Nightingale's Nightmare (Cassadaga Book 4 (17 page)

~~

Nightingale had just put the soup bowl on the table in front of Bill when the phone rang.

“I
gotta take this.” Bill stood as he listened on his cell phone, pacing around and into the living room at times.

The expression on his face was confused
as he sat back down at the table.

“What?” Nightingale asked.

“I don’t know. State Troopers found Johnson’s car after they chased her off I-95. She abandoned the car on the side of the road near Saint Augustine. They presume she’s on foot.”

“On foot?
She can’t last long on foot. She’s not in shape for that kind of terrain.” Nightingale brought a spoonful of soup to her lips and blew to cool it. “She’s  not in shape for the out of doors, period.”

“Yeah, but it depends where she left the car. Could be wooded or maybe near the beach up there.”

“She’s toast, trust me. Latisha never lifted a finger in exertion for anything. And she’s scared to death of snakes. She’s not too cool with bugs, either. Plenty of both outside.”

“Soup’s good, Nightingale. I like what you did with the leftover chicken.” Bill slurped in a spoonful
, contemplating his suspect’s situation as he ate. Nightingale gave him the eye, indicating his manners were off.

“Sorry…
”

After dinner, Bill helped Nightingale clear the dishes and stood beside her at the sink
, prepared to wipe them dry once they were washed.

“I’m proud of you,” Nightingale said looking down into the soap bubbles.

“Thanks. I’m kinda proud of me, too.”

Bill’s phone rang.

“Where? When?” he said into the phone after listening intently to the caller. “I’ll be there.”

“What happened?”

“They found her in the bushes, screaming. A snake bit her, so she’s in transport to the hospital right now.” Bill gathered his gun, returning it to the holster under his jacket. “I can take custody of her as soon as she’s out of the ER.”

“
So you’re going to Saint Augustine?”

“Yes. The troopers will release her to me at the hospital and I’ll bring her back here for questioning.”

“Love you, handsome,” Nightingale said, standing on her tiptoes to give Bill a kiss.

“Love you, too.”

~~

By the time
Bill had driven seventy-five miles to Saint Augustine and located the hospital, Latisha Johnson was ready to leave. She had been given medical attention for a superficial wound from a nonpoisonous snake bite. She was sitting between two State Troopers, waiting for Detective France’s arrival.

“Detective France?” One of the troopers stood as the detective walk
ed toward them.

“Yes, sir.” Bill flashed his badge to the trooper.

“I’m Trooper Sawyer and this is Trooper Henderson,” the large man stated, indicating with his hand his partner.

“Good to meet you both.” Looking down at Latisha, Bill said, “Hello, Latisha.”

Latisha reverted her eyes to the side and remained silent.

“Nice bandage you got there,” Bill said, noting the obvious white dressing around the middle of her
left leg and the handcuffs joining her wrists. “This could have been much easier on you, Latisha.”

“Shut up.” She still didn’t look at the detective.

“Her vehicle?” Bill asked the troopers.

“Your department retrieved it
and it’s en route to Volusia County about fifteen minutes ago.”

Bill nodded his approval over that news. He couldn’t wait to investigate the contents of that car.

“Okay, Latisha, we’re going back to Volusia County.”

The two troopers pulled the woman up by her arms and escorted her outside to Bill’s vehicle.
Before he put her in the back area, Bill read Latisha her rights.

Twenty-five

Latisha sat quietly inside the interrogation room, waiting for the detective to enter. It was after midnight. She was tired, scared and her leg was hurting. She just wanted this to be over.

Detective France hurried into the room
with notepad in hand and a digital recorder.

“Sorry to keep you waiting Latisha, but I had to get them looking for something in your car.” Bill smiled at her.

“What are you smiling at me for?”

“Maybe I’m happy to see you.”

“Humph, I doubt that.”

“Latisha, you know I think you killed Bradford Perry.
Right now the guys are downstairs searching your car for a very important article. And I’m betting it’s in there.”

Latisha didn’t say anything
, her eyes resting to the right side of Bill.

“Would you like some water?” Bill rose in case she said yes.

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

Bill reached for a bottle of water from the table behind and placed it in front of Latisha. She accepted the water and turned the lid with little difficulty even though her wrists were handcuffed. With both hands raised, she took several long swallows. She did not thank Bill for the refreshment.

The door to the room opened and a deputy walked in with a large paper bag in his hand.

“I think this is what you want,” the deputy said,
then exited the room.

Bill’s heart pumped harder with anticipation
over the contents of the paper bag. Putting on gloves and using his pen, Bill cut through the evidence tape that was securing the bag and looked inside at a large black purse. He pulled it out and slapped it down on the table between them, pausing for effect.

“I can feel
that something’s inside this purse, Latisha. Care to say what it is before I look?” Bill stared at her serious face and the worried eyes that were now resting squarely on the purse. “Any statements you want to make?”

Silence bridge
d the distance between them.

“Okay, I’m opening the
purse. Here we go,” Bill said,  exaggerating his motions and the inflection of his voice. “Ah, there
is
something in here. And you know what it is?”

Latisha’s eyes squinted back at him. He wasn’t sure if it was f
rom fear or if she was wincing.

He gently retrieved the knife from inside, turning it from side to side in front of Latisha’s face.

