Claire Gulliver #06 - Carnage Goes Coastal

by Gayle Wigglesworth

  Then he put the board with his notes in the slot at the foot of the bed and said over his shoulder as he headed for the door, “She’ll be fine, you know. You’ll see.”

  With Millie installed back at Claire’s bedside, Jack took the opportunity to find a quiet space where he could put in some serious telephone time. First he contacted the officer in charge and agreed to meet him at the hospital later that evening. Then he called his boss at the Company and wasn’t surprised to find him still at his desk, even though his time was three hours later than California time.

  His next call was to his new boss, the local head of the Homeland Security Office in San Francisco. He hated to start the job with a problem. Even though he hadn’t yet reported to work he had to alert him to what was happening. That conversation was longer, the explanation more detailed, because they hadn’t worked together as yet, and Jack wanted to make sure he clarified the reasons for all his actions to date. Finally, they agreed on how to proceed with the local police’s investigation and Jack hung up feeling secure in the support of both agencies.

  When he entered Claire’s room again he was happy to see she was awake once more and her eyes looked more alert. He bent over and kissed her gently. “Hey, you’re back. Feeling better?”

  She clutched his hand tightly. “Better, but don’t expect me to move my head. I have a pounding headache.” She gave a wan smile. “But at least I’m thinking clearer and I’m wondering what happened to the man on the other side of the car. He was going to shoot me and then somehow he just disappeared. Did the police shoot him? Did I just dream that?”

  Jack shook his head. “I don’t know, but we’ll find out soon. The police officer in charge is due to arrive in about fifteen minutes. They’re anxious to talk to you, Claire, but if it gets too much for you just say so. They can come back some other time.”

  When Lieutenant Russo from the Bayside Police Department arrived he brought company in the form of Agent Terrence Hu from the FBI Organized Crime Unit. Introductions were made and Millie slipped out to request a couple more chairs be brought into the room and then firmly sat in one of them. Jack could see she had no intentions of leaving until she had heard everything about what had happened to her child.

  Jack turned his attention back to Claire just in time to hear her demand to know what happened to the second man, who had disappeared from her sight just as she passed out. Russo was reluctant to answer her, still under the false impression that this was his interview and he was in charge of asking the questions.

  “Lieutenant, if I might suggest a way to speed things up?” Jack said helpfully, understanding how impatient the officer was to get the information he wanted after waiting so long to interview Claire. The frustrated Russo nodded sharply already annoyed.

  “I think if you would answer the questions Claire has it will help her organize her thoughts and memories of what happened this afternoon and then she can provide you with a better description of what happened and why.”

  He could see the Lieutenant didn’t want to do it, so he added, “Claire is not like your ordinary witnesses. Her past experience in being involved in crimes and assisting law enforcement agencies solve them makes her a valuable witness and in order to take advantage of her talents it would be helpful to have her understand the whole picture.”

  The doubting look on Lieutenant Russo’s face would have been comical if Jack had more patience. Instead he snapped out, “If you want corroboration of Claire’s value, contact Captain Sean Dixon in the San Francisco police. It will save you a lot of time and frustration.”

  Jack could see the Lieutenant wanted to be rude, but as he had examined Jack’s credentials, he probably felt he didn’t dare ignore Jack’s counsel. He excused himself and left the room, Jack assumed he was going to make a phone call.

  Meanwhile, Agent Hu talked about the Cadillac. He asked Claire about its history and how she happened to own it, but he dropped the whole subject abruptly when the Lieutenant came back in the room and took his chair again.

  “Okay, it seems that Miss Gulliver here, or perhaps I should be calling you Mrs. Rallins, is considered a celebrity by the San Francisco Police. Captain Dixon said he would be glad to tell me sometime later all the stories connected to her, but in the meanwhile I should just listen and respect what she has to say. So, Mrs. Rallins, let’s hear what you have to say.” He smiled wryly, deciding to give up his former abrupt approach.

  “I need to hear what happened to the second man in the car I hit. He was pointing his gun at me, and then he disappeared. Did the police shoot him? I heard the sirens...”

  “No, that was just one more strange aspect of this case. Mr. Murphy, your neighbor, shot him dead from his front porch.”

  “Mr. Murphy shot him?” Claire’s face showed her confusion. “Fred Murphy, the old man who has lived next door for over fifty years, shot and killed that man?”

  The Lieutenant nodded, explaining, “I know it seems incredible. The man is in his early eighties, but apparently he’s still a sharp shooter. He said he saw those men walking around your house and he didn’t like the looks of it at all. He got his shotgun, which he keeps loaded and ready incidentally, and went to his front window to watch them. He saw the men pull over in front of your driveway and get out with guns, so he moved out on his porch with his gun. He was standing there when your car shot down the driveway into their car and, by the time the man stood up and aimed at you, he was ready. He said he called out to warn him to drop his gun. The man turned his weapon toward him, so Murphy fired both barrels. He said he was afraid he was a little rusty and didn’t want to take a chance of failing to put him out of commission, so felt he needed both barrels. As it was, the gunman did squeeze off one shot, but it went wild, he was probably dying as he squeezed the trigger. So three shots were fired and that’s just about the time the squad cars arrived.

