Love at First Sight (9 page)

Jack watched Karen pick up the envelopes with obvious reluctance.

“Don’t worry,” Denny said. “They’ve been dusted for evidence.”

“And?” Jack asked.

Denny looked up at him. “You’re still here, huh?”

“Yeah, I’m still here.”

He shook his head, but answered the question. “No latents on one. The prints on the other didn’t come up in the computer.”

“One of the respondents took the time to use gloves?” Jack asked in disbelief.

“Looks that way,” Denny said.

Karen opened the first envelope, read the contents, then handed the letter to Jack.

He read the words scrawled in blue ink: “Meet me at the El Topo at noon today.”

The second letter was even more to the point and neatly typed. “Tomorrow evening. Five-fifteen p.m. Ride the carousel. Come alone.”

“I’ve already got things ready for your noon meeting,” Denny was saying. “I think what we’ll do is—”

“Why would he want to meet in broad daylight?” Jack asked.

Denny looked up, irritated. “Who knows? Who cares? Maybe because he’s the secret lover but not the killer and he’s ready to come out of hiding.”

“Then why not just go to the police?” Jack persisted. “And why noon today? Why the rush?”

“I guess he’s anxious to get this over with,” Denny said, getting more angry at Jack’s butting in.

“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” Jack noted. “That he wants to get it over with. But you have to ask yourself, why would he take the chance of showing up today in broad daylight?”

“Because he thinks she already knows him,” Denny said impatiently. “He needs to find out just what she
does
know, who she’s told and what she wants for her silence.”

“Blackmail.” Jack shook his head. “I don’t like anything about this.”

“I think you’ve already made that abundantly clear,” Denny said. “But like I told you. Karen will be protected. We’re going to wire her for sound. We’ll be able to hear her as well as talk to her all the time it’s going down. She will stay a safe distance away, under wraps. All she has to do is say, ‘It’s him,’ and we move in. Simple.”

These kinds of things were never that simple. “What if he hangs back looking for her, hoping for an opening with a high-caliber rifle?”

“Look, Jack, I hate to pull rank on you, but you’re
interfering in my investigation. I’m asking you to stay out of it. If you don’t—”

“I want him there,” Karen said.

They both turned to look at her. Jack had almost forgotten she was there. He suspected Denny had, as well. But Jack hadn’t forgotten that she hadn’t wanted to lean on him. What had changed?

“I want Jack at the meeting,” she repeated. “If it’s what he wants.”

Jack smiled. “Nothing would have kept me away, anyway.”

Denny raked a hand through his dark hair. “He’s off duty, the same as a civilian, Karen. He has no business or authority—”

“If he’s not there, I won’t be, either,” she said, getting to her feet.

Denny’s jaw tensed. He studied her for a moment, then gave her one of his killer smiles. “This is your show, sweetheart.”

F
ROM HER BIRD’S-EYE VIEW
, Karen glanced at the small Mexican food restaurant across the street and tried to still the butterflies as big as vultures circling in her stomach.

“How are you doing?” Jack asked softly into her earpiece.

Jack had left to take his position somewhere down on the street soon after she’d been wired. He’d said he wanted to check out the equipment. Karen knew he had to keep his distance because of his probation. But she also suspected it was more than that. He would want to
position himself where he could stop this stakeout if he felt he needed to.

Denny stood nearby looking out the same window, at the same café, waiting, just like her.

“Fine,” she said.

“It’s not too late to back out,” Jack said quietly.

Denny looked over at her and shook his head. “Guy just doesn’t quit, does he?”

“I’m fine,” she repeated. “Let’s just hope this is the one.” She tried to still the trembling in her hands as she studied the diners at the café through the high-powered binoculars. She wasn’t looking forward to doing this again tonight if this wasn’t the right man.

The café was small, with just a few tables inside and a half-dozen patio tables with umbrellas outside. Right now, most of the tables were filled.

Denny glanced at his watch. “Twelve noon. Do you see anyone who looks even vaguely familiar?”

She shook her head. She’d been watching the café since a quarter after eleven but she hadn’t seen anyone who looked familiar. The place was busy, but no man came in alone, waiting for her.

“I’m going down there,” Denny said. “Let us know if you see anyone who could be the guy.”

