by Donald Wells
I swung my truck into a tight U-turn and headed downtown. It looked like it was going to be a long night.
***
The detectives that were handling Lucinda’s murder were also working the Vincent Kane and Sarah Miller murders, since the assumption was that they were connected.
They located Bobbi Reed at Parkland Memorial, where she said she had been since her shift started. When they told her about Kane’s death, she smiled. They left the hospital, unconvinced of her innocence, but also unable to prove her involvement until they had a chance to study the hospital’s surveillance video.
Next, they went to see Dr. Weidman, the dead man’s rival in love. When they pulled up to the curb outside Weidman’s home, the house was dark. As one of the detectives rang the doorbell to rouse the doctor, the other decided to look around the property. When he opened the lid on the garbage can at the curb, he saw a yellow plastic shopping bag lying on top. After putting on gloves, he lifted the bag and a .38 revolver fell out.
When Dr. Weidman finally made it to the door, dressed in robe and slippers and seemingly barely awake, he soon found himself handcuffed and sitting in the back of an unmarked police car.
The two detectives assigned to the case were Dave Andrews and Diego Ramirez. Andrews was about forty, with a round belly and a wide face. I knew him some from earlier cases, and he was a good cop who always showed sympathy toward the victims’ families.
I had known Diego since I was a kid. He and my older sister went to their senior prom together, and I was still friends with his brother.
I hung out with them in the squad room that night and listened in as they discussed the case. Neither man seemed convinced of the doctor’s guilt, and they both thought that finding the gun in the garbage can was a little too convenient. And as for Bobbi Reed, well, they were just waiting to see what the surveillance tapes revealed.
***
It was nearly noon the next day when the ballistic results came back. The gun that murdered Lucinda, was the same gun that murdered her husband, and his Lolita.
Dr. Weidman hadn’t actually been charged with murder yet, but was being held for questioning, and he vehemently denied his guilt and pointed out to the detectives that he had already been cleared of Lucinda’s murder, because at the time she was killed, he had been at a dental convention in Miami.
Then, the detectives asked the doctor for the name of his accomplice, and he asked to see his lawyer.
Meanwhile, the hospital security video seemed to back-up Bobbi Reed. Although, surveillance was incomplete, because the three cameras around the loading dock area weren’t working. In addition, there was a twenty-six minute gap where she was out of camera view; she explained this by saying that at the time, she was outside on the loading dock, smoking, a definite no-no for someone fighting liver cancer.
I was going to miss my run with Becca, and so I gave her a call and filled her in on what was happening.
“So, when do I get to meet him?”
“Whoa mom, it’s too soon for that. We haven’t even had a real date yet.”
“Okay, but I want to meet him if it goes past a third date.”
“It’s a deal,”
“Now, what about these murders, do you think the doctor did it?”
“No, and despite what Gary thinks, I can’t buy Bobbi Reed as a triple murderer.”
“Well, whoever did it would have to of known about the girl, Sarah? Who knew about her besides Bobbi Reed?”
I thought about that, and when the answer came to me, I nearly dropped my phone.
***
Rachel Reed looked every bit as innocent as I remembered her. Her big blue eyes widened as I entered the trailer with the two homicide detectives, Dave Andrews and Diego Ramirez, accompanying us, were four officers, and a police psychiatrist named Debra Walker. Two of the officers wore their standard dark blue uniforms, but the other two were dressed in gray coveralls.
Bobbi Reed spread her arms wide.
“I figured you’d be by sooner or later, so go ahead, search all you want. I didn’t kill anybody and I got nothing to hide.”
Diego handed her the warrants.
“These four officers will search, and while they do that ma’am, would you mind if we sat and talked?”
“Talked about what?”
Rachel’s eyes followed the two officers in coveralls as they went outside.
“Why are those two leaving?”
“Oh, they’re not leaving,” Diego said. “They’ll be searching outside, even crawling under the motorhome.”
Rachel sent him a shaky smile and took a seat on the couch, beside her mother.
As we all sat, Detective Andrews took out a notebook and read from it.
“Mrs. Reed, did you know that Dr. Weidman’s home is only a short drive from the hospital?”
“Well, yes, I mean, Lucinda took us there to meet him once, when things got serious between them.”
“Do you own a firearm ma’am?”
“Yes, I have a gun; it’s an old .38 my husband bought at a gun show years ago. It’s in a shoebox at the back of my closet.”
Detective Andrews called out, “Miller?” and one of the officers stuck his head out of the bedroom.
“Yes sir?”
“Have you guys come across a gun in a shoebox, probably in the closet?”
“We found a shoebox, but there were only a few shells rolling around in it, no gun.”
“Thank you,” Andrews said, and the cop went back to searching.
Bobbi Reed sat with an opened mouth. “My gun’s gone?”
One of the cops in coveralls came inside carrying a duffel bag, and spoke to Ramirez.
“We found this in the trunk of that rusted Beetle, Diego.”
Diego put on a pair of rubber gloves and then opened the bag and began to empty it of its contents.
