Accepted Memories (Sycamore P.D. Series Book 2)

by T. E. Killian

  Stan and Sonia had already inspected the area where the victim had been found, and they began searching through the front yard, shining their flashlights on the ground when Sonia called out.

  “Here, Stan, look at this.”

  Sonia was pointing her flashlight at a spot in the shrubs next to the house that had been beaten down as if someone had crouched there for a while. They couldn’t find any tracks. It seemed that the perpetrator had stomped all around the dirt area to leave no clear footprints. There were imprints in the grass but that wouldn’t do them any good.

  On their way to the hospital, Sonia’s cell phone rang. She answered and Stan could tell from her end that she was talking to a uniform at the hospital.

  When she disconnected, she said, “That was Rhodes at the hospital. He said the woman was being transferred to a regular room and we should be able to talk to her by the time we get there.

  Neither said anything else until they were in the elevator going up to the third floor of the hospital.

  Sonia turned to Stan and said, “I’d better go in first in case she’s not covered.”

  Stan stood outside the door waiting for the okay to go in. He was trying to think of the last time they’d had this sort of crime to investigate. Sure, people were always assaulting each other like the bar fight the other night, but this sounded different. The guy wore a mask. That presented all sorts of possibilities.

  Sonia stuck her head out the door and motioned for him to enter.

  Once inside, Stan had Sonia and a nurse between him and the bed. The nurse was talking to Sonia in a low voice. He took the opportunity to look around them to the bed. The guy did a thorough job on her.

  Sonia turned to Stan and said to the nurse, “This is Detective Becker. Would you describe her injuries to both of us now, please?”

  “Okay. She has numerous abrasions and contusions on her face and arms. The radius is broken in her left arm. She doesn’t seem to have a concussion though. She says she never lost consciousness. The doctor wants to keep her overnight for observation though.”

  Sonia said, “Thank you. Is she up to talking to us for a few minutes now?”

  When the nurse gave them her approval and left the room, they stepped up to the bed on the same side. Stan was relieved to see that Sonia worked the same way he and Grant always had. If the person in the bed was a suspect they would have approached him or her from both sides of the bed in an attempt at keeping them off balance during questioning. This time, though, with a victim, they wanted to be as nice to her as they could.

  Stan got his first good look at the woman. When he did, he almost groaned. Even with stitches and bandages on her face and right arm, and the cast on her left arm, it hit him that she resembled Alison. She had long blond hair and blue eyes and was about Alison’s size too. She was at least ten years older though.

  Sonia took the lead again. “Mrs. Dillingham, I’m Sergeant Sonia Nordstrom and this is Detective Stan Becker. It would help us a great deal, if you could talk to us now. Do you feel up to it?”

  “Yes, I want you to catch that horrible man and put him away so he can’t do this to anyone else.” Her voice was strong if a little shaky.

  “That’s great, thank you. Now, could you tell us what happened this evening from the time you arrived at the house to show it?”

  Later, as Sonia was pulling out of the hospital parking lot, she said, “Well, Stan, what do you think at this point?”

  Stan snorted. “We don’t have much to go on. She didn’t see the guy’s face because of the mask. She didn’t even get a good enough look at the rest of him to give us any kind of physical description. And to top it all off, she doesn’t know of anybody who might do something like that to her.”

  Sonia drove in silence for a moment. “Something tells me that this wasn’t a random attack. For some reason, I think this guy knew who he was attacking and did what he set out to do. It sounds like he used about a three foot length of rubber hose, which can cause some major damage without being traced.”

  Silence again for a moment then Sonia said, “What do you think should be our next step?”

  Stan scratched his head above his right ear and said, “I would say that the only place we can look right now is her home and her real estate office.”

  “Good. That’s what I was thinking. We’ll get started on both angles first thing in the morning. Maybe she’ll get out of the hospital early enough that we can talk to her again at home.” She pulled into his driveway. “Get a good night’s sleep. Something tells me we’re both going to need it.”

