Punish the Deed (A Lucinda Pierce Mystery)

by Fanning, Diane

  “Sorry, Lieutenant. No can do. I have my orders.”

  “You also have my gun in your ribs. I will save those two kids. And you will not stand in my way.”

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “Don’t tempt me. Those kids are far more important to me than you, my career and even my life. Back off.” When he didn’t move, she added, “Look at my face. You look hard and then answer this question: Do I have the face of a woman who takes risks? Huh? What do you think?”

  He backed up a step and called into command central.

  Lucinda wasted no time; she strode the remaining steps to the clinic, pulled open the door and handed her weapons to the nearest officer. Then she stepped inside. “I’m here, Charles. No weapons. No problems.”

  From some place eerily close, Murphy said, “I hope you won’t be offended, Lieutenant, but I don’t really trust you. Dr. Hirschman will come out first and see if you’re telling me the truth. And he won’t play any games with you or hide any of your secrets. So don’t try. He sees me holding the knife to this child’s throat. He knows she’ll die.”

  “No tricks from me, Charles. I’m just here for the kids.”

  The dentist stepped out into the waiting room. “Sorry, Lieutenant,” he said as he placed his hands on her.

  “Not a problem, sir. I understand the situation. Is anyone else dead?”

  “No. But I’m not sure how long that will last.”

  “Do you think we can get more people out if we keep negotiating?”

  “I think he’ll probably let everyone go but me.”

  “You’re the target?”

  “Yes. I think that’s all that really matters to him. I’m going to die no matter what happens here. But try to get as many others out as you can first.”

  A voice boomed from the back. “What you doing out there, Dentist Man? You want to get back here now or do you want me to kill a kid?”

  “I’m coming,” Hirschman shouted. To Lucinda he said, “I’m trying to protect the others. I don’t know what else I can do.”

  He walked through the door and into the back. Lucinda stood still waiting. Listening. Ready to move if she heard anything that indicated the level of danger to the children had increased. One minute passed. Anxiety formed beads of perspiration on her forehead and her palms. She wiped her hands on her pants. Another minute passed. Cold, clammy sweat gathered on the back of her neck, giving her chills.

  Another minute passed. She heard a child’s squeak of protest and her muscles tensed for action. The door opened. Two little kids ran through it, followed by a woman in scrubs with her arm in a makeshift sling.

  Lucinda hustled them all out the front door and into the arms of waiting paramedics. Then she strode across the lot to face the wrath of the man she’d defied. I sure hope he’s not expecting me to be remorseful.

  Fifty-Three

  From a distance, Lucinda could tell the commander was angry. Very angry. A clip of Elmer Fudd with a red face and smoke pouring out of his ears crossed her mind. She lowered her head to keep her amusement hidden. She stopped in front of the commander and raised her head to face him.

  “Who the hell do you think you are?” he asked.

  “Lieutenant Lucinda Pierce, sir.”

  “Don’t get smart with me, Pierce. Just what the hell do you think you are doing?”

  “I safely recovered two children and a wounded adult from an ongoing hostage situation, sir.”

  “You drew a gun on one of my officers, Pierce.”

  “Not exactly . . .”

  “You interfered with a police operation.”

  “But we did ensure the safety of three individuals because of my actions.”

  “In spite of your actions, Pierce. I want you outta here.”

  “This is my case, sir.”

  “This is my town, Pierce.”

  “And I just saved the lives of three people in your stinkin’ town.”

  “I’ve already called your captain.”

  “You what?”

  “After you pulled a gun on my officer, I called him to find out what the hell I was dealing with.”

  “And?” Lucinda snarled.

  “He told me you don’t play well with others. He told me you don’t take orders well.”

  It stung Lucinda to know that the Captain had said these things – sure, he’d said them to her face before, but it hurt to know he’d say it to someone outside of their immediate circle. “He seems to be able to work with me just fine.”

  “I asked him about that,” the commander continued. “I asked him why he kept you around. You know what he told me?”

  Lucinda wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear this or not. “I have no idea, sir.”

