River Mourn

by Bill Hopkins

  Chapter 38

  Monday Night, continued

  Now can we go rescue Tina?" Rosswell drew his gun, found it fully loaded, then checked his cell phone, found it fully charged. He hit a new speed dial number. "Ollie, meet us at Jill's house. The game's afoot, Watson. Bring the Gold King's collection." He clicked off.

  "Judge?" Jim Bill looked from Rosswell to Alessandra, then back again.

  "What?"

  "What's with the Sherlock Holmes stuff?"

  "You'll have to trust me."

  "You're putting me in a bad position."

  Rosswell thumped an index finger into Jim Bill's chest with every word. "I'm going to get Tina. After I do that, then you can arrest me." He dashed from the parlor, rushed down the hallway, zoomed out the front door, then leaped into Sofia. The car started. "Yes!"

  Jim Bill, sweat rolling down his face, appeared at the driver's side and placed a hand on the door handle. "We don't have that one last piece of information. I can't let you do this." His tone of voice indicated that negotiation was out of the question.

  "Let me do what?"

  "Go barrel assing into a private citizen's house with a gun on a suspicion that you're going to find Tina."

  "A suspicion? Alessandra didn't see herself in that bedroom. She saw Tina. Stand back. I need to rescue a woman."

  Alessandra, who'd followed the men out, caught Rosswell's attention. "How do you know who I saw?"

  "You're not pregnant but Tina is."

  "I didn't see Tina."

  Rosswell cut off Sofia. He stared toward the river, then across the street to the park. The sun settled in behind the bluffs. Night birds cooed. A whippoorwill started his love call. The lights would soon flicker on in the park. He got out of the car.

  Alessandra looked as though she'd lost all her nervousness. Jim Bill remained solid and silent. Now it was Rosswell who sweated in the humid evening. He put a fist to his forehead. Something had to convince Jim Bill and Alessandra that Tina was in the house. The missing piece of information wouldn't come from Alessandra alone. He had a part in revealing the important link.

  Then he remembered. Christmas! Rosswell fixed his eyes on his phone, punched a few keys, swiped the screen. After reviewing his findings, he laid the phone face down on Sofia's roof, hoping the heat of the car wouldn't melt the phone. "Alessandra, tell me what the pregnant woman was wearing."

  "A white dress. Kind of a shift. Real simple."

  "What else?"

  "Nothing else. She was lying on the bed asleep."

  "Underwear? Bra? Panties?"

  "Rosswell, she was completely covered."

  "No blanket over her?"

  "No."

  "Shoes?"

  "She didn't have on shoes."

  "Was she lying on her back, her side, or her stomach?"

  Alessadra touched her lips a few times. "On her back."

  "Was she wearing glasses?"

  "No."

  "Do you wear glasses?"

  "Reading glasses. Sometimes when I read in bed, I go to sleep with my glasses on."

  "Did she have any rings?"

  Alessandra thought a moment before she answered. "No."

  "Earrings?"

  "No. I'm sure of that. I always notice other women's earrings."

  "Bracelet?"

  "Yes, she had a?no?no bracelet."

  "Watch, maybe?"

  "No. Nothing on her wrists. There wasn't a clock in the room either."

  "Anything else about her?"

  Obviously replaying the whole scene in her head, Alessandra held up two fingers, then put one finger down. "One thing."

  "What was it?"

  "A necklace."

  "What color?"

  "Bronze. Or brass."

  "What did the necklace look like?"

  "She was wearing a chain with a cross. Not a regular cross."

  Jim Bill said, "What kind of cross was it?"

  "One like you'd see in Europe on an old church."

  Rosswell dug in his car until he found a legal pad and ballpoint pen. "Can you draw it?"

  Alessandra took the pen and paper and sketched a cross with a broad ring around the intersection of the upright and the crossbar.

  Jim Bill eyed the sketch. "Celtic cross. I've seen those on Presbyterian churches."

