by Sioux Dallas
The next day everyone was going about their duties, but not laughing and lighthearted as they usually were. David and Jake were finishing the new stalls; Gordon was on horseback checking the fencing around the pasture for the boarders; the volunteers were going about their duties and Keanu was in the loft checking the last hay shipment. He looked out the door where the big loading pulley was ready to lift a load. Casually he glanced down the driveway where he could see the entrance over the trees. Suddenly he took a hard look and then ran to the ladder and practically fell down it.
“David,” Keanu yelled. He ran toward David’s car as Jake and David ran from the stable. “Let’s go man. Right now. I just saw someone drop from a tree at the end of the driveway and take off running. If it’s that crazy man, we might catch him.”
David ran to his car while Keanu was talking. Jake ran toward the office to tell Sheilah. Unlike his usual, careful driving, David took off in a shower of gravels and shot down the driveway. His adrenaline was bursting through his system. They reached the main road but could see no one.
“Let’s drive toward town. If he had a car nearby, he might drive that way and we’ll catch him.” Keanu was so excited that he was bouncing and felt as if he could run faster than the car. His skin felt itchy.
“Easy.” David cautioned. “We’ll have to be careful to not accuse anyone or do anything that might help a smart lawyer to give the guilty man a loop hole to slip through. We need concrete proof so we can take him to trial and get him put away so Sharon won’t be in any more danger. He’s more than likely just a small cog in the wheel. We need to play it carefully so that we can get all the big boys involved.” David tried to reason with Keanu and calm him down as he pushed the accelerator down harder.
Hearing a siren, David look in the rearview mirror. “Now we’re in for it,” he said with disgust and slapped the steering wheel with his open hand. He put on the right turn signal and carefully pulled over to the side.
Deputy Vincent Belasic pulled in behind them, got out and ran to David’s car. “What’s up, guys? I was coming to see you and saw you take off like a scalded dog.”
“Why couldn’t you have been a little later?” Keanu started to scold the deputy. David reached over and placed a hand on Keanu’s arm. He quickly explained what Keanu had seen and why they were driving so fast.
“Gee, I’m sorry. Let’s go,” Vincent yelled running back to his car. He called the Zephyrhills City Police Department asking to speak to the chief. He told them briefly of the situation and asked them to be on the lookout for a dark car being driven fast or in a suspicious manner. He told them he was following David in and would be patrolling the streets when they arrived in town.
Driving down Fifth Avenue, which was Main Street, they looked for a man meeting the description that Keanu gave. Not seeing anyone, on the second trip David parked, nose to curb, in front of Neukom’s. Deputy Belasic stood on the sidewalk. Chief Larry Warren joined them. Daniel introduced him to David and Keanu. “Who’s this you’re looking for?” the Chief asked.
Belasic told him the bare facts and David filled in with the incidents that had brought him here as well as the phone calls Sharon had been getting. “She lives in Zephyrhills and needs your protection,” David finished.
Chief Warren was within rights as he scolded them for not involving his earlier.
Keanu walked to a nearby intersection to look in different directions. As he neared Eighth St., he saw a tall man hurry down a side street.
“Hey, you,” Keanu yelled running after the man. He saw the man running toward a dark sedan parked, in of all places, on the City Hall lot. “Hey, wait. Hey, mister, I want to talk to you.”
Keanu came close enough to see the man look back over his shoulder and snarl at him as the man came closer to his car. Just as the man was ready to reach for the car door, Chief Warren roared up in a car he had driven around the block. David and Belasic jumped out of the Chief’s car just as Keanu launched himself through the air and hit the man in the back, knocking him to the ground with Keanu falling on him.
Keanu quickly shifted around and sat on the man with his fist drawn back. Belasic shouted at him and ducked under Keanu’s arm to place handcuffs on the man. When Keanu stood and helped Belasic raise the man to his feet, he saw that two uniformed police and two plain-clothes men had joined the Chief. The Chief stepped forward looking pretty grim. “Okay boy. He’s mine since he’s in the city limits. Let’s get him to the jail and booked, then we can question him.”
