by A D Holland
“Thank you Mrs. Windsor,” Detective Kane said as he turned away from her. “Officer Burns here will take you home.”
And with that he was gone; walking away from her with no more thought. Elizabeth glanced down at her appearance and realized what a mess she must present. Hair plastered to her head from the rain, makeup running down her face, her clothes splattered with mud and missing a shoe. No wonder he looked at me like I was trash, I look like trash, she thought as she followed Officer Burns out of the police station and into the rain, again. Would this night ever end?
A little more than two hours later, Elizabeth found herself sitting in her apartment wearing her favorite flannel nightgown, wrapped in a blanket, sipping that long awaited hot toddy with a fire blazing in front of her. She was exhausted, but sleep would not come; knowing that she would not be able to close her eyes again without seeing the vision of the men on that dirt road and the events which followed. They had reassured her at the police station that she was most likely not in any danger. Those men did not know who she was so they did not impose a threat. But this did little toward making her nerves calm. With every noise she jumped and could feel her heart rate speed up.
When the phone rang, she almost dropped the glass in her hand. Starring at the phone, not knowing whether to answer or not, Elizabeth glanced around her apartment. On the tenth ring, she lifted the receiver. “Hello?” she asked in a breathless whisper.
“Lizzy? Where in the world have you been? It’s almost two in the morning,” her mother’s accusation came over the line. With a sigh of relief, Elizabeth grabbed the receiver tighter, picked up her blanket and sat back down on the couch. If she knew her mother, whom she did, she was in for a long bawling out.
“Mom, I had a little mishap on the way home tonight,” this led into a detailed story of Elizabeth’s trip home that would have been shorter if her mother had stopped interrupting with comments such as “that was stupid to go down that road” and “how could you have lost a shoe? Do you know how terrible you probably looked?” No, her mother never was good at soothing her spirit. She didn’t know how to utter soothing words; she only knew how to yell absurdities such as these.
After almost an hour of listening to her mother’s tirade Elizabeth broke in and explained that she was not feeling well, she had her cold from the previous days. This cut her mother off abruptly giving Elizabeth a chance to break off the conversation and hang up after a promise that she would come by the ranch tomorrow; for more ridicule, no doubt. Elizabeth put down the receiver and looked around her apartment again. For some reason she felt better after talking to her mother. It was probably the yelling that made her feel human again.
Deciding it was time to try and get some sleep, Elizabeth flipped the switch on the wall, which turned out the lights in the living room. Just as she was walking through the hallway leading to her bedroom, she heard the loud sound of glass braking. She froze where she stood. For the second time that night Elizabeth felt as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of her. Stepping into the shadows, she heard what sounded like someone climbing through her kitchen window. I can hear it now, she thought to herself, my mother will be telling everyone at my funeral how she told me not to be so lazy and live on the second floor, it would be safer and I would get little exercise. Laughter escaped her. She must be hysterical.
Stepping quietly into her bedroom, she picked up the closest object she could find, the free weight that she kept by her bed, and turned back toward the hall. She heard the shuffling of feet coming toward her and then it stopped. The silence was suffocating. Then, the feet retreated back toward the living room and the kitchen and then came the sound of the kitchen door closing. Elizabeth released the breath from her lungs, just as she smelt the first wave of smoke. Whoever had broken into her apartment had started a fire and now the entire hallway was enveloped in a raging inferno of flames and black smoke.
Turning quickly, Elizabeth retreated into her bedroom and slammed the door shut. She ran to the phone on the nightstand and dialed the emergency number. There was no dial tone. The line was dead. Did the culprit cut it, or had the fire already eaten away at her only line to safety? Stepping in front of the window, Elizabeth twisted the lock and grabbed the seal, raising it. Without a second thought, she flung her large body through the frame feet first and landed on her knees in the grass. She looked over her shoulder and could see the smoke billowing out of the window. Afraid that it would spread and endanger the other tenants in the complex, Elizabeth started running for the building across the street.
“Open up! There’s a fire! We need to call the fire department! Is anyone there?” Elizabeth pounded on the door, anxiously waiting for it to open. Seconds ticked off. Seconds that felt like hours. The door opened and Elizabeth looked at the old lady standing there in her housecoat and rollers.
“I live in the apartment across the street and it’s on fire. Please, call the fire department.”
The lady looked over Elizabeth’s shoulder in fright and turned, running toward the phone. Not taking the time to breath, Elizabeth turned back toward the apartment and started knocking on doors trying to wake the residents up and get them out before the smoke spread along with the fire. As she approached the last door, Elizabeth heard a loud explosion. The gas line had exploded in her apartment sending waves of heat and debris soaring through the air. Elizabeth ran for cover, just avoiding a fragment of what looked like her kitchen table coming at her.
Standing on the curb, 45 minutes later, Elizabeth looked at her home. Some home. Now all it amounted to was a pile of burning embers. She’d lost everything. She was a mess. All she had was her flannel nightgown, nothing else. All was lost in the fire. Tears ran down her cheeks leaving wet trails on her soot-covered face. Her hair was sticky from sweat and matted to her head. Her life could not be worse.