She nodded and continued to scan the tables through the binoculars. Another five minutes passed. “Maybe he’s not going to show,” she said, then realized a half-dozen cops were listening to her.

Every woman’s dream to have that many men hanging on her every word. The lame thought made her realize how scared she was. How nuts this was making her. Maybe
Jack was right. Maybe putting an ad in the paper had been a fool idea. What killer in his right mind would—

She suddenly noticed a table at the back, inside the building. Moments before the table had emptied out. But now she could see a man sitting alone with his back to her.

“I see someone,” she said.

“Is it him?” Denny asked. “Where is he sitting?”

She focused the binoculars on the lone man. But between the sun’s glare off the windows and one of the umbrellas on a table outside flapping in the breeze, her view was obstructed.

“I can’t tell from here,” she answered, still straining to get a clear view of him. “He’s in the far back.”

Karen waited to see if anyone joined him. He did appear to be expecting someone. Her?

She hesitated a moment longer. “I’m going down to get a closer look.”

“Negative,” Jack snapped. “Stay there. Wait for him to move.”

Karen watched the man a few moments longer through the binoculars. She knew going anywhere near the café would be dangerous if the man was the killer. But the way he had just suddenly appeared, she suspected he’d come in through some back way. Through the kitchen? She feared he’d leave the same way and she wouldn’t get a look at him.

“Stay put, Karen,” Jack ordered. “Denny, can you see from where you are? Denny? Are you picking up?”

Denny still hadn’t answered by the time Karen reached the street.

“Dammit, Karen,” she heard Jack say into her earpiece as she must have come into his view.

“I’m just going to take a quick look,” she said quietly and started across the one-way side street.

“D
ENNY
?” Jack radioed again. Silence. Where the hell was he? Jack watched Karen advance toward the café, the hair on his neck prickling with foreboding. Dammit, he didn’t like this.

He told himself he knew Denny. His partner must have moved in too close to use his radio. That had to be it.

He held his breath as Karen disappeared behind one of the umbrellas on a patio table, then disappeared altogether as she rounded the corner of the building and dropped out of his sight.

“Karen?” No answer.

His earlier foreboding turned to dread and a terrible feeling of impending doom. “Denny? Have you got her?”

Silence.

His cop training argued that if he moved now, he’d blow the stakeout, ruin any chance Karen might have of identifying the man and more than likely spook the suspect and allow him to escape.

But right now Jack didn’t feel like a cop and it had nothing to do with being on probation or a forced two-week vacation. He swore and started to move in, telling himself he didn’t give a damn about anything but getting Karen out of there.

“Jack, I’m almost there.”

Her voice stopped him. That and the clatter of dishes.
She must have gone around back and in through the kitchen. “You’ve got five seconds and I’m coming after you,” he said to her. Five. Four. Three. Two.

“It’s not him,” Karen whispered, sounding disappointed. “He’s not the man I saw with Liz.”

Jack felt the tension rush out of him. He closed his eyes. “Get out of there,” he told her. But his relief was short-lived. Now they’d have to do this again tonight.

“It’s a wrap, then,” Denny said over the radio, sounding more disappointed than Jack. Just as Jack had suspected, Denny had gotten too close to use his radio and had turned it off. Denny always had to be where the action was.

“Wait a minute,” Jack heard Karen say. “He’s not the man I saw with Liz, but, Jack, I saw him at the hotel Saturday night.”

Jack froze. The man in the back of the café got to his feet and started to leave by the side door.

“It’s Vandermullen,” Denny barked over the radio. “Move in.”

“Karen, get out of there,” Jack ordered as the other detectives swarmed the café.

Dr. Carl Vandermullen? Liz’s ex-husband had answered the ad? God, could Captain Baxter have been wrong about Carl Vandermullen?

Jack took the stairs from his hiding place and came out of the building just as Karen emerged from the café.

She saw him and stopped at the curb on the side street. He started across the street, feeling her gaze, feeling a connection that he could no more explain than he could levitate. Just seeing her filled him with such a rush of emotions that he felt himself smiling like a fool at her.

She smiled back.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw the car.

