Into The Heat (Sandy Reid Mystery Series Book 6) (22 page)

Sandy and Martin exchanged frowns, and then she said, “I thought we were through with her, or she was through with us, or something.”

“I thought we’d never hear from her again,” Martin said, “Where does he live?”

After looking down at his phone, Nigel answered, “Twenty-six eleven Hibiscus Lane, Unit 16.”

“That’s on the barrier island,” Martin said, “not a bad address, maybe the guy’s rich after all. But that address isn’t a beach front condo. I always thought that guy was lying to her. At any rate, this has gone on long enough. Perhaps I should saunter over there and introduce myself.”

She gave him a hard look, “What?” She couldn’t resist butting in.

He went on, “I don’t care if I do upset Holly’s farfetched dream. I owe her that much and it’s beginning to interfere with my sleep.”

She said, “I suspected it was still on your mind. Look, Martin, it might be a nice thing to do, but it’s none of your business, and she’ll hate you, if you shatter what she sees as a life-changing opportunity. This might be one of life’s lessons she has to learn for herself.”

“You’re right, of course. I shouldn’t barge in. Nevertheless, perhaps I can come up with some pretense to talk with him—go over there and check him out without bringing Holly into it.”

“You intend to purposely deceive the man?” she said. “Why, that would be sneaky and underhanded. Can I go with you? I want to take a look at this strange guy myself. My little red car or your long black one?”

T
he Shady Palms Apartments on Hibiscus Lane were located in blessed shade back among a thick stand of oaks. It appeared to be a nice place for Bruce Fowler to be living, but it certainly wasn’t an upscale beach front condo. The white stucco building was unexpectedly small. A neat eighteen units situated on two stories. Sandy and Martin walked up the exterior stairs at the end of the building, knocked on the door of Unit 16 and got no response.

“Let’s do a ‘knock ‘n talk’ Martin. You take the ground level and I’ll keep trying up here.”

Units 15 and 14 were No-Answer, unit 13 was a Door-Slammer, and 12 was opened by a pleasant looking gent of sixty years or so.

“Oh, hello.” The smiling man appeared slightly surprised. “Well, get a load of who’s on my doorstep? A little early for campaigning isn’t it, the election is months away? Why don’t you come in? Sandy Reese, isn’t it?” He stepped back and held the door for her. He looked normal enough with his white polo shirt, tan shorts and sandals.

“Close enough.” She stayed where she was. “Have we met? I was looking for your neighbor Bruce Fowler.” She waited to see what sort of response that brought forth.

“Well, come in where it’s cool. No, we haven’t met. Call me Gene. Mind if I call you, Sandy? I recognize you from the newspaper and TV. Usually, you’re on the courthouse steps with the cameras rolling and a microphone shoved in your face. I can tell you, Fowler can normally be found in his apartment day or night. Doesn’t have a regular job. In case you’re watching for him, He drives a new blue pickup these days and always parks in back.”

“Thanks, I believe I will come in.”

He closed the door after her, motioned to the couch and offered iced tea. She thanked him and he swung around toward the kitchen.

She called after him, “I didn’t realize I was famous.”

“You looked somewhat startled when I recognized you. Perhaps you’re not genuinely famous, but you’re more well-known than you realize. Don’t you wonder why a crowd parts and stands back when you approach?”

“Now you’ve gone too far.”

“Okay, but every town has people who somehow everyone recognizes, although they might not remember the name. Then one day you wake up, and they’ve named a street after you. You’re one of those.” He brought in a frosty glass of tea and set it on a coaster. “I’m Gene Vaulter. So you’re not campaigning, and you looked very serious in mentioning Fowler. You’re on the clock aren’t you?”

She said, “Are you ex law enforcement? Some cops say, ‘on-the-clock’, when they’re out of uniform but on duty.”

“No, I’m an old-time public relations guy. How may I help you?”

“I need background on Fowler. I heard he has family money. Is that why he doesn’t need to work?”

“I know nothing about his family, but I doubt he comes from money. Since I know who I’m talking with, I’ll be blunt. I don’t care for the guy. My grandmother would have called him a lay-about, doesn’t do much. He seems to be high most of the time. Gets free rent on that apartment because he handles the odd jobs, including cutting the grass, for all the landlord’s properties. Is that the sort of background info you’re looking for?”

She nodded. “You keep talking and I’ll keep smiling.”

“I don’t allow him in my apartment. Wish he lived elsewhere. Once, he mentioned to me he was getting himself a wife. Didn’t say get married, said getting a wife, and then he’d have it made. Ask either of my two ex wives if I ever
had it made
. If a wife and kids show up in that apartment, then I’m moving on. I can imagine the type of woman he’d attract.”

