Sitting up straight, I glanced at Pam. “Yolanda is alive. I know it!” Shouting my epiphany after nearly an hour of silence, startled her.
She nearly bumped the car in the next lane, regaining control at the last moment. “Jeez, Tony, you almost gave me a heart attack.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just excited. I think she’s alive,” I said calmly, though internally, my feelings were hopping with uncontrolled excitement.
Pam looked hopeful. “Tell me why.”
“In your apartment this morning, I saw her.”
“The break-in,” she said curiously. Pam considered it. “You believe it was Yolanda’s reflection you saw on the television?”
“I’m sure it was her.”
“Yolanda does have a spare key to my place, for emergencies. I guess she could have simply walked in through the front door. We were so exhausted, a bomb could have gone off and we wouldn’t have noticed.”
“When I woke, it must have spooked her and she ran out the rear door. It makes sense.”
A shadow of doubt creased her lovely face. “I don’t know.”
“Why do you say that?”
“You heard Milroy. Yolanda may want to hurt the both of us. If she was really in my apartment, she had the perfect opportunity to get us both. But she didn’t. Why?”
“I told you, I spooked her.”
“Maybe,” Pam said still sounding doubtful. “I just don’t know how much of what Milroy’s story we can believe. It bothers me that he was so open to us.”
I couldn’t argue. Milroy seemed nice enough, but there was something about him that didn’t appear right to me. “If he lied to us, for the life of me, I can’t figure out why. He didn’t have to tell us anything. For that matter, he didn’t even have to let us through the front gate.”
“Exactly,” Pam snapped. “Why talk to us at all?”
“Nothing has been making any sense lately,” I admitted. “Maybe, we should do what Eddie suggested and let the police do their job. We can give Detectives Dixon and Madden what we have so far.”
“Keep in mind we’re not supposed to talk about what we’ve learned from The Erikson Group until you want to compound your troubles with a lawsuit from them.”
“Screw them. I’m trying to keep my butt out of jail.”
“Milroy said he would deny everything. The police won’t have any reason to investigate The Erikson Group. As far as the world is concern, they’re a consulting business, remember?”
She was right. I lost some of the vigor I’d acquired and slumped a little in my seat. Then with a little hope, “We can tell them Yolanda was in your apartment.”
“No proof, sorry. The police won’t take your word for it; you’re their number one suspect. All I can say is that my backdoor was unlocked.”
I folded my arms together defiantly. “You’re just full of good news aren’t you?”
“Sorry,” she said and then her eyes lit up. “What about the photographs we’ve found. Police should be able to verify they’re fake, right?”
I thought about that. “It’s not as easy as you think. It could take time. And keep in mind the moment we give them the pictures, it automatically implicates you in this crazy setup. Dixon and Madden will think you and I are working together. It won’t matter that you’re the Chief’s daughter.”
She grimaced. “My parents would love that.”
“Your parents would kill me,” I countered.
“Yeah… They would.”
“The only way to clear our name is for Yolanda to make another appearance and someone see her.”
“But if what Milroy said was true—” Pam’s voice trailed off.
She didn’t need to finish, I knew exactly what she was thinking. The next time Yolanda showed up, we may not be as lucky as the last time. She may hurt, or worse, kill us both. How had Yolanda gone from woman in love to homicidal maniac in such a short period? Had things been spiraling downward sooner than that? I mean the old prescription slip and the fact that Milroy said Yolanda’s medication ran out over a month ago.
Pam tore me from my reverie. “Speaking of the photos. Yolanda must have had that done some time ago. I’m having a hard time believing she arranged the doctored pictures in a few hours.”
Pam and I seemed to be eerily in the same mindset. “I was just considering that too. I think all of this had to be planned weeks before. Maybe just after she stopped taking her medication, but why?”
Pam gritted her teeth, as if holding back something she didn’t want to tell me.
I touched her thigh and felt her trembling. “What is it?”
