Axel and Jaxson started toward the car when Lt. Wilson yelled for Axel to come back.
“Axel you were in there. Was it a good shoot?”
“Yeah. There was nothing Gary could've done to avoid shooting her.”
“That’s what I thought. I went ahead and called our Union anyway. They’ll have an attorney at the station for the interview with you guys.”
“Thank you,” Axel responded and then turned and started to walk away.
“Gary will have three days off while the investigation of the shooting is completed. I’ll call DJ Thompson and have him report upstairs tomorrow to help you out. He can do the things Gary normally does until Gary returns.”
“That'll be great,” Axel remarked.
Lt. Wilson joined Beck inside the house. Axel, Gary, and Jaxson returned to the station to sit through a few hours of questions regarding the shooting.
Jaxson was the first to speak with Internal Affairs, and after his interview was finished, he left the station without speaking to anyone else and headed to his hotel room. He still didn’t know what to do regarding the FBI. After all, he wasn’t even supposed to be there.
Axel was called in for the interview before Gary. The interview went rather fast. The union attorney spoke to Axel and Gary before going in. She then sat through the interview with each of them. After Axel was done, he went to his desk and told Gary that they were ready for him.
“How did it go?”
“I told them just how it happened. You did what needed to be done. Elaine was going to kill her husband, and you had to stop her. If I had entered the room first, I would’ve taken the shot as well.”
“Did I Axel? I mean, did I do what needed to be done? Did I really save someone?” Gary asked as he stood up to walk toward the interview room.
Axel sat down at his desk. He had already decided not to leave until Gary was finished with his interview. As he sat there, he began to think about Amanda when suddenly he remembered that they had a date this evening. Axel looked at down at his watch and saw that it was getting late. He then reached for the phone to let Amanda know that he would still make it tonight, but it may be a little later. When his hand reached the cell phone in his pocket, it suddenly rang.
“Detective Frost here.”
“Detective Frost, this is Officer Taft. I’m at Memorial Hospital and was told to call when the victim was out of surgery,” the voice on the other end of the phone explained.
“Yes, what do you have?”
“Mr. Lambert is in stable but serious condition. I asked the doctor what he thought, and he said that he believes he’ll recover.”
“Thanks for the call.”
“No problem.”
Axel hung up the phone and ran down the hall just as Gary was reaching for the doorknob to enter the interview room.
“Gary! We just got word from the hospital, and you did. Save someone I mean.”
“Thanks, pal, but was he really worth saving?”
Axel walked back down the hall and took out his cell phone once more and called Amanda.
***
Axel had stayed at the police station until Gary was finished with his interview. He wanted to make sure that Gary was okay before leaving to meet Amanda at Mario’s restaurant. Axel called Carol and told her what had happened and that she should call him if she needed him for anything. Jaxson Locke had not called or said anything about returning the next day to help with the PPK investigation. Axel thought that Agent Locke was withholding something. He felt that Locke wanted to say more than what he had to the two detectives earlier. Axel wanted to know what it was.
Traffic was heavy, and Axel ended up pulling into the parking lot of Mario’s a little late. He looked around for Amanda’s car but was unable to locate it; he was thankful he had arrived before she had. It would allow him time to wind down and think of a lighter topic for conversation other than the shooting.
Axel backed his car into a spot that afforded him an easy exit after dinner, and it also allowed him to observe it from the restaurant. As he walked toward the front of the building, he checked to see that the fresh shirt that he had taken from his locker before leaving the station was straight.
He also made sure that his seams ran down the middle of his body. It was a habit that he developed during his time in the Army. Looking down, he tucked his shirt into his pants further using his thumbs. When he looked up, he saw Amanda walking over toward him. She was wearing a caring smile as she walked away from the parking space upfront that now occupied her little car.
Axel smiled back and pulled his thumbs from his waistline to wave at her.
How silly do I look?
He felt embarrassed, and it was made worse when Amanda walked up and pulled his shirt out of his pants and twisted it to the right.
“Now that’s a little better. You need to relax.”
“Thank you, Amanda. My mom’s out of town this week, and no one was around to help me get dressed,” Axel said jokingly.
The two laughed, and she moved in toward his lips with hers and kissed him softly.
“Are you sure this is a good time to have dinner? I heard what happened today.”
“I thought I might’ve seen you over there when the news crews arrived, but I didn’t.”
“I was in Black Forest, completing interviews with the local residents.”
“Did they have anything good to say?”
“The usual. You know. Stuff about how the family was very nice and that they’re shocked something like that could happen in their neighborhood.”
“They’re probably saying the same thing in the Woodlake Estates neighborhood,” Axel remarked as he took Amanda by the hand as they started toward the entrance.
***
The smoke swirled in the air above Jeramiah. He placed the skull in its customary position above the crossbones at the base of his new knife. The rays from the setting sun that were coming in from the window behind him allowed the blade to shine as he moved it back and forth in the air.
With his right hand, he held the handle and slowly ran the blade across the left thumb of his other hand. A small amount of blood ran down the side into his palm. He then lifted the knife and stared at his image in the blade that now was wet with fresh blood.
