Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love

by Lora Lindy

“Fine, if you don’t want to be honest I’ll ask your wife.” Raymond shuts the door to the squad car and starts up the dirt path to Tony’s house.

  He heard Tony screaming from the car. “I’ll tell you what you want to know, my wife doesn’t need to be involved.”

  Raymond turned around and walked back and opened the door. “I am losing my patience with you and this is your last chance.”

  “Donna and I are close friends.”

  “How close of friends are you?”

  “Real close.”

  “Keep going.”

  “We’ve been screwing for almost a year. There, are you happy, are you getting your jollies?”

  “When was the last time you screwed her?”

  “I don’t know what she’s told you, but I never promised I would leave my wife and she never said she would leave her husband. Our only relationship is screwing, I swear.”

  “I’m only going to ask this one more time. When was the last time you screwed her?”

  Tony was thinking back in time and started counting using his fingers. That immediately told Raymond it was more than a few days. “I think seven or eight days ago. Why do you care? Do you want to screw her too?”

  “We found your sperm in her, and I’m just wondering how it got there.”

  “I don’t know what she told you but it was consensual, she wanted me as much as I wanted her.”

  “Yea that’s what every rapist says, its’ consensual.”

  Raymond shut the door and told the officer. “Take him in and hold him. I’ll let you know if there will be any charges. I didn’t see any, but also check to see if he has any bite marks under his boxers.”

  “You got it. Let me know if we need to book him.”

  “I will.”

  *****

  “Mike, I need to get my bright coat on and head over to the Borders before it gets too dark,” said Joe as he opened the closet door to grab his coat.

  “I agree. Head over there and call me when you get there. Lana and I will stay in the house and we’ll compare you to the killer.”

  “That’s affirmative.” Joe headed out in the SUV and drove over to the Borders.

  Mike took advantage of his time alone with Lana. He took her hand and led her to the kitchen. He pulled out a bar stool for her to sit next to him. Not one word out of Mike’s mouth the entire time. He walked behind her and pulled her hair away from her neck and gave her a sweet kiss at the nape of her neck. That kiss gave her goose bumps all the way down to her toes. He whispered in her ear, while playing with her blouse. “Baby, you are so smart, adorable, lovable, and you have a nice chest,” he commented while peaking down her blouse.

  “Wait a minute big boy. I can’t believe you have time to think about my chest, especially with all that has happened. Joe will be calling any minute.”

  “How can I not, you have a large chest. Any normal red blooded American male will notice that. And the nice thing about it is the girls are all mine.”

  “Mike you have a large chest,” she answered enjoying every touch.

  “Yea, but mine is from working out, yours comes naturally,” Mike said as he peaked down her blouse.

  “Honey, you are a mess and I promise you, when we get through this you can play with my chest all you want.”

  “That is a promise I will make you keep,” he said as he kissed her neck some more. “I can’t help myself, we just don’t get any alone time and I want to take advantage of that every chance we get. Baby I’ve been wanting you all day.”

  She let him kiss her anywhere he wanted, and she let him touch her anywhere he wanted. “I know what you mean, I want to touch you every chance I can too.”

  She could do this all day. Mike touching her was almost more than she could bear. Every touch sent electricity through her body. When he sat on the barstool next to her, she sat in his lap. That made them eye level, and what a beautiful eye level it was. “Mike, when this is all over can we go someplace just the two of us with no phones or interruptions? Maybe work on a bucket list.”

  “Honey, I have already thought of that. I thought about Hawaii, what do you think?”

  “Anyplace would be paradise with you, and Hawaii sounds great,” she answered with a sweet kiss.

  Their moment was interrupted by Joe. He called Mike from his walkie talkie. “I’m in place. Are you both in place?”

  “Yes we are and we see you as we speak, walk from the front to the back and walk all the way around the back.”

  Joe did as he was told.

  Lana watched intently. “Joe is way too tall the guy was almost a foot shorter and the guy is a lot smaller than Joe.”

  “Joe, go the same route and go down about ten inches.”

  “Will do boss.”

  “That is perfect,” said Lana. Joe walking around did help her remember, maybe more than she wanted to remember.

  Mike got back on the walkie talkie and told Joe. “Go to the spot.”

  “Yes sir.”

  She looked at Mike with confusion. “What spot?”

  “Just look.”

  She looked toward the Borders and there was that white gaze staring at her. She again jumped back. “That’s the look I saw when he looked over here. How did you know?”

  “We found where he stood.” He got back on his walkie talkie and he called Joe. “Okay Joe we are finished, but before you come back please go to KFC and get five buckets of chicken? Lana plans on cooking baked bean and coleslaw.”

  “Absolutely, I’ll be back in about thirty minutes.”

  She grabbed Mike’s hand and asked. “How long do we have?”

  He answered with a grin. “Maybe thirty minutes.”

  They were completely undressed by the time they got to the bedroom. Nothing was wrong with passionate quickie.

  Chapter 28

  6:30 p.m.

  She quickly dressed after a quick bath. Then she put her hair up with a clasp when her cell phone rang. It was charging on the dresser and it startled her when it rang. She glanced down and saw Sharon’s name on the phone. What a nice surprise. “Hi Sharon, how’s my favorite cousin?”