He took out toys, hair ribbons with ponies on them, ticket stubs from concerts that happened years ago, preteen sized skirts and tops that if worn, would be very revealing. As he dug deeper into the bag, he came across a nightie that was nothing short of X-rated. It was scarlet red and was void of material in the most interesting places.
“Mrs. Reed, do you recognize any of these articles ma’am?”
Bobbi Reed shook her head as she stared over at her daughter.
“No, I’ve never seen them before.”
When Rachel spoke, it was almost a whisper.
“They’re mine, put them back,”
Diego continued to search, and from a pocket on the outside of the bag, he found the pictures.
I could tell from the look on his face that our worst fears had been confirmed. He stood and looked through them slowly, as Detective Andrews and Debra Walker, the police psychiatrist peered over his shoulder.
Diego then looked over at me and mouthed two words. “It’s bad.”
I later learned that they were all photos of Rachel. In the earliest of the pictures, Rachel couldn’t have been more than five. In the latest, she looked as she did now. But there were other photos of the years in between, and in each photo, she was nude.
Debra Walker beckoned for Bobbi to join them, and Diego went through the photos again.
Bobbi viewed the evidence of her daughter’s molestation, as tears fell from her eyes.
“Oh God, oh Vinnie you miserable prick, not my baby too, not my baby,”
Rachel looked at the floor as she spoke.
“I wasn’t molested; Vincent loved me, he always loved me, not Lucinda, and that slut Sarah was nothing to him. He loved me, me! He only stayed with Lucinda all those years because it made it possible for us to be together, and... and I loved him too.”
“If you loved him, then why did you kill him?” Diego said.
Bobbi turned away from the obscene photos and settled back onto the sofa.
“What... what did you say?”
“Your daughter killed Vincent Kane and Sarah Miller, and, I’m sorry to tell you this ma’am,
but, she also killed her sister, if I had to guess, I’d say it was because Lucinda found these photos and threatened to have Vincent arrested, and then she killed Kane and Sarah Miller out of jealousy.”
Bobbi turned her head and stared at Rachel as if she were looking at a deformed stranger, and then, she fell back against the couch in a near faint.
Debra Walker, went to her and took her pulse.
“Will someone please get her a glass of water?”
I walked toward the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the refrigerator, as I walked past her; I stared at Rachel Reed. I was virtually certain that she was a murderer three times over, but those big blue eyes and perfectly dimpled cheeks still made her look angelic.
As Bobbi took the water from me, she reached for her purse, and then took out a pill bottle.
“My medicine,” She said, “Let me take my medicine and then we’ll talk.”
After she had swallowed the pills, she placed a hand lovingly against Rachel’s cheek.
“I love you baby, and everything is going to be okay.”
Rachel sent her a weak smile, as she nodded her head.
Afterward, Bobbi stared at Ramirez.
“I confess. I killed my daughter, Vincent, and that Sarah girl. I killed them all and my Rachel had nothing to do with it.”
Diego sighed. “Mrs. Reed, I appreciate the fact that you want to protect your daughter, but it’s not possible for you to have killed Vincent Kane and to have also planted the murder weapon at Dr. Weidman’s home. We checked ma’am, and you just wouldn’t have had enough time, plus, you didn’t even have a vehicle, your daughter drops you off at night and picks you up in the morning, which gave her plenty of time in between to commit the crimes.”
“The bakery delivers to the hospital cafeteria every night, and the driver always talks a while with the girl on the night shift. While he was inside, I stole his van and committed the murders.”
“We talked to the driver; in fact, he confirms that you were smoking out at the loading dock during the time you were away from the cameras.”
“He’s lying. I did it. I used his delivery van, caught every light green and made it back before I was missed.”
Detective Andrews shook his head. “No ma’am, I’m afraid not,” He then stared down at Rachel. “Miss Reed, please come with us to the station; I think we need to talk.”
Bobbi Reed slumped back on the couch. “Are you people deaf? I said that I confess to everything. I killed my daughter, I killed Vinnie and I killed Sarah Miller.”
“Sorry ma’am, but I just ain’t buyin’ it. I think you’d do anything to protect your daughter.”
Bobbi smiled a lazy smile. “It’s a death bed confession; you have to believe it.”
“I know about your health problems, and I’m sorry about that, but you’re still a ways from passing on.”
“Detective, did you know that I’ve worked at the same hospital for over twenty years?”
“No ma’am,”
“Well, it’s true, and I could have worked on any shift I wanted, so why do you think I choose to switch to the night shift three weeks ago?”
“Yes, why would you do that?” Diego said, as he moved closer to her.
We all waited to hear the answer, but Bobbi seemed to be slipping off to sleep; then, with a jerk, she came back.
“I worked the night shift... because it’s much easier then... to steal from the pharmacy, and I never had any intention of dying while suffering.” She looked over at Rachel. “I love you so much baby, put... put all this behind you and have a good life.” And then, her eyes rolled back and her head lolled over.
“Pharmacy?” I said. “Oh God, what she swallowed, that wasn’t medicine; it was poison!”
Andrews cursed and then called for an ambulance, as Dr. Walker worked on reviving her.
An hour later, Bobbi Reed was pronounced dead.
