Disrobed for Death

by Sylvia Rochester

  “If you had to, could you shoot someone?”

  “I…I don’t know. Maybe that’s why I never bought one. What about you?”

  Susan thought for a while before answering. “If I were scared enough, or if someone I loved was in danger, I think I would.”

  Neither said anything after that. Susan imagined they were both thinking about the same thing—how does anyone ever get over taking someone’s life?

  Considering the number of units in the complex, the parking lot was fairly empty. Perhaps many of the residents had left for the weekend. Around two in the morning, the music stopped, and the revelers stumbled out of the apartment. Some exited the front door, and others emerged from around the back of the building. Through a blurry windshield, Susan watched several cars leave the complex. She didn’t notice anyone approach or exit Jack’s apartment.

  As the hours dragged on, darkness and silence made it hard to keep her eyes open. Fighting to stay awake, she leaned closer to A. K. and in a growl of a whisper said, “You’re fired.”

  “Uh…what?”

  “You’re sleeping on the job, and it’s all I can do not to join you. I need help here. Talk to me, sing, do something.”

  “What time is it?”

  Susan opened her phone. “It’s five o’clock. We have another hour before daybreak. For the first time in a long time, Susan was anxious for Valentine’s Day to dawn. She felt sure they had stopped a terrible thing from happening.

  At first light, Susan stretched her cramped legs against the floorboard and massaged her aching neck. Thank goodness the rain had finally stopped, and the sky was beginning to clear. She could imagine her sleepless eyes would pass as road maps.

  She nudged A. K., who once again was dozing. “Wake up. Wesley’s heading toward Jack’s apartment. He probably wants to make sure he’s okay. We did it! We really prevented a murder.”

  A shiver of joy coursed through her body.

  Wesley knocked and waited for a response. He knocked again. This time, Susan and A. K. stared at one another.

  “I do not like this,” Susan said. “Why doesn’t Jack answer the door?”

  When Wesley pulled out his cell, Susan glanced at hers, but it didn’t ring.

  “Who’s he calling?” Susan asked, talking more to herself than to A. K.

  That happy feeling of a few minutes ago gave way to a nauseous feeling.

  “I didn’t see anyone go near his place. Did you?” Susan asked.

  A. K. shook her head. “Maybe he’s a sound sleeper, or he’s in the shower…or something.”

  Wesley closed his phone and slipped it into his pocket. A few moments later, a woman came from the back of the complex and hurried over to meet with him. While they talked, she opened the door. Wesley entered the apartment first.

  Susan wanted to jump out and run after him, but she knew Wesley was in control and that she shouldn’t interfere. But something was wrong…terribly wrong.

  “He can’t be dead. He just can’t,” Susan wailed. “How? What did we do wrong? How could anyone have gotten past us and Wesley?”

  A. K. sat shaking her head and mumbling, “Not good, not good.”

  Both jumped when Susan’s phone rang.

  “It’s over, Susan.”

  “What do you mean it’s over?”

  “I’ll explain, but not on the phone. As soon as I can, I’m coming to your place.”

  “No need. I’m here.”

  Susan and A. K. sprang from the car. As Wesley looked up, they were crossing the parking lot.

  He met them at the curb. “Why am I not surprised?”

  “Is he…?”

  “He’s alive, but unconscious and wounded. The bullet raked his skull. He’s breathing okay, and I put a clean hand towel over the wound. I started applying pressure. The manager is with him now, continuing to apply pressure. EMS is on the way. How in the hell did someone manage to get past me?”

  “And past us, too.” Tears streamed down Susan’s cheeks. “It happened…just the way he told me, only this time, the shooter missed. Gary couldn’t have done it. He left town this afternoon, and Clarissa is still at her place. So who did this?”

  Wesley gave her a questioning look. “How do you know about Gary and Clarissa?”

  Police cars arrived, their sirens blaring. As deputies hurried to cordon off the area with yellow tape, the EMS unit also arrived.

  Susan looked past Wesley, not wanting to answer him at this time.

  “I want to see him,” she said, and started toward his apartment.