  “Hey baby girl, I miss you and I happen to be wondering when you will be heading back?”

  “Well, I might not be coming home any time soon. I planned on calling you when I made a decision.” She couldn’t help but to sound excited.

  There was a pause for a minute. “So tell me the scoop.”

  She couldn’t contain her enthusiasm. “I have met someone.” She could visualize Sharon dusting as she talked on the phone. She always did that. She did love to talk on the phone and that is why her house was always so clean, she cleaned while she chatted.

  “Are you kidding, who is he, and how did you meet him. I am so excited for you. You know James would give him the third degree.”

  “I know, but I am so serious about this guy I’m thinking about moving here. Sharon, I have never cared for anyone like I care for him. He’s the owner of the house I’m renting. I can’t wait for you to meet him,” Lana sighed.

  “Lana I’m so glad you have met someone. I know the last several weeks have been difficult for you, for all of us. You have that tone in your voice, and it has changed completely from a few weeks ago.” She didn’t want to change the subject, but reading the will was imperative. “I called to check on you and ask you when you’re coming back.”

  “If it were up to Mike, I would never come back. Any particular reason you might need me to come sooner?” She didn’t want to tell her about all her problems there, she knew she had enough on her plate without Lana adding to it.

  “Well it’s just we got the will out of the safety deposit box, and the attorney wanted to read it but I wanted to wait until you got here,” she answered a little nervous.

  “Sharon I don’t want a thing of James. So I don’t know why I need to be there. I will sign everything over to you. You were the one married to James, and I know he loved me and wanted to leave me something, bu
t I could care less,” she answered truthfully. She didn’t care what he had, nor did she want anything.

  Both of them were very quiet. “Are you serious? I don’t know what James would think about that.”

  “He’d tell me to do with it what I want. I want to give it to you. Sharon you have two choices, keep the money or we can put it in trust for kids or grandkids. That is what James would say.” She just now remembered how James called her squirt and so does Mike. No wonder she loved the sound of Mike calling her that.

  Sharon got quiet for a few seconds before speaking. “How about we put half in trust and the other half I put toward paying off the house?”

  Lana could tell she seemed nervous. She guessed she felt bad asking her about this, and she didn’t know why, because she was sure the stock didn’t add up to much money. But hey, if it helped pay off the house, that’s less worry for Sharon. “That sounds great to me, and if you need for me to sign the papers you can overnight them to me and I’ll get them signed and overnight them back. How does that sound?”

  “Oh Lana that sounds great and you don’t know how much this will help. James sick leave at work was only thirty days and after that I only have what’s in checking. This little will tide me over until I can see what cash I have and will need.”

  “What about his life insurance?”

  “Baby girl, he let that lapse. I didn’t know he did, but when he turned fifty the premiums got so expensive he didn’t pay them. So right now all I have is what is in checking and savings. And you know my brother Adam was so sick, James put all our money towards paying the hospital and helping his family. We were slowly building back up, but just haven’t quite made it.”

  “Well, you get those papers sent to me and I’ll make sure they get sent back. I’m sorry I didn’t know you all were out so much for your brother’s illness.”

  “Lana, God bless you, and where do I send the papers?”

  “I don’t know the address, but I’ll get it and email it to you.”

  “That sounds great. Baby girl, you take care and I’ll see you and Mike soon,” she said with a little giggle.

  “Bye, and don’t worry Sharon, everything will be okay. I’ll make sure of that.”

  “Thanks, love you, and call when you can.”

  “I will, and I love you too. Kiss the kids for me.” Lana hung up the phone and ran to the kitchen. She was late getting dinner started.

  *****

  She washed her hands and started mixing the beans. Mike already pulled items out of the pantry and the fridge. “I started on the beans by opening the cans. I hope these are the right beans.”

  She glanced over and said. “You did good babe, I use pork-n-beans for the baked beans. How many cans did you open?”

  Mike counted the open cans. “Five open and five unopened.”

  “How many will be here?”

  “Um, I think there will be about seven.”

  “The five cans should be enough.” She leaned over and grabbed the onions and chopped away. She added the brown sugar, BBQ sauce, onions, and bell pepper then popped dish in the oven. Quickly she made her sauce for the coleslaw. It was her grandmother’s recipe and it was simple, but delicious. She used this same recipe in her carrot and raisin salad. She would mix the sauce and cabbage the last minute. Finally she got to pour herself a glass of tea and joined Mike in the living room.

  Mike got off the phone with Raymond. “Raymond will be here in a few minutes and he has talked to Tony.”

  Joe and Lana looked at Mike wanting him to finish.

  Joe broke the silence.“So what did he say?”

  “Tony admitted having an affair with Ms. Border’s and he has no clue about anything else. He also admitted he had sex with her before he left on his trip.”

  Joe was excited and wanted to know the scoop. But he wanted to hear it from Raymond.

  She walked over to the fireplace and poked at the wood hoping to get a strong flame going. She watched as the little flickers tried to reach the highest log. The stone fireplace was beautiful with a mantle she could tell Mike made. It was carved with the initials of his family. The carving of Kyle was sloppy so she could only imagine his little boy helping his daddy carve this beauty. Mike could never get rid of this place because it had too many wonderful memories.

