by B. L Wilson
Liz glanced at Ingrams’ face. She didn’t like the worried look she read on it. She signed a form to release her watch, a cell phone, a ring, wallet, and eighty dollars and fifty cents.
They walked out to Ingrams’ car before Liz grabbed his arm. “Okay, Ingrams. Tell me. What’s going on? Is Susan all right?”
“We don’t know, Sarge. Jake said she got into a car about thirty minutes ago.”
“Who was driving?” Liz asked and squeezed his arm harder.
Ingrams grimaced as Liz’s grip tightened. “He couldn’t tell for sure. The car was too far away, but he thinks it was Johnny Flint.”
Liz grunted and dropped her hand. She prayed that Jake was wrong for once, but she doubted it. “Christ, I hope not. Where are we with this?”
“Your father is on the way to Flint Industries’ office to look for her. Jake is going to the country club to check it out. I got this list of Flint construction sites from the Department of Buildings.” He handed it to her.
Liz looked at the list, then frowned. “We can’t cover all of them. There are too many. If we guess wrong, Susan’s dead.” That’s if she isn’t dead already. She couldn’t bear to speak that thought aloud. It was a thought too horrible for her to contemplate, so she had to go with her assumption that Susan was alive. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and thought about her next move. God, she prayed her worst nightmare wasn’t about to come true. If she didn’t do the right thing, Susan didn’t stand a chance. Think, just think, Liz ordered her brain. “Take me to the Flint compound, Ingrams. I need to look around.”
Liz punched in Jake’s number. “Stay at the club. Call me if you spot her, Jake.”
“No problem, Lizzie. Liz?” Jake called her name softly into the phone.
Liz sighed. He sounded so guilty. “Yeah, Jake?”
“I’m sorry, Kiddo.”
“Don’t worry about it, Jake. We’ll find her.” Liz tried to sound more hopeful than she felt. Why upset her brother and make him feel worse than he sounded right now? She and Ingrams drove in silence to the Flint mansion. When they arrived, Ingrams flashed his badge at the front gate, then told the private security guard they’d gotten a report of a prowler on the premises. The guard opened the gate to let them in and suggested they talk with John Flint since he’d arrived about an hour ago.
“Is there another way out of here?” Liz asked the guard.
The guard nodded. “Yeah, there’s a back way. If Mr. Flint used it, we wouldn’t know.”
“One more question. Did he have anyone with him?” Liz cleared her throat, praying the answer would be no, but she knew it wouldn’t be. She studied the guard’s face.
The guard nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. He had a woman in the passenger’s seat.”
“Who was it?”
The guard shrugged. “Hard to tell; she coulda been Miss Drummond. She looked like she was sleeping or something.”
Liz closed her eyes and prayed before she asked the next question. “Are you sure she was alive?”
The guard wrinkled his forehead, then scowled at the woman seated next to the uniformed police officer. “What? What did you say?”
“Just answer the question, Dude!” Ingrams snapped.
The guard nodded. “Yeah, yeah, okay. She was alive enough to smile at me, greet me, then go back to sleep.”
Liz let her breath out slowly, unaware that she’d been holding it. “Thank God. Come on, Ingrams. Let’s go check on that prowler,” she muttered.
“Take this, Sarge.” Ingrams handed her a .25 from his ankle holster.
Liz raised an eyebrow.
“I always keep a spare.”
“Thanks, Ingrams.”
They approached the house cautiously. Liz silently signaled him to go around the back while she knocked on the front door. “Open up, Flint, it’s the police!” She banged loudly several times, then waited, keeping the gun aimed at the door, holding it with two hands. Ingrams opened the door, then shrugged.
“He left the back door open, Sarge.”
“Let’s check all the rooms, Ingrams. I don’t think anybody’s here, but let’s check anyway.”
They walked through the first floor, shining their flashlights into each room until they noticed a soft glow coming from one of the back rooms. Liz signaled Ingrams with her hand that they were going into the room. Together, the two officers entered the den with their guns drawn. They flashed their lights around the empty room. It was then Liz noticed two empty glasses sitting on the large desk.
“You got a hanky, Ingrams?” Liz asked, staring at the glasses.
