Crossing Danger: A Shelby Nichols Adventure

  “Right,” I said, trying not to let my disappointment show. “Listen...I’ll get a copy of that thumb-drive for you.”

  “Great,” he said, then sucked in a breath as a thought occurred to him. “Just don’t do anything about it on your own, all right?”

  “Of course not,” I said, lying through my teeth.

  Chapter 8

  I got into my car and slammed the door, realizing today hadn’t gone much better than yesterday. Maybe I really should quit helping the police. I was relying on them too much, when I should be doing my own investigating. I had Pete’s number. I could call him and set up a time to talk away from the precinct. If he wasn’t surrounded by his co-workers, maybe he’d be more forthcoming.

  I also needed to take a look at that thumb-drive. Looking at it didn’t mean I’d have to do anything about it, but it might help me know who to talk to. That reminded me of Billie’s thoughts about who might have taken the original thumb-drive. I could go to her office and talk to that person right now. If he felt guilty that Billie had been shot over this, he might be thinking about who sent him after the thumb-drive in the first place.

  Her office wasn’t far, so I turned in that direction. Might as well talk to him now and look at the thumb-drive when I got home. After that, I’d give Pete a call and set something up. Who knew? By the end of the day, I could have the information to solve both cases. That would show the chief, and maybe even shut Bates up.

  With that happy thought, I drove to the newspaper’s offices and parked in the visitor space. I added some lipstick and touched up my hair, grateful I looked ‘damn good’ in my outfit. Now came the tricky part. Since I only knew Billie was thinking about ‘the intern,’ I didn’t have a name and, for all I knew, it could be a girl just as easily as a guy. That meant I’d have to come up with a reason to talk to the intern. I could say I was from the University and was there to ask the intern some questions, but that might get tricky.

  I sighed and rubbed my forehead, glancing down at my lap. That’s when I noticed my police ID badge around my neck, and optimism swept over me. Telling them I was working on a case for the police and needed to talk to the intern would be the perfect cover...and mostly true.

  With my stomach a bundle of nerves, I hurried inside and smiled at the receptionist. “Hi, I’m Shelby Nichols, a private investigator, and I need to talk to your intern about a case I’m working on with the police.”

  “Okay,” she said. “Which one?”

  Oh crap! There was more than one? “Um...let’s start with all of them, and I’ll take it from there. Do you have a meeting room I could use?”

  “Well...let me see.” She checked her computer. “We usually keep the room right over there open for interviews, and it looks like nothing’s scheduled for today, so that should work. But I’m not sure how many of the interns are here.”

  I held my breath as she looked through her lists. “Oh...you’re in luck. It looks like they’re all here.”

  “Great,” I said, relieved.

  “I’ll put in a call to their departments and have them sent right down.”

  “Thank you so much.” I turned toward the room she indicated and slipped inside. It was small, with a rectangular desk and six chairs. But since she was thinking three interns, it should work. Now all I had to do was figure out which of the interns Billie had been thinking about.

  Sitting on the edge of my seat, I watched through the glass partition as a young man exited the elevator and stood by the receptionist’s desk waiting for the others to arrive. Two young women soon joined him and they started toward me. From their puzzled expressions, I knew they were asking each other what was going on.

  With a deep breath, I opened the door and gave them my best smile. “Hi, I’m Shelby Nichols, a private investigator with the police. Please come in and sit down. This won’t take long.”

  Now that they were properly intimidated, I began. “I’m sure you’re wondering what’s going on, so let me get right to the point. Which one of you has worked with Billie Payne?”

  The two girls glanced at each other, then at the boy. They knew her, but hadn’t worked with her personally. The boy glanced at both of the girls, then settled his gaze on me and shrugged. “We’ve all worked with her at some point,” he lied, hoping I’d take the bait, and thinking there was no way I knew anything. He’d been careful; this was just a fluke.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “Uh...Corey.”

