Caught Off Guard Page 25

  “But Strong would never have that,” I said, recalling our accident and how Strong liked to use car accidents as a way to cover his crimes.

  Ellie came back in with a small pink pitcher and a clear plastic cup with a spoon inside.

  She said, “Here ya go, hon. We’re gonna start slow with taking in fluids. You keep this down, and then I can bring you some more liquids. Maybe even some chicken broth.” She wagged her brows.

  I grinned and gave her another thumbs-up. She moved around, taking my vitals, checking the machine I was connected to, and she wrote it all down while making small talk with me and Leo. Moments later, she left us to finish our conversation.

  “Strong?” I asked again.

  “He’s been arrested. He was caught trying to fly out of a private airport in Seattle. His flight plan was for Switzerland.” Leo shook his head.

  I pressed a palm to my temple.

  “You okay? Headache?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “Strong scares me.” I wanted to say that I wouldn’t sleep until Strong was dead, that I would always be looking over my shoulder for him whether he was in jail or not. But I didn’t have the energy. I would deal with that problem after I dealt with getting better.

  Leo pushed a lock of hair from my forehead. “He’s a concern, no doubt. Lockett has some thoughts. We can talk about them when you’re discharged.”

  “AJ?”

  Leo smiled. “Lockett thinks the court will clear him of all charges in the next day or two. But if the reaction on social media means anything, the community is already rallying around him.”

  I rolled my eyes. Half that community had turned on him the minute he’d been arrested. “The team?”

  Leo shrugged. “I think there’s a lot that has to happen with ownership. Strong was a control freak, and he hasn’t left anyone in charge. But the general manager is running the show until all that gets dealt with. AJ was announced the starting quarterback.”

  I widened my eyes though I don’t know why I was surprised. AJ was under contract after all. Talk about awkward situations… I would hate to go back into the locker room after everything that’d happened. However, AJ had nothing to be ashamed of.

  “AJ’s cool with it, though he said it’s not the way he wanted to get a starting job. Precious reminded him to enjoy what was in front of him.”

  Leo’s phone chimed, and he pulled it from his pocket and checked the screen. “Your dad’s landed. He should be here in a few hours.”

  I waved a hand. “Tell him to go home and sleep. It’s late.”

  Leo laughed. “It’s six in the morning. Your clock is jacked.”

  I laughed, which came out hoarse and husky. I followed the laugh with a yawn.

  Leo stood and stretched, reaching over his head. “I have to work. I’ll be back this afternoon when I get off duty.”

  I nodded.

  He looked down at me, a smile playing on his lips. “You’re tough, you know that?”

  I nodded again. “I’ve always had to be.”

  “One day, when you’re feeling better, I want to know what all happened in that cabin, okay?”

  I gave him a thumbs-up.

  Fat chance. No way would I tell him everything. He was never going to know I’d been flex-cuffed to an exploding stove. He would lose his mind.

  He bent forward and delivered a light kiss on my forehead. “Will you really tell me everything?” he asked, standing back up.

  I shook my head.

  “Will you tell Hue, and then he can tell me?”

  I chuckled. “I’ll think about it.”

  He nodded once in understanding, squeezed my hand, then left. Ellie came back in and told me to get some more rest.

  But my mind wouldn’t let me sleep. With Austin Strong still alive, the rest of us were still in danger. Strong lived for revenge.

  37

  Thursday

  Lockett, Toby, Precious, Leo, and I sat on my balcony and watched the hustle and bustle of the town. Christmas was right around the corner, and locals were getting in some shopping while supporting small-town businesses.

  AJ was out of town for a game. Simon was back home with Troy, AJ’s brother, since he was back home. Dad was downstairs, putting a breaking story to press.

  Using my unbroken arm, my dominant one, I took a beer from the cooler, popped off the cap, then snuggled back in my chair, pulling the heavy blanket around myself.

  “Tell me again what happened,” I said to Lockett.

  He rubbed a hand down his face. “It’s incredible, right?”

  The group mumbled their agreement.

  Lockett continued, “As the Multnomah County jail report reads, Strong was with the general population. They said they had no reason to believe he was in danger. A fight broke out among the inmates. A few of the correctional officers tried to break it up. A custodian got caught up in the mix, and somehow—no one knows how—Strong was stabbed and killed.”

  “Where did the knife come from?” I asked.

  Lockett shrugged. “I interviewed three people. No one saw the knife. No knife was found at the scene. All we know about the knife is how long the blade was.”

