Crossing Danger: A Shelby Nichols Adventure (5 page)

On a nice day like today, he was usually outside shooting hoops. Or at a friend’s house playing soccer. Or shooting pool down here, or playing video games. But he wasn’t doing any of those things, which puzzled me. Maybe he wasn’t even home.

His bedroom door was shut, so I raised my hand to knock...and froze. I heard voices but couldn’t make out what they were saying. Then I sucked in my breath. I recognized Josh’s voice, but the other was unmistakably female.

With shock and dismay, I twisted the door knob and barged into his room. Josh jumped a little, but it was from surprise, not guilt. The girl flushed and lowered her eyes. They’d been sitting on the edge of his bed, but Josh sprang to his feet when I pushed the door open.

“Mom!” Josh said. “I...uh...”

“Chloe?” I asked. This was the same girl from the photo, only with shorter hair and no braces. Her clothes were rumpled and dirty, and she had dark circles under her eyes with smudges of dirt on her face. With a quick glance at her feet, I noticed one of her shoes was missing.

“Are you okay?”

Her eyes filled with tears, and she nodded, barely keeping it together.

“Everyone’s looking for you. Your parents are frantic. What are you doing here?”

Her lips trembled, and she closed her eyes to gain control over her emotions. Finally calm enough to speak, she answered, “I’m in trouble and I didn’t know who to turn to. I remembered Josh talking about you and that you helped people, so I was hoping you could help me.”

“We should really get you to the police,” I countered. “They’re the ones who can help you.”

“No! I can’t.” Her eyes widened with fear. “You have to help me. I’ll even pay you. I haven’t got much, but I’m sure my dad would pay your fee. Please...Josh said you’d help me.”

Her pleading gaze turned to Josh, and he nodded. “That’s right, mom. You have to help her. I promised her that you would.”

I took a deep breath. “Yeah...okay. But just so you know, I’m already working for your dad to find you, so you don’t have to pay me. How about we give him a call? He’s worried about you.”

“No!” she said. “Not yet. No one can know anything about where I am, okay? Promise me you won’t tell him.” She was frightened for her life and scared to death. What the heck had happened to her? 

“All right, I promise, but you have to tell me what’s going on.”

She swallowed and nodded, but the trauma of her experience was so real she didn’t know where to start, and her thoughts were muddled and erratic. With the way she was feeling, I was surprised she’d made it this far.

“How about we go upstairs and you can tell me what’s going on while you eat something...you look like you’re starving.” I figured Chloe hadn’t eaten since it had happened, and I knew Josh was always hungry.

“Okay,” Chloe said. She let out a breath and, with it, the tension seemed to drain out of her.

Josh ushered her out the door, and I followed them up to the kitchen. “Would you both like a PB & J?” I asked. At her listless nod, I turned to Josh. “Why don’t you get her something to drink? Oh...and get me a diet soda while you’re at it.”

“Sure,” he said.

Doing something so normal calmed Chloe down, and once I got the sandwiches and drinks in front of her, she was ready to eat. I cleaned up the counter while they ate so Chloe could have some space before our talk. Just having her here and safe did me a world of good, but it also came with pangs of guilt that her parents had no idea she was okay.

As they finished up, I sat down at the table. “So, tell me what’s going on and why you’re so scared.”

Chloe picked up her napkin and began to shred it. “I did something really stupid...and...now, I think my friend is dead.” Big tears gathered in her eyes, and from the remorse flowing through her, I was afraid she would fall apart before she could tell me much of anything.

“You’re doing fine,” I prodded. “And you’re safe now. What happened?”

“This boy I met picked me up after school yesterday and I guess he was showing off or something because he took me to this house where his friends live. He said it was a secret place and I could go there anytime I wanted to run away.” She stopped, then let out a breath and continued. “My mom and I had lots of fights, so he knew I wasn’t happy at home.”

“Sure,” I nodded. “That’s understandable.”

