Kelly didn’t argue with him.
"Well, I'm not blind and I know something is going on. She looks at you like you're Lancelot and you're behaving like you are too." He sighed elaborately. “I need to know something. No malarkey now. Both of our careers could depend on it. Her father is connected and anything that happens with her will be high profile. If I leave you on this case can you keep it in your pants?”
Manning was eyeing him closely.
“Yes,” Kelly said emphatically, relief showing in his face. “Yes, I can.”
“Finally found your voice, huh?” Manning said. “Seems like you can answer me when I’m saying what you want to hear.”
Kelly took a breath.
Manning moved a step closer to him and stuck his finger under Kelly's nose. "You are back on duty as of 8AM today, which is now, and I want that phone ON. In fact, I want that phone on permanently, I don't care if you're on a sailboat in Tahiti, I want to be able to get in touch with you. Do you understand me?"
"I understand," Kelly said shortly.
Manning studied the younger man’s expression. "Did she call you and ask you to come over here?"
Kelly didn't answer again.
Manning nodded. "I thought so." He sighed. "Look, kid, I know she's pretty. I’ve known Amanda her whole life and she’s…fetching. You're both young. These situations can get out of hand quickly and that's why I assigned a vet like Donatelli to the case in the first place." He looked up to heaven. "But of course he cracks up his leg the day before he's supposed to start and so I chose you because you're smart." He glanced at Kelly again. "At least, I thought you were smart. Did I make a mistake?"
"You didn't make a mistake," Kelly said resignedly. "I know the rules and I'm obeying them."
“Just tell me one thing,” Manning said.
“What?”
“When this is done and we catch the guy and everything returns to normal, I want you to promise me that you’ll go get her.”
Kelly looked at him in surprise. “Amanda?” he said stupidly.
“Of course Amanda. Who else? What’s the matter? You think I want that bullshit Congressman to steal your thunder?”
“It’s more like I’m stealing his,” Kelly replied morosely. “She’s engaged to him.”
“So what? If he wants to keep her he should be here supporting her when she’s in trouble instead of trotting the globe making business deals while you hold her hand.” Manning dumped his empty cup in Mandy’s wastebasket. He looked at Kelly appraisingly. “I’ve got eyes and I know people from 35 years on this job. That little girl wants you. Whatever was in place with Henderson before she met you, that’s over. And don’t worry about how much money her father has or what her society mama says or any of that other meaningless garbage. If she wants you, that’s the main thing.” Manning paused. “It’s the only thing.”
“Henderson is hand in glove with her father on that big marina construction deal in Southport,” Kelly said. “They’re partners.”
Manning looked thoughtful as the implications of that statement raced through is mind.
“I see. And you don’t know if she can give up the filet mignon for hamburgers with you?” the lieutenant said.
“It’s not that. She’s really not like that, not at all, but…” Kelly stopped as he realized he was saying too much and the impossibility of an explanation overwhelmed him. “It’s complicated,” he finished lamely.
“It must be,” Manning said.
“I don’t know if it will last,” Kelly said quietly. “I don’t know if it’s just the circumstances making this happen now. How will she feel when this has ended?” He stopped and then added, “When she’s safe again she won’t need me.”
“And she’ll do what her daddy tells her to make his business deal go through? She’ll go back to her former life as Henderson’s arm candy?” Manning suggested.
Kelly looked dismal.
“She’s a grown woman and she has a choice to make,” Manning said. “Amanda is a lot tougher than she looks or she wouldn’t still be here refusing to let this slimeball send her into hiding.”
Kelly’s expression changed, became more hopeful.
“She has enough money to go to the south of France and rent a villa or cruise the Caribbean for a year until we finally catch Cameron. You heard her father when he came to my office. She hasn’t done that. Probably because she doesn’t want to leave you, no matter what speeches she makes about not letting Cameron drive her out of town,” Manning said, folding his arms and studying Kelly’s listening expression. Manning had always liked Kelly. The kid came from bad circumstances and instead of winding up in jail he had risen above his background and now made his living enforcing the law. Much like Manning himself.
“This whole thing is driving me crazy,” Kelly admitted to his boss.
“Just make sure you don’t lose your job over it before she decides what to do,” Manning said. He pulled out his cell phone and scanned the messages.
Kelly nodded. “Lieutenant?” he said.
Manning looked back at him. “Yeah?”
“Thanks for the talk.”
“I did most of the talking, Brendan,” Manning said dryly.
Mandy emerged from the bedroom dressed for work in a gray suit and a pink blouse which made her red hair look dark auburn.
"Amanda," Manning said pleasantly, "can we give you a lift to your office?"
Manning's cell phone rang and he looked at it.
"The rabbits are downstairs," Manning said to Kelly, referring to the forensics team. He looked at Mandy. "May I tell them to come up?"
Mandy looked at Kelly.
