“Lucille…” Debbie started. “I didn’t want to mention anything to David although this concerns him. I felt you’d be able to prepare him if I told you first.”
“Uh huh… What is it?” I asked.
“A friend of mine, Shelly Cambridge, who works for the Sheriff’s Department, just called and said they’re on their way to pick David up.” She spoke passionately.
“For what?” I could feel my heart beginning to race.
“You know…”
“My goodness. What could they possibly have to be able to do that?” I spoke as quietly as I could. “Did Shelly say anything else?”
“No. That’s all she told me. They’re gonna be there at any minute now, so you’d better warn David.”
I hung up and immediately called David.
“What’s up?” He asked.
“The Sheriff…they’re coming to arrest you, David.” I felt my otherwise strong lips trembling.
“What?! Why?” He held his head in frustration.
I sighed. “I guess it has to do with Sabrina’s death. Don’t panic though. Just keep it together. They can’t possibly have actual evidence that you’ve done anything to harm her.”
I could see my words had barely gotten through to him because he was obviously in a full blown panic. Suddenly, I heard the front door creak open and close.
“Lucille! Are you home?” Merlene cried.
“We’re upstairs!” I hollered back.
David took off downstairs to his mother.
“Miss Lucille said they’re coming to arrest me, Mom. They’re coming to arrest me!”
Merlene’s eyes widened with shock and terror. She looked at me as I descended the staircase. “Lucille…”
“Debbie just called,” I said. “Someone at the Sheriff’s office tipped her off.”
“My God! They can’t be serious. How can they think they can come here and arrest him without any evidence that he killed that girl?”
“Sabrina, Mom,” David said defensively. “Her name was Sabrina.”
“I’m sorry, David. I didn’t mean to…”
“Forget it. I guess I’ll be one of those guys they lock up and throw away the key on—who’ll be serving time for the rest of my life for a crime I didn’t commit.”
Merlene hugged her son. Ironically, for the first time since he’d left their home, I could tell she actually felt she was needed again. It was a shame it had to happen at a time like this.
When I made it down the stairs, there was a loud knock at my front door.
Merlene stayed with David while I headed to the door. On the other side were Sheriff Cooke, Detective Lance Matthews, and two uniformed officers. Loud mouth Stewart wasn’t with them. Was probably injured due to a shooting off at the mouth.
“Lucille, it’s Sheriff Cooke and Detective Matthews…” Cooke said.
“Thanks for the intro, but I know who’s standing in front of me.” I didn’t give a rat’s behind about being discreet at that point. I was only concerned about David.
“Is David Bostwick here?” Cooke asked.
“What’s it to you?”
“We have a warrant for his arrest.”
“Based on what?” Merlene approached the door.
“May we come in, Lucille?” Cooke practically ignored Merlene. “I don’t want us to have to force our way through.”
I stepped aside.
“You put your hands on my son and I’ll kill you!” Merlene growled.
Lance walked up to her. “Now I see where your son got that idea from to threaten people when he doesn’t get his way.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Merlene didn’t blink.
“I can take what you said as a threat, Miss Bostwick and have you thrown in the slammer. Just watch yourself.”
“And you watch how you’re speaking to my mother!” David yelled.
One of the uniformed officers proceeded to cuff him.
“David Bostwick, we have a warrant for your arrest for the murder of Sabrina Abrams,” Cooke said. And he proceeded to read him his Miranda Rights.
“On what grounds are you arresting him?” I asked.
“Take him!” Cooke told the officers.
As they escorted David outside, Lance joined them and Merlene was on their heel, hollering at them and accusing them of trying to railroad her son. I’d never seen her so angry.
As the Sheriff started to leave, I put my hand on his arm.
“Sheriff, what do you have on this young man?” I asked.
“Lucille, you should know I can’t disclose that information right now.”
“I think if you arrest someone publicly, I…the public have a right to know why you’re arresting him.”
“We’re taking him in to confront him with serious evidence we came across. It was enough to have a warrant issued for his arrest.” He’d lowered his voice. “I have to go.”
“Sheriff…”
“Yes, Lucille!” He was obviously becoming a bit impatient with me, but I knew he only gave me the time of day because of my disability and I’d known the man practically all of his life.
“No matter what you found, I know David and I know he hasn’t done what you’re accusing him of. One way or the other I’m going to get to the bottom of this and you’ll see that I’m right.”
“Now, you leave the investigating to the professionals, ya hear? Furthermore, what do you think you can do to prove anything?”
If I hadn’t known the guy well enough to realize he hadn’t insulted me over the fact that I’m blind, I would’ve given him a good one right across the face—law man or not.
“Lucille, I didn’t mean…”
He’d realized after-the-fact how his remark sounded.
“I know,” I replied. “But mark my words… I mean exactly what I said.”
He shook his head as he walked out of the house. As the two squad cars pulled away, Merlene was about to hop into her Toyota.
“Where are you going?” I shouted.
“To the Sheriff’s Department. Where else?”
