Jenny switched on the car’s headlights and slowly pulled out onto the street, being careful to maintain a comfortable distance between her and the police car. She would be no good to Dom if they decided they wanted her also, and if she let herself get caught. So far, the slight plan that she had was based upon the hope that they didn’t know what she looked like, and that they had no interest in her anymore. She knew Dom wouldn’t tell them where she was if they asked, and he would probably come up with some lie about how they parted company days before. The main thing was that she had to remain detached from the situation and not go into the station as herself. Anything she said that identified her or linked her to Dom was not only going to mess up the plan she was starting to formulate, but would probably also result in her detainment. That was not something she could afford.
After following the police car for a while, Jenny watched as it pulled into a parking lot next to a police station. This was the information she needed, so she cruised past to avoid suspicion and made her way back to the motel.
Jenny was relying on Dom to call her when he had a chance to make his one phone call. When he called, she would tell him the plan. She hoped that no one would be listening in. While she was waiting and hoping he would call, Jenny slid the phone book out from the drawer beside the bed and looked through the yellow pages for the type of store she would need. She was not disappointed. Jenny had just finished copying down the address when the phone rang. She knew it was Dom.
Jenny answered in a high secretary-type voice, “Amstad, Simon, and Hayes, Attorneys at Law. This is the answering service. How may I help you?” Jenny was hoping he would catch on. She didn’t think that they were allowed to listen in on the conversations, but she wasn’t taking any chances. There was a brief pause as Dom tried to figure out what she was doing. He too was paranoid about talking openly on the phone, and after a few seconds, he caught on and responded.
“Hello. This is Dominick Maxwell and I would like to speak with my attorney, Ms. Hayes, please. It’s very urgent.”
Jenny was pleased. He had figured out the game.
“One moment please while I page her and see if she can take the call.” Jenny tapped the hang-up button ever so slightly to create a click. Then she was silent for about a minute until she put the phone back to her ear and said “One moment and I’ll connect you.”
Once more, she clicked the button and after ten more seconds, she answered, “Mr. Maxwell. Hi, it’s Suzanna Hayes. What can I do for you?”
Dom went through the motions of quickly telling her that he was being charged for murder and the circumstances behind it. Jenny was shocked when he told her that Nina was dead and how they eventually wanted to charge him for the other deaths if possible. Throughout the whole conversation, she retained a professional tone even though she felt like screaming. She wanted to know how they had caught him, but that part would have to wait until another time.
When Dom was done giving all of the new information to Jenny, she asked if he was being held at the same station they took him to and he said yes. He also told her that he would be arraigned the next day. Jenny didn’t have much time.
“Well, Mr. Maxwell, did they give you your own cell?” Jenny asked.
“No, I’m in a cell with a guy named Butch,” he answered.
“Not much privacy then, I guess,” Jenny returned. “I’ll see what I can do about getting you out of there on bail as soon as possible.” She was hoping he got the meaning of her last sentence. Just to make sure, she added, “I have to go now, Mr. Maxwell. I was just informed that a client of mine broke out of jail and I need to find out what’s going on with the situation. I’ll talk to you soon.”
Dom said goodbye and Jenny could tell that he got the message. She could also sense puzzlement in his voice and she was sure it was because he had no clue as to what she was up to exactly. He would know soon enough.
Jenny hung up the phone, changed into jeans and a dark t-shirt and headed to the car. She had quite a night in front of her and it was already past 1:00 A.M. She drove to Northern Avenue and headed east past the interstate to a place called Spy Headquarters. They were closed. Jenny had figured as much, but she couldn’t stop now. She needed to take any risk that she had to in order to get Dom out of jail. She just hoped that she wouldn’t get caught also.
Looking through the front door, she saw there was an alarm system in use and there were contacts on all of the glass for the doors and windows. Jenny assumed that the rear door would also be hooked into the alarm system. That left out all of the entrances. Jenny looked around at all the walls of the store and did not see any motion detectors present. The store was lit by a few florescent lights for security purposes. Those few lights were enough for Jenny to scope out the inside and come up with a plan.
She got back into the car. As traffic was still cruising down Northern Avenue at 1:30 in the morning, she could not go in the front anyway. There would be witnesses. Jenny pulled out onto the street and drove around the block, parking in a parking lot a block away. Grabbing one of the flashlights from the car, she made her way back to Spy Headquarters and slipped behind the building. The center was a strip mall, consisting of ten stores, all connected under one roof, but with walls separating each shop. Spy Headquarters was in the middle of the group of shops.
Jenny went down the row of shops past the one she wanted and pulled on all of the back doors. They were all locked. Working back the other way, she struck pay dirt on the second to last door she tried. At first it did not open when she pulled on it, but when she slightly shook the door, the lock snapped back as if it had not been fully engaged.
