Marked for Murder

by Colleen Helme

  Dimples thought that was an understatement, but he refrained from saying it out loud. “How did you know he was here?”

  “I went to see his ex-wife earlier, and she told me he got this building in the settlement. She gave me the address, so I thought I’d stop by and see if he was here.”

  Dimples’s brows rose. Why I hadn’t called him?

  I hurried to explain. “With your wedding so close, I didn’t want to bother you, so Ramos said he’d come with me.”

  Dimples glanced at Ramos, and his jaw tightened. It upset him that I’d gone to Ramos, especially when he was the one whose wedding had been threatened. If anything, he deserved to know before Ramos.

  “Uh… I wasn’t even sure you’d be at work today,” I continued, hoping he’d cut me some slack. Having him mad at me wasn’t something I liked and, given the circumstances, it didn’t seem fair. “But… I’m glad you were. Thanks for coming. What should we do now?”

  With a sigh, he let go of his anger and answered. “First, I need to document this so I can file a police report. Do you know where he might have gone?”

  “No. I don’t know anything else about him.”

  “Okay.” He motioned toward the police officer who’d come with him, and told him to call in a team to document the incident. After he’d taken care of that, he turned to me and Ramos. “I need to make a note of some details, and then you can go.”

  While I gave him Olivia’s name, and the name of her company, Ramos wandered over to the computer. He was itching to turn it on, but he didn’t think Dimples would approve. He did it anyway, but it was password protected, and he couldn’t get inside.

  Dimples glanced up to find Ramos at the computer and hustled toward him. “What are you doing?”

  “We need to find this guy. He tried to kill us. I thought there might be something on his computer, but I can’t get in.”

  “I’ll take it from here.” Dimples glanced over his shoulder at the police officer, thinking it wasn’t a good idea for the police to know Ramos was involved with this. “You should go. I’ll get my people on this and let you know if I find anything.”

  My heart swelled with gratitude that Dimples wanted to protect Ramos. “Thanks. I’ll stop by the precinct in an hour or so.”

  Dimples’s brows rose. He hadn’t meant that I should go, just Ramos. His lips flattened that I’d misunderstood… probably on purpose. “Okay. Be careful out there.”

  Oops. Not sure what to do, I glanced at Ramos. He tilted his head toward the door. With a sigh, I followed him out. Guilt that I had turned to the bad side churned my stomach. I knew I should stay and help Dimples, but, to be honest, I wanted to get out of there. Besides standing around, there wasn’t much I could do anyway. I just hoped he wasn’t too mad at me.

  Ramos was thinking that Dimples had sounded upset, but I shouldn’t take it too hard. He was sure the detective knew his limitations, since he had to follow the rules. Ramos didn’t have that problem. Now he needed to find Beal, and he had an idea of where to start.

  “You do?” I asked, surprised.

  “Yeah.” He smiled. “Remember Jerry? Maybe we should pay him another visit. Beal might have a condo in that place after all. Now that we have his name, we might get lucky.”

  I nodded. “You’re right. Great thinking.”

  Standing beside the motorcycle, I put the call through to Jerry, and he picked right up. After exchanging pleasantries, I told him the reason for my call. “I have a name, and I wondered if we could come over and check your condo’s building registry.”

  “Sure. I’ll meet you outside at our table.”

  “Great. Thanks.” We said our goodbyes and disconnected.

  After relaying his answer to Ramos, I slipped on my helmet and climbed on the motorcycle behind him. The ride didn’t take near as long as I wanted, but it was enough to help clear my head. This might be the break we needed. We’d find him and… then what? Ramos could kill him? No, that wasn’t going to happen. But it would be nice to scare him a little before calling Dimples to come and arrest him.

  At the food court, we approached the table, finding Jerry watching for us. He’d figured when I’d said “we” that I meant the scary looking dude, and he tried to hide his discomfort as we approached.

  “Hey Shelby. Good to see you. So what’s going on? Did something else happen? How did you find out his name?” Jerry wanted to know all the details and had been excited that I’d called him. He’d been wondering if anything more had happened and couldn’t wait to hear my story, thinking it was just as good as reading a book or watching a TV show. But this was even better because it was real.

