by Mel Spenser
"I knew it! He gives me the creeps." She pointed her clippers at Nick. "It's like one of those stalkers I saw on TV." She turned and started walking slowly toward the house. "Well, I better get inside. My shows are going to start soon. Tell Andy that Bernice said hi. Nice to meet you, Nick."
"It was a pleasure, Bernice," he called to her retreating back.
Nick went to the gate and let himself in. Henry came out of the back door and greeted him. They walked into the house together.
"Andy?" Nick called, setting his laptop on the kitchen island.
"In here."
Nick walked down the central hall to Andy's office. He was sitting at his desk doing some sort of paperwork.
"Bernice says hi."
Andy looked up and smiled. "So you got to meet Bernice. She can be a character."
"She said that she's seen Lee hanging around."
Andy stopped what he was doing and looked back up at Nick.
"Did you get hold of Briggs today?" Andy asked.
"I tried several times. Couldn't get through. I don't know what the Hell's going on."
Nick could see fear flash across Andy's face. He walked around the desk to stand behind Andy's chair and put his hands on Andy's shoulders.
"Hey, baby. It's going to be okay." Nick leaned over and kissed him on the top of his head.
"I hope so."
Chapter 24
"Nick," the receptionist said. "There's someone at the front desk to see you."
"Do you know what they want?" Nick wasn't expecting anyone today. He listened to the receptionist ask the person.
"He says that he's from the police department."
Huh? Nick couldn't imagine why the police would want to talk to him. He especially wondered why they would be coming to his workplace.
"I'll be right out," he said.
Nick went to the reception area. Through the glass doors the only person he saw was a nondescript man in regular clothes. The guy was standing with his back to Nick, looking at the artwork on the wall. When Nick went through the door, the man turned to face him.
"Mr. Marshall," he said, putting out his hand. "I'm Detective Sparks. I'm here to talk about the Briggs case."
They shook hands.
"Let's go to my office."
Nick led the way to his office. Once there, he shut the door and gestured for Sparks to have a seat. Walking around his desk, Nick looked out the window and down seven stories. He could see Andy's car in the library parking lot next door.
"Mr. Marshall," Sparks began. "Did you know a private investigator named James Briggs?"
"Did I know him?" Nick asked. "What do you mean, did?"
Sparks looked at him, surprised. "Haven't you been watching the news, Mr. Marshall? Or reading the newspapers? James Briggs was murdered outside of his office last week. He was bludgeoned to death with a jack handle."
"What?" Nick's eyes went wide and he stared at the detective sitting on the other side of his desk. Sparks could tell by the look on Nick's face that he truly didn't know what had happened to Briggs.
"I've been in Cancun for the last couple of weeks. I just got back last Friday," Nick said. He added, "Yeah, I knew him. I had hired him before I left for vacation to look for somebody. We were supposed to meet when I got back."
Sparks looked at his notes. "You were having him look for a man named Lee Sims." Sparks looked up at him. "Briggs had left Sims' case folder on top of his assistant's desk before he left his office the night he was murdered. According to the information in the folder, and his computer files, your case was the only one he had worked on during the last week before he was killed."
"What are you saying?" Nick asked.
"Based on Briggs notes and other evidence, we have reason to believe that Sims may have been responsible for his death."
Nick looked at him, dumbstruck.
"A lot of us at the station knew Briggs. We had worked with him on several cases," Sparks said. "He left a wife and an infant son. We have a particular interest in finding his killer."
Nick could only stare at him. Briggs was dead? And they think Lee did it? Not only was the guy crazy, he was dangerous.
"Mr. Marshall. I'm coming to you specifically because you were the one who had the contract with Briggs. We know about Sims' obsession with your friend, Andy Griffin. We know that Sims has attacked him in the past and that there is a current restraining order against him. But I need for you to understand something."
"What is it?" Nick managed to ask.
"Before his death, Briggs was able to accumulate some very alarming information about Sims. From Briggs' information, we believe that Sims is disturbed and is quite capable of murder. In fact, Sims is our only suspect," Sparks continued, "Briggs was able to find out where Sims worked and lived. However, no one has seen Sims in several days. He seems to have disappeared. We don't know where he is."
"Mr. Marshall, I need for you and Mr. Griffin to take precautions until we can locate Sims."
Chapter 25
"I really don't think this is a good time for me to be going to Dallas for that presentation." Nick was on his cell, talking to Andy. He had forgotten his laptop and had to go back to Andy's house to get it on his the way to the airport.
"You really don't have any choice. It's your job. It's what you do." Andy was a little distracted. He was at work, sitting at his desk trying to tally reference statistics.
"I don't like leaving you alone until the police can track down Lee."
