Fatal Mercy by Dan Padavona (freenovel24 .TXT) 📗

Raven caught Damian’s tongue rolling across his lips as he assessed the woman’s physique. After ten minutes on the stair machine, Raven moved on to free weights. Hoping to draw Damian’s attention, she loaded two twenty-five pound plates on an Olympic bar and set up for shoulder presses. Halfway through her first set, her phone rang.

Chelsey.

“Is Damian inside the gym?”

“That’s an affirmative,” Raven said, using vague replies in case anyone eavesdropped. “Can I call you back, Mom? I’m in the middle of a workout.”

“I ran full credit checks on Damian Ramos and Mark Benson, the jerk who harassed you. Damian came back clean, except he was denied a car loan two months ago.”

“That’s odd. His house lists for three-hundred grand, and he dresses to the nines.”

“You know the old saying about rich people turning house poor.”

Raven switched the phone to her other ear.

“Okay, so he’s having money difficulties. That explains why he’s marrying…your cousin.”

“Right,” Chelsey said, playing along. “Then I ran Benson’s credit check, and things got more interesting.”

Raven searched the gym for the burly owner and couldn’t find him. He hadn’t been inside the office when Raven signed up for a gym pass.

“So what’s the story with Uncle Ben?”

“Get this. Benson’s credit score is bottom of the barrel. Multiple loan defaults. It’s amazing he still has his business. But that isn’t all. He’s Damian’s client at the trading firm.”

Chelsey’s eyes moved to Damian. He was staring right at her, his chest heaving as he caught his breath.

“I gotta go.”

“Damian saw you?”

“That’s right, Mom. I’ll check with Uncle Ben and call you after my workout.”

“Something doesn’t feel right, Raven. Be careful.”

By the time Raven ended the call, Damian was strutting across the gym with an impish grin.

“So you took me up on my offer?”

Raven tilted her head, playing the role of a clueless girl.

“Oh, ha-ha. I forgot you wanted to train with me.”

He lifted his chin at the barbell.

“You’re moving serious weight. I’m impressed.”

“This isn’t my first time inside a gym.”

“I can tell. You want a spotter?”

She didn’t, but she nodded.

“That would be terrific. I might need your muscles to pull me through this set.”

She forced her way through three sets until her shoulders screamed at her to ease up. She wanted to draw his interest, not enter a bodybuilding competition. If she played her cards right, he’d try to coax her into bed. Then she’d have the ultimate piece of evidence she needed to prove Damian was unfaithful to Sadie Moreno. Ellie Fisher’s smiling face kept interrupting her concentration. How could she broach the subject and bring up Ellie’s name without raising suspicion? If Damian had something to do with Ellie’s disappearance, he’d know she was on to him.

“Damn, you have nice delts,” he said, rubbing her shoulders. “You didn’t strain your muscles, did you? I give a mean massage.”

She sat with her elbows on her knees, head hanging low as she pretended to catch her breath.

“I’m just a little out of shape.”

“Not from where I sit. You’re a machine. I bet you go all day and night.”

He’d taken her by surprise. Were it not for Chelsey’s phone call distracting her, she would have started her voice recorder before she spoke to Damian. Which gave her an idea.

“I need to use the restroom.”

He pointed to the doors behind the rows of elliptical machines and treadmills.

“The women’s locker room is the door on the right. I’m gonna knock out a set of back squats. Meet you at the squat rack after?”

“Sure. I’ll be back in a second.” She winked. “Save those muscles for me.”

Watching Damian in the mirrors, Raven waited until he turned his back and placed two plates on either side of the barbell. Then she scrolled through her phone and found the voice recording app. After she started the recorder, she slipped the phone inside her gym bag, leaving the top unzipped so voices would come through clearly. The women’s locker room was empty when she set her bag on a wooden bench. Four walls of gray lockers boxed her in, making her claustrophobic as she toweled the sweat off her upper body.

A thud brought her head around. She couldn’t determine if the sound came from inside the locker room or the gymnasium. She paused and listened, one eye fixed to the phone peeking out from below the zipper. When the sound didn’t come again, she brushed off her nervousness and strolled to the sink. She turned on the faucet and splashed water against her face, washing sweat into her eyes. She squinted and ran the faucet on high, cupping water with her hands and clearing her stinging eyes until her vision cleared.

The door behind her whipped open before she could react. Something clubbed the back of her head.

Raven’s legs gave out. She felt someone dragging her through the doorway before she lost consciousness.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Saturday, July 18th

4:15 p.m.

 

The irate car horn knocked Thomas out of his daze. He glanced up at the traffic light, now green, and rolled through the intersection after being lost in thought, remembering the frustrating afternoon he spent knocking on doors with Aguilar. Nobody in the neighborhood near the church recalled seeing Father Fowler walking Tuesday evening, leaving the priest without an alibi at the time of Cecilia Bond’s murder. Yet according to Deputy Lambert, nobody spotted Fowler in the park, though two people confirmed Garrick Tillery had fished off the banks within a quarter-mile of where Gray and Thomas found Cecilia’s body.

When the thoroughfare opened to four lanes, the car passed him and sped past at twenty miles over the limit. The driver lifted a middle finger out the window, and Thomas wondered why people lost their minds over an extra second or two at stoplights. As he cruised into the heart of the village, the sidewalks choked with shoppers, he pulled to the curb outside a French restaurant and phoned his parents. They were ignoring his calls again. He hadn’t spoken to his mother since she left the church Thursday