Deep In Death: A Shelby Nichols Adventure

  “No honey…the first thing you’re going to do is tell Harris…then we’ll go from there. Okay?”

  “Sure,” I agreed. Thinking about taking on a serial killer without knowing Ramos had my back kind of freaked me out, and I was ready to turn the whole thing over to Dimples.

  We talked for a few more minutes, then said goodbye and I finished getting ready for bed.

  Snuggling under the covers, I turned out the lights and closed my eyes, but sleep eluded me. I kept seeing images of Ramos and Uncle Joey. It was like they were haunting me. Then I’d see images of Sean Hanley coming after me with a knife and a crazy gleam in his eyes, ready to cut my heart out.

  Finally, I turned on the television to take my mind off my troubles and watched a nature show, glad to find one without lions or wolves sneaking up on little lost sheep. Hours later, my eyelids got heavy and I turned it off, at last ready to stop thinking and fall asleep.

  Chapter 9

  My eyes fluttered open the next morning, and all at once, the reality that Ramos and Uncle Joey were dead crashed over me. I sniffed and rubbed my chest over my aching heart. Part of me believed they were dead, and the other part wondered when I had given up. I was usually a pretty optimistic person, so why had I quit believing they’d made it out? I mean…those bodies might not be theirs. They could belong to someone else, right?

  I sighed, knowing the odds of that were pretty slim. As strong and capable as Uncle Joey and Ramos were, they were still human, and the business they were in certainly didn’t help. I had to face it. Maybe this time their luck had run out, and they really were gone.

  Nick sent me a text saying he’d be leaving for the morgue soon, and he asked if I wanted to go. I told him not really, but asked him to knock on his way out just in case I’d changed my mind. When the knock came, I was dressed and ready to go, but after opening the door, I couldn’t quite make myself step out into the hallway.

  “You ready?” he asked.

  I sighed. From his thoughts, I knew he didn’t really want to face this by himself, but he also didn’t want a blubbering woman with him either. “You know…I don’t really want to go. What about Jackie? Did you talk to her?”

  He glanced at the door across the hall. “She didn’t answer my phone call, but…”

  “Oh no…do you think she’s all right?” He pursed his lips, hating that I interrupted him. Why did women always do that? I snapped my mouth shut and waited for him to continue.

  “She answered my text, telling us to go on ahead. I think under the circumstances she’s doing fine, but going to the morgue is definitely not a good idea.”

  “Yeah…I agree. In fact, I don’t think it’s a good idea for me either. Maybe I’ll wait with Jackie and see if there’s anything she needs while you’re gone.”

  “All right,” he agreed. “I shouldn’t be long.”

  After he got on the elevator, I took a deep breath and walked over to Jackie’s door. I worried about her being alone for so long and wanted to see if she’d let me in. I raised my hand to knock, but heard a low voice and froze. Was that a man’s voice? I listened carefully for a full minute, but when I heard nothing more, decided it was probably just the TV.

  Maybe I should give her a little more time. I went back to my room and got out my ice container. I needed a soda something fierce. With money and my keycard in my pocket, I followed the signs to the ice machine, loaded my ice container, and bought a diet soda. The machine next to it had chips and candy bars, so I bought a salted nut roll and some chips for later. Nuts weren’t as bad as chocolate, so I didn’t feel too guilty about eating that for breakfast.

  Juggling my ice and treats, I rounded the corner back to the hallway where my room was located. Glancing up, I caught sight of someone entering the room across the hall from mine. Was that Ramos’ room? It had to be pretty close, but from here, I couldn’t tell. It could just as easily be the one next to it. Just in case, I hurried down the hall and listened at his door, but even holding my breath, I couldn’t hear anything.

  I sighed. It must have been a different room and I was just imagining things. The same as how I thought I’d seen Uncle Joey when we checked in yesterday. It was probably just wishful thinking. Stepping across the hall to my room, I rearranged my purchases and ice so I could get the keycard out of my pocket. Just as I pulled the card out, the soda slipped out from under my arm. As I jerked to catch it, the ice container tipped, spilling ice all over the floor. In my effort to stop the ice from falling, the whole container slipped from my hands, scattering ice and my candy bar halfway down the hall.

