by Angela Ford
“Lock the door behind me. I’ll inform security downstairs and send backup to guard your door; text me Darek’s full name and description.”
Riley stepped outside her door. Once closed, he leaned against it for a moment and silently said to himself. Great fucking luck, Briggs! The woman you love attempted to kill her husband. Now he wants her dead. And your badge says arrest her and keep her as a suspect in the brownstone murders.
Chapter Fourteen
The door closed. A tear fell upon her cheek. Basia knew he wouldn’t be back. Why would he? He didn’t arrest her. That puzzled her.
If he couldn’t bear to be with me, then why let me walk?
Her anxiety level increased. Her heart beat faster and stronger. She didn’t know whether the increase in her heart rate was for fear of being caught, or because the only man she’d ever loved just walked out the door. Basia knew Darek would be back. She had to leave. She wasn’t sure where she’d go, but she knew she couldn’t stay. She reached for a sports bag she kept at the back of her closet, behind a cabinet. She tossed it on her bed and unzipped it. Over the years, she saved for the day she may have to disappear suddenly. Today was that day. She packed the cash reserve in a hidden compartment in her carry-on bag between her clothes. Some of her inheritance she’d already put in an offshore bank account. One that matched the passport she’d had made to change her identity.
****
Riley got off the elevator and walked toward the security desk. He flashed his badge.
“Did you see the person who dropped off the letter for Lieutenant Lis?”
The security guard mentioned it was a man in his thirties, well-dressed, and spoke with an accent.
“Polish, like Lieutenant Lis?” Riley enquired. The guard nodded.
“Is everything okay with Ms. Lis?”
Riley hoped so. He still couldn’t digest what he had just heard from her lips, but he was concerned. He did love her. That much he knew for sure.
“She will be, if that man comes back please call my number or 911.”
Riley handed him a card with his cell number on it. If Darek was as cold and the sociopath Basia led him to believe, he wouldn’t come back too quickly. Riley figured he’d want to torture Basia a little longer, before he made his move, but just long enough to scare her. If he wanted her money, he’d kill her soon and get out of the country before anyone knew he was here. Riley stepped out of the building and called Lieutenant Fields from Missing Persons to request an officer at Basia’s door. He only told him she’d received a death threat and would keep him posted. That was enough to tell Riley an officer was on his way. Then he called his lieutenant.
“Lieutenant, I need a favor”
Riley knew there was one other person he could trust besides his late partner.
“Briggs, I was just about to call you. I received an email from Dr. Richards. She’s agreed to put you back on the street. You are due back in the morning.”
Lieutenant Phillips then asked what favor Riley needed.
“I need a warrant.”
“At this time of night? You want me to wake a judge? It better be for a damn good reason, Briggs. What did you get yourself mixed up with this time?”
The sarcasm in his laugh made Riley smile.
“Missing woman ended up on the table at the morgue today. Apparently she was killed the same night her boyfriend was. The boyfriend’s name is Andy O’Donnell.”
“O’Donnell? Isn’t that the name of the man who shot you and killed Mason?”
“Yep.”
“You’ve gotten yourself in a tangled web. Did he kill the girlfriend? This is a case for Homicide, Briggs. Let them handle it. Don’t let it get personal.”
“Already involved homicide, Lieutenant, and no he couldn’t have killed his girlfriend. Mason and I were on his trail before she left her place of employment and went home. I believe her death is connected to two other deaths in the same rundown brownstone the O’Donnell brothers lived at. One of them being Andy’s brother. If I can prove they were murdered by means of poison, as this girl was; then the killer is living in the brownstone and will continue his method of evicting his tenants, if you catch my drift. My gut tells me the brownstone owner has something to do with the deaths.”
There was a pause and a heavy sigh in Riley’s ear before his lieutenant spoke. “This is still Homicide’s case, Briggs. I think you’re letting it get personal.”
“No, Sir; I just want to finish the case in Missing Persons I started. I’d like to help solve the murder of this young woman and put her to rest. I plan to follow protocol and work with Homicide to finish the case.”