“Bingo, I’m in,” she whispered under her breath. She pulled the door gently open and no alarm went off. Jenny exhaled, relieved, because her only course of action then would have been to run. As she slipped in the back door, she paused inside while waiting for her eyes to re-adjust. Once her eyes were accustomed to the dark, she could make out the shapes of mops and brooms. She was in a little entryway where cleaning supplies were kept. Slowly and quietly, Jenny made her way through the doorway and found herself in the stockroom. Although it wasn’t very big, it was tidy and easy to walk though.
Going farther into the building, Jenny found herself on the sales floor of the store she was in. She had managed to break into a book store. Walls of books lined the entire store and the whole middle of the store was full of bookshelves also. Jenny could see the lights of cars pass by the front windows, but she remained in the shadows. There were plenty of places to hide in the store, especially in the dark, and she had no fear of being seen. After surveying the sales floor, she went back into the stockroom, all the while hoping that she would find what she was looking for. Since the stockroom had a door that closed it off from the sales floor and the room was also windowless, Jenny closed the door and switched on the light, knowing that it could not be seen outside the building. Shadows leapt away as the harsh brilliant light rained down upon the entire stockroom. Jenny looked around and saw that the ceilings were about twelve feet high. The walls were solid except for one other doorway that led to a small office. Jenny was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to do what she set out to do until she spied the ladder in the corner. It was just what she was hoping to find.
Setting the ladder up near the wall that led to the sales floor, Jenny climbed it and got close to the ceiling. She hoped she was right about this. She had noticed that the outside of the building was about eighteen feet tall. She had also noticed that the inside ceilings were shorter than that and she came to the assumption that the remaining space in between held conduit and ductwork. She had also noticed the suspended ceiling tiles from the outside. She knew that when a suspended ceiling was installed, the contractors would hang framework to the underside of the roof by wires. When the framework was all installed at the desired height and all level, the ceiling tiles were set in the slots of the framework, thus adding a ceiling below all the pipes and ductwork.
Jenny
had learned a lot over the years from her dad when he had been in construction. If such was the case, then she should be able to push up a ceiling tile and have access to the area above the ceiling. In addition, she also knew that many times in older buildings, there were not walls dividing the different stores up in the ductwork area, because it would interfere with the pipes, wiring, and ducts. The walls usually went as high as the dropped ceilings and then stopped. Jenny was hoping that would be the case in this building.
Jenny gave a push and lifted the ceiling tile up out of the frame. Made from a light material, it was easy for her to lift it up and set it aside inside the void. She poked her head up through the empty space and looked around. It was dark. Reaching for the flashlight, which she had stuck in her back pocket, Jenny pulled it out and switched it on. The darkness receded and Jenny got a good look at the void she was about to enter.
There were no wall dividers separating the shops from each other. This might work after all, she thought. Jenny hoisted herself up inside the ceiling area and climbed onto a two-foot-wide duct that ran along the entire length of the building. It popped and buckled under her weight. At first, she was a little skeptical whether it would support her, but as she tested her weight against the duct, she found it to be strong enough. She didn’t want to walk on the suspended ceiling for fear that the frame or wires would give way and she would plummet down inside the store and hurt or possibly kill herself. She moved her way down the access area past where she thought the next store was located. When she reached the area of the building that she thought housed Spy Headquarters, she paused. Carefully, Jenny picked up the corner of a ceiling tile and peeked through the crack. She was where she wanted to be, but there was no way she could get down in this portion of the store. There was nothing to stand on or use to climb down.
Jenny peered around the store until she saw what she was looking for. In the back of the store, shelving ran along the wall to a height of about eight feet. She hoped it would support her weight. Letting the ceiling tile drop back into place, Jenny made her way to the ceiling area right above the shelving and removed the ceiling tile. She lowered one leg onto the shelving and gradually put her weight on it. So far, so good. Lowering her other leg, Jenny held onto a pipe in the ceiling area and put both feet on the shelving. It held but seemed a little unstable. Trying to take it easy so the shelving didn’t give way under her feet, Jenny descended the shelving as if it were a ladder; when she got closer to the floor, she jumped. No alarms sounded. She was almost there.
Making her way to the display cases, Jenny tried to stay in the shadows. If someone drove by and noticed her in there, or someone came to the door to check the lock, she would be discovered. Searching through the display cases, she picked out the items she thought she might need. A container of pepper spray, two pairs of handcuffs, and a stun gun. Finding a bag underneath the register, Jenny put the items in the bag and threw a few other items in there that she thought might come in handy. Sliding the handles of the bag over her arm, Jenny headed towards the back of the store. It was time to go before she got caught.
Making sure that everything was left somewhat how she’d found it, Jenny made her way to the shelving, eager to get back out of this building and back to Dom.
