After Mick left, I phoned Ava as I looped my tote handle over my shoulder.
“I just heard,” she said in place of hello.
“How did you hear already?” I asked, getting in my car and heading toward her house.
“Police scanner. You picking me up or me you?”
“You have a police scanner? Since when?” I asked at a loss for words.
“It was my Valentine’s Day gift from Delilah.”
Odd gift, although I’m sure Ava asked for it. Thank God Delilah got my BFF. She’s not all there—kind of like me.
“What are you doing? Are you still there? Hello? HELLO! JOLIE!”
“Good Lord, I’m here!”
“Why are you ignoring me?”
“I’m pulling in your drive now. Let’s go.”
Ava hung up and I assumed she was on her way out. I grabbed my two-ton tote to throw it in the back seat to make room for Ava as the passenger door swung open.
“That was rude to hang—” I started until I realized it was Delilah who got in and not Ava. “Oh, hey, where’s Ava?”
“She’s looking for her wallet. You know she’s weird about leaving without it.”
“Right,” I said, rubbing my jean-covered thighs with my hands, something I did when I was nervous. I sensed Delilah had more to tell me. “What’s up?”
“I don’t want Ava doing this PI stuff anymore. It’s getting too dangerous.”
I sat in silence, feeling put in the middle of something. I didn’t want to take sides or say the wrong thing. “I get you being nervous. You love her.”
“I do. The longer I work with Nestle, the more of a dark feeling I get. He doesn’t like you two and that in itself worries me.”
Ava opened the back door. “You going with us?”
“You’re welcome to,” I said, hoping that would make Delilah feel better.
“Nah, I need to feed our babies. You get up here, sweets.” Delilah held the car door open and pecked Ava on the cheek, then looked at me, pointing her finger. “I expect you to take care of her.”
I nodded in agreement as I saw Ava roll her eyes.
“We’ll be fine. The police will be there,” Ava said, then slammed the car door.
I opted not to bring up Delilah’s odd behavior and instead filled Ava in on Lia’s visit to me earlier and how we need to find time to review everything and try to expose Nestle for the crook he is.
“Agreed,” Ava gave me a one-word reply while reaching into her purse for some cheddar, peanut butter, and olive crackers.
“Delilah said you were looking for your wallet.” I said as Ava offered me one of her snacks and I shook my head.
“Wasn’t sure how long we’d be and wanted a snack.” She sprayed bits of cracker out of her mouth as she spoke. Ava took a hard swallow as it dawned on her what I had just said about Lia. “Wait, you don’t think—”
“Is it Lia? I don’t know. But she tells me she’s going back to pretending to be an unhoused person and almost immediately someone ends up dead.” Tears welled up. I’d grown to like her as a friend. With everything we had been through together, she felt like a war buddy. And we both wanted Jackson Nestle to pay for his crimes.
I headed back the long newly paved road that led way back in the woods away from the interstate. Mayor Nalini insisted that he would only support this if the place was nowhere near the town or city. I had a feeling it was more the Tri-City mayor, John Cardinal, who wanted the unhoused residents hidden from sight. I’m sure he pressured Nalini to have the shelter be in Leavensport. He had been pushing people that struggled financially out of neighborhoods in Tri-City for the past year.
Heck, she and I had just worked together a few days ago—Lia used me as the go-between for her and Mayor Nalini to get the plans set for the Villy Crisis Center: A Helping Hand. We couldn’t chance that Mayor Nalini knew who Lia was and would somehow tell Nestle, so she and I would meet and plan, and I would communicate with the mayor and relay the information to him as if it was my own idea. It was a complicated process, but worth it to keep Lia safe.
Lia came up with the name. She liked “villy,” like “village,” since it was for Tri-City and Leavensport people who struggled with keeping a roof over their heads. Mayor Nalini told me having something like “crisis center” in the title helped with grant money but Lia insisted on adding “a helping hand” so it didn’t sound so forlorn in title alone. I pulled into the shelter parking behind Mick’s truck, straightening out my arms on the steering wheel as I shook my blonde ringlets hard, forcing my brain to stop thinking of Lia in the past tense. I took a deep breath, preparing for the unknown.
“You ready?” Ava asked.
I nodded, feeling sick to my stomach. Ava and I hustled up the gravel drive and I saw my hubby and his co-workers had been hard at work securing the scene. There was yellow tape up, someone was photographing what I assumed was the covered body. That was probably Colleen taking the pictures. I noticed that she was careful to lift small parts of the cover so if any reporters were lurking around, they couldn’t catch a good shot.
