Gail began crying, and the old man placed his arm around her shoulders and guided her out of the church, and into the dreariness of a rain drenched day.
***
On Staten Island, Maggie Keegan was meeting with Anne Willoughby in a coffee shop. Willoughby was the daughter of the dead woman in Maggie’s insurance investigation, or rather, she wasn’t the woman’s daughter, because Anne Willoughby was convinced that the dead woman wasn’t her mother.
Anne Willoughby was forty, with dark hair and brown eyes. She had been estranged from her mother for years, and had never been close to her father, Curtis Willoughby.
“My mother must be a part of this fraud, right?”
“That’s the assumption, yes,” Maggie said.
“I keep thinking, where the hell did they get this woman’s body?”
“I’m looking into that as well, but tell me, other than the burn on the back of her hand, have you thought of anything else that could distinguish your mother from the dead woman?”
“No, and I’ll admit that the woman in the morgue resembles my mother a great deal, but it’s definitely not her.”
“Have you spoken to your father?”
“I have, and I can’t believe how confident he still is. Doesn’t he realize that the instant the DNA results come back that he’ll be in serious trouble?”
“Perhaps he hopes to claim innocence and blame the scheme on your mother.”
Anne gave her head a slight shake.
“Where could my mother be hiding while all this is going on?”
“I’m sure it will all come to light once the DNA results are known,” Maggie said, even as she began to fear that Curtis Willoughby might have done something desperate to his wife.
***
The old man followed Gail into her office on the second floor of the Caliber building and shut the door. Outside, in the main office, only a few people worked, as many had gone to the funeral or were out on business.
Gail settled behind her desk and then looked at the old man standing beside her.
“I should have listened to you years ago, but no, all I saw was the profit potential.”
“You weren’t wrong there; the B-Girls bring in a lot of business.”
“You’re being kind, but you were right, the whole thing was low-class and not in keeping with everything else we have here.”
“Most of which is here due to your business savvy.”
“I only built on the solid foundation of your name and reputation, and today I feel as if I’ve sullied both those things.
“What are you going to do now?”
“End it. All the girls are already on paid leave until this killer is caught, I’ll just extend that into a severance package.”
“You didn’t kill Selina Clayton, Gail.”
“No, but I did send her out there year after year. She started at eighteen and only became more beautiful. She stayed on even after college. She said it gave her plenty of free time.”
There was a knock on the door, and Kelli could be seen through the glass.
When Gail told her to come in, Kelli entered and sent them both a smile.
“I just wanted to check on you two, what Mrs. Clayton said was very unfair.”
Gail smiled at her.
“You’re a sweetheart for saying that, Kelli, but not all of her anger was misdirected, but please do me a favor and inform all the B-Girls that I want to meet with them tomorrow morning at ten.”
“All right, and what’s going to be discussed at the meeting?”
“I’m ending the service and giving them all severance pay, generous severance pay, but just tell them that I have something important to tell them.”
“Okay, and Mrs. Caliber?”
“Yes?”
“I just want to say as a former B-Girl that I never felt like I was being used. Unfortunately, there’s a market for a service like the B-Girls, and you were only filling that need. Don’t let what some madman did to Selina make you doubt yourself.”
Gail stared at Kelli for several seconds before speaking.
“Kelli.”
“Yes ma’am?”
“Call me Gail from now on.”
Kelli grinned.
“All right, Gail, and I’ll set up that meeting.”
After the door closed, Gail looked up at the old man.
“If my son has any sense, he’ll marry that girl.”
“And when he does, then you’ll have a daughter.”
Gail smiled.
“Yes, that’s true isn’t it?”
The old man leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
“Absolutely, daughter, absolutely,”
CHAPTER 4
8:56 p.m.
Jake and Kelli walked into the crowded bar in Times Square and were soon joined by Tommy Delaney. The lieutenant was dressed casually in jeans and a New York Yankees sweatshirt, as he attempted to blend in.
“Where’s O’Reilly?” Jake asked.
Delaney gave him a wide grin and tossed a thumb to his right.
When Jake spotted O’Reilly, he almost didn’t recognize her.
Shea O’Reilly was attired in a lavender silk dress that displayed her shapely legs to mid-thigh, while also granting a generous view of her cleavage, up top, her black hair was swirled in a complicated arrangement that made her look sophisticated. However, what made Jake’s jaw nearly drop to the floor was her voice, which revealed none of her normal Brooklyn accent, but was rather more fitting for a graduate of Vassar.
There were four men in suits gathered around her, and Jake pegged them all as stockbrokers. The four men were staring at Shea as if she were their queen. She repaid them by holding court, as she spoke with authority on the subject of municipal bonds.
“The tax-free nature of muni bonds can offer a lower yield and still attract buyers, of course, but I still steer my clients towards taxable funds, because of the higher yields.”
“What the hell...?” Jake said.
Delaney nodded.
“Yeah, brother, it looks like our Shea has more layers than an onion.”
