by Leah Burke
Up ahead, the car continued down the road. Thomas checked his speed; they were already going over sixty. Still, the Cadillac pulled forward. He would need to hit the gas if he wanted to catch up. “Um, I don’t mean to be a downer here, but what exactly is the plan if we do catch up to him?” Thomas looked at Marissa. She stared back.
“I don’t know. But this is our only shot. If we don’t find out who it is now, then I don’t know if we’ll ever find out.” What if he was armed? Who could it be?
The Cadillac pulled off onto another road. “Right, right, right!” Marissa yelled. Without hesitation, Thomas yanked the wheel and continued his pursuit.
Even though it had only been a couple of minutes, the chase felt like it had been going on for hours. The Cadillac turned onto a main road. Thomas was catching up. The squad car was remarkably responsive. As he pressed on the gas, they narrowed the gap between them.
“Hit him!” Marissa blurted out. She wasn’t thinking, adrenaline was coursing through her veins.
“What?” Thomas kept his focus on the Cadillac. Was she serious?
“Hit him! That’s what these are for, right?”
Even though he was reluctant, Thomas obliged. He pushed the gas, and they touched bumpers. It didn’t seem like they hit that much, but it was enough to shake the whole car. “Again!” Marissa shouted. He pressed forward again. The two cars lurched as they touched.
“Pull up to the side!” Marissa ordered. Has she done this before? Thomas wondered.
He pulled up alongside the Cadillac, which then veered off to the right and down another dirt road. Thomas was thrown off guard. He spun the car around, which then did a complete 180. He quickly collected himself and peeled off after the Cadillac.
“Come on, come on!” Marissa yelled. She was tapping on the dashboard. It was obvious that she was hyped up on adrenaline and nerves.
Thomas punched it, and they closed the gap. Suddenly, the Cadillac swerved to the left to avoid a pothole. Thomas narrowly missed it himself. The car ahead swerved back onto the road, but now he was losing control. He started to turn left and right, trying to overcompensate. In a split second, Thomas clipped the Cadillac, which then spun out towards the left.
“Watch out!” Marissa shouted. Thomas slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. They smashed into the side of the Cadillac. The airbags deployed, and everything went black.
Chapter 16
Marissa woke up. How long was I out? She looked to her side. Thomas was unconscious. The airbag must have knocked him out. She could smell gasoline and burning rubber. She managed to wrestle herself free from her seat belt, then pried open the door.
Outside, the night air was cool and refreshing on her skin. The adrenaline made her sweat profusely. She looked over and saw the smashed up Cadillac. They had plowed right into the driver’s side. Marissa stood up, and realized her ankle was twisted. Nonetheless, she hobbled over to see who was inside the now-mangled car.
His face was covered in blood, but it was obvious who it was. Teddy Brown, Robert’s second in command, and new CEO of Burton Development Strategies. Of course, she thought. He had the most to gain from Robert’s death, so it made sense that he would want him out of the way. It didn’t explain everything, but at least they had their killer.
“Are you okay?” Thomas asked. He had crawled out of the police car and was holding his neck in pain. He had a few more cuts to add to his forehead gash.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Marissa walked closer to the car. It looked like Teddy was not waking up anytime soon.
“What should we do?” Thomas walked around to check on Marissa.
“I don’t know. I guess we should call the police or something.”
“You’re bleeding.” Thomas pointed to Marissa’s head. She reached up and felt blood.
“Is it bad?” she asked.
“No worse than mine, I reckon.” Thomas continued to hold his neck.
“Do you have your cell phone on you?” Marissa asked.
Thomas checked his pocket and pulled it out. “It’s broken.”
She checked in her pockets, too. She pulled out her cell, which seemed unharmed by the wreck. She looked at the screen; no bars. “I don’t have any service out here.” She looked around. “Where are we?”
Thomas looked for any defining landmarks. “I don’t know, but we have to be close to Highway 16.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s the highway over there.” Thomas pointed. Off in the distance, Marissa could see headlights.
