by Mary Maxwell
“Gunshot,” I said. “You better let Stephen and Max know.”
He muttered a few curse words.
“Where are you this second?” he asked.
“In Mae Boyd’s apartment,” I whispered, suddenly fearing that whoever was on the other side of the wall might be able to hear me.
“Well, you and Mae stay put,” Trent said. “The last thing we need is more trouble.”
CHAPTER 39
“Wait, wait!” I said breathlessly. “I have an idea!”
Trent sighed. “Me, too. You and Mae should stay where you are until—”
“No, hang on. I think there’s a better way to defuse the situation.”
“I don’t have time for this, Katie.” His voice was rigid and forceful, a tone that I’d experienced often in the years that we’d been friends. “If you heard gunfire, that’s something for Stephen and Max to handle.”
“Will you at least hear me out?”
“Make it fast,” he grumbled. “I should probably get over there, too.”
“Okay, here’s the thing,” I said. “Tell Stephen and Max to wait outside. Get Amanda and…” I tried to conjure the name of the newest member of the CCPD. “…and the woman with short hair, the new officer who moved here from—”
“Gail McNeill?”
“Yes! That’s it! Gail McNeill. Is she on duty this afternoon?”
“Yeah,” Trent said.
“That’s great! Have her and Amanda change into street clothes and get over here. Maureen told me that she’s hosting a meeting of her Scrabble club, so Amanda and Gail can—”
“No way!” Trent snapped. “I’m not wasting time with that, okay? And I’m not going to risk someone getting shot by whoever fired that gun.”
“But it’s quiet over there now,” I told him. “If they hurry, Amanda and Gail could be here in—”
“No!” Trent bellowed. “No, no, no!”
“I think it’ll work,” I said, keeping my voice calm and steady. “I know it’s out of the ordinary, but it might give us a better chance to catch the gunman unprepared.”
He scoffed, a low, lengthy groan that seemed like it would never end. Then he rejected my idea again.
“Do you want a hostage situation?” he asked. “Because that’s what I’m trying to avoid here, Katie.”
“I know that. But I think it makes more sense to have officers go in undercover and surprise whoever is in there with Maureen.”
He didn’t say anything, but I could hear him breathing. I waited, hoping he might be reconsidering the idea.
“Anyway,” he said finally. “I don’t think Gail could get there in time based on what I heard over the walkie-talkie about fifteen minutes ago.” He stopped, sighed again and muttered to himself. “What if Arnie Talbot went in with Amanda? He just walked by my office in his street clothes, and he’s getting ready to go on duty. Couldn’t a guy play Scrabble just as easily as a woman?”
I wasn’t about to argue the finer points of Scrabble club membership. I was glad that Trent had accepted my proposal so quickly. During the years that I worked as a PI in Chicago, I’d heard enough stories from CPD officers and detectives to know that subterfuge was one of the best ways to neutralize a threat like we were facing in Maureen’s place. Amanda Crane and Arnie Talbot were both trained professionals; disguised as Scrabble enthusiasts, they could enter the apartment with their weapons concealed, quickly assess the situation and confront the assailants before they knew what was happening. Even if Maureen didn’t buy the ruse, it would at least get the door to her apartment opened so Amanda and Arnie could get inside.
“Here’s the deal,” Trent continued. “I’ll put you on hold while I call Stephen and Max. If they’re not already at Maureen’s place, I’ll ask them to wait a block or so away. Then I’ll get Amanda and Arnie over as soon as possible to try your idea. But if whoever is armed knows that they’re with CCPD, things could go sideways fast.”
“Things are already going sideways,” I said. “Mae told me that she saw three men and one woman enter Maureen’s apartment. From her description and what I’ve seen this week, I’m guessing it’s the four Kovacs—Roger, Ryan, Riley and Rance.”
Trent groaned. “What is it with people who do that to their kids—use the same letter for all the first names?”
He didn’t wait to see if I would reply. Instead, I heard a faint click as he put me on hold while he contacted the two officers that had been dispatched. A few seconds later, the process was reversed and I heard Trent griping again about the first names of the Kovac family members.
“Trent?” I said when he stopped for a breath.
“Yeah?”
“Why don’t we let that go for now?” I suggested. “Their names aren’t really relevant.”
He made fun of my comment with a few choice words. Then he told me that he’d just received a text from Amanda Crane. She was on her way back to change clothes and meet Arnie Talbot.
“She was a couple of blocks from the station at Sew & Tell,” Trent added. “I guess Myrtle Lucas and her sister got into a knock-down, drag-out about a spool of thread or something equally riveting.”
Myrtle and Audra Lucas owned the only fabric and craft store in Crescent Creek. At least once every few months or so, they landed in the middle of a feverish dispute about trivial things like product selection, pricing, window displays or who would eat lunch first.
“Who called 911 this time?” I asked.
“A customer,” Trent answered. “Once Myrtle lunged for the embroidery scissors, I guess the woman thought she better get a patrol car over there to break it up.”
CHAPTER 40
Thirty minutes later, as we waited for Amanda Crane and Arnie Talbot to arrive, I heard voices rumbling into the hallway from Maureen Dixon’s apartment. I quickly crossed Mae’s living room and pressed one eye to the peephole just as three men walked by on the way to the elevator.