“Well now, Detective Briggs following protocol. Maybe desk duty did help. Okay, Briggs you’ve got another day. I trust you to cooperate with Homicide. I’ll place the call now for your warrant.”
Riley chuckled and then thanked his lieutenant. “I’ll see you soon.”
Riley informed him it was for the brownstone to confiscate Adam Crawford’s pump sprayer and insecticides inside the building, and the so-called manuscript he’d been writing. Riley knew his lieutenant would have him a warrant by the time he made it back to the thirty-seventh precinct. He called Kennedy to update and to meet him at the precinct. He thought of Basia as he got in his car and then his phone rang.
“Lynette, you’re working late. You’re getting as bad as me,” Riley chuckled.
“Anytime you need a break, Detective, you have my number.”
Lynette never left a chance open to flirt and make a proposition. He enjoyed her game but was relieved that she only flirted when their paths crossed. She remained one of his forever one-night stands.
“But that will have to wait. I thought you’d like to know the blood work came back positive for thallium. You were right. She was poisoned. She’d been beaten badly and suffered internal bleeding, but the stab wounds killed her. The poison wouldn’t have been researched at the time of the autopsy without suspicion to foul play. Her injuries killed her quicker than the poison would have. So it’s not your murder weapon, but it was in her system.”
“Still, it was in her blood?” he confirmed.
“Yes, enough for Homicide to warrant the other two bodies to be exhumed and tested.” Lynette told Riley exactly what he wanted to hear. His suspicions were now confirmed. He needed to text his lieutenant the confirmation that would guarantee the warrant.
“There’s something else that may interest you, Riley. I discovered a bruise. It had to be made after death, because I lifted a fingerprint from it. I cross-checked it with her boyfriend’s prints that are in the system, and it didn’t match. I ran it through the system but no luck. Whoever left this print, put it there once she was dead.”
“Excellent work, Lynette.”
Riley wondered if the fingerprint would match Adam Crawford. He knew the man wasn’t in the system, but with this warrant and his arrest, Riley was certain he’d get a match.
“Oh, I have more for you, Detective.”
Lynnette stated proudly, “The fingerprint has traces of Pyrethrin and bleach in it.”
Riley grinned. He knew he had Adam on all three counts of murder if that print matched his. He thanked her and drove to the thirty-seventh precinct for his warrant.
Chapter Fifteen
Darek Bernard watched Riley come out of Basia’s building. He’d seen him flash a badge when he spoke to the security guard. Darek had seen him before with Basia. At the bar a couple of times, and he’d followed them back to Riley’s apartment. The past few days had fueled his desire to kill Basia. He spent three months in physiotherapy. His leg had broken in two places from his fall. Luckily, he didn’t fall far before he hooked back onto the ladder. Darek wanted to fall far enough for Basia to believe he’d fallen to his death, induced by the thallium he’d discovered but didn’t take. The severe weather change, and a groove around an abrupt piece of the cliff he knew like the back of his hand, permitted his survival. He made his way to a landing and
sought refuge in a mountain hut that had been empty. He stayed clear of anyone in Zakopane and let them believe he’d died that day. For the past six months, he’d searched to find Basia, then followed her and learned of her secret group with the women from the brownstone. He began to plan his torture and then finally kill her. He rightfully believed that inheritance to be his. He’d do anything to get what he’d started out to gain.
The mere sight of her with another man, living and enjoying life, only deepened his plan to kill her. He kept the thallium she’d intended to use to kill him. He figured it to be sweet revenge to kill her with it. He’d been watching her. Now he wanted to torture her with the fact that he was alive and had found her. Once he decided the perfect time arrived, he would give her the thallium and return to Poland.
After Riley got into his car and drove off, Darek tossed his cigarette onto the sidewalk and stamped it out with his cane. He limped across the street and down the alley by the building. He knew he’d never get past the security guard. Darek needed to find a side or back entrance into the building. He hadn’t wanted to kill her yet. He wanted to torture her first. But her fling with the detective worried him. He didn’t need anyone around to protect her. He had to do it now.
