by John Milesky
Maggie began to run through the apartment. She heard the buzzer to the elevator ring. It had to be Alverez. Maggie was nowhere near the elevator, so she couldn’t let him in. She ran into the bedroom.
Jack was recovering from the blow to his head. He stood up. Blood trickled down from where the gun hit him on the temple. He was feeling a little dizzy from the hit, but he was also enraged.
“Sounds like your savior is here,” Jack said, sarcastically, after hearing the elevator buzzer ring again. “Too bad he won’t be able to save you this time.”
Jack wandered around the apartment until he got to Maggie’s bedroom door. He wiggled the door handle, but it was locked.
“Genevieve,” he said. “I will never hurt you again.”
The elevator was buzzing again. Jack could also hear Genevieve’s cell phone ringing from the other room. “He is determined,” Jack said. “Now, why don’t you open the door, so we can talk like adults?”
There was no response from the bedroom. Jack was banging on the door. “Open the door!” he yelled. “I promise I won’t hurt you.”
After a long silence, Jack threw his shoulder into the bedroom door. After the second push, the door broke open, shattering the doorframe. “Where are you?” Jack yelled.
He noticed a purse on the floor, and its contents strewn all over. The bathroom door was closed. He tried the handle to the bathroom door, and it was locked. “Let’s not play this again,” he said. “Open the goddamned door.” Again, there was no response.
He threw his shoulder into the bathroom door, and it opened instantly. The bathroom was empty. He walked into the bathroom and looked around. His prize was not in there. Jack heard Maggie running from the closet and out of the bedroom. He turned and ran after her.
As Maggie ran through the apartment, she passed the elevator and hit the entry button. Jack was on her heels in hot pursuit. He tackled her from behind, and they both fell to the floor. He spun her around, kneeled over top of her, and lifted his hand to strike her in the face when a gunshot went off.
Maggie shot him in the stomach. He leaned backwards and grabbed at his abdomen. He looked at Maggie with amazement. He was shocked she had the nerve to shoot him. “Gen,” he said, “how could you do this to me when all I ever wanted to do was protect you?”
“My name is not Genevieve!” Maggie shouted.
A second and a third shot went off. Each bullet caught Jack in the chest. Jack’s face seemed to drain, as he leaned forward, and fell on top of Maggie. He was dead.
Chapter Twenty-four
The elevator door opened, and Alverez entered Maggie’s apartment with his gun drawn. “Maggie!” he yelled. There was no answer. He slowly entered the living room only to see two bodies lying on the floor. “Oh my God, Maggie.”
The detective ran to the two bodies and pulled Jack off of Maggie. “Maggie?” he said.
“I’m ok,” he heard Maggie say.
A huge amount of relief lifted from the detective’s chest as he leaned down and pulled Maggie into his arms. “I thought I’d lost you,” Alverez said.
“He killed my sister,” was the only thing Maggie could mutter, as tears ran down her cheeks. “He admitted it.”
“Thank God you are alright,” Alverez said, as he pulled Maggie closer. Tears began to well in his eyes. He pushed her back a little, so he could see her face and see if she was ok. She was covered in Jack’s blood. “Are you ok? Did he hurt you? Are you bleeding?”
“I’m fine,” Maggie said, in relief. She began to shake and cry at a steady pace.
“Hey, hey,” Alverez said. “It’s over now. The bad guy’s gone.”
His assuring words were no comfort to Maggie, as she continued sobbing. Alverez did everything he could to comfort her. He began to rub her back to help soothe the pain she was feeling. She mistook his gesture.
She pulled back from the detective. They stared into one another’s eyes for a moment, and then, Alverez pulled her in for a long, hard kiss. Nothing else in the world mattered at that moment.
They kissed and held each other, as if they were holding on for safety. It was Alverez who broke away first.
“Sorry for that, Maggie,” he said in a shameful manner. He pushed her away and sat on the floor next to her with his back against the sofa. “I let my emotions get the better of me.”
“It’s ok, Detective,” Maggie said.
“I shouldn’t have,” the detective insisted. “You’re in a very vulnerable state right now. I know better than to get emotionally attached to a victim.”
“We’re both vulnerable, and we’re both human.”
Detective Alverez was at a loss for words. He ran his fingers through his hair and sat there in relief and confusion. “What exactly did he say?” he asked Maggie.
“He was angry because my sister was seeing the congressman. Apparently, he was jealous of the congressman. He said he told my sister not to see him anymore. When I called, and they came over last night, he didn’t like it. He insisted that I am Genevieve. For some reason he would not believe that I’m her sister. Then, he slipped and said he ‘would never hurt me again.’ My sister was involved with him, and she had given him a key to the apartment.”
“I better call this in,” Alverez said. “You’re more than likely going to have to come forward on this and explain what happened. They’ll probably want to bring you in to the station and take a formal statement.”
“This was self-defense,” Maggie insisted. “He was going to hurt me. If I didn’t shoot him, he was most likely going to kill me.”
“I know, Maggie,” Alverez said. “It’s standard protocol after there has been a kill. We have a dead body here. It won’t just go away. You’re most likely going to have to give several statements to several people.”
