by David Archer
He went on to the next room, where Pilsner was being cared for, and the deputies there congratulated him on the new baby as they opened the door for him. Sam saw Freddie laying back in the bed, but he was awake. He stepped inside and introduced himself.
“Freddie? I’m Sam Prichard, private investigator. They tell me you’re going to make it, and I’m glad to hear it.”
“Yeah, me too,” Freddie said. “One of the cops out there said you got the son of a bitch?”
“Actually, it was his daughter who shot him. Long story, there. What I need to talk to you about is Karen Parks. You feel up to some questions?”
“Sure. This is the stuff Snake was asking about, right?”
Sam nodded. “Yes. Listen, would you mind if I record this?”
“No problem, go ahead.”
Sam took out his cell phone and set it to record video, then held it out so that it caught both of them in its view. “Could you tell me your name, please?”
“I’m Fred Pilsner,” Freddie said. “Everybody calls me Freddie, though.”
“Can you tell me, Freddie, from your own personal knowledge, where detective Karen Parks was at when the shots were fired the morning the FBI agent was killed in your apartment building?”
Freddie nodded. “Yes, I can. She and I were talking just outside my grandfather’s apartment on the fourth floor. She was looking for Daniel Samara, and somebody had told him he was up on our floor, but that wasn’t true. I told her to check on the second floor, and that’s when we heard the gunshots.”
“And that’s when she went downstairs? After you both heard the gunshots?”
“Yes. She grabbed at her holster and said, ‘shit, my gun’s gone,’ and then she ran down the stairs. I went back inside to check on my grandpa, and I heard a little bit later that Samara was killed, but then it turned out it wasn’t him. I was really shocked when I heard that Detective Parks was arrested, because I know damn well she didn’t do it.”
“Freddie, would you testify to this in court?”
“Hell, yeah,” Freddie said. “Detective Parks is one of the best cops the city has ever had. She can be tough, but she knows when to give a kid a break, too. I owe her my life, because she’s the one who busted me when I was a teenager and messed up on crack. She got me into a program that helped me get clean, and got me into bodybuilding, taking care of myself. Wasn’t for her, I’d probably be dead by now.”
Sam shut off the camera and dropped the phone into his pocket. “Freddie, I really appreciate this. This is exactly what I need to prove she didn’t kill the guy. I’m pretty certain Samara did, but we may never be able to prove that for sure. I’m just glad we can show that Karen didn’t do it. You’re right, she’s one of the best cops we’ve ever had.”
He shook Freddie’s hand and left the room, then stopped to check on Jenkins. The deputy was awake and they talked for a couple of minutes, but his painkillers made it more of a comical conversation than a sensible one. Sam promised to come back later and left the room, then headed down to the second floor to see Indie and his son.
That’s when he got another surprise. Indie had been placed in a room with another new mother and baby, and Sam’s eyes bugged out when he saw Nikki and Snake.
“Okay,” Sam said, “it’s not fair when you start copying everything I do.”
Snake laughed. “Wasn’t on purpose,” he said. “I got home from the hospital about the time you were being brought into it, and Nikki was complaining about her back hurting. I got her down and started rubbing her back, and that’s when I noticed that it was tensing up every twenty minutes or so. I asked her how she was feeling, and she said she was having cramps, so I brought her to the ER. Sure as the dickens, she was in labor.” He pointed at the baby Nikki was holding, and said, “That’s our new baby girl. We named her Hope.”
Sam grinned and nodded. “That definitely sounds appropriate,” he said. “I gather you’ve met my son, Beauregard?”
“And a fine looking boy he is. How are you feeling? I heard you got into a bit of a scrape, yourself, last night.”
“Yeah, totaled my Corvette. I actually ended up with a piece of it sticking into me, got nine stitches out of the deal. Listen, I just came down from seeing Freddie upstairs. I got a video of him swearing that Karen was upstairs with him when the gunshots went off. I’m meeting with the DA in a little over an hour, and I expect this to clear her completely. I appreciate you hooking me up with him.”
