The men admitted it’d been nice coming to work knowing they wouldn’t have to tolerate any of Pat’s attitude and bad behavior since Paul had her doing other jobs. While they noticed her absence, she wasn’t missed. They’d been able to accomplish much more without her.
“Paul said he’d call for you when he’s ready. Pat’s in her office waiting to hear from him, too. She breezed right past me earlier with barely a civil word. I practically had to lasso her to get her attention to tell her about the meeting.” Debbie lowered her voice in a conspiratorial tone and whispered, “I’m not supposed to tell you this, but something funny’s been going on around here for the past several weeks. Some communication tekkies from Harrisburg were in house doing I-don’t-know-what. And I hear Paul’s been in touch with a couple of the commissioner’s men. More than usual. You didn’t hear this from me. Okay?” Debbie gave them a look with raised eyebrows and put her finger to her lips to show she didn’t want them to repeat what she’d just said.
The phone rang and Debbie went to her desk.
Sheski and Mike barely had time to digest what they’d been told when Debbie signaled to them Paul had just called to say he was in his office waiting for them.
“Pat’s already there,” Debbie said.
Paul was seated behind his desk, moving piles of paper which were awaiting his attention. He didn’t get up when they came in. He greeted Sheski and Mike and motioned with a wave of his hand for them to sit down.
Sheski and Mike got seated.
Pat looked up when they’d entered. Why are they still here? That’s it. Johnny’s fallen down on the job. When this is over, I’ll take care of him. He’ll wish he’d never heard of me and he’ll wish I hadn’t heard about Haight Ashbury.
Paul stood up and leaned on his desk.
The three investigators knew him well enough to know his gesture meant he was going to take no prisoners. Someone or all of them were going to go down.
Paul was too tired and too ill to put up with any nonsense in the form of lying or skirting the issue. He’d be showing them what he’s got and they’d listen or else.
“Today is the day we put an end to this situation that’s been brewing between you two and Pat,” Paul said, nodding toward the men.
Sheski started to protest but Paul stuck his hand out like a traffic cop and with a firm-set jaw silenced him. “Wait your turn,” he said and turned his attention to Pat.
“I’ve tried to be fair to you Pat. And I admit I even bent a little when your father’s cronies leaned on me to cut you some breaks. It wasn’t my idea to put you on Teen Lovers in the first place. I thought you were too green. Not to mention you did your best to get these two pulled off the case.”
“She what?” Sheski said aloud. “You tried to get us pulled off this case?” He stared in amazement. “Who do you think you are?”
Now it was Pat’s turn to protest.
“I’ll tell you who I am. I’m a darned good policewoman,” she said. “Better than you two. And I can keep up with either of you any day. If someone wanted you off the case, they had good reasons for doing it. Don’t go blaming me.”
Pat’s complaint was met with the same traffic cop gesture that answered Sheski’s outburst.
Common sense told her to back off for now. She shut up and shifted in her seat.
“If I may continue without any further interruptions,” Paul said. He turned a withering gaze on Pat. “At first, after you telephoned your ‘Daddy,’ I gave in and assigned you to one of the biggest cases the governor was personally interested in. I shouldn’t have done it. My gut reaction was it didn’t feel right, but I didn’t want to cause more trouble for myself and I gave in. Well, for this I must apologize to you two.” He was looking at Sheski and Mike.
Sheski and Mike didn’t know where this was headed, but both acknowledged the apology.
“Hey, I’m the one who was wronged here,” Pat said. She stood up and with hands on her hips, she sneered at the others. “He’s the one who was coming on to me.” She said, pointing at Mike. “He should’ve been taken off this case when it first happened. And you know how close those two are. Sheski would lie for him any day of the week. This is a sexual harassment case and I’m gonna sue you for everything you’ve got. All of you. I told you about it Paul, when it first started and you didn’t do anything to stop it. When Daddy and I get through with all of you, you won’t have a dime in your pensions to fall back on. And I’ll be running this place.”
Sheski and Mike stared in amazement.
