Chain Reaction (22 page)

J
ake arrived at the apartment first. He was tired, hungry, worried about Lucinda and getting a headache from Chester’s relentless high-pitched demands for attention. First things first. He scratched behind Chester’s ears and down his back. The cat seemed to like the stroking but was still meowing like a maniac.

He pulled out a can of Chester’s current favorite, Turkey Feast, and carried it over to the pet bowl. He knew he should clean out the dried-up remnants from the cat’s last meal, but at that moment he didn’t care. As soon as he dumped the contents, Chester was on it, making quieter sounds of contentment as he ate.

Jake opened the refrigerator, looking for something appealing and easy. He had a lot of options but all of them involved too much effort. He grabbed a hunk of aged cheddar, a knife, a box of stoneground crackers and a bottle of Killian’s and carried it all out on to the balcony.

After washing down a couple of bites with a swallow of beer, he pulled out his cell and pressed Lucinda’s name again, prepared to leave a more desperate message. He was surprised when she answered. ‘Where are you?’

‘In the car, in the parking lot.’

‘Which parking lot?’

‘Our apartment building. Where are you?’

‘I’m up here – in the apartment. Why aren’t you coming up?’

‘I’m looking for the energy to walk over to the elevator.’

‘You sound as bad off as I am.’

‘Maybe worse,’ Lucinda said. ‘You made it upstairs. I’m still underground.’

‘You need motivation?’

‘Oh, yeah, but the usual stuff won’t work. I’m too exhausted to play.’

‘Me, too. So, how about this? I’m sitting on the balcony. If you’re not up here soon, I’m apt to fall asleep in the chair. If you get up here after I doze off, your arrival could startle me and cause me to jump up, stumble, fall over the balcony and plunge down all those stories to the ground. Then you won’t be able to sleep because the police will come and you’ll need to identify the body and—’

‘Enough! I’m opening the door. Swinging my legs out. Hold on, hold on, I’m summoning up the energy to stand. Oh, what an effort.’

‘Lock the car,’ Jake said. He heard the beep of mission accomplished.

‘Got it,’ Lucinda said. ‘Walking to the elevator – got lucky, it’s really close. Pressing the button. Now if I can only stay awake until it gets here.’

‘Do jumping jacks,’ Jake suggested.

‘You are one sick puppy,’ Lucinda said with a groan. ‘Ah, it’s here. Meet me at the top.’

Jake pushed up on the arms of the chair, plodded through the apartment and stood in front of the elevator door, arriving just as it dinged to a stop. He wrapped an arm around Lucinda’s waist as she stepped into the hall. She threw her arm over his shoulders.

Once inside, Lucinda said, ‘Shower and bed.’

‘You need something to eat.’

‘Too tired,’ she said as she trudged down the hall.

‘I’ve got cheese and crackers.’

‘Bring them to bed. I’ll eat them once I’m clean.’

‘You’re eating crackers in bed?’

‘Oh, please, Jake. Admit it, you want to, too.’

‘Want a beer?’

‘Glass of merlot, please,’ Lucinda said and shut the bathroom door.

In a moment, Jake heard the water running in the shower. He pulled out a tray, loaded up the snacks, another bottle of beer, a wine glass and the bottle of wine. He set it all down on the mattress and set his opened beer bottle on his nightstand. Then he poured a glass of wine and put it and the bottle on the table by Lucinda’s side of the bed.

Jake went into the bathroom, disrobed and stepped into the shower.

‘Ah, c’mon, Jake,’ Lucinda objected. ‘I told you I’m just too tired …’

‘Me, too. I just don’t know how long I can stand up, so I wanted to be ready to slip in the water as soon as you’re done.’

‘Yeah, well, I’m done. Inertia kept me from moving. It’s all yours,’ she said, stepping out and wrapping a towel around her body. In the bedroom, she wiped herself dry, pulled an oversized T-shirt over her head, plumped up her pillows and slid under the covers, sitting up against the headboard.

When a wet Jake emerged, he saw her munching and sipping and couldn’t help but smile. ‘Good, isn’t it?’

‘Better than that,’ she said, refilling her wine glass.

Jake slipped into the other side, grabbed a hunk of cheese and a couple of crackers and said, ‘You know, I really want to hear every detail of your day, but I’m afraid I might fall asleep in the middle of it.’

Lucinda smiled. ‘Same for me, Jake. How about we keep it all till morning?’

