by Jay Heavner
“Okay, old buddy. I’ll sit tight while my world chooses to spin now and then.” Bill calmly walked over to the cops who had their hands on their guns ready to draw. After a quick explanation, the two cops looked over the scene and made doubly sure Jim was dead. They went to their cars, got yellow crime tape, and began to secure the area. Bill spoke to the EMTs and pointed to Roger. Quickly, they went to the back of the truck, pulled out a gurney, and wheeled it to where Roger sat. The older of two said, “Mr. Pyles, we need to take you in for observation and make sure you’re okay. Do you understand?”
Roger nodded in the affirmative, and the two men helped a very wobbly Roger onto the gurney. Once they had him secure, they wheeled him to the box truck, and put him in. The younger man got in the driver’s position while the other went in the back with Roger on the gurney. Red lights came on, and the EMT vehicle took off up US 1. It quickly disappeared.
Canaveral Flats Chief of Police Bill Kenney watched as the truck disappeared with his friend. His thoughts returned to where he was. If not for training, quick reflexes, and a little luck, the outcome could have been very different. It could have been him lying dead on the ground instead of the man in the van. He didn’t ever want to think of what could have happened to Roger.
There was going to be a lot of questions and a lot of paperwork before this was over. They’d keep his gun while the investigation was going on. He had others he could use. They might try to get him off his beat, but Canav- eral Flats had no policies for its one man force on how to handle police shootings. He wasn’t sure how that would work out.
The realization that he’d just killed a man made him sick in the stomach. He felt like a crushing burden had found his shoulders. He’d hoped he’d never have to take another life in the line of duty while he served, but he had a second time. He remembered how he felt the first time, bad, but not this bad.
The first time the bank robber was shooting at his fellow cops. This time it was different, just him and Jim face to face. The look on Jim’s face told him Jim knew who he was, and it was pure hated. It was him or Jim. One of them was going to die, and Bill didn’t want it to be him. Fate had smiled on him today. He said a short prayer of thanks to God. He wasn’t ready to die.
At that time, he saw the new forensics van pull up. Three people got out. He recognized the coroner and Hernandez, but the third person, a young woman he didn’t know wearing dark blue pants and a light blue shirt with a county badge. He noted she was tall with a trim figure and well-formed breasts. No, he definitely wasn’t dead if he noted them. He shook those thoughts from his head. It was time for clean, undistracted thinking. There was going to be a ton of questions, and he needed a clear head. He hoped Roger was okay. Maybe, someone could tell him who phoned in the tip about Roger being in trouble.
CHAPTER 29
Roger walked into the Sheriff’s Department Building on Merritt Island. He noted the door glass had been covered with a reflective coating permitting those inside to see out and those outside not to. Charlotte the secretary was sitting at a desk to greet, screen, and direct visitors.
“Why hello, Mr. Pyles. How are you? I haven’t seen you in a while. Hernandez said you’d be coming. I’ll let her know you’re here. You need to wait, okay.”
“Okay. Change of procedure? It was just walk on up before.” “It is. We’re getting more security conscious. There’ve been too many instances of bad guys taking advantage of poor to nonexistence security at establishments like police offices, courthouses, and school and causing trouble. My mommy always liked to say, ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’”
“True. Same reason we have sheepdogs guarding the flocks from wolves.” “Very true. I’ll let her know you’ve arrived.” Charlotte called on her phone. Roger could follow the conversation by her actions. She put the handset back on the phone base. “She says to come on up.”
“Thanks, Charlotte. How much new security does this building have?”
“I’m not allowed to say. Word gets out too easy.” “Are you packin’?” She smiled, “I am. What I can say is that so is about everyone else in the facility. We have a few here, mainly women who are a little squeamish about guns, that aren’t packin’, but if you knew them, let me tell you, it’s better they aren’t. They’d be more danger to themselves than the bad guys. The sheriff gave everybody the opportunity for firearm training. Some chose not to take it. Bad guys can get guns. Having a law won’t stop them, but a good guy with a gun can. You’re a sitting duck without a firearm.”
