Sullivan's Law

by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg

  “I have an idea,” John said, realizing his mother’s concerns were valid. “Isobel’s sick or something. She left a tuna casserole in the refrigerator for us. I can’t stand tuna. We can order a pizza and watch a movie. If this Downly guy is robbing places, maybe someone will shoot him or the police will catch him any day now. You said he was in L.A., so we’re safe here.”

  “I’ve already watched all the movies,” Rebecca said, frustrated to the point of tears. “Besides, Mom said we couldn’t order a pizza because she doesn’t want anyone to know we’re living in Professor Leighton’s house. Sitting around with nothing to do makes me think more about the bad guys. Last night, I had a terrible nightmare.”

  “Paul and Lucy may drive over tomorrow evening,” Carolyn told her, embracing her. “They’ll probably spend the night. Then you’ll have some company.”

  “Why can’t you go get us a pizza and some new DVDs?” Rebecca said, pulling away from her mother. “Isobel won’t mind if you take her car. There’s a Blockbuster and a Domino’s pizza place in the shopping center on the corner. I can see the signs from my window. Wear a hat and sunglasses. If someone sees you, they’ll just think you’re a movie star.”

  “Why don’t we play gin rummy?” Carolyn suggested. “I think I saw a deck of cards somewhere. We’ll have a tournament. Whoever wins will get ten dollars.”

  Rebecca gave it some thought. “That’s the same amount as my allowance. You can’t buy much with ten dollars. Let’s make it twenty.”

  “Fine with me,” her mother said, smiling. “Go get your money. We have to put our money on the table.”

  “You always win,” Rebecca said. “I only have five dollars.”

  “Then five it will be.”

  Carolyn searched the house, but failed to find the cards. Thinking Isobel had put them away, she knocked on her door. She should check on her anyway. Hearing the woman moaning, she turned the knob and entered.

  Isobel was in bed, holding a large plastic bowl over her stomach. “I’m really sick,” she said. “Must be that flu that’s going around. It’s been coming out both ends for hours. I almost didn’t make it to the bathroom last time. Don’t come close. I don’t want to get you sick.”

  Carolyn ignored her, walking over and placing her hand on her forehead. “My God,” she exclaimed, “you’re burning up.”

  Isobel pushed her aside and raced to the bathroom across the hall. Carolyn took the plastic bowl into the kitchen and washed it out, then carried it back to her room. She wasn’t sure how old Isobel was, but she appeared to be in her late fifties. With a younger person, she would feel safe letting them ride it out. She worried that Isobel might become dehydrated, especially since she was running a fever. She waited for her to come out of the bathroom, then helped her back to her bed. “Do you know any of the local doctors?”

  “I’ll be okay,” she said, leaning over the bowl as if she were going to vomit again.

  “Where’s the thermometer?”

  “Look in the cabinet in the bathroom.”

  Isobel again made a mad dash across the hall. “Call Dr. Clark,” she yelled through the closed door. “He’s taken care of me for years. His number is on the refrigerator.”

  Carolyn called the doctor, then punched in the number to her cell phone to page him. Once Isobel was in bed again, she took her temperature and discovered that it was 103 degrees. Heading to the living room, she found John and Rebecca seated at the dining room table playing gin rummy.

  “I found the cards under a magazine on the coffee table,” John told her. “Rebecca doesn’t want to eat the tuna casserole either. I’m starving.”

  “I’m waiting for Isobel’s doctor to call,” Carolyn said. “I’ll make some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.” Tuna didn’t sound too appetizing after cleaning up after Isobel.

  Carolyn had the sandwiches, sodas, and a bag of chips on a tray when the doctor returned her call. “Hold on,” she said, carrying the phone to Isobel.

  After she took the children their food, Carolyn returned to Isobel’s room, picking up her cell phone off the end table. She reminded herself to wash her hands and wipe off the phone with disinfectant.

  “He’s calling me in some prescriptions,” Isobel told her, holding a piece of paper. “Something called Lomotil for the diarrhea and Compazine suppositories for the vomiting. I’m supposed to use the second one before the first one.”