“Man, I appreciate you. That reward, that’s going to make a big difference for a lot of us in the Devils. Even after we split it up, it’s going to help all of us a lot.”
“I haven’t forgotten,” Sam said. “I’ll go to the bank today and take care of it.”
Indie waved a hand to get his attention. “Um, I need to talk to you about that reward,” she said. “I sort of mentioned to Snake and Nikki that you decided to raise it, after everything they did for us last night. That was okay, wasn’t it?”
One of Sam’s eyebrows went up. “Of course, honey,” he said. “How much did I raise it?”
Indie gave him a sheepish grin. “You raised it up to twenty-five thousand,” she said. “That’s okay, isn’t it?”
“It’s perfectly fine,” Sam said. “After all, if it wasn’t for Snake and Jackie, I might not have gotten you back, and Bo might not be here at all. You can’t put a price on that.”
“A man’s gotta do,” Snake said, “what a man’s gotta do. Samara, he was one bad son of a bitch. I couldn’t handle the thought of something happening to the wife of my new friend Dick. And by the way, I hear he’s really gone for good, now?”
“He sure is,” Sam said. “He showed up here at the hospital and shot three deputies. I was going after him, but he got the better of me and knocked me down, made me lose my gun. I was literally looking down the barrel of his and thinking that I was never going to know my baby, when his daughter picked up the gun from one of the fallen deputies and ended up shooting him dead.”
“His daughter?” Nikki asked suddenly. “What?”
“Samara had three daughters. One of them died when she was still a child, because of something he did. The oldest one came forward a while back to tell Detective Parks that she saw him murder her mother and little sister, which is what started this whole thing. She’s also pregnant, and Samara kidnapped her yesterday, because he wanted to hang onto her till the baby was born and take it. Snake, there, helped me find where they had gone, and I was finally able to get her out safely. She’s been upstairs here in the hospital ever since, under guard. We think he was coming back after her last night.”
“Oh,” Nikki said. “What—what happened to the other daughter?”
“I don’t know,” Sam said. “She had a rough life, but nobody has seen her in quite a while. We’re not sure whatever happened to her.”
22
Sam visited with them for a few more minutes, but then it was time to go see Pemberton at the DA’s office. He kissed Indie and told her he’d be back, then rode the elevator down and went out to get into the Ridgeline. He started up the truck and headed downtown, and arrived at the DA’s office less than twenty minutes later.
He was a few minutes early, but Pemberton told the receptionist to send him on in.
“Sam? Good to meet you,” Pemberton said. “Just wish it could have been under better circumstances.”
“So do I,” Sam said. “I’m really sorry about Will.”
Pemberton shrugged, but there was a sorrow in his face. “Sometimes, we just end up at the wrong place at the wrong time. I have to look at it that way, or I’ll go crazy.” He pointed at a chair and Sam sat down, then Pemberton took his own seat behind his desk. “Sam, what can you tell me about Karen Parks? Will was under the impression you were going to produce evidence that would clear her. Any luck with that?”
Sam took out his phone and called up the video he had just made, then handed it over. Pemberton hit the icon to make it play, then sat and watc
hed all the way through it. When it finished, he waved it at Sam. “Can you send a copy of that video to me, like right now?”
“Absolutely,” Sam said. He took his phone back and sent the video by email to Pemberton’s account.
“I’m going to forward it on to Judge Charleston, now. If you want to come with me, I’m supposed to meet him as soon as we’re finished. I’ll tell you now, after seeing this and everything else that Will had, I’m going to file for immediate dismissal of all charges and ask the judge to release her right now.”
“I would love to come with you,” Sam said. Pemberton asked him a couple more questions, and then they got up and went to see the judge in his chambers.
“Judge Charleston, this is Sam Prichard, the private investigator that’s always in the newspapers. Sam, the Honorable William Charleston.”