Carefully, Jenny started to climb back up her makeshift ladder, one rung at a time. As she reached the top, she reached for the pipe in the ceiling area and the shelving underneath her feet collapsed. The combined weight of her and the shelf she was on caused a chain reaction as all the shelves came loose from their wall mountings, spilling merchandise and Jenny onto the floor. She landed on her back and was sure she’d broken it when she couldn’t move or breath. A piercing stab of pain and noise rushed through her head, and she imagined that this would be where they found her when they opened up the shop in the morning. As she lay there and her lungs finally allowed her to gasp for breath, she realized that the wind had just been knocked out of her and that she was going to be okay. A few seconds after that, she realized that the sound piercing through her skull was the sound of an alarm siren and she was no longer safe. The police would be there any minute. There was no way she could cover her tracks now, so the only thing she could do was get up and run, which she did. Jenny ran into the back stock room of the store and saw the rear exit door located on the back wall. It was equipped with an emergency crash bar that, when pushed, would open the door and set off another emergency alarm. It was designed that way in case there was a fire or other emergency, so that people inside the building could not be trapped. Jenny considered this to be an emergency, so she ran full force at the door and kicked the quick release emergency handle, setting off the door alarm. The door flew open, pounding into the outside wall of the store.
Quickly, Jenny exited into the night, looking around to see if she was being watched. No one was in sight yet and she figured by her calculations that only ten or fifteen seconds had passed since the alarm went off, even though it seemed like an eternity. Not being able to decide on going left or right, Jenny decided that the safest way was to go straight over the wall behind the store. It was a six-foot wall made out of cement blocks, and Jenny was sure she could get over it. Running to get up some speed, and also to get the hell out of there, she jumped, grabbed the top of the wall and swung her leg over it. She scraped her arm across the rough surface as she went, but didn’t even notice in her hurry to escape. When she landed on the other side, she stopped and took a second to look around. She was in a grassy area on the side of a two-story apartment complex. Luckily there were no windows facing the direction that she was coming from. Walking at a fast pace, trying not to draw attention to herself, Jenny made her way through the apartment complex until she reached the opposite end where, again, there were no windows. She heard sirens. Now she ran, heading for the block where her car was parked.
Jenny threw the bag in the trunk, not wanting the evidence in the front if she got pulled over. Starting the car, she pulled out and pulled up to the street. She turned left, away from the area.
Keeping within the speed limit, she watched a police car passing by her going in the other direction. He had his lights and siren on. Jenny hoped that he would keep going. He did. Eventually she made her way back to the motel, turning right and left at different intersections, going well out of her way to keep from being in the direct path of the route that led from the motel to Spy Headquarters.
It was when she reached the motel and went inside that she noticed the pain in her back and her arm from scraping it on the wall. She changed her clothes again and lay down on the bed for few minutes, resting and thinking. If she was going to try this wacky plan, she would have to move while it was dead at the police station. She wasn’t crazy about breaking all of these laws, but she didn’t have a choice.
Jenny retrieved the handgun that she had stolen and checked to make sure that it was loaded. It was. Getting her nerve up, she left the room, got in the car and headed towards the police station.
This is going to be interesting, she thought as she made her way back to the station. Looking up into the sky, Jenny noticed that there was no moon showing. She couldn’t help but wonder if it was an omen of things to come. If it was, was it a good omen or a bad one? Jenny knew that whatever lay down the road waiting for her at the police station, she must face it if she and Dom were to survive. A shiver ran up Jenny’s spine. She was scared out of her mind. Somehow, she knew that it had only just begun.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Dom sat on the edge of the hard mattress in the jail cell that they had put him in. It was a fairly quiet night, and he had only seen a couple of people in the station after he was processed and everyone involved had gone on to other things.
He was confused. He was sitting in a jail cell being held for murder when he hadn’t done anything wrong. His sister was dead and he hadn’t even been able to see her before she died; he didn’t have time to mourn for her, and he was being charged for her murder.
To top it
all off, they were going to try to charge him in the other deaths of his friends and family. Dom tried to clear his head, but he could not, for he was in total disbelief. Stuff like this didn’t happen to innocent people. People that were in jail for crimes committed deserved what they got, or so he thought. He had no idea that an innocent man could be sucked in like this.
A few minutes earlier, Dom had called Jenny. She had really thrown him off for a second when she answered the phone the way she did. It had taken him a few seconds to catch on, but he had to admire her for the way she always thought on her feet. He hoped that he would someday be able to rejoin her on the outside. He hoped that he would be able to spend some time with her. Actually, it was while sitting on the edge of that jail bed that he realized he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He hoped that he would end up having a life to spend with her.
Dom and Jenny had discussed, for a brief moment, the possibility of him getting caught. They had discussed measures they could take to get him out of jail. He never thought it would come to this, but he knew they had to go through with it.
Dom understood immediately what Jenny was saying over the phone. She was going to try and break him out of jail. He was extremely worried about this. First of all, it was illegal. He had been a law-abiding citizen his entire life, but in the last few days, they had stolen a gun and now he was going to try and escape out of jail. Even if they eventually cleared him for murder, he would probably still be charged with escaping. If they succeeded.
Breaking out of jail wasn’t as easy as it looked on TV. Dom wasn’t ignorant enough to think that it would be a piece of cake. He knew that Jenny would be doing most of the work and he was worried about her. He was pulling her deeper and deeper into this mess. For some reason, Dom didn’t think that her parents would approve of her marrying him. That was one bridge he would have to cross if he ever got there. Right now, he had a long journey ahead of him.
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