  “Where’s the pharmacy?” Carolyn asked, her brows furrowing.

  “Honey, I’m sorry,” Isobel said. “I forgot you weren’t supposed to go out. Don’t worry. Maybe this will pass in a few hours.”

  “Is there a pharmacy that delivers? Forget it,” Carolyn added, trying to decide what she should do. What if the killers were watching the house? She would have to disarm the alarm. They could hit the delivery man over the head and start shooting the moment she opened the door. Isobel’s Impala was in the garage. With the windows rolled up, there was at least some degree of protection. Since Fast Eddie had already committed another crime in Los Angeles, he could be out of the state by now.

  “I’m going out,” she told John and Rebecca. “The drugstore is in the same center as Blockbuster. Make a list and I’ll rent some new DVDs. Will you be happy then?”

  “Yeah,” Rebecca said. “Buy some Peanut M&M’s too, one of those big bags.”

  Carolyn went upstairs to get her purse. She removed her Ruger from the nightstand, retrieved one of the extra Rugers Hank had given her, then went back downstairs to Daniel’s room. “Have you ever fired a gun?”

  He was sitting in the mauve-colored lounge chair, going over some of his work. Every day, he got stronger. He was now walking at least fifteen minutes every morning and evening, his incision appeared to be healing nicely, and they’d begun cutting back on his pain medication. “No,” he said, setting the papers on the end table. “Is something wrong?”

  Carolyn explained that she had to go out to pick up Isobel’s prescriptions. “I can either leave a gun with you or my son. I’d prefer to leave it with you.”

  Daniel didn’t hesitate. “Leave it with me.”

  Carolyn pulled the extra Ruger out of her purse and handed it to him. “Using a gun is pretty basic.” She extended her right hand and braced it with her left, then showed him how to release the safety. “I’ll reset the alarm when I go out. If the situation is serious enough that you have to shoot, there’re only two things I want you to think about before you pull the trigger. Make certain it’s not Isobel or one of my children. If they say they’re the police, don’t believe them. I’ve already spoken to Hank Sawyer today. There’s no reason for anyone to show up at this house during the thirty minutes or so I’ll be gone.” She stopped and reached into her purse again. “Here’s an extra ammo clip just in case all hell breaks loose.” She removed the magazine presently in the Ruger to show him how it was done, then gave him the spare. “You’ve got ten rounds in each.” Before she left, she added, “Also, if Eddie Downly or anyone else breaks into the house, don’t try to wound them. The best place to aim is right between their eyes. With the kind of people we’ve been dealing with, shoot to kill.”

  Carolyn didn’t wear a hat as her daughter had suggested, nor did she feel it was a good idea to try to disguise herself with sunglasses. A person wearing sunglasses at night would attract attention, precisely what she didn’t want.

  Once she reached the shopping center, she darted into Blockbuster, leaving Isobel’s red Chevy Impala parked in the front. She was searching through the DVD section when she heard a man call out her name.

  Carolyn shoved her hand inside her purse, clasped her department-issued Ruger, then dropped to her knees as she prepared to take aim. Before she got the gun out, she saw David Reynolds walking toward her, a broad smile on his handsome face. So he wouldn’t know she’d almost shot him, she’d pulled a DVD off the bottom shelf and retrieved the paper with the other titles on it off the floor.

  “Hi,” she said, standing up. �
�What are you doing in this neck of the woods?’

  “We’ve missed you in Shoeffel’s class,” David told her, dressed in a black turtleneck and a brown leather jacket. “I thought you’d dropped out. Judge Shoeffel said there was a death in your family. Was it someone close?”

  “An uncle,” Carolyn said, closing the flap on her purse. “Don’t you live in Thousand Oaks?” Thousand Oaks was a small city not far from Ventura.

  “Yeah,” David said. “One of my buddies goes to Caltech, though. He invited me to spend the weekend with him. Hey,” he added, “if you have some time on your hands, why don’t you stop by his house later tonight? A few of us are going to kick back, watch a movie, have a few beers, then soak in the Jacuzzi. These are nice people, Carolyn. You look like you could use a few laughs.”

  “Thanks for inviting me,” she said, acting disappointed. “Maybe another time.”

