Copp In Shock, A Joe Copp Thriller (Joe Copp Private Eye Series)
Page 19
I am still a bit fuzzy about the struggle itself and the actual chain of events. The only way that I can reconstruct the actual sequence is that Vicki ran terrified from the car after I was shot and Martha pursued her and killed her with my gun. Some of this I have learned from Lancer, who was following my car at a discreet distance. According to Lancer, Martha placed her wedding band on the dead girl's finger and dropped her engraved cigarette lighter in the pocket of Vicki's jeans. Thinking that I was dead, they stripped the car of the girls' luggage and personal effects. In their haste to get away, Martha's bracelet came loose and was later found by the police near Vicki's body.
I guess I came to, moments later, and somehow was able to drive the few blocks to my house, although apparently banging up the car along the way.
It could have worked. All of it or any of it could have worked. Only God knows why it did not, certainly not me. This could have been set in any small town, anywhere in the world. All of the principals in this adventure knew one another, yet we all must be aware that no human being truly knows others in the recesses of their own hearts and minds.
We did bury the real Martha Kaufman-Copp in a closed coffin, not because the body was so disfigured but because the soul itself was. Janice would not allow a viewing of her monster-child.
It is amazing, though, how quickly the threads of a life can come back together following a tragedy. Chief Terry did not rethink his decision to resign from the force. He will be leaving as soon as a suitable replacement has been appointed. For my money, there will never be a replacement for this cop.
He is going to be a very busy man, nevertheless. Janice Sanford has prevailed upon him to take over the management of her many properties and she will need a lot of help picking up the pieces of that shattered empire. I did not envy him the task of unraveling the legalities of that million bucks in bearer bonds and the Swiss accounts. I know of no more worthy a man than him for that role. It is my guess, and hope, that love is already blossoming between those two and that the horrors of yesterday shall quickly become no more than the faded memory of a distant nightmare. So be it—and I will be looking forward to one day cracking another "short dog" of Jack Daniels with this superlative man. That is from the heart, "bud."
As for myself, I run into Mammoth a lot more often these days. Have a good pal up there and she has no peer in the whole state when it comes to making a man feel like a real king, at least for a day—or a night, for that matter. Besides, I need to pursue my new interest in human psychology.
Above all, I have developed a new respect for the mere joy of being alive and enjoying the company of nice people and good friends. But I should tell you that the first thing I did upon returning to the sanctuary of my home in Southern California was to place a classified ad in the Los Angeles Times reading: FOR SALE—ONE EXPENSIVE PAINTING, TITLED "GOD'S COUNTRY," FREE TO FIRST CALLER.
About the Author
Don Pendleton is the author of The Executioner series featuring Mack Bolan, which has sold more than 60 million copies to date. Copp For Hire, Mr. Pendleton’s debut hardcover novel, was published to critical acclaim by Donald I. Fine, Inc. Joe Copp returned in 1988 with the popular encore novel, Copp On Fire; in 1989 with Copp in Deep; in 1990 with Copp in the Dark; Copp on Ice, 1991, and Copp in Shock, 1992. Don Pendleton and his wife, Linda, make their home in West Covina, California.
First Edition, Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1992