Death and Deceit (23 page)

Liz left Jessie still sitting in a stupor and ran to Kent. He was bent over Alvarez
with his ear to the policeman’s chest. Liz dropped on her knees and checked the downed man’s throat for a carotid pulse.

“Jessie shot him. It was self defence,” she said. “He’s alive, but barely.”

Kent rose then and rushed towards Jessie. His arms enveloped her stony body. The tenseness made him stop and pull back. He squatted in front of her and looked in her face.

“It’s all right, Jessie. You had to do it. You had no choice.” He placed his hands
on her shoulders and shook her gently. “He’s not dead. Not yet anyway.”

The sound of crushing gravel made Kent stop and look up. A police car had
pulled in the drive. Three policemen got out and rushed over to the scene. The one leading was older with greying sideburns and light blue eyes.

“You Davis?” Kent asked.

The cop nodded.

“Where the hell were you?”

The cop was chewing on something. “It’s a long story. What happened here?”

The other police officers ran over to Alvarez. Liz rose and spoke to them. One
knelt and looked into Alvarez’s eyes.

“She tried to get away and had to shoot him...in self defence,” Kent explained to Davis. “That’s all I know. But she’s not talking. She’s in shock or something.”

Davis looked distressed; the greyness seemed to spread from his sideburns to settle on his face, but he kept a calm composure. “I’ll talk to her.”

Kent put a hand on the policeman’s shoulder staving him from Jessie. “Not before I do,” he said. “She’s been through enough. Give us a minute.”

Davis actually seemed to be in some kind of stupour, so Kent took advantage of the moment. He pulled Jessie from the ground and guided her into the house shutting the
door for privacy. She leaned on him while he walked her to the bed. “Sit here and tell me what happened.”

Jessie remained silent and Kent sat down beside her. “I know this is hard, Jess. But you’re going to have to tell them what happened. It’ll be easier if you tell me first. Take your time.”

Jessie continued to stare straight ahead, but she reached a hand out and grasped
hold of Kent’s. He squeezed hers. She looked at him and her eyes were like soft, frightened doe eyes. Kent couldn’t remember loving her more. She opened her mouth to speak but the door burst open. Davis stood in the open doorway, leaving the door ajar. A long ray of sunlight spread across the cabin’s interior, silhouetting Davis’s body with his hands on his hips.

His voice was harsh. “What happened here, Miss?” He walked in and stopped in front of Jessie folding his arms and waiting for an explanation.

“I told you to give us some time,” Kent shouted.

“A man’s been shot,” Davis yelled back. In a lower voice he added, “The little
missy knows what happened. She shot a cop and we need to know why.”

“I told you why last night,” Kent yelled. “He held her against her will.”

“Shut up! I asked her, not you.”

Jessie broke her silence. “I’ll tell him what happened. But please, don’t go.” She looked at Kent and held to his hand like it was her lifeline.

Davis drew up a chair. He pulled a note book out of his shirt pocket. “Okay. Your name is?”

“Jessica Albright.”

“And what is your relationship, Ms Albright, with Ricardo Alvarez?”

“He...he was helping me with a stalker...I thought. I met him at the Harbourside
Police Station.”

Kent grew impatient. “For God’s sake, Davis, do you really need to do this now?” He put an arm around her. “Jessie, how did you escape?”

Davis gave Kent an ugly look. “One more word out of you and I’ll kick your ass out. I’m doing the questioning here. Continue, Miss.”

“He was attacking me. You know,” her lips quivered. “Well, he was on top of me and I hit him with a bottle...a whisky bottle.
I smashed his head and he fell on the floor. I grabbed the gun and took off and he chased
me. In the woods he tried to convince me...to give him the gun...and I almost did but, there was a noise and he looked away and I...the gun went off and he fell.”

“You shot him in cold blood?” Davis interrupted.

Kent gave Davis a scowling look. “Is he going to live?”