“Well, if neither of our phones are working, how can we call it in? We certainly can’t drive anywhere.” Marissa held up her phone, trying to find a signal.
“Let’s see if the radio works.” Thomas went back to the car and reached in for the police radio.
“Hello? Hello? Is anyone there?” All he could hear was static. “Hello? Hello?”
“Yes, who is this? State your car number and ID please, over.” A woman’s voice came through on the other line.
“Um, I, uh, I’m not a police officer,” Thomas replied. He wasn’t sure how to respond.
Marissa stuck her head in. “Say over when you’re finished talking.”
“Oh, uh, over,” Thomas stammered.
“Sir, this channel is reserved for police communications only. It is a federal offense to interfere with police channels, over.” The woman sounded very upset.
“Listen, I don’t think there is a way for me to explain this, so you’ll just have to come out and find me. I’m in a police car, but I’m not a cop.” Thomas had no idea what he should say, so he just blurted out the truth. “Over.”
“I don’t follow, sir, over,” the woman replied.
Marissa grabbed the radio from Thomas. “Look, we were involved in a collision with a police officer. He is unconscious and bleeding out. We need an ambulance and emergency vehicles, now! Over.” Thomas looked at Marissa. “What? It’s not the first time I had to call something in.” She winked at him.
“Ma’am, what is your location, over?” The woman changed her tone.
“I’m not sure. We’re somewhere—” She looked at Thomas.
“West of Highway 16, and south of Montrose,” he whispered to Marissa. She repeated it into the radio.
“Do you see any flares in the vehicle? We won’t be able to find you unless you mark your position, over.”
“Yeah, hold on.” Marissa pulled her head out of the window. She motioned for Thomas to pop the trunk.
Inside, they found that everything was a jumbled mess. After digging for a few seconds, they found a box of flares. She went back to the radio.
“Yes, we have flares. Should we deploy now? Over,” Marissa asked.
“Yes. Place flares about every thirty feet on the road for as long as you can. We’ll find you that way, over.”
“Okay, thank you. Over.” Marissa ducked out again. “Do you want to light them or shall I?” she asked Thomas. He nodded.
“I’ll take them,” he said. He grabbed the box of flares and started walking down the road.
Marissa went back over to the Cadillac. Teddy was still unconscious. She opened the passenger side door and looked around. She hoped that there would be some kind of hard evidence that would connect Teddy to the case. Otherwise, the police would just have her and Thomas’ word that he was coming to kill them. Plus they would have to testify against the officer who abducted her in the first place. She hoped that he was okay. The head wound was still bleeding when she shut him in. But if he was awake, he couldn’t be hurt too bad, right?
Teddy stirred next to her. She stared at him, waiting to see if he would wake up. Suddenly, she saw his phone, stuck between the seats. If he had made any incriminating calls, then that would seal the deal. She scrolled through his contact lists, but a lot of the numbers were not saved into the phone. They would have to cross check them to find anything incriminating.
What about his emails? she thought. I
f he hadn’t deleted them, then that could be something. She found his email application, but she was locked out. Dang it. I need a password. She looked out the cracked windshield and saw Thomas in the distance, laying out flares. She then opened Teddy’s text messages. Bingo, she thought.
He had a string of messages with an unknown number, but it had to be the officer’s. The texts talked about how he had captured Marissa and was taking her to the “black house,” whatever that meant.
We got her, boss.
Are you sure? What does she know?
I don’t know, but she found the Greenery. I’m bringing her to the black house.
Ok. I’ll meet you over there. Give me about an hour or so.
K. We’ll be waiting.
That had to be enough to tie him to the murder, right? All she had to do was retrieve her pictures of the bloodstain, and they could at least have probable cause. Hopefully it would be enough. She saw Thomas walking back. She put the phone in her pocket and got out of the car.
