Crossing Danger: A Shelby Nichols Adventure Page 6

  The dead files room was at the end of the hall, and trepidation caught in my throat. Drawing a deep breath, I pushed through my fears and opened the door. The light was on, and Dimples stood in front of a filing cabinet.

  “Hey,” he said, turning to greet me. “I’m just about done.”

  I nodded as a cold chill settled around me like a shower of ice water. Hunching my shoulders, I rubbed my arms. “Why is it always so cold in here?”

  “Uh...it’s in the basement?” Dimples answered. He sent me an apologetic smile. “We don’t have to talk here. Once I’m through putting these away, I can meet you someplace else.”

  “No, no, it’s fine.”

  “Okay.” He turned back to his files and rubbed his chin. “You know...you were instrumental in solving four of these cases. Have you ever considered helping with some of these others? I’ve got one that’s just...” He sighed. “It’s this one right here. Filing it away down here just makes me feel like a failure...you know?”

  His tone softened my heart. “What is it?”

  “About a year ago, this guy was found dead in an underpass of the freeway. It’s close to the soup kitchen and the park where a lot of homeless people hang out. His wallet, jacket and shoes were gone. From the forensics report, he was shot in the chest at close range.” Dimples brought the folder to me and opened it to reveal a picture of a handsome, smiling man.

  As I stared at the photo, the dawning realization that I knew him nearly knocked me over. His hair was shorter, and his face more lean, but his eyes were the same. “Oh my gosh! That’s Tom Souvall. I went to school with him. We graduated the same year!”

  “No kidding?”

  “Yeah. I didn’t know he’d died. This is awful.” I could hardly believe it. I’d had a huge crush on him, and we’d dated for a while, but after high school we lost touch. He even took me to prom, and I’d always had a soft spot in my heart for him. “So you never caught the person who did this?”

  “No. All our leads dried up. We finally came to the conclusion that it was a random act of violence, probably by a homeless drug-user who got close enough to kill him for some quick cash.”

  “But what was he doing in that part of town?”

  “He went down there occasionally to help at the homeless shelter. He liked to bring food and help serve people. His wife said his older brother was homeless and died from a drug overdose, so that was the reason Tom wanted to help where he could.”

  “That’s just so sad,” I said.

  “Yeah. He has two kids. I was the one who had to tell his family. I’ll never forget how devastated they were. I promised them that I’d find the person responsible...” He let out a huge sigh. “But I didn’t. I feel like I let them down.”

  “I’m sorry. If you want...I’ll take a look, but don’t hold your breath.”

  His eyes lost that touch of sadness, and his face brightened. “Thanks Shelby. I really appreciate it.”

  “Sure,” I said, tucking the folder into my purse.

  “Now...what was it you needed to talk to me about?”

  “Oh...yeah. Um...just a sec.” I tiptoed to the door and yanked it open just to make sure Bates wasn’t standing there. He wasn’t...and it kind of disappointed me, but I just shrugged and headed back to Dimples. He was wondering what the heck I was doing. “It’s about Chloe. I know where she is.”

  “You do? Is she okay?”

  “Yes, but there’s a slight problem.” I told him everything, ending with the fact that she was now at my house, and a cop was probably after her.

  “Oh man, seriously? Did she give you a description of the cop?”

  “Yes. But he didn’t look familiar to me...I mean...he didn’t sound like anyone I’ve met here, but I was thinking that if you had pictures of all your cops somewhere, like on a roster, I could take a look. Maybe one of them would match?”

  Dimples’ brows drew together in confusion. I was talking like I’d seen the guy. That didn’t make any sense, unless I was lying and I had seen him. But that didn’t make any sense either.

  “Um...or...I guess we could show Chloe the pictures. Anyway...what should we do? Her parents need to know she’s okay. But we don’t want the cop to know where to find her, right? Since he might want to kill her?”

  “Yes...of course. We need to keep her safe.” He was thinking that the first thing he needed to do was tell Chief Winder.

