Page 46 of Simon Says… Fight (Kate Morgan Thrillers #11)

K ate and Rodney approached the gym. As they walked in through the front double doors, such an unmistakable smell filled the place, identifying the business here and the purpose of the building. Although it was relatively clean smelling, it was still undeniable.

“It’s quite clean, and it looks good,” Rodney muttered.

“What, are you in the market for a gym?”

He shrugged. “Kinda.”

“This one isn’t exactly close to home though, is it?”

“No, and that would be a problem. I’m trying to spend more downtime, not more traveling time. We do enough of that at work as it is.”

“We sure do,” she agreed, with a smirk.

A man approached and asked if he could help them.

She smiled at him and pulled out her badge.

His eyebrows shot up. “Wow, I hope there’s no problem.”

“I hope so too,” she replied. “And who are you?”

He frowned. “I’m Tambo. This is my gym.”

She studied him intently. He was a well-built hunk of a man, with some hints of boyishness still evident in his face. “But not quite, right? Isn’t it really your sister’s?”

He flushed at that and then nodded. “Technically, yes,” he said, with a stiffness to his tone that indicated he didn’t like that distinction being raised.

“But you’re the face of it,” she said, with a nod. “Is your sister here?”

“Not at the moment, but she should be here soon. Why?” he asked, his tone instantly suspicious.

She raised one eyebrow at him. “Because we want to talk to her, and talk to you too.”

He shrugged. “I don’t have a problem answering questions. I just don’t know what we could possibly be in trouble for.”

“Who said you’re in trouble?” she asked. She sized him up, realizing that he was probably exactly where he should be, in the gym, since he didn’t have the look of somebody capable of running a business. “Do you like the business part of it?” she asked him.

“No,” he stated emphatically, “definitely not my thing. I’m much happier out on the floor.”

“Of course,” she said. “Room for everybody in this world.”

“I was accepted into the university,” he shared. “Yet, when I got there, I knew it wasn’t my thing.”

Such a studied nonchalance filled his tone that she looked at him inquiringly. “That’s okay too,” she replied, “I never went either, but, as I already said, there’s room for all of us out here.”

He flushed and didn’t say anything more, yet he obviously had a chip on his shoulder over something.

“Your uncle,” she began, staring at him, “the one who runs a delivery service…”

“What about him?” he asked.

“Do you ever borrow the vehicle?”

“That old black van of his?” He laughed. “Not if I can help it. It’s a mess.”

“I’m sure it is. Any idea how long he’s had it?”

“No clue. Shouldn’t you be asking him that?”

“Yeah, but it’s a question I forgot to ask him while I was there,” she said cheerfully.

“You’ve already talked to him?”

“Yep, I sure have.”

“So, what are you doing here then?” he asked in frustration.

“I had other questions, and I wanted to confirm this place exists,” she explained, still with a sunny smile.

He looked around, clearly confused. “Of course it does. It’s what my sister and I do.”

“You ever been into boxing?”

“Yeah, all the time. I’m not good at that either.”

She frowned. “That’s interesting,” she noted, eyeing him carefully. “You look as if you could pack quite a punch.”

“Oh, I can.… I’m just not the best at directing it, or controlling its speed,” he admitted, with a wry look. “I really am the most comfortable here, at the gym. It’s where I belong, and it’s the one sport in my world that’s really mine.”

“Right,” she murmured. “I like that.”

“What?” he asked, looking at her as if he didn’t quite understand what she said.

She nodded. “It’s just important to find your place.”

“Yeah,” he muttered, with obvious relief.

She wasn’t sure what was going on, but, when a woman called out, Kate turned to see the sister rushing toward them.

“Hey,” Tamzen said to the two people speaking to her brother, frowning. “I didn’t expect to see you here. You were at my uncle’s earlier.”

“Yeah, I just had a couple questions,” Kate replied easily.

“You don’t need to be asking my brother.” She looked over at Tambo and asked, “Is everything okay?”

He nodded, but obvious relief filled his expression that Tamzen was here. “I’ll go handle shit in the back,” he stated and quickly made his escape.

Kate turned to Tamzen and asked, “Is he okay?”

“He is,” she muttered, looking back to where Tambo had disappeared. “He’s just…” She added reluctantly, “He might have taken a blow or two too many, a couple different times. It seems to be something that’s catching up to him.”

Kate nodded. “We do understand that a lot of football players with head injuries, concussions, can have debilitating effects, particularly over time.”

Tamzen sighed. “It does seem to be something that might be happening with him,” she conceded, looking in the direction where her brother had gone.

