Close Encounters

by Kitt, Sandra

  “Well, it’s not fair to drop all this on me and not let me do something about it.”

  “Thanks, Wes. I don’t need to have anything done about it. And who said life was fair?”

  “Lieutenant?”

  “What is it?” Lee asked brusquely, already made impatient by a day of constant interruptions. He stopped several feet short of his office and faced the desk clerk.

  “There’s someone here to see you. She’s at the front desk.”

  Lee frowned. “She? Who is it?”

  “A young girl. Erica.”

  Lee’s annoyance turned instantly to concern. Erica never came to see him at the precinct. Besides, she should be in school right now.

  “Send her to my office,” Lee instructed.

  At his desk a moment later, Lee picked up the phone to call Carol Taggart and cancel their plans to meet. He wanted to see her, but his daughter would have to come first. The phone rang almost five times with no answer, which surprised him. He hung up as Erica walked in.

  “Ricca,” Lee greeted her, noting that she wasn’t carrying her knapsack of schoolbooks. “What’s up, honey? You okay?”

  He reached out to touch her face and watched as her blank countenance seemed to dissolve before his eyes. He’d barely touched her when she began to sob, squeezing her eyes shut.

  Lee was stunned and then afraid. He quickly put his arms around her, holding her tightly. He was totally freaked that something terrible might have happened to her. Had she been accosted? Raped? He loosened his grip as Erica’s tears soaked through his sweater.

  “Jesus, Ricca, what happened?” She mumbled something incoherent. “What?” Lee tilted her head back so he could look into her face.

  “I… ran away.”

  Dizzying relief poured over Lee. Running away was not a good move, but not nearly as bad as it might have been.

  “Okay, calm down, honey. Tell me what happened.”

  Erica just kept shaking her head, barely able to talk. “I don’t… don’t want to stay there. I can’t go back. I hate it there. Mom doesn’t care…”

  “Okay, okay.” Lee tried to soothe her as he led her to a dilapidated sofa crammed into a corner and urged her to sit down. When he took the space next to her and put his arm around her shoulders, she hunched forward, continuing to cry. “You had another fight with your mother? Now what?” he asked patiently.

  “Mom and Richard want me to give up my room.”

  “They want you to what?”

  “They want to fix up my room so his two sons can come and stay when they want to. They think the small extra room on the first floor is plenty big enough for me.” She looked at her father with a helpless expression of rage. “What if Richard’s sons come to live with us? What about me?”

  Lee felt not only his daughter’s indignation but his own helplessness. He searched for some counterargument he could pull out of his hat, like a bag of tricks, to make things better for her. He stroked her hair, remembering her toddler curls and the baby-powder smell of her before he put her to bed at night. He recalled the way she would reach her arms up to him, wanting to be picked up, and how strong and protective that had made him feel. Those had been easy years compared to now.

  How could he make it better? Lee searched for something to say that would heal her wounds, set the record straight. He was also looking for a way to redeem himself as a father who had let her down too often in the past. He wondered what his ex-wife could be thinking that she wouldn’t put Erica first.

  Then again, was he willing to do the same?

  Carol stood by the door listening to the buzzer. She wasn’t sure she should answer it. There had been another of those phone calls with no one on the line. And once that morning her doorbell had rung but there’d been no one there when she opened the door. She was more angry than worried. Irritated and exasperated. Finally, she pushed the speaker button.

  “I’m not letting you in until you tell me who you are!”

  “Carol, it’s Lee Grafton. I wasn’t sure you were here.”

  “Lee… wait. Come on up.”

  She waited until she heard him outside in the hall, then unlocked the door. She felt not only relieved that he’d arrived, but excited as well. She was aware of an emotional shift in her anticipation, but dismissed it.

  Carol opened the door and found herself looking right into his eyes. For all his professional aloofness, his gaze was forthright and open. He was pleased to see her, too.

  Lee stood still in the entrance staring at Carol Taggart’s bright eyes and hesitating before moving or saying anything. For just a moment he had the strange sense that Carol was about to walk forward to embrace him. It was so fleeting he might have imagined it.

  Carol transferred her attention to the young teen who was standing next to Lee. She was quite pretty, but her face wore a sullen and suspicious expression. The girl was staring at her feet. Carol smiled at her, then looked at Lee again.

  “I thought maybe you weren’t coming.”

  “Sorry I’m late. I should have called sooner. I had a minor crisis.” He put his arm around his daughter’s shoulder. “Erica, this is Carol Taggart. Carol, my daughter.”

  Carol could see it would not be a good idea to offer her hand to the girl. She merely gave Erica her attention and broadened her smile. “Hello, Erica.”

  “Hi,” Erica said in a clipped, indifferent voice. She stared down at Carol’s unusual slippers.

  “I hope you don’t mind,” Lee said. “Something came up and Ricca…”

  “Not at all. But I have a small problem. I’m doing some research for a class project, and I have to get to the American Indian Museum on Bowling Green, downtown. I’ll have to leave here in about an hour.”

  Lee glanced at his watch. “That doesn’t give us much time. My fault.”

