Prince Charming Wears a Badge

by Lisa Dyson

  “Good morning, Norma,” he greeted her. “What can I do for you?”

  “Good morning, Chief. It’s not what you can do for me, but what I can do for you.” She seemed chipper this morning. “Callie tells me you’re looking to question Wendy Pullman. She’s a resident here and I can give you the address of her new employer so you can speak with her. I trust you won’t divulge where she’s currently living and that you’ll speak with her personally?”

  “Absolutely. I have no interest in revealing her whereabouts to anyone who might cause trouble for her or any of your other residents.”

  “Just as I’d hoped.” Norma recited Wendy’s employer’s name and address and they ended their call.

  He checked his email before going to see Wendy and found a message from his admin. Donna had discovered who was renting that post office box—S. Pullman of the Pullman Corporation. The address associated with it was the same one Tyler had visited the other day when he went to speak to Steve Pullman, Wendy’s husband.

  “Thanks, Donna,” he said aloud to his empty office. “No surprise there.”

  He headed out to the address Norma had given him for Wendy’s employer. It was more than a half hour away. Wendy must have taken the job to be as far away from her husband as possible and still be close enough to her son.

  She was employed by a small medical clinic. He wasn’t sure exactly where to find her, but he didn’t need to ask. She sat at the reception desk behind a glass partition when he came in the door.

  Like a deer in headlights, she froze when she saw him.

  “I need to ask you a few questions,” he told her in a quiet voice when she finally stood to open the partition. He didn’t want to alert the other employees to his presence or worry any patients. “Can you take a break?”

  Seeming flustered, she looked around to her left and then her right. “Just a minute.” She went through a door leading to another room behind her. He hoped she was getting someone to take her place and not running out some back exit.

  He gave a sigh of relief when she returned with another woman following behind her.

  “Sharon will cover for me during my break. There’s a small lounge down the hall where we can talk.”

  Tyler was surprised at Wendy’s attitude, how cordial and accommodating she was being. She was dressed in purple scrubs, the obvious uniform for the employees at the clinic, from what he’d observed. She was also well-groomed, quite different than when he’d seen her at the community center or in the church parking lot.

  She came through a door into the waiting room and he followed her to the lounge where there were three tables with plastic chairs at each. The small kitchenette had a refrigerator, a large sink and a single-cup coffeemaker. Currently, he and Wendy were the only occupants.

  As soon as they were seated at a table across from each other, Wendy spoke. “So what did you want to ask me? I assume this is an official visit?” She gestured to his uniform.

  “Yes, it is. I’d like to know about some checks that were written to the Pullman Corporation.”

  He watched her face for a sign of guilt when she realized what he was talking about, but all he saw was relief.

  “So you figured out what that email meant.” She stated a fact, not a question.

  He looked at her, his eyes wide. “You sent the email?” He’d thought she’d gotten caught because someone else had figured out what she’d done.

  She nodded, her lips twitching. “Yep.”

  “So who wrote the actual checks?”

  She hesitated. “You haven’t read me my rights, so you can’t use whatever I say against me, right?”

  He considered his options. “If you cooperate and give me all the details, I’ll see where we stand.”

  She pursed her lips. “Look. I want my husband in jail. Steve’s the guilty one. I’ll do whatever it takes to get him there. But I can’t get in trouble myself. I have a son to take care of.”

  “And where is he since you moved out? Is he at the shelter with you?” Steve had thought he was at a friend’s, but Tyler didn’t consider him a credible source.

  “No, he’s staying with his friend. I talk to him every night and check in.” Her voice caught. “His friend’s mother knows why I needed him to stay with them. She’s taking good care of him.”

  This was a very different Wendy than he’d expected. He had no explanation for her change of personality, but he preferred dealing with this Wendy rather than the one who’d threatened Callie.

  Tyler took his notebook and pen from his pocket. “I’ll need an address for your son since he’s a minor. His name is Eric?” He looked up at Wendy and she nodded as she recited the address.

  “Let’s start at the beginning. Who wrote the checks to the Pullman Corporation?”

  “It’s kind of complicated,” she said. “Steve—my husband—was laid off from his job about seven months ago and we began having money trouble just living on my salary even after his unemployment kicked in. He came up with an idea to have the city pay a dummy corporation—he named it the Pullman Corporation—for services rendered. He wanted me to get the checks written. I tried to tell him that I didn’t have access to checks, but he wouldn’t listen. I told him we were sure to get caught, but he didn’t give me a choice.” She twisted her hands and didn’t look at Tyler as she spoke.

  “What did you do?” From Wendy’s nervousness and what he suspected about her marital situation, it wasn’t difficult to figure out that Pullman had physically threatened and abused Wendy.

  “Since I didn’t work in the accounts payable department, I wasn’t sure how to get a check cut. But Steve insisted that I figure it out.” She paused. “I casually knew someone in the department, so I began getting her to go to lunch with me and spending more time with me.”

  “Did she agree to write the checks?”

