Page 41 of Simon Says… Fight (Kate Morgan Thrillers #11)

“Well, shit,” she muttered. “And now the only thing I can do is tell him what you saw.”

“And tell him to be very careful.”

“Yeah, and I’ll be honest,” she added, not sure if she should tell him. “He’s the one who thought that you might become the next victim.”

Simon went silent for a moment. “Why?”

“You are a businessman.”

“Yes,” he replied, “but I’m not exactly at the same fitness level as your victims.”

“Right, and I mentioned that to him, but Rodney’s point was that maybe our killer decides he has beaten up enough losers and is ready for somebody who can really give him a challenge.”

“Well, shit,” Simon muttered. “That’s a lovely thought, isn’t it?”

“No, it really isn’t,” she argued, “but I understand what he’s saying.”

“ Great , so, in that case, both of us need to be careful.”

“Yeah, but wouldn’t it be nice if he came after me?” she suggested, her tone hard.

Simon swore at that. “No, that would really not be nice at all,” he snapped. “Believe me that I’m just damn happy it wasn’t you in that vision.”

She snorted. “It needs to be one of us, and damn soon,” she declared, “because I’m getting tired of this asshole.” And, with that, she ended the call.

He lay back down, thinking about what she’d said about him being a businessman, wondering how this guy found his victims. He knew Kate was struggling with that as well. Was it just random? Was it pickups waiting for a cab? Or was it somebody heading to the airport?

He rarely took a cab, but, every once in a while, he did. And maybe that’s what this was. Maybe it was literally a case of somebody who just needed to find a random businessman who the killer thought would be an easy target. And that just really pissed off Simon.

Unable to go back to sleep now, he headed outside for some fresh air.

Then he decided to walk down to the Running Mate .

At least she should bring him a bit of solace.

After spending a wonderful hour on the Running Mate , he decided it was definitely time to get something done.

As he stepped out, wondering where he should go first, a cab pulled up to the wharf.

It didn’t appear to be looking for him, but something was off about it.

He watched it for a long moment. It wandered around, as if looking for customers, which wasn’t all that unusual, except a big cab company probably wouldn’t have a cab running around on their own.

But lots of these guys had their own schedules and didn’t necessarily work through a dispatcher.

As he continued to watch the cab, it went down the dock and then came back up again.

With no one asking for a cab ride, the driver took off.

It just made Simon wonder if that’s how Sonny Hilton had gotten picked up.

Would it have been some cabbie literally working that area?

Or would the killer have gone to them at random?

But random wouldn’t guarantee a fare, that’s the thing.

If the cab driver was looking specifically for somebody—an out-of-shape businessman—would that have been the best option?

And, if not, where could he guarantee a ride for a businessman?

Downtown would definitely have the businessmen, but Simon wasn’t sure that would give this cab driver what he wanted out of this.

Still pondering, he caught the aquabus across and headed over to his first jobsite. As he walked inside, his foreman Joe looked at him and sighed.

“Hey, rough day for you, huh ?”

“Yeah, you’re not kidding,” Simon replied. “How’s everything going here?”

It took him three hours to sort through some of the issues that had popped up, but it was a good thing he had stopped in. By the time they had finished, he decided he would take a quick trip across town and check in on the other project. As he got there, his other foreman looked at him intently.

“Kind of late for you today.”

“Maybe, I spent some time at the other site.”

“As long as it’s not my job, it’s all good.”

“And is it all good at your jobsite too?”

He shrugged. “We had a couple issues this morning,” he noted, “but I think we’re back on track now.”

As they went over the details, Simon nodded.

“Have we gotten an architect in on any of these jobs yet?” the foreman asked.

Simon snorted. “No, I have yet to book one.”

“This job is coming along pretty decently,” he shared. “So, you’ll need something in the works for… probably April to June, somewhere in there.”

“Which means, I need to get my ass in gear.”

He nodded. “Yeah,… that’s what I’m trying to say.” His foreman smiled. “Just a friendly reminder is all.”

“Ah, got it,” Simon said, with an eye roll.

After that he picked up another cup of coffee, then wandered over to the warehouse building, wondering just what he did want to do with it. Now that he knew one of the four skeletons in the boarded-up basement belonged to Jay, and thus had been found, Simon was free and clear to walk on by.

