Second Chance at Life

by Joanna Campbell Slan

  How could he save me?

  “Let go of her or else,” said Jason. Something about his voice was chilling. There was a cold edge to it. A lethal intensity that caused Adrian to let go of me. I whimpered a little in relief.

  "Cara? You okay?" Jason asked, quickly looking me up and down.

  "Yes." I touched my face. “I think so. Just a bit bloody. That’s all.”

  "Come over here next to me," said Jason.

  I kept my eyes on Adrian as I closed the gap between Jason and me. I continued to hold the blade in the air as if I knew how to use it. When I got close enough, Jason’s strong fingers closed around the knife.

  “You sure you’re okay, sweetheart?” he asked, glancing down at me.

  “Y-y-yes.”

  Adrian launched himself at us. Jason stepped in front of me, shielding me with his body. In a flash, he grabbed Adrian's right arm and twisted, causing Adrian to turn a half-circle. I heard a snap.

  "Argh!" Adrian screamed in pain.

  With an elegant sideways move, Jason slammed Adrian against a wall. A painful crunch suggested that Adrian’s facial features had been rearranged.

  "I don't need a knife to kill you," Jason whispered into Adrian's ear. "The only question in is slow or fast? You’ve hurt Cara. Do you have any idea how mad that makes me? Guess."

  I heard a pop, like a balloon at a kid's party, and simultaneously Adrian howled with pain. The way he was standing suggested that his shoulder had been separated from the socket.

  "Cara?” Jason turned to talk to me. “You might want to call the cops before I really lose my temper and do something this jerk will regret.”

  CHAPTER 93

  Officer Valerie Blaze wasn't impressed with Adrian Green's caterwauling. In fact, she all but ignored his complaints.

  When transferring Adrian into the custody of two other uniformed cops, she said, "Whatever you do, don't let this creep out of your sight. I think he’s got his passport and a plane ticket on him. Stick close to him at the hospital. Don't even let him go to the bathroom by himself. The minute they finish fixing him up, book him, and get him back to the jail.”

  "Got it," said the fresh-faced young man.

  “Ditto,” said his middle-aged partner.

  Adrian was bookended by the uniformed officers. With every step, he complained loudly of the pain.

  I was happy to see the last of him.

  "Do we need to call another ambulance for you?” asked Officer Blaze, turning to me.

  “I’ll be okay,” I said, although I wasn’t totally sure about that. I was sitting in a chair at the lunch table and holding a wet washcloth to my face.

  “You really rammed that hat pin into his hand?" Officer Blaze. "Nailed him to the desktop?"

  "Yes."

  Her chuckles caused the freckles on her nose to dance. "I'm impressed Ms. Delgatto. I had you figured for the fluffy bunny, pretty kitty, type of girl. How'd you happen to show up just in time, Sir Galahad?"

  Jason shrugged. He took the washcloth from me and rinsed it out in the sink. After adding a few ice cubes, he handed it back. "Cara left her lipstick in my car. I dropped by to return it."

  "I probably won't need to paint more color on my face for a long, long time," I said.

  My nose had finally quit bleeding, but my shirt was streaked with dried blood. I could barely see out of my left eye. My lip stung. My ribs ached. I couldn't imagine how bad I must look. Despite all that, I did feel rather proud of myself. Adrian Green had roughed me up, but I'd gotten the better of him.

  Now he was going to jail, where he belonged—and my computer was exactly where I wanted it to be.

  "I can't believe that twerp waved a knife at you," said Jason. "You did a good job of defending yourself, Cara.”

  “I’m booking him on an assault with a deadly weapon,” said Officer Blaze. “He’ll be sorry he decided to flash that blade around. Are you sure you’re okay?”

  I turned my hand over. My palm had ballooned to twice its normal size. Jason reached for my fingers, touched them gently, and said, "Is it possible that he broke your nose?"

  "No. I don't know," I amended my comment. "It hurts. I can't breathe through it. But I assume that's because of all the blood."

  “We definitely need to get you to the hospital," said Jason, as he wrapped a protective arm around me. It felt good to lean against him.

  Officer Blaze smiled at me. "I'll need a more detailed statement, but that can wait until you get checked over. Could you stop by the police station tomorrow, Ms. Delgatto?"

