Crossing Danger: A Shelby Nichols Adventure (7 page)

With a sigh, I read through the report. It was basically the same thing that Dimples had already told me. His wallet was taken, but they’d never had any hits on the credit cards, so whoever it was didn’t use them. They figured some homeless people took his jacket and shoes, so that made sense in a sick sort of way. But it still broke my heart. The detectives had done a good job following leads, and my hopes sank. How was I ever supposed to solve this case?

I came to the crime-scene photos and chewed on my bottom lip. Did I really need to look at these? Taking a deep breath, I quickly glanced through them, then closed my eyes and put them away. Seeing his lifeless body propped up against a freeway pillar like that brought tears to my eyes. Maybe I shouldn’t have told Dimples I’d help him. It was just so sad. Of course, I might feel better about it if I found the killer. But what if I couldn’t?

My cell phone rang, startling me. The caller ID said it was Dimples and I froze. Had something happened to Chloe? “Hello?”

“Shelby,” Dimples said, his voice strained. “It’s Billie. She’s been shot.”

“What?”

“I don’t know if she’s going to make it. They just took her into surgery. Can you come to the hospital?”

“Of course. I’ll be right there.”

***

I hurried through the hospital doors and rushed to the waiting room where Dimples sat with his head in his hands. “Drew?” I’d never called him by his real name, but at that moment, it felt right.

“Shelby.” He stood and gathered me into a tight hug. I felt his regret and anguish that he might lose the woman he loved. He hadn’t realized it until this moment, and now he might lose her. What if she didn’t make it and he never got the chance to tell her? Shards of pain hit him in the chest and made it hard to breathe. She’d wormed her way into his heart, and now he couldn’t think about living without her. Why had this happened? He was the one that was supposed to get shot, not her.

I held him tight, hating that this was happening to him. A moment later, he took a deep breath and let it out, then loosened his hold on me. Still holding my arm, he pulled me down into the chair beside him, and then shook his head. Tears pooled in his eyes, but he blinked them away and pursed his lips, working hard to gain control.

“Don’t forget that Billie’s a fighter,” I said, struggling not to cry myself. “We have to believe that she’ll come through this. Don’t give up on her. Okay?” He nodded and inhaled deeply to pull himself together. “Good. Now tell me what happened. Who shot her?”

“I don’t know. I just...I had just finished talking to you and Chloe’s parents. Bates and I were watching the house after...just to see if anyone suspicious was around. Since I was going to be late to her place, I called, but she didn’t pick up. It worried me a little, but I figured she was busy and would call me back when she got a minute.” He shook his head, thinking he should have left right then, and maybe now she wouldn’t be in surgery.

“I left about a half hour later. Bates said he’d keep an eye on things so I could make it up to Billie. When I got to her apartment, the door was ajar and the place was trashed. I found Billie...” He swallowed, thinking of all that blood and how at first he thought she was dead. “She was barely hanging on.”

He leaned forward with his head in his hands, and I patted his back, then put up my shields. His grief and pain were more than I could handle, and I didn’t want to break down in front of him. He needed me to be strong, so I concentrated on that. I could cry about Billie later.

“I think I may know something about it,” I said.

Dimples’ head jerked up. “What? What do you mean?”

“Billie’s been working on the case against the attorney general, Grayson Sharp. She had a thumb-drive with incriminating information that was stolen from her desk in her office. She made a copy and hid it in her apartment. I think that’s what they were after. Maybe she walked in on them and they shot her.”

Dimples eyes hardened. “If Grayson Sharp is behind this...he will not get away with it. I will make sure of that.”

“I’ll help you,” I said, worried that he might take things into his own hands. “But be careful who you talk to about this. You don’t know who’s in his pocket. He’s got a lot of influence.”

“Maybe. But he’s not above the law.”

“That’s right. So we need to figure out how to stop him through the proper channels, and you’re just the person to do it.” I hoped he’d take that to heart and not do anything stupid.

