Deathwatch: Inspirational WWII Suspense

by V. B. Tenery

  They took their drinks and food to a booth by the big picture window.

  Joe leaned back against the back of the booth and shook his head. “What’s happening in this country of ours, Matt? Illegals are overrunning the border and our government encourages them rather than putting a stop to it.”

  Matt stared into his cup for a moment before he responded. “Tonight, these citizens have a right to be upset. And it isn’t racism. What the immigrants and Homeland Security are doing is against the law. If our president doesn’t respect the sovereignty of our nation, who will?”

  Joe’s eyes shadowed in the dim lighting. A wrinkle appeared between his brows. “At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, I believe there are forces in this country that are trying to divide Americans against each other. You have in-fighting between Gentiles, Muslins and Jews, blacks against whites, straights against gays, and atheists against Christians. And the media is feeding the discord. Seems to me someone is pushing buttons to divide and conquer from within.”

  Matt stood and refilled his cup then topped off Joe’s. “Can’t say the same thought hasn’t crossed my mind.”

  “How’s the murdered attorney’s case coming along?” Joe asked.

  “It’s on hold until this blows over,” Matt said. “But we’ll probably have an arrest in the next few days.” He told Joe about the spycams.

  “It takes all kinds, doesn’t it?” Joe set his empty cup on the table. “Guess I’ll go cruise the streets for a while to break the monophony.”

  Matt kept in touch with the watch commander throughout the night and into the next morning. About daybreak, townspeople turned back three Homeland Security buses without violence. An answer to prayers.

  Matt placed his people back on normal rotation then went home to Mary.

  The media was strangely quiet on the subject.

  Monday, July 13

  Twin Falls Police Station

  Twin Falls, Texas

  When Davis arrived that morning, Hunter was busy at his computer. Davis dropped his briefcase by the desk and plopped into the chair. “You as tired as I am? A too-short weekend. I’d forgotten how tough patrolmen have it. God bless the street warriors.”

  Hunter lifted his coffee cup. “I’ll drink to that”

  Davis’ phone rang and he snatched it up. “Davis.”

  “It’s me,” McColloch said. “You guys may want to come down and see this. We have activity on our spycams.”

  “We’ll be right down.”

  McColloch had the tape set up when he and Hunter entered. They took seats in front of the monitor as Mac pushed play and the screen came to life.

  The apartment door opened and a man moved inside, a tool belt cinched around his waist. His face wasn’t visible as he systematically removed each camera from their hiding place inside the air conditioning vents.

  “We need to see his face, Mac,” Davis said. “Otherwise, we have nothing.”

  “You’re too impatient, Davis. Give it a minute. He has one more to remove.”

  The man strode across the bedroom carpet and opened the bathroom door. A clear shot of Gilbert Morales came into view.

  “That good enough for you?” McColloch asked with a smart-aleck grin.

  “That’ll do, Mac. That’ll do.” He glanced across at Hunter. “We’ll get a search warrant and pay Mr. Morales a visit. Keep it quiet. We don’t want to give him a chance to move or destroy those videos.”

  As they walked away from the lab, Hunter flashed him a grin. “Something just came in that may make you feel even better.”

  “I hope so. What have you got?”

  “You remember the search I did on the neighbor, Gerald Robb’s name and social number that came back clean?” Hunter ask. “Well I also ran his prints through NCIS and CCH. The National Criminal Information and the Computerized Criminal History systems, and guess what? His real name is Gary Jenkins. He was tried for sexual assault two years ago, but was acquitted after the victim recanted.” Hunter folded his right hand and polished his knuckles on his sport coat. “They don’t call me Deputy Dawg for nothing.”

  Davis chuckled. “Do they call you Deputy Dawg?”

  “They would if they knew how brilliant I am. Which one of those creeps do you want to do first?”

  “Let’s get the warrant and pick up both of them at the same time.”

  It took Hunter an hour to write up the warrant and another two hours to run down a judge to sign it, then they headed across town.

