by Penny Childs
Bill smiled, thinking that his junior agent and the sheriff’s deputy were very fond of each other. He wondered what would happen when this case wound up. “Yeah. She said to give her an hour or so. I have a feeling she’s planning to try and pull an all-nighter.” Standing and stretching, he said, “Matter of fact, it’s time to get the both of them up. We can catch something to eat too. I don’t think Mel ate much of her lunch.”
“I’ll go get her,” Craig said. “I have to ask her about something anyway.” As he headed down the hallway he thought about the phone call he had gotten from Brody a while ago. He’d told him Mel had checked Trevor’s gun out of the evidence room. It didn’t make sense to him and he wondered what it could mean. None of the scenarios he played in his head made much sense. She had her own gun. In fact, she had more than one.
Shaking his head, he stopped at her door and knocked lightly. “Boss,” he called out. When she didn’t answer he knocked a little harder and called out to her again. Frowning when she still didn’t respond, he reached down and tried the knob, only to find the door locked. Now fear began to settle in. It wasn’t like her to lock her door. It also wasn’t like her to remove items from evidence. Fearing the two were related, he stood staring at the locked door. Surely someone would have heard a shot. Besides, Trevor was still alive, he still had a chance. She wouldn’t kill herself…yet.
Debating, he finally pulled his keys out of his pocket. If it was nothing and she was just sleeping he would gladly take whatever ass chewing she decided to give him.
Sticking the key to her office in the knob, he unlocked the door and slowly pushed it open. When he stuck his head in he saw her laying on the couch. “Jeez boss, you about gave me a heart attack.” He walked in then, but when he came around and saw her face he stopped dead.
She lay on her side. A large blood stain had soaked the couch cushion under her face. She held Trevor’s gun close to her chest in both hands, as if clutching it for dear life.
Confused, he pushed the chair she’d drug up next to the couch out of his way and knelt down beside her, his fingers going to her neck. She had a pulse, though it felt erratic. Getting up, he stuck his head out her door. “Bill!” he called down the hallway.
Hearing the urgency in the young deputy’s voice, Bill came down the hallway quickly. “What’s wrong?” But he thought he knew.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what the hell she did,” he said, stepping aside so Bill could enter the room.
Bill knelt next to her much like Craig had. He looked at the gun but instead of confusion, his look was one of revelation. Gently, he pulled it from her hands and laid it on the chair Craig had moved. “Clever girl,” he whispered.
“What the hell was she doing with that?” Craig asked.
“She used it to connect to Trevor.” He swore to himself. “I didn’t think of it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Sometimes having something to touch will strengthen her connection to someone. Since she was having problems connecting with the woman around, she must have decided she needed a little boost.” He paused. “Turn the damn lights on, will you?”
Craig did. “So she tried this by herself? I thought…”
“It is very dangerous, for the obvious reason.” He reached over and pulled an eyelid up. What he saw there made him squeeze his own shut for a moment. “Awe, Mel.” He checked the other one then looked up at Craig. “Call an ambulance.”
“But she’s just passed out, like before. Right?”
Bill shook his head. Her eyes were so bloodshot he hadn’t seen white. Both pupils were dilated and fixed.
“What then?”
“I don’t know how much damage she’s done, Craig. Just get an ambulance coming.”
Without further hesitation, Craig pulled his phone from his belt and made the call.
“Damnit, Mel,” Bill said, standing. He reached down to take the gun off the chair so that he could sit down and saw the small device lying there for the first time. Cocking his head, he picked it up and looked at it. He knew it for what it was, he had used similar devices himself. The small red light under the word REC was illuminated. He looked up when Craig came back in.
“Ambulance is on the way.” He gave Bill an odd look. “What’s that for?”
“She had it sitting on the chair. It would appear she may have left us a message of some sort.” He handed the unit to Craig, since he was used to using it. He was hopeful. Maybe she had found Trevor and would tell them where he was.
Pressing a couple buttons and adjusting the volume, Craig got the little machine on playback mode. They both listened as she urged Trevor to open his eyes. To concentrate. To hurry. To her obvious confusion about something that Trevor must have seen. Then, her last word, followed by a sharp cry of pain.
“Bosco?” Bill asked. “What the hell is Bosco?”
Craig frowned. It sounded familiar to him.
At this point Renee entered the office, took one look at Mel, then Craig and Bill’s pale faces and said, “Oh, God, tell me she didn’t.”
“She did,” Craig said. He explained what he knew to her.
“Will she be all right, sir?” Renee asked.
Bill shook his head and shrugged his shoulders helplessly. “I don’t know, Renee. Her eyes are bloodshot and her pupils are fully dilated. That can’t be a good sign. But I’m no doctor.” All he could think was aneurysm. Reaching out, he brushed Mel’s hair back out of her face. “What the hell is Bosco?” he asked.
“A street, maybe? Someone’s last name?” Renee suggested.
Craig moved to the business side of Mel’s desk and booted up her computer. “I’ll check resident names, but it doesn’t sound familiar for that.”
Renee raised her brows at the way he had worded his sentence. “But it does sound familiar to you?”