‘Deal – except for one important question?’

‘What’s that?’

‘Do you want to be back on the case at the high school?’

‘You know I’ve never really been off it, don’t you, Jake?’

‘Oh, yeah, but I’m trying to make it official.’

‘Oh, sure, I can take orders from you for a little while.’

‘Actually, I’m trying to get the case returned to you and your department. I want you to take the lead again. Are you OK with that?’

‘If I wasn’t so tired, I’d show you how OK I am with that.’

‘Rain check?’ Jake asked.

‘Most definitely,’ Lucinda agreed.

In a moment, they both were snoring, lights still on and the cheese and cracker tray on the bed between them. Chester eased up over the footboard and helped himself to a piece of cheddar before stretching out between their legs.

L
ucinda awoke to the smell of coffee. She sat up in bed and saw Jake walking into the bedroom with two steaming mugs in his hands. She reached up for one of them and said, ‘Oh dear, looks like I’m going to have to keep you around.’

‘I should hope so,’ Jake said with a grin. ‘Now, tell me everything that happened yesterday.’

‘Oh no, you go first – you were missing for a while.’

‘What about you? I couldn’t get hold of you for a long time.’

‘But I wasn’t missing. You could have called my office and found out. Your office, on the other hand, was in a state of panic.’

‘OK, OK,’ Jake said and ran down a summary of his day. ‘Now, your turn.’

Lucinda had reached the point where Charley called asking for help when her cell rang. ‘Pierce.’

‘Lieutenant, there’s a priest trying to reach you. He said that no one else would do. He has a Woodrow Wilson student down in his church this morning. I told him that the school case was turned over to the federal authorities, but he said that the girl knew you from a career day thing and wouldn’t talk to anyone else.’

‘You got a number?’ she asked and jotted it down as he spoke. She disconnected and immediately made the call. ‘Father Mark, please,’ she said when the phone was answered.

‘You got him.’

‘This is Lieutenant Pierce.’

‘Thank heaven. I’ve been worried she’d bolt since before I called you. It began in confession, then it turned into a counseling session here at Holy Redeemer. She’s wracked with guilt and I told her the best way to alleviate that is to tell the authorities what she knows. She insisted that she talk to you and no one else. She’s afraid of going to jail and believes that you might be able to help her avoid that.’

‘Depends on what she has to say, Father.’

‘Knowing what I know, Lieutenant, I do believe you will be willing. But you really need to hear it all from her.’

‘I’ll be there as quickly as I can but it might not be for half an hour. Can you hold on to her until then?’

‘Sure, I’ll fix her some breakfast. That should do it. But please come alone or she might spook.’

‘Thank you, Father. See you soon.’ Lucinda jumped up and started getting dressed.

‘Whoa, whoa, whoa,’ Jake said. ‘You can’t leave me hanging like that. Is Charley OK?’

‘Yes, Charley is fine. Safe and sound home with her dad.’

‘And, and …’ Jake said, trailing behind her as she went into the bathroom and picked up her toothbrush.

‘Just a minute,’ Lucinda said. When she finished and rinsed her mouth out, she added, ‘I’ll tell you more if you can keep up with me while I’m getting ready. I really don’t have a minute to spare. There’s a Woodrow Wilson student sitting with a priest, feeling guilty and getting restless.’

‘How ’bout if I come with you?’

‘You can ride with me – and talk on the way – if you can get ready quickly enough and if you’re willing to wait in the car while I conduct the interview. Father Mark warned me to come alone or she might run off.’

At the church, Jake decided to walk the six blocks or so to his office instead of sitting in the car while Lucinda was inside. ‘Call me when you’re finished here, OK?’

‘Sure, I don’t know how long I will be. See ya later.’ Lucinda watched Jake walk down the street until he turned the corner. She approached the old stone church, pulled open the massive wooden doors and entered the sanctuary. The walls on the other side were lined with enormous stained-glass windows of biblical scenes – the old-fashioned kind that seemed to glow with the light without illuminating the interior much at all.

The smells of incense, mingled bodies and lemony wood polish tickled her nostrils. Usually, grand old churches with intricate vaulted ceilings stirred up a sense of serenity deep in her core. But today it felt both more ominous and more thrilling. She might be on the verge of uncovering the information she needed to crack the case. Or the girl could simply stir up questions without answers. Or she could change her mind and say nothing at all. People consumed with guilt can be very unpredictable.