****
Riley entered the thirty-seventh precinct when his phone rang.
“Detective Briggs”
“This is Mark, the security guard at Ms. Lis’s building. You said to call if that man showed again. He hasn’t, but Ms. Lis just left in a cab with a suitcase. She smiled at me, but I found it odd she never spoke. She’s always been pleasant and took the time for small talk. She did not look good, Detective. I’m worried.”
“Thank you for your call, Mark. Ms. Lis will be fine. Please call if that man shows again.”
Riley didn’t want to alarm the poor man. He sounded genuinely concerned for Basia. Now he wondered what the hell she was up to and where she was headed. Kennedy walked in as he ended his call.
“Kennedy, you have perfect timing. I have to collect the warrant we need for the brownstone when we arrest Adam Crawford. Can you do a favor and put an APB out for Lieutenant Lis? I’ll explain later, but she’s in danger and we need to find her.”
Riley thanked him and headed for their records department. He’d left Kennedy with a dropped jaw and many questions written across his face. Riley laughed at the fact that the poor young officer seen more action with Riley, in the past few days, than he had in his few years at his Missing Persons desk. He liked Kennedy. He’d actually thought about bringing him to the team. Riley thought he could groom him to become a great partner.
Kennedy hung up the phone when Riley returned, waving a piece of paper in the air.
“Got it, let’s go,” Riley announced confidently. He was about to nail the bastard, who thought he got away with three murders, just because he couldn’t evict them.
“Do we have enough on Adam for a clean arrest?” Kennedy asked on their way out of the precinct.
Riley looked at him. He heard a hint of sarcasm in the question; though if he’d been Kennedy, he would have questioned him too, knowing his record of not following protocol. Riley laughed, “Yes, Kennedy, it’s a clean arrest. Lynette found traces of poison in the blood, but she also found a print on a bruise. A print with traces of Pyrethrin and bleach that didn’t match any in our database, but I’m sure it will match Crawford’s. The warrant is for his arrest, and I want that manuscript on his table, and the pump spray with any insecticide found in that basement.”
“Is there a CSI team meeting us there?” Kennedy asked. Riley nodded and opened the car door. He turned the ignition and reached for his seatbelt. Kennedy then spoke up, “So, are you going to tell me why the hell I put an APB out for Lieutenant Lis and why she’s in danger?” Riley looked at Kennedy.
“Oh yeah, that. It’s been one hell of a night.”
Riley didn’t fill Kennedy in on the fact that Basia knew Beth. He knew he couldn’t withhold evidence, or any connection, and she’d have to be questioned. For now, he informed Kennedy that Basia’s husband, who supposedly died in a hiking accident in Poland, is in New York, looking to kill his wife, and collect her inheritance. He told Kennedy he didn’t know all the details, but Lieutenant Lis appeared terrified of the news that he was here. He did mention to Kennedy that he’d been a controlling-abusive husband, as Lieutenant Lis admitted.
Riley parked the car in front of the brownstone. With warrant in hand, he entered Adam Crawford’s building and headed to the third apartment on the third floor.
“Detective, how can I help you?”
“Adam Crawford, you’re under arrest for the murder of Beth Wilson.”
Riley read him his rights as he cuffed him.
“What’s all this about?” Adam pointed to the CSI team outside Beth Wilson’s apartment.
Riley waved the paper in front of Adam. “We have a warrant.”
“I told you before. I’d been unsuccessful with evictions. I was tired of the drug operations and the domestic violence. It pissed me off, though it has helped with my writing. It doesn’t matter that you figured it out. I still finished the book and it’s going to be a bestseller.”
The sound of Adam’s cocky laugh sickened Riley. Kennedy looked over and shook his head. He’d already bagged the manuscript and had begun a search for anything else that may be pertinent to the case. The CSI team would sweep the apartment after they finished in Beth’s and then head to the basement.
