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“SWING BY THE AIRPORT, Tee,” Teddy said as he tried to get comfortable in the passenger seat.
“Call me Officer Teves, Mr. Williams.” She’d met him in the lobby, clearly angry, and hadn’t said a word as she led him to her car. “I agreed to drive you home, not chauffeur you around to meddle in police business.” She glared at him, face pale and lips tight. “You should’ve stayed in the hospital.”
“Oh for Pete’s sake. You said they found September’s car at the airport. I know you want to follow up, so why delay? Hell, I’ll even stay in the car while you sashay around to gather clues.” He mocked her with air quotes on the final word, hoping for a smile, but she scowled. “Or instead, call up Steele. Surely he’ll give you an update.”
“Okay, fine.” She made the turn onto the highway. “You’re right, Steele won’t share info with me. We’ll take a look at the airport, but you stay in the car with Karma.” Karma whined in the back seat at the tension in her voice, and she softened her tone. “How’s your leg? That’s gotta hurt.”
“Just a flesh wound, doesn’t hurt.” He lied. The bullet had skimmed the muscle of his thigh, peeled off skin and luckily missed the bone. The pain medication helped some, but the pressure of sitting made the wound throb. They’d cleaned and packed the injury, and warned him to keep it elevated above his heart to reduce swelling. No way to do that in the car, of course.
She snorted. “You’re lucky it didn’t take off your leg.”
He crossed his arms. He couldn’t let a little limp sidetrack him. Besides, the pain meds worked fine. As long as he didn’t walk.
The snowy streets still required careful navigation, but little traffic slowed their progress. Once at the small regional airport, they passed through the gate into the tiny parking lot. Only a handful of cars dotted the area. “Over there, isn’t that her car?” He pointed.
The SUV sat in the front row, in a slot clearly labeled for the disabled. He wrinkled his brow as Tee drove her rental through the rows, and parked nearby. The impact of something—bullet holes?—starred the windshield. “Are you sure the police already checked out the car?” Pristine snow surrounded September’s car. Only the immediate portion beside the driver’s door looked disturbed, like the driver had left the vehicle.
“Stay here.” Tee left the car running, and stepped out to get a closer look. She slowly circled the car, tried the doors—locked—and scrubbed clear a window to peer inside. She shook her head and shrugged, then turned to cross the narrow sidewalk and street into the terminal itself.
“Oh no, you don’t.” Teddy reached over, switched off the car engine, and struggled to get out of the car as he pocketed her keys. Karma roused from the back seat, and gave one loud bark of protest.
Halfway across the drive, Tee turned back, and held out her palm in a stop gesture. “I told you to wait.”
“You’re not the boss of me.” He sounded childish and didn’t care. “I may be older than God, but I’m not dead. And I’m not sitting on my hands waiting for you to decide what to tell me.” He walked carefully, wincing with each step, until he reached her. “Give me your damn arm. I got a gunshot, ya know.”
She stifled a grin, and he knew he’d won. She took back the keys, hurried back to the car to retrieve Karma, and together the three entered the plane terminal.
Tee kept the leashed dog close to her side. Teddy didn’t think anyone would ask for I.D. The dog’s patrol harness with collar badge clearly identified them as a working K9 unit.
He’d already checked the departure schedules on his phone. “There’s only a couple of direct flights to Texas. Most connect through O’Hare in Chicago. People would remember if September boarded with a dog. Shadow’s pretty memorable.” He limped alongside her to the ticket counter.
Tee showed her badge, but surprised Teddy with her first question. “Have any police inquiries been made today regarding an abandoned car in the lot outside? Any calls about a dark-haired woman, September Day? She’d be accompanied by a black German Shepherd.”
The ticket agent shook her head. “Not while I’ve been here, and I’m working a twelve-hour shift. I could ask security. Is she dangerous?” She looked at her co-workers along the counter, and they all shrugged.
Teddy’s shoulders dropped. He followed when Tee grabbed his arm. He hadn’t realized how hopeful he’d been that September had simply gone home. If she hadn’t caught a flight, her car abandoned, but no sign of her or Shadow, he feared for her safety.
“I don’t think she’s here.” Tee echoed his concern. “Only one set of tracks from her car. There should’ve been paw prints, too. You saw how Karma leaves a trail in the snow.”
He nodded. “She wouldn’t leave Shadow.” He took off and polished his glasses. “They hadn’t heard from the police, either. Wouldn’t Detective Steele inform security, or put an impound notice on her car, or something?”
Tee’s freckles stood out in stark contrast to her pale cheeks. She rolled her neck, and pulled at the bottom of her lip as she waited for the electronic doors to swish open. She hurried them back to her car. “Somebody came after September. She led them to you.” She looked at him, raised one eyebrow.
Teddy struggled to limp in pace with her. “Agreed. He took the thumb drive, tried to kill me, and went after September.”
She pushed hair out of her face, and nodded. “No sign of her or Shadow at the cemetery, but looked like a struggle. Then her car ends up at the airport. He wants us to think she ran. That’s what the police think, anyway.” Tee unlocked her rental, and helped Teddy climb back in. “Maybe she’s okay. Shadow wouldn’t let anyone hurt her.”
He squinted, not wanting to consider the alternative—that they both could be dead. Teddy waited until she loaded Karma into the back seat, and Tee climbed behind the wheel to ask, “Who knew about the cemetery visit?”
“Detective Steele.” Her expression icy, she started the car. “He talked to Redford about September’s car being found here at the airport. Couldn’t be Steele at the cemetery. He’s been tied up with the fire at Southgate’s place.”
“Speaking of Judge Southgate, I found the connection there.” Teddy shifted his weight to take the pressure off his wound. “Although I still don’t understand what all this has to do with September.” He paused, and added, “You can take me home now.”
“So? What’s the connection?” She started the car, pulled up to the exit, and paid the parking fee.
“Judge Southgate had kids, right?”
“Yes. Steele talked to his daughter, the only survivor of the fire. There was a younger son. Paul. Some kind of genius, started at Notre Dame a couple of years early.”
Teddy pulled up the notes he’d made on his phone. “Okay, Southgate paid the cat adoption fee the same month as Paul’s birthday.”
“Okay. So they bought a high-dollar kitty as a birthday gift?”
“For an infant? And for that kind of money?” He winced, and adjusted his leg again. “That’s not the only one. I tracked the last five sales. They’re payoffs.”
“For what?” She glanced at him. “How much farther to your house?”
“My son’s house. Another five blocks. I’m camping in the driveway. Oh, Theo’ll be so pissed off at me!” He laughed, feeling more alive than he had since Molly passed. “I looked up the names connected to the last five cat sales. They live all over the country, but have several things in common. The purchasers are well off. They’re in positions of influence or authority—lawyers, politicians, business owners. And they each have at least one kid.”
“And they like cats?” She arched an eyebrow. Karma barked at her irked tone.
“Just like Southgate, each of ‘em bought a high-dollar kitty in the birth month of their child. September’s only link, though, is Victor Grant and Macy.”
