Shadows of Doubt

by Corcoran, Mell

“Sit please. You’re not in trouble already, so sit.” He took a sip of his coffee while they both took a seat, then he looked directly at Lou. “I just got a call from the warden up north. He thought you should hear it from me rather than him.”

  “Hear what sir?” Lou tried to search her brain for who she had put away recently that could warrant a sit down with the Captain.

  Davidson wasn’t sure how this would affect Lou, so he just decided to be out with it. “Robert Sawyer was murdered this morning. Apparently some of his fellow inmates decided to smash his head in during shower time but no one is copping to having seen a thing. Not even the guards.”

  Lou really didn’t know how to respond to him. The thought of the man who had made her life a living hell for over a year being dead really wasn’t registering.

  “How bad of a beating?” Vinny asked, apparently pleased by the news.

  “They had to positively identify him by his prints. His head was bloody mush and they had to be careful while scooping it up. Those were the warden’s exact words by the way.” The Captain actually grinned at the idea. “Less work for the parole board if you ask me.” But he could tell Lou was going to a bad place. The memories of what the man represented to her couldn’t help but mess with her head, he knew that. “DeLuca, take your partner home. This is a lot to deal with. A lot of bad guys dropping dead all at once. We can celebrate later.”

  Vinny noted the blank stare on Lou’s face and nodded to the Captain. “Yes sir. Come on kiddo, I’ll buy ya a drink.”

  They drove almost the entire way to Lou’s house in silence until she looked at him and started cracking up. It kind of disturbed Vinny to watch her do such a belly roll to the point he was glad she was buckled in or else she would have hit her head on the dashboard.

  “You okay, Lou?” He tried to focus on the road and not her hysterics.

  She caught her breath a second. “Did Davidson actually say they had to scoop his head up?”

  Vinny wasn’t sure he saw the humor in it as clearly as she did. “Yeah, that’s what he said.”

  “Yeah...” She resumed laughing. “... I know its wrong, and warped but...” She snorted, then tried to compose herself enough to finish her sentence. “... I just had this visual of a guard using a pooper scooper like I use for Angus’ cat box! Ya get it? Scoop up a piece of shit?” She snorted again and could barely catch her breath.

  After he took a moment to understand what she had said, Vinny saw the humor and started laughing with her. He wasn’t laughing simply because it had been funny, no. Vinny began to laugh because he felt a sudden lightness of heart, knowing that she was going to be alright. A certain weight had been lifted off him realizing that he didn’t have to deal with the bastard getting out on parole and becoming a threat to her again. He laughed nearly as hard as she did, tears streaming down his face and his side beginning to hurt. When he nearly hit the barrier arm at the guard gate to her community, they both could only laugh harder and had to wait a few minutes before proceeding after the guard raised it for them.

  When they got inside Lou’s house they heard her mother beckoning them into the kitchen. Joe was flipping tortillas on a skillet and Shevaun was stirring a huge pitcher of mojitos with a big fat smile on her face.

  “You’re uncle called and told us about Sawyer. Joe and I decided it was cause for celebration, as morbid as that may sound, but I don’t care!” Shevaun made a dinging sound with the spoon on the pitcher. “It’s mojitos and tacos tonight! Vinny, why don’t you call Vera and invite her up?”

  “Ah that’s nice but she’s at her sister’s doing some baby shower planning or something like that. I’m in though!” Vinny hopped up onto a stool at the counter and grabbed a glass.

  Lou walked around the counter to give her mother a kiss on the cheek then walked around to see what Joe was doing. “Hey Joe, whatchya know?” She hopped up to kiss his cheek after reciting one of the little traditional lines they had between the two of them.

  “Nuthin’ do Lou, how ‘bout you?” He gave her the traditional response and grinned as he flipped another tortilla.

  “Hey Momma, you mind if I call Caroline and invite her up?” She asked as she skipped over to her mother and grabbed a glass.

  “Oh! Please do! We have plenty.” She did a little dance while she filled Lou’s glass.

  Lou joined her mother’s little dance as she dialed her friend and waited for her to pick up which she did after the fourth ring.

  “Hey girlie! How are you?” Caroline sounded much better than she had on her message and that relieved Lou a lot.

  “I had a shitty day and a great day all at once. Sawyer got smooshed today in prison!” Lou could hear voices in the background. “Hey where are you? You have company? You sound much better than on the message you left.”

  “Oh, no no!” Caroline coughed and Lou could have sworn she heard someone shushing in the background “I mean, no its just the television and yes, I am feeling better. Now what about Sawyer?”

  Lou had a weird vibe that Caroline wasn’t all that surprised to hear about Sawyer, but she shrugged it off to her being under the weather. “Yeah he got whacked in the shower and is dead as a doornail. So you’re off the hook having to go to his parole hearing with me. Hey, my parents are doing a little impromptu celebration over it. You wanna come up and have tacos and mojitos with us?”

  “Oh sweetie, I would so love to but I don’t think I’m up to food and drink just yet.” Caroline adjusted her voice to sound a little ill still. “Hey can you give me a rain check? It’s only been a few hours since I last hurled. How about you come over after work tomorrow and we do another celebration? I should be good to go by then.”

