No Mercy (22 page)

Rachelle sat with her legs up to her chest, rocking back and forth as she looked at Deborah sleeping on the sofa. She tried to stay up with Rachelle because she knew she was worried about Paul. The young woman's eyes looked at Craven sleeping next to Deborah while Wes was awake and clearly knew that Rachelle was upset. She picked up her phone, punched in numbers, then canceled the call and put the phone down. She rocked a little bit more then picked up the phone again. The call went straight to voice mail. When the sound to leave a message came on, Rachelle spoke. “I need your help. It's time you take care of Paul, because I'm not sure if I can. Please call me.”

It was almost 3:15 am when Powers and Lynagh got to Officer Lawrence's apartment building in East Hampton. They waited five minutes for Bud, who threatened to sing to Paul every day for the rest of his life if he didn't wait for him. Bud showed up in a police car driven by an East Hampton officer from the helipad. In a loud whisper Bud spoke as he greeted Powers and Lynagh, “You fuckers! Lord forgive me. What the hell are you doing?”

Paul looked at his partner.

“No more. We are going in.”

Bud grabbed his partner and said,

“Look at me, Paul. You have a life with Rachelle. Don't blow it. Let's do this the right way.”

Paul looked over at the officer who drove Bud to the house. He looked at the name badge, which read
Blanchard
.

“Officer Blanchard, please go to the door of your fellow officer and ask him to come out peacefully.”

Bud added, “Tell him we have a warrant for his arrest.” He looked at Paul with a smile and said, “I got Ashley to wake up that old fish Judge Green and grant the warrant.”

Paul shook his head as the four of them approached the door. Officer Blanchard knocked on the door as Lawrence came to the door and said,

“It's almost 3:30 in the morning.”

Blanchard spoke. “We have a warrant for your arrest; please come out peacefully.” There was silence.

Blanchard smiled and looked at Powers. “Well, I guess he's all yours.” Powers looked at Lynagh to knock the door down as Bud grabbed the officer aside. A half second later a shotgun blast went through the door that would have taken Blanchard's face off.

“You saved my life!” Blanchard said to Bud as another shotgun blast came through the door, this time taking out the rest of the door. Paul motioned for Lynagh to go outside. Paul started yelling into the apartment.

“Why, asshole? Why shoot one of your own? Did you try to kill your partner Blair as well?”

Lawrence spoke. “I'm a dead man anyway. I have nothing to lose except my life. My life was nothing, The money I was making just wasn't enough for the East End of Long Island. I couldn't change my quality of life until I was offered the money for information. I didn't know how crazy these people were till it was too late.”

Powers looked over at Bud before turning his head back to the now-open doorway and saying, “Why shoot your partner? Why the wife? She's barely alive. Did you rape her too?” As he spoke, Lynagh positioned himself near the apartment window on the second floor and sent Paul a text he was in position. Paul gave Bud his phone and told him to wait until there was gunfire.

Lawrence replied, “I could never kill my partner. It was that crazy fuck Simpson. He shot my partner, and the wife was begging for her daughter's life when he started to rip her clothes off. She fought him and he claimed he couldn't get excited without the music. So he bashed her head against the railing a few times and was going for the girl upstairs when I stopped him.”

Paul replied, “So why try to kill an innocent officer?” Lawrence hesitated.

“I guess greed. I know who you guys are. If there are two or three of you out there, we are talking almost a half million for the bounties.”

Paul answered, “Stephen Lawrence, there are ten of us out here. You lose. Come out now, and we'll take you in alive.”

Lawrence was quick to respond, “It's too late. I've killed an officer, I took money for information on cops, and I was there when Blair and his wife were killed and beaten. I won't be subjected to prison.”

“Stephen,” Powers said, “Blair and his wife are alive.”

“You're just saying that!” Lawrence yelled.

Lynagh had opened the window just enough, but Lawrence heard the creaking. He turned around and fired as Lynagh moved out of the way of the window in time.

Bud rushed into the apartment and tackled him before he could turn around and fire again.

