by Vivien Chien
My back tire was flat! I swore a string of profanities that would make any sailor proud as I rounded the car. Correction, all four tires were flat! When I bent down to do a closer inspection of the tires, I noticed long slash marks in each of them. My finger traced the slash mark for a minute before reality set in.
With renewed fear, I got back in the car and turned it off, rushing inside, still clutching the note in my hand.
I called the police department and told them about the note I’d found and the state of my tires. The dispatcher asked if I was in immediate danger.
“No, I don’t think so,” I replied, my voice shaky. “I’m in my apartment and the door is locked. I think the person already left.”
“Okay, ma’am, someone will be out right away. Just hang tight and stay inside.”
Kikko, sensing my tension, came over and put a paw on my leg. A tiny whine escaped her throat. I leaned down and gave her a pat on the head. “It’s okay, we’re okay,” I told her … more for my benefit than for hers.
I inspected the note again.
Then I remembered Megan. She was expecting me. I sent a text letting her know what had happened. Tires slashed. Cops coming. Can’t make it to the bar. Don’t tell Adam.
I paced.
A few minutes later, there was a knock at my door. I looked out the peephole before opening it. I could see a uniformed officer standing there looking around. He was dressed in a bomber jacket and a black beanie hat covering his head.
I opened the door. He was a little bit older than me and had a chubby face with a five o’clock shadow. He was not amused.
“You called about the tires?” His facial muscles barely moved as he talked.
“Yes, come in, Officer,” I said, stepping to the side.
“Can you tell me what happened?” he asked, glancing around the apartment. Soundlessly, Kikko came up to him and sniffed his boot. The cop glanced down at the dog. “Does he bite?”
“No … and it’s a she.”
“Right,” he said. “Go on.”
“I was heading to the bar to meet some friends, and when I got to my car, there was this note on my windshield.” I handed the slip of paper to him. “And all four of my tires were slashed. I didn’t notice the tires right away, I tried putting the car in reverse and that’s when I realized something was wrong.”
“I see,” he said, with little emotion. He removed his leather gloves and whipped out a small notebook. Pulling a pen from his breast pocket, he jotted down some notes.
There was a strong knock at the door. The sound made me jump and Kikko howled, circling around my legs.
The cop eyeballed me. “Are you expecting anybody?”
“No.” I went for the door.
He held up a hand to stop me. “I’ll answer.” He stuffed his notebook and pen back in his pocket.
When he opened the door, Adam stood staring back at us. The expression on his face was familiar and I knew that somehow, I was the one in trouble.
“Detective,” the cop said with surprise. “I didn’t realize you were on duty tonight.”
“I’m not,” he said, his eyes traveling past him and landing on me. “I found out about this through a mutual friend.” He was talking to me, not the cop.
I groaned. Megan.
“Did you … did you want to take over?” the cop asked with apprehension. His eyes shifted between Adam and me, unclear what was going on.
“No, you go ahead and pretend like I’m not even here,” he said coolly. “I’ll be sitting over here on the couch, keeping Kikko entertained.”
* * *
After the cop left, Adam and I sat speechless for a few minutes, the dog in between us on the couch.
I couldn’t take it anymore. The only sound was the dog panting, and it was driving me nuts. “I’m the victim here,” I blurted out.
He clenched his jaw. “We just had a discussion about this yesterday. Are you snooping again?”
“What would give you that idea?”
“The note … you know, the note that someone left on your car right after they slashed all four of your tires.”
I sat back on the couch, putting my head back and closing my eyes. “That is gonna cost me a fortune.”
“That’s what you’re worried about?” he asked, his voice climbing an octave. “How much the damn tires are going to cost?”
“Well, yeah,” I replied. “I don’t have the money for that. I’m going to have to put it on my credit card and it’s almost maxed out.”
He snorted, throwing his hands in the air. “Unbelievable. Someone leaves a threatening note on your car and you’re worried about your credit card bill.”
“Hey, if you owed as much as I do on your MasterCard, you’d understand.”
“Lana…” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I need you to take this seriously. This isn’t a joke.”
“Okay, fine,” I folded my arms over my chest, tantrum-style. “Are you happy now?”
“No,” he said firmly. “And I don’t feel comfortable leaving you here by yourself. When does Megan get home from work?”
“Usually around three a.m.,” I said.
“Well, we have some time then, don’t we?” he said, settling back down on the couch.
“Wanna watch Gilmore Girls with me?” I asked innocently. “I have half a bag of chips and some salsa … we could—”
He glared at me. “No, I do not want to watch Gilmore Girls. What I want is for you to tell me what you’ve been up to.”
“But I’m at the part where Rory and—”
“Lana.”
He had his detective voice, and I knew that I’d pushed too far. But I couldn’t tell him everything. If I told him about Carmen, then he would look into it right away and she might freak out and clam up. I needed to stall until I had a chance to meet her boyfriend, Ryan. Then once I had more info, I could turn her and her slimy boyfriend in to the cops. “Fine … I’ll tell you … but only if you answer some questions for me.”