  “Before we tell everyone she’s been found, we should figure out who the cop is, right?” I asked. “Why don’t you let me take a quick look at the roster while you talk to the chief...just in case I pick up something with my premonitions?”

  “Uh...okay...sure,” Dimples agreed, slightly dazed that I knew he was going to talk to the chief.

  I followed him upstairs to his desk, passing Bates, who outwardly ignored me but was mentally keeping track of my every move.

  Dimples sat in front of his computer and pulled up the resource file with the names and photos of every cop in the precinct. “Okay...here you go.”

  “Wait. He wasn’t in uniform...shouldn’t that narrow it down?”

  “No...everyone in the photos has on a uniform whether they wear them to work or not.”

  “Oh...okay.”

  He vacated the seat, and I quickly sat down to begin the process. Scrolling through the photos and remembering Chloe’s mental images made it hard to decipher who it could be. There were a few that could be a match, but that didn’t make it a sure thing.

  By the time I got done, I had two names that were best guesses, and I didn’t think Chloe would fare any better. It could be neither of them, and I hated wrongly accusing an innocent cop. On the other hand, I could just talk to each of them. After a few questions, I’d know who the real bad guy was. That could work...as long as Dimples would go along with it.

  He’d been in Chief Winder’s office for a while now, but I didn’t dare interrupt, so I went back through the roster again. Finally, the door opened, and Dimples stuck his head out and motioned me inside. I logged off the computer and grabbed my notes.

  “Shelby, have a seat,” Chief Winder said. “We need to notify Chloe’s parents that she’s safe. If they will cooperate, I’d like to keep a tight lid on this so that no one else finds out. Harris and I would like you to help us with that. Right now she’s at your house and no one else knows. Is that correct?”

  “Well...my two kids know. They’re home with her. But they’re the only ones.”

  “Okay. This is what we’re going to do,” he said. “Harris will head over to the parents’ house and fill them in. If they’re okay with it, I’d like to know if you’re willing to keep Chloe at your place until a decision is made.

  “Given the delicate situation, I don’t want to put her under police protection, so it’s up to her family to keep her safe until we find the cop who may be after her. In the meantime, I want her to look at the roster and see if she can identify the cop.”

  “Okay,” I agreed. “I can take the roster home with me to show her.”

  “Good.” Chief Winder held out a large binder. “Everyone in the department is in there.”

  Taking the heavy binder I said, “Just so you know...he might be watching her house in case she shows up.”

  “Yeah,” Dimples agreed. “I’m sure he’d recognize her from the AMBER alert. If we hadn’t found her backpack, we wouldn’t have known she’d even been there. He must have missed it under the bed. That was our lucky break.”

  A shiver ran down my spine. That was lucky, but I had a feeling Chloe would have found me anyway. She was one gutsy kid. “I’ll be going then. Let me know what happens.”

  I held the heavy binder under my arm and made a quick exit, noting that this time Bates blatantly stared at me. He was thinking that the chief better let him in on what was going on, or he was going to be really mad.

  As long as he left me alone, I was okay with that. It took longer than I liked to get home since I got stuck in rush hour traffic. I pul
led into the garage and hefted the binder inside the house where I plopped it on the kitchen counter. “I’m home!” I called.

  Savannah rushed into the kitchen making little shushing noises. “Mom...she’s asleep.”

  “Oh? Where?” I asked.

  “On my bed. After her shower, she looked so tired. I told her she could lie down if she wanted, and she fell asleep. Just like that.”

  “I’m sure she was exhausted,” I said.

  “So what’s going on? What are we going to do?”

  “Hey,” Josh said, coming up the stairs. “Yeah...what’s going on?”

  “I need to talk to Chloe...”

  “I’m here,” Chloe said. At the sound of her voice, we turned toward the stairs and watched her descend. Her face was still pale, but the nap and shower had done her some good and, even better, the fear in her eyes was gone. “What happened?”

