by Combs, Sasha
Trust...that was the reason she was being held against her will because Linda had believed Hayford had been right. He had told her about his friends many affairs and he had told her how Elizabeth intended on using the pregnancy to carry out her final mischievous deed. When he’d told her what Elizabeth had planned to do...Linda had not believed him because she couldn’t see the reason behind such a horrible prank. She wondered how much Charlie knew about this woman whom he professed to love. She wondered if he knew how their unborn child factored into her dirty deed.
Daring to look behind her; she watched as Charlie’s eyes remained fixed on Mike. She wanted to tell him that Mike wasn’t his only enemy...she wanted to tell him to watch out for his father.
Coming in her direction, both men looked at Linda as if they were ready to render their verdict. She didn’t care what they told her to do because once she left the library she was going straight to internal affairs. If they didn’t kill her first.
Looking at her shoulder, Chief Billings frowned causing Linda to know, Mike’s finger prints more than likely were beginning to show a lasting presence at it mixed with the other ugly bruises.
“Did you wear a wrap...?” Billings had said and she couldn’t believe how he actually managed to sound concerned.
“Yes...I checked it when I came in.”
Linda was hoping they wouldn’t ask if she’d come alone because if they did, she was prepared to lie through her teeth.
Looking at Mike, Billings said...
“Go get her coat Mike...and be quick about it.”
Mike didn’t even look at Linda. He glanced in Charlie’s direction, then turned leaving them all in the library.
Billings looked at his son just before he sat in the chair where Linda and Charlie had been nicely chatting before Mike and Charlie’s father interrupted his confession. If she didn’t know any better, she would swear that Chief Billings was attempting to act as if she’d not been pushed, shoved or slapped. He was a disgrace to the uniform and she had every intention of ratting him out.
Billings looked at her outfit; his discerning eye examined the garments delicate design.
“Lovely dress...didn’t think we paid you enough to afford something like that.”
Her voice was cold when she said...
“It’s off the rack.”
Billings laughter roared though the massive room.
“Off the rack? You don’t think I know a designer frock when I see one?”
His smile faded. Looking at her he said...
“You haven’t worked long enough on the force to know how things work. How one hand washes the other.”
“Are you telling me that I’m supposed to ignore that Mike killed a young woman and her child tonight.”
Linda could hear sniffing coming from behind and she knew Charlie must have started crying again.
Billings looked in his sons direction then back at Linda. Calmly he said...
“Enough of that now. You don’t want to upset my son.”
“I’m not the one that killed his child.”
Linda knew she was playing with fire but she believed that by stoking Charlie’s anger, just maybe he might see that he needed to be on her side.
Billings stood, and in his frustration he began a slow back and forth pacing of the room. For the moment this was calming, and after a few minutes the commander returned to his chair to sit beside Linda again. She had not known him very long but she could tell that he was trying hard not to lose his temper.
Crossing his arms while sitting back in the chair he said ...
“You know...this won’t end nicely for you if you don’t do as I say. Gregory Stills is due to retire this year and he doesn’t want anything to happen that might interfere with his pension. I called him tonight and he’s willing to amend the death certificate if we have enough evidence to claim that Elizabeth’s death was a suicide.”
“Suicide!” Linda had said and she couldn’t believe how far her voiced had carried. After quickly composing herself, she said...
“How long do you plan to keep me here?”
She asked the question, because she was way pass playing this dangerous game. She now believed it wasn’t their intention to do away with her...but they had every intention of covering up Elizabeth’s murder. When Billings mentioned Gregory, she knew him suggesting that the obstinate medical examiner would amend his report had been his way of testing her resolve. Linda didn’t know Gregory well but what little she did know told her that Gregory wasn’t the kind of man easily swayed by pressure. Billings was bluffing...this is what she told herself. Linda tried to remain calm because she needed him to believe that she’d bought his bluff.
“Linda...this doesn’t have to be a problem for anyone. Elizabeth Van Wilson has been a thorn in countless ass’s since her father bribed her to return home. She has pissed off debutant’s, bachelor’s, senator’s...you name it. She’s slept with half the city and the other half that she hasn’t slept with are on a list for her to demoralize or harass in some sadistic way. She makes a living out of being a pain in the ass...and quite frankly I believe when the sun rises...there will be a great many happy people in the city because Elizabeth Van Wilson has drawn her last breath.”
Linda felt nauseous. She wanted to throw up in his lap. He was talking as if he weren’t a city employee and he’d been planning her murder himself. She wanted to tell Charlie about her father and Elizabeth but she didn’t think her face could stand another slap. Right now she needed to know what he intended to do with her because until she was off on her own apart from these men; Linda knew she couldn’t feel safe.
The dress that Hayford had chosen for her had no secure place for her to hide her gun. She had left it in her purse underneath the passenger seat of his BMW and currently she wished she had it because she would have used it to shoot her way out of the library.
Crossing her legs she said...
