by S. Swan
The police didn’t need to manufacture evidence. Someone killed three prostitutes. An officer stopped Jimmy while looking for a prostitute who later turned up dead. Jimmy’s girlfriend worked at a rehabilitation center for prostitutes. He was found at the facility with a dead woman and another seriously injured. It didn’t look good for Jimmy.
I had no doubt of Jimmy’s innocence, but I couldn’t tell anyone about Jimmy. Cho was on his way to help his brother. I prayed Cho was right about Jimmy getting through it.
My head grew light trying to process it all. I swayed and hit the ground. I didn’t pass out, but my knees buckled. I shook all over, and couldn’t manage to sit up. Jimmy, the stress of the last few weeks, and everything washed over me. I felt my mind break with reality and everything went black.
I woke up to Ben kneeling over me. “Are you alright?” he asked. It sounded like I was under water. “Ms. Williams?” I blinked at him.
“Go away,” I muttered.
“Do you need help?”
“No,” I said. “Leave me alone.” Cho’s directions not to talk rang in my head.
“You’re not well. I’m taking you to the hospital,” Ben said. He held out his arms to pull me up.
I pushed his arms away. “I can’t, I have to stay. Someone has to stay.”
“Mary House is closed.”
I shot up. “You can’t close it. What about the women who live here?”
“The women who are court ordered are going back to jail, at least until the court decides what to do,” Ben said. “There’s a social worker here for those who don’t have to be here. She’ll help them find somewhere else to go.”
“You can’t do that!”
“I don’t have any control over it. Mary Lazarus is dead. We’ve made calls to the board of Mary House. It’s their decision.”
“…but I’m here and I fill in when Mary isn’t here.”
“They know about your situation, and think it’s best to close Mary House for now.”
“What situation?” The black car came into focus.
“Ms. Williams, responding officers found your boyfriend standing over Mary Lazarus’ body when they arrived…”
“He’s innocent!” I roared.
“It’s a lot to deal with. Let me take you to the hospital,” Ben said, putting his hand on my arm.
“Get your hand off me!” I jerked away from him. “You and your partner did this. You’re pinning Jimmy with this, but he’s innocent.”
“I’m not on duty and my partner is at church tonight. We didn’t do it.” Ben spoke to me like I was a child. “Your boyfriend did it to himself. I hope, for your sake, he’s innocent, but the facts don’t lie.”
“Just leave me alone!” I cried. “I want to go home.” I pulled my knees to my chest, buried my face in my legs and cried.
“I’ll escort you.”
I looked up from my pink sweat pants. “What part of alone don’t you get?”
“You’re in no shape to drive,” Ben said. “I can have the officers take you in.”
“For what?”
“For questioning. You’re a key witness in a murder investigation.” I thought he was bluffing, but I wasn’t sure.
I jerked my chin in the other direction. “Fine, but I’ve been advised by my attorney not to speak to the police.”
“Your attorney wouldn’t be Mr. Cho Kim, would it?”
“Yes,” I said defiantly. “How did you know?”
“I tried to talk to your boyfriend, but his brother already filed an appearance. I couldn’t speak to him.” Ben glared at me. “You know Mr. Kim isn’t licensed to practice law in Indiana, don’t you? If you get taken in for questioning they will hold you…in jail…until you either talk or Mr. Kim is granted pro hac vice to appear on your behalf.” Ben looked at his watch. “Either way, it’s already eight o’clock; you will be there until at least tomorrow afternoon. That’s if you aren’t held for the full seventy-two hours. Is that what you want?”
“No,” I conceded. I wanted to go home, be alone, and bawl my eyes out. My best friend was in jail and the woman I looked up to was dead. I couldn’t function anymore. Ben was right, I wasn’t in any shape to drive, but I didn’t want him to drive me home.
“I’ll take you home, no more argument.” I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off. “I mean it.” I glared at him.
