Merchants with Evil Intent (6 page)

*
     
*
     
*

      
Josh snorted, “Wow, what a winner your boyfriend
is.” He waved his hand in front of the colorful bouquet. “I love you, Camryn.”
Then he waved his hand in front of the black roses. “I hate you, Camryn.” He
wiggled his fore-finger in a circular motion by his head. “The guy is a
whack-job.” He walked away laughing at his own humor.

      
“He’s an asshole,” Tamara hissed.

      
Camryn held both cards in her shaking
hands and studied them. “Viktor didn’t write this.” She held the icky card
between her fingernails. “This is someone else’s handwriting.”

      
“Whatever. I’m callin’ the cops,” Tamara
replied.

      
Good
idea. I’ll call one myself
.
Camryn threw the cards on the desk and pulled her phone from her purse and
dialed Viktor.

      
“Hello beautiful,” he answered.

      
She grimaced. “I got your flowers.
Both
arrangements.”

      
“Both?”

      
“Yep.
A mixed
arrangement and a bouquet of black roses with a card that read, ‘
You’re
next’.” She waited for his reaction.

      
“I’m on my way.”

*
     
*
     
*

      
‘You’re next’ kept repeating in Viktor’s
head. His jaws clenched. Someone was messing with the wrong girl. He turned on
the siren and pressed the accelerator hard, the back end of his car
fish-tailing in the process.

*
     
*
     
*

      
Declan and his family looked on in
amazement as a flurry of police and unmarked cars drove past them with sirens
blaring. He looked at Colleen with wide eyes. She shrugged, “Welcome to
Chicago.”

*
     
*
     
*

      
“Have you called John?” Detective Martin
asked.

      
“I didn’t even call you guys,” Camryn
shrugged and pointed at Tamara. “She did.”

      
She sat at Tamara’s desk awed by the
police activity in the office. You’d have thought a murder took place.
 
Paul startled her out of her thoughts.

      
“You okay kiddo?” he asked.

      
“This is surreal,” she murmured waving
her hand in front of her.

      
He patted her shoulder. “You’re the niece
of a much respected cop. Of course they’re going to be here. This is serious,
Cam.
Black roses?”

      
She heard Viktor’s voice through the din.
Instead of calling out to him she sunk lower in the chair. He asked the first
detective he saw where she was and Detective Lavery pointed in her direction.

      
He saw her at once and pushed through the
crowd.

      
“Cam, honey!
Are
you okay?”

      
He picked her up from the chair and
hugged her tightly.

      
When she didn’t embrace him he set her
down and searched her eyes.
“Cam?”

      
She shuddered, repulsed by him.

      
“Don’t you have work to do?” she hissed.

      
He blinked. “I swear I didn’t do this.
Why would I?” He pulled her closer, whispering in her ear.
“Cam,
Ya teba lublu.”

      
“What did you say?” she asked pointedly.

      
“It’s Russian for I love you,” he replied
with moist eyes.

      
He was pulled away from the moment when
Detective Barnes shouted, “What the hell?”

      
Viktor hesitantly walked away from Camryn
and approached Barnes. Several cops hung around her cubicle studying the black
flowers and Barnes dangled a gold-tone wristwatch from the end of a pencil.

      
“What do you have?” Viktor asked.

      
Barnes shrugged, “It was inside the
flowers. What’s the purpose of that?”

      
“Should we call in the bomb squad?”
Officer Petty questioned.

      
Viktor looked closely at the wristwatch
and then at the card. Heat rose to his neck. Whoever did this would
pay.

*
     
*
     
*

      
John received the call while on the
greens. He rushed to the golf cart and sped away, leaving his friend, Phil
Malloy, stranded at the ninth hole. He’d be pissed, but after he heard why John
left in a rush, he’d understand. Besides Patrick and Grace, Phil was the only
one who knew the truth about Camryn.

      
As he drove to Camryn’s office he called
his brother. “Pattie, something has happened with Camryn at work.” Patrick
tried to cut in with questions and John stopped him. “I’m on my way. She’s
fine; a bit shaken up though. Someone sent her black roses.” He paused for a
moment and sighed, “Yes, black roses.” Patrick roared causing John to sneer
into the phone, “Of course I know the significance of them! She’s safe because
it sounds like the whole damn squad is with her.”

*
     
*
     
*

      
Camryn spotted John and ran to him. He
wrapped his arms protectively around her and stroked her hair. After a few
moments he pulled away and searched her eyes. She seemed to be holding her own,
considering the circumstances. A tight smile touched his lips. She was so much
like her mother.

      
He cleared his throat. “Who’s in charge
of this investigation?”

      
She rubbed her arms.
Damn goose bumps!
“Why did someone send those to me?” she frowned.

      
His eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t know, but
I do know you’re not staying at your apartment.”

      
Detective Greg Travers approached.
“Cam?
You okay?”

      
She shrugged, uncertain.

      
John took Travers hand. “Have you been
here long, Greg?”