  Monday, July 13

  Claremont Apartments

  Twin Falls, Texas

  At eight thirty that evening, Davis, two officers, and two CSU lab techs stood in front of Gilbert Morales’ door on the ground floor of the apartment building. Hunter took two men up to bring in Gerald Robb aka Gary Jenkins in for questioning.

  Davis rang the bell, and seconds later the building manager stood in the doorway. He handed Morales the warrant. “We’re here to search your apartment for evidence in McKenzie St. Martin’s murder.”

  The man’s face flushed red. “You wait right here. I’m calling my lawyer.”

  Davis stepped across the threshold and waved his crew in. “You’re welcome to call your attorney, but that won’t stop us from serving the warrant.”

  Morales’ face was tight and wary. “I had nothing to do with that woman’s death. Why search my place?”

  “Because you’re the worse kind of peeping-tom and we’re betting you have very personal videos of her stored here someplace. You can make it easy on yourself by telling us where they are, or we can tear this place apart until we find them.”

  Morales sat down on the sofa and folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Your choice,” Davis said and his people scattered into different rooms.

  The place smelled like nachos and stale beer. The coffee table and end tables were cluttered with take-out food cartons and beer cans. Davis would bet there was no Mrs. Morales.

  A black leather sofa and loveseat sat in front of the largest plasma television Davis had ever seen. It wasn’t hard to imagine what the pervert had watched on that oversized screen.

  Fifteen minutes into the shake-down an officer in the bedroom yelled, “Bingo.” He brought out a locked large metal trunk.

  “Open it,” Davis said.

  Morales hesitated.

  Davis gave him a cold glance. “If you don’t, we’ll blow it open.”

  The apartment manager mumbled something in Spanish, snatched the key from his pocket, and unlocked the trunk.

  “Watch your mouth. I speak Spanish,” Davis said.

  One of the young officers knelt beside the box and flipped open the lid. It was filled to capacity with DVD’s labeled with a black Marks-a-Lot. Morales had been doing this for a very long time.

  Hunter strode into the room. A line furrowed between his eyes. “Robb wasn’t at home.”

  Morales sounded a devious cackle. “You people aren’t as smart as you think you are. Robb high-tailed it out of here the day after the murder.”

  Tuesday, July 14

  Twin Falls Police Station

  Twin Falls, Texas

  First thing Davis did that morning, after grabbing a cup of coffee, was to head to the crime lab. McColloch was slipping into his lab coat when he entered. “Did Stein deliver the trunk load of videos last night?”

  Mac nodded and pointed to the black metal box on a table in the corner. “I’ve set up a couple of monitors and VCR’s for you and Hunter. Start whenever you’re ready.”

  As if on cue, Hunter strolled in, coffee in hand. He’d also stopped by the breakroom.

  Davis flipped open the trunk lid. “Unfortunately, the creep didn’t date these, but he did put the apartment number on each one. As we figured, he had more than one victim.”

  “The latest recordings should be on top so that where we’ll start.” Davis looked over at his partner. “This is very personal stuff an
d I suppose someone will have to go through all these at some point, but it won’t be me. This is like voyeurism. Today, we’re only interested in St. Martin’s apartment on the day she died.”

  Davis couldn’t sit for more than an hour before he had to get up and walk around, feeling like he needed to take a shower.

  After an hour and forty-five minutes into the viewing, Hunter said, “I’ve got it, Davis.” He hit pause and rewind.

  Davis and Mac walked over and stood behind Hunter as he pushed play.

  The screen showed Gerald Robb entering the apartment. There was no sound but McKenzie was apparently ranting, pacing across the living room floor. At first, Robb seemed to be trying to calm her down. She watched him with an amused smile on her face, then she laughed apparently at something he said. That angered him and he appeared to be telling her to stop, but she didn’t.

  He slapped her hard, but she kept laughing. He stormed into the kitchen and came back with a knife. She kept laughing and seemed to be taunting him. He raised the knife and within minutes she lay dead on the floor.

