The Good Die Twice (2 page)

On a branch high in the tree a colorful
scarlet macaw eyed Sara suspiciously as she approached. It buried
its head under one wing and refused to budge.

“Look what I have for you.” Sara held out a
handful of dandelions in one hand and sunflower seeds in the other.
“Einstein, don’t be like that. We were only gone two days.”

“Don’t baby him, Sara.” Dagger waited for the
color printer to finish spitting out pictures. “Come take a look at
these.”

Dagger’s makeshift office was cordoned off in
the corner of the living room by a forty-inch-high paneled wall. It
was just outside the aviary so Einstein could see a familiar face
and not feel anxious. It had taken Einstein almost a month to
settle down in his new surroundings after being cooped up in a
small apartment above a bar.

Sara no sooner left the aviary, when the
macaw spread its scarlet red, blue and gold wings, flew down and
landed on a wooden perch by the doorway to his room.

“AWWWKK, BABY ME, BABY ME,” Einstein
blurted.

Sara smiled at Einstein who bobbed his head
up and down.

“AWWWKK, BABY ME.” Einstein stabbed at the
grating with his powerful beak.

“What do you think?” Dagger placed the
composite pictures on the desk. Using the computer and Sara’s
recollection of the features of the two men, Dagger had the
computer draw composites of the alleged killers.

Sara studied the images. “His face is too
full and this one had more of a receding hairline.”

Dagger returned to the computer and made the
alterations to the composites. “You know, we are spending a lot of
time on a murder we can’t prove. We couldn’t find one sign of
violence in any of the townhouses.” He shifted his gaze to the
couch where the late edition of the morning paper was strewn. “You
haven’t found any mention of anything in the paper either.”

“You don’t believe me?”

Dagger ran his hands through his hair and
leaned back in his chair. He had worked enough cases to know a
dead-end when he saw one. But it was difficult to stare into Sara’s
innocent face and tell her his first inclination was that she
imagined it all. Instead he pointed to the monitor and asked,
“How’s this?”

“Yes, that’s better.”

Dagger sent the pictures to print.

A heavy knock rattled the kitchen screen
door. “Hey, anybody home? Have I got the right place?”

Dagger yelled, “Come on in, Simon.”

Simon made his way through the kitchen and
into the living room. What might have once been a muscular chest
had given way to gravity. A thick middle rested comfortably over
Simon’s belt. His cherub face and twinkling eyes made him appear to
be constantly smiling. Perspiration was already forming at the
hairline of his short-cropped Afro. With the temperatures nearing
eighty-five degrees, Simon wore his regulation uniform shorts. It
was difficult to imagine that those spindly legs and bony knees
could support such a massive torso.

“MR. POSTMAN. PLEASE, MR. POSTMAN. AWWWKK.”
Einstein fanned out his feathers and did a little dance on his
perch.

Simon’s laugh was deep, which brought the
word
jolly
immediately to mind. “Hello to you, too,
Einstein.”

“Coffee, Simon?” Sara offered.

The visitor nodded and cocked his head
slightly as Sara left the room, a vision of shapely legs in a pair
of low-riding denim shorts. He set his mailbag on the quarry tile
floor and looked around the expansive living room with its high
ceiling, skylights, and polished steel-beam staircase. At the top
of the staircase was a catwalk that dissected the width of the
living room.

Sara hadn’t owned much furniture, so Dagger
had contributed his black leather sofa, love seat, and
entertainment center. She did have a television set and VCR, but
only after her grandmother had discovered educational tapes that
her granddaughter could use. The earth-toned area rugs and Sara’s
bed were the only items she had kept after her grandmother
died.

Simon did a slow
three-hundred-and-sixty-degree turn as he surveyed the converted
dealer showroom. “This sure beats that apartment and office of
yours.”

“You’ve got that right.” Dagger stood up and
stretched his tall, lean body. His features were chiseled with dark
eyes set deep and a continuous five o’clock shadow. He had muscular
arms and workman’s hands, which were callused and rough. Dagger had
already started work on the Florida room he was adding to Sara’s
house.

“Is that an electrified gate you got out
front?”

“Should be. But it’s just a monitored gate
that we can open remotely. Too many people think this property is a
nature walk open to the public.”

