After the Rain

by Philip Cox

  ‘I’m waiting!’

  Billy muttered something under his breath and slowly climbed the stairs.

  ‘You goddamn people,’ Sanchez said to Ben and Craig. ‘How many times did I warn you to let the police handle things? Why didn’t you just do what I said and get the hell on a plane home?’

  ‘Why do you think, you scrawny bitch?’ said Craig. Ben and Adam tried to silence him.

  Sanchez fired a shot above their heads into the wall behind them. They both jumped. ‘The next one will get you, pretty boy,’ she said. ‘After your R and R with Scott, that is.’ She glanced round to Scott and grinned. Scott grinned back.

  They all could hear shouting upstairs. Looking up, they could see Billy dragging Stacey along the landing and down the stairs. She was screaming and resisting; still holding the gun in his right hand, he was pulling at her arms her clothes, then her hair with his left.

  ‘Get downstairs, bitch,’ he was saying through gritted teeth. They reached the top of the stairs. He started to climb down first, dragging her after him.

  ‘Billy, no; not that way!’ Sanchez called out, more to herself than to Billy, but it was too late. Stacey lost her balance at the top of the stairs and tumbled, knocking Billy down in the process. As if they were a single figure, their limbs interwoven, Billy and Stacey rolled down the stairs, both of them shouting. As they reached halfway down, there was a loud bang, followed by a scream from Stacey. There was the sound of a bullet ricochet off the wooden paneling leading down the stairs. They both crashed onto the hallway below, their bodies separating. Both lay there, dazed; Billy holding his arm, which looked broken, and Stacey clutching her shoulder.

  Billy’s gun! Ben noticed it was lying underneath his left leg. He quickly dived onto Billy to wrestle the gun away.

  ‘Billy, the gun!’ Sanchez screamed and fired a shot at Ben. She missed, the bullet hitting the back of the chintzy chair, passing through it, and embedding itself into the wooden wall paneling.

  As Sanchez fired, Billy was frantically kicking his legs out to stop Ben getting his hand on the revolver. He was unsuccessful: in spite of taking a kick in the face from Billy’s left shoe, Ben managed to grab it. It was the first time he had handled a handgun: it was warm, and surprisingly heavy. Something in his brain told him that the greatest danger came from the policewoman running towards him, rather than the flailing arms and legs of Billy Loomis: he lifted the gun up and fired a shot at Sanchez.

  He could not have missed, as by now she was only a few feet away. With a shocked look on her face, she cried out and collapsed to the floor, dropping her own weapon. A red patch appeared on her shirt, on her side, just above her waist. She lay on the floor clutching the wound.

  By now, Craig had leapt over and grabbed the gun Sanchez dropped. With both Ben and Craig covering them with a weapon, Billy gave up and lay on the floor, nursing his arm. Scott and Jared just stood in the hallway, frozen.

  ‘Now you all get in the corner,’ Ben said, gesturing with Billy’s gun. They all silently moved over to the foot of the stairs, joining Billy and Sanchez.

  ‘Now, I suppose we’d better call the police,’ Ben said, looking down at the wounded Lieutenant. ‘Make sure we get the right ones this time.’

  ‘No need,’ said Adam. As they looked out of the doorway they saw three vehicles drive up to the house. Uniformed officers climbed out of the black and white police car. The car in front was unmarked: accompanied by another plain clothes officer, out stepped Detective McGee.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  ‘JUST IN TIME I see,’ said McGee as he stepped into the house. ‘I’ll take those, thanks.’ He took the handguns away from Ben and Craig.

  ‘But – how did you know?’ Ben asked, puzzled.

  ‘You mean you thought she was coming on her own?’ he said, looking at Sanchez. ‘Long story, but basically, we suspected she was a party to, or even organizing a number of scams these assholes were up to. Taking a cut in exchange for stalling any police investigations. How much was it, Lieutenant? Fifteen percent? Twenty?’

  Sanchez did not reply.

  Its siren wailing, an ambulance pulled into the driveway. ‘Better get the wounded into that,’ McGee said to a uniformed officer. The officer and a colleague picked up Sanchez and led her out. The officer came back for Stacey.

