Death's Door

by Rick Polad

  As I ran to the officer, I called Iverson. “It’s over. We need an ambulance. The man and one of your officers are shot. I got him in the hip and shoulder… he’s okay. I don’t know about your officer.”

  “There’s one standing by at the ranger station. I’ll call for another.” Iverson replied. “We’ll be there in a few minutes. Which officer?”

  “The woman.”

  The other officer, a man, was with his partner, bending down at her side. She was unconscious and still holding her gun. The other officer was putting pressure on the red spot on her shoulder. I laid the man’s gun on the stone seats and bent and checked for a pulse… it was steady but not very strong. I gently took the gun from her hand. She looked to be in her early twenties. The other officer looked a bit older. He looked scared.

  “Am I doing the right thing?” he asked.

  “Yes, keep up the pressure. What’s your name?” The drug runner in the clearing was yelling that he needed an ambulance.

  “Dave,” he said, looking up at me pleadingly.

  “My name is Spencer.” I tried to reassure him. “Just keep up the pressure… she’ll be okay. What’s her name?”

  In a nervous voice, he said, “Becky… Rebecca.”

  I nodded and then looked over at the man.

  “Get me an ambulance,” he yelled. “I’ve been shot.”

  I would have laughed if it hadn’t been for Becky. He certainly didn’t have to point out he’d been shot. I walked over to him and just looked at him. There was an inch-long scar on his left cheek, and he was glaring at me. He was holding his left hip with his left hand.

  “Why are you looking at me? Get an ambulance! Can’t you see I’ve been shot?”

  I looked down at him with as much disdain as I could muster. “I knew you were shot as soon as I pulled the trigger.” I leaned toward him and said, “You have one advantage at the moment… you’re still talking. The officer you shot isn’t. And if you say one more word, I’ll change that.” He just stared at me with wide eyes and more than a little bit of fear.

  I saw the flashing lights of the ambulance through the trees. It looked like there were ten of them as the colors were scattered by the wet leaves. Ten seconds later the fire department ambulance pulled into the clearing from the path behind the seats. Iverson pulled in a minute later, followed closely by Rosie. I gave the paramedics a report on the two victims, and they got to work, one of them moving to the man in the clearing. Dave sat down next to Becky and watched. He looked scared and relieved.

  Iverson came up. “How is she, Mitchell?”

  “One bullet in the shoulder. Her vitals are weak. We need to transport now. I need Ben. Would you go see what the situation is with the other guy?”

  Iverson and I ran to the man on the grass, and Iverson told Ben he was needed.

  “Okay, Chief. This guy is stable and not much bleeding. Another ambulance should be here soon. They’ll give him something for the pain.”

  I wanted to tell him to skip that part.

  A lightning bolt lit up the sky to the west, followed almost immediately by thunder, and the moon disappeared behind the clouds.

  “We shouldn’t be out here, Chief. The skies are going to open up soon.”

  The ambulance left with Becky.

  “Let’s get this guy in the back of the car,” said Iverson. He looked down at the man. “You need to walk to the car… we’ll help.”

  “What’s this we crap?” I asked.

  I just got a look. We helped him up and each took an arm as he hobbled to the car, complaining all the way.

  “You guys are trying to kill me!” he said.

  “I’m fine with leaving you out in the rain and lightning,” I said. “Up to you.”

  He shut up.

  An ambulance arrived ten minutes later and took the man in handcuffs. Iverson’s other officer rode in the ambulance.

  ***

  Iverson turned to the ranger. “Preston, let’s go look at the accident site. I’ll ride with Spencer.” Rosie drove, and I sat in front.

  We were all quiet until we got out to Shore Road and Rosie turned right.

  “I thought you were supposed to be the spotter, Manning,” Iverson said.

  “Are you complaining?”

  “No, but you took a helluva chance.”

  “What did you expect me to do when you called and said he was coming in our direction… wave as he passed?”