  “Oh, no. She has no knowledge of what happened. I began by asking about her job, making her think I wanted to transfer to her department when there was an opening. One day when she got distracted by a call on her cell phone and I was waiting for her to go to lunch, I saw a reimbursement form on her desk. It had been signed by both cosigners. I snatched the form then made a copy of it back in my office after lunch. The next day, I returned it to my friend’s desk. She was none the wiser.”

  “How did making copies of the form help you?”

  “The signatures were from black stamps, so my copy looked exactly like the original. Then I just had to white-out the other information and I made copies. So about once a week, I would fill out a reimbursement form from the Pullman Corporation for whatever amount Steve told me. Then I’d sneak it into my friend’s pile of reimbursement forms.” Wendy was being careful about not revealing the friend’s name.

  It sounded like the city’s payment procedures needed a complete overhaul.

  “And who opened up the post office box?”

  Her eyes widened. “You know about that, too?”

  “It wasn’t difficult to find out once the checks came to light.”

  “I guess not.”

  “And to be clear, you wrote the email that led to this investigation?”

  She nodded vigorously. “When no one figured it out right away, I had no choice. I thought everything I was doing was obvious, but apparently it wasn’t. And I thought sending the email would also help the authorities realize I didn’t want to be committing a crime.”

  “You left your job a few weeks ago. Were you fired? Did someone discover what you were doing?”

  “I wish I had been fired, but no one ever caught on to what I was doing. I never wanted to steal from the city and as long as I was in that job, I had to keep getting money for Steve.” She sucked in a breath. “I resigned. I gave no notice, just quit on the spot. Then I told Steve I got fired.”

  “What happened then?” He prepared himself for the worst.

  “He was mad, very mad, but not at me. He blamed the people I worked for. I told him I was fired for coming i
n late several times because of dropping our son off at school.”

  “He believed you?”

  “At the time.”

  “And then you moved out and into the shelter?”

  She shook her head. “Not immediately. It was the next day when he saw a text on my phone from my friend asking why I’d resigned.” She folded her hands on her lap and bowed her head. “I thought he was going to kill me. He’d never been that mad before. Sure, he’d hit me numerous times, but never like this. He usually chose body blows that wouldn’t show in public. This time, he didn’t care. Even when he nearly choked me to death.” Her voice became more and more quiet and she was shaking. “So I left as soon as I could after making sure my son could stay at his friend’s house where he’d spent that night.”

  “Did you see a doctor?”

  She shook her head. “No. Just bruises, no permanent damage.”

  Tyler continued to write in his notebook and flipped to a clean page. He looked up. “Is there anything else you’d like to add?”

  She seemed to ponder that for several seconds. “Not that I can think of.” She hesitated. “I’ve cooperated and I was the one who reported the crime. I’m not going to get into trouble, am I?”

  “Like I said, I’ll see what I can do. I’ll talk to the assistant state’s attorney first thing Monday morning.”

  She nodded sullenly. “Will you be arresting Steve?”

  “I will if you’ll go to the police station right after work today and sign an affidavit stating what you just told me. You’ll also need to testify against him.”

  Her eyes widened. “Testify in court? I can’t.” She shook her head frantically. “He’ll come after me. And next time he’ll be sure to kill me.”

  He’d made a promise when he took his job to protect and serve the citizens of Whittler’s Creek. That included Wendy, no matter what she’d done. “I’ll see what I can do about protecting you. For now, stay at the shelter until I figure out the next move.”

  “Okay.”

  “And one more thing.” He needed to take this opportunity to give Wendy a warning. “Stay away from Callie.”

  She opened her mouth to speak and he held up a hand to stop her.

  “No exceptions,” he said sternly. “I want you nowhere near her unless it’s by her invitation. Is that clear?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “I mean it. If I find out you’ve hurt her or caused her any more grief, I’ll make it my mission to make sure you land in jail. I don’t care if you were threatened into embezzling the money or not. Got it?”

  “Yes.” She was acting uncharacteristically agreeable.

  He gave her a questioning look. “You’re sure?”

  She nodded. “Being here the past week has opened my eyes.”

  He wasn’t sure what her cryptic words meant, but he’d seen a huge change in her attitude and appearance. “Okay. I’ll be in touch. Get to the police station as soon as possible.”

  When he reached his truck, he radioed one of his officers to give him a heads-up about the arrest. “Once Wendy Pullman signs the affidavit, pick up Steve Pullman and arrest him for embezzlement and attempted murder.” He recited Pullman’s address and described the mobile home where he could probably be found.

  There would be more charges once the ASA took over, but that would be enough to hold Pullman for now and Wendy would be protected from him.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  LATER THAT NIGHT Callie was heading upstairs to bed when Tyler stopped her. “I need to ask a favor.” Before she could reply, he added, “I wouldn’t ask if not for Alexis and Madison.”

  That got her attention. “What is it?”

  “I’m moving things into the house tomorrow and you had told the girls you’d help them set up their bedrooms.” He paused. “Is that offer still open? I can make up an excuse if you’d rather not.”

  She pondered his request for a few seconds. She enjoyed the girls and this might be her last chance to spend time with them. “I’ll do it.”

  His demeanor went from rigid to relaxed. “Thank you.”

