Blow Up on Murder

by Linda Townsdin

  Another surge of energy zapped me into overdrive and I charged through the doors. A quick scan at a mall map showed Sports World’s location, about a block from me. Fall shoppers getting a head start on the holidays didn’t slow me down and neither did the seniors in gym shoes and Fitbits marching five abreast to attain their daily step goals. I swerved around them yelling, “Make way.”

  Parents pushing strollers wide as Cadillacs pulled their kids out of the way as I barreled past, sending shopping bags flying. Everyone cleared a path for the crazed woman dashing through the mall.

  An authoritative voice behind me yelled, “You. Stop!”

  The cop was loaded down with a hefty belly and full equipment belt. I kept on, knowing he’d chase me, my best option to get help for Hunter. A family of six stopped directly in front of me to deal with a toddler having a tantrum. I sideswiped the father and hesitated to see if he was okay. My moment of indecision gave the security cop time to catch up. Heavy hands grabbed me from behind and threw me to the ground. A crowd gathered, gawking and commenting about how I’d nearly flattened them.

  I yelled, “Someone’s going to attack an employee at Sports World, Hunter Anderson. You need to stop it!”

  Wheezing from the effort, the guy in the white and black uniform hauled me to my feet. “You can tell us all about it in the security office.” He scooped his hat from the floor and shoved me forward none too gently, but at least the security office was the same direction as Sports World.

  With a beefy hand clamped on my arm, he quick-stepped me onward. I scanned the businesses for Sports World, begging the security guy to check it out. I held up my camera. “I’m a photographer for the StarTrib. This is a legitimate emergency.”

  He marched me forward talking into the radio attached to his shoulder. “Check out Sports World. I have a reporter here who says someone’s going to attack one of their employees, a Hunter Anderson.” He listened, then said, “I have her. We’re on our way to the office.”

  We walked past a sign that said No Guns Allowed. I hoped they enforced that. Across the way, a familiar stick figure with bushy brick-colored hair glided up the escalator, her head lifted toward the next level.

  I twisted away from the cop still on his radio and took a split second to decide whether to follow Emmaline up the escalator or get to Hunter, about a half block away. A kid leaned over the railing on the next level, pointing into the distance. “Cool, a drone!” Backward ball cap and controller in hand, Derek aka Martin Birch aka Ethan Johnson stood behind the kid.

  Five inches in diameter and fitted with sharp metal points, the drone swayed and spun a few yards ahead, picked up speed and crashed into the Sports World window. It didn’t shatter the way Bella’s had. This was safety glass and chunks of it came down in beads, but it had the same effect on shoppers. People ran shrieking from the store creating pandemonium. Hunter rushed out, then froze.

  I raced toward him, glancing up at the second tier of shops across from Sports World. Derek was fitting an arrow into a bow. Running flat out, I screamed, “Run, Hunter!” He didn’t hear me. The PTSD fog filled my vision, and I faltered. But this time the image of brave Chloe’s brown ponytail hanging like a question mark from the gurney reminded me of my purpose. The fog lifted, I dove into Hunter, knocking us both to the ground. A thud sounded inches from our heads. Someone nearby screamed, “They’re shooting arrows!”

  Derek’s bun was all I saw as he retreated from the railing. Three security cops were headed our way. They’d help Hunter.

  I said, “Stay down!” He ducked, and I tore away. Terrified people squeezed to the side to make room as I took the escalator stairs four at a time.

  When I reached them, Emmaline moved in front of Derek, and aimed a gun at my head. I halted.

  The gun on me, she said to Derek, “Hurry!”

  Derek had a much larger drone in the air and this one was armed, the same kind he’d used to attack me. With a mean glint in his eyes, he raised a pointed chin identical to Emmaline’s toward me. “You messed up by saving Hunter from my arrow. Now a lot more people will have to die.”

  I made my eyes go wide, stared at the space behind Emmaline, and said, “Thank God you’re here.” She swiveled, my elbow connected with her head and she went down, the gun skittering off to the side. Distracted by my ruse, Derek reached toward Emmaline with one hand while I wrenched the controller from his other hand. He scrambled to get it. With a vicious kick, I planted my boot in his side. He howled and fell to the ground clutching his ribs.

