The Good Die Twice (23 page)

“Looking for something?”

Edie screamed and lurched back from the
armoire. Lily stood in the doorway, a look of disgust clouding her
face.

Pressing a hand to her chest, Edie explained,
“Just looking for Eric’s favorite golf sweater. He thought his
father might have it.”

“Didn’t mean to startle you but I usually
don’t expect to find anyone in Mr. Tyler’s private bedroom.” She
braced the door open and waited. Reluctantly, Edie left.

CHAPTER 37

“What have you got, Coffey?” Padre spoke into
the walkie-talkie. Detective Ben Coffey was seated on the rooftop
of the Dunes Resort with a pair of binoculars aimed at the road
leading down to the beachfront townhouses.

“I’ve got a white sport utility vehicle
headed your way. It looks like one Luke Gabriel behind the wheel.
He’s alone.”

“Okay, let’s get ready boys.” Sergeant
Duranski unfolded his body from the floor of the townhouse. He gave
Padre a stern look. “Hope that friend of yours is right.”

“He’s rarely wrong.”

Duranski’s bulky shoulders shrugged. “All the
private dicks say that.”

Padre and Dagger had it all pre-planned.
After Dagger dropped the pink bombshell on the Tyler dining room
table, it was his hope that someone would go racing out to the
Dunes Resort to check the body for the other earring.

Duranski and his men were quite comfortable
in the center unit with its wrap-around couch and entertainment
center. They had rigged a surveillance camera in the storage room
which housed the walk-in freezer. The monitor was sitting on the
kitchen counter, ready to display whatever occurred in the
adjoining storage room.

Lansing stood and pulled on his utility belt.
He stared intensely at the monitor. The walkie-talkie blared again.
“All yours,” Coffey announced.

The SUV’s engine died at the rear of the
building. The blinds were closed. Luke wouldn’t be able to see in.
They waited and watched, careful not to move, not to make a sound.
If Luke had a key to the back door, there was a chance he also had
a key to the door leading into the kitchen where the men were
waiting.

They heard a rustling at the back door, a key
being inserted, the door handle turning. They could hear the door
squeak as it opened, heels click against the tiled floor. On the
monitor, the lights in the storage room flipped on and the cops
watched as Luke unlocked the freezer and entered.

Dead bodies shouldn’t bother Luke. He had
seen his share. But there was something about seeing Rachel’s body
that briefly saddened him. She was beautiful, even in death. He was
sorry he ever hired Joey and Mince. Luke would have been able to
get Rachel to tell him what they wanted to know. A woman that
beautiful would do anything to keep from having her face marred. He
would have had her chirping like a bird.

Luke checked Rachel for the second earring.
There wasn’t one. A search under the body, on the floor, then the
storage room itself, proved fruitless. It didn’t take long for him
to find the silk scarf, bright yellow with splashes of scarlet
roses. He inhaled deeply from the fabric balled in his hand and his
eyes narrowed. Luke slammed the door to the townhouse and stormed
back to his SUV.

“I thought Edie’s scarf might come in handy.”
Dagger popped open a beer can and handed it across the bar to
Padre.

“Oh, no,” Padre protested. “The doctor
wouldn’t be too happy about that.”

“WHAT’S UP, DOC. AWK.” Einstein flew over to
the couch.

“Hey, Einstein. How’s the feather flying?”
Padre laughed as Einstein gave a good impression of a colorful
fan.

Sara set a cup of hot tea in front of Padre
and said, “This is my grandmother’s secret recipe.”

Padre asked Dagger, “How did you get Edie’s
scarf?”

Dagger glanced at Sara and smiled. “Let’s
just say a little bird flew in and stole it from her.”

“Right,” Padre chuckled. “However you got it,
it was the perfect touch. About now I’m sure Luke is tearing into
Edie accusing her of stealing the other earring.”

“You want him to think Edie is working behind
his back?” Sara scooted onto the bar stool and rested her elbows on
the bar, a fist pressed against her cheek, one pinky finger working
its way toward her mouth. The bar was nestled in the corner of the
living room. The black marbled top reflected the ceiling
lights.

“Definitely.” Dagger took a long pull on his
beer, his gaze resting on Sara’s fist. “Nothing like partners
thinking they are being betrayed. All the dirt settles at the
bottom.”

