The Devil Within (Devil Series Book 3) Page 3

  “So you don’t drive the blue van?” Penelope asked.

  “No.” He stroked his arm. “I don’t know how the van got there. I swear I wasn’t anywhere near Soviet Avenue.”

  “You gotta tell us something that makes sense, Khalil.” Alexis sat at the table. “How the hell could your van be on Soviet Avenue around the time Alicia was killed if you weren’t driving it?”

  “I don’t know!” He paced. “All I can tell you is I wasn’t there.”

  “Was someone else using your van?” Penelope squinted.

  “No.” He avoided eye contact.

  “Khalil, don’t make our jobs any harder.” Alexis stood. “You either drove that van to Soviet Avenue, someone else did, or there’s a fuckin’ ghost going around driving blue vans to places where women are being murdered. Which should we believe?”

  “Shit.” He took a loud breath. “She didn’t do anything. She wouldn’t murder anyone.”

  “Who?” Penelope asked.

  “Nadine.” He backed up from them with his head low. “She’s my sister. I sold her the van a while back.”

  Alexis lifted her head. “Where can we find her?”

  Chapter Five

  After seeing no signs of Nadine at her home, Alexis and Penelope went to the house next door.

  “Please let us get good news.” Alexis knocked on the neighbor’s door.

  “I don’t know about that.” Penelope chewed gum. “When people start to go missing it never seems to be good.”

  The door opened.

  A chubby black woman with her hair wrapped up in a scarf walked onto the porch. “May I help you?”

  “I’m Detective Alexis Adams with the Tate Valley Police.” Alexis took out her badge. “This is my partner Penelope Dao.”

  The woman nodded. “What can I do for you?”

  Penelope pointed to Nadine’s house. “We’re looking for Nadine Williams. Do you have any idea where she is?”

  “No. I haven’t seen her.”

  “Does she drive a blue van?” Alexis asked.

  “Yes, a Chevy I believe. She said she bought it from her brother. Is something wrong?” The woman laid her hand on her large bosom. “Do you think something happened to her?”

  “We need to speak to her in connection to a homicide,” Alexis said. “A young woman named Alicia Bellows was found beaten to death yesterday evening.”

  “Alicia?” The woman covered her mouth. “Oh my God.”

  “You know Alicia?” Penelope asked.

  “That’s Pastor Bellows’s little girl.” The woman gasped. “I used to go to his church years ago. I can’t believe this.” She shook her head. “Alicia had some issues because her mother was always so sick, but she was a good person.”

  “We think Nadine might be connected in some way,” Alexis said. “Or either she might know what’s going on.”

  “Jesus.” The woman looked up. “I don’t talk to Nadine that much, but she’s not a killer if that’s what you’re thinking. She doesn’t hang out with the best of people, but Nadine would never hurt anyone.”

  Alexis got out her pencil. “What’s your name?”

  “Phyllis Baxter,” the woman said.

  Alexis jotted it on her notepad.

  “Do you know any names of these people Nadine hangs around?” Penelope asked.

  “No.” Phyllis scratched under her headscarf. “I just know that she hangs around some funny people.”

  Alexis nibbled on her pencil. “Do you know if Nadine knew Alicia Bellows?”

  “No.” Phyllis held on to the door. “But no way would Nadine be involved in murder. I just can’t believe something like that.”

  * * * *

  Alexis and Penelope waited on the street in front of the small green house for about twenty minutes when a medium-height, slender brunette in a jogging suit sprinted up the street.

  Penelope peeked through the mirror on the passenger’s side. “This might be her.”

  Alexis watched the woman through her side mirror.

  The woman, who appeared in her mid to late twenties, jogged across the yard of the green house and caught sight of the detectives. “May I help you?” She walked to Alexis’s car.

  “I’m Detective Alexis Adams.” Alexis held her badge out of the window. “This is my partner, Penelope Dao. Are you Blake Maddox?”

  Sweat drizzled from her face and down her neck. “I am.” She huffed and puffed. “What’s going on?”

