In Case of Death (The Adventures of Gabriel Celtic Book 3) (17 page)

After a few minutes, Mary Ann, the oldest of the four women had made her way over to help. As her eyes focused on her newest customer, surprise showed on her face   at the cuts all over Abby’s face.

“What the hell happened to you Abby?” Mary Ann asked with concern, “It looks like you had a wrestling match with a raccoon, and he won!”

Abby smiled at the woman’s reaction, telling her that she had fallen into a thorn bush. Having decided on the walk over that the direct approach would be the best, Abby dove right in. Leaning forward conspiratorially, Abby asked Mary Ann if she could remember anyone who might have been asking about her at their office lately.

Mary Ann’s eyes grew wide, “Is this about a case?” she questioned with interest.

Abby nodded, “But it’s kind of hush, hush, if you know what I mean.”

Mary Ann smiled. “I haven’t, but I’ll ask the others if you want me to.”

Abby nodded, and Mary Ann made her way around the office, discreetly asking the other women the same question. When she returned, she was shaking her head.

“That doesn’t ring a bell with anyone Abby, I’m sorry we couldn’t be of more help.”

Nodding absently, Abby left the office and made her way toward the elevator as she tried to fathom her next move. She had
really
hoped that there would be a connection here, so much so that she didn’t really have a plan of what to do next.

As she reached out to push the button for ‘up’ on the elevator, a hand suddenly reached out and grasped her wrist.

Mad that she had let her guard down, Abby started to react defensively when she noticed who it was.

“Jessica?”

Abby didn’t know the tall girl now gripping her wrist very well, but she realized that she had a hell of a grip…
and
she worked at the Recorder’s office.

“Umm…” Jessica started, “I
may
know something about what you were asking about.”

“That’s fantastic!” Abby said excitedly. “There was someone asking around about me?”

“Well…the thing is,” Jessica stammered nervously with her eyes down at the floor, “I
think
I do. The problem is…I don’t remember.”

***

That had been an hour ago. Abby asked if she could sit down for a few minutes to talk about it, and Jessica had agreed to meet her for lunch.

So far though, the only thing Abby had gotten from their lunch was a couple of bites of her burger.

“So this guy called you on Saturday,” Abby started again, looking up from her notes, “And his name is Bill….Bill what?”

“Jones! His name is Bill Jones,” Jessica said excitedly, seeming pleased that she had finally remembered something.

Nodding, Abby continued, having decided to try and pull out one detail at a time. “And he asked you out?”

“Yes! I have wanted to go out with him for a long time…he’s really cute!”

“Ok,” Abby started writing, “This is good. What does he look like?”

“Spencer Tracy.”

Abby groaned inwardly, “Umm…Spencer Tracy?”

“Yeah, you know…the young one…before he got all old and died and stuff.”

This was like pulling teeth,
Abby lamented to herself. “Since it’s been awhile since I’ve seen the
young
Spencer Tracy, can you describe him for me in your own words?”

“Dreamy!”

Balling her fist under the table, Abby worked to calm herself. “Can you use a few more words please?” she finally got out. “Like, if I wanted to find him in a crowd?”

“Oh…ok!” Jessica smiled, “Well…dreamy, but you already know that. But he’s tall like me, 5’ 10” or 5’ 11”, blonde hair, broad shoulders, and great teeth. He uses something in his hair, like a gel or something…looks just like Spencer’s…you know…when he was younger. In fact, when I think about him at night…you know…in bed…I call him Spencer.”

Abby stopped her writing when Jessica got to the last part of the description, wanting to roll her eyes.

“Ok, let’s get back to your date. Where did you go?”

“He took me to the Country Club! I’d never been there before…it’s really nice!”

“And you started with drinks?” Abby asked patiently.

“Well…I
started
at my house. I had a Gin and Tonic before the date to calm my nerves and get in the mood. And then I had a couple of tiny sips from my flask as we were driving….that was Peach Brandy.”

This was the part that Abby hated about her job…when she had to use her patience. She had little enough of it, and Jessica was using it up rapidly.

“Ok Jessica,” Abby again tried to steer the conversation, “Let’s get back to when you were at the restaurant. You arrived, then I assume you ordered something?”

“Oh yeah! I ordered the Filet Mignon…and a Margarita. Spencer was looking really hot, and I didn’t want to be inhibited with him…you know?”

“You mean Bill?” Abby asked with a sigh.

“Oh yeah…Bill….duh!”

“So what did you talk about then?”

“Well…that’s when it starts getting a little fuzzy…but I think he started asking about you…I think he asked if I knew a brown-haired Asian girl that might have been in my office lately. I kinda remember talking about you…I think. Oh!...and also about somebody’s dick!”

“What?” Abby asked loudly, drawing attention from people around her.

“No, that’s not right,” Jessica said, chewing her lip in thought. “I think we talked about your dad…Gabe…
being
a dick.”

“Excuse me?” Abby said, anger flashing in her eyes.

“Yeah…I’m pretty sure that’s right,” Jessica continued thoughtfully, “About him being a private dick.”

Jessica beamed. “I knew I could do it!”

Besides wanting to slap the stupid out of the girl, Abby had to admit that Jessica looked like the source of the information for the killer.

“Do you happen to have his phone number?” Abby asked hopefully, “Or where he lives?”

“I know he doesn’t live around here,” Jessica said thoughtfully, “he just comes in every once in awhile.”

“What about his phone number?”

Jessica shook her head. “Nope! I tried finding him on my caller ID the next day. It said the number was blocked.”

