by Helen Gray
Toni laughed, but there was no real mirth behind it. She pulled the seat belt around her as John backed out of the drive. When he headed down the road, she told him the address she wanted to visit.
Jenny looked back at her, wide eyed. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Not really,” Toni admitted. “That’s why it’s snooping.”
Her hands trembled in her lap as John drove. She was thankful to have a chauffeur. She knew she ought to tell the police which house to check, but all she had was a growing suspicion—and not an ounce of proof.
When the SUV turned into a quiet neighborhood at the edge of town, she spoke. “When you get within a block or so of the house, slow down and find a discreet place to park down the street from it.”
As instructed, John parked at the curb four houses away, switched off the engine, and turned off the headlights. He twisted around in the seat. “Do you want me to go with you?”
“No, stay here and stand guard, or sit if you prefer,” Toni said nervously. She opened her purse, took the copied key from it, and put it in her pocket.
He stared in dawning understanding. “You made a copy of it.”
She nodded and put her purse in the floorboard. “All I want to do is see if it fits this house.”
“Good luck,” he said as she exited the vehicle.
Avoiding the streetlights, Toni walked down the block to the next house and cut across the lawn. Then she worked her way across three more yards to the one that was her destination.
Checking once more to be sure no light caught her in its glare, she hiked around the yard to the edge of the house and stopped to peer around the corner at the door, and on over to the light mounted on the side of the house next to it.
She glanced back down the street, and could barely see the spot where John was parked, his vehicle dark and undetectable. Looking each way and seeing no cars or humans, she took the key from her pocket. Then, in a burst of daring, she dashed up the three steps and across the porch to the door. With her hands shaking until she could hardly hold onto the key, Toni jabbed at the keyhole. The key glanced off. She forced her hand to steady and tried again. This time the key slid into the opening. She turned it. And the lock clicked.
A thrill of success was quickly overridden by fear when she realized the full impact of her discovery. She extracted the key and started back down the steps, the only thought in her mind now being to get back to John’s vehicle. But as her foot hit the ground, she spied an opening at the bottom of the garage door. A rock had lodged at the edge of it, preventing it from going all the way down and latching.
Furtively, Toni peered up and down the street to be sure no one was around. Seeing nothing, she darted to the door and squatted. With a heave she pushed upward on it, but it wouldn’t move. She eyed the space between the door and the concrete floor. It was only a few inches. She dropped to her stomach, inhaled deeply, and made herself as flat as she could. Then she edged her body sideways. It was a tight squeeze, but she managed to slide under the door.
Toni got to her feet and stared at a car that looked exactly like the one that had sped toward her in the church parking lot. She edged around to the driver’s door and grasped the handle. It opened. She stooped and leaned inside. Even in the almost total absence of light, she could distinguish the glint of the object dangling from the rear view mirror.
It was a small model of a bowling ball, painted gold and etched with lettering—a tournament trophy. Just like the one that now came into clear focus in her mind from the day she had visited the crime scene. This very car had been parked near there. The murderer, for some reason, had parked up the street and returned to the Crawford house. And seen her. Knowing she had been there, Crawford’s killer assumed she recognized his car, and him. Toni looked around, an eerie prickling at the back of her neck telling her she should never have come here alone.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone rang. She backed away from the open car door and yanked the phone from her pocket with one hand while closing the car door with the other. Hopefully there truly wasn’t anyone in the house who could hear that ring. She didn’t recognize the number in the lighted display. “Hello.”
“Toni, this is Twila Morgan.” The words were practically screamed. Hysterical sobs from the woman sent fear zinging through Toni. “Allen shot my sister. Now he’s coming after you.”
“Where are you?”
Twila paused, audibly struggling to speak. “At Allen’s office. Karen’s hurt bad, and she says he’s gone crazy. She managed to get to a phone and call me. An ambulance and the police are on the way. I called your house and got your cell phone number from one of your boys.”
As Twila finished speaking, the garage door jolted. Then the sound of an electric motor kicked in, and the door began to move slowly upward. Before Toni could get her body into motion, a pair of headlights swung into the driveway and caught her in their glare. She ran to the front of the car and crouched down between it and the inner wall as a black pickup rolled to a stop at the entrance. Allen Lawson stepped out, brandishing a gun in his right hand.
“Okay, snoopy lady, come on out of there,” he yelled. “I saw you, and I’m coming in after you.”
Frozen in fear, Toni didn’t move. She shifted her head enough to peer around the front fender of the car at the street, praying that someone would appear. No one did. They were alone.
“You killed Jake,” she shouted, forcing the words out. “The police already know.”
Berating herself for being so foolish and getting caught like this, Toni looked around frantically for a possible escape route. Behind her was a door into the house, but it was probably locked, and she would have to stand up and expose herself to find out. She looked for a weapon and spotted a wrench on the floor, but it was beyond her reach.
Lawson moved into the doorway, a palm cupped over his eyes as he peered around for sight of her. “Get in that car, little lady. We’re going for a ride.”
