by Linda Warren
“Nice to meet you,” she replied. They sat on the sofa and she took the comfy chair facing them.
“We’ve interviewed you several times and we appreciate your help on this case.”
“I want this person caught more than anyone.”
“Then why did you fail to mention Bradley Cummins?”
“Excuse me?”
“We asked several times if anyone had a grudge against you and you said no. Yet Bradley Cummins stalked you in college. He was arrested. Spend a night in jail and said he’d get even.”
“That was years ago and I haven’t seen him since.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, Detective Beecher, I’m sure.” She took a controlled breath. “Are you implying I’m withholding information to protect someone?”
“No, ma’am. We’re just hitting a brick wall on this third person.”
“Well, I suggest you look elsewhere.”
“Yes, ma’am.” They soon left, which was good because she was about to explode from their sheer audacity.
Did the cops think she had something to do with the bank robbery? How absurd. Then it hit her. Ethan knew the detectives were coming when he’d called and he didn’t warn her. Not that she had anything to hide, but loyalty to her would have been nice. Anger rose in her chest and she quickly quelled the feeling. It was an effort.
* * *
THE NEXT DAY Ethan didn’t get home until after midnight, but he was up early to take Kelsey to school. Listening to her chatter brought him out of his foul mood—for a moment. It returned the second he walked into the squad room. He was beginning to hate this case. It was keeping him away from Abby, keeping him away from everything he wanted.
The men took seats at the table, as they did every day.
Hal started the conversation. “We didn’t turn up anything on Ms. Bauman. There was a guy who stalked her in college, but that was another dead end.”
Ethan gritted his teeth until his jaw hurt. “Did you check me out, Hal? I was there.”
“Damn straight. There are a lot of guys you’ve arrested who would love to put the hurt on you, but no one desperate enough to plan a bank robbery.”
“You bastard,” he said with barely controlled contempt.
“Okay,” Ross intervened quickly. “Hal, your people skills need some work, but until you’re taken off this case we have to work with you.”
“You boys know when you hit a brick wall on a case, you start looking at it from every angle. That’s all I’m doing. Ethan’s the one with a problem.”
“You have no idea,” Ethan spat out, trying very hard not to jump across the table and belt the guy.
“Calm down,” Ross suggested.
“I’m calm,” Hal insisted. “Ethan’s the one losing it.”
“Remember that, Hal. Punching you might be the highlight of my day.”
Hal’s ruddy skin turned a blotchy pink.
“Back to work.” Ross did his best to cool the temperature in the room.
“I’m all for that,” Hal said. “I think we’re avoiding looking at the elephant in the room.”
“What are you talking about?” Ross asked.
“We’re looking for someone with money. Douglas Bauman, Jr has access to a lot.”
“What’s his motive?” Ross pressed.
Hal glanced at Ethan. “What’s your take?”
Ethan unclenched his jaw. “Bauman has money, but he’s a banker. His family has been in banking for years. Setting up a bank robbery would be like a slap in the face to his family, especially his father. And Ms. Bauman said he wanted them to get back together. I can’t see him harming her. We’d have to have a warrant to get anywhere near Bauman’s records. Right now we have nothing to base a warrant on.”
“I have to admit that Bauman is probably a dead end. He has too much to lose.” Hal flipped through a file. “So where does that leave us?”
Ethan cleared his throat. “There’s someone else who has money.”
“Who?”
“Gayle Baines has money from her first husband. I don’t know how much, but the relationship between Ms. Bauman and her stepmom isn’t good.”
Hal slammed the file shut. “You’ve known this for a while?”
“Yep.”
“I’m talking to the lieutenant. You need to be off this case.”
Ethan rose to his feet. “What Ms. Bauman told me in confidence while we were trying to stay alive is my business. I’m only bringing it up now because the money makes Gayle Baines a viable suspect.”
“It made her a suspect a week ago!” Hal shouted. “You’re not thinking straight.”
“Lay off, Hal.” Ross stood up, too.
Hal took a long breath. “I’ll get the details on Mrs. Baines and you guys contact the people from the surveillance cameras whose cars were in the parking lot of the bank on Thursday morning.” Without a backward glance, he stormed out.
Ross looked at Ethan. “You’re involved with Ms. Bauman, aren’t you?”
“Maybe.”
Ross sighed. “Then take a step back. Your perspective is off.”
Ethan ignored Ross’s advice. “Let’s check out the owners of cars we pulled from the videos. A Mr. Tarver was there. He might have noticed Grundy’s black Porsche.”
They drove to Lowe’s, where Mr. Tarver was an assistant manager. He had noticed the Porsche, but other than that he wasn’t much help. Neither were the next two people. They had one more to go—a waitress at Olive Garden. Before they reached the restaurant, they got a call to return to the station.
As they entered the squad room, Hal shoved papers at Ethan. “Mrs. Baines cashed in a twenty-five thousand dollar CD on Wednesday morning.”
Shit. The bottom of his stomach churned with a sick feeling. “What do you want me to say?”
“Nothing,” Hal retorted. “I’ve contacted Mrs. Baines and she’s coming in for questioning. I don’t want you in on it.”