  “He told me that you are usually right. That your instincts are good. So I asked him, what if she’s wrong? And you know what he said?”

  “No, sir, I don’t.”

  “He says when she’s wrong, she’s so spectacularly wrong that you won’t have a problem pinning the blame on her. Just stick her under a spotlight with a ‘Kick me’ sign on her back and the media will shred her to pieces.”

  Lucinda clenched her jaw to stop the threat of a tear that wanted to form in her eye. She couldn’t even figure out why she wanted to cry. Was she hurt? Was she angry? Was she a little bit of both? She stood rigid and stared straight ahead over the commander’s head.

  “It’s a tempting thought, Pierce. But we don’t do things like that over in these parts. We have rules and we follow rules. But since you’re not fixing to follow the rules, you can just get the hell out of my way.”

  Lucinda fought the urge to spit out names and insults. She stood still as if she hadn’t heard a word.

  “Now, Pierce. Out of here. Gone. Vacate the premises. Off my scene. Out of my town. Now!” he shouted.

  Lucinda spun around on her heel, seeing a sea of faces flash in her view – jeering faces, shocked faces, empathetic faces – all staring in her direction. She marched back to the front of the building, passing Jake on the way. He reached out and grabbed her arm.

  “Lucinda, what’s going on?”

  “He ordered me off the scene.”

  “You just saved three lives.”

  “Ah, but I broke rules, Jake. As a Feeb, you should know rules are more important than people.”

  “Hey, Lucinda, c’mon. Gimme a break. I’m on your side here. And I don’t want you leaving the scene.”

  “I’m not leaving, Jake. Not unless he cuffs me and drags me out of here.”

  “I’ll go talk to him.”

  Lucinda barked a laugh without any humor. “Good luck with that.” She continued across the parking lot up to the wall beside the front door.

  Another shot drew everyone’s attention away from Lucinda. Then the outside door to the clinic flew open and a little boy burst into the parking lot. All around the building, voices rang out, “Hold your fire! Hold your fire!”

  Lucinda took three long steps toward the child, scooped Ricky into her arms and ran toward the paramedics. From the side of the building she heard a woman’s voice shriek, “Ricky! Ricky! Oh, thank God! Ricky!”

  The little boy wriggled in Lucinda’s arms and shouted for his mother but Lucinda kept moving toward the ambulance. She sat him down in between the open doors.

  “Mommy. I want my mommy!” Ricky sobbed.

  Lucinda crouched down to his level. “Ricky? Ricky!”

  He turned a tear-stained face to hers and with a quivering lower lip said, “I want my mommy.” Then he looked away, trying to catch sight of her.

  “Ricky. Ricky. Look at me.”

  “Mommy . . .”

  “Ricky, please, I need to talk to you. Look at me.”

  Ricky turned and saw her for the first time. He yipped like a puppy. “Did the bad man do that to you?”

  “Not this bad man, Ricky. I’m okay but we need to make sure you’re okay.”

  “I’m scared,” he cried as his shoulders shook.


  “We’ll get your mommy over her in just a minute, Ricky. Did the bad man hurt you?”

  Ricky shook his head. “The lady hid me.”

  “Did the bad man let you leave?”

  “No. He yelled at me. He told me to come back. I didn’t. And he shot his gun at me. But I ran. And he missed. I didn’t stop running. But I want my mommy, now.”

  Lucinda looked over to the side lot where a woman strained to get away from a uniformed officer. She waved over and the woman was released and ran towards the ambulance. “There, Ricky, see. It’s your mommy. She’s coming. I’ll talk to you a little later, okay?”

  “Okay,” he nodded with a smile.

  The woman reached Lucinda and said, “My boy. That’s my boy.”

  Lucinda nodded and stepped away as the distraught mother wrapped her arms around Ricky, kissing the top of his head and saying his name over and over again.

  Fifty-Four

  Profanities screamed in his head. Over and over and over. Blocking out thought. He choked out an inarticulate scream in hopes of shutting up the internal noise. Around him, the hostages cringed. Even that ticked him off. He hadn’t hurt any of them. What’s their problem?