Yeah. One way for me.
“Can’t do that.” She gathered courage to make a run for it. Maybe she could take him off guard, go around to the other side of the car and get out. She sidled crab-like from the left headlight to the right one and started around past the passenger door, eyes trained on the door opening.
“Put the gun away, Lawson.”
John’s yell startled Toni. In a squatted position, she sidled up against the car door and peeked out into the darkness. She couldn’t see him, but knowing he was there gave her a measure of reassurance.
Allen spun, his face twisting into an ugly distortion that the glare of his pickup’s headlights behind him made even scarier. In fury his gun hand swung around. He fired.
Toni nearly jumped out of her skin. Please, God, protect us.
Suddenly John’s body came hurtling out of the darkness. He lunged and crashed into Allen Lawson’s knees, knocking him backward. Allen fired again, and the wild shot hit the concrete floor. Toni heard John grunt, but he wrestled the deranged man to the floor and clamped down on his right wrist. Then he slammed the hand on the concrete floor, forcing the gun to fly from Allen’s grasp. Suddenly the chiropractor erupted in a roar and rolled over on top of John.
Toni ran around the back of the car. Just as she got within a yard of the struggling men, they rolled again, and John emerged on top. His fist came down and cracked Allen’s jaw. The man went limp.
Toni drew a deep breath of relief and pulled out her phone. She dialed the police and gave them the address.
“Find me something to tie this guy up with before he comes around,” John called breathlessly.
Toni looked around and spotted what looked like a pair of bungee cords hanging from a nail on the wall. She grabbed them and placed them in his outstretched hand.
Once he had Allen Lawson bound, John pushed to his feet. Toni gasped when she saw the blood on his jacket. The ringing in her ears nearly drowned out the sound of a siren in the distance.
Allen moaned and stirred. Toni ignored him.
“You’re hurt.”
“A bullet ricocheted and hit me in the shoulder. It’s not bad.” With his good arm, John reached down and grabbed Allen’s arm. As he hefted the man to his feet, a patrol car roared down the street, barreled into the driveway, and screeched to a stop behind the pickup.
An officer sprinted toward them while a second patrol car pulled in behind the first one. Chief Freeman emerged from it.
Buck grinned when he reached them and saw the bungee cords binding Allen’s wrists. “I think we can beat that,” he said as the deputy replaced them with handcuffs.
He turned to John. “What happened to you?”
John jerked his head toward the prisoner. “He started shooting. A bullet hit the floor and ricocheted into my shoulder. It’s not serious.”
“You will get medical attention.”
Jenny came running to her husband’s side. “He’ll get medical attention right now. I’m taking him to the clinic. Toni’s mom will take care of him.” She looked to Toni for assurance.
Toni pulled out her phone. “I’ll call and tell her to meet you.”
While she dialed, Buck faced the deputy and nodded at Lawson. “Get that one Mirandized and escort him to the jail.”
John looked over at Toni. “Are you ready to go, or can you get a ride?”
“I’ll take her home,” Buck growled. “I assume she rode here with you.”
John nodded guiltily.
“Go on and see a doctor.”
Toni called her mother and explained that she was needed. Then she vacillated between relief that a killer was no longer free, and guilt that John was hurt because of her. She should have admitted having that copied key—and her suspicions of Lawson. She stepped over next to her colleagues. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
John waved it off with his good arm, and then walked away with Jenny. As they faded from sight, Toni glanced at the deputy’s patrol car where Allen Lawson now sat hunched in the back seat, utterly defeated.
“We need a statement from you,” Buck said. “Let’s go.”
Minutes later, Buck stared across his desk at her. “You’re fortunate to be alive.”
She nodded. “I know.”
“It’s time to come clean. How did you figure it out?”
She explained about seeing the car near Crawford’s house and making the connections.
“So why did you go to the man’s house?”
“To see if the key I …”
He made a startled head motion. “What key? I have a guess, but confirm it.”
She swallowed and shifted in the chair. “I, uh, copied the one I …”
“I thought so,” he cut her off. “What else did you do?”
“Well, I lifted some prints, but I had nothing to use for comparison.”
“That’s of no consequence now. We know whose key it is.”
“Am I in trouble?”
He exhaled slowly and shook his head, as if dealing with a naughty child. “I should charge you with intent to break and enter, and no telling what else. Can you give me one good reason why I shouldn’t?”
Toni gulped, just beginning to comprehend the enormity of the mistake she had made. “It was an impulse. I was scared, not thinking clearly,” she said in a weak voice. “He had tried to kill me.”
Buck leaned forward on his arms, his steely eyes pinning her. He stared like that so long she felt herself melting into a puddle of humiliation. Finally he sighed and straightened in his chair.
“Okay, I know you were under stress. Your life had been threatened, and you didn’t realize just what you were doing. In a city it couldn’t be overlooked, but in a small town like this I can exercise my own judgment.”
Toni started to speak, but he raised a palm for silence.
