by Marja McGraw
“Like I said, don’t worry about it. I’ll put it in the trash and that’ll be the end of it.” Picking it up, I carried it inside and threw it in the trash can. End of story. Dolly always worried too much.
Everyone had followed me inside. I heard my mother inviting Dolly to join us for dinner, too. I set the package she’d handed me on a table by the stairs and mentally ran over the list of things I had in the house and wondered what would serve four of us.
“Why don’t we order a pizza?” Felicity understood. She lived alone, too, and didn’t always have enough to serve to a group unless she planned ahead.
I smiled my thanks at her. “Good idea.”
Felicity showed off her dress and even modeled it for Dolly. Mother explained that she’d be filling in the role of mother for Felicity at her wedding, and Dolly asked to be considered the official Grandmother.
“Of course, I want to be your grandmother, too,” she said, patting my hand.
I glanced at the wall clock in the kitchen and wondered where the time had gone. It was already four o’clock. Apparently we’d spent more time shopping than I realized.
The phone rang twice before I picked it up. It was Pete. “We’re just about out of range, so I thought I’d give you a call before we take the turn off to Wolf Creek.”
“So you didn’t have any trouble finding it again?” I asked.
“Not really. I remembered some of the landmarks.”
There was a lot of static on the line and I knew we wouldn’t be able to talk long. “Pete, it sounds like I’m about to lose you, so have a good time and call me as soon as you’re back in civilization.”
“I will. Frank said to tell Livvie…” The line went dead. They’d passed into No Man’s Land.
The phone rang again and I answered on the first ring. “Pete?”
“No, it’s Rick.” Ah, my favorite homicide detective. “Is Pete there? Well, I guess not since you thought it was him calling.”
“He went camping with my stepfather. What’s up? Can I help you?”
Rick cleared his throat. “Do you think you can reach Pete?” His voice sounded way too formal.
“No, he’s out of range. What’s wrong?” I knew it was something serious. I could feel it. My gut said this might be something I didn’t want anyone else to hear. I looked toward the living room and saw the women were engrossed in conversation. They’d started a list of things to be done in preparing for my wedding and Felicity’s. For some reason their voices sounded farther away than they were.
“Sandi, it turns out to be a case of mistaken identity. Somebody jumped the gun and called me to say he was back in custody. The guy’s name was David Smith, and he fit Smith’s general description, but it was a different David Smith.”
Blood pounded in my ears. I felt alone, even though I wasn’t. David was determined to come get me. He’d killed twice now, so making me his third victim would be easier for him. Don’t they say death comes in threes? The college student and guard had been numbers one and two. I didn’t want to be number three.
“Sandi?”
My silence worried Rick.
Chapter Seven
“I’m here, Rick. Give me a minute to process this. In fact, can I call you back?”
“Yes, but don’t wait too long. I’ve already sent Hernandez to start cruising your house. Are you alone right now?”
“No. Dolly, Felicity and my mother are all here. I’ll call you back.” I hung up, trying to decide how I could best handle telling the women in my living room that I was in big trouble. They had to know because if they were around me, they were in danger, too.
Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly. Bubba had wandered out to the kitchen and sat looking into my eyes. He was so intuitive. He always seemed to know when something was wrong. I patted his head, glad to have the big lug nearby, and then I took purposeful steps toward the living room.
I cleared my throat. “Um, I’ve got to tell you something and I don’t want anyone to panic.” I knew that was the wrong thing to say when I gazed at each face. They were ready to panic before they knew what to panic about.
Just spit it out and get it over with, I thought.
“David Smith is still on the loose. The guy they arrested was a different David Smith who happened to fit the general description. That was Rick on the phone with a warning.”
“What are you talking about?” I’d forgotten that Dolly didn’t know about David’s earlier escape.
“David escaped yesterday and they arrested someone attempting to steal a car, thinking it was him. It wasn’t. He wants to get even with me. Yesterday Rick said according to prison authorities, David has talked to other prisoners about killing me. And he murdered a guard while escaping.”
Dolly sat forward with her hands on her knees. “I remember when he tried to kill you the first time. I mean, I didn’t know about it at the time, but you told me about it later.”
I’d been living in an apartment and Dolly was my neighbor. When I moved into my house, I bought the house next door and rented it to Dolly. It seemed like wherever I went, she went, too. She’d turned into a grandmother of sorts. She had a granddaughter and great-granddaughter, but she loved me, too.
“Maybe you should go stay with your granddaughter until this is over,” I suggested.
“Not on your life! I’ll brush up on my self-defense tricks and if you need me… Well, I’m right next door.”
“There’s safety in numbers,” Felicity said. “You’ve got the three of us to keep an eye on you and I’ll call Stanley, too. He’ll want to be in on this. This is going to be tough on you, Sandi, even with us here.”
“Life’s tough, but I’m tougher. Let him take his best shot.” I was doing a slow burn from fear to anger. David had tried to kill me once and Pete had come to the rescue, but this time I’d be ready for him. Life is tough, but I’d learned a lot since first opening my agency. He wouldn’t be able to take me by surprise this time.