  Downstairs, security officers surrounded Hunter. He pointed up at me holding the controller, attempting to divert the hovering drone. I took it straight up in the air, buying time while I tried to remember how to land it. Derek hadn’t released any gunfire, but if this drone crashed, people would be hurt. Scanning for a safe place in the throng below, I made it swoop in an arc, and then lowered it, landing it none too gently in one of the enclosed mall attractions. It rested in a fenced grassy knoll among giant fake flowers. Mall security swarmed to the drone from all directions.

  Four men in black shoved through the crowd and circled me with weapons drawn. A SWAT team. The team yelled in unison. “Step away.”

  I shut down the controller and set it on the tile, mentally thanking Tara in Fargo for showing me how to use it. One of them threw me to the ground and cuffed me. I screamed, “Grab the kid with the bun and the red-haired woman.” My face was jammed into the floor, but I raised it enough to see that the two had melted into the crowd.

  More police descended on the mall. A loudspeaker announced a lockdown, telling people to stay where they were and not to panic, but a mass of humanity crawled and clawed to get to the exits anyway.

  Rough hands hauled me into the security office, snatched away my camera and threw me into a chair. Officers slammed me with questions as if I was the villain. They showed me the gun Emmaline used. “Who does this belong to?”

  I winced. “That’s my P-238 SIG Sauer.” I hadn’t realized it when she’d pointed it at me. “I didn’t bring it into the mall.”

  The cop I’d slipped away from earlier said, “Really?”

  “It was in my car. That red-haired woman stole it from me. She was going to kill me with it, but I hit her and she ran away. Did you get her? Her name is Sarah Tucker. Did you get the kid with the drone, Derek?”

  A man in a suit stepped in front of me. “Jim Henrik, I’m in charge here. You’re the only one we saw handling the drone. We’ll need your name.”

  I said, “Are you interviewing people on that second level who were nearby?”

  He said, “Name?”

  I gave them my information and told them to call Robyn Barry, Ben and Sheriff Wilcox in Branson knowing if they couldn’t contact anyone else, Wilcox would vouch for me. But they didn’t respond to anything I said, and I eventually stopped trying to explain. Minutes passed and a bewildered Hunter was brought in. He admitted he’d talked to me on the phone, but didn’t know me. “She saved me from the arrow, though.”

  They left two guards with me. It seemed like an hour, but fifteen minutes later, Barry’s team with Ben and one of the SWAT guys crammed into the security office with Derek between them, and I was let go.

  Ben put his arms around me, but I extracted myself from his embrace. Adrenalin combined with whatever was in Edgar’s pouch was still zinging through my system. “I’m fine. Did you get Emmaline? She has my SUV.”

  Ben said, “It’s in the lot. She vanished but they’re still looking.”

  Maybe the woman really was a sorceress. “How did you get Derek?” Unable to pace in the small crowded room, I bounced from foot to foot.

  “Rock got him by the pant leg as he tried to get into a Porsche.”

  That didn’t make sense. “Rock’s at her house, the address I texted to you.”

  Ben said, “Little called me when you left Spirit Lake, worried you were too sick to drive, but we were in Moorhead working that terror plot. Then I got the addres
s you sent, and after that your phone message. We piled in the helicopter and stopped for Rock at Emmaline’s. We were almost here when Henrik called us.”

  The various law enforcement entities wanted to drain every bit of information from me, now that I wasn’t considered the enemy, but I held up my StarTrib credentials and said I wanted my camera. “I’ll talk after I get it.”

  The head of security said no and I understood the reluctance. An eighteen-year-old kid and fifty-year old woman brought two drones, bow and arrow and a gun into the mall. Not good publicity for them.

  Barry told them to stand down. The woman was media savvy.

  I photographed Hunter sitting off to the side, dazed. He kept repeating, “The kid from high school did all this? I just sold him a bow and arrows.”

