“Now let go of the woman,” Thorndyke said.
Maxine shrugged out of Brian’s grasp and went to Summer, who pulled her out of the way.
“Now get on your knees and put your hands on your head.”
Brian obliged. “How did you get that picture?”
Summer looked at the picture on Bills’ phone. There was a beautiful brunette sitting in a hot tub smiling at the camera. She wasn’t wearing a top. “Who’s that?”
“That’s Heather!” Bill pointed the gun at Brian. “The love of my life!”
“That’s my wife, you bastard!” Brian said. “How did you get a picture of her?”
“Put down the gun, young man,” Detective Thorndyke said. “So far, I’ve nothing to charge you with. I recommend you keep it that way.”
Bill turned to face the detective, “But they ruined my life.” Without realizing it, he was now pointing the gun at Thorndyke. “What about that?”
“Put the gun down.” Thorndyke swiveled his pistol to aim at Bill.
Bill looked at his pistol, realizing what he was doing. He flinched and dropped the pistol. It made a hollow sound as it hit the tile floor.
“Bloody hell! Is that thing plastic?” Thorndyke asked.
“Well sure...” Bill started. “I can’t own a real gun.”
“I could have killed you, you dolt!” Thorndyke started toward him as he lowered his pistol.
Brian hopped to his feet and started toward Thorndyke who was looking at Bill.
Summer jumped forward and tackled Brian as Thorndyke brought his pistol back up again. He didn’t aim at Brian since he was tangled up with Summer. “Everyone freeze!”
Summer grabbed one of Brian’s wrists and pushed his hand away as he tried to grab her arm, she pushed it to the floor and spun around to put her weight on top of him. Even though he outweighed her by over fifty pounds, he wasn’t in a position he could leverage her off. Brian swung at Summer awkwardly, trying to get her to release his wrist. She spun around again; ending up at the end of the arm she had by the wrist. She maneuvered her legs under his shoulder and smoothly tucked her feet under his back. As he struggled to release his hand, she leaned back, pulling his arm up and over her thighs while his body remained on the floor. The pain -and realization- of her starting to dislocate his shoulder made him stop struggling.
“Freeze!” Thorndyke said again.
Summer smiled at the detective as she kept pressure on Brian’s arm. “I think he’s done fighting, Alistair.”
“It’s Detective Thorndyke.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am indeed, young lady.” Thorndyke reached into his other pocket and pulled out his radio. “I need back up in room...” He looked around. “What room is this?”
“Room two,” Summer said.
“Ah yes. Room two,” Thorndyke repeated. “First floor.”
“There’s only one room two.” Summer pointed out.
“If you’d kindly stop wrestling that man’s arm out of its socket, I’m sure I can handle it from here.”
“You going to behave?” Summer asked Brian as she leaned back slightly.
Brian only nodded. He was back to looking at Bill.
Summer slid away from the man then stood. “I can’t believe you didn’t call for backup.”
“I had it under control,” Thorndyke said. “And backup was close by. Didn’t want to muddy the waters.”
“How did you know to even come here?” Maxine asked.
“I had received indications that you confirmed for me.” Thorndyke pulled a chair over while still keeping an eye on Brian. He sat in the chair and rested his arm on the table while still keeping the gun trained on the dentist. “Well done, by the way.”
“I confirmed it?”
Thorndyke nodded. “Yes. When you walked by. That’s why I signaled you back.”
“You what?” Maxine moved closer to the detective. “What signal?”
“I scratched my right ear with my pen to let you know that I was going to be ‘right ‘ere’ with you.”
Summer laughed. “Obviously..”
“What?” Maxine said. “Come on.”
“It’s Cockney rhyming slang. Brown bread is dead. Apples and pears are stairs.” He smiled. “Or Tumble down the sink is to have a drink.”
“Why don’t you just say ‘dead’ or ‘drink’?”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
Summer moved beside her friend. “Don’t be a... a...” She looked at Thorndyke. “Sir?”
