Carolyn Arnold - McKinley 04 - Politics is Murder

by Carolyn Arnold

  “Yes, and he’s on our payroll.”

  “How did we get so lucky?”

  He angled closer toward her. “Seems we get lucky quite often lately, but it’s still not enough.”

  She smirked at him. “I wholeheartedly agree.”

  Sean’s phone was still ringing and she pulled back and started laughing. “Are you going to get that?”

  “I guess I should.” He gave her another quick kiss before picking up. “Hello…Jimmy?” Sean put him on speaker with a crossway glance to Sara.

  “Well, it isn’t Santa Claus. Although, I do have a gift for you. You should have just received a message from me.”

  Sean thought of the icon. “Yes, I noticed I had a message before picking up.”

  “It’s the ransom call.”

  Sean glanced at Sara, who was smiling.

  “Thank you, Jimmy,” she said.

  “Well, before you get all carried away and mushy, know I had to. There’s so much hype around this case, it makes it hard to do our jobs. We’re stepping on each other’s feet, but at the end of the day, a young girl’s life is at stake. Our people have been through it hundreds of times. I’m hoping you guys recognize the caller.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t mention it, kid, but if you know who it is, I’m trusting you to do the right thing.”

  “Will do.”

  Jimmy hung up and Sean went for the message.

  He hit play, expecting to hear a voice he recognized—he didn’t.

  Sara let out a rush of air and her shoulders lowered. “I thought for sure we had him. I would have placed a bet that it would have been either Professor Harland or the dean.”

  “Me too, darling.”

  “Now what?”

  “Don’t you mean now who?”

  “That too.”

  Sara leaned against the car door, her elbow perched on the small lip of the window, her hand to her temple. “Now we know who it isn’t, we’re pretty much back to the beginning.”

  “What about boyfriends? I mean all these girls, Halie, her roommate, Janie, and her friend Monica, they are all beautiful.”

  “Janie didn’t think Halie had a boyfriend, remember.” Revelation dawned on Sara’s face. She smiled. “But she did give us this.” She pulled out Halie’s journal. “If she did, it would be here.”

  “While you’re doing that, I’ll revisit Mayor Davenport’s hater list.” Sean pulled out the sheets of paper. He couldn’t imagine having that many people disliking him, but he supposed the position of mayor came with a lot of inherent enemies. The thought had his eyes settling on the first name, Rick Palmer. He was Davenport’s main competition for the mayoral electoral chair.

  Looking For Clues

  SARA HOPED THAT THEY WOULD find something in Halie’s journal to help solve the mystery as to who would have kidnapped her. She looked over at Sean and waited for him to turn to her. “We know that whoever has Halie knows who her father is. He knows that a million dollars is a doable amount.”

  “He also knows that Davenport will pay whatever it takes.”

  “Yes, so I’m not sure if we’re looking in the right place.”

  “What do you mean, darling?”

  “Well, we know that it’s someone down here that physically took her, but it doesn’t mean the kidnapper is necessarily from here.”

  “You’re thinking it might be someone on Davenport’s hater list?”

  “I’m thinking it’s quite possible. After all, we know it was a man who placed the ransom call and that it wasn’t the three men we originally had in mind—Justin, the professor, and the dean,” she began the brainstorming.

  Sean shook his head and let out a breath. “Whoever is behind this, their name is either in that journal or on this list.”

  “You’re right. I believe so too.” Sara went back to Halie’s journal and, after being at it for about thirty minutes, found something noteworthy. “Darling.”

  He looked up from his cell phone. “You find something?”

  “I think so. Halie doesn’t mention having a boyfriend, but she does mention her friend Monica’s quite often. The interesting part is she’s never met him. She says the way he treats Monica makes her angry. From the sounds of it, she just hears the stories from Monica.”

  “So Monica’s boyfriend was abusive.”

