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

by T. E. Killian

She shook her head. “No, I’m afraid I’m going to have to change my mind about that one. He got so agitated once this afternoon that I really thought he was going to hit me.”

  Chapter Five

  Thursday afternoon, Alison was having trouble concentrating. She picked up another file but that didn’t work either. She was getting tired and having a hard time keeping her eyes open. It was only four o’clock and she usually worked much later, but she’d been getting up an hour earlier and she wasn’t sleeping well lately. In fact, after her confrontation with Blaine on Tuesday and then Stan telling her that he had seen Wilson in her neighborhood, she hadn’t sleep much at all the last two nights. Now it was starting to catch up with her.

  She looked down at the folders on her desk and thought it could all wait until tomorrow. She just couldn’t work any longer today.

  With that, she grabbed her purse and briefcase then started for the door. She stopped short when she saw Lucy coming through her doorway.

  “Did you want to see me, Lucy?”

  Lucy looked at the bags in Alison’s hands and said, “It won’t take but a minute.”

  “That’s okay. Come on in.”

  Alison backtracked to her desk, placing her bags on it and sitting on a corner. Lucy sat on the edge of one of the chairs facing the desk.

  “I’ve been gone all day or I would have told you sooner. I’m sure that I saw Wilson following me to the house I was showing last night.”

  Alison jumped up. “Did he do anything?”

  “No. He just drove on past when I stopped at the house. I guess I should tell the police.”

  “That’s all right, Lucy. I’ll call my friend Stan who was here the other day. He’s working on this case.”

  When Lucy left, Alison started to call Stan, but decided to wait until she was in the car. She enjoyed having built in Blue Tooth in her new car. It made it easier, and safer, for her to conduct business from her car, which she did daily.

  As soon as Stan answered, she said, “Stan, one of my associates, Lucy, just told me that Wilson followed her last night to a house she was showing.”

  “What happened?”

  “Nothing. It sounds just like what he did to me Monday night.”

  She heard him blow out a breath. “Well that confirms that he didn’t leave the area after I saw him Tuesday. We have to find him. Could you tell your people that if he follows anyone else to call us right then, while he’s still following them? Maybe we can catch him that way.”

  As soon as she disconnected, she called Mary and asked her to let the other women know to call Stan right away. She gave her his cell phone number.

  When Alison pulled into her garage she noticed that her For Sale sign was down again. Her anger flared almost to the boiling point.

  This time, when she got out of the car to go put the sign back up, she slung her purse over her shoulder.

  She finished putting the sign back up and walked toward the open garage. That was when Blaine appeared from the side of her house. He stepped in front of her blocking her path to the garage.

  Alison remembered what Kelly had done last year when some bad guys had walked in on her and some others at her grandparents’ home. She reached her hand into her purse and found her phone. She only took her eyes off Blaine long enough to push and hold the number 2 key to speed dial Stan.

  She looked back up at Blaine and moved her hand around in the purse until she found her gun and wrapped her hand around it. She was thankful that she’s slung the bag over her right shoulder.

  Blaine was speaking and she’d missed part of it. “. . . don’t you?”

  “I’m sorry Blaine. What did you say?”

  He looked angry now, and she was glad she’d called Stan.

  “I said, I don’t want you to leave. How can I protect you if you move away? All I want to do is protect you. That’s all I ever wanted to do. You’re so pretty, I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

  He brought his hand up as if to reach out to her, but she stepped back and he dropped his arm back down to his side.

  She thought about trying to make a run for the house, but discarded that idea. He would catch her for sure if she tried. And she didn’t want to pull the gun out unless she had to. No. She was better off out here in the open. Maybe he wouldn’t try anything with potential witnesses. And maybe Stan would get the message and come to her rescue.

  “You don’t need to put the sign back up. I’m just going to take it and throw it away next time.”

  Alison was saved from having to answer when Stan’s car came roaring down the street and stopped in front of her driveway.

  Stan jumped out and hurried up to stand between her and Blaine as she stepped back farther still. The man cringed and shrunk back like a wild animal when cornered.

  “Okay, Stockton. Didn’t you understand what we told you yesterday?”

  Blaine leaned to one side and continued staring at Alison around Stan, ignoring him.

  Just then, a marked police car pulled up behind Stan’s car. Alison knew the officer who stepped out. Larry Caldwell had been one of Grant and Stan’s friends in high school.

  Stan turned to Larry and said, “Hook him up and take him to the hospital. Tell them to get the psych. eval paperwork started. I’ll be there in a few minutes, okay?”

  Larry nodded and pulled out his handcuffs.

  Blaine didn’t say anything else until Larry was putting him into the back of the squad car. “I just want to protect you Alison.”

  Alison and Stan watched until the squad car pulled out and moved off down the street.

  Stan took one look at Alison and pulled her into a hug. After a moment, he pulled back a little, looked into her eyes, and said, “I can stay here for a while if you need me to. I can get someone else to do the paperwork.”

  She shivered and said, “That’s okay, Stan, I’ll be all right in a minute.”

