His thoughts were interrupted when he looked up to see Grant coming through the front door and speaking to Mary before heading back to where Stan was sitting.
Grant pulled out a chair and sat down before saying anything. Stan knew his partner had something important to say to him. He could see it in the way Grant walked and by the way he sat in the chair. Most other people wouldn’t notice the excitement that seemed to be coursing through Grant’s body, but Stan did.
“Stan, you know the old saying about good news and bad news? Well, that about describes what I’ve got this morning. Sonia got the lab results back on that hair off the scrap of shirt we found last week. They were able get the DNA off of it but it doesn’t match anything in any computer in the country.”
Stan was disappointed, but he wasn’t surprised. “Yeah, I kind of figured that would happen. If our perp. is one of the three guys we’ve been concentrating on, none of them are in the system anywhere either.”
They were quiet for a few minutes while they both thought about how they could go from there. Stan was the first to speak.
“I forgot to ask, “How did Sonia’s search go yesterday at Stockton’s house?”
Grant shook his head. “She didn’t get to go. She had court yesterday morning and it wound up lasting all day.” He looked at his watch. “She and Mike should be there in a few minutes.”
“Why didn’t you go with her?”
“She said it would be better if I didn’t. That way no one could claim that since it was my sister, that I didn’t plant anything there.”
Stan grew angry. “She doesn’t believe that does she?”
Grant laughed. “No, but I can see her point. The more air tight we can make the case against this guy, whoever he is, the better.”
“I guess you’re right.”
Grant slapped his palm on Stan’s desk. “Now, for the main reason I came over here. Let’s get started planning this trap we’re going to set for our guy tonight.”
They spent the next hour talking about who should be where and calling some of the other detectives to enlist their aid and tell them where they wanted them to be.
Alison came out and stood next to Stan with her hand on his shoulder. Man o man could he ever get used to this. He looked up at her and was humbled by the love he saw in her eyes. Wow! How did he ever get so lucky?
“Hey you two.” Grant laughed. “I’m here too, you know.”
Stan said, “Touché. Now you know how I felt all that time when you and Kelly were so wound up in each other that you didn’t even know I was anywhere around.”
Stan pulled a chair from another desk up close to his and Alison sat in it.
Grant smiled at the two of them, his best friend, and his little sister. “You two sure do look good together.” Then his face grew serious. “Alison, we’ve been trying to plan how we’re going to set this trap for the attacker tonight.”
She looked back at him. “What do I need to do?”
Stan jumped in with, “You don’t have to do anything. All you have to do is be there at the appointed time. We’ll do everything we can to protect you and catch this guy too.”
She looked thoughtful. “What about when I drive from here to the house I’m showing. If you’re with me, the guy won’t come near me.”
He smiled. “We thought of that. It’s only ten blocks from here to that house. There will be some sort of police car at every one of those intersections. You’ll never be out of sight of someone from our department.”
She nodded her head and relaxed into her chair. “Good.”
Grant spoke up. “So, you see, Alison, there shouldn’t be anything that can go wrong. We’re sure we’ve thought of everything that needs to be covered.
Just then, Stan’s cell phone rang. When he saw the caller ID he said, “It’s Sonia.” Then he answered it.
Sonia sounded excited. “Stan, we’re in Stockton’s house and guess who we found hiding in the bedroom.”
Stan smiled but Sonia continued, “He says he never hurt anyone, and it looks like he’s been holed up here since he walked off from the hospital last Thursday.”
Before Stan could say anything she said, “And get this, he’s willing to go to the hospital, but he wants to talk to Alison first. Do you think she’ll come?”
“I don’t know. She’s right here. Let me ask her.”
Stan turned to Alison. “Sonia found Stockton in his house and he said he’ll go to the hospital and stay this time if only you’ll talk to him first.” He placed his arm around her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “You don’t have to do this Alison.”
Alison didn’t seem to think about it.
“Yes, I’ll talk to him.” She looked at Grant then back at Stan. “You see, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately. Some of it was about Blaine. I think the poor man is harmless. He just needs help, and I think we should see that he gets it.”
Stan hugged her tight before he relayed the message to Sonia.
Grant stood. “Okay, I’m going too. Let’s all get going. Why don’t we take my car? I’ll need to come back by here later anyway.”
* * *
Alison didn’t want to ride in the backseat. She wanted to sit beside Stan, so she persuaded them to let her sit between them in the front seat. She felt safe and secure with her brother on her left and Stan on her right. It felt good to be sitting so close to the two most important men in her life. Come to think of it. They had just about been the only two men in her life for the past twenty years. Yes, ever since Stan moved in with his grandparents two doors down from Sybil’s house when she was eight years old.
On the drive over to Blaine’s house, the two detectives speculated on whether Blaine was telling the truth about not having hurt anybody. They didn’t sound quite ready to take him off their suspect list. She didn’t say anything until Blaine’s house came into sight with hers on the other side.
Looking at her house, she made a sudden decision. With a firm resolve, she turned to Stan and said, “Stan, even with Blaine gone from next door, I don’t ever want to live here again. I just don’t think I would ever feel comfortable here anymore.”