Dimples nodded, but he was thinking how much he’d like to walk into his office and shoot off his kneecaps. After that, his questioning would begin. Then if he didn’t like the answers, he’d keep shooting different body parts until he was satisfied.

“Don’t do anything stupid, okay? Like...shoot him?”

He blinked, pulling away from his bloodthirsty thoughts, and focused on me. “Uh...no...of course not.” But he wondered how I knew what he was thinking. Just like I’d read his mind.

“Good,” I said. “Because you were looking like you had murder in your eyes, and it kind of scared me.”

“You got that from my eyes?” he asked. I nodded, and he let out a breath. Of course I did. What was he thinking? It was the stress. If he knew Billie was going to make it, he wouldn’t feel so helpless and imagine such stupid things.

Now I sighed. I didn’t want to make him feel worse...and yet...I was...and at a time like this. Ugh! Maybe I wasn’t as good at comforting people as I’d hoped. I certainly didn’t want to make him feel bad.

Just then the doctor came into the room and approached us. “Detective Harris?”

“Yes.” Dimples braced for bad news, and I caught my breath.

“Billie made it through surgery and that was huge. She’s not out of the woods yet, but she’s young and strong. Her chances of making it through this are pretty good. We just need to see how she does in the next few hours.”

He went on to describe her injuries and what they’d done, but I barely followed. Dimple’s relief mixed with my own nearly sent me to my knees. Before I knew it, the doctor had left, and Dimples caught me in a hug.

“She’s going to make it,” he said, his breath warm against my neck. He pulled away and smiled, his dimples doing that crazy dance that always cheered me up. “The doctor said I could see her, so I guess I’ll call you in the morning. Tomorrow, we can figure out exactly what happened.”

“Okay,” I agreed.

“Thanks for coming.” He gave my hand a squeeze, then rushed down the hall.

I walked out of the hospital a little lighter than when I walked in, relieved to know that Billie would be okay. Someone had nearly killed her for that stupid thumb-drive, and it made me furious.

If it was that important, I should probably go over there and see if they got it. If they didn’t, I could take it for safe-keeping. It wouldn’t be hard since I knew exactly where it was. The police might still be there processing the crime scene, so I’d be safe, and I knew Billie would want me to get it...if it was still there.

I drove to her apartment before I chickened out. There weren’t any police cars left in the parking lot, and I cursed my luck that I’d missed them. But now that I was there, I might as well go upstairs and take a look. She lived in a third-floor apartment with outside stairs on both ends. It had a nice, open feel with apartments on both sides of the open staircase with plenty of room to walk through to the other side on each floor. I’d be able to see if anyone was around, so it should be all right.

By the time I got to the top of the third floor, I was a little out of breath. No wonder Billie was so skinny. I’d hate lugging groceries up here. Her apartment was at the other end of the floor and, as I got closer to the doorway, I caught sight of the yellow crime scene tape flapping in the breeze. I trudged to her door anyway, since I’d come so far, and tried the knob. Of course it didn’t turn, but it also didn’t look like it was shut tight. With a little push inward, it popped open, and I caught my breath. It’d done it now.

My pulse raced and I glanced both ways before ducking under the tape and stepping inside. I pulled my coat sleeves over my hands so I wouldn’t leave fingerprints and pushed the door shut behind me. Hardly daring to breathe, I stood in the dark and let my eyes adjust.

I’d never been in Billie’s apartment before, but what I’d seen from her thoughts helped me get a picture of where things were supposed to be. This was nothing like that. The place was a wreck. Overturned furniture and broken knickknacks littered the floor. Stuffing spilled out of the couch where it had been ripped apart, and pictures on the wall hung askew.

Remembering my stun flashlight, I pulled it out of my purse and flipped on the light. The mess seemed even worse now that I could see it better. Stepping carefully, I rounded the corner to the hallway and into the second bedroom which she had made into an office.

