Can't Let Go

by David Horne

  ***

  Nora was hooked to an intubation unit that controlled the flow of oxygen into her unconscious body. There was a substantial collection of officers hovering around the intensive care unit at the hospital in downtown Fredericksburg. She’d received several units of blood transfusion from the trauma center.

  Trevor had all the police officers available and willing to give blood, there at the hospital. It was an impromptu blood drive, but it was all he could do. Trevor gave what he could, redirected his thoughts when he could no longer stand beside the bed, waiting for Nora to regain consciousness. Joshua never left his daughter’s side.

  Surgery went well. The bullet was retrieved and handed over as evidence. Now they had an attempt on a police officer’s life, compounded with suspicious activity next door to their home. Trevor felt conflicted by wanting to return to the house and make sure their residence wasn’t consumed by the flame that lay Stuart’s house to waste. One of the officers close to Nora said their home had been spared damage. The fire department controlled the scene, but Stuart’s house was a charred shell now.

  One young man, a fellow police officer, was overly upset by Nora’s condition, stable but unconscious. Trevor felt inclined to reassure the officer that the surgeon had induced a comatose state to help Nora heal. There was a relationship between Nora and the officer. Trevor saw it clearly on the man’s face.

  Added to Trevor’s tension, he had to make the emergency phone call to Nora’s mother. The woman lived in Arizona and had boarded a plane as soon as Trevor informed her. They had no contact. The woman despised Trevor and Joshua, Nora and she barely spoke. Trevor felt it was his duty to let her mother know what happened.

  Nora’s mother arrived fifteen hours later. She wanted time alone with her daughter. Trevor wanted to get Joshua out of the room, refreshed, and fed. The man wore borrowed hospital scrubs because detectives collected his clothes as evidence after Nora was shot. He allowed Trevor to lead him out of the room. The parents didn’t exchange words when Nora’s mother dropped into the chair beside the woman’s bed.

  Chapter Twenty

  When Trevor finally arrived home with Joshua in a taxi, the driver commented on the destruction next door. They got out of the car and wandered into the house without a reply. Trevor led Joshua from the front door to the master bathroom. He pulled at Joshua’s shirt, removing the scrub top. Joshua slipped off the bottoms. He climbed into the shower and stood, shoulders slumped, hands pressed against the wall, let the steaming water cascade over his back. Trevor saw the redness of Joshua’s flesh.

  After he stripped out of his clothes, he got into the shower with Joshua. He adjusted the heat level. Slowly, without words, Trevor lathered the plastic body scrubber and began to wash Joshua’s naked body lightly.

  The soot covered his arms and neck. Joshua turned, pressed his back against the shower tile wall and wrapped his arms around Trevor.

  “I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose her.”

  “You’re not going to lose her.” Trevor squeezed Joshua against him. “She’s stable, asleep because the doctor wanted it that way.”

  “I don’t know how to thank you, Trevor.”

  Trevor laughed lightly. “What do you want to thank me for?”

  “You’re the most incredible person I’ve ever known. Do you know what you mean to me?” The water dripped over Joshua’s face when he stared into Trevor’s eyes. “I am so blessed because you’re here and because I have Nora.”

  “You take a lot of risks, Josh.” It was a good opportunity to tell the man he wasn’t infallible. “You rush to danger without even thinking about us.”

  “I don’t mean to.”

  “You leap before you look.”

  “And you organize a spontaneous blood drive at the hospital because our daughter lost so much blood.”

  Trevor liked the inclusion. He smiled. “You have to give back what you take.”

  “I’d never thought of that. You were on top of it.”

  “I’m not a superhero. I dropped my phone.”

  “You already called the cops.”

  It could have gone on and on, one on one forever. Instead, Trevor grabbed Joshua’s face, pulled him close and kissed him hard. They held each other under the gentle fall of rain inside the shower. Trevor felt a warm stirring in his stomach. The sense that things were balancing out, and he wanted to give everything he had to Joshua.