“You’re not exactly in a position to make a deal.”
I crossed my arms. “We can sit here all night in silence if you want. I don’t mind.” He wasn’t the only one who could be stubborn.
A few minutes went by. I inspected my cuticles while I waited. He shifted uncomfortably next to me, shaking his leg as he weighed his options. “All right, I’ll give in just this once.”
Once I started talking, his leg had stopped shaking and he remained absolutely still, listening carefully to everything I had to say.
I went through the story about running into Carmen, but left out her name and any info about the missing money. For the purposes of my story, she was just some girl with brown hair that I had failed to get any information on. I did admit to asking her about Brandon and recognizing her from snooping around the plaza.
When I was finished, I expected a lecture about the dangers of approaching random people about the case, but instead, he asked, “What do you want to know?”
“Do you think this has something to do with the casino? It has to, right?”
“Possibly. We’ve investigated the casino angle. I’m assuming that you sent Esther Chin to me.”
I nodded.
“We’ve been tracing Brandon’s whereabouts and now that we know he came into a considerable amount of money that night, it adds a different angle to the investigation.”
“Do you think this woman could be involved?”
“Hard to say. I’d definitely like to talk with her if I can find out who she is.”
My hands started to sweat as I thought about it. Hopefully Carmen would get in touch with me soon so I could tell Adam the real story.
He continued without me having to prompt it. “Also, from what I’ve learned so far, your friend Isabelle wasn’t aware that he was gambling away their life savings.”
“No,” I confirmed. “She had no idea where he was running off to all the time. She thought maybe there was someone else.”
&nbs
p; “She may not have been far off.”
I gasped. Could he really have been cheating on her on top of everything else?
“We’re still tracking down some leads on that subject. As far as the money is concerned, we haven’t found it yet, but we don’t think it was stolen so much as Brandon may have hidden it somewhere. The money being missing and the murder might just be a coincidence.”
“What do you think happened then?”
“Your friend fell … which means it either happened on its own, or she was pushed. Now, if you ask me, I say she was pushed. At the force she hit her head, I doubt it happened without help.”
“And…”
“And I don’t know, Lana,” he said with frustration. “They were killed together. His ex-wife Constance, whom he cheated on multiple times, is awfully adamant about getting her hands on that store. The legal documents … well, I just wonder why exactly nothing was updated. Then you have his second wife, Marcia … she seems to be a very … passionate soul, doesn’t she? Almost a little too much considering her circumstances.”
Passionate. What did he mean by that?
“All of this leads me to wonder … what did this guy have on these women to make them so…”
“Passionate?” I spat.
He squeezed my leg. “Lana … I didn’t mean it like that…”
“Then how did you mean it?” I asked, moving my leg.
Adam sighed. He rubbed the caps of his knees with his hands. “Well, Marcia was still willing to stick her neck out for him with a considerable amount of money. Don’t you think that’s a little strange considering he married another woman so quickly?”
“You think she did it then?”
He shook his head. “Not necessarily. We’re waiting on tollbooth footage so we can compare her timing on the road with the timing of the murders. It’s taking a little while for them to get back to us with the photos.”
“But if you had the photos, then you would know whether she was guilty or not?”
“She drove to Cleveland … but so did Constance.” He put an arm around me, pulling me toward him. He kissed the top of my head. “I don’t want you to think about this anymore, okay? Don’t go back to the casino searching for this woman … whoever she is. Give me a better description of her and I’ll have one of the guys look into it.”
I had to stall on the description. I mean, brown hair, brown eyes, and short was pretty vague anyway, but I didn’t want him to start drilling me on specifics. I pouted. “It’s been a really long night, can we go over it tomorrow?” I pointed at the TV. “Can we please just watch one episode?”
He sighed in defeat. “Fine. Just one. But don’t tell the guys.”
CHAPTER
22
Adam ended up staying the night … on the couch. After our long discussion, neither of us was able to keep our eyes open any longer, and I suggested he just crash at my place. Having a detective in the house also seemed like a bonus.
When I woke up in the morning, I could hear Megan and Adam chatting away in the dining nook. I also heard the clinking of cups and spoons. And coffee … I smelled coffee.
I checked myself in the mirror and found my hair to be akin to that of a troll doll. I tried to flatten my crown the best I could, threw on a hooded sweatshirt, and headed out to see what was going on, Kikko dancing around my heels.
They both turned and stopped talking when I entered the room.
I looked between the two of them. “Am I interrupting something?” I could feel a chip forming on my shoulder.
Megan laughed. “Nope, just talking about our little Lana.” She turned her back to me, facing the coffeemaker, and poured me a cup. She brought it over to the table and placed a spoon in front of me.
“Thanks,” I mumbled. I sat down, sliding the mug closer.
Adam snickered. “Is this how you are every morning?”
I sucked in my cheeks. “I didn’t sleep well.”
“Good thing you’re off today,” Megan replied, sitting down with us. “You can go back to sleep if you want.”
“I’m fine,” I said as I put cream and sugar in my coffee.