“Thanks, Gene, you’ve helped tremendously.” She took a long gulp and stood. “I’m sorry, I need to make an urgent call.” Vaulter told her to stay where she was and excused himself to give her privacy.

She called and Nigel said, “Oh Sandy, I was about to call you.”

She said, “Phone Holly what’s-her-name and ask her to come to our office as soon as possible. We have to warn her—Bruce Fowler is a fraud and could be a danger to her.”

“Okay, I’ll reach her somehow. Sandy, I checked on that address I gave you for Bruce Fowler. I’ve been checking. Guess who owns that property where Fowler has been living? None other than Grant Keller! Isn’t that a coincidence—our suspect’s name popping up in Holly’s affair?”

She had to shake her head to make her mind stop racing, so she could think. Then she said, “Thanks Nigel, find Holly.” She called out to Vaulter in the kitchen, “Does Grant Keller own this property?”

“Yeah. I don’t mind him, but he must have looked in the gutter to find Fowler.”

“One more call.” She phoned Martin, who was still downstairs knocking on doors. “Meet me at the car. Fowler’s a fraud. We’re on our way to The Coffee Mug.” She started draining her glass of iced tea.

Vaulter said, “May I call you at your office? You’ve heard of Senator Carl Perkins of Iowa, head of the Senate Finance Committee?”

“I guess.”

“I put him in office, ran his first campaign—years ago. I’ve followed your career in the media. I’d be honored to set up and run your campaign. I know exactly how to do it, and I’d work for the joy of helping you. I realize you’re in a hurry right now. May I phone you sometime and talk about it?”

“You can call me and explain what the hell you’re talking about. Thanks Gene. And one more thing, don’t tell Fowler we were asking about him.”

As they drove from the barrier island across the Intracoastal Bridge and into the downtown area of Park Beach, she filled in Martin on what she’d just learned.

He said, “It doesn’t surprise me that Keller owns a bunch of properties on the island, but I don’t know that it means anything important to us.”

She shrugged. “I hate coincidences. I’m trying to think of possible connections. Anyway, we have some good info on Fowler from his neighbor, Gene Vaulter. By the way, he wants to be my campaign manager.” She made a face and looked over at him for a reaction.

He was grinning. “Don’t yell at me, I just heard about it myself. Well, you know Mel intends to run for Florida Attorney General?”

“I heard some people want him to run. And he’ll be a good one. Honest people like him should be the ones wielding authority and serving the public. What does that have to do with me?”

“Well, your name is being tossed around to replace him as state attorney for this judicial district.”

“Replace him? You never mentioned that. That’s crazy. I don’t believe I’d mix well with politics. No way.”

“It’s honest people like you who should be wielding authority and serving the public.”

“In the first place I’m not qualified. And second, I don’t want it. I’d be prosecuting the accused. I prefer to defend them.”

“Think of the positive effect you could bring to the justice system. You’d be the one to decide who should be held and who should be set free, before they ever stepped foot in a courtroom.”

“Out of the question.”

“Well, it’s something to think about.”

They drove into the commercial area, on down Palm Avenue to 35th and parked around the corner from The Coffee Mug.

“Can you run in, Martin? I’m certain Fowler is a fraud. It would be good to warn her before she gets in too deep. You can handle her, she adores you. If the guy is in there, give him a punch in the nose for me.”

“I’ll go in, but she hates me.” He was back out within five minutes, rushing to the car. He got in slightly out of breath. “Holly didn’t show up for work today. Didn’t call in. No one’s been able to reach her.”

“Nigel has her number, and I have her address. If he can’t get through to her today, and she’s still missing in the morning, we’ll start a search.”

T
he following morning Sandy was surprised when she pulled into her usual parking spot next to the law office and heard a car door close behind her. She looked back and a young woman was hurrying toward her. The woman wore jeans, a gray sweatshirt and a baseball cap covering her hair. No makeup whatever. At first, she didn’t recognize Holly Davies. “You’re even prettier without the makeup.”

Instead of a smile, it was pain that crossed the young woman’s face as she stumbled forward. Sandy kept her from falling.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Holly mumbled, “Didn’t sleep, no breakfast.”

“We’ll get you something to eat. Come inside.”

“No, I’ve been waiting for you. I don’t want Martin to see me.”

“Why, he’s your friend.”

“Because of what I’ve done.” She leaned against Sandy’s car and looked down at her sneakers. “I couldn’t go into work yesterday. My girlfriend there called and said Nigel was looking for me, asking me to come talk with him. I wasn’t going to, but Bruce started calling me a lot last night. I didn’t answer him.”

“And you’re frightened of him. We’ll go in and talk in my office. Just you and me.” Sandy took out her phone and called the office. “Nigel, I’m outside in the parking lot. Anyone else in there beside you and Martin?”

“No, is there a problem?”

