Authors: C.J. Johnson
Mike and Lee got into their car. "Jesus," Lee muttered. "She sounds as if she's lost it."
"Her husband may have decided to leave her," Mike said thoughtfully. "Perhaps it's tipped her over the edge."
"Her father advised the husband to leave her," Lee agreed. "Sounds like that's the motive for running him down, don't you think."
"Definitely. We need to pull her in before she does something to the husband."
"Seeing a man laying on a hospital bed, wrapped in bandages and knowing his own daughter did it; that's awful. Poor bloke will be crushed when he opens his eyes." Lee turned to Mike. "How could anyone do that to her own father, just for advising the husband to leave after he's found out about numerous affairs?"
"This woman burned her first husband alive while he slept," Mike replied bluntly. "I shudder to think what she's capable of."
"We've got enough to bring her in for questioning."
"I want her car," Mike said. "This woman is clever; she's probably had it fixed and cleaned by now, but hopefully she's missed some evidence we can use."
Lee nodded and reached for his radio to call it in, when it suddenly crackled to life and Ellen's voice came through.
"Car 21," she said urgently. "Come in, car 21."
Their car.
"Car 21," Lee answered.
"Lee. Got and assault and robbery victim you need to go see."
"Send someone else," Lee said. "Mike and I are on our way to bring someone in for questioning."
"No, Lee. You and Mike need to go. We have a young female, victim of a mugging late last night. She's claiming to know her attacker. It's the same woman, Lee. This woman claims Cheryl Underwood is her attacker."
***
Mike and Lee arrived at Sallie's Salon. Mike was thoroughly disappointed; he'd wanted to be the arresting officer. He'd wanted to look in Cheryl's eyes and see the fear as she realised her game was up.
He'd had to call some blues in to bring her to the station, he needed this statement and in spite of his disappointment, he was also excited.
Seems Cheryl had gone on some sort of rampage last night. Though what this woman had to do with anything remained to be seen.
Observing the 'closed' sign on the door, Mike knocked. A stunningly attractive brunette hurried to the door and both Mike and Lee showed her their badges.
"Hello," Lee said suggestively, but quietly so the woman wouldn't hear. Apparently, he liked what he saw. The woman nodded at their badges and unlocked the door. "I'm Sallie," she said, smiling at Mike, then Lee. Her smile lingered on Lee, a smile he gave back warmly, before she turned aside to let them in.
"I've closed early today because of this," she told them. She gestured for them to follow and led them to a door marked 'office'.
In spite of everything, Mike realised he wasn't completely out of touch when he found himself more than slightly interested in Sallie's rather spectacular behind. Lee also appeared to be enjoying the view.
Entering the office they found a pretty young blond seated in one of the chairs across from the large office desk. She had a nasty looking scratch on her forehead and a bruised cheekbone.
Seeing Mike, she immediately smiled in a flirtatious way and glanced down. It took Mike a second to figure out what she was looking at.
His wedding ring.
When she raised her eyes back to his, her smile had disappeared to be replaced with a blank expression. This changed again just as suddenly when she looked at Lee, who had entered the room behind him. She immediately straightened her back, causing her breasts to strain against her tight top as she slowly crossed her legs.
"This is Sarah," Sallie said. "She has something to tell you."
"Cheryl Underwood attacked me last night. I have no proof but I smelt her."
"You
smelled
her?" Lee asked, his eyebrows raised.
"She always wears the same perfume. I don't think she's heard of the saying 'a little goes a long way'. It's like she bathes in it."
Mike nodded. "So, what exactly happened?"
Sarah told her story of the mugging. Though Mike was asking the questions, she looked at Lee throughout.
She explained how, on her way home from a club, she was pulled into an alley. Her assailant roughed her up some, just to subdue her before taking her purse and her wedding ring. "Bitch rammed me into some dustbins," Sarah said. She gestured to her face. "That's how I got these."
"And why would Mrs Underwood assault you?" Mike asked.
Looking straight at him with a smug look on her face, she said "jealousy."
