Kill Shot (20 page)
Micki smiled at him across the width of the car. “Don’t worry, Oz. I’ve always been a one man woman.”
He cast a doubtful glance back at her. “But you’re not ready to commit to anything official?”
Whoa! Where did that come from?
Micki couldn’t find the words to say what he wanted to hear, yet she couldn’t bear to disappoint him. “We have some things to work out between us, Oz. You know that.”
“But, we’re okay?”
She smiled and stroked her hand up and down his arm. “We’re fine. Don’t worry about me and don’t worry about our relationship.”
He reached over and gave her thigh a squeeze. “I lost you once when I wasn’t expecting it and I don’t want to make the same mistake twice. You’d let me know if there was something wrong, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes, Oz.” Micki considered a moment. “I just wasn’t ready for, you know?”
“The box.” He flicked his dark gaze over her again.
“Yeah.”
When they arrived at the park he took her hand and strode across the grass to the boat dock. He rented a row boat and helped her inside.
Micki gripped the sides of the boat as Oz shoved off and began to row, “You learned something about the body in the lake?”
He smiled at her and continued rowing.
“C’mon, Oz,” she said. “What’s going on?”
Oz rowed to the approximate spot the scullers had made their discovery of Randal Knox’ floating head. He rested the oars in the boat and looked around.
“Somebody would have a big set to dump a body here in broad daylight,” he said. “It had to have been at night.”
“Okay, I can see that.”
“The boats used by the custodial crew are locked up in the boat barn after work, but the head of Park Maintenance said that kids sometimes swim around to the water entrance to liberate a boat, but that they’ve always returned them.” Oz fitted the oars back into the oarlocks and resumed rowing.
“You’re telling me that just about anyone could have access to the boats?” Micki leaned forward, trying to break into the semi-trance Oz had drifted into.
“Yeah, anyone could have stolen a row boat and used that to dump the body, except they didn’t have access to the motor boat. It has a kill switch. The key has an electronic chip and if it isn’t inserted into the ignition the boat won’t start.” Oz stared down into the murky water. “If I were going to dump a body and had access to a boat, I’d go over there, where the cattails and brush are growing so thick.”
“Maybe the killer isn’t as smart as you,” she said.
“Or maybe he had to dump it in a hurry.”
“Is that why you brought me out here?” She gazed at him, sensing that something else was on his mind.
Oz rested the oars again. “Not really.” He gave her that gut twisting look that spoke of the heartbreak he’d suffered at her hands. “I thought we should talk.”
Micki’s tongue flicked over her lips as her insides roiled in fear of what he would say. “In the middle of the lake?”
“I figured we wouldn’t be interrupted.” He gave her a half-smile. “If your cell phone rings I’m going to throw it in the water.”
She reached in her pocket and muted the offensive instrument. “Alrighty then.”
He took a deep breath and then plunged in. “Micki, I’m glad you gave me a second chance. I was miserable without you. It was like I was in a coma after you dumped me.”
“I’m sorry, Oz.”
“Don’t apologize to me, baby. I’m trying to apologize to you. I was angry, but I wasn’t thinking about why you did it. I’m sorry if I made you feel like you were in a box. I’m sorry I took things for granted and made all the decisions. Most of all, I’m sorry I assumed that you want the same things out of life that I do.”
She felt tears stinging her eyes.
“Aw, Micki, don’t cry. I’m trying to tell you something here.”
She grinned at his discomfort, her tears making twin rivulets down her cheeks.
“Aw, Jeez,” he said. “Come here.” He opened his arms as she started leaning toward him with the boat tipping crazily.
Micki did a less than graceful crab-like crawl into Oz’ arms as he pulled her toward him. For the next half hour she reclined against his chest while they talked. They talked about the reason she’d broken up with him and while she couldn’t describe her feelings in any tangible terms, she hoped he could understand how stifled she’d felt.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded, her head pressed into his shoulder.
“With me?”
“I’m great with you, Oz.” She bit her lip. “Are you okay with me?”
“Almost.” He reached in his pocket and drew out the ring box he’d tried to give her the night he’d proposed. “I got this for you, but you never looked at it. It’s just a piece of jewelry without the promise that goes with it.”
Her gut twisted. “Promise?”
He pressed his lips into the top of her hair. “You know, where you promise to love, honor and obey my every command.”
She jerked her head, twisting toward him suddenly. The boat rocked in counterpoint.
“I’m kidding,” he said in response to her gasp.
“Oz, I...”
“Shut up and relax while I say what I gotta say.” He turned her shoulders so that she reclined against him once more.
“I gotta know if you love me, Micki. I think so, but is it the kind that lasts a lifetime?”
She nestled back into the shelter of his arms and wrapped her fingers around his wrist. “I can’t picture my life without you. I can’t imagine that I would ever be with anyone else.” She took a deep breath and blew it out. “But I can’t become my mother...or yours.”
“Lord, I hope not!” He squeezed her. “Can you become my fiancée?”
A tightness in her chest caused her throat to constrict. “You said it was a promise?” she rasped out.
“I would like you to promise yourself to me, someday. Whenever you’re ready. However long it takes.”
Micki nodded and her voice came out thin and reedy. “I can do that.”
Oz took the ring out of the box and she held out her hand as he slid it on her finger. “I love you, Micki. I’m good with someday.”
“I love you everyday, Oz.” She turned her face to his for a kiss.
Oz stroked her throat as he gently kissed her lips, his fingers tracing a line down into the vee of her shirt and grazing the top of her breasts.
She pulled back, laughing. “How come I always get a grope when you kiss me?”
Oz grinned and gave her another squeeze. “You just happen to be a very lucky woman.”
#
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
When he’d rowed them back to the dock and handed her out of the boat, Micki gave Oz a proper kiss to celebrate their engagement. He hadn’t stopped grinning since he’d put the ring on her finger. His joy was contagious.