“What you carrying?”
“I’ll admit to a seven-shot 9 millimeter.” “Anything more, Charlotte?” “No comment.” “I don’t see the gun. Must be hidden really well.”
She grinned, “It is, but I can get to it real quick if I want. Sheriff wants me to get qualified for open carry next. I’m working on it. Now, why don’t you skedaddle on up to Hernandez? She’s a busy person and don’t like to be kept waiting.” She said this in her deepest Southern accent.
“Okay,” he said. “I know when it’s time to move on.”
She smiled devilishly. “It is, Roger. You have a nice day now. Don’t get me in ‘Bless your heart’ mode.”
Roger grinned back, “No, we wouldn’t. Places to go. People to see.” Roger went up the stairs taking two steps at a time. He knocked on the closed door to Hernandez’s office. “Come in,” he heard a female voice say, and he did. She was writing on an official-looking report he took to be about the Missy McCoy case. “Sit down,” she said. “I’ll be right with you.”
Roger took a seat and waited. The room seemed different. It was. New paint. The old drab institutional green had been covered with a light blue. He liked it. She took the paper she was working on, placed it on top of a short stack, tapped them all on the desk, and placed two paper clips on them to hold them together. “Good work, Mr. Pyles. I’m almost done with the final report on the Missy McCoy cold case. It would have never been solved without you. Try not to get yourself so involved next time. The last thing we need is a death on our hands. You done good.”
Roger grimaced slightly. “Thank you. Things don’t always go the way you anticipated. There are times you have to take the Bugs Bunny philosophy on life.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard that. Explain, please” “Whatever hole you pop out of, you have to deal with the situation at hand no matter how unexpected.”
She nodded. “I think I understand. If you find yourself in a carrot patch, be thankful for your good fortune, but you need to be careful. The Elmer Fudds and Yosemite Sams of this world may not welcome you and try to send you quickly on your way.”
“I think that’s it in a nutshell. Like Bugs, I try not to be a one trick pony. I try to have options and if they’re limited, make the best of it and hope for an opportunity to come up.”
“Roger, from your report, that’s a pretty good description of what happened. How did you decide on who Missy’s killer was? What gave it away?”
“I came to a conclusion almost from the beginning it wasn’t likely Bill Kenney. His not being willing to provide an alibi was the biggest thing against him. He was holding back, protecting someone and now we know. It came as a surprise to me.”
She said, “People have their reasons. Some are afraid to tell the truth because of fear of what another could do to them, and some are trying to protect others. Now we know.”
Roger said, “Our killer had to be an oddball. Bill may fit that category in some ways, but the killer was a different kind of an oddball. The killer was a neatness nut. Bill is anything but. Jim Odom fit the bill to a T. When I saw his house, inside and out, I knew he was the one almost without question. Everything was in place, and you could eat off the floor.”
She said, “I was there when they searched the dead man’s place. We found a journal where he recorded everything he did to the women. I’ve seen and heard of some depraved stuff in my life, but this ranks up near the top. He also had a big box of p
ictures of naked people. Some were taken at the Tropic Paradise. Others at the beach. The ones from the former appear to go back decades from the hairstyles on the women.”
“Do you know who they were?”
“Some have been identified. Others of interest are still being looked into. It seems a lot of the movers and shakers, past and present, of the area are there.”
“Was any of them of Bill’s friend, Shirley Harden?” Roger asked. “Yes, just your standard naked pictures for her, but some of the others weren’t as innocent.” She continued, “Some were of her husband in compromising positions with youths, girls and boys. I need you to keep this under your hat for now. We’re trying to find out who the children are. We have a good case against him, but I want it to be a slam dunk. Put him away for years and years. And we now know why the case’s investigator did such a shoddy job. We found a picture of him and Mr. Harden having sex. He’ll be fired soon. Roger, I wish you could have been there when we did the searches, but you were in the hospital and now part of the story. It was best for you to be moved aside and me to take it from that point.”
