Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #1: Books 1-4 (A Dead Cold Box Set), Blake Banner [classic children's novels txt] 📗

only reason she went to see Steve was to have him fence the goods. He was the only connection she had with the criminal underworld. She went to him to help her find a buyer. It was a stupid thing to do.”

Dos Santos was sweating. “An interesting theory. Now, can we please get on…”

I sighed. “I guess you were having her tailed, right? It’s the obvious thing to do. And when she took off to the Big Apple, you came after her. You hired Danny to get a couple of heavies together and go and pay her and Steve a visit. Danny picked the Sanchez brothers, and they dropped in on Steve while Tammy was there. This is pure deduction, but I’m pretty sure it’s as near as dammit to what happened.” I watched Emma’s face as I spoke. “They’re laying into Steve, asking him where the box is. Tammy is begging them to leave him alone, but she can see that even the promise of all that cash is not enough to keep his mouth shut. He is going to spill. Especially when they start talking about mutilation and killing. So she makes a play. She pretends she is going for the box, but what she pulls out of the drawer is a .38 revolver that she has persuaded her husband to bring to her from San Francisco.”

Emma was staring at her hands. She didn’t say anything. Dos Santos looked like a man trying to crush a wasp between his buttocks. He suddenly erupted. “Yes! You are correct in every particular as far as I am concerned. You are a clever man. Unfortunately, Tammy is not here to confirm her part. Now! At last! Are we done?”

“Almost. Tammy knows that Steve is no longer any damn use to her, plus there is the risk that he is going to talk. So she blows him away. She knows that Danny and the Sanchez boys are going to be in shock for a couple of seconds. Nobody expected cute little Tammy to pull a gun, much less be able to use it. So she blows a hole in Ernesto, too. Danny panics and runs. Now she has a choice: kill Alfonso or go after Danny. She goes after Danny because he is going to report back to you, dos Santos. Trouble is, she loses him in the night, and meantime, Alfonso helps Ernesto to get away, leaving the crime scene that would later go cold. Ernesto died and wound up in the river. Which left Danny. And here is where it gets a bit weird.”

Her voice was wooden. “Weird how?”

“Weird because Danny got murdered just a few months later, by a very elegant, beautiful woman with short black hair and green eyes and a deep Southern drawl. She picked him up in a bar and left with him and then shot him.”

Geronimo was frowning.

Emma shrugged. “He was mugged by a hooker.”

“No, that won’t wash. I told you that Tammy made a few mistakes, and this was one of them. I guess she was desperate. But she made the mistake of shooting him with the same gun she used to kill Steve.”

She looked at me like I was crazy. “You just said she was a sophisticated woman with a Southern drawl, black hair, and green eyes. I can’t imagine a woman less like Tamara. Really, John, this has gone on too long. For goodness’ sake, let’s end it! Keep the bloody money! I don’t want it! Just let me get back to Tammy and start over!”

“Relax. That is exactly what I intend to do.”

And then there was a ring at the door.

Twenty-Seven

Dos Santos stood. He was trembling. “What now?”

Emma looked really scared. I picked up the box again. “Come on, have you lost all your faith in human greed? It’s nothing.”

I stood, crossed the room, and stood with my hand on the door handle. “You see, I kept turning it over, again and again, and whichever way I looked at it, it just didn’t make sense.” I opened the door and smiled. “Hi, just hold on one second, would you?” I walked back a couple of steps so that I could look at dos Santos and Emma where they were sitting, watching me anxiously. “And then one evening, it hit me. It was obvious. I did my research on Google, and there it was.” I turned back to the door and said, “Come on in. Join the party.”

Dos Santos jumped to his feet. Emma went white. Hugh Duffy saw dos Santos first and smiled at him amiably. “Why, hello! I didn’t expect to see you here. It’s been a long time…” He advanced toward him with his hand held out, and as he did so, he caught sight of Emma. He started saying, “Oh, forgive me…” then stopped and did a kind of double take. Her expression was one of absolute horror. He faltered, stared at me, and then back at Emma. “Tammy?”

She shook her head furiously. “No!”

Dos Santos’ jaw dropped. “What?”

I picked up a glass and poured a generous measure of whiskey into it. I handed it to Duffy. “Sit down, Mr. Duffy, and have a drink. You are going to need one.”

He stared at me and then at the glass, like he didn’t understand what either of us were doing in his life. Then he sat. I put the glass in front of him. He ignored it and shook his head at Emma.

“Your hair… you look so different. What happened? Why… I don’t understand.”

I sat again and put the box on the table in front of me. “It is a rare gift that some actors have. Boris Karloff had it; Meryl Streep was another. It’s a kind of chameleon effect, where they take on a role to such an extent that they actually become a