“You probably shouldn’t use that word,” I chided. “It’s considered offensive.”
“You’re offensive.”
“I have my moments,” I agreed. “That’s a mean word, though.”
Amber snorted. “From what I understand you only use mean words. Why should that one upset you?”
That was a pretty good question. “I like to use mean words on people who deserve it,” I said. “That includes kids, but not people who are legitimately … .”
“Retarded?”
“No,” I said, cracking my neck. I clutched the engine key in my hand and kept it tight at my side. If I could get it in the ignition without her noticing I might be able to get away. Now I only needed Amber to look elsewhere. “Why did Leo pretend to be slow? Was it to get close to Julia?”
“He’s been using that ploy for years,” Amber said. “He doesn’t like to work. I’m sure you figured that out yourself. He gets a disability check from the state every month, but it’s not enough to keep him in pot and Jack Daniels. He needs to supplement his income so he moves loose joints and panhandles. He discovered years ago that pretending to be slow made people want to give him more money.”
“How do you know Leo?”
“Don’t you know? Aren’t you the great Avery Shaw? Shouldn’t you already have figured all of this out?”
She was sarcastic, but the situation bothered me, too. “I wish I had the answers. Trust me. I don’t get how you and Leo fit together.”
“He’s my father.”
“No way.” The words were out of my mouth before I could think better of them. “How does that work? Your last name is Davenport, not Putnam.”
“I was raised by my mother,” Amber said. “Leo was some guy she used to party with. In case you’re wondering, my mother wasn’t any better of a parental figure than Leo, but at least she pretended to care – mostly when the state stopped by for welfare inspections -- but she still fed me a couple of times a week.
“Leo was always the guy who showed up when he was desperate for money, even though my mother refused to give him any,” she continued. “He hides in his dead mother’s house and has his welfare checks delivered to a P.O. box because he doesn’t want anyone to know he’s not homeless. He’s a real piece of work. I didn’t find out he was my father until I was a teenager. I was less than thrilled, as you can imagine.”
Despite the window I could hear everything Amber said, and the disdain dripping from her words was chilling. “I can see that.”
“I always fantasized my father was some rich lawyer who knocked up my mother and never knew about my existence,” Amber said. “I dreamed of him finding out about me and swooping in to rescue me. When I heard Leo and Mom arguing one night and realized he was my father, that dream died a hard death.”
“Did you spend time with Leo after that?”
“Only when I needed a place to get high,” Amber replied. “I wasn’t different from any other teenager. I wanted to party. Leo was an easy way to do it. If I gave him an extra five bucks he would buy for us. That came in handy in high school.”
“Did you spend time in one of these houses?” I inclined my chin to the row of ramshackle homes, causing Amber to glance over her shoulder. When she did, I shoved the key into the ignition. By the time she turned back my hand was back in its previous location.
“I spent a few nights here when I was too messed up to find my way home, but Leo never had regular visitation with me.”
“Why don’t you refer to him as your father?” I asked.
“Would you want people to associate you with him?”
“Probably not,” I said. “How did you and Leo get involved with Adam?”
“That was luck,” Amber said. “When I got the job at the college I thought I was finally going places. It took me months to realize Julia was never going to let that happen. She didn’t believe I was qualified for my post. She told people I slept with the dean to get the job.”
“Did you?” What? I was curious, too.
“Of course I did,” Amber said. “I learned a long time ago that the best way to get what I want is to seduce a man so he gives it to me. That’s what I did with the dean, and to make sure I wouldn’t tell his wife he gave me this job.”
“Why Adam?”
“Because Julia was out to get me and Adam was an easy mark,” Amber said. “He was desperate for someone to understand his needs and Julia was too self-involved to care. The second Adam hit on me I knew he was my key to a better life.”
“You believed his lies, didn’t you?”
“What lies?”
“You thought he had money when he didn’t,” I clarified. “You didn’t realize Julia was in control of all their finances.”
“Not at first,” Amber conceded. “Adam likes to boast in bed. It was bad enough I had to sleep with him, but to listen to him brag about his business prowess afterward was torture. I thought it would be worth it, though. I thought he was going to give me a better life. I thought I was going to move into the house on the lake and finally be someone.”
“When did you realize that wasn’t going to happen?”
“At first I put up with Adam and his weird sexual … requests … because I figured he would fall in love with me,” Amber said. “Once that happened I knew he would ask Julia for a divorce. I wanted her to know he was leaving her for me. I wanted her to know what her bitterness cost her.
“Adam kept telling me it was going to happen, but he also made excuses why he couldn’t do it right away,” she continued. “Finally he admitted what was really going on and I was … angry.”
“That must have been quite a blow,” I said. “You thought you were going to be rich and then you found out Adam was worth nothing without Julia. When did you decide to kill her?”
“I wanted to kill her that day, but I managed to control myself,” Amber said. “I put in too much time with Adam to give up.”
“What did you do?”
“I convinced him to take out a life insurance policy on Julia,” Amber said. “It had a big premium and it was expensive to keep up. I knew we had to do it for a few months or it would look suspicious when she died.