“Understood,” he said. And I was in no condition to help. They told me the elephant tranquilizer was something called fentanyl, and it’s some very bad and potent juju. I couldn’t believe I slept for 24 hours straight at the hospital.”
“I checked on you as did Bill. I wasn’t familiar with the drug, but the doctors and nurses gave me a crash course. I hope that stuff never makes it into the underworld. All I can see is death and pain in the end. Are you sure your report on how it happened is accurate? It was very detailed without gaps.”
Roger said, “I talked with the doctors about that. They said they believed the adrenaline rush in the very beginning helped me remain lucid, but when the threat was over, I crashed. They said they’d seen it before.”
She asked, “So you don’t remember anything after getting in the EMT vehicle?”
“Just a little. I remember them giving me an IV. I think there may have been a mild painkiller in it.” “The EMT’s report says nothing on that, but that’s not to say it didn’t happen. Things have been known to be left out of reports for someone’s convenience.”
“True,” he remarked knowingly. “Sometimes what’s not said can be as important as what is.”
“We also searched Tropic Paradise. It’s been determined that’s where Odom took his victims. He had all kinds of torture devices rigged up.” Roger whistled through his teeth. “A regular Marquis de Sade?” “Yes. I’ll see you get a copy of the final report. The Titusville Police helped us and did an inventory of all Jim stuff. I only saw one personal- ly. It consisted of a barrel lying on its side bolted to the floor. There were straps to restrain the hands and feet of someone draped over it. You can use your imagination on how it was used.”
“That’s sick and disgusting. And it could have been me he put on it.” “You’re a lucky man, Roger. Try not to depend on it in your detective work.”
His head nodded several times, and he sighed heavily. “Agreed.” Neither said anything for a moment as it sank in on how close a call Roger had with a depraved killer. She broke the silence. “Overall, I’m very pleased we’ll be able to put our first cold case in the closed file so soon. Good work even if you almost got killed solving it. The powers that be are interested in keeping you around. Would you possibly be interested?”
Roger said, “I would if we could work out the details. Right now my status around here is kind of vague. I guarantee I’ll do my best if we can hammer out an agreement. And I’m not planning on getting myself killed, but you never know.”
“They like you around here, Roger. They think you have backbone and tenacity. Maybe a little of a college egghead, but you get results. I’ll see what I can do on my end.” She stopped. “I have one question?”
“What’s that?” “Any idea on who the guardian angel was who called in about your predicament? The call number to 911 was blocked, and whoever that called garbled his voice. You can’t even tell if it was a he or a she. There’s no way of identifying the voice or where the call originated. And they asked for Bill Kenney.
Somehow, they knew he was close. Bill swears it wasn’t him that placed the call.”
“No,” he said, “My gut tells me it wasn’t Bill. I’d like to shake that person’s hand whoever it was, but I doubt we’ll ever find out. Guardian An- gels have a way of staying hidden, not showing themselves, but you know they’re there. I suspect this isn’t the first one I’ve put one a rubber room in my lifetime.
Somehow, I’ve always gotten out of my jams with minimum damage.” “Roger, I’m not much of a religious person, but somehow I think none of us will die until God in His wisdom, says ‘Time’s up.’ It wasn’t your time to die. I’m glad you didn’t.”
“Me too. I could use a stiff drink.”
She said, “I could too, but there’s none here. Be careful, I’ve seen a lot of cops drink their lives away or worse.” “Yeah, tell me about it.” He stopped and looked her square in the eye. “Are we done here? Got anything more. I’d like to go.” She said, “I don’t have any more questions about this case at this time, but I do have something else, but it can wait for a better time.”
“I’m good with that.” He got up. “I’m looking forward to the final report.” “I’ll see you get a draft before the final report. You can check for accuracy and suggest any changes you feel are pertinent to the case.”
