Web of Deceit (2 page)

“No! Lieutenant,
this discussion is over. Now get out of here before I take you off the case as
well. Understood?”

“Yeah, yeah, I
hear ya.” Frank closes the door.

“Here.” Elliot
places an arm-full of folders on Frank’s desk. “The small, black notebook has
the access codes to get to the information that is on the server. That should
be it; just call me with any questions.”

“Elliot … I …”
Frank says.

“I know. Don’t
worry about it. He’s probably right. I wouldn’t want to jeopardize this case.
Just call me when she’s safe.” Elliot wanders away from Frank’s desk with his
eyes fixed on the floor.

“Elliot … wait,
let me walk you out.” Frank catches up to Elliot and places a hand on his
shoulder. “I’ll call ya with the address so you can have a front-row seat. When
we have the guy in custody, you can call the parents with the good news,” he
says in a low voice.

“Thanks, man,”
Elliot says.

“No problem, but
no matter what, don’t get involved, or it’ll be both our badges.”

“Of course.”

*   *   *

“Come on Frank,
you guys should have him by now.” Elliot waits across the street in front of
the four-story building.

Ring. Ring.
Ring.

“Hello?”

“Elliot, we have
him, and we’re getting the girl now,” Frank says.

“Sweet. Should I
call the parents with the good news?”

“If you don’t, I
will.”

“Thanks. Talk to
you soon.” Elliot presses
end
.

Elliot scans with
the down arrow on his phone until he comes to Randall and presses
Send
.

Ring. Ring.
Ring. Ring.

The receiver is
picked up but there is no answer.

“Hello? Is anyone
there?”

He hears a loud
cry in the background. “I can’t do it, Charles. I can’t bear any more bad
news.”

Tears fill
Elliot’s eyes as he listens to Mrs. Randall sob.

“Hello?” answers a
deep husky voice.

Beep. Beep.

“Mr. Randall?”
Elliot asks.

Beep. Beep.

 “Yeah,” Charles
answers.

Beep. Beep.

Stupid call
waiting. It will wait.
“It’s Elliot from the police department.”

“Yes, Sergeant,
what can I do for you?”

“I just thought
you might wanna go get a few gifts for your daughter. Christmas is in two
days.”

“Are you saying
…?”

“Yes, Mr. Randall.
I was just informed they took the kidnapper into custody, and they’re getting
Suzy now.”

Beep. Beep.

“That’s
fantastic!”

“I hate to cut
this short now that I have good news, but I got a call on the other line.”

“Thank you. Thank
you. We miss our baby girl so much.”

“I’m just glad I
was able to tell you this nightmare is finally over. They’ll be calling you
soon to let you know when you will get your daughter.”

“Thanks again.
Good-bye,” Charles says.

This better be
important.
Elliot grabs the other call. “Yeah?”

“Elliot, thank
God. Did you call the Randall’s?” Frank asks.

“Yeah, why?”

“I don’t have the
details, but after I got off the phone with you, I was told he was heading for
the roof with the girl.”

“What? How did
this … I just told … He’s on the roof now?”

“Yes, but don’t do
anything stupid, Elliot. We’ll get this under control. It’s just gonna take
longer than I thought.”

“Who’s up there?”

“Casey and her
team went after him. Stay in your car. I mean it, Elliot.”

“Yeah, OK, Frank.”

“I don’t like your
tone, Elliot. Where are you?”

“Already on the
first floor.”

“Elliot, stay out
of this. You’ll get us both fired. I have a family.”

“Yeah, so does
that girl.” Elliot nears the second floor of the four-story building.

*   *   *

“Help … help!
Please, my shirt’s ripping,” Suzy says, dangling from the roof.

“Let her go, and
we’ll give you anything you want,” Casey says.

“All I ever wanted
was a little respect. I worked more hours than anyone in that place. When it
was time for a promotion, they always overlooked me,” Joe, the girl’s father’s
disgruntled employee, says.

“Please. My shirt!
I don’t want to die, Joe. You promised me I’d be home by Christmas.”

“Let her go, Joe,”
Casey demands.

“I was supposed to
rescue her. Then they would notice me, but you guys ruined it. Step back or
I’ll drop her.”

“I can feel my
shirt slipping. Please help me, Joe! I’m scared! Pick me up!”

Slam!

Elliot swings the
door open, causing it to bang against the side of the metal roofing that’s
leaning up against the building.

