Tracking A Shadow: A Jarvis Mann Detective Novel

by R Weir

  Paul glanced over and gave me a wink. “How’s it going so far?” he asked.

  “Still feeling each other out,” I joked.

  “Smart-ass!” said Melissa, giving me a shove, and everyone started laughing.

  The conversation continued on. I sat back and listened while taking in the banter around us. From a distance I saw a couple with a young daughter talking with Emily. She waved me over, and I excused myself to join them.

  “Jarvis, these are my neighbors,” she said. “This is Judy, John and Jennifer. They were Opus’s owners. They wanted to speak with you, so I’ll leave you to talk.”

  I smiled as best as I could and shook hands with John. “I’m so sorry for what happened.”

  “It was like losing a part of our family,” said Judy. “We all cried when we got the news.”

  “Emily says the police may have the man who did it in custody,” asked John.

  “Maybe,” I replied. “He hasn’t admitted to it, but did admit to me he had been stalking Emily. Right now he’s admitting to nothing.”

  “Well, if he didn’t do it, we’d like to hire you to find who did. It would give us some peace to have this person put away.”

  “That isn’t necessary,” I answered. “Emily is paying for this case, and catching who killed your pet is all part of that job. Once we’ve nailed down who the stalker is, we’ll have his killer.”

  “We’d appreciate it,” said Judy. “We are willing to share in the cost. You just send us a bill for your time.”

  “OK, I’ll keep it in mind.”

  “I’ll even give you my allowance,” stated Jennifer. “I have one hundred dollars saved up. He was my best friend.”

  “I know, honey,” I replied. “You keep your money. The person responsible needs to be brought to justice. I promise I’ll do what I can to catch them, OK?”

  I got a weak smile out of her and I put out my hand for her to shake, which she did. She was still feeling the effects of what happened. It was one of those moments you wished you could go back in time and stop something bad from happening, especially when it came to children. But that only happens in sci-fi.

  “Here is my business card,” John said. “My home, work and cell number is on it. Call us with any news.”

  “I will.” I then gave them mine as well, stated my condolences again and returned to the table to finish my food.

  “Who was that?” asked Melissa.

  “The owners of the dog killed in Emily’s house.”

  “That was so horrible,” Jeanine said. “Why would someone hurt an innocent animal?”

  “Hard to say. Maybe to send a message. They wanted my help to catch whoever did it. All I could tell them was I’m working on it.”

  “I thought they had the person in jail?” said Paul. “That Rickie scum who used to work at the office. He even hit on Jeanine. I always wanted to clean his clock.” His face turned red in anger.

  “Maybe. To be determined. And believe me, the line forms here on cleaning his clock. But proving he killed the dog will be challenging without a confession.”

  “You sound like you’re not sure it’s him?” said Jeanine.

  “Like I said, to be determined. I’m not ready to jump to any conclusions until I’m certain.”

  I finished up my food and decided to go back for seconds. Melissa didn’t care for any more but did desire more tea. I returned to the kitchen to grab ribs and corn muffins and was stopped by a couple of other guests and talked for a few minutes. Once back at the table off in the distance I saw Emily talking with some man. And when I say talk it was more like soft yelling, as she didn’t seem happy.

  “Do you know who Emily is speaking with?” I asked Jeanine.

  She turned around to see. “Oh, it’s Jim, I think. He was at the bar Thursday night. She didn’t give me a lot information, but he was hitting on her.”

  I looked more closely, trying to absorb the facial details, and a light went on in my brain. It all was finally coming back to me. He was the one I’d followed out and the one who hit me on the head. I excused myself again and walked over.

  “Is everything OK?” I asked Emily.

  “Yes, it’s fine, Jarvis. This gentleman wasn’t invited, so I was telling him to leave.”

  “Maybe you should head home, Jim,” I said firmly. “I believe you’re not welcome here.”

  There was a short glint of surprise that I had his name. He stepped close to me, put his right hand on my chest, leaned forward and whispered in my ear, “I got you once, and I can get you again.”