I got up, ignoring Ben’s arm for support. I staggered a little with my first steps, but continued to ignore him. I managed to get to the maroon Ford without falling down.
Ben opened the car door for me. I dropped into the seat. Ben got in. “Where do you live?” Ben asked, starting the car.
“I’m sure you already know,” I snapped.
He turned in his seat to face me. “Look you have the wrong impression of me.”
I stared out the window avoiding Ben. “What impression is that?”
“You act like I’m out to get you.”
“Are you?”
“No, I actually like you,” he said. “I think what you do at Mary House is commendable and you’re one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever met.”
“What?” I asked. “That’s not very professional.”
“It isn’t. I don’t want you to think I’m creepy, but there is just something about you. I don’t know…” Ben trailed off.
Flabbergasted, I said, “so you locked up my boyfriend to get me alone?”
“No, I swear I had nothing to do with that.” Ben sighed. “Honestly, I’m not sure that he’s the guy we are looking for, but you have to admit…”
“You don’t?” I relaxed.
“No.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I don’t think he fits the profile.”
“You have a profile?” I asked.
“Not officially, but I try to come up with a profile for suspects on my own.”
“What’s your profile on this case?”
Ben put the car in drive and pulled out before he answered. “Mid-forties, obsessive, doesn’t like women, and left handed. Is Jimmy left handed?”
“No,” I replied.
“I didn’t think so.”
“How do you know all of this?” I asked.
“Experience.”
“Skinner seems more experienced than you,” I said.
“He’s older, but not more experienced.” Ben let out a chuckle. “There’s a difference.”
“Can you help Jimmy, Detective King?”
“Please call me Ben,” he said. “I’m not sure. He’s in a lot of trouble right now and he’s hiding something.”
“What do you think he’s hiding?” I asked.
“He doesn’t divulge information freely. You can help him more than anyone.”
“How?”
Ben looked at me. “You know what he’s not telling us.”
“Why do you think that?”
“You have no problems divulging information except when it comes to Jimmy,” Ben said. “You tend to evade questions about Jimmy.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“What exactly does Jimmy Kim do for a living?”
“Financial Advising,” I answered.
“What does that entail?”
“He gives advice on people’s finances.” I shrugged like I didn’t know what it entailed.
“Investments? Stocks? What does he advise on?”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“He has a degree in finance, but there’s no record of him ever working in finances. He’s not registered with the SEC either.”
“I’m not privy to his business transactions,” I said.
“We subpoenaed his client list and spoke to some of his clients. They’re just as evasive on what Jimmy Kim does for them.”
My head snapped in Ben’s direction. Oh Shit! “You got his client list!” I cried.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He claimed to be with clients as his alibi for two of the murders.”
Ben scratched his head. “Funny thing is, none of his clients will confirm or deny that they were with him.”
“You arrested him tonight. How in the hell did you get his client list already?” I asked.
“We met with Jimmy on Thursday and got his client list yesterday. Didn’t you know that?” I had no idea Jimmy was in town at all. Why didn’t he tell me he was in town? “You didn’t know he was in town did you?”
“No,” I said.
“See he claims you’re his girlfriend, but he didn’t even tell you he came home on Tuesday. Things like this don’t add up.” Tuesday! I had no idea Jimmy was home Tuesday. It is a trick to get you to talk. Cops did it in the movies. They played one suspect against the other to get them to talk. I pressed my lips tight. I stopped speaking. I wasn’t to give him any more information. “I upset you didn’t I?”
“No,” I said, curtly.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to,” Ben said. He pulled into my apartment complex. “I really don’t know where you live,” he said. “I only know the complex from the information you’ve given us, but I don’t know where.”
I pointed. “It’s down on the left. The last entrance.”
As we pulled up, I saw all of my lights on. I left in a hurry, but was sure that I didn’t leave all my lights on. Mom wouldn’t have turned on lights. She didn’t need them. I became concerned.