“Wait for me. I’m coming!”
I went to check on Nilla, but she was upstairs in Theodore’s room the entire time the commotion had taken place. Apparently, she’d found his shoes, especially the ones with laces, far more interesting to explore.
Her favorite gourmet food and a fresh bowl of water was left at the foot of the stairs for her, and I headed out with Merlene to the Sheriff’s office.
14
_________________
“What took you so long?” Merlene snapped at me.
“Had to check on Nilla. I was moving as quickly as I could!”
She didn’t respond and I could not only see, but feel the tension all around her.
“He’s going to be all right,” I said. “Despite what they think they have, I know they’re only grasping at straws.”
I went on to share with her the brief conversation I had with Cooke and she called his claim of them having serious evidence hogwash.
I was standing with her and David all the way. Maybe Cooke thought they had something, but I highly doubted it was anything sustainable when it really came down to having hard physical evidence in place.
We waited for Cooke and his goons to interrogate David for the better part of three hours before Cooke and Lance re-surfaced, and to my dismay hard-nosed Stewart. David was led out in handcuffs into the corridor and Merlene and I hurried over to him. Merlene had me by a good ten seconds because by the time I got up out of my chair, she was already reaching for her son. The officer accompanying him stopped her.
“Where are you taking him?” she demanded.
“He’ll be in a holding cell, Miss.”
Merlene reached again for David. And the officer used his right arm as a barrier.
“Can’t you allow a mother to hug her child, you big brute of a man?” I said, behind them.
He gave me a similar look to that of the strange woman I’d seen i
n the Andersons’ front yard.
He eyed my cane at least twice before saying, “Miss, can I ask you something?”
“Am I holding your tongue?” I replied, sharply. By then, I was annoyed at the whole situation—them coming and arresting David, and now holding him there as if he’s some common criminal. When I got to that point of anger, my tongue held no evidence of ever being tamed.
“Aren’t you blind?”
“What do you think? You think I’m holding this white cane for no reason? Of course, I am!”
“Well, how do you…”
“Thompson!” Another officer yelled his way. “Take the prisoner to the cell!”
The baffled guy heeded his colleague’s demand and continued on, taking David to an area where a large, red sign hung on the wall that read: Authorized Personnel Only.
“Don’t worry about anything, honey! I’ll get you the best attorney money can buy and you’ll be out of here in no time!”
David just nodded.
The officer did look back at me one last time before they disappeared through the double doors ahead. I must admit I took pleasure in getting him all confused like that. What kind of officer won’t allow a heartbroken mother to embrace her son? The nerve of that guy!
I took Merlene’s hand as she angrily wiped away her tears. I knew it tore her to pieces to see her precious David handled like a criminal.
“Merlene…” A voice crept up behind us. It was Detective Lance Matthews.
“Why are you keeping David here?” She quickly confronted him.
“Can I see you in my office a minute?”
He then looked at me as if there was something on his mind, but I knew Merlene had picked up.
“She’s coming with me,” she said.
Lance cleared his throat. “That’s no problem. No problem at all.”
We followed him in the same direction David was taken where the large, red sign was. Lance’s office was the last one on the right of a long, narrow hallway.
He helped me to my seat on the visiting side of a small pine desk and Merlene sat next to me. Resting his arms on the desk, he interlaced his fingers and said, “The reason I asked you in here is give you a brief update as to what we’re looking at concerning David.”
“Please do!” Merlene exclaimed, positioning herself further to the edge of her chair.
Lance sighed deeply. “We’ve uncovered evidence, though circumstantial, that David had publicly threatened to kill Sabrina just two days prior to her death.”
“What?” Merlene arched her brow. “Is that what you used to get a warrant to arrest my son? People make threats all the time when they’re angry. It doesn’t mean that they intend to follow through with any of it.” She looked at me, shaking her head. “I can’t believe a judge actually issued a warrant based on hearsay!”
“Eyewitness testimony is very powerful,” Lance replied. “We’ve seen many convictions based on them.”
“So that’s all you’ve got?” I asked, just to make sure.
“I’m afraid not. We were able to secure text messages over a period of months between the two and it’s evident that they were having relationship issues. I cannot go into any details concerning those messages, but I can say it doesn’t look good for David.”
“Text messages?” Merlene grimaced. “Relationship issues? Who doesn’t have them? I presume none of those text messages are actual documented death threats like you claimed David made publicly against Sabrina, or you would have said that. Am I right?”
Lance slid his hands away the desk. “As I said, I can’t get into the actual details of those messages. My appeal to you is to speak with David and let him understand, like we tried to, that it would be more beneficial to him in the long run to come out and confess to what he might have done. That way, the court will be a bit more lenient when it comes down to sentencing.”
“That’s a load of crap!” I blurted, almost vomiting up the bile of nonsense he just spewed out. “You really don’t care if the young man you’ve got back there is guilty or innocent; you just think you’ve got a nicely wrapped, neat pile of circumstantial evidence that really in my mind amounts to the clear fact that you’ve got nothing.”
