Colorado 01 The Gamble (64 page)

“The truth comes out,” Max muttered.

Linda turned to him. “Yeah, there it is,
Max. I found out from Barb why you all were there, that I can
understand but I still don’t get why you didn’t walk a house away
and introduce me to Nina.”

I forked into my pancakes, avoided looking
at either of them, shoved pancake into my mouth (which,
incidentally, Max was correct, was delicious) and stayed quiet.

“We been busy,” Max told his mother.

“Yeah, havin’ lunch with Mindy and Becca,
with Bitsy, dinner at The Rooster with Brody and breakfast with her
folks, I heard about it all. Jesus, Max, Nina’s made fish casserole
for flippin’ Arlene.”

Seriously, the gossip tree in Gnaw Bone was
second to none.

“Because she showed up at the house and
stayed. Jesus, Mom, you know Arlene,” Max explained.

“What I know about Arlene is she’s had
Nina’s fish casserole.”

I decided to wade in. “I’m thinking of
making my pasta bake tonight, Linda. Why don’t you come for
that?”

“See?” Linda flipped a hand out to me but
didn’t take her eyes from Max. “Even Nina’s polite enough to ask
your mother to dinner.” She turned to me and queried, “Are your
folks comin’?”

I wondered briefly what Mom plus Linda would
equal for the night’s experience and I was guessing they’d probably
enjoy it but Max and I sure as heck wouldn’t.

Then with no choice, I answered, “Um…
sure.”

Linda turned to the skillet and flipped
pancakes. “Then I’ll be delighted to come.”

I chanced a glance at Max to see he was
staring at me and I knew without him saying a word that he’d
calculated the same equation and came up with the same answer.

I tilted my head to the side and shrugged.
Max shook his head.

I ate my pancakes.

* * * * *

As Max taught me, I looked down the sight of
the gun but I didn’t really have to do much since he was standing
behind me, his body pressed close to mine, his arms around me, his
hands mostly around mine, aiming the gun.

“Shoot, baby,” he said into my ear, I pulled
the trigger, there was a loud rapport, our hands jumped back with
the recoil and the can, dead center in the triangle Max set up on a
fallen log, flew back causing all of them to collapse.

“Yay!” Mom shouted, taking her hands from
her ears and clapping, the noise muted by gloves. She was sitting
on a tree stump Max had cleared of snow and I’d thrown a woolen
blanket over. “Neenee Bean,” she called, moving her eyes from the
cans to me, “you’re getting really good at that.”

“Great,” I muttered, Max chuckled and Steve
spoke.

“Company.”

Max’s arms went from around me and he and I
both turned to the drive, seeing a police SUV parking behind Mom
and Steve’s car.

We were outside and it was after pancakes;
after Max took Linda back to town while I had a shower; after me
getting ready; after Mom and Steve had arrived; after Steve had
shoveled the steps to the house; and after Max got back in time for
Mom to make grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.

And, I guessed, watching Mick hop down from
the cab of the SUV, after my shooting lesson.

“What now?” Max muttered, taking the gun
from my hand, sliding on the safety and shoving it in the waistband
of his jeans as he watched Mick saunter to us.

“Hey Max, Nina,” Mick called when he was
close.

“Hi Mick,” I called back, Mick’s eyes went
to Mom and Steve, “these are my parents, Nell and Steve Locke.”

“How d’ya do?” Mick greeted, arriving at our
group.

I got a good look at his face and I
tensed.

Mom and Steve didn’t answer because Max got
there before them.

“What’s up?” Max asked and from his tone I
knew he’d gotten a good look at Mick’s face too.

Mick looked at Max. “You think we can talk
privately?”

“Shit,” Max muttered.

“Steve and I’ll go in, make coffee, how’s
that?” Mom enquired and I looked at her. She’d wrapped both her
hands around Steve’s bicep and she, too, was reading Mick’s
expression.

“Thanks, Miz Locke,” Mick replied, Mom
nodded and both Mom and Steve gave Max and me a look before they
started moving toward the A-Frame.

“Nellie, please, no one calls me Mrs.
Locke,” Mom invited from over her shoulder, still walking away.

Mick nodded at Mom, waited several moments
as she and Steve made their way to the house and then he turned to
Max and me.

“I’ll just… um… go with them,” I offered,
starting to move away.

“Nina, reckon you should stay,” Mick told
me, my breath caught and my body locked.

“What’s up?” Max repeated, Mick looked at
him and I slid my thumb through the belt loop at the back of Max’s
jeans.