  “Sure thing, girlie. You get some rest and feel better, okay?” Caroline did still sound a little off so she understood completely her wanting to lay low.

  “You bet! You okay, Lou? Really, I mean?” Caroline listened for any hint of anything in her friend’s voice.

  “I don’t know honestly. Got a lot of stuff to tell you that you need to kick my ass for but right now, family has things upbeat so I don’t have to think about it. Today was straight crap and so was yesterday to be honest. Lou grinned as she watched Vinny, her mother and Joe all dancing in the kitchen with no music. “I’m going to take advantage of the silly people here so I can try to sleep tonight.”

  Caroline heard the sadness in Lou’s voice and it broke her heart. “Okay sweetie pie. I got all you’re messages so we will sort it all out, I promise. Things will be better tomorrow, I swear. See ya then, okay?”

  “Okay, girlie.” Lou smiled. “Love ya oodles.” She clicked off before she could hear Caroline tell her she loved her back. She knew she did, she was like her sister. Lou went to hang her jacket and holster on the hook next to Vinny’s then headed in to the kitchen to join the silly dance, grabbing her glass along the way.

  Caroline could tell by their brief phone conversation that Lou was hurting. She wasn’t sure how bad the whole Sawyer thing was affecting her but she had a feeling Lou’s distress had nothing to do with with him, but with Max and work. Having the LAPD brass rat Lou out to her captain was cruel but it was a smart move in reminding her of the bureaucracy and limitations she had within the scope of being a normal cop. When Caroline and Max hit her tomorrow with the whole Sanguinostri being bigger than that, and how justice needn’t have jurisdictional borders, it would ring a lot truer and louder with her. After the two days of learning everything Caroline had learn
ed about her lineage and the Sanguinostri, she had no doubt in her mind that her life had a far more noble meaning than it previously had. Lou would feel the same way, they just had to get her to listen. She tossed her cell phone on the coffee table and stared at Frank and Abby.

  Frank was sprawled out on the couch with his laptop on his chest, clicking away and antagonizing Abby about something or other, but he paused long enough to see Caroline staring at them. “What?” He demanded.

  “You two are worse than a pair of Pomeranians sometimes!” She started pacing. “Lou could totally hear you yapping in the background. I had to lie and say it was the TV!”

  “Sorry.” The two said in unison.

  Caroline rolled her eyes and looked out the open door. “I need to talk to Max.” She whispered and gestured toward his suite.

  “Come on in, Caroline.” Max yelled from across the hall.

  She blinked in shock. “How the hell did he hear me?”

  “It’s part of being one of us. Turned, I mean. Super hearing, sight, sniffer, the whole senses thing.” Abby smiled at her.

  “But if he could hear me, why couldn’t he just listen to Lou’s messages on my cell while we did?”

  “It’s a frequency thing, now get in here.” Max yelled again.

  Frank and Abby giggled as Caroline headed in to Max’s suite where he, Niko, the men named Finn and Connor were busy on either phone calls, typing away on laptops or sifting through papers like Max was. They all looked very dangerous and way too handsome for Caroline’s own good.

  “How is she?” Max looked up from his papers.

  Caroline sighed. “Not good. She’s way low. I hate that we kinda kicked her while she was down with the whole captain thing but I know it is going to help.” She sat down on the ottoman next to Max. “I know it’s none of my business but she told me about Sawyer.”

  Max looked around the room and the other men stopped what they were doing and cleared out immediately. “What did she tell you?” He asked only after the men had gone.

  “She said he got smooshed is all, and that I was off the hook going with her to the parole hearing. But, I mean I know that you went there and all...”

  Max leaned forward and looked her in the eyes. “Just ask me, Caroline.”

  “Was it you personally? Or did you have it done like Niko did with that Monroe jerk?”

  “Do you want me to answer that honestly or give you something you can stomach?”

  Caroline rolled her eyes. “I’m a coroner remember? I can stomach anything. I want to know exactly what you did, for my own sake.”

  “I won’t tell you if you are going to tell Lou.”

  She shook her head. “No, I get that. This isn’t something she needs to know. This is strictly for me.”

  Max sat back in his chair and gave her a very short version of the morning’s events, summarizing his having beaten Robert Sawyer to a pulp with his bare hands. He watched her expression very carefully as he spoke but her face stayed blank all the way through to the end. When he finished telling Caroline what she wanted to know, she got up off the ottoman and stood over him, apparently surveying him. Then, without warning she leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.

  “Thank you for telling me.” She smiled at him and he thought he saw a tear welling in her eye. “Sweet dreams, my Dominor!” She said then skipped out of the room, just like Abby often did. Once again he found himself utterly speechless.

