“Yep.”
“Alrighty then, I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Not seven and a half?”
“Nah. This morning I plan to dawdle on the way to the car.”
When she exited the elevator in the garage, she stood still for a moment as usual, listening, looking, appraising the area. With the sun still low in the sky, the lighting was dim. The air she breathed was a faintly nauseating blend of gas fumes and carbon monoxide. From different corners of the garage, she heard the sounds of other residents, jingling keys, beeping locks, slamming car doors. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Two parking spaces away from her car, she heard a foot hit the concrete mere inches from where she stood. She started to turn in the direction of the sound but before she’d made any significant movement, she felt the cold metal circle of a gun barrel pressing hard into her neck just behind her ear. Adrenaline surged, bringing a tremble to her core, a tightness in her throat and a flush to her face. Her mind moved fast, seeking options.
“Drop the keys,” a woman’s voice ordered.
From the other side of the garage, Lucinda heard running footsteps and hoped whoever was fleeing the scene understood the urgency and would call 9-1-1 or at least tell the security guard at the parking-lot entrance that something was amiss.
Without a word in response to the command, Lucinda clutched her keys even tighter. The hard edges of the metal keys pressed deep into her palm. She prepared to spin fast and jab her attacker in the eye. But the woman with the gun was a heartbeat ahead of her. Lucinda felt something hard slam into the small of her back, driving her forward. Sharp spikes of pain drove into her head as her face hit the trunk of someone’s sedan.
“Don’t try any crap on me. Ted taught me all of those self-defense tricks. Drop the damn keys.”
Ted? Ellen? No. It couldn’t be. But who else? “Ellen?” Lucinda asked. She felt the gun barrel jab hard and sharp and then press deeper into her flesh.
“Drop the damn keys now.”
Lucinda released her grip, allowing the keys to hit the trunk of the car and jangle as they tumbled down, clattering on the concrete. “Ellen?” Lucinda asked again.
“Shut up! Lace the fingers of your hands behind your head.”
Lucinda hesitated.
“Now! Damn it!” Ellen said.
Lucinda felt the barrel pull away from her neck. Before she could register relief, she felt the impact of the butt of the gun just behind her temple. Her head spun in a familiar but uncomfortable sensation of vertigo. She felt both her real and artificial eye rattle around in their sockets. Will my eye fall out? Then the pain registered. Pounding, throbbing, solid pain mixed with spikes of sharpness that pierced her skull. Am I bleeding?
She put her hands behind her head and then said, “Shit, Ellen, that hurt like hell. Just what the hell is your problem?”
“Oh, like you don’t know. Give me a break.” Ellen grabbed one of Lucinda’s arms and twisted it down.
Lucinda sensed the cold edge of metal encircle one wrist, listened to the clicking snap of a locking cuff. Then she felt a jerk on her other arm and heard the lock connected on the other wrist. She was effectively constrained. I still have my feet, she thought. “Ellen, I swear to God, I do not know what is going on here. I do not know why you are angry with me.”
“You know what’s going on. You just don’t think I know.” Ellen’s arm reached from behind Lucinda and snaked around the flap of her jacket. Ellen’s fingers flipped the snap on Lucinda’s holster and slid out her weapon. Lucinda listened, thinking she’d hear her gun hit the ground, but when she heard nothing she knew Ellen had kept it. The risk to my personal safety has now doubled.
“You’ve been trying to steal my husband for quite some time and I am not going to allow that anymore. I tried to warn you to back off but you wouldn’t listen. Now,” she barked, jerking on the cuffs, pulling Lucinda off of the trunk, “on your knees.”
Doubled in half at the waist, Lucinda stiffened her knees. “Ellen, what warnings are you talking about?”
“The notes I left for you. Now, shut up and get down on your knees.”
Lucinda felt a downward tug on her cuffs at the same time a foot kicked the soft spot in the back of her leg. She hit the hard pavement and felt the jarring in her kneecaps on impact. She felt chunks of dirt and debris shred her pantyhose as it embedded in her skin.