Turning her head away she caught sight of a black sedan parked two blocks down. The hair on her neck stood up and her knees started to buckle. Fear gripped her by the gut and held her in that one spot. She had known that this was not some coincidence; her being burglarized on the same night she witnessed a grizzly crime. But the truth did not occur to her until she saw that car. Elizabeth was not the type to faint; until tonight. That was Elizabeth’s last thought as the ground came up to meet her.
CHAPTER 3
Embarrassed beyond belief, Elizabeth took the cup of water that Detective Kane offered her. She could not believe that she had fainted, fainted at the feet of the imperious detective. She was sure that this only lowered her status in the Detective’s eye
“I’m so sorry; I can’t believe that I did that. I have never been the kind to just faint like that. It must be the smoke or something.”
“Yes, or something,” the detective said with a vague look in his hooded blue eyes. “If you are feeling up to it, maybe we can get you back to the station and try and sort through this matter?”
“I think that I will be all right now.”
Elizabeth pulled the blanket around her closer, trying to make the edges meet and cover the grubby nightgown she was wearing. The blanket stopped just short of her knee, leaving her calves bear to the cold night. Detective Kane walked slightly ahead of Elizabeth, allowing her a few short minutes to assess this man. He was definitely a sight to behold, dressed in his casual clothes consisting of a black T-shirt and blue jeans. The material stretched taut over his thighs as he walked briskly towards his car leaving her to play catch up.
The ride to the station was short and uneventful and now she found herself back in the spot she was less than 12 hours ago, only this time she was an even a bigger mess with her matted hair, rumpled clothes and bare feet. Now she really fit in with this crowd of riffraff that filled the office. Sitting in an old rickety chair, trying to keep covered, Elizabeth did not notice the gentleman who stood in front of her.
“Ma’am, I’m Captain Dye,” the hand held out in greeting was one of strength and welcome. “Would you like to come into my offic
e? You might feel a little better with some privacy.”
Elizabeth looked at the tall, thin man standing before her. Kindness and gentleness reflected in his eyes. Elizabeth took his hand and offered a thank you as he led her to his office in the back of the station. Motioning toward a comfortable padded chair in front of his desk, the captain turned to grab something from a shelf and then shut the door. He handed her a well-worn blanket of soft blue material.
“It’s not much, but it has to be better than that old police issued stuff they call a blanket.”
Elizabeth took the warm blanket and wrapped it around her frame. Surprisingly, it covered her well, giving a sense of warmth and comfort.
“Thank you so much. I am feeling a little strange walking around here with no clothes or shoes.”
“No need to worry. We’ll have you settled in no time with some new clean clothes and a nice comfortable bed to lay your pretty head,” his words were meant to assuage her feelings, but instead, it made her realize that she did not have a home to return to.
Until this moment she had felt numb, now she could feel the fear and sadness seeping into her bones. Shaking her head to clear it of all the emotions, she looked at the captain, for the first time taking in what he had just said.
“What do you mean Captain? Everything that I owned was in that apartment, and I hate to tell you but I don’t feel very safe going back out there with those two men on the loose. I don’t know if you were informed, but I did see their car parked down the street. I know that they had something to do with this.”
“Yes ma’am, I am almost positive that this was their doing. And you are right to be afraid Ms. Windsor, they are very dangerous men who mean business,” the Captain looked away from her unflinching gaze.
“But there is no need to worry now. We are going to take care of this and you and make sure that no one tries to hurt you again.”
“But I don’t understand. You know who those men are?” The final question came out in a squeak, “but how?”
“It was not too hard after we identified the victim,” turning back towards his desk, the captain shuffled through a stack of folders. Locating the one he wanted, he turned back to her.
“Here it is: Anthony Lompaglia, better known as “the leech” Lompaglia to his cohorts. He was part of Vincent Sirvano’s group. As best we can figure, he did a wrong. The two henchmen you saw belong to Sirvano’s clan. My guess is he chose to suck the wrong person dry,” the captain’s laughter rumbled in his chest. Elizabeth looked at the photo that the captain handed her.
“This one here is Rocko,” he pointed to the picture of the man with the beady black eyes. “He is the muscle out of the two. The other is Mr. Smith,” handing her another photo she recognized him instantly, “the brains. He answers directly to Servano and is so clean on his hits that we have never been able to connect the two; until now.” Elizabeth looked up at the captain in fright.
“What do you mean? Are you telling me that I witnessed a “hit”?”
“Yes ma’am, we have been able to tie all four men together enough to prosecute, but only if we have your eye witness testimony. We thought that you weren’t seen that night and that you would be our smoking gun, but now we know that they know who you are and will come after you.”
“Come after me? I told you they saw me that night. I knew that I would not be safe. But did you listen? No!” Elizabeth stood and started to pace the floor. “You told me not to worry. I lost everything, and almost got killed in the process, but I shouldn’t worry, right?”
“No Ma’am, you should worry,” the captain responded brusquely. Hearing the hiss of Elizabeth’s indrawn breath in surprise and fear the captain tried for a more soothing tone and then went.
“What I am trying to say is that we are going to protect you from now on out.” The captain looked a little uneasy as he shuffled papers and files on his desk.