The computer was gone, and everything on the desk had been swept off onto the floor. I shone the light into the mess and let out my breath. The little box lay on its side, open and empty. Relieved to find it, I picked it up and gently closed the lid. The key was missing, but that didn’t matter. I had a copy of the key that would open the secret compartment inside.

This was the box that had once belonged to Sam Killpack, a P.I. who had been murdered, and a case I knew well since I had been the main suspect. Somehow, Billie had managed to keep it after the murder investigation, and I knew she’d hidden the thumb-drive inside the secret compartment.

I hesitated, then stuffed it into my purse, hoping I hadn’t just made a huge mistake. Leaving it here might be the safest place for it, but I couldn’t take the chance of it getting lost or taken by someone else.

A sense of urgency filled me with the need to get out of there. Since I knew the shooter hadn’t found it, I was a sitting duck if he came back to look again. I hurried to the door and pulled it open a crack, checking the hallway and staircase. Finding the way clear, I ducked under the tape and pulled the door closed, making sure it locked behind me.

I took off down the hall in a rush, but as I started down the stairs, I picked up someone’s thoughts. He was thinking about a woman with blond hair wearing jeans and a black jacket with a large bag over her shoulder. My breath caught. That was me. I glanced toward the parking lot, but it was too dark to see anyone.

He was trying to figure out my identity and what I was doing there. I wasn’t someone he’d seen around. Maybe I had come to check out Billie’s apartment. Had I gone inside? He turned his attention to taking a few snapshots of me with his phone, so I hustled back up the stairs like I’d forgotten something. He swore in his mind that he hadn’t gotten a good shot of my face and decided to follow me.

There was another staircase at the end of the hall, so I hurried toward it and crept down the stairs as fast as I dared while he ran up the stairs on the other side. Once he reached the third floor, I doubled back on the ground floor and ran to my car. I jumped inside and peeled out of there, hoping I’d gotten away before he had a chance to snap a photo of me or my car.

Breathing heavily, I clenched the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned white, and it was sometime later before I could relax my grip enough to peel my fingers off. Who was that guy? Maybe he was working with the police...or he was a P.I. hired to watch her place for some reason...or, worst case scenario, the guy who’d shot her. Either way, it was a good thing he didn’t get my picture.

It was almost midnight when I got home. Instead of going to the hospital with me, Chris had stayed with the kids. Mostly because neither of us wanted them home alone in case a dirty cop showed up at our house looking for Chloe.

Now besides that, I had Billie’s thumb-drive to worry about, and my stomach clenched with dread. The last time I had a thumb-drive that didn’t belong to me hadn’t turned out so well. Even worse, what was I going to tell Chris? He’d be furious that I’d gone to Billie’s in the first place, let alone taken the box. But...it was late. Maybe he’d be asleep in bed. Even if he was half asleep, I could tell him about Billie and wait until tomorrow for the thumb-drive part.

I entered my house and automatically locked the door behind me. The kitchen light was still on, so I flipped it off. As I made my way up the stairs, I crossed my fingers that Chris was asleep and pushed the door open. The lamp beside the bed was on, and Chris sat up as I came in, dashing my hopes.

“Hey,” he said, smiling anxiously. “How’s Billie doing? Is she going to make it?”

“Yes,” I said. “Dimples is with her, and they’re pretty sure she’ll pull through.”

“That’s a relief. So what happened?” he asked.

“Her place was ransacked. Someone was looking for something, and I think she might have surprised them.”

“That’s crazy. What were they looking for?”

“My best guess is that whoever shot her was probably looking for the thumb-drive with the information about the attorney general.”

“The one she got from that secretary?”

“Yeah. I told you someone stole the one from her desk at work, right?” At his nod I continued. “Well she made a copy and hid it in her apartment.”

“Wow. That’s nuts. Do you know if they got it?” he asked.

I hadn’t decided what to tell him about my visit to her apartment. I didn’t want him mad at me, but I also didn’t want to lie to him. He noticed my hesitation and his brows drew together, so I quickly answered.