Kacy’s eyes filled with tears as he spoke, his words bringing back to her visions of Pete’s face when he got ready for a gag. He had a special sort of excitement in his eyes. The more complicated and dangerous, the better. She remembered that cop movie, it had been right after they had gotten back from their cruise with Dino. It marked the true start of his career. Everyone wanted Pete Du Champs, after that.
“Thank you, Jasper, you don’t know what it means to me to have you say that.” She cleared her throat nervously. “Did you know that Deacon is Pete’s twin brother? They were separated as infants.”
“Wow, really? That’s way too cool! I’d like to meet him sometime. I hear he’s been really amazing in all this!”
The bedroom door opened and Deacon hobbled out, leaning heavily on his cane. Jasper rose quickly, extending his hand.
“An honor to meet you, Mr. Stewart. Detective Reyes speaks very highly of you, sir.”
It made Deacon feel rather elderly to have this man about his age call him sir, but he didn’t show it.
“Did we wake you, Deacon?” Kacy helped him sit and went to get the coffee things.
“No, Kacy, the phone kept ringing, just when I was dropping off.”
“Oh, damn! I unplugged the extension after the first time. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. With some people, it’s dogs barking or doorbells, with me it’s phones. I can’t sleep when one’s ringing. Are you all right, baby? You look a little pale.”
Between the two of them, Jasper and Kacy told Deacon what had been going on. A few minutes later, Reyes and Dino arrived. Dino’s face was full of concern as he embraced Kacy.
“Honey, I’m so sorry about all this. You shouldn’t be having to deal with it! Have there been any more calls?”
“No, Mr. Sawyer,” Jasper answered. “If the guy is watching the place, he would have seen me drive up. Maybe he figured out it was me he was talking to. I don’t know.”
“Very possible. In any case, we have both lines tapped now. We’ll get this guy, don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried,” Kacy lied.
“I am,” Deacon spoke abruptly. “I’ve got a family to consider. Reyes, I can’t do shit myself. I’m too crippled up.”
“Family?” Dino looked questioningly at the two of them.
“Yeah.”
Deacon’s face broke into a wide grin which Dino mirrored. He explained to Dino and the two policemen about the baby.
“That’s great news, you two! Congratulations! That calls for a celebration!”
“I’ll celebrate when all this crap is over with, and Kacy and the baby are safe. Until then, I’m not opening any champagne. Any further developments on the information we discussed earlier, Detective Reyes?”
“We’ve managed to trace that P.O. Box, and found out it’s paid by a company out of Gainesville. Not one of the three we were talking about, it’s a contractor who didn’t want to answer any of my questions when I called. He told me I was an intrusive son-of-a-bitch and hung up on me. Didn’t take too kindly to him insulting my mother like that, so I called the Gainesville police. An Army buddy of mine is a detective up there and he’ll be having a nice little chat with him. As for connecting the companies to Obi, not yet.”
“If it is Obi, he’s a lot smarter than I ever gave him credit for,” Dino said sullenly. “I always considered him just this side of retarded.” Shaking his head sadly, he perched on the arm of the couch.
“Is there somewhere else you could stay for a couple days?” Reyes asked.
“As a matter of fact, my former in-laws just bought a condo, and have told us we may use it when we wish. They left a few days ago. I’m sure we could camp out there for a bit. Why?”
“Our perp is getting desperate, he might try to do something more than just paint the house, if you get my meaning. I’d rather not have anyone home. Dino, can you stay with Cindy?”
Dino nodded, staring at the floor, not really listening.
“He’d know about Cindy, and he would probably look there first, if Dino went missing.” Kacy interjected. “Maybe Dino should stay with us, if we leave separately and don’t go straight to the condo, but diddle around a bit, he can’t follow us all.”
“Ms. Du Champs, you’re thinking like a movie script,” Reyes didn’t look convinced.
“It might work, don’t you think? Unless he’s got help, how could he follow us both about? It’s worth a try. I can go shopping. Dino and Deacon could go out to lunch or to the movies. Normal, daily activities. Why would he get suspicious?”
“Kacy, you have a devious mind,” Deacon chuckled. “It might work at that. We won’t know if we don’t try.”
“What about overnight things?” Dino had finally started giving them his full attention.
“That’s what I’ll go shopping for,” Kacy decided. “I can pick up a few things for us, and drop them by the condo. Problem solved.”
“All right,” Reyes sighed. “We’ve got nothing else, why not?” The five of them sat down at the dining room table and made more concrete plans.
©2021 Dellani Oakes
Dellani Oakes 