Jamie Hill Triple Threat (19 page)

“Mark gave me an idea,” he announced and led Mark to the bathroom. “You told me your dad hid his fancy box in here. The one with the crown on it. Do you know where?”

The boy got a funny look on his face.

Jack knelt down in front of him. “It’s okay, buddy. Nothing’s going to happen to you. But if you know where he hid it, that might be real helpful information to my case. Do you have any idea?”

Mark thought about it for a moment, and then gave a slight nod. He opened the cabinet under the sink and pointed.

Jack looked inside. “I don’t see anything, buddy.”

Crystal
and
Devon
stood in the doorway watching. She was uncomfortable being there, and wanted to leave. She held
Devon
by the shoulders in front of her.

Mark crawled over next to Jack and reached to the back of the cabinet. There was a water stain and Mark poked at it.

“Son-of-a-bitch!” Jack muttered, and pried the piece of sheetrock out of the wall. The water stain had hidden the door perfectly. He pulled a little flashlight out of his pocket and shined it in the hole. “Bingo!”

“What is it?”
Crystal
asked, leaning in to see what he saw.

Jack reached in and pulled out a Crown Royal box exactly like the one he had at home. Mark had been right on. Jack opened the box and blinked at what he saw. He leafed through it to be sure, then glanced up at
Crystal
.

“What?” she repeated.

He lifted the box and showed her. There was a bundle of hundred-dollar bills on top, and what appeared to be more beneath it.

Crystal
gasped.

Jack said, “I think we just figured out how to pay for that trip to
Rio
.”

Chapter Nine

Crystal finished counting, “Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.” She stuffed the last bundle of hundreds back into the sack they'd grabbed from the apartment.

Jack took one hand off the steering wheel and rubbed it though his hair. “Holy Christ. A quarter of a mill. No wonder someone wanted to find it so badly.”

“Where are we going?” she asked him softly.

“I don’t know.” He drove without a destination.
Crystal
knew he just needed some time to think. It had all happened so quickly.

After he found the box, he discovered more stacks of hundreds that had spilled out and practically filled the little hole in the wall. Jack looked around the apartment and found a plastic bag that would hold all the money. He zipped the bag up in his jacket and got them out of there as fast as he could. Now he was trying to figure out what to do. “Not to
Rio
, obviously.”

She smiled. “I knew that. You’ve been a cop for eighteen years. You’d never do anything that wacky.”

He glanced sideways at her. “I’m about sick enough of my job that I might do something wacky just to piss ’em off. But I would never put you guys in that kind of danger. Anyone who could misplace a quarter of a million dollars has the resources to chase us to the ends of the earth. I don’t want to spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders.”

Crystal
looked at him and nodded. “So the two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar question is: what do we do?”

He slapped his palm against the steering wheel and muttered, “I’ve got to call my lieutenant. If I’m going to turn in this kind of money, I want as many people there as possible to witness it.” He pulled over to the side of the road and got out his cell phone. He dialed.
Crystal
heard his side of the conversation. “Yeah, lieutenant, this is Dunlevy. Sorry to bother you at home, but I’ve got a situation here. Yeah, I found out what my perps were after in the apartment complex. You remember…” he glanced quickly back at the boys and lowered his voice a notch. “the two dead guys and two trashed apartments? Yeah. A box full of money. To the tune of a quarter of a mill. Uh-huh. I think you should. Great. Thanks.” He disconnected and looked at
Crystal
.

“He’s going to meet you at the department?” she asked.

“Us. I’m still not letting you out of my sight. We’re all going.”

The boys leaned forward. “We’re going to the police department?” Mark asked.

“Yep.” Jack looked back at them. “And I need to tell you a couple things before we get there. I had to tell a couple little white lies, and I want you to know what they are. First of all, nobody knows you’re staying at my house. I told them I found you a safe place, but that’s it. They might not understand that the safest place I can think of is where Zeus and I can watch over you ourselves.”

The boys nodded and
Crystal
gave Jack a smile.

He went on, “I also told them
Crystal
is your mother. They definitely wouldn’t understand our keeping you when both of your parents are gone. I want to help
Crystal
figure that situation out before we get anyone else involved.”

They nodded again, and Jack looked at the three of them. “Everybody got it?”

“We got it, detective,” she said quietly and rubbed her hand over his.

“Then we’re off to the homicide department. You’ll get to see where I work.” He drove there, parked in the lot, and walked them inside. “Come on this way.” He led them up the elevator to the sixth floor, and then through a maze of desks and people.

The boys were wide eyed with all the activity—phones ringing, people milling around, and police in uniforms and regular clothes everywhere. They had never been so close to so many police officers in their lives,
Crystal
thought, and found the place a little on the creepy side herself.

“This is my desk.” He motioned as they passed it by.

“What are you doing here, Dunlevy?” A woman at the next desk over looked at him.

Crystal
surmised this woman must be another detective from her dark jacket and slacks, with a gold shield at her hip. She was pretty,
Crystal
decided, and very shapely. Her long dark hair was pulled into a ponytail, and she had a beautiful porcelain complexion.
Crystal
fought back a jolt of jealousy. She wondered if this female detective was Jack’s type. Maybe they'd even had a relationship at one time. She couldn’t tell by his demeanor, since he barely glanced at the woman. So maybe, maybe not,
Crystal
thought. Then wondered if she were going nuts. Why was she thinking about this? She looked at Jack.

