Chapter Nineteen
A few minutes later Sean came back into the apartment.
“Was that Griffin’s partner?” he asked.
“Detective Ramos,” I said distractedly.
“Man, is she hot,” Sean said. “Griffin has got to be nuts if he’s not nailing her.”
I looked at him carefully.
“Not that you aren’t pretty,” he said, suddenly remembering who he was talking to. “I mean, not hot like Detective Ramos is, but pretty.”
I cocked my head to one side figuring if my looks were going to be savagely critiqued by a teenage boy, I might as well make him feel uncomfortable too.
“I mean you’re nice too, really nice and that means more than pretty. I’m sure Detective Griffin is way more interested in nice than…” he trailed off.
“Hot,” I supplied.
“Yeah,” Sean swallowed, his face downcast.
Feeling sorry for him I laughed. “And what did we just learn?”
“That sometimes I need to keep my big mouth shut,” Sean mumbled.
“A very valuable lesson,” I nodded wisely.
Sean looked up as his cell indicated he had received a text. He scooped it up, looking pathetically grateful for the distraction.
“What is it?” I asked as his expression changed.
He handed the phone to me and I winced as I looked at a photo of a beaten up Adam Hendricks. The phone vibrated in my hand as it rang.
“What do I do?” Sean asked.
“Answer it on speaker,” I said.
“Hello,” Sean said tremulously.
The voice coming over the phone sounded harsh and threatening. “Hello, Sean, I want you to listen very carefully. Thanks to Adam here, I know you took some photos of me that I didn’t want taken. Now I want you to meet me at the place you took the photos. If you don’t, Adam is not going to have a very good time. I know what you’re thinking. Why the hell should you care about whether he lives or dies? The thing is, if I don’t have those photos by the time he dies, then I have your mother and her boyfriend here as well to fill in the time. Believe me when I say that they will feel a lot of pain before they die. You have half an hour to get here and no telling the cops or you know what will happen.”
The phone disconnected suddenly. Another text message came through of a couple who looked as if they had been badly beaten as well.
“My mom,” Sean moaned. “What am I going to do?”
“First things first, we’re calling Griffin and getting him back here. He’ll have a plan for fixing this,” I said as I reached for his phone.
Sean put his hand out to stop me. “You heard him, I can’t tell the cops or they’ll kill my mom.”
“The cops can help us,” I said urgently. “If you go into this on your own they will kill you. You’ve seen their faces, you know what they’ve done. Sean, there is absolutely no reason for you to be kept alive once they’ve got the photos.”
“I can’t risk anyone else getting hurt. My little sister is only six years old. She still needs mom, even if I don’t.”
I could understand perfectly why he wanted to protect his family, but I was going to have to be the grown up here.
“Look, Sean, I need to call Griffin. He’s the only one who can help us now.”
“Okay,” said Sean, resigned to the decision that had been made. “You’re right, I can’t do this on my own.”
“Good,” I said. “This is the right decision.”
Walking into my bedroom to get my phone, I couldn’t believe how much the situation had spiraled out of control. Dialing Griffin’s number, I growled in frustration when I could only get his voicemail.
“You need to call me right now. Sean just got a message from Mendoza. He’s got Adam, Sean’s mom and her boyfriend. They are demanding a swap to get hold of the photos. Call me back now.”
“He’s not answering,” I said as I walked back into the living room to find Sean was no longer there.
“Dammit, Sean,” I growled as I raced out of the apartment.
I found Miss Betsy working in the garden again.
“Did Sean come through here?” I asked.
“Why yes, dear,” she said as she stood up and wiped the sweat from her forehead. “He took off in your car. I think I’d be careful about lending that car to him. He doesn’t seem to be a very good driver.”
“Can I borrow your car? I have to stop him. He’s about to put himself into a lot of danger. Please,” I pleaded.
“Of course, dear,” she said. “Do you know where he has gone?”
“No, but my boss has got GPS tracking on the vehicle.” I really hoped it was working. As far as I knew Monique had never used it.
“Alright, dear, I’ll drive and you direct me and tell me what is going on.”
Getting into a car with Miss Betsy has never been one of the things I wanted to do with my life. Miss Betsy’s former career as a stuntwoman during a period of history when workplace safety wasn’t a priority, leads her to be a little blasé when it comes to the road rules, and some of the laws of the physical universe. I strapped myself in and logged onto the tracking software on my tablet. Following the GPS, Miss Betsy and I found ourselves parked outside an old nightclub. I tried to call Griffin again and this time he answered.
