Trapped by Revenge: A Shelby Nichols Adventure (19 page)

“I’m going to find out what’s going on, and I’ll come right back and let you know. Hopefully, I’ll have some good news.” He was thinking I’d be fine here, and he’d be more useful if he left. Since he was also thinking he’d be quick, I nodded and waved him away.

Now that he was gone, I glanced at my surroundings, taking in the other cells in the room. At the moment, I was the only person here. I didn’t know whether to be grateful or terrified. My cell had a bench on the sides and at the back for sitting, but nothing else. That’s probably why they called it a holding cell, as they didn’t expect anyone to stay too long.

I sat down, put my head in my hands, and prayed hard. There’s nothing like being in jail to make a person feel completely helpless. I tried to look at the bright side. At least now I could tell my kids what jail was like from a personal perspective. I could tell them how horrible and trapped they would feel, especially with the tight space closing in on them, and nothing but bars and walls to look at. No windows they could see out of, no soft bed, and worse, no real bathroom… only a toilet in the corner. It would probably scare them enough to make them never do anything even remotely bad.

After ten minutes, I decided to get up and walk around a bit, since sitting on that hard bench didn’t feel so good. I found myself walking in circles and started to get dizzy, so I sat again and tried really hard not to chew my fingernails. I used to do that in junior high school, but I’d broken the habit until today. For some reason it was hard to keep from biting on something.

Closing my hands into fists seemed like a good idea, then I wondered if I should start doing push-ups so I wouldn’t be such a wimp if I ever got in a fight. I decided then and there to take some kind of martial arts classes when I got out. If I ever ended up in jail, I had to consider that it would be good to know how to defend myself. It was easy to imagine all kinds of terrible things that could happen to me in jail, and with each of those imaginings, little tremors of fear shot down my spine.

Just then Dimples returned. With a yelp, I eagerly jumped to my feet and grabbed the bars. “What’s going on? When can I go?”

Dimples shook his head, not understanding how it happened. “Chris got a judge to set bail. I don’t know how he did it, but he must have some powerful friends.”

“So I can go now?” Hope and profound relief to get out of there left me a little breathless.

“Yeah,” he said. “We’ve got to go back to booking to get your personal things, but after that, you can go.” He opened the cell door and I lurched out as fast as I could, hardly daring to believe I was free.

Dimples led the way and I followed behind him like an eager puppy. Although he was glad I was getting out, he worried about how Chris had done it. With bail set at one hundred thousand dollars, Dimples thought it would have easily taken overnight to get that much money together. But Chris had a cashier’s check within the hour. Who had that kind of money? Had Chris gone to a loan shark? Or worse, Joey “The Knife” Manetto? He hated to see us get mixed up with him again.

I pressed my lips together to stop from blurting the whole sordid story. If he knew the truth of what was going on, he’d probably never trust me again. Of course, maybe he’d just feel sorry for me and then tell me to turn in Uncle Joey and let the police put him behind bars where he belonged. As if I could ever do that.

I got my ring and slipped it on my finger, comforted to have it back where it belonged. Dimples led me up the stairs and through the building to the main entrance where I caught a glimpse of Chris down the long hallway. He was watching for me, and a relieved smile lit his face to see me coming toward him.

He caught me in a fierce hug and, with me practically glued to his side, led me out of the building toward the car parked at the curb. It was after eight and getting dark, so I couldn’t see anyone watching, but I caught a stray thought of someone thinking I got out, and that was sure quick. I couldn’t get into the car fast enough, and once the door closed, I glanced toward the building.

Dimples watched from the steps, and as we drove away, a woman hurrying down the sidewalk joined him. It was Billie Jo Payne, and she started gesturing in my direction. Did this mean she was going to put my name in the paper? My stomach clenched just to think about my arrest showing up in the morning edition of the paper for everyone to see.

Chris pulled to a stop before rounding the corner, and I noticed another person walking away from the precinct. This person had on a hoodie and baggy jeans. At first I thought it was a guy, but I couldn’t tell for sure. As we passed, I tried to get a good look at his face, but the hoodie was pulled down too far. Still, something about him seemed familiar. But what? I shook my head, deciding that with everything I was going through, I was probably just going a little nuts.

Chris reached for my hand and I sent him a grateful smile. “Thanks for getting me out of there. I had no idea how awful that would be. So what happened? How did you do it? Dimples thought I’d be there all night.”

“Yeah, so did I,” he admitted. “But I called Manetto like you asked, and he took care of it. Arranged for me to talk to the judge and everything.”

“What about the money?”

