Death Before Decaf (27 page)

Starting to shake, he interrupted, “
You're
the one who steals the mail and gives it to me! They won't believe your lies.”

Jamie shrugged. “Everyone has believed my lies so far.” She turned to me and grinned evilly. “Haven't they, Juliet?”

I frowned at her, but didn't make a snappy comeback, because I wanted her to keep talking. If my phone was recording all of this, Jamie and Logan were going down.

Jamie continued speaking to Logan. “I'll tell them about how you work your identity theft computer geek magic and how you bring the cards and packages to work to sell. Then I'll tell them that Dave figured out what you were doing, and for some dumb reason immediately assumed that you were in on it with your jailbird brother. I bet Rob's parole officer would be interested to know that he freaked out and paid that psycho Johnny a couple of hundred to shut Dave up. You delinquents will all go down, and I'll walk away clean.”

My “stupid” brain started working overtime, pulling everything together. “Wait.
You're
the criminal masterminds here? Not Rob and Dave and Johnny?”

Jamie laughed maniacally and said to Logan, “Ooh, dumbass here figured something out.” She turned back to me. “Rob and Johnny couldn't mastermind a lemonade stand. It was just the two of us until that asshole Dave ruined everything, trying to be a hero.”

I sighed. I had wronged Dave again.

With obvious effort, Logan walked slowly over to stand in front of me. His shoulder slumped, he admitted, “Dave was only trying to keep me out of trouble. I didn't mean for him to get hurt…”

“A lot of people got hurt because of this, you guys,” I said angrily. “Logan, when your brother paid Johnny to keep your little secret quiet, he unleashed a demon. Johnny beat up Dave, then he killed him. He nearly kidnapped me, and he shot two other people. And then Johnny got shot himself. Two people are dead because of you.”

Not at all remorseful, Jamie laughed. “Johnny sure was a screwup. But as for messing with you and that fat bookie, Johnny's such a sociopath, nobody asked him to do that. He did it for fun. But he didn't kill Dave.”

I suddenly had a disturbing revelation. Taking a ragged breath, I said, “You guys killed Dave.”

His face crumpling, Logan stabbed a finger at Jamie and blurted out, “It was her! She killed Dave and told me if I didn't help her cover it up, she'd tell everyone I did it. With my juvie record and family history, who do you think they're going to believe?”

“I believe you, Logan. Turn yourself in. I'll help you every step of the way, I promise. You don't have to do what Jamie says. Think about what's right and make your own decisions. Don't listen to her,” I said.

Angered now, Jamie came at me, yelling, “Will you stop
saying
that?” She jabbed her knife straight down into my thigh and left it there. My eyes bulged at the sight of the knife, and I shrieked from the overwhelming pain. My cries were cut short by a deafening
bang
and a blindingly bright burst of light. I couldn't hear or see anything, but I felt someone scoop me off the ground, chair and all, and carry me somewhere. I gasped for air, breathing in an odd combination of acrid smoke and something that smelled like Ryder's aftershave.

My ears were still ringing, and I was in a daze, but I could finally see again as I got set down on the grass. Ryder's worried face appeared in front of me. He was saying something to me as he worked to untape my arms and legs, looking down with horror at my bloody arm and the knife still sticking out of my leg at a sickening angle. He waved someone over, and then turned his attention back to me. With my free hand, I pointed to my ear and shook my head, choking out, “I can't hear anything.” He nodded understandingly, brushing my hair back from my face and kissing me gently on the forehead.

Two EMTs showed up next to me with a stretcher, and they carefully picked me up and lifted me onto it. As they were wheeling me away, I started to get a little hearing back, and I could faintly hear my name being called in the distance. Lifting my head, I looked around, spying Pete running toward me. A uniformed cop held him back, not letting him past the crime scene tape.

Ryder had been following along with me, so I pointed at Pete and said to him, “Pete. I need Pete. Can you let him through?” His face fell slightly, but he nodded his head and went over to where Pete had been stopped.

Pete raced over to me, his face anguished. “Jules, what happened?”

I smiled, feeling about ready to pass out. “It's a long story. I don't feel so good. Will you ride in the ambulance with me?”

He grabbed my hand. “Anything.”

“I love you, Pete.”