  Precious asked, “And the custodian? Bad luck on his part?”

  Lockett nodded. “He’d recently taken the job. Only his third day at work.”

  “Were you able to interview him?”

  Lockett shook his head. “Can’t find him. He gave his statement, cooperated with the investigation that day, but when he was okay to go home, he never came back. He’s in the wind. Just like that visitor AJ received the day after he was arrested. Can’t find him either.”

  “You think the custodian was there to kill Strong?” I asked.

  Paulie had said people with money have all sorts of options available to them.

  Lockett nodded. “I do. Just don’t know who hired him.”

  Precious said, “A guy like Strong probably has enemies lined up. If he was blackmailing McVay and the baker, there had to be more.”

  I said, “We may never know who all he blackmailed or stalked or whose life was ruined by Strong. For all I know, Roman Castillo could’ve done it. His grudge ran deep.”

  From under the blanket, Lady M cooed. Toby had brought her over the day I came home from the hospital, two days before, and I’d been loving on her ever since. Having her to hold and cuddle was doing me a world of good. And knowing Strong was dead was a giant weight off my shoulders. I was still sweeping my house and car and Dad’s newspaper for bugs because some habits were hard to break. I still woke up in a panic sometimes, covered in sweat, afraid he was trying to break in. But that would all fade with time.

  I confessed to my friends, “I know I shouldn’t say this, but I don’t care who hired that custodian. If he’s the one who took out Strong, I don’t have a problem with him. In fact, I owe him because now I have peace of mind.”

  Toby said, “The enemies of my enemies are my friends.”

  I nodded. I could spend my life trying to guess who might be behind Strong’s murder. But I had better things to do. And those didn’t include telling my friends that I dreamt Carson had come to the hospital or that a part of me thought Carson might’ve been behind the murder. That was simply crazy talk. Carson was dead, and I’d received a head injury during my altercation with Strong.

  Toby continued, “Lots of stuff coming out on the dark web about Strong. I’m gathering what I can and sending it to the prosecutor. Strong may be dead, but his company still has access to people’s homes, whether they have his security system, anti-virus, or his internet service, like he had in McVay’s. It’s not unreasonable to think Strong had other bad actors in those organizations working for him. We need to know who they are and clean up those companies.”

  A jingle from down the street caught my attention. Lark Ogilvy had come outside the coffeehouse, holding a tray with tiny cups on it. She was offering them to passersby, many of whom were declining.

  Leo said, “I
went to the coffee shop yesterday, and she said my aura was yellow. She said a straight black coffee wouldn’t be a good move and kept trying to push some tea on me. Eventually, I got frustrated and left.”

  I looked at Leo, puzzled. “You mean she wouldn’t sell you what you wanted?”

  He shook his head. “She refused to sell me coffee. She said she respected my aura more than I did and she wouldn’t do that to me. She’s nice and all, but that’s not good business.”

  I agreed. “And no one is taking what’s on the tray.”

  Precious said, “I went by earlier. It’s a cranberry-infused coffee with an Irish cream whipped topping.”

  “Did you try it?” Lockett asked.

  Precious shook her head. “Sometimes, you want life to be clean and simple.”

  I held up my beer. “I’ll toast to that.”

  The others held up their drinks too, and we all clanked our bottles against the others. Then we all went back to studying Lark Ogilvy as she attempted to peddle her unique coffee mixes.

  As people crossed her path, Lark appeared to be forcing the mini cups on them. The giftees showed their gratitude by dumping the cups in the trash right in front of her.

  Poor Lark. But as bad as I felt for our newest resident, I wasn’t about to go down and get any coffee.

  Paulie Bea came out of the yoga studio and headed our way. Rocket wasn’t with him. He was dressed the same: sweats, hoody, puffy jacket, and white high-top tennis shoes.

  Lark jumped in front of him and shoved the tray in his face.

  I half expected Paulie to flip the tray back at her, but he voluntarily took a cup. This isn’t going to go well. Unless something’s wrong with Paulie. That might have been the case as he was standing there talking to Lark and about to take a sip.

  They exchanged a few more words, and Paulie walked away, taking a sip as he headed toward us. He then stopped and spat the drink on the ground. He tossed the cup into the garbage and said something to Lark. Based on her shocked expression, it probably wasn’t very nice. He strode off.

  “I wonder what he said,” Toby said.

  Lockett said, “Maybe it wasn’t the coffee. Maybe she called him on his aura.”

  “Doubtful,” I said.

  Precious said, “Or his clothes.”