“Where’d she learn to talk like that?”
“She told me that she studied acting for years, but she does that hoity-toity voice so well, that now I’m wondering if maybe the Brooklyn accent is an act and this is the real O’Reilly.”
“I’ve got to remember not to underestimate that one,” Jake said.
Delaney excused himself as he went to check on the other policewomen acting as B-Girls at other area bars. After he left, Kelli had a question for Jake.
“I know that you and Officer O’Reilly are friends, but did you two ever...?”
“Become more than friends? No, but it wasn’t from lack of trying on her part.”
“You weren’t attracted to her?”
“Oh no, it wasn’t that, it’s just, I don’t know, but maybe it’s because we were friends. If things didn’t work out as lovers, then I would have lost her as a friend too, and Shea there is a good person to have in your corner.”
Kelli stared over at her.
“She certainly is interesting; I’ll say that for her.”
“She’s still seeing that big guy, Hector, and what a pair they make.”
“Ask them to double-date sometime soon.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes, if she’s a friend of yours, then she should be a friend of mine too.”
***
When Shea was done holding court, she came over to the bar, and when she spoke, it was all Brooklyn.
“Caliber, and I see you brought the missus.”
“We’re not married, Shea,” Jake said.
Shea sent Kelli a wink.
“It’s cute the way he still doesn’t realize you own him.”
Kelli grinned back at her.
“I love that dress, and how do you know so much about the stock market?”
“It’s a hobby, and I’ve even made a buck or two at it.”
&nbs
p; “How goes the sting?” Jake said.
“You ask me, this is a waste of time. If our boy is targeting B-Girls, he’s not going to fall for a bunch of undercover cops just because he sees us leave the Caliber building together. Delaney agrees and says that this is the last night.”
“My mother hired bodyguards to protect the real girls, and there hasn’t been a sign of trouble. With any luck, the bastard got run over by a train.”
“Fat chance, but listen, I gotta get back to work.”
Two steps from the table, a middle-aged man in a $4,000.00 Canali suit asked Shea if he could buy her a drink. She answered the man in a Russian accent that was spot on, and the two of them moved down the bar.
***
Across the street from the bar, the killer stood in the doorway of a dry cleaner’s, as his heart threatened to burst from his chest.
The third one, and she’s so close.
He was staring at Kelli, and from his position in the doorway, she might as well have been on stage, as the brightly lit bar showcased those inside, even more so given the overcast sky.
A smile lit the killer’s face as he imagined killing Kelli. He reached into his coat and fondled the handle of his knife, as fantasies of revenge flitted through his fevered mind.
***
At the Caliber Building, Gail pressed the intercom button after hearing the door buzzer sound. It was after business hours, but as usual, she was working late.
“Yes, who is it?”
“Gail?”
“Yes?”
“Gail, it’s Jim Tate.”
Gail’s hand left the button and flew to her mouth, but a moment later, she pressed the button again.
“I’ll be right there, Jim.”
She closed up the office for the night, and after freshening her makeup in the bathroom mirror, she went downstairs to open the door. She sent Tate a tentative smile through the glass door and then unlocked it and let him inside.
Tate looked thinner than she remembered, but his handsome face and probing eyes still made her heart beat faster.
He smiled at her.
“I didn’t escape if that’s what you’re thinking. They gave me and over a hundred other men early release due to overcrowding.”
“I heard about it on the radio and I wondered if you would get out.”
Tate gazed around the darkened lobby.
“I remembered that you said you worked late most nights, and so I took a chance and came by, should I have done that?”
Gail nodded.
“I’m glad you did.”
“Are you hungry? I thought that maybe we could have a bite to eat.”
“I’d like that, Jim.”
Tate grinned.
“Good, but you know, I half thought that you wouldn’t even open the door for me. We didn’t meet under the best of circumstances, did we?”
“No, but that’s in the past.”
“Thank you, Gail.”
“For what?”
“For giving me a second chance to make a first impression.”
“You saved my life, Jim; I’d say that was a pretty good first impression.”
Tate’s smile faded.
“I heard on the news that you had some trouble here, that someone was targeting your people?”
“Yes.”
“I’m a good listener, if you want to talk about it.”
Gail opened the door and unfurled her umbrella.
“I’ll take you up on that, but only if it’s over a bottle of wine.”
“Sounds good to me,” Tate said, and out into the rain they went.
CHAPTER 5
2:26 a.m.
O’Reilly’s feet were killing her.
She was not a woman used to wearing high heels and as she slipped on an ancient pair of sneakers, she sighed.
She was in her car, which was parked down a side street two blocks from the bar. Just as she was about to start her engine, a car raced by with a woman in its passenger seat, and the woman was screaming bloody murder.
She went after the car, but as she turned the corner, she saw no sign of it but viewed only a few stray trucks and cars. She drove along, but slowed as she spotted a narrow alley on the right, and as she looked down towards the end of it, she saw a set of brake lights fade out.
