Laura and the Lawman

by Shelley Cooper

  Pete, Laura recalled was the auctioneer Michael had replaced. The man who had disappeared without a trace. According to Pete’s wife, he had discovered something that appalled him. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t tell her what that something was. Instead, also according to Pete’s wife, he had gone to Joseph with his discovery. No one had seen him since.

  “So he watched you guys the way Pete did,” Joseph prompted.

  “Uh-huh. Only, unlike Pete, since he was an ex-con I figured he wanted in on the action. Still, I thought I should keep an eye on him.”

  “You said you thought he looked familiar,” Joseph interrupted. “Have you figured out where you might have seen him before?”

  Again, Jimmy nodded. “That’s when I realized I was wrong about him wanting to be in on the action. Dead wrong. It finally hit me a couple of minutes ago. I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it. I mean, what’s he doing here?”

  A cold dread squeezed Laura’s heart. She didn’t need to use her sixth sense to realize what was coming. It was every undercover cop’s biggest fear. That someone would recognize him and blow his cover.

  “Jimmy,” Joseph warned. “I said two minutes. Remember?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Jimmy said. “Right. Sorry.”

  “You heard the boss,” Matthew said. “Spit it out, Jimmy.”

  The command was made all the more fierce by the lack of expression in Matthew’s voice. If he had given Laura that order, she would have sat up and taken notice, which was exactly what Jimmy did now.

  It was coming. As surely as the sun was going to set this evening and rise tomorrow morning, it was coming. Laura wished she could think of something to stop it, but all she could do was sit there helplessly and wait for disaster to hit. Why, oh, why had she ever let her contact officer talk her out of wearing a wire? And why hadn’t she smuggled in her gun? She had to find a way to warn the surveillance team before something happened to Antonio.

  Jimmy swallowed hard. “He’s a cop, boss. He arrested me two years ago for dealing crack. The reason I didn’t recognize him at first was because, back then, he had long hair and a beard. On the streets, his name was Tony Caruso.”

  Laura kept her gaze fixed on Joseph. A dangerous light now gleamed in the older man’s eyes, and she felt a shaft of terror.

  “You’re sure, Jimmy?” he said softly.

  “I’m sure. I’m not too smart about a lot of things, but I never forget a face, boss.”

  “Thank you, Jimmy. You did good. I won’t forget. You may go now.”

  After the man left, Joseph turned to Matthew. “I was going to have a chat with Michael after I was done talking to Ruby, but it looks like my plans have changed. Bring him to me. Now.”

  Her terror growing, Laura fought the urge to catapult out of the chair and run straight to Antonio.

  “I’m sorry, my dear,” Joseph said to her, “but it appears our talk will be postponed longer than I had anticipated.”

  “That’s okay,” she managed to say. All she could think of was Pete. Did Joseph have similar plans for Antonio?

  “I see you’re as distressed about this as I am,” she heard him say.

  Laura’s gaze flew to Joseph. She had to be careful here. Extremely careful. And she had to find out what Joseph had in mind.

  “I am. He lied to both of us.”

  “Yes, he did,” Joseph mused, rubbing his chin between his thumb and forefinger. “I have to wonder why. Why do you think he lied to me, Ruby?”

  “If he’s a cop, the way Jimmy thinks, then I’d say he was here looking for something. Maybe the illegality thing you were just about to tell me about.”

  “That’s what I’d say, too.”

  “Doesn’t that mean his superiors are looking at you, too?”

  “Yes. That’s exactly what it means.”

  “Aren’t you worried?”

  “Not a bit. Never fear, my dear, I have everything in hand. I always do. The cops don’t know a thing.”

  Laura wasn’t surprised at Joseph’s supreme show of confidence. Most sociopaths, of which he was a prime example, never wavered in their belief that they would come out of any situation on top. Their whole world could be crumbling around them, the very ground beneath their feet shaking uncontrollably, and they’d still believe.

  “But what are you going to do?” She had little hope he would give her specifics, but she had to try.

  “Take care of Michael and lay low awhile.”

  “Am I still going to get my raise?”

