Before he had time to rejoice too much, his cell phone rang and it was Grant.
“Stan, while we were looking for the guy over where he shot at you, he hit again across town from there. I’ll be there in less than five minutes.”
Stan hated to leave Alison. He knew though, that Kelly was better for her right now than he was. Not only that, but she should be able to calm Alison down better without him there. He just didn’t want to lose any of the ground that he’d gained this evening.
He explained to the two women what had happened and stepped outside to wait for Grant. Then they took off to investigate still another attack. When would it ever stop? When would they finally catch this maniac?
Chapter Ten
He had stopped by Grant’s house late last night to check on Alison, but the first thing Stan did when he almost ran into the detective area the next morning was rush over to Grant’s desk.
“How is Alison this morning?”
Grant grinned back at him. “Well, good morning to you too.”
Stan wasn’t in the mood for kidding. “Cut the crap Grant. How is she? Is she okay?”
“She seems to be okay. She went to work already.” He held up his hands as Stan started to shout at him. “I followed her there, and she said if she’d be alone at any time she’d call us, and she wouldn’t go anywhere without one of us with her.”
When Stan collapsed into his desk chair, Grant said, “You’ve got it bad buddy.”
When Stan glared at him, Grant said, “Kelly is great with her, you know. She had Alison so calm by the time she went to bed last night that I think she might have been able to get a good night’s sleep. She sure looked like it this morning.” He shook his head. “I’m glad she did. I sure didn’t!”
Stan grunted. “Me neither!”
They both looked up to see Sonia standing in front of their desks. “The chief is calling a special supervisor’s meeting for nine and he wants all of the detectives there too. Now with shots fired at an officer, he’s decided to put everyone on the force on this case, one way or another. It’s gotten so big that the community is getting nervous and the newspaper is crucifying us for not solving it last week.”
Stan looked at the wall clock behind Sonia. “That means we’ve got an hour and a half to get our act together.”
Sonia smiled down at him and said, “That is exactly what we need to do.” She turned around and started back toward her office. “Come on you two. Let’s get to work.”
Once they all had a seat in Sonia’s office, she opened a folder on her desk. “Well, gentlemen, it looks like we may have caught a break last night.”
That caught their attention and pulled them both to the edge of their chairs.
“Yes, Grant, that scrap of material you found on that rose bush at the scene last night was from a man’s shirt.” She let that sink in. “And, there was a human hair on it that might give us this guy’s DNA.”
Stan jumped to his feet. “Great! Let’s go get samples from all three of those guys.”
Sonia stood also and held out her hands palms toward Stan. “Not so fast Stan! You know we’d have to get the chief’s permission to start something like that and you also know that we’d need search warrants too. Let’s just wait until we get the results back from the lab and see if the DNA matches anyone in the computer databanks.”
Stan deflated into his chair mumbling under his breath about all the restrictions placed on them.
They spent the rest of the time organizing all their data on the case to present it at the meeting later.
By the time nine o’clock came around, the three detectives felt that they were as ready as they’d ever be to present all the details of the case to the supervisors and the rest of the detectives.
As they were walking down the hallway toward the conference room, Sonia stopped and turned back to Grant and Stan. “Oh, by the way, the chief wants me to do the briefing of the case to the rest. He said that since it was almost all supervisors at the meeting, it would be best if I did it.”
Grant and Stan looked at each other. Both shrugged their shoulders and smirked.
Sonia laughed. “I know, that’s being snobbish, but it’s him not me.” Then she placed her hands on her hips, and glared at them, “I’m beginning to think you two have been working together too long. You’re beginning to act too much alike.”
Stan wasn’t sure if she was serious or not at first. But then as she turned and walked on, he could hear her soft laughter. He and Grant exchanged relieved looks.
When they approached the large conference room reserved for whole department meetings or trainings, Stan was rather apprehensive about how all the supervisors would accept what they had done on the case so far. After all, most of them had been detectives at one time.
When they entered the conference room, everyone was just milling about, not talking much until Chief Darrel Winters came in five minutes later.
He went straight to the front and stepped behind the podium. As he looked around the room, he raised his hands over his head and said, “If everyone will take a seat we can get started.”
Stan took that time to look around the room. He counted twenty-seven people. Besides the chief, there were three commanders, six lieutenants, and twelve sergeants counting Sonia. Then, of course there were the five detectives counting him and Grant.
The chief came directly to the point. “As all of you know, we have had three women attacked in the past eight days. All of these women were realtors who had just shown a house in the evening shortly after dark. Detective Thompson’s sister, Alison, who is also a realtor, received a note saying she was next. On top of all that, Detective Becker was shot at last night as he was escorting Ms. Thompson to a house showing. I’m sure most of you have seen his car by now. I’m glad he wasn’t in it when it was hit.”
There were mumblings around the room before he continued, “Now, to give the rest of you a thorough briefing, I’ll turn it over to Detective Sergeant Nordstrom. Sonia?”