He handed her a large white one from his back pocket.
Liz used the hanky to hold one of the glasses by its bottom, then sniffed it. “Scotch on the rocks.” The other glass was a tall bar glass used for sweet syrupy drinks and had lipstick on the rim. She sniffed the contents and identified a strawberry margarita mixed with something else, so she sniffed again. She frowned, then stuck her little finger in the bottom of the glass and tasted it, then spit out the bitter contents quickly. The sediment at the bottom of the glass looked chalky. “Sleeping pills, I think. I don’t think she’s here, Ingrams. He wouldn’t kill her here. It’s too risky. Wherever he took her, he felt he needed to drug her first.” She set the glass on the desk. She paced back and forth, rubbing the bridge of her nose, then jingling the change in her pocket, when the cell chirped.
“Yeah?”
“Did you find her yet, Lizzie?”
Liz sighed, then shook her head. “No, Jake, we didn’t find her. Flint brought her here to his house, though. I think he drugged her and then took her somewhere else. Probably one of the construction sites his company owns.” She closed her eyes as she spoke to her brother. An idea suddenly popped into her head. “Jake, hold on a minute.” She held the cell away from her mouth. “Ingrams, look at that list again.”
The young cop pulled out a wrinkled printout from his back pocket.
“Jake, I want you to listen to this too.” Liz held the phone in front of Ingrams’ mouth. “Ingrams, tell me all you can about each site.”
Ingrams read the address of the first construction site. He told Liz how far from the road the site’s address was. It was near a wooded area. He said several new housing complexes were nearby.
Liz listened to his description and muttered, “Nah, that’s not the one. There would be too many potential witnesses. Forget that one, Ingrams. Go on to the next one.”
Ingrams read all five from the list.
Liz frowned because none sounded right to her. “Why did he drug her, Jake?” she asked, puzzled by Flint’s actions.
“I don’t know, Lizzie.” Jake hesitated, then added, “Maybe it was the only way to get her to do something or go somewhere, I guess.”
“She wouldn’t do something unless he drugged her,” Liz said thoughtfully. “What is that?”
Jake agreed with his sister. “Right, but what’s the something?”
Liz frowned. “There’s only one thing that I can think of, Jake. She doesn’t like the water. It took me five swimming lessons just to get her head underwater for a second.” She turned to look at the officer. “Ingrams, do any of the sites have a lake nearby?”
Ingrams nodded. “Yeah, that first one does.”
“Jake, you got the address. I’ll meet you and Dad over there. Saddle up, Ingrams, we’re out of here,” Liz said with a sense of purpose. At least she had a good idea where to look for Susan. She prayed that it wasn’t too late.
Ingrams’ tricked-out car took off down Flint’s driveway. He stopped just long enough to allow the surprised security guard to raise the security arm halfway before his car broke it off, zooming onto the main road. He drove as fast as Liz was comfortable doing. That meant they were flying low down the highway, going thirty-five miles over the speed limit as they tried to prevent a murder at Flint Industries.
Susan felt the last hard bump reverberating inside her skull like a large kettledrum. She open
ed her eyes for a moment, then groaned. Where was she? Her hands weighed a ton whenever she tried to move them. God, she felt sick to her stomach. She gagged and retched from the motion. The movement stopped suddenly, but she couldn’t keep her eyes open. She drifted into a semi-conscious state. She was aware the vehicle was in motion again. She needed to leave, but she couldn’t make her limbs obey her brain. Sleep was easier to do, so she slowly faded out as the blackness enveloped her.
John Flint parked the truck next to the little sports car, then he unhooked the safety bolts and chain on the tailgate. He flipped the truck’s gate down.
Susan heard heavy booted footsteps in the distance and then felt somebody pull at her. Her body rolled over and then over again until she felt dizzy. It wasn’t as dark anymore. Somebody, was it Johnny? He lifted her in the air, then slung her body down onto something firm. She almost blacked out again as her head flopped back and forth against something hard and muscular…his back? She felt her body sliding down until something firm and solid stopped her.
