Anticipation

by Terri Breneman

  “I guess he wants me to tell him what’s going on,” Toni said.

  She scratched his head and he curled up next to her and began to purr.

  Toni described her day to the last detail, including conversa-tions she’d had with David, Anne and Betty. Boggs let her ramble on, knowing she needed this release. Vicky had retrieved the notebook from the shelf and was taking some notes.

  “Well, I talked to Peter, the new investigator. He’s kind of a jerk.” Boggs rolled her eyes, wishing she didn’t have to work with guys like that. “Anyway, he said he was at his mom’s house. I guess it must have been the thing to do Friday night because Sam was at his mother’s for most of the evening also. I didn’t press too hard with him. He was really distracted today. I saw him hanging around the soda machine earlier, just standing there.” Boggs shook her head, trying to get a clearer picture of things.

  She continued with her information and then described the scene in Anne’s office to Vicky.

  “So neither of you saw anybody?” Vicky asked.

  “Nope,” Boggs said, taking a sip of the sweet tea.

  “No one,” Toni said. “Boggs got there first and was inside while I was still in the outer office. There was no one in there but me.” Vicky ran a hand through her hair. “It doesn’t make sense. If what drew your attention was the sound, where was the killer?

  There’s no way he could have gotten past you. People just don’t vanish into thin air.”

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  “Maybe the sound came from a different office and we just assumed it was in Anne’s office,” Toni suggested.

  “I guess that’s a possibility,” Boggs said. “Let’s see. Who has an office near there. Anne’s is on the corner, then there’s Elizabeth’s and then the library, right?”

  “The vending machines are next to the library,” Toni mused.

  “But isn’t there another office in the middle?” Vicky ripped a piece of paper from the notebook and began to make a sketch. “It’s like this, isn’t it?” she asked.

  Boggs and Toni looked over the crude drawing. Boggs fleshed it out as best she could.

  Toni pointed to one of the offices. “I think this is actually two offices here, but one isn’t used. To be honest with you, I can’t really remember.”

  “This is ridiculous,” Boggs said. “I’ve been working here for how long? And I can’t even draw a decent sketch? Damn it. I wish we had an accurate floor plan. At least then I could figure out my bearings.”

  “It sure would be easier,” Vicky agreed. “Not that it’s going to answer any questions, but at least we’d get a better idea. Maybe the sound traveled. The hall was empty except for you two.” They sat in silence. Boggs was trying to figure out some sort of scenario that would make sense. Vicky grabbed her cell phone from its holder on her waistband. Toni looked puzzled.

  “It’s on vibrate,” Vicky explained.

  Boggs listened to the one-sided conversation, trying to piece together what was being said. She and Toni were both on the edge of the couch staring at Vicky as she spoke.

  “What about the cameras at Metro? Who’s looking at the tapes? Okay. Are you staying at the hospital? Will you let me know the second you hear anything? Great. Thanks, Patty. Yes, I’ll tell her. Do you know who it is? Fred? Okay. He’s good. Thanks again.

  ’Bye.”

  “Well?” she and Toni asked at the same time.

  “She said that Anne’s still alive. She’s in stable but serious con-201

  dition. Her carotid artery was nicked and there was some damage to her vocal chords. The ER doc said he couldn’t believe she was alive. It must have been because you were there so quick and put pressure on it immediately. She’s in recovery now. Anyway, they won’t know more until later.” Vicky took a deep breath and sighed.

  “Frank’s in the waiting room. I guess he’s been there since he got the call. The captain asked if he wanted someone else to take watch, but Frank insisted that he be the one who stayed. Frank also wanted to know if Anne said anything to Toni, but Patty told him no. Let’s see. What else. Oh, they got the tapes from the cameras at Metro. The main entrance, the garage and the judge’s entrance.

  The captain himself is looking at the tapes.” Boggs shook her head. “They aren’t going to see Crown.”

  “Well,” Vicky continued, “the captain wants to be involved on the ground level now. He’s an okay guy and a good cop. I worked with him before he got the promotion. He’s sending a uniform to sit outside here. Fred Koffman. You know him, don’t you, Boggs?”