“What is it?” whispered Mae.
I turned to reply and found her standing right behind me, both hands pressed to her chest and a look of pure panic on her face.
“I think the Kovac boys are leaving,” I answered, reaching into my pocket for the phone. “I need to call Trent.”
She gasped and stumbled back. “And tell him what? That they’re getting away?”
Instead of taking time to explain what I was doing, I hurried across the living room, dialed Trent’s number and looked down into the parking lot behind the building.
“Amanda and Arnie are about a block away,” Trent announced when he answered.
“That’s great,” I said. “But part of the group is—”
I stopped when the three men appeared below, walking out of the building and heading for a dark green pickup.
“Katie?”
“Yeah, sorry,” I said. “I think that Roger, Ryan and Rance are leaving.”
Trent didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Then he asked for clarification.
“What do you want to know?” I asked.
“Well, for starters,” he said, sounding slightly annoyed, “why do you think they’re leaving?”
“Because I’m watching them get into a truck outside,” I said. “It’s a green Chevy with an extended cab. Two bales of hay are in the bed and…” I strained to see if I could make out the license plate. “…it’s got Colorado tags. And there’s also a gun rack in the back window.”
“Okay, got it.”
“They just turned onto Gilpin,” I told Trent. “Heading north toward Roosevelt.”
“Thanks, Katie. I’m going to get on the horn and let Amanda and Arnie know. Then I’ll get the word out. Maybe another patrol car can stop the truck and see what the Kovacs are up to.”
“No good,” I said.
“What was that?” asked Trent.
“The Kovacs are up to no good,” I said. “All of them converging on Maureen’s place would suggest that they’re getting ready to either fight about the money from the bank job
or drive into the mountains and dig it up.”
“Or both,” Trent added.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Or that.”
“Good work, Katie,” he said. “Watch your back and stay inside Mae’s place until either Amanda or Arnie knocks on the door.”
“We’ll stay put,” I said.
“And one more thing,” Trent added. “Thanks for letting us know what was going on over there. You’ve helped us out big time on this one and I really appreciate that a lot.”
I was so surprised by the compliment that I didn’t get a chance to respond before Trent hung up and I was left listening to the barely audible hum of silence. I put the phone in my pocket and went back to scanning the parking lot.
“What did he say?” Mae asked.
She was standing a few feet behind me again, anxiously kneading the bottom of her blouse with trembling hands.
“We’re supposed to stay inside,” I said.
Mae smiled fretfully. “Well, yeah. Where else would we go?”
“I just mean…” I began, but she’d already turned away.
“Do you want some water?” she asked, heading for the kitchen. “All this excitement is making me extra thirsty!”
While she retrieved something more to drink, I kept watch from the window. Within two or three minutes, a white sedan came around the corner, slid into the parking lot and angled into a space near the back entrance to the building.
“They’re here,” I whispered to Mae as she came toward me with her bottle of water.
“Who?” she said. “The Kovacs?”
“No, it’s two police officers. They’re going to pretend to be here for Maureen’s Scrabble group meeting so they can get the jump on whoever is the apartment.”
Mae frowned. “Scrabble group?”
“That’s what Maureen told me earlier. I figured it might be easier for the police to get the upper hand if they use the element of surprise.”
“That makes sense,” Mae said, sipping from the bottle. “Although, tell you the truth, I just want the crooks behind bars so I can get back to living a normal life. I haven’t slept at all since I found that skeleton on my car.”
“We’d all like to see the guilty parties face justice,” I agreed. “To be honest, I never imagined that coming by to see Maureen today would end up like this.”
“I had a bad feeling when she first moved in a few months ago,” Mae said.
“About Maureen?”
She nodded. “There was something about her story that didn’t add up.”
“The part about talking to dead people?” I asked.
“No, that didn’t bother me. One of my best friends lives in a haunted house, so I totally believe all of that. The thing about Maureen that seemed fishy was the man that visited her late at night.”
I watched as Amanda Crane and Arnie Talbot stepped from the white car in the parking lot below. They were both wearing jeans, running shoes and crew neck sweaters. I noticed the bulges at the back of their waists immediately, hoping that neither Maureen nor the other woman in her apartment happened to be gazing down from the windows at the same time.
“Did you see him earlier?” I asked as the two officers headed for the entrance to the building.
Mae gulped in a breath. “The r-r-really big guy,” she stammered. “He came in first with Maureen.”
I pulled out my phone again, swiping and clicking through my emails until I found the one that I’d received from the CCPD.
“Do you see him here?” I asked, holding up side-by-side pictures of Roger and Ryan Kovac.
Mae nodded. “That’s him,” she said, pointing at the image used on Roger’s old Colorado driver’s license. “Except his hair was shorter.”
“Well, this picture was taken years ago. But you’re positive you saw him with Maureen this afternoon?”
She nodded again, but didn’t say anything until the intercom buzzed in the foyer.
“Should I answer that?” Mae whispered.
“You sit tight,” I said, heading toward the entryway. “I’ll check to see who it is.”