  He laughed. “At the time I had no idea.”

  “To tell you the truth, neither did I.”

  “I already knew that,” said Rosie. “When I saw you pull out in front of that car, I said to myself… that idiot has no clue what he’s doing.”

  Iverson thought that was funny.

  “Spencer, I still don’t believe what I saw really happened. You pulled your Mustang in front of that car! I can’t believe you did that. What were you thinking?”

  I looked at her sheepishly. Looking back on it, I couldn’t believe I did it either. “I wasn’t thinking,” I admitted. “I was just going on adrenalin.”

  “Do you know how close he came to hitting you?”

  “I’d rather not know.”

  We passed the tennis courts and a few minutes later came to the area where our man had parked and passed Iverson’s two cars off to the side of the road. The front of the squad car was in the trees. I turned in my seat and looked at Iverson. He was looking straight ahead.

  “Ahem,” I said loudly. He didn’t react. “Chief, what the hell happened back there?”

  “Nothing I care to talk about at the moment.”

  “I bet not. But if you ever want to satisfy my curiosity…”

  “I don’t know how many beers that would take. But I will say one thing… you saved my butt.”

  “Looks that way,” I said with a nod. “That makes us even.”

  He brightened a bit. “Hadn’t considered that. I guess we are.”

  I turned back to Rosie. “Hear anything from the Coast Guard?”

  “Yup, they arrested the men on the boat so they must have found something. Chief, they said for you to call the station when you got a chance. I told them about the chase in the park.”

  “Great news!” I said. Iverson was smiling.

  Rosie pulled into the tower parking lot, and we walked across the road to the car. Iverson told us we could go. He wanted to take a quick look through the car, and we couldn’t help. He radioed for a tow truck.

  Multiple lightning flashes lit up the sky. Leaving sounded like a good idea. “Where are you taking it?” I asked.

  “To our impound lot.”

  “You have an impound lot?”

  He smiled. “Yeah, the yard behind the station.”

  “What about your two cars?”

  “Busy night for my tow guy. Let’s get together in the morning and debrief this. I hate to ask, Spencer, but would you make some notes tonight? Just a rough outline is good, with times as close as you can remember. We’ll firm it up in the morning. My office at nine?”

  “Sure. But make it ten. We’re coming back to Rose’s in the morning to get Stosh. I think I’ll pick him up and bring him along. He’ll enjoy the break from boredom.”

  We wished him luck, and as we said goodbye the rain came down in buckets. I asked Rosie to drive so I could call Aunt Rose. It was almost midnight, but I knew she’d be up waiting. It was a short call—she didn’t need details, those could wait until morning. She just wanted to know we were okay. I told her we’d be there for breakfast at eight.

  I was looking forward to being home. I took off my shoes and socks… they were soaked.

  Chapter 31

  When I woke at six Wednesday morning, early sunlight was a welcome sight. The storm was in full swing as we had run to the cottage at a quarter to one, and I knew it had taken hours to move through. But I was so tired I didn’t hear any of it after I fell asleep.

  Before we left, I checked in with Paul. There was nothing of importance
at the agency. I didn’t think we were going to get any more there so I moved him to Petrace’s house to do the same thing… take pictures of anyone paying attention to the house and watch for Petrace. I gave Paul the description Sarah had given us. I told him I wasn’t worried about nonstop coverage and he shouldn’t worry about taking lunch. He’d call me if she showed up.

  It was a challenge to get to Rose’s by eight, but we made it. Rosie fell back to sleep on the way, and I wanted to. But the aroma of bacon and eggs woke us up.

  We had a leisurely breakfast with Rose and Maxine and the guests at the large, oval dining room table. After we ate, we helped clean up and sat in the kitchen to tell the story. It’d be the biggest news of the summer. There was some we saved just for Stosh on the ride to the station, such as the two police cars on the side of the road.

