Accepted Memories (Sycamore P.D. Series Book 2)

by T. E. Killian

  When Mary came in, Alison asked her to notify everyone else when they came in, that she was going to have a special office meeting at nine thirty.

  Then she began mentally preparing herself for what she would tell her people. She wanted to be straight with them and tell them everything they needed to know. After all, they were more than employees to her. They were her friends too, at least those who were left. And that made her wonder, for the hundredth time in the last twenty-four hours, why she’d ever hired someone like Wilson. He didn’t fit in with the rest.

  Once everyone, including Mary, was sitting around the table looking at her with anticipation, Alison began.

  “I’m sure some of you already know that I had to let Wilson go yesterday.”

  She waited a moment to see what kind of a reaction that would get, and she wasn’t disappointed.

  Gary said, “I never liked that guy. He bothered me.”

  Lucy groaned. “He bothered you? At least he didn’t hit on you.”

  The other three women voiced their agreement with Lucy.

  “Okay, I just wish someone would have told me before yesterday.” She was greeted with sheepish looks around the table. “That’s okay, now. The fact that he was also harassing female clients was why I had to let him go.”

  More mumbling went around the table before Gary said, “I’ll bet he didn’t take it very well.”

  Alison tried to smile. “You could say that, if threatening me twice is any indication.” At the startled looks that received, she explained, “Yes, he made a veiled threat earlier when I refused to go out with him. Then when I fired him, he made a blatant threat.”

  Everyone was talking at once now. Alison raised both hands up in front of her and said, “Please, there’s more.”

  She waited for quiet. “I didn’t call this meeting just to tell you that I fired Wilson or why. As I said, he threatened me. But, to make matters worse, I’m sure he was following me last evening when I went to show a house. Then later, after I went home, I don’t know that it was him, but someone was harassing me all evening there.”

  Mary spoke up for the first time. “Did you tell the police?”

  “Yes, Mary, I did. As all of you know Grant is on his honeymoon right now, but I told his friend and partner, Stan Becker.” She paused. “He came over and helped me secure my house and make sure I had my pistol ready should anyone try to break in with me there.”

  Gary chuckled. “I know Grant spent some time teaching you how to shoot that thing. I feel sorry for anyone who would try to break into your house.”

  Alison laughed and it felt good. It was the first time in over twenty-four hours. Gary could always do that to her.

  “I just wanted to warn all of you, especially you ladies who turned him down. I don’t know that he’ll do anything, but I for one, am going to keep alert.”

  Murmurs of agreement went around the table.

  “That’s all I have right now.” She looked around at each one. “Unless someone else has something for the group, let’s try to go about business as normally as possible. Just be watchful, okay?”

  They all seemed to be talking at once again as they left the room. Mary stood but stayed by Alison’s side until the others were out of the room.

  She leaned down and looked Alison in the eye. “Are you okay, Hon?”

  Alison was so glad she had Mary. She could see the concern in Mary’s eyes.

  “I won’t lie and say I’m fine, Mary. But I will say that I’m going to be okay. How does that sound?”

  Mary smiled, patted Alison on the shoulder, and left the room.

  Alison walked into her office and dropped into her desk chair. With both doors closed, she leaned her head down on her arms on top of the desk.

  She wasn’t sure how long she sat that way but all of a sudden, one thought crowded out the rest that were racing around in her mind. Sybil!

  Thirty minutes later, after telling Sybil everything and Sybil saying just the right things, as usual, Alison felt much better. She now felt she could face the rest of the day. But the evening was another story entirely.

  She was reaching for the phone when Mary called her on the intercom. “Stan and Sergeant Nordstrom are here to see you.”

  “Send them right in, Mary.”

  Alison checked her face and hair in a small mirror she kept in her desk drawer. Then she stood and waited for them to come in.

  Sonia Nordstrom came in first. She was walking with a purpose coming right up to Alison and shaking her hand. “It’s good to see you again, Alison.”

  Stan stood behind Sonia with a half smirk on his face until she told them both to sit down. Then he gave her a sheepish smile.

  Alison didn’t know Sonia very well. All she knew was what Grant had told her. He had complained that the woman had changed for the worse after making sergeant. Even though Alison had kind of liked her before, she was prepared not to like her now.

  Sonia began, “I’m sorry you had such a bad day yesterday.” She smiled at Alison and continued, “Could you tell us everything that happened from the time you fired your employee on?”

  The smile looked genuine. Maybe Grant had exaggerated. Maybe she’d changed. Then she noticed that Stan was trying to give her some kind of signal. It looked like he was trying to let her know that Sonia was okay now.

  After Alison spent the next five minutes relating everything from yesterday, Sonia said, “We’ve had this Monroe checked out. Did you know that he’s being sued in Phoenix for sexual harassment?”

  At Alison’s shocked expression, Sonia said, “You wouldn’t have been able to find that out when you hired him. The lawsuit was just filed last week.”

  Alison looked at Stan whose face was unreadable. “I’m sure glad I got rid of him. I just hope that no one here is going to sue him and include the realty.”

