Wayne was about to tell him it was none of his business when the door slid open again, quite possibly saving his life.
Sonia stepped out with a big man. Even though he was shorter than his three sons, Sonia had been right. Karl Nordstrom was bigger than all three of them. He sure was broad.
He stepped forward when Sonia introduced him to Wayne and almost crushed his hand in a handshake. He was glad then that the other three had snubbed him by not shaking his hand. He didn’t think his hand would have survived three more handshakes like that one.
Sonia stepped back into the kitchen but her dad didn’t let go of Wayne’s hand, which forced him to stay just inches from that huge body.
Karl kept looking Wayne in the eye then said, “You had better be good to my little girl. I don’t have to tell you what will happen to you if you don’t.”
Wayne was sweating profusely now. Finally, Karl let go of his hand and laughed so loud that it hurt Wayne’s ears.
“Don’t look so worried. I know my daughter probably better than I know my sons since she’s the youngest. If she brought you here today, then you’ve already passed any test I could give you. Sometimes I think she’s the best cop of all of us.” He slapped Wayne on the back. “I’m willing to bet that she already knows more about you than you do yourself.”
With that, he sat down and pointed at the chair next to him. So Wayne sat but was afraid to say anything else.
By way of further introduction, Sven said to the others, “His grandfather owns Newcomb Motors.”
That seemed to say all they needed to hear. The rest of the time until dinner was spent mostly in cop shoptalk, which Wayne only listened to.
Sonia came out once and stood listening to the others talking for a moment. Then she said, “You guys are all being rude to Wayne. Talk about something you all may have in common.”
Apparently, they couldn’t think of anything so there was no more talking for a few minutes. Then, Bjorn again, looked Wayne in the eye and said, “What do you know about Ford dropping the Crown Vic?”
Wayne tried to smile and said, “I’m as much in the dark about that one as you are. We just sell the cars they make available to us. They don’t usually listen to what we have to say unless it concerns a safety factor.”
“What are they going to replace it with?”
Now, Wayne could get going into this conversation. “They’ve given us dealers the opportunity to go to Detroit and look at their prototypes. I went a few months ago, and I’ve got to tell you I’m impressed with this new smaller police interceptor they’re coming out with. I drove one and even though it’s smaller than the Crown Vic, it handles as well, is just as fast, and gets much better gas mileage.”
Bjorn snorted. “That car is for short people. What are they making for real men?”
Wayne had been expecting that one. “They’re also coming out with a utility vehicle that has more head room than the Tahoe.”
It seemed as if all four of the big men snorted at once. Bjorn said, “I’ll believe it when I can get in it and drive it myself.”
That was when they were all called in for dinner.
Later, on the way home, Sonia said she didn’t feel like driving so Wayne drove. After a few minutes of silence, she looked at him and said, “Well, you survived.”
They both laughed but she grew serious. “The question is, are you still willing to get to know me better after what my family just put you through?”
Wayne had been thinking about that very thing. And he had come to the conclusion that he definitely did want to continue seeing Sonia. Nothing had changed for him.
He glanced at her quickly and said, “Yes. Even if I have to put up with them every day, I will still want to get to know you better.”
She turned back to look out the windshield. He sneaked a peek at her face but he couldn’t see any kind of expression there.
After what seemed to him like a long time, she smiled and said, “Thank you.”
He looked at her a little too long.
“Keep your eyes on the road.”
He did, but he had to know what that meant. “Is that all you have to say?”
She laughed then and said, “What do you expect me to say. I know my brothers and my dad gave you a hard time today. You’re the first guy not to run after his first encounter with my family. I appreciate that.”
The question that had been going around in his head for the last twenty minutes suddenly popped out. “Where do we go from here?”
He was immediately afraid he’d gone too far. He wasn’t sure if she was flushed from embarrassment or from anger. She made him wait what seemed like a long time before she answered him.
“I’m not really sure. I do know that I still want to go slowly.” She was quiet for a moment. “Why don’t we try it one date at a time and see how that goes?”
“Fine with me. Just say when.”
He wasn’t sure what he had expected but it was more than he could have hoped for.
“With this new case I’ve got, I’m running all over the valley all day. I’ll have to wait until I can find some time, then I’ll call you.”
“Okay.”
He felt the mood needed to be lightened a little so he said, “Can you make pizza the way your sister-in-law can? That was by far the best pizza I’ve ever eaten anywhere.”
She laughed and the musical quality of her laugh sent chills down his spine.
“No, I’m afraid as Lucia says I’m not Italian enough to make pizza like that. But I can do a fair imitation.”
They both laughed then lapsed into a comfortable silence the rest of the way to Sonia’s condo.
* * *
When Wayne dropped Sonia off at her condo, she went straight to the refrigerator, grabbed a bottle of water, and sat in the living room drinking it. She sat there thinking back over her afternoon and evening with Wayne and her family.
Wow! That was all she could think of to say. She couldn’t believe what had happened. Had someone snatched her brothers and replaced them with real human beings? True, they had been rough on Wayne, but not like they always had been before. A little rough, she could live with and apparently, so could Wayne.