“Bud,” Paul yelled, “what are you doing?”

Bud just looked up at his partner from the floor as Blanchard began to put the handcuffs on Lawrence.

“Enough lives have been lost, my partner.”

Powers put out his hand as Bud grabbed it to stand up. They hugged for a second as if to thank each other.

When they were back in the hallway, apartment doors began to open from the noise. Paul just stood there as Bud started waving his badge for people to get back in their apartments. One man couldn't seem to resist, and Bud had to get a little stronger with him: “Hey! I said get your fat ass back inside!” He flashed his badge again.

Lynagh called 9-1-1 and identified himself for an ambulance and police to arrive at the scene.

Paul looked around the apartment and kept shaking his head. He said,

“Money, money, money; money is the root of all evil.”

Bud walked up to his side. “No, my friend, it's the love of money that is the true root of all evil. 1 Timothy 6:10”

Paul looked at his partner, not surprised he had quoted the bible. “Let's get some rest.” Bud nodded as they answered questions and signed some papers for the local authorities. They took the vehicle back to the home of Officer Blair and picked up O'Malley and Healey before heading back to the precinct.

It was 8:00 am when Deborah woke up to the sounds of the dogs crying to go outside. She looked and saw Rachelle was in a deep sleep in her Benjamin Franklin lounge pants. She smiled every time she saw her in those pants and often wondered who Rachelle loved more, Paul or Franklin. She laughed a little loudly but caught herself so she wouldn't wake her up. There was a note on the front door from her father that said,
Deborah, going to the city for the day. Call if you need me. I love you. Dad.
Deborah loved the way her Dad would actually write the words
I love you
instead of
Love you
. He never took shortcuts with anything, and she loved that about him. Although she was twenty-eight years of age, she looked forward to the once or twice a week talks they had.

She opened the door and let the dogs out. The grounds were completely gated, so there was no worry about them taking off. As she watched Wes and Craven enjoy their freedom outside, her phone buzzed with a text from Bud.
How are you doing? I found Paul last night. It was a tough night, but we are OK. We are trying to stay away from you and Rachelle until the bounties on us are taken off. This should be over by move-in day, but I’m not sure I’m up to it.
He ran out of room and continued to send another text:
Deborah, I want you to know you are the sweetest woman I have ever met and I’m thankful you care about me. Even when we are not together I think of you when something good happens to me. It proves to me how important you are.

Deborah smiled with emotion and needed to clear her throat. Her thoughts wondered how he really felt about her when the phone buzzed again. It was Bud again. The text read,
In case you are wondering, you mean the world to me, which is why I’m moving to South Street . . . to be closer to you
. Deborah smiled and kissed the phone, then chased after the dogs for some playtime.

It was close to 9:00 in the morning when Rachelle woke up and looked at the beautiful grandfather clock in the foyer of the mansion.
Oh my God
, she thought. Deborah had just entered the house with the dogs when she jumped up to look for her phone to see if Paul was OK. There was a text from him:
All OK. I love you.

She looked at Deborah and said, “I have to get to Joey's. I promised him I would take the 10:00 am to 4:00 pm shift. Can you keep the dogs here while I work?”

Deborah gave Wes a kiss and told Rachelle, “No problem. They won't let me teach in the school until the case is over anyway.”

Rachelle hugged her with a big thank-you and said, “I'll see you later. Come down to the restaurant at 5:00. Let's have dinner together. If you're not busy tomorrow I'm going to see Madison. Please come with me if you can.”

Deborah nodded and said, “See you later. By the way, are you going to shower before going to work?”

Rachelle gave her the evil eye as she walked out the door, saying, “Why, my dear, I'm going to shower at Paul's. It's so convenient.” And with those words she blew kisses to the dogs.

Deborah shook her head as she spoke out loud to herself. “Ah yes, sex, what a wonderful thing. At least I think so. It has been so long I can't remember much.” Rachelle drove out the gate as Officer Carson sent a text to Powers asking whether he should stay with Rachelle or stay at the house where Deborah was. He didn't receive an answer back and the officer made the decision to stay outside the Lance mansion.