Davis peered at Kent. “Who knows?” Then he switched his eyes towards Jessie, “But you’d better hope that he does, Missy.”

“If that ambulance takes as long as you did getting here, he’ll be dead for sure,” Kent said.
“Where were you all this time? If you’d shown up earlier, this might not have happened.”

“A car accident,” Davis said in his slow voice. “Head on collision just west of here about three miles back. Never saw so much action going on in this town for years. It don’t rain but it pours.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kent said rising from the bed to pace the cabin floor. “I suppose
that’ll hold up the ambulance for a while. Anyone hurt?”

Davis shook his head slowly. “Yep. Two people, one in each car. Don’t know how it happened. Probably sun blindness. It happened on a curve. This old road is dangerous. No one should live up here.”

Kent turned and looked down at Jessie hunched on the bed folding and unfolding
her hands. He wished he could scoop her up and take her away from all this. She didn’t deserve to have been placed in such jeopardy, making decisions like shooting people. She was a mild mannered librarian looking for a stable position in the field in order to pursue an ordinary life.

“She’s told you enough, Davis. You can get the rest later, can’t you?”

“She’s told me nothing,” Davis barked. “I want to know — and know now — why a cop was shot, and how all this came about. And you can leave.” He looked straight at Kent.

Kent turned and looked at Jessie. “It’s okay, Kent,” she said softly. “I’ll tell him
the whole story.”

She looked uncertain but Kent backed down. He wanted to know the whole story too. Like why did the cop kidnap her? What was his motive? But he’d have to wait. He walked out and closed the door on Davis drawing his chair closer to Jessie.

****

Liz took turns with one of the officers named Brady, and together they applied pressure to Ricardo’s wound. The other officer was at the police cruiser and looked to be talking on a two-way radio. Kent approached the scene and stood above the wounded cop. He looked down on the beads of sweat resting on Ricardo’s forehead. His eyes moved down
to the chest area. There was so much blood.

“Is he going to live?” he asked.

“He’s bad,” Liz said. “As you can see, he’s lost a lot of blood.”

“If the ambulance doesn’t come soon,” Brady interjected, “they can substitute it
for a hearse.”

“He’s white as chalk,” Kent said. “Can’t you do anything except that?”

“Like what?” Liz replied, giving the job over to Brady and rising. “There’s nothing else to do. Maybe you want to pray for him. I’m finding it hard to do that. Did
you talk to Jessie?”

The pair walked across the yard and sat on upturned slabs in the chopped wood pile. “Davis is questioning her. I hope she doesn’t crack,” Kent answered. “She said she’d hit him with a whiskey bottle and got away with the gun, but I’m no closer to
knowing why he brought her here in the first place. How did you get involved? Where were you when it happened?”

“Behind the house, on the left side. I saw what was happening inside. At first
I was scared to keep looking in the window. But after he began mauling her, I knew he wouldn’t be giving attention to anything else.”

Kent shuddered and shook his head. Liz continued.

“I felt pretty helpless. There she was going to be raped and I was wrestling with
my own fears. Should I break in the door or bang on it? If I did he’d go for his gun. Even though I didn’t know where the gun was I knew he did. Jessie wasn’t handcuffed but she’s little. I felt there was no way she could fight him. If only you’d been down here with me, maybe together...”

She looked in Kent’s eyes then turned away, seeing what she thought looked like a bit of guilt there. She didn’t want to lay blame on him.
“But I was wrong. She grabbed that bottle. It happened so fast. He fell over on the floor. Boy, she whammed him good, and I never saw anyone move so fast. She knew exactly where the gun was. She grabbed it and ran. I stayed put. It was like watching a movie or dreaming. I was in a fog. Then he recovered, staggering to his feet and rubbing at the back of his head. Then he was after her. I moved then. I skirted around to the back of the cabin and hid at the corner. I could hear them talking and even peeked around to watch. She had her arms outstretched holding the gun, and when I saw him go towards her, I just knew he’d talk her out of shooting. It happened at the motel but you were out cold at the time.”

