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Dela sat at a table in the little sandwich shop area of the market. She’d already ordered a soda and a bag of chips. She sat peering out the large glass window watching the locals come and go. The owner of the market called out to each person as they came through the door. The community and friendliness were why Dela had returned after being medically discharged from the army. She knew after the initial questions about the circumstance of her return, that she would be welcomed into the community once again.
“Dela, do you need a refill?” Jessie, a teenager related to Jacob, asked.
“No, thank you. I’m sipping slow.” She’d told the teen she was waiting for Officer Red Bear. That’s when the girl had told Dela she was related to him.
“Sometimes, he’s late. Let me know if you need more.”
“Thanks, I will.” Dela shifted her gaze to the short aisles of snacks and necessities and spotted the one person she didn’t want to see today, or ever. Detective Dick. She started a mantra, “Don’t look this way. Don’t look this way.” Her hand sought the issue of the CUJ that had been sitting on the table when she sat down. She held that up in front of her as if she were reading.
She wasn’t in the mood to deal with him. He would blame her for getting pulled from the homicide and ratted out about helping Sander. Dela studied the photo in the newspaper of young children wearing regalia and dancing. She should have asked the chief what had been done about Detective Dick.
A glance out the window and she spotted Jacob parking next to her car. She let a breath out and peeked over the newspaper. Dick wasn’t anywhere in sight from where she sat. She lowered the paper and folded it back up.
Loud voices jerked her attention back outside. Detective Dick was stabbing Jacob in the chest with a finger as he shouted and flung his other arm around wildly.
Jacob shoved the older man back, said something quiet enough Dela couldn’t even hear the timbre of his voice, and walked by the detective.
A shiver slithered up her spine. Pulling her gaze from Jacob, she found Detective Dick staring daggers at her.
“Sorry, I’m late,” Jacob said, before turning to the counter to order.
Dela nodded her head but her gaze remained locked on Dick. He grinned maliciously and pivoted, striding to his car. She watched the vehicle until she could no longer see it.
Jacob slid into the small booth seat across from her. “Don’t let him get to you. He’s an asshole. Everyone knows it.”
She knew he was talking about Dick. “I don’t want to talk about him,” she said, even though she really did want to know what had transpired that morning between the detective, his boss, and Quinn.
“Good. Let’s talk about you.” Jacob stared into her eyes. “How are you doing?”
Put some eyeliner and earrings on him and she would have thought she was staring into her friend, Robin’s face. While Jacob was decidedly male in his appearance, he had the same qualities as his sister. Dela had found herself forgetting that Robin was dead, more times than not when she and Jacob visited.
“As well as I can considering I’m a suspect in a murder, I’ve been suspended from my job, and I keep being told to let the police handle finding the real killer.” She leaned down and sipped her drink, watching Jacob.
His lips spread into a large grin. “So you’re doing well.”
She laughed and snorted pop out her nose. Grabbing a napkin, she closed her eyes to stop the tears from coming as the carbonation in the drink stung her nose.
Jacob laughed and said, “It’s never a bad day if you can laugh and snort pop out your nose.”
Dela tossed the napkin at him. “Says, you! What did you want to talk to me about? It couldn’t have been just to make me laugh.”
The man she’d known since they were both in grade school sobered. “You need to be careful. I’ve heard you are the one who pointed the finger at Jones being on the side of the drug dealers. Not only is he pissed, but so are the people he’s been helping.”
Wiping the last of the snot from her nose, Dela stared into her friend’s eyes. “I’m sure there will be more people who step forward once the word gets around. He’ll have more than me to worry about.”
“But you’re the one he has had the biggest grudge against for a long time. You’re the one that will be retaliated against.” Jacob studied her. “I know you’ve been through a lot while in the army, but this is different. Drug dealers and their minions aren’t something to take lightly. They don’t play by the rules and come up with new shit all the time. Be careful.”
When she didn’t say anything, he added, “Please. I don’t want to lose you, too.”
