Page 44 of Simon Says… Fight (Kate Morgan Thrillers #11)

He shook his head. “You were asking me question after question. I told you about my brother. I was getting to my niece and nephew. Besides, you would have found out he had children if you checked into Oliver’s background.

And my niece helps me out in emergencies.

It’s not that she’s my partner or my employee.

She’s family. She helps out when needed. ”

Kate typed into her phone some notes of Oliver’s explanations.

Then she looked up at him and added, “Now I’m telling you once again, you can take the parcels.

We’ll have to look at them first, of course, but you can rent a vehicle right now and go on about your day as usual. Be prepared for the same tomorrow.”

He swore. “I need my van, not some rental, so my customers know it is me. My van is with my niece, Tamzen. She hasn’t brought it back yet.”

Kate nodded. “I know that. We saw her downtown.”

“You haven’t talked to her, have you?” he asked, staring at her in horror. “She really wouldn’t understand.”

“There’s nothing to understand,” Kate told him. “All we’re doing is checking your van. We’re doing our job.”

“ Right ,” he muttered, hanging his head. “She’s a good girl, a hard worker. So is her brother. Damn it, we don’t need this shit.” Still grumbling, he got on his phone and had a vehicle rented within a few minutes.

Kate added, “Now, when she comes back with the van, I want you to remove only the parcels and what you need to run your business, and I’ll need the keys to the van.”

“I still don’t know what you’re looking for,” he muttered.

“And I won’t tell you, as it’s part of my ongoing investigation,” she declared. “I’m really hoping we don’t find anything.”

He stared at her for a long moment. “You really mean that, don’t you?”

“Yes,… I do,” she stated, “because, if I do find something, it’ll be hell for you, even though it would also be good for my case.”

Confused, he turned at the sound of a vehicle, and, sure enough, his niece drove up.

She hopped out, “All done, Uncle,” she announced, “and I’m heading off to the gym now.” She waved at him and at Kate and Rodney—not understanding who they were—then took off on foot down the street.

“And she’s going to the gym, why?” Kate asked Oscar.

“She’s the owner. My nephew often steps in and works there with her, but she’s the owner.” He spoke with a touch of pride in his voice.

“Good for her,” Kate noted. “I’m sure that can’t be easy in a man’s world.”

“Christ, no.” Oscar snorted. “They made her life hell for quite a while, until her brother basically became the face of the gym. So, she runs the business side, works out, keeps a few female clients,” he explained, with a shrug.

“I keep hoping that will change, for her sake, you know? Yet not so far. For whatever reason, that business is very male-oriented.”

Kate nodded. “I’m sorry for her sake that she can’t be open and honest about her involvement.”

“Yeah, me too,” he agreed, “but the world sucks, and you can’t do anything about it sometimes.” He opened up the back of the van, quickly brought out the few parcels inside, scanned them in, and pointed. “Okay, it’s all yours.”

Kate faced Oscar. “You look like you lost your best friend.”

Oscar shook his head. “Every time I finally get a leg up in life, it seems something kicks me back down, and it’s never the same anymore.” With his hands on his hips, he added, “I didn’t do anything. I really need you to believe me.”

“I do believe you,” she replied, looking at him with a smile. “But that doesn’t mean somebody else didn’t do something wrong, while using your vehicle.”

He froze and stared at her. “God, I hope not. It’s the only asset I own free and clear. The bank owns the house, and every month I have to contribute to my brother’s care. There’s nobody else to help.”

“What about his kids?”

“They do help,” he added, “at least Tamzen does, as much as she can.”

“It’s her father, right?”

“Stepfather actually.”

Kate got curious and asked for more details.

“The kids’ biological father died when they were young.

The kids’ mother remarried, so Oliver is the only father those kids remember,” Oscar offered, with a smile.

“Then even he was technically taken from them about ten years ago, when he suffered a traumatic brain injury. Yet we’ve always been close, and she does help some, but it’s not her problem anymore.

The trouble is, it’s never anybody’s problem,” Oscar muttered in frustration.

“It’s just me and Oliver, since our parents are long gone.

Oliver has been… He was always full of life until… .”

“And Tamzen’s mother?”

“Ah, well,… that woman could spend money like no tomorrow. She flat-out told me that she hasn’t got any to spare for Oliver’s care, and I believe her because she probably spent it on her twenty-seventh latest designer purse,” he noted in disgust. “Paying the bills or helping somebody else is just not her style.”

