PENITENCE: An Andi Comstock Supernatural Mystery, Book 2 (95,893 words) (19 page)

Andi waited impatientl
y
after that for Clem to produce himself and his noxious smoke. You’d think, considering it was his birthday, he’d at least like someone to wish him a happy deceased birthday.

As it turned out, he waited until she was ready to leave for the day before he arrived.

I did something bad, Andi, and I don’t know how to fix it.

Andi fervently wished that whomever had written the rule book for the troubled souls who passed on would grant them dispensation to vary their opening salvo.

With Sherry, the practice hadn’t irritated her. Every communication had begun with,
This is not the way it’s supposed to happen, Andi
. The words had radiated poignancy rather than grating on her like the roughest sandpaper.

But for some reason, with Clem, his lead-in had begun to sound whiny, and Andi couldn’t abide whiners.

“Happy birthday, Clem,” she said, hoping that would freshen his mood.

Some birthday, being dead.

“You know that no one’s responsible for your condition, right? Not even you.”

I hope it’s okay with you if I have a solitary pity party here in Neverland, since I can’t have a birthday party.

“I wouldn’t think you had time for a pity party.” She considered what to say next. “I just spoke with someone who said he knew you. Gene Kirkland. Maybe you remember him?”

His big, dead sigh preceded his response.
I guess I should quit, bellyaching, shouldn’t I? At least my kids are still alive.

“In case you’re wondering, your wife is, too. She texted me earlier and asked me to tell you, if you showed up, that she’d wish you a happy birthday, but she’s just not feeling it right now.”

Clem’s spirit laughed.
That’s my Denise. She has spunk.

Andi couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of marriage the Naylors had. To each his or her own, but it didn’t sound like any kind of relationship she’d wish for herself. “She has plenty of people watching out for her.”

I’m glad to hear it.

“Gene said you have information you could provide to me, if you’d just look for it.”

He always was a know-it-all.

“He didn’t seem that way to me.” She considered her next words, debating whether or not to utter them. “Look, Clem, there’s no way your hitman is getting within shooting distance of Denise tonight, so—”

Don’t be so sure of that.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He’s a hitman. He shoots from wherever he gets the best shot.

A chill ran down Andi’s spine. She envisioned the area around the Naylor’s. All the houses were on large lots with plenty of climbable trees. A sniper could perch on a branch and watch shadows through windows. By now, The Liquidator must know Denise had protection, if it was even him who showed up to do the deed.

Andi paused a moment to regroup. She dare not go down the rocky path of what-ifs right now. “She could keep the lights off.”

And he could use a night-vision scope.

“You know, Clem, you’re really starting to piss me off. I thought you wanted to save Denise’s life!”

I do.

“Then start coming clean about what you know!”

Instead of responding, he vanished and took his smoky essence with him.

“Dammit!” Andi speed-dialed Jack. “Do you have people looking up into the trees at Denise’s?”

“What brought that on?”

“Clem. He’s such an a-hole! He just informed me snipers can shoot from trees and they have night-vision scopes if it’s dark.”

“Simmer down, babe, we have it covered.”

Andi felt a wave of relief. “Don’t tell me any more, in case he eavesdrops and I don’t know it. I wouldn’t want him somehow communicating with the hitman and giving away any secrets.”

Jack was silent for a telling moment before he asked, “Are you saying you think Clem lied in the beginning and he really does want Denise dead?”

“I don’t know.” She told him what Gene Kirkland had said in passing. “We’ve talked about this! It’s odder than crap that Clem can’t provide any more useful information than he has. For God’s sake, he helped build a multi-million dollar corporation. He didn’t do that by not paying attention to details.”

“You have a point, but on the other hand, remember that the only clue Sherry Hemmer was able to give you about her death was that it concerned her teeth.”

“You’re right.” A sudden thought hit Andi. It so shook her that she gasped.

“What?”

“Ohmygod, Jack, what if he wants Denise dead so he’ll have company in the afterlife?”

“Well, that would fucking suck. I guess you’d better ask him straight out next time he shows up.”

“I’m going to keep working,” she decided on the spot. “I’m not leaving here until midnight, in case he actually comes back and gives me something we can use.”

“That’s ridiculous. Denise is safe. Whatever he has can wait until tomorrow.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

He blew out an exasperated breath. “You want me to bring you something to eat?”

“Would you? That would be terrific.” Despite her spur of the moment decision, Andi didn’t like being alone in the building late at night. She could use Jack’s company to steady her nerves.

“Around seven?”

“Perfect. Call me when you get here. I’ll come down and let you in.”

. . .

Andi actually got a lot of work down between the time she hung up talking to Jack and he arrived with takeout from a nearby ramen restaurant. He even brought a double order of potstickers. They ate in the conference room and brainstormed about possible information Clem might know that he hadn’t yet revealed.

“The missing piece could involve money,” Jack said.

“Why?”

“Money is the root of all evil, or hadn’t you heard?”

“Very funny, Jack Benny.”

“To proceed, what are the relevant aspects of his life, and did they have financial gain for him? Something that might make someone want to take retribution on Denise.”

Andi hadn’t considered that possibility. “His business, for one. Community involvement, for another. Fundraising. Coaching his kid’s teams. Church activities. Teaching at the community college.”