  “When I am with you,” he started. “I feel young. I feel like we’re kids again, running together, living a full life that I never thought possible. I’m so afraid I’m going to lose you.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” The look in Joshua’s eyes, before he turned from Trevor suggested he felt otherwise. It wasn’t a lie. It was trepidation. “I’m here for you as long as you want me.”

  “I want you forever, Josh. That was the whole point of being with you. I need you with me to live my life.”

  ***

  After the shower, they lay together in bed and sleep embraced them in the middle of the afternoon. The rap on the front door startled both of them.

  Dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, Joshua answered the door. Nora’s supervisor stood on the porch with another plain-clothed officer.

  “Can we come in, Josh?”

  “Is Nora—”

  “She’s fine. I just talked to her mother. She’s awake.”

  “We need to get down there.”

  “First, have a conversation with me,” the man said. He loomed in the doorway as Trevor wandered into the living room to stand beside Joshua. “Tell me what you think is going on next door.”

  Joshua took a deep breath that came from way inside. Trevor listened as Joshua went through the details of events in the succession of straight calendar days. It was clear, concise, and without faltering or backtracking. In the process of explaining a version of events that didn’t have any corroborating evidence, Joshua collected the file he’d put together on Stuart Chittenden’s death. He also had the data on Gordon Green’s death. He put them down on the dining room table and showed Nora’s supervisor how each case was eerily similar. Refuting the notes was impossible.

  In the end, Bill Johnson thanked Joshua. He and Trevor changed and drove to the hospital to see Nora now that she was out of danger and awake.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The reunion was heartfelt and teary. Nora had a tough exterior. A homicide detected had to compartmentalize their feelings. When father and daughter reunited, that façade broke and a flood of tears washed between them. Trevor and Nora’s mother went for coffee in the hospital cafeteria, bitterness put aside for the greater good of the love between father and daughter.

  They weren’t alone for very long. Nora’s supervisor showed up. Accompanied by the mute plain-clothed officer who accompanied him to the house, they had some information to share with Nora and Joshua.

  “They don’t have any evidence on the fire.” Bill told the two of them. “Forensics still has your bullet.”

  “I want that back,” Nora said.

  Bill nodded with a smile. “There’s no record on file. The gun wasn’t used in any other crime that we can trace.”

  “What about Stuart’s ex-wife.”

  “There was a policy released to her three days before the fire, from the insurance company.”

  Joshua shook his head. “It’s always about fucking money.”

  Bill nodded. He took the manila file from his silent partner and gave it to Nora. Opening the file, there was an enlarged photograph of a woman’s driver’s license. It was Stuart’s ex-wife.

  “That’s Jane Stickels,” Joshua said, identifying the woman.

  “It turns out they weren’t divorced. Either they never planned for it or Stuart forgot about it. We checked with court filings. Stuart had started the divorce paperwork last month, but Jane Stickels never signed off.” Bill pointed to the divorce documents.

  “That meant she was still beneficiary of his insurance policy.”<
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  Bill nodded. “We’re looking for her now. She hasn’t been home since the incident.”

  “There was a guy with her the night we met.” Joshua tried to recall the face. “I don’t know if I could pull him out of a line up.”

  “It’s okay, we figure once she shows up, he’ll be close by.” He regarded Joshua for a long moment. Then Bill said, “You were a hell of a detective, Josh. I’m sorry you had to retire.”

  “I’m just glad my daughter is still here to fill my place.”

  “She is doing a great job.” Bill pressed his hand on Nora’s shoulder.

  “You plan to arrest Jane?” he asked.

  “We’ve applied for a warrant through the DA’s office. With what you’ve told us, with everything that’s happened. She’s the likely suspect.”

  “Can I keep this?” he asked of the driver’s license photo.

  “Sure.” Bill and the lieutenant left Nora’s private hospital room. There was no flat surface within the room that didn’t have a bouquet. The room had a mild floral scent permeating the air.

  “So, you had to outdo your father,” Joshua said.

