The Gray-Haired Knitting Detective Series: (Books 1 - 3)

by D. E. Haggerty

  Cindy nods. “OKC may not be a big city, but it’s still a city and in any city of a substantial size, there’s going to be organized crime.”

  Wow. Okay, this isn’t exactly the way I want to be introduced into the seedier side of life. “I’m not sure what this has to do with me,” I muse.

  Cindy laughs. “That’s what I’m wondering as well. Your friend, Izzy, said you knew Mickey.” She pulls a notebook out of her satchel and grabs a pen with which she taps the notebook. “So, how do you know Mickey?”

  I stare at the notebook and raise an eyebrow at her. She shrugs. “It’s just for my personal notes. I won’t report anything that we don’t agree upon.” Tommy snorts next to me, but I nod my head. I don’t have much to tell anyway.

  “I don’t really know Mickey. I’ve just met him once or twice. Twice I think.”

  “And how did you meet him?” Her voice is sharp, but I’m still not worried.

  “He was a guest at my house. Well, my husband’s place, for dinner.”

  Cindy whips her head up. “You had him in your house.” She whistles. “Can I ask who your husband is?” I can see the excitement in her eyes, but I’m going to disappoint her.

  I shrug. “My husband, Brock, was just an investment broker.”

  Her eyebrow raises. “Was?”

  I shrug as if it’s not important, but I don’t really want to tell this reporter that I’m now a widow because my husband got his brains blown out. “I left the asshat.”

  Cindy’s eyebrow lowers and she laughs. “Sounds like a good idea. Do you have any idea how your husband knows Mickey?”

  I shake my head. “I didn’t even know who Mickey was until I saw your news report on Saturday evening.” I take a deep breath and jump to the conclusion I’m terrified is true. “Do you think my husband was loaning money from him?”

  Now it’s Cindy’s turn to shrug. “I don’t know. I work the crime desk, but Mickey was a complete unknown to me until he was indicted. I’m playing catch up right now.”

  I lean forward. “It’s just we discovered my husband didn’t make as much money as he told me he did. Maybe he got a loan or something?”

  Next to me Tommy clears his throat and clamps his hand tight on my thigh and I realize I’ve just crossed Tommy’s line in the sand. He doesn’t realize that no one, not even a well-meaning friend, controls what I do or say anymore.

  Cindy ignores Tommy’s blaring non-verbal signals that the interview is over as well. “I really can’t say.” We’re interrupted by the waitress delivering our meals. Cindy drops the subject of Mickey’s ties with Brock during the meal. Instead, she regales us with a few stories from the crime beat. She’s witty and seems like lots of fun. In another lifetime, we could have been friends. I really don’t know what Tommy’s problem is.

  The meal ends and Cindy stands to leave. “I need to get going.” She grabs a business card from her bag and hands it to me. “Call me if you think of anything else.”

  “Sure.” I quickly. “Can you keep us informed of Mickey’s case as well?”

  “That I can do,” she says as she rushes out of the restaurant. I feel the air pressure in the restaurant lower when she steps outside. I turn to Tommy and sure enough the relief on his face is visible.

  “Well, that was a disappointment,” Izzy says as soon as Cindy disappears. Jack nods in agreement. I don’t know what they were expecting.

  “Maybe not,” Tommy says and all heads turn to him. “I have an idea.”

  Chapter 28

  “If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

  It turns out Tommy’s idea was a visit to the police station. I’m not happy – at all – to be visiting the police station that harbors a detective determined to convict me of a murder I didn’t commit, but Tommy is insistent. He called Noel on our way back from the city and suggested I look through some mug shots. Tommy thinks that if Brock was connected to Mickey, he may have been connected to other criminals. Criminals that he may have angered or something, which ended up with Brock being dead and my being a widow. It’s not an entirely crazy idea.

  We drop Izzy and Jack off at Izzy’s house before proceeding to the police station. Izzy fell asleep in the car and is out of it, so she doesn’t argue about not being included in our field trip to the police station. Jack grumbles a bit until Noel calls him and says he needs to stay with Izzy to keep her safe. I have no idea why Izzy wouldn’t be safe, but I’m not contradicting Noel when the result is what I want anyway – to not have an entourage during my visit to the police.