  Carol noticed that Erica’s interest had been caught by the artwork on display on tables and bookcases. “I’m sorry if I’m taking time away from you and your father,” she told the girl.

  Erica looked at her father, who was waiting for her reaction as well. “It’s okay. He wasn’t expecting to see me. I cut school…”

  “Oh. It’s been one of those days, eh?” Carol said in understanding. “Well, you can have him back in an hour. How’s that?”

  Erica shrugged. “Sure.”

  “This is going to be kind of boring. Maybe you’d like to look around the apartment. Or there’s a TV in the bedroom, through there.” Carol indicated a short hallway and an open door just at the end. Erica gave her a look of uncertainty. “Be my guest,” Carol encouraged.

  Still, Erica did not move until she glanced at her father and he nodded his consent. After her quiet departure Lee and Carol again faced each other. Carol at least understood that whatever it was going on silently between them seemed to supersede the two things guaranteed to throw up barriers between them; that Lee was a cop. That he was white and she was black. So far it had not come up.

  “Come on in,” Carol said, heading into the living room.

  Lee followed, feeling awkward, unlike the day before, when he’d picked Carol up on campus and everything felt natural and right. Yesterday they’d been alone. To shake her hand in greeting seemed silly, but there was potential danger in doing anything more.

  Carol sat in a chair and Lee took the love seat, exactly where they’d sat when he’d come with Max’s leash. They both remembered, of course, as they sat in silence and exchanged furtive glances. She didn’t want to acknowledge that it was her acute awareness of Lee that made her feel so odd. She was grateful when he spoke first.

  “So, what’s going on with the intercom to your apartment?”

  Carol grimaced. “It’s not important. Sometimes people push the buzzers randomly, hoping to get into the building. Probably just kids.”

  “Are you sure that’s all it is?” he asked, watching her expression.

  She could see that he wasn’t going to let it go until she’d told him everything. “Well�
� the phone rings and when I pick it up to answer, the other person hangs up.”

  “When did this start?”

  “Just today.”

  Lee tightened his jaw. “Let your machine record messages for a while. Screen the calls. And do me a favor. Let me know if it continues.”

  “Why? It’s annoying, but I don’t think I need to bring in the police.” She chuckled wryly.

  “You’re not dealing with the police, Carol. I want you to tell me about it. Understand?”

  She nodded, a little taken aback by his insistence but also pleased.

  “Do you want me to check it out?”

  She grinned. “Will you start tracing my calls and booby-trapping my doorbell?”

  “If I have to.”

  “Don’t bother. It’s just a nuisance. Your daughter’s pretty,” she commented, to change the subject.

  “Thank you.”

  “She seems unhappy. What is it you won’t let her do? Attend a Marilyn Manson concert? Get a nose ring?”

  Lee chuckled. He was grateful for a chance to talk about Erica with someone who seemed sympathetic to her.

  “I thought teenagers were unhappy on general principles,” he joked. “Gives them something to do.”

  “I don’t think so. Nobody wants to be unhappy. I think maybe it’s worse for teenagers because they don’t think anyone understands them.”

  “In my daughter’s case that makes sense.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be nosy.”

  Lee leaned forward, his arms braced on his thighs, and let himself be drawn into the power of her understanding. He spread his hands, searching for a simple explanation.

  “Ricca is not getting along with her mother right now. My ex-wife remarried and… there are issues.”

  “It happens. Ricca—That’s a pretty nickname. What are you doing to help her?” Carol asked.

  “Probably not enough.”

  “Why not?”

  She’d caught him off guard, but Lee didn’t shrink from the question. “I’m not sure how, I guess,” he admitted.

  “Well, that’s honest.” She hesitated, frowning in thought. “Mind if I do ask a really personal question?”

  “No, not at all,” Lee answered.

  “Can you talk to your ex-wife about this?”

  “I plan to. I’m hoping it will help. But with the two of them it’s like a battle of wills.”

  “You both owe her,” Carol commented sagely. “Why don’t you ask Erica what she wants you to do?”

  Lee spread his hands. “That’s it?”

  “It’s a start.”

  “So how do you know so much about what kids her age want?”

  “I used to be one,” Carol answered.

  Her response was so simple that Lee surprised them both by laughing.

  His laughter was rich and open. A very masculine sound. “I can tell you that I was difficult at times. I made my parents’ life hell.” She watched the spark of interest in his eyes.

  “Really? I find that hard to believe.”

  Carol realized that her admission was revealing. She’d spent her whole life trying not to explain her background, her family. Unable to present a history and ancestors and a photo album of extended relations, she expected people to accept her for who she was. But she had never really been able to accept herself.

  “I’m sure your daughter feels that her concerns are life-threatening issues. Half of them are probably about control.”

  Lee listened intently. “What about the other half?”

  “She’s probably afraid. Things are changing around her. She wonders if anyone cares about her. On the one hand, she doesn’t want to grow up. On the other, she wishes she were old enough to tell everyone off.”

  Lee shook his head and groaned. “Sounds pretty bad.”

  “It is. Don’t you remember?”

  “Not really. I was too busy—” He stopped abruptly.

  She grinned in understanding. “Trying to get laid?”

  “That’s about it,” he said without apology.

