Branded for Murder (Scott Tucker Series)

by Dick Waters

  *.*.*

  She purposely did as she wanted and watched Scott squirm. She loved the new power she had, but she surprised herself. Judy had shared some of her intimate moments with Neil, and she realized again how much she had missed. She shared what Scott and she had done. Judy said that was a very good first session. She challenged her to make this date even more memorable. She thought she was doing a good job of it so far.

  She grinned again when she leaned across Scott to ask the clerk for some catsup. She wasn’t embarrassed about her behavior, but was somewhat surprised by it. She tried to understand what had gotten into her. Even in the limited light she could see Scott’s color change.

  She liked the feel of her coat against her, but couldn’t wait to take it off at Scott’s. Should she leave it on while they eat their burgers? She had teased Scott enough, or had she? Is she falling in love with Scott, or is it just this new found sex that is clouding her mind. All her life she had been focused on getting into college, giving only a small amount of thought as to what to do after that. She knew she wanted to be a nurse. The last few days, all she could think about, was being married to Scott and having a family.

  Her mind drifted to their love making. It was great. They were learning from each other. Judy asked her what they were using for protection, and shocked when she said they weren’t using any. Could she actually ask Scott to stop and buy condoms? He obviously knows we’re going to have sex, so it shouldn’t surprise him for the subject to come up. Maybe it’s already too late. What would she do if she found out she was pregnant?

  “Lisa, are you okay? Are you upset about my reaction to what you did?”

  She thought about how she could answer that. “I’m not sure what got into me. I never thought about doing anything like that…let alone actually doing it.” She considered her earlier thoughts. “Scott, can we stop at the drug store? I need to get something.”

  “Are you going in with just that jacket on, or are you going to put your things back on?”

  “I’m going in like this, but I’ll zip it up, unless you want to go in there for me?”

  “I’ll go in for you. What do you need?”

  “It’s not what I need, it’s what we need.”

  “I got it…I mean…I’ll get it…I’ll get them.”

  “You’re such a smart detective. Scott, what would happen if I was already pregnant?”

  “I would have to marry you.”

  She heard the words and it struck her wrong. “Have to. Is that what you consider it?”

  “No. That didn’t sound right.”

  “You’re damned right it didn’t,” she barked, quickly.

  “Lisa, please don’t do this. I love you. I would want to marry you. I would want to marry you even if you weren’t pregnant. I have found the love of my life. All I can think about is you.”

  “That’s nice, I love you too. Let’s forget the drug store and take in a movie. Okay?” She thought of her recent nightmare when Judy woke her up. What would she ever do if Scott was killed?

  *.*.*

  I pulled the car off to the side of the road, finding a parking area. “Lisa, I didn’t mean to upset you. Let’s start again. I love you and want to be with you for the rest of my life. If you’re pregnant, that only changes the timing on how soon we get married. I want you in my life forever. Now that I have gotten to know you its even harder for me to think of my life without you. The sex is nice, but it’s not everything. I could go without making love from now until we get married.”

  She knew she was over-reacting to his earlier response. “Did you just propose to me?”

  “I would have said those words in the near future. I’m serious about your being in my life forever. I don’t have any desire to see or be with anyone else. So, yes…I’m asking you to be my wife. I love you. You certainly fulfill everything I’ve ever dreamed of. The only decision we would have to make, if you were pregnant now, is what to name our child.”

  She couldn’t hold back the tears, reaching for Scott. “I’m sorry Scott. I guess I overreacted. I too have found what my life is all about. If you really want to marry me, I’m yours. I’m yours now and forever.”

  I wiped away her tears and we kissed again, and again.

  She finally broke the kiss and looked around. “I guess it’s just a coincidence you pulled into a drug store parking lot?”

  I gave her a deep passionate kiss and then opened the door. I closed my door and blew her a kiss. She quickly unzipped her coat and added a big smile.

  *.*.*

  I was gone a few minutes trying to make my first ever decision about what condoms to buy. I tried not to be nervous talking to the druggist, who most likely saw the same scene every night. I picked a box of a dozen and the druggist grinned, telling me the amount. I fumbled with my wallet, almost forgetting my change.

  I wished I wouldn’t turn red, but this was my curse. I rushed back to the car, opened the door and Lisa wasn’t there. I checked the back seat area and she wasn’t there either. Looking around the parking lot, I thought I saw something over between two other stores. I heard the sound of a garbage can and went running into the darkness. Then I heard Lisa’s scream and ran faster.

  The first thing I caught sight of was Lisa’s coat near the entrance. I heard her scream again. There was a scuffle. Two guys were trying to hold Lisa against the wall. They were both very tall. In the limited light, I could see that Lisa’s arms were being held out above her head, and her chest was exposed. The guys were trying to undo her ski pants. Lisa was jumping up and down, really creating difficulty for them.

