Invocations: A Lesbian Detective Novel (Carpenter/Harding Book 13), page 14
“Sorry,” Jeff said. “I just wanted to see if I can help you with something.”
“Yes, thank you. You think they might like a glass of milk—or juice?”
“That would be great, thanks.”
Ellie put glasses and a plate on the table, and took out a bag of chips, some cheese and cherry tomatoes.
“Anything new?” he asked. Ellie had called the station to be updated. Officer Martin who was on the front desk tonight, couldn’t tell her much. They’d send a SWAT team. No news yet.
“It’s torture,” he said. “I know that the job could involve stuff like this, on any day…but sometimes I think it’s better not to think about it.”
Ellie didn’t blame him, though she didn’t point out that she felt like she should have stayed. But that was Daniels’ point, right? It couldn’t work that way. Carroll didn’t want to have them out in the field together either, though there had been moments when they had no choice. Or did they? Jordan had been adamant about sending her home.
“They’ll be fine,” she said. “They know what to do.”
“Yeah.”
He took a carton of milk out of the fridge and poured two glasses. “Let’s hope they’re not going to be sick.”
“Would you like anything?”
He shook his head and left to head back to the children.
Torture, Ellie thought, and then her phone rang.
* * * *
The moment had arrived.
“Trick or treat,” Casey, who had rung the doorbell, gave the sign. At the back of the house, one of the members of the team carefully slid open the glass door connecting a spacious deck to a dining area. One by one, they filed in, Jordan and Derek last. The two of them hadn’t made it to the living room when they heard a gun go off, glass shattering and shouted commands.
Seconds later, they both joined the team in the living room, seeing two men facedown on the carpet. Both of them, including a sulking Carl Fisher, were being cuffed. Him, Jordan had expected. She had to admit that she hadn’t counted on seeing Todd Williams who was being dragged in from the kitchen by one of their colleagues.
“He was trying to get away.”
“Emphasis on trying, huh? It’s over, Todd,” she told him. “You lost.”
He didn’t react other than giving her a sullen stare.
Her instincts had told her that something was off about him, but not fully prepared her for how far he’d been willing to go. They’d deal with him later.
Jordan headed towards the family’s teenage daughter, while Derek talked to Mrs. Dennison. Paramedics tended to her unconscious husband. All three had been tied up and gagged with duct tape, a bloody head wound a sign that Mr. Dennison had tried to take on the hostage takers. Jordan thought of that day in the woods, finding Ellie, and she had to suppress a shudder. Pushing the memory aside, she focused on the girl in front of her. She seemed physically unharmed, just in shock.
“I’m going to remove this, okay,” Jordan told her, referring to the duct tape over her mouth. “I’ll be careful.” It was going to hurt anyway, she knew from experience. Best to do it quick. “You remember me? Ellie and I live down the street. I often see you on your bike.” In one swift move, the tape came off, eliciting a yelp from the teenager. “You did great. That was the hardest part. You all did great,” Jordan added, taking a quick look around. She was glad to see that Mr. Dennison had come to, helped onto a gurney by the paramedics. Derek spoke softly to Mrs. Dennison as he cut the duct tape off her wrists and ankles.
Jordan started to do the same for the teenage daughter.
“Zoe, right?” They had gathered that information earlier, but Jordan felt a tad embarrassed that she hadn’t known before. Zoe nodded, her eyes incredibly wide. “Okay, Zoe, those paramedics will check you out, and they’ll take all of you to the hospital.”
“Dad?” she whispered. “They hit him.”
“The doctors will take good care of him, and all of you. We’ll talk some more soon, okay?”
“Okay. Thank you.”
When she was free, she all but jumped to her feet and ran over to her mother who had gotten to her feet as well, and the two embraced.
“Great job,” Jordan told Mrs. Dennison. “You were a big help in ending this as soon as it did.”
The other woman gave her a teary, but grateful smile. “I kinda wish you meant that when you said we’d get together. I’d be happy to make you and your family dinner.”
“Not for this, it’s our job—but it would be nice to have dinner sometime soon. I’m afraid Ellie and I haven’t been very social.”
“I imagine you’re busy.” Mrs. Dennison didn’t elaborate. Jordan could imagine that she had seen some of the headlines that came with recent cases.
Their neighbor cast a look at the paramedics waiting. “I assume you need our statements?”
“Hospital first, and then it will be just the bare bones for tonight. We’ll take care of the rest tomorrow.”
Todd Williams, in on it from the beginning with Carl Fisher.
“We know these men. They’re not going to get away.”
“Why our home? You think it was random.”
“We don’t know yet,” Jordan said, unwilling to share her theory with her neighbor. In her mind, it was no coincidence that they had chosen the quiet neighborhood that Ellie and Jordan called home, for the final game.
They’d get those answers eventually.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jordan came home to find everything in the best possible order. Meri was sleeping in her bed, Casey’s girls sat quietly in a corner playing a game with their tablets, the table was set and take-out delivery called.
Regardless of the fact that Jeff and Kate, too, had a lot of questions, she asked Ellie to come upstairs with her. In the bedroom, she pulled her into a quick, tight embrace.