“Elliot, get back
here.” Frank chases him up the stairs. “You’re not thinkin’. You’ll mess up
everything!”

“You can’t be
here,” a tall, muscular man says. “Go to the second floor with Frank. Casey’s
got this.”

“Help! I’m
falling!”

“Yeah, it sounds
like she’s doing great. Let me through!”

“No!” The
policeman steps in front of Elliot, blocking him.

“Everyone leave
now or I’ll drop her!” Joe shouts.

“OK, OK, just calm
down,” Casey says. “We’ll leave right after you pull her up.”

“Augh!! I’m
dropping!”

“Let me go!”
Elliot uses all his strength to push through the muscle-bound man at the door
and then runs between two other officers who are standing behind Casey.

“Dude, what’s
wrong with you?!” The officer grabs Elliot, restraining him from getting past
Casey.

“Let go of me.”
Elliot tries to push the officer away.

“No! You’re gonna
get that little girl killed.”

“Please, Joe,”
Suzy says, reaching up for his arms. “I don’t want to die. Grab my hands.” The
threads from Suzy’s shirt separate from her collar.

“What the ?” Joe
scrambles to grab her hands, but it’s too late. “No!” Joe screams as Suzy
plunges to the ground.

“You idiot!”
Elliot pushes past Casey and begins pummeling Joe.

“Elliot! Back off,
it’s OK!” Casey says.

“No, it’s not!”
Elliot shouts. “He needs to die.”

“Let go of him,
Elliot! Now!” Casey demands.

“OK.” Elliot picks
Joe up by the arms.

“Thank …” Casey
starts to say as her mouth drops and eyes widen.

“No problem.”
Elliot interrupts Casey’s sentence and drops Joe over the edge of the building.
“Now justice has been done.” Elliot thrusts his wrists out for Casey to handcuff.

“Smart move,
Elliot.” Casey handcuffs Elliot’s wrists. If you would’ve gone downstairs, you
would’ve realized that Suzy landed in a safety net. But you had to do it your
way, and that guy you tried to kill, he’s safe too. So because of you, he’ll probably
walk. Good job.” Casey pushes Elliot through the door.

*  *  *

“Because of what
happened, Joe got off with house arrest, and Elliot was forced to take a leave
of absence from the Force,” Beth says, while flipping the straw much faster
than when she first picked it out of her rum and coke.

“Wow, poor Elliot.
If that guy had just missed the net, things could’ve been different,” Sam says,
flashing her smile at the bar tender while tilting her drink towards him. “This
one’s gettin’ kind of low honey. Bring me another when you get a chance.”

“You’re kidding,
right?”

“No, things get
covered up every day. We’d have less nut-cases running around if they were
actually afraid of getting punished.”

“When Elliot
dropped Joe over the edge, he became a criminal; he’s lucky he didn’t end up
with time.”

“Well … to watch a
little girl drop four stories just after telling the parents to go Christmas
shopping, I can see where he would snap. I can’t imagine how Elliot felt; all
he ever does is work on missing-person cases. The one time he gets good news,
it falls apart at the last second. And then, to make matters worse, he loses
his job. Poor Elliot.”

“I know, and to
top it off, things got bad for him financially. So I took him on full-time at
my office and offered him to stay with me until he gets things under control.”

“Well, he seems to
be doing good now. Didn’t you tell me he purchased a custom-made Vette?” Sam
asks.

“Yes, he’s doing
much better.”

“In that case,
when will he be finding a place of his own?”

“He’s not, for now
at least. This arrangement works out for us. Why change a good thing?”

“And neither of
you have made a move?” Sam, intrigued by the straw Beth is playing with, tries
to take it.

“No, it’s not like
that.” Beth pulls the straw away from her reach.

“Oh, in that case,
Trisha just broke up with her boyfriend last weekend. Maybe we should introduce
them?” She reaches wider for the straw, almost knocking over Beth’s drink but
misses.

“No, they wouldn’t
be compatible; she is way too flaky.” Beth protects her straw, continuing to
antagonize Sam. She might lose this argument—but not the straw.

“How about
Stephanie?” Sam plays along, reaching behind Beth to snatch for the straw
again.

Beth teases Sam
moving the straw closer to her. “Too high maintenance.”

“Sheila?” Sam
ignores the straw and fixes her gaze on Beth’s eyes, enjoying the reaction.

“Too controlling.”
Beth dangles the straw in front of Sam’s face.

