Chapter 30 – January 14, 1988: Part III

My mother saw the backseat of a police car more times than I can count, but this is the first time for me. The officers barely speak to me during the ride, and all I can think about is Dorothy Brown and Gary King.

Tom waits in the lobby as Captain Gomez shows me back to his office.

"Not an interrogation room,” I say. “That's a good sign."

He sits down behind the desk. He’s younger than I anticipated, with no gray in his short hair or manicured goatee. "No one wants me to give you this much information, but I feel like you have a right to know.”

“Okay,” I say, slightly taken aback by the irony of the police confiding in me.

“Officers went to check on Officer Daly and found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. There was a note at the scene. 'Tell the women that they're safe now.' The other three suicides were suspects in two other cases that my predecessor refused to prosecute.

"Doctors diagnosed Officer Daly with lung cancer about a year ago. As of last month, it was terminal. He was going to retire next week."

"So they weren't really suicides," I say flatly.

"Probably not. We're investigating now. I’m asking you to not talk to the press."

"Believe me,” I say, “I don't want this to go public any more than you do. I'd hate for the press to make the connection and harass me or my family.

"Lassio’s son is coming to visit me after he talks to the lawyer tomorrow morning. Do you think there's any need for me to be worried?"

"How would you describe your current relationship?" he asks.

I reflect, and a dozen different encounters flash in my brain. "Mixed. We were friends for a really long time. Then we strongly disliked one another. Now we're mostly indifferent."

"Have you had reason to fear him in the past?"

"Not really… I mean, he's not the most controlled person, but I've always handled him."

He’s silent for a moment and rubs his palms together. "I'd say you're probably fine, but consider meeting in a public place."

"You don't see any reason for me to have police protection or anything."

“No, but if you see or hear anything suspicious, call.”

"Am I free to go?" I ask.

"Yes. Thanks for coming down. Do you need the guys to give you a lift home?"

"I have a ride." I tap my fingers against my thumb. "Listen, I'm sorry about Officer Daly."

"Thank you." He sighs. "I'm sorry that the system failed you."

"It's not your fault,” I say. “Sometimes the bad guys win."

"Too often, I'm afraid." He stands and escorts me to the lobby before extending his hand. "Thank you for coming down."

"Thanks for all your help."

Tom stands, obviously nervous, and I gesture toward the door.

"Everything's fine," I reassure him as I step into his car. "As soon as I’m home, I'll call Colin, and he can come home tonight or in the morning."

"I don't want you to be alone,” Tom says, starting the engine. “If Colin's not coming back tonight, you should stay with me and Kari."

"I'm sure it'll be fine. Besides, tonight isn't the problem. Tomorrow is."

He furrows his brow. "What do you mean?"

I bite my lip. "So one of the guys who died was Peter Lassio."

"Right."

"And Lassio has a son, Pete." For the next twenty minutes, I tell Tom about my complicated relationship with Pete, the revelation about the will, and my nervousness about meeting him. I leave out everything else, but it’s still nice to talk about Pete with someone other than Colin.

Tom follows me into the dorm, and I toss him a bottle of water from the fridge before quickly dialing a number.

"Hello?" answers a cheery older man.

"Hi, Mr. Brown. Is Colin there?"

"We just finished dinner. Hang on, Ra'Shelle."

A moment passes, and I can hear Alex babbling in the background.

"Hey, babe."

"Hey. So, everything is okay, relatively speaking. It was Daly, and now he's dead too. Your cancer theory was right."

Colin takes a breath. "What a waste."

"Agreed."

"So, where are you now?"

"At the dorm. Tom gave me a ride home."

"You're alone?!" he asks, his voice unusually high.

"No, he's still here,” I say, trying to calm him. “Are you coming back tonight?"

"Yeah. I'll let Dad finish reading to Alex, and then we'll head back. Probably be there in forty-five minutes."

"Sounds good. I'll see you soon."

"Ra'Shelle?"

