by Sky, Lydia
I still held the broken bottle raised high in my hand, but at that point all that was left was the skinny tip. The rest of it was either scattered across the floor or stuck in the whimpering bloody mess that was Daniel’s face on the hardwood floor. He tried to sit up in a dazed attempt to grab the rifle, but I kicked him firmly between his legs and he let out a savage squeal. Then I bent down and grabbed the gun and aimed it at him, but I didn’t fire.
He was still conscious after all of it, which surprised and worried me. Surely he wouldn’t be able to get up, but how would I contain him if he did? Shoot him? I’d much rather he just pass out than have to be killed by me, but I knew that was the only other option other than hold him at gunpoint, which I didn’t think would work very well.
The door burst open and for a moment I thought it was simply Brad walking in. I opened my mouth and began to speak frantically until I saw him being led in by a gun pressed firmly against his back. The gun was being held by a long arm that came through the doorway next, and then Detective Richards emerged from the doorway with a grimace on his face, and he peered around anxiously, his eyes widening as he saw the mess of Daniel on the floor. He was still holding the gun with his arm stretched out, jamming it into Brad’s spine.
“Fucking fool. I told him he was reckless.” He murmured to no one in particular. Then his eyes met mine, “So you killed him?” His voice was exhausted.
“I don’t know. What… What’s going on?”
“It turns out the cocksucker was working with him.” Brad nodded his head back to Richards who looked absolutely stricken with stress.
“Shut up. Shut the fuck up! This wasn’t supposed to happen like this. It was supposed to be easy. As soon as that moron shot you last night I knew he’d gone off the deep end. We’d planned this out upon hearing that you were coming to town. Short notice, albeit, but it was a solid plan.” He nudged Brad onto the chair above Daniel’s twitching body. Brad stared at him expressionless, and then his eyes shifted up to me and bulged out with approval. He even smiled, given the confusing and horrific twist of circumstances. Detective Richards groaned and continued to hold the gun toward Brad, and then he looked back at me briefly.
“Don’t try anything, alright? Don’t try a damn thing, bitch.” He gasped.
“I… I won’t. Detective, I don’t understand.”
“Are you that dense?” He wiped sweat from his forehead where a vein bulged in and out. His nose was blood red and his cheeks flushed. He looked flustered, confused, and worried.
“He was working with Daniel. They planned to kidnap me and hold me for ransom. But when I showed up with a girl they hadn’t expected, they figured it would be easier than they’d planned. They were going to take you from me and hold you for a twenty million dollar ransom. Split it both ways, then vanish off to Mexico or something, I guess,” He laughed, then continued, “Looks like things didn’t go as planned starting last night when Daniel showed up drunk and put a bullet in me.”
I looked back at Richards and felt a sudden surge of rage, “He barely even knew me before he brought me here, you fool. Did you think I was his prized possession? Who’s to say he would’ve even given you the money even if your plan had gone the way you wanted it to and you did hold me for ransom?”
“Shut up.” Richards repeated.
“Are you kidding me, Courtney?” Brad’s voice was soft and sounded broken, “I’d have paid everything to guarantee your safety. I know we’ve only known each other a few days, but… It hurts that you’d think I’d give you up so easily. Never.”
A single shot rang out and I looked up in horror at Richards who was aiming the gun at the ceiling. Drywall and plaster fell onto his head in smoky clouds, and he coughed briefly, “I said shut the fuck up. Both of you,” He cleared his throat and then waved the gun at Brad, “Now here’s how it’s going to go down, see? We’re going to get in your car. The girl will be in the backseat with me. We’re going to drive to wherever it is that they keep your money. Whatever bank we can withdraw the biggest amount from. And don’t feed me any tall tales about not having a bank here, I’ve done my research and I know you use the same branch that you do back in California. You’re going to tell the bank manager that you need to clear out your entire account for a very big investment. If he refuses I’ll be giving you an unloaded gun for you to aim at his head. Can’t give you a loaded one because then you might use it on me. You’ll speak sternly and tell him you want a hundred thousand. It’s not near as much as I’d planned on getting, but goddamnit I’m in a bit of a bind right now and I need to get out of town. You fuck,” He rasped, “You just had to fuck it all up.”
“I didn’t fuck anything up, your boy down here did. The one lying dead on the ground.”
“He’s not dead.” I said.
“Good as dead.” Brad shoved him with his foot.
“Shut up,” Richards said, “I just had a good idea. Seems to me you must have a safe lying somewhere around here. Right?”
“Yes.”
“You’re going to open it for me, and you’re going to give me what I want. That’ll take the whole bank equation out of the plan, and make things easier. That’ll most likely give me more than a hundred thousand, right?”
“I only keep fifty thousand in the safe.”
“Shit!” Richards squealed, and began to sob.
“It seems to me you’re in a pickle, Detective,” Brad said smoothly, “How exactly were the two of you planning to drain me of my money? Did you think it would be as simple as me walking into my bank and withdrawing millions of dollars?” Brad grinned ear to ear.
Richards lunged forward and pressed the handgun into Brad’s chest, “I’m not messing around anymore, Stone. Now get up slowly, and take me to your safe. The girl will walk in front of you. If you try anything, I’ll blow both your brains out.”