“Adam thought we were talking big when we discussed killing her,” she continued. “I don’t think he realized it was actually going to happen until it did. In the meantime, I needed to get someone in close proximity to Julia. She was never going to trust me. Leo came up with the idea of using her big heart against her.”
“What was he going to get in return?”
“Money.”
That was the easy answer, so it didn’t surprise me. “Leo befriended Julia and convinced her he was slow and needy,” I said. “He spent months wrapping her around his finger. How did you decide when you were going to kill Julia?”
Amber shrugged. “I don’t know. I moved the pieces into place and then picked a day when I knew I could get it done. There was no magic associated with the date.”
“How did you do it?”
“It was simple,” Amber said. “Leo approached Julia in the parking lot. She offered to buy him dinner. We needed to get her away from the campus because it was too busy to risk killing her there.
“Leo conned her into thinking he would finally agree to rehab. He convinced her to take him to a diner, and before they got there he pulled a knife on her,” she continued. “He forced her to an alley, and when he ordered her to get out of the car she ran. He chased her down and stabbed her. He thought she was dead and dumped her in the trunk. We picked the parking lot where we dumped her weeks before. He knew where to go.”
Amber was so matter-of-fact it was chilling.
“Julia was alive after the stabbing. Did you strangle her?” I asked.
“Leo wimped out on me in the parking lot,” Amber said. “We arranged it so I would be waiting for him. We bought burner cell phones so they couldn’t be tracked. I walked in through the trees so no one could see me. I wanted to make sure everything was
set before leaving. It was a fluke I looked in the trunk. I wanted to see her. I wanted to know she suffered. That’s when I realized she was still breathing.”
“Was she conscious?”
“No. I think I would’ve preferred it if she was,” Amber said. “I wanted her to know who beat her. She never did, though. I couldn’t wait to see whether she’d wake up. I needed to get out of there and … well … it was cold.
“I thought it would be more difficult than it was,” she said. “I had on leather gloves and I could feel the life draining out of her through them. It didn’t make me feel sad or guilty. It made me feel powerful.”
Amber was deranged – even more than I initially realized. She was the product of a crappy childhood, defective genes, entitlement, poor work ethic and rampant narcissism. When you rolled that all into one package the result wasn’t pretty. “What did Adam say when you told him what you did?”
“I didn’t tell Adam,” Amber snorted. “He thought we’d dropped the plan months ago. I knew he was too squeamish to go through with it. That’s why, when he stopped paying for the insurance policy two months ago, I kept it up. I thought it would be a nice surprise – a wedding gift for me, if you will. The bill was being delivered to the rental house, so it was easy to access.”
“Are you telling me he wasn’t suspicious when Julia turned up dead?”
“I think he was relieved,” Amber said. “Because the police were watching him we couldn’t really talk, though. We agreed to stay apart for a few weeks. We wanted to be sure the cops were through with their witch hunt before we resumed our relationship.”
“You thought that was going to happen in a few weeks?”
“The cops can suspect us all they want,” Amber said. “Without proof they can’t do anything. Quite frankly, I didn’t think they would find out about The Black Hole or the affair … but then again, I didn’t take you into account.”
Uh-oh. “I’m tenacious.”
“You’re a pain in the ass,” Amber countered. “Every secret we tried to keep, you printed in that rag you work for. You found the club. You found the house. You found me. You found out Leo isn’t who he pretends to be. You ruined everything. Where am I supposed to go from here?”
“I hear Afghanistan is nice this time of year. I’m sure you’d be very popular over there. They love it when women use sex as a weapon.”
“I don’t have any options left,” Amber said. “Adam is in jail. He probably won’t offer me up as a suspect, but I can never really tell where his head is, so I can’t sit around to see if he protects me. Leo will definitely roll over on me when he realizes his little act isn’t working any longer.
“I have no way of accessing any of Adam’s funds,” she continued. “Julia saw to that. The kids might be able to get their hands on some money, but there’s no way they’ll ever share it with me. I can’t even hold on to my crappy job because I have to get out of the state. I have nothing now.”
“Bummer.”
“And I have you to thank for it,” Amber said. “So I’m going to run. I’m going to take the little bit of money I have and hope I can find some other sex-starved idiot to make my dreams come true. I have one thing left to do before I go, though.”
“Kill me,” I said, my heart rolling.
“Exactly,” Amber said. “It’s going to be easier for you than Julia. At least you have that going for you. I don’t have time to play the games I really want to play with you. I’d love to pull your insides out while you’re still breathing so you can look at them while you die.”
“I guess I should be thankful it won’t come to that,” I said. “There’s just one more thing I need to know.”
“What?”
“If Leo is in jail, what is he doing on that porch over there?”
Amber’s eyebrows shot up. “What?” She swiveled quickly.
I turned the key and brought the car to life. I didn’t take time to think about what I was doing – or what would happen if I failed. I threw the car into drive and stomped on the gas pedal as hard as I could.