“You disgust me. You did this to write a bestseller?”
“Those women were weak. They lived with abusive men. Those men kept them on a tight leash so they’d never leave. I killed two birds with one stone. Saved their abused asses and put a stop to the drug operation.” Adam’s arrogant smile repulsed Riley.
“You’re telling me what you’ve done is for the greater good?”
“Yes.”
Riley exhaled hard and noted for an officer to take him.
“Take this piece of shit back to the precinct. I’ll meet him there for his statement.”
Riley shook his head with Adam’s demand as the officer led into the elevator.
“Don’t damage my manuscript. I want that bestseller in mint condition when I get it back.”
Riley didn’t even comment. He left the CSI team to their work, and then told Kennedy to bring the manuscript he bagged back with them to the precinct.
“Bastard outright admitted the murders. It’s like he wanted to be caught,” Kennedy mentioned once they reached the car. Riley nodded.
“In some sick way, he seems proud. I think he wanted to be caught. He really believes he’s written a bestseller based on real murders. He knows the general public will eat it up. Guess he won’t even have to market it.”
Riley put the car in drive and headed back to get Adam’s statement. His mind traveled to Basia. He worried for her safety. He believed she was in danger. He wanted to protect her and tell her he loved her; if he only knew where she was. Riley asked Kennedy to do a follow-up on the APB. He needed to find her.
Chapter Sixteen
Basia wasn’t sure where she was headed when she hailed the cab outside her building. She didn’t even stop to talk to Mark in the lobby. She felt bad. She’d always found the time to talk to Mark, her building’s security guard, but her mind was elsewhere. She was scared. She’d been scared before at the hands of her husband. Now that she’d tried to kill him, he was pissed. Basia knew she had to go into hiding. She told the cab to take her to the Grand Hyatt Hotel. It was close to familiar places for her. She knew Darek couldn’t afford a luxurious hotel, not without her money.
The hotel concierge asked for her name when she asked for a room with a view. Basia didn’t want to check in under her real name, she didn’t want to be tracked. For that same reason, she paid in cash. She chuckled within when her mind, suddenly remembering the first-name-only game she and Riley had played. She didn’t want to use Basia, so she used the American name for it. That thought
gave her some comfort and she smiled.
“Barbara Riley,” she announced and then signed the name for her room.
Basia decided to write Riley a letter and hopefully explain the abuse; how it began and why she decided to end it. She’d already told him, but this way she’d be able to get more down on paper without interruption. She hoped he’d understand.
I love you, Riley. Always will.
If circumstances were only different, we could be together. I will never allow a man to imprison me emotionally or physically. I am a strong woman, but I’m scared.
After so many months, I still have no answers. I did learn to accept it and move forward with my life. The question of why everything happened will remain unanswered. I learned to cope with the anxiety of fear. The memories are placed as far back as possible. They are left in the past. It took a long time, which seems like an eternity. In the beginning, I had to transfer myself out of my own body and place those memories in an area where I made myself believe it had happened to someone else, or I had read it or seen it in a movie. That was my safety point at that time.
I want to try to explain the abuse. What I felt? And hope you can try to understand.
I remember his rage. One night he had me pinned against the wall. I couldn’t move. His hold so fierce, so strong; I felt a burn in my arms where his hands gripped me and in my thigh as his knee pressed against it. It continued. His usual torture, he seemed to enjoy in some sick way. For so long, I had believed I was not abused. I had no broken bones, no black eyes, and no bruises. His grip, his hold that night then bruised my upper arms, my thighs. I was wrong. When someone holds you against your will, punches a hole in the wall an inch from your face, pushes you against a wall, a cupboard, inside the shower; it is abuse. There are so many different ways he abused me; not just emotionally and verbally, yet physically too. I also learned that ordering someone to perform sexual favors because it is your “wifely duty” is a form of sexual abuse. Let alone, tearing the blankets off you when you are in bed, demanding sex, isn’t consent.
