Over Her Dead Body (23 page)

Chapter 38

Detective James was organizing the evidence. He was laying each item out on his desk side by side. First there was the coroner’s report. The coroner had indicated that the girl had died from a shot to the head. According to the coroner, she would have died anyway from the shot she had taken to the stomach. Then there was the trace analysis. Apparently there was no discernable trace found in the dirt around the body or on the body itself. There were however, shell casings from a nine millimeter semi-automatic pistol found in the woods. No prints. Then there was the ballistics report from the bullets that were removed from the victim. The computer found a match to two other unsolved homicides. Nothing that could be traced to the Banders or any other perps for that matter. There was the DNA reports from both Michael and April. There were crime scene photos taken at the scene and the house where Michael had been taken to. There were pictures of the other evidence collected; the cell phone, clothes that had been identified as belonging to Michael and some belonging to the two officers. He had typed up his notes from the interviews with Mrs. Bander and laid them aside. Dossiers of both Michael, April, and the twins had been dropped off on his desk. They included everything from pictures, to driver’s license numbers, date of births, social security numbers, work history, and more. Detective James carefully organized all his evidence into separate piles.

“Have you cracked the case yet
D
etective?” A voice came up from behind him.

The detective turned around. “Oh hey
D
oc…that would be wishful thinking. It’s almost like I’m in the middle of one really large hoax.”

“Oh it’s no hoax
D
etective I can assure you. But it
is
a puzzle and it’s yearning to be solved. More lives hang on the balance than just the missing girl I think.” Dr. Crane said.

The detective was about to reply when his cell phone rang. He flicked his cell open and put it to his ear. “Detective James.” There was a pause. “Mhmm…ok…What? You gotta be shitting me! They are going to fuck this thing up. Call in the locals for backup. Have them apprehend those jerkoffs and you stick to Mr. Bander. Don’t let him get away! Got it? And you don’t know who the other guy is? Did you run the plates? And? Well, keep your eye on him. Bring him in if it’s possible. Ok. Let me know. Thanks.” The detective clicked the phone shut. “Good God Almighty. You’ve got to be f
ucking
kidding me.” The detective said outloud.

“This doesn’t sound like a positive turn of events.” Dr. Crane voiced his observation.

“My guys have been pursuing the wife’s car. We put a tracking device on it.” The detective was shaking his head.

“And…”

“And the wife left her sister’s house and headed out of town toward Alexandria Bay.”

“And you’re concerned about jurisdiction?” Dr. Crane asked.

“Nope. I’m concerned about the two cars they’ve spotted following her.”

“Two cars?”

“Both cars followed her from the sister’s house to the amusement park. One of the cars had one driver; a tall thick man with dark hair. They ran the plates and it came back to some corporation in New York City.”

Dr. Crane crinkled his forehead. “And the other car?”

“The other car belongs to Frank. Gary was driving.”

Dr. Cranes face showed immediate concern. “Oh dear. They don’t know we have the cell phone recording yet do they?”

The detective shook his head.

“They don’t know about the warrant either?”

“Nope,” The detective said, “They’re out to get rid of the evidence. They’re out to kill Michael Bander.”

Chapter 39

Michael and April were staring at the girl, not sure what to say. “How…how did you find us?” April finally asked.

The girl drew a finger across her cheek to catch a stray tear. She was trying to be strong. “I don’t know. I kept dreaming of this place. I would see you and him…” she wiped away another tear, “and my sister. She always got shot.”

Michael looked perplexed. It sounded like the same exact dream he had been having. April couldn’t stand it anymore; she reached out and hugged the girl. As she hugged her and looked out over her shoulder she noticed two men approaching who seemed a little more than curious about what was going on. Both men had angry looks on their faces. One was walking on crutches and had a cast on his right leg. The one without crutches reached behind him and produced a gun. April released the girl and pulled her back behind her. Michael stepped up beside April. A third man approached from their right. He wore a dark suit and had on sunglasses. He didn’t appear to be aware of the other two men; he was focusing on the girl that was now hiding behind Michael and April. She had her arms around both of them and was watching the situation unfold from between their shoulders.

“Oh my God,” she said, “That’s the man who killed my sister.”

“Those are cops,” Michael said low enough the
men
couldn’t hear
.
“
T
hey’re bad cops.”

“Not anymore, they’ve been suspended.” April said barely audible. The men were getting closer. They were only about ten feet away. Frank was having trouble with the crutches and Gary was trying to conceal the gun by letting it hang by his side.