Sam and the judge shook hands, and then the three of them sat down. The judge looked at Pemberton and smiled.
“I got that video you sent me,” he said. “I’m assuming you’re ready to concede that Karen is not guilty?”
“Hey, that’s not fair, Your Honor. I never said she was, remember? I am, however, now thoroughly convinced that she is not guilty, and I wish to file a motion to dismiss all charges. I would also like to ask you to issue an order immediately for her release from the jail.”
“And those are two petitions I will be happy to grant. If you gentlemen want to give me about ten minutes, I will have my clerk write up the release order so I can sign it, and one of you might be so kind as to take it out to the jail and get that poor woman out of there.”
“I think that’s my job, Your Honor,” Sam said.
Sam and Pemberton went out of the room, and Pemberton shook his hand. “Sam, I’ve got to go get the motion for dismissal filed. I’ll leave it to you to go break Karen out.”
“My pleasure,” Sam said. He sat down on a bench in the hall and waited, but it was actually less than ten minutes before a clerk came out looking for him. He handed Sam an order for release, and Sam headed out for the jail.
Despite having the order, it took almost an hour for Karen to be processed out. Sam waited in the lobby of the jail, and got to his feet when she was finally allowed through the door that led back to the jail itself. She spotted him and hurried across the floor, then threw her arms around his neck.
“Sam, you did it,” she said. “I don’t know how you did it, but you did. How can I ever say thank you?”
“You just did, Karen,” Sam said. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”
“Fine, but take me somewhere that has decent coffee. I need a big one, and you need to fill me in on what happened.”
They went to a nearby restaurant and were lucky enough to get a booth by itself, where they could talk freely. Sam explained to her the events of the case, and she literally gasped when he told her about Indie being abducted. She didn’t seem terribly surprised at how much help Snake and the Devils had been, though.
And then Sam told her about the final confrontation with Samara. When he explained that it was Melinda herself who shot him dead, Karen’s eyes grew wide.
“Sam, is she still at the hospital?”
“As far as I know, yes. They said she was pretty much in shock after that, and her husband told me that they might end up keeping her for a few days, just to be sure the shock and stress doesn’t send her into early labor. It’s still a little too soon for her baby to be born.”
“Well, yours was a little early, too, wasn’t it?”
“No more than a couple of weeks,” Sam said. “According to the doctors, a due date is just a guess. The actual day of birth can be as much as three weeks either way from that.”
“You’re telling me? I gave birth to two kids, remember. Neither one of them wanted to wait until the day they were supposed to show up.” She smiled at Sam and reached across to pat him on the arm. “I can’t wait to meet your son, Sam.”
They finished their coffee and headed for the hospital, and Sam confirmed that Melinda Davis was still listed as a patient. She was still in the same room, so Sam took Karen up the elevator.
With Samara dead, there was no longer a reason to have guards on Melinda’s room, so Sam only knocked and pushed it open. Tom and Melinda were sitting in chairs again, and Tom looked up and smiled when he saw Sam. Melinda burst into a smile when she saw Karen, and jumped to her feet. The two women embraced while Sam stood by and watched.
“Did you hear what happened?” Melinda asked.
“Yes,” Karen said, nodding. “Sam told me all about it. I’m sorry you had to go through that, but it might have been for the best. Now you know for sure that he’s gone.”
“And you’re out of trouble now, right?”
“Yes. Sam was able to find a witness who could prove I wasn’t there when that poor man was killed. We assume your father did it, but we may never know for sure.”
“But at least it’s over. I only wish…”
Karen cocked her head and looked at the girl. “You only wish what?”
Melinda shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Hey, did you hear that Sam’s wife had her baby last night? I’m going down to meet him. Would you like to come along, meet Mrs. Prichard and their baby?”
Melinda looked at Sam. “Would that be okay?”
“Of course,” Sam said. “Have you ever met a dad who didn’t want to show off his new son?”