Between the sight of my bloody arm, the thought of what they were going to have to do to my leg (starting with removing the knife), and the kickass sedative they gave me, I drifted in and out of consciousness several times. Even though they both hurt like a bitch, my knife wounds turned out to be minor. It took a shitload of stitches to close up the cut on my arm, but it wasn't deep enough to do any real damage. Jamie's knife thankfully hadn't hit any arteries in my leg, so I didn't need surgery. The ER doctor merely stitched me up and sent me on my way.

The most difficult part was getting home. I had insisted that Pete ride in the ambulance with me, but that left us stranded at Vanderbilt hospital without a vehicle. After Ryder had finished booking and questioning Jamie and Logan, he came to the hospital to see how I was and offered us a ride to Pete's house. Awkward.

Detective Cromwell was there, waiting for us. He kindly took my statement about what Logan had admitted regarding Dave's murder. He also took my phone, unfortunately, but promised to return it to me once they had extracted the video from it.

Ryder—or “Detective Hamilton,” as Cromwell had called him—questioned me on what I knew about the identity theft scam. Then he finally told me everything. He had been working undercover on this case for a month. He knew that Vanderbilt students' identities were being stolen, and that the scheme was somehow being run through Java Jive, but he had no hard evidence to convict anyone. As he was explaining that he had taken on Seth Davis's identity to hide in plain sight at the center of the action, I became increasingly aware (again) of how he had used me to get information. All of the times that “Seth Davis” had taken me out or talked with me, I remember feeling like he was always giving me the third degree, especially about Java Jive and my staff. Now I knew why.

“I'm glad you caught the bad guys, Detective,” I said quietly.

Ryder smiled sweetly at me. “I couldn't have done it without you. You know that was a crazy thing you did. I had the place wired, so I could hear everything you said in the garage, by the way. I was impressed with how you got them to spill their guts.”

“You heard everything we said in the garage as it was happening?” I asked.

“Yeah, you got a full confession out of them, and we got it on tape.”

Even through the calming haze of my painkillers, I started to get mad. “So you were aware that I was duct-taped to a chair.”

He shifted uncomfortably. “Yes, but we were monitoring the situation, and—”

“And it didn't seem like a problem to you when Jamie cut my arm all to hell and threatened to kill me?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Pete step over to his bar and pour himself a drink. Pete had been allowed to stay in the room while I was being questioned if he agreed to stay quiet. I knew that hearing about what had happened to me would upset him, but he insisted he wasn't leaving me.

Ryder took a moment before answering, and when he did, he sounded apologetic. “We didn't know Jamie was dangerous. I didn't…I didn't believe she'd hurt you, so that's why I let it go on. From the view we had, I didn't see her slice your arm. I didn't know it had happened. I'm sorry.”

I shrugged, not really knowing what to say. I stared down at the bandage on my arm, trying not to feel sorry for myself. This was just another instance of Ryder using me. What was one more?

He added, “If it makes you feel any safer, everyone involved is now in custody. The state troopers caught up with Rob Carmichael in Colorado, and he confessed to paying Johnny to beat up Dave. He's headed back to jail, because that little stunt violated his parole.”

“That's good news,” I said flatly. I was tired of talking to Ryder, but my curiosity won out. “What's going to happen to Logan?”

“Logan did the right thing and rolled on Jamie. He told us everything, in detail. He'll still do some time, but nothing like what she's facing.”

I laid my head back against the couch and sighed. “Good. I hope they throw the book at her. I still can't believe she killed Dave. I worked right beside her for a week, and nothing seemed off. How did she go about her business after having done something like that?”

“Jamie is a determined young woman. It was very obvious in talking to her that she would do anything to become a doctor. She was putting herself through school, and was behind on her tuition, so she needed a way to make a quick buck. She knew Logan had the technical skills and the experience, and she had the perfect front for her operation in Java Jive.”

I shook my head. “It's insane what people will do for money. I can't believe Logan risked everything again after getting caught the first time.”

His eyes thoughtful, Ryder replied, “Maybe getting kicked out of school wasn't punishment enough. A stint in county ought to work, though. Personally, I think the kid was bored and wanted to use his skills again, but got in over his head.”

