Tansy Taylor (21 page)

“Gee, help yourself. No, we haven’t figured out anything either.” Sam responded, not taking the bait from Smith over his true identity. “So, was the body in the trunk tied to the Russian mob?”

Smith shook his head. “Sorry, ongoing investigation, can’t share.” He took another bite, smiled, and then turned to me.

“It was really good seeing you Tansy. Make sure and let me know if anything suspicious happens, or you think you may have a lead on what those creeps who took Callie want.” Smith took another bite of apple and looked at me thoughtfully as he chewed.

I nodded, “I will.” Guilty feelings washed over me. Maybe I should tell him about the phone call and the missing files. The caller had said no police though, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to compromise Callie’s safety. What if there was someone inside the police? It seemed to me that these guys meant business, and they’d somehow known that Smith was with me when they called last night. I had an idea.

“Oh, um, I was wondering, Alex,” I was hoping by using his first name it would be a bit more personal, and possibly get me further.

He turned and smiled. “I didn’t think that you remembered my first name.”

“Um, ya, you know. I was wondering though, if I needed to get something out of my car, you know while it’s in impound, what would I need to do?”

“Oh, well, you’re really not supposed to touch anything in your car, since it could be evidence.” I frowned and he looked torn; I knew I had him. “Well, I suppose if it’s something important…”

“Oh it is! It’s my mom’s locket. The chain broke the other day and it’s in the ashtray.” This was mostly true, I did have a locket in there, it wasn’t my mom’s however. It was a cheap ass one my last boyfriend had gotten me and I could care less whether I saw it again or not. But, it did provide me a nice cover to get into the impound lot.

He grinned and reached out for my hand. “I’ll call down there and let the guard know I gave you permission to go and get it. Just make sure you don’t disturb anything else. I don’t think we have much of a chance of finding whoever did this, but just in case, we need to keep it as in tact as we can. There were no fingerprints that we found, so it doesn’t look too good.” He released my hand and I gave him a big hug.

“Thanks so much Alex, you don’t know how much this means to me.” I let go of him and stepped back next to Sam, who rolled his eyes. The detective just grinned and took another bite of apple.

“See ya Adams. Have fun washing cars.” he said. Detective Smith turned and walked back toward his car, tossing his apple core into a garbage can along the way.

“What a prick,” Sam said, sneering at Smith’s back.

“You just don’t like him because he figured you out.” I bent over and picked up our lunch remnants.

He took my shoulders and turned me toward him, reigniting the fire that had still been smoldering just under my skin. “That is not why I don’t like him, although, it did irk me just a bit.” He leaned in closer, caressing my shoulders and back. “The reason I don’t like him is because of the way that he looks at you.” He bent and kissed me lightly, scorching my tender lips. My insides fluttered.

“I think you’re reading more into than is there.” I knew Alex Smith was attracted to me, he had said as much. I just didn’t think I’d ever be attracted to someone like him, especially when I had this amazing connection with Sam. “I’m perfectly content right where I am right now.” I leaned in, grasped my fingers behind his neck pulling his face down to me and kissed him deeply. I felt him lift me to him, pulling me up off of the ground so that every inch of my body matched his.

The sound of kids from the playground eventually brought us back to reality.

“Smith was right about something though, you have a ton of grass in your hair.” He picked two or three pieces out of my hair.

“I’m sure I look like a mess.” I put my hands on my hair and could feel a bunch of little prickly fibers poking out. “I suppose I should get going so I can get down to the impound lot before they close.”

“You sure the locket is the only reason you want to go down to the lot? You think Buster might have left something in his truck?” Damn, he really was a good P.I.

“Well, I thought I might take a peek since I’ll be there and all. I’m sure the police checked it over really well though. ” I frowned, if they already had the files it wouldn’t be good.

Sam shrugged. “I don’t think it would hurt. From what you were saying, they didn’t seem too interested in his disappearance when it happened. They may go back over it now that Callie has been kidnapped.”

“That’s sort of what I thought too.” I walked over to the garbage can and tossed in the remains of our lunch. I was nervous. If I found the flash drive, I would need to use it to get Callie back, but on the other hand, whatever was in those files was probably pretty important, or at least incriminating, and I should get to the police. I didn’t feel too good about stealing evidence from the police, but I couldn’t think of any other options. I would just have to get it and then figure out what to do.

Sam came up behind me and put his arm around me. “Ready to get going then?” He steered me toward his Jeep, which was parked on the side street.

I grabbed Jeni’s helmet out of his Jeep and turned to get one more kiss.

We wrapped around each other, using the Jeep for support. I heard a little giggle off to the side and caught a group of school age girls pointing and whispering at us. I had always rallied against public displays of affection, and now, here I was, on display. Yuck, what was happening to me? It was Sam, he was like a drug that made me do things I never would, and he clouded my abilities. I needed to get somewhere I could think clearly.

“Um, Sam? I think we should, uh, stop being so affectionate in public.” I nodded toward the girls.

Sam smiled and gave them a wave. They screamed and ran off toward the jungle gym. He chuckled. “I know. I just can’t help myself. I feel like I can’t get enough of you.” He tugged at the hem of my shirt, sending shivers racing over my body as the back of his finger brushed the tender skin beneath. I leaned in and rested my head on his chest.

“I know; it’s the same for me. It probably sounds cheesy, but I’ve never been half as attracted to anyone as I am to you. I traced my finger over the button on his shirt. “But, if I’m going to be able to focus at all, I need to get away from you and find someplace to think. I need to figure out where these elusive files are before these bastards decide that Callie is no longer needed. I couldn’t live with myself if she got hurt. I already feel horrible knowing I agreed to help her with this whole thing and if I hadn’t she might be perfectly safe right now.”

