by B. L Wilson
Liz studied Susan, returning her soulful look. “I think so. Yeah, Jake and I will be fine. My gut tells me if we don’t finish gathering this stuff today, it won’t be here tomorrow. Somebody will tell Uncle Ted we were here and everything we did today will be gone by morning. Be careful, Susan. Please don’t tell anyone about this, not even Johnny. You can tell your father but nobody else, okay?”
Hazel eyes assessed Liz’s face and liked the concern they found on it. She smiled and her eyes twinkled merrily. “Mum’s the word.”
“If my family wasn’t here, I’d kiss you, Woman. Thanks for putting up with me and the hound dog last night.”
“I think he’s more than earned his keep today, Lizzie. Does he eat steak?”
“Yeah, sometimes he does.”
“That’s good because he gets one tonight.”
“And what do I get for being good?”
“You get me if you want, Lizzie.”
Liz’s dark eyes studied Susan’s face intently and Susan felt the heat in them. “I want you very much, Susan Drummond.” She leaned over and kissed Susan’s forehead. “I’ll see you later.” She studied Susan’s face, then grimaced before she made her next remark. “Hey? Do me a favor and drive within the speed limit, Susan. I want you and my father to arrive in one piece.”
Susan was ready to respond with a flip answer until Jake Sr. caught her eye and shook his head in disapproval.
He shrugged and murmured, “That’s my daughter the sergeant, Miss Drummond.”
“Yes, I know.” Susan blew Liz a kiss and then she drove demurely off the construction site and onto the main roadway. She glanced at Liz’s father. This might be a good time to be acquainted. “Mr. Gilmore, what makes you daughter tick?”
Jake Gilmore Sr. wrinkled his brow and grinned. “That’s a good question. I’ve been trying to figure her out for thirty-four years. About the time I figure that I know Lizzie, she changes. I never thought she’d come down here to live, but she did. She wouldn’t tell me what happened in the city to make her want to leave. She said she didn’t want to worry me. Jake said they almost fired her for something she didn’t do.”
“Oh?”
“Some collar claimed Liz made advances and fondled her in custody.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“The woman was somebody Liz met at one of those gay mixer things in the city. My son said they went out once, but nothing came of it. Anyway, the woman was a stockbroker arrested in a drug raid. She had Liz’s card on her, so the arresting officer called Liz. She arranged for the woman to come through a side entrance and booked on a lesser charge to save her from humiliation.
“Then she set up a one-on-one conference with the woman. That’s when the collar offered her sex if she’d just let her go. Liz refused the offer but kept her end of the deal with the special treatment and all. The collar got scared about losing her license and going to jail. She started making noises about sexual assault.” Jake Sr. sighed heavily. “Internal Affairs got involved and did what they always do. They investigated Lizzie and turned up their prior relationship.”
“But you said Liz only dated her once.”
“Internal Affairs didn’t think so. They went after Lizzie with guns blazing. The possession charges against the woman faded away during the investigation against Lizzie. When the investigation was over, she’d lost her stripes. Everyone in her precinct knew why. She’d never hidden her sexual orientation, but she wasn’t strident about it either. The investigation trumpeted it to the world and her career as police officer was over in the city.”
“What happened to the woman—er, the collar?”
Jake Sr. stared at Susan and sighed. “She recanted her charges in a deposition, but it was too late to save my daughter’s career. Your sheriff said he needed an experienced officer to help him build a good force. He wanted Jake, but my son wasn’t ready to move down here. Lizzie is just as good as Jake, maybe better when it comes to investigations. She has a natural instinct for it. I love the police force, but what they did to my daughter wasn’t fair. She made a stupid mistake, an error in judgment, but it shouldn’t have cost her as much as it did.”
“I’m surprised she was willing to come down here and try again.”
“She loves police work almost as much as life itself.” My daughter also loves you, Susan Drummond, Jake Sr. wanted to add but didn’t. He could see the love in Liz’s eyes every time she looked at Susan Drummond or spoke of her. He wondered if she’d told Susan how she felt yet. Knowing his daughter, she probably hadn’t said a word. She was a good one for playing her feelings close to the vest. “That’s enough about Lizzie. I’d like to ask you a question, Miss Drummond.”