  He ran his fingers through his long hair. “That was insensitive of me,” he said. “You just lost a loved one. Did your uncle live here in Pasadena?”

  “Yes,” Carolyn said. “I’ve been staying with the family.”

  “Was he a young man? Did he have children?”

  “No,” she said, “he was in his sixties. No children. Heavy smoker, you know. I’ve been trying to help my aunt sort some things out. My kids are getting restless, so we’re going to head for home.” She didn’t want to reveal too much, even to a classmate from law school. People didn’t mean any harm, but everyone talked. One thing led to another. “I’ll see you in class next week,” she said. “Hopefully, I can catch up.”

  She saw David looking at the large stack of DVDs in her hands. “Because we’re leaving,” she lied, “my aunt asked me to pick up some movies. She won’t even leave the house yet.”

  “Taking her husband’s death pretty hard, huh?” David said, reaching out. “Here, let me carry those for you.”

  “Thanks,” Carolyn told him, “but there’s a few more movies on the list. Nice seeing you. Have a good time with your friends.”

  At least if she’d had to run into someone, they’d turned out to be harmless. To be extra cautious, Carolyn lingered in the aisles until she saw David exit out the front of the store.

  “We found her,” the man said, leaping into the passenger seat of a black Nissan parked near the Ralph’s supermarket on the opposite end of the strip center. “It’s a good thing we changed our minds about hitting the market. I’m pretty sure she’s packing.” He watched as Carolyn exited Blockbuster, then entered the Savon drugstore next door. “I knew she was lying about driving back to Ventura tonight.”

  “Why?”

  “Easy,” he said, pleased with himself. “If she was going home like she told me, why was she renting a bunch of videos and X-Box games? Crank the ignition, but don’t go anywhere until we get a fix on what kind of car she’s driving.”

  “Did she say why she was here?” Eddie Downly asked, crouched low in the seat.

  “An uncle died,” he told him. “An uncle who didn’t have any children.”

  “Think it’s true?”

  “I know it’s not true,” his partner said, firing up a cigarette. “Why would her uncle’s widow want a bunch of X-Box games?” He inhaled deeply, then flicked his ashes out the window. “We take out Metroix, we get paid. We’re not doing this on spec, I hope. There’s kids involved.”

  “There she goes,” Fast Eddie said, flipping off the headlights on the Nissan, then waiting until Carolyn backed the red Chevy out of the parking lot and turned down Lake Street heading toward Paul Leighton’s house. Eddie made certain to keep at least one vehicle between him and the Impala, in case Carolyn looked at her rearview mirror and realized she was being followed. There weren’t many cars on the road, so keeping track of her until she pulled into the garage at Leighton’s wasn’t a problem.

  Parking at the end of the street under a large tree, Eddie turned to his partner. “Get me a beer, Percy,” he said. “We’re not going in until everyone’s asleep. Then we’ll case the house first, try to see if there’s a burglar alarm or a Doberman in the backyard. I hate dogs almost as much as I hate cops.”

  “Do we have to take her out too?” Percy asked, reaching into the backseat and pulling two Budweisers out of a paper sack. “The contract was only on Metroix. I kinda like Carolyn. She’s a sexy chick. Do you know she has a fifteen-year-old son?”

  “You’re the biggest asshole who ever walked the face of the earth,” Eddie told him, thinking all the pretty boys like Percy were idiots. “Of course, I know about her son. I used him as a decoy at the hospital to get to Metroix. How long is your attention span? Thirty seconds. I can’t believe you managed to pass yourself off as a law student. You must be better at acting than you are at thinking.”

  “Fuck,” Percy Mills said, crushing the beer can in his hand. “It just slipped my mind for a minute, okay? Give me some credit. I spotted her, didn’t I? You were prepared to go back to robbing supermarkets and breaking into houses.”

  They both fell silent. Percy pulled out two more beers, taking one for himself and handing the other to Eddie. “I wish we could have scored some coke or meth,” he said. “I’ve never killed anyone when I’m sober.”

