Checkered Past (A Laurel London Mystery Book 2) (8 page)

Henrietta purred happily, jumping up on the table. She bounced over to Willie. Like me, she couldn’t resist his charm or his hands.

“Did you get my letters?” he asked picking up Henrietta and rubbing down her back.

Of course I got his letters. Burned them without reading them.

“Did you read my letters?” he asked a better question. “I didn’t do it, baby.”

“Liar!” I screamed. A tear dripped down my cheek. “Put her down.”

Trixie stepped forward. “Laurel, I said to put the gun down,” she warned.

“Aww.” His lips kissed Henrietta’s head. “She won’t shoot me with Henrietta in my hands.”

“Stay out of this Trixie.” Hate spewed from my veins and out of my mouth. “You are harboring a hardened criminal who escaped from the state penitentiary. Call the authorities before I put some lead in his ass.”

“I wouldn’t say he was a hardened criminal,” Trixie whispered. “Honey, put the gun down.”

“Not a chance.” I could see out of the corner of my eyes, she was dialing a number. It had to be Derek’s and I didn’t care. He would be more than happy to have his time with Willie.

There were so many times I had dreamed of this moment. Me. Him. My gun pointing directly at him.

“You think you’re slicker than cat’s guts. You think I’m going to take one look at you and melt. You’re wrong.” I held the gun steady. I’m glad he didn’t know I only had one bullet in it.

A few months ago, Derek let me borrow it just to scare anyone if I needed to, and he didn’t realize I had taken one of his bullets.

“Baby.” Willie Ray’s eyes softened. He eased down and put Henrietta back on the table. She scurried off. “I’m telling you I was framed. Why do you think I’m here?”

“To haunt me.” I sucked in a deep breath.

Trixie eased her body along the wall of the kitchen and around the crown molding of the open door into the hallway.

“Stay in there, Trixie,” I called and turned my attention back to Willie.

Do not lose it. Do not cry in front of him.
I was good at self-talk. Being on my own for all of my life, I did a lot of self-talk to reason me through some sticky situations. This was one of those times.

“No. I heard you were working with some retired FBI guy in investigations.” He pointed to Trixie. “If anyone in this world would be good at that shit, it’s you, baby.”

“You are so good,” I said, sarcasm dripping from my lips. “You always knew the right things to say. And I’m not your baby.”

“I knew the right way to love you too.” He grinned, taking a couple more steps. “Does FBI boy make you feel like I do?”

“Shut up!” I shook the gun again, but he got closer. Who was I kidding? I’d never shoot him even though in my dreams I did.

He pulled me in his arms. My heartbeat skipped and skipped again. His smell, Willie Ray’s smell sent my memory into overtime. The warmth of his grasp, the tightness of his grip made it hard for me to tame the demons inside. The demons that wanted to be back in his arms. Safe.

“I didn’t do it, baby. And I need you to help me.” He kissed the top of my head. “God, you smell so damn good. And you feel even better.” His hands did a little too much wandering.

I shoved him off me. The gun fired and the bullet ricocheted off the leg of the table and hit the screen door.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Willie put his hands up and backed away. “What happened to the fearless girl I love?”

“I guess she wised up when you left her standing at the altar in the used wedding gown from the money her fiancé talked her into stealing so they could get married.” Anger boiled in me, sending me over the edge. “Do you think I would up and forget all these years? Not to mention Sally Bent.”

“Altar?” Trixie questioned and bolted back in the room. “What altar?”

“Sally Bent? Hell, she’s the only one who kept in contact with me over the years,” he spat back. “I went to the bank that day to get some money so I could get you a ring.”

“Well, well.” I waved the gun in front of me. “Now you admit you robbed the bank and killed the FBI guy?”

“No!” His jaw tensed. His eyes bore into me. “I did not rob the bank or kill that guy. I had a safety deposit box where I kept some cash I had been saving so I could get you a ring.”

“I’m listening.” Anything with bling (as in a ring) got my attention and we weren’t going anywhere fast. He knew and I knew he never had a safety deposit box.

“There can only be one person in the vault at a time. The teller had no idea there was someone in there.” He threw his hands in the air. “Next thing I knew, gunfire rang out and two people were dead. The teller and the FBI guy.”