Shea left her car near the alley’s entrance and used her cell phone to make a call to police dispatch. When they informed her that back-up was three minutes away, she said she understood and then began creeping down the alley by hugging the brick wall and staying to the shadows. She was careful not to step on the debris blown in from the street, such as newspapers and food wrappers, whose crinkling sounds might give her position away.
Shea swallowed repeatedly, while shivering, as the rain soaked wall dampened her back, and a cold pit of fear blossomed in her stomach.
She was halfway to the vehicle when the passenger door flew open and a body hit the ground. It was the woman that had been screaming, and she was either dead or unconscious.
When the driver’s side door creaked open, Shea gripped her weapon tight with both hands and held her breath.
The man that emerged from the car was over six-feet tall and weighed twice as much as the petite O’Reilly, and in his right hand was an automatic, possibly a Glock, such as the one Shea held, while a gleaming machete dangled from his left hand.
O’Reilly separated herself from the shadows and announced that she was a cop.
The man looked startled, but then smiled at her.
“You ain’t no cop.”
“This dress is our new uniform; they think it’ll do wonders for public relations.”
The man chuckled at that, and then he jerked his weapon up to fire.
Just as his finger tightened on the trigger, Shea fired and sent three shots into his chest, killing him, but a moment later, she was sitting on the wet ground as blood poured down into her eyes.
She reached up, felt the warm, stickiness in her hair, and knew that she had suffered a head wound.
“Ah crap,” Shea said, and then the darkness came and swallowed her up.
CHAPTER 6
The killer ran his hand over the nametag on the mailbox and giggled.
KELLI ROSS - Apartment B
B as in B-Girl
B as in Bobcats
B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,
Outside, the sun was barely up, but the rain had ceased and the sky gave the promise of a clear, bright day.
The killer had followed Kelli and Jake to her apartment. After breaking into a car, he watched the apartment building from the vehicle’s back seat until he fell asleep, but he awoke just a short time later, as Jake rushed from the building and drove away.
The killer waited for Jake to return, thinking that he had gone out for coffee or food, but after more than an hour passed and he didn’t return, the killer assumed that he had gone for the day. That was good; it meant that he could take Kelli this morning.
He was outside her door, preparing to force his way inside, when he heard the apartment building’s front door open.
He moved quickly but quietly to the stairs at the end of the hall and went up several of them, before stopping and listening.
When the new arrival halted outside Kelli’s door, the killer peeked out from the stairs and saw a middle-aged woman with shoulder-length blond hair ringing the buzzer, and sitting beside her on the hallway floor was a suitcase.
***
Kelli blinked in surprise when she opened her door to find her mother, Claire Ross, standing in the hallway.
“Mom? Hi, what are you doing here?”
Claire Ross grabbed her suitcase and entered the apartment.
“I’ve come to see you of course, how are you, baby?”
Kelli hugged her mother and gave her a kiss.
“I’m good, but why didn’t you call? I could have met you at the train station.”
“Arriving at this hour is enough of an intrusion. By the way, we are alone are
n’t we?”
“Yes, I told you, Jake and I aren’t living together.”
“But he stays over, doesn’t he?”
“Yes, he was here last night, and don’t try and talk me out of seeing him again. I told you, he’s changed, and he’s ready to settle down.”
“If that were true you’d have a ring on your finger.”
“That will come in time.”
“You can’t trust that boy, baby. He broke your heart once, please don’t let him do it again, end things now, you’ll only be saving yourself heartache.”
“I love Jake, Mom, and someday we’ll marry.”
Claire made a face, and then asked a question.
“You said he was here last night, well then, he must have left awfully early.”
“He got a call. One of his friends was wounded last night; she’s a cop.”
“She? And let me guess, this she isn’t too hard on the eyes, right?”
“She’s attractive, yes, but Jake and Shea are just friends.”
Claire shook her head sadly.
“Oh baby, you’re just going to have to learn the hard way.”
As Kelli talked with her mother, the killer walked by her apartment door and back out onto the street. He knew exactly where to find her, and so he could be patient, but her day was coming he told himself, oh yes, and that day was coming very soon.
***
Shea moaned as she awakened, and the pounding in her skull made it hurt to blink.
“Officer O’Reilly, my name is Dr. Gartner, how do you feel?”
Shea searched for the source of the voice through squinted eyes and saw a slim man in a white coat staring down at her. As she opened her eyes a little wider, she realized that she was lying down and that she was in a hospital room.
“My head hurts something awful, Doc.”
“Yes, a bullet caused a deep laceration atop your skull. You can count yourself fortunate that it didn’t strike you even a fraction of an inch lower, had it done so, you might not be here.”
“What happened to the perp? And the woman, what happened to the woman?”
“There’s a Lieutenant Delaney outside, I’ll have him come in and then he’ll answer your questions. Also, we’ve given you something for the pain, it should begin to lessen shortly.”
Caliber Detective Agency Box Set 2 Page 9