Ben saw my expression change. “What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t leave all of my lights on,” I said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I said. I opened the car door. Ben followed behind me.
“Stay behind me,” he said. As we went up the stairs to my apartment, I saw my front door open. “Let me go first. Stay here,” Ben said. He reached in his jacket and pulled out a black gun. He entered my home, gun barrel first.
I waited for Ben on the landing. If an intruder flew out, he’d run right into me. I decided to go inside. The landing didn’t keep me any safer. I found my apartment in shambles. I felt my knees buckle again. I fell in my chair.
Mom materialized in front of me. “What happened?” she asked, alarmed.
“Sh!” I put my finger to my lips.
“Why?” Ben appeared from my hallway, gun drawn. “Oh my!”
“It’s clear.” He looked at me. “I thought I told you to wait outside.” I didn’t say anything. I just stared at mom. “Cassandra?” Ben asked.
My stomach churned the Ben & Jerry’s threatened to come up. “I’m going to be sick,” I said, running to the bathroom.
I heaved several times in my bathroom. Crying, I sank to the floor. “Cassie, what is wrong with you and who is that gun toting man in the living room?” Mom asked.
“Go away,” I said. “I can’t talk!”
“Cassandra Rose! You’re going to talk to me. What the hell is going on?”
“Mom,” I whispered. “Everything is so screwed up right now and the last thing I need is to be caught talking to myself.” I retched again.
“Oh man,” Ben said, coming into the bathroom.
“Go away,” I said to my invisible Mom.
“I’m not going away. Let me help you,” Ben said. He didn’t realize that I spoke in the opposite direction. Mom stood over me with a worried expression. Ben handed me a wet cloth. “This will help,” he said. “You’ve had a lot to deal with today.”
I sobbed. “I can’t take anymore!”
“I know,” he said, soothing. “I know.” He brushed my hair back as I puked again. Another man held my hair while I puked; it seemed to be my modus operandi.
I curled in a ball while. Ben watched from the side of the tub. “I need to report this. Will you be okay while I call the station?”
“No police,” I said.
“I have to report this.”
“Please. No more police. No more questions.” Mom eagerly waited to speak. She paced around us. She made the air cold in frustration.
Ben rubbed his arms. “It’s cold in here. Maybe you should lie down in the living room.”
“I need to change,” I said. “Can you help me up?”
Ben lifted me off the floor, and directed me to my room. “I’ll be in the living room.”
I watched him go down the hall and to the couch before I shut my door. Mom immediately started talking. “Okay, talk,” she said.
“Oh Mom,” I cried. “Jimmy’s in Jail, Mary, my boss is dead, and someone ransacked my apartment.”
“Oh Baby, tell me all about it.”
Quickly and quietly, I told Mom the whole story about Jimmy being arrested at Mary House, Mary being dead, and Nessie’s injuries. I told her how the board shut down Mary House, and how I ended up being driven home by Detective Ben King.
“What happened to your apartment?”
“I guess I got robbed.”
“Was anything stolen?”
I thought about it. I didn’t have anything of real value. I owned two things worth stealing, a TV and a laptop. I remembered seeing my TV on the floor, probably broken, but not stolen. I looked around my room. The draws emptied and clothes strewn all over. I searched for my laptop. I found it by the bed, opened, and on its side. I picked it up and found it powered on. “As far as I can tell, nothing is missing,” I said.
“Cassie, I don’t want to alarm you, but this wasn’t a random robbery. Someone was looking for something,” Mom said.
“I don’t have anything. I don’t even have a flat screen television.”
“They were looking for some kind of information. They went through your computer.” Mom pointed to the computer. I looked at my computer, on and open to my e-mail account. I felt violated. I never used personal information via the internet. I wasn’t careful with passwords. Anyone who knew me could figure out my password. The person knew me or knew a lot about me. The room spun. I saw spots in front of my eyes. I blinked hard.
