Chapters List | Stories List | Front Page
Crossfire
Lorna sat at her desk, sobbing. When Theresa came through the Body Shop, she was just another corpse, to be studied and analyzed. It was easy to separate the science of the investigation from the reality of the person. But seeing Theresa on the video, seeing Des torture her, the fact that the law was too late to save this girl was a slap in Lorna's face.
To take her mind off of Theresa, she checked her Email. There was a letter from Danny with web links in it. Lorna started clicking through them one at a time. Most of the links were from the Chronicle's archive.
The first was an article entitled, "Construction Firm Blamed for Fatal Accident," dated February. A load of steel rods hadn't been fastened to the bed of the truck correctly, and several shook loose while the truck was traveling up 101. The unfortunate Kia behind the truck was impaled and pinned to the ground before being rear-ended by an Airport Express bus. The passenger of the car was pronounced dead at the scene. Lorna skimmed the article before moving on.
The second article was about David winning a lawsuit against the hospital. Somewhere in transport from the hospital morgue to the funeral home, the body of his wife Sandy had been lost.
It took a moment, but it dawned on Lorna that David and his wife were in the Kia of the previous article. Going back to the previous article, Lorna got an idea of the horror of the situation. Several of the steel rods came through the windshield, then through Sandy. When the bus rear-ended them, the rods were twisted sideways; Lorna could only imagine the mess that would have made.
"There she is," said Holly, as Carol rounded the corner.
Carol was dressed in a pair of jeans with a tan overcoat. Her head was covered with a floppy, black beret; her eyes were covered by a pair of large, dark sunglasses. Dangling from the ends of her arms were two plastic shopping bags.
Lorna sat back in the passenger seat of the car. They had just arrived a few minutes ago. They hastily parked across the street and were about to get out when Holly spotted Carol. Holly's comment was spoken into the radio, and was more for the benefit of the cruiser that had come along to assist with the arrest.
"Let's take her," Holly suggested. Lorna nodded and Holly whispered something into the radio.
They exited the car and started crossing the street. Lorna noticed two uniformed officers coming up behind Carol. Their timing couldn't be better, and they arrived at the bottom of the building's steps just as Carol and the other two officers did.
Carol saw them and stopped.
"I told him he'd go too far one day," Carol said, apparently recognizing them. Holly put her hand on her shoulder and spun her around.
"You have the right to remain silent and to refuse to answer any questions. Do you understand?" asked Holly.
"Yes," Carol said. "He's really not a bad guy."
"If you waive that right, anything you say can be used against you in a court of law," Holly continued, placing one of Carol's hands on the hood of a parked car. "Do you understand?"
"I didn't know it would go this far," Carol said.
"Do you understand?" Holly repeated.
"Yes," Carol said.
"You have the right to consult with an attorney prior to answering any questions related to a police investigation," Holly continued, moving putting Carol's other hand on the hood. "You have the right to have an attorney present during any future questioning. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Carol said, watching as a patrol car pulled up in the street next to her. "What's going to happen to him?"
"If you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed to you before questioning if you so desire," Holly said. She started fishing through Carol's pockets, placing the contents on the hood of the car in front of her, "Do you understand?"
"Yes," Carol nodded. "I just want to know what's going to happen to him. Will I be required to appear in court against him?"
"If you decide to answer any questions without an attorney present, you have the right to stop answering at any time. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Carol said. Holly finished her search of Carol's pockets and stood her up.
"Understanding your rights as I have just explained them to you, are you willing to answer questions regarding this investigation without the presence of an attorney?" Holly asked her. She pulled one of Carol's hands behind her back and snapped a handcuff over it. Carol immediately turned around and looked at her.
"Wait," Carol said, realization suddenly dawning. "Are you arresting me too?"
"You're being placed under arrest for the murder of Theresa Banks."
"But it wasn't me!" Carol protested. Holly twisted her other arm around and cuffed it to its mate.
"Knowing your rights as I have just explained them to you," Holly repeated, ignoring her.
"It wasn't me!" Carol yelled.
"Are you willing," Holly continued.
"No!" Carol yelled. "No! I didn't do it! You saw the tape! You saw the tape!"
Lorna opened the door to the squad car and Holly forced Carol into the back seat. She was still screaming, with tears streaming down her face, when Holly slammed the door.
"Think he heard?" Holly asked, looking up at the windows of the building.
"I don't think he hears anything that doesn't have his name in it," Lorna smirked.
"Tom!" Holly called. A tall, ken-doll in a uniform walked over.
"Lorna," Holly said, "this is Tom Fleming, my old partner. Tom, this is Lorna Perry, she's giving me a hand."
"Nice to meet you," Tom said.
"Tom, we're going up after the dickhead," Holly said. "Can you check the back of the building in case there's a fire escape?"
"Sure thing," Tom beamed.
"One more thing," Holly said with a grin. She put her hands around Tom's hips and got up her tiptoes to give him a kiss. When she stepped back, she was holding his gun.
"Hey!" he protested weakly.
"It's for Lorna," Holly replied. "She doesn't have one."
"I see," Tom smiled, "as long as I get it back later." He smiled and then walked off.
"Partner, huh?" Lorna teased.
"He's as dumb as a bag of hammers," Holly smiled, "but when a guy lasts four hours who cares about brains?"