“I’m sorry. But it was the right thing to do.”
“I know,” Ellie admitted with a sigh. “I understand what Daniels is trying to do, and even though we were off duty, the principle is the same. I get it. One of us needed to be with Meri, and, well, you have seniority.”
“I do.” Jordan gave her a relieved smile. “Thank you for taking care of everything. You won’t be missing anything tomorrow—Daniels will want everyone on this.”
“Then we better get something to eat. They should be here in ten minutes or so.”
“Good. Everything quiet here?”
“Yes. The girls never noticed.” Ellie shook her head as if unsure what else to say next about this bizarre turn of events.
In hindsight not completely unexpected, Jordan thought, but still bizarre.
“That’s a good thing. We were lucky to shut this down without anyone else getting killed. Mr. Dennison will be all right.”
“Thank God. And you know what’s a very bright side? We won’t be seeing any clowns for a long time to come,” Ellie said, and they both laughed.
“Right. Let’s hope tomorrow will the last day we’ll have to deal with those.”
“Todd Williams, really? So he faked his abduction, and the story about the love triangle was all a hoax?”
“It would seem so. We’ll know more tomorrow. And here’s dinner,” Jordan said when the doorbell rang. “Speaking of which, we got an invitation earlier.”
* * * *
Jordan had left before elaborating on her cryptic statement. Deciding it was probably not that important, Ellie made a beeline for Meri’s room and then went downstairs as well.
After distributing pizza and beer to their friends, Ellie sat down next to Casey, who shook her head in disbelief. “You know, you were one of the best trainees I ever had, but we’re never going to do any social activities with you anymore. You guys can’t do peaceful and quiet.”
Ellie took a sip of her beer as she observed Jordan and Derek standing by the window.
“I’m too tired to know if that’s a joke, but if it’s not, I can’t blame you. Meri’s first trick-or-treating, not that we’ll let her have a lot of candy yet.”
“I’m sorry if that sounded bad. I’m glad we’re all here…I just spoke with my oldest, and she’s blissfully oblivious of it all.”
“They called it a game. Incredible, right?”
“They’ll soon realize what losers they are,” Casey said. “You all did a great job on this.”
Ellie hoped she was right. She was grateful that the Dennison family had come out of it alive, but others had not been so fortunate.
Randy Fowler.
Ronald Jenkins.
Lisa had been taken in for questioning and let go. Judy Lawrence would have to learn about Carl Fisher’s true motive.
She cast another look over at Jordan, still in deep conversation with her partner.
Tonight likely had brought up some issues for them, and she dared guess that they had little to do with clowns.
* * * *
“That was a bit harsh earlier,” Jordan said, referring to their interaction at the Dennisons’ front door, “but you didn’t have to pay for the pizza.”
Derek made a dismissive gesture. “We hang out here, and at your parents’ bar all the time, and it’s been on the house more than once. Don’t worry about it.”
“All right. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. And I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.”
“You were really going to knock on that door?”
“Come on. I made a suggestion—I wasn’t insisting. Time was running out.”
“It always is, isn’t it?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jordan asked, more confused than offended.
“Nothing.” Derek’s answer was too quick.
Jordan wasn’t entirely convinced that this would be the end of it. Come tomorrow, they’d both need their head in the game. She wasn’t willing to let this, whatever this was, linger. “Okay, what is really going on? This is not still about Joy Anne and— ”
“That was pretty horrific, but no. It’s just been a few long weeks since that first clown showed up.”
“No kidding. It’s over now.”
Derek sighed. “The clowns, yes. Pratt, we can’t be sure.”
She was starting to have a better idea of where he was coming from.
“I’ll be the first to admit, I have no use for this, but he’ll realize eventually that his plan won’t work.”
“All the damage he did…That’s not entirely gone.”
“No. It’s been rough on you and Kate. I understand.” Jordan could read between the lines. Her partner and Ellie’s best friend had gotten together under difficult circumstances, but their relationship was solid now. Pratt’s scheming had rattled all of them. They had to remind themselves of the truth. “Whatever happened though, it was not your fault. It was Pratt’s. And he’ll stay locked up.”
“Let’s drink to that,” Derek said, sounding grateful. He raised his bottle to clink it against hers.
She hoped she wasn’t promising too much.
* * * *
“Okay, let’s do this.” Jordan appeared almost cheery when she opened the door to the interrogation room.
Staying behind in the observation area, Ellie watched her walk inside with an air of confidence that never failed to impress her. She had reason to, but still.
“Hi, Mr. Bryan,” Jordan said as she sat across from him.
Ellie could see her own, spell-bound reflection in the glass. He had no idea.
“I don’t know why you wanted me here,” he said. “Yes, I agreed to talk to you, but if you’re just going to ask the same questions, I have nothing else to add.”
“Sure. Just checking.”
“That’s all?” He laughed. “What a waste of taxpayer money.”
“Well, we could argue about that. Scaring people for petty reasons, lying to the police…You could call that wasting taxpayer money. Or, I don’t know, someone faking their own abduction?”
There was a minute change in his expression.
“Nobody faked anything,” he said. “I told you over and over again I didn’t want anything to do with that. Just pranks.”