  Sonia gave her a sympathetic smile. “Now, Alison, Stan tells me that you’ve also had troubles with one of your neighbors.”

  Alison was glad to get off that subject. She didn’t need to be worrying about lawsuits right now. “Yes, his name is Blaine Stockton and he lives right next door on my left. He’s always watching my house and me. He says that he’s only watching out for me and protecting me. But I think he’s nothing but a peeping Tom at the least.”

  Sonia turned to Stan. “I assume Grant has already run this guy through the system.”

  Stan nodded. “Yes, the guy’s clean. He has no record of any kind. The department has no calls or complaints on record about him either.”

  “Okay, let’s keep going.” Sonia consulted a small notebook. “Stan also tells me that you have an ex-boyfriend who may be harassing you as well.”

  Alison shook her head. “I’m not sure you could say that he’s actually harassing me. I hadn’t seen him since I broke up with him six months ago. Then Sunday he came to an open house I was doing. He didn’t say much though. He said it was good to see me and that I was still beautiful. Then he said he still loved me and left. That’s all.”

  Sonia looked at Stan again. “I assume you have his info as well.”

  When Stan nodded, she continued. “Alison, Stan informed me that you own a handgun. Do you have it with you right now?”

  “In my purse.”

  “Okay, but I must warn you that unless someone is coming at you with a dangerous weapon they intend to use on you, or if they have entered your house illegally, you could be charged if you shoot them.”

  “Yes, I’m aware of that. Grant put me through the equivalent of a firearm safety class when I bought the gun. He covered all that.”

  Sonia looked at Stan then back at her. “Alison, I don’t want to alarm you, but a female realtor was attacked last night when she was showing a house.”

  Alison came up out of her chair and Stan stepped up to lay a hand on her shoulder. He said, “Don’t get too upset Alison. We have no motive for this attack but we’re going to be alerting all the other realties in the area just to be sure it isn
’t that. Okay?”

  She sat back down, but had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Who was it?”

  Sonia and Stan looked at each other then Sonia said, Marsha Dillingham.”

  “Oh. I’ve met her but I don’t know her very well. Is she okay?”

  Stan leaned forward. “We just came from her office, and she was there trying to work. She’s banged up a little and has a broken arm, but she’ll be okay.”

  Alison paled. “Was she . . . ?”

  “No, Alison, she was only beaten, no more.”

  “Oh.” Alison sank back into her chair, just now realizing she’d been standing over them.”

  Sonia began again. “Okay, Alison. Even though what Stan just said is true and we have no idea who attacked Mrs. Dillingham, or why, we still need to cover all bases. Do you think that any of the three men who may be harassing you could do something like that attack last night?”

  Alison thought about that for a moment. “Well, first of all, I don’t think Spencer could possibly do anything like that. He’s a momma’s boy after all.”

  Stan snickered, but she ignored him and continued, “The other two, I’m not so sure about. I’ve never seen Blaine angry, but yesterday Wilson was angry. He was almost shaking from it.”

  “Thank you Alison.” Sonia stood and so did Stan. “I think that’s all we need for today. Oh, I almost forgot. We went by the address you gave us on Monroe and he moved out this morning. Do you know of any other place he might be staying here?”

  “No, I don’t have any ideas.”

  “Did he leave a forwarding address?”

  “No. I already checked with my secretary. She said she asked him for one, but he said we didn’t need one since he didn’t have any commissions coming.”

  “Okay. I would appreciate it if you could let all your people know about the attack last night, especially the women. And also, if anyone has any kind of contact with Monroe, let us know immediately, okay?”

  Alison nodded as they all stood. After Stan and Sonia left, Alison just sat at her desk staring at the blank wall for quite some time before packing up her bag and leaving for the day.

  * * *

  It had been a long hard day for Stan. He and Sonia must have put at least a hundred miles on her car traveling all over the valley trying to gather information. For a lack of any other leads, they were treating Alison’s three bad boys as ‘persons of interest’ in the attack on Marsha Dillingham. They didn’t think that any of them did it, but the possibility was there, and they couldn’t ignore it. Besides, they had no one else at this point.

  They had to be careful though. None of the three had broken any laws or made any suspicious moves yet. If they leaned on these guys too much they could complain of harassment. And Stan didn’t want to go through that again. He and Grant had been in hot water last year with a burglary suspect until they caught the guy in the act.

  Stan’s next thought was about Alison. How could he keep her safe? How could he get it across to her that he was there for her not just because he was a police officer? Most of all, how could he do all that without her getting in his face and yelling at him to back off?

  It was six o’clock and Stan was hungry. An idea struck him so he picked up the phone. When Alison answered, he said, “Have you eaten yet?”

  “No.”

  “Good, I’ll be there with food in twenty minutes.” He hung up before she could protest. Pizza was out since it took too long. So he decided to call in a takeout order of Chinese and then picked it up on the way.

  Just as Stan was approaching Alison’s house, he noticed a blue Dodge, which fit the description of Monroe’s car, pause in front of her house, and then drive away toward Stan. He got a good look at the driver as they met. He was sure it was Monroe from the photo that Alison’s secretary had given them.

