Mistaken Identity (A Lucinda Pierce Mystery)

by Fanning, Diane

  Frank shook out his arms and tried to ease the tape off his face. He grew impatient and pulled it off fast, sending shrieks of pain up through his nerves and into his brain. He watched the patrol cars pull away but he didn’t go inside. He stood sentry waiting for Martha’s return. He prayed for good news but feared the worst.

  Forty-Two

  In the passenger side of the first patrol car in the pack, Lucinda grabbed the radio. “Dismantle the roadblock. Get your vehicles out of sight. Now. He’s travelling with two hostages.”

  She dropped the device, picked up her cell and called Jake. “I didn’t take my eyes off of him for a moment. I never saw a chance. I don’t think I missed a moment of opportunity but I don’t know.”

  “Trust me, Lucinda, you didn’t have a chance. We’re not dealing with your typically stupid felon.”

  “But still, shit! I don’t want to follow him all the way to Norfolk before we have another shot at him. Damn it, Jake, I should have tried.”

  “No. Your instincts were right. We can’t risk killing hostages to get to the bad guy. We’ll be looking for opportunities along the way. Something will happen.”

  “I sure hope you’re right. And I hope we know it when we see it.” She clicked off and leaned forward in her seat.

  Freddy wasn’t sure what was going on. He knew Miss Martha had something in mind but didn’t know what. He reached again for his seat belt but she hissed, “No!”

  Kidd kicked the back of his seat and said, “You listen to her, little man, and don’t try anything cute. Even if you get away, I’ll put a bullet in the old lady’s head and you’ll have to live with that blood on your hands for the rest of your miserable life.”

  “Where are we going?” Freddy asked.

  “We’re going to a boat and then to Cuba. Remember, you found that for me, little man.”

  “I don’t want to go to Cuba,” Freddy objected.

  “Don’t be a cry-baby. As soon as I get there, you can come back.”

  Freddy knew enough about current events to know that wouldn’t be happening but he didn’t respond. He focused instead on Martha who kept glancing at him, jerking her eyes towards her door. Finally, Freddy saw that her left hand hovered over the door handle. He slipped his right hand over to his. Martha slowed the car.

  “What are you doing? Get moving,” Kidd shouted.

  “There’s a nasty curve up ahead and a one-lane bridge. Take it too fast and I could run head on into a police car,” she said.

  “Once you’re past the bridge, pick up the pace.”

  As soon as the car was moving as slowly as Martha dared, she shouted, “Now!”

  Freddy and Martha both pushed down on the door handles and plunged out of their seats, tumbling on to the road and rolling into the ditches along either side. Two shots rang out and the windows on the open doors shattered as the car drifted toward the side of the small bridge. The side of the Camaro scraped against the concrete and then swerved back into the center of the road. The driver’s side door slammed shut and the car pulled away fast, the passenger door slapping back and forth in every curve.

  Lucinda grabbed the radio and screamed, “Get the roadblock back in place. Hurry. Now. Cut off the road. The hostages are out of the car. Repeat – the hostages are clear. Stop that car.”

  The two vehicles transporting Lucinda and Jake zoomed forward. The two cars behind them fell out to locate and give assistance to the hostages. Lucinda switched to another channel on the radio and screamed for an ambulance.

  Up ahead, one car was in place blocking most of the road. Kidd swerved, the tires on the left side tearing through the dirt. But he didn’t turn the wheels sharply enough. The flapping passenger door collided with the front end of the marked vehicle, tearing it off in a deafening shriek of metal against metal.

  The Camaro shuddered and barreled forward, running straight for the officers with drawn guns. They shot at the windshield, jumped to the side and continued firing into the side of the car. One bullet hit a tire, blowing it out, rubber flapping and metal rim digging furrows into the road surface, throwing sparks. Still Kidd surged forward.

  Another roadblock was now in place at the intersection with Route 13. Kidd saw it moments before he reached the barricade. He swerved off the road in an attempt to cut the corner and escape behind the police line. The bare rim bit down into the dirt, jerking the car to a halt. Kidd’s head flew forward in the sudden stop, crashing into the steering wheel and the horn, sending out a lonely, non-stop blare.