“I second that!” Merlene said. She leaned in a bit more. “Have you people even bothered to check out those Clover boys who caused that upset at Lucille’s party that night, instead of trying to pin murder charges on David just because he was in a relationship with that girl?”
“The Clover boys have been cleared, Merlene,” Lance said. “Multiple sources verified that both boys left the party right after the incident.”
“Either of them could’ve returned, in my estimation, and they could’ve gone unnoticed.”
“That’s highly improbable.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” she replied. “There were about fifty of sixty people at the party. Many were outside under the tent and others were in the living room. Anyone could’ve entered through a clearing which leads to Lucille’s back yard, hopped the fence and eased in through the sliding door which was left open practically the entire night. Then they could’ve taken the flight of stairs up to David’s room and pushed Sabrina off the balcony.”
“How would your suspect have known Sabrina was on the balcony or upstairs there to begin with?” he asked.
“They could’ve seen her when they were approaching the yard through the clearing and quietly hopped the fence at an angle where she wouldn’t have noticed them,” Merlene explained.
“It also could’ve been an accident,” I chimed in. “No murder had to have taken place at all.”
You’re right!” Merlene agreed. “I think the police have blown this whole thing out of proportion and skewed everyone’s thinking in the house that night during the questioning.”
Lance’s glare was set on Merlene. “We had nothing to do with skewing anyone’s thinking. Don’t forget, it was one of the guests who implied that something might’ve gone awry when she filled us in on the incident.”
“That person volunteered that tidbit because she knew that’s the type of information the police would be looking for,” I said.” “There was already sip sip about the fall being more than it appeared to be, so naturally, she added more flame to the fire because some people are actually excited by that sort of thing.”
“I just wanna know how long you plan on keeping David here,” Merlene said.
“We have a forty-eight hour window, then we’ll decide if we’re going to turn things over to the Prosecutor’s Office.
“That’s considering you find something to stick before those forty-eight hours are up,” I noted. “I know how this thing works.”
Lance didn’t reply.
Merlene reached for my hand and stood up. “Let’s go, Lucille! All this jerk has done was waste our time.”
Lance stood as well. “Maybe we should be investigating you,” he said.
Merlene looked back. “What do you mean by that, Detective?”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I heard you couldn’t stand Sabrina. In fact, by all accounts, you hated her. Maybe you hated her enough to murder her that night. After all, you had clear access to David’s room and the balcony. You could be the killer and maybe David truly is innocent.”
“How dare...” I started before Merlene cut me off.
“That’s okay, Lucille,” she said. “I got this.”
She put her hands on his desk, leaned over and said, “I wish you would arrest me and let my son go. By the time I get through with you, I’d make this Department the laughing stock of Chadsworth. And when it’s said and done, whether it’s me you victimize or my son you continue to victimize, the state will pay one way or the other and there will be no mercy.”
“Is that another threat, Merlene? You’re really good at those,” he replied.
“You bet it is. I’m not afraid of the slammer and I’m not afraid of an amateur kid like you. I’m old enough to be your mother. You wanna pl
ay ball? Let’s play!”
I must admit, Lance looked quite surprised by Merlene’s response. Not sure what he was expecting, but my girl doesn’t play around. Merlene’s extra threat ended the conversation right there. We passed Sheriff Cooke on our way to the exit. He’d been speaking with an officer in the reception area.
“Lucille… Merlene...” he started.
“Shut up, tubby! “Merlene barked, stopping for a minute. “You’ve got my son for the time being, but I’m gonna make sure this department full of nincompoops will be hanging from the rafters by the balls!”
“You handled yourself really well, Merlene. I’m proud of you,” I said, as we drove off.
“You did too,” she replied, as the tears began to flow again.
“Tell you what… go see Mickey Carey at Carey, Jacques and Bledsoe. He’s the best of the best. Tell him I sent you to get David out of jail and off the hook.”
“Mickey Carey? I can’t afford him. My house isn’t even valued enough to use as collateral to pay that guy!”
“You did tell David you’re going to get the best attorney.”
“Yes, but I meant...”
I rested my hand on her shoulder. “Merlene, I know you don’t have the money to afford a good lawyer, but I do.”
Her tears flowed even more as the implication of my words set in.
“You’ve got to stop crying though because your make up is all messy and you’re starting to look like a clown.”
That got her laughing.
“That’s better.”
“Lucille...”
“Think nothing of it,” I said.
“Are you sure you can afford to do that? I don’t see where I’d ever be able to pay you back, unless I come over and clean your house from top to bottom a couple of times a week for the rest of my life.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Then, I realized Merlene could be slow at times. “Just kidding. Look, Merlene… you don’t have to pay me back—ever. David’s just like my own son.”
That’s very generous of you.” She glanced my way. “But how can you afford it? You depend a lot on your disability checks and it’s not like you charge all that much for your rented rooms.”
Lucille Pfiffer Mystery Series Box Set Page 8