  “Stop it,” he yelled. “Where did that boy come from? Hunh?”

  No one answered. A scream of outrage ricocheted in his head. He grabbed a lamp off the dentist’s desk and threw it into the wall. A loud smash and then bits of glass and ceramic tinkled as they hit the floor. “Where did that boy come from?”

  Dr. Hirschman stepped in front of his staff and said, “He was Shannon’s patient.”

  “Which one of you is Shannon?” Murphy growled, casting his eyes across the huddled group.

  “None of us,” Hirschman continued. “She’s the woman you shot and killed.”

  “Damn it,” Murphy shouted as he swung his arm across the desk sending piles of paperwork flying through the air. “Where was he?”

  “I’m not sure,” Hirschman said. “But I suspect she’d hidden him somewhere before she encountered you in the hallway.”

  “Come with me. And bring one of them kids,” he said to Hirschman. Then he turned to the frightened group. “You try anything and your boss dies and the kid dies.” He turned back to Hirschman and laughed. “Need the kid just in case some of your employees hate your guts. Now, move. We need to check hiding places for anyone else.”

  They went room to room looking in closets and cabinets. Murphy focused on quieting the shaking anxiety in his gut. I need to think. I need to plan. A couple of the cabinets were deep and Murphy could not penetrate the darkness. He ordered the child climb into a cabinet to check in the back corners. The kid’s scared of the dark but even more frightened of me. Good. That’ll keep him honest.

  In the room where Ricky had hidden, the location was obvious. A cabinet door hung open in the wake of his flight. “Little bastard,” Murphy muttered.

  After checking the final room, Murphy asked, “Is that it?”

  “Yes,” Hirschman said.

  Murphy grabbed the child and jerked him up against his body and placed the barrel of the gun to his temple. “You better be telling the truth or I’ll blow a hole in this kid’s head.”

  The child trembled against Murphy’s leg, then his head dropped back, his eyes rolled back and he crumpled to the floor. “What the hell is his problem?” Murphy said as he pushed against the child’s body with the toe of his shoe.

  “May I approach?” Hirschman asked.

  “I don’t know how you can answer my question if you don’t. Idiot,” Murphy said, backing away.

  “He’s just so terrified, he passed out,” Hirschman said, scooping the child up in his arms.

  “Damn. Damn. Damn. This is such a meeeessss! It wasn’t supposed to be this way. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. I just came here to kill you, not to get caught up in some drama with kids and women and cops. Damn. Damn. Damn. What the hell can I do?”

  “What matters to you more? Getting out alive? Or killing me?”

  “Killing you,” Murphy answered in an eerie flat tone. “But I’d rather do both.”

  “Why? Never mind. That doesn’t matter. I’ve got a plan.”

  “That’s a good one. You’ve got a plan to help me kill you?”

  “Listen, that cop you’re talking with?”

  “Yeah?”

  “She wants the hostages out. You should negotiate with her give, her a few at a time. When I’m the only one left, it’ll take them a while to account for everybody and figure that out. You can do away with me as you please during that down time.”

  “This has to be a trick,” Murphy said.

  “No,” Hirschman said. “What did you call me earlier? A Goodie Two Shoes?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s what my wife – rather my ex-wife – called me. She said I’d give up anything for a good cause. She wasn’t happy to see me working in this clinic, earning a fraction of what I’d earn in a regular practice. So she left. She said I sacrificed our marriage on the altar of good deeds. But she blamed it all on my ego. Said I only did what I did so that I would look good in the eyes of others. Maybe she was right. I don’t know. But I’ve lived doing the right thing for whatever reason; I might as well die doing the right thing.”

  “You are so full of crap.”

  “Maybe so. Maybe I ought to hook you up with my ex-wife. I think she’d understand you better than I would.”

  “Shut up. Just shut your damned pie hole. You’re not living long enough to do any matchmaking.” Murphy poked the gun in Hirschman’s side. “Move it. Go back to the back. And shut up. I have to think.”

  “Think hard. You can have what you want if you play it right.”

