With Vics You Get Eggroll (A Mad for Mod Mystery Book 3) (13 page)

EIGHTEEN

My hands shook with nerves. Lyndy’s daughters had died in the accident with George Tyler. That had to be the connection.

Before I could say anything, Hudson jumped up from the bench. “Lyndy, you know Madison, right?”

I remained seated and looked back and forth between the two men. Lyndy looked angry at having walked in on a conversation about him. His eyes were narrowed and he watched me with what felt like distrust. Hudson approached him and put a hand on the small man’s shoulder. “I’ll toss another steak on the grill for you.”

“Don’t bother,” Lyndy said. “Don’t know if I’m staying.” He stayed his distance.

Lyndy was obviously more than a fellow contractor to Hudson. I could see that from where I sat. I walked over to him. “Lyndy, I’m sorry.”

He waved his hand in front of him. “I could tell you didn’t trust me the other day when I came to your store. Said I wasn’t going to hurt you but it was in your eyes.”

“You caught me off guard.”

Lyndy looked away. “Don’t matter,” he said. “I’m used to it.”

In the course of owning Mad for Mod, I’d taught myself a few tricks of the trade, but I’d also learned to hire those who could do what I could not. That’s what had brought Hudson into my life. But before Hudson, the contractors that I’d worked with had had the same rough-around-the-edges qualities that Lyndy did. Some of the most skilled carpenters were people you might not think of taking home to mother. Even Hudson had turned out to have a sizeable skeleton hanging in his closet, and if I’d known about his past when I met him, I might not entertain the thoughts that were becoming more and more present. But that was his past. He’d chosen to build a quiet life for himself where nobody could judge him for his demons. Maybe he’d learned that from Lyndy.

“Lyndy, stick around, would you? I’ll get you a beer,” Hudson said.

“Beer’s good.”

Hudson caught my eye and I forced a smile. He went inside and Lyndy and I were left standing awkwardly by the side of the house.

“Did you walk here?” I asked.

“I walk most everywhere.”

“Then you must be tired. Let’s sit down.”

I led the way to the picnic table where Hudson and I had been eating. We sat across from each other. Lyndy folded his hands in front of him and stared at his dirty thumbs.

“How long have you lived in Dallas?” I asked.

“Whole life. That’s over seventy years if you want to know. Grew up in Oak Cliff and moved around lots. Been a carpet layer since as long as I can remember. Worked on lots of the fancy buildings around here. Dallas Grand Hotel downtown, the Manor House, even that fancy department store. Easy to get work back then.”

“I bet this was a nice area to raise a family.”

“Was back when I had a family.”

Lyndy fell silent and I didn’t prompt him to keep talking. Hudson returned with a bottle of beer and handed it off to Lyndy. He drank half of the contents before setting the bottle on the table.

“It’s a hard thing to lose a child. Changes your whole life. My oldest was sixteen years old. She’d just gotten her license. First person in our family who was going to graduate from high school, can you believe that? She even talked about going to college. Now she’s gone. Both of them are.”

My skin prickled. I looked up at Hudson, who shook his head almost imperceptibly. Lyndy lifted the bottle of beer and finished it off. “You got another one of these for me?” he asked Hudson.

“You know I won’t let you sit around here and drink your dinner.”

Lyndy stood from the table. “Just as well. Time for me to be gettin’ home.” He glanced at me, and then walked back the way he’d come.

Hudson waited until he was out of sight. “I know you two got off on the wrong foot. I thought it would be a good idea for Lyndy to come over while you were here, so the two of you could get to know each other.”

“It’s him,” I said. “Tex was at the bar the night it happened. George’s brother is Dan Tyler, the client who fired me. The husband of the woman who was found today.” My voice spilled out of me, words that made little sense independently of each other but, strung together, created the connection I’d been looking for. “Lyndy’s daughters were killed by George Tyler in that accident. Lyndy’s still angry about what happened that night and is out to exact revenge for lives lost. I have to tell Lt. Allen about this.” I turned away and went to the kitchen to grab my phone.

Hudson caught up with me. “Lyndy isn’t doing this,” he said.

“You don’t know that. You don’t know what it must have done to him to lose his daughters like that.”

“That accusation could destroy him.”

“But if there’s a chance he’s involved—Hudson, you have to see that I need to get this information to the police.”

“Go ahead, call them,” he said.

I put my phone in my handbag and reached for Rocky’s leash.