  “It sounds like that.” Sara placed her fingertip to the text as she read. “‘She never listens to me but no one should be so jealous. It’s not healthy.’”

  “Sounds like an interesting fella. Jealous, abusive. If he found out that Halie is the daughter of Albany’s mayor, and she was trying to break them up, he could have concocted this plan.”

  “Only thing is, why take Halie and not Monica? The girl was a mess.”

  “Maybe he made her go back to school for appearance’s sakes. They would get their money and then Monica could slip away with him. Or maybe Monica doesn’t know anything about it?”

  She knew the answer was in front of them, but she just couldn’t put it all together. “How is it going with the list?”

  He held up the sheets in one hand, his cell in the other. “It goes. Halie ever mention Monica’s boyfriend’s name?”

  Sara shook her head. “Not that I’ve seen so far.” She fanned the pages and skipped to the last entry. “Oh, wait a minute. Here we go. Kyle.” Saying the name out loud, she knew who was behind this. “Sean.”

  His eyes scanned hers, but he didn’t seem to make the connection she had—yet.

  “The man who was up against Davenport.”

  “Yes, Rick Palmer.”

  “His son was charged with DWI.”

  “Yes. I remember all that in the news. It was part of what ruined the election for him. He tried bribing a police officer to lessen drunk driving charges against his son.”

  “Okay, going from my memory here, but wasn’t his son’s name Kyle? And my gut feeling tells me he wasn’t alone in the car at the time he was pulled over, was he?”

  A paleness washed over Sean’s features as he typed into the Internet search app on his phone.

  She continued. “The media hype was all about him, but I swear that—”

  “You’re right, darling. I found it. He had a female passenger.”

  “We’re going to need better than that.”

  “All right. Let me try something else.” A few seconds later, Sean looked up. “The female in Kyle’s car that day was Monica Fuller.”

  Hitting The Nail On The Head

  KYLE PALMER HAD AN ADDRESS in the city. He would also have motive. Davenport bumped his father off the podium. When he met Halie, he plotted his revenge. The entry in Halie’s journal was from the day before she went missing.

  Sean pulled in front of Kyle’s house. It was one of those neighborhoods where the houses were large, and no one was home to enjoy them, except for the family pets. Apparently Daddy provided well for his son.

  “It looks awfully quiet around here, Sean.” Sara pulled down the visor mirror and reapplied her lipstick.

  Even at a time like this, she found time to beautify herself. He smiled at the thought. “I’m going to park in the driveway,” he said.

  “But what if we spook him?”

  “He’s never seen us before.”

  They rang the doorbell several times and there was no answer. The inside lay silent.

  “I’m almost afraid to look in the sidelights after the last time,” Sara said as she did it anyway. Seconds later, she pulled back, smiling. “No bodies.”

  “All right, so if Kyle’s not here.”

  “We go see Monica. Now. Hopefully, she knows where he would have taken Halie.”

  They jogged back to the rental car and then Sean sped toward the university. His foot flat to the floor, he prayed he wouldn’t attract the attention of any cops. It was the last thing they needed. His eyes drifted to the clock on the dash. Halie had less than an hour.

  Monica wasn’t in her dorm room, but th
eir pounding had a neighboring student coming out into the hall. It was the female student from Halie’s lit class with Professor Harland—the one that kept turning around and glaring at them.

  “Monica Fuller, do you know where she went?” Sean asked.

  She put her hands to her hips. “You don’t know how to keep things down, do you?” Her glare was divided between them.

  “Please, this is important.” Sara made the petition.

  “She’s probably in the library this time of day. Here I thought things would be quiet enough around here to think—hey, where are you going?”

  Sean and Sara were already halfway down the hall.

  “The library. Now we have to find out where that—” Sara ran straight into the chest of a male student. Based on his build, he could have played football.

  “Well, looky here. An angel fell right into my arms.”

  Sean pulled Sara by the hand and called out to him. “Better luck next time, Casanova.”

