The Cain Casey Series

Chapter Fifteen

“Comfortable back there?” Agent Martin Chesterfield asked through the open porthole between the front seat and the back section.

“Just drive, asshole. And shut the fuck up.” Barney Kyle stretched his hands upward but found that the shackles would stretch only an inch past his knees.

“I can see you’re going to charm everyone in court tomorrow, but don’t get too comfortable with the accommodations. Once you plead to the state charges against you, we’ll pick you up for your next court appearance. It’s a good thing you look so good in that federal gray, since you’ll be wearing it for years to come.” Martin laughed as they drove under the interstate. “Just ten more blocks now. How’s it feel to be so popular?”

“Fuck off.”

“Be nice or I’ll tell our brethren over at central lockup to put you in with the general population. You know how those local guys feel about us. Then I’ll ask them to pin a note to your back so everyone knows what you used to do for a living. I bet those guys won’t care that you don’t work for us anymore.”

The driver pulled up to the gate on Broad Street and handed over the necessary papers. After a glance the guard pressed the button and the gate rolled slowly back, powered by a motor that sounded like it was on its last breath.

“Wait here, I’ll be right back,” Martin told the driver, getting out and walking to the back with the key. “Come on, Mr. Kyle.” He unlocked the chain looped through his cuffs and put his hand under his arm to help Kyle down. “We’ll be back for you tomorrow around ten.” Martin let him go as the sheriff’s officers responsible for the jail population walked toward them.

Merrick waited until Kyle was standing between the two groups before she set up her shot. The night-vision scope on the rifle she was using clearly outlined his head in the crosshairs. She took a breath and had started to put pressure on the trigger when he looked up at her as if he knew she was there. The last thing she saw as she squeezed all the way was his brows going up in what appeared to be confusion.

“Cover,” more than one of the police around Kyle screamed as the back of his head sprayed into the rear of the van he’d been transported in.

Merrick took advantage of the chaos to remove the scope and lean the rifle on the half wall surrounding the old Jax Beer brewery. The rear fire escape looked rickety, but she took the steps at an alarming rate, not wanting to get caught anywhere in the vicinity when the cavalry started streaming out of the jail yard. Only Cain knew where she was and why she was there, and she had every intention of keeping it that way.

Once she was on the ground, she headed toward the downtown area at a normal pace, until she got to the convenience store where she’d parked the car she’d picked up for the job. As she drove toward Jarvis’s, she kept under the speed limit, not that the police cars with their lights and sirens blaring would have noticed her.

“Now it’s a matter of waiting,” she said as she turned into the used-car lot. She slid the keys under the front seat and took her scope before walking to her own car parked behind the office. “Because it’s only a matter of time before the feebies come a-knocking.”

*

“So you live in the city?” Emma asked Dallas as the entrées were brought out. “I’m shocked we haven’t run into you, since Cain has a business down there.”

“We’ve probably crossed paths, but I’m not famous enough for you to recognize me.” Dallas nodded her thanks to the waiter and took a sip of wine.

“Hopefully this next film will take care of that,” Remi said. “Then you can tell us if being noticed is more a curse than a blessing.” She picked up her fork and used it to point at Cain. “What’s your opinion?”

“It’s a curse, but I think Dallas will handle the fame a little easier than we do. We’re more apt to end up on the cover of some rag, but the public won’t see it unless they mail lots of packages at the post office. After tonight I’m sure Emma agrees with me that we made a wise investment choice.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by your fame, and the investment choice isn’t registering either,” Dallas said.

Remi smiled at her. “You’ll understand the first part soon enough if we have more than a couple of minutes together, and the second one’s easy. Meet the forty-nine percent owner of the studio.”

“You all are a well-kept secret then, because I haven’t heard of you either,” Dallas told Cain. She was about to say something else but stopped when the smile fell away from Cain’s face as she stared at the front of the restaurant. “Friend of yours?”

Emma reached for Cain’s hand. “She’s more like a termite. Hidden away most of the time and swarms only every so often, but just as destructive.”

“Finish dinner and I’ll be right back.” Cain rubbed Emma’s hand between hers, then stood. She waved off Lou and Muriel as she strode toward an agitated-appearing woman, who stood at the door. “Are you here for the crab cakes?”

“Cut the shit, Cain. You know exactly why I’m here,” Shelby said in a harsh whisper. “I want you to come in for questioning.”

“If it’s about the crab cakes I’ll be happy to, but I’d rather finish dinner first.” People were seated near the door waiting for tables so their chatter was loud enough to cover Cain’s conversation. “But if it’s about something else, then you’re going to have to fill me in since I’m sure you think I did it, and I’m sure I know nothing about it.”

“Cain, your food’s getting cold,” Muriel said as she walked up. “And, Agent Philips, unless you have a warrant handy, then I suggest you scuttle back to your little cocoon outside.”

“So your client knows nothing about…never mind.” She pulled her hair back in apparent frustration. “I’m going to central lockup on Tulane Avenue, and if I find one thing tying you to tonight, pack your toothbrush in the morning, because I’m taking you in, Cain. As for you, this is what you really want?” She looked at Muriel. “If it is, then I don’t know what to think of you anymore. And I’m not sure I’ll spend any time worrying about it. Cain, expect me in the morning.”

“I’ll have coffee and biscuits ready,” she responded, laughing when Shelby came close to saying something else but instead chose to storm out.

“Stop antagonizing the help,” Muriel said.

“I’m just trying to figure out if she’s more pissed at me or at you.”

“Are you going to tell me what she’s so upset about or do I have to guess?”

Cain put her arm around Muriel’s shoulders and started back to the table. “What am I always telling you about time and place, cousin? The time right now is for crab cakes. When we get home I’ll tell you a bedtime story.”

“Everything all right?” Remi asked.

“What were we saying about fame? Or should I say notoriety?” Cain cocked her head in the direction of the door. “Something obviously happened tonight, and for some reason I’m the first person they blame.”

“A Girl Scout like you? Hard to believe,” Remi said as they all laughed.

Cain picked up her fork and took a bite of her crab cakes. She hoped whatever they’d served Kyle that night before shipping him off to hell was something he halfway enjoyed. Because if Father Andrew was right, he’d be up to his neck in pig shit for the whole of eternity, a fantasy that would let her sleep better at night.

*

“You have nothing?” Shelby asked Martin after leaving the French Quarter and arriving at the jail.

“If you want to call the remodel job on the transport van and Kyle’s new hairdo nothing, then I’m sure I can’t talk you out of it. But if you’re talking having someone in custody, then you’re on the money. We have nothing.”

A member of the FBI’s forensic team walked up with a rifle in his hand. “We found this across the street on the roof, ma’am. We started there since it was the only logical spot after we figured the trajectory of the shot.”

“Take it in and find out what tree the stock came from by morning,” Annabel said. She’d left her house in jeans and a sweatshirt after Shelby’s call. “Shit,” she said, after taking a look under the sheet covering Kyle. “I didn’t agree with what he did, but he deserved better than this.”

“I hate to say this,” Shelby said, squatting down next to Annabel, “but for once I have to agree with Anthony. This has Cain written all over it, and we need to find the connection that leads back to her. No one but a handful of people knew we were transporting tonight, and one of them had to have talked. Find that link and we finally find our way to a warrant with the name Casey on it.”

“Make your list then, and keep me in the loop. If Casey is involved she went too far this time. Kyle wasn’t on the right side of the law, but he was our responsibility until the process had run its course. I don’t like being made a fool of.”

“If it’s there, we’ll find it.”