Naked Frame (13 page)

"Try it."

Rebecca called the number.
It went to voice mail:
You have reached
Calvin's Auto Shop. Our hours are eight to six. Please leave a
message.
Rebecca hung up. "I think we're on
to something. Let's get over there."

Gabby pulled out of the McDonald's parking
lot, and drove them to the spot where they had parked that
morning—around the corner from Calvin's house. "Any chance the
police could be there waiting for us?"

"There's always a chance. I'll bet nobody's
even discovered Big Bill's body yet. But I'm sure they're
investigating Carly's death by now. And if Carly was carrying my
business card in her purse—"

"—the police will be wanting to talk to
you."

"By tomorrow, it's going to be much harder
to get around this city anonymously. We've got to figured out who
killed who, and we've got to do it tonight."

They stepped out of the car and took the
sidewalk around to Calvin's garage. The doors were closed, but the
lights were on. The only car in Calvin's driveway was his Buick.
There were no cars in front of his house.

Rebecca pointed, and led the way to the side
door, which faced the side of the house. She knocked.

They listened for a response. But the only
thing they could hear inside was the giant fan.

"Maybe he didn't hear," said Gabby.

Rebecca knocked louder.

Still no response.

She opened the door. "Mr. Cinaway?"

At first, Gabby thought Calvin had fallen
fell asleep under the hood of the car—until he saw the screwdriver
handle. "Oh, shit." He hoped it was a stubby screwdriver. Their
blades are only a couple of inches long—made for tight spaces. But
stubby screwdrivers had stubby handles. This handle was six inches
long. Then he spotted the pool of blood under the car.

They rushed over for a closer look.

Rebecca leaned in under the hood for a side
view. "It went all the way through his body. We've got to get out
of here."

On the way out, Rebecca used the tail of her
blouse to wipe her fingerprints off the doorknob.

CHAPTER 28 - Tuesday, 8:09 p.m.

The last stop of Mandibul's security rounds
was the lab. He poked his head into Phillipa's office. "Feeling
horny tonight?"

Phillipa stood up from her desk. "Come in,
Honey. I need to talk to you."

"Sounds serious."

"It is." She led him to the couch and they
sat down. "You know how I feel about you, Manny. And I think you
feel the same way. We're hoping to have a future together,
right?"

"Yes, of course."

"Well, the thing is...I have a problem."

"How can I help? Tell me what I can do."

"Okay. You know about how I'm supposed to
make a lot of money from the project I'm working on?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there's a man who wants to take that
away from me. And that would destroy our future. We need that
money."

"So, you want me to go talk some sense into
the bastard?"

"No. I'm afraid talking won't work."

"How about I rough him up? That'll change
his mind."

"No. What I need...is for him to die."

Mandibul hesitated. "You
want me to...
kill
him?"

"It's the only way."

CHAPTER 29 - Tuesday, 9:14 p.m.

Cam was taller than your typical supermodel.
At 6-foot-4, she was every man's larger-than-life dream Barbie.
Some guys were bothered by her angular features. Others were
oblivious to the fact that they were being turned on by a
transvestite. She would never do anything to burst their bubble.
She lived for the fantasy.

But her dreams of a modeling career were
history. Cam had become a realist. She was serious about her new
work. After her brother, Tony, had failed, Poppa had told him to
hand the job over to Cam. She was finally getting chance to prove
herself.

And it was going to be so easy.

She had no trouble recognizing Megan. The
seat across from the seventeen year-old was available, so she took
it. When Cam crossed her legs, Megan noticed her bright red high
heels.

"I love your shoes."

"Thanks."

"You must be a model. Or an actress."

Cam smiled. "Both, actually. I'm flying to
Dallas for a local commercial shoot."

"So, you live here in New York?"

"Yes. Most of my work is here. But I was
free for this thing, so I figured, why not? It might lead to an
acting career."

Megan's face lit up. "Wow. That's so
cool."

"Now, judging by your accent, I'd say you're
a Texan."