“Even though it’s her husband?”

“Oliver was her husband,” he clarified, as he shook his head.

“They were going through a divorce at the time, right before his brain injury. She got the house out of the divorce because he had just beaten the crap out of her,” Oscar admitted, with a groan.

“So, he essentially had no assets when he went into the home, which is why he gets government assistance. If it wasn’t for that, he would have to live somewhere else.

At least with him there, I can visit him on a regular basis. ”

“You’ll probably hear that we did stop in there earlier.”

He looked at her in surprise. “How was he?”

“Honestly, he didn’t appear to be noticing much around him.”

Oscar gave a sad sigh. “That’s pretty much the way he’s been for years.”

“Do you know who he was fighting at the time?”

“Rod Sullivan,” he stated. “Now that’s somebody I could really get behind giving a good beating,” he muttered, with a hard laugh.

“Yet it’s just not my thing, and I don’t even think he’s alive anymore.

I heard some jealous husband shot him. That’s just who he was.

I know it’s not nice to say anything bad about the dead, but that man was hell on wheels when he got into the ring.

He was generally a good sport—until he got in the ring.

Then he didn’t have any mercy for anybody. ”

“You knew him?” Kate asked. “Personally?”

Oscar shrugged. “I remember him beating up some guy at one point in time, just a kid, telling him to stop bawling and to smarten up. The kid died,” he stated. “That was pretty sad.”

“Did you see it?”

“No, I didn’t, but I sure heard about it,” he declared, as he shook his head.

“He bragged about it, how some punk kid tried to rob him, so he taught him a lesson. Knowing Rod, he probably stepped into the middle of something or just started the fight. He loved to pick a fight. If he could deliver a killing blow?… Believe me that he would do just that. He called it self-defense, even though he would have taunted the guy to fight him.”

Once the tow truck arrived and took away the vehicle, Oscar watched, tears in his eyes. He looked back at her. “I don’t know what you think you’re after,” he muttered, “but I really hope you’re wrong.” And, with that, he turned and stormed inside his house.

She looked over at Rodney. “I don’t think he’s having a good day.”

“No, I don’t think so either,” he agreed, “and I sure hope you’re right.”

“Me too,” she muttered. “You know that somebody will be on my case if I’m not.”

“You mean, outside of the expense for forensics to scour his van?”

“Yeah, that too, thanks for reminding me.” Then she announced, “I’m heading to the gym.”

“And I’m coming with you,” Rodney replied, jumping to his feet. “You’re not leaving me anywhere now.”

She laughed. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, I’m not kidding,” he stated, looking around the block. “Simon’s shit always comes true, and you know that.” She stared at him, and he shrugged. “You know he’s right. He’s just way too accurate, and I’m not taking any chances.”

“Sometimes it seems you think he’s not accurate enough.”

“Maybe,” he muttered. “However, the only time I ever want to be in a ring and fighting, I want to be in a whole different fitness category than I am right now. Believe me that I was already thinking about this case and what that’ll mean to somebody like me.”

“Let’s just hope that our killer is stuck on businessmen only because that you are not.”

“Oh, that’s right,” he said, brightening up. “Thanks. I’m still coming with you.”

She laughed. “Come on, slugger. Let’s get to it.”

*

Simon didn’t want to wait for Kate but knew that she would be busy doing her thing. Yet his mind was a little too distracted to do very much on his own. Still he had shit to do. As he walked away, trying to get some of the stuff off his plate, Bartlett’s lawyer contacted him.

“Hey,” he greeted Simon. “I just wanted you to know that we’re pretty well into the homestretch of this trial.”

“I hope so,” Simon muttered, “but, then again, you’re pretty fast.”

“The court case is making it a little easier to get some cooperation.”

“Yeah, I would think so,” Simon replied, “not to mention that I imagine she’s screaming for her money.”

Baxter’s wife was the one Simon had to watch out for. She was out for his blood—literally shooting at him, hence the trial—all because he had backed Bartlett rather than her. Thus Simon ended up with control of Bartlett’s estate and his company, after Bartlett had died.

“Money we’re trying hard not to give her since she’s the one responsible for her husband’s death. She sure as hell shouldn’t benefit from murder.”

“Exactly.”

“There’re also the other kids.”

“Of course,” Simon muttered, “but you don’t need me for any of that, do you?”

“No, I just wanted to say thank you for helping us get this far.”

“Good enough. I’m just damn sorry Bartlett ended up being killed over this.”