“All I did was defend myself,” Maggie insisted.
“I know,” Alverez assured her.
Detective Alverez picked up his phone, scrolled through his phonebook and chose his captain’s phone number. “Yes, this is Alverez,” he said into the phone. I need to speak to Captain Boyle.”
While he was waiting for the captain to pick up, Alverez wandered around the apartment. He saw the shattered door frame in the bedroom, the purse and its contents strewn on the floor, and the busted lock on the bathroom door.
“It’s Alverez,” he repeated into the phone, after his captain finally came on the line. “I’m at the Sheppard apartment. There’s been a break in and an attempt on Margaret Sheppard’s life.”
Maggie listened to Alverez as he explained everything to Captain Boyle. She noticed the gun was still on the floor. She picked it up and tucked it into the back of her jeans and pulled her blouse down over top of it to hide it. She then looked around the room. She watched as Alverez made his way around the apartment. When he was clear of the bedroom, she entered the room and opened a drawer to the dresser. She used her finger nails to pry open the false bottom of the drawer. Once it was removed, she placed the gun inside, covered it back up, and placed some clothes on top of it to hide the hidden compartment.
“Maggie,” she heard Alverez yell out from the other room.
She stood up to face him as he entered the bedroom.
“What’s going on?” the detective said.
“I thought I would clean myself up,” Maggie responded. “Thought I’d change my clothes and try to get some of this blood off of me.”
“Sorry, but I’m afraid you’ll have to stay like that until the forensics team gets here. This is now a crime scene, and you won’t be able to do anything until the apartment is cleared. Why don’t you come into the kitchen and sit with me while we wait.”
Maggie followed the detective into the kitchen where she took a seat on a stool at the counter.
“What happens now?” Maggie asked.
“Now,” Alverez said. “We wait.”
Chapter Twenty-five
Maggie sat on her bed in her room at the convent. She stared at the four walls as if
they were a prison cell. It was maddening, until a knock at the door broke the cold silence.
It had been several weeks since her ordeal with John “Jack” Harrison. It was almost just an idle memory for her now as she waited each day for a call that never came. She missed Alverez and longed to hear his voice.
“Sister Margaret,” the voice said from beyond the door of her room.
Maggie stood and opened the door to her room. Another nun, dressed in her habit, stood at the entrance to Maggie’s room.
“There’s a Detective Alverez here to see you,” the nun said. “He’s waiting in your office.”
“Ok. Thank you, Sister,” Maggie responded.
Maggie closed the door and stood with her back against it. She wondered if she should put her habit on as well. She had no idea what the findings were in DC. For all she knew, the detective was here to arrest her. Dealing with a nun in her habit would be to her advantage. Why she was thinking this, was something she couldn’t understand. She decided to go to her office in civilian clothes.
When she got to her office, she entered the room to see Alverez sitting in front of her desk.
“Detective! What a great surprise!” She exclaimed.
“Good morning, Sister,” Alverez said.
Maggie gave the detective a hug and then sat at her desk. “What brings you here to Baltimore?” She asked.
“I thought I’d come here, in person, to give you a run down on what’s been going on with the case,” he answered.
“How thoughtful of you!” Maggie said.
The detective placed his briefcase on her desk, opened it, and took out a file.
“I think we may have this whole mess wrapped up,” Alverez admitted. “We did some digging further into the congressman’s files and found out that he’s had ties with Antonio D’Adamo for several years now. It turns out they were friends. After some interrogating, the congressman confessed to the evidence we found on his phone and from his staff.”
“Fascinating,” Maggie said. “Is he the one that had my sister killed?”
“We could never prove that he ordered a hit on your sister, however, with all of the media attention surrounding the case, it did cost him the election.”
“Yes, I’ve been following the events on television,” Maggie admitted.
“Well, it’s hard to say if he had D’Adamo or John Harrison commit the crime. Since they are both dead, it was hard to question either of them regarding your sister’s death.”
“How can you close the case then, with no confirmed killer?” Maggie asked.
“Well, based on your statement, and the fact that we found John Harrison’s journal, we’re pretty sure he was the killer. He was quite obsessed with Genevieve. There were several entries in his journal that indicated he wanted nothing more than to control her and to control who she saw as clients. There was even one angry entry where he stated he wanted to kill her and then himself.”
“So, that’s it?” Maggie asked. “You can close the case?”
“My captain wants to put a closed stamp on this file as soon as he can,” Alverez responded.
“That’s funny,” Maggie said. “What a turn of events. He wanted this case to stay idle, with no one looking at it, and now he wants to close it. Are you sure he didn’t have ulterior motives?”
“Funny, you should ask,” the detective continued, “He’s now on the short list for names being considered for chief of police. How his name got there, is anyone’s guess. My guess is whomever the congressman reached out to delay the case findings was the person who would be nominating him for the chief position.”
“Politics,” Maggie said in disgust. “We just go on our way blindly, while we continue to allow these people to make up the rules and run the country. They’re just as blind as we are!”
The detective looked at Maggie with an amused look on his face. “Oh, I forgot,” he said. “You watch House of Cards.”