  “Hopefully Erica won’t think about that for a few more years—but don’t bet on it,” she said honestly.

  He nodded. “I know.”

  Carol clasped her hands together. “I guess you want to know why I called you yesterday,” she said. He nodded. “I have a deal to offer you.”

  He was immediately intrigued. “What kind of deal?”

  She hesitated for a split second, glancing at him covertly but not seeing anything in his expression to make her change her mind. “I’ll tell you what I remember about that night… if you tell me what you know.”

  Carol’s suggestion had a certain naïveté that Lee found appealing. But there was more at stake than she realized. He wasn’t even supposed to be here with her. And his confession to her notwithstanding, he owed the department some loyalty.

  “We already have your statement. Internal Affairs interviewed you twice.”

  “I told them what I knew at the time. I think I’ve remembered more since then.”

  He was interested, but shook his head. “I’m sorry, Carol. I can’t agree to that.”

  “Why?”

  “You’d be admitting to withholding information in an ongoing investigation.”

  Carol stared hard at him. “Who am I talking to right now? You, or the lieutenant?”

  Lee couldn’t think of a way around it. “Look, I took a chance telling you as much as I did last week. That was me talking. I felt I owed you that much. But I’m always on duty. I guess I’m always a cop first.”

  “Does that mean you’re a father second as well?” she asked in quiet speculation.

  Lee clenched his jaw and didn’t respond. It seemed as if he’d been struggling with that question for years.

  Carol looked down at her hands. “That wasn’t fair, was it?”

  “I have a feeling this is not about being fair.”

  “That’s right. But I shouldn’t have brought up your current situation with your daughter. That was hitting below the belt.”

  “You’ve made your point.”

  “I don’t think so,” she said softly. Deep in thought, Carol absently reached to gather her hair back at her nape. She released it and it spread out again around her shoulders. She looked at Lee again. “My brother and my ex-husband think I should sue the city and the police department for what happened to me. For that matter, just about everyone who knows me feels the same way.”

  Lee’s gaze narrowed. “You told me you weren’t interested in doing that.”

  “And you said you wouldn’t take it personally if I did.”

  “Carol, you’re asking me to give you information that would help your case,” he said, a little incredulous.

  “First of all, Lieutenant,” Carol began in annoyance, “I don’t think I need any help. No one is denying that I was shot, or where I was when it happened, or what was going on. If I sue I’ll win, and I think you know that. Race could be a big issue as well. I’ll tell you up front, Lee, I’d never play that card. But any lawyer I hired—my brother, for instance—would jump on it.”

  Lee watched Carol closely. She was tough when she felt she had to be. She wouldn’t back down. He had to admit he admired that.

  “Are you going to sue?” he asked.

  Carol hesitated. “I don’t know. Anyway, suing won’t make everything right again. Know what I mean?”

  “I’m not sure I do,” Lee confessed.

  She began to unconsciously rub the wound on her upper chest. She was not afraid to speak her mind, but he sensed that she was holding her emotions in check.

  “After I was shot I… think I died,” she finally said. “I mean not really, but… I stopped breathing. All the pain went away.” She focused on some point just beyond his head. “I was floating in the air near the ceiling, looking down on everything that was going on. And I could see myself on the table in the ER. There was blood everywhere. I was almost naked and… and I could se
e the hole in my chest. It was really small. Somehow, I thought it would be bigger.”

  Lee’s stomach roiled at her vivid description. He’d seen gunshot wounds before.

  Carol’s gaze slowly shifted to Lee’s face. He was listening closely.

  “All I want to know, Lee, is why I almost died that night. What for?” she asked quietly. “Whatever the police were doing, was it more important than I was? I can sue, but that’s not going to answer my question. I spoke to your people because I didn’t have anything to hide. Do you?”

  He remained perfectly still. She appeared almost childlike as she tried to explain what she’d gone through.

  “I’m not the same person anymore,” she went on. “Not since that night. Everything is different. And I’m scared, because…”

  “You’re scared because everything is just a little bit off balance. You feel like the world stopped, and when it started again, after the shooting, you were in a different place.”

  Carol blinked. “That’s right.”

  Lee stared at the floor, almost embarrassed. “Just about everything looks different. What used to be important isn’t.” He looked at her. “Is that what you were going to say?”

  “Yes,” she said quietly.

  Lee clasped his hands. “There was a time when I could talk myself into believing I could do no wrong as a cop. No questions asked. I gave everything my best shot…” He closed his eyes.

  “No pun intended,” she said wryly.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “A month ago, you might never have realized what you were saying, let alone apologized. Now you’re accountable. What do you think happened?” she asked seriously.

  Lee shook his head, spread his hands. “I don’t know.”

  “Dad?”

  Startled, Lee jumped up from his seat. He took a deep breath before turning to face his daughter.

  “Sorry, Ricca. We’re just…”

  “I know. Going over what happened to Ms. Taggart.” Erica stood next to her father, looking at Carol. “My dad said you were in an accident and he’s investigating.”

  Carol nodded, avoiding eye contact with Lee. “That’s right.” She stood up. “I was just filing an… unofficial complaint,” Carol said dryly.