  “Actually.” Sara broke free of Sean and went back to the guy.

  He smiled at her, and passed a look to Sean that said, looks like my time is now.

  “Do you know where the library is?” she asked him.

  “You’re a little old to be a student.”

  Sean winced as Sara’s smiling face transformed into a grimace. Sean was certain the statement equated to her take on the address of ma’am.

  The student held up a hand. “I didn’t mean it like that. Aren’t there better things to do than—”

  “The library.”

  “It’s across campus. You can’t miss it.”

  “I thought you were going to hurt that guy.” Sean was laughing as they hustled toward the library.

  “I thought about it.” Sara didn’t realize why references to her age bothered her so much these days. Did it have something to do with being a married woman? She dismissed the thought as they reached the library.

  Turnstiles blocked their entry.

  She turned to Sean. “Now what?”

  He looked left and right, and then jumped over.

  “Sean?” she whispered.

  “Here, give me your hand.”

  She put hers in his. She hopped up on the top of it, swung her legs over, and then dropped to the other side. No one seemed to notice and Sara stifled a laugh.

  They found Monica sitting at a table by herself, her nose in a thick textbook. Sara sat across from her, while Sean stood beside Monica.

  She looked up—to Sara and then to Sean. “What are you two doing here?”

  “We need to talk to you.”

  She lowered her face to the book again. “It’s not a good time right—”

  “It’s the perfect time. Come with us,” Sean said.

  Monica leveled a glare on him. “You do realize all I have to do is scream, right?”

  “But you’re not going to,” Sara said.

  “And why wouldn’t I?”

  “Because we know that you know where Halie is.”

  Monica bit on her bottom lip and her demeanor wavered.

  “Come on.” Sean placed a hand on her shoulder and Monica collected her books into a backpack then got up and followed them outside.

  “Do you recognize this voice?” Sean brought up the recording of the ransom call on his cell and hit play.

  Monica’s chin quivered and tears ran down her cheeks as sobs wracked her body.

  Sara glanced at Sean.

  “Just like we thought,” he said. “It’s Kyle Palmer, your boyfriend, isn’t it?”

  Monica rubbed her arms and shivered. Her bloodshot eyes found Sara’s and she nodded. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I tried to stop him. I told him this was crazy.”

  Sara went to her and put her arm around Monica. “Tell us what happened.”

  “He went spastic when he met her. Said that rich girl needed to be taught a lesson in humility.” More tears fell. “I was in a fight with Halie, and he walked in on us.” Her eyes drifted to the ground. “There’s more, but…”

  “Talk to us, Monica,” Sean said.

  “You can do this. You’re stronger than you think.” Sara held Monica tighter.

  “Okay.” The single word vibrated on a staggered exhale. “Professor Harland. Well, he’s not a good man. He’s why Halie told Justin not to enter the contest, it’s why she wasn’t going to. She was planning to expose him. I told her not to worry about it.”

  “He did something to hurt you?”

  “Yes and no. He made an advance on me. Told me that if I slept with him, he’d put me through to the final round.” She laughed mockingly. “He didn’t even promise me a win. But Halie saw it for what it was. I was bitter at the time, envious of her position in life. I shouted out, just as Kyle walked in on us, that not everyone has money like her.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “I introduced them. Kyle tied it together quickly. Her dad was Wayne Davenport, the same man who made his dad lose the election. He then…” Her breath hitched.

  “You can do this.” Sara felt Monica tremble beneath her touch.

  “I tried to talk Kyle out of this. I told him to let her go.”

  “So he does have her?”

  “Yes, I know he does.” Monica started crying again. Between gasps for breath and sniffling, she said, “Kyle was going to kill her, but decided she’d be worth more alive.”

  “You weren’t going to sleep with Justin, were you?”

  “No. He found out. That’s why he was at my dorm yesterday. To talk about it.”

