Off the Record (An Avery Shaw Mystery Book 10) Read online

  “Yo, Mouth!”

  “Andre.” I risked a glance at Eliot and was relieved to find he didn’t appear to be searching for a weapon. “What are you doing here?”

  “I have some information to share.”

  “Well, come in and share.”

  “Not here.” Andre made a face. “I can’t be seen in this place. You need to come to me.”

  I heaved a resigned sigh. “Fine, but if you talk about yourself in the third person again, I’ll have to kick you in the nuts to silence you.”

  Andre offered an exaggerated eye roll. “You don’t have any friends, do you?”

  “Only a few who count.”

  “Well, come on, mouthy girl,” Andre ordered. “I think you’ll be interested in what I found.”

  “I’m coming.” I patted Eliot’s hand. “I’ll be back in five minutes. Don’t solve the mystery of the dueling Jesses before I get back.”

  Eliot opened his mouth, dumbfounded, but I was already walking through the door by the time he found his voice. “You get your rear end back here right now!”

  21

  Twenty-One

  “Avery!”

  I ignored Eliot even though I knew he gave chase, and followed Andre to the bench nearest the downtown clock. A group of his friends – I wasn’t sure how else to term them without looking judgmental – loitered around the bench eating carnival food. I opted to focus on Andre.

  “What do you have?”

  Andre’s smile was sly. “I’ve got a lot to offer, baby.”

  I didn’t bother hiding my blasé distate. Of course, that’s when Eliot showed up. And there is nothing wrong with his ears.

  “Excuse me?” Eliot was livid.

  Andre puffed out his chest as he regarded Eliot. “Who are you?”

  “Who are you?” Eliot challenged.

  “I’m Andre.”

  “He only has one name,” I supplied. “He’s like Cher.”

  Andre extended a warning finger. “I told you not to say that.”

  “Yes, but now that I know you dislike it I won’t be able to stop myself. I’m odd that way.”

  “I can vouch for that,” Eliot muttered, his gaze busy as it bounced between faces. “What’s going on here?”

  “We’re not doing nothing,” one of Andre’s boys answered. “You can’t arrest us because we’re not doing nothing.”

  “You’re not doing anything,” I automatically corrected.

  “Yes, this is definitely the audience for you to pull out your grammar Nazi shtick with,” Eliot intoned, shaking his head. “Avery, can we talk over here, please?”

  “Andre has something to tell me,” I replied, averting my gaze. “I need to hear it. You can talk over here if you want.”

  “You heard her.” Andre was back to being boastful. “She wants to talk to Andre.”

  “What did I tell you when it comes to talking about yourself in the third person?” I challenged.

  Andre’s expression fell. “That it makes me sound like a douche.”

  “That hasn’t changed. It never will change.”

  Eliot widened his eyes. He looked worried about the way I talked to Andre. He clearly recognized the group for what it was. I wouldn’t call them a gang, but they weren’t far from it. At least none of them looked armed this time. I considered that a win.

  “Don’t even think about hurting her,” Eliot warned, lowering his voice to a growl. “I will make you pay if you hurt her.”

  “I don’t want to hurt her,” Andre shot back. “We’re working together. We’re partners … kind of.”

  Eliot shifted his attention to me. “Partners?”

  “I met Andre when I was returning Lee’s photos last night,” I supplied, unbothered. If he dared pick a fight over hanging out with Andre we were going to have a riotously good row about Fawn. I’d been storing up stuff for weeks and was anxious to dump it on him when I wouldn’t look like a jealous ninny for doing it. “We had a discussion about the Gratiot corridor – it was very enlightening, by the way – and then I suggested he might want to hang out here for the weekend.”

  “You suggested?” Eliot’s eyebrow appeared to be glued to the middle of his forehead.

  “Why not? Who better to watch out for the safety of neighborhood girls, especially since the girls living in the nearby neighborhoods might be targeted?”