  Stan made a U-turn to try to follow the car. But by the time he was straight in the street, the car had turned off up ahead somewhere. When he approached the next intersection, the car was nowhere in sight. He turned right and cruised down the street for several blocks but saw nothing. Then he turned around again and did the same down the street on the other side of the intersection. Nothing! How had the guy disappeared so quickly? Stan decided to head back to Alison’s house.

  When he rang the doorbell, he stepped back so she could see him better through the peephole. He wondered if she would even let him in. It was still daylight, so she should be able to see him standing on her front porch.

  When she didn’t come to the door right away, he began to worry and rang the doorbell again. All he could hear from inside was Brutus barking.

  When the door opened a crack, Stan was ready and gently pushed it the rest of the way open. He didn’t want to hurt her or get Brutus excited. Alison had no choice but to step back though he could see that she wasn’t happy about it.

  “Stan Becker, what makes you think you can just call me up and then without giving me a choice just barge in here?”

  He waved the bags of Chinese food under her nose, and she stepped back farther.

  Stan closed the door with the hand not holding the bags of food, then turned back to her and held up his hand counting on his fingers. “Number one, I’m hungry, number two, you’re hungry, and number three, I need to talk to you. So why not take care of all three at once?”

  He thought he saw just a hint of a smile cross her face before she erased it. But she did turn and walk toward the kitchen. As far as invitations go, it wasn’t much but that was the best he could expect, so he followed her to the table.

  Neither said anything as they ate. But as soon as she was finished, Alison gave Stan one of her famous looks that could make a barking dog stop barking and maybe even run the other way.

  “All right, what is it that is so important that you have to talk to me right now?”

  Stan stood, gathered up all the cartons and bags, and dropped them in the trashcan under the sink. “Why don’t we go sit in the living room and get comfortable?”

  Stan knew that Alison sat in an armchair so he couldn’t sit next to her. Two could play at this game. He grabbed a kitchen chair and sat it in front of her so he could look her in the eye, which was even better. Brutus made it less than perfect since he parked himself between them with his head on Alison’s lap.

  “Okay Alison, the first thing I need to ask is have you had any more contact of any sort with any of the three men we’ve been talking about?”

  She shook her head at first then she said, “No, wait. This afternoon when I got home my For Sale sign was flat on the ground. So after I drove into the garage, I went out there to put it back up.”

  She seemed to be getting angry all over again as she told the story. “I’d just gotten it back up when Blaine spoke up from right behind me. He startled me so bad that I almost jumped into the street in front of an oncoming car.”

  She stopped and Stan prompted her. “What did he say?”

  “He just said, ‘Why are you leaving?’ I tried to ignore him and go into the garage, but he was following me real close. I didn’t want him to follow me inside, so I stopped outside in the driveway.”

  “That was smart.”

  She gave him a funny look and he knew she was trying to decide whether he was complementing her or just being sarcastic. He wasn’t sure she was going to continue, but then she said, “I couldn’t get him to leave until I told him I just wanted a different house, and if he didn’t leave me alone I was going to call the police.”

  “What did he say then?”

  “Nothing, he just walked back to his house and went inside.” She blew out a breath. “I know Grant cautioned me not to make him angry, but he was scaring me. I didn’t think he was going to leave me alone and my gun was in my purse which was still in the car.”

  Stan didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. At least not without yelling and calling her neighbor all sorts of names. And he knew that wouldn’t help Alison.

  When he regained
control of his emotions, he was able to look her in the eye. He wasn’t sure she was ready to hear about Monroe, but he didn’t know when she would be.

  “Alison, I hate to tell you this, especially now, but as I was coming down your street before, I saw Monroe pause in front of your house then drive off. I tried to catch him, but he just seemed to disappear down the street.

  Her face paled again so he reached out and placed a hand over her right hand on the chair arm.

  When she didn’t say anything, he decided to let that settle a minute. He pulled out his cell phone. When Sonia answered, he said, “I think we need to pay Alison’s neighbor an official visit tomorrow.”

  “What did he do?”

  “He harassed her when she got home today about her putting her house up for sale. He scared her pretty bad.”

  “Okay, that gives us PC. We’ll put that on our agenda for tomorrow morning then.”

  He could tell she was about to hang up so he spoke up. “That’s not all. I saw Monroe hanging around in her neighborhood when I drove up. I tried to follow him, but by the time I turned around, he had disappeared.”

  He could tell that upset his calm and collected sergeant. “I’ll see if we can at least get patrol to keep an eye out over there and maybe even step up their activity a little too.”

  When he disconnected and turned to Alison, she said, “What did she say?”

  He tried to give her a reassuring look. “She said that gives us probable cause to question him.”

  “Thank you.”

  Stan wasn’t finished yet. “Alison, this morning, you said you didn’t think that Stockton was a threat to hurt you.” He paused to look into her eyes. “Do you still believe that?”

  Stan could see that she was thinking, and that she must be thinking back to this afternoon.