“And that would be incredibly painful. It’s bad enough that my father, stepfather ,” she corrected, “is in a home. The last thing I want is to see my brother there too.”

“Obviously,” Kate murmured. “I get it. Family is important.”

“It’s very important,” she declared, looking around the gym. “Sometimes the stress of it gets to you.”

“It’s a good thing you aren’t involved in any fighting or boxing,” Kate suggested, eyeing her carefully, “so you won’t have to worry about the same issues.”

Tamzen shrugged. “I’m not sure I would care if I did. Everybody always talks about it being a man’s world out there, but I’m not sure it really is.”

“What do you mean?” Kate asked.

“I think women should have just as much self-defense practice as men. It’s a crazy world if you’re defenseless.”

“That’s very true,” Kate agreed. “So, are you quite adept at looking after yourself?”

“I am,” she declared, “but that doesn’t mean I can handle myself against multiple men. There’s still that physical factor. I could cause a lot of damage, but that doesn’t mean I would be the ultimate winner.”

“Right,” Kate replied, thinking about that. “I guess that goes for a lot of us.”

“You must have a certain amount of training, don’t you, to be a detective?”

“I do,” Kate said, “but it’s not all that intensive.” Rodney went to open his mouth, so she shot him a hard look, and he stayed silent, as if not understanding but willing to go along with it.

Tamzen pointed at the entrance. “Look. I’ve got to head out and take care of other stuff. If you have something else that you need to ask, please come to me and don’t talk to my brother,” she stated. “As you can see, some of that stuff upsets him, and I don’t want that.”

“Understood,” Kate noted and stepped out of the way.

Tamzen shot her a look and then quickly stepped outside.

Kate turned to Rodney and muttered, “I’m not sure that was very helpful.”

“Not at all,” he stated, shaking his head. “She doesn’t appear to appreciate our interference,” he added, with half a smile. “Which just makes her like everybody else on the block.”

Kate took one more look around, then looked back at him. “Do you want me to drop you off at home?”

“No, I’ll just call a cab from here.”

She rolled her eyes at that. “Probably not the smartest thing to do.”

“Maybe not, but I’m not too worried about it. You’re closer to home here than you would be after taking me home, and I can get there on my own.”

“Yes, but… don’t forget Simon’s warning.”

“Yeah, but I’m not a businessman.” Then he shuddered. “Maybe I’ll just take the bus.”

With a laugh, she walked back to her vehicle, then turned back to him, frowning.

“I’m fine.”

“Yeah, sure you are,” she muttered.

He just waved, and, pulling out his phone, he proceeded to check the bus schedule, she imagined, as he walked out to the street.

Hating this, but not sure what else she was supposed to do, she got into her vehicle, and watched for a few minutes. He seemed to find the bus stop that he wanted pretty quickly, and she knew it was a pretty quick hop over to the other side, as he wasn’t very far off from there either.

Not liking it, but knowing this shouldn’t be an issue, she proceeded to contact Simon. “I’m on my way home,” she said.

“Good enough,” he murmured. “I’ve been working from home for a while.”

“I should be there in,… I don’t know, maybe twenty.” Even at that she wasn’t sure she would take that long. As she turned on the engine and proceeded to drive toward Simon’s, a nudge came in the back of her mind.

Go back and get Rodney.

Swearing, she quickly turned around and headed back over to where she had just seen him.

But there was no sign of him. Either the bus had just come or it was something else entirely.

She had no idea what was bugging her. She pulled off to the side, picked up her phone, and called him.

When she got no answer, she swore and contacted Lilliana.

Reese was right there as well, so she asked to be put on Speaker.

“Look. I don’t have any reason for this,” Kate began, “but we need to find Rodney. I just feel as if he’s in trouble.”

“Where did you last see him?”

“Minutes ago. I left him just across from the bus stop, but, as I tried to drive away, I just couldn’t,” she explained, “and I have no idea why I feel like this, but something is wrong.”

Lilliana said, “Easy, easy now. When you say something is wrong, what do you mean?”

“He’s not answering his phone, and it feels as if something is wrong.”

Just then a call came through, and it was Rodney. “Oh God,” she muttered. “I’m an idiot, just ignore me. He’s calling me back right now.” She quickly ended her call and answered his. “You had me terrified there for a minute,” she cried out. “I thought something had happened to you.”

An odd silence came on the other end, and then he whispered, “Yeah, it did.”

Kate heard a laugh, then a woman’s voice barreled through. “If you want to see him alive again, you’ll have to come and do a match-up.”

Kate frowned at the voice and asked, “Tamzen, is that you?”