Millstone - Novel 01 Ch. 15

"Tucker told me you were speaking with Winter," he said, "and I apologize for disturbing you. They have managed to remove the collapsed section of roof from the fire scene, and beneath it, they found a heavily charred body. It's female, according to forensics. The fire inspector says the fire started at its location and involved an accelerant like kerosene. Of course, we'll have to wait for the autopsy to know how and when she died, but I think I've discovered the woman's identity. I figured since both Tommy and Chadwell worked for Alliance, perhaps she had too. So, I called Bo Pecker, and he told me that Delilah Crows, his office manager, worked yesterday but hadn't come to work this morning. I've called her cellphone, but it goes to voicemail. We found her car located at her home, but she's neither there nor at the hospital. I asked Tucker about her; he didn't know her; he kept everything strictly business with the office staff. That's all I have for now."

"Okay, I'm glad you let us know," I said. "What would you like us to do?"

"Tucker told me you had planned to help him with some clothing today. I appreciate that. For now, just stick with your plans. By the way, I noticed last night that his shoes need replacement. And I have a personal request. When it comes to underwear and pants, think sexy."

I laughed. "Oh, I have no doubt that Max already has that in mind. Thanks for letting me know the situation. We'll see you this afternoon."

I relayed the information to Winter and Max. Given the circumstances, I thought it best to delay any further discussion and continue with the presumption that the housewarming would proceed as scheduled. It remained unclear whether the news would have any effect either way on it taking place.

"I agree," she said. "We wouldn't want to overreact, and I'll await more news from you. So, James has lost everything. The Winter Foundation helps people in his situation. What does he need?"

"His Jeep burned along with everything else," said Max.

"He has insurance on it," I said.

"Do you know where he has the insurance?"

"He mentioned something about a co-op."

"Oh, that's the Franklin Insurance Cooperative," she said. "Highly recommended. But regardless of where he bought his insurance, they will only pay the current value of the vehicle. So, unless he adds money to it--which he may not have--he will probably end up with a vehicle of lesser value than he lost, especially if you include title, taxes, and registration. We've worked with insurance in the past, and we could make up the difference, so he could get a better vehicle."

"He would probably appreciate that," I said, "but the insurance would probably just pay-off the loan since he had it less than a year."

"Oh no... Okay, thanks for letting me know," she said. "Speaking of vehicles, how's the jalopy working for you?"

"We love it," Max said, 'but it has one insurmountable issue."

She nodded. "It only holds two people, right? I thought that it might present a problem for you."

"Yeah," I said. "We have a different vehicle in mind, and we'll see to that fairly soon, but thank you for allowing us to use the roadster. It helped us accomplish more than we ever could without it."

"You're welcome," she said. "I was thinking of giving it to Grey. He remarked how much he liked it."

"Sounds like a plan," I said. "Well, we should go; we have much to do." We rose to leave.

She leaned forward onto the table. "Max, before you go, may I speak with you in private?"

"Of course," he said.

"I'll wait for you in the vehicle," I said. "See you later, Winter."

On the way to the SUV, Tucker stuck his head out the window. "You haven't texted me!"

"Yeah, today's not a good day to meet Winter. It'll happen soon, though." I climbed behind the wheel.

"Where's Max?"

"Talking to Winter about something," I said, "I have no idea what."

"Maybe they're planning your surprise birthday party."

"If so, they're eleven months early. How are you feeling about the body found in your house?"

"It's terrible," he said, "but I know nothing about it. On the bright side, I finally have an alibi for someone's death."

"Thank goodness," I said. "We need to shop for clothes, have lunch, and get back to the Minotaur before three o'clock. Steamy Pete will deliver our bed today, and no, this doesn't include their extra special white-glove service; it's just the regular."

"Well, at least they'll be shirtless."

When Max returned to the vehicle a few minutes later, he had a bemused expression. "Okay, we can go now."

"What was that about?" I asked.

"Let's discuss it tonight."

Tucker moved up between the front seats. "If you're waiting because of me, I could stick my fingers in my ears and hum a tune."

Max laughed and smiled at him. "That's thoughtful, but no, I just need to think about it for a while first."

"Okay, no rush," I said.

I had no way to know how long it would take to get the autopsy results about the woman, it would depend on the coroner, and I wondered if it could mean the closure of the case. For all we knew, in a real fit of remorse for having killed two people with nothing to show for it, she could have poured fuel around the interior of Tucker's home, doused herself, and struck a match. I could think of less painful ways to go about killing one's self, but stranger things had happened.