“Sure, Mr. Gilmore, go ahead, but please call me Susan. ‘Miss Drummond’ is far too formal under the circumstances.”
“Do you think your father would talk to me about the explosion? We need to know what he saw and heard out there. The second thing I need is a place to develop this.” Jake Sr. held up the unprocessed rolls of film from the site. “We could do it at the police lab, but cops like to talk. I don’t want Ted Reeves finding out about them before we’re ready.”
“I have a friend or two I could ask.”
“Use someone you trust. I don’t want this all over town before we catch ‘em.”
Susan stared at the highway thoughtfully. “Well, that eliminates two photographers I know.” She frowned as she thought about the third photographer. “There’s a woman. She might do it for me, but I don’t know.”
“Do you trust her?”
“Yes, I do with my life.”
“I hope it doesn’t come to that, Susan.” Jake Sr. patted her hand. “I hope it doesn’t come to that.” He noticed how her manner turned from playful to serious.
Susan Drummond parked her car in the main garage among her father’s expensive luxury cars and then she and Jake Sr. walked through the front of the garage into the large kitchen.
“Would you like anything to eat, Mr. Gilmore?”
“No, Honey, I’m fine. I think I’ll go up and speak with your dad, if you don’t mind.”
Susan nodded. “If you need anything, I’m in the room down the hall from my dad or I’ll be downstairs in my father’s den meeting with the architects.” She glanced at him, then shyly spoke. “I know this can’t be easy for you and Jake. I mean, watching Liz take on the entire police force on my behalf. I can’t thank you and your son enough for what you’ve done for my father and me.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek.
Jake Sr. blushed and then grinned. “That’s all right, Honey. That’s what families do for each other.”
He reminded Susan of another Gilmore with his quiet, gentle ways and mannerisms. She watched Lizzie’s father walk up the wide staircase to see her father.
Owen Drummond heard a light tap on the door and signaled the nurse to open it.
“Afternoon, Mr. Drummond, I’m Jake Gilmore.” Jake Sr. offered a large hand to Owen Drummond. “I understand you’ve already met my daughter Liz.”
“Yeah, I have.” Owen Drummond rubbed a still sore jaw. “She packs a pretty good wallop.”
Jake Gilmore nodded. “Once Liz decides talking is useless, she can be pretty direct.”
“There’s nothing wrong with a little action.” Owen Drummond studied Jake’s worried face. “But I’m sure you didn’t come here to discuss your daughter, Mr. Gilmore.”
“Call me Jay.”
“It’s Owen.”
“Okay, Owen, is there anything else you could tell us about the explosion? Something you remembered since you talked with Sheriff Reeves at the hospital.”
Owen shook his head. “No, I told your daughter all I remember.” He cleared his throat apologetically and went on to speak. “My secretary and I heard something outside the trailer. I went outside to look. Couldn’t see anything worth a damn out there, but I heard something that sounded like a man running or somebody scuffing against gravel. When your daughter and h
er friend busted in on us, I thought they were responsible for the noises we heard outside.” He frowned. “But the timing wasn’t right.”
Jake Sr. frowned at his words. “What do you mean?”
Owen Drummond wrinkled his forehead. “Since your daughter and I talked, I’ve been running the scene over in my mind. I heard the gravel crunching at least twenty maybe, thirty minutes before your daughter and my flagman busted in on us. I know because it took me a while to…to hmm.” Owen Drummond’s tanned face reddened. He was at a loss for words. He didn’t want to admit that it took him a while to get the old Johnson up and going. He cleared his throat.
“Anyway, I know the noises I heard didn’t come from them.” He closed his eyes for a moment. He was imagining the site. “This may sound strange, but I’d swear I heard another pair of feet after the first ones. They weren’t running, though. It sounded like they were walking normally.” Owen Drummond frowned. “I was dozing off, so I’m not sure.” He shuddered inwardly when he realized the implication in his words. It would mean that somebody was near the trailer after the first two explosions. If he’d been awake, he could have seen the arsonist’s face.