I saw a tall, muscular man in a white jumpsuit with booties on his feet and I knew that body regardless of what he was wearing. Mick was walking the perimeters with a flashlight, looking for evidence, careful of where he stepped. I was outside the tape and took my thumb and index finger and whistled low. Mick looked over his shoulder at me and I saw him shake his head as he ducked under the tape and moved carefully ten feet or so outside of the scene before walking in my direction.
“I should have known you two would follow me here,” he sighed.
“We didn’t follow you. I heard it on my—” Ava stopped herself.
“On your what?” Mick pulled his white hood down momentarily.
“Babe, I brought you a thermos with coffee and your pills. I didn’t know how long you’d be.” I zipped open my tote and pulled out the thermos and baggy with his nightly pills he took to help keep his MS at bay.
It seemed to distract him and remove some of the grump from his mood from finding us there. He took the thermos and poured a little coffee and sipped it. I handed him a bottle of water from the tote so he could take the pills.
“Good Lord, he’s only fifteen minutes from home,” Ava said, giving me a thank you for saving me look.
Mick wouldn’t be thrilled to know she had a police scanner.
“I see the snoops are here.”
I whirled around to see Jackson Nestle getting out of a white van.
“Who are you calling a snoop? Doesn’t seem like a criminal should be flinging names around at law-abiding citizens.” Ava took a few large steps toward him.
“Whoa!” Mick strode over and held her elbow. “I got this.”
Mick walked over to Nestle’s van as Teddy and Keith began moving from the crime scene toward us too.
Ava and I circled around the opposite side to get a peek inside the van.
“Geesh, and here I thought y’all didn’t like me.” Nestle grinned. “What happened here?”
“What are you doing here?” Teddy held a hand up making it clear Nestle shouldn’t take another step.
“He has boxes in the back of his van,” I yelled from the back. I cupped my hands around my face to get a better look in the windows.
“It’s none of your business what I lug around, blondie,” Nestle growled at me.
“Take it easy, pal.” Mick took a step toward him.
Nestle put his hands up and retreated. “Sorry, but your little wifey has a tendency to butt into my business a little too often. A guy could get a complex.”
“Believe me when I tell you, I would prefer to have nothing to do with you,” I said flatly, crossing my arms over my chest.
“So don’t.” He glared.
“Wouldn’t have to if you’d stay out of Leavensport,” I countered.
“Free country. I can go where I please.”
“Sure thing. You mind if we look at what’s in the boxes?” Ava asked as she went to the back and began opening the van doors.
“Get your hands off this vehicle.” Nestle strode from the passenger side to the back and clamped a hand around Ava’s arm.
“Uh-uh, wrong thing to do!” A wave of rage hit me, and before I realized what was happening, I had charged him, smashing into him. He was much larger in stature than me, but I used my entire weight to slam into him, knocking him off balance. He dominoed into Ava, who shoved him back, then she lost her balance and fell on top of him.
Teddy, Keith, and Mick rushed over. Mick wrapped his arms around my middle, pulling me back as Keith took Ava’s hands and pulled her up. Nestle lay there with a weird grin on his face.
“I’m pressing assault charges,” Nestle said, reaching for Teddy to help him up. He didn’t.
“So, you wouldn’t want to tell us what’s in those boxes, would you? I mean, I can have you stay here since it’s a crime scene and get a warrant if necessary.” Teddy stared down at him.
Nestle stood up, brushing dried leaves and grass off his clothing. “Hey, I don’t mean to cause trouble. I’m here to drop off clothing and food. I’ve done it before. Go ahead and see for yourself.”
Ava and I moved toward the van.
“The police can look. Not you two,” Nestle yapped.
I stood back, arms crossed, glaring at him.
A few minutes later, the guys gave us a look and shook their heads.
“There’s got to be something in there. Pull the van apart. He just happens to show up at the scene of a murder?” I said in disbelief.
“Whoa, what? Who was killed? Is that what’s going on? Now I’ll tell you if you want to search more you can get a warrant. No one told me someone was killed.”
“What are you hiding?” Ava hollered.
“Nothing,” Nestle said, “but I know you all would happily plant something on me. You need probable cause.”
“You gave us permission,” Mick said.
“That was before I knew someone was murdered here. No one bothered to tell me that.” Nestle mimicked me, crossing his arms.
Teddy’s mouth twitched and he looked from Mick to Keith. I could tell Nestle knew he had rights. Great.
“Hey, his right taillight is broken. You can cite him for that,” I said to no one in particular.
