by Stacy-Deanne
“You smell like cologne.” Lisa wiggled the cinnamon roll. “Men’s cologne.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Dee stared at the blank monitor.
“Bullshit, it’s all over you.”
“That’s my deodorant.” Dee raised her arm. “That’s all.”
“You think I’m stupid? Not only is it men’s cologne...I know whose cologne it is.”
Dee propped her arm on the desk and touched her forehead. “Leece.”
“I can’t believe this.” She shook her head. “You were with Grayson Paul weren’t you? And I won’t even ask what you two were doing.”
“Good.” Dee moved her hand from her face. “Because it’s not your business.”
Lisa scooted her chair beside Dee. “Did you sleep with him?” she whispered.
“No!” Dee shoved her back. “Do I look like the kind of woman who’d jump into bed with a man I just met?”
Now the floor and the couch is another thing...
“I don’t know what you’d do with the way you’ve been acting lately.”
Dee logged onto the Internet. “Don’t we have a case we should be talking about?”
“You can’t lie worth shit, Dee.” Lisa dropped the cinnamon roll on her napkin. “You had sex with him just now didn’t you?”
“No!” She hit her keyboard. “No! No!”
Officers looked around.
Dee faked a smile. “I did not sleep with Grayson,” she whispered. “I had an errand.”
“Oh this is a trip.” Lisa chuckled. “You’re always so quick to get on me about Winston, but you’re sleeping with a murder suspect?”
Dee jumped out of her chair. “I did not sleep with Grayson Paul for the last damn time!”
The room fell silent.
The officers glared at her and whispered.
Dee waved. “Just, uh...” She sat. “Go on about your business and, uh...forget what I just said.”
The officers resumed their usual activities.
Dee dropped her head. “I’m so embarrassed.”
Winston strolled up to Dee’s desk. “Well how are the most beautiful women in the station doing today?”
“Winston,” they mumbled in unison.
“Wow.” He whistled. “I get a livelier greeting from folks when I come to arrest them.” He sat on the edge of Dee’s desk. “Is something wrong?”
“No!” Dee hit her desk. “Nothing is wrong and I certainly did not have sex with Grayson Paul on his couch!” She hit his arm. “So stop bugging me about it.”
“Huh?” Winston shot a quick glance to Lisa before returning his attention to Dee. “You slept with Grayson?”
“No!” Dee sat up straight. “And why do you care?”
He shrugged. “I just didn’t think Grayson was your type.”
Lisa glared at him.
“And I didn’t think you worried about what my type was.” Dee crossed her legs.
“We’re friends.” He laid his hand on her desk. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
“Well I’m fine.” She stood and grabbed her mug. “I’m not sleeping with Grayson Paul.”
Lisa pointed at her. “You swear that you’re not?”
“Yes. So if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go get some coffee.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Lisa’s phone rang as soon as Dee left the room.
“Detective Swanson,” she answered. “Yes. Sure.” She got a pencil and jotted information. “Okay my partner and I will be right there. Thank you so much for calling.” She hung up and stood. “Dee’s gonna have to wait on her coffee.” She hurried from behind her desk. “Check you later, Winston.”
He jumped off Dee’s desk. “What was that about?”
“A man says he has something to tell us about Misty Kurtz, and he thinks it might have something to do with Edana’s murder.”
****
“Misty is nuts!” Adrian Martinez sat in the driver’s seat of his delivery truck in the parking lot of the recycle plant. “You’ve got to meet her to know what I mean.”
“We’ve met her,” Dee said. “Believe me, we know what you mean.”
“How did you meet Misty?” Lisa opened her notepad.
“At Avery’s.” Adrian took off his dirty baseball cap.
“The bar?” Lisa jotted.
He nodded. “Man, she can drink. I’ve never seen a woman put down shots like her.”
“Hell, maybe that’s why she’s so damn crazy.” Dee scratched under her hair. “She’s drunk all the damn time. How long you’ve known her?”
