The tightness in Lars’s chest seemed to increase as he watched her face, her eyes clenched against her tears.
“Are you okay?” he murmured.
Jess opened her eyes again as she took a shuddering breath. “I ache all over, and my legs still don’t work as well as they used to, but the doctor doesn’t think the effects will last. He said he’d sign me out. I need to go to the police station.”
Lars shook his head. “You need to go to Janie’s house and lie down.”
“I’m fine, Lars.” Her mouth was a thin line. “I need to make a statement about Dahlia.”
“Dahlia’s not going anywhere. You look like you’re still in shock. And I’ve got my orders. You’re supposed to go to Janie’s for now.”
Jess took another breath, and then blew it out, closing her eyes as Jack squirmed against her shoulder. “Okay, maybe you’ve got a point. I’ve never been so tired in my life.”
“Right. You need to sleep for twelve hours or so. After I drop you off, I’ll go over to the police station to see what’s going on. I’ll come back for you if they need you.”
“But…” Jess yawned.
Lars put a hand on her back, rubbing lightly across her shoulders, fighting the desire to pull her against him. “It’s okay, Jess, trust me.”
Her eyes were stormy seas again as she looked up. “I do. Believe me, I do.”
Lars nodded, his chest tight. “Good. Now you can tell me all about it on the way to Janie’s. I’ve only heard Docia’s version, which sounded way too weird to be accurate.”
Jess closed her eyes. “Oh, Mr. Toleffson, sir, believe me, you haven’t begun to hear weird yet.”
Chapter Twenty
Pete got to the police station around ten minutes after he’d taken Docia’s call, just long enough to exchange his paint-spattered T-shirt and jeans for something more respectable. Technically, he should have been called by somebody who’d actually been involved in arresting Dahlia—the arresting officer or the desk officer. But he figured nobody was exactly operating at peak performance levels right now. Kidnapping and stun gun assault weren’t all that common in Konigsburg.
Hell, they weren’t all that common in Des Moines, where he’d spent a lot of years as a prosecutor before moving to Texas.
Erik glanced up as he walked in, then turned back to his prisoner.
Dahlia sat beside his desk, looking too small and frail to have done all that Docia had said she’d done. But every time he thought about Jess Carroll and her son, and how close she’d come to losing him, Pete wanted to punch somebody. Possibly Dahlia, although possibly himself for having been too dumb to catch on to what she was up to in time to stop her. Which made no sense, since nobody else had seen this coming either. But then nothing associated with this whole debacle made much sense as far as Pete could see.
He glanced around the station. By all rights, every cop in town should be in here checking out the nasty kidnapper, given how rare serious crime was in Konigsburg. At the moment, though, he didn’t see anyone except Erik and the dispatcher, Helen Kretschmer, sitting behind her desk at the front. Helen threw an occasional narrow-eyed glance in Dahlia’s direction, but she wasn’t showing a whole lot of interest otherwise. Everybody else was probably still out directing traffic.
Pete pulled up a spare chair beside Erik’s desk as Erik leaned back to watch Dahlia. “So who paid you to snatch the baby?”
Dahlia glanced at Pete, then shook her head. “I didn’t snatch any baby, Mr. Toleffson. I found that child in the middle of the aisle. His mother must have been too busy to watch him the way she should have. I was trying to return him when she jumped me.”
Erik gave her a sour grin. “Oh, nice one! It might even work if it weren’t for the Taser.”
Dahlia shrugged. “How was I to know she was the kid’s mother? She lunged at me. I had to protect myself.”
“You met her yesterday. You knew it was her baby.”
Dahlia gave him a dry smile. “I’ve got a lousy memory.”
“So why did you Taser the guy at the booth?”
“Same deal. Protecting myself and the kid.”
“And the things you said about how much the baby was worth that were heard by at least six or eight other people? And the fact that you tried to Taser me too, even though I was in uniform?”
Dahlia’s smile was thin. “I know a very good lawyer.”
“I’m sure you do, babe, but it’s not going to help you much. That Taser is police issue only. I’m willing to bet when we check the registration, it won’t be in your name. Would you like to call that lawyer now?”
“I got the Taser on the Internet.” Dahlia’s eyes widened. “Surely that’s not illegal, officer. I had no idea it might be. And no, I’m not ready for my lawyer yet.”
Erik sighed, raising his gaze to Pete. “Your turn.”
Pete shook his head. “Not much to talk about here. Assault. Kidnapping. Illegal weapon. You’re going down, lady.”
Dahlia leaned back in her chair. “All right. Enough preliminaries. You two need to call whoever you call to make a deal. He’s going to want to hear what I have to say.”
“That would be me. I’m the Assistant County Attorney.” Pete frowned, folding his arms across his chest. “Of course, you might prefer the County Attorney himself. Only the office is closed for the holidays. But you can wait around here in a cell until Monday. There’s even a television set down the hall you can sort of see. Or we could always send you over to the county lock-up. Of course, Sheriff Friesenhahn’s a lot harder to con out of anything.”