“Where the hell are you?” he growled. “I got your message, I’m back at your place and no one’s here.”
“Sean took off. He’s determined to save his mom.” I gave him the address of the nightclub.
“I’m coming right now,” Griffin said. “Whatever you are thinking, do not go in there.”
I hung up and Miss Betsy looked at me. “We’re going in there aren't we?”
“I am going in there,” I said. “You stay out here and wait for the cops.”
“Oh, sweetie,” she said as she patted my cheek. “That is so not going to happen. For one thing, I’m the one with the permit for this.”
With that she leaned over and flipped open the glove box. Inside it was the last thing I expected. Miss Betsy pulled out a large black gun.
“What is that?” I squeaked.
She stroked it gently, which I found a whole new level of disturbing.
“It’s my baby,” she said, “and more importantly it can put a hole through anyone who is trying to hurt that sweet boy.”
I contemplated that for a second and you know what, in that moment, I was perfectly okay with that. I would be thinking about that reaction very deeply when I had some time to myself, but that wouldn’t be right now.
“How did you want to deal with this?” Miss Betsy asked after tucking the gun into the back of her pants.
“Since you have the weapon I think you should stay behind me and keep a watch until I can have a look around and see what’s going on.”
As I walked towards the club she grabbed my arm. “It might be smarter to go around the back.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Always works out better in the movies.”
Great, I was taking my breaking and entering advice from a former stuntwoman carrying a loaded monster of a gun, who was basing her recommendations on movies she had been in. There was no way this was going to end well.
Getting to the back door of the nightclub, I wasn’t surprised to find it locked.
“I’ve got this,” Miss Betsy said and pulled a pin from her hair. She proceeded to pick the lock. She turned the doorknob and shrugged as I looked at her in amazement. “You’d be surprised at what you can learn on a movie set.”
“When we get out of this,” I said, in a rare burst of optimism, “I want you to teach me how to do that.”
“If we get out of this,” she said, “I’ll teach you to shoot as well.”
Now I had something to look forward to. We crept along through the kitchen area. Coming to the main area of the nightclub I heard loud voices. Peeking out through a swinging door I saw Sean on the floor, a red
mark on his face. Vincent Mendoza was holding his phone. Adam Hendricks was tied to a chair and what looked like Sean’s mom and her boyfriend were slumped on the ground next to Sean.
“Tell me the truth or I kill your mother. Has anyone else seen these photos?”
“No,” said Sean, obviously terrified. “I promise, I haven’t shown them to anyone.”
Good, I silently cheered Sean. No need to be honest with the sociopath holding you prisoner. I willed him to say anything that Mendoza wanted to hear. Mendoza was looking through the photos.
“Looks like they’re all here,” he said. “I don’t really need you anymore do I?” he sneered, bringing his gun down and pointing it at Sean.
I dialed Griffin, motioned to Miss Betsy to stay back, sent up a small prayer to St Jude, the patron saint of desperate situations and lost causes, and pushed through the kitchen door. All of a sudden I had two guns pointing in my direction. Mendoza kept his gun aimed at Sean. I put my hands up, holding my phone above my head.
Voice shaking, I said, “I’m here to take Sean home. Let us leave and we can forget about this.”
The three thugs looked at me and burst out laughing. Frankly, if I wasn’t so terrified, I would have joined them.
“What the hell?” Mendoza said as he moved the gun to point in my direction.
“I am currently on the phone to the LAPD,” I said, my voice wavering. “Everything you are doing at the moment is being recorded live. If you kill us you cannot get away with it. They already know that I am standing here with Vincent Mendoza who has a gun aimed at me. If I am killed you will be charged and you will go to jail.”
“But you will be dead,” Mendoza pointed out.
Yeah, like I hadn’t worked out that part of my stupid plan.
“Maybe,” I said. “But at that point I won’t care. What happens next will cease to matter to me, but what happens next will matter to you very much.”
Despite my words, I was terrified. I refused to look at Sean because I didn’t know if I could keep this up. My only hope was to delay until Griffin turned up.
“You’ve put me in a little bit of a situation haven’t you,” Mendoza said, frowning.
