In Self Defense (Winchester, Tn. Book 1)

by Debra Webb

  “The court date is at the bottom,” he informed her. “You be sure to pay your ticket before that date or make the scheduled appearance.”

  Audrey continued to hold back the rant she wanted to make. She would be calling Chief of Police Billy Brannigan about how long it took one of his officers to write a damned ticket. She’d almost lost her mind waiting on the man.

  “I’ll be sure to do that, Officer.”

  “You slow down, Ms. Anderson. You’re lucky I was feeling generous and just gave you a speeding ticket. You can’t be driving sixty in a thirty-mile-an-hour zone.”

  “I’m so sorry. As I said there’s an emergency at the paper.” She could literally see the newspaper building from where she was sitting. If she’d only made it another block before he noticed her, she wouldn’t be patiently sitting here forcing a smile she in no way felt. She silently urged him to walk away...to get back in his cruiser and be gone before she imploded.

  “Have a nice night, ma’am.” He tipped his head and sauntered on back to his cruiser.

  “You, too, Officer.”

  Probably all of his speeding stops had excuses. But hers was real. She swallowed hard as she shifted into Drive and rolled forward. As much as she wanted to stomp the accelerator and fly the final few hundred yards, she was well aware the officer would be watching. So she drove the speed limit, made the turn onto the street adjacent to the newspaper and then the final turn, a left, into the rear parking lot.

  Her heart sank as she spotted the plumbing contractor’s truck. She parked, scrambled out of her car and rushed into the building through the rear entrance, which was already unlocked. The door was blocked with a rubber shim to keep it from closing and locking out anyone who needed access.

  If she was too late... God, she did not even want to think that way.

  She reached the door to the basement and it swung open before she could grab the knob.

  At the sight of her, Brian grabbed his chest. “You scared the hell out of me.”

  “What’s going on down there?” Suddenly she didn’t want to go down those stairs. Flashes of memories from that night zoomed through her mind like lightning strikes. Her mother crying. Her father dead on the floor in his office...and the other man. Oh God, the other man had been dead, too. Shot in the chest. Blood everywhere. Scrubbing the wood floor in her father’s office.

  She put a hand to her stomach to stop the roiling there. Oh God.

  “The water just kept getting deeper and deeper.” Brian shuddered. “I moved everything up to the higher shelves while the contractor was trying to figure out how to get the water turned off. Apparently our main shutoff failed and they had to find the nearest shutoff the city installed for the block. Do you know how complicated that was? This building—this whole block—is so old no one knew where to look.” His eyes rounded and he spread his arms wide. “The blueprints had been modified so many times it was impossible to make sense of them.”

  Audrey held up her hands. “Just tell me they got the water shut off.”

  He nodded. “Finally. Now the fire department is on the way here. They’re going to pump the water out of the basement and then we’ll go from there.”

  Her heart slid back into her chest and started to beat once more. “I thought you said something about digging.”

  “Not yet,” he said. “Not until the water is pumped out. He’s called for jackhammers to break up the concrete.”

  The back door burst open and two firemen in full turnout gear hustled into the building dragging an endless line of hose behind them.

  “Over here,” Brian called.

  Before Audrey could say anything else or intercede, her lifelong friend showed the firemen down the basement stairwell with their hose that snaked back out the door and to a truck, she supposed, that had pumping capabilities.

  This was a mess. It could not happen. No one could dig up the basement under any circumstances. Removing the water she understood; that had to be done. But the rest couldn’t happen.

  She took a breath. Reached for calm, couldn’t find it. She had to stop whatever was planned after the water was pumped out. Maybe she should shut the paper down. With sudden, acute clarity she abruptly understood that was the only answer. She should have done exactly that when she first came home. But the idea of ending her father’s legacy out of fear seemed wrong. Besides, she’d used the excuse that she wanted to carry on the family legacy to halt Phillip’s deal with the developer.

  Now she was in a corner and there was no way out.

  Oh God. She didn’t want to think what this would do to her mom.

  Brian reappeared and she wanted to shake him, to order him to stop this and to let her go home and think. She needed to figure out how to repair the situation before anything else happened. Turn it around somehow.

  Audrey summoned her voice, struggled to keep it even. “When the water is removed, let’s call it a night and tackle this problem tomorrow. Let the basement dry out.” Sounded completely reasonable to her.

  “Are you kidding?” Brian looked at her as if she’d lost her mind.

  “No,” she snapped. “I am too stressed right now to deal with this, Bri. I need... I need to think. To figure all this out.”

  As if he’d only then realized she was extremely upset, Brian put his hands on her arms and said, “Audrey, I know you’ve got some sort of issue with the basement, but this has to be taken care of tonight. We don’t have a choice in the matter.”

  “Why?” she demanded, her worry instantly morphing into irritation. This was her building; if she wanted to stop the planned repairs, she should be able to make that happen. The notion sounded childish even to her but she couldn’t feel any other way at the moment.

  “No one beyond this building along the entire block has water now. The city shut it off to prevent the swimming pool forming in the basement from rising to this level. Until the repairs are made here—in this building—the water for the entire block has to stay off.”

