Game Over! (Parker & Knight Book 3) (5 page)

She went down the stairs, unlocked her car, and then froze. Lying on the driver’s seat was her wedding picture in its antique, silver frame. She and Hearn kept that picture on the mantle over their fireplace. Nico had been in their home.

Rachel tossed the picture onto the passenger seat and got in the car. After locking it, she took out her phone and called her husband to let him know that Nico was not backing down.

***

O
n Sunday, Parker and Heather met Jo and Matt for lunch, and Matt filled them in on the emergency call he had made that morning to Timothy Hearn’s home.

“Didn’t he have an alarm system already?” Parker asked.

“Yeah, but it was just basic and he and his wife admitted that they don’t always set it, they didn’t say so, but I got the impression that something scared them, and that maybe someone broke in.” Matt said; he was white, mid-thirties, with curly brown hair and emerald eyes.

“I checked and they didn’t file a report.” Jo said.

Parker leaned back, looking thoughtful,

“When she came to see me to plant those items, she also told me that she was worried about Nico Umbria, I wonder now if that was actually the truth. Maybe Hearn and Nico have had a falling out.”

“I upgraded their home system by adding more motion detectors, and I also installed deadbolts and window guards. I definitely think they’re concerned about something.” Matt said. “I’m also scheduled to add some upgrades to
Taggart’s
security.”

“Jo,” Parker said. “Would you mind talking to Nico again? I would do it, but the chief wants me to stay away from anything connected with Hearn. I even had to talk him into letting me work at
Taggart’s
on the night of the reopening.”

“I’ll go by his motel on my way to work tomorrow. Anyway, I want Nico to know that I haven’t forgotten him.”

“Thanks,”

Jo smiled as she reached over and took Heather’s hand.

“Look at that ring, and I hope you know you’ve made my partner a very happy man.”

“We make each other happy.”

“So, when’s the wedding?” Matt said.

“We’re not sure yet,” Parker said, “We have to plan it around Heather’s schedule, but once she gets a spot on the research project, we’ll be able to set a date.”

“You mean
if
I get a spot; it’s not a sure thing.”

Jo shook her head.

“Your student loans must be the size of Texas,”

“Don’t remind me, it’ll take me years to pay them off.”

Parker kissed Heather.

“
We’ll
pay them off, as soon as I finish with the mortgage next year, I’ll just aim that money at the student loans.”

Heather sighed. “I’m bringing so much debt to the marriage; it’s really not fair to you.”

“You have to put up with my crazy ex. I think we’re even.”

***

T
rue to her word, Jo showed up at Nico’s motel room the next day. She parked in front of an empty unit so that he wouldn’t be alerted. She didn’t realize that the beat-up Chevy she parked next to belonged to Nico. He bought it at a gas station for eight hundred dollars cash, but since he didn’t have a driver’s license or insurance, he parked the car away from his door and mostly drove it at night.

Jo fastened her jacket, although it was late May, the night had grown chilly, and the temperature was in the fifties.

Nico answered her knocking and squinted at the bright daylight.

“I’m beginning to think you like me, Detective,”

“I do. I like you for the murder of Charles Woolley.”

Nico feigned shocked.

“Are you here to arrest me?”

“Just talk, may I come in?”

“I never say no to a beautiful woman.”

Jo entered and looked around; she had been standing on Nico’s left while outside, but now she saw the bruising over his right cheek.

“What happened there?”

“Timothy Hearn happened, we had a disagreement.”

“About what?”

“He owes me money, but won’t pay,”

“And so he assaulted you?”

“I won’t be pressing charges.”

“You don’t strike me as the type of man who would forgive so easily.”

Nico sighed and sat on the side of the bed.

“As you can see, I’m not the man I was.”

“On the outside maybe, but you’re still what you always were, which is the reason I’m here. Have you been harassing Hearn or his wife?”

“Of course not, why, was there a complaint?”

“No, but I’ve become aware of their uneasiness, and I think you’re the cause of it.”

“Despite our disagreement, Tim and I are still friends.”