“You’re going to meet with Tex, aren’t you?” I didn’t answer. “He said he doesn’t want you involved.”

“And you said I have a brain of my own and you can’t stop me from doing what I want,” I said. I watched the shock of having his words cited back to him cross his face, as the realization that I’d heard the whole conversation sunk in. “Being involved with you doesn’t mean I’m going to turn my back on him.”

Hudson took Rocky’s leash from me. “Madison, be careful.”

I left out the front door.

Half an hour later, armed with takeout bags from the Hunan Palace, I knocked on the door of the white camper parked in front of Jumbo’s Topless Club. When I hadn’t spotted Tex in the Casa Linda lot, I widened my circle. Jumbo’s boasted stiff drinks, tattooed women, and eighties rock. If Tex didn’t answer the door to the camper, I wasn’t going inside to find him. Even I had my limits.

I heard movement inside seconds before the door opened. Something fell. Someone cursed. Another few sounds of items banging around, and then the door opened. Tex stood in front of me in a white undershirt and faded blue jeans that hung low on his hips. His hair was slicked back away from his face, and the facial hair from a few days ago had morphed from stubble to beard. He looked like he still hadn’t showered.

I held up the bags. “Hungry, Lieutenant?”

He stepped back and let me in.

I climbed up and moved a broom and plunger that had fallen from a cabinet. I felt his eyes on me while I unpacked the cartons of Chinese takeout and set them out on the counter. I didn’t look at him and I didn’t say anything. When I was done, I tore the paper off of a pair of chopsticks and turned around.

“You look like crap,” I said. “Doesn’t this thing have a shower?”

He flashed me a smile. “What’s the point of showering when I have to put the same dirty clothes back on?”

“You seem to have contacts with the outside world that bring you eggroll and beer. Surely you can get new clothes.”

“Priorities.”

“If you’ve been wearing the same underwear since last Wednesday, I don’t want to know.”

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” he said. I threw a balled up napkin at him.

I picked up a carton of orange chicken and dug around with my chopsticks. “I think I’m their number one customer. The owner gave me an order of snow peas for free.”

“They’re getting ready to close,” he said. “Chinese food doesn’t keep overnight.”

“What do they do with the leftovers?” I asked, before realization dawned on me. “They know I’m getting this food for you, don’t they?”

He finished his mouthful and swallowed. “About ten years ago the restaurants around here kept getting robbed. My partner and I made a habit of patronizing the restaurants every night. Thought if we made it known that there were police around, the perps would leave them alone.”

“Did it work?”

“We never caught the guys, but the robberies stopped. Sometimes that’s the best we can do.”

“And you’ve been hooked on Hunan Palace ever since.”

“They make a good eggroll.” He bit into his second since I’d arrived.

Having already eaten most of the steak and potatoes with Hudson, I wasn’t as hungry as Tex appeared to be. I moved past him and sat on a small padded bunker. Tex sat on the one opposite me and leaned back against the wall.

“How’d you know where to find me?” he asked.

“I watched you drive away from Hudson’s house earlier today.”

He didn’t react. “White campers aren’t that uncommon.”

“I got the license plate.”

He grinned. “Night, I do like the way your mind works.” He finished off the second eggroll and set his container of rice down next to him. “You shouldn’t have come looking for me.”

“I thought that’s what you wanted.”

“I don’t know what I want.” He rubbed his eyes with the thumb and index finger of his left hand. “No, that’s not true. I want to find the women who are still missing. I want more than two hours of sleep. And I want you to stop calling me ‘lieutenant.’”

“What should I call you?”

He grinned a lazy half smile that gave away the fact that his whole mind wasn’t occupied with thoughts of the case. “It’s a shame my mind is fuzzy from lack of sleep. I’m going to wake up in the middle of the night with a very good response to that question.” He bent one leg and put the heel of his boot on the edge of the bench. “Okay, so you’re here. Considering you were at Hudson’s when I showed up, I’m going to go out on a limb and say he knows you’re here. Did he try to stop you?”

I wanted to return Tex’s playful smile, but I couldn’t. Not when I thought about the knife and the girls and the car accident.

“I think I found the connection you’ve been looking for,” I said.

Instantly the playfulness was gone and he was all business. He put both feet on the ground and leaned forward, forearms on his thighs. “Yeah?”

“First, you know about Cleo Tyler, right? That she was found today?”

A shadow crossed his face. “Iverson told me.”