  “It seems besides your call to nine-one-one, two other neighbors called in to report suspicious activity at your house. And after the shots were fired the station said the phones all lit up.

  “Yours was not a good neighborhood for those men to pick to commit a crime in broad daylight. There were just too many interested and concerned neighbors. They would have been smart to check it out before taking any action.”

  Claire blinked her eyes several times before saying, “You know the Murphy’s are lovely people. They were very close to my Uncle Bernie and have been very kind to me since I moved in, but I had no idea Fred had a shotgun, or that he was prepared to use it. You know, I think I would have slept better had I known he was on guard duty all these years.” Claire gave a small smile. “Isn’t life full of funny little things?”

  She looked at Lieutenant Russo. “And then what happened? Are Karen and baby Jack all right? Did Karen tell you her story?”

  Russo nodded. “She gave us her statement. The baby is with her at a friend’s home, a Mrs. Bianci, I believe is her name.”

  “Did she tell you one of the men said they left a surprise for us in our house? I’m sure it was a bomb. I hope no one went inside before someone checked the house out.” Claire asked with obvious anxiety.

  “Yes, we brought in the bomb squad out of Redwood City. Their dogs immediately located the package. It was connected to one of the men’s cell phones, programmed to explode when he dialed a certain number on his phone. The bomb squad told us it was an incendiary devise. Had those men had time to set it off it would have burned your house to the ground. These guys weren’t taking any chances on letting any of you get away.”

  The entire room went silent, as everyone considered what could have happened.

  “Well, thank God, they didn’t have time to call that number. All right Lieutenant, what can I tell you to help you in your investigation and what is Agent Hu doing here?” Claire looked from one man to the other prepared to answer their questions as best she could.

  Agent Hu explained briefly because the men worked out of a New York firm, he was called in to determi
ne whether or not this case was connected to organized crime.

  Claire, her questions answered, managed to answer their questions for almost an hour and then Jack could see she was losing the battle again. He interrupted long enough to convince Lieutenant Russo and Agent Hu to continue the discussion with him in the small waiting room outside while Claire slept again. They reluctantly agreed because they could see Claire’s answers were getting increasingly vague with each minute. They packed up their notebooks and followed Jack out of the room leaving Millie to continue her watch over a now sleeping Claire.

  CHAPTER 27

  There was a large comfortable waiting room near Claire’s room, but as it was occupied by some worried looking people, Jack asked the nurse if there was another room where they could have some privacy. She directed them to a small alcove down the hall. It was empty and as long as they kept their voices low it would be adequate for their purpose.

  “Guys, as you probably understand, my main concern right now is about the safety of my daughter and her child. This has been the fourth attempt on her life and I don’t intend that there be a fifth. While she has been unbelievably lucky to this point, I don’t want to test her luck again. I am determined to get her out of harm’s way at whatever cost.

  “Claire and I had decided we needed to get a picture of the man who was after Karen. We called him Tan Jacket. We hoped to identify him, thus learn why he was after her. That’s why I was in Los Angeles when all this went down. I was attempting to locate photos captured by the security cameras at the Crown Plaza Hotel at the Los Angeles Airport. Claire had noticed a security camera on her way out the back door of that hotel when she was there to pick up Karen. We thought it was worth a try. Luckily, the hotel uses several cameras and has a fine system of maintaining them and the resulting images. I met with Rafe Seville, their Director of Security, who was very helpful. He was the one who told me two private investigators had been there only a few days previous to my arrival. Of course when I heard that I almost panicked. I called Claire immediately and told her to take Karen and Jack and check into a motel somewhere. I thought I had warned her in enough time, so I proceeded to scan the records for the pictures I needed. I also wanted to check on which pictures the PI’s had printed.

  “Well as it turned out, getting their pictures won’t help us much as the men we wanted to talk to are now dead. But I was able to accumulate some other data that could be helpful.

  “Since there are several of us already involved with this case I’m thinking we should pool our information and then together determine the best strategy for proceeding. I’ve reviewed this situation with both my superiors, one at Homeland Security and the one at the CIA. They both are committed to assisting us however they can. We all realize, though it’s highly unlikely, this whole case could end up pointing back to some case I’ve worked in the past. The Company is having someone review files of those cases for new activity or loose ends. They’ll notify me if they find anything suspicious. Meanwhile, I’m thinking we’re going to have to crack this case ourselves.”

  Lieutenant Russo looked decidedly uncomfortable at that news. He cleared his throat twice, squirmed in his seat, and then admitted, “Frankly, I’m a little overwhelmed by the scope of this case. Bayside is just a little town and our police force is small. While we sometimes handle armed assault cases, they’re usually drug related. It doesn’t take much skill to figure those out. And in most of those incidences we call on our neighboring communities to work with us. This seems a bit more complicated, probably requiring more manpower than we have.” Lieutenant Russo was apparently no longer concerned about being the officer in charge.

  Jack looked from Lieutenant Russo to the stoic face of Agent Hu, who gave no hint of what was going on behind his dark eyes.

