Murder! Too Close To Home (30 page)

The sudden feel of steel behind his ear stopped him in mid pucker, along with the words spoken in that sweet, sexy voice.

“Welcome to Indiana.”

Chapter 83

April 2, 1997

The man’s face turned white with fear.

He swallowed hard and started to say something, until his face suddenly turned green as the tobacco hit his stomach.

Despite his precarious position, he lurched out of the car and threw himself to the ground, literally spilling his guts with a gun to his head.

When he finally dried up, he rolled over onto his butt before pulling his legs up and wrapping his arms around them. A look of fear and confusion appeared on his pale, sweat covered face as he looked up at Betty.

“M’am, I apologize for that, but I ain’t used to having a gun in my face. Ain’t used to this damned tobacco I was chewing neither, and I really hope to never have to experience either one of them again. May I ask what I done to get you so damned pissed off at me?”

“Guys, back here,” Frank yelled from the rear of the car.

Betty turned her head at Frank’s voice, then back to the guy on the ground.

“You, stay there.”

“Yes m’am,” the man answered, making no move to get up.

We headed back to Frank’s location where he was squatting behind the trunk. As we arrived he was pulling out the box that the woman picked up at the post office, minus the postcard. The bug we had planted was still evident in the bottom of the box.

“The box was crammed in behind the bumper,” Frank exclaimed through clenched teeth. “Shit!”

Sirens are now evident in the distance as our backup telegraphed their impending arrival. 

“I’ll get a statement from this guy, see what his story is,” Betty said, turning to head back to the man on the ground, holstering her gun as she walked.

Frank and I had a quick discussion, deciding to enlist the approaching officers in searching the lot.

“Probably laughing her ass off at us about now,” Frank called back over his shoulder as he walked over to the arriving cruisers to direct the search.

I took a quick look around the lot, but noticed nothing out of the ordinary. There were semi trucks, cars and pickups scattered throughout the huge lot.

We really had no idea as to who we are looking for save a general description garnered from grainy security tapes and gaga-eyed witnesses. My feeling was that she was long gone by now anyway, another dead end shoved in our faces.

Approaching Betty, she was handing the man one of her cards, whose stress laden face had returned to more of a normal color. Two other men were looking on from a few feet away, talking between themselves.

What’s up?” I ask as I came up from behind her.

She turned her head, giving me a smile as she put away the little leather holder she uses for her cards.

“Elmer Murray and his two buddies, all went in to pre-pay and get some snacks and chew when they first arrived about ten minutes ago. They all say they didn’t see anyone anywhere near their car when they came back out. I gave him my card in case he remembers anything, told him we may be giving him a call.”

I nodded in understanding, helping Betty get the box into an evidence bag. We then made our way around the car to check out the restaurant. Looking around at the horde of people in the eatery, I confirmed my suspicions that there were no good-looking blondes with baggy sweatshirts and glasses matching our description…nor where there any wearing a tight nurse’s uniform for that matter.

With the sketchy details we had on her, she could have changed her appearance only slightly and been more than able to hide in plain sight from us.

Frank came up shaking his head.

“No security cameras, surprise,” he said grumpily. He went on to tell us that the other cops were checking out the lot, but that they had so far come up with a big fat nothing.

We stuck around asking questions and scouring the truck stop for the next two hours to no avail. When we finally left the lot and headed back to the city, the tracking device was still pinging, but before I could get it turned off the bug died. I looked down at the blank screen for a few seconds before turning it off.

Our bug had died, and our investigation seemed not far behind.

Chapter 84

April 2, 1997

Jasmine smiled as the police cruiser pulled into the lot, slowly easing deep into the huge truck stop, completely ignoring her car in the process. She could only imagine the surprise on their faces when they pulled their weapons on some unsuspecting dupe.

She had been truly surprised when, having stopped on a side street to look at her postcard, she had happened to notice the bug at the bottom of the box.

Initially at a loss as to what to do, she had immediately taken off again, at least offering a moving target until she decided what to do. Throwing out the box seemed like a bad idea as someone could have seen her on the busy highway and reported it. Finally noticing the truck stop before the state line, she pulled in.

Getting out and making like she was grabbing a squeegee to clean her windows, she found a similar car to hers and stuffed the box behind that car’s bumper. Heading back to her auto she then laid the squeegee on her floorboard before she put the car in gear and maneuvered the car toward the exit.

This would put a new wrinkle in her plans though, having heard nothing through the grapevine about them discovering her identity. She would have to hold off on her collection for now.

It was just a hobby anyway. It affected nothing, her plans were already set.

She had been careful, there should be no way they could trace her any further than they already had, because in all actuality,
she
was the
Ghost.
In a couple of days, they would hear from her again anyway.

She was suddenly glad there were no appointments scheduled for tonight. Tonight would be spent instead making love to a large meatloaf and all the trimmings, her favorite. She turned left out of the lot and headed west, easily merging into traffic.

Realizing that there was also a new JAG on TV that night, she couldn’t help but think,
‘This day just keeps getting better!’

Chapter 85

April 2, 1997

When we got back to the office we decided to call it a night. Frustration had gotten the best of us this day.

Betty wanted Thai food, and offered to get it if I would get the rest of dinner ready. I enthusiastically agreed and headed home to get started.