“Ellen, you’re not really going to shoot me, are you?”
“Shut up so I can pull the trigger.”
“Ellen, you shoot me and you are going to jail. Think about what will happen to your children, if you kill me.”
“You should have thought about those innocent kids before you started messing with another woman’s husband. I tried and tried to warn you but you paid no attention to my notes. All I wanted you to do was leave my husband alone. That’s all.”
“Ellen, what notes?”
“The ones I left on your car. I know you got them. I watched you read them.”
“Ellen, believe me, I didn’t know those notes were from you. You should’ve signed them.” Lucinda heard surreptitious shuffling sounds in the distance. She suspected that a team was getting into place. She only hoped the noise was subtle enough not to alarm Ellen and that she could stall her until they made their move.
“You should’ve known.”
“Ellen, you never mentioned your husband in those notes.”
“Well, not in so many words, but I thought the message was pretty clear.”
“Ellen, it wasn’t. My partner was convinced they were from the serial killer we’re hunting.”
“Ted, said that?”
“No, Ellen, Ted is not my partner in this investigation. I’m working with a guy from the FBI.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true, Ellen.”
“Shut up. I can’t focus when you run your mouth.”
A male voice shouted, “Drop the gun. Drop the gun or we’ll shoot.”
Ellen spun around, waving the gun in the air.
The second that Lucinda felt the pressure of the barrel pull away from her head, she lashed out her legs. They connected with Ellen’s calves, knocking her to the ground. The force of impact loosened Ellen’s grip on the handgun and sent it skittering across the floor. A bullet fired at Ellen’s head missed by a breath and plowed into the concrete wall.
Lying with her face pressed against the oil-stained floor, Lucinda shouted, “She’s got another gun!”
An officer grunted then said, “We’ve got it, Lieutenant.”
A pair of hands slid under Lucinda’s arms and lifted her up. Then the officer unlocked her cuffs. Lucinda kneeled down beside Ellen who stared at the ceiling with a dazed expression. Lucinda slipped a hand under her head and felt blood. “Was she shot?” she asked.
“No, Lieutenant. I had a good bead on her but when you knocked her down, the bullet sailed right over her head and hit the wall over there,” an officer said as he pointed. “You ruined my batting average.”
“Be glad I did. This woman is the wife of a police officer. You don’t want her death on your hands. Has someone called for an ambulance?”
Another voice shouted, “It’s on the way, Lieutenant. Should be here in two minutes or less.”
Lucinda’s cell phone rang. It was Jake. “Hey where are you?” he asked.
“I’m still in the parking garage.”
“That’s some serious dawdling.”
“I guess you could call it that,” Lucinda shouted as the siren of the approaching emergency vehicle threatened to drown her out.
“What the hell is that, Lucinda? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. Somebody tried to shoot me and failed. I’ll tell you all about it as soon as I can get out of here.”
“What?”
“And, oh yeah, Jake. The notes on my car? Forget them as a lead. Found out where they came from this morning.”
“What? How do you know they�
��re not connected? I need to get over there right away. Can you send a patrol to pick me up or should I call a cab?”
“Everything’s under control here, Jake.”
“I believe you, Lucinda. But I can’t just wait here for you to show up. I need to come there.”
“Hey, Jake, relax. Have another cup of coffee. Read the paper.”
“You just don’t get it, do you?”
“Get what?” Lucinda asked.
Jake sighed. “You sending a patrol car?”
She thought about arguing but decided it would be a waste of time. It seemed obvious that he would not relent. “Yeah,” she said. “I’ll have one in front of the hotel in a few minutes.”