Padre’s eyes blinked wearily and he finished
his tea in one long gulp. “At least Duranski has more faith in you
now.”

Dagger shrugged. “Like I care.”

“You have to keep guys like him on your side,
Dagger.” He pushed the cup away and scooted his stool away from the
bar.

Sara pulled her fist away from her face and
clasped her hands in her lap. “Padre, do you have a way of finding
out where people were at any given time?”

Padre looked at Dagger, then Sara. He stood
and turned sideways to face Sara, his body leaning against the bar.
He had a smile of amusement, the kind that he usually reserved for
school children who would ask him curiosity questions during a
precinct tour.

“Sure. If he was serving time somewhere, or
the guest of a jail cell awaiting bail, maybe search through charge
card receipts. It would give us some idea. Why do you ask?”

Dagger eyed her curiously from the serving
side of the bar, his feet apart, arms crossed. He watched her
fingers intertwine, as though they battled each other for
territorial rights. ‘Shall we stay here? Head for the mouth?’ Sara
seemed to take control and they remained in her lap.

“Just curious if Luke really was in Australia
and exactly when Edie met him.”

“AWK, AUSTRALIA, KANGAROO.” Einstein flapped
his wings and danced on the perch.

Padre cast a curious gaze toward Dagger.
“Guess I could do a little more checking. In the meantime, old man
Tyler needs to figure out what Rachel meant when she said
‘kangaroo’. Is it animal, mineral, or vegetable?”

“He’s going to have to do a more thorough
search of the house.” Dagger walked Padre to the door.

“KANGAROO PAW, AWWWKK.”

Sara jumped off the bar stool. “Okay, mister.
It’s bedtime.” She clapped her hands and Einstein flew off the
perch and into the aviary.

“KANGAROO PAW, KANGAROO PAW.”

“Kangaroos don’t have paws, Einstein.” Sara
watched him fly onto one of the branches and peek at her between
the fronds. She switched on the nightlight. Before turning away,
she cast a quizzical gaze at the macaw. Sometimes things Einstein
said didn’t make sense…until much later.

After Padre left, Sara went upstairs to her
room. Dagger knew she wouldn’t be going to bed. About four times a
week he would hear her patio door slide open. He just wasn’t sure
if she was going out for exercise or to keep in practice.

Curiosity got the best of him. Dagger grabbed
his binoculars and went upstairs. Her bedroom smelled of fresh
flowers and subtle perfume. In the dark he could barely make out
the rattan chair nestled in the corner and the fern hanging from
the ceiling.

He sat on the floor, elbows on the cushioned
window seat, binoculars in hand. Focusing the binoculars, he
spotted the gray hawk gliding in a slow circular pattern. The
night-vision binoculars lit up the night and were strong enough for
him to see the detailed wing panel and tail banding.

Dagger sat mesmerized by the grace and power
of the large bird. And then, as it swooped closer to the ground, it
shifted into the gray wolf. Dagger’s mouth literally fell open. The
wolf was unbelievably fast as it tore off for the open land. And
then something he thought he would never see happened. The wolf
shifted back to Sara as she ran nude toward the river, her long
hair flowing behind her, her hips and legs firm and shapely. She
twirled like a dancer giving him a full view of her firm
breasts.

“My god. What a body!”

Almost as quickly she shifted back to the
gray hawk and rose swiftly, its body outlined against the full
moon. To have the speed and senses of the wolf and the hawk was
something Dagger couldn’t fathom. Then what he realized made his
face flush. Sara had the eyesight of the hawk. She could see at
night and she could see distances he could only imagine. She could
probably see him! He dropped the binoculars just as Einstein
alighted on the bed.

“WHAT A BODY. AWK”

“Hey, where did you come from?” He chased
Einstein down the stairs and into the aviary. “Sara is too good to
you. She left your door open.” Dagger pulled the grated door shut
and watched as Einstein settled in on his favorite branch.

CHAPTER 38

Skizzy pulled the bat close to him and crept
from the back room. He wasn’t sure what woke him, if it was a noise
or just the sense that something wasn’t right. His heart pounded
behind his ribcage and his hands were beginning to slip off the
bat. He gripped it tighter and entered the front of the store.

