Chasing Suspect Three

by Rod Hoisington

  He stared at the rear door briefly. Then, glanced up and down the alley and got out of his car. He found the rear door unlocked. He wasn’t certain why he wanted to look in, but isn’t going through unlocked doors what you do, when you’re snooping around? Certainly wouldn’t hurt to look around, would it?

  He went in, walked halfway down the carpeted hallway, and noticed 1B on the door of the apartment on the right. A strange nervousness overtook him; he had seen enough—get out of there. He heard the floor creak and turned. A short young man with a shock of red hair was standing behind him.

  He immediately wished he had put his coat and tie back on to complete his lawyer outfit. Apparently, his white dress shirt and suit pants were intimidating enough for Billy.

  “You looking for Miss Mertens?”

  He remembered Sandy talking about the young apartment building owner. He was trying to think of a good cover story, when Billy saved him, “She’s not home at present. Haven’t seen you around. She expecting you?”

  “I’m handling some affairs which might involve her.”

  “About her brother being killed, I guess. She was really shocked. Said she’d be moving into his condominium soon. Funny how something good like that comes out of something terrible. This is a quiet old neighborhood, but over there she gets a nice place with a pool and all. Not good for me though. Pretty woman. Don’t want to think about her not being just across the hall, where I can look in on her from time to time.”

  “You handle the maintenance and landlord stuff, huh?”

  “She calls me when she needs me.”

  “You sound like a very friendly landlord. I’ll bet she appreciates you.”

  “Seems to.”

  “Has Richie been around lately?” Wouldn’t hurt to ask that even though Martin knew Richie wasn’t going to get around much anymore.

  “You’re asking a lot of questions, and I think I’ve said enough. You better leave now.” Then as a second thought, “Unless you’re looking for an apartment, of course.”

  Martin apologized for the interruption and excused himself. He walked out the back to his car and sat there wondering where to go next. Then he saw Billy come out and drive off in an SUV. What now? All this snooping around wasn’t getting anywhere. While he was sitting here, Claudia might have left the spa and gone who knows where.

  Just then, he heard a soft tap on his window.

  At first, he didn’t see the woman there with her shopping cart. He lowered the window and considered her. She was on the threshold of old age, slender but didn’t look particularly frail. Once upon a time, she’d been attractive. Now, she needed some serious attention to her appearance. She’d let herself go, as they say. No money for the extras that can put a shine on your personality would be his guess.

  “Would you help me inside with a couple of things?” She gestured toward the apartment building.

  He looked at the shopping cart, obviously taken from a nearby supermarket, with two loaded plastic bags. He had never thought much about how else the disadvantaged managed to walk blocks burdened with necessities.

  They exchanged smiles. He got out and gathered up the bags.

  “You’re not one of those men who is going to attack me once we get inside?”

  “No ma’am, not me.” A curious comment, he thought. She didn’t sound worried about it. He put a little chuckle in his voice, so she’d know he got it. “It would be inappropriate for me to go inside. I’ll take these as far as the back door.” That should clear away any question of his intentions.

  He followed her to the back of the house where she maneuvered the cart into a spot behind the fenced area that enclosed several large trash containers.

  “This is where I hide it. Some just abandon the carts and bring home a new one every time to clutter up the neighborhood. But I don’t. I like my own cart. I keep it clean. It is never touched by any God knows where they’ve been hands. Got a squeaky wheel though.”

  He wondered about her life story. She didn’t appear to be some bowed and bent little old lady, yet she did seem defeated. He doubted she had been like this her entire life. With a little effort, she could look acceptable again. However, once you start losing it, it’s difficult to get things together enough to escape and come back. In any case, life can be tough even with the best of resources. Some tragic event no doubt turned her life toward the worst.

  The back door was unlocked; she opened it and stepped back for him to enter. Instead, he held the market bags out to her.

  “Can’t you at least carry them down the hall to the stairs?” She walked on in before he could answer and continued down the hall to the foot of the stairs. “You are truly a fine gentleman. Your mother drilled the manners into you. Good thing I didn’t have a son. Can you imagine me as a mother?”

  When he hesitated, she looked at him hopefully. Oh hell, he was being ridiculous. He shrugged and motioned her on up the stairs ahead of him. He should have stayed in the car. Then again, he might be taking this entire situation too seriously. “Let’s get this stuff on up to your apartment. I absolutely must go.”

  He followed her up the steps. She unlocked her apartment door and pushed it open. “Thank you, sir. I don’t know your name. Just put them down on the counter over there.”

  He stopped in the hall leaning into the doorway. “I’m not coming in. Let me hand these to you.”

  She motioned with her hand. “Just set them down over there, if you don’t mind.”

  “No, I can’t come in, really.” He held out a bag. “Here take this.”

  “Set the damn bags on the counter,” she said loudly.

  That was the point where he should have dropped the bags and sprinted out the door.