  An ambulance turned the corner and slowed. “Not here. Down the road,” a patrolman shouted and the emergency vehicle sped off.

  Lucinda and Jake, guns drawn, reached the side of the Camaro first. They waited for a ring of uniforms to surround the car before moving closer. As they stepped towards him, Kidd raised his head. Jake and Lucinda froze. “Put your fingers on the butt of the gun and toss it out the window,” Jake ordered.

  Kidd paused, looking around the car, assessing the flight or fight probabilities and realizing the odds were not in his favor. He shrugged, reached down and raised one hand in an exaggerated move with the gun dangling from his fingertips. He moved his arm slowly to the window frame where some of the glass remained shattered into little chunks around the edges. Sticking his arm outside of the vehicle, he released his fingers and the weapon fell to the ground.

  Jake reached in, grabbed him by the collar and jerked him out of the car. He threw the suspect face down into the ground, put a knee in his back, wrenched his arms behind him and slapped on the cuffs. Grabbing the chain between Kidd’s wrists, Jake stood, yanking the cuffed man to his feet as he did.

  “Hey, man, easy. I’m bleeding.”

  Jake spun him around and saw a cut on his forehead turning his face into a bloody mess. He shouted to another officer who pulled a towel out of his trunk and rushed over to hold it on Kidd’s wound.

  When the ambulance returned up the road, Lucinda waved it down. “How is everybody?”

  “Looks like the lady fractured her ulna – we splinted her arm. The boy appears to have nothing more than abrasions and contusions – we cleaned up his cuts – and the older guy is delirious with joy that his wife is alive but concerned about her injury. The doc will give them a closer examination when we get them to the emergency room. You want us to take that guy, too?”

  “Hell, no. But will the others be okay if you take a little time to bandage the cut on his head?”

  “Sure, no problem,” the EMT said, grabbing a bag and sprinting over to Kidd. When the medical technician had finished patching up Kidd, Jake shoved the kidnapper into the back of a state car and sent them off to a nearby Trooper station.

  Lucinda found a sorrowful Jake, hands on his hips, staring down at the damage to the Camaro. “Damn,” he said. “She once was a beauty.”

  “Borrowed, not bought, right?”

  “Yeah, ’fraid so. I hope I can find someone who can repair the damage and restore it back to the original. I could have done with a little less unpredictability today.”

  “Yeah, but you gotta admire one of the unexpected turns of events. I am still amazed at Martha and Freddy. I didn’t think either one of them had it in ’em. But thank God they did. It saved us a long, strained trip to the boat slip.”

  “What?” Jake grinned. “You didn’t want a paid trip to the coast?”

  Lucinda snorted in response.

  “How about a ride on the Skyline Drive to the Blue Ridge Parkway and down into the Great Smoky Mountains – all with the top down feeling the mountain breeze – as soon as we wrap this up.”

  “No can do, Jake, I have to go in for another surgery as soon as we close this case. I’ll be out of commission for a few weeks.”

  “That’s even better. We’ll go in mid October when the autumn colors are at their peak at the higher elevation.”

  Lucinda felt a thrill coursing through her nervous system, threatening to flood out cogent thought. She didn’t know what to say �
�� she wanted to set a date right there, right then. But she was afraid. It would change the dynamic between her and Jake and she didn’t know if she was ready to take that risk. Ducking her head and heading to her car, she said, “Let’s talk about that later, Jake. Right now, we’ve got a suspect who needs our total attention.”

  Forty-Three

  At the nearby state police headquarters, uniformed troopers escorted John Kidd into the interrogation room. Lucinda and Jake watched on the video monitor as they fastened his shackles to the leg of a sturdy gray metal table bolted to the floor and his left handcuff to the bolt and hook in the concrete wall.

  Little remained of the smooth-talking con man with an easy smile and sparkling eyes and an ability to charm older women from coast to coast. The events of the day had scraped the veneer away to reveal the predator that lurked beneath the surface, ready to pounce on any opportunity. He was cornered and he knew it. Keeping up his false front demanded too much energy now.

