Cold Blooded (13 page)

“Aren’t you afraid we might have a break in?”

“I have a vault in the house it would take more than your average goon to even find, let alone break into. Besides, we can’t put Deke out in the back all day.”

“I think you like our dog more than you do Jean and me.”

“That obvious, huh?” Nick asked, getting a punch in the shoulder for his trouble.

Nick brought up the rear as Rachel and Jean walked from the garage through the connecting doorway. Hearing Rachel gasp, and Jean start laughing, Nick caught up with them at the entrance into the living room. Every loose cushion in the home’s lower floor had been dragged through the sliding door into the back yard. Rachel turned to Nick as he glanced between the bare furniture and the cushion mound in his backyard with tight-lipped surprise.

“Please don’t kill him, Nick,” Rachel pleaded.

“Hey Nick, it looks like Deke found his own way of dealing with our mess.” Jean gestured at Deke, who lay on his back at the very top of his pillow mountain, paws curled against his chest as he stared sideways at his human companions.

Nick glared at Deke and then grinned. “Well at least he didn’t rip them apart first.”

Nick vacuumed the last of the cushions. He handed it to Rachel. “I needed to do a cleaning. Nice of Deke to remind me.”

Deke ‘gruffed’ from where he lay, next to the couch where Rachel placed the cushion.

“See, he’s really sorry.” Rachel threw the cushion into place and stroked Deke’s head.

“Yeah, he looks real repentant.” Nick laughed. “We should have taken a picture of him up on his cushions. What’s Jean doing?”

“Playing video games in her room. I bet you like us better than the dog now.”

“Even with dragging them out into the shade, it was hot work.” Nick ignored Rachel’s dig. “Deke needs a challenge. Did he ever rearrange your furniture while you were at work?”

“No, but he used to take all Jean’s stuffed animals out of her room and throw them around the house. He’s still a puppy. Deke turned three only a couple months ago.”

“That’s twenty-one in dog years.” Nick pointed at the attentive Deke. “He’s old enough for the death penalty.”

Deke immediately sat up and extended a paw.

“Very shrewd.” Nick shook the dog’s paw. When he released it, Deke gave him his other paw to shake. “I’m going to the grocery store and get this clown a few soup bones. Want to make out a list for me? I have a barbeque stored in the garage. Does Jean eat steak?”

“Sure.” Rachel nodded. “I’ll make a list. Do you want us to go with you?”

“I’d rather not leave your four legged furniture mover alone for the time being.” Nick pushed Deke’s head playfully before standing. “You make the list, and I’ll check in with our US Marshal connection.”

Nick retrieved his satellite phone and called Grace. The indicator he’d attached to register a trace went from green to red almost instantly when he heard Grace’s voice.

“I see you’re tracing us.” Nick watched for the red light to start blinking.

“It’s not us, Nick, I…hey…how do you know we’re tracing the call?”

“I’m checking in. So far, we’re okay on this end. We only have seconds left on this call. Anything you need to tell us?”

“Keep your heads down. If you hear some other voice besides Tim or me when you call, run.”

“Noted. Any luck getting the one who accidentally killed our shooter?”

“We hit the cover-up wall on this, hence the phone tap. There are also rumors starting to fly around about what a bad guy you are. Anonymous tips from official sources are telling us you may be more dangerous than the people we’re trying to bring down.”

“I told you, writers are very dangerous people. I can make you into a complete idiot in one sentence.”

“Oh really?” Grace snorted derisively.

“The frumpy US Marshall named Grace leaned against the alleyway wall, picking her nose, glancing up periodically while looking for witnesses to the loathsome act.”

“Frumpy? What do you mean, frumpy? I-”

“Times up,” Nick said as the red light began blinking. He disconnected.

Nick found Rachel at the kitchen table writing out a grocery list. He sat down next to her, liking her choice to stay in the black bikini. Nick ran his hand lightly over Rachel’s nearly bare back. She shivered under his touch, but kept working on the list.

“You’re disturbing my grocery list concentration.”

“I assumed you stayed in the bikini so I would disturb you.”

“I need you to install a tracking device on my daughter. Her appearances seem connected to the first moment I feel your hand on me.”

“I’ll get right on it,” Nick promised, kissing the back of Rachel’s neck. “Jean had quite a workout today. Maybe she’ll go to bed early.”

