Caliber Detective Agency Box Set 2 Read online

  CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY – BOX SET 2

  BY

  REMINGTON KANE

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY - BOX SET 2

  First edition. August 26, 2016.

  Copyright © 2016 Remington Kane.

  Written by Remington Kane.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Caliber Detective Agency - Box Set 2

  CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY – MISSING | BY | REMINGTON KANE

  PRELUDE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  EPILOGUE

  CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY - DECEPTION | By | REMINGTON KANE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY - CRUCIBLE | By | REMINGTON KANE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  ALSO BY REMINGTON KANE

  Further Reading: Blue Steele - Box Set 1

  About the Author

  Join my Mailing List and Learn about New Releases. Also, get access to FREE Books and Short Stories, including The TAKEN! ALPHABET SERIES, QUICK – A TANNER Short Story, and A LITTLE OFF THE TOP – A TANNER Short Story. REMINGTON KANE http://www.remingtonkane.com/contact.html

  CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY – MISSING

  BY

  REMINGTON KANE

  PRELUDE

  The old man came out of the office and greeted everyone, then, he asked a question.

  “Have you seen your mother this morning? They’re looking for her downstairs.”

  “No,” Chris said. “Velma and I stopped by her office, but she wasn’t in yet. I figured she must have an appointment. She’s never this late.”

  “Jake and I thought the same thing,” Kelli said.

  “They say they’ve left messages on her phone, but that she hasn’t called back.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t worry, Granddad,” Chris said. “Maybe the battery on her phone went dead.”

  The old man nodded, but he didn’t look reassured.

  When hours passed and there was still no sign of Gail, the old man began pacing about his office. Jake, Chris, and Velma, were all out on a Red Case together and weren’t expected back until later.

  After calling Gail’s phone once more and getting no answer, the old man grabbed his trench coat and fedora and headed for the elevator.

  “I’m going out to run an errand, Kelli. Call me right away if Gail shows.”

  “Yes sir, and I’m worried about her too. This isn’t like her at all.”

  He sent her a smile.

  “It’s probably nothing,”

  He hailed a cab in front of the building and headed to her home in Forrest Hills, Queens. The Tudor home had five bedrooms and three baths. She had inherited it from an aunt who recently passed away. The house sat between two that looked much like it, with their deep driveways and detached garages.

  Jake walked up the stone steps that led to the front door, and as he did so, his eyes searched the windows for movement, or damage. He saw neither, and once he reached the wide front door, he rang the bell.

  No answer, even after four attempts.

  The old man drifted around to the back of the home and that’s when he spotted the blood trail. It began at the top of the cobblestone driveway and threaded towards the home’s back door, which sat open.

  With his gun in hand, Jake slowly climbed the wooden steps at the rear of the home, while being careful not to tread in the blood. A sickening realization struck him as the coppery smell of blood became so strong that he could fairly taste it.

  Someone had died at this house and they had done so very recently.

  With his gun leading the way, Jake stepped through the back door and into the home’s large kitchen, then staggered back a step at the sight that greeted him.

  There was so much blood splattered about that whoever it came from could not be alive.

  Jake Caliber was a man who had been around bloodshed and killing for most of his long life, but to see this horror show of gore in the home of someone he loved put fear in his heart. He pushed it aside, stepped carefully around the blood and proceeded to search the rest of the home.

  When he found nothing else amiss, he left the way he entered and checked out the garage and the toolshed, near the dormant garden at the back of the property. He found all of it to be normal.

  With a trembling hand, he took out his phone.

  “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”

  “It’s my daughter... she’s missing.”

  CHAPTER 1

  HOURS EARLIER

  Gail Caliber wiped at the sweat beading her forehead and kept running, as a smile crossed her lips.

  She was jogging along a trail in Forest Park and it was one of those mornings when everything came together on a run. Gail felt more like she was floating than pounding along on two feet.

  Gail had been a devoted runner years earlier, but had given it up when her husband died and she subsequently moved to L.A.

  She’d taken it up again after moving back to New York last year, as middle-age spread began creeping up on her. Now knew that she would keep the habit the rest of her life.

  Feeling invigorated by her high spirits, she veered onto one of the dirt trails she’d never been down before and ran along it as the sounds of Motown filled her ears through headphones. When she spotted a deer, she left the trail and ran along behind the animal playfully as she darted among the trees

  After cresting a hill, she came upon a group of four men wearing street clothes. One of the men, a gruff-looking type with long dark hair framing a craggy face, was handing one of the other men a white envelope.