“You’ll have to bring your stuff back another time,” Teddy said, ignoring my suggestion. “I don’t want you going in there now. Also, I’d like you to stick around a little while. I’ll have a few questions.”
That gave me a tiny smidge of satisfaction. I tapped Mick on the shoulder and nodded my head toward my car as he and Ava followed me.
“You both need to work on controlling yourselves around him.” Mick’s voice was deep and husky, his dark eyes stormy looking from Ava to me.
“Sorry, I got a little hot under the collar,” Ava said.
“Yeah, I’m sorry too. Can you tell us who the victim is?”
“Not right now,” Mick said. “Why do you want to know so badly?”
“I don’t want Nestle to know who it is if he wasn’t involved. I mean, it depends on who it is,” I stumbled on my words.
“Why?” Mick asked.
Mick knew Lia as Lia, the woman struggling with homelessness who started to turn her life around. I never told him she was Nestle’s ex-wife that testified against him to get him put away in a white-collar prison in Canada for a small stretch of time which led to her having to be put in witness protection. This was one of those gray areas he and I had worked out in therapy. We decided that there would be things that we couldn’t tell each other. Since Ava and I were licensed PI’s now, we got to work a little more closely with the police, but not completely.
“Is it Natalia?” Ava asked.
“Who?” Mick asked.
“Lia,” I said through gritted teeth, glaring at Ava.
Ava stood behind Mick, mouthing sorry.
“Wait, Lia’s name is Natalia? Who’s Natalia?”
“You have work to do. Is it Lia?” I asked again.
“Mick, we need you over here,” Teddy yelled from inside the tape. “We found something.”
“Gotta go.” He leaned down to kiss me quickly and ran off, pulling his hood up.
I stood by the car as Ava opened the door to get in.
“You haven’t told him about who Natalia is yet?” Ava asked.
“It’s one of those gray areas,” I said, looking at where the police were inside the tape, then seeing Nestle had settled in the driver’s side of his van. I looked at the side door of the shelter for unhoused residents.
“What are you going to do?” Ava asked.
“There’s a city cop stationed at the side door. I need to get in there to ask Devonte if he’s seen Lia or not.”
“You need me to create a distraction?” Ava asked.
I nodded.
Ava started walking toward the officer as I moved up front to get in a hidden position that wasn’t too far from the door.
“Ma’am, can I help you?” the officer asked.
Ava turned away from him and started moving toward the woods.
“Excuse me, ma’am. I need you to step this way.” The officer reached for his belt.
Come on, Ava, don’t spook him too much. My stomach lurched as I feared for my friend.
Ava bent over. “Help me, please,” she yelled. “I’m pregnant. There’s something not right.” She groaned and sank to the ground, holding her belly.
The officer lifted his hand from his belt and ran to Ava, who had rolled over on her back and was flailing her limbs, reaching for the man and pulling at him. “Please help me!” she wailed.
Wow, she’s good. I snuck to the door. Locked. Dang it. I knocked quietly, looking behind me. The officer was bent over Ava, who was looking at me. She wiggled, trying to get up, then fell back down, pulling the officer with her.
I jerked at the doorknob and knocked with a flat hand, mentally pleading, please, anyone open the door.
“Ma’am let me radio for help,” the officer said.
I began to scoot back into the shadows when the door cracked open and I pushed my way through.
I shut the door quickly behind me, saying a quick prayer Ava got out of her predicament. I turned around to find one of the women from Tri-City who periodically needed the shelter’s services. “Jolie?” she said.
“Hey, have you seen Lia? Is she in here?”
The woman with the matted salt-and-pepper hair shook her head. “Not seen her. But Devonte’s in back.” She tipped back a bottle of something covered with a brown paper bag and gave me a toothless smile as she stumbled by me.
I couldn’t help but notice the sour stench coming from her and my head jerked back as I was repulsed by the smell. Immediately, I felt my inner self scold my senses for my knee-jerk reaction. I’m sure she was new to this shelter and still learning the rules of what was and wasn’t allowed here. Definitely, no alcohol. I shook it off and went to where she pointed, in search of Lia’s friend.
“Jolie, girlfriend!” Devonte ran to me and squeezed me. “Girl,” He took a deep, dramatic breath while waving his hand in front of his face, dark eyes wide. “It has been a day!”
“So, it’s not Lia?” I asked.
“Huh? OH! WHOA! NOOOO.” Devonte was horrified by the thought.
I felt my entire body unclench. “Is she in here? Nestle’s outside.”
“Haven’t seen her.” He peered around to make sure no one was listening and lowered his voice to a whisper. “She told me she told you what she’s up to.”