  “Yeah,” she replied. “He’s good.”

  “That’s what I told Patty. He should be here in about thirty minutes. He’ll ring the doorbell when he gets here. He’s also bringing over a walkie for us.”

  The sound of the phone ringing made everyone jump. Then they giggled.

  “Are we a little uptight or what?” Toni said.

  Laughing seemed to ease the panic just a little bit, Boggs thought.

  Toni answered the phone and mouthed “Captain Billings” to Vicky and Boggs.

  Vicky cocked her head to one side and immediately grabbed the phone from Toni. “This is Detective Carter. Identify yourself, please.” After a moment, she nodded to the others.

  Boggs listened intently to the one-sided conversation. She could feel her heart pounding. Seeing Anne on her office floor had rattled her, to be sure, and now she was in full protect mode. After what seemed like eternity, Vicky hung up the phone. “Well,” Boggs said. “What’s going on?”

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  Vicky took a long drink of her tea. “He agreed that someone on the inside is helping Crown. That’s why he’s sending Fred over tonight. He has orders only to answer to the captain, so it’s pretty clear that he doesn’t trust anyone. Also, he’s watching the Metro videotapes himself. Oh, and he’s sending over the blueprints of Metro. I told him we wanted them.”

  Boggs had a feeling there was more. “What else?”

  “And apparently everyone is under the impression that Anne might have said something to Toni,” Vicky said.

  “I just leaned down to listen for her breathing,” Toni explained.

  Boggs was concerned. If “everyone” thought that, then the killer must think that too. “Don’t worry about it, Toni,” she said as confidently as she could. She reached over and stroked Toni’s arm.

  Toni suddenly shivered.

  “Are you okay?” Boggs asked.

  “No,” Toni said, her voice just above a whisper. “If people are wondering if Anne talked before the medics took her away, then the killer could think that Anne said something to me while I was leaning over her. That means he would have to get rid of me next.” Toni’s eyes were as big as saucers.

  Boggs scooted closer to her. “We know, Toni. It’s going to be okay. We know that and the captain knows that. We’ve got everything under control. You won’t be out of our sight until this bastard is caught.”

  “That’s right, Toni,” Vicky said.

  Toni nodded slightly, then got another look of desperation on her face. “What about Anne?” she asked. “If there’s any chance she’ll pull through, the guy has to get to her. She could identify him in a minute.”

  “That’s why the captain has one of his men over there,” Vicky said. “I guess he doesn’t trust Frank at the moment. Neither do we.” The phone rang again. This time Vicky answered it.

  “Sam,” she said, handing the phone to Boggs.

  Boggs listened and after a few minutes the conversation ended.

  “That was certainly weird,” Boggs said. “He first wanted to know how we’re doing. Then he asked if Anne said anything to 203

  Toni. Next, he wanted to know if I needed him to take over as bodyguard for a while, just to give me a break or something. Very strange.” Boggs struggled to figure out a reason for his uncharacteristic behavior.

  “Do you think it could be him?” Vicky asked.

  Boggs thought for a moment. She liked Sam, but . . . �
�On any other occasion I’d say no way, but he has been acting strange lately.

  I don’t know. I guess at this point we can’t rule out anyone. We need to be almost overly cautious.”

  “I have a hard time believing it could be him,” Toni said. “But I’m with you. I’m not trusting another living soul until we know for sure.”

  The phone rang again. Toni answered and mouthed “Paul.” The conversation lasted less than a minute.

  “You thought Sam’s call was weird, this was weirder. He wanted to know if my bodyguards were still here and then if Anne said anything to me. That was it. He never even asked if I was okay.”

  “I don’t trust him either,” Boggs said, to which they all agreed.

  Toni glanced at her watch just as the doorbell rang. Boggs motioned for her to remain seated as she and Vicky went to the door.

  “It’s Fred,” she said. “Boggs, I think we still need to be on the safe side, okay?”

