Karen Olson - The Missing Ink

But when I heard him say, “Trust me,” and I heard the whirring of the tattoo machine, my first thought was that I should’ve put that gate down and locked it after us.

My second thought was, How did Chip Manning learn how to use a tattoo machine? Because, as I peered around the corner into my room, I saw he was drawing a heart on Elise Lyon’s bared breast.

His back was to me, and the machine was loud enough so he didn’t hear me approach. Elise saw me, though, since she was facing the door, and she opened her mouth, but I put my finger over my lips to silence her. She shut her mouth and looked at Chip’s hands. He hadn’t even put on a pair of gloves.

Scratcher.

“Did you really believe that I would love her more than you?” Chip was asking. “Did you think I’d marry that slut instead of you? You should’ve just stayed home, and we would’ve been married right now.”

“I couldn’t marry you.”

“Oh, that’s right. Matt was the love of your life. I thought he was being a good friend, offering to come out here to find you, and the next thing I know you’re getting a tattoo with his name on it.”

“That’s-”

I crinkled the needle package in my hand by mistake. The machine stopped.

“Is she coming back?”

I couldn’t risk peering around the door again.

“Maybe she’s in the bathroom,” Elise suggested.

The machine started again.

“Owwww. Watch it.”

“Did you think it wouldn’t hurt, Elise?” I wondered if he was talking about the tat or about Matt Powell. “Finding out that my best friend was my fiancée’s secret lover?” Okay, question answered. “What did you think I was going to do? Sit around and watch him take you from me?”

“You had Kelly.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

“She meant nothing. That’s why I did what I did, to show you that she was nothing. She was to me what Chase was to you. We had it all, Elise, and you destroyed it.”

“I didn’t kill Simon, though. But you killed her. I was glad she told me about you, how you met in L.A. and couldn’t keep your hands off each other. She was pregnant, Chip.” Desperation laced Elise’s voice.

He didn’t seem to notice. “With her out of the way, you and I can get married. Anyway, I found out it wasn’t my baby. It was her ex-husband’s. I got lucky that she had his gun. Now everyone thinks he killed her.”

“But without Kelly, I wouldn’t-” She stopped suddenly. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to put my name in this heart. That way you’ll never forget your promises to me.”

“It’s too late, Chip.”

“My father will fix it. He fixes everything.”

“Did he fix Matt? Was that him, or was that you?” I heard a catch in her voice. “Matt was innocent, Chip.”

I didn’t wait around to hear his answer, figuring that the machine’s noise would mask my footsteps. I heard more talking, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

Simon Chase’s phone was in my bag on the light table. I took it out and saw that the screen was blank. Uh-oh. Guess it hadn’t been charged in a while. We didn’t have a landline extension back here, since someone, usually Bitsy, was always in the front of the shop to answer the phone.

It might not be that hard getting out of the shop. Chip was one guy. He wasn’t nearly as big as Matthew, and I’d managed to slip past him -well, it wasn’t easy, but I did it.

I opened one of the packages I’d set down, sliding the long, silver needle out of its casing. While I hoped I didn’t have any use for it, I had to have something, and Elise had left that gun in the truck.

I walked as quietly as I could, stopping just outside the room again.

“Tell me where the diamond is,” Chip was saying.

“The police have it.” Elise’s voice was stronger now, anger weaving through her words.

I peeked around the door to see Chip finishing up the heart; it was rough around the edges. Elise’s voice had been firm, but her eyes were laced with tears. It was possible she’d been too jittery, moving too much.

Elise caught my eye, shaking her head slightly.

Before I could duck back, the machine cut off and Chip swung around in the chair. I turned to get away, but he was fast. He grabbed the back of my shirt and yanked me into the room as he held the machine over my face.

“Have you ever tattooed someone’s eyeballs?” he hissed.

He fell onto me then and I twisted my head slightly, the needle in the machine raking me just behind my ear, sliding on my hair. After a second, I realized what had happened: Elise had lunged toward him, and they both ended up on the floor, the impact knocking the machine out of Chip’s hand.

I stood over them, hesitating for a second.

It was too long. Chip threw Elise off him, grabbed the machine again, and plunged it into my thigh, but its design kept it from going in too deep.

The needle in my hand, however, had no restrictions. I swung it around and stabbed Chip’s shoulder. The needle went in the front and stuck out the back. Sort of like a live shish kebab.

He made a yowling sound, dropping the tattoo machine-but not before it slid across my calf, drawing a crooked black line-his hand reaching around to pull the needle out of his shoulder. He screamed as blood spurted across his chest.

I grabbed Elise’s hand and pulled her out the door, to the front of the shop, toward the doors. I glanced back to see Chip holding the needle, chasing us.

I reached for the front door handle when everything got dark.

Matthew Masters stood on the other side of the glass, glowering with anger. He pulled the door open and stepped inside. But to my surprise, he pushed us aside and went after Chip, who’d stopped suddenly. Matthew grabbed the shoulder I’d stabbed, causing Chip to scream again and drop the needle.

Matthew turned and looked at me, studying my face for a second before his eyes moved to Elise. I saw what he saw: Elise’s bare torso, the bra hanging open, exposing her breasts, the beads of blood slipping down over the black outline of the heart and the start of the “C” that Chip had drawn.

“Are you okay?”

His voice wasn’t what I remembered from our earlier encounter. While it still had its gravelly tone, the roughness was replaced with a gentleness. His eyes matched his voice as he gazed at her, and Elise began to sob, reaching her arms out to him.

He shook his head, but I saw a glint in his eye, too, a tear in the corner that he blinked away as he yanked harder on Chip’s shoulder.

“You,” he said loudly to me. “You-call the cops.”

Before I could move, though, the door swung open and Simon Chase came into the shop.

He took one look at Matthew and Chip and muttered, “I may have to find another job.” He then looked at me, at Elise and put his arm around her. She clung to him, the sobs more audible now. “Brett, can you call the police?” he asked, his eyes again moving to mine.

Everything started falling into place. I’d seen it in Matthew’s expression when he looked at Elise, when she reached out to him.

He was her Matthew.

When I’d seen her with him at Viva Las Vegas, she wasn’t afraid of him -she was afraid of me finding her. It all made sense now.

I went to the phone on the desk and dialed Tim’s number.

“You have to come to my shop,” I said when he answered.

“Why aren’t you at home?” he demanded.

“Let’s just say I got sidetracked.” I paused, looking at Matthew, who was still clutching Chip’s shoulder. “Your murderer is here, if you want him.”

“What?”

“It’s Chip. Chip Manning. He killed Kelly Masters. He might have killed Matt Powell, too.”