  They stood silent for a moment, then Davis hit ejected and handed the disk to Mac. “Add this to the evidence files. This just put the nails in Gerald Robb’s coffin.”

  “And Mac,” Davis said. “Send your people back to the Claremont and have them remove the spycams in those apartments. It wouldn’t surprise me if the property management found themselves with multiple civil law suits on their hands.”

  Tuesday, July 14

  Matt Foley’s Home

  Twin Falls, Texas

  Mary sat before the mirror and carefully applied makeup, something that would bring out her eyes. She felt better than she had in over a year and she wanted to be pretty for Matt.

  Sara had stopped by yesterday and brought her five lovely head covers, one of which she now wore. A red one with fake blond bangs and a large red rose on one side. It made her feel beautiful again. Her friend had excellent taste and knew red was her favorite color. How gracious of Sara to shop for her. Especially when she had a crisis of her own.

  When Sara stopped by, Mary recognized her friend’s demeanor meant she was having marital problems again. Sara deserved better.

  Mary double checked her makeup. Since God had granted her an extension on life, she planned to make the most of any time He gave her. She slipped into a simple black dress and black strappy sandals and smiled at her reflection in the closet’s full length mirror. The dress clung to her curves despite the weight loss from chemo.

  The sound of the garage door opening told her Matt was home.

  With a final touch of lip gloss, she hurried downstairs and met him as he entered through the kitchen. She twirled, arms out. “Ta da. Not bad for a lady with an after-five shadow on her head, huh?”

  He laughed and stopped dead still. “Wow, lady. You look amazing. Do you think your husband would mind if I kissed you and perhaps take you out to dinner?”

  “The wife will mind if you don’t.”

  He pulled her in close and held her tight then spoke in her ear “You’re feeling better, huh?”

  She smiled and rested her head on his chest. “Almost back to normal.”

  Tuesday, July 14

  Le Gran Hotel Restaurant

  Twin Falls, Texas

  Matt watched her over dinner with such love in his eyes it made her want to cry. But there would be no tears tonight. She was too happy. He lifted his tea glass. “To the most beautiful woman in the room.”

  She laughed. “You’re prejudice.”

  “I am,” he said. “But that doesn’t make it any less true.”

  “What did I ever do to deserve you, Mathew Foley?”

  “Would you like me to give you a list?” he asked.

  “Absolutely. My deflated ego can use the balm.”

  He held up his hand and folded down one finger. “You have a face kissed by angels that makes me happy just to look at you.”

  Another finger fell. “You have a tender, loving heart that touches everyone around you.”

  A third finger fell. “And the courage of a thousand lions.”

  Finally, a fourth finger folded and he grinned. “And let us not forget a fabulous body that would be the envy of Venus de Milo.”

  ‘Mmmm, you certainly know how to charm a lady. Do you think the town would be scandalized if the chief of police booked a room here with a blond in tow?”

  “Let ‘em be scandalized.”

  Matt took her hand and squeezed it just as a couple at the restaurant entrance caught her eye.

  It was Sara and Josh.

  What an amazing couple they made. She willowy with long brown hair and luminous hazel eyes, and Josh so tall, blond and devastatingly handsome.

  She caught Sara’s eye and the couple headed to their table. Matt stood and shook hands. “Would you like to join us. We’re celebrating Mary’s good health.”

  “No, but thank you for asking,” Sara said and directed her gaze at Matt. “We just wanted to say hi and thank you for solving the murder so quickly.”

  “My two detectives deserve the credit. The killer isn’t in custody yet, but you’re welcome.”

  She leaned in to give Mary a hug. “It’s wonderful to see you up and about, and the scarf looks fabulous on you.”

  Josh clasped her hand in his. “You do look especially beautiful this evening, Mary.”

  Mary thanked him and could see he was sincere. Josh Bradford was a lovely, kind man, Mary thought. What a shame he had such a tragic character flaw.

  After the couple left, Matt whispered in her ear. “Shall I go book that room now?”