“So, you heard two people, then?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
Jake Sr. nodded grimly. He read worry in Owen Drummond’s face. “I want you to tell about me about the two notes. Do you have any idea who might be sending them? Anything you could tell me would help. Start with your board of directors or your competition.”
“Since this whole mess started, I’ve been going over things in my mind. I’m trying to figure who’d do this. I can’t think of a good reason for anyone to do this to my daughter or me.”
Jake Sr.’s eyes widened slightly, but he gave no other sign how surprised he was. Drummond suspected his daughter was in danger. “What makes you think somebody’s after Susan?”
“Oh come on, man!” Owen Drummond finally allowed his feelings to burst through his carefully constructed façade of calm. He raged at Jay Gilmore, “Damn it, Gilmore, I have my spies too! I see things. I know things. Susan’s under as much protection as I am, if not more.”
Jake Sr. studied Owen’s face and shrugged. “You got me there, Owen. Did anything strike you as odd, business-wise, in the last three months?”
Owen hesitated for a moment. “No,” he lied. He didn’t want the cops digging around in his personal affairs. Besides, he didn’t know anything for sure. He just had a feeling. He wasn’t ready to talk about things that could change everything. If he did, his life would never be the same again.
“What about the last six months to a year?”
“Except for the protest marches against building the mall, no. There’s nothing I can think of.”
“Yeah, we checked into that, but nothing panned out. Can you think of anything else? Sometimes the smallest things turn out to be important later. Has anybody been angry with you lately? You know, like a disgruntled employee or a jilted lover, that sort of thing.”
Owen Drummond flinched, then shook his head. “No. I haven’t even fired anyone in the last year. My love life is fine. The only person I had words with lately was your daughter. She certainly has a novel way of issuing a warning for speeding.”
Gilmore shrugged and smiled. “And your daughter has an interesting sense of retribution.”
Owen grinned broadly. “It sounds like we have our hands full of our daughters.”
“Yeah, don’t we?”
Owen offered a hand.
Jake shook it. “It was good talking to you, Owen.” He dug in a breast pocket and pulled out his notepad. He handed Owen a slip of paper. “Here, call me if you remember anything else. One more thing. Do you wear sneakers?”
“No, I don’t, Jay.” Owen frowned. “Well, yeah, when I jog in the morning.”
“Mind if I look at them?”
Drummond shrugged. “Help yourself. They’re in my closet.” He pointed to a large walk-in closet in the rear of the room.
Jake Sr. flipped on the closet light switch. He spotted the sneakers and knelt down to turn over several pairs of worn-looking sneakers to peer at the soles. He noted worn treads on the sneakers but none had nicks in them.
“Find what you were looking for, Jay?”
“No. Thanks for your time, Owen.”
“No problem.”
Jake Sr. walked down the wide staircase, deep in thought. If he hadn’t been staring at Drummond closely, he wouldn’t have seen the tiny movement when he cringed. Something was wrong. Owen Drummond was hiding something. He could feel it in his bones. He wondered who wanted Drummond dead. They wanted his daughter dead too. Hmm, that might narrow the field a bit. There couldn’t be many people in town that wanted both Drummonds dead.
Over the years, Susan Drummond aggravated nearly all of the police force and some of the town’s leading citizens with her superior ways. However, the town seemed to feel for the little rich girl with no mother and a father who wouldn’t set limits for his child. Several of the townspeople expressed the hope that Susan Drummond would grow out of her selfish ways, but no one said anything about harming her. Her father was a different story.
Owen Drummond was in competition for several development deals that could mean a loss or gain of millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs. He and Jake found the normal resentment against Owen Drummond as a millionaire business executive living in a small town. The only suspects left in the investigation were the ODC board of directors and whoever caused Drummond to wince just now. Humph, they could be one in the same. Drummond made it clear he wasn’t willing to divulge the person or persons’ identity.
