“Only like, a million times. Some kids just call me ‘little miss running mouth’, but teachers have told me that I’m a natural-born speaker. All of which is quite all right with me since I am absolutely determined to be an actress; oh, something like Brooke Shields. When I finish high school, I hope to go to the University of California at Los Angeles.
“They have important ties to the movie and television industries, you know, and I imagine I can learn a whole lot more there. Wouldn’t you think so, sir?”
“Definitely. But wouldn’t you rather be close to your mom and go to San Diego State?”
“That’s where you went sir?”
“Sure did. Got a degree in Criminology there and I got to stay right here in San Diego the whole four years.”
“Oh, then you always wanted to be a Police Officer?” the little one asked.
“No, no, no. I desperately wanted to be a baseball star! Trouble with that idea though, was I had too little talent. A fellow has to have very special hand-eye coordination for that game and I didn’t have it sharp enough. So halfway through college, my pal Bob Jackson convinced me to study criminology with him.
“I’ve been glad I did ever since. The business has its rewards,” he told the two.
“Oh sir, but I’ve been determined to be an actress I think since I was born! Really! I’ve always wanted to be that and nothing else! And mom has been so very nice to encourage and help me. She says I’m her very good daughter but that’s only because she’s the very best mother there ever was!” Little Anne said.
“Oh now, enough of that,” Ronica said. “Jack, we’ll show you some pictures next time you come over. She’s been in lots of school plays, she’s modeled girl’s clothes somewhat and so far, she’s done three TV commercials. She could get much more of that sort of work if we lived in LA but we don’t need the money and she really doesn’t need the added experience, I don’t think. She’s got the self-assurance and determination it takes to succeed; that’s what’s important.”
A phone rang in the red head’s purse and she dug it out.
“Oh, hello Mr. Stevens,” she said into it and punched the speaker on so the others could hear as well.
“Miss McCarty! I just heard on the news that Sergeant Leslie killed a robber at Tom Ham’s restaurant! Did you hear that, too?” he asked.
“Mr. Stevens, Little Anne and I were there with him. He was taking us to dinner there when he heard a robbery taking place and the fool wouldn’t put his gun down but instead tried to shoot Jack – uh, Sergeant Leslie; and that’s why he had to shoot the man. We were there sir and we saw it. Now we’re at his condo on First Avenue, having dinner. Sorry if I seem excited, but well, I guess I am a little more excited than usual,” she said.
“Well, well, Miss McCarty, if that isn’t something. That really is something. On the news they said the killing would have to be investigated by the DA’s office and until it’s settled that the shooting was justified, Sergeant Leslie will have to be relieved of duty.
“Darn! You’ve been there for two killings in a single day, Miss McCarty. Two in one day. In my fifty-three years I’ve never seen one. Not a single one. So you’ve got to take some time off, too. You must! I’ll give you….let me see….I’ll give you two weeks off. Yes, two weeks with pay. You still get your vacation time, too. God bless you Miss McCarty. You’re one of a kind and everybody loves you! Remember, don’t come back to work for two whole weeks! That’s okay with you?” he finished.
“Oh sir, you are more than generous. Thanks. I wish you the best!”
“Wait a second, Miss McCarty. Hang on there. Did you say you’re at his place now? Are you two getting along as well as I’d expect you would? He’s a fine, fine man, Miss and….”
“Mr. Stevens! Don’t go jumping to conclusions. I don’t know if he even likes red hair yet,” she sort of gasped.
“Well, I’d be astounded if he didn’t. Why not ask him if he likes it?” Stevens chuckled.
“Sir, time will tell.”
She hung up and said, “What did I tell you Jack? I’ve got the best boss in the world.”
“Well, as to the hair, red’s okay with me,” Leslie smiled and pulled out a little of the red hair still in his white shirt pocket.
“I’m careful not to be throwing out any of that stuff you get so many tons of behind the bar. But now, as he said, that’s really something. Ronica, I hadn’t thought about it but that’s what they have to do these days. They can’t just take an officer’s word for it; that shooting some guy was justified. After all, it’s a human life. He knew the jig was up and he was going back to that hell called prison if he surrendered. No, he’d rather die right there.