“Well...these two guys were already there when we got there, and they weren’t happy to see us.” She was thinking about the gobs of cash sitting on the table and nearly gagged. “Liam...my friend...tried to act like it was no big deal, but I knew he was nervous. He made a big show of taking me to the back rooms, then shut the bedroom door, saying stuff like we needed our privacy...you know...for the guys’ benefit, but his hands were shaking.

“Once the door shut, he started to swear and run his hands through his hair. He said stuff like ‘we shouldn’t have come here’ and ‘this is bad’ so I was getting totally freaked out. He tried to open the windows to sneak out, but they were nailed shut.”

She squeezed her eyes closed, and huge tears ran down her face. I grabbed the box of tissues from the counter and set them next to her. After blowing her nose, she continued. “We could hear them arguing, so Liam opened the door a crack. They were talking about us. They were saying we’d seen too much and they had to clear out. One of them said they needed to take us somewhere and kill us so we wouldn’t talk. The other one argued that he didn’t want to shoot us, but in the end he agreed that we had to die. I was so scared, I didn’t know what to do.”

“I’m sure you were,” I said.

“I never should have gone with him,” she sobbed. “I knew it was wrong...but I went anyway.”

“It’s okay Chloe, you had no idea this would happen. You’re safe now. I won’t let anything bad happen to you. You can trust me.”

Chloe caught my gaze, thinking she hadn’t even gotten to the worst part yet. What would I think then? Could she trust me? At least I wasn’t the police, but what if I insisted she turn herself in? She couldn’t do that. They’d find her and kill her for sure.

“What happened after that?” I asked. “You need to tell me everything so I can help you.”

She lowered her gaze and licked her lips, thinking that if she didn’t trust me, who could she trust? Not her mom...and her dad would just freak out. The police were out of the question. That was the reason she’d come to me in the first place, so she might as well tell me the whole story.

“Liam closed the door and hurried to the closet. He moved some stuff out of the way and pulled out a gun. He said something like he’d shoot them first and they’d be sorry. He loaded the gun and told me to stay there, then opened the door and started shooting.

“I panicked and hid under the bed. I was so scared. I heard gunshots and shouting, then someone stumbled into the room and fell on the floor. It was Liam, and he was staring right at me. He tried to say something, but he was making this awful gurgling noise. Then he just stopped.” She sniffed and wiped her eyes and nose.

“I couldn’t hear anything in the other room, so I didn’t know if he’d killed them or not, but I couldn’t seem to move. I waited as long as I dared, hoping those guys were both dead. Then I heard footsteps in the other room, and I was afraid they were coming to get me. I knew I couldn’t stay there, so I scooted out the other side of the bed and peeked around the door.

“I could see down the hallway to the living room and caught a glimpse of someone else. He was muttering something like...you guys never learn do you? Then he started talking about how he’d just take their stash since they didn’t need it anymore.” Chloe swallowed and closed her eyes. This was the part that could get her killed, and she didn’t know how to continue.

“It’s okay...you can tell me,” I said.

“He...he started coming down the hall, so I hurried back inside and hid under the bed again. I saw his shoes when he came in, and then his fingers when he reached down to check Liam’s pulse. He seemed pretty upset because he started swearing.” Chloe paused, taking another tissue to wipe her face.

“He pulled out his phone and started talking to someone. He said that the three idiots killed each other, but he’d take the cash and drugs. Then he said he’d do a thorough check of the house to make sure nothing could get traced back to them.”

Her wide-eyed gaze caught mine. “I knew I had to get out of there before he found me, but I was so scared. After he left the room, I got out from under the bed and watched for a chance to leave. I saw him in the living room, putting all the cash into a bag and...that’s when I saw it.” Her face crumpled.

“What? What did you see?”

“A badge...a police badge attached to his belt along with a gun. He was a cop!”

“Good grief! No wonder you didn’t go to the police. How did you get out?”