  She pulled her hand out of her purse, and her gun was still clenched in it. Stan took one look and carefully pealed her fingers off the cold metal then placed it back in her purse.

  “I was ready this time Stan. He wasn’t going to hurt me.”

  Stan grinned. “No, Alison, I don’t think he would have.” He squeezed her and stepped back a few more inches. “You sure were thinking fast to call me that way.”

  She attempted a laugh but it came out like a croak. “I remembered what Kelly did last year when those guys grabbed her and the others.”

  “That’s good. It’ll make things go easier at the hospital since I recorded that whole conversation between you and him.” He blew out a breath. “I think the guy’s nuts. Maybe they’ll keep him for a while.”

  Alison shook her head. “I just can’t find it in myself to feel sorry for him right now. He scared me pretty bad this time.”

  * * *

  It was almost eight by the time Stan got home. The hospital had said they were planning to keep Stockton at least overnight. He’d driven past Alison’s house just to be sure no one was watching the house. Then he’d stopped at a burger drive through to get a hamburger and fries.

  He had just sat down at the table and taken a bite out of his hamburger when his cell phone rang. When he answered, it was dispatch.

  “Stan, we’ve got another attack and Sonia was nearby so she’s already there.”

  She gave him the address and he grabbed the hamburger to eat on the way and took off.

  When he arrived on the scene, they were loading a woman into the ambulance. All he could see was that she had blond hair. He raced up to the ambulance but Sonia stopped him with a hand on his chest.

  “It isn’t Alison, Stan.”

  With that, he deflated and almost collapsed right there on the sidewalk. Sonia grabbed his arm and held on until he shook his head and said, “I’m all right now.”

  She let go and looked him in the eye. “Maybe you’re too involved in this case, Stan.”

  He shook his head and before he thought, shouted, “
Don’t even think about taking me off this case. I’ll just find some way to finish it on my own.”

  As soon as he finished talking, he knew he’d said too much. Sonia was going to blast him now for sure. But that wasn’t the case. She grabbed his arm again, led him away from the others, and then forced him to sit on a bench in front of the house. She sat next to him.

  Her voice was calm and controlled when she said, “Stan, I know it’s just emotions making you say that, so I’m going to ignore all of what you just said.”

  He couldn’t believe it. The old Sonia would have taken him off the case, and then written him up, of course after she yelled at him. He looked into her eyes and saw compassion.

  She was also looking into his eyes and must have seen the questions there. “No, I’m not going to take you off the case . . . yet.” She gestured to the departing ambulance. “I know that could have been Alison, and I understand how hard it must have hit you when you saw the blond hair. I promise you that I am going to do everything I can to put this monster away.”

  Stan didn’t say anything as he released the air in his lungs. She continued looking into his eyes and said, “You’re in love with her aren’t you?”

  Stan was staggered. Was he? All he could do was try to give her a sheepish smile and she smiled back and said, “I thought so.” She patted his arm. “Your secret is safe with me.”

  Then she thought for a moment and said, “Does Grant know you’re in love with his little sister?”

  He just shook his head.

  She laughed. “I’d love to be there when he finds out. It ought to be interesting.”

  Sonia let all that settle for a few minutes then said, “Well, let’s get to work. We’ve got another attack to investigate. And so far this one looks just like the last one.”

  In answer to his questioning look, she said, “Yes, a blond female realtor showing a house beaten by a guy in a Halloween mask. The weapon even seems to be the same, some kind of rubber hose.”

  Stan rubbed his chin, thinking. “I can’t get past the fact that both of them were blonds.” He shook his head to clear it. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  She nodded. “If you’re thinking that somehow Alison is mixed up in this, then yes, that’s what I’m thinking too.”

  She thought for a moment. If that’s true, then her three stalkers are definitely our prime suspects.”

  Stan had a faraway look in his eyes as he nodded his head.

  They sat there in silence for a few more minutes before Sonia stood and said, “We can let that stew for a while. Right now, I guess we should head on over to the hospital and see if we can get a statement from this victim.”

  Stan followed her to the street where their cars were about fifty feet apart. He turned to her and said, “One thing about it, we can take Stockton off the list. He should still be at the hospital. They said they were keeping him at least overnight.”

  But Stan discovered that he was wrong. When they arrived at the hospital ER, they were told that Stockton had somehow walked off almost two hours ago when no one was watching him.

  “I guess that puts us back to square one with all three suspects again.” Stan shook his head and collapsed into a plastic waiting room chair next to Sonia.

  Sonia seemed to be deep in thought so he let her think as he attempted to do some of his own.

  She slapped her knee and said, “What color hair does the woman in Alison’s office have?” When he gave her a puzzled look, she said, “The one who said Monroe was following her last night.”

  “Brown.” Stan knew where she was going now. He looked back at her and said, “That’s right. She doesn’t fit the pattern. Does she?”

  “No, and if the attacker is just hitting blonds, then either Monroe isn’t our guy or he threw a smoke screen at us.”

  Stan had to think about that one for a minute.

  Sonia looked up and said, “Here comes the nurse, maybe we’ll get in to see this one now.”