  Wesley grabbed her. “You can’t. This is a crime scene. Stay here and let me find out about his condition.” He hurried into the apartment.

  “I know I was meant to warn him, to try and stop him from getting killed,” Susan said. “All the prying and chasing around, the all-night vigil can’t be for naught. He just has to survive.”

  “He’s alive,” A. K. said. “That’s the main thing.”

  Residents emerged from their apartments and gathered outside the restricted area.

  When Wesley exited the apartment, he stayed for quite some time talking to officers. Then he approached her and A. K., took them by their arms, and led them a little closer to the on-lookers, but far enough away that they could talk without being overheard. “Standing alone, you two draw attention. If you don’t want to get questioned you’d do well to blend with the crowd. The medic said Jack’s wound was serious but not life threatening.”

  “I sure hope not,” A. K. responded.

  Susan stared at her friends. “When I met Jack at the funeral home, he wasn’t so lucky. It’s a great relief to hear he’ll make it.” Susan rubbed her arms and shivered, more from nervousness than from the cold.

  Wesley was quick to notice her discomfort and suggested they go sit in his truck. “You look plumb frozen. I’ll crank up the heater.”

  “I vote for that,” A. K. said, blowing into her hands.

  Once in the truck, the warm air whirled through the vents and fogged up the windows. “Okay, let’s have it,” Wesley said. “What have you two been keeping from me?”

  A. K. stared at Susan. “You tell him.”

  “Okay,” she said, looking at Wesley, “just promise not to be too angry. Ever since the night Gary’s money…uh…disappeared, Herman has tailed Gary, and a friend of Herman’s has kept an eye on Clarissa. Vera has also helped by watching Gary’s place next door.

  “Herman called this evening to say Gary boarded a plane for Atlanta in New Orleans, and that Clarissa had not left her apartment all day. I was relieved to know that you wouldn’t have to confront either of them tonight. With no money involved, it looked like Jack’s life would be spared. I was feeling really good about everything until you didn’t get a response this morning and had to enter his apartment.” She paused and took a deep breath. “With Gary and Clarissa out of the way, who could have done this?”

  Wesley crossed his arms and glared at Susan. “I’ve learned it’s when you think you have something figured out, the unexpected happens, and someone sure pulled one over on us. Angry? I’m not angry. I’m furious! Do you realize if the murderer had spotted you, you could have been killed? Dammit, I don’t want to lose you again.”

  “We parked a long ways away,” A. K. said. “Blame it on me. I’m hard headed and impulsive.”

  “Nice try, A. K., but it was my idea to come here,” Susan said. “What did you tell the police?”

  Wesley looked at the officers milling about the grounds. “I said I was running surveillance when I got a tip from a CI there was a possible hit on the doctor. I saw no one enter or leave his apartment, but a bunch of partiers exited the front and back door of the adjacent apartment. If the assailant was already in the doctor’s apartment, he or she could have slipped out and gone unnoticed among the revelers. This morning, I decided to make sure the doctor was all right. When I couldn’t get him to answer his door, I called the manager, and we discovered he’d been shot.

&nb
sp; “The investigators will process the scene. I don’t look for any fingerprints or DNA, and there’s no evidence of a struggle. Seems the doctor was caught totally off guard. Let’s hope he got a look at his assailant.”

  “So you think whoever did this was already in Jack’s apartment and waiting for him to come home?”

  “It looks that way. Did either of you hear or see anything suspicious?”

  “The rain made it hard to see much of anything,” Susan said. “A handful of cars entered and left, and there were a lot of partiers coming and going. What about you? Do you remember anything different?”

  “Not really, but sometimes things that go unnoticed will surface later.”

  “Has anyone contacted Jack’s family?” Susan asked.

  “I gave a deputy Ramona’s name. He’s going to call her. I’m sure she could use your support. I have to check in at headquarters, so I’ll catch up with you later.”

  Susan and A. K. made their way back to the Mustang amid talk of disbelief from the crowd that continued to huddle outside the apartment.

  “There he is,” someone said.