“But, it’s still a human life. Chances are, that poor devil had a rap sheet long as your arm, but the circumstances still deserve a look from the District Attorney. It’ll give me time to get my nerves back in order, too.” Leslie said.
“So you won’t be working at all?” Ronica asked.
“I’ll probably be confined to a desk; I’ll have no field work for a while; you know, where I might be shooting dozens of other guys.
“The first time I shot a guy I was a second-year patrolman and there was a call from a hysterical woman who said her husband was drunk and beat her up and threatened to shoot her and their kids and would the Police please come over and make him stop. That’s about the most dangerous call we ever get. They’re called ‘domestic disturbances’ and often, they’re a lot more than disturbances.
“Well, I pulled up in our patrol car, got out and had taken two or three steps when a big crazy fellow started screaming at me to get off his property and shot right at me with a shot gun. Ka-boom! That was a strange sound, those buck shots hitting my vest. He only missed with some of those little lead balls because he was so insanely drunk.
“Well, I shot back and didn’t miss and it turned out the bullet went through his neck and cut his spine in two. He died really quick.
“But what was most interesting maybe, I was suddenly not the friend and protector of that woman and her children; no, I was the slayer of their bread and butter. Who’s to pay the rent after that? Who’ll provide food and clothing and loving comfort during those long nights? What about those poor, father-less orphans?
“A thoughtless, careless, ruthless, reckless, shoot-from-the-hip, trigger-happy executioner showed up and took all that away, you see. Not a Law Enforcement Officer but an executioner, you know. So that’s what happened in court.
“The young lawyer seemed clever in twisting absolutely obvious facts around and he attacked me endlessly when I was on the stand.
“He didn’t win his suit against the city, the police department and me but he got on television and in the papers and he’s a rich lawyer today. That was of course his object; the woman’s problems naturally meant nothing to him, I’m sure. So maybe that will happen in this case, too,” Leslie sighed wistfully. “And who knows; perhaps whoever owns Tom Ham’s Restaurant will sue me for making a lot of noise and getting blood on their nice floor,” he said.
“Oh come on Jack, you know that cannot possibly happen. The manager thanked you for saving that scared-to-death girl,” the McCarty woman said.
“He did? So much was going on; all those people; so excited and so noisy. Darn, I suppose I am a little tired after all that adrenaline has drained out of me.”
Ronica jumped up.
“Jack, you’ve got to get to bed and rest. You’ve got to do it right now. Little Anne and I will grab a cab and go home, but you’ve got to get some rest right now. Okay?” she said.
“No Ronica, that’s not okay. I’d hate for you two to leave. I enjoy you both so much. If you’ll just go in there and watch TV for a while or snoop around the place for just fifteen or twenty minutes, I can lay down on my bed on my back, just as I am, and nap. I have a technique. I can instantly go to sleep for a short time and wake up refreshed. Okay? Will you both please stay?” he asked.
“Very w
ell,” she smiled, “but some other time you may want us out of your hair, so to speak, and dynamite won’t move us. Come on Little Anne; let’s see what’s on TV. Maybe Brooke Shields is on.”
Sure enough, Leslie woke up in a quarter of an hour, used the bathroom and found the two females looking over the books stored in the living room.
“That’s the bookcase my dad built,” he told them. “I kind of prize it, you know.”
“Did you sleep well, Jack?”
“Oh yes, it’s my technique. I read long ago that Tom Edison could cat-nap easily and I got up a little fantasy about my dad and me going fishing on a river bank with the water gurgling and all that and presto! Sleep comes right away,” he said.
“Going fishing with your father must have been fun for you as a kid,” she said.
“No, that never happened. Oh no, my mom took me to ball games and such and came to my school for me. But doing things with a kid was strictly women’s work, as far as my dad was concerned. When I was about seven, I think, we lived in Milwaukee for about a year, I think, while my dad was a Marine Corps recruiter there.