“I’ll be keeping an eye on you, Umbria,”

As Jo opened the door to leave, Nico called to her.

“What?”

Nico smiled and patted the bed.

“Why not stay a while, you might like it.”

“You have got to be kidding.”

Nico laughed, and Jo slammed the door as she left.

***

A
t that very moment across town, Rachel was waking up. She was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes when the odor hit her.

“Oh God, what is that smell? Tim, Tim wake up,”

“Hmm? What?”

“There’s a bad smell in the house. Oh God, it smells like something died.”

Hearn sat up and yawned, but then gagged.

“Jesus, what the hell is that?”

They both threw on robes and slippers and left the room, searching for the source of the stench.

The smell was slightly more tolerable downstairs, but still they had to fight to keep from gagging.

They searched every room but found nothing.

Rachel’s eyes were watering as she spoke.

“When I was a kid, a mouse died behind the wall. This smells like that, only much worse.”

Hearn nodded in agreement.

“Something is definitely dead,”

They had finished their search in the kitchen, and had opened all the cabinet doors searching for a dead mouse, but found nothing.

“Let’s search the basement,” Rachel said.

Hearn opened the basement door and the smell intensified. Unable to stand it anymore, Rachel rushed to the kitchen sink and vomited.

“Oooh, there must be a dead body down there.”

“I was just down there last night,” Hearn said. “Remember? I brought up a new case of wine.”

“Go take a look.”

“All right,”

Hearn put on the light and went down. He saw nothing, and was trying to listen for movement above the sound of the furnace, which had come on because of the chill in the air,

It was in the furnace room that he finally found the source of the odor. Someone had moved one of the vent tubes aside and placed it back, but the grit and soot beneath it gave evidence to the act, and it was no longer sitting flush.

For a moment, he wondered if the alarm guy, Matt Hooper, had done it, but then remembered that he had been with Matt as he replaced the lock on the basement door, and that the man never went near the furnace room.

He whispered, “Nico,” and then grabbed at the tube to search it.

As the object bounced off his chest he cried out in surprise, but then stared in horror at the thing on the floor, a thing he recognized as having once been the neighbor’s cat, Dunkin. It was now a scorched and decaying corpse, and it took him a few seconds to fight back the bile in his throat.

“Tim! Are you all right?”

“Stay up there! I’ll be right up!”

He looked around and saw a beach towel. The towel still held grains of sand from a trip to the beach the year before. As he fought the impulse to vomit, he picked up the cat with the towel and saw that its head fell loosely. Nico must have broken its neck. He wrapped the dead cat in the towel, and then placed the towel, cat and all, inside a lawn & leaf bag.

On his way up the stairs, he stopped on the landing and, after grabbing a key that was hanging off a nearby nail, he unlocked the new deadbolt and went out the basement door, where he then shoved the bag in the trashcan.

After he explained to Rachel what he found, she turned white.

“Nico must have killed poor Duncan and stuffed him up there when he broke in.”

“Yeah, he must have thought it was our cat.”

“Tim, this is serious, maybe... maybe we should call Rick.”

“Parker? Screw Parker, I’ll handle this,”

“How?”

“The next time he comes by, I’ll give Nico his two grand, but then I’ll follow him and see where he lives.”

“And then what?”

Hearn stared at her.

“You don’t need to know what happens after that.”

Rachel hugged him.

“No. You’ll go to prison for murder.”

“I won’t kill him, but I’ll beat him badly.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”

Hearn shrugged.

“I don’t know. Now get dressed while I air out the place, also, I need to call someone to get rid of this stink.”

Rachel followed him back to the bedroom, and despite what he said, she still feared that things could escalate. She dressed quickly, and after telling Hearn that she was going to have her hair done, she left home and went in search of Rick Parker.

R
achel arrived just as Parker was stepping out his front door. He was alone, as Heather had stayed at her mother’s house the night before.

She ran up to him and Parker let out a loud sigh.

“Why are you here, Rachel?”

“I need your help.”

He studied her, looking for signs of deception, and instead saw genuine fear.

“Have you eaten breakfast?”