      
“Nah.
I got here
as fast as I could.”

      
Greg neglected to say he broke three laws
doing so. The thought of someone fucking with Camryn set him on edge.
 
He’d always liked her, though she was rough
around the edges. He just never had the balls to take their relationship
further than friendship.

      
“John, come over here ya old dog,”
bellowed Lt. Tom McShane from across the room.

      
John gripped Camryn’s shoulder. “I’ll be
back. Go rest yourself. Greg?”

      
Travers nodded. “I’ll stick close to
her.”

      
Tom grabbed John’s hand and pumped it
furiously. “Glad to see you old man,” he teased.

      
“I wish it could’ve been under better
circumstances,” John scowled.

      
“Come here and look at this.”

      
Tom led him to Camryn’s cubicle and to
John’s dismay he noticed Viktor talking with a fellow cop. He ignored Viktor
when he said hello.

      
“What do you make of this?” Tom asked
pointing to the watch on the desk.

      
“It’s a damn wristwatch! What the hell am
I supposed to make of it?” John growled.

      
Tom snorted, “Smart ass. What does it
mean? It was placed inside of the flowers.”

      
Viktor hoarsely replied, “In Russia it
means an omen of parting.”

      
“In case you haven’t noticed ‘Smirnoff’,
we’re not in Russia,” John bellowed.

      
Viktor glared at him for a moment. “I
care about her just as much as you do!”

      
John rushed forward and stood nose to
nose with him. His breath was hot and unpleasant in Viktor’s face. “You could
never care for her as much as I do and how
dare
you imply it! Something tells me that you’re involved in this and when I put
the pieces together…”

      
“Okay you two, break it up. This isn’t
helping,” Tom shouted pushing them apart.

      
It was interesting to watch the veins in
the Russian’s neck protrude and his face redden with anger. Either John
miscalled it or he hit it dead on. He was betting on the latter. He never did
like the bastard. He considered something for a moment and turned his gaze away
and said, “Geeb noots.”

      
Viktor’s head whipped around. “What did
you say?”

      
John taunted, “I said, ‘geeb noots’. Does
that mean anything to you?”

      
Viktor clenched his teeth, “It means
‘die’.”

*
     
*
     
*

      
Walking the streets of Chicago with a
hangover didn’t bode well for either Declan or Colleen. He was glad when Colleen
said it was time to go home.

      
They picked up lunch on the way. Declan
smirked when he saw the castle shaped restaurant. Colleen ordered a large
amount of hamburgers, fries and drinks. They were tasty little burgers with
onions. Colleen called them ‘sliders’ because they slid down the throat so
easy. They did, indeed. So much so that he ate ten.

      
By the time they reached the house Declan
was gripping his stomach with one hand and his backside with the other as he
ran for the toilet.

      
He later heard Colleen laughing outside
the door. Damned gel always had a mean streak in ‘er. They were sliders all
right, but not for the reason she said.

*
     
*
     
*

      
John and Travers waited patiently while
Camryn finished talking with her supervisor. He encouraged her to take time
off, but stubborn as she was, she declined. Paul tucked a pencil behind his ear
and crossed his arms over his chest. “Cam, that’s not a suggestion. It’s an
order.”

      
She knew he was concerned about her, but
his tone pissed her off. She turned and replied over her shoulder, “Duly noted,
Paul.”

      
“Thanks, Greg. I can take things from
here,” replied John shaking Travers hand.

      
“No problem. Cam, don’t hesitate to call
me if you need anything,” offered Travers.

      
“Thanks, Travers. I appreciate the offer
but I’ll be okay,” she replied over her shoulder as she walked with John
towards the elevator.

      
“Cam, wait!” Viktor shouted.

      
She sighed and turned.

      
“I’ll take you home. You shouldn’t be by
yourself.”

      
John stepped between them. “She won’t be
alone. I’ll be with her.”

      
Viktor peered around John.
“Cam?”

      
“I need to be with my family now.”

      
Resigned, he replied, “Will you call me
later?” The half-hearted shrug she gave didn’t look promising. “Cam, I swear I
had nothing to do with this. Don’t you believe me?”

      
“I don’t know, Viktor. I don’t know,” she
mumbled as she turned away.

      
John placed his hand on the small of her
back and nudged her into the elevator.

*
     
*
     
*

      
When they arrived at Camryn’s apartment,
John grabbed a golf club from the trunk of his car. He would’ve preferred his
gun, but since Illinois didn’t have the right to carry, a golf club would have
to suffice.

      
He took her house key and quietly opened
the door, motioning for her to wait until he checked out the inside. A few
minutes later he called for her to come in.

      
She casually looked around the apartment
and felt relieved nothing looked askew. She walked into the kitchen and opened
the fridge. A cold beer would hit the spot.

      
She started to ask John if he wanted one
when the words froze in her throat.

      
On the top shelf inside of the
refrigerator sat a white sheet of paper folded in two. In black marker were the
words ‘Did you like the roses, virgin?’