“I barely remember our apartment and I cannot think what part of the city we lived in. I don’t remember the school I went to even. But one of my school chums told me about his father taking him fishing there in Wisconsin and they caught lots of perch and bass and had a great time. They even camped out in the woods, just that nice dad and his son, so I’ve fantasized since that time, that my dad and I did that too. Kind of silly, isn’t it?” Leslie smiled, “You know, I’ve never told a soul about this before; not my mom, not even Donna.”
“Jack, that incident today has got to affect you, I’d think. That’s all it is.”
“Sir, I really do believe I’m a lucky one,” Little Anne put in, “that my mother involves herself with me so much. But she loves me and what you said makes me wonder whether your dad loved you or not. He really must have loved you.” Little Anne said.
“Little Anne, I suppose he did but we didn’t become real friends until after he retired from the Marines; not until the last years of his life. Then he actually began to say he was proud of me, even if I didn’t become a Marine.
“He thought of my life of frequent battles with the bad guys, so to say, was almost the equal of what I might have done like him, in the Corps. He was never one to give praise lightly, that man. But my mom often said, ‘When the Lord made my old man, He threw the mold away,’ and we both loved and admired him greatly for he was the ideal Marine.”
“Not to change the subject Jack,” Ronica said, “But I notice you have Dale Carnegie’s How To Win Friends and Influence People on your shelf. That’s where I read, years ago, that ‘a person’s name is – to them – the sweetest sound in the English language’. That’s why I learned to get people’s names correctly and then remember them. I love that old 1936 book.”
“There now, you see we have something in common for I love that book too!” he laughed.
“And sir, me too!” Little Anne said. “I’ve devoured that book just as mom says; it makes, like, good sense.”
Leslie’s Blackberry in his shirt pocket rang and it almost always took him by surprise and made him jump. He saw on the screen that it was Patrol Sergeant Robert Jackson.
“Hi Bob,” he answered.
“Dammit Jack, I just heard on the TV that you had a fracas at Tom Ham’s and I’m just wondering how my old buddy is doing now?”
“Doing fine, Bob. I have the good fortune to have as my guests here at my house, Miss McCarty and her lovely daughter. How ‘bout them apples, friend?”
“Well I’ll be damned! About time you woke up! I remember her very well at the Cecilia. She’s a wonder, that one! Anyway pal, you’re not hurt or anything?” Jackson inquired.
“No Bob, I’m doing just fine. Miss McCarty fixed us a nice omelet, fabulous potatoes and all that, instead of the dinner I expected we’d have at Tom Ham’s. How’s the Missus and your four kids?”
“Good; really good. Thanks Jack, I know you’re busy and I’m thankful you’re okay and I’ll be seeing you soon.”
As he hung up, Ronica said, “Jack, Little Anne has school in the morning and she hasn’t quite finished her homework. It’s getting late so we’d better get going.”
“Sure thing ladies. Here’s an extra ‘clicker’ for our garage so any time you might wish to come over, well, you can get in easy. I cannot possibly tell you though, how great it’s been to have you here. Let’s go!”
As they climbed into his car, Little Anne said, “Mom, we must remember we have a garage door clicker and space forty six is for us!”
Leslie chuckled and he thought what a precocious child she was. She would certainly be a good actress.
“As Humphrey Bogart said to the French Police Chief Claude Rains at the end of the movie Casablanca, ‘I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship’,” Leslie said. “At least, I very much hope so.”
From the corner of his eye he could see she gave a nod and a non-committal grin.
As he drove near Ronica’s building, he asked to see her Mustang and she directed him to the garage entrance.
“You push 4022 on that post there to open the gate,” she told him. “However, that code is changed infrequently.”
He did as instructed and the gate opened.
“We have a visitor space too, Sergeant Leslie,” Little Anne said. “Next to my car, it’s space 21.”
“I’ll be sure to remember that,” he smiled.
In the garage he was directed to that space, to the right of the Mustang. The sun had set but the garage was fairly well lit.
“Hey! That’s a truly beautiful car,” he exclaimed as he parked next to it. “It’s so unusual today to have a hood ornament. I’ll be darned; those wheels are really sharp.”