  Sara tried to establish eye contact with Sean. Monica didn’t know that Kyle had murdered Justin. She had enough to deal with right now and they needed to keep her talking so they could hunt Kyle down and rescue Halie. “Where is Kyle keeping her?”

  Monica brushed her wet cheek against her shoulder. “His house?”

  “No, we’ve been there.”

  “There is one other place.”

  Indy Drivers Have Nothing On Us

  THE STORAGE LOCKER THAT KYLE rented was ten minutes away from the university. Sean broke more laws as he tore off like a racecar driver, weaving in and out of traffic. The clock was starting to really work against them. They had only twenty minutes.

  “My goodness, I can’t even imagine her, locked up in here.” Sara followed behind Sean as they made their way on foot through the maze of trailers to the one, ironically, marked number thirteen. There was a large padlock on the door.

  Sean looked over his shoulders. “You keep an eye out and I’ll see what I can do with this.”

  “One thing in our favor is Kyle likely doesn’t have a gun, or he wouldn’t have killed Justin with a frying pan.”

  Sean stopped working on the lock. His expression put fear into her. “He could have gotten himself one by now.”

  She nodded.

  “We just have to keep our heads about us.” He handled the lock. “I’m not sure I’ve got this one.”

  “Sean.” She put her hand on his shoulder.

  “What?”

  “Someone’s coming.”

  Footsteps were echoing from around the corner.

  Sean looked left and right, then grabbed her hand, taking her around the corner of the unit. The feet shuffled along, coming to a stop in front of Kyle’s locker.

  “He’s back,” she whispered.

  “He’s going to kill her if he doesn’t get that money. He’s already proved himself a murderer.”

  Hearing it put so plainly cinched Sara’s chest.

  The door rattled open and then clanked shut.

  “There is one thing in our favor with a storage unit though.” He smirked at Sara. “They typically only lock from the outside.”

  “Just be careful.”

  “I thought we weren’t going to baby each oth—”

  She took his mouth in a hungry kiss and pulled back.

  “Got it. Be careful. No one dies today,” he said with a wink.

  She stalked be
hind him and they both stopped outside the door and pressed an ear against it.

  “She’s in there,” Sara whispered. She detected a male tone talking to someone, but the inflection it carried didn’t bode well for Halie. The money hadn’t come through yet and the deadline was drawing near. “We have to do this quick, like ripping off a Band-Aid.”

  “Ready?”

  She nodded and he flung the door open. They rushed inside.

  Kyle who was waving his cell at Halie, spun around. “What the—”

  Sean lunged at Kyle, sending his phone flying through the air.

  Kyle staggered to the side and then toward Sean, pummeling him into the storage room wall.

  As the men battled for supremacy, Sara went to Halie, who was bound to a chair, a necktie was used as a gag. Mascara-laden tears had streaked her otherwise pale cheeks, but her eyes were large, and, as Sara worked on releasing the necktie, went wider still.

  A strong force pulled back on Sara’s shoulder, making her lose her balance. She met with the hard concrete, a breath of air whooshing out of her.

  Kyle was coming at her again.

  Her mind in a haze, she looked around for Sean.

  He was in the corner of the space, doubled over but coming to. When he saw her on the floor, Sean hurtled toward Kyle and yanked him around. His fist met with Kyle’s eye socket.

  It was a knockout blow and Kyle fell to the ground.

  Sean dashed to Sara, holding out his hand to help her up. “Are you okay, darling?”

  She nodded. Her thoughts not on herself, but on a girl who had been held for days against her will, who had been forced to stay in this locker, with, based on appearance, little to no food and water.

  Once Sara got to her feet, she rushed to Halie. Her hands were shaking as she tried to undo the rope.

  Sean gently put his hand over hers. He would take it from here.

  “Halie, you’re going to be all right.” Sara smiled at the girl, thankful they were able to make good on a promise and save her life. It was sad that Justin had paid with his.

  Deep Thoughts