  That brought a big grin to my lips. I caught that Ramos didn’t want to go over the whole story again, but how could I disappoint Jerry when he was so helpful? “A lot has happened since the potted plant incident.”

  I told him about the restaurant and the threats to Dimples’s wedding, then wrapped it all up with the connection to an old case, along with finding the room holding the wall of photos from which we’d just escaped.

  “This guy’s crazy,” Jerry said. “What was the case about?”

  “His wife was a client of mine, and I caught him cheating on her. He lost everything, so I think he blames me for it.”

  “What’s the guy’s name?”

  “Jameson Beal.”

  “Got it. Come on, let’s go inside, and I’ll ask the manager about him.” Jerry was thinking that he’d have to come up with a story to tell her, but that shouldn’t be too hard. He let us into the building, and we followed him to the manager’s office on the first floor.

  “Hi Nadine,” he began, giving her a friendly smile. “I think there’s been a mix-up. I got a package earlier that was meant for someone named Jameson Beal. Is he a person who lives here?”

  “Let me check,” she said, happy to help Jerry. He was one of her favorites, because he was so nice and polite. He was also one of the few men who knew how to treat a woman, and she always enjoyed the attention he gave her.

  She got to work on her computer and pulled up the directory. “How do you spell the last name?”

  Since Jerry had no idea, he glanced my way and I answered. “B-E-A-L.”

  That was the first she’d taken a good look at me, and her brows drew together. Was Jerry doing this for me? Who was I? Just then, Ramos stepped to my side, and her heart kicked up a notch. She drank in his perfect face and body like she was dying of thirst.

  I refrained from rolling my eyes and repeated the letters a second time since I knew she’d totally spaced it. She jerked her attention back to the computer and typed in the name. “Uh… I’m not finding a Jameson Beal. Sorry.”

  Jerry’s lips turned down with disappointment, but I caught the other name she’d found. It was Jason Beal, and he lived in number eight-twenty-two on the eighth floor. It could be an alias for Jameson, and I couldn’t help the happy smile that spread across my face. “Okay. Thanks anyway,” I said, tugging Jerry away.

  He sent Nadine a nod and a smile over his shoulder and followed me out of her office to the elevator. As I pushed the call button, he whispered, “What’s going on?”

  “Uh… I just got a premonition that we need to check out the eighth floor, number eight-twenty-two. Isn’t that the same floor as the condo with the potted plant?” At his nod, I continued. “Another person there has the last name of Beal, but he goes by Jason. It’s close enough that I think it’s worth checking out.”

  Jerry nodded, amazed that I’d gotten so much from her. No doubt about it. I was a real psychic. We stepped into the elevator, but refrained from speaking since there were a couple of people already inside. Luckily they weren’t women, so I didn’t have to listen to all the ooos and ahhs about Ramos.

  We disembarked and followed the hall until we stood in front of number eight-twenty-two. It wasn’t too far from the condo with the plant, so it was possible that they knew each other. This had to be the link.

  “Now
what?” Jerry asked.

  I had no idea, so I glanced at Ramos. His lips twisted with amusement, and he shrugged. “We knock and see if he’s home.”

  “Oh right,” Jerry said. He could picture Ramos shoving the man inside once the door was opened. “Why don’t you knock, and I’ll stand over there out of the way.”

  I hid a smile. Jerry was a perceptive man, and I liked him for it.

  Ramos knocked and we waited. He knocked again, but there was no response. “Guess nobody’s home.” With that, he pulled his lock-pick set from his pocket and got to work. A second later he had the door opened, and he cautiously slipped inside.

  “Uh… I’ll stay out here,” Jerry said, uncomfortable with the whole breaking and entering thing. “Just make it quick.”

  I nodded before following Ramos, allowing the door to click shut behind me. The condo was a lot like the other one, a spacious living room area with tall windows and a gas fireplace. The open kitchen stood on the other side of the room with a granite counter top separating the space.