“Maybe…oh, Nick…don’t stop…”

Nick had stood up behind Rachel, massaging her shoulders and neck, trailing his hands down her back, thumbs kneading the spine, while his fingers splayed out along her sides with feathery touches. When he reached the base of Rachel’s spine, his hands worked slowly back up to her neck again. Rachel dropped the pen, head leaning forward to the table surface, a groan escaping her lips as she shuddered under Nick’s hands. Her breathing quickened as Nick’s fingers moved down past the hip area and his thumbs manipulated deeply into her spinal column all the way to the base. Sweat beaded on Rachel’s lip, and the goose flesh from a moment ago felt on fire now. Rachel almost cried out for Nick to keep his hands where they were, as his fingers and thumbs crept up her back once again. By the time Nick completed the cycle to Rachel’s neck and shoulders, her fists were clenched on the table, and her breathing sounded closer to a pant. When Nick again reached the base of Rachel’s spine, his fingers gripped her hips. Rachel’s head shot up and her back arched.

“Oh…oh God…” Rachel moaned, her arms clasped around herself as if a sudden chill of arctic air had swept through the kitchen. She collapsed against the chair back, ankles crossed under the chair, and her thighs pressed together tightly.

Nick leaned around in front of Rachel, his lips caressing hers briefly.

“Like that?”

“What…what did you do to me…? Jesus…” Rachel opened her eyes. She reached for Nick’s face with her own trembling hands.

The doorbell rang. A forbidding look swept over Nick’s face. He could see his violent change of mood infected Rachel in an instant as she straightened quickly in her chair, looking up at him expectantly.

“I’m going to have to kill something pretty soon.” Nick gave Rachel a quick and final kiss. “I’ll get it. I’m coming…strike that…I’m walking.”

Deke lay in front of the door, a low growl emanating from the base of his throat. Nick motioned Rachel back into the kitchen. Looking out the door’s security eyehole, Nick saw a heavily built man in tan slacks and a dark blue short-sleeved shirt, with the shirttail pulled out over his pants. The man’s dark hair was fashionably long, his face lined, clean shaven, and menacing. Nick made some mental calculations and then opened the door.

“Hi,” Nick smiled up at the man, holding onto Deke. “Can I help you?”

“No, but I think I can help you. May I come in?”

“Well, actually, I was on my way out to the grocery store.”

“In your swim trunks and t-shirt?”

“I hate the heat.” Nick shrugged.

“Let’s talk.” The man pulled up his shirt to reveal a holstered automatic. “It’ll only take a moment and you’ll be happy you took the time.”

“Okay… honey, come get Deke,” Nick called to Rachel, who hurried into the room. “Take him upstairs with Jean.”

Rachel nodded, exchanging smiles with the man at the door. After Rachel went upstairs with a reluctant Deke, Nick unlocked the heavy screen door and stepped aside for the man.

“Come on into the kitchen. Are you a cop?”
If he’s a cop, I’m the Easter Bunny
.

Nick gestured for the man to sit down and then Nick sat down at the head of the table to the man’s right.

“Security. My name’s Brewster. I look in on a family who lives near you, over on Ketchikan.”

“The kids we met over at the Excalibur… Kelly and Garth?” Nick realized the conversation was going in a completely different direction than he expected.

“Yeah, their Mom’s name is Suzan. I work for her husband. I watch out for the family when he’s away. I was doing my job this afternoon and saw your little family. Suzan said your wife’s name is Rachel and the daughter’s name is Jean. That right?”

“Yes it is,” Nick answered, resigned to the fact he had blundered once again.
I’m better at this alone
. Then Rachel in the black bikini and Jean making faces at him from the backseat with Deke draped over her lap popped into his head. Nick took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “What’s this all about? Why come over here with a gun?”

“I have -”

Rachel walked into the kitchen. She had put on her shorts and a blouse over the bikini. “Is something wrong?”

“I have a photo I’d like to show you.” Brewster pulled a picture from his right breast pocket and set it down on the table in front of Nick.

Rachel leaned over Nick’s shoulder, saw the picture, and then stumbled back away from the table. It was a picture of Rachel, Rick, and Jean. “Who…who are you?”

“I figured I could make a call and maybe get a pat on the head, or I could come to you with this. I figure it’s worth ten grand easy.” Brewster leaned back in his chair.

“How do we know you haven’t already made the call?” Nick stopped smiling.

“You don’t for sure.” Brewster waved his hand in an expansive gesture. “Anybody holding back info like this can get whacked. I figure to make a little money and no one’s the wiser. That is, if you two play it smart.”