“No, and I don’t want to.”

“Get back in your car and follow me, I’m going to the diner, but not the one near my job, the other one.”

“Why can’t we talk here?”

“Because you’re not welcome inside anymore, that’s why?”

“I’m not up to anything; I really do need help.”

“I believe you; now follow me to the diner.”

Parker called Jo and told her that he would be a little late, and then he called Heather. The diner he picked was near her house and he asked her to join them there.

“Is she up to more tricks?”

“I don’t think so, she looks scared.”

“I’m already dressed, so I’ll be right there.”

“Thank you,”

A few minutes after making the calls, Parker pulled into the diner, and as Rachel joined him, she saw Heather walking towards them.

“Why is she here?”

“Because I asked her to meet us, that’s why.”

“I don’t need everyone knowing my business, Rick.”

Heather held up her hand as she joined them.

“I’m not just anyone, we’re getting married,”

Rachel actually took a step backwards, as if the engagement ring were an evil talisman.

“Married?”

“Yes,” Parker said, “Now let’s get settled inside and then you can tell me what this is all about.”

Once all three had ordered coffee, Rachel told them about Nico’s demands, about the confrontation between him and Hearn, and all that had happened since. When she was done, Parker had a few questions.

“Why would Nico assume that Hearn would give him money?”

Rachel hesitated, if she told the truth, she would have to confess to being part of a conspiracy, a conspiracy that was linked to a murder.

“He’s not rational. Perhaps the injury to his brain has affected him.”

“Did he threaten you when he was at your car?”

“He implied that he was interested in me; I was afraid he might try and rape me.”

Parker tensed at those words, but then asked another question.

“Are you certain you or Hearn didn’t place that photo in your car for some reason?”

“Of course, why would we? And we sure as hell didn’t shove the neighbor’s cat in our furnace.”

“Do you want to file a report?”

“Can I?”

“Yes, but at this point I think all you could claim is harassment.”

“But what about the break-in?”

“You have no proof that there was a break-in, and a clever lawyer could claim the cat climbed into the furnace on its own. Cats are known to do weird things.”

Rachel wiped away a tear.

“Are you saying you won’t help me?”

“Hey, we had this conversation last year, remember? I told you then to come forward and tell what you knew, if you had, none of this would be happening right now, and still you sit here and lie to me, don’t think I don’t know that.”

“I didn’t come forward because you just wanted to put Tim in jail. You hate him for stealing me away.”

“Wrong. What I wanted was for you to help yourself, but instead you got in deeper.”

Rachel nibbled at her bottom lip as she wrung her hands together. She wanted to tell him everything, but feared the legal consequences to Hearn. She also knew Parker well enough to know that he would never help her to hide involvement in a crime.

“I shouldn’t have come to you. You care more about the law than you do me.”

He reached over and took Rachel’s hand. Heather’s lips came together in a tight line as she witnessed this bit of intimacy take place, but she said nothing.

“Listen to me, Rachel; I do care what happens to you. We’ll never be together again but that doesn’t mean that I want to see you hurt in any way. Do the right thing and tell Joanna Knight everything you know about the Charles Woolley case.”

Rachel shook her head. “I can’t.”

Parker released her hand.

“If Nico comes near you again when you’re alone, call me.”

“I’m afraid for Tim too.”

“I have the same advice for him, talk to Joanna, if he recants his alibi, then she’ll be able to arrest Nico.”

“And will Tim be charged too?”

“Maybe,”

“He’s going to try and handle Nico himself.”

“Bad idea, Nico Umbria is from the streets, he doesn’t fight fair, which I assume is the reason that Charles Woolley is dead, despite the fact that he was twice Nico’s size.”

“Will you talk to Tim, maybe try and warn him off?”

“Me? I doubt he’ll take advice from me.”

“Probably not, but will you try?”

Parker nodded.

“I’ll stop by the bar this afternoon, okay?”

“Thank you, Rick,”

“Yeah,”

Rachel stood and gave Parker a kiss on the cheek, and then she looked over at the ring on Heather’s hand.