Nearly Departed (Spring Cleaning Mysteries) (32 page)

"Or maybe you've got some kind of martyr complex." Smoke said.

"
What are you talking about?" I asked through clenched teeth, pressing my right foot into the floor, as though by doing so I could slow down the car.

"
You hate your job, but you don't have the balls to tell your folks that."

"
I've told you that's not why—"

"
And this situation gets dropped in your lap," he steamrolled over me, "illustrating how dangerous your job can be. But instead of letting Reed tell them about it, you protect them from the information. If they had it, maybe they'd
want
you to give up Spring Cleaning. Then the onus would be taken off of you."

He zoomed through an amber traffic light, and my stomach flip-flopped nervously.

"Could you please slow down?" I asked. "You're scaring me."

He immediately eased of
f the accelerator, but it was too late.

The tell-tale lights of a police cruiser flashed behind us.

"What the hell?" Smoke muttered, cruising to a stop alongside the road. "If this is Reed's idea of a joke…that light wasn't red, was it?"
              He turned to look at me, noticing for the first time my death-grip on the overhead handle. He reached over and peeled my fingers away from it. "I didn't mean to frighten you. You weren't in any danger. I'm an excellent driver."

"
That's what Dustin Hoffman said in
Rain Man
," I joked weakly.

Chuckling, Smoke shook his head.
"
Fatal Attraction. Rain Man
. You and your movie references don't paint the best picture of me."

Turning away, he lowered the driver
's side window to address the cop who'd strolled up alongside the Jeep.

"
Hey, partner," Detective Lacey Halperin purred.

If I hadn
't already been on edge, her arrival would have done the trick.

"
Hey, Lacey. What's up? You're not going to try to tell me I blew through that light back there, are you?" Smoke's tone was light.

She laughed, tossing her long, blonde hair. It was totally illogical, but I really didn
't like the woman. Her constant flirting with Smoke grated on me like a new shoe against a blister.

"
No," she said. "I just wanted to talk to you."

"
I have a phone," Smoke said. A subtle thread of tension wound through his words.

She pitched her voice so low, I could barely hear her.
"But I didn't want a paper trail of our conversation. Come talk to me for a second." Without waiting for his response, she spun on her heel and walked back to her car.

"
She didn't acknowledge you," Smoke said.

"
I hadn't noticed." That was a lie, but I wasn't going to recognize her snub.

"
Stay here." He climbed out of the Jeep. "And don't touch anything."

I listened to his footsteps crunch away.

Almost immediately his cell phone buzzed where he'd left it on the dashboard. Fearing it might be Reed, I ignored his
hands off
order and picked it up. Once I saw that it was "Uncle Bernie" calling, I put it back where I found it. Again wondering who the hell Bernie was.

"
I don't like her."

Angel
's sudden arrival in Smoke's vacated seat startled me so badly that I yelped. I immediately slapped my hand over my mouth and slid down in my seat so that I could see Lacey's Mercedes in the rear view mirror on the passenger door. It was too dark to make out much more than the vague shadows of Smoke and the lady detective sitting in her car behind the strobing light on her dash. They faced one another, and neither seemed to have heard my exclamation.

"
You need to stop doing that," I told Angel gently.

"
Doing what?" she asked.

"
Scaring me like that." I kept one eye on the mirror and one on her. She seemed agitated, picking at the hem of her non-existent dress. "Is something bothering you?"

Her lower lip trembled and her big, blue, ghostly eyes welled with tears.
"I have to tell Smoke something. Something important. But he won't listen."

"
Oh, honey, it's not that he's ignoring you, he just can't hear you. It's not his fault. Most people can't. He's not doing it on purpose."

"
But he doesn't believe Halley or you that I'm even here," she wailed.

I didn
't know how to respond to that. If I could have hugged the poor child, I would have, but I was pretty sure that embracing a non-corporeal being is impossible. I reached out my hand and patted her knee. The cold jolt of the contact vibrated up my arm like I'd just hit my funny bone.

I glanced in the
"objects may be closer than they appear" mirror just in time to see Smoke climb out of Lacey's car.

He didn
't look happy.

"
What is it you want to tell Smoke?" I asked Angel, hurriedly, knowing that once he returned to the car, I wouldn't be able to talk to her.

"
I wanna tell him that I'm not mad at him for being dead."

I whipped my head around to look at her.
"Why would you say that?"

She gave me a one-shoulder shrug.
"Cuz it's his fault I am."

Smoke opened the door of the Jeep and climbed in, shivering as Angel passed through him and then disappeared.

I almost called out to her to come back, desperate to know how he was responsible for her death.

Smoke cranked up the heat, a scowl weighing down his features.

"
Everything okay?" I squeaked.

"
According to Lacey, there's a lot of pressure coming from On High to close the college kids' case."

"
And you believe her?"

"
Why shouldn't I?"

I shrugged.
"I dunno. She seems to keep showing up."

He
'd been putting the car into drive, but he slipped it back into park and turned to stare at me.

