Gone at Zero Hundred 00:00 (16 page)

Jaden said, “Who took the photos?”

“I’m betting Tamara Marquez did.”

Jaden shook his head. “The Sutter
Beach Harbor is filled with some heavy shit.”

I sat back in the seat. “Like my mom
said, the world can be a dark place.” Tamara was dead and there was no time for
self pity. Pieces were slowly coming together, and we had to keep going to
figure things out.

When I left them, I wondered how far
into the darkness we were going to have to go to find out who killed Tamara,
and what we might find along the way. They must have been thinking the same
thing. Jaden and Cody were watching me from the window to make sure I made it
to the loaner car, unharmed. They knew I wasn’t going to stop until I had the
answers. When something was on my mind, I was relentless - just like my mother,
and it didn’t matter that I had no experience.

Seated in the car, I punched in the
number for Summer’s cell phone. It was late, but I thought I might catch her. I
wanted to ask her if she knew Aaron Grant. Her brother was a process server for
a law firm. Would he have come across Aaron through work or could they have met
through Summer? She wasn’t in any of the photos, but that didn’t mean anything.
I got her voicemail, so I left a message.

As I pulled away from the curb, I had
no idea Cody was placing a call to Carter to make sure I made it to my next
destination.

CARTER AGREED to meet me at El
Cantino Mexican Restaurant, to go over what I knew. Food was a priority, and El
Cantino has the most amazing buffet, all-you-can-eat tacos and burritos. I got
there first, and snagged a table by the window. When he walked in, he was
showing signs of fatigue. I wondered how often he made it home to see his wife,
or if he spent the last few weeks practically living at the police station.
Aside from two murders - my mom and Tamara Marquez - he was still working on
the pension fund scam, and prepping for the trial of Marty Cole. He had dark
circles under his eyes, and his hair was disheveled. There was also about a
week’s worth of stubble on his chin, and his clothes looked like they’d been
slept in. He sauntered over to where I was sitting, and motioned toward the
waiter to bring him a Corona.

“How’s your face?” he said, as he
dropped down into the seat from exhaustion.

“I’ll live.” Even though it hurt like
you wouldn’t believe. “Have you found out anything on Tamara’s murder?” I had
to ask, but I knew he wouldn’t share anything with me.

He gave me one of those looks. “Did
you ask me here to bust my chops about the case?” At the same time, the waiter
came over with his Corona, and took our order. We both opted for the buffet. He
gave us plates and silverware; then we headed toward the display.

“I’m not busting your chops,” I said.
At the same time, I was thinking how weird it was that I was involved in
something so crazy in the first place. When Cody and I decided to take over
McSwain Investigations, we figured we’d be dealing with a bunch of paperwork, a
little computer work, or maybe a few insurance scams. Nothing like what we were
tangled up in. “I just thought we could share information.” We piled our plates
full of food, and returned to the table.

“Those employers of hers sure are
pieces of work.”

“More than you know.” I knew Aaron
Grant was involved. I just didn’t know how, yet.

“So, what have you got?” he said, as
he started to chow down on the food.

I shook my head at him. “Typical
cop,” I teased. “You want everything I have to offer, but you won’t tell me
squat.”

He shrugged indifferently. “You don’t
have to worry about the brass jumping down your throat. If leaks get out it
could mess up a trial. You know that.”

Unfortunately, I had to give him that
one. That was one of the reasons my mom chose to be a private investigator
instead of a cop. She didn’t like dealing with bureaucracy. I reached into my
backpack and pulled out the envelopes; then handed them to him.

“What’s this?” He opened the
envelopes and started to view the photos. He looked at them with a keen eye.
His jaw clenched.

“I also have a DVD.”

“Where did they come from?”

“Tamara gave them to my mom, before
she died. If I had…”

He looked at me, and realized I was feeling
responsible for Tamara’s death. “It’s not your fault any of this is happening,
Syd.”

Tears welled up in my eyes again. “I
know that logically, but there’s something crazy going on.”

“Well, that’s for damn sure,” he
said. The expression on his face made me think he knew a whole lot more than he
was sharing. “Why don’t you tell me how this all went down, so I understand it
better. Start at the beginning.”

I took a bite of the taco salad, and
paused before speaking. “The morning of mom’s death, she gave me a package and
told me to put it in the safe. With everything that happened, I forgot all
about it. When I was going through her filing cabinet to see if there were any
open cases, I found a file on Tamara, so I searched the files on mom’s laptop.”

He held his hand up to interrupt me
for a moment. “So that I’m clear; Tamara talked to your mom before she died?”
He asked, and again, I got the expression there was more going on, and the
answer was very important. Why couldn’t he just tell me? I already knew.
Bureacracy. I didn’t want to mess up his case, so I didn’t push.

I nodded. “There wasn’t much in the
file to go on, just a few notes. The night that Tamara called me, she asked if
mom received the package. During the call, she said
we are running out of
time
, not
I am
, but
we
. That’s when she asked me to meet her
in the alley behind the coffee shop. When I arrived, shots were fired and she
was gone. You and I left the scene to inform Howard Grant of her death. While we
were gone someone broke into my pickup. They looked through the office, too.”

He looked me square in the eyes when
he heard the last statement. “This is the first I’m hearing about the office.”

I shrugged. “I didn’t see the need.
There wasn’t anything missing and I figured they wore gloves.”

“Syd, you should have told me,” he
said, and he was clearly annoyed with me.

I sighed. “That’s when I remembered
the package in the safe.”

His brow creased. “So, somebody knows
you have them, and they want them back.”

“I guess.”

“It’s also pretty clear whoever
tossed your pickup, might have been at the scene. They were watching you.” He
had a strange look on his face when mentioning that revelation.