“Lawson arrived after you unlocked his door and doesn’t know you did it. He only saw you in his garage. His wife is beyond complaining about anything. So we’re going to forget it ever happened. You’re off the hook. But don’t you ever pull another stunt like that.”
“I won’t,” she promised, thankful to have it behind her.
“Write everything down. And I’m going to have a talk with my friend Russell about the foolhardy girl he raised.”
The next morning, Kyle arrived home, and Gabe beat Toni to the door. By the time he and his dad entered the house together, she knew she had been fully ratted out.
“I’m no longer in danger,” she said at once, going on the defensive.
“Tell me all about it,” Kyle said, giving her a stern look. But then he pulled her down beside him on the sofa and curved an arm over her shoulders to listen.
Toni managed to give her husband a brief explanation of why she suspected Lawson and had gone to his house, and then admitted how frightened she had been when Lawson arrived and started shooting.
As she finished her story, Buck called. “Karen Lawson died,” he said without preliminaries.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Toni said, her heart aching. “She let herself get involved in something bad, but she didn’t deserve this.”
“I just thought I’d let you know before the news spread. Are you all right?” he asked in a softer tone.
“I’m fine.” She hoped.
Epilogue
Monday, Toni requested a substitute for her afternoon classes and left school at noon to attend Karen Lawson’s funeral.
Tuesday was a return to life as usual. At the end of the day, Toni walked toward the lobby to meet her sons, with no one doing guard duty alongside her. “Go on to the van,” she called to Gabe and Garrett when she spied them, just because it felt so good to move about freely without worry of being attacked.
They went out the door, and she followed them at a more leisurely pace. When she exited the building, Twila Morgan fell into step beside her down the inclined concrete walkway. Somehow, the encounter didn’t strike Toni as mere coincidence.
“I saw you at the funeral yesterday,” Twila said. “Thank you for coming. I know you had to take time off from your job to do it.”
Toni paused at the curb and faced the reporter. “How are you doing?”
Twila’s eyes glistened with tears, and she swallowed. “I’m tough. I’ll survive—one day at a time.” She swallowed again. “Can we get away from this traffic and talk for a minute?”
“Sure.” Toni led the way to her van, sensing that Twila had something on her mind. Or maybe she just needed to talk to someone.
“Someone else did the story,” Twila said when they reached the van. The lot was emptying fast.
Toni understood she meant the story about her sister.
“I’m just here today doing a follow-up on the gang activity story,” she continued, her gaze following the boys as they put their instruments and back packs in the van and headed across the parking lot.
“You need to be busy, so you’re back on the job already.”
Twila’s nod was jerky.
“I’m truly sorry about your loss.”
The reporter’s chin quivered. “Thank you. Karen made a huge mistake, but she shouldn’t have died like that.”
Toni shook her head. “No, she shouldn’t have.”
Twila struggled for composure, and then spoke angrily. “Allen Lawson and Bart Ramsey were the ones who came up with that stupid mate swapping game in the first place. As I told you before, my husband was all for it, and you know how that turned out. Karen gave in. Then Jake Crawford ended up as her partner. They clicked, is how she explained it to me. They ended up having an affair. Then she got pregnant. She and Allen had been trying for years to start a family and had no luck, so when he found out she was pregnant, he knew it had to be Jake’s baby. He flew into a rage and went to Jake’s house. They fought, and Allen shot Jake. The night Karen was shot, she had confronted Allen about it. They fought, and he shot her.”
By now Twila was out of breath from her rushed recital. Tears tracked down her cheeks
, smearing her makeup.
“Karen called me after Allen shot her and left,” Twila continued, her voice strangled and uneven. “I rushed to the office, and she told me all that while we waited for the ambulance to get there. She said Allen was leaving Jake’s house, where he had gone inside to search for their house key that Karen had admitted leaving in Jake’s mailbox for him. It must have fallen out and gotten lost when Bonnie or one of the kids pulled the mail from the box. Anyhow, Allen couldn’t find the key and went back to look for it again, and you came along. He thought you saw him leave the house. Then, as he grew more paranoid, he became convinced that you recognized his car that he had left down the street. He went crazy. Karen felt so awful about all of it.”
“I appreciate you telling me all this,” Toni said. “It clears up some questions for me.” It also convinced her that more marriages were in jeopardy.
“I thought it might.” Twila paused, and then spoke hesitantly. “Could we maybe meet sometime and talk about old times over a cold soda?”
Toni smiled. “I’d like that.”
As Twila walked away, Gabe and Garrett came running to the van from where they had been lobbing a baseball back and forth on the now deserted parking lot.
Once they were in the van, Toni put the key in the ignition.
“Mom.”
She paused and looked over at Gabe in the passenger seat. His expression was solemn.
“I’m glad you’re safe,” he said quietly.
“Me, too,” Garrett echoed, leaning over the seat between them.
Toni’s throat tightened. “Me, too. Let’s go home.”
The End
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