Chapter 9 Blake #2
“I’m hanging up now.”
“Oh, hey, Cap!” Parker said quickly. “We have a little news to share of our own.”
I signaled for him to stop, but he just kept going.
“Blake’s gonna have a baby!”
“Congrats,” he laughed. “Not that I expected anything else, the way you two were going at it.”
“Excuse me, but I’m not the one who has twelve kids.”
“It’s not that many. It’s…”
I could practically see him counting in his head, which was just freaking hilarious.
“You know, it doesn’t matter how many I have.”
“Right,” Parker laughed.
“Christ, what is it now?” he muttered. “I gotta go. Sinner’s playing with knives.”
Laughing, Parker hung up the phone. “You know, maybe we should name our kid after one of them.”
“Yeah, like Cazzo or Tacos,” I laughed.
“Or maybe Whiskey.”
I frowned as I thought about it. “They had some pretty weird names.”
He nodded in agreement. “We could just stick with something normal like Michael.”
I grimaced at the name. Not that I didn’t like his name, but it was so plain. “We could, or we could go with something unique like Blake.”
“Well, unique for a girl. It’s hardly unique if it’s a boy.”
“And I suppose you think we should name a girl Michael to be unique?”
“Maybe Mikayla.”
“Or we could skip our names altogether and go with something totally out there like…Phineas.”
“Phineas?” he grimaced. “Are you kidding?”
“What’s wrong with Phineas?”
“Other than it’s weird as fuck?”
“Oh, and I suppose you have a better idea?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. What about Clover?”
I thought about it and agreed. “Yes, let’s name her after a patch of grass. That won’t be weird.”
“Isn’t it technically a weed?”
“I don’t know! You know, it’s too soon to think about this anyway. We don’t even know if it’s a boy or a girl!”
“You’re right,” he sighed. “Let’s just table all baby name talks for now.”
I nodded in agreement and sipped my coffee, letting the silence string along for a good three minutes.
“Greer.”
“Agamemnon.”
I knocked on Mayor Cameron’s door, a little surprised by how happy she was to see me. Standing, she walked around her desk with a huge smile on her face.
“You came! I’m so glad you decided to accept my invitation.”
“Well, I’m here, but only because I’ll go crazy if I have to come up with one more baby name to counter Clover.”
She grimaced, motioning for me to take a seat.
“Not a fan of the name Clover?”
“Not a fan of babies.” She walked around the desk and took her seat.
“So, no maternity leave in the future for you,” I grinned.
“Look, don’t get me wrong, babies are cute, but they’re also completely reliant on other people, and I have too much to accomplish to deal with a tiny person hanging onto me every second of the day.”
There was once a time I felt that way also, but then I’d been kicked out of my job, waterboarded, and almost infected with a deadly virus. A baby sounded pretty easy in comparison.
“So, what did you have in mind?”
“I would like you to be the city manager,” she grinned.
Shocked, I didn’t know what to say at first. “Um…I don’t even know what that person does.”
“Well, in a sense, you’re my right hand.
You make sure the wants and needs of the city council and the mayor’s office are carried out.
You would prepare and manage the budget, supervise department heads, make sure public works are running efficiently, but most importantly, you’re a sort of liaison between the city council and the people. ”
Ah, the clincher. She didn’t like dealing with the public. “So, holding town meetings and fielding questions about complaints.”
She smiled ruefully at me. “Well, that’s part of the job.”
“Let me guess, you hate dealing with the public.”
“Not necessarily. But there are a few people in this town who could drive me up the wall with their complaints. Plus, we’re a decent-sized town. There are so many more things we could be doing with the right guidance.”
“And you think I could be that guidance.”
She smiled brightly at me.
“Honestly, I’m not sure why you think I’m right for the job.”
“Well, I’ve read through what got you fired from the FBI. We need that kind of oversight in our town. Granted, we’re not Chicago or LA, but we need someone who will think about what’s best for this town, and always strive to keep our budget in balance.”
It still wasn’t sitting right with me. I was no one to her. Yes, I worked for the FBI, but it wasn’t like I was creative or could deal with the public in a diplomatic manner. I was more likely to piss people off.
“You know, I really don’t think I’m right for the job.”
I started to stand when she tossed a folder at me. It slid across the desk, landing right in front of me.
“I also need you to dig into this.”
Slowly, I opened the folder and read through the top documents. A picture of a little girl was paper-clipped to the corner of a coroner’s report. She’d been murdered, and if I was reading this right, they never caught her murderer.
“I’m not sure what you want me to look into.”
“Dakota Walker died out by Murky Falls a little over twenty-five years ago. She was strangled, beaten, and left to rot for the better part of six months before anyone found her body. See, she died right before a winter storm, and many assumed that she had left her house and was caught in the storm and had frozen to death. But as the snow thawed and her body was never found, the search for her intensified again.”
“Did they look into her father?” I asked since I hadn’t had time to read through the thick file in front of me.
“They did. They cleared him immediately. He was on shift at the fire station, and ten people can confirm his whereabouts for the entire night.”
“What about neighbors, friends—”
“Everyone was interviewed, and everyone was cleared, which is why I want you to look into it.”
It was interesting for sure, but this wasn’t in my jurisdiction. I was no longer in law enforcement. I wasn’t sure I had any right to look over the case and do any investigating.
“Look, Mayor Cameron, I appreciate that you would like my skills on this, but that’s why you have a police department—”
“The police have marked it as a cold case, and they haven’t bothered to look into it for over ten years. As far as they’re concerned, Dakota Walker’s case is closed.”
Twenty-five years ago was a long time to dig up evidence. I wasn’t even sure I could gather anything useful for her. But there was something else driving her, something that she hadn’t told me.
“If I agree to do this, I need the absolute truth from you. On everything.”
Her eyes twinkled with hope. “Absolutely.”
I held up the file. “Who is this girl to you?”
Mayor Cameron cocked her head at me. “She’s my half-sister.”
Shock rippled through me, but at least it all made sense now. She was adamant about finding the missing girl because it was her own long-lost mystery. How could she possibly find closure for her sister when her murderer was still out there?
I leaned forward in my seat, more interested now than ever before, but if I was going to do this, we had to get a few things straight. “Mayor Cameron—”
“Jane,” she interrupted. “Please, call me Jane.”
The eagerness in her voice made this even harder. “If I agree to do this, we have to set some boundaries.”
“Of course.”
“I will only share information with you when I deem it appropriate. Which means you will not show up at my house for nightly meetings to find out if I’ve discovered anything.
It will take me some time to dig through all the information and verify everything, so don’t expect me to have any updates for you in a week. ”
“Of course.”
“You will not interfere with my investigation in any way or try to sway me to look into someone you suspect. I will follow the evidence, and only the evidence. If at any time I feel you’re interfering, I will go to the city council about your ability to do your job. Is that understood?”
Her back stiffened, but she gave a tight nod.
“I know that sounds harsh, but I need to be able to research this from an outsider’s perspective. If you got involved, it could take longer to find out anything useful.”
“I understand. So…you’ll take the job?”
“I’ll take this job,” I said, holding up the file. “Consider me a private investigator.”
For the first time since we sat down, Mayor Cameron had a genuine smile on her face, and hope filled her eyes. I couldn’t deny that it made me feel good to be back in an investigative role again.
“And I can’t persuade you to take on the other role?”
“Not at this time. I need to get a feel for the town first. I’m sure the people around here would appreciate that as well.”
“Since they’re already planning the world’s largest baby shower, I’m not sure they’ll need much convincing, but I’ll wait for you to settle in.”
Standing, I tucked the file under my arm and reached forward to shake her hand. “I’ll be in touch.”