He flipped his baseball cap in his hands. “For about four years.”
“You two more than friends?” Dee asked.
“Oh hell no.” He fanned the cap. “What am I gonna do with a crazy ass woman like that?”
Lisa and Dee exchanged glances and grinned.
“I don’t know any man who would put up with that moron.” He turned up his nose. “You might go to sleep and wake up with her standing over you with that wild hair flying, swinging a hatchet or something. Plus she’s too old for me.” He put his cap on. “She’s pushing fifty. No disrespect to cougars but—”
“Okay, so what did you want to tell us?” Lisa asked.
He climbed out of the truck. “First, you have to promise me I won’t get in any trouble. I didn’t do anything and I’m helping you out when I don’t have to.”
“We can’t promise you anything until we know what you’re talking about,” Lisa said. “Did you commit a crime?”
He scratched under his cap. “No.”
“Then you don’t have anything to worry about.” Dee smiled.
“I guess you already know Grayson Paul fired Misty. She flipped when he did it. She came over my place and was all drunk.” He adjusted his cap. “I’ve seen her drunk but not this drunk. She was ranting and raving. She said she’d put all that work into that screenplay and that Grayson fired her because he was trying to steal her ideas.” He shrugged. “And she was obsessed with that screenplay too. She worked on it constantly. Didn’t barely eat but she worked on that screenplay. She said no way was she going to let Grayson get away with firing her. Then she started talking about getting people to beat him up.”
“As in pay someone to jump him?” Lisa asked.
“Yes, but then she said that wasn’t gonna do it because Grayson deserved to die and she wanted him to suffer. Then she offered me money to kill Grayson.”
Dee gaped. “What?”
“Uh-huh. She was going to give me twenty thousand she said. I didn’t know where she’d get it from and I didn’t ask.”
“So what did you do when she presented this idea?” Lisa scribbled in her notepad.
“I told the crazy bitch to get out of my house!” He threw his arm up. “What do you think I said?”
“Okay.” Dee rocked. “What does this have to do with Edana though?”
“I think instead of trying to kill Grayson, she decided she wanted him to suffer.” He shrugged. “Maybe she killed Edana to make it look like Grayson did it.” He held up a finger. “She said either she was gonna kill him or ruin his life. If he went to prison for murder then his life would definitely be ruined.”
****
Lisa parked on the street in front of Misty’s house. “Her car’s not here.”
Dee took off her seatbelt. “Maybe it’s in the garage.”
They got out and looked around the yard as they went toward the house.
Lisa peeked into the garage window. “I don’t see a car, Dee.”
Dee went to the front door and rang the bell. “Misty!” She knocked. “Hello! It’s Detectives Quarter and Swanson!” She knocked again. “We need to speak to you!”
Lisa stood behind her. “She’s not here.”
“Shit,” Dee whispered. “Now what do we do?”
A skinny black man with long braids tied into a ponytail, stepped out on the porch next door. “You ladies need help?”
“Just tr
ying to catch your neighbor here,” Dee said. “We’re police officers.”
“Well.” He put his hands in the pockets of his faded jeans. “You’re the prettiest cops I’ve ever seen.”
Lisa smiled. “Do you know where your neighbor is?”
He pointed toward Misty’s house. “You mean old crazy ass Misty?” He shook his hand in the air. “Shit, I think she left and I hope she don’t come back.”
Dee walked across his yard. “She left?”
“Yes, and ooh thank you, Jesus.” He lifted his arms and looked up. “I’ve been praying her ass leave one of these days.” He put his hands back in his pockets. “That woman is crazy.”
“We know,” Lisa said.
“No, you don’t know shit until you’ve lived by the bitch. About a month ago I heard this noise in my yard at around four a.m.” He held his hands up. “Man, I open my door and Misty is standing right here.” He pointed to his driveway. “Yeah, she was right in front of my damn house with nothing on but her bra and panties.”
Dee and Lisa grimaced.