“Yeah.” He rubbed his face wearily. “I’ve been at this too long and I can’t get a fix on it, but I know I’ve heard it somewhere before.” He brought up the search engine he was looking for and typed in the word Bosco. “Well, it’s not someone’s last name, at least not someone from town.”
“Street name?”
“For sure not. I know every street here.” He scratched his head. “Damnit!” It was right there, he could almost see it. Getting up from Mel’s desk, he walked out of her office and to the front, stopping at Brody’s desk. “Where the hell is the ambulance?”
“Pulling in now,” Brody told him. He had been monitoring the radio. “Is she gonna be okay?” Craig had told him what had happened right after he had called for the ambulance.
“Dunno.” It scared him that Bill didn’t know either.
As the ambulance crew burst in the front doors, Craig took them back to where Mel still lay prone on the couch. He, Bill and Renee watched as they took her vitals and checked her physical condition.
“What the hell happened to her? Anyone know?” one of them asked.
Bill shook his head. “She was like this when the deputy here found her,” he said, pointing to Craig.
“What’s wrong with her?” Craig asked.
The tech did not answer him, but instead started speaking into the radio mic he had clipped to his shirt near his shoulder.
They watched as the two techs loaded her onto a gurney and took her out.
Craig wanted to ride with her but Bill put a hand on his shoulder. “Let Renee go with her. I need you here. We’re going to figure out what Bosco means and go get Trevor back.”
Craig stared at him for a long time, anger flashing in his eyes. He did not want to leave Mel.
“Craig, if we lose Trevor now, whatever she’s done to herself will have been for nothing.”
The tech in the back of the ambulance hollered, “Who’s coming? Now!”
Craig looked from Bill to Renee. “You stay with her, promise me.”
“I’ll stay with her, Craig for as long as they’ll let me.”
“All right.”
With a nod to Bill, Renee climbed in the back of the ambulance and shut the doors.
“I just don’t like thinking that she might…that she might not make it and that was the last time I’ll see her,” Craig told Bill as they watched the ambulance scream out of the parking lot.
“I care about her too, Craig, but she did what she did for Trevor. The least we can do is honor that.”
“I know. She’d kick my ass if I didn’t.” He started back for the hall and went in, stopping by Brody’s desk. “What are you working on?” he asked, thinking that if he didn’t try to think too hard what he needed to remember would come to him. It worked when he was trying to remember the name of a song or television actor.
“Damn dog list. Just marking off the ones we’ve have already checked out.”
Craig stared at him. “Dog list,” he said slowly.
“We’ll pick that up very first thing in the morning,” Bill said, passing him.
“Dogs,” Craig said.
“What the hell is the matter with you?” Brody asked, looking at him strangely.
“Brody, you’re a genius.”
“I am?”
Bill stopped and turned, his expression hopeful. Craig was on to something and he knew it. “What do you have?”
“Mrs. Clemmins owns a dog named Bosco. He’s a big Chocolate Lab. He’s scared to death of loud noises. Barks his fool head off if a car backfires, he hears fireworks…or gunshots.”
“The dog Mel heard barking after Sarah shot Trevor. You think it was this woman’s dog?”
“It’s the only dog named Bosco that I know.” He paused. “I go to church with Mrs. Clemmins. We put in a wheelchair ramp for her last fall when she had to start using one. Me, Mel and the rest of the guys took a few weekends doing it for her, along with a few other remodeling jobs she needed to have done.”
Brody nodded. He remembered well. He also remembered the big dumb slobbering mutt. He got on the computer and checked something. “It’s the only dog named Bosco on our list,” he confirmed.
“You know the layout of the house?” he asked Craig.
“Like the back of my hand. We also did some remodeling in the house to make it more wheelchair accessible for her. She had a leaky basement and we sealed that up for her too.”
Bill pulled his phone from his belt. “You’d be able to give us the floor plan of this place?”
“Sure.” He looked at Brody, “You too?”
“Hell yeah, I remember that place.”
“I’m pulling my guys back in.” He made his call while Brody and Craig discussed the house.
“You know this Mrs. Clemmins well?” Bill asked when he got off the phone.
“Yeah, like I said, I go to church with her and help her out when I can. Why?”
“You realize that if this is where Sarah has Trevor, Mrs. Clemmins is likely dead.”
Both Craig and Brody stared at him for a moment. The thought had not occurred to either one of them. “Maybe she’s just locked up in a room or something,” Craig finally said.
“Maybe, but I doubt it. I just want you to be prepared for the worst.”
Craig nodded, but decided to keep hope anyway. After all, she had obviously not killed the dog.
“My guys will be here in twenty minutes, at which point I want to go over the layout of that house.”
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that I’m going to send them in there as soon as you get a warrant for me,” he told Craig.
“A warrant? Me?”
“You’ve surely done it before while Mel has been on vacation.”
He nodded. Once he had. Warrants weren’t something they needed much of around their sleepy little town.
“Then make it happen. Convince this judge of yours that we have to get into that house.”
“Based on a barking dog and a cryptic message from our psychic sheriff?” Craig asked incredulously.
