by Bob Moats
*
Chapter Thirteen
Penny pulled Shadow off my leg and scolded him. I glared at Deacon and said that I loved cats, and cats loved me. He said he could see that by the way the cat was humping my leg. I just snorted and followed Penny into the kitchen where she was opening a can of cat food. I went to pet Shadow, but every time I reached, the cat moved a couple of inches away. I gave up trying to pet him as he went over to feed. Penny laughed and said that I could pet her anytime, and she wouldn’t move away.
We had another hour before I had to go, so we sat on the porch and relaxed. Buck and Deacon were out wandering around the house, talking cars, I imagined. They both came in through the porch door a while later and sat with us. I told them I was taking Penny with me, so they could relax and watch TV or whatever. Buck said that he would probably run home to get a fresh change of clothes. I looked at Deacon and said he could just sit here and pet the cat. He used his middle finger to scratch his forehead. He said he would run home, too, and change. Buck smiled and said that Deacon was getting a bit ripe. Deacon scratched his forehead again for Buck. We all laughed.
Penny and I went to her car and left. On the way I gave her the rundown on my mother.
I asked her not to mention the events of the last few days and explained my concern. She understood. We came up with a devious story of how we met and what we’d been up to.
We got to the house without trouble, but I was on the lookout for suspicious activity. I took Penny up to the house. My Mother threw the door open and welcomed us in, but mostly Penny. I just stood back as Mom gushed over her. She had us come into the kitchen and wanted us to visit. I said we had to do some errands, but maybe this weekend we could stop to visit for a while. She accepted that. She took Penny in to meet my dad. He acknowledged her barely. Then I had Penny wait in the living room while I got him into bed. After that was done, Mom came out with me and talked for about ten minutes, then she said she had to get my dad comfy and tucked in. Penny gave my mom a hug and said we’d be back. Mom told her she watched her show almost every day. Penny smiled and said she’d give her a wave on her next show.
We left. I didn’t feel like going back to her place yet, so I drove to a nearby park where we sat on a picnic table, watching kids play. She asked about my son, and I told her a little about him. She looked wistful and lamented about not being able to have children of her own. She had problems internally when she was young and had lost her ability to reproduce. I told her I would share my son with her. She smiled and got a little teary. I kissed the tears, and she put her head on my shoulder. We sat there for about a half hour more, then headed back.
Buck was already there, and Deacon drove in about ten minutes after us. Penny called the studio, but the staff had gone for the day since it was after 7 P.M. She did manage to track down Joy at home. Joy said that Morgan never came back, and that they had a nutritionist as guest tomorrow. Joy was concerned about Morgan, but said she would keep the guest roster up and running. Penny thanked her and hung up.
I was sitting with the A-Team in the family room when she came back in. She had found the cat along the way and brought him over to me on the couch. Shadow moved over to my lap, made a circle then plopped down. I smiled at Deacon.
“See, cats do like me,” I said with a smirk, just as Shadow started to claw at my leg. I winced in pain. Penny picked him up and laughed. I grinned. “OK, they like me too much. Now I’m a scratching pole.”
The rest of the evening was uneventful. We sat, talked, watched TV, and by 11, Penny’s head was drooping. I laid her out on the couch and got a blanket to cover her. Sleepily, she grabbed my hand and kissed it, saying good night, sweet prince, sex later, and drifted off. Buck and Deacon were turning on lights and checking around the house. All seemed quiet, so we settled in for the night.
~~*~~
Twelve miles to the southwest Linda Grolich sat at a desk typing on the laptop that the Bloomfield police allowed her to bring to the safe house. She was busy sending out emails to her friends and family saying she was taking a short vacation, location unknown, as she wanted privacy. She had a detail of three police detectives who sat around the apartment playing cards. Linda was not happy with the arrangements, but she saw the video that Waters had made when Trapper stopped by around 9 P.M. and played it for her and the detectives. It made her think again about protection.
She did some exploring on the internet for Julia Waters and couldn’t believe the prestigious lawyer would stoop to murder for something that happened over forty years ago. She underestimated Waters and her deathbed promise. Linda hadn’t changed in all those years. She still was arrogant and above everyone else, but this brought her down a bit.
She told the detectives that she was going to take a shower and turn in. They couldn’t watch her in the shower but told her to keep the door open a bit so they could hear anything that wasn’t right. She agreed, but closed the door anyway. She showered and pampered her body with lotions and creams to keep her good looks. She dressed in her nicest silk pajamas and headed to her bed. She lay down on the aging bed in the safe house, probably used by criminals, she thought, and shivered. After a half hour of counting her blessings and good fortunes, she finally dozed. In the dark of the room, the closet door opened slowly, and a dark figure crept out.