  “Well damn!” I cursed. With a low growl, I picked up the container and started shoveling ice inside. Then got down on my hands and knees to hurry things along and hoped no one came out of their room right then to see me like this. Nearly done, I noticed my bottle of soda had rolled into Nick’s doorway and crawled over to retrieve it. I froze to hear the sound of a door opening and inwardly cringed. Great! I’d just been caught by a stranger crawling on the floor with my butt in the air. How embarrassing.

  “Babe.”

  I screamed and jumped at the same time, twisting around with my heart hammering and my breath catching. “Ra…Ramos?” I couldn’t seem to breathe right, and tears gathered in my eyes.

  He stepped toward me, warmth flooding his dark brown eyes and his mouth turned up in a sexy smile. My heart nearly gave out. He reached for me, gripping my arms and helping me to my feet. My legs were shaking so bad I could hardly stand on my own. Still, I threw my arms around him and held on for dear life. With his grip solid and strong around me, I dared to believe he was real. After a moment his arms relaxed and, breathing in his scent, I finally loosened my death grip.

  “You’re not dead,” I mumbled, blinking back tears. I pulled back just enough to glance at his face and notice the small cut and bruises along his jawline.

  “Nope.” His lips twisted into a half smile. “But I’m sorry you thought I was.” He was sorry, but at the same time, he was thinking how great it felt that I cared enough to cry over him. And here I was, wrapped in his arms and holding him close. It was enough to make him think he could probably kiss me and get away with it.

  “Don’t even think about it,” I gasped, and tried to pull out of his arms.

  He chuckled, but didn’t let me go. “So…do you want me to help you clean this up, or what?”

  I glanced at the floor, then back at him. “The ice?”

  He nodded, raising one eyebrow and thinking that maybe something was wrong with me. I didn’t seem to be handling this too well.

  “Ramos!” I pulled away and smacked his arm. “I thought you were dead! Where the hell have you been?”

  “Let’s go in Manetto’s room. I’ll explain everything.”

  “So he’s alive too?”

  “Yeah, he’s in there. We’ve mostly been staying in my room this whole time.”

  “Why did you hide from me…from all of us?” I asked, my eyes filling with tears.

  He glanced up and down the hall, not wanting anyone to see him. “I’ll explain inside.” He picked up my soda, chips, and candy bar, then motioned me toward Manetto’s room.

  “Fine,” I said. “Just give me a minute.” Before he could say another word, I grabbed my keycard out of my pocket and slipped inside my room. I leaned against the door and sighed, feeling the tears run down my cheeks.

  I hurried into the bathroom to splash cold water on my face and get under control. Even though this was a good kind of shock, I still needed some time to calm down, especially since I didn’t want Ramos to see me crying like this.

  What I needed was my Diet Coke. I drank a glass of water instead, and felt better. After washing my face with a cool washcloth, I freshened up my makeup and added a touch of lip gloss.

  Feeling more in control, I opened my door and crossed the hall to Jackie’s room, noting that the ice and container were gone. After a quick knock, Jackie opened the door, her thousand-watt smile nearly b
linding me.

  “I’m so glad you know,” she said, opening the door wide and ushering me in. “After you all left yesterday, Joe came in. He’d never planned on letting me believe he was dead, not for one minute, but he had to wait until all of you were gone to tell me.”

  “Shelby,” Uncle Joey said, greeting me with a quick hug. “Come on in. Have a seat, and we’ll explain what’s going on.”

  For some reason, tears prickled at the backs of my eyes, but I held them away, and smiled instead. It came as a shock to find him looking so good. Where were the cuts and bruises on his face from being in an explosion and barely escaping with his life? What in the world was going on? Did they know who planted the explosives?

  Ramos gestured toward the small couch. I sat down, and he sat beside me. His warm presence helped settle me down. Still, a million questions ran through my mind, and even though I was a little shell-shocked, anger started to climb into my heart. If Jackie had found out yesterday, why did it take so long for them to tell me? Last night would have been good. I’d cried buckets of tears and told Chris they were dead.