The search for Tucker's sexy clothing was going well, but we stopped for lunch. He recommended an unusual rustic-styled restaurant in The Village called Lumberjacks, where all the hunky waiters wore plaid shirts rolled at the sleeves, suspenders, tight jeans showing fine asses and nice bulges, and boots like a logger.

Tucker had apparently eaten there so often that every waiter knew him by the nickname Tenten, but he asked them to start calling him Tucker and told us he intended to leave Tenten in the past along with the persona.

We saw many muscular guys among the people in the booths there, and as they had geared the place toward guys trying to get big, the portions were huge, but they also had half-portions upon request. If Tucker ate there as often as he said, no wonder he had such a thick build. We loved our experience there and decided to make it one of our go-to restaurants.

At the end of our meal, while awaiting the bill, Tucker said, "I think the name James doesn't suit me, and I've never liked it. Did you know that, in the West, it's the number one name for males used in the last century?"

"I figured number one would be John," said Max.

"No, that's number two. And when my lawyer friend found my birth mother (who I decided not to meet, by the way), he discovered that my last name Malor is a misspelling."

"Really?" I asked. "What was it supposed to be?"

"M-a-i-l-o-r. They misspelled it on my birth certificate, and no one bothered to fix it. They probably thought that, since my mother had given me up anyway, what's the difference. You have no idea how much I love you guys calling me Tucker. Last night, after you asked me about my nickname, the thought occurred to me to change my name to that, and the idea crossed my mind again when we got here."

"Would you change your last name with it?" asked Max.

"Oh yeah, I see no reason not to, and Tucker Malor sounds like shit, so I'll have to give it some thought."

"I think changing your name is a great idea," said Max. "You seem more like a Tucker to me anyway."

"We heard that name changes happen all the time here in Franklin," I said, "especially among the goth community. If you feel unsatisfied with the name you have, then change it."

The detective called me on my private number, just as Hunter, our waiter, returned with the bill.

Max said, "I'll take care of this," and he signed the ticket so we could leave.

"Hello, Wade, could you hold on a second? We're leaving a restaurant, and I want the three of us to hear."

"Sure."

We stopped at the side of the enclosed vestibule on the way out, and I put the phone on speaker. "Okay, have you something for us?"

"Oh yes," he said. "We just got the forensic tests back from Delilah's home. We believe it's her right index finger, but it matches the stray print on that one finger trap."

"Well, that's great! So, we got her then."

"Not quite," he said, "there's an issue with ability. It's questionable whether she could maneuver Chadwell into position to make it appear like suicide. And one more thing, a burned kerosene container sat near the back door, just as though someone had left it on the way out."

"Then we've been looking for a Bonnie and Clyde all along."

"So it seems," he said, "but it looks like this Clyde bumped-off Bonnie."

"Are we talking two people with the same agenda," asked Max, "or two people with two different agendas?"

"That's an excellent question," he said. "I think it's pretty clear that Clyde wants the ring. Even with the fire, we couldn't miss the fact that they had rifled through the house before Clyde burned it."

"Not sure if you know, detective," said Max, 'but Delilah Crows was goth, and I suspect that's not her original name, just from something Bo Pecker said to us."

"I appreciate your letting me know. It's kind of hard to tell from her current appearance. I'll have Sawyer check into her name change, and we'll see if she had ever lived in Seattle. I'm willing to bet she had."

"If she were the one trying to get me," said Tucker, "and she's dead, would that mean at least that part will stop?"

"Possibly," he said, "I'm sorry, Tucker, I wish I could give you a definitive answer. I need to go; I just wanted to give you the update."

So, our conversation ended there, which was just as well. We had more clothing to acquire and needed to return to the Minotaur by three.

Once we had replenished Tucker's wardrobe, we headed home. I noticed him in the mirror sitting in the back, looking pensive. "Are you okay back there?"

"I'm just thinking about what Wade told us. Before this, if I ever wanted to have a normal life again, I really had no choice, but I want you guys to know, if the heat's off me, and Clyde just wants the ring, I will still help with the plan for Tommy. He and I talked a lot before the night he died, and I learned that, while growing up, we both had a shit life. And then, as Tommy began to get his life together, this asshole kills him. It's like you just can't get a break without someone trying to take it from you. So, I want to help catch this guy. And I want to thank you for the break you've given me because I see that's what it is, and if I have to fight someone to keep it, I will."

