Driven to Ink

I told him about the quilted bag and how I’d come to be in possession of it. “It was all pretty innocent,” I added, “until I looked inside the bag and saw the bank receipt.”

“So you think she’s the one who gave the money to Lucci?”

“She says she didn’t. When I asked her about it later, she said to mind my own business.” I paused. “I guess it could’ve been for anything.”

“Except that her son left a duffel bag with exactly that amount in his locker.”

“But what about Dan Franklin’s money? The money he withdrew?”

“I see where you might connect the dots, but that one’s a dead end. Franklin did take the money out, but what you didn’t see was that he put it right back into a CD. His bank was offering a pretty good rate. We verified it all with the bank.”

Back to square one.

“So what about Sanderson? His assistant told me that Ray Lucci had been around threatening them,” I said. “Maybe Sanderson wanted to get rid of Lucci. Parker was with Lucci at my shop-” I stopped. What about that tattoo that Dan Franklin had?

Tim read my mind. “It really was Lucci. We verified the shop where Franklin got his tattoo.”

And then it came back to me in a flash. What had bothered me about Franklin’s tattoo. Joel told me he’d tattooed “That’s Amore” around Lucci’s bicep. Franklin’s tattoo was on his forearm. So much for that theory. But it didn’t mean Franklin was off the hook completely. He had run from us for some reason.

“Going back to Parker-he was with Lucci at my shop. He was messing around with Joel’s clip cord. He could’ve taken it and then killed Lucci with it later. Since Parker was driving Sanderson’s car and he went over to the Love Shack today, maybe he and Sanderson were in on it together.”

“And you think Sanderson hired him to do it?”

I shrugged. “You got any better ideas?”

He agreed. “It would make sense.”

“Parker did say someone tried to run him down in my car. Maybe Lucci tried to kill him first.”

“Or maybe he made that up.”

Definite possibility.

“Why would he kill Marino?” Tim asked.

There were still too many questions. And Parker was in the wind, so we couldn’t ask him.

“I’m going to take you home,” Tim said.

“What about Flanigan?”

“He agreed that you could go home, as long as I was with you.” He paused. “Of course he’s not completely trusting me right now, either, because of the Monorail thing, but I managed to convince him we’d go straight to the house.”

“I’m staying. I need to stay until Jeff’s out of surgery.” I heard a tinge of hysteria in my voice.

“There’s nothing you can do.” Tim sighed, then tried another tack. “You don’t have any proper clothes.”

“I thought you said you’d call Bitsy.”

“I couldn’t reach her.”

I nodded, remembering. “I told her she could leave early. She’s probably on a date or something. You know, you could go get me some clothes.”

“Or you could come home, change, get a couple hours of sleep, and then I can bring you back when Jeff’s in recovery.” He stared me down. This was not unlike some of our childhood power plays, and fortunately for him, I was worn down enough by the night’s events to give in.

I got off the bed and felt it in every muscle. Tim noticed. He took my arm as he pulled back the curtain with his other hand. Bixby was on the other side.

“Can you call me the minute Jeff is out of surgery?” I asked him.

“Sure,” he said, and while I’d done my best to assure him that Jeff was no more than a friend, he still looked a little uncertain.

I was too exhausted, worried, and in pain to care now.

“Thanks.”

Bixby leaned over and gave me a peck on the cheek.

Tim put his arm around me as we walked out the sliding doors and into the night. I shivered; the cotton scrubs weren’t exactly warm, and it had gotten pretty chilly out. Tim shrugged out of his tweed sport jacket and handed it to me. I put it on, and between the warmth from Tim’s body and the tweed, I felt a lot better.

When we were settled into the Impala, I turned to him and said, “I forgot to call Sylvia.” I took my phone out of my bag, and as I flipped it open, I realized I didn’t have Rosalie’s number. I called information and was put through.

No one answered. The phone rang and rang.

“That’s weird,” I said as I closed my phone. “Sylvia was staying over with her.”

“Maybe they’re very sound sleepers,” Tim suggested.

Maybe. But it felt as though something wasn’t right. It was possible they wouldn’t have heard the first ring, but I let it ring at least ten times.

“Unless they had the ringer turned off,” Tim said when I expressed my concern.

Okay, so maybe I was seeing trouble where there wasn’t any. But I hadn’t expected the boogeyman to jump out in the desert, either.

Tim’s phone rang. He scooted up in the seat and took it off his belt. “Kavanaugh,” he said.

I could hear the other person talking but couldn’t make out the words. Finally, Tim said, “Okay. Thanks.” And he hung up. He turned to me, his mouth set in a grim line.

“It was definitely someone from that wedding chapel who ran you off the road and shot at you.”

Before I could ask how he knew that, he spoke again.

“They found a torn piece of a jacket at side of the road. It had the words ‘That’s Amore’ on it.”

Chapter 56

I didn’t think I could ever hear that song title again without having a panic attack. I closed my eyes and let the movie play in my head: the car ramming into the light pole, the gunshots, the body slamming into the windshield.

I looked at Tim. “Do you think it was Dan Franklin?”

“Could have been.”

“Why would he have changed into his Dean Martin tux, though?” I asked.

We sat for a few minutes pondering that. It didn’t make any sense.

“Will Parker?” I asked.

“Maybe.”

Or maybe it was someone totally unrelated to anything that had been going on tonight. Some guy with road rage who came after us.

No. It had to have something to do with everything that had been going on the last few days. Someone who felt threatened enough to try to kill Jeff and me.

Which reminded me, “We need to tell Sylvia about Jeff.”

“So what do you propose to do? Go over and wake them up?”

I nodded. “Exactly.”

“Why don’t I get a uniform out there?” Tim said. “Then you don’t have to worry. He’ll tell Sylvia about Jeff and take her to the hospital to be with him.”

The guilt I felt about leaving the hospital came rushing back. “I should be with her,” I argued. “I should tell her, and I should sit with her, waiting for Jeff.”

We were stopped at a light. Tim shifted a little so he was looking at me.

“Is there something more than friendship between you and Jeff Coleman?” he asked.