“He did that too. It was kind of scary how he was able to pull it all off.” He was thinking that Manetto had connections and deep pockets, which made him a powerful force to be reckoned with, and not someone you wanted to cross. “By the way, Judge Jack says ‘hello.’ Was he the one you beat at poker?”

“Yes.”

“He opened his office to sign the order and everything. Manetto already knew how much we needed and sent the check with one of his men to the judge’s place. So all I had to do was take the order to the police station and post bail to get you out.”

The ease with which it all happened worried him a little, and he hoped he’d done the right thing. He could have managed it without Manetto’s help, but it would have taken all night and into the next day to get me out, although he didn’t think one night in jail would have been that bad. Still, it was done now. He just hoped he wouldn’t regret it.

“You won’t regret it, and one night in jail would have been awful. Have you ever been in jail? Because let me tell you, it’s horrible.”

“If you say so,” he replied, a smile turning up his lips. It seemed that just because I’d been in there for an hour, I was now an expert on jail time. Still, he could think of worse things than jail.

I pursed my lips, but since he didn’t say that out loud I decided not to argue. “Did you tell the kids?”

“Yeah. They took it pretty well, but I still think it freaked them out a little.”

“Oh Chris, this is awful. I feel like I’ve let you down. You and the kids, and everyone I know.”

“It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.

“I know, but you’re thinking I’m still partly to blame since I didn’t tell Uncle Joey I wasn’t working for him anymore.”

Chris inhaled sharply, knowing I’d caught this in his thoughts. Instead of chewing me out, he tried another tactic. “I know. I’m sorry. I realize he’s not someone you want to cross. But I’ll bet once we get this all straightened out, you can tell him you’re done. Don’t you think? He’s sure to understand after all this.” I didn’t respond right away so he continued. “Shelby! This is serious. You could end up in prison for the rest of your life because of this. It’s got to stop.”

“I know, I know.” He was right, but that wasn’t helping now. “Let’s get me out of this first, okay?”

“Sure,” he agreed.

We pulled into the driveway, and I tried to get my nerves under control before we went inside and talked to our kids. “What should I tell them?”

“Tell them what happened. They’re old enough to know the truth. If this does end up going to trial, it’s better they know what we’re dealing with now than finding it out some other way.”

My heart skipped a beat. “It can’t go to trial! We’ve got to find out who did this long before that happens.”

“We will. We’ll figure it out.”

Chapter 12

Just after midnight, I woke from a deep sleep, pulled into consciousness by the realization that the voice I’d heard last night about how fast I got out of jail belonged to a woman, and it wasn’t Billie like I first thought. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but if someone was watching me and it was a woman, it had to be important.

With all the evidence piling up against me, I still didn’t know how in the world I was going to figure out this case and stay out of jail. Worrying about all this kept me awake, and it was a long time before I could quiet my fears and go back to sleep. So when my alarm went off, I was ready to smack somebody.

Lucky for Chris, he had gone into work early so he could work on his case load. He needed the extra time in order to fit my arraignment into his schedule. Apparently that was planned for next Tuesday. This was where I would be formally charged with murder in a court of law before a judge. Just thinking about it sent shivers of dread down my spine and filled me with fear.

Today was Friday, and it was my turn to drive the carpool to school. Since none of the parents had called to tell me they didn’t want their kids anywhere near a woman accused of murder, I took heart that my name wasn’t in the paper and no one knew.

Picking up the carpool went like it normally did, and I didn’t hear any of the kids thinking about me, but once I got home, I checked the paper anyway. With baited breath, I combed each section, and drooped with relief to find I wasn’t mentioned.

Last night, my kids had taken the news rather well, and didn’t seem too concerned as long as it didn’t interfere with their lives. They thought that since I was innocent, I’d figure it out. After all, I did have premonitions, and that gave me an edge. I had solved a lot of cases and found a little girl who’d been kidnapped. I’d even helped rescue her before she was killed. If I could to that, I could figure this out. I was relieved, and a little worried that they had so much faith in me. Now if only I could have the same faith in myself, I wouldn’t worry so much.

Since I’d seen Billie Payne at the station last night, I decided to call her and find out how much she knew about my arrest. She answered on the first ring. “Hi Billie, it’s Shelby. Is it you I need to thank for leaving me out of the paper today?”

“Well, mostly, but you also need to thank Drew too, um… I mean Dimples… er… Harris.”

“Oh… well I’ll be sure to do that then.” Did she call him Drew? Wow. Things must be going well between them. “How’s your investigation coming? Have you learned anything new?”

“Yes I have, but I’m not sure how much it will help, and I’m running out of time. A week from today is Jim’s execution.”