  The raven haired beauty carefully strapped to the chair was a very special find indeed. Not like that Jade Winslow who had been a weak moment in his endeavors. He should have thought that out more carefully, like this one. Ah, she was exceptionally special and lovely in her haggish, over-used whore sort of way. Yes, he had to admit that she was more ashy than porcelain fair. Her skin was also neither smooth nor lustrous but was sagging and slack from her habitual drug use. But he, being the eternal optimist, preferred to think of her as well loved, as they often say about a child’s toy. It sounded much sweeter to him than the reality of her. He had to admit she had truly been charming and very much a pleasure to lure into his web. She had melted so easily into his hands at the promise of just a bit of encouragement, care and of course money. He giggled at the ridiculousness of the name she gave him, Katarina Purrs she said and was very serious about it. Such a silly girl with her short, spiky, over-dyed black hair and her equally overdone black smokey eye makeup that had long since smeared down her cheeks from her incessant weeping. He really wished she didn’t weep so much. Perhaps it was because he had kept her longer then the others, spoiling the newness of everything. Well, it couldn’t be helped. Things were developing in his little adventure that he scarcely expected and as with all things, one must adapt quickly or perish.

  The woman was so tired that her head would have surely bobbed had it not been strapped to the back of the chair. She was exhausted from struggling to breathe with the ball-gag in her mouth. She was exhausted from the stench which she had realized a few days ago was from her sitting in her own urine and faeces. Most of all though, she was exhausted from waiting to die. She had no illusions that she would make it out alive from this nightmare and if truth be told, she was glad for it. She was exhausted before she ever bought in to the man’s lies about wanting her to star in his new series of adult films. He had just seemed far too polished to be one of those creepy freaks that would ask for a preview performance or an up-close and personal audition before they cut her a break. With those guys she at least got a few bucks, a drink and a fix out of it. This guy though, he had his own personal agenda and she knew with the first of the thousand cuts he sliced into her flesh that it included her death. So when she opened her eyes to see him standing in front of her again, only this time he was naked with just a black silk robe hanging open, she prayed it would be the last time and he would finally end it.

  “Good evening my precious kitten. I trust you had a nice rest?” He said as he sauntered closer, letting his robe brush her shredded bare leg. The odd sound of plastic peeling off the soles of his feet as he stepped seemed louder than it usually did to him. It was too quiet. She wasn’t whimpering. She wasn’t struggling in the least, which was a pity. He missed the flare of those nostrils when she struggled. Yes, he had dragged it out too long, he conceded that now. The luster lacked and the bauble was no longer shiny. When he had finished circling he stopped in front of her and watched her eyes. They were weary, no longer afraid. “Such a pity, our courting is over my dear. Though I will remember you fondly, your purpose will better serve me with you dead than alive. Nothing personal, though.”

  She only saw him cock his arm back. A glare of something shiny and then a blur before she was finally free.

  The sound pierced her brain like a molten hot ice pick and she struggled to find the source to stop it. Dear God stop it! “What?!” She screamed into the phone once she figured out how.

  “Lou, ya need to sit up and wake up.” Vinny’s voice registered somewhat through her post sleeping-like-the-dead fog. “Sit up Lou, don’t lay back down. You gotta get up!”

  Lou sat up in bed, eyes still closed. “Why for dammit? It’s still dark out!”

  “Open your eyes Lou and look out the window.”

  Lou realized her eyes were still shut so she opened them to see it was dawn and there was light out. “Oh.”

  “Get up and get dressed. We got a body in Westlake Village and I am halfway to your place. Dress warm, it’s freezing out.”

  “Hey but I’m on desk duty.” She rubbed her eyes. “Or did I dream that?”

  “Lou
. Get. Up. Now. Christ how are you ever going to get a new partner that puts up with your crap?”

  “I’m up!” She yelled back at him as she tried to get out of bed but wound up tripping and falling on her face. “Ow, crap!”

  “Lou?!” Vinny heard the crack and started to panic.

  “Shit I think I just gave myself a black eye. Or broke my nose or something really unattractive.” She looked at her hand and saw blood. “Ah Christ, there’s blood.”

  “A geez Lou. Hang up.” Vinny clicked off and speed dialed Shevaun and filled her in then clicked off and drove a little faster.

  Less then two minutes later Shevaun was running into Lou’s room to find her exactly where Vinny figured she would be. Laying face down on the side of her bed holding a stuffed frog to her face, apparently to staunch the bleeding.

  “Hi, Momma” She said through the doll.

  “Oh for pity’s sake Lou you have got to stop being so difficult to wake up! Let me see you!” Shevaun pulled the stuffed animal off of Lou’s face to see a rapidly blooming black eye and her nose gushing blood. “Dear God in Heaven!” She tried not to shout and stuffed the frog back in Lou’s face. “Keep pressure on it.”

  “How bad is it?” Joe came in with a mug of coffee in one hand and an ice pack in the other. “Can you get her up in to one of the chairs?”

  Shevaun hauled her daughter up and got her into a chair while Joe set the coffee down and ran to get a cloth for her nose.

  “Wow, and I thought yesterday sucked.” Lou said, muffled through the frog. “I gotta get dressed. Vinny is on his way to get me.”

  “Yeah, yeah, well lets stop the blood flow first, shall we?” Joe took the frog off her face and winced at the sight of her, then gently pressed the damp cloth to her nose. “Keep pressure on this and put the ice on your eye.”

  “I’ll get a brush and get your clothes ready so when the bleeding stops you can just jump in them.” Shevaun dashed into the closet.