“I don’t plan to be.”
“Ross and I will handle it.”
“Fine. I’ll talk to the waitress whose car was parked near Grundy’s.” He walked out before Hal could protest. And if Hal made one more derogatory remark, Ethan would punch him. He stood outside and took a long breath, breathing in the warm September breeze. If Gayle Baines had hired those thugs, Abby was going to be devastated. At that moment, he thought of turning in his badge. He needed to be there for Abby.
But if Gayle denied everything, they would need evidence to tie her to Grundy and the thugs. And he’d never stopped in the middle of a case. He kept going because it was the only thing he could do.
He drove to Olive Garden and spoke with the waitress in the manager’s office. The waitress was a college student, young and perky.
“Did I do something wrong?” she asked in a nervous voice.
He showed her a photo of her car in the parking lot. “You were at this bank on Thursday at 10:11 a.m.?”
“Yes. I stopped to deposit my tips. I don’t like to keep them in my purse for too long.”
“Did you notice a Porsche?”
“Yeah. A black one. It was gorgeous.”
“Did you see anyone around the car?”
She shook her head. “No.”
He showed her another photo. “From the security camera we can see the back of the Porsche. The rest of the car is out of range.” He ran his finger along the side of the picture. “A lawyer’s office is here. Did you see any cars parked between the two?”
“Oh. Yeah. An old tan Ford was parked there. I noticed it because my grandma has one just like it. It has twenty-four thousand miles on it. She literally only goes to the grocery store and church in it. My mom takes her everywhere else. I thought it was my gran’s for a m
inute, then I noticed the back fender had a rusted dent in it. Not my gran’s car. It’s like brand-new.”
Ethan waited for her to take a breath. “Did you notice anyone in the car or around it?”
“No. I didn’t look that good. I was in a hurry to get to work.”
“What year is your gran’s car?”
“Gosh, I don’t know. She’s had it as long as I can remember. I’ll ask my mom.”
He handed her his card. “Call me when you find out.”
“Okay.” She looked at the card. “Can I ask what this is about?”
“A bank robbery.”
“Whoa, dude.” Her eyes widened. “I don’t know anything about a bank robbery.”
“Sometimes you know more than you think.” He shook her hand. “Thanks. I appreciate the information.”
He walked into the station feeling much better. He had information that could lead to the identity of someone. At the sound of shouting, he stopped short. Loud sobs followed. He went to his desk to pull the jail visitation sheets on Rudy and Devon.
More sobs followed and he couldn’t concentrate. The questioning of Mrs. Baines wasn’t going well. Suddenly a door banged opened and a man and woman hurried out. The man had his arm around the woman, who was sobbing into wadded-up tissues. It must be Mr. and Mrs. Baines, Abby’s dad and stepmom. As they quickly left, Ethan had a bitter taste in his mouth.
Ross and Hal stopped at Ethan’s desk. “She’s not involved,” Hal said. “She took the money out of her bank and opened an account at Abby Bauman’s bank for Chloe Bauman’s education. We verified it with the bank.”
“That was brutal.” Ross sank into his chair. “We should have done more checking before questioning her.”
“Are you pointing a finger at me, Ross?” Hal wanted to know.
“I’m not pointing a finger. I’m saying we need to be sure of our facts.”
“We don’t have any facts!” Hal bellowed. “Everything’s a damn dead end. We’ve got squat.”
“I have a lead,” Ethan interrupted before tempers took over.
“What?” Ross and Hal asked in unison.
Ethan told them what the waitress had said. “I was just checking the visitor log for Rudy and Devon to see if I can match a tan Ford to one of them.”
Hal looked at his watch. “I have to be at the courthouse in fifteen minutes, but the last time I checked the log only three people had visited them. Rudy’s mother, and Devon’s father and sister. Rudy’s mom visited Devon, as well. I did a background check on all three. It’s in the file. I’ll check back later.” He turned and then swung around. “Abby Bauman was squeaky clean, just a couple of traffic tickets. Everyone likes her, especially the guys.”
Ethan’s gut clenched, but he didn’t react. “I know, Hal. I read the file.”
“Ethan, I...”
“Don’t worry about it. This case is testing the patience of all of us.”
“Then let’s get it solved.”
“You should have decked the blowhard,” Ross whispered as Hal left.
“I’m not in a mood to punch anyone.”
“Ethan, if you get any lower, I’ll have to pick you up off the floor.”
“I just keep thinking about what Abby and her family are going through because of us.”
“Yeah. That sucks.”
They ran the three names through the DMV database, and it didn’t take long to get a match. Estelle Campbell, Rudy’s mom, drove a 1996 Ford Taurus. As soon as the information came up, he got a call from the waitress. Her grandmother drove a 1996 Ford Taurus. They finally had a good lead.
“Rudy said his mother was paying for his attorney.” Ethan reached for a file. “Let’s see what Hal has on Estelle Campbell. She lives in an apartment provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for low-income families. The HUD complex is off West North Loop. She’s been married three times, but is now single. She works for a cleaning service at night and has twelve dollars and sixty-two cents in her bank account. Hmm. Wonder how she came up with twenty-five grand in—” he glanced down at the papers in front of him “—forty-eight hours. She visited Rudy and Devon on Tuesday and the money was deposited on Thursday.”