“I talked to the organizations he belonged to. Everything is above board there. With regard to the fundraising, he spearheaded only. No direct contact with money. The guy had name recognition and a reputation for being able to get people to cough up dough.” Jack speared some chicken teriyaki with his chopsticks. “As far as the coaching went, the sponsoring agencies said they wished they had more coaches like him. Treated all the kids fairly, equal playing time for all, good morale builder. The class he taught was through adult ed, and his students were almost exclusively older adults who had money to invest. No one knew of any animosity brewing on that front, either past or present. The Registrar told me if anything underhanded had been going on with Clem outside the classroom, they would have been besieged with complaints and they never got anything but kudos on him as a teacher and an investor.”

“More dead ends.”

He nodded. “That leaves his business finances. That’s one place I can’t do any checking.”

“Denise doesn’t seem to know much about those, either, except that Clem brought home a healthy paycheck every month.”

“He could have been siphoning from the office end. When does the forensic accountant start his review?”

“Tomorrow. The partners didn’t want to hand over the books, but Denise’s contracts attorney finagled a court order to force them.” She shook her head. “If the relationship between Clem and his partners was strained before his death, I’m betting there’s tons of animosity now.”

Jack pointed his chopsticks at her. “The relationship between the three partners could definitely use a little scrutiny.”

“Preston Kido, the contracts attorney, has one of his investigators digging into each of them. He thinks that even with Clem gone, it’s likely not a symbiotic partnership.”

“No doubt he’ll uncover something, but back to Clem specifically. We should also consider extracurricular activities. Gambling, drugs, whoring around.” He picked up his soft drink, draining the cup. “I’ll feel better when I can rule out any extracurricular activities or hanky-panky.”

“If he’d been gambling, wouldn’t Denise have noticed something with the family finances, since she took care of bill-paying and keeping their personal books?”

“You’d think so, but nothing is certain.”

“And if he’d been doing drugs or screwing around, she would have noticed huge chunks of cash disappearing there, too.”

“Once again, you’re right, but I’ve seen instances where assumptions like that made an ass out of investigators. Some people have a real knack for hiding their cash so the spouse doesn’t know about it.”

“That’s horrible. Where’s the honesty and integrity and trust? What about love? Don’t people honor their wedding vows anymore?”

“Some do, some don’t.”

Bummed out by how much some people sucked, Andi gathered up their used utensils and to-go containers and bagged them. “What’s that old Sherlock Holmes saying again?”

He grinned at her. “
‘
When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’”

“By Jove, I think he’s got it.”

Jack glanced at the wall clock. “Four more hours. Are you going to be able to stand it?”

“I have Bunnicula to keep me company.”

“Yeah, and some zombies.”

“At least they’re cute.”

He winced. “Cute zombies? If you say so.”

Andi laughed and got up to throw their trash away. She moved over to Jack and settled onto his lap. “You could always stay and protect me.”

“Which is exactly why I brought my laptop, zombie girl. After the welcome-home present plastered on your door the other night, there’s not a chance in hell I’m letting you go home by yourself at midnight.”

Andi slid her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Jack pulled her tighter, kissing her back.

When she pulled away, she rested her forehead against his. “You gonna spend the night at my place?”

His hand went up under her sweater and captured her breast. “What do you think?”

Andi arched into his palm. “I think you’re the best boyfriend ever.”

. . .

By eleven o’clock, Andi was ready to give up on Clem. She saved her work and had her cursor poised over the
SHUT DOWN
icon when eau de Clem saturated the air around her.

I did something bad, Andi, and I don’t know how to fix it.

Andi rolled her eyes.

I thought about what you said, Andi, and I may have come up with some things that might help save Denise.

“Okay.”

For one, I remembered that The Liquidator said February third wasn’t a good day for him, so she’s probably safe today.

Why couldn’t he have remembered that sooner?

For another, he said the other job he had this week was close by.

“I don’t suppose he gave you any clues as to who his target might be.”

No, but he did say it was someone I knew intimately.
His pause was lengthy.
The thing is, Andi, I think he was talking about…me.

Startled, Andi jumped up out of her chair and called out to Jack, who was still in the conference room. “Don’t you dare disappear!” she warned Clem.

Jack sprinted across the common area and into her office, settling into the only other chair in the room.

“Why do you think you were The Liquidator’s next target?”

I’m not sure. It probably never would have occurred to me, except for Gus and Vince making a move on Denise to buy her out so suddenly. You know they’re doing it because they think if they pounce while she’s grieving, she’ll be susceptible to their demands. Goddamned bastards will have a clear path to moving into foreign markets
and
acquiring new properties. I give the company two years max after that before they tank
.

“So, your theory is that Gus and Vince wanted you out of the way so they could expand the business?”

Theory is right, and that’s all it is, because I sure as hell can’t prove it.

“The forensic accountant is going to start looking into your company books tomorrow. Maybe he’ll find something.”

It seemed funny to hear Clem snort, but that’s what he did before he said,
You presuppose that there’s not a second set of books somewhere.

“Do you have reason to believe there’s a second set of books?” She glanced at Jack, hoping he was able to keep up with the one-sided conversation by the way she framed her responses to Clem’s comments. She couldn’t tell if the frown on his face confirmed he was on her wave length or not.