“Sorry about all these questions. How do we know you won’t take our ten grand and still make the call?”

“You don’t.” Brewster chuckled and patted his holstered weapon. “I could make a whole lot more by -”

Nick’s strike was a blur. Brewster’s head jolted backwards with a sickening crack. Brewster’s body flexed in an eerie series of motions as if all the parts were acting on their own without direction. Blood trickled from his nose. Brewster’s nose appeared flat, as if the bone and cartilage inside it were somewhere else. Nick could see that Brewster’s eyes froze Rachel’s blood. Brewster gazed at her in surprise, small gurgling noises issuing from his throat. Seconds later, the eyes looked on into eternity. Nick hurriedly unbuttoned Brewster’s shirt.

“Get a towel quick, Rachel,” Nick ordered.

“What…what did you do?” Rachel turned toward the sink as if she were a marionette, her limbs moving jerkily to the task.

“C’mon, Rach, get the towel and hold it over his nose! He’s dead, so it won’t be fresh blood. Keep it from dripping while I strip him down.”

Nick paused, seeing Rachel’s face lose all color. The towel she had retrieved dropped from nerveless fingers, her mouth worked but no sound came out. Nick tilted Brewster’s head onto the top of the chair back. Taking Rachel in his arms, he half carried her out to the living room, guiding her onto the couch.

“Look at me, Rachel!” Nick shook her a little.

Rachel’s eyes regained focus slowly. She blinked a few times, recognition overtaking her features once again.

“Hey, are you with me?”

“I…I think so.”

“I have to get Brewster’s clothes off him. Stay here and take deep breaths. Don’t let Jean and Deke down until I tell you it’s okay.”

Rachel nodded without speaking. Nick ran into the kitchen and carefully stripped Brewster out of his clothes, leaving the man in his underwear on the kitchen floor. Nick put the holstered weapon from Brewster’s belt up in the cupboard over the refrigerator. He then emptied Brewster’s pockets onto the kitchen table, reclaiming only the Toyota keys. Putting on Brewster’s clothing and a ball-cap, Nick went into the garage and activated the door opener. Thankful the sun had gone down, he backed the Escalade out to the street. A Toyota Camry was parked in front of the house. Nick used the remote to unlock it before driving the Toyota into the garage.

With the garage door shut again, Nick donned plastic gloves. He wrapped Brewster in black plastic garbage bags: one over his upper torso, one with cut out leg holes over the middle part of the body, and another over Brewster’s legs. He duct-taped the body tightly, and half dragged, half carried it out past the Malibu to the Toyota. Nick had some difficulty crushing the body into the Toyota trunk, but managed with some sickening adjustments. Nick put bleach, rags, and a shovel on the floor behind the front seats along with two other garbage bags.

He went inside the house to check on Rachel. She wasn’t in the living room, so Nick called to her from the stairwell. Rachel walked down the hall towards the stairs hesitantly, gritting her teeth upon seeing Nick dressed in the dead man’s clothes. Holding on to the railing tightly, Rachel trudged down the stairs.

“It’s getting dark.” Nick kept eye contact with Rachel. “I have to get rid of Brewster and then drive the Toyota somewhere it won’t be noticed in town for a while. When I find a good spot for it, I’ll call the house phone. It works. Can you come pick me up?”

“I think so. Jesus, Nick. Did you have to kill him?”

Nick watched Rachel’s lip trembling in her attempt to keep from crying.

“You’re reacting and not thinking. We will always have very few choices. When we choose, it will be quick, and there will be no time for regrets. Can you pick me up?”

“Yes.”

Nick started toward the garage, and then turned back. “This is all still a trial time until we get those flash drives to Tim and Grace. Afterward, you’ll be free to choose again.”

“I know.”

By the time Nick drove back to the Las Vegas city limits, it was nearly ten o’clock at night. He had decided to leave the Toyota in a low-income housing project on the outskirts of the city. He parked the Toyota and carefully went over the inside of the car again with his rags, cleaning the vehicle meticulously, wiping every square inch of the trunk and passenger compartment. Nick wrapped the shovel, rags, and bleach bottle in a black plastic bag, took the bag with him and abandoned the vehicle. When he reached the corner of East Sunset and Pabco, Nick called Rachel, giving her specific directions to his location. Twenty minutes later, she drove up next to him in the Escalade with Jean and Deke in the back. Nick threw the black bag into the rear storage compartment and got into the front seat.