  “You’ve never killed anyone period,” Eddie said, laughing at him. “You really got off pretending you were David Reynolds, didn’t you? Even when you hired someone to do your homework for you, you were about to bomb out.”

  Percy didn’t answer, perspiring and jittery as he prepared himself for the crime they were about to commit.

  “Did you really think you were going to become a lawyer?” Eddie pulled out his 9mm Kurtz, handing his partner a .357 Magnum. The Kurtz had been legally purchased by one of Downly’s friends, and thus far had never been used in the commission of a crime. Personally Eddie favored the .357, as it was the same make of gun he’d used the first time he’d ever killed someone. Although 9mm’s were more popular these days, Eddie had picked up the .357 during a residential burglary. Since the owner of the .357 had reported its theft to the PD, Eddie wanted to make certain Percy would take the heat if something went wrong.

  “We’ll kill anyone in that house who sees our face, got it?” Eddie said, a maniacal look in his eyes. “Kids, old ladies, I don’t give a shit. We’ve got a quarter of a mil coming when we finish this job.”

  “I don’t know if I can kill a kid,” Percy said, guzzling down his beer. “I’ve only served time in juvenile hall. Even if they nail us for the robberies, I’ll get out eventually.”

  Eddie turned sideways in the seat. “When we go inside that house,” he said, “I want to make damn sure you shoot anyone I tell you to shoot, understand? If you have any doubts, just think about what the inmates are going to do to a pretty boy like you inside the joint. You’ve never been in the big house. They’ll rip your insides out. Your intestines will be hanging out of your asshole.”

  Chapter 31

  At ten-fifteen, Carolyn became annoyed by the constant pinging sound generated by the X-Box game John was playing upstairs, and went into the kitchen to make a cup of hot tea. She felt chilled, and wondered if she was about to come down with the flu. Rebecca was watching the movie Clueless in the living room as she tossed Peanut M&Ms into her mouth.

  The beeper on the microwave went off at the same time Carolyn’s cell phone rang. “We finally caught a break,” Hank said. “Liam Armstrong cracked.”

  Carolyn dropped down in a chair at the kitchen table. “So Armstrong pushed Tim Harrison in front of the car?”

  “He claims it was Nolan Houston,” Hank told her, his voice hoarse from an afternoon of interrogation. “Just like your man said, they jumped him in the alley. They’d seen Metroix around town before and knew he had a mental problem. When his backpack broke and his books fell out, Houston started kicking them, making a game of it. The two other boys joined in, and things got nasty. Harrison wasn’t a lightweight in the incident, at least not until he realized what they’d done.” The de
tective paused and cleared his throat. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s been a long day. Armstrong confessed when we showed up at his house with a search warrant at ten o’clock this morning. We had to wait hours for his attorney.”

  “Do you want to call me back later?”

  “No,” Hank said, sighing. “Once I get something to eat, I’m going to crash for the night. According to Armstrong, Harrison held Metroix down while Houston urinated in his face. All three of them beat him. When the guy started bleeding, Harrison went ballistic, afraid they were going to get busted. The chief was tough on him. The kid was a top-notch player. The old man thought he had a chance to play pro ball.”

  Carolyn removed her cup from the microwave, then opened the mahogany box of assorted tea bags sitting on the counter. She thumbed through it until she found one that didn’t have caffeine, dropped it in her cup, and sat back down at the table. “Is this when they started slugging each other?”

  “Armstrong claims Houston tried to butt him with his head. He stepped aside, Harrison took the hit and was propelled into the path of the oncoming car.”

  “Where was Daniel when Harrison got killed?” Carolyn asked, wanting to make certain the stories all meshed. Nolan Houston would counter by blaming it on Armstrong. The only way the case would hold up in court was for as many individuals as possible to agree as to what happened.

  “Armstrong doesn’t remember. He thinks he was hiding over by the trash can,” Hank told her. “Houston had fumbled the ball during practice that day. The coach had reamed him out in front of the other players. The way it sounds, Houston went out that night looking for trouble.”

  “Thank God,” Carolyn exclaimed, thinking the end of their nightmare might finally be in sight. “What caused Liam Armstrong to confess? How did his tests turn out? Did the cancer come back?”