"Yeah."

"I'm glad you're okay."

I smile and make circles around the bottle lid with my fingertip. "You too, babe."

"See you soon. Love you."

"Love you too." I hang up and look at Tom. "He'll be here in a bit."

"Own a chess set?"

I smile. "You want to stick around and see if you can beat me in a new environment? Maybe chess spirits cursed your office."

He clicks his tongue. "That's probably it."

I take a chess board out of the desk drawer and begin setting it up.

We talk, mostly about work and our kids, and it’s comforting to hear what his children were doing at Alex’s age.

There’s a knock at the door, and Tom looks up.

"Colin often has trouble balancing Alex and his keys." I chuckle. "Although it is unusual that he isn't singing. I can usually hear him long before he arrives."

"I guess we can finish this next time," Tom says.

I open the door, but it isn’t Colin standing on the other side.

"Pete, why are you here?" I roll my eyes. "You weren't supposed to be here until tomorrow."

Pete swallows. "My plane landed."

"Clearly."

"And then I took a cab to, you know, the place where I used to live."

"Your house."

"Yeah." He sways. "And it's an active crime scene." He staggers past me without invitation. "So I booked a room at a hoe… hotel," he slurs.

Tom stands and places his hands in his pockets, vigilantly watching Pete.

"Sounds like you should go back to your hotel and sleep,” I tell him. “I'll see you tomorrow afternoon."

"Don't want me here, huh? Can't say that I–I blame you." He looks at Tom. "Who's this guy? A little old for you, Ra'Shelle."

"You know I'm married,” I say, annoyed. “This is my boss."

Pete throws up his hands and ambles around the room. "None of my business, really." He looks back at me, an anguished, sorrowful expression consuming his face. His voice lowers. "Except when it is."

"I think you should go," Tom interjects.

"Stay out of this, old man!” Pete yells. “This is between me and Ra'Shelle."

My eyes widen, and I realize my hand is still on the knob of the open door. Without closing it, I walk to the center of the room, calmly placing my right hand in my pants pocket. 'I'm not sure what you think you know, Pete, but I'm willing to say that this is just the alcohol talking."

"Always at Florence Dawson's house," he says, taking a step closer. "Always needed to be there. And then I saw those pads, those names." He takes another step. "Always in a better mood when he came back from Florence’s house. Then a few hours later, he'd be screaming at me again." He sighs. “Ra'Shelle, I thought–I thought you were… But now you’re in the will! I thought that… How can you be in the will?! Maybe I was blind to the truth. What’s the truth, Ra’Shelle?”

I hold my place. "Pete, you’re too drunk to make sense. We can talk about this tomorrow. You should go."

"Are you in Gabriel’s will, too? What happened, Ra'Shelle? Tell me! I need to know!" He steps toward me, backing me into a wall. He places his hands above my shoulders and stares at me, miserable and furious. "Were you a pawn or the queen? Tell me the truth!"

In a swift, fluid movement, I pull the stun gun from my pocket, push it against the side of Pete's ribs, and hit the button.

He immediately crumples to the floor and curls into the fetal position.

I step around him and silently watch him take quick, shallow breaths.

"You're going to hyperventilate," I say dryly, crouching next to him. "Take a couple of breaths."

I hear Colin as he strolls down the hall. "I'd climb most every mountain, swim from shore to shore, just to feel the soft caress from your warm embrace. In this ocean of love, no one can take–"

Colin stands in the open doorway, his keys in his right hand, Alex's car seat in the crook of his left elbow. "What the hell happened here?" He looks at me, and I know he’d be more panicked if he wasn’t holding Alex. "You actually had to stun someone?! Are you okay?!"

"In the ribs. I’m fine," I say nonchalantly.

He walks over to me. "Is that Pete?!"

"Drunk."

"What'd he do?"

"He backed me against a wall."

Colin sets the car seat on the couch. "Oh, Pete, do you not remember the last time you tried that? You're lucky she just went for your ribs."