“Come on, Cassie, keep it together,” Mom said.
“I can’t,” I yawned. I started pushing debris off my bed. “I just need to lie down for a moment.” I dropped across my bed. The moment I did, my entire body shut down. I tried to fight, but I couldn’t hold my eyes open or think any longer.
Just before I went to sleep, I heard mom calling my name. “Cassie, don’t fall asleep!” she demanded. “What about that man in the living room?” I didn’t care, the sleep washed over me.
CHAPTER 7
I woke to sunlight streaming through my curtains. I forgot the events of the night before. I rolled over to look at my alarm clock. It wasn’t there. The whole night stand was toppled on its side. I shot up. Memories flooded my brain as I looked around the room in disarray. “About time,” Mom said from the end of my bed.
“What time is it?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.
“Nine o’clock,” Mom replied, head tilted reading the clock on the floor.
I looked down at myself. I remembered flopping crosswise on the bed. Now I was tucked in, under the covers. My jacket, shoes and socks removed. “He put you to bed,” Mom said.
“He?” I asked.
“That sexy hunk of man, you brought home last night.” I didn’t know who she was talking about. I looked at her puzzled. Mom rolled her eyes. “The cop who brought you home.”
“Ben?” I asked. “Detective King?”
“Ben is his name,” Mom said.
I reddened with embarrassment. “Ben put me to bed?” I lifted the blanket to see what I wore. I still had on my shirt and pants. I sighed with relief.
“Relax, Cassie, he was a perfect gentleman,” Mom said. “I was here all the time. I made sure he didn’t take advantage of you.”
“Oh God!” I groaned and collapsed back on the bed.
“He seems like a good guy,” Mom said. “I’ve been watching him all morning.” She giggled.
“Mom, really?”
“Cassie, have you looked at him? He’s an Adonis!”
“I haven’t paid much attention to him,” I scoffed.
�
�Don’t get me wrong…I love Jimmy and he is easy on the eyes too, but Ben…wow,” she said.
“Mom!”
“I’m dead, Cassie, not married!” She rolled her eyes at me. “I can look.”
When I finally got up and shuffled to the living room, I found Ben. He wore only his jeans and an under shirt. I immediately understood Mom, Jimmy was muscular, but Ben was buff. Mom appeared over Ben as he attempted to fix my front door. She dramatically swooned and then disappeared. I stifled a laugh. Mom practically drooled with Ben unaware of her presence. If Ben only knew,
“Hey, you’re up,” Ben said.
“Ben, you didn’t have to stay,” I said.
“When I found you passed out on your bed, I couldn’t leave you alone. Not with your place unsecured.”
“You stayed to protect me?”
“Not at first,” he said. “I intended to secure your door and leave, but realized that I couldn’t fix it. Not even temporarily.” He pointed to the door Jam. “See here, the intruder tried to pry it, but it didn’t work. I guess he wanted in pretty bad because he ended up breaking the door in. Look up here and here.” He pointed. “The entire frame is splintered. The dead bolt is broken. The door is useless now.” Ben shook his head. “It looks like the guy used a battering ram to get the door open.”
“That would make a lot of noise,” I said. Mr. Johnson would have came out of his apartment or at least called the superintendent to complain. “My neighbors must have heard.”
“They did,” Ben said. “I spoke to both your neighbor and the maintenance man this morning.” Man I was dead asleep this morning. I didn’t hear anything.
“You talked to Mr. Johnson?”
“Yes.”
Mr. Johnson and I were not friends. The nosy old man spied and gossiped on everyone. When I first moved in, he seemed pleasant enough, but over time he began to wear on me. Each time I came in, he gave me some juicy tidbit about other neighbors. “Did you hear the couple in apartment B fighting?” or “Did you see that new guy in apartment C? He seems strange to me.” I stopped using the building laundry mat so I didn’t run into Mr. Johnson. When I started avoiding him, he focused my life. He gossiped about me.