“Fine. I’ll do what you ask, Detective.” Brad stood and held his arm out as a peaceful gesture. Richard shifted around to his back and pressed the gun back against his spine. He motioned for me to stand, so I did. Brad put his arms on my shoulders and guided me to where he kept his safe, which happened to be upstairs in his bedroom. It was hidden in the closet in the wall, and I’d have never been able to find it because there was a secret hole behind the drywall which slid out like a big drawer. The safe was inside, and Brad carefully turned the combination until it ticked and then opened it.
“Oh, yes.” Richard was ogling the stacks of cash in the safe and a bit of drool slid off his lips. His eyes bulged out and he crouched down, seemingly in a trance by the smell of the crisp bills. It looked like a hell of a lot more than fifty thousand, and Brad stared over at me with calm eyes. Richards still seemed to be in a trance, as if he forgot we were even standing above him. Brad swiftly bashed him over the back with his right elbow, sending Richards smashing face first into the drawer of the safe. The gun went off in his hand and I heard a blood curdling scream which didn’t sound like it came from Brad.
Richards rolled over, still holding the gun, and blood was seeping out of his thigh like a can of spray paint. His face was drenched with perspiration and it was purple. His tongue rolled out and lay slackly against his chin, and his eyes rolled back in their socket. He tried to raise the gun and Brad kicked it out of his hand, and then knelt down slowly and grabbed him viciously by the shirt collar.
“We’re done here, Richards.” He pressed him back onto the floor and punched him in the jaw. Blood went flying out of his mouth and he closed his eyes slowly. I looked down at his leg and saw it was still spurting blood, and I felt my stomach turn in disgust. He was going to die, and his death was going to be on our hands. Would the police believe us? It suddenly occurred to me that Daniel’s body was also downstairs, and then I felt relief wash over me. That would make things easier when explaining to the police. It would be apparent then that they were working together, or it would at least back up our story somewhat.
Brad stepped over Richards’ dying body which
still twitched and convulsed, his arms occasionally writhing outwards and then flapping back towards his body like a fish out of water. His eyes looked like they were going to bust out of their sockets, and the amount of pain in his face almost made me feel sorry for him. The bullet must’ve hit an artery in his leg, because it was bleeding more than I’ve ever seen anything bleed in my life.
“Are you okay? I’m so sorry you’ve had to deal with this. God, I’m so sorry.” And for once, Brad’s tough man expression softened, and tears began to form in his eyes. But he never cried. He hugged me tightly, his lips pressed against mine, and in that dramatic moment I felt like everything was going to be okay because he was kissing me and I could feel his comforting body heat wafting over me.
Everything was going to be okay.
No. Everything was not going to be okay.
Chapter 14
“Daniel is dead downstairs too,” I blurted out, “That’ll give us some believability as far as this damn story goes.”
He stared at me with concerned eyes, “Honey, I don’t want you to worry about this. We’re telling the truth. Nothing is going to happen to us now. It’s over, baby, and we’re going to go back to California as soon as we can. We need to call the police when we get downstairs.”
As my foot released from the last step on the staircase, I turned the corner and let out a screeching cry. Daniel’s body was gone, along with all of his blood that had spilled out onto the floor. We had only been upstairs maybe five or ten minutes, but it didn’t matter. He was gone. Vanished without a trace.
“What in god’s name?” Brad rasped.
“He was… He was just here, Brad, I swear,” I stammered in a panic, “I feel like I’m losing my mind.”
“Baby,” He groaned, “I know. I was here too, I sat right above him.”
Then I began to cry, “Wasn’t he dead, Brad? I thought he was dead. He wasn’t moving, and there was so much blood. Oh, god, I thought he was dead for sure!”
Brad walked over slowly like a homicide detective and crouched down. His eyes darted back and forth over what was left of the table. All the broken shards of glass had apparently been swept up, and there was a smell of bleach on the floor. In fact, it looked like it had been soaked with bleach. It was sparkly and damp looking. The smell was strong.
“He cleaned up his mess,” Brad said passively, “Ah, yes, he cleaned it all up.” He pointed to a box of trash bags that had been left beside the chair.
“Are you fucking serious?”
“Unfortunately, yes. He’s not dead, and not only that… He was thinking well enough to get rid of any DNA evidence. Surely to god there’s something that will prove he was here.”
“But it won’t be enough to back up our story. Not like his body was. We’ve got a dead detective upstairs, Brad.”
“A tremendously crooked dead detective.” Brad added with a calm tone.
“What does that matter? It could be a sign of the whole force being crooked. Or it could just sound like a lie considering we have no proof.”
“I have a plan.”
“What?”
“Come back upstairs.”
We walked back to the closet in the bedroom. Richards’ blood had soaked into a huge circular shape in the carpet. Brad groaned and stepped back over him then looked at the safe.
“I don’t know if this is worth a try, but I’m going to put some gloves on and then rub his finger all over the safe’s combination lock. I’m going to get his prints all over it, as if we came in and caught him trying to break it. Then we’ll say he held us at gunpoint and… And…” His plan didn’t sound that promising, but I had to give it to him for trying something. He sighed, “I don’t know what our best option is.”