“A Khyber.” He tilted is head, “Khyber pass... ass.”
“I still don’t get it.” Maxine said. “Now how did you know I was in trouble?”
“Officer Simmons told me you and your friend were tracking down leads. And then Mattis confirmed that when he said he checked the deceased phone.” He winked at Maxine. “He wasn’t too keen on spilling the beans. Neither was Simmons. Seems they were going to solve the case on their own and I mucked up their plans.”
“I see. That’s very proactive of them.” Summer said.
“Your womanly wiles put the thought in their head, I should think.”
“Womanly wiles?” Simmer grinned. “He says have wiles, hear that Maxie? I’m not sure I believe him.”
“Madame, from my experience, you all do. In any case, thanks to Officer Mattis’ aptly described proactive police work, when I saw you with that chap,” he pointed at Brian, “who Mattis had told me had sent the last message to our recently departed Doctor Anderson, and you gave me a wild-eyed gawk.”
“It wasn’t a gawk,” Maxine interjected.
“A wild-eyed gawk,” Thorndyke said again, “I deduced that he was indeed the killer and was looking for your partner to get rid of the pair of you and your meddling ways.” He leaned back. “So I watched you two walk in here and waited for Miss Summers to show up to get everyone together.”
“Well done,” Summer said. “Except for one minor detail.”
“Oh?”
Officers Mattis and Simmons jogged into the room, guns drawn.
“He’s all yours officers,” Thorndyke said to them. He looked at Summer, “What detail?”
“It’s Summer without an ‘s’ because it’s my first name. Summer. Summer Schauers.”
“I see.” Thorndyke didn’t even smile. “Miss Schauers, then.”
“Since we’re all friends now, how about an exclusive?” Summer asked. “Yes?”
“No.” Thorndyke said as he slipped his gun back into his pocket.
“They make these things called holsters to keep those things in,” Summer said. “Especially when you’re carrying a hand cannon like that 44. Magnum around with you.”
“This is much more discrete.” Thorndyke pointed out. “No one suspects anything when I casually put my hand in my pocket. If I reached for a holster, that wouldn’t be the case.”
Simmons hauled Brian to his feet as Mattis kept him covered with his weapon. Simmons brought Brian’s hands behind his back as he handcuffed them.
“Well done, Officer Mattis,” Thorndyke said. “And you, Simmons. Well done, indeed.”
Jerry nodded at the man. “Thanks, Detective.” He looked at Summer and smiled.
“If you’ll do the honors.” Thorndyke gestured at them. “We will meet at the station to write up the report.”
Jerry looked at Brian. “You have the right to remain silent.”
“How did you get Ann’s picture?” Brian said to Bill. “How?”
“That’s not very silent,” Maxine observed.
Bill looked at his phone. “This is Heather. Who’s Ann?”
“Ann is my wife, you bastard!” Brian struggled against the handcuffs as Officer Simmons held onto them.
“I think that’s poetic justice!” Summer said. “Just great!”
“What?’ Simmons asked.
“So Brian is having an affair with Doctor Dixon while his wife is having an affair with Bill. Or had an affair,” she corrected herself. S
he snapped her fingers. “Hey! That’s why you can’t find her, Bill!”
“What?” Bill said. “Why?”
“You’re looking for the wrong person. Her real name is Ann Larson and she’s from...” She looked at Brian. “Where do you live?”
Brian looked the other way.
“We’ll get that bit of information when we book him, Summer. I’ll let you know.” Mattis said.
“Reno.” Brian sighed. “We live in Reno.”
“That’s where you need to look, Bill. And who you need to look for.”
“Why you...” Brian struggled against his cuffs again.
“Get him out of here, Officers,” Thorndyke said.
“Yes, Sir,” Mattis said as he holstered his weapon. “Ready?”
Simmons nodded. “Sure am. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law,” He said as he took Brian’s elbow and led him away.
