Chapter Twenty-four
Luke arrived at the address the stranger on the phone had given him and looked in the empty lot behind the residential district. Sure enough, he found who he suspected was the female cousin who’d called Wendi for help.
When he pulled up, he saw the girl take off, and he started in pursuit, calling out words that had her stopping. “Wendi sent me. I’m the guy you messaged with on the phone.”
“You’re a cop.” She spat the words at him in a panic.
“A cop! Christ, sugar, would I be hanging with Wendi if I was?”
“Why didn’t she come herself?”
“I told you in the text. We bought some shit from Joey, and she couldn’t wait to get into it. I was driving. You’re lucky you caught me in time. Now what’s going on?”
“I-I met up with Zed like Wendi said, and he sold me some pills.”
“Okay.”
“Yeah. I promised I’d share with Val, but I first wanted to get payback for getting pepper sprayed last night.” She pointed to her face. “The bitch who did this needs to learn she shouldn’t mess with me. My fucking face burned all day. Warned her I’d go after her mother to get back at her. I made Val, that’s my girl who was blackmailing me, come along before I’d give her a share of the pills.” When Val’s name came out, the girl started shaking. Her eyes grew large with warning, and he stepped back just in time before she lost everything in her stomach.
After hearing her garbled explanation, his adrenalin pumped inside his body like a car engine turned on. Pepper spray! That fit. It was all he could do not to pounce on her and force her to tell him what she’d done. Instead, he headed for his nearby truck to retrieve a bottle of water. Handing it over, he waited… his hard won control back in place.
“What happened, sugar?” On purpose, he kept his voice low and nonthreatening.
“We met up across there,” she pointed to a compound of small row houses on Beecham Lane. We were going to break into the old lady’s condo, and you know, just scare her, but Val wouldn’t go with me unless she had a hit first. So, I gave her enough to keep her happy. But when we broke the glass to get into the back door, Val started acting all weird. She dropped to the ground and began shaking, having convulsions. “I didn’t know what to do. When some old guy came out swinging a bat, I ran.”
“And he found Val. Is that her name?” He thought for a second before asking, “You went back?”
“Yeah, Val Gordon. I never really left, just hid close by, and watched. Val stopped having those - those spasms, and I saw him lean over her and feel for a pulse. When the woman we were after came outside with her phone, he said for her to call 911. But he figured Val was already dead.”
“Christ kid, show me the place this happened.”
She pointed to an area across the field. “I can’t go back. There’ll be cops all over by now. I just need a ride out of here. I thought Wendi might come.”
“Yeah. Well, I’m here now so I’ll drive you home. But first, I’m going to walk past and see what’s happening. You go wait in the truck and keep down.”
Luke pulled up his hood and began sauntering along as if he were just a man out for a stroll. When he came close to where all the action was, he waited in the background of the gathering crowd and was there to see Mel pull up with Honey in the passenger seat.
The woman who’d been talking to one of the many officers, began crying and waving her hands, gesturing for Honey to go to her. “Thank God you’re okay, Honey. I was terrified that maybe those horrible girls had gotten to you also. Bernie scared one of them off with his bat, but this poor girl… Oh, Honey, she’s dead.”
Mel approached, her strident voice loud enough for Luke to make out her words. “What do you mean, she’s dead?” Mel pushed away from the officer trying to hold her back and moved behind Honey. “Is it Tansy?”
The cop next to Honey’s mother broke in. “Who’s Tansy?”
Mel answered before anyone else could. “She’s the one who sent harassing messages saying she was coming to get revenge.”
“Okay, miss. You need to come with me. We have a lot more questions.”
“Hey, I’m not the person they were getting back at. This is Honey Bolder and that woman’s her mom. Honey just got out of the hospital after being attacked. During the struggle, Honey used her pepper spray on one of the assailants. Afterward, the brat swore she’d get revenge on Honey’s mother.”
One of the cops pointed to the body and lifted the edge of the cloth covering her face. “Is this the girl you’re talking about?”
Both Honey and Mel answered at the same time. “No. No, it isn’t.”
As if fearing Tansy would still be close, Honey lifted her face to stare out into the crowd. That’s when her gaze caught Luke’s a second before he could turn away.
Her finger rose as if to point, but he left so he had no idea what she intended.
Christ. Why the fuck had he stuck around? Now he’d be in worse trouble. And with the one woman whose opinion of him meant everything.
***
Driving Tansy, he had to force himself to answer her questions.
“What happened? Is she dead? The cops were there, right? Oh, God. What’s going to happen to me? I can’t go home like this. Wait, they have no idea I was there too. I could say I was with you tonight… you and Wendi. I’d have an alibi. What do you think?”
“Me? I think if your name is Tansy that you’re screwed. Maybe you weren’t paying attention, but they had a camera on the house pointing at the door where you were standing. They know everything.”
“Hold it, where are you taking me?”
“To the motel where Wendi has a room. You can stay there for the night but tomorrow, you’re on your own. Don’t tell them I was anywhere near you cause I’ll swear I dropped Wendi off and left. Which I did. You want an alibi; you talk to her. But my guess is she’s not believable to the cops. Plus, she’s too far gone to really be able to help herself never mind taking you on.”
“Oh, God, I’m in a lot of trouble aren’t I?”
Luke pulled over. “Yep. Listen, a block further that way, there’s a place called the Madrona. My guess is that she’s out cold in room 204 on the second floor.” He handed her his key. “Look, kid, if you were my sister, I’d tell you this. Give yourself up. There’s a good chance they’ll find you because it’s impossible to get along on your own unless you hit the skids. And for a looker like you, it’s just a matter of time before you’re either being pimped out to every vacationing asshole and skid row bum… or the drugs kill you.”
Tansy sat hugging the corner. Her body trembled so much that Luke almost felt sorry for her. Until he remembered Honey’s face. Then he let the anger back in.
His voice harsh, he said. “Now… get the fuck out of my truck.”