Grounds to Kill Page 21

  Arthur and Misty.

  “It looks like your dad knew Misty was cheating on you with Arthur,” Mallory said. “I guess he was trying to warn you.”

  “Sure,” I said, but I frowned at the photo, because it looked like more than that to me.

  Mallory’s phone rang and she took the call.

  “I’ve got to return my neighbor’s car, so he can get to work. Do you want to come with me?”

  “No, that’s okay,” I said. “I want to go through this stuff some more. Once Beth’s off work maybe we can all grab a bite to eat.”

  “Sure,” she said, slinging her purse over her shoulder. “You going to be okay?”

  I told her I was fine, although I didn’t feel fine at all.

  “Mojo will protect me.”

  The dog looked up sleepily from her princess bed and we both laughed. I locked the door behind Mallory and set the alarm before I sat back down with the photos all around me. Misty liked to wear her clothes clingy and her necklines low, but what she was wearing in the picture was more...less?...than that. Miniskirt with a slit. Tank top with her breasts spilling out. It was hooker wear.

  I had the picture up to my face now. The look on Arthur’s face confused me. He didn’t look like a happy guy out to get laid with a woman dressed as a hooker. He looked totally and completely pissed off. And Kiki, although a full head taller than Arthur, looked absolutely terrified.

  I put down the pictures and rubbed my eyes. I needed to clear my head so I decided to get into the shower. The hot spray felt good on my back and neck, but did little to wash away the thoughts inside my head. My hand began to itch just after I stepped out of the shower. I toweled off and had a moment of déjà vu. I gave in to the itchy palm holding a finger to the steamy mirror. My finger scrawled one word “Run!”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I felt chilled. I flung open the bathroom door and gasped when Mojo let out a small but powerful bark.

  “You scared the hell out of me,” I scolded.

  Quickly I dashed into my bedroom and began yanking on clean clothes. If I was to listen to HOD and run, where would I run to? And, more importantly, who was I running from?

  Mojo snagged my night T-shirt with her teeth and dragged it around the room before deciding to curl up and go to sleep in it. I looked at my dog and decided for now, she would be safest at home.

  “I’m going out for a while,” I told her. “Don’t wait up.”

  I paused to turn on the TV for her and then snatched up the envelope of pictures and stuffed it in my purse. Grabbing my phone on the way, I slid my feet into shoes and set the alarm and locked the door behind me. I felt immensely better just getting out of the apartment. On my way down in the elevator, I called Mallory and told her about the HOD message.

  “Sounds like you’re in danger,” she breathed into the phone.

  “Maybe, but maybe not.”

  “What else could ‘run’ mean?” she demanded.

  “I’ve been meaning to get some exercise. Maybe it’s a message advising I take up jogging.” I joked. Then I got serious. “I’m scared.”

  “What are you doing now?”

  “How about I just take the bus over to your place and we can wait together until Beth gets off work.”

  “Great idea,” she agreed.

  I clicked my phone off and stepped off the elevator and exited my building near the back, nearly bumping into a very tall young man with exceptionally full lips.

  “Oh!” He jumped back in surprise. “Um. Hi, Jen, look, I was just on my way to see you.”

  “Do I know you?” I asked, tilting my head. Sudden recognition dawned. “Kiki?”

  “Yeah,” he leaned in and whispered. “I go by Ken when I’m not working.”

  “Oh. Sure. How’d you find me?”

  “You, um, wrote your number down and gave it to me, remember? I Googled a reverse lookup and got your address.”

  “Why didn’t you call?”

  “This was too delicate a matter to talk about over the phone. Can we go somewhere and talk? Can I buy you a coffee or something?”

  “Um. I don’t know,” I said warily. “My friend is waiting for me. Can’t you just tell me what you want to tell me here?”

  “I’d rather not do it right here in the open,” he said looking worriedly over his shoulder. “How about we just sit in my car. I’m parked right at the corner. Give me five minutes and then you can go see your friend. Please?”

  I saw my bus come and go from my stop across the street and I knew it would be at least fifteen minutes until the next one.

  “Fine,” I agreed. “Five minutes.”

  “Good,” Kiki aka Ken said, brightly.

  We stepped around the corner of the building and he opened the passenger door to a blue Jeep with dark tinted windows. I climbed inside and he politely shut the door then jogged around to the driver’s side.

  “So what’s this about? You know something about my dad?” I asked curiously.

  “Hello, Jen,” came a familiar voice from the back seat.

  I turned in stunned surprise to see my ex-boyfriend, Arthur, with a gun pointed in my face.

  “Drive, Kiki,” barked Arthur.

  Kiki offered me an apologetic look as he started the vehicle and signaled to turn onto the street.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, my eyes huge.

  “Turn around and look forward the entire time or I’ll shoot you,” he said evenly.

  I snapped my gaze forward.

  “I don’t understand,” I blurted. “Is this because we broke up? Is that what this is about? Maybe we can work things out.”

  “Hand me your phone,” he ordered.

  Reluctantly I tossed my Blackberry hard over my shoulder and enjoyed the sound of it hitting him solidly in the head.

  “Ouch!”

  “Well, you told me not to look back,” I explained.