Closing his eyes, he stood and ran the knife through the air as if he was a Samurai with a sword, preparing for battle. The pain in his leg was now gone. The numerous pills that he had ingested dulled the pain and his mind.
Jeramiah was still in his own reality when he heard the television in the background and stopped to turn his attention to it.
“Sources say that Elaine Lambert was about to kill her husband in what police believe would have been a murder-suicide. The murder was stopped mid-way through by Detective Gary Portland, who led officers into the Lambert home where he shot and killed the suspect Elaine Lambert. Police are also saying that Elaine Lambert is the main suspect in the murder of Sharon Douglas that took place just a few short days ago near Acacia Park in Colorado Springs.”
Jeramiah listened intently to the details as he moved closer to the television.
“Was it a love affair between Mr. Lambert and Mrs. Douglas that drove Elaine Lambert to kill? Mr. Douglas has denied the accusation, but our sources say otherwise. I’m Tina Jones with Channel 12 action news.”
Jeramiah smiled as he remembered witnessing the murder in the park just a few short days ago. Closing his eyes, he recalled how he had started to approach the car that Sharon Douglas was sitting in when Elaine Lambert walked up and shot Sharon in the head.
Jeramiah had learned that the two detectives had planned to meet with a possible witness, and he knew that he needed to make the necessary arrangements to kill her before she could talk. From his view on the sidewalk on the passenger side of the car, he saw the blood spatter onto the window and then he watched as Sharon Douglas slowly slumped forward onto the steering wheel.
He then watched Elaine Lambert walk away fro
m the scene, which made Jeramiah laugh. Never had he been able to kill someone in that fashion and then just walk away. In the middle of the day in a crowd of witnesses.
***
John had heard of his only child’s death by phone. He was alone, and all the lights were off except the small lamp in the corner of the room. The lamp illuminated the home office on the main level of his vast mansion. All the items that were generally found on top of his desk were now scattered across the room. The disarray of the office would have been worse if John wasn’t confined to a wheelchair. After hearing the news of his daughter, Elaine, John had lost control and went into a fit of rage. He ordered his staff to leave him alone for the time being, and every person working for him knew that when Johnathon Willard Davis ordered them to do something, they had better do it.
As the reporter covered the story on the television, John closed his eyes and allowed himself the opportunity to remember his precious daughter Elaine as he saw her. For John, Elaine was not the distraught killer housewife. No, for John, Elaine was his one and only precious gift.
He saw her not as a woman but as a child in the backyard bringing him his tea in a little tiny plastic teacup that he had to grasp with his thumb and index finger. Raising her on his own, he was on many occasions her only playmate. There were no other children for Elaine to play with, and Elaine’s mother had died giving birth to her.
“Mr. Davis.”
John opened his bloodshot, watery eyes and turned toward the door to his office where his assistant Roger had entered and said his name.
“Yes? What is it?” John asked.
“I’m sorry to interrupt you sir, but the hospital called, and your son-in-law is resting. He can have visitors in the morning.”
“Roger bring me my phone, please.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Visitors? Richard will have visitors soon,” John Davis mumbled to himself and then closed his eyes once more to return to his memories of his precious Elaine.
***
Gary pulled into his driveway, placed the car in park, and shut off the engine. He sat there in the driver’s seat, thinking about the shooting. It wasn’t his first shooting in the many years that he had spent working as a police officer. He had been placed in that same position to take a life before when he was a very young patrol cop. In that situation, he had felt bad, just as he did now, but that time he knew that the shooting was necessary.
This time he wondered if killing someone like Elaine Lambert to protect a man like Richard Lambert was worth it. Gary believed deep in his heart that she would not have shot him or Axel. In his eyes and mind, Elaine was a threat to only one person, and that person was a pathetic human being that could care little for anyone else except for himself. The two detectives weren't the cause of Elaine’s unhappiness. Gary heard everything she had said from the hallway.
Gary sat there in the driver’s seat of his car for a moment, unaware that his wife, Carol, had come out to the driveway where she now stood beside his car. She had to knock on the window to get her husband’s attention.
“Are you going to sit in the car all-night sweetheart?” She asked softly.
Gary smiled, opened the door, and got out to stand next to his wife. Nothing was said between the two. She just returned his smile, letting him know that she already knew. She knew the man that she was married to, and she also knew he did what he had to do. She simply stood on her tiptoes, kissed his cheek, took him by the hand, and led him into the house.
Chapter 27
“How are you doing with this whole thing?” Amanda asked as Axel drank from his glass.
“With the shooting today or with the whole PPK investigation?”
“I guess both. I mean, I’m sure it all runs together for you. What I mean to say is that, here all this time, you’re investigating the murders committed by PPK and then suddenly you’re at a house where your partner shoots and kills someone.”
“I was in the room when it happened,” Axel said and then drank from the glass once more.
“You mean that you and Gary entered the house alone?”
“No, I mean, yes. What I mean is that we had cover there, but Gary and I entered the front of the house while this uniformed officer and this FBI agent entered the back.”
