Kitabı oku: «Assignment: Marriage»

One

The convenience store shootings made the headlines. Tuck was questioned until he was sick of telling the story. For three days he’d been unaware of the hoopla as he’d been in and out of consciousness in the Intensive Care Unit of Las Vegas’s Humana Hospital. But the day he was moved to the surgical recovery wing, the questions started.

Then there was the hearing. Anytime a police officer was involved in a shooting, he was put on suspension and a hearing was held so the community could assess the situation. Tuck was completely exonerated of any wrongdoing or errors in judgment. The case was clear: he had fired his weapon to protect himself and the female clerk, who’d obviously already been injured.

He had made no mistakes. Everyone told him so and he knew it himself. But it was the first time he’d had to use his service revolver against another human being, and two men had died. Two very young men.

Never mind that they had a record a mile long. Never mind that they had shot the thirty-two-year-old clerk, who had three children, a husband and a mother and father who loved and needed her. The woman was all right, thank God. She, too, had had to endure a stay in the hospital, and physically she was recovering. But she would probably never feel safe again. Tuck worked with victims organizations on occasion, and most people had a hard time getting over the trauma of physical and mental maltreatment.

Regardless that the woman was going to make it and Tuck wasn’t blamed for the shootings, he couldn’t get past the horrifying incident. He had killed two people, two men who weren’t even old enough to vote.

As was strict policy, he had to attend scheduled sessions with one of the department’s psychologists, a Laura Keaton.

Laura was a levelheaded woman, around forty-five, Tuck estimated. He liked her voice, which was low and pleasantly modulated. She talked common sense, too, none of that medical gibberish that he only just barely understood.

This was his second visit to Dr. Keaton’s office. The first had been brief; a handshake, over which she had told him to call her “Laura” and a low-key discussion of departmental routines that had put Tuck at ease.

Today was going to be different he realized when Laura said, “You were married once, Tuck. What happened?”

They were seated on comfortable furniture in a corner of her office, he on the sofa, Laura on a chair. Her brown eyes behind stylish glasses reflected nothing other than a professional interest, both in her question and whatever answer he might give her.

But he couldn’t see what his failed marriage had to do with the present situation. “That was a long time ago, Doc.”

“How long?”

He withheld a rising impatience. “I was twenty-three when I got married. It lasted three years. I’m now thirty-four.”

Laura tented her fingers and regarded the ruggedly handsome man sitting so rigidly before her. Thick dark hair. Somber gray eyes. “You were married the year you joined the force?”

She had her dates down pat. “Yes.”

Laura consulted the folder on her lap. “No children?”

The muscles in Tuck’s jaw clenched. “There was one, a boy. He died at three months of age.”

Laura raised her eyes and drew a slow breath. “I’m sorry. Tell me about it, Tuck.”

He looked away, letting his gaze drift to three filled bookcases, to a painting on the wall that depicted a harbor and a fleet of fishing boats, and finally to her desk. A framed photograph caught his attention. It was of Laura, a smiling, dark-haired man and two teenage boys; her family, obviously.

His eyes returned to Dr. Keaton. “May I smoke?”

She smiled. “I’m not going to lecture you on how bad smoking is for your cardiovascular system, Tuck. Smoke if you’d like.”

“Thanks.” He grinned slightly. “For permission and for not lecturing.”

Laura got up for an ashtray she kept in a desk drawer. She had long ago realized that some people couldn’t speak at all without smoking, and a nervous, incoherent patient was a waste of her time and his. “Are you a heavy smoker?” She sat down again.

“At times.”

“Lately?”

Tuck inhaled the first puff from his cigarette. “Yeah.” He blew out the smoke. “Timmy…that was his name…died of pneumonia. That’s what the doctors said, anyway. What he really died from was neglect.” Tuck looked at the tip of his cigarette intently. “Jeanie, my wife, wasn’t much of a mother. I was still relatively new to the department, working crazy hours, taking on any extra duty I could nail down. I didn’t even know he was sick. I went to work one day…he seemed fine…and they called me from the hospital before my shift was over. He died the next day.”

