SPIRIT OF CONSEQUENCE (A Spirit Walking Mystery Book 1) (30 page)

Chapter 30

“What’s worse?” I asked.

Dodge held up his hand. “What did you find?”

“You were right about the tire. In fact, both back tires were sliced through to the rim. I found this too.” Then he held up a stack of burned wires.

Dodge went over to him and inspected them. “Is this what I think it is?”

“Yep, it’s a small but very effective incendiary device.”

Dodge nodded, his face grim. “I thought the fire was a little too convenient.”

“Yeah, the car would have definitely been smashed, but it wouldn’t have exploded without this little jewel.”

I held up my hands. “Wait a minute, explain this to me.”

“You drove a Jaguar sports car. They started putting the engines in the back in 2030. It changed the weight distribution of the car so it could go faster and have less of a tendency to slide on the curves.”

“Okay, I know that because the trunk is in the front. What does that have to do with the fire?”

Dodge held up his hand and motioned it downward. “Your car went over the cliff, traveled down the embankment, and then crashed, head first, into the ravine.”

“Okay.”

“The engine’s in the back. It should not have exploded.”

Dexter held up the wires. “It had help.”

“Okay, so if the crash didn’t kill me, then the explosion would have.”

“Yes,” Dodge and Dexter said in unison.

“Lucky I didn’t have my seatbelt on, wasn’t it?” I suggested, a hint of playfulness in my voice.

Dexter frowned, Dodge smiled. I shrugged.

“Can we trace that pile of wires?” Dodge asked.

“No, they’re toast,” Dexter told him.

“What about the rest of the device?”

“It blew into a million pieces, but we might find something back at the accident site.”

“Okay.” Dodge turned to me. “Are you up for another trip?”

“Sure.” I swung my legs over the side of the bed. When I tried to stand, they slid out from underneath me and I fell to the floor.

Dodge ran over. “Are you okay?”

“I guess not. Maybe you better go without me.”

“No. I’m not leaving you here alone.”

Dexter stepped forward. “I’ll stay with her. You go check out the accident site.”

Dodge put his arms under mine and helped me get back into bed. Then he turned to Dexter and said, “Okay, I’ll go. When I’m finished, I’ll come back and you can check it out.”

“Two pairs of eyes are better than one.” Dexter nodded.

Dodge leaned over and kissed me. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Dexter will keep you safe. Don’t let anyone else in this room unless Dexter is with you. If he has to leave for any reason,” he took a small gun from a holster attached to his ankle and handed it to me, “keep this out and use it, Samantha.”

Okay, this was a little overkill and I certainly didn’t need a gun to protect me in my uncle’s home. I started to protest but the look in Dodge’s eyes was pure fear. I took the gun and put it in the drawer of the bedside table.

“Remember, if he leaves, take that gun out, and keep it handy.”

“I’m in good hands, Dodge.” I smiled at Dexter.

Dexter handed the pile of burnt wires to Dodge. I heard Dodge whisper to Dexter, “Not again, Dexter. I’m not losing someone I love again!” Then he left.

Dexter sat down on the chair next to my bed.

No one spoke for a long time.

He finally broke the silence. “Did Dodge ever tell you how his wife died?”

“It’s hard to remember what he said exactly, and what you’ve said when you couldn’t see me, but I know she was killed. Both you and Dodge were there when she was shot. You went after the shooter and Dodge stayed with Cynthia. She died in his arms.”

Dexter nodded. “I was the one who introduced them.”

“You were?”

“Yeah, Dodge and I had been partners for five years and we were celebrating my birthday at a pub around the corner from the station. Cynthia came in, ranting and raving. She was so mad.”

“Why?”

“She’d set up this surprise birthday party for me and I didn’t go.” He laughed. “She thought surprises were fun, I didn’t. She came into the bar and yelled at me.”

“That must have been quite a sight.”

“It was.” He smiled, obviously remembering his sister and the day with pleasure. “When I finally got her calmed down, she pointed to the door and told me to go home and say hello to all the people she’d invited to my party.”

“Did you?”

“Oh yeah, there was no arguing with Cynthia when she was mad.”

“Did she go with you?”

“No, she stayed and had drinks with Dodge. I think she did it to make me mad.”

“Were you?”

“Yes. I deliberately didn’t introduce her to Dodge. I didn’t want her dating a cop. There’s so much baggage that goes along with it. The long hours of being alone and wondering every time the phone rings if it’s the station calling to tell you something bad happened.”

“I can understand you not wanting her to get mixed up with a cop.”

“She didn’t listen to me. I saw it that day in the pub. They looked at each other and that was it. Later that night, when she came home, I was the one ranting and raving. I gave her a million reasons why she shouldn’t see Dodge again.”

“It didn’t help.”

“No, they were both so stubborn.” He shook his head. “I was the best man at their wedding and was going to be the godfather of their first child.”

I really didn’t want to hear about how much Dodge loved his wife, but it seemed that Dexter needed to tell me. I let him go on.

“For three years they were very happy and we did everything together. We were like the Three Musketeers.”

“What happened?”

Dexter swallowed. “Dodge and I worked a homicide where this entire family was killed. I’m talking the mom, dad, and three kids. The guy’s business had previously closed, so at first we thought it might have been a murder-suicide. The scene was too clean, not a scrap of forensic evidence could be found at the place. We worked day and night and finally, one night, caught a break on the case. A neighbor in the next block had a video camera installed to catch some kids who were messing with his front yard. When we watched the tape, we saw a car that didn’t belong in that neighborhood. We tracked the car and went to arrest the guy.”

