Double Trouble (Dev Haskell - Private Investigator Book 10) (25 page)

“Mister O’Kelly?”

“Who?”

“Carlos O’Kelly, the man who assaulted you.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, I didn’t know his last name. Like I said, I figured he must have run over from next door.”

“And you were babysitting the little girls?”

“That’s right.”

“Have you done that before?”

“Yeah, once or twice in a pinch. I’ve known Isabella since we were in high school. Her husband and I were pals. I guess the sitter canceled for tonight.” I looked over at Isabella.

“Like I said before, my sitter called and said she had the flu, which was the last thing we needed here. So, I called Dev on short notice and he ran over, it was just going to be for a few hours, it’s only a two hour class. We usually meet for about thirty minutes before class for a coffee and a quick review.”

“Where’s your husband?”

“Operation Enduring Freedom,” she scoffed.

“He’s deployed?”

“No, he’s dead.” Isabella said.

“Afghanistan, Helmand province, 2011,” I said.

There was a noticeable silence for a couple of beats before one of the uniforms behind me asked, “Do you have a jacket here, Mr. Haskell?”

“My jacket? Yeah, it’s a brown leather bomber’s jacket. It’s hanging up in the front closet.”

One of the cops stepped over and pulled the bifold door open on the closet in the entryway. The door was louvered and painted white. It gave a high pitched squeak as he pulled the door back and the sharp pain in my head seemed to immediately ratchet up with the sound.

“No, there’s nothing like that in here.”

“It should be on a hanger, next to a little pink ski jacket,” I think.

“I see the ski jacket, but there’s no brown leather jacket in here.”

I thought for half a second, swallowed to keep my stomach down, then said, “My car keys were in there. Can you check and see if my car is out front. A black Infiniti QX, two-thousand-five. It’s got silver wheel rims and the tail light on the passenger side is taped over with red tape. There’s a crack down the passenger side of the windshield, too. Oh, and a big crease on the passenger door.”

He stuck his head out the front door then called back in, “Did you park it near by?”

“Are you shitting me? It should be right out front at the curb,” I said slowly getting back up on my feet.

I had to work to keep my stomach down. I walked to the front door and looked out. There was a police squad with red and blue lights flashing, it was parked exactly where I had left my car.

“God damn it, I don’t suppose you guys had it towed, did you?” I asked the suit now standing right behind me.

“No, we didn’t. You know your license number?”

“Yeah, Minnesota,” I said then gave him what I thought was the number. “I’m sorry, I’m still a little foggy, the letters are right but the numbers, I’m not so sure, it’s either seven-four-nine or seven-nine-four.”

“That’s okay, will have it in just a moment, you’re calling it in, Joey?” he said to the uniform standing next to him already on the radio attached to his shoulder.

The guy nodded then looked at me. “Haskell, H-A-S-K-E-L-L, first name Devlin. Yeah, two-thousand-five Infiniti QX, black. Did you say a rear taillight was taped?”

“Yeah on the passenger side, a crack from top to bottom on the passenger side of the windshield, and then that crease across the passenger side doors.”

He nodded then turned and said something else into his radio, but I couldn’t pick up what it was.

“Maybe come and sit back down at the table, Mr. Haskell. I’m sure you’re hurting, but we need to get as much information, as quickly as we can.”

“I understand.”

“You’re a pal of Lieutenant LaZelle’s aren’t you.”

I was about to nod, but my head was throbbing so hard I didn’t dare. “Yeah, we go way back to when we were kids,” I said then gave a throaty groan as I sat down.

I proceeded to answer questions for the better part of the next hour, but I don’t think I was much help.

Chapter Three

It was well after midnight. There was a uniformed female officer named Patty Ryan assigned to spend the night at Isabella’s. Two other guys were hanging in the kitchen. Just now Officer Patty was making a fresh pot of coffee and both of us were working to keep Isabella away from the coffee. The paramedics had left some sleep aids and Isabella had taken one maybe a half hour ago. She’d been fighting sleep ever since. The sleep aid could kick in anytime now and it would be just fine with me.

“God, if I’d known he was out there I never would have left the girls,” Isabella said, not for the first time. She had pretty much cried herself out over the past few hours, but that didn’t stop her from repeating the same mantra over and over again.

“When you told me your ex-boyfriend was in Pleasant Lake I thought you meant a house, you know actually on the lake. It never dawned on me he was in rehab.”

“Hardly a boyfriend, more like a bad encounter that kept coming back to haunt the three of us. It was one of the terms of his going back into rehab again, they were supposed to inform me of his leaving at least a week in advance of the date.”

“Well, I guess with your change of address and new phone number it looks like it sort of fell through the cracks.”

“The information the police had is he just walked away. He’s done it before.”

“Walked out of a rehab facility?”

“Yeah, at least twice that I know of and now this, God. I suppose that means there’s a fourth trip to rehab somewhere in his future.”

“I think under the circumstances the state might just have a little different plan. I’m sure the girls are all right, he’ll come to his senses and bring them home anytime now.”

“You really think so?” she said, sounding like she was grasping at the only straw out there in a very large cesspool of sludge.

“Yeah, we’ll have a big party for them, with two cakes,” I said waiting for her to smile. Instead her lower lip began to tremble and suddenly there was another flood of tears. Who could blame her?

The pounding in my head had gone from being constant to more of a lightening strike mode. Things seemed to be settling down for a moment or two and then suddenly this searing pain would race back up my neck and blast across my skull exploding on the right side of my brain. I made my way over to the refrigerator and exchanged the room temperature gel-pak I’d been holding for a cold one on the freezer shelf.