“You have the right to an attorney,” Mattis said as he took Brian’s other elbow as the pair led Brian out.
“This convention is like a soap opera,” Maxine said. She moved to the chair and sat beside Thorndyke. “It’s out of control.”
“Barking mad is what we’d call it in Sussex.”
“Barking mad sounds just about right,” Summer said.
“Oh!” Maxine exclaimed.
“Now what?” Thorndyke looked at Maxine.
“Terrance Brushwood has to be in on the murder because he texted Brian to get him to bring me here.”
“How do you know that?” Summer asked.
“When Brian looked at a text he got, he knew that you were talking to Terrance. So Terrance had to have told Brian where to find you and to bring me along. To murder us both!”
“A quick check of his phone will reveal that,” the Detective said as he pushed himself to his feet. “And, seeing as how you’ve been right on the other matters of the case, I think I’ll bring an officer with me to question him.” He shrugged. “And charge him with two counts of conspiracy to commit murder.”
“That’s a pretty productive day, you’re having, Detective,” Summer said.
“Quite.”
“Makes you want to give us an exclusive for all our help, right?”
“Not quite.” Thorndyke said.” He sighed. “But I imagine that Officer Mattis is going to call you with the sorted details unless I order him not to. So I suppose I won’t.”
Summer clapped her hands. “I could hug you!”
“Madame...” Thorndyke started. “I’ll have you know...” After a moment, he just turned and walked out.
“Huh.” Maxine said. “Just when I thought we were making progress with that man.”
“Right? Maybe the next murder will go smoother.”
“Next?” Maxine shuddered. “Our next assignment needs to a nice quiet restaurant opening, or flower show, or something else boring.”
“I’m sure it will be,” Summer assured her friend. A thought occurred to her. “Hey!”
Maxine raised an eyebrow. “What now?”
“If we hurry, we can get a photo of them putting Brian and Terrance in patrol cars. Those would be great shots to go with our story!”
“That’s true since it’s a double affair, single homicide story now.”
“That’s better than the other way around, I think.” Summer grabbed Maxine by the hand. “Let’s go get those photos.” She pulled her along. “Then we’re done for the day.”
“Except for one more thing.” Maxine said.
“What’s that?”
“I’ve still got a date.”
“Ahh! I almost forgot,” Summer said. “Okay. You go on the date and I’ll head to the paper to get the story banged out for the morning edition. Deal?”
“Deal.”
“I’ll expect details when you get in in the morning.” Summer said. “After having me do all the work.”
“Okay, okay.”
When the pair got out of the room, they headed straight for the main entrance.
TWENTY-SIX
Eddie rubbed his temples. “So the dentist’s wife was having an affair with another dentist’s assistant who was being blackmailed by him. And that dentist was having an affair with someone else.”
“No.” Summer said. “Well, sort of. The two were having affairs, but the Dentist having the affair was blackmailing a different dentist who was...”
“Just put it down and I’ll figure it out then.” Eddie said.
“The pictures are nice and simple,” Summer said. “The bad guys are in handcuffs. The good guys are wearing police uniforms.”
“That does help.” Eddie admitted. “Why isn’t Maxine explaining that?”
“She has a date.”
“A date. We’ve got a big story sitting in our laps and she’s got a date.”
“He’s really cute. And he helped with the investigation. He’s a security guard at the convention center.”
“And the guy who was murdered...Were any of these people locals?” Eddie asked.
Summer shook her head. “No, none of them. Apparently the dentists in Tucson are well behaved. Why?”
“Because that means I won’t have the Chamber of Commerce or the Mayor calling me about the story when it’s on the front page in the morning.”
“That’s a good thing then.” Summer said. “You know, Terrance did say there was more sex going on at the convention than a high school prom.” Summer said. She glanced at Eddie. “Think I can work that into the story?”
Eddie stared at her.