Stan grinned down at her and said, “That’s okay, honey, if you don’t want to live in my house, we can sell it too and get something else.”
She warmed inside to hear him call her honey. She smiled back at him and said, “No, I like your house. Since it’s so much like Sybil’s and so close to her too, I think I’d be very comfortable there.”
“Good. Then that’s settled.”
When Grant pulled up on the street behind another unmarked car, they all got out and headed toward the front door.
Sonia came out the door and met them on the front porch. She stopped in front of Alison.
“I thought I should prepare you for this, Alison.” She frowned. “It seems that the guy has been holed up in his bedroom since last Thursday. It also looks like he hasn’t taken a shower since then. He’s just been hiding and eating out of cans.” She shook her head and grimaced. “He stinks!”
Alison tried to smile at Sonia’s bluntness, but wasn’t too successful. When Sonia led the way into the house, she followed with Grant and Stan both right behind her.
No matter what Sonia had said, she wasn’t quite prepared for what she saw when she entered Blaine’s bedroom and saw him sitting on the floor under a window. His clothes were rumpled. His hair was dirty and uncombed. His beard was quite scraggly. He looked bad. But the worst part was his eyes. She’d never seen that look in his eyes.
He was staring but it didn’t look like he was seeing anything. When Sonia stepped in front of him, he didn’t even blink. Alison felt so sorry for the man in spite of all the problems he had caused her in the past.
Sonia clapped her hands in front of Blaine’s face. Nothing! “Mr. Stockton, Alison is here.”
The mention of her name seemed to bring him out of his stupor. He looked around the room as if he had just awakened from a deep slee
p. When his gaze found Alison, he smiled and said, “Alison, you came.”
Alison stepped to the spot in front of Blaine that Sonia had just vacated. She noticed that Grant was on her left and Stan on her right with Sonia now beside Blaine. There was another detective named Mike on Blaine’s other side. She felt quite safe.
“Hello Blaine. How have you been doing?”
“Alison. I don’t feel too good.”
She tried to give him a comforting smile. “I’m glad you’re going to let them take you to the hospital Blaine. They’ll be able to help you feel better.”
“I want to feel better.” His face stiffened as he seemed to notice all the detectives for the first time. “They didn’t hurt you did they, Alison?”
“No, Blaine. They didn’t hurt me. They’re my friends. They’re helping me, and they want to help you too. Won’t you let them?”
He smiled for the first time. “As long as you’re okay, now, Alison. I saw them shooting at you the other night. I was scared that you were hurt. You sure you’re okay, now?”
“Yes, Blaine, I’m okay. Why don’t you go to the hospital now so they can help you feel better?”
He nodded his head. “Okay, Alison. I will.”
With that, he struggled to get up. He must have been sitting there too long to get up easily. Sonia and Mike each grabbed an elbow to help him up and then supported him out of the house and into one of the cars.
Stan hugged Alison and said, “You did great. I think I believe him. He’s too messed up to be able to do the kind of planning that it would take to do the attacks the way they’ve been done.”
Grant was still right beside her. “Yeah, I think you’re right. Maybe the hospital can keep Stockton there until they can get him sent to a mental facility.”
Alison was concerned now. “They won’t hurt him, will they?”
Stan, who was still on her other side, chuckled. “No they won’t.” He shook his head. “You’re amazing, Alison. This guy has made your life miserable for a long time, yet all you care about is that they don’t hurt him and that he gets help. I guess that’s one more reason to love you.”
He leaned down and kissed her.
“Hey, now, you two. None of that. Stan, you’re still on duty.”
They all three laughed as they stepped out onto the front porch. Alison looked up in time to see the car that Blaine was in pulling away from the curb. He was sitting in the back seat staring at her and waving. She couldn’t help it. She had to wave back even though her brother and fiancé both frowned at her.
Stan spoke first. “Well, I guess that narrows our suspect list down. If we don’t catch this guy tonight, we’re going to have to see if the chief will let us get a little closer to the two we have left.”
Grant nodded. “Yeah, depending on what happens tonight, the chief might be a little more agreeable.”
They had reached the car now and were getting in when Grant said, “I don’t know about you two, but I think I’ll go home to get a little food in me before we go back out to try and catch this guy tonight.”
He looked at Alison. “You want to ride with me and do the same thing?”
She looked up into Stan’s eyes. She wanted to stay with him and started to shake her head when Grant caught the look on her face.
“Okay, we’ll go back to the office to get your car Stan. Then you can bring Alison over to my house and we’ll all get something to eat?”
Stan smiled down at Alison and said, “Sounds like a plan to me.”
* * *
Stan was so nervous that he was afraid his hands might start shaking at any time now. They were all four sitting at the table in the kitchen after having finished eating some sandwiches that Alison and Kelly had put together.
Alison turned to him and laid her hand on his arm. “Promise me you’ll be careful tonight.”
He smiled at her and said, “I’ll be fine. I’ll just be doing what I’ve been trained to do. You’re the one who’ll be in the most danger, but we’ll keep you covered at all times.”