  Jack suggested, “Well, I think for now we shouldn’t worry about who is going to do what. First we need to decide what we need to do, and then we’ll figure out between all of us, where we can get the help to get it done. Okay?”

  The Lieutenant looked visibly relieved and Agent Hu gave a slight nod, so Jack pulled his notebook out of the backpack he had toted around all day and thumbed through the pages. “Okay, one incidental, but shocking thing I learned, was when Claire passed the bug they found in Karen’s pocket off to the woman leaving the hotel it seemed a successful way to misdirect the men following Karen. However, the two men who were killed here apparently followed the white van and somewhere down the Four-oh-five Freeway they sideswiped the van, forcing it into the path of a tanker truck entering the freeway from the Long Beach Freeway. There was a horrendous accident which closed the freeway for the entire night. Several people were killed, but I don’t know the details as I haven’t had a chance to talk to the highway patrol officer handling the investigation as yet.

  “I believe this is the SUV that caused the accident.” Jack pulled one of the pictures out of the pile in his backpack the technician had handed him as he raced out of the security office to head for the airport. “It left the hotel behind the white van. I was able to get this picture of the license plate and I obtained the name of the owner from the Department of Motor Vehicles. Is this man the same as one of the men you now have in your morgue?”

  Lieutenant Russo nodded grimly.

  “Okay, someone needs to contact the highway patrol and get them involved. We should get that SUV in custody and run some tests to see if we can get paint chip matches to the white van.”

  “I’ll get someone on this in the morning.” Lieutenant Russo made notes on his own book and took the pictures from Jack. “I’ll make copies of these.”

  “Neither Karen nor Claire know they inadvertently caused this accident, so please don’t mention it to them until I get a chance to tell them. And I need to know more about the fatalities before I tell them.”

  The Lieutenant nodded.

  “Rafe Seville at the Crown Plaza told me two men had been in earlier asking to check the film. Here are copies of their business cards.” He handed them the photocopy he got from Rafe’s secretary. “Rafe told me he called Wade Hampton at the Hampton Security Associates to verify these men were who they said they were. Rafe said he actually knew Wade, and Wade confirmed these guys worked for him. That made me immediately suspect Wade Hampton has something to do with this, especially since his company is based in New York and the first two assaults against Karen happened in New York. Seville’s a good guy and offered to call Wade again, but I didn’t want anyone to alert Hampton of my suspicions.”

  Hu and Russo both nodded their agreement.

  “When I talked to my boss I learned that Wade Hampton is ex-CIA and he left the agency under some very shady circumstances. Apparently the Feds have been keeping an eye on him since. There has never been anything they could actually charge him with, but they feel he’s been suspiciously close to a few cases they have been working on. My boss suggested that Wade’s involvement in this case might be enough cause to obtain a warrant to search his records?” Jack looked directly at Terry Hu.

  Hu nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “I’m very concerned as to whether or not Karen is now out of danger. I mean, if this guy, Hampton, is in the business of putting contracts out on people, how many more assassins could be out there trying to do the job these two men failed to complete?”

  CHAPTER 28

  Karen and little Jack moved back into Claire’s house the following morning. Karen said the baby was happy to be back in his own bed and to have his familiar routine operating again. Jack and Claire arrived about eleven-thirty that morning. Claire wore dark glasses so the bright sunlight wouldn’t hurt her eyes. Her head was still pounding, but she felt much better than the day before. She was walking with a lurch because she still wasn’t used to the height of the cast on her left foot. She too, was glad to be home, and anxious to get back to work. She was worried about the tasks stacking up at the bookshop, but she had promised the doctor she would stay home and take it easy for at least two
more days.

  When she got up from her nap about three she was surprised to find Jack was entertaining in the living room.

  Jack stood up as she entered and guided her over to the sofa where he had been sitting. “Claire, this is Dave Britter and Marty Rodriquez. They will be with us for a while.”

  Claire nodded, sitting on the sofa. Dave looked to be in his thirties, nice looking, his complexion was the color of coffee with cream and he looked very fit. His voice was melodious and his manner conveyed a sense of competence. Marty was bigger, taller, more muscular and he had a swarthy complexion. He had a big moustache and bushy dark hair. His dark eyes were very alert, watching everything. He didn’t say much, leaving the talking to Dave and Jack, but Claire sensed he would be a good person to have around in an emergency.

  Karen was sitting on an occasional chair near the fireplace and like Claire she wasn’t talking, just listening and looking carefully at her dad and the two men.

  “All right, that’s about it. Does everybody understand the plan?” Jack looked at each person and even though Claire hadn’t registered any of it she nodded her head. “The security company will be here at eight in the morning to install the new alarm system, but as with anyone who arrives at this house, I expect you to check their identification to make sure they are who they say they are.”

  The men nodded and stood up as soon as they saw Jack stand.

  “We’re going next door now to meet the neighbors. I don’t want Mr. Murphy mistaking either of you for bad guys, as we’ve already seen what he does to the bad guys.” Jack couldn’t keep that satisfied smile off his face. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” The three men trouped out the front door leaving Karen and Claire looking at each other.

  “How are you feeling, Claire?” Karen asked with a touch of anxiety.