True Blue Detective

by Vito Zuppardo

  He took a quick shower and got dressed. Driving downtown gave him time to think. While relaxing was out of the question, it allowed him to concentrate on rebuilding the case. He had learned in the academy how to control his mind and rest in a class called “Surviving a Traumatic Event.” It was a technique he thought he didn’t need or would ever use.

  He put everything into detail in his mind as he approached the security checkpoint at police headquarters. Walking down the hall, he passed a few other officers.

  “Armando, I heard. Very close call,” one shouted.

  “Yes, it was,” he replied as he climbed the broad stairway to the second floor.

  “Detective, they released them,” another officer said, walking down the stairs.

  He could feel his blood pressure going up. He got to the top of the stairs and walked the long marble floor to the commander’s office.

  “I need to see him,” Armando told the secretary who greeted him. He didn’t wait for an answer and stormed into the commander’s office.

  “Why did you release them?”

  “Time was up, and you have nothing to hold them on,” the commander said, standing.

  “Did you at least check them out?” Armando asked as he walked around the room like he normally did when he was trying to work a lead. “What about that Diego guy?”

  “Diego and Jason Sanders were involved in a jailhouse riot. Twelve people went to the hospital. Diego will be okay, and Jason didn’t make it.”

  “Son of a bitch. That’s what Katie was called back to work for,” Armando said out loud.

  The commander got in Armando’s face and sternly said, “We had nothing on Jason. A bunch of names with notes next to them.”

  “There is something with that address book!” Armando shouted in frustration.

  “Armando, we checked his book. A few of the people we couldn’t contact, a few were deceased, and as for Patty Nelson, he said he hit her car and wanted to send a check for the damage. There’s nothing that would have connected him to her murder,” the commander said, sitting back into his desk chair. “As for Diego, what am I going to charge him with, running from a cop? He said he cuts grass in Patty’s neighborhood, so he stopped in at the services. You must have spooked him, and he ran. He will get released this afternoon.”

  “Raul?” Armando asked almost like it was an effort, and he knew the answer already.

  “All I could do was book him on impersonating an officer, and he made bail,” the commander said.

  Armando belted out. “He killed Jennifer Thompson.”

  “No, the uniform was stolen from Patty’s house. Doesn’t mean he killed her. You’re stretching, my friend. Bring me a solid clue on these guys, and I’ll lock them up,” the commander said, giving Armando a look as if to say, “I’m in charge.”

  Chapter 19

  Zack and Emma Lou sat in the therapeutic spa tub in the area Jack had claimed as his personal exercise room.

  Over the months, Zack and Dave pushed for more privileges throughout the house, and the spa was one of them. Technically, the residents paid for all the amenities, and Jack and his friends used them for their enjoyment. The people living there were treated like prisoners and were paying for everything. The staff was reaping the benefits of the tenant’s hard-earned monthly housing fee. The residents were told what they could eat, when the TV was turned off in the living area or taken over by the night crew, and even what time to go to bed.

  Zack, with Dave’s assistance, made waves, and things were slowly changing for the better for the people living at Riverside Inn.

  The spa was tucked away in the corner of the room, away from the exercise equipment and the barbell rack mounted on the wall. The overhead lights highlighted the water in the spa and reflected from the mirrors throughout the room.

  Dave and Pearl Ann came in, and Dave sported a grin on his face.

  “What took you so long?” Zack asked.

  “I had to pick up a few things,” Dave said, pulling a bottle of champagne and some glasses from under his robe.

  “He has a surprise too,” Emma Lou said with a giggle.

  Dave turned away from them and lit a cigarette.

  Emma Lou could see him through the mirrors. “You don’t smoke.”

  “Oh, yes, he does,” Zack said, running the water from the spa across his face.

  “I told you not to smoke marijuana around me. I’m a cop.”

  “Former cop and you know you want a hit,” Dave said handing him the cigarette.

