In Case of Death (The Adventures of Gabriel Celtic Book 3) (9 page)

Chapter 22

September 17, 1999

I jumped up off of a couch in a darkened room and walked over to the dying fire in the hearth. There was still warmth coming off of the glowing embers that I felt on my stomach. I realized that my shirt is undone, as well as the button of my pants.

Where was I?

“Gabe? What’s wrong?”

I turned back to the couch and glimpsed May pulling herself up off of the pillow she had been laying on. She was a younger version of May, whose clothing looked as disheveled as mine. My eyes locked for a few moments on her small luscious breasts peaking out of the unbuttoned shirt.

God she looked good!

I had finally recognized the time and the place. May’s apartment in college was in a beautiful old house just off of the edge of campus. She seldom used the fireplace, reserving it only for special occasions. This had indeed been one of those occasions, or at least it was supposed to be.

“Nothing,” I mumbled as I pulled my eyes back to the fire. We were both silent for a few moments as I mulled over what an idiot I must be.

This was to be the night!

The night we took our relationship to the next level!

We had been friends since we were brought onto this earth. We loved each other too, a deep abiding love unlike any we had ever experienced with another. To top off the package, I found her body intoxicating. It was the perfect time to become a couple, to experience the oneness that we both knew would happen.

Or was it?

“I don’t know,” I finally sighed, “I think I’m an idiot.”

Turning, I walked back to the couch and kneeled in front of her.

She was so beautiful.

“You are anything but an idiot Gabe,” May said as she stroked the side of my face. “What’s really wrong?”

“I don’t know!” I repeated in frustration, “I love you more than anything, you know that. And there is nothing I would rather do right now than explore every inch of your body. It’s just…”

May leaned forward and gently held my face in her hands as her blue eyes sought out mine. “Tell me what’s wrong, Gabe.”

“My heart is beating out of my chest,” I started, “I love you so much! And my body’s reaction to yours could be described as monumental.”

May smiled at that. “Believe me Gabe, you are not alone.”

She leaned forward and kissed me tenderly. Pulling away, she continued to look into my eyes.

“But…”

“But my brain is stopping me,” I blurted out as I leaned back a little more.

May’s pale blue eyes never waivered as they took me into her soul. I thought they would turn mad or sad, but they just continued their apparent soul seeking stare. We stayed like that for what seemed like minutes before May finally leaned back into the couch with a sigh.

“I know.”

“You know?” I wasn’t sure I understood.

May nodded, her eyes still held fast to mine.

“I know Gabe, I felt it too. But I just assumed it was something we could work through together. I can’t explain it exactly, but it felt like a warning.”

“Exactly!” I exclaimed. “Like we would be screwing something up!”

May nodded as she leaned forward once more and took my face again in her hands.

“Like we would be ruining our friendship.”

***

I sat up in bed with a start, the neon segments on the clock reminding me it was once again 5:30.

I rubbed my eyes as I went over the dream in my mind. Why did May keep popping up in my head?

I shook it off as I remembered that I was driving to Indianapolis that morning to go through Tom’s office. I jumped up and headed downstairs to get the coffee going.

Calvin Forester’s office had taken me all day yesterday to get through, even though I had no idea if I had found anything. Although I expected Tom Lassiter’s office to take much less time, I had a two-hour drive each way so I wanted to get an early start.

“Hi,” I heard behind me as I poured the water in the coffee maker. Turning, I saw that Abby was standing there in her bathrobe, her hair a mess and her eyes puffy.

I never tired of greeting my daughter at the start of a new day.

Giving her a hug, I asked if she wanted anything for breakfast.

“I’ll just make some cereal,” she barely mumbled as she sat down at the table. “After a cup of coffee first.”

“Nate here?” I asked as I reached for a third cup.

“No, he went home, he has to give a deposition or something early and wanted to get some sleep.”

I smiled at my daughter’s inadvertent admission, suspecting that neither of them got much sleep when they were together.

“How did it go yesterday?” I asked, having missed talking to her the night before.

“Not bad I guess,” she said a little more energetically as I sat a cup in front of her. “We’ve got a pretty good idea now of what to look for. Preacher is going to head over to Kentucky today to look into Mr. Hamilton’s estate, while I hit Cincinnati to check out Larry Callestrano’s. We’ll see if anything turns up I guess, although we didn’t find anything unusual in Mr. Forrester’s estate; except of course, that it was quite extensive.”

I nodded understanding as I sat down with my cup. “He was quite the successful man.”

“I’ll say,” Abby said between sips, “His widow is quite well off.” I noticed a gleam in my daughter’s eye before the next sentence escaped her lips. “You should hook up with her!”

She giggled as I nearly spit out my coffee.

“Where did that come from?” I asked in surprise.

“I’ve seen pictures of her,” she gleamed, “She’s hot, besides being rich. You’re not a bad looking man yourself, and you guys used to date, right?”

“Don’t worry about me,” I stated as I went to get more coffee, ruffling her hair as I went by. “Raven Forrester was a long time ago,” I said nonchalantly as I thought back to my reactions of yesterday. “She’s just a client now,” I half lied.

“Whatever,” she said with assurance, “You could do worse is all I’m saying.”

“I’m heading up to Indy today,” I piped in, hoping for a change of subject.

“Ah, another old flame,” Abby said with a grin.

