The Good Die Twice (24 page)

“No shots. There’s stuff in those shots.
People get injected with viruses.”

Dagger grabbed Skizzy by his bony shoulders.
“Calm down.” He waited until he had Skizzy’s full attention. “Okay,
no shots. But if he needs to, let him spray some of the cuts to
numb them.”

“Okay if I close the door?” Doc pushed the
door closed and locked it. “I don’t want any of my cop fans
sneaking a peek at my business.”

Skizzy looked at Doc with renewed
interest.

Doc nodded to Dagger. “Let’s get him off the
floor to some place more comfortable. We should get him out of
these clothes so I can see where all the injuries are.”

Skizzy’s body shuddered as he was helped from
the floor. “They ripped them up. Tossed everything out of my
drawers looking for something.”

Dagger handed Sara some money. “Logan’s is
open twenty-four hours. Go pick up some underwear, shirts, pants,
tennis shoes. Pick up some food there, too. It looks like they
dumped everything out of his refrigerator.”

“Cut the labels out of the clothes,” Doc
said.

Dagger looked at him with surprise and
shifted his gaze quickly to Skizzy, who furrowed his brow
quizzically at Doc. Skizzy was even skeptical of those who seemed
too good to be true.

As if to assure the injured man, Doc added,
“I’m monitored constantly, Skizzy. I can almost feel their eyes on
me, always checking to see whom I’m meeting for lunch, what books
I’m buying, what calls I’m making. I have my own methods now and I
don’t blame you for not trusting me. I find it difficult to trust
people, too. Especially those who think they understand or
sympathize with me.”

“Yeh, they try to think they’re your new
found friend, yeh.” Skizzy’s body was racked with chills as he sat
on the ripped couch. Cushions had been cut and the stuffing pulled
out.

“You’re going into shock, friend.” Doc pulled
the gauze pads from the wounds and opened his gym bag.

Dagger could hear Simon in the shop area
sweeping up more of the glass and cleaning up the showcases.
Dagger’s jaws ached from clenching them, and he tried to take deep
breaths to ease his growing anger.

While Doc cleaned the wounds, Dagger tried
again to get Skizzy to tell him what had happened.

“How many men?”

“Two. You know how light I sleep. I heard
something.” Skizzy took a sip of the orange juice. “No way they
could have gotten in, not with the alarm and all those locks. I
gotta get a new alarm. Maybe get rid of the windows. Never heard an
alarm. Can’t afford a new one.” Skizzy peered out from under the
washcloth.

“We’ll get something. You wanted an alarm
more high tech anyway, Skizzy. Now what about the men. Did you get
a look at them?”

“No, not good. Just an outline. One guy about
my height and weight. The other guy flabby. Uglier than sin. Damn,
I thought I was ugly.”

He was getting his sense of humor back,
Dagger thought. “What were they looking for, Skizzy?”

“An earring. Hell, I got a showcase of
jewelry. Take your pick, I says. But they didn’t like what I
had.”

Doc sprayed one gaping wound and threaded a
surgical needle. “Need a few stitches here, Skizzy. This is going
to pinch a bit but I’ll try to get it done as quickly as
possible.”

Dagger righted the garbage can, and using
latex gloves from under the sink proceeded to clean up the mess on
the floor. He tossed food and broken bottles from the refrigerator
into the garbage. Skizzy was going to need new plates, glasses and
cups. The more devastation Dagger saw in the cabinets, bathroom,
living area, and the shop, the more Dagger’s anger grew. He began
to toss broken glass into the garbage with such force, he was
sounding like a one-man demolition team.

Simon yelled, “Hey, what are you doing in
there?”

Dagger dragged the garbage can into the shop
and set it next to the one Simon was filling.

“Maybe Skizzy should just find another place.
He’ll never trust this one to be safe.”

Dagger shook his head. “He’d never go for
that. He has too much equipment here, and you know how Skizzy is
about strange places. He’ll be gutting the wallboards looking for
listening devices.” Dagger flung chunks of broken wood into the
garbage. He stared out toward the street. The ambulance was gone
but one police car was still there. Skizzy wouldn’t file a report.
Dagger had no idea what the cops were waiting around for.