“Are we all set?” she asked.
“What were you doing?” Thomas asked.
“I was just making sure that he was still alive. We don’t want to go to jail for manslaughter, do we?”
“I think we’re going to jail no matter what,” Thomas responded. He did have a point. Already they were guilty of trespassing, assaulting a police officer, stealing a police car, and impersonating an officer. Although that last one was debatable given the circumstances.
“Yeah, you’re right about that.” Marissa sounded dejected. Sure, they had found the killer, but at what cost? She suddenly thought about what Harlan would say. Would she get fired for this? What would Brand do?
The two of them waited outside the cars. Thomas pulled off his jacket and started ripping his shirt. “What are you doing?” Marissa asked.
He gave her some of the fabric and kept the rest for himself. “For your head.” He pointed to her cuts and scrapes.
“Oh, thanks. I guess we should have brought the first aid kit, huh?” she chuckled. As she put the shirt to her temple; it stung. It was obvious that Thomas had been sweating, and the salt mixed in with her blood. Still, it was better than nothing.
Minutes went by, until finally they saw emergency lights in the distance. They spotted the flares and headed down the road to meet them.
“So, how should we spin this?” Marissa asked.
“I don’t know. You’re the expert. I’m just a potamologist, remember?” Thomas gave her a silly look. They both laughed.
Chapter 17
“So, you mean to tell me that you found out who really killed Robert Burton?” Detective Jeffries looked at Marissa incredulously.
“Yes, I did. Is that so hard to believe?” Marissa stared at Jeffries. She was patched up pretty well, with gauze and bandages over her face and arm.
“So you’re saying that Teddy Brown did it. The same man who is in the ICU right now.”
“Yes. Do I have to go over everything again?”
“I think you must. I’m having a hard time piecing everything together. So far, all you’ve shown me is circumstantial evidence at best.”
“Do I have to spell it out for you? I was kidnapped by one of your police officers…”
“Officer McMullen, yes. He’s also in the ICU after your little encounter,” Jeffries interrupted.
“Well, that was more self-defense than anything. But I digress. I was kidnapped by one of your officers, and he brought me to a house in the middle of nowhere because I was getting too close to the Burton murder. He then contacted Brown who came out, presumably to decide how best to dispose of me.”
“You mentioned earlier that you had found the murder scene. How do you know that Burton was killed there?”
“You can call it a hunch. As I walked through the place, it was obvious that it had been cleaned recently. Also, I found a spot of blood on one of the counters.”
“How do you know it was Burton’s blood?”
“I don’t. But I’m not stupid. You know as well as I do that Burton’s body was moved. I’m guessing that your CSI team hasn’t found the murder scene yet? I would suggest they start with the Greenery.”
“And what if—hold on—” Jeffries looked over his notes. “Nash and his men cleaned up after you left? Will we even find anything?”
Marissa started to smirk. “Yes, tell them to look under the floorboard in the closet. I hid my SD card in there. I took pictures of the whole thing.” She was confident that Nash wouldn’t be able to find it.
“Okay, but even if we do find your photos, you were trespassing on government property. Any evidence obtained would be suspicious at best.” Jeffries did make a compelling point.
“Look, you seem like a good cop. I’m sure that if you guys do your due diligence in the Greenery, you will find something that links Teddy and Nash to the murder. I can’t imagine that they left the place spotless. Especially if they didn’t even clean up all the blood initially.”
“And what about these emails that you claim you found? Were they from Mr. Brown?” Jeffries continued to look through his notes.
“I couldn’t figure out who they were from. At least not conclusively. That’s if Nash hasn’t deleted them already. I think that’s what he came to the ranger station to do that night.”
“You know, you’re not making this easy for me. All I have is conclusive evidence that you broke the law, but only suspicion as to whether Mr. Brown is connected to the killing.”