Arriving at the house, I let Lucy out and got busy preparing drinks, plates and silverware. By the time I had gotten done with that chore, Lucy was scratching to come back in, prancing back to her place by the fireplace like the queen she was.

I heard Betty pull up outside and went to give her a hand. Opening the car door, my olfactory senses were assaulted by the aromatic coriander and turmeric as it escaped from the confines of the car. I pulled the two brown paper grocery bags loaded with treats out of the car and headed into the house with my lovely wife.

We headed directly to the table and spread out the dishes, digging into the feast with gusto. I hadn’t realized I was so hungry, scooping up multiple helpings of each dish until I was stuffed. Betty appeared equally ravenous, keeping up with me by the forkful, the complimentary chop sticks having been discarded as too slow.

Twenty minutes later, the containers were empty, and we were uncomfortably full and unable to move. Betty gave me a somewhat pained look, uttering an exasperated “bleh!” before brightening with, “wine?...Living room?”

I felt like I was waddling as I got up to open a bottle of Merlot, letting it breathe all of ten seconds as I got the glasses and filled them with the dark red liquid. Turning with the glasses in one hand and the bottle in the other, I headed for the living room.

Betty was nowhere in sight, so I set the wine on the end table by the love seat and sat down, finding the remote and flipping through the channels.

Mrs. Celtic arrived moments later looking comfortable in a flannel nightgown, a smile attesting to this fact showing on her beautiful face. Sitting down, she curled up next to me and rested her head on my shoulder, taking the offered wineglass and sampling a quick sip.

“That’s just what I needed, what’s on TV tonight?”

“JAG at 8:00,” I said thoughtfully, trying to remember the current schedule in my head.

“Good, I love that show,” she said tiredly as she snuggled even closer to me, giving me a peck on the cheek before laying her head once more on my shoulder.

We both settled in to watch TV, sipping at our wine and enjoying each other’s company.

I woke up with a start at 10:30, the steady breathing in my ear telling me my love had also fallen asleep. I gently shook Betty’s shoulder, suggesting that we go to bed when her eyes opened a little to look at me. She nodded and started to rise.

Appearing to remember something, she sat back down to looked at me seriously.

“Gabe, I need to tell you something,” more awake now.

“Ok dear,” I replied, slightly confused as I too settle back down into the couch.

“I just want you to know, I need you to know, how much you mean to me, how much our marriage has changed my life, for the better.”

“You were going somewhere?” I asked, trying to lighten up things a bit.

“Shut up and listen,” she shot back, concern on her face. “This is important to me! If something would ever happen to you and I hadn’t told you how important you are in my life, I don’t know what I would do.”

“You were, literally, miraculously saved from death the other night.”

“What if you had been killed? I’m not sure I could keep going on without you, especially without you knowing my true feelings.”

“Honey, I know you love me, you’ve changed my life too. Without you I would probably just be some bitter old man. You, I haven’t changed you that much, you are an exceptional woman, and I just ride on your coattails most of the time.”

She grabbed my jaw in her hand, holding my head to look directly into her eyes.

“We are great for each other,” she said, staring into my eyes with love. “I just really, really need you to know how important you are to me and how much you have made my life complete.”

I reached out and hugged her, and we sit there for several minutes, she holding on like it was our last night on earth together.

“I love you Betty,” I whispered in her ear tenderly.

She giggled slightly, laying her head on my shoulder, mouth to my ear, whispering, “Back at cha buddy.”

I gently worked out of our embrace, standing and offering my hand to the woman that had never looked more beautiful to me than in this moment. Leading her up to our room, we made gentle, sweet love before falling asleep in each other’s arms.

Before I fell finally asleep, I realized that I was the luckiest man alive, and definitely didn’t deserve the wonderful life and woman I have been given. A smile formed on my lips, which I was sure stayed there the rest of the night.

***

I entered the room, feeling the warmth of the fire on my face as my nose picked up the heavenly aroma of the coffee already poured and waiting. I took a moment to just stand there and enjoy my surroundings before taking my seat, hefting my cup and taking a long draw of the black elixir.

I glanced down at the chessboard and noticed immediately that I was in trouble.

My opponent has shown some initiative and magically pulled a move out of his ass that threatened to have me in check in three moves.

“Damn,” is all I could say as I went on the defensive once again, spending maybe the next hour and a half to work up a strategy that would at least slow him down.

Mentally exhausted, I leaned my head back into the cushion of the chair and enjoyed some more of my coffee. Closing my eyes, I was immediately aware of a small creaking sound behind me, again.

I sat there quietly and tried to discern direction and distance as the noise repeated itself every few seconds, much quicker than on previous visits. Behind me and to the right, approaching. I’m guessing that whoever is there is less than ten feet behind me now.

Bolder for sure, but are they yet willing to show themselves to me? I have to find out, tensing my body for a spring up out of the chair to catch the intruder in their tracks.

Carefully setting down the cup, I then quickly jumped up and turned to see…nothing, nobody was there. I felt a dizziness coming on quickly so I leaned against the locker next to me…the locker?

Looking around, I found myself in some sort of locker room, empty now, but the sound of someone approaching reached me from the hallway. The doors swung open, pushed by a blonde woman wearing a nurse’s uniform, a very shapely nurse’s uniform.

She went quickly to her locker and pulled out a bag, glancing around suspiciously before removing her glasses and placing them in the bag, along with her nametag.