  “We got your name from a man who works with Nadine Williams.” Alexis put her badge up. “He said you’re a friend of hers. We need to speak to you about a homicide.”

  “Homicide?” Her brown eyes got wide. “Oh God. Is Nadine okay?”

  Alexis and Penelope got out of the car.

  “We hope so,” Alexis said. “At this point we’re not sure.”

  “I don’t understand what’s going on.” Blake trembled. “Who’s dead?”

  “Alicia Bellows,” Penelope said.

  “Oh.” Blake covered her mouth and stooped over. “My God.”

  “Are you okay?” Alexis touched her back.

  “No.” Blake broke into tears. “This can’t be true. Alicia isn’t dead.”

  “You knew Alicia?” Penelope squinted.

  She nodded. “We’re all friends.” Blake wept harder. “Nadine, Alicia, Mercy, all of us. What happened to her? I just saw her the other day.” She put her hand on her flat stomach. “This can’t be real.”

  Alexis gestured to the fading bruise on the side of Blake’s face. “What happened to your face, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  Blake laid her hand on the spot. “I…I fell.” She shrugged. “I’m always so clumsy.”

  Alexis and Penelope looked at each other.

  “What did you fall on…a fist?” Penelope put her hand on her waist. “Because that’s what it looks like.”

  “No.” Blake backed away, sniffling. “It’s nothing. What happened to Alicia? What does this have to do with Nadine?”

  “May we come in?” Penelope gestured to the house. “We’ll do our best to explain it to you.”

  * * * *

  “I don’t believe this.” Blake sat on her couch, clasping a can of Mountain Dew. She’d opened it the moment they got into the house but hadn’t sipped any in all of ten minutes. “I mean…how can you be talking to someone one day and they’re dead the next?” Mascara ran down her face as she sobbed. “It just doesn’t happen.”

  Alexis looked over her notes. “You said you last saw Nadine and Alicia the day before yesterday?”

  Blake nodded and finally took a sip of soda.

  “Did things seem strange between them?” Penelope sat on the ottoman with her legs crossed. “Any tension or anything?”

  “No.” Blake’s ponytail flipped across her shoulder when she shook her head. “They were going shopping or something. I couldn’t go because I had to work. I’m a physical trainer at the gym on Washington Boulevard.”

  Penelope bounced her foot. “Where were you yesterday between five and six p.m.?”

  “I was at the gym. I was with a client. You can call him.” She recited his name, number, and address. “You can call the gym, too.” Blake gave the gym’s number as well.

  Alexis wrote the information down.

  “You mentioned someone named Mercy,” Penelope said. “Who is that?”

  “All four of us are really good friends.”

  Alexis tapped her notepad. “Can you give us Mercy’s information?”

  Blake gave Mercy’s number, address, and place of employment.

  Alexis jotted. “So far you and Mercy are the common denominators between Alicia and Nadine.”

  Blake shook her legs. “I didn’t do anything to Alicia or Nadine if that’s what you’re trying to say.”

  “What about Nadine?” Penelope watched her. “Could Nadine have done something to Alicia then took off?”

  “No, that’s insane.” Blake set the soda on the table. “We we
re friends.”

  “You’re that close, yet Alicia ends up dead, Nadine disappears, and you don’t know anything?” Penelope squinted.

  “No.”

  “What about Mercy?” Alexis asked.

  “I can’t speak for Mercy but she’d never hurt anyone, especially not Alicia. She and Alicia were extremely close. They were like sisters.”

  Blake’s phone buzzed on the table.

  Alexis got a glimpse of the caller ID before Blake grabbed it.

  Blake checked the screen. “Shit,” she whispered. “Uh, would you excuse me for a second?” She stood. “I’ve gotta take this.” She left the living room.

  “What do you think?” Penelope asked.

  “I don’t like the feeling I get with her,” Alexis whispered. “She’s definitely hiding something. Someone named Danny X popped up on her phone.”

  “Danny X?” Penelope grimaced.

  “Yeah.” Alexis tried to decipher Penelope’s bewildered expression. “Does the name ring a bell?”

