Chapter 31

 

Jake drove us back to the apartment building. He was reluctant to leave us, but I didn’t want to abandon the scooter there overnight. Dorothy needed to go home. At least she had stopped crying. Well, she’d never burst out into full-fledged sobbing. It was more like a few little tears, but for Dorothy that was a lot.

Jake pulled into the parking lot and up to the scooter. “I still think you should let me drive you home.”

“Don’t worry about us. It’s not that far. We’ll be fine. I’m taking Dorothy home and then going to my place.” I opened the car door and got out.

“I’ll call you,” Jake said with a wide smile.

Dorothy stopped at the scooter. “You want me to get on that?”

I handed her a helmet. “You got it.”

Dorothy and I got onto the scooter. She clutched onto me as if she was getting ready to ride through a tornado. I pulled out onto the road and headed toward her place. When I glanced in the side mirror, I saw Jake’s car behind me. Did he think I wouldn’t notice him? He was still following us. No matter that I’d told him we would be fine. I supposed it did make me a little happy. Nobody had ever cared enough to do that for me. Or was he just doing his job? I liked to think that he cared, and that was what I was going with.

I dropped Dorothy off, but I wasn’t going straight home. Sure, I would go there and make Jake think that I was home for the evening, but as soon as he was out of sight I’d take off.

I had a plan to go back to Roland’s place and have a look around. I merged onto the highway and then got off a few exits later. Why had they taken Dorothy? Something told me they had wanted me, but when Dorothy was the only one at the office they took her to lure me to the house. They hadn’t expected to find Jake too. These were the questions I had to figure out right away. It was getting late, but I had to go to the house anyway. I was hoping that the police wouldn’t still be there. They would only get in my way, meaning they would try to stop me from looking around.

It felt strange to be back at the house after what had happened. Definitely more than a little unnerving. I got off the scooter and walked up to toward the front porch. At least the cops were gone. I’d go inside and have a quick look around. Just as I headed toward the door, movement caught my attention. Looking to my left, I spotted a man at the house next door. He was watching me, which led me to believe that he wanted to talk. I made eye contact and then headed over to him.

“Good evening,” I said.

He was a bit standoffish, but seemed willing to talk. Since he was the neighbor I hoped to get good information.

“Can I ask you some questions about that house?” I asked.

He looked at the house. “Sure. What do you want to know?”

“I’d just like to know about the people who lived over there. Can you tell me who lived there?” I asked.

“A man lived there, but recently a younger guy moved in with him. I don’t know their names. They kind of kept to themselves,” he said. “Although there were a lot of people coming and going. I think they may have been involved in selling drugs.”

The men were bad news. Why hadn’t he called the police on them?

I pulled out my photo and showed him a picture of Kenneth. “Is this the younger guy who moved in?”

“No, but I’ve seen him around a lot. They look alike so I assumed that was his son.”

Good guess. I pulled up a mug shot of Kevan Willoughby from when he’d been arrested last year for DUI. “Is this the guy?”

He leaned close. “Yeah, that’s him. He drove an RV sometimes.”

I swiped to a picture of Skye. “What about her? Have you ever seen her?”

“Yes, she was over there a lot.”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

Why would Skye have been there? Now I knew for sure she was connected to these men. 

“One more photo and I’ll leave you alone.” I showed a picture of Brett McGraw.

“Yes, I’ve seen him there too.”

So all of them knew each other. Were they all connected to drugs?  

“Thanks for the help,” I said.

“No problem,” he answered.

He watched me for a little bit as I walked back over to the house. Finally, the neighbor turned his attention to the lawn. Looking around the house was risky, but I had to do it. I assumed that the door was unlocked still, so I walked up the steps as if I belonged there. I grabbed the door knob and turned. Sure enough, it was unlocked. Flashbacks of Dorothy sitting in that chair came to mind. It made me sick to my stomach. I had a job to do though, and that was to look around the house.

I searched through every cabinet and drawer, even the closets and under the beds. There was a bunch of junk, but also cash and drugs. Jake needed to get here right away. Why hadn’t the police searched the house better? As I passed by the kitchen table, I noticed something… a card. When I picked it up, I realized it was Penelope phone number. So now I knew there was a connection with her too. How had Jake missed this? I supposed he hadn’t been in the house after we took Dorothy out. So it was the other cops who had missed it. These men had a lot of answers to give.

I shoved the card into my pocket and headed toward the door. The longer I was in the house the worse I felt. Plus, these people could be back at any time. I was surprised the police weren’t watching the house.

As I stepped out the door, I noticed another Ferrari going by slowly. This one was black. Roland and Kevan were inside the car. They looked over in my direction. I rushed behind a nearby shrub, hoping that they didn’t see me. I peeked out and saw the car drive by slowly. They didn’t stop, but instead just kept going. That meant I had to follow them.

They were probably trying to figure out if the cops were still here. I jumped out from behind the bush and ran to the scooter. Of course, the neighbor was watching. I was sure he thought I was crazy, but I didn’t care. I jumped on the scooter, cranked the engine, and peeled away from the curb.

