Page 33 of Justice for Daesha

Good ol’ Eric. He always came through.

“Hey, Jesse?”

From across the office he heard his coworker say, “Yeah?”

“When you get a minute, I want to show you something.” Amos stared at it. Where had he seen that before? He felt a presence behind him and in a second, Jesse was peering over his shoulder. “Ring. We think this is the ring that was taken off her hand.”

“Wow. What is that design?”

Amos shrugged. “Hell if I know.”

“Can you shoot that to me and Alex too?”

Amos hitForwardand in seconds, it went to both men. “Thanks for looking at it.”

“Hey, what is this?” Alex called out from the break room.

“It’s a ring we think DorindaWilkerson Blackmon was wearing when she was killed.”

Alex yelled back, “That’s a weird looking thing!”

“Yeah. I know. I’m trying to figure it out.” He was careful not to mention the artist’s mark. That was something he’d investigate himself.

“Hey, Amos,” he heard Mack call, “have they assigned that forensic audit team yet?”

“I’ll check. I turned in everything yesterday, so they should at least be in the process.” Jesse went back to what he’d been doing and Amos started checking on the audit investigation.

The afternoon passed quickly and before he knew it, it was time to go and he hadn’t had a chance to look at the picture one more time. He made one last-ditch effort and showed it to Mack, but his supervisor said the same thing?he couldn’t make sense of it.

By the time he stopped at his house, got some clean clothes and dropped off dirty ones, and got to Daesha’s, she was already home. “What time do we have to leave?” he asked as he kissed her hello.

“We go on at eight, so I need to be there by about seven fifteen or seven thirty.”

“Let’s just get something to eat on the way, whaddya say?”

She grinned. “Sounds good to me. I need to go change.”

Amos sat down in the living room and turned on the evening news. She was gone for a few minutes and when she stepped into the living room, all he could do was whistle long and low.

The Daesha who stood before him was very different from the one he knew. She had on skin-tight, black leather pants and over-the-knee boots, flat and combat-styled. Above that she wore a lacy tee. Under it was a corset of black leather, and he could see the laces up the back. There was a wide leather bracelet on each of her wrists, and her fingers were covered in rings, all kinds of silver rings. He wanted to tell her about Dorinda’s ring, but he didn’t really have time, and he was too stunned at the way she looked anyway. When she leaned down to grab her bag, he saw her earrings, huge silver things that sparkled as she moved. If that was what she intended to get on stage in, he’d have to watch the male population of the bar.

They ate at a place that served burgers and mussels?odd combination, but oddly delicious?and headed downtown. When they parked, Amos looked around and had to think for a second. He really wanted to take his gun, but it was illegal to take a gun into a bar in Kentucky. He’d checked it out on the internet, and it didn’t have food, so it wouldn’t qualify as a restaurant. Reluctantly, he locked the Beretta in his glove box and took Daesha’s hand as they walked down the street.

The bar was already crowded, and he could tell it was going to be a capacity night, or maybe over capacity. He’d be watching that for fire code violations. “I’m going up with the guys. See you after our first set, okay?” When she leaned in and kissed him, he squeezed her upper arms gently and wished they could just go back home.

As they got everything set up and checked, Amos looked around the room. It was mostly people in their thirties and forties, couples or small groups, with a smattering of fifty-something guys hanging out at the bar. He parked himself at the end of the bar and told the bartender that he was a KDCI agent. When the bartender offered him drinks all night on the house, he politely declined and told the young man he’d gladly pay for his drinks. They had an extensive list of bourbons, but he asked for water. The band hadn’t even started playing, and he didn’t want to get toasted. He wanted to watch and listen.

At five before eight, he smiled when he saw her eyes scan the crowd, and when her gaze landed on him, she gave him a thumbs up. He returned that with a little wave and watched as they all seemed to take their places?five guys and her. He remembered her telling him that they’d be doing eighties and nineties music, and he wondered what kind of stuff they’d chosen.

And then, in an instant, Daesha took the mic. “Hey, y’all, havin’ a good Friday?” There was a general mumbling around the bar. “Do I have any Aussies in the house tonight?”

A guy who looked to be in his late twenties stood. “Canberra!”

“I need you to help me out. You’ll know what to do.” She nodded at the drummer and he twirled his sticks before he smacked a drumhead.

Amos recognized it instantly?AC/DC’s “TNT”. The drummer and the rhythm guitarist played the first two measures and, before he could take it all in, the Australian guy was up on the bar, fists raised, and he yelled in time with the music, “Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi!” Daesha was doing the same from the stage, and before she got to the first verse, the entire bar was on their feet, joining in the ruckus.

And boy, could she belt it out! He watched, mesmerized, as Daesha opened her vocal chords and filled the bar with an intensity that seemed impossibly huge for a body as small as hers. The original song was sung by a man, but she covered it with a voice that was completely different from the lilting, sweet, soft voice in which she’d sung the songs Jack and Aleta had chosen for their wedding. Everything about her was raw, gritty, and hard, and he tried not to let his mouth drop open and his chin hit the floor. She danced in front of the lead guitarist as he ran riffs that would rival JimmyPage’s skills. The whole place was dancing, screaming, and singing along, and the Aussie guy was still on the bar, playing air guitar. He snatched a glance at the bartender and found the guy grinning and nodding along with the music. When the younger man caught Amos looking his way, he walked down with a smile. “She’s pretty damn awesome, huh?”

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