On the elevator ride up, Holly and Lorna left each other to their private thoughts. Both, however, were nervous. When the doors squeaked open, they almost knocked an old woman over as they charged out. The woman spotted Holly's gun and started to scream, but Holly held a finger to her lips and showed the woman her badge. The woman nodded lightly and clutched her bag against her chest.
The gun in Lorna's hand was heavy and awkward. She couldn't identify the model or the caliber just by looking at it, and wished she knew more about guns. The department put all CSU officers through gun safety and handling courses, whether they were officers or not, but the course was far from in-depth. Lorna never thought it would be an issue.
Leaning against the wall about a foot from the door, Lorna watched as Holly knocked. She waited a bit before knocking again.
"I'm watching my show!" Des bellowed from inside the apartment.
Holly seemed to weigh the door's strength against her own small frame for a moment, then shrugged and knocked again.
"God dammit!" Des yelled. "What's a matter, did you forget your key a..." He stopped when he opened the door and found himself looking down the barrel of Holly's gun. "...gain. Well, well, well," he smiled. "Look who's back."
"You're under arrest," Holly said. "Put your hands behind your head and turn around."
"Arrest?" Des asked. "What for?"
"For the murder of Theresa Banks."
"What?" laughed Des. "You can't prove that."
"We have a video tape," Holly said, still holding the gun up. Lorna could tell she was getting nervous. She couldn't see Des through the wall, but knew it was only a matter of time before he tried something. Hopefully, she thought, Des being unaware of Lorna's presence would give them an advantage.
"A video tape? Where would you get..." Des' eyes widened and the same enraged look they'd seen before came over his face. Before Holly could step back, he slammed the door, smashing her hand in the doorframe. To her credit, Holly never dropped her gun, and reacted quickly by shouldering open the door. Lorna came around behind her.
As Holly stepped into the room, they saw Des disappearing down the hallway. Slowly, they went down after him, Holly looking forward and Lorna keeping an eye on the other rooms. As she reached the end of the hallway, Holly waved Lorna to look into the bathroom. As she did so, Lorna heard Holly squeak. She turned around just in time to see Des' arm pull her into the bedroom in a headlock.
"I got her!" Des shouted. "I got your officer!"
Lorna caught her breath and steeled her nerves before taking a step toward the door. She could see Des' shoulder just inside the doorway; he was leaning against the wall and had Holly pinned in front of him. He was waving her gun in the air.
"Get back!" He shouted. "Get back or I'll kill her!"
He used his elbow to open the door and stepped backwards into the hallway. Lorna realized that he still didn't realize she was there. When she looked past him, she saw Tom reflected in the bedroom mirror; the officer was standing on the fire escape with his hands up. Lorna couldn't hear what he was saying, but she imagined it was the typical hostage situation stuff they teach officers.
"I'll kill her!" Des said. "I'm going to kill her."
He pointed the gun at Holly's head and, before she realized what she was doing, Lorna raised her gun and fired.
The gun leapt from her hands, and the force of the kick jammed her elbow and threw her shoulder backwards to collide painfully against the bathroom doorframe. The forward movement of her upper half, combined with the stationary position of her lower half, pulled Lorna off balance and she fell backwards. The last thing she saw was the counter rushing up to meet her.
"Hey," the voice said. "Hey, wake up."
Lorna opened her eyes and saw a paramedic standing above her. She was still lying on the bathroom floor. The paramedic shined a penlight at her, first in her left eye, then in her right. Squinting from the light, Lorna reached up and grabbed the counter to pull herself up.
"Just stay there," the paramedic said.
"Normal pupil reaction?" Lorna asked.
"Yes, but..." the paramedic said.
"Then I'm fine," Lorna said, cutting him off. "I'll get x-rayed later, I promise."
"Hey," he shrugged. "It's your brain."
She snuck a quick glance at the mirror and winced at the angry purple patch that spread from her temple to her chin. Walking into the living room, she saw Holly sitting on Des' chair. A wad of guaze was wrapped around her head, with a large bulge over her ear.
"You all right?" Holly asked.
"I need some Advil," Lorna replied, "but I'll live. What about Des?"
"Well, he's missing a couple fingers," Holly said. "But we got him."
"Missing fingers?"
"You shot the gun right out of his hand," said Holly, pointing at her ear. "And it was loud," she laughed. Getting closer, Lorna noticed the powder burns across Holly's cheek.
"Sorry about that," Lorna winced.
"Tom said Des was ready to blow my head off," Holly shrugged. "I'd rather have tinnitus for a few days than have a hole in my head."
"Good point," Lorna said. Her head still swimming, Lorna knelt down. "Listen, can I ask you a favor?"
"Considering how much you've helped me on this case, I'll do anything," Holly said. "But first I need file the paperwork. Can we do it later? Say three or four-ish?"
"I'm testifying at three," Lorna said. "And I have an errand to run first. Can you meet me at five?"
"Sure."
A half an hour later, Lorna was standing in the hallway outside of Flavorus Maximus, rapping lightly on the door. After a moment, Max answered.
"Ah, Officer," he said. "I hope this is unofficial."
"Not really," Lorna said. "But it's a different investigation."
"I'm going to have to start charging you for my time as a consultant," said Max without hint of a smile. "What is it you need?"
"I need to see all of the photos you've bought from David Brule and I need the dates you bought them."
Previous Chapter | Next Chapter