by David Keith
“Are you fucking kidding me, Dave?”
Baxter had taken Velasco down the hallway, leaving everyone else behind in the conference room. He wasn’t happy with what he was hearing from the DA.
“Look, Danny, I know it’s not exactly what we’ve been discussing today, but we haven’t signed off on anything, and I think we need more from your client before we agree to immunity. We’re not getting as much from her as you promised.”
“I don’t believe you. I negotiate in good faith and then you renege on the deal?”
“It wasn’t a done deal, Danny. We’ve gone over the testimony and it really only amounts to manslaughter on Lennox. We need a murder conviction here and Lisa Sullivan can still give it to us.”
“And you want my client to wear a wire and go meet with the guy who murdered a man?”
“Yes, and don’t forget she played a significant role in that homicide. Look, when she wears the wire we will have law enforcement standing by everywhere to ensure her safety. We do this kind of thing a lot, Danny. And if she does this she won’t see a day in custody. It’s what she wants, you said that yourself.”
“I don’t like this, Dave, not one bit.”
“Look, Danny, I need this,” Baxter said, and in a lowered voice offered, “I’m just asking for a little consideration here.”
Velasco couldn’t believe the audacity of the district attorney. Was he really asking him to compromise his client’s interests? Danny shook his head as the options and angles played out in his mind. If he threw Baxter the bone he was asking for, it could prove helpful down the road. The DA would owe him big time and the leverage wouldn’t hurt the next time he needed to cut a plea deal, assuming he was still the DA. If everything went down as proposed, this might even help Baxter win reelection. That was a good chit to have and who knew when he might need to cash it in. It wasn’t like they were reneging on jail time, they just needed her to wear a wire to snag the boyfriend.
“So help me, Dave, if anything happens to my client it will be a career ender for you. I will hang you by the balls from the fucking foul pole at Coors Field. And one more thing. You can forget probation. Misdemeanor obstruction, five years suspended for the false statements, and she walks when this is over. Period.”
“Okay, Danny, fine. And nothing’s going to happen to her. She’ll go in, get him to say something incriminating, and then get the hell out. Easy peasy.”
Baxter and Velasco walked back to the conference room where the others were waiting.
“I need a moment with my client,” Velasco said, nodding to Lisa. “Let’s step out into the hall.”
Lisa’s eyes got big, and she fought the urge to look to her father. The attorney and his client left and walked down the hallway.
“Look, the DA wants to play hardball, and he says he won’t give you immunity unless you wear a wire. He wants you to meet with Lennox and get him to admit that he killed Lombard.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m sorry, Lisa, but he’s adamant. Without the wire, there’s no deal. Now, if you are dead set against it, you are free to walk out of here. I don’t know that returning to a life on the run is what you want, but you still have that option.”
“I can’t do that—I can’t face that man. Forget it, no deal.”
“Then you will need to disappear again. But if you agree, they’ll also drop the probation. Lisa, a suspended sentence on a misdemeanor is a glorified parking ticket. You walk when this is over. You’ll be free.”
Boxed in, Lisa considered her attorney’s advice. She had felt a sense of relief when she had returned from Mexico, like a giant weight had been lifted from her. Things with Peter had ended horribly, and she desperately hoped to make things right. But now, Lisa felt the rug had been pulled out from under her. She wished she could somehow talk it over with her father.
“If I agree to wear this wire, how do I know I’ll be safe? Scott is obviously a violent person capable of murder. How do I know he won’t hurt me?”
“The RCSO will have people everywhere. If he tries anything, which I think is pretty unlikely, then they will be there in a heartbeat. Remember, they need you and your testimony in court. The last thing they want is for something to happen to you.”
“If I agree to do this, then what’s to keep them from going back on their word again?”
“We’ll go in there right now, have them write it up, and all parties will sign off on it. Done deal.”
Lisa closed her eyes. “All right, I’ll do it.”
