Текст книги "Blue Justice"

Автор книги: Anthony Thomas

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It was getting and I had to call Charlotte’s parents.  It was times like this I wish somebody else could do my job.  But I had to do it.  They had to know.  The phone rang and her mother picked up.

Chapter Seven

For the last three days, I had been staying with Charlotte’s parents.  Though I feared for their safety as well, still, I felt some part of Charlotte near me.  Gloom had set in around the house.  The spark of sunshine that they and I shared was not there.  Her dad, Jimmy Earl, had not been outside to tend to the chickens or the field since Charlotte’s abduction.  Ruthie just sat on the porch all day and most of the night, rocking back and forth humming church hymns.  Every now and then I would go over the case with them, just to keep us talking.

We would jump with excitement every time my phone rang, only to be disappointed that it was just Capt. Davis checking up on us. I guess he was trying to be reassuring but he put us right back into anticipation every time.

When I thought of Charlotte being somewhere cold, dark, away from everyone who loves her, my soul would ignite into anger.  But it was that quiet anger, something between anger and despair. My love was trapped somewhere–out there, against her will–and there was nothing I could do.

I walked out on the porch.  It was raining again.  I saw a flash of lightning in the distance and then heard a roll of thunder.  The rain added to my depression.  I sat down on the swing and rocked slowly, looking out into the sky.  I said a prayer.  I was so deep in thought that I didn’t hear Ruthie come outside.

“I brought you some coffee.”

She rested her hand on my shoulder.  I took the cup from her.

“Thank you, Mrs. Reed.”

“Any time,” she said.

She sat down in her chair and rocked slowly.

“It’s a storm tonight.”

“Yes, ma’am, it is.”

She turned to face me and placed her hand on my knee.

“Honey, its go’n be all right, you hear.  God is working and I know he will keep her safe and bring her home.”

I dropped my head and looked into the cup.

“I just wish I was there, wherever she’s at.”

“I know,” she said.

I stood up and walked to the edge of the porch.  Mrs. Reed started humming another church song.  I knew this song well.  I Got A Feeling That Everything Is Gonna Be Alright.

I could feel the drizzle of rain dancing on my face.  Rain is good sometimes. It’s a sign things are going to grow. It cleans the earth. I took that rain as some sort of confirmation that everything was gonna be all right.  Jimmie Earl was inside watching the news.  He turned the volume up.

“Breaking News, we now have a photo of the serial killer who calls himself The Reaper.  Police are asking that anyone who has seen this man or have made contact with him, to contact the Tuscaloosa Police Department or Crime Stoppers….” He turned the volume down.

I studied his picture on the screen.  I’m gonna get you, you son of a bitch!

*   *   *

She always woke up feeling nauseated with a slight headache, like she had many times before.  Dazed and confused.  She didn’t know how long she had been held, but that she had seen the same man with a bandana covering his face who always brought her McDonalds and a can of Sprite for food.  The only toilet she had was a urinal pan under the bed. Some considerate soul had left her a roll of tissue.

She tried many times screaming for help and even asking the guy why was she abducted but there was no response.  Finally on the second time he came with food, she asked again, “Why am I here?”  This time the man mumbled, “Bait for your boyfriend.”

“Jared?” she muffled.  Though she was shocked by his comment, still she was weak.  She had to eat.  She couldn’t remember when she ate last—or if she had at all since she’d been brought here.  And each time she ate, she didn’t remember anything until she woke up again.

She looked around the small room.  There was nothing but a chair, the bed she was lying on, and a door with a small window in it.  There were no windows.  She was wearing a blue medical gown like the ones patients wear when they are seeing their doctors.  Paint was peeling from the walls. The place looked like a building that had been condemned.

She walked to the door and peered through its window.  She could see light and that the room was big.  But she could not make anything out.

“Help!” she screamed.  But only the walls were listening.

“Help, somebody help!” she yelled again beating the door with the bottom of her fist.