I swallowed hard. It occurred to me that it might not be the best idea to piss off a guy with a
reputation for anger issues who's responsible for a little girl's death. I immediately felt guilty for the thought.

"
Reed keeps popping up, too," Smoke said.

"
But it's his case."

He rubbed the back of his neck, signaling his agitation

"I'm just tired," I said to soothe him. "I don't know what I'm talking about."

Turning away, he started driving.

Neither of us spoke for the rest of the trip to his apartment. I was too busy wondering how poor Angel had died. I didn't want to think about what he was ruminating about.

As he parked the Jeep outside the carriage house, a man rushed toward the vehicle.

"Get down!" Using a hand on the back of my neck, Smoke pushed my head toward my lap, as he reached over me, popping open the glove compartment. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of metal.

Frightened, I hugged my knees, praying it wasn
't the guy who had threatened me earlier.

Smoke threw open his door.
"Jesus! I coulda shot you. What were you thinking, rushing me like that?"

"
I called and told you I was waiting for you," a familiar male voice said.

"
Sit up." Smoke tugged at my arm. "It's okay. You're safe."

I sat up and saw Bernie standing outside the Jeep. I gave him a weak wave.

He didn't look happy to see me. "We talked about her," he said to Smoke.

"
She's in trouble." Smoke climbed out of the Jeep, walked around to my side, and opened my door.

"
You may be in trouble," Bernie said.

"
I'll deal."

Bernie shook his head.
"What kind of trouble is she in?"

"
She was threatened. Twice. After her tires were all slashed." Smoke led me from the Jeep to his front door. Unlocking it, he nudged me inside.

"
What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into, young lady?" Bernie followed us inside even though he hadn't been invited.

"
Triple murder," Smoke said.

"
I know that," Bernie said.

"
Then why ask her?"

The two men glared at one another. I had the distinct impression that whatever they were really fighting about had nothing to do with me.

"Let's sit," Bernie suggested. "Maybe a fresh perspective will be helpful."

Smoke nodded.
"Do you want something to drink?"

"
Coffee would be good," Bernie said.

"
I was asking Victoria."

I shook my head.
"No thanks."

Bernie and I sat at the kitchen table while Smoke busied himself making coffee.

"Tell me how this whole thing started," Bernie prompted.

I looked to Smoke for guidance. He nodded
. I looked back at Bernie, wondering what he'd done to earn Smoke's trust. "I run a crime scene clean up company. A couple of days ago, I got the job of cleaning up the frat boy job."

Bernie nodded encouragingly.

"After speaking to the parents of one of the boys, I started to suspect that it wasn't a murder-suicide like the police seemed to think." I spoke slowly, choosing my words carefully. "First the tires were slashed, then I got a threatening phone call, and tonight a man…" I hesitated, shaken by the memory. "Tonight, a man threatened me at my home."

"
And what have you discovered about the case?" Bernie asked.

"
You forgot about the guy who attacked you in the kitchen of the frat boy house," Smoke interjected. "And that you handed over the damaged computer memory card to Reed." His annoyance that I'd given it to Alan was obvious.

"
Who's Reed?" Bernie asked.

"
The police detective
assigned
to the case," I said.

"
The police chief's son," Smoke said, his tone loaded with meaning.

Bernie raised his eyebrows at that but didn
't comment. Instead, he nudged, "Have you come up with any evidence concerning the case?"

"
Besides the memory card?" I asked. "I don't think so."

"
But you're convinced it was a triple homicide?"

I nodded, wishing there was a way I could tell them that I
knew
Martin hadn't killed his friends.

Bernie rocked back in his seat, fixing his gaze on Smoke.
"What do you think?"

Smoke settled into a chair, stretching out his legs and crossing his arms over his chest.
"Somebody seems to think she's going to find something." His expression was guarded, but his tone was matter-of-fact. "And now, word has it that there's a lot of pressure coming from higher up the chain to close the case."

"
Do you think this Reed fellow will do it?" Bernie asked.

"
He's the chief's son." He tried to deliver the line casually, but I heard the stress in Smoke's tone as he mentioned the chief.

"
Not everyone follows in their parents' footsteps," Bernie said.

"
That's true," I agreed hurriedly, unsure whether I was defending Alan Reed or myself.

Smoke
's gaze narrowed thoughtfully at my words. After a moment, he nodded slightly, signaling his acquiescence.

"
And you're not going to drop this?" Bernie asked Smoke.

He shook his head.

Bernie sighed heavily. "Fine. I'll see what I can find."

"
No one's asking you to," Smoke said.

Bernie chuckled.
"I've got too much time in to let you do this on your own." He got up and walked toward the door.

"
What about your coffee?" Smoke asked, standing to follow him.

"
I'm an old man. I can't drink coffee this late. It plays hell with my acid reflux, and I need all the beauty sleep I can get." He winked at me as he said the last part.

Smoke walked him out
, and I sat at the kitchen table, unsure of what to do. I could hear their muted voices, arguing just outside the door, but couldn't make out their words. I twisted in my seat to see if Angel was in the vicinity, but I didn't spot her.