“But, she did shoot.”

“Yes. And I was shocked. I had thrown a stone and it landed behind him. It made a bigger noise than I anticipated. I think there was something there in the bush. Maybe a rabbit? Something jumped and crashed through the shrubbery. Anyway, the sound made him turn and look, and that’s when she shot him.”

Brady called for Liz and she returned to the job of pressing the wound. Brady walked past Kent in the woodpile. He wiped blood from his hands. “The ambulance is coming.” Kent could hear the siren as well.

Just as the ambulance backed close to Ricardo, Davis came out of the cabin. He
looked satisfied and Kent jumped up to check on Jessie. He didn’t speak as he passed Davis. His only concern was seeing how Jessie was holding up.

She was still on the cot when he entered the cabin. She looked up and gave him
a weak smile, then stretched her hand towards him. He grasped it before sitting beside her.

“I’m sorry, Kent,” she said in a faltering voice. “I shouldn’t have doubted you
about the e mails. When I think of it now it was plain stupid to accuse you, I was just so confused.”

“I understand. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re okay. You were very very brave, Jessie.”

“I was very scared, that’s what I was. How in the world did you and Liz find me?”

“Liz had gone to your apartment to see you, and she saw instead Alvarez leading
you out to his cruiser. She followed you and called me on her cell phone. Then I caught
up with her at the motel.”

Jessie touched his face with her fingertips. “I thought you were shot, maybe—”

“I was only stunned.” he said quickly. “I recovered and Liz drove, following the
cruiser again until he turned off on the road where he abandoned the car.”

“I knew someone was behind us and I hoped they were following, but I didn’t
really think it was you two.”

Kent grinned at her. “That was ingenious of you to drop your clothing.”

Jessie smiled again. “It just came to me. Thank God it worked.”

“It was Liz who figured it out. She’s a smart girl and brave too.”

“I know. I owe her my life — and you.”

“You did your part. If you’d never got out of the cabin with the gun, God only
knows how the ending might have changed.”

Jessie moved into his arms and he surrounded her with his embrace. They clung
together for a brief moment in time. The sun warmed the cabin even though it was still early morning. Then Davis threw open the door.

“You’re coming with me, Miss.”

“What?” Kent’s wide eyes looked at the cop.

“You’re under arrest for the attempted murder of Ricardo Alvarez.”

“But it was self defence,” Kent shouted, while holding onto Jessie’s arm.

“That, young man, remains to be seen. Come along, Miss.” He walked behind Jessie and told her to put her arms behind her back. As she did so, he snapped on handcuffs.

“This is preposterous,” Kent yelled.

Jessie said nothing and neither did Davis. He just walked her to the door and ushered her to the outside.

Kent quickly followed after he got over the shock of what had just happened. As he was at the door entrance, Liz almost bumped into him.

“They’re taking Jessie,” she said. “We have to drive into Wakefield and make statements. Davis wanted to go behind the ambulance and check on Alvarez’s condition.”

****

Bedlam dominated the small trauma room of Wakefield’s Cottage Hospital. Ricardo Alvarez’s body was barely visible beneath the blood-soaked police uniform. It looked more like a pile of old clothing soaking in a tub of blood.

A harried nurse, not used to emergencies in a small town, had already had to deal
with a couple of car accident victims. The medical team had just got them cleared away when this new case came rolling in. She wrapped a blood-pressure cuff around Ricardo’s arm and puffed it quickly. “Pressure’s dropping,” she yelled.

Dr. Reg Farley, a middle-aged doctor, short on stature but long on patience, snapped on latex gloves and held a stethoscope on Ricardo’s chest. “Get a suction tube into him,” he called to the nurse. Glancing at the hanging bags of fluid already dripping a solution of electrolytes and glucose into the patient’s veins, he muttered to the other attending doctor, “I hope you ordered lots of blood.”