She soon tired herself and slumped to the floor. She might have lost consciousness; even her waking moments seemed like a dream, and a bad one.

She heard a car door slam.  She backed away from the door and onto the other side of the bed.  She assumed it was only one person because she only heard one door slam.  She looked around for something to use as a weapon.  Her vision was still fuzzy and the room was dim in what must have been late afternoon light.  She looked around on the floor only to see the urinal pan under the bed.

It was too late.  Whoever it was that slammed that car door was coming inside.  She got up and lay down in the bed and pretended to be sleep.     She peered out the corner of her eye and saw that the man was peeking through the window in the door.  He unlocked the door.  She heard a sliding click sound.  A deadbolt, she thought.

The door opened and the man wearing the bandana appeared.  He walked over to her and shined a flash light over her.  She kept her eyes closed.  She calmed her breathing.  He then placed a bag on the chair and walked out.  She heard the sliding lock again and keys jingling.  She rolled over to see what was in the bag.  It was a Jack’s Hamburger, plain, with small fries and a can of Sprite.

Her stomach growled.  She hesitated for a moment, thinking that it might be poison, but soon her growling stomach prevailed.  As she ate, she began to piece things together in her mind.  Her food was still warm, which meant she was still either in the city or close to it.  The slammed car door, so close, meant she was on a ground level floor.  

She hurried up and ate.  She knew the man would come back to check on her again and take out the trash.

She started feeling light headed.  She held the burger up to the dim light and saw a residue of white powder.  Probably sleeping pills, she thought. She knew there was a reason she was sleeping so much.

She wrapped the rest of the burger up and placed it in the bag.  She ate the fries because she was going to need her strength.  After she finished everything, she bent the can in the middle and tore it in half.  She then reached under the bed for the urinal pan and filled it as much as she could.

She thought to herself, “It’s now or never.”  She sat on the bed and slumped against the headboard.  She needed him to think she was drugged again and out cold, so she kept her mouth open and slowed her breathing.

The keys jingled again.  Out the corner of her eye she saw the man looking through the window.  The dead bolt clicked.  The man stepped inside.  He shined his flashlight over Charlotte again.  Then he turned to walk out the door.  Charlotte jumped up and splashed him in his face with the urine and then used the half of the can of sprite she tore to rip into the man’s neck. He screamed in agony as the blood flowed down and around his neck.

He cursed. He called her every name she had ever heard and then added a few she hadn’t. She hadn’t killed him but she had hurt him pretty bad.  It gave her a chance to get outside into the big room.  She darted out the door and quickly looked around for a weapon.  She saw a heavy-handle straw broom.  She hit the broom against a chair and broke the straw head off.  By that time her kidnapper had clear his eyes with the bandana and saw her with the broom handle in her hand.  He walked toward her.  She had seen his face before, but where? She wondered.  She backed herself to the door that led to the outside.

He reached out to grab her.  She shifted her body to one side and kicked him in the groin.  He belted out in pain.  Charlotte wasted no time.  She beat him in the head with the broom handle until he was out cold.  She then reached in his pockets and found the car keys.  She ran out the door and got in the black van that was parked outside.  She fidgeted for the right key.  She got the van started and sped away.  She looked back to see that the building they held her in was an old day care center that was on the outskirts of the city.  Nobody had been there in years and the county never got around to tearing it down.

Chapter 8

I got the call from Capt. Davis.  Charlotte was safe!  Some Alabama troopers that were posted up on Hwy 69 noticed a black van fitting the description of the BOLO and executed a traffic stop.  They said Charlotte got out of the van and ran back to the troopers’ cars yelling she was Charlotte Reed and she had just escaped her kidnapper.  Troopers put it out over the radio and gave details of the location that Charlotte gave them.  I put the announcement on speaker phone for her parents to hear.

“SWAT is probably there now as we speak.  But she is safe and sound.” Capt. Davis said with happiness in his voice.