His words struck her in the heart. She knew he was talking about the death of his sister. Her childhood friend, whom Dela spent every day wishing she’d not been so nonchalant leaving her friend behind when she’d driven off to go to basketball practice.
“I’m not going anywhere. And no one is going to make me go away. Mentally or physically. I promise.” She reached across the table and grasped his hand. They had been there for each other over the years having bonded over Robin’s brutal murder.
“Make sure you don’t meet anyone involved in this case alone. Always tell Heath or me where you are and who you are talking with.” His dark brown eyes searched her face.
“I will let you, Heath, or Marty know where I am if I’m not at home. Chief Steele pretty much told me not to involve Heath in my investigations, so I’ll be working with Marty from here on out, but I’ll keep you all informed.” She released his hand and leaned back. “And I have Special Agent Shaffer on speed dial. Since Quinn is investigating Detective Jones, Shaffer came to see me this morning to find out what I’ve learned. He gave me the green light to keep talking to people and promised to get me information Heath was unable to dig up.” She smiled. “That means I also have the Feds helping me. No one is going to harm me. Too many people know I didn’t kill Paul and I’m a bulldog when it comes to justice.”
Jacob slurped up the last of his drink and said, “Don’t get too full of yourself. That’s how most people end up in a box.” He stood, walked over to the garbage can, and tossed the cup in. “Remember, call someone before you go anywhere.”
She nodded and he walked out of the market, waving before he drove off in his tribal vehicle.
Dela dropped her cup and empty chip bag in the trash as she walked out of the building. It was four in the afternoon. She called Marty.
“Yo, Dela, what’s up?” he answered.
“Can you come over to my place this evening? I have some good and some bad news and we need to plan a strategy for our moves the next few days.”
“Can I bring Molly? We were going to go out to dinner.”
“Yes. But go to dinner before you come over. I don’t want her saying I ruined her evening.” She was glad her two friends were becoming a couple. Molly deserved someone as fun and nice as Marty.
“See you around seven-thirty.” He ended the call.
♠ ♣ ♥ ♦
Dela sat at her kitchen table, poking a fork at the salad she’d made for dinner. The list she’d made of people she wanted to check up on lay on the table beside her plate. Her gaze kept drifting to the page, reading through the names and the things she wanted to know.
Her phone rang, making her jump. Slowing her racing heart, she answered the restricted number. “Hello?” She had expected Milo Shaffer’s voice.
“You think you’re something special. Well, let me tell you, when this is all over, no one will remember you as the disabled war veteran. You’ll be the sad, lonely woman, who couldn’t keep her nose out of other people’s business.”
The line went dead and her hand shook as she set the phone down. She replayed the voice and words over in her mind. Was it Detective Dick? She wasn’t certain. But who else would have gone to such a stupid means of scaring her?
She dialed Quinn. His phone rang several times and went to voicemail. “Quinn, it’s Dela. I received a threatening call from a restricted number. Is there a way to find out who it belongs to? Call me back, please.”
Then she wrote down the time and the call word for word the best she could remember it.
“Why?” she said out loud, staring at the kitchen window. It was stupid for Dick to call and harass her. He would know she would report the call. It didn’t make sense.
She tossed the rest of her dinner into the trash, cleaned up the dishes, and went out into the backyard to pet Jethro and Mugshot, hoping to ease the frustration that had surfaced and made her antsy.
Her phone rang.
Heath.
“Hi, I know you aren’t supposed to get involved in what I’m doing but can you come over?” she asked before he had time to greet her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, concern deepening his tone.
She told him about the call and that she’d notified Quinn and asked if he could trace it.
“I can be there in twenty minutes.” The line went dead as a car engine died in her driveway. A glance at her phone and she knew it was Marty and Molly.
Dela entered the house and walked to the front door. She opened the door before anyone knocked.
Molly stood flushed-faced on Dela’s front step. She could tell by the twinkle in her friend’s eyes that something good had happened.
“Come on in. I’m sorry to pull Marty away from your date,” Dela said, standing back to allow her guests to step in.