  To her amazement Joseph chuckled. “Ruby, Ruby, Ruby. Always looking out for number one.”

  “If I don’t, who will?”

  “Point taken. Don’t worry. You’ll get your raise.”

  The echo of footsteps in the outer hall announced Matthew’s return. Presumably Antonio was with him.

  “Do you mind if I stand there, with you?” she asked.

  “You want to stay?”

  Laura nodded. “He did hurt my pride, remember? I sure would like to see him get his.”

  She was in place behind Joseph, her hand on his shoulder, when Matthew led an unsuspecting Antonio into the room. To Laura the sound of the door locking behind them was as loud as a gun shot. If Antonio heard it, he didn’t give any sign. She tried to warn him with her eyes, but his attention was focused solely on Joseph.

  Think, Laura, think. He was wired. There had to be something she could say that would send the backup team in here on the double, without putting Joseph and Matthew on the alert.

  Her gaze fell to Joseph’s desk drawer, and she froze. He’d slid it open far enough for her to see the gun nestled inside. The Browning 9 mm looked as deadly as Laura knew it to be. She had to assume it was loaded. She also had to assume that Matthew was also armed.

  And here she and Antonio stood, unarmed by order of their superior officers, like ducks in a carnival booth, just waiting to be picked off.

  Surely, despite his reputation for ruthlessness, Joseph wouldn’t shoot Antonio in front of witnesses. But then, Matthew didn’t count. His loyalty to Joseph was without question. He probably knew where all the bodies were buried. She wouldn’t be surprised if he’d buried them there himself.

  Which only left her as a potential witness. Laura didn’t kid herself. What was there to stop Joseph from shooting her, too? When it came down to a question of his freedom as opposed to Ruby’s life, the answer was a no-brainer.

  Laura wasn’t worried for herself. While she wasn’t yet ready to die, Antonio’s safety was more important to her than her own. It was up to her to find a way out of this mess.

  For weeks everything—except her feelings for Antonio—had seemed to move at a snail’s pace. Finally they had arrived at the point where they thought they could put Joseph away for good. How could it have all gone so wrong so fast?

  “Matthew said you wanted to see me?” Antonio said.

  Look at me, look at me, look at me! Laura willed. But Antonio kept his gaze stubbornly on Joseph.

  “Yes.” Joseph’s voice was cool, controlled. “Remember that talk I told you we were going to have?”

  Antonio looked at her then. But his gaze only stayed on her for a second before it passed to Matthew.

  “Forgive me, Joseph, but I got the impression our discussion would be of a private nature.”

  “No need. What I have to say doesn’t require a private audience. You’re fired, Michael. I’ve just learned of your previous record. I won’t have any ex-cons in my employ. It’s bad for business. Matthew will accompany you while you gather up your belongings, and then he will escort you to your car.”

  Since the statement was so patently false—Joseph employed quite a few ex-cons, and they all knew it—surely that would alert the backup team that something was off-kilter in here. But would it be enough to send them in on the run? Or would they wait outside for Michael to emerge, secure in the knowledge that the moving van with the drugs was being followed, and that Joseph would be in custody shortly?
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  Laura couldn’t take the chance. If Antonio left with Matthew, she knew exactly what would happen. The look in Joseph’s eyes told her he had no intention of allowing Antonio to leave the building alive.

  Before he could respond to Joseph’s announcement, she snatched the gun from its hiding place in the drawer and pointed it at Joseph. If they weren’t already, she knew her next words would have the backup team racing on their way.

  “Freeze!” she yelled. “Police. Hands up in the air where I can see them. You’re both under arrest.”

  Slowly Joseph and Matthew complied. In answer to the obvious bewilderment in Antonio’s eyes, she added for his benefit, and for the benefit of the backup team, “They know you’re a cop.”

  And now they knew she was one, too.

  “So this is your secret,” Joseph said. “I’m disappointed in you, dear. Even more disappointed than I am in Michael. And myself, for trusting you.”

  “You’ll just have to deal with it,” she said. Where was the backup team? Surely they would be breaking down the door any minute.