She knew she would have to hold her ground to keep from slipping back into the mire of their previous relationship, but she was willing to make it work with him.
“I need to pick up my cameras. Gus is supposed to have them repaired. Could you run me by his shop?”
“Sure.” He gave her a hug and swung her around before setting her feet on the ground.
When Gus saw Micki, he raised a hand in greeting. “I figured you’d be here today.” He inclined his head toward Oz. “Who’s this? Your bodyguard?”
Micki laughed. “Usually. Gus this is Oz, my b...” She turned to Oz with her mouth open.
Oz stood with his brows raised.
“My fiancé,” she finished.
Oz’ eyes crinkled as he gave her a huge grin with all the teeth and dimples.
“Let me get your cameras.” Gus disappeared in the back behind a curtain.
“That sounded good,” Oz said. “I never thought I’d hear you say those words.”
“I said it.” Micki leaned against him, snuggling her head on his shoulder. “I meant it.”
“Me, too. It’s you and me forever, kid.”
Gus came through the curtain with two brown paper bags, stapled closed, each with a ticket attached.
She handed Gus a credit card and then turned to Oz. He’d been strangely quiet since she had accepted his ring. He reached for the cameras, still in the bags and bade Gus goodbye with a wave.
On the street, she tucked her hand in the crook of his arm as they walked to his car. “Are you okay, Oz?”
He nodded, the grin still in place. “Yeah, I’m really good with this someday thing. A week ago I thought we were over, so I’m on top of the world.”
“Me too, but one thing,” she said.
“Anything,” he said.
“No announcement. I can’t handle your mother and my mother and Candy. They’ll get all excited and take this away from us. Can you do this for me, please?”
His gaze riveted her in place. “I will do anything you want as long as that ring stays on your finger.”
Her stomach did a flip-flop. “Oz, I would never have accepted your ring if I’d thought there was any possibility that I might give it back.”
“So it’s only my mother who could make you run screaming away?”
“And mine. It was all I could do to sit on the porch through the visit and not strangle her.” She shivered. “There were so many things I wanted to say to her, but she wouldn’t understand.”
His gaze wrapped her in compassion. “Is this about your father? When he was dying and they sent you away?”
Her throat tightened up and she couldn’t speak. She nodded, struggled to keep the tears from spilling.
Oz put her in the car and settled the cameras on the floor of the back seat. Micki leaned across and opened Oz’ door for him and he slid inside.
#
I’m engaged.
Oz drove back to the park with his face feeling like it might split open.
I’m engaged to marry Micki Vermillion . . . someday.
He’d left her at his parent’s house with the ring tucked inside her bra. He could handle that. At least it was in a good place.
He drove back to the park and knocked on the green metal door belonging to the Park Maintenance Director. He had to bang his fist on the door a second time to get a response.
The door creaked open and Lloyd peered up at him with suspicion. “You again,” he said. “What do you want this time? You people haven’t returned the motor boat and we need it back.”
“It hasn’t been released by the lab yet, Lloyd.” Oz took a step towards him and the old man stepped back into the shadows of the small cluttered office. “I’d like to take a look at your personnel files.”
“Whatever for?” Lloyd asked.
“I wanted to see who you have working for you Lloyd. Is there anyone on your staff with a criminal record?”
Lloyd removed the scruffy, frayed baseball cap from his head and scratched his grizzled scalp. “Yeah, there’s one guy with a rap sheet. Leo did time for armed robbery in his youth, but he served his time and he’s been straight as a string since he got out. He’s got a wife and a little girl.”
Oz fixed the old man with a long gaze. “If that’s the case, I’m sure there’s no reason Leo would kill a guy and toss him in the lake.”
“Only if someone hurt that little girl.” Lloyd returned the cap to his head and settled it in place with his grey hair straggling out the sides. “Any father worth the name would kill the man who hurt his daughter. Do you have kids, officer?”
“No, sir, but I hope to some day.”
“When you do you’ll understand what I mean.” Lloyd nodded gruffly and motioned for Oz to follow him. He tried to open a rusty filing cabinet, but the handle came off in his hand. “Hand me that pry bar, son.” He pointed to a tool lying haphazardly among others in a plastic tub.
Oz handed it to him and the old man slipped the end of the steel bar into the file drawer and wrestled it open.
Scooping out an armload of files, Lloyd handed them to Oz. “Here ya’ go. Just be careful with ‘em. I generally don’t get into them except for once a year when I do their evaluations. Most of them guys been with me for a while.”
“I understand.” Oz hadn’t intended to take the files with him, but there wasn’t a place for him to sit in the tiny crowded office. “I’ll return these tomorrow. Is that alright?”
The old man nodded and held the door for Oz, obviously anxious for him to leave.
#
When Micki took the cameras out of the brown paper bags, she felt like a mother reunited with her lost children. She looked at the Rollei that her father had used in his business for so long. When he’d given it to her it was as though she was receiving a major part of her inheritance because the Rollei was his finest location portrait camera. He had a larger portrait camera in his studio with a set of lighting and backgrounds that he insisted were guaranteed to make any woman look beautiful.
When she’d been a small child, Micki had sat with him in his darkroom while he finished his prints. She’d watched raptly as he’d slipped a sheet of photo paper under the developing fluid and faces would magically appear. She’d learned every step of the photography business as if by osmosis at her father’s side.
Her father had closed the studio, claiming he couldn’t compete with the younger photographers with their new technology. When Micki offered to help he’d told her she could do it on her own. She hadn’t known he was sick. He’d sold the studio and put the money in an annuity so his wife would have income in his absence. His equipment was sealed in trunks in her mother’s garage, a gift to Micki whenever she was ready to use it.