“You know that PI Dodd hired?” Mick asked
Max.

“Yeah,” Max answered.

“Welp, we found him dead,” Mick informed
Max.

“
What?
” I breathed, moving closer to Max.

“Found him dead,” Mick repeated, his eyes
coming to me for his answer then going back to Max. “Been dead
awhile. Some boys found him at one of Dodd’s building sites.”

“When?” Max queried.

“Coroner’s guessin’ the same night Curt was
done,” Mick replied.

“How’d he die?” Max asked.

“Messy,” Mick answered. “Not clean, not
professional. He’d been tied up, taken there, killed. Shot four
times. Twice in the head, twice the chest. Whoever did it wanted to
make sure he was dead.”

Max stared at Mick and I moved closer, so
much closer Max was forced to slide an arm along my shoulders.

“Can I ask why you’re up here tellin’ me
this?” Max queried.

Mick shuffled his feet, twisted his neck
uncomfortably then looked Max in the eye. “Did you know your sister
Kami bought a .38 ‘bout a month ago?”

I felt Max go still at my side. Then he
answered, “No.”

“Paperwork filed then,” Mick went on, “got
it at Zip’s Gun Emporium in Denver.”

“You’re tellin’ me this because…?” Max
prompted.

“’Cause the PI was killed with a .38.”

“Jesus Christ, Mick!” Max exploded, coming
unstuck, he leaned into Mick. “You tellin’ me you think Kami
murdered this PI?”

Mick’s hands came up but he kept the dire
information flowing. “She borrowed on her house, Max. Twenty-five
K.”

“Fuck,” Max clipped.

“You know about that?” Mick asked.

“No,” Max bit out.

“Jeff ‘n’ Pete are bringin’ her in now,”
Mick told Max.

“My sister didn’t kill any PI, Mick,” Max
returned. “And she sure as fuck didn’t hire someone to kill
Curt.”

“It ain’t lookin’ good for her, Max,” Mick
replied.

I butted in, asking, “Why are you telling
Max this, Mick?”

“I ain’t tellin’ Max, Nina,” Mick said to
me. “I’m tellin’ you.”

I blinked. Then I asked, “Me?”

“Heard word you’re an attorney,” Mick
explained. “We been combin’ Kami’s records, she don’t got a lot,
bank statements show she’s pretty much got zilch, livin’ from
paycheck to paycheck, beyond her means, flyin’ high in her Lexus
cartin’ around those fancy-ass purses on credit. Figure she’ll need
some help ‘round about now and George isn’t only covered in work,
he’s pricey.”

“You’re coming here because you want her to
lawyer up?” I asked in disbelief.

“I’m here because I watched Kami Maxwell
grow up and doin’ that I watched her grow bitter.” His eyes went to
Max. “Just like her Ma, wantin’ a man she had but let him get
away.”

“Don’t mean she killed a man, Mick,” Max
returned.

“She did this, whatever pushed her to it,
she’s still one of our own and, right now, she needs help,” Mick
told him.

“This is fucked up,” Max clipped.

“She’s got motive, she had twenty-five large
that went in and out of her account in about three days. We talk to
her and she don’t have an alibi, we may find she had opportunity,”
Mick said to Max.

“Kami ain’t small but she’s also not got the
strength to subdue a man, tie him up, take him to a building site
and drill four rounds into him,” Max retorted.

“Toxicology shows he was roofied,” Mick
stated.

“That’s not good,” I muttered and Max’s eyes
sliced to me.

“Roofied?” Max asked.

“Date rate drug,” I answered.

“Christ,” Max bit out and looked back at
Mick. “Kami doesn’t have it in her to shoot a man four times, he’s
drugged or not.”

“That’s what I’m hopin’, Max, you got to
know that. But I also gotta do my job and this is what we got. She
don’t have an alibi and some good reason to buy a gun and take a
loan against her house and blow it all in three days, what can I
say? Any way you look at it, with her history with Curt and Bitsy,
the evidence we got, it ain’t lookin’ good.”

“Do you have a ballistics match on her gun?”
I enquired.

“Got a warrant to search her house. Jeff and
Pete are bringin’ her in, other boys are goin’ through her house.
We find the weapon, we’ll run the tests,” Mick answered.

“You said they’re bringing her in?” I
asked.

“Yeah,” Mick said to me. “You comin’ down
the mountain?”

“Fuck yeah,” Max answered.

I let Max’s belt loop go and muttered, “I’ll
go get my purse.”