“I’m coming in with Holly. Please don’t speak to her.” She took Holly’s arm who at first resisted and then walked along into the building. Holly kept her head down as they went into Sandy’s office.

She sat with her hands clasped between her knees. “Sandy, I’ve done something terrible, and I can’t tell anyone. I didn’t know where else to go.”

“You’re doing the right thing,” Sandy said, “Look, would you like coffee or something?”

Holly shook her head without looking up.

“You didn’t have any breakfast. I’ll send for something.”

Holly shook her head again. “I might as well tell you. I went to Bruce’s apartment. He kept asking me and two nights ago, I decided to go. And… I let him do it.”

“Okay, well now you’re here and you’re safe. Just try to relax. We’ll just talk together—woman to woman. Okay? Martin and I
immediately went to the address you texted to Nigel. Bruce wasn’t there, but we obtained enough information to know he’s dangerous. We tried to reach you yesterday. Tell me what happened. From the looks of you it wasn’t good.”

“As soon as Bruce closed the door behind me—.” She took a deep breath. “This isn’t cool, can I just skip a lot of stuff?”

“Sure, tell me whatever you want. Don’t make yourself too uncomfortable.”

“Anyway, I ended up on the bed. I was surprised because he’d always said sex wouldn’t be part of the deal. He was a different person. So mean to me, I didn’t recognize him. But I didn’t want to argue with him. I tried to calm him down. I asked him about protection. I’m not… active, you know. I’m all show and no go. Haven’t even gotten on the pill yet. He just laughed at me, told me not to dare move and went into the bathroom. So, I looked in his nightstand to see if he had anything we could use.”

“You can skip some of the details from here on in.”

“No way am I ever telling
anyone
the details. That’s when I saw this huge black gun in the nightstand, you know—.”

Sandy’s eyes widened and she interrupted, “Bruce Fowler has a huge black gun?” Click, click. She could almost hear the wheels in her head starting to move.

Holly nodded and continued, “At the time, I didn’t think about running because we were going to make love, and the gun didn’t have anything to do with us. Anyway—.” She closed her eyes tightly and shook her hands in front of her face. “—when it was over, he laughed at me. Said I’d been staring at him all wide-eyed and innocent, like I didn’t know how it was supposed to be, all the while he was… smashing it. That’s what he called it. He said he didn’t want to just lie there pretending we were close and listening to any relationship shit, so I should just go and clean myself up. And not to lock the bathroom door—he said never lock the bathroom door.”

“I’m so sorry you went through all that.”

“I went in the bathroom. I couldn’t stand looking at myself in the mirror. I tried to fix my face, but everything was messed up since I’d be crying.”

“You tried to fix your face, with what, tissues?”

“A washcloth. Wasn’t fresh, but I used it. I got dressed and came out—he yelled, said he had told me to clean up, never told me I could get dressed. He stormed around yelling about me getting dressed. I was afraid he’d hit me. Then he smiled and seemed nice, said he didn’t mean any of it, and everything would be cool. Said he wanted me to stay there with him. He’d bring me some food. Said it was going to be cool. Said the dress would be fun, leave it on and get back on the bed. I didn’t like him anymore—I hated him. I screamed. Ran out of the bedroom and headed for the door. He grabbed my throat. Dragged me back into the bedroom. Threw me back toward the bed, slamming me into the nightstand.” She pushed up her right sleeve to show bruises. “The entire drawer fell out and junk went all over the floor. I grabbed the gun and it went off. Don’t know what I did—as soon as I picked up the gun it went off. I was swinging the gun all around. He was freaking and yelling. I’m screaming. I didn’t know what to do. He ducked into the bathroom and locked the door.”

“You mean you grabbed that gun to defend yourself? Holly, that’s terrific, very brave of you. Had he been hit?” Sandy asked, expecting the worst.

Holly grinned for the first time, “No, I wish I’d shot him, but I shot the dumb bed. What if I had killed him?”

“That would be very bad, but we would deal with it.” Sandy stood abruptly. So, Bruce has a big black gun “Wait just a second.” She opened the door slightly and called for Nigel. He hurried over, and they spoke through the crack of the door. “Nigel, print out a life-size, color photo of a standard Glock 45. I want it exactly life-size. Rush it back to me.”

“On it.”

Martin opened his office door and stepped out into the hallway looking puzzled. She waved him away and closed the door. “What’d you do with the gun, Holly?”

“Must have dropped it there. Don’t even remember driving home.”

“And this was the night before last, you say. Holly, I guess you cleaned yourself up when you got home. How thoroughly—do you know what I mean?”