"You're only going to be gone for the night. You'll be back by tomorrow evening. I'm just going between work and home. What could happen?"
"Well, maybe…" Nick looked out the window. "Man, it looks like a storm's coming."
"There is. We've been following the weather radar here. Another tropical storm is heading our way. They are expecting the usual power outages and flooding. You should be up over it before it hits."
Nick gathered the things he needed for his trip as he talked. "Hey, your cell phone is on the kitchen counter."
"I'd wondered where it was. I thought that I'd lost it," Andy said.
"It's right here with your sunglass case."
Nick hurried to get out the door, but he took the time to make sure that the security system was set. He walked out of the house, double-checking the lock as he went. He made certain that the privacy gate was locked after he went through it and then headed down the driveway to the airport cab that was waiting for him by the curb.
"I want you guys to walk out to your cars as a group tonight." Nick glanced up at the sky. "I want you to pay special attention when you drive home." He juggled his overnight bag in one hand. He was trying to keep his computer bag strap from sliding down his arm as he opened the cab door. "I want you to call me and check in at eight, got that?"
"Yes, dear."
"Always a smartass." Nick smiled.
As soon as he got off the phone with Andy, his cell rang again. He answered it while climbing into the cab. It was work calling him with some last minute information for his trip. He was still talking on his cell when the cab pulled away from the curb. If he'd looked back at the house, he would have seen a red-haired man slip through the driveway's wrought iron gate right before it closed.
***
Nick looked up at the sky as the cab headed toward the airport. The weather was certainly taking a turn for the worse. From high on an overpass, he could see the storm front heading toward the city. He hoped they'd be able to take off before it hit.
His cell rang. It was work calling again. "Hey, Nick, I wanted to catch you before you left. The presentation has been delayed until next month."
"What happened?"
"One of the guys from their company had to go to the hospital today. They're not sure yet, but they think he had a heart attack."
"Man. That's too bad."
"They're going to delay the presentation. So there's no need for you to go now."
"Thanks for calling me. I was just on my
way to the airport. I wasn't too thrilled about flying in this weather," Nick said.
"The way it always floods around here when it rains, it won't be much fun driving in it either."
When Nick got off the phone, he told the driver to take him back to Andy's house. They took the next exit so they could turn around and head back. When they got back on the freeway, Nick had a clear view of the downtown area. Coming back into the city, he could tell that the storm had hit. He tried to call Andy at the library, but the phones were out. He remembered that Andy had forgotten his cell phone that morning, leaving it on the kitchen counter.
Traffic started backing up on the freeway the closer they got to downtown and the storm. They listened to the radio in the cab. There were already flash flood warnings for Houston at the underpasses. That explained the freeway backing up. Power outages had caused a lot of traffic lights to go out. There was nothing they could do but wait it out and maybe try a surface street when they got closer to downtown.
Meanwhile, he kept trying to contact Andy at work.
Chapter 26
Andy came into his room from the bathroom. It had taken him forever to get home because of the flooding. He'd had to take several different side streets when his way home was blocked by standing water.
He had just gotten out of the shower and he was rubbing a towel over his wet hair. He paused to look at the answering machine and the caller ID. It was just about time to call and check in with Nick. He smiled to himself when he pictured Nick having a fit if he didn't call. He went to his dresser and took out some flannel sleep pants. He leaned over pulling them on and said, "You about ready to eat, Henry?"
He straightened up and glanced into the dresser mirror. Lee was sitting in the chair across the room.
"Hello, Andy. Miss me?"
Without hesitating, Andy turned and started running back toward the safety of the bathroom. Lee shot out of the chair and tackled him before he could get to the door. They both hit the floor hard and Andy got the wind knocked out of him. They lay face-down on the floor, with Lee stretched out on top of Andy's prone body.
"You've been a hard boy to get to, Andy," Lee said in his ear. "Seems like your new boyfriend is over here all the time."
Lee rolled him over and sat on his chest. Pinning Andy between his legs, he rested his knees on his arms. Andy still hadn't caught his breath from getting the wind knocked out of him, and his lungs were constricted from Lee sitting on top of him.
"Well, he's not here tonight, is he?" Lee looked down at him. "It's just you and me. We have the whole evening ahead of us."
"Get off of me, you crazy fucker." Andy managed to wheeze out.
Lee slapped him hard across the face. Then grimaced and said, "Now look what you made me do." He rubbed his thumb over the handprint he'd left on Andy's face. "If you would just do as you're told, we could be happy together."
Lee leaned over and started kissing him roughly. Andy struggled, turning his head from side to side. His resistance obviously made Lee angry and he slapped Andy again. This time it was so hard that Andy tasted blood.
"Come on, Andy. Don't be like this."