  It didn’t take long, and they were all giggling and talking way louder than they should have been. Before anyone realized it, the steam from the spa had the room looking like a pot fest. The steam filtered under the door into the hall and got the attention of the night crew.

  “Is something on fire?” the night nurse asked as she opened the door. “You people okay?” She made her way into the spa. “You old people better watch your blood pressure in that hot water. Are you smoking?”

  “Sure are and some good pot too,” Pearl Ann said, taking another drag of the cigarette.

  “You people are crazy and better get out of here before Mr. Jack comes in,” she said.

  “We have room for Jack and Ms. Hot Pants,” Zack replied as she closed the door behind her.

  The water was getting hot, and the steam was like a sauna. The ladies puffed on the marijuana cigarette and passed it around. Zack sat back in the spa and looked at the three, giggling at everything the others said. They had become a close-knit group. It had been a long time since Zack enjoyed himself with another woman. His wife passed away many years ago, and it was the first time he’d let another woman into his life.

  They took seats on the lounge chairs next to the spa and cooled down. Dave opened the champagne; it had little pop when the cork released, so it must have been on the shelf for a while. He poured four glasses and handed them out. The taste wasn’t the best but what else to expect from one of those convenient, all-night stores.

  “I’ve never been high before. But I’ll tell you one thing, the spa or the marijuana made the arthritis in my knee feel much better,” Pearl Ann said, rubbing her knee.

  Dave took the last drag off the marijuana cigarette and held the smoke in for a few seconds. “It’s a medical miracle. Marijuana cures arthritis.”

  “I’ve got to tell my doctor about this,” Pearl Ann said.

  “You might want to keep this to yourself, Pearl Ann,” Emma Lou quickly said.

  The door opened, and the light from the hall startled them. Through the darkness from the other side of the room, they could see someone walking through the steam still generated by the hot swirling water of the spa. Through the foggy mist appeared Jack.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Jack asked, flexing every muscle in his body.

  “Why, we’re just enjoying ourselves in this pool of foggy steam, sipping our champagne, Mr. Jack,” Emma Lou said in her most Southern voice.

  “And we’re smoking a little pot too,” Pearl Ann added.

  Jack could barely control himself. His big, oversized head looked like it would explode. His face was red, and his eyes were protruding out of their sockets. He was almost cartoonish looking. “Where did you get pot?”

  “From your drug dealer. He’s got the good stuff,” Zack said watching Jack’s reaction. Like always, Zack played him, and his reaction to the pot was what any detective would have expected. His eyes looked down, he swallowed, and gave every clue that Zack was right. It didn’t matter about the pot. It was more personal to Zack that he knew every move Jack was making. It bothered Jack, and that’s what he wanted. Sooner or later, Jack would trip up and expose himself for who he was, and Zack would be ready.

  “You old people are playing with fire,” he said, taking a chair and throwing it across the room.

  They all sat and appeared unconcerned as Jack went on his rampage and stormed out of the room. Deep inside, they knew what Jack was capable of, an
d they might have pushed him too far.

  It didn’t take long for Jack’s rampage to continue with the nurses as he walked to his room, screaming profanities for no reason at a woman sitting with one of the guests. Once inside his room, the rampage continued with what they could only suspect was Jack punching the wall.

  Jack paced back and forth in his room. It was a stress release for him. He checked his marijuana stash, knowing there was no way Zack could have come into his room and taken some. It looked like it was untouched. “Raul must have sold it to them,” he said to himself, lying on the bed trying to come down from his rage.

  Zack waited a few minutes before standing. He listened, and the hallway was quiet, other than the faint conversation from the nurses station. “I think it is time,” he said, as he motioned to Dave.

  They tidied up the place, put on their robes, and the four strolled down the hall. They gave a friendly wave of their hands to the night nurse as she was walking Mrs. Cabibi back to her room.

  “Poor old soul, she just doesn’t know what she is doing,” Emma Lou said.

