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“You gotta help me, man!”Slice sounded frantic and out of breath.“I found my laptop and the picture like you wanted. I even called your station and reported it, but now he’s here. The guy from the picture, and he’s trying to—”A crash sounded, and then heavy thumping, and then the message ended.
He was in trouble. Liam shot up from the chair. “We have to go.”
Moments later, they were in the car, speeding toward Zippy Lube. Liam handed Cora his phone as he wove through traffic at breakneck speeds. She replayed the message several times on speaker.
“Why would Brady’s killer go after Slice?” Cora asked.
“He must have found out there was a picture linking him to the murder.”
“But how could he know that? Slice only just found the picture today,” Cora said as the Zippy Lube sign appeared at the end of the street. Liam gunned the engine and they shot toward the parking lot, coming to a screeching halt just outside the Zippy Lube carports.
“Oh, my God,” Cora breathed. Slice lay crumpled on the garage floor, with a tall, gangly figure crouched over him. “Is that...?”
“Happy,” Liam said grimly, jumping out of the car and running toward them.
Happy Blankenship jerked his head in their direction. He was crouched over Slice with both hands on the young man’s shirt. Happy’s hands and sleeves were stained with blood, along with the cell phone on the asphalt beside him. With snapping eyes and messed-up dark hair, Happy looked furious and even a little unhinged, which came as a shock to Liam. The sour-faced man was never a barrel of laughs to be around, but he’d always been calm and in control. Now he looked like he was ready to commit murder.
Liam bolted toward him, clamping a fist on the back of his shirt collar.
“Officer Blankenship,” Cora said, pulling her gun and aiming it at Happy. “Back away from him right now.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Happy snapped. He jerked against Liam’s hold, glowering at them with impatience as he pressed down on Slice’s stomach with both hands. “He’s beenstabbed. I just called it in, and I’m trying to save him.” He jerked his chin to the workstation against the wall. “One of you grab a clean rag and help me.”
Liam uncurled his fist from Happy’s shirt. He had no idea what the hell was going on, but it was clear they had a more pressing problem. Slice Biddlesworth lay pale and shivering on the ground, his wispy, wheat-colored hair plastered to his round, boyish cheeks.
“Easy, now.” Liam placed a hand gently on Slice’s arm as Cora brought a small stack of clean rags from the workbench. “What happened here, man?”
“Captain Thompson happened,” Happy spit through pinched lips as he used a folded rag to stanch the wound. “He did this.”
“What?” Cora stared at him in shock. “What do you mean?” Liam watched the color leach from her face. He should’ve been shocked, too, but somehow he wasn’t. Had he known on some subconscious level that Boyd was capable of this?
“The captain was the man in the picture.” Slice’s chest hitched as he fought for breath. “It was him. I didn’t know when I found the pictures because they were blurry.” He struggled to speak, growing visibly weaker. Liam bent closer in order to hear. “I called and told him I found my laptop with the pictures. I didn’t realize it was him all along...” Slice’s voice grew reed-thin, and he trailed off with a grimace.
“Save your breath,” Happy commanded. “You’ve done well, and now you need to stay strong. The ambulance is on its way. I’ll tell them the rest.” When he glanced back to Liam and Cora, his expression was even more dire than usual. “Captain Thompson called him a few days ago, saying if he found the laptop or pictures, he was to contact him directly. Slice didn’t realize the captain was the murderer in the window because the pictures were too blurry to tell.”
“The lab can enhance those images,” Cora said. “It’s not always reliable and it would depend on the original files, but sometimes it works.”
“That’s why Thompson must’ve panicked when he got the call. He came out here to get rid of Slice and the evidence, just like he did with Lindsey Albright, but I showed up before he could finish the job. When he saw me, he jumped in his car and drove off. I couldn’t leave Slice to bleed out, so here we are.”
Liam ground his teeth together. Damn Boyd and his unending greed. He’d always known he took the law into his own hands back when they were friends, but he’d never resorted to outright murder. At least, not as far as Liam knew. But how well did he really know Boyd, then or now? Not well, clearly. Liam couldn’t help feeling like this was somehow his fault. Boyd had always had a dark side, and he should have been paying closer attention.
Slice flailed a hand toward Liam, trying to grab his sleeve.
Liam laid his palm on his arm to calm him down. “Shh, you must rest.”
“He knows.” The young man trembled with exertion but managed to grip the edge of Liam’s shirt. His words became slurred, and Liam had to lean down to hear him. “G-go to church.”
Liam stared into his pain-filled eyes. He wasn’t making any sense. Maybe he thought he was dying, and he wanted a priest. “All right, man,” Liam said soothingly. “All right. But you’re going to be fine. Just rest now. We’ll take care of it.”
Slice closed his eyes and stopped struggling, clearly worn out from the effort it took to speak.
“I can’t believe Captain Thompson did this,” Cora said, looking stricken. She’d been sitting on her heels, and now she’d slumped to sit directly on the ground beside Slice’s shoulder. “How did you know it was him, Happy?”
“I’ve been watching Thompson for months,” Happy said flatly. “One night back in May I overheard him in his office, talking to someone about a deal. It was unusually quiet because everyone had left for the bar, and the evening shift was hanging out in the kitchen. I think he thought he was alone in the pit because his door was cracked open. I heard him say ‘take the money’ and ‘stay quiet.’ It sounded suspect, so I started watching him. I followed him whenever I could, and I even trailed him on the weekends. I didn’t tell anyone because I had nothing concrete yet. It was his wife who finally gave him away.”
“Alice?” Liam asked in surprise. It didn’t sound like something she’d willingly do. Alice was even greedier than Boyd. If Boyd was taking bribes or making extra money on the side, it wasn’t likely that she’d complain about it, no matter how dirty the money was.
Happy nodded. “Alice never said a word, but I saw all the evidence I needed with my own eyes. When she came to visit, and they had that fight the other day at the station, she was wearing a sapphire necklace. I thought it was odd because it seemed over the top for just a daytime outfit, even for Alice. The night of John Brady’s murder, his safe was left open, and he’d been robbed. I remembered reading through the report and seeing the insurance claims. That sapphire necklace was one of the stolen items.”
