Sacrifice (32 page)

David spotted me in the apartment and I could see the relief wash over him. Then he saw Greg Caston lying on the floor next to me.

“
What have you done, Simon?” David shouted as he turned his attention back to the little man beside him.

Simon pointed his gun at David. “I have done what anyone does with a mosquito that tries to suck the blood out of you. I swatted it away,” he proudly proclaimed.

David motioned to me. “All right. I’m here now, Simon. Let Nicci Go.”

“
Let her go?” Simon laughed. “Are you insane? Of course I am not going to let her go. I am going to keep her to make sure you never run away again.”

“
I won’t run away,” David affirmed. “If you let her go, I will go back to New York with you for good. But Nicci has to be set free. I won’t let you make slaves out of both of us, Simon.”

Simon shook his head while keeping the gun aimed at David. “Very noble, David, but I am afraid I cannot trust you. The girl will be my guest for as long as I deem it necessary. There is no compromise here. And I have already found the perfect substitute for her. She is ready and waiting in the trunk of my car.”

David stared into the little man’s face. “What are you talking about, Simon?”

“
I have a replacement for Nicci. Just like I found a replacement for you after that idiot Fagles shot you. Once we have dumped the girl in my trunk into the Mississippi River, then all three of us can return to New York. One happy family.”

I felt my stomach rise up in my throat at the thought of what Simon proposed. My mind raced. There had to be something else we could do. There had to be some way we could stop him. And then I caught sight of Greg Caston’s body beside me. He had stopped breathing and his eyes had a dull, glazed over look. He was dead. He had become yet another victim of Simon’s obsessive jealousy. I raised my head from Greg’s corpse and looked up at David. I felt the tears of disappointment fill my eyes. I wanted our happy ending. We deserved our happy ending. A man like Simon La Roy could never be allowed to win.

David’s eyes found mine. “Nicci, do you trust me?” he asked in a soft voice.

I stared into David’s face and nodded my head. “I trust you, David,” I replied, fighting to hold back my tears.

“
Well, congratulations, David,” Simon extolled. “You finally won the little vixen’s trust. A shame it’s too late to do either one of you any good.”

David smiled. “Is it?”

“
Silly boy, she is just a phase. I didn’t create you to see you waste your life on some leggy girl,” Simon remarked. “Time to go, Nicci,” he called out to me.

Simon was pointing his revolver at me. I slowly rose from my chair while keeping my bound wrists in front of me.

Off to my side, the “emergency exit” door unexpectedly flew open.

“
Nicci, get down!” David’s voice echoed around the penthouse.

Shots rang out around me. I reflexively sank to the floor and covered my head. I heard a stifled cry and careened my head around to see where the noise had come from. I saw Simon holding out the gun before him as he tried to return fire. What struck me at that moment was the look of pure horror on Simon’s face as the bullets ripped into his flesh. He fell to his knees as he got off one shot from the .38 revolver in his hands. Then he pitched forward, slamming his face into the shiny hardwood floor.

I raised my head in the direction of the “emergency exit” door to see a blur of dark blue heading into the room. I watched as Dallas went over to Simon, kicked the gun away from his hand, and reached over to check his pulse.

A pair of long arms quickly wrapped around me.

“
Are you all right?” David asked, breathing hard against my body.

I pulled back from his embrace. “I’m fine. Are you all right?” I eagerly examined his bruised face. I looked down and saw the Smith & Wesson compact pistol in his hands.

“
You had a gun?”

“
Hidden behind me in the waistband of my pants,” David stated as he placed the pistol on the floor next to him. His hands desperately began pulling at the rope around my wrists.

I spied a small splatter of blood on his white shirtsleeve. “Are you hurt?”

He untied the rope and then threw it to floor. “I’m fine, Nicci. It’s Simon’s blood, not mine,” he insisted. He closely examined my chaffed, red wrists.

Cleveland came running through the “emergency exit” door with his gun at the ready.

“
Shit!” Cleveland cursed. He immediately went across the room to Greg Caston’s body.

“
Are you two all right?” Dallas called out as he came over to us.

