feet high and formed aisles, reminding me of a supermarket. The harsh fluorescent lighting showed dirt and dead bugs between the cases.
A thin, twenty something guy was behind a counter reading a newspaper. A name tag pinned to his pocket told us his name is Ron.
"What can I get you?" Ron asked, reluctantly putting down the sports page.
"We're looking for Nancy and John Kearn," I said.
"They're not here," Ron replied. "They had a death in the family."
"We know," I said with my professional bitch face in place. I flashed my credentials. "We need to ask them some questions."
"They're really not dealing with Joey's death very good," Ron said sadly. "They don't wanna talk to anybody."
"Did you know Joey very well?" Ben asked.
Ron gave us the flat-handed gesture that meant so-so. "Sorta. We talked when we were on shift together, and once
I went to the strip place that his girlfriend's mother owns."
"When was that?" I asked.
"Friday night after our shift. He said he had to take a case of beer to the bar owner." Ron went to the register to check out a customer. He must know the guy because they started talking about car racing.
Impatiently, Ben and I waited for him to come back.
Finally, the customer left with his beer, and Ron stood at the register again
I motioned him back to us. "We heard Joey didn't stay long at Darcy's Delights that night."
"Nope," I only had time for one beer, and he wanted to leave." Ron adjusted his blue ball cap. "We dropped by her house, but all the lights were out. Joey knocked and looked inside the window in the front door. But she musta been asleep, so we went for a burger, and he dropped me back here."
"What time were you at Amanda's?" I asked.
"About midnight," Ron said.
"Did you see anybody around Amanda's house?" I said. That was about the time of the attack on Amanda, and when somebody took Lexi.
"I'm not sure," Ron hedged. "When Joey was coming back to the car, I thought I saw somebody peak out the living room window."
"Could you tell who it was?" Ben asked.
Ron shook his head. "There weren’t any lights on. But I could tell they were taller than Amanda and didn't have long hair."
I took out my cell and called Andy. He and Mike needed to talk to Ron. He saw the person who kidnapped Lexi and attacked Amanda and didn't realize it. This may be why Joey was murdered, and Ron could be in danger too. Why didn't he say something before now?
"Andy, I found someone that you and Mike need to talk to," I said. "He was with Joey Kearn outside the Detweiler house around midnight on Friday night. He saw somebody in the living room window, but it was dark."
"Where are you?" Andy asked.
"At Kearn's Distributor.It''s an employee named Ron." I heard Andy repeat my words.
"We'll be right there. Stay with him."
Andy and Mike showed up in ten minutes.
"If you guys got this, we have a client appointment in twenty minutes," I said.
Mike nodded. "Thanks, guys. We'll talk to you later."