  When we got to the station, I drove around back to show Stosh the impound lot. There were four cars back there. Two of them were damaged. He made a comment about the level of crime in Door County. Iverson had coffee waiting for us. We pulled chairs up to his desk, and he turned to Stosh.

  “The warden let you out?”

  Stosh just stared at him. “Really? A smart-ass remark from a guy whose squad car is in the impound lot? Nice job with that by the way… you must save a lot of money on expenses.”

  “There’s two other cars back there,” I said.

  “Yeah, associated with a crime. We’re going to auction them at some point.”

  “Nice little side business,” Stosh said.

  Iverson turned to me. “The Coast Guard stopped the boat with a cheerful announcement that they wanted to notify them that their running lights weren’t on. They then told them as long as they were there they might as well give them a safety inspection. After some reticence on the part of the captain, the petty officer insisted and they boarded the boat, which two men did, onto the stern deck. The captain then became very talkative, asking several questions about boating safety.

  “After a few minutes one of the men on the Coast Guard boat yelled that there was someone on the bow. He was about to throw something into the water when a petty officer fired into the air and yelled for him to stop. He did. The two crewmen on the stern made their way to the bow and took possession of a metal box. It was filled with baggies of white powder that are being analyzed.”

  Iverson stopped and took some coffee.

  “The sheriff has the three on the boat in custody. Your man from the park is under arrest and being treated in the hospital. Nice work, Spencer. You came out of it okay?”

  “I think my shoes are ruined, but other than that…”

  Iverson smiled. “Send me a bill.”

  “So, if you two are done, back to me,” said Stosh. “Still nothing on Petrace?”

  “Nothing,” Iverson said.

  Rosie set her cup on the desk. “That’s one lucky woman.”

  “Well, just about this,” I said. “Otherwise not so much.” I took a drink. “I wonder… could she be distraught enough to end it? We know she uses a gun.”

  “Could,” Rosie said, “but I’m betting wanting to find her baby will keep her going.”

  “Well,” Iverson said with a sigh, “we’ll keep looking. Anybody have any ideas?”

  “Anyone watching the house?” Stosh asked.

  “I would assume so,” said Iverson. “As much as Spencer doesn’t like Snark, he’s not stupid.”

  “But I wonder how much attention he’s giving to it,” I said.

  Iverson shrugged. “Gotta have some faith in your fellow peace officers.”

  “Yeah, you have faith. I’d like something a little more concrete, especially knowing who Snark has on the case.”

  “Here we go,” said Stosh, rolling his eyes. “Like what?”

  “Like I told Paul to go watch Petrace’s house.”

  “Not something Snark is going to like,” Iverson said.

  “Not that I care. You have a law in Wisconsin against parking on the street?”

  Iverson just took a deep breath. “I know you don’t like Dunsley either, but if he didn’t do his job he wouldn’t be there.”

  “Well, maybe not.” I told him about the time discrepancy with Dunsley and Peters.

  “Hey, what a guy does at lunch is his business.”

  “As long as it’s not with someone involved in a murder case.”

  Iverson got up and walked to the coffee pot. “More coffee anyone?”

  We all declined.

  “Your man can’t watch the house twenty-four hours.”

  “You don’t know my man. But I’m not a slave driver. I plan on doing some night work.”

  “Just don’t let your night work land you in a jail cell.” He pointed at me. “If I were you I’d stay out of her house.”

  I laughed. “If you were me, I would too.”

  Rosie shook her head. “I know I didn’t have much sleep, but that doesn’t make any sense.”

  Stosh laughed. “Along with most of the other things he does.”

  “So we’ll go back to waiting for her to show up,” said Iverson.

  “And hoping no one else gets shot,” I said.

  “What’s up for today?” asked Iverson.

  “Gonna get Stosh back in solitary and at some point head back to Green Bay and relieve Paul. I’ll work on the write-up this afternoon.”