  “So you and Michael were in on it from the beginning.” Joseph shook his head and made a tsking noise in the back of his throat. “I have to say, you were very good. You certainly had me fooled.”

  Laura didn’t say a word. Not only was Joseph trying to figure out how much she and Antonio—and, by definition, the police—knew, he was also trying to distract her. Obviously, Matthew hoped that he had, because out of the corner of her eye she saw him reach for his gun.

  “Don’t move,” she ordered.

  Matthew ignored her, pulling his gun quickly and aiming. She’d known he would be trouble. The one thing she had never expected, and hadn’t taken into account, was Antonio. Before she could squeeze off a shot, he threw himself between her and Matthew.

  “No!” he cried.

  “No!” she screamed as Matthew fired. To her horror, Antonio fell to the floor.

  She went on autopilot then. She couldn’t think about Antonio, or rush to him to see how badly he was injured. Not now. If she did, they’d both be dead.

  A cold anger seizing her, she squeezed off a shot. This time Matthew fell, his second shot going wide and his gun sliding across the hardwood floor to land at her feet.

  Heart in her throat, Laura kept one eye on Matthew, who wasn’t moving, and the gun trained squarely on Joseph. She didn’t dare look down at Antonio. His silence was ominous enough.

  Suddenly her anguish over whether or not he would ever return her love seemed meaningless. The only thing that mattered was that he lived. So long as he lived, she would gladly return to Queens, where she belonged, without shedding a tear.

  Please, God, she prayed, let him live. That’s all I ask.

  Voices sounded outside the locked door, and Laura hoped it was the backup team and not more of Joseph’s goons running to the rescue. She heard a loud crack, and the door splintered. Seconds later Matthew and Joseph were surrounded by armed policemen.

  Then, and only then, did Laura drop to her knees beside Antonio.

  “The ambulance will be here in a minute,” one of the cops told her.

  His face was chalky, his eyes closed, his breathing shallow. He was lying in an ever-expanding pool of his own blood. From what she could see, he’d been shot in the left side of his chest, far, far too close to his heart and lungs.

  Heedless of the blood, and the fact that she could be destroying a crime scene, Laura pulled Antonio’s head into her lap and gently ran a hand through his hair.

  “Don’t you die on me,” she ordered, tears flowing down her cheeks. “Don’t you dare die on me.”

  Chapter 15

  L aura awoke with a start from a fitful sleep. Disoriented, she rubbed the crick in her neck and stared down at the vinyl armchair she was curled up in. Her gaze roved from her bloodstained clothes to a white tile floor, pale green walls, an overhead television and a hospital bed. It zeroed in on the bed and the still figure lying there, and her heartbeat quickened.

  Antonio.

  Relief washing over her, she watched the slow rise and fall of his chest. He was going to be okay. Thank goodness.

  Outside the closed door of the room, she heard the ping of a bell announcing the elevator’s arrival. When the doors swooshed open, what sounded like a dozen or more shoes echoed loudly on the tile floor. The echoing stopped at what she presumed to be the nurses’ station. Because Antonio’s room was located directly across from it, Laura couldn’t help but overhear every word of the conversation that followed.

  “There’s no one here,” a woman said.

  “It’s after midnight,” a man replied. “There are probably only one or two nurses on duty. Be patient. Someone will be back in a minute.”

  “Ring the bell,” a second man ordered.

  “Are you crazy?” the first man said. “This is the intensive care unit. You don’t go around ringing bells at this time of night.”

  “Then why’s it sitting there?”

  “Never mind,” the woman said. “Here she comes.”

  Laura heard the soft squeak of rubber soles hurrying down the hallway.

  “You do the talking, Marco,” the second man said. “Since you’re a doctor, she’ll relate to you better than she would to the rest of us.”

  “If only they’d taken him to Bridgeton General,” a third man said, “we wouldn’t have to go through all this. Marco would have been able to cut straight through the red tape to get us the answers we need.”

  “Well, Bruno, they didn’t take him to Bridgeton General,” the woman replied, “so we’ll just have to make do. It might help if you took that scowl off your face. The way you look now, small children would run screaming from you.”

