Gone at Zero Hundred 00:00 (11 page)

Jaden resumed his practice, and Cody followed him around with
the camera getting all the gritty shots.

It was times like that, when I was hanging with the two of
them, that I was able to talk about her without getting all emotional. I
couldn’t help but wonder how things would go down if my best friends were
girls. I would probably be crying all the time.

I ARRIVED near the location where Tamara wanted to meet and
parked two blocks away from the coffee shop. It was on the east side of the street.
The alley ran north and south behind it. I stepped out of the car and scanned
the area. There was a restaurant further north that was closing for the night.
I could hear the trail of voices from employees leaving and heading to their
cars. They were oblivious to anything else, probably just in a rush to get
home. Traffic was still heavy on the street, even at the late hour bringing the
crazies out for the night this close to the harbor. The Toscana and The Devil’s
Door were two blocks south of the location.

I walked towards the shop, paying attention to my
surroundings as I did. It wasn’t that I was paranoid, just cautious. It was
something my mom drilled into me and taught in a high school safety class. She
said, whether you’re an investigator, or just a gal doing her thing, always pay
attention. It drove her crazy when girls would walk to their cars at the mall
parking lot, but their keys would still be tucked away in their handbags, and
they would have no idea who was around.

I got to the corner and cut over toward the alley behind the
shop; then stopped. It was pitch black. There were overhead street lights, but
the bulbs were out. I glanced to the north, then to the south. Both areas were
well lit. This was the only section in the dark.

Something wasn’t right.

I held my cell phone at my side. Why didn’t I bring some kind
of weapon? I must be nuts. My pulse started racing, jumpstarting the
adrenaline. I cautiously crept into the alley.

Okay, where was Tamara?

I thought of calling out her name, but my instincts were
saying to keep quiet. It took my eyes a couple seconds to adjust to the
darkness. In the meantime, I had to rely on my senses and they were working
overtime. The noise from the cars on the streets drowned out the sounds, but I
could feel the presence of someone nearby. If it was Tamara, she wasn’t letting
me know. I took two more steps.

POP – POP

Gunshots! What the hell! I froze in my tracks and dropped to
the ground. I had an instant feeling of déjà-vu - the same thing happened the
day my mother was killed.

POP - POP

More gunshots! Someone was shooting at me!

Was it Tamara Marquez? Why would Tamara be shooting at
me?  If it wasn’t Tamara, then who was it? Who knew we were meeting in the
alley? I tried to listen to gage where the shots were coming from. Time seemed
to move in slow motion as I waited. Then, just as soon as the shots began,
everything was quiet. I heard four shots, then nothing.

A moment later, I heard footsteps pounding the pavement.
Someone was running away from the scene. It was dark, so I couldn’t see anyone.
Then, I heard the sound of squealing tires. A car was speeding away from the
scene.

Then, everything was eerily quiet. 

My body was planted flat on the ground. I was beside myself,
not knowing or understanding what just happened. And I couldn’t see anything. I
wanted to call Carter, but it was too dark to dial his direct number. So, I
punched in #1 on my Blackberry which automatically dialed Sutter Beach P.D. I identified
myself and told them it was an emergency. I asked them to patch me through to
Carter’s cell phone.

“Carter!”  He yelled into the phone. My call woke him
up.

“H - hey, it’s me, Syd,” I stuttered. “I – I’m in the alley
behind Danny’s Coffee Shop. Someone is shooting at me.”

“What the hell!” He yelled. I could hear him jump out of bed,
knocking things down along the way. He was the detective on the scene when my
mom was killed. Being a friend, this was emotional for him. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” I said.  “I think I heard someone leaving the
scene, but I don’t know if there are more.”

“Damn it. Stay down. Officers are on their way.  I’ll be
there as soon as I can, Syd.”

“Okay.”

At the same time I was disconnecting from the call, a patrol
car barreled around the corner, and stopped at the end of the alley. My first
thought was he must have heard the shots. Carter didn’t have a chance to put
the call out. The officer stepped out of the car and marched into the alley. He
was far away, so I couldn’t see his identity, but I could see the glare of
metal in the glow of his headlights. He had his gun out. It was aimed forward.

I was crouched down, where he couldn’t see me. I wanted to
show myself, when I heard sirens in the background. I thought the officer would
hold his position and wait for the others, but he didn’t. He kept moving
forward.

“Officer, it’s Sydney McSwain, friend of Detective Carter.”

He paused for a moment, but it was a very brief moment. When
he continued marching forward, I started to panic, for fear he would shoot
first and ask questions later, believing I was the perp.

Just then, two more patrol cars rolled up. Their headlights
lit up the alley like a spotlight, stopping the officer in his tracks. It was
then, that I recognized him. And I was thankful they showed up when they did.

It was the officer I saw at the club. The one I dubbed
Anchor. His cold eyes glared right back at me. I noticed he was hesitant about
putting his gun back in its holster, until the other officers jumped out of
their cars.

Anchor yelled out, “I heard gunshots.” I guess he needed to
explain why he was first on the scene.

He turned his attention to me. “Miss McSwain, are you okay?”
It sounded like he was asking out of duty, not concern. Call it gut instincts, but
the guy gave me the creeps.-

“I’m fine,” I said. But I wasn’t fine. I was scared to death,
and wondering what just happened.

Anchor pulled his LED police-issued flashlight out and
directed it up and down the alley. He was looking for something, or someone.
When the light settled on the back steps of the coffee shop, his expression
changed.

