Deadly Reunion (The Taci Andrews Deadly Series) (5 page)

“The police pulled a car out of the river earlier this afternoon with plates registered to Richard Owens, your counterpart. A body hasn’t been found but they’re suspecting possible foul play,” Tony said quietly.

A chill ran down my spine as I paced the length of my bedroom. “Why would they suspect foul play, what did they find?”

Tony sighed; I already knew the answer before he said the words. “You know I can’t tell you that, the investigation is still pending. The only reason I know what’s going on is because we got the call right after you left the fire house earlier and I was on the responding truck at the scene. Listen, I don’t know what Owens was involved in but it can’t be good.”

I gave up pacing, sitting down in a huff on the edge of my bed. “Owens was involved in a lot of things, it could have been any number of them that did him in. The man was a snake.”

“I thought you two dated for a little while,” Tony asked, a hint of a smile in his voice.

“Not that it’s any of your business Parsons but yes, we did go out on a few dates but that’s all the further it went. He wasn’t my type,” I replied stiffly.

Tony snorted back a laugh. “What, he was breathing?”

“No, I don’t date reptiles,” I replied sweetly before hitting the disconnect on my phone. Satisfied for having been the one to hang up I returned the phone to my bedside table.

Trudging out of the bedroom I made my towards the kitchen, taking care to be quiet when passing Reese’s room. It was times like these that I was glad I’d splurged on the two bedroom apartment versus the one bedroom. The extra closet was perfect for my massive shoe collection and I had a place to stash unwanted houseguests. In all fairness Reese wasn’t a complete wash when it came to being a houseguest. He was good at taking care of the leftovers in the fridge, a chore I almost never divulged in and he almost picked up after himself, which is more than I can say for most guys I know.

Entering the kitchen I hit my sweets cupboard for the bag of Double Stuffed Oreos I always kept there. I don’t know what life was like before being introduced to Oreos, but I sure couldn’t imagine anyone not wanting to keep a bag or two on hand for that typical late night snack. Opening the door I reached in to grab the bag, scowling at the note lying in its spot.

Hey sis, sorry about the Oreos. Hope they weren’t your emergency stash. I’ll replace them for you tomorrow. Love, Reese

That little twirp, I can’t believe he ate my Oreos! Crumpling the note tightly in my hand I tossed it towards the garbage can, watching as it bounced off the back wall and through the open lid. Great, now what was I going to do for a snack? That was my last bag of Oreos and grocery day wasn’t until Monday. I could always make an emergency run but who in their right mind would drive out in the middle of the night to get a bag of Oreos? With a sigh I realized I already knew the answer. Me, that’s who.

Going back to my bedroom I grabbed a pair of yoga stretch pants from my dresser drawer, exchanging them for my silk pajama bottoms. Tossing on a hooded sweatshirt and my running shoes, I grabbed my purse and keys from the kitchen counter before heading out the door.

I was halfway to the 24 hour supermarket down the street before reality set in and I realized what I was doing. Was I really this addicted to chocolate that I needed to make an emergency run at 2:00 in the morning? Unfortunately now that I was up and about I knew going back home and crawling into bed wouldn’t bring me the relief a bag of Oreo’s could. Might as well go through with the splurge and do a few extra sit ups sometime this weekend.

As I drove down the empty street I chewed on my lower lip, my conversation with Parsons still fresh in my mind. While I had no lost love for Owens I somehow suspected I wasn’t the only one who he’d burned bridges with. The question was who did he tick off so badly that they wanted to send him on a permanent vacation?

Pulling into the parking lot of the 24 hour supermarket I noted with some small amount of satisfaction that there were at least ten other cars parked there. Ok, so maybe I wasn’t the only nut shopping at this time of night. Shutting the door behind me I turned to make my way towards the entrance, halting when a silver extended cab pick up truck pulled up alongside my civic and parked.

“Out for a cruise, are we?” Tony said with a grin as he ambled out of the vehicle. I shot him a glare, slapping my hands on hips.

“What, you didn’t have anything better to do than to follow me around? What are you doing here Parsons?” I asked.

Tony sauntered unhurriedly towards me, sending my heart into little somersaults. Annoyingly he looked pretty good for it being so late, while I on the other hand was wearing sweats, a ponytail and no make up. Not exactly the idea of perfection.