Jake Sr. sighed. He wasn’t going to get anything else from Drummond. He’d bet Susan Drummond didn’t know half of what was going on in her father’s world. He’d talk with Lizzie when Jake brought her home. That is, if she felt like talking after reliving the tragedy at the Drummond construction site. He was glad Lizzie had someone in her life right now. Susan Drummond was a surprisingly nice young woman.
Susan punched in some numbers on her cell as she waited for the architects to arrive.
“Helen?”
“Suzie Q?” Helen smiled into the phone. “What a lovely surprise. What happened to you last week, Sweetie? I thought I’d see you at my pool party. I was looking forward to seeing you in another one of your fabulous thong things. You do remember what happened the last time I saw you in the black one, don’t you?” She whistled softly as she recalled making love with the gorgeous heir to the Drummond fortune. “God, you were so good, Suzie Q.”
Susan cleared her throat. “Helen, I’m seeing someone. But that’s not why I called.”
“It wouldn’t be that sexy sergeant I saw you with a couple of days ago, would it?”
“Helen! That’s not important!”
“It is to me, Sweetie. The sergeant is a magnificent-looking woman. When I saw her at the Policemen’s Ball last year in that dress uniform, all I could think about was peeling it off piece by piece to see what was underneath it. If she hadn’t disappeared into the night, as it were, maybe I’d have found out. If it couldn’t be me, I’m glad it’s you, Susan. She looks like a serious piece. Well, you get my meaning, Darling. It’s about time you got serious about something or someone.” Helen sighed. “Forgive my lecture. Anyway, why did you call?”
Christ, Susan had forgotten how nosy Helen could be. “I need your help with developing some pictures. But I’m not free to discuss where they came from, Helen.”
“Hmm, that sounds mysterious, Suzie. I guess I don’t have to know everything.”
“Helen, you can’t tell anyone either.”
“Whoa, Honey! What are you involved with? It’s not drugs or anything illegal, is it?”
“Come on, Helen! You know me better than that. I don’t do drugs. You know I don’t hang out with people who do.”
“That’s true, Sweetie, as far as it goes. Okay, so when I do get the film?”
“We’ll get it to you this
afternoon at the earliest or tonight at the latest. Helen, I need you to develop it yourself. Don’t use a photo lab, okay?”
“You’re making me nervous again. What are you doing, Suzie Q?”
Susan sighed. “All I can tell you is that it’s not illegal. You’d be helping me and my dad.”
Helen frowned. “Dear God, Suzie! I heard through my grapevine that someone was trying to kill your old man. It’s true, isn’t it?” she asked, then frowned. Did she want to know the answer? “Never mind, Honey, I don’t wanna know. Just bring the films over as soon as you can. I’ll get them back to you in a couple of hours, okay?”
“Thank you, Helen.”
“It’s okay, Sweetie. Kiss that gorgeous cop for me, huh?”
Susan smiled after she ended the call. It was good to have a friend she could trust with this. Helen wasn’t a talker. When they were together, Susan thought for a time they might work it out, but Helen didn’t want to remain faithful. That was the main problem with their relationship.
The last month before they separated, Susan came to Helen’s house and found someone in bed with her. The woman was one of the best-looking women Susan had ever seen. She was bold as well... audacious enough to invite Susan into the bed with her and Helen. If she’d been feeling more daring, she’d have taken the stunning woman up on her offer, but Susan found that one woman at a time worked best for her.
Three weeks later, she and Helen parted ways but remained friends. Helen used any opportunity she could think of to get Susan into her bed again. She invited her to pool parties and social gatherings hoping that she’d say yes. She always refused the offers. She wasn’t into threesomes with Helen or anybody.
Susan sighed. She’d be sure to tell Lizzie about the pictures as soon as she returned from the site. That is, if Lizzie felt like listening when she returned. She glanced at her watch again. Where were those architects? She bet they canceled again. Her cell phone chirped. She was right. They wanted to reschedule when her father could attend. Susan started to argue, then realized that they had a point. After all, their deal was with Owen Drummond, not her. With all the things going on with the arson investigation, she doubted that she’d be at her best anyway and so she agreed with their request.