  “Okay,” I said. “You girls can leave. Thanks for coming, but it’s Corey I need to talk to.” He inhaled sharply, and his eyes got big. That was quick. How had I done that? He could hardly believe he’d given himself away so fast unless...did I already know something?

  The two girls were curious, but not surprised. They thought Corey was full of himself, and they were sure he’d done something he probably shouldn’t have.

  Well...that was easy. Now I just had to make him talk. Too bad Ramos wasn’t here, but maybe I could project some of that intimidation into my voice. After the door snapped shut, I studied him for a moment to make him sweat before I began. That tactic was something I’d picked up from Uncle Joey, and I knew first-hand how great it worked.

  “I’m a friend of Billie’s,” I said, keeping my voice low. “And right now I’m helping the police as part of an ongoing investigation. You heard that Billie got shot, right? And she nearly died?”

  “Yeah, I heard that. I also heard that she’s going to be all right.” He clasped his hands together, thinking he had to play it cool.

  “Do you know what happened?”

  “Uh...yeah. I heard someone broke into her apartment and she surprised them.” He swallowed, hoping it didn’t have anything to do with the thumb-drive he’d lifted from her desk.

  Hot resentment swept over me. No doubt about it now. It was him. I clenched my fists together and leaned forward. “Corey...I know what you did. You stole that thumb-drive from Billie’s desk.”

  His nostrils flared, and he flinched with guilt. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Yes you do. Someone put you up to it. Who was it?”

  “I didn’t do it,” he insisted. “You have no proof.” He’d been careful. No one saw him do it. He’d made sure. The money was even safely hidden under his mattress. Five thousand dollars was just sitting there because he’d been afraid to deposit it in his bank.

  “Five thousand dollars, huh? That’s your price?”

  He gasped in surprise. How did I know that? He hadn’t told anyone. Unless...did Devon talk? Did he say something? Devon was the only one who knew. It had to be him...but Devon had also been adamant about not telling a soul or they could both get in a lot of trouble...so it didn’t make any sense. Something wasn’t right about all this. I had to be bluffing. Beads of sweat popped out on his forehead, and he nervously swallowed the fear creeping up his spine.

  “Do you even know what was on the thumb-drive?” I asked.

  He clamped his mouth shut, but doubt crept over him. Devon had assured him it was nothing that would get him in trouble. Just something Devon’s boss didn’t want leaked because it was embarrassing. He figured it was compromising pictures of him with a woman or something...but nothing illegal.

  “You sold Billie out,” I said, laying it on as heavy as I could. “That thumb-drive was evidence on a case she was working on. You stole the thumb-drive, but it didn’t stop there. Someone tried to kill her because of what you did.”

  “What?” he sputtered. “Why would someone do that if they already had the thumb-drive?”

  “She had a copy at home. She’s a great reporter and had a back-up plan. You could have learned a lot from her, but what did you do? You sold her out. And now...your career is over.”

  “But...it wasn’t like that. I swear I didn’t know.” He was thinking that Devon had said it was easy money as long as he kept his mouth shut. He knew he was taking a risk, but how was he supposed to know it was all a bi
g lie? “Look...you can’t tell anyone. I swear...the money wasn’t worth it, but I didn’t know it was serious. He said it wasn’t anything illegal. I didn’t know that someone could get hurt over it.”

  I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms, giving him my best tough-guy impression. “Okay, then help me. Tell me why Devon put you up to this and who he works for. If you tell me the truth, I might even forget we had this conversation.”

  He paled. I knew about Devon? But wait...I didn’t know who Devon worked for...maybe he could still salvage this mess. His gaze flew to mine, and I leveled him with a cold stare Uncle Joey would be proud of. It wasn’t hard, since I wasn’t feeling so warm and fuzzy at the moment.

  He looked away, guilt and despair washing over him. Why had he ever agreed to take the thumb-drive in the first place? He’d told himself nothing bad would happen for taking a stupid thumb-drive, and the five grand was just a bonus. He’d never thought it could ruin him. Now I knew. At least I had thrown him a bone. Maybe he’d better take it.