Somebody, was it Johnny, yanked her hands up to her face. She heard a tearing sound. She heard the same sound near her feet. Suddenly, her hands and legs felt didn’t feel as heavy as they had before, but she couldn’t sit up straight and keep her eyes open. She tried to focus, but her head sagged forward. Her head hit a steering wheel. That couldn’t be, could it? Wasn’t she still asleep on Johnny’s couch? She should ask him. He’d know why she felt so different. He knew everything about her.
“Johnny, where are you? You have to help me. I feel sick. Call my daddy.” Susan struggled to sit upright as she felt the car lurch forward into the wooden guardrail. The snap of wood breaking was the last sound she remembered. She felt something wet and cold surround her. She struggled in the cool, dark, fluid substance. Oh God, what happened? Where was she? Was she drowning? But how could that be? She was in Johnny’s house. No, she was in a car. She could feel the steering wheel. Oh God, where did all the water come from?
She heard Liz’s voice telling her to fill her lungs with air and then hold her breath as long as she could. Liz told her to release the air in her lungs slowly as she relaxed her body and allowed it to float. Yes, that sounded so reasonable. Lizzie, where are you? her mind screamed. Help me float. Don’t take your hands away. I need them to hold me. God, Lizzie, don’t let go. Hold me, just hold me, Susan thought, fighting against the mind-chilling dark wetness.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN …Water, water everywhere
“Stay with the car, Ingrams! Tell Jake where I went,” Liz yelled over her shoulder. She’d slammed the car door shut and sprinted around the side of the site, looking for the lake. She spotted fading lights in the distance as they moved slowly into the lake.
“Oh, God, Susan! No, no!” Liz screamed. Horrified that her hunch was correct, she started ripping off clothes as she ran to the lake’s edge. She missed seeing the dark figure hidden in the nearby trees until it moved. The first thing she saw was the flash of the muzzle in the moonlight. She dove at his waist and heard the report from a gunshot.
His first shot missed her.
They struggled with the gun as a second round fired into the air.
Liz elbowed him hard in the chest.
She heard a crack and knew that she’d broken his collarbone.
She snatched the gun away him.
“Where is she, Flint?”
His body sprawled on the ground. He went mute, staring up at her with a surprised look on his face.
Liz held the gun to his head and cocked the trigger. “I said, where is she, you son of a bitch?”
John Flint nodded at the lake. “She’s already dead, Lizzie. That makes the company all mine!”
Liz could see the lights from the car wavering in the shadowy depths. She threw the gun to the ground. She dove into the water and tried to find the car. Susan has to be here, she thought, feeling for the car in the silky blackness. I know it. I can see the lights. Just follow the lights, her mind screamed. I need air! My lungs are bursting. She surfaced, inhaling large gulps of air. “I’ll find her. I know she’s down there. She has to be. Damn it, Susan! Where are you, Baby?” In desperation, she dove into the dark opaque water again and then again until she felt the car’s fender brush against her thigh. She held on to it and felt her way to the door. Her lungs were ready to explode. She had to surface. She dove in the water repeatedly, trying to find Susan in the murky depths. She was tired, too exhausted to breathe, but she had to find Susan. She just had to. She was that close…so close, dear God, so close.
Jake Sr. and Junior forced Liz to stop diving, dragging her out of the deep water and onto the shallow water of the shoreline. She didn’t come with them quietly.
“No, Daddy. She’s in there, Daddy. I know it,” Liz screamed, then struggled to pull away from the strong arms of the Gilmore men. “Let me go, Daddy, please!” She kicked out at Jake’s legs and then tried to loosen her father’s grip on her waist. “Tell him, Jake. Please … tell him. Goddamn it! Susan’s in there. I know it,” she wailed as she stared at her brother. “Let me go! I gotta find her, Jake!”
Jake stared at her with sadness etched across his features. He said the words she never wanted to hear again. “She’s gone, Lizzie, Susan’s gone.”
Jake Sr. held Liz by her waist. Suddenly, her body wilted when Jake’s words finally sank into her brain.
“I’m so sorry, Baby Girl.”
“No, Daddy,” Liz sobbed. “She can’t be dead, not Susan.”