“Based on whatever the hell you have to tell the judge to get us a warrant. We can’t go in without one.”
“Like hell we can’t,” Craig argued.
“Unless you’re planning on putting a bullet between Sarah’s eyes, we need one, otherwise, she’ll walk for sure.”
Gritting his teeth, he nodded, knowing Bill was right. “Great. I don’t know what the hell I’m going to tell him, but I’ll think of something,” he said, stalking out of the building.
Twenty-five
Bill and his three agents sat around the table, looking at actual blueprints Brody had managed to pull from the realtor’s office.
“So this basement has an entrance from the outside and the inside.”
“Yeah,” Brody said. “The door inside comes into the kitchen. The door outside is at the back of the house. That’s kinda like a cellar type door, you know, lifts up and goes directly to some steps leading down. The inside door doesn’t show on the prints ‘cause she had it put in about ten years ago, give or take.”
“You’re positive?” one of the men asked.
“Sure I am. You can ask Craig too, he’ll remember. We couldn’t do anything with them for her because they were too steep.”
At the mention of Craig, Bill looked at his watch. He had been gone well over an hour. He had a feeling it was not going well with the judge.
“Craig’ll get that warrant, you watch.”
“I hope you’re right.”
No sooner were those words out of his mouth than Craig stepped into the room, looking harried. “Okay, it wasn’t easy, but I got it.” He held the piece of paper out.
Bill’s brows went up. “What did you tell him?”
“I lied. I told him that someone thought they saw the woman we are looking for at Mrs. Clemmins’s house.”
Bill covered his face with his hands. “You lied about that? What happens when someone wants to talk to your tipster?”
“It was a silent observer. I don’t know who it was. Don’t worry about it, it’s my ass.”
Bill looked to his agents, who shrugged at him. “I’m good with that,” one of them said.
“We better be, ‘cause the truth would have gotten me thrown out on my butt.”
“All right, all right,” Bill conceded. His guys didn’t need the details.
“What are we doing?” Craig asked.
Bill pointed to the print. “I want to send them in through the basement, see if they can sneak up on her,” he said, pointing to his men. “I want you and I to see if we can get into the room she’s holding Trevor in. We’ll gain entry from the window.”
“There are two bedrooms. She’s sure to have the shades drawn. How will you know which one is the right one?” Brody asked.
“There’s a master bedroom and a guest room,” Bill said. “My money is on her putting him in the guest room. She won’t want him in a room of ownership or authority.”
“She’s that petty?”
“She’s that insecure. Though it more than likely won’t be a conscious decision on her part.” He looked at all of them. “And as far as anyone is concerned, when this is all said and done, we knocked on the front door and she barricaded herself inside, leaving us no choice but to go through the basement and windows.”
“And you gave me crap for lying?” Craig asked.
Bill grinned. “Why the hell not?”
“Wake up. This is your last chance tonight.”
Trevor registered the voice but his mind could not decipher the meaning of the words. He only knew one thing; he did not want to be awake. He wanted to be asleep, because asleep was where he could see and hear Mel. “Go away,” he mumbled, trying with no effect to bat her away. He wasn’t even entirely certain that he had actually moved his hand.
“I don’t want to have to clean up a mess in here and I certainly don’t want to have to smell it if you pee your pants. Wake up.”
Didn’t she understand he didn’t have the strength anymore? He groaned at her but refused to open his eyes because every time he did the
room started to spin.
“Are you going to die on me tonight?” she asked him.
“I hope so,” he told her wearily.
“You don’t want one last chance to tell your girlfriend goodbye?” she mocked.
“No goodbye,” he whispered. He could not stand the idea of saying goodbye to Mel ever again. Opening his eyes, he found the room spinning as he suspected it would and saw more than one of her. He definitely did not need more than one crazy bitch in his face. He closed his eyes.
“Are you going to cooperate or not?”
He shook his head, an action that made him groan in pain. “Can’t.” He hadn’t had anything to drink in a long time anyway, he’d been too busy being passed out.
“Have it your way then,” she said. “But don’t come crying to me later when you have to go.”
Dead. He’d be dead later and he wouldn’t have to worry about it. He let himself drift back to Mel.
The house was located on a semi-residential street at the edge of town. It sat behind the Baptist church Mrs. Clemmins attended.
Craig and Bill stood alongside the church, behind some bushes, watching for any signs of life in the house. They could see the television was on and more than one room of the house was lit up. As they watched, the light in the guest room went out.
“Where are your guys?” Craig asked. He could not see them.
“Moving in. Don’t worry, they know what they’re doing. That bitch doesn’t stand a chance.”
“I just hope we’re not too late.”
“We’re not. If she’s still here, he’s still alive.” He had to believe that much. Trevor wasn’t just one of his best agents; they had become friends over the years. “C’mon, let’s see if we can get close enough to see what’s going on.”
Slowly, cautiously, they made their way to the side of the house, coming to rest under the living room window.
She had all of the shades drawn, but Bill, peeking in the edge of the window, could see into part of the living room. He could see just enough of the couch to see her sitting on it, feet propped up on the coffee table. He looked at Craig and nodded his head, then pointed toward the room he was looking into.