  As Sonia pulled off down the street, Stan laughed. He didn’t think he was going to get much sleep tonight. He didn’t even go into his house, but jumped in his truck and headed for Alison’s house.

  * * *

  After talking to Stan, Alison felt somewhat better so she took a quick shower then pulled on jeans and a t-shirt. After drying her hair, she sat in her living room looking at, but not really watching, some romantic comedy on a movie channel. She was sitting on the sofa with Brutus stretched out beside her with his head in her lap.

  She heard a car pull into her driveway. Brutus raised his head and growled. At first, she thought it might be Stan. But by the time she made it to the window to look out, the car was backing out and then it drove off down the street. The headlights had lit up the for sale sign she’d placed in the front yard shortly before dark, and then moved on.

  She sat there trying to calm her nerves. After about fifteen minutes, she was beginning to have some success, when a car stopped at the curb in front of her house for a couple of minutes and then drove off. If someone was trying to scare her, they were doing a pretty good job of it.

  Alison realized she was getting scared now. She was beginning to be sorry that she had told Stan not to come by after his callout. Maybe he wouldn’t listen to her, as usual.

  She was sitting there with no light on. The only light was coming from the glow of the TV screen. She was sitting next to the front window with the curtain pulled open a small crack so she could see out and no one could see her. There was a big butcher knife lying on the table next to her and Brutus was now stretched out at her feet.

  She almost screamed when she saw headlights swing into her drive again, lighting up the front of her house. She grabbed the butcher knife and looked out the slit in the curtain. She almost collapsed in relief when she saw Stan jump out of his truck and rush to the front door.

  Before she could get to the door, he was pounding on it and calling her name. Brutus began barking loudly and she dropped the knife as she opened the door then leaped into his arms. She wasn’t going to cry. She wasn’t! But it sure did feel good to have Stan’s strong arms around her trembling body.

  “It’s okay, Alison, I’m here now. It’s okay.”

  * * *

  It took Stan a few minutes sitting on the sofa with Alison to get her calm enough to talk. Then he gently coaxed the events of the evening out of her in the next twenty minutes. She was more or less calm by then.

  Stan motioned toward the front of the house. “I see you listed your house. Did that weird guy next door finally get to you?”

  She nodded and sniffed. “Yes, he’s been obnoxious ever since I moved in, but lately he seems to be getting worse all the time. He gives me the creeps. I’m sure he has binoculars or even a telescope over there trying to look into my house. I’m glad my bedroom is on the other side of the house from his.”

  “Do you want me to go over there and talk to him?”

  “No, I don’t think it’ll do any good. Grant has already talked to him and you can see how much good that did.”

  “I’m going to sleep right here on your couch tonight.”

  One look at Alison’s face, and Stan knew he’d said the wrong thing. Alison almost blew up. “Oh no you’re not, Stan! You are not going to stay here tonight. I can’t have your truck sitting out there for everyone in the neighborhood to see. I’ve worked too hard to build
up the image of my company as being a family friendly realty. I won’t have that destroyed.”

  At least she was no longer sitting there feeling sorry for herself. “Okay, okay Alison, I understand.”

  He knew he needed to change the subject but quick. “Do you still have that handgun Grant talked you into buying?”

  She laughed or giggled, he wasn’t sure which. Then she walked over to the door. Stooping, she picked up a butcher knife and waved it at Stan.

  “This fell to the floor when I opened the door for you. I guess I forgot about the gun. I feel foolish that I didn’t think of it earlier. I had this stupid thing here with me for protection.”

  Stan tried not to laugh or even smile, but it was difficult when Alison was admitting that she was wrong in any way.

  “Okay, why don’t you go get the gun and we’ll check it out before I leave?”

  Alison went into her bedroom and came back out after a minute with the gun case in her hands. Stan motioned to the table and they sat there while he took the 9mm handgun out and checked it over. He slid a round into the magazine, slipped it into the gun, and handed it to her.