  The reality of what he was saying finally bored its way through the haze of confusion and desperation swaddling her brain. There was no stopping this. All she could do now was hope they wouldn’t have to dig in a certain spot.

  Except she wasn’t a fool. The last time that floor had been opened up it was to work on the underground plumbing, and that was exactly where they would need to dig this time. Defeat tugged at her, made remaining vertical almost impossible. She couldn’t stop this.

  Not this time.

  The pump in the truck outside started to hum and churn. Audrey hugged herself, unable to move. She should go to her office. Call Colt. Call her uncle Phillip. He would need to know what was about to happen. Should she sign the deed to the newspaper back over to him tonight? There was no way to know how long it would take to sort out the legal mess. Would they charge her and her mom? Her mom wasn’t mentally fit for trial but she would have been all those years ago.

  Did that make a difference?

  Audrey just didn’t know. Was the fact that she had been a child at the time an asset to her case? Doubtful. Besides, any district attorney worth his salt would want to know why she chose not to tell the truth after becoming an adult. There was no excuse for the decisions she and her mom had made.

  When the pump finished drawing out the water, the firemen hustled up from the basement, coiling the hose as they moved. Brian thanked them for their help. Audrey should have said something but she couldn’t. She just couldn’t. What they were doing would change everything. Would reveal this terrible thing.

  More men in work boots carrying large tools and dragging more hoses, these considerably smaller in circumference, rushed in and filed down the stairs. Outside a compressor fired up, the sound wafting into the lobby and reminding her that this was really happening.

  Her throat was sand dry. The sound of the jackhammers made her flinch. She tri
ed to settle her trembling body but that wasn’t happening this side of the grave. She should just go down there and see what they found. Maybe she’d get lucky and a sinkhole had swallowed up the remains of Jack Torrino.

  “I should make coffee,” Brian said, dragging her from the disturbing thoughts. “You look ready to collapse.”

  “I’m okay,” she lied.

  “The one thing you are not is okay,” he argued. “What’s going on, Rey? What is it about this basement that freaks you out so badly?”

  She shook her head. “I’m okay. We should go down and see what’s happening.”

  “If you’re up to it.”

  “I need to be down there.”

  Once they were through the door, her hand settled on the iron railing and she steadied herself for what was to come. Slowly, she descended into the massive basement that spread out nearly the entire footprint of the building. As Brian had said, he’d moved all the stored boxes to the higher shelves. She should thank him for taking care of this while she was out searching for Sauder.

  How had she ever allowed this to go on so long? When she bought the paper she should have spoken to Colt and told him the whole story. But she’d kept that awful secret, and now the whole world was about to know the ugly truth.

  By the time they reached the final step the noise was deafening. The jackhammers were like machine guns firing in automatic mode. What was worse, they were digging exactly where she had known they would. Dozens of knots tightened in her belly.

  “Rey, you’re shaking.”

  Brian touched her arm and Audrey faced him. “Brian, there’s something you should know.”

  He leaned closer. “What did you say?”

  She put her face to his ear. “Let’s go back upstairs where we can talk.”

  Audrey couldn’t get up the stairs fast enough. She suddenly felt cold. She hugged herself and tried to find the best way to tell her friend what she had been keeping secret for better than half her life. He had a right to know. He had been with this paper since finishing grad school. It was wrong to leave him in the dark when all hell was about to break loose.

  “What’s going on, Audrey?” He searched her face, his eyes filled with worry. “I’ve never seen you so upset. Not since you learned about your mother’s dementia.”

  “Bri, you remember when my father died. It was a real shock. He seemed as healthy as a horse and then he was dead.”

  “I do.” He sighed. “It was a difficult time for you and your mother.”

  Audrey smiled, her first of the night. “You were there for me. The best friend anyone could ever want.”

  He grinned. “Colt was, too, as I recall.”

  “He was.” She thought of that kiss tonight. What in the world had she been thinking? That she was tired of being lonely and holding grudges and pretending she didn’t care about him anymore. “I’m not sure I could have gotten through that time without the two of you.”

  “That’s what friends are for.” Brian frowned. “I really should make coffee. I think we’re going to be here for a while and you look terrible.”

  He was right. She could wait five more minutes. She’d waited more than twenty years already. “Coffee sounds great.”

  Down the hall beyond the door to the basement was a break room. Audrey watched her friend’s efficient movements as he filled the carafe and then poured the water into the reservoir. A few scoops of Colombian dark roast in a filter, and then he pressed the brew button. Instantly the aroma of smooth, dark coffee filled the air.

  He poured two cups, added sugar to his own and then carried the coffee to a table. “Sit. Talk to me.”

  For a minute, Audrey sipped the warm brew, grateful all over again for his suggestion. She took a deep breath and began. “That night when Mom found Dad, that wasn’t the only thing that happened.”

  She fell silent again. Grasping for the proper words to say to explain what happened. How in the world could she hope to explain murder?

  “I’ll need a little more than that, Rey. What else happened that night?”

  “Mom and I were worried about Dad. It was well past dinnertime and he hadn’t come home. He wasn’t answering the phone in his office and Uncle Phillip was out for the evening. Since there was no one else to call to check on him, we drove over here. The building was dark—or it looked that way from the outside.”