“Why didn’t the abductor kill her? He killed Kate Morrow. If he’s escalating his violence, he wouldn’t go backward.”

“I don’t think he ever intended to kill Mrs. Tyler. I think she was a message.”

“Why weren’t you there? In the parking lot. I found her because I was there to meet you.”

“Something came up on the scanner that I needed to check out.”

I waited for Tex to tell me what it was. He didn’t. He finished his beer while I moved my rice around inside the carton. I’d lost my appetite. I set the carton down.

“Remember how we talked about George Tyler? Cleo’s husband’s brother?”

“Sure. Why?”

“Two girls were killed in that car accident. Their father is a man who sometimes works with Hudson. His name is Lyndy.”

“Emil Lyndy? Carpet layer?”

“You know him?”

Tex bent down and picked up a stack of manila folders. He flipped through the contents of the second one until he was about halfway through. “Sure. He’s been picked up on a couple of drunk and disorderlies. Sleeps it off in a drunk tank and gets out the next day. Doesn’t own a car so he doesn’t drive. You say his daughters were the ones killed in the accident?”

“Yes.”

“What else can you tell me about him?”

“He came to Mad for Mod looking for work, and he had a carpet knife with him. It had a long curved blade and a wooden handle. It’s the same kind of knife the guy who approached Effie had. Hudson has one too. It’s not expensive—you can get them in just about any hardware store.”

“Did this guy threaten you?” Tex said. His jaw clenched.

“He scared me at first, but only because I was in the storage locker and I didn’t know he was there. But listen to me. You have three people who died because of that car accident. Dan Tyler lost his brother and Lyndy lost his girls. You were here the night it happened, but so were a lot of other cops, right? So why are you being targeted?” My words tripped over themselves.

“I’ve been trying to figure that out.” Tex set the folder on the floor and looked at me. His stare was laser sharp. “That case I told you about, Jacob Morris. Iverson checked into him and found out he left Arizona a few months ago. Hasn’t turned up yet.”

I looked away. Nausea claimed my stomach and I wished I hadn’t eaten anything.

“When you went to the pool to swim, was there a guy there in a purple cap?” I asked.

“Yes. Why?”

“This might be nothing, but his name is Jake Morris. He told me he’s new in town. He’s a contractor. He showed up two days after Kate Morrow’s body was found at Lockwood Park.”

NINETEEN

Tex’s eyes bore into mine. “Describe him.”

“He was wet and he wore a purple swim cap and goggles. He came over to talk to me when I was trying to leave, but truth was, I was annoyed so I didn’t pay him much attention. I have his card in my car if you want it, but you’re not going to get much. It only has his name and his phone number.”

“I want you to stay away from him.”

“Do you really think he was holding a woman against her will?” I asked.

“The district attorney said he didn’t have a case.”

“That’s not what I asked. Do you believe he was guilty?”

“Yes.” Tex made a phone call. He turned his back to me, but I could still hear him. “Jake Morris. Could be Jacob Morris. Keep an eye out.” He hung up and turned back.

“Do you think it could be him?”

“Hard to say. He’s worth looking into.”

“But you’re not convinced.”

“It doesn’t feel right. Why would he come back here and commit the same crime we accused him of? And why impersonate me? It’s almost too obvious.”

“Have you heard anything about Cleo?”

“I think Mrs. Tyler was a distraction. She hadn’t even been classified as a missing person when you found her. If the press hadn’t picked up on her disappearance, she wouldn’t even be a part of this.”

“Distraction from what?”

He looked down at his hands. “There was another abduction yesterday. College graduate. She’d been out partying on Wednesday night. Went to her boyfriend’s to spend the night, but she never made it home the next day.”

“Do you have a name?”

“Barbie Ferrer.”

The blood drained from my head. “She was at the Landing with Effie the night Effie was approached.”

“When was that?”

“Wednesday.”

“We got the report yesterday afternoon. Still no leads. She could still be alive out there with the others. We need to find them.”

“Lieutenant, if this guy is going to such lengths to single you out, then maybe he’s holding the women somewhere that has a connection to you too.”

We were interrupted by three rapid knocks on the camper door. I went rigid. Tex sat forward and held his hand up to silence me. After a pause, a second series of knocks that sounded more like dull thuds followed. Tex relaxed. “It’s Iverson. Wait here.” He moved to the back door and cracked it. I heard another male voice. “Nah, not tonight. Thanks, man,” Tex said, and closed the door. When he came back inside, he was holding a six pack of Lone Star beer.