  It made perfect sense to me. Apparently Eliot didn’t agree.

  “Yeah, I need to talk to you over here.” Eliot gripped my elbow and tugged me a few feet away. I held up a finger so Andre would know to wait, and plastered an impatient look on my face when Eliot stopped moving.

  “What?”

  “Are you crazy?” Eliot didn’t bother lowering his voice. “Do you have any idea what those guys do to occupy their time?”

  I glanced over my shoulder and frowned when I saw one of Andre’s buddies bend over to pick a piece of candy off the ground … and eat it. “I’m pretty sure they’re not joining MENSA.”

  “Ha, ha. You know what they are, right?”

  I knew exactly what he was getting at and saw no reason to mince words. “They’re kind of a gang.”

  “They are a gang.”

  “They’re almost a gang,” I clarified. “I have no idea how organized they are, and I honestly don’t care. They’re interested in keeping the women in their neighborhood safe. That’s the most important thing.”

  “You are … un-freaking-believable!” Eliot tugged a hand through his hair and mimed strangling me as he fought to control his emotions.

  I remained calm. “I love you, too.”

  “Dammit, Avery, this is not a joke!” Eliot managed to keep his voice low even as anger flushed his handsome features. “What if they try to hurt you?”

  “They’re not interested in hurting me.”

  “How can you know that?”

  “Because they only care about protecting their own interests,” I answered without hesitation. “I didn’t ask about their business and they didn’t volunteer information. Andre knew Teyona because they went to school together. They were friendly. She wasn’t afraid of them. Her mother told me that.”

  “That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be afraid of them!”

  “They have no motivation to go after me,” I said, forcing my voice to remain low despite the fact I wanted to thump Eliot between the eyebrows to wake him. “They’re here to watch over their friends, protect their community. In doing so, they’ll make their presence known to … interested parties … at the festival.”

  It took Eliot a moment to absorb the statement. “You didn’t tell them who to watch.”

  “No. I thought that would be akin to tossing a lit match into a puddle of gasoline.”

  “You just want the carnies to know that people are watching the area closely,” Eliot mused, his anger fading. “That’s actually not a bad idea.”

  “I told you.”

  “I didn’t say it was a good idea,” Eliot snapped, remembering his fury. “These people are dangerous.”

  “Are they?” I wasn’t oblivious to Andre’s attitude or what he probably did to get through a week. That didn’t mean I was ready to castigate him. “They’re not in jail and they agreed not to carry. I don’t see what it could hurt.”

  “I don’t know.” Eliot wasn’t convinced. “I can’t help but feel this puts you at risk.”

  “Why? They’re less dangerous than the people I’ve ticked off in the white-collar world. Tad Ludington tried to strangle me this week, and you haven’t forbid me from hanging around with him.”

  “First off, I try really hard to refrain from forbidding you to do anything,” Eliot snapped. “Second, you wouldn’t purposely hang around with Tad Ludington if the world were flooded with urine and he had the only boat.”

  He had a point. “I know what I’m doing. They’re not a danger to me.”

  Eliot bordered on relenting, but he wasn’t quite ready to let it go. “If you believe that, why didn’t
you tell me about your conversation with them?”

  “I didn’t want to load anything into the vehicles, and it was more important to get into my Underoos right away last night,” I replied. “I honestly forgot. I wasn’t trying to keep it from you.”

  Eliot finally relaxed, although not completely, and squeezed my hand. “Okay. I don’t like this, but I’m kind of curious to see how it goes. I’m still going to have a talk with Andre so he understands the rules.”

  “Oh, I think that’s nice.” I patted his cheek with my free hand. “If he talks about himself in the third person, punch him in the nuts and say it was from me.”

  Eliot opened his mouth to say something – I was fairly certain it was an admonishment regarding threatening Andre – but I was already heading back to the group. Andre looked a little too full of himself when he saw me returning.

  “So, you ready to see what I have to offer?”