  Ramos looked through the mail sitting on the counter, while I glanced at the framed photographs on the mantle. My heart jumped as I recognized the woman in the photo. It was Olivia Beal. Beside her stood a young man in a cap and gown, and next to him was Jameson. Jason had to be their son.

  Maybe Jameson lived here, and it was in his son’s name because of the divorce? I hurried to the short hall and found two doors. The first door opened into a master bedroom with a huge closet and bathroom. I couldn’t tell if this was Jameson’s room or Jason’s. A receipt sat on the dresser, so I picked it up. It was from a dry-cleaning service and had Jason’s signature on it. That meant the second bedroom must be Jameson’s.

  Steeling my nerves, I opened the door. A large desk with a computer took up the space along the wall. A filing cabinet stood on one side, along with several binders. Most of the papers on the desk had Jason’s name on them. So if Jameson ever stayed here, it meant he had to sleep on the couch.

  Ramos came down the hall to join me, and I filled him in. “It looks like I need to talk to Jason. He might know where his father is.”

  Ramos nodded. “You should probably involve the detective with that. I think you’ll have more success. It might also help you get back on his good side.”

  I couldn’t fault his thinking on that. “Okay. I’ll let him know.”

  “Let’s go.”

  In the hall, Jerry let out a relieved breath to see us. “Find anything?”

  I nodded and told him it looked like Jason was Jameson’s son. As we stepped inside the elevator, I continued. “I need to talk to Jason, but I’ll probably get my detective friend to help with that.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Jerry agreed. He was grateful we hadn’t been caught, and totally relieved that I was going to do this the right way. Since I was a PI, he knew I did some unconventional things, but he worried that the big guy was a bad influence on me. Hopefully, I knew where to draw the line.

  I smiled. If he only knew the truth… that it was a lot worse than he thought. Balancing between helping a mob boss and the police was tricky business, but I always tried to stay on the right side of things. It was confusing at times, especially when the bad guys were supposed to be the good guys. Still, it touched me that he cared.

  On the first floor, he walked out with us. “It was good to see you again. Uh… be sure and tell me what happens. Okay?” He wished he’d been more helpful, but at least we’d found a link to the building.

  “Sure,” I said. “And if you see anything, don’t hesitate to give me a call.” That made him happy, and he gave me a big hug.

  “Here’s my number too,” Ramos said, handing him his card. “In case you lose hers.” Jerry’s eyes widened, and he wondered if that was a veiled threat. With a good natured nod, he took the card, thinking it might come in handy to have a strong guy like Ramos on his side.

  We said our goodbyes, and I followed Ramos outside.

  “I think he has a crush on you,” Ramos said, thinking he’d given me a pretty long hug for someone he’d just met.

  “Hey, we faced death together. It’s different.”

  He couldn’t dispute that. It had definitely brought us closer together. In fact, the only times he’d ever had a kiss from me was when he’d saved my life. Since that was the case, he probably deserved a kiss right now.

  I snickered and shook my head. “Nah. I don’t think it was quite that life-threatening.”

  He huffed out a breath, thinking it had been worth a try, even if I got the better part of the deal.

  “What do you mean?”

  He lifted his brow, thinking that I’d seen him without a shirt. Had I forgotten that part already?

  “Oh… right… not hardly.” My face flushed, so I turned away to focus on the shops. Right in front of us stood a t-shirt shop, and I hesitated, looking at the display through the window. “Hey, maybe we should get you a new shirt.”

  Ramos paused to consider it. His shoulder holster chafed against his skin, and he knew it would be red and sore by the time he got home. Besides that, with his leather jacket zipped up, he was uncomfortably warm.

  “I’ve got time before Dimples gets back to the station,” I said, happy for a diversion. “Let’s get you a new shirt. Maybe something that isn’t black.”

  He raised a brow, but followed me inside. I went straight to the men’s section and glanced through the shirts. A lot of tees had comic book characters on them, and I couldn’t picture Ramos wearing anything like that. Plus, the only color I could see Ramos wearing was black, or maybe white, navy, or grey, but nothing bright.