“How about if I make it sound quaint?” Offered Summer. “And tasteful?” Summer sat up. “Wait, did you say front page?”
“Yeah, yeah. Put it all down and I’ll give you the front page... without the sex.”
“Above the fold?” Summer leaned forward.
“Below the fold but center,” Eddie continued, “and the whole front page of the local section.”
“That works.” Summer said as she stood. “Okay, I’ll get this all written out for you. I hear that the paper gets put to bed by ten thirty.”
“Ten thirty sharp,” Eddie said. “So you’ve got plenty of time to get it to me so I can edit your mess.” Eddie exhaled. “Who knew the dental world could be so cutthroat.” He smirked.
“Nice.” Summer said.
“You can use that if you want. And get me some sort of diagram with arrows so I know who’s who when I read your piece. There was a lot of shenanigans going on.”
“You got it boss,” Summer said as turned to the door. “I’ll be glad for a nice quiet restaurant opening after this weekend.”
“There’s one of them later this week.” Eddie gestured at the door. “Off you go, diligent worker of mine.”
With a smile, Summer left the office to type up the entire ordeal.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Summer brought the paper down onto her lap- her feet were up on her desk. “What do you think, Maxie?”
Maxine was at her desk, paper in front of her. “Very nice. Below the fold, but still on the front page.”
Eddie walked over and sat on the corner of Maxine’s desk. “How are my diligent workers today?”
“Did you hear that?” Summer said, “We’re diligent. Our boss called us diligent. Us.”
“I had a murderer call me ‘beautiful’, just so you know,” Maxine said.
“Well, I’m not going to go down that rabbit hole,” Eddie said. “But well done, you two.” He was also holding the morning paper. “I have to say I was expecting at least one or two calls from the convention center for them being so prominently featured in this story, but so far that hasn’t happened.”
“That’s good news. Really, it’s not their fault they had a bunch of loons show up for their convention.” Maxine said. “I mean, it was a bunch of dentists; you’d think they would be well behaved.”
“Speaking of supposedly being well behaved,” Summer looked at Maxine.
“What?”
“You
’re going to make me say it?”
“Say what?” Maxine turned the page of the paper. “Wonder what the weather will be tomorrow.”
“Maxine Michael Bryant,” Summer said tersely. “The weather tomorrow is the same as every day for the past four months until the Monsoons start. I demand to know the details of your date with mister Stephan full-of-muscles.”
“Oh dear, I’m not sure I want to hear about that,” Eddie said as he hopped off the desk. “I still want to be able to look my photographer in the eye.” With that he walked off, paper tucked under his arm.
“Well?” Summer coaxed.
Maxine laughed as she leaned back and put her feet on her desk. “Rains. His last name is Rains.”
“Rains?” Now Summer laughed. “So much for me dating his brother. If he had one, that is.”
“Summer!”
“I’m sorry.” She got serious. “So how was the date? Really.”
“It was good. We talked until he had to go back to work.” Maxine sighed. “The time really flew by.”
“So, when will you see him again?”
“I saw him again that night.”
“I’m dashed. On your first date?”
“We met for a late dinner when he got off and we talked.” Maxine smiled. “And talked.” She leveled her gaze at Summer. “And that’s it. Even though it was technically our second date.”
“I wasn’t judging.” Summer said. “So he’s nice then, I’m gathering.”
“He is very nice,” Maxine answered. “And we’re going to have another date next weekend. Once the convention is all packed up and gone.”
“When the crazies are gone, is what you mean.”
Maxine nodded. “Yes. Then they gear up for their next show.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I think he said they have a boat show scheduled next. I say we don’t cover it just in case it gets crazy with margaritas and pirates or whatever.”
Summer nodded. “We’ll do quiet bike races, marathons even.”
“Sounds good.” Maxine said. “The less excitement the better.”
“I can’t wait.” Summer.
END
(Until the next convention)
Pulling the Trooth Page 15