  "Please call me Cara," I said.

  "I'm Valerie.”

  “What a mess,” I said. The floor was streaked with my blood, and one wall had a splotch where Adrian Green's face had hit it. But the most satisfying was the way that the crime scene guys marveled at the hole I’d drilled in the desktop. It was nearly a half an inch deep. I couldn't believe I'd done that. But then, my life had been on the line.

  "Maybe I should frame that desktop for posterity and label it, 'Don't mess with me,'" I said. "I am thoroughly sick and tired of people thinking they can shove me around."

  He and Valerie both laughed.

  “I think word will get around that you can look after yourself,” she said.

  "Let's go, Cara,” said Jason. “Once the adrenaline wears off, you're going to be in a world of hurt."

  Valerie handed me her business card. “Call me anytime if you need me. Do you have a second set of keys? I’ll let the dog out and lock up when we’re ready to leave.”

  I thanked her profusely.

  Jason helped me into his car, buckled me in, and gently closed the door. He treated me as if I were made of fine china.

  After he started down the street, I asked, "Do I really look like kittens and puppies and cupcakes or whatever?"

  "No way," said Jason. "You look like Wonder Woman. Tough. Unyielding. Take no prisoners."

  "Really?" My nose was totally blocked. I didn’t sound like me.

  "No," he said with a chuckle. "Not really. You look like you. You're one of a kind, Cara. Boy, do you ever set the bar high."

  CHAPTER 94

  6:15 p.m. on Monday

  Stuart Police Department

  ~Lou~

  Officer Valerie Blaze stood just inside the door to Davidson’s office and reported on the scuffle between Cara and Adrian Green.

  “Was Cara hurt?” asked Davidson, his voice thick with concern.

  “Might have a broken nose. Bruised palm. Bruised ribs,” said Blaze. “But for the most part, I think she was okay. She did an admirable job of defending herself, sir. She’s with Mr. Robbins right now. He encouraged her to go to the hospital and get checked over.”

  “Thank goodness that woman has spunk,” said the Police Captain. “I can’t believe that man roughed her up!”

  “I think Mr. Robbins agrees with you. He was not gentle with Mr. Green. I think he dislocated the man’s shoulder,” said Blaze. “The uniforms will phone me when they’re on their way back from getting him treated.”

  “Good job, Officer Blaze,” said Davidson. “Let’s see what happens when our Mr. Green sits in a jail cell for a couple of hours. That ought to loosen his tongue.”

  Blaze left to write up her report. Davidson sent a text message. He seemed to have forgotten Lou was still there. When he looked up from what he was doing, he colored slightly. Lou figured he was texting Cara.

  “Detective Murray? Care to take a ride with me? I want to hear what you learned from Mrs. McAfee, and I want to talk all this over. I also need any information you got from your visit to Wendy’s.” Davidson grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair.

  “Sure,” said Lou. He was becoming accustomed to Davidson’s multi-tasking.

  Once in the car, Lou started with Kiesha explaining that employees had lockers. “That’s what Kathy Simmons did. She ran inside the restaurant and handed the photo to Darcy Lahti for safekeeping.”

  “Which means she didn’t trust
Adrian Green,” said Davidson. “Or at the very least, she worried about the photo. It was important to her.”

  “Right,” and Lou told him that the two women were lesbians.

  “Further proof that our Mr. Green is a liar,” said Davidson. “Or a complete dope. Didn’t he tell you that Kathy Simmons fancied him?”

  Lou nodded and went over his visit with Honora.

  Davidson got tickled when he heard how Honora had said, “My husband Frank’s the one I could have cheerfully killed.” Lou ended his explanation with, “I bet she would have killed that man of hers. Mrs. McAfee seems like an honest woman to me.”

  Davidson turned his car toward Hobe Sound.

  “Are we checking on the Senator’s wife?” asked Lou.

  "No." Davidson shook his head. "Following up on a hunch."

  In short order, they arrived at the Winn-Dixie parking lot. "Come on," said Davidson, as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

  On their way inside the store, Officer Valerie Blaze text messaged Davidson that Green was in a jail cell.