  “She is always wandering around. Last week she sat in the kitchen most of the day. She said she was waiting for Eddie, her son, to come home from school. They should look after her better,” Pearl Ann said.

  “Obviously, there is a problem. Mrs. Cabibi should be on the hospital side of the building. It’s clear that she has Alzheimer’s.”

  They continued walking and stopped at Emma Lou and Pearl Ann’s room, 102. Zack gave a light kiss on the cheek and squeezed Emma Lou’s hand.

  “Good night, boys,” the ladies said simultaneously and closed the door.

  Dave and Zack walked across the hall to their room, keeping an eye open for Jack. Dave locked the door, and Zack reached under the bed for a suitcase. He opened the bag and spread out on the bed two bulletproof vests, two Tasers, a knife, and a police baton. They each concealed two of the weapons on the side of the protected jacket. The Tasers went into their pockets.

  Zack looked at Dave as they both got into bed. “You think Jack took the bait?”

  “No question. The plan went off perfectly. Jack had no clue we were setting him up for retaliation. Pearl Ann even believed she was smoking a real marijuana cigarette,” Dave said as he turned the lamp off between the beds.

  Emma Lou couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned for about an hour. She whispered, “Pearl Ann?”

  “What Emma Lou?” she said.

  “Are you up?” Emma Lou whispered.

  “I am now,” Pearl Ann said with some reluctance.

  “I can’t sleep. It must have been that marijuana I smoked.”

  Pearl Ann knew where Emma Lou was going with this. She wanted someone to be up with her because she couldn’t sleep. So they both got up, went to the kitchen for a snack, and proceeded to the living area to watch some TV. Pearl Ann didn’t ask what they would look at, because Emma Lou only tuned into the shopping channel. She even purchased things on the shopping channel for the delivery man who brought her packages into the house. They were watching TV at two in the morning, and as usual, the night nurses didn’t like it because of the noise, or it was not the channel they wanted to watch. A nurse would say just loud enough for Emma Lou to hear, “I thought old people slept a lot.”

  Emma Lou would always shout back at them, “I might be old, but there is nothing wrong with my ears, honey!”

  Dave slept little either, partly because he knew Jack would soon sneak back into their room and the police vest was too big for him to get into a comfortable position.

  “Zack, you up?” Dave whispered.

  “Yes, never went to sleep,” Zack replied.

  “Three hours have passed and nothing,” Dave again whispered.

  “I know this guy. He’ll retaliate, and when he does, we’ll be ready,” Zack said.

  Jack woke up in a daze and looked at the clock. He’d slept longer than he wanted. Determined that he would start the process to eliminate Zack and his friends, he put his plan into action. They had interfered with him since the day Zack arrived. His plan was to kill Zack for all the things he had done to him, But first, what better way to get even with him than to kill everyone close to him?

  It was just before three in the morning when Jack opened his closet door. He moved clothes around, got to the back wall, and pushed in on the secret panel he had built years ago. He even had electric power installed by one of Jack’s prison friends looking for side work after being released. A small refrigerator was on the shelf to keep Dr. Ross’s illegal supply of potassium chloride concentration. He carefully opened the bottle and mixed a dose from the instructions that Dr. Ross had written down. The combination of liquids let off a faint smell as it swirled slowly in a porcelain pharmacy bowl. He filled the syringe to a lethal dosage. Taking a cloth, he put a small touch of chloroform on it and put it in his pocket. The syringe was placed in his top shirt pocket, and he wore a light jacket to hide the needle but yet have easy access.

  Jack made his way from his room through the back door into the kitchen so he could avoid the common area of the house and the nurses station. The place was quiet as he approached room 102. The hallways were empty, a faint sound coming from the ice machine near the kitchen. As much as he would like to kill them both at one time, it would not be believable that both died of a heart attack the same night. He ducked into Emma Lou and Pearl Ann’s room and pulled the cloth from his pocket. It was the luck of the draw. He didn’t know who slept in what bed, but one of them would die.