“I promised Yolanda I would never tell you, but under the circumstances, I don’t see a choice.” She glanced at me and then back at traffic. “Yolonda knew you were going to ask her to marry you. She found the engagement ring over a month ago and told me about it.”
I yanked my hand away. “She knew?”
Pam nodded. “That might have been why she stopped refilling her medication. She didn’t want to spend her life with you on some type of dependency.”
That sounded like something Yolanda would do. She had this need to be strong all the time. Medicine would have been a weakness. A rush of guilt filled my entire being. Was my proposal the catalyst for her mental relapse? It was all my fault.
“Don’t blame yourself,” Pam said, again reading my thoughts. “Yolanda was the one responsible for taking her medication. All she had to do was be open about it. She made that decision, not you.”
I sat in silence for a long time debating whether I should lay all the blame on my own shoulders or accept that Yolanda truly was the only one at fault. Deciding that it really didn’t matter who was to blame, I said, “I think we should come clean with the police. Tell them everything we know. It’s not like we can hide from them forever and I don’t want you involved any deeper than you are now.” I had to stop thinking about myself for the time being and focus on Pam’s welfare.
I expected her to argue, but she surprised me and said, “I’ll talk to Daddy. Once he knows the truth, he’ll help. I know he will.”
Nodding, I regained some of my lost vigor and sat up. “So how do I do this? Just walk into police headquarters and turn myself in?”
“No,” she answered. “Have your cousin Eddie, talk to the police first and arrange it.”
I laughed weakly. “What? Like some kind of rich celebrity?”
“Trust me, here, Tony. It’s better that way.”
“Fine,” I said shaking my head. “Let’s go see if my cousin is in his office.”
“You mean the booth at Morning Perk?”
I shrugged. “If he’s not chasing ambulances, that’s where he’ll be.”
We weren’t far from the coffee shop, Pam pulled off the freeway.
Pam
We slipped into Morning Perk without incident. The coffee shop wasn’t exactly crowded but had a number of patrons in deep conversations with friends or sitting by themselves reading. In the rear, sitting in a booth, wearing a different set of clothes, as wrinkled as the last pair, was Eddie. He didn’t notice us as we approached and only looked up from paperwork he was scanning after our bodies blocked some of his light.
His gaze swiveled between us. “Yolanda, Tony? Where have you two been?” He gestured for us to sit across from him.
Sliding into the booth, Tony wasted no time. “So where are the police at with finding Yolanda?”
Eddie glowered at him like he was stupid. He wagged a finger at Tony. “They think she’s dead and more importantly, the cops think you did it.”
“She’s not dead,” Tony assured him.
Eddie’s eyes lit up. “You know where she is?”
“No,” I said. “But she was inside my apartment this morning.”
“That’s great news,” Eddie said, “Did she tell you why she disappeared?”
“Ah,” Tony said, “We didn’t talk to her. She kind of snuck in Pam’s place and then slipped out.”
/> The light disappeared from Eddie’s eyes. “Okay two things bother me about what you just said. That bein’, snuck in and slipped out. Are you sayin’ she broke into your crib?” He looked directly at me.
“Broke in, is too strong. She has a key and let herself in,” I explained.
Eddie’s eyes narrowed. “Does she let herself in, a lot?”
“That’s not the point,” Tony interjected. “The point is she’s alive.”
“And breakin’ into homes,” Eddie added sarcastically.
I glanced at the paperwork Eddie had been reading. All of it was about Yolanda. Eddie was building a time line of her life for the past couple of years. Looking up at him, pointing down at the chart, I asked, “What’s this?”
He let out a heavy sigh. “I know you two may think I’m an idiot. And admittedly, there are days I can be. But I’m good at my job.
After hearing the police version of the events and knowin’ my cuz and you like I do. I couldn’t believe any of it. Come on, it’s obvious you and Tony have a thing for each other, but betrayin’ Yolanda’s trust and sleepin’ with one other. That’s a stretch.”
Tony and I shared an embarrassed look and simultaneously said, “There’s nothing going on between us.”