Jake Sr. father released his hold on her waist. Liz sank into the sandy beach on her knees. She prayed to a god that couldn’t hear her, begging him to let Susan be alive, and then she spotted Flint’s gun glinting darkly against the beige sand. It was lying where she kicked it when they tussled. In her grief, she snatched it and strode over to John Flint. He was lying on the ground, holding his injured shoulder. She pressed the gun against his nose and cocked the trigger. “You son of a bitch, I’m gonna kill you. You know why?” she screamed as tears dripped down her face.
Flint’s eyes widened as he felt the muzzle pressed against his face. He smirked at her. “You’re a cop. You can’t do that! You’ll go to jail, Lizzie.”
Liz stared at him coldly and then said in a flat monotone, “You don’t understand, Flint. You killed Susan. I don’t give a shit what they do to me now. Let ‘em put me in prison. My God, man, how could you do that to your own sister?” she asked and then took aim at his head. “This is for her, you freaking bastard!”
When Flint stared into her dead eyes, he suddenly realized she meant to kill him. He struggled to move away. He finally held up a hand to ward off the shot as Ingrams quietly moved closer to Liz.
“Sarge, don’t do it!” Ingrams begged as he watched his supervisor take aim at Johnny Flint’s forehead.
“Ingrams! Get back to your car! Call for a bus. We got this!” Jake ordered. He waved the young officer away as he eyed his sister. He didn’t want to do anything else to upset Lizzie tonight. He felt guilty he hadn’t prevented Susan from going with Johnny Flint. Susan’s death was on his head, weighing him down like an anchor. He hoped someday that Lizzie would forgive him.
“Don’t do it, Lizzie. Please, Baby Girl, put the gun down,” Jake Sr. pleaded with his daughter. He reached into his waistband for his weapon. He’d shoot Lizzie if it kept her from committing second-degree murder.
“You don’t wanna do this, Lizzie,” Jake warned, watching his sister hold the gun to Flint’s head.
Liz was crying hard; tears mixed with sweat dripped down her face. She wiped at her eyes to aim the gun better. “Yeah, I do, Jake. With his money, he’s going to get away with it. You know it. I know it. He’ll just buy his way out of this!”
Jake walked slowly toward his sister with his hands up. “Come on, Lizzie. You know that’s not true. He killed at least two people. There’s no way they’re going to let him walk. Put the gun down, Lizzie, please!” he murmured quietly as he eased closer to Liz. “Come on, Kid
do. You don’t wanna do this.”
“He killed her, Jake. Goddamn it, he freaking killed Susan!” Liz sobbed. “The son of a bitch had to know how frightened she was of the water, Jake. He deliberately chose that way to kill her. My God, she must have been so scared.” She took aim at Flint’s head again. Her right hand shook, so she steadied it with her left hand and stared at him with cold, dead eyes.
Jake was crying too. “Lizzie, I know.” He held his hand out for the gun as he moved closer. “Please, just give me the gun, Lizzie,” he begged.
“I can’t, Jake. I just can’t.” Liz was weeping as she wiped at her eyes again.
Jake had been waiting for just such an opportunity. He lunged forward quickly and yanked the gun out of her hand.
Liz slumped forward on her knees in the sand, sobbing.
Jake knelt down to pull his sister into his arms and held her. “It’s okay, Lizzie,” he said, pressing her head into his chest and stroking it. “He’s gonna get what he deserves, Kiddo. Daddy and I will see to that.” He held her face in his hands and looked into pain-filled eyes. “You can count on us, Lizzie.”
The wail of the ambulance’s siren cut through the quiet night.
Liz looked on as the technicians loaded Flint onto a gurney and drove away.
Ingrams’ tricked out car followed closely behind the ambulance.
Jake strode back to Lizzie with a blanket from his car. He wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and caught his father’s eye.
Jake Sr. motioned him to leave his sister alone.
Jake nodded that he understood. He walked a distance away from Liz and stood watching her. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was, but this didn’t feel like the time or the place for such revelations.
“I miss her so much. What am I gonna do now?” Liz asked the night sky. She wiped at her eyes as she sat, staring dismally into the lake.
“Finish giving me my swimming lessons is what, Elizabeth Gilmore!” Susan replied hoarsely and then sneezed. She shivered as she stood in front of Lizzie with her hands on her hips. “Is there room under that blanket for me?”