“Look out!” he cried, but his words were drowned out by the roar of the engine and the squeal of tires as the car turned the corner and bored down on Karen.

Jack dove for her. The car roared past, so close he could feel the heat of the engine and the rush of displaced air.

He and Karen hit the sidewalk and rolled into one of the patio tables, coming to a dish-crashing stop.

He looked down at the woman in his arms. Her eyes were closed, her face pale. “Karen?” he cried, fear making his voice crack.

She opened her eyes, then seemed to focus on his face, and smiled. “You really take this protection stuff seriously, don’t you.”

He laughed and shook his head, amazed she was all right, amazed how relieved he was. In those few seconds before she’d opened her eyes, his life stopped.

“You’re sure you’re all right?” he asked, relief making him downright giddy as he helped her to her feet.

“I’m fine.” Her smile seemed to attest to that fact. “Nothing appears to be broken.”

What’s a few scrapes and scratches to this woman,
he thought, smiling back at her. He felt as though he’d been breathing laughing gas. He could hear voices of people around them, a faint distant roar of questions and exclamations. “Are they all right? What happened?”

“Did you see that?”

“A car tried to run them down. Did anyone get the license-plate number?”

Jack felt as if they were the only two people in the world. He watched her brush at the dirt on her shirt and jeans. “It’s a good thing you’re tough.”

“Is that what I am?” she asked, looking up at him. “What happened to stubborn, foolhardy and reckless?”

“You’re still all those and a whole lot more,” he said, realizing just how true that was.

“Jack, that car purposely tried to run me down,” she said, and he noticed that her hand trembled as she brushed hair back from her eyes. He saw that she finally knew just how much danger she was in.

He felt himself shaking, as well. From the close call. From relief. And anger. He would get the person who’d tried to kill Karen. If it was the last thing he did.

“Don’t worry,” Jack said, slipping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her to him. She filled in the hollow at his side, fitting against him as if made for him. “I’ll find the person who did this.”

Denny rushed up and the rest of the world returned in a commotion of sounds and sights. A flurry of uniforms forced back the crowd that had gathered as Denny
hustled Jack and Karen out of the way and out of earshot from everyone else.

“Did you get a make on the car?” Denny asked quickly. “A plate?”

Jack shook his head. He’d only seen the car out of the corner of his eye. The rest of the time, his gaze had been locked on Karen.

Denny looked to Karen.

She drew away from Jack’s embrace, standing tall, standing on her own two feet. He watched her gain her composure again. “It was a large, brown American-made car with tinted windows.”

“What about the driver?” Denny asked. “Could it have been the same man you just saw at the El Topo?”

“I didn’t get a look at the driver,” Karen said.

“Me, either,” Jack admitted.

Denny looked discouraged but asked Karen, “You said you saw the man in the restaurant at the Carlton the night of the murder?”

She nodded. “He was dressed in all black. My date mistook him for a waiter and tried to call him over to our table when wine got spilled on my dress.”

Jack exchanged a look with Denny. He had a feeling they were thinking the same thing.

“You’re sure?” Denny asked.

She nodded. “Who is he?”

“Well, up until last Friday, he was Liz Jones’s husband, Dr. Carl Vandermullen,” Denny told her. “Liz’s divorce was final just twenty-four hours before her death.”

Karen let out a gasp. “The jealous ex Liz talked about?”

Jack shrugged, although he suspected Dr. Vander
mullen was the man Liz had referred to. The question was, what was he doing at the El Topo? Had he been the one who’d answered Karen’s ad? It certainly appeared so. But why?

Dr. Vandermullen had motive and opportunity and he certainly looked guilty right now, the way he’d disappeared so quickly from the El Topo. Captain Baxter wasn’t going to like it, but Dr. Vandermullen was now a suspect.

A uniformed officer motioned to Denny and he nodded and shifted his gaze back to Jack. Jack could see that something was wrong and wasn’t surprised when Denny said, “Captain Baxter wants to see you and me. Now.” Jack waited for the other shoe to drop. He could tell by Denny’s expression there was more and he knew it had to do with Karen.

“Baxter’s given orders for Karen to be taken into protective custody,” Denny said.

“Can he do that?” Karen cried, looking even more shaken.

“No, he can’t,” Jack assured her.