“Really?” Did he think I was stupid?

“Really? Check it out. I’m begging you.” He shoved his hands into his pocket.

My phone chirped. I took one hand off the gun and pulled my phone out of my pocket.

Sally Bent reported her car stolen from the bank parking lot. I’m guessing Willie Bowman stole it. Any leads on your end? Has he tried to contact you?
I read Jax’s text.

“Is that your new boyfriend?” His eyes were dark and insolent.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” I felt the need to say that and I wasn’t sure why. I was attracted to Jax and at times I felt like he was attracted to me, but Willie Ray made my mind mushy and confused. “He said Sally Bent reported her car stolen.” I watched his expression.

“Good girl.” His mouth widened with approval.

“So Sally did come pick you up and drove you here?” I asked.

“Yeah. Like I said, she’s the only one who kept in contact with me and believes in me. What happened to you? Did you lose your edge? Did you forget how unstoppable we were?”

“Unstoppable? You mean by petty criminals?” I shook my head in disbelief. Did he really think he could come back here, escaped from prison and pick up where we left off? “It took me a long time to get the people in this town to forgive me for all the bad stuff I did to them. And you aren’t going to come back here and destroy it.”

“All I’m asking is for you to check into some things,” he begged. “Look into what I’m telling you. You are good at hacking. Get the surveillance or something.”

“What about Jax?” I asked.

“Your boyfriend?” He stared blankly with an open mouth. A sure sign he was jealous.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I repeated, not feeling good about denying I did have some sort of attraction to Jax. This was the effect Willie had on me and I hated it. I hated him.

“I saw you two a few days ago coming out of the bowling alley and you looked awfully chummy to me.” His eyes lowered. “What about him?”

“He is working with the FBI to locate you. They know you are in town and leaving your little tobacco pouch in my car wasn’t very smart.”

“I had to let you know I was in town. Sally said she couldn’t tell you because you two still hate each other and people would think it was weird you two were talking.”

“I don’t hate Sally,” I lied and waved the gun all willy-nilly. I wasn’t going to admit it stung a little when he said she was the only one who came to visit him all these years.

He pointed to the gun. “Can you please put it away?”

“Listen to him,” Trixie coaxed. She walked toward me. “I’m not going to have you behaving like this.” She grabbed for the gun.

I held it up over my head before I twisted around and stuck it back in the waist of my pants.

Willie reached down, pulled up the hem of his Wranglers and pulled out a flask full of whiskey from his boot.

“Here. It’ll take the edge off.” He unscrewed the metal lid and poured some of it in the glass of tea sitting on the table. He eased back down on the kitchen chair, never taking his eyes off me.

“I can’t believe Sheila would give you a flask of whiskey.” I tsked. “Unbelievable.”

“Don’t go around blaming Sheila.” Rancor sharpened his voice. “Charlie Haskel was hanging out down by the docks when I got into town. He offered.” Willie shrugged. “I took it. You have no idea what I have been through.”

“Oh.” Conflicted emotions roused in me. How could I feel sorry for him? How could I hate him? How could I still be attracted to him? “You have no idea what I have been through either.”

“This isn’t going to settle anything.” Trixie poured me a glass and sat it next to Willie’s spiked tea. “Sit down. Calm down. Ain’t nobody gonna get hurt right now.”

“Who did you call?” I asked and took a seat across from Willie. The only thing between him and me was the table. The table we had made love on several times in the middle of the night when the rest of the orphans were sleeping.

He brushed his hands along the top and a devilish grin crossed his lips. That was the problem with Willie and me. We always knew what the other was thinking.

“I called Ben Bassman. He’ll know what to do.” Trixie referred to the lawyer handling The Gorilla’s estate and money I had received.

“Ben Bassman is as crooked at Willie Ray.” I pointed out and gestured for the flask of whiskey.

My pour was twice as long as Willie’s and I needed it.

“Good.” Trixie’s eyes were magnified under her glasses, which were way too big for her face. I wasn’t even sure if they were even the right prescription for her. And I wouldn’t doubt it if she found them in the dumpster and liked them. “They probably think alike and he can represent Willie Ray to have his sentence overturned.”

“Overturned?” I took another big swig hoping this situation would melt away. “There is video footage of Willie Ray in the safety deposit box vault. He clearly had the gun in his hand, pointing it at the teller and the FBI agent.”

