Bones of a Feather - Carolyn Haines [97]
“We should go back to Briarcliff and wait with Eleanor.”
Tinkie put words to action and sped down the tree-lined Natchez streets.
“Wait!”
Tink startled so badly she slammed on brakes with enough pressure to send me into my seat belt. My right breast was permanently crushed.
“Don’t do that!” she said with some heat.
“Sorry. We need to find Barclay.”
Tinkie looked at her Rolex. “It’s four forty-five. We have to meet Eleanor.”
“Call her. Be sure she’s at Briarcliff. Tell her we’re on the way and we’re bringing Barclay with us.”
“I’m sure she’ll be thrilled with that.” Tinkie searched her briefcase-purse for her cell phone.
A car behind us honked, and Tinkie eased into a parking spot down the street as she talked. When I looked in the rearview mirror, I felt a jolt of dread. Gunny, his badge shining in the late afternoon sun, walked toward us.
* * *
“Why Chief Randall, you do look handsome in that uniform.” Tinkie oozed pleasure at the unexpected arrival of the very buff policeman. His dark uniform pants were tailored to a fare-thee-well, and his shirt stretched across well-developed pecs. He lifted dark glasses to reveal irises a deep forest green. None of this did a single thing to make me feel less threatened.
“Ladies.” Gunny eyed me like I carried a disease. I had the sense his presence wasn’t an accident. The man had tracked us down like rabid dogs. And he meant to make us bark.
“We’re on our way to help Eleanor with a chore,” Tinkie said. “Why don’t you come out with us and have a big ol’ bourbon? Eleanor keeps the best liquor.”
“I don’t drink on duty. What’s going on at Briarcliff?”
“Whatever do you mean?” Tinkie was all blue-eyed innocence.
“Cut the crap. Eleanor’s been dodging me for two days.” Gunny was nobody’s fool. “Why are you two still in town? The insurance company paid out. Eleanor cashed the check this morning. I figured you’d be done with the Levert sisters and back in Zinnia.”
“We’re tying up some loose ends.” He made me uncomfortable, and it didn’t help that I couldn’t see his eyes because of the dark sunglasses he’d put back on.
“Four million is a lot of money for two middle-aged women to have lying around a big ol’ haunted house.” His grin was disparaging. “Why did Eleanor cash the check and walk out of the bank with the money?”
The way he said it made my skin twitch. He knew way too much about the Leverts’ business. I gave Gunny another visual once-over. He was a handsome man in a wrapped-too-tight kind of way. His torso short, his legs …
“I believe the sisters know how to handle their money,” I said easily. “Gunny, how long have you been in Natchez?”
“Five years.” He frowned at the change in topic. “What’s the sudden interest in my career?”
Tinkie gave him a slow smile. “Allow a girl her indulgences. Sarah Booth and I have a bet. She says you worked in Memphis, but I say you spent some time in the North.” Tinkie was quick on the uptake.
“Then you’d win the bet. I put in five years at the Cincinnati PD before I took this job.” He tapped the car door. “Eleanor should put her money somewhere safe, and I don’t mean the vault in Briarcliff. She’s a sitting duck for a robber … or worse.”
He sauntered to his car and drove past us.
“What was that all about?” Tinkie asked.
I didn’t answer. I borrowed her phone and dialed Cece. When her voice mail prompted, I said, “Check the Cincinnati PD for an Albert Randall. I specifically need to know if they have a mounted unit and, if so, was he a member. Thanks!”
“Saint Francis in a flock of vultures.” Tinkie had followed me straight to my conclusion. “Gunny could be our midnight cowboy. His body type fits the photos.”
We hadn’t gone two blocks when the phone rang. I answered.
“Sergeant Albert ‘Gunny’ Randall