The man nodded. “I’m not bullshitting! I asked her, ‘What the hell you want?’ And she looked me up and down all crazy, didn’t say shit, and then went back to her place.” He shook his head. “I knew she was crazy anyway but after that...uh-uh.”
“And you said she left the other day?” Dee asked.
“About two days ago. I haven’t seen her since.”
****
“Winston!” Jake wheeled down the hall of the police station.
“Shit.” Winston opened the door of the file room. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you.” Jake stopped beside him. “It’s about Lisa.”
“What a surprise.” Winston went into the room and headed for the file cabinet in the back. “I don’t know what you need to talk to me about Lisa for.” He opened the top drawer of the cabinet. “Your relationship is none of my business—”
“I’ve had it with you.” Jake jumped up and slammed the cabinet drawer shut. “Uh.” He lost his balance and fell against the cabinet.
“Are you all right?” Winston grabbed his arm. “Get back in your chair before you hurt yourself.”
Jake yanked his arm back. “I’m sick of this shit, Lewis. We’re having this out right here and right now.”
Winston opened the drawer again. “There’s nothing to have out.”
Jake slammed it. “Bullshit! Now I’m standing in your face, Lewis.” He moved closer. “You can see me eye-to-eye so there’s no mistaking my words. You stay away from Lisa.”
“And please tell me how the hell that’s possible since I work with her? Why don’t you get back in your chair and go...”
Jake snatched him by the shirt. “Why don’t I go where?”
Winston chuckled. “Are you serious right now?”
“I bet it feels different now, huh?” Jake wobbled. “That I’m standing eye-level with you. You don’t get the privilege of looking down at me.”
“Jake.”
He shook Winston. “You see me as a real man now don’t you?”
“Jake.” Winston grabbed his wrists. “Get your hands off me or you’re gonna wish you never met me.”
“I already do.” Jake shook him again. “You think you’re the real man in the picture don’t you?”
“Look, I don’t want to hurt you but—”
“Oh, you don’t wanna hurt me?” Jake clenched the shirt tighter. “You won’t hurt me. I might need a chair to get around but I can still kick your ass.”
“Get off me!” Winston shoved him. “I’m holding back but if you don’t get off—”
“What?” Jake shook him. “What the hell are you gonna do?”
“What the hell is your problem?” Winston struggled.
“You wanna know what my problem is?” Jake leaned into the cabinet with his grip still on Winston’s shirt. “I’m sick of you laughing at me behind my back.”
“Are you crazy?” Winston tugged at Jake’s hands. “I don’t laugh at you! In fact, I do my best not to even think about you.”
“I guess so.” Jake panted. “I’m sure you’re too busy thinking about Lisa and how you’re gonna steal her away from me.”
“Get off me!” Winston shoved him into the cabinet.
Jake struggled to straighten up.
“Jesus.” Winston reached for him. “Here.”
“No!” Jake shoved his hand away. “I don’t need shit from you.” He leaned against the cabinet. “I came here for the truth.”
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” Winston straightened his shirt.
Jake’s lips trembled. “You know.”
“I know that you’re insane!”
“Did you sleep with Lisa?” Jake punched the cabinet. “Answer me!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking—”
“Tell me!” Jake grabbed his shirt again. “She told me she was in your bedroom.” He panted in Winston’s face. “And even though I want to believe that nothing happened...I need to hear it from you.”
CHAPTER NINE
Winston shook his head. “You’ve lost it, Jake.”
“Answer the fuckin’ question.” Sweat hung off his nose. “Did you sleep with Lisa?”
“No I didn’t.” Winston moved his face closer to his. “But if she’s ever in my bedroom again and I have my way...the last thing we’ll be doing is sleeping.”
“Motherfucker!” Jake punched him.
“Oh!” Winston tumbled into the table behind him.
“Get up!” Jake wobbled as he pulled Winston off the table. “Bastard!” He slung Winston against the wall.
“Ah!” Winston leaned over. “You better stop, Jake!”