“Not those guys. The man to your right.” The girl behind them whispered in their ears. April and Michael had been focused on the two cops and hadn’t even noticed the other man coming in from the right. The man had his hand inside his suit jacket and was walking toward them. He stopped suddenly aware of the other two men approaching. Frank followed their gaze to the man in the dark suit. He stopped and tapped Gary to stop him. The two cops and the man in the suit had stopped and were staring at each other apparently trying to figure out who the other was and what they were doing there. Michael and April looked back and forth from the two cops to the man in the suit, not sure what was going to happen next.

April was looking past the man in the suit and had noticed two police officers in uniform staring at the other officers. One of the uniformed officers spoke into his radio attached to his shirt and both drew their weapons. Neither of them seemed to notice Michael or April. They moved in behind the other two officers.

“Turn around slowly and put your hands in the air.” One of the uniformed officers shouted. Both officers turned around breaking off their stare with the man in the suit. The man in the suit quickly turned and began walking the other direction. “Put your hands in the air!” The man repeated again to Frank and Gary.

Frank and Gary slowly raised their hands and began a verbal exchange about being police officers. Michael wasted no time ushering the girls in the opposite direction the man in the suit had gone. A crowd had begun to form in a circle around the scene unfolding by the water. Michael, April, and the girl entered into the crowd and disappeared behind a building.

“What do we do?” Asked April.

Michael looked around the corner at the crowd and then back at the two girls. “We need to get out of the park. If I’m right, there will be people looking for us at the entrance and probably more on the way. We need to get to my car. They won’t be looking for it.”

April was about to ask ‘what car?’ when she decided against it and nodded her head. He could explain later. “How?” She asked instead.

“I’ve got an idea. I don’t know if it will work, but it’s worth a shot.” Michael said. “There is a gift shop near the entrance right?”

“Y
es
, I think so. Or at least there used to be.” April said.

The other girl nodded. “Ya, I was inside it earlier trying to stay cool.”

Michael nodded. “Ok, you lead the way.” The girl led Michael and April to the gift shop at the front of the park. They were inside for maybe two minutes and all three emerged from the building.

April opened
a
sack and passed out hats and sunglasses. “I don’t know how this is going to help us Michael. They’re still going to recognize us.” April said as she pitched the empty bag in the trash.

“Ok, don’t put your sunglasses on yet until I tell you. Tuck your hair under your hat.” He nodded to the other girl. “You, turn your hat around backwards.” The girl turned her hat around and so did Michael. Michael looked out and saw two large groups of people heading toward the gate. There was another group even further back. “I hope this works.” Michael said. And led the girls out circling around the third group. “Ok, after I say the word
'
gun
'
, April you shout out ‘he’s got a bomb’ then you…” he pointed at the other girl “you yell ‘run!’ got it?” They nodded. “All right, when everybody starts running, toss on your sunglasses.” Michael took off running toward the group and the girls followed.

“Run! He’s got a gun!” Michael yelled at the group.

“He’s got a bomb
!
” April yelled.

“Run!” The other girl shouted. “Run Now!” The whole crowd had stopped and then their faces went from puzzled to panic and they began running toward the entrance. As they caught up to the other two groups they were all yelling about guns and bombs. Within seconds, all three groups were yelling and running toward the entrance. There were guards up front trying to stop the crowd and what looked like two officers and a couple that may have been undercover. Michael and the girls tossed on their sunglasses and blew right thr
ough
security with the rest of the crowd screaming and running. Soon they were in the parking lot and the girls followed Michael to the white SUV.

April climbed in the front passenger side and the other girl hopped in the back seat. “How’d they know to find us here?” April asked as Michael put the key in the ignition.

“I don’t know. They must have been following you.” Michael said. “They probably knew you would lead them to me. Do either of you have cell phones on you?” Michael asked. The girl in the back said no and April nodded and took hers out of her pocket. Michael took the phone and separated the battery from it and tossed it in his bag. He put the SUV in reverse and took off.

April took off her hat and sunglasses and stuck her head around the seat. She put out her hand. “Hi, I’m April by the way.”

The girl in the back took off her glasses but left her hat on backwards. She shook April’s hand. “Amber.” She said.

“I have a feeling we have a lot to talk about.” April said.

Amber laughed. “You have no idea.”

April smiled and stared at her for a moment and then turned around in her seat. “So where to now?” She asked. “We can’t go driving back into Angel Falls. They’ll be looking for you there. And me too.”

“And me three.” Piped in Amber.

April stuck her head around the seat and looked at her. “Why would they be looking for you?”

“Because I saw who shot my sister. They will want me to point him out in a line up.” She pointed at Michael.

“What? Are you saying Michael shot your sister?” April asked half panicked and half confused.

“No,
he
didn’t. But they think he did. That’s why they’re looking for him right?”