  A gurney rolled down the sidewalk and stopped at the ambulance. Jack’s head was bandaged and an oxygen mask was in place.

  “At least he’s not dead,” someone in the crowd said.

  Susan so wanted to tell him she was here, that even though she had failed to stop the shooter, he was going to be okay.

  “Sorry, Jack,” she whispered. “I tried.”

  The yellow tape flapped in the wind as if to mock her efforts.

  “Why was the shooting revealed to me, if not for me to stop it?” she asked A. K. “Where did I go wrong? Just hours ago, it all looked so promising.”

  Her shoulders slumped as if under a heavy weight.

  “Hey, he’s alive. That’s what’s important,” A. K. said. “You did everything you could. In fact, you did save him from death at the hands of Gary. How could you possibly know someone else was waiting to kill him?”

  As they climbed into the Mustang and drove out the complex, Susan pulled her cell from her pocket. “I’ve got to call Herman and let him know it’s over.”

  Herman answered on the first ring. “’Bout time you called. Did anyone show up? Is the doc okay?”

  “Jack’s wounded, but alive. The bullet left a nasty crease in his scalp.”

  “How—”

  “That’s what I’m wondering. I thought we had this all figured out. With Gary out of the picture, I really didn’t expect anyone to show. Boy, was I wrong. Someone outsmarted all of us, and that person wanted Jack dead. All I can say is a higher power must have been looking out for him. Either the shooter wasn’t a very good marksman, or it was too dark to get off a good shot.

  “According to the medic, it looks like Jack will make it. Hopefully, he can tell us something. A. K. and I are going to the hospital. If we find out anything, I’ll call you.”

  “Okay. I’ll be at Vera’s.”

  Chapter 18

  Susan and A. K. arrived at the emergency room in time to see the doctor and a police officer walking away from Ramona. She leaned against the wall, her eyes swimming in tears. For a moment, Susan’s heart skipped a beat. Then she gave a sigh of relief when she saw Ramona look up at the doctor and whisper, “Thank you.”

  Her expression changed from satisfaction to confusion when she eyed Susan. Ramona headed straight for her. “You said he’d be safe. You lied.”

  “I’m so sorry. I thought we had everything under control.”

  “I bet it was the man you saw with Clarissa.”

  Susan shook her head. “It couldn’t have been. That was Gary Bozeman, the exterminator. He boarded a plane for Atlanta earlier in the day.”

  “Gary? Oh my gosh, he sprays my house.” With eyes brimming with tears, she said, “Then it was Clarissa. I should have figured as much.”

  “No, it wasn’t. Someone was watching her apartment, and she never left.”

  “Then who?”

  “Right now, we haven’t a clue. Is Jack conscious? Did he see anything?”

  “He told the policeman he doesn’t remember anything and didn’t get a good look at the shooter. It was too dark.”

  “Can we see him?” A. K. asked.

  “The doctor said he doesn’t want anyone questioning him at this time. He wants him to rest. One family member at a time can stay with him. When my parents and brothers arrive, we’ll take turns. I hope you understand. Maybe tomorrow he’ll be in better condition to help you.”

  “Of course, we only want what’s best for him,” Susan said.

  Ramona took Susan’s hand. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. I don’t blame you. If you hadn’t persisted in your belief that Jack was in danger, he might not be alive right now. What worries me is that whoever tried to kill him, might try again.”

  “That is a possibility,” Susan said.

  “Well, I’ll make sure my brothers stand watch tonight.”

  “I don’t know the procedure on providing protection, but I’ll ask Wesley.”

  “Where is he? I’d like to thank him, too.”

  “He’s at headquarters, but I should hear from him soon.”

  Raised voices carried down the hall. Ramona’s family approached. One of the brothers was pushing their mother in the wheelchair. After being introduced to them, Susan and A. K. stepped aside.

  Before leaving, and with the family huddled outside Jack’s door, A. K. pulled Ramona to her. “Tell Jack I’ll be back to see him tomorrow.”

  Ramona looked surprised.

  “Seems Jack took an interest in A. K. when he met her at the hospital after my accident,” Susan said. “When I went for my follow-up appointment, he asked how he could get in touch with her.”