“Right,” Eddie said. “No kindlin’ flame there at all.”
Tony turned away and looked down at the chart. “You were telling us about this.”
“Yeah, I was,” Eddie snickered. “I figured whatever was goin’ on had more to do with Yolanda, than with you two. So I did a little digging into her life. Did you know that she’s loaded?” Dollar signs seemed to replace his irises.
That tidbit of information at least confirmed some of what Milroy said. “We recently found that out.”
He looked disappointed. “No surprise, huh?”
Tony and I shook our heads.
“Well this next one is a dozy and is the primary reason Tony here makes such a great suspect to the cops. “It seems that Yolanda named him as the sole benefactor on her Last Will and Testament.”
“Say what?” Tony asked, gawking at his cousin in disbelief.
Eddie held up one of the pages and showed it to Tony as evidence. “If she’s dead like the cops believe, you’re a very rich man, cuz.”
Tony straightened. “But what about her brother, DeShaun?”
Eddie cocked an eyebrow. “Who? Brother? Yolanda is an only child.”
Another confirmation for Milroy. If the man was lying to us, he mixed it with several truths. Still, I was having a hard time swallowing that she might be homicidal. “Is there anything in your findings that indicate mental problems in her past?”
“Sorry, I’ve only been at this for a short time. I don’t have much at all on her,” Eddie explained. “Why? Do you think she might be nuts?” He glanced over at Tony and instantly regretted his words. “Sorry, cuz, I didn’t mean to sound—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Tony said too quickly, deflecting the comment. “It’s obvious that none of us at this table really knows who Yolanda is. Maybe she’s crazy, maybe not. That fact is, she’s still alive and trying her best to get me in trouble it seems.”
“Did you two have a big fight?” Eddie asked.
“What?”
Eddie cleared his throat. “Maybe Yolanda finally saw what all your friends and family already suspected; that you and Pam have a thing for each other.”
“That’s insane,” I said dismissively. “Tony and I are just friends. That’s all.” It felt like I’d said that a hundred times already. And it still didn’t feel true. Looking at Tony’s expression, I somehow knew, he was lying to himself as well. He and I did have something special going on. Could Eddie be right? It wasn’t Tony’s proposal that made Yolanda stop taking her meds. It was the feelings Tony and I hid.
“I would never cheat on Yolanda,” Tony finally said, breaking an awkward silence.
“I know, cuz. That’s why I’m investigatin’ her instead of you.” Eddie turned his attention to me. “Should I be lookin’ into her past about mental problems? Do you know somethin’ I don’t?”
“We were told, Yolanda might have attacked two of her old lovers,” I said.
“Really? Where did you get this info?” Eddie asked. His gaze turned suspicious. “You two went against my advice and been doin’ your own investigatin’, haven’t you?”
There was that awkward silence again. I shouldn’t have mentioned the boyfriends at all. We don’t even know if what Milroy said was true or not.
Eddie opened his arms in defeat. “Come on guys, give me somethin’. How else can I help you?”
Tony shook his head. “All we have are a lot of what-ifs. We don’t have anything to give you Eddie, because it’s all conjecture until it can be proven.”
“We do have the pictures,” I said.
“What pictures?” Eddie asked.
“It’s more proof of guilt if anything else,” Tony explained.
“What pictures?” Eddie asked again.
I took the doctored photos out of my purse and handed them to Eddie. “These.”
He scanned them, once, twice and then a third time before looking up. “You have a nice rear end,” Eddie said, cocking his eyebrows up and down comically.
“That’s not my butt,” I told him angrily. “Those are fake.”
He slipped the photos into his pocket after taking another quick glance. “I believe you, but I better be the one to hold on to them for now on.”
Tony laid his hands on the table. “I want you to tell the police I’m ready to turn myself in.”
“That’s good, Tony. That means my partner and I don’t have to worry about you resisting arrest,” a gruff voice said.
Engrossed in our conversation we totally missed Detectives Madden and Dixon’s approach.