  She savored another sip of coffee before going on. “Mother and I parked and found the back door unlocked, which was very unusual. Since Dad was alone at the paper he would never have left the door unlocked. When we got into the lobby we looked up, seeing his office light. We could see that he was arguing with another man.”

  Brian lowered his cup to the table as if it suddenly felt too heavy. “What man?”

  Audrey shrugged. “I have no idea. Just a man.”

  “Did your mother go up to the office?” His face warned that the possibility of where this was going had disturbed him.

  Audrey nodded. “We hurried up the stairs. She ushered me into Uncle Phil’s office and told me to stay put until she returned for me. Then she rushed out. She told me later that when she got to his office, my dad and the other man were struggling. There was a gun on the floor. Mom said she shouted at them to stop. Pleaded with them, but they didn’t stop. It was obvious to her that it was the other man who wasn’t going to stop. And then—”

  “Peterson!”

  Brian’s name echoed down the hall. He jumped. Put a hand to his chest. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

  Audrey felt her body collapse into itself as he hurried from the room. She closed her eyes and tried to slow the spinning in her head.

  Vibration in her pocket snapped her eyes open. She dragged her cell from her pocket and checked the screen. She hoped there wasn’t a problem with her mom. Could be Colt. She frowned, didn’t recognize the number. Then the area code sank in. Chicago. Could be Judd.

  She hit accept. “Audrey Anderson.”

  “Can you repeat your name?”

  Audrey frowned, drew the phone back and checked the screen again. Then she said, “Audrey Anderson.”

  “Ms. Anderson, this is Detective Robert Dickson of the Chicago Police Department.”

  Frowning, Audrey wandered into the hall, moving toward the door to the basement. The racket had stopped. She could only assume they had finished breaking up the concrete. Had they started to move the debris yet?

  “How can I help you, Detective Dickson?”

  “You have an acquaintance in Chicago named Judd Seymour?”

  “I do. He’s a friend and business associate.” Her pulse rate accelerated; something dark and terrifying moved inside her. “What’s this about, Detective?”

  “Ma’am, when was the last time you saw Mr. Seymour?”

  Oh God. Something had happened to him. “I haven’t seen him in a year or so, but we spoke just this morning.”

  “Can you tell me the nature of your call?”

  Nerves jangling, Audrey held her ground. “I’m afraid I’m going to need to know what’s going on before I say more, Detective.”

  “Ma’am, Judd Seymour is dead. He was murdered in his home office. He spoke to you and then he made a couple of calls to numbers we haven’t been able to trace. So I’m going to need you to be as cooperative as possible starting right now.”

  Judd was murdered only hours after talking to her about this Torrino guy? Had he contacted the wrong source and that source tipped off someone who didn’t want Judd or anyone else digging into the past?

  Audrey explained to the detective that she’d called Judd about an old case that might be related to a new one happening in Winchester. She had to be careful because she didn’t know how much Colt would want her to share. When she’d answered everything she could answer, the detective reminded her that he would likely need to speak to her
again. She assured him she would be happy to cooperate in whatever way necessary.

  When the call ended, she called Colt. She got his voice mail. “Hey, it’s me. I... I’m at the paper.” She turned and walked toward the basement. Whatever was going on down there now it was entirely too quiet. “I need to talk to you. There’s something I have—”

  The grating sound of a car alarm echoed from the parking lot. Audrey paused, turned back to the rear exit and moved in that direction. The headlights of her car flashed in time with the obnoxious sound.

  Her car’s alarm was the one going off.

  “Damn it. Call me when you can. I need you, Colt.”

  She ended the call, walked out the door and toward the car. She pulled the fob from her pocket and shut off the alarm. When she was within a few steps of reaching it she noticed the passenger-side window was shattered.

  “What the hell?”

  A hand snaked around and clamped down on her mouth, yanked her backward against an unyielding chest. Cold, hard steel jammed into her temple. “Scream and you’re dead.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Colt was now officially on Branch’s bad side. The marshal was damned ticked off. First because Colt hadn’t called him the minute he heard from Sauder, and second because he refused to allow Branch to take charge. As angry as he was, in light of the situation, Branch had put his irritation and frustration aside until this was done.

  Saving Sarah Sauder’s life had to take priority.

  Six of Colt’s most trusted deputies had fanned out in the woods behind the Zimmerman property; two more were hidden behind farm equipment between the house and the barn. Colt had made his way through the darkness to the smokehouse only a few yards from the end of the house nearest the back door. He was close enough to kick a rock and hit the back of Ezra Zimmerman’s house. Branch was in the hayloft with a sharpshooter set up, night-vision scope included, ready to take out the bad guy if things went south.

  Now that they were in place, it was time for Wesley Sauder to move. Branch had refused to proceed under the radar like this without rigging up a tracking bracelet on Sauder. Colt didn’t actually blame him. The FBI and the Marshals Service had looked for Thomas Bateman for a long time. They had him figured for dead. Now that they knew he was still breathing, he wasn’t getting away again.