Chapter 17 – Guy Talk
"About time you got here," Hyde said angrily as Nick parked his car in a Playboy Mansion visitor carspace.
"What the hell do you want?" Nick growled. "I'm warning you, Hyde, the shock phase of finding out about you and Jackie has worn off. I'm now into the ripping-your-ugly-head-off phase so you might want to stand clear."
Hyde ignored Nick's threat. "Your office didn't know where you were and they wouldn't tell me where you lived. Then I remembered you said you were coming back here to take that girl's statement." Hyde opened the car door and slid into the passenger seat. "We've got to go to Tanner's place right away."
"Tanner's place, huh? Don't know if I can fit that into my schedule, what with having to drive you to the hospital or possibly the morgue once I'm finished with you. Now get the hell out of my car!"
"Cut the crap, Braddon – I think Jackie's with Tanner and she's going to do something stupid."
Nick didn't hesitate; he just put the car in reverse and then with the screech of burning tire tread roared onto the interstate. "When did she leave?" he asked tersely.
"Two hours ago," Hyde replied. "I thought you were bringing a cop."
"He was going to meet me at the Mansion in an hour." There was silence for five minutes, then Nick burst out:
"Damn her! How can she pull a stunt like this on her own? She knows what he's capable of."
"Guess you do care about her," Hyde said, his heart sinking.
"Of course I care, dumbass!"
"I just thought from the way Jackie and Sharon are so alike, that you were just using Jackie because you couldn't have Sharon." Nick stared at him incredulously. Hyde shrugged. "Maybe I was wrong."
"What the fuck are you talking about? There's nothing like that between me and Sharon – and Jackie and Sharon are nothing alike."
"Well, maybe I was off base on this one. Just seemed to me that the only person on your mind was Sharon, and when I saw her picture and Jackie told me how much they had in common… well, you can't blame a guy for jumping to certain conclusions."
"You don't even know Sharon! Sure, they may be a little alike on the surface but that's got nothing to do with why I was attracted to Jackie."
"I thought you just said they were nothing alike?"
"I meant deep down they are nothing alike. Jackie is smart and sexy and self-obsessed – in a cute way – while Sharon is…"
"Sharon's not smart, sexy or narcissistic?"
Nick's brow furrowed in confusion. "Well, she is but – it's different. We've been friends forever, man. She's like my sister."
"Like your sister. So I take it you never had unsisterly thoughts about her." Nick's silence had a guilty feel about it. "Oh my God, you did it with her, didn't you? You totally nailed her! Man, I don't know what the rules are in Illinois but in Wisconsin you could be shot for doing that to your sister!"
"Shut it, hop-head! Talk about Sharon like that again and I'll work you over so good that not even your dental records will help identify your body."
"My apologies – your union with the sainted Sharon was of a pure and holy variety which I am too unworthy to comment upon."
"Damn straight. We were just kids, anyhow – I mean, who finds the love of their life when they're sixteen?"
"So what went wrong?"
"I don't know. There was this guy who was hitting on her, I got all jealous, she got mad at me, big ugly break-up and then all I remember is a year of pain. Just wasn't meant to be, I guess."
"Yep, that's sixteen alright. If you're one of our crowd, it's seventeen, eighteen and nineteen as well. I tell you, I can't wait to turn twenty and leave this whole crappy teenage angst thing behind me. Such a pain blowing every minor problem into some cosmic disaster." Nick was quiet as he thought over Hyde's comment.
"You're saying we were young and stupid?" he ventured.
"That about sums it up."
"Huh," Nick said. No more words were exchanged until they neared Tanner's estate. As the large electronic gates came into view, a sporty black Saab exited through the gates.
"Hey, that's Jackie's car," Nick cried.
"That's not Jackie driving it," Hyde observed. "Too tall."
"Dex," Nick concluded grimly. He accelerated to close the distance between the cars.
"Don't get too close," Hyde warned. "We don't want to get into some wild car chase if Jackie's in that car. Let's just see where he's going."
Just an exposition note – The reason Dex hadn't disposed of Jackie before Nick and Hyde got there was because he had to wait for a henchman to go and pick up her car – just wanted to make that clear in case anyone was wondering how the guys were still in time 2 hours later
Nick and Hyde followed the Saab outside of the urban area into a lonely landscape of rugged cliffs sloping down from the winding road. When the Saab pulled over to the side of the road, they continued on around the bend so as not to arouse suspicion, parked the car and then trekked cross country back to Dex. What they then saw chilled both of them; Dex was pulling an unconscious Jackie into the driver's seat. The engine was still running – he was obviously rigging the car so it would carry her over the cliff so her death would look like a driving under influence road accident.
"On my signal, I'll tackle Dex, you get Jackie," Nick whispered to Hyde.
"Right," Hyde agreed. "You got a weapon, man?" They advanced stealthily.
"The best weapon of all – the element of surprise," Nick replied in his best commando imitation. It was a shame Dex chose that moment to glance in the car's side door mirror. Even more unfortunate that the weapon he was equipped with was more concrete than theirs. He pulled Jackie from the car and held a snub-nosed automatic pistol to her head.
"Stand back," he ordered. Nick and Hyde froze in their tracks. "Now put down your weapons."
"Uh… we forgot to bring them," Hyde said sheepishly.
Dex rolled his eyes. "Bloody amateurs! What were you thinking? A couple of shlubs like you could bring me down? Great, now I'm going to have to get rid of three bodies. There goes my 2 o'clock tennis lesson!"
"It won't do you any good, Dex. I've told the cops everything – we go missing, they'll be at your door with a warrant first thing," Nick bluffed.
"Is that so? And what exactly did you tell the police, pretty boy?" Dex cocked the pistol in Nick's direction.
"I know about Sharon – how you planted heroin in her luggage and made her your drug mule. That's where you made your big mistake, Tanner, messing with my best friend."
"Ah, you must be Sharon's friend, Nick," Dex responded pleasantly. "She talked about you nonstop – hideously tedious, I can tell you. If she hadn't been the most perfectly clueless drug mule I ever seduced I would have strangled her months ago."
"Ah hah! Then you admit you stashed drugs on her without her knowledge," Nick accused.
"Oh sorry, is this the part where the master criminal reveals his evil plan to the good guys before he kills them? Didn't mean to miss my cue. Alright, if it'll make you die happy, I admit I used Sharon as a drug carrier without her knowledge. There – can I shoot you now?"
"Nick, I think we should rethink our battle strategy," Hyde remarked, eyeing the deadly piece of metal now trained on him.
"Too late now," Dex said as his finger squeezed the trigger.