Crossing Danger: A Shelby Nichols Adventure (10 page)

He huffed out a breath. “Just kidding, Nichols. Geeze.”

“And don’t call me Nichols!”

He twisted his lips and pulled on his jacket, not about to give me the satisfaction of an answer. He also didn’t want me to get there before he did and conspire with Chloe about what to tell him.

I gasped, and my heart raced with fury. What a grandstanding jerk! He was the biggest, brattiest bully I had ever known. How dare he? I brushed past him and hurried to my car, needing some space to get under control before I clobbered him.

I sat in my car and slammed the door shut, then closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing in and out until I calmed down. With my heart rate back to normal, I sent a quick text to Holly to let her know we were coming. I dreaded putting Chloe through this again, especially with Bates questioning her truthfulness. It had been bad enough for her to tell me. I could only hope that if I was there she wouldn’t freak out.

I pulled up to Holly’s house behind Bates, but hurried to the door to arrive ahead of him. Holly took one look at my face and raised her brows thinking something wasn’t right. Was Bates causing me trouble? And where was Dimples?

She ushered us inside and glanced up and down the street before closing the door. “Please...have a seat. Chloe’s downstairs.”

I sat on the couch after Bates took the chair, grateful he wasn’t sitting next to me since I couldn’t trust myself not to strangle him.

“What’s going on?” she asked, folding her arms and standing tall. She wasn’t going to bring Chloe into this until she knew more. “What do you need to talk to Chloe about? Did you find the cop?”

I stared pointedly at Bates while my lips drew down into a disgusted frown.

“I just need to ask Chloe exactly what she saw,” Bates explained, making his voice all smooth and nice. “We’re having a hard time connecting any of the cops she pointed out. I thought maybe if I got the story straight from her mouth, something might click that Shelby forgot to mention.”

“Really?” Holly asked, slightly offended that he didn’t believe me. With wide eyes, she glanced at me for an explanation.

“Yeah, he wants to hear it firsthand,” I answered, trying to sound like it didn’t bother me. “Do you think Chloe will mind too much? You can tell her I’m here if that helps.”

“Okay,” she agreed, even though she didn’t like it. “I’ll get her.”

“Thanks,” I said, shooting Bates a stare since he wasn’t going to say it.

A few minutes later, Chloe followed Holly into the room. Holly had obviously told her Bates wanted to hear what happened again, and her step faltered as she came in. I sent her a smile and nod, but it didn’t do much to curb her anxiety, and she wondered if she was in trouble.

I almost blurted that she wasn’t, but bit my lip instead. I didn’t want to give Bates a reason to think I was interfering and kick me out. At least he picked up on her nervousness and spoke gently to reassure her that he was there to help.

As she recounted the events to him, her voice wavered with pain, and Holly quickly put an arm around her. Holly’s solid presence was enough to help her past the part where Liam died, but talking about the cop worried her. She knew what she’d seen, but what if Bates didn’t believe her?

“Go ahead and tell him what happened,” I said. “He needs to know what you saw and heard.” She nodded and took a deep breath, then finished telling Bates the rest of the story.

To Bates’ credit, he listened attentively, then nodded and thanked her. “I know that wasn’t easy, but I had to hear it for myself. I believe you. I’m just not sure about the badge. Could it have been anything else? Like a belt buckle or something?”

“No!” Chloe said. “I know what I saw, and it wasn’t my imagination.” She was thinking that this was exactly why she hadn’t gone to the police in the first place.

“Okay,” Bates said, wanting to placate her. “I’ll do my best to find him.”

“Do the cops you talked to have any idea that Chloe’s been found?” I asked, suddenly nervous.

“No,” he said. “I was discreet. They don’t know a thing.”

“That’s good,” I replied, “because I want to talk to them myself. I already have their names, but I need their phone numbers.”

Bates couldn’t believe I was going over his head, but he couldn’t tell me no in front of Chloe or Holly. “Fine. I’ve got them on my desk. I’ll call you when I get back to the precinct.”