Dahlia narrowed her eyes, scowling. “Very funny. Let’s get this discussion going. And I’m guessing you’ll want it to be in private.” She cast a quick glance in Helen’s direction. Helen stared back, unsmiling.
Pete cocked an eyebrow at Erik. “Any space available around here?”
Erik shrugged. “Olema’s office. He wouldn’t be happy about it, but he’s off deer hunting until Monday. I don’t figure he’s got much need for it at the moment.”
“Good enough.”
Five minutes later, Pete was seated at Claude Olema’s desk, trying to ignore the numerous pictures on the wall showing the chief with a succession of bloody dead animals.
Dahlia sat opposite him, cradling a Diet Coke in her lap. “We ready to go here?”
Pete ignored her, turning to Erik. “I’ve already got an outline of what happened from Docia. You want to go through it for me again?”
Erik shrugged. “She shocked Jess with her Taser and grabbed Jack out of his playpen at the booth, then took off for the exit. Jess managed to follow her, even though she’d been shocked a couple of times. People at the booths kept Dahlia from getting away and called for help. I got there before she could get out the exit and took her into custody.”
“What did she use to shock Jess?”
“Taser M26. Power turned up close to max.” Erik’s voice was bland but his eyes snapped.
“Right.” Pete turned toward Dahlia. “Assault and Battery. Kidnapping. You’re looking at major jail time here, Miss…what is your last name, anyway?”
“Smith.” Dahlia gave him a bland smile.
Erik’s smile was equally bland, but his eyes were like anthracite.
“How did you happen to pick her up?” Pete asked him.
“One of the booth-owners called security when she grabbed Jack. I headed for the exit—didn’t know what I’d find until I got there. She shocked a guy who tried to stop her, but she didn’t use a cartridge like she did on Jess—he says he’s okay. I told him to get checked out at the ER when he finished with his booth.”
“And you stopped her?”
“I did.”
Dahlia turned her head so that Pete could see the bruise on her temple.
Pete shrugged. “Hey, lady, you had a Taser and you were using it. As far as I’m concerned, whatever he did to you was justifiable force.” He glanced back at Erik. “Jack and Jess okay?”
Erik nodded. “Docia took them to the hospital to be checked out, but I think they’re all right.”
Dahlia leaned back in her chair studying the two of them. She’d changed her look slightly, Pete noted. Her hair no longer had blue highlights and the earrings were gone, although she still looked like she needed several square meals to stave off malnutrition. But she wasn’t the same woman anymore. The waif was gone.
“Are you all done trying to scare me?” Dahlia’s lips curved into a lazy smile. “Because I’m ready to get on to the serious stuff here. Assuming you two don’t have some kind of good-cop-bad-cop brother act you want to try out.”
“Assault and battery and kidnapping don’t qualify as serious?” Pete shook his head. “I’d say you’ve been spending time with the wrong people.”
Dahlia rested her elbows on the table, staring straight at him. “I’ve got proof that Jess Carroll’s mother-in-law has a more than passing interest in snatching her kid. If you’re interested, both of you need to back off.”
Pete leaned back in his chair. “What kind of proof?”
“Recordings of her hiring me and giving me instructions. Some instructions that could send the mother-in-law away for a very long time and make sure nobody comes after that baby again.”
The room had gone absolutely silent. Erik sat watching her, his expression blank.
Pete drummed his fingers on the desk for a moment. “And in exchange you want?”
“I want these charges to go away.”
“No way. It isn’t like this was a little private set-to. You shocked two people with a Taser and abducted a child in front of a dozen witnesses. There’s no way this could disappear, no matter what you’ve got.”
Dahlia shrugged. “Can’t blame a girl for trying. Okay, the kidnapping goes away and the battery. The assault goes down to simple assault.”
Pete narrowed his eyes. “There may be some flexibility on the charges. Not as much as you want, but some. It depends on the quality of the recording.”
“Oh, you’ll like the recording, believe me. Mrs. Moreland enjoys talking. Apparently, it never occurred to her that anyone might be interested in a record of what she had to say.” Dahlia’s smile reminded Pete of Docia’s cat eyeing a wren.
He spread his hands on Olema’s desk. “We hear the tape first. Then we discuss deals. And just so we’re clear here, you’ve said you don’t want an attorney present, is that correct?”
“Don’t worry, counselor.” Dahlia’s smile became slightly crooked. “Your brother already did the Miranda stuff. In front of witnesses. You’re covered.”
“Okay.” Pete nodded. “Now where’s this tape?”
“In my purse. A DVD, anyway. Assuming your desk officer hasn’t already sold it on eBay.”