She walked up the aisle past the gated pews. When she reached the halfway point, a man wearing a black cassock with a clerical collar emerged from a door on the left side of the altar. ‘Father Mark?’ she asked.

He smiled and nodded. ‘Lieutenant Pierce?’

Lucinda said, ‘Yes, Father.’

‘Follow me, please.’

Lucinda walked behind the priest down a narrow hall. Outside a closed door, he stopped and said, ‘I’ll introduce you and then excuse myself. Please remember, she is very fragile. Be gentle with her.’

‘If I can,’ Lucinda said, not willing to stand in a house of God and make a promise she feared she might not be able to keep.

Father Mark opened the door to reveal a red-eyed, wet-nosed teenage girl wearing a Virginia Tech ball cap. ‘Tamara, as you requested, Lieutenant Pierce is here. Lieutenant, this is Tamara Van Dyke. She’s a sophomore at Woodrow Wilson High School. Now, if you two will excuse me, I have some phone calls I need to make.’

‘Father,’ Tamara blurted out.

‘Yes, Tamara?’

‘Am I doing the right thing?’

‘Absolutely. This is not a burden you should carry. Hand it over to the Lieutenant and ease the pain in your heart.’ Father Mark smiled and nodded at them as he backed out of the room.

Lucinda slipped into the chair opposite Tamara. ‘Father Mark said you have information about the explosion at the school?’

‘I don’t know for sure that it is about that, but I know what I did and I know it might be.’

‘What did you do, Tamara?’

‘I’m in the marching band.’

Lucinda waited for the girl to continue. When Tamara said nothing more, Lucinda asked, ‘What instrument do you play?’

‘The xylophone.’

‘Did you have a performance this past weekend?’

‘Yes, it was a battle of the bands in Norfolk.’

‘Did you do well?’

For the first time, Tamara smiled. ‘Second place,’ she said.

‘That’s nice. When did you all get back to the school?’

‘It was after eight Saturday night.’

‘What happened then, Tamara?’

‘I changed out of my uniform and then I hid in the restroom until everyone was gone.’

Lucinda wasn’t sure where this was leading but she had a difficult time imagining that the meek girl sitting in front of her could have set up the bomb. ‘Why did you do that?’

‘So I could duct-tape the latch on the door.’

‘But, Tamara, I thought that the school doors all had safety bars that could only be unlocked with those ratchet-type keys.’

Tamara nodded her head. ‘Most of them, yeah. But there is one in the back, by the shop, that has a regular lock on it.’

‘And you duct-taped that one?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘Why, Tamara?’

‘It wasn’t for me. It was for someone else who needed to get into the school on Sunday.’

‘Who?’

Tamara dropped her head into her hands and sobbed. ‘But he said he changed his mind and didn’t go.’

‘Who didn’t go there?’

‘He said someone else must have found the door I rigged and took advantage of the opportunity.’

‘Who told you this, Tamara?’

‘But, you see, that still makes me responsible. It doesn’t matter. I created the opportunity and someone died. There’s blood on my hands,’ she said, stretching out her hands, palms up.

Lucinda knew she had to tamp down the drama or it would escalate. ‘Take your guilty feelings to Father Mark and do penance. But right now I need you to keep your attention on the facts. I do not have time for your emotions.’

‘I thought you would care about what I was going through. I thought you were different when I met you at the job fair. But you’re just like everybody else.’

Lucinda slapped an open palm on the table. ‘Cut the crap, Tamara. You are involved in a serious situation and I need you to answer my questions.’

Tamara’s jaw dropped and her face flushed. ‘Are you going to put me in jail?’

‘I don’t want to do that, Tamara. But you need to tell me everything or I will have no other choice. Now, who told you to tape the door latch?’

Tamara’s chin trembled. ‘Jimmy. Jimmy told me. But he changed his mind and didn’t go to the school that morning.’

‘Jimmy who?’

‘My brother,’ she wailed.

‘Jimmy Van Dyke?’

Tamara nodded her head and sniffled.

‘Does Jimmy go to Woodrow Wilson?’

The girl shook her head. ‘No. He graduated last year.’

‘Did he tell you why he wanted to go into the school when it was closed?’

‘Sort of, but not really.’

‘What did he say, Tamara?’

‘He said something about defending someone’s honor. A girl, I think?’

‘You don’t know which girl?’