My mother pulled her bottle of hormone pills out of her purse and threw them on the coffee table. “I’m not going to take these until Smith is back in prison. I need to be a mean, lean, killing machine! Nobody’s messing with my baby.” Like mother, like daughter. I could hear both fear and anger in her voice.
Focusing on my mother and what she’d said, I smiled. “No, Mother, take your pills. I need you to be sharp, not moody and angry.”
“Oh. Maybe you’re right.” She placed the bottle back in her purse.
“What if we all stayed at my house? Then he wouldn’t be able to find you.” Dolly looked into my eyes as though trying to read my mind.
“Here’s the thing, Dolly. I want him to find me. It’s the only way he’ll be caught and sent back to prison.”
“So he can escape again?” Felicity asked. She clamped her lips together and stood up, looking defiant.
“No. He won’t escape again. He murdered a prison guard. I guarantee you they’ll be more careful in the future. I don’t think they’ll be handling him with kid gloves. They’ll take every precaution necessary.” I had faith, and I hoped it wasn’t misplaced.
“Well, I can’t believe he escaped in the first place,” Dolly said. “Someone’s head will roll over this one.”
“Things happen. He must have taken the guard by surprise. I just don’t know how he could have gotten out of that place.”
“Well…” She didn’t how to answer that one.
“Okay. Let’s put together a plan. And understand, I have no problem with it if anyone doesn’t want to be involved. This is going to be dangerous, and we all know that going in.”
I looked from face to face, and no one appeared ready to leap out of their seat and run out the door. I was sure they didn’t quite understand the gravity of David coming after me. He was a dangerous man, but they didn’t understand just how dangerous he could be.
“It looks like it’ll be us, Stan, Rick and Officer Hernandez. But remember, Hernandez has to handle other
calls, too, so he can’t camp out in front of the house. And David can charm his way through just about anything. He’ll find people to help him without them even knowing he’s a criminal.”
“Is he that good?” Felicity asked.
“He fooled me, didn’t he?”
“Yes,” my mother said, “but you were kind of cuckoo about him in the beginning. You couldn’t see the signs. You just thought he was shy.”
“Thanks for reminding me. I should have recognized he had a screw loose. Things didn’t add up and I couldn’t see it. In my defense though, he was a college professor, and he seemed to think quite highly of Robert. I was looking for a missing college student, and he was one of the links.”
“Yes, but he murdered Robert.” My mother leaned forward and her lips clamped together after speaking.
“I didn’t know that until he tried to kill me. How could I? I had no way of knowing he was actually trying to keep an eye on me to find out where the investigation would lead.”
“Don’t forget that you were working on Stan’s case, too. That would have been a distraction.” Felicity managed to make me feel better about my lapse in judgment concerning David.
After all, he’d romanced me into thinking he was an okay guy. I had no way of knowing his shyness was really deviousness. Pete had seen through him though. He hadn’t liked David right from the beginning. I shook my head, bringing myself back to the present.
“Felicity, would you call Stanley and ask him to come over? There’s no point in making a plan without all of the crew here.”
Nodding, she stood up and headed for the kitchen and the phone. Bubba was lying near the door and she tripped over his foot. Apologizing to him, she continued into the kitchen. Bubba grinned at her.
“Don’t forget, you’ve got Bubba here for protection, too. He can be scary if he wants to be,” Dolly said.
My mother nodded her approval of the idea of Bubba helping out. She picked up a magazine and started fanning herself.
“Did you take your pill?” I asked.
“They don’t work in a matter of hours.” She sounded testy.
“I was only asking.” Too bad David wasn’t at the door now. Mother could take him down without a giving it a second thought.
Felicity returned to the living room after tripping over Bubba’s foot again. “Sorry,” she said, patting his head.
He gave her a goofy look of adoration and grinned.
“Is Stan coming?” I asked.
“He’s going to lock up the office and then he’ll be on his way.”
“Stan is quite a man.” Mother had set down the magazine and appeared to be calmer.
Felicity sat next to Dolly. “When we were at the office you were telling us how you met Stan. Was Pete right about recognizing the man who was following him?” She was trying to distract me again and I knew it.
“Yes. He talked to his old partner at the L.A.P.D. and they figured out he was a small-time hood named Al Draper. His partner remembered picking him up on drunk-in-public charges a few times and when they ran him through the system they found out he did odd jobs for some big-time hoods out of Chicago. We needed to figure out who he was working for because it didn’t make sense for him to be after Stan.” Before I could say more, there was a knock at the door.
“Be sure to look through the peephole,” Mother warned.
“I will.” Peeking out, I saw a cop watching the street. I opened the door.
“Miss Webster?”
“Yes. What can I do for you?”
Although he didn’t smile, he looked friendly. “I’m Officer Hernandez. I wanted to let you know I’ll be in the area, watching the house. If you need anything, call the station and they’ll let me know.”
“If I need anything I’ll hang a red flag out on the porch.”
“No, just call.” No sense of humor.
I smiled. “I was only joking. I will. And thank you for stopping.”
“Okay. Just remember that I have to handle other calls, too. Fortunately, this area is generally quiet – except for your house.” This time he smiled.