“That’s silly, Detective,” Maggie said. “We don’t get Netflix here at the convent.”
Detective Alverez laughed. “My mistake. I thought you were up on your policies and procedures.”
“It’s just one aspect I miss of living in the real world.”
“So you miss the lifestyle of the rich and famous?” Alverez asked.
“I miss my sister, Detective,” Maggie responded. “Being in the apartment, helped me feel closer to her.”
“Sorry,” Alverez said. “I hope you don’t think that I lost track of events? I know your sister, Genevieve, is gone. After reviewing the evidence, we closed the case. John Harrison was your sister’s killer.”
“I agree with that conclusion,” Maggie said, “after what he did to me-”
“Sister.” Alverez interrupted, “there’s something I don’t understand.
“What’s that, Detective?”
“It’s the gun. You say you shot him with the gun that I gave you?”
“That’s correct.” Maggie answered.
“Well, the bullets we pulled out of Harrison’s body don’t match that gun.”
“That is weird,” Maggie admitted.
“The thing is,” Alverez continued, “that gun wasn’t even fired. It was found empty, on the floor next to the sofa.”
“That is a mystery,” Maggie continued. “Maybe the gun I used was Jack’s. There was a lot of confusion when he was on top of me. I just grabbed the closest gun and started firing. Could his have fallen on top of me?”
“That’s possible,” the detective admitted, “except the bullets we pulled from his body were the same bullets that we pulled from D’Adamo’s body.”
“Well, maybe Jack shot D’Adamo, as well?”
“Possibly,” Alverez said. “But these bullets were from a .38 caliber revolver. The same type of gun your sister had registered in her name.”
“Could Jack have had the same type of gun?” Maggie asked. “Or maybe he knew where my sister kept her gun hidden?”
“Possibly,” Alverez said. “The thing is, we didn’t find a second gun at the scene.”
“Well I don’t know what to tell you, Detective,” Maggie replied. “All I know is that I grabbed the closest gun and started firing. I couldn’t tell you where it went afterwards. Could it have been lost or misplaced by forensics?”
“It’s doubtful,” Alverez admitted. “Everything gets logged, and there was no gun logged in the evidence file.”
Maggie looked concerned. She was wondering if she should come clean and tell the detective about the gun she hid in the false bottom of the bedroom dresser. She was about to confess but Alverez began to speak again.
“It’s one of those things that happens from time-to-time in cases like this,” Alverez said. “We will just have to keep looking for it. It’s also possible that someone could have taken it. Either way, I am determined to find out what happened to that gun.”
Chapter Twenty-six
Maggie was feeling confined in her office, so she asked Alverez if they could continue their conversation out in the gardens of the convent. The convent was built back in the 1930’s, when crime wasn’t much of an issue in the city. Now, the convent is surrounded by walls, in a section of Baltimore that is riddled with crime. The same walls that were built to keep residents in, were now the same walls that kept people out. To Maggie, it seemed like a prison.
The gardens were exquisite and peaceful. They gave a false illusion to what lay behind the walls. Inside the gardens were the Stations of the Cross and benches to pause at each station. There was a group of nuns walking in front of them, reflecting at each station they came across.
“Why don’t we take a seat here?” Maggie suggested.
Alverez looked at the station that was poised in front of the bench Maggie chose. “Simon helps Jesus with the cross,” the detective said.
“You know the Stations?” Maggie asked.
“Well, with 12 years of Catholic schooling, you can’t exactly escape the 14 Stations of the Cross during
Lent.”
“I didn’t know you were Catholic, Detective,” Maggie said.
“Still to this day,” the detective responded.
“So you believe in God, then?” Maggie inquired.
“I’d like to think there is something bigger than us looking out for us,” the detective said. “But, the more crime I see, the more killing and unnecessary death I witness, I find myself questioning my faith at times.”
“I question my faith now, too,” Maggie responded.
Alverez looked at Maggie for a long time. Minutes passed as they both just took in the freshness of the spring air. A slight breeze blew as Alverez worked up his nerve to ask the question that had been on his mind the whole time he was there.
“Sister,” he started, “Maggie,-about the kiss? Did it mean anything to you?”
“Of course, Detective,” Maggie insisted. “You are an attractive man, and I am human.”
“But, you’re a nun.”
“I may not be for very long,” Maggie answered.
“You’re thinking about leaving the convent?” Alverez asked.
“Yes,” Maggie responded. “I don’t know if I can be a representative of God when I question his existence. People come to me for spiritual guidance, and after what I saw with my sister, I don’t think I can give them a firm instruction to trust in God.”
“Sort of like what I go through when I witness all the death of innocent people,” the detective agreed.
“I think my doubts started before the death of my sister,” Maggie admitted. “I was hoping that with being a nun, a magical answer would present itself, and all would be explained to me. Your kiss didn’t help matters.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Alverez responded. I don’t usually let my emotions get the better of me. It’s just-you hardly resemble any of the nuns that I have ever met.”
“Detective,” Maggie started. “We are both human. I didn’t exactly resist the kiss. I am just as responsible for it happening as you.”