Paul remained cool and reacted so swiftly no one had time to comment. Despite not feeling well, he was out of his chair and within inches of Pat’s face. “Sit down and stay seated until I’m finished. I don’t want another word out of you until I ask for it. Is that clear?” he said through clenched teeth.
Surprised, she nodded.
“Now, as I was saying,” Paul started. “When I started getting complaints from both Mike and Pat, each accusing the other of sexual misconduct, I must admit, I was bewildered. I’ve never had a situation quite like this in all my years in the department. I sure hope I never have another one. You’ve no idea what this has put me through.” He grabbed at his stomach and winced. “So I decided to get evidence to support whatever action needed to be taken. There wasn’t any room for error on this one. Remember when I sent you to Rockview to speak to Shelly Griffith and my old pal Dr. Carter, and you were given the rest of the afternoon off?” he asked of the two men.
They nodded.
Directing his attention to Pat, Paul said, “And remember when I sent you to see Dr. Carter and kept you busy with outside errands?”
She acknowledged what he said.
“Those jaunts I sent you all on were planned to get you out of here. Colonel Friedman sent in his best tekkies to wire the meeting room and your offices with concealed cameras and listening devices. Every time you three were in those rooms working, you were being recorded. Need I say more? And before you protest, I got the official paperwork to cover it.”
Pat stood up and screamed at him. “How dare you, you dying, no-good ….”
“I dare,” Paul fumed, interrupting her. “And I did. And I’m still alive. Now we’re gonna have a little rerun of what I viewed from those sessions. Oh yes, those Harrisburg tekkies are pretty good. They cut out the boring stuff and made us a neat little abbreviated version of what went on. Now sit down, shut up, and watch.”
Sheski and Mike couldn’t stop grinning.
Paul reached into his drawer and retrieved a remote control. He pushed the ‘Start’ button, popped some pills in his mouth, and chewed.
Everyone shifted in their seats to watch.
The first scene started out pretty innocent with Sheski and Mike entering the room followed by Pat. You could hear the greetings amongst them. The scene was spliced to show Mike and Pat alone. Sounds erupted from the coworkers in the room when Pat was seen and heard on several different occasions flirting with the evasive Mike. She was rearranging her clothing in provocative ways, brushing herself up against him, and doing numerous other sexually aggressive acts. On screen, Mike appeared embarrassed and uninterested in her.
“Turn that off now. You’re gonna be really sorry for this,” Pat said.
“No. It gets better,” Paul said calmly. He remained sitting, viewing the unfolding scenes.
Not knowing she was being taped, on screen Pat was seen posing provocatively with her skirt pulled up and her blouse unbuttoned to a surprised Lillian who’d entered the room to visit her husband.
Genuine astonishment showed on the unsuspecting Mike’s face when he turned from his work to see what had upset Lillian.
“I bet that brought a few words from the little wife,” Paul said.
“We worked it out,” Mike said. “She trusts me.”
Paul reached for the remote and shut down the show. “Had enough?” he said to Pat.
“I’ll have your job for this,” she said. “You’ll be nothing but a corpse when
I get through with you.”
“I think not. I’m not dead yet,” he said. “And you’ll be lucky to have your own job, let alone mine. Your daddy can’t fix everything You’ve been nothing but trouble since you joined the state police. And you know what? I’m ticked off big-time because someone dumped you on us after you caused trouble elsewhere. You came on to Mike because you thought he could help you in some way. And I’m really unhappy you tried to get him and Sheski taken off this very important case. Did you think you’d get all the glory if you worked it yourself? Well, guess what. I would’ve never permitted you to handle something like this on your own. If they’d have been taken off the case, I’d have brought two other officers in to work it. You don’t have what it takes”
“Says you. A broken down nobody,” she shot back. “Look at yourself.”