  Tommy doesn’t give me any time to get nervous when we arrive at the station. He jumps out and sprints to my door to drag me out of the passenger seat where I’m unsuccessfully trying to stall. We walk into the station and nearly run right into Detective Smith.

  Smith sneers at Tommy. “Look at the big firefighter now. Consorting with criminals.” He practically cackles with glee. What’s his problem?

  Tommy stops abruptly and glares at Smith. “Do I know you?”

  Smith comes to an abrupt stop. “Do you know me?” He growls the words.

  Tommy just shrugs at him. “Dude, I don’t know what your problem is, but you need to chill.”

  Of course, telling Smith to chill just infuriates him more. “You ruined my life and you don’t even remember who I am!”

  Smith’s screams bring Noel running from someone in the depths of the police station. “What’s going on?” He asks as he looks from Tommy to Smith in confusion.

  Tommy shrugs at Noel. “No clue.”

  “You ruined my life!” Smith continues to scream. Noel grabs his upper arm and motions for us to follow him. He drags Smith into an interrogation room and forces him to sit his behind down on a chair. Tommy and I trail behind them.

  “Close the door,” Noel orders without turning away from Smith. I quickly close the door, but I remain as close to the exit as possible. Smith is radiating fury and it’s freaking me the frack out.

  “Now,” Noel growls. “Tell me what the hell is going on.” I nearly fall as the door is pushed open.

  “What’s going on in here?” demands the intruder.

  Noel straightens and turns to him. “I don’t know, Captain. Delilah is here to look at mug shots in conjunction with the murder of her husband. It turns out he may have had mob connections.” He turns to Smith. “Detective Smith verbally accosted her escort, Investigator Baker, when they arrived.”

  The Captain turns to Tommy. “Do you know Detective Smith, Investigator?”

  Tommy shakes his head. “No, sir. I’ve never seen the man before. I have no idea what’s going on.”

  “Never seen me before!” Smith explodes from his chair and lunges toward Tommy, but Noel’s faster. Noel puts his hand on Smith’s chest and forces him to sit back down.

  The Captain crosses his arms over his chest and stares Smith down. “You better start explaining.”

  Smith points at Tommy. “That man ruined my life.” He takes a break, but no one interrupts him. “He said I would never make it as a firefighter. It was my dream. I always wanted to be a firefighter and he just shat on my dream without a thought.”

  Tommy stares at Smith and cocks his head to the side. “Did you come for an evaluation or something?” Smith growls. “When?”

  “Fifteen years ago when I graduated high school.” Smith manages to push the words out of his clamped jaw.

  The Captain turns to Tommy and raises an eyebrow in question at him. Tommy just shrugs. “Sorry, I do evaluations twice a year. I don’t remember everyone who’s ever done one.”

  Now it’s Noel’s turn to go ballistic. “That’s why!” he shouts. “You’ve been fucking up the investigation into Clark’s death from the beginning. I thought you were just an idiot, but you’ve had it out for Dee from the start because she’s with Tommy.”

  “Wait a minute!” I take a moment to calm
down before continuing. “First of all, Tommy and I aren’t together.” Tommy growls, but I just roll my eyes at the sound. “But, more importantly, Tommy doesn’t recognize Smith. How does this connect? Why did Smith think we were together?”

  “I saw you,” Smith answers. “You wouldn’t even look at me, but Tommy just came in and swept you onto the dance floor.”

  I stare at Smith a moment trying to figure out what in the world he’s talking about. Tommy leans over and whispers to me. “That night at the Whiskey Ranch. Remember?”

  I shrug as if the memory of Tommy holding me in his arms as we danced doesn’t effect me. “I don’t remember Smith asking me to dance.” I scratch my head. “A couple of guys asked me to dance, but I didn’t pay them any attention.” Smith growls from across the room. “Sorry, dude.”