“It must have been a particularly virulent strain of pneumonia, Tuck,” Laura said softly.

“So they said, and the antibiotics they gave him made him go into convulsions. There wasn’t anything they could do.”

“But you blamed your wife.”

Tuck’s hard eyes met hers. “I still do. She left him that day with a thirteen-year-old girl from the neighborhood. She knew he was sick and she left him with a kid. At least the girl was smart enough to know she had a sick baby on her hands, ‘cause she called 9-1-1. I finally found Jeanie that night in a bar, half drunk and giggling with some joker she’d picked up.”

“And that was the end of your marriage.”

Tuck grinned cynically. “Not a pretty story, is it?”

“I’ve heard worse. What about family? Parents? Brothers and sisters?”

“My dad died when I was fifteen. My mother lives in Phoenix. She came while I was in the hospital, but she’s not very well. No brothers. One sister, who lives back east. We talk on the phone once in a while.”

“Friends? Let me rephrase that. Do you have friends outside of the department?”

“A few.”

“Anyone important?”

“If you’re fishing to find out if there’s a woman in my life, Doc, it’s been a long, dry spell.”

“Never been tempted to remarry?”

“Never,” Tuck replied emphatically.

Laura paused, then smiled. “You’re beginning to look fit, but how are you feeling physically?”

“The wounds are healing.” He’d taken two bullets, one in the chest, one in the right thigh.

“Can we talk about that night?”

Tuck snuffed out his cigarette in the ashtray. “You’re the doctor. What do you want to know?”

“How you felt during the incident.”

Tuck laughed shortly. “I didn’t have time to feel anything.”

“All right, after it was over then. You were lucid enough to phone in and report what had happened. What were you feeling?”

“Sick.”

“In pain?”

“Not at first. All I could see were those two bodies on the floor.”

“Did you feel justified in shooting those men?”

“Justified? No, that never entered my mind.”

“What did? Think about it, Tuck. What did enter your mind?”

He swallowed the rising gorge in his throat, and when he spoke, his voice cracked. “I…don’t remember.”

Nicole Currie couldn’t sit still. The two men in her living room wore dark suits and expressions almost as dark. Nicole stopped pacing and threw up her hands. “How can you ask me to do such a thing? I have a life, a job, this house, friends. I can’t just disappear!”

John Harper and Scott Paulsen, both police officers, exchanged glances. John, who was the older by a good fifteen years, stood. “You can’t stay here, Nicole.” He’d spent enough time in Nicole’s company during the past four days to call her by her first name. “The prosecuting attorney needs time to prepare a solid case against Lowicki and Spencer. You’re our only witness.”

“I wouldn’t be your witness if I’d thought it through before reporting what I saw,” Nicole said sharply. It had seemed so cut-and-dried at the time. Two men leaving a building and getting into a car, a simple act. But the next morning she’d read in the paper about the double murder in that building, in apartment 17A. She’d gotten a good look at the men, particularly the one with the jagged scar that crimped his left cheek. The murders, the newspaper article recited, quoting Detective John Harper, had taken place at approximately 1:00 a.m. Any person with information regarding this crime should contact Detective Harper at Metro headquarters.

It was all by accident, of course. Normally, Nicole wasn’t even in that part of town, and certainly not at the ungodly hour of 1:00 a.m. But she’d attended a bridal shower for a co-worker. Nicole was the purchasing agent for the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino, a massive operation that kept her and three assistants on their toes. On her way home from the shower, which had turned out to be a gala affair and had lasted much longer than anticipated, her car had acted up. With the motor coughing and sputtering, she had managed to pull it to the curb.

Then she’d sat there and looked at the dark street and felt fear developing. Hers was the only car on the block. To her right was vacant land, black as ink and all but invisible. The nearest streetlight was some distance away, the nearest lighted building even farther. She’d forced herself out of the car and down the sidewalk toward the building. It was an apartment house, she realized, a rather nice one, which made her feel better.

She was in the shadow of an immense bank of oleander bushes when two men came walking out the front door. It was herself she was thinking of when she sank deeper into the shadows. It simply wasn’t smart for a woman alone to show herself to two strange men at one in the morning.