Dexter was silent.

“What happened?”

“All hell broke loose. When we knocked on the door, the guy started shooting. One of the patrolmen with us was shot. We backed away from the house and waited for SWAT to show up. In the meantime, we found out he had his wife and son in the house with him. The hostage negotiator was called and we sat around and waited.”

“Did you get him?”

“No.” Dexter shook his head. “He shot his wife and kid, then left through a tunnel he’d dug. It went under his house and into a building he kept in the back. We’d already cleared the building earlier, so there was no reason to check it again. While we tried to get him on the phone, his wife and kid lay on the floor dying, and he got away.”

“When SWAT finally took the house, it exploded. Three of our guys were killed.”

“Did his wife and kid make it?” I asked.

“No, by the time the fire department put out the fire, the kid was dead, and the wife died on the way to the hospital. Even though he’d been the one who shot them and set the explosive – he blamed me and Dodge.”

“Is he the one that shot Cynthia?”

“Yes.” Dexter nodded. “The next day after he murdered his wife and kids, the station received a note addressed to Dodge and me.”

“What did it say?”

Dexter closed his eyes, then said, “’Everything is connected and eventually, every action has a consequence.’”

He was silent for another long time. Then he opened his eyes and continued, “We knew right away Cynthia had to be the target. She was the one link between the two of us. Cynthia refused police protection. She said with her two strong men by her side, she didn’t need any. We both pleaded with her, but she still refused.”

“Did he come after her right away?”

“No. For the first two weeks, either Dodge or I were with her at all times. She couldn’t go to work or even the store without one of us being her escort.” He glanced at the table where I had put the gun. “She refused to carry a gun, too. Dodge tried to get her to take it. He told her he’d teach her how to shoot it, but she wouldn’t have any of it.”

“I’m not a big fan of guns either but I do know how to use one.”

Dexter nodded. “Good.”

“What happened after the weeks went by?”

“Nothing, and that’s the problem. If it had happened right away, I think we’d have been ready. A month went by and we stopped going with her to work and then the store. Everything returned to normal.”

“Were you still looking for the killer?”

“Oh yeah, every chance we got. The chief had pulled us off the case after three weeks. It was cold. I knew he was right, but Dodge and I were mad and kept working the case during our days off.”

It was time to get to the end of this story. “What happened the night she was killed?”

“The three of us went out to celebrate.”

Dexter was silent.

“Cynthia was finally pregnant, wasn’t she?”

Dexter stared at me. “Dodge doesn’t even know that’s why we went out to celebrate that night. Cynthia told me earlier in the day and we were going to surprise Dodge. I never told him. It would have just hurt him more, knowing about the baby. How’d you know?”

“I know you two well enough to know that you wouldn’t have let your guard down for something like a birthday or anniversary. It had to be something very important, and I know how much Dodge wanted children.”

“He did.” Dexter nodded. “We were on our way to dinner, walking down the street, arm-in-arm, and laughing. Cynthia had a great laugh.” Then his face grew somber and he continued, “Her body jerked forward and we saw blood running down her chest. I took off in the direction the shot had come from and left Dodge holding Cynthia. It was the chicken-shit thing to do. I should have stayed with her but I couldn’t watch her die.”

“She was your sister.”

“She was his wife and the mother of his child.”

I nodded. “Did you ever catch the guy?”

“No, and we tried. God, how we tried. Everyone in the entire precinct worked round the clock for weeks, but he just disappeared.”

“Why’d you tell me this story, Dexter?”

No answer.

“Dexter?”

He turned to face me. “Dodge is my partner and best friend. No, he’s more than that, he’s my brother. Loosing Cynthia almost killed him. You saved him. He looks at you the way he used to look at Cynthia. He loves you. He won’t survive if he loses you too.”

“I have no intention of letting anyone do that to him or hurt me. What should I do, Dexter? Should I bring in my own security people? Get a bigger bodyguard than Carl?”

“Yes.”

“But for how long? A week, a month, forever?”

“Yes.”

“No. I’m not going to live like that.”

“Are you willing to bet your life on it?”

“No, but I am willing to rush it a bit.”

“What do you mean?” Dexter asked.

“If Dodge is right, all of this is probably about my money, right?”

“That’s what we think.”

“Okay, then let’s throw a party to celebrate me taking over my money. I’ll tell everyone that at the end of the party, I’m going to sign the papers that transfer everything to me. We’ll invite everyone that was at my last two parties. If someone tampered with my car, it had to be during one of them because the night before, I’d run out of gas and had to have a tow truck come and get it. If there had been something wrong with the tires, the tow truck driver would have seen it. Uncle George’s mechanic checked the engine when I got back to make sure I didn’t ruin it by running out of gas.”

“We’ll set a trap?” Dexter gave me a quizzical look.

“Yes.”

Dexter’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “I like the way you think, Samantha.”

“Dodge won’t.”

“No, he won’t.” His expression changed from playfulness to genuine chagrin.

“Then, let’s not tell him.” I stuck my hand out. Dexter shook it and slowly nodded.

“We’re going to need help setting this up,” I said.

“Okay, who do you trust?”

“I really do trust my Uncle George.”

“Me, too. He’s the one that told Dodge all about your trust fund and how it worked. He could have easily lied and we wouldn’t have known the difference.”

“Did you tell him someone tried to kill me?”