by Laura Greene
“So, let me ask you, Olsen, when exactly did you and your dad plan to break into my house; was it before or after you planned your jailbreak?” Tina is firm in her questioning, yet careful to speak cordially without making Olsen feel accused.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Are you coming after me now?” Tina is a little on edge. It could be the lack of sleep or the feeling of anxiety that someone is hunting her. “Wasn’t it enough that your dad stormed in here and made a scene already?”
Olsen’s shoulders deflate, he is genuinely surprised at the news. “Detective, my dad didn’t even come visit me in jail - he sent his lawyer to tell me to stop being selfish because he’s up for re-election this year. I see his lawyer more than I see him. If he has something against you, he will take care of it himself.” Something tells Tina that Senator Hunt is a worse nemesis to have than Olsen. The goosebumps on her arms reveal she took the warning seriously. “No offense, but you are the least of my worries. I’m here for someone else.”
“Who are you after, Olsen?” Tina is worried now; she is watching Olsen’s demeanor change before her eyes and it’s menacing. If he’s after someone, that someone’s life is in grave danger.
With a clenched jaw and furrowed eyebrows, Olsen speaks through gritted teeth, “I should have done this before Anna died, then maybe she wouldn’t be gone.”
“Olsen. Olsen.” Tina can see his pupils are dilating and he’s going into some dark place where he cannot hear her hushed tones. “Olsen! Look at me, you do not have to do this. This is a serious offense. Your dad cannot bail you out from it.” Tina is now holding both of Olsen’s arms and pleading with him. Her negotiations are of no avail. He is resolute.
“I don’t care. She was the only person who cared about me and he took her. I know he did.”
“Who?”
“Well, I should thank you. You gave me the tip when you visited me today and that confirmed my suspicions.” Olsen is walking boldly, towards the west wing of the school; his eyes are fiery with rage and his body is marching with purpose. Tina must act fast. Olsen did not give her a name so she must think back to their conversation in the station earlier today. Then her eyes widen with fear. She races to the courtyard. She’s looking for Nick if he hasn’t already left yet. He’s there.
“Nick, this is important.” Nick is caught off-guard by Tina’s sudden appearance. Meanwhile, Olsen is charging directly to his victim who is unaware he has a hit on him. “Where can I find Dean?”
“Uh… the… the library,” Nick says as he points west, about halfway from where Tina left Olsen and where she is now. That’s where Olsen is going. He is after Dean. If she leaves now, she might get to him before Olsen does.
“I need you to go to Amy and tell her to call it in to Barnes. I have to find Dean before Olsen gets to him. And show her this.” She hands him a folded piece of paper.
“Call what in?” Nick’s face is flustered, and he is deliberately trying to remain calm enough to carry out his duty well.
Tina is already running towards the west courtyard doors. “Crime of passion. She’ll know.” And with that, Nick sprints to the east doors; Tina disappears from the brightly-lit courtyard into the dim hallway. What she is racing to if she is a moment too late could be a bloodbath.
From the hallway, she takes a right and an immediate left. Straight ahead she sees the double doors of the library. No sign of Olsen. She’s not sure if he’s ahead or if she’s got it wrong. It’s a clear path to the doors, marked with framed, early editions of books by great authors of all time. If Tina had the time, she would pause to admire the works of Hemingway, Dickens, Shakespeare and Christie among others. Today, however, she has not a moment to spare. She’s almost at the doors.
Her watch vibrates. It’s a message. Normally, in the field she will wait until she has secured her suspect to tend to messages. If it’s urgent, the office will speak into her and her partner’s earpiece, but here she has made her own team and the only way they can talk to her is through her phone. She peeks at her watch and sees a message from Nick. She swipes right to read it:
Help is on the way.
Tina breathes a sigh of relief as she opens the double doors. It’s exactly what she hoped to read. “Dean Brauwer?”
A teenage attendant at the desk nonchalantly points her finger at a room at the back with the door shut and blinds drawn. “There.” Her tender, timid voice reminds Tina that she is supposed to whisper in a library. She draws her badge.
“Ma’am, I need you to clear this room as quickly and quietly as possible. Right now.” Tina runs to the back. There are rows of books buttressed on neatly stacked metal columns. She picks one row that is closest to the room the teenage assistant pointed at. She is sure that it is the right room and she stretches high above stacks of books on metal shelves and ducks low where an opening in a bookcase permits, as she runs to see if she can spot Olsen’s green sweater in-between books or orange-highlighted sneakers in another row. Nothing yet.
She bangs at the door. There’s no answer; only a tremor of shushing sounds from guests who haven’t received the news to vacate the premise yet. Tina flashes her badge again and waves her hand behind her to signal that those hushing voices need to vacate the premise. “Dean! FBI, open up! I know you are in there.” He is not answering, but she can hear bustling movements inside.
Bang.