“You mean what mother calls ‘down there’. Yes, when I got home, I cried—took two showers. Mom heard me taking the second one, knocked on my door and asked if I was all right. I don’t know how thoroughly, like sort of I guess. I washed out my undies.” She looked straight at Sandy and bit the corner of her lip. “You said we’d talk woman to woman and that’s okay, but I’m not a woman am I? I can imitate a woman, but I’m not ready. I don’t know this stuff, not on the pill, don’t know hygiene, I don’t even know sex.”

“And that’s just the start of what you don’t know.”

“I started it all. I wanted him to be interested in me because I wanted to be the one he chose. That’s why I was all out there. And I didn’t object the first time. I know people say I have a right to dress any way I want, and the man has to stop when I say, no. But real life doesn’t exactly work that way.”

“Makes sense when you look back at it, doesn’t it?”

“How could I have thought of marrying him? I don’t care how rich he is or how much money I’d get.”

“Holly, there never was any inheritance, never any money, never any love. He’s shown you what he wants. You’re learning fast. You’ll be all right. Do you trust me, Holly?”

“Oh god, now you’re going to scold me and give me a talking to, aren’t you?” She could scarcely get the words out as her eyes began to well up.

Sandy stepped nearer to comfort her with a hand on her shoulder. In a soft voice she said, “No, you’ve done nothing wrong. And I’m not ready to agree that the earlier sex was consensual, you were under duress from the moment he opened the door. The first time might have been rape as well—I need to review all the circumstances. It makes no difference whether consensual or not, it’s the second attempted rape we’re going for. He will have difficulty denying the subsequent attempted rape, if we have evidence that supports your story about the earlier sex, and evidence you shot the gun to protect yourself. It was smart for you to come in here.”

“I’m really afraid of him. Do you think he’ll come after me?”

“Trust me we’ve got him. He will pay for frightening and abusing you.”

Nigel rapped softly on the door, reached through the opening to hand her the computer photo and left. She handed it to Holly. “Does this look anything like the gun you fired?”

Holly looked at it for no more than a second before she dropped it as though it were in flames. “Oh my god!”

Sandy felt like pumping her fist in the air; learning that Fowler possibly had a Glock .45 was a gift from the gods. So, the guy that does odd jobs for Keller has a Glock .45 and a brand new pickup as well. Her face was beaming and Holly noticed. “Is that good, Sandy?”

Sandy nodded. “Before I say anything else, I want you to know how proud I am of you for fighting back. You didn’t just give in. Now here’s what just happened here this morning. All the power has suddenly shifted over to you. From now on, Bruce Fowler is helpless. He’s a total loser and will be miserable for the rest of his life. We’ll see to that. Starting right now, he has to cower and hide. You’re the one with the power. You’re the one in control. Would you do me a favor?”

The young woman nodded, unsure of what was happening.

“Sit up straight.”

“What?”

“Come on, sit up straight in that chair. Put your feet flat on the floor. Good. Now uncross your arms. You are the one with power… clench your fists… good. Raise your chin. Now you look better. Take a deep breath. You are regaining all your personal power. You feel it? From now on you’re in control.” She smiled and Holly grinned. “We’re going from here to the hospital for a medical exam. A policewoman I know will meet us there. She’ll ask questions that will embarrass you, but every detail you can give is another nail in Bruce’s coffin. There’ll be a medical exam as you might have injuries you’re not aware of. At that time, they’ll consider pregnancy prevention and screening for STD. Then, we’re going over to see a pleasant police detective friend who I know very well. Are you with me so far?”

“I have to go through all that, huh?”

“Bruce is the cause of all this, and we will make him pay for doing this to you. Half of the procedures today are to be certain you get back to normal
quickly
, the other half you’re doing so Bruce is punished, and no other woman has to go through what you did. So, you’re doing it for yourself, and you’re doing it for other women.”

“You won’t leave me at the hospital will you?”

“No, I’ll either be by your side or waiting nearby. Are you ready? How about we swing in for a nice breakfast sandwich along the way?”

“I’d like that coffee now.”

Sandy took out her phone and dialed Eddy Jaworski. “Yeah, It’s me… are we cool, you’re not mad at me? No, I’m not going to ask you anything about your meeting with Julia Bardner. New subject. Good. You be around later? You’ll need to see a judge about a search warrant. I’ll explain later, but I believe I know where the Charlene Faulk murder weapon is.” She hung up and looked at Holly. “Okay, sweetheart, we’ll go out the back.”

“That’s all right. I can walk out the front. Martin is going to know all about this anyway, isn’t he?”

“He and I will work together to see that Bruce is arrested and sent to prison. But you don’t have to see Martin this morning.”

“But I want to—I want to apologize for not taking his advice.”

“That’s cool. You aren’t aware of this, but Martin was the one who refused to write you off, he was the one who insisted we go out and confront Bruce to check him out.” She took Holly’s arm. “Okay, let’s walk back to his office. You can make an apology if you want, but I imagine all he wants from you is a big smile.”