  “I’m going to leave the chamber empty. If you have to use it, you’ll need to chamber a round first. Do you remember how to do that?”

  Alison took the gun and did as he requested. He then took it back, emptied the chamber again, and reloaded the magazine with ten rounds.

  This time when he handed it back to her, she placed it on the table in front of her.

  Stan didn’t feel right leaving Alison, but he knew she would not change her mind, so he didn’t try to persuade her.

  “Do you have my number on speed dial?”

  When she shook her head, he said, “Would you do that right now, please?”

  He knew he was pushing it. Alison hated to be told what to do under any circumstances and not by him for sure. Her face stiffened, and he could tell she was struggling. But after a moment, she picked up her cell phone and did as he’d asked.

  “Now, for the rest of the night, I want you to keep the gun with you, okay?”

  She nodded then walked him to the door and Stan left even though he didn’t want to.

  Stan couldn’t just go home and leave her defenseless. Maybe the guy would come back. So he circled the block and parked down the street a ways and watched her house. He saw the lights go on in her bedroom then off in the living room. Ten minutes later, the bedroom light went out too. An hour later, Stan decided to head home.

  On his way home, Stan debated calling Sonia to tell her about Alison’s problems, but when he turned his cell phone on, he noticed that it was twelve o’clock. He decided that it could wait until morning.

  Yes, tomorrow he and Sonia would be paying this Wilson Monroe a not so friendly visit. He hoped Sonia wouldn’t realize how personal this incident was to him. If she did, she’d pull him off it in a flash.

  He didn’t want that. He wanted to get this slime ball, and he wanted to get him good. There was no way he was going to let the guy get away with treating his Alison that way.

  Whoa! What was that? His Alison? Where did that come from? Since when did he start thinking of her that way? That was when he realized that he was beginning to want more in his relationship with his best friend’s little sister. Yes, he wanted a lot more.

  He’d better never slip and say anything like that to her. She’d come unglued. Okay, he’d have to go at this very carefully and very slowly.

  Chapter Four

  Stan went straight into Sonia’s office when he got to the station Tuesday morning. She was there, but talking on the phone. She held up one finger then pointed to the chairs in front of her desk. Stan took a seat in one of them.

  She finished her call and said, “You seem to have something on your mind. Let’s have it.”

  He grinned in reply not only at her comment but also at her smile. He sure could get used to this new Sonia. If only it would last.

  “Okay, before you yell at me about not telling you this last night, I didn’t realize it might apply, and also it got worse after you dropped me off last night.”

  “Was I that bad? No, don’t answer that. Okay, the suspense is killing me. What are you talking about?” She even said this without her usual heavy sarcasm.

  “Well, when you called me last night to go out on that assault case, I was talking to Grant’s sister Alison on the phone. I don’t know how much you know about her, but she is a real estate broker and has her own realty company here in town.”

  When Sonia nodded, he continued, “Yesterday, she fired one of her associates because of unprofessional behavior.” When she raised an eyebrow, he said, “The guy was hitting on female clients.”

  That got her attention. Stan could tell that upset her.

  “When she fired him, he threatened her. He said that she’d be sorry. She didn’t think too much of that at first, but then she was sure he was following her later when she went to show a house.”

  “You have his info?”

  “Yes, but there’s more. Last night while we were out on that assault case, someone kept pulling into her driveway and leaving, stopping at the curb out front and leaving. I went over there, and she was pretty shook up.”

  Sonia slammed a pen down on her desk. “Knowing Grant, I think I know the answer to this question, but I need to know for sure. Is she armed?”

  “Yes, she has a 9mm at her house, but she hasn’t messed with it until now.” He saw the look in her eyes and headed off her next question. “Grant made sure she knew how to shoot it and I’ve seen her at the range. She’s a pretty good shot too. And just to be sure, I checked her out on it last night before I left.”