  “Trust me; if I had to one-up you, getting shot was last on my list.”

  “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you, honey.” He took Nora’s hand.

  “I feel the same way, Dad. That’s why I want you to take care of yourself.”

  “I will.”

  “Are you just telling me that?”

  “No, seriously,” he said. “I’m going to do it because I think if I don’t Trevor, will never get off my back.”

  “I thought you liked him on your back.”

  “You have no idea.” Joshua looked at the picture of Jane.

  “You ever get to know that woman at all when she lived next door to you?”

  “No. They were private people. It feels like today most people don’t get to know their neighbors. We walk around that neighborhood at night, just like everyone else, no one gets to know each other, but we’re friendly, say ‘hello’ and that’s about it.” He shook his head. “Feels different.”

  “What about Trevor? He organizes those big barbeques.”

  “People show up because there’s free food. I like that he’s a social butterfly. But we still have a dead neighbor, a house that’s burned down in a retirement neighborhood, and a suspect who had money as motive.”

  “Sometimes people are just predictable.”

  “Do you think you can do me a favor when you arrest Jane?”

  “I don’t know if I like the sound of this.”

  “I want to talk to her, before anyone else does.”

  “She’s got a lawyer.”

  “I know. After all this, I just want to see if she’ll have a conversation with me.”

  Nora regarded her father for a long time, not speaking, holding his hand. “I think Bill will let you talk to her.”

  “Thank you, Nora.” He stood up from the chair and kissed her forehead. “I love you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Jane Stickels was chatting with other women in the busy salon off Central Park Marketplace located near the intersection between I-95 and Route 3 in the congested part of Fredericksburg. She was splurging on a complete makeover, including the color changing of her hair and new styling.

  When the police entered the salon, it wasn’t with guns blazing. An insertion team donned in body armor, and face shields didn't break down doors going after the woman. Instead, it was Bill, the lieutenant, and a polite smile.

  They were private with Jane, asking her to accompany them to the front of the salon. Bill asked her to pay for the services she received from the hairdressers. He even waited for Jane to tip the stylist.

  Her hair was wet and colorful. When they walked outside, Bill escorted her to the unmarked police cruiser. Once she stood at the open back door, he told her she was under arrest for the murder of her estranged husband. He carefully, gently hand-cuffed her and eased her into the back of the car.

  Once in police custody, she was escorted to a small private room. Bill hovered over her after he made a pass through her purse to make sure it was free of weapons, while she retrieved the cell phone and called her attorney. She was told to wait in the small, closed off office space until her lawyer showed up and they were going to explain the charges to her.

  It took three hours before her attorney arrived. He was supplied a copy of the charging document. Bill made sure the man was upset and had to wait before he was directed to Jane’s room where she’d been waiting for three and a half hours.

  It gave her time to simmer. Tempers were high, the lawyer and Jane conferred for another twenty minutes. It was enough time for Joshua, Trevor, and Nora to arrive. Joshua pushed the hospital wheelchair for Nora. Still recovering, she had to stay off her feet for a while. While her surgeon wasn’t happy about her making a field trip to the police department, she’d promised to return if something happened. She didn’t want to miss the interview.

  “You ready?” she asked Joshua, looking up at him from the seat of the wheelchair.

  “I’m ready.” He turned to Trevor. Trevor fixed Joshua’s tie, brushed lint from the blazer.

  He cleared his throat, tucked the file under his arm and strolled to the office.

  ***

  “Sorry for the delay, Mrs. Stickels.”

  “You made me wait on purpose,” she stammered. As expected, she was upset. The look between her and her lawyer suggested she’d given him an earful while they waited together.

  “Detective,” the lawyer started.

  “Former Detective,” Joshua corrected. He held out his hand to the attorney. “Joshua Dimmick. I’m retired now. I’ve come back to the police department to do some consulting.” The look on the lawyer’s face suggested he didn’t have a comeback to the statement.