  We went back to Sports World and I shot a few photos of Barry, her team and mall security in front of the shattered window, drone parts strewn on the tiles. I took a close-up of the arrow sticking from the plastic SALE sign, just inches from Hunter’s head when it hit. The weaponized drone still sat among the flowers where I’d landed it, guarded by a security detail. I took photos of it, but what I really wanted to do was stomp on it. It was just like the one that killed my phone.

  When that was done, whatever sustained me drained away. “Ben, I need to see Dr. Fromm and Connie. Emmaline’s been poisoning me.”

  Chapter 24

  Nurse Connie and Dr. Fromm stood at the side of my bed conferring in whispers. My arm was attached to a drip. I croaked, “Did they get her?”

  Dr. Fromm came closer. “It’s fortunate you threw up a lot of the poison. That’s why I was trying to contact you. The blood test results revealed a great deal of the plant, Nicotiana in your system along with a number of other substances. In addition to the poison, someone’s been doping you with a highly addictive narcotic.”

  “It was a red-headed witch.”

  He and Connie exchanged glances. He said, “We still haven’t isolated a couple of other substances but one seems to be related to the plant used to make Ipecac. That would make you throw up. There’s something else, not a pharmaceutical substance but it would have had a countering effect on the poison and given you a boost of strength and energy. It’s already dissipated from your system.”

  Connie stepped forward. “We were curious how you obtained it.”

  I bit my lower lip. “I’m having trouble remembering. Doc, Can I go home now? I’m fine.”

  He shook his head. “You’re doing remarkably well considering, possibly due to that mysterious antidote you took, but I’d like to keep you here at least one more day.”

  Lars came in. “You’re awake! How you doing?”

  “I’m starving and I want to see Rock.”

  Lars directed the full beam of his smile on Dr. Fromm. “Rock’s outside. We wouldn’t stay long.”

  Dr. Fromm said, “It’s against hospital policy, but I’m going to make an exception this time.”

  Connie’s eyes nearly popped from their sockets. She bit down on her lip. She’d never openly question Dr. Fromm.

  She and Fromm left together but she was frowning, uneasy with this rupture in the hospital’s rules.

  Lars was back in a few minutes with Rock. He put his paws on the side of my bed. I lifted his ear, whispering, “Thanks for having my back, buddy.” I petted his head and when I stopped, he nudged my hand for more, doing his whine-like dog talk.

  Lars hovered near the window. “You didn’t exactly welcome me back with open arms at the restaurant. I guess you hate me for upsetting Little.”

  “With my history of hurting the ones I love, my anger wouldn’t have much credibility. Is he still mad at me?” Little had been pretty disgusted with me when I left for Emmaline’s.

  Lars grinned. “Yeah, but he’s not as mad at me now so thanks for that.”

  “Glad to help. How’s Chloe doing?”

  “She has her bad moments, but I’m assisting her with that given what I experienced.”

  Nurse Connie came into the room, likely imagining dangerous bacteria cascading through the space with every swish of Rock’s tail. “Your dog really shouldn’t be here.”

  Lars said, “I need to get back to Spirit Lake anyway. I forgot to tell you, all the churches came together to plan a fundraiser for Chloe’s hospital costs, and I’m on the committee. We’re meeting in an hour.”

  That was a relief to hear. “Before you leave please hand me my camera in that closet.”

  I patted Rock one more time before they left, and then scrolled through my photos. Cynthia had sent a message that Jason would stop by to download them to his laptop as soon as I woke.

  Ben came in. His lips brushed my forehead. “You doing okay?”

  “On the mend.”

  “The poison explains that fall at my place and why you’ve looked so awful lately.”

  “Thanks for that.”

  “I mean you weren’t yourself.” He kissed my lips. “You’re always beautiful to me.”

  He did it again. I melted into the hospital bed. “Ben, about the poison. I felt ill right away, but I told myself it was the flu or side effects and let it go.” My throat tightened. I tricked myself because I wanted the tea. From the hospital bed perspective, that looked seriously insane. “It was so good to sleep with no little girls blowing up in front of me.”