“I’m turning in some evidence,” he told the woman, and kept walking straight ahead to a small conference room with a table and chairs in it.

Crystal
guided the boys and followed him, and the woman stepped in behind them.

“Come on in,” Jack said to
Crystal
. “Have a seat. We may be here a while.” He looked at the other detective. “Is Reeder here yet?”

“He’s not on today.”

“He is now.” Jack pulled the bag from his jacket and dumped the contents on the table.

“Holy sh—” The woman glanced at the children and reconsidered her words.  “Holy smokes! Where did that come from?”

“Case I’m working on,” was all Jack would offer.

Crystal
eyed the ashtray in the center of the table. Jack noticed, and scooted it over in front of her. “Go ahead,” he told her. “Light one up for me, too.”

She smiled and pulled out her cigarettes. She lit one up and passed it to him, then lit her own and took a puff.

The woman’s cell phone rang, and she stepped out of the room to answer it. Jack took a long drag from his cigarette and blew the smoke up toward the ceiling.

Crystal
grinned at him. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”

He snorted. “Friend is extreme.” He glanced up as his lieutenant came into the room. “Lieutenant, this is Crystal Cartwright, and Mark and
Devon
.” He looked at them. “This is my supervisor, Lieutenant Reeder.”

The lieutenant extended his hand to
Crystal
and she shook it. “Hello,” she said softly.

“Ms. Cartwright, boys, pleasure to meet you. Sorry you got mixed up in the middle of this.”

She chuckled. “We are too. It’s pretty scary.” She looked at the money.

“Holy Mary, Mother of God.” Reeder fingered the cash. “Well, first thing, Dunlevy, let’s get this fingerprinted and then signed over to the evidence room. I put in a call to Special Investigations, and they’re sending over Brady Marshall to work with you on this.”

“Finally got somebody’s attention.” Jack smiled grimly and crushed out his cigarette.

“Oh yes, you did, in a major way.
Marshall
’s coming over shortly, so if you could stick around to touch base with him…”

Jack nodded.

“Curtis!” the lieutenant barked, and the woman detective reappeared. “Stay with the folks here, would you please, while Dunlevy and I get this evidence marked? Get them some Cokes and snacks or something.”

“Yes sir,” she replied.

Jack looked at
Crystal
. “This is Detective Melanie Curtis.” He looked at Curtis. “
Crystal
, Mark and
Devon
.”

“Hello.” Curtis nodded to Crystal, who nodded back.

Jack loaded up the cash and gave
Crystal
a quick wink as he walked out.

Curtis asked, “Who’s Mark and who’s
Devon
?”

“I’m
Devon
,” the boy answered. Mark just looked at her.
Crystal
bit her lip and tried not to chuckle at his stubbornness. His face clearly read: You’re the detective. You should be able to figure out the rest. Mark was just old enough to have a little distrust in people,
Crystal
realized. Probably for good reason. He had seen a lot in his eight short years. She ground out her cigarette.

“So you’d be Mark then,” Curtis finally said. Mark remained stoic.

“Pretty good detective work there,”
Crystal
said quietly, and he looked at her and laughed. She offered an apologetic look to Curtis. “Sorry. It’s been quite a week for us. We’re a little punchy.”

Detective Curtis smiled and replied, “I would imagine so. Can I get you all something to drink, or eat? We don’t have much, but the vending machine is pretty well stocked.”

“I could drink a Coke,”
Crystal
said.

Curtis looked at the boys. “If it’s okay with your mom, I’ll take you down the hall to the machines with me. You can see what they have and pick something out.”

They glanced at Crystal, who inhaled slightly. Mark asked, “Is it okay,
Mom
?”

She batted her eyes at him and smiled. “Of course, son. Stay with Detective Curtis, though.” She lit up another cigarette and watched them go.

They returned with four cans and an assortment of crackers and cookies from the machine. “Wow, thanks,”
Crystal
told the policewoman.

“No problem. Hard to tell how long you’ll be here. After some random fingerprinting, they have to count those bills individually twice, and that could take a while.”

“Great,”
Crystal
muttered. That
would
take a while. She settled back into her chair and opened her Coke.

“Sorry you got stuck with Dunlevy on this case,” Curtis commented. “He’s not Mr. Personality.”

Crystal
raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? I guess I hadn’t noticed. We haven’t seen that much of him.”

“He’s close to retirement, and you know how people can get when they’re in that position. Do things kind of half-assed, and all that…” She seemed to remember the children were sitting there listening and said quickly, “Oh, sorry.”

Crystal
chuckled. “No problem.” What she did think was a problem was Detective Curtis’ attitude toward Jack. If that’s how his co-workers saw him, he did need to quit. She hated to think of him being mentally beaten down day after day in this place. He was such a smart, caring man. Why didn’t other people see him that way? She had a feeling it all revolved around the death of his partner. Tragic, but wasn’t that also a part of police work?

Crystal
considered that as she sipped her drink and puffed her smoke. It bothered her to hear someone knock Jack. She had strong feelings for him, but she hadn't realized
how
strong until Detective Curtis started spewing her garbage. It almost gave
Crystal
a stomach ache, similar to the torn-up-gut feeling she got when Jack looked at her angrily the night before. She didn’t like that feeling, and wasn’t interested in incurring his wrath again.

She glanced at Curtis. “What do you know about this
Marshall
guy, from Vice? Is he going to be cool, or a dickhead?”