“That will work. I’ll see you later. Bye.” “Bye,” she said and watched as he disappeared from view. She felt exhausted mentally and physically. Her eyes fell on an official-looking ma- nila envelope on her desk from GTR, Genetic Technical Reports that had arrived yesterday. She’d paid for it out of her own pocket. She wanted no conflict of interest by using county facilities to pay the expense.
It was unopened. She’d wanted to open it with Roger present, but the timing hadn’t been right. She ripped the envelope edge with a sharp letter opener and pulled out the contents. It started with the usual standard legal speak and went on way too long with possible disclaimers. Some slick lawyer had written it she was sure. She read on line by line until she got to the part she had been looking for. Her breath was audible as she exhaled. Just as she thought.
CHAPTER 30
Roger’s catnap ended when he heard the squeal of brakes in front of his place. He looked up and saw Bill’s truck slide to a halt on the sandy washboard road known as Canaveral Flats Boulevard. Bill quickly got out, made his way through the dummy-locked gate, and down the path to Roger’s old trailer. As he opened the screen door, Roger shushed him and pointed to the cat sleeping on his lap. Carefully, Bill closed the door making little sound and disappeared into the trailer.
Five minutes later he reappeared. He had a pleasant relieved look on his face and two beers in his hand. He handed one to Roger and took a seat in a plastic lawn chair next to Roger. Bill said, “So how’s it going, buddy? You okay?”
“Probably better than I deserve to be. Thanks for not making a commotion. The cat may have found a home, but she can still be jittery. She was in this same position yesterday when an old truck went by. It backfired, and she dug outta here like a rocket taking off at the Cape. I’ve got the claw marks on my legs to prove it.”
“I believe it. You don’t have to show me. Told you, you had a cat.” “You told me she had me.”
“I did. Either way, you have a cat. Gonna get her fixed, Roger?”
“I will soon. Too many Toms cattin’ around. Like to do something about her teeth too. They’re sharp. She gives me little love bits. Don’t think she means to hurt me, but those teeth sure are sharp.”
Bill said, “Young cat’s teeth can be very sharp like all young animals including human. Time will take care of that.” “I hope so. She drew blood yesterday again.”
“How’s K9 taking it all?”
“She’s okay with the cat, not jealous like I thought she would be. Guess she and the cat are kinda lik
e kindred spirits, two creatures alone in this world,” Roger said.
“Who found you.”
“Yeah. They make good company even if they shed.”
“Every blessing has its drawbacks,” Bill said” “Women are like that too.” “Yeah, you’re right. K9 came through again, she did.” “Yes, she did.”
The two men were quiet for a moment. Roger said, “How’d you know how to find me?” “I got an anonymous call telling me you were in trouble. I stopped Jim’s van, and that’s when the shooting began.” “What reason did you legally have to stop him?”
Bill shrugged, “Any officer can stop any vehicle in this state if that officer has reasonable cause as to the vehicle having safety concerns.” “I see.”
“Just about any vehicle has some kind of issue and if it doesn’t, they may and can develop one.”
“Like a broken light?” Roger asked.
“I’d rather not comment on that, but it has been known to happen, so I have heard.” There was a silence between them for a few moments. They sipped at their beers and Roger stroked the sleeping cat on his lap. K9 moved around adjusting herself as she slept. A muffled bark slipped from her closed mouth. The men eyed her. Roger said, “I wonder what dogs dream of?”
“I don’t know. Maybe tummy rubs and bones to chew on. Squirrels to chase.” An introspective look came to Roger’s face. “Bill?” “What?” “Thanks for saving my sorry carcass.”
“You’re welcome. The good guys won this time. It doesn’t always end that way. Wish I didn’t have to kill him. He drew on me and took a shot. Fortunately, I was ready. I had my hand on my gun, and as he swung around in his van, I lunged to the right. As I fell, I got off a round, and it found my target. Killing a man’s a horrible thing.”