Belasic picked his hat up off the ground where it had dropped when he helped wrestle the man into the handcuffs. “I’m going to give him the Miranda so he can’t say he was not given a fair chance or arrested in a proper manner.”
“I’ll do it,” Chief Warren spoke. Facing the man he quoted, “You have the right to remain silent. Should you decide to give up that right, anything you say can, and will, be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can’t afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you by the court. Do you understand these rights?”
“Go to the devil,” the man answered. “You got nothing against me. Enjoy yourselves because I’ll be out of here so fast all you dummies will see will be my coat tail flying in your face,” he laughed maniacally.
“Whoooopeeee!” Belasic cheered. “You just told the wrong man off. This is the Chief of Police.”
“I don’t care if he’s the President of the United States. I’m right.”
Seeing Keanu was ready to explode, David put an arm around his shoulders and spoke in a low voice. “You heard Belasic. We have to be careful from now on what we say or do. Remember, we don’t want to give some slick attorney an opportunity to get this slime ball off because we goofed. Let the police handle it properly. Our turn will come in court when we give testimony. It’s more important to keep Sharon safe.”
“Can I call Sharon and tell her we got him? She’ll be so relieved.” Keanu ask eagerly. He was still shaking and red-faced. David was reluctant to let Keanu out of his reach for fear he would forget himself and do or say something that would be destructive to the case.
“Let’s see what happens first,” David suggested. “We’re pretty sure this is the right man, but we don’t have positive proof that would hold up in court.”
“You suckers can’t charge me with anything cause you got nothing on me,” the man laughed. His weird-looking reddish-brown eyes were almost glowing. His thin, pinched face actually looked like a demon possessed person. His dirty, thinning dark brown hair hung in wisps that needed trimming. The brown suit, brown shirt and brown shoes blended in to make it difficult to see him if he choose to stay out of sight. Surprising he had straight, white teeth, but thin, angry lips.
“You know,” Belasic spoke slowly standing taller than the tall man. “It’s interesting that you haven’t asked what you’re being charged with. I guess you already know though.”
“Oh, yeah,” the man sneered, “prove something on me.”
“We’ll know more when we get your fingerprints,” Vincent smiled in an irritating manner to the man.
“Why? What’ll that prove?”
“We’ll see if you have a record, or if the prints found at the crime scene match yours.”
“On what? What crime scene?”
“What if I told you we found prints on pieces of the bomb?”
“It would be a set-up. I was no where near that car.”
Keanu couldn’t keep from jumping and punching the air with his fist. “What car? No one said it was a car that was bombed. What made you think of it?”
“Hush,” David whispered, placing a hand on Keanu’s shoulder. “Don’t give anything away. Please allow the police to do their job.”
The man sneered. “Never you mind. Just let me have my call for a mouth piece.”
Chapter Eighteen
“I see you’ve been in jail before. You know all the process,” Chief Warren told the man. Turning to two
uniformed officers standing nearby the Chief ordered, “Book him. Print him and put him in a cell by himself.”
“What will we book him on?”
“Murder, attempted murder, stalking, harassment, having an ugly face, smelling bad, anything you can think of. Be sure he’s put where no one can get to him unless I say so.”
“Prove it,” the man kept yelling as he was led away, but he wasn’t as blustering as he had been when he was challenging them to charge him.
“Get him out of here,” the Chief was disgusted. He turned to the others. “I need your statements about all that’s happened. Are there other witnesses who need to make a statement? If what I suspect is true, I want to see that he’s put away for many a year and anyone who’s been working with him.”
“There’s several more who would like to give testimony,” Keanu said excitedly. “I’d like to call the woman he’s been trying to kill. She can tell you more than anyone about what has been happening.”
“Easy son,” David soothed Keanu. “We haven’t proven yet that he is the guilty one. I honestly think he is guilty, but it still has to be proven according to law. I don’t want to build Sharon’s hopes and then let her down.”