“I was waiting until Detective Kane got here, but I guess I will go ahead and start. Please sit down.” He gestured toward the chair she had just vacated. Elizabeth sat back down, wrapping the blanket around her as if it were armor.
“What we are asking you to do is very dangerous and because of this we are going to have to put you in the witness’ protection program. We have already called in the FBI and are working with them to set up a new identity for you. Now all we need to know is your answer.”
She stared down at the floor, pondering the information.
“For how long will I be in this program?”
“Forever,” the word reverberated in Elizabeth’s head. Panic gripped her body, stopping the flow of blood and the intake of oxygen. Elizabeth stood again and started to pace.
“What other options do I have?”
The captain looked at Elizabeth as she paced frantically back forth in his office. He thought to himself how sorry he was for such a homely little lady being stuck in this situation.
“There are no other options.”
“No other options!” Elizabeth began to pace faster. “You are wrong Captain. I do have another option. I don’t have to testify. Then I can go back to my life as it was.”
The impact of the immovable object, which stepped in front of her path, caused her to teeter back and forth on her bare feet. Detective Kane grabbed her by the forearms, his fingers digging into her cruelly. Elizabeth looked up into those cold blue eyes staring at her with indignation. There was such animosity in those eyes. What did she do to this man to make him look at her with such rancor? Nothing, the thought entered her head. She did not do anything for the man because she was ugly. If Elizabeth were beautiful, that would be different. She was sure only a beautiful woman would evoke any kind of sympathy from this man and this only made her dislike him more. Still holding her arms, he shook her so hard Elizabeth was certain her head rattled.
“Are you crazy, lady? You can’t just go back to your life,” his voice was hard and relentless. “You have a mob boss out there who wants your head on a platter and two men who won’t think twice about doing that.” Elizabeth fought against his hold.
“You’re hurting me,” she said with a cry in her voice.
Detective Kane released her so suddenly that she almost fell to the ground. Stepping back from the detective, she rubbed her arms knowing that she would bare the marks of that brutal onslaught.
“I’m sorry Mrs. Windsor,” Detective Kane stepped away, raking his fingers through his hair.
“Where is your husband? He should be here for this also.”
The question hit Elizabeth like a ton of bricks. Of course she never noticed until now how he had called her “Mrs.” all of the time.
“It’s Miss Windsor. If you had taken the time, you would have noticed I don’t have a husband,” her chin went up a notch, watching the arrogance fade from his eyes and something she could not recognize replace it. Was that pity or even repugnance reflected there? Too late, the shutters came down blocking out all emotion, before she could decipher what she saw.
“Well, that only makes this easier, doesn’t it Miss Windsor,” he turned his back on her and the captain.
Elizabeth stood there staring at his back. Noticing the way the muscles rippled under his t-shirt as he went to cross his arms over his chest. Of their own volition her eyes traveled from his shoulders down his back to where his t-shirt was neatly tucked into a pair of faded blue jeans. They were like a second skin, covering his perfectly shaped butt and rock hard thighs. She felt the heat travel up her neck to cover her face. Elizabeth jerked her head away and slightly shook it as if to clear the image that she knew would be burned in her mind forever. Never had she reacted this way about any man. She was torn between loathing and an attraction she was still too naive to understand
Exhausted from the emotional turmoil she had experienced these last hours, Elizabeth sank into the chair. She realized that she had to do the right thing, but she knew that she would never be able to give up her life she had now. Never see her mother or sister a
gain? Sure they infuriated her sometimes, but they were her family, along with her stepfather Edward Lindsey and stepbrother Samuel.
For the first time in more than 18 hours Elizabeth thought of Samuel, her best friend and confidant. He was always there for her and more family than her mother or half-sister. Elizabeth knew that she felt more for her handsome older stepbrother than friendship. She secretly harbored a crush on him since the first time she saw him open the door to their ranch house and welcome her in. His sandy blond hair, warm brown eyes and always-present smile were the first signs of compassion Elizabeth had ever experienced.
“I always wanted a sister,” Samuel smiled at her that first day.
From the beginning he was there for her, making her feel at home. Helping her with her homework, playing in the barn in the stacks of hay and riding horses together; this was the best part of their friendship; riding horses gave her young heart time to take in the blonde god that was her stepbrother.
The infatuation grew over the years, but she knew that Samuel did not feel the same way. He looked at her as a sister, and Elizabeth had to accept that. Unfortunately, no man seemed to measure up to her stepbrother, not that she had a lot of experience with men, she mused. She had never even had a real date before. She had consigned herself to the fact that she would always be alone, no marriage, and no children. Sadness swept through her, leaving her feeling weighted down by the grief she felt.
“Miss Windsor, we need for you to make your decision,” the captain had walked around his desk to stand in front of her. Laying a hand on her shoulder he looked at her with a question in his kind eyes.
“Are you still considering not testifying?”
She saw Detective Kane’s back tense, the muscles bunching along his shoulder blades. He turned from the window and looked directly at her with a glint in his eyes. She knew at that moment what she would do. Drawing herself up to her full height, she raised her chin and gave the most disdainful look she could muster while wearing nothing but a nightgown and a blanket.