  Noel forces everyone’s attention back to him. “You tried to frame her for a murder she didn’t commit because she wouldn’t dance with you? What kind of asshole are you?” I nearly answer what kind of asshole I think he is, but the Captain takes over.

  “Detective Blackburn.” Noel immediately whips his head around to the Captain and gives him his full attention. “Explain to me why you think Detective Smith was trying to frame Ms. Clark.” I’m shocked that this stranger knows my last name, but then again it’s not like there’s a murder every day – let alone every month – in our small town.

  Noel stands nearly at attention as he begins to list the ways he thinks Smith has screwed up. “He never checked Dee for gunshot residue.” Smith starts to interrupt, but the Captain stops him with a glare. “You’ll get your turn. Continue Blackburn.”

  “He never searched Dee’s residence or car for the weapon that killed her husband. He basically didn’t try to find any other suspects. He didn’t check the victim’s place of work or his bank accounts for any suspicious activity. In the meantime, we’ve discovered various suspicious cash deposits in the victim’s bank account and he may have ties to organized crime.”

  Smith’s face is nearly purple with rage. “None of that’s true. I wasn’t trying to frame the bitch.” I gasp at the audacity of Smith calling me a bitch to my face and in front of two of my protectors.

  The Captain takes two steps forward and leans over Smith. “You may want to re-think your vocabulary when I’m trying to find a reason not to fire your ass.”

  Smith leans away from his boss and continues his rant. “I just haven’t had any time to check on any other possible suspects.”

  The Captain shakes his head. “I’ll see you in my office. Make sure you bring your badge and weapon.” Smith looks outraged, but he has enough sense to keep his mouth shut. The Captain turns to Noel. “You’ll be leading this investigation from now on but, considering your relationship with the victim’s wife, I’ll expect daily updates.”

  Noel nods. “I’ll be in to update you just as soon as I get Dee settled with the mug shots.”

  The Captain then turns to me. “My apologies to you, Ms. Clark.” I nod and he leaves the room. Smith quickly follows behind him muttering to himself, but no one pays him any mind.

  “Wow! That was intense,” I admit when it’s just Noel, Tommy, and me in the room. I turn to Tommy. “You really don’t remember him?”

  “Nah,” he shakes his head. “That many years ago? Nearly every male in this town tries out for the volunteer fire department after high school graduation. It’s kind of a rite of passage.” He shrugs. “A lot of the men that are selected don’t even go on to do the training.”

  I turn to Noel. “Does this mean I’m in the clear?”

  Noel smiles. “Babe, you were always in the clear. There was no way I was going to let you go down for a crime you obviously didn’t commit.” I want to jump him and hug him to death in thanks, but I don’t think Tommy would appreciate that, so I just nod and blink to keep my eyes dry. “Now, let’s get started.”

  Chapter 29

  “What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it.” Maya Angelou, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now

  Noel leads me out of the interrogation room and takes me to a desk covered in files, Styrofoam coffee cups, and miscellaneous papers. He grabs a chair from the next desk over and piles all the files and paper on it. He pats another chair. “Sit here. I’ll be right back.”

  I sit and look up at Tommy. “Are you staying?”

  Tommy looks at me as if I’ve gone completely batty. “Of course I’m staying.”

  Noel comes back holding three large picture books. “These are all the mug shots of criminals we suspect of having ties to organized crime. I didn’t have time to go through them and pick out those with suspected ties to the Irish mob like Mickey. Sorry.”

  I shrug. I’m not looking forward to spending the next hour looking at pictures, but it’s such a relief that the police are actively investigating Brock’s murder that I’m not complaining.

  “The pictures are loose so if you see anyone you recognize just pull it out,” Noel instructs. “I need to go give the Cap an update. You good?”

  I smile and open the first photo album. Sigh. Each page contains five rows of pictures. This is going to be tedious. I hear Tommy plop down on the chair at the desk opposite Noel’s and pull out his phone. What feels like several hours later, but is probably only 45 minutes or so, I close the last picture book and lay my head down on the desk.

  Tommy stands and walks over to me. He places his hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “You done?” I nod. “I’ll go find Noel.”