“I was in the neighborhood and saw you leave your building. Thought I’d follow and see what you were up to. Nice pants,” he murmured, his eyes traveling my length appreciatively. Oh lord.

“Listen Tony, I need you to be straight with me here. What’s the real deal with Owens? I get the feeling you’re leaving something out,” I asked, purposely switching to reporter mode. At least I was safe with that one.

Tony shrugged nonchalantly, his face shuttered. “I don’t know anything more than what I already told you. The police suspect foul play and I have a bad feeling that it’s connected with whatever he was working on.”

Red flag; he didn’t mention that in his phone call earlier. Outwardly I remained calm and cool; inwardly a million questions were flying. Be cool; ask the right questions and you’ll get the right answers. “He was working the McAllister case. Do you think there’s something more going on with Samantha McAllister’s disappearance then what’s been said?”

Tony eyed me for a moment and I got the sudden feeling he wanted to say something. Finally he gave a slow shake of his head, blowing out a small sigh. “I honestly don’t know Taci, but something weird is going on. Listen, I know you told Val you’d work the case incognito but I think it’d be best if you lay off it for awhile, at least until the police can locate Owens.”

Uh-oh, my spidey senses were tingling again. I got the impression he was warning me away from the McAllister’s without actually telling me which could only mean one thing to a reporter; there was definitely something more going on.

Giving him a smile I shrugged my shoulders. “No big deal, it wasn’t really my case anyway. I’ll just tell Valerie that I can’t do much until they’ve had a chance to locate Richard. That ought to waylay things for a short time anyway.”

Tony was silent, assessing me with hooded eyes. Did he know I was lying I thought, suddenly fearful that he could read my thoughts. Don’t be a dolt; the man probably has a hard time reading the Sally, Dick and Jane series.

Slowly he leaned in towards me until our noses were nearly touching, meeting my gaze head on. I could almost hear the beating of our hearts in the silence of the parking lot and my palms began to sweat. Reaching out a hand he tipped my chin back, the feel of his caressing thumb tracing the outer edge of my cheek sending little shivers of expectation down my spine. He studied me intently for a second then pulled away, a small smile on his lips. “You’re full of shit Taci but you can lie like a pro. Just do me a favor and call me if you get into trouble.”

Dumbly I nodded, watching while he took a small white card out of his pocket and tucked it into my coat pocket. Giving it a little pat he grinned, then turned and got back into his truck. I watched him drive away, still in a stupor. As he pulled out of the parking lot my sanity returned and I gave myself a little shake. Dear lord, did I
really
have to act like such an idiot every time the man was around? Growling in frustration I turned on my heel and headed towards the supermarket. They’d better have more than just one bag of Oreos or God help the man stocking the shelves tonight.

I stared numbly at the computer screen in front of me, trying to concentrate on the words I’d just typed out. So far I had nothing; no fire and safety story, no McAllister case leads and no news on Owens. True, it’d only been since last night that word got out about his disappearance but the sources I’d tapped this morning had come up empty. Plopping my chin into my hand I rested my elbow on the edge of the desk. The 2:00 cookie run might not have been such a good idea after all I thought tiredly. The words on the computer screen swam in my vision as my eyelids slowly drifted downwards. An abrupt knock on the door made me jump, knocking my elbow from the edge of the desk and dumping me unceremoniously onto the floor.

“Taci, you in here?” Bryce’s voice called out from the other side of my desk. Suppressing a groan I slowly came to my feet, dusting off my tan slacks. “What’s up boss?”

“I was wondering if you had a minute. I know I have you tied up with the fire and safety story but this whole deal with Owens has left me hand tied for the McAllister case,” he said, walking fully into the room and closing the door.

I waited until he took a seat before resuming my own, this time managing to stay upright. It was one thing to be caught sleeping on the job; it was another to be caught on your ass. “You know I’d be willing to take up the McAllister story Bryce, just say the word and I’m there. The fire and safety thing is a bust until I can get a hold of Chief Tate anyway and the man appears to have more scheduled meetings out of the firehouse than he’s actually present.”