“Yes?” I said after pressing the TALK button.
A moment later, after I toggled to LISTEN, I heard Amanda Crane’s voice through the tiny speaker.
“Katie?” she said.
“Yes, it’s me.”
“Can you buzz us in? It will be better if we can just go upstairs and knock on Maureen’s front door without alerting her to the fact that we’re here.”
“Absolutely,” I said, reaching for the DOOR button.
After the downstairs entrance clattered open, I released the button. For the next two or three minutes, Mae and I waited silently until we heard footsteps outside in the corridor. I checked through the peephole just as Amanda and Arnie moved out of view.
“Is that them?” Mae whispered.
I nodded.
“Do you think everything will be okay?” she asked, gripping her bottle so tightly that some of the water splashed out.
“Let’s hope so,” I said quietly. “Amanda and Arnie are seasoned officers. They should be able to get Maureen and her guest out of the apartment without much of a disturbance.”
CHAPTER 41
A few minutes later, as I started walking back to the window again, the door to Maureen’s apartment slammed open. When Mae heard the noise, she instinctively returned to her hiding place between the sofa and the kitchen island.
“Stay down,” I said, moving toward the foyer.
I pressed against the door and looked through the peephole again. When I saw Amanda guiding a handcuffed Maureen toward the elevator, I felt a huge wave of relief.
“I’m going to take a look,” I told Mae.
She smiled nervously. “Maybe I’ll stay where I am,” she said, taking a small sip of water. “You probably don’t need me getting in the way.”
As I opened the door to peer into the hall, Arnie Talbot and Riley Kovac stepped out of Maureen’s apartment. Her arms were also restrained behind her back and her hair fluttered in her face as they walked.
Arnie gave me a nod and they stopped just outside Mae’s apartment.
“Hey, Katie,” he said.
Riley glared at me through cold, narrowed eyes. “I figured you were involved in this,” she hissed. “I told my brothers it was—”
“Remember your rights,” Arnie said. “Everything you say can be used in a court of law.”
The grim expression on Riley’s face cracked as she began to laugh.
“Yeah, thanks Barney Fife,” she said, flicking the hair from her eyes with a quick toss of her head. “Me and the Miranda warning are old buddies.”
Arnie and I exchanged a quick smile before he asked me to wait until they’d gone down in the elevator to meet Stephen and Max.
“They’re about two minutes out,” he said.
“Sure, of course,” I replied. “Do you know if the other Kovacs were—
“They weren’t doing anything wrong,” Riley cut in. “None of us were. It was a family reunion is all.”
I grinned. “With Maureen Dixon?”
“Yeah,” Riley said defiantly. “She and Roger are man and wife now.”
She laughed when the news left me speechless.
“Not too many people know about that,” she continued. “But we’re just one big happy family coming together for the afternoon. We weren’t doing anything unlawful whatsoever.”
“That explains the gunshot,” I said, glancing down.
“What’re you looking at?” she snapped when she noticed that I was smiling as I studied her footwear.
“Nice boots,” I said. “Those stitched crosses are very distinctive.”
Her eyes tapered again. “That detective took my other pairs this morning when he was at the house,” she said. “Came in kind of heavy.”
“Meaning?”
“The jerk brought a search warrant,” Riley rasped. “Seems that somebody wearing similar boots was involved in a criminal t
ype of situation the other day.”
“A criminal type of situation?” I said. “Like the murder of your brother’s friend?”
Before she could respond, the elevator doors at the end of the hall opened. Trent stepped out with a tall man dressed in a gray suit and tie. I guessed he was one of the FBI agents who had been tracking Maureen Dixon and Roger Kovac since they started spending the money taken during the bank robbery.
“Officer Talbot,” Trent said to Arnie. “This is Special Agent Waterford from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He wants to talk with Miss Kovac for a few minutes before you transport her to the station.”
Riley snickered darkly. “What if I’ve got nothing to say?” she asked Trent.
“Then it’ll be a short conversation,” he said. “Either way, let’s all go back into Miss Dixon’s apartment and have a seat.”
“Even her?” Riley asked, flipping a frosty glance in my direction.
Trent shook his head. “No, Miss Reed won’t be joining us. It’ll be you, me and Special Agent Waterford.”
“Whatever,” Riley said as Arnie carefully reversed course and began walking her back to Maureen’s front door. “I didn’t do a thing, so I don’t know what you want to discuss.”
How about your miserable attitude? I thought to myself as I watched them walk down the corridor. Or maybe the fact that those jeans make your backside look like—
“Katie?” a tiny voice said behind me.
I swiveled around to find Mae’s face pressed into the narrow gap between her front door and the wall.
“Hey, I thought you were going to stay put,” I said as she finished opening the door.
“Yeah, but I heard everyone talking,” she said. “So I figured the coast was clear.”
I shrugged. “For the time being, but who knows what the heck will happen next.”
CHAPTER 42
Two days later, after a frenetic lunch rush at Sky High Pies that included a shouting match between a couple of tourists about the differences in their driving habits, I was sitting quietly in a rocking chair on the porch with a decaf cappuccino and a blueberry scone. I had my head back and my eyes closed when someone called from the front steps.