  “You bet your ass it does.” Penelope got up, peeked into the hallway, then sat back down. “Danny Xavier goes by Danny X. He’s a career criminal, gangster almost. He has a record for a lot of underground stuff like gambling, prostitution, extortion. He spent ten years in the pen for dealing drugs, too.”

  “That is interesting.” Alexis bit her lip. “Why would a man like that be calling Blake Maddox?”

  “I don’t know, but something tells me we need to find out.”

  Blake came back into the living room. “I’m sorry, but I have to leave.”

  “Really?” Alexis looked her over. “Is everything okay?”

  Blake fidgeted, switching the phone from one hand to the next. “Just something personal I have to take care of.”

  They gave her their cards and left.

  Chapter Six

  Alexis had no intentions of letting things go after Penelope schooled her on Danny X. The detectives parked down the street from Blake’s house and waited until she left.

  Blake ran out of the house, got in her car, and sped down the street.

  “Damn, she’s in a hurry, isn’t she?” Alexis took off behind her.

  “Slow, Lexi,” Penelope said.

  Alexis followed Blake out of the neighborhood.

  Blake turned off onto a busy street.

  “I wonder where this little girl is going.” Alexis waited until a few cars went ahead then turned onto the crowded intersection. “We know something’s up.”

  Penelope held on to her seatbelt. “Let’s just hope it has something to do with our case.”

  * * * *

  “Now wait a minute.” Alexis drove along the dilapidated street toward Soviet Avenue fifteen minutes later. She stayed far enough behind where she hoped Blake couldn’t see them. “Is it me or is it too much of a coincidence that we’re in the same area where Alicia was found dead?”

  Penelope leaned up in the seat. “Let’s hope this leads us to a break.”

  Alexis followed Blake to the abandoned strip mall and parked on the street where Blake couldn’t see them.

  Blake wasn’t in the parking lot a minute before a shiny black Corvette came and parked beside her.

  “That’s Danny’s car,” Penelope said.

  Blake got out of her car and got in his.

  Alexis started the car. “They might be going somewhere else.”

  “No.” Penelope touched Alexis’s hand. “I think they’re just talking.”

  Alexis turned the car off.

  Blake moved her head and hands back and forth as if she were explaining herself.

  Danny waved his finger and screamed in Blake’s face.

  “Whoa,” Alexis said. “That conversation doesn’t look too friendly, does it?”

  “Hell no.” Penelope put her hand on the door. “Danny looks pissed.”

  “You think he’s the one who’s been beating on her?”

  Penelope’s gaze stayed on the two. “Shit, no telling.”

  “Let’s analyze this, shall we?” Alexis counted on her fingers. “We got Blake, who is supposedly friends with Nadine and Alicia.”

  Penelope nodded. “She claims she doesn’t know where Nadine is yet she was acting suspicious.”

  Alexis gripped the steering wheel. “She has a bruise on her face and a lame excuse as to why. She gets a call from a known criminal and meets him out in a strip mall only a few blocks from where Alicia Bellows was found murdered.” She grinned. “I don’t know about you, Penelope, but this is enough for me to think Miss Blake Maddox knows more than she lets on.”

  * * * *

  Alexis pulled up to Blake’s a few seconds after Blake made it back home. She and Penelope got out and walked up the driveway.

  Blake got out of the car, cursed, and stared at the detectives.

  “What is this?” She slowly closed the car door. “Were you following me?”

  “Yes,” Alexis said. “You want to come clean with us now?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I told you I don’t know what happened to Alicia and I don’t know where Nadine is.”

  “How long you been hanging around Danny X?” Penelope asked.

  “Danny?” Blake brushed loose hairs from her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Don’t do this, Blake.” Alexis waved her hand back and forth. “We

  followed you to the strip mall on Soviet Avenue and we saw you talking to Danny X.”

  “Yeah, and Danny X is not the type of guy you just shoot the breeze with and not have something illegal going on.” Penelope crossed her arms. “Right now you look suspicious as hell, and unless you tell us something to appease our doubts…we have a feeling you’re involved in Alicia’s murder.”