Before Mike could ask her to elaborate, Sallie said "Sarah and Cheryl despise one another, they always have. I can't make them like each other, but I have had words with them both on occasion about their clashes in the work place."
"Cheryl's jealous of me because I had 2 men at the same time; 2 young gorgeous men who both wanted to be with me. If you've ever seen her husband, you'll know why she was jealous."
Mike decided that though easy on the eyes, he didn't care for this girl at all.
"And," Sarah continued, "she threatened me, told me to be careful because," she quoted the air with her fingers, " 'I have no idea what she's capable of'. Then, I get mugged that night. Coincidence? I think not."
"She actually said that to you?" Lee asked. "Those exact words were spoken to you by her just yesterday?"
"Those were Cheryl's exact words,"Sallie verified. "She said it in the staff room in front of everyone."
Mike nodded. "And what started the row between you two?"
Sarah shrugged. "Jealousy, what else. I was showing my engagement ring off and Cheryl gets all bent out of shape over it. I ask her how it feels to know that I've got two men who both love and want to be with me, when she's just an easy screw. None of the men she cheats with give her a second thought afterwards. And she knows that."
"And how do you know that Cheryl has affairs with other men?"
"Well, one look at her husband for one," Sarah replied meanly. "Plus, it all came out a little while back. Something about Cheryl playing away from her husband with different men. I mean, I like variety, but I don't sleep with fellas' on a one-night-stand. I wanna know it's gonna turn into something first, even if it doesn't last. Apparently, Cheryl gives it up to anyone, anywhere. There's rumours about pictures of Cheryl giving some bloke head in an alley near a club."
"Sarah," Sallie said, her face red. "We don't need all the gory details."
"They asked why Cheryl would want to attack me," Sarah said unembarrassed. "I'm simply filling them in."
"Pictures?" Mike asked and Sarah looked at him. "Like I said, rumours. I haven't seen them. Not that I'd want to."
"And you believe this is the reason for her attack, in your words, on you last night?"
"Definitely." Sarah's eyes darkened. "Bitch got what she wanted, too. Paul and Scott want nothing to do with me now, they both found out about the other because of the mugging. Whatever, anyway." She shrugged nonchalantly but her eyes were still troubled.
"Anyway," Sarah continued. "I wasn't gonna say anything since I have no proof, but if she can run her own father over with a car—"
"How do you know about that?" Mike asked quickly as Lee stiffened.
"A Mrs Collins came into the Salon this morning," Sallie said. "She came in yesterday to tell Cheryl the news about her father. She'd left Cheryl a message on her answering machine, but because Cheryl hadn't gone to the hospital, Mrs Collins assumed she hadn't received the message. Mrs Collins was really disgusted, as were we all. Anyway, she came in this morning and said that Cheryl's mother watched Cheryl run her father over with her car."
Mike and Lee glanced at each other.
"Have you had contact with Cheryl today?" Mike asked. Both women shook their heads.
"Thank you, ladies."
Both men turned to leave. "Are you gonna get my stuff back?" Sarah demanded.
Mike hesitated. He looked at Sallie. "You mentioned being disgusted when Mrs Collins came in yesterday, what did you mean?"
"Cheryl was being rather malicious regarding Sarah's mugging, saying it was probably her own fault." Sarah looked at Sallie, a furious expression on her face. It appeared this was the first Sarah had heard of it. "Then, Mrs Collins comes rushing in to tell Cheryl about her dad, but Cheryl tells her she already knows. She did hear the phone message but came into work anyway. Cheryl claimed that she didn't know it was serious, even though the message did state that her dad had been rushed in via ambulance. She said she'd intended to go straight to the hospital after work. It's like she just didn't care. Didn't care at all about her own dad."
***
"She's not been pulled in yet. And no-one's picked her up."
Mike resisted the urge to thump the car. "Her husband safe?"
Lee had just spoken with an officer at the station regarding Cheryl Underwood as Mike headed into a shop to buy sandwiches and drinks. "He's apparently very shocked, but he's safe. He said he hasn't heard from her since he told her he wants a divorce last night. He's said she's never led him to believe she'd hurt him, or anyone, for that matter."
