by Allen Gates
She could tell by Lon’s pause that he was going back trying to recall something. She broke the silence and asked him,
“What did you feel about Beth’s description of the mother’s relationship with him? I believe she definitely feels there was something romantically going on between them. You know what Lon; I think we’re in for some mind numbing discussions tomorrow with Beth now that she has gotten comfortable with us.”
“I think you’re right partner; there must be some additional angles to the story of William Radford the third and his overly zealous love for his mother. I’m thinking they’ll emerge starting tomorrow. I wondered how long you’d stay on his bandwagon now that you have conjured up a few doubts about our boy Senator Radford.
“I am not on his bandwagon and he’s not my boy. I simply believe in giving every one the benefit of the doubt, you know, innocent until proven guilty. How about we let this conversation go by the wayside and have another beer while we select a special restaurant for a nice leisurely meal.”
“I’m disappointed you did not make reference to my use of the word conjured, but it’s a great idea and to show how great, I’ll pick up the check tonight, Anne.”
“Right, you’ll pay right out of our expense account; you’re one big spender detective. Conjure that!”
69
THE SENATOR WAS holding Stephanie’s arm and explaining his future plan for running for the governorship of California as they walked along the shoreline when he stopped and pulled her into his body and said, “I’m growing very fond of you Stephanie. I know this will seem very sudden, but because of my background in business and politics, I have developed a keen sense of timing in decision making. If the time is right you are programmed to act quickly. I am also aware that you may think this unusual for a man to feel this way after just losing a wife in such a horrific way. But when I saw you at her funeral I was taken by the beauty that resonated from you. Your eyes showed deep concern for me and it gave me comfort at a time when all else seemed to be crashing in on me.”
Stephanie found herself locked in his arms and he kissed her. Completely surprised she offered initial resistance, but the sincerity she felt in his kiss combined with the loneliness she had been feeling sent a message of, this is what you want, let it happen.
Her need rising, she placed her arms around him and kissed him with every passionate emotion that had been festering inside of her for months. He smiled at her recognizing her needful response and then walked her back along the shoreline to her blanket as the darkness settled in leaving them totally alone with all that the dark of night would provide.
As they lay there on the blanket she knew this was wrong, but this was the missing ingredient needed to create the perfect life here in Santa Barbara. A tender touch of his lips on hers brought her thought process to a standstill, as she said, “Oh William.”
They were totally unaware of being watched by a man standing not more than ten feet away hidden in the darkness of the trees. His eyes were stern and filled with anger at what he was witnessing. Now he would become indifferent to what he was about to do to her, since his love for her was no longer a consideration.
70
“YOU KNOW PARTNER, I could get used to this lifestyle Lon said, as they sat and sipped an after dinner drink with very little conversation about the case.
“I hate to spoil the mood, but I think we should put in an hour or two on the case tonight, Lon. We can try and make some sense out of some of the items in the files we brought along. I feel that there is something staring at us and we’re missing it. Besides the chief will be expecting us to have uncovered something, and have some answers for him when we get back, or he will think this trip was for nothing.”
“Anne, you’re becoming a very sagacious person and I must tell you I admire that in you. I would rather you to be a little more lascivious in your actions, but then I digress.”
“Sagacious, Lon, are you kidding me? Sagacious, what the heck does that mean, and as far as my becoming more lascivious, keep on dreaming. Where are all these words coming from?”
“Right from the massive collection of words stored inside my detail oriented mind, don’t you know?”
“Alright let’s get to the room and put in some productive detective work. Oh, and by the way, sagacious means that you have a keen mind and sound judgment and lascivious means …”
“Lon, I know what lascivious means.”
As she walked to the elevators ahead of him she was laughing to herself knowing he wanted to stay down stairs, play in the casino, and forget the case for the night.
Once inside the room Lon was still grumbling to her but he grabbed a folder from his briefcase and stacked pillows against the headboard, kicked off his cowboy boots, sat on the bed, and opened a file.
“I’m ready partner, he said looking overt at her, let’s get this over with.”
Anne was leafing through a second file sitting on the small sofa with her legs tucked under her. She lowered the folder to her lap and spoke to Lon.
“You know; there’s something that keeps gnawing at me about the senator’s strange family relationships.”
“Well, well, welcome to the real world, detective Cummings. Everything about that family is strange, and now I believe you’re seeing through the senator’s high society camouflage. Maybe we can find out some important things, like what happened in that car double suicide? How and when did the mother die? I believe Beth could hold a key to some important details and maybe tomorrow will be an eye opening beginning.”
“I have to admit, I’m beginning to have some concerns and my suspicions concerning the senator are growing.”