The knife in the hand of the figure poised over her heart as the other hand picked up a towel from the chair next to the bed and slowly covered her face and mouth. That same instant the knife plunged into her chest, through the ribs and into her beating heart. She struggled for only a moment, and then went still, heart beating no more. The figure went over to the window, opened it and crawled back out to the rope ladder that was attached to the roof. The figure climbed up and over, pulling the ladder up, then exited through a stairwell and back down to the rear entrance of a service room. Out by a waiting car in the alley, Julia Waters opened the door for her dear half-brother, Davey. He just said, “It’s done, one to go.”
~~*~~
The next morning we all stumbled around getting ready to go to the station. We ate a hurried breakfast that morning since our regular meals were sadly neglected the past twenty-four hours. We piled into Buck’s van and headed to the TV station. We got to the gate, and the guard recognized Buck and me from the smoking attack. He gave a grim little smile and passed us through. We entered Penny’s dressing room, and the groupies all hustled to make her happy. The hairdresser still flirted with Deacon who now wasn’t turning red. I think he was enjoying the attention. The floor manager brought Penny her guest sheets and said they hadn’t located Morgan, but they would watch out for him. Word travels fast.
Penny looked radiant as she stepped up to the stage and met with Dr. Cheryl Stopelmoor, the health and beauty consultant that came in at the last minute when the nutritionist canceled. I asked John, the floor manager, if this woman was checked out and he said she had been on the show a couple of times before, so she was good. I relaxed, and Buck took point on the same stool he was on yesterday. Deacon was back stage again and made a point of having the stage crew check and re-check the lighting rigs. He asked a couple of the men to stay there and yell if anyone popped up who didn’t belong. They kept a man up there.
The show started, and Buck and I watched carefully every movement in the room. Penny interviewed the guest who must have used the beauty products on herself as she was as stunning as Penny. Penny opened up the segment for questions from the audience. It went well. Penny thanked her guest, gave a shout out to my mother, “Hi to Mrs. Richards,” waved, and the end credits rolled. The guest politely left, and Penny came to me and grabbed on.
She whispered in my ear, “I was so frightened something would happen. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
I hugged her tight, to the point of making my ribs scream, and said “I here for you. So were Buck and Deacon. My mother will cast you in bronze for the greeting.” That made her smile, and we went to the dressing room. We had just se
ttled in when my cell phone rang. Caller ID said private number. I said, “Hello Trapper.”
““Richards, bad news, Grolich is dead.”
My heart stopped for a second. I turned away from Penny and asked what happened. He said, “Someone got in and stabbed her through the heart. Three cops didn’t hear or see a goddamn thing. They were playing cards in the living room, Grolich went to bed and this morning she didn’t come out. They went in, found her. Six stories up, and only one door into the apartment. Fucking amazing. They found signs of movement on the roof. They think he came down, into the window and back out that way. I really put my butt in a sling spouting off at the chief. He blamed the Bloomfield cops. Asshole. I still can’t get any extra men for Wickens. I can’t figure how they knew where the safe house was.”
“Waters is a lawyer. She may have used her connections to find out,” I suggested. Trapper agreed, said he’d check it out and hung up.
Buck came down the hall. I stopped him at the door of the dressing room, pushing him back out into the hall. I told him about Grolich. He cursed loudly.
“You gonna tell Penny?” he asked.
“She deserves it. She is the last one left,” I said.
Buck thought a minute and said, “Well, they won’t kill her right away. Waters wants her on video, remember?”
I looked at him for a second, then said, “That’s hardly cause to celebrate.”
I had the same thought, but how would they get her on tape now? Kidnapping would be the only option. I related my thoughts to Buck. He agreed.
“We have to button her down so tight, no one will get near her,” I said.
We went back into the room. I asked all the groupies to leave. It was just the three of us. I sat next to Penny and held her hand.
“I got something to tell you,” I started.
She interrupted, “Linda is dead.” I nodded.
A choke caught in her throat. She took a breath and started to hyper-ventilate. There was a bag of bagels on the desk. I dumped them and had her breathe into the bag. After a few moments, she calmed.
“What happened?” she asked.
I told her what Trapper said. She looked to me with tears in her eyes.
“I’m going to die, aren’t I?” she cried.
“Like hell you are! We aren’t going to let anything happen to you,” I promised.
Buck spit out, “These bastards will have to deal with me before I let them hurt you!”
She started rocking back and forth, hugging herself, crying. I grabbed her and pulled her to me.
Buck went to the restroom, got a glass of water and brought it to her. She drank it between sobs.
Deacon came to the door. He’d been out making sure the audience left. He stopped as Buck moved him back into the hall and told him about Grolich. He was stunned.
“So that means Penny is the last,” Deacon said.
Buck replied, “Yeah, and we can’t get any more protection from the cops.”
Deacon took offense and said, “Don’t put this on us. I’m a cop, yeah, but right now, I would lay down my life for her. Politics is the fucker, not the cops.”