Dagger glanced at the surveillance camera
anchored from the ceiling. The tape had been removed from the
player behind the counter. The alarm hadn’t sounded. It worked
intermittently and was definitely in need of replacement. Dagger’s
fist clenched and unclenched along with his jaw.

“I don’t like that look,” Simon said, resting
the handle of the broom under his chin. “Nope, that is a black
cloud look.”

“I’m okay,” Dagger snapped.

Simon went back to sweeping, the corners of
his mouth turned down. “Like hell, you’re okay,” he snapped
back.

“Don’t worry.”

Simon stopped his sweeping and glared at
Dagger. “I’ll damn well worry if I want to, you stubborn ass.” The
broom started moving again, dust clouds swirling, glass clinking.
The air was tense and after a few minutes of silence, Simon said,
“My sister still has some showcases from her days as a jewelry shop
owner. They are just collecting dust in her basement.”

Dagger looked at the shelves hanging from the
walls. “I’ve got some bookcases and furniture from my old office I
can give him.”

Simon brushed a hand through his sweat-soaked
hair. Dagger peered into the back room. Doc was using tweezers to
remove glass from Skizzy’s arms. Skizzy’s face was clean though
bruised and swollen and he sported more gauze pads and bandages
than a price fighter.

“Any idea who did this?” Simon asked.

“Oh yeah.” Dagger’s muscles tensed as he
ripped a damaged shelf from the wall and flung it on the floor.
“I’ve got a damn good idea.”

From a restaurant next to the bakery, Mince
and Joey sat and watched the commotion at the pawn shop.

“Did you see the girl?” Mince asked, fingers
spreading the slats of the blinds.

“Yeah. How the hell did she get out of that
Mustang?” Joey checked the cuts on his hands. Skizzy had fought
like a tiger and they had to use his own bat to smack him around.
Mince with his bum shoulder was of little use.

“I saw it go over the edge.”

“Me, too.” Joey peered through the blinds as
the police car pulled away. “Mince, we gotta keep this to
ourselves. Luke finds out what we tried to do to the girl…”

“Yeah, I know.”

The blinds snapped shut.

Dagger and Simon spent all morning at
Skizzy’s. Simon borrowed a moving truck and transported his
sister’s and Dagger’s furniture. Dagger made a sweep of the
premises and everything in it and assured Skizzy he didn’t detect
any monitoring devices of any type.

Sara washed and folded the clothes she had
purchased for Skizzy after cutting out all the labels. She didn’t
understand why Skizzy thought he could be tracked with labels, but
she would have to save her questions until she and Dagger were
alone.

Skizzy had been adamant about Sara’s not
purchasing food at the health food store. She thought it would be
safe. Skizzy said the government preys upon the weakness of the
people who latch onto the latest fads, gets them comfortable while
the government taints the food or codes the labels. So she had
stopped at home to pick up canned goods and meat from the freezer.
She also had purchased storage containers and emptied condiments,
coffee, sugar, flour, and other staples into the containers so the
bar-coded bottles would not be kept in his house.

Sara offered to stay with Skizzy while he
napped. She spent the time putting the undamaged merchandise into
the display cases and shelves. Then she called Worm and made
arrangements to meet him for dinner.

CHAPTER 39

“I’ve searched the storage room in the
basement, Sir.” Lily stood in her black and white uniform with its
pointed collar and lace-trimmed pockets. Of all the employees, she
had been the closest to Rachel. She had been the one Rachel had
confided in whenever she needed motherly advice. And Lily loved her
like a daughter.

“Nothing? No stuffed animals resembling a
kangaroo? Pottery, boxes, or containers?”

Lily shook her head to each question, wisps
of short, gray hair curling around a wise and trusting face. Her
heart-shaped mouth was pursed, tears welling up in her tired eyes
at the mere mention of Rachel’s name. “I don’t remember her coming
home with anything other than clothes and accessories.”

Robert grabbed her hands and held them. “I’m
sorry, Lily. I know you tried your best. Now I would like you to
expand your search to all the upstairs rooms.” Wrapping an arm
around her shoulder, he walked her to the door. He wasn’t sure whom
he could trust anymore. How involved was Eric? Did Nick know
anything? And how could he not see Edie for the type of woman she
was? How could he sit across from her at breakfast, live under the
same roof, and not want to shake her til she gave him the answers
he needed?