  On her way out, Stacey paused as if to say something to Adam and Ben. Just as she opened her mouth, McGee interrupted.

  ‘Looks just a dislocation. You’ll live. Long enough to face charges. Take her out.’ The last instruction was for the police officer.

  As the other officers handcuffed Jared and Scott and pulled Billy off the floor, Ben, Craig and Adam stood to one side. Craig blew Scott a kiss as he was led past. Scott tried to react, but was restrained by the police officers.

  ‘Well, you two guys have had a merry old time,’ McGee said breezily. ‘Sorry to string you along, but it was important we had enough evidence to charge the Lieutenant. Which we have. And the others too.’

  ‘What do you think they’ll get?’ Adam asked.

  McGee shook his head. ‘Who knows? They may be able to cop a plea bargain. Depends on the DA and the judge. Sanchez will get it in the neck for sure; as will the one who knocked off the waiter up the coast. Twenty to thirty for him, I’d guess. As for the others: embezzlement, kidnapping – who knows?’

  ‘There was another one,’ said Craig. ‘A guy by the name of Bobby.’

  ‘The Asian one? Yes, Bobby Chin. We haven’t forgotten him. A black and white’s gone over to Mercy Hospital to pick him up.’

  ‘So, what now?’ said Ben, sitting on the stairs.

  McGee looked down at him. ‘Yeah. Good question. You’ll need to stay here and speak with my colleague Detective Sanders from the Miami PD. Then you’re free to go. For now.’

  ‘For now?’

  ‘Don’t leave the country this afternoon, I mean. You’ve committed no crimes as such; just been a pain in the ass to the police. But you’ve got your brother back. We just need to go through a few things back in Davenport. Then we’ll need you to testify at the grand juries.’

  ‘Okay, no problem, Ben said wearily.

  ‘Excellent. I’ll leave you with Detective Sanders. You all have a good day now.’

  McGee waved and left the three of them alone in the house. They looked out of the window and watched Billy Loomis, Jared Stevens and Scott Maxwell being bundled into the back of the police cars. They watched Stacey Garcia and Javiera Sanchez being lifted into the ambulance. A police officer climbed in after them.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  THEY WATCHED AS the ambulance and two police cars backed out of the driveway, and set off. Detective Sanders and two uniformed officers were milling about the house.

  ‘Be with you in five minutes, guys,’ said Sanders as he followed an officer upstairs.

  Craig looked over at the box of groceries Jared had dropped earlier. ‘I’m hungry,’ he said. ‘Let’s eat.’

  They rummaged through the box and found some bread and cold meat. They improvised a sandwich each and sat on the stairs eating ravenously.

  ‘You should have said you were hungry,’ chuckled the Detective. ‘We can give food at police headquarters. Shall we go?’

  ‘To police headquarters?’ Craig looked up, salami hanging out of his mouth.

  ‘Sure. More comfortable there. Shall we?’

  They climbed into the Fusion and followed Sanders’ car for the thirty minute drive down to the police headquarters, downtown Miami. There they made their statements, and at five thirty, Sanders told them they were free to go, and thanks for all their help.

  Ben had to visit the men’s room, before leaving police headquarters, and found Craig and Adam waiting outside.

  ‘Can I have a word?’ said Craig, taking Ben aside.

  ‘Sure,’ said Ben, as Craig led him away. ‘What’s up?’

  ‘It’s okay, nothing’s up. It’s just that Adam and I would both like to spend a couple
of days together. You know, just in each other’s company. Do you understand? Is that okay with you? You take the car.’

  Ben laughed. ‘Sure it’s okay. I understand perfectly. Looks like you two have a lot of catching up to do.’

  ‘Thanks, buddy. What will you do now?’

  Ben looked around. ‘Not sure. I might have a look around here a while. Then drive back up to the apartment. Might hang around there. Might get a flight home. See how I feel.’

  ‘When you get home? Back to work?’

  ‘Maybe. Maybe at first. These last few days – they’ve made me think I might want to do something else.’

  ‘Other than handling people’s insurance claims?’

  Ben laughed. ‘Something like that. What about you?’

  ‘Stay here for a bit. Then fly home I guess.’

  ‘See your family again?’