Bryce gave a sigh, dragging a hand through his thinning brown hair. “I’m glad to hear you say that because we can’t afford to lose the story. TriStar Review is just waiting for a scoop like this to bring them up on top again and with Owens gone they just might accomplish it.”

TriStar Review was the other local newspaper circulating in Riverdale, hence the Time’s number one competitor. The editor had tried to hire me away from Bryce on more than one occasion and though I’ve been tempted by the sweet offers, I had to admit my loyalty to Bryce ran deeper than a better retirement package. Besides, did I really need all the bells and whistles when I could work for a sort of decent salary and an almost up front parking spot?

I waved a hand through the air. “Say no more Bryce, I’m your gal. You know you can count on me to pick up the pieces. I’ll just go through Richard’s files and see what he’s come up with so far and go from there.”

Bryce blew out a breath, relief evident on his face. “I knew I could count on you Taci, thanks. There is one more thing though. A month ago I hired a reporter to come in and fill the gaps when staff was sick or on vacation. With Owens untimely absence he’ll have to fill in with your duties until we can get back on track again. He’s from out East and new to town, so I was kind of hoping you’d show him the ropes until he got on his feet.”

I couldn’t stop the scowl from forming if I tried, not that I would have. Babysitting, gee how I loved to do that. “Can’t you pair him with Celeste, or how about Elliot? I’m sure Elliot would love to show the new kid around for awhile.”

Bryce shook his head. “Sorry kid, you’re the ‘it’ girl on this one. He’s taking over your duties while you work the McAllister case so I need you to fill him in on where you’re at. And while Richard’s gone I want you to take over his office for the time being while I toss the new kid in yours. That way we won’t have to move files around and everything can stay where it’s at.”

Bryce hated it when files were moved from office to office, it was one of his biggest pet peeves. His theory was why move the files when you can move the person? Great in theory; sucks in real life.

“You’re the boss,” I replied through gritted teeth. No sense in arguing, the man never backed down.

Standing from his chair Bryce gave me a smile, saying cheerfully, “There now, that wasn’t so bad now was it? You can expect the new kid around 11:00, I took the liberty of giving him directions to your office.”

I gave a stiff nod, waving a hand through the air. Turning back towards my computer I slipped a disk out of the top drawer and pushed it in. Better start backing things up now. Who knows what sort of genius Bryce hired this time. Last time he decided to hire someone to ‘fill in the gaps’ we ended up stuck with a cleptomaniac who nearly wiped us out of office supplies.

“So does the new kid have a name or do I get to make one up?” I asked sweetly, glancing up from the computer screen.

Bryce grimaced, pausing before opening the door. “Gavyn. Gavyn Davis.”

It was 11:30 when I left my office, giving up on waiting for the new guy to arrive. I had things to do and a growling stomach. No way was I going to waste my lunch hour waiting on an inconsiderate jerk who couldn’t bother to show up on time. My cell phone chirped from my purse and I dug around until I pulled it free.

“Andrews,” I answered, glancing around for oncoming traffic before crossing the parking lot to my car.

“Taci Andrews you are a mean spirited little shit,” Annie’s voice replied.

I grimaced, digging my keys from my purse to unlock the car door.

“What’d she do this time?” I asked, not even bothering to question what the call was about. Unlocking the door I slid behind the wheel, tossing my purse onto the passenger seat before clicking my buckle in place.

“She took me shopping. Shopping for crying out loud! She said I needed to make a whole new change from the old me Bob used to know to the new Annie and made me buy a whole new wardrobe. And what’s even worse, she’s taking me out tonight to Club 8 and I have to wear a saucy little number she picked out just for the occasion,” Annie wailed.

I bit back a laugh. Somehow I didn’t think she’d appreciate the humor. “Ok let’s regroup. So, you called me because you need a babysitter?”

“Taci be serious, Mel is out of control. There’s no way I can go clubbing, I’m way too old for that stuff,” Annie huffed.

I snorted in disbelief. “Honey you’re not even thirty years old for crying out loud, far from being old and matronly. I think you should go tonight, it sounds like fun.”

During the conversation I’d somehow managed to put the car into gear, drive out of the parking lot and ease into oncoming traffic. Making a left onto Vine I made my way downtown.