  “Good,” said Lou. “That’s where he belongs.”

  Davidson walked up to the Winn-Dixie customer service counter. "Hi! I’d like to hear more about your program that offers discounts on gas."

  The woman explained that if you owned a Winn-Dixie card, and presented it when making purchases, you could earn percentages off on gas purchases.

  "Would you like to apply for a card?" she asked in a cheery voice.

  "Sure," said Davidson. With the application in hand, he glanced over it and asked, "Can I use my gas discount anywhere?"

  "Only at Shell Stations," said the clerk.

  Davidson thanked her for her time. Back in the police car, he turned to Lou. "Mr. Green is a liar. They didn't come here to buy cigarettes so Kathy Simmons could get a discount. Ollie's timeline shows Kathy buying gas at a BP Station later that same night. If she was accumulating points for gas, why go to a place that wouldn't offer a discount?"

  "I am totally confused." Lou sounded as baffled as he felt.

  "That's the goal," said Davidson. "Someone is trying to confuse us. Keep us off balance. Do you know where the term 'red herring' comes from? In England, to distract the dogs during fox hunts, they would literally drag a red herring on the ground to put down a false trail. Our killer has spent a lot of time and energy with all these red herrings. He or she is feeling pretty cocky right now."

  "So far, our killer has a good job of getting us to bark up the wrong tree," said Lou.

  “That’s about to change,” said Davidson.

  CHAPTER 95

  8 p.m. on Monday

  The Treasure Chest

  ~Cara~

  It was nearly eight when Jason pulled his Porsche into a parking space behind my store. “Wait for me to get your door,” he said.

  I was happy to sit there and watch him round the front of the car. All the adrenaline had long since left me, and I couldn’t believe how tired I felt. Jason opened my door and took me by the elbow to guide me out of the low slung seat.

  Nathan Davidson and Lou Murray pulled up as I was struggling to my feet.

  "Cara? Are you okay?” Nathan raced to my side of the Porsche.

  Jason’s wide shoulders had blocked the light from the security lamp that shone over my back door. When he stepped to one side, the soft yellow glow fell on me. From the shocked expression on Nathan’s face, I could tell that I looked as bad as I felt.

  "I can’t believe what he did to you!" Nathan’s voice was rough.

  “She looks worse than she is. Nothing’s broken. Cara’s kind of groggy because of the pain meds,” said Jason. “I’m going to take her inside and get some ice on her face.”

  “Nathan? I have something for you. From Sid. In my desk,” I said, although I slurred my words. I handed my door keys to Nathan. “Can you unlock it?”

  He hurried to do as I asked.

  Jason slipped a protective arm around my waist and helped me into the store. Not surprisingly, Jack barked bravely from his crate.

  “Poor baby,” I said, to him as I sat down at the lunch table. “You were scared, weren’t you? I’m not sure where Luna is.”

  “Probably hiding,” said Jason.

  Lou was the first to see the blood on the wall. He said, “Holy cow!”

  “Good grief!” said Nathan.

  “That blood belongs to Adrian Green,” Jason said to the two cops. “Believe me, I wanted to do more. Cara? Put this cold washcloth on your face, please. I’ll look for your cat later. She’s probably too scared to come out.”

  I had something else I needed to do. I asked Jason to reach into the desk drawer and find the Sid’s manila envelope. “Those are for Captain Davidson,” I explained, as he handed them to the policeman.

  “Thank you and thank Sid for me. I’m sorry I wasn’t there at the funeral. I would have been, but the Police Chief called a media briefing. Right after, we went into a meeting with the mayor,” Nathan said. “I wish I’d been here to break up Adrian’s little party.”

  Smiling hurt, but I tried to anyway. “I understand. Either way, I have good news for you. The password to Kathy's cloud storage account is Darcy+Kathy4Ever. It's inscribed on Luna's tags. It was also a tattoo that Darcy had on her arm."

  “I saw the same phrase on Kathy’s arm,” said Lou. “But it never occurred to me to count the characters.”

  "Good work," Nathan said, nodding at me.