“Where is Charlotte?”

“We are waiting for you at DCH Regional.  She is getting checked out.  By the time you get here she will be ready to go.

“It’s just a formality.  She’s fine.”  I said looking at her mother.

“Tell her I’m on my way.”

Her mom went through the house praising Jesus’ mighty name.  I even whispered a praise myself.  Her dad sat down in his chair in the living room and lit his pipe and wiped his eyes.  With tears in her eyes, Ruthie reached her hand out to me as if she was pushing me to go and get her baby.

“Go on son,” Jimmie Earl said.  He laid his double barrel shot gun on his lap.  “We ok.”

I smiled and raced out the door.

It took fifteen minutes to get from her parents’ house to the hospital. Under normal circumstances it can take up to 25.   I parked my Crown Vic in the parking lot where the ambulances drop off patients.  I flashed my badge at the security officer sitting at the desk.

“Charlotte Reed.”

“Yes sir, she is in Triage Five. Turn right at the corner then left up the hall and on the left.”

“Thanks.”

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Capt. Davis and Chad Caddis standing outside her door.

“Jared, she is inside waiting for you.”

I looked at them both.  “Thank you both.”

“You can thank me by marrying that woman in there.  You are all she been asking for since she got here.”  He smiled and opened the door for me.

She looked up from the nurse that was talking to her and smiled as I walked in.

“Jared, baby.”  She was still crying when I put my arms around her.

We kissed.

“I thank God you are all right.  I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“You mean without…us?” she said. She had an odd smile on her face. I looked at the nurse. She had the same look.

She grabbed my hand and placed it on her belly.  “I’m pregnant.”

*   *   *

Burncutt interviewed Tabitha at the Texaco she worked at by the lake.

“So what do you remember about him that day?”  He pointed to the picture of Carl Minton.

“Well he came in wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans. He carried a fishing pole. He made a phone call at that payphone and then a cab picked him up.”

“Anything else?”

“No– else unusual.  He paid for his food and two packs of Marlboro cigarettes and told me to keep the change.”

Burncutt thought for a minute.  “Damn! The lake.”

“Come on, we have to go check out something.” Burncutt took his assistant Glass with him to their unmarked Crown Vic and raced out of the parking lot.

The lake was just a ¼ mile ahead.  Burncutt turned left on the dirt road leading to the lake.  He stopped the car and put it in park.

“Glass, be careful not to disturb these tire tracks.  It looks like a truck has been through here but never came out.”

They both pulled their weapons and walked alongside the dirt road until they got to the embankment.  The high noon sun was glaring down upon them and also it reflected off something in the lake.

A small area of a truck bumper was barely below the water level.

Burncutt called it in.  Within minutes, police, media, and onlookers were all over that place.  A heavy wrecker pulled the truck from the lake.  CSU guys took photos as the truck was pulled ashore.  Inside the truck, they found a switchblade and a pair of uniforms, one with blood on it.  They also found a wet pack of Marlboros with maybe a couple of cigarettes left.  Capt. Davis walked over to Burncutt.

“This is the truck,” said Burncutt, pointing to the Billy’s Pest Control sign on the driver door.

“We found a knife and some other stuff.  CSU is tagging and bagging everything now.”

“Good work Detective, anything else?”

“Yes sir,” we talked with the clerk and she gave us the info that led me here, plus she stated that she saw him get in a cab.”

“Ok Burncutt, follow up on it and I’ll let Detective Jackson know what’s going on.  And, oh yeah–the next time you decide to go to the chief without going through your chain of command, I will have your badge.  Do you understand?”

Burncutt looked crushed. The high horse he was on reared up and dumped him off.  “Yes sir.”

“Come on Glass; let’s go follow up on this lead.”

Chapter Nine

I had never been so happy in my whole life.  We had a nice drive from the hospital to her parents’ house.  Her mom came to the door teary eyed.  Her dad walked slowly behind her still carrying his shotgun.  Chad pulled his patrol car behind mine.  I was glad he was here.  I needed to go back to my place for a shower and a change of clothes.