  She slipped her feet out of her well-worn thongs and kicked them fiercely aside. She walked barefoot on the vinyl tile over to the dinette table positioned in front of a small back window. She sat down glaring at him.

  Whatever it takes to get out of there, he thought. He stepped into the apartment walking cautiously as though the floor was going to give way at any moment. He set the two bags on the counter.

  “You managed to get yourself into my apartment, didn’t you? You clever villain.” She spoke in a strange authoritative tone of voice, as though she had a gun pointed at him. She didn’t frighten him; what was there to fear from such a woman? Even so, she was serious about something. “Is there a problem?”

  She looked over at him, and said, “O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!”

  “What did you say?” He looked quizzically at her. “That’s Shakespeare...Macbeth I believe.”

  “No, it’s from Hamlet. That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain. I played Hamlet’s mother. I was on my way. I was going to be a great stage actress, maybe not great, but I could have made a career out of it. You know, my name listed somewhere down on the playbill. I chose a man instead.”

  She looked down at her clasped hands. “At the time, I never realized how serious a choice I was making. I married my man, and my dream of a career upon the stage slipped through my fingers. I thought a marriage was more important than a career. I was wrong.”

  She stared at him as though expecting him to apologize.

  “I’m sorry about your problems,” he said. “You’ve had years to think about it. You are no doubt correct. Your career might have been a good one.”

  “It wouldn’t have to be very good to be better than my marriage. I’d have been something more than I am now. I would have had opportunities instead of living with a man who turned out to be less than nothing. At the present time, I should be living in a retired actor’s home trading lines from Shakespeare with friends. I might have received residuals from some TV series. Now I’m living on no money at all.”

  She sighed wearily. “I don’t know where the bastard is, but I heard he’s doing all alright. That’s always the way isn’t it?” A quiver was now in her voice. “You’ve been warned.”

  “You’ve been war
ned? Is that a quote from Hamlet?”

  “No, you. You’ve been warned.”

  He’d had enough. “I did nothing out of the ordinary.”

  “I saw your black car while coming home today. I have a friend who’ll say I’m right. You followed me didn’t you?”

  “No such thing!”

  “I spotted your car again, this time driving around the neighborhood. You parked and tried to open my front door. Then you moved your car down the block and sat there watching for me.”

  “No, I didn’t. Well, yes but—.”

  “Then you moved your car to the back. I saw you waiting for Billy to leave the building. You waited and were ready when I appeared.”

  “You approached me.”

  “You followed me upstairs and came into my apartment.”

  “You asked me to carry your groceries. You were leading the way.”

  “Very clever.”

  “If you knew all that, why aren’t you frightened? Why did you put yourself in this situation?”

  “Because I have this.” Her left hand went to her neck and fondled a silver-colored amulet hanging on a beaded chain around her neck. “This gives me power over you.”

  Now he was beginning to understand. She was bonkers. He was annoyed. “So, you believe that trinket has supernatural powers. If I don’t obey, you’ll cast a spell over me.” He had done all he could. He’d continue to be gentle with her, yet if the woman was unbalanced, it wasn’t up to him to provide her with therapy.

  “No, young man, it doesn’t cast evil spells. There’s no such thing as evil spells. You’re being silly. Just the same, it does protect me from evildoers.”

  She held the amulet forward so he could see, leaving the chain around her neck. “You think the little red spot in the middle is an imitation jewel, don’t you? No, a jewel couldn’t harm you. In fact, it’s a button for emergencies. It calls 911 automatically. In case, I need to play the part of the woman who falls and can’t get up.”

  He touched his forehead where little beads of sweat were now forming.

  “Or in case, some strange man is actually a villain. Once pushed I can’t stop it. No one can stop it. The call to my protectors soars through the air on the wings of Mercury, and no one can bring it back. At my signal, the fury of hell is unleashed. I flick my finger and a fleeting force of rescuers respond with sirens screaming and lights ablaze. Isn’t science grand? Would you like a demonstration?”

  “That’s not funny. For God’s sake, get your finger away from it.”

  “I’m not afraid to use it.”

  “Why are you doing this to me?”

  “You are a villain.”

  “Be serious.” He combed his fingers through his dark brown hair. “What do you want, money, me...what?”

  “First, I want to know why you’re stalking me.”

  “Stalking? Who said anything about stalking?”

  “I think it was Shakespeare who said, ‘If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck...you know the rest.”

  “Stop playing with that thing.” The woman was unbalanced. He needed to be forceful and authoritative. “Look, do you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to walk out that door. You are not going to set off that alarm. You would be the evil one, if you did that. I know you’re not evil. You know I’m no threat and I’ve been nice. I’m going out that door.”

  Her fingers fondled the amulet.

  He kept his eyes fixed on her. “Push that button and you are going to ruin me and my reputation. That’s what you’d do. That’s what pressing that button means. I know you’re not going to do that.”

  He turned his back on her and walked slowly to the door.