I really hoped so. I needed him to think about his next step very carefully. The longer he took to think it through, the more time that I could give Griffin. I was winging this and I am not a person who works well without a plan. The moment Mendoza had turned the gun on Sean, I hadn’t thought of anything but stopping what was coming next. Mendoza came up to me and wrenched the phone out of my hand, cutting the connection to Griffin.
“That takes care of it doesn’t it?” he whispered in my ear, the smell of his breath turning my stomach.
“They still know that I’m here with you,” I whispered back. “They know that you had a gun on me and they know why I’m here. That is means, motive and opportunity right there, and the recording gives supporting evidence. A prosecuting attorney would love this case.”
“You think you’re smart don’t you?” he sneered, digging that gun into my side.
Actually no. Right at that moment I was thinking that I was a bit of an idiot. I could see my death in Vincent Mendoza’s eyes. He badly wanted to hurt me. I really hoped I wasn’t shaking as much on the outside as I was on the inside.
All of a sudden I heard voices yelling out. “Police. Freeze. On the floor.”
I wrenched myself away from Mendoza and threw myself down, all the time waiting for him to shoot me. My heart beat once, then twice and no shot. Looking up, I saw Mendoza had been thrown to the ground and Griffin had a knee in his back while he was putting handcuffs on him. Other police had taken out the two goons who had kidnapped Adam Hendricks. Still more were attending to Adam and Sean’s mom and boyfriend. In a rather undignified way I crawled towards Sean who was watching in shock.
“Are you okay?” I said urgently.
Sean looked at me, his eyes slightly unfocused.
“You stopped him.”
“Not really,” I said. “That was more of a delaying tactic.”
“I can’t believe you did that.”
“Neither can I,” Griffin growled as he grabbed me around my shoulders and hauled me to my feet. “Of all the things you could have done, that was the world’s dumbest move.”
“I know,” I said, leaning into him trying to soak up some warmth.
“You’re shaking,” he muttered as he put his arms around me.
“I’m really cold,” I said.
“Probably shock, and coming down from an adrenalin high.”
“Never did understand adrenalin junkies,” I said. “This is not pleasant.”
“No,” he said, his mouth against my hair. “I’m sure you’re not finding it particularly pleasant at all.”
Sean was behind me and I grabbed hold of his hand.
“I need you to check Sean,” I said to Griffin urgently. “I’m too shaky to do it.”
“You’re amazing,” I think I heard him whisper before he let go of me and started making sure Sean was okay.
I wouldn’t let go of Sean’s hand until the paramedics came and checked us both out. At that point Griffin let Miss Betsy come in to make sure we were okay, before one of the officers arrested her for annoying them. She gave Sean a hug and had him ducking his head in embarrassment.
Moving over to me she looked me in the eyes. “That was the bravest thing I have ever seen.
I lowered my eyes. “I don’t feel brave,” I said. “I was so scared I thought I was going to throw up.”
“Sweetie,” she said. “You looked a killer in the face and dared him to kill you to protect that boy. They don’t come much braver.”
“He’s a good kid,” I said.
“That he is,” she agreed.
“He came here to sacrifice himself for a mother that tossed him out.”
“That he did.”
“I hope she appreciates it,” I said fiercely.
“Oh, Trudie,” Miss Betsy said regretfully. “You’re looking for a fairy tale ending. From the looks of it, I don’t think that is what Sean is going to get.”
I looked over at where Sean was talking to his mother and her boyfriend and I had to agree it didn’t look good. Sean seemed to be hunching in on himself as his mother was berating him. Dropping the blanket I had wrapped around me, I went over to stand next to him.
“This is all your fault,” his mother hissed.
“Hey, wait a minute,” I said. “You can’t blame him.”
“He’s my kid you stupid bitch, I can say what I want.”
“Don’t you call her a bitch,” Sean said indignantly.
At that moment I saw out of the corner of my eye the boyfriend raising his hand. I pushed Sean out the way as I realized the punch was heading toward him. Unfortunately, my face ended up where Sean’s had been and I caught the punch in the side of my cheek. I heard a blood curdling yell and Miss Betsy jumped on the back of the boyfriend. He swung around trying to dislodge the little old lady who was holding on as if she was at a rodeo. The cops ran over and tried to tackle the man to the ground without hurting the woman on top of him. Sean’s mom then decided to tackle the police who were handcuffing her boyfriend. Before we knew it, we were all down at the police station filling in statements.