I had never seen so much hugging and kissing.  I walked her inside and made her comfortable.  It didn’t last long because once she told her mom that she was pregnant, her mom started praising Jesus again.  She reached out to Charlotte and hugged her and for a moment it seemed like they were communicating telepathically.  They both smiled.

“Ahem.” I cleared my throat for attention.  “And I would like to say something please.”

All eyes were on me.

“Charlotte, have a seat, Baby.”  I reached in my pocket for the One Carat Marquis shaped diamond ring I had been keeping in the console for about a month.  I knelt down and held her left hand.  I looked at her parents.  Her dad was sitting in his favorite chair with her mom standing next to him and holding hands.

“Mr. and Mrs. Reed, I love your daughter and I want you to know that I plan to love her forever and a day.  I looked at Charlotte who was now breathing fast.

“Charlotte?  Will you marry me?”

“YES! YES! YES!”

I slipped the ring on her finger.  We kissed as if nobody was in the room but us.

“Ahem.” Her dad cleared his throat.  He mother snapped at him.

“Oh Jimmy Earl, leave them kids alone.  They are grown and they are getting married and they are having us a grandbaby.”

Jimmy Earl smiled and got up and hugged his wife of 40 years and kissed her like nobody else was in the room.  Ruthie had a puzzled look on her face.

“What?” asked Jimmy Earl  “I still got it.”

“Yes you do baby,” said a smiling Ruthie.

Charlotte rubbed her right index finger on the back of her left index finger.  “Shame.”

Her mother snapped.  “What, that’s how you got here.”

Everybody in the house was laughing including Chad.

“Congratulations Detective.”

“Thanks Chad.”  We shook hands.

“Chad, I need you to stay here until I get back.  I have to run to my place in town and take care of some things and I will be back within an hour.”

“No problem, take your time.  Oh and hey, on your way back, get me a taco or something.  I haven’t eaten all day.”

I looked at Ruthie.  She loved hearing words like that.

“Well Chad, you are in for a treat.  How about some Salisbury steak, sweet peas, mash potatoes with cut up bacon in it and some of my homemade biscuits.”

Chad looked at me.  “Take your time, I ain’t going anywhere.

Charlotte walked me out to the porch.  I really didn’t want to leave but I couldn’t hide the fact that I needed a shower much longer.

“Hurry back ok?”

“With lights flashing and sirens blasting.”

She laughed.  We kissed and slowly let go of each other’s hand.

I got in my car and backed out the driveway.  I was in high spirits.  All in the world felt right and I looked forward to being a dad. I couldn’t help but look back in the rear view mirror as Charlotte stood on the porch waving bye.  It was a beautiful sight to see.

Dark was setting in as I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex.  I got out of the car.  The air was cool and moist so I grabbed my faithful leather jacket and walked up the stairs to my apartment and turned the key.

“Ah! Home sweet home.”  I had just closed the door when I caught a glimpse Carl Minton sitting in my kitchen with a gun pointed at me. It was my spare gun, the one I kept under the mattress.

“Well, Detective it’s good to finally see you again.  I didn’t know where you were but I was sure you would come back here.”

He saw me look toward the sink.

“Oh, I do apologize for leaving the place dirty, but I thought a maid would come in to clean.”

“What do you want?”

“Haven’t you figured that out by now?”

“No. Enlighten me.”

“Well for starters, I had everything planned out as soon as Judge Middlebrooks brought me into this. After killing his wife, I knew I could do it. I knew it was going to be good. I could do what I’d always dreamed of doing. I would kill Nancy Durham, Assistant DA Dave Robinson—and  all the others who sat on the jury and sentenced my daddy to the needle.”

“I’ve sat on a few juries but I can’t seem to remember anyone with the last name of Minton.”

