Cheryl Bradshaw - Black Diamond Death

Bridget opened her mouth wide and yawned.

“You better get some sleep,” I said.

“What makes you say that?”

I pointed to the clock on the microwave which displayed a time of 3:34 am.

“Let’s both turn in for what’s left of the night. We can try and make sense of all this in the morning,” I said.

Bridget walked down the hallway to the guest room and turned toward me before she went through the door.

“Hey Sloane?”

I looked in her direction and recognized the inquisitive look on her face. It was the same one I had seen countless times before whenever I mentioned Gabrielle.

“Can I ask you something?”

“The answer is no,” I said. “They didn’t ever catch my sister’s killer.”

CHAPTER 54

“I’m excited to see Tommy,” Bridget said. “I know now that I should have talked to him about everything in the first place.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” I said. “Just do your best to live your life and be the best person you can. My advice would be to take the time to figure out who you are and what you want in life and then to do it.”

I sounded like the perfect self-help instructor. If only I followed my own advice.

“Taken from someone who knows firsthand it sounds like.”

“I’ve endured my share of trials in life, just like everyone else,” I said.

“I hope he understands.”

“If he’s the man you say he is, he will.”

I pulled into the apartment complex and Tommy was perched outside on a plastic chair. Once he recognized Bridget in my passenger seat he took the joint from his mouth and smashed it into a piece of snow on the sidewalk. He didn’t seem worried that he could get caught. He then stood up and walked over to the passenger side. She opened the door and got out and they embraced.

“I missed you baby,” he said.

“I’m sorry; I should have told you everything from the start.”

“Stop that, okay? You’re here now and that’s all that matters to me.”

Tears ran down her cheeks and he used the palm of his hands to wipe them away. The crass, belligerent boy disappeared and a softer side emerged. He started to close the passenger door and then hesitated and leaned in and an overwhelming stench leaned in with him.

“Thanks for bringing her home lady. We cool?”

I nodded.

“Take good care of her.”

He shaped his hand into a fist and held it out to me. It took a few moments to register what I needed to do and then I flashed to a memory of a famous actor on TV. I made a fist and we bumped. And just like that, I felt young again.

I backed away and waved at Bridget and hoped she would heed the warnings I gave her about staying out of sight and by Tommy’s side until I could get some answers, the first of which I hoped to get from Vicki. I took out my cell phone and dialed.

A chipper young female voice on the other end of the line said, “Ellis & Marshall Real Estate, can I help you?”

“Vicki Novak please.”

“She’s not in at the moment.”

“Can you tell me when you expect her?” I said.

“I’m not sure, can I take a message?”

I declined and ended the call and then turned the car around.

CHAPTER 55

I entered the small corner office of Walker Appraisal at one minute to noon. A girl with the body shape of a baby elephant sat behind the desk. She didn’t look old enough to share a glass of wine with. Her cell phone was glued to her hand and she was typing at a rate I couldn’t comprehend. I walked over to the counter and leaned over just enough to disrupt her sense of privacy.

“Can I help you?”

“I have an appointment with Travis Walker,” I said.

“He’s not back yet.” She gestured with her cell phone over to some chairs. “You can sit there and wait for him.”

I sat and she swiveled her seat around so that her back faced me and went back to typing away. So much for hospitality.

Ten minutes went by and still no sign of him.

“Excuse me,” I said. “Do you have any idea where he is at the moment?”

She wound her chair back around and shook her head.

“Can you find out?”

She tapped hard on the keys on her cell phone for a minute and then tossed it to the side and picked up the office phone. She waited several seconds and then rolled her eyes and hung up.

“He didn’t answer. I don’t know what to tell ya.”

It was easy to see why Charlotte rarely used his services. With her cell phone to the side, I took advantage of the situation.

“Have you worked here long?” I said.

She placed both elbows on the table in front of her and cocked her head to the side.

“Off and on. I help out with the phones.”

“Someone I know referred me, Vicki Novak. Do you know her?”

She sprung forward in her chair. Any interest she had in her cell phone was gone.

“She a friend of yours?”

“Someone I know, why?” I said.

“Because Vicki Novak’s a home wrecking bitch, that’s why.”

It wasn’t where I thought the conversation would go when I started it, but I wanted her to talk so I dumbed myself down and climbed aboard the bitch train.

“We were supposed to do a couple deals together, but she talked to my clients behind my back and now they’re listing with her,” I said. “I haven’t talked to her since.”

It wasn’t the most elaborate lie I had ever told, but I hoped it was good enough to get me where I needed to go.

She leaned over the counter and glared at me.

“Vicki Novak is a slut, I hate her!”

A bitch and a slut. Interesting.

“I take it you know her personally,” I said.

“Not me, my dad.”

“Your dad?”

“Yeah,” she said, and pointed to the sign on the door.

Travis Walker was her dad . It made perfect sense now.

“I take it your dad and Vicki were involved?” I said.

“Things were great between my dad and my mom and then she came in one day and asked if he could do some appraisals for her and then she started calling him all the time. First she wanted him to come over to one of her houses and fix a problem with the sink and then he went to see her one night and he didn’t come home until the next day. My mom tried to tell me that he’d already left for work when I got up in the morning, but I’m not stupid.”

“That must have been hard on you,” I said.

“I can take care of myself. I don’t need him. I don’t need anyone.”

It was obvious she didn’t mean a word of it, she was just angry and that was understandable. The cell phone on the desk vibrated and she reached over and grabbed it. She typed some words on the keyboard and threw it back down again.

“Does your dad still see Vicki?”

She shook her head.

“What about your mom?” I said.

“My dad moved out and my mom filed for divorce last week.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. “Have you talked to your dad about it?”

She shook her head.

“The only reason I’m at the office is because my mom thinks we need to spend time together, but he’s not even here. And when he is, he acts all weirded out or something.”

Or something seemed a lot more likely to me.

The office door opened and in walked a tall man around my age except for the grey hair on his head. He looked like he had fasted for several days. His eyes darted from the desk to the chair where I sat.

“Are you my twelve o’clock appointment?”

I nodded.

He shifted his notebook from one hand to the other and stuck his hand out to me.

“I hope you haven’t been here long.”

“Twenty-five minutes or so, are you in the habit of making your clients wait?” I said.