Chief Warren listened to Keanu’s plea and then agreed that he could call Sharon. Just don’t say this is absolutely the man. Tell her we have someone in custody that can’t, or won’t, account for himself at times that he might be in possession of knowledge about her case. I agree, there’s no need to build her hopes yet.”
Sheilah answered Keanu’s call. When he blurted out that they thought they had the man who had threatened Sharon, he had to hold the phone away from his ears. Her shriek brought Lynn, Jake and several of the teen volunteers. Each one tried to talk into the phone and ask questions.
“Put a lid on it,” Keanu finally shouted, then looked around in embarrassment when he realized that several police were looking curiously at him. “I can’t hear all of you at once and I don’t know any more than I told you. Just get Sharon down here to see if she can identify this man. Too, the Chief wants a statement from her.”
Sharon stood in shock while the others babbled around her. Lynn reached for her in concern because she had gotten pale and was weaving. “Come on, honey. We have to go down to the city police station. Jake, I’m going with Sharon. Can you and Gabe take the three remaining individual riders rather than cancel? One is jumping.”
Jake and Gabe spoke as one. “Go. Don’t worry.” They stopped and grinned at each other. “Go on,” Gabe urged. “We’ll be fine here. I’d love to go, too, and I will if you really need me, but David and Keanu are already there. You’ll be fine with them.”
“I know,” Lynn said. “All of you would love to be present, but we can’t have thirty of us tromping in. Besides, someone is needed here to give lessons, watch the stable and property and take care of the animals after the lessons. We don’t know for sure that this is the man. Even if it is, he may have buddies. Stay alert.”
Lynn grabbed her purse and car keys with one hand and reached to take Sharon’s arm. “Sharon, is something wrong?” she asked concerned.
Sharon turned a perplexed, dazed look at Lynn. “I can’t believe it. It doesn’t seem real. At last I might be going to see the person who wants me dead and find out why all this nightmare started.”
Jardine and Ashley moved to either side of Sharon. Ashley put a loving arm around her while Jardine patted her hand. “Are you sure you’re up to this?” Ashley asked. “It doesn’t have to be done today.”
“I’ll be fine,” Sharon smiled weakly and straightened her shoulders. “I have to face this person and find the answer to a lot of questions. If he isn’t guilty, why is he hanging around?”
Martin hobbled in the front door on his two special canes. He was beaming and looking pleased with himself. “Lynn, look who I found in the stables.”
Lynn looked in astonished at the tall, ultra-groomed woman with white hair expertly coifed. “Dr. Zimmerman! Were you due today? Oh, I’m sorry. Forgive me, but we’ve had some unpleasant things happening around here and it’s thrown us in a tailspin. Are you here to inspect?”
“No, my dear. I was near here, at another stable, and thought I’d come by and meet the delightful sister of yours I’ve heard so much about.”
“I’m sorry. Sharon, this is Dr. Zimmerman. She’s head of the medical group that inspects therapeutic riding stables to make sure we’re abiding by rules and regulations and running a safe, healthy riding program. Dr. Zimmerman, this is my sister, Sharon.”
“How delightful,” Dr. Zimmerman gushed. “I’ve heard so much about you and your - er - charmed life.” She gave a tiny, artificial laugh. “I shall apologize if I’ve come at a bad time. I was hoping we could visit and chat awhile.”
Everyone was quiet until Lynn finally said, “We just had a call from the Zephyrhills City Police to come identify a man that might be the one who has been giving Sharon trouble. It’s possible that he might be the one who bombed her car and killed Dr. Monroe.”
Dr. Zimmerman whirled to face Lynn, no longer cool, smooth, polished society matron. “Who? What’s his name? Have they proven he’s the guilty person?”
Lynn and Sharon looked in astonishment at her while Martin narrowed his eyes and scrutinized her thoughtfully. He moved closer to Lynn. “Dr. Zimmerman, do you know something about the situation, or about the man?”