“Oh that’s right!” My heart sank, I’d forgotten all about that, and here I’d made a promise to Jim that I’d find evidence that would free him. “How’s he holding up?”

“Not real well. He keeps asking if you’ve figured it out, and I haven’t been able to tell him anything.”

I sighed, knowing I’d failed him, and if I wasn’t careful, I’d be next. “Can we meet for lunch today? I might have something for you, and I’d like to hear what you’ve learned too. Maybe we can put the pieces together from what we both know and make some progress.”

Billie agreed and after deciding on a time and place, we disconnected.

Next, I called Uncle Joey at Thrasher Development, knowing I needed to thank him for getting me out of jail so quickly. Jackie answered and put me right through.

“Shelby,” he said. “How are you doing?”

“Better today. I just wanted to thank you for bailing me out last night. I was starting to go a little crazy in there, so I’m really glad I didn’t have to stay all night. But I just wanted to let you know that I’ll do everything I can to figure this out and get your money back.”

“Don’t worry about the money. We just need to clear your name. I talked to Ramos about your discovery yesterday and he’s already come up with a few leads.”

“He has? That was fast.”

“Well… you getting arrested seemed to motivate him,” he said.

“Oh…” Did that mean Ramos really cared about me, or that he didn’t want to have to keep his promise of taking me to South America? “Well yeah, it certainly surprised me. Dimples promised to let me know when it was going to happen, but someone else bypassed him and got a warrant. But get this, the DA’s office approached the detective, not the other way around. Sounds like someone higher up is pulling strings, doesn’t it? Someone… like a judge?”

“It certainly does,” Uncle Joey agreed. “I’ll get my source in the police department on it right away. Maybe he can find out which judge signed that warrant.”

“That’s great,” I said. “Maybe this is the break we’ve needed. It makes getting arrested not so bad if it leads us to the right judge.”

“My thoughts exactly. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, if you see or hear anything out of the ordinary, I want to know. Sometimes it’s the little things that can make or break a case.”

“Okay, thanks, I will.” We said our goodbyes and disconnected. Something unfurled in my chest and I took a deep breath. That little chat had me feeling more optimistic than I had all morning. In fact, I felt good enough to eat some yogurt and take a shower.

At lunchtime, I met Billie at the restaurant and we found a seat in a side booth. After placing our orders, we got down to business. “So tell me what you found out,” I said.

“Okay, here it is, but don’t tell anyone. I talked Drew… ah… Dimples…”

“You can call him Drew,” I interrupted. I gave her a knowing smile and she blushed. “So have you two been seeing a lot of each other lately?”

“It’s purely professional,” she said, but she was thinking about the kiss they’d shared, and how amazing it was.

“O…kay,” I said. “Go on.”

She took a deep breath and refocused her thoughts on our conversation. “Right. Um… I talked Drew into sharing some of Killpack’s files with me. After I told him of my conversation with Killpack about Jim Porter’s innocence, he remembered seeing a file with Rebecca Morris’ name on it. I convinced him that it might help me keep Jim from being executed if I knew what was in that file, so he made copies and gave them to me.”

“Wow,” I said. “That’s huge.”

“Yeah, just don’t tell anyone or he could lose his job.”

“Oh, sure. I won’t breathe a word.” Poor Dimples. That meant he could be in double trouble for taking the file about me too. Of course, when I considered that Uncle Joey had also received a file, it meant Dimples wasn’t the only detective taking them, so maybe it wasn’t too bad. “So what did you find out?”

“From his notes, it looks like Killpack was observing Rebecca’s routines. He kept track of when she was at work, at home, and anywhere else she went. He kept track of her daily schedule and noted the times she was with Jim and the times she was alone. He knew where she was at certain times of the day and what days of the week she routinely did the same things. Including the nights she usually stayed late at work. It was kind of creepy. He basically had both of their lives all mapped out on paper.”

“So… someone was paying him to do this?”

“It looks like it,” Billie agreed. “In fact… in his notes of the nights that Rebecca worked late… the night of her murder was one of them.”

“Then whoever killed her planned it from the information he told them?”

“I think so,” she answered.

“Do you think Killpack knew that?” I asked.

“No. Not at first, because there’s a notation that when he drove by her house the next day, he found it swarming with cops. He notes that when he found out she was dead, he let his client know and then closed the file.”

“Wow. I wonder when he figured out that his client had something to do with her murder.”

“I wish I knew,” she said. “But I really think he must have found out something about it that got him killed, which is what we basically knew. So if you think about it, this doesn’t really change anything.”

“But it might be the evidence we need to get a stay of execution. Let me call Chris and see what he thinks.”