  “Why did you keep this from me for so long?” I blurted. “Do you realize how bad I’ve felt thinking you were both dead?” My voice had gone up, and unwanted tears filled my eyes. Embarrassed, I tried to blink them away before anyone noticed.

  “Shelby,” Uncle Joey soothed. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to distress you. I would have told you sooner if I’d had a chance, but I didn’t want you to give it away to the Passinis or the police that we were still alive. Once Jackie told us you didn’t think the Passinis were involved, I didn’t want it to get out until I had a plan.”

  After a short silence, I let out my breath and my shoulders relaxed. “Okay, I get it. Just tell me what happened. How did you escape alive?” I flopped back against the cushions like I didn’t care. Uncle Joey was thinking how gratifying it was to know that I did care. Guess I hadn’t fooled him, and I felt kind of bad that I wasn’t showing how happy and relieved I was that he and Ramos were alive, but there was a matter of pride and hurt feelings involved here, and it was going to take me a minute to get over it…although sitting next to Ramos and his solid warmth helped.

  “To begin with, being on a boat left me feeling vulnerable, so I didn’t like that. I always say no matter where you are it’s nice to have an exit strategy.” He nodded toward Ramos. “So I had Ramos hire a speedboat for the night and set up a signal for the driver in case we wanted to leave early.”

  “Wow…that was lucky.”

  He snorted, thinking it wasn’t luck, just good planning. But there was a drawback to the whole incident. “It might not have mattered if we hadn’t gotten out of that room,” he added.

  “You got locked in a room?” That surprised me.

  “Yes. Looking back, it was pretty stupid of us, but it all worked out in the end. Anyway, we got a note from Julia asking us to meet her in one of the rooms on the lower deck. She claimed to have proof that her husband was murdered and wanted our help.

  “Naturally, we decided to check it out. We both had our guns, so we thought we’d be okay. We entered the room and found one of the Passini security guards down, and another slumped over a desk beside a briefcase of some kind. While we were checking on them, the door clicked shut and we couldn’t get it to open.

  “That’s when we discovered that the briefcase was full of explosives, and there was about a minute left on the clock.”

  I inhaled sharply. “How did you get out?”

  Uncle Joey nodded at Ramos to finish the story. “I don’t know anything about disarming a bomb, so I tried breaking down the door. It wouldn’t budge, so we shot holes in the door to weaken it, and kicked it out. We barely made it out into the hall and a few steps toward the stairs when the bomb went off. It knocked us off our feet and sent debris flying everywhere. Then the yacht lurched as water began pouring in.

  “Within seconds water was spraying over us. We got to our feet and struggled toward the stairs. With the way the boat had tilted, I wasn’t sure we were going to make it out alive. By the time we climbed up the stairs to the upper deck, the yacht was going down fast. We didn’t see anyone else on board, so we jumped into the water and started swimming. I flashed my light to signal the boat we’d hired and he came and got us.”

  “Wow, that’s incredible. Where did you go?” I asked.

  Uncle Joey picked up the narrative. “Since I didn’t want anyone to know we’d survived, I had him let us off at another dock and we stayed in a cheap motel for the night. We came back here the next day… yesterday, and saw all of you get in a taxi. Jackie said you went to the pier and then to the Passini shipping office.”

  “And she told you I found out it wasn’t them,” I said.

  “Yes,” Uncle Joey said. “But I have no idea who else it could be. I guess that means we’re going to have to stay dead until we figure it out.”

  “That’s a good idea. Are you going to let Kate and Nick know?”

  “I think so. As soon as Nick gets back, we’ll give Kate a call and make some plans. Jackie told me about getting the guest lists. I guess that’s a good place to start.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “And you might want to make a list of anyone you’ve pissed off here in Seattle. You did kind of take over Eddie Sullivan’s shipping company. What about his associates? Would any of them want you dead?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that.” Uncle Joey rubbed his chin. “But I’ve been more than fair with his people. I can’t think of anyone who wasn’t happy with our arrangement, but then, not too many people tell me things like that, so I could be wrong.”