  With a head of steam, I jumped into the closest guy, sending him back sharply against the wall. He must have hit his head, as he quickly slid down the brick wall. The other guy let go of Lisa, taking a swing at me. I couldn’t tell if he hit me or not, but I did a quick kick to his groin. He made an awful sound and doubled over. I grabbed Lisa. As we were running out of the small alley, I grabbed her coat. She put it on, but I didn’t wait for her to zip it up. We jumped into my car. I roared out of the parking lot, into the street, without any concern for traffic. Seconds later I heard the sound of a siren and saw flashing lights.

  I pulled over, jumping out of the car. One cop had his hand out towards me and the other hand on his pistol. The other cop was at Lisa’s side of the car. The closest cop yelled, “Get down on the ground. Get down on the ground now.”

  I flopped down on the ground, and yelled to him, “I’m sorry officer. We were just attacked back there.”

  I felt his knee in my back. He pulled my hands down as he cuffed me. He yanked me to my feet, bringing me over to the front of his cruiser. The other cop had Lisa out of the car. Fortunately, I noticed her coat was zipped. “We stopped you because you were driving too fast, and came out of that parking lot without stopping.”

  Lisa had tears running down her face, which was dirty from the alley. “Officer, please. Two men attacked me and Scott saved me. They’re probably still in the alleyway or the lot. Please, let’s go over there and look. They’ll get away if we don’t go over there.”

  The cop holding Lisa was also holding her bra and white sweater. He held it up for the other officer. “I suppose they took these off you and left them neatly in the car too?”

  Lisa was shaking her head. “No. Scott went into the drug store and they came over and yanked me out of the car.” She looked like she was finished talking, and then added, “I took them off earlier. Please officer it was awful. If Scott hadn’t saved me, I don’t know what they would have done. Please go look. We’re not the bad guys here.”

  The officer holding the bra and sweater held them up and said, “I know you’re obviously not the bad guys.” The two cops laughed. We were drawing a crowd. They decided to check out the parking lot.

  I still had cuffs on, but as we turned the corner of the drug store I spotted the two guys walking to an old car. “There they are,” I yelled. The two guys starting running to their car. Th
e cops left us standing there while they ran full speed toward the car. Before they could reach the car, the men started it, speeding towards the approaching officers and us as well.

  The officers pulled their guns, pointing them at the approaching vehicle. One of them yelled something and fired his gun in the air. The car flew between the two officers. Lisa and I dove out of the way. They tried to run all of us down, but they luckily didn’t hit anyone. We saw their leering faces as they flew past, one of them giving us the finger. The two officers didn’t fire at them since we were close enough to get hit.

  One of the officers ran to his patrol car, giving pursuit. The other officer took off my cuffs. “From the looks of things, you two were very lucky. We recognized the car. Those guys are part of a gang we’ve been after for months now. Had you not intervened for your girlfriend, they most likely would have taken her with them. You’re both very lucky. I’ll need to take statements from each of you. I’m sorry we detained you. Are you both okay…do you need any medical assistance?”

  Lisa was the first to respond. “I’m okay, just a little shaken at the moment. It all happened so fast, I’m glad we’re both okay. Scott, are you okay?”

  I was breathing rapidly. “I’m okay. One of them is going to have a serious headache the way I knocked him in the head. The other, I’m surprised could even move since I kicked him in the nuts.”

  The officer took our statements. The cruiser came back into the parking lot, followed by another cruiser. “There are no charges against either of you. I wish we had your car…we might have caught them. I’m surprised they didn’t steal your car and your girlfriend.”

  Lisa smiled for the first time. “When I saw them running to the car, I threw the keys on the floor. I didn’t have time to lock both doors. I locked mine, but they opened the driver side door. They quickly had me out of the car and carried me into the alley. I couldn’t scream since one of them had his hand over my mouth.”

  “Could you identify them if you saw them again?”

  I spoke first. “Absolutely. I work with the strangler task force and I would just love to meet them another time when Lisa isn’t with me.”

  Lisa added, “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to forget what they looked like.”

  *.*.*

  It wasn’t too long before Lisa and I were smiling about the earlier events. It could have been very serious, but maybe making light of it is part of dealing with our trauma.

  She was proud of me, coming to her rescue, taking care of both of them so quickly. She was concerned about some minor scrapes, but I put some cream on them. We also both learned about the application of condoms, finally getting that right as well.

  Lisa told me about her discussion with Judy. Judy offered her some advice for our next session. Lisa may have some things to tell her, but I will have to thank Judy when I see her.

  Chapter 39

  It was difficult leaving Lisa this morning. I needed to help the task force with the analysis of the many calls. I dropped her off at her dorm, watching the other coeds take notice of what was becoming a regular occurrence.

  If I didn’t show up at the task force today, I’m sure someone would have covered for me. However, I wanted to help. This process was something I really felt was helping. It was nice to be appreciated. Just that small amount of recognition was all it took to have me committed to this process. I also wanted to help catch Jackie’s killer.

  Lisa and I enjoyed our time together last night. As usual we didn’t get much sleep, but we both felt very connected to each other. I thought my proposal to her was lacking something, but I really hadn’t planned to propose. I have no regrets. I want to spend the rest of my life with her, and she feels the same way. The episode in the parking lot could have been more serious. A few minutes later, and who knows what scars Lisa would have had forever. Both of us were very lucky it turned out the way it did.