“Okay.” She sighed. “I just wish I could have gotten a client list from Drew. Apparently, Killpack’s client list didn’t include all of his clients because the invoice in Rebecca’s file only had a number, not a name. He must have kept that information separate.”

I paused, wondering how much to tell her. “You’re right. I talked with his former secretary about how he billed his “special” clients, and she told me he kept a ledger with their names on it in his safe at home.”

“Really?” Her surprise turned to excitement. “Well that’s great! I’m sure Drew could meet us there. Let’s go get it.”

I grimaced and shook my head. “Sorry, but I already tried that and it’s not there. Worse, I think the killer beat me to it.”

“What?” she gasped. Her brows drew together with alarm. “What makes you think that?”

“He left me a nasty surprise and a note. So let’s just say I have a friend who is trying to track him down.”

“Damn,” she said. “That ledger could be the key to Jim’s case.”

“Yeah… mine too.”

Her eyes narrowed. “How would it help you?”

“I think Killpack might have kept a file on me with the same kind of invoice.”

“Might?” she asked. Her inquisitive nature was going off the charts, and she knew there was a lot more I wasn’t telling her. Had Drew found a file on me and taken it? Maybe even given it to me? She knew we worked together, but would he go out on a limb for me too?

“It makes sense that Killpack would have known about me,” I reasoned. “Maybe the same client who hired him to spy on Rebecca, had also hired him to spy on me. That would make him suspicious, right?”

“Yeah. That does make sense.” What was I hiding from her? Something important, she was sure of it.

“Okay… just so you know, I’m working on finding the ledger. I have a couple of leads, so if the ledger turns up, I’ll be sure to let you know. In the meantime, I’ll tell Chris about the files and see if he thinks it might be enough to get a stay of execution for Jim.”

Billie nodded with admiration, realizing she had to give me credit for being such a good investigator. She only wished I’d included her a little more. It would have been nice to see me in action, or even help me out. She wondered if I’d broken into Killpack’s house or something. Now that would have been exciting. “All right. But if you find the ledger, I want to see it before you hand it over to the police. Okay?”

“Of course. You’ll be the first to know.”

She nodded. “Good. I just hope you can find it soon. At this point, it might be the only thing that will keep Jim alive.”

With that somber thought, we concentrated on eating. I didn’t have much of an appetite, and was glad I’d only ordered a salad. From the looks of things, Billie wasn’t real hungry either. Thinking about an innocent man getting executed had a way of doing that.

“Oh, before I forget,” Billie said. “Tomorrow is Sam Killpack’s graveside service. It’s at noon. Do you want to go?” She was thinking it might look weird for the woman accused of murdering him to show up, but since I didn’t do it, it was probably okay.

“So you’re going?” I asked, stalling for time to decide.

“Yes. I want to see who’s there and what they have to say about him. I think it would be good for my next article.” She was thinking it would be a nice lead into her article about Jim, where she planned to reveal Sam’s involvement in spying on Rebecca and her consequent murder. The big reveal would be hinting that someone else was involved. That someone had set Jim up. It could not only help Jim, but go a long way toward her dream of a Pulitzer Prize.

“That’s a good idea,” I said. “As long as it doesn’t make you a target.”

“Huh?”

“Oh… well… I was just thinking that if you wrote something in your next article that hinted about Sam’s involvement, it might make the person who hired him nervous. He might want to shut you up.”

Speculation gleamed in her eyes. “That’s true. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Look sweetie… it’s not a good thing to have a bad guy after you,” I said. “Don’t forget, Sam was killed for what he knew, so if you take that path, you’d better have someone watch your back.”

Her thoughts immediately went to Dimples, and she was sure he’d think the same thing, which was a good thing in her mind. “Oh, I’ll be fine.” She wasn’t a shrinking violet. She carried a gun and knew how to use it. She was also a black belt in Aikido. She could handle herself.

Now it was my turn to be impressed. I could learn a lesson or two from her, and wasn’t Aikido a martial art? Maybe she could teach me, or at least I could train with her. Now that would be fun. I could just picture myself throwing Ramos over my shoulder if he ever tried to kiss me again, and couldn’t help the smile that spread over my face.

Billie was thinking she’d get to the bottom of this mess. Not only for Jim, but because she couldn’t stop thinking about Sam’s message to her and how honest he was about her writing.

“I can see you’re taking Sam’s criticism to heart about getting “the story behind the story,” aren’t you?” I asked.

“Wow. I was just thinking that.”

I smiled. “It makes me wonder if we shouldn’t be looking into Rebecca and Jim’s relationship a little deeper. Maybe Sam found out something about their past that would make sense of all this.”