In Case of Death (The Adventures of Gabriel Celtic Book 3) (14 page)

Nodding absently, May suddenly turned to me, standing on her toes as she kissed my cheek.

“I know,” she whispered in my ear, “We both love you!”

With that she turned and walked over to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. The back of my neck was feeling hot again, but I hardly noticed it

See what I mean,
I chided myself as I turned to make my way back to the kitchen, my hand rubbing my suddenly aching neck,
Emotional women!

Chapter 37

September 19, 1999

“Like some more wine Jessica?” Bill asked sweetly.

“I don’t know Bill,” Jessica said with a lopsided smile, “I think you’re trying to get me drunk!”

Bill was quickly trying to work up a sincere sounding reply when Jessica said, “Ok!”

The night was working out nicely. Finally finding Jessica Jordan’s name on the courthouse website, he had quickly looked her up in the phonebook and gave her a call. She had been excited to hear from him, instantly agreeing to meet with him for dinner that night.

Plying her with alcohol to loosen her up had seemed a long shot when they had sat down together, but Jessica had surprised him with the ease of her taking to the drink. He was sure that she had always had a thing for him, and he was looking forward to getting
more
than just information out of her tonight.

“I heard through the grapevine that someone was looking into one of my past customers at the courthouse the other day Jessica,” Bill started, “Calvin Forester?”

Putting her hand to her chest with a sad look on her face, “I know! It was so sad how he died like that!”

A confused look then crossed her face, “
Was
somebody there?”

She seemed to be counting her fingers as she looked down at her hands, her fuzzy mind trying to fathom Bill’s question.

“Yes! I heard she was an Asian girl, cute with brownish hair?”

“Oh!” Jessica suddenly blurted out, “You mean Abby? That’s just Abby Tran, she’s Gabe Celtic’s daughter.”

“Gabe Celtic?” Bill asked.

Jessica seemed to be lost to the conversation for a few moments as she felt her nose with interest. Giggling, she pronounced, “My nose is numb!”

Laughing along with her, Bill was nevertheless anxious to push through the conversation. He needed the information before Jessica lost her momentum and fell headlong into a drunken stupor.

Indicating to the waiter that he was ready for the check, he also didn’t want to lose the opportunity to take her to bed before she lost all motor function. Her short skirt and partially unbuttoned blouse had been taunting him all evening.

“You mentioned Gabe Celtic?” Bill repeated.

Looking up finally with recognition in her eyes, “Duh, don’t you know anything?”

“Gabriel Celtic? He’s kinda famous around here you know, used to work as an investigator for the Prosecutor’s office.”

Her words slurred off at the last, and her head slowly dropped to her chest.

“Jessica!” Bill nearly shouted.

“Yes Bill, my handsome date?”

“What does Gabriel Celtic do now?” he asked slowly, concentrating on enunciating clearly.

Grinning, Jessica looked up again with unfocussed eyes.

“Why, everybody knows he’s a dick!”

Confused, Bill was afraid he was losing her completely. As much as he hated to admit it, if it came down to a choice of bedding the girl or finding the information, he needed to press her for the info before she passed out.

“What do you mean he’s a dick? Jessica?”

Snickering into her chest, she again slowly raised her head.

“I said dick!”

As she giggled some more, Bill was losing his patience.

“Jessica! Look at me please!”

Hearing the roughness in his voice, Jessica again looked across the table at her date.

“Yes Billy?”

Trying a different tact, “What does Gabe do?”

“Silly, everybody knows what Gabe does!” Jessica slurred happily, “He’s a private investigator…a private dick!”

Chapter 38

September 20, 1999

“What?” Hector spat into the phone. He had only been home for a couple of hours and the blaring phone had awakened him from a deep sleep.

“I need you,” Bill said matter-of-factly. “I have a new job, it’s important!”

Burying his face into his pillow, Hector moaned.

Looking at the clock, “I just got in from Indonesia two hours ago man! I need some sleep!”

“This job is local Hector, it won’t take long. Besides, the girl is probably a pushover.”

Hector was wide awake then. “Listen man, you
know
that goes against the only two rules I have, nothing local, and
no women!
”

“I know, I know,” Bill interrupted quickly, “But this is important…she may be on to us. Probably have to do her dad too.”

“Now you want two locals? Are you nuts?”

“I’ll pay you double…for each!”

Fully awake now, Bill had gotten his complete attention. Doing the math in his head, it took him only moments to decide.

“Ok,” he stated, “How soon?”

“It needs to be done this week, no later!”

Nodding to himself, Hector quickly worked through what would need to be involved.

“I’ll have the info on the site in a couple of hours.” Bill continued. “Go ahead and get some more sleep, but I need you to get started on this…tonight!”

Hanging up the phone, Hector laid back in the bed, sleep all but forgotten. He was still mad at himself for caving on his rules, but the lure of the extra cash had overridden his caution.

He would need to work up something special though, maybe a new identity for these local kills; something a little less exotic maybe.

The excitement of the money and the speed involved in this job was already exciting him, the erection below the sheets giving testament to the fact. Sliding his hand beneath the covers, he started fondling himself with a smile.

Maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing after all!

Chapter 39

September 20, 1999

“Hey dad!”

I looked over my shoulder toward the sound of the greeting. Seeing Abby walking in the door, I turned back to finishing the batch of coffee I had started.