I felt I had just experienced a glimpse of the Tucker that Wade spoke of. He had a lot of strength and determination within him, and I suppose he would have needed that to survive the abuse. In that moment, I knew he would mesh well with us, and I saw that my offer meant far more to him than I ever realized.

We reached the Minotaur with a few minutes to spare. "There's Cousin Albert's Camry," I said. "I wondered if he would get time to accept his bed today."

"Trouble's your cousin?" asked Tucker.

"His brother Thomas told me he and Albert are my first cousins once removed."

"Once removed," he said. "Does that mean you were on-the-outs with the family, and eventually they forgave you, or what?"

I laughed and asked Max, "It kinda sounds like that, doesn't it? Apparently, in our case, it means that we share great grandmothers or something."

We entered the building and Henry Cole, the perennially naked owner, staffed the concierge desk.

"Good afternoon, Henry," I said.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen." He noticed Tucker and left the desk to approach him, his dong flopping with every step. "I have yet to meet you, but I know you by that beautiful head of hair. I'm Henry Cole. Wade said we should call you Tucker." He shook his hand. "I am so sorry to hear about your home."

"I appreciate that, but I think I'll be okay. I know I'm not a club member, so thank you for letting me stay with Wade."

"Wade lived alone, so he could always have a guest. You can stay while he agrees, especially given your circumstance, and looking at you, I could never imagine him not agreeing. I can tell you exercise; those arms and meaty looking thighs of yours are a dead giveaway. Please, enjoy our gym, where I hope we will see just how big you really are."

Tucker smiled. "I will enjoy making sure you do."

"Excellent." He turned to Max and me. "Gentlemen, Trouble tells me you're both expecting a delivery. I will send them up when they arrive."

Once in the elevator, Max noticed Tucker had a funny expression. "Are you blushing?"

He gave an awkward laugh. "You might be surprised at just how little I'm accustomed to getting that kind of attention. Even at Kinks, people would look and talk, but not like that."

"Wait until your makeover tomorrow," said Max. "We'll have you positively eye-catching."

"A makeover?"

"We're all three getting a haircut, our beard trimmed and shaped for the party tomorrow night. We wouldn't want you to go looking like Raggedy Andy."

"Ugh...my hair's not that red."

Waiting for the delivery, Albert had left his door open, and he hung about in our quarters until they arrived. The movers wore short shorts and no shirts. They had some fine physiques, easily as nice as many club members. One hunky guy, according to Albert, would return after work for dinner and provide some extra-special white-glove service off-the-clock, somewhere other than Albert's new bed, of course, as Master Brice had already called.

Wade had forgotten that Albert had the delivery and allocated the task of researching Delilah Crows to another officer. He gave us the rundown when he arrived that afternoon.

"Delilah Crows' maiden name was Delilah Franques. She married Alistair Crows, divorced him, and kept the last name. Delilah went by Lilah Franques when she lived in Seattle, and she was Daniel Newberry's gal pal. So, there's our connection. Her phone records indicate that she called many employees of Alliance, which isn't too surprising as she held the job of office manager. Autopsy records show she had smoke in her lungs, so, apparently, Clyde had left her to burn to death.

"Tucker, I get the impression that she wanted to harm you but not necessarily kill you. Somehow, she used Clyde to do her dirty work, and he killed her, probably because she knew about the ring. That seems to be the common denominator. We've managed to keep our knowledge of that quiet. So, if he wants the ring, he thinks only the two of you know it exists. This guy is more dangerous than I realized, and I'm having reservations about our plan. I don't want anything happening to you."

"No one will take me from you if that's what worries you," he said to him. "I'm not Tommy. I'm not Chadwell, and I'm not Delilah. I grew up on the bad side of Baltimore. If you never learn to fight there, you won't last. I look forward to us getting to know one another better because if you already knew me, you wouldn't worry. I can take care of myself." He stepped closer to Wade and gently held his face staring him in the eye. "Trust me." He kissed him.

Wade nodded in agreement to trust him, so we would proceed as planned.

We loved our new bed frame, and we found climbing into bed that evening a pleasant change from all the previous nights of falling into it. Before we fooled around a bit, Max wanted to just hold one another and talk for a while. He found his favorite position, half on top of me, resting his head on my shoulder. I loved to rake my fingers through the golden fur on his back.

"I think I'm ready to talk to you about my conversation with Winter," he said.

"I'm listening."

"Remember when I said that I thought she wanted me to fuck her?"

"Did she proposition you?"

"Well...sort of. She said she wants to have my children."