Red Ochre Falls (6 page)

“I’ve got a friend
who might be able to help. Calvin’s a detective, and we go way back, so I trust
him. He may be able to help us, but we won’t know if it’s worth pursuing until
I take a look at Chloe.” He sighed. “Mattie, I’ve seen cases like this where family,
or friends, can’t come to terms with a loved one’s suicide. It can be a real
mess of grief and guilt. I just want you to be prepared in case she did take
her own life, and to know you’re not responsible.”

Garrett unbuckled,
and signaled for my phone, which I still held in my hands. I handed it to him
and he typed in his contact information. “As for your car, someone will pick it
up tonight. Text me at this number when you’re up and running tomorrow. I’ll
text you back and let you know if I can drive you over to the garage, or not.
Ask to see this guy.” He handed me a business card and continued. “If I can’t
make it, I’ll leave some keys in my top desk drawer so you can drive over and
check on your car. Leave my car there, they’ll get it back to me later.”

“Thank you.” He was
going out of his way to help with everything. Filled with so many emotions, I
didn’t know what else to say.

“Anytime. I know
living here has to be an adjustment for you and your mom. These other problems
are only making life more complicated. Let me know if you need anything.”

Before I could say
anything more, or hug him, his phone rang. It was my mom, and it was quick. It
took a moment for me to register what they discussed.

“We’ve got a body.
Sorry, a customer. We’d better get inside.”

The wind gust had a
cold edge to it when we hopped out of the truck. He led me inside, closed the
door and watched as I ran my fingers through my hair to calm it back into
place. He shivered, probably from the wind. He stepped close enough I could feel
his body heat. Maybe not the wind.

“Mattie?” Garrett
looked at me so intently I felt a shock wave. “Can I ask you something
personal?” I kept quiet and said yes with my eyes.

Just as he opened
his mouth to ask, Sledge and Manny burst through the back door.

“Got another dusty
one,” Manny called out casually as if he’d said, ‘Honey, I’m home’ while he and
Sledge rolled the latest body, um, customer inside. I didn’t run this time.
But, I did avoid looking directly at the black bag for the first few moments.

“Easy guys.”
Garrett pushed open the door to the holding room while maintaining my gaze. “If
they’re right, and it’s the same stuff found on the last one, we’ll be talking
to Cal about more than just Chloe tomorrow.”

Sledge and Manny
went inside and Garrett’s voice softened. “We’ll pick our conversation up where
we left off soon. Okay?” He smiled warmly. I smiled back and let him get to
work.

When I got upstairs
and locked the door, mom greeted me with chocolate chip cookies and milk. The
warm vanilla and gooey chocolate welcomed me to sit and unload my worries. I
let mom have it, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Well, most of it. I left out
the part where I felt mixed emotions about Garrett, and volunteered us both to
look into a possible murder. No need to worry her unless something more
happened with either situation, right? Maybe nothing would.

Mom expressed her
sympathy over Chloe’s death then reassured me we’d be fine, that the car and
our finances would hold up. Despite the fact I didn’t get the job I’d
interviewed for recently. The office left a voice message and said they’d keep
my resume on file a while longer—I wasn’t going to hold my breath.
Picking up some kind of work remained a priority. Garrett offered to take care
of the car repairs, and to help look into Chloe’s death. I didn’t want to be in
his debt any more than I already was.

“You two girls all
caught up?” Aunt Eileen surprised us in the kitchen. My aunt’s autumn print
dress and cropped red hair reminded me of my third grade English teacher. The
look suited her.
 

“Yes, thanks.
Everything okay with the arrangements?” Mom looked at me and brushed a bit of
hair behind my ear the way she had since I was a kid. Something was up. She
looked back at my aunt.

“I’m taking your
mom on a little trip,” Eileen said.

“Is everything
okay, mom?” An impromptu trip worried me.

“I’m fine, honey.
But grandpa’s hit a rough patch and we thought a visit might cheer him up.” Mom
sounded concerned about grandpa. “Eileen will do most of the driving, I’ll
annoy her with advice and help out if needed. We’d be gone a few days. I hate
to burden you with extra work, but I need you to answer the phones and cover
any office requests while we’re gone. I wouldn’t ask unless it was important.”
She looked worried, and it was the last thing she needed to feel right now.

“It’s no problem.
Just get me up to speed and I’ll handle it. Aunt Eileen, please make sure she
gets some rest, too.” Mom and my aunt hugged me at the same time.

We visited a while
longer. They went to the bedroom to pack mom’s things while I polished off
another cookie and packed the rest in two containers, one for me, one for their
trip. I took one final swig of milk then washed the glass and put it on the
drying rack. As mom and Aunt Eileen got ready for bed, I grabbed a pillow and
blanket from the bedroom closet and put them on the couch in the living room. I
rinsed up, said goodnight, and crashed.