“This whole cash money business is weird. What keeps Grundy from just keeping the money?”
“As the lady at the bank told us, he deals with shady characters. If he kept the money without doing his job, he’s smart enough to know his days would be numbered. That’s why he accepts the money at a bank so he can deposit it immediately. The person giving him the money sees this. Honorable bastard, isn’t he?”
“Yeah.” Ross chuckled. “So what do you want to do? Rattle Mrs. Campbell’s cage?”
Ethan got to his feet. “Let’s see if we can make her nervous.”
* * *
ABBY KEPT WAITING for Ethan to call and explain why the detectives were questioning her again. When he didn’t, she knew that whatever they had was gone, as if it had never been. She always chose the wrong guy—at least she should get points for still believing in love. She didn’t know what that said about her, but she had to take control of her life.
She’d gone into banking because of her dad, but now she considered changing careers—to do something she really wanted. Since Chloe would start school next year, she’d like to be near her. She loved kids and the idea of teaching appealed to her. A visit to the university and she had a schedule of courses she needed to take to get her teaching degree.
Feeling better about her future, she spoke to the VP at the bank. He agreed to let her work part-time so she could take classes in the afternoon and at night.
She would go forward—without Ethan. The thought caused her such heartache, but she couldn’t dwell on it.
Abby picked Chloe up at three, and she was fussy so Abby put her down for a nap. As she flipped through the information she’d gotten at the university, her doorbell rang. She jumped up to get it. Gayle and her dad shot into the room. Gayle wiped at her eyes with a tissue.
“I feel like a criminal. A common criminal!” she wailed.
“What happened?” Abby asked, even as she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.
Her dad guided Gayle to the sofa and they sat down. “We’ve just come from the police station. Detective Beecher called for Gayle to come in. He wanted to talk to her.”
“About what?”
“They thought I paid those idiots to rob the bank and kidnap you.” Gayle dabbed at her eyes, her voice quavering. “I would...never...hurt you.”
Abby felt queasy. “Why...why would they think that?”
Her dad gripped Gayle’s hand. “Evidently someone is paying for a very expensive attorney for the robbers. Gayle withdrew twenty-five thousand from her bank on Wednesday and they wanted to know what she did with the money.”
Abby’s breath hung in her throat as she waited for the answer.
“It was for Chloe’s education. I put the money in your bank and you as a signee so you can have access to it. They wanted me to prove it. I felt like a criminal.”
“Why would you do that? I put money away every month for Chloe’s education, and I’m sure Doug will contribute, too.”
“What am I going to do with my money? You, Everett and Chloe are all that I have. I just wanted to do something nice so you wouldn’t have to worry. I was going to tell you. They just assumed...”
“Gayle.” Abby sat by her stepmom and put an arm around her shoulders. It was kind of ironic she was comfortable doing that. “I know we’ve had a rocky relationship, but our situation is different now. You don’t have to give us things for us to love you. You’re her grandma and have a special place in Chloe’s heart and in mine.”
Gayle hiccupped. “Thank you, dear.”
“I appreciate what you
did, but I’d rather Chloe not know about it until she’s older. I want her to earn the things she gets and not feel a sense of entitlement.”
“If that’s what you want.”
“And you’re not the only one the cops are investigating. They’re looking at me, too.”
“That’s insane.” Gayle snapped out of her woe-is-me mood. “Everett, you have to do something. They can’t treat Abby like this.”
“It sounds like they’re marking people off a list so I feel it’s best to leave things alone and maybe they’ll find what they’re looking for.”
“Dad’s right. They’re looking at every little detail. Though I’m a little pissed, I’m putting it out of my mind and keeping my fingers crossed that they catch this person who made my life a living hell.”
“Mommy,” Chloe called.
Abby touched Gayle’s hands. “Why don’t you get Chloe. It will cheer you up and she’ll be so excited to see Grandma.”
“I’d love to.” Gayle stood and headed for the hall. “Grandma’s coming.”
Abby turned to her father. “Dad, was Ethan at the questioning?”
“No, just two other detectives.”
“I was so scared, Abby.” Her dad leaned forward, rubbing his hands together in an agitated manner.
“Why?”
“When the detective spoke about the expensive attorney for those hoods and brought up Gayle withdrawing a large sum from a CD, I was stunned. She hadn’t mentioned a thing to me. She’d been acting so strange lately, saying over and over how guilty she felt about her relationship with you. For an agonizing five minutes I thought she might have done something stupid. My chest was tight, my hands clammy and I didn’t know what I was going to do if she’d hired those hoodlums. If she’d hurt you...”
“Oh, Dad.” She hugged him. “She didn’t. Now we’re going to have a nice family dinner here at my apartment and forget the whole mess.”
Abby was trying very hard not to get angry about her family being interrogated. But an hour later she gave up and went into the bathroom to call Ethan. He answered immediately.
“Ethan, why are the cops investigating me and my family?”