“Shit, Brad. I’m worried. By doing this we might get ourselves into even more of a pickle. Trying to create false evidence?”
“But it’s true!” He screamed angrily, and his face reddened. He took a deep breath and his body relaxed, “I’m sorry I yelled, but I’m stressed as hell right now. I say we just go downstairs and call the cops, and tell them the truth.”
I hesitated and bit my lower lip tightly. I could feel myself perspiring heavily and my heart was thumping rapidly in my chest like a jackhammer. It was probably the best idea, and I nodded my head. I didn’t want to go to jail for years by getting us into a situation we couldn’t get out of, and I figured the best bet would be telling the truth. “Okay. Yeah, okay. I’m here to back you up. We’ll tell them that we’ll take polygraphs if they want us to. I just hope like hell the force isn’t crooked like this bastard was.” I peered down at Richards’ lifeless body. The blood had dried somewhat on his leg and turned a dark maroon. Brad stared at me clenching his teeth together and nodded, then walked past me and I heard him go down the stairs.
I couldn’t move. I’d never imagined myself being in a situation like this and I wondered if I was worrying over nothing. Surely the cops were good people, and they’d understand the situation. Surely Daniel had left some kind of DNA evidence that the bleach hadn’t covered up. But then I remembered how the floor was soaked in it, even all the way to the edges of the couch where his blood hadn’t been spilled. He’d only had a few minutes, but as soon as he heard us going upstairs at gunpoint he must’ve booked it to the kitchen to get cleanup supplies and then scrammed. I thought it was possible that he was still in the house, but then why would he have bothered to clean up if he was still hiding out, waiting to pounce and kill us?
I shrugged my shoulders, took an ominous breath, and walked out of the bedroom. I could hear Brad’s voice speaking downstairs. He must have been talking to the police, and he sounded muffled so I couldn’t make out what he was saying. I just hoped it sounded believable because it truly was the god honest truth.
When I made it to the living room I sat on one of the bar stools and sat down, then looked over at Brad who was pacing nervously near the couch. He glanced up at me once or twice, and then looked out the window.
“Yes. Yes. Okay, thank you, I’ll be waiting.” He put his phone in his pocket and sat down next to me, cradling me in his arm and squeezing me tight. I balled my face up into his muscular chest and looked into his eyes. He was peering back at me with them, blue and warm, and most of all hopeful. We didn’t speak. There wasn’t much else to say. About five minutes later there was a series of knocking at the door and Brad stood to his feet and took a big breath.
He took two steps toward the door and then turned back to me and smiled. I smiled back, forcefully. The truth was I didn’t feel much like smiling at all, and it certainly wouldn’t have come on naturally given the situation we were in. Brad turned back to the door and when he got to it he opened it.
A small officer walked in, followed by two more. Then a man in plainclothes walked in and pulled out a notebook. He looked frustrated, like he didn’t want to be there. He had shaggy hair and a thick mustache. Brown eyes sunk into me as he looked me up and down with a blank expression, as if he were merely studying me. One of the men I recognized as the officer who’d been with Detective Richards when we first met in the hospital that morning.
Brad took them upstairs and I followed. My heart was beating faster than it ever had before. I gulped as we stepped into the bedroom and watched from behind as Brad held out his arm and pointed. The three cops and the detective all had expressions that varied slightly, but mostly they were the same. The small cop grimaced, the one I recognized from the hospital opened his mouth in horror, the third cop shook his head and grinned, and the detective had no expression at all, save for a small twinkle in his eye. He looked away from the body and pulled out his notepad, clicked the pen open and then shifted his eyes up to Brad.
“So, Brad. I want you to go ahead and tell us step by step what happened.”
Chapter 15
Brad went over the entire story, word for word. He even included the bit about how we tried to go after Daniel this morning in Franklin’s limousine. He came clean about it all,
down to the very last minute detail. The detective stared at him and then gazed at me. He still looked bored.
“Is this true?”
“Yes sir.”
He looked at the officers, “What do you guys think?” He asked as if he really didn’t care what they thought. They shrugged.
The officer from the hospital stuttered anxiously and then spoke up, “Sir, can I say something that won’t get me in trouble?”
“That depends.” The detective looked at him curiously.
“Well, I’ve had a weird feeling about Detective Richards for a while now. He’s been working a long time I know and solved a bunch of cases, but last month I wash helping him pull some stuff out of his trunk at the station and I accidentally lifted the cover for his spare tire up. Except there wasn’t a spare underneath it, sir. There was a bunch of stacks of cash. Hundreds of thousands, if I had to guess.”
The detective paused and placed the notepad in his pocket, followed by the pen. “Well if that’s true, then it sounds like Richards had a bit of a dirty nose, eh?” His bored face suddenly shifted into a smile.
“I guess so, sir.”
“Did you tell anyone about this?”
“No, I was scared. Detective Richards always seemed kind of threatening to me.”
“He killed a lot of the bad guys.”
“Yeah, he told me lots of stories about killing guys.”