Melinda managed a smile and she and Tom followed them to the elevator and down to the second floor. They were chit-chatting along the way as they went to Indie’s room, and Sam opened the door and led them in without bothering to warn anyone they were coming.
Things happened suddenly, then. Indie looked up with a smile when she saw Karen, and immediately held up baby Bo to show him off, but Melinda suddenly froze just inside the door. Sam felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise and instinctively looked for a problem, but all he saw was Nikki, staring at Melinda.
Before either of them even spoke, a number of things clicked in Sam’s mind. Once, when Sam was talking about Samara, Nikki had slipped and it almost sounded like she started to say “my” in reference to him, but Sam hadn’t actually caught it at the time. Then there was the fact that Snake said she had turned up six or seven months ago, pregnant from turning tricks. Just a couple of hours earlier, she had been extremely curious when Sam mentioned that Samara had been killed by his own daughter, and even seemed worried that Sam might know something about the third daughter.
He looked directly at Nikki. “Samantha?” he asked.
“Samantha?” Melinda asked. “Samantha, is that you?”
Nikki suddenly started crying. She nodded her head, and Melinda rushed over to throw her arms around her long-lost sister.
Slowly, the story came out. Samantha had been institutionalized when she was a young teenager, but the conditions in the institution were deplorable. She had been both physically and sexually abused there, and had reached the point of feeling that no one cared about her. She had cut off contact with her family, refused visits and resigned herself to a life of misery, but then one of the staff members had learned about the abuse and quietly had her transferred away.
In the new institution, she was treated humanely and her self-esteem was slowly being rebuilt. Unfortunately, there were budget cuts that meant some of their patients had to be released, and she was one of them. She was placed in a shelter, but it reminded her too much of the original institution, so she ran away.
Naturally, with no means of support, she ended up turning to prostitution in desperation. One of her clients had asked her to travel with him to Denver, and ended up abandoning her there. She started walking the streets like so many other girls, but she was so ashamed of herself that she started using drugs. That was how Officer Wilson had found her, and he had taken her to Snake. Snake got her off the drugs, and the two of them had developed a relationship.
And then Samara had reappeared. Nikki had recognized him instant
ly, but she had changed so much that he didn’t know her. She carefully stayed inside her apartment whenever he was around, terrified that he would realize who she was. Like Melinda, the thought of him ever getting near her baby was more than she could bear.
“But,” Melinda said, “why didn’t you ever call? Mom and Dad, our foster parents, they would have happily taken you back in.”
Nikki sobbed. “I was a whore,” she said. “I was too ashamed. I didn’t—I didn’t want any of you to know, not ever. I just figured it was best if I stayed away, so you’d never know.”
Melinda wrapped her arms around her sister again, and the two of them sat there and wept together.
Indie looked at Sam. “How do you do it? How do you manage to find so many unrelated things that come together to bring about such happy endings?”
Sam looked at her with his eyes wide. “Hey, it isn’t me. All I wanted to do was prove Karen wasn’t a murderer, remember?”
“But it’s just so weird,” Indie said, and Karen nodded her agreement. “All of them ended up here in Denver at the same time, both the girls and their father. How could all of these things just coincidentally come together, and not only lead to solving the old cases, but end up reuniting the two sisters?”
“You know the old saying,” Karen said. “They say, ‘God takes care of fools, drunks and children.’ I personally suspect we could add ‘and goodhearted private investigators’ to that list.”
Sam’s phone rang and he stepped into the hall to answer it. “Sam Prichard.”
“Sam, it’s John Pemberton. Can you meet me at my office, like right away?”
Sam’s eyes narrowed. “Sure, I guess. What’s up?”
“Something I don’t want to go into over the phone. How soon can you get here?”
“Uh, give me about fifteen minutes or so. I’ll be right there.” He stepped back inside the room and went to Indie. “That was the DA’s office. I have to go back there for something, but I don’t know what, yet.” He kissed Indie and told Karen to wait for him, then made his way down the hall to the elevator.