  “You’ve arrested my client with no evidence connecting her to her ex-husband’s unfortunate accident. This needs to end. We’ll have these charges dropped as soon as she’s scheduled for arraignment.”

  Joshua nodded. He sat down at the available desk. Jane’s handcuffs were removed as soon as they brought her to the meeting room. It wasn’t an interrogation room in the sense people were used to seeing in the media. Interviews were meant to be casual, controlled in a safe environment. As long as the suspect was cooperative, they had access to wander around the office without leaving.

  “You were treated okay?” Joshua asked. He placed the file folder in front of him, folded his hands on the file. “The police were courteous. They explained what was happening? They read you your rights? You have a copy of the charging document?”

  “Yes, yes,” the lawyer spoke for Jane. “You need to get on with this senseless interview so I can have my client home by this evening.”

  “Sorry, sir,” Joshua apologized. “It’s just important the police are following protocol. When an officer is shot in the line of duty, sometimes tempers flare. People tend to overreact. People get angry and want justice. I just wanted to make sure your client was treated well when she came here.”

  “What do you need to talk to her about?” He sat back, folded his arms across his chest. The lawyer stared and waited. Jane, following his example, leaned back in the chair and waited.

  “Mrs. Stickels—”

  “It’s Miss,” she corrected.

  Joshua made a note on the file. “I see, my apologies.” He tucked the pen back into his breast pocket. “So, they’re going to charge you with murder. Your beneficiary rights are suspended. They’ve frozen your assets.” He looked at her lawyer. “I hope she paid your retainer upfront. At this time the police have facilitated a search warrant on your residence.” Joshua handed over a copy of the search warrant to her attorney. “They have also arrested a man named Patrick Newman who you were seen with the night you and I met at Stuart’s house.

  “He is being transported to the hospital. Apparently, it wasn’t an amicable arrest. He’s going to be fine. They are proce
ssing the firearm they found in the crawlspace under his trailer.” Joshua smiled at Jane’s attorney. “You don’t represent Mr. Newman, do you?”

  “No.”

  “He’s had some interesting things to say since his arrest.”

  “What is this all about, Mr. Dimmick. All of this is a little unorthodox. I’m sure because of your former status as a detective; you’ve been given some leniency. All this will be used during Miss Stickels’ trial; I assure you.”

  “That’s fine. We understand.” He fished something from the file and passed it to the lawyer. “This is a copy of the convenience store receipt for the purchase of cigars your client used to kill her estranged husband.”

  “That’s not admissible evidence. It’s speculation.”

  “This will be admitted into evidence, along with a copy of the CCTV footage retrieved from the store.” He had a still frame taken from the footage. “I understand the image is a little grainy, but I don’t think a jury will have any problem identifying your client.”

  “You don’t have any capacity here, Mr. Dimmick. We’re ready to leave, and you can transport my client to the jail so we can process her back out again.”

  “It’ll happen; just give me a few more minutes of your time, sir.” Joshua looked from her attorney to Jane. The woman’s composure wasn’t as stoic as her attorney. Unlike the man, who had nothing to hide, and wasn’t guilty of a crime, she trembled visibly in the plastic chair. “I’m not here for Stuart, Jane. I’m here to clear up a cold case I had when I was a junior detective years ago.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” her lawyer snapped.

  Joshua fished out another sheet of paper. It was face down when he slid it to Jane. She didn’t pick it up immediately. She sat there, pressing her back against the chair, trying to get as far away from the table without touching anything. She looked at her attorney.

  “Can we get out of here?”

  “You can leave; officers are ready to take you to jail, Miss Stickels,” Joshua answered for her attorney. “But aren’t you a little curious about that paper in front of you? Or do you know what you’ll see when you turn it over.” Joshua looked at her lawyer. “Your client is charged in the homicide of a Gordon Green.” Joshua flipped over the sheet of paper. It was an out of state driver’s license photograph. The expanded image showed a much younger, different-looking version of the woman who sat at the table. “She killed her husband some years ago. Incidentally for insurance money, just like now.”