Hotline to Murder (29 page)

“Like the Chameleon. How big was he?”

“Tall—and fairly thin—but he has a strong
grip.”

Shahla showed Tony what looked like a burn
mark around her right wrist, which she had received when she pulled
free of him.

“Your hands are cut too.”

“I hit a car when he tried to get me the
second time.”

“My God. How many times did he attack
you?”

“Three, including just now.”

“Jesus. But that doesn’t sound like a
description of the Chameleon. He’s short, and I wouldn’t credit him
with a lot of strength, in spite of his job as a security
guard.”

Shahla was talking more freely now. The
words tumbled out as she told the rest of the story. But she told
it backwards, and it took Tony a while to figure out that the
attack had started near her house.

“So you were home,” he said. “Have you
talked to your mother?”

“My mother isn’t home.”

“No, she’s with her sister in Carlsbad.”

“She didn’t leave me a note.”

“We’d better call and let her know you’re
all right,” Tony said. “Then we have to go to the police.”

Tony was still confused about what had
happened to Shahla, but he could sort out the facts later. He had
the number of Rasa’s sister written down. Rasa and Kirk were
staying with her sister because she was too freaked out by Shahla’s
disappearance to remain in her own house. He called that number. A
woman answered who sounded something like Rasa. Tony asked for
Rasa. The woman asked who was calling. Tony said, “Tell her it’s
Tony.”

“Tony?” Rasa said, emotion in her voice.
“What is happening?”

“Shahla’s safe.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful.” She repeated the
word “wonderful” several times, her voice breaking. Finally, she
asked, “Where is she?”

“She’s right here. I’ll let you talk to
her.” Tony handed the phone to Shahla.

“Mom? I was worried about you. I went home,
and you weren’t there.” Shahla was crying on the phone.

There had obviously been a royal mix-up.
Rasa had driven to Carlsbad last night. The police hadn’t wanted
her to go, especially in her distraught state, but she had said she
couldn’t stay in her own house. But at least the police knew where
she was. And she had left her sister’s number on Tony’s answering
machine.

“I called your cell phone, but you didn’t
return my call,” Shahla said through her tears. And after a pause,
“You forgot to take it with you?”

“I can’t stay in the house tonight,” Shahla
told her mother. “The kidnapper knows where I live.” After
listening, she said, “No, don’t come home tonight. We don’t know
where he is. Nobody should stay in the house.” And after a short
pause, “I’ll stay with Tony.”

Besides, Carlsbad was a couple of hours
away, by car, near San Diego. Shahla told Rasa that Tony had an
extra bedroom. They talked for another minute, and then Shahla
said, “I love you,” and hung up.

“Are you okay?” Tony asked Shahla.

Shahla nodded. She said, “I was worried
about her.”

“That must have been very difficult…”

“If you complete that sentence, I’ll punch
you in the nose,” Shahla said, smiling through her tears.

Tony was relieved. He asked, “Are you up to
going to the police now?”

***

They arrived at the police station ten
minutes later and found out from the female officer at the desk
that Detective Croyden wasn’t on duty. Tony thought for the second
time that at least he didn’t work twenty-four hours a day.

“I’ll get Lieutenant Stone,” the desk
officer said, perking up after they told her who Shahla was. She
had looked bored when they came in. “She’s the officer in charge.”
And then to Shahla, “I’m glad you’re all right. We were worried
about you.”

“You were?” Shahla turned to Tony after they
entered the conference room and said, “Were the police looking for
me?”

Tony nodded.

“But I was right here all the time.”

Lieutenant Stone walked into the conference
room. Although she wasn’t exceptionally big, she looked impressive
in her blue police uniform, with the full belt, attached to which
were a gun, handcuffs, a nightstick, a cell phone, and a number of
other implements of the trade that Tony couldn’t identify. That
belt must weigh plenty. And the lieutenant looked as if she could
take care of herself.

Lieutenant Stone shook hands with both of
them. She said to Shahla, “Your hands are cut. Do you need medical
attention?”

“It’s nothing. I’m okay.”

“Be sure to clean them up and disinfect
them. I’m glad you’re safe. Sit down and tell me what
happened.”