  Jake nodded at Lucinda. She returned the gesture and gave him a thumbs up. Jake walked out of the control booth and down two doors to the room containing John Kidd. As Jake entered the room, the three troopers departed, leaving him alone with the suspect. Kidd slouched in the chair with his free arm on the table surface and his forehead resting on his arm. When Jake began to read the man his rights, Kidd raised his head slightly and stared at the detective through hooded eyes. When Jake finished, Lucinda walked into the room.

  Turning to her, Jake said, “I read him his rights.”

  “Why did you bother with that, Jake? John’s a man and a man doesn’t hide behind anyone – not even an attorney. Does he, John?”

  Jake leaned back against the wall and folded his arms across his chest. John raised his head and sat straighter in the chair. His focus was now on Lucinda alone. The surly expression vanished, as if a giant hand swept down across his face and wiped it away. He beamed a big smile, pulling his false front back in place. ‘Hello, ma’am. I am so glad to see you. I thought I was stuck with macho man here,” he said, poking a thumb in Jake’s direction. “Women are much more intuitive and since you all don’t tote around that testosterone-fueled attitude, you can cut through the BS so much easier.”

  Lucinda laughed at him. “Spare me, Mr. Kidd. I’m not old enough for you and you’re not pretty enough for me.”

  Kidd’s nostrils flared and his free hand formed a fist. The veneer cracked but he smoothed it back in place. “I’m not coming on to you, ma’am. I’m afraid my reputation is clouding your perception of me. I think if you’ll set that aside for a minute, we can both find a resolution to this situation that will work for all of us.”

  “A resolution? You kidnap a boy, hold him and a farming couple hostage and you think there’s some sort of nice little compromise possible?”

  “Listen, it’s really simple, ma’am. You know, I’m sure, how quirky things can get when we are dealing with affairs of the heart?” He looked at Lucinda, waiting for an answer. When he didn’t get one, he continued. “See, this is all a big misunderstanding around a lover’s quarrel.”

  “A misunderstanding?”

  “Yeah, in fact, ma’am, all this is partly your fault.”

  “My fault?”

  “Yeah, you see, you told Victoria about Karen King and all. And she was really angry about that. I mean, I don’t blame you or anything. I understand how women have to stick together in the face of male trickery; but, you know, that’s why we fought. She said she was throwing me out. I couldn’t stand it. My heart was shredded. I knew if I had Freddy, she’d come talk to me. That’s all I wanted.”

  “You just wanted to talk? That’s why you left body parts on her porch and sent her a ransom demand?”

  “I don’t know anything about body parts but I just made the ransom request to get her attention.”

  “You sure did that, Mr. Kidd. But, you see, the kidnapping thing is a federal rap. I’m not all that concerned about that – I leave that to the Feeb here. I’m just an ordinary local cop. And I’ve got this double homicide here that I was hoping we could talk about.”

  “Homicide? I don’t know anything about murder.”

  Jake interrupted. “Listen, Lieutenant, I’ve got a real solid abduction case here and I want to deal with the problem at hand. Why don’t you just go do some investigation and let me deal with my suspect?”

  “See, ma’am, there’s the perfect example of that macho behavior I was talking about. He’s a man. He’s gotta be in charge. Personally, I prefer demonstrating my testosterone in bed – if you know what I mean,” John said with a wink.

  “Are you under the mistaken impression that you can play me like one of your old lady victims, Mr. Kidd?” Lucinda asked. “Let me set you straight. For one, a real man does not prey on helpless, lonely widows. And since I’ve taken on real men and won – you don’t have a chance. Secondly, I have never been desperate enough to have a man in my bed to ever consider you as a possible candidate.” As she spoke, the change in his expression was so abrupt that Lucinda could have sworn she saw the veneer peel way.

  He sneered at her, “As if any man would ever crawl into your ugly bed.”

  “Excuse me, is that another example of that macho shit you were telling me about?”

  “Somebody sure messed your face. I’ll bet you didn’t feel so tough then, bitch.”