  Boggs nodded. She stepped away from the door and drew her weapon. Vicky opened the door and motioned for Fred to come inside and then shut the door behind him. He immediately saw Boggs and froze. “Nothing personal, Fred,” she said with a smile.

  He smiled in return. “Captain Billings told me to answer only to him and to you all, of course. The walkie and blueprints are in my bag there.”

  Vicky retrieved the items.

  “Thanks, Fred,” Boggs said. “We really appreciate this.”

  “I want to catch that son of a bitch, too,” he said, motioning to the door.

  Boggs nodded and he went toward the door.

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  “Hey,” Toni said. “Why don’t you give him one of the dining room chairs?”

  Vicky opened the front door and shooed Fred outside. Then she reached for one of the chairs and handed it to him. Before closing the door she winked at him. “Thanks for being such a good sport, Fred,” she said.

  “Anytime, Detective. And you can count on me. The captain does.”

  Once the door was locked, Boggs holstered her gun. She wished she had on her shoulder holster instead of the pancake holster she wore for work. It was in the small of her back and it took just a moment longer to get to her gun. Nothing she could do about that now, she thought.

  The women returned to the couch. Vicky set the walkie-talkie on the floor while Boggs pulled the blueprints from their container and Toni cleared some space on the coffee table. They looked at the drawings for a while before finding the second-floor plan.

  “Here we go,” Vicky said. She pointed to Anne’s office. The halls of Metro formed a large rectangle, with a kind of courtyard in the center. Anne’s office was located on the southeast outside corner. The offices on the outside were usually large and assigned according to seniority, but there were always exceptions. The inner offices, those facing the courtyard, were smaller. The blueprint only showed the dimensions.

  “I don’t think the captain would mind if we wrote on this,” Toni said. “They’re copies. Let’s mark all the offices we know.” She retrieved a red, felt tip pen from the kitchen drawer and handed it to Vicky, who promptly wrote “Anne” on the corner office. Toni and Boggs pointed to their own offices and gave the names of those around them. Slowly they pieced together all names that went to the offices. They also identified where the vending machines were located on that floor and the copy machines, just in case.

  After it was completed, Boggs shook her head. “I guess it’s possible the guy just ran out, then something, or Anne, fell. If that’s so, 205

  then he could have headed down the other hallway and we would have never seen him. By going the opposite direction, he could have gone into his own office, if he works here—or anyone’s office, for that matter, or headed for the stairs.”

  “Maybe Anne was hurt and she was trying to get to her purse for some reason,” Toni suggested “That would have given him maybe a minute or so.”

  “I don’t know,” Boggs said. “She was cut pretty bad. I don’t think she would have been able to get to the filing cabinet.” Vicky looked at her, puzzled. “How do you know she went to the filing cabinet,” she asked.

  “Everyone knows that’s where Anne keeps her purse,” Boggs said.

  Vicky thought for a moment. “Then maybe he knew that too,” she reasoned. “We all agree that Anne knew the guy, right?” Toni and Boggs nodded.

  “Okay,” Vicky continued. “Suppose the guy gets Anne to go for her purse—maybe they’re planning to walk out together or something. When Anne gets to the filing cabinet, he strikes. Like all the others, he always comes from behind.”

  “That would explain why she was by the filing cabinet with her purse on the floor,” Boggs said. “But if the sound we heard was Anne falling, or at least her purse, why didn’t we see him leave the office?”

  Vicky scratched her head. “I guess we’re back to square one.” Toni had been curled up on the corner of the couch, petting Mr. Rupert. She leaned forward and began looking more closely at the blueprints. “Hey,” she said a few minutes later. “What’s this? It looks like there’s a bathroom next to Anne’s office.” Boggs examined the plans trying to envision Anne’s office.

  “It looks like a closet to me,” Vicky said.

  “No,” Toni said. “It’s a bathroom. Or at least it used to be. Look at the pipe configuration.”

  Vicky looked at her in disbelief. “Pipe what?” she asked.