“The first thing is that a man attempted to
kidnap her within the last half hour,” Tony said. “He may still be
in the area.”

The lieutenant flashed into action and asked
key questions. When she asked what kind of car he was driving,
Shahla said, “It was silver, not too big. I don’t know what kind.”
Tony, who had seen it only at long range, couldn’t identify it any
better. Shahla’s description of the suspect was a little more
helpful, but not much.

Lieutenant Stone said, “That isn’t much to
go on, but I’ll put out an APB and tell everybody you’re safe.”

She went out of the room. Tony ached to
question Shahla some more, but he would hear it all soon enough. He
felt a great sense of relief that she was all right. She looked
okay, if a little bedraggled, except for her wrist and hands. He
wondered whether the broadcast went out to more than just the two
or three cars that he imagined were patrolling in Bonita Beach, but
when Stone came back, she was all business, and he didn’t get a
chance to ask.

“They’re keeping an eye on your mom’s
house,” she said to Shahla, “and yours too, since he knows where
you live,” indicating Tony. “We can have a car drive you home,
Shahla.”

“I’m staying with Tony tonight,” Shahla
said. “My mom’s out of town, you know.”

Stone looked dubious. “Is that all right
with her?”

“I talked to her. She said it was okay.”

Tony didn’t want to get involved in this
discussion. He had that guilty feeling he got when he thought he
was going to be accused of doing something immoral.

Stone said, “Maybe that’s for the best. I
suspect some news crews may be on their way to your mom’s house
now. It’s probably better if you can avoid them for one night. We
just gave out your picture a short time ago. They’ll pick up the
APB and know you’re safe, so they’ll want to talk to you. But they
can do that tomorrow. For now, tell me what happened to you since
yesterday morning.”

Shahla hesitated and then blurted out, “I
went to a party.”

“An all-night party?”

“No. I left before dark. But then I got a
phone call from him.”
“Who’s him?”

“Probably the man who tried to kidnap me. I
didn’t recognize his phone number. And then I broke my phone. I
don’t remember what it was.”

When, in response to probing from Lieutenant
Stone, Shahla said that the caller sounded something like the
Chameleon, the lieutenant said, “An officer from El Segundo talked
to the Chameleon last night at his apartment. He was home with all
his girlie pictures. So I can tell you for sure that he wasn’t out
harassing you. In fact, he doesn’t even own a car. And he has an
alibi for the night of Joy’s murder.”

Shahla told how she had been too scared to
leave Jane’s basement. When she started telling what she had done
that morning, Stone asked her why she hadn’t contacted the police
after she found her mother gone.

“Because I didn’t know you were involved,”
Shahla said. “I just thought my mother and Kirk had taken off to
someplace.”

“You’re greatly undervaluing yourself by
thinking your mom wasn’t worried about you,” Stone said. “She’s
been calling here every hour since last night to see if we have any
information on you. I don’t think she slept at all.”

“Why didn’t you at least return my phone
call?” Tony asked.

“Like I said, I broke my phone. I didn’t
know you called. My mom said she left a message on my phone about
going to my aunt’s house. I didn’t get that one either.”

“Can’t you retrieve your messages from
another phone?” Stone asked.

Shahla looked puzzled. “I don’t know. I’ve
never been without my phone before.”

Tony said, “Your mom must be in the same
boat because she didn’t get the message from you.”

Lieutenant Stone nodded. “We get situations
like this all the time. You would think that since we’re in the age
of communication, people would be able to communicate with each
other. But we depend too much on technology. However, I want to
give you kudos for foiling your kidnapper. It’s a good thing you’re
not a docile little doll. If you were, you wouldn’t be here right
now. Of course you shouldn’t have gone to the party without telling
your mother. But this whole thing sounds like one of those old
slapstick comedies where everyone is in the wrong place at the
wrong time.”

Stone was an adept questioner, and she wrung
every possible bit of information out of Shahla, including as much
of a description of the kidnapper and his car as she could give.
Shahla answered readily, but she was getting visibly tired.
Finally, it became evident that she had nothing new to add to what
she had already said.