I got a pretty good distance away from the car so that they couldn’t see me, but yet I could still keep up with them. Not far down the road they pulled into an apartment building. I slowed down, but they didn’t stop. Just like back at the house. Had they been looking for Kenneth?

I kept driving through the parking lot and back onto the main road. I continued my pursuit. I would follow them as long as I could. When I glimpsed in the rear-view mirror, I was sure that I saw a car following me. It didn’t look like Jake’s. I didn’t recognize it. Great. Now I had someone following me. Maybe it was the person these guys were looking for. If I tried to lose the car behind me that would mean I would lose the guys in front of me.

I decided to continue following and see how long the car behind me stayed back there. As I made a left turn I caught a glimpse of the people in the car, and that was when I realized it was Dorothy and her boyfriend. What the heck was she doing? I’d left her back at her place and I’d thought that was where she would stay. She was just going to get in trouble. They were following me. How had she found me? I could stop now and make her stop following me and lose the car in front of me, or continue following the car and potentially put Dorothy in danger.

The Ferrari pulled into a parking lot and I turned in as well. Of course, Dorothy and her boyfriend followed me. I parked back away from the car that I’d followed because I didn’t want Dorothy messing this up for us. She pulled her car alongside me. I didn’t get off the scooter right away. She was waving at me, but I tried to ignore her. I had to keep my eyes on the guys.

Roland and Kevan got out of the fancy car and headed for the club. Kevan pulled out his cell phone as he walked toward the entrance. Just then, my phone rang. It was that same unknown number. I answered as I watched Kevan. He wasn’t speaking into the phone. As he lowered the phone from his ear, the call placed to me dropped. So he had been the one calling to harass me. Wasn’t it enough he had tried to kill me? Now he had to prank call too? What a weirdo. 

This was the same club that Skye had been at the night she was murdered. Once they were inside, I looked over at Dorothy and glared at her.

She motioned for me to come over. I turned off the ignition and hurried over to her window.

She lowered the window. “Maggie, what are you doing?”

Morton’s silver hair practically shone as bright as the moon under the glow from the nearby streetlight. As usual he wore a Hawaiian shirt. This one was orange like the color of a street cone.

“I was watching Roland and Kevan. Didn’t you notice them?”

“I didn’t realize,” she said.

“What did you think I was doing? Why are you following me in the first place?”

“I was worried you were going to get into something that you shouldn’t be into. I know how you are.”

“Yeah, well, I have to get inside and find those guys.”

Morton waved at me. “Hi, Maggie. Sorry if I scared you by following you.”

“It’s okay, Morton,” I said. “I’m going in and I’ll see you guys later.”

“I’m really not dressed to go to a club, Maggie,” Dorothy said.

“Oh, no, you’re not going in there.”

“You’re not really dressed for the club either,” she said.

“I have to go. I’ll see you in the morning. I’ll pick you up, okay?”

“We’re coming with you.” Dorothy opened the car door.

“Morton, Dorothy, you can’t go in there.”

“You’re not going in there alone, Maggie, and that’s the end of this discussion.”

I released a deep breath. I didn’t have time to continue this argument. “Okay, fine, but we have to hurry.”

When we reached the club’s entrance Dorothy was thrilled that the bouncer asked for her ID. I didn’t tell her that they were asking everyone. When we got inside I knew I was going to have a hard time finding these guys. The place was dark and the music was loud. Lights whirled. I scanned through the whole space until I spotted the men standing in the corner. I had to get close so I could hear what they were talking about.

That was when to my surprise Kevan was standing right next me. My panic surged.

“Hey, would you like to dance?” he asked.

Was he serious? The lights were dim, but didn’t he recognize me? He didn’t know who I was?  

“Sure,” I said, glancing over at Dorothy.

She was shaking her head and mouthing, “No.”

But hey, if this could get me a chance to talk to the guy, then why not? Or maybe they were just setting me up for something. Regardless, I got out on the dance floor and started shaking my groove thing. Lights swirled and the music pulsed.

We’d barely made it to the songs’ first chorus when I felt someone watching me. I thought it was Roland. Or possibly Kenneth had arrived moments earlier. They were too busy drinking and talking. I glanced to my right and saw Jake. My stomach dropped. He gave me the strangest look. What would I say? How would I explain? Kevan looked over and saw Jake. He stopped dancing and studied my face. Another glance at Jake and that was when he realized who we were. He looked as if he’d seen a ghost.

My dance partner rushed over to the other guys. In a flash, Roland pulled out a gun. I dived for Dorothy and Morton, pulling them with me behind a table. Jake whipped out his gun and ran over to us. The bad guys headed for the back doors, but not before pulling out their guns and firing off shots. The music stopped and the room filled with the sound of screaming. People ran every which way. I didn’t blame them. I wanted to get out of there too. Thank goodness I was armed.

Shots were fired. I was freaking out that Jake was going to be hit. Finally, the gunfire stopped and I was able to sneak out from our hiding place. Jake ran after the guys. I had to figure out where the back door was.

“Dorothy, Morton, are you guys all right?” I asked.

Dorothy nodded, but she said nothing. I couldn’t believe that Kevan hadn’t recognized her either. Everyone had cleared out of the bar. Only we were left inside, still hiding behind the table.