He stood up, dragging Andy to his feet. Lee held him tight, pinning his arms to his sides and started giving him wet, open mouthed kisses all over his face and neck. Andy tried to knee the man, but hit him hard in the thigh instead. Lee grunted and then punched Andy in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain. Lee laid his hand on Andy's back. He leaned over with his mouth next to Andy's ear and whispered, "Do you realize just how much it pisses me off when you resist me?"
He rubbed Andy's back in a circular motion. "You know, we could have been so good together," he said tenderly. Then his face twisted in rage and he shouted, "But you had to go ruin it by getting involved with that fucking asshole."
Lee started dragging Andy out the bedroom door. "Let's go make up for lost time."
Andy tried to dig his heels in, but couldn't get any resistance in his bare feet. He clutched at the door frame as they were going through it. Lee pounded his hand with the side of a fist to make him let go.
"Henry!" Andy yelled.
"Oh, Henry won't be helping you out tonight, Andy."
"You fucking bastard! What did you do to my dog?"
Not answering, Lee yanked him down the hall and shoved him into one of the guest bedrooms.
"I like this bed better than the one in your room. It's got posts," Lee said as he picked Andy up and threw him on the bed. Andy tried to scramble away on the other side, clutching his damaged hand against his body.
Lee reached over the bed and grabbed Andy by the wrist, then jerked him back, twisting his elbow with a dull pop. Andy felt a searing pain before he blacked out.
Chapter 27
Nick pulled in to the driveway and parked next to Andy's car. The first thing that he noticed was that the gate to the backyard was ajar. When he got out the car, he heard Henry barking. It sounded like it was coming from the back, but it was muffled.
He frowned and walked into the back yard. He realized that Henry was in the brick pool shed. That couldn't be good. He went over to the shed to let the dog out, but someone had wedged the door shut with a crowbar. He felt a sickening dread in his gut at the sight of it.
He glanced up at the back of the house as he yanked the crowbar out of the door frame. The light was on in Andy's bedroom and everything seemed okay. But he couldn't shake the pervasive feeling of alarm.
When he wrenched the door open, Henry shot past him and ran straight to the back door.
***
By the time Nick got to the house, Henry had disappeared. Then he heard a man's blood-curdling scream amid Henry's snarling and growling. He ran to the foyer and looked up at the landing. Nick saw that Henry had sunk his teeth in a red-haired man's thigh and was twisting and pulling his head. The man swung at Henry and came down hard on the dog's head with his fist. Henry gave a sharp yip and backed off. Nick took the stairs two at a time, clutching the crowbar.
Henry was backing up and barking sharply at Lee. Nick tried to get around him, but Henry placed his body between the two men, baring his teeth at Lee.
Lee looked at Nick in disbelief. "You're supposed to be out of town! I watched you get into the airport cab."
"My plans changed, motherfucker." Nick wanted to kill the bastard with his bare hands. He remembered what Eric had said about Lee not fighting back. Throwing the crowbar aside, Nick stepped around Henry and charged at Lee. Nick pushed him roughly in the chest with both hands, making him stagger back.
"You get off on stalking people, do ya? You sick piece of shit." Nick kept pushing him back until he ran into the wall.
Years of abuse at the hands of gay bashers rushed back to Nick in a flash of memories. Lee standing before him was the culmination of all the bullies who thought that they could terrorize someone smaller than them. Nick had never been so angry.
When Nick began hitting him, Lee started behaving exactly as Eric had described. He put his hands up to protect himself, but didn't fight back. At some point Lee lost consciousness and slid down the wall
As soon as Lee was splayed on the floor, Henry positioned himself between the two men again. Henry stood rigid, looming over Lee's prone body and watched the man intensely while Nick stood looking at the two, trying to catch his breath.
Where was Andy?!
Nick went to Andy's room. Empty. He came back out into the hall. Henry was standing a few feet away from Lee, looking through the doorway to one of the spare bedrooms.
"Andy?!" There was no answer and he was almost overcome with panic. With a feeling of dread, he placed his shaking hand on the door and pushed it the rest of the way open. Andy lay on the bed on his side facing away from the door with one wrist tied to the headboard. His other arm lay at a bizarre angle behind him. He was very still, and Nick almost threw up.
"Andy?" It took him two strides to get to the bed and he placed his hand on Andy's back. He could feel Andy breathing. Wit
h a frantic cry, Nick untied his wrist, rolled him over and wrapped both arms around Andy. He looked down at Andy's face and bruised mouth. Andy was unconscious but alive. With shaking hands, he removed his cell from his pocket and dialed 911. Nick rocked Andy in his arms and sobbed. Within minutes he heard sirens in the distance and hoped they were coming to help Andy.