  We chuckled. But Lark drew our attention again by screaming at Paulie’s back, “It does not taste like swill! It tastes like the holidays!”

  Paulie didn’t respond. Instead, he crossed the street to my apartment and came pounding up the stairs.

  Lark dumped the remaining cups in the trash and stormed into her coffee shop.

  Paulie stood at the top of the stairs and met my gaze. “Had to see you for myself. Good to see you’re alive. You don’t look so bad,” he said.

  I nodded. “Thanks. It’s good to be alive.”

  “You’re a tough nut to break.” He reached into a pocket and pulled out a laminated rectangle the size of a credit card. He flicked it to me. “I made you this.”

  The card landed on my knee, and I picked it up, turning it over to the front. He’d given me a fake driver’s license.

  I read the information. “Tamantha Blue?” I showed the card to Leo.

  He chuckled.

  “Is this in case I need to go on the run?”

  Paulie gave a one-shoulder shrug. “Yeah. I made the name similar as I figured it might be hard to answer to something unfamiliar.”

  Sound logic, I suppose. “Did you color my hair in with a brown marker?”

  Paulie nodded.

  Toby said, “Dude, they have programs that can do these sorts of things. Coloring hair, change eye color… Using a marker is so 1950s.”

  Paulie glared at Toby. “Using those programs ain’t my thing. And I figured Sam might be in a hurry to get outta town, but now with Strong dead, the urgency is gone.” He glanced at me. “Keep it for backup.”

  I smiled. Paulie had been worried about me.

  “Thanks,” I said. “I will. And thanks for all your help. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  Paulie gave me a thumbs-up. “Okay, I’m off to the range. See you around.”

  We waved goodbye.

  He paused at the top of the stairs. “Also, Sam, your client Renee Foote with the possible philandering fiancé? Turns out your gut was right. He’s a good guy. Also, don’t drink any of that coffee from the flittering bird down there. Nasty stuff. Plain nasty.”

  Lockett coughed into his hand as Leo ducked his head. Even though we agreed, we couldn’t help feeling bad for Lark.

  “Noted,” I said.

  Moments after Paulie was gone, Lark came out of the coffee shop. She locked the door, closing up.

  “Calling it a day?” Lockett asked.

  She looked up at us and came down the sidewalk to be closer. She pointed at Leo and his beer. “I see you heeded my warning and avoided black coffee. That’s good.”

  He smiled and nodded.

  She put her hands on her hips. “You had black coffee, didn’t you?” He nodded again.

  She glared at all of us, making a point to go down the line and make eye contact with everyone. “You all are giving off bad juju. It’s so bad I was being affected down here.”

  No one corrected her by pointing out that maybe the coffee had been the bad juju.

  Hitching a thumb in Leo’s direction, I asked, “Is his aura still yellow and sunny?”

  She lifted her chin a notch. “Yes, but it’s getting darker by the minute. And it’s because of you. You have black dots in your aura.”

  “Black dots?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, that means trouble follows you everywhere.”

  The others laughed.

  I said, “Don’t I know it,” and held up my broken arm, the cast painted blue and green for the Seahawks—my dad was so proud. “But trouble can come find me. I’m waiting. And trouble should know I fight back.”

  Lark shook her head. “You’re crazy. You’re all crazy.” She threw her arms in the air. “This town is crazy, and this coffee shop is jinxed.”

  I said, “It’s got a black aura.”

  Precious said, “With that attitude, the coffee shop will never do well. You need to visualize changing that aura. And what will happen once you do.”

  Lark shot us daggers. “I hate this town. I’m out.” She swiveled on her heel and marched toward the shop. At the door, she reached up and pulled the shop sign off the wall.

  “I hate this town!” she screamed and tossed the sign next to the garbage before marching away.

  Toby said, “I think her aura is getting darker by the minute.”

  Precious said, “That’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. With an attitude like that, she’s destined to fail. She needs Sam’s attitude. She looks trouble in the face and challenges it to up its game.”

  “Darn right,” Lockett said.

  Toby and Precious clanked their beers. I stroked Lady M’s head and smiled.

  Leo groaned. “Maybe she could ask trouble to back down its game.”

  I said, “I think I’m going to need a bigger secret pocket to pin to the inside of my pants.”

  Leo ducked his head and rubbed at a temple. “I can’t imagine what else you might need besides handcuff keys and a knife.”

  I took his hand and squeezed it. “Me neither, but I think I’m about to find out. I got one of those feelings in my gut again.”

  Meet Kristi Rose

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