“Yeah, Logan didn't seem like he was happy. He took some serious offense at me butting heads with Dave. He really seemed to look up to him. I guess that's why covering up Dave's death was gnawing at him so bad.”

Ryder shut the notebook he had been using to jot down the information I gave him, and set it on the coffee table. “Poor kid's really beating himself up over it. He had a hard time getting through telling me how Dave had tried to help him get away from Jamie. Evidently Dave had had all of this figured out for a while, for the most part. A couple of weeks ago, he realized that something was going on with Logan when he saw Jamie passing him some envelopes, but Logan wouldn't talk to him about it.”

“That must have been when Dave accosted Rob, because he assumed that Rob had brought Logan—and Jamie—into one of his illegal schemes.”

“Exactly. When Rob asked Logan about it, Logan admitted what he and Jamie were up to. Rob didn't want Dave narcing on his little brother, so he had Johnny rough Dave up. After Logan found out about what Rob did, he wanted out of the whole thing. He finally opened up to Dave and admitted that Jamie was the one running the scam. Dave agreed to help Logan, and in order to protect him, Dave hid that day's stash of stolen mail.”

I interjected, “Which was what I found, right?”

Ryder leaned forward in his chair, his entire face lighting up. “Right. You don't know how excited I was when you told me about the mail you found and handed over to the police. I wanted to tell you how much that would help out my case, but…”

“But you were still lying to me about who you were.”

Ryder's face fell, and he slumped back into his seat. “Um…yes, I was.” He cleared his throat and continued his story. “Anyway, that night, when Dave confronted Jamie and told her the scam was over, she panicked. She snapped and killed him in order to keep her secret. She wouldn't let anything get in the way of med school.”

“Wow. That's some dedication,” I said, my head starting to reel from the deluge of information.

“I guess you could call it that.”

An awkward silence hung in the air as we both struggled for something to say.

Ryder said uncomfortably, “I…uh…wanted you to know that I'm sorry about your apartment. I feel responsible for the fact that you don't have a place to stay for a while. You're, uh…welcome to stay with me.”

Pete had been standing against the wall the whole time, listening, and he sounded like he'd finally had enough. “Hey, Ryder Likeapony, she's staying with me. Back off, man.”

Ryder clenched his jaw and glared at Pete. “Good one. Never heard that one before, Peter. Big talk from a guy whose name is another word for ‘dick.' ”

“Boys,” I groaned, holding up my hands. Pain shot through my injured arm when I moved it, and I winced. “I don't have the energy for this. Ryder, thank you for the offer, but I will be staying with Pete. If you don't have any more questions for me, I'd really like to get some rest.”

He smiled at me, but his eyes looked sad. “I'll get out of here, then.” He rose and came to stand in front of me. Gently taking my uninjured hand in both of his, he said, “Juliet…I'll miss you.”

I nodded, tears stinging the back of my eyes. “I'll miss you, too. Goodbye, Ryder.” I felt a pang of sadness as he dropped my hand and disappeared out the door.

Pete came over and sat next to me on the couch, putting his arm around me and pulling me to him. I leaned on his chest, finally feeling relaxed for the first time since I'd moved to Nashville. I felt really sleepy, too. It was probably the drugs they had given me at the hospital.

He said, “I'm sorry you and Ryder Likeapony didn't work out.”

Smiling, I replied, “No you're not.”

“You're right. I'm not. Jules?”

“Mmm-hmm?” I hoped he didn't want to talk about anything too deep, because all I wanted right now was to fall asleep.

“Do you remember what you said right before they put you in the ambulance?”

“Was it, ‘What's taking you damn assholes so damn long to get this damn knife out of my damn leg?' or something to that effect?”

He chuckled, “No, that was what you kept yelling in the ER, amid dropping an impressive number of f-bombs. When you were conscious, that is. I meant…that other thing you said.”

I yawned. “Whatever it was, it was probably crazy talk. I had just been stabbed and had an up-close encounter with a flash grenade, remember?” I remembered what I had said. I had told Pete I loved him. I wasn't going to admit it, though.

He stroked my hair. “Crazy talk. Right.” I had to fight to keep my eyes open. Pete sang softly, “ ‘Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start…and you exploded into my heart.' ” I sighed and allowed my eyes to close. As I drifted off, I could have sworn I heard Pete murmur, “I love you, too.”