  “Okay, thanks. If I can get it by the end of the week that’d be good.”

  ***

  Stosh complained almost all the way back to the cottage. By the time we pulled into the drive I was glad to be leaving. Rosie and I packed up again and headed back to Green Bay.

  Chapter 32

  I called Paul and told him I’d relieve him before dinner and take the night shift. Rosie and I had talked about the surveillance and decided it didn’t need to be all night. If Victoria wasn’t back by one she probably wasn’t coming, and if she did come after that, she’d still be there in the morning. I insisted Rosie stay at the hotel and relax in the whirlpool. She insisted that she was coming with. We compromised… she was coming. We had an early dinner and parked in the spot behind Paul at a little after six. The only difference I saw at the house was someone had picked up all but one of the papers and put them in a pile on the stoop.

  Paul got in the back seat and basically told us he had nothing to report. The only activity had been the paper boy delivering the paper at seven a.m. I thought of having another chat with the neighbor but decided not to because I didn’t want to draw attention to us. Rosie fell asleep at a little after eleven. We had discussed taking shifts, but I had assured her that I was used to this and would have no trouble staying awake until one.

  Except for normal neighborhood activity, including the neighbor I had already spoken to coming home at 8:20, the evening was as uneventful as the day had been.

  We were back at the hotel before two and asleep ten minutes later.

  ***

  I spent part of Thursday on the phone with Detective Springer and Chief Werth. Springer hadn’t talked with Mr. Maxwell since the last call about the payments to the agency. Chief Werth told me he checked twice a day on the Freys. They were still at the hotel and very frustrated at not being able to go home. If I was them I would have been frustrated also. But I would have thought the peace of mind would have been worth the inconvenience. I knew that not knowing when this would be over was a major concern.

  We spent Thursday night with the same result, except that Rosie stayed awake. That probably had something to do with the nap she got in the afternoon.

  Over breakfast Friday we talked about what we could do.

  “Sitting and waiting is the worst part of this job,” said Rosie.

  “Yeah, but it’s paid off in the past.” I finished my eggs and asked, “Can you think of anything else?”

  “No. Everyone who needs to be aware, is. Maybe she’s given up.” She picked up her orange juice. “Maybe someone will find her body in the weeds one of these days.”
r />   “And maybe she’s doing something we can’t imagine. The doc said there’s probably something wrong with her. Who knows what irrational behavior might come of that?”

  She finished her juice. “So all we can do is watch her house.”

  “Until something else happens.”

  She shook her head. “I’m running out of patience.”

  Chapter 33

  The wait wasn’t long, but it wasn’t what we had hoped for. We decided to go back to the cottage Friday morning and check on Stosh. It was a gorgeous morning on the bay. The peace and quiet was only broken by the calls of birds, and a gentle breeze was blowing in off the lake. Stosh was still grumpy. We took him out to lunch to try and cheer him up… food was usually a good cure. It helped a little. He spent the time reminiscing about Francine and the good times. That cheered him up more than the food.

  The case didn’t come up until the car phone rang on the way back. I was trying to heed Carol’s warning about driving and talking and had Stosh answer. I reached over and pressed the button to put it on speaker. It was Iverson.

  “Didn’t expect to hear your joyful voice,” Iverson said.

  “Well, sometimes life is full of surprises.”

  “You alone?”

  “Nope, Spencer and Rosie took me out to lunch. We’re all listening.”

  “Hello all… here’s another surprise.” He gave it a few seconds. “I just got a call from Chief Snark. Mr. Bell just reported his wife missing.”

  So much for driving and talking. I took the phone from Stosh. We could hear but I couldn’t talk. “Why are you calling and not Snark?”

  “Really? You think he’d call you and admit he was wrong? That’s not going to happen.”

  “How much of the details do you have?”

  “As much as he has.”

  I turned on Ahrens Road and took a cutoff over to County F. “We’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

  “Okay, coffee’s on.”