When I closed the freezer door Officer Patty shot me a look, then quietly said, “You both should try and get some rest. You’re going to have a busy day tomorrow.”

“Do you think he’ll call?” Isabella asked again.

Officer Patty shook her head and said, “I don’t know. I do know that whether or not he calls we’re going to need you, both of you, to be at your very best. Now, you need to get some rest. We’re here if your phone rings or someone’s at the door, so why don’t you try and close your eyes for a bit.”

“I don’t think I can,” Isabella said.

“You need to try, Is,” I said. “I’ll flake out on the couch, if anything happens one of us will get you. But, she’s right, you’ve got to be sharp tomorrow, we both do. Come on, try and close your eyes.”

“I won’t be able to sleep.”

“Then just rest, but you have to give it a try. You’ll be no good tomorrow if you don’t try. Come on,” I said and then put my arm around her shoulder and guided her down the hallway to her bedroom.

“Okay, okay, I’ll try. I’m really sorry he did that to you, Dev,” she said and indicated my swollen face with a nod of her head.

“Don’t worry about it, looks worse than it really is, you’ve got more than enough on your plate right now.”

“Do you think they’ll be alright, the girls?”

“They’ll be okay. I’m sure Emma is giving him directions right now.”

“Oh, God, one time he yelled and called her a bossy little bitch,” she said and a tear ran down her cheek.

“Don’t you worry about that, Is. They’ll be fine and probably home sooner than you think.”

“I just don’t know.”

“I do, and like Officer Patty said, you need to get some rest. I’m just out there on the couch. I’ll come get you if anything happens, okay?”

“Sorry about your face, it really looks like shit.”

“You just get some rest.”

I closed the door to her room and went back out to the living room. I stretched out on the couch and pulled a leopard skin fleece blanket up over me. I turned onto my left side and closed my eyes hoping that a little rest might alleviate some of the pounding in my head.

According to the digital clock on the stove it was just a little after five when I got up. Officer Patty was on an iPad and looked like she was in the process of sending an email.

“Anything shaking?” I half whispered.

She shook her head. “No, at least not so far. Don’t worry, we’ll get those girls back safe and sound.”

“What an absolute asshole,” I half said to myself.

“Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. How’s the head?”

“Actually, better, at least the pounding seems to have stopped for the moment. That was about the worst I’ve ever had.”

“He really nailed you, you’re lucky there wasn’t more damage, you don’t mind me saying, it looks like shit.”

“I can’t wait to discuss that with him.”

“You just let us deal with this butthead, he’s not about to see the light of day once we get hold of him. And, we will get him. You should maybe try and get some more rest, it can only help and we’re going to need you sharp as well as Isabella.”

“Hear anything from her room?”

Officer Patty shook her head. “They take an hour or so to kick in, but once those pills from the paramedics start working, she could be out for a few more hours. You wouldn’t want to make them a steady diet, but for tonight, it’s just what she needed.”

Chapter Four

Just as Officer Patty
opened the front door I came awake on the living room couch. I kept my eyes closed for a moment and listened. I recognized Aaron LaZelle’s familiar voice as he stepped into the living room, talking softly trying not to wake me. We’d known one another since we were kids playing hockey. I opened my eyes just as another uniform stepped into the living room right behind Aaron. A big guy, whose jacket covered up the name stitched on his uniform shirt.

“No need to pretend you’re nice,” I said and slowly sat up.

“Man, you look like shit. How you feeling?” Aaron asked.

“I’ll make it. You got any news for us?”

He shook his head slightly. “Nothing yet, we got everyone looking for your vehicle. We’re doing rousts on all known contacts of your pal Carlos, something’ll click sooner or later and things will take off. We just need a little break is all.”

I’d heard him give a version of that speech a few times in the past. Based on my experience, in reality what he was saying was, “We are royally fucked for the moment.”

“Known associates, bar flies, idiots?”

“We’re checking everyone and everything, believe me, Dev. I’ve had teams out rousting folks all night long and they’re not about to stop. Something’s bound to turn up and we’ll have those two little girls back just as soon as possible.”

“What about the feds?”

“At this stage, I’d prefer not to go there, but we’re keeping an eye on that option. The moment it looks like we’re losing control they’ll get the call to come in. I don’t have any problem with that.”

“Do you even have control, now? Have you, have we, even for a moment been in control?”

“Believe me, I understand what you’re saying and, I share your frustration. But this isn’t you’re standard snatch and grab. We haven’t heard anything from this fuck head, no contact, nothing like a ransom demand, no taunting phone calls, zip.”

“What does that tell you?”

“It strongly suggests an impulse reaction. I think if he looks back with some honest, soul searching reflection he’ll start to see the mistakes he’s made and find a way to get the girls back to their mother. Then, he’ll probably try and hightail it out of town. At which point, we’ll grab his ass and lock him up for the rest of his remaining days.”

“Honest, soul searching reflection? You got a hell of a lot more faith than I do.”

“Faith? No, just good hard work that will let us catch a break. That’s all we need, one brake, Dev. Just one.”

I stupidly shook my head and the pounding suddenly started up again.

“There’s going to be another problem, as well,” Aaron said.

“What’s that?”

“Words out, so the news media is going to be camping on the doorstep here.”

“That won’t help, she doesn’t need all that going on right now.”

“We can post someone out front, at least keep them somewhat at bay, if not away. But forewarned is forearmed.”

“Maybe we should get Isabella out of here before they show up?”