“No–you wouldn’t remember that name, but you should remember Dr. William Dancy.”

The name shot through me like a rocket.

“Yeah, I remember him.  He molested and killed some underage girls including his own daughter.” I tried to put two and two together here.  “Which I take it to be your sister?”

Keeping the gun on me, he got up from the table.

“I was in love with my father and you helped take him away.”

I stayed silent and let him talk. This was getting weird.

“Yes, he killed those girls,” Minton said. “But his daughter is still alive.”

He moved closer to me with the gun still pointed at me.

“Well if she is alive, where is she?”

“Right here holding the gun in your face.”

The shock hit me like a ton of bricks.  “You are Melanie Dancy?”

“In the flesh, so to speak.”

I had to keep her/him talking.  If he/she moved a little more closer, I could try and take him.

“So where were you all these years?”

He looked at me.  “My mother took me away when I was 12 and filled my head with how evil my dad was.  But she was just jealous that he didn’t want her anymore.”

“One more step,” I thought, as he moved closer to me.

“So why now after all this time? That was when I first came onto the force–at least 8 years ago?”

“Come on, Detective, you know I couldn’t get around until I was of legal age.” He began to move toward me.

This time he had stepped right where I wanted him.  I flung the leather jacket in his face and rushed him. I grabbed the gun and wrestled it out of his hand and punched him in the face. Being a former woman, he wasn’t very big, but it surprised me how strong he was He didn’t go down right away. He was a man now; I was gonna have to fight him like a man.  I kicked him in his abdomen and punched him again. He lay sprawled on the floor.  I straddled him and put my handcuffs on him.  I got up, keeping the gun pointed at him.

I picked up my phone and dialed 911, without even once taking my eyes off him.

Patrol cars were there in minutes. Two officers came in and I said to the female, “She’s a woman.”  They looked at each other, but proceeded to action.

The female officer did the search.  She was thorough.  She had found a handcuff key under Minton’s tongue.  She called in another female officer and they took Melanie/Minton into the bedroom and closed the door.  When they came back out, they had a six-inch switchblade and another handcuff key in their possession.

The finally took Minton downstairs and put him in a patrol car.  Officers were standing on each side with M4 Assault rifles.  I walked over to the car and opened the rear door.

“You answered everything else, but I want to know–why did you kidnap Charlotte Reed?”

He looked at me, puzzled.  “Who is Charlotte Reed?”

“You mean you didn’t kidnap her?” I asked.

“Why? Is she your girlfriend?  Perhaps I should have studied you more, Detective.”

Chapter Ten

Another patrol car pulled up behind Chad’s and squeaked to a stop outside of the Reed’s house.  Ruthie peeked through the curtains and saw two people getting out.

“Looks like you got some company, Chad.”

Chad looked surprised.  “Hold on a minute.  Don’t answer that door.  Let me make a call.”

He dialed Capt. Davis and put him on speaker.

“Yeah, what is it?”  The captain asked.

“Captain this is an emergency, I need to know if you sent anybody out here to the Reed’s home to relieve me.”

“No. WHY?”

“What about the Chief?”

“Hell, nobody knows where he is!”

“Ok, Capt., get some units here fast.”

Davis was silent for a second.  “All right. Will do.  Be safe”

Chad signaled for everybody to be quiet.

“What’s going on, Chad?  asked Charlotte.

“I don’t know yet, but I do know that nobody is supposed to be out here but me.”

“I need all of you to be quiet and get back toward the bedroom. Dammit, I don’t have my shotgun.”

Jimmy Earl pointed over to his gun cabinet.  “All of ‘em are loaded.”

Chad didn’t hesitate.  He grabbed a 12 gauge off the rack and pumped it.  Ruthie and Charlotte grabbed the other 12 gauge and a bolt action rifle.

“We ain’t running in our own home,” said Jimmy Earl.  He cocked both hammers back on his double barrel and laid out a handful of shells on the coffee table.