“When his back was turned, I slipped into the other bedroom. There was a window in there that wasn’t nailed shut, so I pushed it open and popped out the screen. I thought I could hear him coming, so I got out of there as fast as I could.

“I remembered the train station nearby and ran that way. I made it to the concrete barrier and saw him running toward me. I heard the train coming, but I knew if I didn’t get to the other side he’d catch me, so I hopped over the barrier and ran across the tracks. My shoe even got stuck, but I pulled my foot out of the shoe and made it across. With the train between us, he couldn’t follow, so I ran hard to the station and jumped onto the train as it pulled up.”

“You lost him,” Josh said, impressed that, for being in such a bad spot, she’d managed to escape.

“Yeah,” she agreed, turning her grateful gaze to Josh. He’d been so understanding and sweet. She’d always thought he was cute, but now she realized how tall he’d grown...and his eyelashes were so long...

“Where did you go?” I asked.

She pulled her attention back to me and blushed. “I...uh...rode the trains for a while, until I figured out which one would bring me closer to home. By then it was late, and I didn’t know where to go. Since I’d left my backpack, I was afraid he’d find out where I lived and watch for me, so I ended up at the library.

“There’s a place in the top of that old building, like an attic, that’s kind of a lounge with a couch and chairs, so I hid there until everyone left. That’s where I spent the night. I had all night to figure out what to do. That’s when I remembered that you were a P.I. so I came here after I snuck out of the library and waited on your deck. That’s where Josh found me after school.”

Josh was thinking she was sound asleep and nearly had a heart attack when he woke her up. Now he knew why. He glanced at me. “What are we going to do?”

“Um...well,” I answered. “I think I need to call my friend, Detective Harris. I know we can trust him, and he’ll figure out a safe place for Chloe until we get this figured out.”

Chloe’s eyes widened, and her gaze jerked to mine. “What? Are you sure?”

“Yes. It’s the only way to find this cop you’re worried about. Besides, your parents need to know you’re okay. I’ll talk to him first. Then we’ll go from there.”

Her shoulders slumped, and she nodded. “Okay.”

“How about I get you some clothes, and you can take a shower while I’m gone. Savannah’s close to your size, and I’m sure she’s got some sweats you could borrow. What do you say?”

“As long as she won’t tell anyone,” Chloe answered. She was thinking a shower sounded wonderful and, now that I’d figured out what to do, she was more than ready to let someone take care of her.

“Come on...Savannah’s room is upstairs.”

I introduced Chloe to Savannah, only telling her that Chloe was in trouble and needed our help. Savannah willingly lent Chloe some of her clothes. Once Chloe was in the shower, I told Savannah the whole story, and how witnessing her friend’s death and barely escaping with her life had brought her to us.

“Since she left her backpack there, she’s afraid this cop is looking for her. That’s why she didn’t go home or tell anyone,” I concluded.

“That’s terrible,” Savannah said. “What are we going to do?”

“I’m going to talk to Dimples,” I said. “But we have to keep her a secret until I do.”

“Yeah...I get that.” She felt bad for Chloe but was glad I could help her. Maybe the fact that I was a P.I. wasn’t so bad after all...as long as no one tried to kill me again. She still had nightmares about that substitute teacher.

“Oh...honey...uh...thanks, I’m sure you do.” I hoped my response made sense since I had basically answered her thoughts instead of what she’d said. A pang of guilt washed over me, and I gave her a big squeeze. “I’ll head down to the police station. Maybe you guys could watch a movie or something until I get back.”

“Yeah, sure. We’ll take care of her.”

I smiled and hurried downstairs, glad Savannah wanted to be so helpful. Josh had gone down to his room but hurried up when I called to him. From his thoughts, I knew he’d been straightening his room and the basement for Chloe, since he didn’t want her to think he was a slob. Well...that was interesting.

“I’m headed to the police station.”

“Okay...I’ll make sure Chloe’s safe.”

“Thanks, Josh.”