  Even though it was Saturday, the detectives were in and Mike was upstairs with Paddy. Colleen wasn’t coming in today, but I didn’t feel authorized to answer the phone. It was ringing constantly, but Paul, Phil and the other detectives were answering the calls. Mike left me a pile of call sheets from other police departments to consolidate with ours. The material was different, taking me extra time to find the information I needed.

  There were two more reports of a vacuum cleaner salesman, which I thought might be the same guy. However, there was no name or phone number information, since the women closed the door on the guy. The sketch in the paper caused them to think about the guy, reporting the visit to the authorities. There were several other sheets which looked like they might be worthy of follow up.

  There were two reports of a man who looked like the sketch. In those cases it was someone who identified himself as a detective. The two women who made the report said he looked like the sketch, but had only talked to the man, not letting him in. In both cases, they were not sure which police department he was with. I wanted to mention those two calls to Mike when he came downstairs. I put them aside, making notes on my summary sheet.

  Paul came over to my desk a few minutes later. “Scott, don’t you ever come up for air? All I see you doing is working with all of these call sheets. I don’t even see you with coffee, and the doughnuts look like they will be safe for the rest of the day. Why don’t you take a break?”

  “Thanks Paul. It’s easy to get involved with all of these sheets. I could use some coffee though.”

  I noticed the two call sheets about the detective, thinking I would get his impression of them. “Paul, if you have a minute, I have two call sheets that look interesting. Can you look at them and tell me what you think?” I handed the sheets to him.

  He read the detail of both, going back to the first one again. He didn’t say anything immediately. He sat down on my side chair, rereading the second one. “You know Scott, this could be something. Have you seen any others like these two?”

  “No, not yet, but I’m still going through the other police department records.” I touched the pile which was two inches high.

  “What’s interesting about this one is that we have two different towns reporting a detective knocking on their door. In addition, he looks like the sketch in the paper. I would mention this to Mike when he comes down from Paddy’s. In fact, I would march right up there and show him these. I think these two women should be seen right away. They might recall something about the guy’s identification, looks, or something that might help us.” He looked at me still sitting there. “Thanks for sharing these two with me. Are you going to take them upstairs?”

  “Thanks for your input. I’ll do that…and get coffee and a doughnut on the way back. Thanks Paul.”

  “My pleasure, amigo.”

  *.*.*

  I headed up the stairs two at a time. When I reached the landing, I no longer heard their voices. I knocked on Paddy’s door frame, as the door was open.

  “Good morning, Scott. You’re in on a Saturday. That’s impressive. What do you have there?”

  “Good morning Paddy, Mike. I have two call sheets from women who reported a man looking like the sketch, knocking on their doors flashing a detective’s ID. Paul said that I might want to let you know about these. I also have two more similar calls about the vacuum salesman, but neither has a name or phone number, so I can’t tell if it’s the same person.”

  Mike held out his hand, and I gave him the two call sheets. He read them quickly, passing them to Paddy. “Nicely done, Scott.”

  Paddy read them and handed them back to Mike. “You said you had two more calls about the vacuum cleaner salesman. Do you mind bringing them up to us? We’re about to contact this guy. This is very impressive work on your part Scott.”

  I ran down to my desk, found the other two sheets and brought them upstairs.

  Paddy noticed the numbers on the call sheets, and asked, “Do I understand you’re assigning numbers to all these calls and summarizing them?”

  “Yes sir. It helps me
find the sheets and cross reference them.”

  Paddy smiled, and added, “Why am I not surprised? This is a huge help. We’ll take it from here. Thank you.”

  I went back to my desk and the pile of other department call sheets. I needed to make some sense out of them. I was feeling really excited about helping with this effort. I totally forgot the coffee and doughnuts and took care of that problem.

  I needed to tell Mike what happened to us last night.

  While focused on my doughnuts, I wondered if I would have to write a school paper on the process I developed. Taking a break gave me time to weigh if I was actually helping to find my cousin’s killer. I just might be.

  Chapter 40

  He could feel the new mustache growth. His wife wanted to know who the new man was in the house? That’s the point dear…we want to look like a different man. Maybe you will like sleeping with him. I know there’s not a chance. You’re also not like the women I’ve been with.

  He thought again of the woman he left alive. She really was special. Had he known what she would eventually do—he would never have left her alive. He studied his image in the mirror. A few minutes later he was contemplating his next move.

  Should I visit her? It would be worth the look on her face when I appeared at her door. I still have a key, but you know nothing about that, do you? Maybe I should appear at your bed side. I know you would like that, or even pretending will work just fine. However, you won’t live to tell about it again. I’m going to pass your apartment building later tonight to see what develops. If I can’t control my urge to see you, well so be it.

  Looking down at himself, he realized he was already very excited. Maybe tonight I’ll deliver a different kind of package than the one that let me in the last time. I know you wouldn’t fall for that again, but you don’t even have to let me in this time.