  “I’ll...I’ll tell you everything I know...I’ll even help you if I can. But we have to keep a lid on it until we know more. And Devon can’t find out that I talked to you.”

  “Fine,” I agreed. “I suppose I can live with that. So spill.”

  “Devon is an intern for the Attorney General’s office, but he mostly works for Anthony Kerby, one of Grayson Sharp’s assistant state’s attorneys. Since we’re in the same class, we’ve been going to lunch together and comparing notes about our internships. One day, Anthony Kerby saw us at lunch, and Devon introduced me to him. It wasn’t long before Devon said he had a proposition for me from his boss that could make me a lot of money.

  “All I had to do was keep an eye on Billie and let him know if she kept anything under lock and key, like a notebook or something. Well, one day I saw her put a thumb-drive in her desk drawer which she took extra pains to lock up tight. I thought it might be significant, so I passed the info along to Devon.

  “The next day Devon told me it was worth five grand if I took it from her desk and gave it to him. I wasn’t even sure I could do it, but I figured it was worth a try. Anyway, a couple of days later, she left her keys on her desk while she went to a meeting, and I saw my chance.” He sighed and hung his head, thinking the thrill of being a spy had worn off fast. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know it would hurt her.”

  “Fine,” I said. “I’ll try to keep you out of this if I can. Don’t tell anyone else what you’ve told me. If Devon or his boss approach you again, roll with it, just be sure to let me know what they want, and we’ll figure out how to handle it together.”

  “Sure,” he agreed, rubbing his hands over his face with relief.

  “Here’s my card, please call me if anything else comes up. You’re my inside guy now...got it?” He swallowed and nodded. “Good. Now you’d better get back to work.”

  “Right.” He tucked my card into his pants pocket and left without a backward glance.

  I waited a moment, relieved and happy that I’d found out what was going on. This was huge. I thanked the receptionist for her help and walked out the door. Back in my car, I took a cleansing breath and started for home. It was time to dig in and take a look at that thumb-drive. I needed to find out exactly what was on it.

  ***

  I arrived at home, took off my boots, and changed my blouse for a comfortable tee shirt. Then I got a diet soda out of the fridge, filled a glass with crushed ice, and took a couple of swallows. Feeling better, I took my drink into the computer room and booted up my computer.

  I’d left the thumb-drive in the box under my bed and hurried to retrieve it. After plugging it into my computer, I opened the files and glanced through them. One file held a list of campaign donations with the money amount and the person or company donating.

  I clicked on another file and found a list of names and monetary amounts linked to cases investigated by the A.G.’s office. Another file listed deposits of money into four different businesses, but I didn’t recognize any of the names. The last file had several people’s names with money amounts beside them. Some were positive amounts and others were negative. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but it looked like there was some kind of racket going on.

  Out of curiosity, I glanced through the campaign contributors and caught my breath to find Thrasher Development as one of them. Of course, that didn’t mean anything illegal was going on. Still, I glanced through the investigations file to see if anything showed up. Thrasher wasn’t listed anywhere, or Joe Manetto either, and I sighed with relief.

  Now I could turn this over to Dimples without worrying about Uncle Joey. But it made me wonder. What if Uncle Joey had been on that list...what would I do then? I shuddered, grateful I didn’t have to worry about that...mostly since I didn’t think I could erase that info for him, even though he would want me to.

  I copied the information onto another thumb-drive for Billie, and slipped the first one into my purse for Dimples. With that done, I put the copied thumb-drive back in the box and slipped it under my bed.

  From the information on the thumb-drive, it shouldn’t be too hard for Dimples to piece things together. I could also give him the assistant state’s attorney, Anthony Kerby, as the main perpetrator behind Billie’s break-in. Not bad for a couple hours of work.