  Then I found it. A black shirt with white printing on it that read, “I’m here to drink milk and kick ass, and I just finished my milk.” I chuckled, then imagined how Ramos would look wearing it, and I laughed even harder.

  “No,” he said. “Don’t even think about it.” He held a black, super-soft tee shirt in his hand and took it to the sales clerk. Forty dollars seemed a little steep to me, but it did look nice and comfy… and probably form-fitting to show off his abs.

  Ramos bought it on the spot, certain of the size without even trying it on. After explaining that he wanted to wear it, the clerk cut off the tags and showed him to the changing room.

  While Ramos disappeared inside, I kept looking through the shirts to keep busy. He came out a minute later with a smile, thinking it was perfect. With his jacket now unzipped, I tried to see it better, mostly to check out the form-fitting part. I couldn’t see much, but what I could see was totally worth the effort.

  As we walked through the food court toward the escalators and the parking garage, my phone rang. I jerked to a stop and pulled my phone from my purse. Dread caught in my throat to find the number was blocked. “Oh no. It’s him.”

  I stepped away from the crowd toward a more secluded spot by the wall and answered. “Hello?”

  “Hello Shelby. It’s been awhile. You’ve been busy the last couple of days.”

  “Look, I know who you are, so cut the crap.”

  “You don’t know anything. But you’ll learn soon enough.”

  My heart pounded, and I wanted to yell at him. I took a deep breath and let it out to calm down. I knew he wanted to rattle me, so I had to make sure he didn’t. “What do you want?”

  “I just wanted to let you know that I have another test for you. You may have escaped from my trap today, but I’m not convinced it had anything to do with your premonitions. I can’t decide if it’s because of the company you keep, or if it’s just pure, dumb luck. Either way, we’ll see how well you do at the wedding.”

  His breath sounded a little raspy, so I swallowed my worry and steadied my voice. “What do you mean? What’s going to happen at the wedding?”

  “See. That’s what I don’t understand. With your premonitions, you should already know. But… since it seems your premonitions don’t always work, I thought I’d give you a proper warning. Things have changed.
I’m not holding back anymore.”

  He paused to let his words sink in. “Let me put it this way. I hope your premonitions start working better, because, if they don’t, someone you care about will die.”

  The line went dead, and I squeezed the phone so hard my knuckles turned white. Ramos put his hand over mine. His touch brought me back from that dark place, and I turned to face him.

  “He said he wanted to warn me since he didn’t believe in my premonitions. He said he wasn’t holding back anymore, and he threatened the wedding again.” I caught Ramos’s gaze. “Then he said someone I cared about would die, and he wasn’t joking.”

  Ramos’s face turned hard. “When is the wedding?”

  “Day after tomorrow. I need to go to the precinct.” I slipped my phone back into my purse. “I have no choice. I need to tell Dimples to postpone the wedding.”

  “You can’t let this guy win,” Ramos said, grabbing my shoulders.

  “But I don’t know if I can stop him. If someone dies—”

  “Stop. Take a deep breath and relax.” Our gazes met, and he continued. “No one is going to die. He’s just threatening you. It’s part of his game to get into your head. Don’t let him win.”

  I closed my eyes and nodded, feeling the tension fall away.

  Relieved, Ramos released his hold and let out a sigh. “I think it’s a good idea to head over to the precinct and talk to the detective. I’m sure he’ll know what to do.”

  “Okay.”

  “In the meantime, I’m going to see if I can find him.”

  “How?” I asked.

  His mind closed off, and his stony expression sent a spike of worry through my chest. Then his lips turned up, but it wasn’t the smile I was used to. It looked downright predatory, and I knew his plans included something I didn’t want to know.

  Resigned to let it go, I nodded and headed toward the escalator. Ramos followed, and I caught his relief that I hadn’t questioned him, but worry tightened my chest. Sure, it was great to have him on my side, but what had I gotten him into? This wasn’t his problem, but now that he was involved, what if he got hurt or arrested because of me? Could I live with that?