“Ok– everybody get behind something and get ready.”

There was a knock at the door.

“Who’s there?” yelled Chad.

“It’s Burncutt. Glass and I were sent by Capt. Davis to relieve you and look after everybody.”

“You know Burncott, I just talked with Capt. Davis and he said he hasn’t sent anybody.”

“Open the door, Chad.”

Chad signaled Jimmy Earl to watch the window for the other person.

“No can do, buddy.  You are gonna have to kick it down.”

Burncutt began beating hard on the door.  Charlotte turned pale and said, “I know that voice.”

“What do you mean?” Chad asked her.

“It’s the man who kidnapped me!”

Suddenly, there was a glass break in the back bedroom.  Ruthie turned and pumped two shots through the window.  There was a short scream and followed by a thump that sounded like somebody falling on the floor of the porch.  Ruthie had grazed Detective Glass. Burncutt heard the shots and backed away from the door.  He posted himself on the other side of the patrol car and starting firing madly into the house.  Chad looked up and saw that Burncutt was by the car.  He looked at Jimmy Earl. “He’s out there at the car.  I’m going around back and see if I can sneak up on him.”  Jimmy Earl nodded and moved toward the window.  He let both barrels go. The car dropped and he knew he had got the tire.  He went toward the bedroom where Ruthie had shot.  He went out the window.  He saw Glass crouched against the house, looking frightened and hurt.

He stepped over her and cautiously crept around the corner of the house.  He could see rounds hitting the car.  The Reeds were hammering him.  Chad sneaked quietly to where he could see the front of the house.

Chad tried to run up on Burncutt from his blind side, but Burncutt saw him.

Burncutt fired and hit Chad.  Chad fell. Jimmy Earl saw what had happened and looked back at Charlotte who was holding her rifle.  “Baby girl, give me that rifle.”

Jimmy Earl waited until Burncutt raised his head and then fired. The shot hit him in his right shoulder.

Burncutt screamed out in pain.  By that time, lights and sirens filled the night.

Patrol cars were parked all over the place.  A couple of officers handcuffed Burncutt and stripped him of his weapons and sat him in the backseat of their patrol car.  Another officer went over to check on Chad, who was trying to get up on his own.

“Oomph–that hurt so bad!” said Chad.

The EMT’s rushed to Chad and took off his shirt and his bullet proof vest.  He had a burn mark of where Burncutt’s .40-caliber round had made contact but the vest stopped the bullet.

The EMT’s also checked on Glass.  She had a serious wound but she was all right.  She had caught one slug to the shoulder, nearly at the chest .

Everybody in the Reeds’ house was ok.

*     *    *

I got out of my car and rushed up to the porch and opened the door.

“Is everybody ok?”

“Yes. We are fine.”  Ruthie was wiping her hands on her housecoat.

Charlotte ran up to me and hugged me.  I held her so tight.

“If it wasn’t for Chad, I don’t know what would have happened.”

Chad was now sitting on the porch in the swing letting the EMT’s check him out.  He gave me thumbs up.

“Who was it? I asked, looking at Chad for the answer.

“Burncutt and Glass.”  I thought I couldn’t be shocked more than I have been already tonight, but I was.  “Anybody around to answer questions?”

“Yeah, Burncutt is in the patrol car.  Glass is gonna be okay but she took a shot to the shoulder. She didn’t seem to know what this was all about…but she was doing what Burncutt told her to,” He was sluggish, as the morphine was kicking in.

I walked out to the patrol car.  It took everything in me along with Capt. Davis and another officer, to hold me back from Burncutt.  I wanted him bad, but I needed some answers too.  I calmed down enough to open the door.

“Why, dammit–why did you kidnap Charlotte?”

Burncutt laughed.

The EMT’s came over to the car to bandage him.  I told them to wait.

“I’m waiting.” I said, frustrated.

“You mean you haven’t figured it out yet?”

I had heard that once tonight.  I answered him the same way I had answered Minton.

