Found With Murder (12 page)

“Lori was staring out the window and Joe said she suddenly jumped up and ran for the door.”  She let out a shaky breath.  “But not before grabbing her gun.  He said by the time he got outside, he saw her climbing into her car… with a man.”

“Does he know who?”

She closed her eyes and let out another deep breath before opening them again.  “He tried to chase after the car and found a pile of cigarette butts on the lawn,” she said.  “One was still burning.”

B
en let go of the hold he had on her arm as a flash of anger crossed his face.  Rilynne felt helpless.  While it did provide a little comfort knowing Lori was armed, it didn't do much.  Even if Maloy had Kim and took Lori to her, there was no reason to believe he wouldn't just hold them both.  With Lori’s current state of mind, she also wasn’t positive that she would be able to restrain herself from saying something that might get them both hurt.

Ben made a sudden movement that caught her eye.  She looked up at him just in time to see him put his fist through the wall.

“Ben!” she exclaimed, suddenly feeling her head clear.  She reached up and grabbed his hand as he pulled it back out.  “What did you do?”

He seemed almost as stunned by the act as she was.

“I just… I really just wanted to hit something,” he said.  “I'm sorry, Rye.”

She let out a quick chuckle then turned to look around the office.  While everyone seemed concerned about the cause of the outburst, they all appeared to be quite amused.

“Are you all right?” she asked when she looked back toward him.  She held up his hand and gently brushed the drywall dust away from his bloodied knuckles.

He shrugged it off as if nothing had happened, though she could see the pain on his face.  She slowly shook her head before reaching for the first aid kit in her drawer.

“Don't,” he said.  “My hand is fine.  You need to go find Lori.  Let's go back to her house and see if you can see where he would have taken them.  We can take care of this later.”

She closed the drawer without pulling anything out and nodded.  As much as she wanted to tend to him, she knew they were working in a small window of time.  Instead, Rilynne reached for her gun as Ben led her to the elevator.

They had just stepped out the front door of the station when tires screeched to a stop in front of the building.  Ben instinctively put his arm out in front of Rilynne, but it couldn't hold her back when she took in the sight.

Rilynne let out a quick gasp before pushing past Ben and running toward Lori's car.

“Out!” she heard Lori yell as she ran down the steps.  Rilynne crouched down when she reached the car and looked in through the open window.

Lori was sitting in the driver's seat wearing the same clothes she’d had on the past two days.  That wasn't the thing that shocked her.  In Lori's right hand was her gun, which she was aiming at the passenger head.

“Lori!” Rilynne exclaimed as she pulled the door open.  Ben took one look over her shoulder before running around to the other side of the car.  “Lori, what are you doing?”

Rilynne shifted her eyes from Lori's enraged face to the shaking gun in her hand.

“I said get out!”  Lori yelled.  When the man didn't move, she cocked the gun and pushed it firmly against his temple.

On a normal day, there would be no doubt in Rilynne’s mind that Lori was no danger to the man.  With her current state of mind, though, Rilynne honestly didn't know what she was capable of.

Her eyes shifted again from Lori to the gun.  As the uneasiness filled her, she looked up to Ben through the passenger window, her eyes pleading for assistance.  He met her gaze and nodded.

At the same time Rilynne reached out for Lori’s trembling hand, Ben opened the door and grabbed the man, pulling him from the car.  When he was clear, Rilynne wrapped her fingers around the barrel of the gun and took it from Lori.

The moment the gun slid out of her hand, Lori completely broke down and started sobbing.  Rilynne dropped the pistol down onto the floor board and wrapped her arms around her friend.  She held her for several minutes, Lori shaking violently in her arms.  She didn't move until she heard a commotion from the other side of the car.

“No, you aren't going anywhere,” Ben said.  Rilynne pulled away from Lori and stood up, grabbing the gun as she did.  Ben was still standing just beyond the passenger door with his hand grasping the man's shirt.