71
STEPHANIE PUSHED THE senator aside and raised herself to a sitting position. “It’s too soon, William. I’m not going to be a party to gossip and the horrible impression you would create by starting a relationship with me so soon after your wife’s death. We both know how rapidly it would spread around the news and out to the public. I feel like a fool denying what we both want, but yet I know I’m right.”
He smiled and drew her close. “Stephanie you are proving to be very wise, much wiser than this so called learned man who is pursuing you.” He drew her gently against him in an understanding embrace.
“Shall we go? I know a restaurant that has excellent down-home cooking. We can sit and stare at each other and I can try and change your mind over a plate of red beans and rice, and corn bread.”
“How can a girl turn down an offer like that?
The diner was just on the outside of the city limits. A flashing sign read open. She pulled her car in beside his and he walked to her car and waited for her to exit. He held on to her as they walked to the entrance. They were seated in a corner booth and after ordering, he excused himself and left for the restroom.
Leaning over the sink in the men’s room the senator looked at his image in the mirror. An image of his smiling Mother appeared.
“I really like her Mother. She seems more suited than the others, wouldn’t you agree?”
Len, arriving at the diner, recognized the Doctor’s convertible as he pulled into the parking lot. He parked and looked through the window in the restaurant’s door and saw her sitting alone at the corner table. His heart quickened, but he felt it strange she would be at this out of the way place alone.
He scanned the room and seeing no one who could possibly be with her walked in and moved slowly to her table. She was caught totally off guard when she looked up and saw him.
“Len, what are you doing here?”
“I often stop here for a burger before going home and saints be praised, here you are! It’s quite a coincidence, but really Doc, when I saw you sitting here I thought this would be a perfect time to sit and talk with you. I’ve been kind of a jerk and I want to discuss a business project with you.”
“That sounds fine, Len, but this is a bad time, let’s talk about it tomorrow at work.”
Before either could conti
nue she saw the angry face of William appear over Lenny’s shoulder and in the next instant Len was lying on the floor. Stephanie jumped up and grabbed William pulling him away.
“What are you doing? I work with this man and we were just talking.”
Len stood up quickly and took an aggressive step toward the senator, but a man in an apron quickly stepped in front of him holding him in a tight embrace.
“I know how you feel mister, but I can’t let it happen in here.”
Len glared at the senator, turned and walked to the door. Before exiting he turned, “See you tomorrow Doc.”
Stephanie sat down and found her hands still shaking and her heart was beating so fast she felt faint.
“Are you alright Miss, the waiter asked?”
She nodded yes and he went back to the counter. William returning from whatever state of mind he had entered into asked, “Why did you agree to meet with him? You’re with me now! I won’t have it.”
She felt terrified of him with his angered face and his threatening body posture. Grabbing her purse off the seat, she moved around him and walked to the door and left the restaurant. She saw him standing outside the door watching her as she pulled out of the parking lot. The need to cry hit her first, then the anger, and then the tears won out.
“I knew it was too good to be true,” she said to the road ahead. “What do you think of your Prince Charming now?”
Wanting to appear calm, but still filled with rage the senator walked back into the diner and sat down at their table.
“How could she act like that, he said to the people sitting at a table closest to him?”
They ignored him so he rose and looked around the diner at the people staring at him. He turned to leave and he heard his name mentioned twice.
“That’s Senator Radford.”
“I need to talk to Mother!” He sat quietly in the car going over the events of the evening then pulled out of the diner parking lot. He looked in the mirror and asked, “What should I do Mother? I thought her above the sins of the flesh and yet she betrayed my trust with that man.”
“She is not right for you, William. Don’t you see she is trying to come between us and ruin your career as future governor?”
The lights of the approaching semi-truck blinded him and he realized he had been drawn into its path. The blast of the air horn caused him to swerve and barely escape a collision. He looked back in the mirror and his mother smiling said, “just come home William,” and then was gone.
72
THERE HAD BEEN little conversation between Lon and Anne as each studied the individual stack of files when she suddenly stood up and broke the silence. “Why hasn’t he killed again? We know it’s going to happen. What is he waiting for?” She walked back to her chair, sat down, and continued her thoughts.
“Listen Lon, I have a suggestion, but don’t reject it until I get it completely out. I think we should challenge this man’s ego. We can use the press to question his manhood, call him a coward, say he was abused as a child and that his mother hated him and wanted him gone. Call him a mother’s boy. Put a profile on him in words that may stir him up. He may get angry and take the challenge and contact us directly to defend his self-image or maybe he’ll get so angry he’ll try to prove something and finally make a mistake.”
Lon sat and internalized the points of her plan when she was finished, rationalizing her ideas before giving it an up or down. “You really think this might work, Anne?”
“I feel we have to try something out of the typical routine if we want to catch this guy, so yes, I think it’s worth a shot.”