Sonia turned to Grant and Stan in a hushed voice. “I need your moral support and your presence. Come on up with me . . . please?”
Once they were all three up there with the two men flanking Sonia, she began. “I’ve asked Detectives Thompson and Becker to be up here with me, so that they can fill in any gaps I may miss and also to help answer any questions you may have.”
She began at the beginning with Alison’s confrontation with Baldwin at her open house all the way through her confrontations with Stockton and Monroe and the destruction at Alison’s house. Then she gave details of the three attacks, including the shots fired at Stan.
She finished with, “We may have gotten a break last night. We have some DNA that we hope is from the attacker. It has already been sent off to the lab.”
That set the group to mumbling again.
She turned her head from side to side and said, “Is there anything either of you would like to add?”
When they both shook their heads, she said, “Okay, then. At this point, the chief wanted me to open it up for questions. Do you any of you have any questions?”
A short, somewhat overweight woman in her late forties with dirty blond hair raised her hand. Stan almost groaned. Commander Nancy Penning had been the first female officer on the force twenty-five years ago and had worked her way up over the years to the rank of commander. She had stepped on a lot of toes and climbed a few backs to get there and Stan had a hard time liking her. Okay, to be honest, he just plain didn’t like her, especially her superior attitude.
When Sonia recognized her, the Commander said, “Don’t you think that Detective Thompson should have been pulled off the case when his sister became a victim, and maybe even Detective Becker too?”
Anger like a hot fire grabbed Stan but it almost changed to a smile when Sonia, with a straight face, said, “I’ll have to defer that question to the chief, since it was his decision to keep both Detectives Thompson and Becker on the case.”
>
Stan had to bite his lip to keep from laughing out loud at the look on Penning’s face the moment she realized that she had not just been questioning the judgment of a mere sergeant, but the chief himself. Then, he winced. He wouldn’t want to be Sonia now. It appeared that she had just made an enemy by the way the commander was glaring her. Not to worry, he and Grant would stand beside her all the way.
That thought made him smile. He would be glad to stand by Sonia. Now that the old Sonia was back, she was great to work with again.
There were a few more questions that were easily answered and then they all three sat back down as the chief returned to the podium.
Chief Winters thanked Sonia as they passed in front of the podium. Once there, he turned to the group. “Okay, here’s how it’s going to be. Since all of these attacks have been early evening, we need to beef up our presence on the swing shift so we can be in the area where any female realtors are showing houses. First, all supervisors will drop all office activity except the most vital issues. If you’re not already on days or midnights, I want all of you out there on patrol in the evenings.”
He smiled at the group as mumblings began to circulate the room again. “Don’t worry. I’ll be out there too. Commander Jessup, I want you to rework the swing shift schedule so that we will have two extra officers on each evening. I know that’s going to mean volunteers and overtime, but we’re going to do what we have to do.”
He paused and looked at Commander Penning when he said, “There will be no exceptions.”
Stan watched her face turn red and wanted to laugh out loud again but figured she’d might shoot him if he did.
The chief continued, “One of the first things we’re going to do is meet with all the real estate brokers in the area to advise them of the dangers and brief them on the measures we’re planning to take to keep their people safe. They’ll also need to give us schedules of women showing houses in the evening.”
“Now, Sergeant Nordstrom, I want you and all of your detectives to drop all other cases and work as a team on this case until it is solved.”
With that, the chief dismissed the meeting by saying, “That is all. By the way, if any of you have anything to say to me about anything said in this meeting, I’ll be in my office for one hour before I go home to rest up for this evening. Otherwise, all supervisors except the ones on day shift and midnights, go home and rest up so you can be back here at 1600 hours.”
He walked out like a man on a mission, which Stan figured he was.
The other three detectives came over to where Sonia stood in front of Stan and Grant. She announced to the group, “Let’s all meet in in ten minutes.”
As the others left, Sonia turned to Stan and Grant. “Do either of you have any ideas on how we’re going to utilize six detectives on one case without everybody getting in each other’s way?”
On the short walk back to the detective area, they discussed several possibilities.
Just as they were entering the outer room, Sonia turned to them and said, “I still expect you two to take the lead in this investigation.”
Neither had time to answer as they joined the other detectives around their conference table in the middle of the room.
* * *
Alison’s day had started very well after getting a good night’s sleep. She was surprised, even though she knew she should credit her new sister-in-law for that accomplishment. Kelly and been wonderful last night when Alison had come to her about to fall apart. Then when they found out that there had been another attack, she almost lost it for sure.
But Kelly had stepped in and taken care of her. She had never felt so pampered than she had since she came to stay with Grant and Kelly. When she had asked Kelly about it, she had just smiled and said “I learned so much from both of my grandparents growing up, but my grandmother is the most nurturing person I’ve ever known.”
That was when Alison thought that if she’d had a sister, she would have wanted her to be like Kelly. Well, wasn’t Kelly now her sister in more than one way? That made her smile.
Right then, though, she began to tense up as she felt the tension creep back into her body. That now familiar fear was right behind it.