  "There's more," I said. "At the funeral, Mrs. Simmons told me that her brother Wallace is the other boy in the picture. Wallace was hauled away to Dozier and never came back. I’m fairly certain that the picture of the boys and the Senator was taken up there in Marianna."

  Nathan nodded. “That is useful information. More than you know. It confirms something that Mrs. Simmons said to Lou.”

  “Kathy told her mother she had proof of something. Something concerning Wallace.” I could feel the pain killer starting to drag me down into a sleepy haze. I willed myself to keep talking even though I wanted to put my head on the table and succumb to a nice long snooze.

  “Oh, and it might not matter,” I said, sloppily, “but Adrian Green bragged to me that he just got a big check. A publisher up in New York accepted his manuscript. Seems that he wrote a biography of the Senator. But here’s the weird part. It’s being published this fall. I don’t know a lot about book publishing, but that seems like a really short turn-around time to me. The book doesn’t sound like a real biography. More of a puff piece praising the Senator."

  Lou and Nathan exchanged looks. I couldn’t tell what they were thinking, but something passed between them.

  “Okay, let’s get you upstairs,” said Jason, putting an arm around me and helping me to my feet. “I’ll come back downstairs, let your dog out, and find your cat.”

  As I stood up, I had another thought. I couldn’t remember what I’d told Valerie Blaze, so I might have been repeating myself. “Adrian was planning to leave the country this evening. In fact, he has a ticket to fly out of Miami, first class."

  "He's not going anywhere," Nathan said. "Not for a long, long time."

  CHAPTER 96

  ~Lou~

  At the police station, Davidson raced down the hall like a tornado whips through a street in the Midwest. He was wound up and angry. "Tell a trustee to bring Adrian Green to the interview room with me, right now," he said to Lou.

  Lou did as he was asked and then met Davidson back in the room. "How do you want to play this?"

  "I'm thinking 'shock and awe' should get this twerp's attention," said Davidson. "We know he isn't in this alone. There’s a woman involved. We both have an inkling who that might be. I want to scare Adrian Green into telling us who his partner is. I think that’s all we need to solve this puzzle."

  Green shuffled in.

  “The ER doc gave him oxycodone,” said the trustee.

  Green’s shoulder was in a sling, and his hand was bandaged, but he still looked defiant.

&
nbsp; "Mr. Green? You've had your one phone call. Detective Murray, will you Mirandize the suspect?”

  Lou did.

  “I want a solicitor,” said Green.

  “Very well,” said Davidson. “Please be sure to tell your lawyer that we plan to charge you with attempted kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, and two counts of murder?"

  "Murder?" Green's eyes snapped open.

  "Of Katherine Simmons."

  "I did not hurt her!"

  "There's also the death of Senator Josiah Wentworth."

  "What?" The man leaped up from his chair.

  "Sit down," said Davidson, "or we'll handcuff you to the table. You're already considered a flight risk."

  "I did no such thing! Not to Kathy! Not to the Senator! You've got it all wrong!"

  "Really?" Davidson looked mildly amused. "Then you better start straightening me out, because Mrs. Wentworth has been talking to me. She really bent my ear. We have her testimony, and the facts we need to put you behind bars for a long, long time. That is, if you're lucky. You do remember, don't you, that we still employ capital punishment here in the States? It's usually reserved for heinous crimes. I think that locking a young woman in the trunk of a car for three days and then suffocating her would qualify, wouldn’t you, Detective Murray?"

  “Yes, I do, especially since Kathy Simmons was claustrophobic,” said Lou.

  "I didn't do that to Kathy! I never touched a hair on her head! And you can't prove otherwise!" Green's face had turned a strange shade of puce, and his voice had climbed two octaves.

  “I think a jury will find your protests of innocence hard to believe when they see the photos of Cara Mia Delgatto,” said Davidson. "We're looking at you for a double murder. Mrs. Wentworth tells us that you had ongoing access to her husband, so you had the perfect opportunity. We know he was administered poison over a long haul. Considering what a local hero he is, that's going to go badly for you when we go to trial. Of course, we’ll be sure to point out that you stood to profit by his death. What with your upcoming book and all."

  "I never! Poison? You have to be kidding me! I admired him! I had no reason to want him dead! I didn’t set the publication date! She did!"