  “Shut up!” he shrieked.

  Kiki worriedly chewed his lower lip.

  “I demand to know what’s going on,” I said.

  I felt the press of cold steel against the back of my neck.

  “You are in absolutely no position to be making demands. This is how this is going to work. First, you’re going to tell me where the storage locker is and then you’re going to give me the key.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, trying to sound tough.

  Thwack!

  Arthur cracked the gun against the goose egg at the back of my head. I saw stars and my eyes watered.

  “X, Y & Z Storage on East Madison and Twelfth, unit #207B,” I blurted. I seemed to only be tough when I didn’t have to endure any pain.

  Kiki drove the Jeep ever so carefully so as not to draw any attention to us. My mind whirled about how I could possibly get out of the vehicle without getting my head blown off. No answer came to me and soon enough we were parked and walking into the public storage building. Arthur zipped up a hoodie and slipped the hand with the gun in the pocket then pulled the hood over a ball cap to shield his face.

  “Lead the way to the correct unit, honey-bunch,” Arthur instructed.

  I walked on ahead with Kiki and Arthur following close behind. Remembering the cameras in the hall near the unit, I thought of a way to at least get Arthur’s face on camera to prove what had happened. Once we neared unit 207, I stopped so abruptly, Kiki walked into my back. Arthur stumbled forward, tripping on Kiki.

  “Sorry!” I cried, but in an elaborate move meant to look like I was grabbing Arthur to steady him, I knocked off his ball cap.

  He snarled, reached for the cap and snapped it back on his head. He didn’t appear to notice the camera as he whipped out th
e gun and jammed it under my chin.

  “No more funny business. Which unit belongs to your dad?”

  “Th-this one,” I said, never more relieved than when he pulled the gun away from me and took a step toward unit 207B.

  I told Arthur that the key was tucked inside my phone case. He slid the case off my phone, took out the key and unlocked the padlock. Once he rolled open the unit, he shoved me inside.

  Looking around at all the lost dog flyers, Arthur let out a low whistle.

  “Your dad is bonkers, know that?” he chuckled. “He just had to take my picture and then post it all over town.” To Kiki he instructed, “Use the cable ties to bind her hands and ankles while I take down the posters.”

  My eyes grew huge as I realized I was about to be tied up and left here.

  “Don’t,” I pleaded with Kiki.

  “I’ve got no choice,” he whispered back. “He’ll kill me. He’s crazy!”

  Kiki strapped my hands behind my back and then sat me in a corner and strapped my feet together. Arthur gathered up the papers and crammed them into a trash bag. Once he was done, he double checked my ties were secure before yanking out a roll of duct tape and slapping a strip across my mouth.

  “Now that we’re done with her, let’s go pay her daddy a visit at the hospital.” He looked over at me and sneered. “Don’t worry, Jen. I’ll make sure it’s quick and painless.”

  As the locker door was sliding down, I pleaded with my eyes, but Arthur only laughed while Kiki looked like he would throw up at any second. The worst sound I ever heard was the click of the lock on the outside of the metal door.

  The minute I heard their footsteps fade down the hall, I began to writhe around on the hard concrete floor like a caterpillar. I grunted against the duct tape and, once I reached the rollup door, banged my head loudly against the metal. Then I realized that, until someone else came down that hall, there was no way to make myself loud enough to be heard in other parts of the building. I felt completely useless and, when I thought of Arthur on his way to kill my dad, I was enraged. I needed to get out and save him!

  For the first hour, I ran through every scenario possible inside my head. I knew Mallory would be missing me and wondering where I was, but she had no car to go looking for me. Still, she’d know enough to make some calls and she would know something bad had happened, especially because of HOD’s message that I’d relayed to her. Still, would she think to check the storage locker? I didn’t think so. The entire thing made ice cold fear run through my veins.

  Over the course of next couple of hours, I banged my body against the door so often I was bound to die of a concussion long before I starved to death. Then I worked on attempting to scrape the duct tape from my mouth. I found that by repeatedly scraping my face along the metal support beams I was managing to loosen the tape, as well as rip out any peach fuzz hairs from my face in an excruciatingly slow manner. I developed a routine of slamming myself against the door a few times, hoping someone would hear me and then resting with my face against the wall trying to scrape off the tape.

  In a moment of exhaustion, I collapsed against the door, my sobs muffled by the tape. I started to cry, but it’s hard to weep when your mouth is covered in duct tape. Replacing tears was a big wallop of worry. I was terrified that Arthur would kill my dad. Poor Dad who’d done nothing except try to warn me that Arthur was more of a scum-sucking-toilet-worm than Beth’s ex ever was. I thought up new names for Arthur and not a single one would I able to use in public, because they all rhymed with trucker.

  I pinched my eyes shut and thought of all the people who mattered to me. Mostly I thought about my girlfriends and Mitch. I also worried about my fur baby. If I died, I knew Mallory would do the best she could with Mojo. But would she remember to play Attack Duck? Would Beth visit and accidentally-on-purpose drop bits of cheese for Mojo to snarf off the floor?