CHAPTER 7

I woke up to mom and Aunt Eileen singing in the kitchen. They used to
break out singing a lot when they cooked with grandma. I’d almost forgotten how
much I missed hearing them harmonize. We ate oatmeal and chatted some more
about the trip. After breakfast, I walked a couple bags downstairs and loaded
them into Aunt Eileen’s burgundy sedan. We exchanged hugs and they left.

I sprung up the
walk and into the back office. Fran, an assistant funeral director in training,
told me Garrett was at a graveside service and would be back this afternoon.
Ryder was meeting a family, and Hank had already left to begin his holiday
weekend. She had no idea where Stanley was at the moment, although I thought I
heard her murmur something about a coffin.

I snagged the keys
and headed upstairs. My to do list was pretty long, so I texted Garrett to say
I picked up his keys and planned to stop by the garage later. My instincts told
me Garrett would find something, so I got started on Chloe’s case early. I
called her mom who was understandably distraught, but helpful. She gave me a
contact number for Chloe’s office, and her address.

A clerk at the
office I called didn’t help much, but only because he didn’t know me, and
claimed he couldn’t give out confidential information. The clerk did, however,
slip and tell me the name of a lawyer working the case with Chloe, Ted Oxley.

Mr. Oxley, a
practicing attorney, headed the college Law Club, although not a professor. I
knew him from a mock trial Chloe and I participated in a few years back. His
business was listed online. I figured there was no sense in letting the
Maserati sit around all day, so I headed over there to ask Ted about the case.

As soon as I
parked, I texted Jos and told her we needed to meet ASAP. A guy got out of a
car near me and went inside the office building. I didn’t recognize him, but he
looked like he belonged there. Suit and briefcase.

The elevator dinged
when it reached the third floor, my stop. The doors opened, I stepped off and
looked at the black lettering on the marquee to see where Ted Oxley’s office,
suite 307, was located. His assistant notified me he was in conference with a
client, offered me a beverage and a magazine while I waited.

I glanced over the
headlines, but decided to check messages and play with my phone instead. The
messages indicated mom and Aunt Eileen were making good progress; Jos would be
spending the weekend with her family; and Garrett wanted to catch up before he
left for the holiday. While everyone else had Labor Day plans, mine looked to
be pretty quiet. Maybe I’d unpack, curl up with a book, or watch chick-flicks
and eat popcorn until Tuesday. Three days is enough for a person to binge on
whatever they wanted. I’d have to decide later because Mr. Oxley’s client left,
so it was my turn to see him.

“Good to see you.”
Mr. Oxley shook my hand and walked me into his office. He signaled for me to
take a seat then walked around to his desk and sat in an expensive looking
leather office chair.

“Sorry to hear
about Chloe.”

“Me too. I wondered
if you knew anything about her recent cases.”

“Well, we did work
together on a couple cases, but I hadn’t talked to her much lately. From what I
understand, she’d been given some clerk work on a high profile case to stop a
casino build. Normally, you can’t stop a build like this once it starts, unless
you’ve got a pretty strong case.”

Oxley lifted his
arms off the chair. They came to rest on the desk and he pulled his hands up
until only the fingertips touched. From the way it looked, he was either going
to pray, or tell me more bad news. “Chloe had come to me for help, but I’m
afraid I couldn’t offer her much. The next thing I heard, she…she’d killed
herself. Maybe she couldn’t handle the pressure. Mattie, you know what it’s
like.” He threw that last part in unexpectedly. I was a bit shocked by it, but
answered quickly.

“Yes, I do know the
pressure can be overwhelming. But Chloe was different, she didn’t bend to it
quite as easily as I did.” I felt my statement was a good recovery considering
it sounded a lot like he was taking a jab at me. He knew pressure was part of
the reason I left school and hadn’t been back, before now. The college work
wouldn’t have been so bad, but financial pressures and family health issues,
made it unbearable. I couldn’t handle it all at the same time, and I broke.
Remembering it saddened me, but not as much as it used to. “I thought she
worked with you some on the big case.”

I noticed him stay
in control, except for the tension in his hands. “True, she was helping me with
a case. It was just a small family land deal, nothing big though. I wish I
could help you more.”

Almost as an
afterthought Oxley told me something about a recent run-in between Chloe and
Tab. “You know, they were volatile together. Maybe she just wanted off the
merry-go-round.” It devastated me to think she could have taken her life over
that jerk. She seemed stronger than that, but Oxley had a point.

I left the office
in a crabby mood. The Maserati was a seriously awesome ride, but it wasn’t
mine. Time to face facts, and find out what was up with my car.

I drove to the
garage listed on the business card Garrett gave me. When I pulled up a heavy
man covered in tattoos and grease was working on an old Dodge. He finished and
closed the hood. He wiped his hands on a blue shop towel and came to greet me.

“Hello, there. You
Mattie?

“I am.”

He shook my hand
with a hearty welcome. He was even larger than he looked under the hood. Still,
I wasn’t without my manners.

“Are you Garrett’s mechanic?”

“That I am. Hear you’re
old Honda’s giving you trouble.”