Sam brushed the curls back from my face and gave me a gentle kiss on the forehead. “I know you’re worried. Believe me though, we’ll figure out where these files are and get Callie back. I’m sure of it. Besides, if you hadn’t decided to help her, we would never have met.”

I gave him one more goodbye kiss and then forced myself to walk away, back to the dealership and Jeni’s scooter.

Chapter Sixteen

I arrived back at the scooter and looked around. It seemed everyone else at the dealership had left for the day.

“Buster, you here?” I kept my voice low, just in case someone was around. There was no answer. I walked toward the wash bay, it was dark.

“Buster? Are you in here?” I heard my voice echo off of the metal walls. No answer again. Maybe he’d somehow moved on without me knowing. I turned to go and heard a voice.

“I’m in here.” I recognized his voice, he sounded even more down than earlier.

I walked in toward his voice and saw his faint ghostly outline slumped down near the wall. Something was not right; he even more transparent than usual and had a gray cast. “Buster?”

“Why didn’t you tell me about Callie?” Oh, damn, this was not good.

“How’d you find out?”

“I’m dead, not deaf. I’ve been coming in and watching TV when Jimbo has the news on.” He kicked at an imaginary pebble or something.

“Buster, I am so sorry. I’m going to get her back though. I figured out how to get to your truck and find the files they want. I’m going to trade Callie back for them.” I said. “I promise, I am not going to let anything happen to her.”

“I hope so. I mean, it sucks that I’m dead; I can’t stand thinking of Callie having to go through this. It’s so hard, being stranded here and not being able to do anything to help. I still don’t know why I’m even stuck here. Now that I know about these files, I feel like I’m responsible for what happened to her. If I hadn’t stolen these files, they wouldn’t have taken her. Heck, if I hadn’t stolen the files, I’d probably still be alive.” He ran his hands through his hair and then resumed kicking at the imaginary rock.

My heart went out to him. “Buster, I know you’re feeling like this is all your doing, and quite frankly, I figure that is why you are still here. I think when you died you must have known Callie would be in danger, so your spirit stuck around to make sure you could help her. But, I also think you must’ve had a very good reason for stealing those files. You don’t strike me as someone who would just decide to steal some files on the Russian mob. I have a feeling you died trying to bring out the truth about something important; and now, you’re helping me find the evidence that will save Callie and bring to light whatever is going on.” I gave him the biggest smile I could.

“You really think so?” He asked tentatively.

“I do Buster; I really think what you are doing is heroic.” I gave him another big grin. “Now, I’m going to go find this evidence so we can get Callie back safe and sound, okay?” I put the electric pink helmet on and strapped on the chin strap.

“Okay, but Tansy, be careful, okay? I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you too.” He cracked a smile, and looked like his spirit was shining just a bit brighter.

“You got it. I don’t want anything to happen to me either!” I got onto the scooter and waved goodbye, almost taking out a parked car in the process. If I didn’t watch it I wouldn’t make it to the impound lot, let alone find any evidence.

It took me two phone calls and five wrong turns, but I finally found the lot. I parked the scooter and headed over to the guard booth. It was different than I’d pictured it. There was a guard booth and a big metal gate. Behind the gate was a sea of cars and what appeared to be a parking garage with even more cars. Were there really this many cars impounded by the police? I was never going to be able to find Buster’s truck.

I got to the guard’s booth and took a peek inside. There was one guard in the booth. He looked as though he didn’t get much exercise in his job. He was stuffed in his office chair. I watched as he inhaled half of a Taco Bell burrito in one bite and then topped it off with a long pull off of his monster sized soda. Obviously his dietary choice had something to do with it too. He paused his attack on the burrito and belched so loud I swear it shook the windows. Satisfied he was now gas free he turned back to his television to watch more Judge Judy.

I decided I was going to have to knock if he was ever going to focus his attention on me. I gave a little tap but got no reaction. I knocked harder, the thick glass hurting my knuckles. Finally, he turned around and gave me a blank stare. I flashed him a smile.

“Hi there!” I said and gave him a sexy little wave.

He turned the volume down on the Judge and leaned into the microphone.

“Can I help you?” He sounded less than enthusiastic.

“Hi, um, yes. My name is Tansy Taylor and Detective Alex Smith told me that he’d call you and okay it so I can go get a necklace out of my car is in there.” I pointed back at the sea of cars.

“Just a sec.” He rolled his largeness back a few feet and grabbed a clipboard. He scanned a few pages and then stabbed the top page with his finger.

“Okay. I see it here. You need to go get a necklace out of your car, which is in lot C, floor 3.” He sighed, and gave the parking garage a wary stare.

“Let me just call it in and have Bob come and fill in for me for a few minutes.” He reached for the phone.

“No!” I yelped. He stopped with the phone midway to his ear. “What I mean is, why bother Bob? You’re obviously in the middle of your dinner and I just need to run in and get my necklace. I have my scooter out here; I can just ride on in, find my car and get the necklace.” I flashed him another grin. “I’d hate to put you out and interrupt Judge Judy. I just love that show. In fact, if I didn’t have to be here right now, I’d totally be home on the couch watching her myself.”

He relaxed a bit, and set the phone back down on the cradle. “I don’t know, I mean, we aren’t supposed to let folks just wander around unescorted.” He scratched at his ear while he thought it over. I squinted at his name tag.

“Oh, Bradley, I wouldn’t call me just folks. I mean, me and Detective Smith are good friends. I just had an unfortunate event with my car, you know. I actually work on cases sometimes, you know, so it’s not like you would be letting just any old person in off the street.” I could see Bradley debating it in his head and knew he would do what he could to do as little as possible.

“I could be in and out on my scooter faster than it would take the both of us to walk all the way over to the garage and up to the third floor.” I looked toward the garage, and could see that Bradley was thinking the same thing.