  ‘Yes. They’ll want to see Adam, for sure.’

  ‘And you, don’t forget. They’ll want to see you.’

  Craig shrugged.

  ‘Don’t forget if it wasn’t for you, Adam would be at the bottom of the Everglades by now.’

  Craig nodded.

  ‘And what about you at work?’ Ben asked.

  ‘Same as you. Might stay, might not. But we’ll still keep in touch, won’t we?’

  ‘You try stopping me.’

  Ben reached out his hand to shake Craig’s. Craig did the same, but the handshake became a warm embrace.

  ‘I couldn’t have done it without you,’ whispered Craig.

  ‘Ah, it was nothing,’ said Ben as they separated.

  ‘I know that,’ Craig laughed, wiping his eyes. He turned away and walked back to the police headquarters door. Ben waved goodbye to Adam, who waved back. Just as Ben turned to walk away, he heard Adam call him back. He turned as Adam caught up with him.

  ‘Before you go,’ Adam said. ‘I just wanted to say thanks for being there for Craig.’

  ‘No problem.’

  ‘And about Stacey – I don’t want you to think she used you.’

  ‘What?’

  Adam glanced round at Craig, who was sitting on the police headquarters steps. ‘She – always gives the impression she’s falling for a guy. Don’t take it personally.’

  ‘Take what personally?’

  ‘I know why she did the things she did: she fell for me, but was so bloody scared of that psycho Billy.’

  ‘Fell for you, bullshit,’ Ben spat. ‘She was just a little tart.’

  ‘No, she -’

  ‘She was. No better than you.’

  ‘Hey, what do you mean by that?’ Adam rounded on Ben.

  Ben glanced briefly back at Craig. ‘I know all about you. You with the designer tan, designer teeth, the Viagra. And what was that sign-on of yours? Don’t tell me. What I did, I did for Craig, not you. He’s worth twenty times what you are.’

  With a snort, Adam stared at Ben a few seconds, and walked back to Craig.

  Ben stared for a moment at the two brothers talking, then turned and walked away. He walked to where they had parked the Fusion, and drove back to the apartment in Davenport.

  There, alone in the apartment, he went straight to bed. The next morning, the first thing he did was go online and book his flight home.

  THE END

  ALSO AVAILABLE

  DARK EYES OF LONDON

  When Tom Raymond receives a call from his ex-wife asking to meet him, he is both surprised and intrigued – maybe she wants a reconciliation?

  However, his world is turned upside down when she falls under a tube train on her way to meet him.

  Refusing to accept that Lisa jumped, Tom sets out to investigate what happened to her that evening.

  Soon, he finds he must get to the truth before some very dangerous people get to him…

  Here’s a sneak preview…

  Chapter One

  IT WAS A few miles before the motorway services when Jimmy Khan first noticed the other vehicle. Considering whether to take a break now or later, his eyes were momentarily drawn back to the rear view mirror by the frantic flashing of headlights and the loud blare of a horn.

  Glancing into the mirror, he caught sight of the HGV in the centre lane still flashing angrily. There were lamps on the roof of the cab as well as below the windscreen, so this flashing would be difficult to ignore. The reason for this protest was that another vehicle - a black Chrysler, Jimmy thought - had moved from the outside lane, across the centre lane and the path of the HGV, to the inside lane, and was now behind Jimmy’s Renault, although about fifty yards behind, having dropped its speed to around fifty, the same as Jimmy.

  Jimmy sighed, shook his head, and decided he would stop off at the services after all. By this time, he was much nearer and the next road sign showed the services were a mile off. Half a mile later, Jimmy began to indicate then took the slip road off the motorway and into the services. He could not have failed to have noticed that the Chrysler was doing the same thing.

  He found a parking space, stretched as he got out of the car, and then strolled over to the service building. Glancing over to his right, he noticed what he thought was the Chrysler parked a dozen or so vehicles from his. Strange, he thought, that nobody had got out yet.