Adam raised his eyebrows. “Here she goes with her ‘fine’ stuff again.”
I sipped my coffee, ignoring his comment.
“Well, I’d better get going. I have to stop by the precinct today.” He chugged the rest of his coffee. “Can you manage to stay out of trouble for one day?”
“Yeah,” I murmured.
He got up and kissed me on the forehead. “Great. Now try to find someone who can deal with your tires on a Sunday. We can talk about that woman’s description later.”
After he left, Megan asked. “What woman’s description?”
I glared at her, ignoring her question. “What was all that about?”
“What was what?”
“What were you two talking about?”
“Oh stop,” she said, waving a hand at me. “We were really talking about you.”
“And…”
“And he was telling me how much he likes you…”
“I see.” Tapping my nails on the side of my mug, I scrutinized her as she looked at me innocently. “What did he say specifically?”
Megan pursed her lips. “Specifically he said that he cares for you a great deal and doesn’t want anything to happen to you. Then he called you stubborn, and I agreed with him, and that’s when you walked in.”
“I’m not stubborn.”
“So other than being cranky, what are you going to do today?” Megan asked, changing the subject. “Want me to help you find someone to tow your car?”
I groaned. “I can’t believe they slashed all four tires. Don’t you think that’s a bit overkill? They could have slashed one and it would have been just fine.”
“Who do you think it was?”
“Well, we were at the casino yesterday.” I said, letting that statement hang in the air.
“You think it was our new informant? Or maybe an angry boyfriend?” Megan got up and put some bagels in the toaster. “You want one?”
“Sure.” All I’d eaten the night before were the tortilla chips. The tire slashing kind of put a cramp in my night.
While we waited for the bagels, I filled Megan in on my conversation with Adam, including the Carmen cover-up, which I was still feeling guilty about.
Megan chewed on her bagel, thinking it over. “You know,” she said, waving the bagel at me. “What if it was the boyfriend guy? Maybe she told him about you questioning her and he got mad.”
“I had the same thought, but I felt like that might be too obvious. I mean, is she that stupid? Is he? We were just talking to her earlier that day. She would have to know that I would suspect one of them.”
“We’ve both seen dumber things happen.”
“True. And she swore that he’s not that kind of person.” I made sarcastic air quotes as I said it. “But people are always capable of surprising you and she may not know him as well as she thinks. I mean, take for instance what Brandon was hiding from Isabelle. She had no idea that he was involved in this gambling scam. And who knows what else she didn’t know.” I was thinking specifically about Adam making references to Brandon possibly being involved with other women.
“Well, whoever it was, they’re a little on the crazy side. Do you think maybe you should back off? What if this person comes after you personally next time? I think you should have told him the truth about Carmen, at least.”
“Not a chance. I can’t just let this person go free. If I walked away now, I couldn’t live with myself … not if there’s something I can do about it. And besides, Carmen doesn’t strike me as the type of person to come clean with the cops. If he goes after her, the boyfriend could take off, and then we’ll never know if she was telling us the truth.”
“Well, whatever happens, I’ve got your back.”
My cell phone rang, making both of us jump. The number on the screen told me it was Rina. “I wonder what she
wants.”
“Hey, Lana, I hope I’m not disturbing your Sunday,” Rina said when I answered.
“No, I’m just lounging around. What’s up?”
“I’m back at Izzy’s apartment, and I wondered if you could come by and keep me company while I finish packing up her things. Constance left already, and to be honest with you, this place kind of creeps me out.” She paused. “I don’t mind doing all the work myself, but having you here would make me feel better.”
“Yeah, I’d love to keep you company. It’s not a problem. Can you give me an hour?”
“Sure. I’ll text you the address,” she said. “See you soon.”
“What’s going on?” Megan asked.
“Rina asked if I would come hang out with her at the apartment while she packs up Isabelle’s things. Do you mind if I borrow your car?”
“No, go ahead. It’ll give me a chance to work on my blanket. But hold on.” She ran into her room and came back out carrying a Home Depot bag. “Can you put this in my car? I keep forgetting to bring it with me.”
I peeked in the bag and found the new metallic-blue flashlight and mini tool kit that she’d purchased on our last trip to the store. “Are you going to buy everything in blue now?”
“What can I say? Your hair inspires me.”
“Great,” I said, getting up from the table. “I’m gonna call a tow truck place to take my car before I go.”
The tow truck guy said to give him about an hour. So I got ready and walked the dog while I waited. As promised, a tow truck with a flatbed pulled into our parking lot an hour after I’d made the call. I threw on a coat and ran outside.
I waved the truck driver down and he stopped and got out.
“My car is the black one,” I told him, pointing.
He went over and examined the car. After walking around the entire vehicle and crouching by the tires a few times, he gave a long whistle. “Wow, someone really did you good, didn’t they?”
“Is this going to cost me a fortune?”
“Hmm, I’ll see if I can find you some decent used tires, but it won’t get done today. I could probably have you finished up in a day or two. Does that work?”