“Oh, what, big time cop, right?” Jake limped toward him. “You don’t wanna hit me is that it?”
Winston pointed at him. “Get out!”
“I’m not leaving until you get the point!” Jake grabbed him and slugged him again.
“Ugh!” Winston flew to the floor. “Jake!” He spit blood.
“Come on!” Jake leaned over him and raised his fist. “Hit me! Fight me like a man!” Jake grabbed Winston’s shirt. “Hit me damn it!”
Three uniformed officers ran into the room.
“Stop it!” The black officer with the big belly pulled Jake off Winston. “Mr. Jenson, what are you doing?”
“I’m kicking his ass!” He pointed at Winston. “And it’s a long time coming.”
“Ah.” Winston dabbed blood from his mouth as the other officers helped him up. “Jesus.”
“Are you okay?” the female officer asked.
“Yeah.” He dabbed his mouth with his hand and looked at the blood. “You’ve lost it, Jake. You need some help.”
He pointed. “All I need is for you to stay the hell away from Lisa!”
“Okay, calm down!” The black officer helped Jake into his wheelchair. “Everything will be all right.”
“No it won’t be all right!” Jake beat his fists on the armrests of his wheelchair. “You’re not getting her, Lewis! You’re never getting Lisa!” he said leaning out of his chair. “Do you hear me?”
“Jake!” Lisa and Dee stood in the doorway. “What the hell is going on in here?” Lisa marched past the officers.
“Winston.” Dee rushed to him. “You’re bleeding.”
He touched his mouth. “I’m okay.”
“What the hell is going on?” Lisa turned back and forth.
“He attacked Detective Lewis.” The female officer pointed to Jake.
“What?” Lisa turned to Jake. “What is she talking about?”
“He’s lost his damn mind.” Winston wiped blood on his pants. “He came in here, jumped out of his wheelchair, and attacked me.” Winston spit blood. “He’s a madman.”
Jake leaped out of his chair. “I’ll show you a madman!”
“Stop it!” Lisa shoved him back down. “What the hell is the matter with y
ou, Jake? You’re out of control!”
He dropped his head, panting.
“I’ve never seen you like this before.” She stared at him. “Why would you do this?”
He rubbed his red fist. “I just got mad.”
“How could you do this at my job, Jake?” she yelled. “What about respect for me? This is
where I work! I have enough people spreading rumors about me. I don’t need you adding fuel to the fire.”
“I’m...I’m sorry.” He reached for her hand.
She moved back. “No, you’re not sorry. If you were sorry then you wouldn’t have done this. I thought you were above all this macho bullshit.” She glanced at the others. “I can’t believe you’d act like this. Winston is a police officer and he can arrest you for assault.”
Jake glared at him. “I don’t give a shit.”
“I don’t want to arrest him.” Winston kept his hand on his mouth. “But if you show up here like this again then I might.”
“I just...” Lisa put her hands on her waist. “I just can’t believe you acted like this, Jake.”
“Everyone gets mad sometimes, Lisa. It’s like you expect me to be perfect.”
She bent down to him. “I expect you to act with some discretion and common sense.” She stood. “I’ve never been so angry with you.”
“Lisa.” He took her hand. “Please, I’m...”
She threw her head back. “Just go.”
“What?” He let her hand go. “Lisa—”
“I mean it, Jake.”
He pointed to his chest. “You want me to go?”
“Yes. I have nothing to say to you right now.” She turned her back to him.
“Lisa?”
“Go.” She moved from his path. “I’ll let you know when I’m ready to talk to you again.”
Winston smirked.
Jake glared at him as he left the room.
****
Four Days Later:
Lisa entered the congested downtown police station. She caught an elevator ride to the third floor and ended up at Detective Deanne Mosley’s corner office. She knocked on the parted door.
A round-faced woman with bushy brown hair and glasses looked up.
“Hello. Are you Detective Mosley?” Lisa approached the desk with her arm extended. “I’m Detective Lisa Swanson. It’s nice to meet you.”