By Sunday afternoon, things were in place. The RCSO command vehicle was stationed in an industrial park a few blocks away from Lennox Ice. Inside, Jack and Mia went over the plan with Lisa.
“So, you’ve had no contact with Lennox since you fled Colorado?” Mia asked.
“No, nothing at all.”
A tall man dressed in police fatigues walked in, carrying a bag. Mia looked up and nodded at the man, then looked back at Lisa and said, “This is Sergeant Low from the Electronic Surveillance Unit. He’s got a special phone for you that will allow us to record everything that is said. Right now we need you to text Scott and then get him on the phone to set up the meeting.”
“What should I say in the text?” Lisa asked nervously.
“Let’s keep it simple. Just text, ‘this is Lisa, we need to talk.’”
The sergeant handed Lisa the phone. She took a deep breath, punched in Scott’s number followed by the letters, and pushed send. It didn’t take long to get a response.
“OMG can u talk now? Are u alone?”
“Call me, we need 2 meet,” Lisa texted back.
The phone rang immediately, startling Lisa.
“It’s okay. Just keep it short and this will all be over soon,” Mia said as she put on a pair of headphones. Low and Jack did the same before the Sergeant gave her the cue to pick up.”
“I need to see you, Scott.”
“Where are you?”
“Scott, I need help. We need to talk.”
“Anything you need, baby, you know I’m here for you.”
Lisa rolled her eyes in disgust. “Not on the phone. Can you see me tonight?”
“Of course, where?”
“I don’t want anyone to see us. Your office at 8.”
“I miss you so much, babe.”
Lisa looked sick, she was filled with anger and revulsion.
“Just meet me, okay, Scott?”
“Okay, I’ll be there at 8.”
Lisa ended the call. The sergeant checked to make sure the call had been recorded and gave a thumbs up.
Mia called Mick to let him know the Lennox “take down” was on.
By 7:00, everyone was in place. A pair of investigators had trailed Lennox throughout the day, and were now down the block from his house ready to alert the team once he was en route to meet Sullivan.
Back in the command vehicle, Bob Brandon, a tech from the RCSO information technology unit, attached a tiny wireless microphone to a button on Sullivan’s coat. Mia, Jack, and Mick looked on.
“So there’s no wire, just that tiny microphone?” Lisa asked.
“Yep, we’ve come a long way,” Brandon explained. “There’s a tiny transmitter in there and we have receivers set up at the ice company and here in the truck. The mic is virtually impossible to spot.”
Brandon moved over to a console to test audio levels. “Count to ten for me, Lisa. Just a normal speaking voice.”
Lisa complied as Brandon listened in his headphones. “All good here, Captain,” he said.
“Just give Lennox the same act you gave me on the highway that morning, and we should be good to go,” Mia said.
Lisa didn’t respond, but Jack wasn’t going to let the comment go.
“For God’s sake, Serrano, giving attitude to the state’s material witness just before an undercover operation is a pretty stupid ass thing to do,” he said sharply.
Mia glared back at him. Sensing the mounting the
tension, Mick turned to Brandon and said, “Take Sullivan outside for some fresh air.”
“Sure, Captain. C’mon, miss,” he said, helping Lisa out of the truck and leaving Keller, Mia, and Mick alone.
The tension in the truck was approaching a boil. Mia played the first card. “You always come to her rescue, don’t you, Jack? Makes me wonder why.”
“Jesus, Mia, we’ve been down this road before—you and your bullshit accusations. I was just making the point that upsetting a key witness before we send her out to confront a killer isn’t the best way to play it. Just saying.”
The two cops both moved a step closer to each other, forcing Mick to put himself between them. Facing his senior investigator, Mick put his hand firmly on Jack’s chest.
“Jack, that’s enough,” he said quietly.
Jack glared at McCallister, stepped back and grinned. “We all got secrets, don’t we, Mick? We all have stuff we’d just as soon not share, right? Something that makes you bend the rules… not break them, just bend them. You and Mia know all about that, don’t you? And really, who does it hurt if in the end we get our guy—put a cold-blooded killer behind bars. Voters like that. They like it when cops catch the bad guys. So, we do our job and all the bending the rules stuff stays tucked away. No reason to talk about it, right?”