With one solid slam of her foot to the door, Tina breaks open the door and draws her gun as she lands her foot down. “FBI!” Just as she thought, Olsen is already inside. He is standing on the left side of the room, ready to attack, with a knife drawn. He does not take his eyes off his target even to look at Agent James, who is now standing at the doorway with her gun pointing at him. When the door swings back, it reveals a timid Dean Brauwer seated on the floor with no shirt on, scooting back towards the wall with his right hand and shielding a terrified Ella with his left. Tina can tell two buttons are undone on Ella’s school shirt and she is clenching it around her waist with trembling hands. Around them are sheets, a small black bag and blankets – there is no desk or book in sight. It doesn’t take much for Tina to know that they were not meeting to study.
“I told you, detective. He should be the one in jail.” Fumes are hissing out from Olsen’s nostrils and spit is escaping into the air from the foam around his mouth as he speaks.
“You’re right, Olsen. And he is going to prison for a long time, but I need you to give me the chance to arrest him. The only way I can do that is if you give me your knife.” Tina is slowly inching away from the door towards Olsen, making sure she does not startle him into doing anything dangerous. She can see that the knife, if rightly plunged in, is large enough to cause considerable damage to the organs.
“I already gave you a chance, detective,” Olsen turns his head towards Tina, keeping his knife pointed at Dean, “and now I am going to take care of this scum myself.” He says this as he swings his arm with the knife to point in the direction Dean is for emphasis. Tina instinctively turns her head to look at Dean and Ella as if to make sure Olsen’s jab into the air did not harm them. Even though she does not approve of his choice of method, Tina can appreciate Olsen’s desire to see justice served. She can’t, however, allow him to carry it out. Right now she is the only protection for Dean and Ella. She needs to get between them and Olsen to be more effective.
“Olsen, you have to understand that I’m not going to let him get away. Allow me to carry out justice. You have your future ahead of you. Please don’t throw it away.” As she turns to look at Dean and Ella on the floor, Tina sees Dean reach across Ella with his broad arm. Carefully and rapidly he grabs a black duffel bag, and lifts with his legs while pushing against the wall behind him, moving his body and Ella’s as well to their feet.
“Dean, no!” Tina shouts. Her free hand flings into the air with her palm open to signal, “Stop!”
“You can’t kill me if you can’t catch me,” Dean taunts
his attacker. He is still holding Ella and she shakes her head, confused at what’s happening around her. It is chaotic.
This is when Olsen charges forward with his knife. Ella gasps what may be her last. Olsen moves at full speed ahead in the small room and yells a groaning noise as he swipes the knife at Dean. It happens so fast that Tina is still too far from the three of them.
Dean jumps out of the way. He swings the duffel bag forcefully and knocks the knife out of Olsen’s hand; he also unsteadies Olsen, who falls down with a loud thump from the intensity of his speed. The knife slides along the wood floors, hits the wall and delivers a low clunking noise. It is thick and heavy. It definitely would have caused a lot of damage.
Olsen is too far from his knife; he grabs Dean’s foot from the floor. Tina rushes in to break up the fight. Dean grabs Ella and throws her into Tina. She catches Ella, but Dean shakes off Olsen and escapes through the door with the bag in his hand. Whatever is in that bag must be very important to him, Tina thinks as she steadies Ella and instructs her to stay in the room until it’s safe to exit.
Olsen slips out of the room. He’s going after Dean. She picks up the knife and chases after them. Outside the room, it’s a ghost town. The library assistant has successfully cleared the area, Tina is relieved to see. Olsen is nowhere in sight. Which way did he go? She runs to the front of the library where she sees a desperate Dean struggling with the door.
“Having a little trouble there, Dean?” It’s Olsen. Tina is glad she also told the assistant to lock all the doors on her way out. Call it a hunch, but Tina did not want to risk involving the entire school if anything serious broke out and it has. “You thought you got away, didn’t you.” His voice is coming from among the columns and Dean, a mere sitting duck, is unable to identify where it’s coming from. A gun cocks. “Well, I have you now.” Dean spots Tina in a row close to him. She too is trying to locate Olsen, but the echo from the dome in the room makes it difficult to know with exactness.
“Agent James, you have to help me, I have all the information you need in this bag,” Dean pleads and holds up the duffel bag.
“I wish I could. He is the one with the gun.” Tina stands up and waves the knife in her hand. She now knows there is evidence in the bag. A look of horror wipes all the color from Dean’s face, who just moments ago thought he had successfully escaped. He tightens his grip on his duffel bag and fumbles with the zip to open it.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Olsen appears from the furthest row of columns with a gun in his hand. He is walking towards them and this time he is not taking his eyes off of Dean. “Drop the bag. Slide it over.” Dean obeys. He is out of options and the terror on his face shows it. “What’s inside?”
“I’ll tell you everything you want to know. Just don’t shoot. There’s… there’s a phone, money, some clothes. You can have it, just let me go.” Dean had packed a getaway bag and he would have disappeared by now if they hadn’t busted him.
“Agent James, open the bag and tell me what’s inside. No monkey business or I’ll shoot.”