David nodded to Dallas. “We’re fine,” he informed him. David eyed Simon’s body on the floor beside us.

“
He’s dead. I hit him three times before he went down,” Dallas reported.

“
Who shot Mr. Caston?” Cleveland tersely asked from across the room.

“
I watched as Simon killed him,” I replied.

“
I knew there was somethin’ funny about that little guy,” Cleveland spoke out. “You guys weren’t kiddin’ when you told me he was up to no good.”

I looked up at Dallas. “Simon killed Jenny Ryan too. Her body is in the trunk of an old blue Monte Carlo Simon parked downstairs. He was going to replace her for me and make everyone think I was dead.”

“
The sick bastard,” Dallas whispered.

Cleveland walked up to us. “Is there anyone else in the apartment?” he asked.

“
I don’t think so,” I told him.

“
I’d better go and make a sweep upstairs just to make sure,” Cleveland said and he headed for the stairs.

The tall security guard disappeared into the first bedroom on the second floor. I took a breath and started to feel the shakes settle over me.

“
Nicci?” I heard my uncle’s voice from the “emergency exit” doorway.

“
I’m fine, Uncle Lance,” I called out. I looked over at David and whispered, “You brought him here?”

He laughed. “He wouldn’t let us take his car without him.”

Uncle Lance kneeled down beside me and wrapped his arms about me. He kissed my forehead. “Jesus Christ, kid! When I heard the gunshots downstairs I thought I had lost you.” He nodded to Dallas. “Spy boy here made me wait at the bottom of the stairs until he gave me the all clear.”

Dallas lowered his eyes to him. “Which I never did Lance. So why are you up here?”

Uncle Lance frowned up at him. “Like after all that gunfire I was going to stay down in the lobby and twiddle my thumbs.”

Dallas scanned the room. “Looks like a hell of a mess. How are we going to explain this? And these,” he stated, holding up his Sig Sauer P226.

“
I’ll tell the police what I saw,” David pronounced as he stood from the floor. “Simon had his gun aimed at her and threatened to kill both of us. You guys came in and stopped him. It was self-defense.” He reached over and pulled me up next to him.

“
A witness statement from a guy who has been dead for three years?” Dallas eyed him skeptically. “I don’t know which is going to be harder to explain you or the gun I shot Simon with.” He tucked his gun in the front waistband of his jeans.

Uncle Lance nodded as he stood up. “He’s right. We’re in post Katrina New Orleans, David. The police, as well as the justice system here, are about as skittish as a high-strung racehorse. They’re looking to prosecute anyone they can get their hands on.”

David looked from Uncle Lance to Dallas. “Then what do we do?”

Dallas turned to David. “You need to disappear.”

David nodded. “I’ve got somewhere I can go. I’ll take Nicci with me.”

“
Good idea,” Dallas agreed. “Simon could have already made arrangements to have something happen to her. I’ll need to go to New York and make sure it’s safe for both of you.”

Uncle Lance sighed. “That settles it then. Nicci’s gonna have to disappear.”

The three men just stared at each other. I observed their unspoken communication with a sinking feeling of dread.

Dallas looked over at Simon’s body. “And we have someone who can take her place.”

“
Who?” Uncle Lance asked.

“
There’s a girl’s body downstairs in a blue Monte Carlo,” Dallas explained to Uncle Lance. “The girl looks a lot like Nicci.”

Uncle Lance turned to me. “She got any ID on her we can use?”

I nodded to the chair where the black purse had fallen from my shoulder. “Her purse is over there. And her jacket is by the elevator doors. But what are you going to do?” I nervously asked him.

Uncle Lance said nothing and went over to the brown leather chair. He began rummaging through Jenny Ryan’s oversized black purse.

David gently turned my face to his. “Nicci, to make sure you are safe, really safe, you need to disappear tonight. You will have to take on a new identity. You will need to become Jenny Ryan.”

“
What! I just can’t disappear! I have a life and a new book coming out next month. I don’t want to be her! To act like her and… to talk like her. I can’t!”