Rilynne looked at his face for the first time.  He was younger than she had imagined.  When she’d pictured him, she saw a bald, overweight man in his early forties.  This man couldn't have been older than thirty, with short blonde hair and light eyes.  She would actually have considered him handsome if it hadn't been for the smile on his face.  There was something unsettling about it.  It wasn't just the fact that he seemed happy even in the middle of the situation at hand.  The smile itself just made him look unstable.

“I'm the victim here,” he insisted as he tried to pull Ben's already injured hand off of his shirt.  When that didn't work, he threw his elbow out and hit Ben in the chin.

Rilynne started around the car to help him, but didn't make it far.

As Ben turned his head back toward Maloy, Rilynne caught a glimpse of an almost imperceptible smile.  Before she could even begin to consider how he would react, his fist swung up and connected with the side of Maloy's face.  Maloy fell to the ground, moaning in pain.  Ben let out a satisfied sigh as he stood over him, rubbing his jaw.

“Are you all right?” Rilynne asked as she closed the gap.  She tucked Lori's gun into her belt and reached up to gently caress his chin.  Its redness was just visible under his scruff.

“He didn't hurt me,” Ben said.  He glared down at the man at his feet.  “Actually, he did me a favor.  Hitting him was definitely more satisfying than the wall.”

Rilynne leaned down and flipped Maloy onto his stomach.  As she slapped the handcuffs roughly around his wrists, she looked up at Ben with a tickled grin.  “He's still conscious.  Did you decide to go easy on him?”

He seemed amused by the astonishment on her face.  “I used my left hand,” he explained.  “I figured since we’re going scuba diving on our honeymoon, it wouldn't be the best idea to break my hand.  Besides, you can't get answers out of an unconscious man.”

Rilynne slowly shook her head and pulled Maloy to his feet.

“I have him,” she said.  “Will you bring Lori up?  There's no way we can get her to go back home now.  Besides, we’ll need to handle the fact that she brought him here at gun point.”

Rilynne pushed the man into the station and through the crowded lobby.

“How'd you know I like it rough, detective?”  He looked back at her with a smug grin as she shoved him into the elevator.

Rilynne stared at the elevator doors as they closed in front of her.  She knew if she looked at him, she might not be able to keep herself from hitting him, as well.

“Go,” she said when the doors opened to the third floor.  When he didn't move, she tightened her grip on his arm and dragged him out.

“Tylers,” she called out when they walked into the office.  “Put this in an interrogation room.”  She looked over to Maloy for a moment before letting out a resigned sigh.  “And get him some ice for his face.  He fell as he was getting out of the car downstairs.”

Tylers looked thrown by her statement, but complied.  As soon as he took hold of Maloy, Rilynne walked over where Wilcome was standing in the corner.  He had been watching them closely, but didn’t say anything as she approached.

“I need a word,” she said quietly.  “In private.”  Before he could respond, she turned and walked to the conference room.  She leaned against the table, arms folded in front of her, and waited for him to follow.

“What's going on?” he asked when he walked in.  He shut the door behind him and looked down at her curiously.  “And who was that?”

She hesitated for a moment, knowing how he would likely react to the situation.  As much as she wanted to protect Lori, though, she knew she had to tell him everything that had happened.

“Lori just showed up with her stalker, Brett Maloy,” she said.  “Tylers took him back to interrogation for me.”

“How did she find him?” he asked.  She could see he had a whole list of questions to follow, so she jumped back in.

“I received a call from Joe saying Lori ran out the door when she saw someone in the yard.”  She paused to take a breath before continuing.  “Joe said he followed her and saw them getting into her car.  Just under ten minutes later, they pulled up in front of the station.”

“Spit it out,” he said bluntly, knowing she was holding something back.

Rilynne looked down to her hands before reaching back and pulling out Lori's gun.  “She brought him in at gun point.”  Wilcome let out a groan and took the gun from her.  “Ben pulled him from the car and she gave up the gun without hesitation.  Maloy did attack Ben during the process, though, so Ben hit him.”