  “I’m not!” She shook her purse. “I swear. I loved Alicia. I’d never hurt her.”

  “What’s going on, Blake?” Alexis asked. “You need to tell us the truth.”

  * * * *

  “I have no business telling you this.” Blake paced up and down her living room floor. “But I will if it might help find Alicia’s killer.”

  Alexis readied her notepad and pencil to write. “What is it?”

  “You’ve got to promise me you won’t tell anyone. I could get in a lot of trouble if Danny finds out I told.”

  “We just want to get to the bottom of this murder.” Alexis crossed her legs at the ankles. “We’re not interested in anything else.”

  Blake closed her eyes and exhaled. “Alicia, Nadine, Mercy, and I are underground fighters.”

  Alexis stuck her neck out. “Excuse me?”

  “We’re boxers.” Blake rubbed her knuckles. “We fight for an underground fight club that Danny runs.”

  Penelope gaped.

  “Danny X runs an underground fight club?” Alexis jotted. “This case gets more and more interesting by the minute.”

  Blake waved her hands from side to side. “No one can know I told you. There are some very powerful, not to mention dangerous people involved in this. You have no idea how huge this thing is. Danny’s making close to millions and he’d do anything to protect what he’s got going.”

  “Leave it to Danny to think of an underground fight club.” Penelope chuckled. “He just can’t keep his hands out the cookie jar.”

  “I know it’s wrong,” Blake said. “But I love fighting. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a professional boxer. In this business, you need managers who can get you on the professional circuit and it’s extremely hard for female fighters to break out on that level. You have to be seen somewhere for the right manager to notice you.” She stopped in front of Alexis. “With Danny’s club I make good money while hopefully attracting someone who would take me on so I can get into the professional fights.” She pulled up her shirt and showed off a devil-looking tattoo on her stomach. “It’s a demon. That’s my fight name.”

  Penelope gaped. “Demon’s your fight name?”

  “Yeah.” Bla
ke put her hands on her waist. “Not trying to brag but I’m one of the best in the entire club. We have different levels, just like in professional fighting.”

  “How many women are in this club?” Alexis asked.

  “Twenty-five.” Blake swung her arm. “Mercy’s the reigning champion. Nobody can beat her.”

  Alexis laid her notepad in her lap.

  “You should see her.” Blake balled fists. “She’s like fuckin’ superwoman. She’s six feet tall and buff like a dude. She’s trying to get into the professional circuit, too.”

  “About how much money can you make on a fight?” Penelope leaned forward.

  “It depends on who puts money in the pot that week but we always get paid good.”

  “So people bet on these fights?” Alexis asked.

  “Danny’s club is the only platform in this town for female fighters to show what we can do.” Blake looked at Alexis. “The only drawback is putting up with Danny’s shit.”

  Alexis tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

  “A lot of the newbies are young women with no money and no place to stay and Danny takes advantage. He’s a master at sniffing out the weak and preying on them.”

  “Yeah, that sounds like Danny all right,” Penelope said.

  “He doesn’t give some of the women their right cuts. He tells them they owe him and that if anyone told about the club they’d be sorry.” Blake seemed to tense up. “He’s friends with a lot of people that you don’t wanna mess with, so a lot of these women are scared of him. They only got into the club because they didn’t have anything else. He sweet-talked them, but that doesn’t last long.”

  “There are other options for these women than joining an illegal fight club,” Penelope said. “We do have homeless shelters in Tate Valley. What Danny’s doing to these women is no different than what a pimp would do. He’s using them to make money.”

  “I spent years on the streets back in the day.” Blake poked her chest. “I was a runaway, and Tate Valley might be this beautiful beach city to some people but there’s a dark side people don’t even talk about.”

  Alexis nodded. “We know all too well.”

  Blake continued, “When you come from that kind of life you get used to trusting the wrong people because they promise you stuff that you can’t get on your own.” She held her arms to her sides. “Danny hooks these women up with places to stay and resources as long as they fight and give him most of the money.”