Chapter 4

I drove to the police station, knowing my kids would do everything they could to help Chloe feel at home. It was a comforting thought, and I was grateful I could trust them. From Chloe’s thoughts, I’d gathered a sketchy impression of the cop...or at least the guy she thought was a cop. But he wasn’t anyone I’d ever seen before. Could he be from another precinct?

One thing I knew for sure: Chloe’s parents needed to know as soon as possible that she was all right, and this was the best way to do that. I entered the police station and made my way to Dimples’ desk. I couldn’t see him right away, and my heart sank. Why hadn’t I called first?

Bates had no trouble spotting me, and I cringed under the barrage of mean thoughts directed my way. It made me mad enough that I walked right over to confront him. “Why do you hate me so much?”

“Huh?” His eyes shifted back and forth, taking in the curious glances sent our way. “Would you knock it off? I don’t hate you. Okay?” His thoughts of
“geeze you crazy woman…get a grip”
contradicted his words. “What are you doing here? Did you find out something about Chloe Peterson?”

“I’m...I’m looking for Dimp...uh...Detective Harris. Is he around?”

His eyes narrowed. He knew I had something. “If you know anything about Chloe, you need to tell me.”

“Yeah...right.” I turned my back on him and sauntered to Dimples’ desk, knowing I never should have talked to him in the first place. He was a hopeless case, and I needed to resign myself to the fact that he would never change.

I sat down and called Dimples’ cell number, satisfied to see the pained look on Bates’ face. He knew he could be nicer to me but, for the life of him, he didn’t think he’d ever said anything mean to my face. So why did I act like he had?

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Shelby. I’m sitting here at your desk. Where are you?”

“Oh...I’m just downstairs. I’ll be right up.”

“No...wait,” I said, needing to talk where Bates couldn’t hear. “I’ll come to you. Just tell me where you are.”

He chuckled. “Okay...but you won’t like it. I’m in the dead files room. You still want to come?”

Goosebumps popped up all over my arms. Damn! I hated that room. Too bad that was probably the safest place to tell him about Chloe. “Yeah...sure. I’m on my way.”

As nonchalantly as possible, I walked into the hallway. Bates wondered where I was going and decided to follow me. I caught his gaze and shook my head slowly back and forth, then hurried down the stairs. It freaked him out a little, but I wasn’t sorry. If he thought I was crazy, then so be it.

The dead files room was at the end of the hall, and trepidation caught in my throat. Drawing a deep breath, I pushed through my fears and opened the door. The light was on, and Dimples stood in front of a filing cabinet.

“Hey,” he said, turning to greet me. “I’m just about done.”

I nodded as a cold chill settled around me like a shower of ice water. Hunching my shoulders, I rubbed my arms. “Why is it always so cold in here?”

“Uh...it’s in the basement?” Dimples answered. He sent me an apologetic smile. “We don’t have to talk here. Once I’m through putting these away, I can meet you someplace else.”

“No, no, it’s fine.”

“Okay.” He turned back to his files and rubbed his chin. “You know...you were instrumental in solving four of these cases. Have you ever considered helping with some of these others? I’ve got one that’s just...” He sighed. “It’s this one right here. Filing it away down here just makes me feel like a failure...you know?”

His tone softened my heart. “What is it?”

“About a year ago, this guy was found dead in an underpass of the freeway. It’s close to the soup kitchen and the park where a lot of homeless people hang out. His wallet, jacket and shoes were gone. From the forensics report, he was shot in the chest at close range.” Dimples brought the folder to me and opened it to reveal a picture of a handsome, smiling man.

As I stared at the photo, the dawning realization that I knew him nearly knocked me over. His hair was shorter, and his face more lean, but his eyes were the same. “Oh my gosh! That’s Tom Souvall. I went to school with him. We graduated the same year!”

“No kidding?”

“Yeah. I didn’t know he’d died. This is awful.” I could hardly believe it. I’d had a huge crush on him, and we’d dated for a while, but after high school we lost touch. He even took me to prom, and I’d always had a soft spot in my heart for him. “So you never caught the person who did this?”