  He took my hand. “I still think you need to see someone about PTSD.”

  “I might have underestimated that.” He stared at me carefully. “You’re right. I will. And maybe now you might admit you should have checked out Emmaline aka Sarah Tucker when I asked.”

  “I never saw that coming. We haven’t found her yet. She ditched your phone in the mall parking lot.”

  He set it next to me on the stand. I wouldn’t have to get another one this time, a small triumph.

  He said, “The FBI followed up on your information about the packages at the Spirit Lake post office, which led them to a storefront box rental near Branson where she mailed the drone kits. They staked it out and I just heard they caught three of them at a residence on Branson Lake. The FBI, CIA and Homeland Security are collaborating over who gets them now.”

  I said, “I meant to tell you about that sooner. I wasn’t myself for a while.”

  He took my hand. “Robyn said she’d come by as soon as they’re finished with those guys. She has a couple more questions. We know for sure Brian was the one who was recruited to blow up the communications building, but Derek screwed that up by going after Hunter and threw the ISIS mission into a tailspin.”

  “He needs psychiatric help. Emmaline said he has a violent history.”

  “We’re still trying to put that together. When he was a juvenile, Emmaline kept him under the radar by moving them whenever people started to blame him for hurting their kids and animals.”

  “What about Jenna, Brian’s sister?”

  His head dropped. “We haven’t located her yet.”

  Brian said they already had her when I talked to him in the library, and the BCA told me to stay away, but I should have done more. “I was trying to get Brian to do the right thing before he landed in prison, or ended up in some Mideast hellhole.”

  “We aren’t giving up on finding Jenna. It’s hard to figure what’s going on with these kids who get radicalized. They’re all different and that makes our work more difficult.”

  He pulled my car keys from his pocket. “Your SUV was brought up from Minneapolis. It’s in the west parking lot.” He set the keys on the stand next to my phone and kissed me goodbye. “Get some rest. Fromm says you’ll be in the hospital another day or two. I’ll be working with the BCA but call me if you need anything.”

  As soon as he left, Connie rustled in and said she was giving me something to help me sleep. She sniffed. “You ought to have asked us for help with sleep aids. We’d have prescribed something that wouldn’t kill you.”

  My mouth fell open. Was that humor coming from Connie? I wasn’t aware she was c
apable of mirth. Humbled, I said, “I should have.”

  Jason arrived to download my photos, but Connie stopped him from asking me questions. “She needs her rest.”

  Eyelids half-closed, I said, “Tell Cynthia to contact Robyn Barry and Ben for quotes. I’ll call after a short nap.”

  I woke refreshed a few hours later. From now on, I’d go to my new supplier, Nurse Connie.

  Little sat under the window scrolling through his phone. He came over to the bed when he noticed I was awake. “I stopped in Cooper to see Bella before coming to the hospital. She sent her get-well wishes. She’s not recovering from this fall so quickly.”

  Angry all over again that Emmaline had hurt Bella, and was still out there, I said, “Bella hadn’t fully healed from the first fall.”

  Little pulled his chair closer. “What was with that woman and her nephew? I’m still trying to sort it out.”

  I summarized the story for him. Little shook his head. “It’s always the ones you don’t suspect. What would cause a lady who grows amazing herbs to become so evil?”

  “A few things. Greed and a chip on her shoulder because no one believed in her powers for one. And she’s succumbed to her nephew’s behavior since she took him in. She was willing to do anything to protect him.”

  He perked up. “At least now you can do what you came here to do, rest and relax. They have the nephew and Emmaline has disappeared.”

  He bent toward a bag he’d brought and I was glad he couldn’t see my face. If it reflected how I felt, it had to be sickly. I hadn’t told him about Syria, and I wasn’t so sure Emmaline had left the area.

  He held up a glass dish. “Hungry?” He pried up the plastic top and I inhaled the familiar aroma—chicken wild rice hotdish. Edgar’s favorite and mine as well.

  I wiggled my fingers. “Gimme.”

  His hand went up. “Fair warning, Connie recommended sticking with the bland hospital food until you were better.”