“And here I thought you needed me to look after you. Let me guess, the dancers perform in the parking lot when the bar closes?”

“Only on Thursdays.” He smiled.

This time I threw half an eggroll at him. He caught it and popped it into his mouth, and then screwed the top off of a longneck and took a long pull. I tried to stifle the sensation that I was hanging out with Burt Reynolds. He set the beer down and moved the empty containers to the fridge.

“Okay, Night, you told me why you’re here. Now you want to tell me why you’re not there?”

“Where?”

“Hudson’s.”

“I’m not there because I’m here.”

“You know what I mean. You overheard a conversation between me and Hudson. You learned things that probably you would have found out in due time. I appreciate that you want to help me more than you can imagine, but there’s something else going on with you. Want to talk about it?”

“With you?”

He looked to the left and then to the right. “You see anybody else around?” He paused. “C’mon, humor me. I’ve been trapped in a camper with nobody to talk to and the thoughts in my head aren’t the stuff of Doris Day movies. Give me a lifeline.”

I popped the plastic that contained my fortune cookie and pulled out the slip of paper from inside.
if you speak honestly, everyone will listen
. I crumpled the paper up and set the cookie on my lap.

“I don’t know if I have the energy to do it all again,” I said. “The thing with Brad…I don’t know. You date from time to time. Don’t you get tired of the game?”

“What’s worse? Connecting with somebody, even if it’s only for a couple of hours, or not taking the chance? Or taking yourself off the market because you think the biggest romance of your life is behind you and nothing else can compare?”

“Is that what you think I’m doing?”

“I wish I could figure out what you think.” He leaned back and stared at me. “Strike that. I think the sexiest thing about you is that I don’t have a clue what you’re thinking.”

“That is funny. Because I think I’ve been pretty consistent when it comes to me telling you what I think of your playboy ways.”

“True. Problem is, you keep showing up in my life and I can’t stop thinking about the way you kiss.”

Heat climbed my face. “I was confused.”

“You were vulnerable.”

“Weak.”

“Open to possibilities.”

“Stupid.”

“You’re saying you had to be stupid to kiss me?”

“No, I wasn’t stupid. Desperate?”

“For me to kiss you?”

I raised my gaze and looked directly into Tex’s clear blue eyes. “I was desperate to know I could still feel something.”

We sat that way, facing each other, in silence. For the first time in days, my mind was clear. I didn’t want to think about what it all meant, or whether I’d made a mistake by coming here. I knew the answers. Tex meant something to me, and even though I couldn’t define what it was, I couldn’t walk away.

“Night, I appreciate everything you’re trying to do for me, but I’ll take it from here. I don’t want you involved.”

“I already am involved. I have access to Cleo and Dan from my client files, Effie from her tenant application, and Lyndy if I hire him. Tell me what you want to know about them and I’ll find it out.”

“No.”

“What do you mean, ‘no’?”

“I mean, I’m not putting you any further in the middle of this. Night, somebody is out there abducting women and he’s killed at least one of them. You shouldn’t be here helping me. You should be scared to death like the other woman in town. Under normal circumstances, I would hunt this perp down and make sure he can’t do this again. But I can’t do my job because some Ted Bundy wannabe made it personal. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“You’re letting him get to you.”

He gritted his teeth and balled up his fists. “Night, this is going to get worse before it gets better. There are things I have to do in order to figure this out, and I can’t do them if I’m worried about you following me around and putting yourself in danger.”

“You weren’t worried about me when I brought you eggrolls,” I said. “So, what are you going to do? Live in a camper parked outside of a topless club? Drop out of society and become a vigilante? Shut out the very lifeline you just asked for?”

“I don’t need you to be my conscience. Somebody’s got to stop this guy.” He stormed past me. He grabbed a set of keys from the counter and left out the back door. I followed him. He tried to slam the door but I caught it with my palm. He crossed the parking lot and went into Jumbo’s.

Screw this. I went back in the camper and checked my handbag for my own keys. They weren’t there. That’s when I remembered I had set them on the counter next to the Chinese takeout. Where they no longer sat.

This was not happening.

I exited the camper a second time and looked at the bouncer. He stared at me, standing in the middle of the parking lot in my yellow and white floral dress and green ballerina flats. He crossed his arms over his chest. I closed the camper door and approached him.

Sometimes a woman has to do what a woman has to do.