“No. All our leads dried up. We finally came to the conclusion that it was a random act of violence, probably by a homeless drug-user who got close enough to kill him for some quick cash.”

“But what was he doing in that part of town?”

“He went down there occasionally to help at the homeless shelter. He liked to bring food and help serve people. His wife said his older brother was homeless and died from a drug overdose, so that was the reason Tom wanted to help where he could.”

“That’s just so sad,” I said.

“Yeah. He has two kids. I was the one who had to tell his family. I’ll never forget how devastated they were. I promised them that I’d find the person responsible...” He let out a huge sigh. “But I didn’t. I feel like I let them down.”

“I’m sorry. If you want...I’ll take a look, but don’t hold your breath.”

His eyes lost that touch of sadness, and his face brightened. “Thanks Shelby. I really appreciate it.”

“Sure,” I said, tucking the folder into my purse.

“Now...what was it you needed to talk to me about?”

“Oh...yeah. Um...just a sec.” I tiptoed to the door and yanked it open just to make sure Bates wasn’t standing there. He wasn’t...and it kind of disappointed me, but I just shrugged and headed back to Dimples. He was wondering what the heck I was doing. “It’s about Chloe. I know where she is.”

“You do? Is she okay?”

“Yes, but there’s a slight problem.” I told him everything, ending with the fact that she was now at my house, and a cop was probably after her.

“Oh man, seriously? Did she give you a description of the cop?”

“Yes. But he didn’t look familiar to me...I mean...he didn’t sound like anyone I’ve met here, but I was thinking that if you had pictures of all your cops somewhere, like on a roster, I could take a look. Maybe one of them would match?”

Dimples’ brows drew together in confusion. I was talking like I’d seen the guy. That didn’t make any sense, unless I was lying and I had seen him. But that didn’t make any sense either.

“Um...or...I guess we could show Chloe the pictures. Anyway...what should we do? Her parents need to know she’s okay. But we don’t want the cop to know where to find her, right? Since he might want to kill her?”

“Yes...of course. We need to keep her safe.” He was thinking that the first thing he needed to do was tell Chief Winder.

“Before we tell everyone she’s been found, we should figure out who the cop is, right?” I asked. “Why don’t you let me take a quick look at the roster while you talk to the chief...just in case I pick up something with my premonitions?”

“Uh...okay...sure,” Dimples agreed, slightly dazed that I knew he was going to talk to the chief.

I followed him upstairs to his desk, passing Bates, who outwardly ignored me but was mentally keeping track of my every move.

Dimples sat in front of his computer and pulled up the resource file with the names and photos of every cop in the precinct. “Okay...here you go.”

“Wait. He wasn’t in uniform...shouldn’t that narrow it down?”

“No...everyone in the photos has on a uniform whether they wear them to work or not.”

“Oh...okay.”

He vacated the seat, and I quickly sat down to begin the process. Scrolling through the photos and remembering Chloe’s mental images made it hard to decipher who it could be. There were a few that could be a match, but that didn’t make it a sure thing.

By the time I got done, I had two names that were best guesses, and I didn’t think Chloe would fare any better. It could be neither of them, and I hated wrongly accusing an innocent cop. On the other hand, I could just talk to each of them. After a few questions, I’d know who the real bad guy was. That could work...as long as Dimples would go along with it.

He’d been in Chief Winder’s office for a while now, but I didn’t dare interrupt, so I went back through the roster again. Finally, the door opened, and Dimples stuck his head out and motioned me inside. I logged off the computer and grabbed my notes.

“Shelby, have a seat,” Chief Winder said. “We need to notify Chloe’s parents that she’s safe. If they will cooperate, I’d like to keep a tight lid on this so that no one else finds out. Harris and I would like you to help us with that. Right now she’s at your house and no one else knows. Is that correct?”

“Well...my two kids know. They’re home with her. But they’re the only ones.”