“Yeah, it used to
make a loud noise at start. Now, it doesn’t even start. Can you take a look?”

“Sure thing, but
we’re backed up right now. Why don’t you leave me the key and I’ll look her
over this afternoon?”

“I would, but I’ve
got things to do today. Is there any way you can give it a quick check while I
wait?”

He eyed me for a
minute, then the corners of his mouth turned up in a smile.

“Garrett didn’t
tell you?”

“Tell me what?” I
was totally clueless.

“He made arrangements
for alternate transportation.”

“What sort of
transportation?” I said suspiciously.

“Take your pick.”
He tipped his head sideways to indicate a row of cars near the side of the
building.

“Are you serious?”
There were half a dozen cars, all brand new, except one.

“Just pick one. You
can head inside and sign it out.” He paused and smiled. “I may not get to your
car today so you can keep it through the weekend if you want.”

If I want? Yeah, I
want. But, what’s the catch? Am I going to have to whack someone to pay for
this? He must have read my mind.

“Don’t worry about
money. Garrett’s got it covered.”

I shivered
wondering what I might owe Garrett for this one. Mysterious? Sure. But, I
didn’t have the luxury, or time to ask a lot of questions. Granny always said,
“Never look a gift horse in the mouth.” I’d taking her advice on this one.
Besides, he didn’t have an air of superiority about working on my crap-mobile
or giving me a loaner. He just acted like he was doing his job, which made it
easier to accept the gift.

“Thanks.”

“Sure thing. I’ll
call you when your car is ready.”

I took the
apartment and storage locker keys off the ring and handed it to him. I briefly
glanced at the new cars and headed inside.

A woman in a tight
red shirt, and an even tighter black skirt met me. Her brown hair was pulled
up, and she looked striking. The only thing that looked out of place was the
small black skull tattooed on her neck. A part of me winced thinking of the
favors she must have owed Garrett, and what he actually did to earn them.

I swallowed my
pride, stiffened up, and extended my hand. “Hi, I’m Mattie.”

“Garrett said you’d
be needing some help.” She didn’t roll her eyes, but it wasn’t hard to hear the
tone in her voice and see her disappointment. “I’m Bianca. I see you already
met Dawes.”

“Is he the
mechanic?”

“Yes, he’s the
mechanic. His name is Billy, but he goes by Dawes.”

She eyed me for a
few moments. I’m pretty sure she just checked me out, and not in a good way.

“So, how do you
know Garrett?”

“Work,” I said, not
wanting to get into the details. “Billy, I mean, Dawes said you had keys?”

She kept her eyes
on me as she rounded an old metal desk that looked like it belonged in an
institution. She swiped a hand on a computer screen and typed something. The
laptop was new and looked out of place.

“Well, which one?”
She huffed. Not much for chitchat I guess.

“Car?”

“Yes, which car did
you want?”

It wouldn’t have
been a big deal, but I’d about had it with rude people. I didn’t do anything to
her. I just wanted to get the keys and get out.

“Hello…Car?”

That’s it. I don’t
like rude, and I don’t like being rushed. I was perfectly happy to take the
Mini, but now it seemed too...mini. So, I did what any self-respecting girl in
my position would do. I didn’t back down.

“I’ll take the
Hellcat.” Definitely not mini.

“Huh, I didn’t
picture you as the American muscle type.” She grabbed the keys out of a lockbox
and dangled them in front of me. “It’s pretty powerful. Think you can handle
it?”

“Absolutely.” I
snatched the keys from her hand and left without another word. When I got out
the door I growled. Her comment about me handling ‘American Muscle’ went beyond
the car. And there was no way she and was going to intimidate me about
anything. Including accepting a better-than-I-could-ever-afford car, albeit a
loaner, and repairs to my current rust bucket from a guy I barely knew, and she
apparently knew intimately. She irked me on a day I didn’t need it. Best to get
out before I said or did anything stupid.

When I got to the
car Dawes stopped what he was doing to walk over. He whistled through his teeth
and leaned into the window. “Nice choice. Just make sure you watch the
throttle, it’ll kick you in the a—” he caught himself before he finished.
“Just make sure you take it easy the first few go-rounds.”

“Thanks.” I put on
my shades. “I appreciate the advice. Call me when you know more about what’s
going on with my car.”

“Will do.”

The Hellcat growled
extra loud as I pulled out. Probably because I wanted to let everyone,
including Bianca, know I was leaving.

It took moments for
me to hit the road home. It had been a long day, and it was only half over. I
planned to stop at the bank and the store before I went home, but I was hungry
and agitated. Errands could wait. I headed home to grab a PB&J instead.

My phone buzzed
just as the engine stopped. Garrett wanted me to meet him at the police
station. Talking with the police didn’t sound fun, but answers were more important
than food and comfort right now. I texted that I’d meet him, turned the car
back on, and rumbled out of the parking lot. There was enough power to easily
beat out a hatchback and head downtown.