As he did, he saw the dark van that Kate was looking for. He took a photo of it and sent it to Kate.

She called him. “We talked to him this morning,” she said.

“Him?” he asked. “A woman is driving it now.”

“What?” she asked, startled, then froze. “No, no.”

“Why not though?” he asked. “Why couldn’t a woman have done this?”

“Because of moving the bodies,” she pointed out. “That’s a whole lot of physical strength.”

“But you could.”

“I could,” she said in confusion, “but these men would overpower her.”

“Not if she’s any good at boxing or any kind of a fighter. It would also explain why she isn’t picking on people who she couldn’t necessarily beat.”

“You have certainly given me something to think about,” she muttered, followed by a hard groan. “Let me think about it. In the meantime, don’t approach the van, please.”

“No, I won’t.” But he was already walking toward it.

She called out, “Damn it, Simon.”

Frowning, he looked around. “How the hell can you see me?”

“I can’t see you, but I know you.”

He laughed. “She’s parked up ahead, standing outside the van, right in front of me. She’s getting a delivery or two out of the back of the van.”

“Can you tell me what she looks like?”

“She’s about five six, solid muscle from the looks of her. Fit, and she’s wearing yoga pants and running shoes. She’s got a T-shirt on, and she’s moving at a pretty good pace.”

“Interesting,” Kate muttered. “Now that is somebody I want to talk to. Also, can you grab me the license plate off that van?”

“Oh, you’re thinking it’s a completely different van?”

“I don’t know,” she said in exasperation, “but, while it’s there, you might as well get confirmation of that.”

He walked around and snapped a photo of the license plate and sent it to Kate.

Almost immediately, the woman in question came around and glared at him. “What are you doing?” she cried out. “Get away from my vehicle.”

“Sorry,” Simon said, holding up his hand. “I just was interested.”

“In what?” she asked suspiciously, as she came around and faced him. “Nothing to be interested in here. It’s just a delivery van.”

“Do you work this route all the time?”

“Not all the time, but some of the time. It depends on my uncle.”

“Your uncle?”

“Yeah, it’s his vehicle. He got up this morning and had an emergency.

It happens once in a blue moon, but today is it,” she explained, glaring at him.

“So, whatever. I’m here to help him out, and I’m already way slower than he is, so out of my way, please.

” And, with that, she hopped into the van and took off.

He called Kate back, “She says that she’s covering for her uncle, who had something come up today.”

“Bingo,” Kate declared. “Damn, I was hoping it wasn’t him.”

“Doesn’t mean it is him,” Simon pointed out. “She could literally just be filling in for him.”

“Yeah, but why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did you—” Then she stopped, and Simon heard Rodney in the background. “Oh, now I know why,” she shared with Simon. “His brother took an ugly turn last night.”

“There you go. That would explain why he’s not on the job today.”

“Yeah, it would. I’ll go to the home and contact him.”

“Oh, he’ll love that.”

“No, he probably won’t, but I don’t think he’s guilty in the first place. I’ll hound him because he’s connected to some of this, somehow. I just haven’t figured it out yet.”

“The psychic in me would tell you to sit down and to let it all roll through your head.”

“Yeah, sure,” she muttered. “And the Simon I know would tell me to just work away at it until I got the answers I so desperately need.”

“Maybe,” he conceded, “although I’m trying to work smarter these days.”

She laughed. “Let me know how that works out for you.” She then ended the call.

He really was trying to work smarter these days, and, with so many projects on the go, and more projects to come, he knew that he had to.

The dark van had taken the corner up in front of him.

He walked that way and took that corner too.

Sure enough, she was there delivering something else, and then hopped in the van and took off down a few blocks, then hopped out again.

She appeared to be doing exactly what she said she was, which would fit in with what Kate had mentioned, so she was golden.

He just didn’t know if anything was weird about all this or if they were once again barking up the wrong tree.

And so much of the work of a detective was going after one thread, then another and another, until they’ve barked up all the wrong trees, and only one thread was left.

As he thought about it, he realized that, from Kate’s perspective, this was about the only thread they had left.

Unable to stop himself, he kept walking behind the woman in the van for the next hour, watching as she climbed out, delivered parcels, climbed in again, and carried on. Sometimes she brought out more parcels and scanned them before she drove on. As a matter of fact, she seemed very competent.