  In the services building, he visited the gents, bought a newspaper, and then visited the coffee shop for a latte and a Panini. Once he had finished there, he walked back to the car. As he climbed back in, he checked his watch. It was just after five-thirty; should be back home by eight. He reversed out of the parking space, and made his way round the car park to the exit. As he did so, he had to pass the parked Chrysler. He quickly glanced over to see if the driver was there, but the windows seemed heavily tinted, and so he could see nothing. However, if his glance was a fraction of a second longer, he would have seen the Chrysler’s reversing lights illuminate.

  Just before the motorway slip road, there was a petrol station. Jimmy decided to pull in and top up. As he was filling up, he saw the Chrysler coming away from the car park and head to the motorway. As it passed the filling station, Jimmy noticed it slowed momentarily as its brake lights flashed for a second, then it continued round the bend towards the motorway.

  Jimmy finished filling up, paid for the fuel, and then made his own way back to the motorway. The route back onto the carriageway comprised a forty-five degree bend to the left, and then it joined the hard shoulder. By the time Jimmy had passed the bend, he was now doing fifty, and was indicating and looking over to his right to make sure the inside lane was clear to join. Being focused on what was on his right, he failed to notice the Chrysler on his left. It must have pulled onto the shoulder, and reversed into a corner just as the shoulder began, and was clear from view and the main carriageway.

  ‘What the hell?’ Jimmy exclaimed as he looked into his mirror and saw the Chrysler join first the hard shoulder, then the main carriageway, returning to its place a few yards behind Jimmy’s car.

  ‘This is ridiculous! What are you playing at?’ said Jimmy, both annoyed and alarmed as the driver was obviously keen on stalking him. He made a few attempts to lose the Chrysler, but was unsuccessful: whenever he sped up or slowed down, or changed lanes, the other car did the same thing.

  He began to feel unnerved. He looked out for a police vehicle parked on the side of the road, but in spite of passing several spots marked for patrol vehicles, he did not see one.

  ‘Typical,’ he muttered. ‘Just when you need one!’

  He was just at the slip road for the next exit, and without indicating, he swung the steering wheel to the left and sped up the slip road. Hoping the Chrysler was going too fast to react, he looked in his mirror, but the feeling in the pit of his stomach intensified when he saw the other vehicle had done the same thing.

  At the top of the slip road, there was a large roundabout controlled by traffic lights. Glancing over to his right he saw two large goods vehicles approaching. The traffic lights at the top of the slope were now amber, just turni
ng red. Now was his chance.

  ‘Here goes!’ he called out, and pressed his right foot hard on the pedal. The Renault shot over the now red light, and onto the lanes of the roundabout. By now the HGVs had started to move, and looking over, Jimmy could see that the Chrysler had no choice but to stop at the red light.

  ‘Now it’s time to properly shake you off, you weirdo,’ said Jimmy. He decided not to return to the motorway, where the Chrysler could easily catch him up if the driver wanted, but to take an A or B road where there would be signals and plenty of other slow moving traffic. The third exit was such a road, and so without indicating, Jimmy turned down this road, which immediately forked to the right. Ideal.

  After the fork, there were a couple of turns, and then the road was relatively straight. Driving along this straight section, Jimmy started working out where he was. He had a rough idea where this road went, and worked out a route home from there.

  ‘What an arsehole!’ he shouted out loud. ‘But you couldn’t keep track of good old Jimmy Khan!’ Raising his left fist in the air as a gesture of triumph, he glanced in the rear view mirror to check the road was clear.

  Then his heart sank. In the distance, rapidly gaining on him, was the Chrysler.

  Chapter Two

  THIS STRETCH OF road was about half a mile in length. A couple of cars travelled in the opposite direction, but Jimmy’s lane was clear. He could see the Chrysler pick up speed and rapidly catch up with him. Now it was ten, twelve feet behind, maintaining the same speed as Jimmy. The road was not so straight now: Jimmy picked up speed on the bends; now the speedo showed sixty-five, but the Chrysler stayed ten, twelve feet away. Jimmy frantically looked for side roads: there were some now and then, but he was travelling too fast to safely make a turn.

  His palms were sweating as he gripped the steering wheel tighter, taking the bends at now well over seventy. There was a straight section ahead, some relief from taking the bends so fast. Feeling a bit more confident now the road was straight, Jimmy pushed his foot down harder, in the vain hope that by doing almost eighty, he would shake off his pursuer.