Simon sauntered over to the doorway to
Einstein’s room. “What a set-up. Ya like your new home, Einstein?”
Einstein bobbed his head up and down and shrieked. “I guess you do.
You’ve got a swing, climbing ropes.” He looked at the tall tree on
one side of the room. “It looks like a goddamn rain forest in
here.”

“That’s the idea. We wanted Einstein to feel
at home.”

“Humidity must play havoc with your
computer.”

“Sometimes. But when it gets too warm, we
just close Einstein off in his room and turn on the air.”

Simon gazed through the large plate glass
windows at the property which extended as far as he could see.
“Three hundred acres of reservation land out there, huh?”

“With a stream, a lot of natural preserve,
open prairie, and a few bluffs overlooking a fishing stream.”

“Damn.” Simon did another slow survey of the
living areas, the wall of bookcases, and the aviary. “So this was
going to be an auto dealership.”

“Pretty fortunate for Sara’s grandparents.
They didn’t have to build a house. Once it was revealed the land
shouldn’t have been sold to the dealer, the building was left as
is.” Dagger nodded toward the aviary. “That was supposed to be the
service area. It already had the plumbing for washing cars.”

“I like those government boys. Always on top
of things,” Simon chuckled. “But why such a long driveway?”

Dagger leaned against the paneled wall, legs
crossed at the ankles. “The dealership had planned to position the
new and used car lots closer to the road to entice shoppers. So
they set the building back a couple hundred feet.” Dagger asked,
“Did you have any trouble getting your route changed?”

“Nope. Seniority has its upside. Besides, you
shouldn’t be trottin’ off to your post office box every day. And
it’s a good thing I’m your mailman, too. Who else would understand
all this
Soldier of Fortune, Mercenary Today, Spy Network
magazines you get?”

“Nowadays, everyone with Y2K-phobia
subscribes to these magazines.”

“Yeah, but that mercenary school in Kentucky
you attended still has you on their mailing list. What are they
teaching now? How to look like that Saddam Whozzits in fifteen
days?”

Einstein flew to the catwalk railing.
“SQUAWK, GUGE, GONJI, KILL STRIKE, UZI, MI-FORTY SEVEN...”

“Hey.” Dagger pointed a finger at Einstein.
“Put a clamp on it.”

Einstein turned and ruffled his feathers at
Dagger.

“See,” Simon motioned toward the macaw. “Even
the bird remembers the weapons and all those deadly self-defense
courses you took.”

Dagger handed some of the mail back to Simon
saying, “Do me a favor and mark these Return to Sender. I’m more
into Tai Chi these days.”

Simon rubbed a hand through his graying Afro
and took the mail from Dagger. He let his gaze drift toward the
kitchen. “How’s the little lady? Is she getting used to her
grandmother’s passing?”

Dagger followed his gaze. “Some days I find
her out back by the grave talking to her grandmother. She was all
the family Sara had left. But I think Einstein really fills a large
part of that void.” Dagger dug through stacks of papers and notes
on his desk, shoved them aside, and made room for today’s mail.

“I see you’re still neat and orderly.” A
piece of mail slipped to the floor. Simon quickly retrieved it and
threw it back on the stack. “How are the living arrangements
working out?”

“Place is big enough that we’re able to stay
out of each other’s way.” Dagger jabbed an index finger under the
flap of an envelope and tore open a bill from the phone company.
“And the rent I pay for Einstein and me gives Sara an income.”

A twinkle crept into Simon’s eyes. “Seems to
me it would be kinda hard to keep your mind on business with that
gorgeous creature living under the same roof.”

Dagger gave his broad shoulders a shrug.
“Never mix business with pleasure. Besides, Sara’s more like a
little sister to me.” Dagger couldn’t help but smile at Sara’s
transformation in just six short months. She had been so shy and
withdrawn when he had met her. He had looked over and there she
was, standing in the doorway of his office over a local bar,
looking like some native of a South Pacific island with her
almond-shaped eyes, olive complexion, and waist-length hair.

Back then, Sara had been instrumental in
helping Dagger solve a case. They complemented each other well. She
had unusual talents that could benefit his firm, and he needed an
office and a place to live that didn’t frown on a rowdy macaw. And
Sara knew more about macaws than even the man in charge of the
Aviary House at Brookfield Zoo.