  Suddenly, I heard footsteps approaching from down the hall. Someone was coming down the hall! I felt a surge of hope, as I wriggled and inched my way up to a standing position again and banged my head against the door. When those steps stopped outside, and I heard someone fumbling with the lock, that hopeful feeling fell away in a wave of panic. Arthur was back to finish me off.

  Chapter Sixteen

  In a split second I developed the perfect plan, one that involved me knocking Arthur out by head butting him the minute he opened the door. In reality, when the door rolled up, I lost my footing, fell forward and landed face first in the hall.

  Kiki gasped loudly and jumped back. Then he lunged at me with a large pair of scissors in his hand. Arthur sent him to do his dirty work. As I lay face down in the hall I waited for the feeling of the blades tearing into my flesh, but, abruptly, the ties binding my feet were cut and then my wrists were unbound.

  “We’ve got to hurry,” Ken said. Helping me up by the elbows. “Oh my God, what happened to your face?”

  My fingers went to my forehead and came away smeared with blood, but I ignored that as I grabbed Kiki and thanked him for rescuing me.

  “But what about my dad?”

  “Arthur expected me to wait outside Harborview Hospital for him when he went in to deal with your dad, but I knew he wouldn’t find him there. Earlier today I saw your dad at one of his old corners panhandling, but I never told Arthur.”

  “He was discharged from the hospital?” I asked, relief washing over me.

  “He discharged himself. Just took off. That’s what Arthur said when he called from his hospital room. He expected me to wait for him, but I took off too. By now, Arthur’s on the hunt for your dad.”

  “Let’s go!”

  My feet were having difficulty finding enough circulation immediately, so Kiki linked an arm in mine and half-dragged me out of the storage building.

  Once we were inside his car, he stepped on the gas and we rocketed out of the parking lot. As Kiki drove, he loaned me his phone and I called Detective Kellum and told him everything.

  “Where are you?” Kellum demanded.

  “Finding my dad.”

  “Stay put and leave this to us.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I seem to have a bad connection. I can’t hear you.”

  I disconnected the call from Kellum and handed the phone back to Kiki. There was no way I was going to sit on my ass while my dad was in danger.

  “How long has Arthur been a dirty cop?” I asked Kiki, as he took a sharp angle and I slid into the door.

  “That guy’s been dirty since long before he was a cop,” Kiki sighed shaking his head. “He’d come around as a customer and pay extra to slap around girls, but once he became a cop, things got worse. He figured he could get it for free and get a cut of what we brought in. Those of us without pimps were at his mercy. He was trying to get in good with the vice cops so he could move up into that division. He figured if he had working girls afraid of him, it would only work to his advantage.”

  “He was moving into vice?” I remembered him saying it, but at the time I chalked it up to bragging.

  “That’s what he said and that’s what he wanted.” He shrugged. “Who knows?”

  “Did you know if my half sister, Misty, was working the streets?”

  Kiki was stopped at a red light and she glanced over at me.

  “Yes. I’m sorry. She told me once she was only doing it so she could blackmail Arthur once he got higher up in the force.”

  So Misty had fallen back to her old ways and ended up making a few bucks on her back.

  I remembered coming back from a date with Arthur and we’d spotted Misty going into the building. I’d told Arthur about her being my half sister and that there was no love lost between us. Did I sign her death warrant by telling him that, or had she actually tried to blackmail him?

  My dad would’ve seen Misty on the streets
and known about Arthur’s slimy ways through others on the street. Like Alice. She told me the police wouldn’t help Dad. She must’ve known about Arthur, too, and he killed her the same way he killed Misty. All to keep his dirty secret. Boy, I really knew how to pick ’em.

  We drove up and down the streets of Seattle looking for Dad. For as long as I could remember, I felt my itch from Hand of Doom would one day bring me luck. Where was that luck now?

  We’d already driven by the location where Kiki had seen Dad earlier. I had Kiki stop at the entrance of one particular alley that was long, shadowed and filled with large Dumpsters that would provide ample hiding places.

  I jogged down the lane, tossing aside a stack of cardboard boxes and calling for Dad. It started to rain and the wet stung the injured parts of my face, but it didn’t slow me down.

  When I got back to Kiki’s car, I shook my head.

  “It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.” I had an idea. “Let’s swing by the Bread of Life mission.”

  It was only a couple of blocks from where we were and I was greeted at the door by Melvin, the kindly older man who’d remembered Dad from before.

  “Yes, he was here. Very distraught and agitated. I told him you’d come by looking for him a few days ago and that got him even more worked up. He wrote me a note that said “Jen’s in danger!” He tilted his head and looked appraisingly at my face. “I’m guessing danger found you and you somehow fought it off.”

  “Yes, but now it’s out to get my dad. If he comes here, please keep him here until I can get him somewhere safe.”

  “I’ll do that,” Melvin promised. “An officer already came by a little while ago looking for your dad.”

  My stomach clenched.

  “Did the officer give his name?”

  “No. Seemed nice though...short brown hair and freckles on his nose.” He smiled. “Looked too young to be a cop.”

  “But not too young to be a murderer,” I said. “That’s Arthur Byrne, and if he comes around again, call the cops, but don’t tip him off. He’s the one after my dad.”