“Enlighten me on what I should know.”

“Eight years ago, you had busted my father for manufacturing Meth.  He went up the river and my mother went down in the gutter.

I tried to hide my shock.  “Go on.”

“We lost our home.  We lived in shelters, scrounging for food from garbage cans.”

I looked away for a second but then focused on Burncutt.

“I spent my life making myself into the thing I hated most, a cop! I wanted to get close enough to you to make you suffer as much as I had.”

Capt. Davis looked at him.  “Well, you are under arrest for murder, kidnapping, attempted…”

“Wait whoa, murder? I didn’t murder anybody.  I mean—yeah, I kidnapped your girl—but I

didn’t murder anybody.”

Capt. Davis turned to look at me.

“What’s on your mind, Jared?”

“I’m not sure.  I’ll call you when I got something.” I was trying to get the connection here. They

weren’t working together, but everybody in the terrible events in recent days seemed to have one

thing in common: Me.

Except for one.

I ran back up to the porch and kissed Charlotte.

“I have to go take care of something.  You will be safe now.  You have nothing else to worry

About.”

“I love you baby, and be safe.”

“I will.  On second thought Captain, I need you to come with me,” I said, getting into my car.

Chapter 11

We turned out the lights as we pulled outside the home of Judge Middlebrooks.  Minton had told us that the judge had put out the hit on his own wife. The only unanswered question is, why?

I turned the police radio all the way down.  We exited the car quietly trying not to make any sound.  We left the car doors slightly ajar.  We both moved up to the house.  Capt. Davis moved a little slower than me. He was sweating bullets now, more nervous than I’d ever seen him. This should be a routine arrest—I wondered what was bugging him.  We looked inside the windows.  The house was dark.  I remember seeing the reflection of one light in a room in the back as we were walking up.

I signaled Capt. Davis to follow me.  We quietly sneaked around the lit window. The window was slightly opened and we looked inside.  There he was, Judge Middlebrooks, holding a gun and pointing it at Chief Pate who was tied up.  They were in a hallway that was connected to the room we were at.

“Keep an eye on him while I call dispatch.” I whispered.

“Ok.”

It didn’t take me long but I had to repeat a few words to the dispatcher because I was whispering.  She was new but finally got the message.  You have to learn to listen well when somebody is whispering, but it’s part of the job.

“I’m going to try and get inside.”

“Let’s wait for backup.”

“It may be too late by then,” I whispered.

“Okay,” he whispered.  “Be careful.”

The window moved with ease.  I looked around to make sure I wouldn’t fall on anything when I cleared the window.  Judge Middlebrooks was angry at the chief, and using his gun to make the point repeatedly. Then I heard what I had come to hear.

“You slept with my wife!”

He then hit the chief with the gun.

I was almost through the window when he was about to hit the chief again.  I felt something give way as I stepped down on the floor. Loose floorboard probably.  Whatever it was, it got the judge’s attention.  He didn’t ask any questions.  He started shooting at the window.  I fell on the floor and took cover at the corner of the wall.

“Give it up Judge, this is the police.  This is Detective Jackson.  We have you surrounded.”

I peeked around the corner.  He fired a shot down the hallway.

“Look Judge, we know that you had your wife killed because she was having an affair with Chief Pate.  So come on and give yourself up.  Enough blood has been shed.  This won’t make it right and you know it!”

“You don’t have a clue, Detective.” The judge was getting all misty-eyed. He began to choke on his words.

“You don’t know how it feels to only love one woman,” he began, reliving his whole life in relationship to the woman he’d had killed. “To give her anything she desires, but it’s never enough. I grew up dreaming of a woman as beautiful as Julia was, made myself into this man I became, all so that I might deserve her when the time came. You talk about poor? I grew up in a house where a square meal was a luxury! I worked my way through law school doing anything I could, just so I could become a gentleman, worthy of a good life with a woman who appreciated fine things.”