Homicide! (Parker & Knight Book 2) (8 page)

Was the old man willing to back down to Hearn’s pressure, or were things going to escalate?  He let those thoughts go and returned his mind to Heather Jones.

“Our first date,” he whispered to himself, and then smiled.

Life was good.

“L
ife is shit, boy; don’t you know that by now?”

Patrick Taggart looked down at the scowling face of his aged grandfather.

“It doesn’t have to be shit. There’s a whole world out there besides this little town, and I can’t believe that Tim Hearn is giving us so much grief over a bar.”

“Hearn thinks I’m so old that I’m done, and he knows you have no backbone, so why not move in and take things over?”

Patrick sank into a chair and checked his watch; it was eight o’clock.

“Tim should be here any minute and then we’ll hash out a sale price.”

His grandfather rolled the wheelchair closer and stared at him in disgust.

“Do you really think I’m selling that weasel my bar?”

“Aren’t you?”

“Hell no!”

“Well then, why have the meeting?”

The old man’s gaped-tooth grin was cagey.

“You’ll find out, and when he gets here, you answer it. I sent Margaret off to her sister’s for a few days.”

“Why did you do that?”

The bell at the gates rang and the old man nodded.

“Let our guest in, and let’s get this show on the road.”

***

W
hen Patrick returned with Nico, the old man pointed at him.

“Who the hell are you?”

“My name is Nico Umbria.”

“Umbria is Italian. You ain’t no Italian,”

“My father was Italian, and my mother was Cuban, but I’m not here to discuss my roots; I’m here to buy a bar.”

“Where’s that bastard, Hearn?”

“Tim and I are friends. He sent me to negotiate for him, and by negotiate I mean that he’ll pay you exactly half of the last offer he made.”

Patrick looked stricken.

“Half? But, his last offer was insult enough. He must be joking?”

Nico moved closer to Patrick, uncomfortably close.

“If you think we’re joking then you haven’t been paying attention.”

Patrick backed away and scurried behind his grandfather’s wheelchair. Nico laughed as he watched him, and then took a seat across from them in a leather wing chair.

“What’s it gonna be old man? Do we make a deal, or do we continue to dance?”

Nathanial Taggart chuckled, and the sound was so filled with phlegm that it made Nico clear his own throat.

“Let me tell you something boy, I’ve been dealing with punks like you for over eighty years, and I’ll tell you just what I told the others.”

Nico smirked. “And just what would that be?”

“Die,” the old man said. “I told them to die.”

As he talked, a withered hand slipped beneath the blanket on his lap and found the gun hidden there. It was an ancient .32 Colt.

The old man fired while the gun was still under the blanket and the first bullet hit Nico in the chest.

Nico looked down at the blood spreading across his shirt in amazement, and then jumped up. As he charged the wheelchair, a second shot was fired at an upward angle and the slug caught him above the right eye and entered his brain.

Nico screamed while clutching his head, and then fell backwards to the carpet, where he twitched in spasms with his eyes closed.

Patrick had staggered backwards into the desk and was half sitting on it when his grandfather spun the wheelchair around and smiled at him.

“That’s how you handle punks, Pat, and let me tell you something boy, it works every time.”

Pat stared at his grandfather, a look of horror on his face.

“You, you, you killed him, murdered him right in our house.”

“He ain’t quite dead yet the way he’s twitching, but he will be... and he ain’t the first man I shot in this house; believe me... although it’s been a while since the last one.”

“Oh God, the police will lock you away, even at your age, they’ll lock you away.”

The old man gave him a confused look.

“What the hell are you talking about? Once you bury this sorry sack of shit... he’ll be forgotten, and I guarantee you that Tim Hearn won’t try any more nonsense. Now, go get a shovel and dig a hole in... in the woods before he starts to rot.”

“Are you mad? The only thing I’m going to do is call the police and an ambulance, maybe, maybe they’ll believe it was self-defense.”

The old man reddened with rage.

“Police? Damn you boy, be a man for once. We don’t need no police... especially that woman. Now, go do like I told you and... and get a damn shovel.”

Patrick picked up the phone on the desk to dial.

“Put that phone down! Damn you Pat, you listen to me, I—aaaghhh,”

Nathanial Taggart grabbed at his chest as he clenched his eyes tightly.

“Grandfather!”

Patrick replaced the phone in its cradle and went to him, but there was nothing to be done. The old man stiffened in his chair, let out a gasp, and slumped back in his seat, dead.