  She gave him her brightest smile. “By all means.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Tuesday, July 14

  Claremont Apartments

  Twin Falls, Texas

  Davis picked up Hunter at his home and they rode to the station together. Job one today would be to interview everyone at the Claremont and hope for leads on Robb’s whereabouts. They had put out an APB on his car and his description last night without results.

  Robb had left in a hurry. He grabbed a few clothes and departed for places unknown. A graphic design artist who worked out of his home, he’d even left his computer behind. Davis called Mac to pick up the desktop. Perhaps he’d left information on it as to where he was headed.

  Surveillance teams outside his apartment had seen nothing. Where he had gone was anybody’s guess.

  Heat waves shimmered and hung above the pavement as they pulled into the parking lot. They made their way into the coolness of the apartment building and up to the second floor. The third door they knocked gave them their first lead on Robb’s whereabouts.

  The young woman who answered was a striking redhead with brown eyes and a light sprinkle of freckles across her nose. Her athletic figure was clad in jeans, a t-shirt, and high-top sneakers.

  Davis introduced himself and Hunter. He flipped open his badge case and Hunter did the same. “We’re looking for information from tenants on Gerald Robb. He lived in apartment 522.”

  She scanned their badges carefully, then opened the door wider. “My name is Amber Adams. You’d better come in.”

  She led them into the living room and offered them a seat.

  “You knew Robb?” Davis asked.

  ‘Unfortunately, I dated him . . . once. That was one time too many.”

  Davis and his partner were silent, waiting for her to continue.

  “I’d seen Gerald around the apartment complex, in the workout center, and at the pool. He asked me out and I agree to go one Saturday. We went to his cabin at Lake Palmer for swimming and a cookout. Things went fine until the sun went down, and he began to act strange.”

  “Strange how?” Davis asked.

  “Nervous, kinda jumpy. I decided it was time to go. My dad says to never to ignore my intuition. I told Gerald I needed to get back to my apartment. He asked me to stay for just one more drink and I foolishly agreed. He went into the kitchen to get tw
o beers, and I followed him. He didn’t realize I was behind him. I saw him drop something into one of the bottles.

  “I have a Bersa-Firestorm semi-automatic I always carry in my purse. My dad gave it to me before I went off to college and taught me how to shoot. While Gerald was still in the kitchen, I stuffed the pistol in the back of my jeans. He returned to the living room and handed me one of the beers. I pulled my gun and made him drink mine. In a few minutes, he was out cold. I called a friend to pick me up and I left. End of story.”

  Hunter grinned. “I assume you have a license to carry.”

  “Oh yes,” she said. “My dad is on the Dallas police force.”

  “You didn’t report it?” Davis asked.

  She shook her head. “I didn’t want the hassle of making charges and having to go to court since I wasn’t harmed.”

  “Only because you were smart and packing,” Davis said. “The next girl might not have been so lucky. Can you give us the address of the cabin?”

  She nodded. “The address is in my cell phone.” She pulled up the information from her Blackberry and gave it to Hunter.

  As they left, Davis turned to her. “Miss Adams, you might want to consider giving your father a huge hug. His good training may have saved your life.”

  A big smile spread across her face. “I know. He’s a jewel.”

  As they stepped into the elevator, Hunter said, “I have a feeling that young lady can take care of herself.”

  Davis nodded. “Every young woman should be so well trained. It would make our jobs much easier.”

  “You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin?’ Hunter rubbed his hands together. “That Robb may be holed up in that cabin?”

  “Makes sense to me. Since he knows we’re looking for his car, it would be a smart move to stay there a few weeks until things cools off. Guess we’ll find out.”

  Tuesday, July 14

  Gerald Robb’s Cabin

  Lake Palmers, Texas

  Davis and his partner left Twin Falls on Highway 75 and headed north fifteen miles to Lake Palmer. The evening sun had lowered behind tall pines as they made their way down a narrow paved road, guided by the GPS system. Traffic was non-existent since it was a weekday. That was the good news. The bad news was Robb could see them coming a mile away.