“We’ll let you go and get some sleep,” Stone
said, looking meaningfully at Tony. “Let me see if any reporters
are here.”

She went out and returned within a minute.
“They’re starting to gather. Do you want to speak to them tonight,
Shahla? You are one terrific story, and they’re going to hound you
until they get it.”

Shahla shook her head. “I can’t take any
more tonight.”

“Okay. Tony, is your car parked in front?
Drive it around to the back. I don’t think they know you, do they?
I’ll distract them and then sneak Shahla out the back door.”

***

“How did you know I had a spare bedroom?”
Tony asked as they went from the carport through his back door.

“I didn’t,” Shahla said. “I didn’t want to
tell my mom I was going to sleep on the floor. She wouldn’t have
liked that.”

“So you didn’t know that Josh left.”

Shahla looked surprised. “What
happened?”

“He didn’t like the fact that I turned him
in.”

“Oh, Tony, I’m sorry. Is he still a
suspect?”

“Not really. It seems those panties are
about ten years old. They date from college. I vaguely remembered
something about them after he accused me of betraying him.”

“I guess I can’t say that the situation must
be difficult for you.”

Tony laughed shortly. “No more than I can
say it to you. We have to make up the bed in what was Josh’s room
for you. Fortunately, I actually do laundry once in a while, and I
have clean sheets.”

“May I take a shower? I haven’t had one in a
couple of days. And I need to wash off his touch. And my clothes
are dirty.”

“We should have gone by your place and
picked up some clean clothes.”

“And fight the reporters? No thanks. I’ll
manage. But my leg started to hurt when we were at the police
station.”

Shahla pulled up her shorts and pointed to a
bruise on her upper thigh. But when that didn’t uncover all of it,
she impatiently pulled her shorts down. She was wearing a bikini
bottom underneath. Tony forced himself to concentrate on the colors
of the ugly blotch, ranging from red to black and blue, like a
poorly executed abstract painting.

“How did you get that?”

“When I was trying to get away from him, I
hit a parked car. That’s when I hurt my hands.”

“I have some disinfectant for the cuts,” he
said. “But I don’t know what we can do about the bruise. Do you
want to put ice on it?”

“No. It will be okay as long as nothing
touches it. May I take a shower now? I’ll wash it off.”

Tony gave Shahla towels and a washcloth and
made up the spare bed while she was in the shower. He felt like a
housewife. He was glad he had a cleaning lady who came on a regular
basis so that the house wasn’t too dirty. He also found a first aid
kit.

He had an urge to open the bathroom door and
ask her if she needed her back washed, but he was the parent here,
and he couldn’t do that.

He was in the spare bedroom when Shahla
poked her head out of the bathroom door and yelled, “Do you have a
T-shirt I can wear?”

He had forgotten about nightclothes for her.
He limped down to his bedroom, passing her on the way and came back
with a T-shirt. She reached out a bare arm and took it from him,
then closed the door. Tony retreated to his bedroom so she would
have a clear path to her room when she came out.

However, several minutes later she appeared
in his doorway and said, “I borrowed your comb. Do you have an
extra toothbrush?”

The T-shirt was long enough on her so it
served as a mini-dress. Tony said, “My dental technician always
gives me a toothbrush when I get my teeth cleaned. I think I have a
couple of extras.”

He went into the bathroom and saw her
clothes sitting on the toilet seat. He said, “I have a washer and
dryer. I’ll wash your clothes for you.”

“I see this is a full-service hotel,” Shahla
said, really smiling for the first time since she had shown up at
his doorstep.

“Do you want the swimsuit washed?”

“If you don’t mind. That’s my underwear
until I go home.”

Tony took her clothes downstairs and put
them in his washing machine. The washer and dryer were located in a
small utility room off the kitchen. When he came back five minutes
later, Shahla had gone into her bedroom but left the door open. He
waited until the wash cycle ended and placed the clothes in the
dryer. Then he went to bed. It had been an exhausting day. And his
knee hurt.

He was trying to settle himself down to
sleep when he felt, rather than heard or saw, something in his
doorway. He turned his head and barely saw Shahla’s silhouette
against the dark background of the hallway.