Pete turned to Erik. “See if you can find it. I’ll see if I can find us something to play the damned thing on.”
It took Lars a lot longer than he’d anticipated to drop Jess off at Janie’s place. He’d figured on hearing Jess’s story and then heading over to check with Erik about what she needed to do. But he’d reckoned without Jack, who needed to be fed and changed and comforted and put to bed, and Daisy, who needed to show him her drawings and the books she’d brought back from the shop. Not to mention his sisters-in-law, who adamantly refused to let him hear Jess’s story without them.
Finally, a half hour later, with Jack asleep and Daisy preoccupied with
Sesame Street
, the adults gathered around the dining room table.
Lars watched Jess—her expression worried him. Her eyes looked flat, and her complexion was the color of skim milk.
Janie handed everybody cups of tea, although Lars had a feeling tea would only make a minor dent in Jess’s desolation. Given his choice, he’d have favored a large brandy. “Okay. Tell us what happened. You start, Docia.”
“I was at the booth, but then I had to go to the bathroom. I was…indisposed.” Docia’s cheeks flushed pink for a moment. “When I got back to the booth, Jess and Jack were gone. Merrilee Rusher across the aisle told me some woman had come running out of the booth carrying Jack and Jess had gone after her. She’d already called security. I tried to call Erik, but they said he was off today.”
“On the days he isn’t on duty, he works security at the fairgrounds.” Lars shrugged. “Lucky break.”
“True. Anyway, I started down the aisle where Merrilee said they’d gone.”
“Okay.” Janie turned toward Jess. “So what happened before that?”
“Dahlia came to the booth and I asked her to check on Docia. She came back and said Docia wasn’t in the restroom anymore. Then she offered to ‘look after’ Jack if I wanted to try to find her. When I turned her down, she shocked me.”
Janie’s eyes widened. “Shocked you how? With what?”
Jess shook her head. “Some kind of stun gun. I don’t know what it was exactly. She picked Jack up out of his playpen.” She paused, taking a deep breath. Lars reached over and took her hand. “When I tried to stop her she shocked me again.”
Docia gripped the edge of the table. “Son of a bitch!”
Janie nodded slowly. “No ‘son of’ about it. So then what?”
“I tried to chase her, but my legs weren’t working right. I caught up to her just as she got to the exit.”
Jess’s voice broke slightly on the last word. Lars put his arm around her shoulders. Nobody seemed to notice, not even Jess.
“And?” Janie said gently.
“And Erik got there and stopped her.” Jess took another deep breath. “I grabbed Jack and got him out of the way. So now she’s under arrest and Jack’s safe.” Jess paused, blinking. “God. Jack’s safe, but it was so close.” Her lips trembled. “So close.”
Lars put his arms around her, holding her against his chest as she sobbed. Janie and Docia glanced at each other, then both became very interested in their tea. He rubbed a hand across Jess’s back, whispering “It’s okay.” Probably the most useless words in his vocabulary.
“I hope they throw that bitch in the slammer for the rest of her life,” Docia murmured.
“And I hope they put your ex-mother-in-law in there with her. They can share a cell.” Janie put her hand on Jess’s shoulder. “You need to get some rest now, Jess. We can take it from here.”
“I need to go to the police station,” Jess whispered.
“I’ll go.” Lars stood. “I said I would. You get some sleep. I’ll be back later and tell you all about it.”
Jess looked like she might have argued with him, but she also looked like she was at the end of whatever reserves she had left. After a moment, she nodded.
The only other time Lars had been inside the Konigsburg police station was when he’d stopped to see Erik about Jess. Hell, the only time he’d ever been inside any other police station had been when he was in college and part of a spectacularly stupid fraternity prank.
He recognized Ham Linklatter, one of the few full-time cops in Konigsburg. It was hard not to recognize Ham since he looked like a barely animated skeleton. The dispatcher, Helen Kretschmer, one of the scariest individuals Lars had ever met, was sitting behind the desk, turning people to stone whenever she looked their way.
She caught sight of Lars and managed a smile that involved just the corners of her mouth. “Yeah?”
“I’m looking for my brother.”
“Which one—the cop or the CA?”
“Are they both here?”
Helen shrugged. “Cop’s over there. Don’t know what happened to the CA.” And didn’t care much, judging by her tone.
Pete threaded through the desks to where Erik sat typing at a computer. “Hey.”
Erik glanced up at him with a smile that was only slightly warmer than Helen Kretschmer’s. “Hey yourself. Jess okay?”
“She’s resting at Pete and Janie’s. The doctor at the hospital said she’d be all right. Does she need to come down here?”
“Eventually. Maybe tomorrow.” Erik sighed, pushing back from his desk. “You doing anything right now?”
“Talking to you. Other than that, not much.”
“I need an hour of your time.”
“Okay.” Lars figured an hour of his time was a good trade off for finding out what was going to happen to Dahlia.