They didn’t see her, she was positive. They walked to the car at the curb, a black or dark blue Lincoln with Nevada plates, got in and drove away. The only thing that gave her pause was the way the Lincoln had slowed as it passed her red Toyota.

It was the one factor that made her think that just possibly the police weren’t being too conscientious about her protection.

But disappear? They were suggesting some sort of witness protection plan, leaving Las Vegas, using an assumed name, telling no one—no one—what she was doing. What about her job? Couldn’t she at least tell her employers?

“We can’t risk telling anyone, Nicole,” John Harper said solemnly. “Not at this point. Call your employer with a story of a family emergency. Tell them you have to leave immediately and will be in touch. We’d like you to pack and be ready to leave by tonight. Scott will stay here in the house with you until then.”

Nicole tossed her head back, as though to twitch long hair away from her face. Her nearly black hair had been long until a week ago when she’d gone to her favorite hairdresser for a cut and new style.

“I could be fired,” she said despondently. “It’s taken me years to work up to my present position.”

“A job’s not as valuable as your life,” Scott said quietly.

“Nicole,” John said, “the minute it’s safe to do so, I’ll talk to your employers myself.”

“But you said it could take months. The Monte Carlo cannot function without a purchasing agent for months.” Nicole was sick about this and couldn’t pretend otherwise.

The older man sighed. “I know it can’t.”

Nicole felt a shiver go up her spine. There were other aspects of the situation that scared her witless. “I’ll be completely alone in a strange place. You two might not understand this, but the idea of living where I won’t know a soul is terrifying. I was born and raised in Las Vegas. I’ve never lived anywhere else.”

“You won’t be alone,” John said softly.

Nicole’s left eyebrow shot up. “I won’t? Who would be going with me?”

“We’re working that out, but he’ll be a police officer.”

“He? Why not a woman?”

“It might be a woman. Nothing’s set yet. Don’t worry. Whoever picks you up tonight will be well qualified to protect you.”

Rubbing her arms as though chilled, Nicole went to look out the window. “This is a nightmare.”

John was instantly at her side and pulling her back. “Please. Don’t go near the windows.”

Nicole gave up. Her legs were weak, her stomach churning. The thought of leaving everything familiar was horrible. It wasn’t fair that only doing what she’d felt was any citizen’s duty should result in this. But if she took a stand and refused, what then? The men she’d seen had, according to the police, already killed two people. Would killing one more bother them? Especially if that person’s testimony could convict them of murder?

“I’ll be ready tonight,” she said numbly. “Can you tell me where I’ll be going?”

John shook his head with a sympathetic smile. “Sorry. I don’t know that myself.”

“Well, Tuck,” Captain Joe Crawford said when Tuck walked into his office. “How’re you doing? Sit down. Make yourself comfortable.”

“Thanks.” Tuck took a seat.

“Feeling all right?”

“Not bad. I got a call to come in and see you.” When Tuck had started out with the department, Joe Crawford had been his sergeant. They had eleven years of common ground and a good, solid relationship. “What’s going on, Joe?”

“Your suspension’s been lifted.”

Tuck nodded. “That’s good.” It was a lie. He wasn’t ready to go back to work and wasn’t sure if he ever would be. “Joe, I’ve been thinking about taking my accumulated vacation time and sick leave. It adds up to about six weeks.”

Joe regarded him across the wide desk between them. “Need a little more time off, eh? Well, that’s not a bad idea, Tuck. You had a rough go of it. Went through it myself once.”

“Yeah, I know.” Tuck leaned forward. “Joe, how long was it before you got over it?”

Joe sucked in a long, thoughtful breath. “Not sure I ever did. But it does get easier, Tuck.”

Tuck hoped so. He wasn’t sleeping well, or eating much. Those were a couple of facts he’d neglected to mention to Dr. Keaton.

There was a lengthy silence. Tuck lit a cigarette. “Is it okay, then, to use my vacation and sick time?”

“Sure, no problem. By the way, if all you want to do is get out of town for a while, there’s a real cushy job available.”

“What is it?”