  I snatched up the binder and set it on the table. “I brought this home for you to look through. Hopefully, you’ll be able to identify the cop you saw at the house. Detective Harris is talking to your parents to decide where you’ll stay until we find him. But you’re more than welcome to stay here if you want.” I explained the details of the plan, while she sat down at the table and opened the binder.

  I picked up that Chloe wasn’t sure how comfortable she’d be staying with us, but when Josh smiled at her, she changed her mind. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad with him here. He was really cute, and she wondered how she’d missed that.

  I glanced at Josh, and he flushed that I’d caught him staring. “I’m going to go shoot some hoops.”

  “Okay,” Chloe said, responding before I could, and sending him a shy smile. Hmm...

  She finally turned her attention back to the pictures, and a gnawing fear crept over her that she wouldn’t be able to identify the guy at all. Her glimpses of him at the house were quick and fleeting, and she realized that, besides the general hair color, she wasn’t exactly sure of his features.

  “Here’s a pen and paper,” I said, setting them down beside her. “Don’t worry about being absolutely sure about him. Just write down the name and page numbers of anyone that looks close, and I’ll take it from there. Once I interview them, I’ll know who it is.”

  She glanced at me, her eyes wide with skepticism. How could I be so sure?

  “I have a knack for that sort of thing,” I explained. “That’s why I’m so good at my job.”

  “Oh,” she said. “Okay.”

  With Chloe occupied, Savannah and I started making dinner. It needed to be something easy, so I threw some potatoes in to bake and got out a couple cans of chili. As the smell of potatoes began to permeate the air, I finally got the call I’d been waiting for.

  “Hey. What did they decide?” I asked Dimples.

  “I’m here with them now. The plan is that they want Chloe to stay with Holly for now. Since Holly’s family, a visit to her place wouldn’t seem suspicious, and they can see Chloe anytime they want. In the meantime, we’ll keep up the pretense that we’re still looking for her and so will her parents.”

  “Okay. That makes sense.”

  “So this is what we’re thinking,” Dimples continued. “Holly’s here, but she’s headed home. In a couple of hours, when it’s dark, you can take Chloe over there. Just make sure she stays out of sight. Has she picked out anyone from the pictures yet?”

  “Um...no,” I said. “I think it’s going to take a while, but I’ll call you with a name when I have one. I was wondering if I could be there when you talk to them...you know...so I can tell if it’s them or not? Just in case she’s not sure. You’ll let me do that, right?”

  “Yes,” Dimples said. “And Shelby...if you get any feelings...or premonitions about anything, don’t hesitate to call me. I don’t want anything bad to happen to Chloe.”

  “Thanks. I won’t, and I’ll call you as soon as I have a name.”

  We disconnected, and my heart warmed that Dimples believed in me and my premonitions. Lots better than anything I’d heard from Bates. I told Chloe the plan, and she was disappointed that she wouldn’t be staying here. I think it was mostly because of Josh.

  “I’ve been through this binder twice,” she said. “And I’ve narrowed it down to two guys. It’s just so hard to know from a picture. I think if I saw him in person, it would be easier to tell.” She pursed her lips in frustration.

  “Let me see,” I said. She showed me their pictures, and both men were the same ones I’d picked out. “This is good. I can let Dimples know, and he can check into what they’ve been up to. Maybe tomorrow I can talk to them, and we’ll know which one it is by then. This is great.”

  “Really?” she asked.

  “Yes. Soon you’ll be back home, and your parents will probably ground you forever...but at least you survived. I have to say, I’m impressed that you could take care of yourself and think so fast on your feet. You did an amazing job to get out of that situation...and coming to see me...that was genius.”

  Her lips turned up in a small smile, but even my kind words did little to dispel the gloom of what she had gone through. She closed her eyes, thinking it was stupid she’d put herself in that position in the first place. Her parents were going to kill her. And Liam had died...right in front of her. It was horrible.

  “So what was it like staying in the library all night?” I asked, hoping to take her mind off Liam. “I think it would be kind of scary.”