“He can if he feels she’s a danger to herself,” Denny said evenly. “He’s holding her pending a psychiatric evaluation. He thinks by putting an ad in the newspaper advertising for the murderer, she has a death wish and might be suicidal.”

“That’s crap, and you know it,” Jack argued.

“You can tell Baxter that when you see him,” Denny said.

Karen glanced over at Jack, a silent pleading in her gaze as two uniformed officers appeared to escort her away.

“Don’t worry,” Jack whispered, his gaze holding hers until the connection was broken by the officers.

He noticed two other uniforms standing by and knew they’d been sent for him. Denny said nothing as he headed for the waiting police car. Jack followed, the uniformed cops right behind him.

J
ACK AND
D
ENNY
found Captain Brad Baxter pacing in front of his office window. He was an athletic-looking man in his early fifties with only slightly graying brown hair. He looked more like a former tennis coach than a police captain.

He motioned for them to close the door and sit down, his movements agitated and obviously angry.

“What the hell is going on?” he demanded the moment they’d taken the chairs opposite his desk, the question shouted at Denny. “I find out you have a witness then hear that you almost got her killed in some unauthorized surveillance?”

Jack said nothing, knowing Baxter would get to him in due time.

Denny quickly filled Baxter in on what had happened.

The captain walked to the window, his back to them. “You saw the car that almost ran down your witness? Was it Vandermullen’s?”

“As far as we know, he was on foot. The car was a large, dark, American-made sedan with tinted windows. That’s all we have.”

“So you can’t be sure Vandermullen has anything to do with the murder, right?” Baxter asked turning around to glare at them. “Did anyone get a license plate?”

“The plates were covered with dirt,” Denny said.

Baxter swore. “What about Vandermullen?”

“I have an APB out on him.”

“What?” Baxter barked.

“At this point he’s only wanted for questioning. Our witness can place him at the Hotel Carlton the night of the murder.”

Baxter didn’t look happy to hear that. “You take this slowly, carefully,” he warned Denny. “Dr. Vandermullen is a powerful man in this town.”

Denny had been right. Baxter was acting more paranoid than usual about the case. Was it just because the victim had been Dr. Vandermullen’s wife?

“What about this woman?” Baxter asked, this time looking at Jack. “Is she a reliable witness?”

Jack nodded.

“She saw Vandermullen at the hotel Saturday night, but says he wasn’t the man she saw
with
the murder victim,” Denny said.

“Can she ID the man she saw with Liz Jones?” Baxter asked.

“Yes.” Denny shot a look at Jack, daring him to disagree. “That’s why she put the ad in the paper. She’s determined to find him before he finds her. He also saw
her
that night and it appears he called her from the hotel following the murder.”

The captain had the look of a man who’d missed a good party he should have been invited to. “It seems you’ve been doing a lot of investigating on your own. Why is that?”

Denny glanced over at Jack. “Everything happened so fast. When I got on a lead I just followed it.”

Baxter nodded, obviously not liking it.

“We have another meeting set up this evening at the carousel with the second respondent from her ad,” Denny added hurriedly.

Baxter shook his head. “I don’t want her life at risk again, Kirkpatrick.”

“No, sir,” he said quickly. “She’s in protective custody with the men you sent for her. But even if she is released from the safe house after her psychiatric evaluation, we’re planning to use a decoy at this second meeting, take photographs of the suspect that we can later show Ms. Sutton and keep a tail on the suspect.”

“No more foul-ups,” Baxter ordered. “You make sure nothing happens to that woman. I want her guarded at all times and I want to know when Dr. Vandermullen is picked up. And Kirkpatrick, I don’t want you sneezing without me knowing about it.”

Denny nodded and got up to leave, Jack right behind him.

“Not you, Adams,” Baxter snapped. “And Kirkpatrick? Wait outside my office. I’m not through with you yet.”

J
ACK SAT BACK DOWN
across from Captain Baxter’s desk as the door closed after Denny.

“What the hell are you doing getting involved in this investigation?” he demanded. “I ought to fire you and have you thrown in jail.”

Baxter could do it, too, Jack thought. “Captain, take
me off probation, put me on the case. Let me come back and work it.”