She was getting to be quite annoying.

“Can we stick to the case please my over-imaginative daughter? We have plenty to worry about without creating a love life for me.”

Abby didn’t relinquish her grin, but she did acknowledge my request with an, “Ok dad.”

“I’ll probably be gone most of the day, maybe all of it if I find something pertinent. Either way, I think it might be a good idea for all of us to meet here tomorrow morning to see if we have anything that strings together.”

“Roger that!” Abby spouted off in cop lingo, jumping up and kissing me on the cheek. “I’d better go get ready. Be careful on your drive!”

I assured her I would as she left the kitchen. Pulling out my thermos, I filled it with the rest of the coffee from the pot and headed out to the garage.

At least I would be driving in relative luxury today, as I had planned on taking Betty’s old Mercedes for my jaunt. I had been using it more as of late, especially for any traveling I needed to do that didn’t involve transporting prisoners. 

As the engine rattled to life, I closed my eyes and let the ambience of the car invade my senses, hoping for a gentle tug of a reminder of Betty. We had had some good times on the few trips we had taken with the car, and I let those experiences waft into my mind.

A smile crossed my lips at the memories as I moved the lever into drive and accelerated slowly down the driveway. Maybe Betty wasn’t exactly here, but I felt her essence as I turned onto the road and headed toward the Interstate.

Ready for a trip?
I asked in my head, knowing how she would have answered had she been with me now.

You betcha!

Chapter 23

September 17, 1999

I pulled into the graveled driveway and shut off the car. I had visited here once soon after May and Tom had gotten married, and had been surprised that they had never moved.

Lying on the outskirts of the city, the home was a small single story bungalow. I noticed that they had added a room or two onto it at some point in the past, but it was still tiny. It was definitely not the typical housing of the successful executive that Tom had become.

I remembered that May had mentioned that the lot was the key feature that had swayed them to this property in the beginning. Looking to be at least a full acre, May had successfully filled it with shrubs and flowers of all types. Even this late in the year the yard was full of color.

Knowing May, I knew that she would have been driving force for staying in this location for all of these years. In my mind, it was truly a testament of the type of Man she had chosen for her mate. A man that would sacrifice the trappings of his status for his wife was an uncommon thing.

I knocked on the side door, inhaling the scent of the roses as I waited. Looking about at the multitude of flowers surrounding the entry, I heard the rattle of the doorknob behind me.

“Hi Gabe!”

Turning, I found my old friend smiling at me sincerely. Dressed in a baggy sweatshirt and jeans, her hair had been pulled up into a loose ponytail. Errant strands of brown hair on each side had escaped their bindings however, as if it was their lot in life to softly frame her face.

She still looked fantastic.

Taking a step and reaching out with her arms, she enveloped me in a hug.

“Hi yourself,” I muffled through the fabric of her sweatshirt as I squeezed her gently in return.

“Oh, sorry,” she giggled when she realized that she had buried my face into her shoulder.

Waving her off, I took another quick look around. “The old place still looks great May.”

She beamed at my compliment.

“Thank you Gabe! It’s a labor of love, and it has become quite therapeutic since the boys left for college years ago, and with Tom’s travel schedule…”

A look of sadness crossed her face, but only for a moment as she squared her shoulders and said, “How about some coffee?”

I followed her into the neatly apportioned kitchen and took the seat indicated. As May flittered around the room gathering items for coffee, I found myself watching her intently. Although mostly hidden by her bulky top, she still had quite an attractive figure, and she seemed to have the energy of someone half her age.

Realizing that I was staring, I dropped my eyes to the table a split second before she turned back toward me. I was mentally berating myself for ogling her, trying to fathom what was wrong with me lately.

“Gabe?”

“Yes May?”

“I asked if you would like any pastries with your coffee. You looked like you were miles away, is there anything wrong?”

Smiling at getting caught and hoping that my face wasn’t red, “No, it’s just that my mind seems to wander more as I get older. Lately, it seems to be getting much worse. I’m hoping it’s just temporary.”

May smiled knowingly. “Tell me about it, I swear I get more scatterbrained as the years go by.”

She placed a cup in front of me and sat down, holding her cup to her face and inhaling the aroma.

“So, what do you hope to find going through Tom’s things today?”

I sat up a little straighter as I got down to business.

“Truthfully, I’m not totally sure. I’m hoping of course that some of Tom’s information might tie into Calvin’s in some way. We are still trying to find any kind of a connection that would tie something together. If your theory is correct, there will have to be a connection somewhere.”

May nodded while staring down at her cup. “He was getting ready to retire you know,” she started with a sadness on her face. “We were finally going to get to spend some time together.”

Looking like she was going to loose it momentarily, she steeled herself quickly and jumped up. Walking across the room, she came back with a framed picture of an infant.

“I have a granddaughter now!”

She beamed with pride as she handed the picture of the infant across the table.

“Congratulations May!”

Having just found out that I had a grown daughter a little over a year ago, I was unprepared for the concept of grandchildren. I was however, pretty certain that I was not near ready mentally for such a thing.

“You don’t seem proud or anything.”

May laughed at that, and it was good to see her smile return.

“Yes, I guess I am. My boys are far flung from here now. I will be doing a lot of traveling in the years to come, that’s for sure.”

Sitting back down at her coffee, “But I’m looking forward to it.”