  Out of nowhere Mike walked over and stood next to her and whispered softly in her ear. “A penny for your thoughts.”

  She leaned in to his chest and enjoyed the moment before responding. “You don’t have to pay anything for my thoughts. I happen to be thinking about how wonderful you and your team are. Just a few short days this case was of disarray. Now all the puzzle pieces start to fit together. I am in awe of you guys.” She didn’t want to tell him what was truly on her mind. If she told Mike she noticed the carving, she would feel like she’s invading his family’s privacy.

  “Honey I told you this is what we do, and many times it is a bunch of jigsaw puzzle pieces. And all we do is find the right pieces and then put it all together. Sometimes the pieces don’t fit, and sometimes there are many pieces. But we eventually figure it all out piece by piece. I wouldn’t change my job for anything.”

  “One other thing I noticed about your team.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Sara, oh my, she is wonderful and so insightful.”

  “She is incredible. She sounds young on the phone, but she’s about forty.” Mike turned to Joe. “Hey Joe, how old do you think Sara is?”

  “I would say about forty.”

  “Parrot.” Mike just looked at Joe and raised his left eyebrow, then continued. “She has premature gray hair, and now she is completely gray. She is about your height, short. I think she has a Master’s degree and she’s married with one child and I think her child just started college. Her husband is a mechanic at one of the airlines in Boston. We all love her immensely, and we couldn’t do our job as well without her.”

  The heater kicked on and the return air vent was near the living room and it pulled all the air throughout the house. The wonderful smell of baked beans lingered. “I’ve got to check the beans.” Immediately Joe and Mike followed her in the kitchen. “Do you guys want to taste the beans?”

  They both nodded their heads.

  Mike lifted the heavy beans out of the oven and they smelled so good, so she got a spoon for both of them and let them taste. “Oh baby, these are the best beans I have ever had.”

  Joe agreed. “Me too.”

  About that time Raymond and the gang pulled up and the two men in the kitchen found other things to preoccupy their minds, the story about Tony.

  The guys bantered back and forth about busting down the door. There were at least three different conversations going on at one time. One of the deputies talked about how they were vultures waiting on their prey. They told the story of crouching in the bushes waiting for their cue Cooper.

  Cooper, who in the hell uses the word Cooper as the raid word. She kind of liked the word shazam or pickle juice. But Cooper, that boggled her mind. Later she would ask Mike about how they choose their raid words.

  As Raymond told the story, Joe listened with delight. His eyes sparkled as he took in every word. She could tell he wanted to be a cop since he was a child. He lived and breathed this business.

  Raymond told the story of Tony in the back of the cop car. “He called me a cop wannabe.”

  Joe laughed. “Did he know who you were?”

  “I told him, but he was so mad and half drunk and half asleep I don’t think it registered in his half state of mind.”

  Mike took many notes during all this discussion. He downloaded the driving schedule of Tony and compared it to the forensics. Everything such as receipts, dates, and timelines were entered on their make shift boards. “Guys we need to look over the timeline for Tony, and tell me your thoughts.”

  Raymond began. “We know he had sex with Ms. Borders at least seven days ago.”

  Mike corrected the time. “It
was eight days, because he left out at four in the morning. The ME’s preliminary findings say they were dead between six or seven days. So it is a possibility Tony killed them, slim, but still a possibility.”

  “We know he didn’t put the steak on the counter because he was out of town. And we know he didn’t kill John Johnson because John was seen after Tony left. The only connection with this case is the sperm and he admitted he had sex with Ms. Border’s,” said Joe pinning some time lines on the board.

  “I’m going to put Tony at the ten percent chance that he had anything to do with the killings.”

  Both Joe and Raymond agreed.

  Joe asked. “What about the three clowns in jail?”

  “I think they are opportunists and that’s all. I know you all don’t know this, but Quent gave them a lie detector and all three of them passed.” I’m going to put them in the ten percent category as well.”

  Raymond asked. “Who does that leave?”

  Mike pulled a picture from his pile of papers and it was the man at the airport. “Somehow all this is ties into this guy. This picture is being searched through the FBI database, and in the meantime, we have a hair and blood from the Border’s house and we think his blood type is B-. We have had less and we’ve caught the guy. We’ve put this picture with every police department and every federal agency. I want this guy caught.”

  *****

  She interrupted the guys when she thought they could use a break. “Dinner is ready.” Everyone headed to the kitchen and grabbed plates and filled them with chicken, beans and slaw. She even surprised them with a three layer chocolate cake. While they were in the kitchen she walked in the living room and joined Mike as he was organizing all the papers.

  “You better fix yourself a plate or the guys will eat it all,” said Lana.

  “That’s okay if they do, they’ve earned it.”

  “True. Mike, are you okay?”

  “No not really.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I can see the picture of this man who talked to you on the plane and came into my neck of the woods and killed three people. Furthermore, I have to wait days before I can get DNA. Then I might have to be disappointed if he doesn’t have any DNA on record.”