“Okay...good.” Relief swept over me to finally get him to cooperate.

Bates stood, eager to leave, and said his goodbyes, promising to call me. Once he left, I told Holly and Chloe what had happened with the interviews, trying to leave out how angry and upset it had made me. “Don’t worry, Chloe, I’ll talk to them today, even if I have to track them down to do it. Okay?”

“Sure,” she nodded, troubled by Bates’ lack of trust in her story. At least I believed her.

“Good. I’d better get going then.”

***

It was past one in the afternoon, so I stopped by my house for something to eat before Bates called. I was nearly finished with my sandwich when my phone rang, and I let out a relieved breath. I hadn’t been sure he’d actually call. I glanced at the caller ID, and my relief turned into a groan. Why now?

“Hello,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound too unhappy.

“Shelby.” Uncle Joey answered. “Is something wrong?”

“Oh...I’m okay, I guess.” Since I didn’t want him to think I was upset he’d called, I decided I’d better explain. “I’m just working on an important case and this detective who’s supposed to be helping me is just...uh...um...well he’s giving me a really hard time.”

“Oh? The one with the dimples?”

“No...not him. He’s great. It’s the new one. His name is Bates.”

“Hmm...does he have frizzy hair?”

“Yes, that’s him,” I answered, surprised he knew. “He doesn’t like me much.”

“Good to know. I’ll see what I can do about it.”

“Uh...wait...no. That’s okay...I didn’t...I don’t mean...I was just complaining. You don’t need to do anything...I can take care of Bates.”

He snorted. “Right...well, let me know if you change your mind.”

“Um...sure. But I’m fine...really.” Part of me wanted to think he was just kidding around, but the other part knew he was dead serious, and I didn’t want to be responsible for anything happening to Bates, no matter how much I disliked him.

“I was calling to see if you were available for breakfast in the morning...around eight-thirty?” he asked.

“Uh...I guess that would work. What’s going on?”

“I found out that Blake is staying at the downtown Marriott, and he eats breakfast there every morning at eight-thirty. I thought maybe you and Ramos could eat breakfast there too and have a little chat with him.”

“What kind of a chat?” I asked.

“Let’s just say that Ramos will invite him to meet with me, and you can listen in to find out what he really thinks about that. Even if he refuses, you should be able to pick up on what he’s doing here. If he accepts, you can accompany him back to the office and we’ll find out what he’s up to.”

“Oh...okay. I can do that.”

“Good. Ramos will pick you up at eight o’clock in the morning.”

“Uh...wait.” He’d already disconnected and I sighed. Just one more thing to add to my growing list of things to do. Would it ever end? Of course, it shouldn’t be too bad. I got a free breakfast out of it. Plus, I’d be with Ramos. Only...I wasn’t sure I wanted him to pick me up. What would my neighbors think?

My phone rang again, and this time it was Bates. He tersely rattled off the names and cell phone numbers of the two cops and disconnected. Hmm...maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if something happened to him. Not like getting beat up...but if he got transferred somewhere else? I wouldn’t feel too bad about making that happen. If I could be sure Uncle Joey would agree with me, I might suggest it.

I shook my head and moaned. How could I even think about doing something like that? I’d just have to get over it and not let him get to me. That’s what I told my kids to do when they were in situations like this. It was the way life was, and I couldn’t go around getting rid of people, just because I didn’t like them.

Feeling fortified, I glanced at the numbers. Might as well get it over with and call. But what was I going to say? Besides the truth, what possible reason could I give them? I had no idea, but I wasn’t about to let that stop me. I licked my lips and punched in the numbers, holding my breath until he picked up.

“Officer Bellini? This is Shelby Nichols. I’m a consultant with the police department?”

“Yeah?” he said sharply.

“I’m working on a case for the chief, and he gave me your number. Said you could help. Can I meet with you at the precinct? It’ll only take a few minutes.”