  “Pipe configuration,” Toni repeated. “Jake is an architect. He 206

  used to show me all his drawings and stuff when we were in undergrad. I guess some of it stuck with me. Here, look.” She pointed out the pipes and the two doors to the bathroom. “See. This one goes right into Anne’s office.”

  “I don’t remember ever seeing a door in there,” Boggs said.

  Toni began sketching in the furniture in Anne’s office. After drawing the desk, chairs, filing cabinet and huge plants, she sat back and said, “Well, the door is to the left of Anne’s desk. Surely I would have noticed it, but I can’t remember ever seeing it before.

  Maybe it’s been covered over.”

  “I know they did some remodeling a few years back,” Vicky offered.

  “That’s right,” Boggs added. “They divided some of the larger offices into smaller ones and put in a new computer room.” Toni sighed. “Well, I guess that’s a dead end.” They sat in silence for a while.

  “How about some food?” Boggs suggested. She was hungry and thought maybe a break would help them sort this out.

  Toni got up. “What kind?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Boggs answered.

  They went in the kitchen and dumped several of the half-empty cartons into a large bowl and popped it in the microwave. Toni grabbed some of the deli food and got out some crackers and cheese. Boggs collected plates and utensils. Over dinner, the conversation turned to food and what each considered the best kind of leftovers.

  Suddenly, Toni yelled out. “Coatrack.”

  “What?” Boggs and Vicky said in unison.

  “Coatrack,” Toni repeated. “That’s what’s behind Anne’s desk.

  A coatrack. It must block the door. Of course. The door is still there, but the coatrack blocks your view.”

  “That means the guy could have gotten out that way,” Boggs said, “assuming the door hasn’t been sealed shut.” She looked at the plans again. “He could have gone through that door, and once we were inside her office, he could have gone out the door into the 207

  hall. We would have never seen him.” She was excited now. This made sense.

  Vicky grabbed her cell phone and called Captain Billings. She briefly described what they had figured out from the plans. He said he’d send the crime scene unit back there immediately. Vicky was smiling when she hung up the phone and passed on the information to the others.

  “Well,” Toni said as she ate a cracker. “At least now I feel like we’re doing something constructive instead of sitting on our butts.”

 
; Boggs felt the same way. At least now they had a sense of direction.

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  CHAPTER 21

  The man was worried now. Very worried. Anne wasn’t dead. As he sat there, he couldn’t believe it. How could she have survived?

  Did she say anything? Everyone he asked told him she hadn’t regained consciousness, but how could he be sure?

  He heard the voices inside his head again. They were so loud he could barely hear himself think. “Idiot! You never could do anything right. At least your brother never pretended to know anything. You’ll never amount to a pile of shit. I knew the minute you were born you’d be a piece of shit, and you never fail to live up to that.”

  He shook his head, trying desperately to get rid of her voice.

  He hated her voice. He looked at his hands and they were trembling ever so slightly. A few tiny white pills had always helped before. When was the last time he took some? He couldn’t remember. On some level he knew he shouldn’t take too many, but he also knew how much they helped him concentrate. Without thinking about it anymore, he quickly swallowed five more pills.

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  It seemed as though only seconds had passed, but he couldn’t be sure. All he knew was that the sound of her voice had waned and was replaced by another. “Kill them both. Kill them all. It’s time for the world to know your true destiny. Then they will all understand. Just kill them now. Do it now.”

  He took a deep breath and smiled. He began to feel the confidence and strength well up inside him. Plan. He must plan. Several minutes passed. His mind was racing, but he couldn’t seem to formulate a cohesive plan. He shook his head and tried to slow his mind down. His thoughts were just random blurbs. He tried to listen more carefully to the voices. “Kill the bitch. Finish the job.”

  “Your destiny is being fulfilled.” “They know it’s you. Kill all of them.” “They’re laughing at you.”

  He could stand it no longer. He had to walk. He had to think.

  He stood up and headed for the door. He circled the entire block once before he felt himself get into a rhythm. For a brief time he believed his mind had cleared. He knew it didn’t matter if they knew it was him or not. In fact, he was anxious for the publicity now. They would all be amazed at his brilliance.