“Recognize this knife, Latisha? It has an amazing resemblance to the murder weapon used to kill Bradford Perry. See, black hilt, white stars engraved into the hilt? Exactly what the other knife looked like, right down to the double tip.” Bill placed the knife back inside the black purse. “I’ll bet your finger prints are all over that knife. And I’ll bet we’ll find out it’s the mate to the one used to kill Bradford Perry. Isn’t that right, Latisha?”

The woman sighed heavily.

“Why, Latisha? Why did you kill Bradford Perry?”

A moment passed quietly and then Latisha erupted. She slammed both her fists down onto the table
.

“Because he was a fucking cheater!”

Latisha’s eyes were now squinting with unmistakable rage and her mouth worked furiously as she spat out her words.

“
Brad-ford  Per-ry
,” she sang the name as she spoke it, “was a liar. He lied to everyone, including me. And I was expected to lie to his fiancé, who I really liked, when he was off humping some other broad. I had to lie for
him
so he could
cheat
?
Me?
”

“So, how did it go down?”

“I was having lunch with his fiancé, Calley Knox, and she was telling me all this suspicious stuff he’d been doing and how she suspected he was cheating on her. She also told me she suspected he wanted to marry her because of her money. The girl’s got a great career and inherited a lot of money, too. So she figured old Brad wanted to dip into her bank account. Oh, I almost forgot.” Latisha was on a roll, talking fast. “He told her he wanted to have an open marriage. Well, that was the bombshell that pushed her over.”

“What did you say to her?”

“I told her about the other women in his life and how I knew he’d been screwing other broads, sometimes several at a time, even after they’d been engaged. She got really upset and very angry.” Latisha took a few swallows of water before continuing. “We compared notes and I confirmed her suspicions on specific dates when I knew he was with some other woman. She got angrier and caused a scene at the restaurant with her ranting. We had to leave.”

“And then…”

“When I confirmed that he had been cheating on her all along, she said she wanted to kill him.”

“
Calley said
she
wanted to kill Bradford?” Bill couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Yeah, she wanted his sorry ass dead
and wanted me to help. At that point I agreed he deserved to die for his cheating ways, but I wanted to think about it first before I agreed to do anything.”

“So you thought about it and decided to help
Calley…”

“Not exactly.
The son of a bitch fired me because I had lunch with Calley and told her about the other women.”

“I see, so that angered you?” Bill asked.

“You bet it did! I saw red, white and blue! When I got home I called her and said, let’s do it.”

“
Who came up with the plan?”

“
Calley. She said that she would get him to that biker bar in Cassadaga in a few weeks and lure him outside at some point so I could stick him with the knife.” Latisha was  rattling off details like she was talking about ingredients in a soup. “We figured everyone would think a biker did it. Except, that fire broke out and caused everything to go crazy. But it gave me the opportunity to stab him when the lights went out and the room started filling up with smoke.”

“Where is
Calley now?”

“I don’t know
…Honest. She went out of town, maybe out of the country for all I know, right after the murder. She’s got money, so she could be anywhere.”

“I imagine so,” Bill said.

Bill waved at whomever was on the other side of the see through mirror to come in. The deputy who had brought in the evidence bag entered. Bill told him to take Latisha to jail.

Latisha glanced back over her shoulder at Bill, her eyes large now
, her thoughts written all over her face.

“I know I
did wrong, but I just couldn’t help myself. The cheater deserved to die.”

Twenty-six

Everyone was upset with Alex. She had been given the responsibility of being the office supervisor and
took it upon herself to change the hours of operation.

“She doesn’t have any consideration for us old timers,” Ralph complained. “If
you don’t feel good in the morning, how are you supposed to get up there between ten and twelve? Sometimes you don’t feel right until two.”

Helen nodded her head in agreement. “She’s a dictator, that’s what she is.
She doesn’t care about us. It’s gonna get worse. You watch it come.”

“Humph,” Ralph muttered under his breath as he brought the cup of tea up to his lips. “No respect for the elderly.”

Margarite and Poppy walked up to the couple seated at the corner table in The Cassadaga Hotel, each looking like they had something important on their minds.

“Hello, ladies,” Ralph greeted.

“Did you hear?” Margarite asked.

“Hear what?” Helen
was curious.

“Latisha got arrested,” Poppy said. “She killed Nightingale’s ex-husband.”

“Allegedly,” Margarite said.

Helen’s eyes grew big and Ralph’s mouth went slack, exposing his lower denture.

“My stars!” Helen said, reaching out towards Ralph.

“Latisha? Really?” Ralph ignored Helen’s hand on his arm.

“She confessed. She actually admitted to killing him,” Margarite said, wagging  her head back and forth. “It was her knife in his back.”

“My stars,” Helen repeated and fell silent
, withdrawing her hand from Ralph’s arm.

“What would possess Latisha to do such a thing?” Ralph wondered.

“I’m  not sure, but I think she had issues with cheating men,” Margarite said. “Brad was a cheater.”

“I no like cheating men, but I not go kill one,” Poppy said.

“Now they need to find out who killed Joe.” Margarite said. “Think it’s anyone we know?”

“I hope not,” Helen said.

“Probably someone just wandering through the community,” Ralph remarked. “We may never know who did it.”

“Hmm, I hope they find the person.” Margarite looked across at Helen. “What does JFK have to say about who killed Joe?”

Helen rolled her eyes upward in concentration for a moment.

“He says the killer is closer than you think.”