  “Recognize anyone,” Noel asks a minute later when he returns with Tommy. I grab the stack of pictures of men I recognize and hand them to Noel without raising my head from the desk. “Alright, let’s get some privacy and we’ll discuss.”

  Tommy swivels my chair so I’m forced to abandon the desk. He grabs my hands and pulls me to my feet before pushing me towards the interrogation room we had the fight with Smith in. I sit in one of the chairs and Noel sits across from me. “Is it okay if Tommy stays or do you want him to wait outside?”

  I shrug. “He can stay.” I barely get the words out before Tommy is grabbing a chair and sitting down way too close to me. I raise an eyebrow at him, but he just grabs my hand as if he didn’t notice. Typical man.

  Noel doesn’t even try to hide his grin. I narrow my eyes at him. He shrugs and lays the photos down on the table and grabs a notebook from his pocket. “Let’s go through the pictures one by one.”

  “There’s no need,” I say, and Noel fixes his gaze on me. “I don’t know any of their names. I’d probably know them if I heard them, but I can’t come up with them by myself.” I shrug. I seem to be doing a heck of that a lot lately. “I met each of them in the same way. They came to the penthouse for dinner and I was expected to ‘entertain’ them.”

  “How long did Brock know these men? Was he bringing these men around during your entire marriage? Or was this something more recent?” Noel fires off his questions.

  I sigh. I guess I’ve got to tell the whole Brock story now. “Whatever I say now is just between us. You can’t tell Izzy, the grandmas, Jack, Jack’s loverboy, no one. If you do, I’m gone.”

  Noel and Tommy nod in agreement. “Okay, I’ll tell you but if you break your promise, it’s your fault when Grandma’s heart breaks ‘cuz I have to disappear.” They nod again.

  I free my hand from Tommy’s grasp and fold my hands together on my lap. I stare at them as I tell the Dee and Brock anti-love story. “We met in college. I was there on scholarship. Mom and Dad didn’t leave any money when they died and Grandma isn’t exactly rich either. So, anyway, there I was wearing the wrong clothes with no friends and here comes Brock. He’s from old money, he’s good-looking, charming, and he knows it. I was instantly and totally enamored. We started going out when I was a sophomore and he was a junior. He played around a bit and took five years to graduate. I didn’t have that luxury and worked my butt off to graduate in three years.

  We graduated together and
Brock proposed at the graduation party at his parents’ house. We were already planning on living together anyway. Something Grandma wasn’t too happy about, but she wasn’t happy with the proposal either. She never liked Brock. I should have listened to her intuition, but I was young and in love. Dumb, in other words.” Tommy scuffs, but I’m not stopping now that I started telling this story.

  “We got married within the year and everything was perfect. Brock had an awesome job and kept getting early promotions and these huge bonuses. Within a few years, we bought the penthouse. I was happy. But then everything changed. The markets crashed and the investment business suffered. Brock’s salary was frozen and there were no more bonuses. That’s when Brock started to be emotionally abusive. He began to put me down all the time and try to control me. He complained about my job so much that I finally quit to make him happy, but that just put me completely under his control.

  After a year or so, the money situation got better. He said the markets were doing better and the bonuses were back. I didn’t think the economy was doing that much better, but I didn’t question Brock. Why would I? Anyway, that’s when these dinner parties began. I guess it was about two, maybe two and half years ago. He’d invite three or four of his business associates over and everything had to be freaking perfect. It was horrible. If I didn’t do everything to his specifications, he would berate me and embarrass me in front of his associates.

  It wasn’t great, but everything was manageable until six months ago. That’s the first time I saw Mickey. He came to dinner and Brock was more of an asshat than normal. I just thought he was nervous and trying to please him. That’s me. Always trying to please him and do as he said. Anyway, Brock always made me buy these lavish clothes for the dinners and I had bought some really high heels for this night. I was trying to impress Brock or something. Only I wasn’t so great in walking on them. I tripped on the carpet and dropped the bread basket – bread everywhere. Brock didn’t say anything. I thought it was okay. I was wrong.”