  Gail locked eyes with the man receiving the envelope as she ran past him and felt an unaccustomed blush color her cheeks, as she found the tall man to be handsome.

  Gail called out, “Good morning!” in a breathless voice and disappeared from sight as she ran down a slope that would place her on the trail again.

  Had she turned around to look back before doing so, she would have seen the guns come out.

  ***

  Dawkins slammed a hand against Jim Tate’s chest and pushed him back
against a tree, even as he brought out his gun with his other hand.

  “What the hell was that, Tate? Is this some sort of sting?”

  Tate pushed Dawkins away, as he took note that Dawkins’ men also had their guns aimed at him.

  “That was a woman out for an early morning jog, don’t be so paranoid.”

  “Yeah, I guess, but she also saw us together, that’s not good.”

  “It’s meaningless, and by now she’s probably forgotten all about us.”

  Dawkins relaxed and put away his gun. He was a man of average height and build who had spent his life as a successful criminal. He had only served time once, and that occurred while he was still in his teens.

  “I guess you’re right, but now listen, by taking that envelope there’s no turning back. You do your part Saturday night and you’ll get the rest. Got it?”

  Tate nodded.

  “I got it, Dawkins, and we both know that I need this to work out more than you do.”

  Dawkins smiled.

  “Everybody wins, now you head off that way and we’ll go this way, just to be safe.”

  Tate gave Dawkins and his men one final look and then headed off in the direction that Gail had come from. When he’d gotten out of earshot, Dawkins gripped one of his men by the arm.

  “Javier, that bitch that saw us with Tate, track her down, kill her, and make it look like a robbery or something.”

  Javier’s eyes went wide with surprise. He was a handsome man in his twenties with dark wavy hair.

  “You really think that’s necessary?”

  Dawkins shrugged.

  “If she’s dead she can’t pick us out of a line-up.”

  Javier sighed.

  “Yeah.”

  Dawkins pointed at the trail.

  “You’d better hurry if you’re going to catch her.”

  Javier took off at a sprint as he ran after Gail.

  The remaining man with Dawkins was a man named Gannon. Gannon, like Dawkins and Tate, was in his fifties.

  “Maybe you should have sent me to take care of that bitch. The kid ain’t really the killer type, is he?”

  “He did time for shooting a security guard and word is he wasted a guy in prison, besides, I doubt you could catch up to her.”

  Gannon laughed.

  “Yeah, I guess neither of us is as young as we used to be, but what about Tate, you think he’ll work out?”

  “He’ll behave; he needs the money so his daughter can get an operation. If he screws us, his kid is screwed too.”

  “Good, then I guess we’ve got nothing to worry about once Javier takes care of that woman.”

  “The jogger? She’s as good as dead.”

  ***

  Gail pressed her hands flat against the side of her car as she leaned over and stretched her calves after running.

  Standing amid a group of nearby trees, Dawkins’ man, Javier, watched her as he gripped the gun on his hip.

  He had caught up to her, but there were too many people around the parking lot to kill her there.

  Javier rushed over to his own car and waited for Gail to leave. He would follow her home and either kill her there or somewhere else.

  He had killed before, while in prison, to protect himself, and he would kill this woman even though he thought she was no threat. Still, he believed that Dawkins knew what he was doing, and when Saturday came and the job was done he would be a rich man. If Dawkins thought that this woman threatened that, then so be it, she would die.

  As Gail drove out of the park and towards her home, Javier followed along behind, intent on causing her death.

  ***

  Gail arrived home and set-up the coffeemaker before heading up the stairs to shower and change for work. When she reached her bedroom, she laid her keys and phone atop the dresser before realizing that she had forgotten to actually start the coffeepot to brewing.

  With a huff, she descended the stairs and walked back over to the counter, and as her hand reached out to press the button marked BREW, the back door opened and a young man stepped inside her kitchen holding a gun. He was dressed in jeans and a black hoodie with the sleeves pulled back. Gail realized she had seen him before.

  “You were in the park with those other men,” she said.

  Javier let out a long sigh as he raised his gun and aimed at her face.

  “Sorry lady.”

  An instant later, a shot rang out and Gail’s body fell to the floor.

  CHAPTER 2

  “Mr. Caliber?”

  Jake had been thinking of Gail, and of the day she had married his son, when his name was called.

  The old man broke free of his reverie and reached out to shake the hand that was being offered by a woman who had just arrived on the scene.

  “How do you do, sir? I’m Detective Lena Alvera.”

  Alvera was Hispanic, in her mid-thirties, and neatly dressed in a gray business suit and black boots. Her handshake was firm and she had a no-nonsense air about her.