Sure enough, he saw the body color was a glistening bright metallic red with a white canvas top and white leather seats. There was no mistaking a Ford Mustang, unique among about a thousand different car models one could choose from every year.
As he opened his doors for them, Ronica said, “Those fancy chromed wheels were on the car. The old man who first owned it put them on and put on a special paint. I’ve got the same six-CD changer you have in your car. Here’s the keys so you can look it over while I get Little Anne started with her homework. Then I’ll be right back down.”
The McCarty’s walked to the right to the elevator and Leslie began looking over the well-waxed Mustang. The prancing-horse hood ornament seemed appropriate to such a pretty car. As he went to the driver’s side to open the door, he saw with astonishment that the driver’s window had been smashed and glass shards were all over the seats and floor! A large bottle sat on the passenger seat.
As Leslie stood staring at the damaged window, an older Buick pulled in and parked in a stall opposite the Mustang. A silver haired man got out and walked over, carrying a small bag of groceries.
“You know Miss McCarty?” the old man asked.
“Yes; she’ll be back shortly. She doesn’t know about the broken glass.”
“Her ex did it,” the old man said. “I was fiddling with my radio there before I went to the store and I saw him throw something through the window. Didn’t see what it was. Damn fool; drunk again and he must’ve been real mad at her to do that. Her alarm made a helluva racket for a long time. You should’ve seen McCarty stagger fast to the elevator then!”
“Sir, it appears to be a vodka bottle; a big two-liter bottle. Oh, here’s Miss McCarty now,” Leslie said.
“Hi Mr. Thiel!” Ronica said to the man. “How’s the ticker since the by-pass operation?”
“Much better, Missus. I was just saying to this fella that I saw your ex-old man toss something through your window here. Damn fool thing to do.”
“Why, that dirty rat!” Ronica exclaimed as she came around and saw the tiny specks of glass on the seats. “By God, Winnie will pay for this! Jack, I saw him at his window when you picked Little
Anne and me up and he has no right whatever to be jealous!”
“Ronica, I know a guy who’ll come right over and fix it quick, if you like,” Leslie said. “Want me to call him?”
“Yes, please do. Then tomorrow, when Winnie has sobered up, I’ll see that he pays the bill. Thanks for letting me know, Mr. Thiel. Jack, Lester Thiel was our very first tenant and he was twenty years in the Navy. Got out a Lieutenant Commander, wasn’t it sir?”
“Yep. Sorry ‘bout the glass. See you,” he said and went to the elevator.
Leslie called the glass repairman who came quickly, replaced the window and vacuumed up all the tiny pieces of tempered safety glass as they watched him at work. The man gave Ronica his bill and was assured it would be paid by the ex-husband.
As the glass man drove off, the red head turned sort of expectantly to Leslie and he instinctively grabbed her with a firm hug and a prolonged kiss. When they finally gasped for air, he said he’d call her on the morrow and drove away as she breathlessly backed up to the elevator.
His Ford’s wheels hardly touched the pavement all the way home.
At his condo, he immediately got to work to get all his cards and licenses and so forth replaced for his wallet. He recalled his bank would replace the damaged money for they would in turn give it to the Federal Reserve who would honor it.
SIX
On Monday, September 8th, 2008, Detective Sergeant Jack Leslie found Homicide Detail Lieutenant Patrick Dean waiting for him as he came into his office at 14th Street and Broadway.
“Goddamnit Jack, you are something else. Listen, I think you’re the best damn cop in town and you proved it again at Tom Ham’s; but I don’t know what the Chief thinks. She wants you and Marty, Murray and even me in her office at ten sharp! Don’t know what for. Got it?”
“Yes sir!” Leslie said as Dean walked abruptly away to his own office.
Very few police departments ever had a woman as Chief, but the charismatic, energetic and attractive Charlene Slumberjay was most certainly no ordinary woman. She was in her mid-fifties, barely five feet tall and weighed merely a hundred pounds. She had worked her way up through the ranks, in the Army Military Police as well as in San Diego’s Police Department.
The .22 Caliber Homicides: Book 1 of the San Diego Police Homicide Detail featuring Jack Leslie Page 8