Buck apologized. He said he was just pissed. Deacon accepted and wondered what to do now.
Penny and I came out of the room. “You guys could be a little quieter. Let’s get Penny out of here. We need to think of somewhere else to take her besides her home.”
Buck beamed. “She can stay at my place for now. Waters has no idea where I live.”
“Staying at your place is almost a death sentence.” I smiled. “But I think it’s a good idea.”
I looked to Penny and said, “We need to tell your people that they will have to deal with Phil a bit longer. You are going into seclusion.”
Penny talked to her producer. He understood. We took our leave and headed out. Penny said she needed to stop at her place for essentials and the cat. Deacon grinned and said that I could hold the cat on the way to Buck’s. I stuck my tongue out. We all took our guns from under the seats and slipped them into our belts.
We arrived at Penny’s place around noon. She gathered what she needed and put the cat in a kitty carrier. I was thankful for that.
While still at Penny’s I called my brother and asked him to help get Dad to bed. He said he would. I told him to give my apologies to mom, and I’d explain later.
We piled back into the van and headed out I-94 to New Baltimore and finally into Buck’s drive. Deacon followed us with his patrol car. Buck’s house was fairly secluded, back off M-29, the main road into town.
I said, “OK, no one tells anyone where Penny is. Understood? Not even Trapper. Anybody’s phone could be tapped, or someone slips the info, and the cover is blown. If anybody asks, we don’t know where she is. Understood?”
Everyone agreed. We got Penny into the spare bedroom in the back of Buck’s modest little home.
The house was small but livable. While Penny was setting up her new room, Buck was on the phone. I couldn’t hear him, but he was grinning that walrus smile. Buck then started to clean up his living room, and Penny went to help. Buck apologized for the mess. Penny pulled him down and kissed him on his bald head. She said it was her home for now. He stuck out his tongue at me and said that she kisses him, too.
About an hour later there was such a roar out front I thought we were under attack from nearby Selfridge Air National Guard Base. Deacon and I went to the front window and saw about eight motorcycles and three hot rods roaring onto the huge front lawn.
Buck grinned and said, “My own personal army.”
*
Chapter Fourteen
We went out, and Buck started greeting his buddies and their women. They all gave Deacon the eye as the huge cop came forward. Buck went over to Deacon and threw his arm around the big man, saying that Deacon was a brother to us now. Respect that, he demanded. They all came over to greet Deacon, and then Buck introduced Penny and me. He asked everyone to sit out on the front porch and lawn, then related the story of the last three days. Everyone sat in awe of the tale of murder and mayhem and looked to Penny every so often with respect. Penny was in awe of the gathering on the lawn, her new protectors.
Deacon leaned over to me and said, “This is far better than police protection.” He grinned. I had to agree.
The tale was told, they agreed to help, and the group started pulling out tents and other camping equipment from the cars. It looked like Woodstock after a while. Someone cranked up a boom box and had Cream blasting out, “Sunshine of Your Love.” Talk about flashbacks. They had Penny sitting on a lawn chair in the middle of it all, treating her like a princess. One biker came over and said, with reverence, that he watched her show every day. She suppressed a giggle and then signed the biker’s helmet when he held it and a magic marker out to her. He was in heaven now. So was Penny.
I stayed back, letting her enjoy the moment and forget the horror of it all. She would look around to me every so often, then finally got up and came to me.
“Days ago, you were just a forty year teenage crush for me. Now you are my savior, and with Buck, my super heroes.”
I said, “I hope you don’t love me for just being a savior. I hope there’s more to it.”
She hugged me tight and said, “You better believe it, stud.”
One of the women, a girl about half of Penny’s age, broke off from her group and came over to Penny. “Excuse me, but we were wondering if you could talk to us about all the celebrities you’ve interviewed? I want to hear about Hugh Jackman. I saw the show he was on.” She beamed.
Penny looked to me, smiled, then said to the woman she’d be delighted. They went off, and Penny was given a lawn chair as the group of women and a few men gathered at her feet.
Buck came over. “Looks like Penny’s got some new friends.”
“Buck, you’ve been a real good friend to me, but this tops it all. Thank you so much.” I gave him a hug. He looked a little surprised, then smiled and patted me on the ba
ck.
“My pleasure, man. So, you and I are free now to really do some investigating.”
I said with a sigh, “I now feel safe leaving Penny alone. Yes, we are going to have to do something about this.” I looked to Deacon and said, “We should go and have a war counsel.”
Buck, Deacon and I went around back of the house where it was private, sat on the porch steps and talked.
“OK, we know that Waters’ house has been discovered, so she will not be going back there. Morgan’s house will be looked at when Trapper gets the warrant. So where would they hide out now?” I inquired.
“Motel?” Buck offered.