  “Okay, let go see this guy, see if we can put the fear of God in him.”

  When they got to the address Alison’s secretary had given them, there was no answer to their knock. The manager told them he had moved out that morning and let them in the furnished apartment but it was empty of any personal items. They couldn’t find anything helpful anywhere in the three rooms.

  Sonia was driving again, and as she pulled out onto the street, she said, “Well, that was a bust. We’ll have to run him through our computers later to see if we can find any other addresses or relatives. Didn’t you say he came up from the Phoenix area?”

  “Yes, but Alison said they didn’t have former addresses, just the realty where he worked before coming up here.”

  “Okay, that’s a start, but we’ll put that on hold for now. Let’s go see our victim from last night.”

  There was no one at the Dillingham home.

  Sonia shook her head and said, “Well, let’s go see her broker. Maybe he can help us.”

  They were both rather surprised when they entered the realty office to see Marsha Dillingham sitting at her desk trying to work. They asked her to go into the broker’s office with them.

  Mark Hamilton was what Stan would call an “old school” realtor. He looked as if he was either a used car salesman or a televangelist with his combed back hair and too broad smile. Stan wasn’t too thrilled about either type of person.

  After introductions were over, Sonia looked at Marsha and said, “How are you feeling today. Aren’t you pushing it a bit being here at work already?”

  Marsha shook her head. “I’m feeling much better than last night. I’m a little achy all over and my arm throbs some and I’m taking some powerful painkillers, but I’ll be okay. I’m just not driving.”

  Hamilton laughed, and said, “It’ll take more than this to get Marsha down. She’s one of the most determined associates here. But that aside, detectives, what can we do for you to help you catch this maniac?”

  Sonia kept the lead. “We would like for you to go through your client list and go back a few years to see if you can pull out anyone who might have a grudge against Marsha or maybe this office.”

  He smiled and said, “Sure, I’ve already asked my secretary to begin that search. We should have it for you by the end of the
day.”

  “Good.” She handed him her card and said, “If you could just ask her to email it over to the station that would be great.” She looked at Marsha then back at the broker. “Is there some place where we could talk to Marsha in private?”

  At first, Stan thought the guy might balk, but then he smiled that salesman’s smile again and said, “Sure, you can use my office, I have an appointment in Sedona I need to be leaving for.”

  With that, he left the three of them in his office.

  Sonia turned to Marsha, placing her hand on the other woman’s good hand. “Is there anything we can do for you Marsha?”

  When Marsha shook her head, Sonia said, “Is there anything else you’ve thought of since last night that you think we might need to know?”

  “No. I’ve thought about it a lot, especially while I was lying in that hospital bed with nothing else to do, but I can’t think of anything. I just never saw the man except for a glimpse of that Halloween mask as he knocked me to the ground. Then he just kept hitting me and I had my arms over my face until he left.”

  Stan broke the silence once they were back in Sonia’s car. “Well, I don’t think we’re getting anywhere with this one.”

  Sonia started the car and drove out of the realty parking lot. “I think you’re right. I hate to say this, but unless the guy gives himself away or tries it again, it doesn’t look like we’ll catch him.”

  “Yeah, I think you’re right.”

  “Okay, let’s head over to Alison’s office and see what she can tell us about her nasty guy. Maybe we’ll get lucky there at least.”

  She headed the car that way and neither spoke again until they pulled into that parking lot.

  * * *

  Alison had been up since four thirty, two hours earlier than usual for her. She liked to be at the office by eight but today, she couldn’t stay in the house any longer and was there by six.

  As she worked on some things that she’d been putting off because of a lack of time, she wondered if maybe she might start coming in a little earlier every day. She wasn’t going to get up at four thirty though, maybe five thirty, or six. After all, she didn’t do much of anything at night. It would be easy for her to go to bed an hour earlier. Yes, that would work.