“She did, but I thought she’d be here.”
“I haven’t seen her for a day, but I know that’s not her out there. That one hasn’t been here long and she never said much to anyone.”
“So, it’s a woman, but you don’t know who—just that it’s not Lia.” I scratched my head.
“Sorry darling, I have to go check on the bread I’m baking,” Devonte said and rushed out of the room, leaving me standing there contemplating where Lia could be.
I went over to the side door, peeking out and seeing the guard back. Okay, let me out! I texted Ava, then waited. A few seconds later, the man grumbled under his breath and walk back over to my trouble-making accomplice. I inched over to the car and got in, then honked and yelled out the window as though I had been there the whole time. “AVA! Come on, Mick said we need to get out of here.”
Ava had been slumped over again and quickly stood up, shaking the man’s hand and rubbing his arm in thanks and speed-walking to the car.
“Thank you, sorry it took me so long!” I put the car in drive and started to pull out when Ava stopped me.
“Isn’t that—”
We both squinted. “Luis—is that his name?”
“Nina’s son, yeah, that’s him. What on earth is he doing here?” Ava asked.
I put the car in park and we got out, calling his name. He was walking down the lane, looking like he was in a daze.
We ran to him and I touched his elbow. “Luis, it’s Jolie and Ava. We met earlier at your mom’s bakery. Are you okay? What’s going on? Talk to us.”
“I-I—IIIII…” He dragged the last ‘I’ out with index finger pointing back to where the dead body lay covered on the ground. His dark eyes were glazed over and blank. Shock.
“Luis,” Ava barked, loudly snapping her fingers in front of his eyes. She held him by his shoulders and shook him hard. “Snap out of it. NOW!”
Luis shook his head sharply, then tilted his head as if seeing us for the first time. “You two, from—”
“Yes, it’s Jolie and Ava. Now what’s going on? Did you see what happened to that person?”
“I-I found her body. She, she was still trying to talk then she just—” He slipped back into a dazed silence again. Teddy ran up to them.
“There you are, son. I wondered where you ran off to. Now I need you to come back with me so I can ask you a few questions.” Teddy reached for Luis.
Ava had her phone to her ear and took a large step in front of Luis, shaking a finger in the universal “no-no” gesture in Teddy’s face. “Yeah, do you have her number? I need it. Her son is at the scene of a crime and the police are trying to question a minor. We need his mom here now.”
Ava hung up the phone and went from having just been stern with Luis to protective by putting a reassuring arm around him. “You come with us and we’ll wait until your mom gets here.” Ava side-eyed Teddy as she moved Luis along with her, then glanced back at me saying, “Jolie, call the attorney, Mr. Mercurio, to make sure their rights are protected.”
I obeyed in complete surprise by my bestie’s ability to handle a situation and take care of a teen in need.
“Hey, Jolie, I have every right to ask a minor a general question. She didn’t have to be like that.” Teddy was not happy.
“You saw him, Teddy,” I covered the mouthpiece of my cell with my hand as Mr. Mercurio’s number rang in my ear. “His complexion was palish green, he could barely speak. The kid was in shock. Ava was protecting him and you should be thankful. If you would have pushed that kid too hard, you could have found yourself—” The attorney picked up, interrupting my thought process with Teddy. He stomped off while I explained the situation to our town’s attorney.
I slowly drove back up the long gravel drive thinking how much I hoped Luis would be okay after what he witnessed. He seemed like a good kid and he was so young to have to deal with seeing something like that. I needed to remember to talk to Nina about Tabitha so Luis could have access to a mental health professional to help him process the experience.
I grabbed the water bottle I had given Mick from on top of his truck and took a swig, surveying the situation. Luis waited in the back seat of my car as Ava stood guard outside the car to be sure no police tried to talk to him.
A car came speeding up the drive, sending puffs of dust and rocks flying everywhere. It turned sharply and the brakes squealed as the tires very nearly went through the yellow tape outlining the crime scene.
Nina jumped from the car, her face contorted into a mask of fear and the motherly instinct to protect her cub. She looked wildly at me.
I pointed to my car, not wanting to frighten the mother and helping her get to her child.
Luis jumped out of the car when he saw her and ran into the safety of her motherly arms.
Ava tilted a head toward the car, signaling me that it was time for us to leave.
Neither of us said much as we drove down the gravelly lane and headed into town. My mind was full of fading and hazy thoughts as I drove through town on autopilot.
“Jolie—” Ava started.
“Yeah,” I said dully.
“I’m pregnant.”