"I asked you, Amanda," Manning said, his voice still pleasant.
"They can come up but I should get to my office. Do I have to stay here?"
"Not at all. I'll make sure they leave your place as they found it."
Mandy nodded.
"Don't worry," Manning said. "I don't think Cameron was ever here. It sounds to me like he slipped that stuff into your handbag when you were out of this building."
Mandy nodded again. "Will Detective Kelly take me to my office?" she asked hopefully.
"No," Manning replied shortly. "One of the uniformed officers will drive you there. I need Detective Kelly here."
Mandy exchanged one glance with Kelly and then marched into the hall as Manning called the cop in the parking lot to come up and get her.
6
The District Attorney’s offices emptied out like a factory at the end of a shift once the courts closed and the staff there left. Mandy listened to the doors shutting and the drawers sliding closed in cubbyholes as she made the final notes on her laptop. She nodded and waved to her departing co-workers as they moved along the corridor. It had been a long time since she’d seen some of them and this rare visit had given her a chance to catch up with them.
“Still here?” Larry Delgado said as he passed and saw her head through the glass panel above the door.
“Almost done,” Amanda said. “I’m about to go. My leave is indefinite so take care of yourself if I don’t see you for a while.”
“He’s going with you?” Larry asked, pointing to the police guard stationed in the hall.
Amanda nodded.
“Want me to stay and help you wrap up, walk you out to the car?” Larry asked. Larry was a new ADA and very eager to please.
“Oh. No, don’t be silly. The police will take care of it.”
“Well, we’re all worried about you. We miss you and wish we could help.”
“Thanks, Larry. Say hello to Clarice. Tell her I’m looking forward to her Lindser tarts at the picnic.”
Larry smiled and walked on, hauling his briefcase under one arm and his laptop under the other.
Mandy shut down the power on her computer and closed the lid. She was aware of the eerie silence filling the offices and realized that Larry was right.
She was staying too long.
“Just going to th
e ladies’ room,” she said to the cop in the hall.
He nodded and said, “Make it quick, please.”
“I will.”
Mandy glanced at herself in the rest room mirror and wondered what she had looked like before the advent of James Cameron.
She felt like she had aged a century since then.
She heard some noise which sounded like it was coming from the lower floor. This was followed by loud scuffling and she turned her head toward the hall. When she heard another bang she yanked open the door and called, “Officer Banks?”
There was no response.
Her heart began to pound. She left her purse and her briefcase and edged into the hall.
“Officer Banks?” she called again.
She moved forward another step and saw the policeman lying on the floor, blood pouring from his head.
Mandy gasped and took a step to run to him, then thought of her cell phone, still in the bathroom. She crept back inside and scrabbled in her purse for the phone, stabbing the button for Kelly’s number. She texted madly, listening for telltale sounds in the building, then dialed. It rang endlessly and then she heard Kelly’s voice, his blessed voice, leaving the standard “I’ll get back to you” message. She whispered desperately into the phone, telling him where she was and what had happened. She was dialing 911 for help and an ambulance for the injured cop when she left the rest room. As she went into the hall the door to the outer corridor flew open and Cameron stood in the entrance to the office.
He looked just as she remembered: the stubble, the longish hair, the cocky smile. He was holding a pistol and he had a belt of grenades strapped across his chest.
“Hello, counselor,” he said with mock courtesy. “Remember me?”
Mandy backed up instinctively, trying to slip her cell phone into her skirt pocket.
“I’ll take that,” he said. “Calling your boyfriend? He can’t help you now.”
Mandy palmed the phone.
“Drop it on the floor,” he said.
Mandy did as she was told. Her hands were suddenly sweating so profusely that it slipped through her fingers easily.
“That’s a good girl.” He bent and picked it up. “I should tell you that I’ve enjoyed our correspondence. Kind of one sided, I guess, but what can you do? When I saw you at that charity bash I wanted to take you aside and tell you all about your pen pal, but that cop was hanging around and I had to settle for sticking that little present in your purse. It made me see that I had to speed things up, though, because your boyfriend is clever and he was closing in on me.” He gestured with the pistol. “The cop, I mean, not the stuffed shirt who took off for China. It’s only the cop you care about, anyway, so that’s where I want to get you.”
“How…how do you know about Kelly?” Mandy asked, looking at the wall behind him, searching for something to use as a weapon.
“Same way I know about everything else. I’ve been watching you. I’ve taken kitchen jobs at that restaurant, and at the country club, wherever they don’t check references or papers too closely and where I know you’ll be in the near future. It worked like a charm until your daddy’s pal, that police lieutenant, dropped Kelly on me.”
Keep him talking, Mandy thought, keep him talking until you can think of something to do. He liked the sound of his own voice and holding her trapped and listening to him as a captive audience was obviously seductive.