"Tell that to her dad and Sarah. Warrant on her car go through yet?"
"Not yet. Soon Mike."
"What the hell is she doing?" Mike asked, comparing Cheryl's actions to the woman who had killed her husband 7 years earlier and got away with it. "And where the hell is she?"
Chapter Thirty
Cheryl shivered, both from the cold and nerves. She'd been waiting outside the derelict building since 11am with £2000 as instructed.
She shivered again, remembering waking up sprawled on the floor in the living room. She had fallen in such a way that blocked the door with her body. For that reason, she assured herself that the man had not entered the room after she had fainted.
How can you be sure?
, a voice whispered.
He couldn't have
, Cheryl told herself for easily the 100th time since waking that morning. Unable to find the nerve to open the living room door, sure that the man was waiting on the other side, she had slept on the sofa. But it had been a restless sleep as she imagined the man bursting in at any moment, dragging her out of the house and throwing her into the boot of a car. Then, he would drive her someplace secluded where he could torture her to his black heart's content with no-one around to hear her screams.
I have to get a grip
, Cheryl told herself. Peters would be here any moment.
She shuddered in fear.
Either way you looked at it, this was really dangerous. This Peters could be him, the man who was threatening to kill her. He'd asked her to meet him in a secluded area so he could kidnap her with no witness's.
Cheryl dismissed the thought, telling herself he could have taken her last night if he'd wanted to.
But you didn't have £2000 on you, in cash
, the voice whispered again.
And even if this Peters wasn't him, he was a
hitman
. A hired killer who made murder his career. What if he took her money and killer her, right here and now?
Cheryl knew there were many ways she could get hurt, even killed, today.
She shook her head again. What was the saying? Something about killing the goose that lays the golden eggs? The intruder had told her last night that the £2000 was a down payment, meaning that more money was expected when the job was complete.
Hopefully, that meant the man wouldn't be hurting her today at least. Her fear was so real to her right then, she wondered if people could physically see it, standing by her side holding her arm in a death grip.
Her time for worrying was over, Cheryl realised, as a red car suddenly pulled into the abandoned car park and stopped in front of her.
The first thing she noticed about the man was his size. Broad and barrel chested, his large hands gripped the steering wheel tightly.
A red baseball cap covered much of his face as he kept his head down.
It's him. Oh God, it's really him.
The window buzzed down and Cheryl leaned forward. "Peters?" she asked, trying to sound cold and confident, like a woman hiring a man to commit murder.
The man nodded. "Underwood?"
"Yes."
"Get in the car."
Her legs felt like jelly, her stomach rolled and seat popped from her brow. But, she did as she was told and climbed into the passenger seat.
Unsure of what to say, she stared out of the window.
What if it's him. What if he drives away with me right now and—
"So. You got business for me, or what?"
Cheryl cleared her throat. "Yes. What is it that you, erm, do?"
"Whatever you pay for."
"My husband is divorcing me, but he won't give me what I'm fully entitled to as his wife. He's also threatened to taint my name." Though afraid, Cheryl heard genuine anger creep into her voice as she spoke the words.
Peters nodded, though he still kept his head down. He hadn't looked at her once.
"And you want him...taken care of."
It was said like a statement, not a question, so Cheryl said nothing. "Look, lady," Peters said gruffly, "I don't do subtle. Do you understand what I do?"
Cheryl's heart hammered in her chest.
"If I go see your husband over this little lovers' spat you're having, he won't be alive when I walk away. You get that?"
"Yes," Cheryl whispered.
"So, you're paying me to kill your husband. That correct?"
"I...I guess so."
"You guess so. Tell me lady, you want your husband dead? Coz if you don't, I suggest you get out of the car now and nothing more will come of it." He chuckled meanly. "Plenty more where you come from."
Cheryl felt sick.
What the hell am I doing?
About to get out of the car, she hesitated. The intruder's threat echoed in her ears and she imagined being burned alive. Peters voice didn't sound familiar to her, but he could be disguising it. He could be her intruder. If she backed now, he might kill her. She imagined being burned alive slowly and a tear slid down her face.