"Is it that obvious? Damn, I've got lose
this accent somehow."

"You dang sure better, Missy," said Cam, in
her best Texas twang.

Megan's jaw dropped. "That's amazing."

Cam laughed.

"How did you learn to sound like a
Texan?"

"You pick it up. It's not that hard. But
you've got to be careful where you use it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, a lot of people up here think you're
dumb or gullible if you sound southern."

"Really? Thanks for the tip." Megan
hesitated. "But I guess it doesn't matter now. I'm going home. And
I don't know if I'll ever get to come back."

"Oh, don't say that, Honey. I'm sure things
will work out for you."

Megan began to cry, and wipe her eyes. She
got up and walked to the restroom.

Cam waited a few seconds, and followed Megan
into the restroom. Bending down to look under the stalls, she saw
only one pair of shoes. And she could hear Megan sobbing.

Cam slipped back out to the entrance and
looked around. Nobody was approaching. She would knock on Megan's
stall door, and the foolish little teen would open it to her new
friend. Cam would step inside to console her, place her hands on
the sides of Megan's sweet, young head, and give it a violent
twist. After balancing the girl's corpse on the toilet, she would
walk away, and mark the first notch on her kill belt.

The adrenaline rush was amazing. Cam's body
tingled with anticipation as she walked to the stall of death. She
was about to knock when five college girls ran into the
restroom.

Cam turned around and walked over to a sink.
She opened her purse and took out her powder. The co-eds would get
their business done quickly and clear out. Megan would be unlikely
to exit her stall while the cheery babes were in the bathroom.

Cam counted the girls out of the corner of
her eye as each one came out of a stall, washed her hands, and
left. She was careful to avoid eye contact, not wanting to be
remembered as the strange woman lurking in the restroom.

She bent down to look under the stalls. Yes.
Only one pair of shoes. Cam hurried to the stall door and
knocked.

Megan didn't answer.

Cam knocked again. "Megan?" She needed to do
it fast, before somebody else wandered in.

Still no answer.

She stretched to her tiptoes and peeked over
the top of the door. "Megan?"

"Do you mind, Lady?"

The girl looking up at her was not Megan. It
was one of the college girls. Megan had not been in that stall, but
in the one next to it. She had slipped out with four of the college
girls. "Dammit."

Cam ran out of the restroom. Megan's plane
was already boarding, and she was nowhere in sight. Cam had a
ticket, but she was on standby. And the plane was full. But flying
to Dallas had never part of Cam's plan anyway. The ticket was just
to get her through security.

She watched the plane pull away from the
gate.

It should have been so easy.

CHAPTER 30 - Tuesday, 9:26 p.m.

Harvey poured himself another glass of Pinot
Noir. "Yes, 2004 was a very good year." He took a sip.

But, of course, this year would be even
better—now that Big Bill was a giant sack of worm food. He sat down
in his overstuffed leather chair and gazed at his wall-to-wall
bookshelf. He had actually read some of those books. Many were
leather bound. None were paperback. Harvey enjoyed bringing dinner
guests into his study for a drink, just to impress them with his
large personal library.

Catherine was gone for good. She had grown
tired of Harvey's late nights and weekends at the office. Never
having time for her or their children. She had taken the girls to
her mother's house. He would be expecting a call from her divorce
attorney.

Harvey would give her
whatever she wanted. No long, drawn out divorce. The quicker the
better—so he could marry the true love of his life: Kimberly. The
very thought of her name raised his blood pressure—in a
good
way.

Yes, he would divorce Catherine, marry
Kimberly, and become the new CEO of Smotherburn Technologies. He
took another sip and smiled. Running the company every day. Banging
Kimberly every night. What a life it would be.

**********

The intruder wrapped a soft cloth around the
head of the hammer and tapped it against one of the panes in the
kitchen door. The pane broke and glass fell to the floor inside.
The study was located in the other wing of the house, so he
wouldn't hear a thing.