“Are you threatening me?” Mick demanded.
“Of course he is,” Mia interjected. “Go to hell, Jack.”
“Mia, this is between Jack and me.”
She backed off.
“No threat, Captain. Just pointing out that we all have our secrets. Like say, a junior investigator gets promoted because she’s banging the boss. Or that same—”
In an instant, Mick swung at Keller, landing a punch to his left jaw. Keller staggered but didn’t go down. He started to move towards Mick, but thought better of it and stopped himself.
No one spoke for several seconds. Blood trickled from the corner of Jack’s mouth. He wiped it away with back of his hand.
“Don’t you ever speak to me like that again, Keller, or you’ll be writing fucking parking tickets for the rest of your career. Understood? And whatever issues the two of you have I am telling you to get over them, right fucking now! Got it?”
Keller nodded and looked towards Serrano.
“Got it,” Mia answered.
“Good,” Mick said. “Jack, get cleaned up. Then get Brandon and Sullivan back in here. Let’s go over everything again. No fuck ups.”
On schedule at 7:15, two snipers set up on the roof across from Lennox Ice. Undercover teams were stationed near the entrance, positioned behind garbage and recycling containers. Two additional undercover cars were parked nearby, each with two deputies slouched down out of view, ready to respond in the unlikely event a pursuit should occur. Serrano and Keller would take their positions just outside the entrance once Sullivan was inside.
At 7:48, McCallister’s phone buzzed. It was a text message from the team covering Lennox’s house. “The iceman cometh,” it read.
McCallister chuckled, then reached for his cell to call Chuck Borman, the lieutenant in charge of the SWAT team to tell him Lennox was en route.
“Here we go, Ms. Sullivan. Just play it exactly as we’ve instructed,” Mick told her. “Any questions?”
“No,” she replied, nervously. She wanted to look at her father for some reassurance, but looked straight ahead. Lisa knew she couldn’t risk it.
Scott Lennox peered frequently into the rear view mirror of his Lexus sedan. It hadn’t occurred to him to watch for police. He was more afraid his wife would tail him.
He thought of Lisa waiting to meet him at the office, and became aroused. He imagined the plans they had made together coming to fruition. He smiled and cranked up the stereo as he pulled the Lexus onto the interstate toward Lennox Ice. He turned up the radio and sang along with Tripp Barnes’s new country hit.
“Welcome back baby, we both know that you missed me…
You couldn’t stay away, so come on then let’s play…
We both know, you wanna go, don’t take it slow…
Just let your pretty hair down and come and kiss me.”
As their suspect pulled into the lot at Lennox Ice, the undercover officers alerted McCallister who in turn called Borman. He cued Mia and Keller.
“Lennox just pulled in.”
At 8:04, Lisa arrived at Lennox Ice in an undercover RCSO car procured from drug seizure operations. The sight of Scott’s Lexus sent her heart racing in fear. Still, she kept her cool and parked close to the entrance as instructed. The position of her car would offer additional cover to the SWAT team if needed. She climbed the steps of the loading platform and found the office door unlocked.
Her stomach turned at the sight of him. He stood confidently, arms extended. “Welcome back, baby,” he said.
Just like the song.
Lisa felt nothing but hatred and anger. The man who had used her and taken so much of her life stood there smugly, acting as if nothing had happened.
But she did what she had to do. “It’s so cold out there,” she said, setting down her purse and pulling off her hat. It seemed odd to be making small talk but it was all she could muster.
“Wow, I like your new hair. God, you look sexy. I have missed you so much,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’ll warm you up, babe. Just like before.”
He came forward and kissed her. This would be far more difficult than she had imagined, but she knew she had to play along and get him to admit to the murder.
“Scott, I just had to see you. I miss you too.”