  The next afternoon Callie laughed harder than she had in a long time. The girls were so excited about each of them having their own bedroom and their giggling soon became infectious. After their beds were assembled, she helped them put sheets on them, teaching them how to tuck in the corners properly. They moved on to unloading their books and stuffed animals, so Callie left them on their own while she went downstairs to begin unpacking kitchen boxes.

  “Do you have a plan for how you want the kitchen set up?” she asked Tyler, who was attaching the legs to the kitchen table. Until now they’d successfully avoided each other.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. You’re probably better at figuring out what should go where than I am. The kitchen’s not where I shine.”

  She put her hands on her hips. “That was pretty sexist.”

  “Whoa, whoa! I didn’t mean it that way. I just meant I’m not into cooking. As long as I can find a bowl for cereal and a mug for coffee, then I’m happy. In fact, putting them right next to each other to make it easier for me would suit me just fine.”

  “I’ll do the best I can.” She turned her back on him to put plates into a cupboard, hiding her feelings about never coming back here to share breakfast with him.

  Callie’s phone began ringing. She pulled it from the back pocket of her denim shorts. She didn’t recognize the number, thinking it was probably a robo call. She put it back into her pocket.

  “Daddy!” Madison called from her bedroom.

  Tyler stood to go to his daughter and Callie’s phone made a sound to announce a message. She retrieved her phone from her pocket again and after Tyler left the room, she played the message.

  “Callie, this is Wendy. I’d really like to talk to you about some things. Mostly about how I’ve treated you.” She paused. “If you’re interested in meeting, please call me back at this number.”

  Callie didn’t know what to do. Should she tell Tyler? With the way things were with them, she’d feel awkward. Should she meet Wendy? Was Wendy setting her up?

  She finally decided to tell Tyler, just so she’d have some kind of backup in case Wendy was planning something dangerous.

  “Damn it! I specifically told her to stay away from you,” he said after Callie played Wendy’s message for him. “What is she up to now?”

  “You saw her?”

  “Police business” was all he said.

  “I know you wanted to talk to her about the embezzlement, but you can’t tell me what she said?”

  “Not yet.”

  She understood, but it didn’t help her make a decision about whether or not to meet Wendy. “So what do you think I should do? What if she’s planning to hurt me when we meet?”

  He seemed to consider it. “She seemed different—civil—when I saw her.” He shrugged. “I could go with you.”

  She pursed her lips. “I don’t know. Seeing you with me might scare her.” Would relying on him right now make it more difficult to leave him?

  “Maybe she needs to be scared. Remind her that I meant what I said about not harming you.”

  “That’s true.” She looked at her phone. “Okay, I’ll call her and arrange a time and place.” She hit the number on her phone, curious about Wendy’s true reason for getting together.

  Callie agreed to meet Wendy later that day.

  “I can’t come with you,” Tyler said when he heard what they’d planned. “I assumed you’d pick a day later this week. I don’t have anyone to stay with the girls today.”

  “It’s okay. I’ll be fine going alone.” She hoped. Besides, it was best that she do this on her own. It was too easy to rely on him and soon she’d be leaving him behind. “Just like you said about her yesterday morning, she sounded like a different person. She even asked about my dad.” She looked at Tyler with wide eyes. “Can you believe it?”

  “I wouldn’t if I hadn’t talked to her myself.
” He shrugged. “Maybe it has to do with her relief that this embezzlement thing is out in the open.”

  “She explained it?” At his nod, she asked, “Will she be charged?”

  “Just between us?”

  “Of course.”

  “I’d say probably not. If she’s willing to testify against her husband.” Tyler checked his watch. “Turns out he forced her to do it.”

  “Really? I guess she has no loyalty to him if he forced her to break the law.”

  He seemed to hesitate as if weighing his next words. “Well, I guess you’ll find out soon enough. Her husband has been arrested for both embezzlement and attempted murder.”

  “Murder!” Callie was astonished.

  “Attempted murder.”

  Callie stared at him until he provided more information.

  “He’s been abusive to Wendy, which you know because she’s in the shelter. For how long, I don’t know. But the last time before she left him for the shelter, he nearly strangled her to death.”

  Callie knew Wendy had been having a difficult time but never suspected it was this bad. She checked her watch. “I should go. We’re meeting at the same diner where we met Norma.”

  “Be careful. Don’t let her talk you into going anywhere that’s not public.”

  “I won’t. She seems changed, but that doesn’t make me automatically trust her.”

  “Good.”

  Their eyes met and time stopped. More than anything, she wanted to slip into his arms and have him hold her. But that wasn’t an option. They had no future, so why make things worse?

  By the time Callie arrived at the diner, the sun was low in the sky but the oppressive heat from the day lingered. The moment she stepped into the air-conditioned diner, she saw Wendy seated in a booth and headed in her direction.

  “Hi,” Wendy said when Callie was settled. “I’m glad you came.”

  “I was surprised to hear from you,” Callie said in greeting.

  Wendy nodded. “I know.” She was dressed in purple scrubs as if she had come from working at a medical facility. Her clothes were neat, her hair was clean and she even wore a little makeup. Completely different from the other times Callie had run into her.