  Turning my head I let out a deep breath. I grabbed his wrist with my right hand, twisting it backwards and to the side, putting lots of pressure with my thumb on his palm to the fingers on the back of his hand, bringing him to his knees in pain. With the right amount of pressure the wristlock could have broken his wrist, dislocated his elbow or shoulder. For now I would apply the perfect amount to hurt him without major damage.

  “You’ve got this wrong. The lady asked you to leave. Now, you can walk away quietly or I can put you down and out like you did me the other night. Only I’ll do it face to face, unlike the cowardly way you did it by hitting me from behind. What’s it going to be?”

  “Jarvis, I can handle this!” stated Emily.

  “All he has to proclaim is he’s leaving. Say it, Jim!”

  I sensed several people coming towards us curious what was going on. There were a few “Oh no’s” and gasps from the crowd. Jim was doing his best to try and counter my grip, but I kept adding more pressure when he tried to move. He was grimacing, and you could tell his pride was not letting him give in. But he had no choice in the matter.

  “OK, OK. I’ll leave. Just let go!”

  I released his arm and stepped back, watching his every move. He’d gotten me once before with a sneak attack, and it wouldn’t happen again. He stood up and looked around at everyone staring at him. His eyes revealed he was embarrassed at being bested.

  “One day,” he mouthed to me and walked away.

  “I doubt it,” I replied, with a hint of scorn.

  “I’ll follow him and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid,” said Paul, who had joined the crowd.

  I received a couple of pats on the back and handshakes. All seemed pleased with what I had done, except for Emily. She shook her head and stormed off, for some reason seeming angry with me. Melissa joined me and put her arm through mine.

  “Well, that was interesting,” she asked. “Can you explain what happened?”

  “That was the guy who cold-cocked me!” I answered. “When I saw his face and caught his name it came back to me. He was here uninvited and was hitting on Emily at the bar the other night. He had a fascination with her, and I was going to follow him. Apparently, he didn’t want me to.”

  “So does that make him a suspect? It seems unusual there’d be two men stalking her.”

  “I’m not certain. I’ll need to find out more about him. But I think Emily is a little peeved with me for some reason.”

  “Maybe she thought you were ruining her party. Come on, let’s go talk with her.”

  Heading into the house, we found Emily sitting alone in her recliner looking steamed. We came over and I introduced her to Melissa. Her initial reaction was that she knew her.

  “Oh, I didn’t realize Jarvis was dating you,” she said surprised.

  “So you two personally know each other?” I asked.

  “Sure, I was involved with her case,” answered Melissa. “I handled most of the paperwork. We had some face to face contact until it was over.”

  “So did you meet at Bristol & Bristol, or were you acquainted previously?” questioned Emily.

  “Nope, met at the office,” I answered. “We hit it off so I called her.”

  Emily just nodded her head knowingly. Not sure of the reason, but she didn’t seem real surprised by the statement.

  “Jarvis is concerned you’re angry at him for what he did out back,” said M
elissa.

  “Yes, I was mad. It seemed you went overboard and made the situation worse. He would have left on his own. You challenged him and the testosterone took over.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t think of it that way,” I said. “When I saw him and heard the name it all came back to me. He’s the one who conked me on the head. I needed payback. Besides, it’s my job to protect you. For all I know, he could be your stalker.”

  “Yes, you’re right.” Her anger turned joyous on a dime. “I’m happy you were here to ward him off.”

  “Who is he, anyway?”

  “I’ll explain later,” Emily replied. “Now is not the proper time. Maybe we can talk about it tomorrow over dinner.”

  I nodded. It seemed she was trying to avoid answering, but that was OK. I figured I’d get it out of her with enough prodding.

  “Well, it was good seeing you again, Melissa,” stated Emily. “I hope you both have had a wonderful time. I must return to my hostess duties.” She strolled off, leaving us alone.