Forty
Jake’s arrival at the garage coincided with the departure of the ambulance carrying Ellen Branson to the hospital. He talked to a few officers on the sidelines of the taped-off crime scene, finding out the identity of Lucinda’s assailant and everything they knew about what had gone down earlier. All the while, he kept a close watch on Lucinda as she answered questions and signed statements. When, at last, she looked up and caught his eye, he ducked under the tape. Standing in front of her, with a hand on each of her elbows, he asked, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, rubbing the spot on her head that had suffered a hit from the butt of the gun. “I’ve got a lump here but Ellen got the worst of it. I can’t help thinking I could have handled it better. I could have done something differently so that she wouldn’t have been hurt.”
“From what I hear, you were cuffed, down on your knees and still managed to save her life.”
“Yeah, well . . .” Lucinda sighed. “The only thing is that it just shouldn’t have happened at all.”
“Can’t blame yourself for that.” Jake stood back and looked her over, head to toe. “You’re kind of dusty and dirty.”
“Gee, thanks,” Lucinda said, taking a couple of useless swipes at her skirt.
She stretched her wrists past the cuffs of her jacket, displaying light red rings caused by the cuffs. “Cute, huh? I better go out and socialize with the S and M set before these marks fade away. I think my knees got the worst of it, though.” She pulled up the hem of her skirt to display run-filled hose and scraped up knees. “I need to go back upstairs to change. You wanna come with me? I’ll fix a fresh pot of coffee.”
“Sure, that sounds great,” he said.
In the elevator, Lucinda admitted, “I’m not real eager to get into the station this morning. I don’t know if anyone’s told Ted yet and I don’t want to be the one to do it.”
“Why? You think he’ll blame you?”
“Not hardly. But I will blame him. I told him to take care of that woman and he just blew me off. If I see him this morning, I might well punch him in the nose.”
Lucinda’s return to the apartment excited Chester. He dashed up and down the hall, skidding on the floor with each turn.
“Does he always greet you like that?” Jake asked.
“Nah, Chester is showing off. He does that when I come home with company.”
“Does that happen often?”
“Ha! Hardly ever. That’s why Chester finds it so exciting. Have a seat, Jake. I’ll get the coffee brewing.”
Jake walked past the kitchen counter over to the large living-room window. “Nice view,” he said. “What river is that?”
“It’s the James. And it’s the reason I picked this apartment and stayed here. I’d only move if I could afford one with a balcony overlooking the river but that’s a bit beyond an investigator’s salary.”
“Ever feel too cramped?”
“The place is pretty small but it’s just me and Chester – plenty of room for the two of us. Why? Do you have a bigger place?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty lucky. When my grandmother passed away, I got her townhouse in Georgetown, all paid for but the taxes and insurance each year. I’m a bona fide homeowner – the easy way.”
“Lucky guy. While this is brewing, I’m gonna go change out of these dirty clothes. Just make yourself at home. If Chester bothers you, clap your hands and he’ll run off.”
Lucinda had slipped out of her suit and into a new one along with a fresh pair of panty hose by the time the coffee maker finished filling the carafe with coffee. When she walked down the hall, she saw Chester on his back with Jake bent over, stroking Chester’s belly and chin. “I guess he didn’t bother you.”
“Nah,” Jake said. “He’s a nice cat.” Jake stood and Chester writhed on the floor hoping to entice Jake into continuing with the belly rub. Jake laughed, stepped over him and walked into the kitchen.
They carried their coffee cups over to the sofa and sat at opposite ends, turning to face each other as they did.
“So, Ted’s wife wrote those notes on your car?” Jake asked.
“Yes, her name is Ellen. Not at all who I suspected. I thought it was a family member of someone I’d arrested. Ellen never even crossed my mind.”
“That means we have no leads to follow at all.”
Lucinda sighed. “We’ll just have to start over and find something we missed.”
“I think it might be a better idea if we visit a couple of the other crime scenes. See what they missed. You guys here were thorough – very thorough. Not sure if that’s true of all the jurisdictions. Some of them didn’t even notice the note or weren’t suspicious of it until we pointed it out to them.”
“You want me to go with you?” Lucinda said.