But most of all, she had been surprised at her dad. He had seemingly accepted Wayne as an equal. That had never happened before. When she and Wayne had been leaving, her dad had hugged her and whispered in her ear, “Do you think he’s the one?”
She had been so shocked that all she could do was stare at her father and walk woodenly out the door behind Wayne.
Sonia was about to doze off when her phone rang. She had a premonition which was confirmed when dispatch said, “Sonia, we’ve had another 963 pedestrian, hit and run.”
She listened sluggishly to the location then said, “Call out Sergeants Thompson and Becker.”
On her way over to the scene, she had all sorts of questions running through her mind. Was it the same perpetrator as the first one? Who was the victim this time? Was another one of Wayne’s cars involved?
When she arrived at the scene, Stan and Grant drove up right behind her. They all three went up to the patrol sergeant who was commanding the scene.
Sergeant Carl Williams looked at the three detectives and said, “Same as before just a different victim. He tilted his head to a sheet covered body behind him. Woman this time. Tasha Tilton. Ring a bell?”
Sonia’s knees almost gave out on her. Tasha Tilton! She’d just talked to the woman yesterday.
She cleared her mind enough to say, “Yes, she was Hogan’s lawyer.”
“That’s what I thought. What’s going on here?”
Sonia wasn’t ready to speculate on that question yet, even in her mind. “We don’t have much yet.” She looked up from writing in her notebook. “Vehicle?”
“Exactly like last time. Another new car around the block and the VIN comes back to Newcomb Motors. The only difference this time is that it’s a Town Car.”
Sonia thanked him and
pulled her detectives away from the others. She looked each one in the face and said, “You two look like you could use some rest. I wouldn’t have called you out but we’re all three stuck on this one until we close it, and I’m sure we’re going to get a lot of pressure from the media, the council, and especially the chief.”
When neither responded, she said, “Let’s go take a look at the car.”
After they had looked at the new Lincoln, they stood nearby talking.
“Either of you see any patterns developing here?” Sonia looked at Grant then Stan.
Stan groaned and said, “It’s beginning to sound like someone has something against Hogan and his lawyer or they’re eliminating competition for this new development that they’re planning for the east side of town.”
Grant nodded and said, “Yeah, who else was planning to put in a bid on it?”
“I know that Hamilton Baar was, but I’m not sure about anyone else. We can find that out easily enough tomorrow. Okay.” Sonia slapped her notebook closed. “Let’s look for differences between the two.”
Grant stuck his hands into his pockets and slouched. Sonia could tell he was tired. “Well, for starters, this time the victim was on the sidewalk in front of her own house instead of on a street in a crosswalk.”
“Lieutenant Nordstrom, I would like to talk with you.”
Not now! Sonia hadn’t heard Commander Pennington arrive. Now, what did the woman want?
She walked over to where the commander was standing alone. She wasn’t going to speak first. Pennington called her over she could start.
Pennington crossed her arms across her chest. “This should never have happened, at least not with another car from Newcomb Motors. You should have required them to take security measures to prevent another car from being stolen this way. If anyone but your boyfriend was the general manager there, that’s exactly what you would have done. You’re losing your subjectivity Nordstrom.”
With that, she walked away leaving Sonia grinding her teeth in frustration.
Grant and Stan both appeared at her sides and Stan said, “You want me to shoot her Sonia?”
She began laughing so hard she was afraid she couldn’t stop. Grant grabbed her by both arms and shook her gently.
“Get ahold of yourself Sonia. Do you want to give the old battle-axe more ammunition to use against you?”
Once she was able to regain her composure, she tried to smile at her detectives who she also realized had become her close friends. That thought made her feel better.
Stan leaned toward her and said, “It looks like Grant and I aren’t the only ones who could use some rest.”
Sonia realized he was right. “Let’s just do the things we have to do tonight so we can all go get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be another long day.”
On her way home, Sonia’s thoughts turned back to her afternoon and evening with Wayne. In spite of her brothers, she had enjoyed it and she thought Wayne had too. Amazing! She had meant for today to be a test for Wayne. Not only had he passed with flying colors, but her brothers and especially her dad had passed too.
Then, she thought of what Commander Pennington had said about Wayne being her boyfriend and especially the hint that it had clouded her judgment in this case. That was scary! She didn’t ever want to go there. What if Pennington went to the chief with her accusations?
She decided that she was going to have to meet with Wayne tomorrow to see what kinds of security measures they could put into place to keep more cars from being stolen with the keys and the log. The log? She had a feeling that the log for this car would be missing too.
When she made it to her condo, she was so tired that she headed straight to her bedroom and began preparing for bed. As she climbed into bed, she decided that if the phone rang anymore tonight she wasn’t going to answer it.
She laid there for a few minutes and suddenly she was wide awake. Why? What caused her to be so tense all of a sudden?
Then she realized what it was. How had Commander Pennington known about her seeing Wayne Newcomb? She was certain that no one at the station knew. Grant and Stan hadn’t been there much the last two days and besides, she knew they wouldn’t say anything to anyone there.
