In Case of Death (The Adventures of Gabriel Celtic Book 3) (18 page)

Chapter 47

September 22, 1999

Shawn Savage jumped at the powerful burning in his nose.

Smelling salts?

He then felt intense heat as he was suddenly immersed in a blinding light, the effect on his eyes extremely painful. He worried momentarily about permanent damage to his vision.

Trying to bring his hands up to cover his eyes, his muddled mind slowly realized that they were bound behind him. Trying his legs next, he was confronted with the same result.

Nervously he licked at his dry lips. They felt funny, and it took a few moments for him to realize what his tongue had tasted on them…blood!

Memories came flooding back into his mind then: Tailing the girl in the Jeep, losing sight of her before being apparently trapped between her and another car.

And Elvis?

Shawn shook his head, trying to clear the image that he knew must be wrong out of his brain.

“Hey!” he suddenly shouted to the lights as he found his voice. “Where am I? Why are you holding me?”

The room felt damp around him, the air holding the scent of fresh cut lumber and PVC cement.

He could not see past the bright lights that encircled him, but the intense heat was starting to make him uncomfortable.

“Why were you following the girl?” a male voice echoed around the room, seeming to come from everywhere…and nowhere.

Disoriented, Shawn jerked his head back and forth in an effort to find where the voice had emanated from. Trying to swallow before he replied, he found that his throat was dry and raw from swallowing blood.

“Could I get some water?” Shawn pleaded with a voice now hoarse and raspy. “I think I swallowed some blood.”

“Why were you following the girl?” the voice repeated persistently.

“I was hired to follow her,” Shawn croaked out, “I’m a private detective.”

“I have your identity with me Shawn Savage, as well as your ankle gun. Not playing fair it would seem, going after the girl with a weapon.”

“Hey! I wasn’t going to shoot anybody, that’s just for personal protection. I’ve never even fired it at anybody.”

Licking his lips, he thought again about a drink.

“I’m really not a very good shot,” he admitted to the lights. “How about some water mister, I’m dying here.”

“You weren’t hired to kill the girl?” the voice persisted.

A wild look crossed Shawn’s face suddenly. “No!” he shouted to the room, “I was hired to follow her and report on her activities. That’s all, follow her or the guy that lives in the house, I don’t even know their names.”

Shawn again licked his lips with his dry tongue.

“Please,” he begged, “I really
need
some water.”

The lights clicked off then, the coolness rushing in around him as the heat source disappeared.

Suddenly he felt his jaw being clamped by strong fingers as his face was jerked up toward the ceiling. Water immediately cascaded into his mouth, the sudden onslaught of liquid nearly drowning him.

His jaw released, Shawn leaned forward, coughing and hacking for several minutes as the intense lights returned.

“Feel better?” the voice echoed around him as the lights popped back on.

“You almost drowned me you crazy bastard!”

“Little enough punishment for a hired assassin,” The voice replied calmly.

“I swear to God I’m not an assassin!” the man screamed between coughs, much of the water having entered his lungs.

Shawn was deathly afraid of drowning, and the man’s “water torture” had about done him in.

“I swear to God!” he repeated, “Some guy just hired me to watch the people that live in that house…that’s all!”

“Who hired you?” the voice echoed around him insistently.

“I don’t know!” Shawn admitted freely, “A guy called me yesterday, said he would pay me $2,000 to watch this house for a couple of days, follow the occupants, and report back to him when he called. A courier came an hour later with $1,000 cash down payment, and I loaded up the car and headed here.”

“Who was the courier?” the voice asked.

“I don’t know, I didn’t pay any attention,” Shawn admitted, “I was so excited about a paying job; I didn’t pay too much attention. He was riding a bike…that’s all I know.”

Silence followed for several minutes, making Shawn even more nervous.

“Look, I’m no threat, I promise. I just got my detective’s license a month ago. This is my first real job!”

The continued silence unnerved him further…Shawn was now fearing for his life.

“Hey…mister…you want to know what I did to get my
required
law enforcement experience?”

After a few more minutes of silence, Shawn hastily continued.

“I was a
dispatcher
, for the county police force!” Licking his lips nervously, “I really thought I had gotten something over on them. But listen…I’m through! I’m done! Hell with this business, I’m going back to dispatching. You will never hear about me again…I promise!
Swear to God!

The total silence that followed rang loudly in his ears as he awaited a response. His nerves shattered, he finally broke down…sobbing.

“Please mister,” Shawn cried, “I got a kid…and my mom lives with me. She depends on me mister.”

Looking around at the lights, Shawn’s face was covered with tears, his snot now running into his mouth.

“Wait here,” the voice intoned, “I will give it some thought. If someone returns within the hour, consider this your last day on earth. If no one comes…well, you can consider yourself lucky.”

With that, Shawn heard footsteps walk off, followed a couple of minutes later with a motor starting and a vehicle driving away.

Shawn started crying again.

***

Shawn was groggily napping, his head on his chest when he heard it.

The slamming of a car door!

Whimpering, Shawn quite literally pissed himself as his body shook, a cold sweat forming on his face.

It had been no more than an hour since the man had left!