  Paul returned and said Jim had left quietly. “Looks like he lives close by, as he was on foot. I just wanted to make sure he didn’t take out his anger on someone’s car, or worse.”

  I told him thanks and decided I’d had enough socializing for the evening. “Care to get out of here?” I asked Melissa, hoping for some one on one social time.

  “What did you have in mind?” she stated wickedly.

  “A repeat of last night would be sensational, if I can keep up.”

  “Oh, I think I can help with the up part,” she said, walking me out the door and whispering dirty things in my ear.

  Chapter 21

  Even though my home had been tossed earlier, we decided to go to my place, mostly because it was close and we pined for each other’s pleasures. Our night was fabulous, repeating the trifecta from the evening before, and this time we didn’t need to wait until daylight for the third coupling. We both slept in until late in the morning, when my cell phone rang. It was a familiar voice.

  “They found Rickie Ward beaten to a pulp,” said Detective Mallard. “He is at Sky Ridge Hospital in critical condition. They aren’t sure if he is going to make it.”

  “How did he get out of jail?” I asked, now sitting upright naked on the bed.

  “Someone bailed him out yesterday. Paid in cash and used a false name. Probably wasn’t out more than a few hours before he was beaten up. Any ideas who?”

  I thought about it for a minute but couldn’t come up with anything concrete. Why fork over all that money to beat him up?

  “No, I can’t think of anyone off hand,” I answered.

  “They want me to ask you where you were yesterday.”

  “So I’m a suspect?”

  “Person of interest. You know how it goes. They cover all bases.”

  “Well, I was at party with about forty other people from 4 to about 9:30PM. Then I was with the lady sleeping next to me the rest of the time until you called.”

  “OK, I’ll tell them you’re good. We can cross one name off of their list, which is pretty long. He was not a popular person. You find anything, let me know.” He hung up the phone.

  “Wow,” I stated out loud.

  Melissa stirred next to me. “What?”

  “Rickie Ward was beaten up last night by someone. He may not live.”

  “That’s a shame, now come back and cuddle with me. I’m cold.”

  “Young lady, you are insatiable,” I said as I crawled under the sheets and spooned up next to her.

  “Hey, I didn’t say I wanted sex, just cuddling. By what I can feel behind me, a stout appendage is ready for more.”

  “It has a mind of its own, not that I’d protest.”

  Her body was warm and soft, and I wasn’t certain I’d felt this way in a long time. We just seemed to click on many levels, and on the physical level it was superb. I squeezed her from behind and ran my hand up and down her front, slowly touching and exploring every curve and crease. She began to breathe more heavily and her form was twisting with each touch. She rolled over, looked me in the eyes and mouthed, “Take me.” Fifteen minutes later we were asleep again for nearly two hours.

  After waking we needed to eat lunch, and we’d spend the rest of the day together shopping. Well, she’d do the shopping, while I would tag along as company. We went to Cherry Creek Mall and enjoyed a meal at the Kona Grill. She chose a Kona Club Sandwich and I had Cheeseburger Sliders. After filling up with food the bargain hunting commenced, as she called it, with us seemingly hitting every woman’s clothing store in the place, and there were a lot of them. She found several new outfits, even finding something for me to enjoy from Victoria’s Secret she said she’d model for me some evening. I tried to talk her into trying it on together in the changing room, but she didn’t care to put on a show for the security cameras. By the time we were done I was carrying several bags of clothes and accessories. We even found me a new outfit to wear that she bought for me. Something a little more upscale on a classy night out.

  We had killed a couple of hours, and I knew our time together today was winding down. I still needed to meet with Emily and hear her story about Jim. We headed back to my place and packed all her shopping bags into her car, saying our goodbyes with no plans to get together until the following weekend.

  “I have lots of work ahead this week,” she said. “I can’t have horny desires of you distracting me. But I do want phone calls from you in the evenings. I’ll text when I’m free from law thoughts.”

  I kissed her and hugged her for a long time and she drove away. It was nearly 5PM, and I needed to call Emily. Before I could, my cell phone rang and it was Mallard again.