Marissa smirked again. “I’m sure that you’ve closed cases with a lot less, Detective. All I can give you is what I know. I’m sure that there are some loose ends that you can find with this information. Given how sloppy they were with everything, I can’t imagine that they tied it up neatly.”
“Okay, so let’s assume that this is all true. What’s the motive? Why kill Burton out there, and not anywhere else? Last I checked, Burton and Brown were friends.”
“At least, that’s what they told everyone. Do I really have to explain the motive to you?” Marissa scoffed.
“Humor me.” Jeffries stared at her.
“Okay, so I assume you have done some research on Burton, yes? If so, then you know that he has a soft spot for ‘doing the right thing,’ especially if it involves exploiting the environment. I found at least half a dozen major development deals that he backed out of for ecological reasons.” Marissa spoke with an air of superiority.
“Go on.”
“So, Teddy figures out that the wildlife park is ripe for some investment. Maybe there was some natural resources found in the area, or perhaps he just wanted to build a set of condos. Who knows. So he contacts his buddy Nash to talk to him about ‘the Greenery Project,’ whatever that is,” Marissa continued. Jeffries didn’t look impressed.
“So, once Teddy and Nash have figured out the details, they bring it to Burton, who of course passes on it. Teddy, smelling a huge payday, decides that Burton has cost him enough money, so he kills him on the spot. Then, he and Nash dispose of the body, clean up the murder scene, and then plant evidence that Chambon did it. Teddy had to have known Chambon from the business deal four years ago, so maybe he figured that he was the perfect patsy.”
“So then why kill him at the park? Or, why not dump the body somewhere else?”
“Um, I don’t know exactly. Maybe the park was best because Nash could help cover up any evidence that was found? Teddy needed an accomplice, so they decided to keep it local.” Marissa figured that was as good a guess as any. That was one piece of the puzzle that she wasn’t always clear on either.
“Okay. So, if that’s the way it went down, then there should be some evidence that connects Mr. Brown to Mr. Wilkinson, as well as a connection between Brown and Chambon. If we can establish that, then we may have something.” Jeffries almost sounded convinced.
“So you’ll look into it then?” Marissa was hopeful.
“Well, there are too many variables that are unaccounted for. Plus, I was
never convinced that Chambon did it anyway. It was all too perfect.” Jeffries sounded like Marissa for a second.
“Thank you, Detective. You have no idea what that means to me. I knew that you were the right guy to talk to.” Marissa beamed.
“Don’t thank me yet. You haven’t exactly handed me the murderer on a silver platter. Plus, there’s the matter of what we have to do with you. Trespassing, breaking and entering, assault, grand theft auto, and impersonating a police officer.” Jeffries sounded like he was reading from a rap sheet. “Although, that last one can probably be stricken from the record.”
“Look, I know that I have to own up to what I did. But if you can prove that Teddy did it, then I will be okay with that.”
“By the way, what turned you onto Nash in the first place? We confiscated all of your pictures,” Jeffries asked.
“Um, no comment?” Marissa replied.
“Yeah, I get it. If I think of anything else, I’ll come get you.” Jeffries stood up and went to the door. He knocked to signal the guard outside.
Officer Garcia came in and collected Marissa. She stood up, with handcuffs around her wrists, again. The two of them shuffled out of the room.
Back at the holding cell, Thomas was waiting for her. He was bandaged as well, although he had a neck brace and a sling over his arm. He looked like he had been through the wringer. Garcia let Marissa inside.
“So, they let us be cell mates, huh?” Marissa sat down.
“Yeah, for now. At least until they figure out what to do with us. How are you feeling?” Thomas pointed to her bandages.
“Oh, I’m fine. I’m on pain meds. You look worse than I do.”
“It’s a precaution. The sling and the brace are on until I get another MRI to determine if anything is broken.”
“Listen, Thomas…” Marissa got serious. “I never got a chance to thank you. I mean, to really thank you for what you did. You saved my life. I don’t think I can ever repay you for that.” She looked at Thomas in the eyes.