  “Yeah...it was a little. But the lounge area is really small, and I put a chair up under the doorknob so no one could get in. Before I did that, I found one of my favorite books and a flashlight and read most of the night.” She was thinking she mostly kept reading so she wouldn’t have to think about what had happened or replay the scene of Liam’s death over and over in her mind.

  “I’m so sorry that happened to you,” I said. “But you’ll get through this. I know...I’ve seen someone die before too, right in front of me, and it definitely leaves a mark, so if you ever need to talk...I’m here.”

  “Really?” she asked, surprised.

  “Yeah,” I admitted. “It was awful.” Actually, I’d seen quite a few people get shot and killed, but I wasn’t about to tell her that. Not when I was trying to forget them myself. “It’s better if you don’t dwell on it. But please feel free to talk to me if you need to...I really do understand how it feels.”

  “Thanks Shelby,” she said, gazing at me, her eyes wide with awe. “So you’re doing okay?”

  “Yeah,” I said, smiling. “And you will too, just give it some time.” My phone rang, and I checked the caller ID. “It’s Holly. I’d better answer.” I pushed the button and barely said hello before she started talking.

  “Shelby! Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe Chloe is really there. Is she all right?”

  “Yes...she’s good.”

  “I can’t tell you how grateful we are that you’ve got her. All of us. And my poor brother. It’s been a nightmare.”

  “Yes,” I agreed. “I’m sure it has...but she’s here and she’s safe. What time do you want me to bring her over?”

  “Um...Detective Dimples said to wait until it got dark.”

  “Holly! You didn’t call him Detective Dimples did you?”

  She chuckled. “No...but you’ve told me enough about him that the minute I saw those dimples, I knew exactly who he was. I’m glad you know him. Oh, and he’s lots nicer than Bates.”

  That brought a smile to my lips. “Thanks for saying that, but I think Bates is okay as long as I’m not around. Anyway, I’ll text you before we leave, but we should be there after dinner, probably around seven, seven-thirty?”

  “Sounds great. Give Chloe my love...and just a sec...here’s Scott.”

  “Shelby!” Scott said, sounding out of breath. “Thank you...I don’t know what to say...but I’m so relieved...”

  “Thanks is fine...hey...I’m sure you want to talk to Chloe...here she is.”

  I hande
d her the phone, and she swallowed before taking it. “Dad...I’m so sorry...I never meant...”

  He cut off her apology, telling her how grateful he was that she was all right and how much he loved her. I busied myself with dinner to give her some privacy. She spoke to her mother as well and, a few minutes later, handed me the phone, wiping tears from her eyes. “I’m going to use the bathroom.”

  “Sure,” I said.

  I glanced through the roster at the pictures of the men one more time. With both of us picking out the same people, I had to believe it was a good sign that it could be one of them. I pushed Dimples’ cell number and waited for him to answer. He picked up after the first ring.

  “Okay...I’ve got the names. Are you ready?” I rattled them off, and he didn’t sound surprised or upset, but what did I know since I couldn’t hear his thoughts? “Do you know either of them?” I asked.

  “Yeah. I know them both.”

  “Do you think one could be involved?”

  “Shelby...I just don’t know. I’m still in shock that she saw a cop in the first place. I don’t want to believe one of our own could be involved in this, but if they are...well...I guess we’ll find out. Can you come down to the precinct tomorrow?”

  “Sure...but how are you going to get them to meet with us without scaring them off?”

  “Leave that to me. Just be ready. I’ll call you in the morning and set up a time to talk to them. Be careful tonight. Bates is the only one besides me and the captain that knows we have her, so she should be safe, but we can’t be too careful.”

  “I will,” I said. “See you tomorrow.” We disconnected, and the enormity of what we were trying to pull off filled me with doubt. It was too bad the police couldn’t do any more to protect her, but this plan should keep her safe.

  “Did you give him the names?” Chloe asked. She had perked up quite a bit, now that she knew her parents weren’t furious with her.

  “Yes.”

  “Did he know them?” She was worried that he’d believe the cop over her, especially if they were friends.