“That’s the thing.” Willie Ray grabbed the flask. He took a drink directly from it, obviously needing a stronger dose than the diluted tea. “I didn’t do it. I don’t know who did do it, but I didn’t.”

“You keep saying you didn’t do it, but the evidence is clear.” I lifted a brow. The more I tried to ignore his beautiful dark, mysterious eyes, the more I got lost right back into them.

Thank God for Trixie’s phone. The ringing made me look away from Willie. We sat silently while she talked.

“That was Ben.” Trixie sighed deeply and turned her attention to Willie. “He said we need to go to him. Walnut Grove is full of FBI agents. Something happened and they said Willie Ray Bowman did it.”

“What happened?” I asked as my phone chirped from my back pocket.

A text from Derek.
Stay the hell away from Willie! Someone broke into the bank. Tied up Pepper Spivy in the vault and killed Sally Bent.

Immediately my phone chirped again. This time it was Jax.

Our case just got worse. Willie Bowman robbed Walnut Grove Savings and killed Sally Bent. Surveillance clearly shows it was his build. Face covered in mask. He took a lot of cash. Evidently, he is trying to get the hell out of town. Sally had asked Pepper to make an anonymous tip to The Hub saying Willie had been seen in Vegas. Do you think Sally was helping him? Keep an eye out. I’m on my way to your house.

“You have to get out of here.” My palms were sweating and my voice shook, “Someone broke into the bank and killed Sally Bent.”

“Shit!” Willie pounded his hand on the table. Trixie melted into a fit of tears. He jumped up and held Trixie.

“They said the guy was built just like you and he had a mask. Pepper was tied up in the vault and he got money. They think you stole Sally’s car, robbed the bank, and headed out of town. In fact, they think Sally was helping you.” Images of Sally and Pepper from this morning at The Cracked Egg in their little argument played in my head. Sally asking Pepper to make the call was obviously what they were fighting about. “She had asked Pepper to call The Hub saying someone saw you in Vegas to get the police off of your scent here.”

“I’m still getting framed.” He rubbed Trixie’s back, trying to calm her. “I’ve been here since I snuffed you while you were trying to catch me in that jalopy of yours.”

“Jax is on his way over here.” I eyed them. “You better hide somewhere.”

“Your boyfriend?” His brows lifted. “Keep him at bay or he will get my fist in his face. I swear if I see him touch you, he won’t have a hand left.”

“You leave Jax out of this.” My voice escalated. “You have been out of my life since the day you decided. . .”

“Decided to get framed for something I didn’t do?” He rolled Trixie out of his arms and grabbed the loose key off the counter and ducked out of the kitchen. “They won’t take me back to the big house alive.”

Trixie and I stood at the screen door, in silence, listening to Sally Bent’s car peel out of the orphanage. Finally, Trixie turned toward me.

“Do you think he’s going to be safe?” she asked.

She and I both had seen enough crime television shows to know the FBI or police wouldn’t hold back with firing on him because he wasn’t giving up. Willie wasn’t going to go down easy, especially if he didn’t do it. Willie was a lot of bad things, but he never lied. That was how I knew he was innocent.

Chapter Nine

“Listen,” I had to instruct Trixie on how to act when Jax got there. “Jax is going to ask you all sorts of questions about Willie. He wants to know about his background as an orphan, his attitude, any problems you had with him. You have to be as vague as you can be.”

She nodded her head.

“You can’t let on that you have seen him since he left here years ago. Not today.” My body stiffened when I heard a door slam. The footsteps were getting louder around the house and up the few back steps.

A light rap on the screen door signaled his arrival.

“Hey, ladies.” Jax’s smile lit up the screen.

He was devilishly handsome. His black hair was perfectly gelled and spiked in the front with the sides shaved, but not shaved too short. His olive complexion was a little more tan. The beads of sweat above his perfectly manicured brows, from the smoldering hot weather, looked good on him.

Was it possible two men had some sort of crazy effect on me? How could I even think about romance during a crisis?

“Jax!” I opened the door and tried not to look at how well his chest filled out the blue button down. It wasn’t like I hadn’t noticed earlier, but Eric ruined my mood. “What in the world is going on?”