Kelly looked at Grant. “Isn’t there any other way to do this without using Alison for bait?”
Grant reached out and hugged his wife. “Don’t you think I’d do it if there was? We can’t think of anything else we can do right now. And we’ve got to stop this guy before he hurts any more women. Don’t worry. Like Stan said, we’ll keep her safe.”
It was difficult for Stan to let Alison get into her Mustang and drive to her office, even if it was only a short distance from Grant’s house. He knew that she would always be in sight of one of the officers placed a block apart, all the way to her office.
He also knew that once at the office, she would soon leave for her appointment. His fellow officers also guarded the route from the office to the house she was showing. But he was still nervous and afraid for Alison.
Stan went with Grant in his car to the house so they could get set up in their positions for the trap. Stan was on one side of the house and Grant the other. There were other people behind the house, across the street and all around the neighborhood.
Everything seemed to be normal as Stan watched Alison meet the couple she was showing the house to. They went inside right away. Stan was so nervous his hands were sweating. Wiping them on his pant legs, he shook his head. He’d never been this nervous at any kind of stakeout before. But, his fiancé had never been involved as bait before either.
As Stan continued watching, he perked up when Alison and her clients came out of the house and stood in the driveway. He suppressed a groan when they kept standing there looking back at the house, talking. He didn’t like having Alison exposed like this for so long. He wanted to shout at the couple to leave so he could protect the woman he loved.
When her clients left, Alison walked back up to the front door to lock it. Just then, a dark figure came out of the bushes of the house next door on Stan’s side of the house. He waited until the man was passing by about ten feet away. Then he stepped out of his hiding place and said, “Police! Stop and put your hands on top of your head.”
When the guy froze for a second, Stan yelled again, Now!”
The guy pivoted and began running toward the other backyard so fast that Stan wasn’t able to react quick enough to grab him, so he took off chasing him. He could hear others coming up behind him. Was there one of their people in that backyard? He couldn’t remember right then. He just kept running.
When the guy slowed down to turn the corner of the house and to maneuver around some patio furniture, Stan came close enough to lunge at him. As he did, he was able to grab an ankle, but then the guy ran straight into a patio table throwing Stan into a table leg face first. That forced him to lose his grip on the ankle and it stunned him long enough for the guy to take off across the backyard.
He was sitting up when he felt soft arms encircle his shoulders and chest from behind.
“Are you okay, Stan?”
It was Alison! Stan was still somewhat stunned but he did know that she shouldn’t be there. He didn’t have to say anything though. He heard Sonia’s soothing voice as she led Alison over to one of the patio chairs and sat her down.
By then, the disturbance had brought an elderly couple out of the house. Grant walked over to them, identified himself, and cautioned them to stay inside their house until the all clear was sounded.
Even in his befuddled state, Stan knew the all clear might as well be given right now. The guy was gone. He’d lost him. He’d had his hand on the guy’s ankle but he’d lost him.
Part of their plan had involved having a paramedic unit on hand nearby, which was standard procedure for an event such as this one. Stan was still somewhat surprised when a man and a woman knelt on each side of him and began checking him out.
The man was checking his blood pressure while the woman was swabbing his face with a large cotton swab that had something on it that caused his cuts to sting. The owners of the house had turned on the porch light and he could see
blood on the cotton as she pulled it away from his face. That was when he realized that his face was hurting on the right side from his temple to his cheek.
Alison called out again. “Are you okay, Stan?”
He could see out of the corner of his eye that she was straining against Sonia’s hold on her. That warmed him inside until he realized that he was the reason she was so concerned.
“I’m fine, Alison. It’s just a couple of cuts from hitting my face on that table.”
The next thing he knew, another face was in front of his. It was the chief. Uh oh, he was in trouble now, for letting the guy get away.
Stan could see Grant and others hovering behind the chief.
Chief Winters smiled at Stan then reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “Did you get a good look at this guy, Stan?”
Stan did a mental flashback to when he was close to the guy, before he ran. “No, sir, not enough to be able to recognize him. He was wearing a Halloween mask, though, just like the other times.” Then he thought a little more. “But we only have two suspects right now and this guy’s shape was more like Monroe’s. The other guy, Baldwin is thinner.”
“Do you think you hurt the guy in any way?”
“I don’t know, I had a hold of his ankle when he slung me into that table leg. He might have hurt his ankle a little but I don’t know for sure.”
The chief turned to look up at the others. “Grant, take Mike with you over to Monroe’s house to see if he’s there. If he is, take him down to the station to question him.”
Stan couldn’t hold his tongue. “But, what about Baldwin, Chief?”
Winters seemed to think about that for a second. “Okay Sonia, take someone with you and drive by Baldwin’s house to see if you can tell if he’s there.”
“That’s all?” Stan knew he’d said too much.
Chief Winters looked back and gave Stan a hard look. “Yes, that’s all. This whole thing is much more political than you realize, Stan. Bear with me a little longer. If it begins to look like Baldwin is our man, we’ll go after him, but we’ve got to have evidence first, something we can go with.”
Accepted Memories (Sycamore P.D. Series Book 2) Page 18