  At the door, he turned for a moment and smiled at her before going on. That’s when he first heard the sirens from hell.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  The day was almost gone and turning dark by the time Martin finished with the paperwork at the police station and took refuge beside Sandy in the front seat of her MX5. He waited for her teasing.

  She started in with, “What the hell were you trying to do out there? Chip phoned. Said you followed some old woman into her apartment, and she was screaming for the police.”

  “Would you mind putting the top up?”

  “So you can’t be seen?”

  “That’s correct.” He leaned back and closed his eyes. “I intend to withdraw to some solitary place for my remaining life of abject seclusion.”

  “No, you won’t.” She laughed and gave him a slight poke in the ribs with her elbow. She started the engine and ran the top up. “How did Chip get drawn into this anyway?”

  “It was nothing at first. The zone cop, Pearson, I think his name was, responded to the 911 call. He was familiar with those apartments, because the woman and the landlord had mixed it up in the past over the air conditioning or something. The old bag claimed I had insinuated my way into her apartment. Well, she didn’t say insinuated she said I sweet-talked my way in.”

  “Ye gads, imagine the poor woman all alone in her apartment facing Martin Bronner. You animal! Why didn’t she like you?”

  “Because I’m a man.”

  “Well, she has a point.”

  “I’m not going to sit here and play straight man for you, Sandy. You can cease with the smart-alecky comments. The zone cop had me worried at first by acting as though he believed her. He made a big production out of marching me down to his vehicle. Once we got down there, he laughed and told me not to worry. He’d go back up and pacify her. After a long half-hour, he came down very accusatory. Had I parked in front for a while, did I drive around, was I just sitting in my car parked in back, did I offer to take her groceries in? He arrested me, handcuffs and everything, on the charge of stalking.”

  “Stalking is serious.”

  “And I’m not good at it. Fortunately, Chip noticed me at the station, and said he’d go out and pacify the woman. I phoned Mel Shapiro, and he put everything on hold.”

  “And Chip went over to Claudia’s place.”

  “Of course, I was conducting an amateurish surveillance of Claudia. This old woman lives in the same building. Get off it, Sandy.”

  She just shrugged.

  “This is my story. Do you mind? Anyway, they didn’t arrest me. My name is mentioned in an incident report that’s all. Well, not quite all. Judy saw me at the police station about to be booked. She asked me what was going on, and said she couldn’t wait to hear all about it. She didn’t seem upset.”

  “So, you were never officially booked?”

  “Correct, between Chip and Shapiro the whole thing was painted over. I’m glad Judy didn’t overreact and cancel my meeting her family.”

  “Meet her family? What is this 1940? She takes you home to mom and dad for approval?”

  “Judy has a thirteen-year-old daughter, Nicola. They refer to themselves as the Family. She wanted us to meet.”

  “Geez, approval from the teenage daughter, that’s an important milestone. Wow, I didn’t realize your romance had progressed like that. So that makes Judy what, mid-thirties plus or minus, making it on a police officer’s salary, with a cool kid. And then there’s attractive and urbane you.” She wanted to add that any woman would love to catch him—except it would be unkind to mention that, since he had once carried the torch for her. He had once proposed, and she had turned him down. She did say, “You are two lucky people. Wait until Lifetime Movies gets a hold of this.”

  “Apparently, mother and daughter are quite the buddies, they share everything. We’ve had a couple of dates. I’m making progress.”

  “I believe you are. Don’t forget your history goes back beyond just a couple of recent dates. She realized you were interested in her way back when you first attempted to connect with her. She brushed you off back then thinking you had a thing going with your best friend’s wife. She’s been thinking about you ever since”

  “Really?”

  “She mom started talking about you arou
nd the house. Now the sharp daughter wants to check you out to be certain everything’s cool. Meanwhile, mom is scared to death worrying whether she’d be doing the right thing for her family, since you are so intimidating.”

  “I must be the least intimidating guy on the planet. Where are you coming from?”

  “You are wonderful and down to earth. It’s your wealth that’s in another orbit.” She expected his reaction. “Don’t look at me like that. I’ve observed you for a year now. I know how you live. I haven’t investigated you, because I couldn’t care less about your wealth. Judy, however, has no doubt checked out your lifestyle. You think that sharp gal hasn’t driven passed your house on the barrier island?”

  “I live simply. Our house has been in the family for years. It’s nice, certainly not fancy and not the latest. I like to drive a good car, but there are much more expensive ones on the road.”

  “You have servants.”

  “I wouldn’t call them servants.”

  “You have a housekeeper, caretakers for your property, and a caregiver for your father.”

  “Wait a minute. The housekeeper doesn’t live there, nothing unusual about having her come in. Well, she does do the cooking. We engage a lawn service like everyone else in the neighborhood. True, we could do without the full time gardener. Mother hired him for all the flowers she was busy with toward the end of her life. He’s old now and has been with us for many years. We don’t need him, yet we’d never let him go. Father offered him retirement at half pay to go with his Social Security, but he wants to work, doesn’t know where else to go, or what else he’d do.