Tears streamed down his face as he silently said a prayer, his eyes closed to the end he knew was coming.

“What the hell?” he heard from behind him.

Suddenly, a face appeared before him in the light.

“Hey buddy, you ok?”

The visage before him was a scruffy looking guy with a short red beard. Shawn had never seen anything so magnificent in his life!

“Yeah, yeah…just a misunderstanding with someone… can you cut me loose?

The redheaded man disappeared out of sight as Shawn’s hands were released, followed by his feet.

“Where am I?” Shawn asked, ignoring the wetness on the chair as he rose on unsteady legs.

“You’re in the basement of a house we’re building.”

“A house?” Shawn asked as the lights around him went off.

Looking around him, he could just make out the dim morning light coming in through the unfinished windows of a new basement.

“Where is this house?” Shawn asked, “What town?”

“Why, Indianapolis…South Mary Street. Where did you think you were?”

Shawn nodded silently. The man had deposited him about a half a mile from his own home.

“I’m right where I need to be,” Shawn said with a weak smile. “Say…could you give me a ride just up the road? I need to go see about a job!”

Chapter 48

September 22, 1999

“Seriously?” Abby asked with an unbelieving look as we descend the small hill away from the house.
If someone returns within the hour, consider this your last day on earth?
She intoned mockingly.

“You know someone will be there in an hour or so…you’re incorrigible Gabe.”

I smiled at her remark. “That boy will be
glad
to get out of the business after they show up.”

Abby was sitting in the passenger seat, clicking through Shawn Savage’s phone.

“The number of a call that came in the other day is blocked, just like on Jessica’s phone. It certainly seems to point once more to our mysterious
Bill
”

I nodded as I pulled the truck onto the entrance ramp toward home. Deciding to take Shawn to the area of his home had been an easy decision… especially after Preacher dumped his car into the river.

He probably shouldn’t have done that.

We really hadn’t gotten a lot out of Shawn, except confirmation that
Bill
was indeed trying to keep tabs on us…AND that he probably lived around Indianapolis.

The fact that he used a local bicycle carrier to deliver cash had us leaning that way anyway. Abby was going to call around and try to find if any couriers had delivered to Shawn’s address in the last couple of days. I didn’t hold out much hope of identifying him this way though, if he had paid in cash.

We had decided yesterday to have Preacher stake out my house to see if he could spot anyone keeping an eye on us. Suspecting the unknown sedan parked a half a block away, his fears were confirmed when Shawn started tailing Abby as she left for the sheriff’s department.

Falling in behind him, Preacher had called Abby on her cell, setting up the trap.

After disabling Shawn, Abby and Preacher had tied him up with duct tape and put him quickly into Preacher’s trunk. Parking Shawn’s car on the side of the road, they had gone back after dark to dispose of it.

Following that, Abby and I had taken the still unconscious Shawn to Indy in the SUV, leaving Preacher at home to watch the house.

Preacher had really whacked him!

As we drove back toward home, I contemplated our new
associate
.

I was conflicted. Although I knew him to be a good man at heart, some of his actions of the last day were on the extreme side of things. Abby seemed a little less concerned, having excitedly described to me how Preacher had disabled Shawn.

As it turned out Shawn was harmless, but like Abby told me on the way up to Indy…
We are dealing with an unscrupulous murderer Gabe, who’s to say what we may come up against?. We’re better off safe than sorry!

I had to agree…generally speaking anyway.

Who is to say what we come up against? Our mysterious
Bill
had proven himself a cunning and resourceful man. He was definitely
not
someone to take lightly.

I was thinking again about Preacher’s actions to disable Shawn the day before. I had to admit that without knowing more about our unknown suspect, his actions against Shawn had probably not been that far out of line…although I’m sure that I would have handled it differently.

Another thought also entered my head as I again reviewed Preacher’s actions.

He certainly gets a lot of use out of that Bible!

Chapter 49

September 23, 1999

A sudden knocking at my door woke me with a start!

Jumping out of bed, I noticed the telltale slap of the water on the mattress.

I stopped in midstride…a waterbed?

I took note of my surroundings for the first time, finally realizing that this was not my room.

I had entered the room of my dreams moments before, the warmth of the room again enveloping me in a loving embrace as I arrived. I had sat down to drink in the wonderfully invigorating coffee while looking over the ongoing chess game.

Feeling my eyelids grow heavy, I quickly gulped down some more coffee before having to set the cup down.

Now it seemed, I was standing in the middle of someone else’s bedroom, getting ready to answer the door in the middle of the night. Shrugging my shoulders, I made my way through the bedroom door and into the living area. I noticed an old TV sitting on a table made out of planks and concrete blocks, a stack of vinyl LP’s laying close by.

Recognition struck me suddenly as I realized where I was.

My old apartment!

It was actually the second story of an old house in town that rented rooms. I had lived here after I graduated college while a rookie on the police force. I smiled at the remembrance…I had had some good times here.

The knocking started again, although now it seemed somewhat more hesitant. 

I made my way to the door, pulling it open quickly.

“May?”

May stood at the top of the outside stairway, holding what looked like a bottle and two stemmed glasses.