  With that out of the way, it was time to switch gears to Chloe’s investigation and put a call through to Pete. For some reason, he didn’t quite fit the mold of the bad guy here, but there was definitely something going on with him, and I intended to get to the bottom of it.

  Before my courage failed, I put the call through and nervously chewed on my fingernails. It went straight to voice mail, so I left a message to call me and disconnected. The stress of it all was getting to me, and I hoped he’d call back soon while I still had some fingernails left.

  As I carried my empty glass to the kitchen sink, a loud knocking on the glass of my sliding door startled me. Cautiously, I pulled back the curtain to find Chloe standing there shivering and wide-eyed. Unlocking the door, I quickly pushed it open and ushered her inside. “What’s happened? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah...I’m okay now.” Her small frame shook. “He came to the house...but I got away before he saw me.”

  Dread tightened my stomach. “Who came?”

  “The cop! He was there at the house!”

  “What? Where’s Holly? Is she all right?” My heart pounded with fear that something bad had happened to her.

  “She left...the school called. She said she’d be right back, but I got nervous...and then...” She swallowed, and her eyes filled with tears.

  “It’s okay,” I said, rubbing her arms. “You’re safe now. Come in and sit down, and start from the beginning.” I grabbed a blanket off my chair and wrapped it around her, then ushered her into the living room and got her comfortable on the couch. I got some tissues out of the box and handed them to her and waited while she blew her nose. “Better?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” she said. “Thanks.” She took a moment to compose herself and began. “Holly got a call from the school asking her to come. I don’t know why, but it sounded like an emergency.

  “I watched her drive off and, as soon as she left, a man got out of a car that was parked down the street. His jacket collar was up around his neck, and he kept his face down, but when he looked toward the house...I knew it was the cop. I got a better look at him this time, so I know for sure which cop it is.”

  “That’s good,” I said. “So what happened?”

  “I had all the doors bolted, but I was afraid if he broke through a window or something, I was a sitting duck, so I watched him to see where he’d go. He came right up to the front door and rang the bell!”

  “What?” I exclaimed. “Did he think he could just waltz in and grab you?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “But I didn’t wait around to find out. I ran out the back door and climbed the fence. Then I went through the neighbor’s yard
to your street and made my way around to your backyard. I don’t think he ever saw me.”

  “Oh Chloe! I’m so sorry that happened. But you did great. Leaving like that was really smart. I think I’ve still got that book around here somewhere. Do you mind taking a look at the pictures again and showing me which one it is?”

  She nodded, and I ran to the office to get it, grateful I hadn’t turned it back into the chief. I grabbed it and hurried back to Chloe. I’d marked the page with Pete’s photo and pulled it open. “Here’s the first one. What do you think?”

  Chloe glanced at the photo and nodded. “Yes...that’s him.” She swallowed and closed her eyes. “I’m sure it was him this time.”

  “That’s a huge help. Now we can stop him.” I closed the book and set it aside. “I should probably call Holly first and tell her you’re here, or she’ll freak out when she gets home.”

  “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Um...is it okay if I use your bathroom?”

  “Sure, go on upstairs and use Savannah’s.” I pulled my phone out, but before I could call Holly, it started ringing. I expected to see Holly’s picture, but the number wasn’t readily familiar.

  “Hello?”

  “Shelby, this is Pete. I got your message, and I think we need to talk.”

  My heart started to race, and I could barely get my mouth to work. “Um...yeah...okay. When?”

  “Are you at home?” he asked. “I’m not too far away. I could stop by your house.”

  “Oh...uh...not at the moment,” I said, my stomach clenching with alarm. “I’m...at the hospital visiting a friend, but I could meet you. In fact...there’s a diner right across the street. How about that? Say...in about twenty minutes to half an hour?”

  He sighed, pausing to think about it. “Yeah...okay. What’s the name of the place?”

  “Uh...the Dragon Diner...just on thirteenth and forty-fifth.”

  “Right...I know the place,” he said. “Okay. I’ll meet you there. See you soon.”