  Ramona looked at A. K. and smiled. “That’s good to hear. I was beginning to think he’d given up on women.”

  As Susan and A. K. walked down the hall, Susan nudged her friend. “Hmm, you and Jack or maybe you and Edward…wonder who it’ll be?”

  “The one who survives the first date,” A. K. said.

  Both laughed.

  Opening the boutique wasn’t easy, not after a night without sleep.

  “I don’t know how long I can hang in there,” Susan said, “but I’ll do my best.”

  “I’m with you.”

  Debbie and Sheila bounced into the store with an energy that Susan envied. Oh, that she could sap some of that vigor. Sipping on a cup of coffee, Susan greeted her employees. “Girls, we need to talk.”

  Debbie and Sheila exchanged what-did-we-do glances.

  “I know I’ve asked a lot of you lately, and you deserve an explanation.” Susan told them everything from her vision to the stakeout. They listened with their mouths ajar.

  “Is he going to be all right?” Debbie asked.

  Susan nodded.

  “Best we can figure is that Jack was shot during the wee hours, while that party was going on.” Susan leaned her head back and rubbed her aching neck. “Shot on Valentine’s Day, just like he told me in my vision…only this time, he lived. The attempted murderer is still on the loose, but the police, and especially Wesley, are doing everything they can to find and arrest the shooter.”

  “That gives me the creeps,” Sheila said.

  “It should. Keep your eyes out for anything suspicious. We don’t know what this person might do next.”

  “You can count on us,” Debbie said.

  “So, you really had a vision. That’s cool. Can you still see into the future? I sure would like to know what lies ahead for me.”

  “It doesn’t work that way. I don’t have any control over it. And I hope I never experience anything like that again.”

  A customer entered the shop.

  “Why don’t you and A. K. go get some sleep? Sheila and I can handle the store.”

  “You are a dear,” Susan said, “but we’re going to hang in with you as long as we can.”

  About three o’clock, Susan’s
get up and go got up and went. A. K. looked the worse for wear, too. “You about ready to give up?” Susan asked.

  “Been ready.”

  They grabbed their purses and told the girls goodbye. Sales that day were terrific, and Debbie and Sheila knew how to close the store. Once again, she would owe them big time.

  A. K. dropped Susan off at her apartment where she gathered up all the gear they had packed. Walking to the front door, she imagined her body a syringe filled with liquid energy. With every step, it got lower and lower. It was tapping on empty by the time she unlocked the door. She made it as far as the sofa.

  “Just a few minutes to gather my strength,” she mumbled as she curled up among the cushions.

  Three hours later, she awoke to the sound of her cell. It was Wesley.

  “Where are you?” she asked.

  “I’m still at headquarters, trying to catch up on paper work. And the sheriff wasted no time assigning me a new partner, a detective from Mississippi. It’ll be a couple of weeks before he comes on board. He’s not leaving his job until they find a replacement. The guy’s father and the sheriff are old friends. That tells me the guy didn’t just up and apply for this job. More than likely, something precipitated his move. That’s not what I need—a partner with baggage. I wish I could work alone, but that’s not going to happen.”

  “Stop it! You’re thinking what happened to Terrance might happen to your new partner, aren’t you? You can’t dwell on what happened. Terrance’s death was not your fault. Sure, it’s not going to be easy to put his death behind you, but if you keep reliving it and don’t concentrate on the job at hand, you will make a mistake. Aside from all that weighing on your mind, how are you managing to stay awake after the long stakeout? I feel like a zombie.”

  “Guess I’m used to it.”

  “I wanted to question Jack, but by the time he came to, the paramedic wouldn’t let me near him. I did talk with the officer at the hospital, though. He said Jack didn’t remember anything, and the doctor insisted his patient rest. If Jack’s better in the morning, the doctor said we could question him then. I’m going to do just that.”

  “A. K. and I went to the hospital, but we didn’t get to see him either. We did talk with Ramona. She’s concerned that whoever did this might try again and wondered if the police department could provide security.”