Amber screeched in conjunction with the spinning tires and I flinched when I heard the gun go off. The car lurched forward, leaving Amber and her rage behind. She fired again, shattering my rear window. I ducked down to check myself, exhaling in shallow gulps as I tried to maintain control. Cold air flooded into the car from the missing window, and without anything between us I could hear Amber’s delusional rants.
“I’m going to kill you! I’m going to rip your stupid face off!”
I considered my options. I could run – which would be the smart thing to do – or I could take Amber out. Just for the record, I never do the smart thing. I pressed on the brake lightly and slammed the car into reverse. This time when I pressed the accelerator I moved toward danger instead of away from it.
The car struck Amber, a loud “thump” shaking the vehicle. I wasn’t going fast enough to kill her. I was almost sure of it. I considered pulling forward and then backing over her again for good measure when someone tried to open my car door. When it wouldn’t open, they knocked.
For one terrifying second I thought it was Amber. I thought she’d crawled from the back of the car to the door without me noticing. It wasn’t Amber, though. It was Eliot.
His face was a mask of anger and relief when I opened the door so he could touch me. He reached around me and shoved the gearshift into park. I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and he pulled me out of the car and against him with minimal effort.
I felt like crying, but the tears wouldn’t come.
“Are you okay?” Eliot asked, running his hand over the back of my head.
“How did you get down here so fast?”
“I broke every speeding law on the books. Are you okay?” He forced my face up so he could study it.
“I ran Amber over.”
“You didn’t technically run her over,” Eliot said. “That was a stupid move, by the way. Why didn’t you keep driving forward?”
“I didn’t want her to get away. Is she dead?”
“You barely tapped her,” Eliot said. “I was hit harder that night down at Belle Isle. Do you remember that?”
I did. That was the night I realized Eliot Kane was something special. Only a truly great guy would get hit by a car and still want to date the woman responsible for it. “I … .”
“Avery, look at me.”
I forced my eyes to Eliot’s face, my mind busy. I was having trouble focusing on any one thing. “I feel lightheaded.”
“You’re in shock,” Eliot said. “Other than that, are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. I ran Amber over and solved the case. I’m awesome again.”
“You’re … something,” Eliot said. He gripped the front of my coat and lifted me so I was off the ground. “Are you really sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“That’s good,” Eliot said. “Now I’m going to have to kill you for being such an idiot!”
Thirty-Four
Things happened pretty quickly after that.
Police arrested Amber, cuffing her to the gurney as she was transported to the hospital. She swore to anyone who would listen that she had internal bleeding. The emergency room doctor assured the accompanying officers that wasn’t the case and she spent that night in the Macomb County Jail, which would be her permanent home until the trial.
Detroit was filing assault and attempted murder charges against her in conjunction with her attack on me, but they were waiting in line to let Macomb County try its murder case first. Despite a stern warning from an annoyed-looking Detroit police sergeant, I was released to Eliot’s custody while my car was impounded. The universal consensus was that I should have kept driving forward instead of backing into Amber. Live and learn, I guess.
The murder charges against Adam Grisham were dropped. He still faced conspiracy charges, but the odds of him doing significant jail time were slim thanks to Amber’s confession. He was
still a freak. He wasn’t a murdering freak, though.
Celeste Grisham stopped at The Monitor the following day to thank me for proving her father’s innocence and still managing to avenge her mother’s death. I wished her well – and meant it.
Carly was holding off on telling Kyle about her pregnancy until Valentine’s Day night – which happened to be tonight. She was hoping for a big gift before she dropped the hammer on their lives. She promised me a blow-by-blow reenactment the following day. I looked forward to the debriefing – even if the prospect of a baby was still freaking me out.
Tad Ludington continued screaming to anyone who would listen that I was lying about TOOL, but the group was up for discussion on the next county commission meeting’s agenda, and I couldn’t wait to cover it.
Derrick and Devon were spending Valentine’s Day together, although he wouldn’t tell me where. I had no idea what was going to happen there.
That left Eliot and me. I used every weapon in my impressive arsenal to get him to tell me what he had planned – including nudity, tickling, pouting, complaining and screaming. He held firm.
I woke up Valentine’s Day morning to a card on my pillow and an empty spot where Eliot usually slept. He snuck out early. I should have been angry about his subterfuge, but the Darth Vader card – instructions to meet him at a specific address at 7 p.m. sharp handwritten inside – softened the blow.
I was a bundle of nerves all day, but after finishing the final touches on his gift I was ready to go.
Because I didn’t have a car, Lexie volunteered to drive me to the location of the big event. She wore a trench coat – she refused to let me see what was under it – and when she parked in the lot two blocks down from Eliot’s pawnshop I realized she was part of my gift.
Eliot had gone all out. The parking lot was empty of all vehicles – except for Grandpa and Mario’s food truck – and it was scattered with multiple tables. There were at least thirty people milling about – none of whom I recognized – and they were all dressed in Star Wars costumes.
“What is this?” I asked, dumbfounded.
“It’s your personalized Valentine’s Day,” Lexie said, hopping out of the car and pulling off her coat to reveal the ankle-length white dress Princess Leia wore in the first Star Wars movie.
Headlines & Deadlines (An Avery Shaw Mystery Book 7) Page 26