"Oh, I figure there's still one good charge left in here," I say as I push the button to turn on the safety.

Tom picks up the car seat. "How about I take Alex into the bedroom and give you three a little privacy?"

"Thanks, Tom," Colin replies, not taking his eyes off of Pete.

I wait for Tom to leave. "He thinks he's a puzzle master. Wants to know if I’ll be in Gabriel’s will. But it’s mostly incohesive theories that I can’t understand."

Pete coughs and begins to stand. I press the stun gun against his back. "You're not going to do anything stupid, are you?"

He coughs. "No. I think that pretty well sobered me up… Why are you in the will, Ra’Shelle?” For the first time tonight, he sounds heartbroken.

“I honestly don’t know, Pete.”

He stares at me a moment longer, then shakes his head. “I really want to believe you.”

I slip the stun gun back into my pocket. "I'm going to pass this off as intoxication and grief."

"Yeah. Guess there's a lot of that going around right now, huh? You have to feel bad for Daly's son. He was only fourteen. Imagine what that'll do to a kid." He shrugs. "Probably better this way, though. Who wants to cough to death?"

He walks toward the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Ra'Shelle."

"At noon at the quad," I state flatly. Then I lean closer to him and whisper, "Don't you ever show up here unannounced again."

He doesn’t turn around as he walks down the hallway. "Good night, Ra'Shelle."

Colin shuts the door and locks it. "That last part was weird, huh?"

"As opposed to the rest of it, which was totally normal?"

"No, the 'cough to death' comment," he says.

"The man had lung cancer, Colin."

"You know that, but how does Pete know that?"

"It was on the news?" I guess.

"I heard the news on the radio on the way here. Boilerplate 'police are looking into the known cause' line."

"Nothing about the suicide or cancer?"

Colin shakes his head and hugs me. "You should be careful, Ra'Shelle."

I toss the stun gun on the desk. "I think I've proven that I can handle Pete."

"All that hypervigilance finally paid off."

I shake my head. "I guess."

"The head says one thing, the mouth another."

I half-smile at the memory. "Yeah."

Tom emerges from the bedroom. "Alex fell asleep. I moved her to her crib."

I turn to him. "Thanks. Want to finish the game?"

Tom raises his eyebrows. "After that? Sure you're up for it?"

"Ra'Shelle doesn't have a normal response to danger," Colin remarks.

"What does that mean?" Tom asks.

I walk to the board. "It means you might actually have a chance now."

Colin wanders into the kitchen. "Did you eat, Ra'Shelle?"

"Not yet."

"Let me whip up something while you slaughter Tom."

"So?" I direct at Tom.

Tom looks at his watch, sits, and moves his pawn. "Anything you want to tell me?"

"Nope."

"You're meeting this guy tomorrow? You want backup?"

I capture his rook with my bishop. “It’s noon at the quad. That's about as public as you can be. Also, don't you have a company to run?"

He sighs as he moves his knight. "Yes."

"I'm your intern, not your daughter. Don't worry so much."

"I do worry."

"I know. Stop that." I smile as I move my bishop again. "Three moves to check."

He knocks over his king. "I surrender… again.”

"Good game."

Colin emerges with a glass of thick, purple liquid. "Here you go."

Tom raises his eyebrows. "What… is that?"

"Let's find out." I take a long drink. "Raspberries, blueberries, milk, and… other stuff."

Colin grins at Tom. "It's the 'other stuff' that makes it good."

I set the drink on the desk and walk Tom to the door. "Thanks for the ride home."

"Yeah." He turns to face me. "Listen, don't do anything stupid tomorrow, okay?"

I smile. "No promises."

"I'm serious."

I "It'll be fine, Tom," I say.

"If it isn't, call me… or come see me. Just… don't feel like you can't reach out."

"You've made that very clear over the last eight months. Kari too."

"Good." He opens the door. "Good night."

"Night, Tom."