“Yeah, I get you. The only question is now, who’s going to go down for those pranks, because I can assure you, someone will. Maybe Dylan? Maybe you? But it will also be interesting to talk to Carl and Todd about this after we found them holding a family hostage, threatening to kill them.”
He remained stubborn, but Ellie could see his fingers twitch.
“Okay,” Jordan said in the same calm tone. “That’s up to you. I guess we’re going to wrap up with Todd now. It’s probably going to be more interesting.”
She got to her feet, but didn’t even make it all across the room.
“I’ll talk to you! I’m not going down for all his crap.”
“The thing is, we’ve heard this before.”
“I’m serious! He doesn’t give a damn about Lisa, or anyone. It’s all just random. He likes scaring people. I swear I had no idea he wanted to kill them too.”
“He went pretty far for a game.”
“Well, you believed him, didn’t you? He got a kick out of that. He set Randy up. He and Carl set us all up.”
“They might not have the last laugh after all if you and Dylan come clean.” Jordan sat again and leaned back in her chair. “I’ve got time.”
* * * *
“She’s got this,” Maria commented. “I guess it’s up to us listening to Todd rambling why he felt justified terrorizing the city.”
“I’ll be right there,” Ellie said, only to have her colleague respond quickly.
“It’s fine. Derek and I will do this. Wu got Fisher. I guess you could finish up with Dylan Hastings, see if he has anything to add? I think if you go with the Carpenter playbook, you’ll be just fine.”
She left, and Ellie stood for a few seconds, unsure about the entirety of the information she’d received.
She didn’t doubt though that Jordan’s strategy would work on Hastings. Everything else was beyond the scope of their job.
Chapter Twenty-Two
In the late afternoon, Carroll and Daniels asked everyone into the briefing room. There was an air of relief and triumph in the group. Once again, their work had confirmed what they’d experienced over and over again. Some of these men were eager to boast about what they’d gotten away with.
“Finally…lots of random violence,” Jordan concluded. “Fisher planted the mask at Jenkins’ house after killing him. He claims he didn’t know about Judy Lawrence’s story until they’d already started dating, but he was mad at Jenkins for taking so much of her time.”
Ellie listened, coming to her own, sobering conclusions. This time, there was no elaborate punishment scheme. They called it a game…but everyone had done their jobs, and put an end to the murderous antics. They still had to deal with the other issue that kept coming up. This went beyond the job. It was about protecting their family, and she would do whatever it took.
As the detectives shared their conclusions one by one, Ellie formulated a plan. She wasn’t going to keep it a secret from Jordan, though she assumed she’d have some convincing to do.
Perhaps later, over a beer at the SEVEN, would be a good moment to approach the subject.
* * * *
“No, absolutely not. This has nothing to do with you.”
Under different circumstances, in a different time, Ellie might have found this insulting, but she knew the impact the recent developments had on Jordan.
“I’ll pretend you didn’t say that, because you know, it has everything to do with me, with us. Please, hear me out. I’m not saying I look forward to it, but I think I should be the one doing it.”
“Why?” Jordan took another sip of her beer. “I’m sorry, you’re right. We both have to deal with this somehow, but…”
“TJ Pratt is a criminal, and he’s serving this sentence for a reason. You need to get the idea out of your head that there’s anyone in the world who blames you for his mess. Not any of our colleagues, our friends, certainly not me. Hell, not even Atwood,” she said when the officer walked past them without a greeting.
She could tell by the fact that Jordan wasn’t trying to argue she was on to something. Ellie wished she wasn’t right about this, after the years they’d spent together. The truth was Pratt hadn’t been a subject often. Jordan had enough on her plate figuring out how to deal with Kathryn’s desire to make amends. They’d come a long way, but Pratt’s agenda might put a strain on their new-found relationship.
“I see your point. I swear. But I don’t want—”
“I’ve done more dangerous things. No, wait, that didn’t come out right. It’s not going to be dangerous in any way. And he won’t see it coming.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Help me out. Tell me everything I need to know so we can put this to rest.” Ellie laughed. “You don’t like it, but I’m right on everything.”
“When your spouse tells you that, it’s usually time to stop arguing,” Lieutenant Daniels who had joined them, joked. “Could I steal Detective Carpenter for a moment?”
“You definitely could,” Jordan said. “As you can see, I’m losing the argument.”
“I’ll just find Kate,” Ellie announced. “You’re both right.”
* * * *
Jordan watched her walk away, amused, before she turned to her supervisor. “Can I buy you a drink? As an official welcome?”
Daniels shook her head with a smile. “Oh no, I can’t do that. But I wanted to congratulate you on how you handled the closing of this case. This was close to home.”
“True. At least no one got severely hurt—and it didn’t happen in our home, but thank you.”
“You’re welcome. And I want you to know I meant what I said the other day. There’s a clear path up the ladder for you in this department.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” For the most part, Jordan had been comfortable, grateful she had managed to come back from the various challenges of the past year. Daniels’ words made her wonder if she had become too comfortable. If she had the option, she’d certainly prefer to stay with the department rather than go with the job her ex had tried to sell her.