David picked up his gun from the floor. “Nicci, you’re only taking her name. You don’t have to act like her. And it will only be for a little while. Trust me.”

I gazed into his wonderful gray eyes. I saw the bruise under his right eye and took in the scar on the left side of his face. He had risked everything to be with me. How could I doubt him anymore?

Cleveland emerged from the second floor landing.

“
I’ve checked the other rooms,” he announced as he came down the stairs. “So you guys got any ideas ‘bout what we gonna do?”

“
We have some ideas,” Dallas said, nodding to the tall security guard. “Some of which you may not like,” he asserted.

Cleveland holstered his gun as he walked up to Dallas. “I’m open to all suggestions. Considerin’ my employment just got terminated, I’ll listen to anythin’ you guys have to offer. As long as there’s somethin’ in it for me.”

“
An ambitious man. I like that.” Dallas grinned as he took in the large man’s face. “Tell me, Cleveland, have you ever considered relocating to find new employment?”

Cleveland shrugged. “I ain’t got nothin’ keepin’ me in this town no more.”

“
Ever thought about New York City? I’m suddenly in desperate need of a good security guard. Great benefits and a very lucrative moving bonus.”

Cleveland gave a big grin. “When do I start?”

“
Five minutes ago,” Dallas answered. “We’re going to need some help sprucing up the place. Can you get me some garbage bags, bleach, and paper towels?”

Cleveland nodded.

“
How long before anyone would come looking for Caston?” Dallas questioned.

“
His executive assistant, Lauren, usually comes by after nine in the mornin’,” Cleveland replied.

“
That gives us well into tomorrow before he’s discovered,” Dallas stated. He nodded to Cleveland. “When the police question you tell them that Ms. Beauvoir showed up here alone for her date with Mr. Caston and left a short time later. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary and you had no hint that anything was wrong after Ms. Beauvoir left. All right?”

“
Sounds good to me,” Cleveland agreed. He went over to the elevator and pressed the call button. “I’ll jus’ go and get everythin’ you asked for,” he said over his shoulder.

The elevator doors opened and Cleveland stepped inside.

After Cleveland had left the apartment, I turned to Dallas. “What about Simon?” I asked.

I’ll take care of Simon. He needs to disappear, not die, just yet,” Dallas insisted. “It will give me time to get to New York and take over his organization. When the time is right I’ll make sure his body is found where it won’t be connected to any of us.”

Uncle Lance returned to my side, carrying Jenny Ryan’s black purse in his hands. “She must have had a job at The Carol Robinson Art Gallery on Magazine Street. There are business cards in her purse. She also has some credit cards, a driver’s license with an address uptown, a cell phone, and some keys.” Uncle Lance held out the purse to me. “Take this. I’ll go back to Valie’s and get your purse and wallet. The police will find your ID on her body and assume she is you. Once Billy and I positively identify the body in the morgue as you, Nicci Beauvoir will be dead.” He sighed as he nudged the purse toward me once more. “I’m sorry, kid, but it’s the only way.”

I shook my head, refusing the dead girl’s purse. “But I can talk to the police. Tell them what I saw. We don’t have to do this.”

Uncle Lance placed the strap from Jenny Ryan’s black purse around my shoulder. “You can’t say anything, Nicci. You would never be able to explain any of this.” He looked over at Dallas and frowned. “If the girl’s been dead for more than a few hours, we won’t be able to leave her body here. ME will notice the discrepancy. I know the ME, Dan Cantor, pretty well, and I can ask him to overlook a few things, but not that,” he insisted in a deep voice.

“
Perhaps murder suicide?” David suggested as he placed his pistol into the waistband of his khaki pants.

“
We’ll have to put her in the water. It will make the time of death difficult to pinpoint,” Dallas clarified.

Uncle Lance nodded at Dallas. “We can take her to an empty warehouse I know a few blocks from here and put her in the Mississippi River. The river is running high and fast with all the spring run-off from up north. It will take the police a while to find her body in those currents. That should give mother nature plenty of time to destroy any incriminating evidence.”