“The FBI is involved now?” Amanda asked quickly.
Axel spoke before thinking and wished he could have taken it back. Unfortunately, it was out there on the table in front of his news reporter friend. Information like the FBI being involved in an investigation was a top story for any reporter.
“Amanda, I know that we’ve talked about things concerning the investigation of PPK, but things we say to one another in private are still private, correct?”
“Axel anything you say to me in private will never see the inside of a newsreel. If no camera is present, it’s just you and me. I respect our privacy as I hope you respect it too,” Amanda explained as she reached across the table and took his hand into hers.
“I do. Thank you. Well then, the FBI sent a guy over, and he’s supposed to just look on as an observer or something, I think. He’s been more than that now. He came up with another profile, or theory if you will, for PPK.”
“Wow, what did he say? Who does he think it is?” Amanda asked.
“Remember, we’re really off the record now,” Axel reminded her.
“Agreed. Now, let me have it.”
“He thinks like I do. He believes PPK is someone in law enforcement or the security profession. That’s something I didn’t share with anyone before this agent arrived.”
“Why not?”
Before Axel could answer, their waitress reached between them and placed their food down. Both paused the conversation and slightly moved back to wait for the waitress to leave.
“If I had suggested that PPK was a cop or had anything to do with law enforcement, everyone would’ve immediately turned it around, saying that I was accusing a cop on the department. I would’ve gotten the cold blue shoulder.”
“You said in law enforcement or security. That doesn’t have to mean a cop,” Amanda stated as she took a bite of her lasagna.
“That’s where this Agent Locke and I differ. He thinks it could be anyone in law enforcement or in security. I think it’s someone in our department, but I haven’t told him or anyone else that theory until just now.”
“What?” Amanda asked as she leaned forward across the table.
“Amanda, when the first killings occurred, I made detailed plans to catch this guy. I arranged to have unmarked cars parked near the entrances of North Cheyenne Cañon and Rampart Range every weekend, trying to catch this guy before another murder happened.”
“Axel you couldn’t have predicted when he would kill someone, and then hope that one of those unmarked units would’ve caught him in the act.”
“You don’t understand. That’s not the point. Only cops knew that these undercover cars would be there on those particular nights.”
“So? I guess I’m still missing what you’re trying to explain to me,” Amanda admitted.
“Okay. The killings continued on those nights that we had stakeouts in place. PPK just used a different spot to take his victims to. Before the stakeout nights, PPK used North Cheyenne Caon and Rampart Range exclusively to either have his way with his victims and then kill them or to dump their bodies after he killed them someplace else. This was true until the very first stakeout that I organized. Then, on those particular nights, he used the other locations. But, when we weren't watching North Cheyenne Caon and Rampart Range, he went back and used them again,” Axel explained before taking a bite of the spaghetti noodles that he had spun onto his fork.
“Do you think it was a cop on the stakeout?” Amanda asked.
“No. There are so many entrances to those areas that extra cops were used, and the department paid overtime. When cops hear about overtime, word gets around fast, and everyone knows what it’s for. Besides PPK continued to kill on those ni
ghts but he did it at other locations so it couldn’t have been one of those cops.”
Axel stopped talking for a moment to drink from his glass. Amanda sat quietly using her fork to move the remaining parts of her lasagna around her plate.
“I think PPK just heard about it from other cops working the overtime,” Axel added.
“You haven’t told anyone about this yet?”
“Just you.”
“Why not, Gary?”
“Gary is my friend and partner. He would’ve told me that it was crazy to believe a cop was doing these things to young girls. Besides, Gary tells everything. I love the guy to death, but he can’t keep his mouth shut to save his life. And when Agent Locke said it was someone in law enforcement Gary got pissed.”
“Sir, can I get you another drink?” The waitress walked over and asked.
“No, I think I’m okay, but thank you,” Axel answered.
The two finished their meal as their conversation turned toward the brighter side of everyday life. She asked him about his interests, and he, in turn, asked about her future goals. They were, in a sense feeling each other out more than they'd had the opportunity to do in the past when they were alone together.
The two said goodbye in the parking lot with a warm, passionate, goodnight kiss. Axel waited for her to pull out of the parking lot before walking to his car to head home.
On the trip back to his house, Axel’s thoughts drifted back and forth from Gary to Amanda to PPK. As he drove past Peterson Air Force Base, he thought about turning around and going over to Gary’s house but decided it was too late for a visit. He wanted and needed to know that his friend was okay.
The lights of the city faded in the background, and the fields next to the road grew dark as he drove west away from Colorado Springs. He turned the radio up and listened to a familiar love song.
Once again, he thought about Amanda and wondered if she was someone he could fall in love with, or if she could fall in love with him for that matter. Unconsciously he began to daydream about being with her and having her in his life on a more committed level. He imagined them going to the lake during the summer and riding on his jet ski together while Gary slaved over the grill, making hamburgers. Bathing suit… Axel smiled as he imagined Amanda lying in the sun next to the water wearing a tiny bikini.
Heartbeats of a Killer Page 16