* * * * *

“I should sue you for wrongful arrest!” Kami
shouted from her seat at the table beside me.

I drew in a calming breath and Mick, across
the table from us, looked at me.

“Kami,” I said softly.

“This is crazy!” she yelled.

“They’re just asking questions, Kami,” I
reminded her. “You aren’t arrested.”

She twisted in her seat and glared at me.
“Then I’m free to go?”

“Um…” I mumbled, “technically, yes.”

She started to stand, declaring, “Then I’m
goin’.”

I reached out and grabbed her hand. “As I
explained to you before we came in here, you’re free to go but, if
you do, you’ll appear uncooperative and you don’t want that.”

She glared at me and I noticed while she did
it that her hand was trembling in mine so I squeezed it.

Then I continued, “Or if you try to leave,
you may force Mick’s hand and he’ll have to arrest you on what he
thinks he’s got.”

Her hand jerked spasmodically in mine.

“You have nothing to hide, Kami, sit down
and take a deep breath,” I advised, giving her hand a small
tug.

She held my eyes then she looked at Mick
then she sat down and I released her hand.

My gaze went to Mick. “Mick, you can
start.”

He nodded and looked at Kami. “All right,
Kami, we’ll begin at the beginnin’. What were you doin’ between the
hours of one and four last Wednesday mornin’?”

“I wasn’t killin’ Curt,” Kami snapped.

“What were you doin’?” Mick pressed.

“I’d never hurt Curt,” Kami kept
snapping.

“Answer his question, Kami,” I urged
quietly, she sighed in a harassed way and responded.

“Between one and four in the morning, I was
sleepin’. What else would I be doin’?”

“Were you alone?” Mick asked and Kami’s face
twisted bitterly.

“Yeah, Mick, I was alone.”

Mick nodded then went on, “Did you buy a gun
in Denver ‘bout a month ago?”

Even though I told her that Mick had that on
her, Kami’s body jerked before she answered belligerently, “Yeah,
so?”

“Why?” Mick queried.

“I don’t know. Shauna and I were in Denver
havin’ a girls weekend. We drove by this shop, saw they had a
shootin’ range, Shauna got a wild hair and we went in. Dad taught
Max and me how to shoot, we used to go up to the land and do it all
the time. I forgot I was good at it and we had fun. After we took
turns at the range, Shauna mentioned she noticed I was good at it
too and she convinced me to buy a gun.”

My eyes, on Kami, slid to Mick to see he was
nodding. But I was wondering why on earth Shauna would, first, get
a wild hair to go to a shooting range and, second, after she did
that, convince her friend to buy a gun. I wasn’t a mountain woman
therefore I didn’t know what they spent their fun time doing but
that seemed strange.

I just hoped Mick was wondering the same
thing.

“You recently borrowed on your house,” Mick
informed Kami.

She nodded and asked curtly, “So what?”

“Twenty-five thousand dollars,” Mick
continued.

“Yeah, I remember how much I borrowed,
Mickey,” Kami snapped.

“It went in and out of your account in a few
days,” Mick told her and Kami’s eyes narrowed.

“So, you’re lookin’ into my accounts
too?”

“Kami, you’re a suspect in a double
homicide,” Mick said quietly.

She sucked in breath, her narrowed eyes went
wide, she sat back in her chair and I bit my lip. Mick had asked me
not to mention that to her and as a favor I didn’t.

“Double?” Kami breathed, clearly astonished
at this news, something Mick couldn’t miss which I hoped made my
favor to Mick pay off for Kami.

“Curtis Dodd and Marco Fitzgibbon,” Mick
stated.

“Who’s Marco Fitzgibbon?” Kami asked.

“The PI Curt hired to find out who was
threatening his and Bitsy’s lives,” Mick answered.

Kami went stock-still then she enquired
softly, “Curt got death threats?” Mick nodded and Kami went on,
“Bitsy too?”

“Yeah, Kami,” Mick told her.

“Shit,” Kami whispered.

“The money, Kami,” Mick prompted.

She shook her head then looked at me. “Is
this confidential?”

“I’m sorry?”

“This interview, will this be made public or
anything?” she asked.

“Why?” Mick butted in.

“Because I promised I wouldn’t say
anything,” Kami told him.

“About what?” Mick queried.

“About the money, I promised I wouldn’t say
anything,” Kami replied.

I leaned toward her. She hadn’t shared this
part with me fully, we didn’t have the time, what she had said was
that it was all innocent.