  After they interviewed Marilyn Curtis, they knew no more than they did before. Stan was frustrated, big time! They would never catch this guy without a description or something else they could go with.

  As they were walking out of the hospital after ten o’clock, Stan’s cell phone rang. When he answered it, all he knew at first was that it was Alison. The caller-id told him that much. She was so hysterical he couldn’t understand what she was saying.

  After a few long seconds, she steadied her voice enough so that he could hear her say, “Get here! Now!”

  He didn’t break the connection as he turned to Sonia. “This is Alison and she’s hysterical. She said to get there, now.”

  Both took off running for their cars and roared away from the hospital with lights and sirens going. Stan was glad when he heard Sonia call it in to dispatch. He didn’t think he could put two words together right then, he was so scared. What was happening over there? What would he find when he got there? Was Alison okay? She has to be!

  * * *

  Alison was standing in her front doorway. The door wouldn’t close so she was watching the front of the house. She was hoping the man wouldn’t come back before Stan got there. She still had her gun in her hand and Brutus was standing at her other side. The poor dog was still shaking from the sound of the gunshot. She didn’t have time to comfort him right now. She was shaking more than the dog was. She needed comforting!

  Stan’s car came to a screeching halt in her driveway and another unmarked car pulled in behind it. Their lights were still flashing but they’d turned their sirens off. Then two marked cars came from opposite directions and stopped at the curb behind the unmarked cars. For a second, she thought they were going to bump into each other head on. That caused a short hysterical laugh to escape her lips.

  She shook that thought off. She had to or she would start screaming and wouldn’t be able to stop. She took one step out onto the porch and just stood there watching Stan jump out of his car and rush toward her. But he stopped five feet away.

  “Alison, you can put the gun down now.”

  She looked down at the gun in her hand and slowly placed on the small table beside the door. It was as if she was watching someone else perform the task.

  Then Stan rushed up to her and pulled her into his arms. He just held her very tightly without saying anything. She hadn’t realized it but that was the very thing she had needed. She stopped trembling almost at once. Thank God for Stan. Where had that come from? Well, she couldn’t think about that now, maybe later, much later.

  Sonia came up behind him, and Alison noticed that she was slipping her gun back into its holster. Sonia motioned to the two uniformed officers to each go around one side of the house. They drew their guns as they went.

  The three of them continued standing where they were with Stan still holding her until the other two officers came back and reported that they hadn’t seen anyone.

  One of them pulled Sonia aside, but Alison could hear what he said to her. “It looks like someone used a pry bar on the back door but didn’t get it all the way open.”

  Sonia turned on all the lights as Stan led Alison back into the house. He guided her to the sofa and sat down with her, his arm still around her shoulders.

  Sonia crouched down in front of Alison. “Alison, are you hurt in any way?”

  “Hurt?” She laughed. “That depends on what you mean by hurt.” She waved her arm in front of her body. “No marks on me but . . .” Then she laughed again and Stan pulled her tighter into his arms.

  After a couple of minutes like that, Stan eased back and looked into her eyes. She could hear the sounds of many voices and footsteps on the porch and all around outside. The whole department must be there. But she was glad that she only had Stan and Sonia with her inside. She looked up at Stan and burst into tears.

  Between sobs she kept saying, “I never cry” repeatedly.

  Sonia came over to them then carrying Alison’s gun on a book that had also been on the
table. She looked at Stan and said, “It’s been fired recently.”

  They both looked at Alison who was mopping her face with tissues, attempting to compose herself.

  Stan reached out and touched her shoulder. “You think you’re ready now to tell us what happened here tonight?”

  She nodded and hiccupped. She reached down and petted Brutus who was no longer shaking. “Poor baby.”

  She raised her head and looked at Stan then at Sonia who had carried a kitchen chair in and sat in it in front of Alison.

  “Okay. I was sitting here reading with just that lamp on.” She pointed to the lamp beside her favorite chair. “I heard a noise at the back door that sounded like someone was trying to break in. My gun was right there, so I grabbed it and went into the kitchen to see. By the time I got back there, he must have run around to the front door because he was breaking it open as I came back in here.”

  She grabbed another tissue and blew her nose.

  “He had the door open and his arm was reaching in and that’s when I shot at him.”

  Sonia got up and went over to examine the door. She turned back to Stan, pointing to a spot about head high on the door. “It went through right here.”

  Stan turned back to Alison. “What happened then?”

  “I don’t know. There was so much confusion with Brutus barking and all. I think he must have left right then.”

  “Do you think you hit him?”

  “I don’t think so. I didn’t hear him yell out or anything.”

  Sonia spoke up again, “There’s no blood anywhere around the door or on the porch.” She started back toward them but looked down behind the small table by the door. Stooping down and pulling a bag out of her pocket, she picked something up with the bag.

  She brought it over to them looking at it as she walked. Then she stopped half way. “Stan, I think you’d better take a look at this.” She motioned for him to follow her out onto the porch.

  Alison could see the beam of a flashlight and hear muffled voices but that was all.

  When they came back in, they each sat down with her on the sofa, one on each side. She could see now that what Sonia had in the bag was a piece of paper.