Patrick checked his pulse and found nothing, and the age-speckled flesh already felt cool to the touch. On the floor, Nico continued to twitch, but the spasms were growing less intense.

For the second time that night, Patrick staggered backwards to the desk, but as he gazed at the dead form of his grandfather, two words entered his mind.

I’m free.

***

P
arker had turned his phone off that night so that nothing came between him and Heather, and so didn’t learn of the events at the Taggart estate until he checked his messages after taking Heather home.

The date had been fantastic and he and Heather realized that despite the difference in their ages that they viewed the world in similar ways.

Parker found her more mature than many of the women he had dated and realized that her commitment to becoming a doctor was total.

Between her classes, studying, and job at the bar, there was little time left for a social life. Parker was a man who worked long hours himself at a job that was more than a way to make money, and he both understood and appreciated what it would take for her to reach her goal of becoming a heart surgeon.

The date ended in a deep embrace with the promise that there would be more dates to follow, and Parker couldn’t wait.

***

T
wo weeks later, Parker and Knight sat at their desks, after having just finished doing the paperwork on their capture of a burglary ring.

They had caught the three-man crew in the act as they were loading stolen goods into a van. The van was parked in the driveway of the house that was being robbed, and a watchful neighbor had called and reported suspicious activity.

Parker took a sip from his cup and looked over at Jo.

“Are we still on for Atlantic City, Sunday?”

“Sure, Matt and I are meeting you at your house at eight, and then we’ll go have breakfast, or do we have to pick Heather up first?”

“Heather will be with me.”

“Is she staying the night?”

Parker smiled. “Yes she is,”

“Good for you, I’m glad things are working out.”

“Working out? I’ve never been happier.”

“Speaking of happy, your ex-wife is now Mrs. Timothy Hearn, I also hear that she’s going to be half-owner of
Taggart’s
.”

“She called me the night before the wedding.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, I wished her well and told her I was with Heather?”

“What did she say about that?”

“She hung up.”

“I’m actually surprised that Patrick Taggart has agreed to sell Hearn the bar. I would think he’d be the last person he would sell to.”

“He told me that he got the last laugh anyway. It seems Hearn was under the impression that the land on the other side of the lake came with the bar, but it doesn’t, in fact, the old man left the house and the land to Patrick’s younger brother, Nate Taggart.”

“How come I’ve never met him?”

“I’ve never met him either and the chief said that he left town years ago. He also said that he’s more like his grandfather than is good for him.”

Jo sighed.

“I would have liked to have arrested Nico for Woolley’s murder.”

“You still might get your chance someday.”

“No, the doctors think Nico’s coma is irreversible.”

“So, Hearn got the bar, got free of his involvement with Nico, and got my ex-wife,”

Jo stood and grabbed her jacket off the back of the chair.

“If Hearn was stupid enough to get mixed up with Nico, then he’ll slip up someday,”

They rode down in the elevator together, and as they were walking out the door, Parker’s phone beeped, informing him that he had a text. It was Heather, telling him that she was free and would meet him at his house.

Jo waved to him. “Have a good night.”

Parker smiled.

“Count on it.”

PARKER & KNIGHT

BOOK ONE –
MURDER!

BOOK THREE –
GAME OVER!

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Donald Wells is the author of numerous short stories and novels, including
The TAKEN! Series, The Caliber Detective Agency, Blue Steele, Monsters & The Reynolds Family Saga.

He lives deep inside a writing cave in the wilds of New Jersey.

However, the cave does have Internet access, and so, you can contact him at:

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HOMICIDE!

Copyright © Donald Wells, 2014

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced,

distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system,

without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Did you love
Homicide!
? Then you should read
Game Over!
by Donald Wells!

From Donald Wells
The author of
The Taken! Series, Blue Steele & The Caliber Detective Agency
Game Over! -
Parker & Knight - Book Three
It's eight months later as we join Rick Parker & Joanna Knight at Taggart's grand reopening.

The bar's new owners, Timothy Hearn and his wife Rachel are flying high.

Parker is also living the good life as his relationship with his girlfriend has never been better.

However, Rachel, his jealous ex-wife and her conniving husband, Hearn, have plans for Parker, plans that will tear his life apart.

Unfortunately for them, the past has come to call, and the Hearns will need Parker's help just to survive.

This is the third, and of course, the last installment of the Parker & Knight Trilogy.

Read more at
Donald Wells’s site
.