Abby gave this some thought. “You said it was around 8:00 Saturday night…when he called?”

“Yep! I remember I was just getting ready to leave the house to head to the bar.”

Abby got Jessica’s home number, and her permission to try to trace her incoming calls.

“You never did tell me why you were so interested in Spencer,” Jessica asked worriedly. “Has he done something wrong?”

Abby gave some thought to how much to tell the girl, finally deciding that for her own safety, she should warn her off some.

“We think he’s a very dangerous man Jessica. We also think he had something to do with an attack on me last night. You should stay away from him, and please let me know if he tries to contact you again.”

Jessica’s features turned suddenly angry. “Isn’t that just the way,” she lamented as she stood and collected her belongings, “The good ones are always married…or some kind of freaking psycho killers.”

With that she stalked off, leaving Abby shaking her head in wonderment.

Chapter 46

September 21, 1999

“Spencer Tracy huh?” I asked with a grin as Abby replayed the story of her interview.

“Yep! And some of what she told me I won’t even repeat, but she is definitely how this ‘Bill Jones’ found out who we were.” Abby turned thoughtful then. “The way it sounds though, he knew what I looked like before. He must have been at one of the courthouses when I was there.”

I grinned again, “I don’t suppose you remember seeing Spencer Tracy at any of the courthouses when you were there do you?”

Abby scrunched her face up at my comment. “Actually, no, I should have paid more attention I guess. But I was concentrating on getting the correct paperwork. I guess I should have been more attentive to my surroundings.”

“Don’t worry about it kid,” I tried to assure her, “What were the chances of him being at one of these courthouses the same time that we were?”

Abby shrugged gloomily. “I don’t know, but it still pisses me off.”

“You think we can track this Jones fellow?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“Maybe!” Abby brightened, “I thought I would head to the sheriff’s department and sneak onto their computer again. Jessica said the phone number was blocked, but I may be able to track it from there…unofficially of course.”

Abby looked a little worried, “We may need to get Allen involved after all you know Gabe. There is only so much we can do on those kinds of issues without help…legally that is.”

I was still being hardheaded about the issue. Sure, they had more resources available, but they also had a bureaucracy to deal with… as well as following to a T the letter of the law. Both of these could drag an investigation down to a snail’s pace.

“I’m not ready to go there yet,” I stated simply.

Abby shrugged, “Ok Gabe, I’ll go see what I can find out on my own, but I’m not promising anything.”

With that, she gathered up some papers and left the house, throwing me a kiss before closing the door.

I shook my head with disdain. When did I become such a cynic of the law? Although she was certainly old enough to have her own mind on the subject, I was essentially leading my daughter to disregard the law.

It went against my grain to work this way. I had, for the most part, always been in law enforcement, and recognized the need for the rules that governed our society.

But…it made it hard to get something done sometimes, especially when you were dealing with a case such as ours.

I sighed, realizing that we were doing what we could, and knowing that we usually didn’t bend the rules
too
far.

Usually…

***

The man in the dark sedan started his motor as he saw one of his subjects approach her vehicle.

He was relatively certain that he wouldn’t be seen by her, having parked a half a block away. As she backed the Jeep out of the driveway and accelerated down the block, the man pulled the shifter into drive and slowly pulled out into the road.

Maintaining plenty of clearance, Shawn deftly tailed the jeep through the afternoon traffic as it pulled out onto the busy highway. Luckily, the black Jeep was easy to spot in the distance, allowing him to maintain an even greater space between them than he would normally have to.

The Jeep suddenly pulled off onto a side street ahead, forcing Shawn to steer his car into the outside lane so that he could make the turn. As he turned onto the one-way road, he was shocked to see that there was no sign of the Jeep ahead.

Gunning the car, the man felt panic as he tried to discern how he had lost her so quickly. Slowing at each intersection, he would glance down the cross street before gunning it ahead quickly to the next.

He had never lost a tail before, and was determined that this wouldn’t be his first.

Glancing to his right once more to look down another street, he almost didn’t see the Jeep back out in front of him from an alley until it was too late. Screeching to a stop, Shawn barely missed hitting the Jeep with the front of his car.

Had she realized that he was tailing her,
He wondered?

Unnerved at the sudden reversal of roles, the man shoved the shifter into reverse and gunned the engine…only to crash into another car that had stopped closely behind him.

“What the hell?”

Looking in his rearview mirror, he saw an old blue sedan now blocking his exit, it having pulled up to within inches of his rear bumper.

Flinging open the door, he was surprised to find a man standing beside his car.

A man that looked like Elvis!

As he stared up at the apparition before him, he saw only too late that the man had swung something that crashed into his nose. Yelping in pain, Shawn was flung back into his seat, suddenly staring at the car’s ceiling.

Abruptly, the image of Elvis reappeared above him with a tight smile on his face. Feeling himself being pulled out of the car by the front of his shirt, he was then slammed abruptly against the back door.

As he stood on wobbly knees, he saw the Elvis shake his head in disdain.

“The good lord says I should forgive you for tailing my friend,” Elvis intoned, his dark glasses flashing in the sunlight. “And the spirit is willing…”

Shawn grinned at the statement, relief showing on his face as the blood spouting out of his nose reddened his teeth.

The last thing he remembered, however, was Elvis swinging a Bible at his head, the binding feeling like steel as it knocked him to the pavement. As he lay on the ground with unconsciousness closing rapidly in around him, he heard… “But the flesh is weak motherfucker.”