I followed his gaze. With the light from the patrol car, I
got a clear view of what he was looking at. It was the body of a female,
slumped down on the steps. Her body was distorted, her legs in opposite
directions. A red wig and eyeglasses lay nearby. And blood was flowing like a
river down the steps, and onto the pavement of the alley.

“Tamara…?” I started toward the body, fearing the outcome,
but needing to know. I knew I’d be contaminating the crime scene, but I had to
see. My eyes welled up with tears. I tried to get to her, but my legs wouldn’t
move. I didn’t realize it at the time, but Anchor was holding me back.

ANOTHER ROUND of patrol cars came to a screeching halt at the
scene. Uniformed and plain-clothes officers stepped out of the vehicles and
fanned out to handle their respective tasks. Officers did a search to see if
the perp or perps might still be in the vicinity. Crime Scene techs proceeded
to collect evidence and photograph the scene. Moments later, the M.E. arrived
and walked to the body. I watched him put on latex gloves.

I tried to regain my composure to get a closer look. When I
saw her face, pain hit me in the gut like a tire iron. She was an
eighteen-year-old girl, like me. And she was dead.

Carter finally arrived on the scene and marched straight
toward me with a not-too happy look on his face. “What in the hell were you
thinking? Coming out in the middle of the night?”

His reaction was the last thing
I expected, so I was immediately defensive. “In case you forgot I’m a sleuth -
that means sleuthing, sometimes at odd hours.”

Boy, the look he gave me.
Sometimes I think he believed he was my dad, just like in my old dreams. “Don’t
try my patience young lady. You told me the case you were working was a simple
matter. Why the heck isn’t Cody with you?”

“I told him not to come.”

“Well, why the hell not? I can’t
spend my time worrying about you, too,” he said as he shook his head in frustration.
“After what happened to your mom…”

It didn’t occur to me that this big,
bad detective would worry like that. I always looked at him like he was a macho
tough guy, that didn’t get all mushy.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Oh, come here.” His emotions got the
better of him. He grabbed me into a bear hug and held on tight. “It’s okay,
now.” We stood like that for a good minute; then he walked me over to his
Charger and placed me in the passenger seat so we could talk.

“Thanks,” I said, with what energy I
could muster.

“Here, take this.” He handed me a
thermos filled with tea. “Will you be okay for a minute, while I talk with
crime scene techs and the M.E.?”

I nodded. I took a swig of the tea to
warm the chill inside. My mind was in a fog. It felt like I was in a nightmare,
but I wanted it to end. I looked around at the scene. Patrol cars were
positioned at both ends of the alley keeping bystanders from entering the area
and contaminating the scene. The M.E. had the body covered, but was conferring
with the detectives before removing it from the scene. I had to face it.
Another death happened. It was real.

Tamara Marquez was dead.

I went over things in my mind. Cody’s
favorite phrase came to mind. WTF? Tamara called me out of the blue, asked me
to meet her and she was gunned down. What was she afraid of? Why was she
working with my mom? So many questions were popping up in my head, but the most
important one was; who killed her?

CARTER CAME back to his ride after making sure all the particulars
were being covered on the crime scene.

“Feeling better?”

I nodded. “A little.”

“You up to telling me what happened?”

I took a deep breath. “The victim was a client of my mom’s.”
I relived the vision in my mind of her lifeless body laying there in a river of
blood.

“Who was she?”

“Her name is, was Tamara Marquez.”

He took out a notepad and pen.

“She called the house at three-thirty in the morning. She
didn’t know mom was killed. She said she was in trouble, and she sounded
scared. She asked me to meet her here at midnight.”

“Any ideas of what she was afraid of?”

I shook my head no.

“Or why she’d want to meet you at midnight?”

“No,” I said. “I couldn’t find anything in the file.”

“Why didn’t you bring Cody with you?”

I shrugged. “I thought it might scare her off. She said she
was having trust issues.”

He looked around at the location; the fact that we were in a
dark alley. “Why the alley?”

“She didn’t want anyone to see her.” A wave of emotions hit
me again, as we watched the M.E. remove the body from the scene.

“So what happened when you got here?”

“I parked. There wasn’t anyone around, except for employees
leaving the restaurant up the street. I walked toward the alley; then I noticed
the lights were out, so I got suspicious. I took a couple of steps, and it felt
like somebody was there, but I couldn’t see who. Then, someone started
shooting.”

“Where were you, exactly?”

I pointed to the location. “I was crouched down directly
under the lights, but the bulbs are out.”

He looked up at the lights. The glass was shattered around
the bulb. A strange look came over his face; then a frown. “How many shots were
fired?”

“Four. I heard two, a pause, then two more.”

“Could you tell where they were coming from?”

“Only the general direction.” I pointed to an area near the
building on the opposite side of the alley. “There’s a space in between the
buildings. Somebody could have been standing there. After the shooting stopped,
I heard footsteps. Then, I heard the sound of squealing tires.”

“Like someone was leaving the scene…” It wasn’t a question,
but a statement.

I nodded.

He barked into his radio to one of the Detectives; advising
him that he would be there in a few minutes with more information. “So, you
don’t know much about Tamara Marquez, or anything about her life?”

“Only what was in the file. She was a live in housekeeper for
a wealthy family.” 

We were both quiet for a moment. I took in the events around
us; then I said, “Will you be making arrangements to notify the employer?

“That’s my job.”

“Could I tag along?” I don’t know why, but I wanted to meet
them, to see if I could figure out why she hired my mom.