  “I said, shut up!” Murphy screamed and slammed the barrel of the gun into the side of Hirschman’s head. The dentist fell forward, twisting his body on the way down, in order to land on his back and not crush the little boy in his arms.

  “Charles!” rang out loud and clear, echoing in the hallway.

  “That’s her,” Hirschman said.

  “Shut up,” Murphy replied as he kicked at the dentist’s legs. “Get up. Get into the back room. Get up. Now. Hurry.”

  “Charles!”

  Hirschman struggled to his feet, leaning against the wall to give him the leverage to rise with the child in his arms. Murphy pushed at him, nearly making him lose his balance. He shoved him into the office with the others and shut the door. Is the dentist right about this cop? Can I play her and get what I want?

  “Charles!”

  “What?” Murphy finally responded.

  Fifty-Five

  Lucinda headed back to her post by the front door. She was only a few steps away when the commander stepped in front of her. Two uniformed officers stood behind him.

  “I thought I told you to leave the premises, Pierce.”

  “You did, sir.”

  “Here, Pierce, you obey orders or you are made to obey orders. These two officers are going to take you back to the station.” He stepped away, heading back to the command truck without looking back.

  Two, young, red-faced cops stood in front of her. “Ma’am,” one said, “I need to secure your weapons, if you don’t mind.”

  “I do mind,” Lucinda said.

  “Ma’am, please . . .”

  “I know, I know, you’re just doing your jobs,” she said, removing both of her guns and turning them over to the officer to her right. “Take care of them, okay. I want to get them back in good shape.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said and headed for the patrol car to secure them.

  The other officer said, “Ma”am, it sure would be nice if you’d come with me to the car without raising a fuss. I sure don’t want to have to handcuff you.”

  “No, you wouldn’t. It would look really bad to that TV camera that’s zooming in on you right now,” she said, pointing behind him.

  He spun around and when he did, she took off at a gallop for the front
door, pulled it open, closed it behind her and ran into the center of the waiting room. “Charles!” she hollered.

  Jake opened the outside door.

  “Go away, Jake.”

  “You need help.”

  “Yes. Stand outside the door and don’t let anyone in here.”

  “You need help in here.”

  “No, I don’t. Just watch my back.”

  “Well at least you need a gun.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Yes, you do,” Jake said and slid the weapon from his ankle holster across the floor. “Pick it up,” he hissed.

  She bent her knees, grabbed the revolver and tucked in into the small of her back. “Now get out of here.”

  As the door shut behind Jake, she shifted her attention back to the situation down the hall. She listened, hearing the mumble of voices and some scuffling noises. “Charles!”

  She flipped open her cell phone and called Jake. Before he could say a syllable, she said, “Listen, I’m leaving this phone on when I slip it in my pocket so you can monitor. Please don’t let anyone come in unless I ask for help.”

  “Lucinda . . .”

  “No time, Jake.” She slid the device into the pocket of her jacket and shouted again, “Charles!”

  “What?”

  At last, a response. “I need to talk to you before we all die.”

  “Do you want me to kill these people?” he screamed as he ran down the hall towards her.

  “No, Charles, but I’ve got to talk to you. They’ve run out of patience.”

  “Sounds like a cop trick to me.”

  “Damn it, Charles, I wish it was. We’re both in deep.”

  “Oh, good. Trying to relate to me. Where is that? Page two of the manual?”

  “Charles, I’m in trouble, too. I swear to you. They ordered me to leave. But I knew I couldn’t. I had to help you.”

  “You had to help me? That’s a laugh.”

  “C’mon, Charles. You do want to be called Charles, don’t you? Or is it something else, Charlie? Mr. Murphy? What?”

  “Cheese, my friends call me Cheese.”

  “Cheese, you don’t want to die before your work is done. You don’t want to die until they understand why you are doing this. If you do, it will be just like being left behind again. You don’t want that. I don’t want that. It’s not fair. You’ve been left behind all your life.” Please, dear God, let him buy this line I’m peddling. If he doesn’t, I don’t know what I’ll do. Lucinda’s heart pounded and her tongue stuck on the roof of her mouth.