Hernandez left and I turned back to my mother and friends. “I have a feeling this is a no-nonsense type of cop. Between him and Rick we should be in good hands. And, for crying out loud, I’m a P.I. and I’ve had plenty of training and experience. I can take care of myself.”
“As long as this guy doesn’t take you by surprise.” Sometimes Dolly could be a little negative.
“I need everyone to remain positive right now,” I said gently. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but I needed to remain calm.
“I’m positive we won’t let him take you by surprise.” Dolly redeemed herself. Her glasses slid down her nose and she pushed them back into place.
I saw by my watch that time wasn’t slowing down for me. “Let’s order that pizza, and I’ll make a salad. I’d rather not open the door after dark.”
Felicity called Stanley back and asked him to pick up the pizza on his way over. She almost missed him, which wouldn’t have been the end of the world, but it made things easier. While I put a salad together, Dolly went to her house to feed her cat, Miss Kitty. That was just about the silliest name I’d ever heard for a cat, and yet it suited her. She and Bubba tolerated each other, which was about as good as it would get. Dolly returned in under fifteen minutes.
Stanley arrived with the pizza about forty-five minutes after Felicity called him.
“Thanks, Stan,” I said, taking the pizza out of his hands and heading for the kitchen. I pulled the salad and dressing out of the refrigerator, set paper plates on the table and called everyone to come and get it. It was going to be a very casual dinner.
On a night when I dreaded the dark’s appearance, it seemed like the sun simply disappeared without warning. I guess I was distracted. I know there’s nothing frightening about the dark; it’s the things that can hide in the dark that can be frightening. I want to be able to see what’s coming my way.
Rick stopped by on his way home from work to check on us and ate the last piece of pizza. “Sandi, why don’t you and your mother head over to Arizona until we catch Smith?”
“I’d rather be here where things are familiar. If he were to follow us over there I’d be at a disadvantage. At least here I have friends and I know what’s what.”
“I guess that makes sense. I wish Pete hadn’t left town though.”
“Well, I’ve got Stanley and the girls. That’s got to count for something. And we’re going to put together a plan.”
“Uh huh.” At best, he was skeptical. “Don’t hesitate to call the station if you need anything. Smith is deadly, and everyone is on alert. Hernandez isn’t the only one watching out for you. Believe me, we want this guy. And we’re gonna get him. He’ll never see the light of day again once we get our hands on him.”
“I hope you’re right.”
I walked him to the door and watched him walk across the street to his car. Waving, I kind of wished he wasn’t leaving.
Chapter Eight
The five of us tried to work out a plan, but we simply didn’t know exactly what we’d be dealing with, if or when, David showed up. My mother and friends agreed that they weren’t going to let me out of their sight, but other than that we were at a loss. Things were quiet at the office, and for once I hoped it would stay quiet.
Stanley and Felicity decided to stay with Dolly. This way they could keep an eye on me without being obvious. Since we didn’t know what David had in mind, we thought it would be a good idea to have someone at Dolly’s house to watch over her, too. Felicity left to go pick up some clothes for herself and Stanley, and he and Dolly headed over to her house.
My mother refused to leave my side, and I noticed her making up to Bubba, including pats, scratches and treats – lots of treats. I figured she thought it would be best to stay on his good side; that he’d be more protective if he dubbed her a food source. By the time she went home, he’d not only be big, but he’
d be fat, too.
I briefly wished Pete hadn’t left town, but reminded myself how often I’d told him I could take care of myself. Was David really as dangerous as I thought? Remembering the night he tried to kill me, I knew he was.
I turned on a vintage movie station and Mother and I settled back to watch an old movie. We turned on The Spiral Staircase with Dorothy McGuire, a psychological thriller, but quickly decided we needed something lighter. Checking the other channels, I saw that The Egg and I was on. Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray made a great couple in this story of city folks trying to rough it on an old, decrepit farm. It was just what we needed.
The house was too quiet when I turned off the television. I heard a creaking noise coming from the front porch. My mother heard it, too. We glanced at each other before I turned off the lights and crept to the window.
I breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s okay, Mom. It’s Stanley.”
“I thought he wanted you to call him Stan.”
“He does, but I forget sometimes.”
He’d brought over a chair from Dolly’s kitchen and planted himself on my porch. He held a baseball bat on his lap and he sat straight, watching the neighborhood – so much for staying out of sight and not being obvious.
I opened the door a crack. “Stan, you make a pretty good target.” I kept my voice low so it wouldn’t carry.
“Then turn off the porch light.” He didn’t turn, but kept his eyes on the neighborhood.
Reaching over, I switched off the light.
“You might have let me know you were coming over. You almost scared us.” Ha! He’d frightened me and my mother, but I wasn’t going to admit it.
“Bubba didn’t bark. Some watchdog.”
“He knows you. He doesn’t bark at friends.”
“Uh huh.” Stanley was keeping his voice low, too.
It struck me that for as few words as he’d uttered, he sounded very much like Pete. I guessed that maybe since Pete was out of town and Stanley was taking his place, he’d decided he needed to play the part of protector like Pete would.