  "Thank you, Jim Bill and Alessandra. You've both confirmed that Tina was in that room. I bought Tina a gold necklace last year at Christmas. A Celtic cross. I gave it to her on one of our trips to the Southern Hotel." He plucked his phone off the car's roof and tapped it a couple of times to dismiss the screen saver before he showed it to them. "Here's a picture of her wearing it."

  Alessandra's eyes grew wide. "That's it. You're right, Judge Carew. I didn't see myself. I saw Tina."

  Jim Bill issued a caution. "We still don't know for sure that Tina is in there." He sucked in a deep breath. "But, Judge, we'd better go meet Ollie."

  Alessandra stuck a palm out close to Jim Bill's face. "Not without me you don't."

  In the full dark, Ollie stood waiting in Jill's yard. Rosswell pulled up in Sofia, Jim Bill and Alessandra in the Crown Vic. The remnants of the wildfire stunk up the area.

  Ollie stared at Alessandra. "You're a cop. I can smell cops."

  Alessandra made no comment.

  "She's no cop." Jim Bill fetched his silver-body Colt .45 and began strapping it on. "You're mistaken."

  "Sure. What was I thinking?" Ollie watched until Jim Bill finished. "Excuse me, Officer Evans, but Rosswell asked me to bring these." Butt-first, he handed two pistols to Jim Bill, which he took and examined under the glare of his headlights. The moon and stars offered no help as they were hidden by a bank of thick clouds.

  "Where the hell did you get these?"

  Ollie pouted. "They're legal."

  "And expensive. These are Colt 1911s."

  "Judge Carew cares enough to buy the very best."

  Rosswell skirted around the questions without actually giving too much detail. "Jim Bill, I solemnly promise you that those pistols will be at the bottom of the Mississippi River when this is over. Either that or I'll be at the bottom of the river."

  "I can't let you use these." Jim Bill opened his trunk and unlocked his gun safe. "You could kill a lot of people with these guns." Over his shoulder, he stared at Rosswell. "Your .38." Rosswell handed it over.

  Alessandra proffered a plastic card, similar to a driver's license. "Take a look at this."

  Jim Bill examined the card. "Congratulations. You have a concealed carry permit. You're still not using one of these." He locked the guns in the safe and slammed the trunk lid.

  Ollie stood in front of Rosswell and hung his head. "Sorry. I tried."

  "You did your best. We've got to follow the law."

  "Yes." Ollie sighed. "The law must be followed."

  Jim Bill began his instructions. "All three of you are going to stay right here while I go talk to Nathaniel about the fire which came close to his place of business. I want to protect our citizens. That duty requires me to investigate."

  "That's right." Rosswell spoke in a conciliatory tone. "We'll stand right here and wait for you to get back."

  "It won't take me more than fifteen minutes."

  Ollie had what Rosswell considered a useful suggestion. "Unless you think of some extra questions that might take you about ten minutes more."

  Jim Bill agreed. "There are always loose ends I need to tie up in a square knot. You're right, Ollie. Maybe twenty-five minutes. Or half-hour. Then I will come back and find you all right here. Waiting."

  Alessandra chimed in her agreement. "That's correct, Officer Evans. We will discuss the day's events while we stay right here and wait for your return."

  Jim Bill placed his hand on Rosswell's shoulder. "I've got a radio and a phone. If there's the slightest whiff that Tina is in there, I've got people lined up to help me." A thump on his chest showed he wore body armor. "You all need to stay out of this. I'm prepared, you're n
ot." He pulled out his cell phone, slid into his car, and, presumably giving someone lengthy instructions on the phone, drove away.

  It wasn't until Rosswell could see Jim Bill's headlights pulling into the driveway of River Heights Villa that he spoke to Ollie and Alessandra. "I don't expect you all to go with me."

  Ollie and Alessandra stood silent. He didn't blame them. This wasn't their fight.

  "Especially unarmed." Demons danced in Rosswell's stomach. "You shouldn't go with me if you don't have a weapon."

  Ollie squeaked. "What makes you think we're unarmed?"