Simon’s bushy eyebrows slowly crept up his
broad forehead. “Brother and sister? Right. You gonna tell me those
twenty steps up to that sweet thing’s bedroom doesn’t give you that
itch during some lonely nights? You gonna tell me living and
working in this close proximity doesn’t make things a little too
tempting?”

Dagger gave a hopeless shake of his head.
“The only thing I’m tempted to do is turn her over my knee. It has
been a struggle getting her used to being around people after being
secluded here with her grandmother.”

“She used to do the shopping for her
grandmother, didn’t she?”

“Sure, early in the morning before the stores
were crowded. I made the mistake of taking her to the mall once,
after her grandmother died. I thought it would be good to expose
her to as much of the outside world as possible, as soon as
possible. Talk about an anxiety attack.” Dagger leaned closer. “I
ended up calling her a baby. Then those big, blue-green eyes
started to fill with tears and...”

Simon smiled broadly. “Oh yeah, let me guess.
Those women get that bottom lip a-quivering and you feel like an
absolute jackass.”

“Right. And then the tears hang on the bottom
lashes, just hanging, never falling. And the lashes are moving up
and down from the weight.” Dagger shook his head of thick hair and
laughed. “How on earth do women do that?”

“You’ve got no patience, Chase Dagger. Women
need patience.” Simon winced as Einstein let out a diatribe of
screeches as he flew from the catwalk to the aviary.

Dagger motioned Simon toward the couch while
sliding shut first the grated door and then the clear Plexiglas
door on the aviary. The Plexiglas door provided excellent
soundproofing. Dagger carried some papers in his hand and took a
seat next to Simon. He tossed a quick glance over his shoulder
toward the doorway, leaned in and whispered, “Well, those days that
I used to look at Sara sideways and reduce her to tears are gone.
Now that I taught her how to shoot, she has a backbone. Now that
she has learned some self-defense, she challenges me on everything
from taking care of Einstein to doing my job. She even had me throw
out all my coated fry pans because, little did I know, the coating
emits toxic fumes that could kill birds. Between Einstein and Sara,
I don’t know which one is going to drive me crazy first.”

“Crazy.” Simon huffed. “You’re loving every
minute of it. You want her to be that shy, timid girl again because
then you won’t be attracted to her.” He leaned in and whispered,
“Unless you haven’t noticed, but I’m sure you have, she ain’t no
girl. She’s a full grown woman.” He eye-balled his friend
suspiciously. “Is she doing your laundry?”

Dagger shook his head.

“Are you buying her monthly personals?”

“No.”

Simon clamped a thick hand on Dagger’s
shoulder. “Then you’re safe for now.”

“Take a look at these pictures, Simon. Ever
see these guys before?”

“Uh huh. Changing the subject already.” Simon
studied the pictures of the two men. “They don’t look ugly enough
to be inmates. Are they relatives?”

“Not quite. Just some suspicious characters
who piqued Sara’s interest.” He placed the pictures on the coffee
table. “Have your cop friends told you about any missing persons? A
woman around thirty, maybe? Or any homicides from last night?”

“Just gang shit, but no young woman.”

“Anything else new around town?”

“Just that hoity-toity cocktail party Friday
night for the rich fat cats.”

Dagger arched one eyebrow.

“Here you go, Simon.” Sara placed a tray
containing cups of coffee and a plate of cookies on the coffee
table.

“Why thank you, little lady.” Simon helped
himself to refreshments. Sara curled up on the love seat and waited
for Simon’s reaction. “Ummm. Chocolate chip. My favorite.”

Sara pressed her fist to her mouth and
absentmindedly started to chew on a knuckle. To her it was a way to
keep her hands from shaking. But her knuckles were looking raw, the
skin cracking. Dagger reached over and pulled her hand away so she
clenched it tightly in her lap.

Simon handed one last piece of mail to
Dagger. “I saved the best for last. I’m sure this is your invite to
that hoity-toity affair. It’s being given by Robert Tyler, the rich
dude who owns thousands of hotels around the globe.”

“And I should know this Tyler guy?”

“He’s a very, very close friend of Leyton
Monroe, the newspaper tycoon.” A narrow smile curled up one corner
of Simon’s mouth. “I’m surprised Monroe’s daughter hasn’t called to
personally invite you.”