“No, no,” she stammered. “I’m just surprised that the police have enough evidence to arrest someone. There’s been nothing about it in the news.”
As Jake passed her going out of the door, he hesitated. “Dr. Zimmerman, the police are too smart to give away all they know. It would alert the criminals and they would disappear, or go into hiding for awhile. No, it hasn’t been on the news because things just started breaking today. I think, here in America, we tell too much in the papers and on television. The whole world knows our business before most of our citizens do.” He walked on out with a firm stride.
While Jake had been talking, Lynn took advantage and dashed out dragging Sharon with her. Martin can deal with Dr. Zimmerman. She acted strangely, but maybe it was just because she’s surprised. Lynn concentrated on driving carefully and keeping Sharon calm as they went into town.
David and Keanu were standing outside the station waiting on them. Keanu was still red-faced and shaking from excitement and anger. His precious Sharon had been threatened and he couldn’t do anything about it, but maybe now her life would improve.
David hugged Sharon and asked tenderly, “Do you feel like doing this now? It can wait a day or two if you would rather.”
“She’s ready,” Keanu announced. “Come on, Sharon. Let’s go in and nail this dirty b- uh, dirty scum.”
Sharon had to smile as she hugged Keanu. “How lucky I am to have all of you. Lead on MacDuff. It might as well be now. Nothing is going to get easier by waiting.”
Keanu walked ahead with long, eager strides while David followed walking between Sharon and Lynn, an arm around each.
After Chief Warren had been introduced to Sharon and Lynn he said kindly, “Thank you for coming in so promptly. I have been told, Miss Donnelly, you have had a traumatic time for several months. I’ll help all I can, and it looks as if you have strong support.” He smiled at the others with a twinkle in his eye. “Come with me, please. All of you can come.” He led them through a security door and down a short hall.
Two uniformed officers came with the Chief as he led them into a room with the one door and no windows. There was a glass wall where they could see into a room that had a table and two chairs in it. At the far side of the room was a raised section with lines drawn on the wall to show measurements of height.
The Chief gestured to several chairs. “Have a seat. Please speak softly if you have anything to say. I would rather you look and try not to talk unless it is necessary. Miss Donnelly, take your time. We’re going to bring the man in to that room. Look at him carefully and observe his mo
vements, tone of voice and anything that jars your memory.
If you want him to say something, or move a certain way, tell these officers and they’ll see that your wishes are carried out. Do you have any question before we bring him in?”
“Won’t he see us and wonder why we’re here?”
“No. He only sees a mirror on his side. If he has the record, I suspect he has, he’ll probably know what the mirror is.”
As she nodded, gulping past the knot in her throat, a door opened and a uniformed officer escorted a tall man in and had him sit facing the mirror. “Sit down and let’s talk,” the officer instructed.
“You’re wasting your time, sucker. You don’t have to bring me in here to talk.” The man looked at the mirror. “Who’s sitting behind that mirror gawking at me?” He jumped up and walked to the mirror. He started to put his hands on the mirror, on either side of his face, so that he could peer in. The officer quickly caught him by one arm and turned him around ordering him to sit.
“You can’t make me talk, and I get to have a lawyer. I know my rights.” The man shouted and swung his arms around as if he’d like to hit the officer.
The officer spoke firmly and softly. “Calm down. I just need to get your name and address.”
“What’s the matter, smart guy? You haven’t figured out my name yet?”
“Why don’t you have a wallet or a driver’s license with you? What did you do with it or didn’t you ever have one? You were driving without a license and that’s against the law. Of course, if you’re hiding something ----”
“Hey, hey, watta ya’ say, the man don’t know nothing.”
Sharon looked and listened intently. She sat back and slowly shook her head. “I don’t know for sure,” she whispered. “I don’t think I’ve seen him, although there’s something about him ---”
A young woman uniformed officer hurried into the room and handed a folder to Chief Warren. He quickly scanned through the papers, began to smile, and puckered his lips.