  “Okay, we’re going to cover the ground rules of this little … association … right now,” Eliot said, using his hip to shift me to the side so he could face down Andre. “That is my girlfriend. Do you know what that means?”

  “That she busts your balls more than anyone else?”

  “I … well, kind of.” Eliot bobbed his head. “It also means that I love her dearly and will kill for her.”

  Well, that was definitely sweet.

  “I don’t want to hurt her, man.” Andre held up his hands in mock surrender, as if he suddenly understood Eliot’s worry and wanted to diminish it. “I just want to help. If I can offer my services to find the animal who killed Teyona, I want to do that.”

  “I believe you, but I still won’t risk Avery,” Eliot said. “If you hurt her, I’ll fill what’s left of your short future with pain.”

  “You’re kind of a scary dude.”

  “You have no idea.” Eliot slipped his arm around my back and rested his fingers on my hip. “What have you found?”

  “We’ve been watching the festival like the mouth here said. It’s been pretty quiet,” Andre replied.

  “That’s because everyone is still at work,” I reminded him. “The carnival is barely open and won’t be filled with people until tonight. The same goes for the car show row. Heck, the art festival won’t open until tomorrow.”

  “I’m well aware, girl.” Andre made an exaggerated face, moving his ever-present toothpick to the other corner of his mouth. “You’re so bossy. And you don’t have a lot of patience. You don’t have kids, do you?”

  “No.”

  “Good. You’d be a mean mother.”

  “I’m going to be a mean adult if you’re not careful,” I threatened. “What have you observed?”

  “Well, for starters, see that dude over there?” Andre pointed and I followed his finger to a familiar face. Jess.

  I fought to keep my face placid so Andre wouldn’t be able to read my piqued interest. “I see him. He works with the carnival. He’s the manager’s nephew.”

  Andre looked surprised. “How do you know that?”

  “I interviewed them when I had to write a story about the carnival for The Monitor,” I answered. “I was inside the business trailer with them.”

  “Well, that might change things.” Andre appeared conflicted as he thoughtfully stroked his chin.

  “Why?” I couldn’t rein in my curiosity. “Was he watching women? Did he follow anyone? Do you think he’s dangerous?”

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Eliot chided. “Let him share the information with you before you jump to the wrong conclusions.”

  “I never jump to the wrong conclusions.”

  “Really? When I brought a box of cereal home for breakfast this week and it was granola instead of Fruity Pebbles, what did you say to me?”

  Of course he would bring up that. “Um … I forget.”

  “What’d she say?” Andre was intrigued. “Fruity Pebbles is the bomb, yo. That’s the best cereal out there.”

  “Now I know why you two get along so well,” Eliot grumbled. “Anyway, you said that someone must’ve snuck into my bag and switched the cereals because there could be no other explanation for me buying such a boring cereal.”

  “She’s not wrong,” Andre pointed out, causing me to smile.

  “The point is that she always jumps to conclusions,” Eliot argued. “I want her to be calm and rational for a change.”

  “I think I like her when she’s a spaz,” Andre said. “She’s got … something. I can’t put a name to it.”

  “I don’t even know why I’m part of this conversation,” Eliot muttered, shaking his head.

  I gave him a reassuring pat on the arm. “I appreciate every conversational offering. You’re a whiz when it comes to talking and rolling on top of me in the middle of the night.”

  Andre laughed so hard I thought he might choke on his toothpick, while Eliot shot me a dirty look and remained silent.

  “She’s funny and rude at the same time,” Andre said. “Girl got a gift.”

  “Yes, and sometimes I want to return the purchase,” Eliot said dryly. “Go back to what you were saying about Jess. Why did he catch your attention?”

  Andre sobered. “Well, for starters, he’s the only one over there who doesn’t seem to have a job.”

  I turned my attention back to the carnival and wrinkled my nose. “What do you mean? I talked to a woman there who said that Jess was basically second in command.”

