Chapter Twenty-Three
Jackson
Bzzt. Bzzt.
I groaned and rolled over to grab my buzzing cell phone off the bedside table. Lily was snuggled up in bed next to me, her hair fanned out around her head as her chest rose and fell with soft snores.
“Hello?” I said quietly into the phone as I answered, trying not to wake my little girl. She had a rough night last night, and she needed a good sleep to recover.
“Jackson, it’s Brent.”
Brent was the private investigator who’d worked on my campaign, doing opposition research, and he was the guy I reached out to yesterday to help track down information on the gun in the attic, among other things.
“You’ve got something already?” I asked, slipping out of my bedroom.
“On the firearm, yeah. All I had to do was trace the serial number you gave me. All guns have ‘em. Anyway, I can tell you where and when she bought it.”
I grabbed a pen and notepad from my home office desk and leaned down. “Shoot.”
“Gill’s Guns in Piedmont. She bought it exactly three weeks before she died—on 25th of March, 2011.”
“Thanks, Brent. That’s very helpful.”
“I’ll let you know once I’ve looked into all the other shit.”
“Thanks, man.”
I went back into my bedroom to see that Lily was still happily snoring away, so I quietly dressed and then scribbled a note for her, explaining that I’d be out for a few hours. Piedmont was an outer eastern suburb of our city, so it was only a half hour drive from here.
I was going to pay a little visit to Gill’s Guns.
I grabbed a few items and stashed them in my briefcase, and then I began the drive to Piedmont. The weather was miserable, all grey skies and drizzling rain. It seemed to suit the mood of my current activity, though. After all, it wasn’t every day I went to follow up on my dead girlfriend’s gun purchases.
The gun store was a pretty typical one—exterior design hadn’t changed since the eighties, and the interior walls were lined with every sort of firearm one could imagine. All the sorts that were legal to buy in this state, that is.
I headed to the counter to see a greying old man standing there, wiping off his glasses. “You Gill?” I asked.
He glanced up at me. “I know you. Jackson Barker,” he said, one eyebrow arched. “Never thought I’d see you in my shop. I’ve seen your election campaigns. Not exactly a gun enthusiast, are you?”
I smiled and held my hands up. “You got me. But listen, I’m not here to buy anything. I’m here to ask some questions about a firearm you sold a few years back. I know it’s probably a long shot—pun not intended—but I…”
Gill cut me off with a wave of his hand. “Mr. Barker, I remember literally every single customer that walks through these doors, and I remember every firearm I’ve ever sold. I’ve got one of them memories, y’know?”
“Eidetic?”
“Yeah, somethin’ like that. So tell me what you need to know.”
I doubted he actually had a photographic memory—it was a claim many people made which usually turned out to be inaccurate—but I set my briefcase down on the counter and showed him the pistol Lily found in my attic last night.
“Ruger LCP,” he said, leaning down to look. “Let me see…” He squinted at the serial number, then stood back up. “Yep, I remember now. I sold this to a woman. Few years back like you said.”
I wasn’t convinced of his memory yet. The pistol was a lightweight one, so it could simply be an educated guess that a woman might’ve picked it over a heavier one, seeing as women were generally smaller than men.
I decided to test him, see if he was full of shit. I grabbed my phone and pulled up a photo of Lily from her Facebook page.
“Was this the woman?” I asked, keeping my face neutral.
If the guy was full of shit, he might just say, ‘yep, could’ve been her’ just to appease me. But if his memory was as good as he said it was, he’d instantly know that this wasn’t the woman he sold the Ruger to six years ago.
Gill leaned forward and frowned. “No. That looks nothing like her. She was older than that. Thirty, maybe.”
So far, so good. I reached into the briefcase and pulled out an old photo that I’d located in a desk drawer in my home office before I left the house earlier. It was a group picture taken at one of my summer barbecues years ago. Everyone was there, including Jenna, who was standing in the middle of the frame with her arm around Karen. It was taken back when they were still friends, obviously.
“Anyone in this picture look like the woman you sold the gun to?” I asked.
Gill nodded and immediately tapped his finger on Jenna. “That’s her.”
“Shit. You weren’t lying. Your memory really is that good.”
“Told you so, man,” he said. “So what do you want to know about her?”
“Do you happen to remember what she was like when she came in? Did she seem frightened, and did she tell you anything about why she was purchasing a gun? Tell you about a person she was scared of, perhaps?”
He nodded slowly. “She seemed nervy, yeah. Didn’t say why, though, and it ain’t none of my business to ask.”
My shoulders drooped with disappointment. I’d honestly hoped he would be able to tell me more, even though it was such a long shot.
“You know,” Gill went on in his slow drawl. “She ain’t the only person in that photo I’ve served in here before.”
My eyebrows shot up. “You recognize someone else? This woman here?” I asked, pointing to Karen.
He shook his head and grunted. “Nah. Not her,” he said, finger coming to rest on another person in the picture. “Her.”
I frowned and leaned over to see who he meant, and my breath caught in my throat. He was pointing at Kaye, who was standing on the edge of the group in the photo. I’d almost forgotten she was even in it.
“You sure?”
Gill nodded. “Told ya, man—I don’t forget. Anyway, she’s been in here more than once. Nice lady. Seems a bit desperate, maybe, but yeah….nice.”
“More than once?” I said. “What for?”
“First time was years ago, to buy a gun. Next few visits were to stock up on bullets. She’s come in a few times over the years. Said she likes to shoot sometimes. Target practice, that kinda shit. But not very often. Too busy with work most of the time, apparently.”
“I see,” I said. I had no idea Kaye was such a gun nut. None at all. She’d always made herself out to be totally on board with all my stances. This was all very interesting….very interesting indeed.
I’d already been planning on having a little chat with Kaye this week anyway, about the lurid gossip and rumors which had been circulating about Lily and me, but this new development only sped my timeline up.
Kaye was hiding dark secrets…and I intended to get them all out of her before the day was over.