“Yeah, we’re partners, remember? You are currently on loan to the FBI.”
“I should go into the station today and touch base with the folks working my local case and with my Captain.”
“No problem; I didn’t plan on starting the road show until first thing in the morning anyway.”
Back at the station, Lucinda set Jake at a desk with a computer and a telephone and looked around for Ted. Then she walked down to Captain Holland’s office. “Hey, Captain. Didn’t see Ted down the hall.”
“He went to the hospital as soon as he heard about his wife. You gave us all a serious scare but you look pretty good for almost dying this morning.”
Lucinda shrugged. “Near-death experiences are in the job description, Captain. How is Ellen Branson doing?”
“Pretty good. They’re patching up her head injury and she will probably be processed into the jail before the day is over.”
“Why?”
“Why, what?”
“Why is Ellen Branson going to jail?”
The captain stood, put his hands on his hips and stared at her. “Why? Pierce, you were there. Remember? She attempted to kill a police officer, namely you.”
“Yeah, I was there, Captain. She wouldn’t have shot me.”
“Are you delusional? She had you down on your knees with the barrel of a loaded gun pressed against your skull. What about attempted murder don’t you understand?”
“Captain, I want the charges dropped.”
“Dropped? You’re nuts. She stole a police officer’s gun––”
“That was her husband’s gun. I don’t see how that counts,” Lucinda interrupted.
“She stole a police officer’s gun,” Captain Holland repeated. “She lay in wait for another police officer. She assaulted a police officer. She abducted a police officer––”
“Abducted? She didn’t move me more than a foot,” Lucinda objected.
“You were restrained, Pierce. Restrained and under her control. The D.A. can make an abduction charge stick. Then she confiscated your weapon – another gun theft from a police officer. These are serious charges.”
“When you put it that way, yes they are. But are they really necessary? That poor woman needs help, not imprisonment. And she has kids who need her, too.”
Captain Holland stepped around his desk and stood in front of her. “Pierce, just get out of here. We are not dropping the charges.”
Lucinda stepped forward into his space. Her finger poked
his chest. “She held the gun to my head, Captain. This should be my call.”
Holland’s jaw tensed and his nostrils flared. “Back up, Pierce, or I’ll stick you in the cell next to her.”
Lucinda started to snap back at him before regaining control of her emotions. Abashed, she looked down at the floor, stepped back and rested her hands at her side. “Sorry, Captain.”
“You should be. You are an ingrate, Pierce. While you’ve been traipsing around with your FBI agent, I’ve been defending you in front of the mayor and his cronies and believe me that hasn’t been fun.”
“Yes, sir. But I haven’t been traipsing, sir. I’ve been working, sir. More hours than required, sir. Without a request for additional monetary compensation, sir. And I really appreciate what you are doing on my behalf and on the behalf of wounded officers everywhere, sir.”
“Jeez, cut the crap, Pierce. Get the hell out of here.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, snapping to attention and giving a smart salute.
“Pierce, you’re trying my patience.”
“Yes, sir,” she said as she darted out of the room. Holland barely had time to return to his seat before Lucinda popped her head around the corner and said, “Sir, I hope you will reconsider the charges against Ellen Branson. I don’t think they’d be good for the morale of my colleagues.”
The captain flung out his arm and pointed a beefy finger in her direction. “Out, Pierce, out!”
Forty-One
Lucinda strode into the office where Jake pounded on a keyboard. “That sure didn’t go well.”
“What?”
“I tried to get the Captain to intervene on Ellen Branson’s behalf and got tossed from his office.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Get tossed?”
“No, try to get your captain to give Ellen a break?”
“I do not want to press charges against that poor woman.”
“She held a gun to your head, Lucinda.”
“Oh, not you, too,” she moaned.
“She committed a serious crime. You could be dead. Not press charges? Are you nuts?”
Punish the Deed (A Lucinda Pierce Mystery) Page 18