I didn’t want to persuade him into
thinking a cop might be involved, I wanted him to get there on his own. One
thing was for sure; I understand more of what my mom must have been dealing
with when she accused Marty Cole - a cop - of being involved in the pension
fund scam. Cops don’t like it when outsiders accuse another cop of criminal
behavior.

“You want to hear something weird?” I
said, and I picked up one of the photos and pointed out David Klein. “This guy
here, he’s a process server at a law firm. It’s the case I’m working on. His
sister hired me to follow him. She said he’s been stealing from her.”

He raised his eyebrow, and clenched
his jaw. “That’s a little too coincidental, and I don’t believe in
coincidences.”

“That’s what Jaden and Cody said.”

 He processed everything I just
said, and glanced through the photos, again. I could tell he recognized Skater.
His eyes kept darting back to his image, but he kept it to himself. “Syd, I
need you to keep all of this quiet. Only talk to me. Are we clear?”

I nodded, as I gathered up all the
photographs and stuffed them back into the envelope. Maybe he
was
suspicious of other cops, or maybe he knew a heck of a lot more, but he just
couldn’t tell me.

“Syd, from this point on, I want
somebody with you at all times. I don’t want you leaving home without me, or
Cody by your side. Will you promise me that?”

“Cody’s meeting me at the firehouse
after we leave here,” I said, and this time I was telling the truth.”

I HAD the jitters when I opened the
garage door to the firehouse. With Carter’s warnings just a short time, ago, my
over-active imagination was going; ding, ding, ding. I looked around, but I
didn’t see anything. There were no signs of visitors, and things weren’t out of
place. I parked in the bay, and waited for Cody to lock up his motorcycle.

Once I saw him headed my way, I
grabbed my backpack and stepped out. That’s when two men dressed in dark
clothing and ski-masks charged down the stairs. One of them walked directly
toward me and shoved me to the ground. Then, the second guy grabbed him and
motioned toward Cody, and they took off running. I was pretty sure it was the
same guys I ran into at Tamara’s. While I tried to pick myself back up, Cody
took off after them in a foot pursuit.

I wrapped the strap of my backpack
over my shoulder as I charged after Cody, while fumbling for my cell phone at
the same time. The perps were running north, headed toward a vehicle that was
waiting at the corner.

Cody noticed the getaway car. He
didn’t panic, freak out, or stop running. Nope. He pulled out his camera, and
started filming the chase and continued to run after them.

My eyes went wide. Was he crazy?

“Cody, stop!” What the heck was he
going to do if he caught them? Ask them to smile?

I wasn’t far behind him, when I
spotted the black Hummer turning onto the street behind us. It was headed in
our direction. I could make out a driver. There was a second guy, as well. He
was in the back seat, just behind the driver, but sitting at an odd angle. Then,
I discovered why. He was holding the long barrel of a gun, and it was pointed
out the back window. These maniacs wanted to take us out.

As the Hummer continued toward us, I
realized Cody was too occupied with the two perps. He didn’t see the Hummer, or
the gun.

“Cody, get down!” I yelled at the top
of my lungs. But with all the noise and commotion, he couldn’t hear me. As fast
as I have ever moved in my life, I sprinted toward him and tackled him to the
ground, just as several rounds of gunfire came our way.

Br - rat – a – tat …. Br - rat – a –
tat…

We scrambled to get out of the line
of fire; then rolled onto our stomachs and stayed down. Cody frantically
checked his precious camera; then continued to film the scene until the Hummer
disappeared around the corner, and sped out of sight. We glanced back in the
direction of the first getaway car. It too had disappeared around the corner
with the two perps safely inside. Both cars got away.

We remained down on the ground in
case the cars came back around. A few minutes passed before we heard the sound
of sirens in the background. We stood up, and tried to catch our breath.

“You okay?” He finally said.

I nodded, finding it too hard to
speak. Cody wrapped his arms around me to keep me from shaking.

“You filmed the crazy scene!?
Really?”

He shrugged. “I thought it was just
the goons that popped your nose. A cool chase scene with ski-masked men was
hard to resist. I didn’t know we’d be chased down by real bullets, too. I got
carried away.”

“You’re lucky you weren’t killed,” I
yelled at him.

We got back to being serious when
patrol officers arrived. We filled them in on the events that occurred, and
gave them a description of the cars. I pointed to the area where I suspected
the shots were fired. The crime scene techs would be able to narrow down the
type of gun used, from the shell casings they were sure to find.

I kept quiet about the fact that I
had seen the perps before, a reminder that the two cases were definitely
related. And Cody didn’t let on that he filmed the scene either. Carter told me
to keep things quiet. It was either a cop or Tamara’s employers that knew she
contacted me. Until we knew who, we weren’t going to disclose every piece of
information, not even to Carter.

Cody nudged me and ushered me off to
the side. “You know we have to check your place to access the damage. Those bad
guys were in the firehouse for a reason.”

“Yeah,” I said, resigned to the fact
that they had probably ransacked it looking for the photos.

CODY DID a walk-through of the
firehouse before calling me in. When he did, I was stunned. They didn’t trash
the place like we expected. With exception to my ‘parental unit’ tape recording
being on the blitz, you wouldn’t know anyone had even been there.

“They must have realized I had the
stuff with me,” I said.

Cody shook his head. “No. I think
they were here for another reason.” He led me over to the phone on the desk in
the firehouse office. He flipped it over and showed me the bottom. “There was a
piece missing when I checked it. It was lying on the floor next to the leg of
the chair. Somebody messed with your phone. I think your place was bugged, and
those thugs came back to retrieve them.”