  “Gee, do you work every hour of every day!” I asked.

  “Greenwood Village District Attorney is asking for you to come to Sky Ridge,” he said, ignoring my humor. “Apparently Rickie Ward has been in and out of consciousness and wants to talk with you and only you. They think he may unburden himself, a last confession.”

  “So they don’t believe he’ll make it?”

  “It’s about 50/50, they say. I need to be there, so I’ll stop by and pick you up. Gives us a chance to tie up these loose ends and get onto other things.”

  “I’m at home. I’ll be waiting.”

  I hung up and called Emily.

  “I’m heading down to Sky Ridge Medical Center for something important.” I left out the details about Rickie being beaten up. “Not sure how long it will be, so I have to postpone. Can we talk tomorrow over lunch?”

  “I can work that into my schedule,” she answered. “Say around noon at my office. I’m sorry for how I reacted last night. The last thing I want is you to be mad at me.”

  “It’s all good,” I replied. “I’ll see you then.”

  Detective Mallard showed up about twenty minutes later in his unmarked police car. We headed down south to Lone Tree, where the hospital was located. It was just off of I-25 at the Ridgegate Parkway exit. The entire facility was going through a large expansion, with construction machines, materials and huge piles of dirt on the outer edge of the lot. The weather had turned for the worse, as it had gotten late-evening dark, with lightning and heavy rain. Even some hail on the drive down. We found an open parking area, took a spot as close as possible and ran inside though the deluge. Mallard flashed his badge at security, and they led us to the ICU where Rickie was being cared for.

  Now, I’d made no secret I had minimal affection and some downright distaste for Rickie, but when I saw him I actually felt sorry for him. No matter what type of jerk he was, he didn’t deserve this fierce of a beating. His head was wrapped with bloody white gauze; his face swollen black and blue. His right arm was in a cast and his chest covered in more gauze. What other skin I could view was also puffy, black and blue. He had an IV in his left arm and oxygen being fed through his nose. Most of his front teeth were missing now, the few remaining chipped. It seemed he had been beaten from head to toe. If I didn’t know i
t was him, I wouldn’t have recognized who it was. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

  There were two more people in the room with him, a woman who I would learn was his public defender, and the other was the DA for Greenwood Village. I stepped over in front of him so he could see me. He noticed who it was right away, though I’m not sure how through his puffy face, which concealed a good portion of his eyes. He nodded his head slightly as if to acknowledge me. He glanced at the public defender and mouthed OK. She stood up from the chair she was sitting in.

  “Mr. Ward is prepared to make a statement,” she said. “This beating has left him in a horrible state. He wants to clear the air. He knows his time may be short and would like to confess on certain matters. It will be hard for him to speak, but he will do his best and we need to record what he has to say. We have consulted and are in agreement he should put these events behind him.”

  The DA pulled out a small digital recorder and placed it near Rickie and hit the play button. There was a long pause before Rickie said anything. When he spoke it took a lot of effort for him to put together the words, with lengthy pauses in between sentences.

  “I’d like-to make it clear-that I didn’t-contrary to what-I told Jarvis Mann-before-did not stalk Emily. Nor did I-ever enter her house-and kill her dog. I was not involved-in that incident in any way. I did however-strike Roger-Ellis out of frustration at her office. For this I’m truly sorry-and I’m willing-to pay the punishment for it.”

  By the time he was done he was gasping for air. The monitors on his bed were going off, as his heart rate had increased, but his oxygen level had gone down, causing the alarms to go off. A nurse came in quickly to check on him and gave everyone a stern glare.

  “We have no choice,” stated the DA as if reading her mind. “We need his statement while he is conscious.”

  After few minutes Rickie was able to get his breathing under control and continued.

  “I must-make another-thing perfectly clear. I never-meant to hurt anyone. I was just-trying to-get my job-back. I was desperate-and would-do anything.”

  “So why did you confess to me if you didn’t do it?” I asked.