“And he's still conscious?”  He seemed both genuinely shocked and entertained.  The fact that he was taking it so lightly actually surprised her.  “Where's Sibrian now?”

“Ben's bringing her up.  They may be a little while, though.  I'm sure she’ll need a little time to compose herself.  I would like to start with Maloy before she arrives.”

Now it was Wilcome who was hesitating.

“I know I'm close to this, but I have to be in there,” she said.  She was hoping that her insistence would ease his reservations.  Even if it didn’t, perhaps he would submit purely out of sympathy.  Either way, she didn’t care.  “I can control myself.”

“That's not what I'm worried about,” he said.  “He attached himself to Sibrian while being interviewed.  I don't think we should take the chance of that happening to you, as well.”

Rilynne grinned.  “I would like to see him try,” she said.  “Being a woman
does expose me to the chance that he might latch on, but it also means he won’t be as threatened by me.  He’s far more likely to open up to me than he is to a man.  Besides, right now only a few people know he's stalking her.  I would like to keep it that way as long as we can.”

He seemed to know she wasn't going to cave, because he just nodded and pulled the door open.  “Just remember that I warned you.  And, Evans,” he groaned and ran his hands over his face.  “Remember there are cameras in the room.”

She chuckled as she walked out past him.  Before she made it back to the interrogation room, Ben walked in with Lori.

“I want to be in there,” Lori said when she saw where she was headed.

She was wearing different clothes than she had been before.  Rilynne had a feeling they stopped in locker room before coming up.  Though the clothes seemed to make her appear more put together, it was only just.  Her long blonde hair was haphazardly pulled up and her swollen face had almost no makeup left on it.  What little Rilynne could see seemed to have been left over from the night Kim was taken.

“You know I can't let you do that,” Wilcome said as he walked up behind Rilynne.  “It’s a conflict of interest and would jeopardize any chance of conviction we have.  Besides, I need you to tell me everything you can about this guy.  You’ll know more
about him than anyone else, and that's vital right now.  Evans will handle the interview with Maloy.”

Lori nodded and followed him to the conference room.  If she knew he was only giving her something to do simply to keep her out of the way, she wasn't showing it.  Rilynne watched them walk into the room and shut the door before turning back toward Ben.

“Do you want me to go in there with you?” he asked.  There was a level of concern in his eyes that matched Wilcome's.

“Having you in there isn't going to prevent him from latching onto me if he so desires,” she said.  He didn't look pleased with her response.  “Besides, he won't open up as well with such a strong, handsome man in the room.”

“You really think flattery will make me forget my qualms with this situation?” he asked.

Rilynne stepped toward him and kissed his cheek.  “That was the general idea.”

He let out a noise that was somewhere between a chuckle and a groan.  “Fine,” he conceited.  “But I'm watching from the observation room.  He's already shown he isn't against getting physical while at a police station.  I'm going to be close in case he decides to demonstrate it again.”

“You're never going to stop protecting me, are you?”  She
slid her arm around his waist and started walking toward the interrogation rooms.

He shook his head dramatically.   “It's a full time job,” he said.  “Someone's got to do it.  I could hire someone, but I think I might actually go broke.”

Rilynne rolled her eyes and pushed him through the observation room door when they came upon it.

Maloy still had the smug smile on his face when she walked into the room.  He stared at her for several long moments, as if trying to size her up.  Though it made her extremely uncomfortable, she stared back at him, careful not to let her uneasiness show.  After a couple silent minutes, he sank back in his chair.

“I would like a cigarette,” he said.

“No,” she replied bluntly.

He smiled.  Though the smile itself left her almost worried, her true concern was actually for Ben in the other room.  Even before they were dating, he had always been very protective of her.  He even went so far as to punch a police officer who disrespected her.  Then after Lori moved to town, his curtain of protection also engulfed her, though not to the same extent.  She was scared to imagine what he would do if Maloy made the wrong move during her interview.

“When did you arrive in town, Mr. Maloy?” she asked.