  “That’s true,” I said. He sent me a sharp glance. “I mean, people don’t always tell you what they think…because…well, anyway… that’s why you have me, right?”

  “Uh-huh,” he said.

  I was saved from further comments by a knock at the door. Jackie jumped up to look through the peephole. She turned back and whispered, “It’s Nick. What should I do?”

  “Might as well let him in,” Uncle Joey said.

  Jackie opened the door, startling Nick with her smile. He was wondering what she was so happy about, and hated breaking her heart with the news that Manetto and Ramos were really dead.

  “Come in,” she said. “I have a surprise for you.” She backed through the doorway and Nick stepped inside, quietly closing the door behind him.

  “I don’t want you to get your hopes up because it doesn’t look good,” he began, his head lowered with misery. “I’m really sorry to tell you this, but…”

  Jackie chuckled, confusing him, then stepped out of his way and motioned inside the room. He glanced up to find Ramos and Uncle Joey smiling at him.

  “Holy shit!” he blurted. “You’re not dead!”

  Uncle Joey smiled and hurried to greet him. “Sorry, but I had to let the Passinis think I was dead.

  “I just…um…” he swallowed. “I just identified your bodies at the morgue. Sorry about that.”

  “That’s perfect. Now everyone will think we really are dead.”

  Nick took a seat in the empty chair, his face white with shock. “What happened? How did you escape?” he asked. As Uncle Joey explained the story again, Nick’s breathing returned to normal and soon he had completely recovered. “Someone sure went to a whole lot of trouble to kill you and make it look like it was the Passinis,” he said. “How are we going to find them?”

  “We can start with a list of everyone on board,” Ramos said. “And go from there.”

  My stomach chose that moment to growl, and everyone turned their gazes to me. “Uh…I haven’t had breakfast yet. Do you know what happened to my salted nut roll?”

  Ramos smiled and pulled it out of his pocket. He was hoping I’d forget about it so he could eat it. “Um…yeah, it’s right here.”

  “You were going to…um…” I let out my breath. “Geez…thanks Ramos.”

  He snickered and handed it over, thinking
that the least I could do was give him half. I pursed my lips and tore open the package, then took a big bite. “Hmm…this is good.” Unfortunately, everyone else was watching my bad manners and thinking I was being rude.

  “Uh…I can go back to the machine and get another if anyone wants one,” I said, wanting to redeem myself.

  “I think I’ll call room service,” Jackie announced. “Then we can all have something to eat. What would everyone like?”

  “I’ll have a salted nut roll,” Ramos said, his eyes glinting with challenge.

  My lips twisted, but I narrowed my eyes at him. “Sure. But first I want my Diet Coke.”

  “Oh yeah…it’s in the fridge, but I had to dump the ice,” he answered.

  “Fine.” I found the ice bucket by the fridge and picked it up. “Anyone else? No? Okay, I’ll be back.” I opened the door with a shake of my head, and caught that Ramos was enjoying himself and thinking I should be glad he hadn’t poured my soda in a cup with the ice I’d spilled on the floor.

  I glanced back at him with venom in my eyes and he just grinned, thinking it was sure fun to tease me, and maybe he’d better come along so I didn’t spill ice all over the floor again. I quickly shut the door before I said something to give our little game away, and hurried down the hall to the ice machine.

  This time getting ice and a candy bar was a completely different experience from just a few short minutes ago. It amazed me how quickly everything had changed. I was still a little angry that they hadn’t told me last night, leaving me to suffer with grief the whole night long. But it was water under the bridge now.

  I got back to the room and knocked. Ramos let me in and I handed him his salted nut roll. “Thanks,” he said. “I ordered you an omelet too. I hope that’s all right?”

  “Thanks, it sounds great.”

  As we finished up our food, my cell phone rang. “It’s Kate,” I said and quickly answered.

  “Shelby? Why haven’t you called me?” she asked. “Did they find the bodies?”