“I guess we can run it by the big guy and see if he will give us the green light. I believe it has enough merit to follow through. In the meantime I think we should create a list of people we should revisit and check for something we may have missed or for any inconsistencies in their stories. I would like that to be a priority as soon as we get back to California.”
“I think the first person we talk to should be the senator and catch his reaction when we tell him about our visit with Beth Radford. We need to make him wonder what she revealed by refusing to discuss the trip with him. Keep him wondering.”
He waited expecting her to defend the man, but she remained silent.
“Then Anne, we need to call on the Doctor and try to make some sense out of her problem with the note leaver. Could it be our guy writing the notes? Are they related to our case in some way?”
He looked at her waiting for her thoughts on his suggestions. When she simply agreed by shaking her head yes, he figured she was thinking ahead on his suggested visits.
“What do you say we forget this mess and go for a walk on the wild side? Let’s go down to the lounge and grab a gin and tonic? Maybe you’ll get lucky, Anny girl.”
“I assume you’re talking about the slots, Lonny boy.”
“You never talk about your new boy lover, partner. What’s he like?”
“He’s not someone I care to talk about. Something doesn’t set right with me when I’m with him, so it can’t go any further. He has an edge to him that is unnerving for me. Talk about jealousy he’s even jealous of you.”
“I can understand his reasoning on that account. I mean what man would want his woman hanging around with a hunk like me?”
Anne’s, look of contempt was expected, but he reacted anyway.
“Come on give me a break, Anne. That was said in jest. Stand up and let’s dance. I love this song, and we can forget all the troubles of the world until tomorrow.”
Reluctantly Anne rose and followed him to the dance floor. It went well between them so they danced to several numbers into the later hours.
When they entered the elevator, Lon looked at Anne and asked, “Can I kiss you?”
“I don’t think that would be a very good idea you being such a hunk and all.”
“I understand; you wouldn’t be able to control yourself and—”
Before he could finish she grabbed him by the hair and pulled his lips to hers and kissed him deeply pressing herself seductively against him then stepped back released him and smiled. No words were spoken until they arrived in the room. She grabbed a robe from the closet and closed the shower room door.
He stood and looked at his image in the mirror, then turned the bed clothes down on his bed. He listened to the sound of the shower and fantasized, but knew that it was not going to happen. When Anne walked out of the bath area she found him fully clothed and asleep with the remote in his hand.
“Typical man, all talk.”
73
“IT HAS TO be tonight.” He paced across the room knowing he had to find an escape from this feeling building up inside of him. The evil was in control and he was unable to fight it any longer. He stared out through the window into the night. “It has to be tonight.”
His head was pounding as he drove and he felt a compulsion to scream out the car window, tonight, it must be tonight.
It was getting late and he was aware his opportunities were fleeting. He turned driving away from the bright lights of Main Street and headed for the cities darker less conspicuous areas. “It has to be tonight and it will be tonight,” he repeated. His eyes caught movement ahead. A woman was walking to a parked car. He pulled over and watched her lean towards the window then step back up on the sidewalk and yell something as she watched the car pull away.
“It will be tonight with you my sweet lady.”
His anxiety turned to anticipation and his hands began to sweat as he pulled ahead and moved over to the curb and waved to her. Approaching the window, he noted her to be in her forties, clean looking and somewhat attractive. Lowering the window he asked, need a ride?”
“Are you a cop?”
“No, I’m not a cop.”
“What kind of a ride did you have in mind?”
“I know what you’re asking. I really just want to talk to someone. I’ll pay you the amount you charge for your normal services.”
> “You’re sure you’re not a cop?”
“Yes!”
“Pull around the corner and wait for me. He watched her in the rear view mirror as she stood, apparently surveying the street for the police. He turned the corner losing sight of her then saw her walking hurriedly toward his car. She opened the door and sat down in the passenger side seat. He spoke first, “Where should we go?”
“Take a right at the next corner, there’s a discreet parking place behind my building. We can sit there. I’m a fifty dollar an hour date. You’re on the clock now.”
He felt his confidence growing, which was good, but he worried he might lose his keen sense of self-preservation. He turned into the dark parking area.
“This is perfect, he said to her. So, this is where you live?”
She did not answer she just stared at him apparently making a final judgment of his intentions.
Shutting off the engine and lights they became engulfed in total darkness.
“What, did you have in mind sweetie?”
He looked over at her and in a sad childlike voice said, “I would just like to hold you and have you listen to the problems in my life. Can we get in the back seat?”
She felt no sense of pity for him assuming it was his thing.
“It’s your call, and your dime, sweetie.”
Opening the door he turned his face away from the woman to prevent her from seeing his face in the light. He backed into the rear seat, closed the door and let the darkness that he loved bring him back to complete tranquility with the object of his fulfillment sitting next to him.
Opening his arms to accept her she slid across the seat and laid her head against his chest.