  Lucinda looked down at him and blinked her eyelids with slow deliberation. She turned her head to the side and said, “Later, Jake.”

  “But, Lieutenant, the charge for the arrest is kidnapping …”

  “Yeah, and with my help, you’ve got that wrapped up very nicely. So go on, give me a minute with my homicide suspect.”

  Lucinda kept her eyes on Kidd. She didn’t look back but knew Jake was gone when she heard the click of the closing door. She smiled at the realization that the script she and Jake had prepared was playing out just as they planned.

  She placed two hands on the table top and eased into the chair. She pointed to her face. “You think this looks bad, Mr. Kidd?”

  “Pretty awful, you ask me. Somebody must have been pretty ticked off at you. And I’m beginning to understand why.”

  She leaned forward close enough to his face that she could feel the warmth of his breath. “You think this is bad, you should see the other guy.”

  Kidd laughed out loud. “You think you’re tough, don’t you, bitch?”

  “My title is Lieutenant. You can use that.”

  “Don’t think so, bitch.”

  “My, my, my, Mr. Kidd,” Lucinda said, leaning back in her chair. “With a mouth like that, I don’t know how you managed to con all of those women.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Don’t be modest, Mr. Kidd. We’ve tracked your trail of broken hearts and empty bank accounts all over the country. We know all your names. We know all your games. We own your sorry ass.”

  “You don’t know shit.”

  “We know pretty much everything. We traced you all the way back to your genius Daddy, William Blessing. And we know he’s the excuse you’re using for committing your crimes.”

  “You’re crazy, bitch.”

  Lucinda’s hand clutched his collar and jerked him forward before the last syllable escaped his mouth. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a twitch in his arm. “Don’t even think about it, Mr. Kidd. Assaulting an officer will get you a very long sentence even if we can’t prove the murders you committed.”

  “My word against yours.”

  Lucinda laughed, letting go of his collar, and gave him a sharp shove back into his chair. “I have witnesses, Mr. Kidd.”

  Lucinda watched his eyes as they circled round the room. “There’s no one-way glass in here – it’s all solid walls,” John noted. “Oh, yeah, I get it. You have cops who will lie for you – swear to any story you concoct.”

  “Oh, no, Mr. Kidd. Welcome to the big time. This is a state-of-the-art interrogation room with a high-
tech monitoring center where they can watch and record all six rooms at one time. Lucinda turned and pointed. “See that vent high up on the wall? Look closely and you’ll see a tiny pinpoint red light behind the louvers. That’s a camera. And there are six microphones installed flush with the surface, around the room, to pick up everything you say in surround sound. And if I’m not tough enough for you, those three big, beefy troopers who brought you in, they’re standing just outside the door, itching for a chance to slam you into the floor.”

  “You don’t scare me. They don’t scare me. You might be able to make the kidnapping stick but you don’t have a thing to connect me to any murders. You’ve got my record. You know what I am – a con man, a scam artist – but not one violent crime. And you go talk to those women. For a while, I made every one of them feel like a queen and they loved me – each and every one. And unless they’re lying, they’ll tell you I never raised a hand to one of them. I’m not a violent man. I’ve no history of it – the judge will laugh you out of the courtroom. You want your killer, Lieutenant, I’ll give her to you. But we’ve got to make a deal. I’m not spending the rest of my life in jail to protect anyone.”

  “So, you’re willing to pin your murders on a woman? Tsk, tsk, Mr. Kidd. I guess chivalry truly is dead.”

  “I’m not a violent man.”

  “All of us are capable of violence; we just have to have the right motivation. We know why you targeted the people in the Sterling house but we don’t know why this time you resorted to violence. It wasn’t even the last one, so it doesn’t make sense to me. You had one more to go. So why did you go so far this time around?”

  Kidd studied her but did not speak.

  “C’mon, Kidd. We know you were the shooter. Nothing else makes sense. But someone helped you? Who was she? Who was your accomplice? You’re going down, but you don’t need to take the fall alone. Cooperate and you might be able to waltz away from the death penalty.”