  “May I help you?” the nurse asked, sounding out of breath.

  “Are you the nurse on duty?” the man whom Laura presumed to be Marco said.

  “Yes. I’m Donna Brewer.”

  “Well, Nurse Brewer, I’m Marco Garibaldi, and these are my brothers and my sister. We’re here about our other brother, Antonio Garibaldi. He was brought in earlier with a gunshot wound. Can you tell us what room he’s in?”

  “Mr. Garibaldi is in room 314.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Sirs! Ma’am! You can’t go in there.” Obvious distress laced the nurse’s voice.

  “We’re his family,” Bruno said. “Of course we can go in there.”

  “This is the intensive care unit,” Donna Brewer replied. “It’s after visiting hours. I can tell you that your brother is resting comfortably. Why don’t you come back later, during visiting hours?”

  “Would it help if I told you that Marco, here, is a doctor?” Bruno said.

  Laura heard a low groan, presumably from Marco. “Bruno, you’re not helping.”

  “Well, it’s true, isn’t it?”

  “You’re really a doctor?” Donna Brewer asked.

  Marco sounded embarrassed. “I’m really a doctor.”

  “Are you on staff here?”

  “He works at Bridgeton General,” Bruno supplied.

  “Then, no,” she said, “it won’t help. But good try.”

  “Excuse me.” This was a voice Laura hadn’t heard before.

  “Yes?” Donna Brewer sounded cautiously polite.

  “Hello. I’m Carlo Garibaldi.”

  “Police Chief Carlo Garibaldi,” Bruno interjected.

  “Bruno,” Marco warned.

  “You’ll have to forgive all of us,” Carlo said. “We’re a close, not to mention, headstrong and excitable lot. You see, we just found out a couple of hours ago that our brother was shot. It’s taken us this long to find him. As you can imagine, our emotions are a little on edge right now.”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Garibaldi, for your upset.” Donna Brewer sounded genuinely sympathetic. “For all of your upset. But rules are rules. I don’t make them, but it is my duty to enforce them.”

  “As Bruno told you, I’m a cop,” Carlo said. “Believe
me when I say I understand how important rules and regulations are. I only wish we had more determined citizens like yourself out there on the streets, upholding our laws the way you uphold the rules of this unit. It would certainly make my job a lot easier.”

  From her seat just inside Antonio’s room, Laura had to smile. Apparently Antonio wasn’t the only Garibaldi with the ability to charm. If Carlo was even half as handsome as his younger brother, Nurse Brewer was probably preening like a peacock.

  “Thank you,” Donna Brewer said. Her pleasure was obvious.

  “Believe me, also,” Carlo continued, “that none of us wants to make your job more difficult than it already is. Still, given the circumstances, couldn’t we bend the rules this once? Couldn’t we just take a peek at him? So we can call our father in Florida and tell him we saw, with our own eyes, that Antonio is okay?”

  “Even if visiting hours weren’t over, hospital rules allow only two visitors at a time.”

  Donna Brewer was definitely wavering, Laura decided.

  “Then we’ll go in two at a time,” Carlo said.

  “That won’t work.”

  “Why not?”

  “There’s already someone in there with him.”

  Laura sat up straight.

  “Who?” Bruno asked. “We’re the only family he has.”

  “The woman who came in the ambulance with him.”

  “It’s after visiting hours,” Marco gently pointed out. “Yet you allowed her to stay.”

  “She fell asleep. I didn’t have the heart to wake her.”

  “We definitely need to speak to her,” Carlo said. “Can’t you see that? She’ll know what happened to him.”

  They were silent while Donna Brewer mulled things over. “Very well,” she finally said. “I’ll let you go in, one at a time.”

  “Thank you,” Carlo replied. “That’s very generous of you. I hope you don’t mind, though, if I ask one more favor.”

  Donna Brewer gave a long sigh. “What is it, Mr. Garibaldi?”

  “You want to keep things nice and quiet out here, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Well, if we go in one at a time, the rest of us will be out here, waiting. We’ll try to be quiet, really we will, but whenever five people are gathered in one place…well, you know.”