Somehow, the answer to that question seemed to be significant to the case. But how?
She tossed and turned for another hour before finally relaxing and falling into a deep sleep.
Chapter Six
On Thursday morning, Wayne’s head was still buzzing from the day before as he parked his car at the office. It had certainly been some day. In fact, the past week had been quite unusual. He and Sonia were getting to know each other and she wasn’t shying away from him anymore. Not only that, but he thought that she was beginning to like him too.
He still couldn’t believe that Sonia’s brothers had gone so light on him. He laughed until he realized he was inside now and others could see and hear him.
He went up to his temporary office, really just a cubicle and found Leo Cochran, the security manager, standing at the entrance. He knew Leo didn’t have good news. Not that he could read anything from the retired Air Force Senior Master Sergeant’s demeanor. The man had a stone face and he was built like one too, a big one.
Wayne had a sudden humorous thought. He should have taken Leo with him yesterday. Leo was a couple of inches taller than Sonia’s dad and just as wide.
“Good morning Leo, what can I do for you today?”
Leo looked around and said, “Could we go somewhere private?”
Wayne definitely didn’t like the sound of that. “Sure, let’s go over to Kelly’s office. She won’t be using it for a while.”
Once they were seated at Kelly’s small table, Leo looked at Wayne and shook his head. “We lost another one last night.”
“Another car?”
“Yes, and I just heard that there was another hit and run last night too. It was probably our car again.”
Before Wayne could fully react to what Leo had just said, he heard Darla paging him over the P. A. system. He realized he hadn’t told her where he was going to be. He picked up the phone and called her.
When he hung it up, he turned back to Leo and said, “It looks like your suspicions are correct. Lieutenant Nordstrom is on her way in here right now.”
When Leo started to leave, Wayne said, “No, you should stay. It looks like we’re going to have to do something to keep this from happening again.”
Sonia walked into the office, took one look at the two men standing there, went straight to an empty chair at the table, and they all sat down.
“I suspect that you already know why I’m here.” They both nodded. “There was another hit and run fatality last night and this time it was one of your Lincoln Town Cars.”
She paused as if to let that sink in.
“Gentlemen, we have to stop these cars from leaving your lot.”
She leaned back in her chair and Wayne knew she was waiting for one of them to respond to that. He also knew that it wouldn’t be Leo. The big guy had just spoken more words at one time than Wayne had heard from him in the two years he’d known him.
Wayne had been thinking earlier about some security measures they could institute so he shared them with the others.
“Leo, could we move the key cabinet to your office?”
At Leo’s nod, Wayne continued. “We’ll change the policy so that whenever anyone wants to take any set of keys or the log for any vehicle, they will have to sign them out from you.”
Leo nodded again and Sonia said, “That should work for the future, but we still need to know who took the other two sets of keys and logs.”
Wayne tried to catch her eye, but she was purposely avoiding his stare. “Have Grant and Stan finished talking to all the people here?”
“No. They’re out there right now and as soon as we finish here I’ll work with them the rest of the morning.”
Wayne wanted to talk to Sonia alone, badly. But to do that, he had to ge
t rid of Leo. “Leo, why don’t you go ahead and make the transfer of the cabinet to your office.”
Leo nodded and then actually smiled at Sonia, and then he was gone. The guy sure could move quick and silent for such a big man.
Now, they were alone. Would she look at him now? She did.
“Sonia, I’m sorry if our lax security has caused you problems.”
Her smile was tired but genuine. “Don’t worry about it now. If they couldn’t have taken your cars, they would have found others just as easily.”
He tried to keep the conversation going. “Is there anything else we can do to help you, Sonia?”
She looked up from her notebook. “Yes, there is. Could you check with your people again to see if they can add anyone else to the list you gave us? Either someone they didn’t think of the first time or even anyone who came in since Monday.”
“Sure, I’ll get right on it.”
He picked up the phone but put it back down when she stood to leave. “I’ll go down with you and talk to the other managers in person.” Anything to stay near Sonia just a little while longer. He knew he had it bad now. But what was new? He’d had it bad since the first time he saw her walk into that restaurant two years ago.
On the way down the stairs, Wayne turned to Sonia. “Sonia, I just wanted you to know that I had a great time yesterday. And I want to thank you for trusting me enough to take me to meet your family.”
He wasn’t sure but he thought she blushed slightly.
“You’re welcome, Wayne, and thank you for changing.”
He knew he needed to say something to that, but what could he say? Things were going so well, he didn’t want to blow it. He couldn’t think. Then, he knew what she wanted and even needed to hear.
“No, Sonia, I haven’t really changed. I may have changed the way I behave around women, but I haven’t really changed. I’ve always been who you see right now. I had somehow been caught up in trying to be the type of guy that all the girls would swoon over. But that’s not me.”
When she stopped at the landing and turned to him, he said, “I know Kelly has talked to you about me, and I know she told you that what you saw before wasn’t the real Wayne Newcomb. I’m just trying to prove her right.”
Resolved Memories (Sycamore P.D. Series Book 3) Page 8