  “He may be, but that doesn’t mean he works for a living,” Andre said. “We’ve been watching this place for two hours now. Everyone at that carnival seems busy, as if they only have a few hours before getting slammed with customers.”

  “They do only have a few hours before being slammed with customers.”

  “Yeah, but that Jess guy walks around and pretends he’s boss man over the others, but he’s really interested in watching the crowd,” Andre supplied. “Zipper over there is the first one who noticed, and sure enough, we started paying attention to him. Zipper was right.”

  I couldn’t help but be confused as I glanced at the man Andre jerked his thumb at. “Your name is Zipper?”

  The man nodded.

  “Why?”

  “Because he knows how to zip his lips,” Andre answered, shaking his head. “Geez. Why do women ask so many questions?”

  “Why do men talk about themselves in the third person and name themselves Zipper?”

  “Ugh, you’re giving me a headache.” Andre rubbed his forehead to prove the statement. “Anyway, that Jess has a way with the ladies. Anytime a young woman walks by he catches her attention and he goes right up and talks to her.”

  That didn’t exactly surprise me. “Is he mostly interested in black women?”

  “He’s interested in everyone, as far as I can tell,” Andre answered. “He seemed an equal-opportunity flirter until I noticed him watching one specific girl. When he saw her, he started following and ignored the girls he’d been talking to only a few minutes earlier.”

  Now we were getting somewhere. “Do you know what woman? Did you recognize her? Was she from your neighborhood?”

  Andre’s eyes flashed. “She wasn’t from our neighborhood, but she was in our neighborhood last night.”

  It took me a moment to realize what he was saying … and Eliot got there first.

  “He was watching Avery.” Eliot’s voice was grim as he clenched his hand into a fist at his side. “Did he follow her to my store?”

  “He did.” Andre bobbed his head. “He stood outside a long time. We got close enough so we could see what he was doing. It was pretty obvious that he was watching you. We all saw the really hot chick fight with the medium hot chick for a few minutes. He kept standing there even after one of the hot chicks disappeared.”

  “I’d better be the really hot chick in that scenario,” I said. “If you’re talking about Fawn, I’ll have to kick you in the nuts.”

  “Of course I was talking about you.” Andre said the words but I could
n’t quite believe them. “You’re much hotter than the chick with huge boobs and really short skirt.”

  “Stop talking,” I ordered. “So Jess was following me, huh?”

  Andre nodded. “Think that means anything?”

  I wasn’t sure how to answer, but ultimately I didn’t have to.

  “It means that I’m going to figure out exactly what he wants and have a little talk with our friend,” Eliot announced, strolling toward the carnival. “Watch my girl, Andre. If she threatens you with a kick in the nuts just know that … well … she very rarely makes empty threats. And she has really good aim for a girl who never played soccer.”

  And with those words he was gone. I had no choice but to follow, even though I knew it was probably a bad idea.

  22

  Twenty-Two

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  It was a lot more fun when Eliot chased me. He’s a big guy. Bringing him down when he has a full head of steam isn’t easy, especially if I can’t utilize my two greatest weapons: nudity and a fake lightsaber to whack his knee.

  “I’m going to have a talk with Jess.” Eliot feigned patience as he calmly removed my fingers from his arm. “You wait here with Andre. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  “I’m not letting you go.” I threw my arms around his waist in an attempt to stop him.

  “You’re cute.” Eliot kissed my forehead as he wrapped his arms around me. “I love you dearly. That’s why I have to do this. Now … let go.”

  That only made me grip him tighter. “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “No!”

  “Yes!”

  “Rip off her shirt and then tell her yes,” Andre suggested from the bench, amusement lighting his attractive features as he leaned forward. “Gives us all a good show.”

  “Don’t make me come over there,” Eliot warned, although he didn’t put much effort into the threat.

  I was starting to get desperate. He only acted cool and aloof like this when he was about to lose his mind. I could read the early warning signs. I came up with a plan on the spot.