“Protecting the witness who can place Nick Lowicki at the exact site of the Buckley murders.”

Tuck’s eyes narrowed. “There’s a witness?”

“A reliable one. An upstanding citizen, Tuck, clean as a whistle.”

“Does Lowicki know?”

“We’re not sure. He didn’t do it alone, Tuck. We think the other man the witness saw was Gil Spencer. Anyway, the witness’s car was parked on the street in plain sight, and Spencer and Lowicki might be lowlifes, but they’re not completely stupid.”

Tuck turned his head and laughed sardonically. “Thought you mentioned a cushy job. Better get my hearing checked.”

Joe leaned forward. “Tuck, it will be cushy. We’re moving the witness to…well, I’ll tell you that if you get involved, but I guarantee you’d like the place. Look, all you’d have to do is keep the witness company. We’re really keeping the lid tight on this one. Only a few of our top people even know there is a witness, even fewer know what we’re planning to do. What do you say? It would be like a vacation with pay, and you wouldn’t use up your accumulated days. Afterward, if you still need more time away from the job, you can take it.”

“Why me?”

Joe cleared his throat while sitting back. “Because you’ve got a perfect excuse to disappear for an extended leave.” Joe hesitated before adding, “And you’re unencumbered, Tuck. There’s no one at home to ask questions.”

It wasn’t at all what he’d thought he might do with his free time. Actually, he didn’t know what he might do, but he sure hadn’t thought of anything like this.

“Can I think about it, Joe?”

Joe shook his head. “There’s no time. The witness will be ready to leave tonight.”

Tuck butted his cigarette, got up and went to a window. He stared out and absently watched traffic. “Can you tell me anything about it?”

“Not unless you agree. No one’s going to know anything unless they’re involved up to their eyeballs. We’re going to nail Lowicki this time, Tuck, but we don’t have a positive ID on the other guy. We need time to box him in, to prove that he was with Lowicki at 1:00 a.m. that night. The prosecutor’s office wants an airtight case before we haul them in. That’s what we’ll work on while you—or someone like you—takes care of the witness.”

Tuck mulled it over. Nick Lowicki was a snake. A drug dealer, a pimp, the sort of man the law enforcement community referred to as street scum. He’d made a bad mistake and there was a witness who could positively finger him. If the D.A. could build a case and put Gil Spencer away at the same time, the streets would be just a little bit cleaner.

“Well, guess I don’t have anything better to do,” Tuck said quietly.

“Then you’ll do it?”

Tuck turned. “I’ll do it. Now, can you fill me in?”

“Tonight, Tuck. Just before you leave. Meet me back here at nine this evening. Have your things with you. I’ll give you a car and some money. You’ll pick up the witness and be out of town before ten.”

Captain Joe Crawford didn’t just hand over a car and some cash that night, he had a whole new ID prepared for Tuck, a driver’s license, a social security card, and a couple of credit cards. “The credit cards are strictly for show, Tuck. Don’t want you using them and leaving any kind of trail. There’s enough cash here to last you for several weeks, and there’ll be more available if you need it.”

Tuck studied the handful of cards. “So, my name’s going to be Tom King.”

“Nice simple name, Tuck. That’s how we’re going to introduce you to the witness, as Tom King. No need for her to know your real name. She’s no pro at this sort of thing and might make a slip at the wrong time.”

Tuck regarded his captain. “The witness is a woman? How old is she?”

Joe Crawford cleared his throat. “I don’t know, maybe thirty, thirty-one.”

“She’s not married?”

“No. Now, Tuck, don’t get that bullheaded look on your face. What difference does it make? You’d be doing the same job if the witness was a sixty-year-old man.”

“It never occurred to me we were talking about a woman, a young woman.” Tuck shook his head disgustedly. “Tell me she’s buck-toothed, stringy-haired and ugly.”

Joe laughed. “Can’t do that. She’s a pretty woman.”

“Aw, hell,” Tuck muttered.