I heard him sigh. “Fine. I can be there in half an hour.” He disconnected before I could say another word. Dang! It would take me twenty minutes to get there myself. I rushed out the door, deciding to call the other cop after I talked to this guy. With any luck, he’d be the one and I wouldn’t have to make the second call.

I got to the police station with five minutes to spare and hurried inside. Since I had no idea where to meet with him, I wandered into the detective’s office space and waited near the chief’s door. Lucky for me, Bates was gone.

I noticed Bellini as soon as he came in, and he wasn’t alone. His partner spotted me first and motioned Bellini toward me. He was thinking that this was the second time today Bellini had been summoned and wondered what was going on. Bellini was thinking the same thing.

He closed the distance between us, and I extended my hand with a smile. “Thank you for coming. I really appreciate it.”

Bellini shrugged. “What’s going on?”

“Let’s go in here and I’ll explain.” I ushered him into the special room where friends and relatives of homicide cases were questioned. He sat on the couch, and I took the chair across from him. He had hoped he’d never have to meet me face to face, and there I was sitting right in front of him. Sweat popped out on his brow. If the chief had asked me to talk to him, did that mean he’d messed up somehow? He’d been so careful. He couldn’t think of anything he’d done that could possibly give him away, so what was going on?

Whoa! This guy was hiding a big fat secret of some kind. I’d better find out what it was. “I guess you’ve heard of me...that I have premonitions?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged again, trying to show that he didn’t care. “So?”

“Well...sometimes I get impressions, and I thought you might be able to help.” He nodded, but his mind was guarded, waiting to hear what I wanted.

Crap! That wasn’t helping, so I plunged ahead. “It’s about the missing girl, Chloe Peterson. Do you know anything that could help us find her? For some reason, one of my premonitions includes you...or someone who looks like you.”

He sat back, confused. Maybe this wasn’t what he thought at all. “Um...okay.” He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and thought about the case. “I know two of the three men were known drug dealers. The third was just a kid. If the girl saw something she shouldn’t have, I think she’d be dead too. But that would mean another person was there, and all the evidence points to the three guys killing each other.” His gaze caught mine. “Bates was asking me the same thing. So what do you know that you aren’t telling the rest of us? Was someone else involved?”

He was so close to the truth that my breath caught. He noticed my reaction and knew he was right. Since it wouldn’t do me any good to lie, I shrugged. “Yeah, that’s what we think.”

“And I’m here because...” he prompted. He was thinking,
you think I’m involved, or at least someone who looks like me.

“Um...well...I’m hoping you might know something about it.”

Relaxing, he sat back, relieved I didn’t know about him. “I wish I did. With all the focus on finding the missing girl, I think we’re missing something. We should be looking at the two drug dealers and who they worked for. It might lead us somewhere, especially if you think there was another person involved. But regardless of your premonitions...it’s not me.” He shook his head in perplexity. “I don’t get it. Why did you think it was me?”

He was telling me the truth, and I had to give him something. “I don’t know for sure. It’s clearly not you, so I must have gotten it wrong.” Oh boy...Bates would have a heyday if he ever found out I said that.

Bellini nodded and stood to leave, thinking that hadn’t been so bad after all. He was also thanking his lucky stars that his secret was safe, but he might have to talk with Manetto. Maybe I was getting premonitions about him because he worked for Manetto, and it was messing things up. So far, he’d managed to stay away from me, but now that wasn’t possible. Even though he knew I worked for Manetto, the last thing he needed was for me to know that he worked for him too.

Bellini left the office, casting a quick glance over his shoulder at me. I managed to close my mouth into a smile and give him a little wave. It must have been a sick-looking smile though, since he wondered if I was feeling all right, but he chalked it up to the fact that I had admitted I was wrong about something. That thought cheered him up, since it was kind of legendary that I was never wrong. It made me seem more normal, and he couldn’t wait to tell his partner.