Molly walked into the house and held her left hand out to Dela. A modest shiny diamond ring sparkled on her friend’s ring finger. “Marty and I are engaged,” Molly said.
Dela drew her friend into a hug and said, “Congratulations. I can’t think of a pair of people who deserve each other more.”
Marty’s face brightened as a smile spread across his face. “I thought it was foolish to not grab her up. I haven’t enjoyed another woman’s company as much as I do Molly’s.”
Dela released Molly and hugged her other friend. “Thank you for making her so happy,” she whispered in his ear.
They were sitting in the living room with Molly telling Dela how Marty had proposed when the front door opened.
Heath strode through the door, his gaze moving around the room. He latched onto Dela and stopped in front of her. “Tell me what he said, again. Word for word.”
Dela glanced at the happy couple. “Not now.”
“What happened?” Molly and Marty asked at the same time.
“Someone threatened Dela,” Heath said, pulling a chair over beside where Dela sat.
“Oh! Tell him and us,” Molly said, sliding to the front of the couch and reaching toward Dela.
“I didn’t want to ruin your special night.” Dela studied her friend.
“It’s more important you are around to be my maid of honor.” Molly waved toward Marty. “We want you at our wedding.”
Marty nodded. “We are in this to keep you safe and out of jail.”
Dela sighed and repeated the phone call. “I couldn’t tell if it was Detective Dick or not, but who else would threaten me? He saw me talking with Jacob at the market this afternoon. That was after he and Jacob had a discussion in the parking lot.”
Heath leaned back in the chair he’d dragged over. “Jones was suspended until further notice this morning. His badge and gun were taken away from him.” He ran a hand along the back of his neck under his long hair. “Jones only had six months left until he retired.” Heath glanced at Dela. “He’s not going to be happy if he leaves here in disgrace.”
“I won’t live in fear of him,” Dela said, already moving into fight mode. She wasn’t scared of the nasty man. But she was scared of Gus Sander and the possibility he wouldn’t be happy his mole in the tribal police had been found. “We won’t know for sure if he made the call until it’s been checked out.”
Her phone rang. Picking it up, she said, “It’s Quinn.” She swiped her finger across the screen and said, “Hello.”
“You sounded upset. What happened?”
Dela retold the information to the Special Agent.
“I need the time the call came in,” Quinn said, all business without a hint that the call had been anything other than ordinary.
She had to admit, that his ability to detach himself from anyone linked to a case was one of the things she admired about him. However, since it was her case, she would have liked him to have shown some hint of worry or care.
“I’ll see what I can do. Are you alone?” Now there was a touch of emotion in his voice.
“Heath, Molly, and Marty are here. I’ll be fine. Just find out who called, please.” She kept her tone level and didn’t give away how rattled the call had made her.
“I’ll get on it. Don’t go anywhere alone.”
She glanced at the screen and saw he’d ended the call. Dela released a deep breath and studied her friends. “Quinn is going to see if he can find out who made the call. He told me not to go anywhere alone.” Forcing her lips into a smile, she peered at Marty. “Looks like you are going everywhere I go the next few days.”
“Not a problem,” he said, his voice deeper than usual and more forceful.
She’d heard that tone before. Many times, as a matter of fact, when new recruits headed out on their first patrol. It was as if by affirming in a low forceful way that they were ready, they wouldn’t be scared.
“I’ll spend the night,” Heath said.
Dela swung her gaze to him. “It would be stupid of whoever called to come over tonight and try to harm me.”
He shrugged. “I’m not leaving until Marty arrives back here in the morning.” Heath exchanged glances with Marty.
Dela sighed and rose. “Who wants ice cream to celebrate Molly and Marty’s engagement?”
“I thought we came over here so you and I can figure out the next move?” Marty said.
“That was before Molly walked in here showing off her ring.” Dela smiled at her friend. “Now we have to celebrate. We’ll talk about our plans tomorrow when you get here.”
Even though she smiled and laughed with her friends, deep down, fear and anxiety started eating at her gut. How was she supposed to clear her name if someone out there was going to keep smearing it with mud?