“It is important, Lily,” Robert continued,
“that no one, not my sons, my daughter-in-law, or any other
employees know what you are looking for.”

“I understand, Mr. Tyler. I’ll do my
best.”

He watched her leave, the one person who had
grieved the most over Rachel’s death. Robert had spent too much
time in denial, especially since Rachel’s body had never been
found. And now he didn’t have the heart to tell her he was on his
way to the morgue in Michigan City to identify Rachel’s body.

Edie rushed into the hotel suite. “Where is
it?” She looked from Luke’s hands to the coffee table. “You did get
it, didn’t you?” Her eyes were large green orbs surrounded by thick
lashes.

Luke poured two glasses of cognac and
motioned for Edie to sit down.

Edie smiled. “Are we toasting our success?”
She curled one shapely leg under her as she sat on the couch. The
cognac was hot going down but she savored every drop.

“It wasn’t there.” Luke’s eyes watched her
reaction.

“What do you mean it wasn’t there?” She set
the glass on the coffee table and methodically went over a scenario
in her mind. “My god, what if it fell off when those two goons were
playing hide-the-body?” She set her fiery gaze on Luke. “I told you
those two morons couldn’t be trusted.”

Luke knew that unless Edie had followed Joey
and Mince that night, there wasn’t any way she would know where the
body was. And he had gotten pretty good at telling when Edie was
lying. If Edie didn’t take the earring, then Joey and Mince did. Or
maybe he wasn’t the only one Edie was entertaining. Maybe she was
playing them all against each other.

“What about the necklace? Our buyers will
purchase only the entire set. That detective has one earring,
someone has the other, and the necklace is god knows where.” Luke
tipped back the glass and swallowed the hot liquid in one gulp.
“We’re not exactly batting a thousand here.” He stared at Edie’s
face, her long nails tapping on the back of the couch. She had an
analytical if not sadistic mind. Eric was no match for her. Luke
knew women like her marry only for money, rarely for love.

“I tell you, it’s not in the house. I thought
for sure it would be in that secret compartment.” Edie walked over
to the window and stared down at Ogden Park eleven floors below. A
horse-drawn carriage was taking passengers on a tour of some of the
finer points of Cedar Point.

Luke raised his heavy lids, turning the
corners of his eyes down even farther. His voice was soothing, but
deceiving because there was a threatening glare to his look. “And
this is the first you have known of a secret compartment…after five
years?”

She turned and leveled an icy stare at him.
“Don’t start. We both waited for Rachel to get her memory back.
I’ve waited a long time to get my hands on those diamonds.”

The door slammed shut and they turned to see
Joey and Mince.

“What diamonds?” the two men demanded.

Joey snarled. “You two are full of surprises,
aren’t you? I knew there was more to this job than just snatching
some rich sister-in-law.” He sat his butt down on the arm of the
couch and let his eyes drift down Edie’s frame.

Mince circled the room, like an overgrown fly
looking for a place to land. His gaze took in the large suite,
tasteful furnishings, expensive Oriental carpeting. “Yeah, Luke.
The dame has put you up in some nice digs while Joey and me, we’re
crammed in a small room with two double beds. What gives? She
offering you a hell of a lot more than sex, I take it?”

Luke placed one beefy arm across the back of
the couch. He stared at the two men, then at Edie. “I wouldn’t mind
knowing about the other earring myself.”

“What are you looking at me for?” Edie
glanced at each of the three men. “Wait a minute. First you tell me
you disposed of the body. Now I find out you were holding onto it.
What’s going on here?” She sank onto the love seat and crossed her
legs.

“You tell us,” Mince sneered. He walked
around the couch and crawled into a side chair. His skin was white,
his fingers short and pudgy.

Luke pulled open the drawer in the end table
and tossed the floral scarf in Edie’s lap. “I didn’t find the other
earring on the body, but I found this.”

Edie held up her scarf at both ends. “You
found my scarf there?” She stared over the scarf at three sets of
eyes. “Oh no.” Her hands dropped to her lap. “I swear, Luke, I have
no idea how it got there. I didn’t even know where these idiots put
her body.”

“I believe you,” Luke said simply.

“You are kidding.” Mince stood and pulled a
gun out from under his shirt. “I smell something fishy, Joey.”