“I’ve been doing a little checking since reviewing this recording and I’ve found out some interesting info on you,” Paul said. “My sources tell me that Philadelphia sent you here because they had enough of you there. Seems you got involved with a married man because you thought he could help your career. You wrecked his marriage and then dropped him when you learned he wasn’t going to help you. They tell me you tried it with some others, too, in an effort to move up in the ranks. You always want what you see and are used to getting it or ‘Daddy’ gets it for you. Well, not this time. I had to come up with some way of having proof of what was going on and I got it. Your Daddy and the governor were sent copies of this so they know what you were up to, too.”
“You sent that to the governor?” Pat said.
“Yep. Sure did,” Paul said. He turned to Mike. “Well, Mike. It’s all up to you.” Paul crossed his arms and leaned back against his desk.
“Do what you have to do, Paul. As for you, Pat, you’ll be hearing from my attorney. I’m not going to let anyone dump you on anyone else.” He turned to his boss and shook his hand. “Thank you, Paul. I appreciate what you’ve done.”
When he went to leave the room Mike could hear sniffling coming from the direction of Pat Riley. He wasn’t moved. She would’ve ruined him and his marriage if she could’ve gotten away with it. All because she wanted him to do something for her. He’d let Attorney Smithson take care of it. For now, he was exhausted from the pressures he’d been feeling.
Sheski and Mike retrieved some paperwork and were preparing to leave the station when a frightened Doug burst through the door.
“Come here, you two. Paul’s really sick. He’s down. We’ve called an ambulance.”
Doug rushed to the front door to await the emergency vehicle.
Sheski and Mike moved swiftly to Paul’s office. Inside, they found their boss lying on the floor with Debbie by his side. She’d placed a blanket over him and was holding his hand and talking to him.
Paul was still.
Pat was watching. Before the ambulance came, she left the building.
“What happened?” Sheski asked Debbie.
“He was giving some instructions to Pat when he just keeled over. He went down to his knees and his body fell to the floor.”
Sheski observed the trickle of blood coming from his boss’s mouth, trailing down his neck with droplets forming on his shirt. He felt for a pulse in Paul’s neck and found a thready 100 beats per minute. The pulse rate started to decrease. Sweat beads were on Paul’s forehead despite his extremities being cold. His eyes were open and his mouth was moving as if to speak, but they couldn’t hear what he was trying to say.
Paramedics arrived and in concert with a physician on a cell phone, they began working to save Paul’s life. He was failing. Without immediate intervention, he’d be gone before they got him to the emergency room. An IV was started to bolster the hemorrhaging. Medications were injected and EKG leads were placed. Oxygen was started.
Sheski cleared the room of the personnel who’d come to their boss’s aid. He assured them everything possible that could be done for Paul, was being done.
A blood pressure cuff on Paul’s arm initially had a high reading, but it was now showing 68 over 40.
Paul was losing the battle as his pulse and blood pressure bottomed out.
Later
Sheski and Mike were pacing the hallway leading to the ER.
Paul’s girlfriend June was sitting near Lana who was comforting her.
Lana had an arm around June’s shoulders and was whispering words of encouragement. “This is the best place he can be,” Lana said. “He’s getting great care from an experienced staff.”
Lillian arrived with coffee for everyone while they waited for the doctor to tell them Paul’s condition.
A gathering of local police, state troopers and others was filling the waiting room, spilling out into the hallway. Despite a reputation for micro-managing, Paul was well known and well-liked amongst the state police force and the community.
Debbie was the unofficial communicator among the different groups and went back and forth with the meager information she was able to get on Paul’s condition.
It was a somber gathering.
Chapter Seventeen
Early morning,
The lettering on the mailbox and the photo in his hand indicated to the husky young man he was at the right place. He rang the doorbell repeatedly.
Inside her home, Pat reached for her coat and went to the door. She was glad her lawyer had arrived early to pick her up for their appointment. She opened the door and was surprised to see an unfamiliar face smiling at her.
“Hello. Can I help you?” Pat asked. She looked him up and down.
“Pat Riley,” the young man said. It wasn’t a question, it was an acknowledgment.
“Yes, and who are you?” She looked around to see if her attorney’s car was nearby. Instead, her own car was in the driveway where she left it and out front was a new sport utility vehicle.