If there were intruders, why didn’t the alarm
go off? Did he check the locks on the door earlier? He should have
checked them one more time, he thought. Silently he stood
listening, waiting for his eyes to adjust. The blinds on the front
windows were closed. The street light outside the store had burned
out months ago and the city had yet to fix it.

It was difficult to distinguish the shadows,
some short, some tall. He thought he saw a shadow move so he
gripped tighter on the bat. “Who’s there?” Skizzy yelled. “I’ve got
a gun and the silent alarm went off. Police should be here any
minute.” It was a lie. He didn’t have a loaded gun, knowing full
well there was a risk of his being shot with his own weapon. And he
didn’t have a silent alarm to the police or alarm company.

He took another step into the room. Another
shadow moved. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him. He didn’t
feel a breeze from a broken window or an opened door. And he would
have heard glass breaking. But thieves are clever, a voice in his
head said. Should’ve checked the door one more time last night,
Skizzy thought.

A shadow moved.

“Hey!” Raising his bat, Skizzy felt a blow
from behind.

“I called you right away,” Simon told Dagger.
Nodding to the two paramedics leaning against an ambulance, Simon
added, “You know, Skizzy ain’t gonna let anybody take him to no
doctor.”

Dagger had pulled on his clothes and driven
over as soon as Simon called at six in the morning. Simon had
stopped for coffee at the bakery across from Skizzy’s Pawn Shop.
That was when he noticed the door to the pawn shop ajar. Skizzy
would never leave the door open. When Simon stepped inside, he
found Skizzy bleeding and lying in a pile of broken glass.

Dagger combed his hair back with his fingers
and pulled up the collar of his black pullover. His temples pulsed
as he clenched and unclenched his fists.

The morning air was damp and wisps of steam
floated above the street where cool air met the warm pavement. The
sun was burning through the haze on the horizon as a passenger
train rumbled along the tracks at the end of the street.

“Hey, buddy,” a rotund paramedic with a
doughy face called out. “You better get to your friend in there and
talk him into letting us treat him.”

Dagger turned to Simon and said, “Give Doc
Akins a call and see if he can get over here quick. If he can,” he
looked toward the paramedics, “send them on their way.”

Once Dagger pushed the door open he saw
Skizzy on the floor holding a large piece of glass.

“Get away. Get out of here,” Skizzy yelled,
lashing out with his makeshift weapon while streams of blood
obstructed his eyesight.

“It’s me, Skizzy. It’s Dagger.”

“My god. What have they done to my place,
Dagger?”

Dagger knelt beside his friend and examined
the gashes on his face and head. “Who did this to you?” He used the
alcohol wipes and gauze pads the paramedics had given him. Skizzy’s
skin was pale and his hands shook.

“They rifled through every crevice in the
store looking for it. Pulled all the jewelry out of the case, used
the guns to break the showcases. But they didn’t get
downstairs.”

Simon stuck his head in. “Doc is on his
way.”

Skizzy grabbed the glass shard again. “Who’s
there?”

“It’s okay. It’s Simon. And Sara’s here,
too,” Dagger said.

Sara carried a cardboard tray of coffee and
juice. “Skizzy, what happened?” She set the tray on the windowsill
and pulled her tote bag off her shoulder.

Dagger tried again, “What were the men
looking for, Skizzy?”

“No telling what they did, what they planted.
Government men probably, planting bugs.”

“Drink this, Skizzy.” Sara held up a carton
of orange juice. She guided the straw to his mouth.

Simon announced, “Here comes Doc.”

A lanky man with pointed features stepped
into the shop. His silver-streaked hair and youthful face made it
difficult to tell his age. But he dressed preppy and wore
wire-framed glasses. Doc Akins taught veterinary sciences at the
local college. He had turned from people to animals. But his former
patients still had a way to reach him and he helped them whenever
possible.

Skizzy grabbed Dagger’s arm. “No doctor, no.
You know what those doctors do. He’ll plant a computer chip in me.”
Skizzy became more agitated the more he talked. His tee shirt was
soaked with blood and the cuts on his arms had slivers of glass in
them.

Simon grabbed a broom and started to sweep
the glass out of the way while Dagger told Skizzy about Doc
Akins.

“Doc had his license taken away for giving
pot to cancer patients to relieve the effects of chemo. He’s a good
guy, Skizzy. Just let him take a look at you, clean your wounds,
stitch them up.”