“Hmmm,” I answered in response, scooping in the last measure of the aromatic brown grind.

“What?” Abby asked defensively.

“You just don’t usually call me that kid… that’s all.” I poured the water into the coffee maker, flopping down the lid to start the process going.

Crossing the kitchen, Abby wrapped her arms around my neck, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

“Never imagine that I don’t think of you as my father. It’s the neatest thing I’ve got going!”

Kissing her cheek in reply, I answered “Ditto!”

Confirming that the water was running though the filter, I turned back to my daughter.

“How was your day?” I asked. She had spent the day on her county job, having been called in early that morning.

“Eh,” she answered dejectedly, “Just a robbery. But it was a big house, and a lot of stuff was taken, a lot of damage too. Between taking the pictures and processing them, that’s all I got done all day!”

Glancing at the clock, I hadn’t realized that it had gotten so late. Nearly dark outside, I shook my head as I wondered what I had done with my day.

Since it was Sunday, I had gone to Betty’s grave to visit. The weather was beautiful, and I ended up spending a couple of hours there. On the way home, I grabbed a sandwich at Lenny’s before returning to the house. I then did some light reading out on the garden swing before succumbing to a nap in my recliner.

Truth be known, I had just opened my eyes a few minutes before and had decided to make the batch of coffee. Although I now felt rested, I was peeved at myself for wasting away a perfectly good day.

“Want something to eat?” I asked Abby as I opened the fridge, hoping to discover something that sounded good.

“Maybe later,” Abby replied, “I think I’ll go for a run first. I’ve just been standing around all day, and I need to get rid of this nervous energy!”

“Better take a flashlight,” I suddenly blurted out, feeling a funny tinge in my stomach. “It’s getting dark out.”

Laughing at me, she came over and gave me another hug.

“I’ll be fine; you know they have this new invention called street lights? It’s all the rage I hear!”

Although I could at times be overprotective, Abby and I had been through plenty of scrapes together. Proving her mettle seemed to be almost a hobby with her as she time and again allayed any fears I had for her. Still, something just didn’t feel right about her excursion tonight.

Taking a deep breath, I hid my concerns from her as she went to change clothes for her run.

No one teaches you how to be a father, and I knew that I still had a lot to learn. That being said, being overly cautious when it concerned her would probably always be my lot in life.

***

The slight breeze Abby felt from the forward movement felt exhilarating on her sweaty face. On the last leg of her four mile trek, she was mentally preparing herself for the final sprint ahead.

Rounding the corner and getting ready to pour on the steam, she suddenly caught a movement out of her peripheral vision to the right. Reacting instinctively she stopped and pivoted, her right forearm already up in a blocking maneuver.

As she turned, she spied a thin woman with short dark hair quickly approaching her. Her assailant’s right hand was already in motion as she attempted to jab something into Abby’s back.

Abby’s forearm was already in position as she blocked the attack in mid-motion. Abby had but a split second to observe the surprised face of her attacker. She could tell little in the low light, except that the woman was angry.

Continuing the rotation of her body, Abby reached around and dug her left thumb into the back of the hand holding the weapon while also wrapping her fingers around it. Sliding her right arm down in the same motion, she added the right hand to the task, folding the assailant’s hand into the wrist. Rotating the captured hand quickly counterclockwise away from the body, she heard a clatter of plastic on the sidewalk as the weapon was released from the attacker’s hand.

Twisting farther, the assailant screamed out in pain as her shoulder dislocated with a
pop
.

Except it was a man’s voice that did the screaming!

Overcoming her surprise, Abby swung her right leg forward and behind the man’s legs, quickly sweeping back and catching the back of his right ankle with hers. Following through with the sweep as she continued her body’s forward momentum, the man lost his balance and fell on his back with a loud
oomph!

The man was not moving, so Abby rested her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. The effects of the long run and the sudden rush of adrenalin during the fight had left her severely winded, sucking air through her mouth at a quick pace. She knew that she needed to calm her breathing, or she would pass out from hypoxia. Concentrating for a few moments, she was slowing her breaths when she saw the clear plastic shank lying on the sidewalk.

Studying it from her bent over position, she now understood why she couldn’t make out the weapon in the dark. She had started to bend over to retrieve it when she heard a noise. Looking up quickly, she saw the fake woman was sitting up, his left hand digging inside of his jacket awkwardly.

Abby had had enough, and had just decided to kick the man to put him out of her misery when a gun suddenly appeared in the man’s hand. Instantly changing course, Abby dove through some hedges beside the sidewalk as a shot rang out behind her.

Pain shot through Abby’s body as she realized that she had dove headfirst into a row of Barberry hedge, with thousands of thorns scratching her face and arms as she frantically worked to get through the intertwined branches.

Hearing a noise in the yard, she stopped moving and listened quietly to her surroundings. Seeing the shadow of a pair of feet working their way towards her position, she realized that the noise she had heard must have been her attacker jumping over the gate to the yard.

Moving slowly, Abby reached up behind her head and extracted the Kanzashi sticks from her hair. Immediately, most of her brown hair cascaded silently down to her shoulders, some of it catching on the hedge’s thorns. Taking the bone hair-sticks one in each hand, she quietly positioned them pointed end out, letting the rounded end rest against her palms. Closing her hands around them, she let the sticks extend between her second and third fingers. With both fists positioned palm up tensely beside her chest, she nervously waited as the shadowed feet slowly approached her position.