“Elizabeth may have been a nuisance but she was a human being and she was carrying your grandchild.”
Billings leaned forward in his chair placing him mere inches from Linda’s face. His eyes looked menacing and the frown on his face told her his next set of words were to be taken seriously.
“I warned you not to talk about Elizabeth or her bastard child. We’ll never know who the father was.”
“Sure we will... When Reynolds Van Wilson reads her diary and finds out that she was pregnant, he’ll want samples from every man she mentioned as a sex partner.”
“It was my baby...” Charlie’s muffled words came from where he stood.
“Be quiet junior...that’s utter nonsense. That girl was playing you from the moment you two first started dating.”
Timing was crucial but Charlie was finally talking again. Due to this, Linda couldn’t allow Billings to get away with that last verbal jab.
“Why would she do that...why would she use him? Elizabeth could have dated anyone she wanted...and she did. Maybe she dated Charlie because she liked him. She was going to tell him about the baby tonight. Maybe she was going to tell him that she wanted him to take her back.”
Linda’s head felt like it had been hit by a demolition ball. The power that followed his blow had been so great, the recoiling action had forced Linda out of the chair to the floor.
Her eyes were seeing specks of white light and dots. The side of her face that had been hit was still burning and she could only hear ringing in her ears.
When Billings rose from his chair, he lifted his leg to step over her, much like he would have done if she were a bag of potatoes. The commander strolled effortlessly to the corner where Charlie stood crying. Talking about Elizabeth and the baby had crippled him again and Linda knew if she had it within her to deliver the final blow; Charlie would definitely come to her aid. If she erred and Charlie didn’t help her; Linda knew she just might be joining Elizabeth in an early grave.
Pulling herself up using the arm of the chair to steady herself; Linda looked in t
he direction of the two men. Summoning up her strength she delivered what she hoped would be her knockout blow. The shocker that she’d come to believe was truth and not conjecture.
“While you were so busy telling me about how people are going to be so happy to hear that Elizabeth is dead...why don’t you add yourself to that list of people. You’ve been hiding the affair that you and Elizabeth had from your son...and you haven’t told him that you tried to ruin her relationship with your son by sleeping with her when you knew that Charlie was one of the men still involved in her life.”
From where she knelt on the floor, Linda could see a look of utter disbelief on Charlie’s face. To know that his father had been the man in Liz’s life... The person responsible for causing Liz to end their relationship; Charlie couldn’t even fathom what that meant and he was beginning to wonder if his father had known about the baby Elizabeth had planned to tell him about. When Hayford had told her about the affair, Linda didn’t think much about it because Billings was the commander of the cities homicide devision. Her boss was a city official and he was paid to enforce the law. She’d also come to know that many men had slept with Elizabeth but they all had not plotted to ruin her. That assumption had extended to Chief Billings but Linda had amended that idea as she listened to her boss plot, scheme and plan.
With her words firmly planted in his brain; Charlie pushed away from his father and said...
“Is that true...is she telling the truth dad?”
Billings wanted to deny this but when Mike had gone back to Elizabeth’s house he had told him to remove any incriminating evidence. Mike had broken in by using the back door instead of entering through the front lobby. He entered her apartment by using a device to bypass entering the security code. When he saw the little laptop, he had believed that he’d found the device where she’d stored all of her dirty little secrets. Liz had told Billings enough to lead him to think, it was her habit to record her dirty dealings on her computer. When he had instructed Mike to break into Elizabeth’s apartment, his primary focus had been to find any item that stored all of Elizabeth’s underhanded escapades. Linda and Hayford had noticed the laptop missing when they both came out of the closet and she now knew that Billings didn’t know that Elizabeth kept her journalling within a leather bound diary. He had been acting so calm over this situation because she now understood that he believed there would be nothing that could link him back to Elizabeth. As far as anyone knew...Elizabeth and his son ended their relationship over two weeks ago. Charlie attended the party at the mansion with his father and all the detectives in his department. Their telephone numbers had been erased from her telephone and he had the contacts to alter any telephone records if anyone felt the need to review them. With little time on his side, Chief Billings believed he had thought of everything and had covered all of his tracks.
When Elizabeth didn’t show up at the party but instead had been floating in the river; Billings had been thinking on how he’d get the coroners report to read that she’d hit her head before falling into the river. Somehow, she’d become unsteady, he’d thought while scheming. While attempting to stand up straight; Liz had fallen in. Then while unconscious, she sunk to the bottom and this was the explanation that would explain her drowning. He still had not worked out the suicide angle but he also had not abandoned it either. Trying to explain away the murder had made perfect sense to Billings.
As Linda played out what she believed had been the inner workings of Chief Billings corrupt mind; she was certain what she’d been thinking wasn’t speculation and it had occurred just the way she had figured...connecting Mike and Chief Charles Billings to Elizabeth’s murder. However, if Elizabeth’s parents accepted their report; Linda knew her death would be explained as an accident or suicide.