“Okay. This is what we’re going to do,” he said. “Harris will head over to the parents’ house and fill them in. If they’re okay with it, I’d like to know if you’re willing to keep Chloe at your place until a decision is made.

“Given the delicate situation, I don’t want to put her under police protection, so it’s up to her family to keep her safe until we find the cop who may be after her. In the meantime, I want her to look at the roster and see if she can identify the cop.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “I can take the roster home with me to show her.”

“Good.” Chief Winder held out a large binder. “Everyone in the department is in there.”

Taking the heavy binder I said, “Just so you know...he might be watching her house in case she shows up.”

“Yeah,” Dimples agreed. “I’m sure he’d recognize her from the AMBER alert. If we hadn’t found her backpack, we wouldn’t have known she’d even been there. He must have missed it under the bed. That was our lucky break.”

A shiver ran down my spine. That was lucky, but I had a feeling Chloe would have found me anyway. She was one gutsy kid. “I’ll be going then. Let me know what happens.”

I held the heavy binder under my arm and made a quick exit, noting that this time Bates blatantly stared at me. He was thinking that the chief better let him in on what was going on, or he was going to be really mad.

As long as he left me alone, I was okay with that. It took longer than I liked to get home since I got stuck in rush hour traffic. I pulled into the garage and hefted the binder inside the house where I plopped it on the kitchen counter. “I’m home!” I called.

Savannah rushed into the kitchen making little shushing noises. “Mom...she’s asleep.”

“Oh? Where?” I asked.

“On my bed. After her shower, she looked so tired. I told her she could lie down if she wanted, and she fell asleep. Just like that.”

“I’m sure she was exhausted,” I said.

“So what’s going on? What are we going to do?”

“Hey,” Josh said, coming up the stairs. “Yeah...what’s going on?”

“I need to talk to Chloe...”

“I’m here,” Chloe said. At the sound of her voice, we turned toward the stairs and watched her descend. Her face was still pale, but the nap and shower had done her some good and, even better, the fear in her eyes was gone. “What happened?”

I snatched up the binder and set it on the table. “I brought this home for you to look through. Hopefully, you’ll be able to identify the cop you saw at the house. Detective Harris is talking to your parents to decide where you’ll stay until we find him. But you’re more than welcome to stay here if you want.” I explained the details of the plan, while she sat down at the table and opened the binder.

I picked up that Chloe wasn’t sure how comfortable she’d be staying with us, but when Josh smiled at her, she changed her mind. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad with him here. He was really cute, and she wondered how she’d missed that.

I glanced at Josh, and he flushed that I’d caught him staring. “I’m going to go shoot some hoops.”

“Okay,” Chloe said, responding before I could, and sending him a shy smile. Hmm...

She finally turned her attention back to the pictures, and a gnawing fear crept over her that she wouldn’t be able to identify the guy at all. Her glimpses of him at the house were quick and fleeting, and she realized that, besides the general hair color, she wasn’t exactly sure of his features.

“Here’s a pen and paper,” I said, setting them down beside her. “Don’t worry about being absolutely sure about him. Just write down the name and page numbers of anyone that looks close, and I’ll take it from there. Once I interview them, I’ll know who it is.”

She glanced at me, her eyes wide with skepticism. How could I be so sure?

“I have a knack for that sort of thing,” I explained. “That’s why I’m so good at my job.”

“Oh,” she said. “Okay.”

With Chloe occupied, Savannah and I started making dinner. It needed to be something easy, so I threw some potatoes in to bake and got out a couple cans of chili. As the smell of potatoes began to permeate the air, I finally got the call I’d been waiting for.

“Hey. What did they decide?” I asked Dimples.

“I’m here with them now. The plan is that they want Chloe to stay with Holly for now. Since Holly’s family, a visit to her place wouldn’t seem suspicious, and they can see Chloe anytime they want. In the meantime, we’ll keep up the pretense that we’re still looking for her and so will her parents.”