Pat asked, “Can I help you?”
“My name’s Carl. Johnny sent me to pick you up. He wants to see you.”
“I can’t see him now, I have an appointment at the barracks with my lawyer,” Pat said. “He should be here any minute.”
“Johnny said to tell you he took care of all that. Just like he said he would. There’ll be no internal investigation. Your lawyer was notified and said to tell you he’ll call you later. And those two clowns, Thomas Sheski and Mike James, the ones who were giving you a hard time, have been removed from the case. They’re done for. Even with Mike’s connection to the Vice President, it won’t help him. You’ll be working it alone from now on. It’s all over.”
“Way to go, Johnny,” Pat said triumphantly. She pumped her fists in the air. “He came through after all. I had my doubts he’d do it, but I guess he knew what was good for him. But how did Johnny know of Mike’s connection to the country’s Vice President?” Pat asked. “I thought I was the only one who knew that.”
“Johnny figured there had to be some reason you were trying to take up with Mike. Well, you know Johnny. He’s got connections, just like you. He found out Mike knows some pretty important people, even though he doesn’t talk about it.”
Pat was thrilled to be the victor over Sheski and Mike. Those two losers had no idea who they were dealing with. Me. A winner. That’s who.
“Johnny always takes care of business,” Carl said. “You know that. Now, I need to check you out first. Make sure you’re not armed. You know Johnny. He doesn’t take risks.”
“What the …?” Pat said.
Carl interrupted her. “Be a good girl. This won’t take long.” He frisked her swiftly.
Pat squirmed and complained, but Carl completed his pat-down search.
“Time for you to get in our car,” Carl said. “Johnny wants me to take you to see him. Give me your keys and my buddy’ll follow in your car so you can drive yourself back home after Johnny and you spend some time together.” He grinned broadly.
“I can drive myself,” Pat said. “Just tell me where we’re going and I’ll follow you.”
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br /> “Johnny wants me to take you to meet him. That way we won’t waste time explaining where you should go or worry about you getting lost.”
“Okay.” She liked to be in control and be the driver, but since Johnny’d been good to her and gotten her out of this mess, she’d follow his instructions. She retrieved her key ring from her purse and handed it to Carl.
Carl motioned for someone inside his vehicle to join them. While the young man joined Carl and Pat, another got out and walked towards Pat’s house. He hid his face behind a manila folder so Pat couldn’t see who it was.
The windows of Carl’s vehicle were so dark Pat was unable to see if anyone else was in there.
“This is Jamie,” Carl said, introducing his friend.
Jamie nodded his head at Pat.
“Hello, Jamie,” Pat said flirtatiously.
He looked her up and down and liked what he saw.
“Hey. Who’s that other guy? The one heading to my house?”
“You know him. It’s Jackie. Johnny’s brother. He’ll be watching here for you to safely return. He’ll let Johnny know you’ve arrived back home after your time together.”
Carl gave the keys to Jamie and said, “Be sure to drive carefully so this young lady has her car when she and Johnny are done.”
“Sure,” Jamie said. He winked at Pat.
“Oh yeah. Fill the gas tank up for her, too. Johnny’s payin’,” Carl said. “And stop flirting with her. Johnny won’t like that.”
Jamie nodded again and got into Pat’s car and started it up.
Carl opened the passenger side door of his vehicle for Pat and then got in the driver’s side.
On their way out of the driveway, both drivers waved to Jackie as he entered Pat’s house.
The automobiles were heading south along the river. Carl and Pat were in the lead car.
“Where are we going to meet Johnny?” Pat asked.
“Remember the cabin the two of you used to go to when you were a couple?” Carl asked.
“Sure do,” Pat said. “We had some good times there.” She laughed aloud.
“That’s where we’re going,” Carl took a right turn off the highway onto a dirt road leading up into the mountains. Driving Pat’s car, Jamie followed close behind them.
TEEN LOVERS: Murder Along the River Page 16