“Sa—rah.” Sam
emphasizes each syllable clearly before a subdued chuckle escapes. She snatches
the straw from Beth’s grip.

At a loss for
words, Beth mumbles under her breath and grabs the straw back.

“Ha, you can’t
find anything wrong with her, can you?” As if to say checkmate, Sam reaches
over and slowly takes the straw.

Giving up on her
straw, Beth reaches into a plastic container next to Sam’s drink and takes
another. “Sarah may as well be a nun and you know it.”

“Just admit the
way you feel about him, and I’ll stop nagging you.”

“All right, I
admit. If he ever acted interested, I would definitely give it some thought.”

“Finally ...
Henry! Where’s my drink?” Sam says.

“Comin’ right up
Sam.”

“Make it another
round and two shots of Tequila Rose.”

“This round’s on
the house. In celebration of your upcoming wedding.”

“That’s right.”
Beth laughs. “I only have one month to talk you out of it.”

“Ha!” Sam says. “I
have put so much work into this wedding that I couldn’t change my mind even if
I wanted to.”

Buzzt. Buzzt.

Sam’s phone
vibrates, announcing an incoming message.

“That’s him. We
text constantly.”

“Why don’t you
talk?” Beth asks. “You know—like the rest of us.”

“This is way more
fun. We talk about whatever we want and no one knows what we’re saying.” Sam
reaches for her cell on the bar and opens it with a snap. “We can also talk
about the people we’re hanging out with and they’ve no clue.” Her eyes dart as
she reads the message. She pauses a moment, smirks, and keys the response.
Before she finishes, the low-battery warning interrupts. “Shoot, my phone is
dying. Can I use yours?”

“This is a
smut-free phone, lady.” Beth smiles and guards her purse.

“Ha, at least one
of you will have a life,” Sam kids then reaches into Beth’s purse, ignoring her
objection. She flips Beth’s phone open as if it were her own and enters the
message to her fiancé Kyle. She ignores Beth while she finishes the message and
hits
Send
. “Oops.” Sam smiles meekly as if she would like a chance to
replay her last five seconds. “Uh, who is number one on your phone?”

“Elliot—why?”

“Oh, I sent him …
a message.”

“What kind of
message?”

“Like, I am giving
him a reason to be excited. You know, like really excited.”

“You’re kidding,
right? Did you at least sign your name? Something sweet … perhaps ‘Love,
Stupid?’ ”

“No. Kyle would
know it was me. Or he had better know it’s me,” Sam answers with a wink.

Beth is ready to
slap the smug expression off Sam’s face.
Augh!
“You are not right.” Beth
pauses a moment to think. Her heart starts to race. She’s aware of emotions she
would not admit to anyone, especially herself.

Sam’s smile is
alive. She reaches around Beth’s shoulder and shakes her with an encouraging
hug. “Well, I guess this is one way to find out if this ‘just friends’ stuff
holds water.”

Beth snatches the
phone away. “Thanks, this’ll work out nicely. You’re a peach.”

“Am I sensing
sarcasm?” Sam asks, unaware of the true damage she may have done to Beth and
Elliot’s platonic relationship.

“Ya think?” Beth
throws her straw at Sam.

Sam shrugs it off
as her attention shifts towards the door.

Kyle lets the
wooden door swing shut behind his large frame. His dark countenance is offset
by his bright blue eyes fixing on Sam’s attractive figure. Kyle crosses the
small dining area of the tavern to meet the girls seated at the bar.

Beth considers the
situation. “It looks like he found you. I’m heading out,” she says impatiently,
still feeling annoyed by Sam’s blunder.

Seeming to be
serious for a moment, Sam leans over and gives Beth another hug. Then she
shakes her roughly. “Snap out of it! This is the chance you’ve been waiting
for. Blame it on me. Maybe you’ll find out what he’s really thinking.” She
waits a moment.” Do you need a ride home?”

“I’ll catch a cab.
Thanks anyway.”

Beth steps outside
the tavern onto the sidewalk blanketed in fresh snow.
I’ve got to think of
something before I get home. With any luck, Elliot’s reception will be warmer
than this weather.

A cab pulls close
to the curb, and she hops in. “One-sixty-one Exeter.” It takes off, kicking up
small whirlwinds behind. The city lights are softened by the glow cast from the
sparkling snow. Beth stares out through the frost on her window, lost in
thought and oblivious to the world beyond.