Tina walks in front of Dean and crouches down. At least now she is in front of him. If Olsen comes close enough, she will be in a good position to intervene. The bag is open. Dean has his hands up, but he is looking over her shoulder to see what Tina will unveil first. “There’s cash, clothes, a passport,” Tina sees a gun and pushes it to the side. She knows that was what Dean was going to get when Olsen stopped him. “More cash.” She is putting each item to the side as she identifies it to Olsen. Tina hopes she can buy more time. She slows down her search and asks, “Were you planning to run away with Ella after you killed Anna? Might I remind you that she is also a minor.” As she asks her question, she slips something small into her pocket.
“I didn’t kill her. Yes, her and I slept together, but I didn’t...”
“He’s lying!” Olsen says, and darts forward. He shoots. Dean ducks in fear. Then, he slowly straightens up, overcome with surprise. He’s still standing. He’s alive. Olsen is laughing as water drips out of the mouth of the pistol.
“Dean Brauwer, you’re under arrest for the sexual assault of minors.” Tina reads him his Miranda rights.
“But how?” Dean wonders.
Tina pulls out her gun from the back of her blue pants and waves it in the air, “The real gun was here the whole time.” She turns to Olsen, “Thanks for your help. You’ll make a great detective one day.”
Officer Barnes and his team unlock the door. “Agent James, Olsen, job well done. We’ll take over from here.”
Nick walks in behind the officers, “How would you like to join me for dinner tonight?”
Tina laughs, “Are you asking me out right after I just arrested someone?”
“I must say it’s very attractive to see you in your element. Besides, you have got to tell me how you figured out Olsen was after Dean and how you even knew about Dean! I have a lot of questions that I need you to answer… over dinner.” Nick is charming in a playful sort of way, and Tina is thankful for someone she can just have fun with. She hesitates a moment, leery of jumping in too soon, then ignores the caution and says yes.
As they walk off to dinner, Tina feels in her pocket for one piece of evidence that she knows won’t make it back to the station because she needs it for her investigation. It’s a small, gray USB. She does not know it yet, but here lies the most crucial piece of evidence to solving her case, and it’s called, The List.
CLOSE TO HER KILLER
Chapter 1
“Do you bring your work with you on all your dates?” a rather curious Nick asks, playfully glancing over to his date who is carrying a laptop.
“Who said this was a date?” Tina replies. It is night time and Agent Tina James agreed to go out for dinner with Nick because he asked her to explain how she cracked her last case. She noticed that he was hitting on her, earlier and she had safely settled it in her mind that he was just being playful. But now, Nick is calling it a date? Neither one of them is dressed for the occasion and Tina is still apprehensive about starting anything too soon. Still, she can’t help being flattered that he wants to be with her.
“If you play your cards right tonight, I just might take you out again.” Nick says this suggestively and just as quickly breaks into a loud laugh. Tina rolls her eyes. He is such a fun-loving guy and exactly what she needs in her life right now. Tina loves to have fun, she really does, even though her busy schedule hasn’t shown it lately. With such a serious case on her hands, she had forgotten how to have fun, but now she is learning again.
Tina lets out a chuckle of disbelief, “If you think I’m the one who needs to play their cards right, you’re in for a surprise. Remember who said this was a date? Besides, I thought chaplains weren’t allowed to date.” She pushes him away jokingly and turns her head back to look at him. Involuntarily, she gives off a soft sigh. Staring at his chiseled cheekbones and goldish hues from the evening lights reflecting off his tanned skin, Tina can’t help but think, He sure is handsome.
They arrive at the door. “Those are priests. Chaplains can date and marry anyone they want.” Nick’s confident assurance when he speaks is almost enough to knock Tina off her feet, but she steadies herself with the door.
They’re walking casually into Mademoiselle's and out of the cool winter evening breeze. This is the most relaxed Tina has been since she arrived in Newport. Coming from Boston, this small town has taken some time to grow on her, but she is learning to love it and its mysterious residents.
Least mysterious of all, is Julie, the owner of Mademoiselle’s and she is the first to greet them at the door. Tina hasn’t seen her since the first day she arrived in Rhode Island. She can’t forget how chatty Julie was, as her ex-fiance, Dale pretended to concentrate on his food to avoid small talk. That seems like a century ago now, but it was just a few days ago.
Julie does not flinch in wonder why Tina is at her restaurant with another man. As Julie put it last time, “Newport i
s a town full of secrets.” Instead she leads them to their table.
Tina is beginning to see that Julie might be the secret-keeper for much of Newport. She claims to know much, but she is yet to reveal a single secret in conversation. Looking at the cozy tables neatly spread out in the cafe, Tina giggles at the thought of the most talkative person in town holding the deep secrets of the townspeople.
Once seated in a quiet, corner booth, they order their food. Tina starts typing away on her laptop then she notices the silence. When she looks up, she sees Nick looking admiringly at her. He doesn’t say a word. Poking fun at him she says, “Is this the part where you play footsie with me?”
Tina’s past relationships have often moved too quickly. With her fast-paced life as a detective, she liked it that way because it meant less feelings were involved. Emotions make relationships messy, she thinks. Maybe that’s the problem. In the past, she wouldn’t allow herself to emotionally invest in something as messy as an intimate relationship and end up like her parents – divorced. It’s something that cut deep into her as a child and she has been running from it for years. Somehow she has a feeling things will be different this time with Nick.