  He gently felt the foot of the bed, not wanting to wake anyone, and guided his way to the head of the bed. He smoothly moved his hand from the mattress to the pillow and made out a head resting on the pillow. He took the cloth and put it over the person’s nose. Quickly, he felt her head go limp and injected her with the syringe. It would take only seconds, and she would be dead. He quickly got out and backtracked his steps to his room. Jack looked at his watch, less than five minutes elapsed. He climbed into bed and waited for someone to discover a woman had died in her sleep of an apparent heart attack.

  It wasn’t long before a scream was heard throughout the house, causing a nurse to run down the hall to room 102.

  What had been a quiet house turned into piercing voices and footsteps awakening some residents.

  Then, it happened. A nurse ran to Jack’s room and knocked on the door.

  “Jack, we have an emergency,” she said.

  “I’m throwing some clothes on. I’ll be right out,” Jack said.

  Jack waited a few seconds and quickly opened the door. He was truly a good actor putting on a sympathetic face. “What’s wrong?”

  “One of the women in 102 is dead,” she said while rushing him down the hall to the room.

  Dave and Zack heard the scream but stayed in bed, still concerned that Jack might attack them. But hearing so much commotion in the hall, they too joined in, but first, they had to take the vests off. The vests would have protruded through their clothes and been too obvious, or they would have just looked like two old guys acting silly.

  Zack opened the door and asked, “What is going on?”

  One of the female residents turned to him and said, “Someone died in room 102.”

  Zack couldn’t believe his ears. The paramedics were coming down the hall and rushed into room 102. The hallway was getting congested, and two police officers cleared the area. One police officer stood in front of the area to allow the paramedics to do their jobs.

  “Sir, please, I’m a former police officer. Who died? What is her name? Not that the name matters, I just need to know,” Zack jabbered.

  “I don’t know, sir. It looks like a resident had a heart attack,” the police officer said.

  Zack and Dave stood terrified as more people piled into room 102 to assist. Jack stood off to the side and watched. Occasionally he would make eye contact with Zack but quickly turned away. He was enjoying every second of the agony he’d caused Zack, who wondered which woman d
ied. Was it Emma Lou or Pearl Ann?

  Dr. Ross came running down the hall. He showed his identification to the police officer, and he was allowed into the room.

  The anticipation was nerve-racking for everyone. Zack asked every police officer he saw if they could share information. All he could get from anyone was a woman died in her sleep of a heart attack. The door to room 102 opened, and for the first time in an hour, a paramedic walked out. Right behind him were two men pulling a covered body on a stretcher. Zack and Dave got weak in their knees. They supported each other by standing against the wall behind them. Then, like an angel from heaven, he heard a voice.

  “Zack, are you okay?” Emma Lou asked as she put her hand on his shoulder.

  Zack turned around. Standing in front of him were Emma Lou and Pearl Ann. Lost for words, all he could do was hug Emma Lou, and Dave did the same, pulling Pearl Ann closer to him.

  “I thought you were dead,” Zack said to Emma Lou.

  “I’m very much alive. Pearl Ann and I couldn’t sleep, so we were watching TV in the living area, and then, we both fell asleep in the chairs.”

  A nurse came to Pearl Ann to comfort her. “I’m sorry, but Mrs. Cabibi wandered the halls during the night and went to your room. She must have been confused. I guess she missed her room by one door and got into your bed and had a heart attack.”

  From the corner of Zack’s eye, he could see Jack leaning against the wall. His face was red, and Zack could see the anger in his eyes. It was just like at Patty’s house the day Jennifer died. People gathered in the street, and Zack felt he was looking at the villain in the crowd. That same feeling came over him when he looked at Jack. It was retaliation. Jack had tried to kill Emma Lou.

  “What are you looking at?” Zack shouted at Jack.

  Jack was surprised and stepped forward. “What’s your problem, old man?” He pushed his big body against Zack.