Dixon twirled handcuffs around her index finger triumphantly.
The Bald Man
“No, no, no,” the bald man said aloud as Holman was led out of the coffee shop, his wrists cuffed behind his back.
“What is it,” the voice yelled, panicked.
“Holman is under police custody. He’s being taken in now.”
“That was anticipated. As long as Reeb is free, there’s a chance the target will eventually emerge.”
That was what the bald man was afraid of. On her own, Reeb would be defenseless against the target and he wanted Pretty Pamela Reeb for himself. “Are you absolutely sure, the target wants her?”
“Of course. Why are you questioning the mission?” the voice asked.
Though the bald man has altered his orders over the years, he’d never disobeyed, not once. But his insatiable bloodlust for Pretty Pamela Reeb was too strong to ignore. For Act III to be made, she needed to stay alive, at least until he was done with her. He weighed his hatred for Yolanda against his need for Reeb and finally came up with a decision. “I can’t let Holman be arrested. He’s vital to the mission.”
“Have you lost your mind? He’s expendable,” the voice shouted into the bald man’s ear.
“I disagree.”
Calmly, the voice said, “You’re expendable too. Remember that before you do anything stupid.”
Decision made, the bald man shut out the voice’s words. Turning the key in the ignition, he started the engine. Buckling his belt, he laid the silenced pistol between his legs to make sure it wouldn’t slip to the floor. Pressing the gas pedal all the way down, the wheels screeched as they spun and thick gray smoke rose from the tires. The car sped away. The bald man saw the police detectives, their prisoner, Pretty Pamela Reeb and some fool in a crumpled suit staring his way.
He drove half a block before making a sharp U-turn ignoring traffic. Four other cars nearly collided with his as he performed the maneuver. Once he straightened his car out, he sped back toward the coffee shop. The bald man hummed as he barreled right at the police detectives. He saw the woman cop mouthing expletives, shoving Holman out of the way and drawing her gun.
&n
bsp; But it was too late. The bald man drove onto the sidewalk, pedestrians scattered everywhere, except for the two cops. Both pointed their weapons at the windshield. He ducked, but held the car steady as bullets pelted the glass. He felt his car scrape against the detective’s car. Sparks ignited outside his passenger window as metal against metal grinded. The bald man sat upright to get his bearing.
The detectives had gotten out of the way in time and had their bodies pressed against the coffee shop’s exterior wall. Holman, still in handcuffs was running frantically through the middle of the street away from the cops, which was exactly what the bald man wanted. There was no sign of Pretty Pamela Reeb or the man in the wrinkled suit. They must have run back inside the coffee shop.
Driving back into the street, the rear window was hit with bullets. The bald man laughed, did a wide U-turn ignoring all the danger. The detectives took refuge behind their car. Coming out of the sharp turn, the bald man headed directly for them. The bald man opened the driver side door, tucked his body into a ball and rolled out on the street. The detectives kept firing until the very last second before they dove out of the way as the bald man’s vehicle ran into the side of the detective’s car. The detective’s car flipped up, rolled once to the side, then rolled again and again. It crashed into the Morning Perk’s large pane window and then bucked up into the coffee shop.
On his feet, the bald man ran up to the sidewalk. Laying flat on his stomach, the male cop glanced his way with a stunned expression. His hand was empty. The cop must have dropped his gun when he had dived to the ground. The bald man didn’t waste his bullets, and instead kicked the cop hard in the face. The whites of his eyes showed and then the lids closed.
People from the coffee shop were filing out, blocking a clear shot for the female cop. She shoved them aside, shouting to get out of the way. The bald man didn’t suffer the concern for innocent lives. He fired indiscriminately into the crowd, hitting a woman in the shoulder. Firing again, he shot a man in the leg. They got the message and scattered out of the way. A small gap opened up. Not something the cop could safely shoot through, but perfect for the bald man who didn’t care. He had the advantage.
Crossroads: An Anthology Page 34