  “Are you in charge here, Detective?”

  “Yes sir and I want you to know that everything is being done to locate your daughter-in-law.”

  “Are you treating this as a missing person’s case?”

  “No sir, for now we’re investigating it as, ‘suspicious circumstances’ but I’m sure the investigation will change once we learn who lost all the blood in that house.”

  “I searched the home and found no one, but from the blood trail it looks like the victim was brought out to the driveway here and loaded into a vehicle.”

  “Yes, my officers concur.”

  “The first cops on the scene, are they still checking the house?”

  “They finished that, now I’ve got them walking the neighborhood. When we get more bodies here we’ll canvass the neighbors.”

  “I already tried the homes on either side and no one answered. I suppose they’re at work.”

  Alvera’s radio came to life and she excused herself and stepped away.

  When she was finished speaking, she walked back over, looking grim.

  “There’s a vehicle with blood on the trunk and bumper parked down the street. I’m going to walk down there and open it.”

  “I’ll come with you.”

  “I thought you might, and if you weren’t who you are I wouldn’t even have mentioned it.”

  “Thank you for that, good or bad, I have to know what happened to my daughter.”

  The car was a 1969 Mustang in excellent condition, with New Jersey license plates. Someone had put a lot of care into its maintenance, but the car’s bright blue paint job was marred by the reddish-brown stains on its rear.

  A uniformed cop stood by with a pry bar, waiting for Alvera to give the word.

  “Ready, Mr. Caliber?” Alvera asked.

  “Yeah, open it.”

  Alvera sent the cop a nod. Seconds later, the trunk lid popped open, revealing the corpse.

  ***

  Not far away, Chris Caliber swerved around a truck in an effort to keep up with his brother as they drove to their mother’s house. Sitting beside him, Velma held on to the door with a tight grip.

  “He’s driving like a maniac, and so are you.”

  “I know, but we have to get there as soon as possible. You heard what my grandfather said about the blood.”

  “Blood, yes, but there was no body in sight.”

  “What the hell happened to my mother, Velma?”

  Velma reached over and touched his cheek.

  “We’ll find her, baby.”

  “I know; I only hope it’s not too late.”

  ***

  Detective Alvera winced at the sight of the corpse in the trunk.

  “Mr. Caliber, do you know him?”

  “No. I have no idea who that is.” Jake said.

  The body stuffed into the Mustang’s trunk was a Hispanic male in his twenties. It was Dawkins’ man, Javier.

  Javier had been good looking in life; however, only hours afte
r dying, the skin of his face was becoming mottled and stark white. There was a gaping exit wound in the front of his throat, broadcasting that he’d been shot from behind.

  Alvera put on a pair of latex gloves.

  “I would normally wait for the coroner’s okay before touching a victim, but I don’t want to waste a second.”

  She reached in and began patting down the victim.

  “He’s wearing a holster on his right hip, but it’s empty. Ah, here’s what I need.”

  Alvera pulled her hand out and it was holding a wallet. She opened it and read from his driver’s license.

  “Javier Bahena, twenty-six, five-foot-nine and a hundred and sixty pounds, his address is in Jersey City and the wallet contains... one-hundred and thirty seven dollars.”

  One of the uniforms held open an evidence bag and Alvera dropped the wallet inside. She then reached back into the trunk and felt around some more.

  “He’s really stuffed in tight, but... ah, I found it.”

  This time Alvera was holding a Glock G38. She ejected the clip and checked the gun.

  “There’s a full clip of eight and a round in the chamber, so I doubt this is what killed him, also, it doesn’t appear to have been recently fired.”

  Down the street, at one of the barricades, two cars screeched to a halt. Alvera got a call from the cop manning the barricade.

  “Let them through, they’re with Mr. Caliber.”

  When the two cars parked, the old man saw his grandsons and Velma getting out of them.

  They ran over to him.

  “Is there any news?” Chris said, and then he saw the body. “Oh no.”

  His brother, Jake, pointed into the trunk.

  “Is that the blood donor?”

  Alvera nodded.

  “That would be my guess, but I’ll have the M.E. confirm it.”

  The old man introduced everyone and Alvera went back to checking beneath the body. She was hoping to find a clue or evidence that would lead them to Gail.

  “Hmm, no cell phone, maybe the killer was afraid it would lead us to them.”

  The body of Javier Bahena was dressed in jeans and a black hoodie with the sleeves pulled back. As Alvera shifted Bahena slightly, his left arm fell over, revealing a tattoo. The tattoo was a heart with two names written inside it. One of the names was Javier, Bahena’s first name, but the other name was Rayne.