Rachelle ran up the stairs and jumped on the bed where Paul was in a deep sleep after three and a half hours of sleep. The young woman kissed him all over and even tried to arouse him, but he was totally out of it. She gave up and finally went into the bathroom to take a shower. The cool water felt good on her body as she let it soak through her hair, down to her face and down to her legs. Rachelle felt like there were times she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Writing for the local paper, the notoriety from the first case, the restaurant responsibilities, and trying to hold on to her relationship with Paul. All these thoughts filling her head as the water sprayed over her face. Her eyes closed, yet her thoughts kept circling over and over in her head. Thoughts turned to Madison sitting in jail having nightmares. Rachelle's thoughts were going from one subject to the next thinking about how nice it would be to have a normal life, a quiet life. One where no one was being shot at, kidnapped, or stabbed. The young woman covered her face with her hands to try and wipe all the thoughts away. She put her head down to let the water spray on the back of her head as she looked at the base of the tub, watching the water hit the base in all directions from her head and body.

She turned the water off, reached for a towel, dried herself off, and went to Paul's bed. She began to kiss him all over his face until he opened his eyes and stared at her. She put her hand on the side of his face and began stroking it with the movement of her fingers. He loved waking up to her beautiful eyes staring at him after he slept. She smiled and said the words that everyone wants to hear. Those words that have been repeated over and over millions of times, yet there is only one way that we long to hear them. Rachelle was just as much a reader as a writer. One of the books that made an impression on her was
Written on the Body
by Jeanette Winterson. It was this book that expressed the clichés of love, and Rachelle agreed with the author that those words—I love you—were the most unoriginal thing one can say to another, yet they are the words we want to hear from the ones we care about the most. There is something about those specific words that give us security and makes our heart smile. This moment right now with Paul was no different. She didn't care how he said it, how fast or slow, she needed to hear those unoriginal words.

“I love you.” Paul kissed Rachelle and said it in a way that made it special. It was romantic and it was good enough for her. He touched her and said, “I've always loved you.” Rachelle moved over on top of him and they made love in a way they had not for some time. There had been sex, but the act of making love had diminished in their lives. The problem was that dreaded four-letter word:
busy
. Their lives had taken a course where they had been caught up in a busy world. This morning, the priority was different. The detective knew he had to be careful when Rachelle was with him, but it was times like this when he couldn't resist her. Paul hated the Face of Fear investigation, but he believed it brought him closer to Rachelle. Now, he was scared the Music Club Murders and the consequences from Face of Fear were now threatening to tear them apart. The case was violent, and while not as complicated, the fallout would be much steeper if it was not resolved. It was another forty minutes before Rachelle got out of bed and put on clothes that she kept in Paul's apartment.

The detective sat up in bed as Rachelle brushed her hair and said,

“Are you going to ask me about last night?”

Rachelle stopped brushing for a couple seconds, then started moving the brush again before saying,

“I figured you would tell me if there was something I needed to know or if you wanted me to know. I get scared, Paul. Not for me anymore, but I worry about you. I worry about your life. I worry about our future. Tell me, do you think about our future? I know what your job is, I know what the world is about today, but there are things I think about. Such as us, and having children, and I know I don't want to bring them up in a world wondering if their daddy is going to come home tonight. I'm not scared about me, Paul. I'm scared for us.”

She kissed him on the lips, and as she got up and walked to the top of the stairway, she turned around and looked at her lover, who still had his back against the bedpost. The beautiful woman smiled and spoke again. “I believe in you, Paul. I always have.” She blew him a kiss as she ran down the stairs and entered Z Pita through the back entrance.

Joey Z was sitting at the back table looking over papers as he asked Rachelle if everything was all right. It was his way of letting her know she was twenty minutes late. Rachelle walked over to him and kissed him on top of his head. “Everything is fine, Joey Z.”

The majority owner looked at Rachelle as she walked toward the front of the restaurant and spoke to himself.

“Women, can't live with them, can't live without them.”