“Yes, but..how did you know that?” April asked as Michael made a hard right hand turn onto a ramp that lead to highway 84.

“Duuuh-uuuh! It’s all over the news.” She said sarcastically.

“Well that’s how we fix it. We go back and you tell them it wasn’t him!” April said.

“Um…No! Are you crazy? They will kill me if I get anywhere near there. When I went down there to report my sister’s murder, they were waiting for me when I got outside. I just barely outran them. I’m not going back there. No way. No how.” Amber said matter of factly.

“Michael? Are you catching any of this?” April asked looking at him.

Michael nodded. “Mhmm.” He said as if he wasn’t worried.

“Mhmm? What do you mean mhmm? Michael
,
the entire city is on a manhunt for you and will shoot you on si
ght
. How can you sit there and say mhmm?” April asked.

Michael looked over at April and back at the road. They passed a sign that said Lamier 5 miles.

April looked at the sign and back at Michael. “Why are you going in the opposite direction? We should be going back and getting this thing straightened out.”

“Because they will be looking for us that way. And we would increase our chances of bumping into any one of them.
"

“Oh.” April said and sat back in her seat. “So what’s the plan?”

“Are you hungry?” He asked her.

“Are you kidding me? How can you think about food after what we just went through?”

“It’s not the food I’m thinking about. We need time and we need to figure this out. We haven’t even heard Amber’s side of the story. Maybe if we figure this out, we can come up with a plan.”

April didn’t say anything. It made sense. Besides, she really was hungry; she just couldn’t believe
he
was hungry. She hadn’t eaten for nearly two days.

After about another nine minutes, Michael was pulling into a little restaurant called Chung Mahoney’s Diner a couple miles off the highway in Lamier. There weren’t many cars there and it was late so they were hoping to get a little privacy while they ate and discussed the events that had led them to where they now found themselves. The sign inside read ‘please seat yourself’ and they found a cozy booth with few people in the area. A young blonde waitress greeted them and took drink orders with a promise to be right back. Michael and April sat to one side of the booth and Amber sat on the other. April was staring awkwardly at Amber. She couldn’t get over how much she looked like herself at that age.

“What?” Amber said growing uncomfortable at April’s stare.

“Nothing. It’s just…nothing.” April wasn’t sure how to say it without sounding stupid.

“You look like she did fifteen years ago.” Michael said.

“Oh,” Amber said, “that’s weird.”

“Well, it gets weirder than that…” April said.

Amber crinkled her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“According to the police, you are our daughter.”

Amber had a shocked expression. “What?
You’re
our biological parents?” She asked.

“Not that I know of.” April said.

Amber was confused. “What do you mean
'
not that you know of?
'
You either gave birth to twins or you didn’t.”

“Then the answer to your question is no. We aren’t your biological parents.”

Now Amber was even more confused; her emotions were bordering on anger. “Then why do the police think you are my parents?” She asked.

“Because our DNA matches. Michael’s DNA and my DNA have a ninety-nine percent match with your DNA. According to the detective working the case, you have a ninety-nine percent probability that you are our daughter.”

“And you know that’s not true because…”

“Because I have never given birth. I didn’t even lose my virginity until I was sixteen. So you see, it’s impossible. You can’t be my daughter because I would have gotten pregnant at fourteen.” April said.

The waitress appeared with drinks. “Are you guys ready to order?” She asked politely.

“Um..can you give us a few more minutes?” Michael said picking up a menu. The waitress nodded. April and Amber picked up their menus, silently agreeing to put the conversation on hold. For the next five minutes they all discussed the menu and what each one was going to order and what kind of food they liked. The waitress eventually made her way back over and took the food order.

After she had left, Amber took a sip of her
C
oke and looked at April. “So?” She said.

April looked at Amber. “So what?” She said back.

“So, how do you explain the DNA if you never gave birth? Are you suggesting that I am the 1%?”

“Well, actually it was 99.9%, so I guess that would make you the .10%.” April said. “I guess that is like one in a thousand…I don’t know. Michael, you’re the Biology teacher. You must have a theory…How is this possible?”

Michael took a drink of his sweet tea. “I don’t know,” he said, “It doesn’t make much sense. I think we need to hear Amber’s story. Start with everything you can remember up until right now.” Michael said.

Amber looked away from the table and stared out over the counter where the waitress was busy working. She had already told the story to the police; she didn’t want to relive it. She didn’t want to see her sister die again in her mind.
Find our parents. Tell them about me
. Amber’s eyes welled up with tears a little.

Michael reached out and took her hands in his. “I’m sorry Amber. If it’s too painful…”