Charlie was walking towards the door when Billings said...
“Where are you going junior?”
Charlie didn’t turn around...until his father said...
“I’m sorry son...I was just trying to protect you.”
Charlie turned to look at his father and said....
“I don’t need that kind of protection.”
Linda wanted to reach out to him for help. She didn’t know what Billings would do to her after telling his son that he’d had an affair with Elizabeth right along with so many other men in the city. But when Charlie opened the door to leave the library...on the other side stood Hayford and a host of police officers waiting to make their arrest. The sound that broke into the room nearly burst her eardrums.
“Stand down... Stand down...”
“Step away from her...drop your weapons.”
“We’ve got you covered”
These words were like music to her ears and all at once; Linda could breathe freely again.
**********
0600
Linda emptied her purse of its content...everything she had taken from Elizabeth’s penthouse came tumbling out along with all of her personal items. She was glad she had bagged and labeled all the evidence because she didn’t want them taking her entire purse logging its content until the case had been officially closed.
One of the CSI guys had weaved in between the desk while making his way over to congratulate her. He was carrying a large container to take the evidence off of her hands. When she accepted his hand, she noticed how his partners weren’t giving her their averted glances. She had not solved this crime by following the book but she had solved it and as a rookie that had to count for something.
After turning in her evidence and typing up her report, the district attorney had been called in and by the look of him; the man appeared to have a major hangover. Nearly everyone on the force had been at the New Years party at the mayors mansion and as they all stumbled into the precinct to take part in what would be the cities most infamous case; they all had droopy red eyes and their hands were toting different sources of caffeine.
Sipping on her own cup of coffee; Linda looked up to see a familiar face coming in her direction. She didn’t know who had called him so early but she was glad that they cared enough to phone the one person she wanted to see more than anyone else.
“There’s my girl.”
Linda’s father was a tall lean man. He had begun prematurely balding at a very young age and as far back as she could remember he had always shaved his head. He leaned over to kiss her on her cheek and the glare from the lights in the room reflected off of his head.
“Hey dad...what brings you here so early? And please don’t say that you were just passing by in the neighborhood.”
Smiling he said...
“No...I was no where near this neighborhood but I thought after a night like the one you had, just maybe you could do with a solid breakfast.”
Linda furrowed her eyebrows because other than the bucket of popcorn she had prepared to eat while watching a movie on television; when she had come home that afternoon, she had not eaten one solitary thing. While at the mayors mansion she’d seen tables filled with food but she had been there on business and not once had her empty stomach protested.
Smiling she said...
“I’m no where near being finished. I still need to talk to internal affairs...then I need to talk to the district attorney and just maybe after all of that they’ll have pity on me and let me go home.”
Nodding he said...
“How about I go around the corner to the diner. I’ll get you a take-out meal.”
Linda looked at her father with love in her heart. When he retired from the city he had wanted to see his daughter working in the same department he had worked for over forty years. Specializing in city codes whether it be zoning...building or some other code; this stress free work had been her fathers lot in life. In his career, he had only been inside of a courtroom a half dozen times. He was a peaceful man and nearly every city employee that he came across, would say that they loved Mr. Harold Gables. When Linda had said she wanted to be a prosecuting attorney, her father had said, perhaps she posses
sed all that he lacked. As a child Linda had been spunky and as an attorney, that kind of characteristic was fuel for zeal. He was sure she could accomplish what he’d been to soft to do.
While she had been studying for her bar exam, Linda’s plans were being dashed, due to the states investigation. During the appeal that had followed the judges verdict, Linda had closely observed her father. Harold Gable had wanted so much for his daughter. In spite of that, his hopes and dreams for her had suffered a setback. On the outside, he would force his face to morph into a supportive smile but Linda knew the truth because when the appeal failed, she too had felt her future slipping away. As the days turned into to weeks, then long dreadful months; during that time she didn’t think she would ever see her father’s mouth forming a sincere smile. But todays grin on Harold’s face had proved that she’d been wrong.
While running his hand over her hair, Linda lifted her chin to gain a better look at him. Harold smiled them he gave her one of his patented winks, just before turning, to quietly leave her department. He usually rose early every morning...but for him to come to her place of work so early after hearing about her first collar; Linda knew her father was proud of her...and she was glad to see the gleam back in his eyes.
When he left her cubicle, it took a great deal of effort, not to stand to witness his expression. Even though she couldn’t see them; Linda knew that her colleagues were smiling while watching her dad as he meandered out of her department. Everyone liked her dad and she was quite certain that their faces beamed as much for him as they did for her sake. She knew tonights efforts had not only been for her...Linda had worked hard because she wanted her father to be proud of her. She also felt a sense of responsibility for the victim and the family. Linda wanted Elizabeth to rest in peace knowing that her killer would be prosecuted and she believed that her parents deserved justice as well as answers.