“I’ve missed you more than you’ll ever know. Where the hell have you been hiding? Ah, forget it—it doesn’t matter. Now that you’re back, we can make it all happen. The cops have nothing on us. We can do all those things we talked about. Just you and me… It’s just about us now,” Scott said, extending his hand to stroke her cheek.
Lisa was repulsed, but had to carry on. “Scott, how are we going to get out from under this? I want to be with you, but I’m so tired of running. You have no idea what it’s like to be worried every second of every day. It’s a living hell.”
“We can make this work, don’t worry,” he said. Lennox put his arms around her and began to kiss her neck.
Lisa retreated slightly from his advances, looked him in the eye, and continued, “God, I wish we could take back what we did. I still have nightmares about it. I see Lombard’s face in my dreams. I hear the sound of when you hit him with the car. Why did he have to die, Scott? Why?”
“It was the only way… You know that. The insurance money paves the way for our new life, it can still happen. They will have to pay out on the policy eventually. It will just take a little more time.”
“I don’t know how much more I can take of this. I miss you so much.”
“I’ll get an attorney and have him force the insurance company to pay. They can’t keep stringing this along. Once I have the money, our new life together will start. You just gotta be patient.”
Tears flowed down her cheeks. “I’m out of money, and I’m so tired of running.”
Lennox pulled her close. Lisa let several seconds go by before cutting to the chase.
“Why did we have to kill him, Scott? I’d give anything to go back and change things. I can’t live with myself knowing what we did to that poor man.”
Scott held her closely, responding, “It’s all been for you since the night we met. From the moment I set eyes on you, everything was about us being together, don’t you see? That’s why Lombard had to go. But I needed your help.”
“You needed my help to kill him? Why did you get me involved, Scott? Why?”
“I needed your help to secure our future. And it’s going to work, Lisa. The police have nothing. We can be together. You have to know I did this all for you. George was between us and our future, so I had no choice.”
“You had to run him over?”
“Yes, and you had to help me set up th
e story. Don’t you understand? It was all for us.”
Lisa wanted to be sure the cops would have enough to make their case so she pushed a little harder.
“So you killed George Lombard for me?”
“Yes, Lisa, just like we talked about.”
Lisa grabbed her hat and purse and turned to the man who caused her so much misery. “Goodbye, Scott. Rot in hell.”
Lennox didn’t move. His mind struggled to catch up as Lisa moved quickly. She was through the door and down the stairs to the parking lot in seconds. Lennox sprinted after her, gaining with every step. “Lisa, wait!”
Lisa slipped and dropped her keys. Scott was closing in. She left the keys and ran as fast as she could toward the street. Lennox bounded down the stairs from the loading dock and headed toward her.
In the command vehicle, McCallister grabbed his radio and shouted, “Go, go, go!”
SWAT officers stationed on the nearby roof began to zero in on Lennox with their high-powered rifles, while officers on the ground rushed in from the street. Jack and Mia quickly maneuvered their vehicle to block the exit from Lennox Ice and rushed in on foot, guns in hand.
“Freeze, Lennox!” A voice echoed from a megaphone, somewhere above. “On the ground!”
Scott stopped cold next to his car. Stunned, he realized it had all been a setup. Anger exploded from inside of him as the deputies moved quickly towards him and Lisa ran. The scene seemed to unfold in slow motion.
Lennox grasped at his only chance for escape. In a heartbeat, he jumped into his car, shoved it into gear, and gunned the engine. The deputies on the ground jumped out of the way of the speeding car. Snipers opened fire from above. The rounds pierced the Lexus as it accelerated toward Lisa.
The deputies screamed out to her, but it was too late. The car struck her from behind, tossing Lisa’s body like a rag doll onto the hood of the car and over the roof. She dropped in a thud on the pavement not far from where George Lombard had come to rest nearly a year ago.
The Lexus turned sharply and slammed into a metal garbage bin, setting off the airbag. Officers swarmed the car with guns drawn as Mia and Keller rushed to Lisa Sullivan.