“Oh, you like that cop, don’t you? Couldn’t wait for the Congressman to get out of the picture so you could grope the detective. I saw you dancing with him at that fundraiser. You were one step away from stripping off his tux.”
Mandy looked at the receptionist’s desk and saw the laptop sitting there, closed and square and handy at about two pounds. She edged nearer to it as she searched her mind recklessly for something to say.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mandy said, struggling to keep her voice even. “We were just dancing.”
“And he was looking at you like you hung the moon,” Cameron went on, not even listening to her. “Couldn’t keep his hands off your back, your shoulders, your hair. I saw it all. I’d love to give the Congressman an earful about it but it looks like I might have better things to do.”
Mandy waited until he glanced away from her face and then lunged for the computer. It was heavy enough to act as a bludgeon and she hurled it at his head as hard as she could.
She had never been a sports star and her aim was not exactly perfect. But it caught Cameron a blow significant enough to make him stagger and she shot past him as he fell against the wall. He tried to grab her and almost caught her arm but she tripped him and he cursed as he stumbled again.
Mandy ran wildly, with no thought other than to get away from him. She listened for him to come after her in pursuit but instead she heard popping noises, followed by explosions and the rush of flames. She turned to look and her heart dove into her shoes.
He was lobbing grenades into the offices.
She had to get out of the complex. Cameron had obviously come not just to get her but to destroy the building.
Kelly, she thought desperately, panting. Look at your phone, damn it. Check your messages. Where the hell are you?
* * * * *
Kelly folded his arms as Manning went over the procedure for informing suspects of their rights with the audience of detectives listening to him. They had had a rash of bad arrests and Manning had picked an assembly day when everyone was in uniform and in the house to address them. Manning was getting frustrated with officers losing their collars to the judicial system when judges threw them out and sprung the criminals on technicalities. Kelly had heard it all before and it was the end of the day when it was tough to listen to anything. He was glad when the meeting broke up and he could go back to his office. He pulled out his phone and looked at it as he filed into the corridor with the other cops.
Then he started punching buttons on the phone as he began to run.
* * * * *
Mandy was trying to make her way down to the lower floor of the building to get away from the fire. Cameron was now yelling at her as he tossed more explosives into the already burning offices. She could still hear his voice as she choked on the smoke and staggered blindly through the haze, unable to recall how to get out of the complex to the street from the basement. She was going to die in this holocaust unless she could find an escape route.
Finally she could hear the honking of fire engines and the wail of sirens, and she knew that help was on the way. But Cameron heard the noise too, and his assault intensified as he screamed curses and tossed firebombs randomly, searching for her. Suddenly he fell silent and she knew that he was trying to sneak up on her. The silence was worse than his voice because she couldn’t locate him, and it also allowed her to hear the cracking and snapping of the building as it burned while debris crashed to the floor. She made it to a window and watched two police cars screech to a halt in the street as screaming fire engines pulled up behind them.
Help is here, she thought, it’s downstairs. She just had to keep Cameron from killing her before it could reach her.
The window in front of her blew open abruptly from the heat and she threw up her arms to protect her face from the splintering glass. She stumbled backward and caught her heel on a fallen piece of metal, wrenching her ankle. She whimpered in pain and closed her eyes, gasping. She opened her eyes seconds later but could see only drifting smoke and she waited for it to clear.
When she could see again Cameron was standing a few feet away from her, his gun pointed at her chest.
“Cameron!” Kelly’s voice shouted suddenly behind them.
Cameron turned like a heat seeking missile and pointed his gun at Kelly. As he turned the smoke thinned again and Mandy could see Kelly in the hall, flat footed with his feet planted apart, holding his gun out before him with both hands.
“Let her go, Cameron. I’m the one you want,” Kelly shouted, then broke off, coughing, as the s
moke swirled around them.
“Look who’s here, counselor, your boyfriend the cop come to save you,” Cameron called to Amanda.
“Amanda’s not your problem. I am,” Kelly yelled at him. “Deal with me and let her go.”
“She put me in jail!”
“The police put you in jail and I’m the police.”
“She gave that other lawyer the info they used to convict me.” He gestured wildly to Amanda with his gun. “She found it. She’s the reason I was locked up! I heard them talking and this bitch here is going to pay for what she did.”
Cameron aimed his gun suddenly at Amanda. Kelly fired three times in succession as Cameron leapt away from him. The noise of the gunfire was deafening, even with the din of the blaze going on around it.
Cameron cursed as one bullet found its target in his shoulder.
“Mandy, get out of here,” Kelly yelled to her. “Run!”
Cameron’s gun followed her progress across the burning room. He was hanging on to it with the hand below his uninjured shoulder. Kelly shoved her toward the exit as she ran past him. He yelled to Cameron, “Drop the gun, Cameron, it’s all over. There’s a million cops downstairs. Drop the gun and come out of this with your life. You can’t get away.”
Amanda's Blue Marine Page 12