Reaching in through the broken window with a
gloved hand, it was easy to unlock the deadbolt and open the door.
No alarm would sound. Harvey never set it until bedtime.

Harvey was so busy drinking wine and
dreaming of his honeymoon with Kimberly that he didn't notice the
tip of the suppressor emerging from the edge of the door frame. He
should have spotted the gun aiming at the side of his head, twelve
feet away.

But he didn't.

And he didn't feel the bullet when it
pierced his temple, passed through his brain, and out the other
side of his head.

Harvey slumped over. The glass fell from his
hand, splashing red wine onto the plush, white carpet.

On the way out the kitchen door, the killer
dropped a small silver item on the floor.

CHAPTER 31 - Tuesday, 9:40 p.m.

As Gabby pulled into Wiley's driveway, his
phone rang.

"Melvin?...Well, are you okay? I tried
calling you earlier...I see...good...thanks, Melvin. And I'm so
sorry I got you into a dangerous situation...okay. Take care."

Gabby ended the call. "He's okay. Just a few
bruises. No broken bones."

"Thank goodness. I was really worried about
him."

They got out of the car and walked up to
Wiley's front door.

Rebecca rang the doorbell.

Gabby peeked in through the sidelight
window. "I don't see anybody. Try knocking."

Rebecca knocked on the door.

Still no response.

"Maybe he's passed out," said Rebecca.

"It's kinda early to be drunk."

"Yeah, I guess."

Gabby glanced over his shoulder. "Did you
see that car slow down as it passed by?"

"No."

"I think somebody's watching us. Maybe we'd
better get out of here."

"I want to find out if Wiley knows about the
contract."

"That's probably what he and Bobby were
arguing about."

"So, maybe now he's gone over to confront
Kimberly."

Headlights from the road caught Gabby's
attention. "There's that car again."

"Okay. Let's go."

They got into Gabby's car and he backed out
of the driveway. As he backed into the street, he saw a car in his
rearview mirror making a U-turn. Gabby gunned the accelerator.
"They're following us." He ignored the stop sign at the end of the
street, and turned right.

The other car followed.

For blocks, Gabby tried to elude the chaser.
Finally, he turned off his lights.

Rebecca panicked. "What are you doing?
You're going to hit something."

"Don't worry. I've done this before."

His eyes began to adjust to the near
darkness in front of him. He turned into a used car lot, pulled in
between two pickups, and killed the engine.

They sat perfectly still, barely
breathing.

Headlights drove by. After a minute or so,
they began to relax.

There were two taps on Gabby's window.

When he turned, he was looking into the end
of a gun barrel.

"Get out," a gruff voice said.

They obeyed. The men patted them down. One
thug took Gabby's smartphone and threw it across the pavement. The
other one grabbed Rebecca's phone, pulled off her shoulder holster
and pistol and tossed everything on the ground. They zip-tied their
wrists behind their backs.

Once they were in the black full-sized van,
with the two thugs in the seat behind them, the man in the front
passenger seat turned around. They recognized him immediately as
Bobby Ballantini—Joey's right hand man. His face looked eerie,
backlit by the soft glow of the instrument panel. "I'm afraid you
two have been bad little children. Now you're going to the
principal's office."

Rebecca had made plenty of trips to the
principal's office. A couple of times she even got paddled, with
permission from her dad. And she had deserved it.

But she and Gabby were in for more than a
paddling. In retrospect, perhaps turning themselves in to the
police would not have been such a bad idea after all.

The van drove into a warehouse. Once the
warehouse door closed, the lights came on, and they saw Joey
standing there.

The two goons ordered them
out of the car and over to where Joey was waiting. "Well,
hello,
Heather
."

He slapped Rebecca in the face with a
vengeance, and she stumbled backward. "I mean Rebecca
Ranghorn."

After Joey had caught her in his office and
then nearly had sex with her, he might have wondered if she'd had
some ulterior motive for being there. Perhaps he realized he had
left his desk unlocked—and that she had probably seen his contract
to purchase Café Nue.