***
Two weeks later, Gary and I were having Sunday brunch at a little bistro in Dallas.
“So, Rachel Reed just walks away, huh?”
Gary nodded. “The D.A. says that Bobbi Reed’s confession is good enough for her, and besides, she’s in a tight race. If they tried Rachel and she walked, it could tank the D.A.’s bid for reelection.”
“Rachel Reed murdered those people, not Bobbi,” I said.
“Rachel’s lawyer, Sam Coulton, he had his investigators do a reenactment of Vinnie’s murder, and yes, if every light were green and Bobbi Reed drove like an absolute madwoman, she would have had just enough time to commit the murders and plant the gun at the doctor’s.”
“Where is Rachel now?”
“Off to live with relatives of her late father, at least until she turns eighteen,”
“That girl, as innocent as she appears, is a murderer.”
“I agree, but, the law says different,” Gary said, and then he leaned across the table and kissed me. “No more shop talk, besides, I want to ask you a question.”
“Ask away,”
“I’m going out to the ranch next weekend; would you like to come along?”
“Absolutely, I can’t wait to see it.”
“We’d ah, we’d be staying all weekend, overnight, you know?”
I grinned. “I look forward to it.”
Gary smiled back and took my hand.
“Blue Steele, what a tough name for such a sweet woman,”
“The people I catch don’t think I’m sweet.”
“I don’t know; I think you may have captured me.”
“Really? Well then, what’s the bounty?”
Gary sighed. “The slightly used heart of a lonely man,”
I gave his hand a squeeze.
“I’ll take it.”
BLUE STEELE – CAPTURE #2
I leaned back in the passenger seat of the pick-up truck as we headed toward hell, I mean home.
I glanced over at Gary and shook my head, a boyfriend, I had an actual boyfriend and unlike the last few, I liked this one. Now don’t get me wrong, I liked all my boyfriends, at first.
But sooner or later, usually sooner, one of us, all right, I, would get bored, or feel penned in, or just become afraid of being tied down to someone forever. So far, I’ve felt none of that with Gary.
A defense lawyer? How did I wind up dating a defense lawyer? I asked myself. And then Gary turned his head and smiled that sexy smile at me and I knew how I wound up dating him.
The man was a hunk.
“Blue?”
I snapped out of my woolgathering. “Huh?”
“You’re not nervous, are you?”
“About you meeting my family? No, but like I said earlier—”
“I know, you said that your mother has no filter on her mouth, that whatever she thinks, she says.”
“Well, it’s true, and my sister is—”
“Overly friendly and highly competitive,”
“No, my sister is a spoiled brat who can’t stand it when I have something she doesn’t, including men. I could give you the names of at least three boyfriends she’s stolen away from me over the years.”
“Well don’t worry; no matter how many times I sleep with her, I’ll always come back to you.”
“What?”
“Blue, it was a joke, calm down,”
I pointed to the shoulder.
“Pull over, please?”
Gary drove his pick-up over to the side of the road and shut off the engine, and then he turned in his seat and looked at me expectantly.
“Blue?”
“I don’t want to lose you Gary. I know we’ve only been dating for a few weeks, but, my family, all kidding aside, they can be difficult, and I don’t want them to scare you off.”
“Blue, baby, I can handle your mom and your sister, believe me. I’m only tagging along because I couldn’t stand the thought of being without you for three days.”
I kissed him. “It’s no wonder you win most of your cases; you always know the right thing t
o say.”
Gary stared at me with a question on his lips, but then stayed silent.
“What? What were you going to say?”
“I have a confession to make.”
“Yes?”
“I went on the internet last night and researched your dad. It’s just that you never talk about him and now that we’re going to see your family, I thought that—”
“It’s okay.” I said, cutting him off. “I find it difficult to talk about him; it always brings back bad memories.”
“I can understand that, I mean the not knowing, it must be hard.”
“I should have told you, especially now, in fact, I’m only going home because it’s his birthday; it’s become a tradition. My mother insists that we gather around his birthday.”
“It makes sense to me, as a way to honor him, and you know what?”
“What?”
Gary took my hand. “This year you don’t have to face it alone.”
“Thank you,”
“For what?”
“Just thank you,”
“Well, you’re welcome,” Gary said, and then he pulled back onto the road.
***
My daddy, the original Blue Steele, was a Texas Ranger, as was his daddy, and his daddy, and his daddy.
When I was seventeen, he went missing while investigating a serial killer.
Daddy was convinced that one man had been killing across the country for over five decades without being detected, because the means he used to kill, as well as the victims he chose, were so varied, that the experts attributed the deaths to multiple persons.
To this day, no one knows what became of my father, and his theory of a “Herd Thinner” as it came to be called, was greatly discounted by experts. My father had many friends, Texas Ranger Deke Thomas, was among them, and they had all searched for clues to my father’s whereabouts and for proof that the man he chased wasn’t just a figment of his imagination.
Now, over ten years later, daddy is listed as missing, presumed dead, and the man he sought, his “Herd Thinner”, if he existed, would likely be well into his eighties, or dead.
***
Gary turned off the highway and headed down the gravel road that led to my family home.