An hour later, briefed on his destination in great detail and as ready to go as he’d ever be, Tuck and John Harper got into the assigned car, with John at the wheel. Tuck hadn’t asked the woman’s real name. Joe had told him that her assumed name was Cheryl King, and then quickly added, “The two of you can decide what kind of arrangement you’d be most comfortable with. You could be sister and brother, if that makes you happy. Personally, I like the idea of a couple, a husband and wife.”

“Dammit, Joe, you set me up!”

Joe had smiled blandly. “You’ll enjoy yourself in Idaho, Tuck. Coeur d’Alene’s a beautiful little city.”

While John Harper drove to the woman’s home, Tuck glared out the side window. If Joe Crawford had even hinted at the witness’s sex and age, Tuck would have refused the job with gusto. He didn’t want to spend the next month, or whatever it took, with a woman.

John pulled into a driveway. “Well, here we are, Tuck.”

Tuck didn’t immediately jump out. “I don’t like this, Harper. I don’t like it one damn bit!”

John shrugged, as if to say, Tough, Tuck! You took the job, you live with it. But then the older man relented and smiled. “She’s a nice woman, Tuck. You’ll like her.”

“Like hell I will,” he muttered as he got out of the car.

Inside, Nicole was back to pacing. Scott Paulsen answered the back door, and Nicole stayed in the living room. She was dressed for a long ride, wearing old jeans, faded and soft from a hundred washings, a plain, blue T-shirt and sneakers. She was pale and biting the thumbnail on her left hand, a habit she abhorred and thought she’d cured herself of more than a dozen years ago.

Scott, John, and a third man walked in. Nicole’s anxious blue eyes went instantly to the stranger. John made the introductions. “Cheryl, this is Tom.”

“Hello,” Nicole mumbled. Tom was stiff and unsmiling. Tall, well-built, wearing jeans that rivaled her own for age and comfort. Inscrutable gray eyes.

“Hello,” Tuck said tonelessly, refusing to acknowledge Cheryl’s pretty face and long legs. Two large and two small suitcases sat near the sofa. “I’ll get these loaded.” Scott moved to help and between them they carried all four cases out to the car.

Nicole looked around her living room. Crying would do nothing beyond reddening her eyes, but she felt like busting loose with a wounded wail. Instead she began snapping off lamps. The house was already locked and as secure as it could get.

“Well…guess I’m ready,” she said listlessly.

John Harper offered a consoling smile. “Nicole, this will all be over in no time. You’ll see.”

She wasn’t consoled. Weeks—maybe months—away from her home and job didn’t seem like “no time” to her.

John pulled an envelope out of his inside coat pocket. “Scott filled you in on destination and identity. Tom’s been given most of the money, but we thought you should have some, too, just in case.”

Nicole took the envelope. “In case of what, John? Tom’s trustworthy, isn’t he?”

“He’s the best there is, Nicole. Don’t worry about that. He’s got eleven years with the department and has experience in every phase of law enforcement.”

“Tom’s not his real name.”

“No.”

Looking around one last time, Nicole sighed. “Come on,” John said gently. “You’ve got a long trip ahead of you.”

“One more question, John. Why are we driving to Idaho, rather than flying?”

“Everyone thought it would be best, Nicole. We’re keeping your departure as low-key as possible. There’s very little way of telling if some stranger follows you onto a plane, but driving north out of Vegas, the road is long and empty. Tom will know if anyone’s behind you.”

Nicole left several lights burning in the house, at John’s suggestion. They went through the back door and Nicole locked the dead bolt. She was carrying her purse, into which she’d tucked the envelope of cash. Her suitcases were jammed with clothes of every description. No one knew how long she’d have to stay away, and that was probably the hardest part of this whole discomfiting ordeal. At John Harper’s instruction she’d written a dozen cards to friends, all with the same carefully worded message. Family emergency calls me away. Don’t worry. I’ll be in touch. Hopefully the simple message would forestall someone panicking and raising a public fuss because they couldn’t reach her.

Tuck was leaning against the car. He straightened as Nicole and John approached. “All set?”

“All set,” John said quietly.

“Who’s driving?” Nicole questioned.

“I am,” Tuck said flatly.

Nicole got in the passenger side, Tuck got behind the wheel. John leaned down to peer through the open window. “Take care.”