“Do I need to remind you that you are on probation because I don’t like your attitude, Adams? Do you really think I would put you on the case after you have compromised the investigation? Not on your life. As of this moment, you’re suspended. I want your badge and your gun.”

Jack shouldn’t have been surprised. Baxter had been bucking for this from the first day he’d taken over the department. Jack knew he rubbed Baxter the wrong way. But Jack never thought it would come to this. Without a word, Jack handed over his badge and laid his pistol on the captain’s desk.

“If you don’t stay out of this, I
will
fire you and have you thrown in jail,” Baxter threatened. “I don’t want to see your face again for two weeks. Now get out of here.”

Jack left. He’d have to be more careful so Baxter didn’t see him, but he definitely wasn’t going anywhere. He was going to find out who’d tried to kill Karen. But first he had to find out where Baxter had her hidden.

He passed Denny who gave him an I-told-you-so look before going back into Baxter’s office. Jack waited for his friend outside the building.

“I can’t help you,” Denny said irritably, before Jack could even tell him what he wanted. He kept walking. “Baxter’s pulled me off the case.”

“What?” Jack stumbled and had to hurry to catch up with his partner. Baxter had sounded as though he was going to let Denny stay on the case. What had changed his mind? Jack had a feeling it was his fault. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Denny glanced over at him and slowed his pace a little. “You still have a job?”

“For the moment,” Jack said. “I need to know where Baxter’s had Karen taken.”

Denny shook his head.

“I’m worried about her, Denny. Baxter is too busy trying to be politically correct and not upset Vandermullen and his strong political ties. I’m afraid someone’s going to mess up and Karen’s going to pay for it.”

His partner slowed to a stop. He looked back to be sure they hadn’t been followed. “Come on.” He took Jack to an out-of-the-way bar up by the old railroad depot.

Al and Vic’s was a narrow, dark bar with a zigzag of dark and light tile on the floor and a couple of pool tables in the back. Denny led him to an end stool away from the other customers, who all seemed to be older regulars.

“You’ve always bucked authority, but this case isn’t the one to cross Baxter on,” Denny said quietly. “He’s afraid of the bad publicity, not to mention the grief a man like Dr. Vandermullen could heap on him. Baxter’ll have your badge if you don’t leave this alone.”

Jack knew what his partner was saying was true. “I’ll have to take my chances.”

Denny stared at him wide-eyed for a moment then laughed and ordered them both drafts. “What has this woman done to you?”

Jack wished he knew. He waited until the bartender slid the beers in front of them before he tried to explain it to Denny—and himself. “The first time I saw her,
something struck me about her.” He laughed. “Struck me like a bolt of lightning.”

Denny chuckled. “What? Love at first sight? You have to be kidding.”

“More like
cursed
at first sight,” he said, shaking his head. “I swear, Denny, from the moment I laid eyes on that woman, everything…changed. I don’t know which end is up.”

Denny only stared at him.

“I know you think I’m crazy.”

Still his friend said nothing.

“The question is, are you going to help me?” Jack asked.

Denny sipped his beer. “You’ll get us both fired, you know that?” He took another drink. “I’ll see what I can find out.”

“Thanks, buddy. I owe you.”

“Yeah, and I think this is the way you’re repaying me for all those practical jokes.” He got up to leave but then hesitated. “You’d better figure out what the deal is with you and this woman and soon. A cop can’t afford to be walking around not knowing which end is up, you know. Not even one on suspension.”

Jack nodded.

“Give me an hour. Where can I reach you?”

“Right here,” Jack said.

I
N A ROOM
on the top floor of a small brick hotel overlooking the Clark Fork River and the city carousel, Karen thumbed through the last book of mug shots she’d been given. After a while all the photos of the men
had started to look alike. She glanced at her guards, two uniformed officers playing cards, the reality of her situation never more clear—or painful.

She felt truly afraid for the first time and alone even with the officers there. The full impact of what had happened earlier had finally hit her. Someone had tried to run her down in the street. Tried to kill her.

And now Captain Brad Baxter had ordered her into protective custody, pending a psychiatric evaluation. She doubted he really thought her ad in the newspaper was a death wish. Maybe he was just trying to protect her.