She was successful at keeping it all from overwhelming her until almost noon. By then, she had lost her ability to concentrate on anything in front of her. She had just decided to take a break and walk around the office for a bit when Mary buzzed her that Grant, Stan, and Sonia were all out front wanting to talk with her.
That didn’t sound good. She wondered what kind of bomb they were going to drop on her this time.
As the three detectives filed into her office, she waved her hand at the three chairs in front of her desk and said, “Please have a seat.”
Sonia came straight up to her desk, reached out to take Alison’s hand, and held it in both of hers for a moment. “I want you to know, Alison, that the entire Sycamore Police Department is now working on trying to keep you and the other female realtors safe and in the process catch this monster.”
With that, she sat down. It was strange to Alison to have been holding hands with a cop. Her eyes had focused first on Sonia’s gun on her hip then the badge on her belt. Had she ever taken a close look at Sonia before? Well, no time for that right now. Other things were more important.
Alison looked at her brother next, and it had been a long time since she’d seen him looking so worried or tired. Then she looked at Stan and was surprised. It had been an equally long time since she’d seen him so serious. But, there was something else in his eyes as he looked at her and in the expression on his face. She didn’t want to try to define the emotion she saw there. She was too mixed up right now to handle that emotion, if she ever would be. It couldn’t be what it looked like, could it? But what had Kelly been saying? Not now! Later.
When Stan smiled at her, she felt tears start to form in her eyes. She shook them off and turned back to Sonia sensing that she was going to lead the conversation.
“With what I just said in mind, Alison, I’m afraid that we’re going to have to talk about your movements and how we can protect you 24/7.”
Alison didn’t like the sound of that at all. “Exactly what do you mean by that? I still have a business to run.”
Sonia smiled at her. “It means that we would rather you never be out of the sight of one of us three.”
She let that sink in and boy did it ever.
“I’m already staying at Grant’s house. What more do you mean?”
Sonia looked at Grant and Stan then back at Alison. “We would like for you to continue staying at Grant’s house. In addition to that, Stan will pick you up there every morning and drive you to your office. I understand that you have at least one empty desk and computer here.”
When Alison only nodded, Sonia continued, “If he can use that desk and computer he will be able to do his work while you are in the office. Then, when you need to leave, he will again drive you wherever you go until he returns you to Grant’s house at the end of the day.”
Alison ventured a glance at Grant who had a rather determined look on his face. She knew her brother wouldn’t let her refuse any of this. Then she looked at Stan and couldn’t believe what she saw. His face was like an open book. It was the first time she had ever seen him drop his façade. She saw love shining in his eyes! Oh my! What now? Why now? Not now!
With that mind-numbing discovery, all she could do was nod her head and croak, “Okay.”
Sonia seemed relieved. What had those two told their sergeant about her?
“Good! Right now, I’m going to stay here with you while Grant and Stan take your car back to Grant’s house then come back here. From then on, Stan will be with you during the day and Grant at night.
Grant looked uncomfortable. “But, Sonia, I just thought of something. What if I get called out at night?”
Sonia smiled and said, “Don’t be upset, Grant, but you won’t be called out. You are temporarily off the call ou
t list. With all the rest of the detectives now working on this case, we’ll be able to cover whatever comes up without you. Your job will be to protect Alison.” She paused for a second. “And Kelly.”
What could Alison say? What else could she do? She knew they all three just wanted to protect her. So why did it seem like she had lost control of her life? Because she had! She had lost control of her life the moment she’d fired Wilson. Since then, everything had been upside down, and her life was in a shambles.
As soon as Grant and Stan left to take her car to Grant’s house, Alison continued what she’d been thinking before and looked at Sonia, really looked at her, and was surprised at what she saw.
“You’re a beautiful woman!”
Did she say that aloud? No! She couldn’t have. But Sonia was smiling back at her. She must have said it.
She tried to explain, “I mean, I’ve never looked at you as anything other than a police officer . . . a detective . . . Grant’s sergeant.”
Sonia smiled again. “It’s all right, Alison. I sometimes have to stop and think about it too. I have trouble separating the woman from the cop. But I am a woman, just like you.”
Alison thought for a moment. “Can I ask you a question?”
The smile left Sonia’s face and she seemed to tense up. But she nodded anyway.
Alison didn’t know quite how to word this, but gave it her best shot anyway. “What do you think of Stan Becker?” There, she’d said it.
Sonia’s smile returned as if she knew where Alison’s thoughts were heading. How could she? Alison wasn’t even sure she knew.
“Stan is a very good detective and I’m proud to work with him.” She paused and looked into Alison’s eyes. “But that’s not what you wanted to know was it? Okay, he’s an attractive man, responsible, fun to be around most of the time . . . and he’s in love with you.”
Alison had been listening closely to everything Sonia was saying and when she said that last phrase, it felt like she’d been slapped in the face.
Accepted Memories (Sycamore P.D. Series Book 2) Page 14
